MILITARY AND CIVIL. 199

since the preaching of Wesley, Whitfield, and Edward Irving.” —— Cam/Mel].

Died at Port Hill, on the 25th of August, 1868, the Hon. James Yeo, in the 80th year of his age. Mr. Yeo was a native of Devonshire, England, and arrived on the Island about the year 1818. A few years later he commenced trading and ship- building, which he prosecuted with great success. Mr. Yeo was also a member of Parliament, and a strong supporter of the old Conservative party.

The Hon. George Coles was born in Charlottetown on the 10th September, 1810. About the year 1834 he commenced the business of brewer and distiller. In the summer of I842 he was elected a representative of the First District of Queen’s County, for the House of Assembly. In 1848 we find him on the Opposition benches, a strenuous advocate for the intro- duction of responsible government. During this year Mr. Coles paid a visit to the United States. In Boston and other cities of the great republic he met many Island men who were struggling with the difficulties incident to the want of educa- tion, and it is said that he then and there determined to free his countrymen from the disability of ignorance, by establishing a system of free schools on the Island. He marked the work- ing of the machinery of popular education in the States, and as soon as he returned home, set about framing the Island education law.

In those movements which were necessary to secure responsible government, Mr. Coles was the leading spirit. I-Iis opponents were men of position, of talent, and of education, who had been until then all-powerful in the colony. He had to contend with strong social prejudices, which were even more difficult to overcome than his political adversaries ; and he was under the necessity of organizing a party out of materials by no means the most promising. Without detracting from the merit of his coadjutors, he, to a greater degree than any of them, possessed the rare combination of qualities necessary to rouse a submissive people to resistance, and to infuse spirit and confidence into men who had been discouraged by a long series of defeats. When in power he introduced the franchise law, the land purchase act, and other beneficial measures with which his name is destined to continue identified. In 1867 a melancholy change was observed in the veteran statesman. His