A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time by Rose

the old cabinet. His colleagues from that province were all new men. On the 28th of July, 1858, Mr. Piché moved an amendment: “That, in the opinion of this chamber, the city of Ottawa ought not to be the seat of the government of this province.” The amendment was carried by a majority of six. The ministry, on account of this vote, tendered their resignation next day, the 29th of July. Sir Edmund Head requested Mr. George Brown to form an administration. This gentleman, as the leader of the Opposition, had for years waged a resolute battle against the party represented by the defeated ministry. Following constitutional precedents, it was the duty of the governor-general to ask Mr. Brown to form a cabinet. It was also his duty to smooth the way for the accomplishment of the object he wished Mr. Brown to accomplish. But the governor, instead of removing obstacles from Mr. Brown’s path, was the first to place them in that gentleman’s way. He would not give to Mr. Brown the promise of a dissolution, but he would consent to a prorogation, if one or two measures were passed, and if a vote of credit were taken for the supplies. Mr. Brown was thus over-weighted from the very beginning. Still, with that political courage which had always characterized him, he undertook the formation of a cabinet. He chose as his colleague, and as leader of the Lower Canada section of the government, the Hon. A. A. Dorion, a gentleman with an untarnished political record. On the 2nd of August, 1858, Mr. Brown had completed his task, and the cabinet took the oath of office. The existence of this administration was brief, in fact the shortest known to our history, it having existed for only two days when it resigned, being defeated on a motion of want of confidence. The governor-general having in vain requested Mr. Galt to form a cabinet, Mr. Cartier became the head of a new Administration. He chose the Hon. John A. Macdonald as the leader of the Upper Canada section. The government was completed on the 6th of August. Then followed what is known as the “Double-Shuffle.” By the Independence of Parliament Act of 1857, it was provided that if a cabinet minister in either house should resign his office, and within a month afterwards accept another, he should not go back to his constituents. Some of the members of the Macdonald-Cartier government, who had entered the Cartier-Macdonald government, took advantage of this law in order to avoid the ordeal of re-election. They accepted, on the 6th of August, in the Cartier-Macdonald cabinet, offices different from those they had held in the Macdonald-Cartier cabinet. But on the 7th of August they discarded their portfolios of the 6th, and resumed those which they had held in the Macdonald-Cartier administration when it resigned on the 29th of July. Mr. Cartier, when he resigned, on the 29th of July, was attorney-general for Lower Canada. On the 6th of August he became inspector-general. On the 7th of August he resumed the office of attorney-general. This constituted the “Double Shuffle.” The action cannot be defended, and he never attempted to defend it. The ministry seemed to be ashamed of the part they had played. Many of their own supporters blamed them. The political conscience of the country seemed to have become sensitive, when it fully realized the extent of the wrong which had been done to constitutional and parliamentary government. The ministry were forced, by public opinion, to repeal the Independence of Parliament Act, under which they had accomplished the “Double-Shuffle.” The Cartier-Macdonald administration, after it had been formed, announced that it would give serious attention to the question of a Federal Union of the Provinces of North America. They further promised that they would approach the imperial authorities on the subject, and also enter into communication with the governments of the Maritime provinces. After the session of 1858, Messrs. Cartier, Galt and Ross visited England in the interest of a Federal Union. To communications from the colonial secretary on the subject of union, the government of the Maritime provinces answered by requesting time for the consideration of the project. The result was that no action was at that time taken. The Cartier-Macdonald government proceeded no farther in the direction of union. On this visit to England, Attorney-General Cartier was, for three days, the guest of the Queen at Windsor Castle. Parliament was opened, in Toronto, in the month of January, 1859. The question of the seat of government again came to the front. The ministry stated that they were obliged to uphold the Queen’s decision in favor of Ottawa. Mr. Sicotte, who had left the cabinet on this question, proposed an amendment to the Address in reply to the Speech from the Throne. He had seceded because he held that, after the vote of the Legislative Assembly at its last session, the government could not abide by the decision of the Queen without violating the principle that the majority should rule. The amendment he now proposed was to the effect that the principles of the Constitution required that the opinion of the majority should be respected; and that, in