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Title: Osgoode Hall - Reminiscences of the Bench and Bar
Author: James Cleland Hamilton (1836-1907)
Date of first publication: 1904
Place and date of edition used as base for this ebook:
   Toronto: Carswell, 1904 (First Edition)
Date first posted: 25 March 2008
Date last updated: 25 March 2008
Project Gutenberg Canada ebook #100

This ebook was produced by: Iona Vaughan,
Marcia Brooks, and Mark Akrigg




OSGOODE HALL

REMINISCENCES
... OF THE ...
BENCH AND BAR

... BY ...
JAMES CLELAND HAMILTON
A MEMBER OF THE TORONTO BAR

_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_

TORONTO:
THE CARSWELL COMPANY, LIMITED
1904


Entered according to the Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one
thousand nine hundred and four, by JAMES CLELAND HAMILTON,
in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture.




TO THE PLEASANT MEMORY OF

H U G H N E L S O N G W Y N N E

AND HIS FRIENDS

THE INVENTOR AND THE STEWARD


"SCRIBERE JUSSIT AMOR."--_Ovid_


[Transcriber's Note: There were several instances were there were
handwritten notes or corrections on the original scans, which have not
been included. For consistency changed the following: Aemilius to
Æmilius Obvious printer errors have been silently corrected.]




CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

     _Osgoode Hall._--Jack Cade's orders. The _Spectator's_
     views as to the Inns of Court. Dr. W. W. Baldwin--His
     Commission. Hon. Robert Baldwin. The Building of the Hall.
     Its Architecture, Pictures and Library, Queen's Books.             1-4


CHAPTER II.

     _The Law Society of Upper Canada._--Cradle of the Judges.
     How it arose. Act of 1822. The Benchers, Officers, Law
     School, Principals and Lecturers, Trinity University
     Lecturers at the Hall. Address to the Editor of _Leith's
     Blackstone_. County Law Libraries, how aided by the
     Society. The New Digest. Canadian Law Library in England.
     Admission of Women to Practice. Ownership and Management of
     the Hall and grounds by the Government and the Law Society
     described. Law Stamps, the amount sold in 1902, $54,177.
     Architects of Osgoode Hall. Seal of the Society. Paintings
     by the Artist, George T. Berthon. His father, the French
     painter, and some of his works. Chief Justice Macaulay's
     portrait and character. Later Artists. Portrait of Chief
     Justice Osgoode, his career, tablets in his memory, and of
     Attorney-General McDonell, Thomas B. Phillips Stewart, W.
     A. Reeve, Q.C. The Law School and other portraits. The
     Libraries, how formed. Early donors to the library. The
     Advocates' Society and its young members.                         5-24


CHAPTER III.

     _The Secretary and his friend the Inventor_--A classical
     chapter. The Gwynnes; Hugh Nelson Gwynne. How he conducted
     examinations. The Law Society in his day. Poetical
     allusions, wit and by-play at the Hall. "Horace
     Canadianizing" by Dr. Scadding. Mr. Isaac Buchanan lauds
     Sir George Cartier. Doctor McCaul's Scholarship. Mr.
     Brown's "nice dinner." Court Reporters, how qualified. The
     Secretary's Sabine Farm. Simon the Inventor. How he worked
     and how he passed away. Pleasant Reminiscences of the City
     Treasurer and others.                                            25-35


CHAPTER IV.

     _John Molloy, the Steward._--His early history as a
     traveller. The _Royal William_. Mr. Molloy's loyal address
     in Quebec. He masters the French language. His position as
     Steward and aide to the Secretary. His wit and wisdom.
     Definition of "Esquire." His meetings and correspondence
     with the Duke of Wellington, Daniel O'Connell and other
     great men. Note as to the _Royal William_.                       36-42


CHAPTER V.

     _Incidents connected with the Hall and its
     Records._--Occupation by Red Coats. "Big Charlie." John B.
     Robinson's career. A Jolly Dinner. Lawyers, officers in a
     coloured Company. Colonel Hill. Walter McKenzie. W. B.
     Campbell. Theodore Cook. Colonel John Prince. Gala Times at
     the Hall. Banquet in honor of the Lower Canada Bar in 1850.
     The Prince's Ball in 1860. Note as to it. The Banquet in
     honour of Sir John Robinson, C.J., in 1862. His funeral in
     1863. Hon. John White, first Attorney-General, fell in a
     duel--other duels of Lawyers and of Colonel Arthur Rankin.
     Solicitor-General Gray. Sir George Cartier's Examination.
     Curious docket, entries and sentences. The first capital
     execution in Toronto was for forgery in 1800. Burning on
     the hand; The Stocks; "Benefit of Clergy;" The Pillory
     used. Horse stealing treated more severely than
     manslaughter. Funeral of Trinity Term, John Doe and Richard
     Doe banished. Masters and other old officers. Good
     fellowship at the Hall. Ancient customs. "Abiit"
     Banishment. Treason, how punished in Canada. Case of Daniel
     McLane. Captain Quid. Strange devices. Horace forgotten.
     David Burns, John Small, Charles C. Small, Laurence Heyden
     and M. B. Jackson, Clerks of the Crown. Alexander Grant;
     Masters-in-Chancery and in Chambers, Registrars and other
     officers, Sir Thomas Taylor, Mr. Thos. Hodgins, Mr.
     Holmested, Mr. Stephens, Mr. Dalton, Mr. McAndrew, Mr. J.
     S. Cartwright, Mr. Thom, Mr. MacNamara, Mr. Arnoldi, Mr. W.
     Willcocks Baldwin and Dr. McMahon; Court Criers. Alexander
     Macdonell, Andrew Norton Buell, Robert John Turner, Walter
     C. Crofton, his sentimental disposition and literary taste.      43-68


CHAPTER VI.

     _Judicial and other Instances._--Judges of the Courts when
     Sir John Robinson was Chief Justice and William Hume Blake,
     Chancellor, Court of Chancery established. Robert Sympson
     Jameson, the first Vice-Chancellor. Thomas Moore sings of
     Toronto in 1804. Mrs. Jameson's literary gifts. Judges and
     leading men in 1837. Other Chancery Judges. Removal of
     Court from Kingston; John Rumsey's poem on that event;
     Chancellor VanKoughnet, Chief Justice Draper. The Burley
     Extradition. Story of the Lake Erie Raid. Result as to its
     leaders,--John Y. Beall and Bennett Burley. How this
     affected President Lincoln and his assassin. How a Chief
     Justice outlived the officers of an Insurance Company,
     which refused to "take his life." His short municipal
     career. Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald and his cabinet. Why
     Donald C. Fraser got his Highlanders' support and beat Sir
     Charles Tupper. Colonel John Prince and Sir Allan N. McNab
     and their careers. Distinguished professional families.
     Lawyers as Members of Parliament, Crown officers and
     mayors. Culture of our Judges; their connection with the
     Canadian Institute. Veteran members of the Bar; long
     service Of Superior Court Judges, also of Judges of County
     Courts. Senator Gowan, Judge W. Elliot of Middlesex, Judge
     Hughes of Elgin County, Hon. Sir Oliver Mowat, Clarke
     Gamble, K.C., David B. Read, K.C., Æmilius Irving, K.C.,
     Goldwin Smith, D.C.L., Dr. Larratt W. Smith, K.C., Charles
     Durand. Judicial Interludes. Interesting Sallies from Bench
     and Bar. The game of Poker. Ebony wit in Court. Powell,
     C.J., and the German foreman. Judge Sullivan's pleasant
     wit. "Assignment of a moustache;" "Judges of A size." "The
     Tribunal of last resort." Chief Justice Armour's Picture.
     Interview between him and Hagarty, C.J. Lament of a
     Reporter in the Dog days. How to pronounce Paresis.
     "Reminiscences of B. B. Osler, Q.C., and Dalton McCarthy,
     Q.C." "A respectable heathen." Judge Joseph Curran
     Morrison. How John A. "knocked him into a cocked hat."
     Other incidents apocryphal or amusing. Counsel refers to
     papers lost in Lord George Gordon's Riot. Dr. Walter Henry
     visits Toronto in 1833. Reference by him to Chief Justices
     Robinson and Campbell. Dr. Henry's love of nature; Chief
     Justice Wood in Manitoba. A half-breed jury. Thomas Moss,
     C.J.O. His career discussed with reference to General
     Alexander Hamilton and R. A. Harrison, C.J.                     69-106


CHAPTER VII.

     _Osgoode in Scarlet, Green, and Khaki._--Ranulfus de
     Granville and Sir Matthew Hale would follow Mars. Former
     Colonial Judges Soldiers; among them Chiefs Robinson,
     McLean, Draper and Spragge. Oliver Mowat an ensign. Mr.
     Hagarty, Mr. Esten, Mr. Adam Wilson and Mr. John Wilson,
     soldiers. Lieut.-Governor Crawford a colonel.
     Attorney-General Gibson and other lawyers now colonels.
     Rifle Companies in the Universities. Osgoode men join them.
     Trinity and University Companies formed. How officered;
     lawyers in them. They become Nos. 8 and 9 Companies of Q.
     O. R. Hon. Adam Crooks an ensign, Major Denison and Major
     Goodwin. The Ridgeway affair, who represented the Bar, and
     who were wounded there. Its importance. A colonel with
     tender feet. The ballad of Chevy Chase quoted. The Riel
     Rebellion, members of the Queen's Own who then went West.
     The Victoria Rifles or 6th Company. The Garrison Artillery.
     The Tenth Royals or Royal Grenadiers. Governor-General's
     Body Guard, dating from June, 1822. Reference to historic
     places and persons.                                            107-118


CHAPTER VIII.

     _Gowns, Bags, Wigs and Æthiops in Aulis._--Early dress of
     the Common Law Judges not adopted by other Courts. Perukes,
     hair powder and queues; High style in British Columbia. An
     Irish Barrister's wig in Toronto. Bands and Chokers;
     customs in the Privy Council; in Supreme Court at Ottawa.
     An astonished Manitoba half-breed. How Bench and Bar of
     Boston were arrayed in 1761. The titles "Lord,"
     "Monseigneur" and "Your Honour" in Province of Quebec. How
     Judges in the Hall pictures are habited. Fashions in
     "Toronto of old." "Sergeant Buz-fuz." The "Flower of the
     Profession" and the "Sunflower" of our Bar. Members of the
     Bar as Mayors of Toronto sustained dignity by fine dress.
     King's Counsel, how appointed and habited. How brave Sir
     Oliver slew the innocents after due consideration. _The
     Coloured Man and Canadian Law._ Solicitor-General Gray and
     his slave Simon Baker perish in the _Speedy_, with which
     Judge Cochrane and others were also lost. The unfortunate
     Government Schooners. Coloured men members of the Bar. A
     slave marriage declared invalid. The _John Anderson_ case,
     its effect in England. The English Court sends a "habeas
     corpus" to Toronto. Imperial Act passed in 1862.               119-135


CHAPTER IX.

     _The Law Society and the University._--Early instructors in
     Upper Canada, Dr. Strachan, Dr. Spragge, Mr. Gale, Dr.
     Howe, Samuel Armour, Dr. Phillips and others. No cribs
     permitted by students. Early Judges, well educated and
     accomplished men. Chief Justice Osgoode, Chancellor Blake
     as a lecturer, Mr. Hagarty as a poet, and others referred
     to. Mr. W. T. White's address before the Canadian Club.
     Views favoring a high standard of education. Requirements
     of the Society, Lecturers, Fees, Nest Egg. Contributions
     from students. The Profession and the Government.
     University's Political Science Course, its curriculum
     weakened in deference to the Law Society. Distinguished
     Professors, Judge Proudfoot and Hon. David Mills. Law
     Departments in other Canadian Universities. How a strong
     faculty might be formed.                                       136-146


CHAPTER X.

     _An Upper Canada Law Office._--The Baldwins founders of the
     Profession. Their office. Robert B. Sullivan, Adam Wilson,
     John Hector, Larratt W. Smith, Later partners, Students,
     Toronto before 1860, Bloor Street, The Block houses. Castle
     Frank, Governor Simcoe and Captain McKenzie Drumsnale, the
     Cayleys and Mr. Jackson, Mr. Edward Nanton, the Rosedale
     Mæcenas. Changes in practice. The gay Scrivener. The
     Speaking tube used as a chimney. The troublesome turkeys.
     The Ontario Literary Society. Foster and Rattray, Nicholas
     F. Davin, the "Headless Rooster," The _Poker_ and the
     _Grumbler_ "poke in a little fun." Criticisms of public men
     and their schemes. Sir John Macdonald, Sir George Cartier,
     D'Arcy McGee, Hon. George Brown, J. Hillyard Cameron and
     others. Interest in the University, prize men in 1858. The
     Canadian Institute, Characteristics of the partners. Office
     incidents. Lost treasure found in the vault. Disraeli
     preferred to Gladstone. Centre of City and Political Life.
     Colonel Dunn, V.C. How he rode at Balaclava in the "Six
     Hundred." Parkdale laid out. The 100th Regiment and its
     Toronto Officers. Captain John McIntyre. Francis
     Assikinack, "a warrior of the Odahwahs," Dr. Christopher
     Widmer. Other interesting citizens. Washington Wallace and
     his claims. _The Queen_ v. _Fellowes_. The "Double Shuffle"
     suits. Conclusion.                                             147-173


Appendix A--Officials at Osgoode Hall.

Appendix B--Names of Judges from 1792 to the present time.
  Public high estimation of the Judiciary.

Appendix C--Law Society Medallists.

Appendix D--Osgoode Literary and Legal Society.                     175-186




ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE.

     Osgoode Hall as now appearing                                  1

     Dr. W. W. Baldwin's commission, April 5th, 1803                6

     The Hall prior to 1857, from drawing made by Hopkins,
     Lawford and Nelson. The proposed arcade in front
     of the Central building was not executed                      16

     Plan of the Hall Grounds, by Messrs. Burke & Horwood          18

     Mr. Hugh Gwynne's Farmhouse, from photo' by John Ellis        24

     Simon's Cove. Photo' by Ellis                                 32

     The Chancery Division: Sir John Alexander Boyd,
     K.C.M.G., and Hon. Messrs. Thomas Ferguson,
     Thomas Robertson and Richard M. Meredith                      72

     Mr. Æmilius Irving, K.C., Treasurer                           88

     The late B. B. Osler, K.C., and Dalton McCarthy, K.C.,
     Sir Charles Hibbert Tupper, K.C., and E. F. B.
     Johnston, K.C.                                                94

     Hon. Thomas Moss and Hon. Charles Moss, Chief Justices
     of Ontario                                                   104

     Mr. Christopher Robinson, K.C.                               112

     Hon. William G. Falconbridge, C.J., Q. B. Division, in
     purple robe, and Hon. Sir William Meredith, C.J.,
     C. P. Division                                               118

     Mr. Matthew Wilson, K.C., in attire used before Judicial
     Committee of Privy Council                                   121

     Chief Justice Sir Adam Wilson, Mr. Justice John
     Douglas Armour (formerly Chief Justice of Ontario),
     in scarlet and ermine robe of the Canadian Supreme
     Court, from portrait, by Mr. E. Wyly Grier                   124

     Hon. W. Proudfoot, and Dr. Larratt W. Smith, K.C.            136

     Baldwin's Office Chairs, and Vice-Chancellor Esten's
     gun, from photo' by J. Ellis                                 146

     Hon. Featherston Osler of Court of Appeal, and Mr.
     Adolphus Williams, K.C., attired as a member of the
     Bar of British Columbia                                      160

     Hon. Sir William B. Richards, first Chief Justice of
     Canada, and Hon. Christopher S. Patterson of the
     Supreme Court                                                170

[Illustration: OSGOODE HALL]




CHAPTER I.

THE HALL.

      Moreover, to give justice ready eyes,
      Kings here and there in provinces remote
      Should to establish proper courts devise.--_Lord Brooke._


"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers," was the sage advice
of Dick the Butcher to Jack Cade as they marched towards old London in
the reign of good King Henry VI.

Cade took the advice in cruel earnest, ordered the poor Clerk of
Chatham, who fell into his hands, to be summarily dealt with, and said
to his followers, "Now go some of you and pull down the Savoy, others to
the Inns of Court, down with them all" ... "away, burn all the records
of the realm."[1]

Such demonstrations of the populace have, in various times and lands,
resulted in the demolition of temples of the gods and homes of art and
civilization, of which a ready instance is the destruction of the
Canadian Parliament buildings by a Montreal mob in 1849, when the
Provincial archives and fine library were reduced to ashes.

It is pleasant to find that other views as to the temples of Minerva and
her votaries have been expressed by the more enlightened.

The Spectator, nearly two hundred years ago, wrote, "I have ever
regarded our inns of court as nurseries of statesmen and law-givers,
which makes me often frequent that part of the town with much pleasure."


It is assumed that some such feelings fill the breasts of our citizens
as they approach the Hall on Queen Street. It nestles in a lawn with
trees and flowers, and on the north side of the grounds is the great
Armoury, representing strength and protection. The Hall is the home of
the Chief Courts of Ontario and the depository of judicial records from
the earliest days of Provincial history. The shades of well known
Canadians, venerated for learning and patriotic service, rise before us
as we look upon the Hall, see the portraits on its walls, and traverse
its tiled floors, handsome library, many court rooms and offices.

The east wing was first erected under the direction of Dr. W. W.
Baldwin. It is one hundred years since Dr. Baldwin was selected as a fit
and proper person to be called to the Bar of the nascent Province. He
had for some time practised medicine in Toronto. Parliament had enacted
that the Governor might "under his hand and seal appoint so many of His
Majesty's liege subjects, not exceeding six, as from their probity,
education and condition in life, he should deem fit and proper to
practise the profession of the law."

The commission appointing Dr. Baldwin recited that Henry Alcock,
Esquire, Chief Justice, had certified that the Court of King's Bench was
satisfied, etc., and so the Doctor became a barrister and attorney, "to
all intents and purposes," on the 5th day of April, 1803.

In 1845 the western wing of the Hall was erected and united with the
eastern by a building with a low dome.

In 1857 the dome was removed, the central building reconstructed, the
area (of Caën stone, brought from Normandy) and present library were put
up, as explained in our next chapter.

[Sidenote: _BUILDING OF THE HALL._]

The Honourable Robert Baldwin was at this time the Treasurer, as the
Chairman of the Benchers, or governing body, is called. Mr. Adam Wilson,
afterwards Sir Adam and Chief Justice, was the leading spirit in the
extensive improvements then made. He feared that the Legislature would
divide the Province into judicial districts, decentralizing the chief
courts, as in the Province of Quebec, and hoped that the construction of
an appropriate and costly home or Temple of Justice here, would
counteract such a movement, and in this he succeeded. Sir Adam, long
after this, related with amusement how alarmed the careful Treasurer was
as he came to him with large cheques to sign, exceeding sometimes the
balance in bank. "Never mind that," Mr. Wilson would say in the gentle
voice we remember so well, "let us get the roof on before the House
meets and all will be well," and so the fine building was pushed on to
completion. The northern extension, in which the Court of Appeal with
its library and Judges' quarters are, and the eastern addition for
accommodation of the Law School, were of late date.

The Hall has a frontage facing Queen Street of about 300 feet. It is
two-storied, of Roman classical architecture in which the Ionic order
prevails; the main building is divided into three parts, or a central
portion with flanking wings; the lower story or ground floor is of
rustic stone work in which the Roman arch is used for entrances; on the
first floor the central part has six fluted Ionic columns, the wings
have each four such columns, all surmounted with a pediment, the
central part has an attic story with cornice and parapet. The window
heads on ground floor have consuls and classical cornices. The first
floor windows have consuls supporting the pediments. The rotunda is
built of Caën stone with columns having plain shafts and ornate Ionic
caps. The wall surface is divided into panels with pilasters having
moulded classical caps. The rotunda is lighted by a stained glass
sky-light, divided by enriched plaster ribs, and floored with coloured
tiles.

A handsome stone staircase leads on either side to the Tipper area of
the rotunda, on the south side of which is the entrance to the main
library, opposite which is the Court of Appeal, on the right the King's
Bench, and on the left or west side, the Common Pleas Court.

The pictures of Chief Justices and Chancellors are mostly on the walls
of this area and in the library, which is a high arched apartment one
hundred and twelve feet long, forty feet wide, and whose roof is about
forty feet from the floor. It has tables in centre, and rows of stacks
replete with leather-bound law books on either side. A fine room or
annex, entered from the west of the main library, contains reports of
the United States Courts and proceedings of the British House of
Commons. In galleries of the main library is a fair collection of books
of an historical and general character. The number of volumes in this
library and annex is about 30,000, valued at $125,000. In addition to
this the Court of Appeal and the High Court Judges have each a
considerable library for ready reference.

A case in the Benchers' parlour holds four highly valued volumes, given
by the late Queen to the Society. They are bound in fine leather and are
entitled, first, "The Prince Consort," inscribed, "Presented to the
Library of Osgoode Hall, Toronto, in memory of her great and good
husband by his broken-hearted widow, 1864, Victoria Reg." The second
book is "Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands, March,
1868." The third, "The Early Years of the Prince Consort," also March,
1868. The fourth, "More Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the
Highlands," August, 1884. In each book is Her Majesty's autograph.

In a store-room are bound volumes of the London Times from 1805 to the
present time, and an index of the same from 1860 back to 1815, which is
in process of completion.


FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: King Henry VI., 2nd part. Scenes 6 and 7.]




CHAPTER II.

THE LAW SOCIETY OF UPPER CANADA.

     Notandi sunt tibi mores.--Ars Poet.


Mr. D. B. Read, K.C., has styled the Law Society the cradle in which the
Judges were nurtured. He shews that the Bar of Ontario is, in some
respects, the offspring of the Bar of Quebec as it existed prior to
1791.

An ordinance passed in 1785 provided that no barrister, solicitor or
proctor, if not previously called or admitted, should practise, unless
articled for five years to an advocate or attorney practising in some
court of civil jurisdiction within some part of His Majesty's Dominion.

This ordinance held good until the Upper Canada Legislature, in 1792,
enacted that, in all matters of controversy or civil rights, resort
should be had to the laws of England as the rule of decision, which
thenceforth took the place of the French law.

The Legislature was soon, convinced of the necessity of having lawyers
sufficiently skilled in British jurisprudence; and on the 9th July,
1794, passed the Act referred to authorizing the Governor to license
advocates and attorneys in the Province, not exceeding six in number.

William Dickson, D'Arcy Boulton, John Powell and William Elliott were at
the same time as William Warren Baldwin, admitted by Lieutenant-Governor
Peter Hunter.

It does not appear why these gentlemen chose this mode of entering the
profession rather than through the doors of the Law Society, then
established and having certain powers.

[Illustration: DR. W. W. BALDWIN'S COMMISSION.]

The inception of the Law Society was under an Act passed 9th July,
1797, by which gentlemen practising at the Colonial Bar were authorized
to form themselves into a society, "as well for the purpose of
establishing order among themselves as for the purpose of securing to
the Province and the profession of a learned and honourable body, to
assist their fellow students as occasion may require, and to support and
maintain the constitution of the said Province."

Then followed a meeting of practitioners at the Capital of the Province,
now called Niagara, then Newark, as appears by the following minute:--

Newark, July 17, 1797.

In obedience to the direction of an Act passed this session in the
Parliament of the Province, the following gentlemen assembled in
Wilson's Hotel, at 11 o'clock in the forenoon of the above day:--John
White, A.G., Angus Macdonell, Christopher Robinson, William D. Powell,
Nicholas Hagerman, Robert D. Gray, S.G., James Clark, Allan McLean,
Alexander Stewart, R. C. Beardsley.

Mr. Christopher Robinson was father of the future Chief Justice, Mr.
Powell became Chief of the Queen's Bench. Mr. Hagerman was father of
Judge Christopher A. Hagerman.

[Sidenote: _THE BENCHERS._]

By the Act of 1822, 2 Geo. IV., c. 5, "The Treasurers and Benchers of
the Law Society" were formally incorporated; and under these and other
statutes the Society has continued to be governed by a board of Benchers
in like manner as the Law Societies of England. Under Revised Statutes
of Ontario, c. 172, 1897, the Benchers are, exclusive of ex-officio
members, elected by the Bar, the ex-officio consisting of the
Attorney-General of the Dominion for the time being, if a member of the
Bar of Ontario, and all members of the Bar of Ontario who now hold, or
have at any time held, the office of Attorney-General of the Dominion or
of Ontario, or of Attorney or Solicitor-General of the former Province
of Upper Canada, and any retired Judge of the Superior Courts of Law or
Equity of Ontario; also, under the Act of 1900, every person who has for
seven consecutive years held the office of Treasurer of the Society. The
elected members, thirty in number, are chosen by ballot, for a term of
five years, by the members of the Bar, in manner prescribed by the Act.
Vacancies during the term are filled by the remaining Benchers. On the
first day of Easter term annually, the Benchers appoint one of their
body to be Treasurer, who is the president of the Society. The Benchers
sit in convocation during the terms, but by the Act just referred to,
power is given to "abolish terms" and fix by ordinary almanac dates, the
times and seasons for doing any act or giving any notice. The thirty
elective members are chosen by closed voting papers. The present Bench
is composed of the following gentlemen:--A. B. Aylesworth, the loyal son
of Osgoode and Varsity, heading the elective list alphabetically.

Ex-officio members--Hon. Charles Fitzpatrick, K.C., Minister of Justice;
Hon. J. M. Gibson, K.C., Attorney-General for Ontario; Hon. Edward
Blake, K.C.; Hon. Samuel Hume Blake, K.C.; Hon. Sir Charles H. Tupper,
K.C.; and Æmilius Irving, K.C.

Elected to hold office until first day of Easter Term, 1906:--Allen
Bristol Aylesworth, K.C., Toronto; Walter Barwick, K.C., Toronto;
Richard Bayly, K.C., London; Alexander Bruce, K.C., Hamilton; Francis
Henry Chrysler, K.C., Ottawa; Alfred Henry Clarke, Windsor; James Joseph
Foy, K.C., Toronto; George Christie Gibbons, K.C., London; James
Morrison Glenn, St. Thomas; Donald Guthrie, K.C., Guelph; William
Drummond Hogg, K.C., Ottawa; John Hoskin, K.C., Toronto; John Idington,
K.C., Stratford; William Kerr, K.C., Cobourg; Zebulon Aiton Lash, K.C.,
Toronto; George Lynch-Staunton, K.C., Hamilton; Samuel George McKay,
Woodstock; Donald Ban Maclennan, K.C., Cornwall; William David
McPherson, Toronto; William Renwick Riddell, K.C., Toronto; Charles
Henry Ritchie, K.C., Toronto; Christopher Robinson, K.C., Toronto;
George Fergusson Shepley, K.C., Toronto; Henry Hatton Strathy, K.C.,
Barrie; Daniel E. Thompson, K.C., Toronto; Richard Thomas Walkem, K.C.,
Kingston; George Hughes Watson, K.C., Toronto; William Robert White,
K.C., Pembroke; Matthew Wilson, K.C., Chatham.

James M. Cawdell, who had been an officer in the army, was Secretary and
Librarian for some years before Mr. Gwynne. He published for a short
time the _Rose Harp_, a magazine of light reading in prose and verse,
most of which was written by himself. He died in 1842. Thomas Hill was
steward before John Molloy, and Richard Brown, an old soldier, was for
some years assistant librarian. Mr. James Hutchison Esten, barrister,
son of the late Vice-Chancellor, was assistant to Mr. H. N. Gwynne for
some months, and on his decease in December, 1872, was appointed
secretary and sub-treasurer, which office he filled satisfactorily until
his decease in 1892, a period of more than twenty years. The offices of
secretary and librarian were separately manned. The present officers of
the Society and Law School are:--Treasurer, Æmilius Irving, K.C.;
Secretary and Sub-Treasurer, Herbert Macbeth; Librarian, W. G. Eakins;
Assistant Librarian, J. J. Daley; Editor of Law Reports, James F. Smith,
K.C.; Reporters, High Court, E. B. Brown, G. F. Harman, G. A. Boomer, A.
H. F. Lefroy; Court of Appeal, R. S. Cassels; Practice Cases, T. T.
Rolph.

[Sidenote: _LAW REPORTERS AND REPORTERS._]

Former reporters include Thomas Taylor, appointed 1823, and later, Simon
E. Washburn, but activity in the work was first shewn by William Henry
Draper, appointed in 1829. He was followed by Henry Sherwood, 1837; John
Hillyard Cameron, 1840; James Lukin Robinson, 1846; Christopher
Robinson, 1856; Henry C. W. Wethey, 1872; Salter J. VanKoughnet, 1878;
all in the Queen's Bench. In the Common Pleas, Edward C. Jones, 1850,
and S. J. VanKoughnet, 1864. Alexander Grant was appointed reporter of
the Court of Chancery in 1845 and of the Court of Appeal in 1861. Among
others not now on the rota, were the late Charles W. Cooper, Henry
O'Brien and two gentlemen who are now in Winnipeg, James Stewart Tupper
and Judge William E. Perdue. Mr. Thomas Hodgins, K.C., collected and
reported a volume of election cases. James Lukin, afterwards Sir James,
Robinson's work is comprised in volumes 2 to 5 inclusive, of the old
series, and volumes 3 to 13 Queen's Bench reports. He and Mr. R. A.
Harrison, afterwards Chief Justice, were the authors of Harrison and
Robinson's Digest, embracing decisions dating from 1823 to 1851. Mr.
Christopher Robinson and the late Frank J. Joseph took up the work from
the same period to one thirty years later in their digest of 1880.

Among those who held the office of Treasurer we find Mr. John White, the
first Attorney-General, and Mr. Dey Gray, the first Solicitor-General of
Upper Canada, Chief Justices Scott, Macaulay, Robinson, Draper and
Spragge, and Vice-Chancellor Jameson, whose talented wife, in her
"Summer Rambles and Winter Studies," charmingly delineated Canadian
scenes and customs of threescore years and more gone by.

There are also on this honoured list several others who became Judges;
others such as the Baldwins, father and son, eminent in the political
arena. Other gentlemen who devoted valuable time and ability to the
Society, did not happen to reach the highest position in convocation,
such were Sir Adam Wilson, Sir M. C. Cameron and Hon. J. D. Armour,
C.J., Hon. Christopher Salmon Patterson, John Roaf, Q.C., a partner of
Sir Oliver Mowat, Henry Eccles, Q.C., Dr. Daniel McMichael, Q.C., Hon.
Adam Crooks and Dr. Larratt W. Smith, K.C. There were but 22 Treasurers
in more than one hundred years, although the office is elective
annually. The present Treasurer has held the position for ten years.

The Judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature for Ontario are visitors
of the Law Society, and to them appeal may be made from the Benchers'
decisions. The Judges now are, The Chief Justice of Ontario, Hon.
Charles Moss and the Honourable Justices of Appeal, F. Osler, James
Maclennan, J. T. Garrow and J. J. McLaren. The Chancellor, Hon. Sir John
A. Boyd, the Chief Justice Queen's Bench Division, Hon. W. G.
Falconbridge, Hon. Sir W. R. Meredith, Chief of the Common Pleas
Division, and the Honourable Justices Thomas Ferguson, Thomas Robertson,
Hugh McMahon, W. P. R. Street, Richard M. Meredith, Byron M. Britton and
J. V. Teetzel. A late enactment made provision to constitute the
Exchequer Division of the High Court with a Chief and two Justices.
Messrs. John Idington, LL.B., K.C., and Frank A. Anglin, K.C., have been
appointed such Justices, and the early appointment of a Chief is
expected. This will make the number of Ontario Superior Court Judges
seventeen.

_Law School._--Principal--N. W. Hoyles, LL.D., K.C.; Lecturers, E. D.
Armour,, K.C., A. H. Marsh, LL.B., K.C., John King, M.A., K.C., McG.
Young, B.A.; Examiners, Goodwin Gibson, M.A., J. A. C. Cameron, LL.B.,
H. E. Rose, LL.B., W. N. Tilley.

[Sidenote: _LAW LECTURERS._]

Some of the most distinguished jurists in early days lectured to the
students. Sir Henry Strong taught of equity jurisprudence before he
became Vice-Chancellor, then Judge, and finally Chief Justice of Canada.
His custom was to sit while lecturing. So also did Mr. John T. Anderson,
Q.C., who practised as a common law counsel, and lectured in a lucid
manner, being a master of case law.

Mr. Alexander Leith, Q.C., taught the law of real property and embodied
the substance of his lectures in his well known book, "Leith's
Blackstone." Mr. Anderson and Mr. Leith retired to England some years
ago, and died there.

The Devolution of Estates Act made a marked change in the laws as to
real property, but not so radical as was at first anticipated. One who
had sat at the feet of our Gamaliel then addressed him thus,--as the
"Editor of Leith's Blackstone":

      There was a man of great renown, a learned man was he,
      Who many pages did indite about the simple fee,
      And when he'd written all he knew, and put it in a book,
      He went away across the sea, on other lands to look,
      And while he wandered far away this Act the light first saw,
      And quite upset the simple fee and killed the heir-at-law.
      And when that learned man came back, he thought he'd try again
      About the law of simple fee to argue and explain;
      But when he came to ponder o'er the clauses of this Act,
      He straightway to his lodgings went and his portmanteau packed;
      And never more has he been seen from that day until this,
      And searching for the heir-at-law 'tis my belief he is.[2]

Mr. Adam Crooks, who became a member of the Mowat Ministry, Mr. Thomas
Moss, afterwards Chief Justice of Ontario and the present Chief Justice,
his brother, were favourite teachers.

In addition to the lecturers on the rota the Law School is sometimes
favoured with addresses by Judges and others, among whom in the session
of 1902-3 were Sir Frederick Pollock, Sir John Boyd, the Chancellor,
Chief Justice Moss and Sir William Meredith, G. F. Shepley, K.C., and A.
B. Aylesworth, K.C.

By arrangement between the Law Society and Trinity College, lectures
were delivered during the years 1854 and 1855 by Mr. Hagarty (who soon
after went on the Bench), Mr. J. Hillyard Cameron and Mr. Philip
VanKoughnet. Mr. Adam Wilson and Dr. Connor also assisted.

These discourses were given in the room of the west wing now divided and
used by the two taxing officers.

The lectures of Messrs. VanKoughnet and Cameron especially are said to
have indicated original thought and been particularly interesting, while
all were instructive.

Those who attended and passed an examination at Trinity received the
degree of B.C.L., which was sometimes followed by the doctorate.

Reference has been made to the "Lives of Judges," one of five valuable
works by the learned and venerable David B. Read, K.C. He was for
twenty-seven years a Bencher, was a lecturer for a long period and was
appointed historian of the York County Law Association. His works are
replete with interesting data, many being from his extended personal
experience.

[Sidenote: _TREASURERS OF THE SOCIETY._]

The Treasurers of the Society since its formation and the periods during
which they held office are as follows:--

John White, from Trinity Term, 1797, to Trinity Term, 1798; Robert I. D.
Grey, from Trinity Term, 1798, to Easter Term, 1801; Angus Macdonell,
from Easter Term, 1801, to Easter Term, 1805; Thomas Scott, from Easter
Term, 1805, to Hilary Term, 1806; D'Arcy Boulton, (1stly) from Hilary
Term, 1806, to Michaelmas Term, 1811; (2ndly) from Michaelmas Term,
1815, to Easter Term, 1818; William W. Baldwin, (1stly) from Michaelmas
Term, 1811, to Michaelmas Term, 1815; (2ndly) from Michaelmas Term,
1820, to Michaelmas Term, 1821; (3rdly) from Michaelmas Term, 1824, to
Hilary Term, 1828; (4thly) from Hilary Term, 1832, to Hilary Term,
1836; Sir John Beverley Robinson, (1stly) from Easter Term, 1818, to
Michaelmas Term, 1819; (2ndly) from Michaelmas Term, 1821, to Michaelmas
Term, 1822; (3rdly) from Hilary Term, 1828, to Michaelmas Term, 1829;
Henry John Boulton, (1stly) from Michaelmas Term, 1819, to Michaelmas
Term, 1820; (2ndly) from Michaelmas Term, 1822, to Michaelmas Term,
1824; (3rdly) from Michaelmas Term, 1846, to Michaelmas Term, 1847;
George Ridout, from Michaelmas Term, 1829, to Hilary Term, 1832; Robert
B. Sullivan, from Hilary Term, 1836, to Michaelmas Term, 1836; Robert
Sympson Jameson, (1stly) from Michaelmas Term, 1836, to Michaelmas Term,
1841; (2ndly) from Michaelmas Term, 1845, to Michaelmas Term, 1846; L.
Peters Sherwood, from Michaelmas Term, 1841, to Michaelmas Term, 1843;
William Henry Draper, from Michaelmas Term, 1843, to Michaelmas Term,
1845; Robert Baldwin, (1stly) from Michaelmas Term, 1847, to Michaelmas
Term, 1848; (2ndly) from Michaelmas Term, 1850, to Hilary Term, 1859;
James E. Small, from Michaelmas Term, 1848, to Michaelmas Term, 1849;
Robert Easton Burns, from Michaelmas Term, 1849, to Hilary Term, 1850;
John Godfrey Spragge, from Hilary Term, 1850, to Michaelmas Term, 1850;
Sir James B. Macaulay, from Hilary Term, 1859, to Michaelmas Term, 1859;
John Hillyard Cameron, from Michaelmas Term, 1859, to Michaelmas Term,
1876; Stephen Richards, elected Michaelmas Term, 1876, and re-elected
until 1879; Edward Blake, from 1879 to 1893; Æmilius Irving, elected in
1893.

_County Law Libraries._--The practitioners in any county are authorized
to form a Library Association which secures quarters, necessary
attendance and books for the use of Judges and members.

These bodies receive aid from the Law Society in proportion to the sum
contributed by the members as fees. Twenty-five associations receive
such grants, the farthest west being Rat Portage in the Rainy River
District. The aggregate amount so disbursed in 1902 by the Society was
$5,305.62.

_The New Digest._--The Society's editor and staff of reporters have for
some time been engaged in preparing a complete digest of cases reported
in the Provincial courts from 1823 to 1901, and cases in the Supreme and
Exchequer Courts of Canada and in the Judicial Committee of the Privy
Council affecting the Province, etc. This is a large but useful
undertaking. The burden of expense has been assumed by the publishers.

_Canadian Law Library in England._--In 1897 a law library for the use of
Canadians in London was started, the Dominion and Ontario Governments
each giving a set of statutes. The Law Society then gave a set of the
Provincial Court Reports. The sum of $350 was handsomely contributed by
fourteen leading Canadian law firms or individuals to secure the English
Reports. The Dominion Government grants $250 a year towards maintenance.
The library is at No. 17 Victoria St., S.W.

[Sidenote: _LADY LAWYERS, VARIOUS OFFICES._]

_Admission of Women._--The Benchers were no more in favour of the
admission of ladies to the profession than were the English Inns of
Court who still reject their advances. Acts were passed by the Local
Legislature in 55th and 58th years of Her late Majesty's reign, the
substance of which is in the Revised Statutes, chapter 172, viz.:--"The
Benchers may in their discretion make rules providing for the admission
of women to practise as barristers-at-law and solicitors." The rules
made pursuant to the statute prescribed terms and fees similar to those
applicable to the other sex, to which is added:--"Every woman appearing
before convocation upon the occasion of her being admitted to practise
as aforesaid, shall appear in a barrister's gown worn, over a black
dress, white necktie, with head uncovered."

Only one lady has so far taken advantage of these provisions: Miss Clara
Brett Martin, M.A., who practises in Toronto, and has lately been
elected a member of the Toronto Board of Education.

The Hall was constructed when the Courts were several entities, each
with its set of officers in separate apartments.

The present intention is to have one supreme tribunal with two
divisions, the High Court and Court of Appeal. The Registrar and other
officers have to accommodate themselves as best they may, to the
original premises which necessitate loss of time to those doing
business, and probably a larger clerical staff than would be needed were
the architectural arrangements modernized.

Those who have the clue find the offices of the Hall scattered about
like the possessions of the tribe of Dan.

To the stranger the Hall is a bewildering maze. I once found wandering
among the Caën pillars in the corridor, a good fellow who, in his palmy
days had worked and spent for the party, and now had in his hand a
commission to an office of whose duties and place he knew nothing. The
gentle barnacle was as much puzzled and perplexed as was the Persian
Jami's simple Arab when he came "From the solitary desert up to
Bagdad."[3]

[Illustration: OSGOODE HALL PRIOR TO 1857.]

