in consequence of the arbitrary conduct of Sir Charles Metcalfe. All
the circumstances connected with this resignation are narrated at
sufficient length elsewhere in these pages. Mr. Lafontaine remained in
Opposition until March, 1848, when he and his colleagues again came into
power. During the interval he had steadily held his ground in the
estimation of the Reform element in the French Canadian population, of
whom he was the acknowledged leader. The history of the second
Baldwin-Lafontaine Administration[10] in which Mr. Lafontaine held the
portfolio of Attorney-General East, has been given in previous sketches,
and there is no need for repeating the details here. It was Mr.
Lafontaine who, in February, 1849, introduced the famous Rebellion
Losses Bill, which gave rise to so much heated debate in the House, and
to such disgraceful proceedings outside. Mr. Lafontaine, as the actual
introducer of the Bill, came in for his full share of the odium
attaching to that measure. His house in Montreal was attacked by the
mob, and although the flames were extinguished in time to save the
building, the furniture and library shared the fate of those in the
Houses of Parliament, with the fate of which readers of the sketch of
Lord Elgin are already familiar. After much wilful destruction of
valuable property the rioters waxed bolder, and proceeded to maltreat
loyal subjects in the streets in the most shameful manner. Mr.
Lafontaine himself narrowly escaped personal maltreatment. A second
attack was made upon his house. The military, or some occupants of the
house, finding it necessary to use extreme measures, fired upon the mob,
wounding several, and killing one man, whose name was Mason. For a few
minutes after this time it seemed not improbable that Mr. Lafontaine
would be torn in pieces. Yells rent the air, and it was loudly
proclaimed that a Frenchman had shed the blood of an Anglo-Saxon. The
hour of danger passed, however, and Mr. Lafontaine escaped without
personal injury. The unanimous verdict of a coroner's jury acquitted him
of all blame for the death of the misguided man who had fallen a victim
to his zeal for riot. The verdict had a quieting effect upon the public
mind. Meanwhile the Governor-General had tendered his resignation, but
as his conduct was approved of both by the Local Administration and by
the Home Authorities, he, at their urgent request, consented to remain
in office. In consequence of this disgraceful riot, however, it was not
considered desirable to continue the seat of Government at Montreal. The
Legislature thenceforth sat alternately at Toronto and Quebec, until
1866, when Ottawa became the permanent capital of the Dominion.
Notwithstanding all the excitement, and the opposition to which he was
subjected, Mr. Lafontaine generally contrived to carry through any
measure which he had very much at heart. There were certain popular
measures, however, which he never had at heart, and to which, although
the leader of a professedly Liberal Administration, he could never be
induced to lend his countenance. After Responsible Government had become
an accomplished fact, there was no measure so imperatively demanded by
Upper Canadian Reformers as the secularization of the Clergy Reserves.
In the Lower Province the measure most desired by the people was the
abolition of the Seignorial Tenure. To neither of these projects would
Mr. Lafontaine consent. He had an immense respect for vested rights, and
does not seem to have fully recognized the fact that so-called vested
rights are sometimes neither more nor less than vested wrongs. Yet,
notwithstanding his hostility to these measures, he continued to hold
the reins of power, for he was regarded as an embodiment, in his own
person, of the unity of the French-Canadian race. He was, however, like
his colleague, Robert Baldwin, too moderate in his views for the times
in which his later political life was cast. The progress of Reform was
too rapid for him, and he finally made way for more advanced and more
energetic men. His retirement from office and from political life took
place towards the close of 1851. After his retirement he devoted himself
to professional pursuits, and continued to do so until the death of Sir
James Stuart, Chief Justice of the Lower Province, in the summer of
1853, left that position vacant. On the 13th of August Mr. Lafontaine
was appointed to the office, and on the 28th of August, 1854, he was
created a Baronet. In 1861, having been a widower for some years, he
married a second time, his choice being Jane, daughter of Mr. Charles
Morrison, of Berthier, and widow of Mr. Thomas Kinton, of Montreal. He
continued to occupy the position of Chief Justice until his death, which
took place on the morning of the 26th of February, 1864. During his
tenure of that office he also presided at the sittings of the Seignorial
Tenure Court. He attained high rank as a jurist, and his decisions,
which were always delivered with a weighty impressiveness of manner, are
regarded with very great respect by his successors, and by the legal
profession generally.
