humble; it works as the servant of human life. Metaphysical or transcendental science, on the other hand, is proud; its aim is not to serve, but to dazzle and govern; it scorns the relative and aims at solving the ultimate riddles of existence. Manifestly, therefore, only those who are willing to serve, and to take a limited view of their function as scientific workers, will embrace science in the positive All who seek their own glory will repudiate limitations and grapple with the absolute. The battle between the two methods or conceptions is now in progress. Let all who realize the nature of the strife, and who see that the cause of the relative is the cause of humanity, range themselves distinctly on that side. We count the author of the book referred to in this article as an able and gallant ally; and some others, who in appearance are

sense.

foes, are in reality not far from the kingdom.*

* Prof. Huxley for example, who has criticized Comte very severely, not to say bitterly, and who, judged by that criticism alone, might be considered as decidedly opposed to all that is essential in the Positive Philosophy, thus expresses himself at the close of his essay on The Physical Basis of Life There can be little doubt that the further science advances, the more extensively and consistently will all the phenomena of nature be represented by materialistic forms and symbols. But the man of science who, forgetting the limits of philosophical enquiry, slides from those formulæ and symbols into what is commonly understood by materialism, seems to me to place himself on a level with the mathematician who should mistake the x's and y's with which he works his problems for real entities, and with this further disadvantage as compared with the mathematician, that the blunders of the latter are of no practical consequence, while the errors of systematic materialism may paralyze the energies and destroy the beauty of a life.'

-DANTE.

POLITICAL indifferentism is not

the least of the dangers that menace the welfare of popular gov ernments. It is rather an ominous fact that, both in this country, and in the United States, there are a great many respectable and intelligent people who refuse to have aught to do with politics. Speak to them about religious matters, and they are interested. Talk to them on commercial topics, and they become animated. Converse with them on the literature of the day, or discuss with them the last great hit of the stage, and they are charmed. But, the moment you introduce the subject of politics, they dismiss it with an impatient wave of the hand, and with 'Oh I never trouble my head about such matters.' They say this, too, not with any sort of shame, but with an air that plainly tells you, that, while in their eyes ignorance in other things is a sin, here it is one of the most fragrant virtues in the calendar.

It

This, we repeat, is a bad omen. is the beginning of untold peril to a country when political ignorance comes to be regarded as a virtue, when people of the better class esteem it as one of the sacred privileges of that class to touch not, taste not, handle not ' the, in their estimation, unclean thing politics. It is this that encourages the demagogue, and disheartens the pure-minded patriot. It is this that makes a nation prolific of Guiteaus, and barren of Garfields. It is this that magnifies the forces of evil, and minimizes the influence of good, until the country finds itself standing aghast upon the brink of a dark and fathomless

abyss. For in the midst of our glorification of popular forms of government we must not forget that just as despotism has its abuses, so has freedom, and that, as the abuses of the one have involved nations in anarchy and bloodshed, so may the abuse of the other have a like terrible issue.

Therefore it will be a happy day when indifferentism in this direction is rated at its full value, when political ignorance is regarded as high treason, and the political ignoramus as an unspeakable ingrate. For surely he is that. Surely it is the height of ingratitude for a man to live under the ægis of Freedom, to possess all the advantages of a great social organism, to enjoy-nay to invoke-the protection of wise and just laws, and then turn with cold contempt from the source of all these blessings. Surely it is wrong that he should accept these privileges as an inheritance from the past, and have no care as to the means by which they are to be secured to his children after him. In this country, at least, it may well be said that, if a man will have nothing to do with the laws, then the laws should have nothing to do with him, that he who looks with contempt upon law-makers should be left to the mercy of law breakers.

