of Canada. It was they who gave relief to French Canada from the
absolutism of old France, and started her in a career of self-government
and political liberty. When the great procession passed before the Queen
of England on the day of the "Diamond Jubilee"--when delegates from all
parts of a mighty, world-embracing empire gave her their loyal and
heartfelt homage--Canada was represented by a Prime Minister who
belonged to that race which has steadily gained in intellectual
strength, political freedom, and material prosperity, since the
memorable events of 1759 and 1760. In that imperial procession nearly
half the American Continent was represented--Acadia and Canada first
settled by France, the north-west prairies first traversed by French
Canadian adventurers, the Pacific coast first seen by Cook and
Vancouver. There, too, marched men from Bengal, Madras, Bombay,
Jeypore, Haidarabad, Kashmir, Punjaub, from all sections of that great
empire of India which was won for England by Clive and the men who, like
Wolfe, became famous for their achievements in the days of Pitt. Perhaps
there were in that imperial pageant some Canadians whose thoughts
wandered from the Present to the Past, and recalled the memory of that
illustrious statesman and of all he did for Canada and England, when
they stood in Westminster Abbey, and looked on his expressive effigy,
which, in the eloquent language of a great English historian, "seems
still, with eagle face and outstretched arm, to bid England be of good
cheer and to hurl defiance at her foes."




CHAPTER II.

BEGINNINGS OF BRITISH RULE. 1760-1774.