The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)

Part 1

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THE CANADIAN

PORTRAIT GALLERY.

JOHN CHARLES DENT,

ASSISTED BY A STAFF OF CONTRIBUTORS.

VOL. III.

TORONTO:

PUBLISHED BY JOHN B. MAGURN.

1881.

C. B. ROBINSON, PRINTER,

5 JORDAN STREET, TORONTO.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME III.

PAGE.

THE EARL OF DUFFERIN 1

THE REV. ROBERT FERRIER BURNS 13

THE HON. ALBERT NORTON RICHARDS 15

THE RIGHT REV. JOHN TRAVERS LEWIS, LL.D. 17

CHARLES, LORD METCALFE 19

THE HON. ALEXANDER MORRIS 23

THE HON. THOMAS TALBOT 27

THE HON. DAVID LAIRD 41

THE HON. CHARLES E. B. DE BOUCHERVILLE 44

THE REV. SAMUEL S. NELLES, D.D., LL.D. 45

THE HON. WILLIAM HUME BLAKE 48

THE REV. ALEXANDER TOPP, D.D. 54

THE HON. HENRI GUSTAVE JOLY 56

THE HON. MACKENZIE BOWELL 58

THE REV. JAMES RICHARDSON, D.D. 60

Part 2

LORD SEATON 66

THE HON. SIR DOMINICK DALY 69

THE HON. WILLIAM MCMASTER 72

THE HON. WILFRID LAURIER 75

THE RIGHT HON. SIR CHARLES BAGOT 77

LA SALLE 79

THE RIGHT REV. JAMES W. WILLIAMS, D.D. 90

LIEUT.-COL. CASIMIR STANISLAUS GZOWSKI 91

THEODORE HARDING RAND, A.M., D.C.L. 98

THE HON. MATTHEW CROOKS CAMERON 100

THE HON. SIR LOUIS H. LAFONTAINE, BART. 104

JOHN CHRISTIAN SCHULTZ, M.D. 109

THE HON. GEORGE WILLIAM BURTON 114

LORD DORCHESTER 116

THE HON. WILLIAM PEARCE HOWLAND, C.B., K.C.M.G. 124

THE MOST REV. MICHAEL HANNAN, D.D. 128

GEORGE PAXTON YOUNG, M.A. 129

THE HON. TELESPHORE FOURNIER 132

THE HON. WILLIAM OSGOODE 133

THE HON. WILLIAM MORRIS 135

THE HON. THOMAS D'ARCY MCGEE 138

DAVID ALLISON, M.A., LL.D. 149

THE HON. THOMAS GALT 152

THE RIGHT REV. WILLIAM BENNETT BOND, M.A., LL.D. 154

THE HON. LEMUEL ALLAN WILMOT, D.C.L. 156

THE HON. HENRY ELZÉAR TASCHEREAU 165

THE HON. ALFRED GILPIN JONES 167

THE HON. JOHN NORQUAY 170

Part 3

THE HON. SIR RICHARD JOHN CARTWRIGHT 172

THE HON. THEODORE ROBITAILLE 175

THE HON. SAMUEL HUME BLAKE 177

THE MOST REV. ALEXANDRE ANTONIN TACHÉ 181

THE HON. JAMES COX AIKINS 191

THE HON. FELIX GEOFFRION, N.P., P.C. 193

THE HON. JOHN YOUNG 194

THE RIGHT REV. HIBBERT BINNEY, D.D. 200

THE HON. CHRISTOPHER FINLAY FRASER 201

SANDFORD FLEMING, C.E., C.M.G. 203

THE HON. DAVID LEWIS MACPHERSON 206

JAMES YOUNG 209

THE HON. PETER PERRY 212

THE HON. ADAM WILSON 215

THE HON. SIR ALEXANDER CAMPBELL 217

THE HON. LEVI RUGGLES CHURCH 220

CHARLES LENNOX, FOURTH DUKE OF RICHMOND 222

THE HON. CHARLES ALPHONSE PANTALEON PELLETIER, C.M.G. 225

THE HON. WILLIAM PROUDFOOT 227

THE HON. JOHN JOSEPH CALDWELL ABBOTT, B.C.L., D.C.L., Q.C. 229

THE HON. JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON 231

HIS GRACE FRANCOIS XAVIER LAVAL-MONTMORENCY 233

JAMES ROBERT GOWAN 236

ROBERT FLEMING GOURLAY 240

THE EARL OF DUFFERIN.

Of all the many personages who have been sent over from Great Britain to administer the Government in this country, since Canada first became an appendage of the British Crown, none has achieved so wide a popularity as Lord Dufferin. None of his predecessors succeeded in creating so wide a circle of personal friends, and none has left so many pleasant remembrances behind him. Lord Dorchester was a Governor, but the area over which his sway extended was very small as compared with the vast Dominion embraced within the purview of Lord Dufferin; and the inhabitants in his day were chiefly composed of the representatives of a single nationality. Lord Elgin was popular, but the exigencies of his position compelled him to make bitter enemies; and while every one, at the present day, acknowledges his great capacity and sterling worth, there was a time when he was subjected to grievous contumely and shameful indignity. Lord Dufferin, on the other hand, won golden opinions from the time of his first arrival in Canada, and when he left our shores he carried with him substantial tokens of the affection and good-will of the inhabitants. One single episode in his administration threatened, for a brief space, to interfere with the cordial relations between himself and one section of the people. His own prudence and tact, combined with the liberality and good sense of those who differed from him, enabled him to tide over the critical time; and long before his departure from among us he could number most of the latter among his warm personal friends. His Vice-Regal progresses made the lines of his face and the tones of his voice familiar to the inhabitants of every Province. Wherever he went he increased the number of his well-wishers, and won additional respect for his personal attainments. He identified himself with the popular sympathies, and entered with a keen zest into every question affecting the public welfare. He will long live in the memory of the Canadian people as a wise administrator, an accomplished statesman, a brilliant orator, a genial companion, and a sincere friend of the land which he was called upon to govern.

