The Canadian Portrait Gallery Part 13

_Campbell_, owing to its peculiar character, is perhaps the one best known to the general public. There have been many others, however, involving much more abstruse points, on which his great learning and industry have been exercised, and which are regarded as conclusive in logic as well as in law.

At the urgent solicitation of the Local Government of Ontario, Mr. Blake consented, early in 1876, to act as one of the Commissioners for carrying out the Tavern License Law in Toronto. The position was one calling for the exercise of great judgment and discrimination, but it was also one very distasteful to him. It was urged upon him as a matter of duty, however, and as such he regarded it. To say that he discharged the duties incidental to this position with efficiency, uprightness, and satisfaction to the authorities is merely to a.s.sert what every one in Toronto knows to be true. He brought to his task the same high qualities which have always distinguished him both in professional and private life, and the people of Toronto had abundant reason to feel thankful that he consented to act.

Mr. Blake is a prominent member of the Church of England, and has ever since his youth given much time and attention to ecclesiastical affairs.

Anything connected with the Church possesses for him a living interest.

His predilections in this way are so well known that he was long ago christened by one of his friends "the Archbishop," and by the members of his own family he is still sometimes jocularly so called. During the existence of the Church a.s.sociation he was one of its most energetic officials. At the time of its dissolution, and for some years previously, he occupied the position of its Vice-President. He has been a Sunday-school teacher for nearly a quarter of a century, and is much esteemed and beloved by the members of his cla.s.ses. Though not given to doing his alms before men, it is well known that his works of kindness and philanthropy are abundant, and that he has been the means of rescuing many of his fellow-creatures from a life of sin and degradation. He is, and has long been, President of the Irish Protestant Benevolent Society, and is connected with various other Christian and charitable enterprises. He takes a conspicuous part in the proceedings of the Young Men's Christian a.s.sociation of Toronto, and frequently presides at public meetings held for social and philanthropical objects.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ALEXANDRE ANTONIN TACHe, signed as ALY. ARCH. of St. BONIFACE]

THE MOST REV. ALEXANDRE ANTONIN TACHe,

_R. C. ARCHBISHOP OF ST. BONIFACE._

Archbishop Tache belongs to one of the oldest and most remarkable families of Canada; one that can refer with just pride to its ancestry, among whom are ranked Louis Joliette, the celebrated discoverer of the Mississippi, and Sieur Varennes de la Verandrye, the hardy explorer of the Red River, the Upper Missouri, and the Saskatchewan country; while several others are conspicuous in Canadian annals for eminent services rendered in their respective spheres. Jean Tache, the first of the name in Canada, arrived at Quebec in 1739, married Demoiselle Marguerite Joliette de Mingan, and occupied several influential positions under the French _regime_. He was the possessor of a large fortune, but was ruined by the Conquest which subst.i.tuted English for French rule. His son Charles settled in Montmagny, and had three sons, Charles, Jean Baptiste, and Etienne Pascal. The last-mentioned became Sir Etienne Pascal Tache, and died Premier of Canada in 1865. Charles, the eldest of the three, after having served as Captain in the regiment of Voltigeurs during the war with the United States, took up his residence in Kamouraska. He married Demoiselle Henriette Boucher de la Broquerie, great grand-daughter of the founder of Boucherville, and grand-niece of Madame d'Youville, the foundress of the Grey Nunnery of Montreal. Three sons were born of this marriage: Dr. Joseph Charles Tache, a well-known Canadian writer, Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur, and Deputy of the Minister of Agriculture and Statistics; Louis Tache, Sheriff of St.

Hyacinthe; and Alexandre Antonin Tache, Archbishop of St. Boniface, the subject of the present sketch.

The Archbishop was born at Riviere du Loup (en bas), Quebec, on the 23rd of July, 1823. At the tender age of two years and a half he lost his father. Madame Tache, after the death of her husband, repaired with her young family to Boucherville, to dwell with her father, M. de la Broquerie. Madame Tache was endowed with many of the qualities that const.i.tute the model wife and mother, and made it the sole aim of her life to have her sons follow in the path of duty and honour trodden by their forefathers. From his infancy young Alexandre displayed fine natural qualities, crowned by a pa.s.sionate love for his mother. This affection has lost nothing of its intensity, and to the present day the mere mention of his mother strikes the tenderest chord of his feelings.

At school and at college he was noted for his genial character, amiable gaiety and bright intellect. He received his higher education at the College of St. Hyacinthe. Having completed his course of cla.s.sical studies, he donned the ecclesiastical habit, went as a student to the Theological Seminary of Montreal, and subsequently returned to the College of St. Hyacinthe as Professor of Mathematics.

