SES ET

S LL > cf

Recent Years. 553

its mere numerical strength. A weekly paper called The Nation was founded at Toronto under its auspices, and was conducted with great ability, so far as the editorial department was concerned, for several ÿears. But there appears to have been no attempt at concerted organization, and it was discouraged by both the great political parties of the land; so that erelong the “Canada First” movement died out. The seed, however, had been sown, and a national spirit has ever since been abroad in the land, more especially among the young men: the generation to whose hands the future destinies of Canada must inevitably be committed. Upon one subject all thinking men are agreed: the relations at present existing between Canada and Great Britain are not destined to be permanent. Some modification in those relations is inevitable. Many years may possibly elapse ere it shall become necessary to take the question into practical consideration, but that such a time will come is no longer disputable. It seems to be admitted on all hands that the problem will ve solved in one of three ways: by a general federation of the British Empire; by the annexation of Canada to the United States; or by the establishment of Canadian independence. The first-named project is commonly regarded as impracticable, though it has powerful advocates on both sides of the Atlantic, including Justin McCarthy in England and Edward Blake in Canada. With respect to annexation, the idea has never found much acceptance in Canada. Even in 1849, when the movement reached its height, it was for the most part confined to a portion of the mercantile community of Montreal and some of the larger towns.* From that time down to the present, the idea of annexation cannot be said to have obtained any foothold whatever among us. To the institutions of the United States, whether political or social, Canadians generally entertain a strong aversion. The idea of independence, on the other hand, appears to have taken a toler-

36—2 * Arte, pp. 180-183,

554 The Last Forty Years.

ably firm hold of the mind of Young Canada. The rapid development of the North-West which has taken place of late years has undoubtedly done much to encourage this idea. We have become alive to the fact that our resources are almost boundless. Our enlarged capabilities have become apparent to us, and have begotten enlarged desires for national freedom: freedom to legislate for ourselves without reference to Ministers who are imperfectly informed as to our needs; freedom to negotiate treaties which primarily concern ourselves. Though we have as yet had no very bitter experiences of the evils of living in a state of dependence, the day of trial is certain to arrive sooner or later. Though we enjoy à large measure of self-government, our laws are subject to disallowance by Imperial Ministers who have no responsibility to us, and who are wholly beyond our influence or control. No reader of the foresoing pages needs to be informed that we have lost heavily by our inability to make treaties with foreign nations as to matters affecting our own welfare. It is tolerably certain that whenever we may wish to cut the tie that binds us to the mother country we shall be permitted to do so without opposition. This, it would seem, is likely to be our true “ultimate destiny,” and not that other undesired and undesirable fate which has commonly been predicted for us in connection with the phrase.

With nations, as with individuals, their future is largely in their own keeping. ‘Let each of us have faith in the rest, and cultivate a broad feeling of regard for mutual welfare,” says one of our own writers. “Thus stimulated and thus strengthened by a common belief in a glorious future, and with a common watchword to give unity to thought and power to endeavour, we shall attain the fruition of our cherished hopes, and give our beloved country a proud position among the nations of the earth.” *

*Canada First; or, Our New Nationality; by W. À. Foster ; p. 36.

elop-

y has come Our otten e for 1 CHaPTEe: XLII.

y in- . LITERATURE AND JOURNALISM.

which ) very “It must be admitted that Canada has not yet produced any works which show a dence ' marked originality of thought. Some humorous writings, a few good poems, one or two . ! histories, some scientific and constitutional productions, are alone known to a small 7h we reading public outside of Canada. Striking originality can hardly be developed to any ect to | great extent in a dependency which naturally, and perhaps wisely in some cases, looks for : all its traditions and habits of thought to a parent state. Itis only with an older condition ty to of society, when men have learned at last to think as well as to act for themselves, to reader | origir te rather than to reproduce, that there can be a national literature.”—J, G. Bouri- NOT, The Intellectual Development of the Canadian People, pp. 116, 117. re lost ons as STATE in that | CASE HE pages still left at the writer's disposal are too few in other | \ Y number to admit of his entering into anything like This, | minute or exhaustive details respecting the Canadian d not x literature and journalism of the last forty years. The y been subject, however, is not a very large one, and may be n'e . . . . . .

