=Young, Hon. James=, Galt, Ontario, is of Scotch descent, being the

eldest son of the late John Young and Jeanie Bell, natives of

Roxboroughshire, Scotland, who came to Canada, in 1834, and at first

took up their residence in the village of Dundas in the then Gore

District. Almost immediately afterwards the family were induced by the

Hon. Wm. Dickson to remove to Galt, and here Mr. Young engaged in

business and resided until his death in 1859. James Young, the subject

of this sketch, was born in Galt, on the 24th of May, 1835, and has ever

since resided there. He received his education in the public schools of

his native place; and at an early age displayed great fondness for

books, which he has kept up since. In his youth he had a predilection

for the study of the law, but finding he could not carry out this idea,

he chose printing as a profession, which he began to learn when he had

reached his sixteenth year. When only eighteen years of age, he

purchased the Dumfries _Reformer_, which he afterwards conducted for

about ten years. Under his management this paper attained a great local

influence, and in addition was the means of making Mr. Young well known

beyond the narrow limits of Waterloo county. During the earlier part of

the proprietorship, the political articles in the paper were written by

one of his friends, he himself taking the general supervision and

contributing the local news. Upon the completion of his twentieth year,

he took the editorial control, which he retained until 1863, when

finding his health not very robust, he sold out the _Reformer_, and

retired from the press for a while. He afterwards went into the

manufacturing business, and became the principal partner in the Victoria

Steam Bending Works at Galt, which he carried on successfully for about

five years. During his connection with the _Reformer_, Mr. Young had

necessarily taken a conspicuous part in the discussion of political

questions, and his paper was an important factor in determining the

results of several local contests. He frequently took the platform on

behalf of the Reform candidate, and was known throughout the county as a

ready and graceful speaker. He took a conspicuous part in municipal

affairs, and for six years sat in the town council; he was an active

member of the school board, and devoted a good deal of his time to

educational matters; and also took a special interest in commercial and

trade questions, on which he came to be regarded as a high authority. In

1857, the Hamilton Mercantile Library Association, having offered a

prize of fifty dollars for the best essay on the agricultural resources

of the country, Mr. Young carried off the prize. This essay was shortly

afterwards published, under the title of “The Agricultural Resources of

Canada, and the inducements they offer to British laborers intending to

emigrate to this continent,” and was most favorably received by the

public, and highly praised by the press. Eight years later (in 1865),

the proprietors of the Montreal _Trade Review_ offered two prizes for

essays on the Reciprocity Treaty, which was then about to expire, and

Mr. Young sent in a paper which carried off the second prize. His

success on this occasion led to his receiving an invitation to attend

the commercial convention held next year in Detroit, Michigan, and he

had the satisfaction of hearing on that occasion the great speech on

commerce delivered by the late Hon. Joseph Howe. He first entered

parliament in 1867, when he was elected by the Reform party of South

Waterloo, as their candidate for the House of Commons. This was the

first election under Confederation, and he was opposed by James Cowan, a

Reform Coalitionist, who was also a local candidate of great influence;

and in addition to this Mr. Young had to encounter a fierce opposition,

the late Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald, the Hon. William McDougall, and

Sir William Howland taking the field on one occasion on behalf of Mr.

Cowan. These formidable opponents were courageously encountered by him

single-handed, or with such local assistance as could be procured, and

he was returned by a majority of 366 votes. When parliament met in the

following November, he made his maiden speech in the House on the

Address. He also took a conspicuous part in the debates of the session,

and materially strengthened his position among his constituents. He was

twice re-elected by acclamation, first at the general election in 1872,

and again in 1874. Of the Mackenzie government he was a loyal and

earnest supporter throughout. He was chairman of the committee on public

accounts for five consecutive sessions, and after the death of Mr.

Scatcherd, became chairman of the house when in committee of supply.

Among his principal speeches in parliament, were those on the

Intercolonial Railway, the Ballot, the admission of British Columbia,

with special reference to the construction of the Pacific Railway in ten

years, the Treaty of Washington (which was unsparingly condemned), the

Pacific Scandal, the Budget of 1874, the Naturalization of Germans and

other aliens, and the Tariff question. Soon after entering parliament he

proposed the abolition of the office of Queen’s printer, and the letting

of the departmental printing by tender. This was ultimately carried, and

effected a large saving in the annual expenditure. In 1871 he submitted

a bill to confirm the naturalization of all aliens who had taken the

oaths of allegiance and residence prior to Confederation, which became

law. In 1873 he brought in a measure to provide for votes being taking

by ballot, and the government subsequently took up the question and

carried it. On two occasions the House of Commons unanimously concurred

in addresses to Her Majesty, prepared by him, praying that the Imperial

government would take steps to confer on Germans and other naturalized

citizens the same rights as subjects of British birth enjoy in all parts

of the world, the law then and still being that they have no claim on

British protection whenever they pass beyond British territory. In 1874

he proposed a committee and report, which resulted in the publication of

the debates of the House of Commons, contending that the people have as

much right to know how their representatives speak in parliament as how

they vote. At the election of 1878, chiefly through a cry for a German

representative, he was for the first time defeated. In the following

spring the general election for the Ontario legislature came on, and Mr.

Young was requested by the Reformers of the North Riding of Brant to

become their candidate in the local house. He at first declined, but on

the nomination being proferred a second time, he accepted it, and was

returned by a majority of 344. For many years Mr. Young’s services have

been in request as a writer and public speaker. He contributed

occasionally to the late “Canadian Monthly,” and has been a regular

contributor for many years to some of our leading commercial journals,

the articles being chiefly upon the trade and development of the

country. He has also appeared upon the platform as a lecturer upon

literary and scientific subjects. As a political speaker, he has been

heard in many different parts of the province, throughout which he now

enjoys a very wide circle of acquaintance. He has held and still holds

many positions of honor and trust. He is a director of the Confederation

Life Association; and of the Canada Landed Credit Company; has been

president and is now vice-president of the Sabbath School Association of

Canada; is president of the Gore District Mutual Fire Insurance Company;

was for eleven years president of the Associated Mechanics’ Institutes

of Ontario; and a member of the Council of the Agricultural and Arts

Association. A few years ago Mr. Young wrote and published a little

volume of 272 pages, entitled “Reminiscences of the Early History of

Galt, and the Settlement of Dumfries.” Apart from the fact that works of

this class deserve encouragement in Canada, Mr. Young’s book has special

merits which are not always found in connection with Canadian local

annals. It is written in a pleasant and interesting style, which makes

it readable even to persons who know nothing of the district whereof it

treats. On June 2nd, 1883, Mr. Young was appointed by the Mowat

Government, and sworn in as treasurer of the province of Ontario, and on

appealing to the electors of North Brant, his acceptance of office was

approved by a majority of 551. On the 29th October of the same year he

was compelled to resign his portfolio on account of his health, which,

impaired by political and literary overwork, particularly during the

preceding twelve months, was found unable for the time being to stand

the close confinement of office work. At the next election for the

Ontario Legislature in December, 1886, he wrote a letter, declining to

accept renomination to the local house. We are glad to say Mr. Young’s

health may now be said to be fully restored, evidence of which was

furnished during 1887 by the publication of a pamphlet from his pen on

the subject of the national future of Canada, and discussing the

question of commercial union and imperial federation. This _brochure_

opposes both these schemes, and takes strong ground in favour of

Canadian nationality, and has been widely read throughout the Dominion,

having gone to a second edition. In religion Hon. Mr. Young is a

Presbyterian, and in politics a Liberal. On the 11th February, 1858, he

married Margaret, second daughter of John McNaught, of Brantford.

* * * * *

=Hamilton, Robert=, D.C.L., Bishop’s College, Lennoxville, Quebec, was

born at New Liverpool, near the city of Quebec, on 1st September, 1822.

His father was George Hamilton, of Hawkesbury, and of Quebec. He was

educated under the Rev. Dr. Urquhart, of Cornwall, and was only

seventeen years old when his father died from the effects of a severe

cold caused by exposure while discharging his duties as colonel of

militia during the rebellion of 1837. His eldest son, Robert, the

subject of this sketch, at once undertook his share of the labors and

responsibilities connected with the extensive lumbering business which

had been built up slowly and painfully amid many discouragements. In

those early days of the country’s growth there were none of the modern

appliances for facilitating work of every kind. Large enterprises were

carried on under circumstances which demanded forethought, caution, and

resolution. The means of communication were limited, tedious and

uncertain. There were no railways, only a few sluggish steamers—and no

telegraphs. Even the mails were carried in a leisurely way over the

country. When parties of men were despatched in the autumn of each year

to the rivers Rouge and Gatineau for the long winter’s work of cutting

down thousands of trees and placing the logs upon the ice, it was

necessary to provide them with supplies of every kind. Pork, biscuit,

tea, sugar, and clothing were conveyed to them by sleighs from

Hawkesbury—if not from Montreal. The breaking up of the ice in the

spring was always a very anxious time. The rapid rise of the rivers

rendered the return journey of the men very perilous. The booms

stretched across the mouth of each river sometimes proved quite

insufficient to withstand the pressure of the water covered with

thousands of logs. The mills built at Hawkesbury for cutting up the logs

and preparing them for the British market were extensive and kept in a

state of admirable efficiency, being supplied each winter with every new

improvement. The season for work was very short—for the waters fell as

rapidly almost as they rose—and the difficulty of conveying the logs in

rafts to New Liverpool became serious as the summer advanced and the

rivers became shallow. Six weeks represented the long voyage of a raft

from the mills at Hawkesbury to the cove at New Liverpool. Here the

tedious process of washing each deal with buckets and brooms and then

marking its quality—whether 1st, 2nd or 3rd class—occupied many weeks.

Then followed the delivery of the deals on board the ships which in

those days were generally chartered to carry them to London, where

another washing and examination followed their delivery at the docks,

and then they were sold as promptly as the market would permit, for the

capital represented by them from first to last was very large and long

locked up—from the crown license to cut down the trees on through the

months of winter, spring, summer and autumn, and in some cases a second

winter and spring—before the London market was reached. Such a business

in its numerous departments and in its unceasing demands for judgment,

patience, endurance and persistence was an education in itself. The best

qualities of a man’s head and heart were sure to be exercised, developed

and strengthened. Robert Hamilton quickly and resolutely gave himself in

the most thorough systematic manner to his life’s work and has not only

built up a liberal fortune, but guarded and promoted the welfare of the

large family of whom he was the eldest—but seventeen years old, as he

said, at the time of his father’s death. Mr. Hamilton, in the use of his

fortune, has afforded an example much needed in every young community.

In no sense has he been brought under the power of wealth, and in no

direction has wealth spoiled or marred his character. He has studied and

realized in his family, and in his life in the community, the rare

satisfaction of using money liberally, judiciously, and with taste,

avoiding every abuse of it. His home at Hamwood on the St. Foy road,

near Quebec, is a pattern of simplicity, taste and comfort—all that an

educated gentleman of refinement should have about him, and for the

comfort and advantage of his family, he has brought together in a home

which is full of pleasant memories and rare attractions to many because

of the quiet enjoyment which its hospitalities have afforded them. He

has never taken any part in the politics of the country—his tastes and

preferences drawing him to the study and promotion of other interests.

As a member of the Church of England, he is widely known for his

generous aid to all good works. The diocese of Quebec has found in him a

true and intelligent friend. He has never put himself forward to relieve

others of their proper responsibilities, the due discharge of which has

so much to do with their characters and their happiness in life.

Recognizing the responsibilities attaching to him as a man of wealth, he

has been no easy, good-natured careless giver, but has patiently and

thoroughly studied the best ways and methods of applying his large and

generous gifts both to parishes and to the diocese of Quebec, and to the

University of Bishop’s College, Lennoxville. These have been so applied

as to call out the active energies and co-operation of others, and the

result is to be seen in the permanent and satisfactory endowments so

needful for a church whose members in such a community as the province

of Quebec must always be few in number and weak in resources. The

University of Bishop’s College, in recognition of his position and

services, conferred upon him in 1885 the honorary degree of D.C.L. In

1845 he married the eldest daughter of the late John Thomson of

Westfield, near Quebec. He has a large family, and is surrounded by an

attractive crowd of grand-children. His summer resort at Cacouna is full

of attractions—foremost amongst them being the gathering of his

children and their families about him.

* * * * *

=Lount, William=, Q.C., Toronto, Ontario, was born at Newmarket, on the

3rd of March, 1840. His father was George Lount, then registrar, and

brother of Samuel Lount, who was executed with Matthews in 1837, during

the rebellion. The subject of this sketch received his education at the

Grammar School, Barrie, studied law with Mr. (now Sir) Adam Wilson,

finishing his last years with Mowat & McLennan, and was called to the

bar of Upper Canada in 1861, when he immediately commenced the practice

of his profession in Barrie. In 1867 he ran for the Ontario legislature,

for the North Riding of Simcoe against Angus Morrison. He was elected by

a fair majority, and supported the Sandfield Macdonald government for

four sessions; but on seeking re-election he was opposed by W. D.

