=Moore, Alvan Head=, Magog, Quebec, was born in Hatley, county of

Stanstead, province of Quebec, April 20th, 1836. His father, Thomas

Moore, was born in Concord, N.H., United States, Dec. 5th, 1787. His

mother, Margaret Moore, whose maiden name was Margaret Dickey, was born

near Concord, N.H., July 24th, 1795. They were married Dec. 6th, 1812,

and came to Canada in the beginning of the present century. They were

amongst the early pioneers who settled Stanstead county. His father was

on duty during the war of 1812-14 and the rebellion of 1837-8. He held a

commission dated August, 1811, as lieutenant in the Eastern Townships

Royal Volunteers and ensign in the militia of 1837-8. The subject of

this sketch was liberally educated in Canadian academies and United

States collegiate institutes, and at the present time is mayor of Magog,

postmaster, commissioner of Superior Court, superintendent of the

Government Fish Hatchery, justice of the peace for the district of St.

Francis, president of the Waterloo & Magog Railway Company, director in

the Stanstead, Shefford & Chambly Railroad Company, director in the

Magog Textile and Print Company, was for years president of the

Stanstead County Agricultural Society, chairman of the school

commissioners of Magog, and secretary and treasurer of the above

mentioned W. & M. R. Co., which office he resigned in 1887 to take the

presidency of the company. He has been connected with and was one of the

principal promoters of all the public enterprises of the place, the most

important of them being the Waterloo & Magog Railway and Magog Textile

and Print Works. He was an active promoter of both schemes, and has a

large amount of money invested in them. He is an active politician, and

has been engaged in every political contest which has taken place in the

county since confederation. Being a protectionist, he is consequently a

Conservative. He has been looked upon as the successor of the present

member in the House of Commons, but so far has steadily refused to

accept any nomination for parliamentary honors. He is and has always

been a temperance man and opposed to the license system, and one of the

few men of his age who never signed a requisition for a license. The

adoption of the Temperance Act of 1878 in the county of Stanstead was

largely due to his exertions. He is a Protestant in religion, and in

favor of the alliance and amalgamation of all Christian denominations,

and the destruction of sectarian walls that serve to divide and weaken

the members of the Christian church. He was married August 12th, 1858,

to Julia Ann Merry, eldest daughter of the late Ralph Merry, of Magog,

who was one of the most prominent and most public-spirited men of his

time, and was for many years mayor of Magog. At the time of his death he

was president of the Waterloo & Magog Railway Company; vice-president of

the Stanstead, Shefford & Chambly Railroad; and one of the early

promoters of both schemes. Mrs. Moore was born at Magog, March 13th,

1838, was educated in Canadian and United States academies, and was also

for some time a student in the convent at Longueuil, near Montreal.

Immediately after their marriage they went to Kentucky, U.S.A., where

they lived for nearly two years and engaged in teaching in the Pleasant

Green Seminary until it was accidentally burned, Jan. 1, 1860. The war

cloud being about ready to burst over the slavery question, they

returned to Canada in the spring of 1860. Mr. Moore became associated in

that year with his father-in-law (Mr. Merry) in building the Waterloo &

Magog Railroad and in mercantile business. They continued in partnership

until 1867, when Mr. Merry retired from the firm and Mr. Moore

continued, and is now one of the largest and most successful merchants

in the eastern townships. They have three children living, Ralph Merry

Moore, born in Kentucky; Catharine Louise Moore and Elizabeth Florence

Moore, the two last born in Magog, province of Quebec.

* * * * *

=Freer, Lieut. Harry Cortlandt=, 1st Battalion, South Staffordshire

Regt., and Lieutenant and Brevet Captain and Adjutant, B Company,

R.S.I., St. John’s, Quebec, was born at Sherbrooke, Quebec, on the 9th

of May, 1859. His father, Cortlandt Freer, of the Grand Trunk Railway

engineer staff, is a son of Noah Freer, late captain in the Nova Scotia

Fencibles, and at one time A.D.C., or military secretary, to Sir George

Prevost. His mother, M. A. Sicotte, is the eldest daughter of the Hon.

L. V. Sicotte, judge of the Superior Court, St. Hyacinthe. The subject

of this sketch was educated at Trinity College School, Port Hope, and

afterwards graduated at the Royal Military College, Kingston. He entered

the British service, and served a year each in Malta and Ireland. On the

breaking out of the Egyptian war he served with the 1st battalion South

Staffordshire regiment, and served throughout the campaign of 1882,

receiving the Queen’s and Khedive’s medals for his gallantry. After his

return to Canada, the Northwest Rebellion of 1885 again called him to

active service, and he was appointed A.D.C. to Major-Gen. Sir Frederick

Middleton, K.C.M.G., and was present at Batoche. For his gallantry on

that occasion he was mentioned in the despatches, and received the medal

with clasp. He has been an extensive traveller both in Europe and the

East, as well as in our own country, having travelled as far west as

British Colombia. In religion he is a member of the Roman Catholic

church, and is unmarried.

* * * * *

=Montgomery, Donald=, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Chief

Superintendent of Education for Prince Edward Island, was born at

Valleyfield, 3rd May, 1848. His parents came to the island from Scotland

in 1840. Mr. Montgomery received his education at Prince of Wales

College in Charlottetown, the foremost seat of learning in Prince Edward

Island, and at McGill University, Montreal. He progressed rapidly in his

chosen profession of teacher, and in 1874 was appointed principal of the

Provincial Normal School. This position he held for three years. The

progress of education in the island has been very gradual. At the

original distribution of the land in 1767, thirty acres were reserved in

each township for a schoolmaster, and there the matter rested until

1821, when a national school was opened at the capital. Later on a board

of education was appointed for the island and other schools were opened.

In 1836 a central academy was established in Charlottetown. In 1837,

John McNeil was appointed the first superintendent of schools. At this

time the total population of the island was about thirty-five thousand,

and there were only fifty-one schools, with a total attendance of 1,533.

Means were scanty and the schoolmaster was literally “abroad” most of

his time, removing from house to house, as he got his board among the

different families of his district. In 1842, there were 121 schools and

4356 pupils. In 1852, a free school act was passed by the Legislature.

In 1853, the office of general superintendent for the island, abolished

in 1848 (a county superintendent for each county being substituted), was

re-established. In 1855, a bill was passed establishing a Normal School,

which was opened in 1856. The question as to whether the Bible should be

read in the Central Academy and the Normal School was earnestly debated

by the people and brought to the notice of the Legislature in 1858. The

House decided against the use of the Bible in the schools. In 1861,

however, was passed an act admitting the Bible into the schools. The

Prince of Wales College was established in the same year. Many of the

best men in the island have received their earlier education at this

institution, which, however, they frequently supplement by a course at

other seats of learning in the Dominion, the United States and Great

Britain. In 1878, Mr. Montgomery embarked in politics, and on the 20th

September in that year was elected to a seat in the local legislature

for his native district of Belfast. This was a bye-election caused by

the resignation of William Welsh. At the general election, Mr.

Montgomery again offered, and was re-elected in April, 1879. He was a

moderate Conservative. He resigned his seat in the House in the summer

of that year, and on the 26th September, 1879, was appointed to the

position of chief superintendent of education. This position he has

continued to hold up to the present time. He is connected with the

Presbyterian denomination. He married, on 10th August, 1887, Mary

Isabella, daughter of William McPhail, of Orwell. His residence is

situated on Prince street, in Charlottetown. A man in the very prime of

life and usefulness, Mr. Montgomery occupies a position of the highest

importance.

* * * * *

=Rivard, Antoine Majorique=, M.D., Sheriff for the district of Joliette,

was born on the 24th September, 1838, at St. Leon, district of Three

Rivers, province of Quebec. He is descended from a family that came from

France, and settled at Batiscan, province of Quebec, in 1660. His father

was Pierre Celestine Rivard, merchant at St. Leon, and his mother Marie

Angèle Caron. He was educated at the Lanigan Academy, Three Rivers, and

Nicolet College. He was admitted as a physician and surgeon on October

8th, 1861, and practised at St. Leon until 1865, when he removed to

Joliette, where he has since resided. He has been councillor and mayor

of the town of Joliette, vice-president of the Agricultural Society,

county of Joliette, president of School Commissions, director of La

Compagnie Manufacturier de Tabac Canadien de Joliette, secretary of the

Medico-Surgical Association of the district of Joliette, and surgeon of

the 83rd battalion since 1874. He was a governor of the College of

Physicians and Surgeons of the province of Quebec from 1877 to 1880,

collector of inland revenue from 1880 to 1882, and was made sheriff on

the 24th February, 1885. Dr. Rivard was married on the 16th February,

1863, to Marie Corine Asilda Lemaitre Angé, of Rivière du Loup, _en

haut_, and has always been a strict adherent of the Roman Catholic

faith. He is an ornament to the profession which he has made the study

of his life, and his talents are only second to his indomitable energy

and perseverance.

* * * * *

=Cartier, Sir George Etienne.= This illustrious statesman was born in

the village of St. Antoine, in the county of Verchères, on the 6th of

September, 1814. It was claimed for him that he was descended from one

of the nephews of Jacques Cartier, the adventurous Breton navigator, who

showed to France the ocean pathways to a western empire. But George

Etienne stood in no need of the dim and flickering lustre reflected from

remote family achievement. He made for himself, in the history of his

country, a name and a fame which, by right of native ability and

resolute and fortunate effort, are permanently his own. His immediate

ancestors were of the better class of French Canadians. His grandfather,

a successful merchant, was one of the first members chosen for the

county of Verchères, when the Constitutional Act of 1791 gave to Lower

Canada the right to representative institutions. In Lower Canada, in the

early days of George Etienne Cartier, two avocations possessed, and

still possess, a strong attraction for the more gifted amongst the

younger population. These avocations were the church and the bar.

Cartier chose the latter. To qualify himself for his intended

profession, he pursued, for eight years, a course of study at the

college of St. Sulpice, in the city of Montreal. There is no tradition

to show that he was a brilliant student. In this respect he adds another

to the number of eminent men who reserved, not for the ideal world of

the school-room, but for the actual world of after life, powers and

faculties previously unsuspected, because undisplayed. After leaving

college he entered upon the study of the law, and in 1835 he began

practice in the city of Montreal. The legal profession, crowded at that

period, overcrowded at the present time, still affords, to use the

simile of Daniel Webster, “room in the upper story.” To that place of

vantage Cartier made his way. The explanation of his success is not far

to seek. He possessed at that time, and until the end of his life, an

industry that never knew cessation, an energy that never faltered, and

an ever-present consciousness of his own ability. But, for young

Cartier, another pursuit besides law presented imperative claims to

attention. This was politics. To him, and to the majority of his

countrymen, they seemed to mean political existence, and the

preservation of their language and institutions. Cartier had scarcely

begun the practice of his profession when he was drawn into the vortex.

Louis Joseph Papineau, speaker of the Legislative Assembly since the

year 1817, had been flaming, like a portentous meteor, in the troubled

sky of Canadian politics. Under his influence, Cartier, like the

overwhelming majority of French Canadians, fell. It was no wonder.

