i^> .4^^ ^§^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) # // /. l/j 1.0 I.I 11.25 1^ 1^ 2.2 ■ 10 ^ U° 12.0 |||||_L8 U ill 1.6 'r i) ^^ vQ 7 V /^ ■'~..~ T,'.^--.r^rf^ \ i CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques 1980 Technical Notes / Notes techniques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Physical features of this copy which may alter any of th« images in the reproduction are checked below. D D Coloured covers/ Couvertures de couleur Coloured maps/ Cartes gdographiques en couleur L'Institut a microfilmd le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6x6 possible de se procurer. Certains d^fauts susceptibles de nuire d la quaiitd de la reproduction sont not6s ci-dessous. D D Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur Coloured plates/ Planches en couleur T P o fi T c o a T fi ir Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages ddcolordes, tachet6es ou piqu6es Tight binding (may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin)/ Reliure serrd (peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge int^rieure) D D Show through/ Transparence Pages damaged/ Pages endommag6es ^ ir u b f( D Additional comments/ Commentaires suppl6mentaires Bibliographic Notes / Notes bibliographiques D D D D Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Bound with other mat . 7^ y >;""■;•» THE SECRETARY OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. A LITERARY FRAUD. BY NICHOLAS FLOOD DAVIN Price iO rents. OTTI'-^'V^-^' OIsTT., 1S82. 19943 5 n To His Excellency The Ri(iiiT Honoukable Sir John Douglas Suthekland Camphell, Marquis of Lorne, K.T., G.C.M.G., Governor-General of Canada. May it please Your Excellency : — I dedicate this pamphlet to Your Lordship because, as the higJiest representative of Her Majesty on this Continent your name could not be more appropriately used than in connection with a vindication of the " Queen's English." Moreover Your Lordship is a literary man, and the son of a man, not the least of whose many titles to distinction is his literary activity. You would therefore naturally feel a strong jealousy for the honour of literature. But there is yet a stronger reason why I dedicate this pam- phlet to Your Excelbncy. One of the earliest steps taken when starting any society is to choose a secretary. If that step in the present case was taken without consulting Your Excellency, you have certainly grave cause to complain of your literary advisers ; if it was taken with the approval of Your Lordship, you must have been deceived ; in either case it is a duty to alarm your jealousy for the honour of Canada. I can conceive no greater in- sult to the intelligence of Canada than for one knowing the literary imbecility of Mr. Bourinot, to appoint him Honorary- Secretary to a Society which is meant to lead tlie van of literary progress. I know Your Excellency would shrink from anything that the most fastidious sensibility could construe as wounding to the self-respect of this young country — a great nation, my Lord, in the dawn of vigorous manhood. v As Your Lordship is aware we have in the Dominion of mMMMBWW J U ' liai ffHW ^immmm Ciinndii several Universities, We have an nnrivallei] educational system which brings a sound Coninion School education to the door of the poorest. We have in Toronto a great University whence every year a nunber of distingnislied students go to all parts of the country. Some of the students of our Canadian Universities have gone over to Oxford and snatched away the most coveted honours. Until very lately we have had a magazine in which there appeared every month, for more than ten years, abundant evidence of literary ability, (^ne of the greatest living masters of English speech has been in our midst for more than a dozen years, and has constantly published his opinions on literary and political subjects. As may be seen by glancing over the lead- ing eolumjis of the principal newspapers, there are a good many professional writers in the coimtry who use their mother tongue not merely with correctness, but witli vigour, and in some cases with elegance. The standard of literary excellence is not low in (Canada, my Lord. In nearly every large town there are men of education, and in the leading cities there are some men of high culture. Your Excellency will imdei-stand how the intellect of Canada must re- gard a man not fit to be a common school teacher, setting up as a literary leader, and this ai)parentiy with the sanction of Your Ex- cellency I 1 do not hesitate to say that if Your Lordship, aware of Mr. IJourinot's helpless incapacity to write his own tongue, should countenance his parading as a literary leader in the uidform of a Royal Society, started and fostered by yon, the circumstance would make a painful impression which would long outlast Your Excellency's term of office. ' While this pamphlet was passing through the press, persons inspired by whom I did not stoi) to inquire — came to me