some remarkable papers on philosophical subjects to the pages of the
_Canadian Journal_. One of these, containing a brief exposition of some
points in the Hamiltonian philosophy of matter, reached the hands of Sir
William Hamilton himself, the most eminent exponent of the Scottish
philosophy. The latter was so impressed by the merits of the paper that
he addressed to the author a long and very complimentary letter, in
which he bore testimony to Professor Young's power of grasping and
elucidating the most abstruse points in a philosophical system of which
he was not the originator. Such a testimony, from such a source, must
have been highly gratifying to Professor Young, for Sir William was not
a man given to wasting his words, and would certainly not have written
such a letter to a stranger had he not been very greatly impressed by
the merits of the article in the _Journal_. Various other articles from
his pen have from time to time appeared in the same periodical, and
every one of them bears the stamp of a mind which, to parody Iago's
well-known saying, is "nothing if not mathematical." While on the
subject of authorship it may be mentioned that in 1854 a theological
work from his pen was published at Edinburgh, under the title of
"Miscellaneous Discourses and Expositions of Scripture." In 1862 he
published in the _Home and Foreign Record_ a paper on "The Philosophical
Principles of Natural Religion," which evoked much favourable comment
alike from the religious and secular press at the time of its
publication.
After discharging his professorial duties in connection with Knox
College for about ten years with much zeal, and with great satisfaction
to all persons concerned, Professor Young resigned his position on the
Staff. In taking this important step he gave proof of an honesty and a
genuine manliness of purpose which are worthy of the highest
commendation. His philosophical researches had brought about a state of
mind which, in his own opinion, rendered him unsuited to the position of
a teacher of divinity. He was no longer in entire sympathy with the
doctrines which he was called upon to expound to the students. How far
the divergence extended we have no means of knowing, nor is it a
question into which the public have any right to inquire. A man's
theological beliefs are between himself and his Maker. It is sufficient
to say that Professor Young resigned his Professorship and his
connection with the ministry, and this without having any other means of
livelihood in prospect. "His course," says a contemporary writer, "was
characterized by an amount of intellectual candour and moral courage
which do him credit, and is in striking contrast with the practice of
those who, on finding themselves at variance with the communion to which
they belong, and in the attitude of drifting away from their dogmatic
moorings, have neither the discretion to await in silence the end of
their own intellectual struggle, nor the courage of their convictions,
and the resolution requisite for placing themselves at any sacrifice in
a position to speak and act on them without restraint." He soon
afterwards found a suitable field for the exercise of his talents. The
position of Inspector of Grammar Schools was offered to, and accepted by
him, and for more than four years he discharged the duties of that
office with a diligence and success which have been attended with great
benefit to the public, and which have won wide recognition. His tenure
of office, indeed, may be said to mark an important epoch in the
educational history of this Province. At the time of his appointment,
the Grammar School system was singularly inefficient. The fact of its
inefficiency had long been acknowledged by leading educationists, but no
one had indicated anything like an adequate remedy. Mr. Young's official
reports not only exposed the defects of the system, but suggested the
requisite legislation whereby those defects might be removed. His
reports for the years 1866 and 1867 were deemed of sufficient importance
to be published in full in the Chief Superintendent's Report for the
latter year, and they were the means of bringing about a revolution in
the whole Grammar School system. Most of the suggestions embodied in
them have since been acted upon by the Legislature, and the School Acts
of 1871, 1874 and 1877 are to a large extent founded upon them.
Having accomplished so much, Professor Young resigned his Inspectorship,
and once more accepted the position of Professor of Philosophy in Knox
College, but his duties during his second tenure of the Professorship
did not involve the teaching of Theology. Upon the death of the late Dr.