glanced at in all its bearings, even within the restricted n their limits that can be assigned to it. It may ve premised at the outset itivate that, to speak with absolute precision, Canada has no distinctive r own literature or journalism of her own. We have a few tolerably good ommon writers, and a very few eminently capable journalists, but in no o give essential particular can either the one or the other be saïd to be disin the tinctively Canadian productions. A purely national literature is 2, intry à commodity requiring age and wealth for its development. Of wealth

Canada has little. Of age she has, strictly speaking, none at all, for, in a national sense, she has not yet been born.

With the advent of Confederation some faint simulacrum of a

556 The Last Forty Years.

national spirit began to manifest itself among us, and in matters political we have certainly made considerable progress during the fifteen years which have elapsed since the Dominion was ushered into existence. The “Canada First” ebullition* seemed to give promise of a national birth in literature as well as in politics, but the movement died out, and its adherents found more prosaic fields for the exercise of their talents. The truth is plain. No people ever developed a national literature so long as they remained in leading {1} strings, and Canada must not expect to form an exception. This is 1l no far-fetched aphorism, but a simple statement of a fact which arises from the very nature of things. It does not by any means follow that a national literature is a thing so greatly to be desired that its acquisition should become à primary object with us, or that we should sever our connection with the mother country for the mere purpose of obtaining it. A national literature will inevitably come to us in good time, along with other desirable things; and until then we can very well contrive to make shift without it.

It is encouraging to note, however, that while our literature and journalism do not smack so essentially of our Canadian soil as to be spoken of as distinctively home productions, there has of late years been a very perceptible advance in the character of both. It is not that we have originated anything new, but that we have greatly improved upon our former weak and slavish imitations of the old. At the present day we have in our midst several authors—their name is not legion, but they have an actual potential existence—who have received their educational training solely in Canadian schools, whose experience of life has been gained solely on Canadian ground, whose aspirations do not extend beyond our own boundaries, and who nevertheless can so write the English language that no monthly or quarterly reviewer need blush to acknowledge the product as his

* Ante, pp. 552, 553.

atters g the hered ) give at the ds for e ever ading l'his is which means lesired pr that or the vitably s; and

re and s to be

years

is not creatly he old.

r name 10 have , whose , whose hd who thly or

as his

Literature and Journalism. 557

own. Better still, we have among us a goodly number of writers who realize the high responsibilities of their calling, and who, while they may not express themselves with the purity and grace of skilled philologists, can yet write with à straightforward clearness and power of expression which after all are the primary requisites of successful authorship. The mere Della Cruscans of literature find small favour with Canadian readers, and the professional writer who has really no message to deliver to the world must not expect to find an appreciative audience among us. Much will be forgiven to his manner of delivery if his message be in itself worth the hearing, but if the message be vox el præterea nihil, the practical mind of the Canadian reader is exceedingly quick to detect its hollowness. And as this critical faculty has been almost entirely developed within the last few years it furnishes unanswerable evidence of the growth of the intellectual spirit among us. There is of course abundant room for further growth, but the plant is itself healthy, and the soil is not unfruitful. It is unwise, either for nations or individuals, to overrate their possessions, but neither is it well to despise such of them as have a real value; and though Canada has nothing of an intellectual nature to exalt her above other communities, she may at any rate plead that her talent, such as it is, has not been hidden in a napkin.

Some account of the intellectual condition of the two Provinces at the time of the Union of 1841 has been given in an earlier portion of the present work.* The Union had a decidedly stimulating effect alike upon the intellectual and the political condition of the people ; but for many years the intellectual was almost entirely subservient to the political development, The people were too busily occupied in fighting the battle of Responsible Government, and in accommodating themselves to the new order of things, to bestow much thought upon literary effort. Whatever literary activity was to be

* Ante, Chap. III.