declaring, during the preceding session, that Ottawa should not be the capital, the house had expressed its views in conformity with the ordinary and constitutional exercise of its privileges. Mr. Langevin seconded the amendment. He was of opinion that Attorney-General Cartier could not make any one believe that Ottawa was the most convenient place for the seat of government. The capital ought not to be fixed before the question of Confederation was decided. Mr. Cartier argued that the conduct of the cabinet in this matter was constitutional. The simple declaration, by the house, that Ottawa ought not to be the capital, did not suffice to set aside the Queen’s decision, and bind the ministry to take account of it. The choice of Ottawa was a good one, because the immediate pressure of public opinion would make itself less felt there than elsewhere. The French-Canadians would find, in Ottawa, a population in part Catholic, and having the same institutions. The result of the debate was a government majority of only five. The Upper Canada Opposition contributed to the victory so narrowly won. Ottawa, sorely pressed, snatched the capital from the other competitors. The session of 1859 was marked by another advantage secured by Mr. Cartier for his native province. This was an Act to amend the Seignorial Act of 1854. The object of his measure was the complete redemption of the Seignorial rights, with one exception. It was stated that the funds provided by the Seignorial Act of 1854 had proved insufficient for the redemption of certain feudal obligations still pressing upon the _habitants_. For this purpose a new appropriation of between $1,600,000 and $2,000,000 was demanded by Mr. Cartier. With the exception of one member, Mr. Somerville, all the Lower Canada representatives supported this measure. But the Upper Canada Liberals, led by the Hon. George Brown, assailed the proposal with the utmost vigor. They proclaimed that it was nothing more than an attempt to rob Upper Canada. They opposed it in the press, and combated it with unflinching courage on the floor of the house. But in vain: the Lower Canada phalanx voted down all attempts to amend the measure, and with them voted their Upper Canada allies. The end was, that the law was carried by 66 to 28. The session of 1861 was marked by a long and vehement debate on the question of Representation by Population. It was opened by Mr. Ferguson proposing an amendment to the Address. The amendment declared the regret of the house that the governor-general had not been advised to allude to the recent census of the people, which census the house could not but regard as preliminary to legislation upon the great question of Parliamentary Reform, based upon the numbers and wealth of the people, etc. The amendment was voted down by 72 to 38. The Lower Canada phalanx and its Upper Canada allies were again victorious. Mr. Ferguson then proposed a measure in modification of the existing system of representation. The new project was to give to a county of at least 15,000 inhabitants one representative; to a county of 20,000, two representatives. Mr. Cartier, in a strong and uncompromising speech, announced his unalterable opposition to what he styled the unjust pretensions of Upper Canada. He maintained that the upper province had no right under the Union Act, to claim a larger representation than Lower Canada. The union had been consummated with the understanding that the equality of the representation would be maintained. He concluded in protesting that he would never sacrifice the rights of Lower Canada. The government of which he was first minister would not yield Representation by Population, in spite of the efforts of the members from Upper Canada who advocated that measure. It must be admitted that, on this particular question, Mr. Cartier shows to great disadvantage. The lawyer and the sectionalist are seen everywhere: the statesman and the Canadian nowhere. Because the Union Act was silent on the subject of representation, the great upper province must chafe under a galling injustice. Containing 285,000 people more than Lower Canada, this vast number was to remain without a voice to make known their wishes in the councils of the country. In this instance, Mr. Cartier showed himself devoid of that rare element, political equity: the element that distinguishes the statesman from the politician. After a discussion prolonged through several days, the measure of Mr. Ferguson was defeated by a majority of 18. For the motion 49; against it, 67. Upper Canada had 49 representatives who voted for the motion, and a dozen who voted against it. If Mr. Cartier had been a man of ordinary political prescience on this question he would have foreseen, from this vote, that Upper Canada was determined to have her claims satisfied, and that it would not be possible much longer to refuse them. The parliament was prorogued on the 18th of May, 1861. On the 16th of June following, it was dissolved by proclamation. In the general election which followed, Mr. Cartier defeated Mr. Dorion in Montreal East. The seventh parliament of the province of Canada was opened on the 20th of March, 1862. In the debate on the Address, the burning question of Representation by