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The very first name that occurs to one in this connection, is the old Hungarian Lib- erator, Louis Kossuth, who has just passed away in his ninety-second yeax-. Such an one, too, is the Grand Old Man of the Vatican, who has filled the Pontifical chair for sixteen years, and who at eighty-four ably rules his ecclesiastical empire. And what a noble honor r61e Great Britain can show of Grand Old Men ! Gladstone, with his eighty-four years, and his sixty years of Parliamentary life ; Earl Grey, a statesman who has seen nine decades ; Froude and Herbert Spencer, Newman Hall and Prof. Blackie. Germany has her Bismarck, a giant, though a trem- bling one, at seventy-nine ; America boasts of a member of the New England guild of literature in Oliver Wendell Holmes, whose pen, at eighty- four, writes vigorously on the death of Parkman ; France points to Pasteur and Leon Say, who have crossed the boundary line of three score and ten ; Italy, in her new storm and stress period, turns to Crispi to take the national helm. Thus in almost every country, and in almost every depart- ment of life's activities, one can easily single out those who, by reason of their achievements, have >leserved the title of Grand Old Men. We, in Canada, have a few who have earned this distinction. Sir J ohn Mac- donald died at the age of seventy -six, after over forty years of exciting poli- tical leadership; Sir Charles Tupper, at seventy-two, represents us in Eng- land ; and Goldwin Smith, by reason of his seventy years, can now refer to himself as one of the growing-old fra- ternity. Ontario has her Grand Old Man in Sir Oliver Mowat, — a man who was born in the year in which George IIL died, and Queen Caroline was under trial ; who came into the world as the great Napoleon went out, and when Canada was under its first Governor- General, Earl Dnlhousie, and Lieuten- ant Governor, Sir Peregrine Maitland, was a familiar personage in what is now Ontario. Sir Oliver has seen the forest transformed into field and farm, and the land peopled by thousands where scores once lived. Such a man is, in truth, growing old, but the growth is so gradual and youth so tenacious in its hold of Ontario's premier, that Father Time may well be disconcerted. Even in these days of high-pressure civilization, Sir Oliver might justly claim that his life, though comparatively long, has not only been active but resultful. He has filled a great variety of positions, including those of ensign in a Kingston Militia Company, a practising attorneyship, the positions of school trustee and alderman. Queen's Counsellor and Vice-Chancellor, LL.D. and M.P.P., Provincial Secretary and Postmaster- General, and Premier and Attorney- General for twenty-one years. His personality is interesting from many points of view. He is the son of John Mowat, a specimen of the stalwart, vigorous, clear-headed type of men that spring from Caithness soil. Whether the son shouldered the mus- ket of a militiaman bee .use the father was one of the line, may be hard to tell, but certain it is that John Mowat, I S/R OLIVER MO WAT. 583 when a mere lad, joined the "Third good old fightinw days. Retiring from Buffs," as they were called, and saw ac- the army, in 1816, he settled in the clas- tive service in the Peninsular war, and sic town of Kingston, where the future in after years told many a tale of his ad- Premier was born on July 22nd, 1820. ventures', and especially of the battle Sir Oliver's school-boy days make from Forbes' Painting, IS'.hi. of Corunna, where Sir John Moore a period of which the truest concep- 80 bravely held the French in check, tion may best be gained from his It'is not improbable that he also visit- own eloquent words spoken at the ed'the St. Lawrence on one of England's opening of the new Parliament build- numerouG military expeditions in those ings, in 1893 ; V ^ 584 THE CANADIAN MAGAZINE. T have been calling to mind that I have now outlived nearly all my early contem- pcjraries and early associates, and many of later date. I call to mind that in my own time, and within my own memoiy, a transformation has been accomplished in the political condition of the province, and in everything that goes to make up a great and civilized community. I remem- ber when neither our province, nor any other British province, had responsible government. I remember when the cT, ESQ., Father of Sir Oliver Uowat. nor by persons of their appointing, or hav- ing their confidencs. I knew the province when it had no manicipal institutions, now known to be essential to local interests and local progress. I knew the province when the various churches amongst which its people were distributed, were not equal before the law ; when the established church of old England was practically the established church here, and when there were claimed for it the exclusive rights and privileges of an establishment, and one-seventh of the whole