admiration of the civilized world."

From the beginning the officers of the force have been almost invariably
of outstanding strength who won the respect of the men under their
command by their willingness to share all the perils of the service and
by being always ready to be in front of the troop when there was danger
ahead. Not long ago a veteran hospital Sergeant of the Force, Dr.
Braithwaite, of Edmonton, said finely, "I know of no officer in the
force who would order any man to do any work at all, that the officer
would not do himself. A man would not be asked to ride a refractory
horse that his officer would not or could not ride. This is what has
given the Force its reputation--the absolute confidence of the men in
their leaders, and the complete esprit de corps that was always there."

That the general spirit of the original legislation which insisted on
good physique and respectable character in the men of the force was
carried out in practice, those of us who have known these men in almost
all circumstances and places can testify. To illustrate, I recall in
Winnipeg seeing the men who were going over to form part of the Empire's
tribute on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. After a
stop-over for a couple of hours they fell in to the bugle call on the
railway platform. The men looked like models for the statue of Apollo,
and with the clear eye, bronzed faces and alert movement born of their
clean and healthful outdoor life on the plains, they were goodly to
behold. And when I remarked to Major (now Commissioner) Perry, who was
in command, that it was generally looked on as rather a dangerous thing
to let a body of men loose amid the temptations of a strange city, Perry
replied: "That has no bearing on these men, even though there was a
saloon on every corner. Every man feels that the honour and good name of
the force depend on his individual conduct, and so he can be trusted."
And when in London, the Mounted Police won golden opinions, not only for
their splendid appearance, but for their gentlemanly bearing.

Still another general remark may be made here. It will be remembered
that Butler had recommended that the force to be organized in support of
constituted authority be independent of any party or faction either in
Church or State. And here also Butler's advice has been borne in mind.
Governments have come and gone in regular cycle of years according as
they were thought worthy or otherwis