Top
Senator Macpherson is a member of the famous sept whose hereditary feud with the McTavishes forms an episode in the history of the Highland clans, and likewise forms the groundwork of one of the most characteristic of Professor Aytoun's ballads. He is the youngest son of the late David Macpherson, of Castle Leathers, near Inverness, Scotland, where he was born on the 12th of September, 1818. He received his education at the Royal Academy of Inverness. He was enterprising and ambitious, and upon leaving school, in his seventeenth year, he emigrated to Canada, where one of his elder brothers had long been established in a very lucrative business as the senior partner in the firm of Macpherson, Crane & Co., of Montreal. The business carried on by this firm was known in those days as "forwarding," and consisted of conveying merchandise from one part of the country to another. They performed the greater part of the carrying business which is now conducted by the various railway companies, and their operations were on a very extensive scale. Their wagons were to be found on all the principal highways, and their vessels were seen in every lake, harbour, and important river from Montreal to the mouth of the Niagara, and up the Ottawa as far as Bytown. The future senator entered the service of this firm immediately after his arrival in the country, and remained in it as a clerk for seven years, when (in 1842) he was admitted as a partner. He directed such of the operations of the firm as came under his supervision with great energy and judgment, and achieved a decided pecuniary success. When the railway era set in, and threatened to divert the course of trade from its old channels, he seized the salient points of the situation, and began to interest himself in the various railway projects of the times. In conjunction with the late Mr. Holton and the present Sir Alexander Galt, he in 1851 obtained a charter for constructing a line of railway from Montreal to Kingston. This scheme was subsequently merged in the larger one of the Grand Trunk, and the charter which had been granted to the Montreal and Kingston Company was repealed. The principal members of that Company, including the subject of this sketch, then allied themselves with Mr. Gzowski, under the style of Gzowski & Co., and on the 24th of March, 1853, obtained a contract for constructing a line of railway westward from Toronto to Sarnia. Mr. Macpherson then removed to Toronto, where he has ever since resided. The result of the railway contract was to make him thoroughly independent of the world, and it is only justice to himself and his partners to say that the contract was faithfully carried out.
In conjunction with Mr. Gzowski, Mr. Macpherson has since engaged in the constructionof several important undertakings, among which may be mentioned the railway from Port Huron to Detroit, the London and St. Mary's Railway, and the International Bridge across the Niagara River at Buffalo. Mr. Macpherson was also a partner in the Toronto Rolling Mills Company which was conducted with great success until the introduction of steel rails caused its products to be no longer in great demand.
David Lewis Macpherson, signed as D. L. Macpherson
Mr. Macpherson has never been known as a very pronounced partisan in political matters, though his leanings have always been towards Conservatism, and on purely political questions he has been a supporter of that side. The structure of his mind, however, unfits him for dealing effectively with party politics, and he never appears to less advantage than when he ascends the party platform. His natural bent is the practical. He believes in building up the country by means of great public works, and in making it a desirable place of residence. His entry into public life dates from October, 1864, when he successfully contested the Saugeen Division for the Legislative Council. He was at first opposed by the Hon. John McMurrich, who had represented the Division for eight years previously. That gentleman, however, retired from the contest, and another Reform candidate took the field, in the person of Mr. George Snider, of Owen Sound. His opposition was not serious, and Mr. Macpherson was returned by a majority of more than 1,200 votes. He sat in the Council for the Saugeen Division until Confederation, when, in May, 1867, he was called to the Senate by Royal Proclamation. He has ever since been a prominent member of that Body, and has taken an intelligent part in its discussions. His speeches on Confederation, and on the settlement of the waste lands of the Crown, were broad and liberal in tone, and won for him the respect of many persons who had previously known nothing of him beyond the fact of his being a remarkably successful railway contractor. In 1868, at the instance of the Ontario Government, he was appointed one of the arbitrators to whom, in the terms of the British North America Act, was to be referred the adjustment of the public debt and assets between the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec. With him were associated the Hon. Charles Dewey Day, on behalf of the Province of Quebec, and the Hon. John Hamilton Gray—now one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of British Columbia—on behalf of the Dominion. The case on the part of Ontario was elaborately prepared by the Hon. E. B. Wood. Senator Macpherson discharged his duties as an arbitrator with perfect fairness and impartiality, alike to the Dominion and to the Province which he represented. The conclusion arrived at by him and the arbitrator on behalf of the Dominion, however, was not accepted by Mr. Day on behalf of the Province of Quebec. It was accordingly contended by that Province that the award was nugatory for want of unanimity. The matter was appealed to the Privy Council in England, and the decision of that body was confirmatory of the award. In 1869 he published a pamphlet on Banking and Currency, which was widely read and commented upon.
