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CIHM/ICMH 
 
 Microfiche 
 
 Series. 
 
 CIHM/ICMH 
 Collection de 
 microfiches. 
 
 Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions Institut Canadian de microreproductions historrques 
 
 1980 
 
Technical Notes / Notes techniques 
 
 The Institute has attempted to obtain the best 
 original copy available for filming. Physical 
 features of this copy which may alter any of the 
 images in the reproduction are checked below. 
 
 
 D 
 D 
 
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 Coloured covers/ 
 Couvertures de couleur 
 
 Coloured maps/ 
 
 Cartes gdographiques en couleur 
 
 Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ 
 Pages ddcolordes, tachetdes ou piqu6es 
 
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 distortion along interior margin)/ 
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 de la distortion le long de la marge 
 int6rieure) 
 
 L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire 
 qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Certains 
 ddfauts susceptibles de nuire d la quality de la 
 reproduction sont notds ci-dessous. 
 
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 Show through/ 
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 Pages damaged/ 
 Pages endommagdes 
 
 The 
 posi 
 of tl 
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 The 
 film 
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 Additional comments/ 
 Commentaires suppldmentaires 
 
 Bibliographic Notes / Notes bibliographiques 
 
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 Only edition available/ 
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 Additional comments/ 
 Commentaires suppldmentaires 
 
The images appearing here are the best quality 
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 of the original copy and in Iceeping with the 
 filming contract specifications. 
 
 Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec le 
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 The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall 
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 Un des symboles suivants apparaTtra sur la der- 
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 le symboie —^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole 
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 The original copy was borrowed from, and 
 filmed with, the icind consent of the following 
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 Library of the Public 
 
 Archives of Canada 
 
 Maps or plates too large to be entirely included 
 in one exposure are filmed beginning in the 
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 following diagrams illustrate the method: 
 
 L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grdce d la 
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 suivant : 
 
 La bibliothdque des Archives 
 
 publiques du Canada 
 
 Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour dtre 
 reproduites en un seul ciichd sont fiimdes d 
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ADDRESS I 
 
 DELIVERED BY 
 
 The Marquis de Bouthillier-Chavigny | 
 
 ra) 
 
 BEFORE THE 
 
 I IMPERIAL INSTITUTE OF GREAT BRITAIN | 
 
 ON THE 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 lOTH OF" NIARCH, 1808. 
 
 CHAIRMAN: L. J. SARGEANT. 
 
 ^ (0 
 
 MONTREAL : 
 Printed by The Gazette Phintin(; Company. 
 
 1898 
 
r 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVERl-D BY 
 
 The Marquis de Bouthillier-Chavigny 
 
 BEFORE THE 
 
 IMPERIAL INSTITUTE OF GREAT BRITAIN 
 
 ON THE 
 
 lOTH OF PvIARCH, 1808, 
 
 CHAIRMAN : L. J. SARGEANT. 
 
 
 MONTREAL : 
 Printed by The Gazetti^; Printing Company, 
 
 1898 
 
J 
 
 
 (,07^/? 
 
ADDRKSS 
 
 UKLIVEKKI) BY THE MARWl^^ DE BOUTHII.MER-CHAVKJNY, 
 
 BEFORE THE IMI'EKIAI, INSTITUTE OF OREAT 
 
 BRITAIN, IOTH march, 1898. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen, — It afibrds me great pleasure 
 to appear, for the first time in my life, before an English 
 audience, and especially^^ having as the subject of my 
 lecture one of your greatest colonies. 
 
 Born a Frenchman, I have been living in Canada for 
 fifteen years, and let me add at once, that in Canada I 
 found all the happiness that a man can expect in this 
 world. 
 
 I do not intend this evening to describe to you that 
 immense country, that you all know so well, especially 
 since the great Jubilee, when you received with so much 
 honour, our present Prime Minister, Sir Wilfred Laurier. 
 
 You will admit with me, Ladies and Gentlemen, that 
 the fact of my presence here this evening is, perhaps, the 
 very best proof of the fairness and freedom which governs 
 all the colonies of the Empire. 
 
 As a result of those laws, I, a Frenchman, may claim 
 the very great honour of acting as a true Canadian, 
 which I am, and which means, a devoted subject of Her 
 Majesty, Queen Victoria, in Canada. 
 
 "When I offered to the High Commissioner for Canada, 
 Lord Strathcona and Mount Roval, to deliver a lecture 
 at the Imperial Institute, I had an object in view. 
 
 I 
 
It litis always been my claim that after the good work 
 made in Europe by all the Canadian agents to make our 
 country known as it deserves to be, a good aim would 
 be attained, if all enthusiastic fellow- Canadians like 
 myself took advantage of their visit to the Motlier 
 Country to let the British public have their ideas and 
 opinions of this colony. 
 
