Part 84
=Laurie, John Wimburn=, Major-General, Oakfield, Nova Scotia, was born on the 1st October, 1835, in London, England. He is the eldest son of John Laurie, M.P. for Barnstaple, of 10 Hyde Park Terrace, London, and Marshalls, Havering atte Bower, in Essex; justice of the peace for Middlesex and Essex, and deputy-lieutenant for both counties. His mother is Eliza Helen Collett, youngest daughter of Kenrick Collett, master in Chancery, of Holcrofts, Fulham, Middlesex, England. Major-General Laurie received his education at Harrow, and Dresden, Saxony, and graduated with honors at the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, obtaining a commission without purchase. He was appointed to the 2nd Queen’s Royals in depot, in 1853, and volunteered for active service against the Russians in 1854, and appointed to the 4th King’s Own regiment of foot. With this regiment he served ten months at the siege and fall of Sebastopol. He was twice wounded in the trenches, and was mentioned in despatches for his gallant defence of advanced positions against a largely superior force of Russians. He never missed a day’s duty during the twenty months he spent in the Crimea, except when wounded. He was present at the attacks on Sebastopol on the 18th June, with a storming party on Barrack battery on the 8th September, and at the capture of the stronghold on the 9th. September, 1855. He served at Mauritius in 1857, to keep order among the Indian coolies during the excitement consequent on the Indian mutiny; and in Central India against the rebellious Sepoys during 1858-59-60, as staff officer of a field force with irregular cavalry and camel corps, making forced marches in the Rewah and Mahi Kante districts. He was promoted to major, unattached, for distinguished service, in 1861. In 1854 and 1856 Major Laurie attended the School of Musketry at Hythe, and took a prominent part in introducing musketry instruction and rifle practice in the army. He passed a competitive examination, and entered Staff College at Sandhurst in 1861; but on the occurrence of the _Trent_ affair he volunteered for active service, and was sent to Canada to organize the militia, and was retained in Nova Scotia by the Marquis of Normanby and General Sir Hastings Doyle, and remained as inspecting field officer until that province joined the confederation. In 1866 he placed 15,000 men under arms to repel the threatened Fenian invasion, and also took over the garrison duties at Halifax, so that the regular troops might go to the New Brunswick frontier. In 1869 he took over the duties of brigade major, and succeeded to the position of deputy adjutant-general on the death of Colonel Sinclair, continuing in command in Nova Scotia until 1881, when he was transferred to British Columbia. When on leave in England, in 1877, he offered to raise a regiment in Canada for active service against the Russians, and for this he received the personal thanks of the secretary of war; and in 1881 he volunteered and accompanied Sir Frederick Roberts to South Africa, with the expedition against the Boers of the Transvaal. On the conclusion of peace he returned and assumed command in British Columbia, and remained there until 1882, in which year he was promoted, by selection, to the rank of major-general in the army. In 1885, on the outbreak of the Servo-Bulgarian war, he was appointed commissioner to the headquarters of the Servian army, under the Red Cross Convention, and remained until the conclusion of peace in 1886, in charge of hospitals organized by him, and in carrying aid to the wounded and those suffering from contagious and epidemic diseases; and with Baron Mundy, the eminent philanthropist of Austria, jointly organized an ambulance train for the conveyance of wounded from the field by railway trains, for all of which services he received the personal and repeated thanks of the King and Queen of Servia, as well as of the Red Cross Society of Great Britain, and of Austro-Hungary. On the outbreak of Riel’s rebellion in the North-West of Canada, he volunteered for service under General Middleton, who was his junior in the army, and after joining the advanced column, was appointed commandant of base and line of communication, which position he filled until the close of the campaign. He has received, as decorations for his war services: from her Majesty, Queen Victoria, the Crimean medal, with clasp for Sebastopol, Indian mutiny medal for Central India, North-West Canada medal; from the Sultan of Turkey the Russian war medal and the Imperial Order of the Medjijie; from the King of Servia the Servian war medal and the decoration of Knight Commander of the order of St. Sava; and from the Queen of Servia, the order of the Red Cross for saving life. Major-General Laurie was elected councillor for his district, and first warden of Halifax county on the organization of the municipality in 1879, and again in 1880. He was appointed a justice of the peace for Halifax county in 1869. For ten years he has been president of the Provincial Board of Agriculture in Nova Scotia, and has been active in organizing joint stock companies for the development of manufactures. He carries on a large experimental farm at Oakfield, about twenty miles from Halifax. He has been elected for ten years grand master of the Freemasons of Nova Scotia; and was also president of the St. George’s Society of Halifax; and aided in organizing the Royal British Veteran Society, a self-supporting benefit society, composed of members who have served in the army or navy, and of which he is president. He contested Shelburne county, a Liberal stronghold, at the general election of 1887, as an independent supporter of the national policy, and was defeated by thirty-four votes. During the thirty-four years of his active service, Major-General Laurie served her Majesty in a campaign in every quarter of the globe; has written descriptive articles for the contemporary press, and was called upon by the Admiralty authorities in Britain to publish his views as to the most suitable position for a naval base for Great Britain in the Pacific. He is a strong advocate for closer union and more harmonious united work amongst all Evangelical denominations. He married, in 1863, Frances Robie, youngest daughter of the Hon. Enos Collins, of Gorsebrook, Halifax, granddaughter of the late Chief Justice Sir Brenton Haliburton, and great-granddaughter of Bishop Inglis, of Nova Scotia, who, as rector of Trinity Church, New York, at the time of the revolution, continued to offer prayers for the king, although levelled guns warned him that his life would be taken unless he desisted. Two sons are now serving in the army: the elder in the 4th King’s Own, in which General Laurie won his spurs, and the younger in the old 86th, now the Royal Irish Rifles.