Ardagh, the regular Conservative nominee, and H. H. Cook, the Reform

nominee and was defeated, Mr. Ardagh being elected. He then retired from

politics owing to its taking too much of his time from his profession.

He had in the meantime formed a partnership with Mr. Boys, now the

junior judge of the county of Simcoe, which lasted for some years, when

a new partnership was formed by the admission of D’Arcy Boulton, Q.C.,

and H. D. Stewart. Five years later this firm was dissolved, Mr. Lount

retiring and forming a partnership with his brother, as Lount & Lount.

This partnership was continued until the decease of the late James

Bethune, Q.C., when Mr. Lount entered into partnership with Mr.

Bethune’s late partner, Mr. Marsh, under the name of Lount & Marsh, in

Toronto, which firm still continues. He received his patent as Queen’s

counsel from the Ontario government on 11th March, 1876, and from the

Dominion government in 1877. He has acted as Crown counsel for the

Ontario government on several important cases. He has always been

president of the North Simcoe Reform Association, taking a very active

interest in its affairs, laying all the plans and organizing the party

for the fray. He was married on the 17th July, 1874, to Miss Orris,

daughter of John Orris, on lake Erie, near Dunnville, and grand-daughter

of Colonel Cotter who fought at the battle of Waterloo, in which action

he took a very active part as captain in a British regiment of the line.

* * * * *

=Buchanan, Wentworth James=, Montreal, General Manager of the Bank of

Montreal, is one of a class of native Canadians of which the Dominion

has reason to be proud—a class of men who, beginning life with the

prestige of an honorable family record, won by industry, energy and

integrity in the professions, make it their aim to increase that

prestige by their own personal exertions. Mr. Buchanan’s grandfather

came to Quebec with the 49th regiment,—Colonel (afterwards Sir Isaac)

Brock, in command—and was a surgeon in that regiment. His father,

Alexander Buchanan, was only four years of age when he accompanied his

parents to Canada. After receiving a good education in the then

available schools, he studied law with the late Andrew and James Stuart

(afterwards Sir James), of Quebec, rose to be one of the ablest jurists

who ever practised at the Montreal bar, and was a Queen’s counsel in the

days when this honor was conferred upon very few. At the time of his

death he was the oldest judge of the Superior Court of the Lower Canada.

James Wentworth Buchanan was the second son of this venerable judge, and

was born on the 11th December, 1828. He received a sound commercial

education; and the great monetary institution in which he was destined

to attain so prominent a position was not yet thirty-five years in

operation when he began his career. That was in 1847, when he entered

the Commercial Bank as a clerk, and five and a half years later he

obtained a situation in the Bank of Montreal. From March, 1853, until

1858, he applied himself steadily to his duties, with such satisfaction

to his superiors that in the latter year he was appointed manager of the

branch at Woodstock, and, subsequently, held in succession a similar

charge at Brantford, Cobourg, Hamilton and Toronto, Ontario, acquitting

himself at each of these places in such a way that confidence in his

ability and integrity increased from year to year. In 1874 he was

promoted to the post of local manager at Montreal. In 1880, the late Mr.

Smithers being made general manager, Mr. Buchanan became assistant

general manager; and in 1881, on the election of the former gentleman to

the presidency, he was chosen his successor, and since then he has

occupied the highly responsible position of general manager.

* * * * *

=White, Hon. Thomas=, Ottawa, Minister of the Interior of the Dominion

of Canada, M.P. for Cardwell, Ontario, was born at Montreal, on the 7th

of August, 1830. His father was Irish, a county Westmeath man, and his

mother Scotch, having been born in Edinburgh. Mr. White, senior, carried

on business as a leather merchant in Montreal for many years, where he

was greatly respected. He sent Thomas, the subject of this sketch, to

the High School of that city, where he received the education which in

later years he was destined to turn to such excellent account. Having

left school, he engaged for some years in mercantile pursuits, but this

was not according to his taste, and he soon made up his mind to abandon

the calling, and accepted a position on the editorial staff of the

Quebec _Gazette_—which position was offered him in consequence of an

address he had delivered on temperance in the city of Quebec some time

before, and which attracted great attention. In 1853 he started, in

company with his brother-in-law, Robert Romain, the Peterboro’ _Review_,

which he was connected with until 1860. Then he entered upon the study

of law in the office of the Hon. Sidney Smith, Q.C., of Peterboro’, and

prosecuted his studies during the full term of four years. He then

removed to Hamilton, and, with his brother Richard White, purchased the

_Spectator_ newspaper, which they conducted with great energy from 1864

to 1870. Mr. White, from an early age, evinced a marked interest in

public affairs; and when he was yet a very young man, was chosen reeve

of the town of Peterboro’. He likewise always took a great interest in

educational affairs, and served upon the Grammar School boards in

Peterboro’ and Hamilton. In Montreal, where in later years his chief

personal interests were centred, he took an important part in civic and

general business. He was for a number of years representative of the

Montreal Board of Trade in the Dominion Board; for three years a member

of the executive committee of the Dominion Board of Trade, and

representative for five years of that body at the National Board of

Trade of the United States. But important and ever conspicuous

connection with civic matters, and with associations, did not satisfy

the ambition of Mr. White. He had been for years a close and careful

observer of political events, and a conscientious student of public

questions. So he resolved to seek admission to parliament; and when he

sought that admission he did not go as a raw recruit, who has to study

public questions after he has entered the legislature. His mind was well

stored with practical information, and his judgment ripened by a wide

experience. In 1878, he was first returned to parliament for Cardwell,

his present seat. But this success was not achieved without much

perseverance and strong efforts. In 1867, he was an unsuccessful

candidate for South Wentworth in the Ontario legislature; in 1874, for

the county of Prescott, in the House of Commons; and in 1875 and 1876,

respectively, for Montreal West, in the House of Commons. It may be

pointed out that the aggregate majority against him in the three first

elections amounted to only sixteen votes. Mr. White has retained his

seat for Cardwell since 1878. He has always been an able and very

conscientious supporter of the Conservative party’s national policy, and

is always prepared with an invincible array of arguments to defend the

position which he takes upon this question. He is one of the most

industrious members of the House of Commons, and best informed on the

government side of the house on questions of trade and commerce. Hon.

Mr. White is a graceful, polished and telling speaker; always conveys

the impression of being master of his subject, and never becomes

confused when he gets upon his feet. In 1885, affairs in the Northwest

Territories assumed a very unsatisfactory state, rebellion broke out,

and general discontent prevailed anent the government’s management of

that vast territory. At this time Sir David Macpherson, minister of the

interior, was suffering from illness and unable to cope with the many

questions forced upon him through this unfortunate state of things, and

when compelled to resign and go to Germany to restore his health, every

one began to search for a man of ability to take charge of the vacated

departmental headship. Sir John A. Macdonald selected the member for

Cardwell to fill the vacancy, and the most complete satisfaction was

evinced by the public, indeed even organs most bitterly opposed to the

government admitted that the selection was a most admirable one, for the

industry, the ability for organization, and the capacity of the minister

elect, were known to every one. Almost immediately after receiving the

appointment, Mr. White proceeded to the Northwest, and made painstaking

investigation into the many unsettled affairs in that region; and it is

not necessary to show how numerous, how tedious, and how immense this

task was, and the work which afterwards fell to him at his office in the

capital. We mention this to show the grave responsibility resting upon

the shoulders of the minister of the interior, but there is much

satisfaction in knowing that there is no public man of whom we have any

knowledge better fitted to cope with the Northwest difficulties than Mr.

White. Before closing the sketch, we think it is only fair to mention

that the Hon. Mr. White, like many of the leading men who now hold

public positions, received his early training as a speaker in the

division rooms of the Sons of Temperance, and that, when a young man and

a resident of Lower Canada, he occupied one of the highest offices in

the Grand Division of the Sons of Temperance of the province of Quebec,

and was the first in Canada to write a pamphlet explaining the aims and

objects of an order of temperance workers, that are as active to-day in

extending the cause of temperance and prohibition as it was about forty

years ago, when the order was first introduced into Canada.

* * * * *

=Duplessis, Louis Theodule Neree LeNoblet=, Advocate, Three Rivers,

M.P.P. for the county of St. Maurice, Quebec province, was born at St.

Anne d’Yamachiche, on the 5th March, 1855. He is the fourth son of

Joseph LeNoblet Duplessis and Marie Louise Lefebvre Descoteaux. His

ancestors came from France at the end of the seventeenth century, and

settled at La Pointe-du-Lac, in the district of Three Rivers. He was

educated at the Seminary of Nicolet and at the Seminary of Three Rivers.

He studied law as a profession, and in January, 1880, was called to the

bar of Lower Canada, and is now practising in Three Rivers, in

partnership with J. M. Deselets, Q.C. Mr. Duplessis did not take an

active part in politics until the general election of 1886, when he was

returned to the Legislative Assembly of Quebec for the county of St.

Maurice. In religion he is an adherent of the Roman Catholic church, and

in politics a Conservative. He is a rising man, and not many years hence

will make his mark in the legislature of his native province. On the

14th July, 1886, he was married to Bertha Cécile Genest, daughter of L.

U. A. Genest, clerk of the peace for the district of Three Rivers.

* * * * *

=Clarke, Henry Edward=, M.P.P. for West Toronto, the subject of this

sketch, and one of the rising men in the provincial capital, was born at

Three Rivers, Quebec, on the 20th of March, 1829. He is a son of Henry

Clarke, and Ellen Armstrong, both of whom came from Midhill, county of

Fermanagh, Ireland. Our subject received his tuition, which comprised a

sound and practical English education, from public teachers and private

instructors, and at fifteen years of age Mr. Clarke left home to push

his fortune in the world. Commerce drew him into its busy and active

field. At the age of eighteen he had learned the trade of saddle and

trunkmaking, and found employment in one of the largest shops in

Montreal. Here he remained until 1848, and then removed to Ottawa (then

Bytown), where, in the following year, when barely twenty years of age,

we find him foreman of the largest saddlery shop in the town. At Ottawa

he remained for about four years, working diligently, and perfecting

himself in his trade. Mr. Clarke again returned to Montreal in 1853, and

the next year he was sent to Toronto to open a branch trunk store for R.

Dean & Co., of Montreal. Mr. Clarke now resolved to carry on business

for himself, and in ten months after his arrival here he bought out the

business of R. Dean & Co. Although he had little capital at his command,

he had industry and perseverance, and the result is that we now find him

at the head of one of the largest trunk manufacturing establishments in

America, and one of the most solid and enterprising of Toronto’s

citizens. Although an active man in his own business, yet Mr. Clarke has

found some time to devote to public affairs. For eight years he was a

director of the Mechanics’ Institute; was alderman for St. George’s Ward

in 1879, and for St. Andrew’s Ward for the years 1881, ’82, and ’83. He

was chairman of the Court of Revision in 1881, and of the Executive

Committee in 1883. He was elected, in 1883, and again in 1887, to

represent Toronto West in the Ontario Parliament, and this seat he still

holds. He was also for a time one of the directors of the Federal Bank.

As a politician Mr. Clarke has achieved distinction and won a high place

for himself in the Ontario legislature. He is an effective speaker, and

has on repeated occasions ably supported his leader, Mr. Meredith, in

the active duties of legislation, and done good service to his party on

the floor of the house. As an ardent Conservative, he sits at present in

the cold shades of opposition; though did a change of government come,

Mr. Clarke would find himself not only “on the Treasury benches,” but no

doubt among the prominent members of the cabinet. He possesses an active

and practical mind, is fairly well read, and keeps himself posted on all

the leading questions of the day, in so far as they come under the

purview of politics. Lately he has taken a prominent part in opposing

the Commercial Union of Canada with the United States, feeling that it

might tend to an undesirable political alliance with the Republic, and

retard the industrial life and development of Canada. On this subject,

Mr. Clarke contributed his views on the opposition side of the argument

to the _Canadian Almanac_ for 1888, Mr. Erastus Wiman, of New York,

taking the affirmative side. On other subjects of practical moment, in

the domain of politics and legislation, Mr. Clarke has written and

spoken much, and his views always command considerable public attention.