 I have but one desire this evening, and that is to 
 give you, being a settler myself, a few praetical state- 
 ments which would be useful to intending emigrants. 
 
 In fact, this question of emigration is a vital and deli- 
 cate one, since thereon depends fhe happiness of thou- 
 sands of individuals who from year to year exil them- 
 selves in search of it. 
 
 To realize the nature and extent of the progress, and 
 to appreciate the prodigious economic development of the 
 Dominion one has only to do an I did, and to set out for 
 the Canadian North-West. 
 
 It was my very good fortune to take this trip more 
 than once, and each time it has been to me a new reve- 
 lation. On my way from Montreal to the Rocky Moun- 
 tains, I learned everywhere what loill can accomplish 
 when it is governed by practical intelligence and a lofty 
 sense of patriotism. In Manitoba, and all through the 
 Territories, I ascertained what grand results this patriot- 
 ism liada chieved. The work to which these results are 
 due is life-giving in its energy. To-day, it is the honour, 
 and to-morrow it will be the safeguard of those young 
 countries. 
 
 To have a just idea of the progress achieved in the 
 provinces of Western Canada in recent years, it will be 
 
well to look back and soo what their condition was* 
 twenty years ago. 
 
 In 1878 the confederation of the North American 
 Colonies was a little more than eleven years old. All 
 the living forces, all the energies, formerly scattered 
 withont any bond of common interest over a territory 
 as large as that of Europe, were now rallied round a 
 single flag, that of the Dominion, and still, 'lotwith- 
 standing the energ}' of its people and the good will of 
 its political leaders, Canada was, at this time, on the 
 point of seeing its future very near being compromised. 
 An economic crisis of deep significance atf(>cted all parts 
 of the country. The causes of this unhappy situation 
 were numerous. One of them exceeded in gravity an}' 
 of the others. ^N'either life nor progress had as yet pene- 
 trated the solitude of the Great West to develop for the 
 benefit of the whole community the immense wealth 
 that nature had lavished on that part of the Dominion. 
 
 All over this fertile prairie we should have found in 
 1878 but the missionaries' tent, the trappers' hut and the 
 Indians' wigwams, those itinerant habitations which for 
 more than two centuries have travelled in company 
 through the great plains of Xorth America. In fact the 
 whole Dominion overflowed with natural wealth. The 
 soil was of a surprising fertility, the population was 
 sprung from two of the most highly gifted and most 
 enterprising races in the world, and still, notwithstand- 
 mg all these advantages, the country was declining. 
 Why ? Simply because the East and the West of these 
 immense colonies were still without any direct means of 
 communication with each other. 
 
 i M 
 

 6 
 
 Under penalty of seeing the great work of Confedera- 
 tion undone, it waft essential that all the energy, all the 
 resources of the com. try should ho »'oncentrated on the 
 completion of the transcontinental railway. It was neces- 
 sary, in a word, to awaken in the nation he conscious- 
 ness of its power and to revive on the markets of Europe 
 Canada's credit. 
 
 You all know, Ladies and (Jentlemen, how this h'javy 
 charge of responsibility was gladly accepted hy Sir John 
 A. Macdonald and his colleagues, and how resolutely 
 tliey worked from the very day of their advent to 
 power to effect the economic resurrection of the country. 
 
 Inspired by the highest sense of patriotism, they 
 pushed forward. 
 
 Boldness when combined with genius has rarely failed. 
 That illustrious man. Sir John A. Macdonald, was not 
 deceived in his plans and forecasts. 
 
 The most critical duty that fell to his lot was to find 
 men who would accept the tremendous task of con- 
 structing the railway which was to be the keystone of 
 the Confederation and who would take all risks con- 
 nected with it. 
 
 As you know, these men were found ; and here I 
 will ask you to add to Sir John A. Macdonald and Sir 
 George Cartier's names other names, like those of Lord 
 Mount Stephens, Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, Sir 
 William Van Home, to whom is due in the fullest sense 
 of the word the actual prosperity of the greatest of all 
 English colonies, our Dominion of Canada. 
 
 Is it necessary for me to show you the results of the 
 work accomplished by these great and true Canadians ? 
 

 A territory as larii^o as that of Europe Ims been opened 
 to life, civili/atioii and proirross. In fact life is swarming 
 right and l(^ttof that ininicnse Cainidiati Pacific Railway. 
 Towns have sjining up all over the country hetweo.i the 
 Ureat Lakes and the Tacific Coast. Millions of acres of 
 land arc in full cultivation. A trade uniountiiig to nearly 
 one hundred million tlollars has been created between 
 the Eastern Provinces and their Western sisters. The 
 exports of Canadian produce, whicli, twenty-five years 
 ago, were inferior by fifteen million dollars to the imj»orts, 
 exceeded in 1895 the im[)orts by three million dollars,and 
 last but not least, Canada can boast of possessing, to-<lay, 
 the surest strategical road of the Empire,, wiiich will be 
 to-morrow V ^ o-reat commercial route of the world. 
 