and beo'o-ed me not to publish it, saying that ]V[r. Boui'inot had strong fric!i(ls, liiid undur his thumb several iiewspupei's to which ho was in tlio liabit of giving information, and finally tliat by publishing the pamphlet I should displease your Excellency. I replied that 1 did not care about Mr. JJourinot's power to injure me ; that I had a duty to Canada to perform ; that the matter was of vital impor- tance to her best interests ; and that, as regarded your Excellency — to incur whose disfavour I sliould regard as a misfoitune — I knew the manliness of your character too well to believe that you could wish to shield literary pretension from condign chastise- ment. Finally it was said to me that Mi*. Jjourinot's pamphlet was an otfering oh the shrine of Canada, and that we should not look too closely at its faults. I replied 1 was commenting not on the pamphleteer, who was of no eonse({uence, but on the Honorary Secretary of the Royal Society, and that the saci'ilice seemed to me to be of about the same value as that which Diogenes of Sinope made to Diana. The philosopher found his sacriiice without going farther alield than his o' n person, which lie kept in philosophical superiority to soap and M'ater. I never heard that the goddess was particularly pleased with the votary, or the blood which stained her altar, and Canada can dispense with gifts which are calculated to degrade her in the eyes oi the world. I am, My Lord, i'our Excellency's obed't hmable servant, NICliOLAS FLOOD DAYm r T THE SECRETARY OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA.-A LITERARY FRAUD. • • • nv NICHOLAS FLOOD DAVIN. On going a few clays ago into Mr. Durie's shop, I saw- on the counter a pamphlet entitled " Canada as a Home:' The subject is one which has always been full of interest for me. I glanced through the pamphlet. I found to my slirprise in almost every .sentence gross grammatical blunders ; blunders such, that if they ajjpeared ■"i an emi- gration pamphlet, the author would not be allowed to again show his face in the Department of Agriculture. I turned to the title-page of " Canada as a Home'' and read : „ ,," By John George Bourinot, ihe Clerk of the Canadian Hou*»e ofCommone, bellow of the btatistical Society of London and of the Royal Colonial Instifnte. Honorary Secretary of the Royal Society of Canada, &c." I laughed, and found my.self hummmg a line of Canning's which I parodied : " Smudge's diamonds and his dirty shirt." Here were these worthless decorations on the cover of a pamphlet in which there is not a line which does not contain offences against literary taste, and in which, I repeat, it is hard to find a sentence without grammatical blunders, for which a school-boy of eleven years of age would be disgraced. As one should expect, there is a looseness of thought corresponding to the imbecility of language. On page 5 we read : — " Quebec and Port Royal were in existence when the Puritan pioneers were toi Img among the rocks of New Engl and. But ewr since Canada became u dependency of Great Britain, lier progress has been more or less retarded bv the fact of her close neighborhood to the American Republic." Here it is implied that contiguity to the American Republic has been inimical to Canada's progress, only because she is a dependency of Great Britain. What does he mean ? If Canada were a dependency of France would this contiguity not have operated in the same way ? On the same page we read " A stranger to Canada and her resources would naturally suppose on re- vising the statistics of emigration in the past, that there must be some radical weakness in the political institutions of the Dominion, some illiberality in ita 8 HVHlt'iii III' 'io\ crmiiciii, or some iiisiirmountahle nbsfnde nrixiiif/ from .soil or cl'niKile, (ir ii rtini/Kini/ircli/ I'niiiird sp/irir (il'imtiiral resources, \u iicciMiiit lor the rciiiiirkiilp'ic |)rt'tcrcii(;c si. sy^'tciiialiciilly s/iuini liv the liUru|iciiii world lur tlic Arnciicaii Siufo w/ifii it conies a (|H('«ti(iii ot Icaviiisr the old home for one licvotnl tlic .Hca." As t(j the use of '• obstacle" here ohstacle to what ? We speak of a limited sphere of action but not of natural resoiircis. SfidiK'ii is the past p.'.rticiple and li^/hn // idiiics has cerfainl)- notli- ing to do with the ])ast. In the second sentence but one r mh the above, we read : *• Nor would it he ditlicult now-a-tinys to tin ' in the utterances of kouip Engli."