Lyall, Rev. William, LL.D., Professor of Logic and Psychology in Dalhousie University, Halifax, is a Scotchman by birth, having been born in Paisley, on the 11th of June, 1811. He received his primary education in the Paisley Academy, then studied in the Glasgow College, and afterwards spent two years in the Edinburgh University. He adopted the ministerial profession, and was minister for some time of the Free Church (Presbyterian), Uphall, Linlithgow. He came to Toronto, Ontario, in 1848, and took a position as tutor in Knox College of that city. Two years afterwards, in 1850, he removed to Halifax, Nova Scotia, receiving the appointment of professor of classics and mental philosophy in the Free Church College there. In 1860, on the union of the Free and United Presbyterian churches in Nova Scotia, he held the same office in the united colleges at Truro. In 1863, when the Collegiate Institution was amalgamated with Dalhousie College, he was appointed to the professorship of Logic and Psychology in the Dalhousie University, Halifax, and this position he has continued to fill ever since. Professor Lyall has contributed several papers on theological and philosophical subjects to Canadian and foreign reviews. In 1855, he published a volume on philosophy entitled “Intellect, the Emotions, and the Moral Nature,” which was very favourably noticed by the reviewers at the time, and which he has used as a text-book in his prelections ever since. In 1864 he received the degree of LL.D. from McGill University, Montreal. He is evangelical in his religious views.
Johnston, Chas. Hazen Levinge, M.D., L.R.C.S., Edinburgh, St. John, New Brunswick, was born at St. John on the 21st December, 1843. He is the youngest and only surviving son of the late John Johnston, who was a graduate of King’s college, Windsor, Nova Scotia, barrister-at-law, member of parliament for the city of St. John, and for many years police magistrate for the same place; and grandson of Hugh Johnston, sr., who settled in New Brunswick, in 1783, became one of the leading merchants of St. John, and for seventeen years consecutively represented that city and county in the legislature. This gentleman was married to Margaret Thurburn, a Scotch lady, and a member of a very old family in Roxburgshire. Charles H. L. Johnston, the subject of this sketch, received his education at the Grammar School in St. John, New Brunswick, King’s College, Aberdeen, and at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. After his return to St. John he began the practice of his profession, and during the Fenian disturbance on the border, acted as assistant surgeon to the militia forces. During 1876 he occupied the position of surgeon to the Marine Hospital. Dr. Johnston joined the order of Masons in 1872, and became worshipful master of Leinster lodge, No. 19, in 1876. He has travelled a good deal in Britain and on the continent of Europe, and has profited professionally a good deal thereby. He has always belonged to the Episcopal church. On June 30th, 1886 he married Julia Augusta Barrett.
Mercier, Hon. Honoré, Premier of the Province of Quebec.—Among contemporary Canadian statesmen, a foremost place must be assigned to the present premier of the province of Quebec. The Hon. Honoré Mercier is not only a man of mark by reason of his position at the head of the government of one of the most important provinces of the Canadian confederation, but he is a remarkable man in every sense of the term. Speaking of him some years ago, while he was yet in opposition and little known beyond the limits of his own province, an eminent public writer said:—“He is certainly a man of much promise on whom this country, quite as much as any party, can build hopes of great usefulness.” This estimate is being daily realized. The great central figure in a newrégimewhich commands the confidence and sympathy of an ever increasing parliamentary and popular majority in the province of Quebec, Mr. Mercier already fills a great space also in the eyes and hopes of the Canadian people as a whole. His fame as a popular leader, as a man of rare energy and ability, and as an exceptionally bold and successful political tactician, is no longer merely local. Within a remarkably brief period, it has extended all over the dominion, and his name is now almost as familiar from Halifax to Vancouver as that of Sir John A. Macdonald, whom he is said to resemble in many respects as a strategist and a parliamentary athlete of the first rank. From comparative provincial obscurity, he has sprung into a general prominence and importance with a rapidity almost without parallel in Canadian history. This circumstance is not so much due to his surprising success as the head and front of the great so-called national movement in the province of Quebec which followed the execution of Riel, and obliterated to a large extent much of the old party lines there, as to the bold and original stand which he has taken in defence of provincial rights and interests; and which has identified him, so to speak, with the cause of all the provinces of the Canadian confederation, against what are termed the encroachments and centralizing tendencies of the federal power. The subject of our sketch is a striking example of what can be achieved by natural talent, indomitable energy and force of character, coupled with political sagacity of a high order, and a ready appreciation of men and opportunity. After the provincial elections of 1881, it seemed as if the Liberal party in Quebec had been irretrievably beaten. They had been literally swept from the polls throughout the entire province, and mustered only fifteen representatives in the House of Assembly. It is beyond our purview to discuss the means by which this result, as well as the party’s disaster at the federal elections in the following year, came about. Suffice it to say that the cause seemed hopelessly lost, and that the Conservatives appeared to have tightened their hold more firmly than ever on the province of Quebec, which had so long been the sheet-anchor of Toryism in Canada. Even the most ardent Liberals, the most persevering champions of the party, were discouraged, and if they continued the fight, it was more out of a sense of patriotism and for the honour of the old flag than with any hope of victory, near or remote. There was one of the number, however, who did not despair at this dark hour of the party’s fortunes. This man was the Hon. Honoré Mercier. With undaunted courage, with wondrous tenacity of purpose and implicit confidence in the future, he began the work of reorganization on the very morrow of defeat. The task of collecting the scattered elements of the party and of leading them to victory seemed a herculean if not an impossible one to accomplish. But Mr. Mercier did not falter in it, and in the short space of four years he successfully achieved what, under other circumstances, would have taken at least a quarter of a century. Under his skilful leadership the vanquished of 1879 and 1881 have become the victors, and Mr. Mercier now reigns supreme in the province of Quebec. Throughout his whole career he seems to have been actuated by two grand ideas, one of which was to enlarge his policy and the basis of his party, to close up the breaches in it, to gather around him patriotic men without distinction of origin or party, and to throw open to all a broad ground of conciliation; and the other, which has been perhaps the most fruitful, to conquer the hearts of the people and to make his cause a popular one in the fullest sense of the term. Few public men have been better endowed by nature for the purpose. Still in the hey-day of life and manly vigour, Mr. Mercier combines great physical gifts with large magnetic personal influence. His face is of the Napoleonic type, and suggestive of extraordinary mental power and force of character. He looks in every sense of the words a man born to command; but, behind the mask of imperiousness, lies a fund of geniality and good nature which has earned for him the respect of his adversaries and the undying devotion of his friends through good and evil fortune. Much of his popularity no doubt is due to his political capacity, but still more of it may be ascribed to the generosity of his character and the fidelity of his personal and party friendships. From his very first appearance in the public arena, it was clear to every one that he was essentially a popular leader; but recent events have proved that he possesses in an eminent degree also all the qualities of a successful political leader,—ability, tact, diplomacy, decision of character, foresight, the statesmanlike breadth of view which soars beyond the triumphs of the hour to grasp the necessities of the morrow, and that loyalty which inspires confidence and renders alliances durable. As an orator, it may be fairly said that he has few equals. Few public speakers of his day excel him in the art of swaying