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Title: The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)

Author: John Charles Dent

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Language: English

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T H E C A N A D I A N

P O R T R A I T
G A L L E R Y .
BY

JOHN CHARLES DENT,

ASSISTED BY A STAFF OF CONTRIBUTORS.

VOL III.

TORONTO:
PUBLISHED BY JOHN B. MAGURN.
1881.

C. B. ROBINSON, PRINTER,
5 Jordan Street, Toronto.

[Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year Eighteen Hundred and Eighty-one,
by John B. Magurn, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.]

Transcriber's Note: Footnotes and Errata are
placed at the end of this file.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME III.

[A Preface and an Alphabetical Index will be given at the close of the last volume.]

PAGE
The Earl of Dufferin 1
The Rev. Robert Ferrier Burns 13
The Hon. Albert Norton Richards 15
The Right Rev. John Travers Lewis,
17
LL.D.
Charles, Lord Metcalfe 19
The Hon. Alexander Morris 23
The Hon. Thomas Talbot 27
The Hon. David Laird 41
The Hon. Charles E. B. de
44
Boucherville
The Rev. Samuel S. Nelles, D.D.,
45
LL.D.
The Hon. William Hume Blake 48
The Rev. Alexander Topp, D.D. 54
The Hon. Henri Gustave Joly 56
The Hon. Mackenzie Bowell 58
The Rev. James Richardson, D.D. 60
Lord Seaton 66
The Hon. Sir Dominick Daly 69
The Hon. William McMaster 72
The Hon. Wilfrid Laurier 75
The Right Hon. Sir Charles Bagot 77

La Salle 79
The Right Rev. James W. Williams,
90
D.D.
Lieut.-Col. Casimir Stanislaus
91
Gzowski
Theodore Harding Rand, A.M.,
98
D.C.L.
The Hon. Matthew Crooks Cameron 100
The Hon. Sir Louis H. Lafontaine,
104
Bart.
John Christian Schultz, M.D. 109
The Hon. George William Burton 114
Lord Dorchester 116
The Hon. William Pearce Howland,
124
C.B., K.C.M.G.
The Most Rev. Michael Hannan, D.D. 128
George Paxton Young, M.A. 129
The Hon. Telesphore Fournier 132
The Hon. William Osgoode 133
The Hon. William Morris 135
The Hon. Thomas D'arcy McGee 138
David Allison, M.A., LL.D. 149
The Hon. Thomas Galt 152
The Right Rev. William Bennett
154
Bond, M.A., LL.D.
The Hon. Lemuel Allan Wilmot,
156
D.C.L.
The Hon. Henry Elzear Taschereau 165
The Hon. Alfred Gilpin Jones 167
The Hon. John Norquay 170
The Hon. Sir Richard John
172
Cartwright
The Hon. Theodore Robitaille 175

The Hon. Samuel Hume Blake 177
The Most Rev. Alexandre Antonin
181
Taché
The Hon. James Cox Aikins 191
The Hon. Felix Geoffrion, N.P., P.C. 193
The Hon. John Young 194
The Right Rev. Hibbert Binney, D.D. 200
The Hon. Christopher Finlay Fraser 201
Sandford Fleming, C.E., C.M.G. 203
The Hon. David Lewis Macpherson 206
James Young 209
The Hon. Peter Perry 212
The Hon. Adam Wilson 215
The Hon. Sir Alexander Campbell 217
The Hon. Levi Ruggles Church 220
Charles Lennox, Fourth Duke of
222
Richmond
The Hon. Charles Alphonse
225
Pantaleon Pelletier, C.M.G.
The Hon. William Proudfoot 227
The Hon. John Joseph Caldwell
229
Abbott, B.C.L., D.C.L., Q.C.
The Hon. John Beverley Robinson 231
His Grace Francois Xavier Laval-
233
Montmorency
James Robert Gowan 236
Robert Fleming Gourlay 240

THE EARL OF DUFFERIN.

Top

Of all the many personages who have been sent over from Great Britain
to administer the Government in this country, since Canada first became an
appendage of the British Crown, none has achieved so wide a popularity as
Lord Dufferin. None of his predecessors succeeded in creating so wide a
circle of personal friends, and none has left so many pleasant remembrances
behind him. Lord Dorchester was a Governor, but the area over which his
sway extended was very small as compared with the vast Dominion
embraced within the purview of Lord Dufferin; and the inhabitants in his
day were chiefly composed of the representatives of a single nationality.
Lord Elgin was popular, but the exigencies of his position compelled him to
make bitter enemies; and while every one, at the present day, acknowledges
his great capacity and sterling worth, there was a time when he was
subjected to grievous contumely and shameful indignity. Lord Dufferin, on
the other hand, won golden opinions from the time of his first arrival in
Canada, and when he left our shores he carried with him substantial tokens
of the affection and good-will of the inhabitants. One single episode in his
administration threatened, for a brief space, to interfere with the cordial
relations between himself and one section of the people. His own prudence
and tact, combined with the liberality and good sense of those who differed
from him, enabled him to tide over the critical time; and long before his
departure from among us he could number most of the latter among his
warm personal friends. His Vice-Regal progresses made the lines of his face
and the tones of his voice familiar to the inhabitants of every Province.
Wherever he went he increased the number of his well-wishers, and won
additional respect for his personal attainments. He identified himself with
the popular sympathies, and entered with a keen zest into every question
affecting the public welfare. He will long live in the memory of the
Canadian people as a wise administrator, an accomplished statesman, a

brilliant orator, a genial companion, and a sincere friend of the land which
he was called upon to govern.
He is descended, on the paternal side, from a Scottish gentleman named
John Blackwood, who went over from his native country to Ireland, and
settled in the county Down, towards the close of the sixteenth century. The
family has ever since resided in that county, and has played a not
unimportant part in the political history of Ireland. In 1763 a baronetcy was
conferred upon the then chief representative of the family, who was
conspicuous in his day and generation as a vehement supporter of the Whig
side in politics. In 1800 the head of the family was created an Irish peer,
with the title of Baron Dufferin and Clandeboye. The father of the present
representative was Price, fourth Baron, who succeeded to the title in 1839.
Fourteen years prior to his accession to the title—that is to say, in the year
1825—this gentleman married Miss Helen Selina Sheridan, a
granddaughter of the Right Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan. The
distinguished orator and dramatist, as all the world knows, had a son named
Thomas Sheridan, who inherited no inconsiderable share of his father's wit
and genius. Thomas—better known as Tom—Sheridan, had three daughters,
all of whom were prominent members of English society, and were
conspicuous alike for personal beauty and the brilliancy of their intellectual
accomplishments. One of them was the beautiful Lady Seymour, afterwards
Duchess of Somerset, who presided as Queen of Beauty at the famous
tournament held at the Earl of Eglinton's seat in Scotland, in the month of
August, 1839. Another daughter, the Hon. Mrs. Caroline Norton, won
distinction by her poetical effusions, and by several novels, one of which,
"Stuart of Dunleath," is a work exhibiting a high degree of mental power.
This lady, whose domestic misfortunes formed at one time an absorbing
topic of discussion in England, survived until 1877, having some months
before her death been married to the late Sir W. Stirling Maxwell. The
remaining daughter, Harriet Selina, was the eldest of the three. She, as we
have seen, married Captain Price Blackwood, and subsequently became
Lady Dufferin upon her husband's accession to the title in 1839. She also
won a name in literature by numerous popular songs and ballads, the best
known of which is "The Irish Emigrant's Lament." She was left a widow in
1841, and twenty-one years later, by a second marriage, became Countess

of Gifford. She died in 1867. Her only son, Frederick Temple, the subject of
this sketch, was born at Florence, in Italy, on the 21st of June, 1826.
He received his early education at Eton College, and subsequently at
Christ Church, Oxford. He passed through the curriculum with credit, but
left the University without taking a degree. In the month of July, 1841,
when he had only just completed his fifteenth year, his father's death took
place, and he thus succeeded to the family titles six years before attaining
his majority. During the first Administration of Lord John Russell he
officiated as one of the Lords-in-Waiting to Her Majesty; and again filled a
similar position for a short time a few years later.
One of the most memorable passages in his early career was a visit paid
by him to Ireland during the terrible famine which broke out there in 1846.
Deriving his titles from Ireland, where the greater part of his property is
situated, and being desirous of doing his duty by his tenantry, he had almost
from boyhood paid a good deal of attention to the question of land-tenure in
that country. With a view to extending his knowledge by personal
observation, he set out from Oxford, accompanied by his friend, the Hon.
Mr. Boyle, and went over, literally, to spy out the nakedness of the famine-
stricken land. They for the first time in their lives found themselves face-to-
face with misery in one of its most appalling shapes. They were young,
kind-hearted and generous, and the scenes wherewith they were daily
brought into contact made an impression upon their minds that has never
been effaced. They published an account of their travels under the title of
"A Narrative of a Journey from Oxford to Skibbereen, during the year of the
Irish Famine," and devoted the proceeds of the sale of the narrative to the
relief of the starving sufferers of Skibbereen. The realms of fiction may be
ransacked in vain for anything more truly pathetic and heart-rending in its
terrible, vigorous realism, than is this truthful picture of human privation
and suffering. Upon one occasion, having bought a huge basket of bread for
distribution among the most needy, they were completely besieged as soon
as their intention became known. "Something like an orderly distribution
was attempted," says the narrative, "but the dreadful hunger and impatience
of the poor people by whom the donors were surrounded rendered this
absolutely impossible, and the bread was thrown out, loaf by loaf, from a
window, the struggles of the famished women over the insufficient supply
being dreadful to witness." Of course, all they could do to alleviate the

sufferings in the district was of little avail, but they gave to the extent of
their ability, and the poor, famishing creatures were warmly touched by
their unfeigned and tearful sympathy. When the two gentlemen left the
town, their carriage was followed beyond the outskirts by crowds of
suffering poor who implored the Divine blessing upon their heads. The
publication of the "Narrative," moreover, aroused a general feeling of
philanthropy throughout the whole of England and Scotland, and liberal
contributions were sent over for the benefit of those who stood most in need
of assistance.
The practical knowledge of the condition of the Irish people acquired by
Lord Dufferin during this visit was such as the most diligent study of blue-
books could not have imparted. From this time forward he gave more
attention than ever to the Irish question. It was a question in which he might
well take a deep interest, for he was dependent upon the rent of his estates
in county Down for the bulk of his income. His unselfishness, however, was
signally proved by the stand he took, which was on the side of tenant-right.
He has written and spoken much on the subject, and has contributed more
than his share towards enabling the world to arrive at a just conclusion
respecting it. His public utterances displayed a genuine philanthropy and
breadth of view, mingled, at times, with a quaint and touching humour,
which attracted the attention of every statesman in the kingdom. Twenty
years before Mr. Gladstone's Irish Land Act was passed, its provisions had
been anticipated by Lord Dufferin, and urged upon the attention of the
House of Lords. In an eloquent and elaborate speech delivered before that
Body in 1854 he suggested and outlined nearly every important legislative
reform with reference to Irish Land Tenure which has since been brought
about. A work on "Irish Emigration, and the Tenure of Land in Ireland,"
gave still wider currency to his views on the subject, and it began to be
perceived that the brilliant young Irish peer had ideas well worthy of the
consideration of Parliament. He was created an English baron in 1850, by
the title of Baron Clandeboye.
In politics he was a moderate Whig. The leading members of his party
recognized his high abilities, and thought it desirable to enlist them in the
public service. An opportunity soon presented itself. In the month of
February, 1855, Lord John Russell was appointed as British Plenipotentiary
to the conference to be held at Vienna for the purpose of settling the terms

of peace between Russia and Turkey. Lord John invited Lord Dufferin to
accompany him on the mission as a special attaché. The invitation was
accepted, and Lord Dufferin repaired to the Austrian capital, where he
remained until the close of the ineffectual conference. Soon after his return
to England he determined upon a long yachting tour in the far northern seas,
and in the early summer of 1856 he started on his adventurous voyage. The
chronicle of this expedition, written with graphic force and humour by the
pen of Lord Dufferin himself, has long been before the world under the title
of "Letters from High Latitudes." The voyage, which lasted several months,
was made in the schooner-yacht Foam, and included Iceland, Jan Meyen
and Spitzbergen in its scope. There is no necessity for extended comment
upon a book that has been read by pretty nearly everybody in Canada. Who
is there among us who has not laughed over the account of that marvellous
bird that, as the nights became shorter and shorter, never slept for more than
five minutes at a stretch, without waking up in a state of nervous agitation
lest it might be cock-crow; that was troubled by low spirits, owing to the
mysterious manner in which a fresh member of his harem used to disappear
daily; and that finally, overburdened by contemplation, went melancholy
mad and committed suicide? Or over that extraordinary dog-Latin after-
dinner speech by Lord Dufferin during his stay in the Icelandic capital, as
voraciously recorded in Letter VI.? And who among us has failed to
recognize the graphic power of description displayed in the account of the
Geysers? Or the weird poetic force of "The Black Death of Bergen"? In all
these various kinds of composition the author showed great natural aptitude,
and his book, as a whole, is one of the most interesting chronicles of travel
in our language.
In 1860 Lord Dufferin was for the first time despatched abroad as the
head of an important diplomatic mission. In the summer of that year, Great
Britain, France, Russia and other European powers united in sending an
expedition to Syria to protect the lives and property of Europeans, and to
arrest the further effusion of blood in the threatened conflicts between the
Druses and the Maronites. The immediate occasion of the expedition was a
shocking massacre of Syrian Christians that had recently taken place, and a
recurrence of which was considered highly probable. Turkey professed
inability to deal effectively with the matter, and it became necessary that the
leading European powers should interfere in the cause of humanity. Lord

Dufferin was appointed by Lord Palmerston as Commissioner on behalf of
Great Britain. He went out to Syria, where he remained some months. He
proved himself admirably qualified to discharge a delicate diplomatic
mission, and by his tact, good-nature and popular manners, no less than by
his practical wisdom and good sense, succeeded in effecting a satisfactory
settlement of the matter. As a testimony of the Government's appreciation of
his services he immediately after his return received the Order of a Knight
Commander of the Bath (Civil Division). Another result of his mission was
the publication, in 1867, of "Notes on Ancient Syria," a work which, as its
title imports, smacks more of reading than of observation.
It fell to Lord Dufferin's lot, in December, 1861, to move the address in
the House of Lords, in answer to Her Majesty's Speech from the Throne,
referring to the death of the Prince Consort. The occasion was one upon
which the speaker might be expected to do his best, and the speech made by
him on that occasion drew tears from eyes which had long been
unaccustomed to weep. A perusal of it makes one regret that Lord Dufferin's
legitimate place was not in the other House, where his talent for oratory
would have had an opportunity of growing, and where he would
unquestionably have gained a high reputation as a parliamentary speaker. It
is a simple matter of fact that in the dull, lifeless atmosphere of the House
of Lords, Lord Dufferin's talents were almost thrown away. In the
Commons he would have made a figure, with a nation for his audience.
On the 23rd of October, 1862, he married Harriot Georgina, eldest
daughter of the late Archibald Rowan Hamilton, of Killyleagh Castle,
county Down. This lady, whose lineaments are almost as well known to
Canadians as are those of His Lordship, still survives, and is the happy
mother of a numerous family. In 1863 Lord Dufferin became a Knight of St.
Patrick; and in the following year he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of the
county Down. About the same time he was offered the position of Under-
Secretary of State for India, which he accepted. In 1865 he was subjected to
a searching examination respecting his views on the Irish Land question,
before a Select Committee of the House of Commons. His examination
lasted four days, and his evidence proved of incalculable value in the
framing of the Act of Parliament which was passed before the close of the
session. Several years later he put forth a vigorous pamphlet entitled, "An
Examination of Mr. Mill's Plan for the Pacification of Ireland," in which he

criticised John Stuart Mill's proposal that the landed estates of Irish
landlords should be brought to a forced sale. Lord Dufferin's thorough
knowledge of his subject, added to the fact that his views were sound,
proved too much, even for the Master of Logic, who had made his proposal
without due consideration of the subject, and on an incomplete statement of
the facts.
Lord Dufferin continued to fill the post of Secretary of State for India
until early in 1866, when he was offered the Governorship of Bombay. The
state of his mother's health—she had already begun to sink under the
malady to which she finally succumbed a year later—was such as to forbid
her accompanying him to India, and Lord Dufferin was too affectionate a
son to leave her behind. He was accordingly compelled to decline the
appointment. He accepted instead the post of Under-Secretary to the War
Department, which he retained until the close of Earl Russell's
Administration, in June, 1866. Upon the return of the Liberal Party to
power under Mr. Gladstone, in the end of 1868, Lord Dufferin became
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, a position which he retained up to
the time of his being appointed Governor-General of Canada. He was also
appointed Paymaster-General, and was sworn in as a Member of Her
Majesty's Privy Council. In November, 1871, he was made an Earl and
Viscount of the United Kingdom, under the titles of Earl of Dufferin and
Viscount Clandeboye.
The successive dignities thus heaped upon him are sufficient evidence of
the rising favour with which he was regarded by the Members of the
Government; and as matter of fact he had made great progress in the esteem
of the leading members of his Party generally. On the 22nd of May, 1872,
he received the appointment which was destined to give Canadians a special
interest in his career—that of Governor-General of the Dominion of
Canada.
By the great mass of Canadians the news of this appointment was
received with a feeling very much akin to indifference. The fact is that,
except among reading men, and persons intimately familiar with the
diplomatic history of Great Britain during the preceding twenty years, the
name of Lord Dufferin was entirely unknown in this country. A few middle-
aged and elderly persons remembered that an Irish peer named Lord

Dufferin had made an eloquent speech on the death of the Prince Consort.
Others remembered that a peer of that name had done something
noteworthy in Syria. A few had read or heard of "Letters from High
Latitudes;" but not one of us suspected that the new Governor-General was
destined to be the most popular representative of Great Britain known to
Canadian history. It was not suspected that, for the first time during many
years, we were to have at the head of our Administration a statesman of
deep sympathies and enlarged views; a nobleman combining elegant
learning and brilliant powers of oratory with a tact and bonhomie which
would win for him the friendship and respect of Canadians of all social
ranks, and of all grades of political opinion. By many of us the office of a
Governor-General in Canada had come to be looked upon as a sort of
sinecure; as a part which any man not absolutely a dunce is capable of
playing. We regarded the Governor-General merely as the Royal
representative; as a figurehead whose duties consist of doing as he is bid.
He has responsible advisers who prescribe for him a certain line of action,
and all he has to do is to obey. When his Cabinet loses the confidence of
Parliament, he either sends them about their business or accepts their
resignation. The successors selected for him by the dominant majority are
accepted as a matter of course, and everything goes on da capo. This, or
something like this, was the way we had learned to estimate the powers and
functions which Lord Dufferin was coming among us to discharge. It was
reserved for him to give us a juster appreciation of the position of a
Canadian Governor-General. The lesson learned by us during the six years
of his residence among us is one that Canadians will not soon forget. The
learning of it has perhaps made us unduly exacting, and it would have been
most unfortunate had his successor been chosen from the ranks of
respectable mediocrity whence Colonial Governors are not unfrequently
selected. Happily the choice fell upon a gentleman whose character and
attainments bear some affinity to those of his predecessor, and the dignity
and respect due to the Governor-General are not likely to suffer
depreciation while the office remains in his hands.
There was one circumstance which led many Canadians to look upon the
appointment of Lord Dufferin with no friendly eyes. He had been appointed
by the Gladstone Government, and the Gladstone Government had
manifested a disposition to treat Canada rather cavalierly. Canadian

interests had not been very efficiently cared for at the negotiation of the
Treaty of Washington, and there had been a good deal of diplomatic
correspondence between the Canadian and Imperial Governments, in which
the latter had pretty clearly intimated that Canada's separation from the
Mother Country would not be regarded as an irreparable loss to the Empire
at large. The London Times openly advocated such a separation, and it was
known to speak the sentiments of persons high in power. It was even
conjectured by some of the more suspicious that Lord Dufferin had been
appointed for the express purpose of carrying out an Imperial project for a
separation between Canada and Great Britain. Had His Lordship been a
weak or commonplace man he would most probably have had a very
uncomfortable time of it in Canada. He was neither weak nor
commonplace, however, and he began to be popular from the very hour of
his arrival in the country. By the time he had been six months among us
everyone spoke well of him; and long before his administration came to an
end he had gained a firm hold on the hearts of the people throughout the
length and breadth of our land.
He arrived at Quebec on the 25th of June, 1872. During the same day he
was sworn in as Governor-General, and two days later reached his seat of
Government at Ottawa. There is no need to describe in minute detail the
various events which characterized his administration. Those events are still
fresh in all our memories, and have been recorded at full length by two
Canadian authors—Mr. Stewart and Mr. Leggo—in works to which
everyone has access. For these reasons it is considered unnecessary to give
more than a brief summary in these pages.
During the summer of 1872 Lord Dufferin made the first of his
memorable Vice-Regal tours, visiting Toronto, Hamilton, London, Niagara
Falls, and other places of interest in the Province of Ontario. To say that he
made a marvellously favourable impression wherever he went is simply to
say what everybody knows, and what might equally be said of all his
subsequent progresses through the Dominion. There was a general election
during the summer and autumn of this year, and an opportunity was thus
afforded His Excellency for observing the working of our political
institutions at such a time.

The result of the elections was a majority in favour of Sir John A.
Macdonald's Ministry. Parliament met in the following March, and on the
2nd of April Mr. Huntington made his serious, and now historic, charge
against the Government, in connection with the granting of the Pacific
Railway Charter, and the corrupt sale to Sir Hugh Allan. A motion was
made for a committee of investigation, but was voted down as a motion of
want of confidence in the Government. A few days later, Sir John, knowing
that a policy of reticence could not long be available, himself moved for a
committee. The motion was passed, and the committee was appointed, but
was unable to proceed, owing to its inability to take evidence on oath. A
Bill was introduced into the House to give the committee the power
required, and was passed without opposition, but was subsequently
disallowed by the Imperial Government as being ultra vires. Meanwhile the
inquiry was proceeded with; but on the 5th of May, owing to the absence
from the country of three important witnesses—Sir George E. Cartier, Sir
Hugh Allan and the Hon. J. J. C. Abbott—the committee deemed it
advisable to adjourn to the 2nd of July. The ordinary Parliamentary business
had been got through with, and there was no necessity for the House
remaining in session; but, as the committee had no authority to sit during
recess, it was thought desirable that there should be an adjournment of
Parliament instead of a prorogation, until the committee should be prepared
with its report. Accordingly, on the 23rd of May, Parliament adjourned to
the 13th of August, when it was agreed that it should meet expressly for the
purpose of receiving the committee's report, and not for the despatch of
ordinary legislative business. It would thus be unnecessary for the
Governor-General to be present at the formal reassembling, and soon after
the adjournment His Excellency, with his family, started on a projected tour
through the Maritime Provinces. On the 27th of June, while on his travels,
he received a telegram from Lord Kimberley, Secretary for the Colonies in
the Home Government, announcing the disallowance of the "Oaths Bill," as
it was called, viz., the Act authorizing Parliamentary committees to examine
witnesses under oath. He at once gave notice of the disallowance to the
Premier, Sir John A. Macdonald, who made it known to the committee. The
committee was composed of five members, three of whom were supporters
of the Government, and the remaining two of the Opposition. The
Government supporters were the Hon. J. G. Blanchet, the Hon. James
Macdonald (of Pictou), and the Hon. John Hillyard Cameron. The

Opposition members were the Hon. Edward Blake and the Hon. A. A.
Dorion. On the 1st of July a proclamation was issued giving public notice
of the disallowance of the Oaths Bill. The Premier offered to issue a Royal
Commission to the committee, which would enable it to take evidence
under oath, and to demand the production of persons, papers and records.
The proposal was rejected by Messrs. Blake and Dorion, who wrote to the
Premier pointing out to him that the inquiry was undertaken by the House;
that the appointment of a Royal Commission by a Government to
investigate charges against that Government would be an unheard-of and
most unbecoming proceeding; and that the House did not expect the Crown
or anyone else to obstruct the inquiry.
When the Parliament met, pursuant to adjournment, on the 13th of
August, the committee, having been prevented from taking evidence, was
unable to report. A numerously signed memorial was presented to His
Excellency praying that there might be no prorogation of Parliament until
the charges against the existing Government had been subjected to
investigation. His Excellency, however, replied that he felt bound to act on
the advice of his Ministry. His Ministry advised him to prorogue
Parliament, and prorogued it accordingly was. Every Canadian remembers
the tumultuous scene which ensued—a scene almost without parallel in
modern Parliamentary history; a faint reflex of that memorable episode
which took place in the English House of Commons two hundred and
twenty years before.
The next act in the drama was the appointment by His Excellency of a
Royal Commission on his own authority. It was issued to the Hon. C. D.
Day, the Hon. Antoine Polette, and James Robert Gowan, three judges
learned in the law. The commission met, and on the opening of the session
in the following October its report was laid before Parliament. The contents
are familiar to every reader of these pages, and do not form an attractive
subject for extended comment. There could no longer be any doubt as to the
course to be taken by the Premier. A few days afterwards Sir John
Macdonald's Government resigned, and Mr. Mackenzie was called upon to
form a new one. This he soon succeeded in doing, and on the 7th of
November the new Administration took office. As was abundantly proved at
the ensuing elections, the new government had the confidence of the
country.

During the progress of these events, Lord Dufferin was assailed with a
good deal of rancour by one section of the Canadian press. The question
now to be considered is: How far were these assaults justifiable? In other
words: How far, if at all, was Lord Dufferin to blame?
The principal allegations made against him were, that his sympathies all
through this deplorable episode in our political history were with Sir John
Macdonald and his colleagues; that he assisted the latter to postpone and
evade investigation into their conduct; that his partisanship was evinced by
his prompt transmission of the Oaths Bill for Imperial consideration, and by
his subsequent prorogation of Parliament in defiance of the wishes of a
large body of the members.
It must be borne in mind, in considering these matters, that we at the
present day are in a much better position to form a correct opinion
respecting them than Lord Dufferin could possibly be in the summer of
1873. He came to this country an utter stranger to every man in Canadian
public life. He found at the head of affairs a gentleman who had long held
the reins of power; who had a very wide circle of warm personal friends;
who was regarded with affectionate loyalty by his Party; and whose
Government enjoyed an overwhelming support in Parliament. With such a
support at its back, the Government might reasonably lay claim to
possessing the confidence of the Canadian people, and, possessing such
confidence, it was entitled to the confidence of Her Majesty's
Representative. There was, moreover, a manifest disposition on the part of
some opponents of the Government to make the most of any little
shortcomings of which Ministerialists might be guilty. One of the most
virulent of the Opposition, a man whose own character could not be said to
be wholly above reproach, made certain wild charges against the
Government. These charges were so utterly monstrous and incredible that
any man of probity might reasonably refuse to believe them until they were
proved to be true by the most irrefutable evidence. Such evidence was not
forthcoming. The head of the Government hurled back the charges in the
teeth of the man who had made them; pronounced the latter a slanderous
calumniator; protested that his own hands were clean; and called upon his
Maker to bear witness to the truth of his avowal. His conduct was not unlike
that of an honest man smarting under a strong sense of injustice. He
professed to court inquiry, and while he treated Mr. Huntington's motion as

one of want of confidence in the Government, and triumphantly voted it
down, he himself came forward with his motion for a committee. Both from
his place in the House, and to the Governor-General in person, he continued
to protest before God that there was no shadow of foundation for the
charges made against him. He spoke of his acquittal as a matter which did
not admit of a moment's question. Under these circumstances, is it any
wonder if Lord Dufferin refused to believe vague and unsubstantiated
charges from such a source; charges which might well have excited
incredulity by the very depth of their blackness? Is it to be wondered at,
even if His Lordship sympathized with those whom he believed to have
been so shamefully maligned, and who seemed so anxious to set themselves
right before the country? Such was the state of affairs when Parliament was
adjourned on the 23rd of May.
With regard to the prompt transmission to England of the Oaths Bill, His
Excellency simply complied with his official instructions, and with the
Union Act, which requires the Governor-General to transmit "by the earliest
convenient opportunity" all Acts of Parliament to which he has assented on
Her Majesty's behalf. His Excellency's despatch to the Imperial Secretary of
State for the Colonies, dated 15th August, 1873, puts this matter very
clearly. It shows that he understood and was prepared to do his duty, no
matter what might be said by Opposition members, and no matter how
scurrilous might be the attacks of hostile newspapers. "Amongst other
respects," says the despatch, "in which my conduct has been criticised, the
fact of my having communicated to you by the first opportunity a certified
copy of the Oaths Bill, has been a very general point of attack. I apprehend
it will not be necessary to justify myself to your Lordship in this particular.
My law-adviser had called my attention to the possibility of the Bill being
illegal. Had perjured testimony been tendered under it, no proceedings
could have been taken against the delinquent, and if, under these
circumstances, I had wilfully withheld from the Home Government all
cognizance of the Act, it would have been a gross dereliction of duty. To
those in this country who have questioned my procedure it would be
sufficient to reply that I recognize no authority on this side of the Atlantic
competent to instruct the Governor-General as to the nature of his
correspondence with Her Majesty's Secretary of State." The assertion so
often made, to the effect that the Law Officers of the Crown in England

were improperly influenced to advise a disallowance of the Bill, is in itself
utterly preposterous, and no attempt, so far as we know, has ever been made
to bring forward any proof of it.
There remains for consideration the prorogation of Parliament on the
13th of August.
Before the adjournment on the 23rd of May, as we have seen, it had been
understood that Parliament should meet only to receive the committee's
report, and not for the despatch of ordinary business. It had not even been
considered necessary that His Excellency should attend. During his absence
in the Maritime Provinces, however, the famous McMullen correspondence
had appeared in print, and this, together with other circumstances which had
come to his knowledge, had made him resolve to be present at the
reassembling of Parliament. The attendance of Government supporters was
not large, very few, if any, being present from outlying constituencies. The
Opposition on the other hand, was fully represented, and was eager for the
battle, which was regarded as inevitable. It soon appeared that there was
nothing to be done. Owing to the disallowance of the Oaths Bill there was
no report from the committee. In the estimation of His Excellency, to
proceed with the investigation, as the Opposition members were desirous of
doing, would under these circumstances have been to place the Ministry at
an unfair disadvantage. A considerable number of its supporters were
absent, whereas the Opposition was in full force. It has been charged upon
the Ministry that this was part of their tactics, and that the absentees were
acting under the orders of their Chief in remaining at home. This is another
of those loose, sweeping assertions which may be true, but the truth of
which has not been proved. That unhappy Ministry has enough to answer
for at the Bar of History, without being called upon to refute charges which
have never been substantiated by evidence. In any case, no fair-minded
person will wish to hold the Governor-General responsible for such tactics.
His position was one of no ordinary difficulty. Very damnatory
correspondence had been given to the world, but it was not in such a shape
that the House could possibly regard it as free from suspicion. The most
serious charges seemed to point rather to the guilt of Sir Hugh Allan and
McMullen than to that of the Members of the Government. The charges
directly affecting the Government were solemnly and emphatically
repudiated by the Premier, who pledged himself to explain the matter under

oath to the satisfaction of the whole world, as soon as a properly constituted
tribunal should be appointed, with authority to take evidence under oath. Sir
Hugh Allan published a sworn affidavit, negativing McMullen's charges,
and McMullen himself had subsequently admitted that his charges had been
hasty and inaccurate. The latter, moreover, was evidently a man whose
character was not such as to inspire respect. The Government could still
command a majority of votes in the House. Under such circumstances, can
His Excellency be blamed if he continued to act upon the advice of his
constitutional advisers by proroguing Parliament? He was determined,
however, that there should be no unnecessary delay, and exacted as a
condition of adopting that course that parliament should be convened with
all imaginable expedition. His reply to the memorial presented by the
Opposition is so much to the point that we cannot do better than abridge a
portion of it. "You urge me," says His Excellency, "on grounds which are
very fully and forcibly stated, to decline the advice which has been
unanimously tendered me by my responsible ministers, and to refuse to
prorogue Parliament. In other words, you require me to dismiss them from
my councils; for you must be aware that this would be the necessary result
of my assenting to your recommendation. Upon what grounds would I be
justified in taking so grave a step? What guarantee can you afford me that
the Parliament of the Dominion would endorse such an act of personal
interference on my part? You yourselves do not form an actual moiety of
the House of Commons, and I have no means of ascertaining that the
majority of that body subscribe to the opinion you have enounced. . . It is
true, grave charges have been preferred. . . but the truth of these remains
untested. . . Is the Governor-General, upon such evidence as this, to drive
from his presence gentlemen who for years have filled the highest offices of
State, and in whom, during the recent session, Parliament has repeatedly
declared its continued confidence?. . . Certain documents of grave
significance have lately been published in the newspapers, but no proof has
been adduced which necessarily connects them with the culpable
transactions of which it is asserted they formed a part. . . Under these
circumstances, what right has the Governor-General, on his personal
responsibility, to proclaim. . . that he believes his ministers guilty of the
crimes alleged against them?"

Such were the circumstances under which the prorogation of the 13th of
August, 1873, took place. Looking back on it, in the light of the seven years
which have since elapsed, it will be hard to arrive at any other conclusion
than that Lord Dufferin did not deserve the animadversions which were
heaped upon him. As he himself observed in his despatch to the Colonial
Secretary two days after the prorogation: "It is a favourite theory at this
moment with many persons that when once grave charges of this nature
have been preferred against the Ministry they become ipso facto unfit to
counsel the Crown. The practical application of this principle would prove
very inconvenient, and would leave not only the Governor-General, but
every Lieutenant-Governor in the Dominion very thinly provided with
responsible advisers; for, as far as I have been able to seize the spirit of
political controversy in Canada, there is scarcely an eminent man in the
country on either side whose character or integrity has not been, at one time
or another, the subject of reckless attack by his opponents in the press." In a
word, he acted on the well-established principle that every man is to be
adjudged innocent until he has been proved guilty; and in so acting he
showed that he understood the responsibilities of his position. That his
Ministers were culpable, as well as unwise, in advising the prorogation, is
certain; and when the next elections came on they paid the penalty of their
disingenuousness.
The events of Lord Dufferin's residence in Canada subsequent to the fall
of the Macdonald Ministry, which has already been reviewed, must be
given in few words. The political events by which his administration was
characterized have been given at sufficient length in sketches to which they
more properly belong. The Mackenzie Administration had not been long in
power before each individual member of it was on friendly terms with the
Governor-General, and there seems to have been a tacit understanding that
all past differences of opinion should be forgotten. In the summer of 1874
His Excellency and suite made a tour through the Muskoka District, and
thence westward by steamer over lakes Huron, Superior and Michigan. The
tourists called at most of the interesting points on the route, including
Chicago, where they disembarked, and returned overland by way of Detroit.
All the most important towns in Ontario were then visited, and the party
returned home to Ottawa in September, after an absence of about two
months. It was during his sojourn in Toronto, while on his return from this

expedition, that Lord Dufferin made his famous speech at the Toronto Club,
which aroused the enthusiasm of the press on both sides of the Atlantic. A
part of the summer and autumn of each succeeding year was spent by His
Excellency in making other tours through the various Provinces of the
Dominion. The last important one was made in 1877, and consisted of a
pilgrimage through Manitoba and part of the District of Keewatin. In 1875
he also visited Ireland, and in 1876 attended the Centennial Exhibition at
Philadelphia. Wherever he went, his visits were marked by a continual
round of ovations. Lady Dufferin generally accompanied him on his
excursions, and contributed not a little by her personal graces and
accomplishments to the popularity of her lord. Perhaps the most marvellous
thing about him is his ability to make an eloquent speech on any given
topic, without ever repeating himself, and without descending to platitudes
or commonplaces. He has always something to say which is appropriate to
the particular occasion, and the special circumstances in which he happens
to be placed. The quick perception and ready wit begotten of his Irish blood
never fail him. Each of his replies to the thousand-and-one addresses which
at one time and another have been presented to him has a merit of its own,
has an application purely local, and is unlike all the others. His more serious
utterances are marked not less by maturity of statesmanship than by
brilliancy of imagination. It would be faint praise to say of him that as an
orator he stands alone on the long roll of Canadian Governors. There has
been no other who is even worthy of being named as second to him. It has
been truly said of his speeches that they are "warm with the light of hope,
brimful of sympathy for the toiling and the struggling, sparkling with
humour, and moving with pathos."
As the term of his residence among us drew towards its close the
Canadian people began to realize how much they liked him. Addresses
poured in upon him from every corner of the Dominion, many of which, at
least, could only have had their origin in sincere esteem and hearty good-
will. When, on the 19th of October, 1878, he took his final departure from
among us,

“High hopes pursued him from the shore,
And prophesyings brave,”

for it was felt that, if his life and health were spared the record of his
future would not belie the record of his past. It was predicted that the man
whose consummate tact, noble courtesy and largeness of heart had done so
much to strengthen the ties between Great Britain and her Colonies would
render further important services to his Sovereign and to the nation. That
prediction has already been fulfilled. The effects of his mission to Russia
have been made apparent in improved relations between the courts of St.
Petersburg and St. James. In truth, no better antidote to the "spirited Foreign
policy" of the late British Government could have been devised than the
enrolment of Lord Dufferin in the diplomatic service.
Since his departure for Russia it is said that the Vice-royalty of Ireland
and of India have both been tendered to and declined by him.

THE REV. ROBERT FERRIER BURNS.

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Dr. Burns was born at Paisley, Scotland, on the 23rd of December, 1826.
After spending a term of four years at the Public Grammar School of that
town, he was entered as a student at the University of Glasgow in the month
of November, 1840, before he had quite completed his fourteenth year. He
remained at that seat of learning four sessions, during which he achieved
high standing in his classes, and carried off several prizes, including two in
Latin. He stood third in Greek, second in Logic, and first in Moral
Philosophy. While attending the University he had for associates Principal
McKnight, of Halifax, the Rev. William Maclaren, of Blairlogie, and the
late Rev. John Maclaren, of Glasgow. In 1844-5 he attended New College,
Edinburgh, during the second session of its existence, and sat at the feet of
Drs. Chalmers, Cunningham and Duncan. He had meanwhile resolved on
emigrating to Canada, and on the 29th of March, 1845, he sailed from
Greenock for Quebec. He made his way to Toronto, where he attended two
sessions at Knox College, having for his contemporaries there Dr. Black, of
Manitoba, and the late Rev. James Nisbet, of the Prince Albert Mission.
During his collegiate career he acted as Student Catechist, and preached as
a volunteer at Proudfoot's Mills, and also at Oakville. During the summer of
1846 he laboured to good purpose at Niagara. In April, 1847, he was
licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Toronto, and on the first of July
following he was ordained as first pastor of Chalmers Church, Kingston.
During his residence at Kingston he officiated for a year as Chaplain to the
Forty-first Regiment of Highland Infantry.
On the 1st of July, 1852, he married Miss Elizabeth Holden, a daughter
of Dr. Rufus Holden, of Belleville, and a sister of the wife of Professor
Gregg, of Toronto. By this lady he now has a family of eight children,
consisting of four sons and four daughters. After a pastorate of exactly eight

years he left Kingston on the 5th of July, 1855, and settled at St. Catharines
as first pastor of the United Church. He remained there nearly twelve years,
during eight of which he also had charge of a congregation at Port
Dalhousie, four miles distant. During his ministry at St. Catharines the new
church now known as Knox Church was erected, and his congregation
subsequently worshipped there. In 1862 he took a conspicuous part in
starting Sabbath School Conventions in this country, which have since been
attended by many blessings to the young. In the month of July, 1866, the
degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by Hamilton College,
near Utica, in the State of New York, the leading literary institution of the
New School of Presbyterians in that State. On the 20th of March, 1867, he
became first pastor of the First Scotch Presbyterian Church in Chicago,
which then and for some years thereafter belonged to the Canadian Church.
During his incumbency of this charge he received several calls from various
churches, all of which were declined. His Chicago pastorate lasted three
years, during which the membership of his church trebled in number, and a
fine new church was erected by the congregation on the corner of Adams
and Sagamore Streets. In October, 1867, he accompanied the Rev. D. L.
Moody, the Evangelist, from Chicago to Toronto, on the occasion of the
first sitting of the Young Men's Christian Association Convention in the
latter city. In the beginning of May, 1870, he returned to Canada, and was
inducted into the pastorate of Cote Street Church, Montreal, where Dr.
Fraser and the present Principal McVicar had previously ministered. Here
he remained five years.
On the 18th of March, 1875, he was settled over Fort Massey Church,
Halifax, of which the Rev. J. K. Smith, of Galt, had been for two years
pastor. Here Dr. Burns has ever since remained. The congregation has since
its commencement discarded pew rents, and has been conducted on the
weekly free-will-offering system, the offertory being collected at the church
door. Their annual givings to church purposes are said to exceed $100 for
each family. He was Moderator of the Synod of Montreal in 1873, and also
Chairman of the Montreal College Board; and on his removal to Halifax he
was elected to the same post there, which he still fills. During the session of
1877 he delivered special courses of lectures before the Montreal and
Halifax students, and in 1878 these were followed up by a second special
course in the Halifax College. In 1877 he was associated with Principal

Grant and others in pushing forward the $100,000 College Endowment
Fund.
Dr. Burns is also known as an author. As early as 1854 he contributed to
the Anglo-American Magazine, published in Toronto; and several years later
to the Presbyterian Magazine. In 1857 he published "The Progress and
Principles of Temperance Reform;" and in 1865, in conjunction with the
Rev. Mr. Norton, of St. Catharines, "Maple Leaves for the Grave of
Abraham Lincoln." In 1872 he wrote and published his most voluminous
work, "The Life and Times of Dr. Robert Burns, of Toronto." This work
passed through three editions, and was a decided success. His other works
are chiefly pamphlets, sermons, and short fugitive pieces.
At the meeting of the General Assembly held at Ottawa in 1879 Dr.
Burns was one of the eight clerical delegates elected to attend the General
Presbyterian Council, to be held in Philadelphia during the present year.
Last summer he attended the Sunday School Celebration held in London,
England, to commemorate the founding of Sunday Schools by Robert
Raikes, in Gloucester, a century ago.

Albert Norton Richards, signed as A.N. Richards

THE HON. ALBERT NORTON RICHARDS,

LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.

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Mr. Richards is the youngest son of the late Mr. Stephen Richards, of
Brockville, and a brother of the Hon. William Buell Richards, ex-Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court of the Dominion, a sketch of whose life
appeared in the first volume of this series. Some account of the family
history is contained in the sketch alluded to. Albert Norton Richards was
born at Brockville, Upper Canada, on the 8th of December, 1822. Like his
elder brothers, William and Stephen, he received his early education at the
famous Johnstown District Grammar School, and embraced the legal
profession as his calling in life. He studied law in the office of his brother
William, with whom he entered into partnership after his call to the Bar in
Michaelmas Term, 1848. Though perhaps somewhat less conspicuous at the
Bar than his partner, he took a high position, and was distinguished for the
acumen and soundness of judgment which seem to be inherent in every
member of his family. After his brother's elevation to the Bench, he himself
continued to practise at Brockville. His business was large and profitable.
He took a keen interest in politics, and was identified with the Reform
Party. He did not seek Parliamentary distinction, however, until the year
1861, when he was an unsuccessful candidate for the representation of
South Leeds in the Legislative Assembly of Canada—his successful
opponent being Mr. Benjamin Tett. At the general election of 1863 he again
offered himself in opposition to the same candidate, and on this occasion
was returned at the head of the poll. In the month of December following he
accepted office in the Sandfield Macdonald-Dorion Administration, as
Solicitor-General for the Upper Province. He was at the same time created a
Queen's Counsel. Upon returning to his constituents for reëlection, after

accepting office, he was compelled to encounter the full strength of the
Conservative Party. The Government of the day existed by a mere thread,
their majority averaging one, two and three, and it was felt that if Mr.
Richards could be defeated the Government must resign. The constituency
of South Leeds was invaded by all the principal speakers and agents of the
Conservative Party, headed by the Hon. John A. Macdonald and the late Mr.
D'Arcy McGee, and no stone was left unturned to defeat the new Solicitor-
General. The result was the defeat of the latter by Mr. D. Ford Jones, the
Conservative candidate, by a majority of five votes. Mr. Richards, after the
resignation of the Government, remained out of public life until 1867, when
he unsuccessfully contested his old seat for the House of Commons with the
late Lieutenant-Governor Crawford, the latter being elected by a majority of
thirty-nine. In 1869 Mr. Richards was offered by the Government of Sir
John Macdonald the office of Attorney-General in the Provincial
Government which Mr. Macdougall, as Lieutenant-Governor of the
Northwest Territories, was about to establish at Fort Garry. Mr. Richards
accepted the office, and accompanied Mr. Macdougall on his well-known
journey, until stopped by Louis Riel at Stinking River. In the following year
he visited British Columbia on public business, and in 1871 he again visited
that Province, this time for the benefit of the health of his children, eight of
whom he had lost by death during his residence at Brockville. At the
general election of 1872, Mr. Richards made another and a successful
appeal to the electors of South Leeds, and was returned to the House of
Commons. He held his seat until January, 1874; when, being absent from
the country, on a visit to British Columbia, he was unable to return in time
to be nominated for his old constituency, and South Leeds became lost to
the Reform Party. Mr. Richards continued to reside in British Columbia,
and for several years was the official Legal Agent of the Dominion
Government in that Province. He took an active part in endeavouring to
bring about various much-needed law reforms, as to several of which he
was ultimately successful. On the 29th of July, 1875, he was appointed
Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, a position which he has ever since
held. His sterling qualities have obtained recognition, and he has won great
popularity.
He has been twice married. His first wife, whom he married on the 17th
of October, 1849, was Frances, daughter of the late Benjamin Chaffey,

formerly of Staffordshire, England. This lady died in April, 1853. On the
12th of August, 1854, he married Ellen, daughter of the late John Cheslett,
also of Staffordshire. His second wife still survives.

THE RIGHT REV. JOHN TRAVERS LEWIS,
LL.D.,

BISHOP OF ONTARIO.

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Bishop Lewis is a son of the John Lewis, M.A., who was formerly
Rector of St. Anne's, Shandon, Cork, Ireland; and grandson of Mr. Richard
Lewis, who was an Inspector-General of Revenue in the south of Ireland.
He is himself an Irishman by birth and education, but has passed the last
thirty years of his life in Canada. He was born in the county of Cork, on the
20th of June, 1825. He received private lessons from his father, and
afterwards obtained his more advanced education at Trinity College,
Dublin. He enjoyed a somewhat brilliant career at the University. He
obtained honours both in classics and mathematics during his course as an
undergraduate; and upon graduating, in 1846, he was gold medallist and
senior moderator in ethics and logic. His degree of LL.D. was received, we
believe, from his alma mater. He was intended for the Church from
boyhood, and was ordained Deacon in 1848, at the Chapel of Christ's
College, Cambridge, by the Lord Bishop of Chester. He was soon
afterwards ordained Priest by the Lord Bishop of Down, and became Curate
of the parish of Newtownbutler, celebrated in Irish annals for the victory
gained by the colonists over King James's troops in 1689. He did not long
occupy that position, but resigned it in 1850, and came over to this country,
where, soon after his arrival, he was appointed by the late Bishop Strachan
to the parish of Hawkesbury, in the county of Prescott. Upon settling down
in his parish he married Miss Anne Harriet Margaret Sherwood, a daughter
of the late Hon. Henry Sherwood, a Canadian legislator who sat in the old
Assembly from 1843 to 1854, and who held office as Solicitor-General and

Attorney-General for Canada West, respectively, in the Ministry of Mr.
Draper, during the régime of Sir Charles Metcalfe and Earl Cathcart.
After officiating in Hawkesbury for four years, Mr. Lewis was appointed
Rector of Brockville, where he remained until his election, in 1861, to the
position which he now occupies. The seven years passed in the rectory at
Brockville must have been busy ones, as we find numerous published
sermons and pamphlets from his pen during this time. His sermons and
writings generally are marked by much learning, and by an evident
fondness for dialectics. Some of them have received high praise from the
reviewers. One of them, entitled "A Plain Lecture to Enquirers into the
meaning of the Liturgy," was thus characterized by the American Quarterly
Church Review: "As an argument for Liturgical worship, and an answer to
popular objections to the Prayer-book, this is one of the most valuable
works we have ever seen." Other tracts of his have also been highly praised
by persons whose praise is of value. The best known of his writings are
"The Church of the New Testament;" "Does the Bible need re-translating?"
"The Popular Baptist Argument Reviewed;" and "The Primitive Method of
selecting Bishops;" the last-named production being given to the world in
the Journal of Sacred Literature, published in London, England. During his
residence at Brockville he interested himself actively in various local
matters, sectarian and non-sectarian, and contributed to build up several
important public institutions. He lectured before the Brockville Library
Association and Mechanics' Institute, and did much to extend its
membership and beneficial influence.
The territorial division of the Diocese of Toronto was a project which
began to take shape about the time when the subject of this sketch first
arrived in this country. Up to that time the Diocese of Toronto
comprehended the whole extent of Upper Canada, and was altogether too
large to permit of one man's discharging the duties of the Bishopric with
perfect efficiency, even though that man were endowed with the
tremendous energy and vitality of the late Bishop Strachan. The Diocese of
Huron was in due time set apart and the late Rev. Dr. Benjamin Cronyn was
elected to the Bishopric. In 1861 the eastern division was also set apart as
the Diocese of Ontario, and at the meeting of the Synod held at Kingston in
the summer of that year Mr. Lewis was elected to the office of Bishop. He
was then only thirty-six years of age, and was probably the youngest Prelate

in America. He soon afterwards removed to Kingston, and thence to
Ottawa, where he now resides.
It will thus be seen that the Bishop has had a remarkably successful
career since his arrival in Canada. He devotes himself assiduously to his
official labours, and is held in high veneration by many of the clergymen of
his Diocese. He has a numerous family, and a large circle of attached
friends. His pulpit oratory is marked by fluency and smoothness of rhetoric,
as well as by much learning and depth of thought.

CHARLES, LORD METCALFE.

