bly. In this accomplishment, if it be one, Canadians certainly cannot compare with their neighbours, and perhaps for this reason also, the "intellectual ” anniversary has proved a failure.

In some parts of the country, however, the practice of delivering an annual address still obtains. For example, we have before us an able and instructive address delivered at Coaticook, Q., by Mr. Charles Colby, M.P. for the County of Stanstead, which must have been listened to with interest, and certainly will repay perusal. It is not our intention to examine the address closely; we merely notice it here as an instance of what our legislators might do for their constituents, especially in our smaller towns and villages. In the cities and large towns people make a business of their pleasure, even on holidays, and any attempt to divert them from it by the promise of an "intellectual feast" would be futile. Two remarks on Mr. Colby's address suggest themselves. The national element, of course, plays its part on such an occasion, but it is not obtrusively or offensively introduced, and we are glad to see that although the hon. member is a Conservative, he was not ashamed of the much-abused motto "Canada First." We observe, also, what perhaps is natural in an active business man, that Mr. Colby confined himself almost entirely to the maerial side of our national progress. Here his remarks are instructive enough; but perhaps what people are most likely to lose sight of and need most to be reminded of is the importance of intellectual culture. They are usually quite alive to their material interests, but their absorption in the ordinary work of life seems to dry up the springs of the higher nature. For subjects connected with the training and development of that nature it is all-important that their attention should be aroused whenever occasion serves.

The state of intellectual culture amongst the French-speaking population of Quebec ought to be a matter of deep interest to the people of Ontario; but there is little reason to think that it is so, even in the slightest degree. Probably more is known here of the mental condition of France and Germany than of that interesting people who are our fellow subjects and near neighbours. French Canadians of the educated class would no doubt resent any imputation cast

upon their culture by those whom they regard as, in this important respect, their inferiors. And there can be no doubt that whilst we can only be said to have started in the literary race, they have a French literature in Quebec of a value and extent few people in Ontario are at all aware of. We are speaking not merely of belles lettres, but of works of solid and enduring merit. They have a long and stirring past to look back upon, extending over centuries full of cherished memories, brave deeds, and cruel sufferings. Moreover, they look back with an affection, chastened and mellowed by time, to their birth-land across the sea; albeit she was never more to them than "a stony stepmother." No people so young ever boasted a more romantic history, and, therefore, the material of literature was there and to hand, in rich abundance. They have, consequently, a highly cultured class of no mean eminence; but unfortunately their culture is one-sided and defective. To the Church, from the days of Laval until now, they owe a debt of gratitude for a noble system of superior education, but unfortunately it has been Church education, liberal when it was safe, but narrow and cramping in matters of speculative thought or scientific research. The mailed hand of ecclesiastical power has always been laid upon the independent searcher after truth in any department of the intellectual life. The press, political or literary, is benumbed in the icy embrace of the Church, and hence the French Canadian mind is, after all, stunted in growth, feeble and unfruitful in high thoughts and noble aims..

It is a pleasure to welcome any indication of an inquiring spirit in the Province of Quebec, and therefore we cheerfully note the appearance of a journal, devoted to the emancipation of mind. Le Réveil-a significant title-published weekly in the city of Quebec, in form and size resembles the N. Y. Nation, but it is much neater and more attractive in appearance and general arrangement. Its objects are clearly and distinctly set forth in the prospectus. The publication is undertaken because it appears necessary as the representation of certain mental advances (progrès) and certain developments of intellect, concerning which the existing French Canadian press is silent, or notices without any attempt at serious or critical examination. It intends to deal with

