Bishop Richardson, while possessing few or none of the superlatively salient characteristics by which some of his contemporaries were distinguished, was one of those men who, almost imperceptibly, exert a wide and lasting influence for good. There was nothing showy or flashy about him; nothing theatrical or unreal. He made no pretence to brilliant oratory, or indeed to specially brilliant gifts of any kind. He was simply a man of good intellect and sound judgment, with a highly developed moral nature, who strove earnestly to benefit his fellow-men, and to leave the world better than he found it. He believed in Episcopacy, and was in full sympathy with the form of government adopted by his Church; but his zeal for Episcopacy was altogether subordinated to his zeal for Christianity. His life was conscientiously devoted to the service of his Master, and he has left behind him many hallowed memories. Next to his piety, perhaps the most conspicuous thing about him was his love for his country. His patriotism was as zealous in his declining years as it had been in those remote times when he lost his left arm before the batteries of Oswego. At the time of the Fenian invasion of Canada, in 1866—when he was in his seventy-sixth year—his loyal sympathies were roused to such a degree that he expressed his willingness to risk his one remaining arm in his country's defence. He would have taken the field, had his doing so been necessary, with as clear a conscience as he would have discharged any other duty of his life. In the words of his biographer: "Loyalty to God and his country, uprightness and integrity in his dealings with his fellow-men, and civil and religious liberty for all, were leading articles in his creed."
LORD SEATON.
Lord Seaton, who is better known to Canadians by his commoner's title of Sir John Colborne, was a son of Samuel Colborne, an English gentleman resident at Lyndhurst, in the county of Hants. He was born sometime in the year 1777, and after passing from the hands of a private tutor to Winchester College—where he remained several years—he embraced a military life, in 1794, by entering the army in the capacity of an ensign. The closing years of the last century were propitious for a young British soldier fired by an ambition to distinguish himself, and young Colborne had embraced precisely the career for which he was best fitted. He was a born soldier, and throughout his military life furnished an apt illustration of the round peg in the round hole. Napier, the historian of the Peninsular War, speaks of him as having developed "an extraordinary genius for war," and another historian refers to him as one of the bravest and most efficient officers produced by those stirring times. For the readers of these pages the chief interest in his career begins with his arrival in Canada in 1828. His services previous to that date may be summarized in a few sentences. In 1799 he was sent over by way of Holland to Egypt under Sir Ralph Abercromby, and remained there until the realm of the Pharaohs was cleared of the French and restored to the Sultan's dominion. He was with the British and Russian troops employed on the Neapolitan frontier in 1805; also in Sicily and Calabria, in the campaign of 1806. Having obtained promotion for his gallant services, he became Military Secretary to General Fox, Commander of the Forces in Sicily and the Mediterranean, and afterwards acted in the same capacity to Sir John Moore. He was present at the battle of Corunna, where his brave Chief met a glorious death. Immediately afterwards he joined the army of Lord Wellington, and in 1809 he was sent to La Mancha to report on the operations of the Spanish armies. Having received the command of a regiment, and having been appointed to a lieutenant-colonelcy, he commanded a brigade in Sir Rowland Hill's division in the campaigns of 1810-11, and was detached in command of the brigade to Castel Branco, to observe the movements of General Reynier's corps d'armée on the frontier of Portugal. At the battle of Busaco he commanded a brigade and also on the retreat to the Lines of Torres Vedras. On the 21st of June, 1814, he married Miss Elizabeth Yonge, daughter of the Rev. J. Yonge, of Puslinch, Devonshire, and Rector of Newton-Ferrers. He was actively employed all through the War in the Peninsula, and received his due proportion of wounds and glory. In 1815 he was present at the memorable battle of Waterloo, in command of his old regiment, the 52nd. He likewise commanded a brigade on the celebrated march to Paris. The battle of Waterloo was the last European conflict in which he took part. He subsequently became Lieutenant-Governor of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands. In 1825 he was appointed a Major-General; and in 1828 he first came to Canada as Lieutenant-Governor, when the chief interest in his life, so far as Canadian readers are concerned, may be said to have begun. He succeeded Sir Peregrine Maitland, who had been transferred to Nova Scotia.