Mr. Clarke is an Orangeman, having joined the order in 1849. He

travelled extensively in 1878, and visited London, Edinburgh, Dublin,

Belfast, Paris, Geneva, Mont Blanc, Berne, Lucerne, Munich, Vienna,

Trieste, Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples, Pompeii, and other historic

places. On his return, he delivered a lecture called “Impressions of a

Tour in Europe,” in Richmond street Methodist Church, and afterwards

published it in pamphlet form. Mr. Clarke belongs to the Methodist

denomination, and in politics is a Conservative. He married in May,

1856, Anne, daughter of the late Thomas Kennedy, of Montreal, and has a

family of three children, a boy and two girls. His son died at the age

of fourteen years. Mr. Clarke’s career has been industrious and

honorable, and he enjoys the fruits of his labors and the respect of his

fellow men.

* * * * *

=Desilets, Joseph Moise=, Q.C., Advocate, Three Rivers, Quebec, was born

on the 13th April, 1838, at Bécancour, county of Nicolet. He is the son

of Isidore Desilets and of Marie Perenne de Moras, both belonging to old

French families. He received his education at the College of Nicolet and

St. Hyacinthe. He adopted law as a profession, and was called to the bar

of Lower Canada on the 2nd September, 1862. He was appointed a Queen’s

counsel, March 9th, 1887. He was alderman for the city of Three Rivers

from 1864 to 1869; mayor of the same city from 1869 to 1872, and

district magistrate for the district of Three Rivers from 1873 to 1878.

Mr. Desilets is now practising in partnership with N. L. Duplessis,

advocate, and M.P.P. for the county of St. Maurice. In religion he is a

Roman Catholic, and in politics a Conservative. He was married, June 3,

1863, to Marie Malvina Trudel, the only daughter of the late Oliver

Trudel, notary, and of Sophia Sulte.

* * * * *

=Morris, John Lang=, B.C.L., Q.C., Barrister, Montreal, born at Perth,

Ontario, in 1835, is the youngest son of the late Hon. William Morris

and Elizabeth Cochrane, and was educated at High School, Montreal, and

McGill College, graduating as B.C.L. in 1859. He studied law under his

brother, the Hon. Alexander Morris, the late Judge Torrance and the Hon.

Judge Cross, and was admitted to the Montreal bar in June, 1859. Mr.

Morris has long enjoyed a large and influential practice—his partners

having been Robert A. Leach, son of the late Very Rev. Archdeacon Leach,

a talented young advocate whose promising career was prematurely cut

short by death; the late Judge Torrance, and subsequently the late

Thomas W. Ritchie, Q.C., and William Rose, son of Sir John Rose, Bart.

His present partner is Charles M. Holt, B.C.L., son of the late Judge

Holt, of Quebec, and the business is carried on under the firm name of

Morris & Holt. Mr. Morris is a specialist in commercial, real estate and

ecclesiastical law—is a clear, logical and convincing pleader, and has

been for many years the counsel of the Presbyterian Church. In this last

capacity he conducted successfully in all the courts of the province of

Quebec, the celebrated case of Dobie and the Temporalities Board. He was

retained by the church to plead the same cause before her Majesty’s

Privy Council in England and although the judgment of our court was

modified in some respects, he was successful in inducing that tribunal

not to grant the prayer of the anti-unionists that the funds be handed

over to them. Upon the strength of this judgment legislation was

subsequently obtained from the Dominion Parliament which set at rest the

pretensions of the minority to hold the church funds. This act, as

stated by the Rev. Robert Campbell, D.D., in his “History of the St.

Gabriel st. Church, Montreal,” “met with stout opposition in the private

bills committee of both houses of parliament—calling forth the

magnificent speeches of Principal Grant, of Kingston, Mr. Macdonnell, of

Toronto, and John L. Morris, of Montreal, in reply to Messrs. Macmaster,

Brymner and Lang.” In religion, Mr. Morris, following in the footsteps

of his father, is a “true blue” Presbyterian, and has been an elder in

connection with St. Andrew’s, and since the union of Presbyterians, with

St. Paul’s Church, Montreal. He took a very active and leading part in

promoting the union of the Presbyterian churches in 1875, both by his

speeches on the floor of the synod and professionally in successfully

defending the various suits instituted by the minority opposed to the

union. He has been a Sunday school teacher and superintendent for over

thirty years. Like his elder brother the Hon. A. Morris, he has taken a

great interest in Canadian affairs, and has delivered a number of

popular lectures upon the history of Canada. In politics, Mr. Morris has

always been a consistent Conservative, and although too much devoted to

the interests of his profession to have entered into public life, has in

a quiet but energetic way exerted a good deal of influence in supporting

his party. He is married to Agnes McCulloch, youngest daughter of the

late Dr. Michael McCulloch, of Montreal, who fell a victim to his heroic

devotion to the sick during the time of the last visitation by cholera

in 1854. His only sister is married to W. B. Lambe, of Montreal,

advocate. His brother, William J. Morris, has devoted himself

exclusively to mercantile pursuits.

* * * * *

=Shortt, Rev. William=, B.D., Rector of St. Thomas Church, Walkerton,

Ontario, was born in the city of Dublin, Ireland, in 1824. His father

was Jonathan Shortt, attorney, and six-clerk, of No. 11 Blackhall

street, Dublin, who married Anna Maria Antisell, daughter of Joseph

Antisell, of Arbourhill, in the county of Tipperary, and both descended

from a long line of highly respectable and respected ancestors. The

subject of our sketch was educated in the city of Dublin, and in 1850

emigrated to the United States; was ordained deacon of the Protestant

Episcopal Church by the Right Rev. Bishop Horatio Potter, of New York,

in 1854, and priest in 1855; was for some time assistant to the rector

of St. Thomas Church, N.Y., then assistant minister to St. George’s

Church, Flushing, and first rector of Grace Church, Whitestone, L. I.,

until 1865, when, on account of ill-health, he was obliged to resign his

charge. Finding the climate of Canada to agree with him, he was licensed

by the Bishop of Ontario, to the mission of Amherst Island, and

afterwards to Wolfe Island. In 1872 he was invited to take charge of

Christ Church, St. Catharines. In 1875 he was appointed to the rectory

of Walkerton, by the Bishop of Huron. Rev. Mr. Shortt’s parents were

attached members of the Church of Ireland, and he has ever been loyal to

her discipline and worship, has served her altars to the best of his

ability, and hopes and expects to die in her communion. He took the

purple degree in the order of Good Templars in 1875; and was chaplain of

the Saugeen lodge, 197, A. F. and A. Masons. In 1857 he was married to

Mary Amanda Haggerty, daughter of Bonnell Moody Haggerty and Martha

Phillips, both of New Jersey, U. S. Mrs. Shortt’s grand-parents were

loyal to the British government in the revolution, and were compelled to

move to Nova Scotia, but returned to their native land when the act of

amnesty was passed.

* * * * *

=Langevin, Hon. Sir Hector Louis=, K.C.M.G., Q.C., Ottawa, Minister of

Public Works of the Dominion of Canada, M.P. for Three Rivers, Quebec

province, was born in the city of Quebec, on the 25th August, 1828. He

is descended from an illustrious line of ancestry, and has proved

himself worthy of his descent. His father, the late Jean Langevin, acted

as assistant civil secretary under the Earl of Gosford and Lord

Sydenham, during the period those noblemen held the office of

governor-general of Canada; and his uncle was the Right Rev. Jean

Langevin, bishop of St. Germain de Rimouski. His mother, Sophia

Scholastique La Force, was a daughter of Major La Force, who faithfully

served his country during the war of 1812-14, and whose grandfather was

acting commodore of the British fleet on Lake Ontario during the

American revolutionary war. Sir Hector Louis Langevin, the subject of

our sketch, received his education at the Quebec Seminary, and in 1846

left school to begin the study of law with the late Hon. A. N. Morin, at

Montreal. He had an early taste for literature, and while pursuing his

studies, wrote a great deal for the press. He became editor of the

_Mélanges Religieux_ in 1847, and subsequently editor of the _Journal of

Agriculture_, both papers being published in Montreal. When Mr. Morin

retired from practice, Mr. Langevin entered the office of the late Sir

George Etienne Cartier. Thus began the connection between those two

distinguished men which was destined to last so long, to be so close and

so loyal, and of such importance to the French Canadians, as well as to

the Dominion of Canada. He was called to the bar of Lower Canada in

October, 1850. In 1856 Mr. Langevin was elected representative of Palace

ward in the Quebec city council, subsequently became chairman of the

water works committee, and during the absence of the mayor, Dr. Morrin

in England, acted as chief magistrate of Quebec city. In 1857 he assumed

the editorial management of the _Courrier du Canada_, published in

Quebec. The same year he was chosen mayor of Quebec, and also

representative for Dorchester county in the Legislative Assembly of

Canada. On entering parliament he very naturally supported the

administration, one of the leaders of which was the gentleman at whose

hands he had received his political as well as his legal training. The

Macdonald-Cartier ministry, however, held life by a very precarious

tenure, and as the difficulties thickened about it, numbers yielded up

their support, and it was forced to resign. Then George Brown was called

to office, but had to relinquish it in three days. The old ministry was

recalled to power, and a readjustment took place. On the 30th of March,

1864, Mr. Langevin became a Queen’s counsel, and on the same day entered

the Taché-Macdonald administration as solicitor-general east. In 1866 he

became postmaster-general, which office he retained till the

consummation of confederation. In the confederation movement he took a

prominent part. He was a delegate to Charlottetown, was a member of the

Quebec conference, and went to England to aid the home office in

perfecting the confederation scheme. During this entire movement, the

tact, suavity and broad statesmanship which he has shown so prominently

in later years came into light. Sir George E. Cartier was energetic,

forceful, patriotic, but he had not the _savoir-faire_ of the Hon. Mr.

Langevin, and he often exasperated where he should have conciliated. In

the first Dominion administration Mr. Langevin was secretary of state

for the Dominion, and the following year he was created a C.B., civil.

In 1869 he assumed the portfolio of public works. In 1870 he was created

a Knight Commander of the Roman order of Pope Gregory the Great. During

Sir George Cartier’s absence in England, in 1873, Mr. Langevin acted as

leader of the French Canadian Conservative party, and upon the death of

his chief became the permanent leader. In 1873, on the downfall of Sir

John A. Macdonald’s administration, he resigned office. At the general

election of 1878, he was an unsuccessful candidate for Rimouski; but

William McDougall, the member for Three Rivers, having made way for him,

he was chosen for the vacated constituency by acclamation. In the new

Conservative administration he became postmaster-general, which office

he retained till 1879, when he became again minister of public works,

and this office he still holds. Regarding his brilliant parts, and the

service he has been to the Dominion and to the French Canadian people,

the Queen conferred upon him the knighthood of the order of St. Michael

and St. George. Sir Hector Langevin is an astute and wise statesman, and

his whole aim is to create a feeling of brotherhood among his own people

and their English-speaking compatriots, and to develop a feeling of

loyalty throughout the country to the British empire. In politics he is

a Liberal-Conservative, and in religion a Roman Catholic. In 1854 he was

married to Justine, eldest daughter of the late Lieutenant-Colonel

Charles H. Peter, J.P. Mrs. Langevin died on the 30th October, 1882.

* * * * *

=Bridges, Henry Seabury=, Fredericton, Professor of Classical Literature

and History in the University of New Brunswick, was born November 23rd,

1850, at Sheffield, Sunbury county, N.B. His father was Henry Putnam

Bridges, who died in December, 1881. His mother, Eliza Ann Burpee, is

still living. Both parents have descended from the Puritan colony which

came from Rowley, in Massachusetts, in 1763, and settled in Sheffield

and Maugerville. Professor Bridges received his early education at the

Grammar School, Sheffield, and matriculated at the University of New

Brunswick, in September, 1866. He graduated in June, 1869, with honors

in classics and French; also took the Alumni Society’s gold medal for

the best Latin essay. He proceeded to the degree of M.A., in June, 1871;

and since his graduation he has followed the teaching profession. He was

appointed assistant master of the Sunbury Grammar School just after

having left college, and remained in this position till July, 1872, when

he received the appointment of second master of the Collegiate School,

Fredericton, and then removed to his new sphere of duty. In June, 1874,

he was appointed principal of the High School, and superintendent of the

other schools of St. Stephen. In September, 1877, he left St. Stephen

for Oxford, England, and then spent a year in the study of classical

literature there. Returning to his mother country, he was appointed

second master of the Grammar School in the city of St. John, in August,

1878, and principal in May, the following year. He received the

appointment of professor of classics in the University of New Brunswick

in June 1881; and that position he still holds. He has been president of

the Alumni Society since June, 1885, and was one of its representatives

on the senate of the university during the academic year, 1882-83. He

married, October 7th, 1880, Alice Middlemore Foster, daughter of the

late S. R. Foster, of St. John, New Brunswick. The fruit of this union

has been two children,—a daughter, Edith Hazlewood, born August 31st,

1881, still living; and a son, Atlee Burpee, a child of great promise,

born June 23rd, 1885, but who died of croup in November, 1887.

