SIR WILFRID LAURIER.

Evening Star, Issue 11692, 25 September 1902, Page 5

SIR WILFRID LAURIER.

A devout son of the Church of Rome, but tolerant; passionately devoted to his race and the. fine old traditions of France,yet proud of bis allegiance to the British Crown; a determined upholder of Home Rule in its broadest sense, nevertheless an enthusiast in the vanguard of those stalwarts who. with splendid faith, wn-k for effective Imperial Feneration. Such is Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Liberal Premier of the Dominion of Canada, and probably one of the mod picturesque figures in the British political world of to-day. There is something eminently distinguished in the tail, slim, upright figure, in the clear-cut features cverhodowed by a slight melancholy, the head framed, as it were, by a mass of wavy hair. He possesses the magnetism of a leader of men. the spell of a true orator, though his methods are of the most unostentatious, for he is sober of gesture and chary of using mere “ flowers of speech.” It has been said that his oratory is rather the outcome of the brain than due to the warm promptings of the heart, so measured is the delivery, so close the reasoning, so precise the phrasing. Yet many of his speeches have been vivid denunciations, poetic appeals to sentiment, which have justified his bring called “ the silver-tongued Laurier.” Birth and environment have done much for this favored mortal. The FrenchCanadians retain a great deal of their racial characteristics acute sensitiveness, and quickness of temper, but softened b.v a melancholy tinge, the result of long struggles with Nature and man in the va>t solitudes of their new home. Sir Wilfrid has inherited these sentiments; but he is a Briton also, an admirer of the somewhat stolid matter-of-factness of the AngloSaxon, and he has schooled himself, consciously or unconsciously, to tone down his Gallicism, to graft on what seemed to him best in the modes of being and of thought of the dominant race.

Sir Wilfrid loves Quebec, so grandly situated, so picturesquely diverse in outward appearance, where every street, and nearly every house, is hallowed by heroic associations. Ottawa, the capital, of the Dominion. hits neither the beauty nor the pulsequickening memories of the older city clinging to its cliff, but it is an eminently businesslike centre, and certainly the noble Parliament Buildings, standing boldly on a bluff above the Ottawa River, are most striking. This house was a huge pile, in the Italian Gothic style, and has cost eight million dollars to eroct. The foundation stone was laid in 1860 by King Edward, who was then vbiting the colonies as Prince of Wales. The Parliament includes a Senate, in which eighty-one members (chosen by the Governor-General in Council) sit. a House of Commons (with a membership of 213), library, and offices. One of it» most prominent features is thefinelvproportioned Victoria Tower, 180 ft high, a symbolical monument appealing' to all who gaze on the legislative Palace. It is a worthy “ daughter ” of the “ Mother of Parliaments ” In opposition he showed himself a keen fighter, master of trenchant criticism, and on occa-'ions biting sarcasm. Perhaps his militant powers were never more developed than during the stirring times of the revolution of the half-breeds, under Louis Riel, in Manitoba. His attitude in this connection met with violent attack, for in no measured terms he vnwod that the Government were responsible for all the trouble. He looked upon the rebellion as a political act, unwise, but provoked by bad faith ' R the part of the rulers. “ His whole crime,” be said of Louis Riel, “and the crime of hi® friend®, was that they wanted to b“ treated like British subvert®, and not to bo bartered awav like common cattle." Pledges had certainly b°en given to the half-breed sonatters. and these pledges bad been evaded under the new order of affairs which was to call a new province, that of Manitoba, into being. The execution of Riel was held bv the Liberal partv to be a miscarriage of justice—a stain on the national honor. Lanrier created a great sensation when he violently attacked Sir John Macdonald’s Government for this policy, and electrified the House with his solemn, long-drawn-out “ Too late, too late, too late!” Many persons professed to see in this defence of the half-breeds and of Louis Riel personal, or rather racial, prejudice. It was. however, the result of conviction, and was. indeed, the only attitude cotv intent with the political creed held bv Mr Laurier. Equally unfair w the criticism levelled a.gainst h : m for the part he took in the settlement of the Jeniit Estates question in the Province of Quebec. Undoubtedly the estates had been ecclesiastical property, and the, confiscation on the expulsion of the Jesuits had not. perhaps, been very regular, at all events had never been recognised by the Catholic community. Practically matter® were at a deadlock, for owing to the alleged flaw in the title-deeds the province could not benefit bv its possession of the estates. It was therefore a statesmanlike act to compromise, to arrive at a settlement which in a large measure satisfied the Catholic community, - while benefiting the province and cloring an ever-npen sore. When questions of principle were at stake Laurier could stand firm, as he showed bv boldly opposing the pretensions of the Roman Catholic hierarchy when they attempted to capture the Manitoba public schools. He defeated this in a wav thoroughly satisfactory to lovers of liberty. Quite early in his pobt.ical career he had looked towards the United States as a si®ter country and a splendid market for Canada. In some quarters his motives were misconstrued ; but in advocating reciprocity and in deprecating retaliation in connection with eomnmrcial tariffs he explained that the United States must be regarded as affording a natural outlet for Canadian products, not to be feared a® a political loadstone. Clo-e that natural outlet and di-content might unsettle the people; open the door by reciprocal concessions and all would go’well. To those who spoke of such a policy fostering a tendency to secession he cried: “Away, awav. I say. with such ignoble fears and cowardly considerations.”—G. C. Rothery, in ‘Britannia.’