viewed differently according to the political bias of the reviewer. It
may be said, however, that in the opinion of his own political adherents
he is one of the ablest financiers that Canada has ever produced, and
that he successfully tided the country over a period of great political
depression without imposing any unnecessary burdens upon the people. As
a Parliamentary speaker and debater he is deservedly entitled to the
high rank which he enjoys. Finance is not a subject provocative of any
very lofty flights of oratory, but Mr. Cartwright's Budget speeches were
marked by a thorough mastery of his subject, and by clear and impressive
diction. He took a prominent part in the political campaign of 1878, and
some of his speeches at that time are among the ablest of his public
utterances. He of course opposed with all his might the protective
policy of the Party now in power. The electors of Lennox, like those of
many other constituencies, were desirous of testing the promises of the
advocates of the "National Policy," and at the general elections held on
the 17th of September Mr. Cartwright was defeated by Mr. Hooper, the
present representative, by a majority of 59 votes. Mr. Horace Horton,
the member-elect for Centre Huron, having accepted an office in the
department of the Auditor-General, resigned his seat, and Mr.
Cartwright, on the 2nd of November, was elected by a majority of 401
votes for that constituency, which he still continues to represent in
the House of Commons.
On the 24th of May, 1879, Mr. Cartwright was created a Knight of the
Order of St. Michael and St. George, at an investiture held in Montreal
by the present Governor-General, acting on behalf of Her Majesty.
[Illustration: THEODORE ROBITAILLE, signed as Theodore Robitaille]
THE HON. THEODORE ROBITAILLE,
_LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC._
The Hon. Theodore Robitaille is by profession a physician and surgeon,
and, prior to his elevation to the position of Lieutenant-Governor, was
commonly known throughout the Province of Quebec as "Doctor" Robitaille.
He is descended from an old French family which has long been settled in
the Lower Province, and several members whereof have seen service in the
cause of the British Crown. One of his grand-uncles acted as a chaplain
to the Lower Canadian Militia Forces during the War of 1812, '13 and
'14, and several other members of the family fought on the loyal side
during that struggle. Another grand-uncle, Jean Robitaille, occupied a
seat in the old Canadian Legislature from 1809 to 1829.
The father of the Lieutenant-Governor was the late Mr. Louis Adolphe
Robitaille, N.P., of Varennes, in the Province of Quebec, where the
subject of this sketch was born on the 29th of January, 1834. He
received his education at the Model School of Varennes, at the Seminary
of Ste. Thérèse, at the Laval University, Quebec, and finally at McGill
College, Montreal, where he graduated as M.D. in May, 1858. He settled
down to the practice of his profession at New Carlisle, the county seat
of the county of Bonaventure. Three years later--at the general election
of 1861--he was returned in the Conservative interest to the Canadian
House of Assembly as representative for that county. He continued to sit
in the Assembly for Bonaventure until Confederation. At the general
election of 1867 he was returned by the same constituency to the House
of Commons, and was reëlected at the general election of 1872. Early in
the following year he was offered the portfolio of Receiver-General,
which he accepted, and was sworn into office on the 30th of January. His
acceptance of office was fully endorsed by his constituents in
Bonaventure, who reëlected him by acclamation. He held the
Receiver-Generalship until the fall of the Macdonald Ministry in the
following November. His tenure of office was not marked by any feature
of special importance. At the general elections of 1874 and 1878 he was
again returned for Bonaventure, so that at the time of his appointment
as Lieutenant-Governor he had represented that constituency in
Parliament for a continuous period of about eighteen years. He also
represented Bonaventure in the Local Legislature of Quebec from 1871 to
1874, when he retired, in order to confine himself to the House of
Commons. His long Parliamentary career was not distinguished by any
remarkable brilliancy or statesmanship, but he acquired much Legislative
experience, and was a useful member of the House. He was known for the
moderation of his views, and was personally popular with the
representatives of both political parties.
Upon Mr. Letellier's dismissal from office, as related in previous
sketches, Dr. Robitaille was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the
Province of Quebec. He was sworn into office by the Governor-General on
the 26th of July, 1879, and has ever since discharged the functions
incidental to that position. He was succeeded in the representation of
Bonaventure County by Mr. Pierre Clovis Beauchesne, who now sits in the
House of Commons for that constituency.
On the 30th of September, 1879, Lieutenant-Governor Robitaille paid a
visit to the Seminary of Ste. Thérèse, where he had been a student more
than twenty years previously. He was received with great enthusiasm, not
only by the students of the Seminary, but by the people of the town
itself; and he received very flattering addresses from the Mayor of the
town, as well as from the President of the College. Both the town and
the College expressed their sense of having a share in the high honours
to which their former townsman and fellow-student had attained. About a
month later he was presented with a highly congratulatory address from
more than a thousand of his old constituents in Bonaventure. The address
was signed by the local clergy of all denominations, and by adherents of
all shades of political opinions.
