The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)

But it is not only with financial and kindred matters that Mr. McMaster has busied himself of late years. In 1862 he for the first time entered political life, having been elected to represent the Midland Division, embracing North York and South Simcoe, in the Legislative Council of old Canada. He was opposed by Mr. John W. Gamble, who sustained a crushing defeat, and Mr. McMaster continued to represent the Midland Division until the Union. When the Senate of the Dominion was substituted for the old Legislative Council, after the accomplishment of Confederation, Mr. McMaster was chosen as one of the Senators to represent Ontario, and he has ever since taken part in the deliberations of that body. He has always been identified with the Liberal Party, but has never been an extremist in his politics, and has kept himself aloof from the faction fights of the times.

His highest claim to the consideration of posterity will probably rest upon his services in the cause of education. These have been of a kind which we would be glad to see emulated by others of our wealthy capitalists. His first connection with general educational matters dates from the year 1865, when he was appointed a member of the old Council of Public Instruction. He continued to represent the Baptist Church — of which he is a prominent member — at that Board for a period of ten years. When the Senate of Toronto University was reconstructed, in 1873, he was nominated one of its members by the Lieutenant-Governor. But his most important services in the cause of education have been in connection with the denomination of which he is a devoted member. When the Canadian Literary Institute, at Woodstock, was originally projected, he contributed liberally to the building fund, and repeated his contribution when money was needed for the restoration of the buildings after they were burned down. He has ever since contributed liberally to the support of the institution, and indeed has been its mainstay in a financial point of view. He has been largely instrumental in bringing about the removal of the theological department of the Institute to Toronto, where a suitable building is now in process of erection for its accommodation in the Queen's Park, on land purchased by Mr. McMaster specially for that purpose. The cost of erecting this building is borne entirely by Mr. McMaster, and will amount, it is said, to at least $70,000.

His benefactions to the Baptist Church have been large and numerous, and of late years have been almost princely. The handsome edifice on the corner of Jarvis and Gerrard Streets, Toronto, is largely due to the bounty of Mr. McMaster and his wife, whose joint contributions to the building fund amounted to about $60,000. To Mr. McMaster also is due the existence of the Superannuated Ministers' Society of the Baptist Church of this Province, of which he is the President, and to the funds of which he has contributed with his accustomed liberality. He has also long contributed to the support of the Upper Canada Bible Society, of which he is the Treasurer.

He married, in 1851, Miss Mary Henderson, of New York City. Her death took place in 1868; and three years afterwards he married his present wife, Susan Molton, widow of the late Mr. James Fraser, of Newburgh, in the State of New York. There is no issue of either marriage.

THE HON. WILFRID LAURIER

Mr. Laurier was born at St. Lin, L'Assomption, in the Province of Quebec, on the 20th of November, 1841. He was educated first at L'Assomption College, and subsequently at McGill University, where he took his degree of B.C.L. in 1864. A year later he was called to the Bar of Quebec, his law studies having been pursued in the office of Mr. — now the Hon. — T. A. R. Laflamme. His health having suffered by too close attention to his professional duties, Mr. Laurier, at the end of two years, left Montreal, where he had practised, and became the editor of Le Défricheur newspaper at Arthabaska. His predecessor in the editorship was the late Mr. J. B. E. Dorion, the paper being devoted to the advocacy of Liberal principles. It did not, however, long continue in existence, and on its suspension Mr. Laurier once more returned to his professional pursuits, in which he soon obtained a high position, his personal popularity being as marked as his intellectual attainments. In 1871 he was the Liberal candidate for the representation of Drummond and Arthabaska in the Local Assembly, and carried the seat by a large majority. His talents as a debater and his statesmanlike cast of mind soon made him prominent in the Legislature, and when, in 1874, Mr. Mackenzie, shortly after accepting office, appealed to the country, Mr. Laurier relinquished his seat at Quebec to enter upon a more enlarged sphere of work at Ottawa. He was elected for Drummond and Arthabaska after a keen contest, and on the opening of the first session of the new Parliament was selected to second the address in reply to the Speech from the Throne. The manner in which he discharged this duty made a most favourable impression. He was at once recognized as one of the foremost of the many able representatives Quebec had sent to support the then-existing Government, and has since never failed to impress the House favourably when he has taken part in the debates.

