Produced by Susan Skinner, Tom Allen, Juliet Sutherland,
Charles Franks, and the DP Team




MEMORIES OF CANADA AND SCOTLAND

_SPEECHES AND VERSES_

BY THE RIGHT HON. THE MARQUIS OF LORNE
K.T., G.C.M.G., &C.



DEDICATED WITH RESPECT AND AFFECTION TO
THE MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA



CONTENTS

_VERSES ON CANADIAN SUBJECTS._

CANADA, 1882

QUEBEC

PROLOGUE--GOVERNMENT HOUSE, MARCH 1879

CANADIAN NATIONAL HYMN

CANADIAN RIVER RHYMES

THE CANADIAN ROBIN

MILICETE LEGEND OF THE RIVER ST. JOHN

THE GUIDE OF THE MOHAWKS

THE STRONG HUNTER

THE ORIGIN OF THE INDIAN CORN

THE ISLES OF HURON

THE MYSTIC ISLE OF THE "LAND OF THE NORTH WIND"

WESTWARD HO!

THE SONG OF THE SIX SISTERS

THE PRAIRIE ROSES

CREE FAIRIES

THE "QU'APPELLE" VALLEY

THE BLACKFEET

SAN GABRIEL, ON THE PACIFIC COAST

NIAGARA

ON CHIEF MOUNTAIN

CUBA

ON THE NEW PROVINCE "ALBERTA"


_VERSES CHIEFLY FROM HIGHLAND STORIES._

GAELIC LEGENDS

COLHORN

LOCH BÚY

THE HARD STRAIT OF THE FEINNE

TOBERMORY BAY, 1588

LOCH UISK, ISLE OF MULL

THE LADY'S ROCK

THE POOL OF THE IRON SHIRT

INVERAWE

AN ISLESMAN'S FAREWELL

PREFACE TO DIARMID'S STORY

GRINIE'S FLIGHT WITH DIARMID

THE DEATH OF THE BOAR

KING ARTHUR AND THE CAPTIVE MAIDEN

SEANN ORAN GAILIC

DUNOLLY'S DAUGHTER

THE ARMADA GUN

CAVALRY CHARGE--KÖNIGGRÄTZ

THE IRISH EMIGRANT, 1880

THE IRISH EMIGRANT, 1883

SONG

SONNET ON THE DEATH OF LORD F. DOUGLAS

SADOWA

ON A FOREIGN WAR-SHIP'S SALUTE TO THE QUEEN'S STANDARD


_SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES._

FAREWELL ADDRESS AT INVERARAY

EMBARKING AT LIVERPOOL

REPLY TO THE LIVERPOOL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

TO THE MUNICIPALITY OF LONDONDERRY

AT MONTREAL--TO THE ST. ANDREWS SOCIETY

AT MONTREAL--REPLY TO THE CITIZENS' ADDRESS

AT OTTAWA--REPLY TO THE CITIZENS' ADDRESS

AT OTTAWA--DISTRIBUTION OF SCHOOL PRIZES

AT KINGSTON--ON RECEIVING THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF LAWS OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE

AT KINGSTON--TO THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE

AT KINGSTON--TO THE CADETS OF THE ROYAL MILITARY COLLEGE

AT MONTREAL--REVIEW ON THE QUEEN'S BIRTHDAY, 1879

AT MONTREAL--OPENING OF AN ART INSTITUTE

AT QUEBEC--REPLY TO ADDRESS OF THE CITY CORPORATION

AT QUEBEC--LAVAL UNIVERSITY

AT TORONTO--TORONTO CLUB DINNER

AT ST. JOHN, N.B.

AT ST. JOHN, N.B.--REPLY TO ADDRESS OF THE CITY CORPORATION

AT FREDERICTON--REPLY TO ADDRESS OF THE CITY CORPORATION

IN KINGS' COUNTY, N.B.--REPLY TO ADDRESS OF THE MUNICIPALITY

AT TORONTO--REPLY TO ADDRESS OF THE CITY CORPORATION

AT BERLIN, ONTARIO--REPLY TO ADDRESS OF THE GERMAN RESIDENTS

AT OTTAWA--EXHIBITION OF 1880

AT OTTAWA--EXHIBITION OF THE ROYAL CANADIAN ACADEMY OF ART

AT QUEBEC--FESTIVAL OF ST. JEAN BAPTISTE

AT HAMILTON--OPENING OF PROVINCIAL FAIR

AT MONTREAL--OPENING OF PROVINCIAL FAIR

AT MONTREAL--LAYING THE FOUNDATION STONE OF THE REDPATH MUSEUM OF THE
MCGILL COLLEGE

AT CHAMBLY--UNVEILING THE STATUE OF COLONEL DE SALABERRY

AT ST. THOMAS--GATHERING OF HIGHLANDERS

AT WINNIPEG--IMPRESSIONS OF A TOUR IN THE NORTHWEST

AT WINNIPEG--SOCIETY OF ST. JEAN BAPTISTE OF MANITOBA

AT WINNIPEG--REPLY TO ADDRESS OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF ST. BONIFACE--MANITOBA

AT WINNIPEG--REPLY TO ADDRESS OF THE BOARD OF MANAGEMENT OF MANITOBA
COLLEGE

AT FORT SHAW, MONTANA--FAREWELL TO THE NORTHWEST MOUNTED POLICE

AT OTTAWA--INCEPTION OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA

AT SAN FRANCISCO, CAL--REPLY TO ADDRESS OF THE BRITISH RESIDENTS

AT VICTORIA, B.C.--SPEECH AT A PUBLIC DINNER

AT OTTAWA--MEETING OF THE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION

AT OTTAWA--SECOND MEETING OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA

AT TORONTO--REPLY TO ADDRESSES OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY AND OF THE ONTARIO
SOCIETY OF ARTISTS

AT OTTAWA--FAREWELL ADDRESS OF THE PARLIAMENT OF CANADA

REPLY

EXTRACT FROM THE SPEECH FROM THE THRONE


_APPENDIX._

AT TORONTO--EXHIBITION OF ARTS AND MANUFACTURES

AT TORONTO--REPLY TO ADDRESS AT THE QUEEN'S PARK

AT OTTAWA--REPLY TO ADDRESS OF THE CITY CORPORATION

AT MONTREAL--REPLY TO ADDRESS OF THE CITY CORPORATION

AT QUEBEC--REPLY, OCT. 20TH 1883, TO ADDRESS OF THE CITY CORPORATION






VERSES ON CANADIAN SUBJECTS.


_CANADA_, 1882.

"Are hearts here strong enough to found
  A glorious people's sway?"
Ask of our rivers as they bound
From hill to plain, or ocean-sound,
  If they are strong to-day?
If weakness in their floods be found,
  Then may ye answer "Nay!"

"Is union yours? may foeman's might
  Your love ne'er break or chain?"
Go see if o'er our land the flight
Of Spring be stayed by blast or blight;
  If Fall bring never grain;
If Summer suns deny their light,
  Then may our hope be vain!

"Yet far too cramped the narrow space
  Your country's rule can own?"
Ah! travel all its bounds and trace
Each Alp unto its fertile base,
  Our realm of forests lone,
Our world of prairie, like the face
  Of ocean, hardly known!

"Yet for the arts to find a shrine,
  Too rough, I ween, and rude?"
Yea, if you find no flower divine
With prairie grass or hardy pine.
  No lilies with the wood,
Or on the water-meadows' line
  No purple Iris' flood!

"You deem a nation here shall stand,
  United, great, and free?"
Yes, see how Liberty's own hand
With ours the continent hath spanned,
  Strong-arched, from sea to sea:
Our Canada's her chosen land,
  Her roof and crown to be!



_QUEBEC._

O fortress city, bathed by streams
  Majestic as thy memories great,
  Where mountains, floods, and forests mate
The grandeur of the glorious dreams,
  Born of the hero hearts who died
  In founding here an Empire's pride;
Prosperity attend thy fate,
  And happiness in thee abide,
Pair Canada's strong tower and gate!

May Envy, that against thy might
  Dashed hostile hosts to surge and break,
  Bring Commerce, emulous to make
Thy people share her fruitful fight,
  In filling argosies with store
  Of grain and timber, and each ore,
And all a continent can shake
  Into thy lap, till more and more
Thy praise in distant worlds awake.

Who hath not known delight whose feet
  Have paced thy streets or terrace way;
  From rampart sod or bastion grey
Hath marked thy sea-like river greet.

  The bright and peopled banks which shine
  In front of the far mountain's line;
Thy glittering roofs below, the play
  Of currents where the ships entwine
Their spars, or laden pass away?

As we who joyously once rode
  Past guarded gates to trumpet sound,
  Along the devious ways that wound
O'er drawbridges, through moats, and showed
  The vast St. Lawrence flowing, belt
  The Orleans Isle, and sea-ward melt;
Then by old walls with cannon crowned,
  Down stair-like streets, to where we felt
  The salt winds blown o'er meadow ground.

Where flows the Charles past wharf and dock.
  And Learning from Laval looks down,
  And quiet convents grace the town.
There swift to meet the battle shock
  Montcalm rushed on; and eddying back,
  Red slaughter marked the bridge's track:
See now the shores with lumber brown,
  And girt with happy lands which lack
No loveliness of Summer's crown.

Quaint hamlet-alleys, border-filled
  With purple lilacs, poplars tall,
  Where flits the yellow bird, and fall
The deep eave shadows. There when tilled
The peasant's field or garden bed,
  He rests content if o'er his head
From silver spires the church-bells call
  To gorgeous shrines, and prayers that gild
The simple hopes and lives of all.

Winter is mocked by garbs of green,
  Worn by the copses flaked with snow,--
  White spikes and balls of bloom, that blow
In hedgerows deep; and cattle seen
  In meadows spangled thick with gold,
  And globes where lovers' fates are told
Around the red-doored houses low;
  While rising o'er them, fold on fold,
The distant hills in azure glow.

Oft in the woods we long delayed,
  When hours were minutes all too brief,
  For Nature knew no sound of grief;
But overhead the breezes played,
  And in the dank grass at our knee,
  Shone pearls of our green forest sea,
The star-white flowers of triple leaf
  Which love around the brooks to be,
Within the birch and maple shade.

At times we passed some fairy mere
  Embosomed in the leafy screen,
  And streaked with tints of heaven's sheen,
Where'er the water's surface clear
  Bore not the hues of verdant light
  From myriad boughs on mountain height,
Or near the shadowed banks were seen
  The sparkles that in circlets bright
Told where the fishes' feast had been.

And when afar the forests flushed
  In falling swathes of fire, there soared
  Dark clouds where muttering thunder roared,
And mounting vapours lurid rushed,
  While a metallic lustre flew
  Upon the vivid verdure's hue,
Before the blasts and rain forth poured,
  And slow o'er mighty landscapes drew
The grandest pageant of the Lord:

The threatening march of flashing cloud,
  With tumults of embattled air,
  Blest conflicts for the good they bear!
A century has God allowed
  None other, since the days He gave
  Unequal fortune to the brave.
Comrades in death! you live to share
  An equal honour, for your grave
Bade Enmity take Love as heir!

We watched, when gone day's quivering haze,
  The loops of plunging foam that beat
  The rocks at Montmorenci's feet
Stab the deep gloom with moonlit rays;
  Or from the fortress saw the streams
  Sweep swiftly o'er the pillared beams;
White shone the roofs, and anchored fleet,
  And grassy slopes where nod in dreams
Pale hosts of sleeping Marguerite.

Or when the dazzling Frost King mailed
  Would clasp the wilful waterfall,
  Fast leaping to her snowy hall
She fled; and where her rainbows hailed
  Her freedom, painting all her home,
  We climbed her spray-built palace dome,
Shot down the radiant glassy wall
  Until we reached the snowdrift foam,
As shoots to waves some meteor ball.

Then homeward, hearing song or tale,
  With chime of harness bells we sped
  Above the frozen river bed.
The city, through a misty veil,
  Gleamed from her cape, where sunset fire
  Touched louvre and cathedral spire,
Bathed ice and snow a rosy red,
  So beautiful that men's desire
For May-time's rival wonders fled:

What glories hath this gracious land,
  Fit home for many a hardy race;
  Where liberty has broadest base,
And labour honours every hand!
  Throughout her triply thousand miles
  The sun upon each season smiles,
And every man has scope and space,
  And kindliness, from strand to strand,
Alone is born to right of place!

Such were our memories. May they yet
  Be shared by others, sent to be
  Signs of the union of the free
And kindred peoples God hath set
  O'er famous isles, and fertile zones
  Of continents! Or if new thrones
And mighty States arise, may He
  Whose potent hand yon river owns
Smooth their great future's shrouded Sea!



_PROLOGUE._

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, _March_ 1879.

A moment's pause before we play our parts,
To speak the thought that reigns within your hearts.--
Now from the Future's hours, and unknown days,
Affection turns, and with the Past delays;
For countless voices in our mighty land
Speak the fond praises of a vanished hand;
And shall, to mightier ages yet, proclaim
The happy memories linked with Dufferin's name.

Missed here is he, to whom each class and creed,
Among our people lately bade "God speed;"
Missed, when each Winter sees the skater wheel
In ringing circle on the flashing steel;
Missed in the Spring, the Summer and the Fall,
In many a hut, as in the Council Hall;
Where'er his wanderings on Duty's hest
Evoked his glowing speech, his genial jest.
We mourn his absence, though we joy that now
Old England's honours cluster round his brow,
And that he left us but to serve again
Our Queen and Empire on the Neva's plain!

Amidst the honoured roll of those whose fate
It was to crown our fair Canadian State,
And bind in one bright diadem alone,
Each glorious Province, each resplendent stone,
His name shall last, and his example give
To all her sons a lesson how to live:
How every task, if met with heart as bold,
Proves the hard rock is seamed with precious gold,
And Labour, when with Mirth and Love allied,
Finds friends far stronger than in Force and Pride,
And Sympathy and Kindness can be made
The potent weapons by which men are swayed.
He proved a nation's trust can well be won
By loyal work and constant duty done;
The wit that winged the wisdom of his word
Set forth our glories, till all Europe heard
How wide the room our Western World can spare
For all who nobly toil and bravely dare.

And while the statesman we revere, we know
In him the friend is gone, to whom we owe
So much of gaiety, so much which made
Life's duller round to seem in joy repaid.
These little festivals by him made bright,
With grateful thoughts of him renewed to-night,
Remind no less of her who deigned to grace
This mimic world, and fill therein her place
With the sweet dignity and gracious mien
The race of Hamilton has often seen;
But never shown upon the wider stage
Where the great "cast" is writ on History's page,
More purely, nobly, than by her, whose voice
Here moved to tears, or made the heart rejoice,
And who in act and word, at home, or far,
Shone with calm beauty like the Northern Star!

Green as the Shamrock of their native Isle
Their memory lives, and babes unborn shall smile
And share in happiness the pride that blends
Our country's name with her beloved friends!



_A NATIONAL HYMN._

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, _March_ 1880.

From our Dominion never
  Take Thy protecting hand,
United, Lord, for ever
  Keep Thou our fathers' land!
From where Atlantic terrors
  Our hardy seamen train,
To where the salt sea mirrors
  The vast Pacific chain.
    Aye one with her whose thunder
      Keeps world-watch with the hours,
    Guard Freedom's home and wonder,
      "This Canada of ours."

Fair days of fortune send her,
  Be Thou her Shield and Sun!
Our land, our flag's Defender,
  Unite our hearts as one!
One flag, one land, upon her
  May every blessing rest I
For loyal faith and honour
  Her children's deeds attest
    Aye one with her, &c.

No stranger's foot, insulting,
  Shall tread our country's soil;
While stand her sons exulting
  For her to live and toil.
She hath the victor's guerdon,
  Her's are the conquering hours,
No foeman's yoke shall burden
  "This Canada of ours."
    Aye one with her, &c.

Our sires, when times were sorest,
  Asked none but aid Divine,
And cleared the tangled forest,
  And wrought the buried mine.
They tracked the floods and fountains,
  And won, with master-hand,
Far more than gold in mountains,
  The glorious Prairie-land.
    Aye one with her, &c,

O Giver of earth's treasure,
  Make Thou our nation strong;
Pour forth Thine hot displeasure
  On all who work our wrong!
To our remotest border
  Let plenty still increase,
Let Liberty and Order,
  Bid ancient feuds to cease.
    Aye one with her, &c.

May Canada's fair daughters
  Keep house for hearts as bold
As theirs who o'er the waters
  Came hither first of old.
The pioneers of nations!
  They showed the world the way;
Tis ours to keep their stations,
  And lead the van to-day.
    Aye one with her, &c.

Inheritors of glory,
  O countrymen! we swear
To guard the flag whose story
  Shall onward victory bear.
Where'er through earth's far regions
  Its triple crosses fly,
For God, for home, our legions
  Shall win, or fighting die!
    Aye one with her, &c.



_RIVER RHYMES_

1. We have poled our staunch canoe
   Many a boiling torrent through;
   Paddling where the eddies drew,
   Athwart the roaring flood we flew.

_Chorus--_
      Dip your paddles! make them leap,
      Where the clear cold waters sweep.
      Dip your paddles! steady keep,
      Where breaks the rapid down the steep.

2. Where the wind, like censer, flings
   Smoke-spray wider as it swings,
   Hark! the aisle of rainbow rings
   To falls that hymn the King of kings.

3. Lifting there our vessel tight,
   Climbed we bank and rocky height,
   Bore her through thick woods, where light
   Fell dappling those green haunts of Night.

4. O'er the rush of billows hurled,
   Where they tossed and leaped and curled,
   Past each wave-worn boulder whirled,
   How fast we sailed, no sail unfurled!

5. Laughs from parted lips and teeth
   Hailed the quiet reach beneath,
   Damascened in ferny sheath,
   And girt with pine and maple wreath.

6. Oh, the lovely river there
   Made all Nature yet more fair;
   Wooded hills and azure air
   Kissed, quivering, in the stream they share.

7. Plunged the salmon, waging feud
   'Gainst the jewelled insect-brood;
   From aerial solitude
   An eagle's shadow crossed the wood.

8. Flapped the heron, and the grey
   Halcyon talked from cedar's spray,
   Drummed the partridge far away;--
   Ah! could we choose to live as they!



_LEGEND OF THE CANADIAN ROBIN_

Is it Man alone who merits
  Immortality or death?
Each created thing inherits
  Equal air and common breath.

Souls pass onward: some are ranging
  Happy hunting-grounds, and some
Are as joyous, though in changing
  Form be altered, language dumb.

Beauteous all, if fur or feather,
  Strength or gift of song be theirs;
He who planted all together
  Equally their fate prepares.

Like to Time, that dies not, living
  Through the change the seasons bring,
So men, dying, are but giving
  Life to some fleet foot or wing.

Bird and beast the Savage cherished,
  But the Robins loved he best;
O'er the grave where he has perished
  They shall thrive and build their nest.

Hunted by the white invader,
  Vanish ancient races all;
Yet no ruthless foe or trader
  Silences the songster's call.

For the white man too rejoices,
  Welcoming Spring's herald bird,
When the ice breaks, and the voices
  From the rushing streams are heard.

Where the Indian's head-dress fluttered,
  Pale the settler would recoil,
And his deepest curse was uttered
  On the Red Son of the soil.

Later knew he not, when often
  Gladness with the Robin came,
How a spirit-change could soften
  Hate to dear affection's flame:

Knew not, as he heard, delighted,
  Mellow notes in woodlands die,
How his heart had leaped, affrighted
  At that voice in battle-cry.

For a youthful Savage, keeping
  Long his cruel fast, had prayed,
All his soul in yearning steeping,
  Not for glory, chase, or maid;

But to sing in joy, and wander,
  Following the summer hours,
Drinking where the streams meander,
  Feasting with the leaves and flowers.

Once his people saw him painting
  Red his sides and red his breast,
Said: "His soul for fight is fainting,
  War-paint suits the hero best;"

Went, when passed the night, loud calling,
  Found him not, but where he lay
Saw a Robin, whose enthralling
  Carol seemed to them to say;

"I have left you! I am going
  Far from fast and winter pain;
When the laughing water's flowing
  Hither I will come again!"

Thus his ebon locks still wearing,
  With the war-paint on his breast,
Still he comes, our summer sharing,
  And the lands he once possessed.

Finding in the white man's regions
  Foemen none, but friends whose heart
Loves the Robins' happy legions,
  Mourns when, silent, they depart.



_WERE THESE THE FIRST DISCOVERERS OF AMERICA?_

MILICETE LEGEND OF THE OUANGONDÉ, OR RIVER ST. JOHN.

Though the ebbing ocean listens
  To Ugondé's throbbing roar,
Calm the conquering flood-tide glistens
  Where the river raved before. [1]

[1] The Bay of Fundy tide rises to such a height that it flows up
the St. John River channel to some distance, silencing the roar
of the Calls, which pour over a great ledge of rock left by the
ebbing sea. Taken very literally from a tale in the "Amaranth
Magazine," 1841.

So the sea-brought strangers, stronger
  Than their Indian foes of old,
Conquered, till were heard no longer
  War-songs through the forests rolled.

Yet the land's wild stream, begotten
  Where its Red Sons fought and died,
With traditions unforgotten
  Strives to stem Oblivion's tide;
Tells the mighty, who, like ocean,
  Whelm the native stream, how they
First in far dim days' commotion,
  Wrestling, fought for empire's sway.

Hear the sad cascade, ere ever
  Sinks in rising tides its moan,
True may be the tale, though never
  By the victor ocean known.

Now the chant rings softly, finding
  Freedom as the sea retires;
Loudly now, through spray-tears blinding
  Throb and thunder silver lyres;

Silenced when the strong sea-water
  To its great' heart, limitless,
Rising, takes the valley's daughter,
  Soothes the song of her distress.


UGONDÉ'S TALE.

For a while the salt brine leaves me
  O'er my terraced rocks to fall,
And my broad swift-gliding waters
  Olden memories recall.

Ere the tallest pines were seedlings
  With my life-stream these were blent;
As a father's words, like arrows
  Straight to children's hearts are sent,

So my currents speeding downwards,
  Ever passing, sing the same
Story of the days remembered,
  When the stranger people came.
Men of mighty limbs and voices,
  Bearing shining shields and knives,
Painted gleamed their hair like evening,
  When the sun in ocean dives.

Blue their eyes and tall their stature,
  Huge as Indian shadows seen
When the sun through mists of morning
  Casts them o'er a clear lake's sheen.

From before the great Pale-faces
  Fled the tribes to woods and caves,
Watching thence their fearful councils,
  Where they talked beside the waves.

For they loved the shores, and fashioned
  Houses from its stones, and there
Fished and rested, danced at night-time
  By their fire and torches' glare.

Sang loud songs before the pine-logs
  As they crackled in the flame,
Raised and drank from bone-cups, shouting
  Fiercely some strange spirit's name.

Turning to the morning's pathway,
  Cried they thus to gods, and none
Dared to fight the bearded giants,
  Children of the fire and sun.

From their bodies fell our flint-darts,
  Yet their arrows flew, like rays
Flashing from the rocks where polished
  By the ice in winter days.

Then the Indians prayed the spirits
  Haunting river, bank, and hill,
To let hatred, like marsh vapour,
  Rise among their foes and kill.

And they seemed to heed, for anger
  Often maddened all the band,
Fighting for some stones that glittered
  Yellow on Ugondé's sand.

Seeing axe and spear-head crimson,
  Hope illumined doubt and dread,
And our land's despairing children
  Called upon the mighty dead.

All the Northern night-air shaking,
  Rose the ancients' bright array,
Burning lines of battle breaking
  Darkness into lurid day.

But the stranger hearts were hardened,
  Fearless slept they; then at last
Our Great Spirit heard, and answered
  From his home in heaven vast.

For his waving locks were tempests,
  And the thunder-cloud his frown;
Where he trod the earthquake followed,
  And the forests bowed them down.

As his whirlwind struck the mountains,
  Rent and lifted, swayed the ground;
Winged knives of crooked lightning
  Gleamed from skies and gulfs profound.

Floods, from wonted channels driven,
  Roared at falling hillside's shock;
What was land became the torrent,
  What was lake became the rock.

Now the river and the ocean,
  Whispering, say: "Our floods alone
See white skeletons slow-moving
  Near the olden walls of stone."

Moving slow in stream and sea-tide,
  There the stranger warriors sleep,
And their shades still cry in anguish
  Where the foaming waters leap.



_THE GUIDE OF THE MOHAWKS_.

For strife against the ocean tribe
  The Mohawks' war array
Comes floating down, where broad St. John
  Reflects the dawning day.

A camp is seen, and victims fall,
  And none are left to flee;
A maid alone is spared, compelled
  A traitress guide to be.
The swift canoes together keep,
  And o'er their gliding prows
The silent girl points down the stream,
  Nor halt nor rest allows.

"Speak! are we near your fires? How dark
  Night o'er these waters lies!"
Still pointing down the rushing stream,
  The maiden naught replies.

The banks fly past, the water seethes;
  The Mohawks shout, "To shore!
Where is the girl?" Her cry ascends
  From out the river's roar.

The foaming rapids rise and flash
  A moment o'er her head,
And smiling as she sinks, she knows
  Her foemen's course is sped;

A moment hears she shriek on shriek
  From hearts that death appals,
As, seized by whirling gulfs, the crews
  Are drawn into the falls!



_THE STRONG HUNTER._

There's a warrior hunting o'er prairie and hill,
Who in sunshine or starlight is eager to kill,
Who ne'er sleeps by his fire on the wild river's shore,
Where the green cedars shake to the white rapids' roar.

Ever tireless and noiseless, he knows not repose,
Be the land filled with summer, or lifeless with snows;
But his strength gives him few he can count as his friends,
Man and beast fly before him wherever he wends,

For he chases alike every form that has breath,
And his darts must strike all,--for that hunter is Death!!
Lo! a skeleton armed, and his scalp-lock yet streams;
From this vision of fear of the Iroquois' dreams!



_MON-DAW-MIN_;

OR, THE ORIGIN OF THE INDIAN-CORN.

Cherry bloom and green buds bursting
  Fleck the azure skies;
In the spring wood, hungering, thirsting,
  Faint an Indian lies.

To behold his guardian spirit
  Fasts the dusky youth;
Prays that thus he may inherit
  Warrior strength and truth.

Weak he grows, the war-path gory
  Seems a far delight;
Now he scans the flowers, whose glory
  Is not won by fight.

"Hunger kills me; see my arrow
  Bloodless lies: I ask,
If life's doom be grave-pit narrow,
  Deathless make its task.

"For man's welfare guide my being,
  So I shall not die
Like the flow'rets, fading, fleeing,
  When the snow is nigh.

"Medicine from the plants we borrow,
  Salves from many a leaf;
May they not kill hunger's sorrow,
  Give with food relief?"

Suddenly a spirit shining
  From the sky came down,
Green his mantle, floating, twining,
  Gold his feather crown.

"I have heard thy thought unspoken;
  Famous thou shall be;
Though no scalp shall be the token,
  Men shall speak of thee.

"Bravely borne, men's heaviest burden
  Ever lighter lies;
Wrestling with me, win the guerdon;
  Gain thy wish, arise!"

Now he rises, and, prevailing,
  Hears the angel say:
"Strong in weakness, never failing,
  Strive yet one more day.

"Now again I come, and find thee
  Yet with courage high,
So that, though my arms can bind thee,
  Victor thou, not I.

"Hark! to-morrow, conquering, slay me,
  Blest shall be thy toil:
After wrestling, strip me, lay me
  Sleeping in the soil.

"Visit oft the place; above me
  Root out weeds and grass;
Fast no more; obeying, love me;
  Watch what comes to pass."

Waiting through the long day dreary,
  Still he hungers on;
Once more wrestling, weak and weary,
  Still the fight is won.

Stripped of robes and golden feather,
  Buried lies the guest:
Summer's wonder-working weather
  Warms his place of rest.

Ever his commands fulfilling,
  Mourns his victor friend,
Fearing, with a heart unwilling,
  To have known the end.

No! upon the dark mould fallow
  Shine bright blades of green;
Rising, spreading, plumes of yellow
  O'er their sheaves are seen.

Higher than a mortal's stature
  Soars the corn in pride;
Seeing it, he knows that Nature
  There stands deified.

"'Tis my friend," he cries, "the guerdon
  Fast and prayer have won;
Want is past, and hunger's burden
  Soon shall torture none."



_THE ISLES OF HURON_

Bright are the countless isles which crest
With waving woods wide Huron's breast,--
  Her countless isles, that love too well
    The crystal waters whence they rise,
  Far from her azure depths to swell,
    Or wanton with the wooing skies;

Nor, jealous, soar to keep the Day
From laughing in each rippling bay,
  But floating on the flood they love,
    Soft whispering, kiss her breast, and seek
  No passions of the air above,
    No fires that burn the thunder-peak.

Algoma o'er Ontario throws
Fair forest heights and mountain snows;
  Strong Erie shakes the orchard plain
    At great Niagara's defiles,
  And river-gods o'er Lawrence reign,
    But Love is king in Huron's isles.



_THE MYSTIC ISLE OF THE "LAND OF THE NORTH WIND."_

(KEEWATIN.)

A land untamed, whose myriad isles
Are set in branching lakes that vein
Illimitable silent woods,
Voiceful in Fall, when their defiles,
Rich with the birch's golden rain,
See winging past the wildfowl broods.

Blue channels seem its dented rocks,
So steeply smoothed, but crusted o'er
With rounded mosses, green and grey,
That oft a Southern coral mocks
Upon this Northern fir-clad shore,
'Neath tufted copse on cape and bay.
Here sunshine from serener skies
Than Europe's ocean-islands know
Ripens the berry for the bear,
And pierces where the beaver plies
His water-forestry, or slow
The moose seeks out a breezy lair.

The blaze scarce spangles bush or ferns,
But lights the white pine's velvet fringe
And its dark Norway sister's boughs;
At eve between their shadows burns
The lake, where shafts of crimson tinge
The savage war-flotilla's prows.

Far circling round, these seem to shun
An isle more fair than all beside,
As if some lurking foe were there,
Although upon its heights the sun
Shines glorious, and its forest pride
Is fanned by summer's joyous air.

For 'mid these isles is one of fear,
And none may ever breathe its name.
There the Great Spirit loves to be;
Its haunted groves and waters clear
Are homes of thunder and of flame;
All pass it silently and flee,

Save they who potent magic learn,
Who lonely in that dreaded fane
Resist nine days the awful powers:
And, fasting, each through pain may earn
The knowledge daring mortals gain,
If life survive those secret hours!



_WESTWARD HO!_

Away to the west! Westward ho! Westward ho!
Where over the prairies the summer winds blow!

Why known to so few were its rivers and plains,
Where rustle so tall in their ripeness the grains?
The bison and Red-men alone cared to roam
O'er realms that to millions must soon give a home;
The vast fertile levels Old Time loved to reap
The haymaker's song hath awakened from sleep.

Away to the West! Westward ho! Westward ho!
Why waited we fearing to plant and to sow?

Not ours was the waiting! By God was ordained
The hour when the ocean's grey steeds were up-reined,
And green marshes rose, and the bittern's abode
Became the Lone Land where the wild hunter strode,
And soils with grass harvests grew rich, and the clime
For us was prepared in the fulness of Time!

Away to the West! Westward ho! Westward ho!
For us 'twas prepared long ago, long ago!
There came from the Old World at last o'er the sea,
The bravest and best to this land of the free;
And, leal to their flag, won the fruits of the earth
By might that has given new nations a birth,
But found in our North-land a bride to be known
More worthy than all of the love of the throne.
Away to the West! Westward ho! Westward ho!
God's hand is our guide; 'tis His will that we go!

To lands yet more happy than Europe's, for here
We mould the young nation for Freedom to rear.
Full strongly we build, and have nought to pull down,
For, true to ourselves, we are true to the Crown;
The will of the people its honour shows forth,
As pole-star, whose radiance points steadfastly north.

Away to the West! Westward ho! Westward ho!
Where rooted in Freedom shall Liberty grow!

Right good is the loam that for five score of days
Its rolling lands show, or its plains' scented ways:
Nor used is the pick, if the earth has concealed
The waters it keeps for the house and the field;
The spade finds enough, until burst on the sight
Our Rocky Sierras' sweet rivers of light.

Away to the West! Westward ho! Westward ho!
From mountains and lakes there the great rivers flow!

If told of Brazil or great Mexico's gold,
Of Cotton States' warmth and of Canada's cold,
Go say how we prize, like the ore of the mine,
The snows sapphire-shadowed in winter's sunshine;
--Our gayest of seasons! which guards the good soil
For races who won it through faith and through toil.

Away to the West! Westward ho! Westward ho!
Bright sparkles its winter, and light is its snow!

There gaily, in measureless meadows, all day
The sun and the breeze with the grass are at play,
In billows that never can break as they pass,
But toss the gold foam of the flower-laden grass,
The bright yellow disks of the asters upcast
On waves that in blossoms flow silently past.

Away to the West! Westward-ho! Westward ho!
Where over the prairies the summer winds blow.

The West for you, boys! where our God has made room
For field and for city, for plough and for loom.
The West for you, girls! for our Canada deems
Love's home better luck than a gold-seeker's dreams.
Away! and your children shall bless you, for they
Shall rule o'er a land fairer far than Cathay.

Away to the West! Westward ho! Westward ho!
Thou God of their fathers, Thy blessing bestow!


_THE SONG OF THE SIX SISTERS._

[Manitoba, Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, Athabasca, Alberta,
and British Columbia.]

At a feast in the east of our central plains,
Girt with the sheaths of the wheaten grains,
Manitoba lay where the sunflowers blow,
And sang to the chime of the Red River's flow:
"I am child of the spirit whom all men own,
My prairie no longer is green and lone,
For the hosts of the settler have ringed me round,
And his bride am I with the harvest crowned."

On her steed at speed o'er her burning grass
We saw Assiniboia pass:
"The bison and antelope still are mine,
And the Indian wars on my boundary-line;
Where his knife is dyed I love to ride
By the cactus blooms or the marshes wide,
While the quivering columns of thunder fire
Give light to the darkened land's desire."

"To the North look ye forth," cried the voice of one,
Who dwells where the great twin rivers run;--
"Or farther yet," Athabaska cried,
"Where mightier waters the hills divide:
'Peace' is their name, and the musk ox there
Still feeds alone on the meadows fair."
"Nay, stay," said the first; "the white man's word
Hath called me the kindest to horse and herd."

From on high where the sky and the snow-born rill
Each morn and eve to the rose-tints thrill,
Sang the fairy Sprite of the Fountain Land:
"A daughter of her, whose sceptred hand
With the flag of the woven crosses three
Hath rule o'er the ocean, hath christened me,
And my waves their homage repeat again,
And that standard greet in the loyal main."

And their lays in her praise then sang the four:
"Alberta has all we can boast and more:
The scented breath of the plains is hers,
The odours sweet of the sage and firs;
There the coal breaks forth on her rolling sod,
And the winters flee at the winds of God.
Columbia, come! for we want but thee;
Now tell of thyself and thy silent sea!"

  "Clad with the silver snow, a pine
  Guarded the grot of a golden mine,
And dark was the shade which the mist-wreaths cast
Though brightly they shone on the mountain vast.
    Stars and sun o'er that cavern swept,
    Where on the glittering sand I slept;
But none could behold me, or know where was stored
More treasure than monarch e'er won with the sword.
    Floods in fathomless torrents fall
    Through the awful rifts of the Alpine wall,
Where I passed in the night over forest and glen,
O'er the ships on the sea and the cities of men--
    Swifter than morn! His shafts of love
    Behind me caught the peaks above,
But touched not my wings: I had gone e'er he came
Where the vine-maple fringed the deep forest with flame.
    Strewn o'er the sombre walls of green
    In saffron or in crimson sheen,
How lovely those gardens of autumn, where rolled
In smoke and in fire the red lava of old!
    Soon I reached my sea-girt home
    Sheltered from the breakers' foam.
Seek not for mine isle, for a thousand and more
Lie asleep in the calm near the mountainous shore.
    Oft I roam in moon ray clear
    With the puma and the deer;
From the boughs of Madrôna that droop o'er a bay
I watch the fish dart from the beams of the day.
    Mine are tranquil gulfs, nor give
    Sign to lovers where I live;
But the sea-rock betrays where my netting is hung,
When the meshes of light o'er its mosses are flung!"
    She ceased, and then in chorus strong
    The blended voices floated long:--

    "No sirens we, of shore or wave,
    To sing of love and tempt the brave:
    We fled their path, and freedom found
    Where blue horizons stretched around,
    And lilies in the grasses made
    A double sunshine on each blade.
    No wooers we, but, wooed by them,
    We yield our maiden diadem,
    And welcome now, no longer mute,
    Tried hearts so true and resolute!"



_THE PRAIRIE ROSES._

The Noon-Sun prayed a prairie rose
  To blanch for him her blossom's hue,
But to the Plain all love she owes;
  Beneath that mother's grass she grew.

And sheltered by her verdant blades,
  Their tints of green she made her own;
But still the Sun sought out her shades
  And said, "Be my white bride alone!"

Then, sorrowing for his grievous pain,
  Her sister loved the amorous god,
And blushed, ashamed, as o'er the plain
  His parting beams illumed the sod.

So one sweet rose yet wears the green,
  And one in sunset's crimson glows;
Still one untouched by love is seen,
  And one in conscious beauty blows.



_CREE FAIRIES_.

"Did earth ever see
On thy prairie's line
Tribes older than thine,
Old Chief of the Cree?"

"Before us we know
Of none who lived here;
Our shafts bade them go.

"But others have share
Of lake and of land,
A swift-footed band
No arrow can scare.

"Their coming has been
When flowers are gay;
On islet and bay
Their footprints are seen.

"There dance little feet
Light grasses they break;
Beneath the blue lake
Must be their retreat.

"We listen, and none
Hears ever a sound;
But where, lily-crowned,
Floats the isle in the sun,

"Three children we see
Like sunbeams at play.
And, voiceless as they,
Dogs bounding in glee.

"Of old they were there!
Ever young, who are these
Whom Death cannot seize?
What Spirits of air?"



_THE "QU'APPELLE" VALLEY._

Morning, lighting all the prairies,
  Once of old came, bright as now,
To the twin cliffs, sloping wooded
  From the vast plain's even brow:
When the sunken valley's levels
  With the winding willowed stream,
Cried, "Depart, night's mists and shadows;
  Open-flowered, we love to dream!"
Then in his canoe a stranger
  Passing onward heard a cry;
Thought it called his name and answered,
  But the voice would not reply;
Waited listening, while the glory
  Rose to search each steep ravine,
Till the shadowed terraced ridges
  Like the level vale were green.

Strange as when on Space the voices
  Of the stars' hosannahs fell,
To this wilderness of beauty
  Seemed his call "Qu'Appelle? Qu'Appelle?"
For a day he tarried, hearkening,
  Wondering, as he went his way,
Whose the voice that gladly called him
  With the merry tones of day?

Was it God, who gave dumb Nature
  Voice and words to shout to one
Who, a pioneer, came, sunlike,
  Down the pathways of the sun?
Harbinger of thronging thousands,
  Bringing plain, and vale, and wood,
Things the best and last created,
  Human hearts and brotherhood!

Long the doubt and eager question
  Yet that valley's name shall tell,
For its farmers' laughing children
  Gravely call it "The Qu'Appelle!"



_THE BLACKFEET_

I.

Where the snow-world of the mountains
  Fronts the sea-like world of sward,
And encamped along the prairies
  Tower the white peaks heavenward;
Where they stand by dawn rose-coloured
  Or dim-silvered by the stars,
And behind their shadowed portals
  Evening draws her lurid bars,
Lies a country whose sweet grasses
  Richly clothe the rolling plain;
All its swelling upland pastures
  Speak of Plenty's happy reign;
There the bison herds in autumn
  Roamed wide sunlit solitudes,
Seamed with many an azure river
  Bright in burnished poplar woods.


II.

Night-dews pearled the painted hide-tents,
  "Moyas" named, that on the mead
Sheltered dark-eyed women wearing
  Braided hair and woven bead.
Never man had seen their lodges,
  Never warrior crossed the slopes
Where they rode, and where they hunted
  Imu bulls and antelopes.
Masterless, how swift their riding!
  While the wild steeds onward flew,
From round breasts and arms unburdened
  Freedom's winds their tresses blew.
Only when the purple shadows
  Slowly veiled the darkening plain
Would they sorrow that the Sun-god
  Dearer loved his Alp's domain.


III.

Southward, nearer to the gorges
  Whence the sudden warm winds blow,
Shaking all the pine's huge branches,
  Melting all the fallen snow,
Dwelt the Séksika, the Blackfeet;
  They whose ancestor, endued,
With the dark salve's magic fleetness,
  First on foot the deer pursued.
Gallantly the Braves bore torture
  While their Sun-dance fasts were held,
While the drums beat, and the virgins
  Saw the pains by manhood quelled.
As each writhing form triumphant
  Called on the Great Spirit's might,
On his son, whose voice in thunder
  Summons airy hosts to fight.


IV.

"Star-Child," praised as bearing all things,
  Praised as Brave who never feared,
Young, but famed above his elders,
  Chief to man and maid endeared,
Went with comrades, quiver-harnessed,
  O'er the hills, and face to face,
Where the bright leaves trembled round them,
  Found the fearless huntress race
Was it peace or was it warfare?
  Starting back, their bows they drew,
But a mystic power compelled them,
  And no word, no arrow flew.
Nearer to each other drawing,
  Strength and beauty beckoned "Peace,"
Each the other envious eyeing,
  Jealous lest their hunt should cease!


V.

"They are strong; could not they aid us?"
  Thought the maiden band amazed;
"Conquered, these could well obey us!"
  Dreamed the warriors as they gazed.
Falsely answered cunning "Star-Child,"
  Smiling as they slowly met,
While the women's frequent questions
  Were to laughter's music set,
"Who is chief among you, tell us?"
  "He is far! Is she your queen
With the shells and deer-teeth broidered,
  Decked with sheen of gold between?"
"Yea; she slays the bear, the grizzly:
  Light her empire on us lies;
With the love she rules her courser
  Guides and guards us 'Laughing Eyes'!"


VI.

Vaunted then the men their "Star-Child:"
  "Peerless soldier, keen-eyed king!
From the girl he weds shall heroes
  Worthy war-god's lineage spring.
Know ye not how old enchantment
  Saw his storm-born sire appear,
Armed, upon a peak dark-lifted
  O'er the snows and glaciers drear?
His the darts divine, whose breaking
  Thrice hath some disaster sent,
Shafts that killed and then returning,
  Kept his armoury unspent."
"Give us of these arrows. Bring him!"
  Cried the maidens. "Nay," they said;
"Come with us and share our hunting
  Ere the autumn leaves are shed."


VII.

Answered they: "In painted lodges
  Berries we have dried and meat;
Come again! e'er comes the winter,
  Let us hear your horses' feet."
And they sprang into their saddles,
  Swept, white-splashing, through a stream
Red and saffron hued, the pageant
  Crossed the blue translucent gleam.
Then unwilling, as they vanished,
  "Star-Child" slow to camp returned;
Told the council of the Blackfeet
  All the marvels he had learned;
Dressed him in his chief's apparel,
  Rode to where, within the glen,
Lay the trail that led him onward
  To the town, unknown of men.


VIII.