558 The Last Forty Years.

found in our midst exhibited itself in contributions to the ephemeral magazines of the time, and in the production of political pamphlets on the moving questions of the day—such brochures as Dr. Ryerson'’s defence of Sir Charles Metcalfe, and the trenchant letters of “Legion.”* But by steady degrees there grew up in Canada an educational system unsurpassed by that of any country in the world. Its fruits were not very apparent during te first generation, but the seed was sown, and though the crop is as yet far from mature, it affords evidence of judicious tillage in the past, and holds out the hope of a not unproductive harvest in the future.

The best literary efforts of the Canadian mind, during the period under review, have been made in the department of history. And yet the number of writers who have achieved success in that line is small, and the current year finds us unprovided with any general history of our country that is worthy of the name. With all its faults—and they are neither few nor far between—the best historical work of home production is the “ Histoire du Canada” of François Xavier Garneau, which has been made widely known to English readers through the not very accurate translation of Mr. Andrew Bell. It covers the whole period of Canadian history f1::" the discovery of the country down to the Union which forms the starting-point of the present narrative. Its production extended over nearly a quarter of à century, and the work, as it stands, is a perennial monument of the authors patriotism, industry, and literary skill Being written from a French Canadian point of view, it contains many passages with which English readers will find it impossible to sympathize, and there are pages which the author, were he living at the present day, would doubtless consider it his duty to cancel. Scattered here and there throughout the work are fragments of peculiarly French rhetoric, wherein the writer has flung his very heart upon his page. There is however no intentional or conscious misrepre-

* Ante, Vol. I., pp. 361, 362,

phem-

pamas Dr.

letters da an world.

ut the ure, it ut the

period And line is reneral all its storical rançois nglish sw Bell.

very of & of the quarter nument Being s many to symo at the Scatculiarly rt upon isrepre-

Literature and Journalism. 559

sentation, and there is an evident appreciation of the philosophic spirit in which history should be written, although the authors sympathies are at times too strong for his philosophy. The work displays great research, and is written in a vigorous and attractive, though somewhat exuberant style. It may be said to have taken its place, both at home ana abroad, as a standard publication, having been received with favour by the press of two continents, and having been quoted with approval by some of the leading historians. Mr. Garneau also wrote a number of fugitive poems which have found acceptance among his compatriots.

To à French Canadian, then, belongs the credit of having produced the best history of Canada down to the time of the Union. To a French Canadian source, also, do we owe what is beyond all comparison the best history of the period between the Union of 1841 and the Confederation of 1867. The “ Canada Sous l’Union ” of Louis P. Turcotte, though it makes little pretence to elaboration or loftiness of style, is a clear, succinct, and upon the whole careful and accurate account of the period whereof it treats. Like the “Histoire ” of Mr. Garneau, it is written from a Lower Canadian point of view, and to that extent is not fully adapted to ineet the requirements of the English-speaking population of the country; but this may almost be regarded as a necessary incident to any general history of the Province written, as this was, while Confederation was yet in its infancy, and while the bitter struggles of the past were fresh in the publie memory. Some of the estimates of men and things are partial, and wanting in historic discrimination, but there has been no perversion of facts, and very little positive error of statement. When the amount of diligent research which must have gone to the preparation of the work is taken into consideration, one cannot help wondering that so few errors should have crept in; and no one can appreciate this general trustworthiness so fully as one who has laboriously travelled over the same ground. No translation

560 The Last Forty Years.

of the book has ever appeared. Sir Francis Hincks once contemplated publishing a translation of it, with copious notes and emendations from his own pen; a design which was frustrated by the untimely death of the author, who was to have coôperated with the translator by issuing a new and revised edition.

