The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)

THE HON. SIR LOUIS H. LAFONTAINE, BART

The name of Sir Louis Lafontaine is intimately associated in the public mind with that of his friend and associate Robert Baldwin. What the latter was in Upper Canada, such was Sir Louis in the Lower Province — the leader of a numerous, an exacting, and a not always manageable political party. These two statesmen were the leading spirits on behalf of their respective Provinces in two Governments which are known in history by their joint names. Their personal intimacy and active co-operation extended over only about ten years, but the bond of union between them during that period was closely knit, and their mutual confidence was complete. They fought side by side with perfect fealty to each other and to the State, and their retirement from public life was almost simultaneous. Their mutual relations, both public and private, were marked by an almost chivalrous courtesy and respect, and even after they had ceased to take part in the struggles with which both their names are identified, they continued to think and speak of each other with an enthusiasm which was not generally supposed to belong to the nature of either.

Sir Louis was in some respects the most remarkable man that Lower Canada has produced. Though he identified himself with many important measures of Reform, the temper of his mind, more especially during his latter years, was eminently aristocratic and Conservative. His disposition was not one that could properly be described as genial. He was not a perfect tactician, and had not the faculty of making himself "all things to all men." Coriolanus himself had not a more supreme contempt for "the insinuating nod" whereby the elector is wheedled out of his vote. His demeanour was generally somewhat cold and repellent, and though he was thoroughly honourable, and respected by all who knew him, he was not a man of many warm personal friends. In the sketch of Robert Baldwin's life we have given Sir John Kaye's estimate of that gentleman's character and aspirations, as reflected in the letters and papers of Lord Metcalfe. The estimate is so wide of the mark that our readers will probably be disposed to place little reliance upon Sir John's capability for gauging the public men of Canada. In the case of the subject of the present sketch, however, Lord Metcalfe's biographer has contrived to stumble upon a much more accurate judgment. Speaking of Mr. Lafontaine, during his tenure of office as Attorney-General for Canada East, in 1843, he tells us that "all his better qualities were natural to him; his worse were the growth of circumstances. Cradled, as he and his people had been, in wrong, smarting for long years under the oppressive exclusiveness of the dominant race, he had become mistrustful and suspicious; and the doubts which were continually floating in his mind had naturally engendered indecision and infirmity of purpose. But he had many fine characteristics which no evil circumstances could impair. He was a just and an honourable man. His motives were above all suspicion. Warmly attached to his country, earnestly seeking the happiness of his people, he occupied a high position by the force rather of his moral than of his intellectual qualities. He was trusted and respected rather than admired." If we omit the reference to indecision and infirmity of purpose, we may accept the foregoing as being, so far as it goes, a not inaccurate estimate of the character of Mr. Lafontaine. The excepted reference, however, shows how little the writer could really have known of the subject of his remarks. So far from being undecided or infirm of purpose, Mr. Lafontaine was almost domineering and tyrannical in his firmness. He was very reluctant to receive discipline, and was generally disposed to prefer his own judgment to that of any one else. It will be news, indeed, to such of his colleagues as still survive, to learn that Sir Louis Lafontaine was infirm of purpose. Sir Francis Hincks, who is able to speak with high authority on the subject, declares in one of his political pamphlets that he never met a man less open to such an imputation. Other equally trustworthy authorities have borne similar testimony, and indeed the whole course of his political life furnishes a standing refutation to the charge. Sir Louis was intellectually far above most of those with whom he acted, and he was endowed by nature with an imperious will. He brooked contradiction, or even moderate remonstrance, with an ill grace. Had he been of a more conciliating temper he would doubtless have been vastly more popular. His sincerity and uprightness have never, so far as we are aware, been called in question.

