public speaker. He has contributed occasionally to the _Canadian
Monthly_, and has been a regular contributor for many years to some of
our leading commercial journals, the articles being chiefly upon the
trade and development of the country. He has also appeared upon the
platform as a lecturer upon literary and scientific subjects. As a
political speaker he has been heard in many different parts of the
Province, throughout which he now enjoys a very wide circle of
acquaintance. He has held and still holds many positions of honour and
trust. He is a Director of the Confederation Life Association, and of
the Canada Landed Credit Company; has been President, and is now a
Vice-President of the Sabbath School Association of Canada; is President
of the Gore District Mutual Fire Insurance Company; has for ten years
been President of the Associated Mechanics' Institutes of Ontario; and
is a member of the Council of the Agricultural and Arts Association.
Last year Mr. Young wrote and published a little volume of 272 pages,
entitled "Reminiscences of the Early History of Galt and the Settlement
of Dumfries." Apart from the fact that works of this class deserve
encouragement in Canada, Mr. Young's book has special merits which are
not always found in connection with Canadian local annals. It is written
in a pleasant and interesting style which makes it readable even to
persons who know nothing of the district whereof it treats. In religion,
Mr. Young is a member of the Presbyterian Church. From his youth he has
had a marked attachment to Liberal opinions in political matters. He
regards the people as the true source of power, and believes in the
famous dictum of Canning, that if Parliament rejects improvements
because they are innovations, the day will come when they will have to
accept innovations which are no improvements. On the Trade question he
occupies moderate ground, believing that the true fiscal policy for a
young country like Canada is neither absolute Protection nor absolute
Free Trade, but a moderate revenue tariff incidentally encouraging
native industries. He strongly favours the Federal element in the
Constitution, and the retention of the Local Legislatures, but advocates
the reform of the Senate. He earnestly desires to continue the present
connection with Great Britain, but believes that if this should ever
become impossible, Canada has a destiny of its own, as a North American
power, which all true Canadians will seek earnestly to support. During
1875 Mr. Young was offered the appointment of Canadian Commissioner to
the Centennial Exhibition of the United States, but declined this as
well as other positions, so that he might be perfectly untrammelled in
his action as one of the representatives of the people.
On the 11th of February, 1858, Mr. Young married Miss Margaret McNaught,
daughter of Mr. John McNaught, of Brantford.
THE HON. PETER PERRY.
Mr. Perry's name is not widely known to the present generation of
Canadians; to such of them, at least, as reside beyond the limits of the
district in which the busiest years of his life were passed. Students of
our history are familiar with the most salient passages in his public
life, and regard his memory with respect, for he was a genuine man, who
did good service to the cause of constitutional government. A few of his
old colleagues are still among us, and can remember his vigorous,
earnest eloquence when any conspicuous occasion called it forth. For the
general public, however, nothing of him survives except his name. This
partial oblivion is one of the "revenges" wrought by "the whirligig of
time." From forty to fifty years ago there was no name better known
throughout the whole of Upper Canada; and, in Reform constituencies,
there was no name more potent wherewith to conjure during an election
campaign. Peter Perry was closely identified with the original formation
of the Reform Party in Upper Canada, and for more than a quarter of a
century he continued to be one of its foremost members. During the last
ten or twelve years of his life he was to some extent overshadowed by
the figure of Robert Baldwin, whose lofty character, unselfish aims, and
high social position combined to place him on a sort of pedestal. But
Peter Perry continued to the very last to be an important factor in the
ranks of his Party. He was a man of extreme opinions, and was never slow
to express them. The exigencies of the times were favourable to strong
beliefs. The politician who halted between two opinions in those days
was tolerably certain to share the fate of the old man in the fable, who
in trying to please everybody succeeded in pleasing nobody. Peter Perry
stood in no danger of such a doom. He made a good many enemies by his
plain speaking, but he was likewise rich in friends, and could generally
hold his own with the best. He was implicitly trusted by his own Party,
and was always ready to fight its battles, whether within the walls of
Parliament or without.
