practice of the law, convincing and overpowering eloquence, and the strictest regard to the interest of his client. In 1810, he defended Mr. Justice Bedard, then exposed to a state prosecution. From that time to the period of his death, his assistance was sought for in every difficult and important case that occurred.

6

His pleading was conducted with great eloquence, sometimes highly impassioned. He was remarkable for the use he made of general principles. It was a maxim with him, and which he professed to have derived from Aristotle, of whom he was an enthusiastic admirer, that all knowledge consists in universals.' Having once established his general position in some undeniable principle of reason, he seemed to come to his conclusion with irresistible conviction, as to a corollary of necessary and unavoidable consequence. Yet on proper occasions, he had the happy art of introducing those clear and palpable topics that rivet attention and touch all hearts. His argument in 1832, against the right of colonial assemblies to commit for breach of privilege in case of libel, is a beautiful specimen of forensic eloquence.

His jurisprudential studies were not confined to the laws of the country, or to those which regulated the decisions of its courts. He studied law as a science, founded in reason and governing man in all stages of civilization; and took delight in tracing the principles that have directed the various systems of legislation that have prevailed in different periods.

Among the legal objects extending beyond the usual limits, that claimed his attention, was the boundary question, so long the quæstio vexatissima between the British and American governments. His pamphlet on this subject evinces great research, and exemplifies those extended views with which he contemplated every subject to which he at any time bent his attention. It was first published in Quebec, in 1830, and again at Montreal, in 1839.

His attachment to justice, and consequently to established constitutional law, was ardent and invariable. He could not be drawn aside from that sacred path, as far as his judgment could mark its course, either by the authority of men in power and office, or by the prejudices, threats and murmurs of those who

happen to be the dispensers of popular applause. He considered that to be the only free state in which law was the supreme power; and in which its authority was uncontrollable.

In October, 1838, he was nominated solicitor general of the province, by his excellency the earl of Durham. Upon receiving this appointment, he removed his residence to Montreal; but was prevented by ill-health from taking any very conspicuous part in the business before the courts. On this occasion he may be said to have terminated his professional career.

Mr. Stuart entered public life in 1815, when he was returned as one of the members for the lower town of Quebec. He represented the same respectable constituency in the two succeeding parliaments. He afterwards represented the upper town, and continued to do so in every parliament, except one, till the suspension of the constitution in 1838. To one of these he was elected in his absence.

During the course of his public life, he took part in the discussion of every important question that arose, in a period of peculiar interest and pregnant with important consequences to the future prosperity of this province. He sat in every committee, in which any important topic was to be discussed, or any difficult question to be investigated. His vast and varied information furnished assistance in all these inquiries, and he in no case shrunk from the communication of his ideas, either from the inconvenience of long and tedious attendance, or the obloquy it might raise against him amongst those who differed from him in opinion.

Mr. Stuart's views were, on all occasions, those of a liberal mind. He delighted to unfold them to the attention of others, both from the thorough conviction which he entertained of their truth, and still more from the enthusiastic persuasion that they were inseparable from the best interests of society. His arguments were founded on those extended principles which ever must be true. He raised his voice with equal fervor and equal sincerity, against the abuses practised by men in power, and the encroachments of popular violence. To neither would he yield the slightest deference beyond that which was sanctioned by justice and constitutional right.

At the time of the general election in 1834, he made at the hustings a candid and manly avowal of the principles which had uniformly guided his public conduct. His speech on that occasion is accurately reported in the Quebec Gazette of the 22nd of October of that year, and well deserves a perusal, from the independent spirit which it not only breathes, but proves by a reference to his past conduct. After a modest, yet dignified apology for speaking of himself, unavoidable on such an occasion, Never,' says he, 'when the property or the liberty of the subject had been infringed by men in power, have I shrunk from giving my entire energies, such as they were, to the defence and relief of the sufferers.' He then proceeds to remind the electors of his labors in the house, in regard to the abuses that had existed in the granting of land, to the improper combination of the legislative, executive, and judicial functions in the same persons, and to the protracted diversion of the Jesuits' estates from their just and legitimate objects. He states his determination to be, what it always had been, to pursue the same course by just, lawful, and constitutional means; but at no time by violence or passion. 'Much,' he further states, as I esteem the good opinion of my fellow-citizens, and the honor of representing them in the provincial parliament, I will not purchase even these boons at the cost of ceasing to deserve them.'