!) statesnien and writers ini.re eM(;i)nra<;enietit lortlio I'nited Stales, than for tlie Canadian i'mvinces, who, so far (.'ertainly, have shown no other aspira- tion tiian to work out tlicir national destiny in the closest possihie coimection with the Empire.'' The relative must agree with its antecedent in gender : what is the gender of " Provinces ? '" Two sentences farther on we read : *' The development ol the vast North-West Territory simultaneously with the agrarian ditliculties and ajzricultnral distress in Great Britain and Ireland, have had the very natural etl'ect, Ac."' Development is a singular noun, and /la't'e is the plural form of the verb. If Mr. Bourinot was ever taught the rule that the verb must agree with its nominative in number, the lesson evidently never got beyond the tweed suit in which his youthful limbs were encased. On page 1 1, at the close of the paragraph, we read : — " The speculator and man of enterprise learn from them, &c." Speculator and man of enterprise mean one individual — the idea is one. Thus again we have a singular noun and a i)lural verb. If it should be said tliat two [lersons were meant, then we have a clumsy ellipsis. If two ])ersons were meant, the article "the"' should have been placed before " man of enterprise." On page \ 4 we r^ad : — "Most sanguine hopes are entertained that the very recent visit of His Ex- cellency the Governor-General, Ac." Now His Excellency made but one journey to the North-We.st. What is meant by " the very recent visit?" The article appeared in July, 1882. His Excellency's visit was made in 1881. On page 17 we read : " The large sums tliat Canada lias heen for years, or is now expending, have been directed towards str '»thening Imperial interests on this continent is Ex- AVest. ed in notnhhi tlio Intercolonial and Pacific Hiiilways, which arc certainly rinporiul in their conccpfion, and to which the Hriti.-'h (Jovciiimi'n., has j,'ivi'n no hu1>- stantial aid, except on one occawion, viz., when it ;rave it ati Imperial guarantee. To what does ttotably refer? lie has been speaking of the expen- diture of large sums. 'l"o what does the second " it " relate ? The noun to which " it " belongs must be the same as the ante- cedent of" which ;" but " Railways," (lualilied by the adjectives Inter- colonial and Pacific, is the antecedent of "which." Now in no way can " it " be made p -iral. 'I'he whole sentence shows the sli])-sliod way Mr. IJourinot thinks. A still more amusing sentence is found at the )ot of page 19 : — " Nor niiiist it he forg'lten that Canada lierHcK is ?iom) a nutunfacliiriiKj ronntri/, and her people are buying largely every year, as well as e-xportinj:, fine pianos, carriages, hoots and siioes, paper, tweeds, imd siigiirs, hesidex other articles manufactured cfu'dphj and well in their own country,'^ He states that Canada is a manufacturing country. He jjoints out that the Canadian people are buying largely, pianos, c\:c., that they are also exporting these, h'sidcs otJier artuics iiMiiuftntund cheaply anJ- w'll in their own country. Clearly, ^Ir. IJourinot, if he has not sat at the leet of Mr, Addison, has sat at the feet of Sarah CJamp. If he meant that in addition to the articles specified other manufacturing products are exported, all he had to write was, "and other articles." As it is, the tail of the sentence would lead to the inference that the articles speci- fied are not manufactured in Canada. If that were intended, (this, of course, is not the case), how ridiculous the commencement of the sen- tence. But if the commencement of the sentence is to be saved from ridicule, the tail of it must remain absurd like the tails to the author's name. It might be thought impossible to surpass this last flash of genius. But the sceptic who should cheri.sh such a doubt would do scant justice to the exhaustless resources of Mr. Bourinot's talents for bad grammar and slobbering construction. On page 2 1 there are two sentences — two ! — there are four in which the reader will revel. They show us Mr. Bourinot in excelsis : — " Twelve years ago, theatrical performances had to be lield in building.s of a most inferior character — mere wooden " shanties " in some cases — but now all the cities and large towns possess one or more opera-houses, handsome in appearance and well adapted in every way to their object. Another illustra- tion of the spirit of cul'ure that is abroad in Canada, hitherto considered so prosaic and utilitarian a country, " so dreadfully new," is the establishment of art schools in the large centres, and of a Canadian Academy — the result of 10 tlip lau(iali!e desirt! of the Marquis of Lome and the Princess Louise to stimu- late a taste lor art among tlie people ; and it h a veri/ significant factihai there a.ve &\ri'a,dy several cases of young men who ha ? embraced art as a profes- sion, and have proceeded witiiin a few months to the great schools of Europe to obtain that thorough artistic training which can alone be found among the master-pieces of mclcrn an'' ancient painting and sculpture. It is a signifi- cant Jacf, which sho d be mentioned in this connection, that the value of the paintings and engravings ot a good class annually brought into the country now amounts to over £100,000, all of which are imported free, with the view of affording as much encouragement as possible to so desirable an agency of culture. The fore';oi!i<' fncts are but a few among the evidences that can now be seen m Canada to prove tha progress of art, literature and science in a country the greate portion of which, a half-century ago, «'«* a solitude oj riier and forest, with a pojmlation of /ess than a millio7i." Now what is meant by saying that Opera Houses are " handsome in appearance.''