THE REV. G. M. GRANT, PRINCIPAL OF QUEEN’S COLLEGE, KINGSTON

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Literature and Journalism. 581

these was the Canadian Monthly and National Review, begun in 1872, and continued, through varying vicissitudes of fortune, down to the summer of the current year, when it went the way of its predecessors. The competition of English and American magazines proved too formidable to be successfully encountered, and its conductors grew weary of performing a laborious and unremunerative task. As compared with any previous attempt of the sort in Canada the Monthly was a high-class magazine, and deserved a better fate. In its pages many readers for the first time made the acquaintance of some of our best writers. The powerful pen of Professor Goldwin Smith was enlisted in its service, and his trenchant reviews of “Current Events” exerted a most important and salutary influence upon publie opinion in Canada for several years. There were native Canadian contributors with whom it was no degradation, even for such a master as Mr. Smith, to associate himself. W. D. Le Sueur’s thoughtful contributions are quite up to the intellectual mark of the best English magazines. Mr. Bourinot enriched its pages by a number of articles, several of which have since been republished in book form under the title of “The Intellectaai Development of the Canadian People ”—a volume which has furnished more than one hint for the present chapter. Martin J, Griffin contributed carefully-written prose and graceful verse. The Rev. G. M. Grant, W. J. Rattray, Carroll Ryan, Louisa Murray, Miss Machar, and a number of other Canadian writers gave us instructive papers on a great variety of subjects. Both in the Canadian Monthly and elsewhere, Mr. R. W. Phipps has given us maturely-considered discourses on trade questions which have established his right to be regarded as one of the strongest and most original thinkers in the Dominion. The services of Mr. G. M. Adam in connection with this periodical are also deserving of acknowledgment. He was associated with its business management from the first number, and for several years afterwards he conducted

its publication with much taste and judgment. After an interval spent in the United States, he succeeded to the editorial chair in 1879; and his was the hand destined to write its valedictory in 1882. The Canada Educational Monthly, founded several years ago, is another periodical venture of Mr. Adams. As its name imports, it is chiefly devoted to the educational interests of the country, but it from time to time contains articles of interest to reading and thinking men of all pursuits.

Belford's Magazine was established in Toronto towards the close of 1876, and was for several years à rival of the Canadian Monthly, by which it was finally absorbed. It was of a somewhat lighter and more popular character than the Monthly, and for a time bade fair to achieve a permanent and independent success. It was edited with marked ability by George Stewart, Jr, who himself contributed to its pages some of his best productions. One series of these, entitled “ Evenings in a Library,” was republished in a volume which had a large sale, and promoted the steady growth of the author’s reputation. Upon the amalgamation of Belford’s with the Canadian Monthly Mr. Stewart became editor of the latter, and so continued until his departure from Cantario in 1879, to assume the editorship of the Quebec Chronicle. Years before this time—in 1867—he had himself founded a periodical at St. John, New Brunswick, which attained wide popularity. It was called Stewurt's Quarterly, and was edited with great care and ability by its proprietor. Its strongest feature was literary criticism, and some remarkably brilliant reviews of the current literature of the time appeared in its pages. Its circulation extended to the New England States, and the manifest ability displayed upon it was the means of procuring for the editor the personal acquaintance and friendship of nearly all

the most prominent writers of Boston and Cambridge. The magazine, however, did not prove permanently remunerative, and its publication ceased in 18/2, For several years past Mr. Stewart

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Literature and Journalism. 583

has edited the Quebec Chronicle with much journalistic insight and perspicacity. He is now engaged upon a life of Frontenac, for a forthcoming voluminous work on the history of America, to be published at Boston under the editorship of Mr. Justin Winsor, A still more important project that he is understood to have in contemplation is a history of the Canadian rebellion—a work for which there is an undoubted opening, and which the public would cordially welcome from his hand.

