Chapter M: C. Baillairgé, Quebec (58)

=Foster, Hon. George Eulas=, B.A., D.C.L., Ottawa, Minister of Marine and Fisheries of the Dominion of Canada, M.P. for King’s, New Brunswick, was born in Carleton county, N.B., on the 3rd September, 1847. His father, John Foster, was a descendant of a United Empire loyalist who settled in New Brunswick in 1783. His mother, Margaret Haney, was descended on her father’s side from German stock. George, the future statesman, received his primary education in the common and superior schools of his native county, and in September, 1865, entered the University of New Brunswick, at the head of the matriculating class, and was the winner in strong competition, of the King’s county scholarship in the same university. He also took, during his first year, the Douglas gold medal for an English essay, in a competition open to all the classes, and won the compound achromatic microscope, as a first prize, for natural science. His strong points at college were mathematics and classics, with a strong liking for English literature and history. He graduated B.A., in 1868; taught the Grammar School at Grand Falls, N.B.; became superior of the school at Fredericton Junction, and in the Baptist Seminary at Fredericton, one year at each. He became principal of the Ladies’ High School at Fredericton in 1870, and was appointed professor of classics and history in the University of New Brunswick, in 1871. He spent the years 1872 and 1873 at Edinburgh, Scotland, and Heidelberg, Germany, prosecuting his studies, and took at Edinburgh the medal, one first, and three other prizes. Returning to New Brunswick, he assumed the duties of his chair in the university at the end of 1873, and occupied the same until 1st January, 1879, when he resigned. Acadia College, N.S., conferred upon him the title of D.C.L., in 1885. He was examiner in Grammar and English at the Provincial Normal schools, Fredericton, from 1874 to 1879. Early in life—in the thirteenth year of his age—Mr. Foster identified himself with the order of the Sons of Temperance and later with the British Templars, the United Temperance Association, the Dominion Alliance, and the International Temperance Association. He filled the office of Grand Worthy Patriarch in the Grand Division of the Sons of Temperance of New Brunswick; Most Worthy Grand Templar of the British Templars of Canada; National Chief of the United Temperance Association, vice-president and president of the Executive of the Dominion Alliance of Canada, and president, for four years, of the International Temperance Association. During Professor Foster’s occupancy of the university chair, he frequently delivered lectures and addresses upon temperance topics, and upon his resignation, engaged in an extensive lecturing tour, delivering addresses on the total abstinence and prohibition questions in all the provinces of Canada, and most of the eastern and western states of the United States. He likewise edited several temperance papers. He has been identified for many years with the Young Men’s Christian Association of Fredericton, and was a member of the executive of the International Sabbath School Committee. After a lecturing tour of remarkable success, Professor Foster resolved to try what fortune had in store for him in the political sphere, though considering how wide and how brilliant his achievements had been, we may be sure he had no misgivings in taking the contemplated step. In looking about him for a constituency, naturally that one nearest his heart, the county wherein he first drew breath, suggested itself, and to King’s he went, though it was represented by that stalwart politician, Major James Domville. The friends of Mr. Domville considered the act of Professor Foster as one that could be properly described only by the phrase “cheeky,” but what they thought made no difference to the young candidate—he proceeded with his canvass, addressing the people everywhere upon the leading topics of the day. Against such eloquence as Professor Foster brought into the field, Major Domville was powerless. But apart from his ability as a debater, the people of King’s had put the highest estimate upon the integrity and character of the young candidate, and they accordingly elected him in June, 1882, to represent them in the House of Commons at Ottawa. His election was voided; but he was again elected in November of the same year, and still continues to represent King’s county at Ottawa. On December 10th, 1885, he was sworn in a member of the Privy Council, and invested with the portfolio of marine and fisheries. Professor Foster has travelled in all the provinces of Canada, and through the greater portion of the United States, and has also visited England, Scotland, France, Germany and Switzerland. In religion he belongs to the Free Baptist denomination, and for many years has been, and is still, a prominent member of its conference. He was president of the Union Baptist Educational Society in 1884-5. The Hon. George Eulas Foster is a Liberal-Conservative in politics, and a full believer in the future greatness of Canada. He favors a civil service system which shall, so far as consistent with the peculiar circumstances of our country, conform to the system in operation in Great Britain, a moderate protective tariff, such as shall maintain our markets for our own manufactures, and at the same time not conduce to the formation of monopolies, a wise, tried economy in the administration of the finances of the country, and an enlightened, progressive and comprehensive policy. He is one of the foremost speakers in the country, if force and clearness of statement, fluency, and adherence to logic can entitle him to that place. He is a man of great energy, and of boundless nervous force. A literary grace pervades his style, but his speeches are never florid, or beyond the bounds of good taste in this respect. There is a singular earnestness in his manner, and nearly every speech that he delivers resolves itself into a series of propositions, one consequent upon the other. As we have said, he is a speaker of much force, and sometimes his eloquence rises to the height of passion.