Offices only indirectly associated with the Courts are found opening
from the central area, being those of the Master of Titles, the learned
Master being John Galloway Scott, K.C., and of the Inspector of Legal
Offices and Surrogate Clerk. In a dim nook is the room where the
profession disburses many thousands of dollars each year for the red or
green stamps in which official fees must be paid. This is a heavy and
unjustifiable tax first on the solicitors and then on the people who are
so unfortunate as to fall into litigation.[4]

The site on which the Hall rests, being six acres, was purchased from
Hon. John B. Robinson, afterwards Chief Justice, for £1,000 early in
1828. In June of that year convocation directed plans to be obtained for
a structure to cost not more than £3,000, and this was the origin of the
first building soon afterwards erected under direction of Dr. W. W.
Baldwin as Treasurer.

Dr. Baldwin engaged Messrs. Hopkins, Lawford & Nelson, architects of
Montreal, to prepare plans for the east wing, which was begun in 1829,
but not ready for occupation until 1832, when the Benchers met in it on
the 6th of February. The cost was £3,350. Mr. John Ritchie was the
builder and Mr. John Ewart seems to have superintended the work.

In 1844 a like structure was begun, and completed in two years, as the
west wing, and this was connected with the east wing by a building with
a small dome. The same architects were employed and their very artistic
drawings are in possession of the present architects of the Society.

Mr. Kivas Tully, C.E., remembers that Mr. Lane, an English architect
then in Toronto, was in some way engaged at this time, perhaps by the
Montreal firm. His name does not appear on the plans. Mr. Joseph Sheard,
afterwards Mayor of Toronto, was consulted as to some alterations in
1852.

[Sidenote: _ARCHITECTS AND PLANS._]

In 1857 the central building was removed and the present library, area,
Queen's Bench and Common Pleas Court Rooms, were erected under the
direction of Messrs. Cumberland and Storm, the eminent Toronto
architects, who were at the same time designing and erecting the
University building.

Mr. Cumberland having retired, Mr. W. G. Storm built the Convocation
Hall and quarters of the Court of Appeal Judges, also the Law School,
which is less tasteful in design than the other parts of the structure.
Since his decease in 1892, Messrs. Burke & Horwood designed the fine
western annex to the main library and later improvements in the east
wing in connection with the Benchers' entrance and hall.

In 1846 the Society made agreement with the Provincial Government to
provide proper accommodation for the Superior Courts of Law and Equity
at the seat of the Society and received $24,000 for so doing.

Under several subsequent bargains the Government has taken charge of the
greater part of the buildings, the Law Society having control of the
east wing, the main library and its annexes.

The plan given shews the arrangement of the ground and buildings.

A substantial iron and brick fence in front and at sides and brick in
rear surrounds the grounds, which form a square, are tastefully laid out
and well kept. A sward at the west of the Hall is appropriated as a
tennis court for members of the Society, but golf on suburban fields and
aquatic sports have of late had more attraction for them. In the spring,
beds of hyacinths and tulips adorn the lawn, the offspring of six
thousand bulbs, and these are followed by geraniums and other summer
flowers.

[Illustration: OSGOODE HALL--BLOCK PLAN]

In the grounds are many beautiful shade trees, some of which surround
the square in summer with a green fringe, but the horse-chestnut, with
its heavy foliage, is too prevalent.

At the north-west corner is the caretaker's house, and beyond that
appear the Armouries with their massive walls and towers.

The seal of the Law Society is a shield which bears an upright Doric
pillar, the ancient emblem of Apollo Defender. Resting on this classical
support is a Canadian beaver, from whose mouth a scroll flies inscribed
"Magna Charta Angliae." To the left is a standing figure of Justice
robed, her eyes blindfolded, with scales in right hand and drawn sword
in left. Strength, Hercules with his club, occupies the right centre.

This device may be seen in the middle of the fine stained-glass window
of the Convocation Hall, and stands out in colours from the ceramic
floor of the Benchers' entrance hall.

A series of oil paintings in the library, upper central area, Practice
Court and Benchers' quarters, represent Chief Justices from Hon. William
Osgoode, first holder of the office, to Hon. Charles Moss, now Chief
Justice of Ontario.

There are also portraits of the Baldwins, Hon. J. Hillyard Cameron, and
other representative Benchers and officers. Most of these were by the
brush of the late George Theodore Berthon, a skillful artist and amiable
man, who came to Toronto in 1841. His genius was inherited from his
eminent father, René Theodore Berthon, who painted the first Napoleon
and many other notable Frenchmen. His studio was visited by Lady Morgan,
and is referred to in her Diary; his life and works are also treated of
in Scribner's Encyclopedia of Painters and Paintings.

[Sidenote: _WORKS OF LATER ARTISTS._]

George Theodore Berthon, good old Frenchman, with winning smile and
retiring manner, will be remembered as long as his fine works hang on
these walls. He was a favourite with Secretary Gwynne and the old
Benchers and Judges. What a treat it was, when invited to his studio, to
see his brush deftly place figure and feature on the canvas! Then,
speaking with a gentle Gallic accent, he shewed us some interesting
studies, among them his father's Napoleon and a representation of a
dramatic scene, founded on the legend of Queen Elizabeth upbraiding the
Countess of Nottingham for her conduct in regard to the Earl of Essex
and the Queen's ring, an ambitious work which Mr. Berthon left
unfinished.[5]

He had store of tales to tell of former days and of the men his father
or he had helped to make immortal. These incidents come back to us as we
look on his artistic productions. There are many other excellent men who
honoured the Bench, but did not attain the highest position, whose faces
we would gladly see in these corridors. What honesty of purpose is shewn
in the standing portrait of Sir James B. Macaulay, first Chief of the
Common Pleas! Born at Niagara in Governor Simcoe's time, young Macaulay
was a soldier in the war of 1812, fought gallantly at Ogdensburg,
Lundy's Lane and Fort Erie, and received a colonel's commission. He was
on the retired list when we first knew the Hall, but was ready to "lend
a hand" when needed. He worked assiduously for many months at a revision
of the Statutes, refusing other remuneration than his well earned
pension. He was also then commissioned to the Court of Appeal and sat in
convocation with the Benchers, being Treasurer in 1859, after the
decease of Mr. R. Baldwin. "We have seen Sir James patiently hearing and
reasoning with students in chambers, and, to solve a doubtful point,
going from his chair to the library and with them there referring to
precedents." Such confidence was placed in him as that animating the old
Boeotians who, when their famous Judge was taken from earth, declared
him to be still his people's arbiter in the Shades. As to other
portraits in the Hall, E. Wyly Grier painted Chief Justices Meredith and
Falconbridge, also Treasurer Irving and Mr. Robert G. Dalton, who served
as Clerk of the Court and then as Master in Chambers. A. Dickson
Patterson painted Chief Justices Campbell and Burton and Mr. Stephen
Richards. The portrait of the present Chief Moss is by J. W. L. Forster.
A brass tablet in memory of Chief Justice Osgoode is in the upper
Bencher's hall. He was born in England in 1754, seems to have been
educated at Harrow and Oxford and was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn
in 1779. He became Chief Justice of Upper Canada July 29, 1792, and
presided in Courts at Newark, Kingston, Cornwall and elsewhere in the
young Province. He was also Speaker of the Legislative Council and Chief
Adviser of Governor Simcoe.

In his charge to a grand jury the Chief Justice advocated the abolition
of slavery.

[Sidenote: _OTHER PORTRAITS AND TABLETS._]

He had found many blacks, and a few Panis, already in servitude at
Niagara and elsewhere. The U. E. Loyalist, Colonel Matthew Elliott, had
in 1784 brought over half a hundred negroes to his estate at
Amherstburg, and the proud Mohawk chief Brant boasted of his slaves, and
was attended on his journeys and at table by two of them, called Patton
and Simon Ganseville. Tyendinegah lived surrounded with slaves and
retainers in barbarous magnificence at Burlington.

The Macaulay family at Kingston had also brought black slaves with them.
Knowing of these, the Chief Justice felt that the mischief and
immorality attending the estate of servitude were not compensated by
gain of the ruling race in having such servants, and was led to a
discussion of the matter with Governor Simcoe, when he found that he had
his hearty sympathy.

Osgoode then drew the Act passed by the Niagara, or Newark, Parliament
in 1793, which forbade the further introduction of slaves, and provided
that the children of slaves born thereafter should be free on attaining
twenty-five.

Our first Chief Justice seems to have been a man of pure life, good
parts, and fine disposition, who felt much the rude strain of early
Provincial life. He left the Province before Toronto was known as the
capital and became Chief Justice of Lower Canada, February, 24, 1794,
where he remained until 1801, when he resigned and returned to his
native land, having served in Canada about nine years.

The tablet is inscribed thus:--"William Osgoode, M.A. (Oxon) who, when
the Province of Upper Canada was organized in 1792, became its first
Chief Justice and was afterwards Chief Justice of Lower Canada, died 17
January, 1824, aged 70, and was buried at the Church of St. Mary, Harrow
on the Hill, England."

Near this is a like plate, bearing the inscription under the MacDonell
crest and motto, "Per mare per terras," "John MacDonell,
Attorney-General for Upper Canada, who fell in the battle of Queenston
13th October, 1812, aged 27 years. He was Lieutenant-Colonel Canadian
militia and Military Secretary to Major-General Sir Isaac Brock and
fought at Detroit (medal)." He was the last of three bright spirits
connected with the profession in the young Province who met violent
deaths each in a different form, the other being Attorney-General White
in a duel, and Solicitor-General Gray in the waves of Lake Ontario.

The Law School at the east end of the Hall has a large meeting room,
several class rooms and a small library.

In the students' reading room is a brass tablet erected by the Society
"in memory of Thomas Brown Phillips Stewart, Barrister-at-Law who, by
his last will, devoted his property to the advancement of
Students-at-Law, born at Keenanville, August 7, 1858, died at Toronto,
February 2, 1892." Mr. Phillips Stewart was a young man of culture and
education. He published a volume of poems in 1887. The income from his
legacy of about $7,500 is applied to increase the law students' library.

There is also an oil portrait of the late William Albert Reeve, M.A.,
Q.C., first principal of the Law School, 1889-1894. Framed together in
the librarians' office off the main library are two fine miniatures
representing Governor Simcoe and Chief Justice Osgoode, given to the
Society by their learned admirer, as appears by the legend beneath
them:--"Legavit Henricus Scadding, D.D., A.D. 1901."

The valuable libraries at the Hall had their origin early in the last
century partly by gift from gentlemen interested in the profession.

[Sidenote: _THE ADVOCATES' SOCIETY._]

In a book styled "Registry of Donations to the Society" a record is
preserved of such gifts. The Hon. Thomas Scott, formerly Chief Justice,
gave eight volumes of manuscript precedents in pleadings; Dr. W. W.
Baldwin is credited with 41 volumes, embracing history, poetry,
biography and law. Mr. Robert Baldwin, on three occasions in 1833, is
donor not only of law books, but of a family bible, a prayer-book,
Goldsmith's works and Warburton's sermons and finally of six metal casts
of the Society's armorial bearings and the wooden model from which they
were cut. Other donors were Simon Washburn, Chief Justice Robinson,
George S. Boulton, James Edward Small, Admiral Augustus Baldwin, Hon.
Archibald McLean, William Dummer Powell and Sir William Campbell, also
Dr. Dunlop, who gave works on medical jurisprudence.

_The Advocates' Society._--Half-a-dozen neatly kept books in manuscript
now held by the Law Society contain a record of the proceedings of an
admirable club or debating society, maintained by the students, dating
back to 1820 and called the Advocates' Society. Its affairs were
conducted with parliamentary form and dignity.

By an ordinance of this Society passed in 1821, it was provided that the
rank of each officer and member respectively should be: The Bencher; The
Keeper of the Great Seal; The Treasurer; The Advocate; The Prothonotary;
the Senior Student, and lastly the Junior Students according to their
standing.

In Michaelmas term, 1822, Robert Baldwin signs as Treasurer; in
November, 1823, he is styled "The right trusty Robert Baldwin, Keeper of
the Seal." In the same year he was Vice-Bencher.

In Trinity term, 1823, there were admitted as members among others,
Donald Bethune, David W. Smith, James Boulton, John Lyons, Richard
Cartwright Robinson, Daniel Sullivan, who was brother of Judge Sullivan
but died young, Horace Ridout, George S. Jarvis, George Boswell, David
L. Fairfield, afterwards Judge of the Prince Edward County Court,
Charles Richardson and John Fennings Taylor all of York, James Hunter
Samson of Kingston, Marcus F. Whitehead, Port Hope.

[Illustration: MR. H. N. GWYNNE'S HOUSE.]

In 1823 Alexander Chewett was Bencher, John Cartwright was Treasurer,
Robert B. Sullivan, Solicitor, and William A. Campbell, Prothonotary.
Mr. Chewett, the youthful Bencher, delivered a learned address, which
may be read in Mr. Read's "Lives of the Judges."

Many of these young men became well known in Canadian history and it is
interesting to find them here as fledglings learning the use of the
powers by which they were to attain places in the land.


FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 2: Can. L. Journal, 29, 345.]

[Footnote 3: From _Salaman and Absal_.]

[Footnote 4: _Law Stamps._--The Act introducing stamps and making
payment by them compulsory was passed June 30th, 1864, and applied to
Upper and Lower Canada. The receipts from this source in Ontario in 1902
were $54,177, of which $18,162 came from Osgoode Hall and $3,240 from
the distributor at the City Hall, the balance from other counties.]

[Footnote 5: George Theodore Berthon was born in Vienna in 1806 during a
visit of his parents to that city. Soon after the son's birth they
returned to Paris, where the elder Berthon was patronized by many
eminent persons, including Napoleon I. About 1840 the son went to
England where he painted among others Abdul Aziz. He had previously
visited various capitals on the Continent to perfect himself in his art.
Next year he came to Canada. Many of his canvases are hung on the walls
of the Senate lobbies at Ottawa and at Government House, Toronto. A
picture of his youngest daughter with pet dog, sent by the Ontario
Government to the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876, took
the gold medal.

Valued works from his brush are possessed by the Canadian Institute and
other societies and by many citizens.

He is said to have considered the portrait of Chief Justice Robinson his
masterpiece.

He died January 18th, 1892, in his 86th year, being the senior member of
the Canadian Society of Artists.]




CHAPTER III.

THE SECRETARY AND HIS FRIEND THE INVENTOR. A CLASSICAL CHAPTER.

          =Heu! domus antiqua!=
    Quam dispari dominaris domino!--_Horace._


Three members of the old Irish family of Gwynne were long well known in
Canadian professional circles.

John Wellington Gwynne, son of Rev. William Gwynne, D.D., of Dublin,
was, from the 12th of November, 1868, to the 14th of January, 1879, a
Judge of the Common Pleas; he was then transferred to the Supreme Court
at Ottawa where he passed away but a few months since full of years and
of honour. His brother, Dr. Gwynne, came to Toronto with him and
practised here for many years successfully. He was professor of anatomy
and kindred subjects in the University in the forties. His skill,
happiness of expression and progressive spirit made him deservedly
esteemed.

Hugh Nelson Gwynne, another brother, was a scholar of Trinity College,
Dublin, and for a time a master in Upper Canada College.

In 1840 he became Secretary and Librarian of the Law Society and so
continued for thirty-two years. He was also sub-treasurer and examiner
of the students under the direction of the Benchers.

Mr. Gwynne was of more than medium stature, his fine head crowned with
snow-white hair, which protruded from under a russet wig. He was clean
shaven, observant, and ready in reply and repartee. A bachelor, with
high treble voice, wearing a gown when on duty, he was the lion in the
way of applicants for admission to the Society and, during the age in
which he held sway, the most notable character of the Hall. Two books of
the Odes of Horace and the like quantity of Euclid's problems were on
the bill, and happy was the man who had the mastery of the 47th
proposition of the first book, could safely pass the "Ass's Bridge" and
render the immortal bard's verses with due meaning and scansion.[6]

On hearing a false quantity the examiner would visibly shudder in his
seat. The ordeal was passed before a black-board in the presence of a
Committee of Benchers and it was wonderful how confusedly circles and
triangles became involved before Q. E. D. was reached. Many recall even
now the trepidation with which they regarded his fateful coming from the
solemn Benchers' presence, with paper in hand from which, after some
tantalizing by-play, he read the names of the successful, and invited
the unfortunate to kindly call again,--next term.

His wit spared none, but fell as the Bard of Avon says of the dew. On
seeing a student, who had twice appeared unsuccessfully again approach,
with notice and fee in hand, he cried:--"We greet again a dear familiar
face."

[Sidenote: _MR. GWYNNE, THE SECRETARY._]

To a member of the Bar who was much interested in church formalities, he
said:--"Pray tell me, for you should know, how many angels can dance on
the point of a needle?" To a candidate who was struggling with lettered
figures on the black-board, he gave the caution, "Now sir, pray mind
your P's and Q's."

He asked another what monument the poet referred to in the Ode "Exegi
monumentum." "I suppose it was one of the Egyptian Pyramids," said the
youth to the examiner's horror.

But this genius was eclipsed by one who rendered these words and the two
following:--"I have eaten a monument more lasting than brass," and to
him the Secretary said: "You will have to take until next term to digest
the monument."

In Easter term 1864, Mr. Frederick W. Cumberland, who, with Mr. Storm as
architect, had almost rebuilt the hall six years before, applied for
admission as a student. The chairman politely asked Mr. Cumberland to
choose his ode and he read _Exegi Monumentum_, which was considered
appropriate to the occasion. Mr. Cumberland, though he passed with
credit, did not proceed further in his law course. He was a man of
affairs, and became President of the Northern Railway Company.

In 1850, Mr. S. having with some hesitancy read the short ode in the
first book in which the Styx was referred to, a Bencher asked where was
the river Styx? This posed S., but he made a shot at it saying, "In
Italy, sir." "In what part of Italy?" persisted Mr. Bencher. "In the
States of the Church, sir."

The innocent connection of one of the rivers of Hades with the realm of
His Holiness, along with the perplexed look of poor S., highly amused
the learned party. The Secretary relieved his feelings by calling out to
his aide, "What do you think of that, Molloy?"

A second year student being required to state in what circumstances
money would be reclaimed when paid under mistake of the law, found
himself at sea and replied, "The only case of recovering money paid
under error or ignorance of the law, with which I am acquainted, will be
the return of my fees by the Law Society if I do not pass this
examination."

Coming to the door of the students' examination room, dangling his keys
and with Mr. Molloy by his side, he eyed the applicants critically and
said,--"A pretty good pluck to-day, Molloy, a pretty big pluck, there
are lots of them!"

One who anxiously asked the Secretary if his application, proof of
service under articles and other papers were correct, received for
answer, "I have taken several objections, any one of which should prove
fatal, but," after a pause and twinkle of the dark eyes, "the Benchers
won't back me up."

He was amused when a polite student thanked him for kind treatment
during his "little go" or entrance examination, calling to Mr. R. A.
Harrison, Q.C., then passing, he said, "Here's a good joke, M. actually
thanks me for not plucking him."

He declared that another youth had a truly fanciful genius, when he
found in an ode of the third book a reference to Daniel in the den of
his shaggy friends ("Includam Danaen.")

The candidate had also to compose a short thesis from a classical motto.
A venerable member of the Toronto bar remembers that he was called on to
read "Exegi monumentum," and wrote from the legend "Nil mortalibus
arduum est."

[Sidenote: _EXAMINATION OF STUDENTS._]

While the original words are sometimes forgotten the sentiment is often
present. A "learned brother" says he read the short ode expressing
detestation of Persian pomp, and for motto had a line from that in which
divine honours are promised to Julius Caesar, provided he gives up his
rumoured intention of removing the Roman capital to Troy, and refrain
from rebuilding that unlucky city; which odes, it is needless to say,
are in the first and third books.[7]

A gentleman who sits within the bar, smiled as he admitted that it fell
to him to declare that a certain Roman matron was more fair than her
fair daughter. (Ode 16, book 1.)

Another King's Counsel remembers that the motto for his thesis was the
famous sentence, "Dulcé et decorum est pro patria mori," and he was
called on to construe Ode 9, book 1.

This is a beautiful description of a winter scene, such as was common
sixty years ago, and may still be met, on the banks of Lake Ontario.
Calling to his friend Thaliarchus, Horace, asks him to look out and see
how Soracté, the Sabine hill, stands white with snow, how the woods
scarce contain its weight and the rivers lie still in the sharp frost.
But he cries joyously, "pile billets on the hearth, bring out the four
year old Sabine wine and leave the rest to the gods."

Dr. Scadding, our Canadian scholar, who, equally with Mr. Gwynne, was a
lover of Horace and Virgil, found this, and other odes of these poets,
to well apply in their description, to the scenes of early days on our
Don and Humber.

Snow is now an unusual visitant in Italy, but it was not so in the time
of Horace, when the climate was more like that of South-Western Ontario.

In "Horace Canadianizing" the doctor writes, "The language of the poet,
when he narrates the well known incident of his childhood, instantly
received colour and interpretation from one's boyish recollections. Even
his slight touches in regard to scenery and natural phenomena, near by
or afar off, were realized in one's own mind in a similar manner.

"Here, in the valley of the Don were gigantic elms, basswood (the
linden), buttonwood (the plane), and butternut trees, and in swampy
places hemlock, spruce and cedar trees, rugged and grey with age." "In
winter the solidly frozen stream." "Wild flowers were plentiful in
their season."

The hungry cry of wolves was heard through the forests at night, where
are now the streets and gardens of Toronto.

Dr. Scadding's father perished through the accidental falling of a tree
on his Don farm. All such incidents the doctor finds related in these
fine Roman odes, and applies them to our land.

Many of the young men came from Upper Canada College to Osgoode Hall and
had seen an inscription from Horace on its seal,

    "Imperi porrecta majestas
    Custodé rerum Caesaré."

And those who received books for prizes read another Horatian passage
inscribed in them. Mr. Gwynne, it will be remembered, had in his early
years taught in the college, and doubtless had something to do in the
instilling of its classical tastes. Dr. McCaul was editor of a scholarly
edition of Horace's works.

Dr. Scadding shews how Horace supplied mottos for various public seals
used in the Dominion.

[Sidenote: _AN OYSTER SUPPER: A SABINE FARM._]

When Mr. Isaac Buchanan, on the fall of the Macdonald-Cartier ministry
in 1858, delivered in Parliament in Toronto a eulogy on the last named
statesman, he aptly applied to Sir George and his career the words of
the ode beginning "Justum ac tenacem propositi virum."

When indicating dissent, a favourite expression of the Secretary was,
"That, sir, is not according to Moses."

Nothing was so sure to settle the fate of a student adversely as any
attempt to flatter or influence the high spirited examiner.

On one occasion Mr. Gwynne visited D----ville and, walking up with an
inhabitant from the boat, told the following incident:--

"This is D----ville. Mr. Brown lives here. He came up to see me once at
Osgoode Hall, on the subject of a little Horace and Euclid, you know.
Nice man Mr. Brown, very nice man. Mr. Brown gave an oyster supper the
night before. Nice man, Mr. Brown. Oyster supper and champagne. Asked me
to the supper. Nice man, Mr. Brown. Went to the supper, oysters were
good and champagne was good. I ate the oysters and drank his champagne.
Very nice man, Mr. Brown--(Pause)--plucked him next morning."

Court reporters had then to be approved by the Judges, and some Judges
had relations not averse to office, so the Secretary asked, "How nearly
related to one of their Lordships must a candidate be to qualify for a
reportership?"

To a young barrister recently married he handed "McPherson on Infancy,"
saying, "This, sir, is the book you should study."

The Secretary had bachelor quarters in the east wing of the hall where
he sometimes entertained his friends.

[Illustration: SIMON'S COVE.]

[Sidenote: _THE SECRETARY AND HIS FRIENDS._]

But, like his favourite poet, he, too, had his Sabine farm, and in
summer vacation it was his chief pleasure to drive westward some six
miles from the city along the lake shore, and enjoy the comfortable
farm house and shady groves on lot number four. Broken Front concession
of Etobicoke. Above his coat as he drove, was the ample well-known pilot
cape. There were an orchard, great barns and cattle. Thomas Jackson, an
honest yeoman, worked the farm, and he and his good wife made the
Secretary comfortable. After his decease, Jackson bought, and still
lives on the farm, and seems to prosper on its good clay soil. They
found the sage happy and sometimes jovial in this quiet retreat, and
well thought of by the neighbours, who still speak of him with warm
regard. The place has now become suburban and adjoins the grounds of the
Mimico Asylum on the east, with tram-cars running on the road in front.
A water-course crosses the south end of the lot transversely, falling
into the lake at a bay forty yards wide between clay banks on a shale
foundation. Here a few stones mark the site of the former little cottage
of the Secretary's old friend, George Henry Simon, the inventor; it had
but two rooms and an attic. Mr. Simon, whose name was pronounced Seemon,
stood six feet in height, was at this time erect, athletic, with full
beard and long curly hair. He spoke with a marked German accent. His
object in life was to develop into practical utility cherished ideas as
to motive power. With his own hands he put up the humble abode in this
pretty nook, for which he agreed to pay a shilling rent each year, but
the shilling was returned as soon as paid both by Mr. Gwynne and Mr.
Jackson. He had a supply of tools, wire and lumber, and here the hermit
artisan worked and pondered from month to month. He was an artful turner
and worker in metal, and his models were well made. He sold articles
from his lathe to Angus Dallas, the Toronto vendor of woodenware. He
built a boat without nails or other iron. It was fully fifty feet long,
and was made of separate blocks pegged together. It was said to be of
sixty-five tons burthen, and lay beside the stream ready to be launched
and propelled by the motor, when the latter developed activity through
the two powers of nature, which Simon claimed would work together for
him, but he shrewdly declined to be more explicit. He and Mr. Gwynne had
both active, inquiring minds, and seemed to be attracted by perhaps the
bond of their different geniuses. They were without family cares and on
very friendly terms. They discussed dynamics and classics, history and
philosophy; and of all philosophers Simon declared that Confucius was
the wisest and the best, while the Secretary smiled, and, as the limpid
stream passed by, murmured a verse of his favourite poet in honour of
the Apulian fountain:--

    "O Fons Bandusiae, splendidior vitro."

Thus from time to time, they conversed together, now on grave themes,
anon in merry strains to the music of the waves and the robin's evening
song, as they mused by the little cove sheltered by the fine grove of
pines through which streamed rays of the setting sun.

More frequently they sat in the orchard, each with his philosophical
friend, a "churchwarden," or long clay pipe aglow, on one of the stout
wooden benches still to be seen near the farm house. They were led by
simple tastes to the sunshine, and among the trees and flowers, where
they lingered until the dew drops reflected the evening star. Lives so
passed are likely to wear well.

Other congenial friends often joined such pleasant seänces, among them
Mr. Alexander Grant, the Registrar, and Mr. Berthon, the artist. In
those good times the kettle was always on the hob and the punch bowl
soon forthcoming.

Through fear of giving away the secret of his invention, Mr. Simon
generally refused entrance to his cabin. Exception was sometimes made in
favour of young friends. One of these, who has long since ceased to be
a boy, looks back with pleasure to happy visits when the inventor
admitted him to his rude sanctuary and treated him to caraway-seed
biscuits, made by his hands. Then, with the cabin for a dressing-room,
they entered the water of the beautiful lake, where the big man taught
the lad to swim. That happy pupil remembers well how like a gamboling
lion his good friend looked, his head and shoulders above the waves and
long curly hair floating free.

Another young man, who had many a pleasant hour at the cove, is now
Treasurer of Toronto. He found the inventor a very interesting and
friendly person, so much regarded by the neighbouring farmers that he
was sometimes chosen arbiter in their disputes. Mr. Simon was from
Heidelberg, born in 1807, and lived until 1894, was active in mind and
body, of simple and temperate habits, able to converse in French, German
and English, and generally well informed. He called his boat "The Myth."
Thompson, Smith & Co., the Toronto lumber merchants, offered $2,000 for
it, but his price was double that; he preferred to retain it for trial
of the invention which would, he declared, work a revolution in
dynamics; and so the years slipped by.

Mr. Gwynne passed away at his Osgoode Hall Chambers in December, 1872,
in the room now used as the Secretary's office.

Many hundreds of students had come under his eye; all capable of so
doing were impressed with his quick wit and scholarly attainments. The
dullard and the unprepared felt the spur, but not a lasting sting. None
doubted, his impartiality, not a few had reason to acknowledge his
kindness.

[Sidenote: _DEATH OF MR. SIMON._]

Mr. Simon, like an alchymist of old, continued assiduously to plan,
study and work at his lonely task. His cove was very still but for the
clip of his hammer, the occasional low of a cow or cry of the sea-gull
and the Æolian play of the breeze through the pines. He had three models
ready for the patent offices, but decay had entered his boat, and it was
falling to pieces by the bed of the stream.

One winter morning neighbours were attracted by a conflagration, and
found poor Simon sitting on a chair, half clad, his long grey hair
tossed by the chill breeze, as he sadly witnessed the ruin of the cabin,
with his lathe, tools, models, books and plans. He had striven to save,
burned his hands and then suffered from cold and exhaustion. Good
friends carried him gently to his old neighbour's house and anxiously
strove to relieve him, but his age was four score and seven, and he was
unable to rally. He left enough to pay for his funeral, to which the
neighbours came in large concourse, and was laid to rest in the Church
of England cemetery at Mimico.

Now some one moralizes: A life thrown away! The labours and hopes of
years a little heap of ashes! Yet, who can say whether, if not anchored
in this quiet haven, with its free air, cooling waters, and friendly,
but not obtrusive neighbours, the bark of this clever but eccentric man,
here so patient, and soothed in the enjoyment of nature's better
elements, would not have been tossed about and wrecked on one of life's
many reefs?

Those who then saw him say that next day's sun fell on a strong, placid
face, from which the cares and puzzles of years seemed to have passed
away. As they told the tale, the words of Gloster to King Lear were
suggested:--

    "A ruined piece of nature, this great world
    Shall so wear out to nought!"

While of the scientific experiments no more is known, it seems that
forces such as Mr. Simon sought to develop now move the tram-cars,
which so often pass in front of the fair place long enjoyed by these
rare souls, the Secretary and his friend the Inventor.


FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 6: The Law Society's order of Easter Term, 1855, found in C.
L. Journal I., 120, included for admission examination, a play of
Euripides, 12 books of the Iliad, Horace, Salust, Euclid or Legendre,
Hind's Algebra, Trigonometry, Statics and Dynamics, Astronomy, Moral
Philosophy, Logic and Rhetoric, and such works in Ancient and Modern
History as the candidates may have read.

This ambitious programme was much modified within a few months and
reduced in practice to the odes of Horace, Euclid, and the ordinary
branches of English education.]

[Footnote 7: Lucan's account of Caesar's visit to the site of Troy and
the grave of Hector confirms this rumour. Here he found the whole of
Pergamus covered with brambles, even the ruins were gone, and Caesar
standing by the grave of Hector invoked the ancient deities and said, "I
will restore the people, the Ausonians will gratefully return to the
Phrygians their walls, and a Roman Pergamus shall arise." _Pharsalia
Cap. IX._]




CHAPTER IV.

JOHN MOLLOY, THE STEWARD.

    He was a shrewd philosopher,--
    He knew what's what, and that's as high
    As metaphysic wit can fly.--_Hudibras._


Mr. Molloy first saw the light in King's County, Ireland, and died in
Toronto August 30th, 1878, in his eighty-sixth year, leaving sons and
daughters. He was in the employ of the Law Society from 1840 until
within two years of his decease.

He was a great traveller, came to St. John's, Newfoundland, in 1834, but
soon removed to Quebec, where he became interested in his
fellow-religionists of Irish origin who were struggling to build a
church, but had little sympathy from the French element. With letters of
introduction to good people of Great Britain and France, and in
pursuance of his cherished object, he went abroad seeking financial aid.
He kept a diary, now in possession of his son-in-law, Mr. Matthew
O'Connor, and from it we learn that he sailed from Quebec for England,
September 11th, 1835, left London for France, June 25th, 1836, and
Boulogne for London, March 30th, 1837, returning to Quebec, May 15th,
1837. His efforts had much to do with the building, in that old Canadian
city, of St. Patrick's Church, which is now under charge of the
Redemptorist Fathers.

[Sidenote: _MR. MOLLOY'S LOYALTY._]

Mr. Molloy was steward of the "Royal William,"[8] a steamer built at the
Island of Orleans for the Halifax trade. It was found to be too large
for that purpose, taken to England, and was the first vessel to cross
the Atlantic entirely by steam power. He joined the Second Battalion of
Provincial Militia at Quebec on 1st November, 1837, and became Sergeant
in Captain Power's Company. He was a firm Royalist and active in
opposing the schemes of Mr. Papineau.

Mr. Davin, in his book, "The Irishman in Canada," shews that Mr. Molloy
rendered a "distinguished and noble service" at this time. Sir James
Stuart sent for him and asked him to "address his countrymen and urge
them to strengthen the volunteers." But Molloy was modest, and answered,
"Sir James, this is no time for joking; you would not ask a man of my
humble rank of life to take a prominent part at such an hour." Sir James
replied, "Molloy, you are the man we want." Accordingly he attended a
large meeting of his countrymen and addressed them in an inimitable way.
His speech was in part as follows:--

"When I arrived in Canada more than thirteen years ago, a total
stranger, before I was three days in Quebec, my ears became familiar
with expressions which are insults to you. But notwithstanding such
expressions of the French-Canadians, from English and Scotch I met with
the greatest kindness. By George, one day I dined with an Englishman,
and we had roast beef of Old England and French pudding, and the next
day I dined with a Scotchman, and we had equally good fare.

"If my countrymen would travel other countries as I did and see
constitutional principles, see the despotism of France and Spain; the
contempt in which the poor man is held by the German aristocrat, and the
tyranny of Russia, they would come back to the British Isles, from whose
escutcheon I hope the stains of tyranny and the blots of penal enactment
will soon be wiped away, and they would say, 'Oh, British Isles! we love
you with all your faults.' I now take upon myself to assert boldly, that
Pompey never entered Jerusalem with greater hate and determination to
uproot the Jews, than the present clique are to exterminate us from this
country."

Notwithstanding historical allusions which the scholar would not make
and which are in some respects at fault, how effective is the rhetoric!

"But," he went on, "they never will do this. They would drive
Englishmen, Scotchmen and Irishmen out if they could. Well, let me
remind you that united we stand and divided we fall, or as somebody
before me has expressed it in a nobler manner:--

    "United and happy at liberty's shrine,
    May the rose and the thistle long flourish and twine,
    Round the sprig of shillalah
    And shamrock so green."

Copies of the speech were struck off and circulated in thousands over
the Province of Lower Canada, and it had a great effect.

[Sidenote: _THE SECRETARY AND THE STEWARD._]

Molloy left Quebec for Toronto May 28th, arriving June 17th, 1838, and
in February, 1839, was engaged as "issuer" in the commissariat office
at Toronto. His employment at Osgoode Hall as Steward began about the
same time as Mr. Gwynne became Secretary, but continued for six years
longer. His apartments were in the comfortable basement of the east wing
which the students styled "Molloy's Hades." During his stay in Quebec he
had mastered the French language, and was able, when at Boulogne, to
cicerone a party of his fellow-countrymen who needed such aid. He was
not at first sure how the Quebec dialect would pass, but found that the
natives fully understood him. The Archbishop of Paris also complimented
him on his facile use of this tongue. He records in his diary a low
estimate of the character of the ordinary Frenchman, but refers with
pleasure to instances of superior high-minded persons of that nation
whom he met. His intelligence and knowledge of the world well fitted Mr.
Molloy for the position he so long occupied at the Hall. Students and
others found him affable and ready to give useful hints and information.
He wore a gown when on duty, was the Secretary's right hand, was as
popular with the lordly Benchers, and claimed the credit of aiding some
diffident candidates in passing the ordeal. He would say to one of the
rulers in confidence, "Now, don't be too hard on Mr. A., he won't do
much harm anyway." He met his match in his distinguished and witty
countryman, Judge Hagarty, afterwards Sir John, C.J., when he applied
for his aid in securing an increase in salary:--

"More pay, is it, you ask, Molloy? I'll tell you what we'll do; when you
die we'll give you a good funeral."

"Thank you kindly, but that will not meet the case; I have already
followed thirteen of your Lordships, to the place from which they never
come back," was the ready reply.

In the early years of his service the number of students applying for
admission was comparatively small. In the 'fifties many began to flock
in, law seeming to have great attraction for the young Canadian.

Mr. Molloy related the amusing effect of this on his chief, when more
than a score appeared on the list. Mr. Gwynne said, "This will never do,
a stop must be put to it." But when twice that number threatened to
invade the profession in one term, he cried, "The country is going mad,
Molloy, it's time we quit."

A student, whose father was on the Commission of the Peace, in making
out his form of application, filled the printed blank with "son of A.
B., Esquire," and, on presenting this to Mr. Gwynne, was asked what
Esquire meant, and replied, "A magistrate, sir."

Mr. Gwynne was evidently not satisfied with this explanation, and called
out, "Molloy! What is an Esquire?"

"I think an Esquire is a gentleman with at least five hundred a year and
nothing to do but to spend it," said the steward.

"I believe you're right, Molloy," replied the Secretary.

The excellent luncheon facilities now at the Hall are of modern date,
but Mr. Molloy had on hand in his Hades crackers, cheese and bottled
beer, when called for. The Benchers had, however, their well earned
repast, and there were occasions when the services of the coloured
gentleman from Washington were called in, and then jolly big Mistah
Beverley Randolph Snow was often amusingly greeted and the occasion of
harmless puns, such as "Here comes the black Republican with the white
name." And, when a Cockney drayman delivered a keg of "hale" for Mr.
Snow, Mr. Molloy said, "Where did it fall? and where do you hale from,
my good man?"

[Sidenote: _MR. MOLLOY'S TITLED CORRESPONDENTS._]

Before resigning his position, Mr. Molloy gave to the Law Society for
safe keeping a curious and interesting collection of papers, including
letters he had received from distinguished persons. First among these is
the discharge of Sergeant John Molloy, of 21st April, 1838, signed by
Colonel Baird, under which is written a certificate of Captain W. Power,
as to the zeal, loyalty and high character of his sergeant. Sir Dominick
Daly gives a very complimentary letter, dated Quebec, 30th May, 1836.
Many notes followed, all written in the third person in the usual manner
acknowledging communications. On none of these is any postal stamp. A
few were in envelopes, but most of the letters were folded, addressed on
back and sealed in wax with writer's crest. In one we rejoiced to find
an invitation to dinner: "Lord F. L. Gerton requests the honour of Mr.
Molloy's company at dinner on Wednesday next. An answer will oblige.
Cleveland Square, 16 March, 1836." Another note is in the large script
of the Iron Duke:

"The Duke of Wellington presents his compliments to Mr. Molloy and has
received his note. The Duke expects that Mr. Molloy will state on what
subject it is that he wishes to converse with him. He begs to remind Mr.
Molloy that he is not in political office. Lincoln, March 20, 1836."

Mr. Molloy related that he had an interesting meeting with the Duke, who
declared that he was kept busy with the troubles of officers and their
families, who, when they got into scrapes, or money fell short, all came
to him as the father of the army. Mr. Molloy was less pleased with the
reception given him by Daniel O'Connell, who shewed little sympathy with
his Quebec countrymen. O'Connell had subscribed a small sum, which did
not satisfy our practical missionary who urged for more generosity, as
this from one in his high position would have good effect on others.
O'Connell did not take the hint kindly; he put on his hat, turned to his
newspaper and said, "Good morning, Mr. Molloy."

There are similar autograph notes from Lord Landsdowne, Lord Ripon, the
Marquis of Downshire, the Duke of Northumberland, Lord Acheson, Lord
Stanley, Lord Melbourne, Lord Grey, Lord Grenville. Lord John Russell
replies through Charles Gore, his secretary. Sir Herbert Taylor writes
from Windsor Castle, March 6, 1836, that he had had the honour to submit
Mr. Molloy's note to the King and to refer it by His Majesty's commands
for consideration of the Colonial Secretary of State.

