The subject of this sketch was born at the paternal home, near the village of New Glasgow, Queen's County, in the year 1833. He was educated at the district school of his native settlement, and afterwards entered the Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church of Nova Scotia, which was then situated at Truro, in that Province. He completed his education at the Seminary, and soon afterwards embarked in journalism at Charlottetown, where he founded a newspaper called _The Patriot_. Under his editorship and business management this journal became, in the course of a few years, the leading organ of public opinion in Prince Edward Island. It advocated Liberal principles, and was conducted with much energy and ability. The editor had inherited Liberal ideas from his father, and spoke and wrote on behalf of them with great effect. After a time he became estranged from the leader of the Liberal Party, the chief cause of estrangement arising from the latter's having lent his countenance to some proceedings tending to exclude the Bible from the Common Schools. All minor causes of controversy, however, were cast into the shade by the great question of Confederation. After the close of the Quebec Conference in October, 1864, Mr. Laird took a firm stand against the terms of the scheme agreed upon by the delegates, in so far as they related to his native Province. He assigned as his principal reasons for adopting this course the fact that the terms contained no proposal for the settlement of the Land Question, which had long been a sore grievance with the tenantry of the island; and the further fact that no provision was made for the construction of public works, although the island could be called upon to contribute its quota of taxation towards the Intercolonial Railway, the canals, and the Pacific Railway. He took an active part in the promotion of sanitary and other local improvements, and was for some years a member of the Charlottetown City Council. His first entry into Parliamentary life took place in 1871. The then-existing Government, under the leadership of the Hon. James Colledge Pope (the present Minister of Marine and Fisheries in the Dominion Government), had carried a measure for the construction of the Prince Edward Island Railway, running nearly the entire length of the island. This project Mr. Laird had opposed, on the ground that it should have been first submitted to the people at the polls, and also because he regarded the undertaking as beyond the resources of the Province. The Government, however, had carried the Bill providing for the construction of the road through the House during the previous session, and the surveyors and Commissioners had been appointed. The Chairman of the Commissioners, the Hon. James Duncan, represented the constituency of Belfast in the Legislative Assembly, and was obliged to return to his constituents for reëlection after accepting office. Mr. Laird offered himself as a