Lapas attēli
PDF
ePub

LITERARY NOTES.

THERE

"The

HERE is material enough this month to furnish his peace under an imputation so pointed as this. In a supplementary chapter to " The Quarrels and the correspondence which ensued on both sides, the Calamities of Authors." It is a curious fact, which Professor did not personally appear in the arena again. some of our readers may have remarked, that literary The letter followed of the Rev. Archer Gurney, who men are specially prone to belligerency during the attempted to justify novel modes of Scripture interclosing months of the year. Whether this phe- pretation and a dignified letter from the Rev. F. D. nomenon be due, like the November mania for Maurice, who, without denying Professor Huxley's suicide, to the gloomy and oppressive weather of the right as an Englishman to call him "a liar and a last quarter, or, as we should like to believe, from cheat," was content to leave the issue to One who a Christian desire to have all outstanding causes of knows his heart far better than Professor Huxley. quarrel settled and done with before the advent of Of the minor literary quarrels, we have the promise the New Year, it is difficult to pronounce with of a libel suit, provided Mr. Hepworth Dixon suc certainty. The fact remains as, so far as relates to ceeds in ascertaining, by the aid of Chancery, the the closing months of 1871, we shall proceed to name of the proprietors of the Pall Mall Gazette. prove. The first on the list is a very pretty skirmish The cause of offence is a series of attacks on Mr. amongst the poets. In a recent number of the Dixon's "Spiritual Wives," which the Pall Mall rathContemporary Review, appeared an article on "The er strongly characterizes as "an obscene work." We Fleshly School of Poetry," purporting to be written shall probably be treated to some lively arguments by one Thomas Maitland. The paper contained a of counsel, should the case ever come to trial at nisi trenchant attack upon a class of poets of whom Mr. prius. We had occasion to notice last month an exD. G. Rossetti was singled out as the most distin-tremely entertaining and learned work on guished, if not the most vulnerable. The indictment against these writers asserted that they "extol fleshliness as the distinct and supreme end of poetic and pictorial art; aver that poetic expression is greater than poetic thought; and by inference, that the body is greater than the soul, and sound superior to sense. The first question arising on a perusal of the article was naturally the question of authorship. Who was Thomas Maitland? On enquiry it appeared that personally Thomas was a myth, and that the name was really the nom de plume of Mr. Robert Buchanan. As soon as this had been satisfactorily ascertained Mr. Rossetti inserted in the Athenæum a reply, entitled "The Stealthy School of Criticism," in which, while giving a defence, on the whole satisfactory, of his aims and method as a poet, he charged his brother-author with being guilty of a crafty attempt to depreciate him and praise himself from behind a mask. Mr. Buchanan defends himself from the counter-attack by urging that he was not responsible for the name and repudiating the charge of self-adulation. The last of this little quarrel has yet to reach us. Professor Huxley and the clergy form the next group of combatants. In

his article on Darwin's Critics to which we referred last month, the learned Professor used the following words, which, to say the least, were gratuitously offensive" And when Sunday after Sunday men who profess to be our instructors in righteousness read out the statement, "In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is," in innumerable churches, they are either propagating what they may as easily know to be falsities; or, if they use the words, in some non-natural sense, they fall below the moral standard of the much abused Jesuits. It could hardly be expected that every one of the twenty thousand clergy of England would hold

Earth," by Elisée Reclus. We regret to say that
Reclus, like Courbet the artist and other unwise
men of science and art, became involved in the for-
tunes of the Commune. Reclus, undoubtedly bore
arms, but he never fired a rifle or committed any
other offence against humanity. So weak by confine-
ment as to be unable to stand, he has been sentenced
to deportation to a penal colony,-that is, to certain
death. Men of learning in England-amongst whom
may be mentioned Mr. Charles Darwin, Sir J. Lub-
bock, Mr. Thomas Hughes, Professors Maurice,
Fawcett and Brewer, together with Lords Kimberley
and Hobart, &c., &c., are making a strong appeal to
M. Thiers. It is sincerely to be hoped that the
effort may be crowned with success. To use the words
of the Spectator :-"It is quite beneath the Govern
ment of France to make war on great scientific men
of feeble political judgment, who have not really
contributed anything whatever to the success of the
rebellion, and whose services to science have been
great.
It would be pitiful for M.
Thiers' Government, in their resentment against the
French Commune to take their revenge on the Earth
itself; and they will do so if they cause the death of
one of the few of the Earth's true intimates."

