The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)

He was reëlected for South Grenville at the general election of 1875. At the general election held in June, 1879, he again contested the South Riding of Grenville against Mr. F. J. French, of Prescott, but was defeated by a majority of 137 votes. In his native town of Brockville he was more successful, 1,379 votes being recorded for him as against 1,266 for his opponent, Mr. D. Mansell. He now sits in the House as member for Brockville. He is President of the Roman Catholic Literary Association of Brockville, and takes a warm interest in municipal affairs.

In 1876 Mr. Fraser was created a Queen's Counsel. His wife was formerly Miss Lafayette, of Brockville.

SANDFORD FLEMING, C.E., C.M.G

Mr. Fleming's connection with some of our most stupendous public works has been the means of making his name known in every corner of the Dominion. Though not a Canadian either by birth or education, he is permanently identified with Canadian enterprise, and his name is distinctly and permanently recorded in our country's annals. He was born at the seaport and market-town of Kirkcaldy, in Fifeshire, Scotland — a distinction which he shares in common with the illustrious author of "The Wealth of Nations." His father was an artisan named Andrew Greig Fleming. His mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Arnot. The families to which both parents belonged have been settled on the shores of Fife for more than a century, and the names of Fleming and Arnot are common there at the present day. The subject of this sketch was born on the 7th of January, 1827. In his childhood he attended a small private school in Kirkcaldy, and afterwards, when he was about ten years of age, passed to the local grammar-school. He displayed much aptitude for mathematics, and made great progress in that branch of study. When he was still a mere boy he was articled to the business of engineering and surveying, and after serving his time began to look about him for suitable employment. He was fond of his profession, and conscious of his ability. His prospects were not such as to satisfy his ambition, and in 1845 he emigrated to Canada, and took up his abode in the Upper Province. For some years after his arrival in this country his prospects did not seem much more alluring than before. There was comparatively little employment of an important character for a man of Mr. Fleming's attainments in those days, and he made but slow headway. He resided for some time in Toronto, and took an active part in the founding of the Canadian Institute, "for the purpose of promoting the physical sciences, for encouraging and advancing the industrial arts and manufactures, for effecting the formation of a Provincial museum, and for the purpose of facilitating the acquirement and the dissemination of knowledge connected with the surveying, engineering, and architectural professions." Soon afterwards — in 1852 — he obtained employment on the engineering staff of the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Railway, the first section of which (from Toronto to Aurora) was opened to the public on the 16th of May, 1853. Mr. Fleming took a conspicuous part in the work of construction, and in process of time was promoted to the position of Engineer-in-Chief of the line. He remained in the employ of the company (the name of which was changed in 1858 to that which it has ever since borne — the Northern Railway Company) about eleven years. During much of this period he also did a good deal of professional work in connection with the Toronto Esplanade, and other important enterprises. In his professional capacity he visited the Red River country, to examine as to the feasibility of a railway connecting that region with Canada. At the request of the inhabitants there he proceeded to England on their behalf in 1863, as bearer of a memorial from them to the Imperial Government, praying that a line of railway might be constructed which would afford them direct access to Canada, without passing over United States territory. Upon Mr. Fleming's arrival in London he had repeated conferences on the subject with the late Duke of Newcastle, who was then Colonial Secretary. How this project was indefinitely postponed, and was subsequently merged in the greater scheme of a Trans-continental line of railway, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, is well known to every reader of these pages. Immediately after Mr. Fleming's return to Canada in 1863 he was appointed by the Governments of Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and subsequently by that of the mother country, to conduct the preliminary survey of a line of railway which should form a connecting link between the Maritime Provinces and the Canadas. The project of constructing such a road, though agitated at various times, did not take a practical shape until the accomplishment of Confederation, when the work of construction was made obligatory upon the Government and Parliament of Canada by the 145th clause of the Act of Union. The whole of this great undertaking was successfully carried out under Mr. Fleming's supervision as Chief Engineer, and the Intercolonial was opened throughout for public traffic on the 1st of July — the natal day of the Dominion — 1876. A few weeks later Mr. Fleming published a history of the enterprise, under the title of "The Intercolonial: an Historical Sketch of the inception and construction of the line of railways uniting the inland and Atlantic Provinces of the Dominion."

