Mr. Jones, the leader of the Reform Party in the Province of Nova Scotia, and one of the most prominent citizens and merchants of Halifax, is descended from an English family, the head of which emigrated from England to Massachusetts during the early years of the history of that colony, and settled in Boston. The family resided in New England until the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, when they espoused the royalist side in the quarrel, and endured their full share of the persecutions of that memorable period. Stephen Jones, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a graduate of Harvard College, who accepted a commission in the King's American Dragoons, and fought in the royal cause until the proclamation of peace. He then, like many scores of his compatriots, gathered together what property he could save out of the wreck, and removed, with his family, to Nova Scotia, where he thenceforward resided until his death, which took place in 1830. His son, the father of the subject of this memoir, was named Guy Carleton Jones, in honour of Lord Dorchester. He was a man of influence and good social position in the county of Digby, where he held the office of Registrar of Deeds.
Alfred Gilpin Jones was born at Weymouth, in the county of Digby, Nova Scotia, in 1824. He received his education at Yarmouth Academy, and after leaving school embarked in commercial life in Halifax, where, in course of time, he became a member of the firm of Messrs. Thomas Kinnear & Sons, West India commission merchants. He subsequently founded the firm of Messrs. A. G. Jones & Co.—engaged in the same trade—of which he has long been the senior partner. His commercial ventures were prosperous, and he became, and now is, one of the most extensive ship-owners in the Maritime Provinces. He was known as a man of energy and public spirit, and took a keen interest in all the political questions which agitated the country for some years prior to the formation of the Dominion. Like many of his compatriots, he was a strenuous opponent of the Confederation scheme, and spoke and wrote against it with much vigour. He regarded the terms upon which Nova Scotia was admitted into the Union as financially disadvantageous to that Province; and he disapproved of the plan adopted by the Tupper Administration to impose those terms upon the people. When Confederation finally became an accomplished fact, and when further opposition could be productive of no practical result, he acquiesced in the new order of things, and gave a loyal support to all measures for advancing the interests of the new nationality.
He soon afterwards entered public life, for which he has since proved himself to be in many respects well fitted. At the first general election after the Union, in 1867, he offered himself as a candidate for the representation of the city and county of Halifax in the House of Commons. He was subjected to a well-organized and powerful opposition, but he was returned at the head of the poll, and continued to represent the constituency until the general election of 1872. On first taking his seat he identified himself with the minority led by Messrs. Mackenzie, Holton, Blake, and Dorion, his commercial experience and independent character securing for him at once a recognized position in the House of Commons. He continued to support the Liberal policy there as long as he remained in Parliament. At the general election of 1872 he was again a candidate for the representation of Halifax, but on this occasion he was unsuccessful, and he remained out of Parliament until the general election of 1874, by which time Mr. Mackenzie's Government had come into power. At that election no serious attempt at opposition was offered to his return. His claims as a member of the new House to a seat in the Privy Council were considered incontestable, but he declined all invitations to exchange his position as a private member of the House for the charge of a Department, although frequently solicited to do so. In the session of 1876 the seats of several members were attacked for alleged violations of the Independence of Parliament Act. Among the members whose seats were assailed were Mr. Jones and his relative the Hon. William Berrian Vail, the representative of the county of Digby in the House of Commons, who held the portfolio of Minister of Militia and Defence in the Government of the day. These gentlemen had, in the interest of their Party, taken shares in a Halifax newspaper and printing establishment, which had obtained a certain amount of advertising and printing from the Government. Neither Mr. Jones nor Mr. Vail had ever derived, or expected to derive, any pecuniary profit from their connection therewith, but the decisions of the Select Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections in other cases led to the conclusion that they must also be held to be disqualified, and, therefore, subject to the heavy penalties imposed by the statute in that behalf if they ventured to sit and vote in the House of Commons. They both accordingly resigned their seats and appealed to their constituents for reëlection. Mr. Vail was defeated in Digby by Mr. John Chipman Wade, the Conservative candidate, and at once tendered his resignation as a member of the Government. Mr. Jones, whose election was still pending, was prevailed upon to accept the vacant portfolio. He was sworn in before Sir William O'Grady Haly, as Administrator of the Government of Canada, at Halifax, on the 23rd of January, 1878. This event stimulated the opposition to his return which had already been inaugurated by his political opponents. Mr. Matthew H. Richey, the Mayor of Halifax, a very popular citizen, was brought out in opposition to him. The conflict was short, but most exciting, and resulted in Mr. Jones's election by a majority of 208 votes, six days after his acceptance of office. He at once entered upon his official duties, and displayed in his new sphere of action a great capacity for an efficient administration of the public service. He exhibited a very ready grasp of departmental details, and a familiarity with Militia organization highly useful and important in connection with his relations to that branch of the public service. During the progress of the session he engaged in several active passages of arms with Dr.—now Sir Charles—Tupper, who made somewhat telling references to a speech made by Mr. Jones at a meeting in Halifax just prior to Confederation, and during a period of great political excitement. This speech afforded Dr. Tupper an opportunity for impugning the loyalty of the new Minister of Militia, of which the former did not neglect to avail himself very early in the session. The reply of Mr. Jones was vigorous, eloquent, and aggressive, and although the subject was more than once revived at later stages of the discussions it was felt that Mr. Jones had fully held his own in the wordy warfare. The latter remained in Mr. Mackenzie's Government as Minister of Militia and Defence so long as that Government remained in power, and was looked upon as one of its shrewdest and most capable members. At the general election held on the 17th of September, 1878, he shared the fate of many other members of the Party to which he belongs. He was opposed by his former antagonist, Mr. Matthew H. Richey, who was returned by a considerable majority. He did not present himself to any other constituency, and has since remained out of Parliament, though he continues to take an active part in the direction of the Reform Policy in Nova Scotia, and will doubtless be heard from at future election contests.
Mr. Jones is a Governor of the Halifax Protestant Orphans' Home. He is also a Governor of Dalhousie College; a Director of the Nova Scotia Marine Insurance Company, and of the Acadia Fire Insurance Company. He was Lieutenant-Colonel of the 1st "Halifax" Brigade of Garrison Artillery for several years. He has been twice married; first, in 1850, to Miss Margaret Wiseman, daughter of the Hon. W. J. Stairs, who died in February, 1875; and secondly, in 1877, to Miss Emma Albro, daughter of Mr. Edward Albro, of Halifax.
Mr. Norquay is a native of the Red River country, and has taken a conspicuous part in public affairs ever since the admission of the Province of Manitoba into the Confederation in 1870. He was born a few miles from Fort Garry, on the 8th of May, 1841. His father, the late Mr. John Norquay, whose namesake he is, was a farmer, and a man of some influence in the colony. The future Premier followed in his father's footsteps, and has devoted the greater part of his life to farming pursuits, although public affairs have for some years past engrossed much of his time. He received his education at St. John's Academy, under the tutelage of Bishop Anderson, and took a scholarship there in 1854. In June, 1862, he married Miss Elizabeth Setter, the second daughter of Mr. George Setter Jr., a native of Red River. He entered public life immediately after the admission of Manitoba to the Union, having been returned at the general election of 1870 as the representative of the constituency of High Bluff in the Local Legislature. He continued to sit for that constituency until the general election of 1874, when he was returned for St. Andrew's, and he has ever since represented that constituency in the Local House, having been reëlected by a large majority in 1878, and having been returned by acclamation at the last general election for the Province held on the 16th of December, 1879.