Meanwhile the arrival of the disciples of De Mazenod, founder of the Order of the Oblates, threw a new light on the vocation of Alexandre Tache. Being the great-great-grandson of Joliette, and having been brought up in Boucherville, in the very house whence the celebrated Jacques Marquette had started for his western missions--having moreover been sheltered by the same roof under which Marquette had registered the first baptism administered in the locality[13]--it is no wonder that the spirit of those renowned personages still hovered around the young ecclesiastic, indicating a life of self-denial, to be endured in the far North-West. He entered the novitiate at Longueil, in October, 1844. The mission of the Oblate Fathers, which now extends from the coast of Labrador to the sh.o.r.es of British Columbia, and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Sea, was then in its infancy in Canada. In 1844 the Hudson's Bay and North-West Territories were detached from the diocese of Quebec, and the Right Reverend Joseph Norbert Provencher, who had been exercising his zeal throughout those vast regions, was appointed Apostolic Vicar. The venerable prelate had toiled, with a very small number of co-labourers, during the twenty-six previous years, in evangelizing the scattered tribes. Bishop Provencher was convinced that to give more extension to his work it was necessary to secure the services of a religious order, and fixed his choice on the Oblates. His proposal was so much the more readily accepted that it was suited to carry into practical effect, to a more than ordinary degree, the motto of the Order--_Pauperes evangelizantur_. This decision awakened a flame in the heart of the novice Tache. His first impulse was to offer his services in the generous undertaking. It was not without dread and apprehension that he harboured the idea, for he was but twenty-one years of age. So far, he had known in life naught but what was congenial to his affectionate nature: the pure joys of home, the tenderness and solicitude of an almost idolized mother. He had grown up in the sunshine of universal affection, and his feelings had never been chilled or nipped by deception or unkindness. The struggle was a difficult one; but, in the designs of Providence, his love for his mother was made the means of determining his resolution. The act of his life which has enlisted the most tender sympathies is certainly that which found him at the shrine of filial piety, offering to the Almighty the sacrifice of home and country, and of all that he held dearest on earth; begging, in return, the recovery of his mother from a dangerous illness under which she was then labouring. Madame Tache was restored to health, and was spared for twenty-six years to witness the elevation and popularity to which her beloved son was destined.

On the 24th of June, 1845, the national feast of French Canadians, while all around was exultant with joy and festivity, the young missionary, accompanied by the Rev. P. Aubert, took his place in a birch bark canoe for a foreign sh.o.r.e. A page from the pen of the Bishop of St. Boniface in his work "_Vingt Annees de Missions_," published some years ago, vividly describes his feelings on the occasion:--"You will allow me to tell you what I felt as I receded from the sources of the St. Lawrence, on whose banks Providence had fixed my birthplace, and by whose waters I first conceived the thought of becoming a missionary of the Red River. I drank of those waters for the last time, and mingled with them some parting tears, and confided to them some of the secret thoughts and affectionate sentiments of my inmost heart. I could imagine how some of the bright waves of this river, rolling down from lake to lake, would at last strike on the beach nigh to which a beloved mother was praying for her son that he might become a perfect Oblate and a holy missionary.

I knew that, being intensely pre-occupied with that son's happiness, she would listen to the faintest murmuring sound, to the very beatings of the waves coming from the North-West, as if to discover in them the echoes of her son's voice asking a prayer or promising a remembrance. I give expression to what I felt on that occasion, for the recollection now, after the lapse of twenty years, of the emotions I experienced in quitting home and friends, enables me more fully to appreciate the generous devotedness of those who give up all they hold most dear in human affection for the salvation of souls. The height of land was as it were the threshold of the entrance to our new home, and the barrier about to close behind us. When the heart is a prey to deep emotion it needs to be strengthened. To sooth mine, I brought it to consider the uncultured and savage nature of the soil we were treading. . . . I calculated, or at least accepted, all the consequences thereof. I bade to my native land an adieu which I then believed to be everlasting, and I vowed to my adopted land a love and attachment which I then, as now, wished to be as lasting as my life."

