those mentioned are found to-day in proceed- 

 ings. Up to the year 1849 the work done by 

 Judge Thom seems to have been very satis- 

 factory and efficient. Col. Crofton testified 

 that in 1847 the legal business was done in a 

 perfectly smooth and successful manner. In 

 1848 Judge Thom delivered judgment on 

 the Calder case, involving the jurisdiction of 

 the Hudson's Bay company, and that has been 

 quoted with approval as an important opinion 

 in the Supreme Court of Canada by a pro- 

 minent Q. C. of this city. 



EETURNS TO BRITAIN. 



Fifteen years of service in the remote and 

 isolated settlement of Red River had enabled 

 the recorder to accumulate a handsome compe- 

 tence. His friend McCallum was dead, and 

 the troubles between the company and the 

 people made it disagreeable for the well 

 abused judge to remain in his new world 

 sphere. He accordingly resigned, and re- 

 turning by way of York Factory sailed from 

 that port in the company's ship "The Prince 

 of Wales" on September 20, 1854, with his wife 

 and two sons. On the vessel there was the 

 Arctic explorer Dr. Rae, who had just found 

 the first traces of Sir John Franklin ; and also 

 Rev. John Ryerson, who has left a written 

 account of the voyage, which proved to be 

 tedious and dangerous, taking nearly 

 six weeks to London. In the second year 

 after his return Judge Thom received the de- 

 gree of LL.D. from his own university at 

 Aberoeen in 'recognition of his attainments. 

 He appears t<:> have lived at Edinburgh and 

 Torquay in what mierht seem to be his declin 

 iiig years, but removed to London in 1870 and 

 took up his abode in his well known residence, 

 49 Torrington Square, a score of years longer. 

 The family of his departed friend were a con- 

 stant care to him. For them he always show- 

 ed a pa=!sionate regard. A troublesome law- 

 siiit with a leading basking house in London 

 for misuse of his funds, worried him i'^i years 

 and ended in his losing the case. 



HIS UTEKARY TENDENCIES. 



The Bishop of Montreal, on his visit to 

 Fort Garry in 1844, mentions that at that 

 time Recorder Thom "was deeply engaged 

 latterly in Biblical studies." In 1821 at 

 Aberdeen he had joined the Hebrew class;, an 

 ext aordinary thing for an aspirant to the 

 legal profession. But like numbers of great 

 students he had become involved in the 

 seemingly hopeless mazes of the interpretation 

 of the prophecies of Scripture. In 1847 he 

 completed for publication his work on the 

 typical character of what he calls "Abra- 

 ham's 430 years." An active mind like that 

 of Judge Thom must have something on 

 which to work. In not having enough to fill 

 up his time and utilize his ener- 

 gies, he must have some abstruse 

 line of study. His mipd seems to 

 have had a bent towards mathematics, and his 

 inclination and probably early training led 

 him to be a minute study of the Bible, even 

 in the original tongues. As showing his bene 

 toward figures, the writer remembers Judge 

 TLom saying that he never grot into a London 

 omnibus — many of whose figures run up into 



the thousands — without resolving the number 

 into its factors, and combining them in every 

 possible manner. Nothing delighted him so 

 much as to get an appreciative listener and to 

 refer for an hour at a time to the marvellous 

 events of history and to show that they were 

 not isolated, but were part of a great system 

 of development. 



HIS GREAT HOBBY. 



His reverence and his mathematical bias 

 at length settled on an idea which completely 

 mastered him, and made him in his later years 

 a perfect arithmetical enthusiast. There is 

 lying before the society his large octavo work 

 of 300 pages printed by Remington & Co., 

 London, and which contains his elaborate 

 theory. This work has his essay, which he 

 calls "Emmanuel," in a " pentaglot minia- 

 ture,'.' i. e. , in English, French, German, 

 Italian and Spanish. In the preface it is 

 stated that a lady, evidently one of the Mc- 

 Callum family had placed the means at his 

 disposal for printing an edition for gratuitous 

 distribution to friends and learned bodies. The 

 dedication of this strange work runs thus : 

 "To 

 Miss E. J. M.. 

 The Self-denying Donor 

 of 

 Emnianuel's Polyglot Autobiography 

 To the Appropriate Libraries 

 All round the Globe." 



An investigation of the work shows that his 

 idea is that 33 and 34, which he in some way 

 regards as the alternative numbers represent- 

 ing the length of our Saviour's life on earth, 

 are normal units of all the great events of 

 history. Of course, though he so thoroughly 

 believed in his theory and in its very great 

 value, yet it may easily be seen that it is only 

 a series of arbitrary groupings and fanciful 

 identifications. The wonder is that a mind 

 of such strength could have wasted itself on a 

 path so fruitless and so extravagant. 



LAST DAYS. 



In summing up the life of the "first judge of 

 Rupert's Land, it is evident we are dealing 

 with a man of gr^at activity and capacity. He 

 was perfectly at home in the Greek and Latin 

 classics ; he was a Hebrew scholar, and well 

 acquainted with our own literature. He was 

 well versed in law, and gave his opinions with 

 fullness and decision. An active newspaper 

 writer in his earlier days, he always main- 

 tained a lively interest in laublic affairs. It 

 was his misfortune to be crushed between 

 the two strong forces ot a great trad- 

 ing company's interest and the natural 

 aspirations of a people after freedom. No 

 doubt this wounded his proud spirit deeply 

 and prevented him ever visiting the Red 

 River again as he would have liked to have 

 done. He was no trimmer ; he was not even 

 politic. He had strength of feeling and 

 tenacity of purpose. Though somewhat diffi- 

 cult to work with yet he was open, and at 

 heart kmd and considerate. Passing away 

 as he did on the 21st of February of this year, 

 in his eitjhty-eighth year, in a quiet old age 

 we may well drop a sympathetic tear to the 

 memory of the honest old warrior. 



