SKETCHES OF CELEBRATED CANADIANS

He was called to the bar by the honorable society of Lincoln'sInn, on the 6th February, 1818. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the borough of Sudbury at the general election of 1837. He was registrar of the Supreme Court at Calcutta from 1841 to 1848, having previously practised in the same as an advocate.

He succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his father in 1844.

He died at the Mauritius, on his way to England, on the 13th April, 1854.

Sir Thomas Turton was three times married; first on the 2nd November, 1812, to Louisa, second daughter of Major-General Browne, from whom he was divorced in 1831, which gave rise to a trial in the Courts of England; secondly, to Adeline-Maria, daughter of who died at Calcutta, July 14, 1841; and thirdly, in 1842, to Maria Louisa Hume, second daughter of Captain Edmund Denman, R.N.

His eldest daughter was married in 1842 to Francis Buller Templer, Esq., only son of F. J. Templer, Esq., of Columbo. His third daughter, Alice Trevor, in 1844, to Lieut. Ouchterlony, Madras Engineers. Another, Constance Trevor, in 1846, to James Forlong, Esq., of Milnath, Kishnaghur. He left a son to inherit his dignity of baronet.

THOMAS FARGUES, Esq., M.D.

BORN at Quebec in 1780; died at the same place, 11th December, 1847; a distinguished scholar and eminent physican. He was educated in Harvard college, United States, where he graduated in the early part of the present century. He soon after left for Europe to complete his medical studies, and obtained his degree of doctor in medicine at the university at Edinburgh after defending a Thesis in latin on "Chorea," which was considered a production of great originality and merit; he afterwards resided for some years in London and became the intimate friend of plain John Abernethy, F.R.S. Those who were acquainted with both men considered them in talent and eccentricity the prototype of each other. He returned to Quebec, his native city, about the year 1811, and soon took the lead in his profession, and made for himself an extensive and lucrative practice.

In the variety and extent of his reading, the originality and strength of his mind, the sagacity of his observation, and the

capitvating power of his conversation, Dr. Fargues was an extraordinary man; he possessed one of the best private medical libraries in the country,* and was thoroughout life an indefatigable student, apart from his profession, metaphysics was his favorite pursuit. He was several times solicited to accept a seat in the councils of the province, which he declined, preferring to spend the whole of his valuable time in the exercise of his profession, of which he was so distinguished an ornament.

HON. D. B. VIGER.

MR. VIGER'S is one of the names bound up inseparably with the history of his country. In the days when M. Papineau's magic eloquence spread disaffection through the province, while he was doing battle in Parliament for the fullest concessions of his liberty to his fellow countrymen, he had no stauncher ally and adviser than Mr. D. B. Viger. A lawyer of standing, and well read in constitutional lore, he occupied a most prominent place in the controversy which led to the insurrection of 1837 and 1838. He crossed the Atlantic to lay the grievances of the Canadians before the Imperial Parliament. When the rebellion broke out, he was seized and imprisoned, charged with seditious practices. No sooner was he free to act again, than he regained his hold upon the popular affections, and was returned to Parliament. He sat for Richelieu, if we mistake not, in the first Parliament of United Canada; and for Three Rivers in the second. When Lord Metcalfe quarrelled with his Lafontaine-Baldwin cabinet, Mr. Viger was asked to take part in the new government as its Lower Canada leader, a task which he accepted, and which proved one of the most difficult and trying ever undertaken by any man. Viger had a sincere respect for the sincere, manly and generous qualities which adorned Lord Metcalfe's character, and made him almost the idol of a great portion of the people of the country. He believed him honest and just in his appreciation of the position which an imperial governor must assume in the country, and wished to give the strongest evidence to show that it was not disloyalty to the British crown, but a desire to secure the blessings of free government for his fellow countrymen, that prompted the

Mr

*The library was purchased by George Okill Stuart, Esq., Q. C., of Quebec, and given by him to the Laval university.

action he had taken before 1837 and 1838. But although he secured the alliance of M. Papineau, a brother of the much loved popular chief, whose very name, it was believed, would prove a tower of strength,-Mr. Lafontaine yet proved too strong for him, and he utterly failed to rally the masses of his countrymen to his side. He was raised, if we remember aright, in 1848, to the Legislative Council, where he continued to sit and vote for some years afterwards, but with the fall of the Metcalfe ministry, his political career may be said to have ended. His health precluded him for several years from attendance upon his parliamentary duties, and not long before his death, his seat was declared vacant for non-attendance, amid general expressions of regret. He died on the 13th February, 1861, and attained, we believe, a great age.