Benjamin Sulte is yet another French Canadian who has achieved an honourable distinction by his contributions to the historical literature of Canada. His distinction has been fairly earned. He is one of the rea!ly representative literary men of his native Province, having been for some years before the public in the triple rôle of poct, historian, and journalist. Mr. Sulte, who now occupies a position in the public service at Ottawa, is a native of the classic old town of Three Rivers, where he some years ago founded a Literary Institute over which he himself for a time presided. His earliest laurels were gathered in the field of poetry, and he

has published several volumes which not only display his ability to write graceful and elegant verse, but are indicative of genuine poetic inspiration. He has written a scholarly and elaborate history of his native place, and has contributed numerous important papers on literary and historical subjects to the periodical press. He is at th: present time engaged upon a “Histoire des Canadiens Français,” which is appearing in serial form. The por-

tion already published has been pronounced by competent judges who have seen it to be a mine of historic learning and research. The historical treatises of the Abbé Ferland and F, M. U. M. Bibaud also belong to this period. The best known of the Abbé’s writings is the “ Cours d'Histoire du Canada,” which refers to the period before the Conquest. The authors sudden death in 1864 prevented him from completing this work, which was largely founded upon his lectures in Laval University, where he was Professor of Canadian and American History. It is considered the most impartial of all histories of the period which have been

ontem- emenby the d with

chieved istorical ed. He ve Provhe triple JW OCCUre of the founded presided.

y, and he is ability f genuine elaborate us imporperiodical istoire des

The pornt judges earch.

the Abbé’s fers to the th in 1864 as largely re he was considered

have been

Literature and Journalism. 561

written and published in Canada in the French language, and, while its colouring is unmistakably French, it deals with facts in a more tolerant spirit than might have been expected from an ecclesiastic, writing upon subjects very near to his heart, and wherein his article : of faith were more or less intimately involved. Mr. Bibaud has produced à number of bouks bearing upon different periods of Canadian history, all of which enjoy a fair share of popularity in his native Province; and he has also been a diligent contributor to periodical literature. To the Abbé Casgrain and Hector Fabre we owe interesting monographs on various historical and other topics. The former is known beyond our own boundaries as à critic on historical subjects. Mr. Parkman has more than once admitted his indebtedness to him, and less conscientious writers have freely availed themselves of his labours without acknowledgment.

The Abbé Faillon’s “ Histoire de la Colonie Française en Canada,” of which three samptuous volumes have been issued, contains much recondite material relating to the early history of Montreal. The author, who was à Sulpician priest of that city, devoted many years of his life to the preparation of this work, which was intended to con-ist of ten volumes. He is understood to have completed the manuscript several years before his death, which occurred at Paris, France, in 1871; but it is said that his ecclesiastical superiors put a veto upon the publication of the additional portion. However that may have been, the other seven volumes have not yet seen the light, and the work, so far as the public are concerned, remains a mere torso, as the three published volumes bring the narrative down to 1672 only.

Turning to the English-speaking Provinces, we find no writer who has produced a general history of Canada worthy of comparison with the best of those already enumerated.

The first place is due to the well-known work of John MacMullen, of Brockville, the last edition of which, published in 1868, covers the entire period prior to Confederation. Mr. MacMullen is evidently a man of great indus-

