Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

24 HISTORY OF THE BANKUniversityis the chief memorial of his activities in thisdirection, but other Baptist institutions owed their continuanceto his willingness to loosen his purse strings whenever theadvancement of the Baptist Church was involved. ThePuritan strain in his temperament is indicated in a letter hewrote to the directors of The Canadian Bank of Commercefrom Ottawa during the period when he was watching bankinglegislation in which they were interested. He had attendeda social function at Rideau Hall in honour of H.R.H. PrinceArthur, the present Duke of Connaught, and he says: "Thelevee and ball are brilliant affairsof the latter I know nothingexcept by hearsay, having returned to my rooms after makingthree of my best bows to the Governor-General, Prince Arthurand Lady Young. 1 There could have been no fewer than 2,000present. Nine hundred bottles of wine were consumed, notto speak of other liquors. Everything was conducted on themost magnificent scale, and no one, looking at the gay scene,would think for a moment that we had in this Canada of ourspeople living in log shanties, or that there were to be seen inour back townships old men and their wives driving at a snail'space to the nearest village in an ox team on the top of a fewbags of wheat. What a contrast but such is life." Thoughhe might sigh over the social extravagance of his day, Mr.McMaster was no socialistic dreamer, but a dispassionate andshrewd business man, zealous for a sound financial policywhich might promote the well-being of the whole community.Before his decision to found a new bank, he had already provedhimself an adept in dealing with the difficult matter of Britishand American credits, in which as an importer on a largescale he was deeply interested.In 1859 he sent his nephew,to Manchester, to be the resident partnerMr. J. Short McMaster,of the firm ofWilliam McMaster and Nephews. The first bill which helLady Young was the wife of the Governor-General, Sir John Young, who succeededLord Monck in 1868, and held office until 1872.Sir John Young was created Baron Lisgar of Lisgar and Bailieborough.During his stay in Canada,