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=Leclerc, Rev. Joseph Uldaric=, Montreal, was born at Isle Bazarre, August 7th, 1836. He is the son of Francis Leclerc, farmer, and Josephte Demers, his wife. While still a youth, his parents determined to dedicate their son to the service of the church, and with this object in view his education was properly attended to. He took, first, a classical course at Montreal College, after studying philosophy at St. Mary’s College, Montreal, and St. Michael’s College, Toronto. He next went to Sandwich College, as professor, in 1858, but soon resigned this position to enter on a course of study in theology, at the Grand Seminary at Montreal, being ordained priest in June, 1862. His first clerical charge was at Vaudreuil, where he was curate for two years. In 1865 he left Vaudreuil, having been appointed chaplain of the Reformatory Prison, at St. Vincent de Paul. In 1873 he was appointed chaplain to the great penitentiary there, and for the ten years following he filled that important post with great acceptability to the officers of the institution, who were deeply struck with the chaplain’s piety, and the zeal with which he ministered to the spiritual wants of the many unfortunate outcasts from society who were confined within its walls. In 1883 Father Leclerc was transferred to the important parish of St. Joseph’s, Richmond street, Montreal, where he has since ministered. He is also pastor of St. Anthony’s parish, for the English-speaking classes of St. Joseph’s and Cunegonde, by whom he is much beloved. About four years ago he visited Manitoba, and was much impressed with the richness of the country, and the immense resources of the Northwest territories. He has also twice visited the maritime provinces, and has thus a good knowledge of the topography of the Dominion from personal observation.

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=Sanford, Hon. William E.=, Hamilton, Ontario, Senator of the Dominion of Canada, is fairly entitled to be classed among the business men of Canada who have won distinction as successful merchants, and who have by personal industry and genuine business ability succeeded in establishing wide business relations and accumulating large fortunes. No name stands more prominently before the public, or is worthy of more honourable mention than he who is the subject of this sketch. His career has placed him in the front rank of the “merchant princes” of the country. Success is always a relative term, and is used appropriately only when employed to describe conditions in which effort, guided by intelligence and skill, to a definite end, accomplishes its aims. If this be true, then no man in Canada to-day has a stronger claim to this distinction than the Hon. Mr. Sanford. His business life has been simply a series of triumphs over difficulties that would have daunted weaker natures, and these victories have been won by tireless energy, unyielding perseverance, a keen foresight of events, a skilful adaptation to the tastes and necessities of the public, and the intelligent use of definite means to a well defined purpose. The magnificent “Sanford Block” in the city of Hamilton, consisting of offices, warerooms, stock, show and packing rooms; the extensive business connections established in every province in the Dominion, and extending from the Pacific to the Atlantic, giving employment to over two thousand hands, and employing a capital of about a million dollars, constitute a monument of which the most ambitious might be proud. Senator Sanford is a lineal descendant of Thomas de Sanford, who was knighted by William the Conqueror on the battlefield of Hastings (see Burke’s “Landed Gentry”). The American branch of the family settled in Redding, Connecticut, and one of its members, Ezekiel Sanford, engineer, built Fort Saybrook, Conn., in 1626. Born in the city of New York, in 1838, both his parents dying while he was a mere child, he was sent, ere he had reached his seventh year, to live with his uncle, the late Edward Jackson, of Hamilton, one of the pioneer merchants of that city, whose singular uprightness of life and large benefactions to religious, educational and charitable enterprises, gained for him a widespread confidence and respect. In the home of such a one, and surrounded by the most salutary influences, he was brought up, and to this formative period of his life may doubtless be traced many of those elements of character which have since distinguished his career. He received a liberal education in one of the academies of New York, and at the age of fifteen made his first venture in business, entering the then well-known publishing firm of Farmer, Brace & Co., of New York, in whose employ he continued until he reached his majority. The remarkable business ability displayed by him, even at this early period, won for him the esteem and confidence of the firm, and also an offer of a partnership in the business. The death of the senior partner, occurring about this time, caused certain changes which resulted in the disappointment of young Sanford’s hopes. The firm was re-organized, leaving him out. The value of his services was, however, recognized by a rival firm, from whom he received the offer of a salary of three thousand dollars per year. This offer he declined, determined in future to sink or swim as master of the ship he sailed. His own words were, “I am determined never to accept a position as clerk to any firm.” Mr. Sanford now returned to Canada, was united in marriage to Miss Jackson, only daughter of his friend, Edward Jackson, and then went to London, Ontario, and entered into a business partnership with Murray Anderson and Edward Jackson, and under the firm name of Anderson, Sanford & Co., carried on one of the largest foundries in western Canada. His wedded happiness was of short duration, for at the end of about eighteen months his accomplished wife died. Completely crushed and disheartened by the blow, he retired from the firm, and returned to Hamilton. His restless energies, however, refused to remain inactive, and with characteristic energy, he, with some New York dealers, went into the wool business. In less than a year, he was master of the situation, having obtained control of the wool market of the province, and was soon known among dealers as the “Wool King” of Canada. Not long after this, Senator Sanford entered upon the business which, under his skilful management, has grown into such large proportions, in which he has achieved his greatest success, and with which he is still identified. He formed a partnership with Alexander McInnes, for the manufacture of ready-made clothing. With that keen discernment of what the public needed that has ever characterised him, he determined, from the best goods to be found in the market, to manufacture for the public demand clothing that would combine cheapness with elegance and style of finish. Twenty thousand dollars capital was invested at the beginning. The most skilful labor to be found was employed, and samples to meet the requirements of the public produced. Mr. Sanford put the