Sir Wilfrid Laurier.
The man who stands before the world as Canada’s most distinguished statesman is Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Premier of the Dominion. Sir Wilfrid has very broad and very optimistic ideas as to the destiny of Canada, and these he expresses with a poetic eloquence which never fails to arouse enthusiasm. His oratory takes lofty flights.
Sir Wilfrid was born in the Province of Quebec in 1841. French was the language of his childhood. He went to school in his native parish, and later took the classical course at L’Assomption College. He began in 1860 to study law in the office of the late Hon. R. Laflamme, Q. C., who was Minister of Justice for the Dominion and one of Sir Wilfrid’s colleagues at Ottawa, when the latter became a member of Parliament. He was admitted to the bar in 1864. Eager to succeed, he devoted himself so zealously to his legal work that after three years of practice his health gave way, and he was forced to retire to the country. In the town of L’Avena he became editor of Le Defrecheur, a journal devoted to political and social reform. It was in this work that he first actively interested himself in politics. His articles in the journal were full of the earnestness, enthusiasm and eloquence which have since brought him fame.
Country air agreed with the young lawyer and writer. He regained his health, and opened a law office at St. Cristophe, now Arthabaskaville, where he made his home until he removed to Ottawa as Prime Minister of Canada. He first held office in 1871, when he was elected to the Quebec Assembly. He resigned his seat in the general elections of 1874, was elected by the same constituency to the Dominion House of Commons, and when Parliament assembled was given the honor of seconding the address in reply to the speech from the Throne. His burst of oratory on the occasion attracted wide attention and caused prophecies to be freely made that he was destined for great things.
It was only two years afterward, in 1876, that he attained the distinction of a position in the Cabinet, being appointed Minister of the Internal Revenue in the Mackenzie administration. His constituency did not support him in the next general election, but he was returned to Parliament from Quebec East, which constituency has ever since been his political sponsor. When the Mackenzie government was defeated in the elections of 1878, Mr. Laurier, who had by this time become the acknowledged leader of the Liberal party in Quebec, joined his friends in Opposition and waited for eighteen years for his party’s return to power. This came in 1896. Mr. Laurier was then supreme in the House of Commons, and was called upon to organize a new government. Thus it was that he rose to the exalted position of Premier of Canada and found the opportunities which have given him so high a place among the world’s statesmen.
Perhaps the most important policy which he inaugurated upon his rise to power was that of a preferential tariff in favor of Great Britain. It was due to this policy, as well as to his high position in the affairs of Canada, that when he went to England upon the occasion of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 he was received with distinguished honor. The Queen made him a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. Oxford and Cambridge Universities conferred upon him honorary degrees. Upon a visit to the Continent of Europe during this trip abroad he was entertained by President Faure of France and was received by the Pope at Rome. When he returned to Canada he was greeted with great enthusiasm by all classes. In the general election of 1904 Sir Wilfrid’s administration gained a triumphant endorsement at the polls.