Part 164

=Blackadar, Hugh William=, Postmaster of the City of Halifax, Nova Scotia, was born at Halifax, March 4th, 1843. He is son of Hugh William Blackadar, proprietor and publisher of the _Acadian Recorder_, and Sophia Coleman. Educated under George Munro (now millionaire publisher of New York), then rector of the Free Church Academy, Halifax. He early in life took an active part in the conduct of the _Acadian Recorder_, and on the death of his father, June 13th, 1863, assumed the management of that journal, which he enlarged from a weekly to a tri-weekly, and subsequently to a daily. In 1864 Mr. Blackadar joined the volunteers, and subsequently held the rank of lieutenant in the third brigade Halifax artillery. He is a member of the Halifax Yacht Club. He was elected an alderman for Ward 4 in 1867, and was re-elected in 1870, serving altogether six years. Represented the city of Halifax as co-delegate with Mayor Stephen Tobin at the railroad convention held at Portland, Me., in 1868, and was one of the secretaries of the convention. In 1869 he was made magistrate for the city and county of Halifax; was a member of the Halifax Board of School Commissioners for five years from the reconstruction of that body in 1868; was appointed Queen’s printer of the province in 1869, and held that position under the Vail-Annand and Hill administrations till 1875. He was appointed postmaster of the city of Halifax Nov. 5th, 1874, by the Dominion government, which office he now holds. In religion he belongs to the Baptist denomination. He married, May 29th, 1866, Rachel Saxton, of Halifax.

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=Plumb, Hon. Josiah Burr=, Speaker of the Senate of Canada. The country lost, by the sudden death of Senator Plumb, at Niagara, on the 12th of March, 1888, a gentleman possessed of excellent qualities as a man and as a politician. He was born on the 25th March, 1816, at East Haven, Connecticut, United States, where his father, an Episcopal clergyman, had charge of a parish. In 1845 he came to Canada, married a daughter of the late Samuel Street, and took up his residence at Niagara. For many years he lived in retirement, ample means rendering it unnecessary that he should take part in business, and it was not until 1874 that he turned his attention actively to politics. At that time Sir John Macdonald was passing through he darkest period of his political career, and it was more out of a chivalrous regard for the fallen leader than from any desire to achieve honors for himself that Mr. Plumb threw himself into the fight. In parliament and on the platform he was a most effective worker. He never for a moment spared himself, nor did he despair of success, though the outlook for his party and his leader up to the very day of the election in 1878 was never very bright. After that victory it was thought the indefatigable member for Niagara would receive for his services some recognition; but at that time this was not to be. Mr. Plumb continued to serve as a follower, and even consented in 1882 to the extinction, under the Redistribution Act, of the borough for which he sat. Having thus been legislated out of Niagara, he ran at the general election in the same year for North Wellington in the Conservative interest; but owing in part to the late hour at which he accepted the candidature, and in part to the personal popularity of his opponent, he suffered defeat. In the following year he was called to the Senate. As a senator he certainly made his mark. He brought to his task in that body a ripe parliamentary experience, a well-stored mind, and great fluency of speech. So highly appreciated was he by the ministerialists in the Senate and by the government that on the occasion of the withdrawal of Sir Alexander Campbell from the government, and pending the selection of a successor, he was asked to take charge of government measures in that chamber. The duty imposed upon him, it is hardly necessary to say, was performed most acceptably. Mr. Plumb’s elevation to the speakership of the Senate took place immediately after the general election of 1887. His wide information, dignified bearing, and fine social qualities made him a model president of the Upper House. Yet he has departed, as he might well have wished to do, full of years and honors. [For a more extended record of Mr. Plumb’s career, see the first series of this work.]

