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s> >

Wm.^d liAURiER, Esq,, M.P.,

fi ■ ■

■ ' ■ "■ •

On the SCth JUN|;, 1877,

IN TOE »8I0 HALL. QUfiBEG,

''LE QLUB CANAI>IBN.

,Vt "

9-g.i

XjEOTTJI?,

■^^^

poiiTiai irfiiRuisr,

DELIVERED P.Y

Wilfrid Laurier, Esq., M.P.,

On the 2GTn JUNE, 1877,

fN THE MUSIC HALL. QUEBEC,

t'NDER THE AtSPICKS OP

"Z^ CLUB CAN AD I en:

QUEr.E(!;

imii\T>:d at thk "mohmxiJ rHRON-in.K" offick.

I'^rr

INTRODUCTION.

Never since the j]^reat oratorical triumphs of Mr. Papi-
neau has such an audience, a public so intellif^ent, cultivat-
ed and enlij^htened, greeted an orator coming to speak
upon political liberty, and to explain the true theory of
constitutional government, the system of successive move-
ments of progress matured slowly but surely, logical, iirm
and pacific expression of a people's march to higher des-
tinies.

It is many long years since we heard a public man speak
oii>matters, others than those concerning his adversaries,
the merits of his party, the crimes of those who opposed
him, the thousand small chicaneries that are the stock in
trade of declaimers. We missed the theory, the meaning
of constitutional principles, the thesis w^hich lays them
down, demonstrates and elucidates them.

In one day Mr. Laurier has taken the position of a states-
man, and has brought us back to the wise and manly ideas,
which by their continual development, have made the
constitutional system the model of all governments. The
audience seemed to have been selected, so many persons of
note of every class were hurrying to listen to the hence-
forth acknowledged chief of the Canadian liberal party,
anticipating the immense importance of his words, and all
ready to accept them as the eloquent formula, the clear,
precise and luminous code of our institutions.

They came from all parts, from ali districts, even from
St. Hyacinthe and Montreal to assist at this unique de-
monstration, and the spectacle was as imposing as it was
instructive. The first men of this country belonging to the
Magistracy, the Bar, and all the liberal professions, mer-
oHants, ^J,an^fact^^6rs and tradesmen, foy none were wiss»

iiii;' from what was lookod upon as a ••rand national do-
in(»iistnilion, crowded to the Hall where Mr. J^aurier was
delivering- his lecture, and showed their approbation by
loud applauso without distinction of motive or party
tendencies or leeling-s. There were over two thousand per-
sons assembled in a Hall that can scarcely accommodate
twelve hundred on other occasions most sought after by
the public. The door keepers overwhelmed by the in-
creasing- crowd had given up receiving- tickets ; the num-
ber was two large and too impatient, they could not be
kept back nor restrained by the ordinary rules. At an early
hour they were allowed free ingress, and the doors were
thrown open. Even the main entrance which is always
closed, even at the most popular performances, and wlich
is not less than twenty feet wide had to be left open, and
the steps which lead by this to the iloor of the Hall were
literally crowded by the audience, who all kept a pro- .
found silence, so that they might lose nothing of what they
had come to hear. There was something grand in the
spectacle of this attentive and enthusiastic audience which
would have applauded at Cv'ery sentence, and which
refrained from doing so in spite of itself, so as not to lose
anything which the orator laid down and demonstrated ;
lor Mr. Laurier's speech was a logical discourse as w^ell as
a platform oration. It was a striking and vivid exidanation
ol what are the true liberal principles, so unknown, so dis-
torted, so calumniated, and which it is vainly attempted to
compare with the fatal lucrubations of European Liberalism.

This speech may be said to have opened a new era in
our politics. It frees it from all coteries and from the
contemptible meanness which is the daily bread of parties,
which quarrel over trilles or for mere transitory satisfac-
tion ; liberalism, looked at from this point of view, becomes
a grand proliiic thesis which frees it from vexatious ac-
cusations and elevates it to the level of a social theory,

\ •

do-

Th(^ in'ents ol" the 26th June, are, above all, lor us French
Canadians, a subjoct of pride and proud encouragement.
Till now we were thought unlit lor a parliamentary career
and with too good cause, for our education has little in its
nature to give us the necessary temperament, so much
do.es our conduct, under i)olitical circumstances, disclose
this want in our education, while our press is almost solely
occupied with frivolous (juarrela or personalities, and seems
to ignore this fact. But inexperience must not be con-
founded with inaptitude, and French Canadians showed on
that evening, ever memorable, the 2Gth June, that they
could, as well as their fellow countrymen of English origin,
understand the working, and appreciate the importance of
representative institutions, when they are explained with
the clearness ihe luminous method, in the calm and the
eloquent argument, in a word with the exactness which
Mr. Laurier displayed throughout his lecture.

The lecture was not a simple pleading in favor of a poli-
tical party, as might reasonably have been expected. It was
a definition of things, long since forgotten but in name, and
brought us back by history, by the example of the liberals
of Great Britain, and by the description of the progressive
march of institutions, to the sense of fundamental principles,
these indispensable guides of which we sadly contemplate
the shipwreck more and more disastrous in the daily quar-
rels of public life.

Apart from the striking ovation which his countrymen
have tendered to Mr. Laurier, they owe him a debt of gra-
titude. They must recognize that he has eased the i^ublic
conscience oi the terrible doctrines i^ught to be imposed
upon it, and which are a total denial of every constitutional
principle ; they are indebted to him for having opened a
road and led the way, an unestimable boon for a people
lost in doubt, and a prey to every uncertainty ; they are in-
debted to him, in a word, for having recalled them to a love

for liboralisin, thr nloi'ious and immorlal fooling which has *
been Ihf .salvation of nations, and to which its enemies have
rendered homage, in every aye, by carrying out necessary
reforms, and by acknowledging popular right?;, against
which they long fought, but which arc now inalienable.

It is then a sort of inission, of which Mr. Laurier planted
the seed on the evening of the 26th June. Ours be it to
carefully watch its growth, and in i)roper tim > to reap the
harvest. Ours be it, to walk without fear or hesitation,
'• with fearless brow," as the liberal orator has said, and
with pride in our principles We now know the route we
are following ; it does not lead us to reA'olutionary excesses.
Liberalism is divested of its savage garb, of its anti-social
and anti-religious character, and is si^en in its true colors,
the love of lawful and necessary liberty, of i>rogressivc
freedom, »\'hich results from the natural conditions of pro-
gress and not from sudd(>ji shocks which dangerous spirits
would wish to impart to it. Such are the characteristics of
Canadian l^iberalism, those which Mr. Laurier has pointed
out, and which wc will endeavour in future to retain.

m '

CiPEBEj, Juno 10th, 1H77.

SIR,

I havo tho honour to inlorm you tluvt, " Lo Clnb Canadien lU*
Quebec," a Club ibuntlcd I'or tho pur[iOHo of political education, havo
decided at one of theii- mot'tings to request you to give a lecture at
Quebec, oil political Lil)eralisni. Wi» live in a time when politi>^M are
bitterly personal, and tho membors of the Club are of opinion that it is
oppertune in the interest of the C<»untry, and of tlio iiibcral Tarty, to
invito you to throw a new light on the principles whicii govern that
Party, and tho object its Leaders have in view. Hoping to receive a
favorable rejily to the reciuest of the Club of which 1 am tho humble
spokesman,

I havo the honor to bo,
Sir,
Vour humble and obedient Servant,

ACHILLE LARUE,
, President "Lo Club Canadien," Quebec.

to WILFRID LAURIER, Esq., M.P.

Drummond and Arthabaska.

Arthabaskavili.e, 14th June, 187t.

StR

* I have the honour to acknowledge yours of the 10th instant,
inviting me in tho name of "Lo Club Canadien " to deliver a public
lecture at Quebec, on " Political Liberalism." 1 look upon it as a duty,
as well as a pleasure, to accept your invitation, and if the day suits your
Club, I will name the 2Cth instant as the date for tlie lecture.

1 have the bono ,o be.
Sir,
Your obedient Servant,

WILFRID LAURIER.

To ACHILLE LARUE, Esq.,

President "Le Club Canadien," Quebec.

^ !,

"iv^.

: V' t

LECTURE

POLITICAL LIBERALISM,

DELIVERED BY

^WILT^PIID IL.A.TJS,IEK., ESQ., JsjT.T*^ '
ON THL 26Tn JUNE, 1877,

■ ' UNDEK THE AUSPiCES OF

M'l'. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I cannot conceal that it is with a certain feeling' of plea-"
sure X have accepted the invitation to come here to explain
the doctrines of the liberal party, and what is the exact
meaning of the Word " Liberalism," as understood by the
Liberals of Quebec.

I may soy that it is not without a certain sentiment of
pleasure that 1 ha y-e accepted the invitation ; but if I had
taken into consideration the difficulties of the task, Iwould,
certainly, have refused. Never tht^less, if those difficulties
were numsrous and delicate, on the other hand I am so
impressed with the importance to the liberal party of clear-
ly deiining its position before public opinion in this Pro-
vince, that I found that this consideration outweighed
with me all the rest ; I do not deceive myself, indeed, as to
the standing of the liberal party in the Province of Quebec ;
and I, at once, declare, that it occupies a false position in
the eyes of public opinion. I know that for a great mariy
of my fellow citiwns, the libdiral party is a party composed

—'2 —

of men holding perverse doctrines, with dangerous ten-
dencies, and knowingly and deliberately progressing to-
wards revolution. I know that in the opinion of a portion
of our fellow countrymen, the li])eral party is made up of
men of good intentions, perhaps, but not the less dupes and
victims of their principles, by which they are unconsciously,
but fatally led to revolution I know that for yet another
portion, not the least numerous, Liberalism is a new form
of evil, in other words a heresy, carrying with it its own
condemnation. I know all this, and it is because I do so
that I consented to appear before you. I am not presump-
taous enough to believe that anything I may say. here, to-
night, will have the effect of doing away with any preju-
dices which exist against us ; my only object is to make an
opening, holding that, when once the same is made, it will
be taken advantage of by others, and that the good work
now commenced will be completely accomplished. Beyond
this mv ambition does not so. This demonstration is
neither useless nor untimely. It is never useless nor un-
timely to combat prejudices which rise on every side be-
tween us and public opinion, and it is neither useless nor
untimely to clearly deiine our position such as it is.

Tt is quite true that w^e have been now a long time be-
fore the bar of public opinion, so that we ought to be known
and appreciated. But it is also true that, if like any other
political party, we havje had our enemies, we have been
assailed more than any other. Some of our enemies have
systematically maligned us and knowingly calumniated
us. Both have represented us as professing doctrines, of
which the eliect foreseen and calculated by some amongst
us, unforeseen but deadly to the rest, would be the des-
truciion of society and revolution with all its horrors. It is
* with the purpose of i ^plying to such accusations and of
defining our true position that the demonstration of this
evening has been organized by the "Club Canadien."

