Mr. John Cameron, Mr.
Brown’s successor in the editorial chair of the Globe, is a
Scottish Canadian. He was born in Markham Township, Ontario, on the 22nd
of January, 1843, his father being from Argyllshire and his mother a
native of the North of Ireland. Removing when a boy to London, Ontario,
he learned the printing trade in the office of the Free Press.
Immediately on the expiration of his apprenticeship Mr. Cameron, then
about twenty-one, conceived the bold idea of establishing an evening
paper in London. He had no means, and the paper, in order to live, would
have to pay its own way from the start. Such an undertaking now-a-days
would be utterly Quixotic, but at that time the demands of the public in
the way of news, were much less exigent and expenses in every department
much smaller than to-day. The Evening Advertiser was accordingly
launched on the 27th of October, 1863, and fortune smiled propitiously
upon the venture from the outset. The paper was at first of very small
dimensions, but it really in the language of the prospectuses "filled a
long felt want," and grew in circulation, size and prestige year by year
until it ranked among the prominent dailies of the province. Morning and
weekly editions were published, and a valuable newspaper property built
up. Of course this was not accomplished except by long years of
persistent, unremitting labour on the part of Mr. Cameron and his
brother William, who was associated with him in the enterprise. A
specialty of the paper is the short, crisp, pungent paragraphs in which
the politics of the day are discussed—a style of writing a good deal
less common when first adopted by the Advertiser than it has now
become. During his editorship of that paper, Mr. Cameron visited Great
Britain and the European Continent, giving his impressions in a series
of graphically written letters to his journal which were afterwards
republished in book form.
Mr. Cameron became editor
and general manager of the Globe in December, 1882, his position
on the Advertiser being taken by Hon. David Mills as editor,
while Mr. William Cameron assumed the business management. Under Mr.
John Cameron’s direction, a policy of rigid economy was adopted in the
Globe office, many expenses deemed superfluous being cut off. The
prevailing idea in the arrangement of news matter is that of brevity and
condensation in place of the extended notice formerly bestowed on
matters of secondary importance. Mr. Cameron has always been a Liberal
of somewhat advanced views, and an advocate of temperance reform and the
enlargement of the sphere of woman. He is essentially a man of tact,
shrewdness and resource, and though criticism has not been silent as to
the effect of the change upon the style of the great newspaper, the
destinies of which have been entrusted to his keeping, it must be
admitted that he has, on the whole, borne well the trying ordeal of
comparison with his veteran predecessor.
Mr. William Houston, the
recently appointed Librarian of the Ontario Parliamentary Library, was
born in the County of Lanark, Ontario, on the ninth of September, 1844.
He is of Scottish ancestry, his father being an Orcadian from Mainland,
near Stromness, and his mother of mixed Highland and Lowland origin from
Glasgow. Both parents came to Canada in youth with the early settlers of
Lanark, and were subjected to the hardships and privations incidental to
that period. Mr. Houston received only a common school education in his
boyhood, in Lanark and Bruce counties, to which latter he went at the
age of thirteen, shortly after the region had been thrown open for
settlement. Here he spent some years in school teaching. Determined to
obtain a thorough education he went to the University of Toronto,
at an age somewhat later than the usual period of college life and
graduated with honours in 1872. He entered immediately upon the
profession of journalism obtaining a position on the staff of the
Toronto Globe. He continued in connection with that newspaper for
eleven years, with the exception of brief intervals when his services
were engaged by the St. John Telegraph, and the short-lived
Toronto Liberal. In the latter part of 1883, he was appointed to
the office he now holds for which he is well fitted by his intimate
knowledge of Canadian political history, no less than by his literary
information and the painstaking accuracy which is so marked a feature of
his character. His journalistic career was marked by great assiduity and
a thorough grasp of the questions with which he undertook to deal. His
style is not ornate, but his points are always clearly and forcibly put,
from a practical common sense standpoint. In short he has the national
characteristics of soundness and clear-headedness in an eminent degree.
Mr. Christopher Blackett
Robinson, the editor and proprietor of the Canada Presbyterian
newspaper, is a Canadian by birth, of partly Scottish and partly English
descent, the former element predominating. His father was born in
London, but was educated and for many years resided in Scotland. His
mother was of Highland extraction, belonging to the Clan Gunn. Mr.
Robinson was born in Thorah Township, in the County of Ontario, in 1837.
He engaged in journalism in his twentieth year, editing the Canadian
Post, then published in Beaverton, for a couple of years. In 1861
the paper was removed by Mr. Robinson to the rising town of Lindsay,
where he continued to publish it for about ten years. It was greatly
superior to any newspaper ever previously issued in that section of the
province, and, under Mr. Robinson’s able management, soon became a
valuable newspaper property, taking high rank among local weeklies. In
1871 Mr. Robinson parted with the Post and removed to
Toronto, where he commenced the publication of the Canada
Presbyterian, which, under his energetic and prudent control,
speedily attained a marked success. Without seeking to be in any sense
the official organ of the Presbyterian Church, the Presbyterian
has won for itself appreciation as a fearless and forcible exponent of
the general public opinion of that body, and the recognised vehicle, of
intelligence specially affecting its interests, and indicative of its
progress. Mr. Robinson has also built up a large, and flourishing book
and job printing establishment, and is the publisher of The Week,
the new literary journal just issued under the editorial charge of Mr.
Charles Goodrich Roberts, whose poetical talents have been widely
recognised.
