CANADIAN HISTORY. 57 



Ferland, professor of history at Laval University, comes next, with a work which has the 

 irredeemable drawbaf'k of having been left unfinished. But what there is of it is invalu- 

 able for depth of research, fidelity of exposition, and ease of narrative. Another edition of 

 Ferland is wanted, after the new one of G-arneau, ably edited by his son and supplemented 

 by a biography from the pen of our late President, the Hon. P. J. O. Chauveau. The third 

 historian is Faillon, whose " Histoire de la Colonie française dans la Nouvelle-France," is 

 an encyclopedia of most minute information, gathered with the industry of a Benedictine, 

 and set forth with the authority of a writer whose numerous works on history have won 

 him an European reputation. Three volumes, in quarto, of this work have appeared, 

 but the remaining five are finished, and it is to be hoped that they will soon be published. 

 "When complete, Faillon will simply be a storehouse wherein the future historian will 

 have nothing to do but draw by the handful. The last of the French writers on this sub- 

 ject is Benjamin Suite, a colleague of the Royal Society. His work is entitled, " Histoire 

 des Canadiens-français," and is published in monthly parts. The aim of the author has 

 been to draw largely from every source within his reach, and he has done so to such 

 purpose, that no student of Canadian history can afiord to be without his volumes, even if 

 he should not agree with M. Suite in certain opinions which have provoked considerable 

 criticism. 



I have said that we have no general history of Canada, in English. When Parkman's 

 next volume appears, covering the period between 1*700 and the memorable epoch begin- 

 ning 1749, his whole work will include the annals of New France from the beginning to 

 the cession by the Treaty of Paris, in 1763 ; but it can never be regarded as a continuous 

 history, and — in spite of its literary excellence, and the vast range of its thoroughly reliable 

 information — the spirit in which much of it is written, however sincere and honestly 

 meant to be impartial, is of a chara.cter utterly unacceptable to a large class of readers. 



As Parkman does not supply the want to which I have called attention, it only 

 remains to say that the history of Canada has yet to be written. It is a task of peculiar 

 difficulty. The man who undertakes it must be thoroughly imbued with the exceptional 

 nature of exceptional epochs. He must understand the French people ; appreciate the 

 motives which prompted the colonisation of New France, and properly interpret the mean- 

 ing of events, well nigh inexplicable in our day. On the other hand, he must understand 

 the English people ; give them due credit for their generous course at the Conquest ; 

 master the objects of the Quebec Act of 1774, the Constitution of 1792, the Union Act of 

 1841. and that whole system of fair play which has made the French people, under British 

 rule, the freest and happiest under the sun. 



Judging from the present literary activity and the growing taste for historical studies, 

 there is reason to hope that the next complete general history of Canada will soon be 

 forthcoming. It need not exceed four royal octavo volumes — two devoted to French, and 

 two to British rule, with full indices and tabulated chronology. I am sure that such a 

 work would be, commercially, very successful, and to a man of talent and purpose, here is 

 an unquestionable opportunity for fame. 



II. — Of Monographs or partial histories, our literary record is more fruithful. In 

 the first place, there is a history of every province of the Dominion, except Quebec, but 

 that is hardly necessary, inasmuch as the ancient province is associated with the whole 

 history of the country from first to last. The Eastern Townships, however, have their own 



Sec. ii, 1887. 8. 



