of Dr. Rufus Holden, of Belleville, and a sister of the wife of
Professor Gregg, of Toronto. By this lady he now has a family of eight
children, consisting of four sons and four daughters. After a pastorate
of exactly eight years he left Kingston on the 5th of July, 1855, and
settled at St. Catharines as first pastor of the United Church. He
remained there nearly twelve years, during eight of which he also had
charge of a congregation at Port Dalhousie, four miles distant. During
his ministry at St. Catharines the new church now known as Knox Church
was erected, and his congregation subsequently worshipped there. In 1862
he took a conspicuous part in starting Sabbath School Conventions in
this country, which have since been attended by many blessings to the
young. In the month of July, 1866, the degree of Doctor of Divinity was
conferred upon him by Hamilton College, near Utica, in the State of New
York, the leading literary institution of the New School of
Presbyterians in that State. On the 20th of March, 1867, he became first
pastor of the First Scotch Presbyterian Church in Chicago, which then
and for some years thereafter belonged to the Canadian Church. During
his incumbency of this charge he received several calls from various
churches, all of which were declined. His Chicago pastorate lasted three
years, during which the membership of his church trebled in number, and
a fine new church was erected by the congregation on the corner of Adams
and Sagamore Streets. In October, 1867, he accompanied the Rev. D. L.
Moody, the Evangelist, from Chicago to Toronto, on the occasion of the
first sitting of the Young Men's Christian Association Convention in the
latter city. In the beginning of May, 1870, he returned to Canada, and
was inducted into the pastorate of Cote Street Church, Montreal, where
Dr. Fraser and the present Principal McVicar had previously ministered.
Here he remained five years.
On the 18th of March, 1875, he was settled over Fort Massey Church,
Halifax, of which the Rev. J. K. Smith, of Galt, had been for two years
pastor. Here Dr. Burns has ever since remained. The congregation has
since its commencement discarded pew rents, and has been conducted on
the weekly free-will-offering system, the offertory being collected at
the church door. Their annual givings to church purposes are said to
exceed $100 for each family. He was Moderator of the Synod of Montreal
in 1873, and also Chairman of the Montreal College Board; and on his
removal to Halifax he was elected to the same post there, which he still
fills. During the session of 1877 he delivered special courses of
lectures before the Montreal and Halifax students, and in 1878 these
were followed up by a second special course in the Halifax College. In
1877 he was associated with Principal Grant and others in pushing
forward the $100,000 College Endowment Fund.
Dr. Burns is also known as an author. As early as 1854 he contributed to
the _Anglo-American Magazine_, published in Toronto; and several years
later to the _Presbyterian Magazine_. In 1857 he published "The Progress
and Principles of Temperance Reform;" and in 1865, in conjunction with
the Rev. Mr. Norton, of St. Catharines, "Maple Leaves for the Grave of
Abraham Lincoln." In 1872 he wrote and published his most voluminous
work, "The Life and Times of Dr. Robert Burns, of Toronto." This work
passed through three editions, and was a decided success. His other
works are chiefly pamphlets, sermons, and short fugitive pieces.
At the meeting of the General Assembly held at Ottawa in 1879 Dr. Burns
was one of the eight clerical delegates elected to attend the General
Presbyterian Council, to be held in Philadelphia during the present
year. Last summer he attended the Sunday School Celebration held in
London, England, to commemorate the founding of Sunday Schools by Robert
Raikes, in Gloucester, a century ago.
[Illustration: ALBERT NORTON RICHARDS, signed as A. N. RICHARDS]
THE HON. ALBERT NORTON RICHARDS,
_LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF BRITISH COLUMBIA._
Mr. Richards is the youngest son of the late Mr. Stephen Richards, of
Brockville, and a brother of the Hon. William Buell Richards, ex-Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court of the Dominion, a sketch of whose life
appeared in the first volume of this series. Some account of the family
history is contained in the sketch alluded to. Albert Norton Richards
was born at Brockville, Upper Canada, on the 8th of December, 1822. Like
his elder brothers, William and Stephen, he received his early education
at the famous Johnstown District Grammar School, and embraced the legal
profession as his calling in life. He studied law in the office of his
brother William, with whom he entered into partnership after his call to
the Bar in Michaelmas Term, 1848. Though perhaps somewhat less
conspicuous at the Bar than his partner, he took a high position, and
was distinguished for the acumen and soundness of judgment which seem to
be inherent in every member of his family. After his brother's elevation
to the Bench, he himself continued to practise at Brockville. His
business was large and profitable. He took a keen interest in politics,
and was identified with the Reform Party. He did not seek Parliamentary
distinction, however, until the year 1861, when he was an unsuccessful
candidate for the representation of South Leeds in the Legislative
Assembly of Canada--his successful opponent being Mr. Benjamin Tett. At
the general election of 1863 he again offered himself in opposition to
the same candidate, and on this occasion was returned at the head of the
poll. In the month of December following he accepted office in the
Sandfield Macdonald-Dorion Administration, as Solicitor-General for the
Upper Province. He was at the same time created a Queen's Counsel. Upon
returning to his constituents for reëlection, after accepting office, he
was compelled to encounter the full strength of the Conservative Party.
