III.
Passing from the heroic days of Canada, which, if it could hardly in the nature of things originate a native literature, at least inspired a brilliant succession of historians, essayists and poets in much later times, we come now to that period of constitutional and political development which commenced with the rule of England. It does not fall within the scope of this address to dwell on the political struggles which showed their intensity in the rebellion of 1837–8, and reached their fruition in the concession of parliamentary government, in the large sense of the term, some years later. These struggles were carried on during times when there was only a sparse population chiefly centred in the few towns of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Upper and Lower Canada, on the shores of the Atlantic, on the banks of the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario, and not extending beyond the peninsula of the present province of Ontario. The cities, or towns rather, of Halifax, St. John, Quebec, Montreal, Kingston and York, were then necessarily the only centres of intellectual life. Education was chiefly under the control of religious bodies or in the hands of private teachers. In the rural districts it was at the lowest point possible,[14] and the great system of free schools which has of late years extended through the Dominion—and is the chief honour of Ontario—was never dreamed of in those times of sluggish growth and local apathy, when communication between the distant parts of the country was slow and wretched, when the conditions of life were generally very hard and rude, when the forest still covered the greater portion of the most fertile districts of Ontario,[15] though here and there the pioneer's axe could be heard from morn to eve hewing out little patches of sunlight, so many glimpses of civilization and better times amid the wildness of a new land even then full of promise.
The newspapers of those days were very few and came only at uncertain times to the home of the farmer by the side of some stream or amid the dense forest, or to the little hamlets that were springing up in favoured spots, and represented so many radiating influences of intelligence on the borders of the great lakes and their tributary streams, on the Atlantic seaboard, or on the numerous rivers that form so many natural highways to the people of the maritime provinces. These newspapers were for years mostly small quarto or folio sheets, in which the scissors played necessarily the all-important part; but there was, nevertheless, before 1840 in the more pretentious journals of the large towns, some good writing done by thoughtful men who studied their questions, and helped to atone for the very bitter vindictive partisan attacks on opponents that too frequently sullied the press in those times of fierce conflict.[16] Books were only found in the homes of the clergy or of the official classes, and these were generally old editions and rarely the latest publications of the time. Montreal and Quebec, for many years, were the only places where bookstores and libraries of more than a thousand volumes could be seen. It was not until 1813 that a successful effort was made to establish a "social library" at Kingston, Bath, and some other places in the Midland district. Toronto had no library worth mentioning until 1836. What culture existed in those rude days was to be hunted up among the clergy, especially of the Church of England, the Roman Catholic priests of Lower Canada, and the official classes of the large towns. Some sermons that have come down to us, in pamphlets of very common paper—and very few were printed in those days when postage was dear and bookselling was not profitable—have no pretensions to originality of thought or literary style: sermons in remarkable contrast with the brilliant and suggestive utterances of such modern pulpit orators as Professor Clarke, of Trinity. The exhaustive and, generally, closely reasoned sermons of the Presbyterian divine had a special flavour of the Westminster confession and little of the versatility of preachers like Principal Grant in these later times when men are attempting to make even dogma more genial, and to understand the meaning of the sermon in the Mount. Then, as always in Canada, there were found among the clergy of all denominations hardworking, self-denying priests and missionaries who brought from time to time to some remote settlement of the provinces spiritual consolation and to many a household, long deprived of the intellectual nourishment of other days, an opportunity of conversing on subjects which in the stern daily routine of their lives in a new country were seldom or ever talked of. It was in the legislative halls of the provinces that the brightest intellect naturally found scope for its display, and at no subsequent period of the political history of Canada were there more fervid, earnest orators than appeared in the days when the battle for responsible government was at its height. The names of Nelson, Papineau, Howe, Baldwin, Wilmot, Johnstone, Young, Robinson, Rolph and Mackenzie recall the era when questions of political controversy and political freedom stimulated mental development among that class which sought and found the best popular opportunities for the display of their intellectual gifts in the legislative halls in the absence of a great printing press and a native literature. Joseph Howe's speeches[17] displayed a wide culture, an original eloquence, and a patriotic aspiration beyond those of any other man of his time and generation, and would have done credit to the Senate of the United States, then in the zenith of its reputation as a body of orators and statesmen. It is an interesting fact that Howe, then printer and publisher, should have printed the first work of the only great humorist that Canada has yet produced. I mean of course "The Clockmaker,"[18] in which