After British Columbia became an integral part of the Dominion in 1871, Senator Macpherson entered into negotiations with the Government at Ottawa with a view to obtaining the contract for constructing the Canadian Pacific Railway. A rival applicant for the contract was Sir Hugh Allan of Montreal. The subsequent history of the negotiations is too well known to need much recapitulation in this place. The Government contracted obligations to Sir Hugh Allan which were nullified by its fall in the month of November, 1873. Senator Macpherson not unnaturally felt himself aggrieved at the treatment to which he had been subjected,and for some time the cordial relations between him and his old political associates were interrupted. After a brief interval, however, harmony was reëstablished between them, and Senator Macpherson's support has ever since been loyally accorded. During the five years' existence of the Mackenzie Administration his opposition to that Administration was very conspicuous. On the 19th of March, 1878, he called attention in the Senate to the public expenditure of the Dominion; more especially to that part of it which is largely under administrative control. He arraigned the Government policy as extravagant and indefensible, and his remarks gave rise to a long and acrimonious debate. Senator Macpherson's speech on the occasion was considered by the Conservative Party as being one of exceptional power and research. It was published in pamphlet form, and distributed broadcast throughout the land. It was used as a campaign document during the canvass prior to the elections of the 17th of September, and was replied to by the Hon. R. W. Scott, Secretary of State. On another occasion during the same session the Senator assailed the policy of Mr. Mackenzie's Government with respect to the construction of the Fort Francis Lock, and other public works in the North-West. On the 10th of February, 1880, he was elected Speaker of the Senate, which position he now holds. Almost immediately after his election he was prostrated by a serious illness, and in order that business might not be interrupted he temporarily resigned office, the duties of which were for the time discharged by the Hon. A. E. Botsford.
In the month of June, 1844, he married Miss Elizabeth Sarah Molson, eldest daughter of Mr. William Molson, of Montreal, and granddaughter of the Hon. John Molson, who owned and (in 1809) launchedThe Accommodation, the first steamer that ever plied in Canadian waters. By this lady he has a family. He is connected with various important public and financial institutions, being a member of the Corporation of Hellmuth College, London; a Director of Molson's Bank; and of the Western Canada Permanent Building and Savings Society. He has been Vice-President of the Montreal Board of Trade, and President of the St. Andrew's Society of Toronto.
Top
The present representative of North Brant in the Ontario Legislature is a native Canadian who has made a creditable reputation for himself in various walks of life. His Parliamentary career has been more than moderately successful, and ever since his first entry into public life, his speeches in the House have been listened to with an attention seldom accorded to those of members of his age. As a public lecturer he enjoys a more than local reputation, and as a journalist he deservedly occupies a place in the front rank.
He is of Scottish descent, and is the eldest son of the late Mr. John Young, who emigrated from Roxboroughshire to the township of Dumfries, in what was then the Gore District, in 1834. His mother's maiden name was Jeanie Bell. The late Mr. Young settled in Galt, where he engaged in business, and resided until his death in February, 1859. The subject of this sketch was born in Galt on the 24th of May, 1835, and has ever since resided there. He was educated at the public schools in that town. He early displayed great fondness for books, and has ever since found time for private study, notwithstanding the multifarious labours of an exacting profession.
In his youth he had a predilection for the study of the law, but finding it impracticable to carry out his wishes, he chose the printing business, which he began to learn in his sixteenth year. When he was eighteen he purchased the DumfriesReformer, which he thenceforward conducted for about ten years. Under his management this paper—the politics whereof are sufficiently indicated by its name—attained great local influence, and was the means of making him known beyond the limits of the county of Waterloo. During the earlier part of his proprietorship the political articles in the paper were written by one of his friends, Mr. Young himself taking the general supervision, and contributing the local news. Upon the completion of his twentieth year he took the entire editorial control, which he retained until 1863, by which time his labours had somewhat affected his health. He then disposed of theReformer, and retired from the press for a time. He soon afterwards went into the manufacturing business, and became the principal partner in the Victoria Steam Bending Works, Galt, which he carried on successfully for about five years.
During his connection with theReformerhe had necessarily taken a conspicuous part in the discussion of political questions, and his paper was an important factor in determining the results of the local election contests. He frequently "took the stump" on behalf of the Reform candidate, and was known throughout the county as a ready and graceful speaker. He took a conspicuous part in municipal affairs, and for six years sat in the Town Council. He was an active member of the School Board, and devotedmuch time to educational matters. He also took special interest in commercial and trade questions, on which he came to be regarded as a competent authority. In 1857 the Hamilton Mercantile Library Association offered a prize of fifty dollars for the best essay on the agricultural resources of the country. Mr. Young competed for, and won the prize, and the essay was immediately afterwards published under the title of "The Agricultural Resources of Canada, and the inducements they offer to British labourers intending to emigrate to this Continent." It was very favourably reviewed by the Canadian press, and was the means of greatly extending the author's reputation. Eight years later (in 1865) the proprietors of the MontrealTrade Reviewoffered two prizes for essays on the Reciprocity Treaty, which was then about to expire. Mr. Young sent in an essay to which the second prize was awarded. His success on this occasion procured him an invitation to the Commercial Convention held that year at Detroit, and he thus had an opportunity of hearing the great speech of the Hon. Joseph Howe.
