The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)

Mr. Joly is a good departmental officer, a graceful speaker, a man of much force of character, and one who has always the courage of his convictions. Whether in power or in Opposition his language and demeanour are marked by conciliation and courtesy. He is a man of many friends, and has few personal enemies, even among those to whom he has been a life-long political opponent. He has devoted a good deal of attention to the study of forestry, and is the author of several important and valuable treatises on that subject. Among other offices which he holds may be mentioned the Presidency of the Society for the rewooding of the Province of Quebec, the first Presidency of the Reform Association, of the Parti Nationale of Quebec, of the Lotbinière Agricultural Society No. 2, and of the Society for the Promotion of Canadian Industry. He is also Vice-President of the Humane Society of British North America, and one of the Council of the Geographical Society of Quebec, of which latter association he was once Vice-President.

Some years ago Mr. Joly married Miss Gowan, a daughter of Mr. Hammond Gowan, of Quebec.

THE HON. MACKENZIE BOWELL,

MINISTER OF CUSTOMS

Mr. Bowell is English by birth, but has resided in this country ever since his tenth year. He was born at Rickinghall Superior, a pleasant little village situated in the northern part of the county of Suffolk, on the 27th of December, 1823. His father, the late Mr. John Bowell, emigrated from Suffolk to Canada in the spring of 1833, and settled in what is now the city of Belleville. His mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Marshall. He has been compelled to make his own way in the world, and has risen from obscure beginnings to the elevated position which he now occupies by dint rather of natural ability than of any adventitious aids. In his boyhood he enjoyed few educational advantages. He had been only a few months in Canada when he entered a printing office in Belleville, where he remained until he had completed his apprenticeship. He then became foreman of the establishment. He began to take an interest in politics at the very outset of his career, and attached himself to the Conservative side. He was very industrious, and during the term of his indentures did much to repair his defective education. He availed himself of every opportunity which came in his way for increasing his stock of knowledge, and erelong attained a position and influence far more than commensurate with his years. In 1853 he became sole proprietor of the Belleville Intelligencer, with which he continued to be identified for a period of twenty-two years. Under his management the Intelligencer became one of the leading exponents of public opinion in the county of Hastings, and his own local influence was thereby greatly promoted. Other causes contributed to enhance his position and influence. When only eighteen years old he allied himself with the Orange Body, in which he rose to the highest dignities in the gift of that Order. For eight years he was Grand Master of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Ontario East. At the annual meeting of the Grand Lodge of the Loyal Orange Institution of British North America, held at Kingston in 1870, a change was made in the Grand Mastership, which had been held for many years by the Hon. John Hillyard Cameron. Mr. Bowell was unanimously elected to the office, and continued to occupy it until 1878, when he declined reëlection. For thirteen years he was Chairman of the Common School Board of Belleville, and was for some time Chairman of the Grammar School, always taking a lively interest in the promotion of education among the masses. For many years he was an active promoter of the Volunteer Militia force, as well as an active member. At the time of the St. Alban's raid he went with his company to Amherstburgh, where, at considerable sacrifice to his business, he remained four months. He was also at Prescott during the Fenian raid in 1866. At present he holds the rank of a Lieutenant-Colonel of Volunteer Rifles. He was one of the founders of the Press Association, and during one year occupied the position of President. He was also Vice-President of the Dominion Editors' and Reporters' Association.

Mr. Bowell was an active politician long before he emerged from his apprenticeship, but did not enter Parliament until after Confederation. In 1863 he contested the North Riding of Hastings, but was unsuccessful, and did not repeat the experiment until 1867, when he was returned to the House of Commons for that Riding, and he has ever since represented it. He signalized his entrance into Parliament by moving a series of resolutions against Sir George Cartier's Militia Bill, and though he failed to carry them all, he succeeded in defeating the Minister of Militia on some important points by which a considerable reduction was made in the expenditure. Several years later he took a prominent part in the expulsion of Louis Riel from the House of Commons. It was by Mr. Bowell that the investigation was instituted into Riel's complicity in the murder of Thomas Scott before the walls of Fort Garry. In 1876 he made a powerful attack upon Mr. Mackenzie's Government for having awarded a contract to Mr. T. W. Anglin, the Speaker of the House. The result of Mr. Bowell's attack was the unseating of several Members of Parliament, including Mr. Anglin; and a stringent Act respecting the Independence of Parliament was shortly afterwards passed.

