later enter the political arena. He had been only two years at the Bar,
when (in 1834) he was elected by acclamation to represent the county of
York in the New Brunswick Assembly. His return under such circumstances
was a notable event, for he was only twenty-five years of age, and was
the first candidate ever returned by that constituency without a
contest. Prior to his return he held several political meetings in
different parts of the county, at which he addressed the people in a
fashion to which they had theretofore been wholly unaccustomed. He
described the fundamental points of the constitution, and showed that
the rights of the people had been systematically violated for a great
many years. It is said that during one of these addresses a member of
the ruling faction rode up to the hustings and demanded that Wilmot
should be pulled down, or that he would yet become Attorney-General of
the Province. The story sounds too good to be true. However that may be,
he was not long in making his presence felt in the Assembly. He arrayed
himself as the champion of Liberal principles--principles which had a
much more slender following in those days than they have had in later
times. The Family Compact had an existence in New Brunswick, as well as
in the other British American colonies, and any aspiring young
politician who refused to bow his head beneath the yoke, had to make up
his mind for a large measure of obloquy and determined opposition. Young
Wilmot had to bear his share of the burdens which fell to the lot of all
advocates of popular rights in the days when Responsible Government was
sneered at by those in authority. The New Brunswick oligarchy were
somewhat less besotted and tyrannical than were those of Upper Canada
and Nova Scotia, but there were abuses which called imperatively for
removal, and grievous wrongs which cried aloud for redress. All the
important offices were in the hands of the members of the Compact and
their sycophants, and the only road to public preferment lay through
their favour. Political power was confined to the Legislative and
Executive Councils; for, although there was a Body called the Assembly,
which was supposed to be the guardian of the rights of the people, it
was a shadow without substance. Its votes produced no direct influence
upon the advisers of the Sovereign's representative in the colony, who
were permitted to keep their places of power and emolument, no matter
how distasteful themselves and their policy might be to the popular
branch of the Legislature. This oppressive domination was not confined
to secular matters, but extended likewise to matters ecclesiastical.
There was a dominant State Church. Dissenters were regarded by the
adherents of that Church with disfavour, and were sometimes treated with
contumely. A dissenting minister was not permitted by law to solemnize
matrimony, and if he did so he was subject to fine and imprisonment. It
is said that Mr. Wilmot's father, William Wilmot, who was a member of
the Assembly, was refused admission to the House upon the ground that he
was in the habit of conducting religious services on the Sabbath day.
It at one time seemed not improbable that the subject of this sketch
would be subjected to a similar indignity. The latter was a Dissenter
from conviction. He had been awakened to an active sense of religion by
the ministrations of the Rev. Enoch Wood, now of Toronto, but then
pastor of the Methodist Church in Fredericton. No account of Mr.
Wilmot's life which does not take cognizance of the devotional side of
his character can give anything like an accurate estimate of the man.
Further reference to it will be made at a later stage. When he first
took his seat as a member of Parliament he felt that it was incumbent
upon him to contend, not only for his political freedom, but for his
rights as a member of a religious body which was practically proscribed.
The oligarchy, it is to be presumed, well knew that the end of their
reign was at hand, but they fought every inch of the ground with a
spirit and determination worthy of a better cause. There is no need to
go through the _minutiae_ of the struggle. Though differing as to local
details, the principles at stake in New Brunswick were precisely the
same as in Upper Canada and Nova Scotia, and readers of the sketches of
Robert Baldwin, Lord Metcalfe, and Joseph Howe, are sufficiently
informed as to how much was involved in those principles. Mr. Wilmot
soon became the acknowledged leader of the Reformers of his native
Province, and to his vigour, eloquence, and statesmanship the successful
establishment of Responsible Government there in 1848 is mainly due. In
this connection it would be unjust to omit a reference to the late Hon.
Charles Fisher, Mr. Wilmot's colleague in the representation of York
County, who for some years prior to his death in the month of December
last occupied a seat on the Bench of the Supreme Court of New Brunswick.
A sketch of Mr. Fisher's life will appear in due course in these pages,
but a casual reference to him in this place seems to be imperatively
called for. Throughout all the contest which resulted in the triumph of
Liberal principles, and in the establishment of Executive
Responsibility, Mr. Fisher seconded his leader, Mr. Wilmot, with a
loyalty and integrity which entitle him to a high place in the
Provincial annals. His learning and eloquence gave him great influence
in Parliament, and his name is associated with some of the most
important legislation in the colonial jurisprudence, as well as with the
cause of popular freedom. To Lemuel Allan Wilmot and Charles Fisher the
inhabitants of New Brunswick owe a heavy debt, and their names will
deservedly go down to posterity side by side.