He was born near the village of Boucherville, in the county of Chambly, Lower Canada, in October, 1807. He was the third son of Antoine Menard Lafontaine, of Boucherville, whose father sat in the Lower Canadian Legislature from 1796 to 1804. His mother's maiden name was Marie J. Bienvenu. There is nothing to be said about his early life. He studied law, and in due time was called to the Bar of Lower Canada, and settled in Montreal. He succeeded in his profession, and while still a very young man achieved a prominent position and an extensive practice. He accumulated considerable wealth, which was augmented by an advantageous marriage, in 1831, to Adèle, daughter of A. Berthelot, a wealthy and eminent advocate of Quebec. He entered political life in 1830, when he was only twenty-three years of age, as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the populous county of Terrebonne. He at this time held and advocated very advanced political views, and was a follower of Louis J. Papineau. He was not always subordinate to his leader, however, and as time passed by he ceased to work cordially with Mr. Papineau. Their differences were of temperament rather than of principle, and erelong a complete estrangement took place between them. Mr. Lafontaine, however, still continued to advocate advanced radicalism, not only from his place in Parliament, but through the medium of the newspaper press. He continued to sit in the Assembly as representative for Terrebonne until the rebellion burst forth, in which he was so far implicated that a warrant was issued against him for treason, and he deemed it wise to withdraw from Canada. He fled to England, whence he made good his escape across the channel to France. His residence there, unlike that of Papineau, was only of brief duration. He returned to his native land in 1840, having gained wisdom by experience. He was opposed to the project of uniting the Provinces, and spoke against it from the platform at Montreal and elsewhere with great vehemence; but after the passing of the Act of Union he acquiesced in what could no longer be avoided, and in 1841 he offered himself once more to his old constituents of Terrebonne, as a candidate for a seat in the Parliament of the United Provinces. His candidature was not successful, but, chiefly through the instrumentality of Robert Baldwin, who had just been honoured with a double return, he was on the 21st of September elected for the Fourth Riding of the county of York, in Upper Canada. It will be understood from this alliance that Mr. Lafontaine's views had undergone considerable modification. He now perceived that the rebellion of 1837-8 had been not merely a crime, but a political blunder, as there had never been any chance of its becoming permanently successful. With regard to the Union of the Provinces, he looked upon it as a scheme which had been forced upon the Lower Canadian French population, but which, having been accomplished, might as well be worked in common between his compatriots and Canadians of British origin. By taking a part in the work of Government he would not only win an honourable position, but would be able to obtain many favours and concessions for Lower Canadians which he could not hope to obtain as a private indvidual. Actuated by some such motives as these, he in 1842 joined with Mr. Baldwin in forming the first Ministry which bears their joint names, he himself holding the portfolio of Attorney-General for the Lower Province. Having vacated his seat on accepting office on the 16th of September, he was on the 8th of October following reëlected for the Fourth Riding of York. He represented that constituency until November, 1844, when he was returned to the Second Parliament of United Canada by the electors of Terrebonne. He sat for Terrebonne until after his acceptance of office as Attorney-General for Lower Canada in the second Baldwin-Lafontaine Administration, formed in March, 1848, after which he was returned for the city of Montreal, which he thenceforward continued to represent in Parliament so long as he remained in public life.

Soon after Mr. Lafontaine's acceptance of office, in the autumn of 1842, he proposed to Sir Charles Bagot, who was then Governor-General, that an amnesty should be granted to all persons who had taken part in the rebellion in 1837-8. To this proposal His Excellency was not disposed to assent without careful consideration, and probably until he could communicate with the Imperial Government. Mr. Lafontaine then urged that, if an amnesty was for the present considered unadvisable, the various prosecutions for high treason pending at Montreal might be abandoned. To this Sir Charles, after careful consideration, expressed his willingness to assent, except in the single case of the arch-conspirator, Louis Joseph Papineau. Mr. Lafontaine had long ceased to sympathize with Mr. Papineau's political views, but he was not disposed to acquiesce in the proposed exception, and for a time the negotiations fell through. It was subsequently renewed, but before any definite steps could be taken in the matter the Governor-General's health gave way, and he rapidly sank into his grave. After the accession of Sir Charles Metcalfe, Mr. Lafontaine urged his proposal upon the new Governor, and finally succeeded in carrying his point. Mr. Lafontaine, as Attorney-General, was instructed to file a nolle prosequi to the indictments against Mr. Papineau, as well as to those against other political offenders. He obeyed his instructions with promptitude, and Mr. Papineau soon afterwards returned to this country. Erelong the "old man eloquent" found his way into Parliament, where he for several years made himself a thorn in the flesh to some of his old colleagues of the ante-Union days.