From each Moya thronged the dwellers:
  "Hath the chief the arrows sent?"
"I am Chief; behold me; trust me.
  Lead me to your ruler's tent."
"He hath not the shafts enchanted;
  Thus unarmed came never chief!"
Bent a thousand bows around him:
  "Back or die, impostor, thief!"
Angry, yet afraid to anger,
  Lest he lose those "Laughing-Eyes,"
He, obeying, vowed to conquer;
  Scorning to make vain replies,
Went; and weary seemed the journey!
  All along the yellow plain
Red as rose-leaves in the grasses
  Flushed his dusky cheeks with pain.


IX.

Grave, in silent circles seated
  'Neath their Moya's smoke-tanned cone,
Round the fire his chieftains heard him,
  Holding each a pipe's red stone.
Pausing long, they gave their counsel,
  Different from their wont; for here
All the young men spoke for kindness,
  All the old men were severe.
But the Braves rode forth at morning,
  Half the magic darts they bore;
Pledge so precious of their friendship
  None had thought to give before!
To the huntress nation welcome,
  Waking song in every tent,
Where the hours were passed in feasting
  And the days to love were lent!


X.

Thus the maidens were the victors,
  For to them the warriors came:
"Laughing-Eyes" but loved the "Star-Child"
  When his shafts her own became.
Ah! but where is man or woman
  Who may boast of triumph long?
Nought abides, and mighty nations
  Cannot ever more be strong.
So each huntress found a master,
  Yielding to her heart's new birth,
And no more along the prairie
  Beat her steed the sounding earth.
Yearly yet the Blackfeet women
  Meet and dance and sing the day
When through love they won, and, winning,
  Freedom passed with love away!



_SAN GABRIEL, ON THE PACIFIC COAST._

Grey-cowled monk, whose faith so earnest
  Guides these Indians' childlike hearts,
As their hands to toil thou turnest,
  Teaching them the Builder's arts,
Speak thy thought! as now they gather
  Round the white walls on the plain,
Rearing them for God the Father,
  And the glory of New Spain.

"Thou, St. Gabriel, knowest only
  Why thy holy bells I raise,
To no turret proud and lonely,
  There to sound the hours of praise;--
Why I keep them close beside me,
  Framed within the church's walls,
Here where heathen lands shall hide me
  Until death to judgment calls."

Then St Gabriel in high heaven
  Told the saints this mortal's lot,
As the Angelus at even
  Rose to day that dieth not;
And from out the nightly wonder
  Of the darkened world would float,
Mingling with the near sea's thunder,
  Yonder belfry's golden note.

"Two there were, whose loves were blighted
  By the Spanish pride abhorred,
And their vows and wealth they plighted
  To the Missions of the Lord.
For his church these bells she gave him,
  When within their glowing mould,
She had cast what were her treasures,
  --All her ornaments of gold.

"So do these, that to his seeming
  Were but good as touched by her,
Ring to seek for love redeeming
  All who sorrow, all who err.
Yes, though human love be ever
  Heard upon the throbbing air,
This shall make his life's endeavour
  Stronger through a woman's prayer.

"God is not a Lord requiring
  Sacrifice of memories dear,
And their love in life untiring
  To His life hath brought then near.
Thus his wish to have beside him
  That which seems her voice, is good:
Lovingly the Lord hath tried him,
  And his heart hath understood."



_NIAGARA_

A ceaseless, awful, falling sea, whose sound
  Shakes earth and air, and whose resistless stroke
  Shoots high the volleying foam like cannon smoke!
How dread and beautiful the floods, when, crowned
By moonbeams on their rushing ridge, they bound
  Into the darkness and the veiling spray;
  Or, jewel-hued and rainbow-dyed, when day
Lights the pale torture of the gulf profound!
So poured the avenging streams upon the world
  When swung the ark upon the deluge wave,
And, o'er each precipice in grandeur hurled,
  The endless torrents gave mankind a grave.
God's voice is mighty, on the water loud,
Here, as of old, in thunder, glory, cloud!



_ON CHIEF MOUNTAIN_

A GREAT ROCK ON THE AMERICAN NORTH-WEST FRONTIER.

Among white peaks a rock, hewn altar-wise,
  Marks the long frontier of our mighty lands.
  Apart its dark tremendous sculpture stands,
Too steep for snow, and square against the skies.
In other shape its buttressed masses rise
  When seen from north or south; but eastward set,
  God carved it where two sovereignties are met,
An altar to His peace, before men's eyes.
Of old there Indian mystics, fasting, prayed;
  And from its base to distant shores the streams
Take sands of gold, to be at last inlaid
  Where ocean's floor in shadowed splendour gleams.
So in our nations' sundered lives be blent
Love's golden memories from one proud descent!



_CUBA_

Spake one upon the vessel's prow, before
  The sinking sun had kissed the glittering seas:
  "'Twas here Columbus with his Genoese
Steered his frail barks toward the unknown store,
With hope unfaltering, though all hope seemed o'er;
  Calm 'mid the mutineers the prophet mind
  Saw the New World to which their eyes were blind,
Heard on its continents the breakers' roar,
Told of the golden promise of the main,
  While cursed his crew, and called a madman's dream
The land his ashes only hold for Spain!
  It rose on dim horizon with the gleam
Of morn, proclaiming to the kneeling throng
All treasures theirs, because one heart was strong."



_ON THE NEW PROVINCE "ALBERTA."_

[This Province was called after the Princess, one of whose Christian
names is Alberta.]

In token of the love which thou hast shown
  For this wide land of freedom, I have named
  A province vast, and for its beauty famed,
By thy dear name to be hereafter known.
Alberta shall it be! Her fountains thrown
  From alps unto three oceans, to all men
  Shall vaunt her loveliness e'en now; and when,
Each little hamlet to a city grown,
And numberless as blades of prairie grass,
  Or the thick leaves in distant forest bower,
Great peoples hear the giant currents pass,
  Still shall the waters, bringing wealth and power,
Speak the loved name,--the land of silver springs--
Worthy the daughter of our English kings.






VERSES

CHIEFLY FROM HIGHLAND STORIES.



_GAELIC LEGENDS_

Oft the savage Tale in telling
  Less of Love than Wrath and Hate,
Hath within its fierceness dwelling
  Some pure note compassionate.

Mark, if rude their nature, stronger,
  Manlier are the minds that keep
Thought on rightful vengeance longer
  Than on those who can but weep.

Better sing the horrid battle
  Than its cause of crime and wrong;
Sing great life-deeds! the death-rattle
  Is too common for a song.

Lays where man in fight rejoices
  Sang our Sires, from Sire to Son;
Heard and loved the hero voices,
  "Dare, and more than life is won!"



_COLHORN._

Lo, a castle, tall, lake-mirrored,
  Ringed around by mountain forms,
Roofless, ruined, still defying
  Summer's rains and winter's storms.

Every shattered lifeless window,
  Every stone in every wall,
Keep and gable, broken stairway,
  Woman's faithful love recall.
Colin, called "the Swarthy," famous
  In the annals of Lochow,
When a child, was gently fostered
  Near where Orchy's waters flow.

The Black Knight, his sire, could value
  Vassal's love and hardy fare;
To a gudewife gave him, saying,
  "Train him with the sons you bear."

Strong he grew, and brave, till armies
  Praised in him a man of men.
Came a peace--then love;--a lady
  Ruled with him the Orchy's glen.

But afar from over Ocean
  Rose a cry for Christian aid:
Blessed of Pope, 'neath holy banners
  Sailed he for the great crusade.

Leaving with his weeping lady
  Half their marriage ring, whereon
Written stood his name, and taking
  Half where hers, engraven, shone.

"If no tidings reach thee, darling,
  Blame my death." But she through tears
Answered: "I'll believe thee living
  Though I hear not seven years."

Lonely lived the lady, lonely:
  Riches grew, and brought her all
Save the loving words whose echo
  Seemed to linger in his hall.

Voiceless passed the years; and Rumour
  Falsely slew him, whose steel mail
Flashed o'er white walls, azure sea girt,
  Watched, and feared by Moslem sail.

Rhodes' fair island saw his valour;
  'Mid her gardens he had bled;
Glowing as her sun, his love-words
  Homeward to his lady sped.

Ah, they reached her not, to banish
  Days of care, and nights of woe;
Their warm sunshine never parted
  Clouds that darkened o'er Lochow,

Weary is her lot whose favour
  For her wealth is held a prize;
Oft she finds no truthful homage,
  Sees no love in pleading eyes.

Man gains strength from gold, but woman
  Worse than dross her wealth may call;
Avarice is her haunting suitor,
  Giving naught and seeking all.

Messages from the Crusader
  Fell into a Baron's hands;
Who, with subtle treason working,
  Coveted dark Colin's lands:

Spread the base and cruel rumours,
  Preyed upon the aching heart,
Asked her year by year in marriage,
  Falsely played the lover's part.

And the heartless seasons vanished,
  Other twain were nearly sped;
Then at last his suit seemed answered,
  Silently she bent her head.

Gaily, loudly, laughing o'er her,
  Named the Baron hour and day.
But she said: "No, for this wedding
  First I'll build a castle gay.

"When its halls are built, we'll tarry
  Where our guests can praise our cheer;
When the feast-smoke from its chimneys
  Rises, then the day is near."

So the building rose, and slowly
  Walls and stairway, keep and tower
Stone by stone completed, sadly
  Heralded the wedding hour.

Shall it come, and never mercy
  Shown of God avert the doom?
Shall the longing for the absent
  Turn to feasting o'er his tomb?

Yes. The Castle's new possessor
  Soon shall follow thronging guests:
As the Lake reflects the turrets
  Men shall second his behests.

Mournful, where they laughed so gladly,
  A poor beggar, haggard, grey,
Trod with pain the stony roadside,
  Often halting by the way.

He too reached the Castle's portal,
  Stood within its archway grim,
Loitering in the path of others;
  Who would step aside for him?

Pushed a henchman rudely, saying,
  "Get you hence," but still he stood:
Then they gave him bread and water,
  "Loiter not, you have your food."

Twice came others, in his wallet
  Thrusting bread and meat, and said:
"Now away, why stand you troubling,
  Here you cannot make your bed."

"Drink from her own hands imploring,
  Tell your Lady here I wait!"
Wondering went she where the beggar
  Shadowed stood within the gate.

Now she pours the crystal water,
  Quickly he the cup returns;
Oh! what golden circlet broken
  Sees she there that gleams and burns?

Eagerly she grasped the token,
  Turning to the light away;
Came again, and crying "Colin!"
  On the beggar's breast she lay.

Spoke he sadly: "Hast thou truly
  Still the heart I loved? I know--
They have told me--that thou takest
  To thy love my deadly foe.

"The gudewife, my foster mother,
  Unto whom I made me known
When I reached the Orchy, told me
  How the rumour base had grown:

"I was dead, or cared not for thee
  Who received no word of mine;
'Twas thy lover's doing, woman,
  Hungering for my wealth and thine!

"'Take,' the gudewife said, 'a beggar's
  Old attire; and see the mist
Where the wedding smoke is ordered
  By the lips which thou hast kissed.'

"Thou hast put our ring together
  Can it be as one again?"
Then she raised her face, and proudly
  Spoke unto her serving-men:

"See you where the Baron's people
  Come with him along the road?
Go and tell them quickly, 'Colin
  Rules again his own abode.'"

Fled the traitor, pulses beating,
  Not with love, but craven fear;
And the beggar found the treasure
  That to noble hearts is dear.

Found the love no time had altered,
  Honoured lived, and honoured died;
And in Rhodes and in Glenorchy
  Honoured shall his name abide.



_LOCH BÚY_

PART I.

Dark, with shrouds of mist surrounded.
  Rise the mountains from the shore,
Where the galleys of the Islesmen
  Stand updrawn, their voyage o'er.

Horns this morn are hoarsely sounding
  From Loch Búy's ancient wall,
While for chase the guests and vassals
  Gather in the court and hall.

Hounds, whose voices could give warning
  From far moors of stags at bay,
Quiver in each iron muscle,
  Howl, impatient of delay.

Henchmen, waiting for the signal,
  At their chiefs imperious word
Start, to drive from hill and corrie
  To the pass the watchful herd.

Closed were paths as with a netting,
  Vain high courage, speed, or scent;
Every mesh, a man in ambush
  Ready with a crossbow bent.

"Eachan, guard that glade and copsewood,
  At your peril let none by!"
Cries the chief, while in the heather
  Silently the huntsmen lie.

Shouting by the green morasses
  Where the fairies dance at night,
Yelling 'mid the oak and birches
  Come the beaters into sight.

And before them, rushing wildly
  Speeds the driven herd of deer,
Whose wide antlers toss like branches
  In the winter of the year.

Useless was the vassal's effort
  To arrest the living flow;
And it passed by Eachan's passage
  Spite of hound, and shout, and blow.

"Worse than woman! useless caitiff!
  Why allowed you them to pass?
Back, no answer! Hark, men, hither!
  Take his staff and bind him fast"

Hearing was with them obeying,
  And the hunter's strong limbs lie
Bound with thongs from tawny oxen,
  'Neath the chieftain's cruel eye.

"More than twoscore stags have passed him,
  Mark the number on his flesh
With red stripes of this good ashwood,
  Mend me thus this broken mesh!"

Ah, Loch Búy! faint and sullen
  Beats the heart, once leal and free,
That had yielded life exulting
  If it bled for thine and thee.

Deem'st thou that no honour liveth
  Save in haughty breasts like thine?
Think'st thou men, like dogs in spirit,
  At such blows but wince and whine?

Often in the dangerous tempest,
  When the winds before the blast
Surging charged like crested horsemen
  Over helm, and plank, and mast,
He, and all his kin before him,
  Well have kept the clansman's faith,
Serving thee in every danger,
  Shielding thee from harm and skaith.

'Mid the glens and hills, in combats
  Where the blades of swordsmen meet,
Has he fought with thee the Campbells,
  Mingling glory with defeat.

But as waters round Eorsa
  Darken deep, then blanch in foam,
When the winds Ben More has harboured
  Burst in thunder from their home,

So the brow fear never clouded
  Blackens now 'neath anger's pall,
And the lips, to speak disdaining,
  Whiten at revenge's call!


PART II.

Late, when many years had passed him,
  And the Chiefs old age begun,
Seemed his youth again to blossom
  With the birth of his fair son.

Late, when all his days had hardened
  Into flint his nature wild,
Seemed it softer grown and kinder
  For the sake of that one child.

And again a hunting morning
  Saw Loch Búy and his men,
With his boy, his guests, and kinsmen,
  Hidden o'er a coppiced glen.

Deep within its oaken thickets
  Ran its waters to the sea:
On the hill the Chief lay careless,
  While the child watched eagerly.

'Neath them, on the shining Ocean,
  Island beyond island lay,
Where the peaks of Jura's bosom
  Rose o'er holy Oronsay.

Where the greener fields of Islay
  Pointed to the far Kintyre,
Fruitful lands of after-ages,
  Wasted then with sword and fire.

For the spell that once had gathered
  All the chiefs beneath the sway
Of the ancient Royal sceptre
  Of the Isles had passed away.

Once from Rathlin to the southward,
  Westward, to the low Tiree,
Northward, past the Alps of Coolin,
  Somerled ruled land and sea.

Colonsay, Lismore, and Scarba,
  Bute and Cumrae, Mull and Skye,
Arran, Jura, Lew's and Islay
  Shouted then one battle-cry.

But those Isles that, still united,
  Fought at Harlaw, Scotland's might,
Broken by their fierce contentions
  Singly waged disastrous fight.

And the teaching of forgiveness,
  Grey Iona's creed, became
Not a sign for men to reverence,
  But a burning brand of shame.

Still among the names that Ruin
  Had not numbered in her train,
Lived the great Clan, proud as ever
  Of the race of strong Maclaine.

And his boy, like her he wedded,
  Though of nature like the dove,
Showed the eagle-spirit flashing
  Through her heritage of love.

Heir of all the vassals' homage
  Rendered to the grisly sire,
He had grown his people's treasure,
  Fostered as their heart's desire.

Surely Safety guards his footsteps;
  Enmity he hath not sown:
Yet who stealthily glides near him,
  Whose the arm around him thrown?

It is Eachan, who has wolf-like
  Seized upon a helpless prey!
Fearlessly and fast he bears him
  Where a cliff o'erhangs the bay.

There, while sea-birds scream around them,
  Holding by his throat the boy,
Eachan turns, and to the father
  Shouts in scorn and mocking joy:

"Take the punishment thou gavest,
  Give before all there a pledge
For my freedom, or thy darling
  Dying, falls from yonder ledge.

"Take the strokes in even number
  As thou gavest, blow for blow,
Then dishonoured, on thine honour
  Swear to let me freely go."

Silent in his powerless anger
  Stood the Chief, with all his folk;
And before them all the ransom
  Was exacted stroke for stroke.

Then again the voice of vengeance
  Pealed from Eachan's lips in hate:
"Childless and dishonoured villain,
  Expiation comes too late.

"My revenge is not completed!"
  And they saw in dumb despair
How he hurled his victim downward
  Headlong through the empty air.

Then they heard a yell of laughter
  As they turned away the eye;
And they gazed again where nothing
  Met their sight but cliff and sky;

For the murderer dared to follow
  Where the youthful spirit fled,
To the Throne of the Avenger,
  To the Judge of Quick and Dead.



_THE HARD STRAIT OF THE FEINNE_

Now of the hard strait of the Feinne this legend's verse shall tell:
When Fionn's men had fought and won, and all with them was well,
And victory on Erin's shores had given spoil which they
Alone could win whose swords of old were mightiest in the fray:
For in those days the bravest hand, and not the craftiest brain,
Got gold, and skill in gallant fight was found the surest gain.
Great Fionn's wont it was to give, when foes had bled and broke,
A feast to nobles and to chiefs and all the humble folk:
Upon the plain they sat, and ate the meat which smoking came
From layers of stone, well laid on pits half filled with charcoal flame,
Where 'neath the covering roof of turf that kept the heat aglow.

The boar was quickly roasted whole, with many a stag and roe.
And while the feast, with laugh and jest, gave careless time to most,
Two watchers bold kept guard the while, and gazed o'er sea and coast--
Two watchers good, and keenly eyed, sent out by Fionn to mark
If danger rode upon the sea, with Norway's pirate bark.
Full well they watched, although behind they heard the shouted song,
And knew the wine was bathing red the fair beards of the strong,
While chanted verse, and music's notes, arose upon the air,
And the briny breeze itself half seemed a savoury steam to bear;
Nor left their post, when from the clouds the hailstones leaped to ground,
And plaids were wrapt o'er shoulders broad, and o'er deep chests were
     wound.
But Fionn's plaid untouched lay yet upon the earth outspread,
And white it grew as lichened rock, or Prophet's hoary head.
"Oh would it were all ruddy gold, there lying thickly strewn;
What joy were ours to share alike, and bear away each stone."
And laughingly each filled his hands, forgetful of the twain,
Their comrades good, on guard who stood to watch the moor and main.
But when their lonely vigil o'er, they, Roin and Aildé, came,
And found how little friendship counts, when played the spoiler's game,
Sore angered that no hand for them had set apart a prize,
They murmured. "With such men of greed all faith and kindness dies!
When thus they deal with us in peace, how shall we fare when blood
Runs from the wounds to blind the eyes to aught but selfish good?"
They swore that they forgotten thus were better far away,
And sailed to Lochlin's distant shore, and served in her array.
Their fame was great in Norway's realm, and love for Aildé came
To melt the heart of Norway's queen, a sudden quenchless flame.
She fled with Aildé from the King, and soon on Scotland's coast
She trod, a messenger of ill, a danger to the host
Great Eragon, far Lochlin's King, was not the man to know
The blood mount hot at insult's stroke without an answering blow,
His dragon keels were rolled to waves that shouted welcome loud
To glittering helm and painted shield beneath each spar and shroud
Oh! strong was Eragon in war, in battle victor oft,
From many a rank, from many a mast his banner streamed aloft;
With forty ships he set to sea, and scores of glancing oars
Streaked white his wake on fiord and loch along the echoing shores.
The Shetland Islands saw them pass, where on the tides, their sails
Shone like a flight of mighty swans, fast borne on wintry gales:
Hoarse as the raven's note their oath rang over all the seas,
False Fionn's host should bend and break before the Northern breeze.
And southward, onward still they steered, and up Loch Leven bore,
As you may know, for one great ship was lost upon the shore:
The sunken rock on which she drove and inlet where she lay
Were called the Galley's Crag and Port, and bear the name to-day.
They left her, taking all her crew, and landing near Glencoe,
On level ground their tents were set, thick planted row on row.

To Fionn of the Feinne that day, King Eragon sent word,
To yield him homage or abide the hard doom of the sword;
But grievous then was Fionn's strait, for thrice a thousand men,
His best and bravest, far away were hunting hill and glen.
The wives, the old and feeble folk alone were left, and these
He gathered, asking how to blind the strangers of the seas?
Then gave they counsel: "We are weak. By thee must peace be sought,
E'en though with massy store of gold the boon to-day be bought;
And if all this do not avail," they said, "O Fionn, thou
Shouldst yield thy daughter as the price, our ransom on her brow!"
Their messenger then offered these before the set of sun;
When flamed the wrath from Norway's King: "I ask not what I've won,
Your master stands before you now, my vengeance is my own;
For Aildé's deed the Feinne as slaves in Norway shall atone."
Back went the messenger in haste, and sadly Fionn knew
The threat was uttered by the strong, against the old and few.
But homeward from the forest soon he saw each hero's hound
Come swiftly back, in front of all he saw his Oscar bound;
And when the foremost hunters came, he told their noble band
How fight was sought with them this day upon the Northern strand.
Then looked they for some ground whose strength would quickly hide and save
Their little force, till gathering might gave fortune to the brave.
They dug four trenches deep, where firs above the birches flung
Red gnarled limbs that glowed at eve the dark green plumes among;
There hidden silently they watched, while rugged, scarred, and high,
Just at their rear a peak appeared to move against the sty.
Steep were its rocky ledges, strewn with jagged stones that lay
So loose one hand might send a mass on its resistless way,
While from the neighbouring hills the mount was sundered by a glen,
Where lightly crossed the grey cloud mists, but never mortal men.
Such was the chosen fort The Feinne into the trenches went;
For succour through all Alban's realm their messengers were sent;
To the green slopes of deep Glencoe the warriors summoned came,
Alas, too few to brave in fight the men of Norway's name.

They held long counsel, and the chief sent forth that hostage fair
His daughter, with a chosen band, his words of peace to bear;
And Fergus, his young son, to speak on his behalf, that they
Might change to love the king's black thought, and all his wrath allay--
For Fergus' speech, like ivy wreath, o'er heart of rock could wind
Till tender thoughts, like nestling birds, would come and shelter find.
Wealth to awake the Northmen's greed should weight his tempting word
For quaichs of gold and precious belts, and magic stones which stirred
The torpid blood of all disease to vigorous life once more,
And fivescore mares of iron grey, and hunting hawks threescore,
Were gifts to promise, with good herds, and cows with calves at side.
They placed the maid upon a horse, and bade her boldly ride;
With Fergus marching at her rein, his comrades close at hand,
They came to where the fleet and camp thick covered sea and land.

And halting there, young Fergus spake across a space of ground
Unto the king, who foremost stood with mailed men around;
He offered all the tribute rich, and that fair lady proud.
But when he ceased a silence fell, and then the answer loud
In Eragon's deep voice rang forth: "Let Fionn bring me all,
All that he hath on earth, and here let him before me fall,
Him and his wife before me here upon the shore, that I
May see them on their knees to me swear troth and fealty,
While as they homage make I shall above them rear my blade
To spare, or slay them at my feet, if so their debt be paid."

Then called in scorn the lady's voice, "No, Eragon, your might
Hath not across the broad salt seas brought such a host to fight
As e'er shall cause my father's knees to bend to you in prayer,
Nor shall you ever call me bride, or spoil of Erin wear."
She quickly turned her horse and went, but Fergus stood and waved
The signal banner for the chief, and for awhile he braved
The onset of the foe, and fought until the evening fell.
Then gave the council their advice to Fionn. "It were well
That Aildé should himself defy the king, and man to man
With sevenscore 'gainst sevenscore contend before the van."
And thus they fought, and Aildé fell, and Eragon defied
An equal band to equal fight, for great had grown his pride.
Then paused and pondered Fionn long, and doubted whom to ask
To lead in such a venture great, and dare so grave a task.
But Goll, the son of Morna, named at Fionn's call, went forth
And matched with equal force, back drove the boasters of the North.
And yet again a band as strong was overcome and made
To own our heroes' swords were best, when man to man arrayed;
But Eragon in fury cried his men should conquer yet.
For eight days more aye sevenscore 'gainst sevenscore were set,
And when the blood had flowed in streams, to utter madness urged
Against the trenches of the Feinne their baffled army surged.

Then sparkled swords like gleams of light upon the ocean's spray
When tossed aloft to wind and sun where battling currents play.
In that fierce fray did Eragon the son of Morna greet,
And, striking fast their mighty blades ascend and flashing meet;
Then sank the stranger king in death, and Goll sore wounded fell,
Against the Northmen went the day; and of their slain they tell
That from Glen Fewich to the shore they lay, and of the host
So few escaped that galleys twain alone left Scotland's coast.
Nay, even they ne'er reached a port, so that in Norway none
Could tell how Eragon revenged the deed by Aildé done.
But sorrow came upon the Feinne for all their strongest, dead;
And Fionn found that from that time his fortune waned and fled,
For ne'er again in equal strength the Feinne in arms were seen
Since the dark days of Aildé's love, and Norway's evil queen.

_Note._--This story was taken down by J. Dewar in prose from oral
recitation in Gaelic in 1860. Translated by H. McLean, of Islay. It
is rendered here nearly literally.



_TOBERMORY BAY._

1588.

In the vapour and haze on the ocean,
  Where the skies and the waters meet,
There's a form that drifts, phantom-like, onward
  As it follows the grey clouds' feet.

O'er the sea come the winds and the billows,
  And they howl to the rocks, and they cry,
They will bring them a wreck on the morrow,
  Ere the joy of the tempest die.

The shade looming dark in the distance
  Is naught but a galleon proud;
And the spray has long battered her turrets,
  And loosened each yard and each shroud;

But not on the surf-beaten islands,
  Nor yet upon Morven's land,
Does she drive, for her rudder, unshattered,
  Is firm in the steersman's hand.

No mist wreath, no cloud, was the shadow
  That moved on the height of the seas;
Like a castle how steep are her bulwarks,
  Her spars like a forest of trees!

She is safe from the gales for a season,
  In the shelter and calm of the sound;
A harbour named after the Virgin,
  The "Well of Our Lady" she found.

She may rest in that haven, hill-girdled,
  Near the shade of the woods on the shore,
Where the hush of the forest is deepened
  By the waterfall's song evermore.

How grandly her masts rise to heaven,
  How glitters the blest Mary's form,
High placed o'er the stern, and upholding
  The Prince of our Peace through the storm!

Now waters their orisons murmur
  As they fold her bright robes to their breast,
Where they mirror the galleried windows,
  And the flag and the face of the Blest.

Again with that sign and the banner
  Of the gold and the crimson of Spain,
Shall this ship front the foes of the Virgin,
  And the English be chased from the Main.

Yes, again on the heretic Saxon
  Her cannon shall thunder in scorn,
Till in triumph through insolent England
  Shall the Faith and King Philip be borne.

But the rows of dark mouths that have spoken
  Defiance with sulphurous breath,
Glisten black, stretching forth in the silence,
  And in vain ask the presence of death.

Yes, repose and surcease of all hazard,
  A truce to all war for a time!
The cliffs and the pines only echo
  The laugh of a sunnier clime.

And gaily the dark-visaged seamen
  Quaff, cursing the mists and the rain;
Gravely drinking from goblets of silver
  Sits their chief, Don Fereija of Spain. [1]

[1] This galleon was said to have been "The Florida," commanded
by Don Fereija. A search at Madrid among the archives shows that the
only vessel named the "_Florida_" in the Armada, was a small ship
which came safely back to Santander Roads after the destruction of
the fleet. No commander had the name assigned to the captain of the
vessel sunk at Tobermory. The identity of this galleon remains, therefore,
a mystery.

But the souls of the men to whose nostrils
  Had risen the smoke of the fight,
Soon tired of the shore and of slumber,
  Soon yearned for the red battle light.

And courtesy fled from the weary,
  From idleness arrogance grew;
And all they received as a favour
  They haughtily claimed as their due.

Then answered the Islesmen in anger,
  "The food you demand as your own,
By our people's free favour long given
  Shall be bought by your gold now alone."

"Now, down with the savage's envoy,
  Set sail and away on our track!
Carthagena's sweet girls shall deride him,
  And jeer the red locks on his back."

Below, in the dark narrow spaces,
  The Islesman gropes, down in the hold;
Unnoticed, and one among many;
  What harm can his hatred unfold?

Swarm the men to the rigging, and swiftly
  Shine clouds of white canvas, and clank
The links of the anchor's great cable,
  Creaks, trampled on deck, every plank:

Swings round the huge bowsprit, and slowly
  With motion majestic and free,
The galleon, vast, gilded, and mighty,
  Passes on, passes forth, to the sea.

Her colours still paint all the ripples,
  Repeated her banners all seem,
Her sails, and her gold, and her cannon
  Float on like a gorgeous dream.

Came a flash, and a roar, and a smoke-cloud
  Rushed up, and spread far o'er the sky;
Sank a wreck, black, and rugged, and blasted,
  While the sound on the winds swept by.

And the mountains sent back the dull thunder
  As though to all time they would tell
The vengeance that pealed to the Heavens
  From the Harbour of "Mary's Well."



_LOCH UISK, ISLE OF MULL._

Yon vale among the mountains,
  So sheltered from the sea,
That lake which lies so lonely,
  Shall tell their tale to thee.

Here stood a stately convent
  Where now the waters sleep,
Here floated sweeter music
  Than comes from yonder deep.
Above the holy building
  The summer cloud would rest,
And listen where to heaven
  Rose hymns to God addressed;
For the hills took up the chanting,
  And from their emerald wall
The sounds they loved, would, lingering,
  In fainter accents fall.

Hard by, beside a streamlet
  Fast flowing from a well,
A nun, in long past ages,
  Had built her sainted cell:
To her in dreams 'twas given
  As sacred task and charge,
To keep unchanged for ever
  The bright Spring's mossy marge.
"Peace shall with joys attendant
  For ever here abide,
While reverently and faithfully
  You guard its taintless tide."

And when she knew her spirit
  Was summoned to its rest,
To all around her gathered
  She gave that high behest;
And many followed after
  To seek the life she chose,
Till, like a flower, in glory
  The cloistered convent rose.

Through Scotland's times of bloodshed,
  Of foray, feud, and raid,
Their home became the haven
  Where storm and strife were stayed.
Men blessed each dark-robed Sister,
  And thought an angel trod,
Where walked in love and meekness
  A lowly maid of God!

Right happy were they, lighting
  With love those days of doom;
For heart need ne'er be darkened
  By any garment's gloom.
Yes, often life thereafter
  Was here with gladness crowned,
For, sad as seemed their vesture
  The peace of God was found
His holiness in beauty
  Made every trial seem
A rock that lies all harmless
  Deep hidden in a stream.
While life was pure there never
  Was wish in thought to gain
The world, where far behind them
  The black nuns left their pain;
And time but flew too quickly
  O'er that friend-circle small,
Where each one loved her neighbour,
  And God was loved of all.

Still from its beauteous chalice,
  That well's unceasing store
Poured forth, through whispering channels,
  The crystal load it bore.
Hope seemed to bring the fountain
  To seek the light of day;
Faith made it bright; Obedience
  Smoothed, hallowing, its way.
Full many a gorgeous Summer
  Woke heather into bloom,
And oft cold stars in Winter
  Looked on a Sister's tomb;
Before the joy had withered
  That virtue once had nursed;
Before their Lord and Master
  Grew love for things accursed.
Lo! then the stream neglected
  Forsook its wonted way:
In stagnant pools, dark-tainted,
  Its wandering waters lay.

There choked by moorland ridges,
  Black with the growth of peat,
Beneath the quaking surface
  The fetid floods would meet;
Till rising, spreading ever
  Above the chalice green
Of that fair Well, they covered
  The place where it had been.
Then, near the careless convent,
  Within the hill's deep shade,
The Fate which works in silence
  A lake had slowly made.
As evil knows not halting
  When passions strongly flow,
So daily deeper, deeper
  Would those dark waters grow;
Till on an awful midnight,
  When red the windows flamed
And song and jest and revel
  The Vesper hour had shamed,
And wanton sin dishonoured
  The time Christ's birth had crowned,
They burst their banks in darkness,
  And with their raging sound
The rocks of all the valley
  Rung for a few hours' space;
Then the wide Loch at morning
  Reflected heaven's face.

Few voices now are heard there,
  Around the wild deer feed;
And winds sigh loud in Autumn
  Through copse, and rush, and reed.
Men say that when in darkness
  They pass the water's verge,
Each hears, mid sounds of revel
  The "Miserere's" dirge;
That faintly, strangely, ever
  Upon the Loch's dark breast,
Beneath, above, around it
  Shine lights that never rest.

Of all such ghastly phantoms,
  Bred of the night and fear,
By hope of our salvation
  None meets the noontide clear!
The blue sky's tender beauties
  Upon the strong floods shine,
As God's eternal mercy
  Dwells with His might divine!
Pure as their mystic fountain
  They sleep and flow unstained,
Although the hue of sorrow
  Hath in their depths remained.

The swallow, swiftly passing
  Flies low to kiss the wave
When rippling gently over
  Some pure saint's holy grave:
The hunter's eyes discover
  Beneath those waters still
The walls of that proud convent,
  Where God hath worked His will.


_THE LADY'S ROCK_

A brother's eye had seen the grief
  That Duart's lady bore;
His boat with sail half-raised flies down
  The sound by green Lismore.
Ahaladah, Ahaladah!
  Why speeds your boat so fast?
No scene of joy shall light your track
  Adown the spray-strewn blast.

The very trees upon the isle
  Rock to and fro, and wail;
The very birds cry sad and shrill,
  Storm driven, where you sail;
O when for yon dim mainland shore
  You launched your keel to start
You knew not of the load 'twill bear,
  The heavier load your heart.

See what is that, which yonder gleams,
  Where skarts alone make home;
Is that but one oft-breaking sea,
  Some frequent fount of foam?
The morn is dark and indistinct,
  Is all through drift and cloud;
Around the rock white waters toss,
  As flaps in wind a shroud.

It cannot be a leaping jet,
  Nor form of rock or wave
There stands some being saved by God
  In mercy from the grave!
"Down with the sail, out oars! the boat
  Can reach the leeward side:
Mother of Heaven! look you, men,
  Where breaks that roaring tide."

"A living woman, do I dream
  Or stands my sister there,
Where only at the middle ebb
  The shelving ledge is bare?"
O white as surf that sweeps her knee,
  She falls, but not to die;
Ahaladah is at her side,
  He bears her up on high.

Away from Duart now he steers;
  Why curses he its lord;
Why flee to Inveraray's strength,
  As though he feared his sword?
Proud triumph's notes were often heard
  Where Aray's waters sing,
And mourners there have often wept
  The slain for faith and king.

But never would that lady's lips
  There speak her grievous woe,
Though in her chamber in the night
  Her frequent tears would flow.
She dreamt of wrong where love was sought,
  Of crafty cruel eyes,
Of one steep stair, of grasping hands
  That stifled piteous cries;

Of wind which tore the hissing waves,
  And howled o'er mountains bare;
Where swollen burns in feathery clouds
  Were dashed into the air.
Of one wet rock, of horror wild,
  When she was left alone,
Till madness seemed to whelm her thought
  And, with a shuddering moan,

Again she heard the surges rush,
  And, where she shrinking turned,
The seaweed there, like woman's hair,
  The murderous billows spurned.
Again the night and wind were joined
  To mock her hope of aid,
Till shrieking, she awoke, where once
  She slept a happy maid.

But none would she accuse, and dumb
  Rebuked the vengeance call,
Till one dark eve at supper-time
  Within the old dim hall,
She heard some whisper, and she saw
  Her brother leave his place,
Go forth, and entering, beckon out
  A band, with stern set face.

Again he came, and o'er her bent,
  And whispered "Sister dear,
Let fall your veil about your head,
  Nor tremble when you hear
That Duart comes in mourner's guise!
  Lo, there he takes his seat.
Chief, tell us why your mien is sad,
  When friends and kinsmen meet?"

"My woes are great, my wife lies dead,
  But yester week these hands
Closed her sweet eyes, and now I bring
  Her body to your lands."
Then was the arras drawn aside
  And girt with wake lights drear,
Beneath the archway's carven vault,
  Was borne a white-crossed bier.

And Duart rose; his shifting eye
  Moved like a marsh-fire pale,
But circling back, still restless scanned
  The lady of the veil.
Then through the silence broke a voice,
  "Know you that lady, chief?
She too, a guest with us, like you,
  Well knows the pangs of grief.

"You come from far, bring wine." To each
  The ruddy goblet passed.
The lady raised her hand, and back
  The heavy veil she cast.
Strong Duart reeled as from a stroke;
  He stared as at the dead:
How could her glance o'er that dark face
  Such deathly palor spread?

"Your play is out, ah cursed fiend!"
  Ahaladah cried loud;
"Your death shall be no phantom false,
  No empty mask your shroud:
If hospitality's high law
  Here shields your life awhile,
By all the saints you yet shall feel
  The vengeance of Argyll."

       *       *       *       *       *

In Edinburgh Duart's Lord
  Strides down the shadowed town;
The white moon glints on roofs o'erhead,
  And on St Giles's crown.
Another step is on the street,
  The watchmen hear no cry;
But drenched in blood lies Duart, where
  Ahaladah passed by.



_THE POOL OF THE IRON SHIRT._

Colin, Chief of Diarmid's kin,
Strode alone to Ederlinn.

Night, and heath, and deep morass
Hear the chain-mailed warrior pass.
Ambushed lay the treacherous foe,
Ear to earth, and dart on bow.

Vain their arrows' ringing hail
Fell on pointed helm and mail.

As he backward leaped, there flew
Moonlight down the sword he drew.


In his front the lonely man
Saw approach the hostile van:

Near him on the moor a tarn;
On a knoll a wattled barn.

Refuge bad, yet near its door
Sank the hot pursuit's uproar.

For, unsheathed his battle brand,
There they saw great Colin stand.

Dauntless cried he: "Here within
Rest I, then to Ederlinn!"

Yelled the circling hounds in ire,
Set the woven wall on fire.

Sword in hand he stood, the light
Gleaming on his limbs of might,

Like a cloud-built column high,
Red, in sunset's flaming sky.

All too hot for mortal frame
Glowed his armour, wrapped in flame.

Hidden by the wreaths of smoke,
Hewing through the wall, he broke,

Felling seven, onward sped
Plunging through the lake's reed-bed.

Hiss the waters where he springs,
Hatred's yell again forth rings.

But he throws his mail away,
Dives, and darkness hides his way.

Smiling hears their lessening din;
Onward strides to Ederlinn.

Ages since have passed, yet still
Tales recount his dauntless will.

"Pool of the Iron shirt," thy name
Keeps, in Erse, the hero's fame.

Look you, race of ancient Gael,
Never let such memories fail!

Set them far o'er gems and gold,
For your sons to have and hold.

Steadfast Will its goal shall win.
Fairer e'en than Ederlinn!



_INVERAWE._

Does death cleanse the stains of the spirit
  When sundered at last from the clay,
Or keep we thereafter till judgment,
  Desires that on earth had their way?
Bereft of the strength which was given
  To use for our good or our bane,
Shall yearnings vain, impotent, endless,
  Be ours with their burden of pain?

Though flesh does not clothe them, what anguish
  Must be known in the world of the dead,
If the future lies open before them,
  And fate has no secret unread.
And yet, oh how rarely our vision
  May know the lost presence is nigh;
How seldom its purpose be gathered,
  Be it comfort, or warning to die!

With mute or half breathed supplication
  Permitted to utter their prayer,
Demanding earth's justice, but ever
  Poor phantoms of mist and of air;
If in aught our belief may be certain
  Where founded on witness of man,
They come; and no tomb e'er imprisoned
  The shade when corruption began.

They come: and oh swiftly they follow
  The track of the murderer vile;
He is haunted for ever; his refuge
  A hell on far ocean or isle!
Though he fly as once fled from Barcaldine
  Young Donald's assassin, to claim
Guest-right, where all mercy a treason
  To kinship and justice became.

"Inverawe, Inverawe, give me shelter,
  I have shed a man's blood in a fray;
Oh swear that you will not betray me,
  By your dirk, by the dear light of day!"
And the prayer in his kindness he answered,
  But aghast heard the voices that cried;
"Your cousin lies slain! Can a stranger
  Have passed by the steep river side?"

Then bound by his oath he deceived them;
  But night brought a dream full of fear,
His cousin's pale image stood o'er him,
  Came a voice he had loved to his ear:
"Inverawe, Inverawe, give no shelter
  To the man by whom blood has been shed:"
And he went to his guest, saying, "Leave me,
  I obey the dear voice of the dead."

"By your oath, by the light of God's heaven
  Your word has been passed for your guest"
"Then sleep in the cave in the mountain,
  If Donald allow you to rest!"
Again shone the vision more awful,
  Ere the hours of the darkness had fled;
"Inverawe, Inverawe, give no shelter
  To the man by whom blood has been shed."

But empty the cave was at morning,
  When searched for the murderer's trace,
And the ghost came again in the darkness,
  The gore on its breast and its face.
"Inverawe, Inverawe," again whispered
  The shade of the echoless feet,
"My blood has been shed, I await thee,
  At Ticonderoga we meet."

And often in wonder repeated
  That warning to many was known,
The strangely named place for the trysting
  Men said was in dreamland alone;
"Why cherish a dismal illusion?
  War summons gay hearts to the strife:
All share in the prizes of glory,
  The chances of death or of life."

In camp, on the march, in the battle,
  His thought would repeat evermore,
"At the place fore-ordained in the vision
  I shall pass to the Dark River's shore."
And often awaiting the summons,
  He asked for the wild Indian name,
When curled o'er American hamlets
  The smoke from the guns' sudden flame.

The forest one evening was silent
  As though in the calm of a trance
Yet within it two armies were resting,
  The soldiers of Britain and France.
Our Highlanders slumbered, march-wearied,
  Their sentries at watch in the wood:
Behind their long lines of entrenchment
  The French in their bivouacs stood.

"Inverawe, take your sleep ere the morning,
  When our praise or our death shall be sung,"
A comrade cried; "soon for Carillon
  A chime that is new shall be rung!"
But the air of that night of midsummer
  Seemed chilly, and sleep fled away;
And he wandered to where, near Carillon,
  The charge would be sounded at day.

To the North a pale ray of Aurora
  Shot white o'er the black forest spars,
A lake through the pines softly gleaming
  Lay calm in the radiance of stars.
It seemed a sweet heaven, whose brightness
  Life's dark prison-bars could not hide:
As he gazed, lo, he thought that a figure
  Advanced from that silvery tide.

Distinct as a luminous shadow,
  It moved in the starlight alone,
Till it came to him close, and he shuddered,
  For the face that he saw was his own!
The cloak of the dread apparition
  His own, but bedabbled in blood!
Inverawe stretched his hand, but the spectre
  Had vanished like mist in the wood.