an audience, whether cultured or illiterate. He touches their feelings or appeals to their reason with a force and a logic that always tell. A brilliant lawyer and a perfect master of parliamentary fence, he has also been described as belonging to that class of men who are always ready for duty, always equipped for a fight, and his blows invariably tell with sledge-hammer force. At the same time it must be conceded that he is a manly fighter, never taking an unfair advantage of an adversary, and always showing the courteous and polished Frenchman’s aversion to unnecessarily wound the feelings of others. His astonishing industry also constitutes one of his chief claims to the admiration of his friends, coupled with the courage and pluck which has carried him to victory against what at one time appeared the most desperate odds. He has lived a busy life, divided between journalism, law and politics; but it is mainly in his public capacity that his assiduity and powers of application have come to be most known and appreciated. Whether as leader of the Opposition or of the Government, he has been and is an indefatigable worker, always at his post and accomplishing more in a day than other public men usually do in weeks. Another secret of his great prestige among his fellow countrymen is to be found in his acute and rapid perception of the drift of popular opinion in his province, and the people’s growing confidence in the earnestness of his patriotism. As already stated, Mr. Premier Mercier is still in the full prime and vigour of life, his age being only forty-seven. He first saw the light in Iberville county, in the year 1840. He comes of a family of simple farmers, orhabitants, as they are styled in Lower Canada, originally from Old France, but settled for several generations in the county of Montmagny, below the city of Quebec. His father was not wealthy, and had to provide for the wants of a large household; but he was a man of energy and foresight, and thought no sacrifice too great to arm his children for the battle of life by means of a liberal education. At the age of fourteen years, young Mercier was sent to the Jesuits’ College in Montreal to complete his education, which he finally did after a brilliant course of study; and, even to the present day, the premier of Quebec reverts with pleasurable recollection to his early struggles after knowledge, and loses no occasion to testify his affectionate and grateful regard for the masters who first taught his “young idea how to shoot.” The ardour with which he took up the cause of the Jesuits during last session of the Quebec legislature, and championed it to victory in the passing of their charter bill, is largely explained by this feeling, strengthened by the conviction that the legislature had no warrant to refuse to one religious order the ordinary privilege of civil rights which it had so freely granted to others. Like the vast majority of his French Canadian fellow countrymen, the premier of Quebec is, of course, a Roman Catholic, and imbibed a lively faith in the doctrines of that church from his parents and the teachers of his youth. That faith has not diminished, but increased with his maturer years. Still there was a time, and not yet very remote either, when, on account of his political liberalism and alliances, his orthodoxy was more than once seriously questioned by his political foes to his personal and party detriment. However, this has all passed away. It is now conceded by Papal authority that a man may be a Liberal in politics and yet a good Catholic; and the Lower Canadian clergy have come to understand that Mr. Mercier is not only a sincere Catholic in theory and practice, but that the interests of their church are as safe in his hands as in those of the self-constituted champions who proclaim their zeal for the faith from the housetops. At the same time, he is no narrow-minded bigot. There is probably no public man in the dominion free from religious or sectional bias. He never asks “the brave soldier who fights by his side in the cause of mankind, if their creeds agree.” A French Canadian in heart and soul, and a thorough son of the soil, still strict and impartial justice to all classes, races and creeds; undue favour to none, seems to be the motto upon which he has always acted in the past and desires to act in the future. Now, to return to the career of our subject. Some time after leaving college, young Mercier decided to make the law his profession. He accordingly entered the office of Laframboise & Papineau, at St. Hyacinthe, and was admitted to practice in 1865. But, three years before this event, he may be said to have entered public life, towards which the ardent young man felt himself irresistibly attracted. In 1862, at the age of twenty-two years, he became editor-in-chief of theCourrier de St. Hyacinthe, and made his mark as a vigorous and trenchant political writer. This was before confederation, during the Sandfield Macdonald-Sicotte administration. To that government, with its liberal and moderate policy, and its programme of conciliation between Upper and Lower Canada, the young journalist gave a warm support. But in the excited state of public opinion in the two provinces at the time, the task of pacification which it had undertaken was beyond its strength, and after a short and stormy existence, it succumbed. At this stage in Canadian history the political situation was exceedingly strained. Not only were parties in the legislature about evenly balanced, but Canadian politics were complicated by such burning and difficult questions as the Separate Schools, Representation by Population, and the construction of the Intercolonial Railway. Finally, despairing of reducing this apparent chaos to order, Mr. Sicotte retired, and Sandfield Macdonald reconstructed the cabinet by taking in from Lower Canada Mr. Dorion, now Sir A. A. Dorion, chief-justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench of the province of Quebec, and by openly repudiating the principle until then recognized of the double majority. Mr. Mercier who, in theCourrier de St. Hyacinthe, had sustained the Sicotte administration, went over to the opposition with his leader. He continued, with Cartier and a group of moderate liberals, to form part of the opposition, which he then regarded as a national opposition, and his powerful pen in theCourrier de St. Hyacinthecontributed immeasurably to the defeat of the ministerial candidate when the seat for St. Hyacinthe became vacant by Mr. Sicotte’s elevation to the bench. When the confederation scheme was broached in 1864 as the only means of cutting the Gordian knot of the political deadlock between the united provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, Mr. Mercier, who had supported Cartier in his opposition to the Macdonald-Dorion ministry, felt himself unable to approve his alliance with George Brown for the establishment of confederation, believing that the realization of the latter would be the death-warrant of the French Canadian influence, that the project was only another expedient to retain power in Tory hands, and that behind it, in the mind of Sir John A. Macdonald, lurked a long-meditated design to force a legislative union upon the provinces. His views, however, in this respect, were shared only by a small minority, and he resigned in consequence the editorial chair of theCourrier de St. Hyacinthe. But, later on, in 1865, when the project was regularly discussed in parliament, Mr. Mercier’s objections to it found expression through an opposition on the floor of the house; weak in numbers, it is true, but resolute and untiring in their efforts to render it less obnoxious to the French Canadians, and more favourable to the rights of the provinces. All or nearly all of the causes of friction which have since developed between the central and the local governments in the working of the new constitution, were then exhaustively ventilated by the liberals. They demanded, with Mr. Holton, that the Federal Act should expressly recognise the sovereignty of the provinces, and that only restricted and delegated powers should be conferred on the central government. They protested against the mode of constituting the Senate, the principle of the nomination of the lieutenant-governors by the federal ministry, and the right of veto upon the acts of the Provincial legislatures. To every assault upon the integrity of the scheme, Cartier invariably opposed the stereotyped reply that the Federal Act was a “sacred compact,” and that not one line of it could be altered without provoking a breach with the other provinces. Thisnon possumusstyle of argument was successful in procuring the rejection of all the amendments proposed in the parliament of united Canada. But it found no echo in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, whose legislatures, while approving the confederation principle, refused to ratify the scheme