The first Baldwin-Lafontaine Ministry resigned office in November, 1843, in consequence of the arbitrary conduct of Sir Charles Metcalfe. All the circumstances connected with this resignation are narrated at sufficient length elsewhere in these pages. Mr. Lafontaine remained in Opposition until March, 1848, when he and his colleagues again came into power. During the interval he had steadily held his ground in the estimation of the Reform element in the French Canadian population, of whom he was the acknowledged leader. The history of the second Baldwin-Lafontaine Administration¹⁰ in which Mr. Lafontaine held the portfolio of Attorney-General East, has been given in previous sketches, and there is no need for repeating the details here. It was Mr. Lafontaine who, in February, 1849, introduced the famous Rebellion Losses Bill, which gave rise to so much heated debate in the House, and to such disgraceful proceedings outside. Mr. Lafontaine, as the actual introducer of the Bill, came in for his full share of the odium attaching to that measure. His house in Montreal was attacked by the mob, and although the flames were extinguished in time to save the building, the furniture and library shared the fate of those in the Houses of Parliament, with the fate of which readers of the sketch of Lord Elgin are already familiar. After much wilful destruction of valuable property the rioters waxed bolder, and proceeded to maltreat loyal subjects in the streets in the most shameful manner. Mr. Lafontaine himself narrowly escaped personal maltreatment. A second attack was made upon his house. The military, or some occupants of the house, finding it necessary to use extreme measures, fired upon the mob, wounding several, and killing one man, whose name was Mason. For a few minutes after this time it seemed not improbable that Mr. Lafontaine would be torn in pieces. Yells rent the air, and it was loudly proclaimed that a Frenchman had shed the blood of an Anglo-Saxon. The hour of danger passed, however, and Mr. Lafontaine escaped without personal injury. The unanimous verdict of a coroner's jury acquitted him of all blame for the death of the misguided man who had fallen a victim to his zeal for riot. The verdict had a quieting effect upon the public mind. Meanwhile the Governor-General had tendered his resignation, but as his conduct was approved of both by the Local Administration and by the Home Authorities, he, at their urgent request, consented to remain in office. In consequence of this disgraceful riot, however, it was not considered desirable to continue the seat of Government at Montreal. The Legislature thenceforth sat alternately at Toronto and Quebec, until 1866, when Ottawa became the permanent capital of the Dominion.

Notwithstanding all the excitement, and the opposition to which he was subjected, Mr. Lafontaine generally contrived to carry through any measure which he had very much at heart. There were certain popular measures, however, which he never had at heart, and to which, although the leader of a professedly Liberal Administration, he could never be induced to lend his countenance. After Responsible Government had become an accomplished fact, there was no measure so imperatively demanded by Upper Canadian Reformers as the secularization of the Clergy Reserves. In the Lower Province the measure most desired by the people was the abolition of the Seignorial Tenure. To neither of these projects would Mr. Lafontaine consent. He had an immense respect for vested rights, and does not seem to have fully recognized the fact that so-called vested rights are sometimes neither more nor less than vested wrongs. Yet, notwithstanding his hostility to these measures, he continued to hold the reins of power, for he was regarded as an embodiment, in his own person, of the unity of the French-Canadian race. He was, however, like his colleague, Robert Baldwin, too moderate in his views for the times in which his later political life was cast. The progress of Reform was too rapid for him, and he finally made way for more advanced and more energetic men. His retirement from office and from political life took place towards the close of 1851. After his retirement he devoted himself to professional pursuits, and continued to do so until the death of Sir James Stuart, Chief Justice of the Lower Province, in the summer of 1853, left that position vacant. On the 13th of August Mr. Lafontaine was appointed to the office, and on the 28th of August, 1854, he was created a Baronet. In 1861, having been a widower for some years, he married a second time, his choice being Jane, daughter of Mr. Charles Morrison, of Berthier, and widow of Mr. Thomas Kinton, of Montreal. He continued to occupy the position of Chief Justice until his death, which took place on the morning of the 26th of February, 1864. During his tenure of that office he also presided at the sittings of the Seignorial Tenure Court. He attained high rank as a jurist, and his decisions, which were always delivered with a weighty impressiveness of manner, are regarded with very great respect by his successors, and by the legal profession generally.

