INDEX. (continued 34)

Greenwood, Stansfield, Manager of the Coaticook Cotton Company, Coaticook, Quebec province, was born in Lancashire, England, on the 28th of June, 1853. His father, Edward Greenwood, was a manager of a large cotton mill in Lancashire, His mother was Mary Chadwick, a descendant of the celebrated Sir Joshua Chadwick, of Lancashire. Mr. Greenwood, the subject of our sketch, was educated at Longholme Normal School, receiving an elementary education. After leaving school he entered the cotton mill in which his father was manager, and there learned all the details of the business. At the age of twenty-two, he came to Canada, and took charge of one of the departments of the Valleyfield Cotton Mills, which position he filled for six years. After that period he entered into a partnership with Wallace Bros., and started the Chambly Cotton Company at Chambly Canton, P.Q. This partnership lasted a year, when it was turned into a limited liability company. After another term of two years he retired from that company and took entire charge of the works of the Coaticook Cotton Company. Their mill, under the skilful management of Mr. Greenwood, has paid a good dividend, and still continues to do so. Mr. Greenwood is a Liberal of the Gladstone style, and in religion a Methodist. He was married on the 12th August, 1874, to Mary Ann Bury, daughter of John Bury, of Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, and the fruit of the union has been three sons and a daughter.

Smith, Rev. James Cowie, M.A., B.D., Pastor of St. Andrew’s Church, Guelph, province of Ontario, was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on the 17th January, 1834. His father, James Smith, followed the calling of a farmer. His mother was named Jane Cowie. The future divine received his elementary education at Smith’s Classical Academy, at Fordyce, Scotland, and on coming to Canada entered Queen’s University, Kingston, where he graduated, taking the degrees of B.A. in 1862, M.A. in 1864 (holding the first place in the university examinations), and B.D. in 1880. He was licensed to preach the gospel by the presbytery of Kingston, and was inducted into the pastorate of Cumberland and Buckingham Presbyterian congregations, July 11th, 1864. During this pastorate, he discharged the duties of local superintendent of schools, in the township of Cumberland, and acted as chairman of the Grammar School board. He was translated, in 1868, to St. Andrew’s Church, Belleville, where he remained some years, acting as inspector of schools in the town, in addition to his ministerial duties. About this time, having met the requirements for county school inspector, he was officially declared eligible for such a position by the chief superintendent of education of Ontario. Having been called to the vacant pastorate of St. Paul’s Church, Hamilton, Rev. Mr. Smith was translated thither about 1872, when he was again called to succeed the Rev. Dr. Hogg, deceased, in his pastorate charge, St. Andrew’s Church, Guelph. At different times Rev. Mr. Smith has served, in the capacity of stated clerk, successively in the presbyteries of Ottawa and Kingston; and while pastor in St. Paul’s Church, Hamilton, was appointed moderator of the Synod of Hamilton and London. For several years he has also been chosen to, and still holds at present, the responsible position of member of university council, Queen’s University, Kingston. He was at one time called to St. Andrew’s Church, Peterborough, and twice to St. Andrew’s Church, St. John, New Brunswick, both of which invitations he declined. Rev. Mr. Smith is very popular among his congregation, and takes a deep interest in all matters calculated to improve the social and spiritual condition of the people among whom his lot has been cast. He is in full harmony with the doctrines of his church, and can always be depended on to defend its standards. He was married, June 21st, 1866, to Emily Georgina, third daughter of the late Captain Archibald Petrie, R.N., of Cumberland, Ontario.

Carling, Hon. John, London, Ontario, Minister of Agriculture of the Dominion, M.P. for the City of London, Ontario, is the youngest son of Thomas Carling, a native of Yorkshire, England, who came to Canada in 1818, and settled in the county of Middlesex the following year. The future minister of state was born in the township of London, on the 23rd of January, 1828, and received his education in the public school of his native city. While quite young he became a member of the brewing firm of Carling & Co., London, and was an active member of it for a number of years. He took part in nearly all public matters, and was for several years a director of the Great Western Railway Company; the London, Huron & Bruce Railway Company; the London & Port Stanley Railway Company, and was also chairman of the Board of Water Commissioners of the city of London. In 1857 Mr. Carling aspired to parliamentary honors, on the Conservative side, and was returned by a considerable majority over the Liberal candidate, Elijah Leonard, and continued to represent London in the Legislative Assembly of Canada continuously down to the time of confederation. In 1862 Mr. Carling made his first appearance as a cabinet minister, having been appointed receiver-general that year. At the general election, after the consummation of confederation, Mr. Carling was elected to the House of Commons, and was likewise returned as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. In the Ontario Assembly he was appointed minister of agriculture and public works, under the Sandfield-Macdonald administration, and this portfolio he retained till 1871, when fortune went against the administration, and it was forced to resign. In 1878 Hon. Mr. Carling was again returned to parliament, and took his seat in the House of Commons, at Ottawa, but he did not hold a portfolio in the new cabinet. However, in 1882, he was made postmaster-general, and this office he held until the 25th September, 1885, when he became minister of agriculture, and he has held this office ever since. At the general election of 1887 he was re-elected to the House of Commons, after a lively contest with Charles S. S. Hyman, a local Liberal, his majority over his opponent being thirty-nine votes. Hon. Mr. Carling is not a demonstrative member, but the same clear-headedness and calm judgment that had served him so well in his important successful business affairs has stood him in good stead as a parliamentary representative. He has proved himself a capable minister of the crown, and although he seldom makes a speech in the House of Commons, yet when he does he always speaks to the point. In politics Hon. Mr. Carling is a Liberal-Conservative, and in religion he belongs to the Methodist church. He is married to Hannah, eldest daughter of the late Henry Dalton of London, Ontario.

Smith, Arthur Lapthorn, B.A., M.D., Montreal, member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, fellow of the Obstetrical Society of London, lecturer on diseases of women in the medical faculty of Bishop’s College, Montreal, consulting physician to the Montreal Dispensary, is the second son of William Smith, deputy minister of marine, Ottawa, and was born on the 6th June, 1855, at St. John, New Brunswick, where his father was at that time comptroller of customs. His mother was Jane Busby, a granddaughter of the late Colonel Bayard, of Nova Scotia, at one time on the staff of the Duke of Kent. He received his early education at private schools, and from tutors in St. John and Chatham, New Brunswick, and in Melrose and Galashiels, in Scotland. He then entered the classical course at the University of Ottawa, where, after four years’ study, he graduated as B.A. in 1872. He then began his medical studies at Laval University, Quebec. At the end of his second year he took the degree of B.M., and at the end of his fourth year he obtained the degree of M.D., and the Sewell prize in 1876. He then proceeded to London, and studied during two winter sessions at Guy’s and the London hospitals, after which he passed the examinations of the Royal College of Surgeons. He spent two summers in Paris and Vienna. During six months of his stay in London, he held the position of resident clinical assistant at the East London Children’s Hospital. On his return to Canada, in 1878, he began practice in Montreal, where he has ever since remained. Shortly after his arrival he was appointed assistant demonstrator of anatomy in Bishop’s College Medical School, and attending physician to the Montreal Dispensary. He was also elected a member of the Medico-Chirurgical Society, in whose proceedings he has always taken an active part. He was for some time treasurer of this society. He soon became demonstrator of anatomy, and two years later he was appointed professor of botany, and held this position for two years, when he was given the chair of medical jurisprudence. In 1887 he was appointed lecturer on the diseases of women in the same university. He has always taken great interest in temperance matters, and was twice elected president of the Band of Hope, and for three years he was president of the Young Men’s Association of St. Andrew’s Church, of which he is now the youngest elder. He has long been a Mason, and has held the position of secretary of Royal Albert Lodge for several years. He has also reached the eighteenth degree in the ancient and accepted Scottish rite. He has been surgeon of the 6th Regiment of Cavalry for the past eight years, and has regularly camped out with his regiment when it was necessary to do so. Although he has a large practice as a specialist for diseases of women, he still finds time to contribute numerous articles to the medical journals, to deliver an occasional lecture on popular science before the Young Men’s Association, as well as to take an active interest in everything that concerns the welfare of his adopted city. As an instance of his energy, we may mention that, having heard of a new application of electricity to the treatment of hitherto incurable diseases of women, he immediately started for Paris, and remained with the inventor, Dr. Apostoli, until he had become thoroughly acquainted with all its details, and he subsequently published a translation of Dr. Apostoli’s latest work on this subject. Dr. Smith’s amiable manner and sympathetic nature has won for him the affection and esteem of his pupils and patients, especially among the poor. In politics, he is an ardent supporter of the policy of the Conservative party, which he considers will be the means of ultimately building up, in the north-west part of this continent, a great and wealthy nation. In 1884 he was married to Jessie Victoria, third daughter of Alexander Buntin, of Montreal, by whom he has had a son and a daughter.

