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and righteously jealous of the least infringement of personal liberty, felt bound, even when that liberty was jeopardized in conflict with these Legislatures, to recognise that, in certain cases, they possessed powers inherent, and independent of the phraseology of the statute-draftsman. In a word, the Canadian tribunals ruled that, barring those sovereign attributes which belong, by assured and pre-eminent right to, the Imperial Legislature, and which cannot be delegated, the

Legislatures of the Provinces of Upper, Lower, and United Canada were not mere deliberative bodies with an incidental permission to enact laws, but were real and veritable Parliaments..

We shall, at another time, endeavour to prove that the present Legislatures of Ontario and Quebec are the inheritors of the powers and Privileges of the old Provincial Parliaments of Canada.

SOMEWHERE.

HOW can I cease to pray for thee? Somewhere

In God's great universe thou art to-day:

Can He not reach thee with His tender care?
Can He not hear me when for thee I pray?

What matters it to Him who holds within

The hollow of His hand all worlds, all space, That thou art done with earthly pain and sin Somewhere within His ken thou hast a place.

Somewhere thou livest and hast need of Him:
Somewhere thy soul sees higher heights to climb;
And somewhere still there may be valleys dim
That thou must pass to reach the hills sublime.

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SOME LAST WORDS ON THE WOMAN QUESTION.

BY OUR OLD FRIEND OF NEWFANGLE.

WELL, my dears, here I am at

your service again. An old woman, to be sure, and a bit of a battered old body, seventy-seven years old, but sound at the core yet, and still able to tell how many beans make five. I am rather flattered by being told that in my person there has been a good lawyer lost. To tell you the truth, girls, I have sometimes thought so myself. But, lawyer or no lawyer, I hope I may never have a worse cause to plead than that of the men of our common human nature, our fathers and sons and brothers. A man who sings the praises of women may be a 'noble poet;' I am content, but, to my thinking, it is a yet nobler task to undertake the defence of men upon whom unjust aspersions are cast. It has been suggested that I might have left the defence of men to themselves. Not a bit of it, my dears. Few men would think it worth their while or would take the trouble. And here I am led to ask, is this opponent of mine a man or a woman? From all outward signs I should say a man. It would be an extremely rare woman who would speak of men as 'NonResident' does, whereas I could imagine it possible that a man might think himself entitled to speak of his own sex in any terms that might please himself—a rara avis to be sure, but then there are odd fishes. Women generally reserve their censure for women; read their books about themselves; listen to their talk about one another. Besides, there is the principle of detur digniori-yes, my dears, I know a few scraps of Latin-grammar like several lady writers whom I

could name. So that, for all these reasons I trust I may take the liberty of supposing 'Non-Resident' to be of the masculine gender.

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My dears, I really ought to beg your pardon for asking you to listen to a very few words-and I promise a very few-from our venerable friend' of Newfangle. I shall confine myself strictly to correcting mistatements as nearly as I possibly can, at least-and it is always well and right to do that. It has been suggested that my first homily' was 'throughout a sneer'-yes, my dears, sneer in italics' at the higher education of women.' You will find it hard to believe so wild a mistatement, so bring the MAGAZINE (for all this has, somehow or other, got into print) and see for yourselves that, in that homily,' education is very slightly spoken of twice, and, each time, expressly with reference to men and women alike, as being both subject to the same conditions. In all the rest, about nineteentwentieths of the whole, I think I may say positively that education is not once alluded to. In like manner, the imputed 'attack' might be disposed of. You know very well, my dears, that my homily' has been highly approved of by women-for Bella will continue to think Jack the finest fellow in the world--and that it has been read by men to their wives and daughtersthey have told you so themselves. Nay, a critic has said it is written with the utmost good humour, and no one could be offended at it. But it is more than that,' &c., &c.

My definition of an average man 'Non-Resident' 'demurs to.' But,

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unfortunately, in the very next sentence, we find an evident misunderstanding of what average means. speaks of the average yield of a field of wheat,' an expression which has no meaning, at least, here in Newfangle. No farmer here would say so-no farmer would know what was meant. If he had anything to say about his field of wheat, he would put his meaning into some other and more intelligible form. In default, then, of a juster appreciation by Non-Resident' of the word average,' we may fairly fall back on my own interpretation, that, namely, of nearly all men.' Average men are all those who are not remarkable in any way, whether for good or evil; they spread over the dull level of mediocrity-a vast uninteresting plain, which comprehends within its limits the great bulk of humanity-if not ninety-nine out of a hundred, certainly not less than ninety. Nearly all men in short. I do not know why the manufacturer or importer, the milk seller, the shopkeeper, the lawyer' are held up as peculiar examples of dishonesty; it can hardly be intended to attribute to them a monopoly of cheating; men of whatever calling are, take them all round, pretty even. Stand up then, men of the Dominion, and plead to this indictment. say you Guilty or not guilty?

