Another personage in this court is entitled to a favourable notice—Mr. T. M. Radenhurst. This gentleman lounges in his chair with an easy familiarity when in court—you would imagine that his soul was away into the fair land of romance, or feasting with the great jury consultists in his library, or arranging some circumstances that may have transpired in the domestic or social circle; but when he stands up, and is roused into action, you are both startled and pleased to find that all this seeming abstraction, has no reality—he shows that nothing has escaped his notice—his mind is found to be stored with important facts, all bearing upon the point at issue; in the management of these there is a complete absence of all clap-trap—he does not seek to terrify and bewilder a witness, but the witness finds that he is in the hands of a master, and that his only mode of escape is in giving a plain unvarnished tale. When he addresses the jury, he unfolds the capacity so valuable in an advocate, that he believes that there is such a thing as truth, and that he relies with full confidence for success of his cause upon the truth being told. The moral bearing of his case is then unfolded, and the conviction is triumphantly carried and established in every unprejudiced mind that whatever may be the merits of the suit the advocate is an honest man.
W. H. Radenhurst, the subject of our sketch, his eldest son, at present residing in Perth, was educated at Upper Canada College. He held the office of treasurer of Lanark for sometime after his father’s death, but afterwards studied law in the offices of the late Mr. Fraser of Perth, and of Sir Matthew Cameron in Toronto, and was called to the bar. He was a member of the town council of Perth, and mayor of the town from 1874 to 1878. He is now revising officer for North Lanark. In politics he is a Liberal-Conservative, and in religion an adherent of the Episcopal church.
St. Georges, Rev. Charles, Parish Priest of St. Athanase, Iberville, P.Q., and Honorary Canon of the Cathedral of St. Hyacinthe, was born on the 13th March, 1834, at Varennes, Verchères county, P.Q. He was educated at the College of St. Hyacinthe, and ordained priest on the 15th August, 1858. The scenes of his early labors were successively Sorel, Granby, Abbotsford and St. Charles. Since 1868 he has been in charge of the Church of St. Athanase, Iberville, where his devotedness, zeal, and piety have gained for him the universal esteem and affection of his flock. His finer qualities, however, are known only to a few—his fellow-priests and the religious under his spiritual direction—by whom he is regarded as a model worthy of copying, and as a tender and loving pastor. Father St. Georges has been distinguished throughout his priestly career for the important part and interest he has taken in the education question. Finding on his arrival at St. Athanase, that the good Sisters of the Congregation de Notre Dame had established a convent there, he spared no sacrifice in aiding and seconding them in their noble efforts. For a long time it was his ardent wish to procure for the boys of his parish a suitable educational establishment; but it was not, however, until 1885 that this grand project was fully realized. In that year he had the happiness of seeing opened a Commercial College under the direction of the Marist Brothers, whose Mother-House is at St. Genis-Laval, France. The success which has already attended the scheme does credit to its promoter and principal supporter. At present it has about two hundred externs and fifty boarders. Father St. Georges’ life has been replete with all those noble virtues and fine qualities so often met with in the priesthood, and we hope he will be long spared to bless humanity.
Burrill, William, Merchant, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, was born at Drumbo, near Belfast, Ireland, on 30th June, 1802. He was the second son of Henry and Rosanna Burrill, and came to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, in the year 1834, where he at once engaged in mercantile business which he successfully pursued until 1869, when he retired. During his lifetime he greatly distinguished himself for his zeal in the cause of temperance. He took a leading part in the organization of the first Division of the Sons of Temperance in Yarmouth, and was the second Grand Worthy Patriarch of the order in Nova Scotia. He was elected a member of the National Division of North America in the year 1851. He held the office of warden of the municipality of Yarmouth in 1857, and the following year was appointed a justice of the peace. He was a Liberal in politics, and a Presbyterian in religion. He died at Yarmouth, on the 9th April, 1883, greatly regretted by his fellow citizens, among whom he was held in high esteem. He was married to Catherine Sullivan, of Halifax, N.S., on the 28th of November, 1839.
Charland, Hon. Justice Alfred N., B.C.L., St. John’s, Quebec. This gentleman, who was raised to the bench of the province of Quebec, as one of the judges of the Superior Court, in November, 1887, was born at Iberville, province of Quebec, on the 28th May, 1842. He is a son of late Joseph Charland, merchant, of the same place, one of the oldest settlers of the county of Iberville, province of Quebec, and who was married to Elmire Duquette, of Chateauguay, sister of the renowned Joseph Duquette, a young patriot who was executed in 1838, when only twenty-two years of age, for being one of the “Sons of Liberty,” an order that existed at the time of the Canadian rebellion. This lamented young martyr for the cause of liberty was a supporter and bosom friend of the celebrated Papineau. Judge Charland was educated in St. Hyacinthe College. He studied the profession of law in the office of the late Hon. Charles Laberge and L. G. Macdonald, Q.C. (Laberge & Macdonald), in St. John’s, province of Quebec, and was subsequently a student in the office of Sir A. A. Dorion, now chief justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench. He received his degree of B.C.L. from McGill University, when Judge Torrance, Edward Carter, Q.C., and the Hon. R. Laflamme were his professors. He was admitted to practice in September, 1863, and settled at St. John’s, where he edited Le Franco Canadien for two years, and commenced an extensive practice with E. S. Paradis, Q.C. In 1878 Mr. Charland was offered the judgeship of the quarter sessions for Montreal, by the Joly government, in the place of Judge Coursol, a position which, though honorable, he declined. The same year he was appointed Queen’s counsel by the Quebec government, and in 1886 had this distinction confirmed upon him by the governor-general in council at Ottawa. He was for several years actively engaged in politics, and fought the battles of the Liberal party till he joined the Conservatives as a protectionist and a partisan of the ruling policy of his friend, the Hon. J. A. Chapleau, then premier of Quebec province. Mr. Charland has particularly distinguished himself as a criminal lawyer, having for several years occupied the position of Crown prosecutor in the district of Iberville, and when not so employed has been entrusted with the defence in all the important cases which came up before the assizes of that judicial division. He obtained great success in several murder cases. He is considered as an authority on criminal matters. He is also acknowledged to be one of the most eloquent and forcible speakers in the province of Quebec, and perhaps the most correct and eloquent of our French orators. As such he has taken an active and prominent part in numerous political contests throughout the province, and greatly contributed to the success of his friends in many electoral strifes. The St. John’s News of the 18th November, 1887, thus kindly speaks of him on the occasion of his elevation to the bench: —
News was received in St. John’s last Friday that Mr. A. N. Charland, Q.C., of this place, had been appointed judge of this district, in place of the Hon. Mr. Justice Chagnon, resigned. While general regret was expressed at the resignation of the latter gentleman, the appointment of Mr. Charland as his successor gave the most unqualified satisfaction to our community at large, and even many of those who had recently been most strictly opposed to him on political ground, were among the first to congratulate him on his preferment. We do not hesitate to say that Judge Charland will be an honor to the bench. Years ago he distinguished himself at the bar as a gifted pleader and as a clear, incisive, and brilliant reasoner. Along with a dignified and polished manner, he possesses that savoir faire which so greatly adds to the charm of an intellectual man, and is so especially becoming to the occupants of high positions.
Judge Charland first married, in 1865, Aglaë Ouimet, sister of the Hon. Justice Ouimet. His second marriage was to Mary Lareau, of St. John’s, eldest daughter of L. Lareau, manufacturer, proprietor of the St. John’s foundry, and for a long time a councillor of said town.