He was a native Upper Canadian, and was born at Ernestown, about fifteen
miles from Kingston, in the year 1793, during the early part of Governor
Simcoe's Administration. His father, Robert Perry, was a U. E. Loyalist,
who came over from the State of New York a few years before this time,
and settled near the foot of the Bay of Quinté. Robert Perry was a
farmer, well known in that district for his enterprise, public spirit,
and devotion to his principles. He died just before the consummation of
the Union of the Provinces. His son was brought up to farming pursuits,
and early had to struggle with the many difficulties which beset the
path of the founders of Upper Canada. The only means of tuition for boys
in the rural districts in those days were the public schools, and
throughout his life the subject of this sketch laboured under the
disadvantages inseparable from an imperfect educational training. He
grew up to manhood with little knowledge derived from books, and
continued to devote himself to agricultural pursuits until he had
reached middle life. When he was only twenty-one years of age he married
Miss Mary Ham, the daughter of a U. E. Loyalist of that neighbourhood.
This lady, by whom he had a numerous family, is still living, and has
reached the advanced age of eighty-five years. Mr. John Ham Perry, who
long held the position of Registrar of the county of Ontario, is one of
the fruits of this marriage.
Peter Perry took a warm interest in politics, and early acquired a local
reputation for much native sagacity and strength of character. He was a
fluent, although somewhat coarse, speaker on the platform, and was an
awkward antagonist to the local supporters of the Family Compact. He was
an intimate friend and coadjutor of Barnabas Bidwell and his son
Marshall, and in 1824 assisted in organizing the nucleus of the Reform
Party. During the same year he entered public life as one of the
representatives of the United Counties of Lennox and Addington in the
Assembly of Upper Canada. He soon established for himself a reputation
there as one of the most vehement champions of Reform. His denunciations
of the Compact were frequent and energetic, and the Party in power
dreaded his sharp and vigorous tongue even more than that of his friend
Marshall Spring Bidwell, who was his colleague in the representation of
Lennox and Addington. His first vote in the Assembly was recorded on
behalf of Mr. John Willson, of Wentworth, who was the Reform candidate
for the Speakership, and who was elected to that position as successor
to Mr. Sherwood. The vote on this question was a fair test of the
strength of parties in the Assembly, and for the first time the
adherents of the Compact found themselves in a minority. It will be
understood, however, that the victory of the Reformers was rather
nominal than real, as there was no such thing as Responsible Government
in those days, and the advisers of the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir
Peregrine Maitland, were permitted to retain their places in the
Council, notwithstanding that they did not possess the confidence of a
majority in the Assembly. Against such a state of things the Reformers
of Upper Canada vainly struggled for many years. Mr. Perry was one of
the "fighting men," and hurled his anathemas broadcast during the
Administrations of Sir Peregrine Maitland and Sir John Colborne. His
speeches were like himself, bold and impetuous, and, notwithstanding the
strict party lines of the period, votes were frequently won by the sheer
force of his oratory. He continued to sit in the Assembly as one of the
representatives of Lennox and Addington for twelve years, when, in
consequence of Sir Francis Bond Head's machinations, all the most
prominent Reformers of Upper Canada were beaten at the polls. Mr. Perry
shared the fate of his colleagues, and before the close of the year
(1836) he abandoned the life of a farmer, and removed to the present
site of the town of Whitby, which was thenceforward known as "Perry's
Corners." He opened a general store there, and rapidly built up a large
and profitable business. Notwithstanding his extreme political opinions
he took no part in Mackenzie's Rebellion, and for some years after that
event he remained out of Parliament. He devoted himself to building up
his business, and was identified with every important improvement in the
district wherein he resided. He took an active interest in municipal
affairs, contributed liberally to the construction and improvement of
the public highways, and was justly regarded as a public benefactor. He
continued to fight the battles of Reform at all the local contests, but,
though frequently importuned to reënter Parliament, preferred to remain
in private life, until 1849. The constituency in which he resided, which
is now South Ontario, was then the East Riding of York. The sitting
member, up to the month of September, 1849, was the Hon. William Hume
Blake, of whom Mr. Perry was of course a vigorous supporter. Mr. Blake
was Solicitor-General in the Government, but at this juncture resigned
his portfolio to accept the Chancellorship of Upper Canada. Mr. Perry
consented to once more enter public life in the interest of his
constituents, and was returned by acclamation as Mr. Blake's successor.
