The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)

GEORGE PAXTON YOUNG, M.A

The life of Professor Young has been even less eventful than commonly falls to the lot of persons of purely scholastic pursuits. He was born on the 28th of November, 1818, at the border town of Berwick-upon-Tweed — one of the few walled towns to be found in Great Britain at the present day. In his boyhood he attended the schools of his native town, whence he passed to the High School of Edinburgh. He subsequently entered the Edinburgh University, and attended the lectures of Professor Wilson — the "Christopher North" of Blackwood's Magazine— who then occupied the Chair of Moral Philosophy there. During his early years he was an industrious student, and displayed that great aptitude for mathematical and philosophical inquiry by which his subsequent career has been distinguished. After obtaining his degree he was for some time employed as a mathematical teacher in the Dollar Academy, Clackmannanshire. After the Disruption of the Scottish National Church, in 1843, he entered the Theological Hall of the Free Church, which had just been opened at Edinburgh, and became a candidate for the ministry, attending the lectures of the late Dr. Chalmers and other eminent divines. After his admission to the ministry he was placed in charge of the Martyr's Church, Paisley, but remained there only a few months, having resolved to emigrate to Canada where he had many friends among the ministers and members of the Presbyterian Church. This resolution was carried out in 1848. Immediately upon his arrival in this country he was inducted into the pastorate of Knox Church, Hamilton, where he remained three years, at the expiration of which he resigned his charge, and accepted the Professorship of Mental and Moral Philosophy in Knox College, Toronto. His fondness for philosophical studies, and his wide acquaintance with philosophical literature, marked him out as peculiarly fitted for such a position. The sphere of his duties gradually widened, and in addition to Mental and Moral Philosophy and Logic, he soon had under his charge Exegetical Theology and the Evidences of Christianity — departments which are now in charge of Principal Caven and Professor Gregg.

During his Professorship in Knox College, Professor Young contributed some remarkable papers on philosophical subjects to the pages of the Canadian Journal. One of these, containing a brief exposition of some points in the Hamiltonian philosophy of matter, reached the hands of Sir William Hamilton himself, the most eminent exponent of the Scottish philosophy. The latter was so impressed by the merits of the paper that he addressed to the author a long and very complimentary letter, in which he bore testimony to Professor Young's power of grasping and elucidating the most abstruse points in a philosophical system of which he was not the originator. Such a testimony, from such a source, must have been highly gratifying to Professor Young, for Sir William was not a man given to wasting his words, and would certainly not have written such a letter to a stranger had he not been very greatly impressed by the merits of the article in the Journal. Various other articles from his pen have from time to time appeared in the same periodical, and every one of them bears the stamp of a mind which, to parody Iago's well-known saying, is "nothing if not mathematical." While on the subject of authorship it may be mentioned that in 1854 a theological work from his pen was published at Edinburgh, under the title of "Miscellaneous Discourses and Expositions of Scripture." In 1862 he published in the Home and Foreign Record a paper on "The Philosophical Principles of Natural Religion," which evoked much favourable comment alike from the religious and secular press at the time of its publication.

After discharging his professorial duties in connection with Knox College for about ten years with much zeal, and with great satisfaction to all persons concerned, Professor Young resigned his position on the Staff. In taking this important step he gave proof of an honesty and a genuine manliness of purpose which are worthy of the highest commendation. His philosophical researches had brought about a state of mind which, in his own opinion, rendered him unsuited to the position of a teacher of divinity. He was no longer in entire sympathy with the doctrines which he was called upon to expound to the students. How far the divergence extended we have no means of knowing, nor is it a question into which the public have any right to inquire. A man's theological beliefs are between himself and his Maker. It is sufficient to say that Professor Young resigned his Professorship and his connection with the ministry, and this without having any other means of livelihood in prospect. "His course," says a contemporary writer, "was characterized by an amount of intellectual candour and moral courage which do him credit, and is in striking contrast with the practice of those who, on finding themselves at variance with the communion to which they belong, and in the attitude of drifting away from their dogmatic moorings, have neither the discretion to await in silence the end of their own intellectual struggle, nor the courage of their convictions, and the resolution requisite for placing themselves at any sacrifice in a position to speak and act on them without restraint." He soon afterwards found a suitable field for the exercise of his talents. The position of Inspector of Grammar Schools was offered to, and accepted by him, and for more than four years he discharged the duties of that office with a diligence and success which have been attended with great benefit to the public, and which have won wide recognition. His tenure of office, indeed, may be said to mark an important epoch in the educational history of this Province. At the time of his appointment, the Grammar School system was singularly inefficient. The fact of its inefficiency had long been acknowledged by leading educationists, but no one had indicated anything like an adequate remedy. Mr. Young's official reports not only exposed the defects of the system, but suggested the requisite legislation whereby those defects might be removed. His reports for the years 1866 and 1867 were deemed of sufficient importance to be published in full in the Chief Superintendent's Report for the latter year, and they were the means of bringing about a revolution in the whole Grammar School system. Most of the suggestions embodied in them have since been acted upon by the Legislature, and the School Acts of 1871, 1874 and 1877 are to a large extent founded upon them.

