Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 3.djvu/348

 Many slight pamphlets of his later years embodied reminiscences of earlier days. 'My Memory of Gladstone' (1904; new edit. 1909) gives a brief appreciation from personal observation of Gladstone's character and career. More ambitious were his historical treatises : 'The United States : an Outline of Political History, 1492-1871' (published in 1893 ; 4th edit. 1899), and 'The United Kingdom: a Political History' (2 vols. 1899). Both works are mere sketches of history slenderly authenticated. But they present the main facts agreeably, and although Smith's prejudices are unconcealed they are not displayed obtrusively. In 'The United Kingdom ' he claimed to have written 'in the light of recent research and discussion.' The record ends with the accession of Queen Victoria; a few concluding remarks on the Empire — the history of Canada, India, and the West Indies — are on the familiar anti-imperialist lines.

In a number of small speculative treatises he explained his reasons for rejecting faith in supernatural religion. Such were 'Guesses at the Riddle of Existence' (New York, 1897); 'The Founder of Christendom' (Toronto, 1903) ; 'Lines of Religious Inquiry' (1904); 'In Quest of Light' (1906); and 'No Refuge but in Truth' (Toronto, 1908). Smith declared the Old Testament to be 'Christianity's millstone,' and there was much in his agnostic argument to scandalise the orthodox. Yet his attitude was reverent, and it was his habit at Toronto to attend church.

While Smith's political theories continued to offend Canadian opinion, his labours in other than the political sphere, his obvious sincerity, his intellectual eminence, and his growing years ultimately won him almost universal respect in Toronto and indeed throughout Canada. In matters of education, social reform, and public benevolence the value of his work, despite occasional friction with colleagues, could not be seriously questioned. In 1874 he was elected by the teachers of Ontario their representative on the council of public instruction, and he was afterwards president of the Provincial Teachers' Association. He never lost an opportunity of pleading with effect for higher education. He was a senator of the University of Toronto at an early date, and powerfully urged the federation of local sectarian colleges with the university. In 1908 he was a useful member of a royal commission appointed for the reorganisation of Toronto University, and he was granted at length the degree of LL.D. In the controversies over the place of religion in state education, and the claims of the Roman Catholics to control the state system, Smith consistently opposed the sectarian claim without aggravating religious animosities. The purity of political and municipal administration was another cause which evoked his enthusiasm to the satisfaction of the general public, and he became chairman of a citizen's committee at Toronto which made war on municipal corruption. He was also in sympathy with youthful effort. He actively helped in 1892 to organise the Toronto Athletic Club, to which he contributed $12,000, and although the club failed financially and was closed in 1896, its formation under Smith's direct auspices bore witness to his faith in well-regulated physical exercise. In 1895 he intervened in the discussions over the Canada copyright bill, which was designed in the interests of foreign authors. Smith sought to eliminate 'the manufacturing clause' which restricted foreign writers' copyright to books actually printed in Canada. This protective condition was rejected by the legislature, but the bill did not become law. Smith was liberal in private charity. He urged on the city council of Toronto the appointment of a relief officer to receive applications from persons in distress, to make inquiries about them, and to supply information as to suitable philanthropic agencies. The city council rejected his proposal: whereupon he appointed a charity officer at his 'own expense, with such good results that after two years the council adopted his plan.

Many attentions which pleased him were paid him in his last years. In Nov. 1903, in recognition of his eightieth birthday, surviving friends in Oxford sent him a congratulatory address. The fifteen signatures were headed by that of the vice-chancellor, D. B. Monro. In America, too, he received many honours. The University of Princeton made him LL.D. in 1892, and he was chosen president of the American Historical Association in 1904. On 19 Oct. 1904 he accepted the invitation to lay at Cornell University the comer stone of a new hall, 'the home of the humanities,' which was named after him 'Goldwin Smith Hall.' A copy of his 'United States' was placed m the box deposited in the stone. The imposing building, which cost 71,000l., was dedicated on 19 June 1906. At the ceremonies of both 1904 and 1906