He first entered Parliament in 1867, when he was nominated by the Reformers of South Waterloo as their candidate for the House of Commons. Mr. Young would have preferred to enter the Local Legislature, but accepted the nomination, and addressed himself vigorously to the campaign. It was the first election under Confederation, and he was opposed by Mr. James Cowan, a Reform Coalitionist, who was also a local candidate of great influence. Mr. Young had to encounter a fierce opposition, the Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald, the Hon. William McDougall and the present Sir William Howland taking the field on one occasion on behalf of Mr. Cowan. These formidable opponents were courageously encountered by Mr. Young single-handed, or with such local assistance as could be procured. He was elected by a majority of 366 votes. When Parliament met in the following November he made his maiden speech in the House on the Address. He also took a conspicuous part in the debates of the session, and materially strengthened his position among his constituents. He was twice reëlected by acclamation; first at the general election of 1872, and again in 1874, after the accession to power of Mr. Mackenzie's Government. Of that Government he was a loyal and earnest supporter throughout. He was Chairman of the Committee on Public Accounts for five consecutive sessions, and after the death of Mr. Scatcherd became Chairman of the House when in Committee of Supply. Among his principal speeches in Parliament were those on the Intercolonial Railway, the Ballot, the admission of British Columbia, with special reference to the construction of the Pacific Railway in ten years, the Treaty of Washington (which was unsparingly condemned), the Pacific Scandal, the Budget of 1874, the naturalization of Germans and other aliens, and the Tariff question. Soon after entering Parliament he proposed the abolition of the office of Queen's Printer and the letting of the departmental printing by tender. This was ultimately carried, and effected a large saving in the annual expenditure. In 1871 he submitted a Bill to confirm the naturalization of all aliens who had taken the oaths of allegiance and residence prior to Confederation, which became law. In 1873 he brought in a measure to provide for votes being taken by ballot. The Government subsequently took up the question and carried it. On two occasions the House of Commons unanimously concurred in Addresses to Her Majesty, prepared by him, praying that the Imperial Government would take steps to confer upon German and other naturalized citizens in all parts of the world the same rights as subjects of British birth, the law then and still being that they haveno claim on British protection whenever they pass beyond British territory. In 1874 he proposed a committee and report which resulted in the publication of the Debates of the House of Commons, contending that the people have as much right to know how their representatives speak in Parliament as how they vote.
At the election of 1878, chiefly through a cry for a German representative, he was for the first time defeated. In the following spring, the general election for the Ontario Legislature came on, and Mr. Young was requested by the Reformers of the North Riding of Brant, to become their candidate in the Local House. He at first declined, but on the nomination being proffered a second time, he accepted it, and was returned by a majority of 344. He still sits in the Local House as the representative of North Brant.
For many years Mr. Young's services have been in request as a writer and public speaker. He has contributed occasionally to theCanadian Monthly, and has been a regular contributor for many years to some of our leading commercial journals, the articles being chiefly upon the trade and development of the country. He has also appeared upon the platform as a lecturer upon literary and scientific subjects. As a political speaker he has been heard in many different parts of the Province, throughout which he now enjoys a very wide circle of acquaintance. He has held and still holds many positions of honour and trust. He is a Director of the Confederation Life Association, and of the Canada Landed Credit Company; has been President, and is now a Vice-President of the Sabbath School Association of Canada; is President of the Gore District Mutual Fire Insurance Company; has for ten years been President of the Associated Mechanics' Institutes of Ontario; and is a member of the Council of the Agricultural and Arts Association. Last year Mr. Young wrote and published a little volume of 272 pages, entitled "Reminiscences of the Early History of Galt and the Settlement of Dumfries." Apart from the fact that works of this class deserve encouragement in Canada, Mr. Young's book has special merits which are not always found in connection with Canadian local annals. It is written in a pleasant and interesting style which makes it readable even to persons who know nothing of the district whereof it treats. In religion, Mr. Young is a member of the Presbyterian Church. From his youth he has had a marked attachment to Liberal opinions in political matters. He regards the people as the true source of power, and believes in the famous dictum of Canning, that if Parliament rejects improvements because they are innovations, the day will come when they will have to accept innovations which are no improvements. On the Trade question he occupies moderate ground, believing that the true fiscal policy for a young country like Canada is neither absolute Protection nor absolute Free Trade, but a moderate revenue tariff incidentally encouraging native industries. He strongly favours the Federal element in the Constitution, and the retention of the Local Legislatures, but advocates the reform of the Senate. He earnestly desires to continue the present connection with Great Britain, but believes that if this should ever become impossible, Canada has a destiny of its own, as a North American power, which all true Canadians will seek earnestly to support. During 1875 Mr. Young was offered the appointment of Canadian Commissioner to the Centennial Exhibition of the United States, but declined this as well as other positions, so that he might be perfectly untrammelled in his action as one of the representatives of the people.
