JOURNALISM.
In the development of Canadian intellect the newspaper press has had a
very large influence during the past half-century and more. What the
pulpit has done for the moral education of the people, the press has
accomplished for their general culture when schools were few and very
inferior, and books were rarely seen throughout the country. When the
political rights of the people were the subject of earnest controversy
in the Legislatures of the Provinces the press enabled all classes to
discuss public questions with more or less knowledge, and gave a decided
intellectual stimulus, which had a valuable effect in a young isolated
country like Canada. In the days of the French _regime_ there was not a
single printing press in Canada, though the _News Letter_ was published
in Boston as early as 1704. [Footnote: The first printing press in
America wag set up at Cambridge, in the ninth year of the Charter
Government (1639); the first document printed was the 'Freeman's Oath,'
then an almanack, and next the Psalms.--2 Palgrave, 45. In 1740, there
were no less than eleven journals--only of foolscap size,
however--published in the English Colonies.] It is generally claimed
that the first newspaper in Canada, was the Quebec _Gazette_, which was
published in 1764, by Brown & Gilmour, formerly Philadelphia printers,
with a subscription list of only one hundred and fifty names. The first
issue appeared on the 21st June, printed on four folio pages of 18 by 12
inches, each containing two columns of small type. The first article was
the prospectus in larger type, in which the promoters promised to pay
particular attention 'to the refined amusements of literature and the
pleasant veins of well-pointed wit; interspersed with chosen pieces of
curious essays, extracted from the most celebrated authors, blending
philosophy with politics, history, &c.' The conductors also pledged
themselves to give no place in the paper to 'party prejudices and
private scandal'--a pledge better kept than such promises are generally.
There was a very slender allowance of news from Riga, St. Petersburg,
London, New York and Philadelphia; but there was one ominous item, that
Parliament was about imposing taxes on the Colonies, though they were
without representation in that Parliament. The latest English news was
to the 11th April; the latest American to the 7th May. Only two
advertisements appeared--one of a general store, of dry goods,
groceries, hardware, all the _olla podrida_ necessary in those days; the
other from the Honourable Commissioner of Customs, warning the public
against making compositions for duties under the Imperial Act. This
sheet, for some years, had no influence on public opinion; for it
continued to be a mere bald summary of news, without comment on
political events. Indeed, when it was first issued, the time was
unfavourable for political discussion, as Quebec had only just become an
English possession, and the whole country was lying torpid under the
military administration of General Murray. It is, however, a fact not
very generally known even yet, except to a few antiquarians, that there
was a small sheet published in British America, called the Halifax
_Gazette_ [Footnote: In a letter of Secretary Cotterell, written in
1754, to Captain Floyer, at Piziquid (Windsor), he refers to M. Dandin,
a priest in one of the Acadian settlements: 'If he chooses to play _bel
esprit_ in the Halifax _Gazette_, he may communicate his matter to the
printer as soon as he pleases, as he will not print it without showing
it to me.--See Murdoch's History of Nova Scotia, vol. 2, p. 234] just
twelve years before the appearance of the Quebec paper. From 1769 we
commence to find regular mention of the Nova Scotia _Gazette and Weekly
Chronicle_, published on Sackville Street by A. Fleury, who also printed
the first Almanac in Canada, in 1774. One of the first newspapers
published in the Maritime Provinces was the _Royal Gazette and New
Brunswick Advertiser_, which appeared in 1785 in St. John, just founded
by the American Loyalists. The first paper appeared in Upper Canada on
the establishment of Parliamentary Government, and was published by
Louis Roy, at Newark, on the 18th April, 1793, under the title of _The
Upper Canada Gazette, or the American Oracle_. The sheet was in folio,
15 by 9-1/2 inches, of coarse, but durable paper--not a characteristic,
certainly, of our great newspapers now-a-days, of which the material is
very flimsy; the impression was fairly executed; the price was three
dollars a year. In 1794, the form was changed to a quarto, and one
Tiffany had become the proprietor. When the _Gazette_ was removed to
York, in 1800, with all the Government offices, the Messrs. Tiffany
started the _Constellation_, which, Dr. Scadding tells us, illustrated
the jealousy which the people of the Niagara district felt at seeing
York suddenly assume so much importance; for one of the writers
ironically proposes a 'Stump Act' for the ambitious, though muddy,
unkempt little town, 'so that the people in the space of a few months,
may relapse into intoxication with impunity, and stagger home at any
hour of the night without encountering the dreadful apprehension of
broken necks.'
The _Constellation_ only lived a year or two, and then gave way to the
_Herald_ and other papers at subsequent dates; and it is an interesting
fact, mentioned by the learned antiquarian of Toronto, that the imposing
stone used by Mr. Tiffany, was in use up to 1870, when the old _Niagara
Mail_, long edited by Mr. W. Kirby, at last ceased publication. The
_Gazette_ and _Oracle_ continued to be published at York by different
printers, and, like other journals in America, often appeared in
variegated colours--blue being the favourite--in consequence of the
scarcity of white paper. The title, _American Oracle_, was dropped from
the heading when Dr. Horne became the publisher, in 1817; it continued
to publish official notices, besides meagre summaries of general news,
and some miscellaneous reading matter.
The second paper in Upper Canada was the _Upper Canada Guardian_ or
_Freeman's Journal_, which was edited and printed by Joseph Willcox, who
fell under the ban of the Lieutenant Governor, for his Liberal opinions.
It was printed in 1807, and exercised much influence for a time as an
organ of the struggling Liberal party. Like others, in those days of
political bitterness, its editor was imprisoned, ostensibly for a breach
of parliamentary privilege, though in reality as a punishment for
presuming to differ from the governing party; but, able man as he
undoubtedly was, he marred his career by an infamous desertion to the
Americans during the war of 1812, before the expiration of which he was
killed. The first newspaper in Kingston, the third in the province, was
the _Gazette_, founded in 1810, by Stephen Miles, who afterwards became
a minister of the Methodist denomination, and also printed the Grenville
_Gazette_, the first journal in the old town of Prescott. [Footnote:
Morgan's 'Bibliotheca Canadensis,' Art. Miles.] The first daily paper
published in British North America, appears to have been the _Daily
Advertiser_, which appeared in Montreal, in May, 1833--the _Herald_ and
_Gazette_ being tri-weekly papers at the time. The _Daily Advertiser_
was issued in the interests of the Liberals, under the management of the
Hon. H. S. Chapman, subsequently a judge in New Zealand. One of the
chief inducements held out to subscribers was the regular publication of
full prices current and other commercial information. The _British
Whig_, of Kingston, was the first newspaper that attempted the
experiment of a daily issue in Upper Canada.