those "great modern issues of superior importance" which have hitherto been neglected or ignored in Quebec. Its proposed line of conduct is summed up in these words :—“An absolute exclusion of any thing relating to religious matters; an energetic defence of civil rights and freedom of opinion; a wrestling with abuses of whatever kind they may be, or from whatever source they may proceed; complete independence of every political party; and reform vigorously prosecuted wherever it may be necessary." The contents of the paper are varied in character and interesting throughout. Controversy is indulged in very sparingly; on the contrary, the editor rather aims at informing than at wrangling. We have, for example, a letter from M. de Laboulaye to an Italian professor; the address of Victor Hugo over the grave of Louis Blanc ; a letter from Spain; a graphic account of Dom Pedro of Brazil; some poetry decidedly above mediocrity; and miscellaneous matter of all sorts. Although Le Réveil does not meddle with religious matters-and there is nothing heterodox in it—it is faithful to its mission of defending civil rights and intellectual freedom against the Ultramontanes. The retirement of Bishop Bourget in June afforded an opportunity which it embraced in a crisp and incisive style. The article is lengthy, and most able throughout, and we hardly like to hazard the selection even of a few sentences, but we shall do so in order that our readers may have some idea of the vigorous style of the editorials. The writer, after calling Monseigneur Bourget one of the greatest enemies of Catholicism in Canada, says :-" During the last ten years especially, this man, whom so much abject and interested adulation has almost made a god, has troubled the souls of his entire diocese by an intolerable persecution, substituting his own will for every right and its lawful exercise. He has destroyed the freedom, and therefore the reality, of the franchise; if one voted against the candidate recommended by the bishop, he entangled his conscience; the confessor denounced him, and, in many instances, the sacraments were refused. Nothing remained of the dignity of man, and the English constitution became a fiction; we possessed it in the letter, but, in practice, it was rejected and condemned. To be free was to be heretical, and he who desired to remain a

citizen became an insurgent-a rebel against religious authority." The above will give but a faint idea of the trenchant style of the original, and we insert it merely by way of interesting our readers in the new venture. M. Buies, the editor and proprietor, will have up-hill work in Quebec, and he deserves all the encouragement and assistance that the free people of Ontario can give him. .

The catastrophe which befell Gen. Custer and the men under his command makes a melancholy story enough. With him perished his two brothers, a nephew, a brotherin-law, and about two hundred men. One Indian scout alone remained of the band. Colonel Reno, who was co-operating with him, would have shared the same fate, with two hundred and sixty men, if General Terry had not come to his assistance on the following day. The Sioux were at least four or five to one, and the attack seems to have been a rash and inconsiderate measure, after all allowances are made for the eager bravery of the commander. It is difficult to tell upon whom the burden of responsibility rests. The entire plan of the attack appears to have been faulty; but be that as it may, the isolation of General Custer's force at the onset is not satisfactorily accounted for. According to one 'story, the ill-starred General had been ordered not to attack until General Terry arrived with his troops; according to another, he had carte blanche in the matter; and according to a third, a day had been fixed for the junction, and Custer, by forced marches, purposely arrived at the scene of action a day too soon. The weight of blame doubtless belongs to Sheridan, Sherman, or whoever else prescribed the method of attack. The Little Horn, near which the disaster occurred, is a tributary of the Yellowstone; on the Big Horn, which receives it, was another detachment, and a third on the main stream—all disconnected, and completely without means of intercommunication.

The great question, however, for onlookers is,-What was the cause of this war? If the United States could clear its skirts of the guilt imputed to them by Americans themselves, we might attribute it to an outburst of savagery. But the Sioux did not begin the struggle and, therefore, whether they are brutal and bloodthirsty or not, is

beside the question. If it be true, as respectable American journals allege, that the war was devised for the deliberate purpose of robbing the tribe of lands which had been reserved for their use in perpetuity, simply because gold had been found to exist there, a fearful responsibility rests upon the Washington Government. In the West, the cry of extermination has been raised, and Gen. Sherman has not been above stating it as an alternative. The powerful letter addressed to Sherman by the old champion of abolition, Wendell Phillips, ought surely to arouse the sleeping conscience of the nation. The argumentum ad hominem addressed to the General is extremely powerful and convincing. In 1867, Sherman published a report on the Indian tribes, in which he exposed the cruelty and injustice of the Americans during the last hundred years. There is no evading the dilemma in which he is placed by Mr. Phillips, who, in a peroration of singular power, denounces him and his policy in burning words. Gen. Sherman has replied to Mr. Phillips in a letter denying that he has ever favoured a policy of extermination. This is true in the sense that it was not his first choice; but unless his words were deliberately falsified, it certainly is his second, which is only not quite so bad as it might be. Canada can afford to look with pardonable pride upon the results of her equitable policy, her honourable dealing, her stern and even administration of justice as between red and white. In spite of the outcry raised in the West, the future historian will trace in these periodically recurring calamities, the Nemesis which is ever at the heels of guilt. trust our our neighbours may be able to bring the miserable struggle to a speedy conclusion, but we also hope that they will use their victory as civilized-not to say Christian-men ought, and put a period at once and forever to the brutal system which has been the primary cause of every Indian

war.