in all its details. The whole question, with the right of amendment, seemed to be thus thrown open anew, and the hopes of the Lower Canadians, who looked to extract the most protection for their province from the project, once more revived. Meanwhile, while these events had been transpiring, Mr. Mercier had resumed the editorial direction of theCourrier de St. Hyacinthein the month of January, 1866, having formed with Mr. de la Bruère, now speaker of the Quebec Legislative Council, Mr. Bernier, now superintendent of Education in Manitoba, and Paul de Cazes, his brother-in-law, a syndicate whose programme, in view of the adoption of the new constitution, was to give itfair playand to endeavour to make the most of it, after Lafontaine’s example in 1840. The opposition of the Maritime provinces having re-opened,de jure, the right of amendment, Mr. Mercier and his colleagues hailed the event with gratification; but, to their surprise, in February, 1866,La Minerve, of Montreal, and other newspapers, began to spread the rumour that the question would not be again submitted to the Canadian legislature, and that Cartier had consented to refer the settlement of the difficulties to Imperial arbitration. Thereupon, the managers of theCourrier de St. Hyacinthepublished an article in which they distinctly declared that, if the principle of arbitration was accepted, they would go into opposition. A fortnight later, Cartier proposed to refer the pending difficulties to Imperial arbitration, and there was nothing left to Mr. Mercier and his colleagues of theCourrierbut to execute their threat and transfer their talents and influence to the opposition. They were unanimous on the subject, and the article announcing their determination was prepared by Mr. de la Bruère. But, before it could be published next morning, Messrs. de la Bruère and Bernier, who have ever since remained Conservatives and attached to the fortunes of Sir John A. Macdonald, suddenly changed their views and refused to allow it to appear. A rupture ensued between the partners, and Mr. Mercier and Mr. de Cazes withdrew from theCourrier de St. Hyacinthe, this time for good. There is reason to believe that the turn of events at this stage so disgusted Mr. Mercier with politics that he resolved to abandon them altogether. At all events he retired from public life, and during the next five years devoted himself exclusively to the practice of his profession as a lawyer, only reappearing on the scene in 1871, after confederation, on the formation of theParti National. As the occasion and objects of this movement in the province of Quebec may be either forgotten or not well understood at the present day, it may be useful to recall that the attitude of the Conservative government of Sir John A. Macdonald on the New Brunswick Separate School question in 1871, as later on the Riel question in 1886, provoked a split among his Conservative following from Lower Canada. A number of bold and ardent French Canadian spirits conceived that the opportunity was a favourable one to make another effort for the triumph of the principles for which they had so long and unsuccessfully battled, to set aside all party divisions and to rally under one standard all patriotic souls, Liberal and Conservative, in order to secure the predominance of the provincial influence over the hybrid alliances by which a majority was constituted and maintained in the Federal parliament. In other words, the promoters of the national movement held that in a confederation honestly and properly worked, the representatives of the people should above all regard themselves as plenipotentiaries of the provinces, and that instead of dividing into conservatives and liberals, it was their first duty to group themselves by provinces for the common defence of their provincial or national interests. At the head of the new party were such men as Messrs. Holton, Dorion, Loranger, Laframboise, Jetté, Mercier, F. Cassidy, L. O. David, and Béique, in the Montreal district, and Messrs. Letellier de St. Just, Joly, Thibaudeau, Langelier, Pelletier, and Shehyn, in the district of Quebec. Their platform included protection, complete provincial autonomy, and decentralization, vote by ballot, the trial of election contestations by the law courts, the abolition of dual representation, suppression of the Legislative Council, economy in the public expenditure, and the suspension of the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway until the resources of the country warranted the completion of that great work without saddling the people with the burthens of a ruinous debt. Mr. Mercier threw himself heart and soul into this movement, which promised to realize his dearest aspirations. He lent powerful assistance to the election of his friend, Hon. F. Langelier, for Bagot county, and in the following year, at the general elections of 1872, he was himself returned as the federal member for Rouville. On the meeting of the Dominion parliament in 1873, he took an active and leading part in the exciting debate on the New Brunswick Separate Schools question, and, with Hon. John Costigan from that province, then plain Mr. Costigan, he also eloquently defended Rev. Father Michot, a Catholic priest, whose goods had been destrained, and person imprisoned for debt by the authorities of New Brunswick, because of his refusal to pay tax towards the support of the Protestant schools. The result was that the government was beaten by a majority of thirty-five through the French Canadian vote, supported by the Liberals of Ontario; but Sir John A. Macdonald refused to recognize this adverse decision as a ministerial defeat, and announced his intention of referring the question of the New Brunswick schools to the Imperial government. A cabinet crisis was thus averted for the moment, but it was destined to be not long delayed. The last echoes of the fierce debate on the school question had hardly died away, when suddenly and almost without a note of warning, the astounding revelations which have since passed into history under the title of “The Pacific Scandal,” were sprung upon the parliament and country. In the midst of the most intense excitement all over the dominion, parliament adjourned in May, 1873, and between that date and the following August, when it was to meet again, Mr. Mercier was one of the most active in stumping the province of Quebec against the government, and in promoting the petition to the governor-general against the alleged intention to prorogue the house. To the prayer of this petition, however, Lord Dufferin did not deem it advisable to assent, and parliament was prorogued on the very day of its reassembling in August. But it was called again towards the end of October, and, after a seven days’ debate, which will remain forever memorable in Canadian annals, Sir John A. Macdonald announced that he had placed his resignation in the hands of his excellency. Two days later, the Liberal government of Mr. Mackenzie was formed, followed two months later, in January, 1874, by a dissolution of the Dominion parliament. At the general elections which ensued, Mr. Mercier had intended to again offer as a candidate for the county of Rouville in the interest of the new Liberal ministry; but, as another Liberal candidate of much local influence, Mr. Cheval, also proposed to run, he withdrew from the field rather than create a division, which might throw the constituency into Tory hands. In 1875 he once more reappeared on the scene in Bagot, which he stumped in favour of Mr. Bourgeois, now a judge of the Superior Court, with whom he had formed in 1873 one of the strongest law partnerships in the country. In 1878, when Mr. Delorme, the Liberal member for St. Hyacinthe, and now clerk of the Quebec Legislative Assembly, retired from the representation of that county, Mr. Mercier manned the breach in the Liberal interest; but was defeated by Mr. Tellier, the Conservative candidate, who carried the seat by the narrow majority of six votes. But for that disappointment he was consoled in the very following year by the brilliant victory on the same ground, which ratified his entry into the provincial government, and was the prelude to a new and more important phase of his public life. In March, 1879, when Hon. Mr. Joly, the then Liberal premier of Quebec, invited Mr. Mercier to fill the cabinet vacancy created by the death of Mr. Bachand, his ministry was virtually in a moribund condition. It did not command a large enough majority, and above all one sufficiently solid to survive the restoration of Sir John A. Macdonald to power at Ottawa, after the fall of the Mackenzie government. Coming events were already casting their shadows before; the Letellier question, as it was called, had waxed in bitterness; and there is little doubt that Mr. Joly and his colleagues foresaw clearly the near approach of their own official death. But they had resolved, for the honour of