Boak, Hon. Robert, Halifax, N.S., President of the Legislative Council of Nova Scotia, was born in Leith, Scotland, on the 19th of September, 1822. His father was Robert Boak, of Shields, in the county of Durham, England, who, on his retirement from the army, became an officer in her Majesty’s Customs, in Halifax in 1839, and retained that position until he was superannuated. His son, Robert Boak, the subject of our sketch, came to Halifax in 1831, and in 1847 became a member of the firm of John Esson & Co., wholesale grocers. In 1854 he retired from that firm, and formed the firm of Esson, Boak & Co., and engaged in the West India trade. In 1864 this latter firm was dissolved, and he then continued business in his own name, and under the firm style of Robert Boak & Son, until 1875, when he retired from business. Mr. Boak was president of the Nova Scotia Repeal League in 1869; became a member of the Legislative Council in 1872, and president of that body in 1878; and a member of the government, being treasurer of the province from December, 1877, to October, 1878. At present he is president of the Acadia Fire Insurance Company; vice-president of the Union Bank, and the Nova Scotia Sugar Refinery; also a director of the Gas Light Company. He has always been a Liberal in politics, and has done yeoman service for that party in the maritime provinces during the last decade.

Normand, Telesphore Euzebe, Contractor, Three Rivers, Quebec, was born on the 18th August, 1833, at Quebec city. His father, Edward Normand, was a well-known contractor of that city, and was the leading contractor of his time, having built the St. Maurice bridge in 1832, and again in 1841; also Montmorency, Chaudière and other bridges, as well as the greater part of the wharves at Quebec. His mother was Louise Martin, of Quebec. He was educated at Nicolet College; stood high in his class, and exhibited considerable promise as a student. On leaving the college, he went to Three Rivers, in 1851, and has resided there since then. He began life as a notary clerk under V. Guillet, with whom he was engaged from 1853 to 1858; and concurrently with this he was engaged in the office of the St. Maurice public works. In 1858 he set up for himself as a public notary, but in 1871 abandoned the legal profession for the purpose of following his father’s business. From 1861 to 1865 he was city councillor and school board commissioner at Three Rivers. He was elected mayor in 1873, defeating Mr. Bureau in the contest, after which he was elected by acclamation each year for the three following years, when he resigned. During the time he was mayor he was the means of consolidating the city debt, and carried out other important matters. He was captain of the city volunteers from 1863 to 1865. In politics he is a Conservative, and has given valuable assistance to his party. In 1871 he contested the seat for Champlain, but was defeated, by Senator Trudel, by forty-eight votes. As a contractor he stands in the foremost rank, and has a deservedly high reputation for first-class work. He was the contractor for the bridge over the St. Maurice, which is considered one of the most skilful pieces of workmanship—so far as wood bridges are concerned—in the province, if not indeed in the Dominion. The bridge in question is built in two sections, one of which is 1,400 feet, and the other 700 feet in length. The whole structure is built of the best material obtainable, and is a most excellent specimen of first-class work. Mr. Normand has constructed many other public works, such as wharves, piers, booms and railways, at Three Rivers, Quebec and Crane Island. Among other projects he carried out was that of the system of water-works which the city of Three Rivers possesses—a system which is inferior to none in the Dominion. Not only is Mr. Normand entitled to great credit for the energetic manner in which he pushed the work to completion, but also, what was even more needful, for obtaining the money wherewith to carry on the work—which he did by securing subscriptions in Quebec and England. He is held in the highest regard by the community, and is deservedly popular with all classes, not only in Three Rivers, but in Quebec city, where he is well-known. He was married in October, 1856, to Alphonsine, daughter of Joseph Giroux, one of the wealthiest and most prominent merchants in Three Rivers, who died in 1856, universally regretted. By this marriage there have been born nine children, five of whom survive.

Duhamel, Most Rev. Joseph Thomas, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Ottawa, is a native of Quebec province, having been born at Contrecœur, Quebec, on the 6th November, 1841. His parents were François Duhamel and Marie Joseph Audet-Lapointe, both of whom were born in Quebec province, but died in Ontario. The future archbishop’s father was a farmer, and having removed to Ottawa, sent his son to the college there, where he was educated under the direction of the Oblate Fathers, receiving a thorough classical education. On the completion of his studies, he decided to consecrate his life entirely to God, and accordingly entered the Ottawa Seminary, where, in prosecuting his theological studies, he evinced wonderful powers of mind. He was ordained sub-deacon, on the 21st June, 1863; deacon, 2nd November of the same year, and on the 19th December he was ordained priest. He was then appointed to the vicarage of Buckingham, county of Ottawa, where he proved himself to be possessed of many noble virtues and rare administrative qualities. On the 10th November, 1864, he went to St. Eugene, in the township of East Hawkesbury, county of Prescott, to reside as parish priest. At that time the parish of St. Eugene was one of the poorest in the diocese, and hence the young priest found it hard to carry on his work, especially as he had the difficult task before him of completing a church which was left unfinished by his predecessor. He found many obstacles to surmount, but by dint of persistent and energetic endeavors, and the exercise of his great abilities, he succeeded, and completed what is now, without doubt, one of the finest churches in the diocese, costing upwards of $25,000. Education, previously neglected in this parish, found in him an ardent friend and promoter, and at the present time there are many institutions in St. Eugene which owe their existence to him, and will long remain as monuments of his zeal. And the parishioners, too, by all of whom he was deeply beloved, will not forget their priest and guide, who for ten years went in and out among them. Father Duhamel accompanied his Grace Bishop Guigues to Rome at the time of the Œcumenical Council, but, receiving word of the serious illness of his mother, whom he loved tenderly, he was forced to leave the Eternal City and return to Canada a couple of weeks after his arrival there. Unhappily, he did not reach St. Eugene in time to see his mother alive, she having expired a few days previous to his arrival. Bishop Guigues continued to honor Father Duhamel, and in many ways gave him unmistakable marks of his confidence and esteem. In the month of October, 1873, Father Duhamel accompanied Bishop Guigues as a theologian to the reunion of bishops at Quebec, where the young priest’s talents and acquirements were generally acknowledged. After the death of his beloved friend, Bishop J. E. Guigues, the first bishop of Ottawa, he was chosen as his successor, on the 1st September, 1874, and on the 28th of the following month he was consecrated as the second bishop of Ottawa. Many persons were surprised that such a young man—he being then only thirty-two years of age—should have been selected to fill such an important office in the church; but those who had known Father Duhamel for years felt that his Holiness Pope Pius IX. had made a wise choice, and, moreover, that the records of the church would testify that even younger men than this father had been promoted to high positions. Mgr. Laval was only thirty-five years of age when he was called to occupy the episcopal seat at Quebec, Mgr. de Pontbriand was only thirty-two, and Mgr. Plessis only thirty-seven when consecrated, and Mgr. Tache was scarcely twenty-seven when he was appointed to succeed Mgr. Provencher, who was himself only about thirty-three when made a bishop. His lordship Bishop Duhamel, is a gentleman of pleasing manners, and easy of access, and possessed of great energy and tact. He speaks with ease and fluency, and while his sermons denote deep thought, they are not wanting in graceful form and style. His store of knowledge is of the purest and most substantial kind, and he speaks the French and English languages with ease. He takes a great interest in the cause of education, and gives every encouragement to the Catholic educational establishments in the city of Ottawa and his diocese at large, and in his pastoral letters often calls the attention of the clergy and the parents to the importance of the secular and religious training of children. In 1875 he wrote: “The future of the country and of religion depends entirely, it may be said, on the good or bad education which youth shall receive. Parents are strictly bound to give their children a truly Catholic education. This obligation is founded on the law of God. We do not hesitate to add, very beloved brethren, that parents are obliged to fully comply with this duty to establish, encourage and support Catholic schools, and to have the children attend them.” (Tenth pastoral letter.) In September, 1878, he thus wrote to the clergy of the diocese: “Another scholastical year has just commenced, numerous pupils are rapidly filling the houses of higher education and elementary schools. Everywhere those who are devoted to the instruction of youth rival one another in zeal and ardor to secure the success of the great work that occupies them. These efforts should undoubtedly be seconded by the pastors of souls, since it is their duty to continue the mission instituted by our Divine Master, when he said, ‘Go, teach all nations.’ You will, then, judge it right, beloved co-operators, if I invite you to give this year, again, and always, your whole attention and most constant care to the cause of education. Remind parents of the strict obligation for each one to instruct his children or have them instructed according to his condition and the means Providence has given him. Frequently visit the schools of your parish.” Archbishop Duhamel having made known to Pope Leo XIII. all that the Rev. J. H. Tabaret, O.M.J., had done for education during the many years he had been superior of the College of Ottawa, his holiness granted this great instructor of youth the title, honors, and privileges of doctor of divinity, as a well-merited reward, which was also given to several of the professors. To give further encouragement to education, Archbishop Duhamel presents every year to the College of Ottawa, to the Literary Institute of the Grey Nuns, and to the educational establishment of the sisters of the Congregation de Notre Dame, silver medals to be awarded to merit, and otherwise he spares neither trouble or expense in providing for them all possible means of attaining a good education. Under his lordship’s care, the system of teaching has been considerably improved, as may be seen by the present high standing of the philosophy class in the University of Ottawa, directed by the Oblate Fathers. One of his first acts was to order that no young man should be permitted to begin his ecclesiastical studies before he had followed a regular collegiate classical course, including two years of philosophy, and then that, before he could be ordained priest, he should during four years (three years previously required) study dogmatical and moral theology, holy scriptures, canon law and ecclesiastical history. Shortly after his consecration, Bishop Duhamel, with the assistance of his clergy, had a magnificent monument erected in the interior of the cathedral at Ottawa to the memory of the lamented Right Rev. J. E. Guigues, his predecessor. In the autumn of 1878, Bishop Duhamel went to Europe, and on visiting Rome was kindly received by the new Pope, and among the favors bestowed by his Holiness was that of raising the Cathedral of Ottawa to the dignity of minor basilica. In 1882, his lordship spent some months in Rome, in order to have the diocese divided by the Holy See. He was successful; the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda having admitted that the division asked for was required for the good of souls and the progress of religion, the Pope erected the vicariate apostolic of Pontiac, with the Right Rev. N. Z. Lorrain as first bishop. During his stay in the eternal city his Holiness was pleased to honor Bishop Duhamel with the titles of Assistant to the Pontifical Throne, Roman Count, etc. On May 8th, 1886, his lordship was made first archbishop of Ottawa, and on the 10th of May, 1887, was made metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of Ottawa. Archbishop Duhamel takes a great interest in the material as well as the spiritual progress and advancement of the parishes and missions in his diocese, and when paying his pastoral visit never fails to stimulate the generosity of his flock to build churches to replace the wood chapels built years ago, and in this he has been very successful. Since the year 1874 he has dedicated ten new substantial stone churches, of which the smallest is one hundred feet long; and during the same period he has formed thirty-three new missions, nearly all of which have large and commodious churches. Twenty of these missions have become parishes with residing pastors, which brings the number of regular parishes to about eighty. During his administration the Cathedral of Ottawa has been entirely renewed inside, and now presents a neat, rich and beautiful appearance, and may be numbered among the best cathedrals in Canada. His grace has always taken a special interest in the charitable institutions of the diocese, which number he has increased by four, and which now comprise four hospitals, three asylums for the orphans and aged people, two for fallen women, and one foundling hospital. To enable these institutions to perform their good work, the archbishop has ordered that each institution be patronized by a few parishes and missions, i.e., that the nuns to whose care these institutions are entrusted will be permitted to take up in these missions yearly collections from house to house. His grace has also established a monastery of the Sisterhood of the Precious Blood, whose aim is contemplative life.

