1. John Willison, Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the Liberal Party, vol. II (Toronto: George N. Morang and Company, 1903), 388.
2. According to the Library of Parliament, Laurier served forty-four years, ten months, and seventeen days in the Commons, from January 22, 1874 to February 17, 1919. When combined service in both the House of Commons and Senate is taken into account, Laurier’s contemporary, fellow prime minister Sir Mackenzie Bowell, bested Laurier, serving in the Commons from 1867 until 1892, and then in the Senate from 1892 until his death in 1917.
3. I owe a special debt of gratitude to my long-time friend Peter O’Malley, and also my colleague from the Prime Minister’s Office, Evan Silver, for encouraging me to utilize the Internet and look beyond traditional methods in my research.
4. “Well Under Stress of Traveling,” Vancouver Daily World, December 16, 1917.
5. Augustus Bridle, The Masques of Ottawa (Toronto: Macmillan, 1921), 48.
6. John Willison, Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the Liberal Party, vol. II (Toronto: George N. Morang and Co., 1903), 387-88.
7. Ulric Barthe, Wilfrid Laurier on the Platform: 1871–1890 (Quebec: Turcotte and Menard, 1890).
8. Laurent-Oliver David (1840–1926) was a respected Quebec journalist, politician, and friend of Laurier’s. He was made a senator, on Laurier’s advice, in 1903.
9. Barthe, Wilfrid Laurier on the Platform: 1871–1890, v.
10. Richard Clippingdale, Laurier: His Life and World (Toronto, McGraw Hill, 1979), 9.
11. Quoted in “Grandest meeting Toronto ever had,” Toronto Daily Star, October 15, 1904.
12. “Canada’s Royal Citizen unveils bronze statue to Canada’s great son,” Toronto Globe, August 3, 1927.
13. Quoted in Joseph Schull, “Laurier: The First Canadian” (Toronto: Macmillan, 1966), 8.
14. Schull, “Laurier: The First Canadian,” 6-7.
15. Quoted in Réal Bélanger, “The Right Honourable Sir Wilfrid Laurier,” in The Prime Ministers of Canada (Ottawa: New Confederation House, 2005), 32.
16. Source: Proceedings of the Annual Convocation of the McGill University, Montreal, held on Tuesday, the 3rd, and Wednesday, the 4th of May, 1864 (Montreal: M. Longmoore & Co., Gazette Steam Press, 1864), 35-39. Laurier’s speech was read in French and appears in the original in the Proceedings. This is its first complete translation. I am most grateful to Michel W. Pharand for his generous assistance in both translating and annotating this important speech.
17. An allusion to Romans 2:6.
18. Barristers John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon (1751–1838), and Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine (1750–1823), became lord chancellors.
19. Henry Peter Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (1778–1868).
20. Jules Favre (1809–1880), Émile Ollivier (1825–1913), Adolphe Billault (1805–1863), Eugène Rouhers (1814–1884).
21. “Perhaps even this will one day be a pleasure to recall.” Virgil, The Aeneid, Book I, line 203.
22. André Pratte, Wilfrid Laurier (Toronto: Penguin Group, 2011), 13.
23. Pratte, Wilfrid Laurier, 5.
24. Public Archives of Canada, Laurier Papers, 92017, Laurier to W. Gregory, November 11, 1904, quoted in H. Blair Neatby, “Laurier and Imperialism,” Report of the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Historical Association 34.1 (1955), 24.
25. Source: Barthe, Wilfrid Laurier on the Platform: 1871–1890, 1–8.
26. Cokayne is the mythical land of luxury and endless comforts and pleasures from medieval lore.
27. The Greek mythological figure punished in Tartarus, in the Underworld, by standing in a pool of receding water near a fruit tree whose branches forever eluded his grasp.
28. Narcisse-Fortunat Belleau (1808–1894), lieutenant governor of Quebec 1867–73.
29. Louis-Joseph Papineau (1786–1871), the great Patriote leader during Lower Canada’s rebellion.
30. Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauvreau (1820–1890), Quebec’s first post-Confederation premier, later served for less than a year as speaker of the Canadian Senate and, after politics, was a professor of law at Laval University.
31. See “La Barbe bleue,” in Charles Perrault, Histoires ou contes du temps passé (1697).
32. Source: from Ulric Barthe, Wilfrid Laurier on the Platform: 1871–1890, 21-40.
33. Louis Riel (1844–1885), the famed Canadian Métis leader whose leadership of the Métis, particularly during the Rebellions (so-called) in Manitoba and later Saskatchewan, continues to inspire hope for his people and among all Canadians – and to arouse controversy. Issues surrounding Riel proved crucial during the early years of Laurier’s participation in politics.