In the month of November, 1867, Dr. Robitaille married Miss Marie
Josephine Charlotte Emma Quesnel, daughter of Mr. P. A. Quesnel, and
grand-daughter of the late Hon. F. A. Quesnel, who was for many years a
member of the Legislative Council of Canada.
THE HON. SAMUEL HUME BLAKE.
Mr. Blake, who for more than six years past has worthily filled the
position of Senior Vice-Chancellor for Ontario, is the second son of the
late William Hume Blake, and younger brother of West Durham's present
representative in the House of Commons. Some account of the lives of
both the father and eldest son has already appeared in this series, and
the reader is referred to those accounts for various particulars more or
less bearing upon the life of the subject of the present memoir. Samuel
Hume Blake was born in the City of Toronto, on the 31st of August, 1835,
soon after his father's removal thither from the Township of Adelaide.
Like his elder brother, he received his earliest educational training at
home, under the auspices of Mr. Courtenay, Mr. Wedd, and other private
tutors. The account given in the first volume of this work of the sort
of training bestowed by the father upon Edward Blake is equally
applicable to the training of the younger son, whose proficiency in
elocution was noticeable from his earliest childhood. From the hands of
private tutors he passed, when he was about eight years old, to Upper
Canada College, where he remained for five years. In those early days he
was a more diligent student in the ordinary scholastic routine than his
elder brother, and was specially conspicuous above most of his
fellow-students for the quickness of his intellectual vision, and the
almost amazing facility he displayed in mastering the daily tasks which
fell to his share. His mind seems to have matured very early, and his
intellectual precocity was such that when ten years old he could
converse intelligently, even on subjects requiring careful thought and
reflection, with persons of much more advanced years. The study and
practice of elocution, in which he was encouraged and directed by his
father, always had special charms for him, and the ease and grace of his
public deliverances while at school procured for him a high repute both
with his teachers and fellow-scholars. Mr. Barron, the Principal of the
College, used to hold him up in this respect as an example to the other
boys, and was wont to remark that Master Samuel Blake was the only boy
in the institution who really knew how to read with taste and
intelligence. He also received a high tribute to his elocutionary powers
from a more exalted quarter. Soon after Lord Elgin's arrival in this
country he attended a public examination at the College, at which young
Samuel Blake was deputed to recite Campbell's "Pleasures of Hope." The
selection was peculiarly appropriate, as the closing line of the poem
contains, as every Canadian schoolboy knows, a glowing tribute to "the
Bruce of Bannockburn." Lord Elgin's family name and lineage, doubtless,
led to the selection of this poem for recitation on the occasion of his
visit. His Lordship was fully sensible of the implied compliment, and
not only availed himself of the opportunity to highly commend young
Blake's elocution, but in the course of his address to the scholars paid
a glowing tribute to the character and public services of William Hume
Blake, to whose judicious training the son's success in declamation was
largely attributable.
Like his elder brother he had been destined for the legal profession,
but his own tastes, combined with the fact that his health was not very
robust, induced him to turn his thoughts to commercial life. The firm of
Ross, Mitchell & Co., was then at the height of its prosperity, and the
establishment formed an excellent field for the acquisition of a
thorough mercantile training. When just emerging from boyhood, Samuel
Blake bade adieu to Upper Canada College, and entered the establishment
as a clerk. There he remained four years, taking his full share of such
work as came to his hand. He thereby not only obtained an insight into
the doings of the commercial world which has stood him in good stead in
the different sphere to which the subsequent years of his life have been
devoted, but, more important still, the actual physical labours which he
was compelled to perform were the means of building up his constitution
and endowing him with much bodily vigour. His tastes, however, had
meanwhile undergone a change, and he had resolved to follow in his
brother's footsteps. His term of apprenticeship having expired, he
passed his preliminary examination before the Law Society, and entered
the office of his uncle, the late Dr. Skeffington Connor, as a student
at law. He at the same time began to read for a University degree, and
with unflagging industry contrived to carry on both his professional and
scholastic studies contemporaneously. In the year 1858 he graduated as
B.A., and in Michaelmas Term of the same year he was admitted as an
attorney and solicitor. He at once entered into partnership with his
brother Edward, the style of the firm being "E. & S. H. Blake." On the
2nd of February, 1859, he married Miss Rebecca Cronyn, third daughter of
the late Right Rev. John Cronyn, Bishop of the Diocese of Huron. In
Hilary Term, 1860, he was called to the Bar. Like his brother, he
devoted himself almost exclusively to the Equity branch of the
profession, in which he soon attained to an eminent position.
