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

England, who, on his retirement from the army, became an officer in her Majesty’s Customs, in Halifax in 1839, and retained that position until he was superannuated. His son, Robert Boak, the subject of our sketch, came to Halifax in 1831, and in 1847 became a member of the firm of John Esson & Co., wholesale grocers. In 1854 he retired from that firm, and formed the firm of Esson, Boak & Co., and engaged in the West India trade. In 1864 this latter firm was dissolved, and he then continued business in his own name, and under the firm style of Robert Boak & Son, until 1875, when he retired from business. Mr. Boak was president of the Nova Scotia Repeal League in 1869; became a member of the Legislative Council in 1872, and president of that body in 1878; and a member of the government, being treasurer of the province from December, 1877, to October, 1878. At present he is president of the Acadia Fire Insurance Company; vice-president of the Union Bank, and the Nova Scotia Sugar Refinery; also a director of the Gas Light Company. He has always been a Liberal in politics, and has done yeoman service for that party in the maritime provinces during the last decade. * * * * * =Normand, Telesphore Euzebe=, Contractor, Three Rivers, Quebec, was born on the 18th August, 1833, at Quebec city. His father, Edward Normand, was a well-known contractor of that city, and was the leading contractor of his time, having built the St. Maurice bridge in 1832, and again in 1841; also Montmorency, Chaudière and other bridges, as well as the greater part of the wharves at Quebec. His mother was Louise Martin, of Quebec. He was educated at Nicolet College; stood high in his class, and exhibited considerable promise as a student. On leaving the college, he went to Three Rivers, in 1851, and has resided there since then. He began life as a notary clerk under V. Guillet, with whom he was engaged from 1853 to 1858; and concurrently with this he was engaged in the office of the St. Maurice public works. In 1858 he set up for himself as a public notary, but in 1871 abandoned the legal profession for the purpose of following his father’s business. From 1861 to 1865 he was city councillor and school board commissioner at Three Rivers. He was elected mayor in 1873, defeating Mr. Bureau in the contest, after which he was elected by acclamation each year for the three following years, when he resigned. During the time he was mayor he was the means of consolidating the city debt, and carried out other important matters. He was captain of the city volunteers from 1863 to 1865. In politics he is a Conservative, and has given valuable assistance to his party. In 1871 he contested the seat for Champlain, but was defeated, by Senator Trudel, by forty-eight votes. As a contractor he stands in the foremost rank, and has a deservedly high reputation for first-class work. He was the contractor for the bridge over the St. Maurice, which is considered one of the most skilful pieces of workmanship—so far as wood bridges are concerned—in the province, if not indeed in the Dominion. The bridge in question is built in two sections, one of which is 1,400 feet, and the other 700 feet in length. The whole structure is built of the best material obtainable, and is a most excellent specimen of first-class work. Mr. Normand has constructed many other public works, such as wharves, piers, booms and railways, at Three Rivers, Quebec and Crane Island. Among other projects he carried out was that of the system of water-works which the city of Three Rivers possesses—a system which is inferior to none in the Dominion. Not only is Mr. Normand entitled to great credit for the energetic manner in which he pushed the work to completion, but also, what was even more needful, for obtaining the money wherewith to carry on the work—which he did by securing subscriptions in Quebec and England. He is held in the highest regard by the community, and is deservedly popular with all classes, not only in Three Rivers, but in Quebec city, where he is well-known. He was married in October, 1856, to Alphonsine, daughter of Joseph Giroux, one of the wealthiest and most prominent merchants in Three Rivers, who died in 1856, universally regretted. By this marriage there have been born nine children, five of whom survive. * * * * * =Duhamel, Most Rev. Joseph Thomas=, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Ottawa, is a native of Quebec province, having been born at Contrecœur, Quebec, on the 6th November, 1841. His parents were François Duhamel and Marie Joseph Audet-Lapointe, both of whom were born in Quebec province, but died in Ontario. The future archbishop’s father was a farmer, and having removed to Ottawa, sent his