land of the coun- try. I remember the province when thero was in it not one university, not one col- lege, and no system of public schools. I remember when, at every election, there was but one polling place for a whole county, no matter how extensive ; when the election lasted for a week, and when, except in towns, the only voters were free- holders. I remember when the province had not a mile of railway, nor, I believe, a mile of macadamized road. I remember when the principal cities of the present day were but villages — when this great city of Toronto was " Little York," .and its population was three or four thousand. I remember when the whole province had — or was supposed to ha^e -a population of but 150,000, and therefore less than the population now of Toronto alone. My memory thus goes back of the time when T began the practice of my profession here, a half ce?itury ago. The city had then a population of but 1"),000, and Upper Can- ada a population of but half a million. Tiie changes which have taken place in our province in that half century have been very great. Its progress in popula- tion, in wealth, in education, in intelli- gence, in political freedom, and in most other things which serve to make a coun- try attractive and great, has in fact been enormous His early education was received chiefly from private tutors, nine in number, and all of whom, with one ex- ception, have passed away. Choosing the law as his profession he, strangely enough, entered the office of the man who was to become his strongest political foe for many years, John A. Macdonald, at the time but twenty-two years old, while the young student was seventeen. When he ar- rived at manhood, Mr. Mowat was called to the bar and practised for a short time in his native city, and then removed to Toronto, where he has since lived. In this city, where he commenced his public life as an alder- man for the years 1857 and 1858, only two of his associates in the City Council now survive him. In the practice of his profession in Toronto he made choice of the Equity f ^ 1 SIR OLIVER MO WAT. 585 branch, as distinct from Common Law, and, as a result of his mental attain- ments ar i successful professional prac- tice he soon rose to eminence at the Ohancery bar. It was during this time that he argued and won what was known as the famous £10,000 case, a case involving the then Mayor of Toronto who had sold ^he debentures of the city at a profit which he put in his own pocket until an ad- verse verdict com- pelled restitution. During the suc- ceeding years of his professional practice, his advancement in life. His first political speech was made in this year at a meeting called to discuss Hudson Bay Company mat- ters. South Ontario was the first constituency to choose him as its representative — a position in which he continued from 1857 until 1864. His first opponent was the late Justice Morrison. Re- ferring to this repre- sentation in a, recent address in South On- tario, Sir Oliver said: — It is thirty-six years and more since I made ray first appearance in the South Riding SIR OUVKR AT 1\VE\TV-K0l"R. SFB 0I.IVJ5R AT FORTY-KIVE. bio public career was rapid. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1856, as well as one of the commissioners to consolidate the Statutes of Canada and Upper Canada, and in the following year he entered upon parliamentary SIB (»L1VER AT SlXTYTilREK. of Ontario county as a politician, and twenty-nine years and a few months since I ceased to Ije the member for the riding. I don't see to-day many of the old faces that I used to see at political meetings during that time. I seem to 586 THB CANADIAN MAGAZINE. have survived most of my old South On- tario friends, and of my opponents too ; and though some remain, most of these appear to have left the field of active politics to a younger generation. When I made my first appearance in the riding, I do not know that there were a dozen per- sons in the riding who knew me person- ally, but the electors were made aware that I had the confidence of the great Reform leader, Mr. Brown, and other prominent Reformers of that time, and that they desired to have me in Parlia- ment. 1 discussed at public meetings in the riding the questions of the day, and when the election came on I had the honor of being selected and nominated as the Reform candidate, with the concur- rence of the other aspirants for that honor. I remember with gratitude the hearty support which I received from them and from the whole Reform part}', as well as from a sprinkling of Conservatives at that election and at subsequent elections. I represented the riding for nearly seven years. During those seven years it hap- pened that I was five times before the people for election — thrice at as many general elections, and twice at bye-elec- tions, the two bye-elections being in con- sequence of my accepting the office of Pro\iacial Secretary in the Brown-Dorion Government of 1858, and