The Bystander, an independent review of current events, with special reference to those of our own land, was a monthly publication commenced in Toronto about three years since. The whole of the letterpress was furnished by Professor Goldwin Smith, and it was read from month to month with eager avidity by almost every Canadian having any pretensions to intellectual culture. After running a successful career for about eighteen months, its discontinuance was rendered necessary by the Professor’s departure for Europe. Since his return co Canada there have been rumours as to its rehabilitation, and the announcement has recently been made that it is to be revived as a quarterly magazine at the beginning of 1883. The Canadian Methodist Magazine, under the editorship of the Rev. W. H. Withrow, has been in existence for some years, and is still in à flourishing condition. Though specially addressed to the Methodist community, it contains many illustrated articles of general interest, and is read by people of all classes.

In Lower Canada periodical literature has been subjected to influences similar to those which it has had to encounter in other parts of the country. Magazines have arisen, run their allotted course, and at last quietly dropped out of existence. Mr. Bourinot, in the little volume already indicated, refers in complimentary terms to Le Repertoire National, Soirées Canadiennes, end Le Foyer Canadien. The frst-named, which was published from 1848 to 1850, is spoken of as having contained “the first efforts of those writers

584 The Last Forty Years.

who could fairly lay claim to be the pioneers of French Canadian literature.” Of the other two, Mr. Bourinot remarks that they “ gave a new impulse to native talent,” and that ‘those who wish to study the productions of the early days of French Canadian literature will find much interest and profit in th? pages © these characteristic publications.” In later times La ievue Canadienne, La Revue de Montréal, and—in English—the Ne'v Dominion Monthly have contained contributions from some of tne leading writers of our country.

In science, the Canadian Journal, published at Toronto, and the Canadian Naturalist, published at Montreal, have in their day done good work in their special fields. There are well-conducted legal and medical periodicals in all the older Provinces. There are doubtless other publications which have escaped the writer’s notice, but the object of the present chapter is rather to give an idea of the general intellectual activity of the Canadian people than to furnish a complete list of any particular department of literature. One work, however, which is properly to be classed among periodical publications—the Dominion Annual Register—is specially deserving of mention. It was projected about five years ago by Mr. Morgan, whose labours in other fields have already been referred to. Three volumes of this exceedingly valuable compend have already appeared, and it is gratifying to know that the editor has met with sufficient encouragement to justify the hope that its publication will be continuous and permanent. The Canadian Parliamentary Companion, founded in 1862, and issued annually ever since, is another useful work of reference which we owe to the enterprise of Mr. Morgan, though it has of late years passed into other hands.

In nothing has our intellectual progress been more signally displayed than in our newspapers. When the Union came into operation in 1841 the really influential Canadian organs of public opinion might almost have been numbered on the fingers of one hand. In

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Upper Canada the representative political papers were the Patriot, the British Colonist and the £xaminer, all published in Toronto. The first-named was the leading organ of the ultra-Tory party, and had originally been established at Kingston by Thomas Dalton, a vigorous writer of strongly-pronounced political views. The paper was removed to York towards the end of 1832, and was thenceforward conducted by Mr. Dalton until his death in 1840. Subsequently it was at different times edited by Mr. Scott Burn, Dr. O’Brien and the present Chief Justice Hagarty. In 1848 it passed into the hands of Samuel Thompson, by whom it was finally disposed of to James Beaty, who amalgamated it with the Leader, The Colonist was long the chief organ of moderate Conservatism in Upper Canada, and was conducted by Hugh Scobie, who was in his day a man of considerable influence and intellectual vigour. The Colonist had a long and tolerably prosperous career, and survived the advent of the Union by nearly twenty years. Like the Patriot, it ultimately passed into Mr. Beaty’s hands, after which it was amalgamated with or absorbed by the Leader. The Examiner, founded by Mr. Hincks in 1838, as the advocate of Responsible Government, eventually became the chief organ of the Reform party. When its editor and proprietor accepted office as Inspector- General in the Government as reconstructed under Sir Charles Bagot, in 1842, the paper passed into other hands,* but it continued to be the chief advocate of Reform interests until the founding of the Globe in 1844. From that time forward its influence perceptibly waned, though it continued to be published, and, as has already been seen,+ survived long enough to become the mouthpiece of the Clear Grit party. The Christian Guardian should also be referred to here, as, though it was ostensibly merely the organ of a religious body, it took a very decided stand on