The struggle for Responsible Government may be said to have begun in
earnest in New Brunswick about the time when Mr. Wilmot first entered
the Assembly of that Province in 1834. It proceeded with unabated ardour
until the resignation of Sir Archibald Campbell, the
Lieutenant-Governor, in 1837. In 1836 Mr. Wilmot proceeded to England as
a co-delegate with Mr. William Crane on the subject of Crown Revenues
and the Civil List, and then for the first time laid the grievances of
his compatriots before the Imperial Government. Lord Glenelg, the
Colonial Secretary, was well inclined towards the colonies, and treated
the two New Brunswick delegates with much kindness and courtesy. The
state of affairs submitted by them was taken into careful consideration,
and the Assembly's view of the situation was approved of. At Lord
Glenelg's suggestion, a Bill was drafted which granted all the most
important reforms prayed for, and was transmitted to Sir Archibald
Campbell for his approval. The approval was not forthcoming, and Sir
Archibald quietly tendered his resignation. Messrs. Wilmot and Crane
were received with an ovation upon their return to New Brunswick, and
were the heroes of the hour. Next year they were again despatched to
England with an address to the King, in which it was prayed that Sir
Archibald Campbell might be recalled--the fact of his having sent in his
resignation not having transpired. They were received with as much
favour as before, and were informed that the contumacy of Sir Archibald
would not be permitted to thwart the popular will. During this second
visit they enjoyed the honour of being presented at Court to King
William IV. His Majesty, upon Mr. Wilmot being presented to him,
condescended to make some inquiries as to his family and ancestry. Mr.
Wilmot availed himself of the opportunity thus afforded to make a set
speech in the presence of royalty, in which he "burst the awful barriers
of State, and, in loyal phrase, thanked His Majesty for generous
consideration of colonial interests."[12]
The delegates had good reason to congratulate themselves upon the
success of their mission. Sir John Harvey, an English officer who had
served with distinction in Upper Canada, and in various other parts of
the world, was sent out as Lieutenant-Governor, and the Civil List Bill
became law. The House of Assembly of New Brunswick, by way of testifying
its appreciation of Lord Glenelg's conduct, had a full-length portrait
of him painted, and suspended behind the Speaker's chair, where it hangs
to the present day. Upon the return of Messrs. Crane and Wilmot from
their second mission a vote of thanks was unanimously passed by the
Assembly in recognition of their diplomatic services. They also received
more substantial marks of favour. Mr. Crane was called to the Executive
Council, and Mr. Wilmot was invested with a silk gown. For the time,
Liberal principles were decidedly in the ascendant. The passing of the
Civil List Bill had a most mollifying effect upon public opinion. New
Brunswick was spared the turmoil of a rebellion such as disturbed the
peace of Upper and Lower Canada. There was not even any attempt at
insurrection, nor apparently any feeling of sympathy with the violence
begotten of the times. Mr. Wilmot, whose martial spirit has already been
hinted at, raised and commanded a troop of volunteer dragoons, which
performed despatch duty pending the border troubles of the time; but he
was happily never called upon to take part in any active measures of
suppression.
During Sir John Harvey's four years' tenure of office as
Lieutenant-Governor, the internal affairs of the Province of New
Brunswick were carried on with but little friction between the branches
of the Legislature. The Reform Party were gratified with the signal
victory they had gained in the matter of the Civil Service Bill, and
were not disposed to be captious without serious cause. Sir John Harvey
was a popular Governor, and his moderate policy reäcted upon both the
political parties. Soon after the accession of Sir William Colebrooke,
in 1841, the old hostilities began to re-appear. It was a time of great
commercial depression. For several years the public funds had been spent
somewhat lavishly, and the Provincial credit had begun to suffer. An era
of economy and Conservatism set in. At the general elections of 1842 the
Reform Party made a determined stand on the question of Responsible
Government. Mr. Wilmot, who had sat in the Assembly for the county of
York for a continuous period of eight years, again presented himself to
the electors of that constituency. Tremendous efforts were made by his
opponents to oust him, and the contest was one of the sharpest ever
known in the annals of New Brunswick. He and his colleague, Mr. Fisher,
were successful in securing their election, but the state of public
opinion was abundantly proclaimed by the fact that these two were the
only successful Reform candidates in an Assembly consisting of forty-one
members. The progressive party was badly beaten, but not disheartened,
and a banner bearing the motto "Responsible Government," was unfurled in
the streets of Fredericton. The two Reformers had to maintain the sole
burden of Opposition on their shoulders during the following session.