^ Handsome in appearance means that they are apparently handsome, and what is the meaning of saying a concrete object is ap- parently handsome ? If it is handsome, it is handsome. I suppose Mr. Bourinot does not mean that the Opera Houses are like Mr. Bouri- not, consummate frauds, handsome in appearance, but in reality ugly. I shall liave by and by to speak of the poverty of Mr. Bourinot's vocabulary. Note the cacophonous use of " significant fact " above. Perhaps you had better not. I wish you to reserve all v.nr capacity of wonder for the last sentence. Try and take in the idea conveyed in the following words : "a solitude of river and forest with a population of less than a million" ! ! ! When you have recovered from this you can note other rhetorical beauties. Does the gentle reader think we shall find no more plums in this pudding? On page 22 our author writes : " If there are any who wish to study the social characteristics of the Canadians, let them do something more than rush through the Dominion, and live only in hotels." This word only makes him say the reverse of what he desires. He actually tells them that they must do something more than rush through the Dominion, and that they must live only in hotels, whereas what h6 desires to say, is that they must not live entirely in hotels, but must see something of that Canadian life which hotel society does not embrace. I wish now to point out the extraordinary poverty of Mr. Bourinot's vocabulary. I will not take many cases. I will content myself with one. Take the verb " to illustrate." This is used eleven times in the course of this short pamphlet, and the noun " illustration " three times, 11 Indeed Mr. Bourinot makes "illustrate" a maid of all work. A majority of farmers going west " illustrate " a spirit of restlessness (p. ii) ; the progress to be expected in the North-West —that is, something non-existent— may be illustrated by the history of Kansas (p. 1 3; ; and so on in nine other instances in which "illustrate" is sometimes used correctly, but more often infelicitously, if not ludicrously; as, for instance, on page 10 where we find a sentence commencing thus : " Others illus- trate mortgages to the foreign loan companies." One has heard of illus- trated magazines, missals, papers, novels, histories, but illustrated mortgages !! An illustrated mortgage would be as ludicrous as a dunce parading badges of membership of scientific and literary societies, badges known to the enlightened to be worthless, but which are supposed to convey to the vulgar the idea of literary distinction, badges which are therefore eagerly sought by men who are conscious they are not the thing they wish to appear to be. The noun illustration is used with a like disgusting stupidity. For instance, on p. 26, we read : " Since 1867 the Dominion Parliament have only been culled upon to puss Bonie six divorce bills for persons living in the two large provinces ol Ontario and Quebec. Nor is it only in the older provinces that we may look tor such illustrations of social happiness." Here note Parliament governing a plural verb. But this by the way. M'hat I desire to ask is : What are the "illustrations of social happiness"? The divorces ? If not, what then ? Before passing on from " illustrate," let the reader turn to page 7 : " In the past the victory has been with the United States, and it must be adniitted that the world has gained much by the success of the Republic in building up new States through the aid of European emigrants. Ciinadians themselves are proud of such brilliant achievements, and believe that it illustrates the carcei- of their own counti-y in the immediate future, if it has anything like fair play in the race on which it has entered." To what does the first // refer ? Clearly to achievements which is a plural noun. If to any other word, what botched writing ! Note further, that the brilliant achievements of the States illustrate the career of Canada in the future. Thus twice in the course of a few pages some- thing not yet come into existence is said to be " illustrated." To illustrate is to pour light on, to clear avay obscurity from, to bring to light, to purify something which exists, with the view of making it more vivid. I may say here that if the word "illustrate " were used mr' 12 appropriately, its freiiuent appearance would not call for severe animad- version. Mr Bourinot, in addition to the letters, he is now entitled to put after his name, may place there M. Q. E., / ^,— Murderer of the Queen's English. As he writes himself " the Clerk of the Canadian House of Commons " he could — for no one is ever likely to rival him as a writer of bad grammar and slovenly phrases — entitle himself " the murderer of the Queen's English." This gentleman talks of culture. One would like to know what his idea of culture is. Does it include the power of thinking clearly ? I suppose he rates himself as a man of culture. If he be it is clear that in order to be a man of culture it is not necessary even to write grammatically. 