Mr. Robert Christie, the historian of Lower Canada, contrasts the political character of Mr. Lafontaine with that of his early colleague, Mr. Papineau. Mr. Christie knew both the personages well, and was quite capable of discriminating between them. "Mr. Lafontaine," he says, "it is pretty generally admitted, has, by consulting only the practicable and expedient, acted wisely and well, amidst the difficulties that beset his position as Prime Minister, and upon the whole, though there are derogating circumstances in the course of it, his administration has been eminently successful. It was, in fact, from the impetuous and blind pursuit of the impracticable and inexpedient, that Mr. Papineau lost himself, shipwrecking his own and his party's hopes, and, with his example and failure before him, it is to Mr. Lafontaine's credit that he has had the wisdom to profit by them."

Sir Louis had no issue by his first wife. By his second wife he had one son, to whom he was very much attached, and upon whom he looked as the transmitter of his name, and of the title which he had so honourably won. The little fellow, however, died in childhood, and the title became extinct. Lady Lafontaine still resides in Montreal.

JOHN CHRISTIAN SCHULTZ, M.D

Dr. Schultz has had some adventurous passages in his life, and has played a by no means insignificant part in the history of the Prairie Province. He was born at Amherstburgh, in the county of Essex, Upper Canada, on the 1st of January, 1840. He is a son of the late Mr. William Schultz, a native of Denmark, who was for many years engaged in business as a merchant at Amherstburgh. His mother was Eliza, daughter of Mr. Willam Riley, of Bandon, Ireland.

After receiving his primary education at the public schools of Amherstburgh, he entered Oberlin College, Ohio. This institution was then held in high consideration by many persons in this country, and some of our prominent men have been educated there. Mr. Schultz remained there long enough to pass through the Arts course. Having chosen the medical profession as his future calling, he studied medicine at Queen's College, Kingston, and afterwards at the Medical Department of Victoria College, in Toronto. He had conceived the design of emigrating to Mexico, with a view to practising his profession there, but after graduating as M.D., in the spring of 1860, he relinquished that design, and found his way, by the rude and toilsome route then in vogue, to the Red River Settlement. The community there at that time consisted of about eight thousand persons, separated from the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, by a distance of 550 miles of country, a great part of which was owned by the Ojibway and Sioux Indians. There was of course no railway in that part of the world in those days, and anyone undertaking to travel from St. Paul to Fort Garry entered upon a journey which was not only toilsome but perilous. The barbarians all along the route were fierce and intractable, not much given to discriminating between subjects of Great Britain and those of the United States. Between the latter and the Indians there was much ill-feeling, and murders and assassinations of white travellers were matters of frequent occurrence. After enduring many hardships, Dr. Schultz reached Fort Garry, and there commenced the practice of his profession. He soon afterwards entered upon the traffic in furs, a pursuit which was very profitable in those days, but which was still held as a monopoly by the Hudson's Bay Company. The great Company doubtless well knew that it would not much longer be permitted to enjoy its monopoly, but it was not disposed to encourage rivalry, and looked upon Dr. Schultz's interference with no friendly eye. There are of course two sides to this question. The Company's agents were sometimes overbearing and tyrannical in resisting the encroachments of free-traders. On the other hand, it was scarcely to be expected that they would encourage or quietly submit to interference with what they regarded as the Company's exclusive rights. In spite of all opposition, however, Dr. Schultz continued to carry on his operations with great profit to himself for some years. His negotiations with the Indians and half-breeds rendered it necessary that he should traverse a wide extent of country, and he thus gained an accurate knowledge of the topography of the North-West, as well as an intimate acquaintance with Indian manners, traditions, and customs.

