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Thomas de Quincey - "Theological Essays and Other Papers v1"

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F. Scott Fitzgerald - "This Side of Paradise"

The Intellectual Development of the Canadian People

J >> John George Bourinot >> The Intellectual Development of the Canadian People




'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.

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