But, even where it exists, the study of politics is often exceedingly careless and superficial. We catch up a paper, in all probability that of our own party stripe, and after a hasty glance at its contents throw it aside, and feel ourselves qualified to discuss the great questions of the day. Such a method of study is unsatisfactory, both to the student himself, and to those with

whom he converses. It is one-sided, shallow, and mischievous. It tends to the production of the noisy ranting politician--such an one, for example, as the 'Parlour Orator,' which Dickens has made the subject of one of his 'Sketches by Boz.' He is a red-faced man with a loud voice, and talks nonsense with such an air of inspired wisdom, that all the company in the little parlour mistake it for genius, except a little greengrocer who has penetration enough to see through the windy fraud. Irritated by a little contradiction, the oracle waxes wonderfully eloquent. Here is the description of the closing scene. "What is a man?' continued the red faced specimen of the species, jerking his hat indignantly from its peg on the wall. What is an Englishman? Is he to be trampled upon by every oppressor? Is he to be knocked down at everybody's bidding? What's freedom? Not a standing army. What's a standing army? Not freedom. What's general happiness? Not universal misery. Liberty ain't the window-tax is it? The Lords ain't the Commons, are they?' And the redfaced man, gradually bursting into a radiating sentence, in which such adjectives as 'dastardly,' 'oppressive,' 'violent,' and 'sanguinary' formed the most conspicuous words, knocked his hat indignantly over his eyes, left the room, and slammed the door after him.

'Wonderful man!' said he of the sharp nose.

Splendid speaker!' added the

broker.

'Great power!' said everybody but the greengrocer."

'Long live the greengrocer,' say we. Thank Heaven! there are such as he still, to be a protest against the bombastic ignorance of such an orator, and the servile ignorance of such an audience. But if we are to perpetuate the race of intelligent greengrocers, and eradicate from our national soil the 'Parlour Orator' type of politician, we must have a fairer method of

study, and a broader way of looking at public questions than is customary at the present time.

It is the purpose of this paper to indicate in a general way, some of the conditions of an intelligent study of Canadian politics. It does not, by any means, aspire to be a guide to those who have leisure and opportunity to enter with scientific accuracy into the various branches of Political Economy. It is addressed in the main to those who have their regular occupation in the store, on the farm, or in the workshop, but who also have spare fragments of time which they are willing to devote to so honourable a pursuit as the study of the public affairs of the country in which they live.

The first qualification for the intelligent student of Canadian politics is to have a thorough knowledge of the geography of Canada. To no small extent the destiny of a people is determined by its geographical environments, by the size, shape, climate, geology, etc., of the country in which its lot is cast. The writer remembers standing on one occasion with a number of fellow students beside Dr. Dawson in front of the map of Europe. He pointed to Greece and Italy, the seats of the great empires of the past, and made the remark that, if some geologist of those ancient times had known of the existence and value of the great stores of coal and iron lying almost side by side in the British Isles, he might easily have prophesied that the day would come when the seat of power would be shifted from the South to these islands of the North. We speak of the Star of empire, but, after all, this brilliant luminary is in its movements only the humble servant of such homely masters as the ebony lumps that fill our coal-scuttles, and the rich mould of our farmers' fields. The glory and power of empires rest largely upon geological and geographical foundations. What Canada is to be nationally depends very much upon what Canada is physically, and he who

wishes to know the possibilities of her future must first know the latitude and longitude, the length and breadth of the country itself.

Draper, in his work 'Civil Policy of America,' shows his appreciation of this geographical factor in national life, by devoting nearly a third of the book to its consideration. He says in one place, it is necessary to examine the topographical construction of the country, to examine its physical condition, its climate, its products, for such are the influences that model the character and determine the thoughts of men.' The same writer emphasizes relation between climate and character in these words: It is within a narrow range of latitude that great men have been born. In the earth's southern hemisphere not one as yet has appeared.' In this respect we certainly have a good deal to be thankful for, seeing that we are within the magic influence of this narrow range of latitude. Stretching between 'the murmuring pines and the hemlocks' of the ancient Acadie, and their forest sisters that sigh and sway upon our Pacific slopes, is a vast garden eminently fitted for the nurture of the noblest types of humanity. We are foolish to yearn for the orange-groves and perpetual summer of the south. We may not live between the isothermal lines of a uniformly mild temperature, but we do live in that belt of the world which has supplied modern history with its mightiest names. We are in the latitude that has given to us such men as Milton and Shakespeare, Pitt and Gladstone, Goethe and Luther, Webster and Longfellow, and we might well smile over an occasional frost-nip to be in such splendid company.

