RICHARD BISHOP. THE BATTLE FAMILY. 325 was present at the closing of the last Irish Parliament and at the opening of the first Parliament of the Dominion. As an instance of success it would not be easy to find a more remarkable man than Richard Bishop, who was born in the County Limerick, and emigrated with his father, Richard Bishop, in 1829. The father purchased land and settled in the Township of March He amassed a considerable fortune and died in 1863, aged sixtyeight. His son, who is now fifty-six years of age, is one of the most successful of a successful family. At an early age he left his father's house and struck out for himself in Bytown. He rapidly rose both in wealth and public estimation. A large landed proprietor of the County of Carleton, he is now able to retire a rich man. He is a Conservative and an active member of the Church of England. The Battle family is in its way representative. They belong originally to the County of Sligo, whence they came to Canada in 1832. The elder members of the family consisted of three brothers, Patrick Battle, who settled in Quebec; John Battle, who settled in Toronto; and Matthew Battle, who settled in Liverpool, England. Patrick Battle resided in Quebec where he lived until 1870, when he removed with his family to Ottawa, where his son is now Collector of Inland Revenue. This gentleman, Mr. Martin Battle, was born in 1828, in Ballymote. He lived in Quebec till 1856, when he removed to St. Catharines where some of his relatives were settled. There he was employed in responsible work by Sheckluna, the celebrated Lake Ship Builder. In 1859 he was appointed to superintend the removal of Government stores from Toronto to Quebec. Subsequently he had charge of stores in connection with the trips of H. R. H. the Prince of Wales and H. R. H. the Duke of Edinburgh, and the chief management of the stores when the Government was removed from Quebec to Ottawa. For his efficient discharge of these duties Mr. Battle received appreciative letters from the eminent persons concerned, and was complimented by the London Times. In 1870 he was appointed Collector of Hydraulic Rents, and in 1873 Collector of Inland Revenue at Ottawa. He has always been a strong advocate of temperance, having taken the pledge from the well-known Father McMahon, of Quebec. He is one of those who founded the St. Patrick's Orphan Asylum at Ottawa, and has acted as Secretary to the Institution for seven years. He was also instrumental in the formation of the Ottawa Irish Catholic Temperance Society, Benevolent Branch, which is now a strong institution and which has been of the greatest advantage to the working men. Mr. Battle attributes his advancement in life to his teetotalism. Like all his family Martin Battle is a member of the Roman Catholic Church, and a genuine Irishman. He was the first person who presented an address to D'Arcy McGee when that great orator came to Canada. Another official, well and favourably known in the capital, is Zechariah Wilson, the eldest son of Hugh Wilson, who early in the present century emigrated from the County Tyrone, and settled first at St. Johns, in the Province of Quebec, where his son was born in 1815. Having received the best education available at the time and place, he in 1836, removed to Bytown, and entered into business with his brother, Hugh L. Wilson. The firm was successful The partnership was dissolved, when Hugh determined to go to New York to enter business on a larger field. Zechariah remained in Canada. He is now collector of Customs at the port of Ottawa, where his amiable qualities have won for him friends amongst all classes. He was a good working member of the Irish Protestant Benevolent Society at Ottawa, when it was one of the foremost national organizations there. A good instance of what Canada has done for Irishmen is Peter Egleson, an extensive land owner and capitalist. He is a native of Cavan. He came to Canada about 1834, and for awhile was at Grenville-half-way between Montreal and Ottawa, and then a more important place than Bytown. On coming to Ottawa, he went into service as coachman to Colonel Bolton, Commandant of the Engineers at work on the canal. He married Bolton's housekeeper, a widow with one child. He soon quarrelled with Bolton, and set up as a country schoolmaster in Gloucester township, County of Carleton. After a year's experience of the trying life of a pedagogue in the country, he returned to Bytown, and continued the same work. At the end of two years he abandoned the ferule for a general trader's counter. He has since made money rapidly, and is now worth at least $200,000. He has been an active promoter of the local building societies, from which he has derived considerable personal benefit. He was for some years member of the school board and municipal council. His son James is a colonel in a volunteer corps, and is even a better business man and more wealthy than his father. There is a large family of the Eglesons about Ottawa, some Catholics and some Protestants and all well to do. While Ireland thus supplied Carleton with pioneers and business men, she also poured in humanizing influences, and amongst those whose literary turn has helped to brighten and spiritualise existence, a prominent place must be given to William Pittman Lett, born at Wexford, the second son of the late Andrews Lett, who was a captain in the 26th Cameronian regiment, with which corps he saw considerable service in Spain, under the command of Sir