opponent, and he completed his period of study in the office of R. E. (afterwards Jus tice) Burns. He was called to the bar in 1 84 1, and was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1856. Young Mowat practiced his pro fession for a short time in his native city of Kingston but soon moved to Toronto, where he associated himself in business with Mr. Burns. The old division between common law and equity prevailed at this time in the province of Ontario, and Mr. Mowat devoted his attention almost entirely to chancery practice, and he soon became one of the leading chancery lawyers of Ontario. Like so many other eminent lawyers, not satisfied with the rewards of legal practice, he tried his fortunes in the political arena. His first essay in politics was in 1857 when he contested South Ontario and defeated the late Judge Morrison by nearly eight hundred. Mr. Mowat, like Gladstone, had passed from Toryism to Liberalism, and at this time he was regarded as one of the rising lights of the reform party. About the same period he sat as an alderman for Toronto. In the legislature he made the same steady and rapid progress that he achieved at the bar and in 1858 he became provincial secretary in the short-lived Brown-Dorion government. In 1861 he endeavored to dislodge his old preceptor, Sir John Macdonald, in Kingston, but without success. In 1863 the reformers again obtained power and Mr. Mowat becamepostmaster-general, and in the following year he accepted office in the coalition admin istration. In the same year the office of vicechancellor for Ontario becoming vacant by the death of Mr. Esten, Mr. Mowat was ap pointed to the office and exercised the ju dicial functions of the post until 1872 with eminent success. The decisions which he rendered as vice-chancellor arc published in the official reports and they are characterized by a profound knowledge of equity law, by keen and logical reasoning and by lucid and direct exposition. When Mr. Mowat was called from the
bench in 1872 to become Prime Minister of Ontario, a storm of protest went up from his opponents. It was alleged that the transla tion of a judge from his judicial position to the arena of politics tended to bring the bench into discredit. However may that be, there can be no doubt about the wisdom of the step, on political grounds. Mr. Blake nominated Mowat, as he recently declared, because the Vice-Chancellor was not merely the best but because he was the only man within reach who was equal to the situation. From 1872 until 1896 Mr. Mowat occu pied the position of Premier of the greatest of the Canadian provinces. His opponents endeavored with unusual energy to dis lodge him, but never with success. It has been charged against him that he has centralized the administration of affairs by taking from the municipalities a large part of their powers and that he thus obtained a larger control over the patronage of the country; and probably in that way he did strengthen his position. Nevertheless, during the quarter of a century in which he was the ruler of Ontario, he rendered invaluable public service to his province. The legisla tion of that province kept pace with the advancing progress of the country. An educational system was established which is the pride of the people of Ontario. The municipal system was put on a better basis; and generally the whole field of legislation bears the marks of Mr. Mowat's wisdom. Although a Liberal in politics, he gave Ontario a Conservative administration in the best sense of that term. Personally free from corruption, he exercised a wholesome in fluence against it in his own party. He has always been noted for his warm attachment to British institutions and at the time when some members of his party were looking in the direction of annexation, he gave expres sion to his views in a manner which did not admit of being misunderstood. Indeed, to him, more than to any other public man in his party, is due the credit of bringing the