On the 11th of February, 1858, Mr. Young married Miss Margaret McNaught, daughter of Mr. John McNaught, of Brantford.
Top
Mr. Perry's name is not widely known to the present generation of Canadians; to such of them, at least, as reside beyond the limits of the district in which the busiest years of his life were passed. Students of our history are familiar with the most salient passages in his public life, and regard his memory with respect, for he was a genuine man, who did good service to the cause of constitutional government. A few of his old colleagues are still among us, and can remember his vigorous, earnest eloquence when any conspicuous occasion called it forth. For the general public, however, nothing of him survives except his name. This partial oblivion is one of the "revenges" wrought by "the whirligig of time." From forty to fifty years ago there was no name better known throughout the whole of Upper Canada; and, in Reform constituencies, there was no name more potent wherewith to conjure during an election campaign. Peter Perry was closely identified with the original formation of the Reform Party in Upper Canada, and for more than a quarter of a century he continued to be one of its foremost members. During the last ten or twelve years of his life he was to some extent overshadowed by the figure of Robert Baldwin, whose lofty character, unselfish aims, and high social position combined to place him on a sort of pedestal. But Peter Perry continued to the very last to be an important factor in the ranks of his Party. He was a man of extreme opinions, and was never slow to express them. The exigencies of the times were favourable to strong beliefs. The politician who halted between two opinions in those days was tolerably certain to share the fate of the old man in the fable, who in trying to please everybody succeeded in pleasing nobody. Peter Perry stood in no danger of such a doom. He made a good many enemies by his plain speaking, but he was likewise rich in friends, and could generally hold his own with the best. He was implicitly trusted by his own Party, and was always ready to fight its battles, whether within the walls of Parliament or without.
He was a native Upper Canadian, and was born at Ernestown, about fifteen miles from Kingston, in the year 1793, during the early part of Governor Simcoe's Administration. His father, Robert Perry, was a U. E. Loyalist, who came over from the State of New York a few years before this time, and settled near the foot of the Bay of Quinté. Robert Perry was a farmer, well known in that district for his enterprise, public spirit, and devotion to his principles. He died just before the consummation of the Union of the Provinces. His son was brought up to farming pursuits, and early had to struggle with the many difficulties which beset the path of the founders of Upper Canada. The only means of tuition for boys in the rural districts inthose days were the public schools, and throughout his life the subject of this sketch laboured under the disadvantages inseparable from an imperfect educational training. He grew up to manhood with little knowledge derived from books, and continued to devote himself to agricultural pursuits until he had reached middle life. When he was only twenty-one years of age he married Miss Mary Ham, the daughter of a U. E. Loyalist of that neighbourhood. This lady, by whom he had a numerous family, is still living, and has reached the advanced age of eighty-five years. Mr. John Ham Perry, who long held the position of Registrar of the county of Ontario, is one of the fruits of this marriage.
Peter Perry took a warm interest in politics, and early acquired a local reputation for much native sagacity and strength of character. He was a fluent, although somewhat coarse, speaker on the platform, and was an awkward antagonist to the local supporters of the Family Compact. He was an intimate friend and coadjutor of Barnabas Bidwell and his son Marshall, and in 1824 assisted in organizing the nucleus of the Reform Party. During the same year he entered public life as one of the representatives of the United Counties of Lennox and Addington in the Assembly of Upper Canada. He soon established for himself a reputation there as one of the most vehement champions of Reform. His denunciations of the Compact were frequent and energetic, and the Party in power dreaded his sharp and vigorous tongue even more than that of his friend Marshall Spring Bidwell, who was his colleague in the representation of Lennox and Addington. His first vote in the Assembly was recorded on behalf of Mr. John Willson, of Wentworth, who was the Reform candidate for the Speakership, and who was elected to that position as successor to Mr. Sherwood. The vote on this question was a fair test of the strength of parties in the Assembly, and for the first time the adherents of the Compact found themselves in a minority. It will be understood, however, that the victory of the Reformers was rather nominal than real, as there was no such thing as Responsible Government in those days, and the advisers of the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Peregrine Maitland, were permitted to retain their places in the Council, notwithstanding that they did not possess the confidence of a majority in the Assembly. Against such a state of things the Reformers of Upper Canada vainly struggled for many years. Mr. Perry was one of the "fighting men," and hurled his anathemas broadcast during the Administrations of Sir Peregrine Maitland and Sir John Colborne. His speeches were like himself, bold and impetuous, and, notwithstanding the