en flashed across the
ocean come to the people of Canada with startling suddenness.
Words of foreboding had hardly reached us before the last message
came; 'God's finger touched him and he slept.' To the people of the
overseas Dominions the Crown personifies the dignity and majesty of
the whole Empire; and through the Throne each great Dominion is
linked to the others and to the Motherland. Thus the Sovereign's
death must always thrill the Empire. But to-day's untimely tidings
bring to the people of Canada the sense of a still deeper and more
personal bereavement. They gloried in their King's title of
Peacemaker, and they believed him to be the greatest living force
for right within the Empire. In him died the greatest statesman and
diplomat of Europe."

The Hon. R. Lemieux, Postmaster-General and a Liberal leader in Quebec,
added this succinct description: "As a peacemaker and as a
constitutional king he had no equal in the history of modern times." He
expressed the hope that "in the common sorrow of his subjects at the
death of an exemplary Sovereign the ties making for unity and common
interest throughout the Empire may be strengthened and his influence for
good find continued fruition." The Hon. G. P. Graham, Minister of
Railways, also touched on the Empire thought: "His part in the growth
and increasing solidarity of the Empire in matters of defense, of trade,
of common effort for the common interest, must bulk large in history.
Since his assumption of the throne there has been a steady growth in
Canada's loyalty to the Sovereign based on esteem for his personal
character, confidence in his judgment and statesmanship, and pride in
his commanding position among the world's sovereigns." From Mr. Richard
McBride, Premier of far-away British Columbia, came the declaration that
King Edward was infinitely tactful and always patient, the first
gentleman and best beloved monarch of his time; that he was "an
unusually gifted ruler who performed unostentatiously and with inspired
ability his part in the making of British history." To Archbishop
Bruchesi of Montreal he was "a great and good King;" to the Rev. Dr.
Carman, Canada's Methodist leader, he was "royally born and ruled
royally over a free, loyal and loving people;" to Archbishop McEvay
(Roman Catholic) of Toronto he was a ruler "trusted and loved by all his
subjects;" to President R. A. Falconer, of Toronto