In the spring of 1862 Dr. Schultz was unfortunate enough to be away from home when the terrible Sioux massacre occurred in Minnesota, completely cutting off connection between its frontier settlements and Fort Garry, and spreading devastation and terror throughout the whole of the North-West. The Doctor, after waiting some time at St. Paul, where he had been transacting business, attempted the passage through the Indian country by the "Crow Wing" trail, as it was called. After many days and nights of cautious travelling, and one capture by the Indians, from which he owed his release to his ability to convince the savages that he was English and not American, he arrived safely at Pembina, whence he made his way to Fort Garry. In 1864 he became the owner and editor of the Nor'-Wester, the pioneer newspaper of the North-West, and laboured hard through its columns to make the great agricultural value of the country known. His policy was, of course, diametrically opposed to that of the Hudson's Bay Company, and as time passed by, the hostility between that Company and himself became very bitter and implacable. He subsequently disposed of the Nor'-Wester to Dr. Walter Robert Bown, by whom the paper was conducted at the time of the outbreak to be presently referred to.

In 1868 Dr. Schultz married Miss Agnes Campbell Farquharson, formerly of Georgetown, British Guiana. He soon afterwards built the house which was destined to become historical for the defence against Riel and his insurrectionary force. In the autumn of 1868 he greatly extended the fur business in which he was engaged, sending expeditions for that purpose to the far north and west. The following autumn brought with it the first mutterings of the Red River Rebellion, and it was seen that Dr. Schultz was a marked man. Warning letters from Riel and other insurgents were sent to him. Some of the Hudson's Bay Company's officials openly accused him of having been the means of bringing about connection with Canada, and in the gathering of the storm there seemed to be an ominous future for him whom many of the Canadians then in the country looked upon as their leader, and trusted to for their defence. He was unfortunate, too, in the situation of his residence and trading post, which were the nearest buildings to Fort Garry, and within easy range of the field guns which Riel afterwards planted to force the giving up of the Canadian Government provisions. Upon the actual breaking out of the insurrection, Dr. Schultz suffered severely, both in person and in purse. His pecuniary losses were recompensed to him by the Government, but the bodily privations to which he was subjected were the means of inflicting a shock upon his constitution, the effects of which are still to some extent perceptible. After the seizure of Fort Garry by the insurgents, the loyal Canadians of the settlement were placed under surveillance. About fifty of these assembled for mutual safety at Dr. Schultz's house, about eight hundred yards from the Fort. Here they were besieged by several hundred of Riel's followers for three days. The siege does not seem to have been incessant or very active, but there were more than two hundred armed French half-breeds who kept continually on the watch, and the inmates were prevented from egress. It is said that two mounted six-pounders were drawn by the insurgents outside the walls of Fort Garry, with their muzzles pointed in the direction of the beleaguered house. The little force inside the building was too small to enable the besieged to make a permanent resistance, and at last they were compelled to surrender. They were then marched by the rebels to Fort Garry and imprisoned there. Dr. Schultz himself, who was the especial object of Riel's hatred, was placed in solitary confinement, under a strong guard. His wife, who had insisted on remaining by his side, was at first permitted to share his imprisonment, but after a few days she was forcibly separated from him, and it seemed not unlikely that this separation had been effected by Riel with a view to wreaking his vengeance on the Doctor by taking his life. Riel himself alleged that there was no intention of harming any of the prisoners, but that he considered it desirable to separate Mr. and Mrs. Schultz, lest the husband should be enabled to escape through the instrumentality of his wife, who of course was not a prisoner, and who was permitted ingress and egress at all reasonable hours. Dr. Schultz, however, placed little reliance on the word of the arch-insurgent. Knowing the sentiments with which he was regarded by Riel, he felt that his life was liable to be sacrificed at any moment, and he determined to make an attempt to escape. This purpose, after being confined for nearly three weeks, he successfully accomplished. Mrs. Schultz contrived to secretly convey to him a pen-knife and a small gimlet. With these inadequate means he made an opening through his cell, large enough to enable him to pass through into the inner quadrangle of the Fort. On the night of Sunday, the 23rd of December, 1869, he cut into strips the buffalo-robe which served for his bed, fastened an end to a projection in his cell, passed through the opening he had made in the wall, and prepared to descend to terra firma. While he was making the