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THE HON. ADAM WILSON

Judge Wilson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on the 22nd of September, 1814. He received his education there, and emigrated to this country in the summer of 1830, when he had not quite completed his sixteenth year. He settled in the township of Trafalgar, in the county of Halton, Canada West, where he took charge of the mills and store of his maternal uncle, the late Mr. George Chalmers, who represented the constituency in the Legislative Assembly. He developed high capacity for mercantile pursuits, in which he was engaged for somewhat more than three years. He, however, resolved to devote himself to the legal profession, and in the month of January, 1834, was articled to the late Hon. Robert Baldwin Sullivan, a gentleman whose name is well known in the Parliamentary and Judicial history of this Province, and who was then a partner of the Hon. Robert Baldwin, the style of the firm being Baldwin & Sullivan. Mr. Wilson completed his studies in that office, and in Trinity Term of the year 1839 was called to the Bar of Upper Canada. On the 1st of January, 1840, he entered into partnership with Mr. Baldwin, and the connection between them endured until the end of 1849, when Mr. Baldwin retired from professional pursuits. On the 28th of November, 1850, he was appointed a Queen's Counsel by the Baldwin-Lafontaine Government, contemporaneously with the present Judges Hagarty and Gwynne, and with the late Judge Connor and Chancellor Vankoughnet. During the same year he became a Bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada.

He soon afterwards began to take a warm interest in the municipal affairs of Toronto, and in 1855 was elected an Alderman of the city. In 1859 he was Mayor of Toronto, and was the first Chief Magistrate elected by popular suffrage. In 1856 he was appointed a Commissioner for the consolidation of the public general statutes of Canada and Upper Canada respectively.

In politics Mr. Wilson was a member of the Reform Party, and had frequently been importuned to allow himself to be put in nomination for a seat in the Legislature. Being much occupied with professional and municipal affairs he had declined such importunities, but upon the death of Mr. Hartman, the member for the North Riding of the county of York in the Canadian Assembly, on the 29th of November, 1859, that constituency was left unrepresented, and Mr. Wilson, being again pressed to enter political life, contested the representation of North York, and was returned at the head of the poll. He took his seat in the House as an avowed opponent of the Cartier-Macdonald Administration. He was again returned by the same constituency at the next general election. In 1861 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the representation of West Toronto. Upon the formation of the Sandfield Macdonald-Sicotte Administration, in May, 1862, he accepted office therein as Solicitor-General, and was reëlected by his constituents upon presenting himself to them. He held the portfolio of Solicitor-General, with a seat in the Executive Council, until the month of May, 1863. On the 11th of the month he was elevated to a seat on the Judicial Bench as a Puisné Judge of the Court of Queen's Bench for Upper Canada. Three months later (on the 24th of August) he was transferred to the Court of Common Pleas, where he remained until Easter Term, 1868, when he was again appointed to the Queen's Bench, as successor to the Hon. John Hawkins Hagarty, who had been appointed Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. In 1871 Judge Wilson was appointed a member of the Law Reform Commission. In the month of November, 1878, he was himself appointed Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, a position which he now occupies.

While at the Bar he was regarded as second to no man in the Province in certain branches of his profession; and his reputation has rather grown than diminished since his elevation to the Bench. His learning, judicial acumen and perfect impartiality are acknowledged by the entire profession of this Province, as well as by his brethren on the Bench.

He is the author of a work entitled "A Sketch of the Office of Constable," published in Toronto in 1861. Early in his professional career he married a daughter of the late Mr. Thomas Dalton, who was for many years editor and proprietor of the Patriot, a once well-known newspaper published in Toronto.

THE HON. SIR ALEXANDER CAMPBELL

Sir Alexander Campbell is of somewhat conglomerate nationality, being a Scotchman in blood and by descent, an Englishman by birth, and a Canadian by education and lifelong residence. He is a son of the late Dr. James Campbell and was born at the village of Hedon, near Kingston-upon-Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, in 1821. When he was only about two years old his parents emigrated to Canada, and settled in the neighbourhood of Lachine, where his childhood was passed. He received his early education at the hands of a minister of the Presbyterian Church, and afterwards spent some time at the Roman Catholic Seminary of St. Hyacinthe. His education was completed under the tuition of Mr. George Baxter, at the Royal Grammar School at Kingston, in Upper Canada, whither his family removed during his boyhood. He has ever since resided at Kingston, with the interests whereof he has been identified for nearly half a century.