Woodward, James Robertson, B.A., General Manager of the Quebec Central Railway, Sherbrooke, was born at Sherbrooke, on the 1st July, 1846. His father, Albert G. Woodward, came from New Hampshire, United States, to Canada in 1837, and is now coroner for the district of St. Francis. His mother is a daughter of Major Longee of Compton. Mr. Woodward, the subject of our sketch, was educated at Lennoxville, and is a B.A. of Bishop’s College University. Some time after leaving school he joined in a partnership with E. C. Brown, and began business as contractor. In 1869, the firm built and equipped sections of the Quebec Central Railway, and afterwards part of the Waterloo and Magog Railway. They also built railways in Brazil and Buenos Ayres in South America. In 1881, Mr. Woodward became the general manager of the Quebec Central Railway, and this office he still holds. For three years he held the position of secretary-treasurer for the county council of Sherbrooke; and for the same length of time was a member of the city council of Sherbrooke. He is a director of the Eastern Township’s Agricultural Association, and at various times he held the same position in other public bodies. In politics he is a Conservative, and at present chairman of the Liberal-Conservative Association of the district comprising the counties of Sherbrooke, Stanstead, Richmond and Wolfe, and Compton. He is a public spirited gentleman, and is highly respected by his fellow citizens. In religion he is an adherent of the Episcopal church. He is unmarried.

Hall, Robert Newton, B.A., LL.D., Q.C., Member of Parliament for Sherbrooke, P.Q., was born at Laprairie, 26th July, 1836. He is the son of Rev. R. V. Hall, English church clergyman. He received the principal part of his scholastic training in the University of Burlington, Vt., from which he has his degree of B.A., graduating in 1857. On returning home he entered upon the study of law, and in 1861 was called to the bar of Lower Canada. A year later he married Lena, daughter of the late A. W. Kendrick, of Compton, Quebec. In his practice of the law, he has all his life been exceedingly successful, and has long been recognized as a leading member of his profession. He held the honorable office of bâtonnier of St. Francis section of the bar from 1877 to 1881, and in 1878 became bâtonnier of the bar of the whole province. He has long been dean of the faculty of law in Bishop’s College, Lennoxville, from which college also he holds his doctor’s degree. All his life, Mr. Hall has been a leader of the public enterprises of his native province, his name being regarded as a tower of strength to any organization with which he becomes identified. He not only has the character of a man of spotless honor, but his public spirit, his great business ability, and his capacity for hard work, are guarantees of the success of anything to which he puts his hand. He was one of the chief promoters of the Eastern Townships Agricultural Association, and became the first president of that society when it entered upon active work. The railway development of his own section of the country has occupied a great deal of his attention. He is a director of the Quebec Central Railway a most important road; and president of the Massawippi Railway, a local line of great advantage to the district. When the first scheme for building the Canadian Pacific Railway was arranged, he was appointed one of the government directors on the general board, this appointment being a flattering recognition of the prominent part he had taken in railway affairs. When Judge Brooks, who for a long time represented Sherbrooke in the House of Commons, was appointed to his present position, the nomination of the Conservative party for the seat was offered to Mr. Hall, and when he accepted it, so complete was the confidence of all classes in his judgment and honor, that he was elected by acclamation. In the general election of 1887 Mr. Hall was opposed for the reason that the policy of both parties was to allow no elections by acclamation. But there was no serious expectation of defeating him, and his second return was received without surprise. In the house, Mr. Hall has the reputation of a careful and painstaking representative. He makes remarkably few speeches, considering the ability he displays when he does address the house, and the attention and respect with which he is listened to by both sides. Outside of the cabinet, he is by all odds the most prominent and influential representative of the Eastern Townships’ constituencies.

Raymond, Rev. Joseph Sabin, Vicar-General of the Diocese of St. Hyacinthe, Quebec province, was born at St. Hyacinthe, on the 13th March, 1810. He received his classical education in St. Hyacinthe College, and belonged to the first class that graduated from this institution. At the early age of seventeen, he began teaching, and continued as a teacher in the same college to the last day of his life. He was ordained priest in 1832. In 1847 he was elected president of St. Hyacinthe College, and occupied this position, except during an interval of six years, till 1883. Rev. Mr. Raymond, named vicar-general in 1852, was twice administrator of the diocese, during the absence of the bishop in Rome, and attended the five first Provincial Councils of Quebec, in the capacity of theologian to the bishop of St. Hyacinthe. He contributed largely to the foundation of the Order of Contemplative Religious of the Precious Blood in St. Hyacinthe. In 1874 he was named domestic prelate to his Holiness Pope Pius IX., and terminated a long and useful life in St. Hyacinthe, on Sunday, 3rd July, 1887, whilst robing to say mass. He was considered as one of the foremost men in the literary field of Quebec; he was a prolific and brilliant writer, and devoted his varied acquirements to the education of youth and devotional works. He was extensively read, especially in history and literature. His works, if collected, would form quite an important collection.

Montagu, Walter H., M.D., M.P. for Haldimand, Dunnville, Ontario, was born in Adelaide township, county of Middlesex, Ontario, on the 21st day of November, 1858, and is therefore, as we write, under thirty years of age, and one of the youngest members of the House of Commons. He is the youngest of the six sons of Joseph Montagu, an intelligent farmer, who was one of the most highly-respected residents of the county of Middlesex. His mother was a daughter of John Humphries, who came to Canada in 1832, and settled in Adelaide. Dr. Montagu was only five years old when his father died, when on a visit to friends in the United States, and has had, in great measure, to carve out his own career. He has, like many who have risen to eminence, had to educate himself, and this he began while engaged as an errand boy in a country store. He qualified for a teacher’s certificate in August, 1874. As a teacher he was employed successfully at various points, after which he entered Woodstock College, to devote himself to university studies. In 1882 he graduated in medicine in Ontario, and, desiring to pursue this profession, he then proceeded to Edinburgh. Here, later in the same year, he passed the examinations of the Royal College of Physicians, and received the diploma of the college. He then returned to Canada, and began the practice of his profession at Dunnville, county of Monck, where he now resides. A few months after settling at Dunnville he reluctantly accepted the nomination of the Liberal-Conservative Convention of Monck, to contest the riding in an election then pending for the Local Legislature. Though only a few days in the field he polled an immense vote, his own village giving him the largest Conservative majority it had ever given to its parliamentary representative. In 1886 he was again asked to run, but refused. In February of the following year he was placed in nomination for the House of Commons, as the representative of the county of Monck, but this he also declined, though a unanimous nomination by the party was offered him. At this time no candidate could be found to come out against Mr. Colter, the Reform member for Haldimand, who three months previously had been returned for the county by 126 of a majority over his opponent, Mr. W. Hamilton Merritt, a large property owner in the constituency, who had had the hearty support of the leading men of the Conservative party in the district. A new election was now to be held, and still no one dared to come out against the opposition candidate until the day before nomination. At almost the twelfth hour Dr. Montagu, at the urgent solicitation of his friends, Senator McCallum and Colin G. Snider, president of the Haldimand Conservative Association, stepped into the breach, and after a spirited campaign carried the county, but only by a majority of one, on a recount of ballots before the county judge. Dr. Montagu took his seat in the House of Commons, and by his qualities of head and heart gained the respect of both parties in parliament. His first and only speech during the session was called forth by an attack made upon the manner of his election. Brief and comparatively unimportant as it was, the speaker commanded the closest attention of the house. A protest, however, was entered against his return; and after three days’ trial of the petition, Dr. Montagu agreed with his opponent to hold a new election. This came on in November, 1887, and was watched with the keenest interest by the whole country, for until the preceding February Haldimand had never before in her history returned a Conservative, and that return, it was alleged, was not a proper one. The contest was fought, on the Reform side, by Mr. Colter, assisted by M. Laurier, Sir Richard Cartwright, Messrs. Charlton and Patterson, Hon. Jacob Baxter, and a dozen other prominent Reformers. Dr. Montagu, representing the Conservatives, fought alone and almost single-handed; and though the most desperate means were employed to defeat him, he succeeded in carrying the county by seventeen of a majority. In the contest, Dr. Montagu’s public addresses attracted immense audiences, the people turning out everywhere in great numbers to hear him. Another recount was demanded, the result being that the majority was reduced to twelve. A protest was then entered against him, and tried in January before Justice Street. During five days’ trial the petitioners utterly failed in their charges, and not a single stain attached itself to the representative. In the present (1888) session, he had the honor paid him by the Dominion administration of being called to move the address to the throne. This he did with great credit to himself and with much gratification to his party. Dr. Montagu is a supporter of Sir John A. Macdonald, but at the same time he holds liberal views upon public questions, and brings a broad and comprehensive mind to their consideration and discussion. He is thoroughly Canadian in his aims and aspirations, and has an earnest and enthusiastic faith in the future of the country. His wife is Angie, daughter of Elias Furry, reeve of South Cayuga, Ontario.