the cause and its future interests, to fight it out bravely and worthily to the end. They needed the help of a sturdy and experienced spirit for the purpose, and Mr. Mercier, who did not hesitate a moment about undertaking the task, was a few days afterwards elected to the Quebec legislature for St. Hyacinthe by the large majority of 307 votes. As solicitor-general in Mr. Joly’s cabinet, Mr. Mercier’s official career was too brief to permit of his displaying more than the qualities of an admirable law officer of the Crown; but, on the floor of the Quebec Assembly, he at once took a foremost place as an orator, debater and legislator. After the fall of the Joly cabinet, Mr. Mercier momentarily entertained the idea of retiring from public life for good and all, not that he despaired of the righteousness in his own mind of the cause which he supported, but more probably because this last attempt of the Liberals to capture and hold Quebec province, in which he had been called to take a too tardy part, had strengthened his long rooted conviction, that that party as then constituted in Lower Canada, were acting on too narrow and defective a basis to make successful headway against the existing combination of Tory interests and prejudices. Accordingly, having in the meantime removed in March, 1881, from St. Hyacinthe to Montreal, where he had formed a new law partnership with Messrs. Beausoleil & Martineau, he announced his intention to not come forward at the general elections of that year. This announcement produced a most powerful sensation throughout the province, but especially among his constituents of St. Hyacinthe, who, regardless of their party divisions, rose as one man to beg of him to reconsider his decision, which he finally did after long and earnest reflection, when he was returned once more to the legislature by acclamation. About this period of his career, or shortly afterwards, occurred the incident of the coalition, which came very nearly splitting up the Liberal party. Enlightened men in the ranks of both parties in the province felt that the existing state of things could not continue much longer; that their public men were wasting their energies in fruitless contention; and that ruin, political and financial, stared Quebec in the face unless the politicians on both sides clasped hands to forget old feuds and to form a strong coalition government on the broad national ground which might fearlessly apply the heroic remedies demanded by the critical nature of the situation. Mr. Mercier was all the more open to the advances made him from the other side, both during the administrations of Mr. Chapleau and his successor, the late Mr. Mousseau, in favour of this new departure, that he had strenuously advocated a policy of conciliation and union for the national good throughout his whole public life. He probably made a mistake in supposing that the hour was ripe for the fruition of such a policy, and that nothing more was needed to a general conviction of its necessity. But even so, the error was a generous one, prompted by patriotism. The proposals for a coalition, however, did not emanate from Mr. Mercier, but from his adversaries, that he only consented to entertain them upon certain well defined and strictly honourable conditions, and that in the entire business he was true to the controlling idea of his career as to the absolute necessity of union for the salvation of his native province. In the beginning of the session of 1883, Hon. Mr. Joly resigned the direction of the provincial Liberal party, and Mr. Mercier was unanimously chosen to succeed him, on Mr. Joly’s own motion, as the leader of the opposition. In this new and important role he at once found fitting opportunity and scope to display the great qualities which in so brief a period have placed him in the foremost ranks of French Canadian statesmen. Within the short space of three years he successively showed what an able and intrepid leader can do with the support of a small but disciplined and trusty band of parliamentary followers, to retrieve the fallen fortunes of his party, and to defend and lead to victory a popular cause the moment circumstances placed it in his hands. During the first portion of his task, Mr. Mercier maintained a struggle which cannot be otherwise characterized than as heroic. With a following in the House of Assembly reduced to fifteen members against fifty, he kept in check three successive governments of his adversaries, and if he did not succeed in defeating the two first by a vote, he at least forced them to take flight. One after the other, Messrs. Chapleau and Mousseau were compelled to retire from the field, admitting themselves to be too grievously stricken to continue the fight any longer against so sturdy an opponent, whose scathing denunciations of their policy and administrative methods were gradually arousing public opinion from its apathy with regard to the financial and political dangers that seemed to threaten the safety of the province. During this period, too, as well as during the rule of the succeeding Ross administration, Mr. Mercier not only exerted a mighty influence on current legislation, but proved himself the fearless and ardent defender of provincial rights, and lost no occasion to condemn in forcible terms what he had characterized as the grovelling and ruinous subserviency of the provincial conservatives to the overshadowing influence of Ottawa. His sympathy with the cause of constitutional liberty also found strong expression on more than one occasion in support of the Irish Home Rule movement and against coercion, and the various resolutions of the Quebec legislature on the subject either owed their paternity to him or in a large measure their adoption. From the session of 1886, the last of that parliament, the Ross ministry emerged woefully crippled by the sustained vigour of Mr. Mercier’s assaults, and with the outlook for the general elections complicated and darkened for the success of the Tory cause by the Riel affair. Still, even under the circumstances, it is doubtful whether, with the influence and active assistance of the Ottawa government, and in the usual way, Mr. Ross would not have carried a majority of the constituencies but for the split in the conservative ranks and the astounding energy and ability thrown by Mr. Mercier into the campaign, which preceded the general elections, and which was probably the most anxious and exciting ever fought in Lower Canada. As the accepted leader of the new National party formed in that province out of a combination of the liberals and conservative bolters, he not only directed the whole movement, but personally traversed the province almost from end to end, addressing as many as one hundred and sixty public meetings, and everywhere making his influence felt for the promotion of the cause. The elections came on in October, 1886, and resulted in a victory for the Nationals. But for several months afterwards the country was kept in a painful state of ferment by the refusal of the Ross government to recognize their defeat or to call the legislature. It has been charged that they spent the interval in endeavouring to seduce the few National Conservatives elected from their allegiance to Mr. Mercier; but, if so, they failed, and the circumstance only tends to further attest his tact and skill as a political manager and strategist. Finally they were compelled by the force of public opinion to meet the representatives of the people in January, 1887, when Mr. Mercier and his supporters met with a triumphal reception at the provincial capital, and the popular verdict rendered against the Tories at the polls in October was ratified by a majority of nine in the House of Assembly on the first vote for the election of the speaker. Still the Ross ministry would not resign until Mr. Mercier rendered their humiliation more complete by taking the control of the house out of their hands, and carrying the adjournment against their will, amid one of the most exciting scenes ever witnessed in legislative halls. In a few more hours the Ross administration had ceased to exist. Mr. Mercier was called upon by the lieutenant-governor to form a new cabinet, and in less than twenty-four hours more, with his usual decision and promptitude, he had made his choice of his colleagues, and announced it to the legislature and the country, both of which received it with marked satisfaction. He also demanded and obtained an adjournment of both houses until the following March, in order to allow of his own re-election and that of his colleagues (which took place in each case by acclamation), and to get time to prepare his programme for the regular work of the session, when the speech from the throne was delivered, and he publicly appeared for the first time as leader of the Government and the Assembly. Considering the shortness of the time at their disposal for preparation, the policy formulated