The missionaries reached St. Boniface on the 25th of August, after a long and tiresome journey of sixty-two days. On the first Sunday after his arrival the young ecclesiastic, who had during the voyage reached the required age of twenty-two years, was ordained Deacon, and on the 12th of October following he was raised to the Priesthood. The next day Father Tache p.r.o.nounced his religious vows. This was the first time that the vows of religion were p.r.o.nounced in the far North-West, and it is worth noting, once more, that the young Oblate then performing the solemn act was related to the discoverer who first hoisted the banner of the cross in those remote regions--the ill.u.s.trious Varennes de la Verandrye. Shortly after his ordination Father Tache was appointed to accompany the Rev. L. Lafleche, now Bishop of Three Rivers, to Isle a la Crosse, a thousand miles distant from St. Boniface. They started on the 8th of July, 1846, and after a hara.s.sing journey that lasted two months they arrived at their destination. The young missionary went heart and soul into his work. Having heard of an Indian Chief who lay dangerously ill at Lac Vert, a place ninety miles distant, and who desired to be baptized, he hastened through dismal swamps and pine forests to perform that sacred office. On his return, after four days' rest, he undertook the voyage to Lac Caribou, 350 miles north-east of Isle a la Crosse, and was the first who ever reached that desolate spot to announce the Gospel of Peace. There he had the happiness of instructing and baptizing several poor Indians. His next missionary expedition was to Athabasca.

On his way thither he was warned of the fierce and savage character of the Indian tribes who frequented that region, but, nevertheless, he courageously pursued his weary journey of 400 miles to the end. A great missionary triumph awaited him. In the course of three weeks he baptized 194 Indian children of the Cree and Chippeweyan tribes. These happy beginnings inspired Father Tache's zeal to pursue with continued ardour his apostolic career. The annals of the "Propagation of the Faith"

contain soul-stirring accounts of the labours accomplished by the young missionary. His travels were through the wilderness, where no hospitable roof offered a shelter. After a long day's walking through deep snow, or running behind a dog sled, with nothing to appease his hunger but the unpalatable pemmican, he had to seek repose on the cold ground, with the canopy of heaven overhead. Still, he affirms that he counts among the happiest days of his life those pa.s.sed in his first Indian missions in the North-West, and relates how his heart beat with joy when, at a journey's end, he was welcomed by the untutored savages whom he desired to win to Christ.

While Father Tache was thus giving proofs of his zeal and ability, and seeking to extend the reign of the Master who had chosen him, his superiors were admiring his remarkable endowments. The young clergyman who sought oblivion was being marked out for an exalted dignity. The keen eye of the venerable bishop of the North-West had remarked the brilliant talents of his young missionary, and experience has shown how judicious was his choice in selecting Father Tache, then only twenty-six years of age, as his coadjutor and future successor. It is easy to imagine the latter's surprise on receiving the news of his promotion to the episcopate. At the call of his bishop he repaired to St. Boniface. A letter from his Religious Superior awaited him there, instructing him to sail immediately for France for his consecration. His first meeting with the founder of the Oblates was marked by signs of mutual appreciation.

Bishop Tache received the episcopal consecration on the 23rd of November, 1851, in the Cathedral of Viviers, in Southern France, at the hands of the Bishop of Ma.r.s.eilles, Monseigneur De Mazenod, a.s.sisted by Monseigneur Guibert, now Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, and Monseigneur Prince, Bishop of St. Hyacinthe. Bishop Tache left immediately for Rome.

The paternal encouragements of His Holiness Pope Pius IX., and repeated visits to the tombs of the Apostles and Martyrs, imparted renewed strength to the energy of the young prelate. He started in February for the remote scene of his labours. He spent a few weeks in Lower Canada, where the liveliest sympathies were lavished upon him. Every one was impatient to see and to hear the young bishop of the Indians of the North-West. In the month of June he reached St. Boniface. Bishop Provencher, feeling that his end was near, had thought of retaining his coadjutor near him, but the strong reasons adduced by the missionary bishop prevailed. Monseigneur Tache, on taking his departure for Isle a la Crosse, knelt to ask the blessing of Monseigneur Provencher. The venerable prelate gave expression on that occasion to the following prophetic words:--"It is not customary for a bishop to ask for another bishop's blessing, but as I am soon to die, and as we shall never again meet in this world, I will bless you once more on this earth, while awaiting the happiness of embracing you in heaven."

