Government as a volunteer, to aid in the putting down of the rebellion.
It appears that he had previously been one of the signatories to a
memorial presented to the Earl of Gosford, the Governor-General,
pointing out the advisability of adopting some efficient means of
defence against the treasonable operations of Mr. Papineau and his
adherents. He was enrolled as a Captain in the Quebec Light Infantry on
the 27th of November, and did duty with his company during the ensuing
winter in keeping night-guard on the citadel. This is the only
noteworthy public incident connected with his residence in Quebec. In
1840 he returned to Montreal, and entered into partnership in a
wholesale mercantile business with Mr. Harrison Stephens, under the
style of Stephens, Young & Co. The business was largely devoted to the
Western trade, and Mr. Young thus had his attention prominently directed
to the subject of inland navigation. His observations on this and
kindred subjects were destined, as will presently be seen, to have
important results. His interest, however, was not confined to economic
questions. He watched the progress of events with a keen eye, and soon
began to be recognized by the citizens of Montreal as an enterprising
and public-spirited man. He first came conspicuously before the public
of Montreal towards the close of the year 1841. The birth of the Prince
of Wales on the 9th of November had given rise to a gushing loyalty on
the part of the inhabitants, and a large sum of money was raised to
commemorate the event by a costly banquet. Mr. Young's loyalty was
undoubted, but his patriotism took a practical and philanthropical
shape. At a largely attended public meeting he opposed the expenditure
of a large sum in providing a feast which would leave no beneficial
traces behind it. He advocated the application of the fund to the
purchase of a tract of three hundred acres of land in the neighbourhood
of the city, and to the erection thereon of an asylum for the poor. His
motion to this effect was carried by a considerable majority, but it was
subsequently rescinded, and the money was spent as had first been
proposed. It may be mentioned in this connection that when the Prince of
Wales visited Montreal nearly nineteen years afterwards, Mr. Young was
Chairman of the Reception Committee.
In politics, as well as in commercial matters, Mr. Young entertained
liberal views. At the general election of 1844 he was appointed
Returning Officer, a position which was far from being a sinecure. The
memorable struggle between Sir Charles Metcalfe and his late ministers
was then at its height, and was maintained with relentless bitterness on
both sides. Party spirit all over the country was of the most pronounced
character, and in Montreal it had reached a point bordering on ferocity.
Upon Mr. Young devolved the task of preserving peace and order
throughout the city, as well as the securing of a fair and free exercise
of the franchise. To accomplish these results was a formidable task. It
was known that secret and unscrupulous political organizations were at
work, and it was not believed possible that the contest could be carried
on without rioting and bloodshed. The city was invaded by large bodies
of suspicious-looking persons from beyond its limits, some of whom were
known to be armed. The aid of the troops was called in, and Mr. Young
instituted a rigorous search for secreted weapons. Wherever he found any
he took possession of them, without pausing to inquire whether he was
acting within the strict letter of the law. His nerve, coolness and
resolution stood the city in good stead at that crisis. His arrangements
were effective to a marvel. Peace was preserved, and not a single life
was lost. His services on this occasion were specially acknowledged by
Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, as well as by Sir
Richard Jackson and Sir James Hope, the officers commanding the forces
in Canada.
In 1846, Sir Robert Peel, roused by the addresses of Mr. Cobden, Mr.
Bright, and other leaders of the Anti-Corn-Law League, became a convert
to the doctrines of Free Trade, and carried the famous measure whereby
those doctrines were imported into the law of Great Britain. The tidings
of the passing of this measure were received by the bulk of the Canadian
population with dissatisfaction. Trade questions were but little
understood in Canada by the general public in those times, and a
protective policy was commonly regarded as an absolute necessity. On the
other hand Mr. Young, the late Luther H. Holton, and others conspicuous
in the mercantile world of Montreal, were out-and-out Free Traders, and
received the intelligence with much satisfaction. A club known as the
Free Trade Association was organized by them in Montreal for the purpose
of making Free Trade principles popular. Mr. Young became President of
this Association, which included many of the leading thinkers of
Montreal. A weekly newspaper, called _The Canadian Economist_, was
started under its auspices, for the purpose of disseminating Free Trade
views, and educating the people in the doctrines of political economy.