It was evident from his first introduction to parliamentary life that he must, at no distant day, be called upon to take his share in the responsibilities of office. Even before that time his status as a leader of opinion and a representative man in relation to public affairs had been very clearly marked out. In a lecture delivered by him at Quebec in July, 1877, on "Political Liberalism," he made a splendid defence of the Liberals of Quebec against the misrepresentations and aspersions to which they had been subjected. He insisted on the distinction between religious and political opinions being maintained, and showed how strictly moderate and constitutional were the views of those with whom he was politically associated. Of the Liberal Party of the past — of the follies that had characterized too many of its actions and utterances, nothing, he declared, then existed, but in its stead remained the principles of the Liberal Party of England. On the other hand, sketching the party opposed to him under the name of Conservative, he spoke as follows: — "Sir George Cartier," he said, "was devoted to the principles of the English Constitution — if Sir George Cartier were to return to the world again he would not recognize his Party. I certainly respect too much the opinion of my opponents to do them an injury, but I reproach them with knowing neither their country nor the times. I accuse them of estimating the political situation not by what has occurred here, but by what has occurred in France. I accuse them of endeavouring to introduce here ideas which would be impossible in our state of society. I accuse them of laboriously endeavouring, and, unfortunately, too effectually, to make religion the simple basis of a political Party. It is the custom of our adversaries to accuse us Liberals of irreligion. I am not here to parade my religious principles, but I proclaim that I have too much respect for the faith in which I was born ever to make it appear as the basis of a political organization. We are a happy and free people; we owe this freedom to the Liberal institutions which govern us, which we owe to our forefathers and to the wisdom of the Mother Country. The policy of the Liberal Party is to guard these institutions, to defend and propagate them, and under the rule of these institutions to develop the latent resources of our country. Such is the policy of the Liberal Party, and it has no other." Mr. Laurier's Liberalism, in fact, is of the strictly British type, and to the immense benefit which has accrued to his French compatriots by the concession of free British institutions he has borne eloquent testimony. Few men, indeed, could be found better calculated than Mr. Laurier to effect a union of thought, sentiment, and interest between those distinguished by difference of race and creed, in the interest of their common country. It was not, as we have seen, at all surprising that on a vacancy occurring in the Quebec representation in the Dominion Cabinet, Mr. Laurier should be offered the vacant portfolio. His fitness for the position was disputed by none, either on personal or political grounds. In Ontario, no less than in Quebec, his acceptance of office was hailed as a just tribute to his worth and ability. In September, 1877, he was sworn of the Privy Council, and became Minister of Inland Revenue. The knowledge of his strength in Parliament and the country served to stimulate the determination of his opponents to defeat him at all hazards when he returned to his constituents for reëlection. The contest terminated by Mr. Bourbeau, the Conservative candidate, being elected by a majority of 22 votes over the new Minister. The defeat only served to show how highly the importance of Mr. Laurier's position in the country was estimated. Several constituencies were at once placed at his disposal. Ultimately the Hon. Mr. Thibaudeau, member for Quebec East, resigned, in order to create a vacancy. After a short but very exciting contest, Mr. Laurier carried the division by a majority of 315 votes. The result was the signal for general rejoicing, his journey to Ottawa and his reception there being one continued ovation. He retained the portfolio of Minister of Inland Revenue until the resignation of the Government in October, 1878. At the elections held on the 17th of September previous he was returned for Quebec East by a majority of 778 votes over his opponent, Mr. Vallière, and he now sits in the House for that constituency. He speaks both the French and English languages fluently, has a large amount of French vivacity sobered by great self-command, can strike home without too severely wounding, and commands the respect and good-will of his warmest political adversaries.

THE RIGHT HON. SIR CHARLES BAGOT

The Right Honourable Sir Charles Bagot, the successor of Lord Sydenham as Governor-General of British North America, was born at Blithfield House, Rugeley, in Staffordshire, England, on the 23rd of September, 1781. He was descended from an old aristocratic family, which has been resident in Staffordshire for several hundred years, and was ennobled in 1780 — the year previous to the birth of the subject of this sketch. He was the second son of William, first Baron Bagot, a nobleman highly distinguished for his scholastic and scientific attainments. His mother was Lady Louisa, daughter of Viscount St. John, brother and heir of the illustrious Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke.