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A good deal of pathos-irreproachable where well bestowed-is thrown away, so far as I am concerned, upon women of mature age weeping,' and 'many a poor school teacher, &c.' I will ask Non-Resident' to widen his charity in my case, and to believe me capable of heartily commiserating all unfortunate women. At the same time, I must say that the female school teacher, who has come most in my way, has been rather a dashing young woman, with plenty of money for dress, and plenty of leisure for displaying it. And I can truly declare that, in all my time, I have never heard of a single one being

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defrauded of never so small a portion of her stipend. So that there are two sides to that shield.' The scorn attributed to me is mere matter of imagination. I did not say one word about the loss to the women themselves, one way or another, beyond stating its amount and its proportion to their earnings, as a matter of figures when I was necessarily dealing with figures, and as a matter likely to be lost sight of when our eyes were dazzled with such a sum as $21,000. What I did say was that the proportion of the helpless relatives' of this small proportional loss-this fraction of a fraction in their case-could hardly be supposed to cause much suffering to them. When the cruelty of men's cheating is held up to reprobation in a sensational style, I claim, for my part, the absolute right to dissect it to the last atom, and exhibit it in its naked truth. It must be borne in mind that these 'helpless relatives' are a pure assumption, except in a certain proportion of cases in which they may no doubt be fairly supposed to exist. Let us have the truth without exaggeration. Fortunate the woman, as fortunate the man, who have it in their power to assist helpless relatives. It is a virtue certainly not confined to women. I am sorry, more sorry for him than for myself, that 'Non-Resident' has so low an estimate of the appreciation shown by a Woman of Newfangle of the circumstances and needs of her struggling and suffering sisters,' and that he attributes to her an ignorance upon such points which taxes our credulity even in a royal personage in these times, in the well-worn story of Marie Antoinette. The Woman of Newfangle' must find her consolation in throwing herself upon the consideration of the community in which she has lived all these long years, and which must happily know more about her than a

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Non-Resident' can. I can only say that in Newfangle-and I hope it is the same where Non-Resident' lives

our struggling and suffering sisters are never-no, never, I believe-left without help. Our charities do not lie dormant here more than elsewhere.

The story' of Baron Huddleston may be alarming' or charmingeither epithet seems about equally applicable for aught I can say. "Non-Resident's' estimate of a lie is self-evident, but perhaps it is not all. It may possibly be thought that, where one is glib and fluent in a lie, and another boggles, the first has probably had more practice. But the 'story' was introduced with no intention of this kind; it was left to make its own impression purposely without one word of comment. It was brought in as having a direct bearing on the point at issue, namely, how far on such an authority as to the credibility of women in courts of justice it would be admissible to strike off one from the list of fraudulent' cases in Newfangle. It has been said to me, if fraud is imputed to all these men, why not impute falsehood to all these women? There is no more proof of one than of the other, nor is one a bit more hard or unjust or unfair than the other.' I have not said so, but I have no answer to make.

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I am sorry that Non-Resident' should think that I desired to take a small advantage' in the case of Captain Carey. My explanation is somewhat akin to that of Non Resident.' Carefully examine the relative dates for yourselves, and you will see that, when I spoke to you about the matter, the ultimate decision had not yet reached us here. I, too, knew all about the torrent of indignant condemnation, but it is a mistake to speak of the 'apparent unanimity of public opinion;' unanimity was far from apparent or real. There is no more dangerous 'torrent' to be carried away upon than that of popular clamour. You will remember that, from the first, I told you to reserve your opinion. I recommended to you two maxims, always safe and more than safe-Believe in

innocence till guilt is proved-Do not kick a man when he is down. In short, I do not know a principle of more universal acceptation than that, while a case is yet sub judice, outsiders must not presume to pronounce upon it. There must be so many scholars of this common school that to claim to be one of them is a very small matter.