Papineau was an impetuous leader; he had a popular cause; he appeared to

be fighting an unequal battle. To narrate in detail the causes which

created a leader out of Papineau, and which attracted to his banner all

the more enthusiastic among the French Canadians, would be to fill

volumes: to write a history of a country, and not the brief biography of

a man. But a few words may serve to convey a faint idea of the political

condition of Lower Canada, at the time when Cartier ventured into the

perilous pathways of the provincial politics of that epoch. From the

conquest of Canada, in 1760, to 1791 (the year of the passing of the

Constitutional Act), Canada was a portion of the British empire, but was

an alien in respect to British institutions. This Act divided what was

known as the Province of Quebec into two new provinces—Upper and Lower

Canada. A legislature was, by the Act, established in each province. It

consisted of a House of Assembly and a Legislative Council. The people

elected the Assembly; the Crown nominated the Council. Herein lay the

monstrous defect of the Constitutional Act; the poisonous leaven that

corrupted the body politic in Upper and Lower Canada; the pestilent germ

that developed into outrageous misgovernment, jeopardy of British

connection, and ultimate rebellion. The Upper House, nominated by the

Crown, was not only irresponsible to the people, but set their wishes at

absolute defiance. The popular Assembly might pass necessary measures;

the Council expunged the provisions that made them useful, or trampled

them under foot. The oligarchy, which was continually in a minority in

the Assembly, but always in a majority in the Council, lorded it over

Lower Canada in contemptuous indifference to the wishes of the French

Canadian majority.[4] The Governor, who was commissioned to represent

the King, was the mere puppet of the oligarchy. While they flattered him

they ruled him, and cajoled while they enslaved. Thus, for long and

weary years, was enacted the wretched drama of despotism under a

constitutional mask. There seemed no sign of relief. The governors and

the oligarchy, by their machinations, had gained the ear of the imperial

authorities, and tricked them into the belief that to rule in contempt

of British institutions was the only means of perpetuating British rule

in Upper and Lower Canada. With the intention to act justly, the British

government, above all others, seemed, at this period, to be beyond the

reach of the warnings of experience; seemed doomed never to know the

truths as to the dismal history of colonial misgovernment. The loss of

the thirteen colonies had been a lesson taught in vain. Not until the

Earl of Durham, in a state paper which eclipses, for ability,

conscientiousness, vast industry, and fearless truthfulness, any other

of the kind in the diplomatic literature of the British American

colonies—not until he laid bare the ulcers and festering wounds on the

Canadian body politic, did the imperial authorities learn the truth, and

set themselves to prepare a remedy. In the year 1837 the patience and

prudence of the French Canadian leaders gave way. The pleading for

reform had been scouted as treason; now insurrection was about to take

the place of argument. Among the deplorable elements engendered in the

long struggle for a better state of things was that of race-hatred. For

this dangerous passion, Papineau, often violent in language and unwise

in denunciation, was more responsible than his opponents. To this

passion, Cartier, even in his hot youth, would not surrender himself.

But, when the movement which Papineau for nearly a quarter of a century

had fostered, burst away from his control, and leapt from agitation into

rebellion, George Etienne Cartier, throwing to the winds considerations

of selfishness and prudence, boldly took his life in his hand, and

appealed to the arbitrament of the sword. The autumn of 1837 was ominous

of coming troubles. The government, even if no other source of

information had been at their command, could not fail to perceive in the

speeches of the more impetuous of the French Canadian leaders that an

appeal to arms was in immediate contemplation. After waiting for a

period which to their friends seemed perilously prolonged, the

authorities determined at length to grapple with the incipient

insurrection. On the 16th of November, 1837, warrants for high treason

were issued against the Montreal agitators who were inciting the people

to rebellion. Papineau was included in the number, but he had been

warned in time. He placed the St. Lawrence between himself and arrest,

and made good his way towards the Richelieu river. His arrival in that

locality brought to a focus the latent elements of revolt. The

disaffected peasantry of the surrounding districts trooped to their

headquarters, a village named Debartzch, in the parish of St. Charles.

But, in addition to the encampment at St. Charles, there was another and

more memorable mustering-place of the “patriots.” This was at St. Denis,

on the Chambly river. The leader of the patriots was Dr. Wolfred Nelson,

a man whose energy, courage and principles won him the unshaken

confidence of the peasantry. At St. Denis we find George Etienne

Cartier. A British force under Colonel Gore, a Waterloo veteran, was

sent against St. Denis. Accompanying the expedition was a deputy-sheriff

armed with a warrant for the arrest of Dr. Wolfred Nelson on a charge of

high treason. On the morning of the 23rd of November, 1837, the troops,

after twelve hours’ march through the sloughs, mud, and pit-falls of a

winter road in Lower Canada, approached the village of St. Denis. A

contemporary account thus narrates the result of the attack on the

position of the insurgents:—

The necessary orders were given for the troops to advance; an

order which was promptly obeyed, notwithstanding the harassing

and fatiguing march of the night. Towards the north-eastern

entrance of the village of St. Denis there is a large stone

house, of three or four stories, which was discovered to be full

of armed men, who opened a sharp and galling fire upon the

troops. The skirmishing party here consisted of the light

company of the 32nd, under Captain Markham. Within a quarter of

an hour after the firing commenced, Captain Markham was severely

wounded in the leg; and, almost at the same moment, received two

dangerous wounds in the neck, which brought him to the ground.

In conveying him to the rear, he received another wound, a proof

of the dexterity and precision of the fire kept up by the

patriots. It was found by Colonel Gore that the infantry,

deprived of the assistance of Colonel Wetherall’s force, was

inadequate to cope with the terrible fire of the musketry that

was kept up and directed against them from the stone house. The

field-piece, accordingly, was brought to bear upon this fort of

the insurgent army, and injured it considerably, sending many of

the inmates to their final account. Notwithstanding, as the

ammunition was nearly exhausted, it was deemed prudent to

retire, in order to maintain the communication with Sorel, as

many of the inhabitants were seen gathering from all directions

to the scene of action. About half-past two in the afternoon,

the order to fall back was given; and, with the loss of six men

killed and ten wounded, a retreat was commenced. The roads were

so bad it was impossible to get farther than three miles that

night, and Colonel Gore was under the necessity of bivouacking

till daylight of Friday morning (24th), when he again commenced

his march upon Sorel, which he reached that afternoon.

On the 25th of November, 1837, Lieutenant-Colonel Wetherall and a

British force drove the patriots from their position at St. Charles. A

few days after this event Colonel Gore, with his command reinforced

marched upon St. Denis. But the victory at St. Charles had caused

defections in the ranks of Dr. Nelson. He did not wait a second attack,

but abandoned his position, and sought to make his escape to the United

States. Thus ended the operations on the Richelieu, and with them the

rebellion south of the River St. Lawrence. George E. Cartier was with

Dr. Nelson in the combat at St. Denis. In after life, a political

opponent would sometimes taunt him with cowardice on that occasion. To

such reproaches he never replied, and hence there were some persons who

suspected that there might be truth in the accusation. But Cartier

himself knew better, and could afford to be silent. Ten years or so

after St. Denis his conduct was described by Dr. Nelson, who was

qualified to speak on the subject. In _La Minerve_, of Montreal, under

date of September 4th, 1848, Dr. Nelson’s “attestation,” dated Montreal,

21st August, 1848, was published in French. “Seeing,” says the Doctor,

“that an appeal has been made to me to give my testimony concerning

certain events at St. Denis, in 1837, I will do so in the interest of

truth and justice. I owe this to my friends, and to the country in

general.”

It is true that _M. Henri Cartier_[5] remarked that it would be

well to retreat, seeing the destruction caused by the discharges

of the enemy, the want of munitions, and the flight of a number

of persons of consequence. I strongly opposed this retreat; but,

notwithstanding that, Mr. Henri Cartier vigorously supported us

during all the day. M. GEORGE CARTIER never made allusion to the

retreat, and he like his cousin, M. H. Cartier, valiantly and

effectively contributed to the success of this struggle. And

these gentlemen only left me when I was myself obliged to leave,

nine days after this event, when the second expedition of troops

moved against St. Denis; resistance then having become

impossible, I sent M. George Cartier, towards two o’clock in the

afternoon, for some stores to St. Antoine, and he promptly

returned with succour, after about an hour’s absence. Mr. George

Cartier did not wear a _tuque bleu_[6] on the day of the battle.

WOLFRED NELSON.

MONTREAL, _21st August, 1848._

The authority of Dr. Wolfred Nelson must be accepted as conclusive

evidence respecting the personal courage of Cartier, who, it would seem,

acted in the capacity of _aide-de-camp_ to the valiant doctor. Cartier,

at this battle, was in the twenty-third year of his age. It was also

charged against him by some of his political opponents, that for his

participation in the events of 1837, a reward was offered for his head.

The present writer has not been able to verify this fact. The name of

Cartier does not appear in the lists of those for whose apprehension the

governor proclaimed rewards. Some time after the fight at St. Denis,

Cartier took refuge in the United States. Although he was unnamed in the

proclamations, his course of action was well known to the government. He

would have been arrested at the time if it had been possible, and his

fate would probably have been like that of his commander at St.

Denis—banishment. He returned secretly from the United States to

Canada, and remained in hiding for a time. His seclusion, however, was

not of very long duration. An intimation from the authorities assured

him that on presenting himself in public he would not be arrested. The

promise was faithfully kept. The result of Mr. Cartier’s participation

in the rebellion of 1837 was that for nearly ten years after its close

he took no active part in public life. In 1848, yielding to the pressure

of his friends, he was returned to parliament as the representative of

his native county of Verchères. He could not have made his entry into

public life at a more favorable moment for a man of the liberal

tendencies which then dominated him. The governor-general was the Earl

of Elgin, the greatest man, with the exception of the Earl of Durham,

ever commissioned by the British government to perform the functions of

viceroy of Canada. The Lafontaine-Baldwin cabinet, never before or since

excelled for ability and administrative talent, swayed the political

destinies of the province. A seat in the House of Assembly, for two

sessions, in the time of Baldwin and Lafontaine, was in itself a

political education. Cartier was an apt learner. In the session of 1850

he showed how well he understood the needs of his native province. In

that year Lafontaine proposed, in the House of Assembly, a series of

resolutions for the abolition of the Seignorial Tenure. Like every other

abuse which has the plea of age for its defence, the Seignorial system

found determined advocates. But its opponents were not only more

numerous, but had an infinitely better cause. Some great debates arose

on this subject, for it was one that went home to the whole body of the

French Canadian peasantry. It appealed, also, to the dearest interests

of the seigneurs. Cartier was one of those who offered strong opposition

to the tenure. As the representative of a purely agricultural county he

could take no other course, but the position he assumed was in

accordance with his convictions. In his place in the house he boldly

stated that that portion of the province which had been settled under

the Seignorial Tenure had not made as much progress as the part which

had been settled under the Free Tenure. He contended that it was as much

the advantage of the seigneur as of the tenant to abolish the Feudal

System; and that the proper time for so doing had presented itself. The

general opinion of the house was that the session was too far advanced

to deal effectively with the question. It was also considered that the

seigneurs had not had time enough afforded them to plead their cause.

The Hon. Robert Baldwin and Mr. Cartier were in favor of settling the

Seignorial question at once, and would have prolonged the session for

that purpose; but Mr. Lafontaine refused to consent. He considered that

the legal remedies proposed would not lead to a definite settlement of

the problem. He had no desire to reform and perpetuate the Tenure; he

wished to sweep it out of existence. The Tenure was abolished in the

year 1854, by the Hincks-Morin administration. Those two leaders having

retired in 1855, Sir Edmund Head, then governor-general, called upon Sir

Allan MacNab to form a Cabinet. Sir Allan allied himself with Colonel E.

P. Taché; and the latter on the 27th of January, 1855, selected Mr.

Cartier as provincial secretary. He was not eager for office. Under the

previous administration he had refused the position of commissioner of

public works. The Legislature, in 1856, devoted a great deal of

attention to the subject of public education. Mr. Cartier entered

heartily into the question. He had the principal share in preparing two

measures which were adopted by the house. The one provided for the

establishment of a Council of Public Instruction for Lower Canada, and

for allowing school municipalities to levy their own quotas. The other

authorized the establishment of Normal schools in Lower Canada, and

erected a permanent fund of $88,000, to be devoted to superior education

in that province. Part of this money was made up out of the revenues of

the Jesuits’ estates; $20,000 of it came from the Consolidated Fund. A

sum of $20,000 was at the same time voted for the purposes of superior

education in Upper Canada. The opposition endeavored to alter these two

measures. It was contended that the distribution of $88,000 by the

superintendent of education, under an Order in Council, would be placing

means of corruption in the hands of the government. It was further

contended that it was unconstitutional to deprive the House of Assembly

of the right to vote, annually, the public moneys. The arguments of the

opposition were sound, but were urged in vain, and the government

measures were carried. The MacNab-Taché administration, in 1856, fell to

pieces. There was weakness within its membership. There was, in

addition, the disturbing question of the settlement of the seat of

government. The house, at the end of a long and exciting debate,

resolved that, after the year 1859, the city of Quebec should be the

permanent capital of Canada. A considerable number of the

representatives of Upper Canada were discontented with this arrangement.

They considered that Quebec was too far removed from the centre of the

province. The government, in accordance with the resolution of the

house, placed in the estimates the sum of $200,000 for the erection of

public buildings. The Hon. Luther Hamilton Holton proposed the following

amendment:—“That the conduct of the administration on the subject of

the question of the seat of government, and on other questions of public

importance, has disappointed the just expectation of the great majority

of the people of this province.” The discussion which followed lasted

some days. The amendment of Mr. Holton was defeated by a majority of

twenty-three. But, among the forty-seven yeas, were thirty-three members

from Upper Canada; while, from that province, twenty-seven only voted

with the ministry. The vote was followed by the resignation of two

members of the government, Messrs. Spence and Morrison. These gentlemen

belonged to the Upper Canada section of the ministry. The Hon. John A.