Mr. Thomas McQueen, the
founder and for many years the editor of the Huron Signal,
published at Goderich, was a shining instance of the aptitude frequently
displayed by the sons of the Scottish peasantry for rising to positions
of eminent usefulness and honour. He was "self-made" in the best sense
of that much abused phrase by the cultivation of all his intellectual
faculties. Born in Ayrshire about the year 1803 of humble parentage his
school education was extremely limited, as he was early necessitated by
the pressure of poverty to contribute by his labour to the
support of the family. The turning point of his life was an accident
sustained in boyhood, which rendered him permanently lame and afforded
him the opportunity for indulging his natural bent for study and
reflection. He became a stone mason by trade and soon distinguished
himself as an eloquent and brilliant advocate of the rights of labour.
While continuing to work at his trade he threw himself with intense and
consuming earnestness into the vanguard of the ranks of labour reform,
as orator and writer. He was a poet of no mean order and published
several volumes of poems which largely partook of the tendency of his
prose writing, being instinct with the spirit of progress and
liberalism. Mr. McQueen arrived in Canada in 1842 settling in the County
of Renfrew, where, for a short time he pursued his original calling. But
his strong political feelings were speedily enlisted in the struggle for
responsible government and the allurements of journalism were too
powerful to be long resisted. The County of Huron appeared to offer a
desirable field for the establishment of a liberal newspaper and the
first number of the Signal was issued on the 4th of February,
1848. It quickly obtained a leading position among the journals of that
period, owing to the vigour, incisiveness and soundness of the articles
from Mr. McQueen’s prolific but always careful pen. He remained steadily
devoted to this undertaking during the remainder of his busy and
influential career with the exception of a period of about two years
during which he occupied a position on a Hamilton newspaper in 1854,
after he had returned, to Goderich, he became a Parliamentary candidate
for the County of Huron, in the Reform interest, but was defeated. His
labours in the liberal cause were unceasing and to the last he continued
to cherish a warm interest in the class from which he sprang and to work
for their intellectual and moral advancement. He was no mere partizan
valuing success and the prizes of office more than consistency. To him
success was worthless excepting as it resulted in advancing the
principles which he had so deeply at heart. His death which took place
on the 25th of June, 1861, left a void, not easily or soon replaced in
the ranks of local journalism.
One of the best known
writers on the Ontario press is Mr. John Maclean, who was born in
Glasgow, Scotland, on the 10th of April, 1825, his grandfather, of the
same name, having come from the Island of Mull. He is descended by his
mother’s side from the Cummings of Gallowayshire. He came to Canada in
1888, but it was not until 1862 that he turned his attention to
journalism being for many years engaged in commercial pursuits. For four
or five years he was the Hamilton correspondent of the Globe, and
an editorial writer for the Hamilton Times and other Reform
journals. Though a thorough Liberal, he was convinced of the necessity
of a protective policy, which he advocated from time to time as
opportunity offered. In 1867 he took the matter up in a more
comprehensive manner, and wrote a pamphlet entitled "Protection or Free
Trade," four thousand copies of which were sold by subscription. Two
years afterwards Mr. Maclean started the People’s Journal for the
advocacy of protective principles. It was published for about a year in
Hamilton, but in 1870 the office was removed to Toronto. After
full and repeated exchange of views with the leaders of both political
parties Mr. Maclean made up his mind that he could no longer remain
connected with the Reform party as it appeared indissolubly wedded to
Free Trade principles. He accordingly gave his support to Sir John
Macdonald solely on the ground that the cause of protection seemed
likely to be taken up by the Conservatives. The publication of the
People’s Journal was discontinued early in 1872, the editor being
engaged on the staff of the Toronto Mail with the understanding
that the paper was to advocate protectionist principles. Here he
remained for upwards of six years during which he made his influence
powerfully felt in the agitation for the adoption of the National
Policy. After the restoration of the Conservatives to power Mr. Maclean
was engaged for two years in Ottawa in special statistical work for the
Minister of Finance, and acted for some months as Secretary to the Board
of Appraisers of the Customs Department. He returned to journalism in
1881 when he became editor of the Canadian Manufacturer on its
removal to Toronto—a position he still holds. He is also a frequent
editorial contributor to the Toronto World. Mr. Maclean’s style
is clear and vigorous, and his articles show a thorough mastery of the
class of questions with which he principally deals, while surprisingly
free from the limitation of view which too often accompanies the
concentration of thought into particular channels. Although a specialist
he retains a broad outlook on political and social life.
The pen-name of "The
Whistler at the Plough" has been familiar to the reading public of
Britain for nearly half a century, and during later years has become
widely known throughout Canada. Alexander Somerville, was born on the
fifteenth of March, 1811, in the parish of Oldhamstocks, Haddington-shire,
being the youngest child of James and Mary Orkney Somerville. He is of
Norman descent by his father’s side and draws through his maternal
ancestry a strain of Scandinavian blood. His early training was of the
kind which has developed so many sterling qualities among the Scottish
peasantry, and secured a foremost place in the world for such a large
proportion of those who leave their ranks to push their fortunes in
other countries. His body was nourished by homely fare and strengthened
by rustic labour while his intellectual faculties were stimulated by
reading of a substantial character. From infancy he displayed that love
for the beauties of nature and enthusiasm for rural life and scenery
which distinguishes his writings. The earlier years of Mr. Somerville’s
manhood were passed in military service, and in 1832, he became the
central figure in an episode which excited a great deal of public
indignation. For a slight breach of discipline at the military riding
school, in Birmingham, he was tried by court-martial and according to
the inhuman code then in force was sentenced to receive two hundred
lashes. Half of this punishment was actually inflicted. The alleged
violation of military rule was a mere pretext, the real cause of the
brutality of the authorities being ‘Mr. Somerville’ refusal to become a
political informer. The agitation which ensued upon the carrying out of
this shameful sentence had a beneficial effect in mitigating the
injustice and severity of military discipline. During the years 1835-37,
Mr. Somerville served in the Auxiliary Legion in Spain, under Gen. Sir
De Lacy Evans, as colour-sergeant in the 8th Highlanders. His superior
officers have testified in strong terms as to his bravery and efficiency
in the performance of his duties. After leaving the army he turned his
attention newspaper writing and his graphic descriptive sketches under
the signature of the "Whistler at the plough" full of local colouring
and written in a readable sketchy vein, soon attracted widespread
attention. During the twenty years between 1838 and 1858, Mr. Somerville
represented several leading metropolitan papers, travelling all over the
United Kingdom, describing local industries and institutions, sketching
the condition of the people and describing, in short, everything
noteworthy that came within the range of his keen powers of observation.