His life was not marked by much variety of incident, and affords but scanty material for the biographer. From his early youth he was a prey to great feebleness of constitution, which prevented him from making any conspicuous figure at school. Upon completing his majority, his health being much improved, he entered public life on the Tory side, in the capacity of Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, under Mr. Canning, during the Administration of the Duke of Portland. His tenure of that office does not seem to have been marked by any very noteworthy incidents. In 1814 he was despatched on a special mission to Paris, at which time he resided for several months in the French capital. Later on he was successively appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States, and Ambassador to the Courts of St. Petersburg and the Hague. By this time his health, which had never been very robust, again gave way, and he was compelled to decline several other honourable and lucrative appointments which were offered to him by the Ministry of the day. One of them was the Governor-Generalship of India, rendered vacant by the return of Lord Amherst to England. During Sir Robert Peel's short Administration in 1834, he took charge of a special mission to Vienna, in the discharge of which he commended himself highly to the authorities at home. A Reform Government succeeded, and during its tenure of office we have no information as to the subject of this memoir.

In 1841 the Tories again came into power under the leadership of Sir Robert Peel. In the Ministry then formed, Lord Stanley, afterwards Earl of Derby (father of the present Earl), held the post of Colonial Secretary. Upon Lord Sydenham's death, in that year, it became necessary to appoint a new Governor-General of British North America. Lord Stanley offered the post to Sir Charles Bagot, who accepted it, and soon afterwards sailed for this country, where public affairs, since Lord Sydenham's death in the preceding month of September, had been under the direction of Sir Richard Jackson, Commander-in-Chief of the Forces. Sir Charles entered upon his official duties on the 10th of January, 1842, and it soon became apparent that he intended to carry out the judicious line of policy inaugurated by his predecessor, Lord Sydenham. He held himself aloof from purely party questions, and formed no definite alliance with either Reformers or Conservatives. This was a grievous disappointment to the latter. His past political career had led the Tory leaders in Canada to suppose that he would espouse their views, and that by his aid their ascendancy would be reëstablished. These expectations were not destined to be realized. Sir Charles spent his time in familiarizing himself with the position and needs of the country at large. In some respects he showed himself to be more liberal than his predecessor, Lord Sydenham, had been. Lord Sydenham had been indisposed to have anything to do with those persons who had abetted the rebellion. Sir Charles, knowing that Responsible Government had been conceded, resolved to govern himself accordingly. Though himself a Tory by predilection and by training, he knew that he had not been sent out to Canada to gratify his own political leanings, but to govern in accordance with the popular will. "He determined," says Mr. Macmullen, "to use whatever party he found capable of supporting a Ministry, and accordingly made overtures to the French Canadians and that section of the Reform Party of Upper Canada led by Mr. Baldwin, who then formed the Opposition in the Assembly. There can be no question that this was the wisest line of policy he could adopt, and that it tended to remove the differences between the two races, and unite them more cordially for the common weal. The French Canadian element was no longer in the ascendant — the English language had decidedly assumed the aggressive, and true wisdom consisted in forgetting the past, and opening the door of preferment to men of talent of French as well as to those of British origin. The necessity of this line of policy was interwoven with the Union Act; and, after that, was the first great step towards the amalgamation of the races. A different policy would have nullified the principle of Responsible Government, and must have proved suicidal to any Ministry seeking to carry it out. Sir Charles Bagot went on the broad principle that the constitutional majority had the right to rule under the Constitution." Finding that the Ministry then in being did not possess the public confidence, he called to his councils Robert Baldwin, Francis Hincks, Lafontaine, Morin, and Aylwin. Upon the opening of the Legislature, in the following September, he made a speech which showed that he understood the situation and requirements of the country, and was sincerely desirous of promoting its welfare. The session, which was a brief one, passed without any specially noteworthy incidents. Soon after the prorogation, which took place on the 8th of October, Sir Charles began to feel the effects of approaching winter in a rigorous climate. His physicians advised him, as he valued his life, to free himself from the cares of office, and betake himself to a milder clime. He sent in his resignation, and prepared to return to England, but the state of his health soon became so serious that he was unfit to endure an ocean voyage in the middle of winter. He was destined never to see his native land again. He lingered until the 19th of May, 1843, when he sank quietly to rest, at Kingston, in the sixty-second year of his age.