The splendid professional and financial successes achieved by the legal
firm of which he was a member have been sufficiently indicated in the
sketch of the life of Edward Blake. Of that firm, under its various
phases, Mr. S. H. Blake continued a member until Mr. Mowat's resignation
of the Vice-Chancellorship of Ontario, towards the close of 1872. The
position thus rendered vacant was promptly offered by the Premier, Sir
John A. Macdonald, to the subject of this memoir, who, after careful
deliberation, resolved to accept it. Only a few months before he had
been invested with the silk gown of a Queen's Counsel. During the
progress of the year he had also for the first time taken part in
political life. Frequent overtures had at various times been made to him
to emulate his brother's example by accepting a seat in Parliament.
These overtures he had persistently declined, but during the long and
heated contest preceding the general election of 1872 he consented to
supply the place of his brother--who was then absent in Europe for the
benefit of his health--by going down to the country and addressing his
constituents on the hustings and elsewhere. His political speeches
afforded unmistakable evidence of his ability to adapt himself to novel
circumstances. They showed an accurate knowledge of the country's past
political history, and of the nature of the various issues then before
the public. His views on all the questions of the day were of course
fully in accord with those of his brother, and in expatiating upon them
he displayed the same grasp and breadth which have always marked the
public utterances of the present member for West Durham.
Sir John Macdonald's political opponents have alleged that his offer of
so exalted a position as a Superior Court Judgeship to so young a man
was prompted by political expediency, and a desire to mollify the
powerful opposition of Edward Blake in the House of Commons. The
allegation, unless supported by stronger evidence than has yet been
produced, is not creditable to those who make it. Even Sir John's
bitterest foes will not deny that he has on more than one occasion
proved himself above party considerations, and in the matter of public
appointments has set an example of disinterestedness which other
Canadian statesmen would do well to emulate. Sir John, moreover, was
shrewd enough to know that Edward Blake was much too high-principled a
man to allow personal or family considerations to interfere with his
honest discharge of his public duties. In the instance under
consideration there is no need to search for any ulterior motive. The
appointment of Samuel Hume Blake to the Vice-Chancellorship was one
which commended itself to those who were most competent to pronounce
upon it--the legal profession of Ontario. In certain branches of his
profession he has had no superior in this country. In the early years of
his practice he devoted himself specially to chamber matters; but later
on, and more particularly after his brother had embarked in political
life, he was called upon to conduct, in the capacity of first counsel,
many of the heaviest cases before the court. As a counsel, his rapid
perception, and his faculty of reviewing evidence, were perhaps his most
noticeable characteristics. He was also, notwithstanding his youth, a
well-read lawyer, of excellent judgment and discrimination, and his
opinions were always regarded with the greatest respect, alike by Bench
and Bar. His appointment was a just and proper tribute to his fine
abilities, his unflagging industry, his great capacity for work, and his
high personal character. When he first took his seat on the Bench he was
the youngest judge who ever sat in any of the Superior Courts of his
native Province, and his elevation was due to a Prime Minister with
whose political views he has never been in accord. Instead of trying to
find sinister motives in such an appointment it is surely more
reasonable, as well as more becoming, to say that the appointment was
creditable alike to the Premier and to Mr. Blake.
Honourable as is the position of a Vice-Chancellor, there were,
notwithstanding, good reasons why Mr. Blake should hesitate before
accepting it. Ever since Edward Blake's entrance into political life the
large and steadily-increasing business of the firm had imposed
additional duties upon the younger brother. The additional duties were
of course accompanied by additional emoluments, and for several years
prior to 1872 his professional income had ranged from $12,000 to $15,000
per annum. As Vice-Chancellor his income would be only $5,000. This, to
a young man with an increasing family, who had largely fought his own
way in the battle of life, was in itself a serious consideration. On the
other hand there was the fact that his labours would be materially
lightened, and that he would have more time to bestow upon religious and
philanthropical objects in which he has always taken a deep interest.
His health, too, had begun to feel the effects of the ceaseless toil to
which he had for years subjected himself, and rest would be equally
grateful and beneficial. He finally concluded to accept the appointment,
and on the 2nd of December, 1872, became junior Vice-Chancellor. On the
elevation of his senior, Mr. S. H. Strong, to a seat on the Bench of
the newly-constituted Supreme Court of the Dominion, in 1875, Mr. Blake
succeeded to the position of senior Vice-Chancellor.
As an Equity Judge Mr. Blake has fully sustained the high reputation
which previous to his elevation he had acquired at the Bar. His tenure
of office has been marked by unwearied diligence, careful and patient
investigation of authorities, rigid conscientiousness, and that high
sense of the dignity of the judicial position for which the Ontario
Bench has long been distinguished. His judgments display all the
qualities of a profound and painstaking jurist. They are couched in a
phraseology which is always clear, and which not unfrequently rises to
eloquence. Some of them are regarded by persons who are entitled to
speak on such matters with authority as models of forensic reasoning. A
mere enumeration of the important cases which he has been called on to
decide in the few years which have elapsed since his elevation to the
Bench would alone occupy much space. The case of _Campbell_ vs.