To this paper, which was published for about sixteen months, and which
exerted a great influence upon public opinion, Mr. Young was a frequent
contributor. During the same period he devoted himself vigorously to
advocating the deepening of the natural channel of the St. Lawrence,
where the river widens itself into Lake St. Peter. By his personal
observations and representations he succeeded in inducing the
Government to abandon the attempt to construct a new channel, and to
deepen and widen the natural one, whereby the largest ocean steamers
were enabled to reach the wharfs of Montreal. The accomplishment of all
this was a work of some years, but Mr. Young, as Chairman of the
Montreal Harbour Commission, never ceased to urge upon the Government
the necessity of its completion. He also devoted himself to the carrying
out of other public works of importance, some of which were accomplished
at the expense of the Government, and others out of his own resources
and those of his friends. The public benefits conferred by him upon the
city of Montreal, and in a less degree upon the Province at large, were
far-reaching and incalculable. When the St. Lawrence Canals were opened
for traffic, in 1849, he despatched the propeller _Ireland_ with the
first cargo of merchandise over the new route direct to Chicago; and on
her return trip she brought the first cargo of grain direct from Chicago
to Montreal. His commercial ventures were by this time conducted on a
very large scale, and the first American schooner which found its way
eastward by means of the new canals was freighted with his merchandise.
There was a sudden and tremendous increase in the shipping-trade between
the West and Montreal, and there were frequent attempts to prevent the
unloading of cargo by artificial means. Mr. Young applied to the
Government to interpose, and the result was an organized Water Police
which soon put a stop to the ruffianism of the obstructionists.
Mr. Young was also one of the original projectors of the Atlantic and
St. Lawrence Railway, connecting Montreal and Portland; and was a
zealous promoter of the line westward from Montreal to Kingston. When
these two schemes became merged in the Grand Trunk Line, he suggested a
bridge across the St. Lawrence at Montreal. He even went so far as to
suggest the precise place where it was most advisable that the bridge
should be constructed, and at his own expense employed Mr. Thomas C.
Keefer to make a plan and survey. The prejudice against the scheme,
however, was very great, and Mr. Young was compelled to uphold it by
means of numerous pamphlets, newspaper articles, and public speeches, as
well as by private influence, with extraordinary zeal and pertinacity.
The physical difficulties to be encountered, the financial
considerations, and the political complications arising out of the
relations between the Grand Trunk and the Government, were all serious
obstacles to success, while professional controversies raged hotly over
the various points connected with the engineering operations for the
completion of such an undertaking. After encountering an amount of
opposition which would have discouraged a less persistent man, he
succeeded in obtaining favour for his project, and the final result was
the construction of the Victoria Bridge, which spans the river at the
exact spot which he had first suggested.
Another of his schemes was the construction of a canal connecting
Caughnawaga, on the St. Lawrence, with Lake Champlain. This was for a
time taken up by the Government with much favour, and several surveys
were made by different engineers at great cost to the public. After
proceeding thus far, the project was permitted to lapse, though a
kindred scheme has since been carried to a successful completion.
Several other important schemes of his for developing the resources of
the country were characterized by the Government of the day as plausible
in theory, but really impracticable.
His entry into political life interfered, for a time, with the
realization of some of his favourite projects. He first came
conspicuously before the public as a politician at the general election
of 1847, when he proposed Mr. Lafontaine as member for Monteal. During
the ensuing campaign he threw the whole weight of his influence into the
scale on Mr. Lafontaine's behalf, and the latter was returned by a
considerable majority. When Mr. Lafontaine and his colleague, Mr.
Baldwin, retired from public life in 1851, Mr. Young was invited by Mr.
Hincks to enter Parliament and accept a seat in the Cabinet. He
accordingly offered himself to the electors of Montreal as Mr.