It is a noteworthy fact, which can be best mentioned here, that the
first newspaper in Three Rivers was the _Gazette_, published by one
Stobbs, in 1832, more than two centuries after the settlement of that
town, which has always been in the midst of the most thickly settled
district of Lower Canada. At that time, newspapers were rapidly gaining
ground in Upper Canada--districts not so old by months or weeks even as
Three Rivers had years, and with a more scattered population, not
exceeding one-fifth of that of the Three Rivers district, could boast
of, at least, one newspaper. [Footnote: Quebec _Mercury_, 1832.]
In 1827, Mr. Jotham Blanchard, the ancestor of a well-known family of
Liberals in the Lower Provinces, established the first newspaper outside
of Halifax, the _Colonial Patriot_, at Pictou, a flourishing town on the
Straits of Northumberland, chiefly settled by the Scotch.
In 1839, Mr. G. Fenety--now 'Queen's Printer' at Fredericton
--established the _Commercial News_, at St. John, New Brunswick, the
first tri-weekly and penny paper in the Maritime Provinces, which he
conducted for a quarter of a century, until he disposed of it to Mr.
Edward Willis, under whose editorial supervision it has always exercised
considerable influence in the public affairs of the province. The first
daily paper published in the Province of Nova Scotia, was the Halifax
_Morning Post_, appearing in 1845, edited by John H. Crosskill but it
had a brief existence, and tri-weeklies continued to be published for
many years--the old _Colonist_ representing the Conservatives, and the
_Chronicle_ the Liberals, of the province. The senior of the press, in
the Lower Provinces, however, is the _Acadian Recorder_, the first
number of which appeared in 1813.
The only mention I have been able to find of a newspaper in the brief
histories of Prince Edward Island, is of the appearance, in 1823, of the
_Register_, printed and edited by J. D. Haszard, who distinguished
himself at the outset of his career by a libel on one of the Courts
before which he was summoned with legal promptitude--just as printers
are now-a-days in Manitoba--and dismissed with a solemn reprimand, on
condition of revealing the authors of the libel. The remarks of the
Chancellor (who appears to have been also the Governor of the Island),
in dismissing the culprit, are quite unique in their way. 'I
compassionate your youth and inexperience; did I not do so, I would lay
you by the heels long enough for you to remember it. You have delivered
your evidence fairly, plainly and clearly, and as became a man; but I
caution you, when you publish anything again, keep clear, Sir, of a
Chancellor. Beware, Sir, of a Chancellor.' [Footnote: Campbell's Hist,
of P. E. I.] Many other papers were published in later years; the most
prominent being the _Islander_, which appeared in 1842, and continued in
existence for forty-two years. This paper along with the _Examiner_,
edited by the Hon. Edward Whelan, a man of brilliant parts, now dead,
had much influence over political affairs in the little colony.
The history of the newspaper press of British Columbia does not go
beyond twenty-two years. The first attempt at journalistic enterprise
was the Victoria _Gazette_, a daily published in 1858, by two Americans,
who, however, stopped the issue in the following year. The next paper
was the _Courrier de la Nouvelle Caledonie_ printed by one Thornton, an
Anglo-Frenchman, who had travelled all over the world. The somewhat
notorious Marriott, of the San Francisco _News-Letter_, also, in 1859,
published the Vancouver Island _Gazette_, but only for a while. It is a
noteworthy fact, that the Cariboo _Sentinel_--now no longer in
existence--was printed on a press sent out to Mgr. Demers, by the Roman
Catholics of Paris. Even the little settlement of Emory has had its
newspaper, the _Inland Sentinel_. The best known newspaper in the
Pacific Province has always been, since 1858, the _British Colonist_,
owned and edited originally by Hon. Amor de Cosmos, for some time
Premier, and now a well-known member of the House of Commons, who made
his paper a power in the little colony by his enterprise and forcible
expression of opinion. The _Standard_ is also another paper of political
influence, and is published daily, like the _Colonist_. Two papers are
printed in New Westminster, and one in Nanaimo; the total number in the
province being five.
In the previous paragraphs, I have contained myself to the mention of a
few facts in the early history of journalism in each of the Provinces of
Canada. Proceeding now to a more extended review, we find that a few
papers exercised from the outset a very decided influence in political
affairs, and it is to these I propose now to refer, especially, before
coming down to later times of extended political rights and consequent
expansion of newspaper enterprise. The oldest newspaper now in Canada is
the Montreal _Gazette_, which was first published as far back as 1787,
by one Mesplet, in the French language. It ceased publication for a
time, but reappeared about 1794, with Lewis Roy as printer. On the death
of the latter, the establishment was assumed by E. Edwards, at No. 135
St. Paul Street, then the fashionable thoroughfare of the town. It was
only a little affair, about the size of a large foolscap sheet, printed
in small type in the two languages, and containing eight broad columns.
In 1805, the Quebec _Mercury_ was founded by Thomas Gary, a Nova Scotian
lawyer, as an organ of the British inhabitants, who, at that time,
formed a small but comparatively wealthy and influential section of the
community. Mr. Gary was a man of scholarly attainments and a writer of
considerable force. The _Mercury_ had hardly been a year in existence,
when its editor experienced the difficulty of writing freely in those
troublous times, as he had to apologize for a too bold censure of the
action of the dominant party in the Legislature. But this _contretemps_
did not prevent him continuing in that vein of sarcasm of which he was a
master, and evoking, consequently, the ire of the leading Liberals of
those days--Stuart, Vanfelson, Papineau, Viger, and others. One of the
results of his excessive freedom of speech was an attempt to punish him
for a breach of privilege; but he remained concealed in his own house,
where, like the conspirators of old times, he had a secret recess made
for such purposes, and where he continued hurling his philippics against
his adversaries with all that power of invective which would be used by
a conscientious though uncompromising old Tory of those days, when party
excitement ran so high. The Quebec _Gazette_ was at that time, as in its
first years, hardly more than a mere resume of news. [Footnote: From
1783 to 1792, the paper scarcely published a political 'leader,' and so
fearful were printers of offending men in power, that the Montreal
_Gazette_, so late as 1790, would not even indicate the locality in
which a famous political banquet was held, on the occasion of the
formation of a Constitutional Club, the principal object of which was to
spread political knowledge throughout the country. See Garneau II. 197
and 206.] Hon. John Neilson assumed its editorship in 1796, and
continued more or less to influence its columns whilst he remained in
the Lower Canada Legislature. In 1808, Mr. Neilson enlarged the size of
his paper, and published it twice a week, in order to meet the growing
demand for political intelligence. The _Gazette_ was trammelled for
years by the fact that it was semi-official, and the vehicle of public
notifications, but when, subsequently, [Footnote: In 1823, an Official
Gazette was published by Dr. Fisher, Queen's Printer. Canadian
Magazine,' p. 470.] this difficulty no longer existed, the paper, either
under his own or his son's management, was independent, and, on the
whole, moderate in tone whenever it expressed opinions on leading public
questions. Mr. Neilson, from 1818, when he became a member of the
Legislature, exercised a marked influence on the political discussions
of his time, and any review of his career as journalist and politician
would be necessarily a review of the political history of half a
century. A constant friend of the French Canadians, a firm defender of
British connection, never a violent, uncompromising partisan, but a man
of cool judgment, he was generally able to perform good service to his
party and country. As a public writer he was concise and argumentative,
and influential, through the belief that men had in his sincerity and
honesty of purpose.
