XVI EOTAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 



having a ditstinctive character and importance of its own. That, gentlemen, is, I apjireheud, one 

 justification of the existence of the Society. The publication of the handsome volume of Transactions, 

 of which you have been good enough to present me with a very magnificent copy, affords another. 



Here, again, we may be asked why cannot you leave these literary productions to sink or swim 

 according to their own deserts, instead of printing them as you do at thei^ublic expense? The answer 

 to this question is, I think, that there must always be some work which, either because it anticipates 

 pojjular taste, or because it is too recondite for the general reader, will be slow to obtain publicity through 

 the ordinary channels. Such work will be conveniently and appropriately brought before the public 

 by the periodical issue of j^our Transactions. I confess for myself, I am not sorry that the solid meal 

 is relieved here and there by a few pieces, which appeal to the reader rather by the classical 

 grace of their construction, and which are capable of being more easily assimilated by an ordinary 

 intelligence. 



There is one other duty which such a society as this is admirably qualified to perform. I 

 mean that of, upon occasion, speaking and acting with authority on behalf of Canadian Literature 

 and Science. Its action in this resjject may take more than one direction. It may take that of cor- 

 respondence with other Associations, either local Societies of which you have several excellent ones 

 in Canada, or the great and learned Societies of Europe and this continent, with many of which you 

 have, I am glad to know, established relations. There is one such Society which is probably in all 

 our thoughts at the present time. I mean that great English Association which later in the year will 

 pay us a visit to our gi-eat delight on Canadian territory. There is, however, another public body 

 with which I can conceive that you may, upon occasion, confer with great advantage. That public 

 body is the Government of the Dominion. I can conceive numerous cases in which it might be of 

 the greatest assistance not only to Literatui-e and Science, but to the Government itself that there 

 should be in existence a l^ody from which an authoritative expression of opinion in regard to public 

 questions aifecting national culture might, upon occasion, be elicited. I will give you a single illustra- 

 tion of my meaning. One case occurs to me in which such a body as yours might operate most use- 

 fully in the manner in which I have suggested. I refer to the case of the Historical Eecords of this 

 country. Anyone who has had to do with valuable manuscripts knows the difficulty of, on the one 

 hand, rendering these available for the legitimate purposes of the historian, and on the other of 

 restricting their use to proper persons. In England, we founded a few years ago a standing commis- 

 sion which was entrusted with the task of investigating and reporting upon the great mass of valu- 

 able materials, which are scattered about the country, and of which the existence and value are often 

 unsuspected by their owners. I do not see why your Society should not, to some extent, take the 

 place of our Historical Manuscrijît Commissions in regard to the historical records which may exist 

 liere. 



These are all legitimate openings for your activity, and justifications of your corpoi'ate exist- 

 ence. In each of these directions you should be able, without claiming a monopoly, without discour- 

 agement of private efforts, to do good national work in the broadest sense of the word, — work which 

 because it will be the property of the whole Dominion will help to bind its jiarts more firmly to- 

 gether and to raise your country, not only in the estimation of its own people, but in that of the 

 whole civilized world. 



I have now only to thank you for the honour you have conferred upon me, and for the kindly 

 terms in which you have welcomed me to the Dominion, and last but not least, for the courteous 

 reference which your addi-ess contains to Lady Lansdowne, who, if she had known that the fair sex 

 was as to be so largely represented in this room, would, I am sui-e, have come here with me. 