These letters were largely reproduced by the British provincial press,
and became a powerful factor in moulding public opinion upon current
political questions. "I know nothing in the English language," wrote the
late Mr. Cobden, "which for graphic narrative and picturesque
description of places, persons and things surpasses some of the letters
of Alexander Somerville, the ‘Whistler at the Plough.’" He rendered
efficient aid to the agitation in favour of Free Trade; and in the years
1848-50 wrote a "History of the Fiscal System," and various other papers
for the Financial Reform Association of Liverpool. Mr. Somerville was
not at any time a dogmatic advocate of Free Trade in all commodities. In
Canada he soon observed that the conditions of manufactures and commerce
were not the same as in Britain. During the last twenty-three years he
has travelled extensively in Canada, sending to many English journals
vivid and interesting pen-pictures of our natural scenery, and our
industrial conditions. His writings have undoubtedly done much to
familiarize the British people with the realities of Canadian life, and
to disabuse their minds of the misapprehensions respecting this country
which so long prevailed. His is an industrious and a facile pen and few
journalists have had a more active and varied experience of, or are more
familiar with, life in all its phases than the "Whistler." He has for
some years been a resident of Toronto, having adopted Canada as his
home.
Among the new members
returned to the Dominion Parliament in 1882 were two leading
representatives of the local press of Ontario—both Scotsmen. James Innes
was born in Huntley, Aberdeenshire, on the 1st of February, 1833. He
began life as a school-teacher in his native land, but on arriving in
Canada, in 1853, adopted the vocation of journalism. In 1862 he became
editor and publisher of the Guelph Mercury, which has a high
standing among the Reform newspapers of Western Ontario. Mr. Innes has
been a High School Trustee for a number of years, is chairman of the
Guelph Board of Education, and has taken an active interest in many
public enterprises. He was always on the Reform side of politics, and
was returned in that interest for South Wellington at last general
election. James Somerville is a life-long Reformer. His parents came
from Fifeshire, Scotland, about half a century ago, settling in Dundas,
where he was born, on the 7th of June, 1834. After receiving a good
education at the public and grammar schools of his native town, he
acquired a knowledge of the newspaper business, and in 1854 established
the Ayr Observer. In 1858 he disposed of this journal, and
returned to Dundas where he started the True Banner, which he has
successfully conducted ever since. For many years Mr. Somerville has
been prominent in municipal matters, having occupied the position of
Warden of Wentworth County and Mayor of Dundas, as well as many less
important trusts. He represents North Brant in the House of Commons.
Alexander Whyte Wright is
well known in connection with journalism and political agitation though
not at present actively engaged in either direction. He was born in
Markham Township, at what is now the village of Elmira, about the year
1845, his father being from Glasgow and his mother from
Fifeshire. He was engaged for several years in the woollen and carpet
manufacturing industries in Preston and St. Jacobs. In 1874 he became
regularly connected with the press, though, for several years previous
he had from time to time contributed fugitive articles to various
journals. He edited, with marked ability and power, the Guelph
Herald, Orangeville Sun, and Stratford Herald; and, in
1876, came to Toronto and took charge of the editorial department of the
National. He took a prominent part in the National Policy
agitation, supplementing his journalistic labours by the delivery of
numerous speeches throughout the country in favour of a protective
tariff. Being an apt, ready speaker, well-versed in the details of the
question and the practical needs of Canadian industries, and having
unusual powers of repartee and illustration, his services on the stump
were greatly in demand during the campaign of 1877. After the triumph of
the National Policy, Mr. Wright turned his attention to other and less
popular reforms, advocating the adoption of a national paper currency
with the same zeal and enthusiasm which had animated him in the struggle
over the tariff question. In the fall of 1880 he came forward as a
candidate for West Toronto for the House of Commons on a platform
embracing national currency, and other measures. His views, however, did
not meet with general acceptance. Shortly afterwards Mr. Wright withdrew
from journalism, and became Secretary of the Manufacturers’ Association,
and also of the Niagara Steel Works. As a popular orator, Mr. Wright
holds a leading position. He is a man of marked individuality, not
afraid to reason from first principles, and totally devoid of that
slavish deference to authority and conventional opinion which has done
so much to sap the intellectual vitality of Canadian life, and render
much of the journalistic field an arid waste of platitude interspersed
with oases vivid with a tropical luxuriance of invective. He has given
much thought to the social question, in its various phases, and is an
unswerving advocate of the rights of labour.
The name of "Cousin
Sandy" will be remembered by a great many of our readers in connection
with the press of a dozen years ago, many telling prose contributions
and poetic squibs appearing in different journals over that signature.