strict party lines of the period, votes were frequently won by the sheer force of his oratory. He continued to sit in the Assembly as one of the representatives of Lennox and Addington for twelve years, when, in consequence of Sir Francis Bond Head's machinations, all the most prominent Reformers of Upper Canada were beaten at the polls. Mr. Perry shared the fate of his colleagues, and before the close of the year (1836) he abandoned the life of a farmer, and removed to the present site of the town of Whitby, which was thenceforward known as "Perry's Corners." He opened a general store there, and rapidly built up a large and profitable business. Notwithstanding his extreme political opinions he took no part in Mackenzie's Rebellion, and for some years after that event he remained out of Parliament. He devoted himself to building up his business, and was identified with every important improvement in the district wherein he resided. He took an active interest in municipal affairs, contributed liberally to the construction and improvementof the public highways, and was justly regarded as a public benefactor. He continued to fight the battles of Reform at all the local contests, but, though frequently importuned to reënter Parliament, preferred to remain in private life, until 1849. The constituency in which he resided, which is now South Ontario, was then the East Riding of York. The sitting member, up to the month of September, 1849, was the Hon. William Hume Blake, of whom Mr. Perry was of course a vigorous supporter. Mr. Blake was Solicitor-General in the Government, but at this juncture resigned his portfolio to accept the Chancellorship of Upper Canada. Mr. Perry consented to once more enter public life in the interest of his constituents, and was returned by acclamation as Mr. Blake's successor.
At the time of his second entry into the Parliamentary arena Mr. Perry was only fifty-six years of age, but he had passed a very busy life, and had taxed his physical energies to the utmost. He was older than his years, and was no longer the same man who had once so scathingly denounced the Family Compact. For the first few months, however, he applied himself with vigour to his Parliamentary duties, and made several effective speeches. Age had not abated one jot of his advanced radicalism. He allied himself with the extremists of the Reform Party, and in consequence was not high in the favour of Mr. Baldwin, but there was not, so far as we are aware, any personal difference between them. Early in 1851 he found himself so much prostrated by physical weakness that he was compelled to leave home for change of air and scene. He went over to Saratoga Springs, New York, which was then the fashionable watering-place of this continent. Its waters were supposed to possess marvellous powers to restore youth to the aged and infirm, and Mr. Perry remained there for several months. He had, however, literally worn himself out in the public service, and it soon became evident that his ringing voice would never again be heard within the walls of Parliament. He gradually became weaker and weaker, and on the morning of Sunday, the 24th of August, he breathed his last. His remains were conveyed to his home at Whitby for interment, where they were attended to their last resting place by many of the leading men of Canada. He was a serious loss to Whitby and its neighbourhood, the prosperity of which he had done more than any other man of his time to advance. He was also mourned as a public loss by the Party to which he had all his life been attached, and glowing eulogies were pronounced upon his character and public spirit, even by persons to whom he had always been politically opposed.
Top
Judge Wilson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on the 22nd of September, 1814. He received his education there, and emigrated to this country in the summer of 1830, when he had not quite completed his sixteenth year. He settled in the township of Trafalgar, in the county of Halton, Canada West, where he took charge of the mills and store of his maternal uncle, the late Mr. George Chalmers, who represented the constituency in the Legislative Assembly. He developed high capacity for mercantile pursuits, in which he was engaged for somewhat more than three years. He, however, resolved to devote himself to the legal profession, and in the month of January, 1834, was articled to the late Hon. Robert Baldwin Sullivan, a gentleman whose name is well known in the Parliamentary and Judicial history of this Province, and who was then a partner of the Hon. Robert Baldwin, the style of the firm being Baldwin & Sullivan. Mr. Wilson completed his studies in that office, and in Trinity Term of the year 1839 was called to the Bar of Upper Canada. On the 1st of January, 1840, he entered into partnership with Mr. Baldwin, and the connection between them endured until the end of 1849, when Mr. Baldwin retired from professional pursuits. On the 28th of November, 1850, he was appointed a Queen's Counsel by the Baldwin-Lafontaine Government, contemporaneously with the present Judges Hagarty and Gwynne, and with the late Judge Connor and Chancellor Vankoughnet. During the same year he became a Bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada.
He soon afterwards began to take a warm interest in the municipal affairs of Toronto, and in 1855 was elected an Alderman of the city. In 1859 he was Mayor of Toronto, and was the first Chief Magistrate elected by popular suffrage. In 1856 he was appointed a Commissioner for the consolidation of the public general statutes of Canada and Upper Canada respectively.