Lafontaine's successor. His candidature was warmly opposed. His Free
Trade opinions were objectionable to certain classes in the
constituency, and his advocacy of the Caughnawaga Canal scheme, which
some held to be inimical to Montreal interests, was another ground of
opposition. His well known desire to promote what is now called the
Intercolonial Railway also awakened hostility. The contest was close,
but he was returned at the head of the poll. In the month of October
following he was sworn in as Commissioner of Public Works in the
Hincks-Morin Administration, and at the same time became a member of the
Board of Railway Commissioners. He soon afterwards proceeded with Mr.
Hincks and Mr. Taché to the Maritime Provinces, to promote the
construction of the Intercolonial, although he differed with some of his
colleagues as to the route to be adopted. He favoured the route over the
St. John River to St. John, and thence to Halifax. About the same time,
or very shortly afterwards, he recommended the establishment of a line
of Atlantic steamers, subsidized by the Government. The construction of
lighthouses, the shortening of the passage to and from Europe by the
adoption of the route _viâ_ the Straits of Belleisle, and the
development of the magnificent water powers of the Ottawa, were all
matters that received his attention during his tenure of office. He
differed from Mr. Hincks as to the plan on which the Grand Trunk Railway
should be constructed, and opposed its construction by a private
corporation. Mr. Hincks, however, had his own way about the matter,
although, in deference to Mr. Young's views, the subsidy to the Company
was reduced £1,000 per mile. After remaining in the Cabinet about eleven
months Mr. Young withdrew, owing to a difference of opinion with his
colleagues with respect to placing differential tolls on American
vessels passing through the Welland Canal. He opposed the imposition of
increased duties on foreign shipping as being in his opinion vicious in
principle. The question of Free Trade was involved in the dispute, and
Mr. Young was not disposed to give way an inch. The single report
presented by him to the House during his Commissionership is full of
valuable matter, and plainly shows the bias and texture of his mind.
He continued to sit in the House as a private member throughout the
then-existing Parliament. At the general election of 1854 he was again
returned for the city of Montreal. During the ensuing sessions, though
he did not accept office, he was a very serviceable member of
committees. In 1856 he was Chairman of the Committee on Public Accounts,
and introduced some important improvements in the method of tabulating
items. At the general election of 1858 he declined re-nomination, as his
health was far from good, and he was desirous of repose from public
life. In 1863 he was an unsuccessful candidate for Montreal West, his
successful opponent being the late Hon. Thomas D'Arcy McGee. Nine years
elapsed before he again offered himself as a candidate for Parliamentary
honours. In 1872 he once more came out for Montreal West, when he was
returned by a majority of more than 800. Two years later he bade a final
adieu to political life, in order to give his undivided attention to
various commercial and industrial enterprises with which he was
connected. He continued, however, to take a keen interest in public
affairs, and to do his utmost to promote the interior trade of Canada
and the carrying trade of the lakes and St. Lawrence. He never ceased to
advocate the establishment of reciprocity between Canada and the United
States. In 1875 he was Chairman of a commission appointed to consider
the bearing a Baie Verte canal would have on the interests of Canadian
commerce; and after a very exhaustive inquiry he prepared a report
unfavourable to the project.
In addition to the projects already mentioned in the course of this
sketch as having been actively promoted by Mr. Young, he did much to
enhance the due representation of Canada at the various International
Exhibitions, and the last public appointment filled by him was that of
Canadian Commissioner to the International Exhibition at Sydney,
Australia, in 1877. He also took an active interest in ocean telegraphy,
and in the improvement of the harbours of Canada. After his retirement
from Parliament he filled the office of Flour Inspector of the Port of
Montreal on behalf of the Government. He continued to identify himself
with every local measure of public importance down to the time of his
death, which took place at his home in Montreal, on Friday, the 12th of
April, 1878. The funeral, which was attended by a great concourse of
influential citizens, was on the 15th. The local press did due honour to
his memory, and bore unanimous testimony to the fact that Canada, and
more especially the city of Montreal, had sustained a grievous loss by
his death.
