1853. Judge Berthelot was appointed in 1875, as above mentioned. In

1876, after eighteen years of judicial services, he asked and obtained his superannuation, and on this occasion the _Montreal Gazette_, of the 28th of August, 1876, published the following: The Ottawa Government has at last come to a determination which enables it to accept the resignation of Mr. Justice Berthelot. Nearly a year has elapsed since it was generally understood that Mr. Justice Berthelot desired to obtain that relaxation from judicial duties to which twenty years service had fairly entitled him, but as our readers are aware, ministers were seriously embarrassed in the disposal of this piece of patronage, and the learned judge was requested to defer his proposed relinquishment of official duties. Before reference is made to his successor, it is but justice to say a word or two respecting Hon. Judge Berthelot. If the hon. judge has not obtained the first rank of judicial fame, no one will venture to deny that he has occupied a most honourable position on the bench of this province, or that his services have been of a highly beneficial character. It were scant justice to say that his character has been constantly honourable, his impartiality unchallenged, and his intelligence of the most vigorous type. Laborious without complaining, diligent without ostentation, Mr. Justice Berthelot has never proved unequal to the arduous demands of his position. His knowledge of real estate and insurance law, extensive and profound, and his decisions upon these, as well as many other branches of the law, were received with the utmost respect and confidence. In determination of cases in which juries are more or less liable to be influenced by sympathy for the sufferers, he did not hesitate to adhere to those leading principles which have been consecrated by time and experience, in preference to yielding to impulses which might create a dangerous precedent. In fine, Mr. Justice Berthelot’s judicial career has been conscientious, able and upright, and entitles him to the gratitude of his countrymen. _Le Nouveau-Monde_, on 29th of August, 1876, reprinting the above article from the _Gazette_, accompanied it with the following remarks: This testimony is corroborated by all those who had occasion to appreciate personally the talents, the carefulness, the integrity, and the knowledge displayed by this hon. judge in the exercise of his judicial duties. Some of his decisions in cases of the highest importance fully demonstrated the fact, that he was imbued with a sound judgment and a knowledge of jurisprudence and statutory laws sufficient to make his reputation and authority cope with that of the most distinguished judges who have illustrated our Canadian bench. Liberated from the toils and fatigues of the important position which he has just vacated, Judge Berthelot, we hope, will not withdraw entirely from public life, and the population of this province could still benefit by his great experience, his serious studies, and his deep knowledge of men and things, which he has acquired during more than twenty years on the bench. Judge Berthelot has since remained in private life, without an occasion to make himself useful to his country. Whilst he was practising at the bar, he had been often requested to enter parliament by several counties of the district of Montreal, and in 1858, when the division of Alma was to elect its first representative in the Legislative Council, he had been requested to be a candidate by a great number of the citizens of the division, one of the two candidates at that time being willing to withdraw in his favour if he accepted the candidature. But Mr. Berthelot had always refused, in order that his partners and friends, Sir L. H. Lafontaine and Sir George E. Cartier, be not deprived of the services he was rendering them, while these statesmen were engaged in political life, with so much credit to themselves and satisfaction for the country. Mr. Berthelot since that time has travelled several times in England, France and Italy, where he has made several friends, with whom he still keeps an active correspondence. In conclusion, we may say that during the second rebellion, in November, 1838, Mr. Berthelot was arrested and sent to gaol without cause or warrant, with many of the best citizens of Montreal, viz., Messieurs Lafontaine, the two Messieurs Viger, M. Papineau, a brother of the speaker, Dr. Lusignan, Mr. Fabre, Mr. DeBoucherville, sr., Amable Badeaux, his cousin, and his young friend Dr. Perreault. The latter was soon let free to attend his young wife. Mr. Berthelot, having inquired, by a letter addressed to Colonel Goldie, secretary of his Excellency the Governor, Sir John Colborne, for the cause of his arrest, expressing by his letter his readiness to be brought to trial, received no written answer, but a few days after was invited to leave the gaol and go to his home. At the same time he had also written to the late Andrew Stuart, solicitor-general, residing at Montreal, with whom he was well acquainted, representing in proper terms against his unjust detention, and always thought that he owed much to the interest of Mr. Stuart for his immediate release. Of Mr. Stuart, the solicitor-general, much can be said; that he was at least equal, if not superior to his brother, the late Sir James Stuart, chief justice of Quebec. * * * * * =MacLeod, Rev. John M.