The first Baldwin-Lafontaine Ministry resigned office in November, 1843, in consequence of the arbitrary conduct of Sir Charles Metcalfe. All the circumstances connected with this resignation are narrated at sufficient length elsewhere in these pages. Mr. Lafontaine remained in Opposition until March, 1848, when he and his colleagues again came into power. During the interval he had steadily held his ground in the estimation of the Reform element in the French Canadian population, of whom he was the acknowledged leader. The history of the second Baldwin-Lafontaine Administration[10] in which Mr. Lafontaine held the portfolio of Attorney-General East, has been given in previous sketches, and there is no need for repeating the details here. It was Mr. Lafontaine who, in February, 1849, introduced the famous Rebellion Losses Bill, which gave rise to so much heated debate in the House, and to such disgraceful proceedings outside. Mr. Lafontaine, as the actual introducer of the Bill, came in for his full share of the odium attaching to that measure. His house in Montreal was attacked by the mob, and although the flames were extinguished in time to save the building, the furniture and library shared the fate of those in the Houses of Parliament, with the fate of which readers of the sketch of Lord Elgin are already familiar. After much wilful destruction of valuable property the rioters waxed bolder, and proceeded to maltreat loyal subjects in the streets in the most shameful manner. Mr. Lafontaine himself narrowly escaped personal maltreatment. A second attack was made upon his house. The military, or some occupants of the house, finding it necessary to use extreme measures, fired upon the mob, wounding several, and killing one man, whose name was Mason. For a few minutes after this time it seemed not improbable that Mr. Lafontaine would be torn in pieces. Yells rent the air, and it was loudly proclaimed that a Frenchman had shed the blood of an Anglo-Saxon. The hour of danger passed, however, and Mr. Lafontaine escaped without personal injury. The unanimous verdict of a coroner's jury acquitted him of all blame for the death of the misguided man who had fallen a victim to his zeal for riot. The verdict had a quieting effect upon the public mind. Meanwhile the Governor-General had tendered his resignation, but as his conduct was approved of both by the Local Administration and by the Home Authorities, he, at their urgent request, consented to remain in office. In consequence of this disgraceful riot, however, it was not considered desirable to continue the seat of Government at Montreal. The Legislature thenceforth sat alternately at Toronto and Quebec, until 1866, when Ottawa became the permanent capital of the Dominion.
Notwithstanding all the excitement, and the opposition to which he was subjected, Mr. Lafontaine generally contrived to carry through any measure which he had very much at heart. There were certain popular measures, however, which he never had at heart, and to which, although the leader of a professedly Liberal Administration, he could never be induced to lend his countenance. After Responsible Government had become an accomplished fact, there was no measure so imperatively demanded by Upper Canadian Reformers as the secularization of the Clergy Reserves. In the Lower Province the measure most desired by the people was the abolition of the Seignorial Tenure. To neither of these projects would Mr. Lafontaine consent. He had an immense respect for vested rights, and does not seem to have fully recognized the fact that so-called vested rights are sometimes neither more nor less than vested wrongs. Yet, notwithstanding his hostility to these measures, he continued to hold the reins of power, for he was regarded as an embodiment, in his own person, of the unity of the French-Canadian race. He was, however, like his colleague, Robert Baldwin, too moderate in his views for the times in which his later political life was cast. The progress of Reform was too rapid for him, and he finally made way for more advanced and more energetic men. His retirement from office and from political life took place towards the close of 1851. After his retirement he devoted himself to professional pursuits, and continued to do so until the death of Sir James Stuart, Chief Justice of the Lower Province, in the summer of 1853, left that position vacant. On the 13th of August Mr. Lafontaine was appointed to the office, and on the 28th of August, 1854, he was created a Baronet. In 1861, having been a widower for some years, he married a second time, his choice being Jane, daughter of Mr. Charles Morrison, of Berthier, and widow of Mr. Thomas Kinton, of Montreal. He continued to occupy the position of Chief Justice until his death, which took place on the morning of the 26th of February, 1864. During his tenure of that office he also presided at the sittings of the Seignorial Tenure Court. He attained high rank as a jurist, and his decisions, which were always delivered with a weighty impressiveness of manner, are regarded with very great respect by his successors, and by the legal profession generally.