He arrived in Canada in November, 1828, and at once assumed charge of the Administration. His predecessor had left him a very undesirable legacy in the shape of great popular discontent. It was announced that Sir John had come over with instructions to reverse Sir Peregrine Maitland's policy, and to govern in accordance with liberal principles. The general elections of that year testified plainly enough that the people of Upper Canada were moving steadily in the direction of Reform, and if Sir John had acted in accordance with the instructions he had received from headquarters a good deal of subsequent calamity might perhaps have been averted. But the new Governor was essentially a military Governor. He had been literally "a man of war from his youth." His character, though in the main upright and honourable, was stern and unbending, and his military pursuits had not fitted him for the task of governing a people who were just beginning to grasp the principles of constitutional liberty. He allied himself with the Family Compact, and was guided by the advice of that body in his administration of public affairs. Parliament met early in January, 1829, and it soon became apparent that Sir John Colborne's idea of a liberal policy was not sufficiently advanced to meet the demands of the Assembly. There is no need to recapitulate in detail the arbitrary proceedings to which the Governor lent his countenance during the next few years. The prosecution of Collins and of William Lyon Mackenzie, and the setting apart of the fifty-seven rectories, have often been commented upon, and but little satisfaction is to be derived from repeating those oft-told grievances. Upon the whole, Sir John Colborne's Administration of Upper Canadian affairs cannot be said to have been much more beneficent than was that of his predecessor. With good intentions, he was constitutionally unequal to the requirements of the position in which he found himself placed. His course of action was very distasteful to the Reform Party, but he continued to govern the Upper Province until 1835, when he solicited his recall. His request was acceded to. His successor, Sir Francis Bond Head, arrived in January, 1836, and Sir John was just about to sail from New York for Europe, when he received a despatch appointing him Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in Canada. He consequently returned, and took up his quarters at Quebec, the capital of the Lower Province, where he adopted such prompt measures for the defence of the country as the exigencies of the times demanded. On the breaking out of the Rebellion he was once more in his proper element, and showed that the high military reputation which he had achieved on the continent of Europe had not been undeserved. There is no need to go through the minutiae of the Lower Canadian Rebellion, nor to tell in detail the story of St. Denis, of St. Eustache, and of St. Benoit. Sir John has been accused of unnecessary cruelty in putting down the insurrection. Suffice it to say that the emergencies of the occasion were such as to call for determined measures, and that Sir John employed measures suited to the emergencies. He soon succeeded in extinguishing the flame of rebellion in all parts of the country, taking the field himself in person in several engagements. Papineau was compelled to retreat, as also was Wolfred Nelson and his colleagues; and when Robert, the latter's brother, presented himself, he was totally routed by the able regular and militia forces under Sir John Colborne's command. On the recall of Lord Gosford, Sir John was temporarily appointed Governor-General of British North America, which high office he vacated on Lord Durham's arrival in May, 1838. He was appointed to it again on that nobleman's sudden and unauthorized departure in November of the same year. He continued to administer the Government until 1839, when he earnestly solicited his recall, in order that he might be enabled to repose from his great labours. The Hon. Charles Poulett Thomson was appointed his successor, and arrived at Quebec to relieve him of the cares and anxieties of Government. On the 23rd of October Sir John sailed for England. On his arrival there new honours awaited him. He was created a peer of the United Kingdom, as Baron Seaton; received the Grand Cross of the Bath, of Hanover, of St. Michael, and of St. George. He was also created a Privy Councillor, and a pension of £2,000 per annum was conferred upon him and his two immediate successors by Act of Parliament. In 1838 he was appointed Lieutenant-General, and in 1854 General, as also Colonel of the Second Life Guards. In 1860 he was raised to the highest rank and honour in the British service—that of Field-Marshal. He died on the 17th of April, 1863, leaving behind him a numerous progeny, the eldest whereof, James Colborne, succeeded to, and now holds, the family titles and estates. The latter are of considerable extent, and are situated in Devonshire, in London, and in the county of Kildare, Ireland. It is worth while mentioning that the present incumbent served his father in the capacity of an aide-de-camp during the Canadian Rebellion.
The name of Sir John Colborne is inseparably blended with that of Upper Canada College in the minds of the people of this Province. During the early days of his Administration of affairs in Upper Canada there was a good deal of agitation in the public mind with respect to the establishment of a more advanced seat of learning than had previously existed here. It had long been considered advisable to afford facilities to the youth of Upper Canada for obtaining a more thorough education than was to be had at such institutions as the Home District Grammar School, which up to the year 1829 was the most advanced educational establishment in York. Public feeling was aroused, and several petitions were presented to the Legislature on the subject, each of which gave rise to prolonged controversy and debate. The outcome of the discussion was that Upper Canada College was established by an order of the Provincial Government. Its original name was "the Upper Canada College and Royal Grammar School," and the system upon which it was modelled was that which was then adopted in most of the great public schools of England. The classes were first opened on the 8th of January, 1830, in the building on Adelaide Street which had formerly been used as the Home District Grammar School. There it continued for more than a year. In the summer of 1831 the institution was removed to the site which it has since occupied. A fine portrait in oil of the subject of this sketch, in his military costume, may be seen in one of the apartments there.