Nantel, Guillaume Alphonse, St. Jerome, Quebec, M.P.P. for Terrebonne, Editor of La Press and Le Nord newspapers, was born in November, 1852, at St. Jerome, in the county of Terrebonne, Quebec province. His father, Guillaume Nantel, was in his lifetime a lieutenant in the militia, and although he came from St. Eustache, was a thorough loyalist. He died in February, 1857, leaving a family of nine children. His mother, Adelaide Desjardiner, was born in Ste. Therese, Terrebonne county. One of his brothers, the Rev. A. Nantel, has been superior of the Ste. Therese Seminary for about fifteen years, and in 1883 established a fine college in that place. Another brother, P. Nantel, is a school inspector, and his youngest brother, Bruno Nantel, has been for a long time a law partner of the Hon. M. Taillon, and is now practising at St. Jerome. He is the rising barrister for the county of Terrebonne. Young Nantel, the subject of our sketch, received his education at the college of Ste. Therese, and was a very successful student, having carried off several first-class prizes. In 1873 he obtained a second class certificate at the Montreal military school, and in 1881 he was made first lieutenant in the eighth company of the 65th battalion. He takes a deep interest, with Father Labelle, in colonization, and is greatly interested in the settlement of the northern townships of the Ottawa valley. He is a director of the Montreal and Western Railway Company, which proposes to build a railroad—already largely subsidized by the government—from St. Jerome to Nominingue Lake, in the county of Ottawa, and from Nominingue Lake up to Torrierdeninque Lake, which line when built will cross the most fertile belt, in which is found the finest timber and minerals in Ottawa and Pontiac counties. Is also interested in the “Le Grande Nord” railway from St. Jerome to St. Julienne, in Montcalm county. Mr. Nantel was called to the bar of Quebec province on the 10th July, 1875, and practised his profession alone in Montreal, up to January, 1877, when he joined in partnership the Hon. M. J. A. Ouimet, M.P., and now Speaker of the House of Commons. This partnership having been dissolved, he again practised alone for a year, when, in 1881 he left Montreal, and joining his brother, B. Nantel, in St. Jerome, successfully carried on business in that place till the 1st of May, 1886. In April of that year, Mr. Nantel, along with C. Marchand, purchased Le Nord, a local and colonization newspaper, but his partner having given up his connection with the paper the following December, he has himself since then conducted it. In November, he and Mr. Wintele bought out La Press, one of the leading French papers. In 1882, at the general election of that year, he was elected a member of the Quebec legislature for the county of Terrebonne, beating his opponent, E. A. Poivier, by a majority of seven hundred and fifty-three votes. Mr. Nantel is a strong Conservative in politics, and contends that Canadians should govern Canada, and each province be permitted to stand by itself, that we must have a national policy, such as shall foster our own trade and commerce, agriculture, etc., so as to make our country independent of all outsiders. He strongly advocates in his papers the building of railways, the opening up of mines, the advancement of agriculture, the creation of factories, industrial learning, manual training in our seminaries of learning, and everything else possible that can make the people more learned and prosperous. In 1884, while a member of the Quebec legislature, Mr. Nantel was one of the commissioners appointed to investigate the charges preferred against Hon. Mr. Mercier and the late Judge Mousseau. In religion he is a Roman Catholic, but favors the most liberal tolerance to all other sects. He thinks there is room enough in Canada for people professing all the different creeds of Christendom, and also for men of all nationalities, and would be only too happy to see the indigent and down-trodden people of Europe make their home with us, and become partakers with us in all the liberty and independence we possess. He was opposed to the execution of Riel.
