.

{176}

CHAPTER X

CANADA'S NEW PLACE IN THE WORLD

Laurier in England--Laurier in France--The South African War--The
elections of 1900--The conference of 1902--The Alaskan boundary

In 1837 a young girl of eighteen had come to the British throne. Many
had wished her well, but few had dreamed that, as the best beloved of
British sovereigns, she would prove an essential factor in a great
imperial movement which was to mark the close of her reign. The
extraordinary length of that reign, her homely virtues, and her
statesmanlike prudence had made her Queen indeed in all her vast
domains and the one common, personal rallying-point for all her people.
The year 1897 marked the sixtieth anniversary of her reign, her Diamond
Jubilee, which the whole Empire now planned to celebrate in fitting
fashion.

The prime minister sailed for England early in June, accompanied by
Madame Laurier. It was his first voyage across the Atlantic. It can
be imagined with what interest he looked forward to seeing both the
land from {177} which he had imbibed his political ideals and the land
from which his ancestors had come to New France more than two centuries
before. But his interest and his mission were more than personal. He
had great tasks to perform. The most immediate purpose was to secure
the denunciation or revision of the Belgian and German treaties. He
was to sit in the third Colonial Conference which had been summoned for
the occasion and in which all the self-governing colonies were to be
represented. There it would be his mission to interpret to his
colleagues from overseas the new imperial and national ideals which
were taking shape in Canada. To the general public he desired to make
better known the vast opportunities Canada had to offer both for the
venturing settler and for the trader who stayed at home. Perhaps less
purposed, but, as it proved, no less successful, was a desire to bring
together more closely the land of his allegiance and the land of his
ancestry.

From the landing in Liverpool in June until the sailing from
Londonderry in August, the Canadian prime minister passed through a
ceaseless whirl of engagements, official conferences and gorgeous state
ceremonies, public dinners and country-house week-ends. He {178} made
many notable speeches; but, more than any words, his dignified bearing
and courtly address, the subtle note of distinction that marked his
least phrase or gesture--with t