Part 26

Mr. Norquay is a native of the Red River country, and has taken a conspicuous part in public affairs ever since the admission of the Province of Manitoba into the Confederation in 1870. He was born a few miles from Fort Garry, on the 8th of May, 1841. His father, the late Mr. John Norquay, whose namesake he is, was a farmer, and a man of some influence in the colony. The future Premier followed in his father's footsteps, and has devoted the greater part of his life to farming pursuits, although public affairs have for some years past engrossed much of his time. He received his education at St. John's Academy, under the tutelage of Bishop Anderson, and took a scholarship there in 1854. In June, 1862, he married Miss Elizabeth Setter, the second daughter of Mr. George Setter Jr., a native of Red River. He entered public life immediately after the admission of Manitoba to the Union, having been returned at the general election of 1870 as the representative of the constituency of High Bluff in the Local Legislature. He continued to sit for that constituency until the general election of 1874, when he was returned for St. Andrew's, and he has ever since represented that constituency in the Local House, having been reëlected by a large majority in 1878, and having been returned by acclamation at the last general election for the Province held on the 16th of December, 1879.

Upon the formation of the first Local Government in Manitoba, on the 28th of January, 1871, under the Premiership of the late Hon. James McKay, Mr. Norquay accepted the portfolio of Minister of Public Works, to which was subsequently added that of Minister of Agriculture. He held office until the 8th of July, 1874, when he resigned, with the rest of his colleagues. Upon the formation of the new Ministry on the 2nd of December in the same year, under the Hon. R. A. Davis, Mr. Norquay accepted a seat in it without portfolio. When Mr. Royal resigned the office of Minister of Public Works, and became Attorney-General of the Province, in May, 1876, Mr. Norquay succeeded to the vacant portfolio, and retained it until October, 1878. During the month last named, Mr. Davis, the Premier, retired from public life, and thereby rendered necessary a reconstruction of the Government. Mr. Norquay was called upon to carry out this reconstruction, which, in conjunction with Mr. Royal, he successfully accomplished, he himself becoming Premier and Provincial Treasurer. During his tenure of office as Minister of Public Works, in 1878, he visited Ottawa while the Dominion Parliament was in session, on business connected with the educational interests of his native Province, and for the purpose of bringing about an adjustment of certain accounts between the Government of Manitoba and the Governor and Council of the District of Keewatin.

The Government formed, as above mentioned, in October, 1878, remained intact until the month of May, 1879, when a difference of opinion arose between Messrs. Norquay and Royal. The latter, who held the office of Minister of Public Works, and Mr. Delorme, who was Minister of Agriculture, both resigned their portfolios, and thus left the Government with only three members. Overtures were made to several French members of the House to accept the portfolios thus rendered vacant, but these overtures were not successful. Mr. Norquay then addressed a letter to the Lieutenant-Governor, Mr. Cauchon, in which he requested that his Government might be permitted to retain office, and that the public business might be proceeded with. It was further requested that the filling of the vacant offices might be deferred until after the close of the session. To this application the Lieutenant-Governor declined to accede, upon the ground that his compliance would be contrary to the spirit and meaning of the Constitution, more especially as some of the proposed legislation of the session was very important, and had not been foreshadowed to the people at the previous elections. The two vacant offices were accordingly filled by English members, and a round-robin was signed by all the English members of the House in which the latter pledged themselves to support a new line of policy announced by the Government. The session proceeded; and a Bill was passed redistributing the seats. The House was dissolved in the following October, and on the 16th of December a general election was held in the Province. Mr. Norquay was returned by acclamation by his constituents in St. Andrews, and all the other members of the Government were elected except Mr. Taylor, one of the new accessions, who was defeated. His portfolio--that of Minister of Agriculture--was accordingly offered to the Hon. Maxime Goulet, member for La Vérandrye, who accepted office, and returned to his constituents for reëlection, when he was returned by acclamation Mr. Norquay's Government, being fully sustained, has ever since remained in power. The lines of party in Manitoba are by no means analogous to those in the other Provinces, but they are rapidly assimilating, and practically speaking Mr. Norquay's Government may be said to be a Conservative one.

At the general election for 1872 Mr. Norquay was an unsuccessful candidate for the representation of Marquette in the House of Commons. He has not since attempted to obtain a seat in that House, but has confined his attention solely to Provincial affairs. He is a member of the Board of Health, and also of the Board of Education for Manitoba. He is a man of much natural intelligence, and enjoys a large measure of public confidence and respect. Though not an orator, he is a ready speaker, both on the platform and in the House, and has hitherto proved fully equal to the requirements of his position.