Mr. Robert Christie, the historian of Lower Canada, contrasts the
political character of Mr. Lafontaine with that of his early colleague,
Mr. Papineau. Mr. Christie knew both the personages well, and was quite
capable of discriminating between them. "Mr. Lafontaine," he says, "it
is pretty generally admitted, has, by consulting only the practicable
and expedient, acted wisely and well, amidst the difficulties that beset
his position as Prime Minister, and upon the whole, though there are
derogating circumstances in the course of it, his administration has
been eminently successful. It was, in fact, from the impetuous and blind
pursuit of the impracticable and inexpedient, that Mr. Papineau lost
himself, shipwrecking his own and his party's hopes, and, with his
example and failure before him, it is to Mr. Lafontaine's credit that he
has had the wisdom to profit by them."
Sir Louis had no issue by his first wife. By his second wife he had one
son, to whom he was very much attached, and upon whom he looked as the
transmitter of his name, and of the title which he had so honourably
won. The little fellow, however, died in childhood, and the title became
extinct. Lady Lafontaine still resides in Montreal.
JOHN CHRISTIAN SCHULTZ, M.D.
Dr. Schultz has had some adventurous passages in his life, and has
played a by no means insignificant part in the history of the Prairie
Province. He was born at Amherstburgh, in the county of Essex, Upper
Canada, on the 1st of January, 1840. He is a son of the late Mr. William
Schultz, a native of Denmark, who was for many years engaged in business
as a merchant at Amherstburgh. His mother was Eliza, daughter of Mr.
Willam Riley, of Bandon, Ireland.
After receiving his primary education at the public schools of
Amherstburgh, he entered Oberlin College, Ohio. This institution was
then held in high consideration by many persons in this country, and
some of our prominent men have been educated there. Mr. Schultz remained
there long enough to pass through the Arts course. Having chosen the
medical profession as his future calling, he studied medicine at Queen's
College, Kingston, and afterwards at the Medical Department of Victoria
College, in Toronto. He had conceived the design of emigrating to
Mexico, with a view to practising his profession there, but after
graduating as M.D., in the spring of 1860, he relinquished that design,
and found his way, by the rude and toilsome route then in vogue, to the
Red River Settlement. The community there at that time consisted of
about eight thousand persons, separated from the city of St. Paul,
Minnesota, by a distance of 550 miles of country, a great part of which
was owned by the Ojibway and Sioux Indians. There was of course no
railway in that part of the world in those days, and anyone undertaking
to travel from St. Paul to Fort Garry entered upon a journey which was
not only toilsome but perilous. The barbarians all along the route were
fierce and intractable, not much given to discriminating between
subjects of Great Britain and those of the United States. Between the
latter and the Indians there was much ill-feeling, and murders and
assassinations of white travellers were matters of frequent occurrence.
After enduring many hardships, Dr. Schultz reached Fort Garry, and there
commenced the practice of his profession. He soon afterwards entered
upon the traffic in furs, a pursuit which was very profitable in those
days, but which was still held as a monopoly by the Hudson's Bay
Company. The great Company doubtless well knew that it would not much
longer be permitted to enjoy its monopoly, but it was not disposed to
encourage rivalry, and looked upon Dr. Schultz's interference with no
friendly eye. There are of course two sides to this question. The
Company's agents were sometimes overbearing and tyrannical in resisting
the encroachments of free-traders. On the other hand, it was scarcely to
be expected that they would encourage or quietly submit to interference
with what they regarded as the Company's exclusive rights. In spite of
all opposition, however, Dr. Schultz continued to carry on his
operations with great profit to himself for some years. His negotiations
with the Indians and half-breeds rendered it necessary that he should
traverse a wide extent of country, and he thus gained an accurate
knowledge of the topography of the North-West, as well as an intimate
acquaintance with Indian manners, traditions, and customs.
In the spring of 1862 Dr. Schultz was unfortunate enough to be away from
home when the terrible Sioux massacre occurred in Minnesota, completely
cutting off connection between its frontier settlements and Fort Garry,
and spreading devastation and terror throughout the whole of the
North-West. The Doctor, after waiting some time at St. Paul, where he
had been transacting business, attempted the passage through the Indian
country by the "Crow Wing" trail, as it was called. After many days and
nights of cautious travelling, and one capture by the Indians, from
which he owed his release to his ability to convince the savages that he
was English and not American, he arrived safely at Pembina, whence he
made his way to Fort Garry. In 1864 he became the owner and editor of
the _Nor'-Wester_, the pioneer newspaper of the North-West, and laboured
hard through its columns to make the great agricultural value of the
country known. His policy was, of course, diametrically opposed to that
of the Hudson's Bay Company, and as time passed by, the hostility
between that Company and himself became very bitter and implacable. He
subsequently disposed of the _Nor'-Wester_ to Dr. Walter Robert Bown, by
whom the paper was conducted at the time of the outbreak to be presently
referred to.
