grandfather's association with the Pangman seigneury (the property
of the fur trader Peter Pangman), his interest was early turned to the
great fur trade of Canada, and he delved deep into its records. The
life and words of Lincoln provided another study of perpetual interest.
Though Montreal was intensely Southern in sympathy during the Civil
War, Mr Laurier, from his days as a student, had been strongly
attracted by the rugged personality of the Union leader, and had
pierced below caricature and calumny to the tender strength, the
magnanimous patience, of the man. A large niche in his growing library
was therefore devoted to memoirs of Lincoln and his period.

Congenial work, loyal friends, the company of the great spirits of the
past--these were much, but not all. The crowning happiness came with
his marriage, May 13, 1868, to Miss Zoe Lafontaine of Montreal. To
both, the marriage brought ideal companionship and fulfilment. To the
husband especially it brought a watchfulness that at last conquered the
illness that had threatened, a devotion which never flagged--for Lady
Laurier is still {17} to-day much more a 'Laurierite' than is Sir
Wilfrid--and a stimulus that never permitted contentment with second
best.

The years of preparation were nearly over. The call to wider service
was soon to come. The new Dominion, and not least Quebec, faced many
difficult political problems. Aiding in their solution, the young
lawyer in the quiet village of Arthabaska was to find full scope for
all the strength of brain and all the poise and balance of temper which
the years had brought him.

[1] _Mes Contemporains_, p. 85.

{18}

CHAPTER II

POLITICS IN THE SIXTIES

Parties in flux--Church and state--The war on the Institute--Le
Defricheur

The year 1841, when Wilfrid Laurier was born, was the year of the Union
of Upper and Lower Canada as a single province. There followed, as he
came to manhood, a time of intense political activity, of bitter party
and personal rivalry, of constant shift in the lines of political
groups and parties. The stage was being set and many of the players
were being trained for the greater drama which was to open with
Confederation.

Canadian political parties had originally been formed on the plain
issue whether or not the majority of the people were to be allowed to
rule. In Upper Canada the governing party, known as the 'Family
Compact,' composed chiefly of representati