try and intelligence, tolerant in his opinions, and honestly desirous of telling the truth. Under favourable circumstances he would probably have produced a history adequate to the present requirements of the Canadian people. But his work seems to have been prepared at Brockville, where, as Sir Francis Hincks observes, “he could not have had access to a good library,” * and where he was subject to the perpetual worries and interruptions inseparable from the editorship of a newspaper. As a necessary consequence he had no means of adequately verifying his facts, and was compelled to take a great deal upon trust. In the preparation of some of the later chapters he appears to have depended largely upon memory and hearsay. Still, after all deductions have been made, his work as a whole is the result of long and arduous labour, and it has some claims to be considered an original production. The four or five smaller histories which have been published since its appearance are little more than compilations from it; and unfortunately these compilations have in most cases been made by persons too indolent or too incapable to perform their task with discretion. Mr. MacMullen’s errors, spread out over a large surface, are bad enough; but when compressed within the narrow limits of a school-book they are in the highest degree glaring and mischievous. In the much more voluminous work published under the direction of Mr. Charles R. Tuttle, the editor very modestly—and withal very properly—lays no claim to the title of historian. In the preface to the first volume he expressly disclaims having attempted anything beyond the arrangement in convenient form of “ the products of previous research.” The second volume, which embraces the history of the country since Confederation, is written with much amplitude of detail, and contains a vast amount of useful information; but it bears internal evidence of having been prepared by different hands, and of having been passed through the press without proper editorial supervision. It seems

* See ‘‘ The Political History of Canada,” p. 85.

Irous ould uire- | precould 2ct to ditorans Of t deal 1e ap- Still, result red an \ have ations cases their ver & in the legree work editor to the ressly ent in second ederaa vast ce of passed seems

Literature and Journalism. 563

absurd to suppose that a book of such a nature could have been issued to the world without the interposition of a proof-reader, but if any such functionary was employed upon it he was certainly very inefficient in his profession, and he as certainly knew very little about the subject-ruatter of his labours. The work is still incomplete, but its continuation is understood to have been abandoned. Its value is materially lessened by the absence of an index—a remark which is also applicable to Mr. MacMullen’s work, and indeed to nearly all histories of Canada,

À smaller popular history of our country, prepared by the Rev. W. H. Withrow, and profusely illustrated with wood engravings, was published several years ago. It was essentially a “popular” history, and made no pretence to be a work of original research. Notwithstanding that many errors of former authors remained uncorrected in its pages, it was a step in advance of most of the small compilations, and doubtless served a good public purpose. A new revised edition, brought down to the present time, is now in course of publication. Dr. Henry H. Miles, formerly Vice-Principal of Bishop's College, Lennoxville, is the author of a “ History of Canada Under the French Régime,” published at Montreal in 1872. It enjoys the repute of being a careful and trustworthy compilation, and is favourably known to historical students all over the Dominion.

In addition to the general histories, we have had a good many works relating to the history of different portions of our country, and nearly all the Provinces have been made the subject of separate treatises. The most important of these is Christie's “ History of the Late Province of Lower Canada,” in six volumes, which has been referred to in connection with the Parliamentary career of its author.* It contains a great mass of valuable material for history, but its serious defects of style and its want of orderly arrangement have combined to prevent it from obtaining general popularity ;

* Ante, Vol, I,, p. 95.

564 The Last Forty Years.

while the absence an index to such an undigested and heterogeneous compendium seriously interferes with its usefulness for purposes of reference. A similar judgment must be passed upon the labours of Dr. Canniff, who, in his “History of the Settlement of Upper Canada, with Special Reference to the Bay Quinté,” has got together many valuable data which some skilled literary workman will doubtless one day turn to account. Beamish Murdoch’s “ History of Nova Scotia,” in three volumes, is another collection of annals which must prove of inestimable value to the future historian. “ Nova Scotia, in its Historical, Mercantile and Industrial Relations,” by Duncan Campbell, is à more popular treatise, containing within the compass of a medium-sized octavo volume a history of the Province down to the year 1873. The same author has given us in à smaller volume a “History of Prince Edward Island,” wherein is embodied a concise history of that Province, from the period when it became a British possession until its entry into the Union in 1873. James Hannay's “ History of Acadia,” published in 1879, is a genuine contribution to the historical literature of the Maritime Provinces, and deserves a larger measure of success than it appears to have met with. While it contains little or nothing that is new to diligent students of our early annals, it places in a popular shape much that has hitherto been unseen by the eye of the general reader, and dispels more than one hallowed tradition of the past. Read in the light of Mr. Hannay's pages, the sweet, tender story of Evangeline loses much of the pathos with which the genius of Longfellow invested it more than thirty years ago. The sad tale has drawn tears from many eyes all unused to the melting mood, and in a purely æsthetic sense one can scarcely feel thankful to those who destroy, one by one, the fondly-treasured idols of his chiidhood. But truth is truth, and this touching ‘“ Tale of Acadie” must take its place side by side with that of William Tell and many another cherished delusion of a less critical age. Mr. Hannay was not the first to give currency to the true historical narrative, but he