Having accomplished so much, Professor Young resigned his Inspectorship, and once more accepted the position of Professor of Philosophy in Knox College, but his duties during his second tenure of the Professorship did not involve the teaching of Theology. Upon the death of the late Dr. Beaven, in 1871, he succeeded to the Chair of Metaphysics and Ethics in University College, Toronto, which he still retains. His incumbency has been marked by most gratifying results. The subjects taught by him are by many persons regarded as dry and uninteresting. Professor Young's lectures are so much the reverse of this that they are sometimes attended as a matter of choice by persons who never approach the building in which they are delivered for any other purpose. To render metaphysics and ethics acceptable to persons who have no special object to serve by pursuing such studies is an achievement of which any Professor might justly feel proud. His department, which was formerly the most unpopular in the University, has become one of those most resorted to by candidates for honours. He is equally popular as a teacher and as an examiner, and is said to be one of the most erudite of men in the literature of his department. He is also very eminent as a mathematician, and has made original discoveries in that branch of study which, in the estimation of persons who are capable of forming an opinion, entitle him to rank among the foremost of living investigators.

THE HON. TELESPHORE FOURNIER

Judge Fournier is the son of William Fournier, of Bécancour, in the Province of Quebec. He was born at St. François, Rivière du Sud, Montmagny, in 1824, and was educated at Nicolet College, where he was a pupil of the Abbé Ferland. At an early age he entered the law office of the late Hon. R. E. Caron, as a student. At the age of twenty-two he was called to the Bar of Lower Canada. In 1857 he married Miss Demers. In 1863 he was created a Queen's Counsel, and in the course of his professional career has been Batonnier and President of the General Council of the Bar of the Province of Quebec. He was one of the principal editorial writers engaged on Le National, a Liberal journal which was published at Quebec in 1856-7-8. His writings were characterized by great breadth of view and vigour of expression, and his editorials exerted considerable influence. In 1854 he was an unsuccessful candidate in the Reform interest for the constituency of Montmagny, in the Canadian Assembly. In 1857 he contested an election for the same Chamber, for the City of Quebec, and was again defeated. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Stadacona Division in the Legislative Council in 1861, and for De la Durantaye division in the same House, in 1864. He was first returned to Parliament in 1870, when he was elected to the Commons for Bellechasse. This seat he held until his appointment to the Bench. He also sat for Montmagny in the Quebec Assembly from the general election of 1871 until the 7th of November, 1873, when he resigned, on taking office in Mr. Mackenzie's Administration as Minister of Inland Revenue. He was sworn of the Privy Council on that day, and on the 8th of July, 1874, was appointed Minister of Justice. On the 19th of May, 1875, he was transferred to the Postmaster-Generalship of the Dominion, where he remained until his elevation to the Bench, as a Puisné Judge of the Supreme Court, in October of the same year. Among the measures introduced and carried through Parliament by M. Fournier as Minister of Justice, the most notable are the Supreme Court Bill and the Insolvency Act of 1875. In his judicial capacity he has been concerned in two very important causes. The first of these is the famous Jacques Cartier contested election case, decided in April, 1878, in which Justices Taschereau and Henry coincided with Justice Fournier in the opinion that the seat of the Hon. Mr. Laflamme should not be vacated, and that the appeal should be dismissed. The Charlevoix contested election case forms the second. Justice Strong delivered an elaborate judgment, sustaining the plea of the Hon. Hector L. Langevin, that judgments as preliminary objections were not appealable. Justices Fournier and Taschereau dissented from this opinion, but Chief-Justice Richards and Justice Henry concurring, Mr. Langevin was confirmed in his seat.

