The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4). Dent John Charles

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СКАЧАТЬ him nearly the entire congregation, which erected a new church and manse for him. He continued in this charge until 1852, when he removed to Edinburgh, having accepted a pressing call from the Roxburgh Church there. Here he continued to minister for about six years, during which period his congregation increased to such an extent as to render the accommodation insufficient. A project for erecting a new and larger church was set on foot, but before it had been fully matured Mr. Topp had accepted a call from the congregation of Knox Church, Toronto. This was in 1858. Two years before that date he had received a pressing call from the same quarter, which he had then thought proper to decline. At the time of entering upon his charge in Toronto the membership of Knox Church was only about three hundred. Under his ministry there was a steadily perceptible increase, and at the time of his death the membership was in the neighbourhood of seven hundred. His abilities commanded recognition beyond the limits of his own congregation, and he steadily won his way to position and influence in the community. In 1868 he was elected Moderator of the General Assembly of the Canada Presbyterian Church, and thus afforded the first instance of a unanimous nomination by the various Presbyteries to that office. He took a prominent part in the movement to bring about the Union between the Canada Presbyterian Church and the Church of Scotland, and the successful realization of that project was in no small degree due to his exertions. In 1876 he was elected Moderator to the General Assembly of the United Church. His doctor's degree was conferred upon him in 1870 by the University of Aberdeen, where he had been so successful a student forty years previously.

      For several years prior to his death Dr. Topp's constitution had given unmistakable symptoms of having become seriously impaired. In the autumn of 1877 his physicians acquainted him with the fact that he was suffering from a mortal disease — organic disease of the heart — but it was not supposed that the malady had made such progress as to endanger his life for some years to come. In the early summer of 1879 he paid a visit to his native land, and of course spent some time in Elgin, renewing the pleasant associations of his youth. He received many pressing overtures to preach, but the state of his health formed a sufficient excuse for his declining. One Sunday, however, contrary to the advice of a local medical practitioner, he consented to occupy the pulpit, and preached a long and vigorous sermon to his old congregation. His audience was very large, and his nervous system was naturally wrought up to a high pitch. It is believed that his efforts on that occasion materially shortened his life. Immediately after his return to his home in Toronto he sent in his resignation as pastor of Knox Church, but it had not been accepted ere the shades of death closed around him.

      The end came more suddenly than had been anticipated. He passed away on the 6th of October, 1879, while reclining on a sofa in the house of one of his parishioners. His death was very calm, and apparently free from all pain. He left behind him a name which will long be borne in affectionate remembrance by the members of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. He was kind and gentle in his demeanour, and was loved the most by them who knew him best. At the time of his death he had been pastor of Knox Church for more than twenty-one years, during the greater part of which he had laboured assiduously in all the various fields connected with his sacred calling. He was open-handed in his charities, and was an invaluable consoler in the sick-room. He literally died in harness, for death came upon him while he was paying a pastoral visit to a member of his congregation.

      The Canada Presbyterian, which may be presumed to reflect the opinions of Canadian Presbyterians generally, concluded an obituary notice written immediately after his death in the following words: "The name of Dr. Topp will never be forgotten in this country. While we regret that he has so suddenly been called away, we rejoice that in his case there are left to us so many happy remembrances of a useful and honourable career, and that he has bequeathed to the youthful ministry of the Church the example of a brave and faithful servant of Christ."

      THE HON. HENRI GUSTAVE JOLY

      Since Confederation the Hon. Mr. Joly has occupied a prominent position in the politics of the Province of Quebec. His high morality, integrity of character, and fine social qualities, have created for him a reputation which it is the lot of few public men to enjoy. He is conspicuous in the history of Quebec as the instrument through whose exertions the Liberal Party were restored to power for the first time since the Union. He is also noteworthy as being the Minister on whom devolved the office of selecting a Government to succeed the De Boucherville Administration, upon its dismissal by Mr. Letellier in the month of March, 1878.

      He was born in France on the 5th of December, 1829, and is the son of the late Gaspard Pierre Gustave Joly, Seigneur of Lotbinière, and Julie Christine, daughter of the late Hon. M. E. G. A. Chartier de Lotbinière, who was Speaker of the Quebec Assembly from 1794 until May, 1797, and was afterwards a prominent member of the Legislative Council. Mr. Joly received a liberal education at Paris, and while yet very young removed with his parents to Canada, settling in Lotbinière. Having chosen the law for a profession, he devoted five years to legal studies, and in the month of March, 1855, he was called to the Bar of Lower Canada. He first entered political life in 1861, when he was returned to the Canadian House of Assembly for the county of Lotbinière. This seat he continued to hold until the Union of the Provinces, when at the general elections which followed the formation of the Dominion he was elected by acclamation to both the Commons of Canada and the Assembly of Quebec. He sat in both Houses until 1874, when, on dual representation being abolished, he resigned his seat in the Commons, and directed all his energies to the furtherance of Liberal principles in the Quebec House of Assembly. The same year he was offered a seat in the Senate, but declined to accept that dignity, preferring to fight the battles of Liberalism in the more popular Assembly, in which he had already achieved a high reputation as a statesman and debater, as well as much personal popularity. In January, 1877, he again declined elevation to the Upper House, and refused the portfolio of Dominion Minister of Agriculture which had been tendered him by the Mackenzie Administration. The constituency of Lotbinière has never proved fickle to her trust, but has regularly returned Mr. Joly as her representative to the popular branch of the Legislature. From the Union, he has been the acknowledged head of the Liberal Party in Lower Canada, and the chosen leader of the Opposition in the House of Assembly. In March, 1878, the Hon. Luc Letellier de St. Just, Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec, dismissed his Ministry under circumstances which have already been detailed at length in these pages; and on the then Premier — Mr. De Boucherville — refusing to nominate a successor, Mr. Joly was sent for and invited to form a Cabinet. He promptly accepted the responsibility, selected his colleagues, and, on being defeated in the Chamber, appealed to the people for a ratification of the principles of his Party. The contest was fought with great vigour and pertinacity on both sides, and the result was a victory, though a slight one, for the Liberal Party. Mr. Joly was opposed in Lotbinière by Mr. Guillaume E. Amyot, an advocate and journalist of Quebec. He was elected by a majority of more than three hundred votes. He became Premier and Minister of Public Works — an office which requires the utmost tact and delicacy in its administration. He set on foot a policy of retrenchment and purity, and contemplated several much-needed reforms which he did not retain office long enough to see brought into operation. Mr. Joly's Administration was based on principles of the closest economy, and every effort was made to check all unnecessary outlay of the public expenditure. The salaries of the Ministers were reduced, an effort was made to abolish the Legislative Council, and the railway policy of the country was developed with caution. Wherever the pruning knife could be advantageously employed, the Premier applied it, and if he was not always successful, the fault was certainly not his own. His personal popularity was sufficiently attested by the fact that although he is a Protestant, with fixed opinions on theological matters, he was Premier of a Province where a large majority of the population are adherents of the Roman Catholic faith. He carried on the affairs of the country with combined spirit and moderation until October, 1879, when, on being defeated in the House, he and his Government resigned their seats in the Executive, and Mr. Chapleau was sent for. Mr. Chapleau succeeded in forming an Administration, which at the time of the present writing still holds the reins of power in the Province of Quebec.

      Mr. Joly is a good departmental officer, a graceful speaker, a man of much force of character, and one who has always the courage of his СКАЧАТЬ