CARTIER-BRÉBKUF — THE LESSOX TO RE LEARNED FROM THE CELE

BRATIOX (1)

I I- Kuii rut- Sfirrinf Corrtspoiuhnl oft/n Toroiitn '• Muil ")

Québec, June 25.

The great Cartier-Brébeuf monument oelebration i& over, but the sentiment of which it is the emblem will remain. To-day Québec has resuraed its dull routine after the excitement and national enthusiasm of yesterday. I hâve spent three days in the Ancient Capital witnessiug the sights, conversing with the people, and hearing of their national aspirations. To one commg from the Province of Ontario, the sights were indeed novel, the aspirations were indeed strange. But kt us be fair and candid towards this people — the French-Canadians. When their national aspirations are not interfered with, they are générons and warm-hearted, possessing many good qualities in the midst of many peculiar ideas. If the English cannot agrée with them in their aspirations towards a distinct French-Canadian natiouality, they must at least give them the crédit of beiug bold and honest in the enunciation of their propaganda. The French-Canadian leaders hâve presented the issue plainly

(1) Voici coinineiit le Moniinq ('hrorikle. de Québec pr(';sentalt à ses lectctir» l'article de >I. Bojd que nous reproduisons sous le chiffre II.

( The. Morniuq Chronirh)

Québec, Friday, June 28, 18Sλ.

'• We print to-day tlie report which Mr. Boyd sent to iiis journal, the Toronto Mfiil, of the St. Jean Baptiste célébration, or rather his .sunimin;^ up of the eveiUs wJiich happened in connection with the late festivities. Tlie report seems to be impartial in tone, and fair in spirit. <Jur reader.s will tind it interestinff xeadiniT, even at tliis late day, for it tells how a stran^er was struck witii the way thinirs aredone in this région of Hcr .Majesty's Dominions, on holiday occasions."

and boldly to the people of Canada in connection with this célébration, and they cannot blâme the English if they accept their words in their literal force and nieaning. Their statesmen, their littérateurs, their clerg-y, and their joiirnals tell us with no uncertain sound that it is their intention to bnild up ont he continent of America a distinct and separate French-Canadian nationality, an American France, that will in time dominate and control not only the-Dominion of Canada, but even the American Repablic. The Englishman, quiet and apathetic, is apt to smile at this and characterize it as a chimera and a dream ; but is it a dream ? Let him look at the maryellous natural increase of the French-Canadians, from a small band of sixty .thousand at the time of the conquest to a compact and soiid mass of nearly two millions and a half, scattered throug-hout the Dominion and in varions parts of the jStates, and animated by one idea — the aggrandizement and increase of the French-Canadian people as a distinct nationality. They tell us that they are the masters of Québec, that they hâve inaugurated their propaganda in Ontario, that they hold the balance of power in the Dominion, and that it will not be long before they will dominate the country. If the English accept their déclarations and dare to protest against such a propaganda, they are to be branded by their statesmen and leaders as insolent fanât ics, insulting their race and their religion. Abuse and rhetoric are substituted for argument and reason. Such is the aspect of aifairs presented by the Cartier-Brebeuf célébration, and no better proof could hâve been given of the ever increasing cleavage between the two races.