son to the college there, where he was educated under the direction of the Oblate Fathers, receiving a thorough classical education. On the completion of his studies, he decided to consecrate his life entirely to God, and accordingly entered the Ottawa Seminary, where, in prosecuting his theological studies, he evinced wonderful powers of mind. He was ordained sub-deacon, on the 21st June, 1863; deacon, 2nd November of the same year, and on the 19th December he was ordained priest. He was then appointed to the vicarage of Buckingham, county of Ottawa, where he proved himself to be possessed of many noble virtues and rare administrative qualities. On the 10th November, 1864, he went to St. Eugene, in the township of East Hawkesbury, county of Prescott, to reside as parish priest. At that time the parish of St. Eugene was one of the poorest in the diocese, and hence the young priest found it hard to carry on his work, especially as he had the difficult task before him of completing a church which was left unfinished by his predecessor. He found many obstacles to surmount, but by dint of persistent and energetic endeavors, and the exercise of his great abilities, he succeeded, and completed what is now, without doubt, one of the finest churches in the diocese, costing upwards of $25,000. Education, previously neglected in this parish, found in him an ardent friend and promoter, and at the present time there are many institutions in St. Eugene which owe their existence to him, and will long remain as monuments of his zeal. And the parishioners, too, by all of whom he was deeply beloved, will not forget their priest and guide, who for ten years went in and out among them. Father Duhamel accompanied his Grace Bishop Guigues to Rome at the time of the Œcumenical Council, but, receiving word of the serious illness of his mother, whom he loved tenderly, he was forced to leave the Eternal City and return to Canada a couple of weeks after his arrival there. Unhappily, he did not reach St. Eugene in time to see his mother alive, she having expired a few days previous to his arrival. Bishop Guigues continued to honor Father Duhamel, and in many ways gave him unmistakable marks of his confidence and esteem. In the month of October, 1873, Father Duhamel accompanied Bishop Guigues as a theologian to the reunion of bishops at Quebec, where the young priest’s talents and acquirements were generally acknowledged. After the death of his beloved friend, Bishop J. E. Guigues, the first bishop of Ottawa, he was chosen as his successor, on the 1st September, 1874, and on the 28th of the following month he was consecrated as the second bishop of Ottawa. Many persons were surprised that such a young man—he being then only thirty-two years of age—should have been selected to fill such an important office in the church; but those who had known Father Duhamel for years felt that his Holiness Pope Pius IX. had made a wise choice, and, moreover, that the records of the church would testify that even younger men than this father had been promoted to high positions. Mgr. Laval was only thirty-five years of age when he was called to occupy the episcopal seat at Quebec, Mgr. de Pontbriand was only thirty-two, and Mgr. Plessis only thirty-seven when consecrated, and Mgr. Tache was scarcely twenty-seven when he was appointed to succeed Mgr. Provencher, who was himself only about thirty-three when made a bishop. His lordship Bishop Duhamel, is a gentleman of pleasing manners, and easy of access, and possessed of great energy and tact. He speaks with ease and fluency, and while his sermons denote deep thought, they are not wanting in graceful form and style. His store of knowledge is of the purest and most substantial kind, and he speaks the French and English languages with ease. He takes a great interest in the cause of education, and gives every encouragement to the Catholic educational establishments in the city of Ottawa and his diocese at large, and in his pastoral letters often calls the attention of the clergy and the parents to the importance of the secular and religious training of children. In 1875 he wrote: “The future of the country and of religion depends entirely, it may be said, on the good or bad education which youth shall receive. Parents are strictly bound to give their children a truly Catholic education. This obligation is founded on the law of God. We do not hesitate to add, very beloved brethren, that parents are obliged to fully comply with this duty to establish, encourage and support Catholic schools, and to have the children attend them.” (Tenth pastoral letter.) In September, 1878, he thus wrote to the clergy of the diocese: “Another scholastical year has just commenced, numerous pupils are rapidly filling the houses of higher education and elementary schools. Everywhere those who are devoted to the instruction of youth rival one another in zeal and ardor to secure the success of the great work that occupies them. These efforts should undoubtedly be seconded by the pastors of souls, since it is their duty to continue the mission instituted by our Divine Master, when he said, ‘Go, teach all nations.’ You will, then, judge it right, beloved co-operators, if I invite you to give this year, again, and always, your whole attention and most constant care to the cause of education. Remind parents of the strict obligation for each one to instruct his children or have them instructed according to his condition and the means Providence has given him. Frequently visit the schools of your parish.” Archbishop Duhamel having made known to Pope Leo XIII. all that the Rev. J. H. Tabaret, O.M.J., had done for education during the many years he had been superior of the College of Ottawa, his holiness granted this great instructor of youth the title, honors, and privileges of doctor of divinity, as a well-merited reward, which was also given to several of the professors. To give further encouragement to education, Archbishop Duhamel presents every year to the College of Ottawa, to the Literary Institute of the Grey Nuns, and to the educational establishment of the sisters of the Congregation de Notre Dame, silver medals to be awarded to merit, and otherwise he spares neither trouble or expense in providing for them all possible means of attaining a good education. Under his lordship’s care, the system of teaching has been considerably improved, as may be seen by the present high standing of the philosophy class in the University of Ottawa, directed by the Oblate Fathers. One of his first acts was to order that no young man should be permitted to begin his ecclesiastical studies before he had followed a regular collegiate classical course, including two years of philosophy, and then that, before he could be ordained priest, he should during four years (three years previously required) study dogmatical and moral theology, holy scriptures, canon law and ecclesiastical history. Shortly after his consecration, Bishop Duhamel, with the assistance of his clergy, had a magnificent monument erected in the interior of the cathedral at Ottawa to the memory of the lamented Right Rev. J. E. Guigues, his predecessor. In the autumn of 1878, Bishop Duhamel went to Europe, and on visiting Rome was kindly received by the new Pope, and among the favors bestowed by his Holiness was that of raising the Cathedral of Ottawa to the dignity of minor basilica. In 1882, his lordship spent some months in Rome, in order to have the diocese divided by the Holy See. He was successful; the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda having admitted that the division asked for was required for the good of souls and the progress of religion, the Pope erected the vicariate apostolic of Pontiac, with the Right Rev. N. Z. Lorrain as first bishop. During his stay in the eternal city his Holiness was pleased to honor Bishop Duhamel with the titles of Assistant to the Pontifical Throne, Roman Count, etc. On May 8th, 1886, his lordship was made first archbishop of Ottawa, and on the 10th of May, 1887, was made metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of Ottawa. Archbishop Duhamel takes a great interest in the material as well as the spiritual progress and advancement of the parishes and missions in his diocese, and when paying his pastoral visit never fails to stimulate the generosity of his flock to build churches to replace the wood chapels built years ago, and in this he has been very successful. Since the year 1874 he has dedicated ten new substantial stone churches, of which the smallest is one hundred feet long; and during the same period he has formed thirty-three new missions, nearly all of which have large and commodious churches. Twenty of these missions have become parishes with residing pastors, which brings the number of regular parishes to about eighty. During his administration the Cathedral of Ottawa has been entirely renewed inside, and now presents a neat, rich and beautiful appearance, and may be numbered among the best cathedrals in Canada. His grace has always taken a special interest in the charitable institutions of the diocese, which number he has increased by four, and which now comprise four hospitals, three asylums for the orphans and aged people, two for fallen women, and one foundling hospital. To enable these institutions to perform their good work, the archbishop has ordered that each institution be patronized by a few parishes and missions, _i.e._, that the nuns to whose care these institutions are entrusted will be