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In former sketches we have seen how Responsible Government, after
being strenuously contended for during many years in this country, and
after its adoption had been vigorously recommended by Lord Durham,
finally became an accomplished fact. We have seen how Lord Sydenham
was sent over here as Governor-General for the purpose of carrying out the
new order of things, and how, during his administration of affairs, the
Union of the Provinces was finally effected in 1841. The Canadian
Administration was carried on by both Lord Sydenham and his successor,
Sir Charles Bagot, in accordance with the spirit of our new Constitution. In
1841 the Imperial Ministry, under whose auspices this Constitution had
been framed, was deposed, and a Tory Government succeeded to power. In
this Government the late Lord Derby, then Lord Stanley, held the portfolio
appertaining to the office of Colonial Secretary. Soon after Sir Charles
Bagot's resignation of the post of Governor-General, in the winter of 1842,
Sir Charles Metcalfe was selected as his successor. The selection was made
at the instance of Lord Stanley, who had all along been inimical to the
scheme of Responsible Government in Canada, and there is reason for
believing that he entertained the design of subverting it. His selection of Sir
Charles Metcalfe, and his subsequent instructions and general policy,
certainly lend colour to such a belief. The new Governor was a man of
excellent intentions, and of more than average ability, but his previous
training and experience had been such as to render him totally unfit for the
post of a Constitutional Governor.
We can only afford space for a brief glance at his previous career, but
even that brief glance will be sufficient to show how little sympathy he
could be expected to have in colonial schemes of Responsible Government.
He was born at Calcutta, on Sunday, the 30th of January, 1785, a few days

before Warren Hastings ceased to be Governor-General of India. His father,
Major Theophilus Metcalfe, of the Bengal army, was a gentleman of ample
fortune, and a Director in the East India Company. Charles was the second
son of his parents, and was destined at an early age for the Company's
service. He was educated first at a private school at Bromley, in Middlesex,
and afterwards at Eton College, where he remained until he had entered
upon his sixteenth year, when he returned to India. He was appointed to a
writership in the service of the Company, wherein for seven years he filled
various offices, and in 1808 was selected by Lord Minto to take charge of a
difficult mission to the Court of Lahore, the object of which was to secure
the Sikh States, between the Sutlej and Jumna Rivers, from the grasp of
Runjeet Singh. In this mission he fully succeeded, the treaty being
concluded in 1809. He subsequently filled several other high offices of
trust, and in 1827 took his seat as a member of the Supreme Council of
India. Both his father and elder brother had meanwhile died, and he had
become Sir Charles Metcalfe.
In 1835, upon Lord W. Bentinck's resignation, Sir Charles Metcalfe was
provisionally appointed Governor-General, which office he held until Lord
Auckland's arrival in the year following. During this short period he
effected many bold and popular reforms, not the least of which was the
liberation of the press of India from all restrictions. Under his immediate
predecessor, Lord William Bentinck, the press had been as free as it is in
England; but there were still certain laws or orders of a severe character,
which at the pleasure of any future Governor might be called into operation.
These Sir Charles Metcalfe repealed. His doing so gave umbrage to the
Directors, and caused his resignation and return to Europe, when he was
appointed Governor of Jamaica. The difficult duties of this position—the
emancipation of the negroes having but recently occurred—were discharged
by him to the satisfaction of the Government and the colonists. After over
two years' residence the climate proved so unfavourable to his health that he
was compelled to resign. The painful disease of which he afterwards died—
cancer of the cheek—had seized him in a firm grip. Years before this time,
when residing at Calcutta, a friend had one day noticed a red spot upon his
cheek, and underneath it a single drop of blood. The blood was wiped away;
the red spot remained. For a long while it occasioned neither pain nor
anxiety. A little time after his departure from India, disquieting symptoms

appeared, and on his arrival in England he had consulted Sir Benjamin
Brodie; but it was not till his return from Jamaica that it received the
attention it really demanded. Then consultations of the most eminent
surgeons and physicians were held, and the application of a severe caustic
was determined on. When told that it would probably "destroy the cheek
through and through," he only answered, "What you determine shall be
done at once;" and the same afternoon the painful remedy was applied. The
physicians and surgeons of London did what they could for him, and he
retired into the country. The disorder had not been eradicated, but merely
checked. About this time the ill-health of Sir Charles Bagot had rendered
that gentleman's resignation necessary, and the post of Governor-General of
Canada thus became vacant. It was offered to, and accepted by, Sir Charles
Metcalfe. No appointment could have been found for him at that moment in
the whole political world the duties of which were more difficult, when the
nature of his instructions and the peculiar position of the colony are taken
into consideration. Add to this that his whole life had hitherto been passed
in administering governments which were largely despotic in their
character. Responsible Government, as we have seen, had been conceded to
Canada. Sir Charles professed to approve of this concession, but his
conduct throughout the whole course of his administration was at variance
with his professions, and showed that his sympathies were not on the side
of popular rights. He came over in the month of March, 1843, and on the
following day took charge of the Administration. For the composition of the
Government and an account of the situation of affairs in Canada at this time
the reader is referred to the life of Robert Baldwin which has already
appeared in these pages. The circumstances under which the Governor
contrived to embroil himself with the leading members of the
Administration are there given in sufficient detail, and there is no necessity
for repeating them at length in this place. Sir Charles chose his associates
and advisers from among the members of the defunct Family Compact. He
endeavoured to circumscribe the power of the Executive Council, which
demanded that no office should be filled, no appointment made, without its
sanction. We are, argued the members of Council, in the same relation to
the House of Assembly as Ministers in England to the English Parliament.
We are responsible to it for the acts of Government; these acts must be ours,
or the result of our advice, otherwise we cannot be responsible for them.
Unless our demand is complied with, there is no such thing as Responsible

Government. On the other hand, Sir Charles contended that by
relinquishing his patronage he should be surrendering the prerogatives of
the Crown, and should also incapacitate himself and all future Governors
from acting as moderator between opposite factions. It was not long before
an appointment, made by Sir Charles, brought the contest to an issue.
Messrs. Baldwin and Lafontaine, the two leading members of the Executive
Council, urged upon the Governor to retract this appointment, or to promise
that no other should be made without their advice. The Governor was firm
in his refusal. The Executive Council resigned. To form a new Ministry
was, under these circumstances, a most difficult task. Office went begging;
a Solicitor-Generalship was offered to six individuals, and perseveringly
refused by all. But Sir Charles was also persevering in his offers, and at last
a seventh was found, who accepted. At last a weak Ministry was formed,
and then followed a general election. Parliament met at Montreal on the 8th
of November, 1844, when, after a hard fight, Sir Allan Macnab was elected
Speaker of the Assembly by a small majority of three. The debate on the
address, after strong opposition, was carried by a Tory majority of six. The
session dragged on without any change in the character of the Ministry,
which was supported by a small and feeble majority in the Assembly. The
popular feeling against the Governor rose to the highest pitch. Meantime Sir
Charles's terrible malady was rapidly doing its work upon him. He had lost
the use of one eye, the eye which was still useful sympathized with that
which was destroyed; nor was there any hope of the eradication of the
cancer. He had now, to his great regret, to use the hand of another to write
his letters and despatches. He was racked by pains above the eye and down
the right side of the face as far as the chin. The cheek towards the nose and
mouth was permanently swelled. He could not open his mouth to its usual
width, and it was with difficulty he inserted and masticated food. He no
longer looked forward to a cure. His Canadian medical attendants hesitated
to apply the powerful caustic recommended by Sir Benjamin Brodie, and
counselled him to return to England. "I am tied to Canada by my duty," was
his constant reply. Mr. George Pollock, house surgeon of St. George's
Hospital, was despatched from England, to examine the case and apply the
most approved remedies. No aid which science could give was wanting, but
the disease was beyond medical control. Its ravages were now most painful
and distressing. So far as the body was concerned, it was but the wreck of a
man that remained. On this wreck or ruin, however, was to descend, as if in

mockery, the coronet of nobility. He was created Baron Metcalfe. Idle as the
honour was in itself to the childless invalid, it was still a testimony that his
services had been appreciated. "But," says his biographer, "he was dying,
no less surely for the strong will that sustained him, and the vigorous
intellect which glowed in his shattered frame. A little while and he might
die at his post. The winter was setting in—the navigation was closing. It
was necessary at once to decide whether Metcalfe should now prepare to
betake the suffering remnant of himself to England, or to abide at Montreal,
if spared, till the coming spring. But he would not trust himself to form the
decision. He invited the leading members of his Council to attend him at
Monklands; and there he told them that he left the issue in their hands. It
was a scene never to be forgotten by any who were present in the Governor-
General's darkened room on this memorable occasion. Some were dissolved
in tears. All were agitated by a strong emotion of sorrow and sympathy,
mingled with a sort of wondering admiration of the heroic constancy of
their chief. He told them that if they desired his continuance at the head of
the Government—if they believed that the cause for which they had fought
together so manfully would suffer by his departure, and that they therefore
counselled him to remain at his post, he would willingly abide by their
decision." What their decision was need hardly be said. Lord Metcalfe
embarked for England quietly and unostentatiously, as his suffering state
compelled. He could not, from the nature of the struggle in which he had
been engaged, expect to quit the shores of Canada with the same unanimous
approbation that had erected to his memory the "Metcalfe Hall" at Calcutta,
or raised his statue in Spanish Town, Jamaica. He returned to England—
returned to doctors and the darkened room. He was in constant pain except
when under the influence of narcotics; but he made no complaint, and
endured his sufferings with fortitude. He died on the 5th of September,
1846, and was interred in a quiet, private and unostentatious manner in the
little parish church of Winkfield, near Fern Hill. He had often expressed a
wish that this should be his last resting place. On a marble tablet in this
church is an epitaph written by Mr.—afterwards Lord—Macaulay, who
knew and had served with him in India. Thus it runs:—"Near this stone is
laid Charles Theophilus, first and last Lord Metcalfe, a Statesman tried in
many high posts and difficult conjunctures, and found equal to all. The
Three Greatest Dependencies of the British Crown were successively
intrusted to his care. In India his fortitude, his wisdom, his probity, and his

moderation are held in honourable remembrance by men of many races,
languages, and religions. In Jamaica, still convulsed by a social revolution,
he calmed the evil passions which long suffering had engendered in one
class and long domination in another. In Canada, not yet recovered from the
calamities of civil war, he reconciled contending factions to each other and
to the Mother Country. Public esteem was the just reward of his public
virtue, but those only who enjoyed the privilege of his friendship could
appreciate the whole worth of his gentle and noble nature. Costly
monuments in Asiatic and American cities attest the gratitude of nations
which he ruled; this tablet records the sorrow and the pride with which his
memory is cherished by private Affection."
Had it been his good fortune to die before receiving the appointment of
Governor-General of Canada, Sir Charles Metcalfe would have left behind
him a high reputation on all hands, and there would have been nothing to
detract from the praise which would have been justly his due. His tenure of
office in this country was a somewhat inglorious close to a long and useful
public career. As Governor of a colony to which Responsible Government
had been conceded he was altogether out of his element. He was simply
unfit for the position, as well by reason of his personal character as by the
training to which he had been subjected. Good intentions were undoubtedly
his, and he acted up to the light that was in him; but to this modicum of
praise no Canadian writer can justly add much in the way of commendation.

THE HON. ALEXANDER MORRIS.

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Mr. Morris is the eldest son of the late Hon. William Morris, whose
name is prominently identified with the history of the Clergy Reserve and
School Land questions in this country; and a nephew of the late Hon. James
Morris, who held the portfolio of Postmaster-General in the Baldwin-
Lafontaine Administration, and who was subsequently Receiver-General in
the Administration organized under the leadership of Messrs. John
Sandfield Macdonald and Louis Victor Sicotte. The chief points of public
interest connected with the family history are outlined in the sketch of his
father's life, which appears elsewhere in these pages. The subject of the
present memoir was born at Perth, Upper Canada—where his father then
resided and carried on business—on the 17th of March, 1826. In boyhood
he attended the local Grammar School, which enjoyed a high reputation for
the efficiency of its educational training. His father, who was desirous that
his son should enjoy higher scholastic advantages than were then obtainable
in this country, sent him, while he was still in early youth, to Scotland,
where he entered as a student at Madras College, St. Andrews. After
spending about a year at that establishment he was transferred to the
University of Glasgow, where another industrious year was passed.
Returning to his native land, he began to devote himself to the business of
life. He at this time was intended for commercial pursuits, and spent three
years in the establishment of Messrs. Thorne & Heward, commission
merchants, at Montreal. The knowledge and experience gained during these
three years have since proved of great service to him, although he was not
destined to engage in commercial business on his own behalf. He had
meanwhile resolved to enter the legal profession in Upper Canada, and was
accordingly articled as a clerk to Mr.—now the Hon. Sir—John A.
Macdonald, in the office of Messrs. Macdonald & Campbell, Barristers, of
Kingston. Here he studied with such assiduity that his health gave way, and

he was compelled to relinquish his studies for some months. His father
having previously removed to Montreal, he returned to that city and
resumed his scholastic studies in the University of McGill College, where
he took the degrees successively of B.A., M.A., B.C.L., and D.C.L. He was
the first graduate in the Arts course of that institution, and was subsequently
elected by the graduates one of the first Fellows in Arts, and thence was
promoted to be one of the Governors of the University, which position he
held for several years. He entered the office of the then Attorney-General
Badgley, who subsequently became a Judge of the Court of Queen's Bench
in Quebec. He completed his course of studies in the office of Messrs.
Badgley & Abbott, and then proceeded to Toronto, where he presented his
credentials to the Benchers of the Law Society and requested to be called to
the Bar, under the provisions of the law which enabled any person who had
been duly registered as a clerk or student during the necessary period for the
Bar of Lower Canada, to be called to the Bar of Upper Canada, after
passing the necessary examination. He was examined in due course by the
Benchers of Upper Canada, admitted to the degree of Barrister-at-Law, and
was thereafter sworn in as an Attorney—both in Hilary Term of the year
1851. He was then about to establish himself in the practice of the law in
the city of Toronto, having been offered a partnership by the then Attorney-
General, the late Hon. John Ross, when family circumstances led to his
return to Montreal, where, having presented his diploma as a Barrister-at-
Law of Upper Canada, he was after examination called to the Bar of Lower
Canada as an Advocate. In November of the same year he married Miss
Margaret Cline, daughter of the late Mr. William Cline, of Cornwall, and
niece of the late Hon. Philip Vankoughnet, of the same place. He entered
upon the practice of his profession in Montreal. His ability and social
connections soon secured for him a large and lucrative practice, and having
entered into partnership with the present Mr. Justice Torrance, he became
known as one of the most successful practitioners in the Province, devoting
himself mainly to commercial law. Like his father before him, he attached
himself to the Conservative side in politics, and first entered active political
life in 1861, when he contested the constituency of South Lanark, in Upper
Canada, for the Legislative Assembly, in opposition to Mr. John Doran. His
father had represented that constituency for twenty years, and he had no
difficulty in securing his election. Upon the opening of the session he took
his seat in the House, and made his first speech, on the debate on the

Speech from the Throne, which was on the question of Representation by
Population—a measure which he did not believe to be the true remedy for
the unsatisfactory state of things which existed throughout the country. The
true remedy, as he believed, and as he repeatedly urged, both from his place
in Parliament and elsewhere, was the Confederation scheme which was
subsequently adopted. In the negotiations which led to the formation of the
Coalition Government, of which Sir John A. Macdonald and the late Hon.
George Brown were members, and which secured the necessary Imperial
legislation in order to bring about Confederation, he took an active and
initiatory part, as appears by the record of the steps taken to form the
Government, and secure that policy submitted to the Parliament of Canada
at the time. He continued to represent South Lanark in the Assembly until
Confederation, after which he represented it in the House of Commons until
the general election of 1872. He was an active member, and stood high in
the esteem of his Party. In the month of November, 1869, he accepted office
in the then-existing Government as Minister of Inland Revenue, which he
retained until, having resigned his position in the Government owing to
broken health, he received the appointment of Chief Justice of the Court of
Queen's Bench of Manitoba, in July, 1872. Of this office he was the first
incumbent, no Court of Queen's Bench having previously existed there. The
highest judicial tribunal which had existed in the Prairie Province up to that
time was the Quarterly Court, as it was called, organized under the authority
of the Hudson's Bay Company's Charter, and conducted in a rather primitive
way. A short time prior to the date last mentioned this tribunal was
abolished, and the Court of Queen's Bench established in its place. After
accepting the office of Chief Justice, Mr. Morris prepared a series of rules
introducing the English practice into the Court. He did not long retain his
seat on the Judicial Bench, as, two months after his appointment as Chief
Justice, he was nominated as Administrator, in place of Lieutenant-
Governor Archibald, who was absent on leave. On the 2nd of December,
1872, he received the appointment of Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba and
the North-West Territories, a position which he retained for five years. On
the creation of the District of Keewatin he became Lieutenant-Governor of
that territory ex officio. He was also appointed Chief Superintendent of
Indian Affairs in the Manitoba Superintendency, and one of the Special
Commissioners for the making of treaties three, four, five and six, and the
revision of treaties one and two; and, as will be seen from the last report of

the Minister of the Interior, he suggested the making of the last and seventh
treaty—that with the Blackfeet. In the making of these treaties he was the
active Commissioner and chief spokesman, and was very successful in
winning the confidence of the Indian tribes. The treaties in question
extinguished the natural title of the Indian tribes to the vast region
extending from the Height of Land beyond Lake Superior to the Blackfeet
country in the vicinity of the Rocky Mountains, covering the route of the
Canada Pacific Railway, and opening up a vast extent of fertile territory to
settlement. When Mr. Morris assumed the government of Manitoba the
Province was in a very disturbed condition. He had the satisfaction of
leaving it reduced to order, and far advanced in settlement and legislative
progress. On his departure from Manitoba, the Free Press, the organ of the
Liberal Party, thus referred to his career in the North-West: "To-morrow is
the last day of Hon. Alexander Morris's connection with Manitoba as
Lieutenant-Governor. When, five years ago, the announcement was made
that Chief Justice Morris had been appointed to the position which he is
now just about vacating, very general satisfaction was manifested by the
people of the Province. Mr. Morris succeeded to the office when it was
surrounded by difficulties great and complicated; and the task before its
incumbent was by no means an easy one. The Province occupied a most
peculiar position; having just had constitutional self-government thrust
upon it, without any preparatory training. The Lieutenant-Governor
necessarily found himself at the head of a people who, no matter how good
their intentions, could not reasonably be expected to have a very perfect
appreciation of the true position of a Lieutenant-Governor under such a
government. Lieutenant-Governor Morris during the early part of his
official career had plenty of evidence of this, and it devolved upon him, in
no small degree, to impress upon them exactly what such government
entailed—that the Lieutenant-Governor was supposed to act almost solely
upon the advice of the Crown Ministers of the day, who in turn were
responsible to the people's chosen representatives in Parliament. And in no
one way has Governor Morris more distinguished himself than in the
observance of this fundamental principle of our constitution, however much
he may actually have assisted in the government of the country by his ripe
experience and statesmanship. The smallest Province though Manitoba is,
the office of its Lieutenant-Governor has entailed more extensive
responsibilities than that of any other Province in the Dominion."

Upon the completion of his term of office Mr. Morris returned from
Manitoba to his native town of Perth, in Ontario, where he had a residence.
At the last general election for the House of Commons, in 1878, he
contested the constituency of Selkirk, Manitoba, with the Hon. Donald A.
Smith, but was defeated by nine votes. Mr. Smith was, however, unseated
on petition. About two months later the Hon. Matthew Crooks Cameron,
who sat in the Local Legislature of Ontario for East Toronto, was appointed
to a Puisné Judgeship of the Court of Queen's Bench. This left a vacancy in
the representation of East Toronto, and Mr. Morris, who was then a resident
of Perth, was nominated for the vacancy by a Conservative Convention. He
offered himself as a candidate for the constituency, and was elected by a
considerable majority over his opponent, Mr. John Leys. At the general
local elections held on the 5th of June following Mr. Morris was again
returned for East Toronto—of which he had in the interval become a
resident—by a majority of 57 over the Hon. Oliver Mowat, Premier of
Ontario. He continues to represent that constituency, and occupies a
prominent place as a member of the Opposition.
Mr. Morris has also made a creditable name for himself in literature. In
1854 he published a quasi-professional work embodying the Railway
Consolidation Acts of Canada, with notes of cases. In 1855 appeared
"Canada and Her Resources," an essay to which was awarded the second
prize offered by the Paris Exhibition Committee of Canada—the first prize
having been awarded to the well-known essay by the late Mr. John Sheridan
Hogan by Sir Edmund Head, then Governor-General. Three years later—in
1858—he delivered a lecture before the Mercantile Library Association of
Montreal, in which was predicted the federation of the British American
Provinces and the construction of the Intercolonial and Pacific Railways—
subjects to which Mr. Morris had given a good deal of attention ever since,
when a youth, he had read and studied Lord Durham's famous "Report" on
Canada. This lecture was published, in pamphlet form, under the title of
"Nova Britannia; or, British North America, its extent and future," by the
Library Association. It was widely circulated, and attracted a good deal of
attention, not only in this country but in Great Britain and the United States.
No fewer than three thousand copies of it were sold in ten days. A
contemporary notice of this pamphlet thus refers to the author and his
theory: "Mr. Morris is at once statistical, patriotic and prophetic. The

lecturer sees in the future a fusion of races, a union of all the existing
provinces, with new provinces to grow up in the west, and a railway to the
Pacific. The design of the lecture is excellent, and its facts seem to have
been carefully collected." In 1859 Mr. Morris delivered and published
another lecture of a somewhat similar nature, under the title of "The
Hudson's Bay and Pacific Territories," advocating the withdrawal of the
North-West Territories from the rule of the Hudson's Bay Company, and
their incorporation with the Confederacy of Canada along with British
Columbia. His latest work, published during the month of May last, is
entitled, "The Treaties of Canada with the Indians of Manitoba and the
North-West Territories." It gives an account of all the treaties made with
these Indians, from the original one made by Lord Selkirk down to the
present time; contains suggestions for dealing with them, and predicts a
hopeful future for them.
Mr. Morris has for many years taken an active part in the Church Courts
of, first, the Presbyterian Church of Canada in connection with the Church
of Scotland, and since the union of the four Presbyterian Churches of the
Dominion as the Presbyterian Church in Canada, as a representative to the
Assembly of that Church. He has been for twenty years a Trustee of
Queen's College, Kingston, of which his father was one of the active
founders. Mr. Morris actively assisted in bringing about the union of the
Churches above alluded to, affirming it to be in the highest interests of
Presbyterianism and religion in the Dominion that such a consummation
should be brought about.

'

Thomas Talbot, signed as Thomas Talbot

THE HON. THOMAS TALBOT.

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Not often does it fall to the lot of the biographer to chronicle a more
singular piece of history than is afforded by the life of the founder of the
Talbot Settlement in Western Canada. A contemporary writer has proved to
us that Ireland has, at one time and another, contributed her full share of
notable personages to our population; and Colonel Talbot is certainly
entitled to rank among the most remarkable of them all. A man of high birth
and social position, of good abilities, with a decided natural turn for an
active military career, and with excellent prospects of success before him,
he voluntarily forsook the influences under which he had been reared, and
spent by far the greater part of a long life in the solitude of the Canadian
wilderness. He was the early associate and life-long friend of the illustrious
Duke of Wellington. At the outset of their careers, any impartial friend of
the two youths might not unreasonably have predicted a higher and wider
fame for the scion of the House of Talbot than for Arthur Wellesley; for the
former was the brighter, and apparently the more ambitious of the two, and
his connections were at least equally influential. Had any one indulged in
such a vaticination, however, his prediction would have been most
ignominiously falsified by subsequent events. Arthur Wellesley lived to
achieve a reputation second to that of scarcely any name in history. He
became the most famous and successful military commander of modern
times. Nations vied with each other in heaping well-deserved honours upon
his head, and his Sovereign characterized him as "the greatest general
England ever saw." Statesmen and princes hung upon his words, and even
upon his nod; and lovely women languished for his smiles. When he died,
full of years and honours, and everything of good which a grateful nation
has to bestow, his body lay in state at Chelsea Hospital. It was visited by the
high and mighty ones of the Empire, and was contemplated with an almost
superstitious awe. It was finally borne with regal pomp, through streets

draped in mourning, and thronged by a countless multitude, to its final
resting-place in the crypt of the noblest of English cathedrals. The funeral
rites were solemnized amid the tears of a nation, and formed an event in
that nation's history. The obsequies of "the Iron Duke" took place on the
18th of November, 1852. In less than three months from that date his friend
Colonel Talbot also went the way of all flesh. But by how different a road!
His life, though it had by no means been spent in vain, had had little to
commend it to the emulation or envy of mankind. Its most vigorous season
had been passed amid the solitude of the Canadian forest, and in its decline
it had become the prey of selfishness and neglect. Colonel Talbot died in a
small room in the house of a man who had once been his servant. He must
have tasted the bitterness of death many times before he finally entered into
his rest. Neither wife, child, nor relative ministered to his wants. But scant
ceremony was vouchsafed to his remains. His body, instead of lying in
state, was deposited in a barn, and was finally attended to its last obscure
resting-place in a little Canadian village by a handful of friends and
acquaintances. The weather was piercingly cold, and we may be sure that
the obsequies were not unnecessarily prolonged. Surely the force of
antithesis could not much farther go!
And yet, as we review the widely diverse careers of these two
remarkable men, it is difficult to arrive at any other conclusion than that the
result in each case was the legitimate outgrowth of their respective
qualities. Arthur Wellesley, in his earliest boyhood, formed a definite
purpose in life; and that purpose, during all the years of his probation, was
kept constantly in view. Every other passion was kept in due subordination
to it. Fortune was kind to him, and he well knew how to avail himself of her
favours. The acquisition of fame, moreover, bears some analogy to the
acquisition of wealth. The first step is by far the most difficult. Dr. Johnson
once said that any man of strong will has it in his power to make a fortune,
if he can only contrive to tide over the time while he is scraping together the
first hundred pounds. Arthur Wellesley, having got his foot firmly on the
first rung of the ladder, found the rest of the ascent feasible enough. Now,
Thomas Talbot was endowed by nature with a will so strong as almost to
deserve the name of stubbornness, but that was almost the only quality
which he shared in common with his friend. If he ever formed any definite
scheme of life he was certainly very inconsistent in pursuing it. His moods

were as erratic as were those of the hero of Locksley Hall. He was unable to
bring his mind into harmony with the inevitable, and knew not how to
subordinate himself to the existing order of things. Even as an army-officer
he was not always amenable to discipline. The follies and frivolities of
society disgusted him, and his mind early received a warp from which it
never recovered. He lived in a time when there was plenty of work ready to
his hand, if he would but have condescended to take his share of it. The
work, however, was not to his taste, and his ambition seems to have
deserted him at a most inopportune time. He "burst all links of habit,"
withdrew himself from his proper place in the world, and passed the rest of
his days in solitude and obscurity. As the founder of an important settlement
in a new Province, he certainly accomplished some good in his day and
generation. The enterprise, however, does not seem to have been undertaken
with any definite design of accomplishing good, but merely with a view to
securing a more congenial mode of life for himself. That a man reared as he
had been should find anything congenial in such a life is a problem which is
insoluble to ordinary humanity.
The family from which he sprang has long been celebrated both in
English and continental history. Readers of Shakespeare's historical plays
are, it is to be hoped, sufficiently familiar with that "scourge of France" who
was defied by Joan of Arc, and who, with his son, John Talbot, fell bravely
fighting his country's battles on the field of Castillon, near Bordeaux. It
would be difficult for a man to sustain the burden of a long line of such
ancestors as these. It is therefore reassuring to learn that the Talbot line has
been diversified by representatives of another sort. Readers of Macaulay's
History are familiar with the name of Richard Talbot, that noted sharper,
bully, pimp and pander, who haunted Whitehall during the years
immediately succeeding the Restoration; whose genius for mendacity
procured for him the nickname of "Lying Dick Talbot;" who became the
husband of Frances Jennings; who slandered Anne Hyde for the money of
the Duke of York; who, in a word, was one of the greatest scoundrels that
figured in those iniquitous times; and who was subsequently raised by
James II. to the Earldom of Tyrconnel. "Lying Dick" was a member of the
Irish branch of the Talbot family, which settled in Ireland during the reign
of Henry II., and became possessed of the ancient baronial castle of
Malahide, in the county of Dublin. The Talbots of Malahide trace their

descent from the same stock as the Talbots who have been Earls of
Shrewsbury, in the peerage of Great Britain, since the middle of the
fifteenth century. The father of the subject of this sketch was Richard
Talbot, of Malahide. His mother was Margaret, Baroness Talbot; and he
himself was born at Malahide on the 17th of July, 1771.
All that can be ascertained about his childhood is that he spent some
years at the Public Free School at Manchester, and that he received a
commission in the army in the year 1782, when he was only eleven years of
age. Whether or not he left school immediately after obtaining this
commission does not appear, but his education must have been very
imperfect, as he was not of a studious disposition, and in 1786, when he
was only sixteen, we find him installed as an aide-de-camp to his relative
the Marquis of Buckingham, who was then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. His
brother aide was the Arthur Wellesley already referred to. The two boys
were necessarily thrown much together, and each of them formed a warm
attachment for the other. Their future paths in life lay far apart, but they
never ceased to correspond, and to recall the happy time they had spent
together,

“Yearning for the large excitement that
the coming years would yield.”

Young Talbot continued in the position of aide-de-camp for several
years. In 1790 he joined the 24th Regiment, which was then stationed at
Quebec, in the capacity of Lieutenant. We have no record of his life during
the next few months. Upon the arrival of Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe at
Quebec, at the end of May, 1792, Lieutenant Talbot, who had nearly
completed his twenty-first year, became attached to the Governor's suite in
the capacity of private secretary. He continued to form part of the
establishment of Upper Canada's first Lieutenant-Governor until just before
the latter's removal from this country. "During that period," says General
Simcoe, writing in 1803, "he not only conducted many details and
important duties incidental to the original establishment of a colony, in
matters of internal regulation, to my entire satisfaction, but was employed
in the most confidential measures necessary to preserve the country in
peace, without violating, on the one hand, the relations of amity with the
United States; and on the other, alienating the affection of the Indian

nations, at that period in open war with them. In this very critical situation, I
principally made use of Mr. Talbot for the most confidential intercourse
with the several Indian Tribes; and occasionally with his Majesty's Minister
at Philadelphia; and these duties, without any salary or emolument, he
executed to my perfect satisfaction."
It seems to have been during his tenure of office as secretary to
Governor Simcoe that the idea of embracing a pioneer's life in Canada first
took possession of young Talbot's mind. It has been alleged that his
imagination was fired by reading a translation of part of Charlevoix's
"Historie Générale de la Nouvelle France," a work which describes the
writer's own experiences in the wilds of Canada in a pleasant and easy
fashion. This idea is probably attributable to an assertion made by Colonel
Talbot himself to Mrs. Jameson, when that lady visited him during her brief
sojourn in Upper Canada. "Charlevoix," said he, "was, I believe, the true
cause of my coming to this place. You know he calls this the Paradise of the
Hurons. Now I was resolved to get to Paradise by hook or by crook, and so
I came here." It is much more probable, however, that he was influenced by
his own experiences in the Canadian forest, which for him would possess
all the charm of novelty, in addition to its natural beauties. He accompanied
the Lieutenant-Governor hither and thither, and traversed in his company
the greater part of what then constituted Upper Canada. He formed a
somewhat intimate acquaintance with the Honourable William Osgoode, the
first Chief Justice of this Province, who was for some time an inmate of
Governor Simcoe's abode at Niagara—or Newark, as it was then generally
called. The Chief Justice felt the isolation of his position very keenly, and
was doubtless glad to relax his mind by communion with the young Irish
lieutenant, who possessed no inconsiderable share of the humour
characteristic of his nationality, and could make himself a boon companion.
At this time there would seem to have been nothing of the misanthrope
about Lieutenant Talbot. He seemed to take fully as much enjoyment out of
life as his circumstances admitted of. His constitution was robust, and his
disposition cheerful. He was prim, and indeed fastidious about his personal
appearance, and was keenly alive to everything that was going on about
him. He was popular among all the members of the household, and was the
especial friend of Major Littlehales, the adjutant and general secretary,

whose name is familiar to most persons who take an interest in the history
of the early settlement of this Province.
On the 4th of February, 1793, an expedition which was destined to have
an important bearing upon the future life of Lieutenant Talbot, as well as
upon the future history of the Province, set out from Navy Hall[1] to explore
the pathless wilds of Upper Canada. It consisted of Lieutenant-Governor
Simcoe himself and several of his officers, among whom were Major
Littlehales and the subject of the present sketch. The Major kept a diary
during the journey, which was given to the world more than forty years
afterwards in the Canadian Literary Magazine, a periodical of which
several numbers were published in Toronto in 1834. The expedition
occupied five weeks, and extended as far as Detroit. The route lay through
Mohawk village, on the Grand River, where the party were entertained by
Joseph Brant; thence westward to where Woodstock now stands; and so on
by a somewhat devious course to Detroit, the greater part of the journey
being necessarily made on foot. On the return journey the party camped on
the present site of London, which Governor Simcoe then pronounced to be
an admirable position for the future capital of the Province. One important
result of this long and toilsome journey was the construction of Dundas
Street, or, as it is frequently called, "the Governor's Road." The whole party
were delighted with the wild and primitive aspect of the country through
which they passed, but not one of them manifested such enthusiasm as
young Lieutenant Talbot, who expressed a strong desire to explore the land
farther to the south, bordering on Lake Erie. His desire was gratified in the
course of the following autumn, when Governor Simcoe indulged himself
and several members of his suite with another western excursion. During
this journey the party encamped on the present site of Port Talbot, which the
young Lieutenant declared to be the loveliest situation for a dwelling he had
ever seen. "Here," said he, "will I roost, and will soon make the forest
tremble under the wings of the flock I will invite by my warblings around
me." Whether he was serious in this declaration at the time may be doubted;
but, as will presently be seen, he ultimately kept his word.
In 1793 young Talbot received his majority. In 1796 he became
Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifth Regiment of Foot. He returned to Europe,
and joined his regiment, which was despatched on active service to the
Continent. He himself was busily employed during this period, and was for

some time in command of two battalions. Upon the conclusion of the Peace
of Amiens, on the 27th of March, 1802, he sold his commission, retired
from the service, and prepared to carry out the intention expressed by him
to Governor Simcoe nine years before, of pitching his tent in the wilds of
Canada. Why he adopted this course it is impossible to do more than
conjecture. He never married, but remained a bachelor to the end of his
days. One writer ventures the hypothesis that he had been crossed in love.
The only justification, so far as we are aware, for this hypothesis, is a half
jocular expression of the Colonel's some years afterwards. A friend having
bantered him on the subject of his remaining so long in a state of single
blessedness, took an opportunity of questioning him about it, and in the
course of a familiar chat, asked him why he remained so long single, when
he stood so much in need of a help-mate. "Why," said the Colonel, "to tell
you the truth, I never saw but one woman that I really cared anything about,
and she would'nt have me; and to use an old joke, those who would have
me, the devil would'nt have them. Miss Johnston," continued the Colonel,
"the daughter of Sir J. Johnston, was the only girl I ever loved, and she
wouldn't have me."
Whatever cause may have impelled him, it is sufficiently evident that he
had become out of sorts with society, and had resolved to betake himself to
a distance from the haunts of civilized mankind. Aided by the influence of
ex-Governor Simcoe and other powerful friends, he obtained a grant of five
thousand acres of land as a Field Officer meaning to reside in the Province,
and to permanently establish himself there. The land was situated in the
southern part of the Upper Canadian peninsula, bordering on Lake Erie, and
included the site of what afterwards became Port Talbot. This, however, was
only a portion of the advantage derivable from the grant. In addition to the
tract so conferred upon him he obtained a preëmptive or proprietary right
over an immense territory including about half a million acres, and
comprising twenty-eight of the adjacent townships.[2] For every settler
placed by the Colonel on fifty acres of this land, he was entitled to a patent
of a hundred and fifty additional acres for himself. He thus obtained
practical control of an expanse of territory which, as has been said, was "a
principality in extent." Armed with these formidable powers he once more
crossed the Atlantic, and made his way to the present site of Port Talbot,
which had so hugely attracted his fancy during his tour with Governor

Simcoe. He reached the spot on the 21st of May, 1803, and immediately set
to work with his axe, and cut down the first tree, to commemorate his
landing to take possession of his woodland estate. The settlement which
subsequently bore his name was then an unbroken forest, and there were no
traces of civilization nearer than Long Point, sixty miles to the eastward,
while to the westward the aborigines were still the lords of the soil, and
rules with the tomahawk. In this sequestered region Colonel Talbot took up
his abode, and literally made for himself "a local habitation and a name."
At the time of his arrival he was accompanied by two or three stalwart
settlers who had crossed the Atlantic under his auspices, and with their
assistance he was not long in erecting an abode which was thenceforward
known as Castle Malahide. It was built on a high cliff overhanging the lake.
The "Castle" was "neither more nor less than a long range of low buildings,
formed of logs and shingles." The main structure consisted of three
divisions, or apartments; viz., a granary, which was also used as a store-
room; a dining-room, which was also used as an office and reception-room
for visitors; and a kitchen. There was another building close by, containing
a range of bed-rooms, where guests could be made comfortable for the
night. In his later years, the Colonel added a suite of rooms of more lofty
pretensions, but without disturbing the old tenements, and these sumptuous
apartments were reserved for state occasions. There were underground
cellars for wine, milk, and kitchen stores. This description applies to the
establishment as it appeared when finally completed. For some time after
the Colonel's first arrival it was much less pretentious, and consisted of a
single log shanty. In order to prevent settlers and other people from
intruding upon his privacy unnecessarily, the Colonel caused one of the
panes of glass in the window of his office to be removed, and a little door,
swung upon hinges, to be substituted, after the fashion sometimes seen at
rural post-offices. By means of this little swinging door he held conferences
with all persons whom he did not chose to admit to a closer communication.
This, which at a first glance, would seem to smack of superciliousness, was
in reality nothing more than a judicious precaution. In the course of his
dealings with settlers and emigrants, some of them were tempted, by the
loneliness of his situation, to browbeat, and even to manifest violence
towards him. On one occasion, it is said, he was assaulted and thrown down
by one of the "land pirates," as he used to call them. The solitary situation

in which he had voluntarily placed himself, and the power he possessed of
distributing lands, required him to act frequently with apparent harshness,
in order to avoid being imposed upon by land jobbers, and to prevent artful
men from overreaching their weaker-minded brethren. His henchman,
house-steward and major-domo, was a faithful servant whose name was
Jeffery Hunter, in whom his master had great confidence, and who, as we
are gravely informed, was very useful in reaching down the maps. Jeffery,
however, did not enter the Colonel's employ until the later had been some
time in the country. Previous to that time this scion of aristocracy was
generally compelled to be his own servant, and to cook, bake, and perform
all the household drudgery, which he was not unfrequently compelled to
perform in the presence of distinguished guests.
Some years seem to have elapsed before the Colonel attracted any
considerable number of settlers around him. The work of settlement cannot
be said to have commenced in earnest until 1809. It was no light thing in
those days for a man with a family dependent upon him to bury himself in
the remote wildernesses of Western Canada. There was no flouring-mill, for
instance, within sixty miles of Castle Malahide. In the earliest years of the
settlement the few residents were compelled to grind their own grain after a
primitive fashion, in a mortar formed by hollowing out a basin in the stump
of a tree with a heated iron. The grain was placed in the basin, and then
pounded with a heavy wooden beetle until it bore some resemblance to
meal. In process of time the Colonel built a mill in the township of
Dunwich, not far from his own abode. It was a great boon to the settlement,
but was not long in existence, having been destroyed during the American
invasion in 1812. For the first twenty years of the Colonel's settlement, the
hardships he as well as his settlers had to contend with were of no ordinary
kind, and such only as could be overcome by industry and patient
endurance.
Colonel Talbot for many years exercised almost imperial sway over the
district. He even provided for the wants of those in his immediate
neighbourhood, and assembled them at his house on the first day of the
week for religious worship. He read to them the services of the Church of
England, and insured punctual attendance by sending the whiskey-bottle
round among his congregation at the close of the ceremonial. Though never
a religious man, even in the broadest acceptation of the term, he solemnized

marriages and baptized the children. So that his government was, in the
fullest and best sense, patriarchal. His method of transferring land was
eminently simple and informal. No deeds were given, nor were any formal
books of entry called into requisition. For many years the only records were
sheet maps, showing the position of each separate lot enclosed in a small
space within four black lines. When the terms of transfer had been agreed
upon, the Colonel wrote the purchaser's name within the space assigned to
the particular lot disposed of, and this was the only muniment of title. If the
purchaser afterwards disposed of his lot, the vendor and vendee appeared at
Castle Malahide, when, if the Colonel approved of the transaction, he
simply obliterated the former purchaser's name with a piece of india-rubber,
and substituted that of the new one. "Illustrations might be multiplied," says
a contemporary Canadian writer, "of the peculiar way in which Colonel
Talbot of Malahide discharged the duties he had undertaken to perform.
There is a strong vein of the ludicrous running through these performances.
We doubt whether transactions respecting the sale and transfer of real estate
were, on any other occasion, or in any other place, carried on in a similar
way. Pencil and india-rubber performances were, we venture to think, never
before promoted to such trustworthy distinction, or called on to discharge
such responsible duties as those which they described on the maps of which
Jeffery and the dogs appeared to be the guardians. There is something
irresistibly amusing in the fact that such an estate, exceeding half a million
of acres, should have been disposed of in such a manner, with the help of
such machinery, and, so far as we are aware, to the satisfaction of all
concerned. It shows that a bad system faithfully worked is better than a
good system basely managed."[3]
During the American invasion of 1812-'13 and '14, Colonel Talbot
commanded the militia of the district, and was present at the battles of
Lundy's Lane and Fort Erie. Marauding parties sometimes found their way
to Castle Malahide during this troubled period, and what few people there
were in the settlement suffered a good deal of annoyance. Within a day or
two after the battle of the Thames, where the brave Tecumseh met his
doom, a party of these marauders, consisting of Indians and scouts from the
American army, presented themselves at Fort Talbot, and summoned the
garrison to surrender. The place was not fortified, and the garrison consisted
merely of a few farmers who had enrolled themselves in the militia under

the temporary command of a Captain Patterson. A successful defence was
out of the question and Colonel Talbot, who would probably have been
deemed an important capture, quietly walked out of the back door as the
invaders entered at the front. Some of the Indians saw the Colonel, who was
dressed in homely, everyday garb, walking off through the woods, and were
about to fire on him, when they were restrained by Captain Patterson, who
begged them not to hurt the poor old fellow, who, he said, was the person
who tended the sheep. This white lie probably saved the Colonel's life. The
marauders, however, rifled the place, and carried off everything they could
lay hands on, including some valuable horses and cattle. Colonel Talbot's
gold, consisting of about two quart pots full, and some valuable plate,
concealed under the front wing of the house, escaped notice. The invaders
set fire to the grist mill, which was totally consumed, and this was a serious
loss to the settlement generally.
It was not till the year 1817 that anything like a regular store or shop was
established in the settlement. Previous to that time the wants of the settlers
were frequently supplied from the stores of Colonel Talbot, who provided
necessaries for his own use, and for the men whom he employed. The
Colonel was punctual in all his engagements, and scrupulously exact in all
monetary transactions. The large sums he received for many years from the
settlers were duly and properly accounted for to the Government. He would
accept payment of his claims only in the form of notes on the Bank of
Upper Canada, and persons having any money to pay him were always
compelled to provide themselves accordingly. His accumulations were
carefully stored in the place of concealment above referred to; and once a
year he carried his wealth to Little York, and made his returns. This annual
trip to Little York was made in the depth of winter, and was almost the only
event that took him away from home, except on the two or three occasions
when he visited the old country. He was accustomed to make the journey to
the Provincial capital in a high box sleigh, clad in a sheepskin greatcoat
which was known to pretty nearly every man in the settlement.
Among the earliest settlers in the Talbot District was Mr. Mahlon
Burwell, a land surveyor, who was afterwards better known as Colonel
Burwell. He was of great assistance to Colonel Talbot, and became a
privileged guest at Castle Malahide. He surveyed many of the townships in
the Talbot District, and later on rose to a position of great influence in the

Province. His industry and perseverance long enabled him to hold a high
place in the minds of the people of the settlement, and he enjoyed the
reflection of Colonel Talbot's high and benevolent character. He entered the
Provincial Parliament, and for many years retained a large measure of
public confidence. Another early settler in the District was the afterwards
celebrated Dr. John Rolph, who took up his quarters on Catfish Creek in
1813. He was long on terms of close intimacy and friendship with Colonel
Talbot, and in 1817 originated the Talbot Anniversary, to commemorate the
establishment of the District, and to do honour to its Founder. This
anniversary was held on the 21st of May, the Colonel's birthday, and was
kept up without interruption for about twenty years. It was attended by
every settler who could possibly get to the place of celebration, which was
sometimes at Port Talbot, but more frequently at St. Thomas, after that
place came into existence. Once only it was held at London. It is perhaps
worth while mentioning that St. Thomas was called in honour of the
Colonel's Christian name. Here the rustics assembled in full force to drink
bumpers to the health of the Founder of the settlement, and to celebrate "the
day, and all who honour it." The Colonel, of course, never failed to appear,
and even after he had passed the allotted age of three score and ten, he
always led off the first dance with some blooming maiden of the settlement.
Practically speaking, there is no limit to the number of anecdotes which
are rife to this day among the settlers of the Talbot District with respect to
the Colonel's eccentricities and mode of life. On one occasion a person
named Crandell presented himself at Castle Malahide, late in the evening,
as an applicant for a lot of land. He was ushered into the Colonel's presence,
when the latter turned upon him with a flushed and angry countenance, and
demanded his money. The Colonel's aspect was so fierce, and the situation
was so lonely, that Crandell was alarmed for his life, and forthwith
surrendered all his capital. He was then led off by Jeffery to the kitchen,
where he was comfortably entertained for the night. The next morning the
Colonel settled his business satisfactorily, and returned him his money,
telling him that he had taken it from him to prevent his being robbed by
some of his rascally servants. On another occasion a pedantic personage
who lived in the Township of Howard, and who spent much time in
familiarizing himself with the longest words to be found in the Dictionary,
presented himself before the Colonel, and began, in polysyllabic phrases, to

lay a local grievance before him. The language employed was so
periphrastic and pointless that the Colonel was at a loss to get at the
meaning intended to be conveyed. After listening for a few moments with
ill-concealed impatience, Talbot broke out with a profane exclamation,
adding: "If you do not come down to the level of my poor understanding, I
can do nothing for you." The man profited by the rebuke, and commenced
in plain words, but in rather an ambiguous manner, to state that his
neighbour was unworthy of the grant of land he had obtained, as he was not
working well. "Come, out with it," said the Colonel, "for I see now what
you would be at. You wish to oust your neighbour, and get the land for
yourself." After enduring further characteristic expletives, the man took
himself of incontinently. Although many of his settlers were native
Americans, the Colonel had an aversion to Yankees, and used to say of
them that they acquired property by whittling chips and barter—by giving a
shingle for a blind pup, which they swopped for a goose, and then turned
into a sheep. On another occasion, an Irishman, proud of his origin, and
whose patronymic told at once that he was a son of the Emerald Isle,
finding that he could not prevail with the Colonel on the score of being a
fellow-countryman, resorted to rudeness, and, with more warmth than
discretion, stood upon his pedigree, and told the Colonel that his family was
as honourable, and the coat of arms as respectable and as ancient as that of
the Talbots of Malahide. Jeffery and the dogs were always the last resource
on such occasions. "My dogs don't understand heraldry," was the laconic
retort, "and if you don't take yourself off, they will not leave a coat to your
back."
By the time the year 1826 came round, Colonel Talbot, in consequence
of his exertions to forward the interests of his settlement, had begun to be
very much straitened for means. He accordingly addressed a letter to Lord
Bathurst, Secretary for the Colonies in the Home Government, asking for
some remuneration for his long and valuable services. In his application for
relief we find this paragraph: "After twenty-three years entirely devoted to
the improvement of the Western Districts of this Province, and establishing
on their lands about 20,000 souls, without any expense for superintendence
to the Government, or the persons immediately benefited; but, on the
contrary, at a sacrifice of £20,000, in rendering them comfortable, I find
myself entirely straitened, and now wholly without capital." He admitted

that the tract of land he had received from the Crown was large, but added
that his agricultural labours had been unproductive—a circumstance not
much to be wondered at when it is borne in mind that his time was chiefly
occupied in selling and portioning out the land. The Home Government
responded by a grant of £400 sterling per annum. The pension thus
conferred was not gratuitous, but by way of recompense for his services in
locating settlers on the waste lands of the Crown. That he was entitled to
such a recompense few, at the present day, will be found to deny. He was a
father to his people, and, in the words of his biographer, "acted as the friend
of the poor, industrious settler, whom he protected from the fangs of men in
office who looked only to the fees."[4]
In course of time the Colonel's place of abode at Port Talbot came to be a
resort for distinguished visitors to Upper Canada, and the Lieutenant-
Governors of the Province frequently resorted thither. The late Chief Justice
Sir John Beverley Robinson was a frequent and an honoured guest at Castle
Malahide; and Colonel Talbot, in his turn, generally availed himself of the
hospitality of the Chief Justice during his annual visits to Little York.
Among scores of other distinguished visitors may be mentioned the Duke of
Richmond, Sir Peregrine Maitland, Lord Aylmer and Sir John Colborne.
Mrs. Jameson also visited the spot during her sojourn in this country just
before the rebellion, and published the most readable account of it that has
yet appeared. Speaking of the Colonel himself, she says: "This remarkable
man is now about sixty-five, perhaps more, but he does not look so much.
In spite of his rustic dress, his good-humoured, jovial, weather-beaten face,
and the primitive simplicity, not to say rudeness, of his dwelling, he has in
his features, air, and deportment, that something which stamps him
gentleman. And that something which thirty-four years of solitude have not
effaced, he derives, I suppose, from blood and birth—things of more
consequence, when philosophically and philanthropically considered, than
we are apt to allow. He must have been very handsome when young; his
resemblance now to our royal family, particularly to the King, (William the
Fourth,) is so very striking as to be something next to identity. Good-
natured people have set themselves to account for this wonderful likeness in
various ways, possible and impossible; but after a rigid comparison of dates
and ages, and assuming all that latitude which scandal usually allows
herself in these matters, it remains unaccountable. . . I had always heard and

read of him as the 'eccentric' Colonel Talbot. Of his eccentricity I heard
much more than of his benevolence, his invincible courage, his enthusiasm,
his perseverance; but perhaps, according to the worldly nomenclature, these
qualities come under the general head of 'eccentricity,' when devotion to a
favourite object cannot possibly be referred to self-interest. . . Colonel
Talbot's life has been one of persevering, heroic self-devotion to the
completion of a magnificent plan, laid down in the first instance, and
followed up with unflinching tenacity of purpose. For sixteen years he saw
scarce a human being, except the few boors and blacks employed in
clearing and logging his land: he himself assumed the blanket-coat and axe,
slept upon the bare earth, cooked three meals a day for twenty woodsmen,
cleaned his own boots, washed his own linen, milked his cows, churned the
butter, and made and baked the bread. In this latter branch of household
economy he became very expert, and still piques himself on it." Of the
château itself and its immediate surroundings, she says: "It" (the château)
"is a long wooden building, chiefly of rough logs, with a covered porch
running along the south side. Here I found suspended, among sundry
implements of husbandry, one of those ferocious animals of the feline kind,
called here the cat-a-mountain, and by some the American tiger, or panther,
which it more resembles. This one, which had been killed in its attack on
the fold or poultry-yard, was at least four feet in length, and glared on me
from the rafters above, ghastly and horrible. The interior of the house
contains several comfortable lodging-rooms; and one really handsome one,
the dining-room. There is a large kitchen with a tremendously hospitable
chimney. Around the house stands a vast variety of outbuildings, of all
imaginable shapes and sizes, and disposed without the slightest regard to
order or symmetry. One of these is the very log hut which the Colonel
erected for shelter when he first 'sat down in the bush,' four-and-thirty years
ago, and which he is naturally unwilling to remove. Many of these
outbuildings are to shelter the geese and poultry, of which he rears an
innumerable quantity. Beyond these is the cliff, looking over the wide blue
lake, on which I have counted six schooners at a time with their white sails;
on the left is Port Stanley. Behind the house lies an open tract of land,
prettily broken and varied, where large flocks of sheep and cattle were
feeding—the whole enclosed by beautiful and luxuriant woods, through
which runs the little creek or river. The farm consists of six hundred acres;
but as the Colonel is not quite so active as he used to be, and does not

employ a bailiff or overseer, the management is said to be slovenly, and not
so productive as it might be. He has sixteen acres of orchard-ground, in
which he has planted and reared with success all the common European
fruits, as apples, pears, plums, cherries, in abundance; but what delighted
me beyond everything else was a garden of more than two acres, very
neatly laid out and enclosed, and in which he evidently took exceeding
pride and pleasure; it was the first thing he showed me after my arrival. It
abounds in roses of different kinds, the cuttings of which he had brought
himself from England in the few visits he had made there. Of these he
gathered the most beautiful buds, and presented them to me with such an air
as might have become Dick Talbot presenting a bouquet to Miss Jennings.
We then sat down on a pretty seat under a tree, where he told me he often
came to meditate. He described the appearance of the spot when he first
came here, as contrasted with its present appearance, or we discussed the
exploits of some of his celebrated and gallant ancestors, with whom my
acquaintance was (luckily) almost as intimate as his own. Family and
aristocratic pride I found a prominent feature in the character of this
remarkable man. A Talbot of Malahide, of a family representing the same
barony from father to son for six hundred years, he set, not unreasonably, a
high value on his noble and unstained lineage; and, in his lonely position,
the simplicity of his life and manners lent to these lofty and not unreal
pretensions a kind of poetical dignity. . . Another thing which gave a
singular interest to my conversation with Colonel Talbot was the sort of
indifference with which he regarded all the stirring events of the last thirty
years. Dynasties rose and disappeared; kingdoms were passed from hand to
hand like wine decanters; battles were lost and won;—he neither knew, nor
heard, nor cared. No post, no newspaper brought to his forest-hut the tidings
of victory and defeat, of revolutions of empires, or rumours of unsuccessful
and successful war."
The faithful servant, Jeffery Hunter, came in for a share of this clever
woman's keen observation. "This honest fellow," she tells us, "not having
forsworn female companionship, began to sigh after a wife—and like the
good knight in Chaucer, he did.