by the new government constituted a very satisfactory instalment of the reforms which Mr. Mercier and his friends had advocated while in opposition. Its principal planks were the restoration of the finances to a sound basis, the readjustment of the representation, and the better protection of provincial rights and autonomy. The measures proposed for the purpose by ministers, with the exception of that relating to the readjustment of the representation which was held over for more exhaustive study until another session, were all sanctioned by the house, and by the end of the session the government’s majority had materially increased in the Assembly, while in the Crown-nominated branch, the Legislative Council, much less partisan obstruction was encountered than had been anticipated. Its close left him more firmly seated in the saddle than ever, and with an addition to his prestige and popularity, which has been since largely increased by the marvellous success of his administration as evidenced in the settlement of the long pending dispute with Ontario, respecting the division of the Common School Fund, and the unusually advantageous negotiation of the new provincial loan of three and a half millions. These and a number of other happy incidents of his official career thus far have been attributed by his adversaries to good luck; but there is far more reason to think that they are ascribable to good management. In his profession, Mr. Mercier has risen to the highest honours. He is actually the attorney-general as well as the premier of Quebec. He has been twicebâtonnierof the bar of the Montreal district, and the respect entertained for him by his legal colleagues is so great that they unanimously elevated him not long since to the still more distinguished eminence ofbâtonnier-généralof the bar of the province. It is not given to man to pierce the veil that conceals the future from human ken, but, judging of Mr. Mercier’s future by his past, there is reason to confidently hope for much solid and lasting good to the province of Quebec and indirectly to the Dominion, from his continuation at the head of the public administration of that important member of the Canadian confederation where his presence has already worked a marked change for the better. That he has been the object of serious misrepresentation in the past there can be no manner of doubt. Heralded to the world as the apostle of an advanced radicalism which in reality has no representative in this country, he has not only preached, but practised a different gospel, and in office has proved himself to be unusually moderate and conciliatory, as well as a man of broad and generous views, free from sectionalism, and exceedingly anxious to do justice to all races, classes and creeds, yet fully determined to work out the regeneration of his native province on the great lines of reform which he has ever regarded as essential to that desirable end. Alarmists, for partisan purposes, may affect to believe that he is unfriendly to the rights and privileges of the English speaking minority in the province of Quebec; but he has done nothing yet to warrant that impression, and in the speech which he delivered at St. Hyacinthe, on the 16th June last (1887), during the great demonstration there in his honour, he emitted no uncertain sound on the subject. On that occasion he made use of the following language, which should, it seems, dissipate the last remnant of apprehension, if any be entertained, as to the fair-minded spirit by which he is actuated: —
We have endeavoured during the last session to remove the regrettable prejudices which our enemies have succeeded in creating in the hearts of the Protestant minority against us, and especially against myself. We did not concern ourselves with the injustice of which we have been the victims, and we have always been just and sometimes very liberal towards Protestants. We were determined to revenge acts of injustice by acts of justice, and to answer injuries by acts of kindness and words of courtesy. All the English Protestant members of the legislature, with the exception of one, have systematically and invariably voted against us, and have refused to grant us that “British fair play” of which Englishmen so much boast. This conduct on the part of the minority has not made us deviate from the right path—the path of justice; we have been just towards the minority as if it had been likewise just towards us, and we will continue to give it that “British fair play” which its representatives in the legislature have so constantly refused to accord to us. But let the Protestant minority permit me to say now, before this immense audience, composed for three-fourths of French Canadians and Catholics, that the National Party will respect and cause to be respected the rights of that minority; that the National Party desires to live in peace and harmony with all races and creeds; and that it intends to render justice to all, even to those who refuse to render it in return.
We have endeavoured during the last session to remove the regrettable prejudices which our enemies have succeeded in creating in the hearts of the Protestant minority against us, and especially against myself. We did not concern ourselves with the injustice of which we have been the victims, and we have always been just and sometimes very liberal towards Protestants. We were determined to revenge acts of injustice by acts of justice, and to answer injuries by acts of kindness and words of courtesy. All the English Protestant members of the legislature, with the exception of one, have systematically and invariably voted against us, and have refused to grant us that “British fair play” of which Englishmen so much boast. This conduct on the part of the minority has not made us deviate from the right path—the path of justice; we have been just towards the minority as if it had been likewise just towards us, and we will continue to give it that “British fair play” which its representatives in the legislature have so constantly refused to accord to us. But let the Protestant minority permit me to say now, before this immense audience, composed for three-fourths of French Canadians and Catholics, that the National Party will respect and cause to be respected the rights of that minority; that the National Party desires to live in peace and harmony with all races and creeds; and that it intends to render justice to all, even to those who refuse to render it in return.
In private life the premier of Quebec is a charming conversationalist, and one of the most genial of companions. He has been twice married, firstly, to Léopoldine Boivin, of St. Hyacinthe, who died leaving one daughter; and lastly, to Virginie St. Denis, also of St. Hyacinthe. Madame Mercier is one of the most distinguished members of French Canadian society, and fittingly adorns the prominent position to which she has been called by the side of her eminent husband.
Chamberlain, David Cleveland, Insurance and General Agent, Pembroke, Ontario, was born at Point Fortune, province of Quebec, on the 22nd July, 1838. His father was Hiram Chamberlain, and his mother, Elizabeth Minerva Hayes. The family removed from Point Fortune in 1842, to a place on the Ottawa river, a new settlement in the township of Westmeath, in Renfrew county, then known as the Head of Paquett’s Rapids. Though at the time the place was little better than a wilderness, Mr. Chamberlain, sen., began to manufacture lumber, and successfully carried on this business until his death, which occurred in Quebec city in 1854, from cholera. He left a family consisting of a widow and six children, the subject of our sketch being the eldest. After securing some education at the public school, David engaged himself as clerk with Alexander Fraser, a lumber merchant, who, by the way, subsequently married his sister, and with this gentleman he remained until 1868, when he removed to Pembroke, and began business on his own account as a merchant. He continued to trade until 1876, and then gave up mercantile pursuits, adopting in lieu thereof a general insurance agency. Since then he has worked hard, and has succeeded in building up a profitable business in that line. He now represents in that district of country twelve of the principal English and Canadian fire insurance companies, and the Standard Life Insurance Company of Scotland, doing business in Canada. Outside of business, Mr. Chamberlain has taken a part in the world’s work. He is a member of the Oddfellows’ organization; has been a school trustee; was for twelve years a member of the High School board; treasurer of the township of Westmeath; and at present is treasurer of the school moneys of the town of Pembroke. He belongs to the Methodist denomination; and in politics is a Liberal-Conservative. On January 10, 1860, he married Martha Maria Huntington, daughter of Erastus Huntington, and has a family of five children living.
