I would have been deeply gratified to have seen you at the dinner, but the expression of your kind wishes will long be remembered by me. That every good thing may attend you is the earnest wish of your sincere friend—John Rose.”
This affectionate letter, coming from such an eminent man as Sir John Rose, who attained such a high position among the most eminent men in England, is preciously preserved by Mr. Branchaud, and the feelings of friendship and esteem he always held towards the baronet are still warm in his heart. During his sojourn in Beauharnois, in the summer of 1858, the Right Honourable Edward Ellice, then proprietor of the seigniory of Beauharnois, showed special marks of honour to Mr. Branchaud. He was invited to all the dinners which he gave, whether to the principal citizens of the place, or to his distinguished visitors from England. On one of these occasions he met Lord Frederick Cavendish, the victim of the Phœnix Park murder, Dublin, and Lord Grosvenor, now Duke of Westminster. They were both very young then, and were going on a hunting expedition to the western prairies. On returning home Mr. Ellice tried to induce him to accompany him, and made him very flattering promises, but the extended practice Mr. Branchaud had acquired did not permit him to accept such an agreeable invitation. He regrets having declined now, for he will never have an opportunity, if he should take a trip to Europe, of forming acquaintances which the high position of Mr. Ellice could have facilitated. He nevertheless keeps a grateful remembrance of the old gentleman, who had so much regard for him. In 1859 Mr. Branchaud married Marie Elizabeth Henrietta Mondelet, a daughter of the Hon. Judge Charles Mondelet, of the city of Montreal, one of the judges of the Superior Court for Lower Canada, and of Dame Maria Elizabeth Henrietta Carter, a daughter of the late Dr. Carter, of Three Rivers. Madame Mondelet was the niece of Captain Brock, a nephew and aide-de-camp to General Brock, and of Dr. Johnston, in his lifetime inspector general of military hospitals in the Ionian Islands; and a first cousin of the late Judge Short, of Sherbrooke. Mr. and Madame Mondelet died many years ago. The Hon. Dominique, Mondelet, a judge at Three Rivers, was the elder brother of Mr. Branchaud’s father-in-law. They were the sons of Dominique Mondelet, a member of the old Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, and also a member of the Executive Council under the administration of Lord Aylmer. In politics M. Branchaud was an advanced liberal in his youth, but his opinions have greatly changed during the last few years. Experience and age always exert a soothing influence on the ideas and sentiments of the generality of men, and Mr. Branchaud did not form an exception to the rule. He would not be so willing, to-day, to endorse the political and social principles formulated in the programme of L’ Avenir, and which were so enthusiastically adopted by the young men who founded that paper. However, Mr. Branchaud thinks one may be liberal without sharing the opinions of the nineteenth century philosophers, and without believing in the omnipotence of universal suffrage to save society—such safety being more certain in the hands of the few than in those of the greater number of its members. The democratic ideas carried to extreme limits will cause the fall of modern empires, as they have produced the fall of the older ones, and what is happening to-day in Europe is only their natural consequences. The actual opinions of Mr. Branchaud do not find favour with either party. His independence of character and his well-known frankness are obstacles which would prevent his success in politics. So for many years he has not engaged actively in them. However, he does not conceal his opinions when called upon to express them. Thus he desires the continuation of Sir John A. Macdonald’s administration because he thinks the national policy would run great dangers in the hands of Mr. Blake, and the Canadian Pacific Railway Company would find very little sympathy with him, in case of necessity. This company, being still in its infancy, may yet want the support of the government, and Mr. Branchaud thinks it would be to the interest of the country to grant such help. It is hardly to be expected that a man who has tried to arrest its progress in each phase of its existence would be kindly disposed towards it at a given moment. At all times he has repudiated the Rielite movement in Lower Canada, as tending to arouse prejudices and race hatreds, and to retard the progress of the country, and the conduct of the government in letting the law take its course, has had his entire approbation, as the only practical way of restoring peace and harmony, which would have been threatened as long as Riel would have lived. In conclusion we may state that Mr. Branchaud has been the promoter of the Beauharnois Junction Railway Company. The road is intended to run from Ste. Martine to Dundee, where it will connect with the American system. The building of this railway will place Beauharnois—undoubtedly a town of future importance, on account of the beauty of her site on the St. Lawrence, and the extent of her water powers—in the first rank among the important cities of the Dominion. Mr. Branchaud has worked for several months to organize the company, and he is confident that his efforts will soon be crowned with success. He was ever ambitious to see his native place prosperous, and in the evening of his life he is happy in the hope that the earnest wish of his heart will soon be gratified. The Hon. James Ferrie is president of the new company, and Mr. Branchaud vice-president.