Judge Haliburton created "Sam Slick," a type of a Down-east Yankee pedlar who sold his wares by a judicious use of that quality which is sure to be appreciated the world over, "Soft sawder and human natur'." In this work, which has run through ever so many editions, and is still found on the shelves of every well-equipped library and bookstore, Sam Slick told some home truths to his somewhat self-satisfied countrymen who could not help laughing even if the humour touched them very keenly at times. Nova Scotia has changed much for the better since those dull times when the house of assembly was expected to be a sort of political providence, to make all the roads and bridges, and give good times and harvests; but even now there are some people cruel enough, after a visit to Halifax, to hint that there still is a grain of truth in the following reflection on the enterprise of that beautiful port: "How the folks to Halifax take it all out in talkin'—they talk of steam-boats, whalers and railroads—but they all end where they begin—in talk. I don't think I'd be out in my latitude if I was to say they beat the womankind at that. One feller says, I talk of goin' to England—another says, I talk of goin' to the country—while another says, I talk of goin' to sleep. If we Yankees happen to speak of such things we say, 'I'm right off down East;' or 'I'm away off South,' and away we go jist like a streak of lightnin'." This clever humourist also wrote the best history[19]—one of his own province—that had been written in British North America up to that time—indeed it is still most readable, and worthy of a place in every library. In later days the Judge wrote many other books and became a member of the English House of Commons: but "Sam Slick" still remains the most signal illustration of his original genius.
During this period, however, apart from the two works to which I have referred, we look in vain for any original literature worthy of special mention. A history of Canada written by William Smith,[20] a son of an eminent chief justice of New York, and subsequently of Canada, was published in excellent style for those days as early as 1815 at Quebec, but it has no special value except to the collector of old and rare books. Bouchette's topographical and geographical account of Canada[21] illustrated the ability and zeal of an eminent French Canadian, who deserved the thanks of his country, but these well printed books were, after all, mere compilations and came from the English press. Pamphlets were numerous enough, and some of them had literary skill, but they had, in the majority of cases, no permanent value except to the historian or antiquarian of the present day who must sift out all sorts of material and study every phase and incident of the times he has chosen for his theme. Michel Bibaud wrote a history of French Canada,[22] which no one reads in these days, and the most of the other works that emanated from the Canadian press, like Thompson's "War of 1812,"[23] are chiefly valued by the historical collector. It was not to be expected that in a relatively poor country, still in the infancy of its development, severely tried by political controversies, with a small population scattered over a long stretch of territory, from Sydney to Niagara, there could be any intellectual stimulus or literary effort except what was represented in newspapers like the Gazette of Montreal—which has always maintained a certain dignity of style in its long journalistic career—the Gazette and the Canadien, of Quebec, the Nova Scotian of Halifax, or displayed itself in keen contests in the legislatures or court-houses of a people delighting always in such displays as there were made of mental power and natural eloquence. From a literary point of view our American neighbours had, during this period, left us away behind, in fact no comparison can be made between the two countries; laying aside the original creation of Sam Slick. Towards the close of the eighteenth century Belknap published his admirable history of New Hampshire,[24] while the third volume of Hutchinson's history of Massachusetts appeared in 1828, to close a work of rare merit alike for careful research, philosophic acuteness and literary charm. That admirable collection of political and constitutional essays known as the "Federalist" had attained a wide circulation and largely influenced the destinies of the union under the constitution of 1783. Chief Justice Marshall illumined the bench by his great judicial decisions which have won a remarkable place in legal literature, on account of their close, acute reasoning, breadth of knowledge, insight into great constitutional principles, and their immediate influence on the political development of the federal republic. Washington Irving published, as far back as 1819, his "Sketch Book," in which appeared the original creation of Rip Van Winkle, and followed it up with other works which recall Addison's delightful style, and gave him a fame abroad that no later American writer has ever surpassed. Cooper's romances began to appear in 1821, and Bancroft published in 1834 the first volume of what is a great history despite its somewhat rhetorical and ambitious style. Hawthorne's "Twice Told Tales" appeared in 1835, but his fame was to be won in later years when he wrote the "Scarlet Letter" and the "House of Seven Gables," the most original and quaint productions that New England genius has yet produced. If I linger for a moment among these men it is because they were not merely American by the influence of their writings; but wherever the English tongue is spoken and English literature is read these writers of a past generation, as it may be said of others of later times, claim the gratitude of the untold thousands whom they have instructed and helped in many a weary and sad, as well as idle hour. They were not Canadians, but they illustrated the genius of this continent of ours.