Upon the formation of the first Local Government in Manitoba, on the 28th of January, 1871, under the Premiership of the late Hon. James McKay, Mr. Norquay accepted the portfolio of Minister of Public Works, to which was subsequently added that of Minister of Agriculture. He held office until the 8th of July, 1874, when he resigned, with the rest of his colleagues. Upon the formation of the new Ministry on the 2nd of December in the same year, under the Hon. R. A. Davis, Mr. Norquay accepted a seat in it without portfolio. When Mr. Royal resigned the office of Minister of Public Works, and became Attorney-General of the Province, in May, 1876, Mr. Norquay succeeded to the vacant portfolio, and retained it until October, 1878. During the month last named, Mr. Davis, the Premier, retired from public life, and thereby rendered necessary a reconstruction of the Government. Mr. Norquay was called upon to carry out this reconstruction, which, in conjunction with Mr. Royal, he successfully accomplished, he himself becoming Premier and Provincial Treasurer. During his tenure of office as Minister of Public Works, in 1878, he visited Ottawa while the Dominion Parliament was in session, on business connected with the educational interests of his native Province, and for the purpose of bringing about an adjustment of certain accounts between the Government of Manitoba and the Governor and Council of the District of Keewatin.
The Government formed, as above mentioned, in October, 1878, remained intact until the month of May, 1879, when a difference of opinion arose between Messrs. Norquay and Royal. The latter, who held the office of Minister of Public Works, and Mr. Delorme, who was Minister of Agriculture, both resigned their portfolios, and thus left the Government with only three members. Overtures were made to several French members of the House to accept the portfolios thus rendered vacant, but these overtures were not successful. Mr. Norquay then addressed a letter to the Lieutenant-Governor, Mr. Cauchon, in which he requested that his Government might be permitted to retain office, and that the public business might be proceeded with. It was further requested that the filling of the vacant offices might be deferred until after the close of the session. To this application the Lieutenant-Governor declined to accede, upon the ground that his compliance would be contrary to the spirit and meaning of the Constitution, more especially as some of the proposed legislation of the session was very important, and had not been foreshadowed to the people at the previous elections. The two vacant offices were accordingly filled by English members, and a round-robin was signed by all the English members of the House in which the latter pledged themselves to support a new line of policy announced by the Government. The session proceeded; and a Bill was passed redistributing the seats. The House was dissolved in the following October, and on the 16th of December a general election was held in the Province. Mr. Norquay was returned by acclamation by his constituents in St. Andrews, and all the other members of the Government were elected except Mr. Taylor, one of the new accessions, who was defeated. His portfolio—that of Minister of Agriculture—was accordingly offered to the Hon. Maxime Goulet, member for La Vérandrye, who accepted office, and returned to his constituents for reëlection, when he was returned by acclamation Mr. Norquay's Government, being fully sustained, has ever since remained in power. The lines of party in Manitoba are by no means analogous to those in the other Provinces, but they are rapidly assimilating, and practically speaking Mr. Norquay's Government may be said to be a Conservative one.
At the general election for 1872 Mr. Norquay was an unsuccessful candidate for the representation of Marquette in the House of Commons. He has not since attempted to obtain a seat in that House, but has confined his attention solely to Provincial affairs. He is a member of the Board of Health, and also of the Board of Education for Manitoba. He is a man of much natural intelligence, and enjoys a large measure of public confidence and respect. Though not an orator, he is a ready speaker, both on the platform and in the House, and has hitherto proved fully equal to the requirements of his position.
Readers of this work have already made the acquaintance of the Cartwright family in the sketch of the life of the late Bishop Strachan. The Hon. Richard Cartwright, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a United Empire Loyalist of English descent, who, soon after the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, emigrated, with his family, from the Province of New York to the wilderness of what soon afterwards became Upper Canada. He acted for some time as secretary to Colonel Butler, of the Queen's Rangers, and after the close of the war settled at Kingston, where he became a man of mark and influence. He was possessed of considerable acquirements and mental capacity. Soon after the division of the Provinces, in 1791, he was appointed to the important office of a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, the duties of which position he discharged, without any remuneration, for some years, and in a manner alike honourable to himself and beneficial to the public. Upon the arrival of Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe in the Province he was appointed a member of the Legislative Council, and was thenceforward most assiduous in his attendance to his Parliamentary duties. He was also a Colonel of militia, and took an active part in the promotion of all matters for the advancement of the public interests. His services to the cause of education have already been touched upon in the sketch of the life of Bishop Strachan. He died in 1815. His son, the father of Sir Richard, was the Rev. R. D. Cartwright, who was at one time Chaplain to the Forces at Kingston. The latter married Miss Harriett Dobbs, by whom he had four children, the eldest of which is the immediate subject of this sketch.
Richard John Cartwright was born at Kingston, Upper Canada, on the 4th of December, 1835. He was educated, first at Kingston, and afterwards at Trinity College, Dublin. He was brought up to business habits, and has been connected with various important financial enterprises. He was a Director, and afterwards President, of the Commercial Bank of Canada; and was also a Director of the Canada Life Assurance Company. He displayed great aptitude in dealing with financial matters, on which he was, and is, regarded as one of the highest authorities in this country. He also interested himself in matters connected with the militia, and in 1864 published at Kingston, a pamphlet of 46 pages, entitled "Remarks on the Militia of Canada." In the month of August, 1859, he married Miss Frances Alexander, eldest daughter of Colonel Alexander Lawe, of Cheltenham, England, by whom he has a numerous family.
From his earliest youth he took a keen interest in the political questions before the country, and was a man of great influence on the Conservative side, to which he was attached by training and early association. His entry into Parliamentary life dates from the year 1863, when he was elected a member of the Legislative Assembly for the united counties of Lennox and Addington. He took his seat as an Independent Conservative, and for some years rendered a loyal support to his leader, the present Sir John A. Macdonald. Throughout the various coalitions formed for the purpose of carrying out the scheme of Confederation, no grave differences of opinion seem to have arisen between Mr. Cartwright and those with whom he acted. Upon the accomplishment of Confederation Lennox and Addington became separate constituencies, and at the first general election held under the new order of things, in 1867, Mr. Cartwright was returned to the House of Commons as the representative of the county of Lennox. It soon afterwards began to be whispered that he was not thoroughly in accord with the Party with which he had always acted, with reference to some important public questions. Soon after the opening of the session of 1870 the whispers received confirmation from Mr. Cartwright's own lips, as he formally notified the leader of the Government that while he had no intention of offering a factious opposition, his support could no longer be counted upon. On the introduction by Sir Francis Hincks, who had recently accepted the office of Minister of Finance, of his banking scheme, Mr. Cartwright gave it his most determined opposition, as tending in his opinion to undermine the security of the banking institutions of the country. During the same session he supported Mr. Dorion's motion deprecating the increase of the public expenditure, and in 1871 he seconded Sir A. T. Galt's more emphatic declaration to the same effect. His vote was also recorded in successive divisions against the terms of union with British Columbia, and in 1872 he supported the Opposition leaders in their efforts to amend the objectionable provisions of the Bill providing for the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The rupture between him and the Government Party was by this time complete; and it is no slight tribute to the estimation in which he was held by his constituents that he was able to carry them with him in his secession. At the general election of 1872 he was opposed by the Hon. J. Stevenson, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario under the Sandfield Macdonald regime, but defeated that gentleman by a majority of 711. During the following session Mr. Cartwright acted uniformly with the Opposition, and towards its close he delivered a powerful speech on the assumption by the Dominion of the debt of Ontario and Quebec, in the course of which he reviewed the whole financial policy of the Government, and criticized it in severe language.