At the last general election for the House of Commons, held on the 17th of September, 1878, Mr. Bowell was opposed in North Hastings by Mr. E. D. O'Flynn, of Madoc, whom he defeated by a majority of 241 — the vote standing 1,249 for Bowell and 1,008 for O'Flynn. After the resignation of Mr. Mackenzie's Government in the following month, Mr. Bowell accepted the portfolio of Minister of Customs in the Ministry of Sir John A. Macdonald. This position he still retains. Upon returning to his constituents after accepting office he was returned by acclamation. He is not a frequent speaker, but he has always taken an active and intelligent part in the business of the House, and is highly esteemed by his colleagues.

Mr. Bowell married, in December, 1847, Miss Harriett Louisa Moore, of Belleville. He is a Director in numerous railway and general commercial enterprises. In 1875 he disposed of the Intelligencer, with which he had been identified for so many years, but he still takes a warm interest in its prosperity, and is indebted to it for a very firm and consistent support.

THE REV. JAMES RICHARDSON, D.D.,

LATE BISHOP OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN CANADA

The late Bishop Richardson was born in the same year which witnessed the death of the great founder of Methodism, John Wesley; the same year also which witnessed the passing of the Constitutional Act whereby Upper Canada was ushered into existence as a separate Province. He came of English stock on both sides. His father, James Richardson, after whom he was called, was a brave seaman; one of that old-world band of gallant tars who fought under Lord Rodney against the French, when

"Rochambeau their armies commanded,

Their ships they were led by De Grasse."

He was present at the famous sea-fight off Dominica, in the West Indies, on the 12th of April, 1782, when the naval forces of France and Spain were almost entirely destroyed. He was soon afterwards taken prisoner, and sent to France, where he was detained until the cessation of hostilities. Having been set at liberty in 1785, he repaired to Quebec, and was subsequently appointed to an office in connection with the Canadian Marine. His duties lay chiefly on the upper lakes and rivers, and he took up his abode at Kingston, on Lake Ontario. He married a lady whose maiden name was Sarah Asmore, but who, at the time of her marriage with him had been for some years a widow. The subject of this sketch was one of the fruits of that union. He was born at Kingston, on the 29th of January, 1791.

His parents were members of the Church of England, and he was brought up in the faith as taught and professed by that Body. He attended various schools in Kingston until he was about thirteen years of age, when he began his career as a sailor on board a vessel commanded by his father. During his five years' apprenticeship he acquired a thorough familiarity with the topography and navigation of the lakes and rivers of Upper Canada. In 1809, when he was eighteen years old, he entered the Provincial Marine. Upon the breaking out of the war of 1812 he received a Lieutenant's commission, and was forthwith employed in active service. He became sailing master of the Moira, under Captain Sampson, and afterwards of the Montreal, under Captain Popham. Upon the arrival of Sir James Yeo in Upper Canada, in May, 1813, the naval armament on the lakes entered upon a new phase of existence. The local marine ceased to exist as such, and became a part of the Royal Navy. The Provincial commissions previously granted were no longer of any effect, and that of Lieutenant Richardson shared the same fate as the rest. The Provincial officers resented this mode of dealing with their commissions, and all but two of them retired from the marine and took service in the militia, where, in the language of Colonel Coffin, they were permitted to risk their lives without offence to their feelings. The two exceptions were Lieutenant George Smith and the subject of this sketch. The latter shared the sentiments of his brother officers, but he recognized the importance to the country of working harmoniously with his superiors at such a juncture, and cast every personal consideration aside. He informed the Commodore that he was willing to give his country the benefit of his local knowledge and services, but declined to take any rank below that which had previously been conferred upon him. The Commodore availed himself of the young man's services as a master and pilot, and in those capacities he did good service until the close of the war. He shared the gun-room with the regular commissioned officers, with whom he was very popular. He was with the fleet during the unsuccessful attempt on Sackett's Harbour, towards the close of May, 1813. A year later, at the taking of Oswego, he was pilot of the Montreal, under Captain Popham, already mentioned; and he took his vessel so close in to the fort that the Commodore feared lest he should run aground. Soon after bringing the Montreal to anchor a shot from the fort carried off his left arm just below the shoulder. He sank down upon the deck of the vessel, and was carried below. The remnant of his shattered arm was secured so as to prevent him from bleeding to death, "and there," says his biographer,7 "he lay suffering while the battle raged, his ears filled with its horrid din, and his mind oppressed with anxiety as to its result, till the cheers of the victors informed him that his gallant comrades had triumphed. He had been wounded in the morning, and it was nearly evening before the surgeon could attend to him, when it was found necessary to remove the shattered stump from the socket at the shoulder joint. During the severe operation the young lieutenant evinced the utmost fortitude. In the evening he was exceedingly weak from loss of blood, the pain of his wound, and the severity of the operation. Next day the fever was high, and for some days his life apparently hung in the balance; but at length he commenced to rally, and by the blessing of God upon the skilful attention and great care that he received, he was finally fully restored." During the following October he joined the St. Lawrence— said to have been the largest sailing vessel that ever navigated the waters of Lake Ontario — and in this service he remained until the close of the war.

