vists.

Naturally enough it was the young men of British birth who first
responded in large numbers to the recruiting officer's appeal. A
military background, vivid home memories, the enlistment of kinsmen or
friends overseas, the frequent slightness of local ties, sent them
forth in splendid and steady array. Then the call came home to the
native-born, and particularly to Canadians of English speech. Few of
them had dreamed of war, few had been trained even in militia musters;
but in tens of thousands they volunteered. From French-speaking Canada
the response was slower, in spite of the endeavors of the leaders of the
Opposition as well as of the Government to encourage enlistment. In some
measure this was only to be expected. Quebec was dominantly rural; its
men married young, and the country parishes had little touch with the
outside world. Its people had no racial sympathy with Britain and their
connection with France had long been cut by the cessation of immigration
from that country. Yet this is not the complete explanation of that
aloofness which marked a great part of Quebec. Account must be taken
also of the resentment caused by exaggerated versions of the treatment
accorded the French-Canadian minority in the schools of Ontario and the
West, and especially of the teaching of the Nationalists, led by Henri
Bourassa, who opposed active Canadian participation in the war. Lack of
tact on the part of the Government and reckless taunts from extremists
in Ontario made the breach steadily wider. Yet there were many
encouraging considerations. Another grandson of the leader of '37,
Talbot Papineau, fell fighting bravely, and it was a French-Canadian
battalion, Les Vingt Deuxiemes, which won the honors at Courcelette.

When the war first broke out, no one thought of any but voluntary
methods of enlistment. As the magnitude of the task came home to men
and the example of Great Britain had its influence, voices began to be
raised in favor of compulsion. Sir Robert Borden, the Premier, and Sir
Wilfrid Laurier alike opposed the suggestion. Early in 1917 the adoption
of conscription in the United States, and the need of reenforcements
for the Canadian forces at the front led the Prime Minister, immediately
after his return from the Imperial Conference in London, to bring down
a measure for compulsory service. He urged in behalf of this course
that the need for men was urgent beyond all question; that the voluntary
system, w