In 1868 Dr. Schultz married Miss Agnes Campbell Farquharson, formerly of
Georgetown, British Guiana. He soon afterwards built the house which was
destined to become historical for the defence against Riel and his
insurrectionary force. In the autumn of 1868 he greatly extended the fur
business in which he was engaged, sending expeditions for that purpose
to the far north and west. The following autumn brought with it the
first mutterings of the Red River Rebellion, and it was seen that Dr.
Schultz was a marked man. Warning letters from Riel and other insurgents
were sent to him. Some of the Hudson's Bay Company's officials openly
accused him of having been the means of bringing about connection with
Canada, and in the gathering of the storm there seemed to be an ominous
future for him whom many of the Canadians then in the country looked
upon as their leader, and trusted to for their defence. He was
unfortunate, too, in the situation of his residence and trading post,
which were the nearest buildings to Fort Garry, and within easy range of
the field guns which Riel afterwards planted to force the giving up of
the Canadian Government provisions. Upon the actual breaking out of the
insurrection, Dr. Schultz suffered severely, both in person and in
purse. His pecuniary losses were recompensed to him by the Government,
but the bodily privations to which he was subjected were the means of
inflicting a shock upon his constitution, the effects of which are still
to some extent perceptible. After the seizure of Fort Garry by the
insurgents, the loyal Canadians of the settlement were placed under
surveillance. About fifty of these assembled for mutual safety at Dr.
Schultz's house, about eight hundred yards from the Fort. Here they were
besieged by several hundred of Riel's followers for three days. The
siege does not seem to have been incessant or very active, but there
were more than two hundred armed French half-breeds who kept continually
on the watch, and the inmates were prevented from egress. It is said
that two mounted six-pounders were drawn by the insurgents outside the
walls of Fort Garry, with their muzzles pointed in the direction of the
beleaguered house. The little force inside the building was too small to
enable the besieged to make a permanent resistance, and at last they
were compelled to surrender. They were then marched by the rebels to
Fort Garry and imprisoned there. Dr. Schultz himself, who was the
especial object of Riel's hatred, was placed in solitary confinement,
under a strong guard. His wife, who had insisted on remaining by his
side, was at first permitted to share his imprisonment, but after a few
days she was forcibly separated from him, and it seemed not unlikely
that this separation had been effected by Riel with a view to wreaking
his vengeance on the Doctor by taking his life. Riel himself alleged
that there was no intention of harming any of the prisoners, but that he
considered it desirable to separate Mr. and Mrs. Schultz, lest the
husband should be enabled to escape through the instrumentality of his
wife, who of course was not a prisoner, and who was permitted ingress
and egress at all reasonable hours. Dr. Schultz, however, placed little
reliance on the word of the arch-insurgent. Knowing the sentiments with
which he was regarded by Riel, he felt that his life was liable to be
sacrificed at any moment, and he determined to make an attempt to
escape. This purpose, after being confined for nearly three weeks, he
successfully accomplished. Mrs. Schultz contrived to secretly convey to
him a pen-knife and a small gimlet. With these inadequate means he made
an opening through his cell, large enough to enable him to pass through
into the inner quadrangle of the Fort. On the night of Sunday, the 23rd
of December, 1869, he cut into strips the buffalo-robe which served for
his bed, fastened an end to a projection in his cell, passed through the
opening he had made in the wall, and prepared to descend to _terra
firma_. While he was making the descent one of the strips of buffalo
skin snapped, and he was precipitated violently to the ground. The fall
rendered him temporarily lame, and caused him great suffering, but even
in this disabled condition he managed to scramble over the outer wall
near one of the bastions, and found himself at liberty. He stole away in
the dead silence of night, and after a toilsome march of some hours in a
blinding snow-storm, took refuge in the house of a friendly settler in
the parish of Kildonan. There, in the course of the next few weeks, he
and other Canadians organized a force about six hundred strong, with a
view to releasing their friends who were still imprisoned at Fort Garry.