In 1806, there appeared in Quebec a new organ of public opinion, which
has continued to the present day to exercise much influence on the
politics of Lower Canada. This was the _Canadien_, which was established
in the fall of that year, chiefly through the exertions of Pierre
Bedard, who was for a long while the leader of the French party in the
Legislature, and at the same time chief editor of the new journal, which
at once assumed a strong position as the exponent of the principles with
which its French Canadian conductors were so long identified. It waged a
bitter war against its adversaries, and no doubt had an important share
in shaping the opinions and educating the public mind of the majority in
the province. If it too frequently appealed to national prejudices, and
assumed an uncompromising attitude when counsels of conciliation and
moderation would have been wiser, we must make allowance for the hot
temper of those times, and the hostile antagonism of races and parties,
which the leaders on both sides were too often ready to foment, The
editor of the _Canadien_ was also punished by imprisonment for months,
and the issue of the paper was stopped for a while on the order of Chief
Justice Sewell, in the exciting times of that most arbitrary of military
governors, Sir James Craig. The action of the authorities in this matter
is now admitted to have been tyrannical and unconstitutional, and it is
certainly an illustration of human frailty that this same M. Bedard, who
suffered not a little from the injustice of his political enemies,
should have shown such weakness--or, shall we say, Christian
forbearance--in accepting, not long afterwards, a judgeship from the
same Government which he had always so violently opposed, and from which
he had suffered so much.
Whilst the _Canadien_, _Gazette_, and _Mercury_ were, in Lower Canada,
ably advocating their respective views on the questions of the day, the
Press of Upper Canada was also exhibiting evidences of new vigour. The
_Observer_ was established at York, in 1820, and the _Canadian freeman_
in 1825, the latter, an Opposition paper, well printed, and edited by
Francis Collins who had also suffered at the hands of the ruling powers.
An anecdote is related of the commencement of the journalistic career of
this newspaper man of old times, which is somewhat characteristic of the
feelings which animated the ruling powers of the day with respect to the
mass of people who were not within the sacred pale. When Dr. Home gave
up the publication of the _Gazette_, in whose office Collins had been
for some time a compositor, the latter applied for the position, and was
informed that 'the office would be given to none but a _gentleman_.'
This little incident recalls the quiet satire which Goldsmith levels in
'The Good-natured Man,' against just such absurd sensitiveness as
Collins had to submit to:--
FIRST FELLOW--The Squire has got spunk in him.
SECOND FELLOW--I loves to hear him sing, bekeays he never gives us
nothing that's low.
THIRD FELLOW--O, damn anything that's low; I cannot bear it.
FOURTH FELLOW--The genteel thing is the genteel thing any time, if so
be that a gentleman bees in a concatenation accordingly.
THIRD FELLOW--I likes the maxum of it. Master Muggins. What,
though I am obligated to dance a bear, a man may be a gentleman for all
that. May this be my poison, if my bear ever dances but to the very
genteelest of tunes--'Water Parted,' or 'The Minuet in Ariadne.'
No doubt this little episode made the disappointed applicant inveterate
against the Government, for he commenced, soon afterwards, the
publication of an Opposition paper, in which be exhibited the rude
ability of an unpolished and half-educated man. [Footnote: C. Lindsey's
'Life of W. Lyon Mackenzie,' Vol. I., p. 112, note.]
Mr. W. Lyon Mackenzie appeared as a journalist for the first time in
1824, at Queenston, where he published the Colonial _Advocate_, on the
model of Cobbett's _Register_, containing 32 pages, a form afterwards
changed to the broad sheet. From the first it illustrated the original
and eccentric talent of its independent founder. Italics and capitals,
index hands and other typographic symbols, were scattered about with
remarkable profusion, to give additional force and notoriety to the
editorial remarks which were found on every page, according as the whim
and inspiration of the editor dictated. The establishment of the paper
was undoubtedly a bold attempt at a time when the province was but
sparsely settled, and the circulation necessarily limited by the rarity
of post-offices even in the more thickly-populated districts, and by the
exorbitant rates of postage which amounted to eight hundred dollars
a-year on a thousand copies. More than that, any independent expression
of opinion was sure to evoke the ire of the orthodox in politics and
religion, which in those days were somewhat closely connected. The
_Advocate_ was soon removed to York, and became from that time a
political power, which ever and anon excited the wrath of the leaders of
the opposite party, who induced some of their followers at last to throw
the press and type of the obnoxious journal into the Bay, while they
themselves, following the famous Wilkes' precedent, expelled Mackenzie
from the legislature, and in defiance of constitutional law, declared
him time and again ineligible to sit in the Assembly. The despotic acts
of the reigning party, however, had the effect of awakening the masses
to the necessity of supporting Mr. Mackenzie, and made him eventually a
prominent figure in the politics of those disturbed times. The
_Advocate_ changed its name, a short time previous to 1837, to the
_Constitution_, and then disappeared in the troublous days that ended
with the flight of its indiscreet though honest editor. Contemporaneous
with the _Advocate_ were the _Loyalist_, the _Courier_, and the
_Patriot_--the latter having first appeared at York in 1833. These three
journals were Conservative, or rather Tory organs, and were controlled
by Mr. Fothergill, Mr. Gurnett, and Mr. Dalton. Mr. Gurnett was for
years after the Union the Police Magistrate of Toronto, while his old
antagonist was a member of the Legislature, and the editor of the
_Message_, a curiosity in political literature. Mr. Thomas Dalton was a
very zealous advocate of British connection, and was one of the first
Colonial writers to urge a Confederation of the Provinces; and if his
zeal frequently carried him into the intemperate discussion of public
questions the ardour of the times must be for him, as for his able,
unselfish opponent, Mr. Mackenzie, the best apology.