— 8--

In my opiiiion the most efficacious means, in fact the sole
means, of annihilating such charf^es and of defending our
ideas and principles, lie in publishing Ihcm to the world.
Of this truth I am convinced, that the simple exposition of
our principles will be theii best and most eloquent defence.

And when we have fully made ourselves known, when
we have stated our principles as they stand to day, we
shall have effected a double purpose ; the first of which
will be to rally to our standard all lovers of lil:)erty, all
those, who, before as well as after 1837, worked for respon-
sible government or the government of the people by the
people, and who, when once this form of government was
established, separated themselves from us through appre-
hension that we might really be, that which we were re-
presented to be, and for fear that the realization of the ideas
that were attributed to us should cause the destruction f
the government which they had worked so hard to estab-
lish. The second result will be to force our real enemies,
who are all enemies of liberty, more or loss disguised,
to appeal no mere against us to the prejudices or foars of
the peoi)le, but to appear openly before them, as we do,
and explain their ideas and their acts. And then when
the question w^ill be solely fought upon that of principle,
when deeds will be considered according to the thoughts
that inspired them, and thoughts will be considered accord-
ing to their proper value, when there will be no more fear
of accepting that which is good and rejecting the evil, lest
by so doing a party holding perverse doctrines or having
no principles should acquire undue strength, and care little
to which Eide victory belongs, then I say that I am indifferent
as to whom victory shall belong. I do not mean that I am
indifferent as to the result of the struggle. I mean to say
this : that if the struggle turn against ourselves, the opinion
exju'essed shall be the free opinion of the people, but I ani
convinced that a day must come, when our ideas planted
in the ml will germinate and bear fruit, if the sowing

thcreor l)0 healthy and just. Yes, I am confident and certain,
il'our ideas are just, as I believe them to be, if our ideas
e.uanate from eternal and immutable truth, as I believe
they do, they shall not perish ; they may bo rejected, cried
down and persecuted, but a day shall come, when they
shall germinate, rise and g-row, when the sun shall have
done his work and prepared the ground to receive them.

I have already noticed a few of the charges which have
been circulated against ns. I will return to this subject
for in it lies the most important point. All charges made
against us and objections to our principles can be resumed in
the following jiropositions : firstly, liberalism is a new form
of error, a heresy already virtually condemned by the head
of the church ; and, 2dly, a Catholic cannot be a liberal.
This is what is proclaimed by our adversaries. ' ' }■

Mr. Chairman, all those who do me the honor of listen-
ing to me, at this moment, will cordially admit that
I state the question as it is, without any exaggera-
tion. They will do me the justice to say that I
repeat exactly the reproaches which are daily addressed
to us ; all will admit that the language I use is
simply the language of the conservative press. I know
that Catholic Liberalism is condeuined bv the head of the
church ; and I may be asked what is Catholic Liberalism.
At the threshold of the question I refrain. The question is
not included in my subject, and, moreover is beyond my
power to elucidate. But I may also say that Catholic
Liberalism is not Political Liberalism. If it were true that
ecclesiastical censure against Catholic Liberalism should
ap])ly to Political Liberalism, this fact wou.ld constitute for
us, French in origin and Catholic in religion, a state of '.hings
the consequence of which would be as strange as sad.
The fact is, we French Canadians are a conquered race.
This is a sad trnth to tell, but it is nevertheless the truth.
But if we are a conquered race, we have also made a con-
quest, the conquest of Liberty. We are a free people.

— 5

We arc in the minority ; but we have preserved all our
rights and privileges. But what is it that guarantees us
this li'uerty ? It is the eonstitution that was won for us by
our lathers and which we, to day, enjoy. We have a con-
stitution that places the Government in the hands of the
people. We have a constitution that has been granted to
us for our own defence. We have no more rights nor
greater privileges, but we have as many rights and privileges
as the other races which, with us, constitute the: Canadian
family. Again, it must not be forgotten that the other
members of the Canadian family slyh divided into two
parties, the Liberal and the Conservative.

Now, if we who are Catholics had no right of choice, if
we had not the right of belonging to the liberal paity, one
of two things must occur ; either we would be obliged to
completely abstain from taking part in the direction of pub-
lic ailairs, and then the constitution, which was granted to
us for our protection, would be but a dead letter, or we
should have to take part in the idministration oi state
affairs under the direction and for the benelit of the con-
servative party ; thus, our action being no longer free, the
constitution would be a dead letter in our hands, and we
would moreover, have to suiter the disgrace of being, for
the other raeml>ers of the Canadian family who make up
the conservative party, mere tools or supernumeraries. Do
not these absurd consequences, but of which no one can
deny the strict correctness, show, in the most undoubted
manner, how utterly false the assertion is that a Catholic
cannot belong to the liberal party ?

Since providence has united in this part of the world,
populations of diflereut origins and creeds, is it not mani-
fest that these dilil-ront people should have interest iden-
tical and in common ; and in regard of anything relating
to its interest, each is free to belong to the liberal party or
to the conservative, according as conscience directs them to
follow one or the other.

6 —

As for myself I belong- to the liberal parly. If to be a
liberal is a term of reproach, that reproach I accept. Kit
is a crime to be a liberal, then I am guilty. One thinf^ only
I claim, that is, that we be judged according to our prin-
ciples. I would bo ashamed of our principles if we did
not dare to avow them. Our cause would not be worth
the ellbrts to secure victory, if the best means of doing so
were to (conceal its nature. The liberal party have been for
twenty-live years in opposition, let it be twenty-live years
more if the people be not ready to accept its ideas, but let
it march with fearless brow, with its banners unfurled in
the face of the country. It behoves, however, before all
things to understand the meaning, the value and the bear-
ing of the word " Liberal," and of the term " Conservative."

I affirm that there is nothing so little understood in this
country by those who attack it, as Liberalism. There are
several reasons for this. . ,, . ,:

We were but yesterday initiated into representative in-
stitutions — the English population understood the working
of these institutions by a sort of intuition, strengthened
further by a century's experience. Our population as
yet, scarcely know them. Education has but begun to
be spread amongst us ; and for those who are educated,
our French training naturally l«?ds us to the study
of modern liberty, not in the classic land of liberty, not in
the History of old England, but amongst the nations of con-
tinental Europe, amongst the nations that are allied to us
in blood or in religion. And, unfortunately, the history of
liberty is written there in characters of blood, in the most
lieartrending pages of the history of the human race.
Terrilied by these mournful records, you will find amongst
all classes of educated people loyal souls, who look with
horror upon the spirit of 1 1)erty, imagining that that spirit
of liberty must, here, result in the same disasters and crimes
as in the countries of which I speak. For these veil mean-
ing minds, the very name of Liberalism is fraught witl^
national calamity.

— 7 —

Without entirely censuring- these fes. -s but without
allowing ourselves to be terriJied by them, lot us ascend to
the very source and examine calmly what is, at bottom, the
meaning of these two words, Liberal and Conservative.
What idea is concealed beneath the word " Li])eral " which
has been subjected to so many anathemas ? what does the
word " Conservative " mean which seems so sacred, that
it is modestly applied to all that is good ^ Is the one, as it
is pretended, as in fact it is affirmed everyday to be, a new
form of error ? Is the other, as it is constantly insinuated,
synonymous of good, in all its phases ':? Is the one, revolution,
anarchy, disorder 'i Is the other the sole safe principle of
society ? Such are the questions which are asked every day
in this country. These subtle distinctions, w^hich are
continually brought forward in our press, are, nevertheless
old. They are but the rei)etition of the dreams of certain
French publicists who, shut up in their studies, look only
upon the past, and who bitterly criticise everthing that now
exists because existing things do not resemble those of old.
Such people say that the Liberal idea is a new one ; and
in this they are mistaken. The Liberal idea as well as its
opposite is not new. It is as old as the world, and it is to
be found in every page of its history. But it is only to-day
that we understand its forces and its laws and know^ how
to utilize them. Steam existed before Fulton ; but it is only
since Fulton that we know the scope of its power and how
to make it produce its marvellous results. It is the com-
bination of the tube and piston that serves to utilize the
steam. It is the form of representative government that
has revealed to the world the principles — Liberalism and
Conservatism ; and it is that form of government that draws
from each its full powers- - .■ '

On no subject in human affairs, does truth manifest
itself in an equal degree to each intelligence. Some dive
deeper into the unknown but grasp less at a time. With
others the contemplation, although it be less penetrating,

■w

— 8 —

;■+

yet as 'far as that vision extends, they see more clearly.
This primordial distinction explains at once to a certain
dei^ree the Liberal idea and that of Conservatism. For
this reason alone, the same object will not l)e viewed in the
same manner by different persons. For this sole reason some
will take a route which others will avoid, when, however,
both intend to reach the same end. But there is one conclu-
sive reason that explains the nature, the reason, the why and
the wherefore of the two dilierent. ideas. Macaulay in the
history of England defines this in a remarkably clear
manner. Speaking of the assemblhig of the British Houses
of Parliament, in the second session of the Long Parliament,
in the reign of Charles the First, the celebrated historian
uses the following words: a. .;■>, i .'j^

" From that day dates the corporate existence of the two
great parties, which ever since have alternately governed
the covmtry. In one sense indeed the distinction which
then became obvious had always existed and always must
exist. For it has its origin in diversities of temper, of un-
derstanding and of interest, which are found in all societies
and which will be found till the human mind ceases to ))e
drawn in opposite directions by the charm of habit and by
the charm of novelty ; not only in politics but in literature,
in arts, in science, in surgery and in mechanics, in naviga-
tion and agriculture, nay even in mathematics we lindHhis
distinction. Everywhere there is a class of men who cling
with fondness to whatever is ancient, and who, even when
convinced by overpowering reason that innovation would
]>e beneficial, consent to it with many misgivings and fore-
bodings. We find also, every where, another class of men,
sanguine in hope, bold in speculation, always ])ressing
forward, quick to discern the imperfections of whatever
exists, disposed to think lightly of the risks and incoin-e-
niences attending improvements, and disposed to give every
change credit for being an improvement."

The first are the conservaiive ; the second are the
liberal. Such is the real sense, the true explanation of both
principles liberal and conservative. They are two attri-*
butes of our nature. As Macaulay admii-ably says, they are

to he founcl everywhere, in the arts, sciences, in all branches
oi'spev.alative knowledge ; but it is in politics they aro
most apparent. Thus, those who condemn liberalism as a
new idea, have not reflected upon what is happening every
day before their eyes. Those who condemn liberalism as
an error, have not considered that they thereby condemn
an attribute of human nature. Now it must not be for-
i>'otten that the form of our government is a constitutional
monarchy. It is this instrument which brings out in re lit' f^
and places in action the two principles of liberalism and
conservatism.