Upon the formation of Mr. Mackenzie's Reform Government in November, 1873, after the Pacific Scandal disclosures, and the consequent downfall of Sir John Macdonald's Government, Mr. Cartwright accepted office as Minister of Finance, and was sworn of the Privy Council. His acceptance of office of course compelled him to return to his constituents for reëlection. He had to encounter a very bitter opposition, but succeeded in carrying his election by a larger majority than he had ever had before. At the general election held in the following year he was returned by acclamation.
At the time of his accession to office as Finance Minister the condition of the exchequer was such as to require a readjustment of the tariff, with a view to additional customs duties. Such a task is not a grateful one for a Minister to undertake, and Mr. Cartwright necessarily came in for a due share of hostile criticism from the supporters of the recently deposed Government. In 1874, 1875 and 1876 he visited England on business connected with the Finances of the Dominion. During the session of 1878 he introduced and successfully carried through the House an important measure respecting the auditing of the Public Accounts. This measure, which was modelled on an English Act, provides for the appointment of an Auditor-General, removable, not at pleasure, but on an address by both Houses of Parliament. Its object was to make the Auditor-General thoroughly independent, and thereby to inspire the public with entire confidence in the public accounts. The Bill also provides for the appointment of a Deputy Minister of Finance.
Mr. Cartwright's abilities as a Finance Minister will of course be viewed differently according to the political bias of the reviewer. It may be said, however, that in the opinion of his own political adherents he is one of the ablest financiers that Canada has ever produced, and that he successfully tided the country over a period of great political depression without imposing any unnecessary burdens upon the people. As a Parliamentary speaker and debater he is deservedly entitled to the high rank which he enjoys. Finance is not a subject provocative of any very lofty flights of oratory, but Mr. Cartwright's Budget speeches were marked by a thorough mastery of his subject, and by clear and impressive diction. He took a prominent part in the political campaign of 1878, and some of his speeches at that time are among the ablest of his public utterances. He of course opposed with all his might the protective policy of the Party now in power. The electors of Lennox, like those of many other constituencies, were desirous of testing the promises of the advocates of the "National Policy," and at the general elections held on the 17th of September Mr. Cartwright was defeated by Mr. Hooper, the present representative, by a majority of 59 votes. Mr. Horace Horton, the member-elect for Centre Huron, having accepted an office in the department of the Auditor-General, resigned his seat, and Mr. Cartwright, on the 2nd of November, was elected by a majority of 401 votes for that constituency, which he still continues to represent in the House of Commons.
On the 24th of May, 1879, Mr. Cartwright was created a Knight of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, at an investiture held in Montreal by the present Governor-General, acting on behalf of Her Majesty.
The Hon. Theodore Robitaille is by profession a physician and surgeon, and, prior to his elevation to the position of Lieutenant-Governor, was commonly known throughout the Province of Quebec as "Doctor" Robitaille. He is descended from an old French family which has long been settled in the Lower Province, and several members whereof have seen service in the cause of the British Crown. One of his grand-uncles acted as a chaplain to the Lower Canadian Militia Forces during the War of 1812, '13 and '14, and several other members of the family fought on the loyal side during that struggle. Another grand-uncle, Jean Robitaille, occupied a seat in the old Canadian Legislature from 1809 to 1829.
The father of the Lieutenant-Governor was the late Mr. Louis Adolphe Robitaille, N.P., of Varennes, in the Province of Quebec, where the subject of this sketch was born on the 29th of January, 1834. He received his education at the Model School of Varennes, at the Seminary of Ste. Thérèse, at the Laval University, Quebec, and finally at McGill College, Montreal, where he graduated as M.D. in May, 1858. He settled down to the practice of his profession at New Carlisle, the county seat of the county of Bonaventure. Three years later—at the general election of 1861—he was returned in the Conservative interest to the Canadian House of Assembly as representative for that county. He continued to sit in the Assembly for Bonaventure until Confederation. At the general election of 1867 he was returned by the same constituency to the House of Commons, and was reëlected at the general election of 1872. Early in the following year he was offered the portfolio of Receiver-General, which he accepted, and was sworn into office on the 30th of January. His acceptance of office was fully endorsed by his constituents in Bonaventure, who reëlected him by acclamation. He held the Receiver-Generalship until the fall of the Macdonald Ministry in the following November. His tenure of office was not marked by any feature of special importance. At the general elections of 1874 and 1878 he was again returned for Bonaventure, so that at the time of his appointment as Lieutenant-Governor he had represented that constituency in Parliament for a continuous period of about eighteen years. He also represented Bonaventure in the Local Legislature of Quebec from 1871 to 1874, when he retired, in order to confine himself to the House of Commons. His long Parliamentary career was not distinguished by any remarkable brilliancy or statesmanship, but he acquired much Legislative experience, and was a useful member of the House. He was known for the moderation of his views, and was personally popular with the representatives of both political parties.
Upon Mr. Letellier's dismissal from office, as related in previous sketches, Dr. Robitaille was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Quebec. He was sworn into office by the Governor-General on the 26th of July, 1879, and has ever since discharged the functions incidental to that position. He was succeeded in the representation of Bonaventure County by Mr. Pierre Clovis Beauchesne, who now sits in the House of Commons for that constituency.
On the 30th of September, 1879, Lieutenant-Governor Robitaille paid a visit to the Seminary of Ste. Thérèse, where he had been a student more than twenty years previously. He was received with great enthusiasm, not only by the students of the Seminary, but by the people of the town itself; and he received very flattering addresses from the Mayor of the town, as well as from the President of the College. Both the town and the College expressed their sense of having a share in the high honours to which their former townsman and fellow-student had attained. About a month later he was presented with a highly congratulatory address from more than a thousand of his old constituents in Bonaventure. The address was signed by the local clergy of all denominations, and by adherents of all shades of political opinions.
In the month of November, 1867, Dr. Robitaille married Miss Marie Josephine Charlotte Emma Quesnel, daughter of Mr. P. A. Quesnel, and grand-daughter of the late Hon. F. A. Quesnel, who was for many years a member of the Legislative Council of Canada.