The Government of the day existed by a mere thread, their majority
averaging one, two and three, and it was felt that if Mr. Richards could
be defeated the Government must resign. The constituency of South Leeds
was invaded by all the principal speakers and agents of the Conservative
Party, headed by the Hon. John A. Macdonald and the late Mr. D'Arcy
McGee, and no stone was left unturned to defeat the new
Solicitor-General. The result was the defeat of the latter by Mr. D.
Ford Jones, the Conservative candidate, by a majority of five votes. Mr.
Richards, after the resignation of the Government, remained out of
public life until 1867, when he unsuccessfully contested his old seat
for the House of Commons with the late Lieutenant-Governor Crawford, the
latter being elected by a majority of thirty-nine. In 1869 Mr. Richards
was offered by the Government of Sir John Macdonald the office of
Attorney-General in the Provincial Government which Mr. Macdougall, as
Lieutenant-Governor of the Northwest Territories, was about to establish
at Fort Garry. Mr. Richards accepted the office, and accompanied Mr.
Macdougall on his well-known journey, until stopped by Louis Riel at
Stinking River. In the following year he visited British Columbia on
public business, and in 1871 he again visited that Province, this time
for the benefit of the health of his children, eight of whom he had lost
by death during his residence at Brockville. At the general election of
1872, Mr. Richards made another and a successful appeal to the electors
of South Leeds, and was returned to the House of Commons. He held his
seat until January, 1874; when, being absent from the country, on a
visit to British Columbia, he was unable to return in time to be
nominated for his old constituency, and South Leeds became lost to the
Reform Party. Mr. Richards continued to reside in British Columbia, and
for several years was the official Legal Agent of the Dominion
Government in that Province. He took an active part in endeavouring to
bring about various much-needed law reforms, as to several of which he
was ultimately successful. On the 29th of July, 1875, he was appointed
Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, a position which he has ever since
held. His sterling qualities have obtained recognition, and he has won
great popularity.
He has been twice married. His first wife, whom he married on the 17th
of October, 1849, was Frances, daughter of the late Benjamin Chaffey,
formerly of Staffordshire, England. This lady died in April, 1853. On
the 12th of August, 1854, he married Ellen, daughter of the late John
Cheslett, also of Staffordshire. His second wife still survives.
THE RIGHT REV. JOHN TRAVERS LEWIS, LL.D.,
_BISHOP OF ONTARIO._
Bishop Lewis is a son of the John Lewis, M.A., who was formerly Rector
of St. Anne's, Shandon, Cork, Ireland; and grandson of Mr. Richard
Lewis, who was an Inspector-General of Revenue in the south of Ireland.
He is himself an Irishman by birth and education, but has passed the
last thirty years of his life in Canada. He was born in the county of
Cork, on the 20th of June, 1825. He received private lessons from his
father, and afterwards obtained his more advanced education at Trinity
College, Dublin. He enjoyed a somewhat brilliant career at the
University. He obtained honours both in classics and mathematics during
his course as an undergraduate; and upon graduating, in 1846, he was
gold medallist and senior moderator in ethics and logic. His degree of
LL.D. was received, we believe, from his _alma mater_. He was intended
for the Church from boyhood, and was ordained Deacon in 1848, at the
Chapel of Christ's College, Cambridge, by the Lord Bishop of Chester. He
was soon afterwards ordained Priest by the Lord Bishop of Down, and
became Curate of the parish of Newtownbutler, celebrated in Irish annals
for the victory gained by the colonists over King James's troops in
1689. He did not long occupy that position, but resigned it in 1850, and
came over to this country, where, soon after his arrival, he was
appointed by the late Bishop Strachan to the parish of Hawkesbury, in
the county of Prescott. Upon settling down in his parish he married Miss
Anne Harriet Margaret Sherwood, a daughter of the late Hon. Henry
Sherwood, a Canadian legislator who sat in the old Assembly from 1843 to
1854, and who held office as Solicitor-General and Attorney-General for
Canada West, respectively, in the Ministry of Mr. Draper, during the
_régime_ of Sir Charles Metcalfe and Earl Cathcart.