 As I told y Ai, my principal object this evening is *,o 
 make a few remarks al)OUt the Canadian North- West, 
 as a iield of emig ation, I'nd more especially to make a 
 few remarks that will help emigrants in the future. 
 
 It must not be forgotten that notwithstanding the 
 immense wealth Canada has reserved in her mines, 
 forests and fisheries the future of the country entirely 
 depends on her immense agricultural possibilities. I 
 repeat again that this fact must not be forgotten. 
 
 The Canadian North- West and the province of 
 Manitoba, which is geographically part of it, constitutes 
 a field of emigration without rival in the world. This 
 field is immense, being in extent equal to the half of 
 Europe. 
 
 If twenty millions of people took possession of the soil 
 from Lake Superior to the Rocky Mountains there would 
 etill be scope for emigration for years to come. By one 
 
8 
 
 of those marvellous coincidences of which Providence 
 alone has the secret, Canada opens the doors of its half- 
 Continent of territory to colonization and progress just at 
 the moment when an economic crisis of the gravest char- 
 acter is embarrassing the nations of Europe. Just when 
 the landed proprietors of the old world are abandoning 
 the cultivation of the soil, through discouragement, and 
 the rivalry from over the sea encountered in their own 
 markets, just when the agricultural population of Europe 
 is deserting the country to flock to the town, there arises 
 in the fulness of its vigour a young country, whose soil 
 has for ages been holding in reserve its life-giving sap, 
 where nature has laid up treasures inestimable and where 
 the land, marvellously fruitful, can be obtained at a 
 merely nominal price. 
 
 In travelling through the North-West my principal 
 occupation was to converse with emigrants. 
 
 In fact the remarks Avhich I wish to put before you 
 are the result of these conversations. In giving them to 
 you I feel that I will do more good to Canada than by 
 giving you a mere description of the country. 
 
 Well,, I learned that with some of these emigrants 
 success meant a well-filled purse. This is an error which 
 the true friends of colonization should not hesitate to 
 fight. 
 
 The determination not to be discouraged by any 
 obstacle, the resolve, firmly taken, to conform to the 
 usage of the country in which they have made their 
 home, in these qualities, rather than in quickly won 
 gold, lies the future prosperity of the emigrant. 
 
 Whether he be the son ol an humble artisan, or a 
 
9 
 
 scion of nobility, the settler should bear in mind that 
 money may facilitate his enterprises, but only in energy 
 and ability will he find the key to sure success. 
 
 I cannot repeat too much, that e^ eryone who goes 
 West with good health and with a fair stock of good 
 will can find work from day to day at all seat^ons of the 
 year. 
 
 The newly arrived emigrant must not restrict his 
 energies to any one class of work. He must simply 
 accept with good will whatever work is offered him, 
 whether it is in exact accord with his tastes or not. The 
 opportunity will in time present itself of finding a better 
 place, it he is intelligent, saving and sober. 
 
 In the West the workman soon gets to be known, and 
 then, while he is not dreaming of it, he is observed and 
 studied by men who, if he is deserving, will soon ascer- 
 tain it and make him good offers. 
 
 The field of business in the West is a neutral ground, 
 on which men of social conditions apparently the most 
 opposite may elbow each other. 
 
 Over there the youngest son of an English peer may 
 become the partner of an humble plebeian, whom the 
 contact with aristocracy neither surprises nor frightens. 
 
 The great law of the struggle for life levels all distinc- 
 tion of origin, and those who refuse to bow the head 
 before this law, condemn themselves to helplessness 
 even if they do not expose themselves to ridicule. 
 
 Let all young men remember that in our West the 
 first condition of success is to leave far behind the spirit 
 of caste and to attain the conviction that work alone 
 will be the umpire of merit and consideration. 
 
10 
 
 This equality joined with the principle of fair play in- 
 nate in every true born Briton, has one result, which 
 every impartial traveller will acknowledge. It shuts the 
 door against mean jealousies which in many communi- 
 ties constitute an impassable barrier to progress. 
 
 Wherever 1 went in the North- West, I never once 
 found rivalries or hatreds existing between settlers or 
 merchants. Every one tries to do better than his neigh- 
 bour, to surpass him if he can, but never does this com- 
 petition transgress the bounds ot courtesy and justice. 
 
 During my stay in Manitoba, I gave much attention 
 to the position of the emigrants arriving in the country 
 with no other fortune than that which they owed to 
 the vigour of their arms and the stren' h of their will ; 
 and the conclusion forced on me is, that they never failed 
 to find work— remunerative work which enabled them, 
 in a couple of years or so, to realize the longing of their 
 hearts and to become proprietors. 
 