A few additional incidents in Mr. Young's career may as well be added in
this place. He was twice sent to Washington as Canada's representative
to bring about satisfactory trade relations between this country and the
United States. The first of these missions was undertaken in 1849,
during the existence of the Baldwin-Lafontaine Administration. The
second was fourteen years afterwards, during the tenure of office of the
Sandfield Macdonald-Dorion Government, in 1863. He also made frequent
trips to Great Britain, generally on private business of his own, but
sometimes on quasi-diplomatic missions connected with industrial
matters. He was twice shipwrecked; once during a passage in the _Anglo
Saxon_, of the Allan Line, on her passage from Liverpool to Quebec; and
once during a passage on the Inman steamer _City of New York_, bound for
Liverpool.
It has been seen that he was a Reformer in political and commercial
matters. In theology his views were not less liberal. He was brought up
a strict Presbyterian, but had scarcely reached manhood ere he discarded
many of the tenets of that Body. He embraced Unitarianism, and was
largely instrumental in spreading Unitarian doctrines in the city of his
adoption. As a writer, his style was homely and unpolished, but terse
and vigorous. His writings did much to form public opinion in Canada on
matters connected with Free Trade, and on commercial matters generally.
In addition to his frequent contributions to the newspaper press he
published numerous pamphlets on trade and industrial topics, and
contributed the article on Montreal to the eighth edition of the
_Encyclopaedia Britannica_.
THE RIGHT REV. HIBBERT BINNEY, D.D.,
_BISHOP OF NOVA SCOTIA._
Bishop Binney is a son of the late Rev. Dr. Binney, formerly Rector of
Newbury, Berkshire, England. He was born in Nova Scotia in 1819, but was
sent to England in his youth, for the purpose of receiving a thorough
university education. He was placed at King's College, London, where he
made great progress in his studies, and obtained high standing. After
spending some time there, he entered Worcester College, Oxford, where he
obtained a Fellowship. He graduated in 1842, taking first-class honours
in mathematics and second-class in classics. During the same year he was
ordained a Deacon, and in 1843 was ordained to the Priesthood. He
obtained from his College the degree of M.A. in 1844.
In 1846 he was appointed Tutor of his College, and in 1848 was appointed
Bursar. The See of Nova Scotia having become vacant in 1851, he was
nominated Bishop of that Province, and on the 25th of March in that year
he was consecrated at Lambeth by the Archbishop of Canterbury, assisted
by the Bishops of London, Oxford, and Chichester. He immediately
afterwards proceeded to Halifax, where he has ever since resided. His
first exercise of the Episcopal office was at an Ordination whereat six
candidates were admitted to the Diaconate, and one to the Priesthood.
In 1855 Bishop Binney married Miss Mary Bliss, a daughter of the Hon. W.
B. Bliss, a Puisné Judge of Nova Scotia. Independently of the high
position which he occupies, he is regarded as one of the foremost men
connected with the Church of England in this country. His classical,
mathematical and theological erudition are of a very high order, and he
is said to be intellectually the peer of any colonial Bishop now living.
His Anglicanism is high, but his views on ecclesiastical matters
generally are broad and statesmanlike, and he is regarded with great
reverence by the clergy and professors of all creeds in his native
Province. By his own clergy he is universally beloved, and a great part
of his life since his elevation to the Episcopal Bench has been devoted
to the promotion of their spiritual and temporal welfare. His name will
be long held in remembrance for his successful exertions on behalf of
the Church of England in Nova Scotia. Many of his sermons and charges to
the Clergy display a high degree of eloquence, and several of them have
been published. A Pastoral Letter, including important correspondence
between himself and the Rev. George W. Hill, the present Chancellor of
the University of Halifax, was published in that city in 1866.
[Illustration: HIBERT BINNEY, signed as H. NOVA SCOTIA]
The See of Nova Scotia, over which Bishop Binney's jurisdiction extends,
formerly embraced a very wide area, including the Provinces of Upper and
Lower Canada, New Brunswick, and the Island of Newfoundland. It is now
confined to the Province of Nova Scotia and the Island of Prince Edward.
THE HON. CHRISTOPHER FINLAY FRASER.
