[boueinot] builders OF NOVA SCOTIA 73 



of Colchester, as well as in those of the Dominion for a decade of years or 

 so. His success was largely due to the fact that he was a shrewd man 

 of Scotch descent, who never failed to make ])ractical use of those oppor- 

 tunities for personal advancement, which often offer themselves to a keen 

 politician in the operation of party government. His specialty was 

 finance — he was a successful business man for some years before he entered 

 politics — and his speeches were always carefully committed to heart and 

 handed to the reporters in manuscript. Never did he rise to eloquence, 

 but his studied essays were as icy as his general j^ersonal demeanour. He 

 opposed the financial terms of the Quebec resolutions with some reason, 

 and when they were amended largely to the advantage of Nova Scotia, 

 and Joseph Howe felt it his duty to give up what was clearly then a 

 useless opposition to federation, Mr. McLelan found it expedient, like all 

 the opponents of federation in the House of Commons, to yield to the 

 irresistible logic of circumstances, which held out abundant promise for the 

 gratification of his personal ambition. He became a senator, a commis- 

 sioner of railwMys, cabinet minister, and lieutenant-governor in succession 

 to Mr. Matthew Eichey. Though only a few years have passed since his 

 death in government house before the expiration of his term of office, 

 his name is almost forgotten, perhaps because his career was in some 

 degree selfish — more noted for the attainment of office than for the dis- 

 play of qualities which appeal to the hearts and sympathies of men and 

 women. 



Another eminent man who became a member of Dr. Tupper's 

 ministry with a seat in the legislative council, when Mr. Johnston was 

 elevated to the bench, was the Honourable John W. Eitchie, a member of 

 a famil}^ identified with the history of Nova Scotia for a century, and 

 distinguished for having given not only a chief justice to Canada but three 

 judges to Nova Scotia. ' His reputation rested chiefly on his legal know- 

 ledge which was very extensive and sound, and on his acuteness of 

 intellect which made him an admirable legal counsel, but he occupied no 

 notable place in the political hfe of the country, and never attained any 

 measure of popularity in the province at large. He became a member of 

 the Senate, when first organised, and was very soon appointed to the 

 judicial bench for which his long legal experience and intellectual tem- 

 perament eminently fitted him. 



Jonathan McCully, who sat in the legislative council— for he never 



1 Judge Savary in the History of Annapolis (p. 396) gives a list of members of the 

 Ritchie family, distinguished in politics, law and divinity. The most notable are 

 Hon. Thomas Ritchie, judge of the inferior Court of Common Pleas,— the second 

 son of John Ritchie, M. P. P.— who was father of Hon. J. W. Ritchie, mentioned 

 above ; Sir W. J. Ritchie, Chief Justice of Canada ; Hon. J. Norman Ritchie, judge 

 of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. The first Judge Ritchie filled an important 

 place in the legislative history of the province from 180(5 until 1824, during which 

 long period he was elected continuously without opposition. 