His funeral was one of the largest ever witnessed in Montreal. After leaving his residence, it proceeded to the Recollet church, and thence to the French cathedral. An impressive funeral service was chaunted at the altar with responses by a choir of male voices. The grand altar, as well as the smaller ones, were draped in black; and in the centre of the church, covered with a mourning pall, and surrounded by waxen tapers, stood the coffin. Monseigneur Bourget officiated, and at the close of the mass came forward to the stairs leading to the altar, and pronounced a brief eulogy of M. Viger's many virtues, as a citizen and Christian. In the course of his remarks he referred to the exemplary life which M. Viger had led, and desired the congregation to remember and act upon the glorious words he uttered when expiring: "J'aime mon Dieu et j'aime mon pays." At the request of the deceased, all show and pomp were avoided in the funeral. It was no less deeply affecting than marked by perfect simplicity. Monseigneur Larocque, bishop of St. Hyacinthe, and the Hon. L. J. Papineau were present. The following gentlemen were pallbearers the Hon. Justice Smith, J. De Beaujeau, F. A. Quesnel, T. Bouthillier, W. Coffin, and A. Laframboise. M. Viger was the first president of the St. Jean Baptiste Society, and an honorary member of the Congregation St. Michel. These societies, with the Institut Canadien, Union St. Joseph, Congregation des Hommes de Ville Marie, L'Union St. Pierre and Societe de Temperance, formed in a line after the funeral service ended, making with the immense number of friends and relations, one of the largest funeral processions ever seen in Montreal. The Place d'Armes was thronged with people, showing their respect for the deceased, and the public sorrow which is felt for his death.

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HON. SIR DOMINICK DALY.

We know of no one who has figured in official life in Canada who has carried away with him so much esteem and respect from our people.

Sir Dominick Daly is the third son of the late Dominick Daly, Esquire, by the sister of the first Lord Wallscourt, and brother of Malachy Daly, Esquire, a banker in Paris. He was born in Galway, Ireland, in 1798, and married in 1826, the second daughter of Colonel Ralph Gore, of Barrowmount, county Kilkenny. He passed the usual examination, and was called to the bar; but he did not practice for any length of time. We believe he first came to Canada as secretary to one of the governors, and resided at Quebec. He subsequently became provincial secretary for Lower Canada; and, at the union, was appointed provincial secretary of Canada, as also a member of the board of works, with a seat in the Council. The latter he held until 1846, but the former he continued to hold, taking an active and lively part in all the most important affairs of the day, until 1848, when he vacated that post, but still continued a member of Parliament for the county of Megantic, for which constituency he sat during three first parliaments, until 1851, when he proceeded to England. His length of service in Canada amounted to twenty-five years. Afterwards he held some important commissions from the home government, and was appointed governor of Tobago, and subsequently lieutenant-governor of Prince Edward's Island, a post which he vacated only a few years since. He was knighted by patent during the time he held the latter office.

He has lately been elevated to the governorship of Western Australia. Kaye, in his "Life of Lord Metcalfe," gives the following sketch of Sir Dominick, then provincial secretary.

"Mr. Daly was the secretary of state or provincial secretary of Lower Canada. He was also an Irishman, and a Roman Catholic, but although for the latter season his sympathies were strongly with the French people, or had been, so long as they were oppressed by the dominant race, his feelings, the growth of education and early association, were of a conservative and aristocratic cast. All Metcalfe's informants represented him to be a man of high honor and integrity, of polished manners and courteous address; a good specimen of an Irish gentleman. It was added, that he was possessed of judgment and prudence, tact and discretion; in short, a man to be trusted."

SIR G. ARTHUR, BART., K.C.H., D.C.L.

SIR GEORGE ARTHUR'S connection with Canada, although necessarily brief, was important in its results to this country, inasmuch as he was appointed to the high office of lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada at a time when it was inundated with troubles; and by his wise, concilitory and also energetic mode of government, with the assistance of an able coadjutor in the distinguished officer, known best in this country as Sir John Colborne, perfectly restored peace, good will and contentment to the distracted province under his supervision. He checked, in a great measure, those evils which had arisen during his predecessor's term of government.

Sir George was born on the 21st June 1784; and, being destined for the profession of arms, early obtained a commission, and joined the army of his country. From all we can understand, he rendered good service during the time he was actively engaged, certain it is he could not otherwise have risen to such high rank, and to the eminence which he enjoined, having been before he came to Upper Canada governor successively over Honduras and Van Dieman's Land. As our province is more especially to draw attention to his services in this country, we will content ourselves by saying that previous to being appointed to the government of Upper Canada, he had been knighted by his sovereign, in recognition of his high abilities and of the important parts which he had taken in his country's service.

On the 23d of March, 1838, he was appointed to be lieutenantgovernor of Upper Canada, and was sworn in at Toronto, Sir F. B. Head having been previously re-called. He immediately took the most active measures to suppress the rebellion, known as that of 1837, which had been raised by Mackenzie and his "sympathisers." He was entirely successful; the course which he adopted at first was cautiously and prudently allied with bold measures. He bound himself to none, no parties, but was actuated by the purest motives. Many prisoners who had assumed an hostile attitude against us, he humanely released, and would have continued in this temporizing course, were it not that a more stringent and enforcing rule of conduct was demanded against the base and infatuated fanatics, who would not be driven away, or be subjugated by kind or conciliatory, means; and who returned again and again to their infernal practices, until they finally met the fate which all such as they so richly merit. History tells the tale how many suffered on the scaffold for the sins they had committed; nothing but this could move the rebellious and refractory to subjugation, or to lay down the arms which they had taken up against a confiding sovereign.