Macdonald, Right Hon. Sir John Alexander, K.C.M.G., D.C.L., LL.D., Premier of Canada, was born in Glasgow, on the 11th January, 1815. He came to Canada in 1820 with his parents, who first settled near Kingston, but after a few years removed to a farm on the Bay of Quinté. Meanwhile the future premier of Canada was left at Kingston, the grammar school of which he attended until he was about fifteen years of age, when he began the study of law. When he had reached his twenty-first year he was called to the bar. He has been described by a writer in The Week as a lively youth, a good scholar, and a voluminous reader; but his talents were not considered extraordinary and he owed his election as member for Kingston, thirteen years after his call to the bar, more to his personal popularity than to his abilities. In a democratic country a good memory for faces and names, a frank and cordial manner of speech, a willingness to say yes rather than no, are wonderful aids to an aspirant in public life. Add readiness of speech in public, and self-confidence, and they will outweigh, for a time at least, the soundest judgment, the most extensive knowledge, and the warmest patriotism. It is not wonderful, therefore, that Mr. Macdonald’s popular address should have brought him early into the political field. In 1841 (says the writer from whom we have already quoted), Canada was granted a constitution, as the Liberals understood it, a transcript of that of Britain—the Governor in place of the Queen, bound to accept the legislation voted by the people’s representatives, and to receive advisers of whom they approved. Sir Charles Bagot accepted this view of the constitution, but when Sir Charles Metcalfe became governor there came a change of tactics. Responsible government was a new idea in colonial politics, and to very many unwelcome. Metcalfe was an honest, and in some ways, an able man; but he had served in India, and could not accept readily the notion that a dependency of the empire could be at once free and loyal. He refused to make an appointment asked by his ministers; they resigned; he called in others and appealed to the people. In Upper Canada he was sustained by an enormous majority; in Lower Canada he was defeated as decisively; his ministers had only a small majority, varying from two to eight. Lord Metcalfe, who was in ill health gave up the contest and his office. Lord Elgin succeeded him; another election was held, and the friends of responsible government returned to power, supported by a large majority in the House of Assembly. In this contest Mr. Macdonald was a loyal supporter of Lord Metcalfe, and took office in his government first as receiver-general and afterwards as commissioner of crown lands. It is improbable that a politician so shrewd as he could have been sanguine of preventing the introduction of responsible government into Canada for any length of time. But he was then, and is now, in spite of many concessions to popular feeling, a Conservative of the British type, on the side of the classes, distrusting the masses, and resolved at whatever cost to maintain inviolate the supremacy of the Crown. In this fact is to be found the key to his policy during his forty-three years of public life. Fond of power, eager for success, indifferent as to the means of obtaining it, he has throughout been true to his flag. The ministry formed by Messrs. Baldwin and Lafontaine, under Lord Elgin, did not remain long in power. It was assailed by the Conservatives for proposing to pay losses incurred by residents of Lower Canada during the rebellion, a measure not called for by the country at large, but pressed upon the government by Mr. Lafontaine, a man of great ability and strength of will. Mr. Macdonald opposed the bill temperately, and was not believed to have given countenance to the violent proceedings which followed its passage. Nor did he take an active part in the crusade against the financial policy of the government which the Conservatives undertook after the removal of the executive and parliament to Toronto. In that movement the Conservatives were aided, and Messrs. Baldwin and Lafontaine ultimately coerced into resignation, by the “original Clear Grits,” under the leadership of Hon. Malcolm Cameron and Hon. W. H. Merritt. Mr. Baldwin was the most venerable figure in our political history, pure, honorable, high-minded, and during the struggle for responsible government rendered incalculable service to his party and cause. But he was a Whig rather than a Radical, a High Churchman, and therefore opposed to the secularisation of the clergy reserves, and incapable of stooping to the arts of the politician. He retired with Mr. Lafontaine, and Mr. Hincks became premier. During his brief reign George Brown commenced his agitation for representation by population, the secularisation of the clergy reserves, and against the further extension of the Separate School system in Upper Canada, and at the election of 1854 John A. Macdonald took an active part in inducing Conservative candidates to accept the secularisation plank of Mr. Brown’s platform, receiving in return the support of the powerful section of Reformers who went into opposition to Mr. Hincks on that and other questions. The result was the defeat of the government and the