A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time. Various
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customs for the island. I. W. Binney, the subject of this sketch, is brother to William Pryor Binney, Her Britannic Majesty’s consul at Syra, Greece, and was educated at various schools, including the Sackville Academy, New Brunswick, receiving a commercial education. In his younger days he found employment as a clerk in several commercial houses; and from 1861 to 1864, he was in the old established and well known lumber firm of Gilmour, Rankin & Co., Miramichi, New Brunswick. He also carried on a wholesale business at Chatham, New Brunswick, for a few years, and afterwards engaged in mining operations in Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, in company with the late Sir A. J. Smith and others. He was appointed a clerk in Her Majesty’s customs in 1874, and promoted to the collectorship at the port of Moncton, New Brunswick, in 1883. He joined the Freemasons in 1862; was made a Royal-Arch-Mason in 1866, and Knight Templar in 1870. At present he is a past master of Keith lodge of Moncton, New Brunswick. He is an Episcopalian in his religious views. Mr. Binney’s father moved to Moncton, New Brunswick, from Halifax, in 1845, and died there in 1872. Mr. Binney is unmarried, and his mother and widowed sister reside with him.
Berthelot, Hon. Joseph Amable, Judge of the Superior Court of Montreal. This learned judge was born on the 8th of May, 1815, at St. Eustache, county of Two Mountains, by the marriage of Joseph Amable Berthelot, notary, and Dame Marie M. Hervieux. Mr. Berthelot’s father was from Quebec, where he finished his classical studies in 1796, having been the classmate of the late Hon. Judge Thomas Taschereau, the father of his eminence the Cardinal, and also that of the late Hon. Judge Vanfelson, who died in Montreal. Judge Berthelot began his Latin course in 1824, and finished it on the 9th of June, 1832, when at the age of seventeen. The course that year was suddenly terminated, on account of the cholera, the professors having deemed it prudent to send back the scholars to their families in the month of June. In the month of October of the same year he began his legal studies, being indentured with the late Hon. Sir. L. H. Lafontaine, who had married his cousin in 1830. Sir George E. Cartier, who was his classmate at college, also commenced studying law in 1832, in the office of the late Etienne E. Rodier, advocate, M.P.P. for the county of l’Assomption. After being admitted to the bar in November, 1836, he became the partner of Mr. Lafontaine, and continued to practise his profession in such partnership until July, 1853, when Mr. Lafontaine was appointed chief justice of the province of Lower Canada on the demise of the late Sir James Stuart. A few days after, Mr. Berthelot entered into partnership with his friend, the late Sir George E. Cartier, and continued this partnership until he was appointed assistant judge of the Superior Court, succeeding the late Hon. C. D. Day, who was appointed codifier in February, 1859. On Justice Day’s resignation having been accepted by the government, in 1860, Judge Berthelot was immediately appointed permanent judge of the Superior Court. On this occasion, in December, 1860, the bar of Montreal held a meeting in order to express publicly their satisfaction of the appointment of Judge Berthelot to the bench, and adopted resolutions, copies of which were transmitted to the judge, and also published in the newspapers of the day, amongst others in La Minerve. These resolutions read as follow:
At a special meeting of the members of the bar of Lower Canada section of this district, which was held on Wednesday, the 12th of December instant, it was unanimously resolved:
1. Moved by Henry Stuart, seconded by Gédéon Ouimet, M.P.P., That the bar of Montreal has seen with real pleasure the promotion of the Honourable J. A. Berthelot, whose talents, high sense of honour, integrity, conscientious work and services already rendered as assistant judge, are a sure guarantee of the faithfulness with which he will fulfil the difficult duties of the new office which he has just entered as permanent judge of the Superior Court.
2. Moved by Andrew Robertson, seconded by C. A. Leblanc, That as citizens, and with due regard to public interest, the barristers of Montreal cheerfully greet the appointment of Mr. Justice Berthelot, and as his confrères, they are highly honoured as a body by this new appointment.