Mrs. Jameson, who was by no means inclined to view Canadian affairs with
a favourable eye, informs us that in 1836 there were some forty papers
published in Upper Canada; of these, three were religious, namely, the
_Christian Guardian_, the _Wesleyan Advocate_, and the _Church_. A paper
in the German language was published at Berlin, in the Gore Settlement,
for the use of the German settlers. Lower Canadian and American
newspapers were also circulated in great numbers. She deprecates the
abusive, narrow tone of the local papers, but at the same time admits--a
valuable admission from one far from prepossessed in favour of
Canadians--that, on the whole, the press did good in the absence and
scarcity of books. In some of the provincial papers she 'had seen
articles written with considerable talent;' among other things, 'a
series of letters, signed Evans, on the subject of an education fitted
for an agricultural people, and written with infinite good sense and
kindly feeling.' At this time the number of newspapers circulated
through the post-office in Upper Canada, and paying postage, was:
Provincial papers, 178,065; United States and other foreign papers,
149,502. Adding 100,000 papers stamped, or free, there were some 427,567
papers circulated yearly among a population of 370,000, 'of whom perhaps
one in fifty could read.' The narrow-mindedness of the country journals
generally would probably strike an English _litterateur_ like Mrs.
Jameson with much force; little else was to be expected in a country,
situated as Canada was then, with a small population, no generally
diffused education, and imperfect facilities of communication with the
great world beyond. In this comparatively isolated position, journalists
might too often mistake
'The rustic murmur of their burgh
For the great wave that echoes round the world.'
Yet despite its defects, the journalism of Upper Canada was confessedly
doing an important work in those backward days of Canadian development.
The intelligence of the country would have been at a much lower ebb,
without the dissemination of the press throughout the rural districts.
Whilst the journalists already named were contending in Upper Canada
with fierce zeal for their respective parties, new names had appeared in
the press of the other provinces. The _Canadien_ was edited for years by
M. Etienne Parent, except during its temporary suspension, from 1825 to
1831. His bold expression of opinion on the questions that forced a
small party of his countrymen into an ill-advised rebellion sent him at
last to prison; but, like others of his contemporaries, he eventually in
more peaceful times received a recompense for his services by
appointments in the public service, and died at last of a ripe old age a
few months after his retirement from the Assistant-Secretaryship of
State for the Dominion. In his hands the _Canadien_ continued to wield
great power among his compatriots, who have never failed to respect him
as one of the ablest journalists their country has produced. His
writings have not a little historical value, having been, in all cases
where his feelings were not too deeply involved, characterized by
breadth of view and critical acumen.
Whilst Gary, Neilson, Mackenzie, Parent, Dalton and Gurnett were the
prominent journalists of the larger provinces, where politics were
always at a fever heat, a young journalist first appeared in the
Maritime Colonies, who was thenceforth to be a very prominent figure in
the political contests of his native province. In 1827, Joseph Howe,
whose family came of that sturdy, intelligent New England stock which
has produced many men and women of great intellectual vigour, and who
had been from an early age, like Franklin, brought up within the
precincts of a printing office, bought out the _Weekly Chronicle_, of
Halifax, and, changing its name to the _Acadian_, commenced his career
as a public writer. Referring to the file of the _Acadian_, we see
little to indicate unusual talent. It contains some lively sketches of
natural scenery, some indifferent poetry, and a few common-place
editorial contributions. A few months later he severed his connection
with the _Acadian_ and purchased the _Nova Scotian_ from Mr. G. R.
Young, the brother of the present Chief-Justice, a man of large
knowledge and fine intellect. It was a courageous undertaking for so
young a man, as he was only 24 years of age when he assumed the control
of so prominent a paper; but the rulers of the dominant official party
soon found in him a vigorous opponent and a zealous advocate of Liberal
opinions. It is a noteworthy fact that Mr. Howe, like Mr. Mackenzie in
Upper Canada, made himself famous at the outset of his career by
pleading on his own behalf in a case of libel. Mr. Mackenzie had been
prosecuted for an alleged libel circulated during a political contest
with Mr. Small, and defended his own cause so successfully that the jury
gave him a verdict; and they are even said, according to Mr. Lindsey's
'Life of Mr. Mackenzie,' to have debated among themselves whether it was
not competent for them to award damages to the defendant for the
annoyance of a frivolous prosecution. Mr. Howe's debut as an advocate
was in connection with a matter of much graver importance. He had the
courage, at a time when there existed many abuses apparently without
hope of redress, to attack the Halifax Bench of Magistrates, little
autocrats in their way, a sort of Venetian Council, and the consequence
was a criminal indictment for libel. He determined to get up his own
case, and, after several days' close study of authorities, he went to
the jury in the Old Court Room, now turned into the Legislative Library,
and succeeded in obtaining a glorious acquittal and no small amount of
popular applause for his moral courage on this memorable occasion. The
subsequent history of his career justified the confidence which his
friends thenceforth reposed in him. His indefatigable industry, added to
his great love of the masters of English literature, soon gave vigour
and grace to his style, whilst his natural independence of spirit that
could little brook control in any shape, and his innate hatred of
political despotism, soon led him to attack boldly the political abuses
of the day. The history of Joseph Howe from that day was a history of
the triumph of Liberal principles and of responsible government in Nova
Scotia. As a versatile writer, he has had no superior in Canada, for he
brought to the political controversies of his time the aid of powerful
invective and cutting satire; whilst, on occasions when party strife was
hushed, he could exhibit all the evidences of his cultivated intellect
and sprightly humour.
The new era of Canadian journalism commenced with the settlement of the
political difficulties which so long disturbed the provinces, and with
the concession of responsible government, which gave a wider range to
the intellect of public writers. The leading papers, in 1840, were the
Montreal _Gazette_, the Montreal _Herald_, the _Canadien_, the Quebec
_Gazette_, the Quebec _Mercury_, in Lower Canada; the _British
Colonist_, _British Whig_, and _Examiner_, in Upper Canada; the _Nova
Scotian_ and _Acadian Recorder_, in Nova Scotia; the _News_, in New
Brunswick. The _Colonist_ was founded at Toronto, in 1838, by Hugh
Scobie, under the name of the _Scotsman_--changed to the former title in
the third number--and from the outset took a high position as an
independent organ of the Conservative party. The copy of the first
number, before me, is quite an improvement on the _Gazette_ and
_Mercury_ of Quebec, as published in the early part of the century. It
contains some twenty-four columns, on a sheet about as large as the
Ottawa _Free Press_. It contains several short editorials, a resume of
news, and terse legislative reports. Among the advertisements is one of
the New York _Albion_, which, for so many years, afforded an
intellectual treat to the people of all the provinces; for it was in its
columns they were able to read the best productions of Marryatt and
other English authors, not easily procurable in those early times;
besides being annually presented with engravings of merit--a decided
improvement on the modern chromo--from the paintings of eminent artists;
engravings which are still to be seen in thousands of Canadian homes,
and which, in their way, helped to cultivate taste among the masses, by
whom good pictures of that class could not be easily procured.