permitted to take up in these missions yearly collections from house to house. His grace has also established a monastery of the Sisterhood of the Precious Blood, whose aim is contemplative life. * * * * * =Woodward, James Robertson=, B.A., General Manager of the Quebec Central Railway, Sherbrooke, was born at Sherbrooke, on the 1st July, 1846. His father, Albert G. Woodward, came from New Hampshire, United States, to Canada in 1837, and is now coroner for the district of St. Francis. His mother is a daughter of Major Longee of Compton. Mr. Woodward, the subject of our sketch, was educated at Lennoxville, and is a B.A. of Bishop’s College University. Some time after leaving school he joined in a partnership with E. C. Brown, and began business as contractor. In 1869, the firm built and equipped sections of the Quebec Central Railway, and afterwards part of the Waterloo and Magog Railway. They also built railways in Brazil and Buenos Ayres in South America. In 1881, Mr. Woodward became the general manager of the Quebec Central Railway, and this office he still holds. For three years he held the position of secretary-treasurer for the county council of Sherbrooke; and for the same length of time was a member of the city council of Sherbrooke. He is a director of the Eastern Township’s Agricultural Association, and at various times he held the same position in other public bodies. In politics he is a Conservative, and at present chairman of the Liberal-Conservative Association of the district comprising the counties of Sherbrooke, Stanstead, Richmond and Wolfe, and Compton. He is a public spirited gentleman, and is highly respected by his fellow citizens. In religion he is an adherent of the Episcopal church. He is unmarried. * * * * * =Hall, Robert Newton=, B.A., LL.D., Q.C., Member of Parliament for Sherbrooke, P.Q., was born at Laprairie, 26th July, 1836. He is the son of Rev. R. V. Hall, English church clergyman. He received the principal part of his scholastic training in the University of Burlington, Vt., from which he has his degree of B.A., graduating in 1857. On returning home he entered upon the study of law, and in 1861 was called to the bar of Lower Canada. A year later he married Lena, daughter of the late A. W. Kendrick, of Compton, Quebec. In his practice of the law, he has all his life been exceedingly successful, and has long been recognized as a leading member of his profession. He held the honorable office of _bâtonnier_ of St. Francis section of the bar from 1877 to 1881, and in 1878 became _bâtonnier_ of the bar of the whole province. He has long been dean of the faculty of law in Bishop’s College, Lennoxville, from which college also he holds his doctor’s degree. All his life, Mr. Hall has been a leader of the public enterprises of his native province, his name being regarded as a tower of strength to any organization with which he becomes identified. He not only has the character of a man of spotless honor, but his public spirit, his great business ability, and his capacity for hard work, are guarantees of the success of anything to which he puts his hand. He was one of the chief promoters of the Eastern Townships Agricultural Association, and became the first president of that society when it entered upon active work. The railway development of his own section of the country has occupied a great deal of his attention. He is a director of the Quebec Central Railway a most important road; and president of the Massawippi Railway, a local line of great advantage to the district. When the first scheme for building the Canadian Pacific Railway was arranged, he was appointed one of the government directors on the general board, this appointment being a flattering recognition of the prominent part he had taken in railway affairs. When Judge Brooks, who for a long time represented Sherbrooke in the House of Commons, was appointed to his present position, the nomination of the Conservative party for the seat was offered to Mr. Hall, and when he accepted it, so complete was the confidence of all classes in his judgment and honor, that he was elected by acclamation. In the general election of 1887 Mr. Hall was opposed for the reason that the policy of both parties was to allow no elections by acclamation. But there was no serious expectation of defeating him, and his second return was received without surprise. In the house, Mr. Hall has the reputation of a careful and painstaking representative. He makes remarkably few speeches, considering the ability he displays when he does address the house, and the attention and respect with which he is listened to by both sides. Outside of the cabinet, he is by all odds the most prominent and influential representative of the Eastern Townships’ constituencies. * * * * * =Raymond, Rev. Joseph Sabin=, Vicar-General of the Diocese of St. Hyacinthe, Quebec province, was born at St. Hyacinthe, on the 13th March, 1810. He received his classical education in St. Hyacinthe College, and belonged to the first class that graduated from this institution. At the early age of seventeen, he began teaching, and continued as a teacher in the same college to the last day of his life. He was ordained priest in 1832. In 1847 he was elected president of St. Hyacinthe College, and occupied this position, except during an interval of six years, till 1883. Rev. Mr. Raymond, named vicar-general in 1852, was twice administrator of the diocese, during the absence of the bishop in Rome, and attended the five first Provincial Councils of Quebec, in the capacity of theologian to the bishop of St. Hyacinthe. He contributed largely to the foundation of the Order of Contemplative Religious of the Precious Blood in St. Hyacinthe. In 1874 he was named domestic prelate to his Holiness Pope Pius IX., and terminated a long and useful life in St. Hyacinthe, on Sunday, 3rd July, 1887, whilst robing to say mass. He was considered as one of the foremost men in the literary field of Quebec; he was a prolific and brilliant writer, and devoted his varied acquirements to the education of youth and devotional works. He was extensively read, especially in history and literature. His works, if collected, would form quite an important collection. * * * * * =Montagu, Walter H.=, M.D., M.P. for Haldimand, Dunnville, Ontario, was born in Adelaide township, county of Middlesex, Ontario, on the 21st day of November, 1858, and is therefore, as we write, under thirty years of age, and one of the youngest members of the House of Commons. He is the youngest of the six sons of Joseph Montagu, an intelligent farmer, who was one of the most highly-respected residents of the county of Middlesex. His mother was a daughter of John Humphries, who came to Canada in 1832, and settled in Adelaide. Dr. Montagu was only five years old when his father died, when on a visit to friends in the United States, and has had, in great measure, to carve out his own career. He has, like many who have risen to eminence, had to educate himself, and this he began while engaged as an errand boy in a country store. He qualified for a teacher’s certificate in August, 1874. As a teacher he was employed successfully at various points, after which he entered Woodstock College, to devote himself to university studies. In 1882 he graduated in medicine in Ontario, and, desiring to pursue this profession, he then proceeded to Edinburgh. Here, later in the same year, he passed the examinations of the Royal College of Physicians, and received the diploma of the college. He then returned to Canada, and began the practice of his profession at Dunnville, county of Monck, where he now resides. A few months after settling at Dunnville he reluctantly accepted the nomination of the Liberal-Conservative Convention of Monck, to contest the riding in an election then pending for the Local Legislature. Though only a few days in the field he polled an immense vote, his own village giving him the largest Conservative majority it had ever given to its parliamentary representative. In 1886 he was again asked to run, but refused. In February of the following year he was placed in nomination for the House of Commons, as the representative of the county of Monck, but this he also declined, though a unanimous nomination by the party was offered him. At this time no candidate could be found to come out against Mr. Colter, the Reform member for Haldimand, who three months previously had been returned for the county by 126 of a majority over his opponent, Mr. W. Hamilton Merritt, a large property owner in the constituency, who had had the hearty support of the leading men of the Conservative party in the district. A new election was now to be held, and still no one dared to come out against the opposition candidate until the day before nomination. At almost the twelfth hour Dr. Montagu, at the urgent solicitation of his friends, Senator McCallum and Colin G. Snider, president of the Haldimand Conservative Association, stepped into the breach, and after a spirited campaign carried the county, but only by a majority of one, on a recount of ballots before the county judge. Dr. Montagu took his seat in the House of Commons, and by his qualities of head and heart gained the respect of both parties in parliament. His first and only speech during the session was called forth by an attack made upon the manner of his election. Brief and comparatively unimportant as it was, the speaker commanded the closest attention of the house. A protest, however, was entered against his return; and