The most ambitions wotk of history yet produced in Canada is 'The History of Canada) of William Kingsford (1819-98). Kingsford was 65 years of age when he began the prepara tion of his great work, and he toiled at it continuously for over 13-years, living to see its completion, in 10 bulky volumes. His history is heavy in style, and nbt always to be relied upon on minor points, but generally speaking it is authoritative, and indispensable to the student of Canadian history.
A number of short popular histories of Canada have been written within the last 20 or 25 years, a few of which only are of sufficient importance to mention here. George Bryce's 'Short History of the Canadian People,' first published in 1887, and recently brought down to date, is a useful and readable work, in the manner of Green's history, though hardly com parable in style. Charles Roberts, better known as a Canadian poet and novelist, is also the author of a very readable 'History of A third work of the same class is Sir John Bourinot's 'Story of Canada,' in the 'Story of the Nations) series.
Among more recent works dealing with in dividual phases of the history of Canada, much the most notable is 'The Siege of Quebec,' by Arthur. G. Doughty, the Dominion archivist, and George W. Parmelee. The work, in six large volumes, is a monument of research, and must always remain the unquestioned authority in its particular field. It covers, with most minute care and scholarly accuracy, every detail of the historic siege of 1759, so far as the land operations are concerned. A companion work is William Wood's 'Logs of the Conquest of Canada,' dealing in the same scholarly way with the naval side of the siege. Colonel Wood has told the story of the siege, with equal charm and accuracy, in his 'The Fight for Canada.> Dr. Doughty has shown in his three shorter works, under Two Flags,"The Cradle of New France) and 'The Fortress of Quebec' that an archivist, without sacrificing any of his scholarly principles, may, when he possesses the ability, put life and color Into the dry bones of history.
The War of 1812 has been the subject of a number of histories written by Canadians and from a Canadian point of view. In fact, the most serious criticism that must be brought against most of them —a criticism that applies equally to many of the attempts by American writers to deal with the same conflict — is that they are hopelessly partisan and one-sided. To this class belong the histories of William F.
Coffin, Gilbert Auchinleck and James Hannay. A much better piece of work is the 'War of 1812) of Major John Richardson (1796-1852). It inevitably has the defects of a book written by one who had taken part in the campaign, but Richardson, like most honest soldiers, was not a bitter partisan, and he had the advantage of being a trained writer as well as a soldier. In 1902 A. C. Casselman brought out a new edition of Richardson's History, enriched with copious notes, an excellent biography and a full bibliography. Another very readable and useful book of Richardson's is his 'Eight Years in Canada,' which covers the period of Lord Durham's mission to Canada, and the adminis trations of Sydenham and Metcalfe.
Two words that admirably illustrate the modern scholarly method of writing history, are Sir C. P. Lucas' Canadian War of 1812,' and (A History of Canada, 1763-1812.) Lucas has made excellent use of the splendid collec tions of documentary material in the Domin ion Archives, brought together by the late Douglas Brymner and his worthy successor, Arthur G. Doughty, and on the whole, for the two periods of which he treats, his works will probably remain, for some time at least, the best available. With Wood's 'Fight for Can ada) they form an entirely satisfactory treat ment of the history of Canada from the Con quest down to the close of the War of 1812.
Charlevoix and Lescarbot, Champlain, La hontan and Hennepin, although their books relate to the earliest history of Canada, can scarcely be regarded as Canadian' writers. The first noteworthy history by a French-Canadian was the 'Histoire du Canada sous la domina tion Francaise) (1843), followed the next year by 'Histoire du Canada sous la domination Anglaise,' both by Michel Bibaud (1782-1857). Between 1845 and 1848 appeared a much more important work, one that still ranks as the best general history of the country in French, the 'Histoire du Canada) of Francois Xavier Gar nean (1809-66). Garneau's influence was marked upon the intellectual life of French Canada. In 1852 he brought out a new edition of his work, carrying the narrative down to the year 1840, the first edition having stopped at 1792. The history is now being reprinted, with an introduction and very full notes by the his torian's grandson, Hector Garneau, and a pref ade by Gabriel Hanotaux. It has also appeared in an English translation, by Andrew Bell.