Mr. Blake, who for more than six years past has worthily filled the position of Senior Vice-Chancellor for Ontario, is the second son of the late William Hume Blake, and younger brother of West Durham's present representative in the House of Commons. Some account of the lives of both the father and eldest son has already appeared in this series, and the reader is referred to those accounts for various particulars more or less bearing upon the life of the subject of the present memoir. Samuel Hume Blake was born in the City of Toronto, on the 31st of August, 1835, soon after his father's removal thither from the Township of Adelaide. Like his elder brother, he received his earliest educational training at home, under the auspices of Mr. Courtenay, Mr. Wedd, and other private tutors. The account given in the first volume of this work of the sort of training bestowed by the father upon Edward Blake is equally applicable to the training of the younger son, whose proficiency in elocution was noticeable from his earliest childhood. From the hands of private tutors he passed, when he was about eight years old, to Upper Canada College, where he remained for five years. In those early days he was a more diligent student in the ordinary scholastic routine than his elder brother, and was specially conspicuous above most of his fellow-students for the quickness of his intellectual vision, and the almost amazing facility he displayed in mastering the daily tasks which fell to his share. His mind seems to have matured very early, and his intellectual precocity was such that when ten years old he could converse intelligently, even on subjects requiring careful thought and reflection, with persons of much more advanced years. The study and practice of elocution, in which he was encouraged and directed by his father, always had special charms for him, and the ease and grace of his public deliverances while at school procured for him a high repute both with his teachers and fellow-scholars. Mr. Barron, the Principal of the College, used to hold him up in this respect as an example to the other boys, and was wont to remark that Master Samuel Blake was the only boy in the institution who really knew how to read with taste and intelligence. He also received a high tribute to his elocutionary powers from a more exalted quarter. Soon after Lord Elgin's arrival in this country he attended a public examination at the College, at which young Samuel Blake was deputed to recite Campbell's "Pleasures of Hope." The selection was peculiarly appropriate, as the closing line of the poem contains, as every Canadian schoolboy knows, a glowing tribute to "the Bruce of Bannockburn." Lord Elgin's family name and lineage, doubtless, led to the selection of this poem for recitation on the occasion of his visit. His Lordship was fully sensible of the implied compliment, and not only availed himself of the opportunity to highly commend young Blake's elocution, but in the course of his address to the scholars paid a glowing tribute to the character and public services of William Hume Blake, to whose judicious training the son's success in declamation was largely attributable.
Like his elder brother he had been destined for the legal profession, but his own tastes, combined with the fact that his health was not very robust, induced him to turn his thoughts to commercial life. The firm of Ross, Mitchell & Co., was then at the height of its prosperity, and the establishment formed an excellent field for the acquisition of a thorough mercantile training. When just emerging from boyhood, Samuel Blake bade adieu to Upper Canada College, and entered the establishment as a clerk. There he remained four years, taking his full share of such work as came to his hand. He thereby not only obtained an insight into the doings of the commercial world which has stood him in good stead in the different sphere to which the subsequent years of his life have been devoted, but, more important still, the actual physical labours which he was compelled to perform were the means of building up his constitution and endowing him with much bodily vigour. His tastes, however, had meanwhile undergone a change, and he had resolved to follow in his brother's footsteps. His term of apprenticeship having expired, he passed his preliminary examination before the Law Society, and entered the office of his uncle, the late Dr. Skeffington Connor, as a student at law. He at the same time began to read for a University degree, and with unflagging industry contrived to carry on both his professional and scholastic studies contemporaneously. In the year 1858 he graduated as B.A., and in Michaelmas Term of the same year he was admitted as an attorney and solicitor. He at once entered into partnership with his brother Edward, the style of the firm being "E. & S. H. Blake." On the 2nd of February, 1859, he married Miss Rebecca Cronyn, third daughter of the late Right Rev. John Cronyn, Bishop of the Diocese of Huron. In Hilary Term, 1860, he was called to the Bar. Like his brother, he devoted himself almost exclusively to the Equity branch of the profession, in which he soon attained to an eminent position.
The splendid professional and financial successes achieved by the legal firm of which he was a member have been sufficiently indicated in the sketch of the life of Edward Blake. Of that firm, under its various phases, Mr. S. H. Blake continued a member until Mr. Mowat's resignation of the Vice-Chancellorship of Ontario, towards the close of 1872. The position thus rendered vacant was promptly offered by the Premier, Sir John A. Macdonald, to the subject of this memoir, who, after careful deliberation, resolved to accept it. Only a few months before he had been invested with the silk gown of a Queen's Counsel. During the progress of the year he had also for the first time taken part in political life. Frequent overtures had at various times been made to him to emulate his brother's example by accepting a seat in Parliament. These overtures he had persistently declined, but during the long and heated contest preceding the general election of 1872 he consented to supply the place of his brother—who was then absent in Europe for the benefit of his health—by going down to the country and addressing his constituents on the hustings and elsewhere. His political speeches afforded unmistakable evidence of his ability to adapt himself to novel circumstances. They showed an accurate knowledge of the country's past political history, and of the nature of the various issues then before the public. His views on all the questions of the day were of course fully in accord with those of his brother, and in expatiating upon them he displayed the same grasp and breadth which have always marked the public utterances of the present member for West Durham.
Sir John Macdonald's political opponents have alleged that his offer of so exalted a position as a Superior Court Judgeship to so young a man was prompted by political expediency, and a desire to mollify the powerful opposition of Edward Blake in the House of Commons. The allegation, unless supported by stronger evidence than has yet been produced, is not creditable to those who make it. Even Sir John's bitterest foes will not deny that he has on more than one occasion proved himself above party considerations, and in the matter of public appointments has set an example of disinterestedness which other Canadian statesmen would do well to emulate. Sir John, moreover, was shrewd enough to know that Edward Blake was much too high-principled a man to allow personal or family considerations to interfere with his honest discharge of his public duties. In the instance under consideration there is no need to search for any ulterior motive. The appointment of Samuel Hume Blake to the Vice-Chancellorship was one which commended itself to those who were most competent to pronounce upon it—the legal profession of Ontario. In certain branches of his profession he has had no superior in this country. In the early years of his practice he devoted himself specially to chamber matters; but later on, and more particularly after his brother had embarked in political life, he was called upon to conduct, in the capacity of first counsel, many of the heaviest cases before the court. As a counsel, his rapid perception, and his faculty of reviewing evidence, were perhaps his most noticeable characteristics. He was also, notwithstanding his youth, a well-read lawyer, of excellent judgment and discrimination, and his opinions were always regarded with the greatest respect, alike by Bench and Bar. His appointment was a just and proper tribute to his fine abilities, his unflagging industry, his great capacity for work, and his high personal character. When he first took his seat on the Bench he was the youngest judge who ever sat in any of the Superior Courts of his native Province, and his elevation was due to a Prime Minister with whose political views he has never been in accord. Instead of trying to find sinister motives in such an appointment it is surely more reasonable, as well as more becoming, to say that the appointment was creditable alike to the Premier and to Mr. Blake.
Honourable as is the position of a Vice-Chancellor, there were, notwithstanding, good reasons why Mr. Blake should hesitate before accepting it. Ever since Edward Blake's entrance into political life the large and steadily-increasing business of the firm had imposed additional duties upon the younger brother. The additional duties were of course accompanied by additional emoluments, and for several years prior to 1872 his professional income had ranged from $12,000 to $15,000 per annum. As Vice-Chancellor his income would be only $5,000. This, to a young man with an increasing family, who had largely fought his own way in the battle of life, was in itself a serious consideration. On the other hand there was the fact that his labours would be materially lightened, and that he would have more time to bestow upon religious and philanthropical objects in which he has always taken a deep interest. His health, too, had begun to feel the effects of the ceaseless toil to which he had for years subjected himself, and rest would be equally grateful and beneficial. He finally concluded to accept the appointment, and on the 2nd of December, 1872, became junior Vice-Chancellor. On the elevation of his senior, Mr. S. H. Strong, to a seat on the Bench of the newly-constituted Supreme Court of the Dominion, in 1875, Mr. Blake succeeded to the position of senior Vice-Chancellor.