IV.
It was in the years that followed the concession of responsible government that a new era dawned on Canada—an era of intellectual as well as material activity. Then common schools followed the establishment of municipal institutions in Ontario. Even the province of Quebec awoke from its sullen lethargy and assumed greater confidence in the future, as its statesmen gradually recognized the fact that the union of 1841 could be turned to the advantage of French Canada despite it having been largely based on the hope of limiting the development of French Canadian institutions, and gradually leading the way to the assimilation of the two races. Political life still claimed the best talent and energy, as it has always done in this country; and, while Papineau soon disappeared from the arena where he had been, under a different condition of things, a powerful disturbing influence among his compatriots, men of greater discretion and wider statesmanship like Lafontaine, Morin and Cartier, took his place to the decided benefit of French Canada. Robert Baldwin, a tried and conservative reformer, yielded to the antagonistic influences that eventually arrayed themselves in his own party against him and retired to a privacy from which he never ventured until his death. William Lyon Mackenzie came back from exile and took a place once more in legislative halls only to find there was no longer scope for mere querulous agitators and restless politicians. Joseph Howe still devoted himself with untiring zeal to his countrymen in his native province, while Judge Wilmot, afterwards governor like the former in confederation days, delighted the people of New Brunswick with his rapid, fervid, scholarly eloquence. James W. Johnstone, long the leader of the Conservative party in Nova Scotia, remarkable for his great flow of language and argument; William Young, an astute politician; James Boyle Uniacke, with all the genius of an Irish orator; Laurence O'Connor Doyle, wit and Irishman; Samuel J. W. Archibald with his silver tongue, afterwards master of the rolls; Adams G. Archibald, polished gentleman; Leonard Tilley with his suavity of demeanour and skill as a politician; Charles Tupper with his great command of language, earnestness of expression and courage of conviction, were the leading exponents of the political opinions and of the culture and oratory of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. In the upper provinces we had in addition to the names of the distinguished French Canadians I have already mentioned, those of John A. Macdonald, at all times a ready and incisive debater, a great party tactician, and a statesman of generous aspirations, who was destined to die very many years later with the knowledge that he had realized his conception of a federation uniting all the territory of British North America, from Sydney to Victoria, under one government. The names of Allan McNab, Francis Hincks, George Brown, George Etienne Cartier, Alexander Galt, D'Arcy McGee, Louis Sicotte, John Hillyard Cameron, Alexander Mackenzie, Seth Huntington, William McDougall, Antoine Dorion, Alexander Campbell, and of other men, eminent for their knowledge of finance, their powers as debaters, their graceful oratory, their legal acumen, their political skill and their intellectual achievements in their respective spheres, will be recalled by many of those who hear me, since the most eminent among them have but recently disappeared from the stage of active life.
As long as party government lasts in this country men will be divided into political divisions, and objection will be of course time and again taken to the methods by which these and other political leaders have achieved their party ends, and none of us will be always satisfied with the conclusions to which their at times overweening ambition has led them; but, taking them all in all, I believe for one who has lived all my life among politicians and statesmen that, despite their failings and weaknesses, the public men of our country in those days laboured on the whole conscientiously from their own points of view to make Canada happier and greater. Indeed, when I look around me and see what has been done in the face of great obstacles during a half century and less, I am bound to pay this tribute to those who laboured earnestly in the difficult and trying intellectual field of public life.