3. Moved by the Honourable T. J. J. Loranger, seconded by J. C. Daly, That copies of the foregoing resolutions be transmitted by the bâtonnier and secretary to Mr. Justice Berthelot, and that the secretary be authorized to publish them in the city papers.
(Signed) Robert Mackay, Bâtonnier,
(Signed) Mederic Marchand, Secretary.
The French paper, L’Ordre, made the following comments on the foregoing resolutions:
We have already fully expressed our opinion on this subject, and to-day we are happy to see the bar of Montreal confirming our appreciation of this appointment.
During the time that Mr. Berthelot practised at the bar, his confrères elected him twice to the dignity of bâtonnier, in 1858 and 1859. Whilst he exercised his duties of judge in Montreal, in the space of fifteen years, he was called upon to perform the same duties of judge at Ste. Scholastique, district of Terrebonne. In February, 1872, he was invited by the members of the bar of that district, numbering seventeen, to a complimentary public dinner by the following resolutions, which were then published in the press:
At the meeting of the bar of the district of Terrebonne, held at Ste. Scholastique on the 7th of February, 1872, it was resolved:
1. Moved by J. H. Filion, seconded by Mr. Boisseau, that Mr. Burroughs be appointed chairman, and Mr. Rochon be requested to act as secretary.
2. Moved by Mr. Wilfrid Prévost, seconded by J. A. H. Mackay, That a public dinner be given to the Hon. J. A. Berthelot, by the bar of the district of Terrebonne, as an acknowledgment of our esteem and respect for his honour.
3. Moved by J. A. H. Mackay, seconded by J. H. Filion, That the chairman and Mr. Wilfrid Prévost be delegated to interview his honour, and express the desire of the bar to give him a dinner, and in order that he may fix the date that he will find convenient.
(Signed) C. S. Burroughs, Chairman,
(Signed) A. Rochon, Secretary.
Judge Berthelot regretted that he could not accept a demonstration which would be so creditable for himself from the bar of the district of Terrebonne, being on the eve of sailing for Europe, during a leave of absence which had been granted to him by the Government for recuperating his health, which was slightly impaired by his strict attendance to his judicial duties. Before his appointment to the bench in 1859, he had been called upon to fulfil the office of assistant judge in Montreal for six months, in 1855 and 1856, during which time the judges of the province had to act as such during the sittings of the Seignorial Court for Lower Canada. On the 28th of November, 1875, his Lordship Archbishop Bourget, intimated to Judge Berthelot that he had just received from Rome a letter from his Excellency Monsignor Roncetti, Ablegate, informing him that His Holiness Pius IX. had been pleased to appoint him Commander of the Order of St. Sylvestre, by an apostolical writ, dated the 24th of September then last, enclosed with the Ablegate’s letter, adding that His Holiness had been so kind and so generous that through the agency of His Eminence Cardinal Antonelli, he had consented to give to Mr. Berthelot himself the decoration of the Commandery of the Order of St. Sylvestre, which he had confided to the care of Mr. Harel, procurator of the archbishop. The newspaper Le Monde, of Paris, France, on the 28th of December, 1875, noticed this honour granted to Judge Berthelot in the following terms:
We do not doubt that the appointment of Judge Berthelot will be hailed with pleasure by the numerous friends that he has in France, who have had occasion to appreciate, during his several visits to our continent, how he was worthy in all respects, of the high distinction which had been conferred upon him.
His Excellency, Monsignor Roncetti, in a letter bearing date of February, 1876, wrote as follows to Judge Berthelot:
My Dear and Honoured Commander—With your very kind letter of the 20th of January, for which I am very thankful, I have also received, through the agency of Mr. Harel, your letter for his Eminence Cardinal Antonelli, who entrusted me with his answer, which you will find herewith:—In renewing my sincere congratulations, I beg to present my homage to the most excellent lady, Madame Berthelot, to your dear children, and to accept at the same time the assurance of my most perfect esteem and profound respect. Expecting with the greatest impatience the day when I will see you in Rome, I have the honour to be, my dear and honoured Commander,
Your most humble and devoted servant,