Passing from the heroic days of Canada, which, if it could hardly in
the nature of things originate a native literature, at least inspired a
brilliant succession of historians, essayists and poets in much later
times, we come now to that period of constitutional and political
development which commenced with the rule of England. It does not fall
within the scope of this address to dwell on the political struggles
which showed their intensity in the rebellion of 1837-8, and reached
their fruition in the concession of parliamentary government, in the
large sense of the term, some years later. These struggles were carried
on during times when there was only a sparse population chiefly centred
in the few towns of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Upper and Lower Canada,
on the shores of the Atlantic, on the banks of the St. Lawrence and
Lake Ontario, and not extending beyond the peninsula of the present
province of Ontario. The cities, or towns rather, of Halifax, St.
John, Quebec, Montreal, Kingston and York, were then necessarily the
only centres of intellectual life. Education was chiefly under the
control of religious bodies or in the hands of private teachers. In
the rural districts it was at the lowest point possible,[14] and the
great system of free schools which has of late years extended through
the Dominion--and is the chief honour of Ontario--was never dreamed of
in those times of sluggish growth and local apathy, when communication
between the distant parts of the country was slow and wretched, when
the conditions of life were generally very hard and rude, when the
forest still covered the greater portion of the most fertile districts
of Ontario,[15] though here and there the pioneer's axe could be
heard from morn to eve hewing out little patches of sunlight, so many
glimpses of civilization and better times amid the wildness of a new
land even then full of promise.
The newspapers of those days were very few and came only at uncertain
times to the home of the farmer by the side of some stream or amid
the dense forest, or to the little hamlets that were springing up
in favoured spots, and represented so many radiating influences of
intelligence on the borders of the great lakes and their tributary
streams, on the Atlantic seaboard, or on the numerous rivers that form
so many natural highways to the people of the maritime provinces.
These newspapers were for years mostly small quarto or folio sheets,
in which the scissors played necessarily the all-important part;
but there was, nevertheless, before 1840 in the more pretentious
journals of the large towns, some good writing done by thoughtful
men who studied their questions, and helped to atone for the very
bitter vindictive partisan attacks on opponents that too frequently
sullied the press in those times of fierce conflict.[16] Books were
only found in the homes of the clergy or of the official classes, and
these were generally old editions and rarely the latest publications
of the time. Montreal and Quebec, for many years, were the only places
where bookstores and libraries of more than a thousand volumes could
be seen. It was not until 1813 that a successful effort was made to
establish a "social library" at Kingston, Bath, and some other places
in the Midland district. Toronto had no library worth mentioning until
1836. What culture existed in those rude days was to be hunted up among
the clergy, especially of the Church of England, the Roman Catholic
priests of Lower Canada, and the official classes of the large towns.
Some sermons that have come down to us, in pamphlets of very common
paper--and very few were printed in those days when postage was dear
and bookselling was not profitable--have no pretensions to originality
of thought or literary style: sermons in remarkable contrast with the
brilliant and suggestive utterances of such modern pulpit orators as
Professor Clarke, of Trinity. The exhaustive and, generally, closely
reasoned sermons of the Presbyterian divine had a special flavour of
the Westminster confession and little of the versatility of preachers
like Principal Grant in these later times when men are attempting to
make even dogma more genial, and to understand the meaning of the
sermon in the Mount. Then, as always in Canada, there were found among
the clergy of all denominations hardworking, self-denying priests and
missionaries who brought from time to time to some remote settlement
of the provinces spiritual consolation and to many a household, long
deprived of the intellectual nourishment of other days, an opportunity
of conversing on subjects which in the stern daily routine of their
lives in a new country were seldom or ever talked of. It was in the
legislative halls of the provinces that the brightest intellect
naturally found scope for its display, and at no subsequent period
of the political history of Canada were there more fervid, earnest
orators than appeared in the days when the battle for responsible
government was at its height. The names of Nelson, Papineau, Howe,
Baldwin, Wilmot, Johnstone, Young, Robinson, Rolph and Mackenzie recall
the era when questions of political controversy and political freedom
stimulated mental development among that class which sought and found
the best popular opportunities for the display of their intellectual
gifts in the legislative halls in the absence of a great printing
press and a native literature. Joseph Howe's speeches[17] displayed a
wide culture, an original eloquence, and a patriotic aspiration beyond
those of any other man of his time and generation, and would have done
credit to the Senate of the United States, then in the zenith of its
reputation as a body of orators and statesmen. It is an interesting
fact that Howe, then printer and publisher, should have printed the
first work of the only great humorist that Canada has yet produced. I
mean of course "The Clockmaker,"[18] in which Judge Haliburton created