34. Luther Hamilton Holton (1817–1880), a veteran Quebec Liberal politician who served both provincially and federally after Confederation.
35. Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Granville (1773–1846), a leading British Whig parliamentarian and diplomat.
36. John Sadleir (1813–1856), an Irish nationalist and British parliamentarian who committed suicide after his involvement in a financial scandal.
37. Sir Mackenzie Bowell (1823–1917), Canadian prime minister 1894–96.
38. Thomas Scott (1842–1870) was a Protestant government surveyor whose execution by Louis Riel’s Provisional Government in 1870 inflamed Protestant and Orange public opinion, leading to the dispatch by Ottawa of a military force to what would become Manitoba.
39. Louis Riel spent these years in exile in the United States.
40. Alexandre-Antonin Taché (1823–1894), at this time bishop of the diocese of St. Boniface.
41. Father Joseph-Noël Ritchot (1825–1905), who negotiated with the Government on behalf of the Métis during the troubles at Red River, Manitoba.
42. Sir George-Étienne Cartier (1814–1873), Father of Confederation and Quebec’s key player in Confederation and in Sir John A. Macdonald’s Conservative Party.
43. Source: Barthe, Wilfrid Laurier on the Platform: 1871–1890, 51–80.
44. History of England, Macaulay, Vol. 1. [Barthe’s note]
45. Junius is the pseudonym of the anonymous author of a series of famous letters to the London Public Advertiser in 1869–1872.
46. In Greek mythology, Argus is the famed giant with one hundred eyes.
47. In Greek mythology, Sisyphus is condemned to spend eternity rolling a boulder up a hill and retrieving it when it rolls back down.
48. Charles James Fox (1749–1806) was an important British Whig who spent decades in Parliament.
49. Daniel O’Connell (1775–1847) was a famed Irish political leader who fought for equal rights for Catholics in British-ruled Ireland.
50. Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (1764–1845), Whig prime minister considered the architect of the great 1832 Reform Bill; Henry Brougham (see note 19) served as lord chancellor of Great Britain; John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878), a Whig who twice served as prime minister; Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey (1773–1850), famed Scottish Whig writer, jurist, and politician.
51. The Representation of the People Act 1832 vastly extended the franchise and reformed Britain’s electoral system.
52. The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay, by Trevelyan. [Barthe’s note]
53. Sir Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine (1807–1864), the important French-Canadian politician who, with Robert Baldwin, brought responsible government to Canada East and Canada West in the critical pre-Confederation era.
54. From “La curée,” by French poet Henri Auguste Barbier (1805–1882).
55. Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (1809–1892), the most famous British poet of the Victorian age. He completed his poem (quoted by Laurier), “In Memoriam A.H.H.,” in 1849.
56. The orator has confounded J.B. Rousseau with Lefranc de Pompignan; but the two great lyric poets are so often cited together in collections of literature that the lecturer, who was quoting from memory, may easily be pardoned for this qui pro quo. [Barthe’s note] Jean-Baptiste Rousseau (1671–1741) was a famous French poet.
57. Source: Barthe, Wilfrid Laurier on the Platform: 1871–1890, 141–46.
58. Edward Blake (1833–1912) was Laurier’s predecessor as leader of the Liberal Party. Briefly premier of Ontario, Blake played a leading role in promoting provincial rights. As a young MP, Laurier, in effect, had acted as Blake’s secretary.
59. “The winning cause pleased the gods, but the losing cause pleased Cato.” Lucan, Pharsalia.
60. On August 6, 1870, at the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War, German forces defeated the French at the Battle of Wörth (also called the Battle of Reischoffen). Hundreds of French cavalry were mowed down at close range after a desperate counterattack aimed to cover the French retreat.
61. Source: Barthe, Wilfrid Laurier on the Platform: 1871–1890, 171–91.
62. Alexander Mackenzie (1822–1892), Canada’s second prime minister.
63. Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll (1848–1939), daughter of Queen Victoria, lived in Canada while her husband, John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne (1845–1914), was governor general in 1878–1883.
64. Henry Du Pré Labouchère (1831–1912), noted British politician, writer, and newspaper publisher.
65. Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck (1815–1898), was the famed Prussian leader who is credited with uniting Germany in the nineteenth century.
