LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

‘ The action we have just performed in solemnly laying the corner stone of this, our neW Parliament Building, is of great importance. The Province of Quebec has once more asserted its autonomy by its official representative.

‘In fact, what is this building whose erection we have just solemnized ? It is the Legislative Building, in which the representatives of our Province will deliberate

and legislate in its name and for it,

‘ {n it the most important measures relative to its prosperity, its stability and its grandeur will be brought up.

“ In it the problems of its future will be discussed and resolved. There, all the dearest interests, from a social and religious point of view, will be protected. And its own children will preside over its destinies.

They will be the representatives chosen by it, entrusted with its confidence, who will labor to make laws for it and to maintain its government. In a word, this Legislative Building will be the sanctuary of our provincial autonomy.

‘* Provincial autonomy, gentlemen,is a very great thing, à very precious prerogative of which we cannot be too jealous.

It is our safeguard and our palladium. It is a good thing that there isa central government at Ottawa, powerful and respected, which groups the scattered forces together, which serves as a bond between the provinces of the Canadian Confederation, which gives an impetus to great undertakings, which encourages industry, trade and navigation, which has the necessary strength, prestige and resources to worthily repre-

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sent our country in the concert of nations ; but, besides t'is central power, it 1s good also that there should be a local power, which, acting in a more limited sphere, should, 1f Ï may so express myself, have a more intimate Jurisdiction and exert its watchfulness and control over the elements constituting the basis of our social order — property, civil laws, municipal organization, education, etc. This autonomy has been fully secured to us by the Confederation Act which ñas consecrated the principle of sovernment decentralization.

‘“ The Province of Quebec, more than any other, should adhere to this tutelary principle, and it does 80.

‘ Of course, as it has been stated, it would be more convenient and less costly to have but one government and one administration.

But, ifit be true that we would have less to Lay, we would also be less masters at home and less in a position to control our family affairs. Our Province has felt this and has spared nothing to assure the per-

petuity of its local institutions. It has generously made the necessary sacrifices to that end, and the erection of the buifdings now occupied by the public departments and the new Legislative Building are manifest proof of it.

To those who may hereafter ask whether the Province of Quebec is attached to its institutions and to its provincial autonomy we may reply :

“ Go and see the public buildings it has erected in its capital, and you will find that it intends to preserve that sel/f-government which it has conquered after à century of struggles and combats.

I was therefore right in saying that the laying of the cornerstone of our Legislative Building is an important event for us.

“T hope that this building will ever see practical measures elaborated ; that the assemblies held there will be inspired by

national traditions; that love of country will never cease to be their incentive and

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guide, and that respect for justice and right will preside at their deliberations. Finally, I trust that all the laws they will enact will have for their result the happiness, prosperity and glory of our beloved province.”

The following 1s the list of the articles deposited in the corner stone of the Legislative Building :

1. À metal plate, with inscription, deposited by His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor.

2. A metal crucifix and a photograph of he Lieutenant-Governor, with autograph, deposited by the Honorable Prime Minister.

3. À directory of the city of Quebec, deposited by the Mayor of Quehec.

Mr. Eugène Taché, the architect of the building, also deposited a statuette of St.

Joseph in the cavity of the stone.

(From the ‘ EvéÉxemenr ” of the 21st June, 1884.)

“ Copies of each of the French and English newspapers containing an account of the laying of the corner stone of tle new Legislative Building were deposited in that stone at noon to-day, in the presence of Mr. S. LeSage, Assistant-Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture and Public Works, and of Mr. Ernest Gagnon, Secretary of the same department. Then an enormous stone, lifted by a powerful crane, was laid on that containing the newspapers and other articles deposited during the ceremony of last Tuesday. Mr. Pageau, architect, directed the operation.”

INTERNAL DICORATIONS

On entering the first vestibule of the main entrance of the Legislative Building, one observes on the right hand side, carved in the Ohio sandstone, with which the walls of the vestibule are faced, the escutcheon of the Marquis of Lorne, with the Norman bark of the House of Argyle and the motto :

Enit of new that e of er of "ublic ecren an rane, apers x the geau,

f the Iding, arved > walls eon of orman otto :

Ne obliviscaris. Below are the dates 1878- 1833, indicating the term of the Marquis of Lorne as Governor-General of Canada.

To the left are carved the arms of the Marquis of Lansdowne, late Governor-General, with the motto: Virtute non verbis, and the dates 1883-1888.