after three days’ trial of the petition, Dr. Montagu agreed with his opponent to hold a new election. This came on in November, 1887, and was watched with the keenest interest by the whole country, for until the preceding February Haldimand had never before in her history returned a Conservative, and that return, it was alleged, was not a proper one. The contest was fought, on the Reform side, by Mr. Colter, assisted by M. Laurier, Sir Richard Cartwright, Messrs. Charlton and Patterson, Hon. Jacob Baxter, and a dozen other prominent Reformers. Dr. Montagu, representing the Conservatives, fought alone and almost single-handed; and though the most desperate means were employed to defeat him, he succeeded in carrying the county by seventeen of a majority. In the contest, Dr. Montagu’s public addresses attracted immense audiences, the people turning out everywhere in great numbers to hear him. Another recount was demanded, the result being that the majority was reduced to twelve. A protest was then entered against him, and tried in January before Justice Street. During five days’ trial the petitioners utterly failed in their charges, and not a single stain attached itself to the representative. In the present (1888) session, he had the honor paid him by the Dominion administration of being called to move the address to the throne. This he did with great credit to himself and with much gratification to his party. Dr. Montagu is a supporter of Sir John A. Macdonald, but at the same time he holds liberal views upon public questions, and brings a broad and comprehensive mind to their consideration and discussion. He is thoroughly Canadian in his aims and aspirations, and has an earnest and enthusiastic faith in the future of the country. His wife is Angie, daughter of Elias Furry, reeve of South Cayuga, Ontario. * * * * * =Willets, Rev. Charles E.=, M.A., (Corpus Christi, Cantab.), D.C.L. (King’s, Windsor), Windsor, Nova Scotia, is a native of Northamptonshire, England, where he was born about forty years ago. He received his early education at Corpus Christi College, in the University of Cambridge, where he graduated in 1872. He took holy orders and was ordained in the same year by the Right Reverend George Augustus Selwyn, bishop of Lichfield. After his ordination, he accepted the position of curate of Gaily-cum-Hatherton, in Staffordshire, which office he held for one year. In 1873 he came to Canada, and was appointed to the position of sub-rector of Bishop’s Collegiate School, at Lennoxville, Quebec. Here he remained for three years, teaching and fulfilling his other duties with great success. The honorary degree of M.A. was conferred upon him by Bishop’s College in 1874. He next removed to the Collegiate School, Windsor, N.S., the position of headmaster of which happened to fall vacant in June, 1876. This school was the original seed of King’s College, which is the oldest degree-conferring university in British America. The school was started in 1788, a scheme for its establishment being warmly urged by the Right Rev. Dr. Charles Inglis of New York, first bishop of Nova Scotia, and also by his son, John Inglis, who solicited aid for it in England. A royal charter was obtained in 1802. A large number of the sons of the wealthiest class in the maritime provinces were educated in it during the first years of its history. Among distinguished men who received their early training in the school, or King’s College, may be mentioned Chief Justice Neville and Robert Parker, master of the rolls of New Brunswick; Judge W. B. Bliss; Judge Haliburton (“Sam Slick”); General Sir John Inglis, son of the second bishop of Nova Scotia, and a man who made his mark in the defence of Lucknow; the late Archdeacon McCawley; Archdeacon Gilpin of Halifax; administrator of the diocese of Nova Scotia; R. G. Haliburton; Rev. Dr. Hill, formerly rector of St. Paul’s, Halifax, and the late Rev. Dr. J. M. Hensley. Among head masters of the collegiate school were Rev. William Grey, Rev. Dr. Blackman, Dr. Salt, Rev. W. C. King, Rev. George B. Dodwell, M.A. (Cantab.), and Rev. John Butler. The original school building was of freestone, which was erected with great care under the supervision of Bishop Charles Inglis, but was unfortunately burnt down, 20th September, 1871. For two years the school was carried on at Martock House, near Windsor. A new handsome wooden building was erected on the original site in 1877, and Rev. Dr. Willets has continued in charge of the school ever since. The school has prospered under his management, and now accommodates upwards of forty boarders and a number of day scholars. There are two assistant masters, Mr. Richardson, formerly of King Edward VI. School, Retford, England, a distinguished linguist and