* * * * *

=Starnes, Lieut.-Col. Hon. Henry=, Montreal, was born at Kingston,

Ontario, on the 13th October, 1816. He is the son of Benjamin Starnes

and Elizabeth Melville, his wife. His grandfather, Nathan Starnes, was a

United Empire loyalist who left the state of New York and settled in

Canada at the close of the revolutionary war, the family being of Scotch

descent. Mr. Starnes was educated at the Academy of Rev. Henry Esson,

afterwards taking a course at Montreal College. After leaving college he

entered the service of James Leslie, merchant, was admitted a partner in

the business in 1849, and the firm of Leslie, Starnes & Co., wholesale

merchants, continued until 1859 to do a very large and successful

business. Mr. Starnes retired from mercantile life to assist in

organizing the Montreal branch of the Ontario Bank, upon the

organization of which he was appointed manager, and continued in charge

for about ten years. He is now president of the Montreal branch of the

well-known London and Liverpool and Globe Insurance Company. He has been

and still continues to be identified with a great many local enterprises

and interests. He was president of the Metropolitan Bank from its

establishment until November, 1875; has been a director of Le Banque du

Peuple; vice-president of the Montreal Board of Trade, the St. Jean

Baptiste Society, and the Montreal Warehousing Company; a director of

the Richelieu Steamboat Company, the Canada Engine and Machinery

Company, and the International Transportation Company; and was at one

time warden of Trinity house. In municipal matters Mr. Starnes has

always taken a great interest, being a public spirited man, and taking

much pride in the continued growth of the city which he had made his

home. His fellow citizens were not unmindful of his efforts in their

behalf, and he was elected mayor of Montreal in 1856-57, and again in

1866-67. In politics, Mr. Starnes is a Conservative, and sat for

Chateauguay in the Canadian Assembly from the general election of 1857

until 1863, when he retired. He contested Montreal in 1857, but was

defeated; declined a seat in the Quebec cabinet in 1867; was appointed

to the Legislative Council in the same year, and appointed speaker of

that body on the 8th March, 1878. He has for many years taken an active

interest in militia matters, and at present holds the rank of

lieutenant-colonel of the 1st Montreal Centre Reserve. In August, 1841,

he was married to Eleanor Stuart, of Quebec, and has had issue seven

children, of whom one has died, one daughter is a nun, and the other

three daughters and two sons are all married.

* * * * *

=Gravel, Rev. Joseph Alphonse=, St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, was born the 2nd

February, 1843, at St. Antoine de Richelieu, his father, Louis Gravel,

being a highly respected farmer of that place, and his mother was Emilie

Gladu. He received his early education at the St. Hyacinthe College, and

entered the Seminary at Montreal for his theological studies December

8th, 1862. After a highly satisfactory completion of these, he was

ordained the 26th August, 1866. Was vicar of Compton from August, 1866,

to September, 1868, and rector of Compton for two years. He was director

of the Classical and Commercial College at Sorel, from September, 1870,

to July 1st, 1872, at which time he became assistant secretary to the

bishop of St. Hyacinthe; January 17th, 1876, was made secretary to the

bishop, procurator of the Episcopal body, and diocesan adviser; and was

appointed vicar-general of the diocese in 1877. In April of the same

year was made canon, and in 1888 was appointed prevost of the

chapter-house,—administrator of the diocese on two occasions, in 1878

and in 1887. As will be seen by our enumeration of the many important

offices of trust and responsibility, the subject of our sketch has been

a worthy and deserving recipient of the confidence reposed in him. His

principal mission has been to restore the revenues of the Episcopal

corporation, in which laudable undertaking his indefatigable efforts and

industry have been crowned with success. He has built the beautiful

cathedral at St. Hyacinthe—a lasting monument of his energy and

talents—and under his personal supervision it will shortly be decorated

in a suitable manner, in keeping with, and worthy of, its artistic

exterior.

* * * * *

=Fraser, John A.=, Big Bras d’Or, Cape Breton, M.P.P. for Victoria

county, is a native of Boularderie, C.B., where he was born 6th of

November, 1840. He is the only surviving son of a Scotch pioneer

clergyman, the late Rev. James Fraser, who emigrated to the island of

Cape Breton from Ross-shire, Scotland, in 1835. He was employed as a

missionary of the Church of Scotland, and like many another

hard-working, self-denying pioneer minister, lived hard and travelled

far, preaching the blessings of peace and contentment among a poor and

scattered population. In many a fishing village of Cape Breton, and

through many steep mountain paths in that inclement region, the name of

Rev. James Fraser is held in reverence. The men who carried the gospel

into the wilds of Cape Breton were possessed of more than ordinary

courage. One of them, Rev. John Stewart, forty years pastor at

Whycocomagh, a profound Gaelic poet and scholar, but lately passed away.

The educational facilities of the island forty years ago being of the

scantiest, John A. Fraser removed to Halifax, N.S., and received his

scholastic training at the Free Church Academy in that city. Having

completed his course he returned to his native county and went into

business. He held the position of postmaster in Big Bras d’Or for

eighteen years, and resigned it in obedience to the wishes of his

numerous friends, in order to contest the constituency of Victoria at

the general election of 1874, and was successful. He took his seat in

the Legislative Assembly and earned a good reputation as a

parliamentarian, being listened to with respect in the debates, and

attending well to the work of committees. The great question agitating

the public mind in Cape Breton for some years past has been the matter

of railway construction. Cape Breton may be described a huge coal-bed,

much of it worked, but by far the larger part being quite unexplored.

Ocean steamers call at North Sydney and at the coal-shoot of Sydney

proper, and carry away much coal for their own consumption. A large

export of the black diamond is also carried on in coasters. Parts of the

island are admirably adapted to agriculture, notably the shores of the

Little Bras d’Or. A railway is wanted to weld together all parts of the

island, and the great question is, what course shall it take? People

living at Whycocomagh advocate a road travelling their section, whilst

the central route from Port Mulgrave to Sydney, with a branch to Mabon

and Port Hood, has many to support it. The population is rent by the

favorers of either route. Last summer the Dominion government undertook

the initial steps of the work, and every move since has been carefully

criticized. Whichever route is finally adopted, the gain to the island

will be great, and Cape Breton, which steadily increases her output of

coal year by year, will gradually become a very opulent section of

Canada. Its attractions in summer draw a great influx of visitors from

the southward. Gold and marble have also been found there, whilst

superior iron ore has been smelted. Mr. Fraser, having sat out his term

of office did not offer again until the general election of 1886, when

he was elected second on the list, there being six candidates. The vote

stood: Dr. John L. Bethune, 777; John A. Fraser, 513; defeating M. A.

McLeod, 459; John Morrison, 408; J. J. McCabe, 389; J. Munro, 468. Mr.

Fraser also sat for four years in the municipal council of Victoria. He

is a Liberal and takes a warm interest in all matters affecting the

welfare of Cape Breton.

* * * * *

=Chênevert, Cuthbert Alphonse=, Barrister, Berthierville, Quebec

province, was born in St. Cuthbert, Berthier county, P.Q., on 21st May,

1859. His parents were Theophile Chênevert and Mathilde Filteau. His

father was for many years one of the largest merchants of the county of

Berthier, and died in January, 1873. Young Chênevert studied at the

College of L’Assomption and the College of Ste. Marie, at Montreal. On

the 12th of January, 1880, he was admitted to the study of law, and

followed the course of Laval University, at Montreal, attending at the

same time the office of Longpré & David, advocates. He was called to the

bar of Quebec on the 20th of January, 1883, and began to practise his

profession at Berthierville, in partnership with the Hon. Honoré

Mercier, prime minister of the province of Quebec, and C. Beausoleil,

now member for Berthier, under the name and style of Mercier, Beausoleil

& Chênevert. But he practises his profession alone at Berthierville,

attending the circuits of Richelieu, Berthier, and Joliette. Mr.

Chênevert is a Liberal in politics, and has been in several contests. He

was a member and officer of the National Club at Montreal, and took an

active part in its management. In 1881 he delivered a very interesting

lecture before the members of this club, and _La Patrie_, on the 13th

March of that year, thus flatteringly alludes to it:—“At the last

meeting of the National Club, which was numerously attended, one of the

members, Mr. Cuthbert Chênevert, delivered a very instructive lecture,

prepared at the request of the secretary, entitled ‘The History of the

Press.’ The work is worthy of the title. It unites in the recital

didactic language, strict history and pure literature. The invention of

printing, the first attempts of Gutenberg, were related in a most

interesting manner, and the encomiums passed on Canada were to the

effect that our newspapers were the defenders of our liberties against

oligarchy and bureaucracy. This magnificent lecture was marked with

patriotic sentiments, expressed with great force. We congratulate Mr.

Chênevert on his success. His example should encourage his friends,

being one of the youngest members of the club. We hope this effort will

not be his last.” Mr. Chênevert was married, on August 27, 1884, to

Valerie Berthe Rocher, daughter of Clothilde Roy and Barthelemy Rocher,

notary and registrar of the county of L’Assomption.

* * * * *

=Robinson, D. A.=, M.D., Coaticook, Quebec, was born at West Charleston,

Vermont, U.S.A., Feb. 29th, 1836. He was the eldest son of Dr. Elijah

Robinson and Ann Eliza Smith, whose ancestry were of purely English

origin and among the early settlers of the state of Connecticut. The

great-grandfather on the father’s side was a colonel in the

Revolutionary war of the American colonies against Great Britain, and

the great-grandfather on the mother’s side, with several brothers, held

positions of honor and trust in the Federal army. Dr. Robinson’s early

education was confined mostly to the common schools. His classical

course, preparatory to his entering upon the study of medicine, was

through select schools and private teachers. His strictly medical course

was commenced under the direction of his father, then a prominent and

leading practitioner in the county in which he lived. His first course

of medical lectures commenced at Dartmouth Medical College, Hanover,

N.H., in the summer of 1858. He subsequently graduated among the first

of his class at the Vermont University Medical College, Burlington, Vt.,

June, 1859, and commenced the practice of medicine at Milan, N.H., the

following year. His successful career as a practitioner led to his

appointment as surgeon in the United States army, and during the great

American rebellion was with the Union army under Gen. Grant, and served

with it till the surrender of the Confederate Gen. Lee and the close of

the war. He recommenced civil practice at Island Pond, Vt., soon after

his services ended as army surgeon in 1866, and conducted a successful

practice in this town till the year 1874, when he moved to the

prosperous and thriving town of Coaticook, P.Q. Two years subsequently

he was made a member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the

Province of Quebec, after having undergone a searching examination

before the Provincial Medical Board in Montreal, by whom every applicant

but himself was rejected, which reflected considerable honor on his

ability and proficiency as a medical man. Aside from the position he now

occupies in the medical profession of his adopted country, he is a

member of the Vermont State Medical Society, and various other

societies. Dr. Robinson is now in successful practice in Coaticook.

* * * * *

=Foster, Hon. George Eulas=, B.A., D.C.L., Ottawa, Minister of Marine

and Fisheries of the Dominion of Canada, M.P. for King’s, New Brunswick,

was born in Carleton county, N.B., on the 3rd September, 1847. His

father, John Foster, was a descendant of a United Empire loyalist who

settled in New Brunswick in 1783. His mother, Margaret Haney, was

descended on her father’s side from German stock. George, the future

statesman, received his primary education in the common and superior

schools of his native county, and in September, 1865, entered the

University of New Brunswick, at the head of the matriculating class, and

was the winner in strong competition, of the King’s county scholarship

in the same university. He also took, during his first year, the Douglas

gold medal for an English essay, in a competition open to all the

classes, and won the compound achromatic microscope, as a first prize,

for natural science. His strong points at college were mathematics and

classics, with a strong liking for English literature and history. He

graduated B.A., in 1868; taught the Grammar School at Grand Falls, N.B.;

became superior of the school at Fredericton Junction, and in the

Baptist Seminary at Fredericton, one year at each. He became principal

of the Ladies’ High School at Fredericton in 1870, and was appointed

professor of classics and history in the University of New Brunswick, in

1871. He spent the years 1872 and 1873 at Edinburgh, Scotland, and

Heidelberg, Germany, prosecuting his studies, and took at Edinburgh the

medal, one first, and three other prizes. Returning to New Brunswick, he

assumed the duties of his chair in the university at the end of 1873,

and occupied the same until 1st January, 1879, when he resigned. Acadia

College, N.S., conferred upon him the title of D.C.L., in 1885. He was

examiner in Grammar and English at the Provincial Normal schools,

Fredericton, from 1874 to 1879. Early in life—in the thirteenth year of

his age—Mr. Foster identified himself with the order of the Sons of

Temperance and later with the British Templars, the United Temperance

Association, the Dominion Alliance, and the International Temperance

Association. He filled the office of Grand Worthy Patriarch in the Grand

Division of the Sons of Temperance of New Brunswick; Most Worthy Grand

Templar of the British Templars of Canada; National Chief of the United

Temperance Association, vice-president and president of the Executive of

the Dominion Alliance of Canada, and president, for four years, of the

International Temperance Association. During Professor Foster’s

occupancy of the university chair, he frequently delivered lectures and

addresses upon temperance topics, and upon his resignation, engaged in

an extensive lecturing tour, delivering addresses on the total

abstinence and prohibition questions in all the provinces of Canada, and

most of the eastern and western states of the United States. He likewise

edited several temperance papers. He has been identified for many years

with the Young Men’s Christian Association of Fredericton, and was a

member of the executive of the International Sabbath School Committee.