Macdonald was the next to secede. He was of opinion that the vote on the

question of the capital had weakened the government, and as there was no

security that the same votes would not be repeated he thought it best to

remain no longer in the Cabinet. The Hon. Mr. Cayley, also from Upper

Canada, followed the footsteps of Mr. Macdonald. Sir Allan MacNab was

reluctantly forced to resign. The governor-general requested Colonel

Taché to form a new administration. He chose for his colleague the Hon.

John A. Macdonald, in the stead of Sir Allan MacNab. The new ministry

was virtually a continuation of the old one, with two exceptions: Mr.

Vankoughnet replaced Sir Allan MacNab in the Upper Canada section; Mr.

Terril replaced Mr. Drummond in the Lower Canada section. Mr. Cartier,

in passing from one ministry to the other changed his portfolio. He

became attorney-general for Lower Canada, in the place of Mr. Drummond.

His new office was no sinecure. The session which opened on the 26th of

February, 1857, was signalized by a ministerial project which was of

far-reaching importance to Lower Canada. This was the codification of

the Civil Laws, and of the Laws of Procedure. The measure was the work

of Attorney-General Cartier. He expended on it great industry; he made

it a labor of love. As he himself observed, the necessity of

codification made itself felt the more because the province was settled

by people of different races. The knowledge which everyone should

possess of the laws of his country could only be attained by

codification. The sources whence those laws were derived were so varied

that an acquaintance with them demanded great research. Part of the

civil laws of Lower Canada had been borrowed from the Roman law; part

from a body of jurisprudence known as the Custom of Paris; part was

found in the Edicts and Ordonnances, and in the Provincial Statutes. The

time was ripe for this great and beneficent work. The peasantry of Lower

Canada had been emancipated from the control of the seigneurs. The land

laws which had ruled them had been swept away, and an improved system of

jurisprudence, suited to the new state of things, was demanded. Mr.

Cartier was determined to satisfy this demand. But there were those in

parliament who wished to proceed farther than he then wanted to go. The

Hon. Mr. Drummond, attorney-general in the late administration, and an

able jurist, was of opinion that the laws of both provinces should be

assimilated, so that there might be but one code for Canada. The reply

of Attorney-General Cartier was to the effect that it was necessary to

begin first with the codification, of those laws which Lower Canada

imperatively demanded. After this, it would be time to think about

accomplishing what was proposed. The measure passed through the House of

Assembly and the Legislative Council without opposition. The

commissioners appointed by the government to codify the laws began their

labors in 1859, and finished them in 1864. Some readers of this sketch

will remember the occasion on which, in the Legislative Assembly in the

city of Quebec, Attorney-General Cartier rose to move the resolution

which would make the Civil Code the law of the land. He addressed the

house in French, and with more seriousness and deliberation than marked

his ordinary utterances. He spoke with the feeling of a man who is

conscious that he is placing the crowning stone on an edifice which has

cost him years of labor and anxiety to build. As he finished with the

words, “I desire no better epitaph than this—‘He accomplished the Civil

Code,’” the house did honour to itself and to him by a hearty burst of

applause. The eastern townships of Lower Canada are peopled mainly by an

English-speaking population. But the French Canadians, in course of

time, found their way into these districts. The result was, that there

were two systems of civil law. To remedy this evil, Mr. Cartier prepared

and carried through parliament a measure which introduced the French

Civil laws into the eastern townships, and rendered uniform the holding

of lands. Another most important measure which he succeeded in passing

during the session of 1857 was an Act for the Decentralization of

Justice. Its object was to cheapen justice, and to render it more easily

attainable. “The administration of justice in criminal cases, and in all

civil matter where the amount involved was over fifty pounds, was

confined to seven places: Quebec, Montreal, Three Rivers, St. Francis,

Aylmer, Sherbrooke and Gaspé, in a country exceeding seven hundred or

eight hundred miles in length.” The act divided Lower Canada into

nineteen judicial districts, adding twelve to those already mentioned.

It provided for the erection of courts of justice and prisons in the new

districts, increased the number of the judges of the Superior Court to

eighteen, and the number of the judges of the Court of Appeal to five.

The act provided that there should be four terms of the Court of Appeal

in Quebec, and made other regulations respecting procedure and the

salaries of the judges. The care and labor which this statute imposed on

Mr. Cartier, in originating it, in passing it through the house, and in

devising the multifarious machinery necessary to put it into successful

operation, were enough to have overcome a man of less mental and

physical energy. The majority of the people of Lower Canada welcomed the

Act with open arms, and it endeared its author to his French Canadian

fellow-countrymen. The parliament of 1857 had not been long in session

when the question of the permanent seat of government again came to the

front. In the previous session, as we have seen, the Assembly had

decided that Quebec should be the capital and had authorized the

expenditure of $200,000 for the erection of necessary buildings. But the

Legislative Council had refused its assent to the supplies. The

question, therefore, in 1857, was practically undecided: and so thought

a great many of the members. The ministry decided to overlook the

Assembly’s vote last session in favor of Quebec; and resolved to leave

the question of the permanent seat of government to the decision of the

Queen. The ministry further proposed that a vote of $900,000 should be

taken for the erection of new parliamentary and departmental buildings.

Attorney-General Cartier was of opinion that many of the members could

not have been serious in voting in favor of Quebec; his reason being

that they had voted immediately afterwards against the expenditure of

the $200,000. Besides, the Legislative Council had refused assent to the

supplies. The government would not act unless the two branches of the

legislature were in agreement; but it was impossible to have the consent

of the Council. The better plan, therefore, in his opinion, was to leave

to her Majesty the selection of the future capital of Canada. This

proposition was opposed by many members from the lower province. Mr. J.

E. Thibaudeau moved an amendment to the effect that it was not expedient

to take into consideration the question of the seat of government,

because it had been decided the previous session. He contended that the

rejection of the supplies by the Legislative Council was not a

sufficient ground for annulling the decision of the Legislative

Assembly, the more especially as many councillors from Lower Canada were

absent when the vote was taken. The amendment was lost. The same fate

befell a motion to make Montreal the seat of government. The result was

that an address to the Queen, praying her to select the capital, was

carried by a majority of nine. Her Majesty selected Ottawa as the seat

of government. On the 25th of November, 1857, Colonel Taché the nominal

head of the administration, resigned office, and the Hon. John A.

Macdonald was called upon to form a new government. He made no change in

the Upper Canada section of the cabinet. At his request, Mr. Cartier

proceeded to select the ministers for Lower Canada. His object was to

combine the two political parties in his native province. Two moderate

Liberals, Messrs. Belleau and Sicotte, accepted office under Mr.

Cartier. The offer of a portfolio to the Hon. A. A. Dorion was, with the

consent of Mr. Cartier, made through Mr. Sicotte. But Mr. Dorion refused

the inducement, and remained true to his political allegiance. The

Macdonald-Cartier administration was formed on the 26th of November,

1857. Mr. Cartier was the only Lower Canadian minister who belonged to

the old cabinet. His colleagues from that province were all new men. On

the 28th of July, 1858, Mr. Piché moved an amendment: “That, in the

opinion of this chamber, the city of Ottawa ought not to be the seat of

the government of this province.” The amendment was carried by a

majority of six. The ministry, on account of this vote, tendered their

resignation next day, the 29th of July. Sir Edmund Head requested Mr.

George Brown to form an administration. This gentleman, as the leader of

the Opposition, had for years waged a resolute battle against the party

represented by the defeated ministry. Following constitutional

precedents, it was the duty of the governor-general to ask Mr. Brown to

form a cabinet. It was also his duty to smooth the way for the

accomplishment of the object he wished Mr. Brown to accomplish. But the

governor, instead of removing obstacles from Mr. Brown’s path, was the

first to place them in that gentleman’s way. He would not give to Mr.

Brown the promise of a dissolution, but he would consent to a

prorogation, if one or two measures were passed, and if a vote of credit

were taken for the supplies. Mr. Brown was thus over-weighted from the

very beginning. Still, with that political courage which had always

characterized him, he undertook the formation of a cabinet. He chose as

his colleague, and as leader of the Lower Canada section of the

government, the Hon. A. A. Dorion, a gentleman with an untarnished

political record. On the 2nd of August, 1858, Mr. Brown had completed

his task, and the cabinet took the oath of office. The existence of this

administration was brief, in fact the shortest known to our history, it

having existed for only two days when it resigned, being defeated on a

motion of want of confidence. The governor-general having in vain

requested Mr. Galt to form a cabinet, Mr. Cartier became the head of a

new Administration. He chose the Hon. John A. Macdonald as the leader of

the Upper Canada section. The government was completed on the 6th of

August. Then followed what is known as the “Double-Shuffle.” By the

Independence of Parliament Act of 1857, it was provided that if a

cabinet minister in either house should resign his office, and within a

month afterwards accept another, he should not go back to his

constituents. Some of the members of the Macdonald-Cartier government,

who had entered the Cartier-Macdonald government, took advantage of this

law in order to avoid the ordeal of re-election. They accepted, on the

6th of August, in the Cartier-Macdonald cabinet, offices different from

those they had held in the Macdonald-Cartier cabinet. But on the 7th of

August they discarded their portfolios of the 6th, and resumed those

which they had held in the Macdonald-Cartier administration when it

resigned on the 29th of July. Mr. Cartier, when he resigned, on the 29th

of July, was attorney-general for Lower Canada. On the 6th of August he

became inspector-general. On the 7th of August he resumed the office of

attorney-general. This constituted the “Double Shuffle.” The action

cannot be defended, and he never attempted to defend it. The ministry

seemed to be ashamed of the part they had played. Many of their own

supporters blamed them. The political conscience of the country seemed

to have become sensitive, when it fully realized the extent of the wrong

which had been done to constitutional and parliamentary government. The

ministry were forced, by public opinion, to repeal the Independence of

Parliament Act, under which they had accomplished the “Double-Shuffle.”

The Cartier-Macdonald administration, after it had been formed,

announced that it would give serious attention to the question of a

Federal Union of the Provinces of North America. They further promised

that they would approach the imperial authorities on the subject, and

also enter into communication with the governments of the Maritime

provinces. After the session of 1858, Messrs. Cartier, Galt and Ross

visited England in the interest of a Federal Union. To communications

from the colonial secretary on the subject of union, the government of

the Maritime provinces answered by requesting time for the consideration

of the project. The result was that no action was at that time taken.

The Cartier-Macdonald government proceeded no farther in the direction

of union. On this visit to England, Attorney-General Cartier was, for

three days, the guest of the Queen at Windsor Castle. Parliament was

opened, in Toronto, in the month of January, 1859. The question of the

seat of government again came to the front. The ministry stated that

they were obliged to uphold the Queen’s decision in favor of Ottawa. Mr.

Sicotte, who had left the cabinet on this question, proposed an

amendment to the Address in reply to the Speech from the Throne. He had

seceded because he held that, after the vote of the Legislative Assembly

at its last session, the government could not abide by the decision of

the Queen without violating the principle that the majority should rule.

The amendment he now proposed was to the effect that the principles of

the Constitution required that the opinion of the majority should be

respected; and that, in declaring, during the preceding session, that

Ottawa should not be the capital, the house had expressed its views in

conformity with the ordinary and constitutional exercise of its

privileges. Mr. Langevin seconded the amendment. He was of opinion that

Attorney-General Cartier could not make any one believe that Ottawa was

the most convenient place for the seat of government. The capital ought

not to be fixed before the question of Confederation was decided. Mr.

