56 JOHN LESPBEANCB ON 



parliamentary librarians have also an eye to our historical antiquities and curiosities in the 

 selection and acquisition of books. Quebec deserves the honour of having led in the same 

 field, the Government always deeming it a duty to enrich the legislative library with the 

 rarest books and writings. Unfortunately, periodical fires have sensibly lessened the value 

 of these collections, and the better plan has now been adopted of printing such transcrip- 

 tions as are made Thus, the " Manuscrits " in four large quartos and the "Ordonnances " 

 now being published in a number of volumes, are sure of surviving all accidents of flame 

 or flood. The history of Ontario is much more recent, and the material is thus less plenti- 

 ful, but the Grovernment have taken the wise precaution of gleaning everything that 

 comes within their reach. The publication in 1869, of the Proceedings of Nova Scotia, 

 has thrown a flood of light on many obscure and bitterly disputed points in the history of 

 the old Acadian land. 



Private bodies have patriotically followed in the same wake. The Quebec Literary 

 and Historical Society was the first to copy and publish valuable manuscripts. The Société 

 Historique de Montréal is doing the same with periodic regularity. The Halifax Historical 

 Society has lately given signs of renewed activity, while, if the Winnipeg Historical 

 Society maintains the zeal which it displays at present, there need be no fear that any 

 particle of Northwest story will be lost to the world. While all these individual associ- 

 ations are working so assiduously, might it not be well to consider the advisability of 

 establishing a general body, called the Historical Society of Canada, whose object should be, 

 in periodical meetings, to gather, coordinate and transfuse into one homogeneous whole, 

 all these separate labours ? And would it not be a further advantage if this general 

 society were formed under the sanction and with the cooperation of the Royal Society of 

 Canada? As one step in that direction, the Royal Society might unite, during the present 

 session, in a memorial to the Federal Grovernment, urging the need of continuing and 

 increasing the work of collecting manuscripts, either original or transci'ibed, wherever 

 they may be procured and whatever they may cost. 



II. 



But it is not enough to possess material ; that material must be employed. It is not 

 sufficient to have wherewithal to write history ; that history must be written. Herein 

 something has been done, but not very much ; and it may be said that our historical litera- 

 ture is still in its infancy. This literature may be classed under five hjeads, viz., Gi-eneral 

 History, Monographs, Biographies, Historical Novels and Memoirs. 



I. — In the first place, we have no General History of Canada in English, excluding, 

 of course, elementary and school text-books, some of which are quite suited to their pur- 

 pose. The French have the field all to themselves. The pioneer was Garneau, whose work 

 is a monument when we remember the unfavourable circumstances under which it was 

 written. The literary merit is of a high order, the spirit is broad and patriotic, and the 

 teachings have been such as to elevate the compatriots to whom it was addressed. Natu- 

 rally, the English reader cannot be expected to accept many of Garneau's political estim- 

 ates and military comments ; while there is a portion of French Canadians who have 

 not shared his views on certain ecclesiastical controversies and national movements. 