'I'here are men who can talk about culture without pro- nouncing a satire on themselves, and such men would certainly not rank as cultured a man who could not write his own tongue with precision. They would recjuire more than correctness of expression. They would reciuire perhaps not great original powers of thought, but certainly such powers of thought as by the study of great writers and exer'^'se in dialectics, a man of fair talent may secure. Ought a man who flaunts his membership of learned societies as a par- venu prates about titled acquaintances, and the vulgar bedeck themselves with Lake George diamonds, be able to show some claims to culture ? Ought the Secretary of a Royal Society have such powers as are described above ? One should think so. Well, here we have doubtless the master effort of Mr. Bourinot's genius. It is the latest. It was produced originally in the pages of an English Review, which once stood high, but which under its present management has lost authority and position. Still it was a field which brought him face to face with the reading world. He would therefore have done his best. Now is there any evidence of power of thought in the pamphlet ? There is absolutely none. It bears all the marks and tokens we should expect to find if it had been made up with scissors and paste from the emigration pamphlets. There is no literary flavour about it. There is no largeness of horizon — no breadth. I have done injustice to the emigration pamphlets. What is said above is meant to emphasize the fact that all the information in the article, " Canada as a Home " could be got from these pamphlets. In no emigration pamphlet I ever read was there such poverty of expression, nor did I ever find in them anything •13 to parallel the abject flunkyism, the whining prostration, the whimpering, crouching, beggarly attitude which this man takes up as fit to express the position of a young country of splendid possibilities ard boundless resources. Mr. Bourinot writes expressly as a Canadian, and Canadians may feel proud at once of his noble advocacy of their claims, so well calculated to raise their self-respect, and of the idea of the literary men of Canada his writing will have given to Englishmen. Let us glance for a moment at the evidence of precision of thought and felicity of phrase. See p. 8 — " Considerations of national sympathy for a people who have always been attached to the Empire and its* institutions shouUl theoretically influence tingiishmen to throw the weight of their assistance in favour of Canada." Practically I suppose these considerations should have no weight. On pages 8 and 9 we read : — "Among the emigrants who come yearly into America there is always a proportion of persons with pecuniary means and social tendencies, who desire to live in the vicinity of the towns and older settlements, and who must be more or less prepossessed in favpur of a country wliich ofiers them educational faculties not surpassed by any country in some respects, as well as many luxu- ries and comforts not attainable except by the rich in older lands. Then, as he looks around, he will soon learn that the public men of the country where he has made his home have perfected a system which enables a yroup of peo- ple in every section of the Dominion to educate their children. In this, as in all other respects, conducive to the happiness and prosperity of a people, we shall see that Canada compares most favourable with her powerful neighbours, notwithstanding that they have succeeded, by their remarkable energy and enterprise, in leaving her far behind in the competition for the toealth and population of the old world" In other parts of the pamphlet he talks as if it was all owing to England's lac/ics that the United States got population and wealth. On the elegance of " in some respects " and of " a group of people in every section " it is unnecessary to comment. At page 10 occurs the following sentence which would indicate that Mr. Bourinot sometimes passed from the feet of Mrs. Gamp to gather flowers of eloquence at the plush knees of " Jeames" :— " One may travel for days by the different lines of railway that intersect this noble province, and see on all sides comfortable mansions oi stone or brick, and wide stretches of fields of wheat and other crops." 