We, liberals, are frec^ .cntly accused of bein,rr republicans.
I do not point oat this reproach to refute it. It is not ne-
cessary to reply to such a reproach. I simply say that the
form of government means little ; let it be monarchical or
republican, from the moment the people have the right to
vote i, .a possess a responsible government, they have the
full measure of their liberty. However, liberty would
soon be an empty word if she did not restrain those in
power. A man whose astonishing wisdom has laid down
the axioms of the science of government with unerring ex*
actitude, Junius says: "Eternal vigilance is the price of
liberty:'

Yes, if a people wish to remain free, they must, like
Argus, have a hundred eyes and ever be on the watch. If
they sleep, if they become weak, each moment of indo*
lence involves the loss of some portion of their rights. An
eternal, unceasing vigilance is the price which must be
paid for the inestimable boon of liberty. Now, constitutional
government is adapted even to a greater extent than a re-
public to the exercise of this necessary vigilance. ■

On one side you have those who govern, on the other
those who watch. On one side are those who are in power,
and- are interested in retaining it ; on the other are those
who are interested in attaining it themselves.

; !^^■^ •

M(-?

— 10 —

What shall be the mt >ns of cohesion which will unite
these different parties ? What shall he the principle, the
sentiment that will array the different elements of the po-
pulation either on th(^ side of those who govern or of those
who watch. It will be either the lil)eral or the conserva-
tive principle. You will see toj^ether those who are at-
tracted by the charm of novelty, and you will see together
those who are attracted by the charm of habit. You will
see on one side those who attach themselves to everything
that is ancient, and on the other side those who are always
ready to reform.

I now ask whether between these two ideas which form
the basis of these parties there can exist a moral difference ;
is one radically good and the other radically bad ? Is it
not manifept that both are, what are called in morals inthf-
ferent 'f that is to say, that both are susceptiole of apprecia-
tion, of thought and choice. Would it not be as unjust as
it is absurd to condemn or approve either out; or the other,
absolutely good or bad '\

Both are susceptible of great good and great evil. The
Conservative, who defends the old institutions of his
country can do much good, while he may perpetrate a great
evil if he persists in i^erpetuating intolera])le abuses. The
Liberal who fights against those abuses, and who after un-
ceasing efforts eradicates them, may be a public benefactor,
while the Liberal who would raise a profane hand against
its sacred institutions, would prove a scourge not only of
his country, but of humanity.

Therefore, I am far from making the convictions of our
adversaries an object of reproach, but as for myself I am,
as I have already said, a Liberal. I am one of those who
believe that in all human affairs there are abuses to reform,
new horizons to discover, and new forces to develop.

In fact Liberalism appears to me on all points to be su-
perior to the other principle. The Liberal principle is ii»
the very essence of our nature, in that thirst for happiness

which wo all I'eol in thiis life, which I'ollows us every
where, to be, however, never completely satislird on this
side oi" the grave. Our souls are immortal, but our means
are limited. We unceasin<>ly approach toward an ideal
which we never reach. Wo dream of the highest good,
but secure only the better. Hardly have we reached the
limits we have yearned alter, when we discover new ho-
rizons, which we have never dreamed of. We rush towards
them, and when they hav*^ been reached in their turn, we
find others which lead us on further and further.

Thus shall it be Jifas long as man is what lie is, as long as
the immortal soul dwells in the mortal body, so long shall its
desires be beyond its means, its actions can never equal its
conceptions. He is the true Sysiphus of the fable, its com-
pleted work has ever to be recommenced.

This condition of our nature is exactly what constitutes
the greatness of man; for it i. ges him ceaselessly to push
forward to progress ; our means an^ finite but our nature
can be improved, and we have the infinite as our field of
labor. There is then always room to improve our con-
dition, to perfect our nature, and to render life more easy
to a greater number. This it is which, in my opiniou,
constitutes the sui^eriority of Liberalism. , ,.,

Besides, experience establishes that abuses glide into the
community, which will end in seriously arresting its up-
ward progress, and perhaps placing its existence in danger.

Experience further establishes that institutions, which in
the beginning w^ere useful, because they were suited to the
state of society in which they had been introduced, in the
end, from the very fact that everything is changing' around
them, become intolerable abuses. Such among us was the
seigniorial tenure. It cannot be denied that in the youth of
the colony this system greatly facilitated the settlement of
the country. But in 1850, everything had. so changed
amongst us, that the system would have ended in produc-
ing deplorable difficulties, if our legislature, at the sugges-
t;|ou of tl^e liberals, had not, in iis wisdom, abolished it.

--12 —

As nvsnll of this law which I havo pointed out as the
dolmniuiiii? cause of Ijiberal and Conservative ideas, there
will always he I'ouud nn'n who will fondly attach them-
solves to these abuses, which they will eayerly defend, and
who will look with fear on any attempt to abolish them.
Woe be to them it while in the p&.ssession of power they bo
not ready to sacrifice their favorite notions. Woe be to them
if they know not how to accede and adopt proposed reforms.
They shall bring on their country disasters so much more
terrible as justice shall have been the longer delayed.
History but proves too truly that few of thos* Avho govern
have known the aspirations of humanity and have done
them justici*. There have been more revolutions caused by
the obstinacy of Conservatism than the exaggerations of
Liberalism. • ■

The highest art in governing is to guide and to direct by
controlling these asj^irations of humanity. The English
jiossess this art in the highest degree. Look at the work
oi' the great English liberal party. The reforms they have
carried out, the abuses they have suppressed, without
violence, without commotion, without disturbance. They
understood the longings of the oppressed, they comprehend-
ed the new wants created by new conditions of society, and
under the authority of the law, and without anything else
than the law, they have carried out a series of reforms
which have made the English the freest of peoples, the
most prosperous, and the happiest in Europe.

On the other hand look at the continential governments
of Europe. Most of them have never understood the wants
of their people. When the unfortunate oppressed endea-
vored to raise their heads to breathe a few^ mouthfuls of
the air of liberty, t.iey were brutally thrust back to a state
of deeper and deeptr degradation.

But a day arrived when obstacles were ruthlessly set
aside, when the people violently burst their cnains ; and

-18-

who can wonder at it i and thou uud»»r the sacred name oi
liberty they perpetrated the most Irightlul crimes.

Sliouhl it astonish us if the 'ouds gath«!red above our
lieads burst into hail and thunder :* Should it astonish us
ii" the steam burst out the walls which confined it, when
the engineer had not the prudence torai^e the valve which
regulated its foree ? No there is a fatal law whicti shall
have always thi; same efiect in the intellectual a?- in the
physical order of things. Where there is compression
there must be a violent and ruinous explosion. I do not
say this to palliate revolution. I hate revolutions. I detest
every attempt to secure the triumph of opinions by violence.
Further more, I am less disposed to place the responsibility
upon those who carry them out than on those who l>y their
blind obstinacy provoke them. I say this to explain the
superiority of Liberalism, which comprehends the aspira-
tions of human nature and instead of crushing them, tries to
direct them.

Do you suppose, for instance, that if England had per-
sisted in refusing emanipation to the Catholics ; if she had
1 arsisted in refusing to the Catholics, to the Jews, and
Protestant denominations who did not belong to the estab-
lished church, full civil and political rights ; if she had
persisted in preserving electoral oligarchy ; if she had per-
sisted in refusing free trade in corn ; if she had refused
the franchise to the working classes, do you think
that ouf day would have passed before the people would
have risen in arms to gain that justice they had obstinately
been deprived of. Do you not think that the hideous monster
of revolution would not have growled beneath the windows
of Westminster ; and that civil war would have made the
streets of London run with blood as it often has the streets
of Paris. Human nature is everywhere the same, and as
elsewhere compression produces explosion, violence and
crime. These terrible calamities have been avoided —

thaiiks to the Liberals, who eomprehending the evil cause,
suggested and applied the remedy.

What is more beautiful than the history of the great
Liberal English party of this ag-e. At first tl;3re is Fox,
the sage, the generous Fox, espousing the cause of the
oppressed, wherever they were, A little later was O'Connell,
I ho great O'Connell, vindicating and obtaining for his co-
religionists the rights and privileges of English subjects.
He WPS assisted in his work by all the Liberals in the three
kingdoms, Oray, Brougham, Russell, Jeffrey, and a host
of others. Then came successively the abolition of the
electoral oligarchy, the repeal of the prohibition law against
the corn trade, the extension of the franchise to the working-
classes, and finally to crown all, the abolition of the English
Church as a stiite religion in Ireland. And remember that
the Liberals who worked out these successive reforms
were not recruits from merely the middle classes, but some
of England's greatest peers were among them. I know
not of any spectacle more honorable f o humanity than that
of these English peers, these nobles, those rich men, those
powerful men stubbornly fighting to uproot a host of
popular abuses, sacrificing their privileges with a calm
enthusiasm to render life more easy and more happy to the
greater number. On this subject let me read you a letter
of Macaulay to one of his friends, writttni on the day after
the vote on the famous reform bill which abolished the
rotten boroughs. This letter, in my opinjon, admirably
shows what an English Liberal is. Here it is, please
excuse its length :

" Such a scene as the division of the last Tuesday I never
saw and nevin- expect to see again. If I should live fifty
years, the ir. pression (>f it will be as fresh and sharp in my
mind as if it had just t .ken place. It was like seeing Ccesar
stabbed in the t*5eiiate Bouse, or seeing Oliver Cromwell tak-
ing the mace from the tt.ble, a sight to be seen only once and
never to be forgotten. The crowd overflowed the hou j in
every part. When the strangers were cleared out, and the

— 15

doors locked, we had six hundred and eight members pre-
sent. More by fifty-five than ever were in a division be-
tbre ; the yeivs and. nays were hke two volleys of cannon
from opposite sides of a field of battle. "When the Opposi-
tion went out into the lobby, an operation which took up
twenty minutes or more, we spread ourselves over the
benches on both sides of the House ; for there were many
of us who had not been able to find a seii during the even-
ing. When the doors were shut, we began to speculate on
our numbers, every body was d(»sponding : " W^a have lost
" it. "We are only two hundred and eighty, it most, I do
" not think we are two hundred and fifty. They are three
" hundred. Alderman Thompson has counted them. He
" says they are two hundred and ninety-nine." This was
the talk on our benches. The House, when only the yeas
were in it, looked to me a very fair house — much fuller
than it generally is even on debates of considerable interest.
I had no hope, however, of three huiidred- As the tellers
passed along our lowest row on the left hand-side, the
interest was insupportable — two hundred and ninety-one
— tvv o hundred ai?.d ninety-two — we were all standing up
and stretching forward, telling with the tellers. At three
hundred, there was a short cry of joy — at three hundred
and two another — suppressed, however, in a moment ; for
we did not yet know what the hostile force might be. We
knew, however, that we could not be severely beaten. The
doors were throwni opsn, and in they came. Each of them,
as he entered, brought some difterent report of their num-
bers. It must have been impossii^le, as ^-^ou may conceive,
in the lobby, crowded as they were, to form any exact esti-
mate. First, we heard that they were three iiundred and
throo ; then that number rose to three hundred and ten ;
then went down to three hundred and seven. We were
all breathless with anxiety when Charles Wood, w^ho stood
near the door, jumped upon a bench and cried out, " they
are only three hundred and one." "VVe set up a shout that
you might have heard to Charing Cross, waving our hats,
stamping against the floor, and clapping our hands. The
tellers scarcely got through the crowd, for the House was
thronged up to the table, and all the floor was fluctuating
with heads hke the pit of a theatre. But you might have
heard a pin drop as Duncan now read the numbers. Then
again the shouts broke oiit, and many of us shed tears. I
could scarcely refrain. And the game of Peel fell ; and the

