December 7, 1916 
LAND & WATER 
43 
Story of an Empire Builder 
It is to be feared that few but the most conscientious 
students oi the political history of Canada will have the 
necessary perseverance to read through from beginning to end, 
the two volumes of The Life and Letters of the Right Hon. Sir 
Charles Tapper, Bart., K.C.M.G. (Cassell and Company, 
25s. net). One admires the patience and thoroughness with 
which the Rev. Dr. Saunders has performed his task of editor ; 
one wishes that ho had done it with less. For a lighter touch 
and less bulky volumes would have won a wider following for 
one of the greatest and most public-spirited of Canadians. 
The story begins with some interesting extracts from the 
journal of the young Charles Tupper, then a student, after- 
wards a distinguished Empire Builder and a famous figure ; 
it ends with the old man, bereaved of his belo\'ed companion 
of 66 years, bidding farewell to his grandsons as they left 
to fight for the Empire in the Great War, which must, at 
least, get the gredit of- having taught the whole world what 
the unity of the British Empire means. 
The battle over Confederation is well-known history. But 
it may be interesting to recall that the meeting of the delegates 
to the Conference in London took place at the \\'estminster 
Palace Hotel, and forty-four years later, in June 191 1, 
Sir Charles Tupper, Sir Wilfrid Lauricr, and Lord Strathcona 
sat at table and paid each other cordial compliments on 
the occasion of the unveiling in the hotel of the tablet 
which commemorated the Conference. Those who were 
present — among them was the writer — will long remember 
the enthusiasm with which the aged statesman was received 
by the j'oungei'men who had grown up in a United Canada. 
Although most of the space in the two volumes is devoted 
to political history, and to correspondence relating thereto, 
there are occasional lighter gleams. The little account of 
the association with Martin Tupper who wrote. Proverbial 
I'hilosophy, which was, according t.o one frank critic, 
" the most unreadable book in the English language," is 
interesting, as is the allusion to Bishop Wilberforce's wit, 
both at the expense of his chaplain and of John Bright. 
While those who study the occult will find support in Sir 
Charles Tupper's own story of a warnihg he received in mid- 
ocean of his wife's dangerous illness. 
Moor Fires, by E. H. Young (John Murray, 5s. net.), is 
the story of a family of two girls and two boys, subjected to 
the influence of the moor, and growing up under its domina-, 
tion. With a gift almost equal to that of Hardy, in some of 
his phases the author makes the moor real ; where the work 
falls short of Hardy is in that the moor and its influence are 
always a little bit away from the reader ; it is a presence off 
the stage, felt, but never \'kMc entirely. For the rest, 
the book is a psychological study, well and carefully done ; 
every character is alive and interesting, and the work will 
hold its readers. It is a book to read carefully — and to enjoy. 
There is a good deal of fun, and a very canny sense of 
human nature and its workings, in Miss Dorothea Conyers' 
novel, The Financing oi Fio-na (George Allen and Unwin, 
6s.) . Fiona Beresforcl, Irish to the backbone, was left at her 
uncle's death with the house that he lived in and all its con- 
tent's, but nothing to keep up the establishment, so she set 
to work to make two ends meet by taking in paying guests 
for the hunting season, said guests including an eligible and 
altogether delightful young man, whom Fiona did not marry 
in the last chapter. A cousin who got the uncle's money and 
wanted the house that was left to Fiona, provides as much 
nmusing villainy as one of Lever's characters, and Miss 
Juliette O'Geary is another character who might have steppe I 
straight out of Handy Andy. The book is delightful outdoor 
comedy, a fit companion for an evening by the fire. 
The third volume of Germany in Defeat, by Count Charles 
dc Souza (Kegan, Paul and Co., 6s. net), carries on the story 
of the war in just as entertaining fashion as the two preceding 
\-olumes. The author is mainly concerned in this volume 
with the Russian advance to the Carpathians and its eftcct 
on the eastern campaign ; lie considers, and adduces ample 
reason for his conclusion, that a grave strategic error was 
committed by the Grand Duke is'icholas in leaving the 
western flank so lightly held at the time of the adventure 
against Austria, and in misreading the evidence of a German 
concentration. In this volume the story of the war is brought 
down to the battle of Verdun, which is concisely and lucidly 
presented to the reader. The author has the g'ift of making 
strategic problems interesting, and, believing as he does that 
the final decision of the war lies in the west lie pays ample 
tribute to the part that France has played and to the 
genius of Joffre, ' ' 
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