_Le Fantastique_, published at Quebec by N. Aubin, who was a very bitter
partisan, and was sent to gaol in 1838 for the expression of his
opinions. The _Grumbler_ was a more creditable effort made in Toronto
some quarter of a century ago, to illustrate and hit off the political
and social foibles of the day in Canada. But it has been left for Mr.
Bengough in these times to rise in _Grip_ far above all previous
attempts in the same direction, and 'to show up' very successfully, and
generally with much humour, certain salient features of our contemporary
history.

The influence of the press, during the century, must be measured by the
political intelligence and activity of the people. Only in the United
States are the masses as well informed on the public questions of the
day as are the majority of Canadians, and this fact must be attributed,
in a large measure, to the efforts of journalists to educate the people
and stimulate their mental faculties. When education was at a low ebb
indeed, when the leading and wealthier class was by no means too anxious
to increase the knowledge of the people, the press was the best vehicle
of public instruction. No doubt it often abused its trust, and forgot
the responsibilities devolving on it; no doubt its conductors were too
frequently animated by purely selfish motives, yet, taking the good with
the evil, the former was predominant as a rule. It is only necessary to
consider the number of journalists who have played an important part in
Parliament, to estimate the influence journalism must have exerted on
the political fortunes of Canada. The names of Neilson, Bedard, W. L.
Mackenzie, Hincks, Howe, Brown, and Macdougall, will recall remarkable
epochs in our history. But it is not only as a political engine that the
press has had a decided beneficial effect upon the public intelligence;
it has generally been alive to the social and moral questions of the
hour, and exposed religions charlatanry, and arrested the progress of