Cartier argued that the conduct of the cabinet in this matter was

constitutional. The simple declaration, by the house, that Ottawa ought

not to be the capital, did not suffice to set aside the Queen’s

decision, and bind the ministry to take account of it. The choice of

Ottawa was a good one, because the immediate pressure of public opinion

would make itself less felt there than elsewhere. The French-Canadians

would find, in Ottawa, a population in part Catholic, and having the

same institutions. The result of the debate was a government majority of

only five. The Upper Canada Opposition contributed to the victory so

narrowly won. Ottawa, sorely pressed, snatched the capital from the

other competitors. The session of 1859 was marked by another advantage

secured by Mr. Cartier for his native province. This was an Act to amend

the Seignorial Act of 1854. The object of his measure was the complete

redemption of the Seignorial rights, with one exception. It was stated

that the funds provided by the Seignorial Act of 1854 had proved

insufficient for the redemption of certain feudal obligations still

pressing upon the _habitants_. For this purpose a new appropriation of

between $1,600,000 and $2,000,000 was demanded by Mr. Cartier. With the

exception of one member, Mr. Somerville, all the Lower Canada

representatives supported this measure. But the Upper Canada Liberals,

led by the Hon. George Brown, assailed the proposal with the utmost

vigor. They proclaimed that it was nothing more than an attempt to rob

Upper Canada. They opposed it in the press, and combated it with

unflinching courage on the floor of the house. But in vain: the Lower

Canada phalanx voted down all attempts to amend the measure, and with

them voted their Upper Canada allies. The end was, that the law was

carried by 66 to 28. The session of 1861 was marked by a long and

vehement debate on the question of Representation by Population. It was

opened by Mr. Ferguson proposing an amendment to the Address. The

amendment declared the regret of the house that the governor-general had

not been advised to allude to the recent census of the people, which

census the house could not but regard as preliminary to legislation upon

the great question of Parliamentary Reform, based upon the numbers and

wealth of the people, etc. The amendment was voted down by 72 to 38. The

Lower Canada phalanx and its Upper Canada allies were again victorious.

Mr. Ferguson then proposed a measure in modification of the existing

system of representation. The new project was to give to a county of at

least 15,000 inhabitants one representative; to a county of 20,000, two

representatives. Mr. Cartier, in a strong and uncompromising speech,

announced his unalterable opposition to what he styled the unjust

pretensions of Upper Canada. He maintained that the upper province had

no right under the Union Act, to claim a larger representation than

Lower Canada. The union had been consummated with the understanding that

the equality of the representation would be maintained. He concluded in

protesting that he would never sacrifice the rights of Lower Canada. The

government of which he was first minister would not yield Representation

by Population, in spite of the efforts of the members from Upper Canada

who advocated that measure. It must be admitted that, on this particular

question, Mr. Cartier shows to great disadvantage. The lawyer and the

sectionalist are seen everywhere: the statesman and the Canadian

nowhere. Because the Union Act was silent on the subject of

representation, the great upper province must chafe under a galling

injustice. Containing 285,000 people more than Lower Canada, this vast

number was to remain without a voice to make known their wishes in the

councils of the country. In this instance, Mr. Cartier showed himself

devoid of that rare element, political equity: the element that

distinguishes the statesman from the politician. After a discussion

prolonged through several days, the measure of Mr. Ferguson was defeated

by a majority of 18. For the motion 49; against it, 67. Upper Canada had

49 representatives who voted for the motion, and a dozen who voted

against it. If Mr. Cartier had been a man of ordinary political

prescience on this question he would have foreseen, from this vote, that

Upper Canada was determined to have her claims satisfied, and that it

would not be possible much longer to refuse them. The parliament was

prorogued on the 18th of May, 1861. On the 16th of June following, it

was dissolved by proclamation. In the general election which followed,

Mr. Cartier defeated Mr. Dorion in Montreal East. The seventh parliament

of the province of Canada was opened on the 20th of March, 1862. In the

debate on the Address, the burning question of Representation by

Population again came up. The Hon. William Macdougall, one of its most

able and ardent supporters, moved an amendment to the Address. It set

forth that, by the recent census, the population of Upper Canada

exceeded that of Lower Canada, in February, 1861, by no fewer than

285,427 souls. The amendment expressed the regret of the house that the

governor-general had not been advised to recommend some measure for

securing to this large population in Upper Canada their rightful share

of the parliamentary representation, and their just influence in the

government. The Hon. John Hillyard Cameron, though Conservative as he

was, raised his eloquent voice in favor of the claims of Upper Canada.

But facts, reasoning, justice, pleaded in vain. The Lower Canada

majority, to a man, voted down Mr. Macdougall’s proposition; but he was

supported by forty-two of the representatives of Upper Canada. Mr.

Cartier, this session, failed again to see that the headlong voting of

his followers was paralyzing the constitution which, in their common

political blindness, they fancied they were perpetuating. But the day of

his supremacy was drawing to a close. His colleague, the Hon. John A.

Macdonald, brought forward a measure intended to increase the efficiency

of the militia. It was based on the suggestions of a special commission,

amongst whose members were Mr. Cartier and Mr. Macdonald. The

commissioners recommended that an active force of 50,000 men should

submit to a drill extending over twenty-eight days in each year; and

that a reserve of an equal number should be embodied. The opposition at

once began to question the ministry. The Hon. Mr. Galt, the minister of

finance, informed them that he would ask for $850,000 to set the new

scheme in operation. After this outlay, the annual expenditure would be

about $500,000. The French Canadian constituencies took the alarm. They

dreaded a conscription which would every year take away so many

thousands of needed workers from their homes and farms. They raised

their voices against the enormous increase of the provincial liabilities

which this new scheme would necessitate. Some of the friends of the

government sought in vain to induce them to modify the measure. They

defied a vote. On the second reading the vote was taken. The government

was beaten by 61 to 54. Mr. Macdonald was supported by a majority of

seven votes from Upper Canada; but Mr. Cartier was left in a minority of

thirteen. His political power was shattered. On the 21st of May, 1862,

he tendered his resignation. The Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald, at the

invitation of Lord Monck, succeeded in forming a cabinet. How it was

compelled to resign, and how successive cabinets were subjected to a

similar ordeal; how the scheme of Confederation was matured, as the only

way out of the dead-lock, it will be the province of other sketches to

detail. At present, our concern is with Mr. Cartier alone. To those who

can remember the political events of 1863 and 1865, it is needless to

say that Mr. Cartier succeeded in forcing the scheme of Confederation on

Lower Canada. He had managed to array on his side, amongst other

influences, those of the Roman Catholic church. Against a scheme thus

supported the efforts of the Liberals were directed in vain. The cry of

Confederation swept Lower Canada like a hurricane. Under the new system

of Confederation, Mr. Cartier was, on the 18th of July, 1867, appointed

minister of defence for the Dominion. In August, 1868, he was created a

baronet of the United Kingdom. He represented Montreal East in the

Quebec Legislature from the union until the general election of 1871,

when he was chosen as member for Beauharnois. He remained in the local

parliament until the abolition of dual representation. To his credit be

it said that the majority of the British population of Lower Canada

looked up to him, when he was a member of the Quebec Assembly, as their

special champion. This they did, to the setting aside of the timid and

trimming representatives of their own nationality. It must be admitted

that, from the era of Confederation, the political stature of Sir George

Cartier began to grow less. Larger interests than those of Lower Canada

usurped the public attention. His province had no grievances to bring

into the Confederation. He was still her foremost man, but she needed

him no longer as her champion. In the general election of 1872 he

suffered the mortification of defeat in Montreal East. He sought

political shelter in the distant Manitoba county of Provencher, a region

wherein he had never set foot. He was in England when, in 1873, the

Pacific Scandal burst, like a thunderclap, upon the people of Canada.

That Sir George was deeply implicated in the degrading bargain was only

too clear. He died in England, on the 20th of May, 1873. On the 13th of

June following, his remains were accorded, in Montreal, the honor of a

public funeral. Men of all ranks and nationalities made up the

multitudes who escorted his remains to their last resting-place, in the

cemetery on the Montreal mountain.

-----

[4] It is but justice, however, to the Legislative Council of Lower

Canada to say that, on more than one occasion, in those times of

political tumult, the refusal of that body to yield to the Legislative

Assembly was the means of preserving the interests of the British

minority from being sacrificed.

[5] The italics and small capitals are in the original.

[6] The _tuque bleu_ is the blue woollen night-cap, the distinctive

national head-dress of the _habitants_.

* * * * *

=Brown, William.=—This gentleman, in conjunction with Thomas Gilmore,

started the first printing press in Canada. Nothing is known of them

beyond that they came from Philadelphia to Quebec, in 1763, having

formed the idea of starting newspapers in Canada; that immeasurable

difficulties beset them in their arduous undertaking, not the least of

which was that Mr. Brown had to proceed to England to procure the proper

materials, such as press, ink and paper, before he could issue his first

broadsheet. On his return he opened his printing office, and on the 21st

of June, 1764, brought out the first number of the Quebec _Gazette_. He

had only one hundred and fifty subscribers, but, nevertheless, he

succeeded in introducing “a new and potent element of civilization.”

* * * * *

=Cook, Rev. John=, D.D., LL.D., Quebec, for many years minister of St.

Andrew’s Church, of that city, but now retired, was born in Sanquhar,

Dumfriesshire, Scotland, on the 13th April, 1805, and educated at the

universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, where he studied under Dr.

Chalmers. Dr. Cook was ordained a clergyman of the Church of Scotland in

1835, and came to Canada in 1836. He has ever since taken a prominent

part, first in the affairs of the Presbyterian Church of Canada in

connection with the Church of Scotland, and since the general union of

Presbyterians, in 1875, in those of the United Church. In 1844, when

those who sympathised with the secession from the church in Scotland

withdrew from the Canadian church in connection with the Scottish

establishment, Dr. Cook was, for the second time, after the departure of

the Free Church party, elected moderator of the Synod. He opposed the

division of the Canadian church, maintaining that, without regard to the

divisions in Scotland, it was the duty of Canadian Presbyterians to

remain united in upholding the general interests of Presbyterians in

Canada. While steadily laboring to promote the extension of the old

branch of the Presbyterian church, Dr. Cook remained consistent to his

opinions of 1844, and at the Synod of 1861 proposed a resolution, the

effect of which was to promote the union of all the Presbyterians of the

province. At the time this failed, but in 1875 the union so manifestly

desirable, though long retarded by mutual prejudices, was brought about,

and by the general sense of the united church, and in recognition of his

exertions to restore union, Dr. Cook was chosen first moderator of the

Presbyterian Church of the Dominion. In connection with the church, Dr.

Cook was one of the delegates sent home to obtain a Royal charter for

the University of Queen’s College, Kingston, of which he was long a

trustee, and over which he presided as principal in 1857 and 1858. In

1855, when the clergy of the Church of Scotland in the province,

sacrificing their own interests for the benefit of the church, created

with the proceeds of their allowances a general endowment fund, Dr. Cook

acted for his brethren, and it was through him that the commutation with

the government was effected. Both before and since the union, Dr. Cook’s

great ability and energy have enabled him to render the greatest

services to the church. He has had a large share in all branches of

church work, and no clergyman is better known or more respected

throughout the dominion. In 1875, Dr. Cook was the spokesman of a

delegation from Canada to the General Assembly of the Church of

Scotland, which sought and obtained the approval of the mother church to

the then contemplated union. While zealously laboring in ecclesiastical

matters, Dr. Cook has been a useful and public-spirited citizen of

Quebec, taking part, not only in purely religious affairs, but in many

others of a public nature. In 1845, memorable in the history of Quebec

for the two great fires by which the suburb of St. Roch and the suburb

of St. John were consumed, Dr. Cook, as a member of the relief

committee, took an active part in the aid of the sufferers, and the

masterly defence of the committee at the close of its labors, in answer

to the charges of the London committee, was from his pen. In 1866, when

St. Roch and St. Sauveur suburbs were again swept by another disastrous

fire, his experience was found very valuable, and he gave it freely,

together with active assistance in promoting relief measures. At many

public meetings he has eloquently advocated what he deemed to be for the

public good. But it is perhaps in the matter of education that Dr. Cook

has been most useful in Quebec. The High School, justly regarded as one

of the best schools in the country, was established mainly through his

exertions in 1843, and for many years, as chairman of the board of

directors, he took a warm interest in its struggles and its success. Dr.

Cook was named by the late Dr. Morin as principal of the college then

about to be established in Quebec with the funds given by him for that

purpose, and since 1861 Dr. Cook has filled, as he still does, the

office of principal. In 1880, the degree of LL.D. was conferred on him

by Queen’s University, Kingston; that of D.D. he holds from the

University of Glasgow. In 1883, Dr. Cook retired from the active duties

of the ministry, amid the hearty regrets of his beloved congregation.