In reviewing the literature of the month, we shall reverse the order adopted in our last number, so as to give the first portion of our limited space to some subjects we were obliged to pass over on that occasion. It may interest some of our readers to have a brief list of the new magazine stories to be published during the year. In Macmillan, and in Lippincott "The Strange Adventures of a Phaeton," by Wm. Black, author of "A Daughter of Heth," will appear concurrently. Temple Bar gives the opening chap ters of "Good-Bye, Sweetheart," by Rhoda Brough ton, author of "Red as a Rose is She, &c. Corn

[ocr errors]

hill finishes "Lord Kilgobbin" and promises the first instalment of "Old Kensington," by Miss Thackeray in February. London Society, in the January number, has some chapters of "The Travels of young Colebs," by Percy Fitzgerald, and announces "The Room in the Dragon Volant," by J. S. Le Fanu, author of "Uncle Silas." The Argosy begins a new story by Mrs. Wood; Colburn (the price of which has been reduced) opens the new series with "Boscobel," by W. H. Ainsworth; Whyte-Melville contributes "Satanella, a story of Punchestown" to the Gentleman's Magazine; and the indefatigable Miss Braddon begins "To the Bitter End" in Belgravia. St. Paul's publishes two stories :"Septimius Felton," a posthumous romance, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, (also appearing in the Atlantic Monthly,) and "Off the Skelligs,” by Jean Ingelow. Good Words has also two serials," The Golden Lion of Granpere," by Anthony Trollope (also publishing by Harpers) and "At His Gates," by Mrs. Oliphant. Good Words For the Young will contain "Gutta Percha Willie," by George Macdonald, and "Innocents' Island," by the author of Lilliput Levee." The Sunday Magazine continues "The Vicar's Daughter," and Blackwood-" The Maid of Sker." Of the noteworthy novels published complete we may simply mention as to be commendable -"Wilfrid Cumbermede, by George Macdonald (Scribner); "Fair to See," by Lawrence W. M. Lockhart (Harper) originally published in BlackFood; Two Plunges for a Pearl," an interesting and vivacious story, by Mortimer Collins (Appleton); "The American Baron," by Prof. De Mille (Harper); Nobody's Fortune," by Edmund Yates, and last but best of all-"Middlemarch," by the greatest of living novelists-George Eliot. "St. Abe and his Seven Wives" is an humorous satire on the peculiar institution of Mormonism in verse, containing some passages of merit.

|

In Poetry, Mr. Browning claims the first place with his "Prince of Hohenstiel-Schwangau, Saviour of Society "-in which the ex-Emperor of the French attempts a plausible but fallacious defence of his career. Like most of the author's poems, however, the "Prince" has more beneath which does not appear to the hasty reader. "The Drama of Kings," by Robert Buchanan, is, as the author describes it, -"a sort of tragedy, a choice trilogy of tragedies in the Greek fashion," beginning with Napoleon I. in 1808, and concluding with the late Siege of Paris. It contains some good passages, but, as it seems to us, is too ambitious in its object, and can hardly be called a success. Mr. Morris, the author of "The Earthly Paradise," announces a new poem, entitled "Love is Enough.' We may conclude with "The Inn of Strange Meetings and other Poems," by Mortimer Collins, which are pleasant lyrics, somewhat in the style of Frederick Locker.

In the department of Art, we have " Aratra Pentelici"-six Oxford lectures, by Ruskin, on the "Elements of Scripture," and two interesting and profusely illustrated works from the German of Dr. Wilhelm Lubke-"The History of Sculpture" and "The History of Art." These three works are published by Smith, Elder & Co. Another "History of Art," also from the German, of which three volumes have appeared in New York (Harpers), will be concluded in one more, which is to appear immediately. "London: a Pilgrimage,"

illustrated by Gustave Doré (to be re-produced by the Harpers from duplicate plates), we have not yet seen, but it is very favourably noticed by English critics.