Father Tache's elevation to the episcopal dignity increased his responsibilities, and gave a new impulse to his zeal and devotion to the good cause, while the unction of a divine commission gave efficacy and power to his efforts. From his residence at Isle a la Crosse the prelate made frequent excursions to visit different tribes. The following playful but truthful description, in his own words, of his dwelling place, and of his mode of travelling, gives an idea of what he had to endure, and how he bore it:--"My episcopal palace is twenty feet in length, twenty in width, and seven in height. It is built of logs cemented with mud, which, however, is not impermeable, for the wind and the rain and other atmospheric annoyances find easy access through its walls. Two windows of six small panes of gla.s.s lighten the princ.i.p.al apartment, and two pieces of parchment complete the rest of the luminary system. In this palace, though at first glance everything looks mean and diminutive, a character of real grandeur, nevertheless, pervades the whole establishment. For instance, my secretary is no less a personage than a bishop--my 'valet de chambre' is also a bishop--my cook himself is sometimes a bishop. The ill.u.s.trious _employes_ have countless defects, but their attachment to my person endears them to me, and I cannot help looking at them with a feeling of satisfaction. When they grow tired of their domestic employments I put them all on the road, and going with them, I strive to make them cheery. The entire household of his lordship is _en route_, with two Indians, and a half-breed who conducts a team of four dogs. The team is laden with cooking utensils, bedding, a wardrobe, a portable altar and its fittings, a food basket, and other odds and ends. His lordship puts on a pair of snow shoes which are from three to four feet in length, real episcopal pantofles, perfectly adapted to the fine tissue of the white carpet on which he has to walk, moving with more or less rapidity according to the muscular strength of the traveller. Towards evening this strength equals zero; the march is suspended, and the episcopal party is ordered to halt. An hour's labour suffices to prepare a mansion wherein his lordship will repose till the next morning. The bright white snow is carefully removed, and branches of trees are spread over the cleared ground. These form the ornamental flooring of the new palace; the sky is its lofty roof, the moon and stars are its brilliant lamps, the dark pine forests or the boundless horizon its sumptuous wainscoting. The four dogs of the team are its sentinels, the wolves and the owls preside over the musical orchestra, hunger and cold give zest to the joy experienced at the sight of the preparations which are being made for the evening banquet and the night's repose. The chilled and stiffened limbs bless the merciful warmth of the kindled pile to which the 'giants of the forest' have supplied abundant fuel. Having taken possession of their mansion, the proprietors partake of a common repast; the dogs are the first served, then comes his lordship's turn, his table is his knees, the table service consists of a pocket-knife, a bowl, a tin plate, and a five-p.r.o.nged fork, which is an old family heirloom. The _Benedicite omnia opera_ is p.r.o.nounced. Nature is too grand and beautiful in the midst even of all its trying rigours for us to forget its Author; therefore, during these encampments our hearts become filled with thoughts that are solemn and overpowering. We feel it then to be our duty to communicate such thoughts to the companions of our journey, and to invite them to love Him by whom all those wonderful things we behold around us were made, and to give thanks to Him from whom all blessings flow. Having rendered our homage to G.o.d, Monseigneur's 'valet de chambre' removes from his lordship's shoulders the overcoat which he has worn during the day, and extending it on the ground calls it a mattress; his cap, his mittens and his travelling bag pa.s.s in the darkness of the night for a pillow; two woollen blankets undertake the task of protecting the bishop from the cold of the night, and of preserving the warmth necessary for his repose. Lest they should fail in such offices, Providence comes to their aid, by sending a kindly little layer of snow, which spreads a protecting mantle, without distinction, over all alike.

Beneath its white folds sleep tranquilly the prelate and his suite, repairing in their calm slumbers the fatigues of the previous day, and gathering strength for the journey of the morrow; never dreaming of the surprise that some spoiled child of civilization would experience if, lifting this snow mantle he found lying beneath it bishop, Indians, the four dogs of the team, etc., etc., etc." The above description is applicable not merely to a solitary journey made by Bishop Tache, but to those habitually performed by him; and as it gives an excellent idea of the nature of primitive travel in the North-West we have quoted it at length.

On the 7th of June, 1853, the first Bishop of St. Boniface breathed his last, worn out by a life of toil and usefulness. His coadjutor received the sad tidings while making the pastoral visitation of the diocese. The stroke was a severe one, and it was with dread and mistrust in himself that Bishop Tache entered upon the office of t.i.tular bishop of an immense territory. Nevertheless, at the call of the new bishop zealous co-labourers came forth to share a high and holy mission. Colleges, convents and schools were founded, while those already existing were supported to a great extent by the generosity of the prelate himself, ever ready to endure the severest privations for the sake of his flock.

At his request the Sisters of Charity opened an asylum for little orphan girls, while the orphan boys shared the lodgings and table of the bishop, until provision could be made for them. Missionary posts were established and extended three thousand miles distant from St. Boniface.