Willets, Rev. Charles E., M.A., (Corpus Christi, Cantab.), D.C.L. (King’s, Windsor), Windsor, Nova Scotia, is a native of Northamptonshire, England, where he was born about forty years ago. He received his early education at Corpus Christi College, in the University of Cambridge, where he graduated in 1872. He took holy orders and was ordained in the same year by the Right Reverend George Augustus Selwyn, bishop of Lichfield. After his ordination, he accepted the position of curate of Gaily-cum-Hatherton, in Staffordshire, which office he held for one year. In 1873 he came to Canada, and was appointed to the position of sub-rector of Bishop’s Collegiate School, at Lennoxville, Quebec. Here he remained for three years, teaching and fulfilling his other duties with great success. The honorary degree of M.A. was conferred upon him by Bishop’s College in 1874. He next removed to the Collegiate School, Windsor, N.S., the position of headmaster of which happened to fall vacant in June, 1876. This school was the original seed of King’s College, which is the oldest degree-conferring university in British America. The school was started in 1788, a scheme for its establishment being warmly urged by the Right Rev. Dr. Charles Inglis of New York, first bishop of Nova Scotia, and also by his son, John Inglis, who solicited aid for it in England. A royal charter was obtained in 1802. A large number of the sons of the wealthiest class in the maritime provinces were educated in it during the first years of its history. Among distinguished men who received their early training in the school, or King’s College, may be mentioned Chief Justice Neville and Robert Parker, master of the rolls of New Brunswick; Judge W. B. Bliss; Judge Haliburton (“Sam Slick”); General Sir John Inglis, son of the second bishop of Nova Scotia, and a man who made his mark in the defence of Lucknow; the late Archdeacon McCawley; Archdeacon Gilpin of Halifax; administrator of the diocese of Nova Scotia; R. G. Haliburton; Rev. Dr. Hill, formerly rector of St. Paul’s, Halifax, and the late Rev. Dr. J. M. Hensley. Among head masters of the collegiate school were Rev. William Grey, Rev. Dr. Blackman, Dr. Salt, Rev. W. C. King, Rev. George B. Dodwell, M.A. (Cantab.), and Rev. John Butler. The original school building was of freestone, which was erected with great care under the supervision of Bishop Charles Inglis, but was unfortunately burnt down, 20th September, 1871. For two years the school was carried on at Martock House, near Windsor. A new handsome wooden building was erected on the original site in 1877, and Rev. Dr. Willets has continued in charge of the school ever since. The school has prospered under his management, and now accommodates upwards of forty boarders and a number of day scholars. There are two assistant masters, Mr. Richardson, formerly of King Edward VI. School, Retford, England, a distinguished linguist and chess-player, and Mr. Fullerton, B.A., of King’s College, also special instructors in drill and gymnastics and penmanship. Boys are prepared for matriculation in all of the provincial colleges and for the civil service examinations, Ottawa. The school possesses one of the handsomest sites in Nova Scotia, just below King’s College, and looking over the king’s meadow towards the south mountain. The honorary degree of D.C.L. was conferred upon Dr. Willets by King’s College in 1882. He was also elected a governor of King’s College in 1885.

Matheson, David, Superintendent of the Savings Bank Branch of the Post Office department, Ottawa, is a Scotchman by birth, he having been born in the parish of Canisbay, near John O’Groat’s, Caithness-shire, on the 25th October, 1840, and emigrated to Canada in 1861. Mr. Matheson joined the civil service in 1863, and was appointed private secretary to the postmaster-general. In 1868 he, with another officer, was appointed to organize the Post Office Savings Bank, and specially designed the plan of accounts which has made the Canadian system of savings banks a credit to our own country, and a model that other countries have been pleased to adopt. Mr. Matheson, in recognition of his services, was appointed, in 1881, assistant superintendent of the Savings Bank Branch of the Post Office department, and in February, 1888, he was made superintendent.

Cardin, Louis Pierre Paul, Sorel, Quebec province, M.P.P. for the county of Richelieu, is of a hardy, honest, and industrious stock, his father being a well-to-do yeoman of Isle Madame, adjoining the north-eastern corner of the Island of Montreal. He is still in the prime of life, having been born on the 21st May, 1841, a year important in Canadian annals for the consummation of the union which preceded the system of confederation. He was educated at the College of L’Assomption, an institution which has given to Canada a large number of men distinguished in the church, the legal and medical professions, and the ranks of commerce and industry. Mr. Cardin selected the honorable calling of a notary, in which he was destined to make his way to the front in a comparatively brief time. He was fortunate in being associated, during his early professional career, with a worthy gentleman of Sorel, the late Mr. Precourst, from whose office he was admitted to practise in October, 1868. He still remained with his esteemed employer, until his death, in 1872, when he succeeded to his large and profitable business. Laborious, obliging and conscientious, Mr. Cardin won the confidence and respect of all who had dealings with him in his professional capacity, or intercourse with him in private life. His ability and public spirit made his services in high demand in municipal and educational affairs. It was natural, also, that he should take a deep interest in all that concerned the agricultural progress of his country, and he soon found ample occupation for his leisure hours. He has been successively secretary of the council for Sorel, secretary of the Dissentient School Board, secretary of the Agricultural Society, president of the St. Jean Baptiste Society, secretary of the municipality of Sainte Victoire, and has filled various other offices of trust with entire satisfaction to the public. To him also was due the organization of the first militia company of Sorel, and in order to qualify himself for military command, he obtained certificate of the first and second class, which enabled him to take, if necessary, any commission up to and including that of lieutenant-colonel. Courteous, benevolent, grave and affable, Mr. Cardin is a man whose character invites confidence and wins esteem. His appearance is also in his favor. Of middle height, he has impressive features, a large forehead and animated eyes, while his long beard of silky texture, gives him an air of distinction. As a speaker, he is at once fluent and choice in his language, uniting calmness with earnestness, and can wither with scorn or melt with pathos, as the occasion demands. In politics Mr. Cardin is more Conservative than Liberal, but was not an active partizan until November, 1885, when he joined the National party. In September, 1886, he was selected by the convention of Richelieu as the candidate of his party in that county and was victorious in the election which followed. Since then he has acquitted himself entirely to the satisfaction of his supporters, giving a conscientious but independent support to the Hon. M. Mercier. He has been indefatigable in his efforts to improve the condition of Sorel, and to ensure the county of Richelieu its fair share of attention from the government.

LaRocque, Right Rev. Charles, was born at Chambly, November 15th, 1809. He received his education at the Seminary of St. Hyacinthe, where, in 1828, he commenced studying theology, after completing his classical course. From 1828 to 1831 he filled with great distinction and efficiency a professor’s chair in the same seminary; and after one year exclusively spent in the study of theology, was ordained priest on the 29th of July, 1832. From 1832 to 1866 he is seen displaying his sacerdotal zeal as vicar in the parishes of St. Roch de l’Achigan and Berthier, as curé in the parishes of St. Pie de Bagot, Ste. Marguerite de Blainville, and St. John Dorchester, which he ruled during the long period of twenty-two years. There he founded several educational institutions, and built a magnificent church, of which the St. John parishioners may well feel proud. On the 20th March, 1866, he was elected bishop of St. Hyacinthe; on the 29th July he was consecrated, and the 31st of the same month he took possession of the see. The chief work of his career as bishop, a work for which he is rightly considered the greatest benefactor of the diocese of St. Hyacinthe, was the restoring of the finances. The heavy debt which weighed upon the bishopric was completely paid off through his wise and prudent financing. He died July 15th, 1875, aged sixty-five years, deeply regretted, and, according to his own expressed will, was buried in the vault of the Church of the Hotel Dieu at St. Hyacinthe.