66. Spencerwood (built 1854) was the official residence of lieutenant-governors of Quebec from the 1870s until destroyed by fire in 1966.
67. Luc Letellier de Saint-Just (1820–1881) was Quebec’s third lieutenant governor; for Sir Narcisse-Fortunat Belleau, see note 28.
68. A small commune in northern France. Laurier was surely referring to one of the poems by noted author Pierre-Jean de Béranger (1780–1857), who satirized in verse the tiny community’s past monarchy. See https://archive.org/stream/onehundredsongso00beraiala/onehundredsongso00beraiala_djvu.txt.
69. When Sir John A. Macdonald’s government fell in late 1873 due to the Pacific Scandal, Alexander Mackenzie was invited to form Canada’s first-ever Liberal administration. He and his party were then victorious in the general election in early 1874.
70. Sir Charles Tupper (1821–1915), a Father of Confederation and briefly prime minister in 1896.
71. Georges Jacques Danton (1759–1794), a leading figure during the French Revolution, served as president of the infamous Committee on Public Safety.
72. Although he remained in the Commons, Mackenzie had been stricken by paralysis and by this time had great difficulty speaking.
73. Sir Richard Cartwright (1835–1912) was one of the leading Liberals of his day. Known for his advocacy of reciprocity with the United States and for his dislike of fellow Kingstonian Sir John A. Macdonald, Cartwright would later serve in Laurier’s cabinet.
74. Source: Barthe, Wilfrid Laurier on the Platform: 1871–1890, 353–88.
75. François de Gaston, Chevalier de Lévis (1719–1787), Montcalm’s second-in-command.
76. Quoted in Richard Gwyn, Sir John A. Macdonald: His Life, Our Times. Volume II: 1867–1891 (Toronto: Random House Canada, 2011), 589.
77. Quoted in Gwyn, Sir John A. Macdonald, 292.
78. Source: Barthe, Wilfrid Laurier on the Platform: 1871–1890, 525–31.
79. Laurier alludes to France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871.
80. Honoré Mercier (1840–1894), one Quebec’s leading political figures, would become premier of Quebec in 1887.
81. Major Charles John Short and his colleague Stg. George Wallick gave their lives attempting to stop the flames during the great fire that destroyed much of the Quebec City community of St. Sauveur on May 16, 1889. Their heroism is commemorated by a statue that still stands in Quebec City.
82. William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (1708–1778), Britain’s famed Whig leader and distinguished parliamentarian, collapsed while speaking in the House of Commons and died soon afterwards.
83. Sir Antoine-Aimé Dorion (1818–1891) was co-premier of the Province of Canada and later served as minister of justice under Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie. He was later appointed chief justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench of Quebec.
84. Source: Willison, Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the Liberal Party, vol. II, 363–71.
85. Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville (1805–1859), the French politician and thinker, is most famous for his two-volume study, Of Democracy in America (1835, 1840).
86. John Neilson (1776–1848) was a Quebec printer, writer, and politician who proved a crucial early ally of Papineau’s, though the two later fell into dispute. Fluently bilingual, Neilsen spent his life seeking accommodation and mutual respect between the French and English populations of Quebec. Edmund Bailey O’Callaghan (1797–1880) was a journalist and politician who became a key partner of Papineau’s. After the Rebellion in Lower Canada of 1837, O’Callaghan, a doctor, fled British North America and never set foot on British soil again.
87. Wolfred Nelson (1791–1863), a doctor and political leader, was a reformer allied with Papineau.
88. At the famous Battle of Saint-Charles (November 25, 1837), British forces overcame those of the Lower Canada rebels.
89. Thomas Storrow Brown (1803–1888), a journalist and military official, was another crucial supporter of Papineau’s during the events surrounding 1837 Rebellion.
90. William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898), famed Liberal who served four times as prime minister of the United Kingdom.
91. Charles Forbes René de Montalembert (1810–1870) was a French intellectual, politician, and writer known for his liberalism. Jean-Baptiste Henri-Dominique Lacordaire (1802–1861), another famous French liberal, made a tremendous impact in the movement to free his country’s educational system from official Church influence.
92. Protestant Protective Association: Based in Ontario, the notoriously anti-Catholic and anti-French Protestant Protective Association was affiliated with the Orange Order. It fought against the presence of French-Canadians in politics and the extension of French educational rights in Ontario and Manitoba.