Their author was Mr. John Fraser, a Scot either by birth or descent,
who, prior to emigrating to Canada achieved a considerable reputation in
England in connection with the Chartist movement. He possessed great
power of sarcasm and invective, which found full scope for their
exercise in that memorable struggle for the rights of the people. His
original vocation was that of a tailor which he followed for a
considerable time at Stanstead, in the Province of Quebec, indulging at
the same time those literary pursuits for which he had a natural gift.
He afterwards accepted the position of canvasser for a prominent
book-publishing firm in Montreal, and in this capacity his travels
extended widely throughout Canada. His versatile talents and genial
disposition secured him a wide circle of friends and acquaintances
wherever he went. He distributed his contributions among a number of
newspapers, mostly of the Liberal school of politics, many of his clever
satirica1 verses appearing in the Montreal Herald. He met his
death by accident at Ottawa, in the early part of June 1872, by falling
down the precipice in rear of the Parliament Buildings. He struck the
rocks in his descent and was instantly killed.
Mr. George Maclean Rose
has been so long and prominently associated with the development of
Canadian literature that his name may well be introduced in this
connection. He was born in Wick, Caithness-shire, Scotland, on the 14th
of March, 1829, and learned the printing trade in the office of the
John O’Groat Journal. A year after he had attained his majority the
family settled in Canada. He entered the employ of Mr. John C. Beckett,
of Montreal, who was then engaged in the publication of the Montreal
Witness and other journals. After the death of his father, which
took place in 1853, the care of the family devolved upon him. The means
at his command were but scanty, but in partnership with his elder
brother, Henry, he started a small job printing office. By strict
industry and economy they obtained a fair measure of success. In 1856
they dissolved partnership, George having become convinced that Western
Canada offered more scope for his energies than Montreal. In connection
with Mr. John Muir he established the Chronicle, in the village
of Merrickville, but he did not remain there any length of time. Among
his other engagements about this period, was that of city editor of the
London Prototype. In 1858, he came to Toronto as manager of the
printing office of Mr. Samuel Thompson, for whom he published the
Toronto Atlas, started in opposition to the Colonist,
which had taken ground adverse to the government of the day. Mr.
Thompson having obtained the contract for government printing, Mr. Rose
was assigned to take the management of the office in Quebec, whither he
removed in 1859. This arrangement did not long continue. Mr. Thompson
found himself unable financially to carry out his contract alone, and a
company was organized for the purpose, including Mr. Rose and Mr. Robert
Hunter, an experienced accountant. Mr. Thompson retired from the
business altogether soon afterwards, leaving it to the new firm of
Hunter, Rose & Co., who completed the contract and secured its renewal.
On the removal of the seat of Government to Ottawa in 1865, the firm of
course followed. A large and lucrative business was soon built up, and
in 1868, a branch was established at Toronto; the firm having secured a
ten years’ contract for the printing of the Provincial Government. In
1871 their relations with the Dominion Government terminated, and the
business was consolidated in Toronto. The firm now entered extensively
into the business of publishing Canadian reprints of English copyright
books, principally the popular novels of living writers, for which a
ready market was found. The firm honestly compensated the authors
whose works they reproduced, although this of course placed them
at a disadvantage as compared with the piratical publishers of the
United States. Another and probably a greater service to the
intellectual progress of the country rendered by this enterprising firm,
was the publication—at first for others, but latterly at their own
risk—of the Canadian Monthly, the last and by far the best
literary magazine ever issued in this country. This venture
unfortunately did not prove pecuniarily successful, and though sustained
for many years with a liberality and public spirit highly creditable to
the publishers, was at length discontinued. In 1877 the death of Mr.
Hunter left Mr. Rose the sole member of the firm, and a year afterwards
he took his brother Daniel into the concern, the well-known firm name
being still retained. Widely as Mr. George M. Rose is known to the
Canadian people as a successful and enterprising publisher, he has
acquired a more extensive reputation by his unselfish exertions in the
cause of temperance and moral reform. A life-long total abstainer and
prohibitionist, he has taken an active part in temperance work in
connection with various organizations. He has attained the highest
offices in the gift of the Sons of Temperance in the Dominion, having
been several times chosen to fill the chair of Grand Worthy Patriarch of
the Order both in Quebec and Ontario, and has also held the second
highest position conferrable by that Order for the whole continent,
having been Most Worthy Associate of the National Division of America.
His heart and purse are always open to the appeals for the advancement
of the temperance cause, which he regards as being of vastly more
importance than mere party issues. Though a Liberal politically he
regards all public issues from the standpoint of temperance reform.
Personally Mr. Rose is genial, sociable and unassuming. As his career
shows, he has abundant business capacity, and the enthusiasm which forms
so strong a feature of his character is well regulated by a fund of
practical common sense.
Mr. David Wylie, of Brockville,
known as the "father of the Ontario Press," was born in Johnstone,
Renfrewshire, Scotland, his parents being William and Mary Orr Wylie, on
the 23rd of March, 1811. He evinced a taste for reading at an early age.
