Hon. John Neilson Closed His Long And Spotless
Career, At His Country Seat (Dornald), At Cap Rouge, On The 1st February,
1848, Aged 71 Years.
Who has not heard of the Nestor of the Canadian
Press, honest John Neilson?
May his memory ever remain bright and
fragrant - a beacon to guide those treading the intricate paths of
Journalism - a shining light to generations yet unborn!
In a pretty rustic cemetery, the site of which was presented by himself to
the Presbyterian Church of Valcartier, near Quebec, were laid, on the 4th
February, 1848, the remains of this patriotic man - escorted by citizens of
every origin, after an eloquent address had been delivered by the Rev. Dr.
John Cook, the present pastor of St Andrew's Church.
The Literary and Historical Society of Quebec is indebted to his son John
Neilson, of Dornald, for a precious relic, the iron lever of the first
Press used at Quebec in 1764 - precious, indeed, as a souvenir of Canadian
Journalism.
There are indeed many Scotch names associated with the Quebec Press. Space
precludes us from enlarging more on this subject. In alluding to notable
Quebec Journalists we are bound to name Daniel Wilkie, LL.D., the editor
of the Quebec Star, - a literary gazette - in 1818 - still better
remembered as the esteemed instructor of Quebec youth for forty years.
Dr. Wilkie was born at Tollcross, in Scotland, in 1777, one year later
than John Neilson: he settled in Quebec in 1803, and died here on the 10th
May, 1851. His pupils had the following truthful words inscribed on the
monument they erected to their patron in Mount Hermon cemetery:
"He was a learned scholar
And indefatigable student of philosophy and letters,
An able and successful instructor of youth,
Of genuine uprightness and guileless simplicity
A devout, benevolent and public spirited man."
The Abbe Vignal resided at the corner of St. Louis and Parloir street,
previous to joining the Sulpiciens. In October, 1661, he was roasted
alive and partly eaten by the Mohawks at Isle a la Pierre, la Prairie de
la Magdeleine, near Montreal. In our day, the judicial and parliamentary
heads, and the Bar have monopolized the street. In it have resided at
various times, Sir N. F. Belleau, Chief Justice Duval, the Judges
Taschereau, Tessier, Bosse, Caron, Routhier; Hon. H. L. Langevin, P.
Pelletier, M.P.; Messrs. Bosse, Baby, Alleyn, Languedoc, Tessier,
Chouinard, Hamel, Gauthier, Bradley, Dunbar, cum multis aliis, some
of whose rustic clients are as early birds as those in the days of Horace,
and scruple not to wake up their trusted advisers, "sub galli cantum."
[23]
St. Louis street legal luminaries are careful not to endanger their hard-
earned reputations by delivering their consultations with the oracular,
Solon-like gravity of the barristers who flourished in the palmy days of
Hortensius or Justinian. 'Twould be an anachronism. The traditional fee,
however, is rarely omitted. A busy day, indeed, in this neighborhood,
watched over by the shades of Louis XIII., St. Louis street, is, in each
year, the 1st of September, when the close of the sultry midsummer
vacation brings round "the first day of term," then
"Grave gownsmen, full of thought, to 'chambers hie,
From court to court, perplexed, attorneys fly;
... each! Quick scouring to and thro',
And wishing he could cut himself in two
That he two places at a time might reach,
So he could charge his six and eightpence each."
- (The Bar, a Poem, 1825.)
Matters judicial, legal, financial, etc., have much changed - we are
inclined to say improved - in Canada, especially for the Judges. "I will
not say," writes the satirical La Hontan, "that justice is more chaste and
disinterested here than in France; but, at least, if she is sold, she is
sold cheaper. We do not pass through the clutches of advocates, the talons
of attorneys and the claws of clerks. These vermin do not infest Canada
yet. Everybody pleads his own cause. Our Themis is prompt, and she does
not bristle with fees, costs and charges. The judges have only four
hundred francs a year - a great temptation to look for law in the bottom of
the suitor's purse. Four hundred francs! Not enough to buy a cap and gown,
so these gentry never wear them." [24] Justice is not now sold, either in
Quebec or elsewhere, but judges, on the other hand, viz., in Ottawa,
receive, not "four hundred francs," but thirty-five thousand francs
($7,000) a year, and have "enough to buy a cap and a gown," yea, and a
brilliant red one, to boot. Voila un progres.
On an old plan, in our possession, of the Cape and Mount Carmel, showing
the whereabouts of lots and the names of their proprietors, drawn by Le
Maitre Lamorille, a royal surveyor, bearing date 20th May, 1756, and duly
sanctioned by the French Intendant Bigot on the 23rd January, 1759, can be
seen at Mont Carmel, St. Louis street, a lot marked "No. 16, M. Pean."
[25]
M. Pean, Town Major of Quebec, a trusted confederate of the Intendant
Bigot, the proprietor of this land, was the husband of the beautiful
Angelique de Meloises, the inamorata of the voluptuous and munificent
Intendant. In her youth she had been a pupil of the Ursuline nuns. In his
Reminiscences of Quebec, 2nd edition republished in 1859, Col. Cockburn
thus alludes to this St. Louis street house (now Dominion property and
occupied by Lt.-Col. Forest and Lt.-Col. D'Orsonnes). "It sometimes happened
in those days, when a gentleman possessed a very handsome wife, that the
husband was sent to take charge of a distant post, where he was sure to
make his fortune. Bigot's chere amie was Madame P - - in consequence of
which as a matter of course, Mr. P - - became prodigiously wealthy. Bigot
had a house that stood where the officers barracks in St Louis street, now
(1851) stands. One New Year's Day he presented this house to Madame P - -
as a New Year's gift."
Mr. Kirby, in his "Chien d'Or," a historical novel of rare Merit,
thus recalls this house - "The family mansion of the des Meloises was a
tall and rather pretentious edifice overlooking the fashionable rue St
Louis where it still stands, old and melancholy as if mourning over its
departed splendors.
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