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=Peterson, Peter Alexander=, Civil Engineer, Montreal, member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, member of the American Society Civil Engineers, and member of the Council Canadian Society Civil Engineers, was born on 8th November, 1839, at Niagara Falls, province of Ontario. He is the eldest son of William Lounsberry Peterson and Susan Macmicking. Both his parents were descended from United Empire loyalist families who came to Canada on the conclusion of the American war, having sacrificed their property in the cause of the mother country, and were granted large tracts of land in Upper Canada. His maternal grandfather, the late Major John Macmicking, descended from the old Scotch family of Macmicking, of Miltonise and Killanbrougham, in the county of Wigton, was an ultra loyalist of the old Tory school. He fought in all the battles of 1812 on the Niagara frontier, and was wounded at Lundy’s Lane and Chippewa, and carried two bullets in his body till his death in 1863. He was out again in 1837, on the Tory side, raising a troop of cavalry which he commanded. Mr. Peterson was educated partly at a common school in Stamford, and partly by private tuition, preparatory to entering the Toronto University in the engineering course. He was articled, in 1859, to Mr. Thomas C. Keefer, C.M.G., member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and remained with him as a student and assistant till May, 1867, during which time he was engaged upon the Hamilton & Port Dover Railway, the Hamilton waterworks, a survey for the Georgian Bay Canal through the county of Ontario, and upon the construction of several large dams upon the Grand River at Paris and Brantford, besides having charge of the Toronto office, doing a general consulting engineering practice. In the spring of 1867 he accepted a position on the Great Western Railway of Canada, and in the autumn of the same year was offered the position of resident engineer on the New York, Oswego and Midland Railway, with charge from Oswego to Oneida, where he remained till March, 1868, when he was offered a position on the Intercolonial Railway surveys. He was appointed resident on construction of this railway for contract number 15 at Bathurst, where he remained till September, 1872, when he resigned to accept the position of chief engineer of the Toronto waterworks, to carry out the scheme recommended by Messrs. T. C. Keefer and E. S. Chesborough, the consulting engineers for these works. In September, 1875, before the water-works were completed, Mr. Peterson was offered by the DeBoucherville government, who had undertaken the construction of the railways from Quebec to Montreal and from Montreal to Ottawa, the position of chief engineer of these lines, which offer he accepted, arranging with the Toronto water-works commissioners to retain charge of the works till their completion, and with the government to hold the two positions conjointly. Mr. Peterson removed to Montreal in October, 1875, but retained charge of the water-works in Toronto till the end of 1877, when the works were completed, $2,000,000 having been expended upon them. Mr. Peterson had to encounter more than the usual amount of criticism during the early days of his official service in Toronto, but after the election of January, 1874, when his principal opponents were defeated, the hostile criticism ceased, and the general opinion prevailed that he had carried out the duties entrusted to him in a faithful, efficient and satisfactory manner. His career in the service of the Quebec government, terminated in September, 1881, when he resigned to accept the position of chief engineer of the St. Lawrence bridge, which was about to be built by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. During the debate in the Legislative Assembly of Quebec on the bill to authorize the construction of the Chaudière Bridge, the premier, the Hon. Mr. Chapleau, in moving the second reading of the measure, asked the house to let it go through without opposition, on account of the extreme urgency of at once letting the contract. The government had had great difficulty in making a choice between the three lowest bidders. Each of the contractors had offered advantages, and their offers had been most carefully weighed from every point of view, and from an engineering point as well, and Clarke, Reeves & Co.’s had been found the most advantageous. In this opinion he was confirmed by Mr. Peterson, chief engineer, to whose character, carefulness and skill he was bound to testify most fully; and that his opinion of Mr. Peterson’s engineering reputation was further confirmed by the fact that his original estimates for the cost of the whole bridge had been in every case reduced instead of, as is usual in such cases, largely exceeded. Hon. Mr. Joly consented most willingly to the second reading of the bill, and complimented the premier on his frankness. He alluded to the current rumor of favoritism in awarding the contract to Clarke, Reeves & Co., but he declined to entertain the idea that the government was actuated by any improper motives in awarding the contract to this firm, although their tender was not the lowest. He then instanced the excellent character and rapid construction of their work, and the special advantages they were ready to afford; and said he had every confidence in Mr. Peterson, and endorsed all the Hon. Mr. Chapleau had said respecting him. Hon. Mr. Chapleau then thanked Hon. Mr. Joly, and promised that the tenders would be submitted at once to the house. In considering the letting of the contract he had, most fortunately, had a professional adviser, upon whom he could rely—Mr. Peterson being, in fact, the strictest and most rigid of engineers. During his engagement with the Quebec government, he served under the DeBoucherville, the Joly and the Chapleau administrations, and gained the good will and confidence of them all, no party ever venturing to criticise his conduct, which, however, was furiously assailed by the contractor and his allies. On sending in his resignation to the government he was asked to withdraw it. The line between Montreal and Quebec was to be completed in October, 