visit:

"A Divine Providence has designed that France should be our near
neighbour and I hope always a dear friend. There are no two
countries in the world whose mutual prosperity is more dependent
upon each other. There may have been misunderstandings and causes
of dissension in the past but all such differences are, I believe,
happily removed and forgotten, and I trust that the friendship and
admiration which we all feel for the French nation and their
glorious traditions may in the near future develop into a sentiment
of the warmest affection and attachments between the peoples of the
two countries. The achievement of this aim is my constant desire."

Such an incident, followed by the cordial expressions of the French
press and by a visible _rapprochement_ between the two countries, could
not but be of special interest to the French-Canadians of Quebec.
Naturally monarchists at heart, the incident seemed to increase the
personal loyalty already existing there. The Toronto _Globe_ of April
20, 1903, voiced a strong feeling in Canada when it hoped for a future
Royal visit to the Dominion and declared that "it would be a mistake to
suppose that Edward VII. is merely an urbane gentleman, not to say a
lover of the common people; he is a statesman and diplomat of breadth of
view, depth of insight, and quickness of intuition. He knows how to time
his visits in the interest of the peace of the world for which he
humanely and seriously labours." From July 6th to 9th President Loubet
of France was the guest of the King and his reception in London tended
to still further promote good feeling. On October 14th came the
signature of an Arbitration Treaty between England and France. In this
connection much praise was accorded to the King as one of the chief
factors in its evolution. Mr. W. R. Cremer, M.P., the well-known
Radical, made the following comment in the _Daily News_ as to this
victory for Arbitration: "It has been the privilege and joy of others to
do the spade work in this beneficent movement, but to King Edward the
opportunity was, at the psychological moment, presented to complete the
work of thirty years. How well and how nobly His Majesty performed his
part the history of the past nine months clearly shows. Indeed, the King
seems likely to distinguish himself by efforts of a character not
recorded in the reigns of any other English or Foreign monarch."
Addressing a B