FRANCIS CASSIDY, Q. C

The subject of this biographical sketch was born in the village of St. Jacques de l'Achigan, Québec, in January, 1827. His parents were Francis Cassid}^, senior, and Mary McPharlane, both from the north of Ireland ; the Cassidys for several générations being a class of agriculturists in the count}' of Cavan, where the father of our subject was born.

- M. Cassidy was educated at the Collège of l'Assomption, where he was noted for his studiousness and his good standing in his class, he having a genuine thirst for knowledge. He studied law with Messrs Moreau & Leblanc ; was called to the bar in 1848, when just of âge, and was created a Queen's Counsel in 1863. At the time of his death, he was the partner of the late Sheriff of Montréal district, the firm being Leblanc & Cassidy. A very high compliment was paid to him when quite young, Sir Louis H. La Fontaine, recognizing in him a young man of good character, and no ordinary abilities, ofïered him the situation of Deput\- Receiver-General, at the salary of nearly $2,000 a year, but the modesty of Mr. Cassidy compelled him, being so young, to décline the ofïer.

The high esteeni in which Mr. Cassidy was held as a lawyer may be inferred from the fact that in 1863, the year he was made Q. C, he was elected bâtonnier of the Montréal bar. A very intimate friend of Mr. Cassidy, now on the bench of the Montréal district, thns speaks of him : " That which distinguished Mr. Cassidy above ail was his high perspicuity, and his inexhanstible fnnd of resonrces, as shown in niost difficnlt positions, he concealing, nnder appearances of bonhommie^ his adroitness in debate, and often worsting his opponent with wonderfull skill. Irish by birth, and witty like the race in gênerai, he had an éloquent flow of language^ which was exceedingly agreeable when pleading a cause, he keeping the court in good humour by his sparkling wit."

In 1871, Mr. Cassidy was elected by acclamation ta represent Montréal West in the Provincial Législature of Québec ; in February, 187^, he was elected in the same manner to the mayoralty of the City of Montréal, and died when holding both ofèces, June i4th, 187^. He was offered the position of SoUicitor-General in the MacDonald-Dorion Government, but declined it. At one period he was président of St. Patrick's Society, and was for years one of the leading citizens of Montréal, and especially prominent in his own

nationalit}^

The author of " Montréal, its History, with Biographical Sketches " thus speaks of Mr. Cassidy : " He was a man of génial disposition, quiet and unobstrusive in his manners^ gênerons and social, and his many good qualities won him a host of friends. He was highly esteemed by his confrères at the bar, and he arrived to the high position which he held, by hard work, and close application to his profession. He was unmarried. His funeral was one of the largest and most imposing that ever appeared in Montréal, and on the

day of his interment, bnsiness was generally suspended, and many flags were at lialf-mast and a most profond regret was displayed at the deatli of a good citizen, by ail classes of the community."

He was the brother of John L. Cassidy, who established the well known wholesale house, "The John L. Cassidy Co.''

Dr. ALDIS BERNARD.

The snbject of this sketch was boni on the banks of Lake Memphremagog, Province of Québec, consequently^ Dr. Bernard is a canadian by birth, although when quite a child he was taken to the United States. There he obtained ail that could be acquired in dentistry. He practised about ten years in the Southern States, and in 1840 came North on account of his health. Previous to his leaving the South he had married a lady of Maryland. He spent a short time at Niagara and other parts of Ontario, but in 1841 came to Montréal, where he lived till his death. There were onh' three dentists in Montréal then, the names of whom few of the présent génération hâve ever heard of. The three dentists were called Spooner, Logan and Scripture. In 1844, when Montréal was the seat of Government, Dr. Bernard endeavoured to improve the condition of his profession by législation, but the burning of the Parliament House with the Act containing the improved clauses put an end to his attempts at that time. He, however, persisted in his efforts? and being strongly aided by the dentists of Montréal and Québec, finally succeeded in obtaining an Act of Incorporation which lias greatly elevated the standard of ability in his profession and iiiade it honorable and useful. He was appointed the first Président under the provisions of the act,

DOCTEUR ALDIS BERNARD,

15ème Maire, 1873-4.

and, having, from time to time afterwards been elected by the Association, lield the office. In 1844, a heavy bereaA'ement fell npon him in the deatli of liis wife and only child.

He was always an active niember of the city and its council. In 1858, he was elected city conncillor for the Centre ward, and for niany years represented that ward. Among other pnblic niatters in which he took a most active part and interest, he was Président of the Mechanic's Institute, one of the fonnders of the Society for the Prévention of Cruel ty to Animais, an honorary meniber and dental licenciate of Ontario, and also of the Ontario Dental Societ3\ He was successively Chainnan of the Finance Committee, of the Police, and of the new City Hall. He is the author or the chief promotor of many of the most bénéficiai by-laws of ]\Iontreal, such as City Passenger, Sunda}- Liquor, Milk Inspection and Tree Plan tin g by-laws.

On the 23rd of Jnne, 1873 he was unanimousU^ elected to the highest office in the city on the death of Ma^'or Cassidy, and next year, 1874, in opposition to nve other candidates, he was again re-elected Mayor of the cit}'. During his term of office, the Mountain Park was acquired by the cit}^, also the Dominion Square, the old Protestant Burying Ground, Québec Gâte Barracks, St. Helen's Island and Logan's Farm for public purposes. The new City Hall was begun, and many other essential and recognized improvements in the Montréal City Charter, Water Works, sanitary and other matters.

Dr. Bernard was a harbor Commission er, a director of the Northern Colonization Railwa}^, a Justice of the Peace, and one of the License Commissioners by Act of Parliament- In politics, a Libéral ; in religion, a Wesleyan. He re-married in 1851, and had a family of five sons and two daughters. He died some fifteen years ago.

SIR WILLIAM KINGSTON, 16ème Maire, 1875-6.

SIR WM. HINGSTON.

" Everyone concèdes to Sir Wm. Hiiigston a first place in the ranks of tlie profession he lias so long and faithfully adorned," quotes the New York Médical Record. The praise is worthily deserved and is a true expression of the high esteem and respect in which is lield this great médical figure. Sir William Kingston was Mayor of the city of Alontreal from 1875 to 1876, and for the coolness of judgment he displayed in calming the Guibord troubles, he received the most hearthy thanks of Lord Dufferin, who was the Governor-General of Canada. In 1875, he was defeated by the Hon. James McShane, in a local élection for the seat of Montréal Centre in the House of Commons. The following 3^ear saw him in the senate, where he was called b}^ Lord Aberdeen. His municipal career, though not long, was always niarked with a promptitude of action and clearness of judgment.

Sir Wm. Haies Kingston, Kt., M. D., is the son of the late Lt. Col. J. Hmgston, of Her Majesty's looth régiment, and was born at Hinchinbrook, Que., on the agth day of June 1829. ^^ belongs to an old Irish family. He was educated at the local academy and at the Montréal Collège, directed by the Order of St. Sulpice. He graduated in Médical Science at the McGill University, in 1851, and, proceeding to Europe, he obtained the diploma of the Royal Collège of Surgery at Edinburgh, during the following year, and subsequently received degrees from universities in France, Prussia, Austria and Bavaria. He was the first Canadian admitted to the membership of the Impérial Leopold Academy, in Yienna. Dr. Hingston commenced