After leaving school he chose the law as his future profession, and in 1838 passed his preliminary examination as a student before the Law Society of Upper Canada. He then entered the law office of the late Mr. Henry Cassidy, an eminent lawyer of Kingston, and remained there until the death of his principal, which took place in 1839. He then became the pupil of Mr. — now the Hon. Sir — John A. Macdonald, with whom he remained as a student until his admission as an attorney, in Hilary Term of the year 1842. He then formed a partnership with Mr. Macdonald, under the style of Macdonald & Campbell, and in Michaelmas Term, 1843, was called to the Bar. This partnership endured for many years, and was attended with very satisfactory results, both professional and otherwise. The firm transacted the largest legal business in that part of the country, and their services were retained on one side or the other in almost every important cause. Mr. Campbell's own professional career, though subordinate to that of his senior partner, was a highly creditable and distinguished one. His success at the Bar secured for him a competent fortune, and opened up to him other avenues to distinction. He served his apprenticeship to public life in the years 1851 and 1852, in the modest capacity of an Alderman for one of the city wards of Kingston. In 1856 he was created a Queen's Counsel. During the same year the Legislative Council was made elective, and the Cataraqui division, embracing the city of Kingston and the county of Frontenac, having with eleven other divisions, come in for its turn to elect a member in 1858, Mr. Campbell offered himself in the Liberal-Conservative interest, and was returned by a very large majority. The vote polled in his favour exceeded the united votes polled for his two opponents. In the Council he soon achieved a commanding position. Though he had the courage of his opinions, and did not hesitate to express them whenever any occasion arose for doing so, his remarks were never characterized by the acrimonious violence which was then too much in vogue. He spoke with readiness, but never took up the time of his colleagues unless when he had something definite to say. He was courteous and urbane to all, and soon became a favourite with the Body, more venerable than venerated, to which he had been elected. Early in 1863 he was chosen to fill the important office of Speaker of the Council, which position he held until the dissolution of Parliament in the summer of that year. During the Ministerial crisis which ensued in March, 1864, he was invited by the Governor-General to form a Cabinet, but declined the task, although the Hon. John A. Macdonald, at a public dinner in Toronto, virtually resigned in his favour. Mr. Campbell was probably of opinion that the increase of honour would hardly counterbalance the great increase of responsibility, as it was impossible in those times for any Government to feel itself strong. He, however, accepted the office of Crown Lands Commissioner in the Ministry then formed by the late Sir E. P. Taché and John A. Macdonald. The Ministry was not of long duration, and Mr. Campbell retained office with the same portfolio in the Coalition Government which succeeded it, and which, in one form or another, lasted till Confederation. He took an active part in the Confederation movement, and was a member of the Union Conference which met at Quebec in 1864. During the interminable debates on Confederation he was the leading advocate of the project in the Upper House, and his remarks were always characterized by tact, good sense and good breeding. He made no effort at fine speaking, but appealed to the judgment and patriotism of his auditors. He had a most persistent opponent in the Hon. Mr. Currie, the representative of Niagara. Upon so many-sided and comprehensive a measure as that of Confederation, it was no slight task to reply off-hand to all sorts of hostile questions, many of which were skilfully propounded with a sole view to embarrassing the man whose official duty compelled him to answer as best he could. Mr. Campbell acquitted himself in such a manner as to increase the respect in which he was held, and his speech made on the 17th of February, 1865, in answer to the opponents of Confederation, has been characterized by competent authorities as the most statesmanlike effort of his life.

