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tive release from control and responsibility, but as an inspiration to share actively in the greatest of human responsibilities-this is a real gospel. But between gods and men lie the mists of logomachy.

The problem of direction has a double significance. In the minds of the overwhelming majority of Englishspeaking Canadians there is really no doubt that the direction of progress must be ultimately towards some form of closer union with the rest of the Empire, but in reference to the more immediate series of events there are all sorts of difficulties in regard to the method. The expression "increased co-operation" carries with it in many minds a great attraction. The word "centralization" has unknown terrors to others; and the old principle of laissez faire, with its release from the responsibilities of clear, constructive thought, still retards many in their speculations. Of course it must be admitted that there are serious difficulties in the way of any great constitutional development, but these difficulties can hardly be considered as insuperable, and their solution might even seem relatively easy if the population of Canada were in any way homogeneous. But homogeneous it is not. Even in the once almost exclusively British province of Ontario there are not less than 200,000 French-Canadians, as well as people of alien birth or parentage. It is estimated that in the prairie provinces there are over 300,000 German and Austrian people. Above all, there is the great province of Quebec with its French-Canadian population of 1,600,000.

Of the attitude of French-Canadians towards the Empire it is very difficult to speak with anything approaching definiteness. One thing is, of course, clear-they cannot and do not look

upon it with the same eyes as do the people of British origin. So far as the French-Canadians live in the country

or in small places, they are quiet, lawabiding people of placid outlook, protected so far as possible by their Church even from the contamination of learning any other language but their own, and thinking of the Empire, if they think of it at all, as represented by Great Britain, upon whom they rely for protection in the curiously remote form of life that they live. Many of the leaders among the FrenchCanadians are, of course, cultivated men, in general sympathetic with the larger life of the Dominion and perhaps even with that of the Empire itself. But a small band of more vocal leaders are narrow and noisy, ill-qualified by education or intellectual equipment to interpret to their countrymen the larger issues of Imperial politics. Over all stands the French Roman Catholic Church, Gallican in profession but Ultramontane in substance, and at variance with a large section of their own faith in the Dominion.

The peculiar character of the FrenchCanadian situation in Canada, apart from its historical incidents, arises, to a large extent, out of its combination of religion, language and race. The problem presented by this combination in juxtaposition with a large Protestant population was difficult enough, but it has been further exacerbated by hostile criticisms in Ontario and by the feeling in English-speaking Canada generally that the FrenchCanadians were not taking an adequate part in the great war. There is, however, another and perhaps deeper reason for the failure of French and English in Canada to understand each other, and that is the relation of the French-Canadians to Dominion politics at Ottawa. Inevitably this great French bloc have held more or less the casting vote in Dominion

politics; and smaller politicians have seemed to vie with other each in an evil competition as to which side could appeal on the lowest grounds to the French-Canadian vote. This does not mean, of course, that the Prime Ministers of both parties have never been sincere in their dealings with French Canada, but it does mean that in the party organizations this evil work has been done. In point of fact, the French-Canadians are a brave race who feel that they were the first comers even in Ontario, and who themselves fail to understand their neighbors and are in turn undoubtedly partially misunderstood. It is probable that, on the whole, a solution of the Imperial problem such as would be fully accepted in English-speaking Canada would also be finally accepted, without much difficulty, by the French-Canadians, spite of the rather foolish extravagances of their. lesser leaders.

The West may yet produce a new political philosophy, or new at least to this country. Every community, consciously or unconsciously, possesses a political philosophy and more or less lives by it. The Western farmer is acquiring the power of genuine cooperation hitherto denied to farmers' organizations in this country. He is enterprising and radical, and has immense faith in his power to overcome difficulties by co-operative action. The Grain Growers' Association and its affiliated enterprises are successful in various operations on a large scale. They seem to have actually passed the stage when they are liable to failure; and the effect of this on the political thought of the whole West must inevitably be great.

But in estimating the requirements for Canada in connection with Imperial organization the essential things to find are not the points of divergence, but the points upon which practically

all Canadians would agree. There are two that occur in one's mind at once. Whatever else is going on in Canada, it is certainly becoming increasingly democratic in spirit and increasingly Canadian. The idea that the English-speaking Canadian is just an Englishman living in Canada is a mistake. Almost during the period of his voyage here as an emigrant, he undergoes a metamorphosis not unlike the popping of corn, by which the grain is turned inside out. His transformation into a Canadian resembles an explosion; and during the period of migration one can almost hear the continuous crackling of the incomers undergoing their change. The drawing-out of a single stratum from the highly compacted organization of English society, and the scattering of it over the spaces of a new world, involve change; and the first reaction of the new immigrant is something like opposition to the traditions that he has left behind. Very soon he becomes a fervent Canadian.