We

President Grant is playing a curious game just now, if indeed it be a game rather than an uncontrollable fit of spleen., Not content with ridding himself of Secretary Bristow and Treasurer New, he has taken it into his head to dismiss every subordinate officer of the department who showed any zeal in the prosecution of the "whiskey

ring." Moreover, Postmaster-General Jewell has been cashiered for expressing an opinion in favour of civil service reform. According to some authorities, Gen. Grant has taken this perverse course in order to injure the prospects of Hayes, and to show his resentment at Conkling's ignominious rejection. This does not appear at all likely; it is far more probable that, as he has nothing now to gain by adopting a popular course, and nothing to lose by following the bent of his natural inclinations, he is simply pleasing himself. At the same time, there is no doubt that his conduct during the next few months will affect the chances of Hayes to some extent, though not materially.

The Democratic journals are extremely anxious to prove that their chances of success are of the most brilliant character. They are engaged at present in making up tables of the States which they profess to regard as certain to cast their electoral votes for Tilden and Hendricks. Of course, it is not difficult by conjectural work of this sort to make out a good sound majority; in fact they profess to be able to give up New Jersey and Indiana and win notwithstanding. But we fear the prospects of the New York reformer are not over bright. The Democrats are decidedly in a minority, taking the Union as a whole. The people have not yet forgotten that the Republican party saved their country from disintegration, and that the Democracy was for the most part pro-rebel, although not avowedly so. Their support of the war was halfhearted, and wherever it could thwart the measures of President Lincoln and his Generals, there seemed to be no scruples in the way of its doing so. Then again, the change from a Republican to a Democratic régime, would be fraught with serious consequences. The admission of thousands of expectant office-holders, made hungry by a sojourn in the desert for sixteen years, might bring in a new tide of corruption which Tilden would be powerless to stem, and in comparison with which the delinquencies under Grant would appear but as ripples upon a sandy beach. The nomination of Hendricks to the second place, and the ambiguous language of the platform touching the currency, have shaken the confidence of the Liberal Republicans, and therefore it is now almost certain that the Democrats will enter the contest without extraneous

aid. It is true that Hendricks will probably bring considerable support from the West, which, without him, might not have been forthcoming; but unfortunately, what has been gained at one end seems likely to be more than counterbalanced by loss at the other. On the whole, therefore, present appearances seem to indicate the return of Hayes and Wheeler, a prospect not by any means cheering. At best it is a leap in the dark; Hayes may be a man of nerve and resolution; of sterling integrity and brilliant talents or he may be none of these. On the tariff question, he has certainly been feeble-kneed, and if that be any indication of his character, we shall have a second edition of Grant, perhaps more dangerous by reason of his feebleness.

Since the publication of our last number affairs in the East have marched with rapid step. The assassination of the Turkish Ministers of War and Foreign Affairs appears to have had no political significance: it was an act of private vengeance by a half-crazed Circassian officer. Then, early in the month, Servia, somewhat suddenly at the last, declared war and entered Turkish territory, aided by Montenegro. Lastly, the new Sultan, Murad V., has fallen into a state of hysterical madness, and is about to abdicate. With regard to the reports from the seat of war, nothing is certain except that no reliance is to be placed on any of the detailed reports of battles, whether they come from Belgrade, Ragusa, or Constantinople. At the same time it seems equally certain that the Christian allies have so far had the worst of it. The reported massacres in Bulgaria have been renewed, and Turkey, fearing the armed intervention of the Powers, is making an effort or a feint in the way of restraining and punishing the brutality of her Asiatic irregulars. Midhat Pasha, who is now the ruling power in Turkey, has made a somewhat ostentatious announcement of intended reforms in the constitution. Personally, he is a man of good intentions. His warmest desire unquestionably is that the Christian and Mohammedan populations should live in peace together, and when Governor of Bulgaria he had an opportunity of carrying his humane policy into partial effect. But to bring about any such radical reform as alone could satisfy the Christian population, he is utterly powerless.

