Chapter XXX: Canadian Journalism

CANADIAN JOURNALISM IN RELATION TO PERMANENT CANADIAN LITERATURE;
A SUMMARY CRITICAL HISTORY OF THE CHIEF CANADIAN NEWSPAPERS AND
MAGAZINES.

The question: Are Newspapers and Magazines literature? has various answers, negative and affirmative. There cannot be any doubt that Newspapers and Magazines can be literature, because they have been literature; or that Newspapers and Magazines promote literature, because they have done this. The fact is that the first journalism in English was at the very outset literature. _The Tatter_ and _The Spectator_ were founded in the years 1709 and 1711, respectively. _The Rambler_ was founded later. These periodicals, whose pages were the popular reading of the times, and whose pages were made ‘living epistles’ by the pens of Richard Steele, Joseph Addison, Samuel Johnson, and Oliver Goldsmith—four of the greatest prose writers of the 18th century—were the predecessors of the modern Newspaper. Their pages, especially those of _The Spectator_, combined the functions of a newspaper, a literary miscellany and a review of society, life, and world happenings. In particular, Joseph Addison was ‘the father’ of the modern newspaper ‘leader’ and ‘editorial’ and of the special article in theatrical and art criticism. Samuel Johnson was the inventor of the modern ‘society page’ and ‘woman’s page’ as we know them in our day. In short, Steele, Addison, Johnson, Goldsmith, Defoe and others of considerable literary reputation in the 18th century were the creators of England’s first ‘people’s literature’—a journalistic literature.

Journalism and Magazine writing in Canada began with the same ideals of scope and literary dignity as obtained in the days of Addison and Johnson in England. The first newspaper to be established in any of the Provinces which later became confederated in the Canadian Union was _The Halifax Gazette_ which was established at Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1752; that is, 43 years after the founding of _The Tatler_. The first magazine to be established in Canada was published at Halifax in 1789 and was named _The Nova Scotia Magazine_. As a newspaper, however, _The Halifax Gazette_ was devoted chiefly to the publication of military and governmental intelligence. It was not till Joseph Howe purchased _The Novascotian_, at Halifax, in 1828, that journalism in Canada harked back to the ideals of _The Tatler_ and _The Spectator_. Joseph Howe must be regarded as the first and foremost literary, as well as practical, journalist in the history of Canada.

It is sufficient here to remark Howe’s strict literary ideals, even as a journalist, and to observe not only that in his own journalistic writing he strove after literary form and color, but also that in the writings of his contributors he saw to it that there was a very considerable literary flavor. His ideals were emulated by other Canadian journalists, as for instance Etienne Parent, in Quebec, and George Brown of the Toronto _Globe_ and Charles Lindsey, in Ontario, and by later journalists in Canada. Yet we must here emphasize, for our own times, the inclusiveness of the ideals which inspired Howe and which resulted in his producing newspapers whose influence abides to this day.

By some sort of intuition, Howe knew, as Addison and Steele before him knew, that the secrets of successful journalism are two: _Variety_ of interests in reading matter, and _Readableness_ or the power to hold the attention by the manner or style of what is written. Howe also had aesthetic and moral ideals. He aimed to produce journalism that would entertain and at the same time improve literary taste and educate the sensibilities and moral imagination. Howe saw that the unpardonable sins of all newspapers are the lack of humanized matter, and dullness in style; and that, therefore, no matter how high and worthy the moral aims of journalism may be, unless a newspaper possesses variety and readableness, it is doomed to fail both as a newspaper that otherwise might have endured and as a newspaper that might have been perennially the voice and the educator of the spirit. In other words, Joseph Howe saw that the supreme virtues of first rate journalism, the virtues which raise journalism to the dignity of literature, are two: _Humanity_ and _Urbanity_.

Five years after the fall of Quebec, that is, in 1764, when Quebec city had acquired a considerable English-speaking population, the second of the pioneer Canadian newspapers was established. This was the _Quebec Gazette_. For seventy-eight years this newspaper was printed in two languages—English and French. From 1848 till 1880 it was printed wholly in English. With the coming of the Loyalists, while New Brunswick was still part of Nova Scotia, there appeared at St. John, in 1783, the _Royal St. John Gazette and Nova Scotia Intelligencer_. In the following year, when New Brunswick had become a separate Province, this newspaper changed its name to the _Royal Gazette & New Brunswick Advertiser_. In 1785 the _Gazette_ was established at Montreal. In 1791 and in 1793 newspapers were established at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and Niagara, Ontario. In 1806 and in 1810 newspapers were established at Fredericton, N.B. and Kingston, Ont. Up to 1810 the newspapers of Canada, with the notable exception of the _Quebec Gazette_, were not at all in the spirit of constructive journalism, but with the founding of _The Herald_ at Montreal in 1811, _The Acadian Recorder_ at Halifax in 1813, the _Colonial Advocate_ at Queenston in 1824, and _The Novascotian_ at Halifax in 1824 (purchased by Joseph Howe in 1828), journalism in Canada took on the scope and complexion of literary and constructive journalism.

