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' At 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. 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 Parliament to a position commensurate with the character of this young nation; to constitute it that lever of education and public spirit which it must become, when it shall be ruled by our best minds and shall march forward in the serene consciousness of power sagely directed to great ends. Mr. White has published much in a pamphlet form, He is a leading Mason, President of the Reporters' Gallery of the House of Commons, President of the Press Association of Upper Canada. He has for many years represented St. George's Church in the Diocesan Synod. He did that wise thing, marry early. He was only twenty-three. Even this gives him claims, for, as old Fuller says, though bachelors are the strongest stakes, married men are the best binders in the hedge of the commonwealth. Few business families have been more useful to Canada than the Miller family, of whom Robert Miller is now the leading representative. Born in the City of Cork in 1810, he is the youngest son of the late Adam Miller and Theodora Lovell. The family emigrated to Canada in the year 1820, and settled at St. Johns, where his father occupied the position of teacher in the Government School until his death in 1826. Mr. Miller removed to Montreal in 1833, and after serving an apprenticeship with the late Ariel Bowman and the late Campbell Bryson, booksellers, St. Francois Xavier Street, commenced business on his own account in 1841. He subsequently formed a partnership with his brother Adam, and the business was for many years carried on under the firm of R. & A. Miller, both in Montreal and Toronto. Having obtained permission from the Commissioner of National Education in Ireland, they republished the Irish National series of school books, which were authorized by the Upper Canada Council of Public Instruction. This series was for a number of years in general use throughout Canada. On the dissolution of the partnership between the two brothers in 1863, Adam went to Toronto where he died a few years ago. His brother Robert retained the business of the Montreal House. His establishment is now one of the largest in the city. Mr. Miller has been from its foundation a member of the Irish Protestant Benevolent Society. He has been the Managing Director for some years of the Danville School-Slate Company. SIDNEY ROBERT BELLINGHAM. 331 He has taken an active part in the Young Men's Christian Association, and been one of its vice-presidents. For a great many years he has been, and is, a working member of the Methodist Church. The name of Sidney Robert Bellingham was at one time a name of power in Montreal, and known throughout Canada. The fourth son of the late Sir Allan Bellingham, Baronet, of Castle Bellingham, County Louth, by Elizabeth, second daughter of the Reverend Edward Walls, of Boothby Hall, Lincolnshire, he was the grandson of Sir William Bellingham, the first Baronet, who was some time Secretary to the Right Honourable William Pitt; afterwards Commissioner of the Royal Navy; and who represented Reigate in the English House of Commons. Mr. Bellingham was born on the second day of August, 1808. He was educated in Ireland. After his residence in Canada for some time, he married Arabella, the daughter of William Holmes, of Quebec. He was called to the Bar of Lower Canada in 1841. He was one of the best known political writers for the newspaper press of Lower Canada, principally for the Montreal Times, and afterwards for the Montreal Daily News. During the troubles of the Rebellion, in 1837, Mr. Bellingham was the magistrate sent with Col. Wetherall to attack St. Charles. He afterwards devoted much time to develop the military spirit of the county, he so long represented in Parliament, and as Lieut.Colonel of the Argenteuil Rangers, he brought up the regiment to a high state of drill. He sat for the county in the Canadian Assembly from 1854 to 1860, when he was unseated. Mr. Bellingham had the honour of being President of the St. Patrick's Society of Montreal at that period when Catholic and Protestant were alike eligible for the office. Retiring a year or two ago from public life, he bade farewell to Canada, and now resides in Ireland. During O'Connell's Repeal agitation, Mr. Bellingham used to speak strongly in favour of that policy. Neale, in his History of the Puritans, speaks of the Rev. William Workman, who was lecturer at St. Stephen's church, in Gloucester, from 1618 to 1633. Neale describes him as a man of great piety, wisdom and moderation. His wife was a fruitful bough. In consideration of small salary and large family-common but perplexing antithesis-the City of Gloucester voted him an annuity of twenty pounds. Meanwhile Laud had attained the Archiepiscopal mitre, and was addressing himself with energy to stemming the tide of reformation. The images and pictures were restored to the churches. The clergy indued themselves in gorgeous vestments, such as those used by the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church. They who disapproved of the new order of things and resented the policy of Laud, were naturally enough regarded by the Primate with no friendly eye. Workman in one of his sermons stigmatized pictures and statues of the founders of Christianity, the Apostles, the fathers, eminent Christian women, as unfit ornaments for churches. He declared that to set up images of Christ or of the Saints in the private houses, was, according to the Homily, unlawful, and tended to idolatry. He was brought before the Court of High Commission. After a trial, in which the charges against him were easily proved, he was deposed and excommunicated. He now opened a school in order to support his family. As an excommunicated person, he was inhibited from teaching youth. He then commenced the practice of medicine, in which he had some skill. The Archbishop forbade him. Those were the days of persecution, when Protestants and Catholics alike abused power, the days before the newspaper and the emigrant ship, and Workman, not knowing where to turn in order to support his family, fell into a settled melancholy and died. These circumstances naturally made a deep impression on his children. His sons eagerly joined the Parliamentary army, in which William Workman, from whom the Canadian Workmans spring, held a commission, and was one of those who met the charge of Rupert on the field of Naseby. He served until 1648, when he went over to Ireland with Cromwell. On the close of the Irish campaign he retired from military life, receiving as a reward for his services, a grant of the two town lands of Merlacoo, and two sizeacks in the County of Armagh. Of these lands, the old soldier held possession for some time. But he was in the midst of a hostile population, different in race and religion, with bitter |