Population again came up. The Hon. William Macdougall, one of its most able and ardent supporters, moved an amendment to the Address. It set forth that, by the recent census, the population of Upper Canada exceeded that of Lower Canada, in February, 1861, by no fewer than 285,427 souls. The amendment expressed the regret of the house that the governor-general had not been advised to recommend some measure for securing to this large population in Upper Canada their rightful share of the parliamentary representation, and their just influence in the government. The Hon. John Hillyard Cameron, though Conservative as he was, raised his eloquent voice in favor of the claims of Upper Canada. But facts, reasoning, justice, pleaded in vain. The Lower Canada majority, to a man, voted down Mr. Macdougall’s proposition; but he was supported by forty-two of the representatives of Upper Canada. Mr. Cartier, this session, failed again to see that the headlong voting of his followers was paralyzing the constitution which, in their common political blindness, they fancied they were perpetuating. But the day of his supremacy was drawing to a close. His colleague, the Hon. John A. Macdonald, brought forward a measure intended to increase the efficiency of the militia. It was based on the suggestions of a special commission, amongst whose members were Mr. Cartier and Mr. Macdonald. The commissioners recommended that an active force of 50,000 men should submit to a drill extending over twenty-eight days in each year; and that a reserve of an equal number should be embodied. The opposition at once began to question the ministry. The Hon. Mr. Galt, the minister of finance, informed them that he would ask for $850,000 to set the new scheme in operation. After this outlay, the annual expenditure would be about $500,000. The French Canadian constituencies took the alarm. They dreaded a conscription which would every year take away so many thousands of needed workers from their homes and farms. They raised their voices against the enormous increase of the provincial liabilities which this new scheme would necessitate. Some of the friends of the government sought in vain to induce them to modify the measure. They defied a vote. On the second reading the vote was taken. The government was beaten by 61 to 54. Mr. Macdonald was supported by a majority of seven votes from Upper Canada; but Mr. Cartier was left in a minority of thirteen. His political power was shattered. On the 21st of May, 1862, he tendered his resignation. The Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald, at the invitation of Lord Monck, succeeded in forming a cabinet. How it was compelled to resign, and how successive cabinets were subjected to a similar ordeal; how the scheme of Confederation was matured, as the only way out of the dead-lock, it will be the province of other sketches to detail. At present, our concern is with Mr. Cartier alone. To those who can remember the political events of 1863 and 1865, it is needless to say that Mr. Cartier succeeded in forcing the scheme of Confederation on Lower Canada. He had managed to array on his side, amongst other influences, those of the Roman Catholic church. Against a scheme thus supported the efforts of the Liberals were directed in vain. The cry of Confederation swept Lower Canada like a hurricane. Under the new system of Confederation, Mr. Cartier was, on the 18th of July, 1867, appointed minister of defence for the Dominion. In August, 1868, he was created a baronet of the United Kingdom. He represented Montreal East in the Quebec Legislature from the union until the general election of 1871, when he was chosen as member for Beauharnois. He remained in the local parliament until the abolition of dual representation. To his credit be it said that the majority of the British population of Lower Canada looked up to him, when he was a member of the Quebec Assembly, as their special champion. This they did, to the setting aside of the timid and trimming representatives of their own nationality. It must be admitted that, from the era of Confederation, the political stature of Sir George Cartier began to grow less. Larger interests than those of Lower Canada usurped the public attention. His province had no grievances to bring into the Confederation. He was still her foremost man, but she needed him no longer as her champion. In the general election of 1872 he suffered the mortification of defeat in Montreal East. He sought political shelter in the distant Manitoba county of Provencher, a region wherein he had never set foot. He was in England when, in 1873, the Pacific Scandal burst, like a thunderclap, upon the people of Canada. That Sir George was deeply implicated in the degrading bargain was only too clear. He died in England, on the 20th of May, 1873. On the 13th of June following, his remains were accorded, in Montreal, the honor of a public funeral. Men of all ranks and nationalities made up the multitudes who escorted his remains to their last resting-place, in the cemetery on the Montreal mountain. ----- [4] It is but justice, however, to the Legislative Council of Lower Canada to say that, on more than one occasion, in those times of political tumult, the refusal of that body to yield to the Legislative Assembly was the means of preserving the interests of the British minority from being sacrificed. [5] The italics and small capitals are in the original. [6] The _tuque bleu_ is the blue woollen night-cap, the distinctive national head-dress of the _habitants_. * * * * * =Brown, William.