* Ante, Vol. I., p, 220, +Ante, Vol, II., p. 187. 38—2

586 The Last Forty Years.

various public questions of the time, and exerted a wide and potent influence, It was founded at York (Toronto) in 1829, in the interests of Canadian Methodism. Under the editorship of Egerton Ryerson and Franklin Metcalfe it became a powerful exponent of Methodist opinion, and was recognized throughout Upper Canada as an intellectual force. The influential position gained thus early in its career has been steadily maintained down to the present day. Its politics were, and have always been, moderate Liberal. The present editor, Dr. Dewart, is known as a forcible writer, and as a man of wide knowledge and sympathies.

The Gazette and the Herald of Montreal shared with the Gazette and the Mercury of Quebec a practical monopoly of political influence among the English-speaking population of Lower Canada at the time of the Union. The Montreal Gazette, originally founded more than a century ago, has undergone many changes of ownership, but it still flourishes in all the vigour of a lusty maturity. It is the Conservative organ of the Province of Quebec, but is read by persons of all shades of opinion, and is notable for the force and literary style of its editorial articles. Mr. Thomas White, who is prominently identified with its editorship, and who has greatly contributed to the present success of the paper as a business enterprise, has long been well known in the political and journalistic world of Canada. The literary editor, Mr. John Reade, is known not only as à high authority on matters specially appertaining to his department, but as a cultivated and scholarly man, who has written some of the most charming verses in our Canadian literature, The Montreal Herald is the chief organ of the English-speaking Liberals of the Province. It was founded during the first decade of the present century, and has ever since been a recognized power. It enjoys a specially high reputation for the accuracy of its commercial news, and is read by leading merchants all over the country. The Quebec Gazette, the earliest newspaper published in Canada, has already

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Literature and Journalism. 587

been referred to in connection with the career of the Hon. John Neilson,* who continued to contribute to its columns down to the very eve of his death in 1848.+ It survived down to a comparatively recent period. The Quebec Mercury, founded in 1805 as the mouthpiece of the British party and high-Toryism, is still published, though shorn of its once formidable influence and pretensions.

The French Canadians had but one really influential paper in 1841. This was Le Canadien. La Minerve had been established at Montreal by Mr. A. N. Morin in 1826; but it had been suppressed during the rebellion, and did not again appear until about a year subsequent to the Union. It is still published, and numbers among its contributors some of the most scholarly French Canadian journalists in the land. It represents the Bleu or Conservative element in the Provincial politics of Quebec, as also does Le Canadien, founded at Quebec in 1806, in opposition to British interests.* Scarcely had the Union been established ere Mr. Cauchon founded the Journal de QuébecS which still enjoys a considerable local circulation.

In 1844 Mr. Hincks established the Pilot at Montreal as the Lower Canadian organ of the Reform party.| It enjoyed a fair

measure of success while it remained in his hands, but in later

times it languished and died, The circumstances under which the

Toronto Globe came to be established have been told at length in the preceding narrative. That well-known journal has ever since been the most important political organ in Canada, and it still wields an influence which no public man can afford to despise. Its editor, Mr. John Gordon Brown, though he has never entered Parliamentary life, is almost as widely known in the Dominion as was his elder brother. His very exceptional journalistic ability has been dis-

* Ante, Vol. I., pp. 91-93.

+ Ante, Vol. I., pp. 20, 93, 94.

Il Ante, Vol. I,, p. 380,

+Ante, Vol, II., pp. 116, 117.

$ Ante, Vol, I., p. 388.

A Ante, Vol, I., pp. 362-367.