The visitation of the diocese at necessary intervals became, for the Bishop of St. Boniface, an impossibility. In 1857, accordingly, the prelate made a voyage to Europe to obtain a coadjutor. The Rev. Father Grandin was appointed to this office. In 1860 the Bishop of St. Boniface undertook a long and trying journey to confer with his coadjutor at Isle a la Crosse, on the propriety of subdividing the diocese, and of proposing the Rev. Father Faraud for an episcopal charge. The plan was adopted and sanctioned by proper authority. The districts of Athabasca and Mackenzie became a Vicariate Apostolic, confided to the zeal of Monseigneur Faraud. Bishop Tache had to suffer more during that journey than can be easily imagined by those unacquainted with the climate and the mode of travelling in that country. From that time his health began to fail, but left his indomitable energy unimpaired, as was needed for the trials which awaited him in the not distant future. Alluding to the morning of the 14th of December, 1860, he writes as follows:--"We left our frosty bed at the early hour of one a.m. to continue our journey. We travelled until ten in the forenoon, and then halted to rest, and to partake of a little food. We found it almost impossible to kindle a fire; at last we partially succeeded. I sat beside the dying embers, cold and hungry and wearied; a peculiar sadness oppressed me. I was then nine hundred miles from St. Boniface." This sadness might have seemed a premonition of what was occurring at St. Boniface on the same day and at the same hour. The episcopal residence and the cathedral were in flames, and with them everything they contained was reduced to ashes. With what grief did the bishop witness the scene of destruction on his return after his painful journey! He writes as follows to the Bishop of Montreal:--"You may judge, my Lord, of my emotion when, on the 23rd of February, after a journey of fifty-four days in the depth of winter, after sleeping forty-four nights in the open air, I arrived at St.

Boniface, and knelt in the midst of the ruins caused by the disaster of the 14th of December, on that spot where lately stood a thriving religious establishment. But the destruction of the episcopal establishment was not the only trial which it pleased G.o.d that year to send us. A frightful inundation invaded our Colony, and plunged its population in profound misery. What should the Bishop of St. Boniface do in presence of these ruins, and under the weight of so heavy a load of affliction, but bow down his head in Christian and loving submission to the Divine will, whilst blessing the hand that smote him, and adoring the merciful G.o.d who chastised him?"

The soul of the Bishop of St. Boniface, though sorely tried by the above disasters, as well as by the distress of seeing his flock looking to him for a.s.sistance, was not cast down. He lost no time in taking the necessary steps to repair the calamities which had occurred. He went to Canada and to France to raise funds, and success crowned his efforts.

Mr. Joseph James Hargrave, in his work on "Red River," alluding to the burning of the cathedral and episcopal residence, says:--"This check has, however, through the ability of the bishop, been turned almost into a benefit, for a much superior church has been raised on the site of the old one, and the handsome and commodious stone dwelling-house which has replaced the other is, in more than mere name, a palace."

In 1868 all the crops in the Red River settlement were destroyed by innumerable swarms of gra.s.shoppers. The same year the buffalo chase, one of the princ.i.p.al resources of the country at the time, was a complete failure. Famine was the result. The most energetic efforts were made to mitigate the distress, and timely aid from abroad prevented, in many cases, death from starvation. A Relief Committee was appointed, and among the members were the clergymen of the different religious denominations, to whom it belonged to see to the wants of their respective congregations. While it is true that all these gentlemen acted their part well, it is but fair to add that Bishop Tache was the most active; ever devising new means, at his own expense, to preserve his people from starvation, and securing seed for the ensuing spring when the resources of the committee were insufficient.

Famine is often a forerunner of political disturbance in a country.

During the spring of 1869 a universal feeling of dissatisfaction and of uneasiness prevailed in the colony, when it became known, through the public press, that transactions were being carried on between Her Majesty's Government, that of the Dominion, and the Hudson's Bay Company, for the transfer of the Red River country to Canada, while the authorities of a.s.siniboia and the population of the colony were entirely ignored by the negotiating parties. This wounded the susceptibilities of the inhabitants, among whom a spirit of sullenness and disaffection began to appear. The surveyors sent from Canada to lay out the land were not allowed to prosecute their work, and when the newspapers of Ontario and Quebec brought intelligence to Fort Garry that a Commission under the Great Seal of Canada had been issued on the 29th of September, 1869, appointing the Hon. William McDougall to be Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Territories, and that the Honourable gentleman was _en route_ with a party, and taking with him three hundred and fifty breech-loading rifles with thirty thousand rounds of ammunition, the dissatisfaction became exasperation. The French Half-Breeds took up arms and sent a party to the frontier to meet Mr. McDougall and order him back. Such was the beginning of the outbreak.

Bishop Tache was at this time absent in Europe, attending the sitting of the [OE]c.u.menical Council at Rome. When the troubles in the North-West became known to the Canadian Government at Ottawa, it was thought desirable to secure His Lordship's services. His influence over the French Half-Breeds was known to be all-powerful, and he was regarded as the one man for the crisis. He was communicated with by cablegram, and, recognizing the urgency of the case, he at once set out for Canada. Upon reaching Ottawa he had a conference with the Government, and received instructions authorizing him to proceed at once to the North-West, and to offer the rebels an amnesty for all past offences. He lost no time in repairing to Fort Garry, but five days before his arrival there the murder of Thomas Scott--"the dark crime of the rebellion"--had been committed. Bishop Tache, while deploring that ruthless piece of butchery, did not conceive that his instructions were affected thereby.