Notwithstanding their numerical weakness, they made their influence
powerfully felt in the Assembly.
In 1844 Mr. Wilmot was offered a seat in the Executive Council. He
accepted it, without portfolio, but did not long retain his place, owing
to a circumstance which compelled his resignation. The
Lieutenant-Governor, without consulting his Ministers, appointed his
son-in-law, Mr. Reade, to the office of Provincial Secretary. This
proceeding, which was a direct subversion of the doctrine of Responsible
Government, gave offence, not to Mr. Wilmot alone, but to three other
members of the Council. After a fruitless remonstrance with Sir William
Colebrooke, they all four promptly resigned their seats. The Colonial
Secretary declined to confirm Mr. Reade's appointment, and another
gentleman less distasteful to the Assembly became Provincial Secretary.
From this time forward a Liberal reaction may be said to have set in. At
the general election of 1846 a fair proportion of Liberal candidates was
returned, among whom were Mr. Wilmot and his colleague, Mr. Fisher.
Responsible Government, however, was not yet an accomplished fact,
though its accomplishment was nigh at hand. In 1847, the Colonial
Secretary, Earl Grey, in a despatch to Sir John Harvey, who was at that
date Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, clearly defined the principles
upon which the Government of that colony should be carried on. The
principles enunciated were precisely those for which the Reformers had
all along been contending. It was declared that members of the Executive
Council should be permitted to hold office only so long as they
possessed the confidence of a majority of the people, as signified by
the votes in the Assembly. The heads of the various departments, it was
said, should retain office only during pleasure; and Government
officials were neither to be permitted to occupy seats in the
Legislature nor to be removable on a change of Government. These
concessions implied neither more nor less than Responsible Government.
The principles were evidently as applicable to New Brunswick as to Nova
Scotia. Soon after the opening of the session in 1848 Mr. Fisher
introduced a resolution approving of Earl Grey's despatch, and accepting
its doctrines on behalf of the Province. The debate which followed was
big with the fate of New Brunswick. Many of the more advanced
Conservatives coincided with the principles enunciated, and supported
the resolution, which was finally carried by a large majority. Thus was
Responsible Government finally adopted in New Brunswick.
The speeches made by Mr. Fisher and Mr. Wilmot during this debate were
emphatically the speeches of the session. That of Mr. Wilmot was
published in pamphlet form and circulated throughout the Maritime
Provinces. It was considered as sufficiently important to be noticed in
the _North American Review_, published at Boston, Massachusetts, where
it was stated that "He (Mr. Wilmot) possesses brilliant powers, and as a
public speaker ranks with the most effective and eloquent in British
America."
Mr. Wilmot was called upon to form a new Government, which, though the
result of a coalition, was of a Liberal complexion. He himself became
Premier and Attorney-General. During his tenure of office his name is
associated with several important Legislative measures, among which may
be mentioned the Consolidation of the Criminal Laws (1849), and the
Municipal Law (1850). During the latter year he attended as the
representative of his Province at the International Railway Convention
held at Portland, Maine, where he delivered a speech which we have not
read, but which, judging from the encomiums which have been lavished
upon it, must have been an effort of very uncommon eloquence. Mr.
Lathern, in the work already quoted from, says of it: "There were many
able and eloquent speeches at that Portland Convention, from
Parliamentary and public men, but to Attorney-General Wilmot, by common
consent, was awarded the palm of consummate, crowning oratory. He
carried the audience by storm. To people across the border, accustomed
to political declamation, it was a matter of amazement that their most
brilliant men should be completely eclipsed. It was a still greater
cause of mystery how a style of oratory, of the imaginative and
impassioned type, regarded as peculiarly a production of the chivalrous
and sunny South, could have been born and nurtured amidst the frigid
influences and monarchical institutions of a bleak and foggy forest
Province. There were accompanying advantages which stamped the effort as
supreme of its kind. Dramatic action, consummate grace of rhetorical
expression, a voice of matchless power and wondrous modulation,
contributed to the heightened effect. To a very considerable extent the
eloquence was impromptu, and therefore largely took its caste and
complexion, apt allusions, and rich surprises, from the immediate scene
and its surroundings. That magnificent burst of oratory swept over the
audience like fire amongst stubble, and like the tempest that bends
forest trees. Reporters are said to have dropped their pencils, and
yielded to the magnetic, resistless spell; and the people, gathered in
dense mass, were wrought into a frenzy of excitement and enthusiasm."