Mr. Arthur Arnold contributes a valuable article on "Turkey" to the Contemporary Review, and shows clearly that hopes founded on these promises are certain to be disappointed. The Turkish power, he tells us, is a theocracy, and can only cease to be so by ceasing to exist. The Koran is absolutely the law of the land, and no portion of it, even so much as a word, is obsolete; it is as binding now upon the faithful as when it came from the hands of the Prophet. Hence "no law is there held valid which has not the fetva of the Sheik-ulIslam, and the support of the clergy." Midhat Pasha, he observes, "is prepared to follow his great predecessors in the political dishonesty of manufacturing imperial edicts, made for show and not for use, which cannot become law in the Turkish Empire.” In 1856 a decree was promulgated by the Porte, to the execution of which the great Powers were made parties. The reforms promised then were almost identical with those promised to-day, and yet not one of them has been effected. Mr. Arnold remarks: "If Midhat enforces upon Turkey the unfulfilled promises of 1856, Turkey will cease to be Mohammedan. She promised codification of law and independent tribunals of European pattern. How is it possible to put the Koran into a code acceptable to Christians? She promised to admit the whole population into the army on the principle of equality. But this is equivalent to making the army three-fourths non-Mohammedan—a situation in which Mohammedan supremacy in the government could not endure for twenty-four hours." So much for internal reform under Mussul

man sway.

Lord Derby and his colleagues have, no doubt, exposed themselves to a great deal of unjust criticism by their reticence. Until the recent explanations were made there was an uneasy feeling that the Government was bent upon propping up the tottering dominion of the Turk, if necessary, by force of arms. The assembling of an im mense armament in Besika Bay seemed to point to this conclusion. In the monthly summary of the Fortnightly Review, the "limited confidence" of the country is tersely expressed thus: "Lord Derby is the politician of misgivings; he was meant by nature to be a solid critic rather than a firm or dexterous actor. Mr. Disraeli is one

of the most random-minded, flighty, and essentially unreal men that ever lived. We are not governed by a second-rate romance writer for nothing." The writer expresses the fear that, after all, the phlegmatic Secretary may be beguiled into "some flashy scheme of eastern policy which will do nothing but mischief in every direction." The result has proved that these forebodings were baseless in fact. The Berlin note was intended to be the thin end of the wedge with which the Turkish Empire was to be rent asunder, and dealt with as the conspirators might agree, or possibly had already agreed. It proposed that in the event of Turkey failing to carry out immediately the reforms agreed upon in the Andrassy note-although the signatories were perfectly aware that that was absolutely impossible-armed intervention should take place. France and Italy agreed, but England peremptorily refused to subscribe to it, and sent her iron-clads eastward; thus the game of the conspirators was foiled. England has no intention of lifting a finger on behalf of Turkey unless her territory is in danger of partition amongst the Powers, or of absorption by any one of them. She will be absolutely and scrupulously neutral so long as they are neutral, but no longer. Of course, Russia was in high dudgeon at the check she had received, but the Czar, who is the champion of peace, must have been secretly gratified. Bismarck has, no doubt, favoured the designs of Russia, because he desires to see her weakened by war, and because, also, Austria, which is rapidly recovering from the blow she received at Sadowa, would in any case suffer by the intervention. A great deal of speculation has been indulged in regarding the recent designs of the Powers, and theories of the most opposite character have found supporters. One thing only can be safely affirmed, and that is that Germany holds the master-key

of the situation. She is not so disinterested as she affects to be, or as may at first sight appear. Roumania, constituted in 1856, as a barrier between Russia and Turkey, is governed by a German Prince; the unificacation of Germany is not complete in patriotic eyes so long as Austria has a single German subject; and, above all, the Chancellor is well aware that, sooner or later, Germany must meet allied Russia and France upon the battle-field. As for the little war now going on, it may either be snuffed out by the mediation of the Powers, or may turn out to be the prologue of a bloodier drama yet to be enacted in Europe.

The election of M. Buffet to the Senate, vice M. Ricard, by a majority of three, has borne immediate fruit. A coalition of the Right and the Bonapartists has defeated the University Bill, by which the exclusive right to confer academic degrees was to be restored to the State. This seems to portend a chronic state of dead-lock between the Chambers-at least upon all questions where religion can be dragged in. Signor De pretis has not been long in office as Italian Premier without a ministerial crisis. His Bill to establish free ports nearly made shipwreck, and may yet do so. It will be remembered that the Minghetti Government was ousted on the question of purchasing the railways. The present Government belonged to the Left, and were desperately Radical when out of office, but they have for the most part followed upon the lines of their predecessors since they obtained their portfolios. That bird of ill-omen, ex-Queen Isabella, has got back to Spain, to intrigue for the clerics. Nothing but mischief can come of her return, which signifies absolutism and intolerance-the first steps in the fatal march to a new revolution.