He recognized the Provisional Government, entered into negotiations with Riel, and was instrumental in restoring peace. He unconsciously exceeded his powers, and made promises to the rebels in the name of the Canadian Government which, in the absence of express Imperial authority, the Canadian Government itself had no power to make. All this, however, was done from the best of motives, for the purpose of preventing further bloodshed, and without any idea that he was exceeding the authority with which he had been invested. A great deal has been said and written against Bishop Tache in connection with this troublesome episode in the history of Red River. The Archbishop has informed the author of this sketch that his intention is to personally prepare a full account of what he knows respecting that episode. Meanwhile, suffice it to say to those who would know the part played by him, that His Grace has already published two pamphlets on the subject, the first in 1874, and the second in 1875. The latter portrays the painful feeling experienced by His Grace at the way he was treated by the authorities after he had succeeded in appeasing the dissatisfied people, and in bringing them to enter into negotiations, the results of which were satisfactory to the Government of Canada, as well as to the old settlers of a.s.siniboia. It is impossible, in reading those pages, not to be convinced that the prelate acted with the utmost good faith, and with the interests of the country at heart. "The Amnesty Again, or Charges Refuted," clearly demonstrates how deeply the author felt that he had been unjustly treated. Few men, if any, in Canada, occupying such a high position, have been attacked so unfairly as Bishop Tache. There is not a man of sense acquainted with His Lordship and with the country in which he has laboured so indefatigably during the last thirty-five years that would venture to repeat the accusations brought against him at the time in reference to the Red River disturbances. Some of those who had accused him experienced a complete transformation in their ideas on forming His Lordship's acquaintance, and could not help sharing in the universal respect which surrounds him.

On the 22nd of September, 1871, Bishop Tache was appointed Archbishop and Metropolitan of a new ecclesiastical province--that of St. Boniface, which comprehends the Archdiocese of St. Boniface, the Diocese of St.

Albert, and the Vicariates Apostolic of Athabaska-Mackenzie and British Columbia. As already stated, Archbishop Tache's health began to fail during his hara.s.sing journey in the winter of 1860. The calamities above mentioned, the losses to be repaired requiring unceasing toil, and, above all, it may be said, the mental suffering of the three previous years, hastened the progress of the disease which seized Archbishop Tache in December, 1872, and kept him bedridden during the whole winter.

The malady has since partially subsided, but His Grace still suffers constantly, more or less, and his strength is by no means equal to what his appearance would indicate.

In 1875 Archbishop Tache received a remarkable token of the sympathy he commands in the Province of Quebec. On the 24th of June, the thirtieth anniversary of his departure from Montreal, and the twenty-fifth of his election to the episcopate, His Grace was made the recipient of a very uncommon and valuable gift, that of a splendid organ for his cathedral.

The instrument, which cost about $3,000, was built in Montreal by Mr.

Mitch.e.l.l, who accompanied it to St. Boniface, at the expense of the donors, to place it in the loft prepared for it there, "to raise its rich and melodious tones, as the expression of the feelings of the numerous friends and admirers of a holy missionary, a devoted bishop, and a n.o.ble citizen."

In 1877 Lord Dufferin visited the Province of Manitoba. Many looked forward with a certain anxiety to see the att.i.tude the Archbishop of St.

Boniface would take towards or receive from the Governor-General. That feeling was caused by the recollection of what Lord Dufferin had written to England with regard to Bishop Tache, and of how His Grace had repudiated His Excellency's a.s.sertions in the pamphlet alluded to above.

Those better acquainted with His Grace knew quite well that every other feeling would be silenced in order to give vent only to that of profound respect towards the representative of Her Majesty, and for them it was no matter of surprise to see His Grace, contrary to his practice, appear daily in public, when an opportunity afforded itself, to testify his respect for the ill.u.s.trious visitor. This, of course, was felt by Lord Dufferin, who shortly after wrote to a friend: "I left Bishop Tache very well and in good spirits. Nothing could have been kinder than the reception he gave me." It may even be said that Lord Dufferin seemed eager to express his esteem for the venerable prelate. The second day after His Excellency's arrival he was at the Archiepiscopal Palace of St. Boniface, and answered as follows to an address from the Archbishop and Catholic clergy of the locality:--

"MONSEIGNEUR et MESSIEURS,--I need not a.s.sure you that it is with great satisfaction that I at length find myself within the jurisdiction of Your Grace, and in the neighbourhood of those localities where you and your clergy have for so many years been prosecuting your sacred duties.

