Excerpt from Short History of the Dominion of Canada, From 1500 to 1878 It is generally said that no one ever reads a "Preface." This will do for a general rule, if you allow an exception in favor of authors in respect of their own books. But I am determined, if possible, to secure a better regard for these prefatory sayings than that which the above rule permits; and this result will be sought in not referring to any of those subjects usually paraded in remarks thus located. In the first place, I have been impressed with the idea that the French nationality, as such, is destined to disappear entirely from the continent of North America. If the idea is not an error, it may be regarded as a most singular problem, that a people with such a distinctive nationality and language, who at one time extended their possessions from one to the other of the two greatest gulfs in the western world, were destined to be swallowed up in conquest, and to disappear beneath the rising Hoods of assimilation. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Short History of the Dominion of Canada, From 1500 to 1878 I present the portraits of the Honorable W. E. Gladstone, and the not less honorable Mary A. Livermore, si side because I consider them the two most interest ing representatives of their respective sexes now living. If Mr. Gladstone is not the greatest living scholar and statesman, a great portion of mankind are mistaken. His abilities m the aggregate have no equal in the whole range of Englishmen from the earliest times to the present day. He is one of the few men whose great popularity is not based so much upon his mastery of one particular department as upon his mastery of many depart ments. His specialty appears to be that to which he turns his attention, whether it be art, science, literature, finance, or the higher questions of moral and political philosophy. His! Statesmanship has given a higher dignity to the Liberal party than it has hitherto enjoyed, and his scholarship has added a greater solidity to English literature. Mrs. Livermore cannot, in any sense, be compared to Mr. Gladstone, except that both are moral reformers. She is not a woman of great intellectual attainments, though her general information is creditable to one of ordinary mental powers. She is remark able rather for the strength and correctness of her convictions, and for the influence which she sways by the eloquence of an earnest life, than for her natural endowments or mental acquire ments. Her life thus far is a monument of good deeds, and her sex will hereafter for many generations reap the fruits of her noble efforts. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.