As an Equity Judge Mr. Blake has fully sustained the high reputation which previous to his elevation he had acquired at the Bar. His tenure of office has been marked by unwearied diligence, careful and patient investigation of authorities, rigid conscientiousness, and that high sense of the dignity of the judicial position for which the Ontario Bench has long been distinguished. His judgments display all the qualities of a profound and painstaking jurist. They are couched in a phraseology which is always clear, and which not unfrequently rises to eloquence. Some of them are regarded by persons who are entitled to speak on such matters with authority as models of forensic reasoning. A mere enumeration of the important cases which he has been called on to decide in the few years which have elapsed since his elevation to the Bench would alone occupy much space. The case of Campbell vs. Campbell, owing to its peculiar character, is perhaps the one best known to the general public. There have been many others, however, involving much more abstruse points, on which his great learning and industry have been exercised, and which are regarded as conclusive in logic as well as in law.
At the urgent solicitation of the Local Government of Ontario, Mr. Blake consented, early in 1876, to act as one of the Commissioners for carrying out the Tavern License Law in Toronto. The position was one calling for the exercise of great judgment and discrimination, but it was also one very distasteful to him. It was urged upon him as a matter of duty, however, and as such he regarded it. To say that he discharged the duties incidental to this position with efficiency, uprightness, and satisfaction to the authorities is merely to assert what every one in Toronto knows to be true. He brought to his task the same high qualities which have always distinguished him both in professional and private life, and the people of Toronto had abundant reason to feel thankful that he consented to act.
Mr. Blake is a prominent member of the Church of England, and has ever since his youth given much time and attention to ecclesiastical affairs. Anything connected with the Church possesses for him a living interest. His predilections in this way are so well known that he was long ago christened by one of his friends "the Archbishop," and by the members of his own family he is still sometimes jocularly so called. During the existence of the Church Association he was one of its most energetic officials. At the time of its dissolution, and for some years previously, he occupied the position of its Vice-President. He has been a Sunday-school teacher for nearly a quarter of a century, and is much esteemed and beloved by the members of his classes. Though not given to doing his alms before men, it is well known that his works of kindness and philanthropy are abundant, and that he has been the means of rescuing many of his fellow-creatures from a life of sin and degradation. He is, and has long been, President of the Irish Protestant Benevolent Society, and is connected with various other Christian and charitable enterprises. He takes a conspicuous part in the proceedings of the Young Men's Christian Association of Toronto, and frequently presides at public meetings held for social and philanthropical objects.
Archbishop Taché belongs to one of the oldest and most remarkable families of Canada; one that can refer with just pride to its ancestry, among whom are ranked Louis Joliette, the celebrated discoverer of the Mississippi, and Sieur Varennes de la Verandrye, the hardy explorer of the Red River, the Upper Missouri, and the Saskatchewan country; while several others are conspicuous in Canadian annals for eminent services rendered in their respective spheres. Jean Taché, the first of the name in Canada, arrived at Quebec in 1739, married Demoiselle Marguerite Joliette de Mingan, and occupied several influential positions under the French regime. He was the possessor of a large fortune, but was ruined by the Conquest which substituted English for French rule. His son Charles settled in Montmagny, and had three sons, Charles, Jean Baptiste, and Etienne Pascal. The last-mentioned became Sir Etienne Pascal Taché, and died Premier of Canada in 1865. Charles, the eldest of the three, after having served as Captain in the regiment of Voltigeurs during the war with the United States, took up his residence in Kamouraska. He married Demoiselle Henriette Boucher de la Broquerie, great grand-daughter of the founder of Boucherville, and grand-niece of Madame d'Youville, the foundress of the Grey Nunnery of Montreal. Three sons were born of this marriage: Dr. Joseph Charles Taché, a well-known Canadian writer, Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur, and Deputy of the Minister of Agriculture and Statistics; Louis Taché, Sheriff of St. Hyacinthe; and Alexandre Antonin Taché, Archbishop of St. Boniface, the subject of the present sketch.
The Archbishop was born at Rivière du Loup (en bas), Quebec, on the 23rd of July, 1823. At the tender age of two years and a half he lost his father. Madame Taché, after the death of her husband, repaired with her young family to Boucherville, to dwell with her father, M. de la Broquerie. Madame Taché was endowed with many of the qualities that constitute the model wife and mother, and made it the sole aim of her life to have her sons follow in the path of duty and honour trodden by their forefathers. From his infancy young Alexandre displayed fine natural qualities, crowned by a passionate love for his mother. This affection has lost nothing of its intensity, and to the present day the mere mention of his mother strikes the tenderest chord of his feelings. At school and at college he was noted for his genial character, amiable gaiety and bright intellect. He received his higher education at the College of St. Hyacinthe. Having completed his course of classical studies, he donned the ecclesiastical habit, went as a student to the Theological Seminary of Montreal, and subsequently returned to the College of St. Hyacinthe as Professor of Mathematics.
Meanwhile the arrival of the disciples of De Mazenod, founder of the Order of the Oblates, threw a new light on the vocation of Alexandre Taché. Being the great-great-grandson of Joliette, and having been brought up in Boucherville, in the very house whence the celebrated Jacques Marquette had started for his western missions—having moreover been sheltered by the same roof under which Marquette had registered the first baptism administered in the locality[13]—it is no wonder that the spirit of those renowned personages still hovered around the young ecclesiastic, indicating a life of self-denial, to be endured in the far North-West. He entered the novitiate at Longueil, in October, 1844. The mission of the Oblate Fathers, which now extends from the coast of Labrador to the shores of British Columbia, and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Sea, was then in its infancy in Canada. In 1844 the Hudson's Bay and North-West Territories were detached from the diocese of Quebec, and the Right Reverend Joseph Norbert Provencher, who had been exercising his zeal throughout those vast regions, was appointed Apostolic Vicar. The venerable prelate had toiled, with a very small number of co-labourers, during the twenty-six previous years, in evangelizing the scattered tribes. Bishop Provencher was convinced that to give more extension to his work it was necessary to secure the services of a religious order, and fixed his choice on the Oblates. His proposal was so much the more readily accepted that it was suited to carry into practical effect, to a more than ordinary degree, the motto of the Order—Pauperes evangelizantur. This decision awakened a flame in the heart of the novice Taché. His first impulse was to offer his services in the generous undertaking. It was not without dread and apprehension that he harboured the idea, for he was but twenty-one years of age. So far, he had known in life naught but what was congenial to his affectionate nature: the pure joys of home, the tenderness and solicitude of an almost idolized mother. He had grown up in the sunshine of universal affection, and his feelings had never been chilled or nipped by deception or unkindness. The struggle was a difficult one; but, in the designs of Providence, his love for his mother was made the means of determining his resolution. The act of his life which has enlisted the most tender sympathies is certainly that which found him at the shrine of filial piety, offering to the Almighty the sacrifice of home and country, and of all that he held dearest on earth; begging, in return, the recovery of his mother from a dangerous illness under which she was then labouring. Madame Taché was restored to health, and was spared for twenty-six years to witness the elevation and popularity to which her beloved son was destined.