Angers, Hon. Auguste Réal, Judge of the Superior Court, Quebec, was born in the city of Quebec on the 4th of October, 1838. His father, F. R. Angers, was a lawyer who occupied a distinguished position at the Quebec bar. Justice Angers studied at Nicolet College, in the province of Quebec, and entered his father’s office to study law. He was admitted to the bar in 1860, and practised his profession with marked success in the law firm of Casault, Langlois and Angers. In 1874, he was made a Queen’s counsel. When the Hon. J. E. Cauchon resigned his seat in 1874, the electors of the county of Montmorency elected him to represent them in the provincial parliament. In the same year the Hon. M. de Boucherville was called upon to form a new cabinet, and he offered the portfolio of solicitor general to Mr. Angers, whose brilliant reputation had marked him as a future minister. He accepted, taking the oath on the 22nd of September, and therefore becoming a minister without ever having occupied a seat in parliament. In 1875 Mr. de Boucherville taking a seat in the Legislative Council, the leadership of the Assembly fell into the hands of Mr. Angers, who became attorney-general on the 26th January, 1876. Messrs. Angers and de Boucherville worked harmoniously together, both being scrupulously honest and equally devoted to the public interests. At that time the North Shore Railway, which had been talked about for thirty years, was yet in an embryo state, private enterprise having failed to carry out the scheme; they resolved to build the road as a government work, with the help of the municipalities which had voted liberal grants towards the construction of the road, Montreal and Quebec having given $1,000,000 each. The wonderful debating powers of Mr. Angers, and his keen foresight in looking upon this railway as the future link of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and probably of a direct route to the seaboard, helped to carry the measure. Thanks to the construction of the North Shore Railway, Montreal, the metropolis of Canada, and Quebec becamede factothe terminal points of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and since the completion of this gigantic national highway, Montreal has added 40,000 to her population. As a legislator, Mr. Angers ranks among the foremost representative men of the Dominion; the Electoral Act and the Controverted Elections Act bear testimony to his intimate knowledge of law. The former act has been universally admitted by the courts to be superior to the Dominion act, while the latter ranks equally high. Theenquêteis made before one judge only, and the case is pleaded before three judges, whose decision is final, whereas in the case of the Federal law, a controverted election case that can be carried in appeal to the Supreme Court is distasteful to the people of the province of Quebec, and an appeal invariably entails long delays and enormous costs. The Superannuated Fund law, providing for the widows and orphans of civil servants, is also due to Mr. Angers. This law is now in force, and gives satisfaction to all the parties concerned. Not the least important of the laws introduced by Mr. Angers, and carried through the Lower House, in 1876, was the act framed by the government concerning education, and giving control to both Catholics and Protestants over their respective educational matters. It was mainly due to his efforts that the new departmental buildings were erected in Quebec, this being a guarantee that the historic city and the capital of letters of the Dominion will permanently retain the seat of provincial government. Montreal and many other municipalities having failed to meet their obligations with respect to the grants they had voted to the North Shore Railway, a measure was introduced during the session of 1877-8, to compel these municipalities to hand over the amounts they owed to the provincial treasury. Great importance was attached to this measure, inasmuch as the province would have had to pay the large amounts subscribed by the municipalities if the latter were allowed to evade their just liabilities. This bill, however, as well as another government measure having for its object an increase of revenue, created some agitation in political circles. The lieutenant-governor, Mr. Letellier de Saint-Just, a strong Liberal partisan, who had been a bitter enemy of the Conservative party during twenty years, dismissed the de Boucherville administration from power on divers pretexts, proved groundless since, alleging among other pretences, that the premier had not obtained the consent of the Crown before introducing the two measures above mentioned. It was shown afterwards that Mr. de Boucherville had obtained from the lieutenant-governor a blank form for the introduction of the government’s financial measures. On the dismissal of Mr. de Boucherville, the subject of our sketch took the leadership of the Conservative opposition, and caused the legislature to adopt several votes of want of confidence in the Liberal government, with Mr. Joly as premier. The latter appealed to the electorate, and at the general election held on the 28th of May, 1878, Mr. Angers was defeated in his constituency (Montmorency) by a vote of twelve. His defeat was due partly to the united energies of the Liberal party, and partly to the influence of the city of Quebec, whose million Mr. Angers had endeavoured to obtain for the province, were thrown in the balance against him. Thoroughly convinced that the conduct of the lieutenant-governor was contrary to the usages of responsible government, and that such a precedent would prove dangerous to provincial rights, Mr. Angers determined to bend his energies towards procuring the dismissal of Mr. Letellier, and when Sir John A. Macdonald came into power at Ottawa, at the general elections of 1878, he (Mr. Angers), together with Hon. J. A. Ouimet (now Speaker, 1887), and the late Hon. Justice Mousseau, took steps to attain that object, and their efforts were crowned with success. In 1880, Mr. Angers was elected a member of the House of Commons for the county of Montmorency by an enormous majority, and after sitting one session, was elevated to the bench, to the great regret of his friends who had every reason to believe that a brilliant political career was still in store for him. After the election of 1886, the provincial premiership was offered to Mr. Angers, but as his acceptance of the post involved a question of principle, he did not feel inclined to accept it, and on the Hon. L. O. Taillon’s resignation, Mr. Mercier was offered the position, which he accepted. The parliamentary career of Mr. Angers showed that as a debater he had no superior, and few equals in the country. A generous heart, a manly, straightforward character, an unblemished reputation, profound legal learning, such are the sterling qualities that will make of Mr. Angers an honour and an ornament to the Canadian bench. It may be added that he is a Canadian, in the sense it is understood by the men who intend to make this Dominion a great country.
Wood, Robert Edwin, Barrister, Peterboro’, Ontario, was born on the 31st of August, 1847, in the township of South Monaghan, county of Northumberland. His father, Robert Wood, emigrated from Yorkshire, England, and settled in South Monaghan, in 1833, and died in 1857. His mother was Sarah Armstrong, of Monaghan, Ireland. Robert was educated at the Cobourg Grammar School and Victoria College. He graduated in arts in 1873, and immediately afterwards entered the law office of the late John Coyne, then M.P.P. for the county of Peel. Upon this gentleman’s death, he entered the office of the late W. H. Scott, M.P.P., Peterboro’, and afterwards studied with Edward Martin, Q.C., Hamilton. He passed his final examination in Trinity term, 1876, but owing to the fact that only two years and nine months had elapsed between his primary and final examination, he could not be called to the bar until Michaelmas term of the same year. He then commenced the practice of law in Peterboro’, in September, 1876, and has so continued to the present. He has a large and increasing practice, and owes his present position mainly to his own energy and exertions. In March, 1886, upon the elevation of C. A. Weller to the bench, he received from the Ontario government the appointment of county crown attorney, and clerk of the peace for the county of Peterboro’ (on the 31st of March, 1886.) Mr. Wood takes a deep interest in Masonry, and is master of Corinthian lodge, No. 101, A. F. and A. M. He was master of the same lodge in 1883. Prior to his present appointment to office, he took a leading part in all parliamentary contests, on the Reform side, principally in advocating the principles of this party from the platform. Mr. Wood is an adherent of the Presbyterian church. He was married on the 17th of February, 1881, to Henrietta Frances, daughter of the late Philip Roblin, of Rednersville, Prince Edward county, Ontario.
