iary aid offered to this imperial enterprise
by the British, Australasian and Canadian governments will secure its
speedy accomplishment. I may add here that debates have taken place in
the Canadian house of commons for several sessions on the desirability
of obtaining preferential treatment in the British market for Canadian
products The Conservative party, led by Sir Charles Tupper, have
formulated their opinions in parliament by an emphatic declaration that
"no measure of preference, which falls short of the complete realisation
of such a policy, should be considered final or satisfactory." The
Laurier government admits the desirability of such mutual trade
preference, but at the same time it recognises the formidable
difficulties that lie in the way of its realisation so long as Great
Britain continues bound to free trade, and under these circumstances
declares it the more politic and generous course to continue giving a
special preference to British products with the hope that it may
eventually bring about a change in public opinion in the parent state
which will operate to the decided commercial or other advantage of the
dependency.

This chapter may appropriately close with a reference to the remarkable
evidences of attachment to the empire that have been given by the
Canadian people at the close of the nineteenth century. From the
mountains of the rich province washed by the Pacific Sea, from the
wheat-fields and ranches of the western prairies, from the valley of the
great lakes and the St. Lawrence where French and English Canadians
alike enjoy the blessings of British rule, from the banks of the St John
where the United Empire Loyalists first made their homes, from the
rugged coasts of Acadia and Cape Breton, from every part of the wide
Dominion men volunteered with joyous alacrity to fight in South Africa
in support of the unity of the empire. As I close these pages Canadians
are fighting side by side with men from the parent Isles, from
Australasia and from South Africa, and have shown that they are worthy
descendants of the men who performed such gallant deeds on the ever
memorable battlefields of Chateauguay, Chrystler's Farm, and Lundy's
Lane. Not the least noteworthy feature of this significant event in the
annals of Canada and the empire is the fact that a French Canadian
premier has had the good fortune to give full expression to the dominant
imperial sentiment of the people, and consequently to offer