Prince, Right Rev. John C., The late Bishop Prince of St. Hyacinthe, was born at St. Gregory, in the district of Three Rivers, on the 13th of February, 1804. After a brilliant course of classical studies in the College of Nicolet, he taught literature in the same college, and also in the College of St. Hyacinthe. Whilst thus engaged, from 1822 till 1826, he also pursued a complete course of theology, and fitted himself for the sacred order of priesthood, to which dignity he was raised in 1826. From 1826 to 1830 he was director of St. James Grand Seminary at Montreal; from 1830 to 1840, director of the seminary at St. Hyacinthe, and from whence he was called to Montreal by Right Rev. Bishop Bourget, to share with him the burden of the administration of his vast and important diocese. He was appointed canon of the Cathedral of Montreal on January 21st, 1841. On July 5th, 1844, he was appointed coadjutor to the bishop of Montreal and bishop of Martyropolis, and on July 25th, 1845, was consecrated. In 1851 he was deputed by the bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Quebec to carry to Rome the decrees of the first Council of Quebec. On the 8th June, 1852, whilst in Rome, he was appointed by Pope Pius IX. bishop of the newly erected see of St. Hyacinthe, of which he took possession on the 3rd of November of the same year. In 1841 he founded a review, the Mélanges Religieuse, and remained its chief editor for ten years. He also founded a convent of the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre-Dame, in Kingston. Having ruled the diocese of St. Hyacinthe with remarkable zeal and prudence for eight years, during which he established the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary for the education of young ladies; the Gray Nuns’ Hospital; established twenty parishes, and built the present magnificent episcopal residence in St. Hyacinthe. He died on the 5th of May, 1860, aged fifty-six years. His remains now repose in the vault of the cathedral.