588 The Last Forty Years.

played upon the Globe for more than thirty years, and has materially contributed to maïintain that journal in the high rank which it achieved at an early period of its career. The journalistic labours of Ogle R. Gowan have also been indicated on a former page ;* as likewise have those of William McDoupgall, first on the Examiner and the North American,t and afterwards on the Globe, L'Aveniri founded in 1848 as the chief organ of the French Canadian Rouges of Lower Canada, was conducted with almost fierce enthusiasm by its editor, J. B. E. Dorion, and, while it lasted, was the champion of probably the most “advanced ” platform ever advocated by a Canadian newspaper. It was indeed too advanced for its pecuniary success, and its lease of life was short. The Toronto Leader, founded by James Beaty in 1852,$ was edited at different periods of its existence by Charles Lindsey, George Sheppard, and the late Charles Belford. It was the exponent of Conservative principles, and was for many years conducted with much vigour. Subsequent to Confederation its stature grew perceptibly less, and its influence steadily dwindled until 1878, when it quietly passed away. Various other journals, unnecessary to be specified, have undergo: : similar mutations of fortune. They have lived their more or ess brief lives, and have ceased to be. A number of comparatively modern enterprises have on the other hand won very decided journalistic successes. Conspicuous among them is the Liberal-Conservative organ par excellence—the Mail—established at Toronto in 1872. It at once took the place which it has ever since maintained as one of the foremost journals of the Dominion. Under its first editor, Mr. T. C. Patteson, it attained a circulation and influence commensurate with the political interests represented by it, and the eminence then achieved has never been lost. Like its Liberal- Conservative contemporary in Montreal, it is specially noticeable for

* Ante, Vol. I., p. 383. +Ante, Vol. IT. pp. 189, 190, 349, + Ante, Vol. IT., pp. 190, 191. SAnte, Vol, II., p. 295.

matewhich alistic former on the Globe.

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Literature and Journalism. 589

the culture and intellectual vigour of its editorial articles. The present incumbent of the editorial chair, Mr. Martin J. Griffin, is known beyond the fields of journalism as a valued contributor to the magazine literature of the day.*

The remarkable growth of the newspaper press of Canada is effectually proved by the fact that at the present day there is not an important city or town in the land but can boast of at least one well-written and ably-conducted journal. In addition to those already mentioned, Toronto has its Telegram and its World; Montreal its Witness, its Star and its Post in English, and Le Monde, Le Courrier and La Patrie in French. Quebec has its Chronicle in English, and L’Evenement and L’'Electeur in French; Ottawa its Free Press and its Citizen; Hamilton its Spectator and its Times; Kingston its News and its Whig; London its Free Press and its Advertiser. The list might be extended indefinitely, but no good purpose would be served by simple enumeration. In the Maritime Provinces journalism received a great impetus from Confederation. The chief labours of Mr. Howe and Mr. Annand belong to an earlier period, but they have found legitimate successors in the leading journalists of Halifax, Fredericton and St. John. Manitoba journalism has flourished apace since the days of the Mor’- Wester, and the daily papers of Winnipeg will now bear comparison with those of Toronto and Montreal. British Columbia has at least two papers of character and influence ; and the day is evidently not far distant when the newly-organized territories in the North-West will be able to boast of their daily journals.

The rawbacks which have hitherto frustrated all attempts to permanently establish a high-class monthly magazine in Canada have also attended upon all efforts at maintaining a weekly newspaper of a similar character. The most notable attempts in that

* Ante, p. 581,

direction have been the Vation and the Canadian Spectator. The former, established ten years ago under the auspices of the ‘Canada First” party, was conducted with a degree of ability that richly deserved success ; but it failed to realize the full hopes of its projectors, and after being supported by private contributions for about four years the publication ceased. The Spectator was a similar honourable attempt to found an independent weekly periodical at Montreal. Its existence also extended over about four years, and the requiem was sung over its grave no longer ago than last summer. An illustrated paper of less literary pretence — the Canadian Illustrated News— published at Montreal, has achieved a certain measure of success, and is now in its thirteenth year of publication.

