innumerable were the good things that arose out of them. Sir Charles Bagot had brought into office men of talent, and men that could work for the country.

Unfortunately the worthy baronet did not live to see the successful issue of what he had inaugurated during his brief tenure of office. Towards the close of the year 1843, his illness became of so serious a character, that he solicited his recall, a request which was acceded to. Sir Charles Metcalfe was appointed in his stead. A few months passed, and the worthy and amiable Sir Charles Bagot passed from this world to the better. He was long and deservedly regretted by all people of all origins and parties; the country lost in him one of its best friends and advocates; the sovereign an able and efficient servant, who had labored zealously in the service of his country.

CHIEF-JUSTICE SIR L. H. LAFONTAINE, BART.

Of the history of this celebrated man, we cannot say a great deal, as the materials at our command are very meagre. He is the descendant of Antoine Menard Lafontaine, Esquire, who was a member of the parliament of Lower Canada, from 1796 to 1804. Sir Louis Hypolite was born at Boucherville, Canada East, in October, 1807; he is the third son of A. M. Lafontaine, (son of the former) and of Marie J. Fontaine Bienvenu, his wife.

For the sketch of his career, we are indebted to the clever writer of the "Washington Sketches," written at the time that the present chief-justice was at the zenith of his political life :

"For many years M. Lafontaine applied himself to the bar with great diligence and success. He accumulated a handsome fortune and made an advantageous match. It was not until he thought himself "rich enough" that he gave much attention to politics; a circumstance which accounts largely for the independence and sturdy vigor of spirit he has shown.

"At first he was follower, then a rival, of Papineau. The latter was with the parti prétre, the former led that of La jeune France, and the priests shook their heads at his orthodoxy; in fact, spoke of him as little better than an infidel. But "circumstances alter cases." Both fled, in 1837, from warrants for high treason. Lafontaine reached England, where, not feeling himself safe, by the assistance of Mr. Edward Ellice, who had the greatest single property in Canada, he escaped across the channel to France.

M.

"More fortunate than M. Papineau, he was very soon enabled to return, there in reality being no evidence against him. His fate had been like that of Defoe: he had written an ironical letter to a M. Girouard, on the absurdity of rebellion, which was taken literally.

"M. Lafontaine now found himself in a position to lead, and he forthwith set himself to conciliate his old opponents, the priests. Whether from conviction or from policy, he went regularly to mass, and his moral conduct being irreproachable, it is to be presumed that he was sincere, though the coincidence of interest and devotion is striking. When M. Papineau came back, he found his chair occupied, and forthwith M. Papineau took the extreme party, and is now the head of La jeune France, with but a small following. He advocates annexation, abolition of tithes, and of seignorial rights, while M. Lafontaine sticks to responsible government, and as nearly as possible to the status quo.

"In 1843, M. Lafontaine, who, after the death of Lord Sydenham, had worked himself into place as the head of the French party, quarrelled with Lord Metcalfe, in whom he met a man resolute as himself, and more prudent, not to say more cunning. The issue was taken on a general election. The tory party was then in the ascendancy in Upper Canada, and, united with the moderates, out of forty-two representatives, returned all but nine, and of these three doubtful. M. Lafontaine brought up his wing of the brigade gallantly; but it was no use; the centre and the other wing were routed. He was doomed for three years to the cold shade of opposition,' in which he showed great constancy and industry. "In March, 1848, the tory party fell to pieces, and went to an election in sheer desperation. Their opponents in Upper Canada gained twenty seats, saved all the French counties, and gained Montreal and three English or mixed counties, giving them a majority of two-thirds of the house. M. Lafontaine then resumed his old place, and is the virtual premier.

"M. Lafontaine in style of thought is, like all the French who form their ideas from books, theoretical and dogmatical. He is not an eloquent speaker, his utterance being thick and guttural, and his English, though good in structure, bad in pronunciation. In fact he rarely tries the latter. But he is a close and compact logician, and never loses temper.

M. Lafontaine is about forty years of age, though he looks older. He has a handsome countenance, of a style which much resembles that of Napoleon, and a magnificent forehead. I have told you his virtues; his faults are impracticability, pushing things to extremes, his vanity of thinking he knows the British Constitution of which he knows nothing, a more than ordinary share of obstinacy and undying resentments as a balance to strong attach

ments

Sir Louis remained in office, until October, 1851, when the Hinck's-Taché, administration was formed. On the 13th August, 1853, he was elevated to the chief-justiceship of the Court of Queen's Bench of Lower Canada, and on the 28th August, 1854, was created, for his eminent services, a baronet of the United Kingdom.

Sir Louis has married twice, but has no issue; first in 1831, to Adèle, only daughter of A. Berthelot, Esquire, an advocate of some standing, in Lower Canada; and secondly in 1860, to a widow lady of Montreal.

CHIEF-JUSTICE V. DE ST. REAL.