-16-

face of Twiss was as the face of a damned soul ; and Harries*
looked like Judas taking his necktie off for the last opera-
tion. We shook hands, and clapped each other on th^s
back, and went out laughing, crying, and huxzaing into the
lobb^'. And no sooner were the outer doors opened' than
another shout answered that \fithin the Houses. All the
passages and the stairs into the waiting rooms were
thronged by people who hf 1 waited till four in the morn-
ing to know tiie issue. We passed through a narrow lane
between two thick masses of them ; and all thq,w^ay down
they were shouting and waving their bats, till we got
into the open air. 1 called a cabriolet, and the first thing
the driver asked was, " So the bill is carried V' " Yes, ])y
one." " Thank Grod for it, sir !'' And so ended a scene
which will probably never be equalled till the reformed
parliament wants reforming. "' . ,

He who wrote thus exultingly, voted for the abolition of
the system under M^hich he held his seat. Macaulay owed
his seat to the generosity of an English Peer, Lord Lands-
downe, who had him returned for the rotten borough of
Calne. 1 know of few pages of history which reflect more
honor on hu?nanity than this simple letter wni.ch demons-
trates those English characters, calm and obstinate in the
struggle, which finally break forth into enthusiasm w^eeping
and laughing at the same time, because an act of justice
had been accomplished, because an abuse had been eradi-
cated from the soil of old Enj^land. y , , , ; , • ,,r' j ^.

Members of the Club Canadien ! Liberals of the Pro-
vince of Quebec, these are our principles; behold our
models; such a party is oars. , ji^.^j^.t^r^./'^-iV ,>:>:' J.i.';

It is true that there exists, in Europe, in France, in Italy
and in Germany, a class of men who call themselves liberals,
but who are liberal but in name, and who are the most
dangerous of men. They are not Liberals they are
Revolutionists. Their principles carry them so far that
they aspire to nothing less than the destruction of modern
society. With these men wt have no connection, but i t is the
tactics of our adversaries inc ^ssantly to compare us to them.

Those acdtts&tlons dre beneath us, and the only reply
worthy of lis is to state our true principles and to alv/ays
ant in a manner conformable to them.

Having arrived at this point, I will review the
history of the liberal party in this country. I am one of
those who do not fear to closely examine the history of my
party. I am one of those who think that there is more to
be gained by plainly speaking the truth than by deceiving
themselves and others. Let us have the courage to speak
the truth ! If our party has committed faults, our denial
of them will not prevent things from being what they have
been. Besides, if our party has cummitted faults, we shall
always lind among the adverse party faults enough to
counterbalance ours ; even were the other party without
sin, our principles would be, thereby, neither better nor
worse. Let us then have the courage to speak the truth,
and let the avowal of our party trespasses enable us to
avoid ^hcm in future. '

TJp to 1848, the French Canadians had formed but one
party, the liberal party. The conservative or rather the
tory party, as it was called, was, in a feeble minority. From
1 848, dated the beginning of the two parties which have
contended for power. Mr. Lafontaine had accepted the
system established in 1841 ; when Mr. Papineau returned
from exile he attacked the new order of things with his
great eloquence and all the elevation of his thought. I
will not here introduce a comparison between the respec-
tive legal Idens of these two great men. Both loved their
country ardently and passionately; both devoted their
lives to it ; both, by different means had no other end in
view than to serve it ; both were disinterested and honest.
Let us remain contented and satisfied with these memories
and seek not to find out who was right or who was wrong.

There were at this time a number of young men of great
talent and of still greater impetuosity of character. Dis-
appointed in being too late to risk their lives in the war of

■ IT' '

:- —18— ■■

1837, they rushed blindly into the political movement of
the day. They were the foremost supporters of Mr. Lafon-
taine in his glorious struggle with Lord Metcalf They
afterwards abandoned him lor the more advanced policy of
Mr. Papineau, and while they followed him, as it was quite
natural they should do, they had soon outstripped him.

Emboldened by their success, and carried away by their
own enthusiasm, they established a paper, fAvenir, in which
they assumed the position of reformers and regenerators of
their country. Not satisfied with attacking the political
state of things, they audaciously fell upon social institutions.
They started a programme which contained not less than
twenty-one articles, commencing by the election of justices
of the peace, and ending with annexation to the United
States, and which meant nothing less than totally revolution-
izing this province. If it had been possible by a wave of
a wand that the twenty-one articles of this programme coald
have been realized in the course of a night, the country
could not in the morning have been recognizable. Any one
having left it the day before and returning the next morn-
ing AVould have been completely bewildered.

The only excuse for these liberals was their youth ; the
oldest among them not being twenty -two years of age.

Gentlemen I state facts, I do not intend to reproach any-
one. Talent and sincerity of conviction ever command
respect. Which of us now, who, living in that age, can
flatter himself that he would have been wiser, and would
not have fallen into the same errors. Everything then led
to such exaggerations, the state of affairs both in this
cor.ntry and in Europe.

The country had not yet recovered from the wounds in-
flicted on it during the rebellion ; a free constitution had
been granted to us, it is true, but the new constitution was
not worked out with good faith by the colonial officc^
There were in every mind bitter thoughts whose expres-
sion was arrested solely by the remembrance of the ven-

■i

- 19

geance taken during tho rebellion. "V7aves of democracy
and revolution were reaching our shores on every side.
Society, even then, trembled at the first breath of that terrible
storm which soon after swept over nearly all the civilized
world, and which, for a moment, shook society to its center.
The years preceding 1848 are frightful to contemplate. It
was terrible to look upon the disastrous work which
was carried on every where and which plunged into revo-
lution at once more than 80,000,000 of men.

This state of things acted powerfully on the imagina-
tions of the ardent and inexperienced youth ; and our young
reformers not contented with revolutionizing their own
country greeted joyfully each new revolution in Europe.

However, scarcely had they lived a few years when they
perceived the great error into which they had fallen. As
early as 1852 they published a new paper. They left
CAvenir, to hot headed madmen and endeavoured in
their new paper the Pays without always succeeding, it is
true, to point out the new path which the friends of liberty
under the new constitution should follow.

One cannot help smiling to-day, in reading the. pro-
gramme of VAvenir, at linding w'th so much good tjense at
times, such impossible and absurd propositions. It world
be useless to go over one by one the incongruous pro^rosi-
tions 'contained in the programme of VAvenir. I will take
one at random : the annual parliamfmts. I am sure that
any of these young reformers, who is to-day a repre-
sentative is now firmly of opinion that an election every
five years is quite sufficient. And furthermore, is it not
manifest that annual parliaments would continually trammel
all serious legislation and be a permanent source of trouble.

However the evil was done. The clergy alarmed by
measures which reminded them only too vividly of Euro-
pean revolutions, immediately declared merciless war
against the new party. Tho English population friendly
to liberty, but law-abiding withal, also declared against the

20 —

new party, and during twenty-five years they remained
in opposition, although they had the honor ol" initiating
all the reforms effected during that period. It was in vain
they asked and obtained the abolition of the seigniorial
tenure ; it was in vain they asked and obtained the decen-
tralization of justice ; it was in vain that they were the first
to give impetus to colonization ; those wise reforms were
not recognized p the fruits of their efforts ; in vain these
young men, now grown to manhood, disavowed the follies
of their youth ; in fact it was in vain that the conservative
party committed faults ; the generation of the liberals of
1848, had nearly disappeared from the political arena,
when there dawned a glimpse of daylight for the liberal
party. Since that time new accessions have been made to,
the party, ideas more matured and calmer have prevailed.
Of their former programme, none of the social portion
remains, and of the political portion, there remain but the
principles of the liberal party of England.

During this time what has the other parLy done, when
the rupture between Mr. Papineau and Mr. Lafontaine was
complete, the portion that followed Mr. Lafontaine after
some hesitation joined the Tories of Upper Canada, and to
the title of Liberal, which they could nor aare acknow-
ledge (hey added that of Conservative. The new party
called itself Liberal-Conservative. Some years elapsed,
further modifications ensued, the new party entirely gave
up the title of liberal and assumed the name of conservative
party. Again a few^ years i)a8sed by and new changes
took place. I know not by what name to call this party.
Those who to day seem to occupy the highest j^sition in
the party, shall style themselves the Ultramontane party,
the Catholic party. Its principles have suffered as many
changes as its name. If Mr. Cartier were to return to this
world again he would not recognize his party. Mr. Cartier
was devoted to the principles of the English constitution.
These of his old followers who are leaders to-day, openly

-31-

oppose the principles of the English constitution as a con-
cession to what they call the spirit of evil. They under*
stand neither their country nor the age in which they live.
All these ideas are derived from the reactionists of France ;
as the ideas of the liberals of 1848 were based upon those
of the revolutionists of !•' ranee. They become enthusiastic
on Don Carlos and the Count de Chambord, as the liberals
were enthusiastic on Louis Blanc and Ledru Rollin. They
cried Vive le Roy long live the King, as the liberals cried
Vive la Republique. In speaking of Don Carlos and of the
Count de Chambord they affectedly called them His Ma-
jesty King Charles VII., Ilis Majesty King Henri V., as
the liberals in speaking*- of Napoleon, called him Mr. Louis
Bonaparte. I certainly have too much respect for the
opinion of my apponents to insult them, but I reproach
them with an ignorance of this country and of the age they
live in. I accuse them of judging of the political situation
of this countrv, not by what is going on here, but by what
is taking pV_ce in France. I charge them with endea-
voring to introduce here ideas which are inapplicable
to our state of society. I accuse them of laboriously en-
deavoring and unfortunately too atFectively to drag down
religion to the lev^el of a political question. It is the habit
of our adversaries to accuse us liberals of irreligion. 1 am
not here to parade my religious principles, but I proclaim
that I have too much respect for the faith in which I was
born ever to make it the foundation of a political organiz-
.atiou. *- - - - -•■ '''-'^•'

You wish to organize a Catholic party but have you
never reflected, that if unfortunately you were successful,you
would bring on your country calamities, the consequence
of which it is impos.sible to predict. .;; ; . >

You wish to organize all Catholics into a single party
without other tie, without other basis than that of religion,
but you haye not reflected that by that fact alonp you or-
ganize the Protestant population as a single party, and that

I)
I;
■^1

Ail

then instead of peace and harmony which now exist
amongst the elemeJits of our Canadian populations, you
will bring on war, religious war, the most frightful of all
wars.

