SMITH, Goldwin, Canadian author, born in Reading, Berkshire, England, 13 August, 1823. He was educated at Eton and Oxford, where he was graduated in 1845. In 1847 he was elected a fellow of University college, London, where he acted for some time as a tutor, and in the same year he was admitted to the bar at Lincoln's Inn, but he has never practised. In 1850 he was appointed assistant secretary of the royal commission that was charged with the duty of making an inquiry into the condition of Oxford university, and he was secretary to the second Oxford commission, which effected many salutary changes in the constitution and government of that institution. He was appointed a member of the Popular education commission in 1858, and the same year was made regius professor of modern history at Oxford, which chair he held till 1866. He was an active champion of the United States government during the civil war, when he wrote "Does the Bible Sanction American Slavery ?" (London, 1863), "On the Morality of the Emancipation Proclamation " (1863), and other pamphlets that influenced public opinion on this subject. In 1864 he visited this country and gave a series of lectures, receiving an enthusiastic welcome and the degree of EL. D. from Brown university. He returned to the United States in 1868, was appoint% ed professor of English and constitutional history in Cornell university, and resided at Ithaca till 1871, when he exchanged his chair for that of a nonresident professor, and removed to Toronto, where he has resided ever since Professor Smith was appointed a member 1574., . of the senate of Toronto university, was elected first president of the council of public instruction, and was for two years president of the Provincial teachers' association. He edited the "Canadian Monthly" in 1872-'4, founded the "Nation" in 1874, the "Bystander" in 1880, and the Toronto "Week," the principal literary and political journal in Canada, in 1884. In his writings and lectures he has advocated annexation of that country to the United States, which he regards as the manifest destiny of the Dominion, and he has also favored the project of commercial union, or unrestricted reciprocity with this country, which was adopted as a plank in the political platform of the Canadian Liberals in 1888. He has written much for the English reviews, and, among other works, has published "Irish History and Irish Character" (London, 1861); "Lectures on Modern History" (1861); "Rational Religion and the Rationalistic Objections of the Hampton Lectures for 1858" (1861) ; "The Empire" (1863) ; "The Civil War in America" (1866) : "Experience of the American Commonwealth " (1867); "Three English Statesmen" (1867) ; "The Reorganization of the University of Oxford" (1868) ; "The Relations between America and England: A Reply to the Speech of the late Mr. Sumner" (1869): "A Short History of England down to the Reformation" (1869); "The Conduct of England to Ireland" (1882); and "False Hopes" (1883).