=, Presbyterian minister of Zion church, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. This greatly respected divine was born at the West River of Pictou, in the province of Nova Scotia, on the 25th of August, 1827. His father, Ebenezer MacLeod, was also a native of the West River of Pictou. He was a man of fair education, of sound judgment, of extensive information, and of deep and fervent piety. He was for many years an elder in the congregation of Salem, Green Hill, and was secretary of what is claimed to have been the first temperance society in this Dominion. His parents were from Scotland. He was married to Barbara Benvie, daughter of James Benvie, of Musquodoboit, and died in the 82nd year of his age. The subject of this brief sketch, having received a good English education in the common schools of the country, entered a printing office in the town of Pictou, and served a regular apprenticeship to the printing business. He, however, in compliance with the earnest wish of his parents, resumed his studies with a view to the ministry. He entered the Pictou Academy, where for two years he studied Latin, Greek, natural philosophy, and mathematics, under Professors Bell and Hay. About this time the Presbyterian church of Nova Scotia, for the purpose of training a native ministry, opened what was known as the West River Seminary, the head teacher of which was the Rev. James Ross, D.D., afterwards principal of Dalhousie College, Halifax. Mr. MacLeod was one of twelve students who entered the first year this institution was opened. Here he took the regular arts course of four years, and studied theology three years under Rev. John Keir, D.D., and Rev. James Smith, D.D. He was licensed in the spring of 1853, was called to the congregation of Richmond Bay during the following summer, and after taking another term in the Theological Hall, was ordained and inducted into the pastoral charge of the above named congregation on the 9th Nov., 1854, where he laboured with much success for nearly seven years. During the fourth year of his ministry he was married to Amelia Parker, daughter of Francis R. Parker, of Nova Scotia, who for many years was a member of the Provincial legislature. He was married to his present wife, Mrs. L. G. Taylor, in 1879. In 1860 Rev. Mr. MacLeod accepted a call to Newport, Hants county, Nova Scotia, where he continued to labour with acceptance and success for ten years. While in Newport he declined a call to Boston, Massachusetts, and in 1870 accepted one to New Glasgow, Pictou, Nova Scotia. But there being at this time four Presbyterian congregations in the small town of New Glasgow, and Rev. Mr. MacLeod, believing that his labours were more required elsewhere, accepted a call to his present charge, into which he was inducted on the 19th of July, 1871. His labours in this field have been crowned with a fair measure of success. On two different occasions additions of over one hundred and twenty, mostly young persons, were made to the communion roll. Mr. MacLeod is at present clerk of the presbytery. He has held that position for twenty-one years in the Presbytery of Prince Edward Island, and for seven years in the Presbytery of Halifax, Nova Scotia. * * * * * =Sifton, Hon. John Wright=, Brandon, Manitoba, was born in the township of London, county of Middlesex, Ontario, on the 10th August, 1833. He is the youngest son of Bamlet and Mary Sifton, who came from the county of Tipperary, Ireland, in 1832, and settled in London township. His ancestors on both sides were English. He received his education in the public and grammar schools of London. Up until 1860 he devoted his time to farming and other business, when he removed to Oil Springs, in Lambton county, and engaged in the oil business as producer and refiner. Here he purchased a large tract of oil lands immediately surrounding the famous gum beds, and afterwards sold them to an American company. This was the first foreign company that invested in Canadian oil property, and they continued to develop the resources of their territory until the enormous yield of oil at Petrolia made it impossible for them to successfully compete with this more productive locality. In 1870, Mr. Sifton removed to Paris, Brant county, with the object of having his children educated at the grammar school there; and in 1872, in company with his brother, contracted for and built forty miles of the track of the Canada Southern Railway. In 1873, he moved to London, and was appointed secretary of the Oil Association, and this office he held until