Once more conservatives, I accuse you before Canada of
knowing neither your country nor the age you live in.

( )ur adversaries again reproach us with the love of liber-
ty, and they call the spirit of liberty a dangerous and sub-
versive principle.

Is there any reason for these attacks? None, unless that
in France there exists a certain body of Catholics who
curse the name of liberty. It is not only the enemies of
liberty in France who look upon it with apprehension ; its
warmest friends often regard it with the same feeling.
Remember the last words of Madame Rolland. She had
truly loved liberty, she had prayed for it most fervently,
and her last touching words were : Oh ! Liberty, how
many crimes have been committed in thy name. How
many times have these same words been repeated as sin-
cerely by as devoted lovers of liberty.

I perfectly understand, without, however, acquiescing in
the feeling of those Frenchmen who looking at what liber-
ty has cost them in tears, in ruin and in blood, sometimes
wish for their country a vigorous despotism. I can under-
stand their anathemas, but that these anathemas against
liberty should find an echo here, is something which I
cannot conceive.

And what ! shall we who are a conquered people curse
liberty ? But, what should we d6 without liberty ? What
should we be new if our forefathers had had the same
sentiments as the conservatives of to-day. Should we be
other than a race c f parias.

I admit that liberty as understood and practised in
France generally is not tempting. The French know but
the name of liberty, they know not liberty herself. One
of their poets, August Barbier, has given us an exact idea

of the liberty which has occasionally passed current in
France, and whose working was last seen in 1871. He re-
presents liberty as a woman.

" A la voix rauque, aux diirs appa.i,
" Qui (In brun 8ur la i)ouu, ilu tou dan.s leg prunclles

" Agile et marehant il grands pas,
" Ho plait Bux cris du peupic, aux gunglantuit in'it'es,

" Aux longs roulcnienta des tambours,
" A Todeur de la poudre, aux lointaines voK'cs

"Des cloches ot des conons sourds ;
" Qui no prond ses amours que dans la populace,

" Qui nc pr^to 8on largo flanc
"Qu'il dea gons forts commc olio, et qui veut qu'on I'embrasse

" Atcc des bras rouges de sang."

.u.

Were liberty such a virago, I ccv»id understand the ana-
themas of our adversaries, and I would be the first to re-
echo them. But this is not liberty. An English poet,
Tennyson, sings of liberty, the liberty oi his country and
of ours. In his poem ' In Memoriam," Tennyson replies
to a friend who asks him why he does not search in South-
ern isles a milder climate, and why, notwithstanding his
poor health, he persists in remaining under the foggy sky
of England. The poet replies to his friends that he does
not wish to leave England because :

" It is the land that freemen till, '

That sober-suited Freedom cboso,
The land, where girt With friends oi foes,
A man may speak the thing he will ;

" A land of settled government,
A land of just and old renown.
Where Freedom broadens slowly down,
t'rom preaedent to precedent :

" Where faction seldom gathers head
But by dot^.-ees to fullness wrought.
The strength of some diffusive thought
Ilath time and space to work and spread."

Such is the liberty we enjoy, such is the liberty which
we defend, and which our adversaries attack without un-
derstanding it, even while enjoying its benefits. Jean

^aptiste Ronsseaii, in one of his odes, speaks of a barbarous
tribe, who, one day, in a moment of ineonoeivable folly, in-
sulted tin? sun by their cries and imprecations. The poet
in a word describes their foolish impiety :

Le Dieu poursuiviint la carriCre,
Versait den torrents ile liimit'Tf,
, Sur sea obsours blasphiuinteurH.

Thus it is with those amongst us who attack h))erty.
Liberty shields them, overspreads them, protects and de-
fends them, even in their blasphemy.

But our adversaries, in reproaching us with being the
friends of liberty, still further reproach us with a charge
which would be very serious, w^ere it well founded, that
is, with refushig the Church the liberty to which it is
entitled. They reproach us wath endeavoring to silence
the administrative body of the Church, the Clergy, with
wishing to prevent them from educating the people in their
duties, as citizens as well as electors. They reproach us, if
I may use a hackneyed saying, with wishing to prevent the
Clergy from meddling in politics and sending them back to
their vestries.

In the name of the Liberal party, in the name of the
liberal principle, I deny the assertion.

I assert that there is not a single Canadian Liberal who
wishes to hinder the clergy from taking part in political
affairs if they wish to take part therein, under what
principle would the friends of liberty -refuse the priests the
right of taking part in public affairs? By what right
would the friends of liberty refuse the priests the right of
having political ojinions and expressing them, the right of
approving, or condemning public men and their acts, of
teaching the people what they believe to be their duty ?
By what principle would the priests not have the right to
say that were I elected, religion would be in danger, when
I have the right to say that if my adversary be elected, the

./,;::_ —25— . :,

statu will be iu danger ! Why should the priest not have
the right oi' saying that were I fleeted, religion would in-
i'allibly be destroyed, when I have the right ol' saying that
if my adversary be elected the state won'd go straight into
bankruptcy. No, let the priest speak and preach as he
thinks proper; that is his right. No Canadian liberal will
over deny him this right.

Oar (ionstitution invites every citizen to take part iu the
direction of pulilic allairs ; it mak«»s exception oi' no one.
Each has the right not only of expressing his opinion, but
of influencing, if he can, by expressing his opinion, the
opinions of his fellow-citizens. This is every one's right ;
there is no reason why the priest should not have it. I
am here to say what I think and I add that I am far from
finding the intervention of the clergy in politics, opportune
as exercised during the last few years. On the contrary I
think that the priest has every thing to lose as regards the
respect due to his station by meddling with the ordinary
questions of politics. However, his right is incontestable,
and if he chose to avail himself of it, our duty as liberals
is to secure it to him against every opponent.

This right, how^ever, is not unlimited. We have amongst
us, no absolute rights. The rights of each man in our state
of society ceases to exist when he trespasses on the rights
of others.

The right of intervening in politics ends when it tres-
passes on the independence of the elector.

The constitution of this country is based upon the freely
expressed will of the elector. The constitution intends
that each elector deposit his vote freely and voluntarily as
he thinks proper. If the electors of a country are now of
one opinion and that the majority owing to the influence
exercised over them by one or more persons, after hearing
their arguments and reading their productions change their
opinion, is a perfectly legitimate thing in itself, although
the opinion they express be different froni w^hat they coi^U

-26-- _ , , . ^ ,y ,.

have ht'ld luiJ no such yitorlerenct' takou phice ; hovvovt'r,
the opinion they rxpress is really what they wish to ox-
press, that which is according to thoiv eonscionce ; the
constitution thus rceeives its entire application. 11' how-
ever, notwithstandinn' all arguments the opinion ol' the
electors remain the same, but that by intimidation or Iraud
they are forced to vote in a difFerent sense, the opinion
they express is not their oj)inion, and then the constitution
is violated. The constitution, as I have already said, in-
tends that the opinion of each be freely expressed as it is
held at the time of its expression, and that the collection of
each of these individual opinions iVeely expressed form the
llovernnient of the country.

The law watches, with a jealous eye, over the free ex-
pression of the opinion of the elector as he h )ld8 it, but if
in a county the opinion exi)ressed by a single elector, is not
his real opinion but an opinion extorted through fear, fraud
or corruption, the election must be annulled.

It is then perfectly allowable to change the opinion of
an elector by reasoning, and all other means of persuasion
but never by intimidation. In fact persuasion changes the
conviction of an elector, intimidation does not. When by
persuasion you have changed the conviction of an elector
the opinion he expresses is his own opinion, but when
through terror you force the elector to vote, the opinion
he expresses is your opinion ; remove the cause of terror
t'nd he will express another opinion — his own.

Now it is easily understood, if the expressed opinion of
the majority be not their real opinion but an opinion ob-
tained by fiuud, menace or corruption that the constitution
is violated ; you have not the government of the majority
but of the minority. Moreover, if such a state of things be
^ continued and repeated, if after each election the opinion
_' expressed be not the real opinion of the country, the con-
stitution is again violated, responsible government is but

_27-

an idle word, and sooner or later here as elsewhere the
compression will result in explosion, violence and ruin.

But there are those who say that the clergy have a right
to dictate to the people their duties. I reply simply this.
We an^ under the rule of the Queen of England, under the
authority of a constitution which was granted to us^as an
act of Justice ; and if the exercise of the rights which'you
claim should have the effect of preventing the proper work-
ing of that constitution and exposing us to all the conse-
quences of such an act, the clergy themselves would have
none or it.

I am not one of those who affectedly pretend to be the
friends and defenders of the clergy. However, 1 say this:
like the greater part of the young men of the country. I
was educated by priests, and amongst young men who
have become priests. I flatter myself that I have sincere
IViends amongst them, and to them at least I can and do
say : " Can you lind under the sun a happier country than
ours, where the C.^atholic church is freer, and enjoys greater
privileges?" Why then do you try to claim rights incom-
patible with our state of society, to expose the country to
agitation, the consequences of which it is impossible to
foresee.

But, I address myself generally to my countrymen and
tell them : " "We are a happy and free people ; we owe this
freedom to the Liberal institutions which govern us, which
we owe to our forefathers and to the wisdom of the mother
country.

" The policy of the Liberal party is to guard these insti-
tutions, to defend and propagate them, and under the rule
of these institutions to develop the latent resources of our
country. Such is the policy of the Liberal party, and it
has none other.'

Now to fully appreciate the value of our present institu-
tions, let us compare our condition with what it was before
they were granted to us.

Forty years ago the country was in a state of feverish
excitement, and agitation which in a lew months later,

"'I

— 28— .,:■■:(:,.. .. ;.,..,, .;;:v,^

culminated in rebellion. The British Crown was upheld
in the country, but by powder and shot. And yet what
did our forefathers demand? Nothing else than our present
institutions ; these institutions were granted and loyally
applied and behold the consequences ; the English flag
floats from the ancient Citadel of Quebec ; it floats this
evening above our heads and yet there is not a single Eng-
lish soldier in the country to defend it ; its sole defence is
the consciousness that we owe to it the liberty and security
we find under it

What Canadian is there who, comparing his own with
even the freest of other countries, but feels proud of its
institutions?

