The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)

Colonel Gzowski's career in Canada has been one of extraordinary success, but any one who has watched its progress will admit that his success has been chiefly due to his high personal qualifications. In politics he has acted with the Conservative Party, but he is known for the moderation of his views, and has never identified himself with any of the purely party factions of the time. Though frequently importuned to enter public life he has hitherto refrained from doing so, preferring to confine his attention to professional and financial enterprises. He has a luxurious home in Toronto, where he occasionally dispenses a sumptuous hospitality, and where he appears perhaps to greater advantage than elsewhere. He has entertained most of the Governors-General of his time, all of whom have been numbered among his personal friends. Of late years much of his leisure has been passed in England, where several of his children reside, and where he has many warm friends. He has been honoured with special marks of the royal favour, and might doubtless, if so disposed, aspire to high dignities. Her Majesty has not a more loyal subject than Colonel Gzowski, and should occasion arise he would, we doubt not, buckle on his sword in defence of British and Canadian rights no less readily than he embarked his all, half a century ago, on behalf of the nation to which he belongs by right of birth.

On the 29th of October, 1839, he married Miss Maria Beebe, daughter of an eminent American physician. This lady, by whom he has had five sons and three daughters, still survives.

THEODORE HARDING RAND, A.M., D.C.L

Dr. Rand, who has long been one of the foremost educationists in the Maritime Provinces, was born at the seaport town of Cornwallis, situated on an arm of the Basin of Minas, King's County, Nova Scotia, in the year 1835. His life has been passed in educational pursuits, and affords but few incidents for biographical purposes. His boyhood and early youth were spent in attending the common schools, whence he passed to the Horton Collegiate Academy. After spending some time as a student at the last-named seat of learning he became a teacher there. He also entered the University of Acadia College, where he graduated in the honours course in 1860. During the same year he was appointed to the Chair of English and Classics in the Provincial Normal School at Truro, where he distinguished himself by his enthusiastic devotion to his work, and by his intelligence, aptitude and zeal in developing the best methods of instruction. In 1863 he received his Master's degree from the University of Acadia College. His Doctor's degree is honorary, and was conferred upon him by the same institution in 1874.

Upon the passing of the Educational Act of 1864, the subject of this sketch was selected by the Government of the day for the position of Provincial Superintendent of Education. Upon him accordingly devolved the task of putting the new law into operation. The Act of 1864 was one of the most important measures, bearing on the moral and material interests of the Province, that was ever introduced there. "It struck at the very root of most of the evils which tend to depress the intellectual energies and moral status of the people. It introduced the genial light of knowledge into the dark recesses of ignorance, opened the minds of thousands of little ones — the fathers and mothers of coming generations — to a perception of the true and the beautiful, and placed Nova Scotia in the front rank of countries renowned for common school educational advantages."⁹ Previous to the time when it came into operation the school system of the Province was pitiably inefficient. Its inefficiency was startlingly demonstrated by the census of 1861, from which it appeared that more than one-fourth of the entire population of the Province were unable to read. Of 83,000 children between the ages of five and fifteen, there were 36,000 who were unable to read. A large majority of the children in the Province did not attend school, and did not receive any educational training whatever. Teachers were poorly paid and inefficient. The schoolhouses were frequently unhealthy, and were almost always uncomfortable and unsightly. To Dr. — now Sir Charles — Tupper, belongs in great measure the credit of having brought about a more satisfactory state of things. It was by his Ministry that the Educational Act of 1864 was passed, and he himself, though well aware that he seriously risked his popularity by promoting it — for it introduced direct taxation — repeatedly declared that even if it should cost him place and power he would regard its introduction as the crowning act of his public life. After some negotiation between himself and Messrs. Archibald and Annand, the leading members of the Opposition, it was agreed that party differences should for the nonce be laid aside, and that the Education Act should become law.