JOSEPH REMI Vallières dE ST. REAL, some aver, was born in the Home district, Upper Canada, in the old French settlement, at Markham, about 18 miles north of Toronto* on the 1st October, 1787. His father died when he was very young, and his mother having married again,'young Vallières left his home, and made his way to Quebec, where he had an uncle. He had been a very short time in that city when his extraordinary quickness at learning attracted the notice of the venerable the bishop of the diocese (Plessis), who, we believe, took him under his own roof, and superintended his education, with a view to his taking holy orders. Mr. Vallières was not, however, inclined to adopt the views of the good bishop, of whom, however, he always spoke with affection and gratitude. Abandoning his patron, he engaged for a short time in mercantile pursuits, as a clerk; but his friends, finding him determined not to enter the church, yielded to his wishes, and enabled him to enter that profession of which he was destined to be one of the brightest ornaments. Having completed the usual course of studies, with the present Mr. Chief-Justice Bowen, he was admitted to the bar in 1812, and commenced to practice his profession in the city of Quebec, and we need scarcely add with great success. The extraordinary facility with which he acquired knowledge soon rendered him familiar with the civil law; and he was, besides, gifted with oratorical powers that charmed all who listened to him. He is said to have been a delightful companion when in full health and vigor. Until his last serious illness his conversational powers were

Some say in Quebec, in a house which stood on the site of the present parlia ment building.

unimpaired, and he was one with whom it was impossible to converse without deriving instruction. Mr. Vallières was appointed a K.C. in 1813, the year after his admission to the bar, and was about the same time called on to take part in public affairs, having been elected as member of the Assembly for the county of Champlain. He attached himself to the great Canadian party, then engaged in what they called a struggle for constitutional liberty, and was distinguished for integrity, wisdom, and moderation. During the absence of Mr. Papineau on a mission to England, M. Vallières was chosen speaker of the Assembly, and during the government of Sir James Kempt, in 1828, was appointed resident judge of the district of Three Rivers, where he remained several years, universally beloved by the community. In 1842 he was appointed by Sir Charles Bagot, chief-justice of Montreal, after which time his friends had to deplore his almost constant bad health. Notwithstanding this, he labored most diligently at the business of the court, as was publicly testified in the session for 18-16 by more than one member of the profession. On that occasion gentlemen on both sides of the house vied with each other in eulogising the character, and acknowledging the eminent talents of M. Vallières. It would be presumptuous in us to add a word on such a subject, but there is one event of his life which deserves a passing notice-we allude to his suspension by Sir John Colborne, in 1839. M. Vallières was called on to grant a writ of habeas corpus, and although ruin stared him in the face, he had sufficient integrity and moral courage to do his duty. The governor had some time before suspended Judges Panet and Bedard, in consequence of a decision in favor of the habeas corpus, and Judge Vallières must therefore have been well aware of the consequence. He was suspended, and was deprived of his income for a considerable time, at great inconvenience and loss. We have referred above principally to the public character of the judge. In private life he was most amiable and benevolent; indeed, his interests suffered materially from his unbounded generosity and confidence in others. He died on the 17th February, 1847, universally respected and beloved.

J. B. MEILLEUR, Esq., M.A., M.D., LL. D.

JEAN BAPTISTE MEILLEUR, one of the literati of Lower Canada, and a gentleman of considerable attainments, to whose efforts we owe much of the present admirable system of education in the lower province, was born at St. Laurent, on the Island of Mont

real, on the 9th of May, 1796. He is descended from a respectable French family, the founder of which, in this country, was a captain in the Carignan Regiment. He received his education at the college of Montreal, and for some time studied the law, which he abandoned for the medical profession, entering the college of Castletown, Vermont, U. S. He at the same time studied philosophy at Middlebury, under the celebrated Professor Hall, pupil of the Abbé Hauy, who instructed him among other branches in those of mineralogy and geology. He obtained the degree of doctor of medicine on the 14th of December, 1825, as well as diplomas from the college of Middlebury and the university of Dartmouth, in New Hampshire, where he was for some time employed as a French professor; here he wrote his first work which is an analysis of the French alphabet, containing the rules of pronunciation of the French language in English. The medical and philosophical societies countenanced the same. On his return to Canada, he became one of the principal assistants to the Tessier Journal, who cites with an encomium a trait of Dr. Meilleur upon carbuncle; he also assisted towards Bibaud's Canadian Library, in which he was the first who wrote upon geology, and on the application of chemistry to agriculture. This last work was a supplement to the agricultural treatise of Valère Guellet. He also published, in 1833, the first chemical treatise entitled, "Cours abrégé de Leçons de Chimie, contenant une exposition précise et méthodique des principes de cette science." He was named corresponding member of the Natural History Society of Montreal the same year, in which he also published at St. Charles, where the Hon. P. D. Debartzch had established a journal, of which he, for a short time, became editor, the first edition of his "Nouvelle Grammaire Anglaise, redigée d'après les meilleurs auteurs." One thing which must not be lost sight of, is "l'Extrait du Recensement du Comté de l'Assomption," which contains a summary of the geographical, the topographical, and the statistical returns of that county, where Doctor Meilleur was one of the founders and professors of the college, and where he was elected member of Parliament on the 6th November, 1834. This last work is praised in "l'Encyclopedia Canadienne, Cahier, Decembre, 1842." In 1860, he published the " Mémorial de l'Education" of Lower Canada, a work strongly recommended by the friends of education. In the House of Assembly, he was appointed to the charge of making the selection of Chasseur's Museum, the purchase of which he recommended.

Speaking and writing on education he attracted the attention of the Assembly, although he appeared to be less admired by Mr. Papineau, than the other members, and this led to his defeat in the county of l'Assomption. After the suspension of the constitution, and under the administration of the union, he wrote on education at great length, and more particularly upon the proper prin