What Canadian is there who in going through the streets
of this old city, and seeing the monuraeii a few feet from
this place, erected to the memory of two brave men, w^ho
fell on the same field of battle in fighting for the possession
of this country, but feels proud of his country ? In what
country under the sun could you find a similar monument,
erected to the memory of the conqaeror and the conquered.
In what country under the sun could you find the names
of the victor and vanquished honored in the same degree,
occupying the same place in the sentiments of the popula-
tion.

Gentlemen, when in this last battle, commemoiated by
the monument erected to Wolfe and Montcalm, the cannon
spread death among the French ranks, when the old heroes,
whom victory had so often followed, saw her at last desert-
ing them, wfen reclining on the sod, feeling their heart's
blood ilowin,? and life departing, they saw, as a conse-
quence of their defeat, Quebec in the hands of the enemy
and their country forever lost ; no doubt their last thoughts
turned towards their children, towards those whom they
left without protection and without defence ; doubtless
they saw them persecuted, enslaved, humiliated ; and then

29 —

we may imagine their last breath to havo been a cry of
despair.

But, if on the other hand, heaven had permitted the veil of
the future to be raised before their expiring vision, if htniven
permitted them, before their eyes closed forever, to pene-
trate the unknown, if they could have seen their children
free and happy, v>^alking proudly in every rank of society ;
if they could have seen in the ancient cathedral the seat of
honor of the French governors occupied by a French
G-overnor, if they could have seen the spires of churches
piercing the azure in every valley from the waters of Gaspe
to the plains of Red River ; if they could have seen tliis
old flag which reminds us of their greatest victory, triump-
hantly borne in all our public ceremonies ; finally, if they
could' have seen our free institutions, may we not believe
that their last breath was softened to a murmur of thanks
to heaven, and that they found consolation as they died.

If the shades of those heroes yet move about this old city
for which they died, and if they are on this evening in this
hall, we libevals may believe, at least we have the dear
illusion, that their sympathies are entirely Avith Us !

■I

WILFRID I AURIER.

30 —

REMARKS OF THE PRR<S

■ LE NOUVEAU MONDE,

Alphonse Des.tardins, M.P., Editor.

[Conservative.]

" It is true, he {Mr, Laurier) coiitinuos, that thero is ia
Europe, in France, in Italy, in f lermany, a class of men
who call themselves liberals, ])ut who are liberals but in
name, and who are the most dangerous of men. They are
revolutionists ; their principles have reached such a pitch
of exaltation that they aspire to nothing- short of thi'
destruction of modern society. "With these men, we have
nothing in common.'

Pardon me, Sir, but you have something in commo'i with
those liberals, and we shall prove it to you in i fe ^'ords.
They place the aiUhorily of parliamentari/ maj( ' ''•' .liich
make civil laws good or bad, above the authority of
the Church, which proclaims immutable truths, and you
do the same thing. They pretend that they have the right
to say to the Church : Thou wilt go thus far, if thou so
chosest, in the exercise of the libertv of preaching, but thou
shalt not overstep the limit, which we point out — and you
do the same th^ig. They have invented th(> criminal spi-
ritual influence, which is A'isited with prison and exile,
and you, you have invented the undue spiritual inlluence,
which is visited with tines and civil degradation, so that
between the two there is Imt one degree of ditference. And
that iegree, you would have lessened it long ago, if your
own interest had not forced you hypocriticallv to uphold i*

The Church does not forbid to vote in favor of « candi'h
disposed lo approve of the policy of any government, witi
regard to railroads, canals, tariffs, &c. She simply forbids
her children to profess the liberal principles Avhicli tend to
encroach upon the rights and the liberties of the Church,
and to vote for candidates piofessing those principles, or
too cowardly to oppose their introduction into the laws of
this country. It is not for in ?tance because Mr. Laurier
has approved Mr. Mackenzie's policy with regard to the

— 81 ~

tarift' or the Pacific llailway, that he shall be accused of
heiiii^' a Catholic liberal. No, it is because, formerly in
his i)aper Le Defricheur, and now in his recent lecture at
Quebec, he has endeavored to give to the State the rig-ht of
deJhiing the limits of Catholic preaching, thereby placing
the State above the Church, it is for these reasons, we say,
that he is and deserves to be called «, Catholic liberal, and
to be opposed as such.

LE COURRIER DE ST. EYACJNTHE,
P. B. DE LaBruyere, Editor.

[('onsorviit'iM'.j

The doctrine proclaimed by Mr. Launer, is the very same
doctrine expressed by the Judges of the Superior Court, in
the controverted election of Charlevoix, With Judge Ca-
sault, Mr. Laurier concedes to the Priest his rights as a
citi/en, but, with Judge Taschereau, he places the supre-
macy of Parliament above the liberty of the Catholic
Church.

That question h;is already been discussed at length in
the Press, and the Bishops of the Province, who are the
natural custodians of the doctrine, have in a collective
letter, unanimously protested against the Judgment of th«
Supreme^ Court, and especially condemned the assertions of
Judge Tiischereau ; consequently, Mr. Laurier, who is :iot
ignorant of the action of the Episcopal body, has placed
himself as an antagonist of the liberty of the Church he
gavt? himself as the admirer of the false interpretations giv m
to the Treaty of Paris, -vvhich se, res to the Catholics in
this Province, the free exercise of thuir religion. With Chief
Justice Richards, he believes that the priest from the pulpit,
cannot prohibit his Hock from voting in one sense, when
he considers that the interest of religion is in danger ; he
grants, it is true, to the clergy, the right to speak out of
Church, but not from the sacr«d tribune ; it would then be
undue inlluence ; and when in the quotations which we
have made, Mr. Laurier, uses the terms fear, intimidation,
terror, he alludes to the threats of those eternal punishments
which are the sanction of the divine law. He does not say
it in formal terms, but it is the only logical conclusion to
be drawn from his words, since he places the authority of
the Quetu, or of the constituton, above the immutable and

33 —

imprescribable rijihts of the Church; in other words, when
he places the civil society above the religious society, hi.s
jpeeeh cannot mean anything else.

It is to he remarked that the Liberal Party entertains
(hose views, and that the member for Arthabaska spoke in
its name. He made himself the organ and interpreter of
its sentiments, and rEvenement and Le National, went into
raptures over the talent and abilities of the speaker.

It vv^as not worth while to come and repeat before the
public whivi; the public already knew. The tendencies,
the opinions of the liberals upon politico-religious matters
were known before hand, and when he wished to give ex-
pression to new ideas, or to quiet the fears of the clergy con-
cerning the the fundamental principles, which underlie all
Christian politics, it would have been better for Mr. Laurier,
not to show himself He has damaged himself and the
jarty to v/hich he belongs.

If the speaker, as tar as the pretended superiority of the
civil law, over the law of the Church, is concerned, was
designedly indistinct and confused, he showed himself in
his true colours, in the follow^ing passage :

" You want to organize a catholic party. But did you
" not reflect that if you had the mistortune to carry out
" your design, you would bring upon this country, calamities,
" the consequences of 'vhich it is impossible to foretell."

This sentence, from the lips of the leader of a purty, is
very imprudent. How now Mr. Laurier ! entrusted as you
were, with a mission, with a task by a large class of your
countrymen, of asserting their principles, when you
are called upon to explain the position made to your party,
by the accusations of ii religion, and of Catholic Liberalism
made against it, can you have the audacity to reproach
your adversaries, with claiming their full rights as Catho-
lics in the person of the priest.

L' UNION DES CANTONS DE LEST.

P. L. TOUSIONANT, EdITOP.
[ronsprvative.]

Those words are nothii g less than a lesson to the bishops
of the country, accompanied "ith a threat of " conse-
quences which it is impossible to foretell," but which seem
to make Mr. Laurier's soul shudder.

— 83 —

111 fact, the whole of tie episcopal ]>0(ly has claimed for
the clergy, the right — which right, according *^oMr. Laurier,
is incompatible with ourstateof society— of dictating to the
people, in election time, what is their duty. It is the claim
of that right, acquired by the church, and secured by
treaties, which awes Mr. Laurier, and makes him fear
agitations and their consequences.

He was so imi)ressed by that fear, that he did not dare
rise in the house, to make hiins(?lf the interpreter of the
bishops, and to claim for them and for the clergy, the right
to dictate to the people their duty. Oh ! no, Mr. Laurier
thinks this right incompatible with our state of society, and
will not hear of it. ^

But like all timid men, Mr. Laurier has occasional flights
of courage ; he had just such a one, before the Quebec
public. He had the courage to complain of the action of
the bishops, and to reproach them, ivilh exposin*^ the country
t)ij ctaiming rii>hfs incompatible luith our society, to consc
(juences impossible to foretell. He had the courage to fear the
prote.stants. He had the courage to think himself superior
to the bishops, and to say so. The bishops have declared
that this right was not incompatible with our state of
society. Mr. Laurier, on the contrary, says that it is incom-
patible, and that they are Avrong in claiming it.

LE CANADIEN.

' The liberal press will itndoubtedly publish Mr. Laurier"s
speech this very day. We hope it will be neither revised,
corrected, amplified nor condensed, neither more liberal,
nor less anti-catholic. We await it such as we heard it. It
is just such a speech as we wanted, but dared not hope for.
It contains many quirks and quibbles, and but few aound
ideas ; liberal contradictions abound, the radical confes.sion
of faith is complete.

We must admit, Mr. Laurier's speech fully delines the
position. It is the expression of the ideas of the liberal
party, and we are i)repared, to say that the speaker dealt
squarely with the subject. He dressed it up, as he had a
right to do ; he told us an old story, but after all, he
showed himself in his true colors.

The gist of the speech is, that the clergy should remain

■]■■

in the sinCtuaiy, and that religion should not form the
basis of any party. #####*

The lecture is a denunciation of ultramontanism and of
the authority of the clergy, while being a plea in defence
of liberalism.

The orator had a purpose, and he was bent on accom-
plishing it ; he wished to impress upon Protestants that
the conservative party is led by men who are subjected to
the Pope too much, to respect the British constitution. Ho
really affirmed that we are the enemies of this constitution.

Mr. Laurier, we have long known to hold opinions com-
pletely radical. His lecture places him incontestably, at
the head of the liberals who are anxious to go ahead. He
acknowledged that he believes the time has come to walk
fearlessly and with living banners.

FKOM L UNION ^T. HYACINTH E. ^ .

. ' ] [Liberal.] ''*■■

We publish to-day to the exclusion of all other matter,
ihe magni licent speech delivered on the 26th June last, be-
fore the '• Club Canadien," at Quebec, by Wilfrid Laurier,
Es(|., member of the House of C^ommons for Drummond
and Arthabaska. This discourse is simply a masterpiece,
and is as remarkable for the depth and moderation of the
ideas developed, as for the polite and calm tone in which
they are expressed. We request our readers to read it at-
tentively, and carefully, to preserve it for the day of
struggle ; it is the most honest and able defence, which has
ever been made to our knowledge, of the principles and
rights of the liberal party. Mr. Laurier speakes with firm
conviction and religious feeling as will be seen ; in his
opinion and in that of every honest man, it is as easy to be
a sincere catholic and a liberal, as it is difficult to be a
conservative without a little hypocrisy.

