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.
Like his elder brother he had been destined for the legal profession, but his own tastes, combined with the fact that his health was not very robust, induced him to turn his thoughts to commercial life. The firm of Ross, Mitchell & Co., was then at the height of its prosperity, and the establishment formed an excellent field for the acquisition of a thorough mercantile training. When just emerging from boyhood, Samuel Blake bade adieu to Upper Canada College, and entered the establishment as a clerk. There he remained four years, taking his full share of such work as came to his hand. He thereby not only obtained an insight into the doings of the commercial world which has stood him in good stead in the different sphere to which the subsequent years of his life have been devoted, but, more important still, the actual physical labours which he was compelled to perform were the means of building up his constitution and endowing him with much bodily vigour. His tastes, however, had meanwhile undergone a change, and he had resolved to follow in his brother's footsteps. His term of apprenticeship having expired, he passed his preliminary examination before the Law Society, and entered the office of his uncle, the late Dr. Skeffington Connor, as a student at law. He at the same time began to read for a University degree, and with unflagging industry contrived to carry on both his professional and scholastic studies contemporaneously. In the year 1858 he graduated as B.A., and in Michaelmas Term of the same year he was admitted as an attorney and solicitor. He at once entered into partnership with his brother Edward, the style of the firm being "E. & S. H. Blake." On the 2nd of February, 1859, he married Miss Rebecca Cronyn, third daughter of the late Right Rev. John Cronyn, Bishop of the Diocese of Huron. In Hilary Term, 1860, he was called to the Bar. Like his brother, he devoted himself almost exclusively to the Equity branch of the profession, in which he soon attained to an eminent position.
The splendid professional and financial successes achieved by the legal firm of which he was a member have been sufficiently indicated in the sketch of the life of Edward Blake. Of that firm, under its various phases, Mr. S. H. Blake continued a member until Mr. Mowat's resignation of the Vice-Chancellorship of Ontario, towards the close of 1872. The position thus rendered vacant was promptly offered by the Premier, Sir John A. Macdonald, to the subject of this memoir, who, after careful deliberation, resolved to accept it. Only a few months before he had been invested with the silk gown of a Queen's Counsel. During the progress of the year he had also for the first time taken part in political life. Frequent overtures had at various times been made to him to emulate his brother's example by accepting a seat in Parliament. These overtures he had persistently declined, but during the long and heated contest preceding the general election of 1872 he consented to supply the place of his brother—who was then absent in Europe for the benefit of his health—by going down to the country and addressing his constituents on the hustings and elsewhere. His political speeches afforded unmistakable evidence of his ability to adapt himself to novel circumstances. They showed an accurate knowledge of the country's past political history, and of the nature of the various issues then before the public. His views on all the questions of the day were of course fully in accord with those of his brother, and in expatiating upon them he displayed the same grasp and breadth which have always marked the public utterances of the present member for West Durham.
Sir John Macdonald's political opponents have alleged that his offer of so exalted a position as a Superior Court Judgeship to so young a man was prompted by political expediency, and a desire to mollify the powerful opposition of Edward Blake in the House of Commons. The allegation, unless supported by stronger evidence than has yet been produced, is not creditable to those who make it. Even Sir John's bitterest foes will not deny that he has on more than one occasion proved himself above party considerations, and in the matter of public appointments has set an example of disinterestedness which other Canadian statesmen would do well to emulate. Sir John, moreover, was shrewd enough to know that Edward Blake was much too high-principled a man to allow personal or family considerations to interfere with his honest discharge of his public duties. In the instance under consideration there is no need to search for any ulterior motive. The appointment of Samuel Hume Blake to the Vice-Chancellorship was one which commended itself to those who were most competent to pronounce upon it—the legal profession of Ontario. In certain branches of his profession he has had no superior in this country. In the early years of his practice he devoted himself specially to chamber matters; but later on, and more particularly after his brother had embarked in political life, he was called upon to conduct, in the capacity of first counsel, many of the heaviest cases before the court. As a counsel, his rapid perception, and his faculty of reviewing evidence, were perhaps his most noticeable characteristics. He was also, notwithstanding his youth, a well-read lawyer, of excellent judgment and discrimination, and his opinions were always regarded with the greatest respect, alike by Bench and Bar. His appointment was a just and proper tribute to his fine abilities, his unflagging industry, his great capacity for work, and his high personal character. When he first took his seat on the Bench he was the youngest judge who ever sat in any of the Superior Courts of his native Province, and his elevation was due to a Prime Minister with whose political views he has never been in accord. Instead of trying to find sinister motives in such an appointment it is surely more reasonable, as well as more becoming, to say that the appointment was creditable alike to the Premier and to Mr. Blake.
Honourable as is the position of a Vice-Chancellor, there were, notwithstanding, good reasons why Mr. Blake should hesitate before accepting it. Ever since Edward Blake's entrance into political life the large and steadily-increasing business of the firm had imposed additional duties upon the younger brother. The additional duties were of course accompanied by additional emoluments, and for several years prior to 1872 his professional income had ranged from $12,000 to $15,000 per annum. As Vice-Chancellor his income would be only $5,000. This, to a young man with an increasing family, who had largely fought his own way in the battle of life, was in itself a serious consideration. On the other hand there was the fact that his labours would be materially lightened, and that he would have more time to bestow upon religious and philanthropical objects in which he has always taken a deep interest. His health, too, had begun to feel the effects of the ceaseless toil to which he had for years subjected himself, and rest would be equally grateful and beneficial. He finally concluded to accept the appointment, and on the 2nd of December, 1872, became junior Vice-Chancellor. On the elevation of his senior, Mr. S. H. Strong, to a seat on the Bench of the newly-constituted Supreme Court of the Dominion, in 1875, Mr. Blake succeeded to the position of senior Vice-Chancellor.
As an Equity Judge Mr. Blake has fully sustained the high reputation which previous to his elevation he had acquired at the Bar. His tenure of office has been marked by unwearied diligence, careful and patient investigation of authorities, rigid conscientiousness, and that high sense of the dignity of the judicial position for which the Ontario Bench has long been distinguished. His judgments display all the qualities of a profound and painstaking jurist. They are couched in a phraseology which is always clear, and which not unfrequently rises to eloquence. Some of them are regarded by persons who are entitled to speak on such matters with authority as models of forensic reasoning. A mere enumeration of the important cases which he has been called on to decide in the few years which have elapsed since his elevation to the Bench would alone occupy much space. The case of Campbell vs. Campbell, owing to its peculiar character, is perhaps the one best known to the general public. There have been many others, however, involving much more abstruse points, on which his great learning and industry have been exercised, and which are regarded as conclusive in logic as well as in law.
At the urgent solicitation of the Local Government of Ontario, Mr. Blake consented, early in 1876, to act as one of the Commissioners for carrying out the Tavern License Law in Toronto. The position was one calling for the exercise of great judgment and discrimination, but it was also one very distasteful to him. It was urged upon him as a matter of duty, however, and as such he regarded it. To say that he discharged the duties incidental to this position with efficiency, uprightness, and satisfaction to the authorities is merely to assert what every one in Toronto knows to be true. He brought to his task the same high qualities which have always distinguished him both in professional and private life, and the people of Toronto had abundant reason to feel thankful that he consented to act.