On the 24th of June, 1845, the national feast of French Canadians, while all around was exultant with joy and festivity, the young missionary, accompanied by the Rev. P. Aubert, took his place in a birch bark canoe for a foreign shore. A page from the pen of the Bishop of St. Boniface in his work "Vingt Années de Missions," published some years ago, vividly describes his feelings on the occasion:—"You will allow me to tell you what I felt as I receded from the sources of the St. Lawrence, on whose banks Providence had fixed my birthplace, and by whose waters I first conceived the thought of becoming a missionary of the Red River. I drank of those waters for the last time, and mingled with them some parting tears, and confided to them some of the secret thoughts and affectionate sentiments of my inmost heart. I could imagine how some of the bright waves of this river, rolling down from lake to lake, would at last strike on the beach nigh to which a beloved mother was praying for her son that he might become a perfect Oblate and a holy missionary. I knew that, being intensely pre-occupied with that son's happiness, she would listen to the faintest murmuring sound, to the very beatings of the waves coming from the North-West, as if to discover in them the echoes of her son's voice asking a prayer or promising a remembrance. I give expression to what I felt on that occasion, for the recollection now, after the lapse of twenty years, of the emotions I experienced in quitting home and friends, enables me more fully to appreciate the generous devotedness of those who give up all they hold most dear in human affection for the salvation of souls. The height of land was as it were the threshold of the entrance to our new home, and the barrier about to close behind us. When the heart is a prey to deep emotion it needs to be strengthened. To sooth mine, I brought it to consider the uncultured and savage nature of the soil we were treading. . . . I calculated, or at least accepted, all the consequences thereof. I bade to my native land an adieu which I then believed to be everlasting, and I vowed to my adopted land a love and attachment which I then, as now, wished to be as lasting as my life."
The missionaries reached St. Boniface on the 25th of August, after a long and tiresome journey of sixty-two days. On the first Sunday after his arrival the young ecclesiastic, who had during the voyage reached the required age of twenty-two years, was ordained Deacon, and on the 12th of October following he was raised to the Priesthood. The next day Father Taché pronounced his religious vows. This was the first time that the vows of religion were pronounced in the far North-West, and it is worth noting, once more, that the young Oblate then performing the solemn act was related to the discoverer who first hoisted the banner of the cross in those remote regions—the illustrious Varennes de la Verandrye. Shortly after his ordination Father Taché was appointed to accompany the Rev. L. Lafleche, now Bishop of Three Rivers, to Isle à la Crosse, a thousand miles distant from St. Boniface. They started on the 8th of July, 1846, and after a harassing journey that lasted two months they arrived at their destination. The young missionary went heart and soul into his work. Having heard of an Indian Chief who lay dangerously ill at Lac Vert, a place ninety miles distant, and who desired to be baptized, he hastened through dismal swamps and pine forests to perform that sacred office. On his return, after four days' rest, he undertook the voyage to Lac Caribou, 350 miles north-east of Isle à la Crosse, and was the first who ever reached that desolate spot to announce the Gospel of Peace. There he had the happiness of instructing and baptizing several poor Indians. His next missionary expedition was to Athabasca. On his way thither he was warned of the fierce and savage character of the Indian tribes who frequented that region, but, nevertheless, he courageously pursued his weary journey of 400 miles to the end. A great missionary triumph awaited him. In the course of three weeks he baptized 194 Indian children of the Cree and Chippeweyan tribes. These happy beginnings inspired Father Taché's zeal to pursue with continued ardour his apostolic career. The annals of the "Propagation of the Faith" contain soul-stirring accounts of the labours accomplished by the young missionary. His travels were through the wilderness, where no hospitable roof offered a shelter. After a long day's walking through deep snow, or running behind a dog sled, with nothing to appease his hunger but the unpalatable pemmican, he had to seek repose on the cold ground, with the canopy of heaven overhead. Still, he affirms that he counts among the happiest days of his life those passed in his first Indian missions in the North-West, and relates how his heart beat with joy when, at a journey's end, he was welcomed by the untutored savages whom he desired to win to Christ.
While Father Taché was thus giving proofs of his zeal and ability, and seeking to extend the reign of the Master who had chosen him, his superiors were admiring his remarkable endowments. The young clergyman who sought oblivion was being marked out for an exalted dignity. The keen eye of the venerable bishop of the North-West had remarked the brilliant talents of his young missionary, and experience has shown how judicious was his choice in selecting Father Taché, then only twenty-six years of age, as his coadjutor and future successor. It is easy to imagine the latter's surprise on receiving the news of his promotion to the episcopate. At the call of his bishop he repaired to St. Boniface. A letter from his Religious Superior awaited him there, instructing him to sail immediately for France for his consecration. His first meeting with the founder of the Oblates was marked by signs of mutual appreciation. Bishop Taché received the episcopal consecration on the 23rd of November, 1851, in the Cathedral of Viviers, in Southern France, at the hands of the Bishop of Marseilles, Monseigneur De Mazenod, assisted by Monseigneur Guibert, now Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, and Monseigneur Prince, Bishop of St. Hyacinthe. Bishop Taché left immediately for Rome. The paternal encouragements of His Holiness Pope Pius IX., and repeated visits to the tombs of the Apostles and Martyrs, imparted renewed strength to the energy of the young prelate. He started in February for the remote scene of his labours. He spent a few weeks in Lower Canada, where the liveliest sympathies were lavished upon him. Every one was impatient to see and to hear the young bishop of the Indians of the North-West. In the month of June he reached St. Boniface. Bishop Provencher, feeling that his end was near, had thought of retaining his coadjutor near him, but the strong reasons adduced by the missionary bishop prevailed. Monseigneur Taché, on taking his departure for Isle à la Crosse, knelt to ask the blessing of Monseigneur Provencher. The venerable prelate gave expression on that occasion to the following prophetic words:—"It is not customary for a bishop to ask for another bishop's blessing, but as I am soon to die, and as we shall never again meet in this world, I will bless you once more on this earth, while awaiting the happiness of embracing you in heaven."
