Chapter M: C. Baillairgé, Quebec (42)

=Laurier, Hon. Wilfrid=, B.C.L., Q.C., Quebec, M.P. for Quebec East, leader of the Liberal party in the House of Commons at Ottawa, was born at St. Lin, L’Assomption, Quebec province, on the 24th November, 1841. He is descended from a distinguished French family, who were among the first to settle in Canada. His father was the late Carolus Laurier, who in his lifetime was a provincial land surveyor. The future leader of the Liberal party was educated at the college of L’Assomption, and having finished his literary course there, he was entered for the study of the law in the office of the Hon. R. Laflamme, Q.C. Here he devoted himself diligently to the study of his chosen calling, and in due time was called to the bar of Lower Canada. This was in the year 1865; but the year previous he had taken, at McGill University, the degree of B.C.L. In October, 1880, he was appointed a Queen’s counsel. Hon. Mr. Laurier always from a very early age took a deep interest in public questions, and was resolved, when the first opportunity offered, to seek a position in the legislature. With this object in view, he gave his attention to literature and journalism, and for a period edited _Le Defricheur_ newspaper. He was an earnest advocate of temperance, and was a delegate to the Dominion Prohibitory Convention, held in Montreal, in 1875. At the general election of 1871 his ambition to get into public life was realized, he being that year elected to the Legislative Assembly of the province of Quebec for Drummond and Arthabaska. He remained in the legislature till January, 1874, when he resigned in order to contest the same seat for the House of Commons. In the provincial parliament his record had been excellent. He was known to be a sincere, upright, able and well-informed public man, and had proven himself a genuine Liberal in the truest and best sense of the word; so when he came to ask his constituents to send him to the wider sphere of usefulness they did not refuse him. On taking his seat in the House of Commons, his brilliant abilities and his high character were at once acknowledged. Sir John A. Macdonald, through his Pacific Railway transaction, had been relegated to the opposition benches, and the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie had been called upon to form an administration. Mr. Laurier was invited by the new premier to enter his cabinet, and he was sworn in as member of the Privy Council, September, 1877, and given the portfolio of Inland Revenue. This office he held until the following year, when the Mackenzie government resigned. On seeking re-election in his old constituency, at the general election which followed, he was rejected; but the Hon. I. Thibaudeau having resigned his seat in Quebec East, Hon. Mr. Laurier was elected as his successor, and he has represented that constituency ever since. On the retirement of the Hon. Edward Blake in 1887, in consequence of ill health, from the leadership of the Liberal party in the House of Commons, Hon. Mr. Laurier was unanimously chosen as his successor, and his friends have great hopes that he will prove a leader worthy of the name. He is calm and reasonable, and always receives respect and attention when he rises, and has always, on such occasions, something to say. He speaks with a very pure French accent, and is a very effective speaker. Hon. Mr. Laurier is a director of the Royal Mutual Life Insurance Company. In religion he is a Roman Catholic. He was married on the 13th May, 1868, to Miss Lafontaine.

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=O’Sullivan, Dennis Ambrose=, M.A., D.C.L., Barrister-at-Law, etc., Toronto, Ont., is the youngest son of the late Michael O’Sullivan, of Campbellford, farmer. His father came to this country from Cork, Ireland, in 1832, and was one of the most respected men in his county. His mother belongs to the family of Hennessys, well known to this day in the south of Ireland. In the early days of this province, farmers’ homes were frequently used for the purpose of having divine service therein, and for many years, in the parish of Seymour, mass was said every second Sunday in the house of Michael O’Sullivan, every year, in fact, up to the building of the present Roman Catholic Church at Campbellford. He brought up his children strictly within the church, and died in 1866, greatly regretted. One of his sons, the late Dr. J. O’Sullivan, was well known as a professional man; and in political life sat for eight years as Conservative member for East Peterboro’. Dr. D. A. O’Sullivan was born on the 21st February, 1848, in Seymour, Northumberland county, Ontario. He is a practising lawyer in Toronto, and was called to the bar in 1875. He was educated in a common school and in St. Michael’s College, 1866-72, and graduated in the latter year in the University of Toronto. He received the degree of M.A. in 1876, and the degree of LL.B. in the following year, having been scholar and prizeman in the Toronto University during each year of the course. Since that time he has applied himself to the study of the law, and devoted his leisure hours to legal and historical literature. In 1879 he published the first edition of his “Government in Canada,” and a second edition of the same work in 1887. This book is the text book on the Canadian constitution in the Law Society of Ontario, and is extensively used in colleges throughout Canada. In 1881 he published a volume on “Practical Conveyancing,” and another on “How to Draw a Simple Will,” a little volume intended for clergymen and doctors of medicine, and containing a good deal of instructive and curious matter. In the following year he was named a member of the senate of the University of Toronto by the lieutenant-governor, and subsequently appointed one of the commissioners of the Ontario government to inquire into the workings of the Central Prison, and to report on prisons generally. He has lately devoted himself to historical studies regarding the church in Canada, and the origin of the Canadian laws. For essays and other productions in this direction, published in American magazines, and by the Canadian Institute annals, and for some light literature, the University of Laval conferred on him, in June, 1887, the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. He is a regular contributor to several magazines and reviews, and is a member of a number of historical societies in Canada and the United States. He does not belong to any national, political or other societies, except charitable societies; is secretary and one of the managers of the House of Industry; a director of the Toronto Conservatory of Music, etc. He is solicitor for all the Roman Catholic charities in Toronto, for the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation, and the colleges in the city. He was married, in 1881, to Emma Mary, the eldest daughter of W. H. Higgins, editor of the Whitby _Chronicle_.