 I do not fear, moreover, to affirm that of all the set- 
 tlers that I met, the most prosperous were exactly those 
 who had begun their career in the service of others. 
 
 The immigrant who is determined to work and who 
 hires himself for a few years before setting up an establish- 
 ment of his own has an advantage over his wealthy 
 companion who can only begin his new career by more 
 or less expensive experiments. While making money 
 he is winning an experience which will be of the utmost 
 value when he becomes his own master. 
 
 Above all the immigrant must be a man of stability, and 
 not to be turned aside from his purpose. 
 
11 
 
 Ho must bo observant and study the country from 
 which he expects to derive a livelihood, and perhaps the 
 status of a man of wealth. He must assimilate himself 
 to the usage of the community in which his lot is cast, and 
 never forget that every dollar spent needlessly goes to re- 
 tard him in his advance to independence. 
 
 Finally, his motto should be " Perseverance, Industry 
 and Economy." 
 
 Every year a crowd of young men go to the North- 
 West expecting to make their fortune Most of them 
 have a little money ; many of them, more than is good. 
 My advice to these young men, whatever may have been 
 their social position before, however well stocked their 
 purse is, is to imitate without the least hesitation, for a 
 time at least, the emigrants of whom I have already 
 spoken. Once on the prairie let them forget the past, 
 or only recall it to derive courage from it to conquer tho 
 future. Let them avoid surrounding themselves with 
 helpers when they have started in earnest as farmers, but 
 learn to depend on themselves in tending the soil that is 
 to enrich them. This will pay better than beginning by 
 having a good time. 
 
 In the West, the only social distinctions are those 
 which are based on industry and success, and it is foolish 
 to ignore this fact. 
 
 But it is not to the settler only that the Canadian 
 Northwest oflers a field of fruitful endeavour. It also^ 
 places within reach of the European capitalists oppor- 
 tunities for investment that are practically limitless. 
 
 In this connection it is important to bear in mind that 
 an economic evolution has just begun, the origin of 
 
12 
 
 which is to be looked for in that two-fold movement 
 disclosed on the one hand by the progressive deprecia- 
 tion of land in Europe, and on the other by its constant 
 rise in value in the New World, and especially in the 
 new provinces of Canada. 
 
 While in Europe land is almost everywhere exhausted 
 and can supply men's needs only when it is artificially 
 revived, in Canada more than 150,000,000 acres of black 
 loam, the fructifying properties of which half a century 
 of culture could not exhaust, are to be had at a merely 
 nominal price. While at this moment a third of the land 
 property in Europe is allowed to lie waste, every year, hun- 
 dreds of thousands of acres are on our side of the Atlan- 
 tic opened to cultivation. 
 
 The day is not far distant, therefore, when the Euro- 
 pean farmer, seeing the circle of operations gradually 
 contracting around him, will realize that every stroke of 
 the spade gi-ven by the Canadian settler in the prairie, 
 deepens the abyss of ruin towards which he is inevitably 
 drawn. 
 
 The continental powers of Europe are not insensible 
 to this state of things, and some of them have sum- 
 moned to their aid protection in all its forms. But 
 though this policy may palliate the evil, it brings no 
 permanent remedy. A custom tariff can no more re- 
 store its vigour to the exhausted soil than it can prove a 
 defective barrier to produce, the cost of which in its 
 native home tends to constantly diminish. 
 
 For the European producers the only way to protect 
 themselves is to turn to their own profit the economic 
 crisis that threatens them. 
 
13 
 
 To that end let thoiii extend their radius of action and 
 entrench themselves in the centre of the outside compe- 
 tition which they find so ruinous. 
 
 In other words let the great landed [>roprietor of 
 Europe take his place as a Xew World producer. 
 
 Tluit this transformation is not impossible is quite 
 clear from what Britishers have already accomplished 
 all over the world. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen, in the course of this lecture I 
 have been discharging a duty, and I have now to excuse 
 myself for having been so tedious, but as you know more 
 often than not, pleasure does not accord with duty. 
 
 Let me tell you how proud I am to feel that I am the 
 lirst man of my national itv who dares to come into this 
 Imperial Institute and acknowledge publicly the great- 
 ness of Britain's Colonial possessions, and the fairness 
 with which any settler is received, accepted and pro- 
 tected, without distinction of race or creed. 
 
 In acquitting myself of the task I proposed coming 
 here for, 1 paid a debt of gratitude to the country which 
 yielded me so many great lessons of perseverance, energy 
 and patriotism. 
 
 Let me hope in finishing that I have rendered a ser- 
 vice to that great young country of mine for which 
 Providence has prepared destinies second to none on 
 the American continent.