Such was the state of affairs at the time when Mr. Rand was appointed to the office of Superintendent of Education. For some time his task was no light one, for the law was unpopular among the masses, who abhorred the idea of direct taxation. He applied himself to his duties with great energy, and travelled the Province from end to end, disputing, arguing, and finally convincing. He found, however, that some clauses of the Act were impracticable, and others unnecessary. He prepared a measure which formed the basis of the amended Act of 1865. His energy and vigour carried all before them, and he soon had the satisfaction of seeing opposition disappear. A Journal of Education was established, a new and uniform series of school books was introduced, and commodious schoolhouses were erected. A system of examination and of grading was introduced by Mr. Rand, and his plan was so well thought of that its main features have been adopted in other Provinces of the Dominion.

He continued to fill the position of Superintendent of Education in Nova Scotia during five and a half busy years. In 1870 he was removed from office "apparently for political reasons, and under circumstances which created a great deal of dissatisfaction at the time amongst the friends of education in the Province." After his retirement he proceeded to Great Britain, chiefly with a view to acquiring additional knowledge on educational matters, and to familiarizing himself by observation with the practical working of the English school system. During his absence he visited many important schools in England, Scotland and Ireland, and had conferences with some of the leading educationists of the realm.

In 1871 the New Brunswick Legislature passed an Act, to come into operation on the 1st of January, 1872, introducing the Free School system into that Province. The provisions of this Act were very similar to those of the Nova Scotia measure, and Mr. Rand's success in introducing the system into the adjoining Province had been such that it was deemed desirable to secure his services in New Brunswick. In September, 1871, three months before the Act came into force, he was offered the position of Chief Superintendent of Education for New Brunswick by the Government of the day. He accepted, and entered upon his duties with his accustomed energy. He has ever since filled the position, and persons who are entitled to speak with authority aver that he has done for education in New Brunswick all, and more than all, that he had previously accomplished for education in Nova Scotia. He now enjoys the distinction of having brought into operation in two Provinces an enduring and efficient system of public education.

He is President of the Educational Institute of New Brunswick, and a member of the Senate of the Provincial University. The Baptist Convention of the Maritime Provinces (of which, in 1875-6, he was President) elected him in 1877 one of the Governors of the University of Acadia College. His time is entirely devoted to his educational duties, and he has reason for self-gratulation at the satisfactory results which have attended his efforts in the two Provinces which have been the scene of his labours.

THE HON. MATTHEW CROOKS CAMERON

Mr. Cameron was for many years the best-known Nisi Prius lawyer at the Bar of his native Province, and his personal appearance is familiar to a greater number of persons than is that of any professional man in western Canada. For some years prior to his elevation to the Bench he was also prominent in political life, but it was at the Bar that his greenest laurels were won, and it is by his professional achievements that he will be longest remembered. He was born at Dundas, in the county of Wentworth, on the 2nd of October, 1822. His father, the late Mr. John McAlpin Cameron, was, as his name imports, of Celtic stock. The latter emigrated from the Highlands of Scotland to Upper Canada in 1819, and settled at Dundas, where he engaged in commercial pursuits. In 1826 he became Deputy Clerk of the Crown for the Gore District, and removed to Hamilton. He subsequently entered the service of the Canada Company, and remained in it for many years. He died at his home in Toronto, at an advanced age, in 1866. His wife, the mother of the subject of this sketch, was English. She was a native of the county of Northumberland, and her maiden name was Miss Nancy Foy. She died in Toronto many years ago.