93. French novelist and poet Victor Marie Hugo (1802–1885), the most famous and prolific writer of his era.
94. Source: Official Report of the Liberal Convention Held in Response to the Call of the Hon. Wilfrid Laurier, Leader of the Liberal Party of the Dominion of Canada, Ottawa, Tuesday, June 20th, and Wednesday June 21st, 1891 (Budget Printing and Publishing Co., 1893). Accessed at https://archive.org/stream/cihm_09048/cihm_09048_djvu.txt.
95. Sir Oliver Mowat (1820–1903), a Father of Confederation, remains Ontario’s longest-serving premier. He later entered Laurier’s cabinet and was appointed lieutenant governor of Ontario. William Stevens Fielding (1848–1929) was premier of Nova Scotia before entering Laurier’s cabinet. He served as minister of finance throughout Laurier’s premiership and held the same post under Prime Minister Mackenzie King in the 1920s. Andrew George Blair (1844–1907), a premier of New Brunswick, joined Laurier’s first cabinet but later resigned over disagreements about railway policy. Arthur Peters (1854–1908) was a premier of Prince Edward Island. Sir Clifford Sifton (1861–1929), at this time Manitoba’s attorney general, went on to become a key member of Laurier’s cabinet; he was known for his work in attracting thousands of European immigrants to western Canada. He resigned from cabinet in 1905 due to disagreements with Laurier and in 1911 campaigned against his former leader’s policy of reciprocity with the United States. Sir Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière (1829–1908) was premier of Quebec before entering federal politics and joining Laurier’s cabinet. He was one of the founders of the Canadian Forestry Association; Laurier would appoint him British Columbia’s lieutenant governor.
96. Thomas White (1830–1888) was a journalist and politician who served in Sir John A. Macdonald’s cabinet.
97. Nathaniel Clarke Wallace (1844–1901), a leading member of the Orange Lodge, served as a Conservative cabinet minister, first under Sir John A. Macdonald.
98. Sir George Eulas Foster (1847–1931), one of the leading Conservative politicians of his era, served in the cabinets of seven prime ministers, from the days of Sir John A. Macdonald to Arthur Meighen. He was Canada’s minister of finance under Macdonald, Sir John Abbott, Sir John Thompson, Sir Mackenzie Bowell, and Sir Charles Tupper.
99. Sir Auguste-Réal Angers (1837–1919) served in the cabinets of three prime ministers: Sir John Thompson, Sir Mackenzie Bowell, and Sir Charles Tupper.
100. Sir John Carling (1828–1911), of the famous brewing family, served with distinction as Macdonald’s minister of agriculture and was later named to the Senate of Canada.
101. On June 20, 1877, a fire swept through Saint John, N.B., killing twenty people and destroying more than 1,500 structures.
102. Sir John Sparrow David Thompson (1845–1894), prime minister 1892–94.
103. Arthur Rupert Dickey (1854–1900), a Nova Scotia MP, was a leader in the temperance movement and Conservative cabinet minister under prime ministers Sir Mackenzie Bowell and Sir Charles Tupper.
104. Joseph-Israël Tarte (1848–1907) was a leading Quebec journalist and provincial and federal politician. While elected to the Commons as a Conservative, he later joined Laurier’s cabinet and later severed ties with him. In the end, they reconciled and Tarte wrote articles in the popular press supporting his former leader. Dalton McCarthy (1836–1898), notoriously anti-French and anti-Catholic, was elected to the Commons as a Conservative but later broke with his party and was elected as an independent. His was a prominent voice during the Manitoba Schools Crisis, calling for the curtailment of rights of French-Canadian Catholics in Western Canada.
105. David Mills (1831–1903), one of the leading Liberals of his generation, served in the cabinets of both Mackenzie and Laurier, the latter appointing him to the Supreme Court of Canada. Sir Louis Henry Davies (1845–1924), a premier of Prince Edward Island and a federal Liberal cabinet minister under Laurier, was later elevated to the Supreme Court of Canada, becoming chief justice. John Charlton (1829–1910) was a businessman and Liberal MP who held his Ontario riding for a commanding thirty-two years. William Paterson (1839–1914) was a veteran Liberal Ontario MP who became a member of Laurier’s cabinet. Sir William Mulock (1843–1944) was an Ontario Liberal MP for decades before entering Laurier’s cabinet. He was later appointed to senior positions on Ontario’s Bench. He is often remembered today as the cabinet minister who brought a young William Lyon Mackenzie King into public life as his deputy minister. Sir James David Edgar (1841–1899) was a Liberal MP known for his strong support of French-Canadian minority rights. He was named speaker of the House of Commons by Laurier and died in office.
