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

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. * * * * * =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. * * * * * =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. * * * * * =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. * * * * * =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. * * * * * =Cabana, Hubert Charon=, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Prothonotary of the Superior Court for the province of Quebec, district of St. Francis, was born on the 14th of June, 1838, at Verchères, a parish situate on the south side of the St. Lawrence river, about thirty miles from Montreal. He is the son of Lambert Charon Cabana, a well-to-do farmer, of Verchères, and of Marie Louise Endfield, granddaughter of Colonel Thomas Endfield, who came direct from England to what is now the province of Quebec, in 1760, and died in 1812, being eighty-two years of age. The subject of this sketch was educated at the College of L’Assomption, in the town of L’Assomption, a classical college, incorporated as such over fifty years ago. He took a full classical course, leaving the college in June, 1858; entered on the study of the law in October, 1858; was admitted to practice on October 7th, 1862, at Sherbrooke, and practised there as advocate, solicitor, and attorney, until the 17th September, 1885, when he was appointed prothonotary. On the 3rd October, 1880, the degree of _Law Licentiate Magister_ was conferred on him by Lennoxville University; has been professor of civil law at the Lennoxville University since 1880; made Queen’s counsel on the 26th June, 1883; elected _bâtonnier_ of the bar, district of St. Francis, on the 1st May, 1884; elected member of the city council of Sherbrooke, for the first time, in January, 1876, and was continued in office until his appointment as prothonotary, which appointment rendered him by law unable to act any longer as councillor, when he was unanimously elected mayor of Sherbrooke, in January, 1880, and again in 1885. On the 13th October, 1866, he established the _Pionnier de Sherbrooke_, it being now the oldest established French newspaper published in this part of the province of Quebec, known as the Eastern Townships, in partnership with L. C. Belanger, now practising in Sherbrooke as advocate. He bought out Mr. Belanger’s interest in the paper on the 24th July, 1874, and continued to publish it till April, 1878, when he sold it to “La Compagnie Typographique des Cantons de l’Est,” of which company he was chosen president, and continued to act in that capacity until September,