[MR. EDWARD JENKINS is the son of the Rev. John Jenkins, D.D., Minister of St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Montreal. He was born in 1838, was educated at the M'Gill College, Montreal, and at the University of Pennsylvania. Married, in 1867, Hannah Matilda Johnston. Has sat for Dundee since February 1874. Acted as AgentGeneral for Canada from February 1874 till December 1875. Is the author of 'Ginx's Baby,' 'Lord Bantam,' 'Little Hodge,' etc.] MR. EDWARD JENKINS. O To what extent a literary man is qualified to succeed in the House of Commons is a point which has not yet, apparently, been satisfactorily determined. Parliament has welcomed many men of letters to its fold; and some of them have risen to high positions in the esteem of the public and the service of the State; but, taking the average result of the experiment of bringing an author into the House of Commons, it cannot be said to be very encouraging. Neither Hume nor John Stuart Mill made any real mark upon Parliament. Lytton and Macaulay gained a certain success, by reason not of their literary but of their oratorical abilities; and Lord Beaconsfield, though he is doubtless entitled to the appellation of a man of letters, always made literature subservient to the great purpose of his life-that of securing political advancement for himself. I think it may be safely said that if Thackeray or Dickens or Anthony Trollope had succeeded in winning seats in the House of Commons, they would have been among the conspicuous failures of that assemblage. The truth is, that the conditions of work and of success in the Parliamentary arena are altogether different from those which govern the literary world; and few men who have gone through the long and painful apprenticeship which the author has usually to traverse before he attains eminence, can so far unlearn their own art as to acquire that other and very 1 dissimilar art by means of which alone they can make their mark in the House of Commons. I do not propose to discuss the relative importance or value of literary and Parliamentary distinction. The subject is a tempting one, but it is too wide to admit of being dealt with here, and I must therefore leave authors and members of Parliament to their own opinions as to the comparative dignity and influence of their respective professions. But the fact remains that, as a rule, successful' men of letters are not the most fortunate of politicians, and to this rule Mr. Edward Jenkins, the member for Dundee, forms no exception. Thanks in part to his own line of action, the public seems to some extent to have forgotten of late years that which after all is the best claim of Mr. Jenkins to distincIt has known him reR tion and respect. VOL. I. |