'Upon his bare knees pray God him to send
A wife to last unto his life's end.'

So one morning he went and took unto himself the woman nearest at
hand—one, of whom we must needs suppose that he chose her for her
virtues, for most certainly it was not for her attractions. The Colonel swore
at him for a fool; but, after a while, Jeffery, who is a favourite, smuggled his
wife into the house; and the Colonel, whose increasing age renders him
rather more dependent on household help, seems to endure very patiently
this addition to his family, and even the presence of a white-headed chubby
little thing, which I found running about without let or hindrance."
In politics Colonel Talbot was a Tory, but as a general rule he took no
part in the election contests of his time. His servant Jeffery Hunter,
however, who seems to have had a vote on his own account, was always
despatched promptly to the polling-place to record his vote in favour of the
Tory candidate. The Colonel was a Member of the Legislative Council, but
he seldom or never attended the deliberations of that Body. During the
Administration of Sir John Colborne, when the Liberals of Upper Canada
fought the battles of Reform with such energy and vigour, the Colonel for a
single campaign identified himself with the contest, and made what seems
to have been rather an effective election speech on the platform at St.
Thomas. He traced the history of the settlement, and referred to his own
labours in a fashion which elicited tumultuous applause from the crowd. He
deplored the spread of radical principles, and expressed his regret that some
advocates of those principles had crept into the neighbourhood. The
meeting passed a loyal address to the Crown, which was dictated by
Colonel Talbot himself. This, so far as is known, was the only political
meeting ever attended by him in this Province.
The Colonel was nominally a member of the Church of England, and
contributed liberally to its support, though, as may well be supposed, he
was never eaten up by his zeal for episcopacy. By some people he was set
down as a freethinker, and by others as a Roman Catholic. The fact is that
the prevailing tone of his mind was not spiritual, and he gave little thought
to matters theological. During the early years of the settlement, as we have
seen, he was wont to read service to the assembled rustics on Sunday; but

this custom was abandoned as soon as churches began to be accessible to
the people of the neighbourhood; and after that time, though he was
occasionally seen at church, he was not an habitual attendant at public
worship. He was fond of good company, and liked to tell and listen to
dubious stories "across the walnuts and the wine." A clergyman who
officiated at a little church about five miles from Port Talbot was his
frequent guest at dinner, until the Colonel's outrageous jokes and stories
proved too much for the clerical idea of the eternal fitness of things. "It
must," says his biographer, "have been rather a bold venture for a young
clergyman to come in contact with a man of Colonel Talbot's wit and racy
humour, and a man who would startle at the very idea of being priest
ridden; in fact, who would be much more likely to saddle the priest. The
reverend gentleman bore with him a long while, till at length finding that he
was not making any progress with the old gentleman in a religious point of
view—on the contrary, that his sallies of wit became more frequent and
cutting—he left him to get to heaven without his assistance. Colonel Talbot
was never pleased with himself for having said or done anything to provoke
the displeasure of his reverend guest, but being in the habit at table, after
dinner, of smacking his lips over a glass of good port, and cracking jokes,
which extorted from his guest a half approving smile, he was tempted to
exceed the bounds which religious or even chaste conversation would
prescribe, and came so near proving in vino veritas, that the reverend
gentleman would never revisit him, although I believe it was Colonel
Talbot's earnest desire that he should."
Bad habits, if not checked in season, have a tendency to grow worse. As
the Colonel advanced in years his liking for strong drink increased to such
an extent that the in vino veritas stage was, we fear, reached pretty often. To
such a state of things his solitary life doubtless conduced. He had an iron
constitution, however, and it does not appear that his intemperate habits
during the evening of his life materially shortened his days. He lived long
enough to see the prosperity of his settlement fully assured. For many years
prior to his death it appears to have been his cherished desire to bequeath
his large estate to one of the male descendants of the Talbot family, and
with this view he invited one of his sister's sons, Mr. Julius Airey, to come
over from England and reside with him at Port Talbot. This young
gentleman accordingly came to reside there, but the dull, monotonous life

he was obliged to lead, and the Colonel's eccentricities, were ill calculated
to engage the affections of a youth just verging on manhood; and after
rusticating, without companions or equals in either birth or education, for
some time, he returned to England and relinquished whatever claims he
might consider he had on his uncle. Some years later a younger brother of
Julius, Colonel Airey, Military Secretary at the Horse Guards, ventured
upon a similar experiment, and came out to Canada with his family to live
at Port Talbot. About this time the Colonel's health began seriously to fail,
and his habits began to gain greater hold upon him than ever. As a necessary
consequence he became crabbed and irritable. The uncle and nephew could
not get on together. "The former," says his biographer, "had been
accustomed for the greater portion of his life to suit the convenience of his
domestics, and, in common with the inhabitants of the country, to dine at
noon; the latter was accustomed to wait for the buglecall, till seven o'clock
in the evening. Colonel Talbot could, on special occasions, accommodate
himself to the habits of his guests, but to be regularly harnessed up for the
mess every day was too much to expect from so old a man; no wonder he
kicked in the traces. He soon came to the determination of keeping up a
separate establishment, and another spacious mansion was erected adjoining
Colonel Airey's, where he might, he thought, live as he pleased. But all
would not do, the old bird had been disturbed in his nest, and he could not
be reconciled." He determined to leave Canada, and to end his days in the
Old World. He transferred the Port Talbot estate, valued at £10,000,
together with 13,000 acres of land in the adjoining township of Aldborough,
to Colonel Airey. This transfer, however, left more than half of his property
in his own hands, and he was still a man of great wealth. Acting on his
determination to leave Canada, he started, in his eightieth year, for Europe.
Upon reaching London, only a day's journey from Port Talbot, he was
prostrated by illness, and was confined to his bed for nearly a month. He
rallied, however, and resumed his journey. In due time he reached London
the Greater. He was accompanied on the voyage by Mr. George McBeth,
the successor to the situation of Jeffery Hunter, who had died some years
before. McBeth had gained complete ascendancy over the Colonel's failing
mind. Being a young man of some education, and a good deal of finesse, he
was treated by his master as a companion rather than as a servant, and the
latter merited his master's regard by nursing him with much care and
attention.

Colonel Talbot remained in London somewhat more than a year, during
which period, as also during his previous visits to England, he renewed old
associations with the friend of his youth, the great Duke. He was often the
latter's guest at Apsley House, and the stern old hero of a hundred fights
delighted in his society. London life, however, was distasteful to Colonel
Talbot, and, after giving it a fair trial, he once more bade adieu to society
and repaired to Canada—always attended assiduously by George McBeth.
Upon reaching the settlement he took lodgings for himself and his
companion in the house of Jeffery Hunter's widow. Here, cooped up in a
small room, on the outskirts of the magnificent estate which was no longer
his own, he received occasional visits from his old friends. Colonel Airey,
meanwhile, had rented the Port Talbot property to an English gentleman
named Saunders, and had returned to his post at the Horse Guards in
England. Mr. Saunders had several daughters, to one of whom George
McBeth paid assiduous court, and whom he afterwards married. Upon his
marriage he removed to London, accompanied by Colonel Talbot, who
resided with him until his death, on the 6th of February, 1853. When the
Colonel's will was opened it was found that with the exception of an
annuity of £20 to Jeffery Hunter's widow, all his vast estate, estimated at
£50,000, had been left to George McBeth.
The funeral took place on the 9th. On the previous day—the 8th—the
body was conveyed in a hearse from London to Fingal, on the way to Port
Talbot, so as to be ready for interment on the following morning. By some
culpable neglect or mismanagement it was placed for the night in the barn
or granary of the local inn. The settlers were scandalized at this indignity,
and one of them begged, with tears in his eyes, that the body might be
removed to his house, which was close by. The undertaker, who is said to
have been under the influence of liquor, declined to accede to this request,
and the body remained all night in the barn. On the following morning it
was replaced in the hearse and conveyed to Port Talbot, where it rested for a
short time within the walls of Castle Malahide. A few attached friends from
London and other parts of the settlement attended the coffin to its place of
sepulture in the churchyard at Tyrconnel. The officiating clergyman, the
Rev. Mr. Holland, read the service in a cutting wind, and the ceremony was
ended. A plate on the oaken coffin bore the simple inscription:

THOMAS TALBOT,

Founder of the Talbot Settlement,

Died 6th February, 1853.

David Laird, signed as D. Laird

THE HON. DAVID LAIRD,

LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF THE NORTH-WEST
TERRITORIES.

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The Hon. David Laird is the fourth son of the late Hon. Alexander Laird,
a Scottish farmer who, in the year 1819, emigrated from Renfrewshire to
Prince Edward Island. The late Mr. Laird settled in Queen's County, about
sixteen miles from Charlottetown, the capital of the Province, and devoted
himself to agriculture. He was a man of high character and great influence,
alike in political and social matters. For about sixteen years he represented
the First District of Queen's County in the Local Assembly, and during one
Parliamentary term of four years he was a member of the Executive
Council. He was a colleague and supporter of the Hon. George Coles, who
is called the father of Responsible Government in Prince Edward Island. He
was one of the signatories to the petition forwarded by the Assembly to the
Home Government in 1847, praying that Responsible Government might be
conceded; and he had the satisfaction of sitting in the Assembly on the 25th
of March, 1851, when Sir Alexander Bannerman, the Governor, announced
that the prayer of the petition had been granted. He was also for many years
one of the most active members of the Managing Committee of the Royal
Agricultural Society of Prince Edward, an institution which did much for
the advancement of agricultural industry in the Province, by encouraging
the importation of improved stock, and by other similar operations.
The subject of this sketch was born at the paternal home, near the village
of New Glasgow, Queen's County, in the year 1833. He was educated at the
district school of his native settlement, and afterwards entered the
Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church of Nova Scotia, which

was then situated at Truro, in that Province. He completed his education at
the Seminary, and soon afterwards embarked in journalism at
Charlottetown, where he founded a newspaper called The Patriot. Under his
editorship and business management this journal became, in the course of a
few years, the leading organ of public opinion in Prince Edward Island. It
advocated Liberal principles, and was conducted with much energy and
ability. The editor had inherited Liberal ideas from his father, and spoke and
wrote on behalf of them with great effect. After a time he became estranged
from the leader of the Liberal Party, the chief cause of estrangement arising
from the latter's having lent his countenance to some proceedings tending to
exclude the Bible from the Common Schools. All minor causes of
controversy, however, were cast into the shade by the great question of
Confederation. After the close of the Quebec Conference in October, 1864,
Mr. Laird took a firm stand against the terms of the scheme agreed upon by
the delegates, in so far as they related to his native Province. He assigned as
his principal reasons for adopting this course the fact that the terms
contained no proposal for the settlement of the Land Question, which had
long been a sore grievance with the tenantry of the island; and the further
fact that no provision was made for the construction of public works,
although the island could be called upon to contribute its quota of taxation
towards the Intercolonial Railway, the canals, and the Pacific Railway. He
took an active part in the promotion of sanitary and other local
improvements, and was for some years a member of the Charlottetown City
Council. His first entry into Parliamentary life took place in 1871. The then-
existing Government, under the leadership of the Hon. James Colledge
Pope (the present Minister of Marine and Fisheries in the Dominion
Government), had carried a measure for the construction of the Prince
Edward Island Railway, running nearly the entire length of the island. This
project Mr. Laird had opposed, on the ground that it should have been first
submitted to the people at the polls, and also because he regarded the
undertaking as beyond the resources of the Province. The Government,
however, had carried the Bill providing for the construction of the road
through the House during the previous session, and the surveyors and
Commissioners had been appointed. The Chairman of the Commissioners,
the Hon. James Duncan, represented the constituency of Belfast in the
Legislative Assembly, and was obliged to return to his constituents for
reëlection after accepting office. Mr. Laird offered himself as a candidate in

opposition to the Government nominee. His candidature was successful.
The Commissioner was defeated, and Mr. Laird secured a seat in the
Assembly. A good deal of dissatisfaction had been excited by the
proceedings of the Local Government in connection with the construction
of the road, the result being that Mr. Pope, when he next met the House,
found he had lost the confidence of the majority, and being defeated, he
dissolved the House and appealed to the country. The appeal was disastrous
to his policy, a majority of the members returned being hostile to his
Government. Among these was Mr. Laird, who was elected a second time
for Belfast. A new Government was formed with Mr. R. P. Haythorne as
Premier. During the following autumn Mr. Laird accepted office in this
Government, and was sworn in as a Member of the Executive Council in
November, 1872. Finding that if the railway were proceeded with on the
credit of Prince Edward Island alone, the Provincial finances would be
seriously embarrassed, the new Ministers responded favourably to an
invitation from Ottawa to reconsider the question of Union. Mr. Laird
formed one of the delegation which proceeded to Ottawa and negotiated
terms of Union with the Dominion Government. After the return of the
delegates the Local House was dissolved in order that the terms agreed
upon might be submitted to the people. A good deal of finesse was practised
by the Opposition, and various side issues were imported into the election
contest. The result was the return of a majority hostile to Mr. Haythorne's
Ministry, and Mr. Pope again succeeded to the reins of Government. Under
his auspices the terms of Union were slightly modified, and Prince Edward
Island entered Confederation.
Mr. Laird had meanwhile succeeded to the leadership of the Liberal
Party. The House did not divide, however, on the question of Confederation,
and both Parties concurred in supporting the measure. Mr. Laird resigned
his seat in the Local Legislature, and offered himself as a candidate for the
House of Commons for the electoral district of Queen's County. He was
returned by a large majority, and on the opening of the second session of the
second Parliament of the Dominion, in October, 1873, he took his seat in
the House of Commons at Ottawa. The Pacific Scandal disclosures
followed, and Sir John A. Macdonald's Government made way for that of
the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie. In the new Administration Mr. Laird
accepted the portfolio of Minister of the Interior, and was sworn into office

on the 7th of November. Upon returning to his constituents in Queen's
County he was returned by acclamation. He was again returned by
acclamation at the general election of 1874. He retained his office of
Minister of the Interior until the 7th of October, 1876, when he was
appointed by the Governor-General to the Lieutenant-Governorship of the
North-West Territories. This position he has ever since filled with the best
results to the Dominion. During his tenure of office as Minister of the
Interior he carried several important measures through Parliament, and—in
the summer of 1874—effected an important Treaty with the Indians of the
North-West, whereby he secured to the Crown the possession of a tract of
75,500 square miles in extent, and thus guaranteed the peaceable possession
of a large portion of the route of the Canada Pacific Railway and its
accompanying telegraph lines.
In 1864 Mr. Laird married Mary Louisa, second daughter of the late Mr.
Thomas Owen, who was for many years Postmaster-General of Prince
Edward Island. An elder brother of the Lieutenant-Governor, the Hon.
Alexander Laird, held office in the late Local Government of Prince
Edward Island, and at present represents the Second District of Prince, in
the Local Assembly.

THE HON. CHARLES E. B. DE
BOUCHERVILLE.

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The Bouchers and De Bouchervilles for over two hundred years have
played no unimportant part in the history of Canada. Lieutenant-General
Pierre Boucher, Sieur de Grobois, Governor of Three Rivers in 1653, the
founder of the Seigniory of Boucherville, and a man of great influence in
his day, was one of the most noted members of the family. The late Hon. P.
Boucher de Boucherville, for many years a Legislative Councillor of Lower
Canada, was the father of the subject of this sketch, who was born at
Boucherville, Province of Quebec, in 1820. He was educated at St. Sulpice
College, Montreal. He subsequently went to Paris, pursued his studies in the
medical profession there, and graduated with high honours. He has been
married twice, first to Miss Susanne Morrogh, daughter of Mr. R. L.
Morrogh, Advocate, of Montreal; and after her death, to Miss C. Luissier, of
Varennes. In 1861 he was elected to the House of Assembly for the county
of Chambly. He continued to represent this constituency until 1867, when
he entered the Legislative Council, and became a member of Mr.
Chauveau's Ministry, with the office of Speaker of the Council, which
position he held until February, 1873. On the reconstruction of the Cabinet,
September 22nd, 1874, he was entrusted with the formation of a Ministry.
This duty he accomplished successfully, taking for himself the portfolio of
Secretary and Registrar, and Minister of Public Instruction. On the 27th
January, 1876, he changed his portfolio for that of Agriculture and Public
Works. In February, 1879, he was called to the Senate, an honour which he
accepted without resigning his seat in the Legislative Council.
The De Boucherville Ministry remained in power until the 4th of March,
1878, when it was summarily dismissed by the Hon. Luc Letellier de St.
Just, Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, for reasons which appeared to

him to be just. The facts with reference to this matter have been detailed in
the sketch of the life of Mr. Letellier, contained in the first volume of this
work. On the refusal of Mr. De Boucherville to name a successor, Mr.
Letellier called in the Hon. Henri Gustave Joly of Lotbinière, and invited
him to form a Ministry. In October, 1879, the ex-Premier and his friends
succeeded in defeating the Liberal Government. A Conservative Ministry
was formed, in whose councils, however, Mr. De Boucherville has taken no
part, though his efforts to drive from power the Liberal Administration were
conspicuously displayed in the Upper Chamber of the Province. He is a
good speaker, precise, moderate and adroit. He is skilful in defence and
equally skilful in attack. His administrative capacity is considerable, and the
duties of the several offices which he has held at various intervals, have
been ably and industriously performed.

Samuel Nelles, signed as S. S. Nelles

THE REV. SAMUEL NELLES, D.D., LL.D.,

PRESIDENT OF VICTORIA UNIVERSITY, COBOURG.

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Dr. Nelles's life, like that of most men of purely scholastic pursuits, has
been comparatively uneventful, and does not form a very fruitful field for
biographical purposes. It has, however, been an eminently useful one, and
has been attended with results most beneficial to the educational
establishment with which his name has long been associated, and over
which he has presided for a continuous period of thirty years. He is of
German descent, on both the paternal and maternal sides. His paternal
grandparents emigrated from Germany to the State of New York sometime
during the last century, and settled in the historic valley of the Mohawk,
where some of their descendants still reside. There Dr. Nelles's father, the
late Mr. William Nelles, was born, and there he passed the early years of his
life. He married Miss Mary Hardy, who was also of German stock on the
mother's side, and was born in the State of Pennsylvania. By this lady he
had a numerous family, the eldest son being the subject of this sketch. The
parents emigrated from New York State to Upper Canada soon after the
close of the War of 1812-15, and devoted themselves to farming pursuits.
The Doctor was born at the family homestead, in the quiet little village of
Mount Pleasant—known to the Post Office Department as Mohawk—in
what is now the township of Brantford, in the county of Brant, about five
miles south-west of the present city of Brantford, on the 17th of October,
1823. At the present day, the schools of Mount Pleasant will bear
comparison with those of many places of much larger population; but fifty
years ago, when young Samuel Nelles was in attendance there, they were
like most other schools in the rural districts of Upper Canada—that is to
say, they afforded no facilities for anything beyond a very rudimentary

educational training. Such as they were, however, they furnished the only
means of instruction at his command until he had entered upon his
seventeenth year. Previous to that time he had lived at home, attending
school and assisting his father in farm work. He had, however, displayed
great fondness for study, and had, by dint of his natural ability and steady
application, made greater progress than could have been made by any boy
who was not possessed by an ardent thirst for knowledge. His parents
accordingly resolved that he should have an opportunity of following out
the natural bent of his mind. In 1839 he was placed at Lewiston Academy,
in the State of New York, where he spent an industrious year, and where he
had for a tutor the brilliant, witty and humorous John Godfrey Saxe. Mr.
Saxe was not then known to the world as a poet, but he was an
accomplished philologist, and was reading for the Bar. He had just
graduated at Middlebury College, Vermont, and was teaching belles-lettres
in the Lewiston Academy contemporaneously with the prosecution of his
legal studies. In October, 1840, young Nelles transferred himself to an
academy at Fredonia, in Chautauqua county, N.Y., where he remained ten
months. In the following October (1841) he entered the Genesee Wesleyan
Seminary, at Lima, N.Y., where he devoted his time chiefly to Classics,
Mathematics, English Literature and Criticism. Having spent a profitable
year at Lima, he entered Victoria College, Cobourg—which was then under
the Presidency of the Rev. Egerton Ryerson—in the autumn of 1842. He
was one of the first two matriculated students at the institution, which had
just been incorporated as a University. After an Arts course of two years at
Victoria College, and a year spent in study at home, he attended for some
time at the University of Middletown, Connecticut, where he graduated as
B.A. in 1846. He then spent a year as a teacher in Canada, and took charge
of the Newburgh Academy, in the county of Lennox. In June, 1847, he
entered the ministry of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, and was placed in
charge of a congregation at Port Hope, where he remained for a year. He
was then transferred to the old Adelaide Street Church, Toronto, where he
laboured for two years. Thence he was transferred to London, but had only
resided there about three months when, in the month of September, 1850,
he was appointed President of Victoria College. This important and
responsible position he has held ever since.

At the time of his taking office, the institution was by no means in a
flourishing condition. It was carried on under circumstances of great
difficulty and embarrassment, and had a competent administrator not been
found to take charge of it, its future would have been very problematical.
An improvement in its condition, however, was perceptible from the time
when Mr. Nelles took the management. It has continued to prosper ever
since, and has long ago taken rank among the most noteworthy educational
institutions in the Dominion. At the time of Professor Nelles's appointment
there was only a single Faculty—Arts—and the attendance was very small.
The teachers were only five in number. The Professor's vigorous
administration soon effected a marked change for the better. In 1854 the
Faculty of Medicine was added. It at first embraced only one medical
college, which was presided over for many years by the late Dr. Rolph. In
process of time a second institution, L'École de Médecine et de Chirurgie,
Montreal, became affiliated, and still continues to hold the same
relationship to the University. A Law Faculty was added in 1862, and in
1872 a Faculty of Theology.
When Professor Nelles became President he at the same time became
Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy, Logic, and the Evidences of
Religion. These subjects he has continued to teach ever since, with the
addition, since 1872, of Homiletics. He has devoted his life to the task of
building up the institution, and has been ably seconded by the staff of
teachers whom he has from time to time gathered about him. Until
comparatively recent times there was no endowment fund, and the College
had to depend for its support solely on tuition fees, on the annual
contributions of the ministers and people of the Wesleyan Methodist Body,
and on a Parliamentary grant which Victoria College, in common with other
denominational schools, had been wont to receive. After Confederation, all
grants to denominational colleges were discontinued, and Victoria College
was left almost entirely unprovided for. At a meeting of the Methodist
Conference it was proposed by President Nelles that an appeal should be
made to the people for contributions to an endowment fund. The proposal
was adopted by the Conference, and the Rev. Dr. Punshon, who was then
resident in Canada, took an active personal interest in the movement. He
contributed $3,000 out of his own pocket, and made a personal tour through
part of Ontario, holding public meetings, whereby a sum of $50,000 was

secured. Several other Methodist ministers followed his example, and the
fund steadily increased. In 1873, however, the amount was still insufficient,
and the Rev. Joshua H. Johnson was appointed by the Conference to make
further collections. Mr. Johnson entered upon his task, and pursued it with
great vigour. His efforts were supplemented by a munificent bequest of
$30,000 from the late Mr. Edward Jackson, of Hamilton. The requisite
amount was eventually obtained, and the future of Victoria College secured.
The erection of Faraday Hall, at a cost of $25,000, chiefly for Scientific
purposes, marks a new epoch in the history of Victoria College. This Hall
was formally opened on the 29th of May, 1878. Dr. Haanel, a distinguished
German Professor, was placed in charge of the scientific department, and
the results of his teaching are already apparent in an awakened interest in
scientific matters displayed by the students of the College.
Upon the whole, Dr. Nelles may well be pardoned if he looks back upon
his thirty years' Presidency of Victoria College with a considerable degree
of complacency. To him, more than to anyone else, is due its present state of
prosperity and enlarged efficiency. He has also taken a warm interest in
educational matters unconnected with the College, and his influence is
perceptibly felt in all the local schools. He was for two successive years
elected President of the Teachers' Association of Ontario, and his views on
all matters pertaining to public instruction are held in high respect.
Dr. Nelles was chosen a delegate to represent the Canadian Conference
at the General Methodist Conference held at Philadelphia in 1864, at the
New Brunswick Conference of 1866, and at the English Wesleyan
Conference held at Newcastle in 1873. The degree of Doctor of Divinity
was conferred upon him by the University of Queen's College, Kingston, in
1860. His Doctor's degree in Law was conferred upon him in 1873 by the
University of Victoria College. He is the author of a popular text-book on
Logic, and has frequently contributed to periodical literature. He enjoys
high repute as a lecturer, more especially on educational subjects; and his
sermons, some of which have been published, are said to be of an
exceptionally high order.
On the 3rd of July, 1851, he married Miss Mary B. Wood, daughter of
the Rev. Enoch Wood, of Toronto, by whom he has a family of five

children.

THE HON. WILLIAM HUME BLAKE.

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The late Chancellor Blake, one of the most distinguished jurists that ever
sat on the Canadian Bench, was a member of an Irish family, known as the
Blakes of Cashelgrove, in the county of Galway. The family was well
connected and stood high among the county magnates. Sometime about the
middle of the last century, Dominick Edward Blake, its chief representative,
married the Hon. Miss Netterville, daughter of Lord Netterville, of
Drogheda. After her death, he married a second wife, who was a daughter
of Sir Joseph Hoare, Baronet, of Annabella, in the county of Cork. By this
lady he had four sons, one of whom, christened Dominick Edward, after his
father, took orders as a clergyman of the Church of England, and became
Rector and Rural Dean of Kiltegan and Loughbrickland. This gentleman
married Miss Anne Margaret Hume, eldest daughter of Mr. William Hume,
of Humewood, M.P. for the county of Wicklow. During the progress of the
rebellion of 1798, Mr. Hume sent his children to Dublin for safety, and took
personal command of a corps of yeomanry raised in his county. He fell a
victim to his loyalty, and was shot near his own residence at Humewood by
some rebels of whom he was in pursuit. Lord Charlemont, in a published
letter, alluded to this deplorable event as "the murder of Hume, the friend
and favourite of his country," and characterized it as an "example of atrocity
which exceeded all that went before it."
William Hume Blake, the subject of this memoir, was the grandson and
namesake of the unfortunate gentleman above referred to, and was one of
the fruits of the marriage of his father, the Rev. D. E. Blake, to Miss Hume.
He was born at the Rectory, at Kiltegan, County Wicklow, on the 10th of
March, 1809. He was the second son of his parents, his elder brother,
Dominick Edward, being named in honour of his father and paternal
grandfather. The elder brother emulated his father's example, and became a

clergyman of the Church of England. The younger, after receiving his
education at Trinity College, Dublin, studied surgery under Surgeon-
General Sir Philip Crampton. Surgery, however, was not much to his taste.
The accompaniments of that profession—notably the coarse jokes and
experiments which he was daily called upon to encounter in the dissecting-
room—proved at last so repulsive to his nature that he abandoned surgery
altogether, and entered upon a course of theological study with a view to
entering the Church. His studies had not proceeded far, however, before he
and his elder brother determined to emigrate to Canada. This determination
was carried out in the summer of 1832. A short time before leaving his
native land, the younger brother married his cousin, Miss Catharine Hume,
the granddaughter—as he himself was the grandson—of the William Hume
whose tragical death has already been recorded. This lady, who shared alike
the struggles and triumphs of her distinguished husband till the close of his
earthly career, still survives.
The Blake brothers were induced to emigrate to this country, partly
because their prospects at home were not particularly bright, partly in
consequence of the strong inducements held out by the then Lieutenant-
Governor of Upper Canada, Sir John Colborne. The representations of
Major Jones, the elder brother's father-in-law, doubtless contributed
something to the result. The Major was a retired officer who had served in
this country during the war of 1812-'13-'14, and had taken part in the battles
of Queenston Heights and Lundy's Lane. He was fond of fighting his battles
over again by his own fireside and that of his son-in-law. He was never
weary of enlarging on the beauty and primitive wildness of Canadian
scenery, the pleasures and freedom from conventionality of a life spent in
the backwoods, and the brilliant prospects awaiting young men of courage,
energy, endurance, and ability, in the wilds of Upper Canada. The Blake
brothers were Irishmen, and were gifted with the national vividness of
imagination. They doubtless pictured to themselves the delights of "a lodge
in some vast wilderness," where game of all sorts was abundant, and where
game laws had no existence. They had of course no adequate conception of
the struggles and trials incident to pioneer life. They were not alone in their
notions about Canada. Many of their friends and acquaintances about this
time became imbued with a desire to emigrate, and upon taking counsel
together they found that there were enough of them to form a small colony

by themselves. Having made all necessary arrangements they chartered a
vessel—the Ann, of Halifax—and sailed for the St. Lawrence in the month
of July, 1832. Among the friends and relations of the brothers Blake
embarked on board were their mother, who had been left a widow; their
sister and her husband, the late Archdeacon Brough; the late Mr. Justice
Connor; the Rev. Benjamin Cronyn, late Bishop of Huron; and the Rev. Mr.
Palmer, Archdeacon of Huron. After a six weeks' voyage they reached the
mouth of the St. Lawrence, whence by slow degrees they made their way to
Little York, as the Upper Canadian capital was then called. Here they
remained until the following spring, when they divided their forces. Some
of them remained in York; others—including Mr. Connor and Mr. Brough—
proceeded northward to the township of Oro, on Lake Simcoe; and others
settled on the Niagara peninsula. The elder Blake had meanwhile been
appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor to a Rectory in the township of
Adelaide, and there he accordingly pitched his tent. His brother, the subject
of this sketch, purchased a farm in the same part of the country, at a place
on Bear Creek—now called Sydenham River—near the present site of the
village of Katesville, or Mount Hope, in the county of Middlesex. He then
had an opportunity of realizing the full delights of a life in the Canadian
backwoods. "With whatever romantic ideas of the delights of such a life Mr.
Hume Blake had determined on making Canada his home," says a
contemporary Canadian author, "they were soon dispelled by the rough
experiences of the reality. The settler in the remotest section of Ontario to-
day has no conception of the struggles and hardships that fell to the lot of
men who, accustomed to all the refinements of life, found themselves cut
off from all traces of civilization in a land, since settled and cultivated, but
then so wild that between what are now populous cities there existed only
an Indian trail through the forest. Mr. Blake was not a man to be easily
discouraged, but soon found that his talents were being wasted in the
wilderness. In after years he was fond of telling of the rude experiences of
life in the bush, and among other incidents how that he had, on one
occasion, walked to the blacksmith's shop before mentioned to obtain a
supply of harrow-pins, and, finding them too heavy to carry, had fastened
them to a chain, which he put round his neck, and so dragged them home
through the woods."

It was during the residence of the family at Bear Creek that the eldest
son, Edward, was born,[5] but he was not destined to receive his educational
training amid such surroundings. While he was still an infant the family
removed to Toronto. A life in the backwoods had been tried, and was found
to be unsuited to the genius and ambition of a man like William Hume
Blake. He had tried surgery, divinity, and agriculture, and had not taken
kindly to any of those pursuits. He now resolved to attempt the law, and
commenced his legal studies in the office of the late Mr. Washburn, a well-
known lawyer in those days. During the troubles of 1837 he was, we
believe, for a short time paymaster of a battalion, but fortunately there was
no occasion for his active services. In 1838 he was called to the Bar of
Upper Canada, and was not long in making his way to a foremost position.
His rivals at the Bar were among the foremost counsel who have ever
practised in this Province, and included Mr. (afterwards Chief Justice)
Draper, Mr. (afterwards Judge) Sullivan, Mr. Henry John Boulton, Mr. (now
Chief Justice) Hagarty, Robert Baldwin, Henry Eccles, and John Hillyard
Cameron. Mr. Blake soon proved his ability to hold his own against all
comers. He enjoyed some personal advantages which stood him in good
stead, both while he was fighting his way and afterwards. His tall,
handsome person, and fine open face, his felicitous language, and bold
manly utterance gained him at once the full attention of both Court and
Jury; and his vigorous grasp of the whole case under discussion, his acute,
logical dissection of the evidence, and the thorough earnestness with which
he always threw himself into his client's case, swept everything before
them. In the days when such men as Draper, Sullivan, Baldwin and Eccles
were at the Bar, it was something to stand among the foremost. Mr. Blake
became associated in business with Mr. Joseph C. Morrison—now one of
the Judges of the Court of Queen's Bench—and some years later, his
relative, the late Dr. Connor, who in 1863 became one of the Judges of the
Court of Common Pleas, entered the firm. Business poured in, and the
number of Mr. Blake's briefs increased in almost geometrical proportion.
His arguments were of due weight with the judges of those times, but with
juries his force was irresistible. Many incidents have been related of his
forensic triumphs. Among other cases recorded by the writer already quoted
from, that of Kerby vs. Lewis occupies a conspicuous place. The question at
issue was Mr. Kerby's right to monopolize a ferry communication between
Fort Erie and some point on the American shore. This right the defendant

contested, and employed Mr. Blake to conduct his case. The judges appear
to have leaned strongly to the side of the plaintiff, and granted a succession
of new trials, as, on each occasion, Mr. Blake's telling appeals to their
sympathy with the defendant, as the champion of free intercourse between
the two countries, extorted from the juries a verdict in favour of his client. It
is said that the Court finally refused to grant any further new trials in sheer
hopelessness of any jury being found to reverse the original finding.
Another proof of his energy and ingenuity was given in the Webb arson
case, which made a considerable noise at the time. Webb was the owner of a
shoe store in Toronto. Having on more than one occasion obtained
compensation from fire insurance companies for losses he had sustained,
suspicion was excited against him, and, on another fire occurring, the
companies decided on prosecuting. Webb retained Mr. Blake. The theory of
the defence was that a stove-pipe from the adjoining store, which connected
with Webb's premises, had become heated, and had ignited some "rubbers"
hanging in the vicinity. The prosecution denied that "rubbers" were
combustible in any such sense as the defence represented. To put his theory
beyond a doubt, Mr. Blake, on the evening before the trial, had set his two
boys, Edward and Samuel, to look up every piece of information they could
obtain from encyclopaedias or other sources as to the properties of rubber.
Then an old pair of "rubbers" was procured, experiments were engaged in,
and both father and sons were occupied during the greater part of the night
in their investigations, to the no small discomfort of the other members of
the household. When the trial came on next day, after the case for the
prosecution had been presented, Mr. Blake began his defence. He dissected
the prosecutor's evidence with an amazing fund of irony and sarcasm, and
requested the jury to place as little reliance on the general testimony for the
prosecution as they would soon do on the theory of "rubbers" being non-
combustible. Then a candle and a pair of old "rubbers" were produced; a
few strips cut from the latter were held in the flame, and the interested
crowd of spectators saw them burn. The jury accepted this as sufficient, at
all events, to cast doubts on the whole case against the prisoner, and Webb
was acquitted.
The "Markham gang," as they were called, are still well remembered by
the older inhabitants of Toronto and the adjoining country. In several of the
prosecutions arising out of the outrages of the gang, Mr. Blake was

defending counsel, and invested the defence with additional interest, in the
eyes of the legal profession, by raising the question of the admissibility of
the evidence of an accomplice. Another case which showed the earnestness
and conscientiousness of Mr. Blake, who prosecuted, was the trial of two
persons—a man named McDermott and a girl named Grace Marks—
charged with the murder of Mr. Kinnear and his housekeeper, near
Richmond Hill, in the year 1843.[6] Not content with secondhand
information, the hard-working lawyer devoted the only holiday which
intervened between the committal of the prisoners and the trial to a careful
and minute examination of the house and premises where the murder had
occurred, so that in going into court he had the most perfect familiarity with
every detail connected with the crime. The prisoners were convicted; the
man suffered the extreme penalty of the law, and the woman, who was
reprieved, was only liberated from the Penitentiary after an incarceration of
twenty years. No man could more readily seize hold of the salient points of
a case presented to him; few could make so much out of a small and
apparently insignificant point; but no one ever made the business before
him the subject of more patient study or more exhaustive attention.
Honourable and high-minded himself, he sought to inspire those about him
with the same feelings. He endeavoured at all times to encourage a
gentlemanly bearing in the young men who studied under him, and would
tolerate nothing inconsistent with perfect fairness and honesty in transacting
the business of the office.
Mr. Blake and his partners were all active members of the Liberal Party.
In the early contests for Municipal Institutions, National Education, Law
Reform and all progressive measures, they took an earnest part—and in the
struggle with Lord Metcalfe and his Tory abettors for the establishment of
British Parliamentary Government in Canada, they did excellent service to
the popular cause. Mr. Blake, at the general election of 1844, was the
Reform candidate for the second Riding of York—now the county of Peel—
but was defeated by a narrow majority on the second day of polling by his
Tory opponent, Mr. George Duggan. A little later, he contested
unsuccessfully the county of Simcoe, in opposition to the Hon. W. B.
Robinson. At the general election of 1847, while absent in England, he was
returned by a large majority for the East Riding of York—now the county of
Ontario. The result of that election was the entire overthrow of the

Conservative Government, and the accession of the Liberal Party to power,
under Messrs. Baldwin and Lafontaine, on the 10th of March, 1848. Mr.
Blake became Solicitor-General under the new arrangement, and was duly
reëlected for East York. Then followed the struggle over the famous
Rebellion Losses Bill. In that contest Mr. Blake took an active part in
support of Lord Elgin, who was so outrageously treated by the Opposition
leaders in Parliament, and by the mob of Montreal that followed in their
wake. For his powerful advocacy of the Governor-General, and his scathing
diatribes against the tactics of the Opposition, he was fiercely denounced by
the Conservative leaders. So far was this denunciation carried that a hostile
meeting between Mr. Blake and Mr. Macdonald—the present Sir John A.
Macdonald—was only prevented by the interference of the Speaker of the
House. The Opposition press, without the slightest justification, published
articles in which the writers professed to believe that Mr. Blake was
wanting in courage, and afraid to meet his antagonist in the field. The
Globe, which was the organ of the Government in those days, replied in a
spirit which did it honour. In an article written by the late Mr. Brown
himself, and published in the Globe on the 28th of March, 1849, we find
these words: "The repeated insinuations against the courage of Mr. Blake,
to use the ordinary phrase, are as untrue as they are base and ungenerous.
We are quite aware of all the circumstances of what was so near leading to
one of those transactions called affairs of honour. We know, and we state it
with regret, that there was, on Mr. Blake's part, no wish to shrink from the
consequences of the intended affair, but a great anxiety to meet it. We
would have thought it far more creditable to him, and far more becoming
the station he holds in the councils of the Province, if he had exhibited that
higher courage which would shrink from being concerned in an affair
which, however it may be glossed over by the sophistry and the practice of
the world, is a crime of the deepest dye against the law of God and the well-
being of society."
The Court of Chancery for Upper Canada had been for years a mark for
scorn and derision on account of the personal deficiencies of Mr. Vice-
Chancellor Jameson, and the lack of organization in the whole Chancery
system. The Baldwin-Lafontaine Government undertook the reform of the
Court, increased the number of Judges to three, and gave it the improved
system of procedure which has earned for the Court its present efficiency

and popularity. When the measure became law, the question arose as to who
should be appointed to the seats on the Bench that had been created. There
was but one answer in the profession. Mr. Blake was universally pointed
out as the man best fitted for the post of Chancellor. He accepted the
Chancellorship of Upper Canada on the 30th of September, 1849, which he
continued to fill until the 18th of March, 1862, when failing health
compelled him to retire. There were not wanting political opponents who
declared that Mr. Blake had created the office that he might fill it; but all
who knew the man and the position in which he stood were aware that it
was with extreme reluctance he accepted the place. As his great judicial
talents came to be recognized the voice of the slanderer ceased, and the
services which he rendered on the Bench will, we doubt not, be now
heartily acknowledged by all parties. Mr. Jameson for a short time
continued to sit on the Bench as Vice-Chancellor, side by side with Mr.
Blake. In the month of December, 1850, he was permitted to retire on a
pension of £750 a year.
Mr. Blake, while at the Bar, held for a number of years the position of
Professor of Law in the University of Toronto, but resigned it when he
became Solicitor-General. He took a deep interest in all the affairs of the
University, of which he was for a long time the able and popular
Chancellor.
Afflicted with gout in its most distressing form, Mr. Blake, after his
retirement from the Bench, sought relief from his sufferings in milder
climes. He returned to Canada in 1869, but it was evident that his end was
not far distant. He died in Toronto, on the 17th of November, 1870. The late
Chancellor Vankoughnet paid an eloquent tribute to his memory. "With an
intellect fitting him to grasp more readily than most men the whole of a
case," said Mr. Vankoughnet, "he was yet most patient and painstaking in
the investigation of every case heard before him. He never spared himself;
but was always most careful that no suitor should suffer wrong through any
lack of diligence on his part. He had, moreover—what every Equity judge
should have—a high appreciation of the duties and functions of the Court—
of the mission, if I may so term it, of a Court of Equity in this country: not
to adjudicate drily upon the case before the Court, but so to expound the
principles of Equity Law as to teach men to deal justly and equitably
between themselves. I have reason to believe that such expositions of the

principles upon which this Court acts have had a salutary influence upon
the country; and Mr. Blake, in the able and lucid judgments delivered by
him, contributed largely to this result. He always bore in mind that to which
the present Lord Chancellor of England gave expression in one of his
judgments—'The standard by which parties are tried here, either as trustees
or corporations, or in various other relations which may be suggested, is a
standard, I am thankful to say, higher than the standard of the world.'"

THE REV. ALEXANDER TOPP, D.D.

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The life of the late Dr. Topp, like the lives of most members of his sacred
calling, was comparatively uneventful. He was born at Sheriffmill, a farm-
house near the historic old town of Elgin, in Morayshire, Scotland, in the
year 1815. He was educated at the Elgin Academy, the present
representative of the old Grammar School of the burgh, and an
establishment of much local repute. Thence, in his fifteenth year, he passed
to King's College, Aberdeen—an institution affiliated with the University—
where he passed through a very creditable course, winning one of the
highest scholarships, and retaining it for four years. In 1836, immediately
upon attaining his majority, he received a license to preach, and was
appointed assistant to the minister of one of the churches in Elgin. This
minister soon afterwards died, leaving the pastorate vacant. The abilities
and zeal of his young assistant had made themselves recognized, and it was
thought desirable that the latter should succeed to the vacant charge. The
appointment was hedged in with certain restrictions, and was at the disposal
of Government. A petition from the congregation and from the Town
Council was successful, and Mr. Topp was inducted into the charge. Upon
the disruption in 1843 he seceded from the Establishment, and carried over
with him nearly the entire congregation, which erected a new church and
manse for him. He continued in this charge until 1852, when he removed to
Edinburgh, having accepted a pressing call from the Roxburgh Church
there. Here he continued to minister for about six years, during which
period his congregation increased to such an extent as to render the
accommodation insufficient. A project for erecting a new and larger church
was set on foot, but before it had been fully matured Mr. Topp had accepted
a call from the congregation of Knox Church, Toronto. This was in 1858.
Two years before that date he had received a pressing call from the same
quarter, which he had then thought proper to decline. At the time of entering

upon his charge in Toronto the membership of Knox Church was only about
three hundred. Under his ministry there was a steadily perceptible increase,
and at the time of his death the membership was in the neighbourhood of
seven hundred. His abilities commanded recognition beyond the limits of
his own congregation, and he steadily won his way to position and
influence in the community. In 1868 he was elected Moderator of the
General Assembly of the Canada Presbyterian Church, and thus afforded
the first instance of a unanimous nomination by the various Presbyteries to
that office. He took a prominent part in the movement to bring about the
Union between the Canada Presbyterian Church and the Church of
Scotland, and the successful realization of that project was in no small
degree due to his exertions. In 1876 he was elected Moderator to the
General Assembly of the United Church. His doctor's degree was conferred
upon him in 1870 by the University of Aberdeen, where he had been so
successful a student forty years previously.
For several years prior to his death Dr. Topp's constitution had given
unmistakable symptoms of having become seriously impaired. In the
autumn of 1877 his physicians acquainted him with the fact that he was
suffering from a mortal disease—organic disease of the heart—but it was
not supposed that the malady had made such progress as to endanger his life
for some years to come. In the early summer of 1879 he paid a visit to his
native land, and of course spent some time in Elgin, renewing the pleasant
associations of his youth. He received many pressing overtures to preach,
but the state of his health formed a sufficient excuse for his declining. One
Sunday, however, contrary to the advice of a local medical practitioner, he
consented to occupy the pulpit, and preached a long and vigorous sermon to
his old congregation. His audience was very large, and his nervous system
was naturally wrought up to a high pitch. It is believed that his efforts on
that occasion materially shortened his life. Immediately after his return to
his home in Toronto he sent in his resignation as pastor of Knox Church,
but it had not been accepted ere the shades of death closed around him.
The end came more suddenly than had been anticipated. He passed away
on the 6th of October, 1879, while reclining on a sofa in the house of one of
his parishioners. His death was very calm, and apparently free from all pain.
He left behind him a name which will long be borne in affectionate
remembrance by the members of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. He

was kind and gentle in his demeanour, and was loved the most by them who
knew him best. At the time of his death he had been pastor of Knox Church
for more than twenty-one years, during the greater part of which he had
laboured assiduously in all the various fields connected with his sacred
calling. He was open-handed in his charities, and was an invaluable
consoler in the sick-room. He literally died in harness, for death came upon
him while he was paying a pastoral visit to a member of his congregation.
The Canada Presbyterian, which may be presumed to reflect the
opinions of Canadian Presbyterians generally, concluded an obituary notice
written immediately after his death in the following words: "The name of
Dr. Topp will never be forgotten in this country. While we regret that he has
so suddenly been called away, we rejoice that in his case there are left to us
so many happy remembrances of a useful and honourable career, and that
he has bequeathed to the youthful ministry of the Church the example of a
brave and faithful servant of Christ."

THE HON. HENRI GUSTAVE JOLY.

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Since Confederation the Hon. Mr. Joly has occupied a prominent
position in the politics of the Province of Quebec. His high morality,
integrity of character, and fine social qualities, have created for him a
reputation which it is the lot of few public men to enjoy. He is conspicuous
in the history of Quebec as the instrument through whose exertions the
Liberal Party were restored to power for the first time since the Union. He
is also noteworthy as being the Minister on whom devolved the office of
selecting a Government to succeed the De Boucherville Administration,
upon its dismissal by Mr. Letellier in the month of March, 1878.
He was born in France on the 5th of December, 1829, and is the son of
the late Gaspard Pierre Gustave Joly, Seigneur of Lotbinière, and Julie
Christine, daughter of the late Hon. M. E. G. A. Chartier de Lotbinière, who
was Speaker of the Quebec Assembly from 1794 until May, 1797, and was
afterwards a prominent member of the Legislative Council. Mr. Joly
received a liberal education at Paris, and while yet very young removed
with his parents to Canada, settling in Lotbinière. Having chosen the law
for a profession, he devoted five years to legal studies, and in the month of
March, 1855, he was called to the Bar of Lower Canada. He first entered
political life in 1861, when he was returned to the Canadian House of
Assembly for the county of Lotbinière. This seat he continued to hold until
the Union of the Provinces, when at the general elections which followed
the formation of the Dominion he was elected by acclamation to both the
Commons of Canada and the Assembly of Quebec. He sat in both Houses
until 1874, when, on dual representation being abolished, he resigned his
seat in the Commons, and directed all his energies to the furtherance of
Liberal principles in the Quebec House of Assembly. The same year he was
offered a seat in the Senate, but declined to accept that dignity, preferring to

fight the battles of Liberalism in the more popular Assembly, in which he
had already achieved a high reputation as a statesman and debater, as well
as much personal popularity. In January, 1877, he again declined elevation
to the Upper House, and refused the portfolio of Dominion Minister of
Agriculture which had been tendered him by the Mackenzie Administration.
The constituency of Lotbinière has never proved fickle to her trust, but has
regularly returned Mr. Joly as her representative to the popular branch of
the Legislature. From the Union, he has been the acknowledged head of the
Liberal Party in Lower Canada, and the chosen leader of the Opposition in
the House of Assembly. In March, 1878, the Hon. Luc Letellier de St. Just,
Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec, dismissed his Ministry under
circumstances which have already been detailed at length in these pages;
and on the then Premier—Mr. De Boucherville—refusing to nominate a
successor, Mr. Joly was sent for and invited to form a Cabinet. He promptly
accepted the responsibility, selected his colleagues, and, on being defeated
in the Chamber, appealed to the people for a ratification of the principles of
his Party. The contest was fought with great vigour and pertinacity on both
sides, and the result was a victory, though a slight one, for the Liberal Party.
Mr. Joly was opposed in Lotbinière by Mr. Guillaume E. Amyot, an
advocate and journalist of Quebec. He was elected by a majority of more
than three hundred votes. He became Premier and Minister of Public Works
—an office which requires the utmost tact and delicacy in its
administration. He set on foot a policy of retrenchment and purity, and
contemplated several much-needed reforms which he did not retain office
long enough to see brought into operation. Mr. Joly's Administration was
based on principles of the closest economy, and every effort was made to
check all unnecessary outlay of the public expenditure. The salaries of the
Ministers were reduced, an effort was made to abolish the Legislative
Council, and the railway policy of the country was developed with caution.
Wherever the pruning knife could be advantageously employed, the
Premier applied it, and if he was not always successful, the fault was
certainly not his own. His personal popularity was sufficiently attested by
the fact that although he is a Protestant, with fixed opinions on theological
matters, he was Premier of a Province where a large majority of the
population are adherents of the Roman Catholic faith. He carried on the
affairs of the country with combined spirit and moderation until October,
1879, when, on being defeated in the House, he and his Government

resigned their seats in the Executive, and Mr. Chapleau was sent for. Mr.
Chapleau succeeded in forming an Administration, which at the time of the
present writing still holds the reins of power in the Province of Quebec.