Blake, Hon. Edward, P.C., Q.C., Toronto, M.P. for West Durham, Ontario, is by birth a Canadian, but by race an Irishman.^[9] His father, the Hon. William Hume Blake, was a Blake of Galway, and the son of a rector of the Church of England in Ireland, Rev. Dominick Edward Blake of Kiltegan. On the mother’s side he is descended from William Hume of Wicklow, a representative of that county in parliament, who lost his life as a loyalist in the Irish rising of 1798. “The descendant of an Irishman myself,” Mr. Blake said in a notable speech upon a motion made in the House of Commons, in 1882, for an address to the Queen on the subject of Irish affairs, “my grandfather on the father’s side a rector of the church to which I have referred, and sleeping in his parish churchyard, and my ancestor on my mother’s side slain in conflict with insurgents; while it might have been my misfortune, had I been born and bred in the old land, to adopt, from prejudice, views very different from those I have expressed this night; yet, it being my good fortune to have been born and bred in the free air of Canada; and to have learned those better, those wiser, those more Christian and just notions which here prevail upon the subject of civil and religious liberty, class legislation and home rule itself, I have always entertained, ever since I have had an opportunity of thinking on this subject, the sentiments to which I have given utterance this evening. I believe that these are the sentiments native to our own sense of freedom and justice, and that we wish to deal on this subject, as the hon. gentleman said who moved it, in that spirit which says, ‘Do unto others as you would they should do unto you.’” Mr. Blake’s pride of ancestry, so often evinced in references to his father, may have led him, in the extract quoted, to attach too great weight to the influence of environment upon his character and opinions. Speaking on a recent occasion, he said: “I have always discouraged and discountenanced, so far as I could, any appeal to considerations of race or creed. My earnest desire has ever been that we should mingle, irrespective of our origins, irrespective of our creeds, as Canadian brethren, as Canadian fellow citizens, whether we be English or French, Scotch, Irish or German, whether we be Protestant, Catholic or Jew, sinking all these distinctions in the political arena, and uniting and dividing, not upon questions of origin, not upon questions of religion, but rather upon honest differences of opinion with reference to the current politics of the country.” It is doubtful if, under any circumstances or conditions, a man constituted as Mr. Blake is, with a mind of large grasp and sensitive to jealousy of his honor, could be ought else than the fair and liberal man he is known to be. But, whatever views may have been held on state or church affairs by his more remote ancestors, no one who knows the story of the life of William Hume Blake can have reason to suspect that the son was subject to prejudiced or narrowing influences. The elder Blake was a man of strong but well matured convictions, and he uttered his thoughts with a clearness and force which rarely, if ever, allowed of his being understood in a double sense. He was also a man of tender and generous sympathies, and by the members of his own family his memory is greatly and deservedly revered. Indeed it may be said that Edward Blake never strikes a merciless blow—and he has the skill and power to strike a tremendous blow—excepting in the case of one who may speak offensively, rudely or disrespectfully of his father. It ought not to be a matter of surprise, perhaps, that politicians who came into collision with the father in the stirring political times of forty years ago should retain some of the feelings of those times; but the few who have revived the old issues with a display of the old temper, in the presence of the son, are not likely to reflect on the consequence to themselves with any degree of pleasure. One of these occasions will be readily recalled by frequenters of the House of Commons of thirteen or fourteen years ago, when the house was kept at a white heat throughout a whole night’s sitting. But when he has himself been the object of attack the disposition to strike back has been carefully curbed. “Whatever I am,” he said, in one of that remarkable series of speeches delivered in the election campaign of 1886-7, “I stick by my friends, and that, too, even after they have left me.” And, referring in particular to two gentlemen whom he had befriended, who afterwards changed their views and attacked him very bitterly and with great frequency, he said: “I have never replied to them or retorted on them. I have preferred to remember the old times when we worked together. I have preferred to remember, too, that they were my fellow-countrymen, and I have borne in silence their unjust attacks rather than retaliate. I have chosen to recollect their acts of friendship and co-operation rather than those of hostility and animosity. I have hoped that the day might come when they, or, if not they, at any rate my fellow-countrymen of their race and creed, would do me justice, and I wished to put no obstacle whatever in the way of a reconciliation, in which I have nothing to withdraw, nothing to apologise for, nothing to excuse.”—Edward Blake was born in the woods of Middlesex in 1833, a year after his father and mother had left Ireland. After two or three years’ experience of pioneer life the family removed to Toronto, and the father began preparation for the profession of law, upon which he entered in 1838, and in which he acquired great distinction—for eleven years as a practising barrister, and afterwards for thirteen years as chancellor or chief justice of the Court of Equity. Edward’s education was looked after by his father and by private tutors until he was old enough to enter Upper Canada College, and in that school he was prepared for Toronto University. In the last year of his course there (1854), his father was appointed chancellor of the university, and had the gratification in that capacity of conferring the B.A. degree upon his gifted son, who took first-class honors in classics and was winner of a silver medal. This, however, was not with Edward Blake as it has been with many graduates the closing event of his connection with the university. He proceeded to the Master’s degree in 1858, and in 1873 he was elected chancellor by the graduates for a term of three years, an honor which has now been bestowed on him five times in succession. Some of Mr. Blake’s best speeches have been delivered in his capacity as chancellor of the university. At the close of his university career he commenced the study of the law, and in 1856 he began practice in the Equity court. He worked hard, and, although there were a number of excellent lawyers in the Chancery court at that time, he attained the foremost place amongst them in less than ten years. He was created a Q.C. in 1864, was elected a bencher of the Law Society in 1871, and was appointed treasurer of the society upon the death of the Hon. John Hilyard Cameron, in 1879. The offer of the chancellorship of the province by Sir John Macdonald in 1869, and the offer of the chief justiceship of the Supreme Court of the Dominion by Mr. Mackenzie in 1875, were both declined.—Mr. Blake entered upon parliamentary life in the confederation year, in a dual capacity, as member for West Durham in the House of Commons, and member for South Bruce in the Ontario legislature. In both bodies he ranked high as a debater from the first; and although political subjects were new to him in a sense, he speedily gained such familiarity with them that the leadership of the party became his by right of pre-eminence. In the Ontario legislature, where Mr. McKellar was leader during the first session, the place was forced upon Mr. Blake (Mr. McKellar himself being the most urgent of the Liberals in pressing for the change), but in the Commons he resolutely refused to hold any position excepting in the ranks. The premier of Ontario was an astute politician, and had many good qualities as a public man; he was also an old Liberal and had a respectable following of his party, although a majority of his supporters both in the house and in the country were Conservatives. Mr. Blake had a difficult task in hand, as leader of the Opposition, against a veteran politician like John Sandfield Macdonald; but his forces were always marshalled with consummate skill, and by the discussion of affairs and the formulating of a well defined policy, in the line of the historic principles of the Liberal party, the electors had clear issues placed before them when the appeal was made in 1871, at the close of the first parliamentary term after confederation. The actual result was in doubt until the new legislature met in December, and a motion of want of confidence in the government was keenly and brilliantly debated. But the Liberals prevailed in the end; Mr. Blake was called upon to form a government, and in the first session effect was given to the principles which had won for the party the confidence of the people. From that time until now the same principles have been maintained by the Liberals of Ontario, with such expansion and development as circumstances have shown to be desirable; and, measured by all the results, it may confidently be affirmed that no other portion of America has in the same period been governed so wisely or well. Owing to the abolition of dual representation in 1872, both in the Provincial legislature and in the Dominion parliament, Mr. Blake resigned the premiership so that he might occupy the larger sphere at Ottawa, and upon his advice the office of first minister of the province was committed to the Hon. Oliver Mowat. Mr. Blake was re-elected to the Commons by acclamation for West Durham, and was also returned for South Bruce, at the general election in 1872; he sat in the house, however, as representative of the latter constituency. The part he took in the overthrow of the Macdonald government in 1873, both in the country and the house, secured for him the highest position yet attained by a political leader and orator in Canada. His career since that event, in office and out of it, is so well-known that space need not be taken up with the recounting of it. It has been largely the political history of the country, for on every important question his voice has been heard, uttering the sentiments of his party. He accepted the leadership in 1880, much against his own will, and in discharging the duties of that office throughout the whole time he held it he acted up to the full measure of his conviction, that no abilities are too good to be given, and no effort too great to be spent, for Canada.—Mr. Blake is not only the foremost of Canadian parliamentary orators, but, had his lot been cast in the larger sphere of Imperial or Republican politics, he would without doubt have attained a place in the front rank of those great orators who have shed lustre on the Anglo-Saxon race and helped to immortalize the English tongue. When he was comparatively young in public life, a well-known Canadian writer, who was by his previous experience exceptionally well qualified to compare him with the greatest of English contemporary orators, thus recorded the results of such a comparison after hearing Mr. Blake for the first time, shortly after the writer’s arrival in Canada.—“The present writer has often seen in the British House of Commons a debate degenerate into a squabble, in which small passions and petty aims made the moral atmosphere foul and fetid. Then Mr. Gladstone has risen up, and immediately one felt raised into a high moral plane, with a wider horizon and more pleasing intellectual prospect; the mere tone of his voice—firm, sincere, truthful in its ring—acting as a spell to lay the evil spirits which up to that time had it all their own way. Precisely a similar effect was produced by Mr. Blake. Here was a sincere man who ‘dared not lie,’ who had principles to maintain, who was not a prey to anxiety lest he might lose place and power, who was not driven like a leaf in the fall wind by his own passions. His intellectual and moral superiority was crushingly apparent. . . . Mr. Blake as an orator is something of the same style as Lord Selborne (Sir Roundell Palmer), with a dash of Sir J. D. Coleridge’s honeyed satire and Mr. Gladstone’s earnestness of purpose.” A distinguished Canadian judge in a conversation with the writer of this sketch gave an opinion of Mr. Blake’s rank among the great English orators of the day; and, as it has never been published before, it is perhaps worth quoting in the same connection. When the eminent American statesman, Mr. Evarts, was in Toronto a few years ago he was publicly welcomed by the Law Society of Ontario at Osgoode Hall, and by members of the senate and faculty of Toronto University, Mr. Blake being the principal officer to receive and welcome him on both occasions. The late Chief Justice Moss, who was also present, was afterwards asked how in his opinion Mr. Blake compared as a speaker with Mr. Evarts, and his reply was that, so far as could be judged by the opportunities afforded at these gatherings the Canadian was unmistakably the superior of the American. He added that he had been in the habit for a number of years of spending his holidays in England; that while there he had met and heard many of the leading statesmen and lawyers of that country; and his firm conviction was that in Mr. Blake, Canada possessed a man who was intellectually and oratorically the equal of any one of them and the superior of almost all. Perhaps no two English-speaking public men of this generation have been so frequently compared with each other in their style of oratory as Mr. Blake and his great English prototype, Mr. Gladstone. It may be thought that the resemblance said to exist between them is more fanciful than real; that such comparisons have their origin in the pride—patriotic or partisan—which Canadians feel in those of their countrymen who have attained distinction; that Sir John Macdonald, for example, has often been said to bear a close likeness to Mr. Gladstone’s old antagonist, Earl Beaconsfield. In the case, however, of the two great Conservative chieftains the likeness was supposed to be less discernible in their oratory than in their personal appearance, and in the methods they pursued as party leaders. But the more closely we study the speeches and the public life of the two great Liberal leaders the more clearly will it be seen that the resemblance between them has a far more substantial foundation than any mere Canadian pride in a distinguished son of Canada, although Canadians were well pleased to think that, side by side with some of Britain’s greatest men, before a critical and cultured Edinburgh audience a few years ago, Canada saw “her bairn respected like the lave.” Wherein, then, does the resemblance consist, if such resemblance there be? Does it lie in the similarity of their methods as rhetoricians, or in qualities less superficial and less minutely definable? The writer above quoted describes in a single phrase the strong underlying points of resemblance between the Englishman and the Canadian. The true secret of their power as orators lies in their intellectual and moral superiority. Perhaps it lies even more in the moral element than in the intellectual, though the fibres of mind and character are so closely interwoven in the texture of their speeches that it is difficult to decide in which quality lies their greatest strength. True it is that the gifts and graces of rhetoric have been bountifully bestowed upon both. Some of these they hold in common, and in others each has been specially endowed. But to say that the possession of these merely rhetorical accomplishments is what makes each the greatest living orator of his country is to assign a wholly inadequate cause for so large an effect. The fact that intellectually they are giants, and that morally they are believed to be sincere, high-minded, sans peur et sans reproche, is what largely gives them their power as orators. Mr. Blake’s firm and comprehensive grasp of any subject with which he grapples, the almost phenomenal way in which he masters and then marshals all its facts, are qualities in which we doubt if he is excelled by any living statesman. Not merely are the broad outlines drawn with a strong hand, but, when necessary for his purpose, the minutest details are filled in with the fidelity of a photograph. In fact so thoroughly does he exhaust the details of his subject in some of his more elaborate parliamentary speeches that the effect is to mar the whole performance, viewed simply as an oratorical effect. Perhaps no one knows this better than Mr. Blake himself, and the fact that he is thus content to risk his reputation as an orator from the same high sense of duty which has kept him in uncongenial public life for many years, against his personal wishes and to the serious impairment of his health and income, should be sufficient to secure him the indulgence of the severest critic, for it is a failing which surely leans to virtue’s side. His manner in speaking is earnest and forcible, such a manner as befits an orator who seeks to convince his hearers through the medium of their reason, and he never indulges in ad captandum appeals. His sentences, like his whole treatment of his subject, though they may be somewhat involved, are always thoroughly in hand; he never loses himself in a maze, seldom hesitates for the right word, and always appears to have the whole plan of his speech before his mind’s eye. His language unites the copiousness and variety of the accomplished scholar with the clear cut precision of the lawyer; and the wealth of illustration with which he adorns his best speeches, drawn as it is from every conceivable source in life and literature, would in itself be regarded as wonderful if it were not associated with intellectual powers which are all on an equally high plane. He is perhaps at his best in the rôle of satirist, and herein he displays qualities in which he far excels the great English statesman to whom it is no derogation to compare him. Earnest and argumentative like Mr. Gladstone he habitually is, but when engaged in thrust and parry with an opponent, wit and humor lend their aid, and often with such merciless effect that they defeat the speaker’s purpose by creating sympathy for his antagonist. The best specimen of Mr. Blake’s style of oratory will be found in his shorter extemporaneous speeches in parliament. In many of his longer speeches his best qualities as an orator have been suppressed by too much elaborateness of preparation. Able as they are as examples of clear consecutive reasoning, they partake too much of the character of essays; wanting spontaneity, they lack the fire and vim of his shorter speeches. As an illustration of this view, take the short speech in which Mr. Blake replied to the leader of the government in 1882, on the motion for the second reading of the Redistribution Bill—better known as the Gerrymander Bill. All the leading features of that measure were seized and a complete criticism of them pronounced in the course of a twenty minutes’ speech, with such telling force that no one on the ministerial side dared offer a reply. It was as perfect a criticism of a large subject as the far more elaborate speech on the bill in committee of the whole a few days later, saving in matters of detail, and the verdict of those who listened to both speeches doubtless was that the shorter one was by large odds weightier and more convincing than the longer and heavier one. There was material enough in the latter for half-a-dozen first-class speeches, but it erred in leaving nothing for any other member to say. Another of Mr. Blake’s speeches which showed his skill in stating and discussing subjects tersely and vigorously is his speech at London in January, 1886, in which he dealt with the execution of Riel and presented a general review of the political situation. Such massing of facts and arraying of reasons, conjoined with such judicial fairness in balancing the weights of evidence, are rarely to be met with in the records of political eloquence. “Though the skies be dark,” he said in closing that speech, “yet trust we in the Supreme goodness. We believe our cause is just and true. We believe that truth and justice shall in God’s good time prevail. It may be soon; it may be late. His ways are not our ways, and His unfathomable purposes we may not gauge. But this we know, that in our efforts we are in the line of duty. We hope, indeed, to make our cause prevail. But, win or lose to-day, we know that we shall receive for the faithful discharge of duty an exceeding great reward—the only reward which is worth attaining, the only reward which is sure to last.”—Mr. Blake’s thorough honesty of purpose is one of his most conspicuous qualities. Many proofs of this quality might be given from his speeches, but one will suffice. In closing his speech on the execution of Riel, in the House of Commons in March, 1886, he said: “I know the atmosphere of prejudice and passion which surrounds this case. I know how difficult it will be for years to come to penetrate that dense atmosphere. I know how many people of my own race and of my own creed entertain sentiments and feelings hostile to the conclusion to which I have been driven. I know that many whom I esteem and in whose judgment I have confidence, after examination of this case, have been unable to reach my own conclusion. I blame no one. Each has the right and duty to judge for himself. But cries have been raised on both sides which are potent, most potent in preventing the public from coming to a just conclusion; yet we must not by any such cries be deterred from doing our duty. I have been threatened more than once by hon. gentlemen opposite during this debate with political annihilation in consequence of the attitude of the Liberal party which they projected on this question; and I so far agree with them as to admit that the vote I am about to give is an inexpedient vote, and that, if politics were a game, I should be making a false move. I should be glad to be able to reach a conclusion different from that which is said by hon. gentlemen opposite to be likely to weaken my influence and imperil my position. But it can be said of none of us, least of all of the humble individual who now addresses you, that his continued possession of a share of public confidence, of the lead of a party, or of a seat in parliament, is essential or even highly important to the public interest; while for all of us what is needful is not that we should retain, but that we should deserve the public confidence; not that we should keep, but that while we do keep we should honestly use our seats in parliament. To act otherwise would be to grasp at the shadow and to lose the substance; propter vitam vivendi perdere causas. We may be wrong; we must be true. We should be ready to close, but resolved to keep unstained our public careers. I am unable honestly to differ from the view that it is deeply to be regretted that this execution should have been allowed to take place, and therefore in favor of that view I must record my vote.” This view of the exalted duties of a representative of the people must commend itself to every man who esteems truth, honor and country; and it is the knowledge of the holding of this and like views by Mr. Blake, not less than his intellectual qualities, which secures for him the esteem of the best men of all classes. “We are all proud of Edward Blake,” Principal Grant of Queen’s University exclaimed when presenting him to address a Queen’s convocation a few years ago. “Mr. Blake is a distinguished man, a credit to any country from his ability and eloquence and devotion to public matters,” Sir John Macdonald said when referring to his absence from the house and country at the opening of the 1888 session of parliament.—Many speeches delivered in the House of Commons and out of it during the last twenty years attest Mr. Blake’s ability and eloquence, but one extract will serve for illustration. It is taken from the report of a speech delivered at Lindsay in 1887, on the administration of the North-West. After sketching the principal events leading up to the Half-breed rebellion down to the summer of 1884, he said: “The time, if ever there was a time, for conditions of non-alienation passed away; the state of things changed, the discontent grew, the demand became fixed and formulated for like treatment as the Half-breeds of Manitoba, and its concession in this form was pressed on the government by everyone in the North-West, including the council. But all in vain! The government was deaf; the government was blind; the government was dumb; indeed for all they did in this matter the government might as well have been dead! Nay, better! for had they been dead I do not believe another baker’s dozen of Tories could have been found to succeed them who could have been as deaf, and dumb, and blind, and dead as they; and Canada might have been saved the blow, the dreadful blow, which they caused, if they did not actually inflict upon their country! At length, in June, 1884, after five years of total, of absolute inaction in this pressing matter, occurred an event so-marked that it might have made the deaf to hear, the dumb to speak, the blind to see, nay, might almost have waked the dead,—for then it happened that these poor people, despairing at last of reaching otherwise the ears of their rulers at Ottawa, sent a deputation on foot to tramp the prairies, cross the rivers and penetrate the forests, seven hundred long miles into Montana, to find and to counsel with their old chief and leader, Louis Riel. They reached him; they invited his help; he agreed to return in their company, to lead his people in an agitation for the rights which they had so long asked in vain; he returned on this demand, on this errand, in those relations to his kinsmen; and he was triumphantly and enthusiastically received by a large assembly of the Half-breeds on the banks of the Saskatchewan; and all these ominous and portentous facts were known to the government! Now what at this juncture was the relation of Louis Riel to the disturbed populations of the North-West? That is a most important question to be answered when you are measuring the situation and awarding its due responsibility to the government. For I ask you, having asked that question, to decide, as I believe you will unhesitatingly decide, I ask not you Liberals only, but the most compassionate, the most faithful Tory, the blindest, the most party-ridden Tory here, to decide,—even if he can find, what I cannot find, in the loving kindness of his nature, in the softness of his heart, some, I will not say justification, I will not say excuse, but some palliation for that five long years of inaction,—yet I ask you all, with absolute confidence, to agree with me that for the inaction after June, 1884, there is, under heaven, no palliation whatever. What was the relation of Riel to those amongst whom he came? I will not give you my own comparisons; I will give you those of the first minister himself, used in reply to me in parliament. He said that Riel was the El Mahdi of the Metis! The El Mahdi—you know him—the Arabian priest, and prophet, and usurping chief, who excited in the breasts of the wild tribes of the desert such a convinced belief in his supernatural powers, such a devoted and fanatic affection to his person, such a desperate fidelity to his cause, that at his bidding, ill-armed and undisciplined as they were, they flung their naked bodies in ferocious fight against the better drilled and more numerous forces of their lawful sovereign, the Khedive; nay, they hurled those naked bodies once and again against the serried ranks of the British battalions; and boldly encountered at once all the old British valor, and all the modern dreadful appliances of war; and the sands of Africa were wet with brave English blood, and English wives and mothers wept bitter tears for the deeds done under these influences by the wild followers of El Mahdi. He said that Riel was the La Rochejacquelin of the Metis! La Rochejacquelin, the young French noble who, when all France almost beside had submitted to the republic, raised again the white flag of the legitimate monarchy, roused the peaceful peasantry of remote La Vendée, led them in successful attack against strong places held by the forces of the republic, and by virtue of the spirit he infused, the confidence they reposed, the affection and fealty they bore towards their feudal chief, kept at bay for a while the great enemies of the state. He said he was the Charles Stuart, the Pretender, the leader of the lost cause of the Half-breeds! ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie, the king of the Hieland hearts,’ who, after the lowlands of Scotland, after all England, after all Ireland had submitted to the new rule, yet raised the clans; marched into Edinburgh; held court at Holyrood; made a descent on England itself; and, when pressed back into the north, fought with his irregular and ill-equipped liegemen in unequal, but obstinate and glorious, and sometimes successful conflict with the disciplined troops of the new dynasty! The Stuart, who found and proved for the hundredth time the stern valor and the enthusiastic love of his Highland followers; who found and proved it, not only in the fleeting hour of victory, but in the dark season of distress; when, with broken fortunes and a lost cause, with thirty thousand pounds offered for his head, and death assigned as the penalty for his harborer, he was safely guarded, and loved, and cherished, and sheltered by his clansmen in the caves and glens and bothies of the Highlands, as safe as if he had been in command in the centre of a British square! Yes! They scorned the base reward; they contemned the dreadful penalty; they kept him safe, and at length helped him to escape to other climes, to wait for the better days that never came. Such were the men to whom the first minister compared Riel, in his relation to the Metis. And, such being his relation, I ask you was not his coming an ominous and portentous event? He came, with all that power and influence over that ill-educated, half-civilized, impulsive, yet proud and sensitive people, living their lonely lives in that far land; he came amongst them at their request; he who had led the Half-breeds of the east in ’69, and had achieved for them a treaty and the recognition of their rights; he came to lead his kinsmen of the west in the path by which they were, as they hoped, to obtain their rights as well! Had the government been diligent before, they should have been roused by this to further zeal. But he came after five years of absolute lethargy on the part of the government, when they knew that they had not been diligent, and when, therefore, they had a double duty to repair, in the time God gave them still, the consequences of their sloth. Surely, surely such a coming should have made the deaf to hear, the blind to see, the dumb to speak; surely it might almost have waked the dead!” This extract will compare with the best effort of any modern parliamentary or platform speaker, and the whole speech is probably the best specimen of moving eloquence ever uttered by a public man in America.—The heavy and prolonged strain of the election campaign of 1886-7 had a serious effect on Mr. Blake’s health, and resulted in a nervous collapse which made a holding of the position of leader of a parliamentary party no longer possible to one of his sense of duty. He accordingly resigned the leadership of the Liberals in the session of 1887, to the sincere regret of his followers in the house and, it may be said, to the regret of the whole country besides.