In politics Mr. Wilson was a member of the Reform Party, and had frequently been importuned to allow himself to be put in nomination for a seat in the Legislature. Being much occupied with professional and municipal affairs he had declined such importunities, but upon the death of Mr. Hartman, the member for the North Riding of the county of York in the Canadian Assembly, on the 29th of November, 1859, that constituency was left unrepresented, and Mr. Wilson, being again pressed to enter political life, contested the representation of North York, and was returned at the head of the poll. He took his seat in the House as an avowed opponent of the Cartier-Macdonald Administration. He was again returned by the same constituency at the next general election. In 1861 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the representationof West Toronto. Upon the formation of the Sandfield Macdonald-Sicotte Administration, in May, 1862, he accepted office therein as Solicitor-General, and was reëlected by his constituents upon presenting himself to them. He held the portfolio of Solicitor-General, with a seat in the Executive Council, until the month of May, 1863. On the 11th of the month he was elevated to a seat on the Judicial Bench as a Puisné Judge of the Court of Queen's Bench for Upper Canada. Three months later (on the 24th of August) he was transferred to the Court of Common Pleas, where he remained until Easter Term, 1868, when he was again appointed to the Queen's Bench, as successor to the Hon. John Hawkins Hagarty, who had been appointed Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. In 1871 Judge Wilson was appointed a member of the Law Reform Commission. In the month of November, 1878, he was himself appointed Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, a position which he now occupies.
While at the Bar he was regarded as second to no man in the Province in certain branches of his profession; and his reputation has rather grown than diminished since his elevation to the Bench. His learning, judicial acumen and perfect impartiality are acknowledged by the entire profession of this Province, as well as by his brethren on the Bench.
He is the author of a work entitled "A Sketch of the Office of Constable," published in Toronto in 1861. Early in his professional career he married a daughter of the late Mr. Thomas Dalton, who was for many years editor and proprietor of thePatriot, a once well-known newspaper published in Toronto.
Top
Sir Alexander Campbell is of somewhat conglomerate nationality, being a Scotchman in blood and by descent, an Englishman by birth, and a Canadian by education and lifelong residence. He is a son of the late Dr. James Campbell and was born at the village of Hedon, near Kingston-upon-Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, in 1821. When he was only about two years old his parents emigrated to Canada, and settled in the neighbourhood of Lachine, where his childhood was passed. He received his early education at the hands of a minister of the Presbyterian Church, and afterwards spent some time at the Roman Catholic Seminary of St. Hyacinthe. His education was completed under the tuition of Mr. George Baxter, at the Royal Grammar School at Kingston, in Upper Canada, whither his family removed during his boyhood. He has ever since resided at Kingston, with the interests whereof he has been identified for nearly half a century.
After leaving school he chose the law as his future profession, and in 1838 passed his preliminary examination as a student before the Law Society of Upper Canada. He then entered the law office of the late Mr. Henry Cassidy, an eminent lawyer of Kingston, and remained there until the death of his principal, which took place in 1839. He then became the pupil of Mr.—now the Hon. Sir—John A. Macdonald, with whom he remained as a student until his admission as an attorney, in Hilary Term of the year 1842. He then formed a partnership with Mr. Macdonald, under the style of Macdonald & Campbell, and in Michaelmas Term, 1843, was called to the Bar. This partnership endured for many years, and was attended with very satisfactory results, both professional and otherwise. The firm transacted the largest legal business in that part of the country, and their services were retained on one side or the other in almost every important cause. Mr. Campbell's own professional career, though subordinate to that of his senior partner, was a highly creditable and distinguished one. His success at the Bar secured for him a competent fortune, and opened up to him other avenues to distinction. He served his apprenticeship to public life in the years 1851 and 1852, in the modest capacity of an Alderman for one of the city wards of Kingston. In 1856 he was created a Queen's Counsel. During the same year the Legislative Council was made elective, and the Cataraqui division, embracing the city of Kingston and the county of Frontenac, having with eleven other divisions, come in for its turn to elect a member in 1858, Mr. Campbell offered himself in the Liberal-Conservative interest, and was returned by a very large majority. The vote polled in his favour exceeded the united votes polled for his two opponents. In the Council he soon achieved a commanding position. Though he had the courage of hisopinions, and did not hesitate to express them whenever any occasion arose for doing so, his remarks were never characterized by the acrimonious violence which was then too much in vogue. He spoke with readiness, but never took up the time of his colleagues unless when he had something definite to say. He was courteous and urbane to all, and soon became a favourite with the Body, more venerable than venerated, to which he had been elected. Early in 1863 he was chosen to fill the important office of Speaker of the Council, which position he held until the dissolution of Parliament in the summer of that year. During the Ministerial crisis which ensued in March, 1864, he was invited by the Governor-General to form a Cabinet, but declined the task, although the Hon. John A. Macdonald, at a public dinner in Toronto, virtually resigned in his favour. Mr. Campbell was probably of opinion that the increase of honour would hardly counterbalance the great increase of responsibility, as it was impossible in those times for any Government to feel itself strong. He, however, accepted the office of Crown Lands Commissioner in the Ministry then formed by the late Sir E. P. Taché and John A. Macdonald. The Ministry was not of long duration, and Mr. Campbell retained office with the same portfolio in the Coalition Government which succeeded it, and which, in one form or another, lasted till Confederation. He took an active part in the Confederation movement, and was a member of the Union Conference which met at Quebec in 1864. During the interminable debates on Confederation he was the leading advocate of the project in the Upper House, and his remarks were always characterized by tact, good sense and good breeding. He made no effort at fine speaking, but appealed to the judgment and patriotism of his auditors. He had a most persistent opponent in the Hon. Mr. Currie, the representative of Niagara. Upon so many-sided and comprehensive a measure as that of Confederation, it was no slight task to reply off-hand to all sorts of hostile questions, many of which were skilfully propounded with a sole view to embarrassing the man whose official duty compelled him to answer as best he could. Mr. Campbell acquitted himself in such a manner as to increase the respect in which he was held, and his speech made on the 17th of February, 1865, in answer to the opponents of Confederation, has been characterized by competent authorities as the most statesmanlike effort of his life.