There are also formal notes from Sir Robert Peel, from Mr. Maule, who
became Lord Panmure, and from Lord Roden. We find also the autographs of
two gallant Waterloo Brigadiers, Sir Hussey Vivian and Sir James Kempt,
appointing dates to meet Mr. Molloy. Mr. Poulett Thomson, who was soon
to become our Governor and to receive the title of Baron of Sydenham, in
Kent, and of Toronto, in Canada, answered by his secretary, Mr. John
Conroy, of Kensington Place, was the only correspondent without a title.

With the above is Mr. Molloy's French passport of 26th September, 1836.
"Au Nom du Roi."


FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 8: The _Royal William_, Captain McDougall, sailed from Quebec,
August 5th, 1833, and crossed the Atlantic entirely by steam power. In
honour of this a brass tablet was, at the suggestion of the Canadian
Institute, placed in the corridor leading to the Library of Parliament
at Ottawa in 1894.]




CHAPTER. V.

INCIDENTS CONNECTED WITH THE HALL AND ITS RECORDS.

    Aevo rarissima nostro simplicitas.--_Ovid._


The Osgoode mills of the gods do not always grind. July and August, and
from the day before Christmas until 6th of January, are set apart as
vacations in which pleadings are not to be filed and only necessary work
is to be done.

This palace of Minerva was several times taken possession of by the
votaries of another deity.

After the troublous times of '37, officers of the 93rd Highlanders were
quartered in the east wing, in 1838, and again in 1843. Some of their
men occupied rooms in the central part of the building. They had a band
stand in front of the Hall on the lawn, then a somewhat marshy piece of
ground, and here the citizens flocked in summer evenings attracted by
the music and the red coats. There is still an archway at No. 99 King
Street west, which was in modern times known as the entrance to a
theatre called Royal Lyceum, but when the 93rd Regiment was here, this
was the opening to a paved court extending to Wellington Street, and,
about this court the rest of the regiment were housed, and on it they
were paraded and drilled to the sound of fife and drum. The 43rd
Regiment of Foot had quarters, some at the Hall and some in Niagara, in
1838, and were succeeded by a Company of the 32nd Foot, whose band had
"Big Charlie" as beater of the great drum. Big Charlie was a burly
negro, a professional fencing master and boxer, and taught the manly art
to young Canadians, among whom was Mr. J. B. Robinson, then a sturdy
youth, who lived to represent Toronto as Mayor, and M. P., and the
Province as Lieutenant-Governor. The lessons were given, as he related,
at the old Parliament buildings or at the residence of the Chief
Justice. Big Charlie had a neat little English woman for wife. He left
with his regiment, and died in Ireland. This regiment took ship at
Quebec for England, June 12th, 1841.

Mr. Robinson, not long since, told the writer of a jolly dinner in the
Hall, where he was the officers' guest. When the decanters and glasses
were on the table one of the gay party wagered that our athletic young
townsman could not clear it at a bound. Robinson rose, went to the side
wall, and, with a step and a jump vaulted over the table and all upon
it.

Mr. Robinson was not a mere carpet knight or gay companion. He was
lieutenant in a coloured company of fifty men, attached to the Queen's
Light Infantry Regiment. This company was raised in Toronto and
stationed successively at Niagara, Chatham and Windsor. Colonel Hill was
in command. Of the captains one was Walter McKenzie, an old soldier of
tall and fine presence, who became Clerk of the County Court of York,
another was William B. Campbell, Clerk of Assize of the same county. The
ensign of the company was Theodore Cook, who took to the sea and became
Commodore of the Cunard Line of steamers. All the officers were white
men and well known citizens of Toronto. When stationed at Chatham and
Windsor, Lieutenant Robinson often met Colonel John Prince, of whose
soldierly qualities he spoke in high terms. He warmly defended Prince
from historical aspersions charging cruelty, said that he met the
invaders, who were intent on murder, in a way they did not expect,
routed and killed twenty-one, and executed five others taken in the act.
Colonel Prince was, he said, a fine specimen of an Englishman, of rare
ability as an orator, fearless and skilful as a soldier. He is more
fully referred to hereafter.

[Sidenote: _THE LOWER CANADA BAR BANQUETED._]

_Dinner to the Lower Canada Bar._--An event of some interest to the
profession took place in consequence of the seat of Government being
changed from Montreal to Toronto.

The Montreal Parliament Buildings having been destroyed by the mob in
1849, a Parliamentary Committee reported on the facts and an address to
Lord Elgin, the Governor, was voted May 19th of that year, recommending
that "after the present session, Your Excellency will be pleased to
convene the Parliament alternately at Toronto and Quebec, during periods
not exceeding four years at each place." In the Parliamentary journal
of May 14, 1850, is given the Governor-General's speech on opening
Parliament in Toronto, in which it was stated that "he had considered
the important subject ... and deemed it, after full deliberation,
advisable to give effect to the prayer of that Address by summoning you
to meet at this place."

During the first Session, which lasted until the tenth of August, a
large number of members of the Bar of Lower Canada were present as
Legislators or as officials of the Government.

It was thought that the tendering of a banquet by Toronto lawyers to
those of the sister Province would be a pleasing tribute, and so the
event proved.

A dinner was arranged to be given in the Hall Library in July, 1850. The
invitation was heartily responded to by the learned gentlemen from the
Lower Province. Mr. John Godfrey Spragge, Treasurer of the Society,
presided. He was supported by Chief Justice Robinson, who spoke in the
dignified and courteous manner for which he was noted. Mr. Hagarty, then
a leading member of the Toronto Bar, was also there.

The Hon. Robert Baldwin, then Attorney-General for Upper Canada, was
especially gratified by having beside him his patriotic co-labourer,
Louis Hypolite La Fontaine. Mr. Æmilius Irving was also gratified at
thus meeting and honouring La Fontaine, as he had inherited a feeling
akin to veneration for him from his worthy father, the late Hon. Jacob
Æmilius Irving, who had strongly supported the Baldwin-La Fontaine
Ministry in Parliament.

Messrs. Baldwin and La Fontaine had loyally and harmoniously worked
together in Council and Legislature for ten years and soon each was to
retire to private life. Mr. La Fontaine, after four years had passed,
became Sir Louis and Chief Justice of his Province. His biographer, Mr.
Dent, says of these two excellent men, "Their mutual relations were
marked by an almost chivalrous courtesy and respect. After they ceased
to take part in the struggles with which their names are identified,
they continued to think and speak of each other with an enthusiasm which
was not generally supposed to belong to the nature of either."

Mr. La Fontaine's address was felicitous. The polite vivacity of the
French advocates aided in giving an enthusiasm to the occasion still
remembered with pleasure.

Louis Joseph Papineau, the famous French Canadian leader in the movement
for reform, was present and spoke eloquently. Mr. Irving, now the
Treasurer, who had but a few months before been called to the Bar,
recalls the event with much interest and remembers that he here first
met Mr. George Etienne Cartier, afterwards a Baronet and colleague of
Sir John Macdonald.

It is recorded with some pride that a harmonious and loyal spirit was
manifested by all, and this pleasant meeting did its part in removing
political and international asperities.

[Sidenote: _THE PRINCE OF WALES' BALL: SIR JOHN ROBINSON'S DINNER._]

The ball given in the Hall in honour of the present King, then Prince of
Wales, in 1860, and a fine "At Home" at the opening of Convocation Hall
some twenty years ago, were gay functions. The annual dance or "At Home"
of the Osgoode Legal and Literary Society is always a pleasant social
affair. A memorable event was the banquet on June 19, 1862, in the
library, in honour of Sir John Robinson, on his retirement from the
Chief Justiceship of the Queen's Bench. Previous to this, at a meeting
of the members of the Bar of Upper Canada, resolutions were passed
congratulating Sir John on his appointment to the Presidency of the
Court of Appeal, and Hon. Archibald McLean on his elevation to the Chief
Justiceship, the Hon. P. M. VanKoughnet on becoming Chancellor, and Hon.
J. C. Morrison on his appointment as a Judge of the Common Pleas.

An address was also presented to Hon. Wm. Hume Blake on the occasion of
his retiring from the office of Chancellor. The addresses were read by
Henry Eccles, Q.C., Treasurer, in presence of all the Judges and the
Bar.

More than two hundred guests were present at the above banquet,
representing the Legislature, the Church, the Military, the Universities
and the Profession. The reporter relates that, the galleries were filled
with the fair sex, the viands were of the choicest and the wines were
good. The legal men were in their robes. The band of the 30th Regiment
played. Major-General Napier and Colonel Dunn, V.C., responded for the
Army, Dr. McCaul and Dr. Ryerson for the Education Department, Mr.
Eccles was chairman. Mr. Kirkpatrick and Mr. D. Bethune were
vice-chairmen.

Bishop Strachan, a hale veteran of more than four score, was present,
and was thanked by Sir John for the training bestowed on his early
years. In his address the Chief reviewed the events relating to the
Courts, his fellow Judges and the Bar, in the thirty-three years which
had passed since his appointment.

There was much feeling exhibited alike by the retiring Judge and many of
the members of the Bar present. The Chief was no ordinary man; his
career had been long and brilliant. His life was one of purity and high
endeavour. His activities in military and scientific matters are
referred to elsewhere in this volume. Sir John concluded his address by
expressing the regret he felt at leaving a Court in which the whole of
his active life had been passed, and continued, "But this regret has
been softened by the pleasure of seeing my oldest surviving colleague
honoured by being placed at the head of the Court, as a just tribute to
the ability and integrity which have marked his long course of judicial
services. The duties, which it will give me pleasure to continue to
discharge in the Court of Error and Appeal, will associate me, as in
time past, with my brethren of the Bench and Bar, as long as I may be
blest with health sufficient for the performance. And may God grant that
all may bear in mind the account which we must one day render for the
time and talents committed to our charge."

And then Sir John sat down amid the plaudits of his fellow-Judges,
Benchers, Queen's Counsel, other Barristers and guests. But that was a
gay and memorable night under the vaulted roof of the beautiful library,
decked with flowers and echoing with music and merry jest. The Chief did
not wait to see it through, but his fine features looked down from the
frame over the great fireplace.

Steward Molloy was behind the scenes, and with him, to fill the flowing
bowl, Beverley Snow and others of his smiling tribe and caste in apron
clad.

They seemed to take their cue from the horns of plenty depicted on the
large stained window of the room. It is said that the Secretary came up
from his den, and his quondam pupils gaily drank his very good health.

[Sidenote: _CHIEF JUSTICE ROBINSON HONOURED._]

"Lawyers, I suppose, were children once," said Elia, as he looked on the
grave Benchers of the Inner Temple, and so he might have said of that
Osgoode party of two score years ago.[9]

    "Perplext no more with Human or Divine,
    To-morrow's tangle to the winds resign."

If some counsel were not in time to rise in their places as their
Lordships took the bench on the postprandial day, or if their briefs
were only half read, good Chancellor VanKoughnet and Judge Morrison were
not fault-finders. The wheel of law, which is fate, resumes its motion
with ever changing interest. The fountain plays and streams carrying
joy or sadness pass through the land.

Seven months go by, and again the Profession, with the Judges and the
Court staff, meet to honour the Chief, in the area of the Hall, now
draped in gloom, whence he is borne through a great concourse of
sorrowing citizens to his last resting place.

Of late years fuller powers have been vested in the Benchers as to the
admission of gentlemen from the British and Colonial Bars, and for the
entering of students who have obtained university degrees. Humourous
instances are related in regard to such cases under the old regime.

When Mr. Cartier, afterwards Sir George Cartier, was Attorney-General of
Lower Canada, he faced the Bench by invitation in Hilary term, 1866. Mr.
Hillyard Cameron in the chair said, "Mr. Cartier, you are experienced in
the laws of both Provinces, pray, say which system you prefer."

"I consider that a code or system formed of the best parts of each
would be the better," was the eminently satisfactory reply of that
bright Canadian, who will be remembered as a statesman of the
reconstruction days and the writer of the popular chanson, "O Canada,
Mon Pays."

The Chairman in Convocation addressed a well read young man, whose
family he knew, with the question, "Pray tell us, Mr. C., are your
worthy parents well?" "Very well indeed, I thank you," was the reply.
"Gentlemen, you see that Mr. C. is well qualified," so he made his bow
and signed the roll.

[Sidenote: _PROFESSIONAL DUELS._]

The first Attorney-General of the Province, Mr. John White, (his name is
number one on the muster roll of Barristers carefully preserved in the
safe of the Society) was appointed to the office 29th July, 1792, and
his name appears regularly in the Court records until the month of
January, 1800, when he fell on the field of honour in a duel with Mr.
John Small, Clerk of the Executive Council, fought with pistols on the
third day of that year, and which Dr. Scadding states "took place in a
pleasant grove at the back of the Parliament building, between what is
now King Street and the water's edge." This was at the foot of the
present Parliament Street. He was buried near a small octagonal
building, his private office or study, surrounded with the forest on the
rear of his park lot, perhaps a mile to the north of the Parliament
buildings. Mr. John Ross, an ancient undertaker, told the writer in the
sixties that he had known the spot but that it was no longer marked. In
1871 the remains were found by workmen and removed to St. James'
cemetery. Mr. John Small was indicted and tried for causing the death of
Mr. White before Judge Alcock, and found "not guilty," 20th January,
1800. The foreman was Mr. William Jarvis. The Constellation, a Niagara
newspaper of January 11, 1800, gave an account of this unhappy event,
stating, "We are unwilling to attribute to either the Attorney-General
or Mr. Small any improprieties, or to say on whom the blame lies. The
loss is great; as a professional man, the Attorney-General was eminent,
as a friend, sincere, and in whatever relation he stood, highly
esteemed, an honest and upright man, a friend to the poor, and dies
universally lamented."

Another unfortunate affair, under the cruel code, was the duel in which
William Weeks fell on October 10, 1806, by the pistol of William
Dickson, of Niagara, on the American side of the Falls. Mr. Weeks was a
barrister and member of Parliament for the United Counties of York,
Durham and Simcoe. Mr. Dickson was also a member of the profession and,
in 1815, was appointed to the Legislative Council.

On July 12, 1817, an encounter, also with pistols, took place in Toronto
in which George, son of Surveyor-General Ridout, fell before Samuel
Jarvis. The seconds were Henry John Boulton and James E. Small, eminent
members of the Bar. Mr. Jarvis was tried and acquitted. Manuscripts in
possession of the Toronto Public Library shew that this affair was
conducted according to the recognized code to which gentlemen were then
subject, when trifles or misunderstanding too often brought about a
hostile meeting.

While in the duels mentioned, members of the profession were engaged,
many Colonial gentlemen in other walks of life were similarly involved.
The brave Colonel Arthur Rankin, who sat in the old Canadian Parliament
and in the first Dominion House of Commons, in all fourteen years, as
member for Essex, was in six such affairs, but finished his career,
March 13, 1893, in his bed at the good old age of 77 years. He was for a
time angered at Sir John Macdonald and would like to have had his
seventh fight with him, but Sir John avoided personal encounter and they
became in time very good friends.

Colonel Jas. Gray, father of the Solicitor-General, was appointed
Sheriff of Stormont on the 2nd November, 1792. There is an entry of Mr.
Gray's name in the Criminal Docket, 11th February, 1800, in the case of
The King v. Van Zante, "Mr. R. J. D. Gray, acting Attorney-General,
appeared and moved in Court for sentence. The prisoner had been found
guilty of manslaughter, but produced His Majesty's pardon and was
discharged."

In looking over the record of the criminal docket of the various
districts into which Upper Canada was then divided, viz.,--The Home, The
Midland, The Eastern, The Western, and the Mecklenburg districts, we
find some startling entries reminding us of customs now unknown to our
Courts, and commonly ascribed to the dark days of our British
forefathers. Instances of such barbarous sentences are given in Dr.
Scadding's "Toronto of Old," and in Read's "Lives of the Judges."

[Sidenote: _CURIOUS OLD SENTENCES._]

In 1799, August 26, two persons, Vansickler and his wife, being found
guilty of larceny, were sentenced by Judge Powell and the executive
seems to have acted promptly. The entry is "Judgment was passed that
they be severally burned on the hand which was then executed." Shortly
before this, Michael Whaling was for larceny sentenced to the pillory
three several times, and one McCarthy for grand larceny was condemned to
be burned on the hand. On January 22nd, 1800, Humphry Sullivan was
sentenced to "be hanged by the neck till dead" for forgery. He was the
first to suffer capital execution in Toronto. Black Peter, said to have
been an Indian, was in October, 1806, found guilty of assault with
intent to ravish, and received from Judge Powell the following
prescription for his troublesome disorder: "Imprisonment for three
months, to be put into the pillory at the end of the first month for one
hour, at the expiration of the third month to pay a fine of £2 and to
remain in prison till paid."

James Campbell for using "seditious words" was, in September, 1804,
sentenced to be imprisoned six months, and during his imprisonment, to
stand twice in the pillory.

Judge Alcock dispensed speedy justice to John Connor and Joseph
Countryman, found guilty of murder and sentenced September 8th, 1803,
"to be hung till dead on Saturday next, and afterwards to be hung in
chains."

Our Police Magistrate now often relieves himself and the City of
troublesome characters by taking their promise to leave the country;
this is but a modified form of the sentence inflicted on thieves and
vagabonds, who were in the early years of last century sometimes
banished from the Province and required to leave forthwith. Witness the
case of Richard Smith, found guilty of stealing, 27th September, 1804,
to value of £15, sentenced to banishment for life, and Jacob La France
the next month for a like offence received the same sentence. The
following sentence, if carried out, must have furnished amusement for
the boys and idlers. On January 31, 1804, Elizabeth Ellis, found guilty
of being a nuisance was, by Alcock, C.J., sentenced "to be imprisoned
six months in the common gaol for the Home District, and to stand in the
pillory twice during the said imprisonment in two different market days,
opposite the market house, in the town of York in the said District, for
the space of two hours each time."

Nor are we without a practical illustration of that famous feature of
our old criminal jurisprudence, "Benefit of Clergy." On 14th September,
1804, Richard Rogers and Abraham Lynes were found guilty of larceny. The
record proceeds:--"The prisoners prayed their clergy, on examination, no
proof appearing of their having had it before, it is granted, sentence,
banished the Province for ten years, and to depart from it in three
days."

The strange manner in which crimes were then graded and punishments
meted out will be seen from the following record made on the same day as
the above:

    Joseph Colville; crime, horse stealing; sentence, death.
    Joseph Jeffries; crime, manslaughter; sentence banishment, 7 years.
    Joseph Germain; crime, larceny; sentence, imprisonment for 14 days.

Soon after the above a person, guilty of attempting to persuade a
soldier to desert, was sentenced to be publicly whipped, and Sylvia
Hanna was, in October, 1807, banished for seven years for horse
stealing.

In Rex v. McWinney, the prisoner was, on 10th September, 1803, found
guilty of murder and sentenced "To be taken to the gaol whence you came
and from thence to the place of execution on Monday, 18th October next,
there to be hung by the neck until dead, and your body to be dissected
and anatomized."

Such severity was not confined to this Province. Chief Justice Osgoode
left Toronto to occupy the like position in Lower Canada in February,
1794. The trial of David McLane for high treason soon after came before
a special court in which he presided and had four other Judges as
associates at Montreal. The evidence shewed conspiracy with Genet,
French Minister at Washington, to overthrow British rule. The jury found
McLane guilty. The case is reported in Garneau and in Read's Lives.

[Sidenote: _THE STOCKS, TRINITY TERM._]

The Chief Justice explained the law as to treason very fully and fairly.
The prisoner in addressing the jury said, "I feel gratitude that I have
been indulged in everything reasonable. I thank the Court for the
indulgence to me." The sentence was similar to that above related, and
it is stated that the executioner held up the poor man's head to the
public view and proclaimed, "Behold the head of a traitor!"

The last instance of the use of the stocks as a punishment in this
Province was, it seems, in case of a virago who, by abusive loquacity,
so annoyed William Lyon McKenzie, when Mayor of Toronto, and sitting as
a magistrate, that he is reported to have ordered her to be so dealt
with in the year 1834.

In those days a lady would have had as little chance of a hearing at the
Bar in Toronto as a black man before Chief Justice Taney at Washington.
Now all that is changed by our gallant Legislature. We may soon expect
to see Jack Ketch making way for the dynamo with its death-dealing
embrace and short shrift.

There were originally four Terms of Court which, under the old
procedure, were important in limiting the times for Judicial Sittings
and taking many proceedings. These were Hilary, Easter, Trinity and
Michaelmas Terms. It was thought advisable to do away with one of them,
which was done by an Act passed when Lord Monck was Governor-General.
This led to an amusing jeu d'esprit ascribed to the late Mr. George
Draper, who was afterwards Judge of the Frontenac County Court.


OBITUARY NOTICE.

"_Died_, on 15th August last, at Ottawa, _Trinity Term_, Esq., in the
fullness of years.

"It may not be generally known that the ancestors of this venerable and
respected member of the Law Society owed their celebrity in life to the
monks of old, whilst their unhappy descendant, who emigrated to this
country in the year 1792, owes his untimely end to a Monck of the
present day, who accomplished his purpose by a deliberate act, we will
not say of unparalleled atrocity, but the next thing to it, viz., an Act
of Parliament.

"His faculties were unimpaired to the last, and he was as legally hazy
as ever he was in his life. After breathing a short prayer for the
amendment of Sec. 18 of 29 Vict., if possible, he departed this life to
join in legal hallelujahs with his demised friends, John Doe and
Richard Roe, who perished some years ago of the same complaint. His
remains were conveyed to Toronto in a Grand Trunk, and the procession is
expected to start from Osgoode Hall at twelve o'clock on the first paper
day of next Term. The following will be, as nearly as can be gleaned,
the order of the procession, with the names of the different individuals
who are to figure promiscuously." After this followed the representation
of a coffin "Cepi Corpus" enrolled in parchment, tied up with red tape,
and docketed. The pall-bearers and chief mourners were named by various
witty titles, with allusions mostly now obsolete. Among these was "The
Librarian in a Good Temper and new Wig." The change did not affect the
Law Society, which still adheres to the four terms.

Among the subjects of the King who were banished the Province, were the
once notorious John Doe and Richard Roe, whose names figured in many
ejectments and who are referred to in the foregoing. They were hale and
hearty yeomen, who sturdily held their own and supported the
administration, but country conveyancers and local pettyfogs found them
hard to deal with, complained of the trouble they caused them and said
they must go, so they were themselves ejected by the Common Law
Procedure Act.

[Sidenote: _MASTERS, REGISTRARS AND CLERKS._]

_Masters and Administrative Officials._--It would be a curious inquiry
to learn why some offices exist and the mode of appointment. These are
points probably quite as difficult of solution in some other departments
as in that of the law.

In early days a certain "family compact" had the credit of claiming good
positions for their scions, who, like the second clerk of the Crown,
took care of a good thing when it was once secured. They felt the
practical truth of Hosea Bigelow's lines:

      "It is something like a fulfilling of prophesies.
      When all the first families have all the first offices."

Personal fitness, though not tested and certified by any examiner,
recommended many, family or other interest nominated others and put them
in their seats.

It is remarkable that a politician, in office for a year or two, may
leave his name and lineage or those of his friends and dependents, in a
score or more who may be found enjoying official sunshine for the
remainder of their lives at the expense of long suffering people.

Under our Provincial system pensions are not provided for retiring
ministers of the Crown, but in the patronage so held is as valuable a
gift, and one which may prove more onerous to the country. The matter is
one for the serious consideration of the publicist.

The roster of Masters, Registrars, Clerks and others of both genders
employed in the Hall contains fully thirty persons. These do not include
the seventeen Judges, nor the lecturers, examiners and others connected
with the Law School who would together number as many more.

Up to the time of the passing of the Act of 2nd March, 1877 (40 Vict.
cap. 7), the Judges and chief officers had a say in the nomination of
subordinates; since that sweeping enactment all receive their
appointments direct from a paternal government to hold during good
behaviour; which includes a reverent attitude towards the party in
power.

The Hall became thenceforth a "Pool of Bethesda," over which the
Attorney-General, for the time being, became the guardian angel, but his
visits have been infrequent, as he has been generally more concerned
with the muddier pool in the Queen's Park.

The good fellowship and longevity of the habitues of this quiet place
were of old noted as physiological phenomena. The Hall was fairly well
lighted and ventilated. It was only when safe doors were ajar that one
got a whiff of old parchments, sealing wax and Hades. The gain or loss
of life, limb or fortune, the stories of suitors and their vicissitudes
related in judicial proceedings, had no effect on officials. The fateful
papers were in due course numbered, docketed and filed away; so each day
passed, and as the clock pointed to 4 p.m. and earlier in vacation,
these loyal servants shook the office dust from their coats, brushed
their hats, left other peoples' cares and troubles in the pigeon holes
and passed to their several haunts or homes.

He who of old absented himself for an age, on returning, met the same
genial faces, preparing processes, filing papers, and erasing stamps, a
few crow feet around their eyes and a scattering of snow on their hair,
but otherwise unchanged.

[Sidenote: _CURIOUS CUSTOMS: CAPTAIN QUID._]

There was a legend that, when the time came, there was no sorrowful
leave-taking; each as called filed his last paper, closed his minute
book, entered a vault which had a trap door of which one chosen by lot
held the key. When opened the next morning, the vault had no occupant, a
peculiar sulphurous odour only remaining. The Clerk next in precedence
wrote, Abiit! and took the absentee's place. It was also alleged that
the figure of Justice in the King's Bench Court-room shed a visible tear
on each such occasion and that, on the appointment of any officer,
through favour devoid of merit, the lion in the gilded coat of royal
arms there erected, roared gently but perceptibly, and the horn of the
unicorn was ominously lowered. It is said that Attorneys-General have
wisely avoided this Court of His Majesty since the horn manifested such
patriotic zeal, and appear by deputy.

Fortunately for the historian, only superior Courts are housed at the
Hall, otherwise he would have to relate many curious customs, among
others of that cadiculum without a cadi, whose registrar, like Miru,
Goddess of the Polynesian Hades, had a dreadful oven, in which were
cremated the bodies of those who had in life sought by subterfuge to
evade payment of succession duty. Such evasion was regarded as petty
treason.

While in one part of the good Province citizens gazed in wonder at the
court without a cadi, it is well reported that there existed, for half a
decade or more, during the same epoch, not so long ago, a strange
tribunal without a clerk or registrar. An automatic device taxed costs,
erased stamps, and issued processes as required.

One Captain Quid managed the machine, and its mode of working was known
only to this astute and privileged person who ever evaded enquiry and
answered queries of the curious with the question, "What do you propose
to do about it?"[10] The Legislature desired a commission of salaried
officials to enquire into the mechanism, and find whether other public
business might not also be done by the self-operating crank, but no
fees, beyond the good salaries enjoyed, had been provided. Horace's old
maxim "pro patria mori" had become obsolete, or not been as yet revived
by Mr. Secretary Gwynne, so it proved to be impracticable to obtain
commissioners.

Some of the good people of the land were dull, eaters of the Canadian
lotus; others were interested in the worthy Captain Quid, and in his
profits or casual advantages; those who took the trouble to ponder at
all on the matter between their smokes, were mesmerized by the cunning
Captain's charms or, in a trustful simple way, amused at the smart
working of the machine.

    "As lookers-on feel most delight,
    That least perceive the juggler's sleight."

The disappearance of old Court officials was no more mysterious than the
manner of their coming. Some of the most ancient were said to have
received their offices as deodands or by inheritance; others under fiat
from a concealed power of which there was superstitious dread. Some of
these modes ended with the abolishment of primogeniture, the last is
said to be still active. Most of the venerable customs alluded to passed
away with the pillory and ducking stool. It is by some affirmed that
they were among the mysteries into which the uninitiated are forbidden
to enter.

The first Clerk of the Crown known to history was David Burns, who had
been a Navy Surgeon. He died in 1806, apparently lamented, as Dr.
Scadding, in "Toronto of Old," gives a copy of elegiac verses to his
memory which appeared in the Gazette and Oracle.

[Sidenote: _CLERKS OF THE CROWN AND PLEAS._]

The second Clerk of the Court was John Small, who had been Major in the
Regiment of Glostershire militia, commanded by the Earl of Berkely. On
the constitution of the Province in 1791, Small was appointed Clerk of
the Executive Council of Upper Canada, and on the third of January,
1800, fought the unfortunate duel with Attorney-General White. On the
decease of Mr. Burns, he obtained the office of Clerk of the Crown and
Pleas of the King's Bench, which office he held for nineteen years. In
February, 1822, he petitioned Earl Bathurst, Secretary for the Colonies,
alleging his faithful service and age of 76 years as reason for
retirement, but asked that his son Charles Coxwell, then discharging the
duties, might be appointed in his place. Some pleasant correspondence
ensued; the Major himself, despite his years, went and interviewed Lord
Bathurst and others in power, and yet the order did not issue. He
returned and sent his son instead. Now Charles Coxwell Small was of the
stamp and presence which went to make up what Queen Elizabeth looked for
in her court officers, a "personable man," and there were fine and
influential ladies in the Georgian court who loyally followed the
precepts of the maiden Queen. He made his plea, he looked and danced his
best, and so our handsome young Canadian gained his suit or office, but
did not omit, before taking ship, to thank his fair patronesses most
politely, and in a style worthy of Lord Chesterfield, for their kind
interest and favour, as fully appears by the correspondence in
possession of his descendants in Toronto. The letters patent issued to
him are dated August 10, 1825, in the sixth year of the Fourth George;
they are under the Provincial seal and hand of Sir Peregrine Maitland,
but, as the correspondence shews, at the instance and direction of the
Home authorities.

Mr. Charles C. Small held the position until his death, 17th March,
1864, nearly thirty-nine years. He was an excellent officer and good
citizen. For many years his lower limbs were paralyzed and he was
wheeled to and from the Hall in a chair.

Meantime the Court of Common Pleas had been created, of which Lawrence
Heyden was the Clerk, and he was transferred to the like position in the
Senior Court, which he filled until his decease, June 20, 1868.

Mr. Heyden was a man of kindly feeling, assiduous in duty, of the
Baldwin stamp and related to that family. He was succeeded in the Common
Pleas by Mansel B. Jackson, who still adorns the office, and has so
served his Queen, King and country for fully as long as did Mr. C. C.
Small.

Among other employees in the Queen's Bench, were W. H. Coxwell, taxing
officer, and Thomas Coxwell, docketing clerk, John Dempsey and Robert
Stanton, issuer of writs. John Small, now collector of Customs at
Toronto, was taxing officer from 1865 to 1882.

In the Chancery department A. H. Holmested was for many years the Clerk
of Records, and had for assistant, Thomas Gray; the registrar's clerk
was the jovial John Black.

Charles Fitzgibbon was Surrogate Clerk for about ten years. He was son
of Colonel Fitzgibbon, famed in the war of 1812. He had a happy
disposition which made him a favourite.

William Beverley Heward, a nephew of Chief Justice Robinson, was Clerk
in Chambers for many years. Fulford Arnoldi has held that office since
1870.

James Alexander was the Judge's messenger. He came from England in the
entourage of Sir George Arthur. Donald Sutherland, an old soldier, was
for several years similarly engaged in the west wing where Mr. Oliver
was usher and sat in the court room while in session.

[Sidenote: _REGISTRARS AND MASTERS._]

Alexander Grant was the genial Registrar of the Court of Chancery from
its establishment in Toronto until June, 1874, when he was transferred
to a like position in the Court of Appeal, which he held until his
decease, December 15, 1898, in his 86th year. He had also, as
Accountant, charge of monies paid into the Court, but could carry in his
pocket the book containing the record of them. Now the Supreme Court has
half-a-dozen of employees in this branch and charge of some hundreds of
thousands of dollars of clients' monies, while fifty great tomes are
filled with their accounts and records.

The Senior Registrar is still styled Accountant, and he and the
Registrar of the Court of Appeal sign all cheques. B. W. Murray is chief
of the office staff. He is an able arithmetician and author of an
elaborate work on interest tables. Mr. Grant was also the industrious
reporter of the Court of Appeal, and more than thirty volumes are known
by his name. He was called to the Bar in July, 1836, the same year in
which Sir John A. Macdonald and the venerable Charles Durand were
called.

Thomas Wardlaw Taylor, who had practised in company with Geo. M. Rae and
others, was the first to fill the office of Judge's Secretary, his duty
being to hear applications in matters of practice and other defined
cases, report to a Chancery Judge and make order in his name. His
appointment was on September 5, 1866. From this office was developed
that of Referee, later called Master in Chambers, when the officer made
orders in his own name, subject to appeal. Mr. Taylor became Master in
Ordinary September 16, 1872, which position he filled until he became a
Judge of the Manitoba Queen's Bench, where he rose to be its Chief, was
knighted and has retired with an honourable record. The present
Chancellor, Sir John Boyd, was Master in Ordinary from October 31, 1870,
until Mr. Taylor's appointment to that office. Mr. Taylor was succeeded
by Thomas Hodgins, K.C., who had been M.P.P. for Elgin, and is known in
literary circles. He holds the office along with that of Judge in
Admiralty, lately conferred by the Dominion Government.

George S. Holmested took office as Referee in December, 1872. He
afterwards became Registrar of the Chancery Division and is now Senior
Registrar of the High Court. It would be interesting to know how many
decrees and judgments have passed through his hands. He is a King's
Counsel and author of useful text books.

Richard Porter Stephens was appointed Referee in April, 1876. Cases
decided by him are reported in the seventh volume of the Practice
Reports. On Mr. Stephens retiring, Mr. Dalton, as Master in Chambers,
disposed of matters in all divisions.

Robert Gladstone Dalton, Q.C., first entered the service as Clerk of the
Crown in February, 1870, and held office for twenty-two years. Mr.
Dalton was well read in law, even tempered, liberal but shrewd, firm in
his convictions, yet so gentle in manner that he never gave offence. In
former times every slip in practice was visited with costs and annoyance
more than the occasion demanded. A broader view and more common sense
mode of doing business were inculcated and in vogue while Mr. Dalton was
Master and since his time. John Winchester succeeded Mr. Dalton as
Master in Chambers, and when he became Judge of the County of York in
April, 1903, John Cartwright, K.C., who had been a Registrar, was
appointed Master.

George Hemmings, a reputable member of the Bar, was for a time Chancery
Taxing Officer. Samuel Clarke then did duty for some years along with
John Thom, who is the senior in this office, having held it since 1880.
Bills representing many hundreds of thousands of dollars have passed
with merry despatch under his smiling scrutiny.

[Sidenote: _COURT OFFICIALS._]

John A. McAndrew, who begun his public career as M.P.P. for Renfrew, was
the second taxing officer for some years, and is now Registrar of the
Court of Appeal. G. M. Lee succeeded him until he became Clerk of the
Weekly Court. M. J. MacNamara reigns here in his stead. Mr. Thom and Mr.
McAndrew are alumni in arts of the University and of Osgoode Hall.

The Master in Ordinary is well supported by his Chief Clerk, Neil
McLean. A. F. McLean has occupied a like position in the Registrar's
Department for many years. They are scions of the old Scotch family from
the Isle of Mull, that came as U. E. Loyalists and settled at Cornwall,
of which Chief Justice Archibald McLean and Colonel Alexander McLean,
father of these gentlemen, were distinguished members. Colonel McLean
was at the taking of Ogdensburg and wounded in the fight.

When the plan of paying Court charges by stamps instead of cash was
instituted in 1864, William Willcocks Baldwin, elder son of Hon. Robert
Baldwin, was appointed distributor and held the office until his
decease, when Dr. James McMahon, the present incumbent, was appointed.
Sir James Lukin Robinson, who inherited the title from his father, the
Chief Justice, was for some years Surrogate Clerk.

James Browne was crier of the Queen's Bench until he resigned in 1848,
when Andrew Fleming was appointed on the recommendation of Chief Justice
Robinson. James Rolls succeeded him. His successors and other present
Court and Hall officials appear in the appendix. Mr. Arthur Jarvis,
Deputy Sheriff, has represented the executive at the sittings of the
Courts for forty years.

Many were interested, and not a few felt regret, on hearing that
Alexander MacDonell of Osgoode Hall, "Uncle Alick," as the genial old
man was generally styled, had passed away on December 14, 1903, in his
84th year. Thus was removed one of the few remaining links connecting
the present generation with that of Simcoe, Osgoode and the young
Attorney-General who fell with General Brock. His father of the same
name was Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada which met
at Newark, October 15, 1792, the Speaker being member for Glengarry. He
was the first Sheriff of the Home District which embraced the County of
York and a further tract of land long since set apart as separate
counties. Mr. MacDonell was a native of Toronto. He was admitted as
solicitor in Hilary term, 1844, called to the Bar the next year and
practised in the city. He became an official of the Hall nearly two
score years ago and served in various offices. For several years his
name figured as Clerk of the Process on the Court Writs. He was a kind
and charitable man and efficient officer.

[Sidenote: _W. C. CROFTON._]

Andrew Norton Buell was for several years Master in Ordinary, a
painstaking and obliging man. He was the "father of the Bar," having
been admitted in 1821. As the work of his office increased, Robert J.
Turner was appointed an additional Master, under the title of
Accountant. He was famous as an equity pleader under Vice-Chancellor
Jameson and his successors, and was brother of the Lord Justice Turner.
Mr. Turner's clerk, William C. Crofton, was from Dublin, a scholarly man
who had seen better days. He sometimes fretted under the masterful
Accountant, but they understood each other, the tiff would pass, and
then it was a sight for the gods to see the two old men nodding and
smiling to each other over their spectacles as they helped themselves
from Mr. Turner's mull. At the noon hour Crofton's lunch would soon be
despatched and he might be found in the library absorbed in a
mathematical problem, or more often in a Greek or old English classic. A
beautiful passage from a Greek tragedian, which he shewed me still
lingers in my mind, one of mournful character.[11] The big Englishman
with his store of legal lore and strong florid features, and the well
read meagre clerk of half his weight were a strangely mated pair. Pax
ambobus! A manuscript common-place book, the companion for many years of
Mr. Crofton, is before me. It contains choice selections in prose and
verse and some of his own composition, which prove him to have been a
man of sentimental disposition and cultivated mind.

One article is an interesting account of an Irish wake which he attended
when a lad. There are original notes on the first Reform Bill, on
poetry, music, female character, love, the length of the reigns of the
Popes, the "Cat as the sign of the Moon," painters and paintings, a
pious soliloquy on Death, a Hindu address to the deity Geeta, greater
than Brahma, and other classical subjects. He criticizes Milton thus:
"It is curious that in 41 Latin verses Milton falls into no less than 23
mistakes, for in 19 he uses the spondee and in 4 instances the anapaest
in the fifth place before the final spondee. This liberty is allowed in
Greek scansion, but never in Latin." In another article Crofton copies
the lines from Hudibras:--

    "Kelly did all his feats upon
    The Devil's looking-glass, a stone."

And gives an interesting account of the famous "angelical stone" which
Dr. Dee declared had been brought to him by a heavenly visitant, on
which stone various shapes and figures were seen as on a looking-glass
or a pedestal. Crofton remarks in a vein of sad humour: "This is not a
bit more singular than the credit some of our old women doctors ascribe
to the eye stone. People say we grow wiser every day. God furnish proof
before I die, that I may know in how learned an age I live."

There is an interesting note as to the Crofton coat of arms; Hugh de
Crofton appears in the Domesday Book for Leicestershire as lord of a
manor, Croft meaning that, or a farm. The arms are described with the
remark:--"Antiquitas sine re vilior alga est," which, being translated
into English, means, "Royal blood is less valuable than ditch-water when
a man is dry." At the end headed "Conclusion," is a review of the
writer's life written from the heart: "It is sweet," he says, "to look
back on the past, though I have tasted too freely from the bitter cup of
reality ever to place confidence in the promised sunshine of to-morrow."
... "Yet I am not discontented; for the blessings I enjoy I offer to the
Almighty the tribute, not of verbose but of sincere and heartfelt
thanks, conscious that He who has given me health, strength and talent
will look upon my foibles or vices (call them what you may) with a kind
and merciful eye. Thus far He has been a shield from the tongue of the
liar and slanderer." "I have seen much of this world's vices and
follies, and have mixed in all kinds of society--my walk has been a
chequered one, now in the castles of the great, amid the pomp of
magnificence, and now in the cottages of the poor."--"I have enjoyed
pleasures and the sweet quiet of domestic life, and when the dread
sister shall, in obedience to fate, nip the thread of life, I shall
yield my spirit to its Giver with only one regret, that I have done no
one act by which I will be remembered."