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=Tartre, Joseph Raphael=, Notary Public, Waterloo, province of Quebec, was born at St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, on the 3rd October, 1843. His father, Charles Tartre, was a farmer and bailiff, of Roxton Falls, Quebec, and a son of Charles Tartre and Marie Legros _dit_ St. Pierre, who settled on the south side of the Yamaska river during the first years of the present century. His mother, Marie Adelaide Beaudry, is a descendant of the Beaudry family which settled in St. Jean Bte. de Rouville, Quebec, early in the present century. His father was settled first in St. Pie, county of Bagot, and moved thence to Roxton Falls, in September, 1851. The subject of this sketch is the second of eleven children, the oldest being a grey nun (called in religion Sister Ste. Elizabeth), since 1858. He was educated at St. Hyacinthe College, from 1856 to 1861. When twenty-one years of age, on account of ill-health, he was admitted, on the 13th May, 1864, a bailiff of the Superior Court, and settled at Waterloo on the 24th May, 1864. While practising as a bailiff, he began the study of the notarial profession on the 15th June, 1866, and was admitted to practise on the 3rd May, 1871. He was acting deputy registrar of the county of Shefford, from May, 1874, to August, 1876; and was secretary of schools for the township of Shefford, Waterloo included, for 1872 and 1873. He has been secretary-treasurer of the municipality of the county of Shefford since the 11th June, 1879; and a member of the Roman Catholic school board of examiners of the district of Bedford since 1875; also secretary-treasurer of the Roman Catholic schools of Waterloo since April, 1883, the date of their organization; and a commissioner of the Superior Court since 1872. He has also been secretary-treasurer of the Waterloo Imperial Building Society since the 1st May, 1877. He has always taken a moderate part in politics, and in municipal matters, and was mainly instrumental in having the parish of St. Joachim de Shefford erected into a municipality, and was one of the many who helped in starting the newspaper in Waterloo, called _The Independent_. He is a staunch Roman Catholic in religion. He was married, on the 29th January, 1866, to Malvina, second daughter of Gabriel Hubert and Justine Marchessault, of Contrecœur, Quebec, and has had issue ten children, eight of whom are still living. The eldest, C. U. R. Tartre, twenty-one years of age, has just completed his classical course at the St. Hyacinthe College, and is now studying the notarial profession with his father. Mrs. J. R. Tartre is now (March, 1888,) a candidate in the election of popularity, the object and proceeds whereof are to erect, if possible, a commercial college in Waterloo. This election closes on the 2nd July, 1888.

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=Edgar, James David=, Barrister, Toronto, M.P. for West Ontario, was born in the Eastern Townships, Quebec province, on the 10th August, 1841, where he received his early educational training. He is descended from the elder branch of the Edgars of Keithock, Forfarshire, Scotland, a family which has impressed its name on the annals of that country. Mr. Edgar adopted law as a profession, and having gone through the usual course of study, was called to the bar of Upper Canada, in Michaelmas term, 1864. Since then he has successfully practised his profession in Toronto, and is at present the head of the firm of Edgar, Malone & Garvin, barristers, solicitors, notaries, etc. He first presented himself for parliamentary honors at the general election of 1872, when he was elected, and sat in the House of Commons at Ottawa until the general election in 1874, when he was defeated. In 1872 he unsuccessfully contested Centre Toronto, but on the 22nd August, 1884, upon the resignation of the sitting member, he was elected by the Reformers of West Ontario to represent them in parliament. At the last general election he was again chosen by the same constituency, and continues to sit in the House of Commons as their representative. In 1874, Mr. Edgar was sent by the Dominion government to British Columbia to arrange terms for the postponement of the construction of the Canada Pacific railway. He is of a literary turn of mind, and, apart from his books on law, such as “Insolvent Act of 1864, with Notes, Forms,” etc., published in 1864; “An Act to Amend the Insolvent Act of 1864, with Annotations, Notes of Decisions,” etc., published in 1865, he frequently contributes to the columns of our daily press and periodicals. Indeed, he has entered the realm of poetry, and a couple of years ago published a no mean volume on a Canadian subject. He is a director of the Confederation Life Association, of the _Globe_ Printing Company, and of the Midland Railway Company. In politics he is a staunch Liberal, and in religion belongs to the Episcopal church. In September, 1865, he was married to Matilda, second daughter of the late T. G. Ridout, of Toronto.