If the federation of the Empire is to be successful, it must be a federation of nations. Lord Milner, in one of his speeches in Canada, put it finely when he said that "Imperial patriotism must be based first of all upon Canadian patriotism." The best contribution that Canada can make to a new Empire must be its Canadian quality. The success of the British Empire depends upon its power of harmoniously associating many races and several nations, and not, 'as in the United States, on an attempt at chemical fusion. And along with the necessity, in the organization of the British Empire, of making room for expanding nationalism goes the necessity of basing it upon genuine democratic activity. The great problem to be solved is, Can democracy organize itself, acquire complete corporate efficiency, and retain its genuine

democratic quality? The writer believes that it can, and that its ability to do so depends upon the development of a new education. It is idle to talk of democratic control if democracy has no knowledge of the problems that it is supposed to manage. The work of the "Council for the Study of The Quarterly Review.

International Relations" is a recognition of this very thing; and the avidity with which people, hitherto unacquainted with international affairs and with the larger problems of politics, listen to any genuine explanation of them is a sign that the thing can be done.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, ADVOCATE.
BY HIS HONOR JUDGE PARRY.

Of the log-cabin life of Abraham Lincoln from his birth in 1809 to his election for Legislature in 1834 every schoolboy knows something. The stories of the heroism of his early life are parables in cottage homes on both sides of the Atlantic. In the same way everyone is familiar with the great drama of his career as President, with its terrible scenes of war and final tragedy of murder. Told and retold in memoirs, histories, poetry, and fiction, there is already a halo of literature around Lincoln that only shines on the great figures of the world.

It is somewhat surprising that— in this country, at all events-so little is known about his career as an advocate which from 1836 to 1860 occupied the best years of his life. Joseph Choate, speaking at Edinburgh, told us: "I lay great stress on Lincoln's career as a lawyer-much more than his biographers do; I am sure his training and experience in the Courts had much to do with the development of those forces of intellect and character which he soon displayed in a wider area." Our good ambassador was right, but he did not trouble us with the reason of this neglect, though no doubt his critical insight had diagnosed it. The fact is that it is distasteful to the average man to find that his hero is a lawyer, and Lincoln's biog

raphers and historians, who with true literary instinct please to write and write to please, have allowed his twenty-four years of professional life to become a colorless background to the stirring story of his political career that they may please the groundlings who have a high-souled hatred of the lawyer politician. Although we may not go all the way with an American writer who says "If Abraham Lincoln had not commenced lawyer he would not have concluded President," yet the story of his professional life must contribute to our power of appreciating the character of the man and to a better understanding of the circumstances in which his genius was able to take root and flourish.

To a writer on the disadvantages of education, Abraham Lincoln is а human text. His schooling was of the scantiest. At some time or another every man must become his own schoolmaster if he seeks education. Abraham Lincoln began at once, and continued directing his own studies all the days of his life. At the age of fourteen fortune had endowed him with the Bible, Æsop's Fables, "Robinson Crusoe," and "Pilgrim's Progress." There was also a "History of the United States" and a "Life of Washington." He not only read his library, but he learned it by heart. You can trace in his writings the directness

and simplicity of Defoe and Bunyan, his love of apt parable may have been derived from Esop, and the Bible confirmed his natural instinct for right action and strengthened his passionate love of honesty.

From the earliest he was an ardent student. He collected every scrap of paper he could find to make a commonplace book of extracts from volumes lent to him to read. He studied in the fields, under the trees, and by the waning firelight when all were asleep. His notebook was the boarded wall of the cabin, his stylograph a lump of chalk. An old farmer recalls him sitting barefoot on a wood pile reading a book. This being such an extraordinary proceeding for a farm hand, he asked him what he was reading.

"I'm not reading," replied Lincoln, "I'm studying."

"Studying what?" asked the farmer. "Law, sir," was the dignified reply. "Great God Almighty!" ejaculated the farmer in an outburst of stupefied piety, and went his way in amazement.

But years afterwards he was the honored possessor of a true story of a great hero, and biographers made pilgrimages to hear the old man tell it.