Close by, to the left of the door leading to the inner vestibule, are the arms of the Honorable Théodore Robitaille, ex-Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, whose characteristic emblem is a dove with an olive branch in its beak, and the motto :

A ciel ouvert. Below are the figures 1879- 13884. |

As a pendant to the latter blasonry. on the right, that of the Honorable Louis Rodrigue Masson, ex-Lieutenant - Governor, with his emblem, a head of a winged lion, and the motto: Dieu aydant, is carved

im the sandstone facing. Below it are the figures 1884-1887.

The Marquis of Lorne and the Marquis of Lansdowne, Mr. Robitaille and Mr. Masson

were successively, the former, Governors- General of Canada, and the latter Lieutenant-Governors of the Province of Quebec during the erection of that part of the Government Buildings known as the Legislative Building. We have seen above that this was commenced in 1883 and completed at the end of the year 1886.

The black walnut wainscoting of the

vestibules, ground floor and first and second stories of the Legislutive Buildings are

ornamented with chiseled and gilt ara-

besques, coats of arms and inscriptions of extreemely remarkable taste and science.

It is history written in heraldic language.

On the ground floor are the arms and names of personages belongng to the first period of North American and Canadian history :

Verazzani, Sebastian Cabot, de la Roche, de Caen, Roberval, Pontgravé, Poutrincourt, de Monts, Léry, de Chastes, Pontchartrain, Chateaufort, the Marchioness de Guercheville, Lauzon, Courcelles, Hocquart, Denonville, Bégon, Duquesne, thé Duchesse d’Ai-

guillon, Madame de la Peltrie, Marie Guyart de l’Incarnation.

On a cartouche at the foot of the main staircase in the vestibule, traced out in gold, is a sun lighting up the world, with the motto : Nec pluribus impar, and the inscription : “Louis XIV.” Facing it, and on another cartouche, are engraved the arms and the name of Colbert. !

In the story above, and in similar positions, are the arms of George IIT of England and of his minister, William Pitt.

The visitor ascends a flight of stairs and history advances a century. With consummate art, the gilt arabesques run along the panels of the ramps and Janding-places to the first and then to the second story, multiplying their varied and graceful designs and surrounding the coats of arms of personages belonging for the most part to a more recent period : St. Valier, Pontbriand, Beauharnoiïis, La Galissonnière, La Jon-

1. Colbert's motto was : Pro Rege sæpe, pro patria semper ; “For King often, for Country ever.”

quière, Longueuil, Coulon de Villiers ; Ramezay, Townshend, Amherst, Quesnel, Vallières, Sewell, Stuart, Panet, Baby, Taschereau, Bédard, de Léry, Lotbinière, Parent, Nelson, Lanaudière, Boucherville, Viger, Cuvillier, St. Ours, Bourdages, Plessis, Mountain, Blanchet, Laforce, Lartigue, Bourget, Rollette, Dambourgès, Duchesnay, de Gaspé, etc.

On the highest landing place of the main staircase, amidst an abundance of palms, picked out in gold on the panels of the wainscoting, shines the monogram of the Society of Jesus and the names of some of the Jesuit missionaries who have watered with their blood and fertilized by their martyrdom the soil of Canada and of North America, which, from that time, became Christian soil: Jogues, Lalemant, Rasle, Buteux, Garnier.

To the right are the names of the first historians of New France : Sagard, Lescarbot, Ducreux, Charlevoix ; to the left are those of modern historians : Garneau, Ferland, Christie, Bouchette.

The panels of the ramps also bear, traced out in gold and sürrounded by arabesques, the name of “ Lorne,” with the arms and motto of the House of Argyle and of England ; the name of ‘ Lansdowne,” with the arms of the Flahaut,-the arms of the Chatellerault, and the motto Sola nobilitas virtus, as well as the names, arms and mottoes of our first Lieutenant-Governors.

The carving and tracings, in gold on black walnut, of the monumental doors of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly Chambers, as well as of the thrones of the Speakers of both Houses, are the admiration of all visitors.

The figures “1792,” the date of the advent of constitutional government inaugurating the parliamontary system in Canada, and the figures “1867,” the date of Confederation, are traced in gold on the two leaves of the great doors of both Houses, amidst most elegant palmns.

The Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly Chambers are of the same dimen-

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sions : sixty-seven feet long, fifty feet wide and thirty-three feet high.

Each Chamber is lighten up by two hundred electric lamps attached to the ceiling in the shape of a parallelogram.

The letter “C7 (Canada), surrounded by wreaths of oak leaves moulded in plaster, serves as ornament and crown the smaller entrance doors of both Houses.

The ceilings and cross-walls are arranged to receive frescoes or other wall paintings. ! Tue arms of England and or Old France with angels as supporters, figure in the many plaster decorations of these vast rooms.

