APPENDIX A LXIII 



was to interest their countr3^men in the work of missions in Canada. 

 From the despatches of Frontenac and the Relations des Jésuites to 

 the Commentaries of Csesar is a far cry; but, perspicuous and doubtless, 

 in the main, accurate as those famous writings are, it has been said of 

 them, probably with truth, that they "were primarily intended to 

 serve an immediate political purpose, and are indeed a defence, framed 

 with the most consummate skill, of the author's whole Gallic policy 

 and of his constitutional position." A parallel has been drawn be- 

 tween the position of Csesar in Gaul and that of Clive or Warren 

 Hastings in India; and it is not difficult to imagine that the admini- 

 stration of the distant dependencies of a great empire, under con- 

 ditions very far from static, might give rise to situations in which it 

 would be practically impossible to keep within prescribed bounds, or 

 meet the demands of a public opinion formed at th3 seat of empire 

 without any sufficient knowledge of local facts. Hence, no doubt, 

 certain reticences and certain adroit turns in official correspondence, 

 which later the historian or the historical critic must only do his best to 

 discern and understand. Look where you will among the men of action 

 and achievement, and the rule will be found to hold that, while they 

 speak from a point of view of great command, and while what they have 

 to tell us is of the highest interest and often of great moment, they do 

 not tell us everything. They tell us what they consider it is good for us 

 to know, and thus prepare the channels in which they think opinion 

 should run. As a rule the absolute truth- tellers like Pepys and Rousseau 

 have not been very edifying persons; nor has veracity always been 

 illustrated in their daily lives. After all, what is truth? No more 

 puzzling question was ever asked, and the mathematic that will solve it 

 has yet to be invented. 



In the year 1668 a French writer, La Mothe le Vayer, who had the 

 honour of being associated with the education of Louis XIV, published 

 a treatise entitled "Du peu de certitude qu'il y a dans l'histoire," which 

 has been considered by some as marking the beginning of historical cri- 

 ticism in France. Certainly the beginning of wisdom in historical 

 matters is to recognize with that sage writer the little certainty there is 

 in history, as it has often, we may indeed say generally, been written, 

 and its liability to error at all times. It is not impossible, in most cases 

 of importance, to get dates right; and the same thing applies to names 

 and places and all facts expressible in numbers or otherwise narrowed 

 down to a point. The terms of original documents, treaties, charters, 

 laws, edicts, etc., can be reproduced with exactness; inscriptions can be 

 deciphered and more or less correctly intrepreted; manuscripts can be 

 collated, and texts purified; in all such matters a marked approach to 

 accuracy and finality has been made within the last half century. 



