The Dominion THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1903. A GREAT ANNIVERSARY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 257, 23 July 1908, Page 6

The Dominion THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1903. A GREAT ANNIVERSARY.

On Sunday last there began in Quebec a festival of a very notable character— the Quebec Tercentenary celebrations. It is just three hundred years since Samuel de Champlain, seventy years after Jacques Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence, and named Mont Heal, laid the foundations of Quebec as a trading station. To commemorate the completion of Canada's 300 years of existence, a proposal put forward by Earl Grey has been adopted. This is the purchase of. the famous Heights of Abraham, on which Wolfe established the British possession of Canada in that never-to-be-forgotten escalade on September 13, 1759. At present this famous ground is occupied by a rifle factory, a gaol, and other buildings i unworthy of the magnificent site and* its great history. t It is proposed to clear away theso buildings, and convert the Heights, into a national park, crowned with a great Angel of Peace and Welcome looking ocean-ward to the homo of . the British race. The' Canadians, in their passionate devotion to their country, have taken up the proposal with enthusiasm, and the celebrations that will occupy the remainder of .this month v.'i 11 be very intensely, felt'by the whole Canadian; people. The three hundredth birthday of Canada is in every way a solemn event. For only half that time has the country been British territory but Canadians,

with the true nationalist fervour, date their affections from tho very first foundation by Chahplain. Until the fight on tho Heights of Abraham, the history of Canada was a stormy one, and Wolfe's victory was tho final settlement of almost a century of strife between the French and English.

Since the establishment of British paramountcy Canada has had many troubles. The antagonism of the two peoples could not die out all at once, even although the dying complimcnfcs of AYolfe and Montcalm were of that heroic character which might have healed the wounds of centuries. That great fight is a splendid rally-ing-point for Canadian enthusiasm. Today there is no such thing as a bitterness between the Canadians of French descent and those sprung from English stock. They arc all. Imperialists, and they arc kinsmen. Tho late Dr. Drujiiiond, the best-loved of all Canada's poets, and a poet unique in the poignant simplicity of his fine songs, has put in the mouth of a "habitant" a statement of tho reconciliation ' that must touch anybody's heart:— So dc sam' as two broder wo Bottle down. leevin' dero han' in ban', Knoirin' each oder, wo lak* each odor, de French an' do Englishman, For it's curi'a t'ing on dis worl', I'm suro you see it agen an' agon, Dat often de mos' worso ennemi, he's comin' de bes', bes' frion'. More has been written upon Canada in the past few years, in books and in the Press of the world, than upon aiiy other country. As it is the oldest and the greatest of the Dominions—it is the youngest, but the vastest in promise, of all the nations—it is proper that the Imperialist should usually think of Canada .first when he thinks of tho Empire. Tho Dominion, though still in the full tide of youth as a nation, is already great, and she grows by leaps and bounds. Even her bare statistics are amazing. Her. population is six millions, her area is onethird of the Empire, and only one-sixth of her area has yet been tapped by'industry. Her wheat production in 1907 was over 363 millions of bushels; her national 'revenue has increased six-fold in 40 years; the Saute Canal carries more tonnage in eight months than tho Suez Canal carries in a year; .87 per cent, of the Canadian farmers own their holdings.

What tho future has in store for this great country can only be guessed at. Her commercial future is beyond assessment. And her political future—what of that 1 Day by day, and year by year, Canadians feel their country's greatness more and more surely. The nationalist spirit is already so strong that the more timid Imperialists are afraid that in placing Canada first, and tho Empire second, tho Canadians have placed the Empire too obviously second altogether. But there is no reason to suppose that the nationalist spirit in Canada is necessarily antagonistic to the Imperial connection. Canadians at any rate do not think so, as was shown by the outburst of feeling on the occasion of Judge Longley's recent prophecy that Canada would one day grow out of her 'Imperial bonds. It is certain, however, that when, in a measurable period of time, Canada has become as populous and powerful as Great Britain, Canadians will not bo content to take directions from a Department of the British Government. That there will be a breaking away we do not believe. When another three hundred years have passed, however, and Canada is one of tho greatest white nations known to history, " tho Imperial connection " as we know it will probably have utterly disappeared, but the alliance of Canada with the British Empire will remain.