fore it is finished if the present development continues.

The young men in Eastern Canada who have small chances should move west. Those who do this will find it necessary to undergo hardships and some trying delays perhaps, but they will eventually be successful men. During the month of August, the Canadian Pacific Railway carried from Eastern to Western Canada seventeen special trainloads of harvesters, 10,400 men, and most of them secured work at $40 a month and board. The country that needs men in lots of that size is the place for the young man who desires to grow up with the country. The young chap who must wear immaculate cuffs and collars and have office hours of about nine to four would be as well at home, for it is pleasanter starving where you can get a lunch for 10 cents, than where meals are worth 25 to 50 cents each.

*

The United States people are most generous. Their anxiety for the welfare of Captain Dreyfus and Mrs. Maybrick speaks well for the tender conscience of the great Republic, much better than its treatment of the Indians, the negroes and the Filipinos. The other day, a British seaman at Gibraltar lost an arm while ramming home a charge in a gun to be fired in honour of the great and only Dewey. The compassionate United States sailors and marines-the officers couldn't have been included-raised $150 and presented it to him.

Such generosity reminds me of a story I heard in British Columbia the other day. The National Press Association of the United States, four hundred strong, was passing over the Canadian Pacific Railway by special train. A bush fire running close to the track had burned one of the high bridges over a British Columbian stream. The watchman at the bridge swam eight hundred yards through this swift-running glacier-fed stream and flagged the train. He did his duty and saved four hundred lives. With the characteristic large-heartedness of the peo

The people of Canada have known for some time how shallow is the public mind of the United States. When these loud-talking neighbours of ours began to gush over an Anglo-Saxon understanding, the people of Canada smiled. Now that these same neighbours are trying to avoid arbitrating the disputed boundary between Alaska and Canada, now that they are murdering the Filipinos as fast as they can, now that they have no particular need for Great Britain's backing, they are talking of Britain's brutality towards the Boers. But still we smile. Great Britain does not need advice from men who slaughter negroes at home and abroad as a daily occupation. We do not underestimate the greatness of the United States, nor the inherent wisdom of the power behind its public actions; but reither do we underestimate our claim to sit on this part of the continent without any crowding, nor the claim of Great Britain to remain the sole arbiter of her own affairs.

*

When the United States authorities began to send its sick soldiers home from Manila, they crowded 1,200 men into a ship which should have carried but 800. These overcrowded, illtreated white citizens of the Republic had to ask the British authorities at Hong-Kong for assistance. As the transport flew the British flag, the authorities were able to interfere in the interest of humanity.

Now, if the case had been reversed, and if wounded British soldiers were coming home on a vessel flying a United States flag-but, no, the supposition is ludicrous. Great Britain doesn't neglect her soldiers like that; she is great enough to be humane. To fight once under the Union Jack is to secure forever the protection and assistance of the Government which that flag repre

sents.

John A. Cooper.

SOME

THE GREAT COMPANY.*

COME thinkers in England are lamenting the literary tastes of the time and are recalling the London of Elizabeth which supported fifty dramatic poets and yet had only one-tenth of the present population of that great literary centre. The thinkers find plenty of books, but few good ones; plenty of verse but few intellectual poems; great armaments but no national drama. A writer to The Outlook ends his lament with this sentiment:

"Blink the facts as we may, that class of the population whose intellectual food was in Athens Eschylus, in Rome Virgil, in Persia Firdausi, and in old England Shakespeare, in modern England fattens on 'Snippets' and the cheap magazines, and this is the net result of thirty years' education in the Industrial Era. My dear British ratepayer, have you reflected on the extravagance of this £10,

000,000 a year spent on your elementary

schools?"

In Canada much the same state of

things exists. The people will not buy Canadian books and Canadian publications of merit ; but they do appreciate the sentimental fiction and the cheap magazines of New York and London. Yet, I leave the protest here, until I see what Robert Barr has to say in the two articles which are announced for the November and December issues of this magazine. Let us hope Barr will not be too truthful.

I was led into these remarks by won

*The Great Company, being a History of the Honorable Company of Merchants-Adventurers trading into Hudson's Bay, by Beckles Willson, with an introduction by Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal. Toronto: The Copp, Clark Co.

dering how many copies of "The Great Company," by Beckles Willson would find their way into Canadian homes. Here is a work which is truly great. The romance of the Hudson's Bay Company is unequalled in the annals of modern history and contains much for the citizen of the Canada of to-day. Beckles Willson has chosen the greatest theme offering itself for literary exploitation and has written a volume which must give him a permanent place among Canadian authors.

