e possess to-day in Canada. We have liberty absolute,
complete, liberty for our religion, our language, for all the
institutions which our ancestors brought from France and which we
regard as a sacred heritage.... If, on becoming subjects of the
British Crown, we have been able to keep our ancient rights and even
acquire new ones, upon the other hand we have undertaken obligations
which, descended as we are from a chivalrous race, we recognize in full
and hold ourselves in honour bound to proclaim. May I be permitted to
make a personal reference? I am told that here in France there are
people surprised at the attachment that I feel for the Crown of England
and which I do not conceal. Here that is called _loyalisme_. (For my
part, may I say in passing, I do not like that newly coined expression,
_loyalisme_: I much prefer to keep to the good old French word
_loyaute_.) And certainly, if there is one thing that the story {183}
of France has taught me to regard as an attribute of the French race,
it is loyalty, it is the heart's memory. I recall, gentlemen, those
fine lines which Victor Hugo applied to himself, as explaining the
inspiration of his life:

Fidele au double sang qu'ont verse dans ma veine,
Mon pere vieux soldat, ma mere vendeenne.

That double fidelity to ideas and aspirations, quite distinct, is our
glory in Canada. We are faithful to the great nation which gave us
life, and we are faithful to the great nation which has given us
liberty!'

A little later to a brilliant gathering he uttered a prophetic wish:
'It may be that here in France the memories of the ancient struggles
between France and England have lost nothing of their bitterness, but
as for us, Canadians of whatever origin, the days we hold glorious are
the days when the colours of France and of England, the tricolor and
the cross of St George, waved together in triumph on the banks of Alma,
on the heights of Inkerman, on the ramparts of Sebastopol. Times
change; other alliances are made, but may it be permitted to a son of
France who is at the same time a British subject, to salute those
glorious days with a regret which will {184} perhaps find an echo in
every generous mind on either side the Channel.' Long cheering
followed these words. Echo, indeed, they have found in these later
days of new battlefields, of a nobler cause and of bravery no less than
of old.

At last this close-pressed summer was over, and Sir Wilfrid Lauri