=—This gentleman, in conjunction with Thomas Gilmore, started the first printing press in Canada. Nothing is known of them beyond that they came from Philadelphia to Quebec, in 1763, having formed the idea of starting newspapers in Canada; that immeasurable difficulties beset them in their arduous undertaking, not the least of which was that Mr. Brown had to proceed to England to procure the proper materials, such as press, ink and paper, before he could issue his first broadsheet. On his return he opened his printing office, and on the 21st of June, 1764, brought out the first number of the Quebec _Gazette_. He had only one hundred and fifty subscribers, but, nevertheless, he succeeded in introducing “a new and potent element of civilization.” * * * * * =Cook, Rev. John=, D.D., LL.D., Quebec, for many years minister of St. Andrew’s Church, of that city, but now retired, was born in Sanquhar, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, on the 13th April, 1805, and educated at the universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, where he studied under Dr. Chalmers. Dr. Cook was ordained a clergyman of the Church of Scotland in 1835, and came to Canada in 1836. He has ever since taken a prominent part, first in the affairs of the Presbyterian Church of Canada in connection with the Church of Scotland, and since the general union of Presbyterians, in 1875, in those of the United Church. In 1844, when those who sympathised with the secession from the church in Scotland withdrew from the Canadian church in connection with the Scottish establishment, Dr. Cook was, for the second time, after the departure of the Free Church party, elected moderator of the Synod. He opposed the division of the Canadian church, maintaining that, without regard to the divisions in Scotland, it was the duty of Canadian Presbyterians to remain united in upholding the general interests of Presbyterians in Canada. While steadily laboring to promote the extension of the old branch of the Presbyterian church, Dr. Cook remained consistent to his opinions of 1844, and at the Synod of 1861 proposed a resolution, the effect of which was to promote the union of all the Presbyterians of the province. At the time this failed, but in 1875 the union so manifestly desirable, though long retarded by mutual prejudices, was brought about, and by the general sense of the united church, and in recognition of his exertions to restore union, Dr. Cook was chosen first moderator of the Presbyterian Church of the Dominion. In connection with the church, Dr. Cook was one of the delegates sent home to obtain a Royal charter for the University of Queen’s College, Kingston, of which he was long a trustee, and over which he presided as principal in 1857 and 1858. In 1855, when the clergy of the Church of Scotland in the province, sacrificing their own interests for the benefit of the church, created with the proceeds of their allowances a general endowment fund, Dr. Cook acted for his brethren, and it was through him that the commutation with the government was effected. Both before and since the union, Dr. Cook’s great ability and energy have enabled him to render the greatest services to the church. He has had a large share in all branches of church work, and no clergyman is better known or more respected throughout the dominion. In 1875, Dr. Cook was the spokesman of a delegation from Canada to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which sought and obtained the approval of the mother church to the then contemplated union. While zealously laboring in ecclesiastical matters, Dr. Cook has been a useful and public-spirited citizen of Quebec, taking part, not only in purely religious affairs, but in many others of a public nature. In 1845, memorable in the history of Quebec for the two great fires by which the suburb of St. Roch and the suburb of St. John were consumed, Dr. Cook, as a member of the relief committee, took an active part in the aid of the sufferers, and the masterly defence of the committee at the close of its labors, in answer to the charges of the London committee, was from his pen. In 1866, when St. Roch and St. Sauveur suburbs were again swept by another disastrous fire, his experience was found very valuable, and he gave it freely, together with active assistance in promoting relief measures. At many public meetings he has eloquently advocated what he deemed to be for the public good. But it is perhaps in the matter of education that Dr. Cook has been most useful in Quebec. The High School, justly regarded as one of the best schools in the country, was established mainly through his exertions in 1843, and for many years, as chairman of the board of directors, he took a warm interest in its struggles and its success. Dr. Cook was named by the late Dr. Morin as principal of the college then about to be established in Quebec with the funds given by him for