ARTHUR BTTIES. THE FREffCH-CANADIAN PRESS AND THE IMPROVEMENTS OF QUEBEC. Lecture delivered in the Victoria Hally on the 20th September 1875. QUEBEC: C. DARVEAU, PRINTER AND PUBLISHER, No. 8, Monntaiu Hil!. '■--:■ •^-^-■^^-^;-". ..^■■ 1675. /^/V ^ ^/ 7 280162 i. i •'","; '■' Gentlemen, ■■"^\, ■' ^^'■■-■r A few weeks ago, on the 1st of August last, there was held in Paris a very remarkable meeting of special delegates come from every quarter of the globe. This meeting was called the International Congress of Geographical Sciences. In reference to this meeting the " Opinion Publique" of Montreal had the following ironical remarks : " It must be admitted that it is hard to conceive how a country like Canada, with an area of five^millions of square miles, the extent of which exceeds that of the United States (the Alaska Territory included) by thousands of square miles, inferior to that of Europe by three hundred and some odd miles only, how, we repeat-, could such a country be overlooked at an International Congress of Geogra- phical Sciences. " Well, gentloncen I this fact that seemed so unlikely to hap- pen has been nevertheless accomplished with the greatest facility. Abstention is always the easiest thing in the world, and had it not been for the friendly zeal of M. Farrenc, an admirer of our country, this immense pirtion of our continent, extending from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and bearing in frenoh the pretentious name of Puissance, would — 4 — probably never have been oven mentioned at the Geogra- phical Congress. After having determined, by a lucid and methodical demonstration, the great divisions of our territory, and after exposing them, assuredly in a now light, M. Farreno concludes thus: " I docjily regret that a country whose material develop- ment is already so far advanced, and which has now entered the lists to contend for the palm of superiority with the-other nations of North America, should possess a knowledge of its physical constitution so inadequate to its importance. It is to be hoped that the Canadian people will do their utmost to fill up this void. Should they attend the Geo- graphical Congress, they will find men eager to be en- lightened on tueir country. They will then be enabled to clear up all false conjectures." " This expectation " " says the * Opinion Publique * must have been shared by a great portion of the popula- tion, for nothing less could have been looked for. Canada abstaining from attending the International Geographical Congress reminds one of a trial being called and no lawyer appearing for one of the parties." ,, . ,.•, ,; ., r ^ To this appeal niude to all the nations of the world C«inad-i aloao wis d.^.f. Some time previous to this, a similar congress was held at Nancy. The object of this latter congress was to co'.loct all the documents possible that could throw any light on the history of America before her discovery by Columbus. Such a history most assuredly deserves to be known, for there has been found on this soil, which prejudice still calls virgin, traces of the remotest antiquity and the most advanced civilization. Again on this occasion Canada was missing ; she seemed to ignore Qveu her owa existence on the face of our planet. Must W uonoluJe that there was not one single man through- out our vast country capable and fit to appear before a scientific congress, or, if such a man existed, that our gov- ernment did not even dream of trusting him with the mission ? While foreign news papers reported on the sittings of these two congresses, our Canadian press was as silent as it is generally busy in re-echoing the balderdash which torture a serious mind and diverts it from objects worthy of attention. The world is full of events, pregnant questions are brought up, facts of the highest importance are discussed, and all this does not seem to concern us in the least. If we do obtain an indefinite and doubtful notion of what is going on, it is from foreign reproductions flowing in- variably from the same sources, and chosen from among the same and unique order of ideas. It is next to forbidden to make a step outside of the usual local sphere, and it is from this stand-point we see every thing that happens in the world. Is there any thing at all outside of the Province of Quebec ? Yes, since we hear a vague noise, a vast murmuring that falls upon the ear without bringing any thing to the mind, like the lonely traveller in the forest, who hears the far-off voice of the ocean revealing an exterior world, which he can neither see nor comprehend. Cast your eye round the professional circle. There are lawyers, doctors, notaries, priests and surveyors. These are what we call liberal professions. But there is another pro- fession called journalism, so vast that it embraces all the others in its mighty grasp, a profession whose followers must be acquainted with at lea&t the elements of all human sciences. This career suited for apostles only, a mission of such high importance that those who enter upon it must be armed to the teeth, to meet the straggles of the mind and the exercise of the language which speaks to all men, whose object is the intellect of every man, whoso- — 6 — ever he may bo, socking above all to satiufy the uiost noble yearning of man, his avidity