LA SALLE

The publication last year of a revised edition of Mr. Parkman's "Discovery of the Great West" has made the compilation of a sketch of La Salle's life a very easy task. Mr. Parkman has told about everything that is worth telling — indeed, every important fact that is known — with reference to the great explorer; and for the future, any brief account of his life must necessarily be little more than a condensation of Mr. Parkman's book. "It is the glory and the misfortune of France," says M. Guizot, "to always lead the van in the march of civilization, without having the wit to profit by the discoveries and the sagacious boldness of her children. On the unknown roads which she has opened to human enterprise she has too often left the fruits to be gathered by nations less inventive, but more persevering." The life of the ardent explorer whose achievements form the subject of this sketch affords an apt commentary on the text of the eminent French historian above quoted. Long prior to the date of La Salle's discoveries, Samuel de Champlain had dreamed of and fruitlessly sought for a continuous water passage across the American continent, and hoped to thereby establish a profitable commerce with the Indies, China, and Japan. La Salle, following in Champlain's footsteps, and dreaming the same wild dreams, spent a great part of his life in attempting to do what his great predecessor had failed in accomplishing. His discoveries, however, extended over a much broader field. La Salle may practically be said to have discovered the Great West. He crossed the Mississippi, which the Jesuits had been the first to reach, and pushed on to the far south, constructing forts in the midst of the most savage districts, and taking possession of Louisiana in the name of King Louis XIV. Abandoned by many of his comrades, and losing the most faithful of them by death; attacked by savages, betrayed by his own hirelings, thwarted in his projects by his enemies and his rivals, he at last met an inglorious death by assassination, just as he was about to make his way back to New France. He left the field open after him to the innumerable explorers of every nation and every language who have since left their mark on those measureless tracts. If but little benefit accrued to France from his discoveries, the fault was not his. He has left an imperishable record on the page of American history, and as a discoverer his name occupies a place in early Canadian annals second only —if second — to that of Champlain himself.

Réné-Robert Cavelier, better known by his territorial patronymic of La Salle, was born at Rouen, in Normandy, some time in the year 1643. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but his baptism took place on the 22nd of November of that year, at which time it is probable that he was only a few days old. His family had long been wealthy burghers of Rouen, and there were no obstacles in the way of his receiving a liberal education. He early displayed an aptitude for science and mathematics, and, while still young, entered a Jesuit Seminary in his native town. By this act, which constituted the first step towards taking holy orders, he forfeited the inheritance which would otherwise have descended to him — a forfeiture which does not seem at any time to have weighed very heavily on his mind. He seems to have occupied for a short time the position of a teacher in the Seminary. After profiting for several years by the discipline taught in the establishment he requested and obtained his discharge, obtaining high praise from the directors of the Seminary for the diligence of his studies and the purity of his life. "The cravings of a deep ambition," says Mr. Parkman, "the hunger of an insatiable intellect, the intense longing for active achievement, subdued in him all other passions; and among his faults the love of pleasure had no part." His father had died a short time before La Salle quitted the Seminary, and he would then have at once succeeded to a large patrimony but for his connection with the Jesuits. A small sum — amounting to several hundred livres — was handed over to him, and in the spring of 1666 the young adventurer embarked for fame and fortune in New France, towards which the attention of all western Europe was at that time directed. He had already an elder brother in this country — the Abbé Jean Cavelier, a Sulpician priest at Montreal. The Sulpicians had established themselves there a few years before this time, and had already become proprietors and feudal lords of the city and island. They were granting out their lands to settlers on very easy terms, and La Salle obtained a grant of a large tract of land a short distance above the turbulent current now known as the Lachine Rapids. Here he became a feudal proprietor and fur trader on his own account. Such a pursuit, however, was far from satisfying the cravings of his ambition. Like Champlain and all the early explorers, he dreamed of a passage to the South Sea, and a new road for commerce to the riches of China and Japan. Indians often came to his secluded settlement; and on one occasion he was visited by a band of Seneca Iroquois, some of whom spent the winter with him, and told him of a river called the Ohio, rising in their country and flowing into the sea, but at such a distance that its mouth could only be reached after a journey of eight or nine months. Evidently the Ohio and the Mississippi are here merged into one. In accordance with geographical views then prevalent, La Salle conceived that this great river must needs flow into the "Vermilion Sea;" that is, the Gulf of California. If so, it would give him what he sought — a western passage to China, while, in any case, the populous Indian tribes said to inhabit its banks might be made a source of great commercial profit. His imagination took fire. His resolution was soon formed; and he descended the St. Lawrence to Quebec, to gain the countenance of the Governor for his intended exploration. Few men were more skilled than he in the art of clear and plausible statement. Both the Governor (Courcelle), and the Intendant (Talon) were readily won over to his plan; for which, however, they seem to have given him no more substantial aid than that of the Governor's letters patent authorizing the enterprise. The cost was to be his own; and he had no money, having spent it all on his seigniory. He therefore proposed that the Seminary, which had given it to him, should buy it back again, with such improvements as he had made. Queylus, the Superior, being favourably disposed towards him, consented, and bought of him the greater part; while La Salle sold the remainder, including the clearings, to one Milot, an ironmonger, for twenty-eight hundred livres. With this he bought four canoes, with the necessary supplies, and hired fourteen men. This being accomplished, he started on his expedition, in the course of which he explored the southern shore of Lake Ontario, and visited the Senecas in Western New York. Continuing his journey, he passed the mouth of the Niagara River, where he heard the roar of the mighty cataract, and passed on to an Indian encampment near the present site of Hamilton. After much delay he reached a branch of the Ohio, and descended at least as far as the rapids at Louisville, where he was abandoned by his attendants, and was compelled to return, his problem being yet unsolved.