1. Mr. Eugène Hamel has made sketches for the Government of two great historical pieces which will doubtless be painted later on the walls of the Legislative Building. The same artist has painted most of the portraits of the Speakers of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly which have been placed in the Chambers and in their vestibules : those of the Hon. Messrs. de Boucherville, Ross, LeMaire, de la Bruère, Fortin, Blanchet, Taillon, Beaubien, Turcotte, Würtele, Marchand. The portrait of Hon. Mr. Leblanc has been painted by Mr. Saint-Charles, and that of Hon. Mr. Starnes, by Mr. Alexander.

wide Here and there in several other portions of the building are placed :

hun- The arms of England : ‘“ Quartered first

eiling and fourth gules with three leopards or, one above the other,” with the motto “ Dieu et

led by mon droit.”

aster, The arms of Scotland : “Or, in base a

naller lion gules surrounded by a double tressure flory and counter flory or,” with the motto

anged “€ Nemo me impune lacessit.”

ings. ! The arms of Ireland : “ Azure with a harp

or,” and the motto ‘ Erin go Bragh.”

And the arms of the old kingdom of France, the country from which came the ancestors of most of the inhabitants of the Province of Quebec : ‘“ Azure with three fleurs-de-lys or” and the war-cry ‘ Mont- Joye Saint-Denys.” ?

portraits egislative 1bers and Boucher-

1. Mont-Joye was the name of the Carlovingian banner ; Saint-Denys was the name of the Capetian oriflamme. The banner of the Carlovingians was given by Pope Adrian I. to Charlemagne on the hill in Rome called Mons Gaudii (Mount of Joy), whence the name Mont-Joye was given to that banner.

The arms of Old France in the decoration of the Legis-

A Canadian author, writing of the buildings which form the object of this study, SAYS :

‘ Our historial or architectural monuments are very humble and petty compared with those of European cities. From an artistical point of view they have comparatively but a limited value, But it is otherwise with our Legislative Building — the Pantheon of French Canada — which would be an ornament even to the finest cities of France and Italy.

‘ There is I know not what of strength and grace in this building which charms

lative Building have no political meaning. Canadians of French origin were definitively separated from their old mother country by the Treaty of Paris in 1763. The ofiicial and political ties, which united them to the country of their ancestors were then severed and the first French republic, the first empire, the restoration, the second republic, the second empire and the third republic oecupy no place in their history. When Frenchmen and Englishmen from beyond the sea observe here the arms of Old France, they may find the explanation of this species of anachronism in the motto of the Province of Quebec ‘Je me souviens.” ‘There is no other.

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and captivates the eye. That roof, so much admired by Princess Louise and which recalls that of the Tuileries, ! that elegant and majestical campanile, those pavilions where the lilies are scattered with a lavish hand, resemble nothing to be seen elsewhere on our American soil.

‘ All this architecture is truly French ; with, in addition, a peculiar character of its own in which the learned, original, distinguished and very Canadian personality of the architect, Mr. Eugène Taché, manifests itself.”

LATERAL FACES.

The masonry work of the three sides of the building facing on Grande Allée, St.

Augustin and St. Julia streets was commenced in 1877. They were interrupted in the autumn, then resamedin the spring of 1878. The figure “ 1878,” on the fore-front in the centre of the side facing Grande Allée,

1. It was «o the dome of the central pavilion facing Grande Allée that this allusion was made. The roof of the main building was built only after the departure of the artist princess.

indicates the year when the stone bearing that figure was laid there and not the year

when the work was commenced. di

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Above the figure is the monogram of Her of

Majesty the Queen of England, “V. R”, EN

carved in stone, surrounded bv a crown of R; oak leaves and ornamented with rays. To | the right and left are the letters ‘ D” and

TT 44 , L . ra Fi] L”” surrounded by laurel branches, standpl ing for the names of the Earl of Dufferin

and the Marquis of Lorne, who were successively Governors of Canada‘ while this side H was being built. The letter “ D’ is surmounted by an earl’s coronet, and the letter SL? by that of a marquis.

The entrance on this side facing Grande

[3 > . . . ‘ : " UE Allée, with its Tonic pilasters and its orna- ar | ments of such pure taste is one of the best fir details of the whole building. It is a charm- dos ing episode in this fine poem. * su wi 1. Chevalier Falardeau was never tired of contemplating Æ the side facing on Grande Allée. “It is an admirable b palace,” he would say, “which would be an ornament in Æ & AE the finest of our Italian cities.’ The main front of the le building was not built then (1882). th« : ER 4 1 spa l'A :