To the fires of his comrades returning,
  "Ah! friends, you deceived me," he said;
"Why conceal from my ears that Carillon
  Has the name that was named by the dead?
'Tis Ticonderoga, the fortress
  We march on the morrow to storm,
Where Death and the Phantom stand watching
  The hour when our column shall form."

The morn brought the hell of the onset,
  When bayonet and Highlanders' blade
Sank crushed where the trenches were flashing
  In the roll of the long fusillade.
Repulsed! O how sadly at night-fall
  The remnant was gathered and told!
In silence they thought of the wounded,
  And mourned the brave hearts that were cold.

Ere thundered again the dim battle
  Saluting the deathless in God,
A truce found that Leader all gory,
  Yet gasping his breath on the sod.
They bore him to camp, where around him
  They pressed as he beckoned in pain:
His voice seemed a breath in the forest,
  "I die--I have seen him again."



_AN ISLESMAN'S FAREWELL._

Ah! must we part, my darling?
  O let the days be few,
Until your dear returning
  To one who loves but you!
Where'er your ship be sailing,
  Think on your own love true;
The back of the wave to you, darling,
  The back of the wave to you!

The witch, who oft at midnight
  Above Ben Caillach flew,
Told me she dreamed no danger
  Athwart your vessel drew;
For you she said the breezes
  Aye strong and fairly blew;
The back of the wave to you, darling,
  The back of the wave to you!

Ah! waiting here, and trembling
  When dark the water's hue,
I'll long for the dear pleasure
  That in your glance I knew;
And pray to Him who never
  Can lose you from His view.
The back of the wave to you, darling,
  The back of the wave to you.



_PREFACE TO DIARMID'S STORY_

Best beloved of ancient stories
  Are our Diarmid's woes to me.
Like a mist, by breezes broken,
So this tale of olden glories
Floats in fragments, as a token
  Of the song of Ireland's sea.

Through long centuries repeated
  Lived the legend told in Erse,
But a change comes swift or slowly
Fades the language, and defeated
Flies the faith, once counted holy,
  Old-world ways, and oral verse.

Not from men of note or learning
  May we gather now these tales,
Heard beneath the cotter's rafter,
Or where smithy sparks are burning,
Or at sea, when hushed the laughter
  Of the breeze on hull and sails.

Then with Ossian's rhythmic Measure
  Comes upon the fancy's sight,
One with golden locks; resplendent,
Great and strong with eyes of azure,
And, again in the ascendant,
  Magic reasserts her might.

Nought can wound him, sword or arrow,
  Only powerless are the spells
Where on the footsole implanted
There is hid a birth-mark narrow,
But this hero's brow enchanted
  Every woman's love compels.

Woe to him, that she whose glances
  Won the king on Denmark's shore,
Evil, beautiful, imperious,
Born where wheel the grisly dances
Through the glen of ghosts mysterious,
  Love's first passion for him bore.

For she saw his forehead bending
  O'er the snarling dogs at strife
At the wedding-feast of greeting;
And at dusk unto him wending,
"Come," she said, "let this our meeting
  Pledge my soul to thee for life."

"If, O queen, we go together,
  Not with friends, nor yet alone
Must thou be, nor sheltered ever,
Housed, nor braving wind and weather;
If on horse or foot, then never
  Can thy love to me be known!"

Flight were shield and fence far surer
  Gainst a wily woman's ways
Than the wit of man; for seated
Ere the dawn, his fair allurer
At his open door repeated
  All his words, with longing gaze.

"Go with me, O Diarmid; see me
  Not on horse, or foot; with friends,
Nor alone; not night or morning
Reigns: O come; thou wilt not flee me?
Never lived a warrior scorning
  Every joy that loving lends!"

Then at last by her caresses
  Into flight and guilt beguiled,
Diarmid loathed his life, abiding
In the caves' or woods' recesses,
Like a thief or coward hiding,
  To his fate unreconciled.

Thus the mightiest magician
  Warped the true and loyal heart,
And he fled with her, forsaking.
Friends and kinsfolk, while contrition
Gnawed into his life's days, making
  Sad his journey, hard his part.

He, a fugitive, whose valiance
  Made the Feinne fair Erin's boast!
Where the red cascade descended,
Lovely Grinie's evil dalliance
Held him thrall as though were ended
  Noble warring with the host.

He a slave! whose oaths had ever
  Bade him "champion the oppressed,"
Pledged him to "confound the clever,
Aid the losing man's endeavour,
Be the first in fight, and never
  Heedless of the king's behest"

Once upon a rock, tree-shrouded,
  Hungry they had climbed to eat
Where the scarlet berries clustered:
Suddenly below them crowded
Dogs and huntsmen, 'til were mustered
  All the Feinne beneath their feet.

Fionn, then, their grim commander,
  Dreaming not his wife was near,
Had a giant chess-board graven
On the sod, and played; and under
The green leaves which gave him haven
  Diarmid watched the game in fear.

Oscar lost, with Fionn playing,
  Until Diarmid, from on high
Dropped the scarlet seeds to guide him,
Thus his presence there betraying:
And the friends of Fionn eyed him,
  Shouting, "Thou shalt surely die!"

But all Diarmid's comrades for him
  Fought, each venturing his life:
And amid the dread commotion
Fled the twain, until before him
To the peaceful sands of ocean
  Ran a woodland stream of strife.

Dwelling on its banks he made him
  There the wooden bowls that none
Fashioned with the dirk so deftly.
But the chattering stream betrayed him:
From the secret forest swiftly
  Flashed white shavings in the sun.

Then the king cried, "Grinie's lover
  Near us hath his lurking place!
Sound the hunting horns around him!
See if from the thickets' cover
By the ancient vows that bound him
  He shall come to join the chase!"

       *       *       *       *       *

How the queen bore his upbraiding;
  How his death in hunting came,
Tell the verses here translated:
Lights are they, in transit fading,
Scattered sparks, oblivion fated,
  Memories from a mighty flame!



_GRINIE'S FLIGHT WITH DIARMID._

(FROM THE GAELIC)

The Hern at early morning cries,
Where at Sleve-gail the meadow lies.

Say, Dúin's son, whom I love well,
Canst thou thereof the reason tell?

O! Gormla's daughter, thou whose sire
Was named from tireless steeds of fire;

Thou evil-working one! thy feet
Tread treacherous ways of ice and sleet.

Grinie! of lovelier hue than Spring
To flower, or bloom on bough can bring,

More fleeting far your love that flies
Like the cold clouds of dawning skies.

Because of thine ill-chosen part
My fortune's firm set rivets start.

Yes, thine the deed, brought low to pain,
My grievous woe thine only gain.

From palaces of kings beguiled,
For ever outcast and exiled:

Like night-owl mourning, as she strays,
Her joy through dark and distant ways.

Like timid hind or hunted deer,
Through secret glens I tread in fear.

Shunning the loving friends who hold
The house of hosts so loved of old.

Their forms shone glorious as the lights
On the deep snows of frosted heights.

All these I left--mine own--whose love
Was generous as the Sun above.

But they are now hate-filled as though
Hate's sea would never ebb ward flow.

Yes, since beguiled by you I fled,
Misfortune follows where I tread.

Lost now my white sailed fleet's array,
Through you my band is lost for aye.

Gone all my wealth, my gems, my gold,
All for the tale of love you told!

To me my friends are lost, to me
No more my country mine shall be.

Lost are my men whom none e'er found
Weak behind shield on battle ground.

Lost is their kindness evermore
The love for me the Feinne once bore.

Lost to mine honour mine own right,
Lost music's joy and lost delight;

Erin and all I there have known,
For your ill-omened love alone.

Return I dare not,--may not,--never
Know their great friendship, gone for ever.

More than the beast of sharpest beard
My deed in hate by Fionn is feared.
Yes, fairest Grinie, thou hast done
Ill to thyself in love thus won.

Thou, winning hatred, wentst with me,
And kingly joys were spurned by thee.

GRINIE.

O Diarmid! O Diarmid! of face far more fair
Than the new-fallen snow, or the hill flowret rare,
The sound of thy voice was more dear to my breast
Than all the bright satin the Fianti possessed.

More beloved to me is the hue of thine eyes,
Those eyes like the morning's bright dew of the skies,
Ay, dearer to me than all strength or all gold
The great hall of the king of the Feinne shall e'er hold.

Love's mark is more sweet on thy beautiful brow
Than honey that drops where the green grasses bow;
Ah, when I beheld it above me, how pale
Seemed the glory and power of the Monarch of Fail.

My heart seemed to fall as I looked at thy face,
Adoring thy might ever blended with grace,
And wert thou not mine, to be gained to my side,
Not one day in this world would my spirit abide.

Oh! white-handed hero, so handsome, so strong,
Although it is I who have wrought all thy wrong,
Yet stay, stay again with me, wife would I be,
Vowing never on earth to be faithless to thee.

DIARMID.

Why love a woman mild in speech,
And yet a traitoress to each?

GRINIE.

'Twas misery sundered my life from the king's,
I left thee awhile, for love, torturing, stings;
Never more will I leave thee-my tender love round
thee
Like fresh boughs for thy life, would have sheltered
and crowned thee.

DIARMID.

Fulfil then thy word, though so faithless, how fair!
Thy love, oh my Grinie, no giant shall share.



_Note._--From Gaelic verse, printed by J. F. Campbell, Esq.,
in "Leabhar na Feinne."

_THE DEATH OF THE BOAR_

[Taken from "Leabhar na Feinne," and a prose version written
down from oral recitation by J. Dewar.]

OSSIAN.

This vale of Peace, this glen close by,
Where deer and elk would often cry,
Of old saw the fleet-footed Fianti bound
In the strath of the west as they followed the hound.

List if you wish to hear a lay
Of gentle folks long passed away,
Of him who was Prince; of Gulban's blue hill,
And sorrow-cursed Diarmid's sad legend of ill.

AUDIENCE.

Loved Ossian, sweetest voiced, what day
But sees us listeners to thy lay?
Such strains from no birds of the shoreland can float,
Though dawn give each leaf in the woodland a note.

OSSIAN.

My own good king was hunting gone,
They whom no deerlike terror won,
His Feinne, through the secret glens followed, and we
Descended the slopes that lead down to the sea.

Then saw our own great king, whose word
The Feinne, the brave, obeying heard,
A nine folded shaving of wood brightly curled,
Shining white, as to seaward the swift waters swirled.

He grasped it, scanning it, the coil
Hid five feet and a span of soil;
Then loudly he cried, "Ah, Diarmid is here,
No swordsman of Cormac, but Diarmid is near!"

In truth, my own good king then swore
To break his fast and drink no more,
Until were unearthed the vile face of his foe,
If the caves of all Erin should refuge bestow.

Our hounds we sent, and shouting went
Where o'er the vales the branches bent;
The wild-cat we chased from the glens, that the cheer
And cries of our hunting might fall on his ear.

He who was never weak in fight
Heard the loud voices strike the height;
To Grinie he cried, "Though the hounds do not bay,
I wait not their voice, to the hunt I'll away."

GRINIE.

O Diarmid! wait until they cry,
That hunting shout is but a lie,
Where grieves for his wife Cùall's son, there for thee
Thou know'st thy peril for ever must be.

DIARMID

Ere hounds can open on the scent,
To every chase my steps are bent,
And shame were it now for the king's evil will
To lose a good hunt as it sweeps o'er the hill.

OSSIAN.

Then down came Diarmid to the vale,
To the famed sons of Innisfail,
And glad was the king, for his foe in his sight
Came aidless and powerless to baffle his might.

Where o'er his red straths Gulban soars,
Were haunts well loved by savage boars,
And fine were the knolls on the blue mountain's face,
Where oft for King Fionn resounded the chase.

There Grinie's love brought her to shame,
'Twas there the king, with cheeks of flame,
Commanded the hunt, and 'twas there Diarmid stood
To watch for the boar if he broke from the wood.

Deceit a grievous evil wrought!
The monster's ear our tumult caught;
He moved in the glen, as from east and from west,
The shouting grew louder as nearer we pressed.

Envenomed, old, rage-filled, his jaw
Foamed as his eyes the heroes saw,
And faster he went, his strong bristles and mane
Erect, sharp as darts, strong as wood of the plain;

_High reeds that fringed a marsh he found,--
Turned on the dogs all baying round,
And killed in a moment the bravest, and glared
As though to the combat their master he dared._

FIONN.

A huge old boar hastes yonder, mark
Of wounding full and bloodstains dark,
Now follow yourself, noble Diarmid, there goes
A monster of evil and terrible woes.

OSSIAN.

As quick his way the warrior took,
No trembling hand the javelin shook,
And hurrying fast as he closed with the boar
He rushed as in floodtide the wave to the shore.

Shot gleaming from white hand the spear,
Straight through the flank its path to shear,
But, splintering there, left the head buried deep;
The shaft fell in three as it whirred o'er the steep.

The sword, the olden, he unsheathed
That victory in each battle breathed,
Then died the great beast on its blade's dripping length;
Unweakened, unharmed rose the youth in his strength.

But gloom the monarch's heart oppressed,
For from the hillside to the west,
He saw how fair Diarmid, unhurt by the tooth,
A conqueror stood in the beauty of youth.

_He saw the Feinne's loud wandering band,
Deep-ringed around the carcass stand,
And heard as they praised the good courage and might
That vanquished so soon the grim beast in the fight._
[The verses in italics are from the prose version received from J. Dewar]

_But Diarmid went apart, lest he
To praise of self should listener be;
That praise was to Conan's vile envy a sting,
Whose eye looked for gain to the hands of the king._

_A dart in deadly poison dipped
Among the rough black hair he slipped,
And none could have seen where the bristles o'erlaid
The point firmly set of the venomous blade._

Then silent long, the king at last
Spake, all his thought to hatred cast,
"O Diarmid, now measure the Boar, snout to heel,
What length on the ground may the dark hide conceal?"

What man among the Feinne e'er saw
The youth from friend or foe withdraw?
He measured the back barefooted, and passed
Unharmed down the rugged spine, rigid and vast.

FIONN.

"O youth, whose weapons wound so sore,
I pray thee prove this yet once more,
Whate'er thou desirest I'll give thee, but see,
From foot to the snout what the measurement be?"
OSSIAN.

Again his sandals he unlaced,
And 'gainst the hair he slowly paced,
_And bare was the foot where alone mortal harm
Could strike his limbs guarded by magic and charm._

_There at one spot, lifers crimson well
Was fenced by no enchanted spell.
Ah! if on that death-spot but one vein were rent,
How staunchless the flow of lifts fountain unpent!_

And fear was on him: as he stepped,
A keen pang through his senses swept,
For, pierced by the venomous bristle, his sight
Saw gloom shroud the mountain, and darkness the light.

Full soon the poison through his veins
Ran like a fire with fever's pains,
Then sank the bright locks of the warrior brave,
Whose face bore in anguish the hue of the grave.

His blood ran fast, as down a hill
From some high spring a slender rill;
Ah, piteous it was on the brae to behold
How the guileless youth lay in his torture untold.

The cheek which shared the berry's hue
Which flushes red the hillside's dew,
Now blanched, was as cold as a cloud when it lies
Blue-shadowed at noon in the vault of the skies.

DIARMID.

A drink, one drink, O Fionn, give,
One cup to let me drink and live!
My blood flows so fast, give me drink from the spring.
Oft kind were thy words, the good words of a king!

FIONN.

No! not one cup your lips shall drain,
To quench your thirst, to cool your pain!
What good is your life to me? what has it won,
That the deed of one hour has not more than undone?

DIARMID.

Not mine the wish to cause you care,
In East or West, not here or there!
But Grinie's the evil, when, captive, I found
Her love but a shadow, her word but a sound!

A drink, one drink, O Fionn, give,
One cup to let me drink and live!
My blood flows so fast, give me drink from the spring,
Oft kind were thy words, the good words of a king.

FIONN.
No cup of mine your lips shall drain
To quench your thirst, to cool your pain,
What good is your life, can its fair deeds o'erpower
The guilt of one act, and the curse of one hour?

DIARMID.

If you could think of Sween's dread day--
No! vain that memory passed away!--
When fell the eight hundred and three, and my sword
In the narrow pass drank of their blood as it poured!

When prisoned in the Rowan Hold,
Of gratitude your words once told,
When the white teeth were wounding your limbs, and your breath
Came quick, for the fray brought you near unto death.
And yet again your friend was I
In Tara when the strife waxed high,
Not vainly you sought in that hour for a friend,
I fought for thee, king, making Enmity bend;

And Innse's sons, the three, the brave,
From lands far hidden by the wave:
I killed them for thee, who oppressest me sore;
Hard died they, O ruthless one, washed in their gore!

Remember Connell! see again
Carbúi front thee with his men,
To the host of the Feinne see how threatening their gaze:
Ah, Gulban, I burn, as I look on thy braes.

If known to Oigé's women fair
How snared and trapped I here despair,
Their mourning would rise, and their men would lament
The friend whose sad eyes on Ben Gulban are bent.

I, Diarmid of Newry named,
Of Connaught, of Béura famed--
Foster son to that Angus of Broá whose stride
Revealed the best man on the far mountain side:--

"The Eagle of the Red Cascade"--
"The blue-eyed Hawk whom no man stayed"--
They called me--"the strongest of all who could throw
The stone, or the spear, at our game or our foe."

_Then knew he, as his strength grew less
That death would end his sore distress;
The Feinne stood around, and they pitied the man
So weak, once the strongest who fought in their van._

_They searched for water, and they found
A spring, clear-eyed, in mossy ground,
But cup had they none, and their hands, as they went,
Let fall every drop ere o'er Diarmid they bent._

_In bitterness of soul he thought,
"They mock me, now that I am naught,
Your kind hands all leak! of your deed men shall tell,
The 'spring of holed palms' shall they name yonder well._

"_Yet would I ask you, now I die,
To lay me where the stream flows by
The water of Lunnan, for there in my grave
I'll hear, though I see not, its cold shining wave._

"_There place a pillar stone, and bear
My Grinie some day to me there,
And well to the traveller the words shall be known,
'Tis Diarmid who lies 'neath yon Pillar of Stone._

"Oh woe is me! a foul swine's prey,
The victor lord of battle's day!
I faint, done to death, let me turn, let me lie
With my face to Ben Gulban, to see it, and die."--

OSSIAN.

    In tears, and mourning sore,
    Then to his grave we bore
    That brave and hardy one;
    On a green knoll alone,
    Beneath a mighty stone
    That sees the western sun.

    When Grinie coming there,
    At last of all aware,
    Beheld his narrow bed;
    As though her life took flight,
    Bereft of sense and sight,
    She fell, above the dead!

    Then from her swoon awoke,
    Her voice in cries outbroke,
    And in this song of woe,
    Wherein his praise was heard
    In every mournful word,
    Above the river's flow.

GRINIE.

Two in a fastness of rock were concealed,
Oft we lay there for a year unrevealed,
Though hidden from Fionn by the stream as it leapt,
Where it wet not the head of my love as he slept.

In the hunt's contest the keenest to share,
Hard was that bed for thy thick golden hair!
Never thought he of fear as he sprang to the cry,
When the chase was afoot, and he joined it, to die!

Hour of my torture, ochone, how the pain,
Sore, and sharp, as at first, smites again and again,
Sightless dear eyes, voiceless lips, and the breath
Sweet as honey, now lost in the chambers of death!

Sister's son of a king, a monarch high-placed,
Victor and friend, once with courtesy graced!
Ah what a generous heart to have nursed
Vengeance so causeless, a plot so accursed!

Diarmid, O Love, the best sword of them all,
Victory flew to the field at thy call;
Strongest arm in the games, thou wast ever the best,
Whether called to the fight, or to aid the distressed.

Bluer your eye than the blaeberry kissed
On the high mountain's shoulder by sun and by mist;
Gentler your eyelids' soft motion, than where
The upland grass waves to the breezes of air.

Whiter your teeth than the blossoming spray
Danced in the winds 'mid the brightness of day;
Never harp was so sweet, never bird-song above,
As the voice that is hushed on the lips of my love.

Like to the sun-nurtured sparkles of air
Were the fair yellow waves of the locks of thy hair,
Pure as foam the soft skin of the one of our race,
Who was mighty in mind as majestic in grace.

Sad is my heart, to no joy-shout replying,
Restless, lamenting in grief never-dying;
Oh, the mavis calls sweetly in drear deserts lone,
But in vain I must yearn for the notes I have known.

Now shall my soul find its calm nevermore
In the depths--the blue depths--of your eyes as of yore,
Overborne by a perilous flood I shall know
Surcease of no sorrow, no lightening of woe!

Dark is your dwelling-place under the mould,
Narrow your frozen bed, songless and cold;
Never morn shalt thou see, till the day of God's doom,
When awakened, O hero, thou'lt rise from the tomb.

Dead in the earth, and there hidden away,
Who shall not yearn for thee, fairer than day?
Be my blessing now thine, be it thine evermore,
Let it rest on the beauty 'twas mine to adore.

OSSIAN.

Each bard prepared his harp for singing
  That calm and lofty hero's praise;
Deep sorrow through the long notes ringing,
  How wild their dirge, how sad their gaze!

THE BARDS.

Mayest thou be blessed, O thou our fairest
  Beloved, once to fortune dear,
If still for Ireland's Feinne thou carest,
  See how they wail thine absence here.

O strength, like flood on foemen pouring,
  Or swoop of eagle from the sky,
Or as the rush through ocean roaring
  When myriads from leviathan fly!

Béura's lord! thy fair locks, waving
  Hath ceased, pressed down beneath the soil:
Thou'rt seen no more the billows braving,
  No more thou'lt know the hunter's toil.

When blows are rained thy blade no longer
  Shall strike where clear thy war cry rose,
O man, whose love than man's seemed stronger,
  Whose voice no more high Tara knows.

For thee our eyes are red with weeping,
  No beauty like to thine have we;
Our solace gone, our best are keeping
  The death watch, bravest soul, with thee.

OSSIAN.

Yes, fallen all, to leave me living,
  A leafless tree decayed and grey,
Old oaks and young, their green life giving;
  The strong must fall, the weak must stay!

Yet though to-day so frail, what glory
  Around my youth once shone of old!
Changed world! this poor man, weak and hoary,
  Was great in war and rich in gold.



_KING ARTHUR AND THE CAPTIVE MAIDEN._

(TRANSLATED FROM THE GAELIC. [1])
[1] Taken down in Gaelic by Dewar.

King Arthur on a journey went,
His men and he on hunting bent.

Came to the hill for victories known;
He, and Sir Balva, armed alone.

The King of Britain dreamed at night
Of fairest maid 'neath Heaven's light.

Her face's beauteous hues so clear
More than all gold to him were dear.

Yet all unknown where dwelt the maid,
His doubt and awe the search delayed.

For better were a battle stern
Than, blindly wandering, still to yearn.

Then spoke Sir Balva, kindly, meek,
"It is my wish this maid to seek.
Let me now take my Squire and hound,
And search until the maid be found."

Then seven weeks, with toil and pain,
We travelled wearily the main.

No harbour gave our ship a home,
No land kept off the drifting foam.

But high above the rough sea wave,
We saw a smooth-walled castle brave.

Its gables shone with glass. We laughed,
"Ah many a drink-horn there is quaffed."

Then sailing to its base there fell
A chain that lashed the ocean swell.

I seized it, fearless, hand o'er hand
I climbed upon the frowning land,

And seated on a golden chair,
I found a maiden wondrous fair,

Holding a mirror on her knee,
Her vesture beautiful to see.

I blest her, whose sad voice replied,
"Grief here thy blessing doth betide.

O comer from the sea, thou'lt feel
The heart of stone, the blade of steel"

Though merciless he be, yet know,
His sword can deal my heart no blow.

His love or hatred I despise
If gained the favour of thine eyes.

"The giant's star-white sword alone,"
Said she, "can wring from him a groan.

O hide thee in some place secure,
Or, gallant knight, thy death is sure."

Sir Balva heard the giant roar,
"What wave-thrown stranger climbed our shore?"

Her voice replied, "Now come, nor wait,
My soul, for thee my love is great.

Put thou thy head upon my knee,
I'll sweetly play the harp to thee."

He rested, and a laugh displayed
The white teeth of the blue-eyed maid.

The wild harp-music sweetly rung,
And sweeter still her tuneful tongue.

And on his eyes, by sea winds fanned,
Sleep laid full soon his tranquil hand.

Then took they off his star-white sword
And slew the Castle's Giant Lord.

Thus how the captive maid was found,
Oft heard they of The Table Round.



_SEANN ORAN GAILIC_.
[Note: The Gaelic spelt as by Dewar.]

Do reir beulaithris ann an linn Righ Artair bhi ann an Duneidean,
bha Triath urramach Eirinneach a chuir tigh dìdean air
a chraig ris an abairte Aill-séid-chuan, agus ghoid e na braighde
rìomhfhinne uasal, agus thug e i do'n Dun a thog e air Aill-séid-chuan,
s bha e ga gleidh an sin na braighde. Bha Righ Artair
latha anns a bheinn a sealg, luidh e a' leigeadh a sgìtheas dheth,
chaidil e agus bhruadair e air an rìmhfhinne a bha ann am braighdeanas,
agus ghabh e toil a cuir saor, ach cha robh fios aige c'aite
an robh i. Ghabh sir Bhalbha os laimh dol g'a h iarraidh na'm
faigheadh e long o'n Righ. Thug an Righ long dh'a, agus sheol
sir Bhalbha gus gun d'fhuair e air thuileamus i, agus thug e
dh'ionnsaidh Righ Airteir i, agus b'ann do'n chùis chaidh an t
óran a leasas a dheanamh.

Turus a chaidh Righ Arstair s a shluagh
Gu tullach na'm buadh, a shealg;
Gun duine mar-ris an Righ
Ach Sir Bhalbha, fo a lion arm.
          Gun duine, &c.

Chunnaic Righ Bhreatun s e na shuain
An aon bhean a b'aillidh snuadh fo'n ghrein
'S b fhearr leis ro na bh'aige a dh'or
An òg-bhean bhi aige fein.
          'S b fhearr leis, &c.

Ach b'fhearr leis tuiteam ann an sin
Le comhrag fir, mar bha e fein.
No dol a dh'iarraidh na mnà
S gun fhios aige cia an t'aite fo n ghréin.
          No dol a dh'iarraidh, &c.

Thubairt Sir Bhalbha suairce cuin.
'S e mo rùn dol a dh'iarraidh na mnà,
Theid mi fein mo ghille s mo chu
Nar triuir 'g a sireadh gun dàil
          Theid mi fein, &c

Seachd seachdainnean le stri
Bha sinn sgìth a sinbhal cuain
Gun chala gun talamh gun fhonn
Gun ionad amis an gabhadh an long tàmh.
          Gun chala gun, &c.

Chuannacas an iomall a chuain Ghairbh
Caisteal mór mìn-gheal ghuirm,
Uinneagan gloine air a stuagh
S bu lìon-mhor ann cuaich coirn.
          Uninneagan gloine, &c.

Air dhuinn bhi seoladh stigh ri bhun,
Chaidh slabhraidh a chuir a nuas;
S roimh an t slabhraidh cha do ghabh-ar crith
Ach chaidhearurra na m'ruith suas.
          S roimh an t slabhraidh, &c.

Cuanna'cas an ighean eididh òg
Air cathair òir na suidhe a steach
Sgàthan gloine air a glùn,
S bheannaich-eam do a gnuis gheal.
          Sgàthan gloine, &c.

Fhir a thainig oìrun o'n chuan
S truagh brìgh do bheannachadh ann.

       *       *       *       *       *

Ged thigeadh am fear mor na m dhàil
Gun iochd gun bhàigh le a chlaidheamh cruaidh,
Air do ghuidh-se a bhean bhlath.
S coingeis leam a ghradh seach fhuath.
          Air do ghuidh-se, &c.

Arm cha deargadh air an thear,
Ach a chlaidheamh run-geal fein.
Agus is fhearr dhuit dol fo-chleith
Do aite air leith tearruinnt' o'n eug.
          Agus is fhearr, &c.

Chaidh Sir Bhalbha fa-chleith
Agus a steach thainig am fear mor
Tha boladh an fhar-bhalaich a steach
Oirrinn iar teachd o thuinn na traigh.
          Tha boladh an, &c.

Anamain, a sheircein, s a rùin
Is mor an gaol a thug mi dhuit,
Cuir thusa do cheann air mo ghlùin,
Agus seinnidh mi ciùin duit a chruit.
          Cuir thusa do, &c.

Chuir e a cheann air uchd an ighinn ùir,
Bu ghuirme sùil, s bu ghile deud,
S ge bu bhinn a sheinneadh i a chruit,
Bu bhinneadh an guth bha teachd o a beul.
          S ge bu bhinn, &c.

Air dhuinn bhi cuairteachadh na'n cuan
Chaidil e suain, na thruim sheamh fann,
S thug iad an claidheamh a chrios
S ghearr iad gun fhios d'dheth an ceann,
          S thug iad an, &c.

Ghoid iad a bhraighdeach s gu leir
S bha a bhean fein fo chumha thruim
Siod agaibh aithris mo sgeul
S mar a leugh iad am bòrd-cruinn.
          Siod agaibh, &c.

Latha do Righ Arstair s a shluagh
Bhi air Tullach na'm buadh, a shealg.
Gun duine mar-ris an Righ
Ach Bhalbha, fo lion arm.



_DUNOLLY'S DAUGHTER._

Oh, dear to old Dunolly's heart
  His darling daughter seemed,
Yet when she fled, how pitiless
  His bitter curse was deemed.

To death he doomed her lover true,
  And swore his lowly blood
Should stain the land, whose soil would blush
  At wanton womanhood.

But leaves were thick, and woods were green,
  Where summer saw their love,
And none could tell Dunolly where
  Was nesting his wild dove.

Two years had sped, and all unchanged
  Dunolly's mood remained;
When tired with hunting, late at eve
  A forest hut he gained.

A cheerful scene! for hung on trees
  On either side the door
A stag and roe, and salmon there
  Lay strewn the hut before.

There pausing silently he heard
  Light laughter, O well known;
And, looking through the wattled wall
  Stood motionless as stone.

He saw a happy woman lie
  Her true man's form beside;
And laugh as on the bed they tossed
  A smiling child in pride.

No word Dunolly spoke, but went,
  An altered man, and said;
"Go bring them home, for rich are they,
  Love shows them nobly wed."



_THE ARMADA GUN_ [1]

[1] This cannon was recovered in 1740 from the wreck of a vessel of the
Spanish Armada sunk in Tobermory Bay, and is at Inveraray.

An ancient cannon, finely cast.
    Of bronze, all smooth and green with age,
    A by-gone actor on the stage,
Yet fit to take, as in the past
A role in war, and be the last
    Dread argument of kings!

The daisies grew around, and brought
    The homage of young spring to praise
    This stately relic of old days,
When France with Spain for mastery fought;
And Philip over England sought
    To spread the Papal wings.

Initialed with King Francis' name,
    With Gallic lilies sculptured o'er,
    Above the vent the metal bore
A Salamander crowned, in flame;
The massive breech could even claim
    A sheath of lotos bloom.

This goodly weapon, forged where Seine
    By Fontainebleau and Paris flows,
    And many a painted Palace shows
These emblems of the Valois' reign,
For centuries unseen has lain
    Within the sea's dark tomb.

How came it there? A Spanish keel
    One of the Great Armada gay,
    Was blasted in Our Lady's Bay;
One of the Fleet the floods conceal,
Though o'er the waves was wont to peal
    The thunder of their pride.

But how came France's lilies there
    Beneath the flag of red and gold?
    And o'er the ancient gun we told
The story which the legends bear,
How in defeat it bore its share
    And stemmed the Victory's tide.

We thought the winds of hollow sound
    Spoke from its mouth in solemn tone,
    Of great events its life had known,
That thronged, as with the nearly drowned,
To recollection, ere it found
    Beneath the sea a grave.

"'In flame I live, I quench its glow;'
    This motto at the foundry fire
    Was given me by his desire,
The king, whose crest and lilies show
How love and valour could bestow
    Their favour on the brave.

"My form was fashioned in each part
    By him who wrought in gems and gold,
    Whose glory, trumpet-tongued, is told
In fearful wars, in peaceful Art,
Cellini of the ardent heart,
    And Benvenuto named!

"The silver-voiced and laughing crowd
    Of ladies praised his fair design
    And asked if on the German Rhine,
Or English coasts of fog and cloud,
Would soon be heard my challenge loud
    For rights our country claimed?

"To conquer fair Milan I threw
    My shot against the Swiss array
    On Marignano's dreadful day:
On sledges hardy soldiers drew
My weight through snows, where eagles knew
    Alone the Alpine way.

"And warring for the emperor's crown,
   I saw around me fall and die
   The noblest of our chivalry:
When peerless Bayard's high renown
Quenched not his blood, that streaming down
   Fell on me where I lay.

"Pavia felt my iron hail,
   When traitor Bourbon won the fight,
   Yet glad was I no foreign knight
Alone had made our siege to fail,
When wrote our king the dismal tale,
   'Save honour all is lost!'

"The impious victor hurled my fire
   Against the walls of holy Rome,
   But there the devil took him home!
For at the storm my artist sire,
Cellini, felled him, for the ire
   Of God his path had crossed.

"To nobler masters still a slave,
   I felt the fame of Doria mine;
   Saw Venice o'er her channels shine;
Pursued the Moslem on the wave,
And shattered them, when victory gave
   Her palm to Malta's isle.

"When Naples sent her ships to swell
    The swarming armaments that bore
    'Gainst England from each southern shore
In fleets whose numbers none could tell;
I saw how Drake upon us fell,
    How fortune ceased to smile.

"For tempests gathered o'er our track,
    The little English hornets stung,
    My heavy shot against them flung
Passed o'er their barks, so swift to tack,
And every ball they gave us back
    Upon our galleons told.

"Soon drifting o'er the Northern main
    Grey shores unknown were quickly past;
    Our consorts on the rocks were cast,
It was our fate alone to gain
The peaceful haven where Maclaine
    Set fire unto our hold.

I sank: a hundred years past by,
    And diving bells with searchers keen
    For treasure in the wreck were seen.
They took the gold, but let me lie
To sleep another century,
    Then raised and brought me here.

       *       *       *       *       *

"Valois is dead, and Bourbon's Line
    No longer fills my country's throne.
    But death dear France shall never own!
Once more of late her joy was mine,
Once more for her my flames could shine,
    My thunder echo clear.

"For when the tide of battle rolled
    Against the far Crimean shore,
    And France and Britain downward bore
The Russian in his chosen hold,
My last salute of victory told
    For France, as oft of yore!"



_CAVALRY CHARGE--KÖNIGGRÄTZ_

We stood, as the helmeted horsemen
  Formed up in the light of the sun;
We knelt, stretching bayonets towards them
  As they charged, ere the battle was won.

I marked their young leader apparelled
  As daintily as for parade,
A cigarette smoking, advancing
  He laughed, as he pointed his blade.

He played with his yellow moustaches,
  And looked on our ranks, with a scorn
Such as mantles 'gainst mist and night-vapour
  On the brow of the Son of the morn.

He led a bright host where the glitter
  Of armour illumined the vale;
As a flood rises slowly, so, coming,
  They rode with the sun on their mail.

Thus he steadied his men, and none wavered.
  As the steeds settled down to their stride,
And we heard the first rush of the squadrons,
  Like the gathering roar of the tide.

Their order was perfect and splendid,
  And his voice, that at first held them in,
Had rung down their ranks for the onset,
  As though it were fate they should win.

I felt I half liked him as onward
  The lines of his cuirassiers came,
Like breakers wind-driven from seaward,
  Dark tossed in a whirlwind of flame.

I hated the shot that must enter
  That steel-girt and confident breast,
And quench that brave spirit for ever,
  That light on the cataract's crest

But I gave forth the word, and our volley
  Rang clear o'er the thunder of feet
That rolled not to us, for Destruction
  Rejoiced their proud splendour to greet.

And the leader who laughed at our columns,
  At the ranks that bid gaiety die,
On his red bed of honour at even
  Lay smiling his scorn at the sky.



_THE IRISH EMIGRANT._

1880.

Look not for me at eventide,
  I cannot come when work is done;
I go to wander far and wide,
  For 'tis not here that gold is won.
Perchance where'er I go, these hands
  May find me what I need to live;
Whate'er they win, if house, or lands,
  I'd yield for what they cannot give.

For who can turn away his face
  From home and kin and be at rest?
What country e'er can take the place
  That Ireland fills within my breast?
More kindly smile the distant skies,
  They say, beyond yon angry sea;
I know not what they mean, mine eyes
  Have never seen these frown on me.

To me these hills beside the wave
  With every year have dearer grown;
Is it so great a thing to crave
  To call my native land, mine own?
But why these useless plaints renew?
  Farewell! That word, it seems a knell!
If still I'm dear, kind hearts, to you,
  'Tis all I ask, Farewell, Farewell!



_THE IRISH EMIGRANT._

1883.

"They sow in tears who reap in joy,"
  Was truly said of old:
We wandered far, but round us still
  Stretched God Almighty's fold.

'Twas He who led us forth; our grief
  Discerned His chastening hand,
And saw not, though before our eyes
  Shone bright His promised land.

O bless Him for the love that made
  The parting greeting sore,
But for the bold heart that He gave
  We bless our God yet more!

He gave us hope, He gave us strength;
  For us His prairies smile,
The new world's untouched soils for us
  Spread boundless, mile on mile.

The richest heritage on earth
  For us His mercy saved;
For ages Nature's harvests here
  Unknown, ungathered, waved.

Ours now the grain which decks the plains,
  Ours all their wondrous yield;
Our children, and our kin possess
  Their own, in house and field.

What wonder then if many laugh,
  And wonder joy was dumb!
To friends in older lands with less
  Our happy hearts say "Come."



_SONG._

OSBORNE, 1882.

Here Rose and Magnolia
  Our dearest enshrine,
The prayer of the south wind
  Is thine and is mine,
          For Child and for Mother
            Here sweetly twice isled,
          Brave Seamen are praying
            For Mother and Child.

Where State must surround them
  Beneath the Great Keep,
And green oaks of Windsor
  Shade River and Steep,
         For Child and Queen-Mother
           The choristers aisled,
         With armed men are chanting
           For Mother and Child.

Away where the Heather
  Blooms far o'er the Pine,
The Highlander's blessing
  Is mine and is thine,
         For Child and for Mother
           Beloved and mild;
         What heart does not bless them,
           Dear Mother and Child.



_SONNET._

LORD F. DOUGLAS KILLED ON THE MATTERHORN, SWITZERLAND, 1865.

Not home to land and kindred wast thou brought,
Nor laid 'mid trampled dead of battle won,--
Nor after long life filled with duty done
Was thine such death as thou thyself had'st sought!
No, sadder far, with horror overwrought
That end that gave to thee thy cruel grave
Deep in blue chasms of some glacier cave,
When Cervins perils thou, the first, had'st fought
And conquered, Douglas! for in thee uprose
In boyhood e'en a nature noble, free,--
So gently brave with courtesy, that those
Old Douglas knights, the "flowers of Chivalry,"
Had joyed to see that in our times again
A link of gold had graced their ancient chain!



_SADOWA_

JULY 1866.

Wet, cheerless was our bivouac last eve, but still we spoke
Of fighting and of winning, to-morrow, when day broke:
That day the thundering echoes of cannon in our front
Had louder grown until around had raged the battle's brunt
At last the carnage ended, and our regiment's retreat
Was marked by many wounded, who shrieked beneath our feet!
But here in closer order rides past a Lancer Troop--
They had but late been charging like falcons when they swoop.
How few there are remaining! Now the river's bank is gained;
The Trumpeter's white charger with blood on neck is stained.
His snowy flanks are heaving; he shudders on the brink,
Then, gently urged, he halts again, and stoops his head to drink.
He cannot ford the river, for lost are strength and speed:
The Trumpeter, dismounted, now swims beside his steed.
Together they have struggled; he will not let him die,
And soon he stands beside him though the balls are rushing by.
He takes him by the bridle;--would lead him to the town,--
Too late,--for life is ebbing,--the gallant steed is down!
Ah! long I saw that horseman kneel by his charger's head,
And when at last he left him, I knew the horse was dead.
How fiercely as he passes that comrade on the plain,
Remounted on the morrow, shall sound the "charge" again!



_ON A FOREIGN WAR SHIP'S SALUTE TO THE QUEEN'S STANDARD AT OSBORNE._

With their deep voice, monotonous and slow,
  The cannon's thunders roll along the sea;
  But 'tis in reverence, and to work no woe
Those sounds here reach the shore and onward flee
Past the oak woods that climb the grassy lea,
  To strike thy terraces, and palace fair
  With stately salutation offered thee
  Who of these potent realms the crown dost wear.
So to the fabric of our future fame,
  Set in the green oak of our Empire's might:
Shall history's voice, with measured praise, proclaim
  Thy life-long love of justice and of right,
  And the good era that thy reign hath been.
  To hail thee, reverently, Victoria, Queen.






SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES.


_Some of the Speeches, and a few of the answers to Addresses,
delivered during Lord Lorne's term of office in the Dominion, are
printed in the following pages._



On taking leave of his constituents in 1878, in a speech delivered at
Inveraray, Lord Lorne said:--

Judge of the wishes of our colonies, not from your own point of view
only, but from that of their interests also, and from that of the
well-being of the whole Empire, whose glory and power is at once the best
result and the surest guarantee of the freedom which is yours, and
which the colonies inherit from you. Many of you know well, because
many of your relations are settled there, the great British Colonies of
North America. The Dominion now stretches from ocean to ocean across
that vast continent, embracing lands of every nature--some valuable for
corn, some for pasture, for timber or for other treasures which will in
future centuries make the country one of the richest on the earth--for
coal and other minerals. As your former member is about to join the
number of your friends who are already there, you will allow him to say
a good word for those provinces of the Dominion, the threshold of which
civilisation has already passed, and whose fair vacant chambers tempt
the settler from the Old World to enter further and to occupy.

Some years ago, at a public meeting in Glasgow, I took the opportunity
to describe the temptations offered by the Canadian Government to men
employed in agriculture here to settle in Manitoba, and since that day,
as before it, hundreds of happy homesteads have risen, and the energies
of the Dominion have been directed towards the completion of that
railway which will make Manitoba as accessible as is Inveraray. Now,
let me again invite attention to this great Province and the vast
territories beyond. In Argyleshire we have too few men, and we want
more to settle with us, but Canada is a formidable competitor even to
this fair country; and in other places, in the towns of this land,
there are plenty of men who would do well, if they can hold the plough,
to follow the gallant example of their countrymen who have added glory
to Britain by forming another great British nation. Instead of leading
an unhealthy city life, it were well that many of our townsmen should
take to the life-giving work of a settler in the agricultural regions
of Western Canada, where they are likely to live longer and to be
happier than is the lot of the great majority of mankind.