Dr. Cook’s preaching accords with the straightforward energy of his

character. His sermons are distinguished by close adherence to the

special point under consideration, by logical precision and practical

earnestness. They contain many passages marked by beauty as well as

power. A volume of them has been lately published, which has been

reviewed in a very favorable light by both the secular and religious

press. We extract the following from a review in the Halifax

_Presbyterian Witness_:—

These doctrinal treatises give us a glimpse of the teaching

which has ministered to the people of St. Andrew’s Church,

Quebec, for a long period. They bring up before our minds many a

quiet Sabbath, and many a solemn and impressive service in that

old historic town. These addresses, replete with true and

unpretending eloquence, must have been listened to with the

breathless attention and stillness of beating hearts. These are

evangelical inasmuch as they give prominence to the great facts

and dogmas of Christianity. Not to present these in their proper

place, connexion and views, is not to present the divine remedy

for man’s spiritual disorders, but something else. They do not

present the gospel as if it were a system of ethics merely, or

even a scheme of moral duties. They do not ignore the fact of

sin or the need of regeneration in order to holy obedience. But

they are also evangelical in this higher sense, that, while they

build upon evangelical fact and evangelical dogma, and assume

that the teachings of Christ and the Apostles are divine, they

do not merely reiterate, but explain, defend, illustrate and

enforce these evangelical elements. There is throughout an

endeavor to show the reasonableness of gospel truth—its

internal harmony—its conformableness to the fitness of things,

and its agreement with the natural impressions of the human mind

and the demands of the moral sense. In this respect these

sermons are like those of Vinet, F. W. Robertson, and the great

preachers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and they

are as able and eloquent. Dr. Cook’s discourses are especially

adapted for cultivated readers. By such a class they cannot fail

to be greatly appreciated. They are calm and elevating treatises

upon great gospel themes. The preacher has utterly discarded the

traditional sermon mould. Unshackled by pulpit traditions, he

handles each subject with the skill of a great orator and

teacher. The language is impressive, and the metaphors and

illustrations are appropriate. His starting-points are skilfully

chosen, and from these he advances, gradually opening up his

subject, so that it becomes more and more luminous to the close.

Whatever the subject be, it is made to appear reasonable and

accordant with those principles upon which men reason and act in

common life. Sometimes he states and accentuates an apparent

incongruity in morals or religion, and the discourse is then

devoted to its solution. It is to be hoped that many persons,

and especially many ministers, may be induced to read discourses

so full of instruction, so admirable as models of pulpit

teaching, and so interesting as a memorial of the pulpit of St.

Andrew’s Church, Quebec, and its noble and venerable occupant

for so many long and eventful years.

Dr. Cook has a family of five surviving children, all of whom are now

grown up to man’s and woman’s estate. One of his daughters is the wife

of Andrew Thomson, of Quebec, president of the Union Bank, of that city.

Two of his sons—William and Archibald Cook—are eminent members of the

Quebec bar, in large practice, and the former is a Q.C. His youngest

daughter is the wife of Edward Greenshields, a merchant in Montreal, and

a director of the Montreal Bank.

* * * * *

=Macdonald, Hon. John=, Toronto, Senator of the Dominion of Canada, is

one of the most enterprizing and successful of the merchants Canada is

proud of. He is a Scotchman by birth, having been born in Perthshire, in

December, 1824, and when a mere lad came to this country. He received

his educational training, first at the Regimental School of the 93rd

Sutherland Highlanders, in which regiment his father served;

subsequently at Dalhousie College, Halifax, and then at the Bay street

Academy, Toronto, which at that time was conducted by the late Mr. Boyd,

father of Chancellor Boyd, of Ontario. In this academy our future

senator had the honor of winning the medal for classics. After leaving

school, he chose the mercantile profession, and leaving Toronto, entered

the employ of C. & J. Macdonald, general merchants at Gananoque, where

he served for two years. Returning to Toronto, he took a position in the

mercantile house of the late Walter McFarlane, on King street east, who

at that time was doing perhaps the largest business in Upper Canada.

After working in this establishment for about six years, he was

compelled, through failing health, to give up his situation, and seek

change of climate. With this end in view, he sailed for Jamaica in 1847,

and, after resting for a short time, entered the mercantile house of

Nethersoll & Co., the largest on the island. Here Mr. Macdonald remained

for somewhat less than a year, when he returned to Toronto. In 1849 he

commenced business on his own account, in a shop on Yonge street, near

Richmond street, and made the then bold attempt to establish there an

exclusively dry goods business. The venture having proved a success, in

1853 he moved to larger premises on Wellington street, not far from his

present warehouse, and here was laid the foundation of the present large

wholesale importing house of John Macdonald & Co. After a period of nine

years of successful business in this warehouse, Mr. Macdonald removed to

larger and handsomer premises on the south side of Wellington street,

which after a while proved too small for his ever-increasing business,

and a few years ago he was compelled to enlarge these premises, which he

did by adding another pile of buildings, which now occupies the ground

formerly covered by the North American Hotel and the Newbigging House on

Front street. These premises were bought at a great outlay of capital.

They have a frontage of 100 feet, with 140 feet in depth, and are six

stories high. About one hundred men are employed, including the buyers

in the British and American markets, and the establishment is, without

doubt, the largest of its kind in Canada, and will compare favorably

with any of the wholesale houses in the largest cities in the United

States. Mr. Macdonald, realizing the idea that the world had claims upon

him outside his warehouse, entered public life as member for West

Toronto, in the Legislative Assembly of Canada. His opponent on this

occasion for parliamentary honors was the Hon. John Beverley Robinson,

late lieutenant-governor of Ontario, whom he defeated by a majority of

462 votes, and then sat in parliament until confederation was

accomplished. At the next general election he was defeated for the House

of Commons by the late Robert Harrison, who afterwards became chief

justice of Ontario. In 1875, a vacancy having occurred in Centre

Toronto, a constituency established in 1872, Mr. Macdonald was invited

to become a candidate, and having consented, he was returned by

acclamation. In 1878, however, when the national policy cry was raised,

and people imagined they could be made rich by Act of Parliament, Mr.

Macdonald was defeated by Robert Hay, by a majority of 490 votes. In

politics Mr. Macdonald has always been what may be styled an independent

Liberal, discarding party views when they seemed to trammel his settled

convictions. He opposed the coalition of 1864, and voted against the

confederation of the provinces. This attitude towards party, when its

claims conflicted with duty, he clearly defined in his reply to a

request asking him to be a candidate in 1875. He promised to give the

government a cheerful support, but declined to promise more; and, to the

credit of the requisitionists, they conceded to him in advance a perfect

freedom of judgment in deciding upon all questions. Mr. Macdonald takes

a deep interest in all public questions, and is never afraid to speak

out boldly when the occasion demands it. During the exciting debates

that took place in the Board of Trade during the fall of 1887, on the

question of commercial union with the United States, he was present, and

made his voice to be heard. Indeed, he has the honor of being the author

of the resolution which carried, and was the means of allaying the

political feeling that was beginning to show itself in that important

body. The resolution alluded to was as follows:—

That this Board desires to place on record the conviction that

the largest possible freedom of commercial intercourse between

our own country and the United States, compatible with our

relation to Great Britain, is desirable.

That this Board will do everything in its power to bring about

the consummation of such a result.

That in its estimation a treaty which ignored any of the

interests of our own country or which gave undue prominence to

any one to the neglect or to the injury of any other, is one

that could not be entertained.

That in our agricultural, mineral, manufacturing, and our

diversified mercantile interests, in our fisheries, forests, and

other products, we possess in a rare and in an extraordinary

degree all the elements which go to make a people great,

prosperous and self-reliant.

That these are fitting inducements to any nation to render

reciprocity with Canada a thing to be desired, and such as

should secure for us a reciprocal treaty with the United States

of the broadest and most generous character which, while fully

recognising these conditions, would contain guarantees which

would prove of mutual and abiding ad vantage to both nations;

but that this Board cannot entertain any proposal which would

place Great Britain at any disadvantage as compared with the

United States, or which would tend in any measure, however

small, to weaken the bonds which bind us to the Empire.

Education has claimed some of Mr. Macdonald’s time, and for some years

he has been a senator of the Provincial University, Toronto, a visitor

of Victoria College, Cobourg, and a member of the High School Board. In

all religious and moral movements he has lent his aid, and is always

ready to help everything calculated to elevate humanity, by tongue, pen

and purse. Mr. Macdonald is a member of the Methodist church, and had it

not been that his health failed him when a young man, and on the advice

of his physician, he would have studied for the ministry, and to this

church he has for many years devoted much time and talents. He has long

been a member of the executive committee of its General Conference, and

treasurer of the Missionary Society. Outside of his own denomination he

has taken a conspicuous part in the work of the Evangelical Alliance,

the Bible Society, the Temperance reform, the General Hospital, and the

Young Men’s Christian Association, and has been twice elected president

at the united convention of Ontario and Quebec. Mr. Macdonald has been a

director in several business companies, and was, at the last annual

meeting of the Board of Trade, elected a member of its executive

council. In 1887 he made the handsome donation of $40,000 towards the

erection of a new city hospital, as a memorial of his daughter Amy, who

during her lifetime took a very deep interest in this kind of charity.

And since then he has also donated a large sum of money to enable his

church to carry out its scheme of establishing a university in Toronto.

Mr. Macdonald has written two very interesting _brochures_, “Business

Success,” originally a lecture, and a practical address to “The Young

Men of his Warehouse,” both of which should be in the hands of young

men. In November, 1887, he was chosen a senator of the Dominion, a

choice which reflects great credit on Sir John A. Macdonald, and which

has been approved of by all political parties. Mr. Macdonald’s career is

a striking instance of what energy and perseverance, combined with

integrity and uprightness, may accomplish for a young man just starting

upon life’s battle.

* * * * *

=Gouin, Antoine Nemese=, Sorel, Quebec, was born on February 25th, 1821,

in the parish of Ste. Anne de la Pérade, Quebec. He is a son of Charles

Gouin, merchant, and Marguerite Elizabeth Richer Lafleche, his wife,

first cousin to his grace Bishop Lafleche. In 1825, Mr. and Mrs. Gouin

removed from Ste. Anne to Sorel, then called the borough of William

Henry. The subject of this sketch attended the College of St. Hyacinthe,

from 1832 to 1839, and on leaving this seminary of learning entered the

office of Cherrier & Mondelet, in Montreal, to study law, and was

admitted to the bar in November, 1843. He practised his profession in

Montreal for two years, when he removed to Sorel, where he has resided

ever since. At the general election in December, 1851, he was elected

member of parliament for the county of Richelieu, as a

Liberal-Conservative, and, as such, took part in the discussions on all

the leading questions of the day, such as the clergy reserves, the

seignorial tenure, the Grand Trunk Railway, etc. On May 18th, 1858, he

was appointed prothonotary of the Superior Court, clerk of the crown, of

the peace, and of the circuit court, in and for the district of

Richelieu, which office he is still holding. Mr. Gouin is a French

Canadian and a Roman Catholic. He was married March 18th, 1863, to Adele

Catherine Penton, daughter of Henry Penton, sen., of Pentonville,

England, and of Catherine Cordier de la Houssaye, a French lady. Mrs.

Gouin was born in Calais, France, on October 25th, 1825, and died at

Sorel, on February 19th, 1886, leaving two daughters and a son—the

issue of her first marriage with Assistant Commissary-General James

Lane.

* * * * *

=Clinch, Robert Thomson=, St. John, N.B., is descended from an old Irish

family of record in Ireland since the time of Edward the Second. His

ancestors, Peter and Simon Clinch, took an active part on the Stuart

side, in the troublous times of James the Second and William the Third.

He was born at St. George, New Brunswick, June 27th, 1827, and is the

seventh son of Patrick and Eleanor Clinch, and grandson of Captain Peter

Clinch, who, for special services rendered the British government during

the American revolutionary war, was awarded a large tract of land.

Nearly half of the land on which the city of St. John now stands, and

where at that time Captain Clinch resided, was ungranted. Taking with

him two Indians, Captain Clinch traversed the province of New Brunswick,

and on reaching Charlotte county was so struck with the beauty of

Magaguadavic Falls that he resolved to select his land grant in this

neighborhood. He then retired from the army, and became the first

settler, and the founder of the town of St. George. This gentleman

represented Charlotte county in the first House of Assembly in New

Brunswick, which was opened in St. John, January 3rd, 1786, by Governor

Thomas Carleton. His son, Robert Clinch’s father, also represented

Charlotte county in the House of Assembly, some eight or ten years, and

was a justice of the court of common pleas, and for several years editor

of the _Provincialist_, a newspaper, published in St. Andrews. Mr.