for knowledge ; tribunal extending its protecting arms over all mankind and holding them over open even to the humblest member of society in his appeals against any abuses or ill-workings of our institutions, our society or our laws ; sanctum whose doors should be open only to men of the highest order, blending superior talent and acquirements with an un- impeachable character, and endowed with a consoienoe that knows no weakness ; career of the most sacred calling, demanding a preparatory noviciate and consecration to authorize its practise , well, that very career, gentle- men, is with us but a pitiful refuge for intellectual abor- tions and barren fruits of all kinds. Gentlemen, the spectacle offered by the French Canadian press is probably the most painful and humiliating one can witness. With very few exceptions which I shall not mention, but that are well known to every body here present, which of our newspapers is fit to be placed before a foreigner, and who could have courage enough, with such a journal in hand, to proclaim himself a French Canadian in any other country but our own ? If on questions of science, history, literature or art, our journalists must appeal to foreign productions, what does the press of other countries borrow from ours in return ? It may happen that our press be called upon for some trifling information, but never for any- thing like a criterion in style or thought. If the low say- ings and fishmonger-like invectives which constitute the daily food of our press, were seasoned and dressed up in any definite form, or expressed in anything that could be called a language, of course it would not, it could not be a compensation for what we receive, but it would at least afford soint consolation to tlioso who arc better able to judge. But the most abusive vulgarities and overwheliiiiiig. stupidity are brouglit before the public dressed up in utter ignorance of language and the most lamentable want of breeding. The lowest and most selfish passions use our French Canadian press as a weapo;i and hold it under absolute Bway. Envy, calumny, and persecution under every form, have made it their throne, from which they appeal to the most violent and wretched instincts. The moral standard of the public mind and the true state of things are every day traduced and misrepresented by our journals, I was about to say by our journalists, but of these there are none, except a few odd ones whom I would be happy to mention, but the silence in which I would, for charity's sake, bury the others, would bo like a tombstone over a grave bearing the would-be -forgotten name of its inhabitant. Of all professionp that of the journalist requires the most refinement in its follower, because in polemics as in censures, dignity of language should never be forgotten. Its study should therefore be long and laborious, since it is not limited to any speciality, but embraces thorn all. It supposes a thorough knowledge of the world, an observing mind, an education of the highest order, together with a most varied stock of knowledge. And notwithstanding all this, the first fool you meet, devoid of all good-breeding and edu- cation, nay the very brat just fresh from the college benches, thinkr^ that all he has to do is to take up a pen and become an editor, just as if one became a writer by the same process that the errand boy becomes a bar-tender. Is literature an art, or is it merely a stepping stone within the reach of all ? — 8 — Are there any fixed laws by which languages are governed in order to prevent the sapping of at least the fundamental rules on which they are constructed, or is it left to each individual to chose his own language and to express it in no matter what words ? Is the first condition to be a writer a thorough knowledge of the art he professes, or a presumptious and unscrupulous imposition on the public ? Let me ask any editor if he would dare cut out a statue, while in utter ignorance of the art of sculpting ? Of course, he would not ; well then ! how dare he take up a pen, while ignorant of the first elements of the language ho uses in writing I what excuse has he for such encroachments ? what right has he to step into this arena of discussion where every effort of the mind is followed by a flash of scientific light, ins; ead of being a field of butchery where the club is the only weapon known ? Every journalist is a soldier ; but is a soldier a butcher ? The editor being the militant man par excellence, his pen should be ever ready for action ; but who ever saw a soldier face the enemy and not knowing the use of his weapon ? Since when are the cham- pions of the mind allowed to march in the ranks of st^ eet bullies with no other projectiles but the vocabulary got up on the carter's stand ? The journalist must be prepared for struggles of every kind J arguments, not ruflSanism, should be always at his command to maintain an opinion; criticism, the most dangerous and difficult weapon perhaps the editor has to handle, must also be weilded with independance and know- ledge over the works of the mind, +,he only alternative left the writer to form and to express opinions of his own in this country. But where are the critics, where are the newspapers containing articles of this kind wherein can be traced the foot- prints