county council, and when acting as county councillor he had the pleasure of taking part in the reception given the Prince of Wales at Chippawa. Mr. McPherson was a Liberal in politics ever since he knew the meaning of the term, and always took a lively interest in political matters. In 1881, on the death of his wife, he took a tour through the Southern States, and in his rambles visited Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky, returning through some of the Northern States; and came to the wise conclusion that Ontario suited him best, and in this province he spent the remainder of his days. Although Mr. McPherson’s parents were, in the old country, Baptists, and in Canada attended the Presbyterian church, and were very strict observers of Sunday and all the doctrines held by that church, yet as a young man he began to wonder why God was so particular about Sunday. Being of an inquiring turn of mind and not afraid to think for himself, he began reading philosophical works, and works on the religions of antiquity, and comparing them with the writings of the Jews, he gradually relinquished the Christian dogmas, and became an Agnostic. Mr. McPherson was married in 1855, to Miss Secord, whose parents reside near St. David’s, a few miles from Queenston. Her grandmother gained considerable renown during the war of 1812, having walked from Queenston in the night through the enemy’s lines to give important information to the British general stationed about twenty miles west of that place. While on a visit to Buffalo, Mr. McPherson was suddenly taken ill, and died on the 1st December, 1886, in that city, aged sixty-nine years, leaving behind him an honourable record for integrity and usefulness.
Cameron, Sir Matthew, Chief Justice of Ontario, who died at Toronto, Ontario, on the 25th June, 1887, was a son of John McAlpine Cameron, a descendant of the Camerons of Fassifern, Scotland, who emigrated from Inverness-shire to Upper Canada in 1819, settling at Dundas, where he engaged in business, and subsequently discharged the duties of deputy postmaster under Thomas Allan Stayner, then the Imperial Postmaster-General for Canada, at Hamilton. He also acted as deputy clerk of the Crown for Gore district. Later, however, he was a student at law with Sir Allan McNab, with whom he remained until he was appointed to the first permanent clerkship of committees in the parliament of Upper Canada, from which office he went to the Canada Company’s office in Toronto, where he held an important position for many years. Coming to this part of the country, as he did, when it was yet undeveloped and sparsely settled, and engaging in active life, Mr. Cameron became well and widely known. He died in Toronto in November, 1866, aged seventy-nine years. His mother was Nancy Foy, a native of Northumberland, England. The deceased chief justice received his primary education at a school in Hamilton, under a Mr. Randall, and afterwards at the District School in Toronto, which he attended for a short time. In 1838 he entered Upper Canada College, where he studied until 1840, when, in consequence of an accident while out shooting, he had to retire. Two years later he entered the office of Campbell & Boulton, of Toronto, as a student-at-law, where he remained until Hilary term, 1849, when he was called to the bar of the province of Ontario. He engaged in Toronto in the practice of his profession, first with Mr. Boulton, his former master. This firm continued until the law partnership of Cayley & Cameron was formed, the senior member being the Hon. William Cayley, an English barrister, and at one time inspector-general of the province, afterwards registrar of the Surrogate Court. In 1859 Dr. McMichael entered the firm, which then became Cayley, Cameron & McMichael. Later Mr. Cayley retired, and E. Fitzgerald became a partner in the business, and his name was added to the name and style of the firm, remaining so for several years. Alfred Hoskin subsequently became a partner, and on the retirement of Mr. Fitzgerald, the firm became Cameron, McMichael & Hoskin, and remained so until the senior member’s elevation to the bench in November, 1878. He was elected a Queen’s counsel in 1863, and elected a bencher in November, 1878. He first came into public notice as a counsel in the famous case of Anderson, the fugitive slave, the refusal to surrender whom, on the part of the British government, nearly caused war between that country and the United States. Mr. Cameron represented Anderson in this case, and made a defence which for burning eloquence and closely reasoned logic has scarcely ever been equalled at the bar in this country. It was over the magnificence of this effort that he got the title which he retained for some time of the silver-tongued orator of the Ontario bar. Partly as a result of this case he obtained a very large