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See also: principal of See also: Queen's University, See also: Kingston, See also: Ontario, was See also: born in Nova Scotia in 1835
.
He was educated at See also: Glasgow university, where he had a brilliant See also: academic career; and having entered the See also: ministry of the Presbyterian See also: Church, he returned to
See also: Canada and obtained a pastoral See also: charge in See also: Halifax, Nova Scotia, which he held from 1863 to 1877
.
He quickly gained a high reputation as a preacher and as an eloquent See also: speaker on See also: political subjects
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When Canada was confederated in 1867 Nova Scotia was the province most strongly opposed to federal union
.
See also: Grant threw the whole
See also: weight of his See also: great influence in favour of confederation, and his oratory played an important See also: part in securing the success of the See also: movement
.
When the consolidation of the Dominion by means of railway construction was under discussion in 1872, Grant travelled from the See also: Atlantic to the Pacific with the See also: engineers who surveyed the route of the See also: Canadian Pacific railway, and his See also: book Ocean to Ocean (1873) was one of the first things that opened the eyes of Canadians to the value of the immense heritage they enjoyed
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He, never lost an opportunity, whether in the pulpit or on the platform, of pressing on his hearers that the greatest future for Canada See also: lay in unity with the rest of the See also: British See also: Empire; and his broad statesman-like See also: judgment made him an authority which politicians of all parties were glad to consult
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In 1877 Grant was appointed principal of Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, which through his exertions and influence See also: expanded from a small denominational See also: college into a large and influential educational centre; and he attracted to it an exceptionally able See also: body of professors whose influence in See also: speculation and research was widely felt during the quarter of a century that he remained at its See also: head
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In 1888 he visited See also: Australia, New Zealand and See also: South See also: Africa, the effect of this experience being to strengthen still further the Imperialism which was the guiding principle of his political opinions
.
On the outbreak of the South See also: African War in 1899 Grant was at first disposed to be hostile to the policy of See also: Lord See also: Salisbury and Mr See also: Chamberlain; but his eyes were soon opened to the real nature of President Kruger's
See also: government, and he enthusiastically welcomed and supported the See also: national feeling which sent men from the outlying portions of the Empire to assist in upholding British supremacy in South Africa
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Grant did not live to see the conclusion of See also: peace, his See also: death occur-ring at Kingston on the loth of May 1902
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At the See also: time of his death The Times observed that " it is acknowledged on all hands that in him the Dominion has lost one of the ablest men that it has yet produced." He was the author of a number of See also: works, of which the most notable besides Ocean to Ocean are, Advantages of _imperial Federation (1889), Our National See also: Objects and Aims (189o), Religions of the See also: World in Relation to See also: Christianity (1894) and volumes of sermons and lectures
.
Grant married in 1872 Jessie, daughter of See also: William Lawson of Halifax
.
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