In 1833 a disastrous partnership in a small store came to an untimely end, leaving Lincoln with a legacy of debt which he honorably paid off in succeeding years. He was now fourand-twenty, and the only asset of the business he retained was a copy of "Blackstone's Commentaries," which he had found at the bottom of a barrel of household débris which the firm had purchased at a sale. He borrowed other law books, and is said at this time to have possessed an old volume of Indiana statutes which he learned by heart, and used to quote effectively in later years. He acted as a sort of "next friend" to parties before the local justices of the

peace, and drew mortgages and contracts for his neighbors, though he does not seem to have received pay for these services. It was the only apprenticeship to the law that he could afford and he became an articled clerk to himself, so to speak.

By turns he was a store clerk, surveyor, and postmaster at New Salem until 1834, when he was elected to the Legislature, and had to borrow two hundred dollars to buy clothing to be fit for his new dignity. On March 24, 1836, he became legally qualified to practise the law, and left New Salem to settle in the county town of Springfield, and entered into partnership with a lawyer from Kentucky, J. T. Stuart, who had already shown him much kindness.

The story of his coming to Springfield is told by his friend Joshua Speed, a prosperous young merchant of the town, to whom he went on his first arrival.

"He had ridden into the town," writes Speed, "on a borrowed horse and engaged from the only cabinetmaker in the village a single bedstead. He came on to my store, set his saddlebags on the counter, and inquired what the furniture of a single bedstead would cost. I took slate and pencil, made a calculation, and found the sum for furniture complete would amount to seventeen dollars in all.

"Said he, 'It is probably cheap enough; but I want to say that cheap as it is I have not the money to pay, but if you will credit me until Christmas, and my experiment here as a lawyer is a success, I will pay you then. If I fail in that, I will probably never pay you at all.'

The good Speed was so touched by the melancholy tones in which he spoke of possible failure that he offered him a share of his own room, which contained a large double bed. "Where is your room?" asked

Lincoln.

"Upstairs," said his friend, pointing to a stairway that led out of the store. Lincoln hitched up his saddle-bags, ran upstairs, and took possession of his room, returning in a few moments, smiling contentedly, and announced "Well, Speed, I'm moved."

One of Speed's store clerks was William H. Herndon, for whom Lincoln had a great affection. He also slept in the big room over the store, and the three young friends were all earnest in polities, study, and debate. On leaving Stuart, Lincoln became partner with Stephen T. Logan for a few years, until both were running for Congress, when they parted in a friendly spirit, and Lincoln was on his own. It was then, in 1845, that he proposed to his young friend Herndon that he should come into partnership with him. The young man hung back on the ground of want of practice and inexperience, but Lincoln clinched the matter in his kindly, masterful way, saying: "Billy, I can trust you, if you will trust me." Billy and Abraham were Jonathan and David through sixteen years of practice in the law, and it is through his junior partner's reminiscences that we gain the most intimate picture of Lincoln the advocate.

To appreciate fairly the powers of Lincoln among the lawyers of his day, we must not forget how different were the circumstances of the administration of justice from anything we have experienced. Lincoln had seen even rougher courts of justice than those he practised in. We know that as a lad he used to haunt the Boonville Courthouse whenever a trial was forward, and years afterwards, at the White House, reminded Breckenridge the advocate that he had heard him defend a murderer there. "I concluded," said Lincoln, "that if I could ever make as good a speech as that, my soul would be satisfied, for

it was the best I had ever heard." In these earliest days the Courthouse was merely a log hut, and the hunters and trappers who formed the jury retired into the woods to consider their verdict.

Mr. Hill, in his admirable essay on "Lincoln the Lawyer"-a book too little known in this country-reports the address of a learned judge to the prisoner in "The People v. Green" to illustrate the manners of pioneer justice. "Mr. Green," began the learned judge very politely, “the jury in their verdict say you are guilty of murder, and the law says you are to be hung. Now, I want you and all your friends down on Indian Creek to know that it is not I who condemn you, but the jury and the law. Mr. Green, the law allows you time for preparation, so the Court wants to know what time you would like to be hung."

The prisoner "allowed" it made no difference to him, but His Honor did not appreciate this freedom of action.

"Mr. Green, you must know it is a very serious matter to be hung," he protested uneasily. "You'd better take all the time you can get. The Court will give you until this day four weeks."

The prosecutor thought this but a tame ending, and reminded the judge that the correct thing was to pronounce a formal sentence and exhort the prisoner to repentance.

"Not at all," interrupted the judge. "Mr. Green understands the whole matter as if I had preached to him for a month. He knows he's got to be hung this day four weeks. You understand it that way, don't you?" Mr. Green nodded, and the Court adjourned.

Rough and ready as the formalities of justice might be, it was very necessary in the judge's own interest to make it clear that what he was administering

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