_The Examiner_ was started at Toronto, on the appointment of Lord Durham
to the Government of Canada, as an organ of the Liberal party, by Mr.
Francis Hincks, a young Irishman, who, from his first arrival in Canada,
attracted attention as a financier and a journalist. _The Examiner_,
however, had not a long existence, for Sir Francis Hincks--we give him
his later title, won after years of useful public service as journalist
and statesman--proceeded, in 1843, to Montreal, where he established the
_Pilot_, which had much influence as an organ of the party led by
Baldwin and Lafontaine. In 1844, a young Scotchman, Mr. George Brown,
began to be a power in the politics of the Canadian Provinces. He was
first connected with _The Banner_, founded in the interest of the Free
Church party; but the Liberals found it necessary to have a special
organ, and the result was the establishment, in 1844, of the Toronto
_Globe_, at first a weekly, then a tri-weekly, and eventually the most
widely circulated and influential daily paper in British North America.
During the thirty-five years Mr. Brown remained connected with that
journal it invariably bore the impress of his powerful intellect. The
_Globe_ and George Brown were always synonymous in the public mind, and
the influence he exercised over his party--no doubt a tyrannical
influence at times--proved the power that a man of indomitable will and
tenacity of purpose can exercise in the control of a political organ.
From 1844 to the present time the newspaper press made progress equal to
the growth of the provinces in population, wealth and intelligence. The
rapid improvement in the internal communications of the country, the
increase of post offices and the cheapness of postage, together with the
remarkable development of public education, especially in Upper Canada,
naturally gave a great impulse to newspaper enterprise in all the large
cities and towns. _Le Journal de Quebec_ was established in 1842 by the
Hon Joseph Cauchon, from that time a force in political life. Another
journal, the _Minerve_, of Montreal, which had been founded in 1827 by
M. Morin, but had ceased publication during the troubles of 1837-8,
re-appeared again in 1842, and assumed that influential position as an
exponent of the Bleus which it has continued to occupy to the present.
_Le Pays_, _La Patrie_, and _L'Avenir_ were other Canadian papers,
supporting the Rouges--the latter having been established in 1848, and
edited by _l'enfant terrible_, M. J. B. Eric Dorion, a brother of Sir
Antoine Dorion. In Upper Canada, Mr. R. Reid Smiley established, during
1846, the Hamilton _Spectator_, as a tri-weekly, which was changed to a
daily issue in 1852. In 1848, Mr. W. Macdougall appeared for the first
time as a journalist, in connection with the _Canada Farmer_; but when
that journal was merged into the _Canada Agriculturist_, he founded the
_North American_, which exerted no small influence as a trenchant,
vigorous exponent of Reform principles, until it was amalgamated, in
1857, with the _Globe_. In 1852 the _Leader_ was established, at
Toronto, by Mr. James Beaty--the old _Patriot_ becoming its weekly
issue--and during the years it remained under the editorial management
of Mr. Charles Lindsey--a careful, graceful writer of large knowledge
--it exercised much influence as an exponent of the views of the Liberal
Conservative party; but soon after his retirement it lost its position,
and died at last from pure inanition and incapacity to keep up with the
progressive demands of modern journalism. In 1857, Mr. McGee made his
appearance in Canada as the editor of the Montreal _New Era_, in which
he illustrated for some years the brilliancy of his style and his varied
attainments. The history of journalism, indeed, from 1840 to 1867,
brings before us a number of able writers, whose names are remembered
with pride by all who were connected with them and had opportunities,
not merely of reading their literary contributions, but of personally
associating with men of such varied accomplishments and knowledge of the
Canadian world. Morrison, Sheppard, Penny, Chamberlin, Brown, Lindsey,
Macdougall, Hogan, McGee, Whelan, P. S. Hamilton, T. White, Derome,
Cauchon, Jos. Doutre, were the most distinguished writers of an epoch
which was famous for its political and industrial progress. But of all
that brilliant phalanx, Mr. White alone contributes, with more or less
regularity, to the press, whilst all the others are either dead or
engaged in other occupations. [Footnote: Mr. McGee was assassinated in
1868. The circumstances of the death of John Sheridan Hogan, in 1859,
were not known till years afterwards, when one of the infamous Don Gang
revealed the story of his wretched end. Then we have the great
journalist and leader of the Liberal party in Upper Canada also dying
from the effects of a pistol-wound at the hands of a drunken reprobate.
Hon. Edward Whelan, of Charlottetown, died years ago. Mr. Morrison died
whilst editor of the Toronto _Daily Telegraph_. Mr. Sheppard was, when
last heard of, in New York, in connection with the press. Mr. Lindsey is
Registrar of Toronto. Hon. Joseph Cauchon is Lieutenant-Governor of
Manitoba. Mr. Chamberlin is Queen's Printer at Ottawa, and his partner
on the _Gazette_, Mr. Lowe, is also in the Civil service. Mr. Derome
died only a few weeks ago. Mr. Penny is a Senator. Mr. McDongall is a
member of the Commons, and lives in Ottawa. Mr. Doutre is at the head of
his profession in Quebec. Mr. Belford, of the _Mail_, died a few weeks
ago at Ottawa. Besides those older journalists mentioned in the text,
younger men, like Mr. Descelles and Mr. Dansereau, of the _Minerve_, and
Mr. Patteson, of the _Mail_, have also received positions recently in
the public service. Mr. Edward McDonald, who founded, with Mr. Garvie,
the Halifax _Citizen_, in opposition to the _Reporter_, of which the
present writer was editor, died Collector of the Port. Mr. Bowell, of
the Belleville _Intelligencer_, is now Minister of Customs. The list
might be extended indefinitely.]