Beaven, in 1871, he succeeded to the Chair of Metaphysics and Ethics in
University College, Toronto, which he still retains. His incumbency has
been marked by most gratifying results. The subjects taught by him are
by many persons regarded as dry and uninteresting. Professor Young's
lectures are so much the reverse of this that they are sometimes
attended as a matter of choice by persons who never approach the
building in which they are delivered for any other purpose. To render
metaphysics and ethics acceptable to persons who have no special object
to serve by pursuing such studies is an achievement of which any
Professor might justly feel proud. His department, which was formerly
the most unpopular in the University, has become one of those most
resorted to by candidates for honours. He is equally popular as a
teacher and as an examiner, and is said to be one of the most erudite of
men in the literature of his department. He is also very eminent as a
mathematician, and has made original discoveries in that branch of study
which, in the estimation of persons who are capable of forming an
opinion, entitle him to rank among the foremost of living
investigators.
THE HON. TELESPHORE FOURNIER.
Judge Fournier is the son of William Fournier, of Bécancour, in the
Province of Quebec. He was born at St. François, Rivière du Sud,
Montmagny, in 1824, and was educated at Nicolet College, where he was a
pupil of the Abbé Ferland. At an early age he entered the law office of
the late Hon. R. E. Caron, as a student. At the age of twenty-two he was
called to the Bar of Lower Canada. In 1857 he married Miss Demers. In
1863 he was created a Queen's Counsel, and in the course of his
professional career has been Batonnier and President of the General
Council of the Bar of the Province of Quebec. He was one of the
principal editorial writers engaged on _Le National_, a Liberal journal
which was published at Quebec in 1856-7-8. His writings were
characterized by great breadth of view and vigour of expression, and his
editorials exerted considerable influence. In 1854 he was an
unsuccessful candidate in the Reform interest for the constituency of
Montmagny, in the Canadian Assembly. In 1857 he contested an election
for the same Chamber, for the City of Quebec, and was again defeated. He
was an unsuccessful candidate for Stadacona Division in the Legislative
Council in 1861, and for De la Durantaye division in the same House, in
1864. He was first returned to Parliament in 1870, when he was elected
to the Commons for Bellechasse. This seat he held until his appointment
to the Bench. He also sat for Montmagny in the Quebec Assembly from the
general election of 1871 until the 7th of November, 1873, when he
resigned, on taking office in Mr. Mackenzie's Administration as Minister
of Inland Revenue. He was sworn of the Privy Council on that day, and on
the 8th of July, 1874, was appointed Minister of Justice. On the 19th of
May, 1875, he was transferred to the Postmaster-Generalship of the
Dominion, where he remained until his elevation to the Bench, as a
Puisné Judge of the Supreme Court, in October of the same year. Among
the measures introduced and carried through Parliament by M. Fournier as
Minister of Justice, the most notable are the Supreme Court Bill and the
Insolvency Act of 1875. In his judicial capacity he has been concerned
in two very important causes. The first of these is the famous Jacques
Cartier contested election case, decided in April, 1878, in which
Justices Taschereau and Henry coincided with Justice Fournier in the
opinion that the seat of the Hon. Mr. Laflamme should not be vacated,
and that the appeal should be dismissed. The Charlevoix contested
election case forms the second. Justice Strong delivered an elaborate
judgment, sustaining the plea of the Hon. Hector L. Langevin, that
judgments as preliminary objections were not appealable. Justices
Fournier and Taschereau dissented from this opinion, but Chief-Justice
Richards and Justice Henry concurring, Mr. Langevin was confirmed in his
seat.
THE HON. WILLIAM OSGOODE.
In view of the fact that this gentleman's name has a very fair chance of
immortality in this Province, it is to be regretted that so little is
accurately known about him, and that only the merest outline of his
career has come down to the present times. Many Canadians would gladly
know something more of the life of the first man who filled the
important position of Chief Justice of Upper Canada, and the desire for
such knowledge is by no means confined to members of the legal
profession. He was the faithful friend and adviser of our first
Lieutenant-Governor, and it is doubtless to his legal acumen that we owe
those eight wise statutes which were passed during the first session of
our first Provincial Parliament, which assembled at Newark on the 17th
of September, 1792.