THE HON. WILLIAM OSGOODE

In view of the fact that this gentleman's name has a very fair chance of immortality in this Province, it is to be regretted that so little is accurately known about him, and that only the merest outline of his career has come down to the present times. Many Canadians would gladly know something more of the life of the first man who filled the important position of Chief Justice of Upper Canada, and the desire for such knowledge is by no means confined to members of the legal profession. He was the faithful friend and adviser of our first Lieutenant-Governor, and it is doubtless to his legal acumen that we owe those eight wise statutes which were passed during the first session of our first Provincial Parliament, which assembled at Newark on the 17th of September, 1792.

Nothing is definitely known concerning Chief-Justice Osgoode's ancestry. A French-Canadian writer asserts that he was an illegitimate son of King George the Third. No authority whatever is assigned in support of this assertion, which probably rests upon no other basis than vague rumour. Similar rumours have been current with respect to the paternity of other persons who have been more or less conspicuous in Canada, and but little importance should be attached to them. He was born in the month of March, 1754, and entered as a commoner at Christchurch College, Oxford, in 1770, when he had nearly completed his sixteenth year. After a somewhat prolonged attendance at this venerable seat of learning, he graduated and received the degree of Master of Arts in the month of July, 1777. Previous to this time he had entered himself as a student at the Inner Temple, having already been enrolled as a student on the books of Lincoln's Inn. He seems at this time to have been possessed of some small means, but not sufficient for his support, and he pursued his professional studies with such avidity as temporarily to undermine his health. He paid a short visit to the Continent, and returned to his native land with restored physical and mental vigour. In due course he was called to the Bar, and soon afterwards published a technical work on the law of descent, which attracted some notice from the profession. He soon became known as an erudite and painstaking lawyer, whose opinions were entitled to respect, and who was very expert as a special pleader. At the Bar he was less successful, owing to an almost painful fastidiousness in his choice of words, which frequently produced an embarrassing hesitation of speech. He seems to have been a personal friend of Colonel Simcoe, even before that gentleman's appointment as Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, and their intimacy may possible have had something to do with Mr. Osgoode's appointment as Chief-Justice of the new Province in the spring of 1792. He came over in the same vessel with the Governor, who sailed on the 1st of May. Upon reaching Upper Canada the Governor and staff, after a short stay at Kingston, passed on to Newark (now Niagara). The Chief-Justice accompanied the party, and took up his abode with them at Navy Hall, where he continued to reside during the greater part of his stay in the Province, which was of less than three years' duration. The solitude of his position, and his almost complete isolation from society, and from the surroundings of civilized life, seem to have been unbearable to his sensitive and social nature. In 1795 he was appointed Chief-Justice of the Lower Province, where he continued to occupy the Judicial Bench until 1801, when he resigned his position, and returned to England. His services as Chief-Justice entitled him to a pension of £800 per annum, which he continued to enjoy for rather more than twenty-two years. For historical purposes, his career may be said to have ceased with his resignation, as he never again emerged from the seclusion of private life. He was several times requested to enter Parliament, but declined to do so. During the four years immediately succeeding his return to England he resided in the Temple. In 1804, upon the conversion of Melbourne House — a mansion in the West End of London — into the fashionable set of chambers known as "The Albany," he took up his quarters there for the remainder of his life. Among other distinguished men who resided there contemporaneously with him were Lord Brougham and Lord Byron. The latter occupied the set of chambers immediately adjoining those of the retired Chief-Justice, and the two became personally acquainted with each other; though, considering the diversity of their habits, it is not likely that any very close intimacy was established between them. In conjunction with Sir William Grant, Mr. Osgoode was appointed on several legal commissions. One of these consisted of the codification of certain Imperial Statutes relating to the colonies. Another involved an inquiry into the amount of fees receivable by certain officials in the Court of King's Bench, which inquiry was still pending at the time of Mr. Osgoode's death. He lived very much to himself, though he was sometimes seen in society. He died of acute pneumonia, on the 17th of January, 1824, in the seventieth year of his age. One of his intimate friends has left the following estimate of his character: — "His opinions were independent, but zealously loyal; nor were they ever concealed, or the defence of them abandoned, when occasions called them forth. His conviction of the excellence of the English Constitution sometimes made him severe in the reproof of measures which he thought injurious to it; but his politeness and good temper prevented any disagreement, even with those whose sentiments were most opposed to his own. To estimate his character rightly, it was, however, necessary to know him well; his first approaches being cold, amounting almost to dryness. But no person admitted to his intimacy ever failed to conceive for him that esteem which his conduct and conversation always tended to augment. He died in affluent circumstances, the result of laudable prudence, without the smallest taint of avarice or illiberal parsimony."