1877, and handed over to the government, but the contractor refused to give it up and continued to run it for his own benefit, keeping all the earnings. Two attempts were made to take possession of it, but failed. In the summer of 1878, Mr. Peterson offered to take possession of it for the government, which offer being accepted, a full power of attorney was given him to act for the Quebec government in the matter. The late Edward Carter, Q.C., was engaged with him for a considerable time in perfecting the case, and in August, Mr. Peterson, with the Hon. P. J. O. Chauveau, sheriff of Montreal, took possession of the Montreal district against a large force of men who were placed in charge of the Hochelaga and Mile End stations by the contractor, and alone retained possession against heavy odds and in spite of an injunction obtained by the contractor, which was served upon him the day before the seizure, and again while at Mile End holding a train against the will of the passengers on board of it, and the employees of the late contractor. He held the stations from noon till 10 p.m., when troops were obtained from the Dominion government to keep what had been gained. The government was so satisfied with the manner in which Mr. Peterson obtained and held possession of the railway, that he was appointed general manager. The contractor attempted through the courts, as well as by force on several other occasions, to regain possession of the line, but was defeated at every point. For taking possession of the railway in defiance of the injunction, Mr. Peterson was tried for contempt of court and found guilty, but was only required to give bail not to do so again. Between this time and his resignation, Mr. Peterson built the Chaudière bridge over the Ottawa river, just above the Chaudière rapids. He also strongly advocated the eastern entrance of the Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa & Ontario Railway into the Quebec gate barracks, as against the proposed site at the Papineau road, which had been commenced under the DeBoucherville government; and having shewed the Joly government how cheaply it could be built, got it adopted by that government, and carried it out under the Chapleau government. On entering the services of the Canadian Pacific Railway, in connection with the construction of the St. Lawrence bridge, he made surveys of various sites, and among them that recommended by the late Col. Roberts, president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, near the Lachine Rapids at Heron Island, but finally reported in favor of the Caughnawaga line, which was adopted in the winter of 1882; but nothing was done till the autumn of 1885, when contracts were let. This work was successfully carried out under Mr. Peterson’s direction during the summer of 1886, and in addition he built the St. Anne’s and Vaudreuil bridges over the Ottawa river, on the Ontario and Quebec section of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Sault Ste. Marie Bridge was built during the summer of 1887, under Mr. Peterson’s direction, for the Sault Ste. Marie Bridge Company, which is composed of the C. P. R, the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic R’y, and the Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie and Atlantic Railways. Mr. Peterson is now engineer of the Canadian Pacific Railway, in charge of the lines east of Port Arthur.

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=Costigan, Hon. John=, Ottawa, Minister of Inland Revenue for the Dominion of Canada, M.P. for Victoria, New Brunswick, was born at St. Nicholas, in the province of Quebec, on February 1st, 1835, and received a sound education at the College of St. Anne’s. When his education was completed, he moved to New Brunswick, and thereafter for many years was connected with various pursuits, being at one time registrar of deeds for Victoria county, and a judge of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas for New Brunswick. At a very early age Mr. Costigan gave evidence of the solid intellectual qualities which were to become so conspicuous in after years. Above all, those who watched him closely perceived an unvarying persistency in any course which he marked out for himself. Towards 1861 several of the leading inhabitants of Victoria county decided that they would ask Mr. Costigan to offer himself as a candidate for the legislature, and he consenting to do so, was elected, and sat in the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly until 1866, when on again appealing to his constituents he failed to secure his re-election. He was during that period regarded as one of the ablest men in the house, both sides paying great deference to his opinions. At the general election after confederation he was returned to the House of Commons, and has held his seat uninterruptedly for Victoria county ever since. On May 23rd, 1882, he was sworn in a member of the Privy Council, and made minister of inland revenue, and still occupies that position. On the 20th May, 1872, Mr. Costigan moved an address in the House of Commons, praying his Excellency the Governor-General to disallow the New Brunswick School Act, on the ground “that said law is unjust and causes much uneasiness among the Roman Catholic population.” Some time before the introduction of Mr. Costigan’s resolutions, persons had gone up and down through New Brunswick declaring that the province must have a system of free, non-sectarian public schools, and children of every denomination must attend these schools, and that one and all, according to his real or personal property, would be taxed to maintain the educational system. So far this was good. The province had for many years previously made liberal grants for education, but the schools were under denominational control; there was no thorough system of inspection; no uniform course of instruction, and subjects were taught on the old fashioned parrot plan, an old teacher standing behind the educational bulwark, driving education home with a birch rod. Therefore it was a wise and progressive movement that some one set on foot to reduce this chaos of catechism and birch, and arithmetic and letters, into one harmonious, efficient and enlightened