Father Taché's elevation to the episcopal dignity increased his responsibilities, and gave a new impulse to his zeal and devotion to the good cause, while the unction of a divine commission gave efficacy and power to his efforts. From his residence at Isle à la Crosse the prelate made frequent excursions to visit different tribes. The following playful but truthful description, in his own words, of his dwelling place, and of his mode of travelling, gives an idea of what he had to endure, and how he bore it:—"My episcopal palace is twenty feet in length, twenty in width, and seven in height. It is built of logs cemented with mud, which, however, is not impermeable, for the wind and the rain and other atmospheric annoyances find easy access through its walls. Two windows of six small panes of glass lighten the principal apartment, and two pieces of parchment complete the rest of the luminary system. In this palace, though at first glance everything looks mean and diminutive, a character of real grandeur, nevertheless, pervades the whole establishment. For instance, my secretary is no less a personage than a bishop—my 'valet de chambre' is also a bishop—my cook himself is sometimes a bishop. The illustrious employés have countless defects, but their attachment to my person endears them to me, and I cannot help looking at them with a feeling of satisfaction. When they grow tired of their domestic employments I put them all on the road, and going with them, I strive to make them cheery. The entire household of his lordship is en route, with two Indians, and a half-breed who conducts a team of four dogs. The team is laden with cooking utensils, bedding, a wardrobe, a portable altar and its fittings, a food basket, and other odds and ends. His lordship puts on a pair of snow shoes which are from three to four feet in length, real episcopal pantofles, perfectly adapted to the fine tissue of the white carpet on which he has to walk, moving with more or less rapidity according to the muscular strength of the traveller. Towards evening this strength equals zero; the march is suspended, and the episcopal party is ordered to halt. An hour's labour suffices to prepare a mansion wherein his lordship will repose till the next morning. The bright white snow is carefully removed, and branches of trees are spread over the cleared ground. These form the ornamental flooring of the new palace; the sky is its lofty roof, the moon and stars are its brilliant lamps, the dark pine forests or the boundless horizon its sumptuous wainscoting. The four dogs of the team are its sentinels, the wolves and the owls preside over the musical orchestra, hunger and cold give zest to the joy experienced at the sight of the preparations which are being made for the evening banquet and the night's repose. The chilled and stiffened limbs bless the merciful warmth of the kindled pile to which the 'giants of the forest' have supplied abundant fuel. Having taken possession of their mansion, the proprietors partake of a common repast; the dogs are the first served, then comes his lordship's turn, his table is his knees, the table service consists of a pocket-knife, a bowl, a tin plate, and a five-pronged fork, which is an old family heirloom. The Benedicite omnia opera is pronounced. Nature is too grand and beautiful in the midst even of all its trying rigours for us to forget its Author; therefore, during these encampments our hearts become filled with thoughts that are solemn and overpowering. We feel it then to be our duty to communicate such thoughts to the companions of our journey, and to invite them to love Him by whom all those wonderful things we behold around us were made, and to give thanks to Him from whom all blessings flow. Having rendered our homage to God, Monseigneur's 'valet de chambre' removes from his lordship's shoulders the overcoat which he has worn during the day, and extending it on the ground calls it a mattress; his cap, his mittens and his travelling bag pass in the darkness of the night for a pillow; two woollen blankets undertake the task of protecting the bishop from the cold of the night, and of preserving the warmth necessary for his repose. Lest they should fail in such offices, Providence comes to their aid, by sending a kindly little layer of snow, which spreads a protecting mantle, without distinction, over all alike. Beneath its white folds sleep tranquilly the prelate and his suite, repairing in their calm slumbers the fatigues of the previous day, and gathering strength for the journey of the morrow; never dreaming of the surprise that some spoiled child of civilization would experience if, lifting this snow mantle he found lying beneath it bishop, Indians, the four dogs of the team, etc., etc., etc." The above description is applicable not merely to a solitary journey made by Bishop Taché, but to those habitually performed by him; and as it gives an excellent idea of the nature of primitive travel in the North-West we have quoted it at length.
On the 7th of June, 1853, the first Bishop of St. Boniface breathed his last, worn out by a life of toil and usefulness. His coadjutor received the sad tidings while making the pastoral visitation of the diocese. The stroke was a severe one, and it was with dread and mistrust in himself that Bishop Taché entered upon the office of titular bishop of an immense territory. Nevertheless, at the call of the new bishop zealous co-labourers came forth to share a high and holy mission. Colleges, convents and schools were founded, while those already existing were supported to a great extent by the generosity of the prelate himself, ever ready to endure the severest privations for the sake of his flock. At his request the Sisters of Charity opened an asylum for little orphan girls, while the orphan boys shared the lodgings and table of the bishop, until provision could be made for them. Missionary posts were established and extended three thousand miles distant from St. Boniface. The visitation of the diocese at necessary intervals became, for the Bishop of St. Boniface, an impossibility. In 1857, accordingly, the prelate made a voyage to Europe to obtain a coadjutor. The Rev. Father Grandin was appointed to this office. In 1860 the Bishop of St. Boniface undertook a long and trying journey to confer with his coadjutor at Isle à la Crosse, on the propriety of subdividing the diocese, and of proposing the Rev. Father Faraud for an episcopal charge. The plan was adopted and sanctioned by proper authority. The districts of Athabasca and Mackenzie became a Vicariate Apostolic, confided to the zeal of Monseigneur Faraud. Bishop Taché had to suffer more during that journey than can be easily imagined by those unacquainted with the climate and the mode of travelling in that country. From that time his health began to fail, but left his indomitable energy unimpaired, as was needed for the trials which awaited him in the not distant future. Alluding to the morning of the 14th of December, 1860, he writes as follows:—"We left our frosty bed at the early hour of one a.m. to continue our journey. We travelled until ten in the forenoon, and then halted to rest, and to partake of a little food. We found it almost impossible to kindle a fire; at last we partially succeeded. I sat beside the dying embers, cold and hungry and wearied; a peculiar sadness oppressed me. I was then nine hundred miles from St. Boniface." This sadness might have seemed a premonition of what was occurring at St. Boniface on the same day and at the same hour. The episcopal residence and the cathedral were in flames, and with them everything they contained was reduced to ashes. With what grief did the bishop witness the scene of destruction on his return after his painful journey! He writes as follows to the Bishop of Montreal:—"You may judge, my Lord, of my emotion when, on the 23rd of February, after a journey of fifty-four days in the depth of winter, after sleeping forty-four nights in the open air, I arrived at St. Boniface, and knelt in the midst of the ruins caused by the disaster of the 14th of December, on that spot where lately stood a thriving religious establishment. But the destruction of the episcopal establishment was not the only trial which it pleased God that year to send us. A frightful inundation invaded our Colony, and plunged its population in profound misery. What should the Bishop of St. Boniface do in presence of these ruins, and under the weight of so heavy a load of affliction, but bow down his head in Christian and loving submission to the Divine will, whilst blessing the hand that smote him, and adoring the merciful God who chastised him?"
The soul of the Bishop of St. Boniface, though sorely tried by the above disasters, as well as by the distress of seeing his flock looking to him for assistance, was not cast down. He lost no time in taking the necessary steps to repair the calamities which had occurred. He went to Canada and to France to raise funds, and success crowned his efforts. Mr. Joseph James Hargrave, in his work on "Red River," alluding to the burning of the cathedral and episcopal residence, says:—"This check has, however, through the ability of the bishop, been turned almost into a benefit, for a much superior church has been raised on the site of the old one, and the handsome and commodious stone dwelling-house which has replaced the other is, in more than mere name, a palace."
In 1868 all the crops in the Red River settlement were destroyed by innumerable swarms of grasshoppers. The same year the buffalo chase, one of the principal resources of the country at the time, was a complete failure. Famine was the result. The most energetic efforts were made to mitigate the distress, and timely aid from abroad prevented, in many cases, death from starvation. A Relief Committee was appointed, and among the members were the clergymen of the different religious denominations, to whom it belonged to see to the wants of their respective congregations. While it is true that all these gentlemen acted their part well, it is but fair to add that Bishop Taché was the most active; ever devising new means, at his own expense, to preserve his people from starvation, and securing seed for the ensuing spring when the resources of the committee were insufficient.
Famine is often a forerunner of political disturbance in a country. During the spring of 1869 a universal feeling of dissatisfaction and of uneasiness prevailed in the colony, when it became known, through the public press, that transactions were being carried on between Her Majesty's Government, that of the Dominion, and the Hudson's Bay Company, for the transfer of the Red River country to Canada, while the authorities of Assiniboia and the population of the colony were entirely ignored by the negotiating parties. This wounded the susceptibilities of the inhabitants, among whom a spirit of sullenness and disaffection began to appear. The surveyors sent from Canada to lay out the land were not allowed to prosecute their work, and when the newspapers of Ontario and Quebec brought intelligence to Fort Garry that a Commission under the Great Seal of Canada had been issued on the 29th of September, 1869, appointing the Hon. William McDougall to be Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Territories, and that the Honourable gentleman was en route with a party, and taking with him three hundred and fifty breech-loading rifles with thirty thousand rounds of ammunition, the dissatisfaction became exasperation. The French Half-Breeds took up arms and sent a party to the frontier to meet Mr. McDougall and order him back. Such was the beginning of the outbreak.