106. George Brown (1818–1880), the Reform leader who played a key role (with Sir John A. Macdonald) in making Confederation a reality, had organized the Clear Grit (Liberal) Party in 1857. He was founder and editor of the Globe newspaper.
107. Source: “Future prime minister Wilfrid Laurier visited Pembroke in 1894,” Pembroke Observer, February 25, 2010, and “Laurier’s eloquent words,” Winnipeg Tribune, May 18, 1894, at www.newspapers.com/image/44187108/?terms=.
108. Source: “At Winnipeg: Mr. Laurier’s first speech in Manitoba,” Globe, September 4, 1893.
109. Thomas Mayne Daly (1852–1911), the first mayor of Brandon, Manitoba, served in Conservative cabinets in Ottawa between 1892 and 1896, becoming Manitoba’s first federal cabinet minister.
110. Richard Cobden (1804–1865), British Liberal politician and businessman famous for his support of free trade; John Bright (1811–1889), famed British Liberal politician known for his oratory.
111. Sir Robert Peel (1788–1850), a Conservative, was twice prime minister of Great Britain.
112. Thomas McGreevy (1825–1897) was a scandal-plagued contractor and MP who enjoyed close ties with leading Quebec members of Sir John A. Macdonald’s cabinet. Nicholas K. Connolly (d. 1901) was a principal in the firm of Larkin, Connolly & Co.
113. Christopher Finlay Fraser (1839–1894) was a leading Catholic member of Ontario’s Legislature under Sir Oliver Mowat. He supervised the re-construction, as minister of public works, of the Legislative Assembly at Queen’s Park, dying the year it was completed.
114. Thomas Greenway (1838–1908), a long-time MP, was Manitoba’s seventh premier. It was his government’s anti-French and anti-Catholic educational reforms that led to the Manitoba Schools Crisis.
115. Source: “Two Great Speeches: Laurier Defines His Attitude on the School Question,” Vancouver Daily World, October 16, 1895.
116. The Lines of Torres Vedras were a remarkably successfully set of military fortifications, ordered built by the Duke of Wellington in Portugal during the Peninsular War (1807–1814), which protected British, Spanish, and Portuguese armies from the superior French forces.
117. André Masséna (1758–1817) was the leader of Napoleon’s forces during French invasion of Portugal.
118. Willison, Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the Liberal Party, vol. II, 371–72.
119. Oscar Douglas Skelton, Life and Letters of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, vol. 2 (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1922), 162; quoted in Patrice Dutil and David MacKenzie, Canada 1911: The Decisive Election That Shaped the Country (Toronto: Dundurn, 2011), 23–24.
120. For the full membership of Laurier’s first cabinet, go to http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/encyclopedia/TheCabinetofalltalents.html.
121. Quoted in Joseph Schull, Laurier: The First Canadian (Toronto: Macmillan, 1966), frontispiece.
122. Source: “Brilliant speech by Sir Wilfrid Laurier,” Western Star and Roma Advertiser (Toowoomba, Queensland) August 25, 1897. Accessed at http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/97481114?searchTerm=%22Laurier%22+and+%22Dominion+Day%22+%22London%22.
123. The so-called Trent Affair arose after a British vessel, the RMS Trent, was boarded by U.S. naval personnel from the USS San Jacinto in November 1861 and Confederate diplomats on the British ship were taken into Union custody. British public opinion viewed the incident as a serious affront to Britain’s neutrality rights during the American Civil War and a strike against Britain’s national honour. The incident could have seen the British entering the war but, as alluded to by Laurier, cooler heads prevailed.
124. Camillo Paolo Filippo Giulio Benso (1810–1861), Count of Cavour, of Isolabella, and of Leri, played a key role in Italy’s push for unification.
125. Louis Jean Joseph Charles Blanc (1811–1882) was a leading French socialist and politician.
126. Gladstone’s controversial pamphlet, Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East (1876), became an instant best-seller.
127. Sources: Lewis Copeland, Lawrence W. Lamm, and Stephen J. McKenna, eds., The World’s Great Speeches, 4th enlarged ed. (Mineola, NY: Dover, 1999), 381–83, and “McKinley and Laurier make telling speeches,” San Francisco Call, October 10, 1899, at http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC18991010.2.21.1&srpos=23&e=-------en--20--21-byDA-txt-txIN-Wilfrid+Laurier--1001----.