Henri Gustave Joly, signed as H. G. Joly

Mr. Joly is a good departmental officer, a graceful speaker, a man of
much force of character, and one who has always the courage of his
convictions. Whether in power or in Opposition his language and
demeanour are marked by conciliation and courtesy. He is a man of many
friends, and has few personal enemies, even among those to whom he has
been a life-long political opponent. He has devoted a good deal of attention
to the study of forestry, and is the author of several important and valuable

treatises on that subject. Among other offices which he holds may be
mentioned the Presidency of the Society for the rewooding of the Province
of Quebec, the first Presidency of the Reform Association, of the Parti
Nationale of Quebec, of the Lotbinière Agricultural Society No. 2, and of
the Society for the Promotion of Canadian Industry. He is also Vice-
President of the Humane Society of British North America, and one of the
Council of the Geographical Society of Quebec, of which latter association
he was once Vice-President.
Some years ago Mr. Joly married Miss Gowan, a daughter of Mr.
Hammond Gowan, of Quebec.

THE HON. MACKENZIE BOWELL,

MINISTER OF CUSTOMS.

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Mr. Bowell is English by birth, but has resided in this country ever since
his tenth year. He was born at Rickinghall Superior, a pleasant little village
situated in the northern part of the county of Suffolk, on the 27th of
December, 1823. His father, the late Mr. John Bowell, emigrated from
Suffolk to Canada in the spring of 1833, and settled in what is now the city
of Belleville. His mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Marshall. He has
been compelled to make his own way in the world, and has risen from
obscure beginnings to the elevated position which he now occupies by dint
rather of natural ability than of any adventitious aids. In his boyhood he
enjoyed few educational advantages. He had been only a few months in
Canada when he entered a printing office in Belleville, where he remained
until he had completed his apprenticeship. He then became foreman of the
establishment. He began to take an interest in politics at the very outset of
his career, and attached himself to the Conservative side. He was very
industrious, and during the term of his indentures did much to repair his
defective education. He availed himself of every opportunity which came in
his way for increasing his stock of knowledge, and erelong attained a
position and influence far more than commensurate with his years. In 1853
he became sole proprietor of the Belleville Intelligencer, with which he
continued to be identified for a period of twenty-two years. Under his
management the Intelligencer became one of the leading exponents of
public opinion in the county of Hastings, and his own local influence was
thereby greatly promoted. Other causes contributed to enhance his position
and influence. When only eighteen years old he allied himself with the
Orange Body, in which he rose to the highest dignities in the gift of that

Order. For eight years he was Grand Master of the Provincial Grand Lodge
of Ontario East. At the annual meeting of the Grand Lodge of the Loyal
Orange Institution of British North America, held at Kingston in 1870, a
change was made in the Grand Mastership, which had been held for many
years by the Hon. John Hillyard Cameron. Mr. Bowell was unanimously
elected to the office, and continued to occupy it until 1878, when he
declined reëlection. For thirteen years he was Chairman of the Common
School Board of Belleville, and was for some time Chairman of the
Grammar School, always taking a lively interest in the promotion of
education among the masses. For many years he was an active promoter of
the Volunteer Militia force, as well as an active member. At the time of the
St. Alban's raid he went with his company to Amherstburgh, where, at
considerable sacrifice to his business, he remained four months. He was
also at Prescott during the Fenian raid in 1866. At present he holds the rank
of a Lieutenant-Colonel of Volunteer Rifles. He was one of the founders of
the Press Association, and during one year occupied the position of
President. He was also Vice-President of the Dominion Editors' and
Reporters' Association.

Mackenzie Bowell, signed as Mackenzie Bowell

Mr. Bowell was an active politician long before he emerged from his
apprenticeship, but did not enter Parliament until after Confederation. In
1863 he contested the North Riding of Hastings, but was unsuccessful, and
did not repeat the experiment until 1867, when he was returned to the
House of Commons for that Riding, and he has ever since represented it. He
signalized his entrance into Parliament by moving a series of resolutions
against Sir George Cartier's Militia Bill, and though he failed to carry them
all, he succeeded in defeating the Minister of Militia on some important
points by which a considerable reduction was made in the expenditure.
Several years later he took a prominent part in the expulsion of Louis Riel
from the House of Commons. It was by Mr. Bowell that the investigation
was instituted into Riel's complicity in the murder of Thomas Scott before

the walls of Fort Garry. In 1876 he made a powerful attack upon Mr.
Mackenzie's Government for having awarded a contract to Mr. T. W.
Anglin, the Speaker of the House. The result of Mr. Bowell's attack was the
unseating of several Members of Parliament, including Mr. Anglin; and a
stringent Act respecting the Independence of Parliament was shortly
afterwards passed.
At the last general election for the House of Commons, held on the 17th
of September, 1878, Mr. Bowell was opposed in North Hastings by Mr. E.
D. O'Flynn, of Madoc, whom he defeated by a majority of 241—the vote
standing 1,249 for Bowell and 1,008 for O'Flynn. After the resignation of
Mr. Mackenzie's Government in the following month, Mr. Bowell accepted
the portfolio of Minister of Customs in the Ministry of Sir John A.
Macdonald. This position he still retains. Upon returning to his constituents
after accepting office he was returned by acclamation. He is not a frequent
speaker, but he has always taken an active and intelligent part in the
business of the House, and is highly esteemed by his colleagues.
Mr. Bowell married, in December, 1847, Miss Harriett Louisa Moore, of
Belleville. He is a Director in numerous railway and general commercial
enterprises. In 1875 he disposed of the Intelligencer, with which he had
been identified for so many years, but he still takes a warm interest in its
prosperity, and is indebted to it for a very firm and consistent support.

THE REV. JAMES RICHARDSON, D.D.,

LATE BISHOP OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
IN CANADA.

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The late Bishop Richardson was born in the same year which witnessed
the death of the great founder of Methodism, John Wesley; the same year
also which witnessed the passing of the Constitutional Act whereby Upper
Canada was ushered into existence as a separate Province. He came of
English stock on both sides. His father, James Richardson, after whom he
was called, was a brave seaman; one of that old-world band of gallant tars
who fought under Lord Rodney against the French, when
"Rochambeau their armies commanded,
Their ships they were led by De Grasse."
He was present at the famous sea-fight off Dominica, in the West Indies,
on the 12th of April, 1782, when the naval forces of France and Spain were
almost entirely destroyed. He was soon afterwards taken prisoner, and sent
to France, where he was detained until the cessation of hostilities. Having
been set at liberty in 1785, he repaired to Quebec, and was subsequently
appointed to an office in connection with the Canadian Marine. His duties
lay chiefly on the upper lakes and rivers, and he took up his abode at
Kingston, on Lake Ontario. He married a lady whose maiden name was
Sarah Asmore, but who, at the time of her marriage with him had been for
some years a widow. The subject of this sketch was one of the fruits of that
union. He was born at Kingston, on the 29th of January, 1791.
His parents were members of the Church of England, and he was
brought up in the faith as taught and professed by that Body. He attended

various schools in Kingston until he was about thirteen years of age, when
he began his career as a sailor on board a vessel commanded by his father.
During his five years' apprenticeship he acquired a thorough familiarity
with the topography and navigation of the lakes and rivers of Upper
Canada. In 1809, when he was eighteen years old, he entered the Provincial
Marine. Upon the breaking out of the war of 1812 he received a
Lieutenant's commission, and was forthwith employed in active service. He
became sailing master of the Moira, under Captain Sampson, and
afterwards of the Montreal, under Captain Popham. Upon the arrival of Sir
James Yeo in Upper Canada, in May, 1813, the naval armament on the lakes
entered upon a new phase of existence. The local marine ceased to exist as
such, and became a part of the Royal Navy. The Provincial commissions
previously granted were no longer of any effect, and that of Lieutenant
Richardson shared the same fate as the rest. The Provincial officers resented
this mode of dealing with their commissions, and all but two of them retired
from the marine and took service in the militia, where, in the language of
Colonel Coffin, they were permitted to risk their lives without offence to
their feelings. The two exceptions were Lieutenant George Smith and the
subject of this sketch. The latter shared the sentiments of his brother
officers, but he recognized the importance to the country of working
harmoniously with his superiors at such a juncture, and cast every personal
consideration aside. He informed the Commodore that he was willing to
give his country the benefit of his local knowledge and services, but
declined to take any rank below that which had previously been conferred
upon him. The Commodore availed himself of the young man's services as
a master and pilot, and in those capacities he did good service until the
close of the war. He shared the gun-room with the regular commissioned
officers, with whom he was very popular. He was with the fleet during the
unsuccessful attempt on Sackett's Harbour, towards the close of May, 1813.
A year later, at the taking of Oswego, he was pilot of the Montreal, under
Captain Popham, already mentioned; and he took his vessel so close in to
the fort that the Commodore feared lest he should run aground. Soon after
bringing the Montreal to anchor a shot from the fort carried off his left arm
just below the shoulder. He sank down upon the deck of the vessel, and was
carried below. The remnant of his shattered arm was secured so as to
prevent him from bleeding to death, "and there," says his biographer,[7] "he
lay suffering while the battle raged, his ears filled with its horrid din, and

his mind oppressed with anxiety as to its result, till the cheers of the victors
informed him that his gallant comrades had triumphed. He had been
wounded in the morning, and it was nearly evening before the surgeon
could attend to him, when it was found necessary to remove the shattered
stump from the socket at the shoulder joint. During the severe operation the
young lieutenant evinced the utmost fortitude. In the evening he was
exceedingly weak from loss of blood, the pain of his wound, and the
severity of the operation. Next day the fever was high, and for some days
his life apparently hung in the balance; but at length he commenced to rally,
and by the blessing of God upon the skilful attention and great care that he
received, he was finally fully restored." During the following October he
joined the St. Lawrence—said to have been the largest sailing vessel that
ever navigated the waters of Lake Ontario—and in this service he remained
until the close of the war.

James Richardson, signed as Jas. Richardson

Soon after the proclamation of peace he retired from the naval service,
and settled at Presque Isle Harbour, near the present site of the village of
Brighton, in the county of Northumberland. He was appointed Collector of
Customs of the port, and soon afterwards became a Justice of the Peace.
The Loyal and Patriotic Society requested his acceptance of £100, and a
yearly pension of a like amount was awarded to him by Government in
recognition of his services during the late war. This well-earned pension he
continued to receive during the remainder of his life, embracing a period of
more than fifty years.
In the year 1813, while the war was still in progress, he had married; the
lady of his choice being Miss Rebecca Dennis, daughter of Mr. John
Dennis, who was for many years a master-builder in the royal dock-yard at
Kingston. This lady shared his joys and sorrows for forty-five years. During
the last decade of her life she suffered great bodily affliction, which she
endured with Christian resignation and serenity. She died at her home,
Clover Hill, Toronto, on the 29th of March, 1858.
During the early months of their residence at Presque Isle Harbour, both
Mr. Richardson and his wife became impressed by serious thoughts on the
subject of religion. In August, 1818, they united with the Methodist
Episcopal Church. That Church was then in its infancy in this country, and
was struggling hard to obtain a permanent foothold. With its subsequent
history Mr. Richardson was closely identified. He was very much in
earnest, and felt it to be his duty to do his utmost for the salvation of souls.
His piety was not spasmodic or fitful, but steady and enduring. His
education at that time, though it was necessarily imperfect, and far from
being up to the standard of the present day, was better than was that of most
of his fellow-labourers. He at once became a man of mark in the
denomination, and was appointed to the offices of steward and local
preacher on the Smith's Creek circuit. His labours were crowned with much
success. His pulpit oratory is described as being "full of vitality—adapted to
bring souls to Christ, and build up in holiness."[8] In 1824 he was called to
active work, and placed on the Yonge Street circuit, which included the
town of York, and extended through eight of the neighbouring townships.

This rendered necessary his removal from Presque Isle, and his resignation
of his office as Collector of Customs. His field of labour extended from
York northwardly to Lake Simcoe—a distance of forty-five miles—with
lateral excursions to right and left for indeterminate distances. The state of
the roads was such that wheeled vehicles were frequently unavailable, and
the greater part of the travelling had to be done on horseback, the preacher
carrying his books, clothing, writing materials, and other accessories in his
saddle-bags. His life was necessarily a toilsome one, and his financial
remuneration was little more than nominal. During his second year on
circuit he had for a colleague the Rev. Egerton Ryerson, with whom he
worked in the utmost harmony, and with very gratifying pastoral results. Dr.
Richardson has left on record his appreciation of his colleague's services at
this time. He says: "A more agreeable and useful colleague I could not have
desired. We laboured together with one heart and mind, and God was
graciously pleased to crown our united efforts with success—we doubled
the members in society, both in town and country, and all was harmony and
love. Political questions were not rife—indeed were scarcely known among
us. The church was an asylum for any who feared God and wrought
righteousness, irrespective of any party whatever. We so planned our work
as to be able to devote one week out of four exclusively to pastoral labour
in the town, and to preach there twice every Sabbath, besides meeting all
the former appointments in the townships east and west bordering on Yonge
Street for forty-five or fifty miles northward to Roach's Point, Lake Simcoe.
This prosperous and agreeable state of things served to reconcile both my
dear wife and myself to the itinerant life, with all the attendant privations
and hardships incident to those times."
In 1826 Mr. Richardson was sent to labour at Fort George and
Queenston. Next year he was admitted into full connection, and ordained a
deacon, along with the late Dr. Anson Green and Egerton Ryerson. Mr.
Richardson was transferred to the River Credit, where he laboured for a
year as a missionary among the Indians. An important crisis in the history
of the Methodist Church in Canada was then at hand. The memorable
Conference of 1828 was held at Ernesttown, in the Bay of Quinté district. It
was presided over by Bishop Hedding, and Mr. Richardson was chosen
secretary. It was at this Conference that the decisive step of separation from
the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United

States was taken. Thenceforward the Church in Canada became an
independent Body, with a Bishop and Conference of its own. "This step,"
says Mr. Richardson, "was fraught with results, for good or ill, according as
it is viewed by different parties, from their several standpoints. It was
deemed necessary then, by the majority, because of the political relations of
the two countries, and the difficulty attendant on obtaining our legal right to
hold church property, and solemnize matrimony. Others, viewing the church
as catholic, or universal in her design and character, judged it wrong to limit
her jurisdiction by national or municipal boundaries." Mr. Richardson
subsequently regretted that the scheme of separation had been carried out.
Meanwhile he was appointed, along with the Rev. Joseph Gatchell, to the
Niagara Circuit, a very extensive field of labour, and took up his abode at
what was then the insignificant village of St. Catharines. There he remained
two years, and in 1830 was ordained as an elder by Bishop Hedding, of the
United States—no Bishop having as yet been selected for the Canadian
Church, which, since its separation, had been presided over by a General
Superintendent in the person of the Rev. William Case. It is unnecessary
that we should follow him in his labours from circuit to circuit. His life was
spent in the service of his Church, and wherever he went he left behind him
the impress of a sincere and zealous man. At the Conference held at York in
1831 he was appointed presiding elder of the Niagara District. In
September, 1832, he became editor of the Christian Guardian, and while
holding that position he opposed the reception of Government support to
the churches with great vigour and determination. He continued to direct
the policy of the Guardian until the Conference of 1833. During this
Conference, which marks another important epoch in the history of
Canadian Methodism, the Articles of Union between the English and
Canadian Connexions were adopted. To this union Mr. Richardson was a
consenting party, believing that the step would be productive of good,
though he subsequently had reason to modify his views on the subject. In
1836 he severed his connection with the Wesleyans, owing to the reception
by that Body of State grants. He soon afterwards removed to Auburn, in the
State of New York, where he won the respect of his congregation; but he
was not adapted to such a circle as that in which he found himself, and did
not feel himself at home there. "His quiet, unpretentious manners," says Mr.
Carroll, "were not of the kind to carry much sway with our impressible
American cousins; and the constant exhibition of an empty sleeve, ever

reminding them of an arm lost in resisting their immaculate Republic, was
likely to be an eye-sore to a people so hostile to Britain as the citizens of the
United States." He was moreover an uncompromising abolitionist, and was
fearless in his denunciations of the national curse of slavery. The prevailing
sentiment in the State of New York in those days was not such as to
conduce to the popularity of any man who took the side of humanity. He
remained at Auburn only a year, when he returned to his native land, and
took up his residence at Toronto. Immediately upon his arrival he
encountered his old friend and fellow-labourer the Rev. Philander Smith. A
long and serious conversation followed, during which they both decided to
reunite themselves with the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Conference
of that Body was then in session a short distance from Toronto, and their
resolution was at once carried out. They were received with open arms, and
continued in the ministry of the Church during the remainder of their
respective lives.
In 1837 Mr. Richardson was stationed at Toronto. The following year he
travelled as a general missionary. The British and Foreign Bible Society
having established a branch in Canada, Mr. Richardson was, in 1840,
appointed its agent, he having received permission of the Conference to act
in that capacity. This office he filled, with advantage to the Society and
credit to himself, for eleven years. While acting in that capacity he often
filled Wesleyan pulpits, preserved the most cordial relations with his old
friends belonging to that Body. In 1842 he became Vice-President, and in
1851 President, of the Upper Canada Religious Tract and Book Society. He
retained the latter position to the time of his death. In 1852 he was again
appointed Presiding Elder of his Church. After occupying that position for
two years his health was so much impaired that he was granted a
superannuation, which he held for four years. On the 29th of March, 1858,
he sustained a serious bereavement in the loss of his wife. At the
Conference held in that year he reported himself able to resume his labours,
and was once more appointed to the charge of a district, but before the close
of the session he was elected to the Episcopal office. He was consecrated by
Bishop Smith, on Sunday, the 22nd of August. He forthwith entered upon
his duties. During the next two years he was in an infirm state of health, but
a brief respite from work restored him, and he resumed his Episcopal and
other duties with even more than his wonted vigour. In 1865 he visited

England on behalf of Albert College, Belleville. The College Board was
hampered by a heavy debt, and it was found impossible to relieve the
pressure by Canadian subscriptions alone. Bishop Richardson accordingly,
at the request of the College authorities, crossed the Atlantic to solicit aid
there. He was accompanied by his daughter, Mrs. Brett, wife of Mr. R. H.
Brett, banker, of Toronto. They were absent about six months, during which
they visited many of the principal cities and towns of England and Scotland.
The Bishop was indefatigable in his exertions, but the Reformed Methodist
Church in England is not a wealthy Body, and it had enough to do to
support its institutions at home. For these reasons the subscriptions obtained
were neither so large nor so numerous as had been hoped, though the
expedition was by no means a fruitless one.
The next five years were comparatively uneventful ones in the life of
Bishop Richardson. His time was spent in the discharge of his official
duties. His coadjutor, Bishop Smith, had become old and feeble, and Bishop
Richardson willingly took upon himself a portion of the invalid's work. His
time, therefore, was fully occupied. In 1870 Bishop Smith died, and during
the next four years the entire duties pertaining to the Episcopal office
devolved upon the survivor. He seemed almost to renew his youth in order
to meet the extra demands made upon him. He was more than fourscore
years of age, yet he contrived to get creditably through an amount of mental
and bodily labour which would have prostrated many men not past their
prime. He frequently conducted his pulpit services and the sessions of the
Conference without the aid of spectacles; and he was persistent in his
determination to do his own work without the assistance of a secretary. This
state of things, however, in a man of his age, could not be expected to last.
His vital forces began perceptibly to give way. In the month of August,
1874, at the General Conference of the Church held at Napanee, he
consecrated the Rev. Dr. Carman to the Episcopal office. The ceremonial
taxed his energies very severely, and he was compelled by physical
suffering to leave the Conference room as soon as he had placed his
associate in the chair. At the close of the Conference he returned to his
home at Clover Hill—now known as St. Joseph Street—where a few days'
rest enabled him to regain as great a measure of health as could be expected
in a man who had entered upon his eighty-fourth year. During the autumn
and winter he was actively at work as earnestly as ever, watching over

every department of the Church, and giving especial attention to the
questions submitted by the General Conference for the action of the
Quarterly Meeting Conferences. During the following winter, while visiting
the Ancaster Circuit, he was prostrated by dizziness, and after his return
home it was evident that his end was near. He sank quietly to his rest on the
9th of March, 1875. His death was like his life—manly, and devoid of
display. "I have no ecstasy," he remarked to a clerical visitor, "but I know in
whom I have believed." To another visitor he remarked, "My work is done;
I have nothing to do now but to die." He retained his mental faculties in
their full vigour almost up to the moment when he ceased to breathe. He
was buried in the family vault at the Necropolis, Toronto, on the 12th of the
month. The funeral was unusually large. The funeral sermon was preached
by Bishop Carman in the Metropolitan Methodist Church, on the morning
of Sunday, March 21st, from the text 1st Corinthians, xv. 55: "O death,
where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"
Bishop Richardson, while possessing few or none of the superlatively
salient characteristics by which some of his contemporaries were
distinguished, was one of those men who, almost imperceptibly, exert a
wide and lasting influence for good. There was nothing showy or flashy
about him; nothing theatrical or unreal. He made no pretence to brilliant
oratory, or indeed to specially brilliant gifts of any kind. He was simply a
man of good intellect and sound judgment, with a highly developed moral
nature, who strove earnestly to benefit his fellow-men, and to leave the
world better than he found it. He believed in Episcopacy, and was in full
sympathy with the form of government adopted by his Church; but his zeal
for Episcopacy was altogether subordinated to his zeal for Christianity. His
life was conscientiously devoted to the service of his Master, and he has left
behind him many hallowed memories. Next to his piety, perhaps the most
conspicuous thing about him was his love for his country. His patriotism
was as zealous in his declining years as it had been in those remote times
when he lost his left arm before the batteries of Oswego. At the time of the
Fenian invasion of Canada, in 1866—when he was in his seventy-sixth year
—his loyal sympathies were roused to such a degree that he expressed his
willingness to risk his one remaining arm in his country's defence. He
would have taken the field, had his doing so been necessary, with as clear a
conscience as he would have discharged any other duty of his life. In the

words of his biographer: "Loyalty to God and his country, uprightness and
integrity in his dealings with his fellow-men, and civil and religious liberty
for all, were leading articles in his creed."

LORD SEATON.

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Lord Seaton, who is better known to Canadians by his commoner's title
of Sir John Colborne, was a son of Samuel Colborne, an English gentleman
resident at Lyndhurst, in the county of Hants. He was born sometime in the
year 1777, and after passing from the hands of a private tutor to Winchester
College—where he remained several years—he embraced a military life, in
1794, by entering the army in the capacity of an ensign. The closing years
of the last century were propitious for a young British soldier fired by an
ambition to distinguish himself, and young Colborne had embraced
precisely the career for which he was best fitted. He was a born soldier, and
throughout his military life furnished an apt illustration of the round peg in
the round hole. Napier, the historian of the Peninsular War, speaks of him as
having developed "an extraordinary genius for war," and another historian
refers to him as one of the bravest and most efficient officers produced by
those stirring times. For the readers of these pages the chief interest in his
career begins with his arrival in Canada in 1828. His services previous to
that date may be summarized in a few sentences. In 1799 he was sent over
by way of Holland to Egypt under Sir Ralph Abercromby, and remained
there until the realm of the Pharaohs was cleared of the French and restored
to the Sultan's dominion. He was with the British and Russian troops
employed on the Neapolitan frontier in 1805; also in Sicily and Calabria, in
the campaign of 1806. Having obtained promotion for his gallant services,
he became Military Secretary to General Fox, Commander of the Forces in
Sicily and the Mediterranean, and afterwards acted in the same capacity to
Sir John Moore. He was present at the battle of Corunna, where his brave
Chief met a glorious death. Immediately afterwards he joined the army of
Lord Wellington, and in 1809 he was sent to La Mancha to report on the
operations of the Spanish armies. Having received the command of a
regiment, and having been appointed to a lieutenant-colonelcy, he

commanded a brigade in Sir Rowland Hill's division in the campaigns of
1810-11, and was detached in command of the brigade to Castel Branco, to
observe the movements of General Reynier's corps d'armée on the frontier
of Portugal. At the battle of Busaco he commanded a brigade and also on
the retreat to the Lines of Torres Vedras. On the 21st of June, 1814, he
married Miss Elizabeth Yonge, daughter of the Rev. J. Yonge, of Puslinch,
Devonshire, and Rector of Newton-Ferrers. He was actively employed all
through the War in the Peninsula, and received his due proportion of
wounds and glory. In 1815 he was present at the memorable battle of
Waterloo, in command of his old regiment, the 52nd. He likewise
commanded a brigade on the celebrated march to Paris. The battle of
Waterloo was the last European conflict in which he took part. He
subsequently became Lieutenant-Governor of Guernsey, one of the Channel
Islands. In 1825 he was appointed a Major-General; and in 1828 he first
came to Canada as Lieutenant-Governor, when the chief interest in his life,
so far as Canadian readers are concerned, may be said to have begun. He
succeeded Sir Peregrine Maitland, who had been transferred to Nova
Scotia.
He arrived in Canada in November, 1828, and at once assumed charge of
the Administration. His predecessor had left him a very undesirable legacy
in the shape of great popular discontent. It was announced that Sir John had
come over with instructions to reverse Sir Peregrine Maitland's policy, and
to govern in accordance with liberal principles. The general elections of that
year testified plainly enough that the people of Upper Canada were moving
steadily in the direction of Reform, and if Sir John had acted in accordance
with the instructions he had received from headquarters a good deal of
subsequent calamity might perhaps have been averted. But the new
Governor was essentially a military Governor. He had been literally "a man
of war from his youth." His character, though in the main upright and
honourable, was stern and unbending, and his military pursuits had not
fitted him for the task of governing a people who were just beginning to
grasp the principles of constitutional liberty. He allied himself with the
Family Compact, and was guided by the advice of that body in his
administration of public affairs. Parliament met early in January, 1829, and
it soon became apparent that Sir John Colborne's idea of a liberal policy
was not sufficiently advanced to meet the demands of the Assembly. There

is no need to recapitulate in detail the arbitrary proceedings to which the
Governor lent his countenance during the next few years. The prosecution
of Collins and of William Lyon Mackenzie, and the setting apart of the
fifty-seven rectories, have often been commented upon, and but little
satisfaction is to be derived from repeating those oft-told grievances. Upon
the whole, Sir John Colborne's Administration of Upper Canadian affairs
cannot be said to have been much more beneficent than was that of his
predecessor. With good intentions, he was constitutionally unequal to the
requirements of the position in which he found himself placed. His course
of action was very distasteful to the Reform Party, but he continued to
govern the Upper Province until 1835, when he solicited his recall. His
request was acceded to. His successor, Sir Francis Bond Head, arrived in
January, 1836, and Sir John was just about to sail from New York for
Europe, when he received a despatch appointing him Commander-in-Chief
of the Forces in Canada. He consequently returned, and took up his quarters
at Quebec, the capital of the Lower Province, where he adopted such
prompt measures for the defence of the country as the exigencies of the
times demanded. On the breaking out of the Rebellion he was once more in
his proper element, and showed that the high military reputation which he
had achieved on the continent of Europe had not been undeserved. There is
no need to go through the minutiae of the Lower Canadian Rebellion, nor to
tell in detail the story of St. Denis, of St. Eustache, and of St. Benoit. Sir
John has been accused of unnecessary cruelty in putting down the
insurrection. Suffice it to say that the emergencies of the occasion were
such as to call for determined measures, and that Sir John employed
measures suited to the emergencies. He soon succeeded in extinguishing the
flame of rebellion in all parts of the country, taking the field himself in
person in several engagements. Papineau was compelled to retreat, as also
was Wolfred Nelson and his colleagues; and when Robert, the latter's
brother, presented himself, he was totally routed by the able regular and
militia forces under Sir John Colborne's command. On the recall of Lord
Gosford, Sir John was temporarily appointed Governor-General of British
North America, which high office he vacated on Lord Durham's arrival in
May, 1838. He was appointed to it again on that nobleman's sudden and
unauthorized departure in November of the same year. He continued to
administer the Government until 1839, when he earnestly solicited his
recall, in order that he might be enabled to repose from his great labours.

The Hon. Charles Poulett Thomson was appointed his successor, and
arrived at Quebec to relieve him of the cares and anxieties of Government.
On the 23rd of October Sir John sailed for England. On his arrival there
new honours awaited him. He was created a peer of the United Kingdom, as
Baron Seaton; received the Grand Cross of the Bath, of Hanover, of St.
Michael, and of St. George. He was also created a Privy Councillor, and a
pension of £2,000 per annum was conferred upon him and his two
immediate successors by Act of Parliament. In 1838 he was appointed
Lieutenant-General, and in 1854 General, as also Colonel of the Second
Life Guards. In 1860 he was raised to the highest rank and honour in the
British service—that of Field-Marshal. He died on the 17th of April, 1863,
leaving behind him a numerous progeny, the eldest whereof, James
Colborne, succeeded to, and now holds, the family titles and estates. The
latter are of considerable extent, and are situated in Devonshire, in London,
and in the county of Kildare, Ireland. It is worth while mentioning that the
present incumbent served his father in the capacity of an aide-de-camp
during the Canadian Rebellion.
The name of Sir John Colborne is inseparably blended with that of
Upper Canada College in the minds of the people of this Province. During
the early days of his Administration of affairs in Upper Canada there was a
good deal of agitation in the public mind with respect to the establishment
of a more advanced seat of learning than had previously existed here. It had
long been considered advisable to afford facilities to the youth of Upper
Canada for obtaining a more thorough education than was to be had at such
institutions as the Home District Grammar School, which up to the year
1829 was the most advanced educational establishment in York. Public
feeling was aroused, and several petitions were presented to the Legislature
on the subject, each of which gave rise to prolonged controversy and
debate. The outcome of the discussion was that Upper Canada College was
established by an order of the Provincial Government. Its original name was
"the Upper Canada College and Royal Grammar School," and the system
upon which it was modelled was that which was then adopted in most of the
great public schools of England. The classes were first opened on the 8th of
January, 1830, in the building on Adelaide Street which had formerly been
used as the Home District Grammar School. There it continued for more
than a year. In the summer of 1831 the institution was removed to the site

which it has since occupied. A fine portrait in oil of the subject of this
sketch, in his military costume, may be seen in one of the apartments there.

THE HON. SIR DOMINICK DALY.

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Sir Dominick Daly was born on the 11th of August, 1799, and was the
third son of Mr. Dominick Daly, a descendant of an old Roman Catholic
family in the county of Galway, Ireland. He was educated at the Roman
Catholic College of St. Mary's, near Birmingham, and after completing his
studies spent some time with an uncle who was a banker in Paris. He
subsequently returned to Ireland. In 1825 the Earl of Dalhousie visited
England, and Sir Francis M. Burton, who acted as Lieutenant-Governor
during his absence, brought with him as his private secretary, Mr. Dominick
Daly, then about twenty-six years of age. Lord Dalhousie returned to
Canada early in 1826, and Mr. Daly returned with Sir Francis Burton to
England.
In 1827 he returned to Quebec, bearing with him instructions to the
Governor-General to confer upon him the office of Provincial Secretary.
The appointment had been procured in England by the influence of Sir
Francis Burton, and other friends of Mr. Daly. During the interval which
elapsed between his appointment as Provincial Secretary and the rebellion
of 1837, a period of about ten years, Mr. Daly carefully abstained from
engaging in the political conflict, and seems to have enjoyed a larger share
of public confidence than any other official. When Lord Durham was
appointed Governor-General after the rebellion, Mr. Daly was the only
public official who was sworn of the Executive Council, and there is no
doubt that he was the only one of the British officials who was looked on
with favour by the leaders of the popular party. And yet, viewing his
conduct by the light of subsequent events, it is probable that the popular
leaders overestimated Mr. Daly's sympathy with their cause. Unconnected
with politics, he considered it his duty to support the policy of the Governor
of the day; and he doubtless was of opinion that having been for many years

incumbent of an office which had always been admitted to be held as a
permanent tenure, he was justified in retaining it as long as he had the
sanction of the Governor for doing so. When the Union of the old Provinces
of Lower and Upper Canada took place in 1841, the Governor-General
called on the principal departmental officers to find seats in the House of
Assembly, although it is very improbable that he had any intention of
strictly carrying into practice what has since been understood as
Responsible Government. It had been the practice under the old system for
the law officers of the Crown to find seats in the Legislature, but the offices
of Provincial Secretary and Registrar, Receiver-General, Commissioner of
Crown Lands, and Inspector-General, had always been considered non-
political. Lord Sydenham, as far as can be judged from what occurred, had
no definite policy on the subject. He induced Mr. Daly to enter Parliament,
and the latter seems to have had no difficulty in procuring a seat for the
county of Megantic. The Provincial Secretary in Upper Canada was allowed
to retain his office without entering public life. The Commissioner of
Crown Lands in Lower Canada declined becoming a candidate, and
retained his office, while in Upper Canada the Commissioner of Crown
Lands was a member both of the Legislative and Executive Councils. Mr.
Daly seems to have been considered as unobjectionable by the leaders of
the majority in Lower Canada, as he was by their opponents, which, taking
into account the excited state of feeling at the period of the Union, is
conclusive proof that he had acted with great discretion during the stormy
period which preceded the suspension of the Constitution. When Mr.
Baldwin, on accepting office at the time of the Union, deemed it his duty to
acquaint those who were appointed members of Council prior to the
meeting of the first Parliament of United Canada, that there were some in
whom he had no political confidence, Mr. Daly was one of the exceptions;
and as Mr. Baldwin's avowed object was the introduction of French
Canadians into the Government, he must have been satisfied that they had
not the objection to Mr. Daly that they had to Mr. Ogden and Mr. Day. Mr.
Baldwin's attempt to procure a reconstruction of the Ministry was
unsuccessful, and he resigned, not having been supported by those with
whom he had avowed his readiness to act. Mr. Daly went through the
session of 1841 as a member of the Government, and visited England
during the recess. On the meeting of the Legislature in 1842, Sir Charles
Bagot having, during the interval, succeeded Lord Sydenham, overtures

were made, with the concurrence of Mr. Daly, to Messrs. Lafontaine and
Baldwin, which led to a reconstruction of the Cabinet. Mr. Daly retained his
office of Provincial Secretary, and acted in perfect harmony with his
colleagues, not only during the short term of Sir Charles Bagot's
Government, but during the critical period of 1843, after Sir Charles
Metcalfe's assumption of the Government, and up to the very moment
when, in the opinion of all his colleagues, resignation became absolutely
necessary. During the whole of this period Mr. Daly appeared to concur
with his colleagues on every point on which a difference of opinion arose,
and it was only when resignation became absolutely necessary that he
declined to act any longer in concert with them. At an early period of the
session of 1843 a vacancy occurred in the Speakership of the Legislative
Council—an office of considerable political importance, and one which it
was clearly impossible that the Ministry could consent to have conferred on
a political opponent. The choice of the Administration fell on the Hon.
Denis B. Viger, one of the oldest Liberal politicians in the Province. On
submitting their advice to Sir Charles Metcalfe, he not only objected most
strongly to Mr. Viger's appointment, but stated that he had offered the post,
without consulting his Ministers, to Mr. Sherwood, a retired Judge, and
father of Mr. Henry Sherwood, one of the leading opponents of the
Administration. Had Mr. Sherwood accepted the offer, the crisis would have
occurred a few weeks sooner than it did, and on a question on which there
could have been no misapprehension. Mr. Sherwood declined the offer,
probably to avoid the impending difficulty, and after some negotiation, the
Ministry consented to withdraw Mr. Viger's name, and to substitute that of
the late Lieutenant-Governor Caron. During all this difficulty, Mr. Daly was
apparently in accord with his colleagues, although it subsequently appeared
that he was acting in concert with Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who took
an active part in supporting Sir Charles, and whose letters published in
England threw a good deal of light on the transactions previous to the crisis.
Mr. Daly retained his office of Secretary in the new Ministry formed by
Metcalfe, and was subjected to much censure for what was considered a
desertion of his colleagues. So bitter was the personal feeling that on one
occasion language was used in the House by one of his old colleagues, Mr.
Aylwin, which he deemed so offensive as to lead him to retort in terms that
provoked a hostile message and a subsequent meeting, when, after an
exchange of shots, the dispute was amicably settled.

The Ministry formed under Metcalfe in 1843 was changed repeatedly,
Mr. Daly having been the only member of it who retained office until the
resignation in March, 1848, in consequence of a vote of want of confidence
having been carried in the Assembly at the opening of the third Parliament.
There were during that period two Attorneys-General and two Solicitors-
General in each of the Provinces, two Presidents of the Council, two
Receivers-General, two Ministers of Finance, two Commissioners of Crown
Lands, but only one Secretary, whose adhesion to office was the subject of a
good deal of remark. When at last resignation became indispensably
necessary, Mr. Daly withdrew almost immediately from public life. It had
clearly never been his intention to continue in Parliament as a member of
the Opposition; and it could scarcely have been expected by the Party with
which circumstances had forced him into alliance that he would adhere to it
after its downfall. It may truly be said of Mr. Daly that he was never a
member of any Canadian Party, and that he had no sympathy with the
political views of any of his numerous colleagues. A most amiable man in
private life, and much esteemed by a large circle of private friends, he was
wholly unsuited for public life. He had never been in the habit of speaking
in public prior to his first election, and he never attempted to acquire the
talent. Having no private fortune, he found himself after the age of forty
suddenly called upon to take a prominent part in the organization of a new
system of government, which involved his probable retirement, and as an
almost necessary consequence, his subsequent exclusion from office.
In estimating Sir Dominick Daly's political character, it would be unfair
to judge him by the same standard as those who subsequently accepted
office with a full knowledge of the responsibilities which they incurred by
doing so. Sir Dominick Daly was the last of the old Canadian bureaucracy,
and it is not a little singular that he should have been able to retain his old
office of Secretary under the new system for a period of fully seven years.
On his return to England his claim on the Imperial Government, which
without doubt had been strongly urged by Metcalfe, was promptly
recognized, and he was almost immediately appointed a Commissioner of
Enquiry into the claims of the New and Waltham Forests, which he held
until the close of the Commission in 1850-51. He was appointed
Lieutenant-Governor of the Island of Tobago, in the Windward Island
group, in 1851, and transferred to the government of Prince Edward Island

in 1854, which he held until 1857. In November, 1861, he was appointed
Governor and Commander-in-Chief of South Australia, where he died in the
year 1868, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. He had received the honour of
knighthood on the termination of his service in Prince Edward Island.
Sir Dominick Daly married, in 1826, a daughter of Colonel Gore, of
Barrowmount, in the County Kilkenny, Ireland, by whom he had several
children. One of his sons is the present representative of the city of Halifax
in the Dominion Parliament.

THE HON. WILLIAM McMASTER.

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Mr. McMaster is probably the most widely known among the merchant
princes of Western Canada, and has had a remarkably successful
commercial career. As is the case with most men who have been the
architects of their own fortunes, his success is largely attributable to his
personal qualifications. He inherited a sound constitution, an active,
enterprising mind, and a strong will. With such advantages he began the
battle of life in this country nearly half a century ago. He grew with the
country's growth, and by his industry and shrewdness achieved, in course of
time, a position which made him thoroughly independent of the world. It
has been the fashion to say of him that his mercantile operations were
always attended with "good luck;" but those who converse with him on
commercial or financial questions for half an hour will draw their own
conclusions as to how far "luck" has had to do with the matter. He has been
lucky in the same sense that the late Duke of Wellington was lucky; that is
to say, he has known how to take advantage of favourable circumstances.
Anyone else possessing his keenness of perception and shrewd common
sense would in the long run have been equally lucky. He has made good use
alike of his wealth and his talents, and the land of his adoption is the better
for his presence.
He is by birth and early training an Irishman, and was born in the county
of Tyrone, on the 24th of December, 1811. His father, the late Mr. William
McMaster, was a linen merchant whose resources were not abundant, but
who was able to give his son a good education. The latter received his
educational training at an excellent private school taught by a Mr. Halcro,
who had a high local reputation as a teacher. After leaving school he was for
a short time a clerk in a local mercantile house. His prospects in Ireland,
however, were not commensurate with his ambition. In 1833, when he was

in his twenty-second year, he resigned his situation, and emigrated. Upon
reaching New York he was advised by the resident British Consul not to
settle in the United States, but to make his way to Canada. He acted upon
the advice, and passed on to Toronto—or, as it was then called, Little York.
The conditions of the wholesale trade in Canada in those days were very
different from those which now prevail. The preeminence of Montreal as a
point of distribution for both the Provinces was well established, and the
wholesale trade of Little York was comparatively insignificant. There were
very few exclusively wholesale establishments in the Upper Canadian
capital, but several of the largest firms contrived to combine a wholesale
and retail business. Young William McMaster, immediately upon his arrival
at Little York, obtained a clerkship in one of these, viz., that of Mr. Robert
Cathcart, a merchant who then occupied premises on the south side of King
Street, opposite Toronto Street. After remaining in this establishment
somewhat more than a year in the capacity of a clerk, young McMaster was
admitted to a partnership in the business, a large share of which from that
time forward came under his own personal management. The partnership
lasted about ten years, when—in 1844—Mr. McMaster withdrew from it,
and started a separate wholesale dry-goods business on his own account, in
a store situated on the west side of Yonge Street, a short distance below the
intersection of that thoroughfare with King Street. By this time the
conditions of trade had undergone some modification. Montreal still had the
lion's share of the wholesale trade, but Toronto and Hamilton had also
become known as distributing centres, and both those towns contained
some large wholesale warehouses. Mr. McMaster's business was a large one
from the beginning, but it rapidly expanded, until there was not a town, and
scarcely a village in Canada West, which did not largely depend upon the
house of William McMaster for its dry-goods supplies. The attempt to make
Toronto, instead of Montreal, the wholesale emporium for Western Canada
was not initiated by Mr. McMaster, but it was ably seconded by him, and no
merchant now living did so much to divert the wholesale trade to western
channels. In process of time he admitted his nephews (who now compose
the firm of Messrs. A. R. McMaster & Brother) into partnership, and
removed to more commodious premises lower down on Yonge Street,
contiguous to the Bank of Montreal. This large establishment in its turn
became too small for the ever-increasing volume of trade, and the

magnificent commercial palace on Front Street, where the business is still
carried on, was erected. Here, under the style of William McMaster &
Nephews, the business continued to grow. As time passed by, the senior
partner became engaged in large financial and other enterprises, and
practically left the purely commercial operations to the management of his
nephews. Eventually he withdrew from the firm altogether, but his
retirement has not been passed in idleness. He has a natural aptitude for
dealing with matters of finance, and this aptitude has been increased by the
operations of an active mercantile life. He has been a director in several of
the most important banking and insurance institutions in the country, and
has always taken his full share of the work devolving upon him. Twenty
years ago he founded the Canadian Bank of Commerce, and became its
President. That position he has occupied ever since, and every banking-day
finds him at his post. There can be no doubt that his care and judgement
have had much to do with the highly successful career of the institution. Mr.
McMaster was also for some time a director of the Ontario Bank, and of the
Bank of Montreal. He has for many years acted as President of the Freehold
Loan and Savings Company, as Vice-President of the Confederation Life
Association, and as a director of the Isolated Risk—now called the
Sovereign—Insurance Company. He also for many years occupied the
unenviable position of Chairman of the Canadian Board of the Great
Western Railway. Upon the abolition of that Board a few years ago, and the
election of an English Board in its stead, Mr. McMaster was the only
Canadian whose services were retained.
But it is not only with financial and kindred matters that Mr. McMaster
has busied himself of late years. In 1862 he for the first time entered
political life, having been elected to represent the Midland Division,
embracing North York and South Simcoe, in the Legislative Council of old
Canada. He was opposed by Mr. John W. Gamble, who sustained a crushing
defeat, and Mr. McMaster continued to represent the Midland Division until
the Union. When the Senate of the Dominion was substituted for the old
Legislative Council, after the accomplishment of Confederation, Mr.
McMaster was chosen as one of the Senators to represent Ontario, and he
has ever since taken part in the deliberations of that body. He has always
been identified with the Liberal Party, but has never been an extremist in his
politics, and has kept himself aloof from the faction fights of the times.

His highest claim to the consideration of posterity will probably rest
upon his services in the cause of education. These have been of a kind
which we would be glad to see emulated by others of our wealthy
capitalists. His first connection with general educational matters dates from
the year 1865, when he was appointed a member of the old Council of
Public Instruction. He continued to represent the Baptist Church—of which
he is a prominent member—at that Board for a period of ten years. When
the Senate of Toronto University was reconstructed, in 1873, he was
nominated one of its members by the Lieutenant-Governor. But his most
important services in the cause of education have been in connection with
the denomination of which he is a devoted member. When the Canadian
Literary Institute, at Woodstock, was originally projected, he contributed
liberally to the building fund, and repeated his contribution when money
was needed for the restoration of the buildings after they were burned
down. He has ever since contributed liberally to the support of the
institution, and indeed has been its mainstay in a financial point of view. He
has been largely instrumental in bringing about the removal of the
theological department of the Institute to Toronto, where a suitable building
is now in process of erection for its accommodation in the Queen's Park, on
land purchased by Mr. McMaster specially for that purpose. The cost of
erecting this building is borne entirely by Mr. McMaster, and will amount,
it is said, to at least $70,000.
His benefactions to the Baptist Church have been large and numerous,
and of late years have been almost princely. The handsome edifice on the
corner of Jarvis and Gerrard Streets, Toronto, is largely due to the bounty of
Mr. McMaster and his wife, whose joint contributions to the building fund
amounted to about $60,000. To Mr. McMaster also is due the existence of
the Superannuated Ministers' Society of the Baptist Church of this
Province, of which he is the President, and to the funds of which he has
contributed with his accustomed liberality. He has also long contributed to
the support of the Upper Canada Bible Society, of which he is the Treasurer.
He married, in 1851, Miss Mary Henderson, of New York City. Her
death took place in 1868; and three years afterwards he married his present
wife, Susan Molton, widow of the late Mr. James Fraser, of Newburgh, in
the State of New York. There is no issue of either marriage.

THE HON. WILFRID LAURIER.

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Mr. Laurier was born at St. Lin, L'Assomption, in the Province of
Quebec, on the 20th of November, 1841. He was educated first at
L'Assomption College, and subsequently at McGill University, where he
took his degree of B.C.L. in 1864. A year later he was called to the Bar of
Quebec, his law studies having been pursued in the office of Mr.—now the
Hon.—T. A. R. Laflamme. His health having suffered by too close attention
to his professional duties, Mr. Laurier, at the end of two years, left
Montreal, where he had practised, and became the editor of Le Défricheur
newspaper at Arthabaska. His predecessor in the editorship was the late Mr.
J. B. E. Dorion, the paper being devoted to the advocacy of Liberal
principles. It did not, however, long continue in existence, and on its
suspension Mr. Laurier once more returned to his professional pursuits, in
which he soon obtained a high position, his personal popularity being as
marked as his intellectual attainments. In 1871 he was the Liberal candidate
for the representation of Drummond and Arthabaska in the Local Assembly,
and carried the seat by a large majority. His talents as a debater and his
statesmanlike cast of mind soon made him prominent in the Legislature,
and when, in 1874, Mr. Mackenzie, shortly after accepting office, appealed
to the country, Mr. Laurier relinquished his seat at Quebec to enter upon a
more enlarged sphere of work at Ottawa. He was elected for Drummond
and Arthabaska after a keen contest, and on the opening of the first session
of the new Parliament was selected to second the address in reply to the
Speech from the Throne. The manner in which he discharged this duty
made a most favourable impression. He was at once recognized as one of
the foremost of the many able representatives Quebec had sent to support
the then-existing Government, and has since never failed to impress the
House favourably when he has taken part in the debates.

It was evident from his first introduction to parliamentary life that he
must, at no distant day, be called upon to take his share in the
responsibilities of office. Even before that time his status as a leader of
opinion and a representative man in relation to public affairs had been very
clearly marked out. In a lecture delivered by him at Quebec in July, 1877,
on "Political Liberalism," he made a splendid defence of the Liberals of
Quebec against the misrepresentations and aspersions to which they had
been subjected. He insisted on the distinction between religious and
political opinions being maintained, and showed how strictly moderate and
constitutional were the views of those with whom he was politically
associated. Of the Liberal Party of the past—of the follies that had
characterized too many of its actions and utterances, nothing, he declared,
then existed, but in its stead remained the principles of the Liberal Party of
England. On the other hand, sketching the party opposed to him under the
name of Conservative, he spoke as follows:—"Sir George Cartier," he said,
"was devoted to the principles of the English Constitution—if Sir George
Cartier were to return to the world again he would not recognize his Party. I
certainly respect too much the opinion of my opponents to do them an
injury, but I reproach them with knowing neither their country nor the
times. I accuse them of estimating the political situation not by what has
occurred here, but by what has occurred in France. I accuse them of
endeavouring to introduce here ideas which would be impossible in our
state of society. I accuse them of laboriously endeavouring, and,
unfortunately, too effectually, to make religion the simple basis of a
political Party. It is the custom of our adversaries to accuse us Liberals of
irreligion. I am not here to parade my religious principles, but I proclaim
that I have too much respect for the faith in which I was born ever to make
it appear as the basis of a political organization. We are a happy and free
people; we owe this freedom to the Liberal institutions which govern us,
which we owe to our forefathers and to the wisdom of the Mother Country.
The policy of the Liberal Party is to guard these institutions, to defend and
propagate them, and under the rule of these institutions to develop the latent
resources of our country. Such is the policy of the Liberal Party, and it has
no other." Mr. Laurier's Liberalism, in fact, is of the strictly British type,
and to the immense benefit which has accrued to his French compatriots by
the concession of free British institutions he has borne eloquent testimony.
Few men, indeed, could be found better calculated than Mr. Laurier to

effect a union of thought, sentiment, and interest between those
distinguished by difference of race and creed, in the interest of their
common country. It was not, as we have seen, at all surprising that on a
vacancy occurring in the Quebec representation in the Dominion Cabinet,
Mr. Laurier should be offered the vacant portfolio. His fitness for the
position was disputed by none, either on personal or political grounds. In
Ontario, no less than in Quebec, his acceptance of office was hailed as a just
tribute to his worth and ability. In September, 1877, he was sworn of the
Privy Council, and became Minister of Inland Revenue. The knowledge of
his strength in Parliament and the country served to stimulate the
determination of his opponents to defeat him at all hazards when he
returned to his constituents for reëlection. The contest terminated by Mr.
Bourbeau, the Conservative candidate, being elected by a majority of 22
votes over the new Minister. The defeat only served to show how highly the
importance of Mr. Laurier's position in the country was estimated. Several
constituencies were at once placed at his disposal. Ultimately the Hon. Mr.
Thibaudeau, member for Quebec East, resigned, in order to create a
vacancy. After a short but very exciting contest, Mr. Laurier carried the
division by a majority of 315 votes. The result was the signal for general
rejoicing, his journey to Ottawa and his reception there being one continued
ovation. He retained the portfolio of Minister of Inland Revenue until the
resignation of the Government in October, 1878. At the elections held on
the 17th of September previous he was returned for Quebec East by a
majority of 778 votes over his opponent, Mr. Vallière, and he now sits in the
House for that constituency. He speaks both the French and English
languages fluently, has a large amount of French vivacity sobered by great
self-command, can strike home without too severely wounding, and
commands the respect and good-will of his warmest political adversaries.