practice, and travelled from assize to assize, putting in an immense amount of work, though nearly all the time enduring great personal agony, as the result of an accident suffered some years before. This accident occurred while he and another gentleman were shooting in the marsh near this city. One of the guns went off prematurely, shooting Mr. Cameron in the thigh. The wound took a bad turn, and the injured leg had to be amputated. The stump never healed properly, and during the remainder of his life he was almost continually in pain from this accident. The physical suffering never prevented him from doing such a day’s work that few men in the country would have performed in the same time. In his early days, when he was a practising barrister, he would work through one assize court, and then travel all night across country roads thirty or forty miles, take up the business at another court and after going through it travel to the next court, and so on. At the assizes, as a judge, he would go to the bench early in the morning, would sit there all afternoon, and would not adjourn till four or five in the morning if necessary to get through with a case. He has worn out three juries in a day. His legal acquirements and great talents caused him to be looked up to with profound respect by the bar, the members of which also entertained much personal affection for him. His summing up of a case was a masterpiece of lucidity and force. The first public office held by the late Sir Matthew Cameron was on a commission with Colonel Coffin, appointed in 1852, to inquire into the causes of accidents which had been of frequent occurrence on the Great Western Railway. In 1859 he went into the City Council of Toronto, representing St. James ward, and thenceforward he figured prominently in public life. In 1861, and again a few years later, at the solicitation of many citizens, he contested the mayoralty unsuccessfully. In 1861 he entered the arena of national politics, and sat for North Ontario in the Canadian Assembly from the general election of that year until the general election in 1863, when he was defeated. But in July, 1864, he was re-elected for the same seat, which he continued to hold until confederation, when he was again unsuccessful. At the general Provincial elections in 1867 he was returned to the Ontario legislature for East Toronto, and re-elected in 1871 and 1875. He was a member of the Executive Council in Ontario in the Sandfield Macdonald administration from July 20, 1867, until the resignation of the ministry, December 19, 1871, and, with the exception of the last five months of this period, when he was commissioner of Crown Lands, he held the offices of Provincial Secretary and Registrar. He was also leader, and a very able one, too, of the opposition, from the general elections in December, 1871, until appointed to the judgeship in the Queen’s Bench, in November, 1878, which position he held until he rose to the chief justiceship of the Common Pleas in 1884. He aided in forming the Liberal-Conservative Association of Toronto, became its first president, and held that office until his elevation to the bench. He was also vice-president of the Liberal-Conservative convention which was assembled in Toronto in 1874. He was a member of the Caledonian and St. Andrew’s societies. He was created a Knight Bachelor on April 5th last, at the same time Chief Justice Stuart, of Quebec, received a similar honour. As a lawyer Sir Matthew had few equals either among his predecessors or his contemporaries; and as a citizen he was generous almost to excess. As a minister of the Crown, and as leader of the opposition, he was a prodigious worker, an able tactician, and a most formidable, though always courteous, enemy. As a judge he had the confidence and respect of the bar to the utmost extent, while his immense knowledge of law and the clearness of his decisions made him a most valuable public servant. Chief Justice Cameron belonged to the Episcopal denomination, and for about thirty years was a member of Trinity Church, Toronto. In politics he was a Liberal-Conservative. On December 1st, 1851, he was married in Toronto to Charlotte Ross, daughter of William Wedd, who immediately prior to his death resided in Hamilton, Ontario. Mrs. Cameron died January 14th, 1868. She was a sister of William Wedd, first classical master at Upper Canada College, and also of the late Mrs. Dr. McMichael, Mrs. Dr. Strathy, Toronto, and Mrs. Scadding, of Orillia. Sir Matthew left three sons and three daughters. His sons are, Dr. Irving H. Cameron, Ross McAlpine Cameron, and Douglas W. Cameron. His daughters are Mrs. Darling, the widow of the late son of the Rev. W. S. Darling, Mrs. A. Wright, and a young unmarried daughter.
Talbot, Hon. Thomas, was born at Malahide, on the 17th July, 1771. His father was Richard Talbot, of Malahide,