of Postmaster- General in the Coalition Government formed in 1864, with Sir Etienne Tache as Premier, for the purpose of settling the difficulties between Upper and Lower Canada, and settling the difficulties which there also were between Protestants and Roman Catholics as to Separate Schools in Upper Canada, and kindred matters. I had also been Postmaster-General in the Macdonald-Dorion Government, form- ed in 1863, just before the general elec- . tion of that year. In 1864, the year in which he ac- cepted the position of Vice-Chancellor, he formed one of the famous British North American conference at Quebec, where the terms of Confederation were settled. He is thus one of the fathers of Confederation. The passage of the Dual Representation Act in the Oh- tario Parliament caused another radi- cal change in Sir Oliver's life, the retirement of Edward Blako and Ale::ander Mackenzie from the Pro- vincial House, in 1872, leading to his call by the Lieutenant-Governor to form a ministry. So he descended from the Bench and re-entered the arena of public life, and has ever since that time — twenty-two years ago — held the position of Premier and At- torney-General. This is a remark- able record for a government, a re- cord without precedent in the history of British constitutional government, excelling even the record of the minis- try of the second Pitt which remained in power from the end of the year 1783 until early in 1801 — a period of seven- teen and a quarter years. Such is the career, municipal, legal judicial and parliamentary, sketched in briefest outline, of Ontario's Grand Old Parliamentarian ! and in his 74th year he is donning the armor for another quadrennial contest with his political opponents. Notwithstanding his advanced years, *\ere is reason to hope for a considerable prolongation of Sir Oliver's political career, for he comes of an exceedingly long-lived family, his father almost reaching the threshold of the seventies, his mother eighty-two years, his grandfather nine- ty, and a sister of bis father's dying only a few years ago, in Caithness- shire, at the age of one hundred and one! Sir Oliver may be said to be in his prime at seventy-four, a mellow mid- dle-age, and though, as he is seen daily walking from his residence on St. George-street to his office in the east- ern wing of the Parliament Buildings, a slow and cautious step, chiefly caused by short-sightedness, and a little of the over-bentness of the years, may be discerned, yet it only needs a conversation or a speech to convince anyone that the mentality, the keen perception, the legal ability to ana- lyze a question, the readiness and skill in debate, and the vigi i- f attack or defence in political and parliamentary warfare, are as much his as when he w SIR OLIVER MO WAT. 587 ako and the Pro- iading to Governor lescended tered the 3ver since irs ago — r and At- remark- »nt, a re- le history reminent, ^he minis- remained year 1783 of seven- ipal, legal sketched d'r Grand I his 74th irraor for with his bstanding reason to longation er, for he ong-lived ching the is mother /her nine- r's dying /aithness- dred and be in his low mid- ieen daily s on St. the east- Buildings, chiefly s, and a ihe years, ' needs a convince the keen to ana- and skill attack or Eimentary when he first entered the lists so many years ago. It may be interesting to refer to the subject of this sketch in other and more personal connections. He first lived on Bay-street, and then he live, M.I). ',10. " You'uE liii coward, and don't dfuv to tioht nu' ! " TIk'sc w.)1'(Is weiT' Hjiokcn by a man Avhost' round, clost'-Hlmvcn lu'ud was set, without any appjireiit neck, upon a pail' of liugo shouldt'r.s which tcr- niinatod in massive arms which reach- ed almost to the ownei\s knees. His coarse, broken-noHe(l Face was fixed in a savage sneer as he gazed at the pe)-- son to whom his words were address- ed. This was a young man whose tall, lithe foi'm was siu'mouiited bv a head and face shapely and beautiful. He did not appear to be daunted by the savage aspect of his accuser, and, although ins face Hushed till it was as red as his hair, he contented himself with saying : " Weel, mon, it may bi' tluit I am a cooard, but I ha'e too much sense to tight wi' the likes o' you, just to mak' sport for the crood ! ' It may be well to explain the cause of this episode. To do so we must transport ourselves l)ack, well nigh three-cpiarters of a century, to a new- ly settled district of Prince Edward Island. Here John Yoe, a typical Eng- lishman, had opened a ship-yard, in which, when they wei'e not tilling their farms, nmny of the Scotch High- landers who had settled in this new country found work. There were in the yard many Englishmen, and, as was to be expected from the still bit- ter national animosity, there w('rec()ii- tinual hand-to-hand tigiits, in which the Scotch always came out victois. This stirred the piide and anger of the Knglish slii])-l>uil