of thought and of study ? Every thing is brought down to a common level, and the author of a master-piece will — 9— ■ . . receive just the same measure of laudations as an author who has given birth to some monstrous produotion. With us, criticism has been fettered by difficulties indeed too dan- gerous to face, and as for independanoe, we shall never enjoy it so long as our press itself be muzzled where the productions of the mind are concerned. The greatest mis- fortune perhaps for journalism in this country is that it cannot express a free opinion without being at once taxed with heresy by a mob of ignorant and presumptious scrib- blers who impose themselves even on our clergy, become their substitutes in action, strip them of their legitimate authority, dictate to them what they have to do, thunder out anathemas, look upon each othei as personifying the whole church, and would even enter the Vatican to silence the pope himself. Such is the foe the independant critic has to contend with. On the other hand, if such criticism be severe, its author will be taxed with professional j ealousy, and if it is blind flattery, it will fall into the common sphere of stereo- typed appreciations which may be read every day on the third page of the first newspaper you "take up. What then is the true literary man to do in presence of such a state of things ? What is left for him who, though he may lack in talents, has at least the religion of art, and an enthousiastio respect for the high mission they are called up- on to fulfill ? — Nothing but disgust and despair. Where is the use, will he say, of devoting one's labour to the culture of an art that is not even acknowledged ? And still, this same art is the most indispensable of all j for without litera- ture, what would we know, gentlemen, what would we be ? What would become of all the discoveries and the numer- ous and important steps made by progress, w.ere it not for witers who introduce and explain them to the world? Do you think, gentlemen, that it is a matter of indifference in what words even truth should be dressed to be presented to the — lO — public ? All the great thinkers, all the profound philoso- phers, such as Pascal, Bacon, Leibnitz, Descartes, Arago, Herschell, Cuvier, all the sublime discoverers, who were at the same time great writers, will tell you how slow would have been the work of progress, had not the truth that flashed like lighting from their minds also communicated its fire to the language in which they wrote. Yes, the true literary soul makes the human mind his religion and wor- ships the art of expressing its workings. He erects his alter in the sunny region of the ideal, that region to which man should now and then take his flight as a refuge against the gloomy prison the material world raises around him. ■'' But the subject to be treated here is not the pure domain of letters, that sphere so lofty that he who'soars therein can hardly look down on our earth without contempt. No, it is the light, easy, current and popular literature of the day, which nevertheless has its rights and its laws. The first of these rights is to exclude from its sanctum all intruders, conceited cynics and mnsters-long-ears, who deem themselves capable of everything, doubting nothing, and who, making no difference between a pen and a mattock, seize the former as if about to strike, ignorant of the manner to weild it for writing. Gentlemen, which of you has not seen within the last few years spring up a number of various publications) newspapers, reviews, pamphlets and even volumes, (oh 1 I strike my breast) heaps of nothings and of common places, paraded in an outlandish style, day-lifed productions, foreseen abortions, unsightly mass we would in vain tear asunder to find one single idea. The public however is compelled to acknowledge such births, but is almost invariably unaware of the death of these dwarfish produc- tions. Why then are these publications still-born ? or if the live, what do they live on ? By what mysterioug trans- , — n — formation does this prolonged imposition assume the name of existence ? The cause, alas 1 must be told. The state of things in this respect is such to day as to constitute in itself the most painful of humiliations for French Canadians. One might be led to believe that our press is a true and faithful thermometer of the moral and educational standard of a whole race. It is therefore the duty of every writer, weilding an independant pen, to no longer overlook that baleful sore extending broadcast and unchecked, but to expose it unflinchingly in order to measure how far and how deep have been its inroads. if* In every country, gentlemen, each individual may be oonsidere 1 as participating in the doings around him, and must therefore shoulder his share of the responsibility attached thereto. Should any evil or want, and conse- quently any necessary reform come to his knowledge, it is his bounden duty to denounce it and if possible to point out the remedy, er at least not to murse the evil by sparing words, but drag it as a culprit before the public and stig- matize it as it deserves. What has brought the French Canadian press to such a low standard ? why has it so little weight and why are such repulsive things to be found therein, along with