On embarking at Liverpool in 1878 for Canada, Lord Lorne spoke as
follows in reply to an address presented by the Mayor of that city:--

We shall not forget the attention we have received, nor the great
demonstration made by the people of Liverpool, of the interest
entertained by them in the good of Canada, and of the love borne by the
whole country for her children across the Atlantic. You who dwell at
this great port, and see so many leave their native land for distant
climes, will not misunderstand me when I say that we do not lightly
leave you. The heart is often sad at leaving home when the ship is
about to start and the anchor is being weighed, however cheery the
voices of those who raise it, and hearty the farewell greetings of
friends on shore. It is, however, the duty of those who go, to look
forward and not back, and it is pleasant to think that across the water
we shall find ourselves among our own countrymen and in our own country,
among the same institutions as those we know here and under the same
flag. We shall find the same laws and the same determination to uphold
and abide by them, the same love of liberty as we have here, and the
same ability to guard it in honour and order, the same loyalty to the
Throne for the same cause, because it is the creation of freemen, the
bond of strength, and the symbol of the unity and dignity of the
British people Where in the British North American provinces we do not
find men of our own stock, we are fortunate in finding those who
descend from the noble French race--that race whose gallantry we have
for ages learnt to respect and to admire--the friendship of whose sons
to the Empire and their co-operation in the public life of Canada,
which is adorned by their presence, are justly held to be essential
Nowhere is loyalty more true and more firmly rooted than among the
French Canadians, enjoying, as all do, the freedom of equal laws and
the justice of constitutional rule. In conclusion, I will only say that
nothing has struck me more than the enthusiasm manifested towards
Canada among all classes of the community in England and Scotland
wherever I have of late had an opportunity of hearing any expression of
the public mind. Crowds at any public gathering have always given
cheers for Canada. The great gathering of to-day is a renewed symptom
of the same favourable augury, for a good augury I hold it to be, that
men in the old country are ready to call "Hurrah for Canada!" On the
other side of the ocean they are as ready to call "Hurrah for the old
country!" and these cries are no mere words of the lips, but come from
the heart of great peoples. So long as the feelings which prompt these
sayings endure--and endure, I believe they will--we may look forward
with confidence to the future, and know that those bonds of affection
which have been knit by God through the means of kinship and justice
will not be sundered by disaster or weakened by time. (Great cheering.)



In reply to an address from the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, which
was read by Mr. W. B. Forwood, President of the Chamber, the Marquis
said:--

You may well believe how highly I value the sentiments which have
prompted you to come forward today with the address to which we have
all just listened with interest, for Liverpool represents not only much
of the trade of England, but much of the commerce of the world. It is
perhaps the port more intimately connected than any in Europe with the
American continent. It is between your quays and those of New York,
that a steam service is conducted with the certainty and regularity
which tells of the ablest seamanship, and it is by your river that the
fine Canadian vessels of the Allan Line come, the magnificent
representatives of the prospering mercantile marine of the Dominion,
and proud may that country be of such a fleet. Your address shows how
highly you value the friendship of the Canadian people, in what regard
you hold their esteem, and with what interest and sympathy you watch
the progress they are making. It seems to me but a short while ago
since I last visited Canada; but in twelve years there is a great
change to be seen. Twelve years ago the British North American
provinces were only isolated colonies, bound together by no Federal
union, and lacking in the strength and deprived of the advantages of
unity. Now the decrees of the Central Parliament at Ottawa are passed
by the representatives of peoples whose mandates are obeyed through all
that broad zone of productive land which crosses the mighty continent,
and the name of our Sovereign is hailed with, the same affection as
before, but by no mere collection of colonies, for we see a great
Federal people. It is for their welfare that you, on behalf of the
merchants of Liverpool, express your just and confident hope; and the
feelings of sympathy you have shown will, I know, find a response on
the other side of the Atlantic. I consider it of the highest value that
such a true expression of the affection entertained by the great
commercial centres of England should be heard and known. The sentiments
which make the hearts of the natives of these isles beat fast with the
just pride of nationality, when they see in far distant countries the
flag of St. George, St. Andrew, and St. Patrick, is felt to the full by
your colonists, who uphold the flag as speaking to them of the great
days of old of which they, with us, are the heirs. This common loyalty
to the Queen and pride in her ensign is a sure guarantee for the
continued greatness of our country. You, gentlemen, have at heart the
interests of commerce, and, as merchants, the peace and prosperity of
the world. There is no better hope for this than in the unity between
these kingdoms and the great dependencies of the Crown. You know well
how real that unity is, and you will, I believe, join me in the
confident expectation that the eyes of men may long see, beneath our
Western sky, the bright apparition of Peace speeding the beneficent
navies of commerce as they bear to all lands the fruits gathered from
the great harvest which is earned by industry and wisdom.



On passing Londonderry the representatives of the municipality came on
board "The Sarmatian," and in reply to the "God speed" of the visitors,
the Marquis of Lorne said:--

It is most cheering to receive from you the expression of your sympathy
with our mission. We shall feel, after seeing and hearing you, that we
leave the Irish shore bearing with us a precious message of goodwill
given on the part of its people to their fellow-subjects in Canada. The
Dominion of Canada owes much to Ireland. Who does not recall with
gratitude to the country that gave him birth, the rule of the late
Governor-General of Canada, the Earl of Dufferin? Canada will never
forget him, or fail to remember that it was an Irish noble whose career
has given her so bright a page in her history. And from the
Governors-General, on through a long list of rulers whose presence was
a benefit to the Dominion, we know also that Canada is indebted to
Ireland for many a hardy agriculturist and many a clever artisan. It
would be difficult to speak of any part of our Empire which is not in a
similar case, and which does not point with pride to the services of
Irishmen, for on what field of honour has the genius of the Irish race not
contributed to our power? on what path of victory has not an Irish hand
carried forward among the foremost the banner of our union? It is under
that ensign alone, of all in the world, that an Irishman stands beneath
the cross of the Royal saint of Ireland, and each patriotic effort made
by a son of Erin adds another leaf to the wreath of renown which, for
so many centuries, has made the piety and gallantry of the race a
household word among the nations. In parting from you we shall not
forget your kind words, and our visit to the neighbourhood of your city
will always be a pleasant recollection. We thank you again, and ask you
to convey to your fellow-townsmen the expression of our regret that
circumstances have prevented us from receiving your address within
their walls.



Arriving at Montreal, the Princess and Lord Lorne attended the "St.
Andrew's Ball," and replying to Colonel Stevenson, who tendered the
welcome of the committee, Lord Lorne said:--

Colonel Stevenson and Gentlemen, the Members of the St. Andrew's
Society,--To me, I need hardly say, it is a great pleasure to find
myself to-night among so many of my countrymen who hail from Scotland,
and in saying this I am certain I shall have with me the sympathy of
all Canadians of whatever race--English, French, or Irish. For all
these nationalities wish you well. As for the English, it is impossible
for them to feel anything but good-will, for they have as a people been
so grateful for the last two centuries to Scotsmen for giving them a
king, that they have ever since been only too happy to see Scotsmen
getting their way everywhere. The French population shares in the
goodwill felt towards you, for they remember that in the old days it
was a Scotch regiment, the King's Bodyguard, which was the most popular
corps at Paris, and that the French troops who guarded Edinburgh were
there as the allies of Scotland. It is impossible for Irishmen to feel
anything but the most cordial feeling of love for you, for what is
Scotland but an Irish colony? But it is a colony of which Ireland, as a
Mother Country, may well be proud. Gentlemen, as one bearing the name
of one of the first of those old Irish colonists and civilisers of
Scotland, I feel I have a right to be proud of the position taken by
Scotsmen in Canada. We have had the good fortune since leaving England
to be constantly under the guidance or tutelage of Scotsmen. The owner
of the great line of steamships, in one of whose vessels we came here,
is a distinguished Scotsman, well known to all in this hall. I am happy
to say that the captain of our steamer was a Scotsman, the chief
engineer was a Scotsman, and, best of all, the stewardess was a
Scotswoman. Well, as soon as we landed we were met by a Scotch
Commander-in-Chief and by a Scotch Prime Minister, who had succeeded a
Prime Minister who is also a Scotsman. What wonder is it that Canada
thrives when the only change in her future is that she falls from the
hands of one Scotsman into that of another? Our countrymen are fond of
metaphysical discussion, and are apt to seek for subtle reasons for the
cause of things. Here it is unnecessary for them to do more in
inquiring the reasons of the prosperity of the country, than to look
around them and to note the number of their countrymen, and the
existence of such societies with such chiefs as the St. Andrew's
Society of Montreal But it is time to put an end to such light
discourse, and to proceed to the graver terpsichorean duties of the
evening.



At Montreal, where a most cordial and memorable welcome was given, the
following reply to the Mayor's address was made:--

TO HIS WORSHIP THE MAYOR, AND TO THE CITIZENS OF MONTREAL:--Mr.
Mayor and Gentlemen,--In the name of our Queen I ask you to accept our
thanks for your loyal and eloquent address. I need hardly say with what
pleasure the Princess and I have listened to the courteous expressions
with which we are now greeted--and for your most hearty and cordial
welcome. We consider ourselves fortunate that so soon after our arrival
in the Dominion, we have an opportunity of passing this great city; and
while halting for a short time within its walls, on our journey to
Ottawa, to make the acquaintance, at all events, of some among the
community which represents so large and important a centre of
population and industry. Your beautiful city sits, like a queen
enthroned, by the great river whose water glides past in homage,
bringing to her feet with the summer breezes the wealth of the world.
It is the city of this continent perhaps the best known to the dwellers
of the old country; and not only is it famous for the energy, activity,
and prosperity of its citizens, but it is here that the gigantic
undertaking of the Victoria Bridge has been successfully carried out;
and the traveller in crossing the mighty stream feels, as he is borne
high above it through the vast cavern, that such a viaduct is a worthy
approach to your great emporium of commerce. Its iron girders and
massive frame are worthy of the gigantic natural features around, and
it stands, spanning the flowing sea, as firm and as strong as the
sentiment of loyalty for her whose name it bears--a love which unites
in more enduring bonds IP than any forged with the products of the
quarry or the mine, the people of this Empire. It seems but a short
time ago since the Prince of Wales struck the last rivet in yonder
structure; and yet what wonderful strides have been made in the
progress of this country since that day! Every year strikes a new rivet,
and clenches with mighty hand that enduring work--that mighty fabric--
the prosperity of the Dominion. Long may your progress in the beautiful
arts and industries continue, and far be the day on which you may point
to any marks but those which tell of the well-earned results of
indomitable energy and determined perseverance. The people of this
country may be well assured that the Earl of Dufferin has carried home
with him ample proofs of the profound love Canada bears to the Mother
Country, and these assurances have been conveyed by him personally to
Her Majesty. We wish, in answering your address, to acknowledge the
extreme loyalty exhibited by the French-Canadian populations, as well
as the populations of the Maritime Provinces, through whose country we
have, during the last two days, travelled, and to thank them once again
as we had the opportunity this morning, for the kindness shown toward
us personally. This scene, the magnificent reception of your great city,
we shall ever remember with pride and gratitude.



On arriving at Ottawa, His Excellency spoke as follows in reply to the
greeting of the citizens of the capital of the Dominion:--

It is with the greatest satisfaction that I accept your loyal address,
and hear in it those expressions of devotion to Her Majesty the Queen,
which indicate the feelings which rise so truly in the hearts of every
man, woman, and child in Canada, and which not only prove the natural
impulses of all who enjoy the birthright of British citizens, but
demonstrate the convictions of a people who, by the knowledge they have
acquired of the political institutions of the world, cling with a
tenacity and firmness never to be shaken, to the constitution which
their fathers moulded, and under which they experience now the
blessings of freedom and the tranquillity of order, beneath the sceptre
of a Gracious Ruler, whose Throne is revered as the symbol of
constitutional authority, and whose person is honoured as the
representative of benignity and virtue. The attachment which binds the
provinces of British North America to the British flag has never been
more strikingly shown than during the past year; and we know that the
readiness displayed to share the dangers and to partake of the triumphs
of the Mother Country is no fleeting incident, but a sure sign that the
people of this Empire are determined to show that they value, as a
common heritage, the strength of union, and that the honour of the
Sovereign will be upheld with equal loyalty by her subjects in every
part of the globe. We have now traversed, in coming here, some parts of
the important Provinces of the Dominion. In all places we have
visited--and I regret it was not in our power, at this season of the
year, to visit more--we have met with the same kindness and the same
hearty cordiality. I can assure you we are deeply sensible of all that is
conveyed in such a reception; and it has been, and will be, a pleasant
duty to convey to the Sovereign a just description of the manner in
which you have received her representative and her daughter. It is with
a peculiar feeling of pride in the grandeur of this Dominion that I
accept, on the part of the Queen, the welcome given to us at Ottawa, the
capital of the greatest of the colonies of the Crown. It is here
that we shall take up our abode among you, and the cordiality of your
words makes me feel that which I have known since we landed: that it is
to no foreign country that we come, but that we have only crossed the
sea to find ourselves among our own people, and to be greeted by
friends on coming to a home. In entering the house which you have
assigned to the Governor-General, I shall personally regret the absence
of the distinguished nobleman whom I have the honour to call my friend,
and whose departure must have raised among you the sad feelings
inseparable from the parting with one whose career here was one long
triumph in the affection of the people. A thousand memories throughout
the length and breadth of the land speak of Lord Dufferin. It needs
with you no titular memorials, such as the names of streets and bridges,
to commemorate the name of him who not only adorned all he touched, but,
by his eloquence and his wisdom, proved of what incalculable advantage
to the State it was to have in the representative of the Sovereign, one
in whose nature judiciousness and impartiality, kindness, grace, and
excellence were so blended that his advice was a boon equally to be
desired by all, his approbation a prize to be coveted, and the words
that came from his silver tongue, which always charmed and never hurt,
treasures to be cherished. I am confident that the land he served so
well knew how to value his presence, and that you will always look upon
his departure with a regret proportionate to the pleasure Ottawa
experienced from his sojourn among you. I am confident that we shall
find with you a generous and kindly desire to judge well of our effort
to fulfil your expectations, and air though you speak of the recent
growth of your city, and contrast it with places which have become
famous in the world, I need not remind you that there is a special
interest and significance in casting in our lot with those whose
fortune it is not to inherit history but to make it. I accept your
expression of confidence, and promise that I shall do my best to
deserve it.



The following is a report of the speech delivered by His Excellency the
Governor-General, after distributing the prizes at the school
entertainment in the Opera House, on Friday last, December 23, 1878.
His Excellency said:--

Ladies and Gentlemen, and my young friends, the pupils of the Public
Schools,--Let me express to you the pleasure I feel in being with you
to-night, in being able to wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy
New Year, and in having an opportunity of giving to the successful
candidates for honours the prizes which they have so well won in the
competitions which have taken place. I congratulate them upon their
laurels, and I wish, after handing to them the proof of their success,
to say to them how fortunate I consider them to be, in that their lot
has been cast in a land where education is so much prized, and where,
both in the Public Schools and in the Separate Schools, it is so well
known how to give effect to the value set by all the community upon the
thorough and universal training of the youth of the country. I have
heard men who have come from England and from Scotland say, on learning
of the manner in which schools are sown broadcast in Ontario, and on
understanding the system of education adopted here, and the nature of
the tuition given, "I wish that I in my time had had only the tenth
part of the schooling which is given to the boys and girls in Canada."
Let me tell you what lately brought home to my mind, in the most
striking way, the consideration and care the Canadians bestow upon
their schools. At the great Paris Exhibition this year, where the
things in which each nation took an especial pride were paraded before
the eyes of the world, the space allotted to Canada was largely
occupied with the books, the atlases, and the furniture of all kinds
used here in the schools, while no other country seemed to have thought
of exhibiting anything of the kind. It was remarked how wise it was of
this young country to show these things, for it told the world that she
does not only invite to her fair and untilled lands the self-reliant
and honest among the crowded populations of Europe, but it told how
well the sons of the emigrant, as well as of the resident, were cared
for, and educated in the Provinces of the Dominion. I am afraid that
with many of the books shown at Paris, our young friends are much
better acquainted than many of us, their elders, can now pretend to be;
and I am sure that many of the clever young Canadians whom you see
before you, could give us, whose learning has become rusty, many a bit
of knowledge which might still stand us in good stead. The exhibition
at Paris from your schools filled up what some said was a blank, namely,
the absence of any of the fruits of your wonderful harvests, and of any
machinery from Canada. It was said, I remember, that the fruit could
not be carried, but perhaps it was owing to a wish not to wound the
susceptibilities of the Old World that none of the beautiful products
of your orchards were there, and because you did not wish that any of
your modest-looking but unapproachable _pommes grises,_ or
blushing and splendid Pippin apples, should appear in the character of
apples of discord. It may have been owing to the same wish not to
excite unduly and unnecessarily the envy of others, that no machinery
was exhibited from Canada, and that while other nations were making the
great building resound and vibrate to the whirr of wheels driven by
steam; you did not, even by so much as a picture, remind the Parisians
of your wealth in water power as well as in steam, and there was
nothing to show the citizen of London or of Paris, who supposes the
Thames or the Seine to be the greatest streams on earth, why he should
be ashamed of himself if he could but look upon the Ottawa or the St.
Lawrence. But the school display made up for any blank, and under the
shadow of the magnificent Canadian lumber trophy which adorned the
palace, reaching to the roof, and which demonstrated the wealth of your
forests, were the implements you use for the cultivation of your
greatest treasure--the ready brains and quick intelligence of your
youth. I am glad to meet some of those to-night for whom all that
preparation is made; and first, I would say to those who have not this
year been among the prize winners, that I shall hope to see some of
their names in the opposite category another year. "Better luck next
time" is a good saying, but "Never say die" is perhaps a better. Try
again, and yet again, and you will succeed. Many a man begins, and has
begun in all times of the world, at the first rung of the ladder, who
finds himself, if he will only give his own gifts their due, at the top
at the end I do not know that I need recommend to you that most
delightful book of history, "The Tales of a Grandfather," written by
Sir Walter Scott. He describes, as few can, the despair of the Scottish
king, who lay, tired to death, and pondering whether he should or
should not try again the apparently hopeless task to deliver his
country from her strong and terrible enemies; and how a spider,
spinning her web in the rafters over his head, was seen by him to fail
again and again, and yet again, until eight times she had endeavoured
to fix a thread, and eight times she had found the space too great to
span; and how he said within himself "If she try again and fail, I too
shall deem my task hopeless;" but the ninth time the attempt was made
and did not fail, and I need not pursue the story further, or tell you
how Scotsmen look back, through more than five centuries, on the
resolve then taken by Bruce with feelings of gratitude and pride which
can never fade and die. But there are other cases of men who had become
famous for their ability to do that which at first seemed impossible.
Let me mention one (to come down to our own times) because his name is
widely known and honoured as one of the greatest financiers of our day.
I allude to Mr. Gladstone, who, as you know, was the last Prime
Minister in Great Britain and was acknowledged by both parties in the
State to be one of the best Finance Ministers who ever presided over the
National Exchequer. When Mr. Gladstone was a young man, and was
about to go to the university (as several of you are about now to leave
school for college), he told his father that there was one branch of
learning in which he must not expect his son to distinguish himself,
and that was in mathematics, as he had no turn for figures. He went to
the university, and he came out as what is called a "double first,"
that is, he proved himself to have become as superior to others in
mathematics as in the classical studies, and took first honours in both.
I; need not tell you here, in this free and happy country, that it is
quite unnecessary for any one to have any artificial advantage in
getting to the head of a profession. Industry will find a way, here
perhaps more easily than in the old country, though there it is open to
all to rise to the highest places. I will only cite one other instance
of remarkable success, because it is within my knowledge. It is the
case of a man who was one of the greatest shipbuilders on the Clyde,
and who built, among many other vessels, the splendid war-ship, the
_Black Prince,_ which was lately at Halifax, under command of one
of the Queen's sons, the Duke of Edinburgh. The builder of that vessel
died lately, one of the wealthiest and most successful of Glasgow's
great shipbuilders, and had furnished more fine vessels to the
mercantile and war marine of Great Britain than perhaps any one in his
time, for he lived to a good old age. His fortune was made by his own
strong hand, good head and honest heart. His name was Robert Napier,
and I cannot wish you a better career than his, or that you should seek
your fortune with greater uprightness and courage. I heartily wish
continued success to you who have received prizes this evening. Allow
me to hint to you that you must not relax your exertions. If I may use
the metaphor, you have learned to swim, but many a stroke is necessary
before you can hope to reach your goal Determine what your goal shall
be, and strike out straight for it. You have a variety of pursuits in
this country. Determine to be of use to the land which has given you
birth. Determine to be a credit to it. Remember that you are Canadians,
and remember what this means. It means that you belong to a people who
are loyal to their Queen, whom they reverence as one of the most
perfect of women, and as their Sovereign; and who see in her the just
ruler under whose impartial sway the various races, creeds, and
nationalities of this great Empire are bound together in happiness and
unity. But to be loyal means even more than this. It means that you are
true to your duties to your fellow-countrymen, and that you will work
with and for all, for the common weal in brotherhood and tolerance. It
means, finally, that you will be true to your self-respect, that you
will do nothing unworthy of the love of your God, who made you in His
image, and set you in this fair land I believe that you will each and
all of you be loyal and true Canadians, that you will devote your
energies throughout your lives for the good of your native province,
and for the welfare of this wide Dominion, and I feel in speaking to
you that I address those whose children will assuredly be the fathers
of a mighty nation.



During a visit to Kingston in 1879, the degree of Doctor of Laws of
Queen's College was conferred upon the Governor-General, and an address
was presented by the Trustees. His Excellency, in acknowledging the
honour conferred, said:--

Mr. Chancellor, Principal Grant and Gentlemen,--Believe me I am deeply
sensible of the honour you have conferred upon me by conferring on me
the degree of Doctor of Laws at this time and in this place. I say at
this time, because it is a time in which we have been sent here to
represent her Majesty; and at this place, because here I see
represented every section, creed, and class of the great community of
Canada. I accept the honour, if you will allow me to do so, not because
I myself am worthy of it, for I feel deeply my own unworthiness, but as
a recognition of the position which has been conferred upon me by the
grace of the Sovereign. (Cheers.) I am glad that it has taken place
here, because it has just been pointed out to me we are in front of
that building in which formerly met the Parliament of Canada, and which,
good building as it is, when compared with the great and handsome
Parliament buildings now at Ottawa, gives a just impression of the
progress and advancement made in a short while in this great country.
The only personal claim I have to represent her Majesty in this country,
is that I have had some experience in that great law-making assembly in
Great Britain, her House of Commons. But here I occupy a position
unknown in the constitution of foreign countries, as a political doctor,
because whatever prescriptions I give must be such that they can hardly
be visible to or appreciated by the public. (Laughter.) They must be
written in invisible ink--(laughter)--and I can only give a
prescription at all when I meet with other physicians in consultation;
and any remedy given must be given, not by myself, although it may be
administered by any others of those whom I meet in consultation. (Great
laughter.) This is a peculiar position, and one which is totally
incomprehensible to many foreign doctors. (Loud laughter.) But I am
glad to see by your presence and by the kindness of your reception
to-day, and by the manner in which you are working out your political
destinies, that you know the value and importance of such a position.
(Applause.) I thank you for the kindliness of your reception, and I
assure Mr. Chancellor and Principal, that I shall always look back with
pride and pleasure to the day on which I received this academical
distinction at the hands of the authorities of Queen's College. (Loud
cheering.)



In acknowledging the address he said:--

TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE:--Gentlemen,--I am
much rejoiced at learning from you of the large number of students at
present attending the Queen's College, and hail this as a proof that
the high tone of the instruction here imparted, and the excellence of
all matters connected with the organisation and management of this seat
of learning, have challenged the attention and won the entire
confidence and approbation of the people of this part of the Province.
I don't know whether a general holiday is the best occasion on which to
enter an abode of learning. But you will agree with me that it is not
only learning which makes a man wise, but that his heart and his
affections have also something to do in the promotion of wisdom. To-day
your preparation for the future, in the matter of labour in gathering
knowledge, is laid aside in order that you may let the heart speak and
show gratitude for the blessings you now enjoy, and that your fathers
have bequeathed to you in the liberty enjoyed under our gracious Queen,
the best interpreter of the best constitution ever perfected by any
nation. (Cheers.) We thank you in her name for the welcome accorded to
us, and we identify ourselves with you in the satisfaction you must
experience in the ceremonial of to-day, for in the achievement of the
task of raising so large a sum of money, the inhabitants of Kingston
show that they wish their children to follow the loyal, prudent
footsteps of those who are proud of the name of this city, and are
resolved that the next generation shall receive their instruction from
no foreign hands, but at home. (Cheers.) Just as Kingston in former
days knew how to defend herself and keep her own, so will you on the
field of learning ensure that no ground gained by the genius, the
labour and the science of former days be lost, but that, strong in the
conquests of the past, your students may be free to undertake fresh
work, and that each man for himself may advance on new paths of
progress. (Loud cheers.)

Ladies and Gentlemen,--Now that the first stone of the new college has
been laid, let me congratulate you who have met here on this auspicious
day. My observations will not take much time, and shall be brief,
because, with the best voice I can command, I fear it is perfectly
impossible for me to make my utterances reach over so large an area and
be audible to so great an audience as that I have the honour of seeing
before me to-day. Indeed, if it were probable that some of those young
men who are here as students would, in after life, have the honour of
addressing so great a multitude of their fellow-countrymen, I should
certainly advise the authorities of the college to erect a chair for
teaching the art of elocution--(applause)--so that the volume of the
voice might be increased to reach much further than I am afraid is
possible for me to-day. But let me join with you in wishing continued
success to the Queen's College University at Kingston--(applause)--to
associate myself with you in the hope that this new building will long
stand as a monument to the generosity of the townspeople of this
generation--(applause)--and to the talent of the architect who has
designed so handsome and imposing a structure. (Cheers.) I shall not
inflict upon you many observations upon the subject of education, for I
know no ears to which such observations would sound more trite than
those of the people of Ontario, who have shown by the ample and
magnificent provision which they have made for education in this
province, how all-important they consider it is, that this growing
population, extending as it is so rapidly, and being recruited from
almost all quarters of the world, should receive a thorough and
well-grounded training, and be well instructed in all learning and
knowledge. (Applause.) I trust that this college may be a home of happy
memories to all who shall receive their education here and who will go
forth to spread its renown far and wide. (Loud cheers.) This place is
already comparatively old, and I must consider this town of Kingston,
which has already made its mark in the history of this country, as
fortunate in possessing a university--for certainly by the possession of
such an institution, one of those wants is supplied which is rather too
apt to be visible in a new and enterprising country. (Applause.) Where
many are rather apt to suppose that sufficient is done by a school
education for the practical and rougher life, which is the lot of many
here, I am sure that all present value the higher training to be alone
obtained in a university. (Applause.) It would be superfluous to dwell
upon the value of the completion and of the elaboration of education
imparted by such an institution, for large as Canada is, the world is even
larger--(applause)--and by such a higher training avenues are opened
throughout every profession in England and her great dependencies, for
there is no office in this vast Empire which is not open to Canadian
talent. (Loud applause.) It is on this ground that I believe we can
confidently appeal to the generosity of the wealthy, that generosity
which is the mainspring of every institution in a free country.
(Cheers.) It was in 1836 that it was said by those who founded the
college, that "a deep and wide foundation had been laid, a foundation
capable of extension," and I rejoice that now in the lifetime of the
generation which has succeeded to that in which those words were spoken,
there is so fair a promise of the completion of the work, and that
those aspirations will be realised. (Applause) And now let me mention
one other bond of union between the students of this college and myself,
and another cause of sympathy, for with your honoured and learned
Principal I have this bond of fellowship, that we were both friends--
and I may almost say pupils--of a great preacher and a very beloved man,
not the least of whose merits in your eyes will be that it was owing to
his persuasion that your late Principal undertook the charge of this
college. (Loud cheers.) And I believe it was also owing to his
initiative that your present Principal undertook a charge in Canada, an
action which ultimately led up to his present position where he is
honoured and revered by you all. I allude to the late Rev. Norman
Macleod. (Loud cheers.) And, gentlemen, I have one other cause for
feeling a fellowship with you, and that is, that I had the advantage
for sometime of being a student at a Scottish university, and in very
much I trace points of resemblance between the system of your
university and that which obtained at home, and especially in this that,
although founded by a Scotchman, this institution of Queen's College is
one absolutely free and open to every denomination. (Applause.) Indeed
this institution is in its features so much like the great universities
at home, the great University of Edinburgh, for example, to whose
proportions I hope you will in course of time attain, that I almost
expect to see some gentleman make a proposal which will fill the only
serious want I detect in your organisation, and that is, that there is
no provision here for a Celtic chair for the teaching of the Gaelic
language. I am sure that in this opinion all our Irish friends will
join, for what is a Highlander but an Irishman? (Laughter and applause.)
What is he but a banished Irishman?--(renewed laughter)--speaking a
language which I am sure would be pronounced by the ancient Four
Masters to be a mutilated form of the old Irish language. (Great
laughter and cheers.) And now that I have mentioned Scottish students,
I am sure you will not think that I am making any invidious comparison
when I allude to the noble example I have seen set by them in the
determination and energy with which I have known them prosecute their
studies. (Hear, hear.) I have known at St. Andrew's men go up to the
university so little able to afford the necessary money for their stay
there, that they have apprenticed themselves to resident tradesmen in
the town, and have risen at I do not know what hour of night or morning,
and have gone through the whole of the manual labour necessary for their
temporary profession--(loud applause)--and after this exhausting
labour have attended throughout the day at their classes in the
university and have managed there to take a high place with their
fellow-students. (Loud applause.) I am sure you will not think I
mention this because I imagine that anybody is not capable of the same
effort, for although wealth is much more evenly divided here than it is
in Scotland, I believe you are here animated by the same spirit.
(Cheers.) I remember mentioning the example of the Scottish students to
a famous and learned professor of Cambridge, the late Professor Whewell,
of Trinity, and he thought that an invidious comparison was intended,
for he sharply replied to me, "Well, there is nothing to prevent you
working here." (Great laughter.) This is not the way in which you will
take my little story. I am sure there is not only nothing to prevent
you working here, but that there is everything to make you do so, and I
am confident the students here will take advantage of their
opportunities, and do their best to make the name of a Canadian an
honoured designation throughout the world. (Loud and long-continued
applause.)



At the Royal Military College, Kingston, the Governor-General attended
the distribution of prizes, and, at the close, his Excellency rose and
delivered the following speech:--

Gentlemen Cadets of the Royal Military College,--On the Princess's
behalf I must first express her pleasure in giving you the prizes
awarded for mental worth and also for physical exercises--(applause)--
and I cannot say how much satisfaction I have had today in seeing the
manoeuvres so well executed during the very pretty little field day you
have gone through, and in thoroughly examining into every part of this
Institution, and seeing myself the place which, I believe, will
hereafter be as famous in Canadian history as the training place of the
officers in whom Canada puts her trust as is Woolwich in England, or
the Academy at West Point, among our neighbours. (Applause.) In being
here I confess I think your lines are cast in pleasant places, and it
is well that it should be so, for to judge from my own experience when
going through a course of training at Woolwich, it may be possible that
in future years you will re-visit this scene of your early labours. It
is often the case that after some years' service, students of the
military art find that owing to the constant progress made in military
science, they have fallen a little behind, have perhaps become a little
rusty, and have to go back for a time to drill. This may be the case
here as well as in other armies, and if ever I have the pleasure in
future years again of visiting Kingston, I may find some of the young
and soldier-like body whom I have now the pleasure of addressing, again
going through "repository" work as stout captains or as weighty
majors--(laughter)--here again for a while to polish off any little rust
that may have accumulated in their minds. It is certainly a matter of
surprise to find what wonders have been accomplished by this school in
a short time, and how under the able, energetic, and genial leadership
of Col. Hewitt, and of the instructors, to whom you owe an uncommon
debt of gratitude, for their work has been very hard, and like the
British Infantry, they are excellent, but they are too few--(applause)--a
school of arms has arisen which will bear comparison with some of
the oldest of similar institutions in other countries. The good which
has been done in this school is evident to all who visit it, and this
is recognised by those who have not had that advantage, but who,
hearing of your progress, and reposing, with good reason, confidence in
the able board of officers who guide your studies, have afforded their
support to an experiment which may be already pronounced a great
success. It is not only one Province that is represented amongst you,
but the Dominion at large, and we may look forward to having many from
the gallant Province of Quebec--(applause)--whose famous military
annals will, I am confident, should necessity arise, be reproduced in
the actions of her sons. (Applause.) The life that you have led in this
place and the spirit of comradeship here engendered will be a bond of
union for our Canadian Dominion--(applause)--and many of you when you
leave this will feel for your Alma Mater that sentiment of affection
which Napoleon felt for St. Cyr. May this Kingston Military Academy be
a fruitful mother of armed science--(applause)--and a source of
confidence and pride to her country. You will go hence after your
studies are completed as men well skilled in many of those acquirements
which may be looked upon as wont to lead to success in civil life; but
above all, you will be officers to whom can be entrusted with
confidence the leadership of our Canadian Militia. (Applause.) It will
be your duty to command those who are called out for service first of
all for the defence of your own homes; but I doubt not that you will
always remember that in belonging to the Canadian Militia you belong to
an auxiliary force of the Imperial army, whose services are constantly
illustrating anew, in distant and various climes, and against every
kind of foe, the qualities of the British valour and the virtues which
have made Britain what she is. (Applause.) It may never be your fate to
have any share in war's convulsions, and you may have no opportunity of
doing what the Zulus would call, "Washing your spears." Do not on that
account think that your time has been misspent, or regret the
preparation which is the best means of preventing any disaster falling
upon your country. The training you have here received will certainly
not only pay well in giving you those habits of mind and knowledge
which will be of advantage to you whatever line in life you pursue, but
will help you to become good citizens, and will make you worthy
representatives of that home army which is so essential for the defence
of the land. It is the proud fortune of those who follow that
profession, of which it has been finely said that "it is their trade to
die," to know that by their life they not only foster those feelings of
manliness and hardihood without which life is not worth having, but
that it is also under their protecting arm that every profession
pursues its even way, and arts and commerce flourish, and wealth
increases in security. (Loud. applause.)

On the 24th May 1879, after an interesting review at Montreal of a
militia force, comprising one regiment of American Militia from New
York State, a dinner was given at the Windsor Hotel, and, in reply to
the toast of his health, the Governor-General rose and said:--

Gentlemen and Officers of the Canadian Militia,--Allow me to thank you
from the depth of my heart for the extreme kindness of your reception,
but you must allow me to ascribe that reception to my official position,
for I am fully conscious that I have been too short a time among you to
be able to do more than to claim your kindness and consideration. With
the Princess it is different, and I believe I can claim for her
personally a warmer feeling. (Tremendous applause.) I cannot tell you
enough on her behalf of her feelings as to the manner in which she has
been received by every section of the Canadian people. I am often asked
how she likes this country, and I can only reply to the numerous
inquirers by repeating what I have said to those who have asked
personally, that although she likes this country very much, she likes
the people a great deal better. (Great cheering.) I must not forget to
thank Sir Edward Selby Smyth for the extreme cordiality with which he
was so good as to propose this toast, and I can assure him that it is
not only here amongst Canadian officers, but anywhere else, I should
have been proud to hear from him the words he has used. (Cheers.) He
has, I am sure, earned the gratitude of every militia regiment in
Canada during the time that he has been here, and he speaks, I am sure,
as your representative, with the full voice of your authority. (Renewed
cheering.) He has held before your eyes a high standard, he has held
that standard up with a most efficient hand, and I believe you
thoroughly well know how valuable his services have been, and what an
advantage it is to have an officer at the head of the Canadian militia
who has had experience in active warfare. (Loud cheers.) The manner in
which the manoeuvres were performed to-day show how much value you have
attached to his teaching--what full advantage you have taken of all the
opportunities given to you. And while I am speaking on the subject of
the review, allow me to congratulate you on having in your midst to-day,
and forming so splendid a part of your spectacle, the gallant American
regiment, many of whose officers I have the pleasure of seeing in this
hall. (Great cheering.) I wish to repeat to them to-night what I had
the honour of saying to the regiment at large, that I thank them most
sincerely for having come this journey to honour our Queen's Birthday--
(tremendous applause)--and I regard their having undertaken the journey,
and having come here, as a proof of the amity of feeling and sentiment
for us which is as strong in the breasts of the American people as is
their community with us in that freedom in which we recognise our
common heritage. (Cheering.) I believe I am not wrong in saying that
they have paid us an unusual compliment in allowing their band to play
our National Anthem, while a part of their musicians were arrayed in
our national colour. Some of the band wore the Queen's! colour, and I
believe I am not misinterpreting the feelings of the officers here
present when I say, that the very many Americans, not only those of
British race, but many others, wear in one sense the Queen's colour at
their hearts--(loud cheers and applause)-not only because she is the
Queen of that old country with which so many of their most glorious
memories are for ever identified,--that old country of which they are
in their hearts as proud as I can honestly say England is of them,--but
also because the Americans are a gallant nation, and love a good woman.
(Great applause.) They have lent us a helping hand to-day, and I
believe they will always be ready to do so, should occasion arise on
which we may ask them to stand by us. (Tremendous cheering.) We have
had a very pleasant day together, which has been followed by a restful
evening and a pleasant dinner--pleasant to all, I venture to say-but
restful only to those whose fate it has not been, when the dessert has
been put upon the table, and the wine has been passed round, to be
obliged, by making speeches, to "open fire" again. (Laughter and
applause) If an army could always depend upon having such a good
commissariat as our little force has enjoyed to-day, it is my belief
that field days would be even more popular than they are--(laughter)--
and I doubt if the finances of any people, no matter how many changes
they should make in their tariff, could long stand the expense.
(Laughter.) But if nations are happier when there is no need for them
to squander wealth, and spread sorrow and disaster by the maintenance
of large forces kept on foot for purposes of offence; yet it will be
generally conceded that no nation should be content without a numerous,
an efficient, and well-organised defensive force. This Canada and the
United States fortunately possess--(applause)--and the motto which was
proposed by Lord Carlisle as that which the volunteer force of England
should take, viz., "Defence, not defiance," is one which is equally
suitable to our kindred peoples. At our review to-day we have had one
of the few occasions on which it has been possible of late to bring a
fair number of men together for united drill Good drill requires
constant attention and work, and I believe it has certainly been the
opinion of the spectators of the force to-day, that officers and men
have made the best use of the opportunities which have been given them.
(Loud cheering.) Our militia force is large in number, and we have had
during the last two years the best proof of the spirit with which it is
animated. I should be neglecting an important duty were I not to take
this opportunity of tendering the warmest thanks of Her Majesty, and of
the Imperial authorities at home, to those gallant officers of the
Canadian Militia Force who have of late so often offered themselves for
service in active warfare--(cheers)--and to assure them that although
it was not necessary to take advantage of their offers, that their
readiness to serve has been none the less valued, noted, and
appreciated, and that the patriotic spirit which binds together all
branches of our Queen's army in whatever quarter of the globe they may
stand, and from whatever race they may spring, is seen with pride and
satisfaction. (Loud applause.) And, gentlemen, although the bearers of
commissions in our militia service have not been able to show their
devotion personally to their Sovereign and country among the lofty
ranges of Afghanistan, or on the bush-covered slopes of Zululand, yet
the news of the distant contests waged in these regions has, we know,
been watched here with as close an interest, as intense and hearty a
sympathy, as in Britain itself--(applause);--and the sorrow at the
loss of such gallant officers as Northey and Weatherley--(tremendous
cheering)--has been shared with our comrades in arms in the old
country, not only because the same uniform is here worn, but also
because the honoured dead are united with our people by ties of the
closest relationship. The dividing seas have not sundered the
brotherhood which the love of a gracious Sovereign, and the passion for
freedom, make the lasting blessing of the great English communities--
(great cheering);--and just as our country shows that she can strike
from the central power whenever menaced, so will her children's States,
wherever situated, respond to any call made upon them, and prove that
England's union with the great colonies is none the less strong because
it depends on no parchment bonds or ancient legal obligations, but
derives its might from the warm attachment, the living pride in our
Empire, and the freewill offerings of her loving, her grateful, and her
gallant sons. (Long continued cheering.)



The opening of an Art Institute at Montreal in 1879 gave occasion to
the following reply to an address:--

Ladies and Gentlemen,--This is the first occasion, I believe, on which
a large company, representing much of the influence and wealth of this
great city, has met together in order formally to inaugurate the
opening of the buildings of an Art Institute. Through the kindness of
the President and Vice-President, I have already had an opportunity
to-day to inspect the works with which this city, through the munificence
of Mr. Gibb, has been endowed. I think Montreal can be honestly and
warmly congratulated, not only upon the possession of a collection
which will go far to make her Art Gallery one of the most notable of
her institutions, but on having succeeded in getting possession of
funds enough, at a time by no means propitious, to give a home to this
collection in the Gallery in which we are assembled and to have erected
a building large enough to exhibit to advantage many other pictures
besides those belonging to the bequest. It is perhaps too customary
that the speeches of one in my position should express an over-sanguine
view of the hopes and aspirations of the various communities in the
country, and I believe the utterances of a Governor-General may often
be compared to the works of the great English painter, Turner, who, at
all events in his late years, painted his pictures so that the whole of
the canvas was illuminated and lost in a haze of azure and gold, which,
if it could be called truthful to Nature, had, at all events, the
effect of hiding much of what, if looked at too closely, might have
been considered detrimental to the beauty of the scene. (Applause.) If
I were disposed to accept the criticisms of some artists, I should be
inclined to endorse the opinion I have heard expressed, that one of the
few wants of this country is a proper appreciation and countenance of
Art; but the meeting here to-day to inaugurate the reign of Art in
Montreal enables me to disprove such an assertion, and to gild over
with a golden hue more true than that of many of Turner's pictures this
supposed spot upon the beauty of our Canadian atmosphere. Certainly in
Toronto, here and elsewhere, gentlemen have already employed their
brush to good effect. We may look forward to the time when the
influence of such associations as yours may be expected to spread until
we have here, what they formerly had in Italy, such a love of Art that,
as was the case with the great painter Correggio, our Canadian artists
may be allowed to wander over the land scot free of expense, because
the hotel keepers will only be too happy to allow them to pay their
bills by the painting of some small portrait, or of some sign for "mine
host." (Laughter and applause.) Why should we not be able to point to a
Canadian school of painting, for in the appreciation of many branches
of art, and in proficiency in science, Canada may favourably compare
with any country. Only the other day Mrs. Scott-Siddons told me that
she found her Canadian audiences more enthusiastic and intelligent than
any she had met. Our Dominion may claim that the voices of her
daughters are as clear as her own serene skies; and who can deny that
in music, Nature has been most ably assisted by Art, when from one of
the noble educational establishments in the neighbourhood of this city,
Mademoiselle Albani was sent forth to charm the critical audiences of
Europe and America? Canada may hold her head high in the kindred fields
of Science; for who is it who has been making the shares of every Gas
Company in every city fall before the mere rumours of his genius but a
native Canadian, Mr. Edison, the inventor of the electric light? In
another branch of Art her science must also be conceded. In photography
it cannot be denied that our people challenge the most able competition.
(Applause.) I have heard it stated that one of the many causes of the
gross ignorance which prevails abroad with reference to our beautiful
climate, is owing to the persistence with which our photographers love
to represent chiefly our winter scenes. But this has been so much the
case, and these photographs excite so much admiration, that I hear that
in the old country the practice has been imitated, so that if there may
have been harm at first the very beauty of these productions has
prevented its continuance, because they are no longer distinctively
Canadian, and the ladies in the far more trying climates of Europe are
also represented in furs by their photographers, so that this fashion
is no longer a distinguishing characteristic of our photography; in
proof of this I may mention that in a popular song which has obtained
much vogue in London, the principal performer sings:--

  "I've been photographed like this,
   I've been photographed like that,
   I've been photographed in falling snow,
   In a long furry hat."