return of the Conservatives to office under the leadership of Sir Allan MacNab and Mr. Morin, Mr. Macdonald taking the office of attorney-general west, and practically the leadership of the Legislative Assembly being infinitely superior to his nominal chief in all that constitutes an effective parliamentarian. Mr. Macdonald then became, for the first time, an influential legislator, in the prime of life and fullest measure of his intellectual power. Mr. Macdonald took care in commuting the claims of existing clerical incumbents that great liberality should be shown. Simultaneously with this measure—the price in fact paid to the French Canadians for permitting the secularisation of the reserves—a bill was passed to abolish the seignorial tenure in Lower Canada, and emancipate the habitants from their feudal dues. Hitherto Mr. Macdonald had been opposed to French Canadians as a class, and he now appeared as their ally. He himself had no fancy for reform or change, and rightly judged that the French would prefer conservatism to liberalism. The alliance thus formed was not broken till the execution of Riel, and the effects of that deed of justice are not likely to be lasting. It must not be inferred, however, that Sir John has placed himself under the control of the French. He has helped to build their railways in liberal fashion, but has resisted successfully many demands besides the pardon of Riel. They would gladly have had a land endowment for the Catholic church in Manitoba and aid to send French emigrants thither, but he yielded neither. At critical moments they have forced concessions from him, but he has always made a stout fight, and the money demanded has generally been spent in the development of the resources of the province. Very early in his career as minister, Mr. Macdonald was met by a demand for further subsidies to the Grand Trunk Railway, and he gave them freely. His warmest admirer will not say that he is an economist even now, when old age might have been expected to bring carefulness. But in youth he was lavish both in his own expenditure and that of the country. His best defence as to the latter is that the country has advanced under his care; that though the public debt is large, there is a great deal to show for it. The inception of the great public works of the country, however, did not come from him. The Grand Trunk was commenced by the late Sir Francis Hincks, the annexation of the North-West was pressed upon parliament by the late Hon. George Brown, and the Canadian Pacific was begun, and large sums spent upon it, by Hon. Alexander Mackenzie. But Sir John carried all these to completion, and may fairly claim renown on their account. He cannot be said to have a creative mind, but in dexterity, perseverance, and courage in carrying through important measures he stands unrivalled among Canadian statesmen, and few elsewhere can be held to have surpassed him. Sir John was singularly favored by circumstances in the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Mr. Mackenzie helped him by the construction of the line from Pembina and Port Arthur to Winnipeg. Sir John made a fiasco with Sir Hugh Allan in 1871, and the latter was no longer available as a contractor in 1878. But it happened that three Canadians had lately acquired great fortunes in railway enterprises, and were able and willing to enter upon new efforts. But for these circumstances Sir John might have been compelled to build the Canadian Pacific with public loans, by very slow degrees. With the aid of these capitalists he had but to guarantee an issue of government debentures to secure immediate construction of the road from the Atlantic to the Pacific. His policy was assailed, and not without reason, because the difficulties were great and the means of overcoming them not obvious to the public. But the result has justified Sir John’s audacity, and there are few who now question the wisdom of his policy. The road may not pay a large return to its shareholders at once, but it will do its work as a colonising agent, and ultimately must be a triumphant financial success, as well as of advantage to the great territory through which it takes its course. It is a triumph of Canadian enterprise, energy, and liberality, and has directed to the Dominion admiring eyes in every quarter of the globe. Sir John’s extraordinary capacity for conciliating contending factions and individuals has carried the confederated provinces through twenty years of their union. Difficult questions are now coming to the front, and the wonder is not that they should now appear, but that they should have been delayed so long. The British-American Act is a bundle of compromises put together to bring the provinces