Mr. Fraser is a Canadian by birth, but is of Celtic origin on both
sides. His father, Mr. John S. Fraser, was a Scottish Highlander who
emigrated to Canada a few years before the birth of the subject of this
sketch, and settled in the Johnstown District. His mother, whose maiden
name was Miss Sarah Burke, was of Irish birth and parentage.
He was born at Brockville, the chief town of the United Counties of
Leeds and Grenville, in the month of October, 1839. His parents were in
humble circumstances, and could do little to advance his prospects in
life. He was a clever, brilliant boy, however, and from his earliest
years was animated by an honourable ambition to rise. He struggled
manfully to obtain an education, and did not hesitate to put his hand to
whatever employment would further this end. When not much more than a
child he was apprenticed to the printing business in the office of the
Brockville _Recorder_. How long he remained there we have no means of
ascertaining, but he succeeded, by dint of perseverance and good natural
ability, in obtaining what he so much desired--an education. He
determined to study law, and in or about the year 1859 he entered the
office of the present Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia, the Hon.
Albert N. Richards, who then practised the legal profession at
Brockville. Here he studied hard, and laid the foundation of his future
success in life. Having completed his term of clerkship, he was admitted
as an attorney and solicitor in Easter Term, 1864. He settled down to
practice in Brockville, where he was well known, and where he soon
succeeded in acquiring a good business connection. In Trinity Term,
1865, he was called to the Bar. Even during his student days he had
taken a keen interest in the political questions of the times, and had
worked hard at the local elections on the Liberal side. He had not been
long at the Bar ere he began to be looked upon as an available candidate
for Parliament. At the first general election under Confederation, held
in 1867, he offered himself as a candidate for the Local House to the
electors of his native town. He was defeated by a small majority, but
made a good impression upon the electors during the canvass, and
established his reputation as a ready speaker on the hustings. At the
general election held four years later he offered himself to the
electors of South Grenville, but was again unsuccessful, being defeated
by the late Mr. Clark. Two years previous to this time he had, as an
Irish Catholic, taken a conspicuous part with Mr. John O'Donohoe and Mr.
Jeremiah Merrick, of Toronto, Mr. McKeown, of St. Catharines, and
others, in forming what is known as the Ontario Catholic League. This
League was formed under the impression that the co-religionists of its
promoters in this Province were not receiving the amount of patronage
to which they were entitled by reason of their numbers and influence.
Within a short time after the elections of 1871, Mr. Clark, who had
defeated Mr. Fraser in South Grenville, died, and the constituency was
thus left without a representative in the Ontario Legislature. Mr.
Fraser accordingly offered himself once more to the electors in the
month of March, 1872, and was returned at the head of the poll. A
petition was filed against his return, and he was unseated, but upon
returning to his constituents for reëlection in the following October he
was once more successful. A year later he was offered a seat in the
Executive Council, as Provincial Secretary and Registrar, which he
accepted. He returned for reëlection after accepting office, and was
reëlected by acclamation. He retained this position until the 4th of
April, 1874, when he became Commissioner of Public Works. The latter
position he still retains. In the conduct of this important department
Mr. Fraser has displayed administrative talents of a high order, and has
proved himself a most capable public official. He originated, prepared,
and successfully carried through the Act giving the right of suffrage to
farmers' sons. He is a ready and fluent debater, and is always listened
to with respect by the House, where he is regarded as one of the
representative Roman Catholics of Ontario. His position, both in the
House and out of it, has been honestly won, and his influence among his
colleagues in the Government is fully commensurate with his abilities.
He was reëlected for South Grenville at the general election of 1875. At
the general election held in June, 1879, he again contested the South
Riding of Grenville against Mr. F. J. French, of Prescott, but was
defeated by a majority of 137 votes. In his native town of Brockville he
was more successful, 1,379 votes being recorded for him as against 1,266
for his opponent, Mr. D. Mansell. He now sits in the House as member for
Brockville. He is President of the Roman Catholic Literary Association
of Brockville, and takes a warm interest in municipal affairs.
In 1876 Mr. Fraser was created a Queen's Counsel. His wife was formerly
Miss Lafayette, of Brockville.
SANDFORD FLEMING, C.E., C.M.G.