No doubt these winter photographs do give some of our friends in the
old country the belief that it is the normal habit of young Canadian
ladies to stand tranquilly in the deep snow, enjoying a temperature of
33° below zero--(laughter);--and it would certainly give a more correct
idea of our weather were our Canadian ladies and gentlemen to be
represented, not only in bright sunshine, but also amongst our
beautiful forest glades in summer, wearing large Panama hats, and
protected by mosquito veils; but I suppose there are obstacles in the
way, and that even photographers, like other mortals, find it difficult
properly to catch the mosquitos. (Renewed laughter.) I think we can
show we have good promise, not only of having an excellent local
exhibition, but that we may in course of time look forward to the day
when there may be a general Art Union in the country; a Royal Academy
whose exhibitions may be held each year in one of the capitals of our
several Provinces; an academy which may, like that of the old country,
be able to insist that each of its members or associates should, on
their election, paint for it a diploma picture; an academy which shaft
be strong and wealthy enough to offer, as a prize to the most
successful students of the year, money sufficient to enable them to
pass some time in those European capitals where the masterpieces of
ancient Art can be seen and studied. Even now, in the principal centres
of population, you have shown that it is perfectly possible to have a
beautiful and instructive exhibition; for besides the pictures
bequeathed to any city, it may always be attainable that an exhibition
of pictures be had on loan, and that there be shown besides the
productions in both oil and water-colour of the artists of the year. It
may be said that in a country whose population is as yet incommensurate
with its extent, people are too busy to toy with Art; but, without
alluding to the influence of Art on the mind, which has been so ably
expressed in your address, in regard to its elevating and refining
power, it would surely be a folly to ignore the value of beauty and
design in manufactures; and in other countries blessed with fewer
resources than ours, and in times which, comparatively, certainly were
barbarous, the works of artists have not only gained for them a
livelihood, but have pleased and occupied some of the busiest men of
the time, the artists finding in such men the encouragement and support
that is necessary. Long ago in Ireland the beautiful arts of
illumination and painting were carried on with such signal success that
Celtic decoration, as shown in the beautiful knotted and foliated
patterns that still grace so many of the tombstones and crosses of
Ireland and of the west of Scotland, passed into England, and, more
strangely, even into France. The great monarch, Charlemagne, was so
enchanted with the designs and miniatures of an Irish monk, that he
persuaded him to go to work at Paris, and for nearly two centuries
afterwards the brilliant pages of French Bibles, Missals, and Books of
Hours showed the influence of the culture, the talent, and the tastes
of Erin. Surely here there should be opportunity and scope enough for
the production of the works of the painter's hand. The ancient states
of Italy, her cities and communities of the Middle Ages, were those who
cherished most their native painters, and the names of many of those
who covered the glowing canvases of Italy with immortal work are known
often from the designation of some obscure township where they were
born, and where they found their first generous recognition and support
Here in this great Province, full of the institutions and churches
founded and built by the piety of past centuries, as well as by the men
now living, there should be far more encouragement than in poorer
countries of old for the decoration of our buildings, whether sacred or
educational The sacred subjects which moved the souls of the Italian,
German, Flemish, and Spanish masters are eternal, and certainly have no
lesser influence upon the minds and characters of our people. And if
legendary and sacred Art be not attempted, what a wealth of subjects is
still left you,--if you leave the realm of imagination and go to that
of the Nature which you see living and moving around you, what a choice
is still presented. The features of brave, able, and distinguished men
of your own land, of its fair women; and in the scenery of your country,
the magnificent wealth of water of its great streams; in the foaming
rush of their cascades, overhung by the mighty pines or branching
maples, and skirted with the scented cedar copses; in the fertility of
your farms, not only here, but throughout Ontario also; or in the
sterile and savage rock scenery of the Saguenay--in such subjects there
is ample material, and I doubt not that our artists will in due time
benefit this country by making her natural resources and the beauty of
her landscapes as well known as are the picturesque districts of Europe,
and that we shall have a school here worthy of our dearly loved
Dominion. It now only remains for me to declare this gallery open, and
to hope that the labours of the gentlemen who have carried out this
excellent design will be rewarded by the appreciation of a grateful
public.



In June 1879, his first visit was paid to Quebec, and the answer to the
Mayor's greeting is given below:--

AU MAIRE ET À LA CORPORATION DE LA CITÉ DE QUÉBEC:--Messieurs,--C'est
avec le plus profond sentiment de plaisir que nous nous trouvons au
milieu de la population de Québec, et que nous entendons, des personnes
autorisées à parler de la part de cette ancienne et fameuse cité,
les mots de loyauté et l'assurance de dévouement exprimés dans votre
adresse, et je vous prie de transmettre aux différentes institutions
et sociétés que vous représentez ma reconnaissance de la cordiale et
bienveillante réception qui nous a été offerte aujourd'hui.

La loyauté est une fleur précieuse qui ne se fane et ne se flétrit pas
facilement, s'il lui est seulement donné de croître à l'air frais de la
liberté. Elle fleurira ici aussi longtemps que le Canada existera, et
sera chérie, comme aux anciens jours, le furent les lis-d'or, pour
lesquels tant de vos ancêtres versèrent si noblement leur sang.

Comme représentant de la reine, permettez-moi de vous dire que sa
majesté est assurée de la loyauté et du dévouement de ses sujets de la
province de Québec, qu'ils soient issus de pères venant des Iles
Britanniques, ou que l'ancienne France les réclame comme soutenant,
dans un nouveau monde, l'honneur, le renom, la bravoure et la fidélité
au souverain et au pays, qui distinguèrent leurs ancêtres.

J'exprime ces sentiments dans ce beau langage qui, dans tant de pays et
durant des siècles, fut regardé comme le type de l'expression concise
et nette et le plus habile interprète de l'esprit et de la pensée
humaine.

Le monde entier en l'employant, se rappelle avec vous que c'est la
langue qui, dans l'eglise, se répandit avec éloquence des lèvres de
Saint Bernard et de Bossuet; et qui, avec Saint Louis, Du Guesclin et
l'héroïque Pucelle d'Orléans, résonna sur les champs de bataille.

Cette place sera toujours identifiée avec la race glorieuse qui
produisit ces grandes âmes; et cette cité, placée comme elle l'est, sur
un des sites les plus imposants du monde, semble digne de ceux dont le
langage est parlé dans tout l'ancien Canada, et qui couronnèrent de
demeures civilisées le rocher élevé qui est aujourd'hui le Gibraltar de
notre puissance.

Bien des changements se sont opérés depuis que la première flotte
européenne jeta l'ancre sur les bords du Saint-Laurent, mais aucun
événement ne souilla jamais les glorieuses annales de cette forteresse,
de cette place si chère a l'histoire. Car ne fut-ce pas d'ici que
jaillirent ces influences qui changèrent en riches habitations de
nations puissantes, ces vastes déserts inconnus? Ne fut-ce pas de
Québec que les paroles de foi, les impérissables richesses de la
science et de la civilisation se répandirent à travers un nouveau
continent? C'est d'ici que les grandes rivières furent découvertes, et
que les flots, devenant les grandes voies du commerce, furent forcés de
partager le travail de l'homme.

Qu'y a-t-il d'étonnant à ce que vous chérissiez tant ces souvenirs, et
que, de l'avis et avec l'assistance de Lord Dufferin, vous ayez résolu
de faire tout ce qui est en votre pouvoir, non seulement pour conserver
ce qui rappelle au voyageur vos jours de gloire, mais encore pour
embellir le plus possible la précieuse relique qui vous a été léguée en
votre charmante cité.

Les mesures que vous avez prises au sujet de l'embellissement de votre
ville, mises au jour tout récemment, créées par votre générosité, et
encouragées par l'esprit sympathique de votre dernier gouverneur-
général, à qui aucun effort noble et généreux ne fit appel en vain,
prouvent que vous ne permettrez jamais que l'intérêt et la beauté qui
attirent tant de milliers de visiteurs, chaque année, vers votre cité
soient détruits par un utilitairianisme mal entendu; mais que vous
tiendrez à conserver en son intégrité le seul grand et antique monument
de la grandeur du Canada, que ce pays possède.

En conclusion, permettez-moi de vous assurer que nous souhaitons
sincèrement que vos voeux les plus ardents, quant à ce qui regarde
l'accroissement du commerce de votre port, se réalisent, et que les
eaux de la grande rivière qui coule au pied de votre promontoire
puissent constament être couvertes des vaisseaux, superbes et
solidement construits, que vos artisans peuvent produire avec tant
d'habileté et en aussi grand nombre.

Personne ne désire ce résultat plus sincèrement que la princesse, que
vous avez si gracieusement acclamée et qui se joint à moi pour vous
exprimer mes sincères remerciements; elle qui en venant ici, doit être
regardée comme la représentante personnelle de notre reine issue de
cette maison royale, qui reçut comme fiancée Henriette de France, fille
du grand monarque français, dont une des gloires de son règne fut
l'honneur qu'il rendit au voyageur illustre, l'intrépide Champlain, ce
nom à jamais identifté avec tout ce qui nous entoure.



At Laval University he said:--

Monseigneur et Messieurs,--La rivalité à laquelle vous faites allusion
dans votre éloquente et bien-veillante adresse, et qui, dites vous,
existe encore entre les sujets de sa majesté au Canada, ne devrait
jamais s'éteindre surtout quand cette émulation a pour origine le
désir d'obéir aux lois dans leur libre et juste application, et les
nobles efforts d'un chacun pour placer chaque province au premier rang
dans la représentation de notre pays et faire ainsi progresser le
Canada dans la voie de l'ordre et de la prospérité.

De même que votre magnifique édifice domine votre cité, de même la
pensée dominante de votre université est d'être le phare sur lequel se
dirige le peuple dans l'espérance que cette émulation tendra à nous
diriger vers de hautes et nobles destinées.

Nous entrons avec le plus profond intérêt dans ces salles où vous avez
entrepris cette tâche glorieuse, et nous concourrons de tout coeur dans
les souhaits que vous venez d'exprimer, dans le voeu que nous formons
pour votre prospérité.

Nous nous sommes réjouis, en débarquant il y a deux jours, de voir que
vos autorités, avec un si grand nombre de population, manifestaient de
la manière la plus énergique et avec une noble générosité la confiance
qu'ils avaient placé dans le représentant de leur souveraine.

Soyez persuadé que je comprends toute l'importance de cette confiance.
Ce n'est pas à moi personnellement que ces témoignages s'adressent,
mais au représentant d'un gouvernement assurant une liberté à laquelle
on ne songe pas dans d'autre pays, et qui se trouve unie aux anciens
usages et à l'autorité modérée sous laquelle le peuple de notre empire
a trouvé le bonheur, la puissance et l'union.

Permettez-moi de vous remercier de votre bien-veillante reception, et
de vous dire que je désire avoir ma part de l'approbation que le public
accorde à vos travaux, en continuant l'octroi des prix inauguré par
Lord Dufferin, qui savait si bien apprécier la valeur de votre
université, et qui, en sa qualité de savant, connaissait tout le prix
de l'enseignement qu'on y donne.

Ici les élèvès placés sous vos soins, reçoivent tous les jours une
large part des connaissances que vous avez puisées à des sources
précieuses dans diverses contrées du globe; car les voyages sont aussi
propres à instruire que les livres eux-mêmes, et parmi vos professeurs
il y en a qui ont parcouru beaucoup de pays et vu beaucoup de peuples
différents, et qui ont suivi en Amérique la pratique des fondateurs du
Christianisme, en apprenant les langues étrangères, en voyant l'ancien
monde, ses habitants, tout en s'initiant à sa littérature immortelle.

Les fondateurs de cette institution ont pourvu aux moyens de faire
suivre des cours complets de médecine, qui jusqu'ici n'avaient été
ouverts qu'a un petit nombre de personnes; car dans votre institution
la medécine s'enseigne d'après une méthode digne de la nation qui a
produit Broussais, Bichat, Corvisart et Pinel.

Les sciences naturelles sont enseignées à des hommes qui, en prenant
part au développement et aux découvertes des richesses naturelles de ce
vaste continent, continueront l'oeuvre de leurs ancetres, les pionniers
du Canada.

Cette partie de la puissance renferme des richesses naturelles encore
inconnues et qui n'exigent que l'esprit d'entreprise pour leur
exploitation.

C'est aussi un pays où l'or, les marbres précieux et les serpentines
aideront á augmenter par leur valeur les revenus de la population qui
doit neanmoins compter principalement sur la culture du sol et qui dans
l'elevage des bestiaux augmentera sa prospérité en approvisionnant
les marches de l'Europe.

Je suis très honoré de votre réception, et mon désir le plus sincère
est que la Divine Providence permette que l'Université Laval soit
toujours le flambeau des arts et des sciences pour la noble et
génereuse population de Québec.



At Toronto during the same year the Governor-General had occasion to
speak as follows:--

Gentlemen,--In rising to return you my heartfelt thanks for the loyal
and cordial manner in which you have received the toast of the health
of the Queen's representative, I thank my learned and honourable friend
on my left for the manner in which he has proposed that toast, and you,
gentlemen, for the way in which you have been good enough to receive it.
I knew that in a Canadian company that toast would be received with all
honours, because I believe there is no nation in this world which has
more profound love for its Sovereign than the Canadian people. (Loud
cheers.) With reference to the Prince of Wales, to whose visit you have
made allusion, I know that he was delighted, as was also the Duke of
Connaught, with the visit they paid to Canada, and they have both
expressed a confident hope that during my term of office they may
revisit Canadian soil. (Loud cheering.) With regard to ourselves
personally, I shall accept with gratitude everything that has fallen
to-night from your eloquent lips, sir, with regard to the Princess, my
wife. (Great cheering.) But as for myself, I must demur to the
excessive kindness of some of your expressions; and although it may be
a bold opinion for a layman to lay down in the presence of so many
distinguished in the law, I believe my learned friend has almost for
the first time--and I hope for the last--in his life departed from
that attitude of strict impartiality which it is his duty, as well as
my own, to maintain. (Great laughter and cheering.) I have a theory on
the subject, of which I will let you into the secret. My honourable
friend has confided to me that it was his painful duty to make some
very severe observations from the Bench to-day. I think that it may be
possibly owing to a natural reaction of feeling, that he has found it
almost obligatory to make some observations in my favour to-night,
almost too kind (Loud laughter.) We have been delighted with the
reception we have met with in Toronto, and I must say that it has been
a matter of good fortune, in my opinion, that we have been able to
visit this great city at a time when its citizens are occupied with the
great show which is being held within a short distance of its limits,
and which is a most remarkable exhibition to have been set on foot and
carried out by any city. (Cheers.) And in a few days we shall not only
have had the pleasure of inspecting the exhibits, but of seeing some of
the live stock which is now enjoying such favour not only in Canada,
but also, luckily for Europe, over the water. That examination will
be for me one of peculiar interest. I look forward to that trade
developing a new and--as I trust it will be--a permanent source of
revenue to this country. (Cheers.) I see you have Landseer's pictures
of "Peace" and "War" upon your walls. I know of no more striking
contrast that can be seen between peace and war than at Quebec, for
instance, where under the frowning guns of that magnificent fortress
the air is daily full of the lowing of cattle and bleating of sheep,
and vast numbers are to be seen being embarked upon the large and fine
vessels of the Allan Line for transport to Europe. (Cheers.) We may
congratulate Canada not only that she has begun that trade, but that
she has done so in so energetic a fashion, that though the shippers
expected there would be but little traffic so late this year, the trade
has been carried on with increasing volume throughout the autumn, and
depend upon it, it will bring you good return, not only to the farmers
already here, but by bringing more people to Canada. These people are
the class you want, and I believe that for every few hundred cattle or
sheep you send to Liverpool, you have every prospect of getting in
exchange a stout English farmer. (Loud cheers.) Gentlemen, I hardly
expected that upon this, my first official visit, I should have had the
opportunity of expressing my gratitude to the Toronto Club for
entertaining me in so friendly a fashion at so pleasant a banquet. In
meeting you here to-night, I feel I am in the presence of a
representative assembly of those who lead the intellectual and
commercial life of this city, one of the greatest already, and at the
same time one of the most promising, not only in the Dominion but on
the American continent. Before you, then, gentlemen, I wish I could
find words warm enough to give you an idea of the manner in which we
have been touched by the efforts made in our behalf by the citizens of
Toronto. (Loud cheers.) It would not be reasonable to seek any
justification of such kind feeling, but, at all events, I can say to
you that, if a hearty and earnest interest in every phase of your
national life can be taken as any excuse for such welcome, this
justification, at all events, exists to the full. (Loud and prolonged
cheering.) In one sense, also, I am no stranger to your affairs, for I
do not feel that in studying Canada I have embarked on a sea hitherto
unknown to me. It is not only since my arrival here that I have watched
with unflagging enthusiasm the current of events which is so surely
leading this country to the full enjoyment of a great inheritance, for
long before we landed on your shores much of your history and of your
present condition was well known to me. A brief visit, paid many years
ago, could give me but little real insight into your condition, but
every man in England who has had anything to do with public life has,
since the Confederation of the British North American Provinces,
considered his political studies as wholly wanting if a pretty thorough
knowledge of your resources and position were not included in his
survey of the Empire. (Cheers.) Confederation has had this advantage,
that your destinies have been presided over by men who had weight and
authority at home, and who were able to put before the English people,
in attractive form, the resources of this country. Especially was this
the case during the six and a half years Lord Dufferin has been in this
country; for his speeches, giving in so poetical a form, and with such
mastery of diction and such a grasp of comprehension, an account of
your material and political condition, were universally read and
universally admired. (Loud cheers.) Perhaps in former days, and before
the country had become one, so much attention would not have been given
to your affairs, but since Confederation we all know in England--every
politician in England knows--that he is not to consider this country as
a small group of disconnected Colonies, but as a great and consolidated
people, growing in importance not only year by year, but hour by hour.
(Great cheering.) You now form a people for whom the Colonial Office
and Foreign Office alike are desirous to act with the utmost strength
of the Empire in forwarding your interests; and in speaking through the
Imperial Foreign Office, it is impossible that you should not remember
that it is not only the voice of two, three, or four or five millions,
as the case may be, that you speak, but the voice of a nation of over
forty millions. (Great cheering.) As I said before, I believe that in
former days perhaps the interest was not so lively, although perhaps it
would be unjust to say that too strongly, because within the last few
months, as well as in past years, we have had striking examples of how
willing Great Britain is to undertake warlike expenditure for colonies
by no means as united or as important as Canada. (Prolonged cheers.)
But the feeling with regard to Canada as a mere congeries of colonies,
and Canada as one people and Government, may perhaps be compared to the
different feelings that a mother may be supposed to have in the pride
with which she may regard a nursery full of small infants, and the far
different pride with which she looks upon the career and stature of her
grown-up and eldest son. (Laughter and cheers.) To be sure, as it is
with all sons and all mothers, little passing and temporary
misconceptions may occasionally occur, and which only show how deep in
reality is their mutual love. (Laughter.) The mother may sometimes
think it sad that her child has forgotten some little teaching learnt
on her knee, and that one or two of the son's opinions smack of foreign
notions--she may think that some of his doings tend not only to injure
her, but himself also and the world at large. (Great laughter.) Perhaps,
sometimes, he thinks on his part that it is a pity old people cannot
put themselves in the place of younger natures. (Uproarious laughter.)
But if such is the tenor of the thought which may sometimes occupy the
mother and the child, let no one dream for a moment that their
affection has become less deep, or that true loyalty of nature is less
felt. (Loud cheering.) They are one in heart and mind; they wish to
remain so, and shall remain so; and I should like to see the man who
would dare to come between them. (Tremendous cheering.) In saying this,
gentlemen, I express what may be regarded as my first impressions of
the feelings which animate you, and I believe that when I leave you, my
last impressions will be identical. (Loud cheering.) And now, gentlemen,
the topics on which a Governor-General may speak without offence are
somewhat limited--(laughter)--although he is expected to be the
advertiser-general of one of the largest countries in the world--(great
laughter and applause)--an empire so large that the study of its
proportions is, I think, much more like the study of astronomy than the
study of geography. (Laughter and applause.) It is perhaps best that he
should speak on generalities; but in making my first appearance among
you I may be expected to record other general impressions. I may
perhaps be permitted to mention a subject which is generally understood
as giving a good opening for conversation and acquaintance, and likely
to lead to no serious difference of opinion, namely, the subject of the
weather. (Roars of laughter.) I can now speak with some authority upon
that momentous topic--(laughter)--because I have now spent a winter, a
spring, a summer, and part of an autumn in Canada, and I believe that
any one who has had a similar experience with me will agree that the
seasons and climate enjoyed here are singularly pleasant and salubrious.
(Cheers.) You have, gentlemen, real seasons--there is a real winter and
a real summer. (Loud laughter.) You are not troubled with shams in that
respect--(laughter)--no shoddy manufactures of that nature are imported
over here from Europe, where winter is often like a raw summer and
summer like a wet winter. How different has been the reality of your
winter, for as an old woman once wrote home to her friends in Scotland,
"All the children here may run about in the snow without wetting their
feet" (Great laughter and cheers.) We have only to look at that column
on which a splendid bunch of peaches is hanging to see a summer trophy
which should bring many to our door; but it is only a small sample of a
vast crop of a similar nature which you have in Western Ontario, for as
I am informed by my honourable friend on my right, Mr. Mackenzie, the
peaches are often given to the pigs. (Great laughter.) The pleasant and
bracing seasons of Canada can be enjoyed in a country without its equal,
for nowhere has the settler a more varied range of choice in the
scenery, the locality, the soil which will finally determine him where
to found a home. His fortune may be compared to that of a man entering
one of those new houses where each may have his own flat--a magnificent
abode, where, if he wish not to travel, far, to be easily reached and
visited by his friends, he may remain in the rooms of the ground floor--our
spacious Maritime Provinces, where he will find himself very near
his fishmonger--(cheers and laughter)--close to the old tradesmen with
whom he has dealt in Europe, and warmed by a great kitchen
well-furnished with a store of Pictou coal. (Laughter and cheers.) If he
prefer other apartments he may ascend to those great and most
comfortable rooms, our ancient and populous Provinces of Quebec and
Ontario--the first-floor rooms of our Canadian mansion, which are so
amply provided with the old-fashioned associations which he may love;
while, if still more active, he may select accommodation in the vast
chambers of the second floor--the wonderful districts of the North-West,
which have been so bountifully furnished by beneficent Nature, that he
will require but little capital to make his abode exactly according to
his own taste. (Loud cheers.) And if he prefers another and still more
airy location--(laughter)--he may go on again and inhabit our recently
erected and lofty storey of the Rocky Mountain District, near which he
would again find an ample supply of coal, nearly as good as that which
he found "down below." (Applause.) He will be none the less fortunate
when he makes the acquaintance of the master of this modern mansion,
when he finds that everything is ruled in order and prosperity by him,
and that his name is the Canadian House of Commons. (Loud applause.)
And now, dropping all fanciful metaphors, I must speak in more serious
terms for a moment, and express my admiration for that I most able
House, the excellence of whose debates would be a credit to any
assembly. (Cheers.) During its session I have sometimes been reminded
of an exclamation of the late Baron Bunsen, the German diplomatist and
author, whose residence in London as Prussian Ambassador at the Court
of St. James's has caused him to be affectionately remembered in
England. Chevalier Bunsen, looking on at the proceedings of the House
of Commons, said that to him it was a marvel how an Englishman could
ever rest until he had sought to become a member of that Assembly,
where the Ministers of the Sovereign, and they who endeavoured to win a
share in the government of a powerful people, met face to face as
champions of different policies to discuss before the country the
principles which should guide a mighty nation. As in England, so here,
let no one turn his back on political life as too hard, as bringing too
much contention, or as occasioning too much unpleasantness. One of the
worst signs of a country's condition is, when they who have leisure, or
property, or social influence look upon public life as too dirty for
them, and hang back from the honourable rivalry, allowing other hands
to have a commanding share in government. (Hear, hear.) I am confident
that this will not be the case here, and long may it be before a
Canadian prefers his ease, if he may command it, to that noblest labour
to which he can be called by the voice of his fellow-citizens, a share
in the government of his country, in her Parliament. (Cheers.)

In striving to be a member of the Dominion Parliament, or to have a
potent voice in the election of such a one, each man, whatever may be
his circumstances, must feel that it is a high and proper ambition to
do what in him lies to direct the policy of this Royal Commonwealth,
which sees its will expressed by the Cabinet--which is but a Committee
of the Parliament elected by the people--carried out loyally and fully
by the Executive head of the Government. (Cheers.) To be sure you may
say to me, you are speaking in ignorance--the Governor-General is not
allowed to be present at the debates of Parliament. (Laughter.)
Certainly, gentlemen, I am not allowed to be present and never have
been. (Renewed laughter.) I have never even followed the example of my
eminent predecessor, who has left me such a heritage of speeches at the
Toronto Club. (Laughter and applause.) I have followed his example in
making a speech, but I have not followed his example in another case,
for I am informed that he has heard debates of the House concealed by
the friendly shadows behind the Speaker's chair. (Loud cheers and
laughter.) I have never placed myself in that position, and of course
my knowledge is entirely derived from reports--of course I do not speak
of newspaper reports. (Roars of laughter.) That is quite impossible--
(renewed laughter)--because I am fully conscious that we should not put
our trust in printers--(great laughter)--but I speak of other reports
which are more trustworthy, and for which, of course, my responsible
Ministers are responsible. (Laughter.)

I shall mention a particular rumour that has reached my ears, which is
to the scarcely credible effect that the current of discussion is often
not quite so tranquil as might be assumed by outsiders, looking only at
the harmonious outline of the buildings in which the members meet
(Great laughter.) Perhaps the reported occasional quickening of the
political current, and the hurried words to which it gives rise, occur
only because pure panegyric is distasteful, and a wholesome criticism
is on the other hand preferred.

Believing this, I shall only venture to express the opinion, that if
any spoken words fly too swiftly it is because one bad habit, and one
only, exists among the politicians of Canada. It is this--and I am sure
you will realise the melancholy significance of the fact to which I am
so reluctantly compelled to allude--it is, that Canadian politicians do
not bring their wives with them to Ottawa. (Uproarious laughter.) I
hope the recently developed doctrines of constitutional duty may still
allow a Governor-General to take the initiative in making a suggestion,
and my suggestion would be that the ladies should favour us with their
presence at Ottawa, for I am certain that an alteration in this
practice would soon put a stop to the reports to which I have drawn
your attention, which some people may think may detract from the
position of our celebrated, and alas! at Ottawa, too often celebate
politicians. (Roars of laughter.) And now, gentlemen, I have only to
thank you repeatedly and most earnestly for your welcome, and the
citizens of Toronto I would thank, through you, at large for the
extreme kindness with which they have been pleased to receive us. But I
believe, gentlemen, it is not mere kindness that is shown by such
demonstrations as those we have recently seen. If it were that only, it
would perhaps lose some of its significance. In the display made we
have seen the outpouring of the heart of a people whose loyal passion
is strong for the unity which binds a great History to a greater
Present, and which, under the temperate sceptre of our beloved Queen,
is leading Canada and Britain together in freedom to an assured and yet
more glorious Future. (Cheers.)



During a visit in 1879 to St. John, a city then suffering from the
effects of a disastrous fire, he said:--

Although there may be temporary pressure, and partial failure in trade,
not a year elapses that does not indicate progress made in the material
welfare of the country as a whole. The Dominion is steadily and surely
rising in wealth, in unity of feeling, in all that makes a nation. Our
territories are enormous, and no one need travel far in any Province,
but he will find new clearings and fresh settlements; while land in
abundance and of great excellence, as compared with much in the old
country, can be had almost for the asking.

Throughout our greater Britain, and steadily and surely upon these our
eastern coasts, the people increase from decade to decade,
notwithstanding the great attractions offered by the prairie lands of
the interior. No one can look at the district you inhabit without
feeling certain that this increase will continue. Impatient, restless,
and ignorant of his true interests would that man be, indeed, who,
under such circumstances, would not desire to tread in the steps of his
fathers, to face, with British pluck and spirit, any difficulties that
may arise; and to rejoice that his lot has been cast in that Empire
which has withstood every danger, whose might has been moulded by
centuries, and whose flag has never waved over any people whose
character has not been ennobled by the free institutions it represents.



In reply to an address of the City Corporation, he said:--

To THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND COMMONALTY, ST. JOHN, NEW BRUNSWICK:-Mr.
Mayor and Gentlemen,--The dignified and truthful words in which you
recall the trials through which many of your ancestors passed in this
country, now the happy home of their descendants, remind me how strong
to-day among you is the feeling of the duty of patriotism--a duty, the
fulfilment of which I rejoice to think is accompanied by no burden, but
brings with it the enjoyment of much political advantage. We have found
with pleasure that sufficient time has been at our disposal during this,
the first year after our arrival in the Dominion, when there have been
necessarily duties which have demanded attention at the capital and
journeys to be undertaken in other parts--to allow us to return to
those Maritime Provinces where we were first welcomed by a loyal people,
and to visit St. John, which must be regarded as the commercial capital
of even a wider district than is contained in New Brunswick itself.

Accept our thanks for meeting us here, on behalf of your city, and for
the genial reception tendered to us. I should indeed have considered
our first survey of our Dominion most incomplete had we been unable to
stay awhile among you.

Much we have been unable to see; many places in which we should wish to
spend some days, and where we might observe mining and other industries
successfully followed, we must hope to visit another year. In St. John
we arrive at once at one of the centres of life and activity on these
our eastern coasts. We observe with the greatest satisfaction the
evidences of the energy you bring to the aid of our common country, and
the important place you fill in promoting the welfare of our Federation.
The British people and foreign countries alike look upon the Dominion
as our Empire's eldest son, in whose life and character the nature
which has made the mother country stronger, the older it has grown, is
seen and recognised by all. You are entering on a glorious manhood,
which will, in future ages, stand forth in the beauty of strength and
pride of freedom, to be known in history as asserting a place among the
mighty of the earth.

The district is the scene of events wherein widely different actors
have played their parts, and interesting, indeed, is the development of
the story of which your harbour and town have been the theatre. Two
centuries ago the adventurer only knew this place--his company
stealing along the coast in small and battered craft, seeking a
settlement, obliged to guard against the savages of the forest, yet
full of visions of a great future for his new home, and endeavouring,
almost in vain, to interest Europe in his schemes. But the years
peopled the shores with sturdy colonists, who pushed their way,
although held down by difficulties of transport, by distance from other
settlements, by wars of race and by mutual jealousies. Now we see a
land whose natural loveliness and fertility is turned to the best
account, connected with all the life of Europe and America by countless
channels of communication, and using the arts of modern civilisation to
make the utmost of its political and geographical position.

In expressing to you our gratitude for the welcome you now give us,
accept our best wishes for your welfare, and let us utter a fervent
hope that the energy here exhibited, which no depression in trade can
master, and which even the ruin of fire has only been able, temporarily,
to affect, may receive full reward in the future prosperity of your
loyal and flourishing city.



During His Excellency's visit to Fredericton, the capital of the
Province of New Brunswick, he replied as follows to an address:--

TO THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FREDERICTON:--Mr. Mayor
and Gentlemen,--This is not the first time, as you remind me, that the
Queen's children have visited your people, and have received at their
hands the proofs of an affection for our Sovereign which animates all
Her Majesty's subjects. The Queen has now reigned for a longer period
than has been vouchsafed to most of our monarchs, over a prosperous and
united nation, whose strength has, during her life, been greatly
increased by development and consolidation of this her great Dominion.
Her Majesty possesses here the love of a people more numerous than was
the English nation when it achieved the glories which the trumpet of
fame, moved by Shakespeare's breath, made a household word among all
nations.

In Canada, I am able to receive with pride testimonials of respect,
reverence, and love for her rule, from men whose Government represents
a force, if population and material resources be taken into account,
far greater than that possessed of old by England, even in those days
which ring with the deeds of her heroes, and have been called the
"spacious times of great Elizabeth."

And while we must look upon this country as rapidly becoming one of the
moving influences of the world, we cannot forget what an advantageous
variety of position and power, within the sphere of the Dominion, is
possessed by the various Provinces. Here, in the Province of which this
city is the capital, you have the great ocean and highways so near you
that your brave and hardy maritime population can furnish your
mercantile marine with many of the best sailors in America. In the
territory, comprised within your limits, you occupy a central position
through which much of the land traffic of this part of the American
continent is likely to be conducted, and your climate gives to all who
cultivate your soil abundance of agricultural resources in corn and
pasture land.

It may not be unappropriate now, when you give us your kindly and
hospitable welcome to the capital of your Province, to ask you to
receive with our thanks the expression of our hope that the members
selected as the representatives of the Province, and who assemble here,
may be granted wisdom by the Most High to further the welfare and
promote the best interests of a true and loyal people.

During this visit to New Brunswick, he said, in reply to the Warden and
Members of the Municipality of Kings County:--

Gentlemen,--The duties connected with the high office with which I am
honoured cannot indeed be considered to impose any heavy burdens, when
their performance leads me to visit populations so kindly in their
sympathies as are those of this Province, where we meet men always glad
to testify their affection for the institutions under which they live
by their reception of the representatives of the Queen. Perhaps in no
other country in the world is it possible for the representative of any
sovereign to travel for thousands of miles, and to be everywhere
greeted with the same assurances of contentment with political
condition and affection for the throne. I thank you, especially on the
Princess's behalf, for the words you have spoken in reference to her.
She will always associate herself gladly in anything tending to the
welfare of the people of this Dominion. In so doing she will fulfil the
wish of her father the Prince Consort, whose desire it was that his
children should identify themselves with the interests of our Colonial
Empire. I hear with gladness the assurance you give of the firm and
unswerving loyalty of the people of the county of Kings, and I desire
to tender to them my sincere thanks.



The first visit to Toronto took place in 1879. A loyal and kindly
address having been read, His Excellency replied:--

Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen,--I remember well that the first time I saw
Toronto was when, a good many years ago, the city was pointed out to me,
where far off, over the waters its houses were visible from a spot not
distant from Niagara. This first gave me an idea of the size and
importance of your town. Men who were then with me told me that thirty
or forty years before there would not only have been nothing visible at
that distance, but only a very small settlement when viewed much nearer.
But just as the city can be seen from afar, so is its position now so
important that you cannot think of Ontario, wide as are its limits, or
indeed of Canada itself, without seeing in the mind Toronto, the
capital of our most populous Province. Here are combined things rarely
found closely united, namely, great commercial prosperity with great
literary activity. If you are proving that you can lead the way in
commerce, it is as great a distinction that you can, by the ability of
your literary men, do much towards guiding and influencing the thoughts
of your fellow-citizens of the Dominion. I thank you for your loyal
words in our Queen's name. They express the feeling I expected to find
among you, but I must speak my grateful acknowledgments for the cordial
manner in which you have given utterance to them. Adhesion to our
Empire and love for its Sovereign I knew I should find; but the
character of this great reception, the magnificence of your
preparations to welcome the representatives of the Sovereign, form a
demonstration for which I confess I was not prepared. It has been our
fortune to be kindly received by great communities, both in the old
world and in the new; but I never returned my thanks with a more
heartfelt gratitude than I do now to you, the citizens of Toronto, for
the manner, at once so splendid and so sympathetic, in which you have
been pleased to receive us. In December last, delegates from many of
the towns of Ontario came to Ottawa to give us their greeting.
Accompanying the addresses presented to us was an offering which, while
it showed a feeling of personal regard, might well, I believe, serve as
an emblem of the patriotism of Ontario. It was a wreath of that plant
which in the old country loads the air with perfume wherever moss and
mountain are most green with moisture. Reared among morasses, it grows
only where around its roots the soil is firm; and where it springs, the
foot may safely tread and securely stand. It was therefore, in olden
days, taken as my clan's badge to signify a firm faith and steady trust,
and with this signification I looked upon the wreath of marsh myrtle
given to us on the part of so many communities in Ontario last December,
as a fit emblem and just expression of that steady, firm, and faithful
support which our Queen will ever find wherever a citizen of Ontario
lives to assert his rights and freedom in upholding the honour, the
dignity, and the power of our united Empire.



To an address in German, presented in 1879 at Berlin, Ontario, the
Governor-General answered:--

Meine Herren und Damen!--Die Prinzessin und ich finden es eine unserer
angenehmsten Pflichten, Ihnen einen Besuch hier zu machen, um uns von
der Fruchtbarkeit, welche Ihre Kolonie charakterisirt, zu überzeugen.

Wir freuen uns um so mehr, da Ihre Zuschrift uns in der lieben
deutschen Sprache ein Willkommen sagt, und die Versicherung deutscher
Treue aus deutschem Munde kommt.

Wir wissen, daß Sie als Zeichen der Gesinnung Ihrer deutschen
Bevölkerung in Kanada den Spruch, der seit Jahrhunderten dem
Sächsischen Hause angehört:--"Treu und fest," als ihr Motto nehmen
könnten.

Obgleich Sie uns in so treuer Weise empfangen, und der Königin Ihre
Ehrerbietung beweisen, bleiben Sie dennoch gute Deutsche, und sind
darauf stolz, daß Sie Ihre Kinder und Kindeskinder in der kräftigen
Muttersprache erziehen können.

Die Liebe für das alte, deutsche Vaterland sollte nie aussterben; es
verhindert jedoch nicht, daß Sie auch die englische Sprache benützen,
die doch so sehr mit der deutschen verwandt ist.

Die schönen Worte, die der Poet Arndt geschrieben hat, find Ihnen wohl
alle bekannt und wir können sie hier, wo Sie ein anderes Land zu Ihrem Land
gemacht haben, wohl gebrauchen:

  "Was ist des Deutschen Vaterland?
   Ist's Preußenland? Ist's Schwabenland?
   Ist's wo am Rhein die Rebe blüht?
   Ist's wo am Belt die Möve zieht?
   Doch Nein! Nein! Nein!
   Sein Vaterland muß größer sein!"

Kann man nicht hier diesen Worten eine weitere Deutung geben?--Können
Sie nicht als Mitbürger und Gründer einer neuen Nation dieselbe mit
allem Edlen, was von dem alten Lande kommt, lenken und stärken?

Es ist uns eine wahre Freude, von allen Seiten zu hören, wie man die
deutschen Ansiedler achtet und schätzt und sie als einen wichtigen
Zusatz zu unseren Kräften betrachtet. Ihre Wissenschaft, ihre Liebe für
die gute Erziehung der Jugend, sowohl in höheren Studien, als in den
Studien, durch welche die gewerblichen Fortbildungsschulen in
Deutschland sich einen so ruhmhaften Namen gemacht haben; ihre
Sparsamkeit und ihr Fleiß, sind Canada viele Tausend Quadratmeilen
Landes werth.--Die häuslichen Tugenden ihrer Frauen und Töchter sind
ein schönes Beispiel für Alle.

Ich hoffe, daß die Zahl deutscher Einwanderer sich mehren wird und
werde in meinen Erwartungen dadurch bestärkt, daß es bei Ihnen daheim
gewiß Viele giebt, die überzeugt sind, daß das Vaterland nicht
geschwächt wird, wenn deutsche Töchter jenseits des atlantischen Meeres
gute Männer finden. Es wird uns sehr angenehm sein, der deutschen
kaiserlichen Familie sagen zu können, wie Sie in Canada glücklich
leben, und als Männer, die dem Lande Glück bringen, angesehen werden.



In 1880, it was resolved that an Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition,
supported by a Federal grant, should each year be held at some city of
the Dominion. The first of these central and national meetings took
place at Ottawa. It was largely attended, and opened by the
Governor-General with these remarks:--

Mr. President and Gentlemen,--I thank you for the address which you
have read to me, expressing that deep loyalty to the Queen which, not
merely from hearsay, but from observation of the sentiments which
animate the people of Canada, whether in the cities or in the country,
I know to be real and universal. The Princess joins with me in asking
you to accept our gratitude for your recognition of the interest we
feel in the great efforts at present made, in various parts of Canada,
to display to the best advantage the industrial achievements of our
artisans. Some of the handiwork of our two largest Provinces can be
seen in this building, while others are not unrepresented; and we have
evidence of the skill which graces the strength of a new brother--the
young giant of the west. [1] Everywhere proof is given that the Canadian
can hold his own in the rivalry that brings Art to bear on the great
natural products around us, and this is not surprising when we know
that he comes from the races which in Europe have been the most renowned
for the taste, the ingenuity, and the solidity of their workmanship.
Where so many regions have but recently been peopled, there is, it need
hardly be said, much to be done, and it is most satisfactory to see how
each city and town is bending itself to the task to prove that there is
no laggard in the patriotic competition. I have gladly attended several
of these shows, and it is a feature peculiar to this country that the
industrial exhibition so generally accompanies the agricultural show.
Whether this shall always be the case as in the gathering inaugurated
to-day, it will be of course for you to determine by experience of
success in your venture in thus combining them. This is, perhaps,
the first meeting to which more than a local character has been given.
It will be a matter for your consideration, and for all in Canada
interested in your endeavours, whether a novel practice be established
here in moving to each Province in succession the Central Exhibition,
without injury to the local fairs, which will, in any case, be held.
If you decide to move the agricultural show from Province to Province
in successive years, no new practice would thereby be espoused, for
such has been the custom of the national societies of England,
Scotland, and Ireland. In the old countries the spaces to be traversed
are much smaller, but the need of comparison between the various
exhibits is also much less. The local shows are held there in almost
every county, but the advantage derived from the annual moving of the
national societies has been well expressed in the words of a former
and justly beloved Viceroy of Ireland, who said that the experience
the National Society had earned for itself had, by its annual movement,
been carried through every part of the land, through each Province
in turn; and this had tended to ruse together the knowledge of the
best specialties of each, whether in tillage or in pasture, in cereals
or in green crops, or in the breeding and fattening of cattle. With
us in Canada, if a similar practice were followed, we might perhaps
add that comparison would benefit the proper employment of the best
agricultural machinery, for the manufacture of which our Canadian
artisans have won high commendation at the greatest international
contests. If you discuss these questions, I am sure you will do so,
not with the view of benefiting one city or Province only, but in
the spirit which sees in all common efforts a means of uniting
our Canadian people, and an instrument to make a national feeling
create a national prosperity. We may congratulate our countrymen that
in the live stock of all kinds shown to-day, we have a representation
of those vast resources which yield so much in excess of our own
requirements that we can relieve the wants of older lands; and how
great is the difference between the bygone traffic from the new world
to enrich Europe and what we now witness! In other days the southern
seas were covered with the towering galleons of Spain, bringing the
ingots of gold and silver, wrought in the mines of America through the
cruel labour of thousands of enslaved Indians. This was the wealth
which poured into the treasuries of a nation whose riches reared the
colossal palaces of the Escorial, and the wondrous Minster of Seville.
The creation of such prosperity meant a short-lived reign of luxury and
cruelty--the lifting up of an old country for a time--the abasement of
a new land. How different the happy and more lasting wealth with which
we are able to endow Europe from Canada, when the parent land and the
Dominion alike reap equal fruits from a bounteous harvest. Our treasure
fleets are now laden with golden grain, and flocks and herds; with
riches wrung from no servitude, but derived from the free and noble
toil of a liberty-loving, independent, and self-reliant people. It is
to the men who have cleared the tangled forests, or have tilled the
prairie lands, that we owe such great shows of agricultural wealth as
those we have lately seen, and which prove how rich and inexhaustible
are the veins of ore from which we can give enough and to spare.