Making due allowances for the unconscious exaggeration of a writer who
seems to have revered Mr. Wilmot as his "guide, philosopher and friend,"
the Portland speech must have been an effort of which any orator might
justly feel proud. During this same year (1850) Attorney-General Wilmot
visited Washington as a delegate from his Province on the subject of
International Reciprocity; and a few months later, in company with the
Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Edmund Head, he attended a meeting of the
Canadian Government held at Toronto, for the purpose of discussing
important matters relating to the British North American colonies.
In the month of January, 1851, he retired from the Administration, and
accepted a seat on the Judicial Bench, as a Puisné Judge of the Supreme
Court of New Brunswick. At the time of his appointment to this position
the still higher office of Chief-Justice was vacant, and he, as
Attorney-General might not unreasonably have expected to succeed to that
dignity. His acceptance of the less exalted position was the cause of
some surprise, as he would have had the entire Reform Party of the
Province at his back in any dispute with the Lieutenant-Governor, and
might have brought much pressure to bear upon him. His acceptance was
probably due to the fact that politics are an uncertain pursuit, and
that there was no saying what the morrow might bring forth. He never
experienced defeat on the hustings in the whole course of his sixteen
years of political life, but at the last election for York he had been
returned by a very slight majority. He was sensitive to public opinion,
and had no ambition to remain on the stage until he might possibly be
hissed. He was at this time enabled to retire with honour, and the
consciousness that he retained public confidence and respect. Other
reasons may probably enough have influenced him. His professional
business had necessarily suffered through his constant attendance upon
his Parliamentary and official duties. His income had dwindled down to
less than a third of what it had once been, and his expenses had greatly
increased. The position of a Puisné Judge is a high and honourable one,
such as no lawyer, however eminent, need disdain to accept. His choice
was made, and for more than seventeen years thereafter he discharged his
duties as a Judge with usefulness and dignity. During this interval he
frequently delivered lectures before Mechanics' Institutes and Lyceums
in St. John, Fredericton and elsewhere; and some of these discourses
were as remarkable for learning and eloquence as any of his public
utterances. His convictions as a Protestant were unusually strong, and
some of his remarks on sectarian themes occasionally caused irritation
among persons whose theological faith differed from his own, but in no
case does the irritation seem to have been more than temporary. His
exemplary life, and his evident sincerity of purpose, induced even
opposing theologians to allow him a latitude of expression which would
scarcely have been tolerated in an ordinary personage. During his tenure
of office as a Judge he also took an active part in forwarding the cause
of education, and in support of many voluntary associations of a
benevolent and religious character. Among numerous other offices
conferred upon him, he was appointed a Member of the Senate of the New
Brunswick University, from which he received the degree of D.C.L.
Though Judge Wilmot had been for many years removed from the arena of
politics, it was well understood that he was a firm friend of British
American Union, and ardently desirous to see Confederation prove a
lasting success. From his high local standing, from the judicial
position he had held so long having raised him above the confines of
political party strife, and from his acknowledged abilities, he was
singled out for the office of first Lieutenant-Governor of his native
Province, under the new order of things which came into being on the 1st
of July, 1867. The appointment was not made until rather more than a
year afterwards, during which period the duties of Lieutenant-Governor
were performed by Major-General Charles Hastings Doyle, probably for the
same reasons that assigned to some of the other Provinces military
Governors during the first year of Union. When, however, the appointment
was made on the 27th of July, 1868, it gave very general satisfaction
throughout New Brunswick. It was felt that such an appointment was a
fitting tribute to a man who had spent the greater part of his life in
the public service, and who had at all times preserved his honour
untarnished. There is not much of special interest to tell about his
Lieutenant-Governorship. His public addresses, and even his official
speeches in connection with the opening and closing of the Legislature,
were distinguished by sentiments of fervent patriotism, and by the
expression of broad and enlightened ideas as to the duty of the people
in sustaining the consolidation of British power on this continent. He
held office until the expiration of his term, on the 14th of November,
1873, when he received a pension as a retired Judge, and laid down his
governmental functions, with the public respect for him undiminished.
