Page:Canadian notabilities 2.djvu/77

Whatever opinion may be formed as to the expediency of some of the measures which Mr. Smith has seen fit to advocate during the last few years of his life, there can be no dispute as to his ability, learning, and conscientiousness of purpose. At the same time, those who contemplate his life in its entirety will have the impression constantly forced upon their minds that he has not done justice to the powers with which he is endowed. With considerable intellectual capacity, he has done little for human advancement; little to make the world wiser and better than he found it. He seems to be more disposed to fritter away his existence in the construction of impracticable theories than to put his shoulder vigorously to the wheel and keep it there. In matters political he is an erratic and unsafe guide. He takes up a speculative and immature theory, builds upon it certain far-fetched conclusions which are not warranted by the premises, and trumpets it forth to the world as though it were sanctioned by the experience and approval of ages. He is, moreover, possessed by a feverish restlessness of temperament which impels him to find fault where more happily constituted natures would smile, hope for the best, and be silent. He is singularly impatient of contradiction, and the feeblest pen can sting him into the employment of a sarcasm and invective which, but for the restraints of good-breeding, would not unfrequently degenerate into ferocity. In his writings he brings to whatever subject may engage his attention the fullness of rich and varied learning and a matchless power of language; but he works only by spasmodic fits and starts, and cannot be induced to devote himself to that steady and patient labour without which no man must expect to leave his mark upon the age in which he lives.