When British Columbia entered the Dominion, on the 20th of July, 1871, it was agreed that within ten years from that date a line of railway should be constructed from the Pacific Ocean to a point of junction with the existing railway systems in the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Mr. Fleming's services in connection with the Intercolonial Railway marked him out as the most suitable man in the Dominion to prosecute the preliminary surveys of the Canadian Pacific. Accordingly his services were secured by the Government for that purpose, and he was appointed Chief Engineer. In the summer of 1872 he started across the continent on a tour of inspection. He was attended by a capable staff of assistants. Among the latter was the Rev. George M. Grant, the present Principal of Queen's College, Kingston, who accompanied the expedition in the capacity of Secretary. The party left Toronto on the 16th of July, 1872, and travelling by way of Sault Ste. Marie, Nepigon, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Forts Carlton and Edmonton, the Rocky Mountains, Kamloops and Bute Inlet, reached Victoria, B.C., on the 9th of October following. Those who wish to inform themselves as to the literary and social aspects of that momentous journey may consult Mr. Grant's journal, as it appears in the pages of "Ocean to Ocean." Those who wish to know the scientific and more practical results of the expedition can only become acquainted with them through Mr. Fleming's elaborate report.

Mr. Fleming continued to be the Government Engineer until about a year ago, when he resigned his position, owing as it is understood, to some difference of opinion with the Government as to the location of the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway. His topographical knowledge of the country is unrivalled, and his professional standing is such as might be expected from the importance of the great public works which he has superintended. In recognition of his talents, and of his services to Canada and the Empire, Her Majesty some time ago conferred upon him the dignity of a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George.

In addition to the work on the Intercolonial already mentioned, and to many elaborate and voluminous reports upon the various enterprises wherewith he has been connected, Mr. Fleming has contributed numerous interesting and instructive papers to the Canadian Journal and other scientific periodicals. He has also written many articles on subjects connected with his profession for the daily press. Within the last few months a proposition of his with respect to the establishment of a new prime meridian for the world, 180° from Greenwich, has been approved of by the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, Russia, the secretary whereof recently conveyed information of the fact in a letter addressed to the Governor-General of Canada.

In the autumn of last Year (1880) Mr. Fleming was elected Chancellor of Queen's University, Kingston, and upon his installation delivered a very eloquent inaugural address.

On the 3rd of January, 1855, he married Miss Ann Jean Hall, daughter of the Sheriff of the county of Peterboro'.