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'Non-Resident' says 'that was an unfortunate reference' (to the United States) from our friend from Newfangle, &c.,' and yet it is to the United States that he goes for his examples of the defrauding' of women; of the 'weak binding themselves together to resist the oppression of the strong; and of the preposterous system of sex protection,' all which, we are given to understand, fall far short of the truth. It is of American men that we are asked to believe that, when they are paying to 6,500 women the sum of $1,300,000 (at the low average of $200 each), they are capable of the almost. incredible cheese-paring meanness and guilt of endeavouring to rob them back again of a sixtieth part of the money! Say what you will of it, whether or not it be so much the worse for the facts,' it is incredible on the very face of it. Mr. Stephenson,' asked a member of a Parliamentary Committee, 'if a cow should stray on the track of the railway, how then?' Answers canny north-country George, 'So much the worse for the coo.' If NonResident' will permit me, I will take the liberty of pointing out to him that facts depend for their true significance on all accompanying and associated circumstances. There is the fact that we stand stock-still and see the sun rise up, travel across the sky, and sink down to rest, no facts on the face of creation are more absolutely manifest, yet so much the worse for the facts. 'Non-Resident' speaks of the timehonoured privilege of the sex, 'what she will, she will, you may depend on't,' and if the facts go against her, 'so much the worse for the facts.' Is he not caught napping for once? Is

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not even 'Non-Resident' here having his own little fling at the sex?

In the case of the English female authors, I am content to 'let judgment go by default' (has there not another lawyer been lost beside the woman of Newfangle ?). I am so much more in the habit of seeing English magazines than American, that I did not notice that 'Non-Resident' referred particularly to American magazines. I apologise.

With regard to the man who is paid $1,800 a year, I spoke designedly. From what was said, it was to be understood that this man is a mere copying clerk of the most ordinary capacity, a class of men notoriously receiving small, very small payment. Either, then, this is an exceptional case in some way or other, or it is not uncommon for copying clerks in the Ű. S. P. O's to be paid $1800 a year for their services. This certainly does seem a case of 'so much the worse for the facts,' and I think we could not very well come to a 'decision' about it without knowing more about the case.' On the face of it, 'Non-Resident' has here discovered an 'Arcadia' of his own-an arcadia of American

P. O. copying clerks. It would appear that all the cases in connection with this part of the subject are allowed to go by default in the very test instances selected by' himself, namely, any inadequacy of the lady's salary or hardship to herself, or any 'preposterous sex protection' in the cases of the illustrations and the cabinet. By the way, if genius usually commands its own recognition, especially musical or pictorial, art,' how came it that these 'very exquisite' illustrations did not command their recognition?

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The difference about difference' may be briefly disposed of. We need

no conjuror to discover that 'difference' in the dictionary is not explained as inferiority.' If one says, 'there is a difference between June and July,' it is true that there are minor varia

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tions, but we should hardly think of any inferiority of either to the other. But, if he says, there is a difference between June and January,' he has. tens to make it appear that he is conscious of the manifest inferiority of January (just the same as there is a manifest inferiority in the case under notice-see Newfangle' passim), and he adds, it is by no means sought to deny or underrate the difference.' I may remark too, that it was not 'Non-Resident,' but a writer under another name, who made use of the very correct phrase so that I am as well entitled to my interpretation as he is to his own. Besides, as his view is insisted on a little bit strongly, it would have been better to be careful as to 'fact.' I did not declare that any one who knows the real force or meaning of language would agree with one,' but that I would be judged by all who knew the real force and meaning of words,' a much more modest and moderate course, I submit.

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The sculptor' is pretty well worn But the fact remains that he does every day produce, without any insuperable difficulty, statues of men in their ordinary dress, whereas he knows that the indescribable extravagancies of feminine costume are wholly out of the range of 'æsthetic' artthat if there be 'grace,' it is a grace beyond the reach of his art. The painter can deal with them more easily; he has colour and light and shade at his arbitrary command, and he has stratagems and dodges with which to evade the monstrosities. Look, for example, at that print of the poor princess Charlotte her sad death is one of my early recollections, and I have had that print ever since I was very young. See how the lavish display of the figure (as is in vogue today), is brought within better bounds, by the floating scarf and the hand laid in the bosom.

My dears, there is a good deal of idle talk about men and women. Men and women are much of a muchness.

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