In January, 1826, he was apprenticed to the printing trade in the office
of Stephen Young, Paisley, where he remained for upwards of three years,
finishing his term of apprenticeship at the University Printing office,
Glasgow. He first commenced to write for the Greenock Advertiser,
to which he contributed some short stories and sketches in addition to
ordinary journalistic work. He afterwards held a situation on the
Glasgow Guardian for about a year and a half. Subsequently he
went to Liverpool where he became reporter and proof reader on the
Mail, remaining in that employment for about eight years. After a
period spent in Manchester on the Anti-Corn-Law Circular, the
organ of the Free Traders, Mr. Wylie returned to his native land taking
the management of the Fife Herald, published in the town of Cupar,
at that time edited by the celebrated Mr. Russell afterwards of the
Edinburgh Scotsman. In the year 1845 he was offered a situation
in Montreal by Mr. John C. Becket, then publisher of the Witness
and several other serials. He accepted the proposition and for several
years remained in Mr. Becket’s employ. In 1849 he became parliamentary
reporter for the Montreal Herald besides doing a great deal of
miscellaneous work for the press of Montreal. Later in the same year he
came to Brockville and took charge of the Recorder which under
his able management soon became noted as a powerful Reform journal and
commanded a wide-spread influence in that section of the Province. He
continued to edit the Recorder for nearly thirty years. During
the last few years of his proprietorship he issued a daily
edition which met with encouraging success. Mr. Wylie is a poet of
marked ability and taste, and in 1867 issued a collection of his
poems under the title of "Waifs from the Thousand Isles" which met with
deserved acceptance at the hands of the public. He revisited Scotland in
1870, being commissioned by the Ontario Government to present the claims
of Canada as a field for settlement to the Scottish people. He delivered
numerous addresses on that subject in addition to writing a series of
letters to the Glasgow Herald, in which the advantages held out
by Canada to intending emigrants were fully set forth. While resident in
Montreal Mr. Wylie became connected with the volunteer force with which
he has ever since been associated, having risen to the rank of Lieut-Colonel
and Paymaster of Military District No. 4. For upwards of twenty years he
has been Chairman of the Board of School Trustees, and has taken an
active interest in many public
enterprises.
Evan MacColl, who has
gained a wide celebrity both as a Gaelic and an English poet, was born
at Kenmore, Loch Fyne-side, Scotland, on the 21st of September, 1808, in
which neighbourhood he was known as "Clarsair-nam-beann" or the
Mountain Minstrel. He was the child of parents in a humble walk of life,
though boasting a long lineage his paternal ancestors being the MacColls
of.Glasdruim Glencreran. His mother belonged to the Clan Cameron and the
poetic faculty of MacColl was inherited from her. Evan received a fair
education, his father, though ill able to afford the expense, engaging a
tutor for him in order that he might have advantages superior to those
which the village school could afford. He soon acquired a decided taste
for literature and read with avidity such books as came in his way. The
perusal of Burns’ poems and some of the standard English classics give a
marked impetus to the literary bent of his mind and when hardly out of
his boyhood, he began to compose poetry. He was during his youth
employed in farming and fishing, but though the nature of his avocations
retarded they did not suppress his intellectual development. Evan
MacColl was not destined to be a mute inglorious Milton, and chill
penury did not "freeze the genial current of his soul." In 1837 he
became a contributor to the Gaelic Magazine then published in
Glasgow. His poems excited much interest and speedily won a reputation
for the youthful author. Before long a collection of his Gaelic poems
was published under the title, of "Clarsach nam Beann," or "Poems
and Songs in Gaelic." This was followed by another collection under the
title of "The Mountain Minstrel, or Poems and Songs in English." This
publication won him fresh laurels and many competent literary
authorities were loud in his praise. Dr. Norman McLeod, editor of
Good Words, wrote as follows: "Evan MacColl’s poetry is the product
of a mind impressed with the beauty and the grandeur of the lovely
scenes in which his infancy has been nursed. We have no hesitation in
saying that the work is that of a man possessed of much poetic genius.
Wild indeed and sometimes rough are his rhymes and epithets, yet there
are thoughts so new and striking—images and comparisons so beautiful and
original—feelings so warm and fresh that stamp this Highland peasant as
no ordinary man." Mr. MacColl’s family emigrated to Canada in 1831 but
he remained behind, and in 1837 procured a clerkship in the customs at
Liverpool. Here he remained until 1850, when his health having became
impaired he visited his friends in Canada. Here he met with Hon. Malcolm
Cameron, then in office and was by him offered a position in the
Canadian Customs at Kingston which he gladly accepted. He
remained in this post for thirty years being superannuated about the
year 1880. He has written numerous poems, chiefly of a lyrical
character, during his residence in Canada, one of the most noted of
which is his Robin, written for the occasion of the Burns
Centennial celebration in Kingston, the easy and melodious expression of
which is in excellent imitation of Burns’ own style. He has been for
many years the bard of the St. Andrew’s Society of Kingston, and his
anniversary poems are greatly appreciated by all Scotsmen. Mr. MacColl
is a thorough Scot in his tastes, sympathies and characteristics. His
nature is simple and sincere and his many amiable qualities have won the
sympathy and esteem of a wide circle of friends. His poetic gifts have
been transmitted to his daughter, Miss Mary J. MacColl, who recently
published a meritorious little volume of poems entitled "Bide a wee,"
highly commended for their sweetness and delicacy.
An old time journalist
who, in his day, did excellent service in the cause of political and
religious freedom, is Mr. James Lesslie, whose family took a prominent
part in the commercial and public life of the then town of York. His
father was Edward Lesslie, a native of Dundee, Scotland, who carried on
an extensive book and stationery business in that town for many years.