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=Hall, John Smythe=, Jun., B.A., B.C.L., Q.C., M.P.P. for Montreal West, is a native of Montreal, having been born there on the 7th August, 1853. He is the son of John S. Hall and Emma Robins Brigham. Mr. Hall, sen., was a member of the old firm of Grant, Hall & Co., extensive lumbermen, and subsequently flour millers. Mr. Hall, jun., received his primary education at Bishop’s College School, Lennoxville, and afterwards entered McGill University, taking the degree of B.A. in 1874, and that of B.C.L. in 1875. He was called to the bar in 1876, and at once took a prominent place. He is now a member of the well-known law firm of Chapleau, Hall, Nicholls & Brown. He has always taken a deep interest in educational matters. In 1883 he was chosen representative fellow-in-law, and became a member of the corporation of McGill University, and re-elected to the same position in January, 1886. He was also president of the University Literary Society; in 1884 president of the Graduates’ Society; and in 1887 president of the University Club. In politics he is a Conservative, and an active member of the Junior Conservative Club, occupying the position of president in 1885. This year (1887) he was made a Q.C. Mr. Hall has taken an active interest in the volunteer force, and is now a captain in the Montreal Field Battery of Artillery. He is a member of the Church of England; and on the 3rd January, 1883, married Victoria Brigham, daughter of the late T. C. Brigham, of Ottawa. At the last general election for the province of Quebec, Mr. Hall contested Montreal West against G. W. Stephens, Liberal, and W. W. Robertson, workingman’s candidate, for a seat in the Quebec legislature, and was returned by a majority of 127 over Mr. Stephens, and 1,000 over Mr. Robertson.
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=Labelle, Rev. François Xavier Antoine=, the “Apostle of Colonization,” Parish Priest, St. Jerome, county of Terrebonne, Province of Quebec, was born in the village of Ste. Rose, Laval county, on the 14th November, 1834, his father being Antoine Labelle, a master shoemaker, who was married to Angélique Mayer. In 1844 he was sent to the Seminary of Ste. Thérèse, and in that institution completed a full course of classical studies. He was chiefly remarkable at college for his sound judgment and his happy and retentive memory. The consideration he enjoyed among his fellow-students caused him to be chosen president of the Grammar Society, and vice-president of the Literary Society of the college. His favorite studies were history and philosophy, and his favorite authors DeMaistre, Balmès, DeBonald, and Nicholas, chiefly the latter, whom he possessed almost by heart, and thereby gained the surname of “Nicholas,” given him by his companions. He chose the ecclesiastical state, and received the first of the minor orders in 1852, at the Seminary of Ste. Thérèse, where during three years he was a teacher, performing at the same time the humble duties of recreation room master and attendant of the convocation room. In 1855 he went to the Grand Seminary of Montreal, where he devoted himself exclusively to the study of theology. He was only twenty-two years old when he was ordained priest, in 1856, in his native village, by Mgr. Pinsonneault, eight days after the consecration of that prelate. By virtue of an edict of the Holy See the privilege of ordaining a certain number of priests before they had attained the required age, was granted to the bishop of Montreal, and Father Labelle was one of the first on whom the honor was conferred. He was appointed vicar to Father Vinet, since promoted to the dignity of prelate to the Holy See, then parish priest of the beautiful and wealthy parish of Sault-au-Récollet. The young vicar rendered great services to his _curé_ in the difficulties the latter had to encounter in connection with the building of the Convent of the Sacred Heart. Father Labelle resided two years and a half in the parish of Sault-au-Récollet, and the parishioners expressed the livliest regret when he was sent to help the parish priest of St. Jacques-le-Mineur, Rev. Father Morin, who required rest; in this parish he resided nine months. In 1859 he was appointed parish priest of St. Antoine Abbé, a mixed parish on the border. Here he had many difficulties to smooth over as first resident _curé_ of this parish, which had been divided in two for civil purposes by the division of the counties of Huntingdon and Chateauguay. In the midst of the greatest obstacles he had to create everything; he succeeded, however, in having the parish civilly erected and organized as a scholastic and municipal corporation, in spite of the electoral influences which prevented him from attaining his aim immediately. Religious embarrassments also existed, but thanks to the energy and tact displayed by Father Labelle, these were overcome. The impetus given to St. Antoine Abbé during the four years’ residence of the _curé_ in that parish, placed it in the way of progress, and it is at the present day one of the most prosperous in the province of Quebec. A few years ago the humble chapel, which had been erected in the first days of the village, was