We have at different times had a great variety of humorous periodicals, but it was reserved for a clever caricaturist of the present day to furnish us with a satirical sheet which possesses in itself all the seeds of a long and vigorous life. Grip, the first number of which appeared on the 24th of May, 1873, has not only well deserved success, but has fully commanded it, and has become a recognized presence in society and politics. As it has entered upon its twentieth volume, it may be regarded as having safely passed the experimental stage. Its founder, Mr. J. W. Bengough, has exhibited a versatility of genius which assuredly would have ensured success for him anywhere in his own particular walk. Turn over page after page of the nineteen suggestive volumes which we owe in great measure to his own honourable industry, and you will find an abundance of sharp, pungent and most effective satire, both of pen and pencil. You will find a fund of healthful, wholesome amusement in the burlesque presentations of our leading politicians, and of the current events of the time. But you will search in vain for anything malicious, anything vulgar, anything low or impure. The most sensitive public man could hardly take umbrage at seeing himself depicted by the truly

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Literature and Journalism. 591

genial pencil of Grip. The conspicuous weaknesses of individuals are exhibited in a droll and amusing light, but everything is presented

‘In a manner so kindly, you doubt if the toes That are trodden upon are your own or your foes’.”

The k amour is always good humour. If it lacks some of the higher qualities of Punck, it is farther still removed from the coarse brutality which characterizes not a few of the satiric papers that are imported every week from the United States.

Seven years have elapsed since the President of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec thus wrote in the pages of the Canadian Monthly: “ In Canada no man could live on the money product of other literary work than that of the newspaper press. A colonial publisher knows his own interest too well to give anything worth while for a manuscript which, if he publish it, will be likely not to meet with sale enough to cover cost of printing”’* As regards the former of these statements, it could not truthfully be made at the present day. As regards the second, colonial publishers are not different from other publishers in that respect. Certainly no wise publisher, colonial or other, would pay anything for manuscript matter which could not profitably be put in type and printed. But it by no means follows that a worthless manuscript and a Canadian authors manuscript are convertible terms. When Horace Greeley was asked whether he considered woman as the equal of man, he dryly replied : “That depends on who the woman is, and who the man is” The value of a manuscript depends, not upon the nationality of the writer, but upon his capacity. If a Canadian author has anything to say that the world wishes to hear, and that is in itself worthy of being heard, he will certainly not find himself handicapped by the mere fact that he is a Canadian. On the other

*‘The Intellectual Progress of Canada,” by James Douglas, Jr., in the Canadian Monthly for June, 1875.

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592 The Last Forty Years.

hand, if he has really nothing of value to say, he has no right to expect to be heard with favour by his compatriots merely because he isa Canadian. Nor should the publisher be saddled with the burden sought to be imposed upon him in the above extract. It is not the publisher’s fault if the Canadian author’s writings have no market-value. ‘“ When I see members of my congregation asleep in their pews,” said Henry Ward Beccher, “I don’t ask a man to go and wake them up, but I send for a man to come and wake me up.” If the Canadian author cannot find an appreciative audience, let him acknowledge that the fault lies with himself, and not with the public. Let him produce a really meritorious work, and the publisher will without difficulty be found. In Canada, as elsewhere, literary merit finds its level.

There is one danger—not, a very serious one, but still a danger— against which it becomes every Canadian man of letters to be on his guard. There is a decided propensity to envy and detraction in certain literary circles in this country. This is of neither wholesome nor hopeful augury. “It is a sign of a dry age,” says a contemporary English writer,* “ when the principal authors of a country look askance on one another. . . . A little more acquaintance with the history of literature might have shown them how strong the sentiment of comradeship has been in every age of real intellectual vitality.” In a new country like our own, every literary man that achieves a success achieves it not for himself alone, but for all his professional brethren. He deserves good at their hands, and not evil If there is any profession on earth that should inspire the members of it with a fraternal feeling towards each other, it is that of authorship. That a great deal of such fraternal feeling exists among our own writers is indisputable. In view of the most kindly and generous reception which has been accorded to these pages by the Canadian press, the writer ought to be the last to ignore the

* See Gray (English Men of Letters Series), by Edmund W, Gosse.

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Literature and Journalism. 593

superabundant weight of testimony on this point. But it is also true that there is a considerable leaven of uncharitableness, and it is meet that all authors who respect themselves and their profession should unite in frowning down this tainted residuum of incapacity. No man who is jealous of his brother is worthy of a place in the glorious Guild of Literature—a Guild which is before all things a republic, wherein success is the primary criterion of merit,

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