that purpose, and since 1861 Dr. Cook has filled, as he still does, the office of principal. In 1880, the degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by Queen’s University, Kingston; that of D.D. he holds from the University of Glasgow. In 1883, Dr. Cook retired from the active duties of the ministry, amid the hearty regrets of his beloved congregation. Dr. Cook’s preaching accords with the straightforward energy of his character. His sermons are distinguished by close adherence to the special point under consideration, by logical precision and practical earnestness. They contain many passages marked by beauty as well as power. A volume of them has been lately published, which has been reviewed in a very favorable light by both the secular and religious press. We extract the following from a review in the Halifax _Presbyterian Witness_:— These doctrinal treatises give us a glimpse of the teaching which has ministered to the people of St. Andrew’s Church, Quebec, for a long period. They bring up before our minds many a quiet Sabbath, and many a solemn and impressive service in that old historic town. These addresses, replete with true and unpretending eloquence, must have been listened to with the breathless attention and stillness of beating hearts. These are evangelical inasmuch as they give prominence to the great facts and dogmas of Christianity. Not to present these in their proper place, connexion and views, is not to present the divine remedy for man’s spiritual disorders, but something else. They do not present the gospel as if it were a system of ethics merely, or even a scheme of moral duties. They do not ignore the fact of sin or the need of regeneration in order to holy obedience. But they are also evangelical in this higher sense, that, while they build upon evangelical fact and evangelical dogma, and assume that the teachings of Christ and the Apostles are divine, they do not merely reiterate, but explain, defend, illustrate and enforce these evangelical elements. There is throughout an endeavor to show the reasonableness of gospel truth—its internal harmony—its conformableness to the fitness of things, and its agreement with the natural impressions of the human mind and the demands of the moral sense. In this respect these sermons are like those of Vinet, F. W. Robertson, and the great preachers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and they are as able and eloquent. Dr. Cook’s discourses are especially adapted for cultivated readers. By such a class they cannot fail to be greatly appreciated. They are calm and elevating treatises upon great gospel themes. The preacher has utterly discarded the traditional sermon mould. Unshackled by pulpit traditions, he handles each subject with the skill of a great orator and teacher. The language is impressive, and the metaphors and illustrations are appropriate. His starting-points are skilfully chosen, and from these he advances, gradually opening up his subject, so that it becomes more and more luminous to the close. Whatever the subject be, it is made to appear reasonable and accordant with those principles upon which men reason and act in common life. Sometimes he states and accentuates an apparent incongruity in morals or religion, and the discourse is then devoted to its solution. It is to be hoped that many persons, and especially many ministers, may be induced to read discourses so full of instruction, so admirable as models of pulpit teaching, and so interesting as a memorial of the pulpit of St. Andrew’s Church, Quebec, and its noble and venerable occupant for so many long and eventful years. Dr. Cook has a family of five surviving children, all of whom are now grown up to man’s and woman’s estate. One of his daughters is the wife of Andrew Thomson, of Quebec, president of the Union Bank, of that city. Two of his sons—William and Archibald Cook—are eminent members of the Quebec bar, in large practice, and the former is a Q.C. His youngest daughter is the wife of Edward Greenshields, a merchant in Montreal, and a director of the Montreal Bank. * * * * * =Macdonald, Hon. John=, Toronto, Senator of the Dominion of Canada, is one of the most enterprizing and successful of the merchants Canada is proud of. He is a Scotchman by birth, having been born in Perthshire, in December, 1824, and when a mere lad came to this country. He received his educational training, first at the Regimental School of the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders, in which regiment his father served; subsequently at Dalhousie College, Halifax, and then at the Bay street Academy, Toronto, which at that time was conducted by the late Mr. Boyd, father of Chancellor Boyd, of Ontario. In this academy our future senator had the honor of winning the medal for classics. After leaving school, he chose the mercantile profession, and leaving Toronto, entered the employ of C. & J. Macdonald, general merchants at Gananoque, where he served for two years. Returning to Toronto, he took a position in the mercantile house of the late Walter McFarlane, on King street east, who at that time was doing perhaps the largest business in Upper Canada. After working in this establishment for about six years, he was