There are, as usual, a large number of works in Biography and History. Of the former, the most noteworthy are--" Sir Henry Holland's Recollections of a Past Life;" the concluding volume of "Brougham's Life and Times," and a revised edition of Lecky's "Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland." Carl Elze's critical "Biography of Lord Byron;" Wm. Chambers' "Memoir of Robert Chambers," and an "Auto-biography of George Cruikshank," are announced. Of the histories, we observe that the first volume of Cassell's illustrated work on the late war has been published, with 450 engravings. Vésinier, who was secretary of the Commune, and editor of its Journal Officiel, has published a history of the events in which he took part, a translation of which has just been published by Chapman & Hall. The History of England since 1830," by W. N. Molesworth, is interesting enough to politicians, but can scarcely be called a history, in the proper sense of the term. "Phonicia and Israel," by Augustus S. Wilkins, is the Cambridge Burney prize treatise. It is a thoughtful essay on the relations between the two peoples, and their mutual re-action one upon another. Essays on "Historical Truth," by Andrew Bisset, is a very curious attempt to invalidate the verdicts of history. Properly the author ought to have landed in complete scepticism, but singular to say, his doubts only serve to make him more dogmatical.

[ocr errors]

Popular scientific works continue to be issued in great profusion. "The Theory of Heat," by Mr. Maxwell, is a companion volume (in Longman's series) of Prof. Tyndall's works; and "Land and Water," by Jacob Abbott (Harpers), is specially intended for the young. Besides these, we have two handsome works from the French-"The Mountain," by Jules Michelet, and "Nature, or the Poetry of Earth and Sea," by Madame Michelet. We take pleasure in noting that Dr. J. W. Dawson's Report, on the "Fossil Land Plants of the Devonian and Upper Silurian Formations of Canada," has been highly spoken of in England as "placing the knowledge of this old Flora in advance of that of any other portion of the world."

[ocr errors]

In Geography and Travel, we can only mention a few from a very extensive list. Forsyth's 'Highlands of Central India" is a very interesting work, though not very well compressed. Poole's "Queen Charlotte Islands is the record of an extremely plucky expedition to a group of Pacific Islands not far from the coast of British Columbia. "The Land of Desolation" describes Greenland, as explored by Captain Hayes, author of "The Open Polar Sea. Gordon Cummings' "Wild Men and Wild Beasts" is the second volume of Scribner's travel series. Somer's "Southern States since the War," and Marcy's "Border Reminiscences," though they differ widely in character, are worthy of mention. Besides these, we have Capt. Burton's "Zanzibar," and Zincke's "Egypt of the Pharoahs and the Kedive;" and of a lighter class, Smiles' "Boy's Voyage round the World," and that extremely amusing work, "Mr. Pisistratus Brown, M. P., in the Highlands.'

Mental, moral and political philosophy we may group together. Dr. Paine, author of the "Insti

tutes of Medicine," has published "The Physiology of the Soul and Instinct" (Harpers), the primary object of which is to combat materialism. Dr. Paine, however, wields a free lance, and assails Darwin, Huxley, Lyell, and all the physicists impartially. Miss Cobbe announces Darwinism in Morals and other Essays, in connection with which may be mentioned Mr. St. George Mivart's reply, in the January Contemporary, to Prof. Huxley's onslaught, referred to in our last number. Cobden Essays, 1871-2, have not yet reached us, but they contain a paper on the Colonies which will doubtless interest Canadians. "Woman's Worth and Worthlessness," by Gail Hamilton, is a spirited appeal against the Woman's Rights movement. Thoughts on Government," by Arthur Helps, and "Character," by Samuel Smiles, are both thoughtful books, deserving to be widely and carefully read.