The size and resources of Canada are sure to have an enormous influence in determining the nature of its politics. Our great questions are not going to be as to how much life and wealth we can destroy in brilliant foreign campaigns, but as to how much

we can sustain by the development of our internal resources. Our legisla tion will be of a practical and homespun character. The formation of new provinces, their connection by railways, the utilization of their natural wealth, their relations to one another, and to the central government,―these are to be the sober but absorbing questions of the future. But how can they be intelligently discussed by one who is ignorant of geography? How can a man discuss a Pacific Railway policy who scarce knows the difference between Lake Nipissing and Lake Superior, and cannot tell within 500 miles the distance between Winnipeg and the Rocky Mountains ? How can he understand the merits of the debate on the Ontario Boundary Award, to whom the position of the Lake of the Woods is as much a matter of guess as the complexion of the man in the moon? How can he treat of the relative claims of the various provinces, who knows nothing of their size, little of their position, and less of their resources?

It is absolutely necessary, therefore, that the intelligent student of Canadian politics should have a familiar acquaintance with Canadian geography. His newspaper studies should be accompanied and illustrated by the presence of the most reliable maps. It would be well for him, occasionally, to fancy himself buttonholed by some keen and questioning Frenchman or German, on the search for information concerning Canada. It would be a good thing for him to become a sharp catechizer of himself in some such fashion as the following:-What do I know about the Dominion? Have I in thought grasped the greatness of a territory whose shores are washed by three oceans? Have I any knowledge of the distances from point to point? Have I any clear idea of the nature of the various parts, of what the land is like in Nova Scotia, in Quebec, in Keewatin, in the great prairie expanses, and on the slopes of British

Columbia? What do I know of such great streams as the Saskatchewan, Nelson, and Peace, which may some day become the veins and arteries of a vast internal commerce? What account could I give of the resources of coal, iron, timber, fish, etc., which have already been discovered? What estimate have I made of the population which may some day find a home in this broad and wonderful land? These are the questions he needs to ponder over. These are the points on which he needs to be fully informed, before he is at all capable of taking anything like a statesmanlike view of the political affairs of his country.

Another qualification for the intelligent student is to have a familiar knowledge of Canadian history. We never feel that we really understand a man, unless we know something of his past. We are anxious to learn what sort of a father and mother he had, where he was born, what education he received, what were the forces that moulded his life, what record of . achievement he has, before we consider ourselves in a position to form a right estimate of his character. As with the individual, so with the nation. In order to understand its present we must travel far back into its past. The history must be read before we can account for the parts into which the country is divided, or understand the relation of parties, or measure the various forces that are at work in the government.

Canadian history has, at least, one great advantage for the student-viz., its brevity. Ours are not Chinese nor Egyptian annals reaching back over thousands of years until lost in a realm of myth and mystery. The whole record is comprehended within a period of 350 years, and through all its length has had the incalculable benefit of the art of printing. There is nothing, therefore, in the way of immensity and and interminableness to daunt the student at the outset. The subject is a

compact one, and may be mastered with tolerable ease.

The present condition of this country is the result of the confluence of two streams-the one finding its source amid the vine clad hills of France, and the other in that cluster of storm-blown isles which we call Great Britain. For a long time the first of these streams flowed on in solitude. We must not forget that Canada was for a far longer time under the French flag than she has been under the flag of England. From the year 1534, when Jacques Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence, until 1759, a period of 225 years, Canada was in the possession of the Crown of France. For only 123 years has she been a part of the British Empire. For convenience' sake, it would be well for the student to break the history up into sections, taking the French period by itself, and then di viding the British period into two parts, the first extending from 1759 to 1841, and containing the story of the struggle for Responsible Government, and the second reaching up to the present time, and telling how the country fared after the victory had been achieved.

The period of French domination, though not, perhaps, the most important part of our history, from a political standpoint, nevertheless contains passages of marvellous interest. Through it all we seem to hear the astonished Eureka of men confronted for the first time by the vast wonders of mountain, river and lake which the New World disclosed to their view. We see armies of dusky warriors flitting through the depths of the primeval forest, and fleets of little canoes dancing upon the flashing waters of lake and stream. We see the pomp and power of the savage grow abashed before the greater pomp and power of the white man, so that they who had been for unreckoned centuries the lords of the forest, in a few short years, became the minions and tools of the stranger.