demolished, and in its place stands one of the finest church edifices in the county. It was here that Rev. Father Labelle experienced a deep sorrow in the death of his father, who had followed the fortunes of his only son. In 1863 he was sent to Lacolle by his bishop, Mgr. Bourget, who had had occasion to appreciate his energy and charity. Grave difficulties had arisen, owing to the choice of a site for a new church, which had been selected outside of the village as the centre of the parish, causing division, fed by a few Protestants, who went even so far as to offer help to build the church in the village. When Father Labelle arrived to take the place of Father Bourbonnais, the situation was almost desperate; but the inhabitants of St. Antoine predicted to those of Lacolle that nothing would resist the efforts of their new pastor. And, in fact, despite the intelligence and wealth in league against him, despite the efforts of the Protestants who owned the greater portion of the territory, he succeeded through perseverance and diplomatic acuteness to make Lacolle what it is to-day, one of the finest villages in the country. When he left the parish, both Protestants and Catholics recognized his ability and admitted the justice of his previous claims. It was during his sojourn in Lacolle that the Fenian invasion of 1866 took place. The spot offered an easy access to the enemy, being at the entrance of the plain leading to St. John’s. The patriotism roused by the _curé_, however, in the hearts of his parishioners caused the enemies of the country to choose another point to enter Canada. “If the Fenians come here,” the pastor said, “I will place myself at your head to repel them.” In 1868 he was transferred to the curacy of St. Jerome. After having passed his first years of priesthood in the midst of struggles, it was a welcome change to the good man to settle in a quiet and well organized parish. He fell on his knees on the threshold of his presbytery to return thanks to God for his mercy. He discovered in his parishioners the spirit of union, so efficacious in the performance of noble works. The site of the village, the progress already made, the intelligence and ambition of its inhabitants, everything tended to forebode an era of happiness such as he had never before experienced. He knew the North only from geographical descriptions and hearsay; but the position of St. Jerome at the foot of the Laurentian mountains, in that broad and fertile valley of the Ottawa river, opened up to his view the perspective of a vast field for the exercise of his patriotism. He wanted to convince himself _de visu_ of the resources of the country, and with that end in view, he organized an expedition to explore the valley to its most extreme limits, and he returned with the conviction that this vast plain should be the cradle of a numerous and vigorous population, whose industry and needs would develop an important trade. The best means to attain that end, he thought, was to build a railroad, which, reaching the Gatineau, would in after years be an immense feeder to Montreal, whilst helping to colonize that part of the province; for he had found, during his voyage, a fertile soil and a wealth of timber and minerals hardly surpassed in any other part of the Dominion. He was also thinking of the great number of willing and vigorous workers who, after receiving so many favors in their native land, left it to go and enrich the foreigner, while their own country’s resources were undeveloped for the want of their sturdy sinews. “Any subject,” he would say, “who willingly leaves the benevolent shadow of the British flag, proves a loss to the country and an evil to the subject.” Before undertaking to build a railroad, however, colonization roads must be built, the country must be opened; so he turned his attention to the roads at once. Public men know what it costs to obtain favors from a government which, in spite of its patriotism and good-will, is often-times hampered in the distribution of its favors. The influences of the southern part of the province, which set up the plea that they had not obtained enough at the hands of the government, tempered the generous impulses of the ministers. To this Father Labelle offered a strong argument: “The south has received a great deal, the north almost nothing; when the south receives, the north derives no benefit; whilst, when the north is prosperous, the overflow of its wealth benefits the south.” He begged and supplicated, but was repulsed. Nothing daunted, he kept asking. “I wish you would send your _curé_ to his parishioners,” a minister said one day to the member for Terrebonne. “You can do that yourself,” said the latter; “if he annoys you, give him what he asks, otherwise you will never get rid of him.” After months of waiting and innumerable requests, the ministry acquiesced to the just demands of the north, and granted subsidies according to the means at the disposal of the government. Let us say right here that the zeal of Father Labelle was vigorously seconded by the Hon. Mr. Chapleau, who has always done all he could in the interest of his constituents, and also by the Hon. Mr. Masson, the late lieutenant-governor of the Province of Quebec, and the