THE HON. DAVID LEWIS MACPHERSON,

SPEAKER OF THE SENATE

Senator Macpherson is a member of the famous sept whose hereditary feud with the McTavishes forms an episode in the history of the Highland clans, and likewise forms the groundwork of one of the most characteristic of Professor Aytoun's ballads. He is the youngest son of the late David Macpherson, of Castle Leathers, near Inverness, Scotland, where he was born on the 12th of September, 1818. He received his education at the Royal Academy of Inverness. He was enterprising and ambitious, and upon leaving school, in his seventeenth year, he emigrated to Canada, where one of his elder brothers had long been established in a very lucrative business as the senior partner in the firm of Macpherson, Crane & Co., of Montreal. The business carried on by this firm was known in those days as "forwarding," and consisted of conveying merchandise from one part of the country to another. They performed the greater part of the carrying business which is now conducted by the various railway companies, and their operations were on a very extensive scale. Their wagons were to be found on all the principal highways, and their vessels were seen in every lake, harbour, and important river from Montreal to the mouth of the Niagara, and up the Ottawa as far as Bytown. The future senator entered the service of this firm immediately after his arrival in the country, and remained in it as a clerk for seven years, when (in 1842) he was admitted as a partner. He directed such of the operations of the firm as came under his supervision with great energy and judgment, and achieved a decided pecuniary success. When the railway era set in, and threatened to divert the course of trade from its old channels, he seized the salient points of the situation, and began to interest himself in the various railway projects of the times. In conjunction with the late Mr. Holton and the present Sir Alexander Galt, he in 1851 obtained a charter for constructing a line of railway from Montreal to Kingston. This scheme was subsequently merged in the larger one of the Grand Trunk, and the charter which had been granted to the Montreal and Kingston Company was repealed. The principal members of that Company, including the subject of this sketch, then allied themselves with Mr. Gzowski, under the style of Gzowski & Co., and on the 24th of March, 1853, obtained a contract for constructing a line of railway westward from Toronto to Sarnia. Mr. Macpherson then removed to Toronto, where he has ever since resided. The result of the railway contract was to make him thoroughly independent of the world, and it is only justice to himself and his partners to say that the contract was faithfully carried out.

In conjunction with Mr. Gzowski, Mr. Macpherson has since engaged in the construction of several important undertakings, among which may be mentioned the railway from Port Huron to Detroit, the London and St. Mary's Railway, and the International Bridge across the Niagara River at Buffalo. Mr. Macpherson was also a partner in the Toronto Rolling Mills Company which was conducted with great success until the introduction of steel rails caused its products to be no longer in great demand.

Mr. Macpherson has never been known as a very pronounced partisan in political matters, though his leanings have always been towards Conservatism, and on purely political questions he has been a supporter of that side. The structure of his mind, however, unfits him for dealing effectively with party politics, and he never appears to less advantage than when he ascends the party platform. His natural bent is the practical. He believes in building up the country by means of great public works, and in making it a desirable place of residence. His entry into public life dates from October, 1864, when he successfully contested the Saugeen Division for the Legislative Council. He was at first opposed by the Hon. John McMurrich, who had represented the Division for eight years previously. That gentleman, however, retired from the contest, and another Reform candidate took the field, in the person of Mr. George Snider, of Owen Sound. His opposition was not serious, and Mr. Macpherson was returned by a majority of more than 1,200 votes. He sat in the Council for the Saugeen Division until Confederation, when, in May, 1867, he was called to the Senate by Royal Proclamation. He has ever since been a prominent member of that Body, and has taken an intelligent part in its discussions. His speeches on Confederation, and on the settlement of the waste lands of the Crown, were broad and liberal in tone, and won for him the respect of many persons who had previously known nothing of him beyond the fact of his being a remarkably successful railway contractor. In 1868, at the instance of the Ontario Government, he was appointed one of the arbitrators to whom, in the terms of the British North America Act, was to be referred the adjustment of the public debt and assets between the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec. With him were associated the Hon. Charles Dewey Day, on behalf of the Province of Quebec, and the Hon. John Hamilton Gray — now one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of British Columbia — on behalf of the Dominion. The case on the part of Ontario was elaborately prepared by the Hon. E. B. Wood. Senator Macpherson discharged his duties as an arbitrator with perfect fairness and impartiality, alike to the Dominion and to the Province which he represented. The conclusion arrived at by him and the arbitrator on behalf of the Dominion, however, was not accepted by Mr. Day on behalf of the Province of Quebec. It was accordingly contended by that Province that the award was nugatory for want of unanimity. The matter was appealed to the Privy Council in England, and the decision of that body was confirmatory of the award. In 1869 he published a pamphlet on Banking and Currency, which was widely read and commented upon.

