Marclj 



a new 



liiiic tiling 

 ■St. Far- 

 lly from 

 ited dis- 

 into tlio 

 1 tlie tul- 

 arin g tlio 

 emigrant 

 me there 

 orld pop- 

 'C found, 

 orth-wcst, 

 dustrious 

 provinces, 

 nowlcdge 

 in fact, 

 lie Euro- 

 very thing 

 ge in his 

 ronghont 

 d villages 

 the line 

 tid there 

 [id tell of 

 advance- 

 pioneers 

 take pos- 



•y. The 



•sentinels, 

 1 in the 

 e homes ; 

 years to 

 on. But 

 istorv of 

 ever the 

 ! event u- 

 Je cabins 

 ned into 

 iwellinga, 

 lost in 

 ripening 



the most 



materia) 



> rich in 



itural re- 



1th and 



founda- 



?st on a 



lucation, 



govern- 



i shown. 



1883. 



The Proijress of the New Dominioti. 



357 



are best adapted to give unity and 

 streiigth to a people. Xo dejien- 

 dency of the em[)iro, not even 

 England herself, has a system of 

 education better calculated than 

 that of Ontario to elevate the 

 masses to a higher degree of culture. 

 The legislatures of all the ])rov- 

 inces have, for many years past, 

 largely sup])lemented the eft'orts of 

 the people in the various municipal 

 districts to improve the condition 

 of the public schools; and the re- 

 sult is, that the poorest children in 

 the country can receive an educa- 

 tion, accordini; to their vocation 

 ill life, in common schools, gram- 

 mar schools, collegiate institutes, 

 agricultural colleges, and univer- 

 sities, some of the latter of a 

 high standard. The progress that 

 lias been made within less than 

 half a century may be proved 

 by the fact that in ]S40 there 

 were in all the schools of Jiritish 

 North America only some 90,000 

 young people, or about one in fif- 

 teen, whilst at the present time the 

 proportion is one in four — about 

 the same proportion as in Mas- 

 sachusetts. With a liberal and 

 thorough educational system, with 

 the rapid development of wealth, 

 the Cana<liaii people have neces- 

 sarily gained in intellectual culture. 

 The architecture of the churches 

 and public buildings; the taste and 

 even luxury of the homes of the 

 people; the establishment of nu- 

 merous societies for the promotion 

 of art, literature, and science; the 

 literary ability displayeil in the 

 leading journals ; the interesting 

 liistorical, scientific, and other 

 books that arc annually ])ublished, 

 — all go to j)rove that the Canadians 

 have long since successfully passed 

 through the rude stages of colonial 

 life, and are slowly but steadily 

 advancing in the direction of that 

 higher culture which can only be 

 expected in communities of mature 

 age and large wealth. It is true 



no great poem, no popular novel, 

 no remarkalile liistorv, has yet ap- 

 peared to rival the masterpieces of 

 American literalure ; but there is 

 nevertheless produced from year to 

 year much meritorious work, espe- 

 cially in science, which augurs well 

 for the future literature of Canada. 

 The remarks of Mi. Freeman in a 

 recent work have an application to 

 Canada as well as to the United 

 States, when he says that America 

 strikes him "as the land of the gen- 

 eral reader ; and that the well-read 

 — not the professed scholars, but the 

 inteilifxent readers — are a lariier 

 pro{)ortional class in America than 

 in England." In every populous 

 centre there are many persons of 

 cultivated, refined tastes; and even 

 now that apostle of culture, Mr. 

 Matthew Arnold, may travel in 

 C^anada without enduring much 

 mental suffering. In the manage- 

 ment of local and municiiial affairs, 

 in the work of administering the 

 provincial and Dominion Govern- 

 ments, the (Canadians exhibit an 

 amount of constitutional knowledge 

 and executive ability that will 

 account for the large measure of 

 success that has heretofore attended 

 their efforts to govern themselves. 

 The proceedings of their legislative 

 bodies, especially of the Dominion 

 Parliament, are conducted, as a 

 rule, with a regard to decorum, 

 and with an adherence to the great 

 principles of ]^ritisli parliamentary 

 usage and procedure, that may well 

 provoke com[)arison with the pro- 

 ceedings of the imperial Legis- 

 lature in these degenerate days, 

 when the clolurc, as yet unknown 

 in Canada, is forced on a minority. 

 On those occasions, far too rare, 

 when the public men of Canada are 

 called upon to pass beyond the 

 sphere of narrow provincial issues, 

 and to deal with questions of 

 national significance, not a few 

 speeches are distinguished by an 

 oratorical skill and a comprchen- 