then representative of the county in the House of Commons. The zealous priest was also sustained by the successive administrations of the province, and by the sympathy and energy of the citizens of St. Jerome, among whom may be mentioned Messrs. Laviolette, M. J. B. Lefebvre-Villemure, Prévost, de Montigny, William Scott, J. A. Hervieux, and many others. The whole parish is in accord with its _curé_, for, in French Canada, when works of public utility are in view, political divisions are laid aside. The priests of the adjoining parishes also accorded a loyal and energetic support to Father Labelle. The principal work of this indefatigable man is certainly the railroad commenced under his auspices, known at first under the name of “Chemin à lisses de bois,” but laid to-day with steel rails. His matchless energy was displayed in its construction; and in the pursuit of this object he undertook struggles, voyages, writing, etc., the recital of which would be the recital of the stormy beginnings of two great railways which at the present day are the pride of the country. Father Labelle has always looked upon the “Colonization Railroad of the North” as part of the Canadian Pacific, and also took a great interest in the latter, which he considered as the artery destined to carry the wealth of the West, as well as the treasures of Japan and China, to our seaports through Canadian territory, favoring and feeding industry and commerce all along its immense length. He admired the plan of Sir George E. Cartier, and regretted the failure of Sir Hugh Allan, through the intrigues of his opponents, in his attempt to float the loan necessary to its construction. He foresaw, in the construction of the Pacific Railway, a powerful means of immigration, and calculated that in ten years, the indirect contributions paid by the new settlers into the Federal treasury, and the increase in value of the North-West lands, would pay the largest portion of the debt contracted for the undertaking. It is needless to add that his predictions were correct, as it has been amply proved since. His appreciation of the advantages and disadvantages offered by the diverse routes proposed, reveal the foresight of a true statesman. He worked also in the interest of the North Shore road, and helped it by his writings, visits and timely interference at critical periods. But his favorite road has always been the Colonization road. He is called its father, and he cannot possibly disclaim his offspring. He said one time, on the occasion of a visit paid him by the members of the Montreal press, that such children were the only ones the members of his calling were allowed to beget. At the same time he thanked the newspapers for the tender care they had exercised in nursing and clothing his child. If doubts existed on any one’s mind as to the important share of glory accruing to Father Labelle on account of this work, the following extracts which were communicated to us by an indiscreet friend of the _curé_ of St. Jerome, would be sufficient to dissipate them. Sir Hugh Allan wrote him on the 25th July, 1883:—
MY DEAR FATHER LABELLE,—You have been happy to hear, I am sure, that the contract for the construction of the Colonization railroad has at last been signed. This result is in a great measure due to your industry and increasing efforts, and if there is a man who ought to reap any glory from the completion of this work, that man is yourself.
The Hon. Mr. Abbott wrote from London, under date May 5, 1873:—
It is to be regretted that your holy office should prevent you from occupying in the enterprise the position to which your efforts and influence entitle you. I know, however, that the satisfaction of having accomplished a good work on behalf of your countrymen will reward you sufficiently, from your own standpoint, for the important help you have given us from the beginning.
To-day the road is completed, and whoever is entitled to merit should receive it. Everyone knows that in consequence of unforeseen difficulties the future of the road was threatened even after the work had been undertaken. Father Labelle had arranged to get one million dollars voted by the city of Montreal, and he induced the ministry of the province to take the road under its control and to complete it. It is also said that the idea of getting the “Grand Trunk of the North” built by the government originated with him. The part he had taken in these events was recognized in a measure by the commissioners who named one of the first engines placed on the line, “Rev. A. Labelle.” On the fiftieth anniversary of Father Labelle’s birthday, at a dinner given at St. Jerome, on the 29th November, 1884, were gathered together ministers, journalists, members of parliament, aldermen and representative men from all parts of the province, and all with common accord applauded the work he had done. And we may say here that the tact he displayed in the circumstance justified what had been said of him on a previous occasion by a citizen distinguished among his English and Protestant brethren: “Father Labelle,” he said, “should be prime minister of Canada instead of _curé_ of St. Jerome.” The following is an extract of a speech delivered on that eventful occasion:—