Crofton then recommends young men to keep a note-book and to trust to
its pages their best thoughts and records of their daily lives. "I have
now done," he writes. "My next note-book will, I hope, be better, and in
the meantime I trust you will find some amusement from this which is
placed in your hands."

On the last page is written, "A literary gentleman on his death-bed gave
orders to have the following short but comprehensive epitaph placed on
his tomb-stone--'Finis.'"


FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 9: On the occasion of the ball in honour of the Prince, the
exterior of the Hall was brilliantly marked by rows of many gas jets.
The interior was similarly illuminated and otherwise decorated.

Sir Adam Wilson was then Mayor of Toronto and exercised his functions to
general satisfaction at receptions of a public character and another
ball given by the citizens. One September morning the Prince, the Duke
of Newcastle and Earl of St. Germains visited the Hall and were received
by the Benchers, Mr. J. Hillyard Cameron, the Treasurer, presenting the
address, when the Prince became an honorary member of the Society. Mr.
John Crawford, a Bencher who was afterwards Lieut.-Governor of the
Province, was mainly responsible for the arrangements of the ball in the
evening. It is reported that H. R. H. danced with Mrs. Crawford, Miss
Boulton, Miss Widder, Miss Robinson, Miss McCaul, Miss Draper, Miss
Powell of Niagara and Miss McNab, daughter of Sir Allan McNab, who
became Countess of Albemarle (_Prince of Wales Tour_, 1860, p. 167).]

[Footnote 10: Search in _Curiae Canadenses_, and other ancient records,
reveals that this worthy was a pleasant and safe man to meet in the day
time, that he was the confidant and alter ego of the High Functionary
who of old ruled here, one Sir John Giveaway, and that the Captain
received his cognomen from the first word of his favourite Latin
sentence used in answering unwelcome interrogators "_Quid tibi negotii
esse possit_."

Captain Quid may be sometimes found at another Hall, and the headless
body working automatically.]

[Footnote 11: The sentiment of the Greek Poet is embodied in Shelley's
_Skylark_,

    "We look before and after,
    And pine for what is not;
    Our sincerest laughter
    With some pain is fraught;
    Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest things."
]




CHAPTER VI.

JUDICIAL AND OTHER INSTANCES.

      "Some good, some bad, some neither one nor tother!"
      "_Ride si sapis!_"--_Martial._


At the time when the Queen's Bench was presided over by Sir John
Robinson, with Justices McLean and Burns, a venerable trio, the Court of
Chancery had as its Chief William Hume Blake, whose general appearance
and genius were continued in his elder son.

Beside him were James Christie Palmer Esten, skilled in his art and
gentle in disposition, and John Godfrey Spragge, who long outlived his
colleagues and worthily rose to be Chief Justice of Ontario.

The first Equity Court in Upper Canada was established by the
Legislature in the fourth year of William IV., and in this the Governor
of the Province was Chancellor, and was aided by a Judge called
Vice-Chancellor, which office was held by Mr. Jameson. By Act of 1849,
12 Victoria, cap. 64, the appointment of a Chancellor and two
Vice-Chancellors was authorized.

Robert Sympson Jameson was in some respects a remarkable person. A
barrister of the Middle Temple, admitted in 1818, he was a reporter in
the Court of Lord Eldon, who became his patron. He was a friend of
Coleridge and Southey, fond of music and the fine arts, as Mr. Read, who
knew him, declares. He was of good presence and winning address, as
appears by his portrait in the hall of the Toronto St. George's Society,
of which he was president. In 1829 he was appointed to a Judgeship in
Dominica, which he resigned after nearly four years' service, returned
to England, and soon came to Toronto, where he was admitted to our Bar
and became Attorney-General through Home influence, June 21, 1833. He
had, following the English practice, Mr. William Keele, a solicitor, for
his clerk. This gentleman gave his name to a street in the suburb,
Toronto Junction, where he lived and accumulated property. Mr. Jameson
sat in the Provincial Parliament as member for Leeds until his
appointment as Vice-Chancellor, March 23, 1837. He had been Treasurer of
the Law Society for several years. When the more complete Court was
established, Mr. Jameson became Senior Vice-Chancellor, the Junior being
Mr. Esten, whose learning and skill fully equalled Jameson's, and who,
with the Chancellor and others soon to be mentioned, had appeared as
counsel before him.

The old form of practice was in vogue with bill, subpoena, answer,
replication, demurrer and interrogatories, and any precedent of Lord
Eldon had great weight on Mr. Jameson's mind.

In the decisions of the Court over which Chancellor Blake presided as
reported in Mr. Grant's first volume, Messrs. Adam Wilson, R. J. Turner,
Phillip VanKoughnet, George Morphy, R. Cooper, C. W. Cooper, Oliver
Mowat, R. E. Burns, Strong, Macara, Dr. Connor, Alexander McDonald, and
a few other lights of the Equity Bar, are named as counsel. Jameson,
V.C., appears as sitting in twenty-one cases, in twenty of which he is
reported as "concurring in the views expressed by His Lordship the
Chancellor." In only one does he give a written judgment, and attached
to this is the note, "The Chancellor was concerned in this case while at
the Bar."

[Sidenote: _VICE-CHANCELLOR JAMESON AND HIS WIFE._]

The Vice-Chancellor died at Toronto in 1854, and Mr. Spragge succeeded
him. Jameson Avenue, in the west part of the city, passes through a
block of land which he owned. He lived after his appointment for
seventeen years, except a few months, a lonely, studious life; and yet
he had across the sea a wife of spotless fame, who shed a lustre on his
adopted country and his name.

In 1804 Thomas Moore viewed and sang of Niagara. He had then taken ship
and, from his vessel, ere he passed down to St. Anne, where he wrote his
boat song, he saw the giant oaks and pines that stood on Scarboro'
Heights. Addressing Lady Rawdon, wife of his patron, he wrote of the
place:--

    "Where the blue hills of old Toronto shed
    Their evening shadows o'er Ontario's bed."

And here thirty-three years after, a lady of similar talents and
attainments, Anna, the Irish wife of the first Vice-Chancellor, came to
join her husband. She was daughter of Bromwell Murphy, an artist, and
already known as an author. She observed the blue birds, the
woodpeckers, the robins and the flocks of wild geese that flew over the
little town, and describes them in her dainty writing. When she wearied
of the town's monotony, good William Campbell, Clerk of Assize, who
lived then with his family at Niagara, took his grey horses and sleigh
and gallantly drove her to see the Falls in January. He was son of Chief
Justice Campbell, and held his office for many years. She describes the
rude hostelries and the great woods, the aurora borealis dancing before
her, Niagara and the rapids,

    "Leaping like Bacchanals from rock to rock
    Flinging the frantic Thyrsus wild and high."

[Illustration: SIR JOHN BOYD, CHANCELLOR.]

[Illustration: MR. JUSTICE ROBERTSON.]

[Illustration: CHIEF JUSTICE SIR JOHN HAGARTY.]

[Illustration: CHIEF JUSTICE SPRAGGE.]

[Illustration: MR. JUSTICE FERGUSON.]

[Illustration: MR. JUSTICE MEREDITH.]

[Illustration: CHIEF JUSTICE DRAPER.]

[Illustration: CHIEF JUSTICE SIR GEORGE BURTON.]

She read Schiller and Goethe, quoted Tasso and Paracelsus. It is in the
writings of Mrs. Jameson that we get the best account of Colonel Talbot
and his settlement,[12] of Michilimacinac, and Schoolcraft, the Indian
scholar and delineator; of the Sault Ste. Marie and Manitoulin, with
their wild red inhabitants, as they were in the good year when the
Victorian reign began. Coming back to the little capital, she tells of
some of the craft, "Hagerman, the Solicitor-General, a Tory in politics,
a man of great ability and good nature." "Draper, the member for
Toronto, a clever, active minded man and a fluent speaker." "McNab, the
member for Wentworth, also an able and influential man of large
property." "Mr. Prince, member for Sandwich, a gentleman educated at the
English bar, and of very superior attainments, liberal, though not
revolutionary in principle." "On the opposite side Dr. Rolph, the
cleverest man and most eloquent speaker." Mr. Sullivan is also named.

At the prorogation of Parliament Chief Justice Robinson sat at the right
of the throne. "He has," she writes, "a fine head and acute features,
and the most pleasing, insinuating voice I ever heard."

Colonel Fitzgibbon was Mrs. Jameson's preux chevalier of bravery and
loyalty, a man of fine impulses, and he is more than once described in
her "Winter Studies." This was the lady who came to join her husband.
They lived for some months in a house he built on Brock Street, within
sight of the bay, where they entertained liberally during the season,
but their tempers were unsuited to each other, so they parted in
September, 1837. She returned to England, lived until March, 1860, to
continue the literary pursuits which have caused her to be ranked among
the great women of her age. The Province, which she saw amid rude
surroundings in its struggling infancy, is described by her graphic pen,
and in the artistic drawings made on her western trip, now in possession
of Dr. Bain of the Toronto Public Library.

[Sidenote: _THE COURT OF CHANCERY._]

The Court of Chancery, as originally constituted, was for a short time
domiciled in Kingston. Dr. Scadding in his "Toronto of Old," reproduces
a curious production in rhyme, written, in 1843 by Mr. John Rumsey, an
English barrister, then in Upper Canada. Referring to the removal of the
Court, along with the local Government, to Toronto, the minstrel sang:--

      "Dreary and sad was Frontenac;
      The duke ne'er made a clearer sack,
      Than when the Edict to be gone
      Issued from the Vice-regal Throne.
      Exeunt omnes, helter skelter:
      To Little York again for shelter:
      Little no longer; York the new
      Of imports such can boast but few:
      A goodly freight, without all brag,
      When comes, 'mongst others, Master Spragge,
      And skilful Turner, versed in pleading,
      The Kingston exiles gently leading."

Mr. Rumsey's poem described the several Canadian law courts, covered 127
octavo pages, and was published by H. & W. Rowsell, who for years were
printers of the law reports. The poet thus addresses our city as the
seat of judicial learning:--

    "Favoured Toronto, thine the pride.
    That Judges o'er thy Courts preside.
    Endowed with wisdom, skill and worth
    To spread stern justice o'er the earth,
    May such long flourish, till to men
    Astrea comes from Heaven again."

As a motto to the portion of his poem treating of Upper Canada, Mr.
Rumsey places a line from Virgil, "Gensque virum truncis et duro robore
nata," which Dr. Scadding remarks, "may be a compliment or not."

Chancellor Blake was, through ill health, forced to retire from the
Chancery bench after about twelve years service, in the sixty-second
year of his age, but sat occasionally in the Court of Appeal until his
decease in 1870. He and Mr. Esten were called to the Bar in Hilary term,
1835. Mr. Vice-Chancellor Spragge, soon after the decease of Chancellor
VanKoughnet, addressed the Bar feelingly with reference to these three
excellent men, concluding:--"They were all of them men of whom this
Court may well feel proud, and I am sure that their memory will be held
in high respect by the Court and by the country that they ably and
faithfully served."

Philip Michael Matthew Scott VanKoughnet was of New York Knickerbocker
and U. E. Loyalist descent, and was the second Chancellor of Upper
Canada, holding that office from 19th March, 1862, to December, 1869.
None exceeded him in courtesy and in quickness of conception. He had
formerly been Commissioner of Crown Lands, which fact was amusingly
brought out in a trial,[13] in which Stevens, the plaintiff, sought to
set aside a patent of land for which he had bargained, but which had,
through a clerk's oversight, been conveyed to Cook. One of the exhibits
was an angry letter from the plaintiff to the department in which he
declared that no good could be expected from a department presided over
by a "dunder-headed Dutch-man." No one was more amused at this than the
late Commissioner, nor did he as Judge hesitate to cancel the patent in
favour of the plain-speaking plaintiff.

In an action known as that of the "Lady and the Lion," a travelling
showman claimed the sole right by agreement, to exhibit on the public
highway a fair woman and the king of beasts resting side by side on a
moving van. An injunction was granted by the Chancellor, and the showman
sent a ticket to admit his Lordship and family. This fell into the hands
of John Black, the Registrar's clerk, and, when he passed into the tent
with a troop of his young friends, the showman exclaimed, "What a fine
family the Chancellor has!"

[Sidenote: _CHIEF JUSTICE DRAPER._]

Chief Justice Draper struck us as the most cultured and dignified of the
old Common Pleas Judges. He could turn a point nicely and keep the Bar
from roaming in the wilderness. To a verbose counsel, who began his
motion in an ejectment case by informing the Court that it was merely a
personal action, Judge Draper said in the gentle voice, which had gained
for him the sobriquet, "Sweet William," "There are some things of which
this Court may be assumed to have knowledge; please proceed to the
merits of the case."

On one occasion, at the Assizes in Toronto, a witness with broad brim
hat, who looked a little like a Quaker, but turned out to be a horse
trader, went into the box to testify. The clerk of the Court, misled by
his appearance, asked him if he affirmed or swore, to which the man
replied:--"I don't give a d----which." The learned Chief Justice, with a
twinkle in his eye, but a perfectly grave face, leaned over to the clerk
and said, "Mr. Campbell, the witness swears."

Judge Draper was an earnest advocate of the extension of Canada to the
Pacific coast, and went to St. James as a Canadian delegate to promote
the scheme. He was fearless in denouncing and opposing any aggression on
Canadian soil and rights. His address to the Toronto Grand Jury, 19th
March, 1866, in view of the Fenian raids, is a fine specimen of judicial
eloquence, and ends thus:--"There can be but one reception for the
invaders, a stern and pitiless opposition to repel the aggression,
striking for Queen and country, for lands and liberty, for wives and
children, and may God defend our rights."[14]

_The Burley Extradition._--Chief Justice Draper's sagacity was
conspicuous in the extradition case of Bennett Burley, on September
20th, 1864. This young Scot, an ardent sympathizer with the South in its
struggle, along with Captain John Yates Beall, a brave Virginian, went
on board, at Detroit, a fine passenger steamboat, the Philo Parsons,
which plied between that city and Buffalo on Lake Erie. At Amherstburg
twenty others took passage; these were rough men and had no baggage but
a large trunk tied with cords, and they did not appear to recognize
Captain Beall or his gay Scottish friend.

Walter Ashley, the purser, supposed they were American citizens, who
were keeping out of the way of the "draft" or conscription, during the
time of the civil war.

The vessel with its gay party passed, under a pleasant sky, by
headlands and islands shining with orchards and vines. It entered the
waters where, on September 10th, 1812, the brave lake fight was waged
between Captain Barclay and Commodore Perry.

All was gaiety on board, the rough men below kept in view their roped
trunk, smoked their pipes, played quoits and told yarns. In the cabin
the gallant, with the Scotch cap, according to the purser's evidence,
joined in songs, and turned music at the piano for a young lady; when
within four miles of Sandusky, an astonishing event took place, the
young Scot slipped from the cabin and conferred with Captain Beall.

[Sidenote: _CONFEDERATE RAID ON LAKE ERIE._]

At a signal the trunk was opened, and twenty men stood ready with drawn
swords and pistols. Beall advanced to the pilot house and called to
Nicholls, the man in charge of the wheel, "I am a Confederate officer, I
seize this boat and take you prisoner. Submit, or here are the tools to
enforce obedience." Burley made himself conspicuous also. Mr. Ashley,
who is now a Detroit merchant, was very much astonished when the
pleasant young man with the Scotch cap, levelled a revolver at his head
and said, "Get into that cabin or you are a dead man," and affirms, "He
commenced counting one, two, three, and at the end of the count, I was
in the ladies' cabin." The vessel was so, without bloodshed, captured
and headed for Middle Bass Island. The money in the purser's hands was
taken.

The passengers, eighty in all, were disembarked on this island. A small
vessel, the Island Queen, came, unsuspecting danger, to the wharf, and
was seized and afterwards sunk. With the Confederate flag flying, the
Philo Parsons steamed out in the evening until the lights of the U. S.
guardship Michigan were seen in Sandusky Bay. Its engineer and some
others were privy to the plot and signal rockets were expected, but none
appeared, and the crew became alarmed.

The plan was to seize the Michigan, then advance on Johnson's Island,
release the Confederates there, more than two thousand in number, and
with both vessels armed, Lake Erie and its cities would have been at the
mercy of Captain Beall and his party.

The crew insisted on abandoning the attempt. Beall eloquently upbraided
them for chicken-heartedness, but without avail. Nicholls, the
wheelsman, in his evidence, says:--"Order was given to put the ship
about, and we steered direct for the mouth of the Detroit River, and got
there before day." The vessel was beached, the crew discharged, and each
man made for shelter.

Captain Beall escaped for a time, but was arrested at Niagara for a
later daring attempt, was tried by court-martial, under order of General
Dix, and ended his eventful career on the gallows. President Lincoln was
strongly urged to interfere with the sentence, but refused. This angered
Beall's friend, John Wilkes Booth, to madness. We know the rest.

Booth was a passionate Southerner. He and his people had suffered and
lost much in the war. He had visited Montreal, and there met Confederate
States conspirators, and knew the plans which led to the Lake Erie and
St. Alban's raids.

Burley was arrested for his part on the Philo Parsons and brought before
Recorder Duggan in Toronto, when the matter was removed to Osgoode Hall
before the Chief Justice, who decided to anticipate the possibility of
judicial interference, such as had aided John Anderson.

The Chief was free from false sympathy with illegal aggression. He
requested three brother Judges to sit with him, and the case was fully
discussed before a Court in which were Draper, C.J., Richards, C.J., and
Judges Hagarty and J. Wilson. There was a spirited and interesting
defence, the prisoner's great advocate, M. C. Cameron, Q.C., claiming
that his acts were justifiable under the code of war. Burley was duly
extradited. The four Judges mentioned were a majority of the common law
bench, so there was no judicial interference.

Good luck followed the brave young Scot; an Ohio jury disagreed at his
trial. He soon escaped from gaol, came back to Toronto, made his way
across the sea, has been, not with sword, but with pen, in many an
interesting conflict since, and is best known as Bennett Burleigh,
special correspondent during the Boer and other British wars.

[Sidenote: _HON. JOHN S. MACDONALD AND HIS COLLEAGUES._ ]

Chief Justice Hagarty, when a young man, made application for insurance
on his life, but was refused, yet was able to boast that he had outlived
the doctor and all the officers of the insurance company. An English
specialist, whom he later consulted, asked if he took an active interest
in public affairs, and being answered in the affirmative said his life
depended on that and would be supported by regular activity of the
brain, and such was the happy result, through his years, four score and
two. The Chief was careful and temperate in his diet and habits, but not
a total abstainer. The only municipal office he held was that of
Alderman in 1847. It is to be hoped that the present fathers are more
regardful of polite usages than he found those of that year. He very
soon sent in his resignation, declaring that the City Council was no
place for a gentleman.

The Honourable John Sandfield Macdonald had also the misfortune to have
weak lungs, but was of different temperament, liked to move among the
people, especially his Highlanders of Glengarry, of whom he was a born
leader. With care he reached a good span of life, was in Parliament more
than thirty years, was Speaker in 1852, and Premier in 1867, in the
first Ontario House. He was tall, spare of frame, and alert. His
favourite attire included tweed trousers, coloured vest and frilled
shirt front. He was a careful administrator, without the breadth and
boldness of conception of his more famous namesake. Like him he enjoyed
a witticism though it might sometimes savour of broad humour. He joked
at the peculiarities of his colleagues and himself, saying once when
they were about him, "What a curious lot we are, a sort of one-horse
concern; here is Wood with but one arm, Cameron with one foot, and I
with one lung." Edmund Burke Wood hailed from Brantford, near which is
an Iroquois reserve. His great voice gained for him from his red
neighbours the sobriquet of "Big Thunder." He was the second Chief
Justice of Manitoba, and will be again referred to. Matthew Crooks
Cameron became Chief of the Ontario Common Pleas Division, and was
knighted.

The Gaelic was Macdonald's native tongue, and his constituents were as
clannish as the electors of the Nova Scotian constituency of Sir Charles
Tupper, who, when addressing them on one occasion was opposed by Mr.
Donald C. Fraser. The latter had the privilege of the ancient tongue,
and could not be answered by Sir Charles, who, on complaining of the
advantage so taken by his opponent, was met with the unanswerable
argument that one unskilled in the language of Eden should not aspire to
be Prime Minister of Canada.

Colonel John Prince and Sir Allan Napier McNab were two remarkable men,
members of the Upper Canada Bar and Legislature. Prince was admitted in
Michaelmas term, 1838, and became Queen's Counsel in 1852. He was in
command at Windsor during the troubles of 1837, and dealt stern justice
to some desperate characters who crossed the border and committed murder
and rapine. Five of these men, being caught red-handed, were by the
Colonel ordered to be shot, and, as he expressed it, "They were shot
accordingly." Attorney-General Hagerman declared that the Colonel had
acted lawfully. Lord Brougham said of this in the British Parliament
that "the Attorney-General's opinion was the grossest outrage ever put
upon paper." His Lordship was in opposition and inclined to criticize.
Local critics branded Colonel Prince as "a murderer and a coward,"
which roused the gallant officer to anger. He insisted on apology being
made, and when Mr. Wood, of Windsor, refused amends, challenged him. At
the second fire Mr. Wood was wounded in the jaw and after this the
Colonel's critics were less outspoken.

[Sidenote: _COL. PRINCE, GOV. HEAD, AND SIR ALLAN McNAB._ ]

At Prince's demand a court-martial as to his military conduct was held,
at which a British officer, Sir Richard Airey, presided. The court sat
for three days and entirely acquitted the Colonel. He was a strong
loyalist and partisan, and was a member of the Legislature at Montreal
when the measure of amnesty was passed in 1849. McKenzie had then been
for some years the last exile, and now returned and ventured to visit
the parliamentary library. The Colonel seeing him at once went up,
demanded to see the ticket of the member by whom he had been admitted
and threatened to eject McKenzie. John Sandfield Macdonald hearing of
this, called on McKenzie, and formally introduced the Reformer to the
library. When his Highland constituents complained of his civilities to
a late rebel, he answered: "Do you think I would see an Englishman kick
a Scotchman and not interfere," Colonel Prince afterwards explained his
rude conduct, saying he "had acted on the impulse of the moment."

In 1858 McKenzie and Prince were members of Parliament, but in different
Chambers.

The Governor, Sir Edmund Head, was a scholarly and upright man, but not
very popular. As he was driving away after proroguing Parliament, the
Colonel, a large, conspicuous figure, who stood on the steps, waved his
hat and called for three cheers for His Excellency, which were given
with only moderate warmth.

Prince was, not long after, appointed Judge of the Algoma District,
which office he filled acceptably, but he will be known to posterity as
the Colonel rather than the Judge.

Albert Prince, son of the Colonel, was member of the Legislative
Assembly, and an accomplished member of the Bar, and lived until 1874.
Another son, Captain William Prince, was for several years Chief
Constable of Toronto and later Governor of the Central Prison. Colonel
Prince died at the Sault, and at his desire was buried on a small island
near that town.

The author of "Toronto of Old" gives an amusing account of the early
days and forbears of Sir Allan McNab, summing up thus:--"Successively
sailor and soldier, and in both capacities engaged in perilous service;
a lawyer, a legislator in both Houses; Speaker twice in the popular
Assembly; once Prime Minister; knighted for gallantry and appointed an
aide-de-camp to the Queen; dignified with a baronetcy and by the
marriage of a daughter with the son of a nobleman, the career of Allan
Napier McNab can not fail to arrest the attention of the future
investigator of Canadian history."

The family were soldiers by heredity. Sir Allan's father belonged to the
42nd Regiment or Black Watch; his grand-father, Robert McNab, owned a
small place at the head of Loch Erne called "Dundurn," which name was
given to Sir Allan's homestead at Hamilton. His name appears first on
the books of the Law Society as student in Trinity term, 1816. He was
called to the Bar in Michaelmas term, 1826, and was elected Bencher in
Hilary term, 1835.

Mr. Fennings Taylor says of Sir Allan:--

    "His battles and the gout,
    Had knocked his hull about."

He left Canada, lived for some months at Brighton, and there sought a
seat in the Imperial Parliament, but not succeeding, returned and was,
in 1860, elected to the Legislative Council for the Western Division in
place of Colonel Prince, who had gone to his Judgeship at Sault Ste.
Marie.

Sir Allan was born in Niagara. His deeds of bravery are matters of
history. He was more versed in politics and public affairs than in legal
technicalities. He had a taste for wood carving, and is said in his
younger days to have prepared many door panels for houses in York.
Previous to his call to the Bar he had lived in Toronto, but he now
removed to the city of Hamilton. He was knighted in 1838. Sir F. B. Head
declared that this empty honour was inadequate, that "while the rebel
was forgiven, the patriot was forgotten." Sir Allan was made a Baronet
of the United Kingdom in 1858. He died at Hamilton, August 8th, 1862, at
the age of sixty-four.

[Sidenote: _DISTINGUISHED PROVINCIAL FAMILIES._]

It is an interesting question how far mental powers and capabilities are
inherited. In the Province of Quebec the seignorial and other old
families are often known by the position and culture of their scions, as
they are found in the professions and paths of literature. In this
younger Province some families have been similarly distinguished. Three
of Sir John Robinson's sons attained high positions, one in his own
profession, one in politics, and another in the British army. Sir James
Lukin Robinson, the eldest, was for a time a court reporter, and later
held office as Surrogate Clerk.

The first Chancellor of Upper Canada left two sons of wide reputation.
In another family we find two brothers filling consecutively the highest
judicial positions. Another has two brothers now on the High Court
Bench.

A Canadian family even more remarkable is that which has one son a Judge
of the highest Provincial tribunal, another a physician of eminence, a
third of note in financial circles and member of the Dominion
Parliament, while the fourth was famous in the forum and a leader of the
Bar.

It will also be a matter of interest to see how far our newer families,
who have prospered, will follow the laudable examples shewn in Quebec
and in the United States as promoters and supporters of charitable, and
especially of educational schemes of the Province.

A seat in Parliament has often proved a stepping stone to the judicial
bench. Being "a defeated candidate" was found by others to call for kind
consideration of the party in power.

Three of the members of the Supreme Court of Ontario sat in legislatures
at Ottawa or Toronto. In the Ontario House, 1904, fourteen of the
ninety-six representatives, including four ministers of the Crown, are
members of the Law Society. It is represented in the House of Commons by
twenty-one members, two being in the Dominion Cabinet, the
Postmaster-General and Senator Scott. In the Imperial Parliament the
Hall has, since 1892, had its former able Treasurer, the Hon. Edward
Blake, K.C., member for South Longford.

Of the nine Lieutenant-Governors of Ontario who have held vice-regal
state since confederation, six, including the present incumbent, were
members of the Bar. Chief Justice Spragge, Sir John Hagarty and the
present Chief Justice of Ontario at various times acted as
Administrators during temporary absence or disability of
Lieutenant-Governors.

Of the thirty-six mayors or presidents of the City Council of Toronto,
sixteen, including the present mayor, were members of the Bar. Mr. R. B.
Sullivan, afterwards Judge, was the first lawyer mayor, succeeding
William Lyon McKenzie, who held office in 1834 when the City was
incorporated.

It is well known that the University of Toronto and other institutions
of learning have, since their initiation, found able supporters and
directors among the members of the Bench and Bar. Chancellor Blake,
Judges Burns and Morrison, Hon. Edward Blake and Chief Justice Meredith
have held the office of Chancellor, while that of Vice-Chancellor has
been filled by Hon. James Patton, Hon. Adam Crooks, Dr. L. W. Smith, Sir
William Mulock and Chief Justices Thomas Moss and Charles Moss. Worthy
examples were given by some of the accomplished Governors and
Lieutenant-Governors of the Province.

The records of the Canadian Institute prove the broad culture of such
professional members.

[Sidenote: _LAWYERS AND THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE._]

In 1858 Sir Edmund Walker Head contributed, among other learned papers,
an historical and critical account of the Temple of Serapis, which was
reviewed by Doctor Daniel Wilson. Sir John Robinson, C.J., was President
of the Institute for two successive years, commencing with the spring of
1853. Chief Justice Draper succeeded him, holding office for two
seasons. He was a good linguist and generally well read. In his
inaugural as President for the second time, he addressed the Institute
on "The importance of the Toronto Observatory,"[15] stating that already
100,000 observations had been taken there. Chief Justice Hagarty
presided for one year. Sir Oliver Mowat, when Vice-Chancellor, was
President for two years, 1864-65. Chancellor VanKoughnet was a life
member from January, 1854. Hon. J. Hillyard Cameron and Hon. S. B.
Harrison, Judge of the County of York, were also enrolled. The late
Judge Proudfoot and Sir John Boyd were members and contributors to the
proceedings. The Hon. Robert Baldwin's name appears in the early records
of the Institute. On April 3, 1853, at an important meeting of members
and distinguished visitors, he spoke of himself as "a lover of science,
although he could have no pretensions to be a scientific man." He was
thanked for his exertions, when lately Attorney-General, in obtaining a
charter for the Institute.

It was through the countenance given to the literati and scientists of
the nascent Province by the distinguished jurists and men of affairs
named, that the Institute rose from being a local Society and assumed a
national character.

Dr. Baldwin's day preceded the origin of this Society, but he was the
first President of the Toronto Mechanics' Institute.

_Veteran Members of the Bar._--The longevity attained by some of the
Superior Court Judges of the Province, has been referred to. Sir John
Robinson, who lived seventy-two years, was for thirty-three years Chief
Justice. Sir Henry Strong was as long on the Bench, as Vice-Chancellor,
Judge, or Chief Justice. Mr. Justice Gwynne, at the age of 88, had also
served the like period. If Chief Justice Spragge's judicial service were
counted from his appointment as Master, June 20, 1837, until his
decease, April 20, 1884, at the age of 78 years, it would exceed the
above by thirteen years. Chief Justice McLean was on the bench from
March 23, 1837, until 1868, and lived 74 years. Chief Justice Campbell
also lived to the same age, but was on the bench only about eighteen
years. Chief Justice Draper lived seventy-six years and held judicial
office from June 12, 1847, until 1877. Sir John Hagarty from February 5,
1856, until his resignation in 1897, and lived eighty-two years. Chief
Justice Armour presided in our Courts from November 30, 1877, until his
promotion to the Supreme Court, November 21, 1902, twenty-five years
thereafter. Sir John Boyd, who is President of the High Court, has been
Chancellor nearly as long, that is, from May 3, 1881. It is hoped that
long life may continue to accompany good service as heretofore.

Reference will now be made to three gentlemen, yet with us, who have
served in County Courts and each attained happily an enviable and
honourable age.

[Sidenote: _DISTINGUISHED COUNTY COURT JUDGES._]

James Robert Gowan was born in Ireland, December 22, 1815, was educated
in Canada and admitted to the Bar Michaelmas term, 1839, practised in
Toronto until January, 1843, when he became Judge of the District, now
County of Simcoe. His usefulness was not confined to his county, as he
served on several important commissions, aided Sir James Macaulay in the
consolidating of the Statute Law, and, in 1871, was along with Sir Adam
Wilson and other High Court Judges, a Commissioner to inquire into the
constitution of the Courts. He was active in educational and other
matters of public interest and importance, and was one of the founders
of and a frequent contributor to the Canada Law Journal. He served on
the Bench for forty-one years, when he retired to accept a Senatorship.
He became, before this, a Queen's Counsel, and LL.D. of Queen's
University, and in 1893 was honoured with the rank of Companion of the
Order of St. Michael and St. George. Senator Gowan was very highly
regarded by the late Right Hon. Sir John Macdonald, and was styled by
Mr. Davin, "one of the noblest and most interesting figures in our
political life."

Judge William Elliot, who retired from the Judgeship of Middlesex
County, February 1, 1904, was a native of Newcastle-on-Tyne, born in
June, 1817, and had completed thirty-five years of honourable service.
He was admitted to the Bar in Trinity Term, 1852, and is entitled to a
pension equal to his salary.

[Illustration: MR. ÆMILIUS IRVING, K.C., TREASURER.]

Judge David John Hughes, of Elgin County, also now retired, having been
Judge at St. Thomas since September 29, 1853. He is also an Englishman,
born May 7th, 1820, at Kingsbridge, and was called to the Bar in
Michaelmas term, 1842. His father was Head Master of the classical and
mathematical school at Kingsbridge, where his education was begun, and
continued at the District Grammar School, London, Ontario. His strong
individuality was impressed on the Talbot settlement as it grew into a
beautiful and orderly land of farms, towns and villages. Judge Hughes is
known throughout the Province by the interest he has taken in matters of
good government and benevolence. He, at various times and places, held
assizes for Judges of the Superior Courts when they required a
substitute. The formal leave taking of the County Council by the
venerable Judge was an interesting, even pathetic, historical event.
There were among the members some whose fathers and grandfathers had
similar relations with his Honour during the last half century.

Several well known members of the Toronto Bar attained patriarchal age.

The Hon. Sir Oliver Mowat ranks first in honours among the Nestors. When
he passed away April 19, 1903, he was eighty-three years old, and, since
his call in Trinity term, 1841, had been a barrister, Judge, or Crown
officer for a period nearly equal to two ordinary generations. His
history is interwoven with that of the development of the Province.

Joseph Clarke Gamble, K.C., was, at his decease, November 23rd, 1902,
the oldest lawyer in actual practice in Ontario. He was known from his
childhood as Clarke Gamble, was of U. E. Loyalist stock, born in 1808,
in Kingston, and called to the Bar in Trinity term, 1832, as Number 149
on the roll of barristers, became a Bencher in 1840, and Queen's Counsel
in 1867. He drew the Charter of the British America Assurance Company in
1833, and was its solicitor until his decease, nearly seventy years. He
was solicitor for the City of Toronto for some years, was a promoter of
the Toronto and Huron Railway Company in 1845, and led an active and
honourable life.

David Breakenridge Read, K.C., the veteran Bencher and historian, has
been referred to in Chapter II. He was admitted to the bar in Easter
term, 1845, passed his eightieth birthday in June, 1903, and died May
11, 1904. He held commission as Ensign dated September 10, 1856, and as
Queen's Counsel from December 23, 1858.

[Sidenote: _MESSRS. Æ. IRVING, GOLDWIN SMITH, AND L. SMITH._]

Mr. Æmilius Irving, K.C., should also be mentioned on the favoured list
of octogenarian members of the Bar. Born in Leamington, England, 1823,
he was called to the Bar in Michaelmas term, 1849, created a Queen's
Counsel by Lord Monck, 1863, elected a Bencher 1874, and re-elected
until, by Act of 1900, he became a Bencher for life and has been chosen
by his fellow Benchers Treasurer of the Society for ten successive
years. Mr. Irving was a member for the City of Hamilton in the Dominion
Parliament from 1874 to 1878. He is distinguished as a sound lawyer with
a strong personality. He has on many occasions acted on Royal
Commissions and as Counsel for the Ontario Government before Canadian
Courts and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

_Goldwin Smith, D.C.L._--It is not generally known that Toronto's
distinguished scholar, critic, and historian is a member of the Bar, and
though his Hall was not that of Osgoode, but Lincoln's Inn, we place him
on the list of professional veterans. Goldwin Smith is of the same age
as Mr. Treasurer Irving. Born in 1823, he was called to the English Bar
in 1847. He has been present, as a guest, at professional social
functions, and has spoken of English, French and Canadian lawyers in his
characteristic and instructive manner. His historical and journalistic
work has had a beneficial effect on the press and thought of the City of
his adoption.

Dr. Larratt William Smith, K.C., has passed his eightieth milestone,
having first seen the light in Devonshire, England, November 29, 1820.
He was called in 1843, was for a short time Clerk of the former Court of
Error and Appeal, but soon returned to practice, which he followed in
Toronto for more than fifty years. Among other multifarious duties, he
served for several years as a Bencher. He was a Senator and twice
Vice-Chancellor of Toronto University and President of the Astronomical
Society.

Mr. Charles Durand is no doubt the oldest living barrister on the roll.
His life dates from April 9, 1811, when he was born in the then village
of Hamilton. Though in the nineties, he is yet a hale and hearty man,
but has ceased to practise. His book of "Reminiscences," published in
1897, deals with many interesting events. He was called to the Bar in
Hilary term, 1836, and came from Hamilton to Toronto on the fourth of
December of the next year, but found no Courts sitting, the Judges being
under arms in the market place. Mr. Durand claims that he was always
loyal; but unfortunately his friendship with McKenzie and some of his
followers caused his arrest and trial for complicity with them before
Chief Justice Robinson and Judge Hagerman. He was found guilty and
sentenced, but soon pardoned. He has the rare distinction of being the
only member of the Bar who has lived for three score years after passing
so strange an ordeal, and of being able now to write, in an interesting
and even kindly manner, from his actual experience in those angry days.
He practised for a time in Hamilton, but later during many years in
Toronto. In his book he scores Sir Allan McNab as "a persecuting tool of
the Tories," and ascribes his own ill usage to his influence. Sir
Allan's friend and admirer, Sir Francis Bond Head, is pronounced a weak
and vacillating person. Mr. Durand also condemns the power assumed by
the Provincial Government, of appointing Magistrates, Sheriffs, County
Attorneys, Osgoode Hall and other officials, and would substitute for
it a system which would vest in, or return to, the people and local
councils such powers; but as to this it is but right to refer those
interested to the learned author's work. When referring to the many
Judges whom he knew, Mr. Durand does not bow down and exhibit that
regard for the past that is so common, but declares, "Some say our
modern Judges are not comparable with such men as Draper, Sullivan and
Hagerman. This is all nonsense. They are superior in what lawyers
generally like, courtesy, the milk of human kindness, and shall I say,
brotherliness?"

[Sidenote: _JUDICIAL INTERLUDES._]

_Judicial Interludes._--It is said that High Court Judges of late years
are not as mirthful as their lordships were of yore, and that the
dignity of the Bench and character of the Bar aim at a higher standard;
yet there are no wittier sallies recorded than some of recent years, and
a pleasantry to relieve the tedium of long debate is as welcome now as
ever before.

Mr. Justice Ferguson listened patiently to long arguments on
insignificant points, but finally said: "It appears to me that some
matters which come before this Court occupy its time in a ratio inverse
to their importance. I suppose if it could be conceived that an argument
could take place about nothing at all, it would last forever."

On another occasion he asked: "Is there any possible way by which one
can complicate the simple proposition that two and two make four?" "Yes,
my Lord," replied a gentleman of the Bar, "they sometimes make
twenty-two."

In trying a case at Chatham, where coloured men abound, an old ebony
witness spoke in a husky voice. Another learned Judge bore this for a
time and then said, "Witness, I wish you would speak more clearly, your
utterance is so thick I can hardly understand a word you say." "Well,
boss," said the old man, "when folks gets as old as me and you, they
don't find it so easy to do der hollerin very plain, d'ye see, boss?"

Another Court scene in Chatham: Magistrate, addressing old coloured man,
"Well, Senex, here you are again, as usual; what am I to do with you,
Senex, what am I to do?" Senex, meekly, "I dunno, y'oh Wo'ship, reckin
it's a pretty hard case, but I hope y'oh Wo'ship won't hold me
'sponsible for y'oh Wo'ship's ignorance."

Here also a coloured witness being asked if he knew the reputation of a
neighbour of like complexion, replied: "I don't know nuffin agin him,
Jedge, but if I war a chicken I'd roost high when he was a hangin'
round."

Dr. Scadding relates that Chief Justice Powell had a humourous way
occasionally of indicating by a shake of the head, a series of little
nods, or movements of the eye or eye-brow, his estimate of an outré
hypothesis, or an ad captandum argument. This was very disconcerting to
the advocate who saw his efforts thus, to some extent, neutralized
before the jury.

Another worthy Judge had, in his later years, a drooping eye-lid, which
caused a prisoner, when found guilty, to lament:--"Sure I knew how it
would be when I saw the ould Judge winking to the jury when me lawyer
was talking."

Peter Ernest, from the German settlement at Markham, when foreman of a
jury, made a struggling bilingual preface to a verdict with so many
strange expressions that Chief Justice Powell threatened to commit him
for swearing. Peter managed to make it known that half the jury were for
"guilty," and half for "not guilty." "That is," queried the Judge, "you
would have the prisoner half hanged, or the half of him hanged." "Dat
vould be as your Lordship bleases," replied the polite foreman.

On the hearing of an appeal in Neelon v. Toronto, the junior counsel
cited some cases, on which the Court commented in a questioning manner.
"Why, my Lord, we were suckled on these authorities," came the response
from the ready junior. His senior counsel leaned over towards a
colleague and said in a Court whisper, "I wish it to be understood that
I was not of that litter."