Soon after the proclamation of peace he retired from the naval service, and settled at Presque Isle Harbour, near the present site of the village of Brighton, in the county of Northumberland. He was appointed Collector of Customs of the port, and soon afterwards became a Justice of the Peace. The Loyal and Patriotic Society requested his acceptance of £100, and a yearly pension of a like amount was awarded to him by Government in recognition of his services during the late war. This well-earned pension he continued to receive during the remainder of his life, embracing a period of more than fifty years.

In the year 1813, while the war was still in progress, he had married; the lady of his choice being Miss Rebecca Dennis, daughter of Mr. John Dennis, who was for many years a master-builder in the royal dock-yard at Kingston. This lady shared his joys and sorrows for forty-five years. During the last decade of her life she suffered great bodily affliction, which she endured with Christian resignation and serenity. She died at her home, Clover Hill, Toronto, on the 29th of March, 1858.

During the early months of their residence at Presque Isle Harbour, both Mr. Richardson and his wife became impressed by serious thoughts on the subject of religion. In August, 1818, they united with the Methodist Episcopal Church. That Church was then in its infancy in this country, and was struggling hard to obtain a permanent foothold. With its subsequent history Mr. Richardson was closely identified. He was very much in earnest, and felt it to be his duty to do his utmost for the salvation of souls. His piety was not spasmodic or fitful, but steady and enduring. His education at that time, though it was necessarily imperfect, and far from being up to the standard of the present day, was better than was that of most of his fellow-labourers. He at once became a man of mark in the denomination, and was appointed to the offices of steward and local preacher on the Smith's Creek circuit. His labours were crowned with much success. His pulpit oratory is described as being "full of vitality — adapted to bring souls to Christ, and build up in holiness."8 In 1824 he was called to active work, and placed on the Yonge Street circuit, which included the town of York, and extended through eight of the neighbouring townships. This rendered necessary his removal from Presque Isle, and his resignation of his office as Collector of Customs. His field of labour extended from York northwardly to Lake Simcoe — a distance of forty-five miles — with lateral excursions to right and left for indeterminate distances. The state of the roads was such that wheeled vehicles were frequently unavailable, and the greater part of the travelling had to be done on horseback, the preacher carrying his books, clothing, writing materials, and other accessories in his saddle-bags. His life was necessarily a toilsome one, and his financial remuneration was little more than nominal. During his second year on circuit he had for a colleague the Rev. Egerton Ryerson, with whom he worked in the utmost harmony, and with very gratifying pastoral results. Dr. Richardson has left on record his appreciation of his colleague's services at this time. He says: "A more agreeable and useful colleague I could not have desired. We laboured together with one heart and mind, and God was graciously pleased to crown our united efforts with success — we doubled the members in society, both in town and country, and all was harmony and love. Political questions were not rife — indeed were scarcely known among us. The church was an asylum for any who feared God and wrought righteousness, irrespective of any party whatever. We so planned our work as to be able to devote one week out of four exclusively to pastoral labour in the town, and to preach there twice every Sabbath, besides meeting all the former appointments in the townships east and west bordering on Yonge Street for forty-five or fifty miles northward to Roach's Point, Lake Simcoe. This prosperous and agreeable state of things served to reconcile both my dear wife and myself to the itinerant life, with all the attendant privations and hardships incident to those times."