After British Columbia became an integral part of the Dominion in 1871, Senator Macpherson entered into negotiations with the Government at Ottawa with a view to obtaining the contract for constructing the Canadian Pacific Railway. A rival applicant for the contract was Sir Hugh Allan of Montreal. The subsequent history of the negotiations is too well known to need much recapitulation in this place. The Government contracted obligations to Sir Hugh Allan which were nullified by its fall in the month of November, 1873. Senator Macpherson not unnaturally felt himself aggrieved at the treatment to which he had been subjected, and for some time the cordial relations between him and his old political associates were interrupted. After a brief interval, however, harmony was reëstablished between them, and Senator Macpherson's support has ever since been loyally accorded. During the five years' existence of the Mackenzie Administration his opposition to that Administration was very conspicuous. On the 19th of March, 1878, he called attention in the Senate to the public expenditure of the Dominion; more especially to that part of it which is largely under administrative control. He arraigned the Government policy as extravagant and indefensible, and his remarks gave rise to a long and acrimonious debate. Senator Macpherson's speech on the occasion was considered by the Conservative Party as being one of exceptional power and research. It was published in pamphlet form, and distributed broadcast throughout the land. It was used as a campaign document during the canvass prior to the elections of the 17th of September, and was replied to by the Hon. R. W. Scott, Secretary of State. On another occasion during the same session the Senator assailed the policy of Mr. Mackenzie's Government with respect to the construction of the Fort Francis Lock, and other public works in the North-West. On the 10th of February, 1880, he was elected Speaker of the Senate, which position he now holds. Almost immediately after his election he was prostrated by a serious illness, and in order that business might not be interrupted he temporarily resigned office, the duties of which were for the time discharged by the Hon. A. E. Botsford.

In the month of June, 1844, he married Miss Elizabeth Sarah Molson, eldest daughter of Mr. William Molson, of Montreal, and granddaughter of the Hon. John Molson, who owned and (in 1809) launched The Accommodation, the first steamer that ever plied in Canadian waters. By this lady he has a family. He is connected with various important public and financial institutions, being a member of the Corporation of Hellmuth College, London; a Director of Molson's Bank; and of the Western Canada Permanent Building and Savings Society. He has been Vice-President of the Montreal Board of Trade, and President of the St. Andrew's Society of Toronto.

JAMES YOUNG

The present representative of North Brant in the Ontario Legislature is a native Canadian who has made a creditable reputation for himself in various walks of life. His Parliamentary career has been more than moderately successful, and ever since his first entry into public life, his speeches in the House have been listened to with an attention seldom accorded to those of members of his age. As a public lecturer he enjoys a more than local reputation, and as a journalist he deservedly occupies a place in the front rank.

He is of Scottish descent, and is the eldest son of the late Mr. John Young, who emigrated from Roxboroughshire to the township of Dumfries, in what was then the Gore District, in 1834. His mother's maiden name was Jeanie Bell. The late Mr. Young settled in Galt, where he engaged in business, and resided until his death in February, 1859. The subject of this sketch was born in Galt on the 24th of May, 1835, and has ever since resided there. He was educated at the public schools in that town. He early displayed great fondness for books, and has ever since found time for private study, notwithstanding the multifarious labours of an exacting profession.

In his youth he had a predilection for the study of the law, but finding it impracticable to carry out his wishes, he chose the printing business, which he began to learn in his sixteenth year. When he was eighteen he purchased the Dumfries Reformer, which he thenceforward conducted for about ten years. Under his management this paper — the politics whereof are sufficiently indicated by its name — attained great local influence, and was the means of making him known beyond the limits of the county of Waterloo. During the earlier part of his proprietorship the political articles in the paper were written by one of his friends, Mr. Young himself taking the general supervision, and contributing the local news. Upon the completion of his twentieth year he took the entire editorial control, which he retained until 1863, by which time his labours had somewhat affected his health. He then disposed of the Reformer, and retired from the press for a time. He soon afterwards went into the manufacturing business, and became the principal partner in the Victoria Steam Bending Works, Galt, which he carried on successfully for about five years.