[Sidenote: _HUMOURS OF THE BENCH AND BAR._]

It is not every one who is favoured with an inside view of that sacred
thing, a Judge's note-book.

Interesting personal matters or suggestions are sometimes entered there,
not for eyes profane. A Judge said to a reporter who asked the
privilege:--"Yes, you may look at my notes, but if you find opposite the
name of a witness such a remark as 'this man wants watching,' you will
not report that."

After hearing the evidence in a slander suit, the only entry made by
Judge Draper was, "The plaintiff says the defendant turned his back upon
him and slandered him to his face."

In Mr. W. H. Blake's "Humours of Bench and Bar,"[16] we are told of a
gentleman who had occupied some hours in his client's interests as he
fondly believed, and was chagrined not a little on happening to see in
the Judge's book the following brief epitome after his name, "Vox et
praeterea nihil."

Once when the old Court of Error and Appeal, composed of the Chiefs and
other Judges, was sitting, a learned counsel, who was in the habit of
shouting and arguing in a loud and pompous tone, was pleading. One of
the Chiefs said sotto voce to a brother Judge, "Do you think Mr. Blank
is sound?" "O, yes," was the ready reply, "I think he is all sound."

"It is assumed," says the same relator, "that the terminology of Poker
is a part of the common wisdom of mankind, though perhaps the Bench
would refuse to take judicial knowledge of the fact that 'three of a
kind beats two pair.'"

A case relating to the moving of a building from one place to another,
was before a certain appellate Court, a member of which questioned the
counsel: "You say, Mr. ----, that this house was raised?" "Yes, my
Lord." "Now, Mr. ----, on what was it raised?" "On four jacks, my Lord."
Between questioner and questioned passed one gleam of sympathetic
intelligence, but otherwise the Bench and Bar were unmoved.

[Illustration: DALTON MCCARTHY, K.C. SIR CHARLES H. TUPPER, K.C.]

[Illustration: B. B. OSLER, K.C. E. F. B. JOHNSTON, K.C.]

Robert Baldwin Sullivan was a member of the Baldwin-La Fontaine
Government, and, when a rupture occurred, ably defended his liberal
principles against those of Sir Charles Metcalfe and his champion,
Doctor Egerton Ryerson. His letters in the Examiner were under the nom
de plume of "Legion." The Doctor signed himself "Leonidas." The Judge,
also, as a lecturer in 1847, advanced new and broad ideas as to the
future of Canada and its great west, then generally considered a mere
hunting ground without importance. He also composed excellent verses
which were published over the signature "Cinna." In Mr. Read's "Lives of
the Judges," two fine specimens are given of date 1833, entitled "The
Emigrant Ship," and "On Woman." Judge Sullivan died at the early age of
51. He is represented by three grandsons, members of the Toronto Junior
Bar. Those who remember him, say he had a kindly vein of humour.

When imprisonment for debt was common, the incarcerated defendant was
not liberated until he answered interrogatories as to the state of his
worldly affairs. This was done in a case before Judge Sullivan, when Mr.
S. M. J. for the plaintiff asked that defendant be examined viva voce,
declaring that he is a man of pleasure who wears a great moustache, has
a fine gun, goes shooting for pastime and could pay if he exerted
himself. "Then," replied his Lordship, "as to bringing so formidable a
character with his gun before me, I naturally hesitate; but you can have
order for assignment of the moustache and that should suit you to a
hair."

Two score years ago Judge Hagarty, tall and slim, and Judge Richards, of
ample proportions, are reported to have met together at the rolling
mills near the Don, then attracting many visitors. Looking at the
flattened metal as it came out, Judge Hagarty said, "Brother Richards,
what kind of Judges would we be if we were put through there?" "Judges
of A-size, I suppose," was the reply.

[Sidenote: _PLEASANTRIES OF JUDGES AND COUNSEL._]

A High Court Judge who indulged in an occasional joke on the Court,
which sometimes reversed his rulings, was passing through the library
with an armful of books. "I see you are going to read up the law," said
a friend. "Oh, no," replied Mr. Justice A., "these are only reports of
my uncle's of the Court of Appeal."

The late Chief Justices of Ontario and of the Queen's Bench admired each
other's ability and wit, but when their judgments clashed there were
sometimes amusing remarks, in one of which the latter was styled
mirthfully "the offensive Armour of the Queen's Bench." This gentleman
is represented in his Hall picture, standing, with stern features. Chief
Justice Hagarty was looking at it as the original happened to pass. "I
know what you were thinking of when that was taken, Brother Armour,"
said the head of the Court of Appeal. "I await your learned opinion,"
said the other Chief. "I don't care a fig for the Court of Appeal," was
the merry reply.

In an action arising from a dispute between two branches of the same
church, Mr. B. B. Osler, K.C., appeared at the Cobourg Assizes for one
of the parties. On the jury being sworn, Judge Armour remarked that it
seemed unfortunate that good people could not settle their disputes out
of Court. "If they can't agree, why not refer the matter to a
respectable heathen." Mr. Osler--"My Lord, that is just what I was about
to propose; with my learned friend's permission, I ask your Lordship to
dismiss the jury and try the case yourself."

On one occasion Mr. Osler, a prince among cross-examiners, had a witness
in charge who made what the learned counsel thought an extravagant
statement. The conversation then ran as follows:--Q.--"Now, you say that
there were twenty, don't you think there might have been thirty?"
A.--"Well, there might have been." Q.--"What would you say to forty?"
A.--"Can't say as to forty." Q.--"Come now, couldn't you stretch a point
and make it fifty?" The answer to this question closed the
examination:--"Look here, guvner, this here business ain't no bloomin'
auction, is it?"

In a criminal action in which conspiracy was charged, verdict was given
in favour of the Crown; on motion for a new trial January 10, 1894, the
following is reported by one present:--

Ferguson, J.--

    "This indictment is long and as heavy as lead;
    Its author by this time must surely be dead."

B. B. Osler, Q.C., in reply:--

    "The indictment is long I frankly confess,
    That it is no longer your stars you may bless;
    To make the web strong and without any flaws,
    It was needful to stretch out the law's longest clause;
    To catch these great rascals I own I did strive,
    And am thankful to say, I'm still quite alive."

The following lines are the lament of a worthy court reporter at 90
Fahr.:--

IN THE DOG DAYS.

    "A Court in the Dog Days is really too bad;
    In heat so infernal can justice be had?
    The warmth of his feelings must bias the Judge,
    And learning prevail nothing more than mere fudge.
    The most conscientious and able reporter
    Sees his notes growing short, as his temper grows shorter.

    "The Registrar, though an as (per) piring wag,
    Finds his usual irrelevant brilliancy flag;
    While Counsel sit gasping to catch a faint breeze,
    But their only relief is to double their fees."

[Sidenote: _JUDICIAL PLEASANTRIES._]

Great Jove himself is said to have nodded, and a Judge of high repute
may be excused for a slip in prosody.

In a case involving the mental capacity of a testator, one of the Judges
pronounced the word paresis with the accent on the first syllable. This
grated on the tympanum of one of his brethren, who sent the following
quatrain along the row of presiding Judges:--

    "This word of yours pár-esis
    Our nice ear harrasses;
    You will ease us and please us;
    By saying par-é-sis."

Which elicited the following reply:--

    "'Suspend your judgment' now puts in
    A voice inspired by Hugo Gwynne;
    _Epsilon_ short we here must scan
    And _Par_ find long in lexicon."

A small gentleman addressed the Court, when Judge Draper presided, with
stentorian voice. Leaning towards the counsel, the Chief said in bland
tones:--"Mr. B----, may I suggest that, though Justice may be blind, she
is not deaf."

The Court of Appeal was once delayed for a few minutes by the tardy
arrival of a learned counsel who was known to be in the Hall. When he
entered, Hagarty, C.J., remarked that he feared attention in another
Court then sitting had been the cause of the waiting. "I regret very
much that I could not appear for the moment," said the K.C., "but this
is, as your Lordships know, the tribunal of last resort in the
Province."

When the same gentleman had concluded his argument for the City of
Toronto in the action known as that of the "Bob-tail cars," another
Chief remarked to him, "I assume you rest your case on the statutes."
"Entirely so," said the city's representative.

"Have you not omitted one important enactment?" said the Chief.

"Indeed?" said the K.C.

"I refer to the Act respecting Short Forms of Conveyances," said the
Chief with a smile.

Dalton McCarthy, Q.C., was a bright, busy, and much sought after man
from the time, in 1876, when he entered Parliament as member for
Cardwell, until his untimely decease in 1899. When not actually engaged
in Parliament, he had briefs in many Courts. In the case of Harris v.
Wright, in Appeal, being retained for the plaintiff, he had only time to
glance at his brief when he was called from another Court, and arrived
as Mr. Moss, the opposing counsel, was sitting down. Mr. McCarthy
addressed the Court with his usual spirit, but, to the plaintiff's
solicitor's chagrin, and the amusement of the Bench, argued on the wrong
side. The solicitor, in an energetic whisper, explained the error. Mr.
McCarthy then boldly returned the Court's smile and said, "Such are no
doubt the arguments used by my learned friend, which I propose to
refute," and this he proceeded to do.

Administration of the law by their Honours of the County Court is
sometimes subject of amusing comment. They are local officials and
dispense justice, each in his own way, and in his own court house,
except when holding Division Courts, which are also within his county.
The mental horizon was alleged to be consequently limited. When an Act
providing for an inter-change of counties among these Judges was passed,
it was suggested that it would be hard on the people to send them Judges
of whose law they were ignorant.

Many other such passages of wit and humour float about as professional
legends. The above may suffice and not surfeit. So let us avoid the
charge of Sir John Falstaff addressed to the Chief Justice: "It was
always yet the trick of our English nation, if they have a good thing,
to make it too common."[17]

[Sidenote: _MR. JUSTICE MORRISON._]

Joseph Curran Morrison was born in the Green Isle in 1816, but was a
member of St. Andrew's Society. He was one of the law firm of Blake,
Morrison & Connor, all the members of which became Judges. He had
studied in the office of Simon Washburn, and was admitted to the bar in
1839. He was a particular friend of Sir John Macdonald, and for a time a
Minister of the Crown under him. He also supported Sir Francis Hincks.

Mr. Morrison was appointed Judge of the Common Pleas, March 19th, 1862.
He was notified of this by his friend, the witty Premier, in a message
reading: "My dear Joe, I have knocked you into a cocked hat!" In August,
1863, Mr. Morrison was transferred to the Queen's Bench, and in
November, 1877, went as Judge to the Court of Appeal. He died December
6, 1885. He was noted as a pleasant companion, and had a host of
friends. One sent him, when he was at the Bar, a fine wild turkey which
he exhibited at his office to various acquaintances, some of whom were
not averse to a practical joke. He lived at Woodlawn, a rural place on
Yonge Street, north of the city, formerly occupied by Chancellor Blake,
and, when ready to return in the evening and take home the bird, was
surprised to find that it had flown away.

Mr. Morrison received an invitation for dinner next day from his friend,
a jovial medical man, when the piece de resistance was his turkey, which
the host said had been sent him by an unknown friend.

The Judge had a taste for art and floriculture, which made his home
interesting and attractive.

Part of Woodlawn was enclosed as a small park in which a few deer
roamed. Boys of a well-known Toronto family were elated at finding two
fawns roaming wild on the Don flats, of which they soon made venison. A
haunch was sent to a good church functionary, who celebrated the event
with a dinner, to which was invited his friend of Woodlawn. The hunt and
its incidents were discussed over the venison, and the genial Judge
smiled as he again found that he had contributed the chief dish of the
feast.

Chief Justice Hagarty, discussing, in his amusing way, the merits of
certain deliverances in the Court of Appeal, once remarked in effect
that the judgments for which he was able to give the least reason were
sometimes most satisfactory to his own mind. Judge Morrison, hearing
this, dutifully said, "I quite concur with the learned Chief Justice and
have had the same experience." In the argument of a much contested case,
a decision of Lord Mansfield was referred to and had an important
bearing. Mr. Bruce, Q.C., stated that he was informed that the facts
were not properly set out in the report, and proposed to obtain a copy
of the pleadings and proceedings. He subsequently told the Court that
his efforts had resulted in finding that these had been destroyed when
Lord Mansfield's house was burned in the Lord George Gordon riots. The
case was being taken to a higher appellate Court when a new text book
came from England, in which the main point in issue was treated
adversely to the appellants' contention, and this influenced them to
abandon the contest.[18]

[Sidenote: _CHIEF JUSTICES ROBINSON AND CAMPBELL._]

Two of our Chief Justices are pleasantly referred to by Dr. Walter
Henry, surgeon of the 66th Regiment, who spent part of the year 1833 in
Toronto. The first was the then Chief, who was also Speaker of the Upper
House; "In the Legislative Council, Chief Justice Robinson shone
conspicuously as an orator and a highly talented man. He is moreover
most pleasing and gentlemanly in private society, a man who would
distinguish himself anywhere, and might in England aspire to the
woolsack."[19]

Sir William Campbell, the late Chief Justice, was then enjoying his
pension, but old and in feeble health; he was the first of our Judges to
receive the honour of knighthood. He was born in 1758, went from
Scotland as a soldier in a Highland regiment during the trouble between
King George and George Washington, was taken prisoner on the surrender
of Lord Cornwallis in 1781, then settled and studied law in Nova Scotia,
practising in Cape Breton, was there Attorney-General, was, in 1811
appointed Judge of our Queen's Bench and, in 1825, became Chief Justice.
He lived on Duke Street, in a brick mansion, facing Frederick Street,
still existing, and occupied by a manufactory, of which a view is given
in Robertson's Landmarks of Toronto. The bright army surgeon, who had
seen much of the world, was impressed with the high character and fine
disposition of his patient, but says, "His nights were restless, his
appetite began to fail, and he could only relish tit bits." Medicine
lost its power, so the doctor took his gun and went hunting for snipe on
what is now Toronto Island. "Here were," he relates, "a number of pools
and marshes, frequented by these little birds, and here I used to cross
over and pick up the Chief Justice's panacea. On this delicate food the
poor old gentleman was supported for a couple of months, but the frost
set in, the snipe flew away, and Sir William died."

Chief Justice Campbell's funeral was large and, at the same time, was
that of Mr. R. Mount, a member of the Legislature. Archdeacon,
afterwards Bishop, Strachan preached the oration or sermon in the old
St. James' Church.

It is stated that there were twenty inhabitants of the town present
whose united ages exceeded 1,450 years.

The following passage from Dr. Henry's book might have been penned by
the authoress of "Summer Rambles," who was in Toronto three years
later:--"It is a matter of regret that the early poets were ignorant of
the humming birds. How delicately Shakespeare would have handled them,
arraying them perhaps in a band with Ariel as their leader, ethereal
enough even for Oberon and Titania." The pleasure which Dr. Henry found
in our woods and gardens was later expressed by George Murray in his
verses entitled "To a Humming Bird in a Garden:"

    "Blithe playmate of the summer-time,
    Admiringly I greet thee;
    Born in old England's misty clime,
    I scarcely hoped to meet thee."

Edmund Burke Wood was called to the Upper Canada Bar in Trinity term,
1848. He was in public life, as member of the Assembly or House of
Commons, and Minister of the Crown, from July, 1867, until appointed
Chief Justice of Manitoba, March 11th, 1874.

The first important argument before his Court in Winnipeg was on plea to
the jurisdiction in the case of the Crown against Lepine for complicity
with Riel in the murder of Scott, which was decided in favour of the
Crown against the opinion of several well-known counsel. This judgment
was sustained by the Imperial law officers. The trial lasted two weeks,
and well tested the Chief's judicial powers.

[Sidenote: _CHIEF JUSTICE WOOD._]

He was of the strong fibre then called for in the young Province, where
rude elements were in conflict with the march of civilization.

In 1876 fifteen Americans crossed the boundary from Montana to the
North-West Territories in search of their horses which they claimed had
been stolen by Indians. A battle ensued, in which a number of red men
were killed, but no white man was hurt.

After the affair the Americans returned to Montana. The Canadian
Government had them arrested and applied for their extradition, but
failed. Shortly after this, three of the Americans were caught on the
Canadian side, and brought to Winnipeg to stand trial for murder. They
were defended by S. C. Biggs, K.C., who was nephew to the Chief Justice.

Mr. Biggs, on the trial, challenged peremptorily, or for cause, every
white juryman. The result was that the panel was composed entirely of
half-breeds, a very impressible jury. Chief Justice Wood, who presided,
was much annoyed, and gave vent to his feelings, as the trial proceeded.
The case for the Crown lasted six days. The evidence was given in no
less than seven languages and dialects.

When the defence opened, Biggs called, as the first witness, the Hon.
James McKay, known in the Province as the "King of the Half-breeds." The
Chief Justice immediately demanded, in no uncertain voice, why counsel
had called Mr. McKay, who, he asserted, knew nothing of the case. Biggs
was taken by surprise, but in a moment answered, "My Lord, I propose to
shew by this witness that the Indians who were killed were savages, and
that they fell in warfare, and that this was not murder but in
self-protection."

[Illustration: CHIEF JUSTICE CHARLES MOSS.]

[Illustration: CHIEF JUSTICE THOMAS MOSS.]

His Lordship looked at his learned kinsman for a moment and then
thundered out, "Why, sir, your own ancestors were savages only two or
three generations ago."

Mr. Biggs immediately replied, "True, true, my Lord, I claim the same
ancestry with yourself, only one generation farther removed."

His Lordship scarcely enjoyed the personal application, but the Bar did,
and he said, "Go on, sir, go on."

The prisoners were acquitted.

_Thomas Moss._--The life of a man is to be measured not by years, but by
his achievements. It was said of the famous American Federalist:--

    "Formed for all parts, in all alike he shewed
    A various power, a genius unconfined,
    In converse bright, judicious in debate,
    In private amiable, in public great."

And yet Alexander Hamilton fell at the age of forty-seven.

Thomas Moss is admitted to have been a man of like versatile gifts, who
would have been distinguished in any company.

While William Henry Draper, C.B., was Chief of the Court of Appeal, the
highest Provincial tribunal, the Chief of the Queen's Bench was, by an
accident of the law, styled Chief Justice of Ontario. This continued
until the death of Robert Alexander Harrison, November 1, 1878. Though
then only in his forty-fifth year, he had secured wonderful professional
success.

From the 8th of October, 1875, Chief Justice Draper had Mr. Moss as a
colleague who, after two years, succeeded to the Chief Justiceship. He
adorned the office until his untimely death, on the 4th of January,
1881, he being then of about the same age as Chief Justice Harrison at
his decease.

[Sidenote: _CHIEF JUSTICE THOMAS MOSS._]

The author of "The Irishman in Canada" finds no character more
attractive than that of Thomas Moss. Mr. Read, in his Lives, as he
sketches his brilliant but brief career, "feels a poignant sorrow for
the loss of so many friends." ... "It is not, however," he writes,
"within the compass of the work I have in hand to compose an elegy; even
had I the ability to make elegiac verse or poetic measure, I would not
indulge the sentiment. This is a prosaic, not a poetic age. It is well
to conform to the condition of things as we find them."

In his school and university Moss was always primus, carrying off many
prizes and medals. At Osgoode Hall he was successively Examiner,
Lecturer and Bencher. He was devoted to his alma mater, and was twice
elected Vice-Chancellor, while Edward Blake was the Chancellor. At the
Bar he soon won his way and generally had a sheaf of briefs. He was
twice elected to the Dominion Parliament by the citizens of Toronto,
among whom his boyhood had been spent. The high character and
cultivation of other Canadian Judges are referred to in this volume, but
none of them will have a more lasting fame, or be more dear to the
intelligent Canadian, than Thomas Moss.

On the day following his decease, Mr. Justice Burton, sitting in the
Court over which the late Chief had presided, paid a touching tribute to
his memory, saying in part, "His loss is too recent, and my appreciation
of it too keen to permit me to make more than a passing reference to his
personal and social qualities.... I wish I had the command of language
to do justice to his many virtues and his great intellectual gifts. But
I yield to none of his numerous friends in admiration of his character
and in tender and affectionate regard for his memory."

Chief Justice Moss will be remembered by the Bar through his judicial
utterances in the Court reports. They are remarkable for their clearness
and felicity of diction. He was too busy a man to contribute much to
general literature, but it is understood that, in his student days,
certain periodicals in Toronto were sometimes favoured by him.[20]

His addresses in Parliament were admired as efforts worthy of his
genius. He was felicitous at social gatherings, when wit flowed over the
walnuts and the wine. At a dinner to the Marquis of Lorne by the Toronto
Club, the Chief Justice was chairman and made an excellent address. This
gave rise to a happy compliment from a classical member of the Bar, a
guest at the banquet, who, after some aid from Ars Poetica, ended with
the punning application of a legal maxim, "Mos pro lege."


FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 12: Mrs. Jameson in "Summer Rambles, II., 186," and Davin in
"The Irishman in Canada," p. 116, both give the famous story of Dick
Talbot's reply to Louis XIV. "Non, Sire, mais mon père y était,"
assuming that it was then original; but Bacon in his _Apophthegms_ shews
that this same answer was given by a young Roman to Caesar Augustus; a
curious oversight in such scholars as Mrs. Jameson and Davin.]

[Footnote 13: Stevens v. Cook, 10 Chancery, 410.]

[Footnote 14: Can. Law Journal, II., N.S., p. 89.]

[Footnote 15: The presidential address of Sir J. B. Robinson is in vol.
III., 153; that of C.J. Hagarty, vol. VII., N.S., 1; C.J. Draper's in
vol. II., 82, and VIII., N.S., 97; Vice-Chancellor Mowat's in vol. for
1865.

In volume IV., 1858, is a poem of five cantos by an undergraduate of
Varsity, which had taken the Vice-Chancellor's prize:--Subject, _The
Atlantic Telegraph_. Poet, J. A. Boyd.]

[Footnote 16: Canadian Magazine, Dec. 1893, vol. II., 164.]

[Footnote 17: Henry IV. 11, 1, 2.]

[Footnote 18: Ryan v. Bank of Montreal, 12 O. R. 39, XIV., Appeal 533.
Lord Mansfield's house was burned in his 76th year, June 6th, 1780. See
verses by Cowper ending:--

    "The lawless herd with fury blind.
    Have done him cruel wrong;
    The flowers are gone; but still we find
    The honey on his tongue."

]

[Footnote 19: _Trifles from my Portfolio_; London, 1839, vol. II., 115.]

[Footnote 20: See references to the _Grumbler_ and _Poker_ in chapter
X.]




CHAPTER VII.

OSGOODE IN SCARLET, GREEN AND KHAKI.

    "_Form, Riflemen, Form!_"


Lord Campbell relates of Ranulfus de Granville, Chief Justiciar under
King Henry II., who is known as the "father of English jurisprudence,"
that he was equally distinguished as a lawyer, a statesman and a
soldier, that he was a good classical scholar and initiated in all the
mysteries of the feudal law.

Sir Matthew Hale, when a law student about the year 1625, resolved to be
a soldier, he would "trail a pike" under the Prince of Orange. His
relations tried to persuade him from following Mars, but the future
great Judge replied gaily:--

    "Tell me not of issue male,
    Of simple fee and special tale
    Of feoffments, judgments, bills of sale
        And leases:
    Can you discourse of hand grenadoes
    Of sally ports and ambuscadoes,
    Of counter scarps and palisadoes
        And trenches?"

We find the like characteristics exhibited, and the bravery and military
skill shewn by Colonel Prince and Sir Allan McNab, equalled by many of
our former learned Judges who, when the trumpet sounded, were always
ready to exchange the sombre gown for scarlet or green tunic. The
present occupants of High Court benches have lived in a happy era, and
been men of peace.

Archibald McLean was with Brock at Queenston Heights, and, when the
young Attorney-General McDonell fell there, he cried to the future
Chief, "Archie, help me." McLean was then also severely wounded, but
lived to take part in the later struggle at Lundy's Lane, and when that
was over, studied law under Dr. Baldwin.

Chief Justice Robinson was at the capture of Detroit by Brock in 1812,
and drew up the terms of General Hull's surrender. He was also at
Queenston Heights; was active in the troubles of 1837, and his son of
the same name, the future Lieutenant-Governor, on the 7th of December,
rode out on Yonge Street with Sir Francis Bond Head to meet the rebels,
and, soon after, became lieutenant in a company of loyal coloured
men.[21]

Few who saw the dignified bearing and heard the modulated tones of
William Henry Draper when on the Bench, knew that he had been
aide-de-camp to Governor Sir George Arthur, and, in 1838, a colonel of
militia; nor had they seen the fine features of Colonel John Godfrey
Spragge, lit up with heroic ardour, as he rode ten years later before
his battalion at Toronto, only resigning his command when he went to sit
beside Chancellor Blake.

Chief Justice Hagarty, at the time of threatened rebellion, did "sentry
go" in front of the Bank of Upper Canada, and Vice-Chancellor Esten
marched with the Governor to Montgomery's, carrying a gun.

Sir Oliver Mowat, when a youth, served in the Kingston battalion, and
related that he, as an ensign, carried the colours at the inauguration
of Brock's monument.

Mr. Robert Baldwin and Sir Adam Wilson had commissions in the militia.
Chief Justice Macaulay was a brave soldier, as stated in chapter II.

The late Mr. Justice John Wilson was active in suppressing the rebellion
of 1837, when he was Captain of a company raised in London. He became
Colonel of the Second Battalion Sedentary Militia, and when he retired,
an order appeared in the Canada Gazette in which the Commander-in-Chief
expressed "the sense he entertained of the value of Lieut.-Colonel
Wilson's services in the militia of the Province for the last five and
twenty years."

[Sidenote: _LAWYER SOLDIERS._]

The Hon. John Willoughby Crawford, who was a Bencher, partner of Judges
Sherwood and Hagarty in business, member of Parliament, and when he
died, May 13th, 1875, Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, was
lieutenant-colonel of the Fifth Battalion of Militia.

Reference to the militia list of the Dominion shews that alumni of
Osgoode Hall hold many honourable appointments in the service, among
them being the Deputy Adjutant-General, Colonel B. H. Vidal, the
Attorney-General, Hon. J. M. Gibson, K.C., LL.D.; Lieutenant-Colonels
George T. Denison, LL.B.; W. E. O'Brien, J. B. Rankin, K.C., John E.
Farewell, K.C., LL.B.; W. E. Hodgins, M.A.; E. B. Edwards, K.C., LL.B.;
William N. Ponton, M.A., and many others of various ranks.

Our wise authorities, recognizing an affinity between the two
professions, have placed the great armouries in close proximity to
Osgoode Hall.

The history of rifle corps at Toronto has many matters of interest to
members of the Law Society. When war was threatened with the United
States in connection with the Oregon boundary in 1846, Mr. Read relates
that Mr. Esten and he volunteered and used to meet nightly for drill in
St. Lawrence Hall. "Mr. Esten was," he states, "his right hand man. We
had some difficulty in forming fours, but ultimately succeeded." The
future Vice-Chancellor found the old Queen Bess gun borne by him at
Gallows' Hill, in 1837, too large for his moderate figure, and now
carried a more suitable rifle made for his use. The gun, which he had
made, is a smooth-bore, with bayonet, the barrel, thirty-three inches
long, and percussion lock. It weighs nine pounds, and was made by
Ashfield, of Toronto. This well preserved weapon is shewn in an
illustration along with the more ancient Baldwin office chairs. Lord
Aberdeen arranged the Oregon dispute by accepting the 49th parallel as
the boundary.

In the year 1860 the Imperial Parliament encouraged the formation of
volunteer rifle corps, when the movement was taken up enthusiastically.
Cambridge University has the credit of enrolling the first company.
Early in 1861 Trinity University at Toronto formed its corps, the
uniform being like that of Cambridge, grey with scarlet facings. The
first captain was Robert B. Denison, under whose zeal and energy high
efficiency was attained.

Thomas H. Ince was captain in 1863 and 1864, Livius P. Sherwood the next
two years, and Salter M. Jarvis then for three years. Bruce Harman and
George A. MacKenzie subsequently down to 1875.

Among members of the legal profession on the roster were Judge John A.
Ardagh, W. P. Atkinson, Geo. F. Harman, James Henderson, Elmes
Henderson, Saulter J. VanKoughnet, George McKenzie, Lieutenant J. H. G.
Hagarty, Rusk Harris, Beverley Jones, A. P. Poussette and George M. Rae.

The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada were organized March 14, 1862, when the
corps became No. 8 Company of that regiment and soon abandoned the grey
and assumed the dark green uniform of the regiment.

When the land was aroused to apprehension by the Trent affair in
November, 1861, a call was made for University men to meet at
Convocation Hall, and, among those who responded were Mr. Edward Blake
and a goodly number of other graduates, then members of the Bar or
students at law. Peace was secured by the giving up of Mason and
Slidell, but this movement resulted in the formation of the company,
which became No. 9 of the Q. O. R., afterwards styled K Company, which
for a time was divided into two, called I and K Companies.

[Sidenote: _THE QUEEN'S OWN RIFLES._]

The first officers were Professor Croft, Captain; Professor Cherriman,
Lieutenant, and Adam Crooks as Ensign, representing the Bar. There was
no "Devil's Own" in the Province, members of the profession joining
cordially with the colleges in manner stated.

The University Company at first wore grey, but, when incorporated with
the Q. O. R., also adopted the dark green.

The Captains, after Professor Croft, were Professors Cherriman, Ellis,
VanderSmissen and Baker, and George Acheson, now Colonel of the 29th
Regiment, Joseph M. Delamere, E. F. Gunther, Harry Green, Dr. Theodore
Coleman and Robert Rennie. Mr. Robert Reford, now of Montreal, was
captain of one of the other companies for three years, from April, 1863.

Sometimes a sergeant from the barracks was drill master, but oftener the
fine old Waterloo soldier Henry Goodwin, who might have been seen as a
corporal twenty-five years before, training Irish lads in front of the
Belfast Royal Academical Institution. He came to Canada in 1850, and was
known throughout the land as a master of drill and gymnastics. He
inspired all with military ardour.

[Illustration: CHRISTOPHER ROBINSON, K.C.]

The University company practised shooting in the first Rosedale ravine,
between Huntley and Sherbourne Streets. Among the crack shots were
Sergeant Gibson, now Attorney-General, and Private Hodgins, now Master
in Ordinary. The march out was often along College Street to the vacant
space then found at Spadina Avenue, where drill took place. It was
curious to note the difficulty which some found in mastering tactics
and getting beyond the goose step and out of the awkward squad. An
officer, who in a few years wore silk, could never raise his sword
properly to the salute. No one was more enthusiastic than the worthy
Professor of History and English Literature, his long hair protruding
under his shako as he moved in step among juvenile recruits.

In an official organization of the Q. O. R., of November 21, 1862, a
battalion was constituted of ten companies, the two referred to being
included as Trinity College Company, No. 8, Major R. B. Denison, and
University Company, No. 9, Capt. H. Croft. A band was organized under
Mr. A. Maul, and, in January, 1863, Thomas H. Ince became Captain of the
battalion vice R. B. Denison appointed Brigade Major. Captain Henry
Goodwin was the first Adjutant.

A battalion order of May 1, 1863, directs men to parade with tunics and
shakos, sergeants with rifles, officers in undress uniforms and forage
caps, and wearing swords. On the 19th of that month, the habit of
wearing shirt collars on parade, indulged by some, is reprehended, and
the "commanding officer trusts that for the credit of the battalion the
practice will in future be discontinued."

"The year 1866," writes the chronicler, "was a stirring one for Canada,
and especially for the Queen's Own."

The air was full of Fenian boasts and threats, and the executive of the
Republic winked at their preparations for invading Canada. Major-General
Napier, commanding in Canada West, gave orders to meet and drill, as an
invasion was feared in March. Trouble was anticipated on the 17th of
that month, St. Patrick's Day, and the battalion, 39 officers and 666
men, was mustered and kept under arms, but no outbreak arose.

[Sidenote: _THE QUEEN'S OWN AT RIDGEWAY._]

The first and second days of June were memorable in Toronto annals. On
the first the main body of the battalion, 356 strong, embarked in the
morning on the steamer City of Toronto, for Port Dalhousie; the
remainder of the battalion followed by the evening boat. The affair at
Ridgeway took place next day. The Queen's Own marched at the head of the
column of Canadian troops. "The action at Ridgeway was not," says the
historian, "perhaps a battle of the first class. The numbers engaged
were small, and the butcher's bill light ... but it was one of the most
decisive battles ever fought on Canadian soil, nevertheless, for though
the immediate result of the action was the retirement of the Canadian
troops, the ultimate result was the speedy withdrawal of the army of
Fenians from the soil of Canada."

Trinity company was actively employed during the engagement in
skirmishing order on the extreme left, while the University company was
on the right.

There would probably not have been so many casualties, but that "some
one had blundered." A few horsemen were mistaken for cavalry, and the
men were ordered to form a square, a good mark for Fenian bullets. The
result is part of the country's history. She was full well satisfied
with the action of her young defenders, and has given the survivors
medals in honour of the event. Trinity Company escaped unwounded; four
of University Company felt Fenian missiles, three of them being members
of the Law Society, Privates R. E. Kingsford, E. G. Patterson, and W. H.
VanderSmissen (law student). Other members of the Bar at this engagement
were Corporal T. D. Delamere and Privates E. H. Smythe, T. M. Grover, H.
M. Deroche, William Watt and Arthur Williams. Others who left for the
scene of action under Major Croft and Lieutenant Cherriman, but did not
actually take part in the engagement, were Sergeant R. R. Baldwin and
Privates Walter G. Cassels, J. E. Farewell, James Loudon, now President
of the University, John A. Paterson, C. E. Ryerson (afterwards Captain),
Charles B. Jackes, William Mulock (now Sir William), George A.
Radenhurst, of Barrie, James E. Robertson. A monument to seven of the Q.
O. R. who lost their lives at this time is in the Queen's Park.

The battalion was armed with old Enfield muzzle-loading rifles and
bayonets, which were discarded in favour of Spencer repeating rifles in
February, 1867, but these were exchanged six months later for long
Snider Enfields.

It was with many a matter of lasting regret when they could not go to
the front at the bugle call. An incident occurred in the House of
Assembly after the Ridgeway affair. A worthy colonel from the brave
north country had excused himself on account of suffering from sore
feet. An honourable member referring to this quoted from the old ballad
of Chevy Chase:--

    For Witherington needs must I wail,
        As one in doleful dumps;
    For when his legs were smitten off,
        He fought upon his stumps.

It would have been pleasant had this challenge received as witty a
reply, on the contrary it ruffled the feathers of the gallant law maker.

Wm. B. McMurrich was a member of the Victoria Rifles, a company formed
after the Trent affair, which became amalgamated with the Q. O. R. as
No. 6 Company. Lewis W. Ord was Captain. Their uniform was also at first
grey with red trimmings, and a bunch of cock's feathers set in the
shako. In 1885 Mr. McMurrich was in active service for three months at
Stanley Barracks, as Captain of the battery of Garrison Artillery, and
was then Commandant there.

[Sidenote: _ON THE PRAIRIE AND VELDT._]

When the Riel rebellion of 1870 broke out, Hugh John Macdonald, son of
the late Premier and a member of the Ontario Bar, was an ensign in the
second battalion and accompanied it to Manitoba. He became a captain in
the historic 90th Regiment. Herbert M. Mowat served first in the Prince
of Wales Own Rifles and then in the Q. O. R., retiring with rank of
Captain. Thomas Langton retired with rank as Lieutenant. Major M. S.
Mercer is still in service. Captain William Roaf and Lieutenants Walter
Barwick, Henry O'Brien, William H. Blake and Sergeant-Major James F.
Smith, members of the Toronto Bar, were active officers of this
regiment.

During the summer of 1877, G. Company was organized with R. Heber Bowes,
Captain, and W. E. Hodgins, Lieutenant. The decade before the second
half-breed rising had in it little practical service. On March 27th,
1885, came the rude awakening at Duck Lake, and the Queen's Own was the
first corps called on; 250 men from it were asked for, but 23 more
managed to join the party. Among the members of the Bar who served on
this more distant field were Lieutenants H. Brock, E. W. H. Blake, E. F.
Gunther and R. S. Cassels, Sergeant Henry W. Mickle, Corporal H. B.
Cronyn, and Privates A. D. Crooks and A. J. Boyd.

In the late Boer war twenty-seven men from the strength of the Queen's
Own were taken in addition to those who enlisted as members of other
corps. Among those who then left their practice and donned the khaki
were Captain Rybert K. Barker, who returned with medal and clasps,
Captain A. J. Boyd, who had also an honourable career on the veldt, but
fell a victim to fever, and F. T. D. Hector, who returned in safety.

The Tenth, or Royal Grenadier Regiment, was organized March 14th, 1862.
Its active service was mainly in June, 1866, when it was at Fort Erie
and elsewhere on the Niagara Frontier, and in the North-West, at Cut
Knife Creek and Batoche, where it served from March 30th to May 12th,
1885. The First Lieutenant-Colonel was Frederick William Cumberland, one
of the accomplished architects of Osgoode Hall. Lawyers were not so much
in evidence in this regiment as in the Q. O. R., but we find that John
Bruce was lately its Lieutenant-Colonel, Thomas Taylor Rolph was Major,
the late N. G. Bigelow, paymaster, George Anthony Boomer, Frederick B.
Cumberland and George W. Allan, Captains, and Don M. Howard, Lieutenant,
at various dates. Captain John G. Ridout had returned from the 100th
Regiment and the Staff College in 1865 and served in the Second Company,
Administrative Battalion, at Laprairie during O'Neil's threatened attack
of that year. He joined the Tenth Royals when they went to Fort Erie,
and after the main body of the Fenians had recrossed the river, he was
active in making prisoners, among whom was Father McMahon. These braves
were subsequently tried at Toronto and some of them served the Queen in
the Kingston penitentiary.

The Governor-General's Body Guard is a Dragoon Corps, dating from 1822,
in whose organization the late Colonel George Taylor Denison, of
Bellevue, and his son of the same name, a lawyer by profession, took a
leading part, and in which many of the name have since figured. The
troop was independent and self-supporting until December, 1855, when it
was gazetted into the active militia. Among its commanders were the late
Frederick C. Denison, C.M.G., and M.P. for Toronto, also the present
Police Magistrate, a distinguished alumnus of Osgoode and Varsity;
Clarence A. Denison, the late Colonel, and Major Cockburn, V.C., who won
his decoration on the veldt, also Major George T. Denison, the fourth of
the name, and Captain M. C. Cameron, members of the Bar. The 48th
Highland Regiment dates from October, 1891, only, and has for Major,
Donald M. Robertson of the same profession.[22]

[Sidenote: _TORONTO REGIMENTS._]

The Toronto Light Horse Regiment, organized April 1st, 1903, has a
medical man in command, associated with him being two members of the
Bar, Captains D. L. McCarthy and John H. Moss.

The commanding officers of these regiments now, 1904, naming the corps
according to official seniority, are, of the Governor-General's Body
Guard, Hamilton Merritt, who recently returned from service in Africa;
of the Toronto Light Horse, Major Peters; of the Queen's Own Rifles,
Lieutenant-Colonel H. M. Pellatt; of the Royal Grenadiers,
Lieutenant-Colonel G. A. Stimson, and of the 48th Highlanders, William
C. Macdonald.

And now, with permission, the writer would rise to remark that he much
fears that, in this necessarily limited relation, some hero's name may
be omitted or gallant deed slighted. He has before him the precedent of
Judge Sullivan, and would avoid facing angry guns. He humbly offers,
however, on proof of any such omission, to submit to banishment from the
Hall, without benefit of clergy, during all the next Long Vacation.

[Illustration: CHIEF JUSTICE FALCONBRIDGE.]

[Illustration: CHIEF JUSTICE MEREDITH.]

He will hie away to Fort Erie and count the dints made by Fenian bullets
in ancient houses there, then to Port Arthur and, from a well remembered
cottage on the hillside, look down on the sleeping Manito of Thunder
Cape, and go over the story of Wolseley's campaign, as related there,
soon after the event, in the gentle tones of Simon James Dawson. At
Winnipeg he will visit the historic spots where brave John Schultz and
the enthusiastic Consul Taylor were our cicerones; then pass by Selkirk
on the Red River to the cabin where I-and-wah-wah, that venerable Cree
warrior, the red counterpart of Sir John Macdonald in face and figure,
told us of cruel Sioux massacres and of his loyal ancestors. Trekking
farther west, we would see how the white man took up his burden, and our
brave fellows bore their knapsacks, we would learn how Riel planned and
Dumont led, where the great Crowfoot held his tribe in check with firm
hand, where Poundmaker and Big Bear encamped, visit Cut Knife Creek and
Batoche, walk in the old buffalo trails, hear the bark of the prairie
dog, the whirr of the grouse, the cry of the wild duck, the call of the
song sparrow, and look on the great prairie sun as he sinks to his
golden bed in an opal and emerald sky.[23]


FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 21: As to this Company, see Chapter V.]