The subject of this sketch was the youngest of his family, and was the only member of it born on this side of the Atlantic. He was named after Mr. Matthew Crooks, of Ancaster, a brother of the Hon. James Crooks, and an uncle of the present Minister of Education. At the time of the removal of the family from Dundas to Hamilton he was about four years of age; and he soon afterwards began to attend his first school, which was a small local establishment presided over by a Mr. Randall. Later, he was placed at the Home District Grammar School, on the corner of Newgate and New Streets — now Adelaide and Jarvis Streets — Toronto, where many boys who subsequently became distinguished in Canadian public life received their early training. In 1838 he entered Upper Canada College, where he remained nearly two years. His educational career was cut short in 1840 by an accident which was destined to affect the whole course of his future life. One day, while out shooting with two of his schoolfellows in the neighbourhood of Toronto, one of the latter, who does not seem to have been a very skilful marksman, carelessly fired off his gun at an inopportune moment, and young Cameron received the charge in his ankle, part of the joint of which was completely blown away. He was conveyed home, and was confined to his room for months. It was out of the question that he should ever recover the perfect use of his disabled ankle, and it was announced to him that he must never hope to walk again without the assistance of a crutch. It must have been a cruel blow to him, for he was a boy of joyous nature, full of activity and life, and by no means given to injuring his health by close application to his studies. From this time forward his habits and train of thought underwent a change. There were no more frivolity and thoughtlessness, no more shooting expeditions, no more of the active sports and pastimes of happy boyhood. Life, thenceforward, was to be contemplated from its serious side. He did not return to college. His choice of the legal profession was largely due to the fact that his two elder brothers, John and Duncan, had already embraced that calling. He entered the office of Messrs. Gamble & Boulton, barristers, of Toronto, and served the term of his articles there. He studied with much diligence, and gave evidence of great aptitude for his chosen profession. In Trinity Term, 1848, he was admitted as an attorney and solicitor, and in Hilary Term of 1849 he was called to the Bar.

He at once began to go on circuit, and he had not been many months at the Bar before he was in the very front rank. When it is borne in mind that his competitors were such men as Henry Eccles, John Hillyard Cameron, Philip Vankoughnet, and the present Mr. Justice Hagarty, it will be admitted that a young man who could hold his own against such rivals must have possessed exceptional abilities. Mr. Cameron's most salient qualifications consisted of a competent knowledge of his profession, a subtle power of analyzing evidence, a ready command of language, an impressive utterance and delivery, and — more than all — a manner which was open and confidential without being familiar, and which to most jurymen was suggestive of honest conviction. Though of somewhat contracted physique, he contrived to get through an amount of work which few men endowed with greater robustness of frame could have accomplished. His popularity grew apace, and erelong his practice was second to that of no man at the Bar of this Province. His popularity and practice were not confined to any particular neighbourhood, but extended throughout the whole of western Canada; and the only two counties in which he has not held briefs are the counties of Lanark and Renfrew. His briefs embraced every variety of pleading, civil and criminal. In all sorts of cases, and with all classes of jurors, he was thoroughly at home, and his efforts were generally crowned with that best proof of ability — success.

At the outset of his career at the Bar he was perhaps more assiduous in his attendance at assizes in the Gore District than elsewhere, as his brother John practised his profession in Hamilton — and afterwards in Brantford — and was able to throw a good many briefs in his way. As the years passed by, the question became, not how to obtain briefs, but how to get through the labour they imposed. Mr. Cameron, however, is not only endowed with great capacity for hard work, but has a genuine liking for it. His exceeding quickness of perception and apprehension was very often displayed during his career at the Bar, and it was said of him that he could acquire a more accurate knowledge of his case after it had been opened than most of his competitors could obtain by a week's preparation.

Soon after completing his legal studies Mr. Cameron formed a partnership with his former principal, the late Mr. William Henry Boulton. Several years later he entered into partnership with the Hon. William Cayley, who held the portfolio of Minister of Finance in the Government formed under the auspices of Sir Allan Macnab in 1854. Mr. — now Dr. — Daniel McMichael was subsequently admitted, and the firm of Messrs. Cayley, Cameron & McMichael long had a business second to that of no firm in the Province. The partnership subsequently underwent various modifications, but its members have always maintained its position as one of the leading legal firms in Toronto.