He was never married. There is a story about an attachment formed by him to a young lady of Quebec, during his residence there. It is said that the lady preferred a wealthier suitor, and that he never again became heart-whole. This, like the other story above mentioned, rests upon mere rumour, and is entitled to the credence attached to other rumours of a similar nature. His name is perpetuated in this Province by that of the stately Palace of Justice on Queen Street West, Toronto; also by the name of a township in the county of Carleton.

THE HON. WILLIAM MORRIS

At the present day, the name of the Hon. William Morris is less frequently in men's mouths than it was half a century ago, but it is a name of much significance to any one familiar with the ecclesiastical history of this country. There was a time when there were three prominent political leaders in Western Canada, agreeing in no respect but in the possession of great abilities and indomitable energy. These were John Beverley Robinson, who led the Church of England party, better known by the name of the "Family Compact;" Egerton Ryerson, who headed the Methodist, which was then the Liberal party; and William Morris, who led the Scotch Presbyterians with all the gravity and sagacity which are usually attributed to that class and creed. The first and last named of these leaders were in Parliament, and guided its rival parties. The second, from the lobby and the press, exercised, perhaps, greater influence than either. Mr. Robinson was the most accomplished, Mr. Ryerson the most versatile, and Mr. Morris the most determined and persevering. Mr. Robinson contended for the supremacy of the Church of England, and her exclusive right to the Clergy Reserves, with the hauteur of a cavalier. Mr. Ryerson, in seeking a share of all good things for his co-religionists, identified them with the people, and consequently had it in his power to use the strong plea for equal justice, which finally prevailed. Mr. Morris sought a share of the Clergy Reserves for his own Church only, upon the plea that the Church of Scotland was, by the Act of Union between England and Scotland, as much an established Church as the Church of England. There have been many exciting times in the history of Canada, but none has called forth more powerful exhibitions of feeling, or, we may add, more ability than the Clergy Reserve struggle — when the Upper Canada Parliament sat at Little York, with the gentlemen above named for its leaders, and when the press was directed by Messieurs Ryerson, Mackenzie, Cary and Collins. Nor did the then leaders sink into oblivion. Mr. Robinson became Chief Justice of Upper Canada, an office which he filled with credit from the time of his appointment in 1829 down to his death in January, 1863, embracing a period of nearly thirty-four years. Mr. Ryerson became Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada, in which capacity he served his country faithfully from 1844 to 1876. Mr. Morris became Receiver-General of United Canada, an office in which it would have been well for the country if he could have been permanently retained. Possessed of an integrity which gave perfect security that he would participate in no jobs himself, he had at the same time that knowledge of men and of business, that patient industry, and that discriminating judgment which would permit no others to peculate. He was a model Receiver-General. Such is the characterization of an able and discriminating writer of twenty and odd years ago, and his remarks will stand the test of time. The late Mr. Morris was not, perhaps, what would be called a man of modern ideas, but he was a man of stainless honour and thorough conscientiousness of purpose. He initiated one of the most important movements known to Canadian history, and took a foremost part in the agitation consequent thereupon. He left his mark upon his time, and transmitted to his posterity a name which is justly held in respect. For the following particulars of his career, we are largely indebted to his eldest son, the Hon. Alexander Morris, who has himself attained to a high place in public life, and whose career has been sketched in a former portion of this work.

