his great love of the masters of English literature, soon gave vigour
and grace to his style, whilst his natural independence of spirit that
could little brook control in any shape, and his innate hatred of
political despotism, soon led him to attack boldly the political abuses
of the day. The history of Joseph Howe from that day was a history of
the triumph of Liberal principles and of responsible government in Nova
Scotia. As a versatile writer, he has had no superior in Canada, for he
brought to the political controversies of his time the aid of powerful
invective and cutting satire; whilst, on occasions when party strife was
hushed, he could exhibit all the evidences of his cultivated intellect
and sprightly humour.

The new era of Canadian journalism commenced with the settlement of the
political difficulties which so long disturbed the provinces, and with
the concession of responsible government, which gave a wider range to
the intellect of public writers. The leading papers, in 1840, were the
Montreal _Gazette_, the Montreal _Herald_, the _Canadien_, the Quebec
_Gazette_, the Quebec _Mercury_, in Lower Canada; the _British
Colonist_, _British Whig_, and _Examiner_, in Upper Canada; the _Nova
Scotian_ and _Acadian Recorder_, in Nova Scotia; the _News_, in New
Brunswick. The _Colonist_ was founded at Toronto, in 1838, by Hugh
Scobie, under the name of the _Scotsman_--changed to the former title in
the third number--and from the outset took a high position as an
independent organ of the Conservative party. The copy of the first
number, before me, is quite an improvement on the _Gazette_ and
_Mercury_ of Quebec, as published in the early part of the century. It
contains some twenty-four columns, on a sheet about as large as the
Ottawa _Free Press_. It contains several short editorials, a resume of
news, and terse legislative reports. Among the advertisements is one of
the New York _Albion_, which, for so many years, afforded an