through the Post Office in the course of a year, of which probably two
thirds, or 20,000,000, are Canadian. These figures do not, however,
represent any thing like the actual circulation of the Canadian papers,
as the larger proportion are immediately delivered to subscribers by
carriers in the cities and towns. The census of 1870 in the United
States showed the total annual circulation of the 5,871 newspapers in
that country to be, 1,508,548,250, or an average of forty for each
person in the Republic, or one for every inhabitant in the world. Taking
the same basis for our calculation, we may estimate there are upwards of
160,000,000 copies of newspapers annually distributed to our probable
population of four millions of people. The influence which the newspaper
press must exercise upon the intelligence of the masses is consequently
obvious.

The names of the journals that take the front rank, from the enterprise
and ability with which they are conducted, will occur to every one _au
courant_ with public affairs: the _Globe_ and _Mail_, in Toronto; the
_Gazette_ and _Herald_, in Montreal; the _Chronicle_ (in its 34th year)
and _Mercury_, in Quebec; the _Spectator_ and _Times_, in Hamilton; the
_Free Press_ and _Advertiser_, in London; the _British Whig_ (in its
46th year) and _Daily News_, in Kingston; _Citizen_ and _Free Press_, in
Ottawa; _News_, _Globe_, _Telegraph_, and _Sun_, in St. John, N. B.;
_Herald_ and _Chronicle_, in Halifax; the _Examiner_ and _Patriot_, in
Prince Edward Island, are the chief exponents of the principles of the
Conservative and Liberal party. Besides these political organs the
Montreal _Star_ and _Witness_, and the Toronto _Telegram_ have a large
circulation, and are more or less independent in their opinions. Among
the French papers, besides those referred to above, we have the
_Courrier de Montreal_ (1877), _Nouveau Monde_ (1867), _L'Evenement_
(1867), _Courrier d'Ottawa_, now _le Canada_ (1879), _Franco Canadien_