In 1832, he published at the Montreal press, an octavo volume, under the title of A Review of the proceedings of the Legislature in the session of 1831.' This work is replete with profound views of government, and contained ample warning of the perilous encroachments of the misguided democratic influence then evidently drawing to a crisis.

The election of 1834, already mentioned, led to the rejection of almost all the candidates favorable to the constitution, as it then existed, and to the connexion of these provinces with the United Kingdom. Such a state of things naturally led the friends of these important privileges to consider what was to be done to preserve them. A public dinner was given at Quebec in honor of Mr. Stuart, and other candidates who had been rejected for their constitutional and loyal conduct. The interchange of sentiments

which took place on this occasion, gave rise to the formation of the constitutional association, an institution fraught with many important results to the future history of this country. Mr. Stuart was the first chairman of the association, and took a prominent part in all the proceedings in which it engaged. A similar association was formed in Montreal, and by the spirit which pervaded both, much was successfully done to defeat the virulent domination of the opposite party.

In the spring of 1838, he was sent to England, at the instance of the association, for the purpose of forwarding the re-union of the provinces. He returned in September of the same year, thus concluding the last public mission in which he was engaged.

Mr. Stuart's literary attainments were of a high order; his taste, in the fine arts, just; his acquaintance with the literature of the day, extensive. He possessed an intimate acquaintance with ancient learning, especially with the works of the great model of Roman eloquence. To peruse and digest the rhetorical works of Cicero, was his greatest amusement. He had thorougly considered both the precepts which they contain, and the principles in human nature on which these are founded.

It is natural for every one possessing such a taste and such predilections as his, to desire not only to know, but to inspect societies of different forms and attainments, and to view the venerable remains of ancient art and grandeur. Accordingly, yielding to this very reasonable inclination, he left Quebec in July, 1824. After visiting the most noted objects in the United Kingdom, he spent the winter in the south of France and in Italy, and returned to Quebec in January, 1826. It is easy to see, that such a tour must have yielded him infinite gratification; and those who knew him knew that it added another charm to his conversation, which had, at all times, been highly attractive.

The attractions of his conversation formed, indeed, one of the marked features of his character. To pass them over in this place, would be unpardonable. His habits of theorizing accompanied his observations, even in his freest and most unguarded moments, the moments when all effort is felt to be unnecessary;

and being always on the side of humanity and good feeling, inevitably fascinated every heart. It was impossible to resist the enchantment of his colloquial intercourse. His observations were founded on the universal principles of human nature, and found an echo in every mind.

To all institutions promoting literary purposes, Mr. Stuart was an ardent friend, and among others to the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec. He entertained an earnest, and a kind of paternal solicitude for its advancement. Besides promoting its interests, by his personal influence, he communicated to it, or read before it, a great number of interesting papers, and exerted himself with great zeal to forward the publication of its transactions. He found the means of obtaining those funds from the legislature, which have enabled it to publish several original documents procured from various quarters in Europe and America, illustrative of the previous history of this country.

The papers which he supplied to the society's transactions are indications of an original, and in some degree, a romantic mind. The first is to be found in the first volume, page 52, and is entitled, 'Notes on the Saguenay Country.' His mind had long been impressed with the magnificent scenery of that portion of the province, and anticipating its future usefulness as a resource for emigration, he delighted in recalling to the view of the existing generation, the purposes to which the first settlers of the country had found it capable of being applied. His next contribution is in the same volume, p. 176, on the "Ancient Etruscans." It indicates a vast extent of reading, an acquaintance with authors seldom to be met with, and views that are familiar only to an expanded mind. The last is in the third volume, page 365, entitled, “Detached Thoughts upon the History of Civilization." It indicates like that just mentioned, great comprehension of thought, and a vast extent of reading. Though not finished according to the evident intention of the author, and rather the opening up only of the subject, it has the effect of fixing the reader's attention upon a number of the most important peculiarities of ancient manners. After what has been said, it is almost unnecessary to add, that