Everything being in readiness for action, a message, demanding the
release of the prisoners, was despatched to Riel. The demand was
vigorously backed up by the influence of Mr. A. G. B. Bannatyne, a
prominent citizen of Red River, and Miss McVicar, a young lady from
Canada who was on a visit to the settlement. These two called upon Riel
at Fort Garry, and begged him to avert the bloodshed which would
certainly result if he persisted in detaining the prisoners. Riel, under
the combined influence of his interlocutors and the demand which had
been made upon him by the Canadian forces, displayed the better part of
valour, and promptly released the captives. He was determined, however,
to recapture Dr. Schultz, and sent out several expeditions to discover
his whereabouts. He declared that he would have Dr. Schultz's body, dead
or alive, if it was to be found in the Red River Settlement.
Disappointed at the non-success of his emissaries, Riel started out
himself at the head of an expedition, to scour the settlement, and to
recapture the object of his enmity. The expedition reached the Stone
Fort, or Lower Fort Garry, about midway between the capital of the
settlement and the entrance of Red River into Lake Winnipeg. They
entered the enclosure, and searched every nook and corner of the Fort.
Ill would it have fared with Dr. Schultz had he been discovered there;
but he was far away, and was every hour increasing the distance between
Riel and himself. A large meeting of loyalist settlers had been held, at
which Dr. Schultz was requested to proceed to Canada, and to lay the
real state of affairs before the people there. Such a mission involved
grave perils and hardships, for all the roads leading to Minnesota were
closely guarded by the insurgents, and certain death would have
overtaken the Doctor had he again fallen into their hands. He
determined, however, to make the attempt by way of Lake Superior. On the
21st of February, accompanied only by an English half-breed named Joseph
Monkman, he started on his perilous expedition. News of his having done
so came in due course to the ears of Riel, who sent out scouts in every
direction to intercept him. The Doctor and his companion eluded their
vigilance, and with snow-shoes on their feet struck across the frozen
south-easterly end of Lake Winnipeg to the mouth of the Winnipeg River.
They made their way past the rushing cascades of that stream to the Lake
of the Woods; thence across to Rainy Lake, and thence across the
northern part of the State of Minnesota to the head of Lake Superior.
Numerous camps of Indians were encountered on this adventurous march,
and from time to time guides were obtained from the latter. "Over weary
miles of snow-covered lakes; over the watershed between Rainy Lake and
the lakes of the Laurentian chain; over the height of land between Rainy
Lake and Lake Superior; through pine forests and juniper swamps, these
travellers made their way, turning aside only where wind-fallen timber
made their course impossible. Often saved from starvation by the
woodcraft of Monkman; their course guided by the compass, or by views
taken from the top of some stately Norway pine, they found themselves,
after twenty-four weary days of travel, in sight of the blue, unfrozen
waters of Lake Superior. They had struck the lake not far from its head,
and in a few hours presented themselves to the astonished gaze of the
people of the then embryo village of Duluth, gaunt with hunger, worn
with fatigue, their clothes in tatters, their eyes blinded with the
glare of the glittering sun of March." They then learned for the first
time of the terrible event which had occurred at Fort Garry since their
departure--the murder of the unfortunate Thomas Scott. From Duluth they
made their way to Toronto, whither news of their adventures had preceded
them. On the 6th of April an indignation meeting was held in Toronto, at
which a stirring address was delivered by Dr. Schultz, wherein the whole
nature of the Red River difficulty was reviewed. Resolutions expressive
of indignation at Scott's murder, and calling aloud for active
Government interference, were passed. Similar meetings were held, and
similar resolutions passed in Montreal, and in various other cities and
towns in both the Upper and Lower Provinces. The expedition under
Colonel (now Sir Garnet) Wolseley was soon afterwards set on foot, but
the account of it has no special bearing upon Dr. Schultz's life, and
need not be given here. The Doctor soon afterwards returned to Manitoba,
where he has ever since resided, and where he exercises a potent
influence over public affairs.
