those that composed it. The blame lay at the door of another party, higher in office, and over whom they had no control or authority, and but for whom all would have gone on well; and the people of Canada would not have to blush for the part a portion of their countrymen played in 1837. Sir George returned home, after a brief excursion into the United States, in April, 1837; and in the course of the same year, received the appointment to a more arduous undertaking, the government-in-chief of the Australian colonies, and sailed for Sydney in the following October.

The anxieties of this high office, exercised under every succession of administrations, during a period of nine years, laid the foundation of that disease, which, at the early age of fifty-six, deprived the country of the further services of a most able, talented and energetic officer. He died on the 28th February, 1847, of a complaint of the heart, within a few weeks after his return to England. His wife, whom he married in 1830, was a daughter of the late MajorGeneral Ramsay, of the Royal Artillery, who with one son, their only child, are still living.

RIGHT HON. SIR CHAS. E. GREY, G.C.H.

THIS learned and distinguished gentleman, who came to Canada in 1835, as one of the "Three Gs," as they were called, but in other words, the royal commissioners, appointed for the adjustment of the affairs of this province, and which was composed of Gosford, Gipps, and Grey; is the son of Ralph William Grey, Esq., of Buckworth, Northumberland, (descended from the Greys of Horton-castle) by the daughter of Charles Brandling, Esq., of Gosforth House, Northumberland. Born, 1785; married 1821, second daughter of Sir Samuel Clarke Jervoise, Bart., (she died, 1850); educated at University College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A., 1806; obtained a Fellowship at Oriel, and thence graduated M.A., 1810; author of the Prize Essay of 1808 on the "Hereditary Rank"; was called to the bar, at Lincoln's-Inn, 1811; appointed a bankruptcy commissioner in 1817; a judge of the Supreme Court at Madras, in 1820 (on which occasion he was knighted); chief-justice of the Supreme Court at Bengal, in 1825; and commissioner for the affairs of Lower Canada, in 1835. On his return from this country, he received the Hanoverian order; was governor of Barbadoes, St. Vincent, Tobago, Trinidad, St. Lucia, &c., from February,

1841, to September, 1846, when he was appointed governor of Jamaica, (salary £6,000). In 1837 was an unsuccessful candidate at the Tynemouth election; but, on petition, succeeded in obtaining his seat, which he held till 1841.

CHIEF-JUSTICE SIR J. STEWART, BART., LL. D.

PERHAPS there never existed a public man in Canada who possessed higher attainments and more gifted endowments of mind, or a more varied and extensive range of legal and other knowledge, than the eminent individual whose name heads this notice. No one, perhaps, ever exercised such power and influence in political circles, or controlled the destinies of the country with a more jealous eye and in a more guarded manner.

Sir James Stuart was the third son of the celebrated divine, Dr. John Stuart, then a clergyman of the Church of England at Fort Hunter, and afterwards rector of Kingston, a notice of whom we have given. Sir James was born at Fort Hunter, on the Mohawk river, in the state of New York, on the 2nd of March, 1780. After passing two years at school, in Schenectady, he went to the college at Windsor, in Nova Scotia, then the only Protestant collegiate institution in British North America. Having completed the ordinary course of study in that college, at the unusually early age of fourteen, he became, in 1794, a student-at-law with Mr. Reid, when prothonotary of the court of King's Bench at Montreal, with whom he remained four years. In 1798, he entered the office of the late Jonathan Sewell, then attorney-general, and afterwards chief-justice of Lower Canada. With this gentleman he completed his studies, and was called to the bar on the 28th of March, 1801. Before being called, however, he received from Sir Robert Shore Milnes, lieutenant-governor of Lower Canada, the appointment of assistant-secretary, which he retained for several years, practising at the same time his profession at Quebec. In 1805, at the early age of twenty-five, he was appointed solicitor-general for Lower Canada, and removed to Montreal, which was then the usual station of the incumbent of that office.

At the general election, in 1808, he was returned to represent the county of Montreal, and also the county of Buckingham, and declared his option to sit for Montreal. In 1809, in consequence of some differences with the executive, he was removed from the

office of solicitor-general. He remained a member of the Assembly until 1817, when he withdrew for a time from political life.

In December, 1822, he was sent to England as the delegate of the British inhabitants of the city and county of Montreal, to advocate the re-union of Upper and Lower Canada, under one legislature; and, while in England advocating that measure, he was offered by the British government the office of attorney-general for Lower Canada, which he accepted, and to which he was formally appointed in 1822.

In 1827, he was appointed a member of the Executive Council, and elected a member of the provincial Parliament for Sorel. In March, 1831, in consequence of the part which he held it his duty to take in the political struggle of the day, he was suspended from office by Lord Aylmer, the then governor-general, which suspension the colonial minister (Lord Goderich) thought it expedient to advise the Crown to confirm, in November, 1832; but in the following month of May, after the change in the administration, by which the Right Honorable Edward G. Stanley (now the Earl of Derby) became secretary-of-state for the colonies, Sir James received from him an official communication, acknowledging in effect the injustice of the decision against him, and accompanied by an offer of the office of chief-justice of Newfoundland, which was respectfully declined. Sir James then returned to Lower Canada, and resumed practice as an advocate, at Quebec.