Little space is left us now for a fair examination of the month's religious literature. The chief works on the historic side are Ewald's "History of Israel," vols. iii. and iv. (Longman); Hengstenberg's "History of the Kingdom of God under the Old Testament" (T. & T. Clark); and De Pressensé's "Martyrs and Apologists" (Hodder & Stoughton), forming part of the French pastor's "Early Years of Christianity." With it we may bracket a complete translation of Lactantius (T. & T. Clark). Vol. ii. of "Hunt's Religious Thought in England," is announced, reaching to the end of the seventeenth century. We beg again to commend it to our readers.

[ocr errors]

Of controversial works, we note Mr. Whittle's "Catholicism and the Vatican, with a narrative of the Munich Congress" from the old Catholic side. Pearson's Creed or no Creed" is a collection of sermons preached before the University of Cambridge last October. Archbishop Manning, in his "Four Great Evils," attacks modern science and modern progress from an Ultra-montane stand-point. M. Guizot, on the contrary, attempts the work of reconciliation in his "Christianity in Relation to Soworks. Of the current works in theology, exegetical and devotional, the following may be enumerated: The third volume of "a Biblical Commentary on the Psalms," from the German of Dr. Delitzsch, appears in Clark's Foreign Theological Library, a

[ocr errors]

series of critical and exegetical text-books invaluable to clergymen. The completion of Dr. Wordsworth's (Bishop of Lincoln) Commentary on the Holy Bible now appears, and is issued at a cheaper price by the publishers, Messrs. Rivington. The work is characterized by a sound scholarship and a painstaking industry. A new edition, also, is announced, from the press of Messrs. Collins, of "a Commentary, Critical, Experimental and Practical on the Old and New Testament," the result of the joint labours of the Rev. Drs. Jamieson, Faussett and Brown, and which has hitherto been received with much favour. A further edition, also, may be noted of the learned and critical work of the Rev. Dr. Lange of Bonn, "a Life of the Lord Jesus Christ," translated and edited with additional notes, by the Rev. Marcus Ward. (T. & T. Clark.) This revised issue is published in four volumes, and at a lesser cost than former editions. The first annual volume of "The Preacher's Lantern," edited by the Rev. E. Paxton Hood, is just published; and it will be remembered that this serial on ministerial work, &c., is the continuation of "The Pulpit Analyst," which was brought to a close last year. Another instalment of Essays on Theological subjects and Enquiry, appears in a translation from the German of "The Bremen Lectures on Fundamental, Liv. ing, Religious Questions." The lectures are by various eminent European divines, and will well repay per usal. The Rev. S. Baring-Gould's "Legends of Old Testament Characters, from the Talmud and other sources," we note, is just issued; and, we doubt not, will find many readers among those, at any rate, who are familiar with the author's curious "Myths of the Middle Ages," and his important work on "The History of Religious Belief."

Among the minor works in this department we may mention, as having recently appeared :---The third series of "Sermons preached in Rugby Chapel" by the Bishop of Exeter (Dr. Temple). "Revelelation in Progress, from Adam to Malachi," a series of Bible Studies by the Rev. J. H. Titcomb, M.A. ; "Sundays Abroad," a series of observations on the religious condition of the people of Italy, France and Switzerland, by the Rev. Dr. Guthrie.

NOTE. After a careful consideration of the amount of space at our disposal, we have decided to publish our Chronicle of Events and Science & Art Summary, quarterly, instead of monthly, as at first intended.

ERRATUM. For "Clarie," in the early chapters of Marguerite Kneller, read "Claire."

THE

CANADIAN MONTHLY

AND NATIONAL REVIEW.

VOL. I.]

MARCH, 1872.

[No. 3.

THAT

IMMIGRATION.

BY THOMAS WHITE, JR.

Imperial connection.