Nothing is definitely known concerning Chief-Justice Osgoode's ancestry.
A French-Canadian writer asserts that he was an illegitimate son of King
George the Third. No authority whatever is assigned in support of this
assertion, which probably rests upon no other basis than vague rumour.
Similar rumours have been current with respect to the paternity of other
persons who have been more or less conspicuous in Canada, and but little
importance should be attached to them. He was born in the month of
March, 1754, and entered as a commoner at Christchurch College, Oxford,
in 1770, when he had nearly completed his sixteenth year. After a
somewhat prolonged attendance at this venerable seat of learning, he
graduated and received the degree of Master of Arts in the month of
July, 1777. Previous to this time he had entered himself as a student at
the Inner Temple, having already been enrolled as a student on the books
of Lincoln's Inn. He seems at this time to have been possessed of some
small means, but not sufficient for his support, and he pursued his
professional studies with such avidity as temporarily to undermine his
health. He paid a short visit to the Continent, and returned to his
native land with restored physical and mental vigour. In due course he
was called to the Bar, and soon afterwards published a technical work on
the law of descent, which attracted some notice from the profession. He
soon became known as an erudite and painstaking lawyer, whose opinions
were entitled to respect, and who was very expert as a special pleader.
At the Bar he was less successful, owing to an almost painful
fastidiousness in his choice of words, which frequently produced an
embarrassing hesitation of speech. He seems to have been a personal
friend of Colonel Simcoe, even before that gentleman's appointment as
Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, and their intimacy may possible
have had something to do with Mr. Osgoode's appointment as Chief-Justice
of the new Province in the spring of 1792. He came over in the same
vessel with the Governor, who sailed on the 1st of May. Upon reaching
Upper Canada the Governor and staff, after a short stay at Kingston,
passed on to Newark (now Niagara). The Chief-Justice accompanied the
party, and took up his abode with them at Navy Hall, where he continued
to reside during the greater part of his stay in the Province, which was
of less than three years' duration. The solitude of his position, and
his almost complete isolation from society, and from the surroundings of
civilized life, seem to have been unbearable to his sensitive and social
nature. In 1795 he was appointed Chief-Justice of the Lower Province,
where he continued to occupy the Judicial Bench until 1801, when he
resigned his position, and returned to England. His services as
Chief-Justice entitled him to a pension of £800 per annum, which he
continued to enjoy for rather more than twenty-two years. For historical
purposes, his career may be said to have ceased with his resignation, as
he never again emerged from the seclusion of private life. He was
several times requested to enter Parliament, but declined to do so.
During the four years immediately succeeding his return to England he
resided in the Temple. In 1804, upon the conversion of Melbourne
House--a mansion in the West End of London--into the fashionable set of
chambers known as "The Albany," he took up his quarters there for the
remainder of his life. Among other distinguished men who resided there
contemporaneously with him were Lord Brougham and Lord Byron. The latter
occupied the set of chambers immediately adjoining those of the retired
Chief-Justice, and the two became personally acquainted with each other;
though, considering the diversity of their habits, it is not likely that
any very close intimacy was established between them. In conjunction
with Sir William Grant, Mr. Osgoode was appointed on several legal
commissions. One of these consisted of the codification of certain
Imperial Statutes relating to the colonies. Another involved an inquiry
into the amount of fees receivable by certain officials in the Court of
King's Bench, which inquiry was still pending at the time of Mr.