The early work of this great company was performed by one who was born in France and emigrated to Canada when sixteen years of age, being one of the fifty-two emigrés who sailed with the heroic Maissoneuve from Rochelle in 1641. He learned the system of barter with the Indians and the weaknesses of the French methods of

dealing with the fur-trade. In 1659, we find him in company with his brother-in-law striking out into the interior, through the great forest wildernesses to Lake Superior, and then southwest into the land of the Tobacco Indians. From here these two intrepid coureurs de bois passed northward to winter with the Sioux in what is now the State of Minnesota. Here they first learned of that immense body of water which the English had already named Hudson's Bay and which was to be for these two adventurers the scene of those exploits which have made their names historic. The greater of these two traders was Groseilliers (so named from his "gooseberry" estate) and his brother-in-law was Pierre Radisson.

During the next five years, Groseil

liers made several trips from Quebec to Lake Superior, plying a trade which the authorities did not much approve of, and collecting information about the Hudson Bay region. But the authorities finally succeeded in making him uncomfortable, and he decided to offer his services to the English in Boston. He desired assistance to take an expedition overland to Hudson's Bay, The Sea of the North as the Canadians called it. Failing to secure this, he tried to get a ship to reach it by way of the Atlantic Ocean. However, the Bostonians lacked capital, and Groseilliers then sailed for Europe to lay his scheme before the French court. was accompanied on this journey by Radisson, who had come from Canada to Boston for the purpose.

He

The French court failed him and he was loath to try the English again. His enthusiasm and determination, however, eventually bore him to the English court with an introduction to Prince Rupert from the English ambassador at Paris. In June, 1667, he met the dashing courtier and was promised assistance. A year later he set sail from London on the Nonsuch, a ketch of fifty tons, bound for Hudson's Baythe first voyage under the auspices of the man who was afterwards the first presiding officer of "The Governor and Company of Merchants-Adventurers trading into Hudson's Bay." The voyage was successful, a fort was built and a cargo of furs returned next year to London. Then Prince Rupert secured a charter and regular trading was begun. The exact date of the charter was May 2nd, 1670, and the grantees named in it were Prince Rupert and seventeen nobles and gentlemen. There was given, to them and their heirs, the power of holding and alienating lands, the sole right of trade in Hudson's Strait, and the territories upon the coasts of the same waters. They were made administrators of justice and practical rulers of the region, although neither party to the patent was aware of the enormous territory included.

Thus began the great work of the

H.B.C., the significance of which is well pointed out by Lord Strathcona in his admirable introduction to this book. He says:

"The history of the Company during the two centuries of its existence must bring out prominently several matters which are apt now to be lightly remembered. I refer to the immense area of country-more than half as large as Europe-over which its control eventually extended, the explorations conducted under its auspices, the successful endeavours, in spite of strenuous opposition, to retain its hold upon what it regarded as its territory, its friendly relations with the Indians and finally the manner in which its work prepared the way for the incorporation of the 'illimitable wilderness' within the Dominion.

"It is not too much to say that the furtraders were the pioneers of civilization in the far west. They undertook the most fatiguing journeys with the greatest pluck and fortitude; they explored the country and kept it in trust for Great Britain."

The book contains over five hundred large pages, and is profusely illustrated by reproductions of old maps, drawings and photographs. The special drawings by Arthur Heming are very suitable, as Mr. Heming's knowledge of the fur-trade, and of Northwest life, is unequalled by that of any other living artist. Mr. Willson has performed his huge task with much skill, yet the book is not without its faults. Here and there, an indefiniteness presents itself which shows haste, and this impression is deepened when notices occasional carelessness in condensation and in sentence-construction. Probably the weakest piece of writing in the book is the preface-apparently written when Mr. Willson had arrived at the end of his work, nervous and exhausted. In the first page of the book the author speaks of "The Restoration of the Stewarts to the English Throne," and then follows this up with a sentence worthy of a Canadian backwoods weekly newspaper. On p. 27 may be found coureurs des bois," and on pp. 52 and 87 66 coureurs de bois (plural), and coureur de bois" (singular). For the correct spelling of this term, the reader must be referred to the discussion in the editor's department of last month. But in spite of little errors

and minor weaknesses of this kind, the book is really a praise-worthy production.

A GEOLOGIST'S MEMOIRS.

Canada promises to be a great mining country and the young man of to-day who devotes his attention to mineralogy and geology will have a chance of playing an important part in the development of this important industry. To-day mining offers more prizes to men with theoretical and practical knowledge thereof than do law, medicine or any other of the wellknown professions.

For many years the Geological Survey has been one of the departments of government at Ottawa, and the work done by it has contributed in considerable measure to the position which Canada occoupies to-day as a mineral producing country. A sidelight on what the work of the Geological Survey has been is to be found in a book recently issued by a man who has been connected with it since 1859. This volume, which is entitled "Reminiscences among the Rocks,' by Thomas

Chesmer Weston, is simply a biography, but one which embodies some Canadian history. Mr. Watson was initiated into the department under the late Sir William Logan, and worked with such men as Sir William Dawson, Dr. T. Sterry Hunt and Dr. Robert Bell. He was engaged with Sir William Dawson in some work connected with that great scientist investigations of the eozoon, and claims to have been the first to notice the organic structure of this supposed animal in the microscopic sections of the earliest specimens. These came from Côte St. Pierre, in the Province of Quebec. Mr. Weston's experiences

in various localities are very interesting and, more than that, are very valuable to any person wishing to know something of Canada's geology and ethnology. To be sure the knowledge is well mixed up with personal recitals, but even that my be a sort of

* Toronto: Warwick Bros. & Rutter.

softening of knowledge and facts which will make them more attractive.