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=Price, Herbert Molesworth=, Timber Merchant, Quebec, was born on the 31st of August, 1847, at Benhall, Ross, Herefordshire, England. His father was William Price, gentleman. He was educated at private schools at Hereford, and Norwood, near London, where he made rapid progress, English and mathematics being his principal studies. Having at an early age evinced a predilection for banking, a position was secured for him in the West of England and South Wales District Bank, at Ross. He entered on his duties in 1864, and remained in the service of that institution until January, 1869, when he relinquished his situation for a higher post in the Bank of British North America, London. He was soon after transferred to the Montreal branch of that bank, and successively filled positions at the following branches, viz., St. John, N.B., Halifax, N.S., New York and Hamilton, Kingston, Brantford, and Dunnville, Ont., and Quebec. After serving at the latter branch as accountant for four years, with great acceptance to the board, he resigned his office and entered the Merchants Bank of Canada, Quebec, as manager. This responsible position he held from 1879 until March, 1884, when he retired from banking, after a continuous service of twenty years, and joining the important firm of Hall Brothers & Co., in connection with the Montmorency mills, embarked into business. His firm is now composed of Peter Patterson Hall, and H. M. Price. Their operations are confined to two mills besides those of Montmorency. The firm makes 300,000 logs per annum on the rivers Chaudière, Gentilly, Nicolet, Bécancour, Duchene, and Montmorency, employing in the work a large number of men. In politics, Mr. Price is a Conservative of independent and broad views. A member of the Church of England, he has always taken a deep interest in religious thought and movement, and his active mind has found expression in the conduct of the temporal affairs of his church, where for some years he has been a member of the select vestry of the English cathedral. He has held several prominent offices, among which may be named those of the first vice-president of St. George’s Society; provisional director of the Quebec Railway Bridge Company; member of the council of the Quebec Board of Trade; member of the Central Board Church Society, and member of the council of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec. In this latter position his literary, historical, and antiquarian tastes find ample development. He is a qualified justice of the peace. Mr. Price has always taken considerable interest in athletic sports and pastimes. He has been captain of the Quebec Cricket and Football clubs, and was a member of a Football team for Canada which played against the Harvard University Club of Cambridge, Mass., in Montreal, in 1875. J. M. LeMoine has given an interesting sketch of Mr. Price, and of his summer residence, Montmorency cottage, in his late book, “Monographies et Esquisses.” In March, 1877, Mr. Price was married to S. A. Martha Hall, daughter of the late George Benson Hall, of Montmorency Falls, P.Q., a lady of fine social qualities and culture.

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=Phelan, Cornelius J. F. R.=, M.D., C.M., Waterloo, Quebec, was born on the 10th of May, 1840, at St. Columbin, county of Two Mountains, Quebec. His father, John Phelan, was born 10th June, 1787, at Kilkenny, Ireland. He was major of militia, mayor and magistrate. As magistrate he generally settled disputes amicably and to the perfect satisfaction of the litigants, thus saving acrimony and heavy law costs; he was also a merchant and farmer, and did a very extensive business; he was generous to a fault, always the poor man’s friend, and died the 9th April, 1862, deeply mourned by all who knew him far and near. Dr. Phelan’s mother, Mary Phelan, was born on the 15th August, 1798, and died on the 26th July, 1874. She was a pious woman, a loving mother, and a devoted and industrious wife. The late Bishop Phelan, of Kingston, was her brother. He was a first-class administrator, a general favorite alike among Protestants and Catholics, and his untimely death was universally regretted. The subject of this sketch was educated at the seminary of Ste. Therese de Blainville, Quebec, taking a full classical course, afterwards pursuing his medical studies at McGill College, Montreal, and graduating therefrom in 1865. In the spring of 1865, he began to practise at Iberville, and in November of the same year removed to Knowlton, Brome, Quebec, where he remained until January 8th, 1880, when he went to Waterloo, his present home. As he took up the study of medicine from pure love of the profession, it is not strange that his success has been far above the average; and that the older he grows the more he is in love with his calling. He is a member of the district of Bedford Medical Association; a leading member of the Board of Health of Waterloo; medical examiner for several leading Life Insurance companies and has been physician to the Maple Wood Convent since 1881. This is one of the finest institutions of the kind in the province, and is under the direction of the Sisters of J.M.J., of Hochelaga. The house was formerly the residence of the Hon. A. B. Foster, and is a splendid edifice surrounded by beautiful and well-kept grounds. Dr. Phelan has been secretary of the St. Patrick’s Benevolent Society of Shefford, and also president of the St. Joseph Society of Waterloo. He has always been a Conservative, but the duties of his profession have prevented him from taking any active part in politics though often strongly urged to do so. In 1864 he travelled through the United States, making a prolonged stay at Washington to visit the military hospitals there, they being such excellent schools for surgery. In religion he is a Roman Catholic. He was married on the 8th November, 1864, to Mary Eledeanne M. Guindon, of Montreal, a cousin-german of Judge Ouimet; she was educated in the Congregational convent there. They have one daughter who is now pursuing her studies at Maple Wood Convent.

