DURHAM'S FORESIGHT

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 56, 7 March 1914, Page 13

DURHAM'S FORESIGHT

"HE BUILT AN EMPIRE"

Large credit was given to Lord Durham, who reported on the conditions in Canada that led to the rebellion of 1837, for the preseht full measure of self-go-vernmeht enjoyed by Canada, by Mr. G. G. S. Lindsey, speaking before the Canadian Club recently. Mr. Lindsey reviewed the development of responsible government in Cahada from the passing of the Constitutional Act in 1791' to the present day. It was the policy of allowing " the various Dominions to govern themselves, he concluded, that was the strength of the British Empire. "The British Empire is built up oil the foundation rock of self-government and lives," said Mr. Lindsey. "The Roman Empire was built upon the basis of centralisation, and though it ruled the whole world, it died. Gone are alfthe older empires of the world, and for the same reason. "Canada blazed the trail, Lord Durham's doctrine was a recognition based on knowledge, inspired by sympathy, that the authority of the Mother Country rested on other than material ascendancy. He appealed to the sentiments and ideals of men, and laid foursquare to all the winds that blow the foundations not only of a great Dominion, which he did not live to^ee, but also of that passionate loyalty which served England well in recent years of warfare and peril. "'That Government alone is strong which has the hearts of the people,' said Fox. 'Canada will one day do justice to my memory,' were the dying words of Durham. The day has surely come, and the hearts of Canadians, strong \n his faith, will ever keep his memory green. Bold and large as were his plans, he built better than he knew. He built an empire."