After a lecturing tour of remarkable success, Professor Foster resolved

to try what fortune had in store for him in the political sphere, though

considering how wide and how brilliant his achievements had been, we may

be sure he had no misgivings in taking the contemplated step. In looking

about him for a constituency, naturally that one nearest his heart, the

county wherein he first drew breath, suggested itself, and to King’s he

went, though it was represented by that stalwart politician, Major James

Domville. The friends of Mr. Domville considered the act of Professor

Foster as one that could be properly described only by the phrase

“cheeky,” but what they thought made no difference to the young

candidate—he proceeded with his canvass, addressing the people

everywhere upon the leading topics of the day. Against such eloquence as

Professor Foster brought into the field, Major Domville was powerless.

But apart from his ability as a debater, the people of King’s had put

the highest estimate upon the integrity and character of the young

candidate, and they accordingly elected him in June, 1882, to represent

them in the House of Commons at Ottawa. His election was voided; but he

was again elected in November of the same year, and still continues to

represent King’s county at Ottawa. On December 10th, 1885, he was sworn

in a member of the Privy Council, and invested with the portfolio of

marine and fisheries. Professor Foster has travelled in all the

provinces of Canada, and through the greater portion of the United

States, and has also visited England, Scotland, France, Germany and

Switzerland. In religion he belongs to the Free Baptist denomination,

and for many years has been, and is still, a prominent member of its

conference. He was president of the Union Baptist Educational Society in

1884-5. The Hon. George Eulas Foster is a Liberal-Conservative in

politics, and a full believer in the future greatness of Canada. He

favors a civil service system which shall, so far as consistent with the

peculiar circumstances of our country, conform to the system in

operation in Great Britain, a moderate protective tariff, such as shall

maintain our markets for our own manufactures, and at the same time not

conduce to the formation of monopolies, a wise, tried economy in the

administration of the finances of the country, and an enlightened,

progressive and comprehensive policy. He is one of the foremost speakers

in the country, if force and clearness of statement, fluency, and

adherence to logic can entitle him to that place. He is a man of great

energy, and of boundless nervous force. A literary grace pervades his

style, but his speeches are never florid, or beyond the bounds of good

taste in this respect. There is a singular earnestness in his manner,

and nearly every speech that he delivers resolves itself into a series

of propositions, one consequent upon the other. As we have said, he is a

speaker of much force, and sometimes his eloquence rises to the height

of passion.

* * * * *

=Leclerc, Rev. Joseph Uldaric=, Montreal, was born at Isle Bazarre,

August 7th, 1836. He is the son of Francis Leclerc, farmer, and Josephte

Demers, his wife. While still a youth, his parents determined to

dedicate their son to the service of the church, and with this object in

view his education was properly attended to. He took, first, a classical

course at Montreal College, after studying philosophy at St. Mary’s

College, Montreal, and St. Michael’s College, Toronto. He next went to

Sandwich College, as professor, in 1858, but soon resigned this position

to enter on a course of study in theology, at the Grand Seminary at

Montreal, being ordained priest in June, 1862. His first clerical charge

was at Vaudreuil, where he was curate for two years. In 1865 he left

Vaudreuil, having been appointed chaplain of the Reformatory Prison, at

St. Vincent de Paul. In 1873 he was appointed chaplain to the great

penitentiary there, and for the ten years following he filled that

important post with great acceptability to the officers of the

institution, who were deeply struck with the chaplain’s piety, and the

zeal with which he ministered to the spiritual wants of the many

unfortunate outcasts from society who were confined within its walls. In

1883 Father Leclerc was transferred to the important parish of St.

Joseph’s, Richmond street, Montreal, where he has since ministered. He

is also pastor of St. Anthony’s parish, for the English-speaking classes

of St. Joseph’s and Cunegonde, by whom he is much beloved. About four

years ago he visited Manitoba, and was much impressed with the richness

of the country, and the immense resources of the Northwest territories.

He has also twice visited the maritime provinces, and has thus a good

knowledge of the topography of the Dominion from personal observation.

* * * * *

=Sanford, Hon. William E.=, Hamilton, Ontario, Senator of the Dominion

of Canada, is fairly entitled to be classed among the business men of

Canada who have won distinction as successful merchants, and who have by

personal industry and genuine business ability succeeded in establishing

wide business relations and accumulating large fortunes. No name stands

more prominently before the public, or is worthy of more honourable

mention than he who is the subject of this sketch. His career has placed

him in the front rank of the “merchant princes” of the country. Success

is always a relative term, and is used appropriately only when employed

to describe conditions in which effort, guided by intelligence and

skill, to a definite end, accomplishes its aims. If this be true, then

no man in Canada to-day has a stronger claim to this distinction than

the Hon. Mr. Sanford. His business life has been simply a series of

triumphs over difficulties that would have daunted weaker natures, and

these victories have been won by tireless energy, unyielding

perseverance, a keen foresight of events, a skilful adaptation to the

tastes and necessities of the public, and the intelligent use of

definite means to a well defined purpose. The magnificent “Sanford

Block” in the city of Hamilton, consisting of offices, warerooms, stock,

show and packing rooms; the extensive business connections established

in every province in the Dominion, and extending from the Pacific to the

Atlantic, giving employment to over two thousand hands, and employing a

capital of about a million dollars, constitute a monument of which the

most ambitious might be proud. Senator Sanford is a lineal descendant of

Thomas de Sanford, who was knighted by William the Conqueror on the

battlefield of Hastings (see Burke’s “Landed Gentry”). The American

branch of the family settled in Redding, Connecticut, and one of its

members, Ezekiel Sanford, engineer, built Fort Saybrook, Conn., in 1626.

Born in the city of New York, in 1838, both his parents dying while he

was a mere child, he was sent, ere he had reached his seventh year, to

live with his uncle, the late Edward Jackson, of Hamilton, one of the

pioneer merchants of that city, whose singular uprightness of life and

large benefactions to religious, educational and charitable enterprises,

gained for him a widespread confidence and respect. In the home of such

a one, and surrounded by the most salutary influences, he was brought

up, and to this formative period of his life may doubtless be traced

many of those elements of character which have since distinguished his

career. He received a liberal education in one of the academies of New

York, and at the age of fifteen made his first venture in business,

entering the then well-known publishing firm of Farmer, Brace & Co., of

New York, in whose employ he continued until he reached his majority.

The remarkable business ability displayed by him, even at this early

period, won for him the esteem and confidence of the firm, and also an

offer of a partnership in the business. The death of the senior partner,

occurring about this time, caused certain changes which resulted in the

disappointment of young Sanford’s hopes. The firm was re-organized,

leaving him out. The value of his services was, however, recognized by a

rival firm, from whom he received the offer of a salary of three

thousand dollars per year. This offer he declined, determined in future

to sink or swim as master of the ship he sailed. His own words were, “I

am determined never to accept a position as clerk to any firm.” Mr.

Sanford now returned to Canada, was united in marriage to Miss Jackson,

only daughter of his friend, Edward Jackson, and then went to London,

Ontario, and entered into a business partnership with Murray Anderson

and Edward Jackson, and under the firm name of Anderson, Sanford & Co.,

carried on one of the largest foundries in western Canada. His wedded

happiness was of short duration, for at the end of about eighteen months

his accomplished wife died. Completely crushed and disheartened by the

blow, he retired from the firm, and returned to Hamilton. His restless

energies, however, refused to remain inactive, and with characteristic

energy, he, with some New York dealers, went into the wool business. In

less than a year, he was master of the situation, having obtained

control of the wool market of the province, and was soon known among

dealers as the “Wool King” of Canada. Not long after this, Senator

Sanford entered upon the business which, under his skilful management,

has grown into such large proportions, in which he has achieved his

greatest success, and with which he is still identified. He formed a

partnership with Alexander McInnes, for the manufacture of ready-made

clothing. With that keen discernment of what the public needed that has

ever characterised him, he determined, from the best goods to be found

in the market, to manufacture for the public demand clothing that would

combine cheapness with elegance and style of finish. Twenty thousand

dollars capital was invested at the beginning. The most skilful labor to

be found was employed, and samples to meet the requirements of the

public produced. Mr. Sanford put the goods upon the market himself,

while his partner attended to the office work. The goods were what the

people needed, and from that day the trade in Canada was revolutionised;

the character of the firm as “first class” established, and the

foundation of future success laid. Various changes have taken place in

the _personnel_ of the firm since its establishment in 1861. After ten

years Mr. McInnes retired, and two of the employés were taken in as

partners. These remained for a few years, and then also retired, leaving

Senator Sanford sole proprietor, who now carries on the business under

the title of W. E. Sanford & Co. Since the establishment of the firm,

and through all its subsequent changes, Senator Sanford has been the

moving and controlling spirit of the concern. He is complete master of

all the details of the several departments, as well as director of the

whole establishment. While he pioneers the great public contracts, he at

the same time keenly observes and anticipates any change in the public

taste, and invariably has the supply in advance of the demand. The

requirements of each province or community is a separate study, and

whether it be Prince Edward Island or Manitoba or the Pacific coast,

each is suitably supplied from the endless variety produced at the

central warerooms in Hamilton. While other firms are studying the

problem and counting the cost, Senator Sanford is selling his goods and

pocketing the profits. In social life Senator Sanford is most affable

and attractive; in manners he is courteous and gentlemanly, and is

always the soul of the company in which he is found. He can come from

the most perplexing concerns of business, and plunge at once into all

the mirth and merriment of the evening party, as though there was no

such thing as care in the world. For a man whose mind is so deeply

occupied with the various financial schemes with which he is identified,

one would go far to find another who has the disposition, and finds the

opportunity, to do so many acts of genuine kindness. A few flowers from

his conservatory, or some rare relish to tempt the appetite, is his

thoughtful and appropriate way of relieving the weariness of many a sick

chamber. Hon. Mr. Sanford is a leading member of the Methodist church, a

trustee and steward of the Centenary Church, Hamilton, and a liberal

supporter of the missionary, educational and other connexional agencies

of the church. To each of the recurring general conferences he has been

invariably elected by the proper constituencies, and is treasurer of

several of the most important church funds. As a citizen, he is

public-spirited, and justly held in high esteem. He has been president

of the Board of Trade, is vice-president of the Hamilton Provident

Society, a Bank director, one of the Board of Regents of Victoria

University, director of the _Empire_ newspaper, president of the

Hamilton Ladies College, and one of the projectors and vice-president of

the Manitoba and North-Western Railway Company. He is the owner of a

tract of upwards of sixty thousand acres of land on the line of the

above mentioned railway at a point commencing within a few miles of

Portage la Prairie; and upon this he has established a large cattle and

horse ranche. He has now about completed the organization of a company

for the development of his immense marble deposit in the township of

Barrie, which is claimed to be the largest in the world. In politics he

is in sympathy with the protective policy of the present administration,

and consequently gives his support to the Conservative party. A few such

men make a city, and are indispensable to its prosperity and

development. When shrewdness, ability, enterprise, and industry combine,

and succeed in accumulating wealth, the benefit is not alone to the one

who is thus gifted, but to the many to whom the means of livelihood is

afforded, and to the city and country as well, on which they bestow the

fruits of their talents and their toil. He was called to the Senate of

Canada in March, 1887, and we have no doubt he will make his influence

felt in that body for the benefit of the country of his adoption. In

1866 he was united in marriage to Sophia Vaux, youngest daughter of the

late Thomas Vaux, accountant of the House of Commons, Ottawa, a lady of

culture and dignity, whose genial and refined spirit makes the home

delightful, and whose open hand of charity is a proverb in the city in

which she lives.

* * * * *

=Routhier, Hon. Adolphe Basile=, LL.D., Quebec, rests his claim to a

prominent place in a work of this kind, not only on his eminence as a

judge of the Superior Court of the province of Quebec, but on his

well-earned fame as a _littérateur_ and a poet. He was born at St.