compelled, through failing health, to give up his situation, and seek change of climate. With this end in view, he sailed for Jamaica in 1847, and, after resting for a short time, entered the mercantile house of Nethersoll & Co., the largest on the island. Here Mr. Macdonald remained for somewhat less than a year, when he returned to Toronto. In 1849 he commenced business on his own account, in a shop on Yonge street, near Richmond street, and made the then bold attempt to establish there an exclusively dry goods business. The venture having proved a success, in 1853 he moved to larger premises on Wellington street, not far from his present warehouse, and here was laid the foundation of the present large wholesale importing house of John Macdonald & Co. After a period of nine years of successful business in this warehouse, Mr. Macdonald removed to larger and handsomer premises on the south side of Wellington street, which after a while proved too small for his ever-increasing business, and a few years ago he was compelled to enlarge these premises, which he did by adding another pile of buildings, which now occupies the ground formerly covered by the North American Hotel and the Newbigging House on Front street. These premises were bought at a great outlay of capital. They have a frontage of 100 feet, with 140 feet in depth, and are six stories high. About one hundred men are employed, including the buyers in the British and American markets, and the establishment is, without doubt, the largest of its kind in Canada, and will compare favorably with any of the wholesale houses in the largest cities in the United States. Mr. Macdonald, realizing the idea that the world had claims upon him outside his warehouse, entered public life as member for West Toronto, in the Legislative Assembly of Canada. His opponent on this occasion for parliamentary honors was the Hon. John Beverley Robinson, late lieutenant-governor of Ontario, whom he defeated by a majority of 462 votes, and then sat in parliament until confederation was accomplished. At the next general election he was defeated for the House of Commons by the late Robert Harrison, who afterwards became chief justice of Ontario. In 1875, a vacancy having occurred in Centre Toronto, a constituency established in 1872, Mr. Macdonald was invited to become a candidate, and having consented, he was returned by acclamation. In 1878, however, when the national policy cry was raised, and people imagined they could be made rich by Act of Parliament, Mr. Macdonald was defeated by Robert Hay, by a majority of 490 votes. In politics Mr. Macdonald has always been what may be styled an independent Liberal, discarding party views when they seemed to trammel his settled convictions. He opposed the coalition of 1864, and voted against the confederation of the provinces. This attitude towards party, when its claims conflicted with duty, he clearly defined in his reply to a request asking him to be a candidate in 1875. He promised to give the government a cheerful support, but declined to promise more; and, to the credit of the requisitionists, they conceded to him in advance a perfect freedom of judgment in deciding upon all questions. Mr. Macdonald takes a deep interest in all public questions, and is never afraid to speak out boldly when the occasion demands it. During the exciting debates that took place in the Board of Trade during the fall of 1887, on the question of commercial union with the United States, he was present, and made his voice to be heard. Indeed, he has the honor of being the author of the resolution which carried, and was the means of allaying the political feeling that was beginning to show itself in that important body. The resolution alluded to was as follows:— That this Board desires to place on record the conviction that the largest possible freedom of commercial intercourse between our own country and the United States, compatible with our relation to Great Britain, is desirable. That this Board will do everything in its power to bring about the consummation of such a result. That in its estimation a treaty which ignored any of the interests of our own country or which gave undue prominence to any one to the neglect or to the injury of any other, is one that could not be entertained. That in our agricultural, mineral, manufacturing, and our diversified mercantile interests, in our fisheries, forests, and other products, we possess in a rare and in an extraordinary degree all the elements which go to make a people great, prosperous and self-reliant. That these are fitting inducements to any nation to render reciprocity with Canada a thing to be desired, and such as should secure for us a reciprocal treaty with the United States of the broadest and most generous character which, while fully recognising these conditions, would contain guarantees which would prove of mutual and abiding ad vantage to both nations; but that this Board cannot entertain any proposal which would place Great Britain at any disadvantage as compared with the United States, or which would tend in any measure, however small, to weaken the bonds which bind us to the Empire. Education has claimed some of Mr. Macdonald’s time, and for some years he has been a