Page:Book Reviews History of the Oregon Country.pdf/3

148 cific railroads and railroad miscellany; political comment on the admission of Oregon, slavery, the Civil War and the party contests; climate, floods; biographies and obituaries of notable Oregonians.

The agency of change that probably had deepest appeal to him was the railroad. All of volume four is taken up with an account of the development of the railway mileage of this region. He hailed the advent of the transforming change inaugurated through rail transportation but his heart and admiration was with the heroic age then fading into the mist of the past. The trinity of principles most sacred in their relation to our national welfare were from his point of view the indestructible Union, sound money and representative government.

An Introduction, including a review of his career and an estimate of his work by Alfred Holman, an able associate trained by him, and a second paper by his son, the compiler, on his writings, give the publication something of the character of a memorial.

2em

This contribution to American literary history is remarkable for two high qualities—it shows tireless search for the truth, and it sets before us the man, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, in his political, economic and social environment. Let me say at the outset that it is hard to believe any legends about the famous literary man of Nova Scotia will survive the merciless attack of Professor Chittick. The chapter in which the relation of other humorists to Haliburton is traced is a model, and it would make the book worth while even if the rest of the volume did not set before us an account of a very unusual personality and give us important information on subjects of great interest to the student of history as well as the student of literature.

The Yankee origin of the Nova Scotians is brought out clearly. Besides a considerable number of earlier settlers, New England sent two streams—those who took up the lands of the expelled Acadians after 1755 and the Loyalist refugees of the American Revolution. "The net result of the successive arrivals of