nG PAST AND PRESENT OF sponsible government and free schools, the settlement of the land question, the construc¬ tion of the Prince Edward Island Railway and the entrance of the Island into confed¬ eration—of which last its talented editor was one of the fathers. Previous to the en¬ try of Prince Edward Island into the Confed¬ eracy of Canada , its last great fight was fought; for Mr. Ings , having acquired a competence, sold the plant and good-will of his paper to Mr. Brennan , an elderly gentle¬ man, by whom the " Islander " was not long maintained. Edward Whelan came here a mere youth in the summer of 1843. Having gathered together a newspaper plant, he began the publication of the "Palladium" on the 31st of August, 1843. Mr. Whelan was born in county Mayo , Ireland, in 1824, so that when he entered upon the publication of the " Pal ¬ ladium" he was but nineteen years of age. He mastered the elements of literature be¬ fore he left Ireland. It is related that as Jo¬ seph Howe sauntered one evening on a wharf in Halifax, at which lay a recently arrived emigrant ship, his attention was attracted by a bright-looking Irish boy, just landed, upon whose head he placed his kindly hand; and that, after ask¬ ing the boy a few questions and receiving his widowed mother's permission, Mr. Howe took him at once to his heart, his home and his printing office. It was in these circum¬ stances and while the great battle of respon¬ sible government was being fought in Nova Scotia , that Edward Whelan received the education which fitted him for his life's work in Prince Edward Island . The Liberal party in this Island was then struggling into life. Its leaders called for some one to come over and help them—and Whelan came. The quality of his work soon appeared in the "Palladium," which had for its motto, "The Liberty of the Press is the Palladium of the Civil, Political and Religious Rights of a Briton." But the financial ability of the champions of responsible government, free land and free schools was not, at that time, equal to their literary ability, their eloquence or their patriotic aspirations. After nearly two years of stormy existence, engaged in attacks upon the Family Compact, the " Pal ¬ ladium" went down on the 10th of May, 1845. Mr. Whelan then became for some time the editor of the "Morning News," of which Mr. E. L. Moody was proprietor, and continued to fight the battle of the people until after his election as a representative of the district of St. Peter 's on the 14th of August, 1846. The death of Mr. Moody supervening, Mr. Whelan at once prepared to publish the "Examiner." But difficulties placed in his way prevented the establishment of this journal until the 7th of August, 1847. On that date the oldest newspaper now in Prince Edward Island was first given to the public, bearing the motto, from Euripides: "This k True Liberty when Freeborn Men , Hav¬ ing to Advise the Public, May Speak Free." The "Examiner" and its editor spoke so freely and with so much eloquence and power that within three years the Liberals were victorious, the Family Compact, by which the Island had been ruled for years, was completely broken, and the first adminis¬ tration responsible to the people was formed. The "Examiner" continued to be a po¬ litical force to be reckoned with until the death of Mr. Whelan , on the 10th of De¬ cember, 1867. After that date the plant and good will of the paper were purchased by the late Mr. J. S. Carvell and placed in charge of Mr. Walter Grant , Mr. Blake Irv-