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=Bernier, Michel Esdras=, St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, Notary, J.P., and M.P. for St. Hyacinthe, was born at St. Hyacinthe, on the 28th September, 1841. His ancestors came from France, and settled in the county of L’Islet, Quebec, removing afterwards to St. Hyacinthe. He is the youngest son of the late Etienne Bernier, farmer, and Julie Lussier, his wife. The subject of this sketch was educated at the St. Hyacinthe Seminary, afterwards studying law under H. St. Germain, notary and registrar for the county of St. Hyacinthe, and was admitted to practise as a notary in June, 1867. He was a member of the volunteer force from 1862 to 1865, and held the rank of captain. He served as a member of the notarial board for the district of St. Hyacinthe, from 1867 to 1870, and for the provincial board from 1873, and president for the same from 1882 to 1885, and is still a member of the board; was secretary-treasurer of the municipal council and school commissioners of the parish of St. Hyacinthe, from 1864 to 1878, and of the municipal council of the county of St. Hyacinthe from 1864, and still holds that position; also official assignee for the county of St. Hyacinthe from 1869 to 1874, and for the district of St. Hyacinthe from 1874 to 1880. He has been a director of the St. Hyacinthe Agricultural Society from 1881, and its president since 1884, and holds that position to-day. He is a director of the Bank of St. Hyacinthe; also of the St. Hyacinthe Manufacturing Company, owners of the water powers, flannel mill, grist mill, and carding mill, at St. Hyacinthe; of the St. Hyacinthe Gas and Electric Light Company; of the St. Hyacinthe Macadamizing Company, and of the United Counties Railway Company. He is the head of the firm of N. Bernier & Co., grain and flour dealers; of the notarial firm of Bernier, Morin & Bordua; is a commissioner for the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, and a commissioner _per Dedimus potestatem_; is also engaged in farming, and owns the “Bellevue farm,” near the city limits. Mr. Bernier is a staunch Liberal in politics, and has taken an active part in political movements since 1867; was offered, but refused, the candidature for the county of St. Hyacinthe for the House of Commons, in 1878, and for the Quebec house in 1879; but in June, 1882, he accepted the nomination of the party for the House of Commons, and was elected, his opponent being the Hon. L. Tellier, now a judge of the Superior Court. Mr. Bernier ran again in 1887, and was again successful. His interest in agricultural, industrial, and commercial pursuits has been of the most active character. In religion, he is a Roman Catholic. He was married, on the 28th November, 1865, to Alida, a daughter of the late Simeon Marchesseault, one of the chiefs of the rebellion of 1837, and who was afterwards exiled to the Bermudas. Two daughters were born of this marriage, the eldest being married to Dr. L. V. Benoit, physician and apothecary at St. Hyacinthe.

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=d’Orsonnens, Lt.-Col. the Count Louis Gustave d’Odet=, was born at L’Assomption, April 17th, 1842. He is a descendant of a Swiss patrician family of the Canton of Fribourg, who, according to Blanc de Charney, in his history of the patrician families of Fribourg, “came towards the end of the fourteenth century to settle in that city, and continue there its _lustre_.” The General Lexicon of Switzerland, by Leu, published at Zurich, in 1758, mentions the d’Odet d’Orsonnens with honor. Later, in 1789, Jean Jacques Holtzhalb, in his supplement to the Lexicon or Dictionary of Leu, has also continued its history. The first member of this distinguished family who came to this country, was Prothais d’Odet d’Orsonnens, patrician of Fribourg, who came to Canada about the year 1810, with the famous Meuron’s regiment, as captain of the grenadier company. After the disbandment of his regiment, Captain d’Orsonnens went to the Red River with a strong party, and took Fort William for Lord Selkirk, who was the governor of the Hudson Bay Company. The conduct and bravery of Captain d’Orsonnens on this occasion was highly commended by his superiors. He finally settled at St. Roch de l’Achignan, where he built a house in the style of the manors of that time, and which he named “La Chaumière Suisse.” He died suddenly of heart disease on the 16th March, 1834, leaving two sons and two daughters to mourn his loss. The eldest, Thomas Edmond d’Orsonnens, was born at St. Roch de l’Achignan, on 30th October, 1818, and was for many years president of the medical faculty of the Victoria University in Montreal, knight of St. Gregory, etc. His eldest son, Louis Gustave, the subject of this sketch, upon whom the family nobility and titles were recognised with the title of count, by his holiness Pope Pius IX., was educated for the army, and was to have joined the Swiss regiment at Naples, in which his cousin was captain, when the kingdom of Naples was overthrown by the revolution. He joined the 1st battalion of rifles as ensign, on the 17th of November, 1859; in 1860, he exchanged into the 2nd troop of cavalry, being gazetted a cornet; was promoted to the rank of lieutenant on 3rd June, 1861, and commanded the troop for nearly a year. He resigned his command to study law, and was soon called to the bar. He then re-entered the service and joined the 4th battalion of Canadian Chasseurs, and was gazetted lieutenant on the 15th December, 1865. He served on the frontier at Niagara, in 1866, as ensign and adjutant, and was promoted to rank of captain in the 4th Chasseurs on the 8th of March, 1867. His subsequent promotions are brigade-major, 3rd January, 1868, and lieutenant-colonel, 19th February, 1869. In 1871, he held the temporary command of the 6th military district at the divisional camp of Laprairie. Lieutenant-Colonel d’Orsonnens holds certificates from all the schools, as follow: Infantry school, 1st class, 24th August, 1864; gunnery, 1st class, 4th July, 1868; cavalry, 1st class, 27th March, 1869. Towards the close of the year 1869 he went to Switzerland, where, upon the invitation of the president of the Confederation he joined the federal staff at Berne, and followed the army in its autumn manœuvres. In 1874, inspired, doubtless, by the remembrance of the manœuvres of the Swiss army, he published a pamphlet on the military organization of the Canadian Confederation. He also was the first who, in 1867, suggested the idea to his co-religionists to send military aid to the papal See, and was instrumental in the decision of the movement which sent to Rome more than 600 Canadian Zouaves. This expedition, which resembled, in more respects than one, that of the first crusades, has, it is affirmed, contributed more to make Canada known to Europe than many other things. In 1883 he was sent, along with the other commandants of the infantry schools, to England, by the Dominion government, to study the organization of and follow the Imperial service, preparatory to taking command of one of the infantry schools now in existence in Canada. Like many other old families, the d’Odet family retains many souvenirs and marks of appreciation from distinguished personages, such as autograph letters from kings, princes, and others; amongst some of these in their possession is a letter dated 8th of March, 1670, signed by Emmanuel, Duc of Savoie, and King of Cyprus, in which the duke invites the family to ask for favors in return for services rendered him. The Count d’Odet d’Orsonnens was married in 1870, to Marie Louise Adèle Desbarats, and has issue four sons and one daughter. The eldest, Viscount George Joseph Gustave was born in 1872. ARMS: Azure, a lion, or, rampant, holding a horn of plenty, of the same. COUNT’S CORONET; MOTTO: _Certa fides, certa manus_.

