have taken, through the influence of the new condition of things, a larger range of thought and expression, and the gross personalities which so frequently discredited the press before 1867 have now become the exception. If I might refer to an old and enterprising paper as an example of the new order of things, I should point to the Toronto _Globe_ under its present editorial management and compare it with two or three decades ago. It will be seen there is a deeper deference to an intelligent public opinion by an acknowledgment of the right of a community to hear argument and reason even on matters of party politics, and to have fair reports of speeches on both sides of a question. In point of appearance, make-up, and varied literary matter--especially in its literary department, its criticisms of new books in all branches of literature--the Australasian press is decidedly superior to that of Canada as a rule. The Melbourne _Argus_ and the Sydney _Herald_ compare with the best London journals, and the reason is mainly because there is no country press in Australia to limit the enterprise and energy of a newspaper publisher. Perhaps it is as well for the general instruction of a community like ours that there should be a large and active country press, and the people not too much under the guidance of a few great journals in important centres of political thought and action. For one I have more faith in the good sense and reason of the community as a whole than in the motives and disinterestedness of a few leaders in one or more cities or towns. But I must also add that when we consider the influence a widely disseminated press like that of Canada must exercise on the opinions and sentiments of the large body of persons of whom it is the principal or only literature, one must wish that there was more independence of thought and honesty of criticism as well as a greater willingness, or capacity rather, to study a high ideal on the part of the press generally. However improved the tone of the Canadian press may have become of late years, however useful it may be as a daily record of passing events--of course, outside of party politics--however ably it may discuss in its editorial columns the topics of the day, it is not yet an influence always calculated to strengthen the mind and bring out the best intellectual faculties of a reader like a book which is the result of calm reflection, sound philosophic thought, originality of idea, or the elevated sentiment of the great poet or the historian. As a matter of fact a newspaper is too often in Canada a reflex of the average rather than of the higher intelligence of the country, and on no other ground can we explain the space devoted to a football match, or a prize fight, or a murder trial, or degrading incidents in the criminal life of men and women. For one, I am an admirer of athletic and other sports calculated to develop health and