In 1838, the Earl of Durham, after completing his well known enquiry into the state of the provinces, and before leaving Quebec on his return to England, appointed Sir James chief-justice of Lower Canada, in the place of the Honorable Jonathan Sewell, who retired upon a pension. In Lord Durham's despatch to Lord Glenelg, dated Castle of St. Louis, 20th October, 1838, the motives for this appointment are given in the following terms:

"In the place of Mr. Sewell, I have not hesitated a moment to appoint Mr. James Stuart. Public opinion, with so universal a consent, points out this gentleman as the ablest lawyer in the province, that there cannot be a doubt that it would be injustice and folly to place any other person in the highest judicial office of the province. It is especially necessary that in times like these, the capacious understanding, sound knowledge, and vigorous decision of Mr. Stuart should be employed in the public service."

During the administration of Lord Seaton (then Sir John Colborne) he was a member of the special Council of Lower Canada, and acted as chairman of that body. And among the many useful acts of legislation which are generally attributed to his pen, is the first successful attempt to introduce into Lower Canada a system of registration of titles and claims to and upon real estate. The incorporation of the cities of Quebec and Montreal, and a general municipal system for Lower Canada, are also understood to

be his work; and his talents were also made available by Lord Sydenham in preparing the act to re-unite the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, and for the government of Canada, passed by the British Parliament in 1840, and now forming the constitution of Canada.

For his eminent public services, he was created a baronet of the United Kingdom in 1840, on which occasion he selected for his motto: "Justitiæ propositique tenax," which few words contain an epitome of his character. He was married in 1818 to the only surviving daughter of Alexander Robertson, Esquire, of Montreal, and leaves four children, three sons, the eldest of whom inherits the baronetcy, and one daughter.

His practice as an advocate was of the most extensive and varied character, his eloquence and legal ability of the highest order; and of the estimation in which his rare qualities were held by his professional brethren, the resolutions of the bars of Quebec and Monteal, on the occasion of his death, which occurred on the 14th July, 1853, afford ample proof:

"At a meeting of the members of the bar of the Quebec section, held in their rooms on Friday, 15th instant, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted :

"Moved by the Hon. Henry Black, Q.C., seconded by Mr. Solicitor General Chaveau, and resolved:

"That the members of the bar have learned with the deepest sorrow the death of the Hon. Sir James Stuart, Baronet, chiefjustice of the court of Queen's Bench for Lower Canada, and as such, the head of the profession therein; and feel it right to record their high estimate of his abilities and character, and their profound sense of the loss which the profession has sustained by his decease."

"Moved by the Hon. R. E. Caron, Q.C., seconded by the Hon. F. W. Primrose, Q.C., and resolved:

"That throughout the long period of more than fifty years, during which Sir James was a member of the profession, and during a very great portion of which he held the highest professional rank and office, his great and varied learning, his profound legal research and attainments, his unwearied industry, and his inflexible integrity, have placed him among the foremost of the jurists of the day, and marked him as one of whom our country may be justly proud."

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At a meeting of the Montreal section of the bar of Lower Canada, on the 18th of July, 1853, besides the usual resolutions of condolence, the following were adopted :

"That the members of the Montreal section of the bar have received with emotions of deep regret the intelligence of the death of the late chief-justice, Sir James Stuart, who for several years

past has occupied the position of head of the judiciary in this section of the province.

"That his acknowledged abilities and deep learning in his profession, obtained for him the respect of the bar, whilst his integrity in his judicial office, secured for him the confidence of the public generally."

HON. LOUIS JOSEPH PAPINEAU.

THE HONORABLE LOUIS JOSEPH PAPINEAU will be remarkable in history, chiefly as an agitator. Having all his life been in opposition, there are no tests by which to measure those administrative abilities which, because he never had an opportunity of displaying, his opponents have generally agreed in denying to him, for his appointment under Lord Dalhousie is no exception.

The father of the subject of this notice was born at Montreal, on the 16th October, 1752, and died, in the same city, shortly before attaining his 89th year. His commission as notary was dated on the 19th July, 1780. He was long a member of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, and his career was as active as his general conduct was honorable. In addressing the electors of Montreal in 1810, the elder Papineau said he had no other personal motive in wishing to be elected than a desire to consecrate his feeble talents to the support of the government and of our happy constitution; at the same time appealing to his past conduct as a proof of "his fidelity to the king, as well as his zeal to sustain the interests of his Majesty's subjects in this province, without distinction of rank, situation or religion," and alleging that "he had given proof of his devotion to the preservation of a strict union of the provinces with the mother country; and that he was still ready to expose his property and even his life for the preservation of the happiness we enjoy under the British government."

He

Such was the father of a man destined to become the most celebrated agitator that Canada has produced. The subject of this notice was born at Montreal, having first seen the light in October, 1789, two years before the passing of the constitutional act. is, therefore, now 72 years of age. He is a well-preserved man, and has always, even during his eight years of exile, had abundant means of taking care of himself. His retirement from public life, however, may be regarded as definite. The Papineau family ori