Since 1867, the _Mail_, established in 1873 as the chief organ of the
Liberal Conservatives, has come to the front rank in journalism, and is
a powerful rival of the _Globe_, while the _Colonist_, _Leader_, and
other papers which once played an important part in the political drama,
are forgotten, like most political instruments that have done their
service and are no longer available. Several of the old journals so long
associated with the history of political and intellectual activity in
this country, however, still exist as influential organs. The Quebec
_Gazette_ was, some years ago, merged into another Quebec paper--having
become long before a memorial of the past in its appearance and
dullness, a sort of Rip Van Winkle in the newspaper world. The
_Canadien_ has always had its troubles; but, nevertheless, it continues
to have influence in the Quebec district, and the same may be said of
the _Journal de Quebec_, though the writer who first gave it power in
politics is now keeping petty state in the infant Province of the West.
The Quebec _Mercury_ still exists, though on a very small scale of late.
The Montreal _Gazette_ (now the oldest paper in Canada), the Montreal
_Herald_, the _Minerve_, the Hamilton _Spectator_, and the Brockville
_Recorder_ (established in 1820), are still exercising political
influence as of old. The St. John _News_ and the Halifax _Acadian
Recorder_ are still vigorously carried on. The Halifax _Chronicle_
remains the leading Liberal organ in Nova Scotia, though the journalist
whose name was so long associated with it in the early days of its
influence died a few years ago in the old Government House, within whose
sacred walls he was not permitted to enter in the days of his fierce
controversy with Lord Falkland. In its later days, the Hon. William
Annand, lately in the employment of the Dominion Government in London,
was nominally the Editor-in-Chief, but the Hon. Jonathan McCully, Hiram
Blanchard, and William Garvie were among those who contributed largely
to its editorial columns--able political writers not long since dead.
The public journals of this country are now so numerous that it would
take several pages to enumerate them; hardly a village of importance
throughout Canada but has one or more weeklies. In 1840 there were, as
accurately as I have been able to ascertain, only 65 papers in all
Canada, including the Maritime Provinces. In 1857, there were 243 in
all; in 1862 some 320, and in 1870 the number had increased to 432, of
which Ontario alone owned 255. The number has not much increased since
then--the probable number being now 465, of which 56, at least, appear
daily. [Footnote: The data for 1840 are taken from Martin's 'Colonial
Empire,' and Mrs. Jameson's account. The figures for 1857 are taken from
Lovell's 'Canada Directory;' the figures for 1880 from the lists in
Commons and Senate Reading Rooms. The last census returns for the four
old Provinces give only 308 printing establishments, employing 3,400
hands, paying $1,200,000 in wages, and producing articles to the worth
of $3,420,202. Although not so stated, these figures probably include
job as well as newspaper offices--both being generally combined--and
newspapers where no job work is done are obviously left out.] The Post
Office statistics show in 1879, that 4,085,454 lbs. of newspapers, at
one cent per lb. passed through the post offices of the Dominion, and
5,610,000 copies were posted otherwise. Nearly three millions and a half
of papers were delivered under the free delivery system in the cities of
Halifax, Hamilton, London, Montreal, Quebec, Ottawa, St. John, and
Toronto. Another estimate gives some 30,000,000 of papers passing
through the Post Office in the course of a year, of which probably two
thirds, or 20,000,000, are Canadian. These figures do not, however,
represent any thing like the actual circulation of the Canadian papers,
as the larger proportion are immediately delivered to subscribers by
carriers in the cities and towns. The census of 1870 in the United
States showed the total annual circulation of the 5,871 newspapers in
that country to be, 1,508,548,250, or an average of forty for each
person in the Republic, or one for every inhabitant in the world. Taking
the same basis for our calculation, we may estimate there are upwards of
160,000,000 copies of newspapers annually distributed to our probable
population of four millions of people. The influence which the newspaper
press must exercise upon the intelligence of the masses is consequently
obvious.
The names of the journals that take the front rank, from the enterprise
and ability with which they are conducted, will occur to every one _au
courant_ with public affairs: the _Globe_ and _Mail_, in Toronto; the
_Gazette_ and _Herald_, in Montreal; the _Chronicle_ (in its 34th year)
and _Mercury_, in Quebec; the _Spectator_ and _Times_, in Hamilton; the
_Free Press_ and _Advertiser_, in London; the _British Whig_ (in its
46th year) and _Daily News_, in Kingston; _Citizen_ and _Free Press_, in
Ottawa; _News_, _Globe_, _Telegraph_, and _Sun_, in St. John, N. B.;
_Herald_ and _Chronicle_, in Halifax; the _Examiner_ and _Patriot_, in
Prince Edward Island, are the chief exponents of the principles of the
Conservative and Liberal party. Besides these political organs the
Montreal _Star_ and _Witness_, and the Toronto _Telegram_ have a large
circulation, and are more or less independent in their opinions. Among
the French papers, besides those referred to above, we have the
_Courrier de Montreal_ (1877), _Nouveau Monde_ (1867), _L'Evenement_
(1867), _Courrier d'Ottawa_, now _le Canada_ (1879), _Franco Canadien_
(1857), which enjoy more or less influence in the Province of Quebec.
Perhaps no fact illustrates more strikingly the material and mental
activity of the Dominion than the number of newspapers now published in
the new Province of the North-West. The first paper in that region
appeared in 1859, when Messrs. Buckingham & Coldwell conveyed to Fort
Garry their press and materials in an ox cart, and established the
little _Nor' Wester_ immediately under the walls of the fort. Now there
are three dailies published in the City of Winnipeg alone--all of them
well printed and fairly edited--and at least sixteen papers in all
appear periodically through the North-West. The country press--that is
to say, the press published outside the great centres of industrial and
political activity--has remarkably improved in vigour within a few
years; and the metropolitan papers are constantly receiving from its
ranks new and valuable accessions, whilst there remain connected with
it, steadily labouring with enthusiasm in many cases, though the
pecuniary rewards are small, an indefatigable band of terse,
well-informed writers, who exercise no mean influence within the
respective spheres of their operations. The Sarnia _Observer_,
Sherbrooke _Gazette_, Stratford _Beacon_, Perth _Courier_ (1834),
Lindsay _Post_, Guelph _Mercury_ (1845), Yarmouth _Herald_, Peterboro
_Review_, St. Thomas _Journal_, _News of St. Johns_ (Q), _Courrier de
St. Hyacinthe_, Carleton _Sentinel_, Maritime _Farmer_, are among the
many journals which display no little vigour in their editorials and
skill in the selection of news and literary matter. During the thirteen
years that have elapsed since Confederation new names have been
inscribed on the long roll of Canadian journalists. Mr. Gordon Brown
still remains in the editorial chair of the _Globe_, one of the few
examples we find in the history of Canadian journalism of men who have
not been carried away by the excitement of politics or the attraction of
a soft place in the public service. The names of White, McCulloch,
Farrar, Rattray, G. Stewart, jr., M. J. Griffin, Carroll Ryan, Stewart
(Montreal _Herald_), Stewart (Halifax _Herald_), Sumichrast, Fielding,
Elder, Geo. Johnson, Blackburn (London _Free Press_), Cameron (London
_Advertiser_), Davin, Dymond, Pirie, D. K. Brown, Mackintosh, Macready,
Livingstone, Ellis, Houde, Vallee, Desjardins, Tarte, Faucher de St.