Your Grace, I am sure, is well aware how thoroughly I understand and appreciate the degree to which the Catholic Priesthood of Canada have contributed to the progress of civilization, from the earliest days till the present moment, through the length and breadth of Her Majesty's Dominion, and perhaps there is no region where their efforts in this direction are more evident or more strikingly expressed upon the face of the country than here in Manitoba. On many a previous occasion it has been my pleasing duty to bear witness to the unvarying loyalty and devotion to the cause of good government and order of yourself and your brethren, and the kindly feeling and patriotic harmony which I find prevailing in this Province bear unmistakable witness to the spirit of charity and sympathy towards all cla.s.ses of your fellow-citizens by which Your Lordship and your clergy are animated. To myself individually it is a great satisfaction to visit the scene of the labours of a great personage for whom I entertain such a sincere friendship and esteem as I do for Your Grace, and to contemplate with my own eyes the beneficial effects produced by your lifelong labours and unwearying self-sacrifice and devotion to the interests of your flock. I trust that both they and this whole region may by the providence of G.o.d be long permitted to profit by your benevolent ministrations. Permit me to a.s.sure Your Grace and the clergy of your diocese that both Lady Dufferin and myself are deeply grateful for the kind and hearty welcome you have prepared for us." These words, falling from the lips of the immediate representative of Her Majesty, during an official visit, should go some distance towards compensating Archbishop Tache for all the unfair accusations brought against him, and they were a source of heartfelt pleasure to the large audience surrounding the Governor-General on that occasion. During the same year an American writer who visited Manitoba, and published a pamphlet on the country, was taken by the well-known merits and pleasant intercourse of Monseigneur Tache, of whom he says:--"Of Bishop Tache, the Archbishop of this great domain, who resides at this mission (St.

Boniface), much, very much, might be said. His travels, labours and ministry have been extensive and acceptable. Still a few words of the Psalmist will better express him as he is than any words of mine. 'The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord; and he delighteth in his way. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace.' And so it seems to be with him, in the peaceful air of this Mission, which, with his kindly, genial way, seems to make the above-quoted words particularly appropriate, and to cause one to sincerely wish that 'his days may be long in the land, which the Lord his G.o.d hath given him.'"

In 1879 the friends of the Archbishop dreaded that the wishes expressed in the last quotation would not be realized. All through the month of April in that year His Grace was far from well, and on the 2nd of May, while a.s.sisting at a literary entertainment held at the college in honour of his festal day, he was seized with a severe attack of the chronic disease from which he suffers. For a whole week much anxiety prevailed relative to his recovery. Happily he got over the attack, and three months of rest pa.s.sed in the Province of Quebec restored His Grace to his usual condition of health. The Archbishop had proposed crossing the Atlantic for his decennial visit to Rome, and also to attend the General Chapter of the Oblate Order. Sickness did not permit His Grace to make the intended voyage, which would have been the sixth one made by him to Europe. Archbishop Tache often complains of having lost most of his energy and activity; nevertheless it is easy to see that he is not idle concerning the interests of his flock. Last year witnessed the erection of a splendid college in St. Boniface, a s.p.a.cious and beautiful convent in Winnipeg, the new and grand church of St. Mary in the same city, besides the chapels of Emerson, St. Pie, St. Pierre, and many other improvements in different localities; and when we know the active part Archbishop Tache has taken in all these improvements, and the considerable a.s.sistance afforded by him, it must be admitted that his force is not exhausted. His zeal, energy and activity may be measured to a certain degree by the following synopsis of what has been accomplished since his arrival in the country. When Father Tache was ordained Priest at St. Boniface, in 1845, he was only the sixth Roman Catholic clergyman in the British Possessions from Lake Superior to the Rocky mountains--that is to say in the whole diocese of St. Boniface. There were but two parishes and one mission established in the colony of a.s.siniboia, viz.: St. Boniface, St. Francois Xavier, and St. Paul; and two missions in the North-West Territories. At present there are in the same country an Archdiocese, a Diocese and a Vicariate Apostolic, Archbishop, three Bishops, twenty Secular Priests, sixty-two Oblate Fathers, thirty Oblate Lay Brothers, three Brothers of the Congregation of Mary, sixty-five Sisters of Charity, and eleven Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. There are eighteen parishes in Manitoba, and more than forty established missions in the North-West Territories.

The above figures will convey some idea of the progress made by the Roman Catholic religion in the North-West during the last thirty-five years, and as Archbishop Tache has presided over its affairs for nearly thirty years as Bishop or Archbishop it is impossible to doubt that he has displayed a great deal of energy, activity and ability, as well as much Christian kindness and sympathy.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JAMES c.o.x AIKINS, signed as J. C. AIKINS]

THE HON. JAMES c.o.x AIKINS.

The life of the Minister of Inland Revenue has been rather uneventful.

