Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the Premier of Canada, a Roman Catholic
and of French descent, delivered on Tuesday a speech in the Dominion Parliament full of passionate loyalty. He declared that the unpreparedness of England for this war was her glory, as proving that she neither desired nor in- tended hostilities, and maintained that the hearty assistance rendered by Canada would be repeated, if that were the will of the people, by any Government. If, however, such assist- ance became compulsory, then Great Britain must call Canada into her councils. The aid sent would, he believed, be full of benefit to the Dominion, and he asked whether there was a Canadian, when he heard that his brother Colonists had shared in a South African battle, and had been specially recognised by a British Commander-in-Chief, "whose bosom did not swell with pride,—that noblest of all pride, the pride of pure patriotism, the pride of conscious- ness of our rising strength, the pride of consciousness that that day it had been revealed to the world that a new Power had been born in the West." The two races, French and English, were fighting and dying side by side, and in their graves he hoped to see the last relic of their antagonism buried. These are noble words, and we trust that Englishmen will never forget in dealing with South Africa that in one battle a company distinguished itself which was so entirely French that no one in its ranks could speak or understand any other language. When Dutchmen speaking the Taal are ready to die in the same way for the flag our work in South Africa will have been accomplished, and not before.
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