In May, 1867, Mr. Campbell was called to the Senate by the Queen's proclamation, and since that time has been the leader of the Conservative Party in the Upper Chamber. It may be said, indeed, that his leadership virtually began as far back as 1864, when he first took office in the Taché-Macdonald Ministry, as already referred to; for although Sir E. P. Taché was a member of the Legislative Council, and was for a time Premier of the Coalition Government, as Sir Narcisse Belleau was after him, neither of these men possessed the qualifications needed for the position of a party leader, the duties of which were therefore to a great extent left to be discharged by their younger, more active, and better qualified colleague. "Sir John A. Macdonald," says a contemporary writer, "showed a sound judgment when he gave to Mr. Campbell the leadership of the newly-constituted Canadian Senate. Assured from the first of the possession for many years of a majority in the Chamber he had virtually created, it was necessary that his lieutenant in the Upper House should be one who could be relied upon to use his party strength with moderation, and to make all safe without appearing needlessly to oppress or coerce the minority. . . . In the conduct of the ordinary business of Parliament Mr. Campbell is an opponent with whom it is easy to deal. Courteous in personal intercourse,possessed of plain, practical common sense and good Parliamentary experience, he is not one to raise obstructions when no end is to be gained. As a speaker he would, in a popular legislature, hardly be called effective, and he has certainly no claims to eloquence, or to that faculty which forms a useful substitute for eloquence, and which Sir John A. Macdonald possesses—of becoming terribly in earnest exactly when a display of earnestness is needful to effect a purpose. But the leader of the Conservative Senators speaks well, takes care to understand what he is talking about, and infuses into his speeches, when necessary, just as much force as is required to make them tell on his followers, if they do not affect very strongly the feelings or convictions of his opponents. He was the man for the situation, and has played his part well."
On the 1st of July, 1867, Mr. Campbell was sworn of the Privy Council, and took office as Postmaster-General in the Government formed by Sir John A. Macdonald. He retained that portfolio about six years, when the Department of the Interior, of which he then became the first Minister, was created. In 1870 he proceeded to England on an important diplomatic mission, the result of which was the signing of the Washington Treaty. He did not long retain his position as Minister of the Interior, the Government having been compelled to resign in November, 1873, by the force of public opinion, which had been aroused by the disclosures respecting the sale of the Pacific Railway Charter. During the existence of Mr. Mackenzie's Government he led the Conservative Opposition in the Senate, and upon the accession of the Conservative Party to power in the autumn of 1878 he accepted the portfolio of Receiver-General. He retained this position from the 8th of October, 1878, to the 20th of May, 1879, when he became Postmaster-General. Four days afterwards he was created a knight of St. Michael and St. George, at an investiture of the Order held in Montreal by the Governor-General, acting on behalf of Her Majesty. On the 15th of January, 1880, he resigned the Postmaster-Generalship, and accepted the portfolio of Minister of Militia. In the readjustment of offices which took place prior to the assembling of Parliament towards the close of last year he resumed the office of Postmaster-General, of which he is the present incumbent.
In 1855 he married Miss Georgina Frederica Locke, daughter of Mr. Thomas Sandwith, of Beverley, Yorkshire, England. In 1857 he became a Bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada. He was for some time Dean of the Faculty of Law in the University of Queen's College, Kingston. He is connected with several important financial enterprises, and is a man of much social influence. He would probably have gained a much wider reputation in the Canadian Assembly and the House of Commons than he has been able to acquire in the less stirring atmosphere of the Legislative Council and the Senate. He has, however, been a most useful man in the sphere which he has chosen, and his retirement from public life would be a serious loss to the Conservative Party, and to the country at large.
