On the 30th of June, 1847, he married Miss Mary Jane Hagerman, the second daughter of his former principal. He early began to take an active interest in municipal affairs, and in 1851 was elected as Alderman for St. Patrick's Ward, which at that time included the present wards of St. Patrick and St. John. He held the post of Alderman for six consecutive years; was for some time President of the City Council; and in 1857 was elected Mayor. At the next general election he offered himself to the citizens of Toronto as a candidate for a seat in the Legislative Assembly, and was returned conjointly with the late Hon. George Brown. Like all his family connections, he was a Conservative in politics, and yielded a firm support to the Cartier-Macdonald Administration. While in Parliament he was instrumental in procuring the passage of several Acts referring to the Toronto Esplanade and other local improvements. On the 27th of March, 1862, he accepted the office of President of the Council in the Cartier-Macdonald Administration, and held office until the resignation of the Ministry in the month of May following. He has not since been a member of any Administration, but has always been a strenuous supporter of the Conservative side, and has been returned in that interest for his native city no fewer than seven times. At the general election of 1872 he was returned to the House of Commons for the District of Algoma, which he continued thenceforward to represent until the dissolution. At the last general election for the House of Commons, held on the 17th of September, 1878, he was returned for Toronto West by a very large majority (637 votes) over Mr. Thomas Hodgins, the Reform candidate. He continued to represent West Toronto in the Commons until the 30th of June, 1880, when he was appointed to the office of Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, as successor to the Hon. D. A. Macdonald.

Mr. Robinson was for many years Solicitor to the Corporation of the City of Toronto. He has held several offices in connection with financial and public institutions, and has been President of the St. George's Society of Toronto.

HIS GRACE F. X. DE LAVAL-MONTMORENCY.

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Francois Xavier de Laval-Montmorency was born on the 30th of April, 1623, at Laval, in the diocese of Chartres, France. From childhood his thoughts were intimately associated with the Church, and at a very early age he made up his mind to study for the priesthood. Bagot the Jesuit may be said to have moulded his career, and directed his studies, with that object in view. He next associated himself with the band of young zealots at the Caen Hermitage, whose Ultramontane piety was the wonder of the time. He studied for awhile under De Bernières, and in September, 1645, was ordained a priest at Paris. Eight years later he was made Archdeacon of Evreux. In 1657 a bishop was wanted for Canada, and the Sulpicians, like the Récollets some years earlier, aspired to furnish that dignitary from their own order. They sent forward the name of Father Queylus as candidate for the bishopric, and though the suggestion found favour in the eyes of the French clergy, and was approved by Cardinal Mazarin, the Jesuits were powerful enough to overthrow all the designs of the rival fathers. They were strong at court, and so well did they use their influence that Mazarin was soon induced to withdraw his good offices, and Queylus was forced to relinquish his opportunity. The Jesuits were then invited to name a bishop, and Laval was chosen. On the 16th of June, 1659, he arrived at Quebec, carrying the Pope's benediction and the Vicar-Apostolicship for Canada.

It was his fate, during his lengthened stay in Canada, to dispute with every successive Governor appointed by the Crown, on questions which were often contemptible and trifling. He kept the King and his ministers busy settling petty questions of precedence and church dignity. He was a man of very domineering temper, arbitrary and dictatorial in all his acts, a firm exponent of the Ultramontane doctrine which declares the State to be subservient to the will of the Church on all occasions, and that even princes and rulers must yield to the commands of the Pope. His first quarrel was with Argenson, the then Governor of Canada, and was about the relative position of the seats which each should occupy in church. The case was sent to Aillebout, the pious ex-Governor, for settlement, and a temporary reconciliation took place. The quarrel burst forth afresh, however, from time to time, and Argenson, disgusted at these constant wranglings between Church and State, and dissatisfied with other matters connected with his administration, asked the Home Government to relieve him. His resignation was accepted, and the old soldier, Baron Dubois d'Avaugour, was appointed in his stead. The latter soon had his point of dispute with Laval. In his case it turned upon the much-vexed temperance question. Laval embarked for France in August, 1662, determined to lay the matter before the Court, and to urge the removal of Avaugour. He was successful, and early in the following year the Governor was recalled.

Laval's next conflict was with Dumesnil, an advocate of the Parliament of Paris, and the agent of the Company of New France. While in Paris, the bishop was instructed by the Government to choose a governor to his own liking. He selected Saffray de Mézy, of Caen, for the governorship, and with him he sailed for the colony, arriving on the 15th of September, 1663. Immediately on arriving, Laval and the Governor proceeded to construct the new Council. Virtually all the nominations were made by the bishop, who knew everybody, while the Governor knew absolutely no one in the whole country. The new Council formed, Dumesnil at once pressed the long pending claims of his company for settlement. The Council was composed of ignorant and corrupt men, several of whom were actually defaulters to the company represented by Dumesnil, and Laval was much blamed for placing them in an office which rendered them judges in their own cause. The Attorney-General demanded in Council that the papers of Dumesnil should be forcibly seized and sequestered. To this the Council at once agreed, and that night Dumesnil's house was entered and ransacked for the papers, which on being found were seized. The agent himself barely escaped with his life. He fled to France, and succeeded in gaining the ear of Colbert, the King's minister, who promptly moved in the matter.

Mézy, though he owed everything to the bishop, determined that he would be his mere instrument and tool no longer. The old war between Church and State broke out again. Mézy was a bigot, who stood in mortal terror of the power of the Church, and whose whole life was made up of the veriest superstition, but he rebelled against Laval. Discovering that the Council was composed of creatures of the bishop, he, on the 13th of February, 1664, ordered three of the most notorious members to absent themselves from the Council. At the same time he wrote to the bishop and informed him of what he had done, and asked him to acquiesce in the expulsion of his favourites. Of course Laval refused to do anything of the kind. Mézy then caused his declaration to be announced to the people in the usual way, by means of placards posted about the city, and by sound of the drum. The bishop, however, had the best of the encounter. Mézy learned to his horror and consternation that the churches were to be closed against him, and that the sacraments would be refused him. In his despair he sought counsel from the Jesuits, but the comfort which he received from them was to follow the advice of his confessor—also a Jesuit. In the meantime Laval had become unpopular through a tithe which he had caused to be imposed, and the people were clamouring for a settlement of the difficulty. Mézy called a public meeting, appointed a new Attorney-General, and declared the old one excluded from all public functions whatever, pending the King's pleasure in the matter. All through this conflict of authority, the sympathy of the people was with the Governor, though the latter was denounced from the pulpits. Mézy appealed to the populace for justice, and by this act signed the warrant of his own doom. Laval reported the circumstance to the King, and the Governor was peremptorily recalled.