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=Guilbault, Edouard=, Joliette, Quebec, Mayor of Joliette, was born at d’Aileboust, county of Joliette, on the 14th April, 1834. He is the son of Charles Guilbault, and Marie Blanchard, whose ancestors came from Normandy, France, in 1697, and were among the first settlers of Charlesbourg, Quebec. The subject of this sketch was educated at the College of Joliette, where he took a commercial course. He sat in the Joliette town council for twenty years; was elected mayor in 1875, and has continued to fill that responsible position since, having been re-elected on the 10th January, 1888, for a further term of three years. He is a Conservative in politics; is now president of the Conservative Association, and has long taken an active interest in political affairs. He was first returned to parliament at the general election, in 1882; but resigned, and was re-elected, 7th December, 1882, and again, at the general election of 1887. He organized the Agricultural Society of the county in 1854; filled the position of secretary for twenty-five years, and is now the president. He is the proprietor of several large farms, in which he takes a deep interest, always working hard to improve agriculture. In 1871 he formed a company which engaged in the lumber business, and he continues as director of this company still; he is also a director in a large foundry and agricultural implements works. In 1865 he established a boot and shoe factory, which he conducted under his own name, and which he superintends personally, and has succeeded in building up an extensive trade in that line. In the year 1884 he formed a company to enter into the manufacture of Canadian tobacco, and is president of this company, to which he gives considerable attention. This is an industry which will bear a great deal of development. In 1885 he visited Europe, and made an extensive tour, with the object of acquiring information as to trade and agriculture. He is a Roman Catholic, but believes in liberty of conscience. He was married, in 1858, to Marie Hermine Lemaitre Auger, daughter of Major Desire Lemaitre Auger, of Louisville.