Morison, Lewis Francis, Advocate, St. Hyacinthe, was born in that city, on the 30th January, 1842. His father, Donald George Morison, was born at Sorel, P.Q., and was many years a notary. His grandfather, Allan Morison, was born on Lewis Island, west coast of Scotland, and came to Canada about 1770, settling in the district of Montreal. Mr. Morison’s mother was Marie A. Rosalie Papineau, daughter of the Hon. D. B. Papineau, and niece of the late Hon. Louis Joseph Papineau. Mr. Morison, the subject of our sketch, was educated at the College of St. Hyacinthe, and studied law with the late Hon. M. Laframboise and the Hon. Auguste C. Papineau, now on the bench of the Superior Court of the province of Quebec. He was admitted to the bar on the 2nd of February, 1863, and has been in practice at St. Hyacinthe since that date. He does business in all the courts, civil and criminal, and has a remunerative practice. Mr. Morison served two years as councilman in the municipality of the city of St. Hyacinthe, and in January, 1880, was elected, without opposition, mayor, which office he held for two years. Being a native of the city, and having grown with it, he naturally takes a pride in witnessing its progress. Mr. Morison is president of the Granite Mill Company, which he started in 1882, and which now turns out the finest quality of knitting in Canada, and employs about six hundred hands. He was also one of the original promoters, and is now a director, of the St. Hyacinthe, Manufacturing Company. This concern only manufactures fine flannel, which is in great demand, and is kept running full time all the year. He constructed the first macadamized road in this section of the county. The first section of five miles of this road connected St. Hyacinthe with quarries, lime-kilns, and sand pits, greatly helping building operations, and created a new source of wealth for its citizens. He is also proprietor of two of the toll bridges built at St. Hyacinthe across the Yamaska river, and has a large interest in the third one. These bridges are built under private charters, and give more easy access to the city. Mr. Morison is what may be called a live citizen, and he loses no opportunity to advance the prosperity of his native place. In politics, he is a Liberal, and in religion, a member of the Roman Catholic church. He is a close student, and growing in reputation as a lawyer who will add to the prestige of the profession of which he is such a good representative.