Top
The ex-Treasurer of the Province of Quebec is descended from one of the old colonial families of Massachusetts, several members of which attained considerable distinction in the early history of that colony. The name of Colonel Benjamin Church, of Duxbury, Massachusetts, occupies a very conspicuous place in the annals of New England warfare. He was the first white settler at Seaconnet, or Little Compton, and was the most active and noted combatant of the Indians during the famous war against Metacomet, or King Philip, the great sachem of the Wampanoags. In August, 1676, he commanded the party by which King Philip was slain. The barbarous usage of beheading and quartering was then in vogue, and it is said that Church decapitated the fallen monarch of the forest with his own hands. The sword with which this act of barbarity is alleged to have been committed is still preserved in the cabinet of the Historical Society of Massachusetts, at Boston. Colonel Church kept a sort of rough minute-book, or diary, of his exploits, and it was from these minutes, and under his direction, that his son, Thomas Church, wrote his well-known history of King Philip's War, which was originally published in 1716, and which is still the highest original authority on that subject. At a later period the members of the Church family (which was very numerous and well connected) were conspicuous adherents of the Whig Party, and at the time of the breaking out of the Revolutionary War nearly all of them took the Republican side in the memorable struggle. There were, however, two exceptions, and these two both enlisted their services in the cause of King George III. One of them was killed in battle in 1776. The other, Jonathan Mills Church, was captured by the colonial army in 1777, and would doubtless have been put to death, had he not contrived to escape from the vigilance of his captors. He made his way to Canada, and ultimately settled in the Upper Province, in the neighbourhood of Brockville, where he died at a very advanced age in 1846. His son, the late Dr. Peter Howard Church, settled at Aylmer, in Ottawa County, Lower Canada, where he practised the medical profession for many years. Dr. Church had several children, and his second son, Levi Ruggles, is the subject of this sketch. The latter was born at Aylmer on the 26th of May, 1836. He received his education at the public schools of his native town, and afterwards attended for some time at Victoria College, Cobourg. He chose his father's profession, and graduated in medicine, first at the Albany Medical College, New York State, and afterwards at McGill College, Montreal, where he gained the Primary Final and Thesis Prizes, and acted as House Apothecary at the General Hospital during the years 1856-7. Becoming dissatisfied with his prospects, and believing that thelegal profession presented a more suitable field for the exercise of his abilities, he determined to relinquish medicine for law. Acting upon this resolve, he studied law under the late Henry Stewart, Q.C., and afterwards under Mr. Edward Carter, Q.C., at Montreal, and was called to the Bar in the year 1859. He commenced the practice of this profession in his native town, where he has ever since resided, and where he has long since acquired high professional standing and a profitable business connection, as well as a large measure of social and political influence. He is a partner in the legal firm of Fleming, Church & Kenney, and a Governor of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the Lower Province.
He entered public life at the first general election under Confederation in 1867, when he successfully contested the representation of his native county of Ottawa in the Local Legislature. He espoused the Conservative side, and sat in the House throughout the existence of that Parliament. He attended closely to his duties, both in the House and as a member of various committees, and made a favourable reputation for himself as acting Chairman of the Committee on Private Bills. In July, 1868, he was appointed Crown Prosecutor for the Ottawa District, and retained that position until his acceptance of a seat in the Cabinet somewhat more than six years afterwards. At the general election of 1871, he did not seek reëlection, and for some time thereafter confined his attention to his professional duties. He was associated with Judge Drummond and Mr. Edward Carter in the Beauregard murder case as Junior Counsel for the defence. On the 22nd of September, 1874, he was appointed a member of the Executive Council of Quebec, and accepted office as Attorney-General. He was returned by acclamation for the county of Pontiac, and enjoyed a similar triumph at the general election of 1875. He continued to hold the portfolio of Attorney-General until the 27th of January, 1876, when he became Provincial Treasurer, in which capacity he repaired to England during the following summer, and negotiated a loan on behalf of his native Province. He held office as Treasurer until March, 1878, when the DeBoucherville Government was dismissed from office by M. Letellier de St. Just, the then Lieutenant-Governor, under circumstances which are already familiar to readers of these pages. Mr. Church was one of the signatories to the petition addressed to Sir Patrick L. Macdougall, who then administered affairs at Ottawa, praying for the dismissal of M. Letellier from his position as Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec. At the last general election for the Province, held in May, 1878, Mr. Church was opposed in Pontiac by Mr. G. A. Purvis, but defeated that gentleman by a majority of 225 votes, and still sits in the House for the last named constituency. On the 3rd of September, 1859, he married Miss Jane Erskine Bell, of London, England, daughter of Mr. William Bell, barrister, and niece of General Sir George Bell, K.C.B.