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=Dawson, Sir J. William=, C.M.G., LL.D., F.R.S., Principal of the McGill University, Montreal, was born at Pictou, Nova Scotia, on October 13th, 1820. His parents had come from Scotland several years before, and, if the Biblical knowledge of their son is any criterion, they were doubtless good examples of that high piety and religious education which distinguish the Scottish people. Young Dawson seems to have shown an early interest in natural history and geology, and the opportunity for an intellectual career was placed within his reach. He attended the school and college at Pictou, and was then sent to Edinburgh University, where he took the degree of M.A. at the age of twenty-two. Natural history and practical chemistry occupied his attention chiefly at Edinburgh; and it may be supposed that he listened with deep interest to the fading echoes which would be heard then regarding the respective claims of the Wernerian and the Huttonian hypotheses in geology. Here he made his first attempts at authorship, which were published in Edinburgh newspapers. He returned to Canada in 1842, and accompanied Sir Charles Lyell in his geological exploration of Nova Scotia. He entered into the work with characteristic enthusiasm, and the valuable assistance which he was able to render to the great English geologist was not unrecognised. Sir Charles Lyell has paid many tributes to the abilities of Sir William Dawson as a geologist. He was then appointed to the direction of a geological survey of the coal fields in that province, and his report to the government proved a very valuable one. In 1850 his attention was taken, so far as the business of his life was concerned, from geology to education. He was appointed superintendent of education for Nova Scotia. It was a reforming period in educational matters in that province, and the new superintendent was entrusted with the work of putting a new School Act into operation. His interest in education, to judge from the articles which he published at that date, was not less pronounced than his interest in science. The work was, therefore, congenial, and the experience afforded in the task of administering the affairs of the Nova Scotia schools doubtless proved valuable to the future principal of McGill. His appointment to the principalship of McGill in 1855 marks the beginning of an epoch in Canada’s intellectual development. It is not a matter of ordinary course that McGill should be the university she is to-day, or that she should wield the influence that she does. It is a matter of surprise. The conditions which fifty and a hundred years ago favored the advancement of great institutions of learning in the American republic have ever been absent from Canada. The wealth which poured into the treasuries of American colleges has only been represented in Canada by dribbling subscriptions and small legacies. Our colleges have struggled up with the aid of trusty and generous, but seldom very wealthy, friends. The fortunes of McGill were at a low ebb in 1855, and Principal Dawson had an extensive work before him. The work of a college principal and president is supposed to be limited to the duties of administration, but the financial condition of McGill at that time made it necessary for the new principal to undertake several laborious professorships as well. His influence, however, soon began to make itself felt throughout the country, and the fortunes of the university steadily advanced. Its stability is now assured, and from being a matter of anxiety to Montrealers it has become an object of pride. That the result is largely due to the vast energy and administrative abilities of the principal there can be no question; and it is a significant fact that when the university came in sight of the horizon of prosperity he annually contributed to its resources by still retaining arduous and unpaid work which he had taken upon his shoulders at the outset. Leisure might seem to be an unknown experience in the midst of labors indicated by the foregoing, but in addition to many pamphlets on educational matters, and some excellent text-books on geology and zoology, Sir William Dawson has published the following volumes: “Archaia,” (1860); “Air Breathers of the Coal Period,” (1863); “The Origin of the World,” (1869); “The Story of the Earth and Man,” (1873); “Fossil Men and Their Modern Representatives” (1880). As indicated by their titles, the three latter volumes deal more particularly with the vexed questions concerning the nature of man’s first appearance upon the earth, and the apparent conflict between Biblical history and the result of modern scientific research. If his treatment of the subject is not in all respects satisfactory to the present schools of scientific thought, it is at least independent and earnest. Whether his interpretations of the archæological facts bearing upon prehistoric man will stand the test of time or not, time only can show. At present he stands alone with regard to that subject, as far as his scientific peers are concerned. The fact, however, has not prevented the scientific worlds of Britain and America from recognizing and honoring him for his many and valuable contributions to the science of the day. These have comprised an extensive amount of original research in biology, chemistry, mineralogy and microscopy, which has been distinguished not only for its high scientific merits, but for the attractive literary form in which it has been presented to the world. For many years he has been an active and esteemed member of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and was elected president of that learned body for 1886. It was also through his instrumentality that the British Association met in Montreal in the summer of 1884, and it was at the opening meeting in the Queen’s Hall that Lord Lansdowne announced the honor of the knighthood. The American Association testified to its appreciation of his scientific labors by electing him to the presidency in 1883. The recognition which Sir William Dawson’s scientific attainments have received abroad, however, should not withdraw attention from the valuable services he has rendered, and is rendering, to Canada’s intellectual development. With this every Canadian is more or less practically concerned. The fact that a united nationality can never be built up in this Dominion without an educational foundation has been recognized by a good many of our public men, but by none more earnestly than by Sir William Dawson. He early took a broad view of the duties and privileges of a university as an intellectual centre. Besides taking an active part in scientific and other societies in Montreal, he has paid close attention to the interests of struggling schools and colleges in the province, and for many years has been perhaps the most active worker in connection with elementary education. This latter subject has all the importance, in Quebec province especially, which he attaches to it, and his efforts should be more generally seconded. Like Principal Grant, he is also a strong advocate for the higher education of women, who are now admitted to McGill, thanks to the generosity of Sir Donald A. Smith. This sketch would be incomplete without a reference to the annual excursions of the Montreal Natural History Society. It is on occasions like these that Sir William Dawson’s qualities as a teacher are well displayed. The members go by rail to some point likely to be interesting to varied scientific tastes, and then disperse for the purpose of collecting whatever specimens, mineralogical, geological, or botanical, the district will afford. A few hours generally suffice to bring in a large heap of “booty,” which is placed before the president, usually Sir William Dawson, who explains the nature of the specimens in clear and simple language. These excursions have been the means of awakening an interest in natural science in the minds of many who have been inclined to think that “the long, learned names of agaric, moss, and fern” were invented chiefly as a form of modern torture. Sir William Dawson is a pleasing speaker, and it is a tribute to the real taste of the day to say that he is always listened to with interest in spite of the fact that he does not indulge in the cheap fire-works of oratory. The charm of his address lies in this, that he conveys clear and definite ideas in clear and definite language. His pronouncements at convocation are always awaited with interest, and seldom fail to have a weighty effect upon the deliberations of the governing board of the university, or upon educational matters of the province when these are touched upon. His university lecture, a short time ago, on the question of examinations for the learned professions, was awaited by the friends of Protestant education in the province of Quebec with as much interest as British politicians await a premier’s speech at the Mansion House banquet. This question, which affects not only the interests of the Protestant universities of the province of Quebec, but the rights of the English minority, is doubtless familiar to all who take an interest in education. The action of the Council of the Bar of Quebec bears with great severity upon McGill, and the Council is supported by the immense power of the Catholic majority; but Sir William Dawson has opened the battle for the Protestant universities in such a manner that there can be no question about the ultimate removal of the difficulties. He is relying upon a determined use of the weapons of irrefragable logic and appeal to the highest courts of the empire for victory. The battle will be a severe one, and it will result not only in winning security for the universities, but in establishing the principle that the rights of the minority in Quebec must be recognized. At such a crisis in the history of Quebec education, it is a matter for the deepest congratulation that such a man as Sir William Dawson should be leading the fight of liberty and justice. Canada, indeed, is fortunate in having able, broad-minded, and progressive men at the head of her principal universities. No other circumstance can tell so strongly in the future for the building up of all that is best and lasting in the nation. Like all growth, the effect of educational work is imperceptible to the observer watching its progress, but the growth and effect are there. When the historian in the next century takes account of the elements concerned in the development of Canada during this century, he will not neglect to mark the broad and solid lines of our educational progress attributable to Sir William Dawson.

