ADVANCE CANADA !

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 240, 3 July 1908, Page 7

ADVANCE CANADA !

THE TERCENTENARY. DOMINION DAY SPEECHES. THE ENTENTE IN CONCRETE FORM. (hi telegraph—PßESS association—coeykiget.) (Rec. July 2, 11.42 p.m.) London, July 2. Lord Strathcona, Commissioner for Canada, presiding at the Dominion Day banquet, said that any littlo discontent that might attend tho federation of South Africa would givo way to tho fooling of.unity. What had been done in Canada and Australia was possible in South Africa, also iu tho West India Islands.

Tho Duko of Argyll (formerly GovernorGeneral .of Canada) described the Quebec Tercentenary celebrations as an echo Of the Anglo-French entente. What was Canada after all but a Franco-British exhibition and example of- 140 years' successful friendship. ' ■ '

Lord Dudley, Governor-General of tho Commonwealth, responding to the' toast of "The Guests," said that the secret of the British Empire was not a search for power iu an aggressive sense, but tho contentment of the people of -tho/various nations composing the Empire., 1 Califida represented the alliance of two great nations with a common end—the uplifting and prosperity of -tho Dominion. . ' ' CHAMPLAIN. ■ THE FOUNDING OF QUEBEC. ' "In tho history of Canada there has been no problem so difficult or/ so persistent," writes the " Sydney- Morning Herald," _ "as that covered by tho presence in a British community of a largo and self-contained province inhabited by people of French descent. The pageant to be held in .July at the timo of the Princo of Wales's visit will deal al- . most • entirely with a portion of tho history of France.. "Champlain, the hero of the celebrations, was not the first of the adventurous French-traders to form a. settlement in Canada. Before lio' came a busy trade in fur .had been established, much of it by companies formed and subsidised for the purposo of colonisation. A great deal of exploration had been done in the hope that a new route would be found by soino means which would shorten tho journey between Europe and tho East. Champlain sailed up the. St.' Lawrence in the summer of 1608 in a barqrte of fifteen tons, having on board the materials for a factory to bo erected at the' narrows called Quebec. He left tho two other vessels of his flotilla at l'adoussac, where before his time it had been the custom for all captains to. remain, on account of their ignorance of the hidden in the.course of tho river. Quebec was'.the most westerly point. yet reached by Europonns, l and there tho first settlement of Canada was • formed by a few interpreters and factors for -trade, and tho workmen sent out to erect a depot, a twostoried wooden building, surrounded by a moat and secured by cannon. .

. "Chaniplain canie to Qnobec as the agent of some merchants of Kouen, who had secured one of tho last _ monopolies granted by tho French King. His purposo was trade, and i' was entirely .successful.- But ho was by temperament an explorer. Jle dreamed that his name might become famous in,' the same'way as that of Magellan, who first taught tho world that America is a separate continent. ■It seemed to him quito possible that beyond tho rapids of Lachine thero might lie-a waterway to tho Southern Sea,, or that lie might come upon it suddenly liko the explorers at Darien. For seven years Champlain kept'this purpose in view. His monopoly was at an end ' after one year, but in tho course of the work of explorer and trader he added not only to the wealth of his company, but to the geographical' knowledge then extant. His. example was followed by his countrymen. With the exception of tho threo years from 1629 to 1632 the I'rench flag floated above the ramparts of Quebec until 1759, when Wolfe .won a battle as honourable to tho conquered as to tho conqueror.' The course, of their hundred and fifty, years is-as strong a proof of the great, qualities of-the -French--race as any period 'in their history. The French Canadians • produced statesmen, warriors, and oxplorers of a high order, who showed that ability tocomprehend . and .sympathise with their subject peoples, which has been given to Frenchmen and • denied to men of 'nnotjier race. Their descendants, surrounded by men of another race and subject to another Government have preserved thejr. individuality' in a romarkablo degreo. They remain a representative of France as, it was, untouched' by the shoclr of the Revolution and by the fierce .discussions which preceded, it. The history, of Quebec is reflected in tho halfmilitary, half-ecclesiastic',-, wholly aristocratic character' of the, greater part of the town. The tradition of thejicople is shown in tho rhymes handed on by one generation to another,, with their reference to tho power of ,tho Kmg v of. France, and by their versions of the 6tory s of Marlborough going to tlio wars with an, Indian chief in the part of the ogre. Students tell us that ■ the" work of- French Canadian poets'has a national spirit far more marked than that of other Canadian writers. It is certainly better appreciated by thoso to whom it' is addressed.

"Such a result is one that would be expected from tlife circumstances of the French Canadian people, their political separation from their own race,. and their existence as a minority in the State. The single occasion on .which the spirit of hostility between tho two races was expressed' in open revolt was tho rebcjlion which was followed bv the passing of-the British North America' Act. Lord Durham and his trfo assistants, Wakefield and Biiller, then'. took the same course as ■ was taken by tho Liberal Government when they gavo a constitution to South Africa and obeyed.tho same spirit. They refused to aco.edo to the demands of the. successful loyalists for revenge, they bore a load of abuse and accusations of all kinds, 'and. the result of their work is one of the achievements of the British as a colonising people on which thev can look with, unqualified pride. However ardently they have retained their individuality, the French Canadians havo always been an opposing'force whenever a tendency has becomo manifest towards tho secession of Canada to tho United States."