Osgoode's death. He lived very much to himself, though he was sometimes
seen in society. He died of acute pneumonia, on the 17th of January,
1824, in the seventieth year of his age. One of his intimate friends has
left the following estimate of his character:--"His opinions were
independent, but zealously loyal; nor were they ever concealed, or the
defence of them abandoned, when occasions called them forth. His
conviction of the excellence of the English Constitution sometimes made
him severe in the reproof of measures which he thought injurious to it;
but his politeness and good temper prevented any disagreement, even with
those whose sentiments were most opposed to his own. To estimate his
character rightly, it was, however, necessary to know him well; his
first approaches being cold, amounting almost to dryness. But no person
admitted to his intimacy ever failed to conceive for him that esteem
which his conduct and conversation always tended to augment. He died in
affluent circumstances, the result of laudable prudence, without the
smallest taint of avarice or illiberal parsimony."
He was never married. There is a story about an attachment formed by him
to a young lady of Quebec, during his residence there. It is said that
the lady preferred a wealthier suitor, and that he never again became
heart-whole. This, like the other story above mentioned, rests upon mere
rumour, and is entitled to the credence attached to other rumours of a
similar nature. His name is perpetuated in this Province by that of the
stately Palace of Justice on Queen Street West, Toronto; also by the
name of a township in the county of Carleton.
THE HON. WILLIAM MORRIS.
At the present day, the name of the Hon. William Morris is less
frequently in men's mouths than it was half a century ago, but it is a
name of much significance to any one familiar with the ecclesiastical
history of this country. There was a time when there were three
prominent political leaders in Western Canada, agreeing in no respect
but in the possession of great abilities and indomitable energy. These
were John Beverley Robinson, who led the Church of England party, better
known by the name of the "Family Compact;" Egerton Ryerson, who headed
the Methodist, which was then the Liberal party; and William Morris, who
led the Scotch Presbyterians with all the gravity and sagacity which are
usually attributed to that class and creed. The first and last named of
these leaders were in Parliament, and guided its rival parties. The
second, from the lobby and the press, exercised, perhaps, greater
influence than either. Mr. Robinson was the most accomplished, Mr.
Ryerson the most versatile, and Mr. Morris the most determined and
persevering. Mr. Robinson contended for the supremacy of the Church of
England, and her exclusive right to the Clergy Reserves, with the
hauteur of a cavalier. Mr. Ryerson, in seeking a share of all good
things for his co-religionists, identified them with the people, and
consequently had it in his power to use the strong plea for equal
justice, which finally prevailed. Mr. Morris sought a share of the
Clergy Reserves for his own Church only, upon the plea that the Church
of Scotland was, by the Act of Union between England and Scotland, as
much an established Church as the Church of England. There have been
many exciting times in the history of Canada, but none has called forth
more powerful exhibitions of feeling, or, we may add, more ability than
the Clergy Reserve struggle--when the Upper Canada Parliament sat at
Little York, with the gentlemen above named for its leaders, and when
the press was directed by Messieurs Ryerson, Mackenzie, Cary and
Collins. Nor did the then leaders sink into oblivion. Mr. Robinson
became Chief Justice of Upper Canada, an office which he filled with
credit from the time of his appointment in 1829 down to his death in
January, 1863, embracing a period of nearly thirty-four years. Mr.
Ryerson became Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada, in which
capacity he served his country faithfully from 1844 to 1876. Mr. Morris
became Receiver-General of United Canada, an office in which it would
have been well for the country if he could have been permanently
retained. Possessed of an integrity which gave perfect security that he
would participate in no jobs himself, he had at the same time that
knowledge of men and of business, that patient industry, and that
discriminating judgment which would permit no others to peculate. He
was a model Receiver-General. Such is the characterization of an able
and discriminating writer of twenty and odd years ago, and his remarks
will stand the test of time. The late Mr. Morris was not, perhaps, what
would be called a man of modern ideas, but he was a man of stainless
honour and thorough conscientiousness of purpose. He initiated one of
the most important movements known to Canadian history, and took a
foremost part in the agitation consequent thereupon. He left his mark
upon his time, and transmitted to his posterity a name which is justly
held in respect. For the following particulars of his career, we are
largely indebted to his eldest son, the Hon. Alexander Morris, who has
himself attained to a high place in public life, and whose career has
been sketched in a former portion of this work.