goods upon the market himself, while his partner attended to the office work. The goods were what the people needed, and from that day the trade in Canada was revolutionised; the character of the firm as “first class” established, and the foundation of future success laid. Various changes have taken place in the _personnel_ of the firm since its establishment in 1861. After ten years Mr. McInnes retired, and two of the employés were taken in as partners. These remained for a few years, and then also retired, leaving Senator Sanford sole proprietor, who now carries on the business under the title of W. E. Sanford & Co. Since the establishment of the firm, and through all its subsequent changes, Senator Sanford has been the moving and controlling spirit of the concern. He is complete master of all the details of the several departments, as well as director of the whole establishment. While he pioneers the great public contracts, he at the same time keenly observes and anticipates any change in the public taste, and invariably has the supply in advance of the demand. The requirements of each province or community is a separate study, and whether it be Prince Edward Island or Manitoba or the Pacific coast, each is suitably supplied from the endless variety produced at the central warerooms in Hamilton. While other firms are studying the problem and counting the cost, Senator Sanford is selling his goods and pocketing the profits. In social life Senator Sanford is most affable and attractive; in manners he is courteous and gentlemanly, and is always the soul of the company in which he is found. He can come from the most perplexing concerns of business, and plunge at once into all the mirth and merriment of the evening party, as though there was no such thing as care in the world. For a man whose mind is so deeply occupied with the various financial schemes with which he is identified, one would go far to find another who has the disposition, and finds the opportunity, to do so many acts of genuine kindness. A few flowers from his conservatory, or some rare relish to tempt the appetite, is his thoughtful and appropriate way of relieving the weariness of many a sick chamber. Hon. Mr. Sanford is a leading member of the Methodist church, a trustee and steward of the Centenary Church, Hamilton, and a liberal supporter of the missionary, educational and other connexional agencies of the church. To each of the recurring general conferences he has been invariably elected by the proper constituencies, and is treasurer of several of the most important church funds. As a citizen, he is public-spirited, and justly held in high esteem. He has been president of the Board of Trade, is vice-president of the Hamilton Provident Society, a Bank director, one of the Board of Regents of Victoria University, director of the _Empire_ newspaper, president of the Hamilton Ladies College, and one of the projectors and vice-president of the Manitoba and North-Western Railway Company. He is the owner of a tract of upwards of sixty thousand acres of land on the line of the above mentioned railway at a point commencing within a few miles of Portage la Prairie; and upon this he has established a large cattle and horse ranche. He has now about completed the organization of a company for the development of his immense marble deposit in the township of Barrie, which is claimed to be the largest in the world. In politics he is in sympathy with the protective policy of the present administration, and consequently gives his support to the Conservative party. A few such men make a city, and are indispensable to its prosperity and development. When shrewdness, ability, enterprise, and industry combine, and succeed in accumulating wealth, the benefit is not alone to the one who is thus gifted, but to the many to whom the means of livelihood is afforded, and to the city and country as well, on which they bestow the fruits of their talents and their toil. He was called to the Senate of Canada in March, 1887, and we have no doubt he will make his influence felt in that body for the benefit of the country of his adoption. In 1866 he was united in marriage to Sophia Vaux, youngest daughter of the late Thomas Vaux, accountant of the House of Commons, Ottawa, a lady of culture and dignity, whose genial and refined spirit makes the home delightful, and whose open hand of charity is a proverb in the city in which she lives.

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=Routhier, Hon. Adolphe Basile=, LL.D., Quebec, rests his claim to a prominent place in a work of this kind, not only on his eminence as a judge of the Superior Court of the province of Quebec, but on his well-earned fame as a _littérateur_ and a poet. He was born at St. Placide, in the county of Two Mountains, near Montreal, on the 8th May, 1839, his father, Charles Routhier, a farmer, whose ancestors came from Santonge, France. Educated in the classics at the college of Ste. Therese, in the county of Terrebonne, young Routhier was the first graduate of that institution to receive the degree of B.A. from Laval University, Quebec, at which he also studied law. Called to the bar in December, 1851, he settled down to the practice of his profession at Kamouraska, P.Q., and soon won success and distinction by his abilities as a pleader and a jurist. During this stage of his career, public attention was also first directed to the literary talents which he has since developed in such a remarkable degree. Newspaper writing occupied the time snatched from his profession, and his editorial contributions to _Le Courrier du Canada_, published at Quebec, and _Le Nouveau Monde_, published at Montreal, showed that a new and formidable competitor had entered the journalistic field. A Conservative in politics, he threw himself with ardor into all the controversies of the time and, before long, came to be recognized as the leader of the Ultramontane Catholic or so-called Programmist party in his native province, whose cause he championed with a vigorous pen. In 1869 he was selected as the party’s candidate to contest the seat in the Canadian House of Commons for the county of Kamouraska, but was defeated by his Liberal adversary, Hon. C. A. P. Pelletier, afterwards minister of agriculture and immigration in the Mackenzie cabinet, and now a senator of the Dominion. In 1872 Mr. Routhier was created a Queen’s counsel, and in the following year he was raised to the bench as one of the justices of the Superior Court by the Macdonald government—the judicial district assigned to him being that known as the Chicoutimi district, over which he still presides with marked credit to himself and satisfaction to the local bar and public. On the bench he is noted for his affability, painstaking character and profound knowledge of the law, and his decisions are always marked by great clearness and soundness. Indeed, Mr. Justice Routhier is a model magistrate in the fullest sense of the term, and as such, as well as for his fine social qualities, is very generally admired and esteemed throughout the province of Quebec. The question of the undue