May the endeavour of such a society as this, assisted as it has been
chiefly by individual efforts, but countenanced by the Dominion
Government, be to extend for the general good of our country, the
experience it earns and whatever success is secured by the co-operation
of the citizens.

[1] Manitoba.

[During the delivery of the address the gates had been opened and the
people allowed to come in so as to hear His Excellency's reply, and at
its close they gave hearty cheering.]



The first Exhibition of the Royal Canadian Academy of Art took place at
Ottawa in 1880. The experiment of collecting together the work of
artists resident in the country, was a success from the commencement,
and the annual meetings since held have fully warranted the formation
of a National Society for the Promotion of Art. The Governor-General
gave the opening address as follows:--

Ladies and Gentlemen,--It is now my duty to declare this first
exhibition of the Canadian Academy to be open to what, I am sure, will
be an appreciative public. That this ceremony should take place to-day
is characteristic of the energy with which any project likely to
benefit our community is pushed in this country, for it is only ten
months ago, on the occasion of the opening of the Local Art Gallery at
Montreal, that the proposal for the institution of the Canadian Academy
of Arts was made. To-day the Academy is to be congratulated not only
upon being able to show the pictures and the works of art which you see
around you this evening, but upon the favourable reception which the
appearance of such an association has received from all classes. I have
indeed seen nothing but the kindest criticism. Although I believe some
gentlemen have been good enough to propose we should postpone the
initiation of this institution for the present, and should wait for the
short and moderate space of exactly 100 years, and look forward to its
incorporation in the year of grace 1980. It is difficult to meet such
gentle criticism, but the Academy may be allowed to suggest that
although in the words of the old saying, "art is long-lived," yet that
"life is short." Art will, no doubt, be in vigorous life in Canada a
century hence, but, on the other hand, we must remember that at that
time these gentle critics may have disappeared from the scene, and they
will themselves allow that it is for the benefit of the Academy that it
should begin its existence while still subject to their own friendly
supervision. It is impossible to agree with the remark, that we have no
material in Canada for our present purposes, when we see many excellent
works on these walls; and if some do not come up to the standard we may
set ourselves, what is this but an additional argument for the creation
of some association which shall act as an educator in these matters?
Now, gentlemen, what are the objects of your present effort? A glance
at the constitution of the Society will show your objects are declared
to be: the encouragement of industrial Art by the promotion of
excellence of design, the support of Schools of Art throughout the
country, and the formation of a National Gallery of Art at the seat of
Government. The first of these objects, the encouragement of good
design, receives an illustration in a room which I hope all present
will make it a point to visit--a room on the second floor, where many
tasteful and good designs have been exhibited in competition for prizes
generously given by several gentlemen, who recognise the good effect
such competitions are likely to have upon trade. Many of the best of
these designs have been called forth by a prize offered by a member of
the Legislature, and it is to be sincerely hoped that in future years
his example, and the example of those who have acted in a similar
manner, may be more widely and generally followed. English manufacture,
as you know, has become famous for its durability; French manufacture
for its beauty and workmanship; and here, where we have a people sprung
from both races, we should be able to combine these excellences, so
that Canadian manufacture may hold a high place in the markets of the
world. The next object of the association is to be worked out on the
same lines by the support afforded the local schools; and here I must
emphatically impress on all who care for the encouragement of Art in
Canada, that however popular the Academy exhibitions may become,
however much you are able to strengthen its hands in assisting
provincial efforts, the assistance it gives to any provincial schools
can only supplement, and can never stand in the place of, provincial
effort. It is true that the gentlemen belonging to the Academy give
half of all they possess--one half of any surplus in all their
revenues--in aid of local efforts, but it is by no means likely that
that amount will be great. As the exhibitions are to be held each year
in a different city, so that each Province may in turn be visited, it
will probably be found best that any donation which can be made shall
be given to that town in which the yearly exhibition is held. I hope,
for instance, that this year it may be possible to give a grant in aid
of a local school to be formed at Ottawa. With regard to the third
object I have mentioned, the gentlemen who have been appointed
academicians have patriotically undertaken, as a guarantee of their
interest in the welfare of Art in Canada, that it shall be a condition
of their acceptance of the office of academician that they shall give,
each of them, a picture which shall become national property, and be
placed here in an Art gallery. These works, of which you already have
several around you, will be at the disposal of one of the ministers,
who may be charged with this trust, and it will be in his option to
decide whether they shall be exhibited in other parts of the country,
or lent for purposes of Art instruction for a time to local schools. If
you are not tired of these subjects, I would ask your attention for one
moment to the organisation by which it is proposed to accomplish these
purposes. First, there are a certain number of gentlemen who, after the
model of similar institutions in other countries, where the plan has
been found to work well, have been chosen as academicians. These
comprise not only painters, but architects also, and designers,
engravers, and sculptors. There are others again, forming a wider
circle, and following the same professions, who have been chosen as
associates, from whose ranks the academicians in the future will be
annually elected. These gentlemen, the academicians, will govern the
institution. They have already been supported by very many men in the
country who follow other professions, and who will have nothing to do
with the governing of the society, but who have been requested to join
and give their aid as entertaining a love for Art, and a desire that
Art should be enabled to assist in the most practical manner the
interests of the country. It is probable that almost every gentleman of
note in Canada will be upon this roll. So much, then, for the purposes
undertaken, and the machinery by which these are to be accomplished.
One word only as to the part which, at the request of several gentlemen,
I have ventured temporarily to undertake. It seemed difficult, if not
impossible, to get the body as at present constituted elected at the
start, for scattered as the artists of the Dominion are, few knew the
capabilities of others outside of his own neighbourhood. Following, as
we will have to do here therefore, an English precedent, it was thought
best that the first list should be a nominated one. However carefully
this has been attempted, some omissions and faults have been made, and
these will be corrected, for the plan followed at the commencement will
not be pursued hereafter, but at a general meeting held during the time
of the exhibitions, elections will form part of the business of the
assembly. Although it may be for the interests of the Academy that the
Governor-General of the day should be the patron of the society, you
will find that the more self-governed it is the more healthful will be
its prospects. At the outset the position of patron may be somewhat
like the position of that useful but ugly instrument with which many of
us are perhaps but too familiar, namely, the snow-plough. At the first
formation of an artist society he may be expected to charge boldly into
mountains of cold opposition, and to get rid of any ice crusts in front
of the train, but after the winter of trial and probation, and
difficulties of beginning are over, and the summer of success has come,
his position, in regard to the artists, must be more like that of a
figurehead. I have, however, great faith in the power of artists to
make a figure-head useful as well as ornamental, although I do not know
that they have shown a proof of this to-day by making their figure-head
deliver a speech, which it is well known figure-heads never do, except
on the strictest compulsion. You may remember that in old days in
Greece, an artist named Pygmalion, carved a figure so beautiful that he
himself fell in love with his work and infused his own life into the
statue, so that it found breath and movement. I shall not expect the
Academy always to be in love with its figure-head, but I believe that
you will be able to instil into him so much of your energy and vitality,
that if the vessel gets into difficulties you may enable him to come
down from his place, and even to give her a shove astern. Let me, at
all events, express a hope, in which I believe all present will join,
that the Canadian Academy, this fair vessel that we launch to-day, may
never get into any trouble, but that from every city, and from every
Province of the Dominion, she may receive a favouring breeze whenever
and wherever she may show a canvas.



At Quebec, upon the festival of St. Jean Baptiste, on the 24th June
1880, there was a gathering of representatives of the French-Canadian
race from many cities of the United States as well as of Canada, and
the celebration in honour of their national saint was exceptionally
enthusiastic. An opportunity was thus given to the Governor-General to
show that appreciation of French Canadians which has been so constantly
exhibited by his predecessors in office. He spoke in French and said:--

Gentlemen and Friends of the French-Canadian race from abroad as well
as from our own Province,--I rise with the greatest pleasure to thank
you for the way in which you have received the toast which has been
proposed by the President in drinking the health of the Princess and
myself. The Princess has especially desired me to convey to you her
gratitude, and I regret that owing to the short duration of the stay of
Prince Leopold in this country, she has been unable to remain with me
for the imposing celebration which we have witnessed to-day. She is at
all times sorry to quit Quebec--a place she loves as much for the moral
worth of its people as for the grandeur of its scenery. As for myself,
gentlemen, I have obeyed a pleasant call in being amongst you to-day to
testify my respect for our French-Canadian fellow-citizens, and my
appreciation of the value of the element furnished by its noble and
gallant race in influencing for good our young and growing Canadian
nationality. I am here to show how much I prize the loyalty evinced by
you on all occasions towards Her Majesty the Queen, whose
representative I am. At the same time I do not wonder at the devotion
shown to so august an embodiment of the principle of Constitutional
Rule. The Queen sets the example of a Sovereign, who has at all times
given constant proof, that with us the acts of power are the
expressions of the will of the people. It is this that gives to her the
highest rank amongst rulers in the eyes of the nations who acknowledge
her sceptre. It is among you especially that all men will expect that
this should be recognised. It was the Normans, who in France watched
and guarded the cradle of that liberty at present enjoyed in England--
it was the men of Normandy and Brittany who at a later age laid the
foundations of the liberty-loving community of Canada. The very usages
in the Parliament of Britain survive from the days when they were
planted there by our Norman ancestors. I do not know that it has been
observed before in Canada, but it has often occurred to me, that in the
British Parliament we still use the old words, used by your fathers for
the sanction of the Sovereign given to bills, of "la reine le veut," or
"la reine remercie ses bons sujets, accepte leur benevolence et ainsi
le veut,"--forms which I should like to see used at Ottawa as marking
our common origin, instead of the practice which is followed, of
translating into modern French and English. In celebrating this fête,
all can join in pride in the element predominant amongst us to-day, as
it is to your race we owe the liberties of Runnymede and the practices
that mark the free discussions of our Parliament. I rejoice to see so
many met together, and that we have representatives of our allies the
French, as well as of those who have made a home--let us hope a
temporary one only--among our friends in the United States. I rejoice
to see these members of the race repatriated, if only for a time, and
may assure them that our old and our new lands of the West are wide and
fertile enough to justify us in detaining them here and in annexing any
number who may be willing to be so treated. As they well know, they
will always have with us the most perfect guarantees of liberty, the
fullest rights of franchise, while they will not suffer so much as now
from frequent waves of moral heat incurred by all who have to take part
in constant electioneering; nor will they, on the other hand, have to
endure the winter and moral cold which may be experienced by all who
have to undergo the effects of a Gubernatorial or Presidential veto.
Our visitors will see with us to-day the signs of a happy, a loyal, and
contented people; they will see us sharing in that revival of trade
which I am happy to say is marking the commencement of another decade;
they will see us holding in highest esteem those traditions which
associate us with the past; they will see you in the fullest enjoyment
of your laws, your language, and your institutions; they will see,
above all, that you use the strength you thus inherit from your
ancestors for no selfish purposes, but as imparting vigour and unison
with the powers of other races to our great confederation, and in
cementing a patriotism which is willing to bear the burdens as it
shares the glory of a great country, the greatest member of the
mightiest Empire ever known among mankind.



The following was delivered at the opening of Provincial Fair.

Gentlemen of the Agricultural and Arts Association of Ontario,--Believe
me that any service which I can render to your invaluable association
will always be at your command, and you may be sure that it is the
desire of the Princess always to join me in such endeavours. It must at
the same time be remembered that ladies have not that iron constitution
which it is necessary that an official should possess, and it is not
always possible for them to be present as well in the body as in the
spirit. I congratulate you on the great progress visible in the
manufactures exhibited, and on having the Provincial Show held this
year at Hamilton. In Ontario, where the science of agriculture is
beginning to be so thoroughly understood, I fear I can say but little
that may be of use to you, but I cannot too pointedly praise that most
prudent of all speculations, which has made several of the gentlemen
who lead the way in such matters purchase some of the best of British
cattle. To be content with raising inferior stock is as unfortunate in
economy as is an illiberal and unscientific treatment of the land.
Great as are the advantages possessed, in this country by the new soil,
which has comparatively recently been broken up, yet the effects of
unscientific farming are necessarily to be seen in many places, and it
is quite as much an object of our agricultural exhibitions to point out
defects of this nature, as it is to display the triumphs of those who,
pursuing agriculture upon a wiser plan, can year after year show the
superiority of a scientific and liberal culture of the land. I have no
doubt that much good will result in the advice given in the report
which will be issued of the Agricultural Commission now sitting in this
Province. There is much upon which you may be congratulated. The great
increase in the numbers of horses raised here is meeting the demand for
them--the growth of the cheese manufacture under the factory system--
the increased attention given to root growing in connection with cattle
feeding--the care bestowed on more general under-draining--the
development of fruit and vine culture, and the excellence and cheapness
of your agricultural implements, are all features upon which we may
dwell with the utmost satisfaction. Your pasture lands are so wide, and
the facilities afforded by the country for the raising of stock are so
great, that it will be your own fault if you allow any others, be they
breeders in the old country or the United States, to take the wind too
much out of your sails. It is to be desired that provision be made
against bad usage of the meat sent to England, for sufficient care is
not taken of it at present after debarkation, and it appears to
disadvantage in consequence in the markets. It must be remembered that
at the present moment you have advantages with regard to the protection
afforded you in the permission given to land your cattle alive in the
old country, when it is denied to the States, which cannot be expected
to last. It is impossible to urge too strongly the necessity of
preparation against a time when American cattle will be again admitted
alive into England. Unless you get the very best stock, and produce
high graded beasts, you cannot hold your own. The necessary expense
attending the purchase of high-bred cattle will now pay you, and if
with their produce you can maintain your place in the European markets,
you may be assured that the money so spent could never have been spent
to better purpose. I am informed that lately at Toronto--and I hope we
may see the same feature here in two days--Galloways, Polled Angus, as
well as good Shorthorns, were to be seen in the yards. In sheep also,
some of the gentlemen who with so much foresight lead the way amongst
our agricultural communities, have made purchases this year of
Shropshire and other high-class animals. I trust that each year may see
a marked improvement with respect to following such leaders, and I have
the utmost confidence that with the spirit of enterprise which has made
British North America proportionately equal to any area on this
continent in population, and in all the arts which can lead to that
population's prosperity and happiness, Canada will not be found to be
one whit behindhand.



To an address presented at the opening of the Quebec Provincial Fair,
held at Montreal, His Excellency, the Governor-General, replied, both
in French and English, as follows:--

Gentlemen,--It is a happy augury for our country that the expressions
of loyalty to the throne, and confidence in the institutions under
which we live, should be emphasised by you, who represent the different
races of which our nationality is composed, when we meet to-day under
roofs which shelter the products of the industrial and agricultural
industry of a wide territory, now enjoying marked and unusual
prosperity. It is not only a personal sentiment of reverence toward the
august occupant of the throne, the faithful interpreter of our
constitutional law, but it is to the perfected fabric of the experience
of many centuries,--to the freest form of government on earth, that you
declare your devotion. The love for such institutions can therefore be
no passing phase dependent upon any single life; but is a love that
lives with the life of the nation by whose decrees those institutions
exist and abide.

It is my happy duty to represent among you to-day the countenance given
yearly by the Federal Government to one of those great provincial fairs,
by which our people in each section of the country show the high value
they place upon the comparison and competition to be obtained by such
exhibitions. Each year Industrial Art is thus aided, and a stimulus is
given to the excellency of workmanship, which can alone content a
people with its manufactures, and provide for their acceptance abroad.
Each year at such re-unions the prospects of fresh enterprise in
agriculture are discussed. For instance, we look forward with
confidence to the new organisations for the cultivation of the
beet-root, to be undertaken under favourable auspices, experiments having
already proved that the beet-root grown here possesses a far larger
percentage of sugar than can be shown by that of either France or
Germany. Again, in the exportation of phosphates, which have proved
themselves so excellent as fertilisers that they have arrested the
attention of the Agricultural Chambers of Europe, fresh combinations
will ensure a large supply from the Valley of the Ottawa. Lastly, the
encouragement of the improvement in the breed of cattle, and the
solution of the problem how best to export them with profit, engage
your minds. It is almost certain that although in some parts of our
country the cattle must be fed during winter for a longer period than
in others, yet with good management and proper co-operation, wherever
good crops can be produced, the winter will form no obstacle to the
profitable sale of cattle in the European markets. By contributing last
year at Ottawa, and this year at Montreal, to a Provincial exhibition,
the government of our Union designates its desire in the interest of
the whole country to supplement each year, at a different place, those
provincial resources which are so wisely lavished on many branches of
education. The grant given on the part of the Union by which this
meeting is constituted a Dominion Exhibition, is the contribution made
for a special branch of instruction. As by our constitution, education
is a provincial matter, such Federal grants, if made, must be given
where more than the interests of one Province only are concerned. The
object to be attained is to help forward those who, owing to a less
favouring fortune, are behindhand, by enabling them to see the results
attained by their neighbours. The question must not only be, "Will such
an Exhibition pay its expenses?" It must be asked, "Will such an
Exhibition spread useful knowledge over wider districts which require
it?"

Let me, in concluding these remarks in answer to your address, express
on the part of the Princess the gratitude she will feel at your mention
of her name; and I shall now fulfil the duty, for the performance of
which I have been invited here, in declaring this Exhibition open to
the public.



At the laying of the foundation-stone of a new Museum at M'Gill
University, Montreal, in 1880, His Excellency spoke as follows:--

Mr. Chancellor, Members of Convocation, Ladies and Gentlemen,--Now that
my part in the physical exercises, which I cannot say I have graced,
but have accomplished, is over, I have been asked to take also a part
in the intellectual exercises of this day by saying a few words to you.
When I first came to Canada, and afterwards at the time when
Confederation was coming into being, the first political lesson that I
learnt with regard to this country was that the Federal Government
would have nothing whatever to do with education. The earliest lesson
that I learnt, on arriving in Canada fourteen years afterwards, was
that the head of the Federal Government was frequently expected to
attend on such occasions as that on which we are assembled to-day,
which has certainly a great deal to do with education. Perhaps, however,
I may flatter myself by supposing that my presence here to-day has been
desired more in the capacity of a friend than as an official--(applause)
--and I hope that this may be the footing on which you will always
allow me to meet you and see what you are doing. I can assure you I
will never betray any of your secrets to my Ministers, except under the
advice of my honourable friend on my right (the Lieutenant-Governor
Robitaille), who is the natural protector and guardian of this
University, and of education in this Province. (Laughter.) I share most
heartily with you in the joy you must experience at the prospect of
possessing so fine a hall for the accommodation of the treasures which
are rapidly accumulating in your hands. That the necessity for a large
building should have been so promptly met by the sympathetic support
and far-seeing generosity of Mr. Redpath, proves that the race of
benefactors, illustrated by the names of Molson and M'Gill, has not
died out amongst us. (Loud applause.) The removal of the geological
collections belonging to the nation from Montreal to Ottawa, which has
been determined upon as bringing more immediately under the eye of the
Legislature and the knowledge of the Government the labours and results
attained by our men of science, necessarily deprives the residents of
Montreal, who are students, of the facilities hitherto afforded by the
presence in this city of those collections. It is satisfactory to know
that this loss will be palliated by such noble gifts as those which
have furnished you with other collections, which are now to find at
last a proper place for their display. (Applause.) You who have in your
Chancellor and members of Convocation such eminent and worthy
representatives of judicial attainment, of classical learning, of
medical and surgical knowledge, and of scientific research, will well
know how to give full value to the last of these subjects, namely, to
the culture of the natural sciences. (Applause.) Besides the direct
utility of a knowledge of zoology, botany, geology, and chemistry, and
of the kindred branches grouped under the designation of natural
science, the pleasure to be derived from them is not amongst the least
of the advantages of their study. (Hear, hear.) However forbidding the
country in which he is placed, however uninteresting the other
surroundings of a man's life may be, he need never miss the delights of
an engrossing occupation, if the very earth on which he treads, each
leaf and insect, and all the phenomena of nature around him, cause him
to follow out new lines of study, and give his thought a wider range.
This is enough to make a man feel as though in the enjoyment of a
never-dying vitality, and I doubt if any one amongst you feels younger
than your honoured Principal, although his studies have led him in
fancy over every region, and must make him feel as if a perpetual youth
had caused him to live through all geological time. (Laughter and
applause.) To parallel a saying, spoken of another eminent man, he
certainly has learnt all that rocks can teach, except to be hard-hearted.
(Renewed laughter.) It seems to me peculiarly appropriate that
he who first established the certainty of the "Dawn of Life" amongst
the Laurentian rocks of Canada, should here, through his untiring zeal,
officiate in launching into the dawn of public recognition the young
manhood of his country. (Applause.) It is your great good fortune that
in your Principal you have a leader who is an admirable guide, not
alone in the fairy realms of science, but also through those sterner,
and, to some, less attractive regions which own the harsher rule of the
exigencies of the daily life around us. (Hear, hear.) He has traced in
the rocks the writing of the Creator, and with the magic light, only to
be borne by him who has earned the power through toil of reason and of
induction, he has been able to see in the spirit and describe the
processes of creation. His knowledge has pierced the dark ages, when
through countless aeons the earth was being prepared for man; he has
shown how forests--vast as those we see to-day, but with vanished forms
of vegetation and of life, grew, decayed, and were preserved in altered
condition to give us in these days of colder skies the fuel we need. He
has been for his beloved Acadia the historian of the cycles when God
formed her under the primal waters, fashioned her in the marshes
teeming in His fervent heat, caused His fire to fuse the metal in her
rocks, and His ice to scourge the coasts, thereafter to be subjected to
yet more stupendous changes, and raised and made fit for the last and
highest of His works. (Loud applause.) But Dr. Dawson's great knowledge
and wide learning have not led him, as they might lead many, to live
apart in fastidious study and in selfish absorption, forgetful of the
claims and contemptuous of the merits of others. (Hear, hear.) His
wisdom in these difficult studies has not separated him from us; it has
only been a fresh cause for us to hail that public spirit which makes
him give all he has, whether of strength, of time, or of knowledge, for
the benefit of his fellow-citizens. (Applause.) Just as it was not for
Acadia alone, but in the interests of science, that his first labour
was undertaken; so now it is not for any especial locality, but for the
good of the whole of our country, that he is head of this place of
learning, whence depart so many to take their lot in the civil life of
Canada. Even in his presence it is right that this should be said of
him, here on this spot, where you are to raise a new temple of the
practical sciences, and now that he, with you, has become the recipient
of this gift, which is a tribute from one who has earned success in the
hard battle of life, offered to men who, with so much devotion, are
training other lives to win their way by knowledge through the
difficulties that may lie before them. (Loud applause.)



A fine statue of Colonel de Salaberry, by Mr. Hubert of Montreal, was,
in 1880, unveiled at Chambly. A large concourse of people, and
representative men from all parts of the Province of Quebec, were
present, and after eloquent speeches from Colonel Harwood and other
gentlemen, His Excellency said:--

Accept my thanks for your address, which records your patriotic desire
to honour in a befitting manner the memory of a patriot. I rejoice to
be able to take part with you in this commemoration of a gallant
soldier. We are here to unveil a monument dedicated to a man who
worthily represented the loyal spirit of his age. That spirit exists to
the full to-day. Should need arise, there are many among the Canadian
nation who would emulate his example and endeavour to rival his
achievements. This statue records a character typical of our countrymen.
Content with little for himself, content only with greatness for his
country--such was the character of De Salaberry; such is the character
of the Canadian to-day. At Chambly, in the Province where he had the
good fortune to have the occasion to manifest that valour which was the
proud tradition of his race, we place his statue. It is raised in no
spirit of idle boasting, but with a hope that the virtues shown of old
may, unforgotten, light and guide future generations. These virtues
were conspicuous in this distinguished man, whose military talents
enabled him to perform his duty with signal advantage to our arms. In
rearing this monument to him, let us not forget to pay a passing
tribute to his brothers. They, with him, in the hour of danger, took to
the profession of arms, we may almost say as a part of their nature.
Three of them perished in upholding the honour of that flag which is
to-day our symbol of unity and freedom. In this fair region, which was
his home, a contrast between our times and those in which he lived
comes forcibly before us. Where are now the wide tracts of fertile
fields and a country traversed by railways or to be reached by the
steamers on our rivers, De Salaberry and his voltigeurs, when they made
their gallant defence, saw only scattered clearings among great forests.
These, too, often concealed contending armies. While we cherish the
recollection of gallant deeds performed, where English and
French-speaking Canadians equally distinguished themselves, it is not
necessary to dwell on the bitter associations of those times. We are at
peace, and live in what we hope will be an abiding friendship and
alliance with the great and generous people of the south. They then
endeavoured to conquer us, but were in the end only enabled to
entertain for the Canadians that respect which is the only true and
lasting foundation of friend ship. We must be thankful and rejoice that
our rivalries with them are now only in the fruitful fields of commerce.
Our resources in these peaceful paths are daily supplying the sinews of
strength and the power to us in resources and population which would
make any war undertaken against Canada a war that would be a long and a
difficult one. They do not desire to invade us. We trust that such a
desire will never again arise, for nations do not now so often as of
old interfere with their neighbours when no faction invites
interference. If in 1812 Canada was dear for her own sake to Canadians,
how much more is she so now? Then possessed only of a small population,
enjoying liberty under the aegis of a narrow constitution, now we see
in her a great and growing people, self-governed at home, proud of the
freest form of constitution, and able to use in association with her
own representative the diplomatic strength of a great empire for the
making of her commercial compacts with other nations. With us there is
no party which would invite incursions or change of government. No man
has a chance of success in Canadian public life, no one is countenanced
by our people, who is not a lover of free institutions. In inviting
here the Governor-General you have an officer present, who as the head
of the Federal government is nothing but the first and abiding
representative of the people. It is, however, not only as an official
that I rejoice with you to-day. Personal feelings make it a joyful hour
for me when I can visit the cradle of so much worth and valour,
surrounded as I am by the members of the family of Monsieur de
Salaberry. The Princess and I can never forget the intimate friendship
which existed between Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, and Colonel de
Salaberry--a friendship between families which, I may be allowed to
hope, will not be confined to the grandfathers. The Princess asked me
to express the deep interest she takes in this celebration. She wishes
me to convey to you her sorrow that she is not here to-day with us. She
yet hopes to be able to see this monument, where for the first time
Canadian art has so honourably recorded in sculpture Canadian loyalty,
bravery, and genius.



In 1880, at St Thomas in Ontario, over 6000 men of Highland descent
were present at a meeting attended by the Governor-General, who spoke
as follows in reply to an address delivered in Gaelic and English:--

Highlanders and Friends from the Land of the Gael,--You do not know how
much pleasure you give me in coming forward, and in such a touching and
eloquent address as that to which I have just listened, giving me the
assurance of the unchangeable loyalty which animates your hearts, and
of the pride with which you look back upon the country of your
forefathers. (Applause.) It is not often that a man gets so many kindly
words addressed to him from so great a meeting of his countrymen.
Although it is for Canada as a whole that I work in this country, and
for her whole population of whatever race that my heart, as well as my
duty, urges me to strive, yet it is a peculiar delight that such
endeavours should be illustrated by meeting with those who are
descended from men at whose side, in the dark ages of trial and of
difficulty, my fathers fought and died. We have many ancient memories
in common. You tell me that these are rehearsed among you. I know that
among your cousins at home the tales of the deeds of the heroes of the
Feinn of Ireland and of Scotland, and the achievements of the great men
who have lived since their day, in successive centuries, are constantly
repeated. I would give nothing for a man who could place little value
upon the lives and times of his ancestors, not only because without
them he himself would have no existence--(laughter)--but because in
tracing the history of their lives, and in remembering the difficulties
they encountered, he will be spurred to emulate, in as far as in him
lies, the triumphs that have caused them to be remembered. (Cheers.) I
would give nothing for a French-Canadian who could not look back with
pride on the glorious discoveries and contests of the early pioneers of
Canada. I would give nothing for a German who in Ontario could forget
that he came from the race who under Hermann hurled back the tide of
Roman invasion; nor for an Englishman who forgets the splendid virtues
which have made the English character comparable to the native oak.
(Applause.) Such reminiscences and such incentives to display in the
present day the virtues of our ancestors can have none but a good
result. Here our different races have, through God's providence, become
the inheritors of a new country, where the blood of all is mingling,
and where a nation is arising which we firmly believe will show through
future centuries the nerve, the energy, and intellectual powers which
characterised the people of northern Europe. (Hear, hear.) And let our
pride in this country with reference to its sons not be so much seen in
pride of the original stock, as in the feeling of joy which should
arise when we can say, "Such an orator, such a soldier, such a poet, or
such a statesman is a Canadian." (Cheers.) Keep up a knowledge of your
ancient language; for the exercise given to a man's mind in the power
given by the ability to express his thoughts in two languages is no
mean advantage. I would gladly have given much of the time devoted in
boyhood to acquiring Greek to the acquisition of Gaelic. My friends,
let me now tell you how happy it makes me to see that the valour, the
skill, and the bravery which used to make you chief among your
neighbours in the strife of swords, is here shown in the mastery of the
difficulties of nature. Your lives are here cast in pleasant places.
The aspect of the fertility of your lands, of the success of their
cultivation, and of your prosperity in their enjoyment, is producing so
powerful an effect upon your brethren at home, that we have some
difficulty in persuading the most enterprising amongst them to remain
in the old country. (Laughter.) You know that economic causes have
forced much of the increasing population of Scotland to seek the towns,
and the change in the proprietorship of lands has united in a few
unfortunate instances with the love for hunting in tempting men, in
more modern times, to care more for their preserves of animals than for
the preserves they could point to as being filled with men. My family
has always loved, not for policy, but on account of their fellow-citizens,
to place in the balance, against the temptation for gain among the
people, the love of home; and have thus had many men on their
lands. In a small country, of poor climate as compared with Canada,
this must of course be regulated by the resources of the land. But I
visit always with a peculiar pleasure those districts at home where a
large population has been able to find a competent livelihood. One
island known to many of you, namely, Tiree, has upon a surface of
twelve miles long by about two in width over three thousand souls. At
the present day I find that some of those who have visited Ontario, or
who know from their friends what this land is like, now come to us and
say, "We are tempted to go to Canada, for each of our friends there has
for himself a farm as big as the whole island of Tiree." (Laughter.)
This is only an instance of how much the western Highlander has thriven
in these new and more spacious homes. (Cheers.) Some amongst you are of
my name. I find that the Campbells get on as well as anybody else in
this country. Lately a gentleman managed to praise himself, his wife,
and me by making the following speech. He said, "I am glad to see you
here as Governor-General. I always find that the Campbells in this
country manage to get most excellent places." He then pointed to his
wife, and proved his argument by the announcement, "My wife there is a
Campbell." (Renewed laughter.) That you, your children, and children's
children, may continue to prosper is the wish of my heart, and the
desire of all in the Mother Country, who see that here you are one of
the powers that constitute, in the new world, a community devoted to
the great traditions, to the might and enduring grandeur of our united
empire. (Loud cheers.) Had it not been so you would not have come to
meet me here to-day. Some time ago I visited Killin, in Perthshire, a
most interesting place. It is a rocky island covered with heather,
grass, and pine trees, placed in the centre of the foaming waters of
the river Dochart, which streams from Benmore. It was the ancient
burial place of the gallant race of Macnab, a clan which with its chief
came over to Canada and was illustrious in the history of this country.
Its chief, Sir Allan, became, not by virtue of descent, but by ability
and integrity, a leader in the public life of Canada. His son came to
Killin to see this last resting-place of his fathers, and was there
seen by a poet, who in some beautiful verses says:--

  "Would a son of the chieftain have dared to invade
   The isle where the heroes repose;"

Were it not, that as--

  "A pilgrim he came to that place of the dead,
   For he knew that the tenant of each narrow bed,
   Would hail him as worthy of them."

He then asks how he and they had shown their metal, and in vindication
of their fidelity to their ancient fame, he imagines that the very wind
that waved the fir branches over the old tombs carries in rustling
whisper, or in strong breath of storm, among the boughs:--

  "A voice as it flies,
   From the far distant forest that fringes the deeps
   Of the rushing St. Lawrence, replies:--
   That, however to Albyn their name
   Has become like a tale of past years that is told;
   On the shores of Lake Erie that race is the same,
   And as true to the land of its birth and its fame,
   As their gallant forefathers of old."

May this be ever so with you, and may God prosper and bless you in all
your undertakings. (Prolonged cheers.)



On his return to Winnipeg, after his tour through the North-Western
Territories in 1881, His Excellency spoke as follows:--

