ould call to remembrance the lives of deprivation and uncomplaining
endurance which have made the ground now crowned by the beautiful
edifice full of the most tragic interest, and filled with memories which
will be immortal as long as courage and stout-heartedness are honoured.

Two hundred and fifty years ago the sound of hammer and saw here awoke
the echoes of the forest. Workmen who had learned their craft in old
French towns, when Colbert, the great statesman and financier, was
developing the architecture and industries, revenues and resources of
the kingdom, here reared a wind-mill, the first industrial building in
Montreal.

The winds of these autumns long ago turned the fans and ground the seed
of harvests toilsomely gathered from corn-fields, among whose furrows
many a time the arrow and tomahawk spilt the blood of reaper and sower.
The old mill with its pastoral associations of peaceful toil in time
passed away, and was succeeded by a structure dedicated to the art of
war, for on the same spot stood _la Citadelle_. This stronghold, though
primitive in its appointments, was important during the French
occupation and evacuation of New France, being the last fortification
held by French troops on Canadian soil.

This old earthen Citadel, a relic of mediaeval defence, was, about
seventy years ago, removed, its material being used in the leveling and
enlargement of the Parade Ground, or, as it is called, the
"_Champ-de-Mars._" Its demolition might be regretted were it not that in
an age of progress even sentiment must give way before advance. The
grand Hotel Viger, although built to promote the comfort of the people
of the Dominion, has not destroyed the pathetic interest of the early
struggles and heroism which still clothes its site, and which heightens
the present appreciation of a civilization of which the old mill and
fort were the pioneers.

The hospitable hearth of James McGill, graced by his noble-minded
French-Canadian wife, has also long since disappeared; but through his
endowment, and the prince-like gifts of William Molson, Peter Redpath,
Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, Sir Wm. Macdonald and many others, the
torch of education has been lighted here, which shall shine a beacon for
ages to come. Although but three-quarters of a century old, yet the
University of McGill compares favourably with older institutions, its
Mining Building being the most perfectly fitted up in the world. Its
sons take rank