influence of the clergy of Lower Canada in politics was first raised and argued before him by Hon. F. Langelier, M.P., the present mayor of Quebec, in the celebrated case of Tremblay _vs._ Langevin (Charlevoix contested election), and though his judgment, which was in favor of the clergy and created great excitement at the time, was afterwards reversed on appeal, its powerful arguments in its own support, and its thorough impartiality, have never been questioned. Judge Routhier has been a great traveller, and to this feature of his life the country is indebted for some of his best literary works. He has made the tour of Europe several times, and, at the time of writing, is again there. He has also visited the Holy Land. When in Rome, in 1876, the late Pontiff Pius IX. conferred on him the dignity of a knight commander of the order of St. Gregory the Great, for his eminent services to the cause of religion; and during the same visit to the other side of the Atlantic, he spent four months in Paris, where he became acquainted with the leading writers of the French Catholic press and the Legitimist party, and delivered at the _Cercle du Luxembourg_ a speech which attracted the favorable notice and praise of _L’Univers_ and _Le Monde_, the great Catholic and Legitimist organs of the French capital. After his return to Canada he took a conspicuous part in the Quebec national festivities of June, 1880, and was chairman of the _Congres Catholique_ held at Laval University, and vice-president of the _Convention Nationale_. On these memorable occasions his addresses created a profound sensation and won for him from _La Minerve_, of Montreal, the leading organ of the Lower Canadian Conservatives, the title of “champion of the Catholic party of Canada.” They were afterwards published in the _Revue Trimestrielle_, of Paris, with the flattering recommendation of M. Lucien Brun, the chief of the Legitimist party of France. Judge Routhier is one of the most charming of French Canadian writers both in verse and prose. His “_Causeries du Dimanche_,” “_Impressions de Voyage_,” “_Poesies_,”, and “_Conférences et Discours_,” published at various times since 1871, as well as his fugitive articles and poetical effusions scattered through the newspaper press, are marked not only by great vigor of thought, but by much beauty and grace; and in literary circles his abilities are recognized as of the highest order. Indeed, by many of the best authorities he is ranked as the greatest master of the French language at the present day in the province of Quebec—his writings being admired as much for their purity and polish as for their force. As a literary critic, he is admitted to be unsurpassed in that province, and his _Jean Piquefort_ is a perfect model of keen and polished satire. Laval University acknowledged his literary eminence in 1881 by conferring upon him the distinction of LL.D. He is also a prominent member of the Royal Society of Canada. In 1862 our subject married Miss Marie Clorinde Mondelet, only daughter of the late Jean Olivier Mondelet, advocate, and niece of one of the eminent judges of the same name, who, some years since, graced the bench of the Montreal district. Mrs. Routhier is one of the leaders of Quebec society and a lady as remarkable for her gracefulness as for her social distinction. By her he has had issue four children, three daughters and one son.

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=Shannon, Hon. Samuel Leonard=, D.C.L., Halifax, Judge of the Court of Probate for the county of Halifax, Nova Scotia, was born in Halifax, on the 1st June, 1816. His father, James Noble Shannon, was a merchant in Halifax, and his mother, Nancy Allison, belongs to Horton, Nova Scotia. The Shannons, with which the subject of our sketch is connected, came from Ireland, to the colony of Massachusetts, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, and the progenitor of the family was Nathaniel Shannon, who held the office of “navie officer,” at Boston, Massachusetts. His descendants settled at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and were connected with the Vaughan and Cutts families of that place. Mr. Shannon’s grandfather, Richard Cutts Shannon, was a prominent lawyer in Portsmouth when the revolutionary war broke out, and by taking the royal side became subject to persecution, imprisonment, and loss of property. His son, the father of the subject of our sketch, left Portsmouth when he was a boy, and came to Nova Scotia, and finally settled in Halifax, where he carried on business as a merchant until his death in 1857. The mother’s family, the Allisons, came from the north of Ireland about the year 1769, and settled in Horton, Nova Scotia, on land which had been previously occupied by the French Acadians. Hon. Mr. Shannon received his primary education at the Halifax Grammar School, of which the Rev. Dr. Twining was master; and in 1832 he entered the University of King’s College, Windsor, from which he graduated B.A. in 1836. He received the degree of D.C.L. from the same university, in 1875. He studied law with H. Pryor, D.C.L., and was admitted to the bar of Nova Scotia, in 1839. In 1866 he was appointed a Queen’s counsel. Having taken an interest in military affairs, he received a commission as second lieutenant in the 2nd or Queen’s Halifax regiment of militia, in 1837,—the commission signed by Sir Colin Campbell, the then governor of Nova Scotia. He was promoted lieutenant in the same regiment in 1838; became captain in same regiment in 1859,—commission signed by Lord Mulgrave, the then lieutenant-governor, and major, in 1862. He was subsequently appointed lieutenant-colonel of the reserve Halifax battalion, and commissioned by the Dominion government. Entering political life, he was elected member of the Nova Scotia legislature, for the western division of the county of Halifax, including the city, in 1859; re-elected by the same constituency in 1863; became member of the provincial government in 1863; and remained in the government until the province entered into confederation in 1867. He then retired from politics, and was appointed judge of the court of probate, for the county of Halifax, in 1881. In 1870 he received the title of “honorable” from her Majesty the Queen. Judge Shannon is president of the Nova Scotia Bible Society; president of the Nova Scotia Evangelical Alliance; a trustee and member of the Young Men’s Christian Association of Halifax, and a shareholder and member of several local mercantile companies. He has travelled extensively in the United States and Dominion of Canada, which he has visited repeatedly. In 1847 and 1848 he spent nine months travelling in England, Scotland, and on the continent of Europe. He was in Switzerland when the war of the Sonderbund took place, in 1847; in Paris, only a few weeks before the revolution of 1848, and in London, during the Chartist riots of the last mentioned year. He was brought up a Methodist, and has always been identified with that denomination. He was married in October, 1855, to Annie, daughter of Benjamin Fellows, of Granville, Nova Scotia.