In 1826 Mr. Richardson was sent to labour at Fort George and Queenston. Next year he was admitted into full connection, and ordained a deacon, along with the late Dr. Anson Green and Egerton Ryerson. Mr. Richardson was transferred to the River Credit, where he laboured for a year as a missionary among the Indians. An important crisis in the history of the Methodist Church in Canada was then at hand. The memorable Conference of 1828 was held at Ernesttown, in the Bay of Quinté district. It was presided over by Bishop Hedding, and Mr. Richardson was chosen secretary. It was at this Conference that the decisive step of separation from the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States was taken. Thenceforward the Church in Canada became an independent Body, with a Bishop and Conference of its own. "This step," says Mr. Richardson, "was fraught with results, for good or ill, according as it is viewed by different parties, from their several standpoints. It was deemed necessary then, by the majority, because of the political relations of the two countries, and the difficulty attendant on obtaining our legal right to hold church property, and solemnize matrimony. Others, viewing the church as catholic, or universal in her design and character, judged it wrong to limit her jurisdiction by national or municipal boundaries." Mr. Richardson subsequently regretted that the scheme of separation had been carried out. Meanwhile he was appointed, along with the Rev. Joseph Gatchell, to the Niagara Circuit, a very extensive field of labour, and took up his abode at what was then the insignificant village of St. Catharines. There he remained two years, and in 1830 was ordained as an elder by Bishop Hedding, of the United States — no Bishop having as yet been selected for the Canadian Church, which, since its separation, had been presided over by a General Superintendent in the person of the Rev. William Case. It is unnecessary that we should follow him in his labours from circuit to circuit. His life was spent in the service of his Church, and wherever he went he left behind him the impress of a sincere and zealous man. At the Conference held at York in 1831 he was appointed presiding elder of the Niagara District. In September, 1832, he became editor of the Christian Guardian, and while holding that position he opposed the reception of Government support to the churches with great vigour and determination. He continued to direct the policy of the Guardian until the Conference of 1833. During this Conference, which marks another important epoch in the history of Canadian Methodism, the Articles of Union between the English and Canadian Connexions were adopted. To this union Mr. Richardson was a consenting party, believing that the step would be productive of good, though he subsequently had reason to modify his views on the subject. In 1836 he severed his connection with the Wesleyans, owing to the reception by that Body of State grants. He soon afterwards removed to Auburn, in the State of New York, where he won the respect of his congregation; but he was not adapted to such a circle as that in which he found himself, and did not feel himself at home there. "His quiet, unpretentious manners," says Mr. Carroll, "were not of the kind to carry much sway with our impressible American cousins; and the constant exhibition of an empty sleeve, ever reminding them of an arm lost in resisting their immaculate Republic, was likely to be an eye-sore to a people so hostile to Britain as the citizens of the United States." He was moreover an uncompromising abolitionist, and was fearless in his denunciations of the national curse of slavery. The prevailing sentiment in the State of New York in those days was not such as to conduce to the popularity of any man who took the side of humanity. He remained at Auburn only a year, when he returned to his native land, and took up his residence at Toronto. Immediately upon his arrival he encountered his old friend and fellow-labourer the Rev. Philander Smith. A long and serious conversation followed, during which they both decided to reunite themselves with the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Conference of that Body was then in session a short distance from Toronto, and their resolution was at once carried out. They were received with open arms, and continued in the ministry of the Church during the remainder of their respective lives.