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen,--I beg to thank you most cordially for the
pleasant reception you have given to me on my return to Winnipeg, and
for the words in which you proposed my health and have expressed a hope
for the complete recovery of the Princess from the effects of that most
unfortunate accident which took place at Ottawa. I know that the
Canadian people will always remember that it was in sharing the duties
incurred in their service that the Princess received injuries which
have, only temporarily, I trust, so much impaired her health.
(Applause.) Two years hence the journey I have undertaken will be an
easy one for all to accomplish throughout its length, while at present
the facilities of railway and steam accommodation only suffice for half
of it. For a Canadian, personal knowledge of the North-West is
indispensable. To be ignorant of the North-West is to be ignorant of
the greater portion of our country. (Applause.) Hitherto I have
observed that those who have seen it justly look down upon those who
have not, with a kind of pitying contempt which you may sometimes have
observed that they who have got up earlier in the morning than others
and seen some beautiful sunrise, assume towards the friends who have
slept until the sun is high in the heavens. (Laughter.) Our track,
though it led us far, only enabled us to see a very small portion of
your heritage now being made accessible. Had time permitted we should
have explored the immense country which lies along the whole course of
the wonderful Saskatchewan, which, with its two gigantic branches,
opens to steam navigation settlements of rapidly growing importance. As
it was, we but touched the waters of the north and south branches, and
striking southwestwards availed ourselves of the American railway lines
in Montana for our return. It was most interesting to compare the
southern mountains and prairies with our own, and not even the terrible
events which have recently cast so deep a gloom upon our neighbours, as
well as ourselves, could prevent our kinsmen from showing that
hospitality and courtesy which makes a visit to their country so great
a pleasure. (Loud applause.) I am the more glad to bear witness to this
courtesy in the presence of the distinguished consul of the United
States, who is your guest this evening, and who, in this city, so
honourably represents his country--(applause)--in nothing more than in
this, that he has never misrepresented our own. (Loud applause.) Like
almost all his compatriots who occupy by the suffrage of their people
official positions, he has recognised that fact, which is happily
acknowledged by all of standing amongst ourselves, that the interests
of the British Empire and of the United States may be advanced side by
side without jealousy or friction, and that the good of the one is
interwoven with the welfare of the other. (Cheers.) Canada has recently
shown that sympathy with her neighbour's grief which becomes her, and
which has been so marked throughout all portions of our Empire. She has
sorrowed with the sorrow of the great commonwealth, whose chief has
been struck down, in the fulness of his strength, in the height of his
usefulness, in the day of universal recognition of his noble character,
by the dastard hand of the assassin. We have felt in this as though we
ourselves had suffered, for General Garfield's position and personal
worth made his own and his fellow citizens' misfortune a catastrophe
for all English-speaking races. The bulletins telling of his calm and
courageous struggle against cruel and unmerited affliction, have been
read and discussed by us with as strong an admiration for the man, and
with as tender a sentiment for the anxiety and misery of his family, as
they have been awaited and perused in the south. It is fitting and good
that this should be. We have with the Americans, not only a common
descent, but a similar position on this continent, and a like probable
destiny. The community of feeling reaches beyond the fellowship arising
from the personal interest attaching to the dignity of a high office
sustained with honour, and to the reverence for the tender ties of
hearth and home, sacred though these be, for Canadians and Americans
have each a common aim and a common ideal. Though belonging to very
different political schools, and preferring to advance by very
different paths, we both desire to live only in a land of perfect
liberty. (Loud cheers.) When the order which ensures freedom is
desecrated by the cowardly rancour of the murderer, or by the tyranny
of faction, the blow touches more than one life, and strikes over a
wider circle than that where its nearer and immediate consequences are
apparent. The people of the United States have been directed into one
political organisation, and we are cherishing and developing another;
but they will find no men with whom a closer and more living sympathy
with their triumphs or with their trouble abides, than their Canadian
cousins in the Dominion. (Cheers.) Let this be so in the days of unborn
generations, and may we never have again to express our horror at such
a deed of infamy as that which has lately called forth, in so striking
a manner, the proofs of international respect and affection. (Hear,
hear.) To pass to other themes awaking no unhappy recollections, you
will expect me to mention a few of the impressions made upon us by what
we have seen during the last few weeks. Beautiful as are the numberless
lakes and illimitable forests of Keewatin--the land of the north wind,
to the east of you--yet it was pleasant to "get behind the north
wind"--(laughter)--and to reach your open plains. The contrast is great
between the utterly silent and shadowy solitudes of the pine and fir
forests, and the sunlit and breezy ocean of meadowland, voiceful with
the music of birds, which stretches onward from the neighbourhood of
your city. In Keewatin the lumber industry and mining enterprises can
alone be looked for, but here it is impossible to imagine any kind of
work which shall not produce results equal to those attained in any of
the great cities of the world. (Great cheering.) Unknown a few years
ago except for some differences which had arisen amongst its people, we
see Winnipeg now with a population unanimously joined in happy concord,
and rapidly lifting it to the front rank amongst the commercial centres
of the continent. We may look in vain elsewhere for a situation so
favourable and so commanding--many as are the fair regions of which we
can boast. (Loud cheers.) There may be some among you before whose eyes
the whole wonderful panorama of our Provinces has passed--the
ocean-garden island of Prince Edward; the magnificent valleys of the St.
John and Sussex; the marvellous country, the home of "Evangeline," where
Blomidon looks down on the tides of Fundy, and over tracts of red soil
richer than the weald of Kent. You may have seen the fortified Paradise
of Quebec; and Montreal, whose prosperity and beauty is worthy of her
great St. Lawrence, and you may have admired the well-wrought and
splendid Province of Ontario, and rejoiced at the growth of her capital,
Toronto, and yet nowhere will you find a situation whose natural
advantages promise so great a future as that which seems ensured to
Manitoba and to Winnipeg, the Heart city of our Dominion. (Tremendous
cheering.) The measureless meadows which commence here stretch without
interruption of their good soil westward to your boundary. The Province
is a green sea over which the summer winds pass in waves of rich
grasses and flowers, and on this vast extent it is only as yet here and
there that a yellow patch shows some gigantic wheat field. (Loud
cheering.) Like a great net cast over the whole are the bands and
clumps of poplar wood which are everywhere to be met with, and which,
no doubt, when the prairie fires are more carefully guarded against,
will, wherever they are wanted, still further adorn the landscape.
(Cheers.) The meshes of this wood-netting are never further than twenty
or thirty miles apart Little hay swamps and sparkling lakelets, teeming
with wild fowl, are always close at hand, and if the surface water in
some of these has alkali, excellent water can always be had in others,
and by the simple process of digging for it a short distance beneath
the sod with a spade, the soil being so devoid of stones that it is not
even necessary to use a pick. No wonder that under these circumstances
we hear no croaking. Croakers are very rare animals throughout Canada.
It was remarked with surprise, by an Englishman accustomed to British
grumbling, that even the frogs sing instead of croaking in Canada--
(great cheering)--and the few letters that have appeared speaking of
disappointment will be amongst the rarest autographs which the next
generation will cherish in their museums. But with even the best troops
of the best army in the world you will find a few malingerers--a few
skulkers. However well an action has been fought, you will hear
officers who have been engaged say that there were some men whose idea
seemed to be that it was easier to conduct themselves as became them at
the rear, rather than in the front. (Laughter and applause.) So there
have been a few lonely and lazy voices raised in the stranger press
dwelling upon your difficulties and ignoring your triumphs. These have
appeared from the pens of men who have failed in their own countries
and have failed here, who are born failures, and will fail, till life
fails them. (Laughter and applause.) They are like the soldiers who run
away from the best armies seeking to spread discomfiture, which exists
only in those things they call their minds--(laughter)--and who
returning to the cities say their comrades are defeated, or if they are
not beaten, they should in their opinion be so. We have found, as we
expected, that their tales are not worthy the credence even of the
timid. (Applause.) There was not one person who had manfully faced the
first difficulties--always far less than those to be encountered in
the older Provinces--but said that he was getting on well and he was
glad he had come, and he generally added that he believed his bit of
the country must be the best, and that he only wished his friends could
have the same good fortune, for his expectations were more than
realised. (Cheers and laughter.) It is well to remember that the men
who will succeed here, as in every young community, are usually the
able-bodied, and that their entry on their new field of labour should
be when the year is young. Men advanced in life and coming from the old
country will find their comfort best consulted by the ready provided
accommodation to be obtained by the purchase of a farm in the old
Provinces. All that the settler in Manitoba would seem to require is,
that he should look out for a locality where there is either good
natural drainage, and ninety-nine hundredths of the country has this,
and that he should be able readily to procure in Winnipeg, or elsewhere,
some light pumps like those used in Abyssinia for the easy supply of
water from a depth of a few feet below the surface. Alkali in the water
will never hurt his cattle, and dykes of turf and the planting of trees
would everywhere insure him and them the shelter that may be required.
Five hundred dollars should be his own to spend on his arrival, if he
wishes to farm. If he comes as an artisan he may, like the happy masons
now to be found in Winnipeg, get the wages of a British Army Colonel,
[1] by putting up houses as fast as brick, wood, and mortar can be
got together. Favourable testimony as to the climate was everywhere
given. The heavy night dews throughout the North-West keep the country
green when everything is burned to the south, and the steady winter
cold, although it sounds formidable when registered by the thermometer,
is universally said to be far less trying than the cold to be
encountered at the old English Puritan city of Boston, in Massachussets.
It is the moisture in the atmosphere which makes cold tell, and the
Englishman who, with the thermometer at zero, would, in his moist
atmosphere, be shivering, would here find one flannel shirt sufficient
clothing while working. I never like to make comparisons, and am always
unwillingly driven to do so, although it seems to be the natural
vice of the well-travelled Englishman. Over and over again in Canada
have I been asked if such and such a bay was not wonderfully like
the Bay of Naples, for the inhabitants had often been told so. I
always professed to be unable to see the resemblance, of course entirely
out of deference to the susceptibilities of the Italian nation. So
one of our party, a Scotsman, whenever in the Rocky Mountains he
saw some grand pyramid or gigantic rock, ten or eleven thousand feet
in height, would exclaim that the one was the very image of Arthur's
Seat and the other of Edinburgh Castle. With the fear of Ontario
before my eyes I would therefore never venture to compare a
winter here to those of our greatest Province, but I am bound to
mention that when a friend of mine put the question to a party of
sixteen Ontario men who had settled in the western portion of Manitoba,
as to the comparative merits of the cold season in the two Provinces--
fourteen of them voted for the Manitoba climate, and only two elderly
men said that they preferred that of Toronto. You will therefore see
how that which is sometimes called a very unequal criterion of right
and justice, a large majority, determines this question. Now although
we are at present in Manitoba, and Manitoba interests may dominate our
thoughts, yet you may not object to listen for a few moments to our
experience of the country which lies further to the west. To the
present company the assertion may be a bold one, but they will be
sufficiently tolerant to allow me to make it, if it goes no further,
and I therefore say that we may seek for the main chance elsewhere than
in Main street. The future fortunes of this country beyond this
Province bear directly upon its prosperity. Although you may not be
able to dig for four feet through the same character of black loam that
you have here when you get to the country beyond Fort Ellice, yet in
its main features it is the same right up to the forks of the
Saskatchewan. I deeply regret that I was not able to visit Edmonton,
which bids fair to rival any place in the North-West. Settlement is
rapidly increasing there, and I met at Battleford one man who alone had
commissions from ten Ontario farmers to buy for them at that place.
Nothing can exceed the fertility and excellence of the land along
almost the whole course of that great river, and to the north of it in
the wide strip belting its banks and extending up to the Peace River,
there will be room for a great population whose opportunities for
profitable cultivation of the soil will be most enviable. The netting
of wood of which I have spoken as covering all the prairie between
Winnipeg and Battleford, is beyond that point drawn up upon the shores
of the prairie sea, and lies in masses of fine forest in the gigantic
half circle formed by the Saskatchewan and the Rockies. It is only in
secluded valleys, on the banks of large lakes, and in river bottoms,
that much wood is found in the Far West, probably owing to the
prevalence of fires. These are easily preventible, and there is no
reason why plantations should not flourish there in good situations as
well as elsewhere. Before I leave the Saskatchewan, let me advert to
the ease with which the steam navigation of that river can be vastly
improved. At present there is only one boat at all worthy of the name
of a river steamer upon it, and this steamer lies up during the night.
A new company is, I am informed, now being organised, and there is no
reason why, if the new vessels are properly equipped and furnished with
electric lights, which may now be cheaply provided, they should not
keep up a night and day service, so that the settlers at Prince Albert,
Edmonton, and elsewhere, may not have, during another season, to suffer
great privations incident to the wants of transportation which has
loaded the banks of Grand Rapids during the present year with freight,
awaiting steam transport The great cretaceous coal seams at the
headwaters of the rivers which rise in the Rocky Mountains or in their
neighbourhood and flow towards your doors, should not be forgotten.
Although you have some coal in districts nearer to you, we should
remember that on the headwaters of these streams there is plenty of the
most excellent kind which can be floated down to you before you have a
complete railway system. Want of time as well as a wish to see the less
vaunted parts of the country took me southwestward from Battleford,
over land which in many of the maps is variously marked as consisting
of arid plains or as a continuation of the "American Desert." The newer
maps, especially those containing the explorations of Professor Macoun,
have corrected this wholly erroneous idea. For two days' march--that is
to say, for about 60 or 70 miles south of Battleford--we passed over
land whose excellence could not be surpassed for agricultural purposes.
Thence to the neighbourhood of the Red Deer Valley the soil is lighter,
but still in my opinion in most places good for grain--in any case most
admirable for summer pasturage,--and it will certainly be good also for
stock in winter as soon as it shall pay to have some hay stored in the
valleys. The whole of it has been the favourite feeding ground of the
buffalo. Their tracks from watering place to watering place, never too
far apart from each other, were everywhere to be seen, while in very
many tracks their dung lay so thickly that the appearance of the ground
was only comparable to that of an English farmyard. Let us hope that
the _entre-acte_ will not be long before the disappearance of the
buffalo on these scenes is followed by the appearance of domestic herds.
The Red Deer Valley is especially remarkable as traversing a country
where, according to the testimony of Indian chiefs travelling with us,
snow never lies for more than three months, and the heavy growth of
poplar in the bottoms, the quantity of the "bull" or high cranberry
bushes, and the rich branches that hung from the choke-cherries showed
us that we had come into that part of the Dominion which among the
plainsmen is designated as "God's country." From this, onward to the
Bow River and thence to the frontier line, the trail led through what
will be one of the most valued of our Provinces, subject to those warm
winds called the "chinooks." The settler will hardly ever use anything
but wheeled vehicles during winter, and throughout a great portion of
the land early sowing--or fall sowing-will be all that will be
necessary to ensure him against early frosts. At Calgarry--a place
interesting at the present time as likely to be upon that Pacific
Railway line [2] which will connect you with the Pacific, and
give you access to "that vast shore beyond the furthest sea," the shore
of Asia--a good many small herds of cattle have been introduced within
the last few years. During this year a magnificent herd of between six
and seven thousand has been brought in, and the men who attended them
and who came from Montana, Oregon and Texas, all averred that their
opinion of their new ranche was higher than that of any with which they
had been acquainted in the south. Excellent crops have been raised by
men who had sown not only in the river bottoms, but also upon the
so-called "bench" lands or plateaux above. This testimony was also given
by others on the way to Fort Macleod and beyond it, thus closing most
satisfactorily the song of praise we had heard from practical men
throughout our whole journey of 1200 miles. Let me advert for one
moment to some of the causes which have enabled settlers to enjoy in
such peace the fruits of their industry. Chief amongst these must be
reckoned the policy of kindness and justice which was inaugurated by
the Hudson's Bay Company in their treatment of the Indians. Theirs is
one of the cases in which a trader's association has upheld the maxim
that "honesty is the best policy," even when you are dealing with
savages. The wisdom and righteousness of their dealing on enlightened
principles, which are fully followed out by their servants to-day, gave
the cue to the Canadian Government. The Dominion through her Indian
officers and her mounted constabulary is showing herself the
inheritress of these traditions. She has been fortunate in organising
the Mounted Police Force, a corps of whose services it would be
impossible to speak too highly. A mere handful in that vast wilderness,
they have at all times shown themselves ready to go anywhere and do
anything. They have often had to act on occasions demanding the
combined individual pluck and prudence rarely to be found amongst any
soldiery, and there has not been a single occasion on which any member
of the force has lost his temper under trying circumstances, or has not
fulfilled his mission as a guardian of the peace. Severe journeys in
winter and difficult arrests have had to be effected in the centre of
savage tribes, and not once has the moral prestige which was in reality
their only weapon, been found insufficient to cope with difficulties
which, in America, have often baffled the efforts of whole columns of
armed men. I am glad of this opportunity to name these men as well
worthy of Canada's regard-as sons who have well maintained her name and
fame. And now that you have had the patience to listen to me, and we
have crossed the continent together, let me advise you as soon as
possible to get up a branch Club-house, situated amongst our Rocky
Mountains, where, during summer, your members may form themselves into
an Alpine club and thoroughly enjoy the beautiful peaks and passes of
our Alps. In the railway you will have a beautiful approach to the
Pacific, The line, after traversing for days the plains, will come upon
the rivers whose sheltering valleys have all much the same character.
The river-beds are like great moats in a modern fortress-you do not see
them till close upon them. As in the glacis and rampart of a fortress,
the shot can search across the smoothed surfaces above the ditch, so
any winds that may arise may sweep across the twin levels above the
river fosses. The streams run coursing along the sunken levels in these
vast ditches, which are sometimes miles in width. Sheltered by the
undulating banks, knolls, or cliffs, which form the margin of their
excavated bounds, are woods, generally of poplar, except in the
northern and western fir fringe. On approaching the mountains their
snow caps look like huge tents encamped along the rolling prairie. Up
to this great camp, of which a length of 200 miles is sometimes visible,
the rivers wind in trenches, looking like the covered ways by which
siege works zig-zag up to a besieged city. On a nearer view the camp
line changes to ruined marble palaces, and through their tremendous
walls and giant woods you will soon be dashing on the train for a
winter basking on the warm Pacific coast. You have a country whose
value it would be insanity to question, and which, to judge from the
emigration taking place from the older Provinces, will be indissolubly
linked with them. It must support a vast population. If we may
calculate from the progress we have already made in comparison with our
neighbours, we shall have no reason to fear comparison with them on the
new areas now open to us. We have now four million four hundred
thousand people, and these, with the exception of the comparatively
small numbers as yet in this Province, are restricted to the old area.
Yet for the last ten years our increase has been over 18 per cent,
whereas during the same period all the New England States taken
together have shown an increase only of 15 per cent. In the last thirty
years in Ohio the increase has been 61 per cent.--Ontario has seen
during that space of time 101 per cent of increase, while Quebec has
increased 52 per cent. Manitoba in ten years has increased 289 per cent,
a greater rate than any hitherto attained, and to judge from this
year's experience is likely to increase to an even more wonderful
degree during the following decade. Statistics are at all times
wearisome, but are not these full of hope? Are they not facts giving
just ground for that pride in our progress which is conspicuous among
our people, and ample reason for our belief that the future may be
allowed to take care of itself. They who pour out prophecies of change,
prescribing medicines for a sound body, are wasting their gifts and
their time. It is among strangers that we hear such theories propounded
by destiny men. With you the word "annexation" has in the last years
only been heard in connection with the annexation of more territory to
Manitoba. I must apologise to a Canadian audience for mentioning the
word at all in any other connection. In America the annexation of this
country is disavowed by all responsible leaders. As it was well
expressed to me lately, the best men in the States desire only to annex
the friendship and good will of Canada. (Loud cheers.) To be sure it
may be otherwise with the camp followers; they often talk as if the
swallowing and digestion of Canada by them were only a question of time,
and of rising reason amongst us. How far the power of the camp
followers extends it is not for us to determine. They have, however,
shown that they are powerful enough to capture a few English writers,
our modern minor prophets who, in little magazine articles, are fond of
teaching the nations how to behave, whose words preach the superiority
of other countries to their own, and the proximate dismemberment of
that British Empire which has the honour to acknowledge them as
citizens. They have with our American friends of whom I speak at all
events one virtue in common, they are great speculators. In the case of
our southern friends this is not a matter to be deplored by us, for
American speculation has been of direct material benefit to Canada, and
we must regret that our American citizens are not coming over to us so
fast as are the Scotch, the Irish, the Germans, and the Scandinavians.
Morally, also, it is not to be deplored that such speculations are made,
for they show that it is thought that Canadians would form a useful
though an unimportant wing for one of the great parties; and, moreover,
such prophecies clothe with amusement "the dry bones" of discussion.
But it is best always to take men as we find them, and not to believe
that they will be different even if a kindly feeling, first for
ourselves and afterwards for them, should make us desire to change them.
Let us rather judge from the past and from the present than take
flights, unguided by experience, into the imaginary regions of the
future. What do we find has been, and is, the tendency of the peoples
of this continent? Does not history show, and do not modern and
existing tendencies declare, that the lines of cleavage among them lie
along the lines of latitude? Men spread from east to west, and from
east to west the political lines, which mean the lines of diversity,
extend. The central spaces are, and will be yet more, the great centres
of population. Can it be imagined that the vast central hives of men
will allow the eastern or western seaboard people to come between them
with separate empire, and shut them out in any degree from full and
free intercourse with the markets of the world beyond them? Along the
lines of longitude no such tendencies of division exist. The markets of
the North Pole are not as yet productive, and with South America
commerce is comparatively small. The safest conclusion, if conclusions
are to be drawn at all, is that what has hitherto been, will, in the
nature of things, continue,--that whatever separations exist will be
marked by zones of latitude. For other evidence we must search in vain.
Our county councils, the municipal corporations, the local provincial
chambers, the central Dominion Parliament, and last not least, a
perfectly unfettered press, are all free channels for the expression of
the feelings of our citizens. Why is it that in each and all of these
reflectors of the thoughts of men, we see nothing but determination to
keep and develop the precious heritage we have in our own constitution,
so capable of any development which the people may desire. (Cheers.)
Let us hear Canadians if we wish to speak for them. These public bodies
and the public press are the mouthpieces of the people's mind. Let us
not say for them what they never say for themselves. It is no
intentional misrepresentation, I believe, which has produced these
curious examples of the fact that individual prepossessions may distort
public proof. It reminds me of an interpretation once said to have been
given by a bad interpreter of a speech delivered by a savage warrior,
who, in a very dignified and extremely lengthy discourse, expressed the
contentment of his tribe with the order and with the good which had
been introduced amongst them by the law of the white man. His speech
was long enough fully to impress with its meaning and its truth all who
took pains to listen to him, and who could understand his language, but
the interpreter had unfortunately different ideas of his own, and was
displeased with his own individual treatment. When at last he was asked
what the chief and his council had said in their eloquent orations, he
turned round and only exclaimed,--"He dam displeased!" (Great laughter.)
And what did his councillors say? "They dam displeased!" (Roars of
laughter.) No, gentlemen, let each man in public or literary life in
both nations do all that in him lies to cement their friendship, so
essential for their mutual welfare. But this cannot be cemented by the
publication of vain vaticinations. This great part of our great Empire
has a natural and warm feeling for our republican brethren, whose
fathers parted from us a century ago in anger and bloodshed. May this
natural affection never die. It is like the love which is borne by a
younger brother to an elder, so long as the big brother behaves
handsomely and kindly. I may possibly know something of the nature of
such affection, for as the eldest of a round dozen, I have had
experience of the fraternal relation as exhibited by an unusual number
of younger brothers. Never have I known that fraternal tie to fail, but
even its strength has its natural limit, so Canada's affection may be
measured. None of my younger brothers, however fond of me, would
voluntarily ask that his prospects should be altogether overshadowed
and swallowed up by mine. So Canada, if I may express her feelings in
words which our neighbours understand, wishes to be their friend, but
does not desire to become their food. She rejoices in the big brother's
strength and status, but is not anxious to nourish it by offering up
her own body in order that it may afford him, when over-hungry, that
happy festival he is in the habit of calling a "square meal." (Loud
laughter.) I must ask you now once more to allow me, gentlemen, to
express my acknowledgments to you for this entertainment. It affords
another indication of the feelings with which the citizens of Winnipeg
regard any person who has the honour, as the head of the Canadian
Government, to represent the Queen--(cheers)--you recognise in the
Governor-General the sign and symbol of the union which binds together
in one the free and kindred peoples whom God has set over famous isles
and over fertile spaces of mighty continents. I have touched, in
speaking to you, on certain vaticinations and certain advice given by
a few good strangers to Canadians on the subject of the future of
Canada. Gentlemen, I believe that Canadians are well able to take care
themselves of their future, and the outside world had better listen to
them instead of promulgating weak and wild theories of its own. (Loud
applause.) But however uncertain, and I may add, foolish may be such
forecasts, of one thing we may be sure, which is this, that the country
you call Canada, and which your sons and your children's children will
be proud to know by that name, is a land which will be a land of power
among the nations. (Cheers.) Mistress of a zone of territory favourable
for the maintenance of a numerous and homogeneous white population,
Canada must, to judge from the increase in her strength during the past,
and from the many and vast opportunities for the growth of that
strength on her new Provinces in the future, be great and worthy her
position on the earth. Affording the best and safest highway between
Asia and Europe, she will see traffic from both directed to her coasts.
With a hand upon either ocean she will gather from each for the benefit
of her hardy millions a large share of the commerce of the world. To
the east and to the west she will pour forth of her abundance, her
treasures of food and the riches of her mines and of her forests,
demanded of her by the less fortunate of mankind. I esteem those men
favoured indeed, who, in however slight a degree, have had the honour,
or may be yet called upon to take part in the councils of the statesmen
who, in this early era of her history, are moulding this nation's laws
in the forms approved by its representatives. For me, I feel that I can
be ambitious of no higher title than to be known as one who
administered its Government in thorough sympathy with the hopes and
aspirations of its first founders, and in perfect consonance with the
will of its free parliament. (Cheers.) I ask for no better lot than to
be remembered by its people as rejoicing in the gladness born of their
independence and of their loyalty. I desire no other reputation than
that which may belong to him who sees his own dearest wishes in process
of fulfilment, in their certain progress, in their undisturbed peace,
and in their ripening grandeur. (Cheers.)

[1] Masons wages had risen to an extraordinary height in the Autumn
of 1881. Excellent pay can now be obtained by bricklayers, carpenters,
and blacksmiths.

[2] The Canadian Pacific Railway has now been completed to a valley
in the Rocky Mountains beyond Calgarry, through which place it passes.



A Monsieur le Président et Messieurs les Membres de l'Association de
St. Jean Baptiste de Manitoba.

Messieurs,--J'ai l'honneur de vous remercier au nom de sa majesté des
sentiments de loyauté que vous venez d'exprimer.

C'est pour moi un plaisir d'entendre exprimer des sentiments de
dévouement au trône, de quelque race qu'ils proviennent, soit de la
bouche de Canadiens-frangais, d'Anglais, d'Ecossais, de
Canadiens-irlandais ou de Canadiens d'origine quelconque.

Les gloires de chaque race aujourd'hui représentée au Manitoba se
confondent dans la gloire commune de la nation Canadienne. Que chacune
d'elles conserve précieusement ses associations historiques! Elles sont
en effet autant de motifs d'encouragement à travailler à augmenter la
force et la valeur de la nation entière, une et indivisible. A l'avenir,
votre rivalité ne consistera que dans la sainte rivalité de votre
dévouement à Dieu et au grand pays qu'il vous a octroyé dans notre
puissance du Canada.

C'est à un Canadien-français que revient la gloire d'avoir le premier
exploré notre pays. Qu'il revienne aux descendants de cette race de
cimenter leur union avec nos diverses races, et de leur donner ainsi de
la force. Un Canadien-francais me disait tout dernièrement à Québec:
"Ma famille a souvent versé de son sang en combattant les Anglais." Je
lui répondis: "Oui, monsieur, et ma propre famille en a versé encore
bien plus en les combattant, car nous les avons combattus pendant plus
de trois siècles." L'histoire de vos ancêtres est aussi glorieuse que
celle de l'Ecosse ou de l'Angleterre.

L'accueil que vous me faites comme chef du gouvernement fédéral et
comme représentant sa majesté la reine, me convainc que le jour de la
St. Jean Baptiste est célèbré par vous comme le sont les fêtes de St.
Georges, St. André et St. Patrice. Ce sera une fête qui célébrera en
même temps les traditions de la race, de la foi, et l'inconquérable
résolution d'affermir notre population dans une fraternité chrétienne
et une nationalité animée de sentiments chrétiens.



In reply to the Archbishop of St. Boniface, Winnipeg.

Monseigneur et Messieurs,--J'ai l'honneur d'accuser réception de votre
gracieuse adresse, renouvelant l'expression de vos sentiments de
loyauté envers la couronne, et de vous assurer que j'en apprécie la
sincérité du fond de mon coeur.

Son éloquence exprime, en termes qui prennent leur source dans le coeur,
le devoir qui a été enseigné et pratiqué parmi vous, par des
prédicateurs éloquents et des missionnaires héroïques.

Vos paroles remarquables seront transmises à la reine. Tout récemment
encore, sa majesté me faisait part du plaisir qu'elle avait ressenti,
en prenant connaissance des paroles prononcées par des hommes
distingués de la province de Québec, lors de l'érection du monument à
la mémoire du Colonel de Salaberry.

Ce monument, digne de l'art canadien, a été érigé en l'honneur d'un des
enfants les plus illustres du Canada. Doué d'une force physique qui
aurait fait envi aux preux Paladins de Roncevaux, le Colonel de
Salaberry mit toute son énergie et sa force au service de son pays, et
contribua à repousser l'ennemi qui menaçait l'intégrité de l'Empire
Britannique en attaquant le Canada.

Permettez-moi de vous remercier aussi de tout mon coeur de ce que vous
avez dit à l'égard de la Princesse, qui espère être de retour au Canada
à la fin d'octobre. J'aurais voulu qu'elle eût pu prendre part à la
réception qui m'est faite à St. Boniface. Non seulement cette réception
me cause une vive satisfaction, mais elle m'inspire le plus grand
intérêt.

St. Boniface est le berceau de ce Canada plus grand que l'ancien. Sous
les auspices de l'Eglise, les Canadiens-français sont venus ici et ont
fondé une communauté heureuse et prospère. Leurs compatriotes des
provinces de l'est peuvent être certains que, sous les mêmes auspices,
leurs enfants trouveront ici les mêmes bienfaits de l'éducation qui les
guidera dans la vie.

De nombreux Canadiens quittent la province de Québec pour se diriger
vers le sud; ils abandonnent la vie saine des champs, et le bonheur de
vivre avec leurs compatriotes pour la vie malsaine des manufactures sur
la terre étrangère. Un certain nombre d'entre eux songent à rentrer au
pays après des années d'absence, mais il leur serait incomparablement
plus avantageux, à tous, de se diriger, de suite, vers les plaines du
Nord-Ouest Canadien, où la fertilité du sol leur assurerait un avenir
facile.

J'ai rencontré sur la ligne du chemin de fer, près du Portage du Rat,
plusieurs de vos compatriotes qui sont occupés à l'achèvement de cette
grande et importante oeuvre nationale. Tous m'ont donné à entendre
qu'ils avaient écrit à leurs amis, pour leur conseiller de venir
s'établir à Manitoba. Ils ajoutaient que, quant à eux-mêmes, leur
unique but était de se procurer des terrains dans cette nouvelle et
fertile province.

Je remercie votre grandeur et vous messieurs du clergé de St. Boniface,
de l'accueil si bienveillant que vous me faites; je me compte,
volontiers, au premier rang de ceux qui se plaisent à reconnaître le
prix du précieux élément fourni à notre population par la race Gauloise.



An address having been presented by the Board of Management of the
Manitoba College, the following was His Excellency's reply:

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF MANAGEMENT OF THE MANITOBA COLLEGE:--
Gentlemen,--Let me thank you for your welcome. The wise experiment made
in your confederation of colleges has been watched by all who take an
interest in education. It has made Manitoba as famous among men of
thought as its wheat and other produce have rendered it well known
among men interested in agriculture.

Your example will probably be followed in the older Provinces, for
where universities are not generally supported by the various
denominations, and these separate themselves too definitely, it is
difficult to secure that large number of students, which it is
necessary to have, if a university is to attract the best men.

It was at a College in Ontario such as this that I first saw in
practice that wise toleration and determination to unite for the common
good which has guided you. I saw there the clergy of all denominations
uniting in prayer, at a ceremony such as the present, celebrating the
erection of new buildings for a college, free to all, but under
Presbyterian direction. The same enlightened feeling has prevailed in
the west, where, having a free course, you have instituted a university
to which all colleges are affiliated.

Where States are ancient and the habits of men settled deep in old
grooves, the efforts made by an individual and the movement of thought,
may have but little apparent effect. Hearts may be broken over
seemingly useless work, for the ways of the people are formed and
custom precludes change. Here in a new land, with a people spreading
everywhere over the country whose value has only so lately been
realised, you enjoy the more fortunate lot of being able to trace for
the communities the outlines of their future life. It is this which
makes these first steps of such incalculable importance. Each touch you
give will give shape and form and make a lasting impression, and your
hands labour at no hard and inductile mass. It is a real satisfaction
to me that I am able to be present at a meeting which marks a fresh
advance in the status of a college organised in connection with the
University of Manitoba, and I thank you for the invitation you have
given me.

Not even the constant exhibition of huge roots, tall heads of wheat,
and gigantic potatoes and monster onions at the fairs in the eastern
Provinces can do more to make Manitoba a temptation to settlers, than
the proof you afford that their children shall be thoroughly educated
by men belonging to the churches of which they are members, and in
sympathy with their desires and hopes.

Where civil government is so perfect, where religious instruction and
toleration are so well taught, and where education is prized even above
the wonderful material prosperity guaranteed by the rich plains around
you, men may be certain that they can choose no fairer land for
themselves and for their children.

Before leaving Fort Shaw, Montana, September 1881, the members of the
Mounted Police, who had accompanied the party for seven weeks, were
paraded under command of Major Crozier, at His Excellency's request,
who in bidding them farewell said:--

Officers, non commissioned officers and men,--Our long march is over,
and truly sorry we feel that it is so. I am glad that its last scene is
to take place in this American fort where we have been so courteously
and hospitably received. That good fellowship which exists between
soldiers is always to the fullest extent shown between you and our kind
friends. This perfect understanding is to be expected, for both our
Empires, unlike some others, send out to their distant frontier posts
not their worst, but some of their very best men. I have asked for this
parade this morning to take leave of you, and to express my entire
satisfaction at the manner in which your duties have been performed.
You have been subject to some searching criticism, for on my staff are
officers who have served in the cavalry, artillery, and infantry. Their
unanimous verdict is to the effect that they have never seen work
better, more willingly, or more smartly done while under circumstances
of some difficulty caused by bad weather or otherwise. Your appearance
on parade was always as clean and bright and, soldier-like as possible.
Your force is often spoken of in Canada as one of which Canada is
justly proud. It is well that this pride is so fully justified, for
your duties are most important and varied. You must always act as
guardians of the peace. There may be occasions also in which you may
have to act as soldiers, and sometimes in dealing with our Indian
fellow-subjects you may have to show the mingled prudence, kindness,
and firmness which constitute a diplomat. You have, with a force at
present only 250 [1] strong, to keep order in a country whose fertile,
wheat-growing area is reckoned about 250 million of acres. The perfect
confidence in the maintenance of the authority of the law prevailing
over these vast territories, a confidence most necessary with the
settlement now proceeding, show how thoroughly you have done your
work. It will be with the greatest pleasure that I shall convey to
the Prime Minister my appreciation of your services, and the
satisfaction we have all had in having you with us as our escort and
companions throughout the journey.

[1] The number of the North West Mounted Police was raised in 1882
to 500 men.



A Society was founded by Lord Lorne, in 1882, for the encouragement of
Science and Literature. Divided into sections, it was designed to
furnish to Canada what the French Academy and the British Association
give to Great Britain. At its first meeting, which took place in the
Senate Chamber, he opened the proceedings with these remarks:--
Gentlemen,--These few words I do not address to you, presuming to call
myself one of your brotherhood, either in science or literature, but I
speak to you as one whose accidental official position may enable him
to serve you, persuaded as I am that the furtherance of your interests
is for the benefit and honour of Canada. Let me briefly state the
object aimed at In the institution of this society. Whether it be
possible that our hopes be fulfilled according to our expectation the
near future will show. But from the success which has attended similar
associations in other lands possessed of less spirit, energy, and
opportunity than our own, there is no reason to augur ill of the
attempt to have here a body of men whose achievements may entitle them
to recognise and encourage the appearance of merit in literature, and
to lead in science and the useful application of its discoveries. It is
proposed, then, that this society shall consist of a certain number of
members who have made their mark by their writings, whether these be of
imagination or the study of nature. In one division our fellow-countrymen,
descended from the stock of old France, will discuss with that
grace of diction and appreciation of talent, which is so conspicuous
amongst them, all that may affect their literature and the maintenance
of the purity of that grand language from which the English
is largely derived. They well know how to pay compliments to rising
authors, and how with tact and courtesy to crown the aspirants to the
honours they will bestow. Among Englishmen of letters the grant of such
formal marks of recognition by their brethren has not as yet become
popular or usual, and it may be that it never will become a custom. On
the other hand, it surely will be a pleasure to a young author, if,
after a perusal of his thoughts, they who are his co-workers and
successful precursors in the wide domain of poetry, fiction, or of
history, should see fit to award him an expression of thanks for his
contribution to the intellectual delight or to the knowledge of his
time. They only, whose labours have met with the best reward--the
praise of their contemporaries--can take the initiative in such a
welcome to younger men, and whatever number may hereafter be elected to
this society, it is to be desired that no man be upon its lists who has
not by some original and complete work justified his selection. The
meeting together of our eminent men will contribute to unite on a
common ground those best able to express the thoughts and illustrate
the history of the time. It will serve to strengthen emulation among us,
for the discussion of progress made in other lands, will breed the
desire to push the intellectual development of our own. We may hope
that this union will promote the completion of the national collections
which, already fairly representative in geology, may hereafter include
archives, paintings, and objects illustrating ethnology and all
branches of Natural History. In science we have men whose names are
widely known, and the vast field for study and exploration afforded by
this magnificent country may be expected to reward, by valuable
discoveries, the labours of the geologist and mineralogist. It would be
out of place in these few sentences to detail the lines of research
which have already engaged your attention. They will be spoken of in
the record of your proceedings. Among those, the utility of which must
be apparent to all, one may be particularly mentioned. I refer to the
meteorological observations, from which have been derived the storm
warnings which during the last few years have saved many lives. A
comparatively new science has thus been productive of results known to
all our population and especially to seamen. Here I have only touched
upon one or two subjects in the wide range of study which will occupy
the time and thoughts of one half of your membership, devoted as two of
your four sections will be to geological and biological sciences. It
will be your province to aid and encourage the workers in their
acquisition of knowledge of that nature, each of whose secrets may
become the prize of him who shall make one of her mysteries the special
subject of thought. America already bids fair to rival France and
Germany in the number of her experts. Canada may certainly have her
share in producing those men whose achievements in science have more
than equalled in fame the triumphs of statesmen. These last labour only
for one country, while the benefits of the discoveries of science are
shared by the world. But widely different as are the qualities which
develop patriotism and promote science, yet I would call to the aid of
our young association the love of country, and ask Canadians to support
and gradually to make as perfect as possible this their national
society. Imperfections there must necessarily be at first in its
constitution--omissions in membership and organisation there may be.
Such faults may hereafter be avoided. Our countrymen will recognise
that in a body of gentlemen drawn from all our provinces and
conspicuous for their ability, there will be a centre around which to
rally. They will see that the welfare and strength of growth of this
association shall be impeded by no small jealousies, no carping spirit
of detraction, but shall be nourished by a noble motive common to the
citizens of the republic of letters and to the student of the free
world of Nature, namely: the desire to prove that their land is not
insensible to the glory which springs from numbering among its sons
those whose success becomes the heritage of mankind. I shall not now
further occupy your time, which will be more worthily used in listening
to the addresses of the presidents and of those gentlemen who for this
year have consented to take the chair at the meetings of the several
sections.



At San Francisco, in 1882, the following reply was given to the British
Residents:--

Gentlemen,--Our heartfelt thanks are due to you for the welcome given
to us, a welcome whose expression is embodied in this beautifully
decorated address. It echoes the loyal sentiments which remain
predominant among those, who, wherever their business may cause them to
reside, remember that they have been born under our British freedom. We
shall gladly keep our gift in recollection of a visit to one of
America's foremost cities, where the kindly feelings of our cousins
have been shown in the generous hospitality which they are ever ready
to extend to the stranger. With you whose interests are bound up with
the greatness of California, and with the gigantic trade of the United
States, we can cordially sympathise. Connected as we are for a time
with the fortunes of the sister land of Canada, we know how much the
welfare of the one country is affected by the good of the other; how
the evil that falls on one must affect the other also. Our blood makes
us brothers, and our interests make us partners. Our governments are
engaged in the same task, and from experience there is no reason to
think otherwise than that they will be allowed to work in that perfect
harmony which is essential for their peace and for the peace of the
world. They are arching the continent with two zones of civilisation;
with light, not of one colour, but equally replacing the former
darkness, and the harmony between them is as natural as is the relation
in the rainbow of the separate hues of red and azure. Your presence
here shows how our commerce is interwoven. In crossing the continent
and marvelling at the wealth and power shown by every city of this
mighty people, it is a pride to think how much of all they have is
theirs by virtue of British and Irish blood; and when here and at New
York, we reach the ports supplying this vast population, we find in the
flags borne by the shipping, proof that it is still the old country
that in the main ministers to and is benefited by the progress of her
children.



At Victoria, in British Columbia, in 1882, at a public dinner in his
honour, the Governor-General said:--

Mr. Mayor and Council,--It is, I assure you, with more than common
feelings of gratitude that I rise to ask you to accept my
acknowledgments and thanks for this evening's entertainment. The
reception the Princess and I have met with in Victoria, and throughout
British Columbia, will long live in our memory as one of the brightest
episodes of a time which has been made delightful to us by the
heartfelt loyalty of the people of our Canadian provinces. Nowhere has
the contentment insured by British institutions been more strongly
expressed than on these beautiful shores of the Pacific. I am rejoiced
to observe signs that the days are now passed when we had to look upon
this community as one too remote and too sundered from the rest to
share to the full the rapid increase of prosperity which has been so
remarkable since the Union. Attracted at first by the capricious
temptations of the gold mines, your valleys were inundated by a large
population. It was not to be anticipated that this could last, and
although population declined with the temporary decrease of mining, it
is evident that the period of depression in this, as in every other
matter, has been passed. (Applause.) I have everywhere seen signs that
a more stable, and therefore more satisfactory, emigration has set in.
Victoria has made of late a decided start. I visited with much pleasure
many of the factories which witness to this, and I hope before I leave
to have made a still more exhaustive examination of the establishments
which are rapidly rising among you. That the wares produced by these
are appreciated beyond the limits of the city is very evident
throughout the Province, where cleanliness is insured by Victoria soap,
and comfort, or at least contentment and consolation, by Kurtz's
Victoria cigars. (Loud laughter and applause.) No words can be too
strong to express the charm of this delightful land, where a climate
softer and more constant than that of the south of England ensures at
all times of the year a full enjoyment of the wonderful loveliness of
nature around you. There is no doubt that any Canadian who visits this
island and the mainland shores and sees the happiness of the people,
the forest laden coast, the tranquil gulfs and glorious mountains, can
but congratulate himself that his country possesses scenes of such
perfect beauty. (Applause.) We who have been much touched by the warmth
of your welcome will, I am sure, sympathise with the desire which will
be felt by every travelled Canadian in the future, that every alternate
year at least the Dominion Parliament should meet at New Westminster,
Nanaimo, or in Victoria. (Laughter and applause.) Where men seem to
live with such comfort, regret will inevitably arise that you have as
yet so few to share your good fortune. Though your contribution to the
revenue is at least a million dollars, there are only twenty thousand
white men over the three hundred and fifty thousand square miles of
Province. Various causes, the most formidable of these being physical,
have hitherto contributed to this. The physical difficulties,
tremendous as they are, are being rapidly conquered There is no cause
why any of a different character should not be surmounted with an equal
success. What is wanted to effect this object is only cordial
co-operation with the central Government. (Cheers.) There was perhaps a
time when the Governor-General would not have been regarded, in his
official capacity at all events, with as much favour as I flatter
myself may now be the case. (Applause.) No wonder that the feeling is
changed, now that the circumstances are better understood, for I
challenge any one to mention any example in which a government, ruling
over a comparatively small population of four and a half millions, has
ever done as much as has the Canadian Government to insure for its
furthest Provinces the railway communication which is an essential for
the development of the resources of the land. (Cheering.) Mr. Francis
[1] will back me, I am certain, when I say that the United States, with
a population of fifteen or twenty millions, when California was first
settled in 1849, did not push the railway through to the Pacific Coast
in the vigorous manner in which the Canadian Government is now doing.
(Loud cheers.) I have full confidence that you will see that policy of
enterprise and of justice nobly carried out. Early promises, if made
too hastily, showed that if there was profound ignorance of the physical
geography of your country, there was at all events profound goodwill.
Later events have proved that in spite of all obstacles "where there
is a will there is a way." Pride in national feeling has made the country
strain every nerve to bind still further with the sentiment of
confidence the unity of the Confederation. (Applause.) Where is now the
old talk which we used to hear from a few of the faint-hearted of a
change in destiny or of annexation? (Cheers.) It does not exist. To be
sure, here I have heard some vague terror expressed, but it is a terror
which I have heard expressed among our friends on the American Pacific
Slope also, and it is to the effect that annexation must soon take place
to the Celestial Empire. (Great laughter.) Well, gentlemen, I fully
sympathise with this fear. None of us like to die before our time, but
I will suggest to you, from the healthy signs and vitality I see around
me, that your time has not yet come. Your object now is to live, and
for that purpose to get your enterprises and your railways as part of
your assets. (Applause.) The rest will follow in time, but at the
present moment we must concern ourselves with practical politics. Let
us look beyond this Island and beyond even those difficult mountains,
and see what our neighbours and friends to the south of us are about.
An army of workmen--exactly double that now employed in this Province--are
driving with a speed that seems wonderful a railway through to the coast.
In another year or two a large traffic, encouraged by the competition in
freights between it, the Central and the Southern Pacific will have been
acquired. You are, by the very nature of things, heavily handicapped
here, and a trade, as you know, once established is not easily rivalled.
Take care that you are in the market for this competition at as early a
day as possible. When you are as rich as California, and have as many
public works as Queensland, it may be time for you to reconsider your
position. There is no reason ultimately to doubt that the population
attracted to you as soon as you have a line through the mountains,
will be the population which we most desire to have--a people like
that of the old Imperial Islands, drawn from the strongest races of
northern Europe,--one that with English, American, Irish, German,
French and Scandinavian blood shall be a worthy son of the old Mother
of Nations. (Loud applause.) Only last week, in seven days, no less
than 900 people came to San Francisco by the overland route from the
East. Your case will be the same if with "a strong pull and a pull
altogether" you get your public works completed. I have spoken of
your being pretty heavily handicapped. In saying this, I refer to the
agricultural capabilities of the Province alone. Of course you have
nothing like the available land that the central Provinces possess,
yet it seems to me you have enough for all the men who are likely to
come to you for the next few years as farmers or owners of small ranches.
(Applause.) The climate of the interior for at least one hundred
miles north of the boundary line has a far shorter winter than that
of most of Alberta or Arthabaska. Losses of crops from early frosts
or of cattle from severe weather are unknown to the settlers of your
upper valleys. In these--and I wish there were more of these
valleys--all garden produce and small fruits can be cultivated with
the greatest success. For men possessing from £200 to £600 a year,
I can conceive no more attractive occupation than the care of cattle
or a cereal farm within your borders. (Loud applause.) Wherever there
is open land, the wheat crops rival the best grown elsewhere, while
there is nowhere any dearth of ample provision of fuel and lumber for
the winter. (Renewed applause.) As you get your colonisation roads
pushed and the dykes along the Fraser River built, you will have a
larger available acreage, for there are quiet straths and valleys
hidden away among the rich forests which would provide comfortable
farms. As in the north-west last year, so this year I have taken
down the evidence of settlers, and this has been wonderfully
favourable. To say the truth, I was rather hunting for grumblers, and
found only one! He was a young man of super-sensitiveness from one of
our comfortable Ontario cities, and he said he could not bear this
country. Anxious to come at the truth, and desiring to search to the
bottom of things, we pressed him as to the reason. "Did he know of any
cases of misery? Had he found starving settlers?" The reply was
re-assuring, for he said, "No; but I don't like it. Nobody in this country
walks; everybody rides!" (Laughter.) You will be happy to hear that he
is going back to Ontario. Let me now allude, in a very few words, to
those points which may be mentioned as giving you exceptional
advantages. If you are handicapped in the matter of land in comparison
with the Provinces of the Plains, you are certainly not so with regard
to climate. (Cheering.) Agreeable as I think the steady and dry cold of
an Eastern winter, yet there are very many who would undoubtedly prefer
the temperature enjoyed by those who live west of the mountains. Even
where it is coldest, spring comes in February, and the country is so
divided into districts of greater dryness or greater moisture, that a
man can always choose whether to have a rainfall small or great. I hope
I am not wearying you in dwelling on these points, for my only excuse
in making these observations is, that I have learnt that the interior
is to many on the island as much a _terra incognita_ as it was to
me. I can partly understand this after seeing the beautifully
engineered road which was constructed by Mr. Trutch, for although I am
assured it is as safe as a church--(laughter)--I can very well
understand that it is pleasanter for many of the ladies to remain in
this beautiful island than to admire the grandeur of the scenery in the
gorges. As you have adopted protection in your politics, perhaps it
would not be presumptuous in me to suggest that you should adopt
protection also in regard to your precipices--(great laughter)--and
that should the waggon road be continued in use, a few Douglas firs
might be sacrificed to make even more perfect that excellent road in
providing protection at the sides. Besides the climate, which is so
greatly in your favour, you have another great advantage in the
tractability and good conduct of the Indian population. (Applause.) I
believe I have seen the Indians of almost every tribe throughout the
Dominion, and nowhere can you find any who are so trustworthy in regard
to conduct--(hear, hear)--so willing to assist the white settlers by
their labour, so independent and anxious to learn the secret of the
white man's power. (Applause.) Where elsewhere constant demands are met
for assistance; your Indians have never asked for any, for in the
interviews given to the Chiefs their whole desire seemed to be for
schools and schoolmasters, and in reply to questions as to whether they
would assist themselves in securing such institutions, they invariably
replied that they would be glad to pay for them. (Loud applause.) It is
certainly much to be desired that some of the funds apportioned for
Indian purposes, be given to provide them fully with schools in which
Industrial Education may form an important item. (Hear, hear.) But we
must not do injustice to the wilder tribes. Their case is totally
different from that of your Indians. The buffalo was everything to the
nomad. It gave him house, fuel, clothes, and thread. The disappearance
of this animal left him starving. Here, on the contrary, the advent of
the white men has never diminished the food supply of the native. He
has game in abundance, for the deer are as numerous now as they ever
have been. He has more fish than he knows what to do with, and the
lessons in farming that you have taught him have given him a source of
food supply of which he was previously ignorant. Throughout the
interior it will probably pay well in the future to have flocks of
sheep. The demand for wool and woollen goods will always be very large
among the people now crowding in such numbers to those regions which
our official world as yet calls the North-West, but which is the
North-East and East to you. There is no reason why British Columbia
should not be for this portion of our territory what California is to the
States in the supply afforded of fruits. (Hear, hear.) The perfection
attained by small fruits is unrivalled, and it is only with the
Peninsula of Ontario that you would have to compete for the supplies of
grapes, peaches, pears, apples, cherries, plums, apricots, and currants.
Every stick in these wonderful forests which so amply and generously
clothe the Sierras from the Cascade range to the distant Rocky
mountains, will be of value as communication opens up. The great arch
of timber lands beginning on the west of Lake Manitoba, circles round
to Edmonton and comes down along the mountains so as to include the
whole of your Province. Poplar alone for many years must be the staple
wood of the lands to the south of the Saskatchewan, and your great
opportunity lies in this, that you can give the settlers of the whole
of that region as much of the finest timber in the world as they can
desire, while cordwood cargoes will compete with the coal of Alberta.
(Loud cheers.) Coming down in our survey to the coast we come upon
ground familiar to you all, and you all know how large a trade already
exists with China and Australia in wood, and how capable of almost
indefinite expansion is this commerce. Your forests are hardly tapped,
and there are plenty more logs, like one I saw cut the other day at
Burrard Inlet, of forty inches square and ninety and one hundred feet
in length, down to sticks which could be used as props for mines or as
cordwood for fuel. The business which has assumed such large
proportions along the Pacific shore of the canning of salmon, great as
it is, is as yet almost in its infancy, for there is many a river
swarming with fish from the time of the first run of salmon in spring
to the last run of other varieties in the autumn, on which many a
cannery is sure to be established. Last, but certainly not least in the
list of your resources, comes your mineral and chiefly your coal
treasure. (Applause.) The coal from the Nanaimo mines now leads the
market at San Francisco. Nowhere else in these countries is such coal
to be found, and it is now being worked with an energy which bids fair
to make Nanaimo one of the chief mining stations on the continent. It
is of incalculable importance not only to this Province of the Dominion,
but also to the interests of the Empire, that our fleets and mercantile
marine as well as the continental markets should be supplied from this
source. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) Where you have so good a list of
resources it may be almost superfluous to add another, but I would
strongly advise you to cultivate the attractions held out to the
travelling public by the magnificence of your scenery. (Cheers.) Let
this country become what Switzerland is for Europe in the matter of
good roads to places which may be famed for their beauty, and let good
and clean hotels attract the tourist to visit your grand valleys and
marvellous mountain ranges. Choose some district, and there are many
from which you can choose, where trout and salmon abound, and where
sport may be found among the deer and with the wild fowl. Select some
portion of your territory where pines and firs shroud in their greatest
richness the giant slopes, and swarm upwards to glacier, snow field,
and craggy peak, and where in the autumn the maples seem as though they
wished to mimic in hanging gardens the glowing tints of the lava that
must have streamed down the precipices of these old volcanoes. (Loud
cheering.) Wherever you find these beauties in greatest perfection, and
where the river torrents urge their currents most impetuously through
the Alpine gorges, there I would counsel you to set apart a region
which shall be kept as a national park. In doing so you can follow the
example of our southern friends,--an example which, I am sure Mr.
Francis will agree with me, we cannot do better than imitate, and you
would secure that they who make the round trip from New York or
Montreal shall return from San Francisco, or come thence _via_ the
Canadian Pacific Railroad. (Loud and continued applause.) I thought it
might interest you, gentlemen, this evening to hear the last news
regarding that Railway, and therefore I should like to read to you a
letter received only a day or two ago from the engineer in chief, Major
Rogers. You will see he speaks hopefully and assuringly:
"I have found the desired pass through the Selkirks, it lying about
twenty miles east of the forks of the Ille-cille-want and about two
miles north of the main east branch of the same. Its elevation above
sea level is about 4500 feet, or about 1000 feet lower than the pass
across the Rockies. The formation of the country, from the summits of
the Selkirks to the Columbia river, has been much misrepresented.
Instead of the solid mass of mountain, as reported, there are two large
valleys lying within these limits. The Beaver river, which empties into
the Columbia river about twenty miles below the Black-berry (or Howse
Pass route), rises south of the fifty-first parallel (I have not seen
its source, but have seen its valley for that distance), and the
Spellamacheen runs nearly parallel with the Beaver but in an opposite
direction, and lies between the Beaver and the Columbia. I have great
hope of being able to take with me this fall the results of a
preliminary survey of this route. It necessarily involves heavy work,
as must any short line across the mountains, a condition which will be
readily accepted in consideration of the material shortening of the
route."

