14 JOHÏr EEADE 



elect their churcliwardeus and deacons, and let national societies elect their officers ; but 

 the nation knows no such distinctions, and, though it may take some time to substitute 

 for such a convention a more rational usage, it must surely go eventually, and the sooner 

 the better. 



The Pkovinces. 



There is another point which may be slightly touched on, as it suggests a serious 

 danger to the nation — the question of provincial rights. Dr. Draper maintains, in his 

 History of the Civil "War, that the antagonism between North and South was an innate 

 antagonism of race and class, aggravated by differences of climate and the institution of 

 slavery, and must have ended as it did. Slavery suited the southerner better than the 

 northerner, but the northerners have had slaves too. At any rate, whatever drove them 

 to war, there is no slavery in Canada, and we are all north. Our sectional divisions, if 

 they come, will be those of longitude. That provincial rights should be maintained, is 

 altogether necessary and just, and no one who wishes well to his country would encourage 

 the federal authorities in violating the law of the land. But such a thing is impossible, 

 as full provision has been made to prevent it. If the law is at fault, that is another cjues- 

 tion. There is, however, much more need of a league for a defence of the nation's rights 

 against the abuses of sectionalism, than there is of a league for the defence of provincial 

 rights. Ever so many influences conspire against the national interest. Localism and 

 sectionalism are in the ascendant. What we want most is a strong, unbiased national 

 spirit. 



Progress. 



In extent, Canada is the fourth of the great powers of the world. In population, Canada 

 is in advance of about a dozen independent kingdoms and republics. In public works, 

 shipping, commerce, manufactures, industries, Canada is great, and growing daily greater. 

 It ought to be a pride to take part in any way in the making of such a nation, in the deve- 

 lopment of its resources, in fostering its literature, science and art. We have great 

 scientific names. We have an academy which has done some creditable work, and 

 whoever consults Morgan's Bibliotheca Canadensis, Lareau's Littérature Canadienne, the 

 chapter entitled Mouvement intellectuel et littéraire in Chauveau's Instruction Publique en 

 Canada, and Bourinot's Intellectual Development of the Canadian People, will see that we have 

 taken, at least, the first steps towards the production of a national literature. What we 

 need is a national sentiment. We have, unhappily, no metropolis — no centre of taste 

 and judgment. Such a metropolis or its equivalent, will, no doubt, be recognized in time 

 But the national feeling must precede it. That, indeed, as throughout this paper I have 

 tried to make clear, is our chief desideratum. 



Conclusion. 

 In the rise of the little colonies of the beginning of the lYth century to the status of 