system. The new idea carried the province by storm, and then there was appointed a chief superintendent of education. To this gentleman was assigned the task of drawing up an educational chart, outlining courses of instruction, and prescribing texts. He had just the qualifications needed to carry out the will of the narrow politicians with respect to education and the Roman Catholics, and so rancorously was he disposed towards Catholicism that, it is averred, when writing a letter, he carried his hatred so far as to avoid crossing his t’s. He imagined that all priests and lay brothers were bad men, and all nuns wicked women, not fit in character or garb to teach in the public schools, therefore he drew up a regulation making it unlawful for any teacher employed in the public schools to wear any badge, garb or emblem distinctive of any denominational sect or order. This, of course, excluded nuns, lay brothers, and people of a like ecclesiastical fashion, and the liberal and high-minded proviso was characterized as “the government’s infamous millinery regulation.” Holy Church had no cause for panic when the idea of free, non-sectarian schools was at first broached, although it fidgetted and fretted itself almost out of its vestments; now it had a genuine grievance. It was when this narrow regulation had been put upon the statute-book that Mr. Costigan, a Roman Catholic, raised his voice in the House of Commons and besought parliament to interpose its hand in justice to the minority in his province. He was ably seconded by the Hon. Timothy Warren Anglin, who pleaded until he became pathetic for justice to his co-religionists. Mr. Anglin’s newspaper, the _Freeman_, week after week, was laden with complainings against the injustice of the New Brunswick legislature. It declared it was the duty of Sir John A. Macdonald’s government to interfere its authority and maintain right. Then Sir John fell under his Pacific scandal load, and the Reformers returned to power, bringing with them Mr. Anglin, whom they put in the speaker’s chair. During the first session of the new parliament, Mr. Costigan again arose and moved his resolution, which ended in these words: “That the government should advise his Excellency to disallow the Act passed by the New Brunswick legislature.” In this case Mr. Speaker Anglin’s support ended with putting the resolution. The whole country knew how he had the Roman Catholic interests at heart, but it was inexpedient now to press the matter—inexpedient of course to embarrass his government, though this was the very course that his great store of wisdom had suggested when Sir John was in office. So Mr. Costigan had to fight the battle alone. To dispose of the matter, the governor-general did not disallow the New Brunswick School Act, and it would have been a constitutional crime had he done so. Nor did Mr. Costigan desire the repeal of such portions of the law as were just; he merely sought to remove the intolerance and bigotry that disgraced the Act in the “millinery regulations.” Although the Act was not repealed, Mr. Costigan’s exertions were not without fruit, for Dr. Rand’s anti-Catholic provision was expunged, and the doctor himself, as political decency in New Brunswick increased, began to totter in his chair. At last Mr. Blair asked him to resign, and he is now back in the province, where we hope a career of usefulness shall always be open to him. Mr. Costigan’s other great act in parliament was the submission, in 1882, of “The Costigan Irish resolution,” praying that Her Majesty might grant Home Rule government to Ireland on the self-government colonial plan, likewise praying for the relief of “suspects,” and asking other ameliorations. In so far as these resolutions addressed themselves to the question of Home Rule for Ireland, history shall always applaud their author, for he was only asking for a country, dear to him by ties of race, a political condition, the success of which he has tested. But it was a pity, a sad pity, that he, and parliament behind him, should have so far forgotten themselves as to advise another country as to what she should do to offenders against her own laws. Mr. Costigan’s career has been a very able one. He is a clear-headed, firm-handed administrator, and has his department thoroughly under control. His admirers a few years ago presented him with a splendid residence in Ottawa. Mr. Costigan in politics is a Conservative, and in religion a Roman Catholic. He married, in 1855, Harriet, daughter of John Ryan, of Grand Falls, New Brunswick.

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=Barnard, Edmund=, Advocate, Montreal, Quebec, was born at Three Rivers, on 23rd January, 1831. He is a son of Edward Barnard, for many years prothonotary of Three Rivers, whose family was originally from Yorkshire, England, settled at an early day in the history of the colonies, at Deerfield, Mass., and immigrated thence into Canada. Mr. Barnard received his education in the Colleges of St. Hyacinthe, Nicolet and Montreal, and took his degrees of B.A. and M.A. at St. John’s College, Fordham, N.Y. He studied law in the office of Judge Polette, in Three Rivers; also with Sir John Rose and the present Mr. Justice Monk, of the Court of Appeals, and was admitted to the bar on the 23rd of October, 1853. Mr. Barnard is known as one of the most studious, painstaking and successful lawyers in Montreal. He has made a specialty of certain branches, such as real estate, French law, municipal law, and law of banks and corporations, he having a very extensive _clientèle_ in those several departments. He often visits England to attend to Canadian cases before the judicial committee of the Privy Council. A fellow member of the Montreal bar gives Mr. Barnard credit for having a very keen perception of the old French law—second to that of no other lawyer in the province—for being a very indefatigable worker in preparing his wises, and for being a fluent and strong advocate, equally good in the French and English languages. In 1858 Mr. Barnard was married to Ellen King, daughter of the Hon. C. L. Austin, recorder of the city of Albany, N.Y., and they have had issue of ten children.

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