The remainder of his life was passed in retirement, from which he only
emerged for a short time in 1875, when he succeeded the Right Hon. H. C.
E. Childers, as second Commissioner under the Prince Edward Island
Purchase Act of that year. He was nominated as one of the arbitrators in
the Ontario and North-West Boundary Commission, but did not live long
enough to act in that capacity. During the last two or three years of
his life he suffered from chronic neuralgia of a very severe type, and
was sometimes prevented from stirring out of doors. As a general thing,
however, he continued to take active exercise, and to lend his
assistance in the organization of religious and benevolent enterprises,
and he did so up to within a few days of his death. He died very
suddenly at his house in Fredericton, on the afternoon of Monday, the
20th of May, 1878. While walking in his garden after returning from a
drive with some members of his family he was attacked by a severe pain
in the region of the heart. He entered his house and medical aid was at
once summoned, but he ceased to breathe within a few minutes after the
seizure. The immediate cause of death was presumed to have been rupture
of one of the blood vessels near the heart.
Reference has been made to the religious side of Judge Wilmot's
character, but something more than a passing reference is necessary to
enable the reader to understand how greatly religion tended to the
shaping of his social and public life. It has been seen that he first
began to take an active interest in spiritual matters in 1833, the year
after his call to the Bar. The interest then awakened in his heart was
not transitory, but accompanied him through all the phases of his future
career. This is not the place to enlarge upon such a theme, but it is in
order to note that his spiritual experiences were of an eminently
realistic cast. "Through the whole course of my religious experience"
(to quote his own words), "I never once had a doubt in regard to the
question of my personal salvation. The assurance of my acceptance as a
child of God, and the firmness of my confidence, are such that Satan
cannot take any advantage on that side, and cannot even tempt me to
doubt or fear in regard to the reality of my conversion." This
conviction strengthened with his advancing years, and left its impress
upon all his acts. He bestirred himself actively at class-meetings, and
for more than forty-four years taught a class in Sunday-school. Only the
day before his death he took part in these exercises for the last time.
Though a sincere and zealous member of the Methodist Church, he was no
bigoted sectarian, but interested himself in the prosperity of all
religious bodies, and fraternized with the clergy of all denominations.
He had a critical knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures such as few laymen
can pretend to, and his own copy of the Bible bears on almost every page
traces of his diligent study of what he regarded--and that in no mere
metaphorical sense--as the Word of God.
Judge Wilmot was twice married. His first wife was a Miss Balloch,
daughter of the Rev. J. Balloch. His second wife, who still survives,
was Miss Black, a daughter of the Hon. William A. Black, of Halifax, a
member of the Legislative Council of Nova Scotia. It may also be
mentioned, in conclusion, that during the visit of the Prince of Wales,
in 1860, Judge Wilmot raised and commanded a troop of dragoons for
escort duty, for which service he personally received the thanks of His
Royal Highness.
THE HON. HENRY ELZÉAR TASCHEREAU.
Judge Taschereau is the eldest son of the late Pierre Elzéar Taschereau,
who, prior to the union of the Provinces, was for many years a member of
the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, and after the union, of that
of the United Provinces. His mother was Catherine Hénédine, a daughter
of the late Hon. Amable Dionne, who was at one time a member of the old
Legislative Council. He is descended from Thomas Jacques Taschereau, a
French gentleman who settled in the Province of Quebec many years before
the Conquest. Various members of the Taschereau family have achieved
high distinction in Canada, no fewer than seven of them having occupied
seats on the Judicial Bench. The present Judge was born at the
Seignorial Manor House, Ste. Marie de la Beauce, on the 7th of October,
1836. He was educated at the Quebec Seminary, and after completing his
scholastic education, studied law in the office of his cousin, the Hon.
Jean Thomas Taschereau. The last named gentleman was one of the most
eminent lawyers in his native Province, and became a Puisné Judge of the
Supreme Court of the Dominion upon its formation in 1875. He was
superannuated about two years ago.