of leisure, writing verses, which have been greatly esteemed by his countrymen, and engaged in more profound didactic and scientific studies. He wrote the first history of Canada in French, since the conquest, the merits of which, though variously estimated, are generally admitted. He wrote besides, an "Arethmetique Elementaire," and edited the "Voyage de Franchere," besides producing a variety of other valuable little works. He is described as having always been a laborious writer, and indeed, the number of his works proves that he must have been so. We are told that

it would have been easy for him to rise to power; but, that he preferred an honest ease and liberty. But a few months before his death, he was engaged, at the age of seventy-five, in translating the reports of the geological commission.

S. H. DICKERSON, Esq.

MR. DICKERSON was the pioneer among newspaper publishers in the Eastern Townships, having established a paper in Stanstead Plain, something more than thirty years since. He was a practical printer, a man of considerable ability, and of very independent character. This trait brought him into a very unpleasant collision with the late eccentric and learned Judge Fletcher of the Eastern Townships. Having commented in his paper upon a decision of the Judge, in terms which the latter construed as a contempt of court, he was committed to jail and kept in confinement for over a year. His offence, if any, was a freedom of remark upon a judicial decision which is now everywhere considered the legitimate right of a free press. He sought for justice at the hands of the legislature, but either from having espoused the wrong side of politics, or for want of faithfulness in those who undertook his case, he failed to obtain redress beyond the satisfaction of seeing a report from a legislative committee severely condemning the conduct of the judge as tyrannical and oppressive. Mr. Dickerson early espoused the radical cause, which he faithfully adhered to till the breaking out of the rebellion of 1837, when he left for the United States. When the demands of his party were conceded, he returned to Stanstead, and was some years before his death appointed as collector of customs in that place, in recognition of his claims for services and sufferings in the liberal ranks. Independent of politics, we believe the office was worthily bestowed. He died in 1857.

J. R. WILBY, Esq.

JOHN ROBIN WILBY, Esquire, one of the ablest members of the Indian press. Mr. Wilby was a native of Canada, and

received a sound collegiate education in his native town. When a very young man he suffered from weakness of the eyes, and the doctors advised that the only way to prevent the loss of sight was to have recourse to a long sea voyage. His friends could not well afford to pay for his passage, so he enlisted as a common sailor, and arrived in India in that capacity. Having obtained his discharge from the ship, he remained in Calcutta, a stranger in a strange land, in search of adventure and fortune. Mr. Wilby tried his hand alternately as reader, reporter and contributor, in connexion with the Calcutta press; but it was not long before he was taken on the editorial staff of the Hurkaru, where he distinguished himself by writing some of the ablest and most telling articles that appeared in that print. On leaving the Hurkaru press, Mr. Wilby, in conjunction with the present editor of the Calcutta Phoenix, set up the Bengal Times, the name of which was afterwards changed to the Citizen. The connexion, however, did not last long, as Mr. Wilby received the offer of a handsome engagement with the Mofussilite, and accepted it. He afterwards had editorial charge of the Delhi Gazette, and conducted that journal with an ability which was publicly acknowledged by the managing proprietor, on Mr. Wilby's vacating the editorial chair. He next joined the Lahore Chronicle, and only a short time previous to his death, which occurred in 1857, returned to Bengal to take his place on the staff of the Friend of India. Mr. Wilby was a young man of extensive reading and varied information. There was scarcely a department in philology or the sciences in regard to which he was altogether ignorant. His linguistical and scientific attainments were pretty nearly on a par, a combination, not always to be met with. Above all as a public writer, Mr. Wilby was one of the boldest and most thoroughly honest that the Indian press possessed.

LIEUT.-GENERAL DURNFORD.

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL ELIAS WALKER DURNFORD, colonelcommandant of the Royal Engineers; born in 1775; died at Tunbridge Wells, on the 8th of March, 1850. He received his commission as 2nd lieutenant, 1793; 1st lieutenant, 1796; captainlieutenant, 1801; captain, 1805; lieutenant-colonel, 1813; colonel, 1825; major-general, 1837; and lieutenent-general, 1846. He was present at the seige of Fort Bourbon and capture of Martinique, St. Lucia, and Guadaloupe, in 1794. He served many years in Canada, and it is but justice to his memory and his family to say, that he constructed and perfected many of our most valuable fortifications. One of his daughters married the Revd. E. W. Sewell, of Quebec.

RIGHT HON. SIR C. BAGOT, BART., G.C.B.

SIR CHARLES BAGOT was one of our best and most successful governors during his brief term of office. It may truly be said he laid down his life for our interests, having accepted the high office, which he held, at a time when he had more need of rest, repose and retirement from the great labors which his public life had entailed upon him. His memory deserves to be cherished for the great benefits which his wise and prudent administration of affairs conferred on the province.

Sir Charles was born on the 23rd September, 1781, at Blithfield, in the county of Stafford, where his ancestors had lived from a period antecedent to the Norman conquest, and where his family still resides. He was the second son of William, Lord Bagot, by his wife, Louisa, daughter of John, Viscount St. John, brother and heir of the celebrated Lord Bolingbroke. He married Lady Mary, daughter of the third Earl of Mornington, brother of the Duke of Wellington, the late Marquis Wellesley and Lord Cowley, by whom he left three sons and five daughters. He was a privy councillor, knight grand cross of the order of the Bath, and director of the National Gallery.

Sir Charles Bagot entered public life in 1806, as under secretaryof-state for foreign affairs, when Mr. Canning held the seals of that department, in the Duke of Portland's administration. At the close of the great war in 1814, he was sent on a special mission to Paris. Shortly afterwards, he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to the United States, and successively ambassador to the courts of St. Petersburgh and the Hague. Upon the return of Lord Amherst from the east, the high post of governor-general of India was offered to him, but the then state of his health compelled him reluctantly to decline it. In the short administration of Sir Robert Peel, in 1834, he was dispatched upon a special embassy to the court of Vienna; and in 1841, was requested by the present Earl of Derby, (then Lord Stanley) the secretary-ofstate for the colonies, to undertake the post of governor-general of British North America. Sir Charles Bagot entered upon the duties of his high office on the 10th January, 1842, and was very favorably received by the inhabitants of Canada. He very wisely did not pledge himself to either the conservative or reform parties, but judiciously passed some time in making himself thoroughly acquainted with the affairs of the province, and made up his mind to govern the country by the best men that he could pitch upon. He encouraged and patronised the French Canadians, who were powerful, even some who had been connected with the rebellion; but who deeply regretted such a connection. He also took into his confidence the reform party of Upper Canada, then led by the celebrated Mr. Baldwin. McMullen, in his excellent History of Canada, says of this: "There can be no question that this was the wisest line of policy he could adopt, and that it tended to remove the differences between the two races, and unite them more cordially for the common weal. The French Canadian element was no longer in the ascendant; the English language had decidedly assumed the aggressive, and true wisdom consisted in forgetting the past and opening the door of preferment to men of talent of French, as well as those of British origin. The necessity of this line of policy was interwoven with the union act; and, after that, was the first great step towards the amalgamation of the races. A different policy would have nullified the principle of responsible government, and must have proved suicidal to any ministry seeking to carry it out. Sir Charles Bagot went on the broad principle, that the constitutional majority had the right to rule under the constitution."

It was during this time that some of our most talented statesmen came into office. Mr. Hincks became inspector-general; Mr. Baldwin, attorney-general, west; Mr. Lafontaine, attorneygeneral, east; Mr. Morin, commissioner of crown lands; Mr. Aylwin, solicitor-general, &c. During the administration of these gentlemen various were the improvements effected in the province;

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.