Maurice, Fabre, Tasse, L'O. David, are among the prominent writers on
the most widely circulated English and French Canadian papers.
In the necessarily limited review I have been forced to give of the
progress of journalism in Canada, I have made no mention of the
religious press which has been established, in the large cities
principally, as the exponent of the views of particular sects. The
Methodist body has been particularly successful in this line of
business, in comparison with other denominations. The _Christian
Guardian_, established at Toronto in 1829, under the editorial
supervision of Rev. Egerton Ryerson, continues to exhibit its pristine
vigour under the editorship of the Rev. Mr. Dewart. The organ of the
same body in the Maritime Provinces is the _Wesleyan_, edited by Rev. T.
Watson Smith, and is fully equal in appearance and ability to its
Western contemporary. The Baptists, Presbyterians, Episcopal Methodists
and Congregationalists, have also exponents of their particular views.
The Church of England has made many attempts to establish denominational
organs on a successful basis, but very few of them have ever come up to
the expectations of their promoters in point of circulation--the old
_Church_ having been, on the whole, the most ably conducted. At present
there are three papers in the west, representing different sections of
the Church. The Roman Catholics have also their organs, not so much
religious as political--the St. John _Freeman_, edited by the Hon. Mr.
Anglin, is the most remarkable for the ability and vigour with which it
has been conducted as a supporter of the views of the Liberal party in
the Dominion, as well as of the interests of the Roman Catholic body. In
all there are some thirty papers published in the Dominion, professing
to have the interests of certain sects particularly at heart. [Footnote:
It is noteworthy that the Canadian religions press has never attained
the popularity of the American Denominational Journals, which are said
to have an aggregate circulation of nearly half of the secular press.]
The _Canadian Illustrated News_ and _L'Opinion Publique_, which owe
their establishment to the enterprise of Mr. Desbarats, a gentleman of
culture, formerly at the head of the old Government Printing Office, are
among the examples of the new vigour and ability that have characterized
Canadian journalistic enterprise of recent years. The illustrations in
the _News_ are, on the whole well executed, and were it possible to
print them on the superior tinted paper of the _Graphic_, and it would
be possible if the people were willing to pay the expense, they would
compare more favourably than they do with the impressions of the older
papers published in New York and London. In its prints of native
scenery, and portraits of deceased Canadians of merit, the _News_ is a
valuable and interesting addition to journalism in this country, and
will be found most useful to the future generations who will people the
Dominion. Nor does Canada now lack an imitator of _Punch_, in the
humorous line. It is noteworthy that whilst America has produced
humorists like 'Sam Slick,' Artemus Ward, Mark Twain, and others, no
American rival to _Punch_ has yet appeared in Boston or New York. The
attempts that have heretofore been made have been generally coarse
caricatures--for example, the political cartoons in _Harper's Weekly_,
which are never characterized by those keen artistic touches that make
_Punch_ so famous. Previous efforts in this field of political and
social satire in Canada have always failed for want of support, as well
as from the absence of legitimate humour. The oldest satirical sheet was
_Le Fantastique_, published at Quebec by N. Aubin, who was a very bitter
partisan, and was sent to gaol in 1838 for the expression of his
opinions. The _Grumbler_ was a more creditable effort made in Toronto
some quarter of a century ago, to illustrate and hit off the political
and social foibles of the day in Canada. But it has been left for Mr.
Bengough in these times to rise in _Grip_ far above all previous
attempts in the same direction, and 'to show up' very successfully, and
generally with much humour, certain salient features of our contemporary
history.
The influence of the press, during the century, must be measured by the
political intelligence and activity of the people. Only in the United
States are the masses as well informed on the public questions of the
day as are the majority of Canadians, and this fact must be attributed,
in a large measure, to the efforts of journalists to educate the people
and stimulate their mental faculties. When education was at a low ebb
indeed, when the leading and wealthier class was by no means too anxious
to increase the knowledge of the people, the press was the best vehicle
of public instruction. No doubt it often abused its trust, and forgot
the responsibilities devolving on it; no doubt its conductors were too
frequently animated by purely selfish motives, yet, taking the good with
the evil, the former was predominant as a rule. It is only necessary to
consider the number of journalists who have played an important part in
Parliament, to estimate the influence journalism must have exerted on
the political fortunes of Canada. The names of Neilson, Bedard, W. L.
Mackenzie, Hincks, Howe, Brown, and Macdougall, will recall remarkable
epochs in our history. But it is not only as a political engine that the
press has had a decided beneficial effect upon the public intelligence;
it has generally been alive to the social and moral questions of the
hour, and exposed religions charlatanry, and arrested the progress of
dangerous social innovations, with the same fearlessness and vigour
which it has shown in the case of political abuses. Political
controversy, no doubt, has too often degenerated into licentiousness,
and public men have been too often maligned, simply because they were
political opponents--an evil which weakens the influence of journalism
to an incalculable degree, because the people begin at last to attach
little or no importance to charges levelled recklessly against public
men. But it is not too much to say that the press of all parties is
commencing to recognise its responsibilities to a degree that would not
have been possible a few years ago. It is true the ineffable meanness of
old times of partisan controversy will crop out constantly in certain
quarters, and political writers are not always the safest guides in
times of party excitement. But there is a healthier tone in public
discussion, and the people are better able to eliminate the truth and
come to a correct conclusion. Personalities are being gradually
discouraged, and appeals more frequently made to the reason rather than
to the passion and prejudice of party--a fact in itself some evidence of
the progress of the readers in culture. The great change in the business
basis on which the leading newspapers are now-a-days conducted, of
itself must tend to modify political acrimony, and make them safer
public guides. A great newspaper now-a-days must be conducted on the
same principles on which any other business is carried on. The expenses
of a daily journal are now so great that it requires the outlay of large
capital to keep it up to the requirements of the time; in fact, it can
best be done by joint-stock companies, rather than by individual effort.