Mr. Edward Lesslie had a family of twelve children, and rightly
considering that their prospects in life would be improved by emigration
to the New World, determined to settle in Canada. In 1820 John Lesslie,
one of the sons, came out in advance of the rest of the family, and
selected the town of York as a good field for commercial enterprise. It
was then little more than a village, the buildings being of wood, and
the streets chronically in the condition which earned it the
soubriquet of "Muddy Little York." John Lesslie began business in a
two story house opposite the English Church, at that time a wooden
structure on the site of the present St. James’ Cathedral. In accordance
with the customary practice at that time, he kept a general stock of
goods, but his specialties were books and drugs, in which lines he had
for some time a monopoly. William Lyon Mackenzie, who arrived at York
shortly afterwards, found employment for a time with Mr. Lesslie, and in
1821 was entrusted with the management of a branch store opened in
Dundas. The other members of the Lesslie family came out in 1822, and
the following year, making their home in Dundas. The business of "Lesslie
& Sons" was extended, another branch being opened in Kingston. Mr.
Edward Lesslie died in 1828, and some years afterwards the firm was
reorganized, John retaining the Dundas branch, and the interests of the
others being concentrated at Toronto under the name of "Lesslie
Brothers." The partnership continued until the death of Mr. William
Lesslie, in 1843. Mr. James Lesslie took a leading part in many social
and public movements of a moral and intellectual character. He was
President of the "Young Men’s Society," organized in 1833 on a basis
somewhat similar to the Young Men’s Christian Association of to-day, and
Secretary of the Mechanics’ Institute established in the same year. When
the town of York became the city of Toronto in 1834, Mr. Lesslie was
chosen alderman for St. David’s ward. In 1836 he took a leading part in
conjunction with James Hervey Price, James Beaty and others in
establishing the House of Industry, and about this time made his
influence strongly felt in combating the Church of England ascendancy in
public affairs He was appointed cashier, and afterwards President of the
"Bank of the People," a joint stock institution, established in 1835, in
opposition to the chartered banks under Family Compact control. This
bank successfully passed through the trying ordeal of the crisis of
1836, and in 1840 was merged in the Bank of Montreal. In February, 1836,
Mr. Lesslie was chosen in connection with Mr. Jesse Ketchum to deliver
to Sir Francis Bond Head the celebrated "rejoinder" to the official
reply of His Excellency to an address presented by the citizens—a
proceeding which being contrary to official etiquette required no little
tact, and was adroitly accomplished. When the insurrection of 1837 broke
out, James and William Lesslie, whose influence had been thrown on the
side of law and order, were subjected to imprisonment simply because
they were known as staunch advocates of civil and religious liberty.
Their premises were occupied and plundered by the disorderly militia—a
proceeding said to have been ordered by Attorney General Hagerman. After
examination by the Commissioners of Treason, both brothers were
released. William shortly afterwards started on a journey to be married,
and was again arrested on the stage when near Kingston, and without any
legal formality thrown into jail at that town, and treated as a
convicted felon. The matter was brought to the notice of Sir Francis
Bond Head, but he refused to interfere. Such outrages were perpetrated
with great frequency at this time by the official party. The extent of
this persecution of the friends of constitutional reform, led James
Lesslie to transmit a strong memorial to the Imperial Government through
Sir Henry Parnell, then the representative of Forfarshire in the House
of Commons. It formed the subject of a dispatch from the Colonial office
to Lieutenant-Governor Head, who, in his published correspondence,
stigmatized the Lesslies, and all constitutional Reformers as "notorious
republicans." Very many left the province, as political progress and
redress of existing wrongs appeared for a time hopeless, and the Family
Compact intrenched the more firmly in power by the abortive attempt to
overthrow them. A scheme for a general emigration to some of the newer
territories of the United States was set on foot, and a society formed
for this purpose entitled "The Mississippi Emigration Society," of which
Mr., now Sir Francis Hincks, was secretary. Three delegates were chosen
to proceed to the far West and select a site for the proposed Canadian
colony, viz.: - Mr. Peter Perry, representative of Whitby, in the
legislature; Mr. Thomas Parke, member for Middlesex, and Mr. James
Lesslie. They selected Davenport, Iowa, then a small village, as the
most promising location. Mr. Lesslie suffered from a severe attack of
bilious fever, owing to the hardships endured by the party in their
travels through a wild and uncivilized region. The scheme eventually
fell through owing partly to the conciliatory course of Lord Durham, and
the prospects held out by him of speedy reform.
About 1844, James Lesslie
purchased the Examiner newspaper, published in Toronto, from Mr.
Hincks, who then went to Montreal and became editor of the Pilot.
His brother, Mr. Joseph Lesslie, assisted him in the editorial conduct
of the paper for a year or more, when he gave it up, James Lesslie
carried on the paper successfully, and his able pen rendered it a
powerful factor in the conflict for religious equality. In 1854, the
question was forever settled by the abolition of the State Church, when
he sold out the paper to Mr. Brown, of the Globe. In 1855, he
disposed of his book, stationery and drug business, and two years later
purchased the homestead of Hon. James Hervey Price, near the village of
Eglington, where he now resides having passed his 80th year. His brother
John, also an octogenarian, lives in Dundas with his unmarried sister,
Helen. [John Lesslie has since died.] Two other sisters, Mrs. John
Paterson and Mrs. Robert Holt, widows, also reside in that town. Charles
Lesslie, who went to Davenport, Iowa, in 1889, is resident there but in
feeble health.
Mr. Daniel Morrison was
for a long time connected with the Toronto press and obtained a high
reputation as a powerful and sarcastic writer. He was the son of Rev.
