The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4). Dent John Charles
He had now, to his great regret, to use the hand of another to write his letters and despatches. He was racked by pains above the eye and down the right side of the face as far as the chin. The cheek towards the nose and mouth was permanently swelled. He could not open his mouth to its usual width, and it was with difficulty he inserted and masticated food. He no longer looked forward to a cure. His Canadian medical attendants hesitated to apply the powerful caustic recommended by Sir Benjamin Brodie, and counselled him to return to England. "I am tied to Canada by my duty," was his constant reply. Mr. George Pollock, house surgeon of St. George's Hospital, was despatched from England, to examine the case and apply the most approved remedies. No aid which science could give was wanting, but the disease was beyond medical control. Its ravages were now most painful and distressing. So far as the body was concerned, it was but the wreck of a man that remained. On this wreck or ruin, however, was to descend, as if in mockery, the coronet of nobility. He was created Baron Metcalfe. Idle as the honour was in itself to the childless invalid, it was still a testimony that his services had been appreciated. "But," says his biographer, "he was dying, no less surely for the strong will that sustained him, and the vigorous intellect which glowed in his shattered frame. A little while and he might die at his post. The winter was setting in — the navigation was closing. It was necessary at once to decide whether Metcalfe should now prepare to betake the suffering remnant of himself to England, or to abide at Montreal, if spared, till the coming spring. But he would not trust himself to form the decision. He invited the leading members of his Council to attend him at Monklands; and there he told them that he left the issue in their hands. It was a scene never to be forgotten by any who were present in the Governor-General's darkened room on this memorable occasion. Some were dissolved in tears. All were agitated by a strong emotion of sorrow and sympathy, mingled with a sort of wondering admiration of the heroic constancy of their chief. He told them that if they desired his continuance at the head of the Government — if they believed that the cause for which they had fought together so manfully would suffer by his departure, and that they therefore counselled him to remain at his post, he would willingly abide by their decision." What their decision was need hardly be said. Lord Metcalfe embarked for England quietly and unostentatiously, as his suffering state compelled. He could not, from the nature of the struggle in which he had been engaged, expect to quit the shores of Canada with the same unanimous approbation that had erected to his memory the "Metcalfe Hall" at Calcutta, or raised his statue in Spanish Town, Jamaica. He returned to England — returned to doctors and the darkened room. He was in constant pain except when under the influence of narcotics; but he made no complaint, and endured his sufferings with fortitude. He died on the 5th of September, 1846, and was interred in a quiet, private and unostentatious manner in the little parish church of Winkfield, near Fern Hill. He had often expressed a wish that this should be his last resting place. On a marble tablet in this church is an epitaph written by Mr. — afterwards Lord — Macaulay, who knew and had served with him in India. Thus it runs: — "Near this stone is laid Charles Theophilus, first and last Lord Metcalfe, a Statesman tried in many high posts and difficult conjunctures, and found equal to all. The Three Greatest Dependencies of the British Crown were successively intrusted to his care. In India his fortitude, his wisdom, his probity, and his moderation are held in honourable remembrance by men of many races, languages, and religions. In Jamaica, still convulsed by a social revolution, he calmed the evil passions which long suffering had engendered in one class and long domination in another. In Canada, not yet recovered from the calamities of civil war, he reconciled contending factions to each other and to the Mother Country. Public esteem was the just reward of his public virtue, but those only who enjoyed the privilege of his friendship could appreciate the whole worth of his gentle and noble nature. Costly monuments in Asiatic and American cities attest the gratitude of nations which he ruled; this tablet records the sorrow and the pride with which his memory is cherished by private Affection."
Had it been his good fortune to die before receiving the appointment of Governor-General of Canada, Sir Charles Metcalfe would have left behind him a high reputation on all hands, and there would have been nothing to detract from the praise which would have been justly his due. His tenure of office in this country was a somewhat inglorious close to a long and useful public career. As Governor of a colony to which Responsible Government had been conceded he was altogether out of his element. He was simply unfit for the position, as well by reason of his personal character as by the training to which he had been subjected. Good intentions were undoubtedly his, and he acted up to the light that was in him; but to this modicum of praise no Canadian writer can justly add much in the way of commendation.
THE HON. ALEXANDER MORRIS
Mr. Morris is the eldest son of the late Hon. William Morris, whose name is prominently identified with the history of the Clergy Reserve and School Land questions in this country; and a nephew of the late Hon. James Morris, who held the portfolio of Postmaster-General in the Baldwin-Lafontaine Administration, and who was subsequently Receiver-General in the Administration organized under the leadership of Messrs. John Sandfield Macdonald and Louis Victor Sicotte. The chief points of public interest connected with the family history are outlined in the sketch of his father's life, which appears elsewhere in these pages. The subject of the present memoir was born at Perth, Upper Canada — where his father then resided and carried on business — on the 17th of March, 1826. In boyhood he attended the local Grammar School, which enjoyed a high reputation for the efficiency of its educational training. His father, who was desirous that his son should enjoy higher scholastic advantages than were then obtainable in this country, sent him, while he was still in early youth, to Scotland, where he entered as a student at Madras College, St. Andrews. After spending about a year at that establishment he was transferred to the University of Glasgow, where another industrious year was passed. Returning to his native land, he began to devote himself to the business of life. He at this time was intended for commercial pursuits, and spent three years in the establishment of Messrs. Thorne & Heward, commission merchants, at Montreal. The knowledge and experience gained during these three years have since proved of great service to him, although he was not destined to engage in commercial business on his own behalf. He had meanwhile resolved to enter the legal profession in Upper Canada, and was accordingly articled as a clerk to Mr. — now the Hon. Sir — John A. Macdonald, in the office of Messrs. Macdonald & Campbell, Barristers, of Kingston. Here he studied with such assiduity that his health gave way, and he was compelled to relinquish his studies for some months. His father having previously removed to Montreal, he returned to that city and resumed his scholastic studies in the University of McGill College, where he took the degrees successively of B.A., M.A., B.C.L., and D.C.L. He was the first graduate in the Arts course of that institution, and was subsequently elected by the graduates one of the first Fellows in Arts, and thence was promoted to be one of the Governors of the University, which position he held for several years. He entered the office of the then Attorney-General Badgley, who subsequently became a Judge of the Court of Queen's Bench in Quebec. He completed his course of studies in the office of Messrs. Badgley & Abbott, and then proceeded to Toronto, where he presented his credentials to the Benchers of the Law Society and requested to be called to the Bar, under the provisions of the law which enabled any person who had been duly registered as a clerk or student during the necessary period for the Bar of Lower Canada, to be called to the Bar of Upper Canada, after passing the necessary examination. He was examined in due course by the Benchers of Upper Canada, admitted to the degree of Barrister-at-Law, and was thereafter sworn in as an Attorney — both in Hilary Term of the year 1851. He was then about to establish himself in the practice of the law in the city of Toronto, having been offered a partnership by the then Attorney-General, the late Hon. John Ross, when family circumstances led to his return to Montreal, where, having presented his diploma as a Barrister-at-Law of Upper Canada, he was after examination called to the Bar of Lower Canada as an Advocate. In November of the same year he married Miss Margaret Cline, daughter of the late Mr. William Cline, of Cornwall, and niece of the late Hon. Philip Vankoughnet, of the same place. He entered upon the practice of his profession in Montreal. His ability and social connections soon secured for him a large and lucrative practice, and having entered into partnership with the present Mr. Justice Torrance, he became known as one of the most successful practitioners in the Province, devoting himself mainly to commercial law. Like his father before him, he attached himself to the Conservative side in politics, and first entered