1 need hardly say no man of Uterary taste would apply the word " mansions" to the comfortable houses of our Ontario yeomanry. On page 1 1 we find — " The majority, however, illustrate that spirit of restlesmess which is 1 ■; !!i 14 ,'-■' , •■; ;;•■-■ ' {)cculiar to the American character, and seiid men year by year from New 'jiigland and the older States, to found homes in the new territories — that very spirit which has built up Illinois and every great common wealth in the W CSC* Here spirit which is a singular noun has a plurnl verb "send." On the same page : — "If his jiulgment be good, and the country around his imaginary 'Tliebee or Athena' be inviting, i/ie waves of population which ])erpelually Jlow west- ward, stopjor a time at his 'location and aciually verify his dream." Now it would be curious to have it explained to one hoju ivaves of population wJiich perpetually flow westward stop for a time. Mr. Bourinot thinks with so much correctness, and his thoughts on " Canada as a Home " are so elevated and inspiring that he can write on page 1 3 : — " Already there are indications that the progress of the Nortli-west will be more rapid than tliat of Ontario, hut all depends on the interest taken by England in its development." The United States got population and wealth by energy. But in the case of Canada which has built mighty Public Works — as resi)ects the pro^];ress of her North-west, all depends on the interest taken by England in its development. Turn to page 15 — we read : — •* At an early date in the history of Upper Canada, her public men were carried away by an ambition to make this river the great thoroughfare of the Western region to the ocean, and went into large expenditures for canals, which the means of so young a country hardly justified. After the Union of 1840 oZtcy was carried out, and u)) to the present time some ten millions of pounds have been expended on the St. Lawrence system of navigation, so that the largest class of lake vessels may float from tiie upper lakes to the head of ocean navigation, without once breaking bulk. The new Welland Canal, now drawing to completion, is justly described by American writers: '^1 Titanic work , by which Canadians hope to divert the carrying trade, not only from Buffalo, but even from New Vork, and to control the exports of the mighty Westjor more than half the year.' " > Thus we see that a course which t/ic means of tlie country Jiardly justified is in another sentence described as a 7vise policy. The reader will be good enough to note that a country which has disi)layed all this energy is described as in a helpless condition in the face of a far easier task than building great canals, imh-ss another country takes an interest in it. On page 16 we read — " It is said, on good autliority, that the Northern Pacific Railway, now 15 that the United States arc enth'ed on r. new era of couiniercial enterprise, will be vigoroiLsly carried to compiotinn by 1888." Here we have the verb fo be with a neuter verb. On page i8 occurs this charming bit of writing : — " The writer drove to the village on a market day, and counted no less than twenty-seven comfortable 'buggies,' and numerotiH waggons, belonging to the farmers who settled in the forest a quarter Ota century or less betore" and had now come to sell their surj}lus produce to the dealers. Was this the first time they had sold their produce ? And surplus produce too? Do farmers farm only for their own table? Was the surplus produce on this occasion what remained after selling in some other market ? On page 25 : — " NoStar Route frauds have ever disgraced the political annals of Canada, and her public men have invariably preserved that repjfto^w/t for integrity which is a distinguishing trait of English statesmen." Reputation may be the consequence of a trait in a statesman, but you cannot say it is a trait. Here we are again. Turn to page 28 : — "They believe that the story which the Immigration Returns of this continent have told for so many years back ivill be henceforth one more flattering to the Empire, and that the increasing interest taken in Canada will soon bear rich fruit m the development of her territorial resources." Thus the story which has been told is in some way to be doctored so as to be more flattering to the Empire. Turn back to page 5 ; — "So distinguished a writer as Mr. Goldwin Smith since he has become more closely identified loith Canada, has never ceased tlirowing his douche of cold water on Canadian aspirations, or advocating that ' Continental system' which, once carried out, would eventually make the Dominion a member of the American Union." Our author evidently thinks that Mr. Goldwin Smith, before he became connected with Canada, expressed views on the Empire and Canada different from those he has promulgated since he took up his residence amongs*^ us. His sin, if sin it were, seems to have consisted in trying to stimulate Canadian aspirations, in the direction of " national expansion," of which Mr. Bourinot approves, (seepai^e 2/.) One word as to Mr. Bourinot's consistency. On page 3 we read : — "The fact that during fifteen months ending on the .30th of September last, nearly nine hundred thousand immigrants, largely drawn from Great Britian and Ireland, arrived in the United States, can hardly