He is descended, on the paternal side, from a Scottish gentleman named John Blackwood, who went over from his native country to Ireland, and settled in the county Down, towards the close of the sixteenth century. The family has ever since resided in that county, and has played a not unimportant part in the political history of Ireland. In 1763 a baronetcy was conferred upon the then chief representative of the family, who was conspicuous in his day and generation as a vehement supporter of the Whig side in politics. In 1800 the head of the family was created an Irish peer, with the title of Baron Dufferin and Clandeboye. The father of the present representative was Price, fourth Baron, who succeeded to the title in 1839. Fourteen years prior to his accession to the title--that is to say, in the year 1825--this gentleman married Miss Helen Selina Sheridan, a granddaughter of the Right Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan. The distinguished orator and dramatist, as all the world knows, had a son named Thomas Sheridan, who inherited no inconsiderable share of his father's wit and genius. Thomas--better known as Tom--Sheridan, had three daughters, all of whom were prominent members of English society, and were conspicuous alike for personal beauty and the brilliancy of their intellectual accomplishments. One of them was the beautiful Lady Seymour, afterwards Duchess of Somerset, who presided as Queen of Beauty at the famous tournament held at the Earl of Eglinton's seat in Scotland, in the month of August, 1839. Another daughter, the Hon. Mrs. Caroline Norton, won distinction by her poetical effusions, and by several novels, one of which, "Stuart of Dunleath," is a work exhibiting a high degree of mental power. This lady, whose domestic misfortunes formed at one time an absorbing topic of discussion in England, survived until 1877, having some months before her death been married to the late Sir W. Stirling Maxwell. The remaining daughter, Harriet Selina, was the eldest of the three. She, as we have seen, married Captain Price Blackwood, and subsequently became Lady Dufferin upon her husband's accession to the title in 1839. She also won a name in literature by numerous popular songs and ballads, the best known of which is "The Irish Emigrant's Lament." She was left a widow in 1841, and twenty-one years later, by a second marriage, became Countess of Gifford. She died in 1867. Her only son, Frederick Temple, the subject of this sketch, was born at Florence, in Italy, on the 21st of June, 1826.

He received his early education at Eton College, and subsequently at Christ Church, Oxford. He passed through the curriculum with credit, but left the University without taking a degree. In the month of July, 1841, when he had only just completed his fifteenth year, his father's death took place, and he thus succeeded to the family titles six years before attaining his majority. During the first Administration of Lord John Russell he officiated as one of the Lords-in-Waiting to Her Majesty; and again filled a similar position for a short time a few years later.

Part 4

One of the most memorable passages in his early career was a visit paid by him to Ireland during the terrible famine which broke out there in 1846. Deriving his titles from Ireland, where the greater part of his property is situated, and being desirous of doing his duty by his tenantry, he had almost from boyhood paid a good deal of attention to the question of land-tenure in that country. With a view to extending his knowledge by personal observation, he set out from Oxford, accompanied by his friend, the Hon. Mr. Boyle, and went over, literally, to spy out the nakedness of the famine-stricken land. They for the first time in their lives found themselves face-to-face with misery in one of its most appalling shapes. They were young, kind-hearted and generous, and the scenes wherewith they were daily brought into contact made an impression upon their minds that has never been effaced. They published an account of their travels under the title of "A Narrative of a Journey from Oxford to Skibbereen, during the year of the Irish Famine," and devoted the proceeds of the sale of the narrative to the relief of the starving sufferers of Skibbereen. The realms of fiction may be ransacked in vain for anything more truly pathetic and heart-rending in its terrible, vigorous realism, than is this truthful picture of human privation and suffering. Upon one occasion, having bought a huge basket of bread for distribution among the most needy, they were completely besieged as soon as their intention became known. "Something like an orderly distribution was attempted," says the narrative, "but the dreadful hunger and impatience of the poor people by whom the donors were surrounded rendered this absolutely impossible, and the bread was thrown out, loaf by loaf, from a window, the struggles of the famished women over the insufficient supply being dreadful to witness." Of course, all they could do to alleviate the sufferings in the district was of little avail, but they gave to the extent of their ability, and the poor, famishing creatures were warmly touched by their unfeigned and tearful sympathy. When the two gentlemen left the town, their carriage was followed beyond the outskirts by crowds of suffering poor who implored the Divine blessing upon their heads. The publication of the "Narrative," moreover, aroused a general feeling of philanthropy throughout the whole of England and Scotland, and liberal contributions were sent over for the benefit of those who stood most in need of assistance.

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