[Footnote 22: Reference has been made in preparing this account to "The
Queen's Own Rifles of Canada, 1901," by Capt. E. J. Chambers; "Trinity
College Rifle Company," by Captain S. Bruce Harman, in Trinity
University Review, Oct., 1899; and "University of Toronto Fasti,
1850-1887;" also to "Champion's History of the 10th Royals and Royal
Grenadiers, 1896."]

[Footnote 23: As to I-and-wah-wah, Crowfoot, the Blackfoot chief, and
Assikinack, see "Famous Algonquins," in Semi-Centennial Vol. Can.
Institute _Transactions_, 1899, 285.]




CHAPTER VIII.

GOWNS, WIGS, BAGS AND AETHIOPS IN AULIS.

    "But none that see how here we sit
    Would judge us over-grown with wit."--_Hudibras_.



In the portrait of Chief Justice Sir John Robinson, at the west end of
the main library, he is sitting robed in black silk and ermine, and his
is the only figure so arrayed in the Hall. Dr. Scadding writes of this,
"his finely cut Reginald Heber features are well delineated."

For some years the Common Law Judges, when sitting in bane, had purple
silk robes with capes and ample sleeves, which were set off with a
lighter shade of the same colour. This dress was tasteful and
appropriate. It is shewn at the Hall only in Mr. Berthon's fine picture
of Chief Justice Harrison, and is seen in that here given of Chief
Justice Falconbridge, and will, it is hoped, again come into fashion and
judicial favour. It is said to have been introduced by Judge Draper
about 1856, and to have been fashioned after the dress of the English
Judges' brothers in the law, the sergeants. The Chancellor and
Vice-Chancellors did not adopt this style, which was discarded a score
of years ago on the consolidation of the Courts, and now all their
Lordships, when on duty, wear black silk, white bands or white
"chokers." If we look below the belt, it will be seen that the ordinary
black garb is used in most of the pictures, but five wore knee breeches,
silk stockings, and buckled shoes.

Some officials of Governor Simcoe's time may have brought perukes with
them, but the fashion had then been generally superseded by the queue
and hair powder.[24] Colonel Coffin, in his book on the war of 1812,
asserts that a scratch wig taken by the Americans from the Parliament
Buildings, probably the property of Mr. Speaker, was mistaken for a
scalp by those rude invaders, unskilled in the arts of European society.
The judicial wig has not been in vogue here nor in the more eastern
Provinces of Canada, since the Hall was founded, but may be seen on
learned Judges and counsel in British Columbia, many of them scions of
Osgoode. Prior to July 20, 1871, that Province was a Crown Colony, and
imported its Judges and their paraphernalia direct from the mother land.
The dignity of the Bench is there very assertive, transcending that of
the Canadian Supreme Court. It takes more than the tailor to array with
judicial costume in the Province by the Pacific, and yet the $50
required to buy a wig would secure a dozen useful text books, and the
brain would be cooler.

It was a fine spectacle, conducive to high education, when on the
opening of the Assizes in a young town, Mr. Justice was seen, escorted
by the High Sheriff wearing sword and official attire, his Lordship in
gown of scarlet and ermine, with bands, wig, cocked hat, knee breeches,
silk stockings and shoe buckles. But alas, for this iconoclastic age!
must all the gorgeous array, this ancient pageantry, disappear, and like
the wampum and brave feathers of the Crees, be known only through
historic portraits and in legends of the past?

[Illustration: MR. MATTHEW WILSON, K.C.]

When Mr. Joseph Martin came from the prairies of Manitoba and became
Attorney-General of British Columbia, he boldly refused to conform to
the fashion and don the regulation head gear. He even, by legislation,
made its use by the profession optional. The County Court Judges of the
Province have not aspired to this head dress. The Chief Justice meets
the changing state of opinion by sitting uncovered in single Court, and
with wig in banc. The profane aver that soon only the bald-headed will
be so attired.

[Sidenote: _JUDICIAL COSTUME._]

An Irish barrister brought such a head dress from Dublin Four-Courts,
and aired it with more boldness than discretion in the Toronto Court
House four decades ago. He was subjected to many practical jokes, in
one of which the wig disappeared for ever.

When Canadian counsel have the good fortune to go before the Judicial
Committee of the Imperial Privy Council, the distinguished members of
that body sit around a table in a plain room, about whose sides are law
books on shelves, and they are without gown or wig; but the Colonial
barrister has to secure both gown and hirsute head dress for the
occasion. One eminent Canadian Judge did not object to the gown but drew
the line at the white falling bands and wore the democratic choker. When
he was called to the Supreme Court he had to array himself in the red
robe with its ermine-trimmed cape, used there on opening days and state
occasions. It is said to have been suggested by the worthy Lord
Dufferin, when Viceroy, to give dignity and effect.

As one sees the six high luminaries, so arrayed, moving to their
allotted places, he is reminded of the expression of the astonished
half-breed at the opening by Governor Archibald, of the first Manitoba
Parliament. He stood in homespun and moccasins as His Honour, in
glorious array, passed towards his seat in the little Legislative
Council; then our untutored native threw up his beaver-skin chapeau and
cried, "Tiens! Ce n'est pas un homme; c'est un faisan doré!" It is said
that wigs wore also discussed by the Court in camera at Ottawa, but they
decided, by a majority vote, that the red robe was sufficient for all
purposes.

In Flanders' Life of John Rutledge, a description is given of a Bench in
Boston in 1761. "In this chamber were seated five Judges, all in their
new fresh robes of scarlet English cloth, in their broad bands and
immense judicial wigs." The barristers of Boston were then seen "in
their gowns, bands and tye-wigs, their dress more solemn and pompous
than that of the Roman Senate when the Gauls broke in upon them."

In English colonies the title of "Lord" was generally given to Superior
Court Judges as also to bishops, while "Mon Seigneur," which is near in
meaning to "My Lord," was used in addressing a Church dignitary. In the
Province of Quebec, "Your Honour" or "Votre Honneur" was for two
centuries held sufficient in addressing the Bench, but in the autumn of
1901, the Judges of the Superior Courts there expressed the opinion that
it was infra dig to be so styled, while the higher sounding title was
bestowed in the English-speaking Provinces. They therefore recommended
the Bar to adopt this term of address. It was assumed that they would,
with Gallic politeness, at once concur, but it was soon apparent that
the suggestion was not entirely pleasing to the French advocates, some
of whom argued that the term "Lord" is foreign to their customs and
language, one specifically given to English peers, and that the title
inherited from France is historically and nationally correct and
honourable. A gentleman, being required by the Court of Appeals in
Quebec to use the word, concluded his argument in English rather than
translate the expression "Your Lordships."[25]

The Court gravely overruled all objections and made order that Counsel
should so address it. The dutiful Bar now say "My Luds" and avoid the
penalties of a species of "lese majesté," pertaining to the dignity of
these high tribunals, while all wonder what will happen when the Bench
learns that, in the junior Province, wigs grace many learned crowns as
the barristers bow to their reverend bewigged Lordships.

[Sidenote: _GENTLEMEN OF THE OLD SCHOOL._]

It was reported that a learned Judge in Montreal whose hearing was
becoming dull, decreed that, for the sake of clearer enunciation, no
advocate should wear an overhanging moustache while addressing the
Bench, but this seems mythical.

The use of the cocked hat on opening assizes and like occasions is
common. Linen, with ruffles at breast and wrists, is then good style,
but any adornment in shape of "frills" has hitherto been regarded with
only amusing appreciation in these Provinces.

A black cap covers the judicial head in giving sentence. The Sheriff
receives the Judge when he comes to the assizes, and keeps order there.
He is expected to sport a cocked hat with sword by his side, and, when
there are no prisoners to be tried, he presents to the Judge a pair of
white gloves in token of that happy state of affairs. None of the Hall
pictures shew either peruke or queue; some have bands and some chokers.

Dr. Scadding, our best authority as to "Toronto of Old," declares that
the well known pictures, the "Signing the Declaration of Independence"
by Turnbull, and Huntingdon's "Republican Court of Washington," exhibit
to the eye the outward and visible presentment of the prominent actors
in the affairs of the central portion of the Northern Continent a
century ago. The Doctor refers to two founders of Upper Canada families,
Mr. John Small, Clerk of the Crown, and Mr. Thomas Ridout,
Surveyor-General, as fine typical representatives of the group,
retaining the usual costume of the antique style. "Doctor Baldwin, Mr.
Samuel Ridout, Colonel Fitzgibbon and Mr. McNab, Senior, Sir Allan's
father, were similarly habited as they gathered each Sunday in the old
wooden church of St. James."

[Illustration: CHIEF JUSTICE SIR ADAM WILSON.]

[Illustration: MR. JUSTICE ARMOUR.]

The portrait of Dr. Baldwin at the Hall, wearing an over-coat, and in
somewhat antique costume, was from the brush of Mr. Hamel, an excellent
artist and a friend of the Baldwin family.

"Mr. Stephen Jarvis retained to the last the ancient fashion of tying
the hair in a queue." He was Registrar of the Province, and his cousin,
William Jarvis, was its Secretary in the days of the first Governors.

Among younger men was Mr. Simon Washburn, "a bulky and prosperous
barrister, afterwards Clerk of the Peace, who was the first, perhaps, in
these parts to carry a glass adroitly in the eye," in the manner, it is
presumed, affected by the present Mr. Chamberlain. This peculiarity did
not escape notice and comment. Sir Allan McNab, then a gay youth, riding
through town, saw Washburn on King Street eyeing him through his
monocle. McNab at once raised one of his stirrups, applied it to his eye
as a lens of large diameter, and so boldly returned the gaze to the
amusement of the bystanders. The Hon. J. Hillyard Cameron will be
remembered as a dexterous user of the monocle.

An old inhabitant remembers to have seen Mr. Washburn and his worthy
wife, a very comfortable appearing pair, riding through the little city
on horseback, and that the nick-name "Sergeant Buz-fuz," was then
attached to Mr. Washburn. As this famous character, the original
Buz-fuz, was introduced to the public in 1837, it may be assumed that
the time of the ride was soon thereafter, and that the "Sketches by Boz"
were familiar to Toronto people. Such names generally originate through
some marked characteristic or accident, and when given, often attach to
the person for life. Mr. D----, a later professional worthy, whose hair
was of the warmest hue, acquired his sobriquet through the merry sally
of a friend. Being at an assize town with a witty companion, Mr. H----,
from Toronto, who became a Judge, D---- introduced a gentleman to H----,
adding politely, "He is considered to be the flower of the profession."
"Allow me to return the compliment," said H----, with a bow, "and inform
you that our friend is the sunflower of our Bar."

[Sidenote: _NICK-NAMES AND FASHIONS._]

Mr. R. J. Turner was a noted snuff-taker. Visitors to the office of the
Sheriff of the County of York, before its division, and of the City of
Toronto since, have for three score years found a well filled jar on the
counter from which all are welcome to take a pinch of the fragrant
powder.

Many members of the Bar have, as is shewn in this narrative, made their
marks in municipal as well as Provincial councils. Three of them at
least endeavoured, by costume, to add dignity to the office. In 1845
William Henry Boulton was elected Mayor of Toronto, and ordered a
gorgeous robe of scarlet, trimmed with ermine, which must have resembled
the robes of the Justices of the Supreme Court at Ottawa. Clad in his
magnificent gown, Mr. Boulton used to drive down from the Grange to the
City Hall and preside over the deliberations of the Council. When, in
1847, Mr. Boulton finished his three years of service as Mayor, his
successor, George Gurnett, afterwards Police Magistrate, occupied the
throne in his work-a-day toggery.

Lady Elgin laid the first sod on the building of the Northern Railway,
October 15, 1851, when the Mayor of Toronto officiated in approved
costume of cocked hat, knee breeches, silk hose and sword.

He was afterwards defendant in the famous suit, _City of Toronto v.
Bowes_, in which Messrs. Oliver Mowat and Philip VanKoughnet established
their fame as equity Counsel.

To D. B. Read, Q.C., who was Mayor in 1857, is due the introduction of
the Queen's Counsel uniform and the top hat; and funny top hats they
were, straight up and down pipes, with the brim at right angles to the
crown. The newspapers of those days guyed Mr. Read a little, but he
manfully stuck to his guns, and his successors followed his example. Mr.
Read was the first to wear this dress at the City Hall, but before this
for many years the Mayors had appeared in evening costume. Hon. Henry
Sherwood, who was Mayor in 1842, and the two succeeding years, wore
scarlet robes which were not, however, as elaborate as those of Mayor
Boulton.

In 1864, Francis H. Metcalfe being Mayor, there was held in London,
England, a great gathering of British and Colonial Mayors. "Old
Squaretoes," as Mr. Metcalfe was called, attended, and in order that he
might impress the other chief magistrates with a sense of the City's
importance, purchased in London a regulation English Mayor's outfit with
Mayoralty chain of office and cocked hat. When he returned to Toronto he
wore his costume at one Council meeting, but after that it was returned
to the cases in which it had journeyed across the sea. The old
inhabitant remembers warm evenings before Mayor Boulton's day, when the
Council sat in shirt sleeves in the stuffy chamber under the democratic
mayoralty of George Munro. Sherwood, when presiding, insisted that, if
he sweltered in his red robe, the Councilmen should keep their coats on.

The distinction between the branches of the profession, inherited from
the mother land, has been almost entirely effaced here, but there are
yet a few solicitors who are not barristers. While there were separate
Courts, he who practised in common law was an attorney, while the
solicitor devoted himself to equity or chancery practice. The proctor
engaged in maritime or ecclesiastical tribunals. Now the solicitor has
superseded, and his functions embrace also those formerly of the
attorney and proctor, and few lawyers in Ontario refuse business in any
branch of the profession. Yet it should be remembered that the gentleman
in the gown who addresses the Court is a barrister, while he, whether
the same person or not, who takes instructions and draws pleadings,
wills, and other papers in his office or elsewhere out of the Judges'
presence, is the solicitor. The position reminds one of Dr. Jekyll and
Mr. Hyde.

[Sidenote: _KING'S COUNSEL._]

While entrance to the profession must be through the portals of the Law
Society, the title of King's Counsel, when a King's name attests court
writs, and Queen's Counsel, when a Queen reigns, is bestowed on
favoured barristers by the Government of the Dominion or of the
Province. This is done without reference to the Bench or Bar. A number
of such appointments generally appears after each general election.
Active gentlemen of the winning party appear in the happy position of
the early bird. There are always some surprises then, which remind one
of the distich:--

    "There was a Roman emperor
    Who made his horse a Senator."[26]

When Sir Oliver Mowat became Minister of Justice, in 1896, he found a
large list of Q.C.'s proposed by the late Government, but unfortunately
for the gentlemen named, not yet gazetted. The incoming Minister was the
gentlest and wisest of men who ever wore a Crown Minister's uniform. He
eyed that long list critically. He took it into his most serious
consideration. Next day he shewed it to Sir Wilfrid; the bland Premier
smiled and hummed "A Bytown c'est un joli place," a stave from a popular
melody. Sir Oliver was making up his mind; he wished to avoid a cruel
act and yet, as he pondered, the old adage ending with "ruat coelum,"
insisted on coming up. He called on the Governor-General, told him of
his doubts, was encouraged when his Excellency admitted that the list
was, perhaps, under the circumstances, a little premature; not quite
desirable. Then came the sacrifice of the Innocents. The good Sir Oliver
lifted his now ruthless pen; the list was cancelled.

Among others whom the honour seemed to fit, in the late Provincial
appointments, were several prominent officials, members of the Society,
who had served long and with credit.

In addition to putting K.C. on his card, the King's Counsel must hie to
the tailor, order a black coat and vest of the proper cut, a silk gown
and red bag. When next in Court and so arrayed, he hands his patent to
the Registrar, who shews it to the Judge. His Lordship smiles and says,
"Mr. K.C., allow me to congratulate you, be kind enough to take a seat
within the Bar."

The ordinary or outer barrister wears black clothes, a stuff gown and
"choker" and carries a blue or black brief bag. His Lordship, the Judge,
sports a green bag. He is a "Lordship" only in the Court, leaving that
he is "Mr. Justice."

The coloured man has been connected with the law, as appears by the
records at Osgoode Hall, from the early day when the town, as Little
York, enjoyed the luxuries of a town pump, a whipping post and pillory.
The Court House block extended from King Street to Adelaide Street,
between Church Street and the present Toronto Street. Black Joe, a
notable character who had been a regimental drummer, administered the
lash in the case of two culprits; the sheriff stood by keeping count of
strokes; the elder of the unfortunates bore the punishment bravely,
encouraging the negro to strike with force. The other, a young man, for
a while imitated his stoical companion, but was soon forced to evince by
cries the torture endured.

Solicitor-General Gray had his gay young body-servant, or slave, Simon
Baker, to carry his brief bag. Master and slave perished together in the
ill-fated schooner "Speedy." With them were Judge Thomas Cochrane,
Sheriff Angus McDonell, Captain Paxton and others, 39 in all. They
embarked on a stormy day, the 7th October, 1804, for Presqu'isle, taking
with them Ogetonicut, an Indian, to be put on his trial for the murder
of John Sharp, a white man. As the crime was committed in the Newcastle
district, the trial was to take place there. White, red and black men
sank together and, it is said, their remains were never found. Judge
Cochrane came of a distinguished family, was appointed Chief Justice of
Prince Edward Island in 1801, and promoted to the Upper Canada Queen's
Bench in 1803, when about 30 years of age.

[Sidenote: _LOSS OF THE "SPEEDY."_]

The Government had two schooners called "The King's vessels," built at
Kingston in General Hunter's time, the "Speedy" and another which sailed
with soldiers on board and had the like fate, being never seen again. It
is said the use of unseasoned timber caused the misfortunes.

The loss of the "Speedy" was the saddest calamity in the early history
of Upper Canada. As none survived to tell the tale, we can only
conjecture that, in the stormy night when off Presqu' isle harbour, the
poorly built vessel was suddenly overwhelmed. The brave captain, the
able young Judge, and the Solicitor-General, with the Sheriff, John
Fisk, high constable, and Mr. Anderson, a law student, the witnesses and
crew, who had dutifully dared the peril, manfully met the same fate as
the stoical Ogetonicut, the gay black boy and two poor children who were
passengers.

An account of the affair appeared in the Niagara _Gazette_ of November
3, 1804, of which a copy may be found in "Toronto of Old," and in an
article by Mr. C. C. James in the fifth volume of the Ontario Historical
Society.

It is stated that nine widows and many orphans were left in the little
town to mourn the loss of husbands or parents. Search in the records at
the Hall fails to find trace of the information and proceedings in the
case.

The character of the young Solicitor-General was attractive, and some
remarks as to him, mainly taken from the mouth of his old servant, may
be of interest.

Robert Isaac Dey Gray was the first Solicitor-General, and second on the
roll of Benchers; we know more of him than of Attorney-General White.
His father, James Gray, a Highlander, was a captain in the "Black
Watch," the 42nd Regiment, and retiring after the British took Havana in
1762, he lived for a time in New York State, where he was Major in the
King's Royal Regiment, but on the separation of the United Colonies from
the motherland, he abandoned valuable possessions and settled in the
then village of Cornwall, where he became sheriff, and was known as
Colonel Gray. His son Robert was evidently a bright and amiable lad and
was probably a pupil in the law office of Mr. Jacob Farrand. He was
member for Stormont in the Legislative Assembly. He became
Solicitor-General March 21, 1797, and lived then on the north side of
Wellington Street, Toronto. In his family Mr. Gray had a coloured slave
woman, Dorinda Baker, and her children, among whom were John and Simon.

By his will, made August 27th, 1803, the Solicitor-General manumits his
"faithful black servant Dorinda," and gives her and her children their
freedom. He left to John and Simon each two hundred acres of land and
made provision for the maintenance of the family.

[Sidenote: _SOLICITOR-GENERAL GRAY._]

Other generous acts of the Solicitor-General, for which he had the
gratitude of humble dependents, were related to the writer by the late
Judge Jacob Farrand Pringle, of Cornwall, a connection of the Farrand
and Gray families. Governor Simcoe, Chief Justice Osgoode and Mr. Gray
seem to have been equally inspired with kindness towards the lowly, and
abhorrence of slavery. John Baker survived the other members of the
family, living until January 17th, 1871, when he died in Cornwall at a
patriarchal age. He had drawn a small pension for fifty-seven years. The
writer met the old man in August, 1868. He was a dark mulatto of amiable
countenance, suffering from old age and rheumatism, and not loath to lay
aside the wood-saw, and tell the story of his life. He had, when a boy,
lived at Gray's Creek with Mr. Farrand, who on his journeys rode like a
Tartar, followed by his black boy with his master's valise strapped to
his back.

"Young Gray was," John Baker said, "the only child of the Colonel, and
went to Parliament several years running. The Colonel was strict and
sharp, put deerskin shirts and jackets on me and gave me many good
whippings. Simon was older than me and was Solisary (sic) Gray's
body-servant. I lived two years in Toronto, or little York, in a large
white house north of the boat landing. The people were proud and grand
then. Simon was dressed finer than his master, with a beaver hat and
gold watch. Governor Hunter ordered the party to go to the trial in the
'Speedy.' He was a severe old man, and wore leather breeches. In one
pocket he carried tobacco, in the other snuff, and it would fall over
his fine ruffled shirt-front,--fine, no mistake, and silver buckles to
his shoes. Solisary Gray, when he went off last, told me to look after
the place. They started between four and five in the evening, and we
heard of the loss next morning from the brig 'Toronto.' There were then
in Toronto about twenty houses. After that I went to Judge Powell's. A
recruiting agent came along and I 'listed. Judge Powell 'paid the smart'
for me seven times. I said 'thank you, sir,' and 'listed again. I served
three years in New Brunswick. Colonel Drummond was Colonel there, he who
was at Fort Erie.

"Colonel Moody was Lieut.-Colonel, being the Moody who was shot on Yonge
Street in 1837. I was at the Lundy Lane fight and wounded there, then at
Waterloo and fought under Colonel Halkett. I saw Napoleon, Wellington,
Brock and many great men in my time. We came back to Canada and got our
discharges. I was a wild, foolish boy. The Lord will be with us all by
and by, I hope. Good-bye."

The old man smiled as he saw our sympathetic interest, and thought of
the old days and the people of whom he was the survivor.

He was no doubt the last of the four or five hundred Africans who had
been Canadian slaves, Quebec being his birthplace. He was a reminder of
still earlier times, as he stated that, while his mother was a Guinea
negress, his father was, he believed, a Hessian, one of the hirelings
who were sent by petty German Princes to fight his American battles for
King George.

In the Cornwall graveyard, connected with the English Church, is the
family tomb of the Grays and their connections. This is a piece of land
about 20 feet square, surrounded by a stone fence. On a wooden slab,
erected against this on the outside, the following inscription was
visible in 1868, and may no doubt still be seen:

"Herein are interred Colonel James Gray, died 11th May, 1795, aged 64.

"Mrs. Elizabeth Gray, died 14th February, 1800; aged 63.

"Jacob Farrand, Esq., died 11th May, 1803, aged 29 years and 6 months.

"And John L. Farrand, Esq., died 29th June, 1814, aged 30 years and 4
months.

"This memorial is erected by Cath. Valentine."

[Sidenote: _SLAVES AND COLOURED CITIZENS._]

When the Judges and their wives went to dine with Governor Peter Russell
at Russell Abbey, his residence on Palace Street, the door was opened by
a coloured boy, Jupiter. Amy Pompadour, a turbaned negress, waited on
the ladies, and Black Peggy cooked the dinner. All these were slaves of
the Governor. In 1806 he advertised two of these chattels for
sale--"Peggy at $140, Jupiter at $200, one-fourth less for ready money."
Amy Pompadour seems to have been more regarded, and was in time given by
Miss Russell to Mrs. Denison. These were "slaves for life," and their
status was not affected by the Act of 1793, but they would have been
freed by the Imperial Act in 1834, in any case. These events were before
the Hall was founded. During the rebellion, a brave, lately from
Virginia, was mounted on guard before the Hall. The pass-word was
"Nelson." An inebriate proceeded with difficulty homeward along Queen,
then Lot, Street, which all know passes in front of the Hall, and as he
advanced unsteadily our Moor in red challenged him, "Who come dar?" "A
friend," hiccoughed the citizen. "Advance den to de pint ob de bayonet
and gib de Nelson, or I'll shoot you, suah." "Nelson," said the aroused
pedestrian. "Den pass on de Nelson," said the sable guard.

Big Charlie, the fencing master and drummer of the 32nd regiment, has
been referred to. The Benchers had sometimes for caterer about this
time, Beverley Randolph Snow, whose name belied his complexion. He
hailed from Washington, where he had been a restaurateur, and often
spoke of Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Calhoun and other distinguished
statesmen whom he had entertained in the American Capital.

It is but right to mention that, in later years, several coloured men
have passed the Law Society examinations and practised with credit in
the Province.

Two important cases affecting the status of coloured people were decided
at Osgoode Hall. In Harris v. Cooper, in 1871, the Court of Queen's
Bench ruled against the validity of a slave marriage contracted in 1825
in Virginia. The Chief Justice, Sir Adam Wilson, said: "I regret that we
should be obliged to rest our decision on the recognition of slavery and
on its bad code."[27]

The John Anderson habeas corpus case was of international importance,
and is so well known that it need only be stated that it was decided in
1860, Chief Justice Robinson and Mr. Justice Burns finding against the
fugitive, and Mr. Justice McLean in his favour. The question on the
evidence was whether Anderson had or had not killed his pursuer, a Mr.
Diggs, in self-defence, when Diggs threw himself in the slave's way as
he fled from bondage in Missouri. Judge McLean became for the time the
idol of the coloured people and their sympathizers, through his
declaration that Anderson had struck only in defence of his liberty and
was justified, though the death of Diggs was the consequence. Another
Court, the Common Pleas, discharged Anderson on a technicality, and he
at once made off to tell his story to Lord Shaftesbury and in Exeter
Hall. He was personally uninteresting, and soon fell out of sight.[28]

[Sidenote: _THE ANDERSON CASE._]

Meantime, and before the releasing judgment of the Common Pleas was
given, Mr. Edwin James, Q.C., the very persuasive advocate of the
English Anti-slavery Society, moved the Court of Queen's Bench at
Westminster for a habeas corpus. Thereupon Lord Chief Justice Cockburn
and his associates, apparently in a moment of weakness, ordered the writ
to issue to the Sheriff and Gaoler of our good County of York, directing
them to produce the prisoner before their august Court at Westminster,
that it might inquire as to the cause of his detention. This writ was
actually received by Mr. F. W. Jarvis, the Sheriff, who shewed it as a
curiosity. He made return "non est inventus," but no doubt added, "he is
not lost but gone before," knowing that his late coloured charge had
smilingly bidden Canada farewell and was on his way to report in person.
This occurrence was discussed in the Imperial Parliament and an Act was
passed, in 1862, which forbids the future issue in England of the writ
of habeas corpus to any colony where there are established Courts with
authority to issue such process.[29]


FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 24: Mr. White, tutor of Sir Oliver Mowat, when a boy at
Kingston, is shewn with powdered hair tied behind.--Can. Magazine, 1893,
p. 587.]

[Footnote 25: See discussion in Revue Legale of 1901, p. 385.]

[Footnote 26: See Verses, Canada Law Journal, vol. 38, p. 520; vol. 37,
p. 256.]

[Footnote 27: Harris v. Cooper, 31 U.C.R 182.]

[Footnote 28: In re Anderson, 20 U.C.R. 124, and 11 U.C. C. P. 9.]

[Footnote 29: Imperial Act, 25 & 26 Vic. chapter XX.]


[Illustration: DR LARRATT W. SMITH.]

[Illustration: MR. JUSTICE PROUDFOOT.]





CHAPTER IX.

THE LAW SCHOOL AND THE UNIVERSITY.

    Glance at the wheeling orb of change
    And greet it with a kindly smile.--_Tennyson._


It would be of interest to discover how many of our former Judges and
Benchers had received a classical education. The young Province was
blessed with efficient educators in the persons of Dr. Strachan and Mr.
Spragge, father of the future Chief Justice, and Master of the Central
School in Toronto; and later Mr. Gale of Gale's Institute, the precursor
of Knox College, Dr. Howe, of the Grammar School, and several other
competent scholars, whose mode of training was on the lines of the
English and Scottish grammar schools. Dr. Scadding mentions, among early
teachers here, Mr. Samuel Armour, an alumnus of Glasgow, who would not
tolerate the use of cribs, and himself sewed up the English translation
in the only copy of Eutropius available. He was succeeded by Dr.
Phillips from Cambridge, who used the Eton Latin and Greek grammars, and
extracts from Graeca Minora were translated by the Toronto boys of those
days, not into English, but into Latin. "The Latin translation, line for
line, at the end of Clarke's Homer, as also the Ordo in the Delphin
classics, were held to be mischievous aids." Dr. Phillips had, as
assistant, George Anthony Barber, a man of fine presence and devoted to
cricket. He was to be seen until the seventies instructing young
Canadians, and umpiring his favourite game in good old English fashion.
While Chief Justice Osgoode was an M.A. of Oxford, and Chief Justice
Campbell, Judge Cochrane and other early Judges of Upper Canada had
received their training in the home-land, Chief Justices Robinson,
Macaulay, McLean, Draper, Richards and Spragge had the advantage of
Canadian education under fine scholars such as those named, and if the
curriculum was not as extensive in its scope as in modern academies, it
may have made up for that in its accuracy and thorough mental
gymnastics. Sir John Macdonald and Sir Oliver Mowat had similar training
at Kingston under Mr. Jennings, Rev. Mr. Cruickshank and Mr. White, and
only received University degrees, honoris causa, late in life, and when
leaders in the land. Chief Justice Hagarty and Chancellor Blake were
educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and the latter was Professor of Law
in Toronto University. He lectured in a room in the old Parliament
Buildings. Mr. Read, in his "Lives," mentions Mr. Blake's lectures in
1845: "He used to commence at eight o'clock in the morning. It was one
of my greatest delights to attend and listen to these lectures." Native
wit and literary acquirements marked Chief Justice Hagarty. The author
of "The Irishman in Canada" declares that Mr. Hagarty contributed poems
to Dr. McCaul's annual, the "Maple Leaf," which Shelley would not have
blushed to acknowledge. He refers to that entitled "The Sea, The Sea,"
the Cry of Xenophon's Ten Thousand, and reproduces the lines on "The
Funeral of Napoleon."[30] Mr. Hagarty has been referred to as a lecturer
on law in connection with Trinity College.

[Sidenote: _CULTURE OF EARLY LAWYERS._]

When Mr. Gwynne came to Osgoode Hall he found the ground not unprepared
for the flowers of Horatian and Virgilian culture. It may be gathered
that most of the distinguished old Canadians mentioned would have sought
college halls, if available in their time.

The importance of a University education, as distinguished from a
technical training, was lately discussed before the Canadian Club by
Mr. W. T. White, a graduate of the Provincial University and Medallist
of the Law Society, who is, however, a business man. From his address
the following is taken:--"Let it be admitted that there are many
graduates to whom the college training has been a positive damage. The
fact remains that for the best students, for the 'plus men' as they have
been called, for those of great natural capacity and sincere love of
learning, no course of training yet devised by man is quite the equal of
a University course in arts, under proper instructors, for enlightening
the mind, strengthening its faculties, and developing its powers. Such
an education, conscientiously pursued, teaches to think with precision
and with power and confers the great boon of concentration and right
method so essential in dealing with the practical and difficult problems
of after life. The positive knowledge acquired is large and cannot fail
to exercise a broadening and liberalizing influence upon those who
receive it. History, literature, metaphysics, all cultivate, expand and
refine the human mind. It is from the Arts course that you get, or are
most likely to get, your great teachers, preachers, lawyers, doctors.
Can we dispense with the highest intellectual training of our Judges,
charged with the administration of the laws affecting the security of
person and property? Statistics shew that the greatest percentage of
successes in the medical profession, in proportion to their number, has
been made by men who took an Arts course preliminary to their medical
studies, and this is as we should expect. Great statesmen are born, not
made, but the University should be a good finisher of raw material. I
have no doubt that when our Universities are properly organized, and we
do our whole duty toward them, and when the strain for decent livelihood
is not so tense as at present, and men can afford to give their time and
thought to the State, that our statesmen and great political orators
will be largely drawn from college graduates. It is so in Great
Britain, and it is so in the United States. Who can estimate the
influence of Oxford in the public counsels of Great Britain or the part
played by University education in developing the mind and character of
the Greater New England statesmen? And why should it not be so? For, as
has been said by one of its greatest masters, oratory is not of the
tongue alone, as if it were a sword sharpened upon a whetstone or
hammered upon an anvil, but is only attained by zeal and toil and
knowledge manifold, so that he who has the most knowledge, if he have
also the gift of expression, will be the most eloquent, and eloquence is
the most necessary gift in a statesman under our system of popular
government. The greatest orator in Canada to-day, whose peer scarcely
exists among the English-speaking race in all the grace of finished
expression, this French-Canadian Premier of ours, in the last analysis
is a lover of books and learning, and what a power is his."

[Sidenote: _HUMANITIES AND UTILITARIANISM._]

A pleasing feeling of zealous affection for the studies of philology and
metaphysics is shewn in a late address of a distinguished Canadian
clergyman, who "regretted that the culture which resulted from a study
of the humanities was almost unknown now, lost in the passion for
utilitarianism. Education did not," he said, "consist in knowing many
specialties, nor was a collection of machine shops in the Queen's Park a
true University."

The contest between the humanities and utilitarianism has become a live
issue in the highest educational circles, as appears from late
utterances of the University College Council.

The following resolution from its proceedings of April 1st, 1904,
requires no comment:

     "Resolved, that the substitution of science for language
     training proposed in the 'draft regulations' for the High
     school courses for Public school teachers is contrary to
     the best interests of education in the Province, and cannot
     be defended upon sound educational grounds.

     "This Council wishes to emphasize the fact that the
     University is part and parcel of the educational system of
     the Province, the repository of the highest knowledge, and
     the final arbiter of matters connected with education. The
     University therefore has a right to demand, and it does
     demand, that in framing any courses of secondary education,
     whether for teachers or for any other class in the
     community, the University authorities shall be consulted;
     and that no regulations shall be adopted that do not defer
     to the opinion of those authorities as to what right
     culture is, or that make it more difficult for the youth of
     the Province to seek in the halls of the University that
     knowledge and culture which it is its main function to
     impart."

In considering the history of the Law Society it has been seen that it
stands at the gateway to guard the public from mischief at the hands of
unqualified persons who would be practitioners. This is done by
requiring in the candidates certain attainments and character and
affording educational facilities.

It is proposed now to consider shortly the modern educational features
of the Law Society and contrast them with some of the Provincial
University.

Students who would attain admission to practice, have to attend lectures
conducted by a learned faculty, composed of the principal and three
lecturers under the direction of the Society, whose salaries amount to
$11,000 a year. The examiners of students form another body at a further
expenditure. Since the Society was organized 5,531 students have been
entered on the books and 3,658 barristers have been admitted, of whom
1,750 are now practising in the Province.

It will not be without interest to regard this moving company for a
moment. Each barrister and student has his number on the rolls of the
Society. The above figures relate to the end of last Hilary term. At the
same period in 1868, Mr. Gwynne, then Secretary, stated that the number
of the then last barrister called was 1,057, and that of the last
student 2,062.

[Sidenote: _PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION._]

Remembering that the initiative stage took generally five years (except
in cases of University graduates, when the period of probation is
shortened to three), and making due allowance for the young gentlemen
now entering as students and forming part of the above 5,531, and for
many whom death may have cut off in their career--and I fear the
proportion of those gay and pleasure-seeking fellows so called away has
been large--however it may now be, there still remains between the
number of the latest student and the latest barrister a very large
margin. May this not be thus in part accounted for? The ambition which
in boyhood fired many an aspirant, who thought it a fine thing to be a
lawyer, gradually evaporated as he learned more of the sterner labours
and duties before him, or more exactly weighed and appreciated his
mental qualifications, and wisely turned his attention to some of the
other many useful and honourable callings always open to the willing and
deserving in our happy Province.

Many of those who actually passed the final stages, were "called" or
"admitted," disappeared from the active ranks and for like reasons.

Among those who took the course for educational purposes and who,
instead of waiting for clients, or donning a gown, entered upon other
occupations, are honour men and medallists who find the training of the
Law School an excellent preparation for business or official life.

In an address of Dr. N. W. Hoyles, K.C., Principal of the School,
delivered at Buffalo, N. Y., before the American Bar Association in
1899, it is shewn that the Osgoode school was established in 1889;
attendance at its lectures is required by every candidate for the Bar
during three terms, or sessions of seven months each. There was also
formerly required attendance at sittings of the Courts during four
terms, but this condition has long since been dispensed with. There are
still in the Queen's Bench and Common Pleas Court rooms, the shelves on
which rested the books in which students of former days signed their
names daily as required.

The cost to each student is about $300, being $50 on admission as
student, $160 for call to the Bar. There are also the Law School
charges, $75, or $25 for each of the three years. In addition to
lectures on Common Law, Contracts, Practice, and the ordinary line of
subjects which every lawyer must know, we find on the list jurisprudence
and international and constitutional history and law.

Before passing to consider another institution, we may state that the
coffers of the Society are yearly filled by a forced contribution of $17
from each practising lawyer, for which he receives the Court reports and
has, when in Toronto, access to the excellent law library.

The income of the Society amounts to fully $50,000 per annum, was
$53,700 in 1902, and even more in some former years. It appears by a
report of February 12, 1892,[31] that the Society had then $90,000
invested in bonds and other securities, and no doubt the savings of this
corporation now amount to a considerably larger sum. Would it be
improper to ask whether a lessening of the fees may not be expected, in
favour of members of the Bar?

The Provincial Government owns or controls the greater part of the
grounds and buildings, as has been shewn, and is a good contributor
towards supply of fuel, salaries of engineer, firemen, caretaker and
maintenance, the bill footed by the general public for 1903 being
$11,450, in addition to the regular schedule of salaries of officers and
employees.

Passing half a mile north, the inquirer may find, on searching in the
University, another school, one of whose professed objects is the
teaching of certain branches only of the science of law. It is named the
Political Science Course, and was initiated some years ago as a
compromise between the regular arts course and a cry for inquiry into
the science of government, general and municipal.

[Sidenote: _LAW IN THE UNIVERSITY._]

Its curriculum is weakened by its nearness to and an apparent fear of
encroaching on the ground of its neighbour at Osgoode Hall. While the
Law Society enjoys affluence, the University is pinched and unable to
make ends meet.

The University law course of thirty years ago required a very
considerable knowledge of classics and general literature, and its
degree indicated good standing in arts as well as law.

From a return made in session of 1903 to an enquiry by a member of the
Legislative Assembly, it appears that the number of students in this
department is not increasing, being:--

    In 1900 and 1901      154
    In 1901 and 1902      145
    In 1902 and 1903      136

There are three professors and one lecturer at salaries of $3,200, $750,
$1,500 and $1,000, making $6,450, which is about equal to the sum paid
to the principal and one lecturer of the Law Society.

It is proper to refer to two distinguished members of the staff who
lately passed away. The Honourable William Proudfoot was professor of
Roman law in the University. Mr. Proudfoot was born in Scotland in 1823,
but resided in Hamilton until 30th May, 1874, when he became
Vice-Chancellor. No Judge in this Province excelled him in the mastery
of Roman law and literature connected therewith, including the French
Code, and early Canadian history. His application of the principles of
jurisprudence derived from Roman law was skillful and interesting in
practice. He was able to break a lance in controversy with Sir Edward
Fry and Professor Holland, and to hold his own. He retired from the
Bench in 1890 because of increasing deafness, but was glad to devote
himself to the duties of the professorship, to which he had been before
appointed, and to those of chairman of the Library Committee of the Law
Society, of which he was ex-officio Bencher. He filled these two
positions for several pleasant and useful years. He died at Hamilton,
August 4, 1903.