be regarded with satis- I ! I I T iiii 16 faction by those Enrflishmen and Colonists who wish to see the waste places of tlie Empire filled up by an industrious iiopulation " Turn to page 6 : — " It is undoubtedly a matter of pride to Cavudians that a kindred people should in the course of a century of national exiHtcnce hiivc made such remarkable material, as well aa intellectual jyoyross." Now look at page 7 : — "In tbe past the victory has heen witli tlie United States, and it must be adtnitted that the world has (jained much, by the success 0/ the Republic in building up new States throuyh the aid oj European emigrants. Canadians themselves are proud '' nch brilliant achiecements, and believe that it illustrates the career of tlieir > ,v jountry in the immediate future, if it has anytliing like fair play in the race on which it has entered." Again on page 27 : — " A few words in conclusion as to the future of a country whose progress not only illustrates the energy but the social elevation of the people. 2'he Confederation is onli/ in its infancy, and yet it is proving its capacity for national expansion.''' But we saw above that all depends on the interest England may take in us. We have been told that the jiast history of the States indicates what the future of Canada is to be, and that the Confederation is proving its capacity for national expansion. National expansion, if it means anything, means rising to the force and dignity of a nation. Well on page 28 we read : — " Imperial connection '\s »{\W the n\^ '"ve power in Canadian legislation; and though changes may be demanded //( lears to come more commensurate with that higher position Canada must occupy in a not very distant future, yet there is every reason to believe that those changes can be made so as to give greater strength to the Empire, and at the same time open up a wider field to the ambition of the Canadian people. Perhaps tlie time may come when the Imperial State will find in the Federal system of the Canadian provinces a constitutional solution which will settle many national difficulties and give that unity to the Empire which it now certainly h^s not. Such a solution nmy he only the dream of enthusiasts ; and yet there are not a few men already, both in the parent State and its dependencies, whose aspirations take so patriotic a direction." Here we have Mr. Blake's hobby horse of Imperial Federation. If Imperial Federation were the desired ultimate destiny of the Empire, a Canadian National Spirit is the last thing that would be desirable. If a National Spirit becomes strong, active, pervasive, Canada will become a nation, and if she becomes a nation, she will have to work out her des- tiny as a nation. And now to see Mr. Bourinot " fall flat " as Caliban says : On page 29 our author cries : — " Put it is in the ' living present' that Canada has note the deepest interest. iii: 17 nterest. Her Juturc. mainly Tests on the readiness with which the j)finple of the parent State respond to her appeal in this crisis of her history. It will indeed be disheartening to her if her fidelity to British connection nhould only be re- warded by the spectacle oi" hundreds of thousands of Englishmen, Irinhinen and Scotchmen yearly giving the preference to a country whose increasing greatness is being continually contrasted with Canadian weakness by the advo- cates ofth'' Contipental idea.' Poor Canada ! Poor Canadians ! if " ///e Clerk " of your House of Commons speak your ideaj. Five millions of men with one of the richest countries in the world, and their future rest.-> on something out- side themselves ! Note, in passing, the use of " fio7C'" and '■^ living present.^^ Here is a definition of the sense in which he uses the word national (y^ 7).- — " It is to such men Canada, looks for sympathy and assistance in the national work in which she is now engaged ; for that work may well be called national which consists in developing the resources of an itnportant depend- ency with no other or higher aspirations than to strengthen and draw closer, if possible, the bonds in connection between tlie parent State and the Do- minion." Now this is very like saying- that that force may well be called cen- trifugal which is inten.sely centripetal. What the writer means it is hard to say. All that is certain is that he cannot blow hot and cold, and that if he talks sense when he talks iniperialisvi, he must talk nonsense when he talks nationalism and vice versa. Mr. Bourinot is Honorary Secretary to the Royal Society of Canada. This Society it appears is divided into sections, and one of the sections is consecrated to literature. I suppose it is as a " literary man"> that Mr. Bourinot is connected with this Society. Nothing could more clearly show the absurdity of a Society for the encouragement of litera- ture than that a dunce should be its first Honorary Secretary. Young Canadians will work hard at College, they will give their days and nights to Addison and Macaulay, fired with the ambition to swim in the same tub with literary small-fry like Mr. Bourinot ! ^ -^.