276 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



it could have had was a badly written paper. The Mercury was- 

 delighted ; it said the defunct looked like a parent of Le Canadien. 

 In all that squabble, man}^ young men handled the pen and acquired a 

 practical understanding of the art of putting their thoughts in black and. 

 white. This was really the first school of that kind in Canada. 



Some debating clubs existed in the meantime, where such personali- 

 ties as Louis J. Papineau, Debartczh and Bourdages gained a fame 

 before coming out openly as public men. 



Dr. Labrie gave an impulsion towards the study of the history of 

 Canada. So did George Heriot, in his works published during those years. 

 The Montreal press helped a great deal in that direction by the writings of 

 Yiger, Bibaud, Mermet, Saint-George and O'Sullivan. The literature of 

 Canada was born by this time. Lambert, who visited the country in 1806-8^ 

 does not say much about it, for he only saw the incipient state of things, 

 and cannot be expected to have foreseen the future. Here are his obser- 

 vations : " The state of literatui'e and the arts did not improve very 

 rapidly after the conquest. The traders and settlers who took uj) their 

 abode amongst the French were ill-qualified to diffuse a taste for the 

 arts and sciences, unless, indeed, it was the science of barter and the art of 

 gaining cent per cent upon their goods. For many years, no other work 

 was printed in the colony than an almanac. . . Of late years, the Cana- 

 dians have appeared desirous of establishing some claim to a literary 

 character. . . The publishing of six newspapei-s weekly is a proof of the 

 progressive improvement and prosperity of the country, though it may 

 be but a fallacious symptom of literary improvement. Four of the news- 

 papers are published in Quebec and two in Montreal. These, with an 

 almanac, and the acts of the provincial parliament, are all the works that 

 are printed in Lower Canada." It is obvious that Lambert was unaware 

 of other publications, such as schoolbooks, songsters, treatises upon the 

 seigniorial tenure, commentaries on laws, discussions of political and 

 historical matters, and amateur theatricals, which, in a colony, are always a 

 form of intellectual development worth mentioning. He continues : " Twa 

 of the newspapers have been established fifteen or sixteen years ; one of 

 them is the Montreal Gazette, and the other the Quebec Gazetted The 

 Quebec Gazette was then 44 years old, and the Montreal Gazette 30 years. 

 '' They are published in French and English, and contain the governor's 

 proclamation and edicts, the advertisements of the sheriff's sales, mer- 

 chants' stores, public auctions, &c., together with a selection of the earliest 

 intelligence extracted from the English and American papei's... The 

 Gazettes seldom interfere with the morals or manners of society ; those 

 objects are left for the otherweekly papers, which are published on Satur- 

 days and Mondays. These papers consist of the Quebec Mercury, pub- 

 lished entirely in English, by Cary, on Monday afternoon, and has been 

 established about eight years." Say three years. " The Canadian Courant^. 