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=Sinclair, Donald=, Walkerton, Ontario, Registrar of Deeds for the county of Bruce, was born in the Island of Islay, Scotland, in July 1829. His parents were Neil Sinclair and Mary McDougall, first of Kileenan, afterwards of Bowmore village. He was educated at the parish school of Bowmore. He immigrated with his parents to Canada West, in the summer of 1851; and came to the county of Bruce in the summer of 1853, where he remained for a couple of years with his parents who had settled in the township of Arran in 1852. Mr. Sinclair taught school in the Gore area of Toronto, Chinguacousy and Toronto township, and afterwards in the township of Saugeen; and then settled permanently in the county of Bruce, in 1858. He has always taken a deep interest in municipal affairs, and was deputy-reeve of Arran; and sat in the municipal council of the united counties of Huron and Bruce in 1863, in which year he removed to Southampton and became bookkeeper for his brother, Alexander Sinclair, general merchant and grain buyer. In general politics, too, he was greatly interested, and became the standard-bearer of his party, and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, at the general election in 1867, as member for the North Riding of Bruce, which riding he represented continuously till 1883. He was appointed registrar of deeds on the 24th of February, 1883, for the county of Bruce, and this position he still holds. Mr. Sinclair removed from Southampton to Paisley in the year 1869, where he resided and carried on business as a general merchant till he received his appointment. He married, 26th April, 1871, Isabella, daughter of Thomas Adair, of Southampton. He is a member of the Baptist church, and was always a Liberal in politics. Mr. Sinclair is a sociable Scotchman, and is held in high esteem by his friends.

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=Scott, Hon. Richard William=, Q.C., leader of the Opposition in the Senate, and ex-Secretary of State, was born in Prescott, Ontario, on the 24th February, 1825. He is of Irish parentage on his father’s side, while, on his mother’s side he claims kinship with the McDonnells of U. E. loyalist fame. Young Scott had the advantage of a good education, his parents being in comfortable circumstances. He was educated by a private tutor, William Spiller, of Prescott, until he was ready to enter upon the study of law. He read in the office of Messrs. Crooks & Smith, of Toronto, and was called to the bar at the age of twenty-three years. He settled in Ottawa, then a small town, and entered upon the practice of his profession. He early exhibited a leaning towards public affairs, and took an active part as a young man in many warm political contests. In 1852 he was elected mayor of Ottawa, and filled his term of office with general satisfaction to the people. In 1857 he was elected to the Canadian Legislature for Ottawa, but suffered defeat on seeking re-election in 1863. When confederation was consummated and the first general election for the Ontario Legislative Assembly was held, Mr. Scott was again elected for Ottawa, and from that time to the present he has been continuously active in Canadian public affairs as a member of one of the great legislative bodies. He has held high positions in several administrations, and is to be credited with the initiation of some of the most important laws under which the Canadian people now live. He was elected speaker of the Ontario Legislative Assembly in 1871, but in the organization of the Blake administration he was asked to accept a portfolio and a seat in the executive council, and resigned the speakership after two weeks of office. He became commissioner of crown lands, and administered the affairs of that exceedingly difficult office with marked ability. In 1873 he was called to the Privy Council of the Dominion, as a member of the Mackenzie administration, and resigned his place in the Ontario government and his seat in the house. He was chosen as the fittest man to lead the Senate in conjunction with Hon. Mr. Pelletier, and was called to the upper house and made secretary of state, in March, 1874. His position in the government was that of secretary of state and registrar-general. When Hon. (now Sir) Richard Cartwright, minister of finance, went to England in that year, Hon. Mr. Scott acted in his place; and subsequently, in the absence of other members of the government he acted at one time as minister of internal revenue, and at another as minister of justice. On the defeat of the Mackenzie administration at the polls in 1878, Hon. Mr. Scott became leader of the opposition in the Senate, which position he still holds. The legislative enactment by which he is most widely known, and which forms his highest title to a high place among Canadian law-makers, is the Canada Temperance Act of 1875, better known as “the Scott Act.” This measure was the outcome of a long agitation on the part of the temperance people for an advance in some way upon the license laws and the old “Dunkin Act,” until then the ones in force. The “Dunkin Act” was a local option measure, but was of so defective a character that it was but lightly considered by the prohibitionists, and was not of much use as a guide in framing another law based upon the local option principle. The Canada Temperance Act is therefore a pioneer in the path of local option legislation in regard to the liquor traffic, and it is a remarkable tribute to the sagacity and legal ability of its framer that in the ten years since it was passed, although it has been the subject of the fiercest legal disputes, not only has its constitutionality been upheld by the highest court of the empire, in spite of the determined efforts of the greatest pleaders to overthrow it, but so perfect have its details been found that even now some half-dozen amendments are all that the prohibitionists are asking, and of these