His father, the late Mr. James Aikins, emigrated from the county of Monaghan, Ireland, to Philadelphia, in 1816. After a residence of four years in the Quaker City he removed to Upper Canada, and took up a quant.i.ty of land in the first concession north of the Dundas Road, in the township of Toronto, about thirteen miles from the town of York.

This was sixty years ago, when that township, like nearly every other township in the Province, was spa.r.s.ely settled. There was no church or place of worship in the neighbourhood, and the itinerant Methodist preachers were for some years the only exponents of the Gospel that were seen there. Mr. Aikins, like most Protestants in the north of Ireland, had been bred to the Presbyterian faith, but soon after settling in Upper Canada he came under the influence of these evangelists, and embraced the doctrines of Methodism. His house became a well-known place of resort for the G.o.dly people of the settlement, and services were frequently held there.

The subject of this sketch is the eldest son of the gentleman above named, and was born at the family homestead, in the township of Toronto, on the 30th of March, 1823. He was brought up on his father's farm, and was early inured to the hardships of rural life in Canada in those primitive times. He united with the Methodist Body at an early age, and has ever since been identified with it. He attended the public schools in the neighbourhood of his home, and afterwards spent some time at the Upper Canada Academy at Cobourg, which subsequently developed into Victoria College and University. At the first collegiate examination, which was held on the 17th of April, 1843, he figured as one of the "Merit Students." After completing his education he settled down on a farm in the county of Peel, a few miles from the paternal homestead, and there remained until about eleven years ago, when he removed to Toronto, where he has ever since resided. In 1845, soon after leaving college, he married Miss Mary Elizabeth Jane Somerset, the daughter of a neighbouring yeoman in Peel. He embraced the Reform side in politics, and was for many years identified with the Reform Party. His life was unmarked by any incident of public interest until 1851, when he was nominated as the representative of his native const.i.tuency in the a.s.sembly. Not feeling prepared for public life at this period he declined the nomination; but at the general elections held in 1854 he offered himself as a candidate on the Reform side in opposition to the sitting member, Mr. George Wright, of Brampton. His candidature was successful, and he was elected to the a.s.sembly. Upon taking his seat he recorded his first vote against the Hincks-Morin Administration, and thus partic.i.p.ated in bringing about the downfall of that Ministry. He took no conspicuous part in the debates of the House, but for some years continued to act steadily with the Party to which he had allied himself.

He voted for the secularization of the Clergy Reserves, and his voice was occasionally heard in support of measures relating to public improvements. He continued to sit for Peel until the general election of 1861, when, owing to his action on the County Town question, which excited keen sectional opposition, he was defeated by the late Hon. John Hillyard Cameron. The following year he was elected a member of the Legislative Council for the "Home" Division, comprising the counties of Peel and Halton. His majority in the county of Peel alone, where he had sustained defeat only a few months before, was over 300. He continued to sit in the Council so long as that Body had an existence. When it was swept away by Confederation he was called to the Senate of the Dominion, of which he still continues to be a member. His political views, it is to be presumed, had meanwhile undergone some modification, as he accepted office, on the 9th of December, 1867, as Secretary of State in the Government of Sir John Macdonald, and has ever since been a follower of that statesman. During his tenure of office the Dominion Lands Bureau was established, for the purpose of managing the lands acquired in the North West, chiefly from the Hudson's Bay Company. The scope of the Bureau has since been extended, and it has become an independent Department of State under the control of the Minister of the Interior.

The Public Lands Act of 1872 is another measure which dates from Mr.

Aikins's term of office, the measure itself having been in great part prepared by Colonel John Stoughton Dennis, Surveyor-General. The disclosures with reference to the sale of the Pacific Railway Charter resulted, in November, 1873, in the overthrow of the Government. Mr.

Aikins partic.i.p.ated in its downfall, and resigned office with his colleagues. Upon Sir John Macdonald's return to power in October, 1878, Mr. Aikins again accepted office as Secretary of State, and retained that position until the month of November, 1880, when there was a readjustment of portfolios, and he became Minister of Inland Revenue, which office he now holds. Though he is not an effective speaker, and makes no pretence to being either brilliant or showy, he has a cool judgment, and has administered the affairs of his several departments with efficiency. He is attentive to his duties, is shrewd in selecting his counsellors and a.s.sistants, and has considerable apt.i.tude for dealing with matters of detail. These qualities, rather than any profound statesmanship, have placed him in his present high position.

During his residence in the township of Toronto Mr. Aikins held various munic.i.p.al offices, and is still Major of the Third Battalion of the Peel Militia. He is President of the Manitoba and North West Loan Company, and Vice-President of the National Investment Company. He likewise holds important positions of trust in connection with the Methodist Church.