Flynn, Hon. Edmund James, Q.C., LL.D., Quebec, M.P.P. for Gaspé county, is a native of the county he so ably represents in the Quebec legislature, having been born at Percé, on the 16th of November, 1847. His father, the late James Flynn, who was of Irish descent, was during his lifetime a trader and farmer in Percé, the place of his birth. His mother, Elizabeth Tostevin, was also a native of Percé, though her father was from the island of Guernsey, one of the English channel islands in Europe. The Hon. Mr. Flynn was educated at the Quebec Seminary, and at the Laval University, Quebec, graduating with honours, having taken at Laval the degree of master-in-law (LL.L.), in July, 1873. And Laval again, in 1878, presented him with the degree of LL.D. He adopted law as a profession, and in September, 1873, he was called to the bar of Quebec, and has ever since continued to practice as barrister, etc., in the ancient capital. Previous to this time, he, from 1867 to 1869, held the positions of deputy-registrar, deputy-prothonotary, deputy-clerk of the Circuit Court of the Crown and of the Peace, for the county of Gaspé, conjointly with that of secretary-treasurer of Percé municipality. He has been a professor of Roman law in Laval University since 1874. From the 29th of October, 1879, to the 31st of July, 1882, he was commissioner of Crown Lands for the province of Quebec; commissioner of Railways, from the 11th of February, 1884, till July, 1885, and solicitor-general from 12th May, 1885, till the 20th of January, 1887. The Hon. Mr. Flynn was made a Queen’s counsel in 1887. He has taken an active part in political affairs for the past fourteen years, and has been a candidate at eight different elections for Gaspé county. First in 1874, when he presented himself as a candidate for a seat in the House of Commons at Ottawa, but afterwards withdrew from the field when he was made a professor in Laval University, considering it incompatible to hold both offices. Again in 1875 and 1877, for the Quebec legislature, when he was defeated after a very severe contest, there being only small majorities against him, especially in 1877. This election he contested, and unseated his opponent; and the following year, on the 29th of April, he was elected by acclamation. On his entering the Chapleau cabinet in the fall of 1879, as commissioner of Crown Lands, he was again elected by acclamation. At the general election held in 1881, Mr. Flynn was once more elected by acclamation. On his accepting office in the Ross cabinet in 1884, which necessitated an appeal to the electorate, he was stoutly opposed by Major John Slous, but he beat this gentleman by a majority of 988 votes. At the general election held in October, 1886, he once more presented himself for election, and was returned by acclamation by his old friends at Gaspé. The Hon. Mr. Flynn has always been in principle a Liberal-Conservative. By his struggles in the county of Gaspé, he has succeeded in securing for the electors complete freedom and independence in the exercise of their franchise, which had been affected by the interference of certain large commercial firms. In the legislature the part played by Hon. Mr. Flynn has been most prominent as regards constitutional questions in particular. He has won for himself the well-deserved reputation of being a strong and energetic upholder of constitutional liberty; in proof of this it will suffice to refer to his noble and manly defence of the liberty of the press in the case of theNouvelliste, in 1885, and his most eloquent speech on the question of Home Rule for Ireland, etc. His attention has been given to many other subjects of importance, such as that of colonization, which he has always and ever endeavoured to promote. He is the author of a homestead law for the benefit of settlers. His administration of the crown lands was marked with an increase in the revenue, increase in the value of timber limits, mineral lands,—and by many useful rules and regulations, calculated to promote colonization and the welfare of the many persons in the province who are occupiers of crown lands. Many other important measures were framed by him and carried through the legislature through him, namely: The Quebec General Mining Act of 1880; several acts concerning the crown lands, railways, the protection of forests, and encouragement of planting of trees, etc. He has also always taken a most lively interest in the question of the construction of a railway from Metapedia, on the Intercolonial Railway to Paspébiac and Gaspé Basin. Grants in land were secured in 1882, whilst he was commissioner of Crown Lands, and the same were converted into money grants under his auspices as commissioner of railways. He believes that in the construction of this line rests the future welfare of the population of the Gaspé peninsula. His travels have been always directed towards the acquisition of a complete knowledge of Canada, and the different parts thereof. In religion he is a Roman Catholic. He was married on the 11th May, 1875, to Maria Mathilde Augustine, daughter of Augustin Coté, editor ofLe Journal de Québec, and niece to the late Hon. Joseph Cauchon, heretofore lieutenant-governor of Manitoba, etc. He has had eight children, of whom six are still living. He resides in Quebec city.
Hanington, Hon. Daniel L., Q.C., M.P.P. for the county of Westmoreland, residence, Dorchester, New Brunswick, was born at Shediac, N.B., on the 27th June, 1835. His father, Colonel Hanington, was for long years a member of the Assembly and Legislative Council of New Brunswick; and his mother Margaret Peters, a daughter of William Peters, a U. E. loyalist, who for years represented Queens county in the New Brunswick legislature. Daniel, the subject of this sketch, received a Grammar School and academic education at Shediac and Sackville, in his native county. After leaving school he commenced the study of law with Charles Fisher, attorney-general, of Fredericton, and finished with Judge A. L. Palmer, of Dorchester; was called to the bar of New Brunswick in 1861; and on the 11th November, 1881, was appointed a Queen’s counsel. Mr. Hanington has been very successful in his profession, and has a large practice in the courts of his native province, and as counsel in Nova Scotia and in the Supreme Court of the Dominion. From 1867 to 1870 he occupied the position of clerk of circuits and clerk of the county court of Westmoreland, when he resigned those offices to contest the election of that year, and was chosen to represent the county of Westmoreland in the New Brunswick House of Assembly. He sat therein until the summer of 1874, when on again appealing for re-election, he was defeated on the “Bible and religious instruction in the Common Schools” question, which he advocated. However, he was again chosen at the general elections of 1878, 1882, and 1886, to represent his old constituency. In July, 1878, he was appointed a member of the Executive Council; and on the 25th May, of the year 1882, he became premier. In February, 1883, he resigned office with his colleagues. Mr. Hanington has always taken a deep interest in educational matters, and for about seventeen years was a school trustee. In politics he is a Liberal of the old New Brunswick school of politicians; is a supporter of the Liberal-Conservative government at Ottawa, and took an active part in the last Dominion election. He is an adherent of the Episcopal church, which he represents in the Diocesan and also the Provincial Synod. In October, 1861, Hon. Mr. Hanington was married to Emily Myers, daughter of Thomas Robert Wetmore, barrister-at-law, and judge of probate, Gagetown, N.B. The fruits of this marriage have been seven children, three sons and four daughters.