together, and not meant to be permanent. If Sir John should live to assist in revising its terms it will be a happy augury of success. At his age he cannot be expected to be fully in accord with the spirit of the rising generation, but his address, his personal influence, his vast knowledge, have always been of eminent service to the State. In the settlement of difficulties at various periods with the United States his influence has been used wholly for good. This was manifested particularly in the Washington treaty of 1871. His ambition and jealousy of rivals have sometimes led him astray, but when he is called away his errors will be forgotten; it will be said of him even by his political opponents that he was the greatest politician in Canada, the one who spent most of his time and strength in her service, and did more than any other to forward her material progress. “For forty years,” (says another writer), “a representative of the people in parliament, for thirty years the trusted and beloved leader of the great Conservative party, and for twenty-five years the premier of the Dominion of Canada, the career of Sir John A. Macdonald, is in one respect at least unique in the history of parliamentary institutions.” When the Parliamentary deadlock occurred in 1864, in consequence of the bitter antagonisms that had sprung up between our Canadian politicians, he joined with leading men of both parties in bringing about, in 1867, the confederation of the British North American provinces, which had the effect at the time of smoothing over many difficulties; and, in 1878, when the Mackenzie government fell, he was successful in inaugurating what is known as the National Policy, which has been instrumental in developing the industries of the country, and in no little degree in maintaining his hold of power. In the success of these public measures, Sir John owes much to his astuteness and dexterity, as well as to his personal magnetism and phenomenal influence over the great body of the electorate. Quite recently, it has been said that the premier himself has come under an influence which has hitherto been new to him, that of religion, and that some Ottawa revivalists, in his old age, have brought about in his case a change of heart. This is a matter too sacred for the biographer to touch, and must be left to him whom alone it concerns. Though he has never been known as what is called a religious man, and however lax have been his political ethics, no enemy has ever charged him with being personally corrupt. His own words in 1873, when defending himself from charges arising out of the Pacific Railway scandal, may be accepted and reechoed, that “there does not exist in Canada a man who has given more of his time, more of his heart, more of his wealth, or more of his intellect and powers, such as they may be, for the good of this Dominion of Canada.”
Weller, Charles Alexander, Peterborough. Judge of the County Court, Local Judge of the High Court Of Justice, and Local Master of the Supreme Court of Judicature, was born at Toronto, on the 29th March, 1830, and took up his abode in Cobourg in 1838, with his parents, William Weller and Mercy Wilcox Weller, now both deceased. Judge Weller received his education at the Cobourg Seminary (now Victoria College), and at Upper Canada College, Toronto. Having determined to adopt the profession of law, he studied with Boulton & Cockburn, and Hector & Weller, barristers, in Toronto. In 1852 he was admitted as an attorney, and the following year was called to the bar of Upper Canada. Having removed to Peterborough in 1852, he began the practice of his profession and soon succeeded in building up a good business. In February, 1857, he received the appointments of county crown attorney and clerk of the peace for Peterborough; and in March, 1875, that of master in chancery for the same place. In March, 1886, Mr. Weller was created judge of the County Court, retaining the master’s office. Since that period he has won golden opinions for himself as a just and upright judge, and one who takes a deep interest in all that pertains to the building up of the town in which he has so long resided, and the welfare of his fellow citizens. On the 20th October, 1852, he was married to Martha, eldest daughter of the late Dr. Gilchrist, of Colborne. The fruit of the union was two children, a son and daughter, Henry Boucher, late of Millbrook, barrister, deceased; and Eliza, who is married to H. B. Dean, barrister, Lindsay, and son of Judge Dean.