_Campbell_, owing to its peculiar character, is perhaps the one best
known to the general public. There have been many others, however,
involving much more abstruse points, on which his great learning and
industry have been exercised, and which are regarded as conclusive in
logic as well as in law.
At the urgent solicitation of the Local Government of Ontario, Mr. Blake
consented, early in 1876, to act as one of the Commissioners for
carrying out the Tavern License Law in Toronto. The position was one
calling for the exercise of great judgment and discrimination, but it
was also one very distasteful to him. It was urged upon him as a matter
of duty, however, and as such he regarded it. To say that he discharged
the duties incidental to this position with efficiency, uprightness, and
satisfaction to the authorities is merely to assert what every one in
Toronto knows to be true. He brought to his task the same high qualities
which have always distinguished him both in professional and private
life, and the people of Toronto had abundant reason to feel thankful
that he consented to act.
Mr. Blake is a prominent member of the Church of England, and has ever
since his youth given much time and attention to ecclesiastical affairs.
Anything connected with the Church possesses for him a living interest.
His predilections in this way are so well known that he was long ago
christened by one of his friends "the Archbishop," and by the members of
his own family he is still sometimes jocularly so called. During the
existence of the Church Association he was one of its most energetic
officials. At the time of its dissolution, and for some years
previously, he occupied the position of its Vice-President. He has been
a Sunday-school teacher for nearly a quarter of a century, and is much
esteemed and beloved by the members of his classes. Though not given to
doing his alms before men, it is well known that his works of kindness
and philanthropy are abundant, and that he has been the means of
rescuing many of his fellow-creatures from a life of sin and
degradation. He is, and has long been, President of the Irish Protestant
Benevolent Society, and is connected with various other Christian and
charitable enterprises. He takes a conspicuous part in the proceedings
of the Young Men's Christian Association of Toronto, and frequently
presides at public meetings held for social and philanthropical objects.
[Illustration: ALEXANDRE ANTONIN TACHÉ, signed as ALY. ARCH. of St. BONIFACE]
THE MOST REV. ALEXANDRE ANTONIN TACHÉ,
_R. C. ARCHBISHOP OF ST. BONIFACE._
Archbishop Taché belongs to one of the oldest and most remarkable
families of Canada; one that can refer with just pride to its ancestry,
among whom are ranked Louis Joliette, the celebrated discoverer of the
Mississippi, and Sieur Varennes de la Verandrye, the hardy explorer of
the Red River, the Upper Missouri, and the Saskatchewan country; while
several others are conspicuous in Canadian annals for eminent services
rendered in their respective spheres. Jean Taché, the first of the name
in Canada, arrived at Quebec in 1739, married Demoiselle Marguerite
Joliette de Mingan, and occupied several influential positions under the
French _regime_. He was the possessor of a large fortune, but was ruined
by the Conquest which substituted English for French rule. His son
Charles settled in Montmagny, and had three sons, Charles, Jean
Baptiste, and Etienne Pascal. The last-mentioned became Sir Etienne
Pascal Taché, and died Premier of Canada in 1865. Charles, the eldest of
the three, after having served as Captain in the regiment of Voltigeurs
during the war with the United States, took up his residence in
Kamouraska. He married Demoiselle Henriette Boucher de la Broquerie,
great grand-daughter of the founder of Boucherville, and grand-niece of
Madame d'Youville, the foundress of the Grey Nunnery of Montreal. Three
sons were born of this marriage: Dr. Joseph Charles Taché, a well-known
Canadian writer, Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur, and Deputy of the
Minister of Agriculture and Statistics; Louis Taché, Sheriff of St.
Hyacinthe; and Alexandre Antonin Taché, Archbishop of St. Boniface, the
subject of the present sketch.
The Archbishop was born at Rivière du Loup (en bas), Quebec, on the 23rd
of July, 1823. At the tender age of two years and a half he lost his
father. Madame Taché, after the death of her husband, repaired with her
young family to Boucherville, to dwell with her father, M. de la
Broquerie. Madame Taché was endowed with many of the qualities that
constitute the model wife and mother, and made it the sole aim of her
life to have her sons follow in the path of duty and honour trodden by
their forefathers. From his infancy young Alexandre displayed fine
natural qualities, crowned by a passionate love for his mother. This
affection has lost nothing of its intensity, and to the present day the
mere mention of his mother strikes the tenderest chord of his feelings.
At school and at college he was noted for his genial character, amiable
gaiety and bright intellect. He received his higher education at the
College of St. Hyacinthe. Having completed his course of classical
studies, he donned the ecclesiastical habit, went as a student to the
Theological Seminary of Montreal, and subsequently returned to the
College of St. Hyacinthe as Professor of Mathematics.