128. The Great Chicago Fire of October 8 to 10, 1871, left approximately 300 people dead and destroyed nine square kilometres.
129. John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892), “To Englishmen” (1862).
130. Whittier, “To Englishmen.”
131. Library and Archives Canada, Diary of William Lyon Mackenzie King, January 21, 1901. Accessed at www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/politics-government/prime-ministers/william-lyon-mackenzie-king/Pages/diaries-william-lyon-mackenzie-king.aspx#a.
132. Source: “Presentation to Premier,” Ottawa Journal, May 16, 1902.
133. William Samuel Calvert (1859–1930) was an Ontario Liberal MP from 1896 to 1909.
134. King Edward VII (1841–1910).
135. John Colin Forbes (1846–1925) was a Canadian visual artist; a number of his portraits are part of the House of Commons Heritage Collection.
136. Nova Scotia’s Robert Laird Borden (1854–1937), later Sir Robert Borden, served as Canada’s Conservative leader from 1901 until 1920 and prime minister from 1911 to 1920.
137. Laurier was as good as his word and donated this painting in 1906; it remains part of the National Gallery of Canada’s collections. See www.gallery.ca/en/see/collections/artwork.php?mkey=13100.
138. Source: “Welcomed home by fellow citizens,” Ottawa Journal, October 20, 1902.
139. Source: “Grandest meeting Toronto ever had,” Toronto Daily Star, October 15, 1904.
140. Source: “The Premier of Ontario pleads his party’s cause,” Ottawa Journal, January 21, 1905.
141. Sir George William Ross (1841–1914), Ontario’s premier between 1899 and 1905, is remembered for the advances in Ontario’s education system he led as minister of education under Premier Sir Oliver Mowat. He was named to the Senate on the advice of Laurier in 1907.
142. I am grateful to the Rt Hon. Stephen J. Harper for drawing my attention to this address. It was accessed at www.ourroots.ca/e/page.aspx?id=245091.
143. Albert Henry George Grey, 4th Earl Grey (1851–1917), governor general of Canada 1904–1911.
144. George Hedley Vicars Bulyea (1859–1928), the first lieutenant governor of Alberta.
145. On March 27, 1907, the Fredericton Gleaner published a story stating that a federal cabinet minister had been ejected from a Montreal hotel after being found there in the company of two women of “ill repute.” The minister was later identified as H.R. Emmerson (1853–1914), whose struggles with alcohol were well known in official Ottawa. Emmerson sued the Gleaner for libel, but the case was thrown out. See Ottawa Journal, May 30, 1907, for details of the libel trial.
146. Wendell E. Fulton, “Henry Robert Emmerson,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Accessed at www.biographi.ca/en/bio/emmerson_henry_robert_14E.html.
147. Emmerson family, “Hon. Henry Robert Emmerson, 1853–1914,” undated compilation of biographies and obituaries assembled by the Emmerson family.
148. E-mail exchange between Jacques Poitras and Steve Scott, July 30, 2015.
149. Fulton, op. cit.
150. Emmerson family, op. cit.
151. Source: The British and American constitutions. An address by Rt. Hon. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, K.C.M.G., P.C. LL.D., to the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, 27 October, 1909. Accessed at https://ia802606.us.archive.org/19/items/cihm_74909/cihm_74909.pdf.
152. From Lord Tennyson, “You Ask Me, Why.”
153. Daniel Webster (1782–1852), one of the leading American political figures of his age. He served under three U.S. presidents as secretary of state and was a veteran senator known for his oratorical skills.
154. William Howard Taft (1857–1930), twenty-seventh U.S. president 1909–1913. William Jennings Bryan (1860–1925), one of the most famous orators of his age, was a three-time Democratic presidential candidate. He lost to Republican Taft at the November 1908 election.
155. Horace Greeley (1811–1872), famed American newspaper editor and politician who ran for president in 1872.
156. The Rt Hon. Kim Campbell would like to acknowledge the research assistance for this essay provided by Arthur Milnes.
157. See “Ethel Roosevelt enjoys secret visit to Canada,” San Francisco Call 112.86, August 25, 1912.
158. Quoted in “Canadian Newspapers Reflect Bitter Feeling Stirred Up in Dominion by Reciprocity Fight,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 17, 1911, 27.