The Pioneer Newspapers, as contrasted with the Pioneer and later Canadian Magazines, served very considerably as ‘the people’s’ reading and as the popular educator. They were instrumental in creating a desire for intelligence about Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The demand was chiefly for commercial and social, and political news. And so with the desire for news came into existence an ardent desire for an education in the so-called ‘three R’s.’ As to the style of the reading matter in the Pioneer Newspapers, it conformed, with notable exceptions, to the conditions, social and political, of the times. As a matter of fact, politics were paramount in pioneer days and up to the triumph of Responsible Government, or to the middle of the 19th Century. Naturally, therefore, the newspapers contained considerable satiric writing and letters on practical matters, including reforms in Government. Accordingly the general style of the newspapers was straightforward, often overpointed in vigorous vernacular, with no care for purity of diction and coherency of sentential structure. The thing to be said, the matter, must be said at all hazards—plainly, bluntly, vigorously, and unmistakably. In all these regards, which were not according to the English style of journalism under Addison and Steele, the better newspapers, such as _The Montreal Gazette_, and _The Novascotian_, were notable exceptions to the general run of the Pioneer Newspapers. Howe, for example, did see to it, with considerable solicitude, that his newspapers, especially _The Novascotian_, should contain genuine literary matter and that the style of the general reading matter which appeared in his newspapers should be in decent readable English.

On the whole, therefore, the Pioneer Newspapers of Canada and those which appeared up to Responsible Government and Confederation, and later, conformed to the two ideals of purveyors of intelligence and disseminators of popular culture. Except in rare instances, however, they did not foster the creative literary spirit. That function was left to the Canadian Magazines.

As, in the case of daily journalism, Nova Scotia had priority in establishing newspapers, so, in the case of Canadian magazines, Nova Scotia also was first in enterprise. The first magazine to be published in any of the Provinces of Canada was the _Nova Scotia Magazine_, which appeared at Halifax in 1789, and ceased publication in 1792. The second Canadian magazine to be published was the _Quebec Magazine_, which appeared at Quebec in 1791 (2). It also went out of existence in two or three years. The difficulty then was the same as in the present day. The Canadian editor and publisher of native magazines could not compete with the British and the United States magazines, because the foreign periodicals were more readable and cheaper. The matter, however, of the earlier Canadian magazines was, for the most part, genuinely literary and fostered culture.

The first magazine in Canada to spread culture and at the same time to foster amongst native-born or resident _émigré_ writers the creative literary spirit, and to publish contributions in the form of essays, Nature sketches, and poems by native-born and permanently resident writers, was the _Literary Garland_. It flourished from 1838 to 1851, and numbered amongst its contributors such men and women of parts as William Dunlop, who may be regarded as the first _émigré_ Canadian humorist in distinction from Haliburton, the first native-born humorist, Charles Sangster, who was the first native-born Canadian poet of significant power in original creation, Susanna Moodie who was a versatile writer of colorful prose, and the first singer of Canadian Martial Verse, and her sister Catharine Parr Traill, whose Nature studies and sketches are still eminently worth reading.

In the year which saw the consummation of the Confederacy George Stewart, a man of fine critical taste, established _Stewart’s Quarterly_ at St. John, N.B. His ideal was that of the English Quarterlies; and the articles which appeared in his magazine were notably solid in substance and distinguished in literary style. _Stewart’s Quarterly_ did much to promote culture and to encourage creative writing on the part of native-born Canadian writers. Several other magazines which conformed more to the matter and style of the _Literary Garland_ were established in the first 25 years following Confederation. They all eventually went out of existence. The first magazine to endure as a cultural agency and genuine fosterer of the literary spirit was the _Canadian Magazine_, founded in 1893 by J. Gordon Mowat. Under his editorship it grew and further progressed under the editorship of John A. Cooper. In 1907 the _Canadian Magazine_ came under the editorship of Mr. Newton MacTavish.

From 1907, when Mr. MacTavish became editor, there was a distinct and continually progressive change in the editorial policy of the _Canadian Magazine_. Patriotically he set out to foster the appreciation and production of fine arts and literature by native-born Canadians. To do this he reproduced in the magazine paintings and drawings by Canadian artists, along with special articles, critically appraising Canadian artists and their art. He also published essays, criticism, fiction, and poetry, by native-born Canadian writers. In fact, it was considerably due to the sympathetic and respectful encouragement which Mr. MacTavish gave to native-writers, that Canadian poets and prose writers achieved as splendidly as they have done in the first quarter of the 20th century, and that constructive literary criticism and literary history significantly developed in Canada.

With the _Canadian Magazine_ should be mentioned two others, the _Queen’s Quarterly_ and the _University Magazine_. The latter was edited by Sir Andrew Macphail, and did much to foster letters and criticism in Canada. Amongst other distinctions, the _University Magazine_ published not only the best verse but also the first book of poems by Marjorie Pickthall, _Drift of Pinions_ (1913). It ceased publication in 1921. The _Queen’s Quarterly_, always well edited, is still potent in fostering letters and criticism in Canada. _The Dalhousie Review_, founded in 1921, essayed some of the ideals of the _University Magazine_. But it is given too much to critical writing by foreign _literati_ to be potent in fostering letters and criticism in Canada.