Placide, in the county of Two Mountains, near Montreal, on the 8th May,

1839, his father, Charles Routhier, a farmer, whose ancestors came from

Santonge, France. Educated in the classics at the college of Ste.

Therese, in the county of Terrebonne, young Routhier was the first

graduate of that institution to receive the degree of B.A. from Laval

University, Quebec, at which he also studied law. Called to the bar in

December, 1851, he settled down to the practice of his profession at

Kamouraska, P.Q., and soon won success and distinction by his abilities

as a pleader and a jurist. During this stage of his career, public

attention was also first directed to the literary talents which he has

since developed in such a remarkable degree. Newspaper writing occupied

the time snatched from his profession, and his editorial contributions

to _Le Courrier du Canada_, published at Quebec, and _Le Nouveau Monde_,

published at Montreal, showed that a new and formidable competitor had

entered the journalistic field. A Conservative in politics, he threw

himself with ardor into all the controversies of the time and, before

long, came to be recognized as the leader of the Ultramontane Catholic

or so-called Programmist party in his native province, whose cause he

championed with a vigorous pen. In 1869 he was selected as the party’s

candidate to contest the seat in the Canadian House of Commons for the

county of Kamouraska, but was defeated by his Liberal adversary, Hon. C.

A. P. Pelletier, afterwards minister of agriculture and immigration in

the Mackenzie cabinet, and now a senator of the Dominion. In 1872 Mr.

Routhier was created a Queen’s counsel, and in the following year he was

raised to the bench as one of the justices of the Superior Court by the

Macdonald government—the judicial district assigned to him being that

known as the Chicoutimi district, over which he still presides with

marked credit to himself and satisfaction to the local bar and public.

On the bench he is noted for his affability, painstaking character and

profound knowledge of the law, and his decisions are always marked by

great clearness and soundness. Indeed, Mr. Justice Routhier is a model

magistrate in the fullest sense of the term, and as such, as well as for

his fine social qualities, is very generally admired and esteemed

throughout the province of Quebec. The question of the undue influence

of the clergy of Lower Canada in politics was first raised and argued

before him by Hon. F. Langelier, M.P., the present mayor of Quebec, in

the celebrated case of Tremblay _vs._ Langevin (Charlevoix contested

election), and though his judgment, which was in favor of the clergy and

created great excitement at the time, was afterwards reversed on appeal,

its powerful arguments in its own support, and its thorough

impartiality, have never been questioned. Judge Routhier has been a

great traveller, and to this feature of his life the country is indebted

for some of his best literary works. He has made the tour of Europe

several times, and, at the time of writing, is again there. He has also

visited the Holy Land. When in Rome, in 1876, the late Pontiff Pius IX.

conferred on him the dignity of a knight commander of the order of St.

Gregory the Great, for his eminent services to the cause of religion;

and during the same visit to the other side of the Atlantic, he spent

four months in Paris, where he became acquainted with the leading

writers of the French Catholic press and the Legitimist party, and

delivered at the _Cercle du Luxembourg_ a speech which attracted the

favorable notice and praise of _L’Univers_ and _Le Monde_, the great

Catholic and Legitimist organs of the French capital. After his return

to Canada he took a conspicuous part in the Quebec national festivities

of June, 1880, and was chairman of the _Congres Catholique_ held at

Laval University, and vice-president of the _Convention Nationale_. On

these memorable occasions his addresses created a profound sensation and

won for him from _La Minerve_, of Montreal, the leading organ of the

Lower Canadian Conservatives, the title of “champion of the Catholic

party of Canada.” They were afterwards published in the _Revue

Trimestrielle_, of Paris, with the flattering recommendation of M.

Lucien Brun, the chief of the Legitimist party of France. Judge Routhier

is one of the most charming of French Canadian writers both in verse and

prose. His “_Causeries du Dimanche_,” “_Impressions de Voyage_,”

“_Poesies_,”, and “_Conférences et Discours_,” published at various

times since 1871, as well as his fugitive articles and poetical

effusions scattered through the newspaper press, are marked not only by

great vigor of thought, but by much beauty and grace; and in literary

circles his abilities are recognized as of the highest order. Indeed, by

many of the best authorities he is ranked as the greatest master of the

French language at the present day in the province of Quebec—his

writings being admired as much for their purity and polish as for their

force. As a literary critic, he is admitted to be unsurpassed in that

province, and his _Jean Piquefort_ is a perfect model of keen and

polished satire. Laval University acknowledged his literary eminence in

1881 by conferring upon him the distinction of LL.D. He is also a

prominent member of the Royal Society of Canada. In 1862 our subject

married Miss Marie Clorinde Mondelet, only daughter of the late Jean

Olivier Mondelet, advocate, and niece of one of the eminent judges of

the same name, who, some years since, graced the bench of the Montreal

district. Mrs. Routhier is one of the leaders of Quebec society and a

lady as remarkable for her gracefulness as for her social distinction.

By her he has had issue four children, three daughters and one son.

* * * * *

=Shannon, Hon. Samuel Leonard=, D.C.L., Halifax, Judge of the Court of

Probate for the county of Halifax, Nova Scotia, was born in Halifax, on

the 1st June, 1816. His father, James Noble Shannon, was a merchant in

Halifax, and his mother, Nancy Allison, belongs to Horton, Nova Scotia.

The Shannons, with which the subject of our sketch is connected, came

from Ireland, to the colony of Massachusetts, in the latter part of the

seventeenth century, and the progenitor of the family was Nathaniel

Shannon, who held the office of “navie officer,” at Boston,

Massachusetts. His descendants settled at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and

were connected with the Vaughan and Cutts families of that place. Mr.

Shannon’s grandfather, Richard Cutts Shannon, was a prominent lawyer in

Portsmouth when the revolutionary war broke out, and by taking the royal

side became subject to persecution, imprisonment, and loss of property.

His son, the father of the subject of our sketch, left Portsmouth when

he was a boy, and came to Nova Scotia, and finally settled in Halifax,

where he carried on business as a merchant until his death in 1857. The

mother’s family, the Allisons, came from the north of Ireland about the

year 1769, and settled in Horton, Nova Scotia, on land which had been

previously occupied by the French Acadians. Hon. Mr. Shannon received

his primary education at the Halifax Grammar School, of which the Rev.

Dr. Twining was master; and in 1832 he entered the University of King’s

College, Windsor, from which he graduated B.A. in 1836. He received the

degree of D.C.L. from the same university, in 1875. He studied law with

H. Pryor, D.C.L., and was admitted to the bar of Nova Scotia, in 1839.

In 1866 he was appointed a Queen’s counsel. Having taken an interest in

military affairs, he received a commission as second lieutenant in the

2nd or Queen’s Halifax regiment of militia, in 1837,—the commission

signed by Sir Colin Campbell, the then governor of Nova Scotia. He was

promoted lieutenant in the same regiment in 1838; became captain in same

regiment in 1859,—commission signed by Lord Mulgrave, the then

lieutenant-governor, and major, in 1862. He was subsequently appointed

lieutenant-colonel of the reserve Halifax battalion, and commissioned by

the Dominion government. Entering political life, he was elected member

of the Nova Scotia legislature, for the western division of the county

of Halifax, including the city, in 1859; re-elected by the same

constituency in 1863; became member of the provincial government in

1863; and remained in the government until the province entered into

confederation in 1867. He then retired from politics, and was appointed

judge of the court of probate, for the county of Halifax, in 1881. In

1870 he received the title of “honorable” from her Majesty the Queen.

Judge Shannon is president of the Nova Scotia Bible Society; president

of the Nova Scotia Evangelical Alliance; a trustee and member of the

Young Men’s Christian Association of Halifax, and a shareholder and

member of several local mercantile companies. He has travelled

extensively in the United States and Dominion of Canada, which he has

visited repeatedly. In 1847 and 1848 he spent nine months travelling in

England, Scotland, and on the continent of Europe. He was in Switzerland

when the war of the Sonderbund took place, in 1847; in Paris, only a few

weeks before the revolution of 1848, and in London, during the Chartist

riots of the last mentioned year. He was brought up a Methodist, and has

always been identified with that denomination. He was married in

October, 1855, to Annie, daughter of Benjamin Fellows, of Granville,

Nova Scotia.

* * * * *

=Sinclair, Donald=, Walkerton, Ontario, Registrar of Deeds for the

county of Bruce, was born in the Island of Islay, Scotland, in July

1829. His parents were Neil Sinclair and Mary McDougall, first of

Kileenan, afterwards of Bowmore village. He was educated at the parish

school of Bowmore. He immigrated with his parents to Canada West, in the

summer of 1851; and came to the county of Bruce in the summer of 1853,

where he remained for a couple of years with his parents who had settled

in the township of Arran in 1852. Mr. Sinclair taught school in the Gore

area of Toronto, Chinguacousy and Toronto township, and afterwards in

the township of Saugeen; and then settled permanently in the county of

Bruce, in 1858. He has always taken a deep interest in municipal

affairs, and was deputy-reeve of Arran; and sat in the municipal council

of the united counties of Huron and Bruce in 1863, in which year he

removed to Southampton and became bookkeeper for his brother, Alexander

Sinclair, general merchant and grain buyer. In general politics, too, he

was greatly interested, and became the standard-bearer of his party, and

was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, at the general

election in 1867, as member for the North Riding of Bruce, which riding

he represented continuously till 1883. He was appointed registrar of

deeds on the 24th of February, 1883, for the county of Bruce, and this

position he still holds. Mr. Sinclair removed from Southampton to

Paisley in the year 1869, where he resided and carried on business as a

general merchant till he received his appointment. He married, 26th

April, 1871, Isabella, daughter of Thomas Adair, of Southampton. He is a

member of the Baptist church, and was always a Liberal in politics. Mr.

Sinclair is a sociable Scotchman, and is held in high esteem by his

friends.

* * * * *

=Scott, Hon. Richard William=, Q.C., leader of the Opposition in the

Senate, and ex-Secretary of State, was born in Prescott, Ontario, on the

24th February, 1825. He is of Irish parentage on his father’s side,

while, on his mother’s side he claims kinship with the McDonnells of U.

E. loyalist fame. Young Scott had the advantage of a good education, his

parents being in comfortable circumstances. He was educated by a private

tutor, William Spiller, of Prescott, until he was ready to enter upon

the study of law. He read in the office of Messrs. Crooks & Smith, of

Toronto, and was called to the bar at the age of twenty-three years. He

settled in Ottawa, then a small town, and entered upon the practice of

his profession. He early exhibited a leaning towards public affairs, and

took an active part as a young man in many warm political contests. In

1852 he was elected mayor of Ottawa, and filled his term of office with

general satisfaction to the people. In 1857 he was elected to the

Canadian Legislature for Ottawa, but suffered defeat on seeking

re-election in 1863. When confederation was consummated and the first

general election for the Ontario Legislative Assembly was held, Mr.

Scott was again elected for Ottawa, and from that time to the present he

has been continuously active in Canadian public affairs as a member of

one of the great legislative bodies. He has held high positions in

several administrations, and is to be credited with the initiation of

some of the most important laws under which the Canadian people now

live. He was elected speaker of the Ontario Legislative Assembly in

1871, but in the organization of the Blake administration he was asked

to accept a portfolio and a seat in the executive council, and resigned

the speakership after two weeks of office. He became commissioner of

crown lands, and administered the affairs of that exceedingly difficult

office with marked ability. In 1873 he was called to the Privy Council

of the Dominion, as a member of the Mackenzie administration, and

resigned his place in the Ontario government and his seat in the house.

He was chosen as the fittest man to lead the Senate in conjunction with

Hon. Mr. Pelletier, and was called to the upper house and made secretary

of state, in March, 1874. His position in the government was that of

secretary of state and registrar-general. When Hon. (now Sir) Richard

Cartwright, minister of finance, went to England in that year, Hon. Mr.

Scott acted in his place; and subsequently, in the absence of other

members of the government he acted at one time as minister of internal

revenue, and at another as minister of justice. On the defeat of the

Mackenzie administration at the polls in 1878, Hon. Mr. Scott became

leader of the opposition in the Senate, which position he still holds.

The legislative enactment by which he is most widely known, and which

forms his highest title to a high place among Canadian law-makers, is

the Canada Temperance Act of 1875, better known as “the Scott Act.” This

measure was the outcome of a long agitation on the part of the

temperance people for an advance in some way upon the license laws and

the old “Dunkin Act,” until then the ones in force. The “Dunkin Act” was

a local option measure, but was of so defective a character that it was

but lightly considered by the prohibitionists, and was not of much use

as a guide in framing another law based upon the local option principle.