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=Cockburn, George Ralph Richardson=, Toronto, M.P. for Centre Toronto, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, 15th February, 1834. He received his education in the High School and University of his native city, where he graduated in 1857, with the highest classical honors, carrying off the Stratton prize. He subsequently prosecuted his classical studies in Germany under the celebrated Professor Zumpt. On his return home he engaged for several years as a teacher at Merchiston Castle Academy and at Montgreenan House Academy. In 1858 he came to Canada and began his career here as rector of the Model Grammar School, having been appointed to this position by the Council of Public Instruction for Upper Canada. Some time afterwards he was commissioned by the government of Canada to inspect the higher educational institutions of the province of Ontario, and the results of this investigation, which extended over a period of two years, were given to the public in two comprehensive reports, in which the condition and modes of higher education were carefully and elaborately set forth. Mr. Cockburn then visited a number of the principal institutions of learning in the United States, in order to make himself familiar with their methods. In 1861 he was appointed principal of Upper Canada College, and a member of the Senate of Toronto University. For over twenty years he had a successful career as an instructor of youth, and his able management of Upper Canada College raised the institution high in public estimation both for the thoroughness of its teaching and the excellent moral influence which prevailed within its walls. After the resignation of the rectorship, Mr. Cockburn travelled for two years in Europe, making himself acquainted with the various systems of government on that continent. There are few men in Canada who have done more than Mr. Cockburn for the cause of education. The celebrated Dr. Schmidt, of Edinburgh, said of him that he was no ordinary scholar, but a thorough philologist, possessing a good insight into the structure, the relation and affinities subsisting between the ancient and modern languages of Europe, and always characterized him as one of the best Latin scholars that Scotland has produced. Mr. Cockburn takes an interest in all public questions, and is one of the live citizens of Toronto. He is president of the Toronto Land and Investment Company; a director of the London and Canadian Loan and Agency Company, the Building and Loan Association, the Glasgow and London Assurance Company, and of the Ontario Bank. He was a member of the Senate of the University of Toronto for over twenty years. At the general election of 1887 Mr. Cockburn presented himself to the electors of Centre Toronto for parliamentary honors, when they returned him by a large majority—his opponent being Mr. Harvey. In religion he is a Presbyterian; and in politics a Conservative. He is married to Mary, daughter of Hampden Leane, of Kentucky, United States.

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=Prior, James=, Manager of the Lybster Cotton Mills, Merritton, Ontario, was born in Toronto, on the 12th November, 1849. His father, Richard Prior, was a British soldier, who settled in Canada about the year 1847. James was educated in the common schools of his native city. Shortly after leaving school he went into a grocery store, where he served about four years, and then into the warehouse of Gordon, Mackay and Co., wholesale dry goods merchants, Toronto. Here he remained about a year, when in 1868 he was transferred to that firm’s cotton mills at Merritton. Here he began his upward career, and worked in a subordinate position until 1878, when he was appointed manager. Since then he has steadily devoted himself to the business, and we can say there is now not a more competent manager of a cotton mill in the Dominion. For several years Mr. Prior has travelled through the New England States to visit the New England mills, and pick up all the new ideas introduced, and by this means he has been able to produce in the Lybster mills the finest cotton fabrics in the Canadian markets. Mr. Prior has been a temperance man from youth, and has in consequence exerted a good influence among the employees in the mill and in the neighborhood in which he resides. He has in his day taken a lively interest in the Liberal-Conservative cause, especially in its protective policy; does not favor commercial union with the United States. In religion he is an adherent of the Episcopal church. He was married in October, 1878, to Sara Ann, daughter of Alexander and Mary Winslow, of Thorold, Ontario, and has a family of four children, two boys and two girls.