Irving, James Douglas, Major, and Brigade-Major of Military District No. 12, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, was born at Charlottetown, on the 12th February, 1844. His father, Robert Blake Irving, was born in Annan, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, and emigrated to Prince Edward Island about the year 1832. Here he engaged in the profession of teaching, and in addition took an active interest in politics on the Liberal side until the confederation of the provinces, when party lines having been broken, he became a supporter of the Liberal-Conservative party. He was of a literary turn of mind, and contributed largely to the columns of the Examiner newspaper when it was under the editorial management of the late Hon. Edward Whelan, writing strongly in support of responsible government, free schools, the settlement of the land question by the government purchasing from the proprietors and reselling to tenants, and for confederation. He married in 1843 Joanna Charlotte, a daughter of Thomas Rhodes Hazzard, a U. E. loyalist, who came to Prince Edward Island from Providence, Rhode Island, with his father and family at the conclusion of the war with the revolted colonists. Major Irving received his education in his native parish in the private school taught by his father. On the 26th of March, 1867, he was appointed a lieutenant in the Active Militia of P. E. Island, and was shortly afterwards promoted to a captaincy. After confederation he was given a commission in the Canadian Artillery Militia, and subsequently commanded the P. E. Island provisional brigade of Garrison Artillery. On the 1st of April, 1885, he was appointed brigade-major of Military District No. 12, and this position he at present holds. He was deputy-prothonotary of the Supreme Court of P. E. Island from 1st March, 1871, to 1st April, 1885; registrar of the Court of Chancery, and also that of the Vice-Admiralty Court from 28th March, 1876, to 1st April, 1885; and Clerk of the Crown for P. E. Island from 1st August, 1883, to 1st April, 1885. For many years Major Irving has been an active member of the Caledonian Society, and in general takes a deep interest in all that appertains to his native island.
Creed, Herbert Clifford, Fredericton, was born at Halifax, Nova Scotia, September 23rd, 1843. His father, George John Creed, of Faversham, Kent, England, was clerk in the Royal Engineer department (with rank of lieutenant), at Halifax, N.S., for thirty-five years. He was the eldest son of Richard Creed, who also was in Her Majesty’s service, as clerk of works, R. E. D., with the rank of captain. Both father and son were, at the time of their decease, retired from active service upon ample pensions. Richard Creed’s youngest daughter was the wife of the late Hon. Jonathan McCully, senator of Canada, and afterwards judge of the Supreme Court. The mother of the subject of this sketch was Susan, eldest daughter of John A. Wellner, of Halifax, N.S., a manufacturer and at one time owner of extensive property in that city and in the county of Hants. He was of a family that came out from England among the original settlers of Halifax, with Governor Cornwallis. Herbert Clifford Creed received his academic education chiefly in the High School connected with Dalhousie College, Halifax. He matriculated in the earliest class of undergraduates in Dalhousie College in 1857, studying till 1860, the college proper having in the meantime been discontinued. In 1861 he entered Acadia College, Wolfville, N.S., and took the regular four years’ course there under the presidency of the late Rev. J. M. Cramp, D.D. He graduated in 1865 with honours in classics, having also held the highest place in his class throughout the whole course. From August, 1860, to June, 1864, Mr. Creed was teacher of French at the Collegiate Academy and Ladies’ Seminary at Wolfville, N.S.; from the autumn of 1865 till the spring of 1869, he filled the position of head master of the County Academy at Sydney, C. B.; and from 1869 till June, 1872, was principal of the Seminary