^ A Royal Society of Literature was once established in England. By the munificence of the King it was enabled to offer a prize of one hundred guineas for the best essay in prose, and fifty guineas for the best poem which should be transmitted to it. Did this Society bring forward a single man of genius ? The men who founded it were very 18 i!^! !i« different men from those vho stand as sponsors to the Royal Society of Canada. I make no remarks on the scientific branch of this Society. Scientific attainments may be measured as you would measure a yard of cloth. Not so artistic ability. I make no remarks on the scientific men who are connected with it .s scientific men. Hut I say there is connected with it but four names of any respectability in literature, and the owner of one — a great name — must have allowed it to be used out of complaisance unless he has changed the opinions of a lifetime, and his vigour of thought has begun to decline, and of this last I see no evidence. I allude to Mr. (}oldwin Smith, who is not likely, I think, to take much interest in such an institution. The words which a great man applied to the Royal Society of Literature in England are doubly applicable here in Canada. Mac- caulay, speaking of the founders of the institution, said : " Their motives, I am willing to believe, were laudable." Then he adds : " But I feel, and it is the duty of every literary man to feel, a strong jealousy of their proceedings. Their society can be innocent only ichile it continues to be despicable. Should they ever possess the power to encourage merit, they must also possess the power to depress it. ^Vhich power will be more frequently exercised, let every one who has studied literary history, let every one who has studied human nature declare." Macaulay, having shown that envy and faction insinuate themselves into all communities, but especially into literary academies, points out the chief reason why a literary academy must be a nuisance. The prin- ciples of literary criticism, though ec^ually fixed with those on which scientific men proceed, are not equally recognized. " Men are rarely able to assign a reason for their approbation or dislike on questions of taste ; and therefore they willingly submit to any guide who boldly asserts his claim to superior discernment. It is more difficult to ascer- tain and establish the merits of a poem than the powers of a machine or the benefits of a new remedy. Hence it is in literature, that (Quackery is most easily puffed ana. excellence most easily decried. " Macaulay proceeds : — " In some degree this argument applies to acadcmiea of the fine arts; and it is fully confirmed by all that I have ever heard of that institution which annually disfigures the walls of Somerset House with an acre of spoiled canvas. But a liter^iry tribunal is incomparably more dangerous. Other societies, at least, have no tendency to call forth any opinions on those subjects which most agitate and inflame the minds of men. * • • Literature 19 is and always must, lu! inseparably blemled witli politics ami theology ; it, i:« the great engine which iiKveH the feelings ot the ju-uple on tlie most moment- ous questions. It is tlierelore, impossihie, that anv societ\ can be formed so impartial as to consider the literary character oY an individual abstracted from the opinions wiiicJj iiis writings inculcate. * * * The consi-quen 'es are evident. The honours and censures of this Star Chamber of tiie Muses will be awarded according to tlie pn-judices of tiie particuilar sect or taction which may at the time predominate. Wliigs would canvas against a Koutiiey, Tories against a Byron. Those who might at first protest against such conduct as unjust would soon adopt it on the plea of retaliation ; i.'ul the general gooii of literature, for which the Soci< ty was professedly instituted, \v.,.uld be forgotten m the stronger claims of political and religious partiality," How true ! But if true in J:ngland where party feeling is com- paratively mild, how much more cogent is it here where party feeling pervades everything, and is so strong and bitter ? Is it not a fact that some of the men who appeared as the first members of this Royal Society of Canada canvassed themselves into it ? Is it not a fact that men complained to politicians that they were likely to be left out, that thereupon the politicians represented the matter in a certain quarter, and the complainants were duly enrolled as members of this right royal and right honourable body ? ' ' But let us hear Macaulay farther : — . f, " Yet even this is not the worst. ShouM the institution ever acquire any mfluence it will afford most p-niicious fficilities to everv malignant coward loho man desire to blast a reputation which he envies. It'w'iU fuinish a secure ambuscade behind which the Maroons of literature may take a certain and