This is the last news, and I hope we shall hear of its full
corroboration before long. I beg, gentlemen, to thank you once more for
your exceeding kindness, and for all the kindness shown us since our
arrival. I have always been a firm friend of British Columbia, and I
hope before I leave the country to see still greater progress made
towards meeting your wishes.

[1] The United States Consul.



At a meeting of the National Rifle Association, held at Ottawa, 8th
March 1883, His Excellency, spoke as follows:--

I believe all who value those qualities which lead to good
rifle-shooting--steadiness and sobriety--and this means every family in
the country, the father and mother, as well as the young men belonging
to it, should give their ten cents or twenty-five cents, as they can
afford it, to swell the funds of the association. As this association
thus encourages personal, as well as a military training, it merits the
support of all classes. We know that the amount of personal training
that is required produces a love of temperance among those who attend
the meetings of the association, and we know that by the military
training given, a military sentiment is developed, which makes men at
least not averse to discipline in moderation. It has been said by my
predecessor, and I agree with the remark, that Canada is certainly the
most democratic country upon the North American continent, but we know
that although everybody may have been born equal, yet that equality
suddenly and mysteriously disappears as soon as the schoolboy goes upon
the school bench, or the rifleman goes upon the rifle ground. The
militiamen of Canada show that a democratic people do not tolerate
unearned superiority, but recognise the superiority given by training.
I cannot let this opportunity pass without saying a last word as to the
point of view from which I regard the importance of militia training in
Canada. It is more perhaps from the point of view of an Imperial
officer than from that of a man temporarily holding a Canadian civil
appointment. There is a certain amount of feeling in this country that
our whole militia force is a mere matter of fuss and feathers, of
"playing at soldiers" in fact. I think that is always a most
unfortunate feeling, because I cannot say how anxiously in the old
country those steps are watched by which Canadians perfect themselves
for purposes of self-defence. Englishmen know that in case of any
trouble arising, which I hope not to see, and do not believe we shall
see, they are bound and pledged to come to your assistance. The
question must necessarily be asked, With what army are they to operate?
with one that will be of real assistance, or with one that will have no
more cohesion than that which fell under the organised blows of the
Prussian army before Orleans? I can always point to the efforts made in
Canada before my time to have an organised system of military training.
I can point to the grants given by the Government for the encouragement
of individual and regimental proficiency in rifle shooting. I can point
also to the military schools for the militia which are being founded,
and to the steps which are to be taken that officers shall always have
some training received from those schools before they undertake the
responsibility of leading their fellow-citizens in the ranks. I can
point also to that splendid institution, the Military College at
Kingston, and I can certainly say to the old country people, that
should any misfortune arise that should compel us to operate together,
they will in time find in Canada officers who will be perfectly able
and ready to lead men, who from their physical powers and from their
military sentiments and from their hardihood are likely, under proper
training and guidance, to form some of the best troops in the world.
(Loud cheers.)



At the Second Meeting of the Royal Society, at Ottawa, May 1883, the
Governor-General said:--

Mr. President, Mr. Vice-President, and Members of the Royal Society of
Canada,--When we met last year, and formally inaugurated a society for
the encouragement of literature and science in Canada, an experiment
was tried. As with all experiments, its possible success was questioned
by some who feared that the elements necessary for such an organisation
were lacking. Our meeting of this year assumes a character which an
inaugural assembly could not possess. The position we took in asserting
that the time had come for the institution of such a union of the
scientific and literary men of this country has been established as
good, not only by the honourable name accorded to us by Her Majesty, a
designation never lightly granted, but also by that without which we
could not stand, namely, the public favour extended to our efforts.
Parliament has recognised the earnest purpose and happy co-operation
with which you have met and worked in unison, knowing that the talents
exhibited are not those of gold and silver only, and has stamped with
its approbation your designs by voting a sum of money, which in part
will defray the expense of printing your transactions. And here, in
speaking of this as a business meeting, I would venture to remind you,
and all friends of this society throughout the country, that the $5000
annually voted by the House of Commons will go but a very short way in
preparing a publication which shall fully represent Canada to the
foreign scientific bodies of the world. We have only to look to the
Federal and State Legislatures of America to see what vast sums are
annually expended in the States for scientific research. We see there
also how the proceeds of noble endowments are annually utilised for the
free dissemination of knowledge. It is, therefore, not to be supposed
that the comparatively small parallel assistance provided by any
Government can absolve wealthy individuals from the patriotic duty of
bequeathing or of giving to such a national society the funds, without
which it cannot usefully exist. You will forgive me, as one who may be
supposed to have a certain amount of the traditional economical
prudence of his countrymen, for mentioning one other matter on which,
at all events, in the meantime, a saving can be effected. While it is
necessary to have accurate and finely executed engravings of beautiful
drawings for the illustration of scientific papers, it is necessary
that the printing of the transactions should occasion as little cost as
possible; and I believe you will find it advisable for the present that
each paper shall be printed only in that language in which its author
has communicated it to the society. Your position is rather a peculiar
one, for although you work for the benefit of the public, it is not to
be expected that the public can understand all you say when your speech
is of science in consultation with each other. The public will
therefore, I trust, be in the position of those who are willing to pay
their physicians when they meet in consultation, without insisting that
every word the doctors say to each other shall be repeated in the
hearing of all men. When funds increase, it seems to me that the
economy it will probably now be necessary to exercise in regard to this
may be discarded.

In the sections dealing with literature it is proposed to establish a
reading committee, whose duty it shall be to report on the publications
of the year, that our thanks may be given to the authors who advance
the cause of literature among us. To assist in that most necessary
enterprise, the formation of a national museum, circulars have been
addressed by the society to men likely to have opportunities for the
collection of objects of interest, and the Hudson Bay Company's
officers have been foremost in promoting our wishes. The Government is
now prepared to house all objects sent to the secretary of the Royal
Society at Ottawa, and contributions for collections of archives, of
antiquities, of zoology, and of all things of interest are requested. I
rejoice, gentlemen, that I have been able to be with you now; that a
year has elapsed since our incorporation, as this period allows us in
some measure to judge of our future prospects. These are most
encouraging, and the only possible difficulty that I can see ahead of
you is this: that men may be apt to take exception to your membership
because it is not geographically representative. I would earnestly
counsel you to hold to your course in this matter. A scientific and
literary society must remain one representing individual eminence, and
that individual eminence must be recognised if, as it may happen
accidentally, personal distinction in authorship may at any particular
moment be the happy possession of only one part of the country. A
complete work, and one recognised for its merit, should remain the
essential qualification for election to the literary sections, and the
same test should be applied as far as possible to the scientific
branches. If men be elected simply because they came from such and such
a college, or if they be elected simply because they came from the east,
from the west, from the north, or from the south, you will get a
heterogeneous body together quite unworthy to be compared with the
foreign societies on whose intellectual level Canada, as represented by
her scientific men and authors, must in the future endeavour to stand.
One word more on the kindly recognition already given to you. In
America, in France, and in Britain, the birth of the new institution
has been hailed with joy, and our distinguished president is at this
moment also a nominated delegate of Britain. An illness we deplore has
alone prevented the presence of an illustrious member of the Academy of
France, and the French Government, with an enlightened generosity which
does it honour, had expressed its wish to defray the expenses of the
most welcome of ambassadors. We have the satisfaction of cordially
greeting an eminent representative of the United States, and I express
the desire which is shared by all in this hall, that our meeting may
never want the presence of delegates of the great people who are dear
as they are near to us.

It is, gentlemen, greatly owing to your organisation that the British
Association for the advancement of science will next year meet at
Montreal, following in this a precedent happily established by the
visit last year of the American Association. These meetings at Montreal
are not without their significance. They show that it is not only among
statesmen and politicians abroad that Canada is valued and respected;
but that throughout all classes, and wherever intellect, culture, and
scientific attainment are revered, her position is acknowledged, and
her aspiration to take her place among the nations is seen and welcomed.

I am sure that your British brethren have chosen wisely in selecting
Montreal, for I know the hearty greeting which awaits them from its
hospitable citizens. The facilities placed at the disposal of our
British guests will enable them to visit a large portion of our immense
territory, where in every part new and interesting matters will arrest
their attention, and give delight to men who, in many cases, have but
lately realised our resources. Their words, biassed by no interests
other than the desire for knowledge, and founded on personal
observation, will find no contradiction when they assert that in the
lifetime of the babes now born, the vast fertile regions of Canada will
be the home of a people more numerous than that which at the present
time inhabits the United Kingdom.

I must not now further occupy your time, but would once more ask you to
accept my heartfelt thanks for the determination shown by all to make
the Royal Society a worthy embodiment of the literary activity and the
scientific labour of our widely-scattered countrymen throughout this
great land.



The Governor-General's reply to addresses from the Royal Academy and
the Ontario Society of Artists, Toronto, June 1883:--

Mr. O'Brien, Mr. Allan, and Ladies and Gentlemen,--I beg to thank you
most cordially for the most kind and courteous addresses which you have
been so good as to present to us. We shall keep them as mementos of the
part we have been able to take in promoting Art in the Dominion. That
part has necessarily been a very small one. I have been able to do very
little more than make suggestions, and those suggestions have been
patriotically and energetically acted upon by the gentlemen who have
taken in hand the interests of Art. But what we have done we have done
with our whole hearts. The Princess has taken the deepest interest from
its inception in the project of establishing a Royal Academy. When,
owing to the unfortunate accident at Ottawa, she was unable to visit
the first exhibition of the Academy held in that city, I remember she
insisted that I should bring up to her room nearly every one of the
pictures exhibited, in order that she might judge of the position of
Canadian Art at that time. (Applause.) It is very fitting that your
first meeting in Toronto should be held in a building devoted to
education, such as this Normal School. I have not yet had the pleasure
of seeing the Exhibition, but I am given to understand that it is an
excellent one, and shows marked progress. That the Exhibition should be
held in this building shows the appreciation of your efforts on the
part of the Government of Ontario. It symbolises the wish of your
association to promote education by extending Art-training, and
training in design. It is therefore most fitting that the Normal School
in Toronto, the great centre from which come the masters of education
for Ontario, should be chosen as the place in which to hold this
Exhibition. Perhaps when the Exhibition is next held in this city, you
will be privileged to meet in a Hall belonging to the local Art
Society--a gallery of paintings. A proper gallery is yet wanting. I
have seen a good many such in other places, notably in Boston, New York,
and Montreal. I am accustomed to think that Toronto is quite in the
front rank, if not ahead of any other city upon this continent. It
should not be behindhand in this respect. I know, at all events, one
eminent Toronto man who lives not far from here, whose features and
form are as well known as those of the Colossus were to the inhabitants
of Rhodes in ancient days, who is not satisfied with himself, nor is
the world quite satisfied, unless he is at least twenty lengths ahead
of everybody else. [1] The position he has earned for himself is
such that the Provincial Government and the Dominion Government,
with my full consent, are prepared to spend $117,000 this year in
securing his habitation, so that it shall not be swept away by the
waves of Lake Ontario. (Applause and laughter.) I am sure--though
I speak in the presence of much better authority--that if the
association here shows itself as much ahead of the world as the
gentleman to whom I have referred, the Provincial and Dominion Government
will, in the same manner, back up your position by money grants
if necessary. (Renewed laughter.) It has been a great satisfaction
to me that when the Royal Academy was founded, I had the great
assistance and support of the gentleman who was then President of
your local association, Mr. O'Brien. As this may be the last time I
shall have an opportunity to speak on Art matters in Canada, I should
like to acknowledge the debt of gratitude which all those who had to do
with founding the Academy owe to him. With untiring zeal, good temper,
and tact, he worked in a manner which deserves, I think, the highest
recognition. As a result of the labour bestowed upon the project, we
see here to-night the Academy and the old Society in one unbroken line.
With regard to the work done by the Academy, you are aware we have held
three or four annual meetings, and marked progress has been seen. The
patriotic determination not only to hold meetings in towns where good
commercial results could be obtained, but in others, is shown by the
holding of a meeting in Halifax and other towns where it was not
expected that a very large number of pictures could at once be sold.
The good results of this course are shown by the fact that as a result
of the meeting in Halifax, a local Art society is to be established
there. A local association has been started at Ottawa, and is making
good progress. In Montreal a great impetus has been given to the local
society, and throughout the Dominion the cause of Art has been promoted
by a central body bearing a high standard and encouraging contributions
from all parts of the country. We have also to pride ourselves upon the
enterprise of our artists in seeking instruction abroad. Several names
might be mentioned of those who have gone and have diligently studied
at Paris and elsewhere. At the Paris Salon this year, two of our lady
members, Miss Jones and Miss Richards, have been very successful in
having every picture they sent admitted to the Exhibition. (Applause.)
A subscription was made in Montreal, some years ago, for an excellent
statue which was erected at Chambly, the subject being Colonel de
Salaberry, and the artist, Mr. Hébert of Montreal, one of your members.
I am happy to say that Mr. Hébert was successful in the face of strong
competition from Italy, France, England, and America, in carrying off
the prize for the best model for a statue to be erected in honour of
Sir George Cartier by the Dominion Government Another of our members,
Mr. Harris, has received a commission from the Federal Government to
paint a picture commemorative of the Confederation of the Canadian
Dominion. These are marked proofs that the position attained by our
academicians is now recognised; and it shows also, if I may be allowed
to say so, the influence a society like this may virtuously exercise
upon the Government and the treasury. (Laughter and applause.) There is
only one other subject I would like to mention, though it has no direct
connection with Art. But it is one mooted by Lord Dufferin, I think, in
this very place, at all events in Toronto, some years ago. He asked me
when I came not to lose sight of it, but to push it upon all possible
occasions. I allude to the formation of a national park at Niagara. I
believe I am correct in saying that on the American side the suggestion
originated with a mutual friend of Lord Dufferin's and mine, Mr.
Bierstadt. Lord Dufferin took the most energetic steps in promoting the
project. He wrote to the gentleman who was then governor of New York.
Some difficulties arose at the time, still steps were taken by which
the project might have been successfully carried out before now.
However, a change came, and a less sympathetic _regime_ followed
that of the governor with whom Lord Dufferin had communicated. I
believe that now our neighbours are perfectly ready, and have nearly,
if not quite, carried a measure for the scheme so far as it affects
them. Their part of the work is of course a much more serious
undertaking than ours. I request the influence of the Canadian Academy,
and of the Society of Artists, in asking both the Dominion and
Provincial Governments to take measures to meet the Americans in this
movement, if they have made or are about to make it. We should secure
the land necessary to make this park, so that the vexatious little
exactions made of visitors may cease. I am sure it will be an immense
boon to the public at large, as well as to the inhabitants of this
Province and of the State of New York, if this scheme, so well
initiated, shall ultimately prove successful.

[1] Mr Hanlan, Champion Sculler of the World.



Ottawa, May 1883.--Address to His Excellency.--Mr. Speaker announced
the receipt of an informal intimation from the Senate that they were
awaiting the arrival of the Commons to present the farewell address to
His Excellency the Governor-General, in view of his early departure
from the country.

On the arrival of Mr. Speaker and the members of the Commons in the
Senate Chamber, the following address was read to His Excellency and H.
R. H. the Princess Louise by Sir John Macdonald.

To His Excellency the Governor-General of Canada, etc, etc.,--May it
please your Excellency, We, Her Majesty's dutiful subjects, the Senate
and House of Commons of Canada in Parliament assembled, desire on
behalf of those we represent, as well as on our own, to give expression
to the general feeling of regret with which the country has learned
that your Excellency's official connection with Canada is soon about to
cease. We are happy, however, to believe that in the councils of the
Empire in the future, and whenever opportunity enables you to render
Her Majesty service, Canada will ever find in your Excellency a
steadfast friend, with knowledge of her wants and aspirations, and an
earnest desire to forward her interests.

Your Excellency's zealous endeavours to inform yourself by personal
observation of the character, capabilities, and requirements of every
section of the Dominion have been highly appreciated by its people, and
we feel that the country is under deep obligations to you for your
untiring efforts to make its resources widely and favourably known.

The warm personal interest which your Excellency has taken in
everything calculated to stimulate and encourage intellectual energy
amongst us, and to advance science and art, will long be gratefully
remembered The success of your Excellency's efforts has fortified us in
the belief that a full development of our national life is perfectly
consistent with the closest and most loyal connection with the Empire.

The presence of your illustrious consort in Canada seems to have drawn
us closer to our beloved Sovereign, and in saying farewell to your
Excellency and to her Royal Highness, whose kindly and gracious
sympathies, manifested upon so many occasions, have endeared her to all
hearts, we humbly beg that you will personally convey to Her Majesty
the declaration of our loyal attachment, and of our determination to
maintain firm and abiding our connection with the great Empire over
which she rules.



His Excellency the Governor-General made the following reply:--

Honourable Gentlemen,--No higher personal honour can be received by a
public man than that which, by this address, you have been pleased to
accord to me. In asking you to accept my gratitude, I thank you also
for your words regarding the Princess, whose affection for Canada fully
equals mine. It will be my pride and duty to aid you in the future to
the utmost of my power. Now that the pre-arranged term of our residence
among you draws to its end, and the happiest five years I have ever
known are nearly spent, it is my fortune to look back on a time during
which all domestic discord has been avoided, our friendship with the
great neighbouring Republic has been sustained, and an uninterrupted
prosperity has marked the advance of the Dominion. In no other land
have the last seventeen years, the space of time which has elapsed
since your Federation, witnessed such progress. Other countries have
seen their territories enlarged and their destinies determined by
trouble and war, but no blood has stained the bonds which have knit
together your free and order-loving populations, and yet in this period,
so brief in the life of a nation, you have attained to a union whose
characteristics from sea to sea are the same. A judicature above
suspicion, self-governing communities entrusting to a strong central
Government all national interests, the toleration of all faiths with
favour to none, a franchise recognising the rights of labour by the
exclusion only of the idler, the maintenance of a Government not
privileged to exist for any fixed term, but ever susceptible to the
change of public opinion and ever open, through a responsible Ministry,
to the scrutiny of the people--these are the features of your rising
power. Finally, you present the spectacle of a nation already
possessing the means to make its position respected by its resources in
men available at sea or on land. May these never be required except to
gather the harvests the bounty of God has so lavishly bestowed upon you.
The spirit, however, which made your fathers resist encroachment on
your soil and liberties is with you now, and it is as certain to-day,
as it was formerly, that you are ready to take on yourselves the
necessary burden to ensure the permanence of your laws and institutions.
You have the power to make treaties on your own responsibility with
foreign nations, and your high commissioner is associated, for purposes
of negotiation, with the Foreign Office. You are not the subjects but
the free allies of the great country which gave you birth, and is ready
with all its energy to be the champion of your interests. Standing side
by side, Canada and Great Britain work together for the commercial
advancement of each other. It is the recognition of this which makes
such an occasion as the present significant. Personal ties, however
dear to individuals, are of no public moment. These may be happy or
unhappy accidents, but the satisfaction experienced from the conditions
of the connection now subsisting between the old and the new lands can
be affected by no personal accident. I therefore rejoice that again it
has been your determination to show that Canada remains as firmly
rooted as ever in love to that free union which ensures to you and to
Great Britain equal advantage. Without it your institutions and
national autonomy would not be allowed to endure for twelve months,
while the loss of the alliance of the communities which were once the
dependencies of England would be a heavy blow to her commerce and
renown. I thank you once more for your words, which shall be dear
treasures to me for ever, and may the end of the term of each public
servant who fills with you the office which constitutes him at once
your chief magistrate and the representative of a united empire, be a
day for pronouncing in favour of a free national Government defended by
such Imperial alliance.



At the conclusion of His Excellency's reply, Mr. Speaker returned to
the Commons Chamber, followed by the members. The last paragraph of the
speech from the Throne was as follows:--

Honourable Gentlemen of the Senate: Gentlemen of the House of Commons,--I
desire to thank you for the great honour conferred on me by the
presentation of a joint address. The Princess and I have both been
profoundly touched by your words, and the message of which you make us
the bearers, comes, as we personally know, from a people determined to
maintain the Empire. The severance of my official connection with
Canada does not loosen the tie of affection which will ever make me
desire to serve this country. I pray that the prosperity I have seen
you enjoy may continue, and that the blessing of God may at all times
be yours, to strengthen you in unity and peace.






APPENDIX.



The Annual Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures of the Province of
Ontario for 1883 was held at Toronto. The formal opening was on Sept.
15th, and His Excellency, who was invited to open it, and who was
received with the greatest enthusiasm, spoke as follows.

Ladies and Gentlemen,--I only wish my voice were strong enough to carry
to each of you the thanks we owe to every citizen of Toronto, for
nowhere have we received more kindness, and nowhere have we had
occasion to feel greater gratitude for receptions accorded us, than in
your city. These farewells I feel to be very sad occasions. I know that
if the matter had rested with the Princess she would have wished to
postpone them for another year--(cheers)--for we have spent many happy
days in Canada, and would have wished to prolong them. That, however,
could not be. The time for departing, I am sorry to say, has very
nearly come. For my part, I feel as if the sands of the last days of
happiness had nearly run out. (Cheers.) I beg to thank you, sir, for
the reference which you have made in your address to the visit of
Prince George of Wales. (Loud cheers.) It is now nearly twenty-four
years, I think, since his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales (loud
cheers) came here, he being at that time, nearly of the age which
Prince George has now attained. I have often heard from him of the
kindness and loyalty with which he was greeted in Canada. (Cheers.) I
know it has been a matter of regret to him that he has been unable in
recent years to repeat his visit. I know how he watches with the
greatest interest and sympathy the progress of this country, and how he
hopes at some future day he may possibly revisit it. (Loud cheers.) In
the address you desire me to convey to Her Majesty the assurance of
your loyalty--an assurance which we shall deliver, not that any such
assurance is needed--(Cheers)--the reverence and loyalty with which Her
Majesty is regarded is well known to me, but we will faithfully carry
out your commission. It is a message of devotion to the Throne and
Empire coming from a great community. (Loud cheers.) I do not know
anything more remarkable in the recent history of this great continent
than the story of this populous and extensive Province, whose shores
are washed by the beautiful waters of Erie, Huron, and Ontario. Within
the lifetime of a man, indeed only sixty years ago, nothing but an
untouched growth of wood was visible throughout this wide region, where
there are now myriads of happy homesteads--(cheers,) and, while this
remarkable result has been accomplished in so short a time, we see no
diminution in the progress and prosperity of the Province. During the
last few years Ontario may be said to have become a Mother Country, for
she has sent out colonies to the West by tens of thousands, and yet,
owing to the rapid and natural increase of her people, and to the
manner in which the void occasioned by the departure of these has been
filled up from across the seas, we still see the population constantly
increasing--(cheers)--and I believe the next census will show as great
an increase as the last, and that, I believe was 18 per cent. (Loud
cheers.) I was very much struck some time ago by the manner in which
some men, comfortably situated here, wished, nevertheless, to see the
West. I had occasion to ask for the services of two men for a friend of
mine who had taken a farm in Manitoba. One was got immediately, and an
Ontario gentleman, to whom I applied, came to me and said: "You will be
surprised to hear who the second man is whom I have obtained for your
friend; he is a man having a large farm and a very comfortable
homestead, and, while he does not wish to leave the Province
permanently, he desires to go to the North-West to see the country, and
has volunteered to go as a hired man for a year to Manitoba." He left
for that year his wife and child at home. I hope by this time he has
been able to rejoin them. I do not think the desire prevailing amongst
you in Ontario to go westward need cause the men of Ontario one
moment's anxiety. Your ranks will be quickly refilled. Numbers are now
coming in from the Old Country--and I beg to congratulate the
Government of Ontario on the successful way in which they have put
forward the attractions, I may say the great attractions, of this
Province as compared with those of the West, with the view of arresting
some of those who were on their passage farther west. (Cheers.) I had a
conversation only yesterday with a gentleman who is at the head of the
Agricultural Science Department of South Kensington, in London; and to
show you there is a wide field open for the surplus population of a
class you wish to attract, I would like to quote that gentleman's words.
He is a great authority, a Government official, and I am sure his name
is known to many of you--Professor Tanner. (Cheers.) He told me that
over 7,000 men are studying agriculture in Great Britain at the present
time; that over 6,000 had passed last year the examination provided by
Government; that of those 6,000 there certainly would not be an
opportunity in Great Britain for the employment of more than one-tenth;
that is to say that nine-tenths will assuredly, if they wish to follow
out the course which their studies would indicate as the career they
seek to pursue, have to find a place outside the limits of the old
country. I would certainly recommend them to come here. (Cheers.) I
have made such recommendations often at home. Sometimes I have been
told that I incur a great responsibility for doing so. (Cheers.) I
shall be very glad to assume the responsibility for the rest of my days.
(Renewed cheering.) I shall only ask of Ontario societies when they
invite women to come here, to back me in advising the old country
people not to send too many instructresses of youth--(hear, hear)--for
wherever I have made a speech in England advising women to emigrate, I
have always received about 500 letters on the succeeding day from
people who said they were perfectly confident that there was an opening
for a good governess in Canada. (Laughter and cheers.) I wish to
emphasize the fact that there is hardly any opening, for we grow our
own stock in that respect--(Loud cheers),--and I believe in the
Exhibition of which we shall soon be making an examination strangers
will see that among the objects placed in the most honourable position
is the school desk, the school bench, and the school book. (Renewed
cheers.) They will find these exhibited along with the best products of
the factory, the forest, the field and the mine. I say, I shall
continue to recommend this Province, for you have inspired me with
additional confidence--(Cheers)--perhaps because the community have
confidence in themselves. (Renewed cheers.) I will say nothing more,
for I feel I might expatiate at too great a length upon your prospects.
(Continued cheers.) I beg now formally to declare the Toronto
Exhibition of 1883 to be open to the public. (Loud and continued
cheering.)



The following is the Governor-General's reply to an address presented
in the Queen's Park, Toronto. Several thousand persons had assembled
although the rain had descended in torrents for some hours.

Mr. Mayor and citizens of the city of Toronto,--Ladies and Gentlemen of
this great Province of Ontario,--I have again to thank you for a loyal
and affectionate address, conveying your reverence and love to the
Queen. Already several of the Queen's children have visited Canada. On
this occasion you have been welcoming, kindly and cordially, a grandson
of her Majesty. (Cheers.) On all occasions on which members of the
Queen's family have visited this country they have met with a welcome
which evinces your determination to sustain the Empire in which Canada
occupies so large a place. I thank you, sir, for what you have stated
with regard to my term of office. You have had the good fortune to
enjoy five years of prosperity and progress. I would, if you will allow
me, take the words you have addressed to me as not in any sense
conveying a personal compliment, but as expressing your appreciation of
the value of the office which I have had the honour to hold for five
years, and your wish to maintain its dignity. I confess that I am not
so desirous of any personal popularity, but I am jealous for the
position of the Governor-General. I need not tell you, who know it
already, the value of the constitutional rules under which its
functions are exercised. They who disparage the office by telling you
that it is one of no influence would be the first to cry out against
its powers, and they would be right to do so, should those powers be
used in excess of constitutional privilege. It is sufficient that the
ministers, both of the last Government and the present, regard the
office as valuable, and desire its continuance. There is, however, one
point in connection with it which I should wish to impress upon you. In
some quarters, although not, I am satisfied, by the people at large,
the presence of a Governor-General is held to imply something called
"etiquette"--(Laughter),--and implies also the establishment of a
"court." I wish to say from my experience in Canada I am sure that this
is by no means the case. Etiquette may perhaps be defined as some rule
of social conduct. I have found that no such rule is necessary in
Canada, for the self-respect of the people guarantees good manners.
(Cheers.) We have had no etiquette and no court. Our only etiquette has
been the prohibition of any single word spoken by strangers at the
Government House in disparagement of Canada. (Cheers.) Our only court
has been the courting of her fair name and fame. (Cheers.) Now, ladies
and gentlemen, you ask me why it is I am so enthusiastic a Canadian. I
believe I am perhaps even more of a Canadian than some of the Canadians
themselves. I ascribe it to the very simple cause that I have seen
perhaps more of your country than have very many amongst you. I know
what your great possessions are, and to what a magnificent heritage you
have fallen heirs. I know that wide forest world out of which the older
Provinces have been carved. I know that great central region of
glorious prairie-land from which shall be carved out future Provinces
as splendid or yet more splendid than those of which we now proudly
boast. I know also that vast country beyond the Rocky Mountains, that
wondrous region sometimes clothed in gloomy forest, sometimes smiling
beneath the sun in pastoral beauty of valley and upland, or sometimes
shadowed by Alpine gorges and mighty mountain peaks--the territory of
British Columbia. And in each and all of these three immense sections
of your great country I know that you have possessions which must make
you in time one of the foremost among the nations, not only of this
continent, but of the world. (Cheers.) It is because I have seen so
much of you and of your territories that I am enthusiastic in your
behalf, and that the wish of my life shall be the desire to further
your interests; and I pray the God who has granted to you this great
country that he may in his own good time make you a great people. (Loud
cheers.)



On leaving Ottawa, an address was presented by the Corporation of the
city. The Governor-General replied as follows:--

Mr. Mayor, members of the Corporation, and citizens of Ottawa--We both
thank you most cordially for your words, which are so full of kindness.

It is indeed a sorrowful thought to us that the present must be our
last meeting for all time, as far as any official connection between us
is concerned; but we shall hope that it will not be the last occasion
on which we shall again be brought together, for it would be indeed a
melancholy prospect to us were we not able to look forward to some
future day on which we might revisit the scenes which have been so much
endeared to us, and witness the continuance of that progress which has
been so marked in the Dominion during the last five years.

You kindly wish us God-speed, and hope that our future career may be
happy; but we can never again have a happier or more fortunate time
than that spent amongst you; indeed, whenever, in the future, life's
path is darker, we can take comfort and refreshment from the
recollection of the bright days passed under the beautiful clear
sunshine of the Canadian seasons.

If in any way we have been able to please you in the personal
intercourse which it has been our happiness to have experienced on
civic occasions, and in social meetings at Government House, we shall
certainly leave with the feeling that there is no community more easy
to please. The interest and affection we have for you will always
endure, and I hope that when any of you visit the Old Country (should I
happen to be there) you will let me again see you.

But, gentlemen, however pleasant may have been the friendships begun
during the last few years, or the official relations at my office, it
is important that we should not over-value individual likings. So long
as the Governor-General follows the example set by our beloved monarch
as a constitutional sovereign, so long should the favour he finds with
the people endure, and any personal popularity is a thing of no account.
You have been pleased to endorse afresh the system under which we live
and which you think infinitely preferable to that which obtains among
our neighbours to the south of us. But my constitutional governorship
is nearly over, and now that I am practically out of harness, I mean to
assume autocratic airs, and confess to you that I have sometimes wished
for the benefit and adornment of your city to become its dictator with
plenary power of raising federal and local taxes for any object which
may have seemed best to my despotic will. But I have faith in popular
rule, and believe that when I next visit Ottawa I shall see the city
not only embellished by the completion of some of the good buildings
which are now rising, or about to be erected, within its limits, but
that I shall see every street, and especially those which are widest,
planted with flourishing shade trees. I shall probably see a new
Government House, from whose windows the beautiful extent of your river
shall be visible, as well as the noble outlines of your Parliament
Buildings. Leading from this to the city I shall mark how the long,
fine avenue planted in 1884, an avenue which will stretch all the way
along Sussex street past New Edinburgh to Government House, has sent
forth beautiful branches of the foliage of the maple, which perhaps at
intervals may mingle with a group or two of dark fir-trees. I am sure I
shall see any boulders now lying by the wayside broken up to form the
metal for excellent roads, and of course no vestiges of that burnt
wooden house at the corner of Pooley's Bridge will remain. Indeed, I
shall see few tenements which are not of brick or stone both in Ottawa
and Hull, and last, but not least, I am sure we shall find the Ministry
and Supreme Court properly housed in official residences such as are
provided for those functionaries by most of the civilized nations of
the world.

But do not think that I say anything of this prophetic vision in any
spirit of detraction of what we possess here at present. I know well
that without Federal help, such as is given at Washington, and with the
limited area from which assessments can be drawn, it must take time to
build up an ideal city, and I have always found the Ottawa of to-day a
very pleasant place as a residence. You have a society of singular
interest and variety, because so many men of ability are brought
together at the seat of government, and I believe that a gayer and
brighter season than the Ottawa winter is hardly to be met with. By the
increase of good accommodation afforded by the hotels, an improvement,
which has been most notable within the last few years, has been
effected for the comfort of visitors, and its results are apparent in
the great number of strangers who throng your city during the time of
the sitting of Parliament. Ottawa should become during these months
more and more the social centre for the Dominion, and in contributing
towards this, and in working for this end, you will not only be
benefitting yourselves, but aiding in strengthening the national spirit
and the unity of sentiment between the provinces which may be greatly
fostered in convening together, not only the leading men of the
Dominion, but those ladies belonging to other centres of social life in
Canada, without whose patriotic feeling it would be vain even for the
ablest statesman to do much towards national unity and purpose.

For our part we shall always look back upon many of the months spent in
this city as being among the brightest and pleasantest, and in bidding
you farewell we wish to express a hope that it may only be farewell for
the present.

Let me now thank you once more, and may all good remain with you and
yours.

LORNE.
Government House, Ottawa, 9th October, 1883.



At Montreal, on his departure, the St. Jean Baptiste Society and the
Caledonian Society presented addresses. Lord Lorne thanked them for the
personal good wishes expressed, but referring to the presentation to
the Governor-General of addresses from societies representing some race
or old national sentiment among Canadians, he said that he would
suggest that, for the future, Canadians should approach the Head of the
Government only as Canadians, the Mayor or Warden representing all.
Although among themselves they might and would always cherish
recollections of the nationality from which they sprang, a
Governor-General must recognize them only as that which they now are,
namely, component parts of the Canadian people.



His Excellency then replied as follows to the address presented by the
Mayor on behalf of the city:--

_To the Mayor and Corporation of the City of Montreal._

Gentlemen,--Your kind words remind us rather of what we would have
wished to have done than of any accomplishment of those desires. It is
but little that an individual placed at the head of your Government as
its impartial chief magistrate can or may do, and it is perhaps as well
that this is so, for it would be a matter of regret, and one to be
deplored, if the esteem in which that high office is held should depend
on any individual's capacity for capturing popular sympathy. The
position is one capable of much good in moderating counsel, and even in
the suggestion of methods of procedure in government; but any action
the head of the state may take must be unknown, except at rare
intervals, to the public, and must always be of such a nature that no
party may claim him as their especial friend. As a sign of the union of
your country with the rest of the Empire, he has other functions more
important than that of making Canada well known abroad, which it may be
in his power greatly to use for your benefit. Steam communication has
made the advent of emigrants easy, and the emigrant is a better
advertiser for you than any official can be. In short, so far as the
public activity of a Governor-General is concerned, he should rely
rather on the approbation of posterity than on any personal recognition,
taking care only that his name be associated with constitutional rule,
and his impartial recognition of whatever Ministry the country, through
the House of Commons, elects for his advice. It is a source of much
satisfaction to me to know that my successor is certain to follow in
this respect the example of the Queen, whose representative he is.

It would be impertinence in me to speak of his private character, for
they who desire to know of this have only to go and hear what is said
by his loving tenantry and friends on his estates in County Kerry,
Ireland, where an emphatic tribute to his personal worth has been
lately paid him at Dereen. In a few days he will land upon your shores,
and I am certain he will receive that warm welcome which a generous and
loyal people are ever ready to accord to the temporary representative
of constitutional government.

You have alluded, sir, to that happy day in November, five years ago,
when Montreal gave us so splendid a welcome. I remember when the horses
became unmanageable it was the good will of the citizens to honour us
by detaching them, and by drawing the carriage for a long distance
until we reached the great Windsor Hotel. I told them at the time that
I considered it an omen of how a Governor might always trust to them
for support. That impression was strengthened during my stay in Canada,
together with this other, namely, that if anything goes wrong, it is
easy for the people to take matters into their own hands, and to change
the programme, substituting another where order and active purpose may
be clearly discerned.

My residence amongst you has led me greatly to honour your people, and
in honouring them it has been my privilege to honour also its men of
both sides of politics in the State, who have been chosen by the
constituencies to lead their political life. Almost the only pain I
have experienced during my term here has been caused by the personal
attacks which are too frequently made on both sides against party men.
Believe me, gentlemen, such personal attacks do no good in advancing
any cause, but belittle the nation in the eyes of strangers. They are
also, as a rule, as unwarrantable as they are repulsive, useless and
mischievous. I have seen a good deal of the public life and of the
politicians of many countries, and I unhesitatingly affirm that you
have in general in Canada as pure and noble-minded statesmen as may be
found anywhere the wide world over. Where in other lands you see those
who have had political power and patronage occupying palaces and
raising themselves to be amongst the richest of the people, we here see
perhaps too much of the other extreme, and men who have led parties to
battle and been the victorious leaders in honest political strife are
too often left to live in houses which an English squire would not
consider good enough for his bailiff. This leads me to speak to you of
a wish which I have often cherished, but which, to reveal a Cabinet
secret, I have never succeeded in persuading any Canadian statesman to
support by a speech in the chambers of the Legislature. They fear, I
suppose, that selfishness would be assigned as their motive. I
therefore come to you, the people, to propose it, and to ask you--the
representatives and citizens of the wealthiest community in Canada--to
take it up. It is this: that we should have at Ottawa official
residences not only for the Judges of the Supreme Court, but for the
Dominion Ministers of the day. This is, of course, a matter which would
indifferently benefit whatever party may be in power. Should you
encourage the idea through your representatives you will be only
following in the footsteps of many other peoples. Every little state in
Germany provides good residences for its Ministers. At Berlin and at
Paris the nations of France and of Germany look upon it as a matter of
course that the Ministry should possess fit residences. Why should we
not follow an example so obviously good, and, because we rightly ask
the Judges of the Supreme Court and federal Ministry to reside at the
Capital, furnish them with the means of doing so in a manner suited to
the dignity of this nation?

Forgive me for detaining you at length, but in speaking to you it is
impossible not to remember that I am addressing the wealthiest and
greatest community in the country. Montreal must always keep her
pre-eminent position on the St. Lawrence, situated as she is at the end of
the ocean waterways, which form so imperial an avenue to the artificial
navigation connecting the great lakes that lie at the limits of the
vast grain region of the prairies. But while our thoughts naturally
turn westward to the vast interior with gratitude to the Giver for so
wondrous a wealth in the new soils of the central continent, let us be
thankful also for the Providence which has enabled our thrifty and
hardy people to turn to good account the banks on both sides of the
great stream flowing from hence seawards. Let us be thankful that this
great arterial channel has tempted people not only up its own current,
but up the channels of its tributaries, and that under the guidance of
men like Labelle and others, we are gradually having the great country
to the north opened up by settlements which have spread along the
Ottawa, the River Rouge, the Lievre and the Saguenay, until the long
silent shores of Lake St. John have become the busy scenes of
agricultural life. Let us be grateful also that we have this country
garrisoned by men who are as true to the Constitution and the Throne as
they are faithful to their Church, and while we direct our own young
men and the youthful emigrant from Europe to the North and to the West,
let us take care to point out to the stranger the advantages which are
so manifest here for those who either desire a city life or who wish to
reside upon the fruitful and long cleared farms of the ancient
provinces of Old Canada.

Now, _Monsieur le Maire_, accept our thanks and our farewell, but
let me express our wish that our parting may be only for a time, and
_au revoir_.



On the 20th October the Corporation of the City of Quebec presented a
farewell address. The Governor-General in the course of his reply, made
the following remarks:--

Where the laws, the language, and the institutions of each of the
Provinces forming our great Confederation are guarded by a constitution
which sees its own strength in the happy continuance of local
privileges, what wonder is it that success and progress are everywhere
to be seen. The Englishman, Scotchman or Irishman here finds the
traditions of his country continued; the French-Canadian enjoys the
most absolute liberty and safety under the flag which secures to him in
common with all citizens of every Province a national life, the natural
and legitimate desire of the growing communities of this great country.
From East to West the spreading colonies are now able to give each
other the hand. They are beginning to find out what vast possessions
they have. They value national coherence and the maintenance of local
laws. They glory in that glorious name which you first assumed--a
Canadian. You know me well enough by this time to make it superfluous
for me to render any long _éloge_ upon your characteristics.
Although we leave you we shall always be with you in spirit, and
cherish a desire to assist you.

The words of affectionate regret come easily, and I have but little
advice to give you. If there be any, it would be that no part of the
Dominion should exclude itself from the influence of the rest. They who
know only themselves and avoid contact with others go backwards; they
who welcome new impressions and compare the ideas of other men with
their own, make progress. Open your arms to the immigrants who come,
while you endeavour to repatriate your own people; there is room enough
here for all; continue to make the country to the north of you a second
line of wealth-giving lands for the first line formed by the valley of
the St. Lawrence. Remember to direct some of your young men to the West.
I feel that you throughout Canada are on the right track. You have only
to keep it. With the motto--"Our Rights and our Union" you will, with
the blessing of God, become a people whose sons will be ever proud of
the country of their birth.

May your triumphs continue to be the triumphs of Peace, your rewards
the rewards of Industry, Loyalty, and Faith!

THE END.