The first ten years of his legal career were devoted by Mr. Cameron almost exclusively to his profession. He then began to take part in municipal affairs. In 1859 he represented St. James's Ward in the Toronto City Council. In January, 1861, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the mayoralty. He was possessed of strong political convictions, and was frequently importuned to enter Parliament. He was a very pronounced Conservative in his views, as his father before him had been, and at the general election of 1861 he offered himself to the electors of North Ontario as a candidate for a seat in the Assembly. He secured his return, and sat in the House until the general election of 1863, when, upon presenting himself to his constituents for reëlection he was defeated. A vacancy occurring in the representation for North Ontario in the summer of 1864, he once more offered himself as a candidate, and was on this occasion returned. He continued to represent North Ontario in the Assembly until Confederation, when he was unsuccessful in his attempt to secure his return for the House of Commons. He accordingly accepted office in the Sandfield Macdonald Coalition Administration in Ontario, and was returned for East Toronto, in which constituency he resides, and which he continued to represent in the Local Legislature until the close of his Parliamentary career. He held the offices of Provincial Secretary and Registrar from July, 1867, until the 25th of July, 1871, when he became Commissioner of Crown Lands. The latter office he held until the fall of the Government in the following December, in consequence of the adverse vote of the House on the railroad subsidy question. Upon the formation of a new Government under the premiership of the Hon. Edward Blake, Mr. Cameron became leader of the Opposition, and continued to act in that capacity for a period of four years. His Parliamentary career was marked by sterling honour and integrity, and by inflexible devotion to his Party. Mr. Cameron is one of the few men who have taken a very prominent part in public life in this country during the last few years, and yet have escaped charges of political corruption and dishonesty. No man in Canada believes him to be capable of a corrupt or dishonest act, for the advancement either of his own interests or those of his Party. It must be confessed, however, that he was not seen at his best on the floor of Parliament. Some of his political ideas are widely at variance with prevailing tendencies, and some of his Parliamentary utterances had an unmistakable flavour of the lamp. The Halls of the Legislature were not a thoroughly congenial sphere for him, and the full measure of his strength was seldom or never put forward there. He was sometimes commonplace, and sometimes carping and fretful. Before a jury, on the other hand, he was always a formidable power, and was always master of himself. His duties as a Cabinet Minister were somewhat onerous, but his capacity for hard work enabled him to get through them more easily than most persons could have done under similar circumstances, and his attendance on circuit was never interrupted for any considerable time. His preëminence at the Bar was undisputed, and his influence over juries suffered no diminution. He had been a Queen's Counsel since 1863, and a Bencher of the Law Society of Ontario since 1871; and when he was elevated to the Judicial Bench on the 15th of November, 1878, the appointment was regarded by the legal profession and the country at large as a fitting tribute to his character and professional standing. His rank is that of Senior Puisné Judge of the Court of Queen's Bench. As a Judge, he displays the same characteristics by which he was distinguished while at the Bar, viz., quickness of perception, and a ready grasp of the main points of an argument. He has rendered several important judgments, the points of which are well known to members of the legal profession.

Mr. Cameron was concerned in organizing the Liberal-Conservative Association of Toronto, and was President of it from the time of its formation until his elevation to the Judicial Bench. He was also Vice-President of the Liberal-Conservative Convention held in Toronto in September, 1874. Apart from his strictly professional and political duties, Mr. Cameron has held various positions of more or less public importance. As far back as 1852 he was appointed by the Hincks-Morin Government a Commissioner, jointly with the late Colonel Coffin, to inquire into the causes of the frequent accidents which had then recently occurred on the Great Western Railway. He was one of the original promoters and Directors of the Dominion Telegraph Company, and of several prominent Insurance Companies. He is a member of several social, charitable and national associations, including the Caledonian and St. Andrew's Societies. He is a widower. On the 1st of December, 1851, he married Miss Charlotte Ross Wedd, of Hamilton, who died on the 14th of January, 1868. He has a family, the members whereof all reside with him in Toronto.