Fulton, Dr. John, Toronto. The late Dr. Fulton was born in the township of Southwold, Elgin county, Ontario, on the 12th February, 1837, and died at Toronto on the 15th June, 1887. The illness which ended his useful life was the result of a severe cold, taken in the course of ordinary professional duties. His father was a highly respectable farmer of Irish origin. His mother’s family had originally come from Scotland, and their son John very early showed all the quickness of the one race and the shrewdness and perseverance of the other. He began his early education when very young, and continued for several years at school, always one of the best behaved and most advanced of the scholars. He continued at home on the farm till he was eighteen years of age, when his health, never robust, although as a rule good, was such as to warrant him in seeking a less laborious and more congenial occupation. He became a school teacher, having obtained successively several certificates, and was, as usual, not very long before reaching the highest grade. As a teacher he was, wherever he taught, most successful—seeing clearly himself every point he desired to teach others, he had the somewhat rare but invaluable power of making it clear and simple to every pupil—a power which characterized him all through life in his subsequent career as a prominent professor of various branches of medical science. He began his medical studies under the supervision of Dr. J. H. Wilson, of St. Thomas, a highly respected medical man, still engaged actively in his profession. From the moment of his entrance on his professional studies he was characterized by unremitting zeal—never being idle, doing as much work in the way of study in a week as would take most young men a month to master. In due course he entered the medical school so long and so successfully carried on by by the late Dr. Rolph; and here he at once ranked as one of the best men of his year. He was ever most ambitious, and was not content with matriculating as usual in medicine alone, but also matriculated in arts at the University of Toronto, taking a high position in this examination. After completing his course he graduated at Victoria University, of which at that time Dr. Rolph’s school was the medical department. He also went up for his examination and graduated in medicine at the University of Toronto. He had hardly taken his degree in Canada, when he went to New York and spent some time attending, with his customary regularity, Bellevue Hospital, in that city, and very shortly left for England, where he spent all the time at his disposal in the hospital wards and at his studies. He successfully went up before the Royal College of Physicians of London, and the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and obtained the license of the one and the membership of the other. He then visited Paris and Berlin for a brief space, and as usual was found following the great masters of these capitals around the hospitals, never losing sight of his great aim—the increasing of his already large store of professional knowledge. Shortly after his return to Canada he was married, January, 1864, to Isabella Campbell, of Yarmouth, Ontario, whose premature decease, in October, 1884, all but crushed his heart, and who was deservedly loved and respected by all who knew her. Dr. Fulton settled in Fingal, Ontario, for the practice of his profession, and had not been there long before he was tendered by the late Dr. Rolph and accepted the professorship in anatomy, in the medical school of which he had so recently been a distinguished student. His duties as a professor were begun with enthusiasm, and as a medical teacher he was a success from the very first. Not content, as most men of his early age would have been, with the high position he had already reached, he attended University College classes in arts, with the intention of graduating in arts at the provincial university. This intention, owing to constantly increasing duties, he had most reluctantly to abandon; for he greatly disliked to give up any plan on which he had deliberately set his heart. In addition to his professional and professorial duties, in 1867 he began and shortly completed his work on “Physiology,” which was for years highly prized by successive classes of students, as giving a clear and succinct epitome of that subject in the briefest possible compass, and which he subsequently re-wrote and enlarged for a second edition. In 1869-70 he lectured on physiology and botany with the same acceptance as had characterized his lectures on anatomy. In 1870 he busied himself, in addition to other duties, in writing a work on Materia Medica which, however, from stress of other labors, was never completed. This year he sent in his resignation of his chair in the college, owing to difficulties which had arisen, and in consequence of which Drs. Rolph, Geikie, and Fulton resigned together. Dr. Fulton consented, however, on being requested to do so, to withdraw his letter of resignation. In August, 1870, he bought from its then proprietor the Dominion Medical Journal, which had been carried on for a short time, and into which Dr. Fulton at once infused life and vigor. He changed its name to the Canada Lancet, under which title it appeared for the first time in September, 1870, and under Dr. Fulton’s indefatigable editorship has been continued ever since; the Lancet having in that time risen from having hardly any influence and a very small circulation, to the position it now holds, of being the most influential and widely-circulated medical journal in the Dominion of Canada, a change effected by its proprietor’s amazing and continuous industry, aided by his great business tact. In March, 1871, Dr. Fulton finally resigned his chair in Victoria College Medical School, and was offered and accepted the professorship of physiology in Trinity Medical College. This he continued to hold, and to discharge its duties with distinguished ability and satisfaction to all concerned, until a few years ago, when he succeeded his colleague, Dr. Bethune, on that gentleman retiring from the chair of surgery. This chair he filled ably and well till his death, and in connection with it, he was also one of the surgeons to the Toronto General Hospital, which institution has in his death sustained a severe loss. As an editor of a medical journal, Dr. Fulton was earnest, painstaking, and thorough in an unusual degree. The same, too, may be said of him as a medical teacher, and indeed in every other relation in life where he had duties to perform. He was for nearly twenty years before his death a member of Knox Church, Toronto, and one of the trustees of that church. Here his advice and clear-headedness will be much missed. His memory will be long cherished, and his example it is to be hoped will be followed by not a few of our young medical men. For as Dr. Fulton made himself what he was, by his persevering efforts, for he was essentially a self-made man, they too, by doing and working as he did, may come to occupy the highest positions in public and professional influence and respect. He left behind him a son and three daughters.

Binney, Right Rev. Hibbert, D.D., Bishop of Nova Scotia. The late Bishop Binney was born at Sydney, Cape Breton, on the 12th August, 1819. His father, the Rev. Hibbert Binney, D.C.L., was for some time rector of Sydney, and afterwards removing to England, he became rector of Newbury, Bucks. The future bishop was educated at King’s College, London, and in due time proceeded to Worcester College, Oxford. He took his degree of B.A. in 1842, and was elected fellow of his college, holding for some years in addition the position of tutor and bursar. His career at Oxford was a highly honorable one, he having taken a first-class in mathematical honors, and a second-class in classical honors, thus very nearly attaining the very high distinction of a double first. On the bishopric of Nova Scotia becoming vacant by the death of Dr. John Inglis, third occupant of that see, the Rev. Mr. Binney was appointed by the Crown, at the unusually early age of thirty-one. It is said that while the question of the appointment was engaging the attention of the crown officers, there being several names mentioned for the vacant see, the Hon. Joseph Howe, then in London, was consulted as to the probable wishes of the diocese, when he at once said: “Give it to the Nova Scotian”—which decided the matter. Mr. Binney received the degree of D.D. from his alma mater, and was consecrated in Lambeth Chapel, March 25th, 1851. On his arrival in Nova Scotia, he found things not as satisfactory as he desired; but he set to work with characteristic vigor, and in a few years had more than doubled the number of clergy and stations occupied by the Church of England. His greatest efforts were directed towards the establishment of a synod or legislative body of clergy and laity, which he finally accomplished in the face of much opposition, and the wisdom of his action has been since amply justified. As visitor of King’s College, the Church University at Windsor, he ever took a deep interest in its welfare, giving ungrudging attention to all meetings of the board of governors of which he was president. The difficulties of his arduous post became in his later years too great for even his iron frame and will, and after gradually failing for a few months, he died quite suddenly in New York, where he had gone for medical advice, on April 30, 1887, in the thirty-seventh year of his episcopal, and the sixty-eighth of his age. The bishop was a very strong-minded man, his views were high church, and during his long episcopate he had moulded most of his clergy to his own ideas. He married in 1854, Mary, daughter of the Hon. William B. Bliss, judge of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, by whom he had two sons and three daughters.

Tooke, Benjamin, Manufacturer, Montreal, was born in Montreal, on the 12th November, 1848. His father, Thomas Tooke, was a well-known citizen, and for forty years occupied a responsible position in the Bank of Montreal. Benjamin, the subject of our sketch, was educated at the High School of his native city, and secured a classical and commercial education. Shortly after leaving school he entered the establishment of Gault Brothers, wholesale dry goods merchants, as a junior clerk, and gradually worked his way up until he became the confidential clerk and had the fixing of the prices of all the goods coming into the establishment. After a period of ten years with Gault Brothers, he found himself master of all the details of business, and otherwise fully equipped to face the world of commerce. Therefore, in 1871, he severed his connection with the above firm, and commenced the manufacture of shirts and collars, conducting his operations under the name of the Mount Royal Manufacturing Company. Business prospered, and in 1873 had grown to such an extent, that he found himself unable to attend to all its details, and took in as a working partner Leslie Skelton. In the fall of 1878, Mr. Skelton having retired from the firm, Mr. Tooke entered into a partnership with his brother, R. J. Tooke, who up to this time had been carrying on a retail trade in gentlemen’s furnishing goods. This partnership lasted for four years,—R. J. Tooke retiring to take up his old trade,—and since then he has conducted his business alone. In 1884, finding his already extensive premises in Montreal too cramped for his steadily increasing business, he selected a building site in St. Laurent, a few miles from the city, erected a factory sixty-five feet by forty feet, three stories high, and put into it the most improved machinery. This factory has proved a great success, produces excellent goods, and finds employment for about eight hundred and fifty hands. Mr. Tooke is highly respected by his numerous workpeople, and the utmost harmony and good feeling pervades his establishment. In politics he is a Conservative, and in religion belongs to the Episcopal church. On the 5th December, 1872, he was married to Elizabeth Eastty, daughter of W. E. Eastty, of London, England.