In 1846, Sir Robert Peel, roused by the addresses of Mr. Cobden, Mr. Bright, and other leaders of the Anti-Corn-Law League, became a convert to the doctrines of Free Trade, and carried the famous measure whereby those doctrines were imported into the law of Great Britain. The tidings of the passing of this measure were received by the bulk of the Canadian population with dissatisfaction. Trade questions were but little understood in Canada by the general public in those times, and a protective policy was commonly regarded as an absolute necessity. On the other hand Mr. Young, the late Luther H. Holton, and others conspicuous in the mercantile world of Montreal, were out-and-out Free Traders, and received the intelligence with much satisfaction. A club known as the Free Trade Association was organized by them in Montreal for the purpose of making Free Trade principles popular. Mr. Young became President of this Association, which included many of the leading thinkers of Montreal. A weekly newspaper, called _The Canadian Economist_, was started under its auspices, for the purpose of disseminating Free Trade views, and educating the people in the doctrines of political economy. To this paper, which was published for about sixteen months, and which exerted a great influence upon public opinion, Mr. Young was a frequent contributor. During the same period he devoted himself vigorously to advocating the deepening of the natural channel of the St. Lawrence, where the river widens itself into Lake St. Peter. By his personal observations and representations he succeeded in inducing the Government to abandon the attempt to construct a new channel, and to deepen and widen the natural one, whereby the largest ocean steamers were enabled to reach the wharfs of Montreal. The accomplishment of all this was a work of some years, but Mr. Young, as Chairman of the Montreal Harbour Commission, never ceased to urge upon the Government the necessity of its completion. He also devoted himself to the carrying out of other public works of importance, some of which were accomplished at the expense of the Government, and others out of his own resources and those of his friends. The public benefits conferred by him upon the city of Montreal, and in a less degree upon the Province at large, were far-reaching and incalculable. When the St. Lawrence Canals were opened for traffic, in 1849, he despatched the propeller _Ireland_ with the first cargo of merchandise over the new route direct to Chicago; and on her return trip she brought the first cargo of grain direct from Chicago to Montreal. His commercial ventures were by this time conducted on a very large scale, and the first American schooner which found its way eastward by means of the new canals was freighted with his merchandise. There was a sudden and tremendous increase in the shipping-trade between the West and Montreal, and there were frequent attempts to prevent the unloading of cargo by artificial means. Mr.