enepurn the nt of ” has workloch’s ion of uture istrial eatise, ume & author dward vince, entry ” pubrature SUCCESS othing s in à bof the of the tender genius ad tale mood, kful to s chiid- ” must many ay Was but he

Literature and Journulism. 565

was the first to place it in a popular shape before the general Canadian reader, and to this extent he has rendered a service which is deserving of the fullest recognition.

D’Arcy McGees “ Popular History of Ireland” can hardly be accounted as à Canadian production, although the greater part of it was written during the authors residence among us. A work by the late Judge Marshall, of Nova Scotia, entitled “A Brief History of Public Proceedings and Events, Legal, Parliamentary and Miscellaneous, in the Province of Nova Scotia, during the Earliest Vears of the Present Century,” is noteworthy as being a record prepared to a large extent from personal recollection. It appeared so recently as 1879, when the author—who survived its publication only a few months—had attained to the patriarchal age of ninety-two years The Province of Manitoba has also found an historian in the late Hon. Donald Gunn, whose work, with a continuation by C. R. Tuttle, was published about two years since. The Hon. Alexander Morris about the same time issued a further contribution to the literature of the North-West, entitled “The Treaties of Canada with the Indians of Manitoba and the North-West Territories” It gives an account of all the treaties with those Indians, from the original one made with Lord Selkirk down to the last, made under the auspices of Mr. Morris himself, It may be mentioned that Mr. Morris long since attracted some attention as an author by two essays respectively entitled “ Canada and Her Resources,” and “ Nova Britannia.” To the former, which appeared in 1855, was awarded the second prize offered by the Paris Exhibition Comimnittee of Canada; the first prize being awarded to the well-known essay by John Sheridan Hogan. In “Nova Britannia,” which was a reproduction of à lecture delivered in 1858, before the Mercantile Library Association of Montreal, the author predicted the federation of the British American Provinces and the construction of the Intercolonial and Pacific Railways.

566 The £ast Forty Years.

À good many works relating to particular epochs in our history have been published in Canada during the period under review. The list includes three different accounts of the War of1812. The first in point of time was by Major Richardson, a gentleman who contrived to make a good deal of noise in his day and generation, not only in Canada but in Europe. It is a mere fragment, as the author did not receive encouragement to issue, or even to write, more than the first part of it, extending to 182 printed pages. As the work of a participator in the events described, it is not without value, but there is no intrinsic justification for the very high prices which have been paid for it by Canadian bibliophiles within the last few years.* The account by Gilbert Auchinleck, originally published in the Anglo-American Magazine, and subsequently issued as à separate volume, embodies a tolerably full history of the struggle from its commencement to its close. The bare facts are generally, though

not invariably, stated with accuracy. The strong'st objection which can be urged against the work is that the author’s ultra- British prejudices rendered him too violent a partisan to admit of his seeing the question in any aspect but one. The period from 1812 to 1815, more than any other in our annals, offers strong temptations to the historian to overstep the bounds of strict judicial impartiality. Lieutenant-Colonel William Foster Coftin, to whom | we owe the latest account, published in 1864, has not been alto- 1 gether proof against the pitfalls in his path, though his sins of |) commission are less glaring than those of Mr. Auchinleck, and his nil narrative is more lively and readable. This work is also incom-