But this period which brought so many bright intellects into the activities of political life was distinguished also, not merely for the material advance in industry, but notably for some performance in the less hazardous walk of literature. The newspaper press with the progress of population, the increase of wealth, the diffusion of education, the construction of railways and telegraph lines, and the development of political liberty, found itself stimulated to new energy and enterprise. A daily press now commenced to meet the necessities of the larger and wealthier cities and towns. It must be admitted, however, that from a strictly intellectual point of view there was not in some respects a marked advance in the tone and style of the leading public journals. Political partisanship ran extremely high in those days—higher than it has ever since—and grosser personalities than have ever characterized newspapers in this country sullied the editorial columns of leading exponents of public opinion. No doubt there was much brilliant and forcible writing, despite the acrimony and abuse that were too often considered more necessary than incisive argument and logical reasoning when a political opponent had to be met. It was rarely that one could get at the whole truth of a question by reading only one newspaper; it was necessary to take two or three or more on different sides of politics in order to obtain even an accurate idea of the debates in the legislative halls. A Liberal or Conservative journal would consider it beneath its legitimate functions even as a newspaper to report with any fulness the speeches of its political adversaries. Of course this is not newspaper editing in the proper sense of the phrase. It is not the English method assuredly, since the London Times, the best example of a well-equipped and well-conducted newspaper, has always considered it necessary to give equal prominence to the speeches of Peel, Russell, Palmerston, Derby, Disraeli, Gladstone—of all the leaders irrespective of party. Even in these days of heated controversy on the Irish question one can always find in the columns of the London press fair and accurate reports of the speeches of Gladstone, Balfour, McCarthy, Chamberlain, Morley and Blake. This is the sound basis on which true and honest journalism must always rest if it is to find its legitimate reward, not in the fickle smiles of the mere party follower, but in the support of that great public which can best repay the enterprise and honesty of a true newspaper. Still, despite this violent partisanship to which bright intellects lowered themselves, and the absence of that responsibility to public opinion expected from its active teachers, the press of Canada, during the days of which I am speaking, kept pace in some essential respects with the material progress of the country, and represented too well the tone and spirit of the mass in the country where the rudiments of culture were still rough and raw. Public intelligence, however, was being gradually diffused, and according as the population increased, and the material conditions of the country improved, a literature of some merit commenced to show itself. The poems of Crémazie,[25] of Chauveau,[26] of Howe,[27] of Sangster[28] and others, were imbued with a truly Canadian spirit—with a love for Canada, its scenery, its history and its traditions, which entitled them to a larger audience than they probably ever had in this or other countries. None of those were great poets, but all of them were more or less gifted with a measure of true poetic genius, the more noteworthy because it showed itself in the rawness and newness of a colonial life. Amid the activities of a very busy period the poetic instinct of Canadians constantly found some expression. One almost now forgotten poet who was engaged in journalism in Montreal wrote an ambitious drama, "Saul," which was described at the time by a British critic as "a drama treated with great poetic power and depth of psychological knowledge which are often quite startling;" and the author followed it up with other poems, displaying also much imagination and feeling, but at no time reaching the ears of a large and appreciative audience. We cannot, however, claim Charles Heavysege[29] as a product of Canadian soil and education, for he was a man of mature age when he made his home in this country, and his works were in no wise inspired by Canadian sentiment, scenery or aspiration. In history Canadians have always shown some strength, and perhaps this was to be expected in view of the fact that political and historical literature—such works as Hamilton's "Federalist" or Todd's "Parliamentary Government"[30]—naturally engages the attention of active intellects in a new country at a time when its institutions have to be moulded, and it is necessary to collect precedents and principles from the storehouse of the past for the assistance of the present. A most useful narrative of the political occurrences in Lower Canada, from the establishment of legislative institutions until the rebellion of 1837–38 and the union of 1841, was written by Mr. Robert Christie, long a publicist of note and a member of the assembly of the province. While it has no claim to literary style it has the great merit of stating the events of the day with fairness and of citing at length numerous original documents bearing on the text.[31] In French Canada the names of Garneau[32] and Ferland[33] have undoubtedly received their full meed of praise for their clearness of style, industry of research, and scholarly management of their subject. Now that the political passion that so long convulsed the public mind in this country has disappeared with the causes that gave it birth, one is hardly prepared to make as much a hero of Papineau as Garneau attempted in his assuredly great book, while the foundation of a new Dominion and the dawn of an era of larger political life, has probably given a somewhat sectional character to such historical work. Still, despite its intense French Canadian spirit, Garneau's volumes notably illustrate the literary instinct and intellectual strength which have always been distinguishing features of the best productions of the able and even brilliant men who have devoted themselves to literature with marked success among their French Canadian countrymen, who are wont to pay a far deeper homage to such literary efforts than the colder, less impulsive English Canadian character has ever shown itself disposed to give to those who have been equally worthy of recognition in the English-speaking provinces.