Belanger, Louis-Charles, Advocate, Sherbrooke, Quebec province, was born on 19th May, 1840, at Rapide Plat, province of Quebec (Flat Rapids), on the Yamaska river, about seven miles below the city of St. Hyacinthe, in the parish of Ste. Rosalie, county Bagot. He is the eldest son of Charles Belanger, farmer and master blacksmith, and Angélique Renault-Blanchard. The subject of our sketch, Mr. Belanger, has six brothers and six sisters, all living, ten of whom are in the province of Quebec, and two in Worcester, Mass. The last named two brothers edit Le Courrier de Worcester, a leading French newspaper in New England. One of his brothers, Louis-Arthur, is the managing editor of Le Progrès de l’Est, a lively newspaper published at Sherbrooke, and the only bi-weekly paper in the Eastern Townships. His paternal grandfather, Paul Belanger, came from Beauce, and was one of the pioneer settlers in the St. Hyacinthe district. The late Louis Renault-Blanchard, his maternal grandfather, sat in the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, before 1841. This gentleman took an active part in the troubles of 1837-’38, and was forced to take refuge in the United States, along with one of his sons, the late L. P. R. Blanchard, C.E. and P.L.S. Mr. Belanger studied at St. Hyacinthe College from 1853 until 1860, when he removed to Sherbrooke, and spent two years as professor in the old Commercial French College of those days, and in this town he has resided ever since. He began the study of law in 1862, with the late William-Locker Felton, Q.C., who sat in parliament for Richmond and Wolfe, during the years 1854-’58, and took an active part in the separate school bill then before the house,—his wife being a Roman Catholic and one of the most accomplished women of her time—and was admitted to the bar of Quebec province, in October, 1866. On the 13th October, 1866, he entered into partnership with H. C. Cabana, now joint prothonotary of the Superior Court for the district of St. Francis, as advocates, etc., and with him established the Pionnier de Sherbrooke newspaper, being the first French newspaper published in the Eastern Townships. In July, 1874, the partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Belanger practised law alone for a while. In the autumn of that year, he and his brother, L. A. Belanger, purchased the Sherbrooke News and started the Progrès, both of which they published until May, 1878, when they sold their establishment to a company by which the Pionnier has been published ever since. In 1882, he started the Progrès de l’Est, which he handed to his brother now with him, and to which he is an active contributor. He was a member of the 53rd battalion from 1882 until 1885, as active captain of No. 4 company, composed chiefly of French Canadians. From 1881 until 1883, he occupied a seat in the council, and was president of the St. Jean Baptiste Society in 1874, at the time of the National Convention at Montreal, and also in 1884, when the great celebration took place in the same city. Was one of the organizers of the St. Joseph Society, a Workingmen’s Mutual Benefit Society, in 1874. He has also been a school commissioner ever since 1865. In August, 1874, he was made honorary member of the St. Patrick’s Society, of Sherbrooke and vicinity. In 1876, he contested Richmond and Wolfe with Lieutenant-Colonel Hanning for the House of Commons, secured a majority of 114 in Wolfe, but was defeated by a larger majority against him in Richmond. Again, in February 1887, he contested the seat in Sherbrooke with R. N. Hall, the sitting member. There had been no contested election in that constituency for the Commons up till this time, since 1867, but after a most gallant fight, he was defeated. He had conducted the Crown business (French cases), ever since 1878, and he is now the sole Crown Prosecutor for the district of St. Francis, since February, 1887. In religion, he is a Roman Catholic, but well-known for his liberal views in religious and educational matters. In politics, he is an independent Conservative, but separated from the present government on account of the North-West troubles. On October 23rd, 1865, whilst studying law, he married Margaret Henrietta Bradshaw Unsworth, daughter of the late James Unsworth, who came from England to this country about the year 1852, and was engaged on the editorial staff of the Montreal Gazette for a while, after which he removed to St. Hyacinthe, where he held the office of agent for the Grand Trunk Railway Company, and died of cholera in 1854. Mr. Unsworth left four sons, one of whom, Joseph, is superintendent of the government railway on Prince Edward Island. His widow, still living in Sherbrooke, is the sister of the well-known English composer, John Hatton, who died a couple of years ago, in London. Mr. Belanger has only one child, a daughter, having lost two in their infancy. Mr. Belanger’s motto is “Live and let live!” He stands up for equal rights to all men, and is a thorough Canadian. In 1867, Mr. Belanger’s father and family removed from Ste. Rosalie to Cookshire, county of Compton, where he purchased a large farm, now carried on by Mr. Belanger and his youngest brother. His father died two years ago, much regretted by a large circle of friends.