such scanty food for the mind ? It is that our national educa- tion is defective, I mean that it does not meet the wants of the modern world ncr the new social conditions laid down by the progress of science, but above all, that it is blind to the now glaring truth that science instead of being a luxury as heretofore, has to-day become an absolute necessity. Science now*a-days, gentlemen, re- ceives a constant and universal application. The scholar oan no longer look himself up in his study, holding communication with the exterior world only by a few of the elect, thus keeping science in a state of theore- tical bondage ; he must come out before the public to offer them a share of ihe fruits of his labours, and submit his discoveries to the test. Matter seizes upon every new disooveryjof the mind, andjputs it immediately into practice; the savant looks no more on things in a merely ideal point of view. In all his discoveries, great and small, his solo object is the general weal, the perfection of methods as well as instruments and the precuring to commerce, in- dustry and international communications, all the possible means of increase and progress. In fact, gentlemen, there are no more abstract sciences — to-day they are all practical. We are surrounded on all sides by science and every day we can witness its numerous applications; the modern world is constantlyjappealing to it for new experiments and further developrtaents. In every other country it is the first subject with governments and educational institutions ; to neglect it would be to remain perfect strangers to our own actual wants, and nevertheless, in this country science is not only neglected, but overlooked and treated with the utmost indifference. Where are our chairs and professors of history, that science which criticism and mo- dern discoveries have stripped of its old legends and the childish fictions which seem to have formed the main part of its foundation in days gone by ? Without going so far, let me ask if our classical institutions provide the student with any valuable notions of geography and history ? And no one can deny, gentlemen, that geography is one of the most indispensable studies for any one connected with the press. The numerous international communications and the discoveries that are being made every day place it foremost among the sciences ; the journalist draws upon it for his telegraphic despatches, for his foreign news, and in fact for every current question of the day ; its knowledge would prevent those blunders that every day disgrace the columns of our newspapers and would very often save the map of the world from many ignorant and unconcious sub- versions. We must not be astonished then if neither the local nor federal government has been able to find a man fit to represent our countvy at the Geographical Congress I mentioned before] doubtless neither ever gave the matter a single thought or weighed the value or importance of a geographical question. I should perhaps make exception for the Hon. M. Letellier de St. Just, who has just returned from an exploration in the North West. It is true that certain busy and malicious tongues are en- deavouring to take away from the merit of his trip by insinuating that his sole object was the discovery of a new family situation for some nephew or cousin who might have strayed away in those vast wildernesses, beyond the reaeh of his fatherly department. *" It is Geography, gentlemen, that noble science, which, at the opening of the Congress I above alluded to, elicited the following from its president admiral de la Roneicire : " A thorough study and the scientific conquest of our planet has been cut out for us by Providence as a task. This supreme order is one of the imperative duties presciibod to our minds and our enterprise. Geography, which has inspired such sublime abnegation and can reckon so many noble victims, has become the philosophy of the earth. " However different may be our origin and our tendencies we all agree in acknowledging the numerous necessities of life with which geography is closely linked, both theoretically and practically." Well, gentlemen, to come back to what I was saying just now, and to go even still further, I would ask you if the knowledge of the french and english languages ia not the most keenly-felt want amongst us. Nevertheless, with this self evident fact staring us in the face, during tte twelve years I have been conn'jcted with tho press, I have not yet found a single young man from our colleges ohle to translate even a telegraphic dispatch without making the most unpardonable blunders both in geography and history, proving thereby the absence of the most elementary education in these branches ; and as to abstract sciences, every one must admit that with tho exception of medicine, which has its special courses, Canada has not yet produced a single man worth notice, except perhaps a few individualities, amongst whom we might mention Mr. Baillarg^, who is obliged to give private lessons in mathematics, the Government deeming it un- worthy to offer him a professorship or being too busily engaged in protecting itself against impious electors who are not afraid of offending God, according to the never- to-be-forgotten words of one of the grandest Vicars as