THE RIGHT HON. SIR CHARLES BAGOT.

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The Right Honourable Sir Charles Bagot, the successor of Lord
Sydenham as Governor-General of British North America, was born at
Blithfield House, Rugeley, in Staffordshire, England, on the 23rd of
September, 1781. He was descended from an old aristocratic family, which
has been resident in Staffordshire for several hundred years, and was
ennobled in 1780—the year previous to the birth of the subject of this
sketch. He was the second son of William, first Baron Bagot, a nobleman
highly distinguished for his scholastic and scientific attainments. His
mother was Lady Louisa, daughter of Viscount St. John, brother and heir of
the illustrious Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke.
His life was not marked by much variety of incident, and affords but
scanty material for the biographer. From his early youth he was a prey to
great feebleness of constitution, which prevented him from making any
conspicuous figure at school. Upon completing his majority, his health
being much improved, he entered public life on the Tory side, in the
capacity of Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, under Mr.
Canning, during the Administration of the Duke of Portland. His tenure of
that office does not seem to have been marked by any very noteworthy
incidents. In 1814 he was despatched on a special mission to Paris, at which
time he resided for several months in the French capital. Later on he was
successively appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States, and
Ambassador to the Courts of St. Petersburg and the Hague. By this time his
health, which had never been very robust, again gave way, and he was
compelled to decline several other honourable and lucrative appointments
which were offered to him by the Ministry of the day. One of them was the
Governor-Generalship of India, rendered vacant by the return of Lord
Amherst to England. During Sir Robert Peel's short Administration in 1834,

he took charge of a special mission to Vienna, in the discharge of which he
commended himself highly to the authorities at home. A Reform
Government succeeded, and during its tenure of office we have no
information as to the subject of this memoir.
In 1841 the Tories again came into power under the leadership of Sir
Robert Peel. In the Ministry then formed, Lord Stanley, afterwards Earl of
Derby (father of the present Earl), held the post of Colonial Secretary. Upon
Lord Sydenham's death, in that year, it became necessary to appoint a new
Governor-General of British North America. Lord Stanley offered the post
to Sir Charles Bagot, who accepted it, and soon afterwards sailed for this
country, where public affairs, since Lord Sydenham's death in the preceding
month of September, had been under the direction of Sir Richard Jackson,
Commander-in-Chief of the Forces. Sir Charles entered upon his official
duties on the 10th of January, 1842, and it soon became apparent that he
intended to carry out the judicious line of policy inaugurated by his
predecessor, Lord Sydenham. He held himself aloof from purely party
questions, and formed no definite alliance with either Reformers or
Conservatives. This was a grievous disappointment to the latter. His past
political career had led the Tory leaders in Canada to suppose that he would
espouse their views, and that by his aid their ascendancy would be
reëstablished. These expectations were not destined to be realized. Sir
Charles spent his time in familiarizing himself with the position and needs
of the country at large. In some respects he showed himself to be more
liberal than his predecessor, Lord Sydenham, had been. Lord Sydenham had
been indisposed to have anything to do with those persons who had abetted
the rebellion. Sir Charles, knowing that Responsible Government had been
conceded, resolved to govern himself accordingly. Though himself a Tory
by predilection and by training, he knew that he had not been sent out to
Canada to gratify his own political leanings, but to govern in accordance
with the popular will. "He determined," says Mr. Macmullen, "to use
whatever party he found capable of supporting a Ministry, and accordingly
made overtures to the French Canadians and that section of the Reform
Party of Upper Canada led by Mr. Baldwin, who then formed the
Opposition in the Assembly. There can be no question that this was the
wisest line of policy he could adopt, and that it tended to remove the
differences between the two races, and unite them more cordially for the

common weal. The French Canadian element was no longer in the
ascendant—the English language had decidedly assumed the aggressive,
and true wisdom consisted in forgetting the past, and opening the door of
preferment to men of talent of French as well as to those of British origin.
The necessity of this line of policy was interwoven with the Union Act; and,
after that, was the first great step towards the amalgamation of the races. A
different policy would have nullified the principle of Responsible
Government, and must have proved suicidal to any Ministry seeking to
carry it out. Sir Charles Bagot went on the broad principle that the
constitutional majority had the right to rule under the Constitution." Finding
that the Ministry then in being did not possess the public confidence, he
called to his councils Robert Baldwin, Francis Hincks, Lafontaine, Morin,
and Aylwin. Upon the opening of the Legislature, in the following
September, he made a speech which showed that he understood the
situation and requirements of the country, and was sincerely desirous of
promoting its welfare. The session, which was a brief one, passed without
any specially noteworthy incidents. Soon after the prorogation, which took
place on the 8th of October, Sir Charles began to feel the effects of
approaching winter in a rigorous climate. His physicians advised him, as he
valued his life, to free himself from the cares of office, and betake himself
to a milder clime. He sent in his resignation, and prepared to return to
England, but the state of his health soon became so serious that he was unfit
to endure an ocean voyage in the middle of winter. He was destined never
to see his native land again. He lingered until the 19th of May, 1843, when
he sank quietly to rest, at Kingston, in the sixty-second year of his age.

LA SALLE.

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The publication last year of a revised edition of Mr. Parkman's
"Discovery of the Great West" has made the compilation of a sketch of La
Salle's life a very easy task. Mr. Parkman has told about everything that is
worth telling—indeed, every important fact that is known—with reference
to the great explorer; and for the future, any brief account of his life must
necessarily be little more than a condensation of Mr. Parkman's book. "It is
the glory and the misfortune of France," says M. Guizot, "to always lead the
van in the march of civilization, without having the wit to profit by the
discoveries and the sagacious boldness of her children. On the unknown
roads which she has opened to human enterprise she has too often left the
fruits to be gathered by nations less inventive, but more persevering." The
life of the ardent explorer whose achievements form the subject of this
sketch affords an apt commentary on the text of the eminent French
historian above quoted. Long prior to the date of La Salle's discoveries,
Samuel de Champlain had dreamed of and fruitlessly sought for a
continuous water passage across the American continent, and hoped to
thereby establish a profitable commerce with the Indies, China, and Japan.
La Salle, following in Champlain's footsteps, and dreaming the same wild
dreams, spent a great part of his life in attempting to do what his great
predecessor had failed in accomplishing. His discoveries, however,
extended over a much broader field. La Salle may practically be said to
have discovered the Great West. He crossed the Mississippi, which the
Jesuits had been the first to reach, and pushed on to the far south,
constructing forts in the midst of the most savage districts, and taking
possession of Louisiana in the name of King Louis XIV. Abandoned by
many of his comrades, and losing the most faithful of them by death;
attacked by savages, betrayed by his own hirelings, thwarted in his projects
by his enemies and his rivals, he at last met an inglorious death by

assassination, just as he was about to make his way back to New France. He
left the field open after him to the innumerable explorers of every nation
and every language who have since left their mark on those measureless
tracts. If but little benefit accrued to France from his discoveries, the fault
was not his. He has left an imperishable record on the page of American
history, and as a discoverer his name occupies a place in early Canadian
annals second only—if second—to that of Champlain himself.
Réné-Robert Cavelier, better known by his territorial patronymic of La
Salle, was born at Rouen, in Normandy, some time in the year 1643. The
exact date of his birth is unknown, but his baptism took place on the 22nd
of November of that year, at which time it is probable that he was only a
few days old. His family had long been wealthy burghers of Rouen, and
there were no obstacles in the way of his receiving a liberal education. He
early displayed an aptitude for science and mathematics, and, while still
young, entered a Jesuit Seminary in his native town. By this act, which
constituted the first step towards taking holy orders, he forfeited the
inheritance which would otherwise have descended to him—a forfeiture
which does not seem at any time to have weighed very heavily on his mind.
He seems to have occupied for a short time the position of a teacher in the
Seminary. After profiting for several years by the discipline taught in the
establishment he requested and obtained his discharge, obtaining high
praise from the directors of the Seminary for the diligence of his studies and
the purity of his life. "The cravings of a deep ambition," says Mr. Parkman,
"the hunger of an insatiable intellect, the intense longing for active
achievement, subdued in him all other passions; and among his faults the
love of pleasure had no part." His father had died a short time before La
Salle quitted the Seminary, and he would then have at once succeeded to a
large patrimony but for his connection with the Jesuits. A small sum—
amounting to several hundred livres—was handed over to him, and in the
spring of 1666 the young adventurer embarked for fame and fortune in New
France, towards which the attention of all western Europe was at that time
directed. He had already an elder brother in this country—the Abbé Jean
Cavelier, a Sulpician priest at Montreal. The Sulpicians had established
themselves there a few years before this time, and had already become
proprietors and feudal lords of the city and island. They were granting out
their lands to settlers on very easy terms, and La Salle obtained a grant of a

large tract of land a short distance above the turbulent current now known
as the Lachine Rapids. Here he became a feudal proprietor and fur trader on
his own account. Such a pursuit, however, was far from satisfying the
cravings of his ambition. Like Champlain and all the early explorers, he
dreamed of a passage to the South Sea, and a new road for commerce to the
riches of China and Japan. Indians often came to his secluded settlement;
and on one occasion he was visited by a band of Seneca Iroquois, some of
whom spent the winter with him, and told him of a river called the Ohio,
rising in their country and flowing into the sea, but at such a distance that
its mouth could only be reached after a journey of eight or nine months.
Evidently the Ohio and the Mississippi are here merged into one. In
accordance with geographical views then prevalent, La Salle conceived that
this great river must needs flow into the "Vermilion Sea;" that is, the Gulf of
California. If so, it would give him what he sought—a western passage to
China, while, in any case, the populous Indian tribes said to inhabit its
banks might be made a source of great commercial profit. His imagination
took fire. His resolution was soon formed; and he descended the St.
Lawrence to Quebec, to gain the countenance of the Governor for his
intended exploration. Few men were more skilled than he in the art of clear
and plausible statement. Both the Governor (Courcelle), and the Intendant
(Talon) were readily won over to his plan; for which, however, they seem to
have given him no more substantial aid than that of the Governor's letters
patent authorizing the enterprise. The cost was to be his own; and he had no
money, having spent it all on his seigniory. He therefore proposed that the
Seminary, which had given it to him, should buy it back again, with such
improvements as he had made. Queylus, the Superior, being favourably
disposed towards him, consented, and bought of him the greater part; while
La Salle sold the remainder, including the clearings, to one Milot, an
ironmonger, for twenty-eight hundred livres. With this he bought four
canoes, with the necessary supplies, and hired fourteen men. This being
accomplished, he started on his expedition, in the course of which he
explored the southern shore of Lake Ontario, and visited the Senecas in
Western New York. Continuing his journey, he passed the mouth of the
Niagara River, where he heard the roar of the mighty cataract, and passed
on to an Indian encampment near the present site of Hamilton. After much
delay he reached a branch of the Ohio, and descended at least as far as the

rapids at Louisville, where he was abandoned by his attendants, and was
compelled to return, his problem being yet unsolved.
But the time was not far distant when he was to make a much more
extended voyage than he had hitherto accomplished, and with somewhat
more important results. In 1672 Count Frontenac came over to Canada and
succeeded Courcelle as Governor of the colony. A friendship sprang up
between him and La Salle, and they began to form schemes of western
enterprise. Erelong we find the latter paying a flying visit to France, and
receiving from the King, mainly through his patron's influence, a patent of
nobility and a grant of Fort Frontenac—which had just before been founded
by the new Governor with imposing ceremonies—together with a large tract
of the contiguous territory. Then La Salle's serious troubles may be said to
have begun. His grant involved the exclusive right of fur-traffic with the
Indians on Lake Ontario, and though trade was a secondary object with
him, he nevertheless engaged in it as a means of furthering his more
ambitious schemes of exploration. The merchants of Canada, envious of his
influence and success, leagued themselves against him, and resolved to
accomplish his downfall. The Jesuits also placed themselves in opposition
to him, for his avowed projects conflicted with theirs. La Salle aimed at the
control of the valleys of the Ohio and the Mississippi, and the usufruct of
half a continent. The Jesuits were no longer supreme in Canada. In other
words, Canada was no longer simply a mission. It had become a colony.
Temporal interests and the civil power were constantly gaining ground.
Therefore the Jesuits looked with redoubled solicitude to their missions in
the West. They dreaded fur-traders, partly because they interfered with their
teachings and perverted their converts, and partly for other reasons. La Salle
was a fur-trader, and moreover aimed at occupation and settlement. In short,
he was a stumbling block in their path, and they leagued themselves against
him. Many of them engaged in underhand dealings with the Indians, and
while they refused absolution to all Europeans who sold brandy to the
natives, they turned a good many dishonest pennies by selling it themselves.
They laid all kinds of traps for La Salle, and did not escape the suspicion of
attempting to poison him. It is certain that an attempt to destroy him in this
fashion was made, though he himself exonerates the Jesuits from
participation in the attempt. In the autumn of 1677 he again sailed for
France, and while there procured Royal letters patent authorizing him to

prosecute his schemes of western discovery, to erect forts at such places as
he might deem expedient, and to enjoy the exclusive right of traffic in
buffalo skins. With Henri de Tonty, an Italian officer, as his lieutenant, he
soon afterwards returned to Fort Frontenac, whence, in the autumn of 1678,
he set out for the Great West.
The historian of this expedition was a mendacious Recollet friar, Father
Louis Hennepin, a name which has attained some notoriety in early
Canadian annals. Father Hennepin had come out to Canada three years
before the date at which we have arrived. Upon landing at Quebec he was at
once sent up to Fort Frontenac, as a missionary. He found that wild spot in
the western wilderness very much to his liking. He had not been there long
before he erected a gigantic cross, and superintended the building of a
chapel for himself and his colleague, Father Luke Buisset. He seems to
have discharged his duties with a reasonable amount of zeal. He for some
time gave himself up to instructing and endeavouring to convert the Indians
of the neighbourhood. Later on he visited other Indian settlements, and
made a noteworthy journey into the interior of what is now the State of
New York, where he preached the Gospel to various tribes of the Five
Nations, with indifferent success.
Upon receiving intelligence of La Salle's projected western journey, in
1678, Father Hennepin felt and expressed great eagerness to accompany the
expedition. Permission to do so having been obtained from his Provincial,
as well as from La Salle, he set out in advance of the latter from Fort
Frontenac, early in November, accompanied by the Sieur De La Motte and
a crew of sixteen sailors, embarked in a brigantine of ten tons. They skirted
the northern shore of Lake Ontario, and in due time arrived at the Indian
village of Taiaiagon, situated at the mouth of a river near the present city of
Toronto. The river was probably the Humber, and the village was doubtless
a collection of wigwams which have left no trace behind them. From this
point the explorers crossed the lake to the mouth of the Niagara River,
which they entered on the morning of the 6th of December. They landed on
the eastern side of the stream, where the old fort of Niagara now stands. The
site was then occupied by a small village inhabited by Seneca Indians,
many of whom probably then beheld for the first time those wondrous pale-
faces, the fame of whose exploits had preceded them into the wilderness. As
the vessel rounded the opposite point the entire crew burst forth into sacred

song, and chanted "Te Deum Laudamus" until the anchor was cast into the
river. Later in the day they ascended several miles farther up the stream,
until they reached the present site of Lewiston, where they built a rude
dwelling of palisades. After remaining for some time, waiting for La Salle
to join them, they set off on an expedition into the interior of New York, to
pay a visit to a village of the Senecas.
In the meantime La Salle and Tonty had started from Fort Frontenac,
with a band of men and a goodly store of supplies for the expedition. After
encountering rough weather and being nearly wrecked off the Bay of
Quinté, they crossed the lake and landed at the mouth of the Genesee River.
Here they disembarked, and after a brief delay, started on a visit to the same
Indian village which had just been visited by Hennepin and La Motte, and
which was a short distance south-east of the present site of the city of
Rochester. La Salle called a council of the natives, and did his utmost to
conciliate them, for they looked upon his proceedings with no friendly eye,
and were not slow in expressing their disapproval. They were wise enough
to know that European exploration would be but the forerunner of European
settlement, and that European settlement must be the "sullen presage of
their own decay." La Salle, however, had a great deal of personal
magnetism and force of character, and contrived to gain the good-will of
several of the chiefs. After much argument and cajoling, he succeeded in
gaining their consent to the conveyance of his arms and ammunition by way
of the portage at Niagara. They also acquiesced in his proposal to establish
a fortified warehouse at the mouth of the river, and to build a vessel above
the falls in which to prosecute his researches in the west. Having
accomplished so much—and considering the jealousy of the Indians, it is
surprising that he should have obtained such concessions—he set out to join
Hennepin and La Motte in the Niagara River, which had been appointed as
their place of meeting.
Father Hennepin and La Motte had not long taken up their quarters on
the banks of the Niagara River before they ascended the stream to regale
themselves with a view of the mighty cataract of which they had so often
heard with awe and astonishment. To the skill of the mendacious priest we
are indebted for the first verbal description of the falls by an eye-witness, as
well as for the first artistic delineation of them. The friar had a keen eye for
the beauties and grandeur of natural scenery; but, like other travellers

before and since his time, he was much given to dealing in the marvellous.
His view is drawn in direct violation of the laws of perspective, and the
proportions are not correctly preserved. It must be remembered, however,
that during the two hundred years which have elapsed since the sketch was
made, nature has been steadily at work, and that the external appearance of
the falls has undergone many changes in that time. It is probable, too, that
the cross-fall depicted in his sketch as pouring over what has since been
called "Table Rock" really existed in 1678. Upon the whole, there is no
reason for doubting that in its general outlines the sketch made by Father
Hennepin pourtrayed the scene more faithfully than did his written
description, of which the following is a literal translation: "Betwixt the
Lake Ontario and the Lake Erie there is a vast and prodigious cadence of
water, which falls down after a surprising and astonishing manner,
insomuch that the universe does not afford its parallel. This wonderful
downfall is about six hundred feet, and is composed of two great cross-
streams of water, and two falls, with an island sloping across the middle of
it. The waters which fall from this horrible precipice do foam and boil after
the most hideous manner imaginable, making an outrageous noise, more
terrible than that of thunder; for when the wind blows out of the south their
dismal roaring may be heard more than fifteen leagues off."
Hennepin and La Motte were soon afterwards joined by La Salle and
Tonty, accompanied by a party consisting of mechanics, labourers and
voyageurs, who arrived in a small schooner. After a short exploration of the
country thereabouts La Salle set about the construction of a large vessel of
forty-five tons, for the prosecution of his western voyage. The ship-yard
was located six miles above the Falls, near the mouth of Cayuga Creek,
where the work of shipbuilding was carried on throughout the winter,
spring, and early summer. At last the new vessel—the ill-fated Griffin (the
first European craft that ever navigated the waters of the upper lakes)—was
completed, and on the 7th of August, 1679, the adventurers embarked and
sailed into Lake Erie—"where sail was never seen before." They passed on
to the westward end of the lake, and up between the green islands of the
stream now known as the Detroit River; crossed Lake St. Clair, and entered
Lake Huron. In due course, after encountering a furious tempest, they
reached Michillimackinac, where was a Jesuit Mission and centre of the fur
trade. Passing on into Lake Michigan, La Salle and his company cast

anchor in Green Bay. The Griffin was forthwith laden with rich furs, and
sent back to Niagara, with orders to turn over the cargo to La Salle's
creditors, and return immediately. This is the last item respecting her which
history affords. Whether she foundered or was captured by the Jesuits or
Indians remains an open question to this day, and no certain tidings of her,
subsequent to her departure eastward from Green Bay, ever reached the ears
of her commander.
Meanwhile, his creditors, from whom he had purchased his supplies, and
with whom he was heavily involved, were selling his effects at Montreal.
He himself, with his company in scattered groups, repaired in bark canoes
to the head of Lake Michigan; and at the mouth of the St. Joseph he
constructed a trading-house with palisades, known as the Fort of the
Miamis. Of his vessel, on which his fortunes so much depended, no tidings
came. Weary of delay, he resolved to penetrate Illinois; and leaving ten men
to guard the Fort of the Miamis, La Salle himself, with Hennepin, Tonty,
and about thirty followers, ascended the St. Joseph, and by a short portage
over bogs and swamps made dangerous by a snow storm, entered the
Kankakee. Descending this narrow stream, before the end of December,
1679, the little company had reached the site of an Indian village on the
Illinois, probably not far from Ottoway, in La Salle county. The tribe was
absent, passing the winter in the chase. On the banks of Lake Peoria Indians
appeared, who, desirous to obtain axes and firearms, offered the calumet of
peace, and agreed to an alliance. They described the course of the
Mississippi, and they were willing to guide the strangers to its mouth. The
spirit and prudence of La Salle, who was the life of the enterprise, won the
friendship of the natives. But clouds lowered over his path. The Griffin, it
seemed certain, was wrecked, thus delaying his discoveries as well as
impairing his fortunes. His men began to despond. He toiled to revive their
courage, and assured them that there could be no safety but in union.
"None," he added, "shall stay after the spring, unless from choice." But fear
and discontent pervaded the company; and when La Salle, thwarted by
destiny, and almost despairing, planned and began to build a fort on the
banks of the Illinois, four days' journey below Lake Peoria, he named it
Crèvecoeur (Heart-break). Yet even here the immense power of his will
appeared. Dependent on himself, fifteen hundred miles from the nearest
French settlement, impoverished, harassed by enemies at Quebec and in the

wilderness, he inspired his men with resolution to saw trees into plank and
prepare a barque. He despatched Hennepin to explore the Upper
Mississippi; he questioned the Illinois and the captives on the course of that
river; he formed conjectures respecting the course of the Tennessee. Then,
as new recruits and sails and cordage for the barque were needed, in the
month of March, with a musket and pouch of powder and shot, with a
blanket for his protection and skins of which to make moccasins, he, with
three companions, set off on foot for Fort Frontenac, to trudge through
thickets and forests, to wade through marshes and melting snows; without
drink, except water from the running brooks; without food, except such
precarious supplies as could be provided by his gun. After enduring dangers
and hardships which would have effectually damped the ardour of any one
but a French adventurer of that time; after narrowly escaping a plot to
poison him; after being deserted by some of his followers, and threatened
with all sorts of unknown penalties by the savages, he finally, after sixty-
five days' journeying, arrived at Fort Frontenac on the 6th of May, 1680.
But "man and nature seemed in arms against him." He found that during his
absence his agents had plundered him, that his creditors had seized his
property, and that several of his canoes, richly laden, had been lost in the
rapids of the St. Lawrence. Another vessel which had been despatched with
supplies for him from France had also been shipwrecked. Instead of sitting
down to mourn over these mishaps, however, they seemed to inspire him
with fresh vigour. Descending to Montreal, he in less than a week procured
what supplies he needed, and returned to Fort Frontenac. Just as he was
about to embark for Illinois, messengers arrived with intelligence that Tonty
had been abandoned by his companions, and had been compelled to take
shelter with a band of Pottawatomie Indians.
Undiscouraged by the manifold disasters which had befallen him, La
Salle once more set out from Fort Frontenac for the regions of the Great
West. Instead of following the route by Lake Erie and the Detroit and St.
Clair Rivers, as he had previously done, he crossed over to the Georgian
Bay by way of the River Humber, which was on the line of one of the three
great westward routes in those times. He was accompanied by twenty-five
assistants, including his lieutenant, one La Forest, and a surgeon. In due
course they reached Michillimackinac, which was then the great north-
western dépôt of the fur trade. Here he found that his old enemies the

Jesuits had been busy poisoning the minds of the natives against him,
insomuch that it was only with difficulty that he could induce the latter to
sell him provisions. After a brief delay he resumed his journey, passing
numerous camps of the terrible Iroquois, who, tired of devastating the more
eastern districts, were now spreading desolation through these western
regions. Upon reaching Fort Crèvecoeur he found it deserted, and neither
here nor elsewhere, for many days to come, was he able to gain any
intelligence of his trusty ally, Tonty, who had been left behind on the former
expedition, as already narrated. He continued his course southward, and
erelong found himself on the banks of the Mississippi—the mighty Father
of Waters, "the object of his day dreams, the destined avenue of his
ambition and his hopes." Finding no traces of Tonty, he determined to look
for him further northward, and retraced his footsteps to Fort Miami, on the
St. Joseph, near Lake Michigan, where he spent the winter. "Here," says Mr.
Parkman, "he might have brooded on the redoubled ruin that had befallen
him; the desponding friends, the exulting foes; the wasted energies, the
crushing load of debt, the stormy past, the black and lowering future. But
his mind was of a different temper. He had no thought but to grapple with
adversity, and out of the fragments of his ruin to build up the fabric of
success. He would not recoil; but he modified his plans to meet the new
contingency. His white enemies had found—or rather, perhaps, had made—
a savage ally in the Iroquois. Their incursions must be stopped, or his
enterprise would come to naught; and he thought he saw the means by
which this new danger could be converted into a source of strength. The
tribes of the west, threatened by the common enemy, might be taught to
forget their mutual animosities and join in a defensive league, with La Salle
at its head. They might be colonized around his fort in the valley of the
Illinois, where, in the shadow of the French flag, and with the aid of French
allies they could hold the Iroquois in check, and acquire in some measure
the arts of a settled life. The Franciscan friars could teach them the Faith;
La Salle and his associates could supply them with goods, in exchange for
the vast harvest of furs which their hunters could gather in these boundless
wilds. Meanwhile, he could seek out the mouth of the Mississippi; and the
furs gathered at his colony in the Illinois would then find a ready passage to
the markets of the world. Thus might this ancient slaughter-field of warring
savages be redeemed to civilization and Christianity, and a stable
settlement, half feudal, half commercial, grow up in the heart of the western

wilderness. This plan was but a part of the original scheme of his enterprise,
adapted to new and unexpected circumstances; and he now set himself to its
execution with his usual vigour, joined to an address that, when dealing
with Indians, never failed him."
In pursuance of this scheme he called a council of all the Indian chiefs
for leagues round, and entered into a formal covenant with them. His new
project was hopefully begun. It remained to achieve the enterprise, twice
defeated, of the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi. To this end, he
must return to Canada, appease his creditors, and collect his scattered
resources. Towards the end of May he set out in canoes from Fort Miami,
and, after a prosperous voyage, reached Michillimackinac. Here, to his
great joy, he found Tonty and one Zenobe Membré, who had lately arrived
from Green Bay. Without loss of time, they embarked together for Fort
Frontenac, paddled their canoes a thousand miles, and safely reached their
destination. Here, in this third beginning of his enterprise, La Salle found
himself beset with embarrassments. Not only was he burdened with the
fruitless cost of his two former efforts, but the heavy debts which he had
incurred in building and maintaining Fort Frontenac had not been wholly
paid. The fort and the seigniory were already deeply mortgaged; yet,
through the influence of the Count de Frontenac, and the support of a
wealthy relative, he found means to appease his creditors, and even to gain
fresh advances. He mustered his men, and once more set forth, resolved to
trust no more to agents, but to lead on his followers in a united body under
his own personal command.
Returning westward, he once more reached Fort Miami, whence, on the
26th of December, 1682, he set out for the mouth of the Mississippi,
whither he arrived during the month of April following. "As he drifted
down the turbid current, between the low and marshy shores, the brackish
water changed to brine, and the breeze grew fresh with the salt breath of the
sea. Then the broad bosom of the great Gulf opened on his sight, tossing its
restless billows, limitless, voiceless, lonely as when born of chaos, without
a sail, without a sign of life." La Salle, in a canoe, coasted the marshy
borders of the sea; and then assembled his companions on a spot of dry
ground, a short distance above the mouth of the river. In this wild spot, on
the ninth of the month, which was the month of April, 1682, he planted a
column bearing the arms of France and an inscription to Louis Le Grand.

"On that day," says the writer already quoted from, "the realm of France
received on parchment a stupendous accession. The fertile plains of Texas;
the vast basin of the Mississippi, from its frozen northern springs to the
sultry borders of the Gulf, from the woody ridges of the Rocky Mountains
—a region of savannahs and forests, sun-cracked deserts and grassy
prairies, inhabited by innumerable warlike tribes—passed beneath the
sceptre of the Sultan of Versailles; and all by virtue of a feeble human
voice, inaudible at half a mile." Louisiana was the name bestowed by La
Salle on this new domain of the French crown, which stretched from the
Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains; from the Rio Grande and the Gulf to
the farthest springs of the Missouri.
Retracing his steps, he founded on the banks of the Illinois River a
colony of French and Indians, to answer the double purpose of a bulwark
against the Iroquois and a place of storage for the furs of all the western
tribes; and he hoped in the following year to secure an outlet for this colony,
and for all the trade of the valley of the Mississippi, by occupying the
mouth of that river with a fort and another colony. The site of the colony
was near the spot now occupied by the village of Utica, in the State of
Illinois. Early in the following autumn he placed Tonty in charge of it, and
made the best of his way to Quebec, whence he soon afterwards sailed for
France. He had an interview with the King, to whom he unfolded his
schemes. Louis, notwithstanding the machinations of La Salle's enemies,
took a favourable view of the latter's enterprises, and in the month of July,
1684, we find him setting sail from Rochelle with a fleet of four vessels and
a small army of recruits, composed of soldiers, gentlemen, artisans and
labourers. Their destination was not Canada, but the Gulf of Mexico; La
Salle having obtained the royal authority for a vast scheme of trade and
colonization on the Mississippi, to which was tacked on a wild and
impracticable scheme of conquest of the Spanish settlements in Mexico.
One of the vessels, laden with provisions and other necessaries for the
projected colony, was captured by buccaneers. The other three, after calling
at St. Domingo, entered the Mexican Gulf. La Salle, when at the mouth of
the Mississippi nearly three years before, had taken the latitude, but for
some reason or other had no clue to the longitude, and the consequence was
that he now sailed more than four hundred miles too far west. He landed on
the coast of Texas, and spent some time in exploration before he became

convinced of his error. Meanwhile he was constantly quarrelling with
Beaujeu, his naval commander, as well as with other members of the
expedition. Add to this that he was repeatedly prostrated by attacks of fever,
and in constant expectation of being attacked by the savages of the
neighbourhood; and it will be confessed that his situation was not a very
enviable one. To add to his perplexities, one of his vessels went aground,
and a great part of the cargo was lost. About this time Beaujeu set out to
return to France. He had accomplished his mission, and landed his
passengers at what La Salle assured him to be one of the mouths of the
Mississippi. His ship was in danger on this exposed and perilous coast, and
he was anxious to find shelter. After some delay, La Salle erected a fort on
Lavaca River, in which he placed the women and children and most of the
men who formed part of the expedition, and with the rest of the men set out
to renew his search for the mouth of the Mississippi. He set out from the
fort—which he called Fort St. Louis—with fifty men, on the 31st of
October, 1685, to find the mouth of "the fatal river"—by which name it had
come to be known among the band of adventurers. Five months were spent
in wanderings through the wilds of that region, during which the hardships
and sufferings were such as to baffle description, but the object of their
quest still seemed as remote as ever. At last, weary and dispirited, the
survivors returned to Fort St. Louis, where La Salle fell dangerously ill, and
for some time his life was despaired of. No sooner had he recovered than he
determined to make his way by the Mississippi and the Illinois to Canada,
whence he might bring succour to the colonists, and send a report of their
condition to France. The attempt was beset with uncertainties and dangers.
The Mississippi was first to be found, then followed through all the perilous
monotony of its interminable windings to a goal which was to be but the
starting point of a new and not less arduous journey. Twenty men, including
La Salle's brother, the Abbé Cavelier, and Moranget, his nephew, were
detailed to accompany him. On the 22nd of April, 1686, after mass and
prayers in the chapel, they issued from the gate, each bearing his pack and
his weapons, some with kettles slung at their backs, some with axes, some
with gifts for Indians. In this guise they held their way in silence across the
prairie. They travelled north-easterly, and encountered a due share of
adventures with wild beasts and Indian savages. They traversed a large
extent of country, but the attempt to discover the mouth of the Mississippi
proved wholly ineffectual. After several months La Salle and eight of his

twenty men returned to Fort St. Louis. Of the rest, four had deserted, one
had been lost, one had been devoured by an alligator; and the rest, giving
out on the march, had probably perished in attempting to regain the fort.
The journey to Canada, however, was clearly the only hope of the
colonists, and on the 6th of January, 1687, the attempt to make it was
renewed. The band of adventurers this time consisted of eighteen persons.
At their head was La Salle himself. His brother and nephew, already
mentioned, were also of the party. Of the others the only ones necessary to
specify are Joutel, La Salle's trusty henchman, the second in command;
Hiens, a German, formerly a pirate of the Spanish Main; Duhaut, a man of
respectable birth and education, but a cruel and remorseless villain; and
l'Archévêque, his servant; Liotot, the surgeon of the expedition; Teissier, a
pilot; Douay, a friar; and Nika, a Shawnee Indian, who was a devoted friend
of La Salle's. They proceeded northward. The members of the party were
incongruous, and did not agree one with another. Duhaut and Liotot were
disappointed at the ruinous result of their enterprise. They had a quarrel
with young Moranget. Already at Fort St. Louis Duhaut had intrigued
against La Salle, against whom Liotot had also secretly sworn vengeance.
On the 15th of March they encamped within a few miles of a spot which La
Salle had passed on his preceding journey, and where he had left a quantity
of Indian corn and beans in a caçhe. As provisions were falling short he sent
a party from the camp to find it. These men were Duhaut, Liotot, Hiens the
buccaneer, Teissier, l'Archévêque, Nika the hunter, and La Salle's servant,
Saget. They opened the caçhe, and found the contents spoiled; but as they
returned they saw buffalo, and Nika shot two of them. They now encamped
on the spot, and sent the servant to inform La Salle, in order that he might
send horses to bring in the meat. Accordingly, on the next day he directed
Moranget and another, with the necessary horses, to go with Saget to the
hunters' camp. When they arrived they found that Duhaut and his
companions had already cut up the meat, and laid it upon scaffolds for
smoking, and had also put by for themselves certain portions to which, by
woodland custom, they had a perfect right. Moranget fell into an
unreasonable fit of rage, and seized the whole of the meat. This added fuel
to the fire of Duhaut's old grudge against Moranget and his uncle. The
surgeon also bore hatred against Moranget. The two took counsel apart with
Hiens, Teissier, and l'Archévêque, and it was resolved to kill Moranget,

Nika and Saget. All the five were of one mind, except the pilot Teissier,
who neither aided nor opposed the scheme. When night came on, the order
of the guard was arranged; and the first hour was assigned to Moranget, the
second to Saget, and the third to Nika. Gun in hand, each stood watch in
turn. Duhaut and Hiens stood with their guns cocked, ready to shoot down
any one of the victims who should resist. Saget, Nika and Moranget were
ruthlessly butchered, and then it was resolved that La Salle should share
their fate. La Salle was still at his camp, six miles distant. Next morning,
having heard nothing of Moranget or the others, he set out to find them,
accompanied by his Indian guide, and by Douay, the friar. "All the way,"
writes the friar, "he spoke to me of nothing but matters of piety, grace, and
predestination; enlarging on the debt he owed to God, who had saved him
from so many perils during more than twenty years of travel in America.
Suddenly, I saw him overwhelmed with a profound sadness, for which he
himself could not account. He was so much moved that I scarcely knew
him." He soon recovered his usual calmness, and they walked on till they
approached the camp of Duhaut, on the farther side of a small river.
Looking about him, La Salle saw two eagles circling in the air, as if
attracted by the carcasses of beasts or men. He fired his gun and his pistol
as a summons. The shots reached the ears of the conspirators, who fired
from their place of concealment, and La Salle, shot through the brain, sank
lifeless on the ground. Douay stood terror-stricken. Duhaut called out to
him that he had nothing to fear. The murderers came forward and gathered
about their victim. "There thou liest, great Bashaw! There thou liest!"
exclaimed the surgeon Liotot, in base exultation over the unconscious
corpse. With mockery and insult, they stripped it naked, dragged it into the
bushes, and left it there a prey to the buzzards and the wolves. It is sad to
think that such was the fate of the veritable Discoverer of the Great West.
"Thus," says Mr. Parkman, "in the vigour of his manhood, at the age of
forty-three, died Robert Cavelier de la Salle, 'one of the greatest men,'
writes Tonty, 'of this age;' without question one of the most remarkable
explorers whose names live in history. The enthusiasm of the disinterested
and chivalrous Champlain was not the enthusiasm of La Salle; nor had he
any part in the self-devoted zeal of the early Jesuit explorers. He belonged
not to the age of the knight-errant and the saint, but to the modern world of
practical study and action. He was the hero, not of a principle nor of a faith,

but simply of a fixed idea and a determined purpose. It is easy to reckon up
his defects, but it is not easy to hide from sight the Roman virtues that
redeemed them. Beset by a throng of enemies, he stands, like the King of
Israel, head and shoulders above them all. He was a tower of adamant,
against whose impregnable front hardship and danger, the rage of man and
of the elements, the southern sun, the northern blast, fatigue, famine and
disease, delay, disappointment and deferred hope, emptied their quivers in
vain. Never under the impenetrable mail of paladin or crusader beat a heart
of more intrepid mettle than within the stoic panoply that armed the breast
of La Salle. To estimate aright the marvels of his patient fortitude, one must
follow on his track through the vast scene of his interminable journeyings,
those thousands of weary miles of forest, marsh and river, where again and
again, in the bitterness of baffled striving, the untiring pilgrim pushed
onwards towards the goal which he was never to attain. America owes him
an enduring memory; for in this masculine figure she sees the pioneer who
guided her to the possession of her richest heritage."

THE RIGHT REV. JAMES W. WILLIAMS, D.D.,

BISHOP OF QUEBEC.

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Bishop Williams is a son of the late Rev. David Williams, who was for
many years Rector of Banghurst, Hampshire, England. He was born at the
town of Overton, Hampshire, in 1825, and his childhood was chiefly passed
in that neighbourhood. He was intended for holy orders from his earliest
years. In his boyhood he attended for some time at an educational
establishment at Crewkerne, a town in the south-eastern part of
Somersetshire, whence he passed to Pembroke College, Oxford. His
collegiate course was not specially noteworthy, but was marked by
considerable diligence. He graduated as B.A. in 1851, taking honours in
classics. He in due course obtained his degrees of M.A. and D.D. He was
admitted to Deacon's Orders by the Lord Bishop of Oxford, and (in 1856) to
Priest's Orders by the Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells. He for a short time
held curacies respectively in Buckinghamshire and Somersetshire. His
classical attainments were of more than average excellence, and seeing no
prospect of immediate advancement in England, he in 1857 came over to
Canada to assist in organizing a school in connection with Bishop's College,
Lennoxville. Within a short time after his arrival he was appointed Rector
of the College Grammar School, and soon afterwards succeeded to the
Classical Professorship of the College, a position which he retained until his
elevation to the Episcopacy.
Upon the death of the late Right Rev. George Jehoshaphat Mountain,
Bishop of Quebec, in 1863, the subject of this sketch was appointed his
successor by the Synod; and on the 11th of June of that year he was
consecrated at Quebec by the Most Reverend the Metropolitan, assisted by
the Bishops of Toronto, Ontario, Huron and Vermont. His first Episcopal act
was to advance three Deacons to the Priesthood.
The See over which his jurisdiction extends was constituted in the year
1793, and formerly comprised the whole of Upper and Lower Canada. Its
extent has since been from time to time curtailed, and it is now confined to
that part of the Province of Quebec extending from Three Rivers to the
Straits of Belleisle and New Brunswick, on the shores of the St. Lawrence
and all east of a line drawn from Three Rivers to Lake Memphremagog.

Bishop Williams is a plain and unaffected preacher, and a man of
scholarly tastes. He makes no pretence to showy or splendid gifts of pulpit
oratory, but is known as an energetic and industrious ecclesiastic, careful
for the spiritual welfare of his diocese and clergy. Several of his lectures
and sermons have been published, and have been highly commended by the
religious press of Canada and the United States. Among them may be
mentioned his Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Diocese of Quebec, at
the Visitation held in Bishop's College, Lennoxville, in 1864; and a lecture
on Self-Education, published at Quebec in 1865.

Casimir Stanislaus Gzowski, signed as C. S. Gzowski

LIEUT.-COL. CASIMIR STANISLAUS
GZOWSKI,

AIDE-DE-CAMP TO HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA.

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In compiling the various sketches which have appeared in the present
series, the editor has frequently been compelled to encounter the difficulty
of constructing a readable narrative out of very sparse and prosaic
materials. A collection of this kind must necessarily include the lives of
many professional and scientific men; and eminence in literature, in
science, and in the learned professions, is commonly attained by means
which—however interesting to those most immediately concerned—seem
wonderfully commonplace to the general public, when reduced to plain,
matter-of-fact narration. As a rule, stirring and romantic incidents are
incompatible with a successful professional career, and in recounting the
life of a learned divine, Chief Justice, or man of science, it is rarely
necessary to deal with thrilling incidents or dramatic situations. The lives of
such men are usually passed within a narrow and restricted groove, and the
salient points may easily be comprised within a few lines. In the life of
Colonel Gzowski, on the other hand, we have an instance of a remarkably
successful professional career, combined with a chapter of vicissitude and
adventure which, in the hands of a writer familiar with all the details, might
very well form the groundwork of a sensation novel. His elasticity of
spirits, strength of will, and vigour of constitution have supported him
through an amount of labour, fatigue and suffering to which a more feeble
mind and a more delicately-constructed frame must inevitably have
succumbed long ago. Such a life as his commonly leaves very perceptible
traces behind it. In his case no such traces are discernible. Neither in his

visage, his gait, nor his manner, can the most observant eye detect any sign
that his pathway has not always been strewn with roses. No one remarking
his erect and firmly-knit figure, his jauntiness of step, and his keenness of
glance, as he perambulates our streets, would readily believe that he is
rapidly approaching his sixty-eighth birthday. Still less would it be
supposed that he has passed through adventures enough for a knight-errant;
that he has fought and bled in the fierce struggle for a nation's existence;
that he has had his full share of the horrors of war; that he has languished in
a patriot's prison; and that some of the best years of his life were passed in a
hard struggle for existence in a foreign land. As we pass in review the
alternating phases of his chequered career we seem to be contemplating a
shifting panorama of the novelist's fancy, rather than a veracious chronicle
of facts. The story of his life can be adequately narrated by no other pen
than his own, and for many years past he has found more profitable
employment for his talents than the inditing of autobiographical memoirs.
In the absence of any such memoirs, be it ours to place on record such of
the more salient points of his life as are readily ascertainable.
He is descended from an ancient Polish family which was ennobled in
the sixteenth century, and which for more than two hundred years thereafter
continued to exercise an influence upon the national affairs. His father,
Stanislaus, Count (Hrabia) Gzowski, was an officer of the Imperial Guard.
He himself was born on the 5th of March, 1813, at St. Petersburg, the
Russian capital, where his parents were then temporarily sojourning. His
childhood was spent as the childhood of most Polish children of his station
in life was passed in those days—viz., in preparation for a military career.
At nine years of age he entered a military engineering college at Kremenetz,
in the Province of Volhynia, where he remained until 1830, when he
graduated as an engineer, received a commission, and entered the army of
Russia.
The Russian Empire was at this time on the verge of one of those
periodical insurrections to which she had long been subject, more especially
since the final partition and absorption of Poland, and the annihilation of the
Polish monarchy. In 1825, Nicholas I. succeeded his elder brother
Alexander on the throne of Russia. He had not long been installed there
before he gave evidence of that aggressive policy which he pursued through
life, and which nearly thirty years later involved him in the Crimean War.

Some years before his accession, his elder brother Constantine, the heir-
apparent to the throne, had been entrusted with the military government of
Poland, and in 1822 had resigned his right to the Russian throne in
Nicholas's favour. Upon the latter's accession he continued his elder brother
in his sovereignty of Poland. Constantine's administration of affairs in that
unhappy country was arbitrary and despotic in the extreme, and little
calculated to mollify the heartburnings of the inhabitants. His oppressions
were not confined to the serfs, but extended to the nobility. The result of his
tyranny was the formation of secret societies with a view to striking one
more blow for Polish liberty. A widespread insurrection, wherein most of
the Polish officers in the Imperial army were involved, finally broke out in
1830—the year in which the subject of this sketch received his commission.
The success of the concurrent revolution in France, and the forced
abdication of Charles X., inspired the insurgents with high hopes. In
November of the year last mentioned the Grand Duke Constantine and his
Russian adherents were driven out of Warsaw, the Polish capital. If the
insurrectionary forces had been thoroughly organized, and if they had not
been subjected to extraneous interference, there is reason for believing that
their country might have been freed from the hateful domination of the
Czar. Notwithstanding all the manifold disabilities under which they carried
on the contest, they achieved a temporary success. After the expulsion of
Constantine, a provisional government was formed under the presidency of
Prince Czartoryski, and a series of desperate engagements was fought in
which the patriots had in almost every instance a decided advantage. Their
desperate courage and self-devotion, however, were of no permanent avail,
for Prussia and Austria both lent their assistance to crush them, and towards
the close of 1831 Warsaw was recaptured by the allied forces under Count
Paskevitch, who was forthwith installed as viceroy of Poland. The crushing
of the insurrection was of course marked by merciless severity and cruelty.
In 1832 Poland was declared to be an integral part of the Russian Empire,
and all the important prisoners were either put to death, banished to Siberia,
or compelled to endure the horrors of a Russian prison.
Throughout the whole of this fruitless insurrection Casimir Stanislaus
Gzowski played a conspicuous part. He cast in his lot with his compatriots
from the beginning; was present at the expulsion of Constantine from
Warsaw, in November, 1830, and was actively engaged in numerous

important conflicts that ensued. He was wounded, and several times
narrowly escaped capture. We have no means of closely following him
through the hazardous exploits of that dark and sanguinary period. Persons
who are familiar with the history of Polish insurrections will be at no loss to
conjecture the "hair-breadth 'scapes, and moving accidents by flood and
field," which he encountered in that desperate struggle for a nation's
freedom. After the battle of Boremel, General Dwernicki's division, to
which he was attached, retreated into Austrian territory, where the troops
laid down their arms and became prisoners. The rank and file were
permitted to depart whithersoever they would, but the officers, to the
number of about six hundred, were placed in durance, and quartered in
several fortified stations. There they languished for several months, when,
by an arrangement entered into between the governments of Russia and
Austria, they were shipped off as exiles to the United States.
When Mr. Gzowski, with his fellow-exiles, landed at New York in the
summer of 1833, he had no knowledge whatever of the English language.
When the pilot came on board at Sandy Hook, and saluted the captain of the
vessel, he heard that language spoken for the first time. Like most members
of the Polish and Russian aristocracy, he was an accomplished linguist, and
was familiar with many of the continental languages; but it was a part of the
Russian policy in those days to exclude English books from the public
schools, and to prevent by every conceivable means the spread of English
ideas among the people. During his course of study at the military college at
Kremenetz, one of the Professors had exhibited an English book to him as a
sort of outlandish curiosity. He now found himself in a strange land,
without means, without any friends except his fellow-exiles—who were as
helpless in that respect as himself—and without any prospect of obtaining
employment. He possessed qualifications, however, which, as the event
proved, were of more value than mere worldly wealth. He had been a
diligent student, and had acquired what must have been, for a youth of
twenty years, a thorough knowledge of engineering. He was, as has been
remarked, a good linguist, and had not merely a grammatical, but a practical
knowledge of the French, German and Italian languages. Better than all
these, he was endowed with an iron constitution, which even the rigours of
an Austrian prison had not been able to injure, and a strength of will which
would not admit the possibility of failure. Some idea of his resolution may

be formed from the fact that, when he found that his want of knowledge of
English prevented him from following the engineering profession with
advantage, he determined to study law as a means of acquiring a mastery of
the English tongue. After subsisting for some months in New York by
giving lessons in French and German, he betook himself to Pittsfield,
Massachusetts, where he entered the office of the late Mr. Parker L. Hall, an
eminent lawyer of that town, and a gentleman of high social position. The
facility displayed by the natives of Poland and Russia in acquiring a
knowledge of foreign languages is well known, but the achievements of Mr.
Gzowski at this time seem almost phenomenal. It must be borne in mind
that while he was studying law in a tongue which was foreign to him, he
was compelled to support himself by outside employment. He obtained his
livelihood by teaching modern languages, drawing, and fencing, in two of
the local academies. He worked early and late, and was at first obliged to
study the commentaries of Blackstone and Kent through the medium of a
dictionary. In nothing did he appear to greater advantage than in his
invariable readiness to adapt his mind, without useless repining, to the
circumstances in which he found himself. His indomitable industry, natural
ability, and fine social qualities, combined with his misfortunes to make
him a marked man in Pittsfield society. He gained many warm friends, but
was always wise enough to remember that his success in life must mainly
depend upon his own exertions. In the month of February, 1837, when he
had been studying his profession about three years, he passed a successful
examination, and was only prevented from being admitted to practice by his
not having become a naturalized citizen of the United States. A knowledge
of the legal profession, however, was with him merely a means to an end.
He had no intention of permanently devoting himself to legal practice, and
had always contemplated returning to his profession of an engineer. He had
by this time acquired a competent knowledge of the English language, and
had begun to look about him for some suitable field for his exertions. The
development of the coal regions of Pennsylvania was attracting a good deal
of attention at this time, and it occurred to him that he might not improbably
find employment there. A visit to that State tended to confirm his views, and
in November Term, 1837, having submitted the necessary proofs, and taken
the oath of allegiance, he was duly admitted as a citizen of the United
States, before the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas, in Beaver
County, Pennsylvania. He had brought with him from Pittsfield numerous

letters of introduction to persons of high social position and influence, all
bearing testimony to his unimpeachable character and wide attainments.
The only obstacle to his admission to practice having been removed, he was
enrolled as an advocate at the Bar of the Supreme Court, and for a short
time acted as an advocate in Pennsylvania. This, however, was not the line
of action for which he considered himself best qualified, nor did the
prospect held out to him satisfy his ambition. He soon obtained
employment as an engineer in connection with the great canals and public
works, and abandoned the law as a profession. He became interested in
several contracts, which were faithfully and skilfully carried out; and
wherever he went he won the reputation of a delightful companion and a
thoroughly honourable man.
Early in 1841 the project of widening and deepening the Welland Canal
began to be discussed with some vehemence in Upper Canada. With a view
to securing a contract, Mr. Gzowski came over from Erie, Pennsylvania
(where he then resided), to Toronto, and for the first time was brought into
contact with some of the leading public men of Canada. The Government
was then administered by Sir Charles Bagot, a gentleman whose infirm
state of health did not prevent him from taking a warm interest in the public
improvements of the country. Sir Charles formed a high opinion of Mr.
Gzowski's talents, and sanctioned his appointment to an office in
connection with the Department of Public Works. This appointment having
been accepted by Mr. Gzowski, he bade adieu to his many friends in the
United States, and took up his abode in Upper Canada.
During the next six years Mr. Gzowski's life was entirely occupied by
his duties in connection with the Department of Public Works. It is
manifestly out of the question to give even an epitome of the numberless
important enterprises conducted by him during this, the busiest period of his
active life. His reports of the works in connection with harbours, bridges
and highways alone occupy a considerable portion of a large folio volume.
It will be sufficient to say that every important provincial improvement
came under his supervision, and that nearly every county in Upper Canada
bears upon its surface the impress of his great industry and engineering
skill. In 1846 he obtained naturalization and became a British subject. Soon
after the accession to power of the Baldwin-Lafontaine Government, in
1848, his services in an official capacity were brought to a close, and he

began to enter upon large engineering enterprises on his own account.
Towards the end of the year 1848 he published a report on the mines of the
Upper Canada Mining Company on Lake Huron. But his mind was
occupied by more important schemes. The railway era set in. The Railroad
Guarantee Act, authorizing Government grants to private companies
undertaking the construction of railways, having been passed in 1849, the
public began to hear of various railway projects of greater or lesser
importance. The first great enterprise of this sort with which Mr. Gzowski
connected himself was the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad Company,
from Montreal to Island Pond, which has since been amalgamated with the
Grand Trunk. Mr. Gzowski was appointed Chief Engineer of this
undertaking, made a survey of the greater portion of the line, and
superintended the actual construction. When the line became merged in the
Grand Trunk he resigned his position of Chief Engineer, and received the
most gratifying written testimonials from the Board of Directors as to his
able administration of the important duties which had fallen to his share.
Having formed a partnership with the present Sir Alexander T. Galt, the late
Hon. Luther H. Holton, and the Hon. D. L. Macpherson, Mr. Gzowski for
some years devoted himself entirely to the work of railway construction. On
the 24th of March, 1853, the firm of Gzowski & Co. obtained the contract
for the construction of the line from Toronto westward to Sarnia. This great
work was prosecuted to a successful conclusion, and was attended with
most gratifying pecuniary results to the contractors. The firm was then
dissolved, and has since consisted of Messrs. Gzowski and Macpherson
only, who continued to carry on large operations in the way of railway
construction. Among other railway works constructed by the firm were the
line from Port Huron to Detroit, in the State of Michigan, and the line from
London to St. Mary's, in this Province. In connection with their own
enterprises, and for the purpose of supplying railway companies with iron
rails and materials used in the construction of railways, Messrs. Gzowski &
Macpherson in 1857 established the Toronto Rolling Mills, which were
carried on successfully for about twelve years. Steel rails having largely
superseded the use of iron ones, the necessity for maintaining the
establishment ceased to exist, and the works were closed up in 1869.
The excitement produced on two continents in 1861 by the Trent affair,
and the threatened rupture of amicable relations between Great Britain and

the United States, led Mr. Gzowski to reflect seriously on the defenceless
condition of Canada. In the event of hostilities between the two nations, this
country would of course be the first point of attack; and, in the absence of
any efficient means of defence, it would manifestly be impossible to
maintain a frontier extending over thousands of miles. It occurred to Mr.
Gzowski that the establishment of a large arsenal in Canadian territory,
where every description of armament and ammunition might be
manufactured or repaired, would be a very wise precaution. He counted the
cost, prepared elaborate plans, and even fixed upon what he believed to be
the most appropriate site. Full of this scheme, he proceeded to England,
where he submitted it to the War Secretary and other prominent members of
the Imperial Government. Its liberality created much surprise among all to
whom it was broached, for Mr. Gzowski proposed to provide capital for the
construction and equipment of the entire establishment, subject to certain
very reasonable stipulations. The project was taken into careful
consideration by the Government, and for some time it seemed not unlikely
to be carried out. It was finally concluded, however, that for certain
diplomatic reasons, it would be undesirable to proceed with it; but full
justice was done to Mr. Gzowski's unbounded liberality and public spirit,
and he was assured that the Government were not insensible to the
munificence of his proposal. From this time forward he began to interest
himself in military matters. He took a very active part in developing the
Rifle Association of the Province of Ontario, and erelong became its
President. He subsequently became President of the Dominion Rifle
Association, and was instrumental in sending the first team of
representative Canadian riflemen from this Province to England in 1870, to
take part in the annual military operations at Wimbledon. A team has ever
since been sent over annually by the Dominion, and Mr. Gzowski has
generally made a point of accompanying them himself. In November, 1872,
as a mark of appreciation of his services in connection with the
development of the Rifle Association, he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel
of the Central Division of Toronto Volunteers; and in May, 1873, became a
Lieutenant-Colonel on the staff. His last and highest promotion came to him
in May, 1879, when he was appointed Aide-de-Camp to Her Majesty Queen
Victoria.