:, plete, the history being brought down only so far as the close of

The late Dr. Egerton Ryerson, not long before his death, gave us

* “Eight Years in Canada,” by the same author—a work several times quoted from in former pages of this work—is also valuable to the student of our history, but it must be used with discrimination and judgment, as the Major was far from being an impartial observer, and was to a large extent dominated by his circumstances and prejudices.

story rst in rived ly in r did n the of a e, but have ears.* n the parate )m its hough ection ultramit of | from strong udicial whom alto- Sins of nd his incomlose of

rave us

ted from must be

impartial es,

Literature and Journalism. 567

a history of “The Loyalists of America and their Times,” in two octavo volumes, the preparation of which had extended over half an ordinary lifetime. The venerable Doctor was a man of extraordinary powers of mind and body. As a pulpit orator, as a polemical controversialist, and as Superintendent of Education he has left his mark upon the history of Upper Canada. His labours in the cause of education have drawn forth warm and well-merited encomiums from persons entitled to speak on such subjects with authority. But no man can be expected to do everything well, and the fact is that Dr. Ryerson did not possess the faculty of writing history. His volumes are laid out with singular want of skill, and the fillingin violates all laws of historical perspective. He seems to have been unacquainted with some of the latest authorities, and his treatment involves a perpetual violation of modern ideas as to the true mission of the historian. The work is an unsafe guide, even as to mere matters of detail, and the effect, as a whole, is far from satisfactory. The authorship will ensure for the volumes a continuous reception far more than commensurate with their merits; but the volumes themselves will fail to give posterity any just estimate of the great intellectual vigour of this, the most distinguished member of a deservedly distinguished family.

Colonel Gray’s “Confederation,” already referred to in the historical part of this narrative, adds one more to the list of unfinished works on Canadian history. Up to the present time only the first volume has appeared. It was published in 1872, and the author evidently contemplated the issue of a second and concluding volume. It is to be regretted that he was not encouraged to carry out his design, for his book, as far as it goes, is a valuable record of events which must have a material bearing upon our polity for many à year to come, if not for all time. Huyshe’s “Red River Expedition,” and Begg's “Creation of Manitoba” are as accurate records of those passages in our history as can reasonably be expected from brief and almost contemporaneous accounts. The

568 The Last Forty Years.

more recent work of Professor Bryce, entitled “ Manitoba: its Infancy, Growth and Present Condition,” contains much valuable and interesting information with reference to the early explorers of the North-West; and it is especially noteworthy as containing the fullest account that has yet appeared of the life and labours of that large-minded nobleman, Thomas Douglas, Earl of Selkirk.

In 1878 appeared ‘“ Canada Under the Administration of the Earl of Dufferin,” by George Stewart, Jr., one of the best known and most popular of all our writers. Though he can hardly be said to have passed the first approaches of middle age, Mr. Stewart has already won à high and honourable position in the Canadian world of letters, and, like Lucullus, he owes his rank “to no man but himself” He has been before the public for at least fifteen years, and his writings show a steady advance, not only in mere Literary form, but in self-reliance and mental grasp. His literary and journalistic labours will be referred to later on. As a historian he claims attention by virtue of the work above mentioned, which was produced during the authors tenure of office as editor of a Toronto monthly magazine. The history of Lord Dufferin’s Administration is here recounted with much minuteness of detail, and the important constitutional questions involved therein are discussed with calmness and impartiality. The best of the Governor’s specches delivered during his residence among us, carefully revised by himself, are included in the volume, to which they impart additional value and attractiveness. The book was well received, and has passed through two editions. À work bearing a similar title, and covering the same ground, was written by William Leggo, and published during the same year.

In the department of history, then, Canadian authors have produced a few works of real value. In the kindred branch of biography some creditable attempts have also been made, “ Sketches of Celebrated Canadians and Persons connected with Canada,” by Henry James Morgan, published in 1862, was for many

its Inle and ers Of ng the )f that

1e Earl mn and said to rt has | world it himrs, and y form, nalistic ; attenroduced aonthly is here ; constiess and during uded in ractivegh two 1e same ring the

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