Mellish, John Thomas, M.A., Halifax, Nova Scotia, was born at Pownal, Prince Edward Island, on January 26th, 1841. He is the eldest son of the late James Lewis Mellish, of the same place, and Margaret Sophia, his wife, daughter of John Murray, formerly of Tullamore, Ireland; grandson of Thomas Mellish, known in his day as “a most loyal British subject, and a devoted adherent of the Church of England;” and great grandson of Thomas Mellish, an officer of the British army, and member of an old and highly respectable English family, who settled on Prince Edward Island in 1770. Captain Mellish was for many years provost marshal or sheriff of the island, collector of customs, and a member of the Legislative Assembly. An interesting trial took place at Charlottetown, in the early part of 1779, arising from his seizure of the convoy shipDuchess of Gordon, for smuggling. He took an active interest in the defence of the colony during the American war, and was on military duty, assisting in raising troops at Halifax and Fort Cumberland, during the winter of 1779-80, returning to the island in the following spring. James Lewis Mellish, the father of John Thomas Mellish, died on the 14th June, 1886, in the seventy-ninth year of his age. His mother, a native of New York, was a daughter of the late James Lewis Hayden, J.P., a loyalist, who removed from Shelburne, N.S., to the island in 1785, having left New York in 1783. A newspaper extract says: “We have to record the death of one of our oldest and most highly respected citizens. James L. Mellish, Esq., late of Pownal, departed this life on the 14th inst., at the residence of his son, Stewiacke, N.S., whither he had gone a short time before on a visit. His remains were brought home for interment. In his death the community loses a most worthy and upright citizen. Energy, strength and integrity were united in his character. From his youth up he was a devoted and active member and office-holder of the Methodist church. He spent his life for the most part on his farm at the place of his birth. Mr. Mellish married, March 25th, 1840, Miss Margaret Sophia Murray, a lady of strong mind and superior attainments, of whose companionship he was deprived by death about ten years ago. Their married life was blessed with ten children, each one of whom is to-day occupying a position of usefulness and responsibility.” John Thomas Mellish, the subject of our sketch, was educated at Prince of Wales College, Charlottetown, and Mount Allison College, Sackville, New Brunswick, and holds from the latter the degrees of B.A. and M.A. On the opening of Cumberland County Academy, Amherst, Nova Scotia, in 1865, Mr. Mellish, who had been teaching at Guysborough, was selected to fill the position of head master, but resigned in 1870, in order to accept a situation in Mount Allison College and Male Academy, and was head master of this academy from 1871 to 1874. In the latter year, he was appointed on his own terms to the principalship of Albro Street School, Halifax, the largest school in the province. At the close of 1880, the strain of constant school work on Mr. Mellish’s health compelled him to place his resignation in the hands of the Halifax school commissioners, although that body the year before had raised his salary for the third time, and designated him to the position in the High School, vacated by the late Dr. H. A. Bayne, on his appointment to the Royal Military College, Kingston. Official records and reports testify to the great value of Mr. Mellish’s services in the cause of education. The Superior School grant was awarded to him when at Guysborough, his school being ranked as best in the county. While in charge of the academy at Amherst, he prepared a large number of students to matriculate in the different colleges, and a still larger number to pass the examinations for teachers’ licenses, from the academy or grade A license down. The last year he was at Mount Allison, it was found necessary to add six additional dormitories, in order to accommodate the increased number of boarders in the academy. Mr. Mellish has in his possession not less than a dozen complimentary addresses and quite a number of pieces of plate, books, &c., presented to him by his pupils, on anniversary and other occasions. In the summer of 1874, he made the tour of Great Britain and Ireland, and has since delivered on many occasions a lecture entitled, “My Visit to Scotland.” He frequently lectures on different subjects, and contributes to the newspaper press; is the author of various papers and pamphlets on educational and kindred topics, and of several papers on scientific subjects, published in the Transactions of the Nova Scotia Institute of Natural Science; is a member of the institute, and was associate secretary with the Rev. D. Honeyman, D.C.L., in 1875-80; has been president of the Teachers’ Institutes, at different places; is a magistrate, and a local examiner of the University of London; was for several years a vice-president of the Halifax Young Men’s Christian Association; and is a lay preacher of the Methodist church. Mr. Mellish married, July 18th, 1867, Martha Jane, only surviving daughter of the late Benjamin Chappell, of Charlottetown. They have six children living,—Arthur, Alfred Ernest, Mary Sophia, Anne Elizabeth, Martha Louise, and Frances, and one, John Thomas, died in infancy. All the children old enough are going to school. Arthur belongs to No. 3 Co., 82nd battalion militia, and with his company was called out and ordered to proceed to the front during the North-West rebellion. Every preparation was made to start, but after the company had been in barracks about a fortnight, the order was countermanded on account of the capture of Riel. Mr. Mellish has four brothers and five sisters: Rev. I. M. Mellish, Methodist minister, Nova Scotia conference, formerly captain in reserve militia; H. Pope, farmer, Stewiacke; James Roland, chief agent British American Book and Tract Society, Halifax; Humphrey, mathematical master, Pictou Academy, B.A., of Dalhousie College, matriculated with honours, first division in London University; Anne, wife of J. L. Archibald, J.P., of Halifax; Catharine Douglas, wife of Philip Large, Charlottetown; Mary (widow of the late A. N. Archibald, of Halifax), chief preceptress Mount Allison Ladies’ College, Sackville, New Brunswick; Martha Janet, and Margaret Elizabeth, unmarried.
Moody, Rev. John Thomas Tidmarsh, D.D., Rector of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. This deceased divine was born at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the 25th of March, 1804. His father, John Moody, who was one of the earliest merchants of Halifax, was born in New York, June 19th, 1779. His great grandfather, John Moody, was born in London, and also his grandfather, Thomas Moody, were loyalists. The family came to Nova Scotia about the year 1783. His mother was Mary R. Tidmarsh, of Halifax. His parents were married in 1800, and both lived to a great age, Mr. Moody to his 92nd and Mrs. Moody to her 86th year. The Rev. Dr. Moody received his education at King’s College, Windsor; took his B.A. degree in 1824; M.A. in 1833, and had the degree of D.D. (hon.) conferred, at the Encœnia of 1883, only a few months before his death. He was ordained deacon by the Rt. Rev. John Inglis, D.D., bishop of Nova Scotia, who also ordained him priest in the following year. Immediately after his ordination as deacon, he was appointed to the rectorship of Liverpool, N.S., where he succeeded the Rev. W. Twining, the first rector, and had charge of this parish for nearly twenty years. His work was largely of a missionary character throughout the county of Queens; and he was also chairman of the board of school commissioners during that time. Before leaving Liverpool he had the satisfaction of seeing his parish church much enlarged, two chapels and several school-houses erected in the rural districts, and the communicants increased from 19 to 200. Rev. Dr. Moody’s second appointment was that of rector of Yarmouth, in 1846. This position he held to the time of his death, which took place, suddenly, of apoplexy, on the morning of the 18th of October, 1883. During this period he saw the number of communicants in his parish more than trebled, and baptized, during his ministry of fifty-one years, considerably over 2,000 persons. The present parish church, which bears the name of Holy Trinity, was consecrated in 1872 by the late Rt. Rev. Hibbert Binney, D.D., bishop of Nova Scotia. It is a very handsome brick structure, in the early English period of architecture, and will seat about 700 persons. There are also two handsome school-houses in this parish. The church property is valued at about $40,000. One of the most pleasing events of his later years was the celebration of his golden wedding, on Tuesday, 14th of September, 1880. His surviving children were all present on that occasion. His parishioners and other friends took that opportunity of presenting him and his estimable wife with a cordial address, accompanied with a valuable present, as a slight token of their affectionate respect. We quote the following from his obituary notice, which appeared in the YarmouthHeraldof Oct. 25th, 1883: —