The subject of this memoir was born at Paisley, in Lanarkshire,
Scotland, on the 31st of October, 1786. When he was about fifteen years
of age he emigrated to Upper Canada with his parents, who settled in
Montreal, where his father embarked in a general mercantile business.
This business involved a considerable shipping interest, and was carried
on by Mr. Morris the elder for some years with much success. In process
of time a catastrophe occurred which materially crippled his resources,
and rendered it necessary that he should resort to a new and hitherto
untried occupation. Having lost a homeward bound ship in the Straits of
Belle Isle, and no part of the cargo having been insured, owing to the
carelessness of an agent, and having sustained other heavy losses, he
was compelled to close his business in Montreal, and retire to a farm
near Brockville. In 1809 he died, leaving large debts in Montreal and in
Glasgow. His son William, the subject of this sketch, remained at
Brockville with his brother and the younger members of the family,
helping to support them by his exertions, till the war of 1812 with the
United States commenced, when he left his business and joined a militia
flank company as an Ensign, having received his commission from General
Brock. In October of that year he volunteered, with Lieutenant-Colonel
Lethbridge, in the attack of the British forces on Ogdensburg, and
commanded the only militia gun-boat that sustained injury, one man
having been killed and another wounded at his side by a cannon shot. In
1813 he was present at and took an active part in the capture of
Ogdensburg, having been detached in command of a party to take
possession of the old French fort then at that place--an achievement
which he successfully accomplished. His comrades in arms, some of whom
are still living, speak in high terms of his soldierly bearing, and of
the affection with which he inspired his men, during this early portion
of his career. He continued to serve till 1814, when a large body of
troops having arrived in the Colony from the Peninsula, he left the
militia service, and returned to Brockville, to assist his brother in
the management of the business there.
In 1816, he proceeded with the military and emigrant settlers to the
Military Settlement near the Rideau, and there commenced mercantile
business, at what is now the substantial and prosperous town of Perth,
but which was then a wilderness. He continued for some years to bestow
his active attention on the mercantile business conducted at Perth by
himself, and at Brockville by his brother, the late Mr. Alexander
Morris. In 1820 an incident took place that marked the character of the
man, and was an index to all his future career. In that year, he and his
brother received two handsome pieces of plate from the creditors of
their late father in Glasgow, for having voluntarily, and without
solicitation, paid in full all the debts owing by the estate. Such
respect for a father's memory indicated a high-toned rectitude that
deserved and could not fail to command success. In this year, also, the
political career of Mr. Morris commenced, he having been elected by the
settlers to represent them in the Provincial Parliament. He soon took an
active and prominent part in that assembly, and in 1820 took one of the
leading steps in his political life, when he moved and carried an
address to the King, asserting the claim of the Church of Scotland to a
share of the Clergy Reserves under the Imperial Statute 31 Geo. III.,
cap. 31. With no hostility to the Church of England, but yet with a
sturdy perseverance and a strong conviction of right, he urged the
claims of his own Church, basing them upon the Act of Union between
England and Scotland. The Colonial Government resisted his pretensions,
but sixteen years afterwards the twelve Judges in England decided in
effect that Mr. Morris was right. In 1835 he was elected for the sixth
time consecutively to Parliament for the county of Lanark. In 1836 he
was called to a seat in the Legislative Council of Upper Canada. In 1837
he proceeded to the Colonial Office, Downing Street, London, with a
petition to the King and Parliament from the Scottish inhabitants of the
Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, asserting their claims to equal
rights with those enjoyed by their fellow-subjects of English origin. He
was selected for this mission by a meeting of delegates from all parts
of the Province held at Cobourg. Subsequently he received from the
Scottish inhabitants of the Province a handsome piece of plate, bearing
an appropriate inscription as a token of their approbation of his public
services.