For many years past Colonel Gzowski has been the possessor of large
means, acquired by his own industry and talents, and sufficient to enable
him to indulge in a dignified repose for the remainder of his life. He is,
however, possessed of a stirring nervousness of temperament which impels
him to action, and has never ceased to engage in engineering projects of
greater or less magnitude. This sketch would be very incomplete without
some reference to an enterprise which is entitled to rank among the grandest
public works of the Dominion; viz., the International Bridge over the
Niagara River at Buffalo. The charters for the construction of this great
enterprise were granted by the Legislature of Canada and the State of New
York as far back as the year 1857, but were permitted to lie dormant owing
to the difficulty of obtaining the funds necessary to carrying out so gigantic
a project. The capital was at last raised in England in 1870, and the contract
was let to Colonel Gzowski and his partner, the Hon. D. L. Macpherson,
who forthwith began the work of construction. The engineering difficulties
to be encountered were very great, and at certain seasons of the year the
work had to be totally suspended. The bridge was finally completed and
opened for the passage of trains on the 3rd of November, 1873, and the
entire cost of construction was about $1,500,000. It stands as a perpetual
memorial of the great skill and enterprise of the contractors. After its
completion Colonel Gzowski wrote and published a full account of the
enterprise from its inception, accompanied by elaborate plans and
illustrations. Sir Charles Hartley, in a work published in England in 1875,
bears testimony to the fact that "the chief credit in overcoming the
extraordinary difficulties which beset the building of the piers of this bridge
is due to Colonel Gzowski, upon whom all the practical operations
devolved." A still higher testimony comes from Mr. Thomas Elliott
Harrison, President of the (British) Institute of Civil Engineers, who, in an
annual address read before the Institute on his election to the Presidency in
the session of 1873-4, referred to the International Bridge as one of the
most gigantic engineering works on the American continent, and made a
special reference to the difficulties met with in subaqueous foundations, as
described in Colonel Gzowski's volume.
Colonel Gzowski's career in Canada has been one of extraordinary
success, but any one who has watched its progress will admit that his
success has been chiefly due to his high personal qualifications. In politics

he has acted with the Conservative Party, but he is known for the
moderation of his views, and has never identified himself with any of the
purely party factions of the time. Though frequently importuned to enter
public life he has hitherto refrained from doing so, preferring to confine his
attention to professional and financial enterprises. He has a luxurious home
in Toronto, where he occasionally dispenses a sumptuous hospitality, and
where he appears perhaps to greater advantage than elsewhere. He has
entertained most of the Governors-General of his time, all of whom have
been numbered among his personal friends. Of late years much of his
leisure has been passed in England, where several of his children reside,
and where he has many warm friends. He has been honoured with special
marks of the royal favour, and might doubtless, if so disposed, aspire to
high dignities. Her Majesty has not a more loyal subject than Colonel
Gzowski, and should occasion arise he would, we doubt not, buckle on his
sword in defence of British and Canadian rights no less readily than he
embarked his all, half a century ago, on behalf of the nation to which he
belongs by right of birth.
On the 29th of October, 1839, he married Miss Maria Beebe, daughter of
an eminent American physician. This lady, by whom he has had five sons
and three daughters, still survives.

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

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Dr. Rand, who has long been one of the foremost educationists in the
Maritime Provinces, was born at the seaport town of Cornwallis, situated on
an arm of the Basin of Minas, King's County, Nova Scotia, in the year 1835.
His life has been passed in educational pursuits, and affords but few
incidents for biographical purposes. His boyhood and early youth were
spent in attending the common schools, whence he passed to the Horton
Collegiate Academy. After spending some time as a student at the last-
named seat of learning he became a teacher there. He also entered the
University of Acadia College, where he graduated in the honours course in
1860. During the same year he was appointed to the Chair of English and
Classics in the Provincial Normal School at Truro, where he distinguished
himself by his enthusiastic devotion to his work, and by his intelligence,
aptitude and zeal in developing the best methods of instruction. In 1863 he
received his Master's degree from the University of Acadia College. His
Doctor's degree is honorary, and was conferred upon him by the same
institution in 1874.
Upon the passing of the Educational Act of 1864, the subject of this
sketch was selected by the Government of the day for the position of
Provincial Superintendent of Education. Upon him accordingly devolved
the task of putting the new law into operation. The Act of 1864 was one of
the most important measures, bearing on the moral and material interests of
the Province, that was ever introduced there. "It struck at the very root of
most of the evils which tend to depress the intellectual energies and moral
status of the people. It introduced the genial light of knowledge into the
dark recesses of ignorance, opened the minds of thousands of little ones—
the fathers and mothers of coming generations—to a perception of the true
and the beautiful, and placed Nova Scotia in the front rank of countries

renowned for common school educational advantages."[9] Previous to the
time when it came into operation the school system of the Province was
pitiably inefficient. Its inefficiency was startlingly demonstrated by the
census of 1861, from which it appeared that more than one-fourth of the
entire population of the Province were unable to read. Of 83,000 children
between the ages of five and fifteen, there were 36,000 who were unable to
read. A large majority of the children in the Province did not attend school,
and did not receive any educational training whatever. Teachers were poorly
paid and inefficient. The schoolhouses were frequently unhealthy, and were
almost always uncomfortable and unsightly. To Dr.—now Sir Charles—
Tupper, belongs in great measure the credit of having brought about a more
satisfactory state of things. It was by his Ministry that the Educational Act
of 1864 was passed, and he himself, though well aware that he seriously
risked his popularity by promoting it—for it introduced direct taxation—
repeatedly declared that even if it should cost him place and power he
would regard its introduction as the crowning act of his public life. After
some negotiation between himself and Messrs. Archibald and Annand, the
leading members of the Opposition, it was agreed that party differences
should for the nonce be laid aside, and that the Education Act should
become law.

Theodore H. Rand, signed as Theodore H. Rand

Such was the state of affairs at the time when Mr. Rand was appointed to
the office of Superintendent of Education. For some time his task was no
light one, for the law was unpopular among the masses, who abhorred the
idea of direct taxation. He applied himself to his duties with great energy,
and travelled the Province from end to end, disputing, arguing, and finally
convincing. He found, however, that some clauses of the Act were
impracticable, and others unnecessary. He prepared a measure which
formed the basis of the amended Act of 1865. His energy and vigour carried
all before them, and he soon had the satisfaction of seeing opposition
disappear. A Journal of Education was established, a new and uniform
series of school books was introduced, and commodious schoolhouses were

erected. A system of examination and of grading was introduced by Mr.
Rand, and his plan was so well thought of that its main features have been
adopted in other Provinces of the Dominion.
He continued to fill the position of Superintendent of Education in Nova
Scotia during five and a half busy years. In 1870 he was removed from
office "apparently for political reasons, and under circumstances which
created a great deal of dissatisfaction at the time amongst the friends of
education in the Province." After his retirement he proceeded to Great
Britain, chiefly with a view to acquiring additional knowledge on
educational matters, and to familiarizing himself by observation with the
practical working of the English school system. During his absence he
visited many important schools in England, Scotland and Ireland, and had
conferences with some of the leading educationists of the realm.
In 1871 the New Brunswick Legislature passed an Act, to come into
operation on the 1st of January, 1872, introducing the Free School system
into that Province. The provisions of this Act were very similar to those of
the Nova Scotia measure, and Mr. Rand's success in introducing the system
into the adjoining Province had been such that it was deemed desirable to
secure his services in New Brunswick. In September, 1871, three months
before the Act came into force, he was offered the position of Chief
Superintendent of Education for New Brunswick by the Government of the
day. He accepted, and entered upon his duties with his accustomed energy.
He has ever since filled the position, and persons who are entitled to speak
with authority aver that he has done for education in New Brunswick all,
and more than all, that he had previously accomplished for education in
Nova Scotia. He now enjoys the distinction of having brought into
operation in two Provinces an enduring and efficient system of public
education.
He is President of the Educational Institute of New Brunswick, and a
member of the Senate of the Provincial University. The Baptist Convention
of the Maritime Provinces (of which, in 1875-6, he was President) elected
him in 1877 one of the Governors of the University of Acadia College. His
time is entirely devoted to his educational duties, and he has reason for self-
gratulation at the satisfactory results which have attended his efforts in the
two Provinces which have been the scene of his labours.

THE HON. MATTHEW CROOKS CAMERON.

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Mr. Cameron was for many years the best-known Nisi Prius lawyer at
the Bar of his native Province, and his personal appearance is familiar to a
greater number of persons than is that of any professional man in western
Canada. For some years prior to his elevation to the Bench he was also
prominent in political life, but it was at the Bar that his greenest laurels
were won, and it is by his professional achievements that he will be longest
remembered. He was born at Dundas, in the county of Wentworth, on the
2nd of October, 1822. His father, the late Mr. John McAlpin Cameron, was,
as his name imports, of Celtic stock. The latter emigrated from the
Highlands of Scotland to Upper Canada in 1819, and settled at Dundas,
where he engaged in commercial pursuits. In 1826 he became Deputy Clerk
of the Crown for the Gore District, and removed to Hamilton. He
subsequently entered the service of the Canada Company, and remained in
it for many years. He died at his home in Toronto, at an advanced age, in
1866. His wife, the mother of the subject of this sketch, was English. She
was a native of the county of Northumberland, and her maiden name was
Miss Nancy Foy. She died in Toronto many years ago.
The subject of this sketch was the youngest of his family, and was the
only member of it born on this side of the Atlantic. He was named after Mr.
Matthew Crooks, of Ancaster, a brother of the Hon. James Crooks, and an
uncle of the present Minister of Education. At the time of the removal of the
family from Dundas to Hamilton he was about four years of age; and he
soon afterwards began to attend his first school, which was a small local
establishment presided over by a Mr. Randall. Later, he was placed at the
Home District Grammar School, on the corner of Newgate and New Streets
—now Adelaide and Jarvis Streets—Toronto, where many boys who
subsequently became distinguished in Canadian public life received their

early training. In 1838 he entered Upper Canada College, where he
remained nearly two years. His educational career was cut short in 1840 by
an accident which was destined to affect the whole course of his future life.
One day, while out shooting with two of his schoolfellows in the
neighbourhood of Toronto, one of the latter, who does not seem to have
been a very skilful marksman, carelessly fired off his gun at an inopportune
moment, and young Cameron received the charge in his ankle, part of the
joint of which was completely blown away. He was conveyed home, and
was confined to his room for months. It was out of the question that he
should ever recover the perfect use of his disabled ankle, and it was
announced to him that he must never hope to walk again without the
assistance of a crutch. It must have been a cruel blow to him, for he was a
boy of joyous nature, full of activity and life, and by no means given to
injuring his health by close application to his studies. From this time
forward his habits and train of thought underwent a change. There were no
more frivolity and thoughtlessness, no more shooting expeditions, no more
of the active sports and pastimes of happy boyhood. Life, thenceforward,
was to be contemplated from its serious side. He did not return to college.
His choice of the legal profession was largely due to the fact that his two
elder brothers, John and Duncan, had already embraced that calling. He
entered the office of Messrs. Gamble & Boulton, barristers, of Toronto, and
served the term of his articles there. He studied with much diligence, and
gave evidence of great aptitude for his chosen profession. In Trinity Term,
1848, he was admitted as an attorney and solicitor, and in Hilary Term of
1849 he was called to the Bar.
He at once began to go on circuit, and he had not been many months at
the Bar before he was in the very front rank. When it is borne in mind that
his competitors were such men as Henry Eccles, John Hillyard Cameron,
Philip Vankoughnet, and the present Mr. Justice Hagarty, it will be admitted
that a young man who could hold his own against such rivals must have
possessed exceptional abilities. Mr. Cameron's most salient qualifications
consisted of a competent knowledge of his profession, a subtle power of
analyzing evidence, a ready command of language, an impressive utterance
and delivery, and—more than all—a manner which was open and
confidential without being familiar, and which to most jurymen was
suggestive of honest conviction. Though of somewhat contracted physique,

he contrived to get through an amount of work which few men endowed
with greater robustness of frame could have accomplished. His popularity
grew apace, and erelong his practice was second to that of no man at the
Bar of this Province. His popularity and practice were not confined to any
particular neighbourhood, but extended throughout the whole of western
Canada; and the only two counties in which he has not held briefs are the
counties of Lanark and Renfrew. His briefs embraced every variety of
pleading, civil and criminal. In all sorts of cases, and with all classes of
jurors, he was thoroughly at home, and his efforts were generally crowned
with that best proof of ability—success.
At the outset of his career at the Bar he was perhaps more assiduous in
his attendance at assizes in the Gore District than elsewhere, as his brother
John practised his profession in Hamilton—and afterwards in Brantford—
and was able to throw a good many briefs in his way. As the years passed
by, the question became, not how to obtain briefs, but how to get through
the labour they imposed. Mr. Cameron, however, is not only endowed with
great capacity for hard work, but has a genuine liking for it. His exceeding
quickness of perception and apprehension was very often displayed during
his career at the Bar, and it was said of him that he could acquire a more
accurate knowledge of his case after it had been opened than most of his
competitors could obtain by a week's preparation.
Soon after completing his legal studies Mr. Cameron formed a
partnership with his former principal, the late Mr. William Henry Boulton.
Several years later he entered into partnership with the Hon. William
Cayley, who held the portfolio of Minister of Finance in the Government
formed under the auspices of Sir Allan Macnab in 1854. Mr.—now Dr.—
Daniel McMichael was subsequently admitted, and the firm of Messrs.
Cayley, Cameron & McMichael long had a business second to that of no
firm in the Province. The partnership subsequently underwent various
modifications, but its members have always maintained its position as one
of the leading legal firms in Toronto.
The first ten years of his legal career were devoted by Mr. Cameron
almost exclusively to his profession. He then began to take part in
municipal affairs. In 1859 he represented St. James's Ward in the Toronto
City Council. In January, 1861, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the

mayoralty. He was possessed of strong political convictions, and was
frequently importuned to enter Parliament. He was a very pronounced
Conservative in his views, as his father before him had been, and at the
general election of 1861 he offered himself to the electors of North Ontario
as a candidate for a seat in the Assembly. He secured his return, and sat in
the House until the general election of 1863, when, upon presenting himself
to his constituents for reëlection he was defeated. A vacancy occurring in
the representation for North Ontario in the summer of 1864, he once more
offered himself as a candidate, and was on this occasion returned. He
continued to represent North Ontario in the Assembly until Confederation,
when he was unsuccessful in his attempt to secure his return for the House
of Commons. He accordingly accepted office in the Sandfield Macdonald
Coalition Administration in Ontario, and was returned for East Toronto, in
which constituency he resides, and which he continued to represent in the
Local Legislature until the close of his Parliamentary career. He held the
offices of Provincial Secretary and Registrar from July, 1867, until the 25th
of July, 1871, when he became Commissioner of Crown Lands. The latter
office he held until the fall of the Government in the following December,
in consequence of the adverse vote of the House on the railroad subsidy
question. Upon the formation of a new Government under the premiership
of the Hon. Edward Blake, Mr. Cameron became leader of the Opposition,
and continued to act in that capacity for a period of four years. His
Parliamentary career was marked by sterling honour and integrity, and by
inflexible devotion to his Party. Mr. Cameron is one of the few men who
have taken a very prominent part in public life in this country during the
last few years, and yet have escaped charges of political corruption and
dishonesty. No man in Canada believes him to be capable of a corrupt or
dishonest act, for the advancement either of his own interests or those of his
Party. It must be confessed, however, that he was not seen at his best on the
floor of Parliament. Some of his political ideas are widely at variance with
prevailing tendencies, and some of his Parliamentary utterances had an
unmistakable flavour of the lamp. The Halls of the Legislature were not a
thoroughly congenial sphere for him, and the full measure of his strength
was seldom or never put forward there. He was sometimes commonplace,
and sometimes carping and fretful. Before a jury, on the other hand, he was
always a formidable power, and was always master of himself. His duties as
a Cabinet Minister were somewhat onerous, but his capacity for hard work

enabled him to get through them more easily than most persons could have
done under similar circumstances, and his attendance on circuit was never
interrupted for any considerable time. His preëminence at the Bar was
undisputed, and his influence over juries suffered no diminution. He had
been a Queen's Counsel since 1863, and a Bencher of the Law Society of
Ontario since 1871; and when he was elevated to the Judicial Bench on the
15th of November, 1878, the appointment was regarded by the legal
profession and the country at large as a fitting tribute to his character and
professional standing. His rank is that of Senior Puisné Judge of the Court
of Queen's Bench. As a Judge, he displays the same characteristics by
which he was distinguished while at the Bar, viz., quickness of perception,
and a ready grasp of the main points of an argument. He has rendered
several important judgments, the points of which are well known to
members of the legal profession.
Mr. Cameron was concerned in organizing the Liberal-Conservative
Association of Toronto, and was President of it from the time of its
formation until his elevation to the Judicial Bench. He was also Vice-
President of the Liberal-Conservative Convention held in Toronto in
September, 1874. Apart from his strictly professional and political duties,
Mr. Cameron has held various positions of more or less public importance.
As far back as 1852 he was appointed by the Hincks-Morin Government a
Commissioner, jointly with the late Colonel Coffin, to inquire into the
causes of the frequent accidents which had then recently occurred on the
Great Western Railway. He was one of the original promoters and Directors
of the Dominion Telegraph Company, and of several prominent Insurance
Companies. He is a member of several social, charitable and national
associations, including the Caledonian and St. Andrew's Societies. He is a
widower. On the 1st of December, 1851, he married Miss Charlotte Ross
Wedd, of Hamilton, who died on the 14th of January, 1868. He has a family,
the members whereof all reside with him in Toronto.

THE HON. SIR LOUIS H. LAFONTAINE,
BART.

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The name of Sir Louis Lafontaine is intimately associated in the public
mind with that of his friend and associate Robert Baldwin. What the latter
was in Upper Canada, such was Sir Louis in the Lower Province—the
leader of a numerous, an exacting, and a not always manageable political
party. These two statesmen were the leading spirits on behalf of their
respective Provinces in two Governments which are known in history by
their joint names. Their personal intimacy and active co-operation extended
over only about ten years, but the bond of union between them during that
period was closely knit, and their mutual confidence was complete. They
fought side by side with perfect fealty to each other and to the State, and
their retirement from public life was almost simultaneous. Their mutual
relations, both public and private, were marked by an almost chivalrous
courtesy and respect, and even after they had ceased to take part in the
struggles with which both their names are identified, they continued to
think and speak of each other with an enthusiasm which was not generally
supposed to belong to the nature of either.
Sir Louis was in some respects the most remarkable man that Lower
Canada has produced. Though he identified himself with many important
measures of Reform, the temper of his mind, more especially during his
latter years, was eminently aristocratic and Conservative. His disposition
was not one that could properly be described as genial. He was not a perfect
tactician, and had not the faculty of making himself "all things to all men."
Coriolanus himself had not a more supreme contempt for "the insinuating
nod" whereby the elector is wheedled out of his vote. His demeanour was
generally somewhat cold and repellent, and though he was thoroughly
honourable, and respected by all who knew him, he was not a man of many

warm personal friends. In the sketch of Robert Baldwin's life we have given
Sir John Kaye's estimate of that gentleman's character and aspirations, as
reflected in the letters and papers of Lord Metcalfe. The estimate is so wide
of the mark that our readers will probably be disposed to place little reliance
upon Sir John's capability for gauging the public men of Canada. In the case
of the subject of the present sketch, however, Lord Metcalfe's biographer
has contrived to stumble upon a much more accurate judgment. Speaking of
Mr. Lafontaine, during his tenure of office as Attorney-General for Canada
East, in 1843, he tells us that "all his better qualities were natural to him; his
worse were the growth of circumstances. Cradled, as he and his people had
been, in wrong, smarting for long years under the oppressive exclusiveness
of the dominant race, he had become mistrustful and suspicious; and the
doubts which were continually floating in his mind had naturally
engendered indecision and infirmity of purpose. But he had many fine
characteristics which no evil circumstances could impair. He was a just and
an honourable man. His motives were above all suspicion. Warmly attached
to his country, earnestly seeking the happiness of his people, he occupied a
high position by the force rather of his moral than of his intellectual
qualities. He was trusted and respected rather than admired." If we omit the
reference to indecision and infirmity of purpose, we may accept the
foregoing as being, so far as it goes, a not inaccurate estimate of the
character of Mr. Lafontaine. The excepted reference, however, shows how
little the writer could really have known of the subject of his remarks. So
far from being undecided or infirm of purpose, Mr. Lafontaine was almost
domineering and tyrannical in his firmness. He was very reluctant to
receive discipline, and was generally disposed to prefer his own judgment
to that of any one else. It will be news, indeed, to such of his colleagues as
still survive, to learn that Sir Louis Lafontaine was infirm of purpose. Sir
Francis Hincks, who is able to speak with high authority on the subject,
declares in one of his political pamphlets that he never met a man less open
to such an imputation. Other equally trustworthy authorities have borne
similar testimony, and indeed the whole course of his political life furnishes
a standing refutation to the charge. Sir Louis was intellectually far above
most of those with whom he acted, and he was endowed by nature with an
imperious will. He brooked contradiction, or even moderate remonstrance,
with an ill grace. Had he been of a more conciliating temper he would

doubtless have been vastly more popular. His sincerity and uprightness have
never, so far as we are aware, been called in question.

Louis H. Lafontaine, signed as L. H. Lafontaine

He was born near the village of Boucherville, in the county of Chambly,
Lower Canada, in October, 1807. He was the third son of Antoine Menard
Lafontaine, of Boucherville, whose father sat in the Lower Canadian
Legislature from 1796 to 1804. His mother's maiden name was Marie J.
Bienvenu. There is nothing to be said about his early life. He studied law,
and in due time was called to the Bar of Lower Canada, and settled in
Montreal. He succeeded in his profession, and while still a very young man
achieved a prominent position and an extensive practice. He accumulated
considerable wealth, which was augmented by an advantageous marriage,
in 1831, to Adèle, daughter of A. Berthelot, a wealthy and eminent advocate

of Quebec. He entered political life in 1830, when he was only twenty-three
years of age, as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the populous
county of Terrebonne. He at this time held and advocated very advanced
political views, and was a follower of Louis J. Papineau. He was not always
subordinate to his leader, however, and as time passed by he ceased to work
cordially with Mr. Papineau. Their differences were of temperament rather
than of principle, and erelong a complete estrangement took place between
them. Mr. Lafontaine, however, still continued to advocate advanced
radicalism, not only from his place in Parliament, but through the medium
of the newspaper press. He continued to sit in the Assembly as
representative for Terrebonne until the rebellion burst forth, in which he
was so far implicated that a warrant was issued against him for treason, and
he deemed it wise to withdraw from Canada. He fled to England, whence he
made good his escape across the channel to France. His residence there,
unlike that of Papineau, was only of brief duration. He returned to his native
land in 1840, having gained wisdom by experience. He was opposed to the
project of uniting the Provinces, and spoke against it from the platform at
Montreal and elsewhere with great vehemence; but after the passing of the
Act of Union he acquiesced in what could no longer be avoided, and in
1841 he offered himself once more to his old constituents of Terrebonne, as
a candidate for a seat in the Parliament of the United Provinces. His
candidature was not successful, but, chiefly through the instrumentality of
Robert Baldwin, who had just been honoured with a double return, he was
on the 21st of September elected for the Fourth Riding of the county of
York, in Upper Canada. It will be understood from this alliance that Mr.
Lafontaine's views had undergone considerable modification. He now
perceived that the rebellion of 1837-8 had been not merely a crime, but a
political blunder, as there had never been any chance of its becoming
permanently successful. With regard to the Union of the Provinces, he
looked upon it as a scheme which had been forced upon the Lower
Canadian French population, but which, having been accomplished, might
as well be worked in common between his compatriots and Canadians of
British origin. By taking a part in the work of Government he would not
only win an honourable position, but would be able to obtain many favours
and concessions for Lower Canadians which he could not hope to obtain as
a private indvidual. Actuated by some such motives as these, he in 1842
joined with Mr. Baldwin in forming the first Ministry which bears their

joint names, he himself holding the portfolio of Attorney-General for the
Lower Province. Having vacated his seat on accepting office on the 16th of
September, he was on the 8th of October following reëlected for the Fourth
Riding of York. He represented that constituency until November, 1844,
when he was returned to the Second Parliament of United Canada by the
electors of Terrebonne. He sat for Terrebonne until after his acceptance of
office as Attorney-General for Lower Canada in the second Baldwin-
Lafontaine Administration, formed in March, 1848, after which he was
returned for the city of Montreal, which he thenceforward continued to
represent in Parliament so long as he remained in public life.
Soon after Mr. Lafontaine's acceptance of office, in the autumn of 1842,
he proposed to Sir Charles Bagot, who was then Governor-General, that an
amnesty should be granted to all persons who had taken part in the rebellion
in 1837-8. To this proposal His Excellency was not disposed to assent
without careful consideration, and probably until he could communicate
with the Imperial Government. Mr. Lafontaine then urged that, if an
amnesty was for the present considered unadvisable, the various
prosecutions for high treason pending at Montreal might be abandoned. To
this Sir Charles, after careful consideration, expressed his willingness to
assent, except in the single case of the arch-conspirator, Louis Joseph
Papineau. Mr. Lafontaine had long ceased to sympathize with Mr.
Papineau's political views, but he was not disposed to acquiesce in the
proposed exception, and for a time the negotiations fell through. It was
subsequently renewed, but before any definite steps could be taken in the
matter the Governor-General's health gave way, and he rapidly sank into his
grave. After the accession of Sir Charles Metcalfe, Mr. Lafontaine urged his
proposal upon the new Governor, and finally succeeded in carrying his
point. Mr. Lafontaine, as Attorney-General, was instructed to file a nolle
prosequi to the indictments against Mr. Papineau, as well as to those against
other political offenders. He obeyed his instructions with promptitude, and
Mr. Papineau soon afterwards returned to this country. Erelong the "old man
eloquent" found his way into Parliament, where he for several years made
himself a thorn in the flesh to some of his old colleagues of the ante-Union
days.
The first Baldwin-Lafontaine Ministry resigned office in November,
1843, in consequence of the arbitrary conduct of Sir Charles Metcalfe. All

the circumstances connected with this resignation are narrated at sufficient
length elsewhere in these pages. Mr. Lafontaine remained in Opposition
until March, 1848, when he and his colleagues again came into power.
During the interval he had steadily held his ground in the estimation of the
Reform element in the French Canadian population, of whom he was the
acknowledged leader. The history of the second Baldwin-Lafontaine
Administration[10] in which Mr. Lafontaine held the portfolio of Attorney-
General East, has been given in previous sketches, and there is no need for
repeating the details here. It was Mr. Lafontaine who, in February, 1849,
introduced the famous Rebellion Losses Bill, which gave rise to so much
heated debate in the House, and to such disgraceful proceedings outside.
Mr. Lafontaine, as the actual introducer of the Bill, came in for his full
share of the odium attaching to that measure. His house in Montreal was
attacked by the mob, and although the flames were extinguished in time to
save the building, the furniture and library shared the fate of those in the
Houses of Parliament, with the fate of which readers of the sketch of Lord
Elgin are already familiar. After much wilful destruction of valuable
property the rioters waxed bolder, and proceeded to maltreat loyal subjects
in the streets in the most shameful manner. Mr. Lafontaine himself narrowly
escaped personal maltreatment. A second attack was made upon his house.
The military, or some occupants of the house, finding it necessary to use
extreme measures, fired upon the mob, wounding several, and killing one
man, whose name was Mason. For a few minutes after this time it seemed
not improbable that Mr. Lafontaine would be torn in pieces. Yells rent the
air, and it was loudly proclaimed that a Frenchman had shed the blood of an
Anglo-Saxon. The hour of danger passed, however, and Mr. Lafontaine
escaped without personal injury. The unanimous verdict of a coroner's jury
acquitted him of all blame for the death of the misguided man who had
fallen a victim to his zeal for riot. The verdict had a quieting effect upon the
public mind. Meanwhile the Governor-General had tendered his
resignation, but as his conduct was approved of both by the Local
Administration and by the Home Authorities, he, at their urgent request,
consented to remain in office. In consequence of this disgraceful riot,
however, it was not considered desirable to continue the seat of
Government at Montreal. The Legislature thenceforth sat alternately at
Toronto and Quebec, until 1866, when Ottawa became the permanent
capital of the Dominion.

Notwithstanding all the excitement, and the opposition to which he was
subjected, Mr. Lafontaine generally contrived to carry through any measure
which he had very much at heart. There were certain popular measures,
however, which he never had at heart, and to which, although the leader of a
professedly Liberal Administration, he could never be induced to lend his
countenance. After Responsible Government had become an accomplished
fact, there was no measure so imperatively demanded by Upper Canadian
Reformers as the secularization of the Clergy Reserves. In the Lower
Province the measure most desired by the people was the abolition of the
Seignorial Tenure. To neither of these projects would Mr. Lafontaine
consent. He had an immense respect for vested rights, and does not seem to
have fully recognized the fact that so-called vested rights are sometimes
neither more nor less than vested wrongs. Yet, notwithstanding his hostility
to these measures, he continued to hold the reins of power, for he was
regarded as an embodiment, in his own person, of the unity of the French-
Canadian race. He was, however, like his colleague, Robert Baldwin, too
moderate in his views for the times in which his later political life was cast.
The progress of Reform was too rapid for him, and he finally made way for
more advanced and more energetic men. His retirement from office and
from political life took place towards the close of 1851. After his retirement
he devoted himself to professional pursuits, and continued to do so until the
death of Sir James Stuart, Chief Justice of the Lower Province, in the
summer of 1853, left that position vacant. On the 13th of August Mr.
Lafontaine was appointed to the office, and on the 28th of August, 1854, he
was created a Baronet. In 1861, having been a widower for some years, he
married a second time, his choice being Jane, daughter of Mr. Charles
Morrison, of Berthier, and widow of Mr. Thomas Kinton, of Montreal. He
continued to occupy the position of Chief Justice until his death, which took
place on the morning of the 26th of February, 1864. During his tenure of
that office he also presided at the sittings of the Seignorial Tenure Court. He
attained high rank as a jurist, and his decisions, which were always
delivered with a weighty impressiveness of manner, are regarded with very
great respect by his successors, and by the legal profession generally.
Mr. Robert Christie, the historian of Lower Canada, contrasts the
political character of Mr. Lafontaine with that of his early colleague, Mr.
Papineau. Mr. Christie knew both the personages well, and was quite

capable of discriminating between them. "Mr. Lafontaine," he says, "it is
pretty generally admitted, has, by consulting only the practicable and
expedient, acted wisely and well, amidst the difficulties that beset his
position as Prime Minister, and upon the whole, though there are derogating
circumstances in the course of it, his administration has been eminently
successful. It was, in fact, from the impetuous and blind pursuit of the
impracticable and inexpedient, that Mr. Papineau lost himself, shipwrecking
his own and his party's hopes, and, with his example and failure before him,
it is to Mr. Lafontaine's credit that he has had the wisdom to profit by
them."
Sir Louis had no issue by his first wife. By his second wife he had one
son, to whom he was very much attached, and upon whom he looked as the
transmitter of his name, and of the title which he had so honourably won.
The little fellow, however, died in childhood, and the title became extinct.
Lady Lafontaine still resides in Montreal.

JOHN CHRISTIAN SCHULTZ, M.D.

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Dr. Schultz has had some adventurous passages in his life, and has
played a by no means insignificant part in the history of the Prairie
Province. He was born at Amherstburgh, in the county of Essex, Upper
Canada, on the 1st of January, 1840. He is a son of the late Mr. William
Schultz, a native of Denmark, who was for many years engaged in business
as a merchant at Amherstburgh. His mother was Eliza, daughter of Mr.
Willam Riley, of Bandon, Ireland.
After receiving his primary education at the public schools of
Amherstburgh, he entered Oberlin College, Ohio. This institution was then
held in high consideration by many persons in this country, and some of our
prominent men have been educated there. Mr. Schultz remained there long
enough to pass through the Arts course. Having chosen the medical
profession as his future calling, he studied medicine at Queen's College,
Kingston, and afterwards at the Medical Department of Victoria College, in
Toronto. He had conceived the design of emigrating to Mexico, with a view
to practising his profession there, but after graduating as M.D., in the spring
of 1860, he relinquished that design, and found his way, by the rude and
toilsome route then in vogue, to the Red River Settlement. The community
there at that time consisted of about eight thousand persons, separated from
the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, by a distance of 550 miles of country, a
great part of which was owned by the Ojibway and Sioux Indians. There
was of course no railway in that part of the world in those days, and anyone
undertaking to travel from St. Paul to Fort Garry entered upon a journey
which was not only toilsome but perilous. The barbarians all along the route
were fierce and intractable, not much given to discriminating between
subjects of Great Britain and those of the United States. Between the latter
and the Indians there was much ill-feeling, and murders and assassinations

of white travellers were matters of frequent occurrence. After enduring
many hardships, Dr. Schultz reached Fort Garry, and there commenced the
practice of his profession. He soon afterwards entered upon the traffic in
furs, a pursuit which was very profitable in those days, but which was still
held as a monopoly by the Hudson's Bay Company. The great Company
doubtless well knew that it would not much longer be permitted to enjoy its
monopoly, but it was not disposed to encourage rivalry, and looked upon
Dr. Schultz's interference with no friendly eye. There are of course two
sides to this question. The Company's agents were sometimes overbearing
and tyrannical in resisting the encroachments of free-traders. On the other
hand, it was scarcely to be expected that they would encourage or quietly
submit to interference with what they regarded as the Company's exclusive
rights. In spite of all opposition, however, Dr. Schultz continued to carry on
his operations with great profit to himself for some years. His negotiations
with the Indians and half-breeds rendered it necessary that he should
traverse a wide extent of country, and he thus gained an accurate knowledge
of the topography of the North-West, as well as an intimate acquaintance
with Indian manners, traditions, and customs.
In the spring of 1862 Dr. Schultz was unfortunate enough to be away
from home when the terrible Sioux massacre occurred in Minnesota,
completely cutting off connection between its frontier settlements and Fort
Garry, and spreading devastation and terror throughout the whole of the
North-West. The Doctor, after waiting some time at St. Paul, where he had
been transacting business, attempted the passage through the Indian country
by the "Crow Wing" trail, as it was called. After many days and nights of
cautious travelling, and one capture by the Indians, from which he owed his
release to his ability to convince the savages that he was English and not
American, he arrived safely at Pembina, whence he made his way to Fort
Garry. In 1864 he became the owner and editor of the Nor'-Wester, the
pioneer newspaper of the North-West, and laboured hard through its
columns to make the great agricultural value of the country known. His
policy was, of course, diametrically opposed to that of the Hudson's Bay
Company, and as time passed by, the hostility between that Company and
himself became very bitter and implacable. He subsequently disposed of the
Nor'-Wester to Dr. Walter Robert Bown, by whom the paper was conducted
at the time of the outbreak to be presently referred to.

In 1868 Dr. Schultz married Miss Agnes Campbell Farquharson,
formerly of Georgetown, British Guiana. He soon afterwards built the house
which was destined to become historical for the defence against Riel and
his insurrectionary force. In the autumn of 1868 he greatly extended the fur
business in which he was engaged, sending expeditions for that purpose to
the far north and west. The following autumn brought with it the first
mutterings of the Red River Rebellion, and it was seen that Dr. Schultz was
a marked man. Warning letters from Riel and other insurgents were sent to
him. Some of the Hudson's Bay Company's officials openly accused him of
having been the means of bringing about connection with Canada, and in
the gathering of the storm there seemed to be an ominous future for him
whom many of the Canadians then in the country looked upon as their
leader, and trusted to for their defence. He was unfortunate, too, in the
situation of his residence and trading post, which were the nearest buildings
to Fort Garry, and within easy range of the field guns which Riel afterwards
planted to force the giving up of the Canadian Government provisions.
Upon the actual breaking out of the insurrection, Dr. Schultz suffered
severely, both in person and in purse. His pecuniary losses were
recompensed to him by the Government, but the bodily privations to which
he was subjected were the means of inflicting a shock upon his constitution,
the effects of which are still to some extent perceptible. After the seizure of
Fort Garry by the insurgents, the loyal Canadians of the settlement were
placed under surveillance. About fifty of these assembled for mutual safety
at Dr. Schultz's house, about eight hundred yards from the Fort. Here they
were besieged by several hundred of Riel's followers for three days. The
siege does not seem to have been incessant or very active, but there were
more than two hundred armed French half-breeds who kept continually on
the watch, and the inmates were prevented from egress. It is said that two
mounted six-pounders were drawn by the insurgents outside the walls of
Fort Garry, with their muzzles pointed in the direction of the beleaguered
house. The little force inside the building was too small to enable the
besieged to make a permanent resistance, and at last they were compelled to
surrender. They were then marched by the rebels to Fort Garry and
imprisoned there. Dr. Schultz himself, who was the especial object of Riel's
hatred, was placed in solitary confinement, under a strong guard. His wife,
who had insisted on remaining by his side, was at first permitted to share
his imprisonment, but after a few days she was forcibly separated from him,

and it seemed not unlikely that this separation had been effected by Riel
with a view to wreaking his vengeance on the Doctor by taking his life. Riel
himself alleged that there was no intention of harming any of the prisoners,
but that he considered it desirable to separate Mr. and Mrs. Schultz, lest the
husband should be enabled to escape through the instrumentality of his
wife, who of course was not a prisoner, and who was permitted ingress and
egress at all reasonable hours. Dr. Schultz, however, placed little reliance on
the word of the arch-insurgent. Knowing the sentiments with which he was
regarded by Riel, he felt that his life was liable to be sacrificed at any
moment, and he determined to make an attempt to escape. This purpose,
after being confined for nearly three weeks, he successfully accomplished.
Mrs. Schultz contrived to secretly convey to him a pen-knife and a small
gimlet. With these inadequate means he made an opening through his cell,
large enough to enable him to pass through into the inner quadrangle of the
Fort. On the night of Sunday, the 23rd of December, 1869, he cut into strips
the buffalo-robe which served for his bed, fastened an end to a projection in
his cell, passed through the opening he had made in the wall, and prepared
to descend to terra firma. While he was making the descent one of the strips
of buffalo skin snapped, and he was precipitated violently to the ground.
The fall rendered him temporarily lame, and caused him great suffering, but
even in this disabled condition he managed to scramble over the outer wall
near one of the bastions, and found himself at liberty. He stole away in the
dead silence of night, and after a toilsome march of some hours in a
blinding snow-storm, took refuge in the house of a friendly settler in the
parish of Kildonan. There, in the course of the next few weeks, he and other
Canadians organized a force about six hundred strong, with a view to
releasing their friends who were still imprisoned at Fort Garry. Everything
being in readiness for action, a message, demanding the release of the
prisoners, was despatched to Riel. The demand was vigorously backed up
by the influence of Mr. A. G. B. Bannatyne, a prominent citizen of Red
River, and Miss McVicar, a young lady from Canada who was on a visit to
the settlement. These two called upon Riel at Fort Garry, and begged him to
avert the bloodshed which would certainly result if he persisted in detaining
the prisoners. Riel, under the combined influence of his interlocutors and
the demand which had been made upon him by the Canadian forces,
displayed the better part of valour, and promptly released the captives. He
was determined, however, to recapture Dr. Schultz, and sent out several

expeditions to discover his whereabouts. He declared that he would have
Dr. Schultz's body, dead or alive, if it was to be found in the Red River
Settlement. Disappointed at the non-success of his emissaries, Riel started
out himself at the head of an expedition, to scour the settlement, and to
recapture the object of his enmity. The expedition reached the Stone Fort, or
Lower Fort Garry, about midway between the capital of the settlement and
the entrance of Red River into Lake Winnipeg. They entered the enclosure,
and searched every nook and corner of the Fort. Ill would it have fared with
Dr. Schultz had he been discovered there; but he was far away, and was
every hour increasing the distance between Riel and himself. A large
meeting of loyalist settlers had been held, at which Dr. Schultz was
requested to proceed to Canada, and to lay the real state of affairs before the
people there. Such a mission involved grave perils and hardships, for all the
roads leading to Minnesota were closely guarded by the insurgents, and
certain death would have overtaken the Doctor had he again fallen into their
hands. He determined, however, to make the attempt by way of Lake
Superior. On the 21st of February, accompanied only by an English half-
breed named Joseph Monkman, he started on his perilous expedition. News
of his having done so came in due course to the ears of Riel, who sent out
scouts in every direction to intercept him. The Doctor and his companion
eluded their vigilance, and with snow-shoes on their feet struck across the
frozen south-easterly end of Lake Winnipeg to the mouth of the Winnipeg
River. They made their way past the rushing cascades of that stream to the
Lake of the Woods; thence across to Rainy Lake, and thence across the
northern part of the State of Minnesota to the head of Lake Superior.
Numerous camps of Indians were encountered on this adventurous march,
and from time to time guides were obtained from the latter. "Over weary
miles of snow-covered lakes; over the watershed between Rainy Lake and
the lakes of the Laurentian chain; over the height of land between Rainy
Lake and Lake Superior; through pine forests and juniper swamps, these
travellers made their way, turning aside only where wind-fallen timber
made their course impossible. Often saved from starvation by the woodcraft
of Monkman; their course guided by the compass, or by views taken from
the top of some stately Norway pine, they found themselves, after twenty-
four weary days of travel, in sight of the blue, unfrozen waters of Lake
Superior. They had struck the lake not far from its head, and in a few hours
presented themselves to the astonished gaze of the people of the then

embryo village of Duluth, gaunt with hunger, worn with fatigue, their
clothes in tatters, their eyes blinded with the glare of the glittering sun of
March." They then learned for the first time of the terrible event which had
occurred at Fort Garry since their departure—the murder of the unfortunate
Thomas Scott. From Duluth they made their way to Toronto, whither news
of their adventures had preceded them. On the 6th of April an indignation
meeting was held in Toronto, at which a stirring address was delivered by
Dr. Schultz, wherein the whole nature of the Red River difficulty was
reviewed. Resolutions expressive of indignation at Scott's murder, and
calling aloud for active Government interference, were passed. Similar
meetings were held, and similar resolutions passed in Montreal, and in
various other cities and towns in both the Upper and Lower Provinces. The
expedition under Colonel (now Sir Garnet) Wolseley was soon afterwards
set on foot, but the account of it has no special bearing upon Dr. Schultz's
life, and need not be given here. The Doctor soon afterwards returned to
Manitoba, where he has ever since resided, and where he exercises a potent
influence over public affairs.
For nearly ten years past Dr. Schultz has been engaged in active political
life. At the first general election after Manitoba became part of the
Dominion, he was elected to represent the county of Lisgar (which
comprises most of the old Lord Selkirk Settlement) in the House of
Commons. The following year he was appointed a member of the Executive
Council of the North-West Territories, which sat in Winnipeg under the
Presidency of the Lieutenant-Governor of the Province. In this capacity he
was able to utilize his knowledge of the Indians and their wants much to
their advantage, in the passage of a Prohibitive Liquor Law for the whole of
the North-West, and in other measures for the amelioration of their
condition. He was reëlected to represent Lisgar at the general election of
1872, and again at that of 1874, and again by acclamation at the last general
election. He is a member of the Dominion Board of Health for Manitoba, a
Director of the Manitoba Southwestern Colonization Railway, one of the
Board of Examiners of the Manitoba Medical Board, a Director of the
Winnipeg and Hudson's Bay Railway, and of the Great Northwestern
Telegraph Company. He is moreover one of the largest land owners in the
Province. He is enthusiastic in his views as to the future of Manitoba, and
of the North-West generally, and takes an active interest in promoting the

welfare and prosperity of that part of the Dominion. Of late years his health
has been somewhat less robust than formerly. This result is partly due to a
native energy which frequently impels him to overtax his physical strength,
and partly, doubtless, to the sufferings and privations above referred to. The
North-West, however, has upon the whole been propitious to the Doctor.
His speculations have made him a thoroughly independent man, so far as
worldly wealth is concerned, and he can well afford to take repose for the
remainder of his life. He is a member of the Liberal-Conservative Party, and
a staunch supporter of the Government now in power at Ottawa.

THE HON. GEORGE WILLIAM BURTON.

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Judge Burton was born at the town of Sandwich, the most ancient of the
Cinque Ports, in the county of Kent, England, on the 21st of July, 1818. He
was the second son of the late Admiral George Guy Burton, R.N., of
Chatham. He received his education at the Rochester and Chatham
Proprietary School, under the late Rev. Robert Whiston, LL.D., a Fellow of
Trinity College, Cambridge, who subsequently occupied the position of
Head-Master of the Grammar School at Rochester, and who was the author
of several works remarkable for sound scholarship and independence of
thought. Mr. Burton has always held his tutor in honoured remembrance,
and to this day is accustomed to speak of him with the respect due to his
great learning and attainments.
In 1836, the year before the breaking out of Mackenzie's rebellion, Mr.
Burton, then a youth of eighteen, came over to Upper Canada and repaired
to Ingersoll, in the county of Oxford, where he began the study of the law in
the office of his paternal uncle, the late Mr. Edmund Burton, who then
carried on a legal business there. The gentleman last named had formerly
held an office in connection with the Admiralty, and had been stationed at
the mouth of the Grand River during the War of 1812, '13, and '14. After the
close of the war he devoted himself to the law, and spent the rest of his life
in Upper Canada. His presence in this country was doubtless to some extent
the cause of his nephew's emigration from England. The latter spent the
regular term of five years in his uncle's office in Ingersoll. Upon the
expiration of his articles, he was called to the Bar, in Easter Term, 1842, and
settled down to the practice of his profession in Hamilton, where he was not
long in acquiring a large and lucrative business. He identified himself with
the Reform Party in politics, and took an active part in various local
elections. He was frequently importuned to enter Parliament, but he

preferred to confine his best energies to his professional duties, and, as the
years passed by, his business assumed such dimensions that he had full
occupation for his time. He formed various partnerships, but was always the
guiding spirit of the firm, and became known from one end of the Province
to the other as a sound and learned lawyer. His connexion with Mr. Charles
A. Sadleir lasted for many years, and the firm of "Burton & Sadleir" was
one of the best known in the western part of the Province. On the 9th of
June, 1850, Mr. Burton married Miss Elizabeth Perkins, daughter of the late
Dr. F. Perkins, of Kingston, in the Island of Jamaica, and niece and adopted
daughter of the late Colonel Charles Cranston Dixon, of the 90th Regiment.
The life of an industrious lawyer, though interesting to himself and his
clients, is uneventful, and there is not much to be said about Mr. Burton's
professional career, except that it was a remarkably successful one. He had
many wealthy merchants and corporations for his clients, and was regarded
as an adept in the law relating to railway companies. He was for many years
Solicitor for the City of Hamilton; also for the Canada Life Assurance
Company, of which he is at present a Director, having been elected to that
position soon after his elevation to the Judicial Bench. In 1856 he was
nominated a Bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada, and when that
body became elective by the profession at large, under the Ontario Act of
1871, he was elected to the position. In 1863 he was invested with a silk
gown.
His elevation to the Bench took place on the 30th of May, 1874, when he
was appointed a Judge of the Court of Error and Appeal. He then removed
to Toronto, where he has ever since resided. Upon the elevation of Mr.
Justice Strong to a seat on the Bench of the Supreme Court at Ottawa, in
October, 1875, Mr. Burton became, and still continues to be, the Senior
Justice of the Court of Appeal for this Province. He has filled his position
worthily, and with acceptance to the public and profession. He has delivered
many important judgments. One of these, in the case of Smiles vs. Belford et
al., is of special interest to persons connected with literary pursuits. The
plaintiff was the well-known Scottish writer, Samuel Smiles, author of "The
Life of George Stephenson," "Industrial Biography," and various other
works of a similar character which have enjoyed great popularity among the
young. The defendants were a firm of publishers in Toronto. The case came
before Judge Burton in the month of March, 1877, by way of appeal from a

judgment previously rendered by Vice-Chancellor Proudfoot; and the effect
of Judge Burton's decision was to affirm the Vice-Chancellor's conclusions.
It was held that it is not necessary for the author of a book who has duly
copyrighted the work in England under the Imperial statute 5 and 6
Victoria, chapter 45, to copyright it in Canada under the Canadian
Copyright Act of 1875, with a view of restraining a reprint of it there; but
that if he desires to prevent the importation into Canada of printed copies
from a foreign country he must copyright the book in Canada. The
judgment is an elaborate one, and well worthy of the careful perusal of
literary men.