Mr. Morrison, of Inverness, Scotland, and came to Canada at an early
age. For some time he was engaged in farming in Wentworth County, and
subsequently edited the Dundas Warder, in which capacity he
speedily achieved a reputation as an able journalist. He afterwards
obtained a position on the Toronto Leader. In conjunction with
Mr. George Sheppard he purchased the Colonist from Mr. Samuel
Thompson and continued to edit that journal until 1859, when he was
appointed by the government one of the provincial arbitrators. The year
following he resigned his office and accepted the editorship of the
Quebec Morning Chronicle. In 1861 he had charge of the London
Prototype and shortly afterwards went to New York, where he was
engaged on the staff of the Tribune and other journals. He
returned to Canada some years afterwards, having accepted the position
of editor of the Toronto Telegraph. He died about the year 1869.
In 1858 he married the talented Canadian actress, Miss Charlotte
Nickinson, who survives him.
Reference has already
been made very briefly to Mr. John Galt, the father of Sir Alexander T.
Galt, and known as a distinguished Scottish novellist and the founder of
the city of Guelph. Mr. Galt was born in Irvine, on the 2nd day of May,
1779. The following year his father, who was the captain of a ship in
the West India trade, left Ayrshire and took up his residence in
Greenock, in which town John Galt received his education. He early
manifested a strong predilection for study and literary composition,
which was fostered by congenial associations. During his youth he was
engaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1804 he quitted Greenock for London,
where he started in business on his own account, in partnership with a
young man named McLachlan from the same part of Scotland. While engaged
in this venture, Mr. Galt published an epic poem on the battle of Largs,
and continued to pursue his literary studies with indefatigable
industry, especially in the direction of metaphysics, political economy,
and belles lettres. In the course of two or three years his
business affairs became heavily involved, and insolvency followed. Mr.
Galt then went abroad for his health. At Gibraltar he made the
acquaintance of Lord Byron, then in the first flush of his literary
triumphs, and his friend Mr. Hobhouse, and for some time accompanied
them on their tour. He afterwards visited Sicily, Malta, and Greece,
where he renewed his acquaintance with Byron, and had an interview with
Ali Pacha. Constantinople and the Black Sea were also visited. The
literary fruits of this tour were a series of Letters from the
Levant, which attained considerable success. Mr. Galt during the
period of his absence from England, also outlined several dramas, which
were afterwards completed and published. The Ayrshire Legatees,
issued in 1820, was, however, the work which thoroughly established his
reputation, in the line particularly his own, of a graphic delineator of
the provincial life of Scotland. He followes up this vein by The
Annals of the Parish, a book of superior power, which appeared in
1820. Having made his mark in literature and secured a wide circle of
admirers, his works succeeded each other rapidly. Sir Andrew Wylie,
The Recital, The Steamboat and The Provost, followed in
succession. Mr. Galt was not so successful in the direction of
historical romance, to which he next turned his attention. Ringan
Gilhaize, a tale of the Covenanters, was the first of his essays in
this line. It was succeeded by several others which, though comprising
many effective scenes, and some brilliant descriptive writing, were
nevertheless, uneven and lacking in the naturalness and sustained
interest of his previous books. The Last of the Lairds was
published just before he left England for the scene of his labours in
Canada, in 1826. His connection with Canada was brought about by his
appointment as agent to urge upon the Imperial Government the claims of
Canadians who had sustained losses by the American invasion during the
war of 1812. The negotiations and investigations that ensued led to the
organization of the Canada Company for the acquisition and settlement of
a large tract of land in the Western Peninsula of Upper Canada. The
company procured a grant of 1,100,000 acres in one block. A scheme for
emigration on a large scale was adopted. Mr. Galt was appointed
superintendent, and began the work of colonization by selecting a site
for a town. The spot upon which Guelph now stands was fixed upon as the
most eligible, and on 23rd of April, 1827, Mr. Galt set out from the
town which bears his name—bestowed upon it by Hon. William Dixon before
his arrival in the country—accompanied by the eccentric Dr. Dunlop, Mr.
Prior, an employee of the company and a couple of labourers. A large
maple tree was selected which was cut down, when the party with due
formality, drank prosperity to the city of Guelph. The present
importance of that rapidly growing commercial centre vindicates the
foresight of Mr. Galt. In view of its recent admission to the civic
status the following passage from Mr. Galt’s autobiography is of
interest—"In planning the city," he says, "for I will still dignify it
by that title, though applied at first in derision, I had, like the
lawyers in establishing their fees an eye to futurity in the magnitude
of the parts." [Autobiography of John Galt, Vol. II, 43. Am. Edition.]
He reserved sites for Catholic, Episcopal, and Presbyterian churches
upon rising ground, which have been long since adorned with handsome
edifices. The building of a school house was undertaken by the company.
The road work and other improvements undertaken, soon attracted an
influx of settlers, and the new community grew rapidly, and the price of
land speedily rose. Shortly afterwards Mr. Galt undertook an extended
voyage on Lake Huron, and visited Detroit, Buffalo and other localities
in the United States. The Canada Company’s affairs did not prosper
despite the energy of Mr. Galt. The stock of the company was heavily
depreciated, and various troubles and disagreements occurred. The
indefatigable superintendent still pursued his plans for opening up the
land for settlement on a large scale. He caused a road nearly a hundred
miles in length to be constructed through the dense forest, with which
the Huron tract was then covered, by which an overland communication
was, for the first time, established between Lakes Huron and Ontario.
The labourers employed were paid partly in money and partly in land. Mr.
Galt’s relations with the directors of the company becoming
unsatisfactory, owing to their considering the outlay incurred in these
improvements extravagant, his connection with the company terminated in
1829, when he returned to England, and recommenced his literary labours.