The Canada Temperance Act is therefore a pioneer in the path of local

option legislation in regard to the liquor traffic, and it is a

remarkable tribute to the sagacity and legal ability of its framer that

in the ten years since it was passed, although it has been the subject

of the fiercest legal disputes, not only has its constitutionality been

upheld by the highest court of the empire, in spite of the determined

efforts of the greatest pleaders to overthrow it, but so perfect have

its details been found that even now some half-dozen amendments are all

that the prohibitionists are asking, and of these some arise out of

advance in the temperance sentiment of the country which could not have

been legislated for in the first place. Another important act which owes

its origin to Mr. Scott, and which now forms part of our constitutional

system, is the Separate School Law of Ontario, prepared and carried

through parliament by him as a private member, in 1863; a measure which

was the means of removing a vexed question from the political arena, and

of allaying much public irritation. Mr. Scott is a man of quiet,

methodical ways, but remarkable for his perseverance and tenacity of

purpose. As a speaker, he makes no oratorical flourishes, but arranges

his arguments with marked ability in such a way as to produce the most

telling effect upon a candid mind. Personally there is no man in

parliament who is held in higher or more deserved respect by

representatives of all shades of political opinion.

* * * * *

=Adam, Graeme Mercer=, Toronto, was born in 1839, at Loanhead, a village

in Midlothian, Scotland, about half-way between De Quincey’s house at

Lasswade, on the Esk, and the woodland domain of the poet Drummond, of

Hawthornden, close by the far-famed castle and chapel of the Earls of

Roslyn. His father, who died in 1841, was factor on the estates of

Graeme Mercer of Mavisbank and Gorthy, after whom he was named. The

family is connected with the Adams of Blair-Adam, in Perthshire, and on

the paternal side has given many representatives to literature and other

professional callings; while on the maternal side, numberless Wisharts

(his mother is a lineal descendant of the Scottish martyr George

Wishart), have served their country in many of Britain’s great battles

on sea and land. After receiving his education, first at Portobello and

then at Edinburgh, Mr. Adam entered an old-established publishing house

in the Scottish capital while very young, and at the age of nineteen was

entrusted with the management of one of its most important departments.

Owing to the death of the head of the house, the business was wound up,

and young Mercer Adam was offered, through the Nelsons, a post in a

large colonial book-house in Calcutta, and from the Blackwoods he had at

the same time a proposal to go to Canada, to take charge of the book

business of Mr. (now Rev. Dr.) J. Cunningham Geikie; the latter of which

he accepted, and came to Canada in September, 1858. Two years afterwards

he succeeded to this business, as a member of the firm of Rollo & Adam,

who, it may be said, were the publishers of the first of the more

ambitious native periodicals published in Canada, the _British American

Magazine_. In this native periodical Mr. Adam made his first published

contributions to literature. In 1866 Mr. Rollo retired from the business

of Rollo & Adam, and the firm of Adam, Stevenson & Co. was formed. This

book-house was well known in its day for its many publishing

enterprises, and for the aid it gave the intellectual life of Canada, in

furthering native literature and in introducing a higher class of book

importations than had hitherto found sale in the country. Unfortunately

the house for a number of years met with many and severe losses, and its

business was wound up in 1876, Mr. Adam withdrawing for a time to New

York to found a publishing house there, which has since developed into

the extensive firm of the John W. Lovell Publishing Company. Mr. Adam,

however, returned to Toronto in 1878, and since then has almost

exclusively devoted himself to a literary life. In 1879 he established,

and for five years edited, the _Canada Educational Monthly_; and in 1880

assumed the editorship of the _Canadian Monthly_, which in connection

with Professor Goldwin Smith, he was instrumental in founding in the

year 1872. Mr. Adam has also had connection with many other periodical

publications issued in Ontario, either as a writer or in business

relations therewith. His services to literature have been wide and

important, for he has been journalist, educationist, critic, reviewer

and essay-writer. In 1885 he wrote “The North-West, its History and its

Troubles,” published by the Rose Publishing Company; he edited an

edition of Lord Macaulay’s Essay on Warren Hastings; founded the _Canada

Bookseller_, a trade organ, in 1870, and has written, in conjunction

with W. J. Robertson, B.A., of St. Catharines, a “School History of

England and Canada.” This History-Primer has had a sale of 100,000

copies, and is authorized for use in all the schools of Ontario as well

as in the educational institutions of other provinces. In 1883 Mr. Adam

edited a five volume series of school reading books, known as the “Royal

Canadian Readers,” and in the following year was an extensive

contributor to _Picturesque Canada_, and to a number of publications

issued in Canada and the mother country. Mr. Adam is also the joint

author, with J. W. Connor, B.A., of Berlin, of “The Canadian High School

Word Book,” a manual of orthoepy, synonymy and derivation. In 1886, in

conjunction with Miss A. E. Wetherald, a graceful Canadian writer in

prose and verse, Mr. Adam wrote an historical romance entitled “An

Algonquin Maiden,” three separate editions of which appeared in Toronto,

London, and New York. This novel, which deals with interesting events in

connection with the early history of Upper Canada, was exceedingly well

received by the public and highly praised by the critics. Of other

recent works which have come from Mr. Adam’s pen, the chief is an

“Outline History of Canadian Literature,” published in 1887. This

admirable text book of the native authors, though modest in its scope,

has been found exceedingly useful as a companion to the Canadian

histories. Mr. Adam has served Canada in the militia for twelve years.

He was a captain in the Queen’s Own Rifles, and commanded a company of

that crack corps at the fight at Ridgeway, between our volunteers and

the Fenian marauders. He is a graduate and first-class certificate

holder of the Military school of Toronto; received a second-class

certificate in 1865 from Colonel Peacock of Her Majesty’s 16th regiment;

and in 1866 a first-class certificate from Colonel Lowry of the 47th

regiment. Mr. Adam has for the last twenty years been brought into

contact with every literary man in the country and many representatives

of other professions in Canada, and we have not probably another man who

has a larger or more intimate acquaintance with books, book-men, and the

book-trade, as vouched for by the publishing and bookselling fraternity,

as well as by the leading men in all the professions—law, medicine,

education, theology, etc. Mr. Adam married in 1863, Jane, second

daughter of the late John Gibson, of Lovell & Gibson, parliamentary

printers, and editor for many years of the _Literary Garland_. This lady

died in 1884, profoundly regretted, leaving eight children to survive

her. In religion Mr. Adam is a member of the Church of England; in

politics he is an independent and a Canadian nationalist. Besides the

literary work noted, Mr. Adam has edited and prepared for the press

innumerable manuscripts; is a constant contributor to all the Toronto

journals, and is looked upon by literary people as a sort of general

reference library. The most pretentious of Mr. Adam’s published works so

far is “The North-West, its History and its Troubles;” and this is a

book that will be certain to survive in the literature of the country.

The style of the work is like everything that proceeds from the pen of

Mr. Adam,—it is clean cut, easy, swift and direct. There is a

fascinating grace about all of Mr. Adam’s work, and one finds himself

pausing constantly to admire the grace with which a sentence has been

rounded, or to linger over its exquisitely balanced rhythm. Nature he

loves with all his heart, and many of the descriptive passages in the

work in question are delightful. There is present, likewise, the

judicial quality, and the sense of historical responsibility; while the

strong individuality of the writer is ever manifest. What we say of the

work referred to, is true of Mr. Adam’s writing generally. But to him,

as some of our recently published historical and biographical works bear

testimony, Canadian literature lies under a debt which it can never

repay. Literature the man loves, and it is not an exaggeration to say

that his life has been consecrated to it. How bitter have been the

fortunes of letters in Canada, is a fact only too well known, but Mr.

Adam has always been fighting the literary fight, and when others have

dropped out of the battle, he has kept up his courage. He is at present

engaged exclusively in letters, and has now attained his meridian

powers, and we await much from his gifted pen.

* * * * *

=Dickson, George=, M.A., Principal of Upper Canada College, Toronto, was

born in Markham township, county of York, in 1846. His father was John

Dickson, a well-known and much respected mill owner, of Markham, who

came to Canada in 1829, and lived for a time in York (now Toronto). His

grandfather, Robert Dickson, was a substantial woollen manufacturer of

Lanarkshire, Scotland. His mother, a worthy Scotch lady, was the

daughter of Robert McNair, farmer, of Paisley, Scotland, who emigrated

to Canada in 1828, and settled at Milton, county of Halton, but

subsequently removed to York Mills, Yonge street. Another branch of the

family settled in Oswego, and there carried on an extensive shipping

business. The subject of this sketch, who for nearly a quarter of a

century has been worthily identified with educational pursuits, was

himself educated at the Richmond Hill Public School, at the Markham

Grammar School, and subsequently at the Whitby Senior County Grammar

School, then under the charge of Thomas Kirkland, M.A., now principal of

the Normal School, Toronto. From Whitby he proceeded to Toronto

University, where he matriculated with honors, and attended two

sessions. Here he prosecuted his studies, as the late President McCaul

relates, with much diligence, his proficiency in mathematics, history

and English, and in natural history, gaining him honors in these

departments. Later on he graduated with honors at the Victoria

University, Cobourg; and in 1878 he was admitted to the degree of master

of arts. In the year 1865 he began his career as an educator, teaching

first in the Lloyd school section, township of Whitchurch, and in 1866-7

in the village of Laskay, township of King. In the latter school we

first recognise Mr. Dickson’s special aptitude for teaching, for in the

two years he was engaged at Laskay no fewer than twelve of his pupils

obtained first-class certificates of qualification as teachers. In 1868

Mr. Dickson was appointed mathematical master in the Chatham Grammar

School, then under the late High School inspector, S. A. Marling, M.A.

Here his success as an educator followed him, one of his earliest pupils

obtaining first-class honors in mathematics at the matriculation

examinations at Toronto University. Of the characteristics of his

educational work at Chatham, Mr. Marling, the then head master,

writes:—“Mr. Dickson is a thorough teacher, an excellent

disciplinarian, and possesses in an unusual degree the power to excite

and maintain the interest of a class.” In 1871 the subject of our sketch

was offered and accepted the important post of preparing young men for

university matriculation in the Woodstock Literary Institute, under the

late Rev. R. A. Fyfe, D.D. Here he had charge of the university class in

mathematics, English, history, and part of the classics; and in the year

he remained at Woodstock he justly earned, as the authorities

acknowledged, much of the gratifying honors won by the students of the

institute. We now follow Mr. Dickson to Hamilton, to which city he

removed in the autumn of 1872, to assume the duties of assistant

mastership of the Collegiate Institute. The then headmaster was the late

J. M. Buchan, M.A., who in the following year was made high school

inspector; the board appointing Mr. Dickson in his stead. To this

important position the new headmaster brought his now matured talents,

rare aptitude for teaching, and an industry and power of work which

enabled him not only to establish his fame as one of the most successful

of Canadian educators, but to win for the Hamilton Institute a position

in the first rank among the secondary schools of the province. These

statements find ready confirmation in the gratifying statistics of the

institute during the thirteen years Mr. Dickson remained in charge of

its affairs. In 1872, when he was appointed headmaster, the school

ranked third in the province; in 1885, when he removed to Toronto, again

to succeed Mr. Buchan in the principalship of Upper Canada College, the

school, as we have said, ranked first; from an attendance of 230 at the

former period, the attendance rose to 585 at the latter period. Not only

was the school thoroughly organized, with a specialist at the head of

each department, but a literary society was formed in connection with

it, and later on its members began the publication of a magazine, which

at first modestly appeared quarterly, then blossomed out into a vigorous

monthly, dealing with every branch of educational work, and finding its

way into almost every county in the province. In the management of this

periodical, which finally was merged in the _Canada Educational

Monthly_, Mr. Dickson took an active interest, and gave it the benefit

of his literary and scientific attainments. Meantime the institute

greatly prospered, and the most gratifying successes were won by its

pupils at the various university examinations and at those of the

educational department of the province. The university record of the

institute under Mr. Dickson’s administration shows almost phenomenal

results. Within ten years of his appointment no less than one hundred

and seventy-five of its pupils passed the university examinations. The

scholarships (nineteen in number) taken by pupils of the school within

the same period are in the same ratio. As bearing on this subject, we

extract the following from a late report of the Hamilton board:—

At Toronto University the school has ranked either first or

second in classics no fewer than ten times, in mathematics

eleven times first and three times second; in modern languages,

including English, history and geography, twice first and twice

second; and at every matriculation examination since 1873

Hamilton has won scholarships. Official university records show

that no other collegiate institute has done this. In addition to

the scholarships given above, Hamilton won six at first year

Toronto University; one at London, England, ten at Knox College;

two at McGill University; one at Trinity College, Toronto; two

at Victoria and one at Queen’s College, Kingston; in all, forty

scholarships, or an average of four each year. In 1883, in

addition to all this, five scholarships were won at university

examinations by Hamilton.