During his connection with the Reformer he had necessarily taken a conspicuous part in the discussion of political questions, and his paper was an important factor in determining the results of the local election contests. He frequently "took the stump" on behalf of the Reform candidate, and was known throughout the county as a ready and graceful speaker. He took a conspicuous part in municipal affairs, and for six years sat in the Town Council. He was an active member of the School Board, and devoted much time to educational matters. He also took special interest in commercial and trade questions, on which he came to be regarded as a competent authority. In 1857 the Hamilton Mercantile Library Association offered a prize of fifty dollars for the best essay on the agricultural resources of the country. Mr. Young competed for, and won the prize, and the essay was immediately afterwards published under the title of "The Agricultural Resources of Canada, and the inducements they offer to British labourers intending to emigrate to this Continent." It was very favourably reviewed by the Canadian press, and was the means of greatly extending the author's reputation. Eight years later (in 1865) the proprietors of the Montreal Trade Review offered two prizes for essays on the Reciprocity Treaty, which was then about to expire. Mr. Young sent in an essay to which the second prize was awarded. His success on this occasion procured him an invitation to the Commercial Convention held that year at Detroit, and he thus had an opportunity of hearing the great speech of the Hon. Joseph Howe.

He first entered Parliament in 1867, when he was nominated by the Reformers of South Waterloo as their candidate for the House of Commons. Mr. Young would have preferred to enter the Local Legislature, but accepted the nomination, and addressed himself vigorously to the campaign. It was the first election under Confederation, and he was opposed by Mr. James Cowan, a Reform Coalitionist, who was also a local candidate of great influence. Mr. Young had to encounter a fierce opposition, the Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald, the Hon. William McDougall and the present Sir William Howland taking the field on one occasion on behalf of Mr. Cowan. These formidable opponents were courageously encountered by Mr. Young single-handed, or with such local assistance as could be procured. He was elected by a majority of 366 votes. When Parliament met in the following November he made his maiden speech in the House on the Address. He also took a conspicuous part in the debates of the session, and materially strengthened his position among his constituents. He was twice reëlected by acclamation; first at the general election of 1872, and again in 1874, after the accession to power of Mr. Mackenzie's Government. Of that Government he was a loyal and earnest supporter throughout. He was Chairman of the Committee on Public Accounts for five consecutive sessions, and after the death of Mr. Scatcherd became Chairman of the House when in Committee of Supply. Among his principal speeches in Parliament were those on the Intercolonial Railway, the Ballot, the admission of British Columbia, with special reference to the construction of the Pacific Railway in ten years, the Treaty of Washington (which was unsparingly condemned), the Pacific Scandal, the Budget of 1874, the naturalization of Germans and other aliens, and the Tariff question. Soon after entering Parliament he proposed the abolition of the office of Queen's Printer and the letting of the departmental printing by tender. This was ultimately carried, and effected a large saving in the annual expenditure. In 1871 he submitted a Bill to confirm the naturalization of all aliens who had taken the oaths of allegiance and residence prior to Confederation, which became law. In 1873 he brought in a measure to provide for votes being taken by ballot. The Government subsequently took up the question and carried it. On two occasions the House of Commons unanimously concurred in Addresses to Her Majesty, prepared by him, praying that the Imperial Government would take steps to confer upon German and other naturalized citizens in all parts of the world the same rights as subjects of British birth, the law then and still being that they have no claim on British protection whenever they pass beyond British territory. In 1874 he proposed a committee and report which resulted in the publication of the Debates of the House of Commons, contending that the people have as much right to know how their representatives speak in Parliament as how they vote.

At the election of 1878, chiefly through a cry for a German representative, he was for the first time defeated. In the following spring, the general election for the Ontario Legislature came on, and Mr. Young was requested by the Reformers of the North Riding of Brant, to become their candidate in the Local House. He at first declined, but on the nomination being proffered a second time, he accepted it, and was returned by a majority of 344. He still sits in the Local House as the representative of North Brant.