The subject of this memoir was born at Paisley, in Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the 31st of October, 1786. When he was about fifteen years of age he emigrated to Upper Canada with his parents, who settled in Montreal, where his father embarked in a general mercantile business. This business involved a considerable shipping interest, and was carried on by Mr. Morris the elder for some years with much success. In process of time a catastrophe occurred which materially crippled his resources, and rendered it necessary that he should resort to a new and hitherto untried occupation. Having lost a homeward bound ship in the Straits of Belle Isle, and no part of the cargo having been insured, owing to the carelessness of an agent, and having sustained other heavy losses, he was compelled to close his business in Montreal, and retire to a farm near Brockville. In 1809 he died, leaving large debts in Montreal and in Glasgow. His son William, the subject of this sketch, remained at Brockville with his brother and the younger members of the family, helping to support them by his exertions, till the war of 1812 with the United States commenced, when he left his business and joined a militia flank company as an Ensign, having received his commission from General Brock. In October of that year he volunteered, with Lieutenant-Colonel Lethbridge, in the attack of the British forces on Ogdensburg, and commanded the only militia gun-boat that sustained injury, one man having been killed and another wounded at his side by a cannon shot. In 1813 he was present at and took an active part in the capture of Ogdensburg, having been detached in command of a party to take possession of the old French fort then at that place — an achievement which he successfully accomplished. His comrades in arms, some of whom are still living, speak in high terms of his soldierly bearing, and of the affection with which he inspired his men, during this early portion of his career. He continued to serve till 1814, when a large body of troops having arrived in the Colony from the Peninsula, he left the militia service, and returned to Brockville, to assist his brother in the management of the business there.

In 1816, he proceeded with the military and emigrant settlers to the Military Settlement near the Rideau, and there commenced mercantile business, at what is now the substantial and prosperous town of Perth, but which was then a wilderness. He continued for some years to bestow his active attention on the mercantile business conducted at Perth by himself, and at Brockville by his brother, the late Mr. Alexander Morris. In 1820 an incident took place that marked the character of the man, and was an index to all his future career. In that year, he and his brother received two handsome pieces of plate from the creditors of their late father in Glasgow, for having voluntarily, and without solicitation, paid in full all the debts owing by the estate. Such respect for a father's memory indicated a high-toned rectitude that deserved and could not fail to command success. In this year, also, the political career of Mr. Morris commenced, he having been elected by the settlers to represent them in the Provincial Parliament. He soon took an active and prominent part in that assembly, and in 1820 took one of the leading steps in his political life, when he moved and carried an address to the King, asserting the claim of the Church of Scotland to a share of the Clergy Reserves under the Imperial Statute 31 Geo. III., cap. 31. With no hostility to the Church of England, but yet with a sturdy perseverance and a strong conviction of right, he urged the claims of his own Church, basing them upon the Act of Union between England and Scotland. The Colonial Government resisted his pretensions, but sixteen years afterwards the twelve Judges in England decided in effect that Mr. Morris was right. In 1835 he was elected for the sixth time consecutively to Parliament for the county of Lanark. In 1836 he was called to a seat in the Legislative Council of Upper Canada. In 1837 he proceeded to the Colonial Office, Downing Street, London, with a petition to the King and Parliament from the Scottish inhabitants of the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, asserting their claims to equal rights with those enjoyed by their fellow-subjects of English origin. He was selected for this mission by a meeting of delegates from all parts of the Province held at Cobourg. Subsequently he received from the Scottish inhabitants of the Province a handsome piece of plate, bearing an appropriate inscription as a token of their approbation of his public services.

During the troubles of 1837 and 1838 he was actively engaged in drilling and organizing the militia of the county of Lanark, of which he was Senior Colonel, and twice sent to the frontier detachments of several regiments, going in command on one occasion himself. In 1841 he was appointed Warden of the District of Johnstown, under the new Municipal Council Act, and carried the law into successful operation. In 1844, he was appointed a member of the Executive Council in Sir Charles Metcalfe's Administration, and also Receiver-General of the Province. He was a most efficient departmental officer, and proved himself to be what Lord Metcalfe described him — a valuable public servant. While Receiver-General, he introduced into that department a new system of management, and paid into the public chest while he held the office £11,000 as interest on the daily deposits of public money — an advantage to the public which had never before been attempted. In 1846 he resigned the office of Receiver-General, and was appointed President of the Executive Council, the duties of which office he discharged with great efficiency and vigour. In 1848, on the retirement of the Administration of which he was a member, he retired to private life, with health impaired by the assiduous attention he had given to his public duties. Till the year 1853, when he was seized with the disease which eventually terminated his career, he continued, when his health permitted, to take an active part in the proceedings of the Legislative Council.

He was a clear, logical, vigorous speaker, and was always listened to with respect; and having a very extensive knowledge of Parliamentary law and practice, he did much to establish the character of legislation in that branch of the Legislature of which he was so long a member; and owing to his high moral character and his firm adherence to principle, he wielded a very beneficial influence in that body. Few public men pass through a life as long as his was, and carry with them more of public confidence and respect than did Mr. Morris. He died on the 29th of June, 1858, in the seventy-second year of his age.