THE HON. SIR RICHARD JOHN CARTWRIGHT.

Readers of this work have already made the acquaintance of the Cartwright family in the sketch of the life of the late Bishop Strachan. The Hon. Richard Cartwright, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a United Empire Loyalist of English descent, who, soon after the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, emigrated, with his family, from the Province of New York to the wilderness of what soon afterwards became Upper Canada. He acted for some time as secretary to Colonel Butler, of the Queen's Rangers, and after the close of the war settled at Kingston, where he became a man of mark and influence. He was possessed of considerable acquirements and mental capacity. Soon after the division of the Provinces, in 1791, he was appointed to the important office of a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, the duties of which position he discharged, without any remuneration, for some years, and in a manner alike honourable to himself and beneficial to the public. Upon the arrival of Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe in the Province he was appointed a member of the Legislative Council, and was thenceforward most assiduous in his attendance to his Parliamentary duties. He was also a Colonel of militia, and took an active part in the promotion of all matters for the advancement of the public interests. His services to the cause of education have already been touched upon in the sketch of the life of Bishop Strachan. He died in 1815. His son, the father of Sir Richard, was the Rev. R. D. Cartwright, who was at one time Chaplain to the Forces at Kingston. The latter married Miss Harriett Dobbs, by whom he had four children, the eldest of which is the immediate subject of this sketch.

Richard John Cartwright was born at Kingston, Upper Canada, on the 4th of December, 1835. He was educated, first at Kingston, and afterwards at Trinity College, Dublin. He was brought up to business habits, and has been connected with various important financial enterprises. He was a Director, and afterwards President, of the Commercial Bank of Canada; and was also a Director of the Canada Life Assurance Company. He displayed great aptitude in dealing with financial matters, on which he was, and is, regarded as one of the highest authorities in this country. He also interested himself in matters connected with the militia, and in 1864 published at Kingston, a pamphlet of 46 pages, entitled "Remarks on the Militia of Canada." In the month of August, 1859, he married Miss Frances Alexander, eldest daughter of Colonel Alexander Lawe, of Cheltenham, England, by whom he has a numerous family.

From his earliest youth he took a keen interest in the political questions before the country, and was a man of great influence on the Conservative side, to which he was attached by training and early association. His entry into Parliamentary life dates from the year 1863, when he was elected a member of the Legislative Assembly for the united counties of Lennox and Addington. He took his seat as an Independent Conservative, and for some years rendered a loyal support to his leader, the present Sir John A. Macdonald. Throughout the various coalitions formed for the purpose of carrying out the scheme of Confederation, no grave differences of opinion seem to have arisen between Mr. Cartwright and those with whom he acted. Upon the accomplishment of Confederation Lennox and Addington became separate constituencies, and at the first general election held under the new order of things, in 1867, Mr. Cartwright was returned to the House of Commons as the representative of the county of Lennox. It soon afterwards began to be whispered that he was not thoroughly in accord with the Party with which he had always acted, with reference to some important public questions. Soon after the opening of the session of 1870 the whispers received confirmation from Mr. Cartwright's own lips, as he formally notified the leader of the Government that while he had no intention of offering a factious opposition, his support could no longer be counted upon. On the introduction by Sir Francis Hincks, who had recently accepted the office of Minister of Finance, of his banking scheme, Mr. Cartwright gave it his most determined opposition, as tending in his opinion to undermine the security of the banking institutions of the country. During the same session he supported Mr. Dorion's motion deprecating the increase of the public expenditure, and in 1871 he seconded Sir A. T. Galt's more emphatic declaration to the same effect. His vote was also recorded in successive divisions against the terms of union with British Columbia, and in 1872 he supported the Opposition leaders in their efforts to amend the objectionable provisions of the Bill providing for the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The rupture between him and the Government Party was by this time complete; and it is no slight tribute to the estimation in which he was held by his constituents that he was able to carry them with him in his secession. At the general election of 1872 he was opposed by the Hon. J. Stevenson, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario under the Sandfield Macdonald _regime_, but defeated that gentleman by a majority of 711. During the following session Mr. Cartwright acted uniformly with the Opposition, and towards its close he delivered a powerful speech on the assumption by the Dominion of the debt of Ontario and Quebec, in the course of which he reviewed the whole financial policy of the Government, and criticized it in severe language.