Mr. Robert Christie, the historian of Lower Canada, contrasts the political character of Mr. Lafontaine with that of his early colleague, Mr. Papineau. Mr. Christie knew both the personages well, and was quite capable of discriminating between them. "Mr. Lafontaine," he says, "it is pretty generally admitted, has, by consulting only the practicable and expedient, acted wisely and well, amidst the difficulties that beset his position as Prime Minister, and upon the whole, though there are derogating circumstances in the course of it, his administration has been eminently successful. It was, in fact, from the impetuous and blind pursuit of the impracticable and inexpedient, that Mr. Papineau lost himself, shipwrecking his own and his party's hopes, and, with his example and failure before him, it is to Mr. Lafontaine's credit that he has had the wisdom to profit by them."
Sir Louis had no issue by his first wife. By his second wife he had one son, to whom he was very much attached, and upon whom he looked as the transmitter of his name, and of the title which he had so honourably won. The little fellow, however, died in childhood, and the title became extinct. Lady Lafontaine still resides in Montreal.
JOHN CHRISTIAN SCHULTZ, M.D.
Dr. Schultz has had some adventurous passages in his life, and has played a by no means insignificant part in the history of the Prairie Province. He was born at Amherstburgh, in the county of Essex, Upper Canada, on the 1st of January, 1840. He is a son of the late Mr. William Schultz, a native of Denmark, who was for many years engaged in business as a merchant at Amherstburgh. His mother was Eliza, daughter of Mr. Willam Riley, of Bandon, Ireland.
After receiving his primary education at the public schools of Amherstburgh, he entered Oberlin College, Ohio. This institution was then held in high consideration by many persons in this country, and some of our prominent men have been educated there. Mr. Schultz remained there long enough to pass through the Arts course. Having chosen the medical profession as his future calling, he studied medicine at Queen's College, Kingston, and afterwards at the Medical Department of Victoria College, in Toronto. He had conceived the design of emigrating to Mexico, with a view to practising his profession there, but after graduating as M.D., in the spring of 1860, he relinquished that design, and found his way, by the rude and toilsome route then in vogue, to the Red River Settlement. The community there at that time consisted of about eight thousand persons, separated from the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, by a distance of 550 miles of country, a great part of which was owned by the Ojibway and Sioux Indians. There was of course no railway in that part of the world in those days, and anyone undertaking to travel from St. Paul to Fort Garry entered upon a journey which was not only toilsome but perilous. The barbarians all along the route were fierce and intractable, not much given to discriminating between subjects of Great Britain and those of the United States. Between the latter and the Indians there was much ill-feeling, and murders and assassinations of white travellers were matters of frequent occurrence. After enduring many hardships, Dr. Schultz reached Fort Garry, and there commenced the practice of his profession. He soon afterwards entered upon the traffic in furs, a pursuit which was very profitable in those days, but which was still held as a monopoly by the Hudson's Bay Company. The great Company doubtless well knew that it would not much longer be permitted to enjoy its monopoly, but it was not disposed to encourage rivalry, and looked upon Dr. Schultz's interference with no friendly eye. There are of course two sides to this question. The Company's agents were sometimes overbearing and tyrannical in resisting the encroachments of free-traders. On the other hand, it was scarcely to be expected that they would encourage or quietly submit to interference with what they regarded as the Company's exclusive rights. In spite of all opposition, however, Dr. Schultz continued to carry on his operations with great profit to himself for some years. His negotiations with the Indians and half-breeds rendered it necessary that he should traverse a wide extent of country, and he thus gained an accurate knowledge of the topography of the North-West, as well as an intimate acquaintance with Indian manners, traditions, and customs.