The departmental examinations show like results. Under Mr. Dickson’s

_régime_ upwards of four hundred passed the non-professional

examinations for teachers’ certificates, and over fifty matriculated in

law. From 1880 to 1885, in addition to his onerous duties as principal

of the Collegiate Institute, Mr. Dickson had charge of the organization

and management of the school system of the city of Hamilton. He also

organized the Hamilton Teachers’ Association, and was its first

president; was president for one year of the Teachers Association of the

county of Wentworth; and for a number of years a director of the

Hamilton Mechanics’ Institute. In 1885, on the lamented death of J. M.

Buchan, Mr. Dickson succeeded that gentleman in the principalship of

Upper Canada College, by appointment of the Ontario government, and

thereupon removed to Toronto. In his new sphere, Principal Dickson’s

power of organization, good discipline, and thoroughly business-like

administration, combined with his all round scholarship, fine teaching

ability and faculty of imbuing students with love of their work soon

manifested themselves, and gave a new impetus to the old historic school

of the province. Under his management not only has the institution

continued to flourish, but it has done increasingly good work, as yearly

university honors prove, and passed through a crisis in its history

which, under a less vigorous administration would probably have seen its

doom. Though it is soon to pass to new quarters in the northern suburbs

of the city, its future need cause no uneasiness to any “old College

boy,” for its interests will be in safe keeping in the hands of its

present capable head. As principal of Upper Canada College Mr. Dickson

is _ex officio_ a member of Toronto University Senate, and his large

experience as an educationist, and the fact that he has filled

successively the post of classical, mathematical, science and English

master, in high school, collegiate institute and college, peculiarly fit

him to serve in the academic senate. Personally, he is held in high

esteem for his many fine qualities of head and heart, and for those

gifts and endowments which, if they have not led him to take a prominent

part in public affairs, nevertheless attach to him many warm friends.

Though he is not what is known as a “pushing” man, for his modest

demeanor indicates him to be the reverse of this, he is a gentleman of

great and varied mental resources, which would enable him to acquit

himself with credit in any sphere he is called upon to fill. He is

withal a genial, large-hearted, and lovable man. In politics Principal

Dickson is a Reformer; in religion a Presbyterian. In 1882 he married

Mary, eldest daughter of the late Captain Thomas Flett, of Hamilton, a

lady whose musical tastes and varied graces and accomplishments endear

her to a large circle of friends.

* * * * *

=Stephen, Alexander=, Halifax, N.S., was born at Musquodoboit, Halifax

Co., March 9, 1845, and was the eldest son of Alexander Stephen of

Rothess, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, who came to Nova Scotia in 1834, and

engaged in business, founding the house of A. Stephen & Son, carried on

by his son to-day. His mother was Mary Ann Gould, a daughter of one of

the settlers of the Musquodoboit valley. The subject of this sketch was

educated at the Free Church Academy and Horton College. He early in life

became associated with his father in the firm of A. Stephen & Son,

furniture and wooden ware manufacturers, and on the decease of his

father (a few years ago), continued the business, which has increased

and developed under his management. Prior to the confederation of the

provinces he held a captain’s commission in the 9th Halifax militia, and

since 1867 holds the commission of a captain in the militia reserve. He

was elected an alderman for the city of Halifax in 1882, and was again

re-elected in 1885. During that period he has filled many responsible

positions such as chairman of the Board of Works of the city; chairman

of the Public Gardens Commission; and joint delegate with Mayor J. C.

Mackintosh and Hon. Dr. Farrell in the St. John-Halifax delegation to

Ottawa, on the Dry Dock and Short Line Railway matters, in 1885. He was

one of the executive committee of the Dominion Exhibition of 1881, and

was one of the most zealous movers in that successful exposition. He is

an active promoter of the Victoria School of Art and Design, established

in Halifax, 1887, in honor of her Majesty’s jubilee. Mr. Stephen is a

Royal Arch Mason and P.M. of Virgin lodge, No. 3, R.N.S., with which he

has been connected for twenty years. He is a Liberal in politics and an

uncompromising free trader, though engaged in, and very successfully

carrying on one of the best protected trades, viz.: furniture, wooden

ware and house furnishings. Has in his employ a large number of men at

his factory and warerooms in Halifax. The factory is situate number 162

to 166 Grafton street, and extends through to Albermarle street. The

ware rooms are on the corner of Barrington and Prince streets, adjoining

the Y. M. C. A. building, and are very extensive. He has lately added

the house furnishings branch, carpets, oil cloths, and draperies, to his

extensive business which is still carried on under the old style, A.

Stephen & Son. He is a Presbyterian. He married August 19, 1873, Sadie

Cogswell, daughter of late Rev. John Cogswell, of Halifax, and has a

family.

* * * * *

=Hill, Hon. George Frederick=, St. Stephen, N.B., is a son of the late

Hon. George S. Hill, a barrister of extensive connections, who sat for

twenty-eight years in the House of Assembly and the Legislative Council

of New Brunswick. Hon. Mr. Hill was born at St. Stephen in February,

1832. He received part of his education in that town and also pursued

his studies for some time in the neighbouring republic. Having completed

his general course of studies, he began to equip himself for the toils

of the legal profession, and was admitted an attorney of New Brunswick

in 1854. Thinking that there was more money in mercantile pursuits than

in the walk of Blackstone, he gave over his original intention of

following the varying chances of success at the bar, and engaged in

trade. Mr. Hill has never since returned to legal studies, but his early

training has been of great service to him as an active man of affairs

and politician. There have been great opportunities in general business

in the province during the last thirty years, a spirit of enterprise

having been as generally diffused in New Brunswick as in any part of

British America. Of late, bank failures consequent upon the decline of

shipping and the lumber industry, have somewhat retarded the more

ambitious movements of speculation, but still the enterprise is there,

and will in the long run do its work. Mr. Hill was official assignee for

Charlotte county, under the old bankruptcy law, from 1869 until the law

was repealed in 1878. He early manifested a great love of politics and,

being possessed of extensive business connections, was nominated as a

candidate for Charlotte county in 1865 in the Provincial Assembly. Those

were the days of intense political excitement over the mooted scheme of

confederation of the provinces. Many able politicians succumbed to the

varying successes of the two parties over this question. In 1866 Mr.

Hill was among the defeated, when the confederation movement was

successful. He still continued to take an active interest in politics,

however, and at the general election of 1878 was re-elected and held his

seat in the house until 25th May, 1882, when he was appointed to his

seat in the Legislative Council which he still holds. He is an ardent

Liberal, believing that the cause of the people is best advanced by the

principles of his party. New Brunswick has been in the main a Liberal

province ever since the period, forty years ago, when the family compact

was broken up by men like the late Governor Lemuel A. Wilmot, and

Liberal doctrines triumphed. There is a larger proportion of Liberal

members from New Brunswick at present sitting in the House of Commons at

Ottawa than from any of the other maritime provinces excepting Prince

Edward Island. Hon. Mr. Hill always held a high position in the counsels

of his party, and was appointed president or speaker of the council, 3rd

March, 1887. The position of speaker of a legislative body is one which

requires for its successful occupation a very great measure of knowledge

of parliamentary law, tact and resolution, and he has been eminently

successful in presiding over the debates in the council, and

administering the rules. He resides at St. Stephen, which is one of the

most flourishing towns in New Brunswick. An extensive trade is carried

on there with the United States, and it is the centre of the lumber

trade. Much money is also made in the fisheries. It has two newspapers

and two banks. Its population is about 4000.

* * * * *

=Thomas, Newell Wood=, Coaticook, Quebec province, was born at Barnston,

on the 25th June, 1842. His father was a native of Barnston and carried

on farming. He was also a mail contractor, being the first person who

carried her Majesty’s mails out of the town of Coaticook. He was for

many years a councillor, and afterwards warden of the county of

Stanstead. His mother, Orissa A. Norton, was also born in Barnston.

Newell W. Thomas, the subject of our sketch, received his educational

training in the common school of his native place. On leaving school he

went into the establishment of the late John Thornton, as a clerk, and

here he gradually rose, step by step, until he finally became a partner

in the business. Some years afterwards, on the retirement of Mr.

Thornton, he assumed the whole business and carried it successfully on

alone for a period of twenty-four years, when he retired from active

mercantile life. Mr. Thomas is one of the original founders of the

Cascade Narrow Fabric Manufacturing Company, and is now vice-president

of the company. This undertaking was begun in 1886, and has proved very

satisfactory to its shareholders. In politics he is a

Liberal-Conservative, and in religion belongs to the Methodist church.

On the 20th of October, 1868, he was married to Katie Barry, and the

fruit of the union has been three sons (one of whom is now a banker),

and one daughter.

* * * * *

=Bethune, Robert Henry=, Manager of the Dominion Bank, Toronto, was born

at Cobourg, Ontario, on the 5th of May, 1836. His father was the beloved

and highly respected Bishop A. N. Bethune, D.D. (the successor of Bishop

Strachan in the Toronto Episcopate), who died in 1879. The subject of

our sketch was educated at Upper Canada College and at other schools of

the province. Early in life he took to banking as a vocation, and for

the long period of now thirty-five years he has been closely and

honorably connected with banking institutions, and has become one of the

most respected and trustworthy, as well as perhaps the best known and

most successful, Bank managers of Toronto. For several years he has been

the cashier of the Dominion Bank, and, during this period, thanks to his

prudent and able management, no institution in the country has had a

more satisfactory record, or to-day stands higher in the confidence of

the commercial and financial community of Canada. Mr. Bethune’s life,

though it has been uneventful, has not been without incident or devoid

of importance. Nor has it been lacking in the kind or quality of service

which, in the course of a long career of responsibility and duty, a

trusty and competent Bank officer renders to the corporate body whom he

represents and to the public at large. In the course of this career, Mr.

Bethune has seen banks rise and fall, looked on the barometer of finance

in sunshine and storm, been confronted with all sorts of commercial

vicissitudes, and, like other old Bank managers, been at times

threatened with mercantile and financial panic. Yet has he held bravely

on his course, with a firm hand on the interests with which he has been

charged, and has faithfully and successfully done his duty. Mr. Bethune,

for the first twelve years of his business life, was connected with the

Bank of Montreal, and served that institution in various towns and

cities of the province, from junior clerk in 1853 to manager in 1865. In

1853, for instance, we find him acting as junior clerk in Brockville; in

1854 as teller in Cobourg; in 1859 as assistant accountant in Toronto;

in 1861 as accountant at New York; in 1862 as accountant at Hamilton;

and finally, in 1864, as manager at St. Catharines. At the close of 1865

he severed his connection with the Bank of Montreal, on being appointed

inspector of the Quebec Bank, and in the following year was made manager

of the Toronto branch of that institution. Here he remained until 1871,

when he received the appointment which he now holds, that of Cashier and

Manager of the Dominion Bank. Personally, Mr. Bethune is not only highly

respected, but is much beloved; and he enjoys the esteem and confidence

of the whole community. He is conservative in his ways, and is what is

known as an eminently safe banker, as may be predicted from the

stability and success of the institution which he has long guided and

controlled. In politics he is a Liberal-Conservative; in religion, a

member of the Church of England. In 1862 he married Jane Frances Ewart,

eldest daughter of the late J. B. Ewart, of Dundas, by whom he has six

children.

* * * * *

=McLeod, Hon. John David=, M.L.C., Pictou, Nova Scotia, is a native of

Pictou county, N.S., being descended from an ancient Highland family. He

is about forty-seven years of age. He received his early education in

Pictou, and having finished his academic course he entered upon the

study of the law. Having completed his four years’ apprenticeship he was

admitted to the bar of Nova Scotia on 5th December, 1866. He carried on

the practice of his profession with great success in Pictou for upwards

of twenty years. Being a man of great social popularity, he has been

several times before the people as a candidate for legislative honors,

being considered the strongest man the Liberals could put in the field.

In the local general election of 1886 he polled 2,514 votes, but failed

being elected, Pictou being one of the strongest Conservative

constituencies in the province. In the general election for the House of

Commons, February, 1887, he again entered the field but was

unsuccessful. In local affairs he has met with more success, and has

been three times mayor of Pictou. He is a fluent and ready speaker, and

is possessed of a fine presence. The local government recognized his

services to the party by appointing him, 10th March, 1887, a member of

the Legislative Council, and on 15th March he was made a member of the

executive, in which, until his retirement, he sat without portfolio, but

holding the position of Liberal leader in the council. In the following

summer failing health led him to seek a residence in a warmer climate,

and with his family he removed from the province and settled in Southern

California. Previous to his leaving Pictou his friends honored him with

a public banquet, and presented him with a complimentary address.

* * * * *