A learned member of the Toronto Bar pleads earnestly in a late number of
the University Magazine for the establishment of a chair of
International Law. The time is appropriate, since the Premier of Canada
has suggested that Canada should have power to make treaties with other
nations. The Hon. David Mills was professor of International and
Constitutional Law from 1888 to 1898, at the University.

The degree of Bachelor of Arts may be taken, and graduates may proceed
to the further degree of LL.B. or Ph.D. The latter degree does not, in
America at any rate, generally indicate broad or profound culture. Under
the old course possessors of the LL.B. degree had, as addendum to it,
the right after a few years and on writing a thesis, to go up for LL.D.,
but the Senate in their wisdom and without exception, declared that this
honour is to be given only honoris causa; consequently no graduate,
however deserving, need expect the red hood, but through favour.

The exclusion of alumni, who had, as was considered, a vested right to
enter for the higher degree in due course, before the Senate's
resolution was passed, seems of doubtful legality. Many of the noted
politicians of Canada are Doctors in Law of this University. The
lectures delivered in the Law School avail for University examinations.
The Law Society, with practical wisdom, appoints its lecturers for a
definite period of a few years, a plan which the University might well
consider as a mode of keeping the staff up to growing requirements and
modern ideas.

[Sidenote: _OTHER LAW SCHOOLS._]

If we turn to other Provinces, we find regular law courses incorporated
in their University systems. In New Brunswick such a course is an
adjunct of King's College, Windsor. In Nova Scotia there is the Law
School of Dalhousie University; and, in Quebec, there are faculties of
law in McGill and Laval, which Dr. Hoyles says, serve all the purposes
of separate schools. In McGill there are eight professors and three
lecturers; the course, as at Osgoode Hall, extends over three years of
seven months' sessions. The course is of like duration in Laval and
King's College, and, in each of these institutions, are twelve or more
professors or lecturers, among whom are found many eminent members of
the Bar. It is not necessary nor intended to reflect on the attainments
of any member of the staff of the institutions in Toronto. The fact that
the attendance in the Osgoode School is compulsory gives its lecturers a
decided advantage over the other, we can scarcely say rival concern,
since half its life is gone, when the grave subjects treated by Dr.
Hoyles and his staff are excluded from their curriculum. It seems also
arguable that, at least until the attainment of the LL.B. degree be made
sufficient to admit to the Bar (after perhaps a year's practice in a
solicitor's office), the Law Society must retain its board of examiners.

[Illustration: BALDWIN OFFICE CHAIRS AND VICE-CHANCELLOR ESTEN'S GUN.]

The professions of medicine and surgery have such a system of procedure
and examinations under their act of incorporation. But why not unite
with the University in the teaching department? The combined salaries
would make a sum of $17,450, representing a capital of $400,000. The
growth of the University in its physical science departments since
confederation has been commendable, but can the same be said as to its
development in regard to the science of law? A law school in the Queen's
Park, on a broad basis, would go far to make the Provincial institution
a real University, a seat of general learning and culture. It would soon
rival not only any in the older Provinces, but even the well known
Universities in the United States, where the principles and practice of
the law in all its branches are ably expounded. The Inns of Court in
England have law schools such as ours, but are, it is reported, moving
in one instance at least, to form a connection with the University of
London. Veneration for old institutions, in even Great Britain, is seen
retiring before modern ideas and requirements. Toronto University was
modelled on that of London, and should follow the like instincts.

The practice of eating dinners, as a means of entrance to the Bar, is
varied in Toronto, where only the Benchers have free commons. The
University stands quite as much in favour with the intelligent public as
the Law Society, but the public demand that its work be efficient and of
ample scope.

Some tenacity from personal motives and professional habits may be
expected from the members of the Society and others interested. The
practice in the other Provinces, the examples set in the United States
and the welfare of our University, which must be made complete, fully
answer all objections.


FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 30: The Irishman in Canada, by Davin, p. 606. The bright
career of that son of 'Varsity, Thomas Moss, is referred to in the same
chapter, No. XIII.]

[Footnote 31: See report in Can. Law Journal, vol. 28, p. 442.]




CHAPTER X.

AN UPPER CANADA LAW OFFICE.

    "And wrote my dream as morning broke,
    To please the gray-haired boys."--_Holmes._


Osgoode Hall might with propriety have borne the name of its real
founders, the Baldwins. They did not seek for judicial positions, but
were satisfied to do their part in establishing the profession, of which
they were leaders, and to be known as honourable men in public and
private life. Mr. Davin wrote of Mr. Robert Baldwin:--"The truth is
exemplified in the happiest manner in the family motto, 'Nec timide, nec
temere.'"

Dr. Baldwin aspired to found a family who would inherit his large landed
estate. This was much added to under the will of Miss Elizabeth Russell,
sister of his old friend, the Honourable Peter Russell, for a time
Administrator of the Province, who bequeathed her property to Dr.
Baldwin.

Mr. Robert Baldwin became convinced of the unfitness of the law of
primogeniture for Canada, and was mainly instrumental in passing the Act
which removed that custom and allowed all the children of persons dying
intestate to inherit equally.

Dr. Baldwin laid out through his land the wide avenue leading from the
waters of the bay to the bluff, which geologists say was the "Iroquois
Beach," or northern boundary of the ancient Lake Ontario. Here was the
modest home in which Robert Baldwin lived and where he died. The whole
city and bay could be viewed from it. This place and the avenue were
called Spadina, an Indian word signifying a rising ground. Another son
of Dr. Baldwin, who bore his names, William Warren, called his place
Mashquoteh, which readers of Hiawatha will recognize as meaning the
meadow. The Upper Canada College grounds occupy now part of this
property.[32] The Baldwins were, in common with most practitioners in
the Province, solicitors as well as counsel, and their office was the
workshop in which they mainly laboured. It may not be without interest
to look in and see how it was conducted for the first half century or
more of the city's existence.

The place for many years used by Dr. Baldwin and Robert Baldwin, though
not their first office, was the brick house, No. 5 King Street West,
originally a private dwelling of three stories. The firm's box in the
post office, from earliest days until letter delivery was fully
introduced, was number one. The Doctor practised law alone for a time,
and was equally at home in the calling of his first choice,
administering to bodily ailments. Among his students was his brilliant
kinsman, Robert Baldwin Sullivan, and in time business was done in the
name of Baldwin and Sullivan. Dr. Baldwin died in 1844. Mr. Sullivan
went on the Queen's Bench, September 15, 1848.

[Sidenote: _THE BALDWIN OFFICE._]

A bright young man, small of stature and gentle in address, had come
from Edinburgh and entered the office in 1834. He was most studious and
industrious, and won the confidence of all. Events made way for him. He
was called in 1839, and the firm's name became in time, Baldwin &
Wilson, Robert Baldwin and Adam Wilson, the young Scot, being the
partners. Another change was on the retirement of Mr. Robert Baldwin,
now in active politics, when Mr. Wilson was joined by Mr. Larratt W.
Smith, now D.C.L., K.C. Mr. John Hector was Mr. Wilson's partner in the
Chancery department. Mr. Hector became also a special examiner, Q.C.,
and Bencher. In 1856 Mr. Smith had severed his connection, and
Christopher Salmon Patterson and James Beaty (the latter having been a
student of Mr. Wilson), entered and made the firm Wilson, Patterson &
Beaty. Mr. Baldwin retained a room on the first floor, and occasionally
looked in, until his decease, October 9, 1858. On the ground floor was
the reception room, around which were the students' well-inked and
carved desks. Next was Mr. Beaty's room, and beyond that, in what had
been the kitchen of the old house, sat over his ledger Mr. Wilson's
worthy elder brother Andrew, who, until his decease in 1864, was
bookkeeper of the successive firms. He had received a legal education
and been admitted as a solicitor, or writer to the signet, in Edinburgh.
Stairs led up to the library and rooms of the senior members. An arm
chair used by both the Baldwins from the beginning of the century, and a
similar chair from the library, are still preserved. A photo of these,
along with Vice-Chancellor Esten's gun, is presented. Admission to the
office was sought by many parents and guardians for their sons and
wards, and it was a favour to receive an articled clerk without fee, as
much as £120 sterling having been paid with the indenture.

The office became the nursery of many bright lads afterwards known as
law-makers, judges, journalists and holders of responsible positions.
Among these may be named Lewis Wallbridge, who became Chief Justice of
Manitoba; Judges Rose and Lount, the late genial Ira Lewis of Goderich,
and Edward Martin, of Hamilton; Charles Rykert, Judge Benson, Ward H.
Bowlby and John W. Bowlby, William Alexander Foster and William Jordan
Rattray, of brilliant literary gifts; and later Judge Joseph E.
McDougall, of Toronto, Judge F. W. Johnston, of the Soo, John E.
Farewell, of Whitby, Thomas Dixon, of Walkerton, also William N. Ponton,
of Belleville, and Hon. James A. Lougheed, of Calgary.

An interesting person, since well known in political circles, spent a
year in the office about 1879, Nicholas Flood Davin, afterwards M.P.,
Q.C., an accomplished journalist and classical scholar. He was then a
barrister, but was "putting in time" for admittance as a solicitor. He
prepared briefs, and sometimes appeared as second counsel. His
conversation was interesting, as his knowledge and experience were
varied. Genius can shew itself in various positions. The most amusing
case in which Mr. Davin then appeared was in the police court. Some
fakirs exhibited a "headless rooster," the poor bird having, probably by
accident, lost half his brains but being yet able to walk and crow. Mr.
Davin defended the showmen when charged with cruelty. His address was
naive and charming in its historic and philosophic references and
poetical effusion. But the feathered subject suddenly clapped his wings,
crowed his last crow, and the case was over.

The work of the office was of a varied character. In addition to
attention to those who called personally, there were estates to manage.

Many more applications had to be made at Osgoode Hall, during the
progress of suits, than has been the case since the jurisdiction of
local officers has been enlarged, and each Assize town has possessed a
fair law library. Every morning there were motions in Chambers, and on
set days, applications in Court in matters sent up from county towns and
villages. Modern appliances were then unknown. There was no telephone,
no elevator, no typewriter or fair lady clerks; all papers had to be
copied by hand. As each student entered he was directed to a printed
decalogue, or set of rules, in the hope that he would guide his course
with this as a vadé mecum. In early days, before Law Society lectures
were established, heads of the office used to read law with the
students.

[Sidenote: _REMINISCENCES._]

Many of the young men were industrious, but it is hoped that the
recording angel omitted to put down in his fateful ledger some of the
things that happened at No. 5. The front window had its attractions with
its moving panorama. On a fine afternoon every new bonnet was admired,
and he was happy who got a glance from fair eyes beneath. Officers from
the garrison, soldiers with their little canes, the Governor with an
aide or perhaps one of the Judges, Lady Head in her sleigh with bear
skin robes, were seen. There were many a whim and repartee--a pun from
tall L., a sly joke from little Mac., or a witticism from R. There was
much good humour which sometimes effervesced among the half score of
young men here meeting, and there were incidents which are still the
source of amusement.

When work pressed, W., a Cockney scrivener, was called in to engross
important papers, and when the partners were out of the way, it was this
lively gentleman's delight to stand up among the applauding students and
render in fine style the cries of London street vendors.

A tin tube communicated from the reception room to Mr. Baldwin's
sanctuary above it. A country client, while waiting for Mr. Wilson,
asked leave to smoke his pipe. "You are quite welcome," answered one of
the gay blades, "but just sit by that pipe and smoke up it." The
unwonted invasion soon brought down the senior partner, who saw the good
farmer contentedly puffing away at the mouth of the tube; but no student
was in sight, each had suddenly found that he had a notice to serve or a
paper to file.

One autumn day Mr. Baldwin received a letter from Richmond Hill asking
advice. The case stated was as to a flock of a neighbour's turkeys that
insisted in perching each night on a fence common to the two properties,
often gobbling lustily, and disturbing the house of the complainant, who
felt aggrieved and sought to know his legal remedy.

Mr. Baldwin instructed a clerk to answer that really he could not advise
on so insignificant a matter. Then, came the indignant reply, saying
that the facts could be proved by "Bob and the boys," that, though
humble, he was honest, and should be protected and told what his rights
were.

The correspondence, to and fro, was kept up until Thanksgiving Day
removed the cause. It leaked out that the letters were all written in
the office, and the imaginary case put was what a student sadly addicted
to punning characterized as a "fowl" conspiracy to test the temper of
the amiable chief.

Toronto then knew nought of electric or other street cars or of asphalt.
The city was bounded on the east by the Don. Broad fields with spreading
elms, maples and beeches were where Parkdale and Rosedale now are.
Sherbourne street, north of Mr. Ridout's, now Hon. George Cox's
residence, was a sandy lane, and where it met Bloor Street was an old
two-story octagonal block house, of hewn logs, built about 1810, and
remaining until 1860. There was a similar rude fort on Bloor Street
West.

At this time Captain Walter McKenzie, clerk of the County Court,
occupied with his house, orchard and vineyard the place overlooking the
Don where Governor Simcoe had his primitive summer cottage, named Castle
Frank in honour of his son who fell in action at Badajoz. The approach
to Castle Frank was by an avenue winding from the head of Parliament
Street through a wooded valley.

Next to this was Drumsnab, the picturesque abode of the Hon. William
Cayley, a distinguished member of the Bar, and of his brothers, Messrs.
John and Frank Cayley. The last named was a gentleman of leisure and
artistic taste, who adorned the walls and doors of the principal room
with scenes from Faust and Don Quixote drawn in fresco.

[Sidenote: _MESSRS. CAYLEY, JACKSON AND NANTON._]

Mr. M. B. Jackson, the senior official at the Hall, subsequently became
the owner of and still occupies Drumsnab. Adjoining this on the north
was the little farm of that cultivated man and pleasant companion, Mr.
Edward Nanton, whose memory is held dear by many an old lawyer. His
modest house of one story, with its conservatory and gardens, has
disappeared. He had deep affection for this rural spot, with its tall
oaks, shining beeches, fir trees, elms and maples. He lived his bachelor
life among books and paintings, the house fragrant with perfume of
flowers, birds and squirrels flitting among the leaves, the Don
glinting, a Canadian Aufidus, in the valley.

Here, among the flowers of the conservatory, or in summer on a grassy
knoll overlooking the little river, it was Mr. Nanton's pleasure, on
Saturday and Sunday afternoons, for a quarter of a century, to welcome
his many visitors with a kind word and a smile on his aristocratic
features. Judges, Benchers, Crown Ministers, College dons, railway and
bank magnates, were to be seen among the guests, and it was quite the
proper thing to invite the stranger of repute to take a walk or drive
and call on the Rosedale Mæcenas.

Men of diverse tastes and pursuits, some of whose names were known
beyond the Province, thus met in pleasant converse, when the political
outlook, the last good book, brilliant essay or bon mot were discussed.

In his younger days Mr. Nanton had lived with his father on Pilgrim's
Farm on Yonge Street, named by its later owner Mr. James Beaty, Glen
Grove farm. He then set the fashion, with suits from London tailors. Now
he eschewed such finery, wore tweeds with spotless woolen underclothes,
soft hat and most serviceable shoes.

Mr. Nanton entered Eton as the young Goldwin Smith was completing his
course in that famous school. He retained the taste of a gentleman of
the old school for the classics. When a younger friend, once walking
with him, mischievously expressed a doubt as to whether the mother or
the daughter were pronounced the more beautiful in Horace's ode, Mr.
Nanton at once declared in favour of the Roman matron, and very soon
sent his friend a courteous note verifying his assertion by reference to
the passage.

Mr. Nanton died in 1885, in his sixtieth year.

While the house with the pleasant conservatory has gone, the knoll or
point is still marked as in days of happy memory. Nine tall pines
surrounding it, and a Laurentian boulder at its north side, suggest a
Druid Temple. We last sat there on a hazy day in May, squirrels played
and birds sang in the budding branches as their forebears had done
before the gentle master of the place. Some rain drops fell and a bow in
the sky, iridescent, beautiful, hopeful, was over us spanning from the
lake to the northern woods.

The Ontario Literary Society, which met in a Temperance Street basement
room, was a weekly attraction. It was said of this Society that it
included in its membership the flower and promise of Western Canada.
Foster and Rattray were pitted in debate there against Daniel Spry of
the Post Office, who became an inspector, and brilliant men of other law
offices, of whom Thomas Moss and Robert Sullivan were the brightest. Mr.
R. A. Harrison was sometimes the grave chairman. Foster's picture hangs
in the National Club, and his name is connected with that of the brave
Sir John Schultz and other men who, forty years and more ago, had dreams
of a greater Canada.[33]

[Sidenote: _FOSTER, EDGAR AND RATTRAY._]

The story of Foster's life is told in a volume published in 1890
entitled "Canada First, a memorial of the late W. A. Foster."

In this is an elegiac poem by Charles Mair, which begins,--

      "And he is gone who led the few
        Forecasters of a nation fair;
      That gentle spirit, strong and true
        As ever breathed Canadian air."

James David Edgar, then a law student, took part in the proceedings of
the Ontario Literary Society and became its President.

Mr. Edgar had a courteous and winning manner and was well posted in
history and French. He was called to the Bar in Michaelmas Term, 1864,
and made his mark in his profession, as also in politics and literature,
becoming a member of Parliament, First Commoner and a Knight. His works
in prose and verse have received high and deserved commendation from
such men as Mr. Frechette and the late Sir Edwin Arnold, author of "The
Light of Asia."

William Rattray was as patriotic, was a critical observer, with a facile
pen. He had not the patient application required for success in law, and
did not proceed to call. He lived to write a history of The Scot in
British North America.

Proceedings in the University interested most of the office habitues,
especially as they concerned young men they knew, and some of the
students managed, in addition to office work, to take the University law
course, which did not call for attendance at lectures.

In 1858 W. H. C. Kerr figured largely in languages and Latin verse. He
was, when at the Bar, credited as the compiler of the "Ross Bible" for
use in schools. J. A. Boyd received prizes in English prose and verse
and modern languages. J. M. Gibson, J. L. McDougall and J. E. Farewell
were prize men. D. Ormiston and R. Sullivan took doubles in Latin and
Greek and in mathematics. W. R. Meredith got a scholarship in law. T.
Moss, B.A., and T. Hodgins, B.A., took their M.A. degrees. W. H. Bowlby
took the gold medal with his LL.B. C. E. English was admitted to a
degree and got the silver medal, these last two being students in the
office referred to, as also was Farewell.

There were at this time two witty sheets published in Toronto, "The
Grumbler," a Canadian Punch, the other and shorter lived, "The Poker,"
and it was an open secret that many of the bright passages in those
little papers came from Rattray and others of the young men named. Mr.
R. A. Harrison was interested in "The Poker," and Mr. Erastus Wiman in
one of these publications. In them were amusing skits in prose and
verse, well written criticisms, and remarks on public men and events.
The second number of "The Poker" says:

    "We have an idea:--
    That while engaged in stirring coke
    And clearing off the Clear Grit smoke
    The Poker may by way of joke,
    Poke in a little fun."

In The Poker's "Coming Men, a New Drama," we find as personae, Hon. John
Ross, L. H. Holton, A. T. Galt, Hon. J. A. Macdonald and other statesmen
of the day. Mr. Galt asks Mr. McGee, "What do you think of the
Federative Union ideas, Mr. McGee?" D'Arcy answers, "I think that no one
in Canada, besides myself, understands the subject, or indeed any other
subject of national importance. You seem to have some glimmerings of
light, and I dare say you could comprehend the whole case if you were
willing to learn," etc.

[Sidenote: _THE "GRUMBLER" AND "POKER."_]

Some of "The Grumbler's" criticisms of public men and their writings
had a marked effect. A reverend gentleman, in reply to Hon. George
Brown's attacks, issued a pamphlet which is thus in part reviewed:--"In
the first place his sentences are fearfully long and complicated. He
begins with one idea, and 30 or 40 lines afterwards, finishes with
another. He opens with a protest against separate schools, and ends his
sentence with a description of McGee's intended visit to Ireland. On
page 95 is a sentence 40 lines long; on page 15, one 26 lines long; on
page 65, one 28 lines long, and on page 89 he actually begins a sentence
which extends over 52 lines. Conjunctions which couple nothing,
relatives whose antecedents no one can discover, bewilder the reader on
every page."

A Canadian Institute paper, assumed to be read by a well known scientist
of the day, is taken off in a so-called synopsis:--"The Chairman read a
paper on the 'Phenomenon of the Sea.' The sea is composed of salt and
water, if the lecturer might be allowed the expression. But how the salt
and water came together was a matter of dispute. Whether the water came
to the salt, or the salt to the water, or whether both met half way, was
an open question. He had crossed the sea himself, and had seen it in
storm and in calm; and he had often spent days in examining the curious
effect which a storm had upon a ship. At times the waves rolled very
high, and immediately afterwards sank very low, and invariably the ship
rose and sank with the waves. He could not account for this in any other
manner than that there must be an India rubber bed at the bottom of the
Atlantic, which the weight of the ship, pressing on the water and the
water on the India rubber, would cause to sink, while its elastic nature
would immediately give it an upward tendency, which in its turn it would
impart to the sea, thus producing what are commonly called waves. With
these remarks he would resume his seat."[34]

On Christmas Eve, 1858, the Macdonald-Cartier party were in a disturbed
state. The Premier was represented by "The Grumbler" as seeing the dread
Philippi approaching, and earnestly seeking for measures to occupy
Parliament and gain confidence. He asks his colleagues:--

    "What's to be done? We have no English acts
    To copy; no more Procedure acts or County Court,
    The Usury fight is o'er, nor would it aught avail,
    That we should touch again the Aboriginal Indians,
    Or any of those last resorts we keep in store,
    Against the stormy day. E'en Cartier has failed,
    The eternal judicature bills come in no more,
    And nought seems left us save 'give up the ship.'
    But say, my Sicotte of the Public Works,
    My only colleague burdened with much brains,
    What's left us now?"

Sicotte.--

    "My Kingston chum, Ulysses of the gang,
    Deem me not churlish; if I were to hang,
    I could not give a hint, not one, indeed,
    One faintest glimmer in this darkest need."

Mr. Cartier had been at Windsor Castle and was reported as much
flattered by the royal attention shewn him, which marked his reply:

Cartier.--

    If you listen vera patiently,
        I tink I tell ze way mon chere ami,
    Ven I was at ze Windsor wid ze Queen,
        Such one beeg tall reception ne'er has been
    Before or since, etc.

Macdonald.--

    Dry up, old Windsor; at it once again,
    Pity royal favours make such fools of men.

[Sidenote: _THE FRANCHISE._]

The following lines express sentiments which some political critic may
find to fit more modern occasions:--

THE FRANCHISE.

          The day draws near,
          When fun and beer
      Will flow in jolly plenty,--
          When for a vote,
          They tip a note,
      A five, a ten, or twenty.

          There's neighbour Jones,
          He made no bones
      To hint about his taxes.
          No sooner said
          Than they were paid,
      Thus honesty relaxes.

          This freeborn right,
          For which we fight,
      This franchise for the masses;
          Is all a hoax
          To gammon folks,
      And make them greater asses.

          Now what have we
          For liberty--
      Immunity for rowdies;
          For Truth a snare--
          For rogues a care,
      Protection for their dowdies.

[Illustration: MR. JUSTICE OSLER.]

[Illustration: MR. ADOLPHUS WILLIAMS, K.C.]

George Brown comes in for many lively sallies. He and McGee appear
together in a song, to the air of Young Lochinvar. The following lines
are taken from "The Poker":--

    "Oh! Brown and McGee, what will they not do,
      With their hosts of supporters all loyal and true.
      Just wait a few days, and then we shall see
    The fruits of the union of Brown and McGee."

    "Come darlint," quoth D'Arcy, "just you come along,
    I'll steer the ship for you, we'll never go wrong;
    Lave your happiness, jewel, and fortune to me,
    They'll be in safe keeping with D'Arcy McGee."

       *       *       *       *       *

      "Every hill, every dale, every rock, every tree,
      Shall tell of the union of Brown and McGee."

Mr. J. Hillyard Cameron, a candidate for Parliament, in 1858, had a
somewhat lofty mode of address which is touched on in a parody of his
letter to the electors, "I go against all vulgaw people, such--aw--as
Mistaw Brown, and aw, I belong to the aristocwacy. I go in for stopping
election frauds, and thus shutting the stable-door when the quadruped
has absquatulated, but Fellowes and Co. must not be touched, etc." This
referred to the Russell election case then pending in which Mr. Fellowes
figured. He was a barrister and a bencher.

The French members of the House, then meeting in Toronto, were often
subjects of "The Grumbler's" pen. One, called Benjamin, brought in a
bill to increase the legal rate of interest in certain cases, and then,
"Jean Baptiste had a little fun on his own account; hour after hour,
until half-past three in the morning, was the talk kept up to the
delight of Langevin, Cauchon and Chapais." On Mr. Cimon's desk was then
found, it is said, this poem in broken English:

      "Audiable with Benjamin, the skinflint, the ruthless,
        Down with the fripon that would ruin us all,
      Arrachez his grinders, and leave him quite toothless
        Comme les vieux roix Anglais the Jews used to maul.

      "Qui! peste ventrebleu, sacrebleu! mille tonnerres!!
        C'est une grande bother this shocking canaille,
      If he's not to be slain for his grease like a bear,
        He should be egorge for his skin to make turtle-pie.

      "So vive la bagatelle, jump about helter-skelter,
        We'll keep le vieux buzzard as long as we can;
      Laissez le dissolver in the heat and the swelter,
        And leave him at last just where he began!"[35]

[Sidenote: _ROBERT BALDWIN AND ADAM WILSON._]

Returning to the learned heads of the firm; one of the members was
generally in politics, Mr. Wilson became Mayor of Toronto, where his
industry made a marked improvement in civic affairs. He entered
Parliament, was soon a Crown Minister and when he retired from the
Bench, was Chief Justice and a Knight. He took an interest in science,
was a distinguished supporter of the Toronto Astronomical Society, now
the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, and gave it a telescope and
valuable books. Mr. R. Baldwin was long a member of the older Society,
the Canadian Institute. Dr. Larratt Smith, the sole surviving partner of
Mr. Wilson, who also knew Mr. Baldwin intimately, speaking lately,
said:--"Robert Baldwin was conservative and simple in his tastes, a
delightful man; he could not get angry. Adam Wilson was never known to
speak other than gently, however annoying the circumstances." This may
remind us of Elia's description of one of the old Benchers of the Inner
Temple:--"You could not ruffle Samuel Salt."

Mr. Wilson's home, always a pleasant and hospitable place, was on
Spadina Crescent. The house has lately been removed to Russell Street
near by, where his life-long companion resides. When Mr. Wilson was in
practice this place stood alone with its garden and shrubbery. He was to
be seen in the evenings, especially in vacation, working vigorously in
his garden.

Mr. Wilson admired the wild grace of Muskoka, and at one time owned some
islands and points there. He had a considerable property on the lake
shore, east of Toronto, and on this he, and friends who joined in the
enterprise, founded the rural suburb of Balmy Beach. He and Lady Wilson
were among the founders of Grace Hospital. He was sensitively averse to
any appearance of vanity or coarseness. He appreciated the efforts of
those who strove to do right and met reverses without a grumble. He was
well read in general literature and had always been observant. He spoke
interestingly of the Baldwins, Sir Louis La Fontaine, Sir George
Cartier, the Honourable Sandfield Macdonald and Sir John Macdonald. From
him I learned of probably the last negro slaves in the Province, a boy
called Hank, and a girl, Sukey, who belonged to Mrs. O'Reilly, mother of
the late Miles O'Reilly, Q.C., well known as a lawyer and Master in
Chancery in the City of Hamilton. They were seen at the O'Reilly
homestead shortly before August, 1834, when slavery was abolished in the
British possessions by the Imperial Act.

After a hard day's work in the Court, the Judge used to find relief in a
quiet game of solitaire. He lived until December 29, 1891.[36]

When at the Bar, Mr. Wilson took an interest in the militia, and held
commission as Captain. Dr. Larratt Smith is Senior Major on the retired
list.[37]

[Sidenote: _GEORGE BROWN, JUDGE PATTERSON._]

One of the interesting incidents in Mr. Wilson's career, when a Judge of
the Queen's Bench, was that arising in the Wilkinson libel action.
Articles from the pen of the Hon. George Brown appeared in issues of the
_Globe_ newspaper of the eighth and fourteenth July, 1876. These were
racy criticisms of the judgment of Mr. Justice Wilson and of proceedings
of leading men of Canada, among them Sir John Macdonald, Sir George
Cartier, Sir Hugh Allan and Hon. Mr. Langevin. Mr. Dalton McCarthy
obtained a rule of the Court calling on Mr. Brown to shew cause why he
should not be committed for contempt. Mr. Brown answered by an affidavit
as strongly impregnated with party and personal feeling as his article
had been, and himself argued the case in open court in a very unabashed
manner. Judge Wilson did not sit on the hearing and the matter was
disposed of by Chief Justice Harrison and Judge Morrison. The Chief
delivered a learned judgment of twenty-four pages, and was for
committing the bold editor. Mr. Justice Morrison was content to state
his opinion in half the space. He disagreed with the head of the Court
and the rule was discharged. The case occupies one hundred and
twenty-seven pages of the forty-first volume of the Court Reports and
discloses many curious matters of the political history of the time.

Of the later partners, Mr. Patterson ranked high as a counsel, and often
acted as arbitrator in important matters referred to him by the Court or
by individuals. He was a Queen's Counsel by appointment of both Dominion
and Provincial Governments, was for some years an Elective Bencher, was
interested in charities, and an active trustee of the Toronto General
Hospital.

He avoided politics, Provincial and municipal. The Court of Appeal, with
four Judges, was created; a patent from Ottawa came to him and, in June,
1874, he passed to a seat on that Bench from which, in time, he was
transferred to a like position in the Supreme Court at Ottawa, which he
filled, until his decease, July 24, 1893.

Judge Patterson was a son of Mr. John Patterson, merchant of Belfast,
Ireland, but was born when his parents were in London. Mr. John
Patterson was a man of literary tastes, though not known as an author.

James Sheridan Knowles, the dramatist, was, in the early years of the
last century, befriended by him, and did Mr. Patterson the honour to
dedicate his fine tragedy "Caius Gracchus" to him in November, 1823,
using the words, "At your suggestion I wrote this tragedy, and to you I
dedicate it, with best wishes for your happiness and that of your
family."

Mr. Beaty became Mayor of the City, a Queen's Counsel, a D. C. L. of
Trinity, a member of the Dominion Parliament, and was interested in many
enterprises. He died March 15, 1899.

An incident may be related. A worthy client of Baldwin and Wilson died
leaving a widow and a little girl of two years. The widow soon followed
her husband and the child was taken charge of by relations. When she in
time had her home in another Province, a strong box, which had lain in
the safe for about thirty years, was opened and found to contain a
goodly assortment of family jewelry and plate. All surrounded the
strange jetsam wondering, while one unrolled from the soft papers in
which they were enveloped, numerous articles, gold, silver and gems, now
brought to light from their quiet hiding place. Sir Adam, who had
retired from the Bench, happened just then to call at the office. He
joined in the examination and was rejoiced to recognize the property of
his former client. He had, he said, often been puzzled to know what had
become of the box, and thought it had been sent to a bank for safe
keeping and lost when it failed and was wound up. It was a pleasant
surprise when the heiress, in her distant home, soon after received the
family treasure.

Sir Adam preferred Disraeli to Gladstone. He was an admirer and personal
friend of Sir John Macdonald, though not of his party when in public
life. Sir Adam was more than once offered the honour of Knighthood but
declined, until Sir John urged him to accept as due to the position he
had so long held.

[Sidenote: _DR. WIDMER AND OTHER CLIENTS._]

The office was a centre of professional and political life. Oliver
Mowat, Dr. Connor, with his fine features and white hair, and other
leading Liberals, often went up the stairs. Sir Francis Hincks was in
and out until he became Governor of British Guiana. The old Knight, Sir
Allan McNab, rotund and handsome, who carried a cane and limped
somewhat, was an occasional visitor. Dr. Christopher Widmer was a
physician of the old school and a client with large property. He was of
small but active frame, wore a tightly fitting coat with large cravat
and well poised hat. He was quick, brusque, rather deaf, and brooked no
delay, so, when he called, any clerk whom he approached stood at once to
attention. His temper was:--

    "Like a lusty winter.
    Frosty but kindly."

The doctor had seen service as a staff cavalry surgeon during
campaigning on the Peninsula, and had there contracted an unfortunate
habit of speech, and when aroused, still gave way to it.

Relating a warm discussion, which had taken place between two reverend
gentlemen, he unconsciously made each of the good churchmen, whose
conversation was always irreproachable, adorn and punctuate his
sentences with round oaths and strange expletives in a manner that both
shocked and amused his hearers.

Dr. Widmer's portrait may be seen in the Toronto General Hospital, to
which he was for many years attached professionally.

Mr. James Beaty, Senior, proprietor of the _Leader_ newspaper, and of
the "York roads," some miles of highways leading into the City, from
which he gathered goodly tolls, was a remarkable and enterprising man
and an important client.

The office managed the extensive estate of the late Hon. John Henry
Dunn, formerly Receiver-General of Canada. He was father of Alexander
Roberts Dunn, who rode as Lieutenant in the famous Balaclava charge of
the "Six Hundred." He was an Upper Canada College boy and had received
the Victoria Cross for bravery in action. He "came of age," under his
father's will, at 25 years, and then visited Toronto, when the citizens
presented him with a sword. He was a tall, handsome young man, and
regarded money as made to be spent. The 100th Regiment was then being
formed in Canada, of which he became Major, and afterwards Colonel by
purchase. To procure the means for this necessitated the conversion into
cash of some of his Canadian properties, which included a good slice of
that part of Toronto known as Parkdale, through which pass the streets,
now lined with many pleasant homes and called by the names of Dunn,
Wilson, Beaty and Dowling, the last being the name of Colonel Dunn's
sister, Charlotte, the wife of Colonel Dowling.

We were, in common with many citizens, interested in several other young
officers, some of them scions of Upper Canada College, who received
commissions in the 100th Regiment. Of these was Charles J. Clarke, who
had been a student in Baldwin & Wilson's office, and was now a captain.
He ended his days in Australia. Another Captain, John Clarke,
subsequently became husband of a Toronto heiress, Doctor Widmer's eldest
daughter. John Gibbs Ridout, son of the Cashier, had distinguished
himself in his college course, was now an ensign and soon took first
rank in the military Staff College, with much credit to his Canadian
training. He was with the regiment when stationed at Gibraltar, and
served in Canada in 1866, as related in Chapter VII. T. H. Baldwin, an
ensign, was son of Colonel Connel J. Baldwin, who had served in the
Peninsular war and now lived in Toronto, and was often in the office. He
gained promotion in the service but died young in Ireland. Charles A.
Boulton was Lieutenant and became musketry instructor. His name was
familiar during the Riel rebellion in Manitoba. He became a Canadian
Senator.

[Sidenote: _COL. DUNN AND BALACLAVA._]

Alexander Roberts Dunn was born in 1833, within gunshot of Osgoode Hall,
his father's house being on the south side of Queen Street, west of
Peter Street, which was subsequently occupied by Chief Justice McLean.
At the time of the Balaclava charge he was Lieutenant in the 11th
Hussars, stood six feet three, and was a skillful and fearless
swordsman.

Lord Cardigan stated that the time occupied from the movement of the
brigade to its reforming on the same ground did not exceed twenty
minutes, the distance passed over was one mile and a quarter, at the
lowest calculation, and, in that space of time, three hundred men who
had gone into action were wounded or missing and three hundred horses
were put hors de combat. Of the six hundred and seventy men who had gone
into action only one hundred and ninety-five were mounted when the
brigade reformed, and twenty-four officers were killed or wounded. He
gives eight minutes for the advance, as many for the retreat, and four,
or but one-fifteenth part of an hour, for fighting. When passing through
this terrible scene, young Dunn rushed on some Russian lancers who had
Sergeant Bently at odds, cut them down, then dashing off, saved Sergeant
Bond and Trooper Levitt. A painting representing Dunn thus bravely
engaged is in a corridor of the Toronto Legislative building.

Kinglake, the historian of the Crimean war, states that the Victoria
Cross, placed by Her Majesty at the disposal of the Regiment, was by
vote unanimously awarded to Lieutenant Dunn, the only cavalry officer
who attained that distinction on that glorious occasion, which has
become renowned both in history and in song.

The writer, a student of the office, was sent to Quebec in July, 1858,
with accounts and other papers for Major Dunn, who had gone before to
join his new regiment, and there saw the recruits embarking. They were a
curious lot, dressed in red coats of old style, having evidently been
long in storage, the waists coming up to near the arm-pits. Colonel
Dunn, desiring active service, was transferred to another regiment and
was with General Napier, known as Lord Napier of Magdala, in India and
Abyssinia. This most gallant young Canadian met a melancholy death in
Abyssinia, about ten years after leaving Quebec with the 100th or
Canadian Regiment. He had gone out hunting and was found dead beside his
gun. A Court of inquiry was held whose finding still left the sad event
in mystery.[38]

Colonel G. A. Sweny, now of Toronto, was a member of the Court.

Mr. Thomas Clark Street, of Niagara, was an executor of Hon. J. H.
Dunn's will, as was Mr. Wilson, and they often met. Mr. Street was
admitted to the Bar in 1838, and was now a bright business man, one of
whose arms was crooked. He was among those who had been in Toronto
market at a public meeting in July, 1834, when the gallery fell and his
arm was broken. Many others suffered in this catastrophe. Colonel
Fitzgibbon's son, George, was killed. The Colonel, Mr. Thomas Ridout and
Mr. Turner were injured.

[Sidenote: _CAPTAIN McINTYRE AND ASSIKINACK._]

Captain John McIntyre, of Fort William, then an outpost of civilization,
was an interesting client with hearty, weather-beaten countenance. He
entered the Hudson Bay Company service when a youth and was in his later
years Indian Superintendent for a large region north of Lake Superior.
He was versed in the Algonquin language and legends and in the history
of the stirring days of Lord Selkirk. He had a picturesque home on the
banks of the Kaministiquia where it was interesting to see him, like an
old Chieftain, surrounded with his red retainers.

[Illustration: CHIEF JUSTICE SIR W. B. RICHARDS.]

[Illustration: MR. JUSTICE PATTERSON.]

Francis Assikinack passed the office daily to his desk in the Indian
office under Mr. W. R. Bartlett. He was a rare character, quite as
interesting in his modest way to the thoughtful as young Dunn of the
"Six Hundred," a tall youth of lithe figure, good features, black hair
and piercing dark eye, small hands and feet. He was of proud native
descent, with blood of Tecumseh in his veins, and was a "warrior of the
Odahwahs." His father was the brave Chief Baptiste Assikinack (the
Blackbird) of the Manitoulin Islands, a loyal and historic man of the
Ottawa nation. Francis had been brought to Upper Canada College in 1840,
being then a lad of sixteen and speaking only his native tongue. He soon
mastered English, took a good place in his Greek and other classes,
having as competitors the young Adam Crooks, J. J. Kingsmill and Norman
Bethune, afterwards well known in the land. He was agile and distanced
most of his competitors in racing, rifle shooting and other exercises.
He could hit a bird on the wing with his arrow. He was retiring and
generally reticent, but would relate to his friends the history of his
people, as they came from the South and settled on the Georgian Bay, and
his dark eye flashed as he told of their prowess. He was induced to
contribute to the Canadian Institute several papers on his nation's
language, legends, traditions and warlike customs, which were commended
by Sir Daniel Wilson, and are still referred to as learned and valuable
additions to linguistic lore.[39] From the College, Francis went to the
office of the Indian department, August 10, 1849, then at Cobourg, but
soon removed to Toronto, as interpreter and clerk. It is needless to say
that his origin, talents and demeanour made him a favourite, and all
sorrowed when it was said that illness had seized on this remarkable
young man. He returned to his beautiful island home and was laid to rest
at Wikwemikong in November, 1863.

Mr. Thomas Gibbs Ridout, cashier of the old Bank of Upper Canada, was a
co-executor with Messrs. Wilson and Street, He was a man of large frame
and voice, but withal kindly and a valued citizen.

