The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, JULY 4, 1908. A BIRTHDAY GIFT.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13638, 4 July 1908, Page 4

The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, JULY 4, 1908. A BIRTHDAY GIFT.

Earl Grey, thy Governor-General of Canada, has given the younger generation in New- Zealand an opportunity for divesting themselves to some extent of the narrow vision which Bishop Julius finds such a. distressing feature in our colonial life. It 1 was at the suggestion of the King's representative in Hie great Dominion that the invitation announced iu this issue has been extended to the children attending the schools of South Canterbury. Vfe have little doubt that it will meet with a cordial response and that the* juvenile contributors towards tho fund for seething the famous Canadian battlefield as bii Imperial park will be stimulated in a:healthy and patriotic interest in events fvliich laid the foundation for the expansion of our people, not. only on tlw American continent, but in the colonies subsequently established in the Southern Pacific. , The Executive Committee which took in hand the arrangements for celebrating the tercentenary of the foundation of Canada by purchasing tlio He'ghts of Abraham and creating there a large national park as a memorial of the great past, claim that the battle fought there on September 13th, 1759, between Wolfe and Mopteabn, is a turningpoint in our Imperial }>istory. '' Because Wolfe succeeded,' 1 their memorial states, "the way was prepared for the growth, first of British colonics mid then of the British nations, not ill' North America only, but throughout Ihe'Mvorld. In commemorating Wolfe we commemorate ill the truest) sense'the founding ,i>f lour Empire beyond', the seas." The -great historian John Richard Green.'dates'* the beginning of the history of the lUnitid States from the victory of Wolfe liefori' Quebec, f'-r the removal of the French "(lag from the continent threw open the hack country to the enterprise of the British colonel, and prepared the way for the final consolidation and independence of 1 "- the United States, which mistaken statesmanship lout less than half a e&tury ,. to. the British flag. But Wolfe's victory had mo,re . wide-reaching effects than the destruction of the power of Fiance ui; North America. It was the direct caupe\ of .ths Treaty of Paris which ratified the tonquests Britain,hail made iuiditfeietifc*quarters during the . Seven Years' - Wur. - It gave. England complete control in- India, and indirectly, , through" the predominance at sea' which it effliferred upon the Bii- . tish fleet, it opened ,the way,t o the-coloni-sation -of Australia and.-New Zealand. The dedication of the Heights of' Abraham as an lmper'almemorial is ' therefore a project- well calculated to appeal to ilia patriotio instincts of'our own.raee. Some prophetic vision of. the immense importance of Ins. task must', have been ; before the youthful arid weakly general whose brilliant feat of arms w'e are now. invited to honour. " Patch me up sufficiently for tlie work in hand," he said to the doctors before Quebec.' . " After that no"'thing matters." .He was fighting the last. round, of the tight between England and France for the mastery of the continent, arid, as subsequent events have proved, for something more even ,than 1^ that. .The scene of his victory, one of the finest sites in the'world apart from its historic associations, is, in the words of the Memorial Committee, " disfigured by unworthy buildings " —a gaol, a rifle factory, and other structures out of keeping ' with the beauty and the traditions' of the plateau above Quebec on. which Wolfe and Montcalm/ measured. their, strength and laid down their live!". Three hundred years ago\yesterday, Champlain founded at Quebec (lie little settlement which Mas the beginning of the Canadian-nation, and' it is as a memorial of. that event that Earl Grey proposed lo the Canadian people thati. they should, purchase; and form into a national park ■ the ' battleground overlooking the' cradle of- their natioii which settled the flag under which they wei'e to liye. and; prosper.,. It is a , happy circumstance that- the two.'countries front; which the population of Canada trace their descent should now. be united in the friendliest of relations, and that France, equally with, .the British dominions, is being asked to joiii iu' this- birtnd»y gift to her early offspring; The iwhole idea is one to touch the imagination, and we trust' its influence will n«t Be lost upon the pupils of schools in Suutlt Canterbury. ; .