He shortly afterwards produced a novel entitled Laurie Todd,
which was followed by Southennan, a romance of the days of Mary
Queen of Scots. A Life of Lord Byron which excited a great deal
of angry criticism ran through several editions. In 1834 Mr. Galt
published Literary Miscellanies, in three volumes. His health,
shattered by a very arduous and wearying life, shortly afterwards broke
down completely, and he returned to end his days in his native Scotland,
dying at Greenock on the 11th of April, 1839, after several attacks of
paralysis. The best vindication of the wisdom of Mr. Galt’s course as
superintendent of the Canada Company is the success which ultimately
attended this enterprise, consequent upon his exertions.
There are several other
journalists worthy of an extended notice concerning whose careers, we
would gladly present a few details were the requisite data accessible.
Among them we may mention Messrs. John Dougall and James Redpath Dougall,
of the Montreal Witness —a journal which takes a deservedly high
rank, no less as an enterprising and well-edited newspaper than a
staunch advocate of social and moral reform, especially the cause of
Temperance. Mr. John Dougall has been the principal proprietor of the
Witness for many years, his controlling idea being to establish a
daily paper in which the spirit of earnest, practical religion should
pervade every department. In the face of many obstacles he succeeded in
what a great many people considered a hopeless experiment. A similar
venture in New York did not prove equally satisfactory, and after a hard
struggle the New York Daily Witness was discontinued. The weekly
issue, however, still flourishes, Mr. John Dougall devoting his
principal attention to the New York establishment, while his son, Mr. J.
R. Dougall, has charge of the Montreal publications.
Alexander McLachlan, poet
and lecturer, is the son of a Scottish mechanic, and was born in the
village of Johnstone, Renfrewshire, in the year 1820. He is largely
self-educated his schooling having been very limited; but being of a
studious and thoughtfu1 disposition he early gained an extensive
knowledge of English literature. He followed for some years the trade of
a tailor, and during his youth took a leading part in the Chartist
movement, which at that time flourished in Britain. His poems are
largely tinged with the spirit of this agitation, Mr. McLachlan having
through life retained a strong sympathy for the victims of social
injustice and oppression. In 1840 he emigrated to Canada, quitting the
needle for the axe and the plough. He settled in the backwoods, and his
rich experience in the hardships and struggles, triumphs and pleasures
of life in the bush, furnished the material for some of his most
characteristic poems. Mr. McLachlan published several volumes of poetry,
the last, which embraced the cream of his previous writings as well as
many new poems, appearing in 1874. In the same year he revisited
Scotland, where he delivered many lectures and addresses, dealing with
Canadian life, and literary and philosophical subjects. Much of Mr.
McLachlan’s poetry is well worthy of a place beside the utterances of
more celebrated British bards, who, by the accident of residence near
the heart of the empire, have attained a renown which no Canadian, no
matter how deserving, could hope to acquire. He is pre-eminently one of
the poets who, according to the old proverb, are "born, not made." His
style is simple and natural. There is no straining after effect, no
attempt to simulate a poetic fervour that is not genuine and heartfelt.
He is no mere rhymester dealing in pretty conceits and elegant trifling,
but appeals to the strongest and most deeply-seated emotions of
humanity. The clearness and simplicity of his writings are in marked
contrast to the involved sentences and confused meaning of the
"incomprehensible" school of poetic thought so much in vogue. He is a
poet of the people, and has much of the freshness and spontaneity, as
well as the force and beauty of Burns, whose influence, as well as that
of Wordsworth, appears traceable in McLachlan’s mode of thought and
expression. His poems breathe an intense love for nature and the freedom
and freshness of rural life, and he has given some of the finest
descriptions of the glorious scenery of our forests, rivers and lakes.
His most noticeable fault is a tendency to repeat the same phrase
somewhat too frequently. In dealing with the great problems of life and
thought he evinces broad sympathies with humanity and faith in its
noblest aspirations. In private life Mr. McLachlan, who is still engaged
in farming, is one of the most genial and loveable of men. He has rare
conversational powers, and when in congenial society his native
eloquence and humour impart a vivid interest to every subject upon which
he touches. Alexander McLachlan has received but scant justice at the
hands of those who assume to be the special guardians and promoters of
Canadian literature. The devotees of that superficial "culture" which
regards form of expression more than the underlying thought, have
extended to his poetic genius such a cold and grudging recognition as
that which drew from the indignant heart of the poet Burns his scathing
satire upon the literary precisians and pretenders of his day:
—" An’ syne they think to climb
Parnassus
By dint o’ Greek?"
Had the Ayrshire bard
himself appeared in the present generation would he have been
appreciated by these sticklers for poetic formalism? It is very
doubtful. Apart altogether from the verdict of this class of critics, it
is not creditable to the Canadian people that a singer of the power and
pathos of Alexander McLachlan, should not have met with wider and more
general appreciation than has been accorded him. True, his is by no
means a singular experience, and much of the best literary work of
Canada has been but poorly rewarded. The people who take no pride in
their poets and who pass over really able and meritorious home writers
in favour of foreigners, are yet very far from the attainment of a
robust national and patriotic feeling:
"Spoke well the Grecian
when he said that poems
Were the high laws that swayed a nation’s mind—
Voices that live on echoes—
Brief and poetic proems,
Opening the great heart-book of human kind.
"Songs are the nation’s pulses, which discover
If the great body be as nature willed.
Songs are the spasms of soul
Telling us what men suffer.
Dead is the nation’s heart whose songs are stilled!"