159. Oscar Douglas Skelton, Life and Letters of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, vol. 1, 107–08.
160. Quoted in Debates, House of Commons, Ottawa, Canada, May 26, 1898.
161. Quoted in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 17, 1911, 27.
162. Source: “Sir Wilfrid Laurier welcomed by thousands at head of Lakes,” Manitoba Morning Free Press, July 11, 1910.
163. Source: Arthur Morton, Written in Letters of Gold. A.S. Morton’s History of the University of Saskatchewan’s First 25 Years. Accessed at http://library.usask.ca/archives/campus-history/pdfs/Essays2006_Morton.pdf.
164. Robert Stevenson (1772–1850), Scottish civil engineer known in particular for his design of coastal lighthouses.
165. Source: “British Columbia to Sir Wilfrid Laurier,” Vancouver Daily World, August 16, 1910.
166. Sources: “East and West work together,” Chilliwack Progress, September 7, 1910, and “Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the Motherland,” The Times (London), September 5, 1910.
167. Source: quoted in Dutil and MacKenzie, Canada 1911, 228–29.
168. Henri Bourassa (1868–1952), the Quebec politician and journalist, is considered one of the most important nationalist figures in the province’s history. He and Laurier often clashed.
169. Frederick Debartzch Monk (1856–1914) was a veteran federal Conservative leader in Quebec who formed a close alliance with Henri Bourassa, particularly over Canada’s naval question, even breaking with his own party in opposing the navy. He later served in Sir Robert Borden’s cabinet but became disillusioned with the Conservative government’s policies, particularly those on French–English relations.
170. Source: quoted in Dutil and MacKenzie, Canada 1911, 228–29.
171. Quoted in Dutil and MacKenzie, Canada 1911, 34.
172. Richard Bedford Bennett (1870–1947), Canada’s eleventh prime minister (1930–35), is now credited with advancing Canadian autonomy within the British Empire and, while a member of Britain’s House of Lords in the 1940s (as Viscount Bennett), often invoked Laurier’s name.
173. Albert Sévigny (1881–1961), a leading Conservative from Quebec first elected in 1911, rose to become speaker of the House of Commons and later joined Sir Robert Borden’s cabinet. In 1921 Prime Minister Arthur Meighen appointed him to the Quebec Superior Court, where he served with distinction for decades.
174. Source: “Speech Delivered by Rt. Hon. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, P.C., G.C.M.G., M.P., on the occasion of a Banquet tendered by the Montreal Reform Club at the Windsor Hotel, Montreal, Wednesday, May 29, 1912.” Accessed at https://ia802703.us.archive.org/20/items/cihm_75073/cihm_75073.pdf.
175. “My Orders” by poet and journalist Ethelwyn Wetherald (1857–1940).
176. Laurier refers to Lincoln’s famous Second Inaugural Address of 1864.
177. The white feather is the traditional symbol of cowardice, especially in the British army.
178. Sir Francis Hincks (1807–1885), a journalist and leading pre-Confederation voice, was Premier of the United Province of Canada. Sir Allan MacNab (1798–1862), an important railway businessman, was co-Premier of the United Province of Canada.
179. Sources: “Sir Wilfrid – 1893–1913,” Winnipeg Tribune, December 2, 1913, and “Policy of Liberal Party Is for Free Food,” Ottawa Journal, November 27, 1913.
180. The Rt Hon. Arthur Meighen (1874–1960) served as prime minister of Canada in 1920–1921 and 1926.
181. Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt (1817–1893) was one of the leading Fathers of Confederation. He later served as Canada’s first minister of finance under Sir John A. Macdonald and was Canada’s first-ever high commissioner to the United Kingdom.
182. Samuel Leonard Tilley (1818–1896) was a leading Father of Confederation from New Brunswick and a firm supporter of Confederation, entering Sir John A. Macdonald’s cabinet after July 1, 1867, and serving as minister of finance.
183. Joseph Howe (1804–1873) was a leading journalist and political leader from Nova Scotia who served as premier before 1867. Originally opposed to Confederation, he entered Sir John A. Macdonald’s cabinet and was later appointed Nova Scotia’s lieutenant governor. He is considered today to be one of Nova Scotia’s most significant early citizens.
