AMERICAN ASSOCIATION

reign invasion had surged round the Indian wigwams which lined ihe northern declivity of the j^lateau on which Québec now stands ('between Hope Gâte and the Coteau Ste-Geneviève). Of course you are aware this was not ("artier's first visit to the land ot the north ; his keel had, in 1534, furrowed the banks of Newfoundland and its eternal fogs ; in 1 541-2, he had wintered a few miles higher than \ve now are— at Cap Rouge — west of Québec. Then, there occurs in our annals of European settlement a gap of more than half a century. No trace, nor des cendants on Canadian soil, of Jacques Cartier's adventurous comrades. The wheel of time revolves ; on a sultry July morning (3rd July, 160S), the venerated founder of Québec — Samuel de Champlain equally famous as an explorer, a discoverer, a geographer, a dauntless leader, and what to us, 1 think, immeasurably superior, a God fearing Christian gentleman - with his hardy little band of Norman artitîcers, soldiers and farmers, amidst the oak and maple groves of the lower town, laid the first stone of the " habitation '' or résidence, so pleasantly, so graphically described by your illustrions countrymen, Parkman and Howells.

Ladies and gentlemen, I hâve promised you the briefest of discourses ; but if, instead of pointing eut to you the historical spots, brought under your notice in the course of our excursion, it were my lot to address, as a Canadian annalist, such a distinguished audience as I see hère, what glowing pictures of 'soldierlike daring, of Christian endurance, of heroic self-sacrifice, could be summoned from the pregnant pages of Champlain's journal, and from that quaint repository of Canadian history, the Relations of the Jésuites ; you would, or I am much mistaken, be deeply moved with the story of the trials, sufferings and dévotion to king and country of the denizens of this old rock : your heart would warm towards that picturesque promontory — sometimes, seemingly dear, to sunny old France. One occasionally would be tempted to forgive her cruel désertion of her offspring in its hour of trial.

From the wonib of a distant past would corne forth a taie of deadly though not hopelesss struggles with savage or civilized foes - a taie harrowing, not however devoid of useful lessons. The narrative would become darker, more dreary, when to the cruelty of Indian foemen would be added, as ofc' was the case, the horrors of a famine or the pitiless severity of a northern winter. A transient gleam of sunshine would light up the canvass when perchance the genius of a Talon, the wisdoni of a Colbert, or the martial spirit of a Frontenac succeeded in awakening a faint, canadian écho on the banks of the Seine. In those winding, narrow, uneven streets. the forest avenues of Montmagny and Tracy, which now resound to no other sounds but the din of toil and traffic, you would meet a martial array of

LECN DE ROSNY 123

feaiiess, gay cavaliers, and pliimed warriors, hurrying to the city battlements to lepel the maraudingsavage or the foe from Old or New England, equally objtcts of dread. From the very deck of this steamer, with the wand of the historian you could conjure the thrilling spectacle of poweilul fleets in 1629, in 1690 and in 1759, anchorfcd at the very spot where we now lie, belching fonh shot and shell on the sturdy old tortress, or else watch tiotillas of birch bark canoës laden with lithe, tattoed, painted warriors, landing on that beach, bearing peace offerings to great Ononthio. Varied, indeed, wouid be the panorama which history would unroll. Finally, you might cast a glance un that crushing i3th of September, 1759, which closed the pageant of French ruie on our phores, — when Montcalm and ail the patriotism of the yeomanry lead by the Canadian Gentilshommes — the Longueuils Vaudreuil, De Beaujeu, de St Ours, de La Naudière, &€., was powerless against the rapacity and profligacy of Bigot

and his felloW plunderers and parasites

Thèse were the dark days of the colony under French rule ; a glimpse of the doings in those times suffices to explain why French Canada, deserted by France, betrayed by some of her own people, accepted so readily as défait accompli the new régime ; why, havmg once sworn fealty to the new banner implanted on that citadel by the genius of a Chatham, it closed ils ears and steeled its heart even against the blandishments of the generous Lafayette — held ont in the name of that grand old patriot and father of jour country, Georges Washington. '

Une semblable réunion avec séances solennelles a eu lieu à Montréal en août 1884, de la part de l'Association Britannique pour le progrès de 'a science sous la présidence de Lord Raylôigh.

Mille membres de cette célèbre société, fondée à York, en 1831 par Sir Benjamin Brev/ster et qui a réuni dans son sein les noms les plus illustres (i) de la science dans le Royaume-Uni, traversèrent l'océan pour tenir en Canada, leur congrès annuel et pour discuter avec les savants de l'Amérique les problêmes qui préoccupent les intelligences modernes.

Une députation de près de 600 membres accepta l'hospitalité de la vieille capitale et vint à Québec. C'était une

(1) Herschell, Humphrey Davy, Herbert Spencer, Hooker, Bucklaud, Murclieson Darwin, Huxley, Tyndall, Lyel, Spottiswoode, Richard ( )wen 'A. C. Hamsay, Siemens Carpenter ; parmi la haute noblesse : le Piince Albert, les Ducs de Northumbcrland de Buccleugh, d'Argyll, les Marquis de Lansdowne, do Breadalbane, de Xorthami)ton les Comtes Fitzwilliam, Burlington, Harrowby, de Eosse, Lords Egerton, Wrottesley Eayleigh.