Clinch has been connected with the telegraph service ever since its

introduction into New Brunswick, and for the past twenty years has been

superintendent in the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. He is

a member of the Church of England, and has been four times elected

representative to the Provincial Synod, and in 1880 was appointed one of

the delegates from the Provincial Synod to the convention of the

Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States, then assembled in New

York. Mr. Clinch, for thirty-four years, has been an active member of

the Masonic fraternity. In 1866 he was appointed district grand master

by the late Earl of Zetland, and after the formation of the Grand Lodge

of New Brunswick was thrice elected grand master. He is now the

representative of the Grand Lodge of England to the Grand Lodge of New

Brunswick, and is also past commander of the Knights Templars of St.

John, and a member of the supreme council of the 33rd Ancient and

Accepted Scottish Rite for the Dominion of Canada. He married in 1860,

Henrietta, daughter of George W. Cleary, barrister, who died April 3rd,

1862. In 1866 he married Helen E., daughter of Thomas Barlow, a member

of the old late house of E. Barlow & Sons.

* * * * *

=Baudouin, Philibert=, St. John’s, province of Quebec, was born at

Repentigny, Quebec, April 27th, 1836. He is a son of Pierre Baudouin and

Margaret Hétu, his wife. He is a descendant of Jean Baudouin, who was a

resident of Montreal in 1663, and whose son, Guillaume, settled at

Repentigny, on the estate where M. Baudouin was born, and which has been

in the family since its cession by the seigneur in 1698. The family name

of Baudouin is derived from the language of old Gaul, and is the origin

of the name Baldwin, which was first spelled Baudwin. The subject of

this sketch was educated at L’Assomption College, and took a full

classical course. He is a notary public for the province of Quebec, and

in 1858 resided at Coteau Landing; in 1860, at Iberville; from 1862 to

1873, he was county clerk, clerk of the circuit court, etc., for

Iberville county, and town clerk of Iberville; from 1875 to 1877, he was

manager of the agency of the Banque de St. Jean, at Farnham; from 1877

to 1886, cashier of the Banque de St. Jean, at St. John’s; and since

1886 he has been manager of the agency of the Banque du Peuple, at St.

John’s. He has travelled through the Eastern States, and was one of the

many thousands at the Philadelphia exposition of 1876. He is a Roman

Catholic in religion. Mr. Baudouin is a total abstainer from liquor, and

is in the enjoyment of perfect health, although a hard brain-worker. He

was married, August 22nd, 1864, to Caroline Annie Marchand, of the

Marchand family, long established in St. John’s, the most prominent of

which now are the Hon. F. G. Marchand, M.P.P., speaker of the Quebec

legislature, etc., and Henri Marchand, prothonotary, S.C., at St.

John’s; and on her mother’s side, a granddaughter of Isaac Phineas, long

agent at Maskinonge of Seigneur Pothier’s estate, and one of the English

Jews who settled in Canada about a century ago.

* * * * *

=Lamarche, Felix Oliver=, Mayor of Berthierville, province of Quebec,

was born at Montreal, Quebec, on 1st December, 1837. He is the son of

Charles Lamarche and Marguerite Tranque, his wife, who is descended from

an ancient Norman family, who, on leaving the old land, settled in

Montreal. The subject of this sketch received an elementary school

education at Berthier-en-haut. In 1839, he left Montreal for that town,

and has resided there since. He was for several years actively engaged

in the shipping interest, being the owner of several vessels, and for

nine years commanded a vessel sailing on the St. Lawrence river. As a

sailor, he was on several trips down the gulf to St. John’s, N.F.;

Halifax, N.S.; St. John, N.B.; La Baie des Chaleurs, P.E.I., etc. For

the past sixteen years he has been in the hay and grain business, and is

now one of the largest hay shippers in the province of Quebec, having

nine hay barns or sheds, with eleven hay presses, employing fifty men,

and shipping some five thousand tons of hay annually to the United

States and local markets. He is president of the Compagnie Industrial of

Berthierville, and of the bolt manufactory; was a shareholder in the

late Stadacona Insurance Company; and also in the Union Steam Navigation

Company. In politics, he is a strong Conservative, and a liberal

subscriber to its funds. He has been repeatedly solicited to allow

himself to be brought forward as a candidate in the Conservative

interest, but invariably refused. He was also offered government

positions, but would not accept them in view of his business

connections, and also because his busy life could not stand the

restraint such a position would place upon him. In religion, he is a

fervent Roman Catholic. He has been married twice—first to Alphonsine

Ducharme, on the 7th November, 1858, by whom he had two children. This

lady died on the 22nd August, 1861. Again to Caroline St. Cyr, on the

30th August, 1875, and by whom he has had seven children. Of the nine

children, three only are living.

* * * * *

=Bresse, Hon. Guillaume (William)=, Quebec, is the leading boot and shoe

manufacturer of the ancient capital, and a member of the Legislative

Council of the province of Quebec. An admirable type of the self-made

man, Mr. Bresse has risen from obscurity to a commanding position of

industrial eminence and affluence by the sheer force of native talent

and enterprise. With no other educational advantages than those afforded

by the parish school of St. Athanase, d’Iberville, P.Q., at which the

present premier of the province of Quebec, Hon. H. Mercier, also

received the rudiments of his education; he has climbed the ladder of

fortune until he now stands on the topmost rung of wealth and influence,

while still a comparatively young man. But he has not forgotten that he

was once a workingman himself. One of the largest employers of labor in

the province of Quebec, his workmen and women are more his friends than

his employees, and the interest he takes in their comfort and welfare is

altogether paternal. Born in Chambly, near Montreal, he is now in the

fifty-third year of his age. His parentage was humble, but respectable.

His father was a farmer, a typical French-Canadian _habitant_, and his

mother was a member of the Rocheleau family, of Chambly. His uncle,

Major Bresse, served in the Canadian militia under De Salaberry, at

Chateauguay, during the war of 1812, and was the Lower Canadian hero’s

most trusted lieutenant. After receiving such education as the school of

St. Athanase could impart, our subject went out into the world to earn

his own livelihood, and his life down to about 1863 was that of the

ordinary workingman, laboring for his day’s wage in Montreal and the

manufacturing centres of the New England States. During his sojourn in

the latter, he formed a close intimacy with another workingman and

fellow countryman, who has also since risen to wealth and fame in his

native province—Louis Coté, the great boot and shoe manufacturer of St.

Hyacinthe, P.Q., for many years the popular mayor of that city, and now

a member of the Dominion Labor Commission. The two young

French-Canadians were kindred spirits. Both were of an observant turn of

mind and actuated by a laudable ambition to advance themselves. Happily,

too, for themselves and their native province, they were both gifted

with more than the usual pluck and enterprise of their race. Noting the

preference given to their countrymen as factory hands in the United

States, on account of their peculiar adaptability to the work, their

orderly character, and their contentment with moderate earnings, they

quickly came to the conclusion that if the French-Canadians were so

profitable to their employers abroad, where the cost of living was high,

they would be much more so at home. They accordingly returned to Canada

with the determination to start in the business of boot and shoe

manufacturing on their own account. The old city of Quebec seemed to

offer the most favorable field for their undertaking. One of its staple

industries, shipbuilding, was declining, and a large element of the

local population were out of employment and ready to embark in any new

branch which promised steady work. The tanneries of Quebec, already

famous for the abundance and excellence of their leather, also offered

the attraction of a cheap, plentiful, and convenient supply of the raw

material, and altogether the situation appeared exceedingly propitious

to make a bold bid for the Canadian trade. But the two young adventurers

were without means or friends to help them, and their beginning was,

consequently, on a very small and humble scale. By the merest accident,

when they reached Point Levis, opposite Quebec, on their return from the

United States in the winter of 1863, they met François Langelier, then a

young lawyer returning, after completing his studies in Europe, and now

the Hon. François Langelier, mayor of Quebec and member of the House of

Commons for the electoral division of Quebec Centre. While being

conveyed through the floating ice of the St. Lawrence over to Quebec, an

acquaintanceship was formed between the three young men, which has since

ripened into a warm and lasting friendship, personal and political. The

encounter was a fortunate one for all three. To Messrs. Bresse and Coté

it was particularly so, for a few days afterwards a reference to Mr.

Langelier enabled them to secure the lease of a building in St. John’s

suburbs, on favorable terms, suited to their purpose. It has often been

asserted that the Messrs. Woodley were the pioneers of the great boot

and shoe industry of Quebec city, but such is not the case. The Woodleys

did not start in it until 1866, or three years after the firm of Coté &

Bresse, who began manufacturing with machinery in St. George street, in

St. John’s suburbs, in the spring of 1863. To these two enterprising

French-Canadians rightfully belongs the credit of leading the way in a

branch of trade which is now the most important of Quebec, and furnishes

a means of support to a larger body of the population even than the

lumber trade. From St. George street they removed to Des Fosses street,

in Quebec East, when the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Coté going to

St. Hyacinthe, and Mr. Bresse remaining in Quebec and removing to St.

Paul street. His present factory and palatial residence on Dorchester

street, Quebec East, erected in 1871, cover an entire block, and the

factory itself is the largest and finest of its kind in the city. It

gives constant employment to an average of four hundred hands, male and

female, and the quantity of boots and shoes it turns out is enormous,

while their excellence has rendered Mr. Bresse’s name famous all over

the Dominion. From Newfoundland in the east to Vancouver in the west,

his goods find a ready market, and his numerous hands are kept busy all

the year round in filling orders. In addition, Mr. Bresse is the

patentee of several valuable labor-saving machines of his own invention,

and owns a large tannery at Arthabaska, several farms in the district

surrounding Quebec, and property in Winnipeg, Montreal, and elsewhere.

He also holds a controlling interest in the St. Hyacinthe Water Works

Company, of which he is a director. He was a member of the Senecal

Syndicate which purchased the North Shore Railway from the provincial

government of Quebec, under the premiership of Hon. Mr. Chapleau, the

present Dominion secretary of state, and acted as administrator of that

road until it passed into the hands of the Canadian Pacific Railway

Company. In fact, there are but few local undertakings, financial or

industrial, in which he has not been, or is not now, concerned, and he

may be truly said to be an eminently successful man. As a citizen, he is

deservedly held in the highest respect, and his fellow townsmen some

years ago marked their confidence in him by electing him as one of their

representatives in the city council for Jacques Cartier ward. He sat in

the council for one term, after which he declined re-election on account

of the demands of his extensive business upon his time. As an employer

of labor, he is probably one of the most popular in Quebec, having a

genuine workingman’s sympathy for workingmen, and treating them more as

his children than his servants. In politics, Mr. Bresse has always been

a warm and consistent Liberal, and the opposition leader in the Dominion

parliament, the silver-tongued Laurier, has no stronger admirer or

supporter in his constituency of Quebec East. Hon. H. Mercier, the

present premier of the province, is also one of his warmest friends, and

it was by his government that Mr. Bresse was, in December, 1887, called

with general public approval to the Legislative Council as the

representative of Les Laurentides division upon the resignation of Hon.

J. E. Gingras. On that occasion, the pleasant relations existing between

him and his employees was marked by their presentation to him of a

congratulatory address. In religion, he is a Roman Catholic, like the

great majority of his fellow countrymen. He is unmarried.

* * * * *

=Moreau, Right Rev. Louis Zephirin=, Bishop of St. Hyacinthe, St.

Hyacinthe, Quebec, was born at Becancourt, province of Quebec, the 1st

of April, 1824. His father was Louis Moreau, farmer, and his mother,

Marie Margaret Champoux. He followed a classical course of study at the

seminary of Nicolet, from 1839 to 1844, and taught in the same college

for upwards of two years. In September, 1846, he went to the palace of

the Bishop of Montreal, where he was ordained a priest in December of

the same year. From 1846 to 1852, he remained at the palace in the

capacity of chaplain to the cathedral, and assistant secretary of the

diocese. On the 2nd of November, 1852, he left Montreal for St.

Hyacinthe, as secretary to the first bishop of that place, Monseigneur

J. C. Prince. He then occupied the position of parish priest and

vicar-general of the diocese. On the 19th of November, 1875, he was

appointed by His Holiness Pope Pius the IX. the fourth bishop of St.

Hyacinthe, and was consecrated on 16th January, 1876. Since then his

lordship has made two trips to Rome in the interest of his diocese,

which is comprised of 120,000 Roman Catholics, and 18,000 Protestants,

containing seventy-six churches, one hundred and sixty priests, two

seminaries, three colleges, two male communities, five communities of

women, and five hospitals in charge of nuns. The St. Hyacinthe Cathedral

is one of the finest edifices in the Dominion, and it is owing to Bishop

Moreau’s indefatigable efforts and energy that the citizens are indebted

for its erection, as well as for the establishment of the other

above-mentioned institutions of learning and benevolence.