LORD DORCHESTER.

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Prominent among the band of heroes who accompanied Wolfe on his
memorable expedition against Quebec in 1759 was a gallant hero who held
the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the British army, and whose name was
Guy Carleton. He was an intimate personal friend of General Wolfe, and
was at that time thirty-seven years of age, having been born in 1722, at
Strabane, in the county of Tyrone, Ireland. He had embraced a military
career in his earliest youth, and had already done good service on more than
one hotly-contested field. He had served with distinction under the Duke of
Cumberland on the Continent, and had acquired the reputation of a brave
and efficient officer. He was destined to attain still higher distinction, both
in military and civil affairs, and to preserve for his king and country the
realm which Wolfe died to gain. He has been called "the founder and
saviour of Canada," and if these terms are somewhat grandiloquent, it must
be admitted that they are not altogether without justification. "If," says a
well-known Canadian writer, "we owe to Wolfe a deep debt of gratitude for
the brilliant achievement which added new lustre and victory to our arms,
and placed the ensign of Great Britain on this glorious dependency of the
empire, where he fought and bled and sacrificed a life his country could ill
spare, we assuredly, also, owe much to those brave and gallant men who
preserved this land when conquered, through dint of hard toil, watchful
vigilance, and loss of blood and life."
Guy Carleton's friendship with Wolfe, who was four years his junior,
dated from their early youth. There are many friendly and affectionate
references to him scattered here and there throughout Wolfe's published
letters, and it is evident that their friendship was founded upon the highest
mutual respect and esteem. Wolfe seems to have lost no opportunity of
pushing his friend's fortunes, and to his patronage the Lieutenant-Colonel

was indebted for many signal marks of favour. When the General was
appointed to take charge of the operations against Quebec, he was informed
by Pitt that he would be allowed to choose his own staff of officers. He
accordingly forwarded his list of names to the Minister, and among them
was that of Colonel Carleton, to whom he had assigned the office of
Quartermaster-General. Carleton, however, had made himself obnoxious to
the King by passing some slighting remarks on the Hanoverian troops—a
most heinous offence in the eyes of the Elector. When the Commander-in-
Chief submitted the list to the Sovereign, His Majesty, as was expected,
drew his pen across Carleton's name, and refused to sign his commission.
Neither Pitt nor Wolfe was likely to humour the stubborn monarch's whim.
Lord Ligonier was therefore sent a second time into the royal closet, but
with no better success. When his lordship returned to the Prime Minister he
was ordered to make another trial, and was told that on again submitting the
name he should represent the peculiar state of affairs. "And tell His Majesty
likewise," said Mr. Pitt, "that in order to render any General completely
responsible for his conduct, he should be made, as far as possible,
inexcusable if he should fail; and that, consequently, whatever an officer
entrusted with a service of confidence requests should be complied with."
After some hesitation Ligonier obtained a third audience, and delivered his
message, when, obstinate and unforgiving as the old King was, the sound
sense of the observation prevailed over his prejudice, and he signed the
commission as requested. And so it came about that Colonel Carleton
accompanied the conqueror of Quebec in the capacity of Quartermaster-
General on that memorable expedition, which was fraught with such
important consequences to both.
The story of the siege of Quebec is already familiar to readers of these
pages. The only further reference to that siege necessary to be made in this
place is to chronicle the fact that Colonel Carleton was severely wounded in
the hand on the plains of Abraham, and was only a few paces distant from
his commander when the latter received his death-wound. For his services
on that eventful day he was advanced to the dignity of a Brigadier-General.
The next important event in his life necessary to record was his accession to
the Governorship of Canada, as successor to General Murray. He was
already regarded with great favour by the colonists, who had begun to look
up to him as a protector. His character and conduct have been variously

judged, some attributing his wisdom and gentleness to native goodness of
heart, others to a prudent and far-seeing policy. There is no necessity for
inquiring too curiously into his motives. Suffice it to say that he was
regarded with the highest favour and admiration by the colonists. The
Government of his predecessor, General Murray, had, at the outset, been an
essentially military Government, and had been the reverse of popular with
French Canadians generally. During his regime the French Canadians seem
to have been morbidly given to contemplating themselves as a conquered
people, and to have been ever ready to avail themselves of any pretext for
establishing a grievance. Nor were such pretexts altogether wanting. The
civil and criminal law of England had been introduced into the colony by
royal proclamation, and Courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas, and
Chancery had been established for its administration. Now, the law of
England was a system of which the French Canadians knew nothing, and
for which they could hardly be expected to have much enthusiasm. Trial by
jury was an especial bugbear to them. It was incomprehensible to them that
any man who was conscious of the goodness of his cause should wish to be
tried by twelve ignorant men; men who had never studied the principles of
law, and who were very imperfectly educated. That a suitor should prefer
such a tribunal to an erudite judge, whose life had been spent in the study of
jurisprudence, was, to the French Canadians of those days, pretty strong
evidence that the said suitor had little confidence in the justness of his plea.
Moreover, trials were carried on in the English language, of which the
French Canadians in general knew little more than they knew of English
law. A native litigant was compelled to plead through an interpreter, and not
seldom through an interpreter who could be bribed. Even the higher
officials of the courts were sometimes appointed for political reasons, and
were utterly unfit for positions of trust. It is not too much to say that there
were flagrant instances in which judicial decisions were literally bought and
sold. General Murray's report on the condition of the colony, published after
his return to England in 1766, affords indisputable evidence that the alleged
grievances of the French Canadians were not wholly imaginary. The ex-
Governor cannot be suspected of any undue prejudice in favour of the
native population. He describes the British colonists of the Province as
being, with a few exceptions, the most immoral collection of men he had
ever known. Most of them, he alleged, had been followers of the army, of
mean education, or soldiers disbanded at the reduction of the troops, who

had their fortunes to make, and who were not very solicitous as to how that
end was accomplished. They were represented as persons little calculated to
conciliate the natives, or to increase the respect of the latter for British laws.
The officials sent out from the mother country to conduct the public service
are described as venal, mercenary, and ignorant. "The Judge fixed upon to
conciliate the minds of 75,000 foreigners to the laws and government of
Great Britain," says the report, "was taken from a jail." Both the Judge and
the Attorney-General were unacquainted with the Civil Law and with the
French language. The chief offices of state were filled by men equally
ignorant, who had bought their situations for a price. Such a state of things
was little calculated to endear British rule to the French Canadians. The
picture is a dark one, but hardly darker than the facts justified. And such
was the posture of affairs when Guy Carleton succeeded to office as
Murray's successor.
He was wise enough to perceive that such a system could not be lasting,
and just enough to desire the establishment of a better one. Scarcely had he
succeeded to office before he made some important changes among the
higher state officials. He deposed two obnoxious councillors, and set up two
better men in their stead. He then turned his attention to law reform.
Previous to the Conquest, the law in vogue in the Province had been a
modification of the Civil Law known as the "Coutume de Paris." This
system, abridged and modified so as to meet the requirements of the colony,
he set himself to reëstablish. Under his direction some of the leading French
lawyers set to work at the task of compilation. Upon the completion of this
work he crossed over to England, taking the compilation with him for the
approval of the authorities there. He met with strong opposition, and for
some time it seemed doubtful whether he would be able to accomplish the
object of his mission. He was subjected to repeated examinations before the
law officers of the Crown, and before Committees of the House of
Commons. Thurlow, the Attorney-General, opposed the measure with all
the forensic learning he could summon to his aid. The Mayor and
Corporation of London also threw the weight of their influence into the
same scale. The great Edmund Burke exhausted against it all his unrivalled
powers of rhetoric. Finally a compromise was effected, and the famous
"Quebec Act" was passed. It repealed all the provisions of the royal
proclamation of 1763, annulled all the acts of the Governor and Council

relative to the civil government and administration of justice, revoked the
commissions of judges and other existing officers, and established new
boundaries for the Province. It released the Roman Catholics in Canada
from all penal restrictions, renewed their dues and tithes to the Roman
Catholic clergy from members of their own Church, and confirmed all
classes except the religious orders and communities in full possession of
their property. The French laws were declared to be the rules for decision
relative to property and civil rights, while the English law was established
in criminal matters. Both the civil and criminal codes were liable to be
altered or modified by the ordinances of the Governor and a Legislative
Council. This Council was to be appointed by the Crown, and was to
consist of not more than twenty-three, nor fewer than seventeen members.
Its power was limited to levying local or municipal taxes, and to making
arrangements for the administration of the internal affairs of the Province;
the British Parliament reserving to itself the right of external taxation, or the
levying of duties on imports and exports. Every ordinance passed by this
Council was to be transmitted within six months, at farthest, after
enactment, for the approbation of the King, and if disallowed, was to be
void on its disallowance becoming known at Quebec. Such were the
principal provisions of the Quebec Act, under which Canada was governed
for seventeen years. There can be no doubt that its enactment was largely
due to Carleton's representations, and it is not to be wondered at if, when he
returned to Canada in the autumn of 1774, he was received with rapturous
enthusiasm by the French Canadians, who made up nearly the entire
population of the colony. The Legislative Council, composed of one-third
Catholics and two-thirds Protestants, was inaugurated. The "Continental
Congress," which was then in session at Philadelphia, made vain overtures
to the Canadians to join them in throwing off the British yoke. The French
Canadians believed that they had more to lose than gain by a change. They
had not even yet much love for British institutions, but they thought they
saw a disposition on the part of the Imperial authorities to accord to them
some measure of justice, and were not disposed to rebel. They were
moreover greatly attached to the Governor who had fought so gallantly on
their behalf. "The man," says M. Bibaud, "to whom the administration of
the Government had been entrusted had known how to make the Canadians
love him, and this contributed not a little to retain, at least within the
bounds of neutrality, those among them who might have been able, or who

believed themselves able, to ameliorate their lot by making common cause
with the insurgent colonies."
A time soon arrived when the fealty of the French Canadians was to be
subjected to a stern and an effectual test. On the 19th of April, 1775, the
revolt of the American colonies assumed a positive shape, and the skirmish
at Lexington took place. The colonists then proceeded to strike what they
believed would prove a deadly blow to Great Britain on this continent.
American forces under the command of Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold
passed over to Canada, believing that they would find the country an easy
prey. Crown Point, which was invested with a very small garrison, was
compelled to yield to the invaders. A similar result followed the attack of
the Americans on Fort Ticonderoga, and the capture of the only British
sloop of war on Lake Champlain gave them entire supremacy in those
waters. Then General Carleton manned himself "to whip the dwarfish war
from out his territories." He at once determined to recover the forts which
had been lost, and proceeded to raise a militia. But when he appealed to the
French Canadians to flock to the side of their seigniors in accordance with
the old feudal customs for which they professed so much veneration, and
which he himself had been instrumental in restoring to them, he found that
he could not count upon their aid. The seigniors, indeed, were most of them
chivalrous and willing enough, but the peasantry refused to lift hand in a
quarrel which was not of their seeking. Much eloquence has been wasted in
attempting to prove that the French Canadian habitans refused on principle
to rally at this juncture. It has been said that their hearts warmly
sympathized with the struggle of the Americans for freedom, and that they
believed that to aid Great Britain would be to strike a blow at liberty itself.
The facts of the case do not justify any such assumption. Looking back
upon that memorable rebellion by the light of the hundred years which have
elapsed since its occurrence, there are not many right-thinking persons of
British blood who will be disposed to regret its issue. But the "shot heard
round the world," of which Emerson so eloquently sings, produced no echo
in the hearts of French Canadians. They were simply indifferent. They had
no stomach to draw their swords and perform military service in behalf of a
cause which did not appeal to their enthusiasm. Whatever sympathies they
had were undoubtedly enlisted on the side of the Americans, but these were
too weak to impel them to endanger their lives. They had enjoyed an

interval of peace, and many of their most pressing grievances had been
redressed. They owed a debt of gratitude to their Governor, and they were
willing to repay it by passive fealty; but they were as lukewarm as erst were
the people of Laodicea. It was in vain that the seigniors mustered their
tenants and expatiated on the nature of feudal services, and the risk of
confiscation which they would incur by refusing to render such services in
this hour of need. They almost to a man denied the right of their seigniors to
exact military services from them. In a word, they refused to fight. The
Governor was thus placed in an extremity. He had only two regiments of
troops at his disposal—the 7th and the 26th. Their combined strength was
about 850 men. The British colonists were even less disposed to draw
sword than the native Canadians. The American Congress believed the
Canadian people to be favourable to their cause, and resolved to strike a
blow which should be decisive. They despatched a force of nearly 2,000
men into Canada by way of the River Richelieu, under the command of
Generals Schuyler and Montgomery. Another expedition, consisting of a
force of 1,100 men, under Colonel Benedict Arnold, was simultaneously
despatched from Boston to Quebec by way of the Rivers Kennebec and
Chaudière. The campaign was not badly planned. The larger of these forces
was to capture the forts on the way from Albany to Montreal. Upon
reaching Montreal that town was to be captured and invested, after which a
descent was to be made to Quebec and a junction formed with Arnold.
Carleton's situation was sufficiently embarrassing to have dismayed a
man less abundant in energy and less fertile of resource. It only spurred him
on to increased exertion. His two small regiments were divided between
Montreal and Quebec. The colonists, both British and French, had refused
to assist him, and it was doubtful if many of them would not join the ranks
of the invaders. Having proclaimed martial law, he invoked ecclesiastical
aid. The priests were believed to be all-powerful with the French Canadian
population, and he knew that he could count upon the coöperation of the
priesthood. He appealed to De Briand, Bishop of Quebec, to rouse the
peasantry of his diocese. The Bishop complied with his wishes, and put
forth an encyclical letter enjoining the people to bestir themselves in
defence of their country and their religion. Even this appeal was in vain.
The French Canadians still remained apathetic. Many of the British
colonists openly professed their sympathy with the Americans. The

Governor then sought to raise a militia by offering liberal land-bounties.
This appeal to the cupidity of the colonists was more effectual than the
appeals of a more sentimental nature had been, inasmuch as a few
volunteers promptly enrolled themselves. Valuable assistance also came in
from another quarter. The Province of New York had by this time become
an unsafe place of residence for persons of British proclivities. Colonel Guy
Johnson, who had just succeeded to the position of British Colonial Agent
for Indian Affairs in North America, was compelled to seek safety in
Canada. He was accompanied by Joseph Brant and the principal warriors of
the Six Nations, who had resolved to "sink or swim with the English."
These warriors, with Brant at their head, formed themselves into a
Confederacy, and rallied to the side of Governor Carleton. The American
armaments were meanwhile steadily advancing to the attack. Early in
September the forces under Schuyler and Montgomery reached Isle-aux-
Noix. Proclamations were sown broadcast among the Canadians, in which it
was stated that the invaders had no design whatever on the lives, the
properties, or the religion of the inhabitants, and that their operations were
directed against the British only. General Schuyler having returned to
Albany, the chief command devolved on Montgomery, who invested Fort
St. John, and sent a detachment of troops to attack the fort at Chambly,
while Ethan Allen was despatched with a reconnoitring party towards
Montreal. Allen being informed that the town was weakly defended, and
believing the inhabitants to be favourable to the American cause, resolved
to attempt a capture. Carleton had already arrived at Montreal to make
dispositions for the protection of the frontier. Learning, on the night of the
24th, that a party of Americans had crossed the river, and were marching on
the town, he despatched all his available force, consisting of about 275 men,
nearly all of whom were volunteers, against the enemy. The American
force, which was only about 250 strong, was compelled to surrender. Allen
and his detachment thus became prisoners of war. They were at once sent
over to England, where they were confined in Pendennis Castle. Meanwhile
General Montgomery was besieging forts St. John and Chambly. Both these
fortresses, after a brief and ineffectual resistance, were compelled to
surrender. Nearly all the regulars in Canada thus became prisoners of war,
and there was nothing to prevent the Americans from advancing upon
Montreal, which they at once proceeded to do. To defend it with any hope
of success was utterly out of the question, and Carleton, anticipating

Montgomery's intention, burned and destroyed all the public stores, and left
the town by one way just as the Americans entered at the other. During the
night he had a narrow escape from the enemy, who were encamped at Sorel,
and whose sentinels he had to pass in an open boat. This he successfully
accomplished, and arrived at Quebec on the 19th of November. He hastily
made the most judicious arrangements in his power for the defence of the
place. He expelled from the city all those who were disaffected. Arnold had
meanwhile made his desolate march through the wilderness, and though his
forces had suffered terrible privations, and had been greatly reduced in
number by starvation and other perils of the march, he was now in a
position to coöperate with Montgomery. The united forces succeeded in
gaining the city on the 4th of December, and after concocting their plans,
they divided their strength, so as to attack the city in several places. The
siege lasted throughout the month. Montgomery waited for a night of
unusual darkness to make a daring attempt upon the city from the south.
Arnold entrenched himself on the opposite side of the city. The provisions
of the besiegers began to fail, their regiments were being depleted by
sickness, and their light guns made but little impression on the massive
walls. At last an assault was ordered. It took place before dawn on the 31st
of December (1775). In the midst of a heavy snow storm Arnold advanced
through the Lower Town from his quarters near the St. Charles River, and
led his 800 New Englanders and Virginians over two or three barricades.
The Montreal Bank and several other massive stone houses were filled with
British regulars, who guarded the approaches with such a deadly fire that
Arnold's men were forced to take refuge in the adjoining houses, while
Arnold himself was badly wounded and carried to the rear. Meanwhile
Montgomery was leading his New Yorkers and Continentals north along
Champlain Street by the river side. The intention was for the two attacking
columns, after driving the enemy from the Lower Town, to unite before the
Prescott Gate, and carry it by storm. A strong barricade was stretched across
Champlain Street from the cliff to the river; but when its guards saw the
great masses of the attacking column advancing through the twilight, they
fled. In all probability Montgomery would have crossed the barricade,
delivered Arnold's men by attacking the enemy in the rear, escaladed
Prescott Gate, and gained temporary possession of the place, but that one of
the fleeing Canadians, impelled by a strange caprice, turned quickly back
and fired the cannon which stood loaded on the barricade. Montgomery and

many of his officers and men were struck down by the shot, and the column
broke up in panic and fled. The British forces were now concentrated on
Arnold's men, who were hemmed in by a sortie from the Palace Gate, and
426 officers and men were made prisoners. The remnant of the American
army was compelled to retreat to some distance from the city. On being
reinforced, however, during the winter, they made a stand for another attack
on Quebec, but disease and famine at last compelled them to retreat. In the
spring, reinforcements arrived from England, and Carleton having first
possessed himself of Crown Point, launched a fleet on Lake Champlain,
which, after several actions, completely annihilated that of the Americans.
Further reinforcements soon afterwards arrived from England under the
command of Major-General Burgoyne, who thenceforward took the
military command. He succeeded in gaining some rather unimportant
victories, but was finally compelled to surrender at Saratoga, with his force
of 6,000 men. This may be said to have put an end to the war. The French
Government recognized the new Republic as an independent nation, and all
hope of keeping the latter under British subjection was abandoned.
Governor Carleton, who had done so much to preserve Canada from
falling into the hands of the Americans, and whose efforts, considering his
limited resources, had been almost incredibly successful, was not a little
chagrined at being superseded in his military command. He considered that
he had been slighted by the Government, and that his brilliant successes had
merited a different reward. And he was right. To him, more than to any
other man, is due the praise of having prevented Canada from becoming, at
least for the time, a part of the American Republic. Mr. J. M. Lemoine, the
historian of Quebec, pays a well-merited compliment to his memory. "Had
the fate of Canada on that occasion," says Mr. Lemoine, "been confided to a
Governor less wise, less conciliating than Guy Carleton, doubtless the
'brightest gem in the colonial Crown of Britain' would have been one of the
stars of Columbia's banner; the star-spangled banner would now be floating
on the summit of Cape Diamond."
With a heart smarting under a keen, if not loudly-expressed sense of
injustice, Carleton demanded his recall. His successor, Major-General
Haldimand, having arrived in Canada in July, 1778, Carleton surrendered
the reins of Government to him and proceeded to England. The ministry of
the day, however, mollified his resentment, and paid assiduous court to him.

Various honours and substantial emoluments were conferred upon him. In
1786 he was raised to the peerage of Great Britain, by the title of Baron
Dorchester of Dorchester, in the County of Oxford—a title still borne by his
descendant, the fourth Baron. During the same year he was requested to
once more take charge of the Canadian Administration. He consented, and
came over to this country as Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief of
His Majesty's forces in America. He retained both these positions for ten
years—a period marked by many important civil reforms, and by the
passing of the Constitutional Act of 1791, whereby Canada was divided into
two separate Provinces. Lord Dorchester's tenure of office tended to still
further endear him to the Canadian people, and to this day his name is held
in affectionate remembrance by the inhabitants of the Lower Province
where he resided. He took his final departure from our shores in the
summer of 1796, amid the heartfelt regret of the people over whose affairs
he had so long presided. Upon reaching England he retired to private life,
and did not again take any prominent part in public affairs. His old age, like
that of King Lear, was "frosty, but kindly," and for twelve years he lived a
life of cheerful and dignified repose. He continued to correspond with
friends in Canada, and in one of his letters, still extant, expresses a wish to
revisit the scenes of his past achievements, and mayhap to lay his bones
among them. The wish, however, was not gratified. He died, after a brief
illness, on the 10th of November, 1808, in his 83rd year.
He married, on the 22nd of May, 1772, Maria, daughter of Thomas,
second Earl of Effingham, by whom he had a family of seven children. His
three eldest sons died in his lifetime. He was succeeded by his grandson,
Arthur Henry, son of his third son, Christopher.

THE HON. WILLIAM PEARCE HOWLAND,

C.B., K.C.M.G.

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Among the hundred passengers who landed from the Mayflower at
Plymouth Rock, on the 22nd of December, 1620, was a God-fearing Quaker
named John Howland. He seems to have been unmarried at the time of his
emigration; or at any rate his wife, if he had one, did not accompany him on
the expedition. He settled in the colony of Massachusetts Bay, and left
behind him a numerous progeny, whose descendants are to be found at the
present day in nearly every State of the Union. From him, we understand,
the subject of this sketch claims descent. The father of Sir William was Mr.
Jonathan Howland, a resident of Dutchess County, in the State of New
York. The latter was in early life a farmer, but subsequently engaged in
commercial pursuits at Greenbush, in Rensselaer County, on the west bank
of the Hudson River. He died at Cape Vincent, Jefferson County, in the year
1842. The maiden name of Sir William's mother was Lydia Pearce. Her
family resided in Dutchess County, and were well-known and influential
citizens. This lady still survives, and has attained the great age of ninety-
four years. Soon after the death of her husband she took up her abode in
Toronto, where she has ever since resided.
The subject of this sketch, who was the eldest son of his parents, was
born at the town of Paulings, Dutchess County, New York, on the 29th of
May, 1811. He was brought up to farm work, but early displayed an
aptitude for commercial life. After attending at a public school, and
afterwards for a short time at the Kinderhook Academy, he determined to
embark in a mercantile career. In the autumn of the year 1830, when he was
barely nineteen years of age, he came to Canada, and settled in the village

of Cooksville, on Dundas Street, in the township of Toronto. Here he
obtained a situation as assistant in a country store of the period. In this store
was kept the post-office for the village, the management of which largely
devolved upon his own shoulders. The postal system in this Province had
not then been very elaborately systematized. The mails for the whole of the
western part of the Province passed over this route. The mail-matter for the
different offices was not classified, but thrown into a bag, from which each
successive postmaster selected such matter as was addressed to his office.
The state of the roads was generally such that the mails had to be carried on
horseback. Young Mr. Howland's duties required him to get up at one
o'clock in the morning to receive the mail, which arrived at Cooksville at
that hour. He was accustomed to select the mail-matter himself from the
bag, after which he would hand the outgoing mail to the carrier, who then
passed on westwardly to Dundas and Hamilton. Such was the primitive
method of handling His Majesty's mail in Upper Canada in the year of grace
1830. It is scarcely to be wondered at that Mr. Howland, after such practical
experience of the necessity for reform, should have allied himself with the
Reform Party when he began to take a share in the politics of the country.
His share in politics, however, lay as yet far distant. For some years he
devoted himself exclusively to laying the foundation of the princely fortune
which he subsequently realized. A man with such a remarkable faculty for
success in mercantile life was not likely to remain long an assistant in a
country store. Erelong we find him embarked in business on his own
account, in partnership with his younger brother, Mr. P. Howland, now of
Lambton Mills. Their operations were conducted with the most careful
circumspection, and were so successful that they soon had several
establishments in the townships of Toronto and Chinguacousy. In addition
to a general commercial business they engaged in lumbering, rafting, the
manufacture of potash, and other pursuits incident to pioneer mercantile
life. Their operations increased in volume yearly, and they became, both
commercially and otherwise, men of mark in their district. The subject of
this sketch for some time kept the post office at Stanley's Mills. Although
the quantity of matter distributed by the mails was infinitesimal in those
days as compared with the present, a country postmaster had no sinecure.
The greatest difficulty he had to encounter was the collection of postage on
letters. Those, be it remembered were the days of high postage. The rate on

a single-weight letter from Great Britain to Upper Canada was 5s. 9d.
sterling—equal, in round numbers, to about $1.50. From Quebec, the rate
was 1s. 6d. sterling; and the rates from other places were proportionate.
There was little money in the Province, and commercial transactions largely
took the form of barter. The postmaster was constantly compelled to give
credit, for it was an altogether exceptional thing for a settler to have so large
a sum as 5s. 9d. in ready money; and to refuse to deliver mail-matter to a
poor but deserving settler would have been neither gracious nor politic for a
man keeping a country store. In this way the postmaster was frequently
compelled to wait for his money for a year, and he was fortunate if he was
not then compelled to receive payment in ashes or produce.
At the time of the rebellion Mr. Howland had become a prosperous man,
and his operations were still extending. There was a good deal of feeling in
his neighbourhood that Mr. Mackenzie had been badly used by the Family
Compact Party, and that many reforms were needed in the body politic. A
deputation of these malcontents waited upon Mr. Howland, and
endeavoured to enlist him in the insurrection which broke out in December,
1837. Mr. Howland, however, was too wise to connect himself with an
enterprise which never had any chance of being permanently successful.
Moreover, he had not then been naturalized, and as an alien, he did not
deem that he had any right to engage in political contests of any kind. His
naturalization took place soon after the Union of the Provinces. He did not,
however, take any very active part in the periodical election contests until
the general election of 1848, when Mr. James Hervey Price successfully
opposed the Conservative candidate in the West Riding of the county of
York, just prior to the formation of the second Baldwin-Lafontaine
Administration. Mr. Howland's sympathies were with the Reform Party, and
he worked hard to secure Mr. Price's return. He thenceforward took a not
inactive part in all the election contests, and always on the side of the
Reform Party, with which he became identified. He had meanwhile
removed to Toronto, and had embarked in a large wholesale business, with
large interests in the produce, milling, and other branches of trade. Among
his commercial friends he enjoyed a high reputation for capacity and
genuine business worth. He became a magnate among the wholesale
merchants of Toronto, and amassed a fine fortune which has steadily
augmented. His political views became more pronounced, and he supported

the wing of the Reform Party led by Mr. Brown after the disruption in its
ranks. He soon came to be looked upon as an eligible candidate for
Parliament. His eligibility was proved at the general elections of 1857,
when he was returned to the Assembly by the constituency of West York, in
which he had resided for many years. He continued to sit for that
constituency during the whole of his Parliamentary career, which was
terminated by his acceptance, in 1868, of the Lieutenant-Governorship of
Ontario.
In Parliament, though a steady supporter of the Reform Party, Mr.
Howland was by no means demonstrative in enforcing his views, and was
doubtless valued as a party man chiefly because of his respectability and
personal influence. When the Reform Party came into power in April, 1862,
under the leadership of the Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald and Louis
Victor Sicotte, Mr. Howland was offered the post of Minister of Finance,
which he accepted and held for a year, when he was succeeded by the Hon.
Luther H. Holton in the Macdonald-Dorion Cabinet, which was then
formed. In that Cabinet Mr. Howland was assigned the office of Receiver-
General. He held this position until the defeat of the Government in 1864.
He was not a member of the Coalition Government as formed in June of
that year, and consequently was not present either at the Charlottetown
Convention, which assembled on the 1st of September, or at the famous
Quebec Conference that met on the 10th of the following month, at which,
during eighteen days' deliberation, the "Seventy-two resolutions" were
agreed to. He was, however, an active and most influential supporter of the
Reform wing of the Coalition; and on the elevation of the Hon. Mr. Mowat
to the Bench in November, 1864, he succeeded that gentleman as
Postmaster-General, and became a member of the Executive Council. He
continued to be Postmaster-General until the retirement of the Hon.
Alexander T. Galt in August, 1866, when he succeeded the latter as Finance
Minister. This office he held till the Union, when, on the formation of the
first Dominion Government, on the 1st of July, 1867, he was appointed a
member of the Privy Council, and Minister of Inland Revenue.
In the discharge of his public duties while a Minister of the Crown, Mr.
Howland accompanied Mr. Galt on the mission to Washington, in 1865,
concerning the then proposed renewal of the Reciprocity Treaty. This
mission is memorable for its political rather than its commercial results, for

while with respect to the latter it merely taught Canada that she must rely
upon herself, with respect to the former it almost led to the breaking up of
the Coalition, and to the indefinite postponement of Confederation. That
these grave political results were merely threatened, instead of having
become realities, was largely due to Mr. Howland, who, considering the
gravity of the situation, and endorsing, also, the Cabinet policy on the
Reciprocity question, refused to follow his leader out of the Government.
He accepted instead a commission to fill up the vacancy created by Mr.
Brown's resignation with an Upper Canada Reformer, thereby preserving
the balance of parties as established in 1864. Mr. Howland was one of the
three delegates representing Upper Canada at the London Conference at
which the Union Act was framed; and for his services there, as well as
generally for the prominent part he had taken in promoting Confederation,
he was one of the two Upper Canada Ministers decorated with the Order of
the Companionship of the Bath, on the 1st of July, 1867.
There was another conference which Mr. Howland attended in 1867, and
one of much political significance—the great Reform Convention held at
Toronto in June, for the purpose of reuniting the Reform Party and
abolishing the alliance with the Conservatives. Messrs. Howland and
McDougall were both present, and vigorously contended against the
restoration of party lines on the old basis; and their course there and
subsequently at political gatherings throughout the country no doubt did
much towards determining the result of the general election held during the
summer of that year.
The work of confederating the British American Provinces was one of
compromise among the statesmen, the political parties and the people
concerned. Nobody, perhaps, got exactly what he wanted; no Province
secured the full realization of its own views; no political party was able to
put its hand upon the scheme, as first framed at Quebec in 1864, or as
subsequently re-modelled in London in 1866-67, and say, "this is exactly
what we wanted." Concessions were made to Conservative opinion and to
Reform opinion; to Protestant feeling and to Catholic feeling; to the
necessities of the several Provinces according to geographical or other
reasons; and in a great degree to the divergent views on constitutional
government held by the representative men who took part in the
negotiations. When, therefore, Mr. Howland, who had been a leading spirit

at the inception of the scheme, claimed that those who had so far matured it
as to fit it for the consideration and judgment of the Canadian Legislature
had deserved well of their country for the political and personal sacrifices
they had made in the cause of general harmony, he claimed no more than
was due to him and his colleagues, and no more than was, at the time, freely
accorded by their supporters.
Mr. Howland's health, which had not been very robust for several years,
became so enfeebled that he desired to retire from the double drudgery of
Parliamentary and Ministerial life; and in July, 1868, he was appointed
Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Ontario, which position had been,
from the Union up to that time, held by Major-General Stisted, under an ad
interim appointment similar to that which had been conferred on the first
Lieutenant-Governors of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Concerning Mr.
Howland's tenure of office as Lieutenant-Governor there is nothing to be
said except that he discharged his duties with ability, and with acceptance to
the people. He continued to be Lieutenant-Governor until the month of
November, 1873. In 1875 his services were again called into requisition by
the Government of the day to report on the route of the Baie Verte Canal.
On the 24th of May, 1879, Mr. Howland was created a Knight of the
Order of St. Michael and St. George, by the present Governor-General,
acting on behalf of the Sovereign.
He still continues to superintend the most important details of his great
wholesale commercial business in Toronto, and in his seventieth year
preserves a physical and intellectual vigour such as is seldom found in
persons who have passed middle age. He is President of the Ontario Bank,
and of various prosperous mercantile and insurance companies. He has been
twice married. His first wife, whom he married in 1843, was formerly a
Mrs. Webb, of Toronto. She survived her marriage about six years. By this
lady he has several children, one of whom is a partner in the business,
which is carried on under the style of Sir William P. Howland & Co. Sir
William's second wife, whom he married in 1866, was the widow of the late
Captain Hunt, of Toronto.

THE MOST REV. MICHAEL HANNAN, D.D.,

R. C. ARCHBISHOP OF HALIFAX.

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The successor of the late Archbishop Connolly was born at Kilmallock,
in the county of Limerick, Ireland, on the 21st of July, 1821. He received
his education at various schools in his native land, and in 1840, when he
was nineteen years of age, he emigrated to the Province of Nova Scotia,
where he has ever since resided. Soon after arriving in the Province he was
appointed a teacher in St. Mary's College, which had then recently been
established in Halifax by Dean O'Brien. While holding that position he
studied theology, and in 1845 was ordained to the priesthood. He has ever
since been an assiduous promoter of education, and of the interests of the
faith which he professes. His labours have been conducted with a quiet
energy which has been productive of not unimportant results, but which has
not been the means of making him widely known, as his distinguished
predecessor was, beyond the limits of Nova Scotia. In or about the year
1853 he founded a Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Halifax, over which he
thenceforward exercised a personal supervision. He subsequently became
Vicar-General of the Diocese of Halifax, an office which he held for some
years, and in the exercise of which he displayed the same quiet zeal which
characterizes all his public actions. Upon his retirement he was presented
with an address, numerously signed by Protestants, as well as by the
adherents of his own faith, expressive of strong regret for his resignation,
and of appreciation of his services.
Upon the death of Archbishop Connolly, on the 27th of July, 1876, all
the Roman Catholic bishops of the Province united in signing a
recommendation to His Holiness in favour of Dr. Hannan's appointment to

the Archiepiscopal See of Halifax. The recommendation was acted upon,
and on the morning of Sunday, the 20th of May, 1877, he was consecrated
and installed at St. Mary's Cathedral, Halifax, with imposing ceremonies,
Bishop Conroy, Papal delegate, acting as consecrating bishop. His tenure of
office has not been marked by any event of special interest to the public. He
devotes himself to the duties pertaining to his high office, is kind and
benevolent to the suffering poor among his flock, and continues to interest
himself in the cause of education, though, unlike his predecessor, he is in
favour of separate educational training for Protestants and Roman
Catholics. "Dr. Hannan's mind," says a contemporary writer, "is of a
different stamp from that of his illustrious predecessor—not different in
degree, but in mould. Archbishop Connolly was emotional and impetuous,
fervid and eloquent, with a clear head and a warm Irish heart, which
sometimes carried him away. Dr. Hannan, on the other hand, is calm and
equable, with a judgment naturally sound and solid, a temper not easily
ruffled, and a sagacity seldom at fault."

Michael Hannan, signed as M. Hannan, Aly. of
Halifax

GEORGE PAXTON YOUNG, M.A.

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The life of Professor Young has been even less eventful than commonly
falls to the lot of persons of purely scholastic pursuits. He was born on the
28th of November, 1818, at the border town of Berwick-upon-Tweed—one
of the few walled towns to be found in Great Britain at the present day. In
his boyhood he attended the schools of his native town, whence he passed
to the High School of Edinburgh. He subsequently entered the Edinburgh
University, and attended the lectures of Professor Wilson—the "Christopher
North" of Blackwood's Magazine—who then occupied the Chair of Moral
Philosophy there. During his early years he was an industrious student, and
displayed that great aptitude for mathematical and philosophical inquiry by
which his subsequent career has been distinguished. After obtaining his
degree he was for some time employed as a mathematical teacher in the
Dollar Academy, Clackmannanshire. After the Disruption of the Scottish
National Church, in 1843, he entered the Theological Hall of the Free
Church, which had just been opened at Edinburgh, and became a candidate
for the ministry, attending the lectures of the late Dr. Chalmers and other
eminent divines. After his admission to the ministry he was placed in charge
of the Martyr's Church, Paisley, but remained there only a few months,
having resolved to emigrate to Canada where he had many friends among
the ministers and members of the Presbyterian Church. This resolution was
carried out in 1848. Immediately upon his arrival in this country he was
inducted into the pastorate of Knox Church, Hamilton, where he remained
three years, at the expiration of which he resigned his charge, and accepted
the Professorship of Mental and Moral Philosophy in Knox College,
Toronto. His fondness for philosophical studies, and his wide acquaintance
with philosophical literature, marked him out as peculiarly fitted for such a
position. The sphere of his duties gradually widened, and in addition to
Mental and Moral Philosophy and Logic, he soon had under his charge

Exegetical Theology and the Evidences of Christianity—departments which
are now in charge of Principal Caven and Professor Gregg.
During his Professorship in Knox College, Professor Young contributed
some remarkable papers on philosophical subjects to the pages of the
Canadian Journal. One of these, containing a brief exposition of some
points in the Hamiltonian philosophy of matter, reached the hands of Sir
William Hamilton himself, the most eminent exponent of the Scottish
philosophy. The latter was so impressed by the merits of the paper that he
addressed to the author a long and very complimentary letter, in which he
bore testimony to Professor Young's power of grasping and elucidating the
most abstruse points in a philosophical system of which he was not the
originator. Such a testimony, from such a source, must have been highly
gratifying to Professor Young, for Sir William was not a man given to
wasting his words, and would certainly not have written such a letter to a
stranger had he not been very greatly impressed by the merits of the article
in the Journal. Various other articles from his pen have from time to time
appeared in the same periodical, and every one of them bears the stamp of a
mind which, to parody Iago's well-known saying, is "nothing if not
mathematical." While on the subject of authorship it may be mentioned that
in 1854 a theological work from his pen was published at Edinburgh, under
the title of "Miscellaneous Discourses and Expositions of Scripture." In
1862 he published in the Home and Foreign Record a paper on "The
Philosophical Principles of Natural Religion," which evoked much
favourable comment alike from the religious and secular press at the time of
its publication.
After discharging his professorial duties in connection with Knox
College for about ten years with much zeal, and with great satisfaction to all
persons concerned, Professor Young resigned his position on the Staff. In
taking this important step he gave proof of an honesty and a genuine
manliness of purpose which are worthy of the highest commendation. His
philosophical researches had brought about a state of mind which, in his
own opinion, rendered him unsuited to the position of a teacher of divinity.
He was no longer in entire sympathy with the doctrines which he was called
upon to expound to the students. How far the divergence extended we have
no means of knowing, nor is it a question into which the public have any
right to inquire. A man's theological beliefs are between himself and his

Maker. It is sufficient to say that Professor Young resigned his
Professorship and his connection with the ministry, and this without having
any other means of livelihood in prospect. "His course," says a
contemporary writer, "was characterized by an amount of intellectual
candour and moral courage which do him credit, and is in striking contrast
with the practice of those who, on finding themselves at variance with the
communion to which they belong, and in the attitude of drifting away from
their dogmatic moorings, have neither the discretion to await in silence the
end of their own intellectual struggle, nor the courage of their convictions,
and the resolution requisite for placing themselves at any sacrifice in a
position to speak and act on them without restraint." He soon afterwards
found a suitable field for the exercise of his talents. The position of
Inspector of Grammar Schools was offered to, and accepted by him, and for
more than four years he discharged the duties of that office with a diligence
and success which have been attended with great benefit to the public, and
which have won wide recognition. His tenure of office, indeed, may be said
to mark an important epoch in the educational history of this Province. At
the time of his appointment, the Grammar School system was singularly
inefficient. The fact of its inefficiency had long been acknowledged by
leading educationists, but no one had indicated anything like an adequate
remedy. Mr. Young's official reports not only exposed the defects of the
system, but suggested the requisite legislation whereby those defects might
be removed. His reports for the years 1866 and 1867 were deemed of
sufficient importance to be published in full in the Chief Superintendent's
Report for the latter year, and they were the means of bringing about a
revolution in the whole Grammar School system. Most of the suggestions
embodied in them have since been acted upon by the Legislature, and the
School Acts of 1871, 1874 and 1877 are to a large extent founded upon
them.
Having accomplished so much, Professor Young resigned his
Inspectorship, and once more accepted the position of Professor of
Philosophy in Knox College, but his duties during his second tenure of the
Professorship did not involve the teaching of Theology. Upon the death of
the late Dr. Beaven, in 1871, he succeeded to the Chair of Metaphysics and
Ethics in University College, Toronto, which he still retains. His
incumbency has been marked by most gratifying results. The subjects

taught by him are by many persons regarded as dry and uninteresting.
Professor Young's lectures are so much the reverse of this that they are
sometimes attended as a matter of choice by persons who never approach
the building in which they are delivered for any other purpose. To render
metaphysics and ethics acceptable to persons who have no special object to
serve by pursuing such studies is an achievement of which any Professor
might justly feel proud. His department, which was formerly the most
unpopular in the University, has become one of those most resorted to by
candidates for honours. He is equally popular as a teacher and as an
examiner, and is said to be one of the most erudite of men in the literature
of his department. He is also very eminent as a mathematician, and has
made original discoveries in that branch of study which, in the estimation of
persons who are capable of forming an opinion, entitle him to rank among
the foremost of living investigators.

THE HON. TELESPHORE FOURNIER.

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Judge Fournier is the son of William Fournier, of Bécancour, in the
Province of Quebec. He was born at St. François, Rivière du Sud,
Montmagny, in 1824, and was educated at Nicolet College, where he was a
pupil of the Abbé Ferland. At an early age he entered the law office of the
late Hon. R. E. Caron, as a student. At the age of twenty-two he was called
to the Bar of Lower Canada. In 1857 he married Miss Demers. In 1863 he
was created a Queen's Counsel, and in the course of his professional career
has been Batonnier and President of the General Council of the Bar of the
Province of Quebec. He was one of the principal editorial writers engaged
on Le National, a Liberal journal which was published at Quebec in 1856-7-
8. His writings were characterized by great breadth of view and vigour of
expression, and his editorials exerted considerable influence. In 1854 he
was an unsuccessful candidate in the Reform interest for the constituency of
Montmagny, in the Canadian Assembly. In 1857 he contested an election
for the same Chamber, for the City of Quebec, and was again defeated. He
was an unsuccessful candidate for Stadacona Division in the Legislative
Council in 1861, and for De la Durantaye division in the same House, in
1864. He was first returned to Parliament in 1870, when he was elected to
the Commons for Bellechasse. This seat he held until his appointment to the
Bench. He also sat for Montmagny in the Quebec Assembly from the
general election of 1871 until the 7th of November, 1873, when he resigned,
on taking office in Mr. Mackenzie's Administration as Minister of Inland
Revenue. He was sworn of the Privy Council on that day, and on the 8th of
July, 1874, was appointed Minister of Justice. On the 19th of May, 1875, he
was transferred to the Postmaster-Generalship of the Dominion, where he
remained until his elevation to the Bench, as a Puisné Judge of the Supreme
Court, in October of the same year. Among the measures introduced and
carried through Parliament by M. Fournier as Minister of Justice, the most

notable are the Supreme Court Bill and the Insolvency Act of 1875. In his
judicial capacity he has been concerned in two very important causes. The
first of these is the famous Jacques Cartier contested election case, decided
in April, 1878, in which Justices Taschereau and Henry coincided with
Justice Fournier in the opinion that the seat of the Hon. Mr. Laflamme
should not be vacated, and that the appeal should be dismissed. The
Charlevoix contested election case forms the second. Justice Strong
delivered an elaborate judgment, sustaining the plea of the Hon. Hector L.
Langevin, that judgments as preliminary objections were not appealable.
Justices Fournier and Taschereau dissented from this opinion, but Chief-
Justice Richards and Justice Henry concurring, Mr. Langevin was
confirmed in his seat.

THE HON. WILLIAM OSGOODE.

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In view of the fact that this gentleman's name has a very fair chance of
immortality in this Province, it is to be regretted that so little is accurately
known about him, and that only the merest outline of his career has come
down to the present times. Many Canadians would gladly know something
more of the life of the first man who filled the important position of Chief
Justice of Upper Canada, and the desire for such knowledge is by no means
confined to members of the legal profession. He was the faithful friend and
adviser of our first Lieutenant-Governor, and it is doubtless to his legal
acumen that we owe those eight wise statutes which were passed during the
first session of our first Provincial Parliament, which assembled at Newark
on the 17th of September, 1792.
Nothing is definitely known concerning Chief-Justice Osgoode's
ancestry. A French-Canadian writer asserts that he was an illegitimate son
of King George the Third. No authority whatever is assigned in support of
this assertion, which probably rests upon no other basis than vague rumour.
Similar rumours have been current with respect to the paternity of other
persons who have been more or less conspicuous in Canada, and but little
importance should be attached to them. He was born in the month of March,
1754, and entered as a commoner at Christchurch College, Oxford, in 1770,
when he had nearly completed his sixteenth year. After a somewhat
prolonged attendance at this venerable seat of learning, he graduated and
received the degree of Master of Arts in the month of July, 1777. Previous
to this time he had entered himself as a student at the Inner Temple, having
already been enrolled as a student on the books of Lincoln's Inn. He seems
at this time to have been possessed of some small means, but not sufficient
for his support, and he pursued his professional studies with such avidity as
temporarily to undermine his health. He paid a short visit to the Continent,
and returned to his native land with restored physical and mental vigour. In
due course he was called to the Bar, and soon afterwards published a
technical work on the law of descent, which attracted some notice from the
profession. He soon became known as an erudite and painstaking lawyer,
whose opinions were entitled to respect, and who was very expert as a
special pleader. At the Bar he was less successful, owing to an almost
painful fastidiousness in his choice of words, which frequently produced an
embarrassing hesitation of speech. He seems to have been a personal friend

of Colonel Simcoe, even before that gentleman's appointment as
Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, and their intimacy may possible
have had something to do with Mr. Osgoode's appointment as Chief-Justice
of the new Province in the spring of 1792. He came over in the same vessel
with the Governor, who sailed on the 1st of May. Upon reaching Upper
Canada the Governor and staff, after a short stay at Kingston, passed on to
Newark (now Niagara). The Chief-Justice accompanied the party, and took
up his abode with them at Navy Hall, where he continued to reside during
the greater part of his stay in the Province, which was of less than three
years' duration. The solitude of his position, and his almost complete
isolation from society, and from the surroundings of civilized life, seem to
have been unbearable to his sensitive and social nature. In 1795 he was
appointed Chief-Justice of the Lower Province, where he continued to
occupy the Judicial Bench until 1801, when he resigned his position, and
returned to England. His services as Chief-Justice entitled him to a pension
of £800 per annum, which he continued to enjoy for rather more than
twenty-two years. For historical purposes, his career may be said to have
ceased with his resignation, as he never again emerged from the seclusion
of private life. He was several times requested to enter Parliament, but
declined to do so. During the four years immediately succeeding his return
to England he resided in the Temple. In 1804, upon the conversion of
Melbourne House—a mansion in the West End of London—into the
fashionable set of chambers known as "The Albany," he took up his quarters
there for the remainder of his life. Among other distinguished men who
resided there contemporaneously with him were Lord Brougham and Lord
Byron. The latter occupied the set of chambers immediately adjoining those
of the retired Chief-Justice, and the two became personally acquainted with
each other; though, considering the diversity of their habits, it is not likely
that any very close intimacy was established between them. In conjunction
with Sir William Grant, Mr. Osgoode was appointed on several legal
commissions. One of these consisted of the codification of certain Imperial
Statutes relating to the colonies. Another involved an inquiry into the
amount of fees receivable by certain officials in the Court of King's Bench,
which inquiry was still pending at the time of Mr. Osgoode's death. He
lived very much to himself, though he was sometimes seen in society. He
died of acute pneumonia, on the 17th of January, 1824, in the seventieth
year of his age. One of his intimate friends has left the following estimate of

his character:—"His opinions were independent, but zealously loyal; nor
were they ever concealed, or the defence of them abandoned, when
occasions called them forth. His conviction of the excellence of the English
Constitution sometimes made him severe in the reproof of measures which
he thought injurious to it; but his politeness and good temper prevented any
disagreement, even with those whose sentiments were most opposed to his
own. To estimate his character rightly, it was, however, necessary to know
him well; his first approaches being cold, amounting almost to dryness. But
no person admitted to his intimacy ever failed to conceive for him that
esteem which his conduct and conversation always tended to augment. He
died in affluent circumstances, the result of laudable prudence, without the
smallest taint of avarice or illiberal parsimony."
He was never married. There is a story about an attachment formed by
him to a young lady of Quebec, during his residence there. It is said that the
lady preferred a wealthier suitor, and that he never again became heart-
whole. This, like the other story above mentioned, rests upon mere rumour,
and is entitled to the credence attached to other rumours of a similar nature.
His name is perpetuated in this Province by that of the stately Palace of
Justice on Queen Street West, Toronto; also by the name of a township in
the county of Carleton.

THE HON. WILLIAM MORRIS.

