ks the saving grace of style, and even his best
Canadian poems hardly rise above fervent occasional verse. Yet he became
a national poet, because he was the first to celebrate occasions of
deeply felt popular emotion in acceptable rhyme, and he will always
remain one because each occasion touched some lasting aspiration of his
race. He sings what Garneau recounts--the love of mother country, mother
church and Canada. The _Guerre de Crimee, Guerre d'ltalie_, even
_Castel-fidardo_, are duly chronicled. An ode on _Mgr. de
Montmorency-Laval_, first bishop of Quebec, brings him nearer to his
proper themes, which are found in full perfection in the _Chant du vieux
soldat canadien_, composed in 1856 to honour the first French man-of-war
that visited British Quebec, and _Le Drapeau de Carillon_ (1858), a
centennial paean for Montcalm's Canadians at Ticonderoga. Much of the
mature work of this first generation, and of the juvenilia of the
second, appeared in _Les Soirees canadiennes_ and _Le Foyer canadien_,
founded in 1862 and 1863 respectively. The abbe Ferland was an
enthusiastic editor and historian, and Etienne Parent should be
remembered as the first Canadian philosopher.

At Confederation many eager followers began to take up the work which
the founders were laying down. The abbe Casgrain devoted a life-time to
making the French-Canadians appear as the chosen people of new-world
history; but, though an able advocate, he spoilt a really good case by
trying to prove too much. His _Pelerinage au pays d'Evangeline_ (1888)
is a splendid defence of the unfortunate Acadians; and all his books
attract the reader by their charm of style and personality. But his
_Montcalm et Levis_ (1891) and other works on the conquest, are all
warped by a strong bias against both Wolfe and Montcalm, and in favour
of Vandreuil, the Canadian-born governor; while they show an inadequate
grasp of military problems, and practically ignore the vast determining
factor of sea-power altogether. Benjamin Sulte's comprehensive _Histoire
des Canadiens-francais_ (1882) is a well-written, many-sided work.
Thomas Chapais' monographs are as firmly grounded as they are finely
expressed; his _Jean Talon_ (1904) is of prime importance; and his
_Montcalm_ (1901) is the generous _amende honorable_ paid by
French-Canadian literature to a much misrepresented, but admirably
wrought, career. A. Gerin-Lajoie's cry of "back to the land" was
successfully adapted to modern d