After officiating in Hawkesbury for four years, Mr. Lewis was appointed
Rector of Brockville, where he remained until his election, in 1861, to
the position which he now occupies. The seven years passed in the
rectory at Brockville must have been busy ones, as we find numerous
published sermons and pamphlets from his pen during this time. His
sermons and writings generally are marked by much learning, and by an
evident fondness for dialectics. Some of them have received high praise
from the reviewers. One of them, entitled "A Plain Lecture to Enquirers
into the meaning of the Liturgy," was thus characterized by the
_American Quarterly Church Review_: "As an argument for Liturgical
worship, and an answer to popular objections to the Prayer-book, this is
one of the most valuable works we have ever seen." Other tracts of his
have also been highly praised by persons whose praise is of value. The
best known of his writings are "The Church of the New Testament;" "Does
the Bible need re-translating?" "The Popular Baptist Argument Reviewed;"
and "The Primitive Method of selecting Bishops;" the last-named
production being given to the world in the _Journal of Sacred
Literature_, published in London, England. During his residence at
Brockville he interested himself actively in various local matters,
sectarian and non-sectarian, and contributed to build up several
important public institutions. He lectured before the Brockville Library
Association and Mechanics' Institute, and did much to extend its
membership and beneficial influence.
The territorial division of the Diocese of Toronto was a project which
began to take shape about the time when the subject of this sketch first
arrived in this country. Up to that time the Diocese of Toronto
comprehended the whole extent of Upper Canada, and was altogether too
large to permit of one man's discharging the duties of the Bishopric
with perfect efficiency, even though that man were endowed with the
tremendous energy and vitality of the late Bishop Strachan. The Diocese
of Huron was in due time set apart and the late Rev. Dr. Benjamin Cronyn
was elected to the Bishopric. In 1861 the eastern division was also set
apart as the Diocese of Ontario, and at the meeting of the Synod held at
Kingston in the summer of that year Mr. Lewis was elected to the office
of Bishop. He was then only thirty-six years of age, and was probably
the youngest Prelate in America. He soon afterwards removed to Kingston,
and thence to Ottawa, where he now resides.
It will thus be seen that the Bishop has had a remarkably successful
career since his arrival in Canada. He devotes himself assiduously to
his official labours, and is held in high veneration by many of the
clergymen of his Diocese. He has a numerous family, and a large circle
of attached friends. His pulpit oratory is marked by fluency and
smoothness of rhetoric, as well as by much learning and depth of
thought.
CHARLES, LORD METCALFE.
In former sketches we have seen how Responsible Government, after being
strenuously contended for during many years in this country, and after
its adoption had been vigorously recommended by Lord Durham, finally
became an accomplished fact. We have seen how Lord Sydenham was sent
over here as Governor-General for the purpose of carrying out the new
order of things, and how, during his administration of affairs, the
Union of the Provinces was finally effected in 1841. The Canadian
Administration was carried on by both Lord Sydenham and his successor,
Sir Charles Bagot, in accordance with the spirit of our new
Constitution. In 1841 the Imperial Ministry, under whose auspices this
Constitution had been framed, was deposed, and a Tory Government
succeeded to power. In this Government the late Lord Derby, then Lord
Stanley, held the portfolio appertaining to the office of Colonial
Secretary. Soon after Sir Charles Bagot's resignation of the post of
Governor-General, in the winter of 1842, Sir Charles Metcalfe was
selected as his successor. The selection was made at the instance of
Lord Stanley, who had all along been inimical to the scheme of
Responsible Government in Canada, and there is reason for believing that
he entertained the design of subverting it. His selection of Sir Charles
Metcalfe, and his subsequent instructions and general policy, certainly
lend colour to such a belief. The new Governor was a man of excellent
intentions, and of more than average ability, but his previous training
and experience had been such as to render him totally unfit for the post
of a Constitutional Governor.
We can only afford space for a brief glance at his previous career, but
even that brief glance will be sufficient to show how little sympathy he
could be expected to have in colonial schemes of Responsible Government.
He was born at Calcutta, on Sunday, the 30th of January, 1785, a few
days before Warren Hastings ceased to be Governor-General of India. His
father, Major Theophilus Metcalfe, of the Bengal army, was a gentleman
of ample fortune, and a Director in the East India Company. Charles was
the second son of his parents, and was destined at an early age for the
Company's service. He was educated first at a private school at Bromley,
in Middlesex, and afterwards at Eton College, where he remained until he
had entered upon his sixteenth year, when he returned to India. He was
appointed to a writership in the service of the Company, wherein for
seven years he filled various offices, and in 1808 was selected by Lord
Minto to take charge of a difficult mission to the Court of Lahore, the
object of which was to secure the Sikh States, between the Sutlej and
Jumna Rivers, from the grasp of Runjeet Singh. In this mission he fully
succeeded, the treaty being concluded in 1809. He subsequently filled
several other high offices of trust, and in 1827 took his seat as a
member of the Supreme Council of India. Both his father and elder
brother had meanwhile died, and he had become Sir Charles Metcalfe.