At the time of his second entry into the Parliamentary arena Mr. Perry
was only fifty-six years of age, but he had passed a very busy life, and
had taxed his physical energies to the utmost. He was older than his
years, and was no longer the same man who had once so scathingly
denounced the Family Compact. For the first few months, however, he
applied himself with vigour to his Parliamentary duties, and made
several effective speeches. Age had not abated one jot of his advanced
radicalism. He allied himself with the extremists of the Reform Party,
and in consequence was not high in the favour of Mr. Baldwin, but there
was not, so far as we are aware, any personal difference between them.
Early in 1851 he found himself so much prostrated by physical weakness
that he was compelled to leave home for change of air and scene. He went
over to Saratoga Springs, New York, which was then the fashionable
watering-place of this continent. Its waters were supposed to possess
marvellous powers to restore youth to the aged and infirm, and Mr. Perry
remained there for several months. He had, however, literally worn
himself out in the public service, and it soon became evident that his
ringing voice would never again be heard within the walls of Parliament.
He gradually became weaker and weaker, and on the morning of Sunday, the
24th of August, he breathed his last. His remains were conveyed to his
home at Whitby for interment, where they were attended to their last
resting place by many of the leading men of Canada. He was a serious
loss to Whitby and its neighbourhood, the prosperity of which he had
done more than any other man of his time to advance. He was also mourned
as a public loss by the Party to which he had all his life been
attached, and glowing eulogies were pronounced upon his character and
public spirit, even by persons to whom he had always been politically
opposed.
THE HON. ADAM WILSON.
Judge Wilson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on the 22nd of September,
1814. He received his education there, and emigrated to this country in
the summer of 1830, when he had not quite completed his sixteenth year.
He settled in the township of Trafalgar, in the county of Halton, Canada
West, where he took charge of the mills and store of his maternal uncle,
the late Mr. George Chalmers, who represented the constituency in the
Legislative Assembly. He developed high capacity for mercantile
pursuits, in which he was engaged for somewhat more than three years.
He, however, resolved to devote himself to the legal profession, and in
the month of January, 1834, was articled to the late Hon. Robert Baldwin
Sullivan, a gentleman whose name is well known in the Parliamentary and
Judicial history of this Province, and who was then a partner of the
Hon. Robert Baldwin, the style of the firm being Baldwin & Sullivan. Mr.
Wilson completed his studies in that office, and in Trinity Term of the
year 1839 was called to the Bar of Upper Canada. On the 1st of January,
1840, he entered into partnership with Mr. Baldwin, and the connection
between them endured until the end of 1849, when Mr. Baldwin retired
from professional pursuits. On the 28th of November, 1850, he was
appointed a Queen's Counsel by the Baldwin-Lafontaine Government,
contemporaneously with the present Judges Hagarty and Gwynne, and with
the late Judge Connor and Chancellor Vankoughnet. During the same year
he became a Bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada.
He soon afterwards began to take a warm interest in the municipal
affairs of Toronto, and in 1855 was elected an Alderman of the city. In
1859 he was Mayor of Toronto, and was the first Chief Magistrate elected
by popular suffrage. In 1856 he was appointed a Commissioner for the
consolidation of the public general statutes of Canada and Upper Canada
respectively.