A client, called Washington Wallace, was the plaintiff in several
actions which caused some good farmers in County Waterloo much anxiety.
His father had owned a tract of land there, had left Canada about the
time of the troubles of 1837, and died in the Republic. He was, by
commission, adjudged a rebel, his lands declared forfeited and sold
again by the Government to those who had since improved them. Mr.
Wallace by his suits, traversed the finding and, as heir of his father,
sought to eject the present holders. The matter was so important that
application was made, on behalf of the plaintiff, for a trial at Bar
before the full Court. This was refused and two of the cases were
brought to trial in the usual way at Berlin. The title of the honest
yeomen was not disturbed, Wallace being non-suited. So much did the
farmers dread further dispute that it became a political matter,
Parliament was appealed to and, by an Act, confirmed the title, after
which Mr. Washington Wallace was no longer seen in Toronto.

[Sidenote: _INTERESTING SUITS._]

By direction of the legislature, the important action of The Queen v.
Fellowes and others was brought to punish participators in corrupt
election manoeuvres at the Parliamentary election for County of Russell,
in 1857. The action was by the Crown on the information of the
Attorney-General. The trial took place before Judge Richards and a jury
at L'Orignal, Messrs. Wilson and Patterson appearing for the
prosecution. Wholesale impersonation was proved. Mr. Fellowes and three
others were declared guilty. Application for a new trial was made before
the full Court of Queen's Bench at Osgoode Hall, which sat in the old
Chancery Court, now the barristers' cloak room, as rebuilding of the
centre part of the Hall was going on; after full argument, a day was set
for giving judgment. At the time stated, the defendants being present in
custody, Chief Justice Robinson pronounced the finding of the Court
which sustained the verdict. The Chief then called on Judge McLean, as
the senior puisné Judge, to sentence the prisoners, which he then
proceeded to do, terms of imprisonment and a cash fine being meted to
each. It was indeed an impressive occasion.[40]

An important dispute arose as to the division of the estate of Dr.
Widmer, which developed into the suit of _Clarke v. Hawke_. The trial
was long. Briefs were held by Messrs. Edward Blake, S. H. Strong, now
Sir Henry, Adam Crooks, J. Hillyard Cameron and other distinguished
counsel. The relief sought by the plaintiff was decreed.

Alexander McLeod, of Niagara, who was concerned in the sending of the
"Caroline" over the Falls, was a client, a plain business man, who
looked after the interests of a neighbour of some means, but weak
intellect, who was a ward in Chancery.

A more curious case in lunacy was that of a man who imagined that the
Ku-Klux Klan were pursuing him. He would stand by a telegraph pole and
declare that he heard the members of this dangerous organization
plotting against him. Speaking in solemn, earnest tones at the inquiry,
he told his weird story, all of which Vice-Chancellor Mowat heard with
kindly patience, then declared him lunatic and appointed a committee to
manage his estate.

The actions against Hon. John A. Macdonald, Hon. Sidney Smith and other
Ministers of the Crown, after the so-called "Double Shuffle," were also
conducted by the senior partners of the old office. The papers were long
and the pleadings included joinders, surrejoinders, rebutters and
surrebutters. The actions were in fact claims for statutory penalties by
a gentleman who thus used his status as a citizen, and whose politics
were more apparent than were his property or means of paying costs. The
matter is historical, and it will be remembered that the Court on
demurrer held that the Ministers charged were within the law, and in
again assuming office, after Mr. Brown's failure to form a Government,
were not liable to a penalty for sitting in Parliament without
re-election.

Thus ends our sauntering and musing about the attractive Hall and old
offices.

These were memorable days when the 'phone did not disturb our
contemplation of Blackstone, when the Poker poked its fun and the
Grumbler growled its wise saws, when we read Tennyson's "Charge of the
Light Brigade" and rose to greet its hero, when McNab and Prince,
McKenzie, McLeod and other historic characters were daily met.

[Sidenote: _CONCLUSION._]

Then Gwynne's last jest was regarded with, more interest than Doctor
McCaul's elegant translations of old inscriptions, which were gaining
him scholarly renown.

One merry fellow hummed a college song or bright air caught up at the
Royal Lyceum; another came in with the last bon-mot of D'Arcy McGee or
gay story of John A.

It is pleasant to hope that there are some in the land who will
remember many of the incidents referred to, and perhaps find some
interest in this short relation.

The writer would say with Felawship in the old play:--

    "In fayth, Everyman, farewell now at the ende;
    For you I wyll remembre that partynge is mournyuge."


FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 32: Spadina is properly Ish-pa-de-nah. Mashquoteh is
Mash-ko-da, both from the Ojibway.]

[Footnote 33: William A. Foster, William Lount (Judge), George T.
Denison (Magistrate), and Thomas Moss (Chief Justice), were admitted to
the Bar in Michaelmas term 1861. John A. Boyd (Chancellor), in that term
1863.]

[Footnote 34: The Canadian Institute has in its proceedings no paper
such as is caricatured by this witty reviewer, but in 1857 and 1858, the
names of several of the distinguished persons referred to in this
narrative appear.]

[Footnote 35: From _Grumbler_ of Aug. 14th, 1858.]

[Footnote 36: For obituary of Sir A. Wilson, see Can. Law Journal, 28,
3; and for same of Judge Patterson, Can. Law Journal, 29, 500.]

[Footnote 37: Larratt W. Smith was gazetted captain in 1849, became
senior major in Sixth Battalion at Toronto in 1856 and passed the
Military School in 1864. John Godfrey Spragge was colonel of the sixth
Battalion until made Vice-Chancellor, Dec. 20th, 1850, when "cedebant
arma togae."]

[Footnote 38: An army comrade thus wrote:--"Every soldier in the
regiment misses Colonel Dunn, he was a friend, and felt to be such, to
every one of them. The regiment will never have so universally esteemed
a commander again. We all feel that.... He was buried in uniform as he
had often expressed a wish to me to that effect. Every officer in the
camp attended the funeral, and of course the whole of his own regiment,
in which there was not a dry eye, as all stood around the grave of their
dead comrade. He has been buried in a piece of ground near which our
camp now stands, at the foot of a small hill covered with shrubbery and
many wild flowers. We have had railings put around, and a stone is to be
placed there with the inscription: In memory of A. R. Dunn, V.C.,
Colonel 33rd Regiment, who died at Senafé on 25th January, 1868, aged 34
years and 7 months."]

[Footnote 39: Canadian Institute Journal, Nov., 1858, and January, 1860.
"Famous Algonquins." Transactions of same, LV. 302. "The Georgian Bay,"
Chapter V.]

[Footnote 40: The Queen v. Fellowes and others, 19 U. C. R. 58.]




APPENDIX A.

OFFICIALS OF OSGOODE HALL.


The names of the present Benchers and officers of the Law Society are
given in Chapter II. The others here found are:

Court of Appeal--Registrar--John A. McAndrew. Assistant
Registrar--Charles S. Grant. Usher--Eli Oliver.

High Court--Official Guardian--F. W. Harcourt. Senior Registrar--G. S.
Holmested, K.C. Junior Registrar--A. F. McLean. Clerk Weekly Court--G.
M. Lee.

Central Office--Clerk of Crown and Pleas--M. B. Jackson. Clerk of
Records and Writs--E. Harley. Judgment Clerk--Alex MacGregor. Clerks--A.
J. Elliott, R. F. Killaly, M. B. Black, F. W. Scott. Clerk in
Registrar's Office--C. O. Strange. Clerk Non-Jury Court--A. Y. Blain.

Official Referees (Ex-Officio)--The Master in Ordinary, the Registrars,
the Accountant, the Inspector of Titles, and the Referee of Titles.

Clerk of Assize--High Court of Justice--G. B. Nicol.

Master's Office--Master in Ordinary of the Supreme Court--Thomas
Hodgins, K.C. Chief Clerk and Official Referee--N. McLean. Clerk--A. E.
Bastedo.

Master in Chambers--J. S. Cartwright, K.C. Clerks--F. Arnoldi, C. Bell,
Miss A. B. G. Cull.

Accountant's Office--Accountant, George S. Holmested. Assistant
Accountant--Benjamin W. Murray. Clerks--Lawrence Boyd, C. Gilbert,
George T. Leonard, Miss M. Buchan, Philip Boyd.

Taxing Officers--J. H. Thom, M. J. MacNamara.

Inspector of Public Offices--James W. Mallon. Clerk--Captain Forsyth
Grant.

Surrogate Clerk for Ontario and Clerk of the Process--C. J. McCabe.
Clerks--W. S. Anderson, Miss B. Reade.

Clerk Commissioners Devisee Court--W. McTavish.

Law Stamp Distributor--Dr. McMahon.

Inspector and Referee of Titles at Toronto--G. S. Holmested, K.C.

Master of Titles, under Land Titles or Torrens Act--J. G. Scott, K.C.
Clerks--H. D. Sinclair, H. C. Russell.

Judges' Stenographers--W. Walter Perry, W. M. Winterberry.

Criers and Ushers--Robert Lawson, R. A. Walker.

Messenger--James Gorrie.




APPENDIX B.

THE JUDICIARY.

_The Chief Justices and Chancellors of Upper Canada and Ontario, with
dates of their appointment._


KING'S BENCH OR QUEEN'S BENCH.

Now King's Bench Division of the High Court.

     Hon. William Osgoode  . . . . . . . . . . . . July 29, 1792
      "   John Elmsley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nov. 21, 1796
      "   Henry Alcock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oct.  7, 1802
      "   Thomas Scott . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aug.  6, 1806
      "   William Dummer Powell  . . . . . . . . . Oct.  1, 1816
      "   Sir William Campbell . . . . . . . . . . Dec.  8, 1825
      "   Sir John Beverley Robinson, Bart., C.B.  July 13, 1829
      "   Archibald McLean . . . . . . . . . . .  March 18, 1862
      "   William Henry Draper, C.B. . . . . . . . July 22, 1863
      "   Sir William Buell Richards . . . . . . . Nov. 12, 1868
      "   Robert Alexander Harrison  . . . . . . . Oct.  8, 1875
      "   Sir John Hawkins Hagarty . . . . . . . . Nov. 13, 1878
      "   Sir Adam Wilson  . . . . . . . . . . . . May   6, 1884
      "   John Douglas Armour  . . . . . . . . . . Nov. 15, 1887
      "   William G. Falconbridge  . . . . . . . . July  3, 1900

The three Chiefs first named became successively Chief Justices of Lower
Canada: Chief Justice Osgoode on February 24, 1794; Chief Justice
Elmsley, October 13, 1802, and Chief Justice Alcock in July, 1805.


CHANCELLORS.

     Hon. William Hume Blake . . . . . . . . . .  Sept. 29, 1849
      "   Philip M. S. VanKoughnet . . . . . . .  March 19, 1862
      "   John Godfrey Spragge . . . . . . . . . . Dec. 27, 1869
      "   Sir John Alexander Boyd, K.C.M.G.  . . . May   3, 1881


CHIEFS, COMMON PLEAS.

     Hon. Sir James Buchanan Macaulay  . . . . . . Dec. 15, 1849
      "   William Henry Draper, C.B. . . . . . .  Feby.  5, 1856
      "   Sir William Buell Richards . . . . . . . July 27, 1863
      "   Sir John Hawkins Hagarty . . . . . . . . Nov. 12, 1868
      "   Sir Adam Wilson  . . . . . . . . . . . . Nov. 13, 1878
      "   Sir Matthew Crooks Cameron . . . . . . . May  13, 1884
      "   Sir Thomas Galt  . . . . . . . . . . . . Nov.  7, 1887
      "   Sir William R. Meredith  . . . . . . . . Oct.  5, 1894


CHIEFS, COURT OF APPEAL.

Formerly of Error and Appeal.

     Hon. Sir John B. Robinson, Bart., C.B.  . .  March 18, 1862
      "   Archibald McLean . . . . . . . . . . . . July 22, 1863
      "   William Henry Draper, C.B. . . . . . . . Oct. 20, 1868
      "   Thomas Moss  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nov. 30, 1877
      "   John Godfrey Spragge . . . . . . . . . . May   2, 1881
      "   Sir John Hawkins Hagarty . . . . . . . . May   6, 1884
      "   Sir George W. Burton . . . . . . . . .  April 24, 1897
      "   John Douglas Armour  . . . . . . . . . . July  2, 1900
      "   Charles Moss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nov. 21, 1902


FORMER JUDGES AND VICE-CHANCELLORS.

Who did not become Chiefs or Heads of Courts or go to the Supreme Court
of Canada.

     Hon. Thomas Cochrane  . . . . . . . . . . . . June 25, 1803
      "   Robert Thorpe  . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 24, 1805


JUDGES AND VICE-CHANCELLORS.

     Hon. D'Arcy Boulton . . . . . . . . . . . .  Feby. 12, 1818
      "   Levius P. Sherwood . . . . . . . . . . . Oct. 17, 1825
      "   John Walpole Willis  . . . . . . . . .  Sept. 26, 1827
      "   Robert Sympson Jameson, V.C. . . . . .  March 23, 1837
      "   Jonas Jones  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  March 23, 1837
      "   Christopher Alex. Hagerman . . . . . .  Feby. 15, 1840
      "   Robert Baldwin Sullivan  . . . . . . .  Sept. 15, 1848
      "   James C. P. Esten, V.C.  . . . . . . .  Sept. 29, 1849
      "   Robert Easton Burns  . . . . . . . . .  Jany. 21, 1850
      "   Joseph Curran Morrison . . . . . . . .  March 19, 1862
      "   Skeffington Connor . . . . . . . . . .  Jany. 31, 1863
      "   John Wilson  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 22, 1863
      "   Sir Oliver Mowat, V.C. . . . . . . . . . Nov. 14, 1864
      "   Samuel Hume Blake, V.C.  . . . . . . . . Dec.  2, 1872
      "   William Proudfoot, V.C.  . . . . . . . . May  30, 1874
      "   John Edward Rose . . . . . . . . . . . . Dec.  4, 1883
      "   John O'Connor  . . . . . . . . . . . .  Sept. 11, 1884
      "   James Frederick Lister . . . . . . . . . June 21, 1898
      "   William Lount  . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 30, 1901

The following members of the Ontario Judiciary were appointed to Ontario
Courts as stated and promoted to the Supreme Court of Canada:--

Hon. Sir William Buell Richards, Judge C. P., June 22, 1853; C. J. C.
P., July 22, 1863; C. J. Q. B., Nov. 12, 1868; C. J. of Canada, Oct. 8,
1875.

Hon. Sir Samuel Henry Strong, Vice-Chancellor, Dec. 27, 1869; Judge
Court of Appeal, May 27, 1874; Judge Supreme Court, Oct. 8, 1875, and
Chief Justice of Canada, Dec. 13, 1892. He is also a Right Honourable
member of the Judicial Committee of the Imperial Privy Council.

Hon. John Wellington Gwynne, Judge C. P., Nov. 12, 1868; Supreme Court,
January 14, 1879.

Hon. Christopher Salmon Patterson, Judge Court of Appeal, June 6, 1874;
Supreme Court, Oct. 27, 1888.

Hon. John Douglas Armour, Judge Q. B., Nov. 30, 1877; C. J. Q. B., Nov.
15, 1887; C. J. Appeal, July 2, 1900; Judge Supreme Court, Nov. 21,
1902.

The two following gentlemen were appointed from the Ontario Bar direct
to the Supreme Court of Canada:--

Hon. David Mills, February 8, 1902; Hon. Wallace Nesbitt, May 16, 1903;
Hon. Albert Clement Killam, called to Ontario Bar Hilary term, 1877,
became Judge and Chief Justice Manitoba, appointed to Supreme Court,
August 8, 1903.

The names of the present Superior Court Judges of Ontario are given as
visitors of the Law Society in Chapter II.

Judge Idington, on his appointment to the Bench, ceased to be a Bencher.
His place and that of the late Mr. Edward Martin will be soon filled by
Convocation. Mr. Justice Robertson is said to have resigned and will
become a Bencher ex officio.

The President of the High Court of Justice is that one of the Presidents
or Chiefs of the King's Bench, Chancery, Common Pleas and Exchequer
Divisions, who, for the time being, is first in seniority of appointment
and is now the Chancellor. Sir John Boyd, K.C.M.G. The Chief of the
Court of Appeal is styled The Chief Justice of Ontario, and has
precedence over all other Provincial Judges. He is President of the
Supreme Court of Ontario, which is formed of all the divisions of the
High Court and the Court of Appeal. The puisné Judges of the High Court
and Court of Appeal rank next after the Chiefs, according to the order
of their appointment. The Chief of the Supreme Court at Ottawa is styled
Chief Justice of Canada, and is now the Right Hon. Sir Henri E.
Taschereau, as he has also been appointed a member of the Imperial Privy
Council.

[Sidenote: _THE BENCH IN HIGH ESTEEM._]

The high estimation in which the judicial character is held in Canada
was well referred to by Mr. Justice Britton in his inaugural address in
the Queen's Bench Division, October 9, 1901:--"There have been between
fifty and sixty Judges of the Superior Courts appointed since 1791, and
in thinking of the line of illustrious men who have filled the office, I
see how much they have done for this Province, so that the name of the
Bench is synonymous with integrity and ability." He concluded, "As
Judges in the past have aimed to protect us in all our rights, and to so
administer the laws of the Dominion and Province that the people respect
these laws, so there has grown up to-day such a regard for the law and
its administration as I do not think exists in any other country."

Local Judges--The County Court Judges, who are local Judges of the High
Court, number forty-five, and they are also Surrogates, except in the
County of Ontario, where Mr. G. Y. Smith is Surrogate. To the above must
be added twenty-two junior Judges, making in all sixty-eight.




APPENDIX C.

LAW SOCIETY MEDALLISTS.


Before the Law School was initiated scholarships were granted each term,
on the first and second years' intermediate examinations, of the several
values of $100, $60 and $40.

Since the School was established, these scholarships have been, for the
first year, $100; for the second, $60; and for the third, $40; the
awards being made only once a year.

The Society also gave scholarships to successful students, one at close
of each of the four years' course, of the respective values of $120,
$160, $200 and $240.

It is impossible to state, as we would wish, the names of those so
honoured. It will not be invidious to mention the present Chief Justice
of Ontario, who secured a scholarship in each of his years, and the
Senior Registrar of the High Court, who took more than one.

In 1881 the awarding of such prizes on the final examination was
discontinued and medals of gold, silver and bronze took their place
under rule now number 181, as follows:--Of the candidates called with
Honours, the first three shall be entitled to medals, on the following
conditions:--

The First.--If he has passed both intermediate examinations with
Honours, to a Gold Medal, otherwise to a Silver Medal.

The Second.--If he has passed both intermediate examinations with
Honours, to a Silver Medal, otherwise to a Bronze Medal.

The Third.--If he has passed both intermediate examinations with
Honours, to a Bronze Medal.

The following is a list of Medallists from 1881, some of whom also took
scholarships:--

1881 Gold Medal, W. E. W. Dickson, J. H. M. Campbell;
   _Silver_ Medal, J. A. Allan, George Bell;
   _Bronze_ Medal, W. Nesbitt.

1882 Gold Medal, E. Taylour English;
   _Silver_ Medal, G. Lynch-Staunton, Adam Johnston,
                        J. D. Cameron, C. W. Oliver.

1883 Gold Medal, W. R. Riddell, C. L. Mahony, and George Kappele;
   _Silver_ Medal, P. D. Crerar.

1884 Gold Medal, J. Bicknell, D. K. J. McKinnon;
   _Silver_,--Carruthers and A. Burwash;
   _Bronze_, A. Mills.

1885 Gold Medal, D. M. McIntyre.

1886 Gold Medal, J. M. Clark.

1888 Gold Medal, B. J. McLaughlin and W. E. Johnston;
   _Silver_, W. Mundell and E. A. Anglin.

1889 Gold Medal, M. H. Ludwig;
   _Silver_, J. G. Kerr;
   _Bronze_, James Ross.

1890 Gold Medal, A. W. Anglin, E. B. Ryckman and T. D. Law;
   _Silver_, G. E. Burkholder, J. H. Denton, J. B. Holden, and
                  W. H. Hunter;
   _Bronze_, C. W. Kerr and A. C. Boyce.

1891 Gold Medal, W. Wright and N. Simpson;
   _Silver_, N. W. Rowell;
   _Bronze_, Shirley Denison and J. J. Warren.

1892 Silver Medal, J. Edgar Jeffery and J. H. Rodd;
   _Bronze_, J. H. Moss.

1893 Gold Medal, J. C. Haight;
   _Silver_, D. R. Tate;
   _Bronze_, W. E. Woodruff.

1894 Gold Medal, W. N. Tilley;
   _Silver_, W. Gow;
   _Bronze_, J. R. Logan.

1895 Gold Medal, S. Price;
   _Silver_, D. I. Grant;
   _Bronze_, V. A. Sinclair.

1896 Gold Medal, H. E. Sampson.

1897 Gold Medal, A. M. Stewart;
   _Silver_, A. Boyd Thompson;
   _Bronze_, C. S. Macinnes.

1898 Gold Medal, L. F. Stephens;
   _Silver_, W. J. O'Neail;
   _Bronze_, M. W. Griffin.

1899 Gold Medal, W. T. White;
   _Silver_, D. Donaghy;
   _Bronze_, A. E. Clute.

1900 Gold Medal, J. A. Wilson;
   _Silver_, J. H. Hunter;
   _Bronze_, A. E. McNab.

1901 Silver Medal, G. A. Stiles;
   _Bronze_, O. M. Biggar and J. A. Peel.

1902 Gold Medal, F. W. Halliday;
   _Silver_, N. G. Guthrie;
   _Bronze_, G. E. Taylor.

1903 Gold Medal, R. A. Paterson;
   _Silver_, Arthur J. Thomson;
   _Bronze_, J. G. Gibson.

1904 Gold Medal, G. M. Clark;
   _Silver_, A. D. George.

The medals have on one side the arms of the Law Society; on the other
the date of award and name of the donee.




APPENDIX D.

OSGOODE LITERARY AND LEGAL SOCIETY.


Various associations and means for oratorical and other training of the
students have existed since that styled the Advocates' Society referred
to in Chapter 11.

Mr. T. W. Taylor, now Sir Thomas, and other chosen members of the
profession in turns presided at debates. The learned Lecturers, Mr.
Leith and Mr. Anderson, in the sixties often took the chair in students'
moot courts when legal problems were stated, argued and decided.

The Osgoode Literary and Legal Society was established in 1876. Its
seal is similar to that of the Law Society, but has around its margin
the appropriate legend, "Vita sine literis mors est."

The young members passed many lively, interesting and instructive
evenings together, with less formality than was in vogue in the conduct
of the first similar society. The debates covered a variety of subjects.
Mock trials sometimes took their place. Interludes were filled with an
account of a canoe trip on the Miramichi or in Algonquin Park, a
discussion of the Henry George theory, the Monroe doctrine or
Reciprocity, an essay or a song. The Glee Club rendered _Halli Hallo_ or
_Solomon Levi_, with instrumental accompaniment and chorus of members.

There were public occasions when Osgoode invited friends and had its gay
At-Home. A team from Varsity or Trinity contested in debate with chosen
members of this Society. There were also songs, music and recitations by
noted artists. The second part of the programme was reserved for
waltzes, lancers and polkas, when "all went merry as a marriage bell."

There was sometimes a lively stir at the annual election of officers,
resulting in a scrimmage, reminding of Varsity days. A mock parliament
was a feature when Mr. McDougall presided. Constituencies were
gerrymandered and elections contested.

Among early Presidents were John S. Ewart and Isaac Campbell, now in
Winnipeg, A. B. Aylesworth, Joseph E. McDougall, George T. Blackstock
and Wallace Nesbitt.

The Presidents of the Society since 1889 were successively William M.
Douglas, Douglas Armour, George Kappele, M. H. Ludwig, R. A. Grant, R.
O. McCullough, Leighton G. McCarthy, W. A. Lamport, A. C. Macdonell,
John H. Moss, W. D. McPherson, Theodore A. Hunt, and D. L. McCarthy.

Among the officers elected each year was a Critic who passed judgment on
the modus operandi. Nicholas Flood Davin filled this office in fine
style when Mr. Ewart presided.

Judge Cameron was chairman at a debate in February, 1883, when Mr.
McDougall was President; C. L. Mahony and W. L. Haight, Vice-Presidents;
W. J. Wallace, Treasurer, and W. R. Riddell, Critic.




INDEX OF NAMES AND SUBJECTS.


PAGE.

  Advocates' Society and its Young Members,                             23
  Ancient Customs,                                                  54, 60
  Anglin, Hon. F. A., Justice,                                          10
  Architecture and Architects of the Hall,                              16
  Armour, Hon. J. D., C. J.,                                      177, 180
  Artists of the Law Society,                                  18, 20, 124
  Assikinack, Francis, Warrior of the Odahwahs,                        169
  Astronomical Society, Royal, of Canada,                              161

  Baker, John, slave of Solicitor-General Gray,                        131
  Baldwin, Hon. Robert,                                            43, 147
  Baldwin, Hon. William Warren,                                 2, 16, 147
  Baldwin, W. Willcocks,                                                65
  Ball in honour of Prince of Wales, (note)                             49
  Beall, John, Confederate Captain                                      76
  Beaty, James, of the "Leader",                                       165
  Beaty, James, Junior, Q.C.,                                          164
  Benchers, Names of, How Elected,                                       7
  Berthon, George T., The Artist,                                       18
  Biggs, S. C., and his Half-breed Jury,                               103
  Blake, Hon. Edward,                                               13, 83
  Blake, Hon. W. H., Chancellor,                              69, 137, 178
  Blake, Hon. S. H., Vice-Chancellor,                                  179
  Blake, W. H.,                                                         93
  Boyd, Sir John,                                             10, 156, 178
  British Columbia, The Bar of,                                        120
  Britton, Hon. B. M.,                                             10, 180
  Buell, A. N., Master in Chancery,                                     66
  Burley, Bennett, in the Lake Erie Raid,                               76
  Burns, David, first Clerk of the Crown,                               60
  Buz-fuz, Sergeant,                                                   124

  Cade, Jack, Would Kill all the Lawyers,                                1
  Cameron, Hon. J. Hillyard,                                       13, 160
  Cameron, Hon. Sir M. C.,                                             178
  Campbell, Sir William, C. J.,                                   101, 137
  Campbell, William, Clerk of Court,                                    71
  Canadian Institute, Legal Members of,                                 85
  Cartier, Sir George E.,                                          50, 158
  Cayley, Hon. W., and Brothers,                                       152
  Chancellors of Upper Canada and Ontario,                             178
  Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors of University,                       84
  Chancery, Court of,                                                   73
  Charley, Big, the Drummer,                                           133
  Cherriman, Professor, Captain in Q. O. R.,                           111
  Clergy, Benefit of, Claimed,                                          54
  Costumes in Court,                                                   119
  Cradle of the Judges, Osgoode Hall,                                    5
  Crawford, Hon. John W.,                                          49, 109
  Criers of Court,                                                      65
  Croft, Professor, as Captain,                                        111
  Crofton, Walter C.,                                                   66
  Crooks, Hon. Adam,                                               11, 111
  Culture of Early Lawyers and Judges,                                 137
  Cumberland, Col. Fred. W.,                                       27, 116
  Cumberland & Storm, Architects,                                       16
  Curiae Canadenses, poem,                                              73

  Dalton, Robert G., Q.C., Master,                                      64
  Davin, Nicholas Flood, Q.C.,                                    150, 186
  Delamere, T. D., in the Q. O. R.,                                    113
  Denison, Colonel F. C.,                                              116
  Denison, Colonel George T.,                                          116
  Denison, Colonel Robert B.,                                          112
  Digests of Law Cases,                                              9, 14
  Dinner to H. N. Gwynne,                                               31
  Dinner to Sir John Robinson,                                          47
  Dinner to Bar of Lower Canada,                                        45
  Draper, Hon. W. H., C.B.,                                    72, 97, 178
  Duels in Upper Canada,                                                50
  Dunn, Colonel A. R., V.C.,                                           167
  Durand, Charles, His Career,                                          90

  Edgar, Sir James D.,                                                 155
  "Esquire"--Defined by J. Molloy,                                      40
  Esten, J. C., Vice-Chancellor,                                       149
  Esten, J. Hutchison, Secretary,                                        8
  Examinations, How Conducted by Mr. Gwynne,                            25

  Falconbridge, Hon. W. G., C.J.,                                       10
  Families, Distinguished Professionally,                               83
  Farewell, J. E., Student and Soldier,                           109, 156
  Feet, a Colonel Troubled with Tender,                                114
  Fenians, How met at Ridgeway,                                        113
  Ferguson, Hon. Thomas,                                            10, 91
  Fitzgibbon, Colonel James,                                        62, 72
  Foster, W. A., LL.B., Q.C.,                                          155
  Franchise, The, Verses from "The Grumbler",                          159

  Gala Times at Osgoode,                                                44
  Gait, Hon. A. T., in "Grumbler",                                     156
  Gait, Hon. Sir Thomas, C.J.,                                         178
  Gamble, Joseph Clarke, K.C.,                                          88
  Garrow, Hon. J. T.,                                                   10
  Gibson, Hon. J. M., K.C.,                                    7, 109, 156
  Goodwin, Major Henry, Drill Master,                                  111
  Gowan, Hon. Judge and Senator,                                        86
  Grant, Alexander, Registrar,                                          62
  Gray, Hon. R. J. D., Solicitor-General,                          12, 127
  "Grumbler" and "Poker"--Toronto Periodicals,                         156
  Gunther, E. F., in Q. O. R.,                                         111
  Gun of Vice-Chancellor Esten,                                        109
  Gwynne, Hugh Nelson, the Secretary,                                   26
  Gwynne, Hon. J. W., Judge,                                       25, 179

  Hagarty, Hon. Sir John H., C.J.,               39, 78, 97, 100, 108, 178
  Hale, Sir Matthew, as a Soldier,                                     107
  Harman, Bruce and George,                                            110
  Harrison, Hon. R, A., Chief Justice,                             28, 177
  Head, Sir E. W., Governor,                                        81, 85
  Head, Sir F. B., Governor,                                            90
  Henderson, James and Elmes, at Ridgeway,                             110
  Henry, Dr. Walter, in Toronto in 1833,                               101
  Heyden, Laurence, Clerk of Court,                                     62
  Highland Regiment, The 48th,                                         117
  Hodgins, Thomas, K.C., Master,                                   63, 111
  Holmested, George S., Registrar,                                 64, 175
  "Horace Canadianizing"--Dr. Scadding,                                 29
  Hoyles, Dr. N. W., Principal of Law School,                      10, 141
  Humming Birds in Canada,                                             102

  Idington, Hon. Justice John,                                          10
  Interludes, Judicial:
       How long an argument about nothing might last--When 2 and 2
       make more than 4--Ebony humour in Court--The German
       Foreman--The Irishman's Lament--Judge's Note Books--"Vox et
       praeterea nihil"--Assignment of a Moustache--Judges of A
       Size--Justice Blind but not Deaf--"Short Forms of
       Conveyances"--Hagarty, C.J., admires the Portrait of
       Armour, C.J.--Reference to a Respectable Heathen--"No
       Blooming Auction"--A long Indictment; Verses--"In the Dog
       Days." How to pronounce Paresis--Mr. McCarthy on the wrong
       Side--Peculiar Law of County Court Judges,                  91, 100
  Irving, Æmilius, K.C., Treasurer,                                 13, 88

  Jackson, M. B.,                                                 153, 175
  Jameson, Vice-Chancellor, and his Famous Wife,                        71
  Johnston, Frederick W., Judge,                                       149
  Judges--Former Judges of Superior Courts,                            177
  Judges--Present Judges of Superior Courts,                       10, 180

  King's Counsel, How Appointed,                                       127
  Kingsford, R. E., at Ridgeway,                                       113

  Laurier, Sir Wilfrid, and Sir Oliver, 127,                           139
  La Fontaine, Hon. Sir Louis Hypolite,                                 46
  Law Society of Upper Canada,                                           5
  Law Office, Old, in Toronto,                                         147
  Law School and Lecturers at the Hall,                            10, 141
  Law School at Toronto University,                                    143
  Law School at Trinity University,                                    143
  Law Stamps,                                                           65
  Leith, Alexander, Q.C.,                                               11
  Libraries at the Hall and at London,                                  14
  Literary and Legal Society,                                          185
  Loudon, James, President, in Q. O. R.,                               114
  Lower Canada Lawyers dined at the Hall in 1850,                       45

  Mansfield, Lord, and the Gordon Riots,                               100
  Masters and other Legal Officials,                               57, 175
  Mayors of Toronto, Members of the Bar,                                84
  Medallists of the Law Society,                           Appendix D, 183
  Meredith, Hon. Sir William R.,                                   10, 178
  Meredith, Hon. Richard M.,                                            10
  Mills, Hon. David,                                                   183
  Molloy, John, the Steward,                                            36
  Morrison, Hon. J. C.,                                            99, 179
  Moss, Hon. Charles, C.J.,                                            178
  Moss, Hon. Thomas, C.J.,                                        104, 178
  Moustache, The, in Court,                                        94, 123
  Mowat, Hon. Sir Oliver,                                     88, 108, 127
  Mowat, Herbert M., in Q. O. R.,                                      115
  Mulock, Sir William, in Q. O. R. and University,                 84, 114

  Macaulay, Hon. Sir James, C.J.,                                  19, 178
  Macdonald, Right Hon. Sir John A.,                               99, 170
  Macdonald, Hon. Hugh John,                                           115
  Macdonald, Hon. John Sandfield,                                       79
  Macdonell, Hon. John, Attorney-General,                               21
  Macdonell, Alexander, of Osgoode Hall,                                65
  MacLennan, Hon. James,                                                10

  McCarthy, Dalton, Q.C.,                                               98
  McCaul, Dr. John. 30,                                                173
  McDougall, Judge, Joseph E.,                                         149
  McGee, Hon. D'Arcy,                                                  159
  McKenzie, W. Lyon,                                                    80
  McKenzie, Walter, Captain,                                           153
  McLaren, Hon. J. J.,                                                  10
  McMahon, Hon. Hugh,                                                   10
  McLean, Hon. Archibald, C.J.,                                    65, 177
  McLean, Neil and A. F.,                                               65
  McMurrich, W. B., Captain,                                           114
  McNab, Sir Allan,                                                 80, 90

  Nanton, Edward,                                                      153
  Negroes at the Hall and in Court--Big Charlie, Beverley R.
    Snow, John Anderson,                                           91, 133

  O'Brien, Henry and W. E., in Q. O. R.,                            9, 109
  O'Connell, Daniel, and John Molloy,                                   41
  Officers of the Law Courts,                                          175
  Office of the Baldwins, Sullivan and Wilson,                         147
  Osgoode Hall described,                                                3
  Osgoode, Hon. William, C.J.,                                     21, 177
  Osler, Britton B., Q.C.,                                          95, 96
  Osler, Hon. Featherston,                                         10, 160

  Papineau, Louis Joseph, at the Hall,                                  46
  Paresis--How to Pronounce,                                            97
  Parliament at Toronto,                                           45, 158
  Patterson, Hon. Christopher Salmon,                         10, 149, 180
  Pellatt, H. M., Colonel of Q. O. R.,                                 117
  Pillory, The, Used in Toronto,                                        53
  Poker--The Game of,                                                   93
  Poker The, periodical,                                               156
  Portraits and Tablets at the Hall,                           18, 22, 124
  Powell, Hon. W. D., Chief Justice,                               92, 177
  Prince, John, Colonel and Judge,                                 80, 172
  Prince, Albert and William, his Sons,                                 81
  Proudfoot, Hon. W., Judge and Professor,                        143, 179

  Quebec Judges, Orders as to Procedure,                               122
  Queen's and King's Counsel, How Created,                             127
  Queen's Counsel, How Sir Oliver slew the Innocents,                  128
  Queen's Own Rifles, Legal Members of,                                112
  Quid, Captain, His Ancient Functions,                                 59

  Rankin, Col. Arthur, as a Duelist,                                    52
  Rattray, Wm. Jordan,                                                 155
  Read, David B., K.C., Historian,                                  12, 88
  Reford, Robert, Captain in Q. O. R.,                                 110
  Regiments Quartered in Osgoode Hall,                                  43
    Legal Members in: Queen's Own, Tenth Royals, Body Guard,
      Highlanders, Light Horse,                              110, 115, 117
  Registrars and other Court Officers,                              63, 68
  Riel, Louis, Legal Men who Opposed,                                  115
  Reporters of Court Proceedings,                                        8
  Richards, Sir W. B., C.J.,                                           179
  Ridout, T. G., the Cashier,                                          170
  Ridout, John G., Captain,                                       116, 167
  Roaf, John, Q.C., Bencher,                                            10
  Roaf, William, in Q. O. R.,                                          115
  Robertson, Hon. Thomas,                                          10, 180
  Robinson, Hon. Sir John B., C.J.,                       13, 48, 108, 177
  Robinson, Hon. John Beverley, Lieut.-Governor,                        44
  Robinson, Hon. Christopher, Q.C.,                                   8, 9
  Rolph, Hon. Dr. John,                                                 72
  Rolph, Thos. T., Major,                                              116
  "Royal William," Steam Vessel,                                        36
  Rumsey, John, Poet,                                                   73

  Scadding, Dr. Henry, Historian,                                       29
  Scholarships and Medals, Names of Medallists,                        183
  Schultz, Hon. Sir J. C.,                                        118, 155
  Scott, John G., Q.C., Master,                                        176
  Seal of the Law Society,                                              18
  Secretaries of the Law Society,                                    8, 25
  Sentences, Curious Old,                                               53
  Simon, George H., the Inventor,                                       32
  Slaves in Canada,                                                21, 131
  Small, John and Charles Coxwell,                                      61
  Smith, Dr. Goldwin,                                                   89
  Smith, James F., Editor,                                               8
  Smith, Dr. Larratt W.,                                           89, 161
  Societies, Literary and Legal.,                                  23, 185
  Soldiers Quartered at the Hall--See Regiments,                        43
  Spadina Avenue and the Baldwins,                                     148
  "Spectator, The," quoted,                                              1
  "Speedy," Loss of that Vessel,                                       129
  Spragge, Hon. John G., Chief Justice,                   13, 45, 108, 178
  Stocks, The, in Toronto,                                              55
  Street, Thomas Clark,                                                168
  Street, Hon. W. P. R.,                                                10
  Strong, Right Hon. Sir S. H., C.J.C.,                                179
  Students-at-Law, How Examined,                                        25
  Students of Baldwin & Wilson,                                        150
  Sullivan, Hon. R. B., Mayor and Judge,                       84, 94, 148

  Talbot, Colonel Thomas,                                               71
  Taschereau, Right Hon. Sir H. E., C.J.C.,                            180
  Taylor, Sir Thomas W., Master and C.J.,                               63
  Teachers, Early in, Upper Canada,                                    136
  Teetzel, Hon. J. V.,                                                  10
  Treasurers of the Law Society,                                        12
  Trials, Records of Interesting,                                      171
  Trinity Term, Funeral of,                                             55
  Turner, Robert John, Barrister and Master,                       66, 125

  University of Toronto and Law Society,                           84, 144
  University Rifle Company,                                            111
  University, Trinity, Law Lecturers,                                   12
  University, Trinity, Rifle Company,                                  110

  VanKoughnet, Hon. P. M. S., Chancellor,                          74, 178
  Veterans of the Bar in Ontario:
       Senator Gowan, Judges Elliot and Hughes, David B. Read,
       K.C., Æmilius Irving, K.C., Dr. Larratt W. Smith, Charles
       Durand, and others,                                          86, 90
  Victoria, Queen, Her Books at the Hall,                                4

  Wallace, Washington, His Troublesome Suits,                          170
  Wallbridge, Hon. Lewis,                                              149
  Wellington, Duke of, and John Molloy,                                 41
  White, Hon. John, Attorney-General, Falls in a Duel,                  50
  White, W. T., Address on Education,                             138, 183
  Widmer, Hon. Dr. Christopher,                                        165
  Wigs, Worn in Canadian Courts,                                       119
  Wilson, Hon. Sir Adam,                                       3, 161, 177
  Wit and Humour in Court,                                     75, 91, 100
  Wit and Humour in Convocation,                                        50
  Women, How Admitted to Practice,                                      14
  Wood, Hon. E. B., C.J.,                                              102




[End of _Osgoode Hall - Reminiscences of the Bench and Bar_
by James Cleland Hamilton]