some arise out of advance in the temperance sentiment of the country which could not have been legislated for in the first place. Another important act which owes its origin to Mr. Scott, and which now forms part of our constitutional system, is the Separate School Law of Ontario, prepared and carried through parliament by him as a private member, in 1863; a measure which was the means of removing a vexed question from the political arena, and of allaying much public irritation. Mr. Scott is a man of quiet, methodical ways, but remarkable for his perseverance and tenacity of purpose. As a speaker, he makes no oratorical flourishes, but arranges his arguments with marked ability in such a way as to produce the most telling effect upon a candid mind. Personally there is no man in parliament who is held in higher or more deserved respect by representatives of all shades of political opinion.

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=Adam, Graeme Mercer=, Toronto, was born in 1839, at Loanhead, a village in Midlothian, Scotland, about half-way between De Quincey’s house at Lasswade, on the Esk, and the woodland domain of the poet Drummond, of Hawthornden, close by the far-famed castle and chapel of the Earls of Roslyn. His father, who died in 1841, was factor on the estates of Graeme Mercer of Mavisbank and Gorthy, after whom he was named. The family is connected with the Adams of Blair-Adam, in Perthshire, and on the paternal side has given many representatives to literature and other professional callings; while on the maternal side, numberless Wisharts (his mother is a lineal descendant of the Scottish martyr George Wishart), have served their country in many of Britain’s great battles on sea and land. After receiving his education, first at Portobello and then at Edinburgh, Mr. Adam entered an old-established publishing house in the Scottish capital while very young, and at the age of nineteen was entrusted with the management of one of its most important departments. Owing to the death of the head of the house, the business was wound up, and young Mercer Adam was offered, through the Nelsons, a post in a large colonial book-house in Calcutta, and from the Blackwoods he had at the same time a proposal to go to Canada, to take charge of the book business of Mr. (now Rev. Dr.) J. Cunningham Geikie; the latter of which he accepted, and came to Canada in September, 1858. Two years afterwards he succeeded to this business, as a member of the firm of Rollo & Adam, who, it may be said, were the publishers of the first of the more ambitious native periodicals published in Canada, the _British American Magazine_. In this native periodical Mr. Adam made his first published contributions to literature. In 1866 Mr. Rollo retired from the business of Rollo & Adam, and the firm of Adam, Stevenson & Co. was formed. This book-house was well known in its day for its many publishing enterprises, and for the aid it gave the intellectual life of Canada, in furthering native literature and in introducing a higher class of book importations than had hitherto found sale in the country. Unfortunately the house for a number of years met with many and severe losses, and its business was wound up in 1876, Mr. Adam withdrawing for a time to New York to found a publishing house there, which has since developed into the extensive firm of the John W. Lovell Publishing Company. Mr. Adam, however, returned to Toronto in 1878, and since then has almost exclusively devoted himself to a literary life. In 1879 he established, and for five years edited, the _Canada Educational Monthly_; and in 1880 assumed the editorship of the _Canadian Monthly_, which in connection with Professor Goldwin Smith, he was instrumental in founding in the year 1872. Mr. Adam has also had connection with many other periodical publications issued in Ontario, either as a writer or in business relations therewith. His services to literature have been wide and important, for he has been journalist, educationist, critic, reviewer and essay-writer. In 1885 he wrote “The North-West, its History and its Troubles,” published by the Rose Publishing Company; he edited an edition of Lord Macaulay’s Essay on Warren Hastings; founded the _Canada Bookseller_, a trade organ, in 1870, and has written, in conjunction with W. J. Robertson, B.A., of St. Catharines, a “School History of England and Canada.” This History-Primer has had a sale of 100,000 copies, and is authorized for use in all the schools of Ontario as well as in the educational institutions of other provinces. In 1883 Mr. Adam edited a five volume series of school reading books, known as the “Royal Canadian Readers,” and in the following year was an extensive contributor to _Picturesque Canada_, and to a number of publications issued in Canada and the mother country. Mr. Adam is also the joint author, with J. W. Connor, B.A., of Berlin, of “The Canadian High School Word Book,” a manual of orthoepy, synonymy and derivation. In 1886, in conjunction with Miss A. E. Wetherald, a graceful Canadian writer in prose and verse, Mr. Adam wrote an historical romance entitled “An Algonquin Maiden,” three separate editions of which appeared in Toronto, London, and New York. This novel, which deals with interesting events in connection with the early history of Upper Canada, was exceedingly well received by the public and highly praised by the critics. Of other recent works which have come from Mr. Adam’s pen, the chief is an “Outline History of Canadian Literature,” published in 1887. This admirable text book of the native authors, though modest in its scope, has been found exceedingly useful as a companion to the Canadian histories. Mr. Adam has served Canada in the militia for twelve years. He was a captain in the Queen’s Own Rifles, and commanded a company of that crack corps at the fight at Ridgeway, between our volunteers and the Fenian marauders. He is a graduate and first-class certificate