In politics Mr. Wilson was a member of the Reform Party, and had
frequently been importuned to allow himself to be put in nomination for
a seat in the Legislature. Being much occupied with professional and
municipal affairs he had declined such importunities, but upon the death
of Mr. Hartman, the member for the North Riding of the county of York in
the Canadian Assembly, on the 29th of November, 1859, that constituency
was left unrepresented, and Mr. Wilson, being again pressed to enter
political life, contested the representation of North York, and was
returned at the head of the poll. He took his seat in the House as an
avowed opponent of the Cartier-Macdonald Administration. He was again
returned by the same constituency at the next general election. In 1861
he was an unsuccessful candidate for the representation of West
Toronto. Upon the formation of the Sandfield Macdonald-Sicotte
Administration, in May, 1862, he accepted office therein as
Solicitor-General, and was reëlected by his constituents upon presenting
himself to them. He held the portfolio of Solicitor-General, with a seat
in the Executive Council, until the month of May, 1863. On the 11th of
the month he was elevated to a seat on the Judicial Bench as a Puisné
Judge of the Court of Queen's Bench for Upper Canada. Three months later
(on the 24th of August) he was transferred to the Court of Common Pleas,
where he remained until Easter Term, 1868, when he was again appointed
to the Queen's Bench, as successor to the Hon. John Hawkins Hagarty, who
had been appointed Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. In 1871 Judge
Wilson was appointed a member of the Law Reform Commission. In the month
of November, 1878, he was himself appointed Chief Justice of the Court
of Common Pleas, a position which he now occupies.
While at the Bar he was regarded as second to no man in the Province in
certain branches of his profession; and his reputation has rather grown
than diminished since his elevation to the Bench. His learning, judicial
acumen and perfect impartiality are acknowledged by the entire
profession of this Province, as well as by his brethren on the Bench.
He is the author of a work entitled "A Sketch of the Office of
Constable," published in Toronto in 1861. Early in his professional
career he married a daughter of the late Mr. Thomas Dalton, who was for
many years editor and proprietor of the _Patriot_, a once well-known
newspaper published in Toronto.
THE HON. SIR ALEXANDER CAMPBELL.
Sir Alexander Campbell is of somewhat conglomerate nationality, being a
Scotchman in blood and by descent, an Englishman by birth, and a
Canadian by education and lifelong residence. He is a son of the late
Dr. James Campbell and was born at the village of Hedon, near
Kingston-upon-Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, in 1821.
When he was only about two years old his parents emigrated to Canada,
and settled in the neighbourhood of Lachine, where his childhood was
passed. He received his early education at the hands of a minister of
the Presbyterian Church, and afterwards spent some time at the Roman
Catholic Seminary of St. Hyacinthe. His education was completed under
the tuition of Mr. George Baxter, at the Royal Grammar School at
Kingston, in Upper Canada, whither his family removed during his
boyhood. He has ever since resided at Kingston, with the interests
whereof he has been identified for nearly half a century.
After leaving school he chose the law as his future profession, and in
1838 passed his preliminary examination as a student before the Law
Society of Upper Canada. He then entered the law office of the late Mr.
Henry Cassidy, an eminent lawyer of Kingston, and remained there until
the death of his principal, which took place in 1839. He then became the
pupil of Mr.--now the Hon. Sir--John A. Macdonald, with whom he remained
as a student until his admission as an attorney, in Hilary Term of the
year 1842. He then formed a partnership with Mr. Macdonald, under the
style of Macdonald & Campbell, and in Michaelmas Term, 1843, was called
to the Bar. This partnership endured for many years, and was attended
with very satisfactory results, both professional and otherwise. The
firm transacted the largest legal business in that part of the country,
and their services were retained on one side or the other in almost
every important cause. Mr. Campbell's own professional career, though
subordinate to that of his senior partner, was a highly creditable and
distinguished one. His success at the Bar secured for him a competent
fortune, and opened up to him other avenues to distinction. He served
his apprenticeship to public life in the years 1851 and 1852, in the
modest capacity of an Alderman for one of the city wards of Kingston. In
1856 he was created a Queen's Counsel. During the same year the
Legislative Council was made elective, and the Cataraqui division,
embracing the city of Kingston and the county of Frontenac, having with
eleven other divisions, come in for its turn to elect a member in 1858,
Mr. Campbell offered himself in the Liberal-Conservative interest, and
was returned by a very large majority. The vote polled in his favour
exceeded the united votes polled for his two opponents. In the Council
he soon achieved a commanding position. Though he had the courage of
his opinions, and did not hesitate to express them whenever any
occasion arose for doing so, his remarks were never characterized by the
acrimonious violence which was then too much in vogue. He spoke with
readiness, but never took up the time of his colleagues unless when he
had something definite to say. He was courteous and urbane to all, and
soon became a favourite with the Body, more venerable than venerated, to
which he had been elected. Early in 1863 he was chosen to fill the
important office of Speaker of the Council, which position he held until
the dissolution of Parliament in the summer of that year. During the
Ministerial crisis which ensued in March, 1864, he was invited by the
Governor-General to form a Cabinet, but declined the task, although the
Hon. John A. Macdonald, at a public dinner in Toronto, virtually
resigned in his favour. Mr. Campbell was probably of opinion that the
increase of honour would hardly counterbalance the great increase of
responsibility, as it was impossible in those times for any Government
to feel itself strong. He, however, accepted the office of Crown Lands
Commissioner in the Ministry then formed by the late Sir E. P. Taché and
John A. Macdonald. The Ministry was not of long duration, and Mr.