184. Source: “Fight the strong…Be merciful to the weak: Laurier at London,” The Globe, October 12, 1916.
185. Macbeth V.v.19-21, slightly misquoted.
186. Robert Rogers (1864–1936) was an important Manitoba Conservative politician at both the provincial and federal levels. He served as Manitoba’s minister of public works for more than a decade. Between 1911 and 1917 he served in Sir Robert Borden’s federal cabinet.
187. The correct version is “Parcere subiectis et debellare superbos,” “show mercy to the conquered and subdue the proud.” Virgil, Aeneid VI.853.
188. Source: Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s Manifesto to the Canadian People, Ottawa Evening Journal, November 5, 1917, 9. Undated typescript accessed at http://images.ourontario.ca/Partners/WLU/0028356801T.PDF.
189. The resort to an older legal tradition that defers to the Crown, or State authority, may also reflect a more general Canadian cultural trait that shows “reverence for law and order and authority.” See Graham Parker, “Canadian Legal Culture,” in Louis A Knafla, ed., Law and Justice in a New Land (Toronto: Carswell, 1986), 24.
190. See Philip Girard, “Politics, Promotion and Professionalism: Laurier’s Judicial Appointments,” in Essays in the History of Canadian Law: A Tribute to Peter N. Oliver, ed. J. Philips, Roy McMurtry and John T. Saywell. See also Joseph Swainger, “Judicial Scandal and the Culture of Patronage in Early Confederation 1867–78,” in Essays in the History of Canadian Law 10 (Toronto: Osgoode Society and University of Toronto Press, 2008), 240.
191. One British court declared that “war cannot be carried on according to the principles of the Magna Carta.” See Ronnefeldt v Phillips (1918), 35 TLR 46 (CA).
192. Arthur Lower, Colony to Nation: A History of Canada (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1969), 473.
193. (1914) 5 Geo v, c 2 (Can).
194. This resulted in widespread prosecution and “severe” penalties. See Gregory S. Kealey, State Repression of Labour and the Left in Canada: 1914–1920 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992), 301.
195. British North America Act (1916) 6-7 Geo v, c 19 (UK).
196. Source: The Eastern Ontario Liberal Association, formed January 14th, 1919: constitution and officers and advisory council and executive committee: resolutions, addresses by the Right Hon. Sir Wilfrid Laurier and others. Accessed at https://archive.org/details/cihm_74525.
197. Sir Thomas White (1866–1955), Sir Robert Borden’s minister of finance, served from November 1918 to May 1919 as Canada’s acting prime minister while Borden represented Canada at the peace talks in Europe.
198. Daniel Duncan McKenzie (1859–1927) served as interim leader of the Liberal Party and leader of the Opposition from the time of Laurier’s death in February 1919 until August 1919, when William Lyon Mackenzie King was elected the party’s leader.
199. Samuel 1:20.
200. Lord Tennyson, “Break, Break, Break” (1842).
201. The Battle of Alma took place in the Crimea on September 20, 1854, and the joint Anglo–French forces proved victorious; the Battle of Inkerman (November 5, 1854) was another victory for the French and British Forces, joined by the Ottoman Turks, over the Russian army; the Allies laid siege at Sebastopol for a year after Inkerman.
202. See 2 Kings 2:12.
203. See 2 Samuel 3:38.
204. Rodolphe Lemieux (1866–1937) held various positions in Laurier’s cabinet and was a close ally. He later became speaker of the House of Commons.
205. Sir Walter Scott, “Patriotism, Nelson, Pitt, Fox.”
206. Proverbs 4:18.
207. Sir Charles Gavan Duffy (1816–1903) was a famed Irish nationalist who became a significant political figure in Australia; Louis Botha (1862–1919) was the first prime minister of the Union of South Africa.
208. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (1836–1908) served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1905 to 1908.
209. James Michael “Jim” Flaherty (1949–2014) was Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s popular minister of finance (2006–2014), whose death at age sixty-four was mourned by politicians of all parties. On October 22, 2014, there occurred a series of shootings on Parliament Hill in Ottawa perpetrated by Michael Zehaf-Bibeau. After fatally shooting Corporal Nathan Cirillo at Canada’s National War Memorial, Zehaf-Bibeau entered the Centre Block, where he was shot and killed by security forces. There were moving tributes from all party leaders in the Commons.
210. Source: “Canada’s Royal Citizen unveils bronze statue to Canada’s great son,” Toronto Globe, August 3, 1927.
211. Algernon Charles Swinburne, “On the Monument Erected to Mazzini at Genoa.”