holder of the Military school of Toronto; received a second-class certificate in 1865 from Colonel Peacock of Her Majesty’s 16th regiment; and in 1866 a first-class certificate from Colonel Lowry of the 47th regiment. Mr. Adam has for the last twenty years been brought into contact with every literary man in the country and many representatives of other professions in Canada, and we have not probably another man who has a larger or more intimate acquaintance with books, book-men, and the book-trade, as vouched for by the publishing and bookselling fraternity, as well as by the leading men in all the professions—law, medicine, education, theology, etc. Mr. Adam married in 1863, Jane, second daughter of the late John Gibson, of Lovell & Gibson, parliamentary printers, and editor for many years of the _Literary Garland_. This lady died in 1884, profoundly regretted, leaving eight children to survive her. In religion Mr. Adam is a member of the Church of England; in politics he is an independent and a Canadian nationalist. Besides the literary work noted, Mr. Adam has edited and prepared for the press innumerable manuscripts; is a constant contributor to all the Toronto journals, and is looked upon by literary people as a sort of general reference library. The most pretentious of Mr. Adam’s published works so far is “The North-West, its History and its Troubles;” and this is a book that will be certain to survive in the literature of the country. The style of the work is like everything that proceeds from the pen of Mr. Adam,—it is clean cut, easy, swift and direct. There is a fascinating grace about all of Mr. Adam’s work, and one finds himself pausing constantly to admire the grace with which a sentence has been rounded, or to linger over its exquisitely balanced rhythm. Nature he loves with all his heart, and many of the descriptive passages in the work in question are delightful. There is present, likewise, the judicial quality, and the sense of historical responsibility; while the strong individuality of the writer is ever manifest. What we say of the work referred to, is true of Mr. Adam’s writing generally. But to him, as some of our recently published historical and biographical works bear testimony, Canadian literature lies under a debt which it can never repay. Literature the man loves, and it is not an exaggeration to say that his life has been consecrated to it. How bitter have been the fortunes of letters in Canada, is a fact only too well known, but Mr. Adam has always been fighting the literary fight, and when others have dropped out of the battle, he has kept up his courage. He is at present engaged exclusively in letters, and has now attained his meridian powers, and we await much from his gifted pen.

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=Dickson, George=, M.A., Principal of Upper Canada College, Toronto, was born in Markham township, county of York, in 1846. His father was John Dickson, a well-known and much respected mill owner, of Markham, who came to Canada in 1829, and lived for a time in York (now Toronto). His grandfather, Robert Dickson, was a substantial woollen manufacturer of Lanarkshire, Scotland. His mother, a worthy Scotch lady, was the daughter of Robert McNair, farmer, of Paisley, Scotland, who emigrated to Canada in 1828, and settled at Milton, county of Halton, but subsequently removed to York Mills, Yonge street. Another branch of the family settled in Oswego, and there carried on an extensive shipping business. The subject of this sketch, who for nearly a quarter of a century has been worthily identified with educational pursuits, was himself educated at the Richmond Hill Public School, at the Markham Grammar School, and subsequently at the Whitby Senior County Grammar School, then under the charge of Thomas Kirkland, M.A., now principal of the Normal School, Toronto. From Whitby he proceeded to Toronto University, where he matriculated with honors, and attended two sessions. Here he prosecuted his studies, as the late President McCaul relates, with much diligence, his proficiency in mathematics, history and English, and in natural history, gaining him honors in these departments. Later on he graduated with honors at the Victoria University, Cobourg; and in 1878 he was admitted to the degree of master of arts. In the year 1865 he began his career as an educator, teaching first in the Lloyd school section, township of Whitchurch, and in 1866-7 in the village of Laskay, township of King. In the latter school we first recognise Mr. Dickson’s special aptitude for teaching, for in the two years he was engaged at Laskay no fewer than twelve of his pupils obtained first-class certificates of qualification as teachers. In 1868 Mr. Dickson was appointed mathematical master in the Chatham Grammar School, then under the late High School inspector, S. A. Marling, M.A. Here his success as an educator followed him, one of his earliest pupils obtaining first-class honors in mathematics at the matriculation examinations at Toronto University. Of the characteristics of his educational work at Chatham, Mr. Marling, the then head master, writes:—“Mr. Dickson is a thorough teacher, an excellent disciplinarian, and possesses in an unusual degree the power to excite and maintain the interest of a class.” In 1871 the subject of our sketch was offered and accepted the important post of preparing young men for university matriculation in the Woodstock Literary Institute, under the late Rev. R. A. Fyfe, D.D. Here he had charge of the university class in mathematics, English, history, and part of the classics; and in the year he remained at Woodstock he justly earned, as the authorities acknowledged, much of the gratifying honors won by the students of the institute. We now follow Mr. Dickson to Hamilton, to which city he removed in the autumn of 1872, to assume the duties of assistant mastership of the Collegiate Institute. The then headmaster was the late