descent one of the strips of buffalo skin snapped, and he was precipitated violently to the ground. The fall rendered him temporarily lame, and caused him great suffering, but even in this disabled condition he managed to scramble over the outer wall near one of the bastions, and found himself at liberty. He stole away in the dead silence of night, and after a toilsome march of some hours in a blinding snow-storm, took refuge in the house of a friendly settler in the parish of Kildonan. There, in the course of the next few weeks, he and other Canadians organized a force about six hundred strong, with a view to releasing their friends who were still imprisoned at Fort Garry. Everything being in readiness for action, a message, demanding the release of the prisoners, was despatched to Riel. The demand was vigorously backed up by the influence of Mr. A. G. B. Bannatyne, a prominent citizen of Red River, and Miss McVicar, a young lady from Canada who was on a visit to the settlement. These two called upon Riel at Fort Garry, and begged him to avert the bloodshed which would certainly result if he persisted in detaining the prisoners. Riel, under the combined influence of his interlocutors and the demand which had been made upon him by the Canadian forces, displayed the better part of valour, and promptly released the captives. He was determined, however, to recapture Dr. Schultz, and sent out several expeditions to discover his whereabouts. He declared that he would have Dr. Schultz's body, dead or alive, if it was to be found in the Red River Settlement. Disappointed at the non-success of his emissaries, Riel started out himself at the head of an expedition, to scour the settlement, and to recapture the object of his enmity. The expedition reached the Stone Fort, or Lower Fort Garry, about midway between the capital of the settlement and the entrance of Red River into Lake Winnipeg. They entered the enclosure, and searched every nook and corner of the Fort. Ill would it have fared with Dr. Schultz had he been discovered there; but he was far away, and was every hour increasing the distance between Riel and himself. A large meeting of loyalist settlers had been held, at which Dr. Schultz was requested to proceed to Canada, and to lay the real state of affairs before the people there. Such a mission involved grave perils and hardships, for all the roads leading to Minnesota were closely guarded by the insurgents, and certain death would have overtaken the Doctor had he again fallen into their hands. He determined, however, to make the attempt by way of Lake Superior. On the 21st of February, accompanied only by an English half-breed named Joseph Monkman, he started on his perilous expedition. News of his having done so came in due course to the ears of Riel, who sent out scouts in every direction to intercept him. The Doctor and his companion eluded their vigilance, and with snow-shoes on their feet struck across the frozen south-easterly end of Lake Winnipeg to the mouth of the Winnipeg River. They made their way past the rushing cascades of that stream to the Lake of the Woods; thence across to Rainy Lake, and thence across the northern part of the State of Minnesota to the head of Lake Superior. Numerous camps of Indians were encountered on this adventurous march, and from time to time guides were obtained from the latter. "Over weary miles of snow-covered lakes; over the watershed between Rainy Lake and the lakes of the Laurentian chain; over the height of land between Rainy Lake and Lake Superior; through pine forests and juniper swamps, these travellers made their way, turning aside only where wind-fallen timber made their course impossible. Often saved from starvation by the woodcraft of Monkman; their course guided by the compass, or by views taken from the top of some stately Norway pine, they found themselves, after twenty-four weary days of travel, in sight of the blue, unfrozen waters of Lake Superior. They had struck the lake not far from its head, and in a few hours presented themselves to the astonished gaze of the people of the then embryo village of Duluth, gaunt with hunger, worn with fatigue, their clothes in tatters, their eyes blinded with the glare of the glittering sun of March." They then learned for the first time of the terrible event which had occurred at Fort Garry since their departure — the murder of the unfortunate Thomas Scott. From Duluth they made their way to Toronto, whither news of their adventures had preceded them. On the 6th of April an indignation meeting was held in Toronto, at which a stirring address was delivered by Dr. Schultz, wherein the whole nature of the Red River difficulty was reviewed. Resolutions expressive of indignation at Scott's murder, and calling aloud for active Government interference, were passed. Similar meetings were held, and similar resolutions passed in Montreal, and in various other cities and towns in both the Upper and Lower Provinces. The expedition under Colonel (now Sir Garnet) Wolseley was soon afterwards set on foot, but the account of it has no special bearing upon Dr. Schultz's life, and need not be given here. The Doctor soon afterwards returned to Manitoba, where he has ever since resided, and where he exercises a potent influence over public affairs.