the association ceased operations. In 1874, in company with two other gentlemen, whose interests he soon after bought out, he was awarded the contract for building and maintaining for five years a telegraph line from the city of Winnipeg to Fort Pelley, and clearing the track a hundred feet wide, for a distance of about three hundred miles, for the then contemplated Canadian Pacific Railway. Although this contract, when it was entered into, appeared to be one likely to give a fair profit, yet it afterwards turned out the opposite way. The fearful wet seasons of 1876, ’77, and ’78, flooded the country for forty miles east of Lake Manitoba, and sixty miles west along the line to, in some places, a depth of six feet, making it impossible to keep the line up, and as the Government refused to make any allowance for this, the loss was very great. Some idea may be formed of the difficulty of performing work in this country at that time, when we state that, one winter, provisions having ran out at one of Mr. Sifton’s camps, he had to send supplies by dog-trains 160 miles, and then have it carried on men’s backs, 60 miles further, making it to cost twelve cents per pound freight from Winnipeg to the camp, and at no time during the best part of the season could he deliver the same goods at their destination for less than five cents per pound freight. In 1875, the firm of Sifton, Ward & Co. were awarded the contracts for sections thirteen and fourteen of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and Mr. Sifton, the senior member of the firm, undertook charge of section fourteen, which commenced at Red River, and extended a distance of seventy-seven miles to Cross Lake. During this time he removed to Manitoba, settling at Selkirk, and here he remained until the completion of his telegraph and railroad contracts. The money involved in these two operations amounted to about a million and a half dollars. In 1879, he took up his abode in Winnipeg, where he purchased some real estate outside the city limits, and erected for himself a fine residence. Taking advantage of the “boom of 1881,” he sold out this property and moved to Brandon, where he now resides. Here he has invested a considerable sum of money in farming lands, and for four years succeeded in raising in each year from 10,000 to 18,000 bushels of grain. But the years of frost (1883, ’84, ’85) having made the raising of wheat or grain in large quantities a risky business, and the collapse in values of all kinds of property, especially real estate, have forced Mr. Sifton to suspend business operations in this direction for the present. However, from his experience of over twelve years in the North-West country, and a thorough practical knowledge of farming, he thinks that although extensive farming has been in the past, and may prove in the future from certain causes, a failure, when compared with Ontario, yet he is impressed with the idea that it cannot be equalled on this continent for fertility; always providing, however, that the present hindrances to its prosperity be removed. What Mr. Sifton wants for his country is fair competition in freights; the abolition of all monopoly; readjustment of our present tariff, so that it may have the same chance as Ontario; a reasonable homestead law that will not be changed every year, and pre-emptions at such a price that the settler can meet it in a reasonable time. If these concessions were made, he thinks the North-West would make such strides onward that the most sanguine of us would fail to realize. Mr. Sifton, during his busy life, has devoted time to other things besides purely business matters. In 1852, he became a member of the Order of the Sons of Temperance, and in 1854, he also joined the Good Templars, and has kept up his connection with these active temperance organizations to the present time. In 1867, he became one of the United Templars, and from 1876 to 1883 he acted in the capacity of president of their Grand Lodge in Manitoba. He was grand worthy chief templar of the Grand Lodge of Manitoba of the Independent Order of Good Templars in 1884, and is at present president of the Manitoban Branch of the Dominion Alliance for the suppression of the liquor traffic, and has been since its formation in 1879. He took the leading part in the contest for the Scott Act, when it was passed in the counties of Lisgar and Marquette. These counties extend over about three quarters of the old province of Manitoba. The act was carried by very large majorities,—more than two to one voting in its favour; but on account of the vagueness of the meaning of some of its provisions in reference to counties in Manitoba, and the impossibility of getting it amended, it still remains a dead letter. In politics, Mr. Sifton is a Liberal. In 1878, he received the unanimous nomination of the Liberal party for the Commons for the county of Lisgar, and organized and carried on the campaign up to the memorable day, the 17th of September,