J. M. Buchan, M.A., who in the following year was made high school inspector; the board appointing Mr. Dickson in his stead. To this important position the new headmaster brought his now matured talents, rare aptitude for teaching, and an industry and power of work which enabled him not only to establish his fame as one of the most successful of Canadian educators, but to win for the Hamilton Institute a position in the first rank among the secondary schools of the province. These statements find ready confirmation in the gratifying statistics of the institute during the thirteen years Mr. Dickson remained in charge of its affairs. In 1872, when he was appointed headmaster, the school ranked third in the province; in 1885, when he removed to Toronto, again to succeed Mr. Buchan in the principalship of Upper Canada College, the school, as we have said, ranked first; from an attendance of 230 at the former period, the attendance rose to 585 at the latter period. Not only was the school thoroughly organized, with a specialist at the head of each department, but a literary society was formed in connection with it, and later on its members began the publication of a magazine, which at first modestly appeared quarterly, then blossomed out into a vigorous monthly, dealing with every branch of educational work, and finding its way into almost every county in the province. In the management of this periodical, which finally was merged in the _Canada Educational Monthly_, Mr. Dickson took an active interest, and gave it the benefit of his literary and scientific attainments. Meantime the institute greatly prospered, and the most gratifying successes were won by its pupils at the various university examinations and at those of the educational department of the province. The university record of the institute under Mr. Dickson’s administration shows almost phenomenal results. Within ten years of his appointment no less than one hundred and seventy-five of its pupils passed the university examinations. The scholarships (nineteen in number) taken by pupils of the school within the same period are in the same ratio. As bearing on this subject, we extract the following from a late report of the Hamilton board:—

At Toronto University the school has ranked either first or
second in classics no fewer than ten times, in mathematics
eleven times first and three times second; in modern languages,
including English, history and geography, twice first and twice
second; and at every matriculation examination since 1873
Hamilton has won scholarships. Official university records show
that no other collegiate institute has done this. In addition to
the scholarships given above, Hamilton won six at first year
Toronto University; one at London, England, ten at Knox College;
two at McGill University; one at Trinity College, Toronto; two
at Victoria and one at Queen’s College, Kingston; in all, forty
scholarships, or an average of four each year. In 1883, in
addition to all this, five scholarships were won at university
examinations by Hamilton.

The departmental examinations show like results. Under Mr. Dickson’s _régime_ upwards of four hundred passed the non-professional examinations for teachers’ certificates, and over fifty matriculated in law. From 1880 to 1885, in addition to his onerous duties as principal of the Collegiate Institute, Mr. Dickson had charge of the organization and management of the school system of the city of Hamilton. He also organized the Hamilton Teachers’ Association, and was its first president; was president for one year of the Teachers Association of the county of Wentworth; and for a number of years a director of the Hamilton Mechanics’ Institute. In 1885, on the lamented death of J. M. Buchan, Mr. Dickson succeeded that gentleman in the principalship of Upper Canada College, by appointment of the Ontario government, and thereupon removed to Toronto. In his new sphere, Principal Dickson’s power of organization, good discipline, and thoroughly business-like administration, combined with his all round scholarship, fine teaching ability and faculty of imbuing students with love of their work soon manifested themselves, and gave a new impetus to the old historic school of the province. Under his management not only has the institution continued to flourish, but it has done increasingly good work, as yearly university honors prove, and passed through a crisis in its history which, under a less vigorous administration would probably have seen its doom. Though it is soon to pass to new quarters in the northern suburbs of the city, its future need cause no uneasiness to any “old College boy,” for its interests will be in safe keeping in the hands of its present capable head. As principal of Upper Canada College Mr. Dickson is _ex officio_ a member of Toronto University Senate, and his large experience as an educationist, and the fact that he has filled successively the post of classical, mathematical, science and English master, in high school, collegiate institute and college, peculiarly fit him to serve in the academic senate. Personally, he is held in high esteem for his many fine qualities of head and heart, and for those gifts and endowments which, if they have not led him to take a prominent part in public affairs, nevertheless attach to him many warm friends. Though he is not what is known as a “pushing” man, for his modest demeanor indicates him to be the reverse of this, he is a gentleman of great and varied mental resources, which would enable him to acquit himself with credit in any sphere he is called upon to fill. He is withal a genial, large-hearted, and lovable man. In politics Principal Dickson is a Reformer; in religion a Presbyterian. In 1882 he married Mary, eldest daughter of the late Captain Thomas Flett, of Hamilton, a lady whose musical tastes and varied graces and accomplishments endear her to a large circle of friends.

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