We do not thi ik we exaggerate in saying that this
lecture will be a new page added to the history of our age ;
a hundred years hence it will be read with the same in-
terest, as the monument to Wolfe and Montcalm will be
looked upon.

This document is a manifesto for our party ; it is the r(»-
affirmation of principles which were forgotten ; it is a new
plan of a well known field, the witnc»ss of manv battles.

— 35 —

but from which in the heaioi' the hght, we had temporarily
strayed away. Let us return to it ; this plan is the salva-
tion of tlr? party and will still lead us on to important
conquesif

In conclusion, we pray that Mr. Laurier may soon till in
the council of the nat'on, the honorable position which the
whole country has so lonii- assigned to him, and let us hope
that the leaders of our party will delay no lonp^er in associat-
ing with themselves one of our most celebrated ')rators
and ablest statesman. s

LEVENEMENT.

[Liberiil.] , , , ., , •

Mr. Laurier, has squarely disposed of all the stupid
accusations made against the Liberal Party : he has shown
that that party is not the liberal party of the European
continent, but really the liberal party as it exists in England.
He, at the same time, stigmatized the present coterie who
call themselves Conservatives, by saying that if Sir George
Cartier, were now to return he would not recogni/e the old
Conservative party.

This evening no doubt we shall see the Conservative
Press let loose, whose sole ambition, is, no matter by what
means, to return to power. But all their imprecations will
fall harmless against this eloquent discourse which resumes
in so perfect a manner, the history of the liberal party, and
which exposes the liad faith, and the machiavelism of
those, who, for a purely personal purpose, and in order to
regain a position which they so foully disgraced, hesitate
not to trifle with religion, and to make capital out of the
deeply religious feelings of our countrymen.

There were a great many Conservatives among the two
or three thousand people present at the Lecture, who had
come not only from all parts of the City, but from all the
surrounding parishes. If these men are sincere, how can
they refuse to accept such evidence ; how can they persist
in believing, the lies, the false and base accusations made
by a few men of no weight, without principles or convic-
tions ? we have no doubt, that the discourse of Mr. Laurier,
will have the effect of convincing honest people, those who
act on sincere conviction, that the liberal party is more
deserving of public support, than the old styled Conserva-

36 —

tive Party, whose leaders only talent lies in vilifying their
advt^rsnries.

Mr. Laurier has just made known, the policy ol' our
parly in all its truth and candour ; he has jiointed out its
tendencies, and its real object : the party recoj^nizes its
obligation to him, and is proud to have at its head a gen-
telman oi' so much talent.

We therefore repudiate as strongly as lies in our power
the Conservative policy expressed in the following lines of
the Counter :

" We wish to oriianize a Catholic party, assemble all the
Catholics under one banner ; we would thus be more nume-
rous than by a mere union of French Canadians alone."

8uch a tliought, at a time when Catholics enjoy a free
measure of liberty, is a dangerous and vicious thought.
The wish to divide Canada into two religious parties,
Catholic and Protestant, w'ould infallibly lead to terrible
conflicts, in which we w^ould undoubtly be crushed, and
in which we w^ould lose for ever the rights and privileges
which it has cost us so much to obtain.

This one declaration of the Conservative idea is sulhci-
ent to bring about its condemnation. Let the Conserva-
tives leave to Europe this religious hate, and let them work
for the future greatness of our country, free from all re-
ligious discord. . ^ ";: ■ ■ '•'•

.>i

LE NATIONAL.

' ' ; [Liberal.]

There is one thing certain, the lecture which Mr. Laurier,
the eloquent member for Arthabaska in the House of Com-
mons, has just delivered at Quebec, before the " Club
Canadien," has put our adversaries out of countenance.
This fact is evident, and the efforts which thoy are making
to alter the sense of Mr. Laurier's words, and to atribute to
him, opinions and ideas which he did not express, and to
lasten on the liberal party, principles, which as a body, they
never professed, show in the clearest manner, the confusion
in which the conser *atives are placed. Notwithstanding
therr efforts, Mr. Lau-ier's speech will stand, and all the
unfair commentories r)y which they endeavor to impute to
him doctrines Avhich his lecture does not in any way ex-
press, will not prevent the people, with their natural good
sense, from understanding the real meaning of the refornj

-87-

programmo. Thost^ amongst our adversaries who are
sincere, should now know from the acknowledged declara-
tion of Mr. Laurier, speaking on ])ehalf of the reform or
liberal party, that this organization never entertained
plans dangerous to the church, but tha^ they have always
endeavored to secure it the fullest enjoyment of its rights
and privileges, wln-never the opportunity offered. The
reform party never intended to cause the triumph of any
religious or anti-religious princii)le.

The object it has in view is to look after the adminis-
tration of the temporal affairs of the coimtry.

It leaves to each of its mem])ers individually the right
to profess whatever religious or philosophical doctrines he
may think proper without rendering itself responsible, as
a i^arty, which has only a political object in view, for such
doctrines. Playing on words, is the favorite tactics of our
adversaries, and any declaration we may make will never
force them to admit that our party does not try to bring
about the triumph of principles w^hich they attribute to us:
but the public who are daily becoming more enlightened
is no longer disposed to be deceived by any such absurdi-
ties, and it relies on its own judgment to decide as to the
respective tendencies of both parties; on this we rely with
fullest trust. ;;' : r

A party must be judged according- to its works, and not
by the forced meaning taken from the words delivered by
those who represent it, and to w^hich, according to Talley-
rand, a sense may always be given, contrary to what
they mean. Now, if we consider the works of the reform
party, it will be seen that far from being hostile to Catho-
lics, it has on the contrary, been favorable on every occa-
sion, to their dearest interests. To mention only the ques-
lion of Catholic schools, to it is due the introduction of the
{separate school system in Upper Canada. It is to the
McDonald-Sicotte Liberal Ministry of which Mr. Dorion
was a member, and which had a majority of two only, that
is due the measure against w^hich conservatives, such as
John Cameron and Cockburn gave their votes.
•1^ It was a liberal government which was not afraid to lof;o
its popularity in Upper Canada and to risk its existence as
a government, by making it a ministerial question, l)y
granting to the Catholics of Ontario the rights of having
separate schools, a risk which Sir John A. MacDonald or
Mr. Cartier, in the plenitude of their power, supported by
a strong majority, never wished to incur.

— 88 —

I,t is also to a rel'oim f^overuinent, the MacKeiizie gov-
t'l-nraent, that the Catholics of the new North West Territo-
ry owe the adoption oi" the separate school system. As re-
•rards the New Brunswick schools, the immense majority
which Mr. Anglin has just obtained clearly shows that the
policy adopted by the rei'ormers on Ihii question had nothing
aiitaiionistic to Catholic doctrines. These facts alone — even
without Mr. Laurier's brilliant logic, should be enough to
coivince every honest and unprejudiced citizen that the
reform party does not in any way desire to deprive the
church ot its rights, but that on the contrary, it has al-
ways endeavored to secure to it the full exercise thereof.
Let our enemies exert all their efforts ; their foiil work is
ended. Mr. Laurier has unmasked the enemies' batteries,
and the hypocrites who usurp the name of conservatives
have been irrevocably driven from one of their strongest
positions. \. ^v/i ■:■■'•■■■ '•a.:' ■_- ,..•,;,. ;:. iv^i.i,

MONTREAL HERALD.

' V [Liberal.]

ME laurier's ADDRESS. ■ :r

The address of Mr. Laurier, recently delivered before a
crowded audience in Quebec, w^as, we scarcely need say, a
masterpiece of diction. The young member for Drum-
mond and Arthabaska has already made for himself a
national reputation as an orator, and anything that he may
t>ay, either in English or in his mother-tongue, is sure to be
said in a manner which leaves nothing to be desired- But in
his recent address, he fairly surpassed himself, and his ex-
position of the origin, progress and aim of Liberalism in
this country, and his exposure of the hypocritical jiretences
of its adversaries, form one of the brightest pages in the
political literature of the day. The originality with which
he treated the subject, the logic with which he reasoned
out his course, and the strength of the positions which he
occupied, all combine to make his speech one of the most
Ibrcible pleas for Liberalism hat we have ever seen ad-
vanced. Not that he descended into the actual political
arena — it was not an election narangue, but a philosophical
address that he made to his hearers. His object was to
show in what political Liberalism really consists, and how
baseless are the charges of its enemies that it means reyor

-so-

lution and not retbrm. For this reason the address was
perhaps better suited to a French-speaking than to an
English-speaking audience, lor thouuh Liberalism has pre-
judices enough to encounter among our own i)eople, Irom
the nature of the case it is not there attacked on account ol"
its alleged repugnance to religion and social order. IJut
the charlatans who control the destinies of the Conserva-
tive party in this Province rely for their support, not upon
the enlightening of the people, so that they may see clearly
the course most beneficial to the country, but upon the
intimidation of the electorate through clerical agents, and
the use of spiritual threats to prevent it from forming or
expressing opinions. And as they have been strongly
supported in their endeavour by the Ultramontane element
in the Roman (^atholic Church, it is but natural that con-
siderable effect has been produced upon the more ignorant
portion of the population. That this effect is destined to
be permanent we do not for a moment believe. A check
will be given to the clerico-political party, either from with-
in or from without the Catholic Church itself. The present
indication seem to point to the first-mentioned method, and
the views expressed by Mr. Laurier rellect clearly the
opinion of the intelligent French-Canadian population
upon the miserable trickery by which it is expected that
men are to be hood-winked. Mr. Laurier went to the root
of the whole question. He showed how utterly subver-
sive to civil liberty are the doctrines of the Ultramontane
school of politicians; how useless and valueless their
general reception would render the constitution, and how
their promulgation is a menace to the safety and to the
rights of us all. We need not follow^ him in his argument,
for it is one which will bc^ apparent to all intelligent
thinkers. The idea that a Catholic cannot, without re-
nouncing his allegiance to his church, become a member ot
the Liberal party, is, no doubt, one which, if widely received,
would be of great advantage to the Conservatives in this
Provir^.ce. But it is so utterly opposed to all truth and
reason, that we wonder, not even that there are people
stupid enough to believe it but that there are people
sufficiently audacious to seek to inculcate it. But this idea
is daily presented and insisted upon in the Ultramontane
press, and we suppose that the theory must have sup-
porters outside the little circle of those who advocate it lor
their own selfish interests. As long as ignorance exists in
the world, so long will there be fools, and knaves to profit

. . -

— 40 —

by their folly. Tho i)opulatioii of this country how
ever, does not, wo believe, include a numlxT ol' i'ools hufli-
cicntly yreiit to insurer lor the renriioiiiHt.s any lasting su<'-
ces.s. Mr. Laurif'r was particularly hiii)py in lii.s delinition
of LiberaliHUi and Conservatism, for wliith purpose he
quoted Macaulay, and in his exposure of some of the
schemes which are employed to injure JiiberalLsm Ixdore
the (;ountry. Our readers would hardly believe, if we
were to tell them, th«' spirit which actuates certain mem-
l)ers of the French press in this respect. They are accus-
tomed to see the political conllict carried on vigorously —
indeed, too A'itforously — in the coluinua of the Knj^lish
journals ; but in order to know the depths to which a
l>artizari writer can descend, they should glance at the
leading articles in some of our French contemporaries. We
are not now speaking so much of the personal assaults —
we fear that in this abuse the scavenger English press is
quite as bad as is its French compeer — but of the persistent
political misrepresentation, both as to facts and as to mo-
tives, with which the liberal party is continually attacked.
To use a commonplace simile, the word " Liberal " produces
upon the reactionary writers the same effect which a red
cloth produces upon a bull. It ^xcites them to a blind
irenzy, hi which they become i mble of distinguishing
anything ])ut the colour that 1 oused their passions.