Slavish dependence on a Government or party, as in the old times of
journalism, can never make a newspaper successful as a financial
speculation, nor give it that circulation on which its influence in a
large measure depends. The journal of the present day is a compilation
of telegraphic despatches from all parts of the world, and of reports of
all matters of local and provincial importance, with one or more columns
of concise editorial comment on public topics of general interest: and
the success with which this is done is the measure of its circulation
and influence. Both the _Globe_ and _Mail_ illustrate this fact very
forcibly; both journals being good _newspapers_, in every sense of the
term, read by Conservatives and Liberals, irrespective of political
opinions, although naturally depending for their chief support on a
particular party. In no better way can we illustrate the great change
that has taken place within less than half a century in the newspaper
enterprise of this country than by comparing a copy of a journal of 1839
with one of 1880. Taking, in the first place, the issue of the Toronto
_British Colonist_, for the 23rd October, 1839, we have before us a
sheet, as previously stated, of twenty-four columns, twelve of which are
advertisements and eight of extracts, chiefly from New York papers. Not
a single editorial appeared in this number, though prominence was given
to a communication describing certain riotous proceedings, in which
prominent 'blues' took part, on the occasion of a public meeting
attempted to be held at a Mr. Davis's house on Yonge Street, for the
purpose of considering important changes about to take place in the
political Constitution of the Canadas. Mr. Poulett Thompson had arrived
in the St. Lawrence on the 16th, but the _Colonist_ was only able to
announce the fact on the 23rd of the month. New York papers took four
days to reach Toronto--a decided improvement, however, on old times--and
these afforded Canadian editors the most convenient means of culling
foreign news. Only five lawyers advertised their places of business; Mr.
and Mrs. Crombie announced the opening of their well-known schools.
McGill College, at last, advertised that it was open to students--an
important event in the educational history of Canada, which, however,
received no editorial comment in the paper. We come upon a brief
advertisement from Messrs. Armour & Ramsay, the well-known booksellers;
but the only book they announced was that work so familiar to old-time
students, 'Walkinghame's Arithmetic.' Another literary announcement was
the publication of a work, by the Rev. R. Murray, of Oakville, on the
'Tendency and Errors of Temperance Societies'--then in the infancy of
their progress in Upper Canada. One of the most encouraging notices was
that of the Montreal Type Foundry, which was beginning to compete with
American establishments, also advertised in the same issue--an evidence
of the rapid progress of printing in Canada. Only one steamer was
advertised, the _Gore_, which ran between Toronto and Hamilton; she was
described as 'new, splendid, fast-sailing, and elegantly fitted up,' and
no doubt she was, compared with the old batteaux and schooners which,
not long before, had kept up communication with other parts of the
Province. On the whole, this issue illustrated the fact that Toronto was
making steady progress, and Upper Canada was no longer a mere
wilderness. Many of my readers will recall those days, for I am writing
of times within the memory of many Upper Canadians.
Now take an ordinary issue of the _Mail_, printed on the same day, in
the same city, only forty-one years later. We see a handsome paper of
eight closely-printed pages--each larger than a page of the
_Colonist_--and fifty-six columns, sixteen of which are devoted to
advertisements illustrative of the commercial growth, not only of
Toronto, but of Ontario at large--advertisements of Banking, Insurance
and Loan Companies, representing many millions of capital; of Railway
and Steamship Lines, connecting Toronto daily with all parts of America
and Europe; of various classes of manufactures, which have grown up in a
quarter of a century or so. No less than five notices of theatrical and
other amusements appear; these entertainments take place in spacious,
elegant halls and opera houses, instead of the little, confined rooms
which satisfied the citizens of Toronto only a few years ago. Some forty
barristers and attorneys, physicians and surgeons--no, not all
gentlemen, but one a lady--advertise their respective offices, and yet
these are only representative of the large number of persons practising
these professions in the same city. Leaving the advertisements and
reviewing the reading matter, we find eleven columns devoted to
telegraphic intelligence from all parts of the world where any event of
interest has occurred a day or two before. Several columns are given up
to religious news, including a lengthy report of the proceedings of the
Baptist Union, meeting, for the first time, under an Act of Parliament
of 1880--an Association intended for the promotion of missions,
_literature_, and church work, into which famous John Bunyan would have
heartily thrown himself, no longer in fear of being cast into prison.
Four columns are taken up with sports and pastimes, such as lacrosse,
the rifle, rowing, cricket, curling, foot-ball, hunting--illustrative
of the growing taste among all classes of young men for such healthy
recreation. Perhaps no feature of the paper gives more conclusive
evidence of the growth of the city and province than the seven columns
specially set apart to finance, commerce and marine intelligence, and
giving the latest and fullest intelligence of prices in all places with
which Canada has commercial transactions. Nearly one column of the
smallest type is necessary to announce the arrivals and departures of
the steam-tugs, propellers, schooners and other craft which make up the
large inland fleet of the Western Province. We find reports of
proceedings in the Courts in Toronto and elsewhere, besides many items
of local interest. Five columns are made up of editorials and editorial
briefs, the latter an interesting feature of modern journalism. The
'leader' is a column in length, and is a sarcastic commentary on the
'fallacious hopes' of the Opposition; the next article is an answer to
one in the London _Economist_, devoted to the vexed question of
protective duties in the Colonies; another refers to modern 'literary
criticism,' one of the strangest literary products of this busy age of
intellectual development. In all we have thirty-six columns of reading
matter, remarkable for literary execution and careful editing, as well
as for the moderate tone of its political criticism. It will be seen
that there is only one advertisement of books in the columns of this
issue, but the reason is that it is the custom only to advertise new
works on Saturday, when the paper generally contains twelve pages, or
eighty-four columns. On the whole, the issue of a very prominent
Canadian paper illustrates not only the material development of Ontario
in its commercial and advertising columns, but also the mental progress
of the people, who demand so large an amount of reading matter at the
cost of so much money and mental labour.
As the country increases in wealth and population, the Press must become
undoubtedly still more a profession to which men of the highest ability
and learning will attach themselves permanently, instead of being too
often attracted, as heretofore, by the greater pecuniary rewards offered
by other pursuits in life. Horace Greeley, Dana, Curtis, Whitelaw Reid
and Bryant are among the many illustrious examples that the neighbouring
States afford of men to whom journalism has been a profession, valued
not simply for the temporary influence and popularity it gives, but as a
great and powerful organ of public education on all the live questions
of the day. The journals whose conductors are known to be above the
allurements of political favour, even while they consistently sustain
the general policy of a party, are those which most obviously become the
true exponents of a sound public opinion, and the successful competitor
for public favour in this, as in all other countries enjoying a popular
system of government.