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=Lemieux, François Xavier=, Barrister, M.P.P. for the county of Levis, province of Quebec, is the leading criminal lawyer of the district of Quebec, and well-known throughout the Dominion as the principal counsel for the defence in the Riel case, in which he was associated with Messrs. Fitzpatrick, of Quebec, and Greenshields, of Montreal. His connection with this great _cause célèbre_, and the popular excitement to which it and its tragic sequel gave rise throughout the country, but especially in the province of Quebec, made his name very familiar at the time. Mr. Lemieux was born at Levis, on the 9th of April, 1841. His parents were of the farming class, but his uncle, the late Hon. François Lemieux, was a man of great public note in his day, a leading member of the Quebec bar, member for Levis county in the Legislative Assembly of Canada, and one of the commissioners of crown lands and public works before confederation. His memory is still warmly cherished by the people of Levis. Our subject was educated at the Levis College and Quebec Seminary, and studied law at Quebec with Hon. M. A. Plamondon, then a prominent practitioner and now resident judge of the Superior Court in the Arthabasca district, whose daughter, Diana, he afterwards married. Called to the bar in 1872, he soon distinguished himself, especially as a criminal pleader, and his fame in that branch of the profession has since risen to such a pitch that no prisoner arraigned for trial before the criminal courts of the Quebec and surrounding districts considers his interests at all safe unless Mr. Lemieux has been retained for the defence. This popular confidence in his abilities is undoubtedly warranted by his wonderful success in the great majority of the cases with which he has been connected. It has almost passed into a proverb among the French Canadians of the Quebec district, that if any man can cheat the gallows of its due, François Xavier Lemieux is the man to do so. Indeed, as in the Boutel poisoning case, he has been known to save his client from the last penalty of the law, even after the gallows had been actually erected and within a few hours of the time fixed for the execution. A man of rare eloquence and knowledge of human nature, deeply versed in the criminal jurisprudence of the country and always armed at all points for the fray, and endowed with marvellous energy and versatility, he may be said to have no equal, and certainly no superior in his specialty at the Lower Canadian bar to-day. The secret of his forensic triumphs must unquestionably be looked for in his skill in cross-examination and his power to sway juries, and it was these characteristics which pointed him out as the fit and proper person to lead for the defence in the Riel case at Regina. It was thought in Lower Canada that if any one could snatch the half-breed leader from his perilous position, Mr. Lemieux was the man, and, when he volunteered his services for the purpose, his offer was accepted with an enthusiastic burst of gratitude from a great body of his fellow-countrymen. For these hopes on the occasion, the result of the trial proved disastrous, but the effort he made to save Riel from the scaffold, as well on the trial as afterwards, only served to increase Mr. Lemieux’s popularity and to intensify the bitterness of the agitation which followed the rebel leader’s execution. In that agitation Mr. Lemieux took a most active and prominent part, figuring and speaking with his impassioned eloquence at nearly all the great meetings at Quebec, Montreal, Levis, etc., to protest against Riel’s hanging and the oppression of the half-breeds. In fact, few men contributed more to the success of the so-called national movement, which overthrew the Ross administration and brought the Liberals and Conservative bolters into power under Hon. H. Mercier in the province of Quebec after the general election of October, 1886. For some years before the Riel trial, Mr. Lemieux had been a member of the Quebec Legislature. He had been an unsuccessful candidate for Bonaventure during the Joly administration in 1878, and again for Beauce at the general election of 1882; but in November, 1883, on the resignation of Hon. T. Paquet to accept the shrievalty of Quebec, he was returned after a hard contest as the representative of Levis county, and re-elected for the same constituency at the last general election, when he passed over with his friends from the Opposition to the treasury benches in the Legislative Assembly on the defeat of the Ross and the formation of the Mercier government, during the session of 1887. In the house, Mr. Lemieux is a ready debater, and few of his adversaries care to cross swords with him. He belongs to the Roman Catholic faith; and in politics is a Liberal.

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=Jolicœur, Philippe Jacques=, Q.C., Assistant Provincial Secretary, Quebec, is one of the prominent figures of official life at the ancient capital, and a gentleman who has made his mark in the profession of the law. He was born in Quebec, on the 30th April, 1829, and was educated in the classics at the Quebec Seminary, which has turned out so many eminent men in the church and the learned professions. On the completion of his classical course, in 1849, he began the study of the law under Sir N. F. Belleau, then a prominent practitioner at the Quebec bar, and afterwards first lieutenant-governor of the province of Quebec, and on his admission to the bar, in 1854, the two entered into a law partnership which was only dissolved in 1858, when Sir Narcisse entered actively into politics. Down to 1867, Mr. Jolicœur continued to divide his attention between his extensive law practice and his duties as a member of the city council of Quebec, in which he occupied a seat for a number of years with honor to himself and advantage to his fellow-citizens. During his career in the council, he was elected by his colleagues to act as pro-mayor for the city in the absence of the regular incumbent of that office, and gave public satisfaction in the position of chief magistrate. A sound lawyer and one of the most respectable and self-respecting practitioners, with talents rather of the solid than the brilliant order, he was elevated to the silk and created a Q.C. in July, 1867, and later on in the same month, on the organization of the provincial departments at Quebec, at the outset of confederation, he was offered and accepted the important post of assistant provincial secretary, which he still holds, though he has been tempted to accept more exalted appointments. The position of resident judge of the Superior Court at Gaspé was in this way tendered to him, but family bereavements and failing health compelled him to decline. As an official, Mr. Jolicœur is noted for his efficiency, urbanity, and assiduity and generally esteemed by all who come into contact with him officially or otherwise. Though he never took a very active part in politics before he entered the civil service, he was always an adherent and supporter of the Conservative party. In religion he is a Roman Catholic; and as a French Canadian he has ever taken a deep and intelligent interest in the advancement of his race, holding office for years in the St. Jean Baptiste Society of Quebec, and filling for some time, also, the position of president of _L’Institut Canadien_ of that city. In 1858, he married Honorine Matte, of Quebec, by whom he has had issue eleven children, all of whom except four boys were carried away by the hand of death while still young.

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