In May, 1867, Mr. Campbell was called to the Senate by the Queen's proclamation, and since that time has been the leader of the Conservative Party in the Upper Chamber. It may be said, indeed, that his leadership virtually began as far back as 1864, when he first took office in the Taché-Macdonald Ministry, as already referred to; for although Sir E. P. Taché was a member of the Legislative Council, and was for a time Premier of the Coalition Government, as Sir Narcisse Belleau was after him, neither of these men possessed the qualifications needed for the position of a party leader, the duties of which were therefore to a great extent left to be discharged by their younger, more active, and better qualified colleague. "Sir John A. Macdonald," says a contemporary writer, "showed a sound judgment when he gave to Mr. Campbell the leadership of the newly-constituted Canadian Senate. Assured from the first of the possession for many years of a majority in the Chamber he had virtually created, it was necessary that his lieutenant in the Upper House should be one who could be relied upon to use his party strength with moderation, and to make all safe without appearing needlessly to oppress or coerce the minority... In the conduct of the ordinary business of Parliament Mr. Campbell is an opponent with whom it is easy to deal. Courteous in personal intercourse, possessed of plain, practical common sense and good Parliamentary experience, he is not one to raise obstructions when no end is to be gained. As a speaker he would, in a popular legislature, hardly be called effective, and he has certainly no claims to eloquence, or to that faculty which forms a useful substitute for eloquence, and which Sir John A. Macdonald possesses — of becoming terribly in earnest exactly when a display of earnestness is needful to effect a purpose. But the leader of the Conservative Senators speaks well, takes care to understand what he is talking about, and infuses into his speeches, when necessary, just as much force as is required to make them tell on his followers, if they do not affect very strongly the feelings or convictions of his opponents. He was the man for the situation, and has played his part well."

On the 1st of July, 1867, Mr. Campbell was sworn of the Privy Council, and took office as Postmaster-General in the Government formed by Sir John A. Macdonald. He retained that portfolio about six years, when the Department of the Interior, of which he then became the first Minister, was created. In 1870 he proceeded to England on an important diplomatic mission, the result of which was the signing of the Washington Treaty. He did not long retain his position as Minister of the Interior, the Government having been compelled to resign in November, 1873, by the force of public opinion, which had been aroused by the disclosures respecting the sale of the Pacific Railway Charter. During the existence of Mr. Mackenzie's Government he led the Conservative Opposition in the Senate, and upon the accession of the Conservative Party to power in the autumn of 1878 he accepted the portfolio of Receiver-General. He retained this position from the 8th of October, 1878, to the 20th of May, 1879, when he became Postmaster-General. Four days afterwards he was created a knight of St. Michael and St. George, at an investiture of the Order held in Montreal by the Governor-General, acting on behalf of Her Majesty. On the 15th of January, 1880, he resigned the Postmaster-Generalship, and accepted the portfolio of Minister of Militia. In the readjustment of offices which took place prior to the assembling of Parliament towards the close of last year he resumed the office of Postmaster-General, of which he is the present incumbent.

In 1855 he married Miss Georgina Frederica Locke, daughter of Mr. Thomas Sandwith, of Beverley, Yorkshire, England. In 1857 he became a Bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada. He was for some time Dean of the Faculty of Law in the University of Queen's College, Kingston. He is connected with several important financial enterprises, and is a man of much social influence. He would probably have gained a much wider reputation in the Canadian Assembly and the House of Commons than he has been able to acquire in the less stirring atmosphere of the Legislative Council and the Senate. He has, however, been a most useful man in the sphere which he has chosen, and his retirement from public life would be a serious loss to the Conservative Party, and to the country at large.