Upon the formation of Mr. Mackenzie's Reform Government in November, 1873, after the Pacific Scandal disclosures, and the consequent downfall of Sir John Macdonald's Government, Mr. Cartwright accepted office as Minister of Finance, and was sworn of the Privy Council. His acceptance of office of course compelled him to return to his constituents for reëlection. He had to encounter a very bitter opposition, but succeeded in carrying his election by a larger majority than he had ever had before. At the general election held in the following year he was returned by acclamation.

At the time of his accession to office as Finance Minister the condition of the exchequer was such as to require a readjustment of the tariff, with a view to additional customs duties. Such a task is not a grateful one for a Minister to undertake, and Mr. Cartwright necessarily came in for a due share of hostile criticism from the supporters of the recently deposed Government. In 1874, 1875 and 1876 he visited England on business connected with the Finances of the Dominion. During the session of 1878 he introduced and successfully carried through the House an important measure respecting the auditing of the Public Accounts. This measure, which was modelled on an English Act, provides for the appointment of an Auditor-General, removable, not at pleasure, but on an address by both Houses of Parliament. Its object was to make the Auditor-General thoroughly independent, and thereby to inspire the public with entire confidence in the public accounts. The Bill also provides for the appointment of a Deputy Minister of Finance.

Mr. Cartwright's abilities as a Finance Minister will of course be viewed differently according to the political bias of the reviewer. It may be said, however, that in the opinion of his own political adherents he is one of the ablest financiers that Canada has ever produced, and that he successfully tided the country over a period of great political depression without imposing any unnecessary burdens upon the people. As a Parliamentary speaker and debater he is deservedly entitled to the high rank which he enjoys. Finance is not a subject provocative of any very lofty flights of oratory, but Mr. Cartwright's Budget speeches were marked by a thorough mastery of his subject, and by clear and impressive diction. He took a prominent part in the political campaign of 1878, and some of his speeches at that time are among the ablest of his public utterances. He of course opposed with all his might the protective policy of the Party now in power. The electors of Lennox, like those of many other constituencies, were desirous of testing the promises of the advocates of the "National Policy," and at the general elections held on the 17th of September Mr. Cartwright was defeated by Mr. Hooper, the present representative, by a majority of 59 votes. Mr. Horace Horton, the member-elect for Centre Huron, having accepted an office in the department of the Auditor-General, resigned his seat, and Mr. Cartwright, on the 2nd of November, was elected by a majority of 401 votes for that constituency, which he still continues to represent in the House of Commons.

On the 24th of May, 1879, Mr. Cartwright was created a Knight of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, at an investiture held in Montreal by the present Governor-General, acting on behalf of Her Majesty.

THE HON. THEODORE ROBITAILLE,

_LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC._

The Hon. Theodore Robitaille is by profession a physician and surgeon, and, prior to his elevation to the position of Lieutenant-Governor, was commonly known throughout the Province of Quebec as "Doctor" Robitaille. He is descended from an old French family which has long been settled in the Lower Province, and several members whereof have seen service in the cause of the British Crown. One of his grand-uncles acted as a chaplain to the Lower Canadian Militia Forces during the War of 1812, '13 and '14, and several other members of the family fought on the loyal side during that struggle. Another grand-uncle, Jean Robitaille, occupied a seat in the old Canadian Legislature from 1809 to 1829.

The father of the Lieutenant-Governor was the late Mr. Louis Adolphe Robitaille, N.P., of Varennes, in the Province of Quebec, where the subject of this sketch was born on the 29th of January, 1834. He received his education at the Model School of Varennes, at the Seminary of Ste. Thérèse, at the Laval University, Quebec, and finally at McGill College, Montreal, where he graduated as M.D. in May, 1858. He settled down to the practice of his profession at New Carlisle, the county seat of the county of Bonaventure. Three years later--at the general election of 1861--he was returned in the Conservative interest to the Canadian House of Assembly as representative for that county. He continued to sit in the Assembly for Bonaventure until Confederation. At the general election of 1867 he was returned by the same constituency to the House of Commons, and was reëlected at the general election of 1872. Early in the following year he was offered the portfolio of Receiver-General, which he accepted, and was sworn into office on the 30th of January. His acceptance of office was fully endorsed by his constituents in Bonaventure, who reëlected him by acclamation. He held the Receiver-Generalship until the fall of the Macdonald Ministry in the following November. His tenure of office was not marked by any feature of special importance. At the general elections of 1874 and 1878 he was again returned for Bonaventure, so that at the time of his appointment as Lieutenant-Governor he had represented that constituency in Parliament for a continuous period of about eighteen years. He also represented Bonaventure in the Local Legislature of Quebec from 1871 to 1874, when he retired, in order to confine himself to the House of Commons. His long Parliamentary career was not distinguished by any remarkable brilliancy or statesmanship, but he acquired much Legislative experience, and was a useful member of the House. He was known for the moderation of his views, and was personally popular with the representatives of both political parties.

