The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)Dent, John Charles
History
The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)
Dent, John Charles
Canada -- Biography
Sir John Macdonald's political opponents have alleged that his offer of
so exalted a position as a Superior Court Judgeship to so young a man
was prompted by political expediency, and a desire to mollify the
powerful opposition of Edward Blake in the House of Commons. The
allegation, unless supported by stronger evidence than has yet been
produced, is not creditable to those who make it. Even Sir John's
bitterest foes will not deny that he has on more than one occasion
proved himself above party considerations, and in the matter of public
appointments has set an example of disinterestedness which other
Canadian statesmen would do well to emulate. Sir John, moreover, was
shrewd enough to know that Edward Blake was much too high-principled a
man to allow personal or family considerations to interfere with his
honest discharge of his public duties. In the instance under
consideration there is no need to search for any ulterior motive. The
appointment of Samuel Hume Blake to the Vice-Chancellorship was one
which commended itself to those who were most competent to pronounce
upon it--the legal profession of Ontario. In certain branches of his
profession he has had no superior in this country. In the early years of
his practice he devoted himself specially to chamber matters; but later
on, and more particularly after his brother had embarked in political
life, he was called upon to conduct, in the capacity of first counsel,
many of the heaviest cases before the court. As a counsel, his rapid
perception, and his faculty of reviewing evidence, were perhaps his most
noticeable characteristics. He was also, notwithstanding his youth, a
well-read lawyer, of excellent judgment and discrimination, and his
opinions were always regarded with the greatest respect, alike by Bench
and Bar. His appointment was a just and proper tribute to his fine
abilities, his unflagging industry, his great capacity for work, and his
high personal character. When he first took his seat on the Bench he was
the youngest judge who ever sat in any of the Superior Courts of his
native Province, and his elevation was due to a Prime Minister with
whose political views he has never been in accord. Instead of trying to
find sinister motives in such an appointment it is surely more
reasonable, as well as more becoming, to say that the appointment was
creditable alike to the Premier and to Mr. Blake.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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