In 1837 Mr. Richardson was stationed at Toronto. The following year he travelled as a general missionary. The British and Foreign Bible Society having established a branch in Canada, Mr. Richardson was, in 1840, appointed its agent, he having received permission of the Conference to act in that capacity. This office he filled, with advantage to the Society and credit to himself, for eleven years. While acting in that capacity he often filled Wesleyan pulpits, preserved the most cordial relations with his old friends belonging to that Body. In 1842 he became Vice-President, and in 1851 President, of the Upper Canada Religious Tract and Book Society. He retained the latter position to the time of his death. In 1852 he was again appointed Presiding Elder of his Church. After occupying that position for two years his health was so much impaired that he was granted a superannuation, which he held for four years. On the 29th of March, 1858, he sustained a serious bereavement in the loss of his wife. At the Conference held in that year he reported himself able to resume his labours, and was once more appointed to the charge of a district, but before the close of the session he was elected to the Episcopal office. He was consecrated by Bishop Smith, on Sunday, the 22nd of August. He forthwith entered upon his duties. During the next two years he was in an infirm state of health, but a brief respite from work restored him, and he resumed his Episcopal and other duties with even more than his wonted vigour. In 1865 he visited England on behalf of Albert College, Belleville. The College Board was hampered by a heavy debt, and it was found impossible to relieve the pressure by Canadian subscriptions alone. Bishop Richardson accordingly, at the request of the College authorities, crossed the Atlantic to solicit aid there. He was accompanied by his daughter, Mrs. Brett, wife of Mr. R. H. Brett, banker, of Toronto. They were absent about six months, during which they visited many of the principal cities and towns of England and Scotland. The Bishop was indefatigable in his exertions, but the Reformed Methodist Church in England is not a wealthy Body, and it had enough to do to support its institutions at home. For these reasons the subscriptions obtained were neither so large nor so numerous as had been hoped, though the expedition was by no means a fruitless one.

The next five years were comparatively uneventful ones in the life of Bishop Richardson. His time was spent in the discharge of his official duties. His coadjutor, Bishop Smith, had become old and feeble, and Bishop Richardson willingly took upon himself a portion of the invalid's work. His time, therefore, was fully occupied. In 1870 Bishop Smith died, and during the next four years the entire duties pertaining to the Episcopal office devolved upon the survivor. He seemed almost to renew his youth in order to meet the extra demands made upon him. He was more than fourscore years of age, yet he contrived to get creditably through an amount of mental and bodily labour which would have prostrated many men not past their prime. He frequently conducted his pulpit services and the sessions of the Conference without the aid of spectacles; and he was persistent in his determination to do his own work without the assistance of a secretary. This state of things, however, in a man of his age, could not be expected to last. His vital forces began perceptibly to give way. In the month of August, 1874, at the General Conference of the Church held at Napanee, he consecrated the Rev. Dr. Carman to the Episcopal office. The ceremonial taxed his energies very severely, and he was compelled by physical suffering to leave the Conference room as soon as he had placed his associate in the chair. At the close of the Conference he returned to his home at Clover Hill — now known as St. Joseph Street — where a few days' rest enabled him to regain as great a measure of health as could be expected in a man who had entered upon his eighty-fourth year. During the autumn and winter he was actively at work as earnestly as ever, watching over every department of the Church, and giving especial attention to the questions submitted by the General Conference for the action of the Quarterly Meeting Conferences. During the following winter, while visiting the Ancaster Circuit, he was prostrated by dizziness, and after his return home it was evident that his end was near. He sank quietly to his rest on the 9th of March, 1875. His death was like his life — manly, and devoid of display. "I have no ecstasy," he remarked to a clerical visitor, "but I know in whom I have believed." To another visitor he remarked, "My work is done; I have nothing to do now but to die." He retained his mental faculties in their full vigour almost up to the moment when he ceased to breathe. He was buried in the family vault at the Necropolis, Toronto, on the 12th of the month. The funeral was unusually large. The funeral sermon was preached by Bishop Carman in the Metropolitan Methodist Church, on the morning of Sunday, March 21st, from the text 1st Corinthians, xv. 55: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"