he is also one of the greatest geniuses of Canada. (1) This question, gentlemen, must be raised to its proper level; it is of the highest importance to our race, if we do not wish to be taunted with our inferiority as to the other elements that compose the population of Canada. True pat- riotism does not consist in deluding or cramming each other with compliments. When the evil is extreme and the remedy insufficient, it consists in boldly and bluntly telling the truth. I therefore maintain and affirm that if our system of education be not entirely changed, that is, if it be not modernized, in ten years hence, the line of demarcation between us and the Anglo-Saxons will be clearly drawn, leaving us of course, in the back-ground. Our press, gentlemen, presents a daily spectacle of the most humiliating and shameful nature ; with us the title (1) Qrand Vioar Langevin, of Rimouski, stated during the last electoral oampaign,];that an elector ooald not vote for a liberal oandidato Withent offeadiog Qod. ■ —15- of journalist seems to carry with it an utter disregard for honesty, decency and good breeding ; the most outragioua and barbarous personalities, vulgarities that would shock the suburbian prowler constitute the daily food of our news- papers ; and to all these let us add a want of charity, which is peculiarly remarkable, when, from the tone and mein our journals put on or claim as theirs, charity should be ex- pressly evangelical, I do not say catholic, for that is now almost among the impossibilities, since it appears, gentle- men, that there are only five catholics left in all Lower Canada, hardly enough to save Gomorrh, but most certainly not enough to save a whole province. Hideous scenes are often witnessed ; the death bed itself is no more sacred, the last breath of the dying man is too slow for the ferocious impatience of a certain press. Bare- faced and aggressive, it enters the chamber respected by death itself. Even on the suffering pillow of a man who is beloved and esteemed by all, it makes the savage inven- tory of a political succession under the pretence of previ- sions and combinations, as if such words could deceive the reader, as if the croaking of the raven could bear another name.^ Is that the spectacle offered by the english press ? Docs it lend itself to such revolting doings ? Oh ! no, in the en- glish newspapers there is something to learn, there is something to develop the intellect. Quite the contrary is to be found in ours. Of course there are exceptions, but do you think that if the majority of our editors were pos- sessed, first of that sound education which constitutes the gentleman, together with a serious learning, they would not be the first to blush at the language they use, 1 Allusion to the speculations made by a conservative newspaper in prevision of the •leath of the Hon. Mr. Qooffrion, a federal minister. V- a.'' — i6 — and at the wretched pictures to which they draw the public attention ? Do you think that if they were able to treat and discuss the great issues of the day, they would not do away with the low nonsense they lay before us ? The mind adorned with a serious and general education prizes it too highly to give itself up for any length of time to balderdash and silliness ; unconsciously, and as a consequence of its training, it raises all ques* tions to their natural level and is utterly inaccessible to personalities ; our press, on the contrary, far from regula- ting the public taste and opinion, follows both blindly ; it plays no part, but merely becomes noisy, the sole resort of impotency. , From all this, gentlemen, you have come with me to the conclusion that to be an editor requires a solid and exten- sive study, which is not to be found in our country ; it re- quires also that social education which constitutes the gen- tleman and the indispensable counterpart of men whose utterings are generally fraught with uncommon responsa- bility. Gentlemen, you must have all noticed that this year, our good old city of Quebec has shaken herself up ; it is true that in doing so she has raised a dust, which is nothing but natural, just like an old coat we take down to brush after it has been hanging up in the garret for a long time. But since improvements are now our hobby, and that we seem to ride it on the road of progress almost to death, I will be allowed, I hope, to make a few of our every-day observa- tions ; they are not my own therefore, and I only claim the credit of making them public. Gentlemen, I who have the honor of addressing you this evening, have made about three thousand miles in — 17 — Quebec and its environs, and nond of those who have seen me walking will deny my assertion ; it is even on this fact that some very good physiciaus have assured mo of the soundness of my legs well! notwithstanding all my walking and the thirty six years that will soon have passed over my head, there is one thing I could never get used to. It is this series of circle? which, like conoentrical circles, become narrower and narrower around us until we reach the very heart of the city. No more than two years ago the gates were still standing : to day thoy are thrown down. Peace to their ashes 1 St. John's Gate alone has been rebuilt for the consideration of therty five thousand dollars, and w