senator of the Provincial University, Toronto, a visitor of Victoria College, Cobourg, and a member of the High School Board. In all religious and moral movements he has lent his aid, and is always ready to help everything calculated to elevate humanity, by tongue, pen and purse. Mr. Macdonald is a member of the Methodist church, and had it not been that his health failed him when a young man, and on the advice of his physician, he would have studied for the ministry, and to this church he has for many years devoted much time and talents. He has long been a member of the executive committee of its General Conference, and treasurer of the Missionary Society. Outside of his own denomination he has taken a conspicuous part in the work of the Evangelical Alliance, the Bible Society, the Temperance reform, the General Hospital, and the Young Men’s Christian Association, and has been twice elected president at the united convention of Ontario and Quebec. Mr. Macdonald has been a director in several business companies, and was, at the last annual meeting of the Board of Trade, elected a member of its executive council. In 1887 he made the handsome donation of $40,000 towards the erection of a new city hospital, as a memorial of his daughter Amy, who during her lifetime took a very deep interest in this kind of charity. And since then he has also donated a large sum of money to enable his church to carry out its scheme of establishing a university in Toronto. Mr. Macdonald has written two very interesting _brochures_, “Business Success,” originally a lecture, and a practical address to “The Young Men of his Warehouse,” both of which should be in the hands of young men. In November, 1887, he was chosen a senator of the Dominion, a choice which reflects great credit on Sir John A. Macdonald, and which has been approved of by all political parties. Mr. Macdonald’s career is a striking instance of what energy and perseverance, combined with integrity and uprightness, may accomplish for a young man just starting upon life’s battle. * * * * * =Gouin, Antoine Nemese=, Sorel, Quebec, was born on February 25th, 1821, in the parish of Ste. Anne de la Pérade, Quebec. He is a son of Charles Gouin, merchant, and Marguerite Elizabeth Richer Lafleche, his wife, first cousin to his grace Bishop Lafleche. In 1825, Mr. and Mrs. Gouin removed from Ste. Anne to Sorel, then called the borough of William Henry. The subject of this sketch attended the College of St. Hyacinthe, from 1832 to 1839, and on leaving this seminary of learning entered the office of Cherrier & Mondelet, in Montreal, to study law, and was admitted to the bar in November, 1843. He practised his profession in Montreal for two years, when he removed to Sorel, where he has resided ever since. At the general election in December, 1851, he was elected member of parliament for the county of Richelieu, as a Liberal-Conservative, and, as such, took part in the discussions on all the leading questions of the day, such as the clergy reserves, the seignorial tenure, the Grand Trunk Railway, etc. On May 18th, 1858, he was appointed prothonotary of the Superior Court, clerk of the crown, of the peace, and of the circuit court, in and for the district of Richelieu, which office he is still holding. Mr. Gouin is a French Canadian and a Roman Catholic. He was married March 18th, 1863, to Adele Catherine Penton, daughter of Henry Penton, sen., of Pentonville, England, and of Catherine Cordier de la Houssaye, a French lady. Mrs. Gouin was born in Calais, France, on October 25th, 1825, and died at Sorel, on February 19th, 1886, leaving two daughters and a son—the issue of her first marriage with Assistant Commissary-General James Lane. * * * * * =Clinch, Robert Thomson=, St. John, N.B., is descended from an old Irish family of record in Ireland since the time of Edward the Second. His ancestors, Peter and Simon Clinch, took an active part on the Stuart side, in the troublous times of James the Second and William the Third. He was born at St. George, New Brunswick, June 27th, 1827, and is the seventh son of Patrick and Eleanor Clinch, and grandson of Captain Peter Clinch, who, for special services rendered the British government during the American revolutionary war, was awarded a large tract of land. Nearly half of the land on which the city of St. John now stands, and where at that time Captain Clinch resided, was ungranted. Taking with him two Indians, Captain Clinch traversed the province of New Brunswick, and on reaching Charlotte county was so struck with the beauty of Magaguadavic Falls that he resolved to select his land grant in this neighborhood. He then retired from the army, and became the first settler, and the founder of the town of St. George. This gentleman represented Charlotte county in the first House of Assembly in New Brunswick, which was opened in St. John, January 3rd, 1786, by Governor Thomas Carleton. His son, Robert Clinch’s father, also represented Charlotte county in the House of Assembly, some eight or ten years, and was a justice of the court of common pleas, and for several years editor of the _Provincialist_, a newspaper, published in St. Andrews. Mr. Clinch has been connected with the telegraph service ever since its