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At the present day, the name of the Hon. William Morris is less
frequently in men's mouths than it was half a century ago, but it is a name
of much significance to any one familiar with the ecclesiastical history of
this country. There was a time when there were three prominent political
leaders in Western Canada, agreeing in no respect but in the possession of
great abilities and indomitable energy. These were John Beverley Robinson,
who led the Church of England party, better known by the name of the
"Family Compact;" Egerton Ryerson, who headed the Methodist, which
was then the Liberal party; and William Morris, who led the Scotch
Presbyterians with all the gravity and sagacity which are usually attributed
to that class and creed. The first and last named of these leaders were in
Parliament, and guided its rival parties. The second, from the lobby and the
press, exercised, perhaps, greater influence than either. Mr. Robinson was
the most accomplished, Mr. Ryerson the most versatile, and Mr. Morris the
most determined and persevering. Mr. Robinson contended for the
supremacy of the Church of England, and her exclusive right to the Clergy
Reserves, with the hauteur of a cavalier. Mr. Ryerson, in seeking a share of
all good things for his co-religionists, identified them with the people, and
consequently had it in his power to use the strong plea for equal justice,
which finally prevailed. Mr. Morris sought a share of the Clergy Reserves
for his own Church only, upon the plea that the Church of Scotland was, by
the Act of Union between England and Scotland, as much an established
Church as the Church of England. There have been many exciting times in
the history of Canada, but none has called forth more powerful exhibitions
of feeling, or, we may add, more ability than the Clergy Reserve struggle—
when the Upper Canada Parliament sat at Little York, with the gentlemen
above named for its leaders, and when the press was directed by Messieurs
Ryerson, Mackenzie, Cary and Collins. Nor did the then leaders sink into

oblivion. Mr. Robinson became Chief Justice of Upper Canada, an office
which he filled with credit from the time of his appointment in 1829 down
to his death in January, 1863, embracing a period of nearly thirty-four years.
Mr. Ryerson became Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada, in
which capacity he served his country faithfully from 1844 to 1876. Mr.
Morris became Receiver-General of United Canada, an office in which it
would have been well for the country if he could have been permanently
retained. Possessed of an integrity which gave perfect security that he
would participate in no jobs himself, he had at the same time that
knowledge of men and of business, that patient industry, and that
discriminating judgment which would permit no others to peculate. He was
a model Receiver-General. Such is the characterization of an able and
discriminating writer of twenty and odd years ago, and his remarks will
stand the test of time. The late Mr. Morris was not, perhaps, what would be
called a man of modern ideas, but he was a man of stainless honour and
thorough conscientiousness of purpose. He initiated one of the most
important movements known to Canadian history, and took a foremost part
in the agitation consequent thereupon. He left his mark upon his time, and
transmitted to his posterity a name which is justly held in respect. For the
following particulars of his career, we are largely indebted to his eldest son,
the Hon. Alexander Morris, who has himself attained to a high place in
public life, and whose career has been sketched in a former portion of this
work.
The subject of this memoir was born at Paisley, in Lanarkshire, Scotland,
on the 31st of October, 1786. When he was about fifteen years of age he
emigrated to Upper Canada with his parents, who settled in Montreal,
where his father embarked in a general mercantile business. This business
involved a considerable shipping interest, and was carried on by Mr. Morris
the elder for some years with much success. In process of time a
catastrophe occurred which materially crippled his resources, and rendered
it necessary that he should resort to a new and hitherto untried occupation.
Having lost a homeward bound ship in the Straits of Belle Isle, and no part
of the cargo having been insured, owing to the carelessness of an agent, and
having sustained other heavy losses, he was compelled to close his business
in Montreal, and retire to a farm near Brockville. In 1809 he died, leaving
large debts in Montreal and in Glasgow. His son William, the subject of this

sketch, remained at Brockville with his brother and the younger members of
the family, helping to support them by his exertions, till the war of 1812
with the United States commenced, when he left his business and joined a
militia flank company as an Ensign, having received his commission from
General Brock. In October of that year he volunteered, with Lieutenant-
Colonel Lethbridge, in the attack of the British forces on Ogdensburg, and
commanded the only militia gun-boat that sustained injury, one man having
been killed and another wounded at his side by a cannon shot. In 1813 he
was present at and took an active part in the capture of Ogdensburg, having
been detached in command of a party to take possession of the old French
fort then at that place—an achievement which he successfully
accomplished. His comrades in arms, some of whom are still living, speak
in high terms of his soldierly bearing, and of the affection with which he
inspired his men, during this early portion of his career. He continued to
serve till 1814, when a large body of troops having arrived in the Colony
from the Peninsula, he left the militia service, and returned to Brockville, to
assist his brother in the management of the business there.
In 1816, he proceeded with the military and emigrant settlers to the
Military Settlement near the Rideau, and there commenced mercantile
business, at what is now the substantial and prosperous town of Perth, but
which was then a wilderness. He continued for some years to bestow his
active attention on the mercantile business conducted at Perth by himself,
and at Brockville by his brother, the late Mr. Alexander Morris. In 1820 an
incident took place that marked the character of the man, and was an index
to all his future career. In that year, he and his brother received two
handsome pieces of plate from the creditors of their late father in Glasgow,
for having voluntarily, and without solicitation, paid in full all the debts
owing by the estate. Such respect for a father's memory indicated a high-
toned rectitude that deserved and could not fail to command success. In this
year, also, the political career of Mr. Morris commenced, he having been
elected by the settlers to represent them in the Provincial Parliament. He
soon took an active and prominent part in that assembly, and in 1820 took
one of the leading steps in his political life, when he moved and carried an
address to the King, asserting the claim of the Church of Scotland to a share
of the Clergy Reserves under the Imperial Statute 31 Geo. III., cap. 31. With
no hostility to the Church of England, but yet with a sturdy perseverance

and a strong conviction of right, he urged the claims of his own Church,
basing them upon the Act of Union between England and Scotland. The
Colonial Government resisted his pretensions, but sixteen years afterwards
the twelve Judges in England decided in effect that Mr. Morris was right. In
1835 he was elected for the sixth time consecutively to Parliament for the
county of Lanark. In 1836 he was called to a seat in the Legislative Council
of Upper Canada. In 1837 he proceeded to the Colonial Office, Downing
Street, London, with a petition to the King and Parliament from the Scottish
inhabitants of the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, asserting their
claims to equal rights with those enjoyed by their fellow-subjects of English
origin. He was selected for this mission by a meeting of delegates from all
parts of the Province held at Cobourg. Subsequently he received from the
Scottish inhabitants of the Province a handsome piece of plate, bearing an
appropriate inscription as a token of their approbation of his public services.
During the troubles of 1837 and 1838 he was actively engaged in drilling
and organizing the militia of the county of Lanark, of which he was Senior
Colonel, and twice sent to the frontier detachments of several regiments,
going in command on one occasion himself. In 1841 he was appointed
Warden of the District of Johnstown, under the new Municipal Council Act,
and carried the law into successful operation. In 1844, he was appointed a
member of the Executive Council in Sir Charles Metcalfe's Administration,
and also Receiver-General of the Province. He was a most efficient
departmental officer, and proved himself to be what Lord Metcalfe
described him—a valuable public servant. While Receiver-General, he
introduced into that department a new system of management, and paid into
the public chest while he held the office £11,000 as interest on the daily
deposits of public money—an advantage to the public which had never
before been attempted. In 1846 he resigned the office of Receiver-General,
and was appointed President of the Executive Council, the duties of which
office he discharged with great efficiency and vigour. In 1848, on the
retirement of the Administration of which he was a member, he retired to
private life, with health impaired by the assiduous attention he had given to
his public duties. Till the year 1853, when he was seized with the disease
which eventually terminated his career, he continued, when his health
permitted, to take an active part in the proceedings of the Legislative
Council.

He was a clear, logical, vigorous speaker, and was always listened to
with respect; and having a very extensive knowledge of Parliamentary law
and practice, he did much to establish the character of legislation in that
branch of the Legislature of which he was so long a member; and owing to
his high moral character and his firm adherence to principle, he wielded a
very beneficial influence in that body. Few public men pass through a life
as long as his was, and carry with them more of public confidence and
respect than did Mr. Morris. He died on the 29th of June, 1858, in the
seventy-second year of his age.

THE HON. THOMAS D'ARCY McGEE.

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Thomas D'Arcy McGee, one of the most brilliant orators known to
Canadian Parliamentary history, was born at Carlingford, in the county of
Louth, Ireland, on the 13th of April, 1825. He was the fifth child and second
son of Mr. James McGee, an official in the Coast Guard Service, by his
wife, Dorcas Catharine Morgan. The latter was the daughter of a bookseller
in Dublin, who had been connected with the troubles of '98, and who had
been brought to ruin and imprisonment as a member of that body known, by
a strange misnomer, as "United Irishmen." The real or fancied wrongs of the
patriotic bookseller had made a profound impression upon the susceptible
mind of his daughter; an impression which was never effaced, and which
descended, by hereditary transmission, to her children. The subject of this
sketch, like his little brothers and sisters, was taught at a very early age to
hate the name of the Saxon, and to long for the emancipation of Ireland
from the thraldom of her hereditary foe. His paternal grandfather had also
been a participant in the ill-advised attempt of Lord Edward Fitzgerald; and
when James McGee accepted employment in the Coast Guard Service we
may be sure that he was not actuated by any profound enthusiasm for the
duties of his position. He seems, however, to have discharged those duties
acceptably to his superior officers, and to have attained to a position which
enabled him to provide a comfortable home for his family.
The wrongs of his country were nevertheless a fruitful theme of
comment in James McGee's domestic circle, and the family traditions on
both sides of the house were constantly retailed for the benefit of the
younger members. Reared among such influences, it is not to be wondered
at if young Thomas D'Arcy grew up to manhood without any very fervid
sentiments of loyalty to the British crown. The mischief wrought by his
early training was great, and was destined to exercise a baneful influence

upon his future life. It was only after many years of severe discipline, and
after he had reached an age to think and reflect for himself that he was able
to unlearn the pernicious teachings of his childhood. He never ceased to
regard the land of his birth with the affection of a large-hearted patriot, but
he grew, in course of time, to rate at their true value the wild revolutionary
projects which for many years impeded his intellectual advancement, and
engrossed so large a share of his energies. He outgrew the follies of his
early youth, and learned wisdom in the school of experience. He conceived
nobler and more practical schemes for the advancement of the race from
which he sprang; and there is abundant reason for believing that, had his
life been spared, he would have developed into a broad and enlightened
statesman. His untimely death was a loss to the "New Nationality" which he
had helped to call into existence, and a grievous, almost irreparable loss to
the Irish race in Canada. The assassin who sent him to his doom perpetrated
a crime against humanity, but more especially against his fellow
countrymen settled in this Dominion, when he shed the blood of Thomas
D'Arcy McGee.

Thomas Darcy McGee, signed as T. D. McGee

He was, of course, reared in the faith of his ancestors, and was
throughout his life a zealous adherent of the Roman Catholic Church. He
was christened, in honour of his godfather, Mr. Thomas D'Arcy, a
gentleman who resided in the neighbourhood of Carlingford, and who was a
personal friend of the family. His mother, who was possessed of a good
education, took a pride in directing his infant studies, and by her he was
taught to read and write. He seems to have been her favourite son, and he
returned her affection with all the enthusiasm of an ardent and poetic
nature. She was a melodious singer, and delighted to hold her little boy on
her knee while she sang to him those heart-stirring old ballads which stir the
blood like the blast of a trumpet. Sometime in 1833, when he was eight
years of age, his father was promoted to a more lucrative office than he had

previously held. This promotion necessitated the removal of the family to
the historic old town of Wexford, where the subject of this sketch began to
attend a day-school. We have no accurate information as to the course of
study pursued by him, but as this establishment afforded the only scholastic
training which he ever received, it is tolerably certain that he must have
made good use of his time, for in after years he gave evidence of possessing
a fair share of that peculiar knowledge which is seldom, if ever, acquired
outside the walls of the schoolroom. The family had not long been settled at
Wexford when it was deprived of its maternal head. The memory of his
dead mother was ever afterwards cherished by young McGee with a
hallowed fondness which found frequent expression. "Through all the
changeful years of his after life," says Mrs. Sadlier, "her gentle memory
shone like a star through the clouds and mists that never fail to gather round
the path of advancing life."[11]
Notwithstanding the hindrances under which his genius was developed,
Thomas D'Arcy McGee from a very early age gave unmistakable evidence
of the possession of uncommon abilities. He learned his lessons, whatever
they were, with astonishing rapidity, and without any apparent mental
effort. He was endowed with an ardent imagination, delighted in poetry, and
had ever at command a flow of that brilliant eloquence and wit which are
the especial birthright of so many of the sons of Erin. He read much, and
remembered everything of importance that he read. He had an especial
fondness for the history and literature of his native land, and was never
weary of declaiming to his youthful associates about "Ireland's Golden
Age." He lived an imaginative life, and indulged in all sorts of wild dreams
about the future of his race. He had his full share of ambition, however, and
saw no means whereby he could acquire fame and influence at home. Like
many another clever young Irishman, he cast longing eyes across the
Atlantic, to that favoured land where hundreds of thousands of his race have
found refuge from the buffetings of adverse fortune. When he was
seventeen years of age he emigrated to the United States, accompanied by
one of his sisters. After a brief visit to a maternal aunt who resided at
Providence, Rhode Island, he repaired to Boston, whither he arrived in the
month of June, 1842. A few days later came the annual Fourth of July
celebration, which afforded him an opportunity of addressing a large crowd
of his fellow-countrymen. His various biographers unite in describing his

eloquence on this occasion as something marvellous. When it is borne in
mind that he was only seventeen years of age, and that his audience was
chiefly composed of emotional Irishmen, ready to applaud any sentiment
from the young orator's lips, so long as it was sufficiently anti-British in its
tone, a considerable discount from the commonly-accepted estimate is
permissible. The speech was probably a fervid, audacious, emotional effort,
partaking largely of the "spread-eagle" character, and addressed to the
prejudices of the audience rather than to their calm judgments. It answered
the speaker's purpose, however, by attracting a due share of attention to
himself. A day or two later he obtained employment on the staff of the
Boston Pilot, a weekly newspaper which was then, as now, the chief
exponent of Irish Roman Catholic opinion in New England, and which was
then, and for many years afterwards, controlled and published by Mr.
Patrick Donahoe. To its columns young McGee contributed some "slashing"
articles, and numerous short poems on national subjects, all of which were
eminently calculated to compel admiration from its readers. Two years later
he succeeded to the chief editorship. He had meanwhile acquired a good
deal of additional knowledge as to the proper functions of a journalist, and
had adopted a somewhat more chastened style than he had brought with
him across the Atlantic. He had also begun to make a figure on the lecture
platform, and had thrown himself with great enthusiasm into the agitation
on the subject of "Repeal," which was then at its height both in Ireland and
in America. His efforts on behalf of this movement reached the ears of the
great Liberator, Daniel O'Connell himself, who, at a public meeting held in
Ireland, referred to young McGee's editorials and metrical effusions in the
Pilot as "the inspired writings of a young exiled Irish boy in America." The
result of the notoriety thus gained was an offer to Mr. McGee from the
proprietor of the Freeman's Journal, of Dublin, to take the editorship of that
widely-circulated paper. The offer was accepted, and early in 1845, at the
age of twenty, our poet-journalist returned to his native land, and "took his
place in the front rank of the Irish press." His connection with the
Freeman's Journal, however, was not of long duration. The line of editorial
action prescribed by the management was altogether too moderate for the
radical young Irishman, who had had it all his own way during his three
years' sojourn in the United States, and who believed himself well fitted to
instruct his fellow-countrymen on all subjects, whether political or
otherwise. Mr. O'Connell had laid down certain limits beyond which the

National or Old Ireland Party must not pass. Of that Party the Journal was
the accredited organ, and the editor thus found himself out of harmony with
his position. The Liberator was too Conservative for him, and was seeking
the enfranchisement of Ireland by what he regarded as too slow a process.
Conceiving himself to be fully competent to instruct Mr. O'Connell as to the
political necessities of Ireland, he was not disposed to submit to dictation.
The doctrine of "moral force" advocated by the Journal had no charms for
him. He was young, enthusiastic, and governed almost entirely by his
imagination. After a brief interval he withdrew from his editorial position,
and allied himself with the "Young Ireland" Party, as it was called. This
alliance brought him into intimate relations with Mr. Charles Gavan Duffy,
known to us of the present day as the Hon. Sir Charles Gavan Duffy,
Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Victoria, Australia. Mr. Duffy, in
conjunction with Thomas Davis and John Dillon, had several years before
this time established the Nation, at Dublin. The Nation was written with that
brilliancy of genius and that absence of judgment which are not
unfrequently found allied. It numbered among its contributors many of the
brightest young spirits in Ireland. It went far beyond Mr. O'Connell and the
Freeman's Journal in its demands, and notwithstanding the ability
displayed in its columns, it was neither more nor less than a disseminator of
sedition. With the fortunes of this paper, and of the "Young Ireland" Party
whose platform it advocated, Mr. McGee now associated himself. His
excuse, as well as that of most of his collaborateurs, is to be found in the
attributes of youth. He himself had not completed his majority, and very
few members of the party were ten years older. They were chiefly
composed of briefless but brilliant young barristers, fiery journalists, and
hot-headed students. Their scheme, in course of time, developed into an
association which was grandiloquently styled "The Irish Confederation,"
towards one of the wings whereof Mr. McGee occupied the position of
secretary. He contributed spirit-stirring ballads and editorials to the Nation,
delivered vehement harangues to the committees, and went about as deep
into the insurrection as Smith O'Brien himself. He was necessarily brought
into intimate relations with Charles Gavan Duffy, who, in his recent work
entitled "Young Ireland," thus describes the effect produced respectively
upon himself and Davis by a first acquaintance with young Thomas D'Arcy
McGee: "The young man was not prepossessing. He had a face of almost
African type; his dress was slovenly, even for the careless class to which he

belonged; he looked unformed, and had a manner which struck me as too
deferential for self-respect. But he had not spoken three sentences in a
singularly sweet and flexible voice till it was plain that he was a man of
fertile brains and great originality: a man in whom one might dimly
discover rudiments of the orator, poet and statesman hidden under this
ungainly disguise. This was Thomas D'Arcy McGee. I asked him to
breakfast on some early day at his convenience, and as he arrived one
morning when I was engaged to breakfast with Davis, I took him with me,
and he met for the first and last time a man destined to influence and control
his whole life. When the Wicklow trip was projected, I told Davis I liked
this new-comer and meant to invite him to accompany me. 'Well,' he said,
'your new friend has an Irish nature certainly, but spoiled, I fear, by the
Yankees. He has read and thought a good deal, and I might have liked him
better if he had not obviously determined to transact an acquaintance with
me.'"
The French Revolution of February, 1848, rendered these misguided
young men more impulsive and less discreet than ever, and they wrote,
published and uttered the most bloodthirsty diatribes against the legitimate
authorities. They held meetings at which motions of congratulation to the
Provisional Government of France were passed. At one of these meetings
Thomas Francis Meagher advocated the immediate erection of barricades
and the invocation of the God of battles. Everybody knows the sequel,
which would have been tragical had it not been so inexpressibly ludicrous.
The Confederation appointed a formidable War Directory, and the
redoubtable O'Brien himself took the field at the head of his troops. It was a
perilous time for the hated Saxon, but somehow or other the hated Saxon
did not seem to realize his danger. When the insurgents broke out into open
rebellion, a few policemen were sent out against the portentous
Confederacy, which was soon scattered and dispersed to the four winds.
O'Brien himself was arrested in a cabbage garden near Ballingarry. He was
tried on a charge of high treason, convicted, and sentenced to death. The
sentence was commuted to transportation for life, and as soon as the
Government could do so with any show of decency, it permitted him and
his fellow-rebels to return to their native land. The subsequent history of
some of the leaders in this insurrection is instructive, as showing how little
unanimity of sentiment there was among them, and how little fitted they

were to be entrusted with the management of a great enterprise. O'Brien had
already shown by his unconstitutional conduct in Parliament that he was
lamentably devoid of self-control and common sense. A man labouring
under such deficiencies may very safely be left to destroy his own influence
in his own way. While in exile he fretted and fumed, but, unlike some of his
colleagues, had the manliness to keep his parole. It must be confessed,
however, that his motive for keeping it was not of the highest. He kept it,
according to his own admission, merely because he did not want to do
anything that would render it impossible for him to return to Ireland. When
the American Rebellion broke out, in 1861, he issued a manifesto from
Ireland—whither, by the clemency of the Government which he had sought
to subvert, he had been permitted to return—on behalf of the Confederacy.
John Mitchel, another leading spirit in the fiasco of 1848, also became a
fanatical champion of the slaveholders. Thomas Francis Meagher took a
military command in the army of the North. Others headed the riots in New
York, massacred a goodly number of negroes and other peaceable citizens
in the streets, and did their utmost to destroy all law and order. "These,"
says Miss Martineau, "are apt illustrations of the spurious kind of Irish
patriotism, which would destroy Ireland by aggravating its weakness, and
by rejecting the means of recovery and strength."
Mr. McGee's share in the treasonable schemes of the Confederation
rendered it impossible for him to remain in the British Islands without
constantly encountering the danger of arrest. A few months before the
collapse of the Ballingarry demonstration he had married, and his
complicity in the insurrection thus brought trouble upon another besides
himself. For some of his public utterances on the platform at Roundwood,
in the county of Wicklow, he was seized by the police; but as all custodians
of the peace were instructed to deal leniently with prisoners who had not
actually been taken with arms in their hands, he was allowed to go his way.
Nothing mollified by this mild treatment, he started for Scotland, to stir up
treason among the Irish population there. During his sojourn in Glasgow he
received intelligence of the bursting of the bubble which he had assisted to
inflate, and of the capture of O'Brien. Hearing that a reward was offered for
his own apprehension, he skulked about from place to place in various
disguises, and after some delay, crossed over to the North of Ireland, where
he took refuge in the house of Dr. Maginn, the Roman Catholic Bishop of

Derry. He had an interview with his wife, after which he sailed for the
United States in the guise of a priest. On the 10th of October, 1848, he
landed at Philadelphia, but soon made his way to New York, where, with
the assistance of some of his compatriots he established a weekly
newspaper called the New York Nation. This enterprise started with fair
prospects of success, for the editor was well known to the Irish of New
York and its vicinity, and was regarded by them with a high degree of
favour, as a man of strong anti-British proclivities. The contents of the
paper realized the most sanguine anticipations of its readers, so far as their
tone of fanatical hostility to England was concerned; but the editor's want of
judgment once more involved him in difficulties. In commenting editorially
on the causes of the failure of the Irish insurrection in which he had borne a
part, he threw the blame on the Roman Catholic hierarchy, whose influence,
as he truly alleged, had been put forward to dissuade their parishioners from
joining the ranks of the insurgents. Bishop Hughes, of New York, felt
aggrieved on behalf of the Irish priesthood, and took up their cause in the
local press. It was, of course, not difficult for him to show that the clergy
had acted wisely in discountenancing an insurrection of the success of
which there had never been even the most remote possibility. There were
rejoinders from Mr. McGee in the columns of the Nation, and surrejoinders
by the Bishop in various newspapers. The former must surely have seen that
he had made a false move, but he had not the good sense to profit by the
knowledge by either withdrawing from his position or holding his tongue.
The religious sympathies of his compatriots, and their profound reverence
for the priesthood, were forces against which he contended in vain. He lost
caste with the better class of his fellow-countrymen in America, and came
to be regarded by them as an unsafe mentor. According to their view of the
matter, a Roman Catholic who set himself up to criticize the clergy of his
Church was little better than an atheist. He was a man to be shunned, and, if
necessary, to be put down. The upshot of the controversy was the ruin of the
prospects of Mr. McGee's journal, the publication whereof was soon
discontinued.
He had meanwhile been joined by his young wife and infant daughter.
His prospects during these months were exceedingly problematical. In
1850, however, he removed to Boston and began to publish the American
Celt, a paper which was of precisely the same cast as the defunct New York

Nation had been. It was full to the brim of hatred and rancour against Great
Britain, and its "mission" seemed to be to influence all the evil passions of
the Irish race in America. By degrees, however, Thomas D'Arcy McGee
began to feel the influence of the civilized atmosphere in which his life was
passing. He figured conspicuously on the lecture platform, and was
necessarily brought into contact with men of good intellect and high
principles. These persons felt and expressed respect for his abilities, but
declined to sympathize with, or even to discuss, the merits of English rule
in Ireland. They tacitly refused to consider that subject as an absorbing
theme for discussion on this continent. He received much wise counsel, the
tenor of which led him, for the first time in his life, to reflect seriously upon
the errors of his past career. He was apt enough to learn, and gradually the
idea began to dawn upon his mind that all the wisdom and justice in the
world are not confined to Irish bosoms. He began to perceive that there are
nobler passions in the human heart than revenge, and that if a man cannot
make circumstances conformable to his mind, the first thing in his power is
to conform his mind to his circumstances. "The cant of faction," says Mrs.
Sadlier, "the fiery denunciations that, after all, amounted to nothing, he
began to see in their true colours; and with his whole heart he then and ever
after aspired to elevate the Irish people, not by impracticable Utopian
schemes of revolution, but by teaching them to make the best of the hard
fate that made them the subjects of a foreign power differing from them in
race and in religion; to cultivate among them the arts of peace, and to raise
themselves, by the ways of peaceful industry and increasing enlightenment,
to the level even of the more prosperous sister-island."
This radical change of opinion was not brought about in a day, nor in a
year. The progress of the mental revolution was slow, but certain, and by
degrees the past of Thomas D'Arcy McGee stood revealed to him in all its
insufficient barrenness. He fought against his steadily-strengthening
convictions as long as he could, but his judgment and good sense at last
won the day. In the month of August, 1852, he liberated his mind in a letter
published in the Celt, and addressed to his friend Thomas Francis Meagher.
In that letter he unfolded with much frankness the process by which he had
been led to modify his opinions, and referred to the scheme of the past as
"the recent conspiracy against the peace and existence of Christendom." His
emancipation was complete, and from this time forward there was an entire

revolution in the tone of all his writings and public speeches. Instead of
writing diatribes against the irrevocable he adopted "Peace and good will
among men" as his motto. Amicable relations were restored between him
and the Roman Catholic hierarchy, and erelong, at the request of the late
Bishop Timon, of Buffalo, he removed the office of publication of the Celt
to that place. He continued the publication for about five years after the
removal, during which time he made many friends and achieved a fair share
of worldly prosperity. He was a diligent, albeit rather a fitful student, and
amassed a considerable fund of political and general knowledge. His paper
was regarded as the chief exponent of Irish Catholic opinion on this
continent, and as a standard authority on all matters connected with Irish
affairs. Some of his ablest lectures were composed and delivered during this
period, and some of them were the means of greatly extending his
reputation. Among those which evoked the most flattering criticism from
the press, those on "The Catholic History of America," "The Irish
Reformation," and "The Jesuits" occupy the foremost place. The many
demands upon his time did not prevent him from engaging in various
laudable enterprises for ameliorating the moral and social condition of his
countrymen in America, and from putting forth many valuable suggestions
for their guidance. It was his special object, says one of the most
sympathetic of his critics, to keep them bound together by the memories of
their common past, and to teach them that manly self-respect which would
elevate them before their fellow-citizens, and keep them from political
degradation. He strove to make them good citizens of their adopted country,
lovers of the old cradle-land of their race, and devoted adherents of what to
them was "the sacred cause of Catholicity." Among other schemes
vigorously propounded by him for their material advancement was that of
colonization—"spreading abroad and taking possession of the land; making
homes on the broad prairies of the all-welcoming West," instead of herding
together in the tenement houses of the large cities. In furtherance of this
project he organized a Convention at Buffalo at which he addressed the
assembled representatives with great eloquence. He began, however, to
experience the pecuniary difficulties inseparable from the conduct of a
newspaper which declines to ally itself with any political party, for he had
persistently held aloof from the troubled sea of party-politics in the United
States. These difficulties increased, and were sometimes so great as to
occasion serious embarrassment. His future prospects were not bright, and

he looked forward with some anxiety. When matters had reached a pretty
low ebb with him he was advised to change his base of operations. His
journalistic pursuits and his platform experiences had brought him into
contact with many prominent Irish Canadians, with some of whom he had
formed warm personal friendships. By these gentlemen he was urged to
take up his abode in Montreal, where, as he was informed, the want of a
ruling mind such as his was sensibly felt by the rapidly-increasing Irish
population. It was further represented to him that the appreciation he had
met with in the United States had been by no means commensurate with his
deserts, and that his compatriots in Canada stood in urgent need of his
services. To such representations he was not disposed to turn a deaf ear,
more especially as the pecuniary outlook in Buffalo was far from
encouraging. After careful deliberation he assented to the proposal which
had been made to him, disposed of his interest in his newspaper, and
removed to Montreal with his family early in 1857.
The manner of his reception in Montreal was such as could not fail to be
highly gratifying to his feelings. His fellow-countrymen vied with each
other in doing him honour, and in affording him material support. He
established a newspaper called the New Era. His acquaintance with
Canadian affairs at this date was not very wide, and he was compelled to
take a somewhat non-committal stand on many questions which the public
had at heart. On one subject, however, he spoke with no uncertain sound.
He advocated with great energy and eloquence the scheme of an early union
of the various British colonies in North America. The New Era did not
realize, in a pecuniary sense, the expectations of its founder, but as matters
turned out, its success or non-success was a matter of little importance. At
the next general election Mr. McGee, after a close contest, was returned to
Parliament as the representative of Montreal West. The publication of the
newspaper was discontinued, and he devoted himself to his duties as a
legislator.
From the time of first taking his seat in Parliament he was a conspicuous
figure there; but it must be confessed that during the earlier sessions of his
Parliamentary career he did little to inspire the public with any belief in his
profound statesmanship. He arrayed himself on the side of the Opposition,
and attacked the then-existing Cartier-Macdonald Administration with all
the fiery eloquence at his command. "It was observed," says Mr. Fennings

Taylor, "that he was a relentless quiz, an adroit master of satire, and the
most active of partisan sharpshooters. Many severe, some ridiculous, and
not a few savage things were said by him. Thus from his affluent treasury of
caustic and bitter irony he contributed not a little to the personal and
Parliamentary embarrassments of those times. Many of the speeches of that
period we would rather forget than remember. Some were not
complimentary to the body to which they were addressed, and some of them
were not creditable to the person by whom they were delivered. It is true
that such speeches secured crowded galleries, for they were sure to be either
breezy or ticklish, gusty with rage, or grinning with jests. They were
therefore the raw materials out of which mirth is manufactured, and
consequently they ruffled tempers that were remarkable for placidity, and
provoked irrepressible laughter in men who were regarded as too grave to
be jocose. Of course they were little calculated to elicit truth, or promote
order, or attract respect to the speaker. Mr. McGee appeared chiefly to
occupy himself in saying unpleasant and severe things; in irritating the
smoothest natures, and in brushing everybody's hair the wrong way." The
personalities in which he permitted himself to indulge were frequently in
the worst conceivable taste, and he raised up for himself many enemies. It
began to be suspected that this brilliant Irishman, whose advent into
Canadian political life had been heralded with so loud a flourish of
trumpets, was no heaven-born statesman, after all. He said some clever
things in the course of his speeches, and a good many other things that were
neither clever nor sensible. There was an evident desire on his part to attract
attention to himself, and his self-consciousness was sometimes so marked
as to be positively offensive. It was difficult to say why he had joined the
ranks of the Opposition. Of the local politics he, at the time of his entry into
Parliament, knew little or nothing, and there was not much in common
between him and the leaders of the Party to which he had attached himself.
The latter could not feel as though their ranks had been very powerfully
strengthened by such an accession. As the years passed by, however, D'Arcy
McGee became more tractable, and—be it said—more sensible. He never
entirely overcame his fondness for displaying his Irish wit on the floor of
the House, but he taught himself to be more amenable to certain rules of
debate which are tacitly recognized among the members of all grave
deliberative assemblies. To put the matter in plain English, he less
frequently transgressed the bounds of decorum and sober good-breeding.

With increase of years came increase of knowledge as to the needs of the
country, and as to the proper functions of a legislator. His intellectual vision
became keener, and his views acquired breadth. It began to be apparent that
there was a serious side to his character, and that he could rise to a high
level upon a great occasion. No one had ever doubted that he possessed a
goodly share of genius, but he began to show that he also possessed more
practical qualifications for a statesman. Though largely endowed with the
poetical temperament, he did not disdain to interest himself in such prosaic
matters as statistics, and could make an effective speech of which figures
formed the main argument. His oratory, though florid and discursive, began
to exhibit symptoms of a genuine manly purpose. He studied law, and in
1861 was called to the Bar of the Lower Province, though he never
seriously devoted himself to the practice of that profession. He continued to
fight in the Opposition ranks until the downfall of the Cartier-Macdonald
Ministry in the month of May, 1862. In the Administration which
succeeded, under the leadership of John Sandfield Macdonald and Louis
Victor Sicotte, he accepted office as President of the Council. After the
resignation of the Hon. A. A. Dorion, he also acted for some time as
Provincial Secretary. Upon the reconstruction of the Administration in the
following year he was not invited to take a portfolio, and his dissatisfaction
at the cavalier treatment to which he had been subjected soon began to
make itself apparent. He crossed the House, and voted against the new
Government, accompanying his votes with remarks the reverse of
complimentary to the Premier. Upon the formation of the Taché-Macdonald
Government, which was nothing if not Conservative, in March, 1864, Mr.
McGee became Minister of Agriculture; a position which he continued to
hold until the accomplishment of Confederation. He had thus completely
changed sides, though it does not appear that his party convictions had
undergone any material modification, and it was alleged, with some show
of truth, that he was actuated more by pique than by principle.
In the proceedings which resulted in Confederation Mr. McGee took a
conspicuous and an honourable part. The union of the British North
American Provinces, as we have seen, had been advocated by him from the
time of his first arrival in the country. Independently of his speeches in the
House, which were among the most brilliant efforts evoked by the occasion,
he did good service by his writings in the public press, and by lectures and

addresses delivered by him in various parts of Canada and the Maritime
Provinces. In order that he might be relieved from pecuniary cares by which
he was sometimes beset, his friends throughout the country organized a
fund on his behalf, and purchased and presented him with a comfortable,
well-appointed homestead in Montmorenci Terrace, St. Catherine Street,
Montreal, wherein he and his family found a resting-place during the
remaining years of his life. He was thus enabled to address himself to his
cherished projects with comparative freedom from anxiety.
In 1865 he repaired to England as a Member of the Executive Council to
confer with the Imperial Government upon the great question of
Confederation. During his absence he, after an interval of seventeen years,
once more set foot on his native land, and paid a visit to Wexford, the home
of his boyhood, where he was the guest of his father. During his sojourn at
Wexford on this occasion he delivered an eloquent speech on the condition
of the Irish race in America. He publicly deplored the part he had played in
the troubles of 1848, and enlarged upon the demoralized condition of his
countrymen in the United States as compared with those resident in Canada.
He proclaimed his conviction that the time for fruitless attempts at
insurrection was past, and that he for his part should regard traitors to Great
Britain as the enemies of human progress. This deliverance gave grievous
offence to the Irish citizens of the United States, by many of whom D'Arcy
McGee was thenceforward denounced as a renegade to his principles. This
sentiment was strengthened by McGee's righteous denunciations of the
Fenian horde who menaced our shores in the summer of 1866, and who
shed the blood of some of our promising young men. At the general election
of 1867 these utterances were called into requisition as an election cry. Mr.
McGee had not accepted a portfolio in the first Government under
Confederation, which had just been formed, but had waived his claim to
office in favour of another Irish Catholic, Mr. Kenny, of Nova Scotia.
McGee, however, though he was thus complaisant, had no intention of
retiring immediately from public life, and once more offered himself to his
constituents in Montreal West. That constituency was the abode of the local
"Head Centre" of the Fenian Brotherhood, and the Fenian influence there
was considerable. Mr. McGee's utterances had made him the object of the
inveterate hatred of that body, and it was determined that he should be
ousted from the seat which he had held ever since his entry into political

life in Canada. Mr. Devlin, an Irish Catholic, and a prominent member of
the Montreal Bar, was brought out as an opposition candidate, and the most
shameless devices were resorted to to secure that gentleman's return. "Every
vile epithet calculated to rouse ignorant Irish Catholics,"—says the author
of "The Irishman in Canada,"—"was hurled at McGee. He had, as his
manner was, gone right round from denying the existence of Fenianism in
Montreal, to exaggerating the extent of it, and denouncing it, not in
undeserved terms, but in terms which seemed violent from a man of his past
history. He won his election, but by a majority which convinced him that
his power had greatly waned. He had, however, the consolation that if he
had lost popularity, he had lost it in enlightening his countrymen." He had
felt it to be his duty to place Fenianism in its proper light before his fellow-
countrymen in Canada. He knew that the order was powerless for good, and
that it would entail pecuniary loss, if not absolute ruin, upon many well-
meaning but ignorant and misguided persons. So far as the Fenian scheme
contemplated an invasion of Canada, he regarded it with all the scorn and
abhorrence of a loyal subject. For this he was denounced by the Fenians,
and held up to execration as one who had sold himself to the spoiler.
Before the opening of the first session of the Dominion Parliament he
was attacked by a long and severe illness, which brought him to death's
door, and from which he only recovered in time to attend at the opening of
the session. It was noticed that there was a decided change, not merely in
his physical appearance, but in the workings of his mind. He had formerly
been addicted to frequent indulgence in strong drink. He had now become
rigidly abstemious and regular in all his habits. He seemed to be pervaded
by a seriousness which almost amounted to melancholy. His friends
believed these characteristics to be something deeper than the temporary
humours of convalescence. His serious indisposition had made him reflect,
and his situation was one which afforded ample food for reflection. Ever
since the delivery of the Wexford speech he had been in receipt of frequent
anonymous letters in which he was anathematized as a traitor, and warned
to prepare for death. Some of these came from Ireland. The envelopes of a
few of them afforded evidence of their having been posted in Montreal; but
by far the greater number came from the United States. He affected to
console himself with the proverb that "threatened men live long," but he
could not bring himself to regard these truly fiendish communications with

indifference. He knew the desperate character of the class of Irishmen from
whom they emanated, and he shuddered as he reflected that he had at one
time been the idol and fellow-worker of such as they. The shadow of his
impending doom was upon him. During the interval between rising from his
bed of sickness and the opening of the session in November he had
determined to retire from public life in the course of the following year, and
to devote the rest of his days to literary pursuits. His determination was not
destined to be carried out. He took a part in the debates while the session
was in progress, and some of the most statesmanlike utterances that ever
passed his lips were delivered during this, the last winter he was ever to see.
On the evening of the 6th of April he occupied his usual place in the House,
and made a brilliant and effective speech on the subject of the lately-formed
Union. A little after two o'clock on the following morning he left the House
in company with two of his political friends, and proceeded in the direction
of the place where he lodged—the Toronto House, on Sparks Street, kept by
a Mrs. Trotter. When the three had arrived within a hundred yards of Mr.
McGee's destination they separated, each betaking himself to his own
lodging-house. Mr. McGee, having reached his door and inserted his latch-
key, was just about entering, when the sound of a pistol-shot was heard by
his landlady, who was awaiting his arrival. She hurried to the door, and
opened it, to find Mr. McGee's body lying prone across the sidewalk. The
alarm was given, and a crowd soon collected on the spot. The body was
raised, but the assassin's bullet had done its work. The ball had entered the
back of the head and passed through the mouth, shattering the front teeth,
and producing what must have been instant and painless death.
The miscreant at whose hands D'Arcy McGee met his fate was a Fenian
named Patrick James Whalen. He was subsequently arrested, tried, found
guilty, and hanged at Ottawa.
Had Mr. McGee lived another week he would have completed his forty-
third year; so that he was still a young man, and had his life been spared
there is good reason to believe that he would have made an abiding mark in
literature. During his lifetime he published many volumes, but they were for
the most part written under disadvantageous circumstances, and merely
afford indications of what he might have achieved in literature. His poems
have been collected in various editions; but the work by which he is best

known is his "Popular History of Ireland," originally published in two
volumes at New York in 1863, and since reprinted in various forms.

David Allison, signed as David Allison

DAVID ALLISON, M.A., LL.D.,

SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION FOR THE PROVINCE
OF NOVA SCOTIA.

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Doctor Allison was born at Newport, Hants County, Nova Scotia, on the
3rd of July, 1836. By both lines of descent he belongs to that thrifty Scoto-
Irish stock to which the central counties of Nova Scotia are largely indebted
for their progress. On the paternal side he belongs to a family which has
displayed much aptitude for public affairs, his grandfather and father both
having occupied seats in the Provincial Legislature. His brother, Mr. W.
Henry Allison, after occupying a seat in the same Body for several terms, at
present represents the county of Hants in the House of Commons.
His preliminary education was received at the Provincial Academy at
Halifax—since re-organized and developed into Dalhousie College—and at
the Wesleyan Academy, Sackville, N.B. His school-boy days at Halifax
were contemporaneous with a period of great political excitement, and a
race of orators rarely surpassed in any colonial legislature—Howe,
Johnston, Young, Uniacke—enlivened the Assembly room of the Province
with their eloquence. Frequent attendance on the discussions waged by
these masters of debate gave to the young student's mind a strong and
permanent leaning towards political and constitutional studies. At Sackville,
where he studied four consecutive years, the basis of a broad and liberal
training was firmly laid. Twenty-five years ago, institutions of learning
really doing educational work of a high order were not so numerous in the
Maritime Provinces as they now are, and the Academy at Sackville,
distinguished for its high standard and energetic methods, attracted
patronage, not only from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, but from

Newfoundland and "the vexed Bermoothes." During his connection with
this school, he was thus brought into contact with many young men who
have since won distinction in Provincial life. His academic career ended, he
was determined (we suppose) by denominational proclivities to seek
University training and honours at the Wesleyan University, Middletown,
Conn., U.S., where his career was in a high degree successful and brilliant.
For some years after graduation, in 1859, he filled the post of classical
instructor at Sackville, first in the Academy, and from 1862 to 1869 in the
Mount Allison College, an institution organized in that year under charter
obtained from the Legislature of New Brunswick. The resignation of the
Presidency of the College by the Rev. Dr. Pickard, in 1869, gave its Board
of Governors an opportunity of showing their appreciation of his
scholarship and character. He was unanimously elected President, and
thenceforward for nine years devoted himself with assiduity and success to
the duties of that position.
The work of a classical teacher, especially in a country college, does not
attract much public attention, and however effectively performed cannot
furnish much material for biographical remark. It is enough to say that
Professor Allison taught the classics with great efficiency, illuminating the
otherwise dull page with the illustrative light of history, philosophy and
literature. On his accession to the Presidency of the College he exchanged
the Chair of Classics for that of Mental Science, and his lectures on that
subject as delivered to successive classes would, if published, secure for
their author no mean reputation as an acute and independent thinker. During
the nine years of his Presidency at Sackville he bore a heavy load of
responsibility. The work of endowing the College and generally improving
its financial condition was no light one. The intense intercollegiate
competition of the Lower Provinces rendered it necessary to infuse new
vigour into the teaching staff. The unsettled condition of the "higher
education" question, and the somewhat feverish state of the public mind
regarding it, obliged one occupying his position to be on the alert, ready
with pen or voice to attack or defend as circumstances might require. It is
sufficient to affirm, that when in 1878 he resigned his office for a new
sphere of responsibility, no College in the Maritime Provinces had for its
years a better record than his, and no college officer a wider or more

enviable reputation for varied scholarship and progressive tendencies of
mind.
On a vacancy arising in the office of Superintendent of Education for the
Province of Nova Scotia in 1877, all eyes were turned to him. Enjoying to a
flattering extent the confidence of the friends of the Sackville Institution, he
naturally hesitated, but finally yielded when appeals from the leaders of
public opinion on all sides were joined to the independent attractions of the
offered post. The two years during which he has administered the
educational affairs of the Province show clearly that he possesses a delicate
appreciation of the elements of the problem which he is required to solve.
Reforms should, if possible, follow one another in logical sequence. If the
new Superintendent is moving too slowly for some and too fast for others,
he is probably moving as all his really sincere and well-informed critics
would wish him to do, were their opportunities for taking in the whole
situation as good as his. Since his appointment he has aroused throughout
the Province a fresh interest in the cause of popular instruction, not only by
his masterly reports, but by the vigorous use of his abundant gift of public
speaking.
On assuming office as Superintendent, Dr. Allison found the important
sphere of intermediate education out of proper relation to the higher and
lower departments of instruction. A system of self-terminated common
schools of an elementary type, and a system of colleges mainly without a
trustworthy source of supply, he refused to believe adapted to the wants of
his Province and the genius of the age. His efforts to secure a better
distribution of educational appliances, and better inter-working of
educational forces, have already, we believe, been crowned with some
success. Though not without aptitudes for other departments of public
service, he has hitherto refused to listen to all propositions involving
departure from the strict path of educational effort and usefulness.
Dr. Allison is a man of broad political sympathies. Residing in the
United States during those years of intense feeling which immediately
preceded the great Civil War, and having abundant opportunity of hearing
those passion-stirring appeals by which fiery orators accelerated the awful
crisis, his early prepossessions towards political and historical studies were
greatly strengthened. The reading and thought spent in this direction have

no doubt resulted in the formation of strong, well-developed opinions. If, as
some suspect, these opinions are somewhat radical, they are held in
judicious equilibrium by the practical conservatism of his conduct. The
liberality of his religious sentiments admirably qualify him for a position in
relation to which the distinction of creeds is ignored. He is a member of the
Methodist Church of Canada, and as a lay representative has taken a
prominent part in the two General Conferences of that influential
denomination, and has been appointed a delegate to the General Congress
of Methodism to be held in London in 1881. This is the sphere of private
opinion and action, but even in that he has always thrown his influence in
favour of fraternity and peace. As regards public relations, the universal
confidence in his impartiality is a prime element of his strength.
He received the degree of B.A. in 1859, and of M.A. in 1862, in due
course from the Wesleyan University, and in 1873 the honorary degree of
LL.D. was conferred upon him by the University of Victoria College,
Cobourg, Ont. In 1876 he was appointed by the Executive Government of
Nova Scotia a Fellow of the Senate of the University of Halifax. In the hope
of unifying and improving the higher education of the Maritime Provinces
Dr. Allison had given the scheme for establishing such a University,
modelled on that of London, an earnest, and at a critical juncture, most
valuable support, and still vigorously sustains the experiment of an
Examining University as under the circumstances of the case contributing
to the satisfactory solution of a difficult problem. That the proposed scheme
was open to some of the objections vigorously urged against it by the Rev.
Mr. (now Principal) Grant and others he did not attempt to deny. But who
could propose any measure directed towards the improvement of advanced
education in Nova Scotia which was not open to objection? The existing
Colleges, five or six in number, were feeble and ill-equipped, but they had
become strongly entrenched in the affections of religious denominations,
whose unwillingness to surrender real or seeming advantages in connection
with these institutions was proportioned to the sacrifices by which these
advantages had been secured. Assuming this unwillingness of the Colleges
to surrender their chartered privileges, as the first and indeed fundamental
condition of the establishment of a genuine Provincial University to be
inexpugnable, the projectors of the University of Halifax sought to give a
steady and appreciable value to Collegiate degrees conferred in the

Province, to reduce to something like order the chaos of divergent systems,
and to send down into the strata of primary and intermediate education an
uplifting influence from above. Should even these more limited objects be
unattained through the failure of the Colleges to practically aid a measure
designed at least in part for their benefit, it may in the end appear that the
indifference of these institutions was not dictated by the highest wisdom
even as regards their own interests.

THE HON. THOMAS GALT.

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Judge Galt is the second son of the late John Galt, who was for some
time the Canadian Commissioner of the Canada Company, and who was the
author of numerous dramas and works of fiction which once enjoyed great
popularity. Some account of the life of the late Mr. Galt has been given in
the sketch of the life of his youngest son, the Hon. Sir Alexander Tilloch
Galt, which appeared in the second volume of this series.
The subject of this sketch was born in Portland Street, Oxford Street,
London, England, where his father at that time resided, on the 12th of
August, 1815. His early life was passed alternately in England and in
Scotland. He received his education at various public and private schools.
He was for about two years a pupil at a private establishment at
Musselburgh, a small seaport town in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. The
late Hon. George Brown was also a pupil at this establishment. Mr. Galt
was removed from Musselburgh in 1826, and placed under the tuition of Dr.
Valpy, a classical scholar of high reputation. In 1828 he came out to
Canada, and was for two years a pupil in the establishment of Mr.
Braithwaite, at Chambly, where he had for fellow-pupils, the present Bishop
of Niagara and the late Thomas C. Street. In 1830 he returned to Great
Britain, where he spent three years, when, having nearly completed his
eighteenth year he emigrated to Upper Canada, and settled in what was then
Little York. This was in the autumn of 1833, and in the month of March
following, Little York became the city of Toronto, with William Lyon
Mackenzie as its first mayor. Mr. Galt has ever since resided in Toronto, and
has thus had his home in our Provincial capital for more than forty-seven
years.

Upon his arrival at Little York he entered the service of the Canada
Company, of which his father had been one of the original promoters, and
most active spirits. He remained in that service about six years, when,
having resolved upon studying law, he entered the office of Mr.—
afterwards the Hon. Chief Justice—Draper, where he remained until his
studies had been completed. During a part of this period he occupied the
position of chief clerk in the office of his principal, who was then Attorney-
General for Upper Canada. In this capacity it fell to his duty to prepare the
indictments, which required not merely an accurate knowledge of the
criminal law, but a close familiarity with the highly technical system of
criminal pleading which prevailed in those days. In Easter Term, 1845, he
was called to the Bar of Upper Canada, and immediately afterwards settled
down to the practice of his profession. He was possessed of excellent
abilities, a fine presence, and a remarkably prepossessing manner, which
qualifications combined to place him in a foremost position before he had
been long engaged in practice. He became solicitor for numerous
corporations and public companies, and had always a very large business.
In October, 1847, when he had been at the Bar somewhat more than two
years, he married Miss Frances Louisa Perkins, youngest daughter of the
late Mr. James W. Perkins, who had formerly held a position in the Royal
Navy. By this lady he has a family of nine children. In 1855 he became a
Bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada, and in 1858 he was
appointed a Queen's Counsel, simultaneously with the Hon. Stephen
Richards. He from time to time formed various partnerships, one of which
was with the late Hon. John Ross. Another was subsequently formed with
the late Hon. John Crawford, who some years later became Lieutenant-
Governor of Ontario.
While at the Bar, in addition to a very extensive and profitable civil
practice, he took a front rank as a criminal lawyer, for which distinction his
past experience in the office of Attorney-General Draper had eminently
fitted him. He was engaged in the celebrated case of Regina vs. Brogden,
which many readers of these pages will not fail to remember. The prisoner
was a well-known lawyer of Port Hope, who was tried at Cobourg for
shooting one Anderson, the seducer of his wife. A year or two later he
represented the Crown in another historical criminal case which was tried at
Cobourg, wherein the prisoner, Dr. King, was convicted of poisoning his

wife. In 1863 he appeared for the Crown at Toronto against that well-
remembered malefactor William Greenwood. There were three indictments
against the prisoner, two for murder and one for arson. On the first
indictment for murder the prisoner was acquitted. On that for arson, which
was prosecuted by Mr. Galt, he was convicted. With the other indictment
for murder Mr. Galt was not concerned. The prisoner, however, was
convicted, and sentenced to be hanged, but committed suicide by hanging
himself in his cell.
Mr. Galt was appointed to his present position, that of a Puisné Judge of
the Court of Common Pleas for Ontario, on the death of the late Judge John
Wilson, in 1869. His sixty-five years seem to sit very lightly upon him, and
he is still distinguished by a fine, dignified, and most kindly presence. In
addition to the attainments properly belonging to him as an eminent lawyer,
he is known as a master of style, and his judgments are marked not less by
their depth of learning than by the stateliness of the diction in which they
are written.
The most important criminal case over which he has been called upon to
preside since his accession to the Bench was that against Mrs. George
Campbell, who was tried at the assizes held at London, in the autumn of
1872, for murdering her husband under most revolting circumstances. She
was convicted, and suffered the extreme penalty of the law.