John Moore; who was present with his regiment, then under the command of the Earl of Dalhousie, at the battle of Corunna; and was a witness of the moonlight obsequies of Sir John Moore, rendered doubly immortal by the pen of his fellow-countryman, Wolff. He and his son, as we have seen, came to Canada in 1820, and settled at the Village of Richmond. In 1828, after the death of the captain, the family removed to what is now Ottawa. Young Lett obtained his education in the public schools of Bytown, and in the High School of Montreal. He was for a few years a pupil of the late Rev. Alexander Fletcher, of Plantagenet, who is said to have been an accomplished scholar. From 1845 until 1853, Mr. Lett was connected editorially with the Conservative press, and during thirty years he has written not only in prose, but in verse for the newspapers. He has acquired a considerable local reputation as a poet, * He has published "Recollections of Bytown and its Inhabitants." He is the author of the letters signed Sweeney Ryan, which displayed no small amount of humour. Had he been able to devote himself to literature, he might have achieved an enviable reputation. Whether he would have been a happier man is another question. * On a recent occasion he composed some lines of which a couple of verses deserve, both for sentiment and expression, quotation here. Come, let us in this far-off land, We ask not what may be your name, Your common birthright of the land To-day we offer friendship's hand To the knowledge without which our schemes of development would be like rudderless, compassless ships, Irishmen have given a stimulus which has borne practical fruit. John McMullin, now residing at Eganville, deserves a place among those who have made us acquainted with the geological character of a country which is rich in scientific suggestion. Born at Newry, in 1817, he came with his parents to Canada in 1820. The family resided for some years in Quebec. While quite young John McMullin engaged in the lumber trade on the Ottawa. Having a great desire for the acquisition of knowledge, his inquisitive mind busied itself with geology. He attracted the attention of the late Sir William Logan, in whose Department at Montreal he was engaged for two years.. While there he discovered the Dawn of Life. The late Dr. Beaubien frequently quoted him in his lectures. If I were to attempt to write the history of all who live in Montreal and deserve a place in this book, I should have to write a whole volume about that noble city, and call it the "Irishmen in Montreal." There are, however, a certain number who, for one reason or another, are so prominent that there is no difficulty in selection, for public rumour has already made the selection for me. The name of Mr. Thomas White-or Tom White," as he is familiarly called-has become a house-hold word in Canada. Born at Montreal in 1830, his father came from Westmeath, while his mother was of Scotch descent. When young White was growing up, the principal school in Montreal was Mr. Workman's. Thither Thomas White was sent. When the High School was opened he TOM WHITE. EFFICIENCY OF PARLIAMENT. 329 left Mr. Workman's and attended the classes of the new school. He passed through his school-boy studies with credit. When sixteen years of age he was engaged in the office of a merchant. At the end of three years he entered the office of the Queen's Printer as an apprentice. When in 1851-2 the Government removed to Quebec he followed it, and through the influence of Stuart Derbyshire he was appointed to the office of assistant editor on the Quebec Gazette. In the spring of 1853 he went to Peterborough, where he started the Peterborough Review. In 1860 he turned his back on newspaper work for a time and entered the office of the Honourable Sidney Smith to study law, and four years afterwards was called to the bar of Upper Canada. He did not practise long. A newspaper man to the finger tips, he pined for printer's ink. In connection with his brother, he purchased the Hamilton Spectator. In 1866 he ran for South Wentworth, but was defeated by the small majority of three votes. In 1869, at the request of the Honourable John Carling, Emigration Commissioner for Ontario, he went to England and delivered lectures on Canada throughout Great Britain. In the following year he again went to England on the same errand. Meanwhile his brother made arrangements for the purchase of the Montreal Gazette, and on his return he settled in Montreal and took charge of the editorial department of the leading Conservative newspaper of Lower Canada. In the general election of 1872, he ran for Prescott and was defeated by five votes. He subsequently ran for Montreal West and was again defeated by a small majority,-seven votes. In the same constituency he again ran against Mr. Thos. Workman. He was beaten by fifty votes, but polled two hundred more than on the previous occasion. Mr. White's return to Parliament for some constituency is only a matter of time. There must be many an electorate throughout the country that had rather be represented by a man than by a voting machine. The intelligence of a constituency is to be measured by its representative. Mr. White is one of the rising young men of the Dominion, whom all parties would like to see in the House of Commons. His wide information, his talents, his facility of expression, his strong political instinct, would make him a great accession to those whose utterances tend to raise our Dominion |