* * * * *

=Stevens, Hon. Gardner Green=, Waterloo, province of Quebec, was born on

13th December, 1814, at Brompton, Quebec. His father was born at

Newfane, Windham county, Vermont, and his grandfather, Lemuel Stevens,

at Petersham, Worcester county, Mass. The family moved into Canada soon

after the close of the struggle for the independence of the colonies,

they being strong adherents of the British crown. His mother came from

Brookfield, Vt. His father, Gardner Stevens, was one of the early

settlers in Brompton, and was, in his day, an industrious, well-to-do

farmer, and a prominent citizen. He met with an accident in 1845, when

sixty-three years of age, which terminated fatally. The subject of this

sketch received the ordinary education of farmers’ sons in this locality

fifty years ago; aided his father in cultivating the soil until of age;

then took charge of a farm, mill, and store at Waterville, county of

Compton, and was thus employed for ten years, when, in March, 1851, he

became agent for the British American Loan Company, taking up his

residence at Waterloo, and he has since devoted his attention almost

entirely to that agency. Except four years spent at Roxton Falls, he has

resided there for thirty years, holding various positions of trust and

honor, both at Roxton and Waterloo. While at the former place, he was

municipal councillor and mayor of the town. Here he has been justice of

the peace for a long period; has been councillor, mayor of the township

from 1870 to 1875 inclusive, and warden of the county. While warden he

was _ex-officio_ a director of the South-Eastern Railway. He has been a

director, and is now president, of the Stanstead, Shefford, and Chambly

Railway, of which company he was the first treasurer. He is one of those

enterprising men who like to have a hand in any movement calculated to

benefit the country—its material interests, or for the improvement of

the people. Since February 19th, 1876, he has represented the

constituency of Bedford in the Senate of the Dominion, taking the place

of Hon. Asa B. Foster, who resigned that year. In 1847, Senator Stevens

married Relief Jane, daughter of Sidney Spafford, of Compton, and has

issue five children—three sons and two daughters. The family attend the

Methodist church. It was during the first term of Senator Stevens’

service in the mayor’s chair that Prince Arthur visited Waterloo, June

13, 1870, and he had the honor of presenting an address to His Royal

Highness. The _Chronicler_ of Shefford thus speaks of our subject: “Mr.

Stevens is emphatically a self-made man, and like all men of his class,

his perceptive faculties, sharpened by cultivation, made him keenly

cognizant of whatever affects his own interests, or anything committed

to his trust. A man of extensive reading and retentive memory, with

ready powers of conversation, he is eminently qualified to amuse or

instruct. Accustomed to habits of industry, he appreciates this quality

in others, and while he is ever ready to assist the young man who is

bravely fighting the battle of life, he has no sympathy for one who

shrinks from hardships, or who, with everything in his favor, makes

shipwreck of his possessions.”

* * * * *

=Wood, Rev. Enoch=, D.D.—This reverend gentleman, who died at

Davenport, Toronto, on the 31st January, 1888, was among the early

missionaries sent out to America from the old country. He was born in

Lincolnshire, England, in 1804, and entered the service of the Wesleyan

Missionary Society in 1825. After serving for three years in the West

Indian missions, he was transferred to the province of New Brunswick,

where he labored for nineteen years. At the close of this term of

service he was appointed by the British conference superintendent of

missions in Canada, when he removed his residence to Toronto. Dr. Wood

had pastoral charges in St. John, N.B., in 1829, 1836, 1838, 1841, and

1844, and in Fredericton in 1846, in addition to others in New

Brunswick. Of his work in that province, a writer says:—“The older

Methodists of New Brunswick still treasure the memory of his long and

powerful labors among them with emotions of almost filial gratitude, and

recall his gentle, lovable manner and character with ever fresh

delight.” In 1874, Dr. Wood came to Toronto as superintendent of

missions, and afterwards as missionary secretary, and continued to hold

that office while he was president of the Wesleyan Conference for seven

years, from 1851 to 1857. He was again president of the conference in

1862. The honorary degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by Victoria

University, in 1860. He was elected first president of the Toronto

Conference in 1874, after the union of the several denominations in that

year. He was on the list of superannuated ministers at the time of his

death. Dr. Wood had been suffering for several years, and had been

confined to his room, but he bore his illness with great patience and

Christian resignation. He was strongly attached to the old-fashioned

Methodism, and was a conservative with regard to any changes. He was a

man of great tenderness, and of a very sympathetic nature, which made

him a very impressive preacher. His sermons were suggestive rather than

exhaustive. He possessed a very considerable amount of administrative

ability, and presided with dignity over the conference during the time

he was president. The death of his son-in-law, Rev. Dr. Nelles, some

months ago, gave him a great shock, which doubtless hastened his end. He

left behind him a daughter, the widow of the late Rev. Dr. Nelles, and

two sons, John and R. A. Wood, of Toronto.

* * * * *

=Courtney, Rev. Dr. Frederick=, Episcopal Bishop of Nova Scotia, is a

native of Plymouth, England, and is fifty years old. He was educated in

part at Christ’s Hospital, first at the preparatory school at Hartford,

then the Bluecoat School in Newgate street, London. After that he

graduated in the first class from King’s College, London, in 1863. He

was curate of Hadlow, near Pembridge, Kent, from 1864 to 1865; incumbent

of Charles Chapel, now St. Luke’s, Plymouth, from 1865 to 1870;

incumbent of St. Jude’s, Glasgow, Scotland, from 1870 to 1876, and

assistant minister of St. Thomas’ Church, New York, of which Dr. Morgan

is rector, from 1876 to 1880. He began his labors with St. James’

Church, Chicago, in 1880, and remained in that pastorate until March,

1882, when he removed to Boston. He was elected Bishop of Nova Scotia in

1888. Dr. Courtney is tall, erect, and well formed. He has greyish blue

eyes. His cast of mind is not one-sided, and yet it is logical,

analytical, and acute, rather than emotional, poetical, or imaginative.

In theology, he describes himself as “high, low, and broad.” It is

sufficiently evident, however, that he has no doctrinal sympathy with

ritualism, and that he is decidedly evangelical and spiritual in his

views of the Christian religion. As a preacher, Dr. Courtney in many

respects, at least, has very few equals. His sermons are about

thirty-five minutes in length. He uses no manuscript or notes, and yet

his discourses have a rhetorical finish which is marvellous. In a whole

sermon he will not hesitate for a word, or use one infelicitously. His

diction is not floral, but copious and expressive, and includes a fair

proportion of metaphor. His illustrations are drawn mostly from

Scripture, and he seems to carry the very words of the whole Bible on

his tongue’s end. His delivery is generally calm and deliberate, but

occasionally becomes impassioned. His enunciation is distinct, and his

emphasis always correct.

* * * * *

=Aubrey, Rev. François Fortunat=, Parish Priest, St. John’s, Quebec, was

born in the parish of St. Lawrence, near Montreal, in July, 1830. He is

the son of Hyacinthe Aubrey, a farmer, and Genevieve Leduc, his wife.

The great-grandfather of Hyacinthe Aubrey was an Irishman, born in

Ireland, and bearing the name of Cornelius O’Brennan. The subject of

this sketch went through his classical course of studies in the College

of Ste. Therese, county of Terrebonne, Quebec, and at 22 years of age

entered the clerical order, and was ordained priest in September, 1855.

He was professor in Ste. Therese college from 1852 to 1857, teaching

rhetoric and natural sciences. In 1857 he was curate at Longueuil, and

St. John’s, Quebec; in 1858-9 he was missionary at Prince Edward Island,

and in the fall of 1859 he was appointed parish priest at Ste. Marthe,

county Vaudreuil, diocese of Montreal. In the fall of 1862 he was called

by the late Bishop Joseph Larocque, to be parish priest of the Cathedral

of the city of St. Hyacinthe; but in the fall of 1864 he returned to

Ste. Marthe, and remained two years. In the fall of 1866, he was called

to succeed as parish priest of St. John’s, the late Bishop Charles

Larocque, who had been appointed Bishop of St. Hyacinthe. He

established, in 1868, an hospital conducted by the Grey Nuns of

Montreal, and the same year had the Brothers of the Christian schools to

teach the young boys. In the spring of 1878, he left for Europe; where

he spent five months, visiting in the course of his tour the chief

cities of France, Italy, Belgium, etc. Father Aubrey was always and

hopes to be always a devout child of the Roman Catholic church, knowing

quite well that the Holy Catholic Roman church is the only one founded

by our Saviour Jesus Christ.

* * * * *

=Lefebvre, Joseph Hubert=, Waterloo, province of Quebec, was born March

3rd, 1853, at Lawrenceville, township of Stukely, county of Shefford,

Quebec. He is the eldest son of Joseph Lefebvre, a notary by profession,

and who died May 11th, 1884. This family came from France and settled in

Lower Canada, in the early part of the 17th century. His mother, Eulalie

Boisvert, was a resident of the township of Stukely. The subject of this

sketch received an excellent education, spending six years at an English

Academy in Knowlton; then taking a classical course at St. Hyacinthe

College; and afterwards a business course at the Montreal branch of

Bryant & Stratton’s College. In 1870, he was articled to his father as a

law student, and was admitted as a notary public, his commission being

dated October 4th, 1877. From 1873 to 1876 he was in the lumber business

with his brother, William R. Lefebvre, to whom he sold out his interest

when he left the place. On being admitted to the notarial profession,

Mr. Lefebvre practised a while at Granby, and in May, 1879, settled in

Waterloo, where he succeeded to the business of Mr. Brassard, who had a

large practice which was transferred to the hands of our subject, and

his business consequently was brisk from the start. He was

secretary-treasurer of the municipalities of the village of Waterloo,

and township of Shefford, and of the schools of the village of Waterloo,

and was secretary-treasurer of the municipality and schools of the

parish of St. Joachim, when it was erected into a separate municipality,

but he only held that position for a short time in order to get the

municipality and school board into working order. He resigned all these

secretaryships upon being appointed successor to his late father as

registrar of the county of Shefford, his commission as such being dated

November 7th, 1884. He was president of the Board of License

Commissioners appointed under the License Act of 1883, and was appointed

revising barrister for the county of Shefford, under a commission of the

governor-general, dated October 26th, 1885. He is one of the promoters

of the Shefford Agricultural Park Association, was instrumental in

getting it incorporated, and has been its secretary-treasurer since its

inception. He is largely interested in real estate, having purchased

several thousand acres in the township of Minerve, in the county of

Ottawa, which he is now colonizing. He was a volunteer in the frontier

corps at the time of the Fenian raid in 1870; and was graduated at the

Military Academy at Montreal, in 1872. He is a Conservative in politics,

and has taken part in some of the political campaigns in Shefford and

Brome counties; but is not a bitter partisan. He is a Roman Catholic in

religion. He was married April 10th, 1877, to Clara Dorval, a daughter

of the late Cajetan Dorval, formerly a merchant and postmaster of St.

Césaire, and they have had seven children—six of whom are living and

one is dead.

* * * * *

=Howe, Hon. Joseph.=—The late Hon. Mr. Howe was born at the North-west

Arm, about two miles from Halifax, in December, 1804. His father was

John Howe, a U. E. loyalist, who was at one time a printer in Boston,

but who subsequently became a writer for the newspapers. Young Howe went

to school in an irregular fashion in Halifax, and picked up the

rudiments of a rough-and-ready sort of education. He was of a rugged

frame, had an exuberance of animal spirits, and was fond of crag, and

forest, and hill. He had, indeed, those who knew him say, the “poetic

temperament,”—though it must be confessed that he did not show much of

it in the verses, by so many called poetry, which he afterwards wrote.