"Sam Slick," a type of a Down-east Yankee pedlar who sold his wares by
a judicious use of that quality which is sure to be appreciated the
world over, "Soft sawder and human natur'." In this work, which has
run through ever so many editions, and is still found on the shelves
of every well-equipped library and bookstore, Sam Slick told some home
truths to his somewhat self-satisfied countrymen who could not help
laughing even if the humour touched them very keenly at times. Nova
Scotia has changed much for the better since those dull times when the
house of assembly was expected to be a sort of political providence,
to make all the roads and bridges, and give good times and harvests;
but even now there are some people cruel enough, after a visit to
Halifax, to hint that there still is a grain of truth in the following
reflection on the enterprise of that beautiful port: "How the folks to
Halifax take it all out in talkin'--they talk of steam-boats, whalers
and railroads--but they all end where they begin--in talk. I don't
think I'd be out in my latitude if I was to say they beat the womankind
at that. One feller says, I talk of goin' to England--another says,
I talk of goin' to the country--while another says, I talk of goin'
to sleep. If we Yankees happen to speak of such things we say, 'I'm
right off down East;' or 'I'm away off South,' and away we go jist
like a streak of lightnin'." This clever humourist also wrote the best
history[19]--one of his own province--that had been written in British
North America up to that time--indeed it is still most readable, and
worthy of a place in every library. In later days the Judge wrote many
other books and became a member of the English House of Commons: but
"Sam Slick" still remains the most signal illustration of his original
genius.
During this period, however, apart from the two works to which I have
referred, we look in vain for any original literature worthy of special
mention. A history of Canada written by William Smith,[20] a son of
an eminent chief justice of New York, and subsequently of Canada, was
published in excellent style for those days as early as 1815 at Quebec,
but it has no special value except to the collector of old and rare
books. Bouchette's topographical and geographical account of Canada[21]
illustrated the ability and zeal of an eminent French Canadian, who
deserved the thanks of his country, but these well printed books
were, after all, mere compilations and came from the English press.
Pamphlets were numerous enough, and some of them had literary skill,
but they had, in the majority of cases, no permanent value except to
the historian or antiquarian of the present day who must sift out all
sorts of material and study every phase and incident of the times he
has chosen for his theme. Michel Bibaud wrote a history of French
Canada,[22] which no one reads in these days, and the most of the other
works that emanated from the Canadian press, like Thompson's "War of
1812,"[23] are chiefly valued by the historical collector. It was not
to be expected that in a relatively poor country, still in the infancy
of its development, severely tried by political controversies, with
a small population scattered over a long stretch of territory, from
Sydney to Niagara, there could be any intellectual stimulus or literary
effort except what was represented in newspapers like the _Gazette_
of Montreal--which has always maintained a certain dignity of style
in its long journalistic career--the _Gazette_ and the _Canadien_, of
Quebec, the _Nova Scotian_ of Halifax, or displayed itself in keen
contests in the legislatures or court-houses of a people delighting
always in such displays as there were made of mental power and natural
eloquence. From a literary point of view our American neighbours had,
during this period, left us away behind, in fact no comparison can be
made between the two countries; laying aside the original creation
of Sam Slick. Towards the close of the eighteenth century Belknap
published his admirable history of New Hampshire,[24] while the third
volume of Hutchinson's history of Massachusetts appeared in 1828, to
close a work of rare merit alike for careful research, philosophic
acuteness and literary charm. That admirable collection of political
and constitutional essays known as the "Federalist" had attained a
wide circulation and largely influenced the destinies of the union
under the constitution of 1783. Chief Justice Marshall illumined the
bench by his great judicial decisions which have won a remarkable
place in legal literature, on account of their close, acute reasoning,
breadth of knowledge, insight into great constitutional principles, and
their immediate influence on the political development of the federal
republic. Washington Irving published, as far back as 1819, his "Sketch
Book," in which appeared the original creation of Rip Van Winkle, and
followed it up with other works which recall Addison's delightful
style, and gave him a fame abroad that no later American writer has
ever surpassed. Cooper's romances began to appear in 1821, and Bancroft
published in 1834 the first volume of what is a great history despite
its somewhat rhetorical and ambitious style. Hawthorne's "Twice Told
Tales" appeared in 1835, but his fame was to be won in later years
when he wrote the "Scarlet Letter" and the "House of Seven Gables,"
the most original and quaint productions that New England genius has
yet produced. If I linger for a moment among these men it is because
they were not merely American by the influence of their writings; but
wherever the English tongue is spoken and English literature is read
these writers of a past generation, as it may be said of others of
later times, claim the gratitude of the untold thousands whom they
have instructed and helped in many a weary and sad, as well as idle
hour. They were not Canadians, but they illustrated the genius of this
continent of ours.