They condescend to no arguments, but continually de-
nounce Liberals in politics as Communists, Revolutionaries,
Freethinkers, the enemies of God and of man. No charge
of revolution or irreligion can be too hard to hurl against
their adversaries. Instead of searching for the history ol"
liberalism in. the political record of England, the only Eu-
ropean country where constitutional freedom has really ex-
isted for centuries, they look but at those continental na-
tions where there has been a continual struggle between
rigid despotism on the one hand, and a desire for liberty,
which stern repression has too often converted, when suc-
cessful, into a lamentable license, on the other. No onc^
sympathizes more ardent. y than we do with the wish of
Continental Liberals to Iroaden and elevate the govern-
ment of their mother com tries, but it is undeniable that
the tide of freedom, too long and too severely repressed by
barriers of tyranny, has sometimes broken out Avith a
violence which has swept away evil and good to one com-
mon destruction. There have been many crimes commit-
ted in the name of liberty, and for these the reactionary

— 41 —

powers ol' the time huve been as directly liable a,s the po-
l)ular frenzy through whicli thoHe criines were committed.
But all this has nothinii- to <lo with us. Thf Liberals of
Canada have as little in common with the idt-as of the
ConiiDunists of Paris as with those of the corrupt Bona-
partists through whose misrule the Commune had its
being-. We are the descendants of the ureat Whig party
of England, of the old liberal party in Canada, through
whose noble ellbrts and sacrilices, Constitutional govern-
ment in England, in Canada, is estul)lished to-day. These
very French Canadian gentlemen wixo are so frantic in
their denunciations of Liberalism are t*^ .>. men who would
have seen their compatriots as a conquered people, w ith no
share in their own government, had it not been for the
brave and eventually successful struggle for Constitutional
government made l^y the Liberal party in years gone by.
Perhaps they would like this state of aH"airs ; it is certainly
what they desire if their opinions as to the best form of
government for Canada are similar to those which tht-y ex-
press as to the best form of government for France and
♦Simin. They profess to see in the desjwtic rule which
would result from the coronation of the Count de Cham-
bord and Don ' irlos, the only safety for the countries
which are pestrred by these Monarchs out ot place, and so
lar does their transatlantic loyalty carry them that they
never allude to the Count de C'hambord save as His Majes-
ty Henry V., and only know Don Carlos as His Majesty
Charles VIL All this is ridiculous, of course, but it is none
the less indicative of the designs which these retrogressive
gentlemen entertain. They would like to establish a prac-
tical despotism in this country — they themselves being the
despots, bien (ntendu — and to hand over the government
to the Ultramontane priests and politicians. We have no
fear that their ideas will triumph ; as Mr. Laurier well
says, they understand neither the country nor the epoch in
which they live. But their strength lies in misrepresenta-
tion, and they must be met and conquered by a clear state-
ment of facts ; this statement Mr. Laurier made, in an able,
eloquent and enlightened manner. His address is, as we
have said, one of the most valuable contributions to the politi-
cal literature of the day, and it is a thorough exposition of
the liberal position, and the principles upon which the
liberal party relies for its strength. In any constitutionally
governed Cv antry there must always be two elements,
liberal and conservative, but the conservative element in

- 42 —
this province seeks to nullify or to destroy copstitiitional
<Tovemment altogether. The safety of our instiuitions de-
pends upon the Liberal i<iiri;y, a party which is neither
anli-religious nor anti-social, as its adversaries pretend,
which does not strive to increase its popvilarity hy fanning
the ilames of sectional hatred, or arousing the prejiidices of
creed as do those adversaries themselves, but which ad-
vocates and maintain those principles of civil and religious
freedom essential to our constitutional form of government.

MONTREAL WITNESS.

[Liberal.]

Mii. LAUllIER ON POLITICAL LIBERALISM.

Mr. Laurier's address at Quebec, last week, on " Political
Liberalism," seems likely to prove an event of no small
magnitude in its inlluence upon political atiairs in this
Province. A perusal of the complete text of the discourse,
as found in the French papers, gives the impression that
a master mind has appeared upon the scene. It has ]>een
many years since a French Canadian public mail ha.'j given
to the country a statesmanlike address on public affairs,
although such are quite common in other countries enjoy-
ing representative institutions similar to our own. The
repressive inlluence of clericalism has for o long time dis-
couraged and prevented any reflly honest and corapiehen-
sive treatminit of those great political principles which
underlie our system of government. Mr. Laurier has
])roken the monotony, and the results promise to be as
wholesome as the event is noA^el. His address, it must be
granted, is rather philosophical than political, but it has
siifficieni application to actualities to give ir. a good deal of
signilicance. Mr. Laurier is not afraid to call himself a
Liberal. He seems rather to glory in the name than other-
wist', and the picture he gives of the achievements of the
Liberal party on behalf of the people in Eiigland and
Canada, ought to put ne^\ spirit into the backsliders of his
own party who hare reno inced the name. The Ultromon-
tanes have constantly enleavored to discredit the party
wich the peopla by attributing to it the principles of the
French comii. unisis and the Radicals of Europe, who have
declared war not only against the Church but against social
order and the righis of property. Mr. Lam-ier repels this

— t8 —

accusation, and asserts that the principles ot his party are
identical only with those of the Liberal party in Enn-land.
He explains that he is " one of those who think that e\'ery-
where in human ? (fairs there are abuses to reform, new
horizons to open, and new forces to develop." Mr. Laurier
assumes to speak on ])ehalf of the Frtnich Canadian
Liberals, and they are tacitly recou'ni/ini^- the assumption as-
correct. But it is worth while noting- that this declaration
of Mr. Laurier brings him and those who think with him
into conflict with the reneq'ac1'> section of the Liberal party
who style themselves Reformists, like the National, and the
Gazette de Sore/. The National last summer formally
declared that its party " professed no philosophic doctrine,
properly so called, and was only interested in the economi-
cal and practical administration of the business of the
country."' We are curious to see whether the Reformists
will renounce Mr. Laurier also, as too extreme and unprac-
tical, or whether his noble and courageous stand \vill have
the eltect of inspiring- them Avith some part of their lost
manhood.

It is the habit for the French Li])erals of to-day to disown
all sympathy witli, or responsibility for the policy of the
young Liberals of 1848, who published the Avenir and
later advocated their principles, considerably modillcd, in
the P(U/s. Mr. Laurier iias fallen into the habit, and in his
referenci' to th(>m we think he has scarcely done them
justice. Admitted that some of their schemes, such a.s
annual Parliaments and annexation, were ill judged and
chimerical, tlie main U^itiires of their programme were
indisputably ju.st and patriotic, and ^n harmony with the
principles of the English Liberal party. Secular education
provided by the State Jbr all children and separation of
Church and State are doctrines of the leading linglish
Liberals ; they are doctrines of the liberals in every country,
and we have not the sli^-htest doubt that they are held also
by every intelligent French-Canadian Liberal in his for
inlerit'.ui. The taleuted and earnest young patriots who
openly advocated the.se doctrines thirty yoai.. ago, who
founded L'Listitut Canadie^^ and oiac^ centres of light for
their fellow-Countrymen, were as noble men as tkis Pro-
vince c'^r produced ; but in face of the treuiendous Ultra-
montane reaction which has overwhelmed them, we are
not surprised that even Mr. Laurier should have failed to
do them justice.

What pleases us most in Mr. Laurier' ;, address, and raises

.|>vi-«i<i'/^fi(|:^j««»J3ji|™.iiy7V¥.!WV«'»!^^

our liopos ibr the luture ol' the Province, is his a.Sfsurauce
that the French-Cauadiaii Liberals ^vill follow the liberal
party in England. Thai is all we ask ; but we are anxious
to see them go to Avork ajul lose no more time in proposing
such reforms as Gladstone, Bright and Forster ^vould in-
troduce, suppose by some happy chance they were to re-
i)lace Messrs. DeBoucherville, Chapleau & Co. at Quebec.
A i^latform of public measures is conspicuously absent from
Mr. Laiiriers address. When English Liberal leaders make
great public speeches, they g(>uerally inform the people what
particular ai:)uses they are opposed to, and what particular
reforms they are in favor of Mr. Laurier only promises in
general t»M-ms that his party will follow the English Lilicrals,
and that they w'll carefully defend the principles of the
British constitution in their api)lication to our atfairs. That
is all ; but that is really a great deal for a liberal politician
to say in these days, and that is more than any French-
Canadian jiublic man has said for many yeaispast. There-
fore it is that we hail his declaration as au event of great
promise. On one point, however, he is sufficiently clear —
that of clerical intimidation in elections. Mr. Laurier ex-
plains that it would be contrary to the principles of the
liberal party to deny the clergy the right of taking part in
politics and of endeavoring to inlluence electors in every
legitimate way to vote against the Liberal party. But when
they abuse this right to the point of intimidating electors
by threats or otherwise, they violate the principles of the
•constitution, which the Liberal party are bound to protect.
If the clergy persist in dictating to the people in political
•affairs, he warns them that the result will be to deprive
them of some of their privileges, which are now guaranteed
them by that very constitution they are striving to over-
throw

The effect of the address has already been to revive the
spirits of the liberals and to excite the Ultramontane press
to greater violence of language than ever. The wise, calm
and generous declarations of Mr. Laurier are treated by the
clericals as insults and definance offered to the Church,
and fresh api>eals are mac e to the faithful to unite and put
down the liberal monster Avhich is bent upon the destruc-
tion of everything sacred. The effect of these appeals upon
the ignorant habitants should convince the liberals that the
first and most urge) it reform required is popular education.
As soon as the liberals can muster up courage enough to
make a stand, the tide will turn in their favor. It remains
to be seen if that hour has come or not.

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