In 1817 he began to learn the printing business at the _Gazette_ office,

Halifax. This paper was owned by his younger brother, John. He served

out his full apprenticeship, and then engaged himself in journeyman

printing work. While learning his trade young Howe is said to have read

voraciously every book that he could lay hands upon. He also published

in the _Gazette_ a lot of verses, which, however, did not amount to very

much as poetry. “One morning,” says a Canadian writer, “while taking a

solitary swim in the Arm, he was seized with cramp and felt himself

sinking. He cast an agonized look round, and caught sight of the

dearly-loved cottage on the hillside, where his mother was just placing

a lighted candle on the window-sill. The thought of the grief which

would overshadow that woman’s heart on the morrow inspired him with a

strength to give a last despairing kick. The kick dispelled the cramp,

and, hastily swimming ashore, he sank down exhausted, but thankful for

his deliverance. It was long before he could summon courage to acquaint

his parents with the circumstance.” Joseph Howe began a newspaper

business on his own account, in 1827, becoming part proprietor of the

_Weekly Chronicle_, the name of which was afterwards changed to that of

the _Acadian_. He, however, soon sold out the latter, and purchased the

_Nova Scotian_. In this newspaper he wrote with great earnestness,

eloquence, and force. His style was pregnant, trenchant, and sometimes

overwhelming. Mr. Howe’s celebrated _Legislative Review_ began to appear

in 1830, and attracted wide notice. In 1835 he published an article

which the oligarchists could not tolerate, and he was indicted for

libel. He consulted various lawyers. “There can be no successful defence

made for you,” they all said, and some invited him to make a humble

apology, and throw himself upon the mercy of his prosecutors. He

borrowed a lot of law books, read all he could find on libel, and

convinced himself that the learned men of the law were wrong. He pleaded

his own case, and his heart became comforted, as he saw among the jurors

an old man, with tears streaming from his eyes. The jury returned in ten

minutes with a verdict of “not guilty,” and the lawyers who had said,

“he who pleads his own case has a fool for a client,” were in a way

dumbfounded. From this day forward Mr. Howe was a noted man. In 1836 he

was elected to parliament for the county of Halifax; and two years later

he travelled through Europe, in company with Judge Haliburton, better

known as “Sam Slick.” Mr. Howe returned in 1838, and plunged into public

work again. Sir Colin Campbell, the iron-headed autocrat, who was then

governor, could not understand what the “common” people meant by talking

about their “rights,” and with him, Mr. Howe, it need not be said, was

at issue. On petition of the province, Governor Campbell was recalled,

and was succeeded by Lord Falkland, a son of William IV., by Mrs.

Jordan. After a time Falkland became a cat’s-paw in the hands of the

Tories, and provoked fierce hostilities from the Liberals, at the head

of whom was Joseph Howe. In 1848, the day of triumph came for the

Liberals. Mr. Mackie was called upon to form a government, and Mr. Howe

became provincial secretary. In 1851 he retired from the representation

of Halifax; and in 1863 he became premier, in the place of Mr. Young,

who was elevated to the bench. Since the entry into public life of Dr.

Tupper, in 1855, there had been a steady, often a furious, hostility

between himself and Mr. Howe. The strife was greatest between them on

the question of union, to which Mr. Howe was opposed. But Dr. Tupper

prevailed, not that he was a greater man than Mr. Howe; but because luck

was on his side—there being a general movement in the direction of

union, and the Imperial government desired the measure. When

confederation was accomplished the now almost broken-down veteran was

made to see, by Sir J. A. Macdonald, that he could be loyal to his

province, by accepting the inevitable, and making the best of the new

order of things. Hence he entered the Dominion cabinet in 1869 as

president of the council. Ten months later he became secretary of state

for the provinces and superintendent-general of Indian affairs. His

health was now all the while growing feebler, and his mental

retrogression seemed to keep pace with his physical. In 1873 he was

appointed lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia; but he died a few weeks

afterwards. As an orator, Joseph Howe was the greatest man that the

provinces which compose Canada have ever produced. He married, in 1828,

Catharine Susan Ann, a daughter of Captain John McNab, of the Nova

Scotia Fencibles.

* * * * *

=Coté, Louis=, Manufacturer, St. Hyacinthe. St. Hyacinthe is one of the

most flourishing cities of the province of Quebec, and probably also its

greatest manufacturing centre. Its tanneries, and its manufactories for

boots and shoes, of woollen and knitted goods, of machinery, organs,

etc., are not only numerous, but important and thriving establishments.

These great industries impart to the local trade an extraordinary amount

of activity, which is further enhanced by the well-known fertility of

the surrounding agricultural region, and moreover, provides business for

a local bank and two branch banks, in addition to the business of the

same kind done in Montreal. When a stranger visits this pretty little

town, he is always struck by the pervading air of ease, progress, and

prosperity. Its buildings are noted for the remarkable taste shown in

their construction. The streets are fine, straight, well kept, generally

lined with handsome shade trees, and, after dark, lit with the electric

light. Besides the magnificent promenade provided by Girouard street,

there are also those of the Park, which will be a charming spot when the

plantations of trees, made within a few years back, shall have increased

in growth. Altogether, the place bears the stamp of activity,

enterprise, and progress in every shape. Although founded upwards of

seventy-five years ago, it is only about twenty years since St.

Hyacinthe entered upon its present era of extraordinary development. In

and about 1860, it was still nothing more than a big country village,

inhabited by a sleeping population. The magnificent water power of the

Yamaska river was only utilized to run two grist mills and a rope

factory, the remainder of the water running to waste, while no one

dreamt of making use of it for manufacturing purposes calculated to

furnish employment to a working population steeped in want. The only

establishments which gave the city any importance were its splendid

college and convents. A few years before this, the two Coté brothers, in

partnership with Guillaume Bresse, had introduced into Quebec the boot

and shoe industry, which has since developed to such an extraordinary

extent in that city. The Messrs. Coté had been born and reared in the

environs of St. Hyacinthe, and their native city had naturally a warm

place in their regard. They had long been sensible of the adaptability

of its advantages to manufacturing industry, and only an occasion, some

happy circumstance, was needed to induce them to turn them to account.

Mr. Bourgeois, now judge of the Superior Court at Three Rivers, was then

a practising lawyer at St. Hyacinthe, where he wielded an amount of

influence as extensive as it was well deserved. A gentleman of broad and

patriotic views, sincerely anxious for the progress of his town, he

believed it had all the requirements of a manufacturing centre, and, as

the cousin and intimate friend of Louis Coté, he pressed the point upon

his attention, and urged him to establish himself in St. Hyacinthe,

convinced that, with the assistance of so intelligent and enterprising a

man, the place could not fail to fulfil its manifest destiny. The

proposition was favorably entertained by Louis Coté, for whom Judge

Bourgeois also found a partner with some capital in the person of Victor

Coté. Leaving Mr. Bresse at Quebec, Louis Coté removed to St. Hyacinthe

in 1863, and in partnership with his brother George and Victor Coté, he

opened the establishment which marked St. Hyacinthe’s first step towards

manufacturing eminence. The success of this establishment, now one of

the largest in the country, is too well known to be dwelt upon. But it

is not alone as a successful business man that Louis Coté has

distinguished himself. He is also famous as an inventor, and the boot

and shoe industry is indebted to his ingenuity for several machines

which have largely contributed to its development. Most of his

inventions have, in fact, become so indispensable to the trade that no

one dreams at present of manufacturing shoes without them any more than

of driving nails without a hammer. Attempts have been made to infringe

his patents, and, to vindicate his rights, Mr. Coté had even to do

battle for them before the Supreme Court of the United States, but he

won his case, and to-day his machines are deservedly regarded as the _ne

plus ultra_ of perfection. His inventions are now in use all over in the

great boot and shoe factories of Canada, the United States, England,

Germany, and France. It will be easily understood that a man so

intelligent and enterprising as our subject could not fail to exercise a

marked influence on the progress of the city which had the advantage of

counting him among its population, and the still more direct advantage

of having him as its mayor during a number of years. In concert with

Judge Bourgeois, who was also for many years a councillor and mayor of

St. Hyacinthe, he always favored and stimulated industrial progress, or

the encouragement of promising branches of manufacture. His own example,

his prosperity, and the ever increasing success of his own

establishment, were the means by which St. Hyacinthe was raised to the

pinnacle of manufacturing importance on which it stands to-day, and on

which it rests its claim to the dignity of the greatest industrial

centre, in proportion to population, not only of the province of Quebec,

but of the Dominion of Canada. But Mr. Coté’s beneficial influence was

not alone felt in the commercial and industrial departments. As a member

of the city council, and especially as mayor, he did much towards

endowing St. Hyacinthe with improvements which are usually found only in

the most populous and advanced cities. The superb waterworks which

supplies the city and protects it against the recurrence of the

disastrous conflagrations which ravaged it in the past, was built by a

company of which Mr. Coté was the initiator, and is the principal

stockholder and president. In the work of reform of the local school

system, Mr. Coté labored hand in hand with the Rev. Mr. Gravel, then

parish priest of St. Hyacinthe, and acting bishop of Nicolet; Jos. Naud,

registrar; Euclide Richer, stationer; Charles Ledoux, and Mr. Chenet,

all of whom gave in the matter proof of a zeal and devotion which

entitles them to the lasting gratitude of their fellow citizens. He

inspired, and was to a large extent the author of all the measures

adopted to make the place the most prosperous and attractive

manufacturing centre, not only in the province of Quebec, but in all

Canada, outside of the great commercial cities. In a word, Mr. Coté, by

his industry and example, made St. Hyacinthe. The brilliant and fruitful

career of this good man furnishes a striking illustration of what can be

done by intelligence, industry, good conduct, and love of country. He

started out in life without education or pecuniary resource. After

learning his trade in the United States, he returned to Montreal, where

he soon secured a position as foreman in one of the great shoe factories

of that city. There he devoted all his leisure time to study, and saved

his earnings in order to procure for himself a good education. He

followed the courses of the Jacques Cartier Normal School, and, thanks

to the kindly interest taken in him by the Abbé Verrault, principal of

that institution, he completed his studies there, and left it with that

superior education in which so many of our great manufacturers and

mechanics are deficient. Since then he has continued to instruct

himself, and his library to-day offers him a source of information upon

which he draws abundantly. The money which he saved by his self-denial

not only furnished him with education but with a small capital which

enabled him to start business on his own account, and to conquer

fortune. By his intelligence and good conduct he has also given to the

great question of capital and labor the only practical solution of which

it is susceptible—he acquired capital by labor. To-day Mr. Coté is one

of the wealthiest manufacturers in his line. He enjoys, in the fullest

measure, the esteem and gratitude of his fellow citizens, and is known

all over the country as a remarkable man. Although a Liberal in

politics, the Federal government has paid homage to his merits and

abilities, by appointing him a member of its labor commission, and,

thanks to his intimate acquaintanceship with economic questions, his

experience and practical knowledge, he is sure to make his mark in that

connection as he has done in all others in the past. Louis Coté is still

a comparatively young man, being only in his fiftieth year, so that, if

he should be spared, there is still a bright career of usefulness before

him for the good of his native city and the country at large. In

religion, he is a Roman Catholic. He married, in 1868, Louise, daughter

of Charles Pigeon, a most charming and distinguished lady; he has no

family.

* * * * *

=Casavant, Joseph Claver & Samuel=, St. Hyacinthe, Quebec. Joseph was

born on 16th September, 1855, and Samuel on 4th April, 1859, in the city

of St. Hyacinthe. These two gentlemen compose the firm of Casavant,

Frères, organ builders, St. Hyacinthe, Quebec province. They are the

sons of Joseph Casavant, who died the 9th March, 1874, aged 67 years,

after a successful career as an organ-builder, in the course of which he

built the organs for Kingston and Ottawa Roman Catholic Cathedrals, and

many others. The subjects of this sketch were educated at St. Hyacinthe

college, and after leaving this seminary of learning they were entered

as apprentices with a prominent firm of organ builders. After acquiring

a thorough insight into the details of the business, they went to Europe

in 1878 and made an extensive tour of England, Holland, Belgium,

Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France, the primary object of their

travels being to gain an idea of the more recent improvements made by

the more prominent organ builders in the countries visited. Returning to

Canada in 1880, they entered into business on their own account, and

have built many organs which testify to the ability of the builders, and

the thoroughness with which they have grasped every detail of their

profession. Among the best specimens of their work are the organs in the

St. Hyacinthe Roman Catholic Cathedral, Varennes parish church, Notre

Dame de Lourdes, in Montreal, etc. Ever on the watch for improvements,

and determined to have a knowledge from personal investigation, of every

new invention relating to their business, the brothers, in 1886, took

another tour through the principal centres in Europe, returning by way

of the United States. In the course of this tour they obtained many

valuable hints which they have turned to good account in their latest

instruments. They are now building an organ for Notre Dame French Church

in Montreal, which will contain eighty-five sounding stops (one hundred

knobs), and is estimated to cost thirty thousand dollars. It will be

provided with all the modern improvements, and will contain several new

features which have not yet been used in Canada, the most important

being that of electric action. This magnificent organ will be the

largest in Canada, and will be a credit alike to the builders and to the

Dominion of Canada.

* * * * *