Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 07.pdf/122

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Publ1shed Monthly, at $4.00 per Annum.

BagS1ngle Numbers, 50 Cents.

Communications in regard to the contents of the Magazine should be addressed to the Editor, Horace W. Fuller, 15^ Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. The Editor will be glad to receive contributions of articles of moderate length upon subjects of inter est to the profession; also anything in the way of legal antiquities or curiosities, facetia, anec dotes, etc. LEGAL ANTIQUITIES. Among the Greeks it was customary to impre cate the most formidable curses on those who should attempt to violate the wishes of the testa tor. According to Tacitus, wills were unknown among the Germans. RECENT DEATHS. THE LATE RT. HON. SIR JOHN THOMPSON. IN the Green Bag for March, 1891, the writer of these lines had occasion to give a brief biographical sketch of the Canadian statesman whose life closed so tragically at Windsor Castle on the 1 2th of December last. When that article was written, Sir John Thompson was minister of justice in the government of Sir John Mac Don ald : and nobody could then predict that Sir John MacDonald and two successors in the office of premier should pass away before the close of the parliamentary term. Death, however, has claimed Canada's three prime ministers, Sir John Mac1 )onald, Sir John Abbott, and Sir John Thompson, within the past four years. Readers of the article to which allusion has been made are already aware of the principal events of the career of Sir John Thompson down to 189 1 — his birth, his rapid rise in his profes sion and in provincial politics, his distinguished success on the bench, and his more distinguished triumphs in the House of Commons of Canada, where at almost one bound he took a front rank as a parliamentarian. When Sir John MacDon ald died in June, 1891, the Governor-General called upon Sir John Thompson to form a new administration. With modesty rare among pub lic men, he declined to accept the high trust,

but urged that some older and more experienced man should assume the leadership. The result was that Hon. Mr. Abbott (afterwards Sir John Abbott) formed a new government, Sir John Thompson retaining his old portfolio of minister of justice. A few weeks, however, demonstrated that although not the nominal leader, his great gifts made Sir John Thompson the real leader of his party. In November, 1892, Sir John Abbott was obliged through ill-health to retire from the government, and Sir John Thompson had to ac cept the premiership. In the House of Com mons he had acquired as complete a mastery as had been exercised by Sir John MacDonald in his palmiest days. In 1893, Sir John Thompson acted as one of the British arbitrators in the Bering Sea Com mission at Paris, and as a member of that august international tribunal he acquired fresh honors for himself and new distinction for his country. In recognition of his services Her Majesty the Queen was pleased to appoint him a member of her privy council — the highest distinction to which a colonial statesman can aspire. The parliamentary session of 1894 was a most laborious and trying one for the Canadian premier in consequence of the many important measures passing through parliament and of the prolonged illness of some of his colleagues; and over-work brought on the insidious malady which caused his death. After the close of the session he en deavored to recruit his health; and in the autumn he visited Europe. On the 1 2th of December, a few weeks after he had attained his fiftieth year, he was sworn in as Dp*ip2our1c^l«rby the Queen, and a few hoursjrrfefc^h* cereYftoityyin 'ker his toric castle, )m SVKfdenly expired. ' Truly did Lewis Morris sSr^ of him :—

Drt|H ith* cauleli most profound grief throu; His death