HAT the union of the Provinces of British America has conferred substantial benefit upon them no one now ventures to deny. It has infused a national spirit among the people; it has increased the sense of national responsibility; it has enlarged the field of enterprize and energy; it has brought home to Canadians the conviction that they have in this Dominion the nucleus of a great nation; and it has directed the popular mind to questions of social and material development with an earnestness that gives high promise for the future. For years before the union the people of Canada had been engaged in constitutional discussions, important in themselves, but utterly opposed to anything like a due attention to subjects of material progress. First, after the old union, was the question of responsible government, the principles of which had to be fought out against those who regarded them as inconsistent with the Colonial condition or with Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada in the year 1872, by Adam, Stevenson & Co., in the Office of the

Then came the agitation for the abolition of the Seignorial Tenure-relic of the old feudal times-which pressed so heavily upon the energies of the people of Lower Canada, as to make progress or improvement impossible; and that for the Secularization of the Clergy Reserves, in which the battle of religious liberty and equality was fought and won. These removed, came the constitutional agitation for an adjustment of the representation which went on with increasing violence until it had brought the Parliamentary system of the country to a dead-lock, and forced its settlement by the very necessities of the Government. The coalition of 1864 gave to Canada its first substantial political rest since the union of 1841; and the three years between the formation of the coalition and the passage of the Act of Union, prepared the public for the important work which was to follow. Since that time scarcely five years have passed away, and already the most marked pro

Minister of Agriculture.

gress has been achieved. The great NorthWest Territory, with its magnificent stretches of prairie land, and British Columbia, with its varied resources of mineral and agricultural wealth, have been incorporated with the Dominion. The Intercolonial Railway, connecting Halifax with the Western Provinces, will be completed within two years at the furthest, and the Government stands pledged to the construction of the Pacific Railway within the next ten years. In every Province of the Dominion the utmost activity in matters of public improvement prevails; new railways extending into remote settlements, and into districts which cannot yet be dignified by that name, have been projected or are being built; while the Government is credited with the most liberal intentions in the matter of canal and river improvements.

With so much activity in every department of business and of public enterprise, and with immense districts awaiting the advent of the hardy settler, it is not surprising that the subject of immigration occupies today the foremost rank in the popular estimate of the necessities of the future, and that schemes for the promotion of immigration fill the columns of our daily press. The rapid development of the United States is due chiefly to their successful efforts in the encouragement of immigration; and so universally is this fact recognized that statists have reduced almost to a mathematical problem the value of each immigrant who settles in the country. One of the New York Emigration Commissioners, whose conclusions have been generally accepted as just, has estimated that, without immigration, the population of the neighbouring republic today would be under ten millions, while in fact it reaches nearly thirty-nine millions. The same authority estimates that the cash capital in possession of immigrants, on their arrival in the United States, averages a hundred dollars per head; and he assumes that the economic value of each immigrant is

$1,125, making, at the present rates of immigration, an addition to the wealth of the country equal to at least a million dollars a day. In Canada, unfortunately, this great interest has in the past been too much neglected. At occasional intervals, beginning with the immigration under the auspices of Peter Robertson, in 1830, there have been efforts to direct the stream of immigration to these colonies, but no continuous or sustained effort has ever been made. As a consequence, Canada, as a field for immigration, has been but little known in Great Britain, and still less known on the continent of Europe; and we have seen during the past twenty years emigrants by the thousand settling in the neighbouring republic, many of them actually passing through Canadian territory on their way there, most of whom would have infinitely preferred remaining among people with whom, both politically and socially, they have greater sympathy.

An examination of the emigration returns of the United Kingdom affords some curious illustrations of the course of emigration. In the report of the Imperial Emigration Commissioners for 1870, the volume of emigration for each year from 1815 is given, distinguishing those who emigrated to Canada, the United States, the Australian Colonies and New Zealand, and all other places. From 1815 down to 1840, the emigration to the North American Colonies was greater than to all other countries combined, and some eighty-two thousand more than to the United States. Indeed, down to 1847, the year of the great Irish emigration, when the terrible ship fever added its terrors to the other miseries of the unfortunate fugitives from a cruel starvation, the relative numbers who had emigrated to Canada and the United States were nearly equal, being 746.163 to the former, and 780,048 to the latter. From that time, however, the most marked change commenced, and from 1847 to 1870 inclusive the numbers were 645,608 to Canada, and 3,692,624 to the United States.

« iepriekšējāTurpināt »