THE HON. LEVI RUGGLES CHURCH

The ex-Treasurer of the Province of Quebec is descended from one of the old colonial families of Massachusetts, several members of which attained considerable distinction in the early history of that colony. The name of Colonel Benjamin Church, of Duxbury, Massachusetts, occupies a very conspicuous place in the annals of New England warfare. He was the first white settler at Seaconnet, or Little Compton, and was the most active and noted combatant of the Indians during the famous war against Metacomet, or King Philip, the great sachem of the Wampanoags. In August, 1676, he commanded the party by which King Philip was slain. The barbarous usage of beheading and quartering was then in vogue, and it is said that Church decapitated the fallen monarch of the forest with his own hands. The sword with which this act of barbarity is alleged to have been committed is still preserved in the cabinet of the Historical Society of Massachusetts, at Boston. Colonel Church kept a sort of rough minute-book, or diary, of his exploits, and it was from these minutes, and under his direction, that his son, Thomas Church, wrote his well-known history of King Philip's War, which was originally published in 1716, and which is still the highest original authority on that subject. At a later period the members of the Church family (which was very numerous and well connected) were conspicuous adherents of the Whig Party, and at the time of the breaking out of the Revolutionary War nearly all of them took the Republican side in the memorable struggle. There were, however, two exceptions, and these two both enlisted their services in the cause of King George III. One of them was killed in battle in 1776. The other, Jonathan Mills Church, was captured by the colonial army in 1777, and would doubtless have been put to death, had he not contrived to escape from the vigilance of his captors. He made his way to Canada, and ultimately settled in the Upper Province, in the neighbourhood of Brockville, where he died at a very advanced age in 1846. His son, the late Dr. Peter Howard Church, settled at Aylmer, in Ottawa County, Lower Canada, where he practised the medical profession for many years. Dr. Church had several children, and his second son, Levi Ruggles, is the subject of this sketch. The latter was born at Aylmer on the 26th of May, 1836. He received his education at the public schools of his native town, and afterwards attended for some time at Victoria College, Cobourg. He chose his father's profession, and graduated in medicine, first at the Albany Medical College, New York State, and afterwards at McGill College, Montreal, where he gained the Primary Final and Thesis Prizes, and acted as House Apothecary at the General Hospital during the years 1856-7. Becoming dissatisfied with his prospects, and believing that the legal profession presented a more suitable field for the exercise of his abilities, he determined to relinquish medicine for law. Acting upon this resolve, he studied law under the late Henry Stewart, Q.C., and afterwards under Mr. Edward Carter, Q.C., at Montreal, and was called to the Bar in the year 1859. He commenced the practice of this profession in his native town, where he has ever since resided, and where he has long since acquired high professional standing and a profitable business connection, as well as a large measure of social and political influence. He is a partner in the legal firm of Fleming, Church & Kenney, and a Governor of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the Lower Province.

He entered public life at the first general election under Confederation in 1867, when he successfully contested the representation of his native county of Ottawa in the Local Legislature. He espoused the Conservative side, and sat in the House throughout the existence of that Parliament. He attended closely to his duties, both in the House and as a member of various committees, and made a favourable reputation for himself as acting Chairman of the Committee on Private Bills. In July, 1868, he was appointed Crown Prosecutor for the Ottawa District, and retained that position until his acceptance of a seat in the Cabinet somewhat more than six years afterwards. At the general election of 1871, he did not seek reëlection, and for some time thereafter confined his attention to his professional duties. He was associated with Judge Drummond and Mr. Edward Carter in the Beauregard murder case as Junior Counsel for the defence. On the 22nd of September, 1874, he was appointed a member of the Executive Council of Quebec, and accepted office as Attorney-General. He was returned by acclamation for the county of Pontiac, and enjoyed a similar triumph at the general election of 1875. He continued to hold the portfolio of Attorney-General until the 27th of January, 1876, when he became Provincial Treasurer, in which capacity he repaired to England during the following summer, and negotiated a loan on behalf of his native Province. He held office as Treasurer until March, 1878, when the DeBoucherville Government was dismissed from office by M. Letellier de St. Just, the then Lieutenant-Governor, under circumstances which are already familiar to readers of these pages. Mr. Church was one of the signatories to the petition addressed to Sir Patrick L. Macdougall, who then administered affairs at Ottawa, praying for the dismissal of M. Letellier from his position as Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec. At the last general election for the Province, held in May, 1878, Mr. Church was opposed in Pontiac by Mr. G. A. Purvis, but defeated that gentleman by a majority of 225 votes, and still sits in the House for the last named constituency. On the 3rd of September, 1859, he married Miss Jane Erskine Bell, of London, England, daughter of Mr. William Bell, barrister, and niece of General Sir George Bell, K.C.B.