For nearly ten years past Dr. Schultz has been engaged in active
political life. At the first general election after Manitoba became part
of the Dominion, he was elected to represent the county of Lisgar (which
comprises most of the old Lord Selkirk Settlement) in the House of
Commons. The following year he was appointed a member of the Executive
Council of the North-West Territories, which sat in Winnipeg under the
Presidency of the Lieutenant-Governor of the Province. In this capacity
he was able to utilize his knowledge of the Indians and their wants much
to their advantage, in the passage of a Prohibitive Liquor Law for the
whole of the North-West, and in other measures for the amelioration of
their condition. He was reëlected to represent Lisgar at the general
election of 1872, and again at that of 1874, and again by acclamation at
the last general election. He is a member of the Dominion Board of
Health for Manitoba, a Director of the Manitoba Southwestern
Colonization Railway, one of the Board of Examiners of the Manitoba
Medical Board, a Director of the Winnipeg and Hudson's Bay Railway, and
of the Great Northwestern Telegraph Company. He is moreover one of the
largest land owners in the Province. He is enthusiastic in his views as
to the future of Manitoba, and of the North-West generally, and takes an
active interest in promoting the welfare and prosperity of that part of
the Dominion. Of late years his health has been somewhat less robust
than formerly. This result is partly due to a native energy which
frequently impels him to overtax his physical strength, and partly,
doubtless, to the sufferings and privations above referred to. The
North-West, however, has upon the whole been propitious to the Doctor.
His speculations have made him a thoroughly independent man, so far as
worldly wealth is concerned, and he can well afford to take repose for
the remainder of his life. He is a member of the Liberal-Conservative
Party, and a staunch supporter of the Government now in power at
Ottawa.
THE HON. GEORGE WILLIAM BURTON.
Judge Burton was born at the town of Sandwich, the most ancient of the
Cinque Ports, in the county of Kent, England, on the 21st of July, 1818.
He was the second son of the late Admiral George Guy Burton, R.N., of
Chatham. He received his education at the Rochester and Chatham
Proprietary School, under the late Rev. Robert Whiston, LL.D., a Fellow
of Trinity College, Cambridge, who subsequently occupied the position of
Head-Master of the Grammar School at Rochester, and who was the author
of several works remarkable for sound scholarship and independence of
thought. Mr. Burton has always held his tutor in honoured remembrance,
and to this day is accustomed to speak of him with the respect due to
his great learning and attainments.
In 1836, the year before the breaking out of Mackenzie's rebellion, Mr.
Burton, then a youth of eighteen, came over to Upper Canada and repaired
to Ingersoll, in the county of Oxford, where he began the study of the
law in the office of his paternal uncle, the late Mr. Edmund Burton, who
then carried on a legal business there. The gentleman last named had
formerly held an office in connection with the Admiralty, and had been
stationed at the mouth of the Grand River during the War of 1812, '13,
and '14. After the close of the war he devoted himself to the law, and
spent the rest of his life in Upper Canada. His presence in this country
was doubtless to some extent the cause of his nephew's emigration from
England. The latter spent the regular term of five years in his uncle's
office in Ingersoll. Upon the expiration of his articles, he was called
to the Bar, in Easter Term, 1842, and settled down to the practice of
his profession in Hamilton, where he was not long in acquiring a large
and lucrative business. He identified himself with the Reform Party in
politics, and took an active part in various local elections. He was
frequently importuned to enter Parliament, but he preferred to confine
his best energies to his professional duties, and, as the years passed
by, his business assumed such dimensions that he had full occupation for
his time. He formed various partnerships, but was always the guiding
spirit of the firm, and became known from one end of the Province to the
other as a sound and learned lawyer. His connexion with Mr. Charles A.
Sadleir lasted for many years, and the firm of "Burton & Sadleir" was
one of the best known in the western part of the Province. On the 9th of
June, 1850, Mr. Burton married Miss Elizabeth Perkins, daughter of the
late Dr. F. Perkins, of Kingston, in the Island of Jamaica, and niece
and adopted daughter of the late Colonel Charles Cranston Dixon, of the
90th Regiment.
The life of an industrious lawyer, though interesting to himself and his
clients, is uneventful, and there is not much to be said about Mr.
Burton's professional career, except that it was a remarkably successful
one. He had many wealthy merchants and corporations for his clients, and
was regarded as an adept in the law relating to railway companies. He
was for many years Solicitor for the City of Hamilton; also for the
Canada Life Assurance Company, of which he is at present a Director,
having been elected to that position soon after his elevation to the
Judicial Bench. In 1856 he was nominated a Bencher of the Law Society of
Upper Canada, and when that body became elective by the profession at
large, under the Ontario Act of 1871, he was elected to the position. In
1863 he was invested with a silk gown.