Berryman, John, M.D., M.P.P., of St. John, N.B., is of Irish extraction, his father, John Berryman, being a native of Antrim, who emigrated to St. John, and married Miss Wade, a lady of U. E. Loyalist parentage. Dr. Berryman was born in St. John, 9th December, 1828, and received his early education at the grammar school in that city. After leaving school he began life as a clerk in a flour store in St. John, then in a hardware shop, and for a half year in a flouring mill owned by his father. In 1848 he visited the West India Islands of Trinidad, Jamaica, and Cuba; Santa Fe De Bogata and Rio Hacha in New Granada. In 1849 he built, in St. John, a steam meal mill for grinding corn, and ran it until the fall of 1851, when he sold out and left for the Cape of Good Hope, and subsequently Australia, where he resided for five years, and carried on business as a miner, merchant, truckman, builder, and carpenter. Having early manifested a strong bent for the profession of medicine, after his return from Australia he entered upon a careful course of studies, at first in St. John and afterwards at the University of Edinburgh, where he assisted, in his professional labors, Professor Sir J. Y. Simpson, and resided in his house for two years. It is part of the course of a good student to engage in actual work either in the city of Edinburgh or at the university. In this way a medical student acquires in the rough duties of a city physician a practical knowledge of the minutiæ of his arduous employment, which must afterwards be of great service to him, especially when, as so often happens, he elects his field of labor in some remote country town, or on the outskirts of civilization, where books are not to be had, and consultations with other physicians are necessarily few and far between. Students at Edinburgh frequently attend to outside patients, furnish statistics of mortality to the official registrars, and deliver lectures on professional subjects. It so happened that Dr. Berryman’s fate cast him very soon into a field of work which tested his practical knowledge and his natural resources to the utmost. The war of the United States rebellion broke out in 1861, and the demand for men and scientific skill of all kinds, but particularly for skilled physicians, became enormous. Dr. Berryman went to the front and tendered his services, which, being accepted, found a large field. He was appointed by Surgeon-General Hammond a member of an examining board in connection with Professors Stillie, DeCosta, Weir, Mitchel, and Gross, of Philadelphia, and Dr. Smith, an army surgeon, to decide what disposition should be made of the three thousand soldiers under treatment in the hospital. He saw many thrilling scenes in the field of battle and in the crowded war hospital. In the rough exigencies of army life, and amid the countless horrible cases which war engendered, he had an ample field for his abilities, and at the same time had opportunities of perfecting himself as a surgeon in most difficult and delicate surgical operations. The training so acquired has been of inestimable value to him in his subsequent career in St. John and elsewhere. After the war was over he settled down in his native city and speedily worked up an extensive and lucrative practice. There was a great demand for the services of an army doctor. He took an interest in the volunteer movement, and served as surgeon of the garrison artillery of St. John from 18th April, 1864, to September, 1875. He was also surgeon of police from 1863 to 1875. Besides these appointments and the calls of his large city practice, he has frequently been sent for to attend severe cases of disease in other parts of New Brunswick and also Nova Scotia. Dr. Berryman first came before the public in the role of a candidate at the general election held on the 26th of April, in 1886. He and his colleague, John V. Ellis, were elected to represent the city of St. John in the House of Assembly, the vote standing, Ellis, 1673; Berryman 1611; defeating E. McLeod, 1500; and R. F. Quigley, 1220. Dr. Berryman is a Liberal and will, no doubt, before long give a good account of himself on the floor of parliament. His large practical experience of men and manners gives him a great advantage in politics. In 1850 he was made a Mason in Hibernia Lodge, St. John. He married, on the 16th March, 1864, Mary A., daughter of G. S. Brodie, of London, England.