_Courier_, supported Mr. Macdonald’s scheme. Confederation came shortly after, and partly solved the problem. During his connection with the press, Mr. Rice took an active part in all the election contests and political movements in the county of Lanark. He gave the influence of the paper in supporting the Brockville and Ottawa Railway scheme, which has since developed into the great Canadian Pacific Railway. He was the first to advocate the construction of plank roads in the county of Lanark, resulting in the formation of a company, and making the plank road from Perth to Lanark, which has since become macadamised. He was ever foremost in advocating schemes of public enterprise and improvement. Since his retirement from journalism, Mr. Rice has contributed several articles on various subjects of a non-political nature to the public press, which have appeared in the _Liberal_, the _National_, the _Week_, the _Globe_, _Canadian Monthly_, and local papers. Probably those that have attracted most attention are his articles against prohibitory liquor laws, and notably, the Scott Act. Mr. Rice was brought up in the Church of England faith, was baptized by the Rev. M. Harris, and confirmed by Bishop Strachan. He was a constant attendant at that church, but his outspoken advocacy of reform principles in his newspaper exasperated some of the more hot-headed tories; and one Sunday morning, on going to church, he was confronted with a placard stuck up on the church door denouncing and libelling him on account of his political opinions. He never entered the church again, and joined the Presbyterian Free church. While pursuing his studies for the ministry he had access to the theological library of the Rev. M. Harris, and read the best standard works on church history and Christian evidences, as well as the doctrinal standards of the church. The evidence and arguments contained in these works, however, did not satisfy him—he felt that there was a weakness and a want running through them—something ignored that ought to have appeared; and he determined to see and know the other side and sift the matter to the bottom. With this view, he purchased and read the latest modern works on Christian evidences and Biblical criticism—Strauss, Renan, the Jubingen school, Dr. Davidson, Mackay, Kimberly, Greig, and many others; and the scientific works of Darwin, Spencer, Huxly, Lyell, Tyndall, Buchner, Heckel, Combe, Lubbick, Fiske, and many others, and finally, after many years of study and research, settled down into a confirmed Agnostic. The knowledge he had acquired of the Latin, Greek, and French languages was of great service to him in his reading and studies. On the 18th of April, 1848, he married Grace Murray, daughter of the late James Murray, a native of Paisley, Scotland, who had emigrated to this country and settled in the township of Lanark. Brought up in the backwoods like himself, her educational acquirements were not much, and, like himself,