chess-player, and Mr. Fullerton, B.A., of King’s College, also special instructors in drill and gymnastics and penmanship. Boys are prepared for matriculation in all of the provincial colleges and for the civil service examinations, Ottawa. The school possesses one of the handsomest sites in Nova Scotia, just below King’s College, and looking over the king’s meadow towards the south mountain. The honorary degree of D.C.L. was conferred upon Dr. Willets by King’s College in 1882. He was also elected a governor of King’s College in 1885. * * * * * =Matheson, David=, Superintendent of the Savings Bank Branch of the Post Office department, Ottawa, is a Scotchman by birth, he having been born in the parish of Canisbay, near John O’Groat’s, Caithness-shire, on the 25th October, 1840, and emigrated to Canada in 1861. Mr. Matheson joined the civil service in 1863, and was appointed private secretary to the postmaster-general. In 1868 he, with another officer, was appointed to organize the Post Office Savings Bank, and specially designed the plan of accounts which has made the Canadian system of savings banks a credit to our own country, and a model that other countries have been pleased to adopt. Mr. Matheson, in recognition of his services, was appointed, in 1881, assistant superintendent of the Savings Bank Branch of the Post Office department, and in February, 1888, he was made superintendent. * * * * * =Cardin, Louis Pierre Paul=, Sorel, Quebec province, M.P.P. for the county of Richelieu, is of a hardy, honest, and industrious stock, his father being a well-to-do yeoman of Isle Madame, adjoining the north-eastern corner of the Island of Montreal. He is still in the prime of life, having been born on the 21st May, 1841, a year important in Canadian annals for the consummation of the union which preceded the system of confederation. He was educated at the College of L’Assomption, an institution which has given to Canada a large number of men distinguished in the church, the legal and medical professions, and the ranks of commerce and industry. Mr. Cardin selected the honorable calling of a notary, in which he was destined to make his way to the front in a comparatively brief time. He was fortunate in being associated, during his early professional career, with a worthy gentleman of Sorel, the late Mr. Precourst, from whose office he was admitted to practise in October, 1868. He still remained with his esteemed employer, until his death, in 1872, when he succeeded to his large and profitable business. Laborious, obliging and conscientious, Mr. Cardin won the confidence and respect of all who had dealings with him in his professional capacity, or intercourse with him in private life. His ability and public spirit made his services in high demand in municipal and educational affairs. It was natural, also, that he should take a deep interest in all that concerned the agricultural progress of his country, and he soon found ample occupation for his leisure hours. He has been successively secretary of the council for Sorel, secretary of the Dissentient School Board, secretary of the Agricultural Society, president of the St. Jean Baptiste Society, secretary of the municipality of Sainte Victoire, and has filled various other offices of trust with entire satisfaction to the public. To him also was due the organization of the first militia company of Sorel, and in order to qualify himself for military command, he obtained certificate of the first and second class, which enabled him to take, if necessary, any commission up to and including that of lieutenant-colonel. Courteous, benevolent, grave and affable, Mr. Cardin is a man whose character invites confidence and wins esteem. His appearance is also in his favor. Of middle height, he has impressive features, a large forehead and animated eyes, while his long beard of silky texture, gives him an air of distinction. As a speaker, he is at once fluent and choice in his language, uniting calmness with earnestness, and can wither with scorn or melt with pathos, as the occasion demands. In politics Mr. Cardin is more Conservative than Liberal, but was not an active partizan until November, 1885, when he joined the National party. In September, 1886, he was selected by the convention of Richelieu as the candidate of his party in that county and was victorious in the election which followed. Since then he has acquitted himself entirely to the satisfaction of his supporters, giving a conscientious but independent support to the Hon. M. Mercier. He has been indefatigable in his efforts to improve the condition of Sorel, and to ensure the county of Richelieu its fair share of attention from the government. * * * * * =LaRocque, Right Rev. Charles=, was born at Chambly, November 15th,