Bishop Taché was at this time absent in Europe, attending the sitting of the [OE]cumenical Council at Rome. When the troubles in the North-West became known to the Canadian Government at Ottawa, it was thought desirable to secure His Lordship's services. His influence over the French Half-Breeds was known to be all-powerful, and he was regarded as the one man for the crisis. He was communicated with by cablegram, and, recognizing the urgency of the case, he at once set out for Canada. Upon reaching Ottawa he had a conference with the Government, and received instructions authorizing him to proceed at once to the North-West, and to offer the rebels an amnesty for all past offences. He lost no time in repairing to Fort Garry, but five days before his arrival there the murder of Thomas Scott—"the dark crime of the rebellion"—had been committed. Bishop Taché, while deploring that ruthless piece of butchery, did not conceive that his instructions were affected thereby. He recognized the Provisional Government, entered into negotiations with Riel, and was instrumental in restoring peace. He unconsciously exceeded his powers, and made promises to the rebels in the name of the Canadian Government which, in the absence of express Imperial authority, the Canadian Government itself had no power to make. All this, however, was done from the best of motives, for the purpose of preventing further bloodshed, and without any idea that he was exceeding the authority with which he had been invested. A great deal has been said and written against Bishop Taché in connection with this troublesome episode in the history of Red River. The Archbishop has informed the author of this sketch that his intention is to personally prepare a full account of what he knows respecting that episode. Meanwhile, suffice it to say to those who would know the part played by him, that His Grace has already published two pamphlets on the subject, the first in 1874, and the second in 1875. The latter portrays the painful feeling experienced by His Grace at the way he was treated by the authorities after he had succeeded in appeasing the dissatisfied people, and in bringing them to enter into negotiations, the results of which were satisfactory to the Government of Canada, as well as to the old settlers of Assiniboia. It is impossible, in reading those pages, not to be convinced that the prelate acted with the utmost good faith, and with the interests of the country at heart. "The Amnesty Again, or Charges Refuted," clearly demonstrates how deeply the author felt that he had been unjustly treated. Few men, if any, in Canada, occupying such a high position, have been attacked so unfairly as Bishop Taché. There is not a man of sense acquainted with His Lordship and with the country in which he has laboured so indefatigably during the last thirty-five years that would venture to repeat the accusations brought against him at the time in reference to the Red River disturbances. Some of those who had accused him experienced a complete transformation in their ideas on forming His Lordship's acquaintance, and could not help sharing in the universal respect which surrounds him.
On the 22nd of September, 1871, Bishop Taché was appointed Archbishop and Metropolitan of a new ecclesiastical province—that of St. Boniface, which comprehends the Archdiocese of St. Boniface, the Diocese of St. Albert, and the Vicariates Apostolic of Athabaska-Mackenzie and British Columbia. As already stated, Archbishop Taché's health began to fail during his harassing journey in the winter of 1860. The calamities above mentioned, the losses to be repaired requiring unceasing toil, and, above all, it may be said, the mental suffering of the three previous years, hastened the progress of the disease which seized Archbishop Taché in December, 1872, and kept him bedridden during the whole winter. The malady has since partially subsided, but His Grace still suffers constantly, more or less, and his strength is by no means equal to what his appearance would indicate.
In 1875 Archbishop Taché received a remarkable token of the sympathy he commands in the Province of Quebec. On the 24th of June, the thirtieth anniversary of his departure from Montreal, and the twenty-fifth of his election to the episcopate, His Grace was made the recipient of a very uncommon and valuable gift, that of a splendid organ for his cathedral. The instrument, which cost about $3,000, was built in Montreal by Mr. Mitchell, who accompanied it to St. Boniface, at the expense of the donors, to place it in the loft prepared for it there, "to raise its rich and melodious tones, as the expression of the feelings of the numerous friends and admirers of a holy missionary, a devoted bishop, and a noble citizen."
In 1877 Lord Dufferin visited the Province of Manitoba. Many looked forward with a certain anxiety to see the attitude the Archbishop of St. Boniface would take towards or receive from the Governor-General. That feeling was caused by the recollection of what Lord Dufferin had written to England with regard to Bishop Taché, and of how His Grace had repudiated His Excellency's assertions in the pamphlet alluded to above. Those better acquainted with His Grace knew quite well that every other feeling would be silenced in order to give vent only to that of profound respect towards the representative of Her Majesty, and for them it was no matter of surprise to see His Grace, contrary to his practice, appear daily in public, when an opportunity afforded itself, to testify his respect for the illustrious visitor. This, of course, was felt by Lord Dufferin, who shortly after wrote to a friend: "I left Bishop Taché very well and in good spirits. Nothing could have been kinder than the reception he gave me." It may even be said that Lord Dufferin seemed eager to express his esteem for the venerable prelate. The second day after His Excellency's arrival he was at the Archiepiscopal Palace of St. Boniface, and answered as follows to an address from the Archbishop and Catholic clergy of the locality:—
"Monseigneur et Messieurs,—I need not assure you that it is with great satisfaction that I at length find myself within the jurisdiction of Your Grace, and in the neighbourhood of those localities where you and your clergy have for so many years been prosecuting your sacred duties. Your Grace, I am sure, is well aware how thoroughly I understand and appreciate the degree to which the Catholic Priesthood of Canada have contributed to the progress of civilization, from the earliest days till the present moment, through the length and breadth of Her Majesty's Dominion, and perhaps there is no region where their efforts in this direction are more evident or more strikingly expressed upon the face of the country than here in Manitoba. On many a previous occasion it has been my pleasing duty to bear witness to the unvarying loyalty and devotion to the cause of good government and order of yourself and your brethren, and the kindly feeling and patriotic harmony which I find prevailing in this Province bear unmistakable witness to the spirit of charity and sympathy towards all classes of your fellow-citizens by which Your Lordship and your clergy are animated. To myself individually it is a great satisfaction to visit the scene of the labours of a great personage for whom I entertain such a sincere friendship and esteem as I do for Your Grace, and to contemplate with my own eyes the beneficial effects produced by your lifelong labours and unwearying self-sacrifice and devotion to the interests of your flock. I trust that both they and this whole region may by the providence of God be long permitted to profit by your benevolent ministrations. Permit me to assure Your Grace and the clergy of your diocese that both Lady Dufferin and myself are deeply grateful for the kind and hearty welcome you have prepared for us." These words, falling from the lips of the immediate representative of Her Majesty, during an official visit, should go some distance towards compensating Archbishop Taché for all the unfair accusations brought against him, and they were a source of heartfelt pleasure to the large audience surrounding the Governor-General on that occasion. During the same year an American writer who visited Manitoba, and published a pamphlet on the country, was taken by the well-known merits and pleasant intercourse of Monseigneur Taché, of whom he says:—"Of Bishop Taché, the Archbishop of this great domain, who resides at this mission (St. Boniface), much, very much, might be said. His travels, labours and ministry have been extensive and acceptable. Still a few words of the Psalmist will better express him as he is than any words of mine. 'The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord; and he delighteth in his way. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace.' And so it seems to be with him, in the peaceful air of this Mission, which, with his kindly, genial way, seems to make the above-quoted words particularly appropriate, and to cause one to sincerely wish that 'his days may be long in the land, which the Lord his God hath given him.'"