Campbell retained office with the same portfolio in the Coalition
Government which succeeded it, and which, in one form or another, lasted
till Confederation. He took an active part in the Confederation
movement, and was a member of the Union Conference which met at Quebec
in 1864. During the interminable debates on Confederation he was the
leading advocate of the project in the Upper House, and his remarks were
always characterized by tact, good sense and good breeding. He made no
effort at fine speaking, but appealed to the judgment and patriotism of
his auditors. He had a most persistent opponent in the Hon. Mr. Currie,
the representative of Niagara. Upon so many-sided and comprehensive a
measure as that of Confederation, it was no slight task to reply
off-hand to all sorts of hostile questions, many of which were skilfully
propounded with a sole view to embarrassing the man whose official duty
compelled him to answer as best he could. Mr. Campbell acquitted himself
in such a manner as to increase the respect in which he was held, and
his speech made on the 17th of February, 1865, in answer to the
opponents of Confederation, has been characterized by competent
authorities as the most statesmanlike effort of his life.
In May, 1867, Mr. Campbell was called to the Senate by the Queen's
proclamation, and since that time has been the leader of the
Conservative Party in the Upper Chamber. It may be said, indeed, that
his leadership virtually began as far back as 1864, when he first took
office in the Taché-Macdonald Ministry, as already referred to; for
although Sir E. P. Taché was a member of the Legislative Council, and
was for a time Premier of the Coalition Government, as Sir Narcisse
Belleau was after him, neither of these men possessed the qualifications
needed for the position of a party leader, the duties of which were
therefore to a great extent left to be discharged by their younger, more
active, and better qualified colleague. "Sir John A. Macdonald," says a
contemporary writer, "showed a sound judgment when he gave to Mr.
Campbell the leadership of the newly-constituted Canadian Senate.
Assured from the first of the possession for many years of a majority in
the Chamber he had virtually created, it was necessary that his
lieutenant in the Upper House should be one who could be relied upon to
use his party strength with moderation, and to make all safe without
appearing needlessly to oppress or coerce the minority. . . . In the
conduct of the ordinary business of Parliament Mr. Campbell is an
opponent with whom it is easy to deal. Courteous in personal
intercourse, possessed of plain, practical common sense and good
Parliamentary experience, he is not one to raise obstructions when no
end is to be gained. As a speaker he would, in a popular legislature,
hardly be called effective, and he has certainly no claims to eloquence,
or to that faculty which forms a useful substitute for eloquence, and
which Sir John A. Macdonald possesses--of becoming terribly in earnest
exactly when a display of earnestness is needful to effect a purpose.
But the leader of the Conservative Senators speaks well, takes care to
understand what he is talking about, and infuses into his speeches, when
necessary, just as much force as is required to make them tell on his
followers, if they do not affect very strongly the feelings or
convictions of his opponents. He was the man for the situation, and has
played his part well."