Upon Mr. Letellier's dismissal from office, as related in previous sketches, Dr. Robitaille was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Quebec. He was sworn into office by the Governor-General on the 26th of July, 1879, and has ever since discharged the functions incidental to that position. He was succeeded in the representation of Bonaventure County by Mr. Pierre Clovis Beauchesne, who now sits in the House of Commons for that constituency.

On the 30th of September, 1879, Lieutenant-Governor Robitaille paid a visit to the Seminary of Ste. Thérèse, where he had been a student more than twenty years previously. He was received with great enthusiasm, not only by the students of the Seminary, but by the people of the town itself; and he received very flattering addresses from the Mayor of the town, as well as from the President of the College. Both the town and the College expressed their sense of having a share in the high honours to which their former townsman and fellow-student had attained. About a month later he was presented with a highly congratulatory address from more than a thousand of his old constituents in Bonaventure. The address was signed by the local clergy of all denominations, and by adherents of all shades of political opinions.

In the month of November, 1867, Dr. Robitaille married Miss Marie Josephine Charlotte Emma Quesnel, daughter of Mr. P. A. Quesnel, and grand-daughter of the late Hon. F. A. Quesnel, who was for many years a member of the Legislative Council of Canada.

THE HON. SAMUEL HUME BLAKE.

Mr. Blake, who for more than six years past has worthily filled the position of Senior Vice-Chancellor for Ontario, is the second son of the late William Hume Blake, and younger brother of West Durham's present representative in the House of Commons. Some account of the lives of both the father and eldest son has already appeared in this series, and the reader is referred to those accounts for various particulars more or less bearing upon the life of the subject of the present memoir. Samuel Hume Blake was born in the City of Toronto, on the 31st of August, 1835, soon after his father's removal thither from the Township of Adelaide. Like his elder brother, he received his earliest educational training at home, under the auspices of Mr. Courtenay, Mr. Wedd, and other private tutors. The account given in the first volume of this work of the sort of training bestowed by the father upon Edward Blake is equally applicable to the training of the younger son, whose proficiency in elocution was noticeable from his earliest childhood. From the hands of private tutors he passed, when he was about eight years old, to Upper Canada College, where he remained for five years. In those early days he was a more diligent student in the ordinary scholastic routine than his elder brother, and was specially conspicuous above most of his fellow-students for the quickness of his intellectual vision, and the almost amazing facility he displayed in mastering the daily tasks which fell to his share. His mind seems to have matured very early, and his intellectual precocity was such that when ten years old he could converse intelligently, even on subjects requiring careful thought and reflection, with persons of much more advanced years. The study and practice of elocution, in which he was encouraged and directed by his father, always had special charms for him, and the ease and grace of his public deliverances while at school procured for him a high repute both with his teachers and fellow-scholars. Mr. Barron, the Principal of the College, used to hold him up in this respect as an example to the other boys, and was wont to remark that Master Samuel Blake was the only boy in the institution who really knew how to read with taste and intelligence. He also received a high tribute to his elocutionary powers from a more exalted quarter. Soon after Lord Elgin's arrival in this country he attended a public examination at the College, at which young Samuel Blake was deputed to recite Campbell's "Pleasures of Hope." The selection was peculiarly appropriate, as the closing line of the poem contains, as every Canadian schoolboy knows, a glowing tribute to "the Bruce of Bannockburn." Lord Elgin's family name and lineage, doubtless, led to the selection of this poem for recitation on the occasion of his visit. His Lordship was fully sensible of the implied compliment, and not only availed himself of the opportunity to highly commend young Blake's elocution, but in the course of his address to the scholars paid a glowing tribute to the character and public services of William Hume Blake, to whose judicious training the son's success in declamation was largely attributable.