HISTORICAL SOCIETIES.

The historical societies still continue their unselfish and important work. The Ontario Historical Society has issued "the first volume of what, it is hoped, will be a long list of valuable records and papers. This contains the marriage and baptismal records. kept by the Rev. John Langhorn, the first minister west of Kingston authorized to solemnize marriages. These run from 1787 to 1813. It also contains the register of Rev. Robert McDowall, the first regularly sent Presbyterian missionary into Upper Canada, as well as other similar matter well worth preservation.

The New Brunswick Historical has issued its No. 4, and contains the second instalment of the Journal of Captain William Owen, R.N., during his residence on Campobello, 1770-1, a continuation of the James White papers relating to events which occurred on the St. John River before the Province of New Brunswick was created; the Pennfield Records, and an article by Rev. W. O. Raymond on incidents in the early history of eastern and northern New Brunswick.

The Nova Scotia Historical Society claims attention with Volume X. of its collections, which is wholly occupied by an article on "The Slave in Canada," by T. Watson Smith. The author says in his preface: "This paper is an attempt to supply a missing chapter in Canadian history-a sombre and unattractive chapter it may be, but necessary, nevertheless, to the completeness of our records. . . . In the collection of these facts not a little difficulty has been encountered. Our historians have almost wholly ignored the existence of slavery in Canada. A few references to it are all that can be found in Kingsford's ten volumes; Haliburton devotes a little more than a halfpage to it; Murdoch contents himself with the reproduction of a few slave advertisements; Clement dismisses it

with a single sentence." Yet Dr. Smith finds material enough for a 40,ooo word paper-a most interesting and entertaining paper.

*

SHELDON'S BOOKS.

It is very difficult to give an estimate of Charles M. Sheldon's works. A careful reading of "John King's Question Class "* shows it to be neither a novel nor a popular presentation of religious views, but rather a combination of both. The man is resourceful and clever, but he is not literary. He is bright and earnest, but is neither philosophical nor artistic. He does not produce what is commonly known as a "purpose novel," but tells a story and puts his "purpose work" in here and there. At times his cleverness is of the cheap order and his remarks of the popular, UnitedStates-preacher order. But as his book is not to be classed as literature in its narrow sense, it does not require extended notice in these pages.

THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION.

A truly wonderful book on the temperance question has just been issued in England. It is entitled "The Temperance Problem and Social Reformt" and is the work of Joseph Rowntree and Arthur Sherwell, both writers who have been before the public with other books. It opens by stating that the temperance movement began in 1826, and that "no other social propaganda of the century has called forth so much unselfish effort, or enlisted so numerous a body of workers." The work has had its results, for it is not the fashion now for a man in either Great Britain or Canada to get drunk. In this country, barn-raisings, logging bees and threshings are no longer accompanied by considerable whiskey drinking; commercial travellers are not now compelled to drink with every customer; bargains are not necessarily consummated with a drink in the near

* Toronto: The W. J. Gage Co.

+ London; Hodder & Stoughton. Toronto: Upper Canada Tract Society. Cloth, 626 Pp., $1.75.

est bar-room; and it is not the custom for the guests at a banquet to do honour to their host by drinking themselves under the table. Yet the per capita consumption of alcohol in the United Kingdom is greater than it was in 1840. In Canada there is a similar experience, for the 1897 Year Book states that the consumption of spirits and malt liquor increased a little over eleven million gallons in 1868 to over twenty million of gallons in 1897, an inincrease of about 82 per cent. while the increase in population was not more than 80 per cent. It may be, that if the figures were closely looked into, it would be found that drinking in Canada is not in the increase; but, per capita, there is certainly no decrease worthy of the name.

The subject is a most interesting one and also most important. Any person wishing to know the experiences of the various countries of the world in prohibition and regulation will find this book a mine of information. matter is well arranged and the statistics exceedingly well handled.

CANADIAN POETRY.

The

The honour of bringing together the largest collection of volumes of Canadian (English) verse has, by common consent, been awarded to Mr. C. C. James, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Toronto. After years of patient and persistent search, Mr. James secured an almost complete set, comprising some four hundred volumes and pamphlets; then, with uncommon generosity, he presented the collection to the library of Victoria University. In addition to all this work and this liberality on behalf of Canadian literature, he has compiled and had published “A Bibliography of Canadian Poetry (English)" which includes the titles of all his own collection, and of all other books of the same class in the Toronto Public, the Ontario Legislative, the Ontario Educational, and the Dominion Parliamentary Libraries. This neat little volume of seventy pages is printed for Victoria University Library by William Briggs, Toronto.