But the time was not far distant when he was to make a much more extended voyage than he had hitherto accomplished, and with somewhat more important results. In 1672 Count Frontenac came over to Canada and succeeded Courcelle as Governor of the colony. A friendship sprang up between him and La Salle, and they began to form schemes of western enterprise. Erelong we find the latter paying a flying visit to France, and receiving from the King, mainly through his patron's influence, a patent of nobility and a grant of Fort Frontenac — which had just before been founded by the new Governor with imposing ceremonies — together with a large tract of the contiguous territory. Then La Salle's serious troubles may be said to have begun. His grant involved the exclusive right of fur-traffic with the Indians on Lake Ontario, and though trade was a secondary object with him, he nevertheless engaged in it as a means of furthering his more ambitious schemes of exploration. The merchants of Canada, envious of his influence and success, leagued themselves against him, and resolved to accomplish his downfall. The Jesuits also placed themselves in opposition to him, for his avowed projects conflicted with theirs. La Salle aimed at the control of the valleys of the Ohio and the Mississippi, and the usufruct of half a continent. The Jesuits were no longer supreme in Canada. In other words, Canada was no longer simply a mission. It had become a colony. Temporal interests and the civil power were constantly gaining ground. Therefore the Jesuits looked with redoubled solicitude to their missions in the West. They dreaded fur-traders, partly because they interfered with their teachings and perverted their converts, and partly for other reasons. La Salle was a fur-trader, and moreover aimed at occupation and settlement. In short, he was a stumbling block in their path, and they leagued themselves against him. Many of them engaged in underhand dealings with the Indians, and while they refused absolution to all Europeans who sold brandy to the natives, they turned a good many dishonest pennies by selling it themselves. They laid all kinds of traps for La Salle, and did not escape the suspicion of attempting to poison him. It is certain that an attempt to destroy him in this fashion was made, though he himself exonerates the Jesuits from participation in the attempt. In the autumn of 1677 he again sailed for France, and while there procured Royal letters patent authorizing him to prosecute his schemes of western discovery, to erect forts at such places as he might deem expedient, and to enjoy the exclusive right of traffic in buffalo skins. With Henri de Tonty, an Italian officer, as his lieutenant, he soon afterwards returned to Fort Frontenac, whence, in the autumn of 1678, he set out for the Great West.