Cartier was equally generous in appreciation of his great colleague. Speaking at a banquet tendered Macdonald by the citizens of Kingston on September 6th, 1866, Cartier said:
"Kingston is indeed a favored city, for it has for its representative a statesman who has never yet been surpassed in Canada, and who probably never will be in the future. I have had the happiness of being associated with the member for Kingston in my public career, and of having formed with him an alliance which has already lasted longer than all alliances of this kind in Canada. The success which we have obtained together has been due to the fact that we have repelled all sectional feelings and sought what might benefit Canada as a whole."
That was the keynote of the Cartier-Macdonald alliance, the subordination of all sectional and racial feeling to the welfare of Canada as a whole. Cartier throughout his long public career was essentially a peacemaker, who always strove to promote a better feeling between the two races. A striking testimony to the success of his efforts in that direction was given on one occasion in Parliament when Mr. Benjamin, a leading Ontario member, declared: "I cannot refrain from acknowledging that Mr. Cartier has done more to unite the two races and to re-establish harmony between them, than any other member of the House."
Well shall it always be for the Dominion, if its public men, no matter to what political party they may belong, always adhere to the sane and true principles upon which the Macdonald-Cartier alliance was based—mutual toleration and good-will, respect for the rights of all, the co-operation of races, the safeguarding of Canada's autonomy, and the development of Canadian nationality. The Macdonald-Cartier alliance in fact symbolized that union which should always exist between English-speaking and French-speaking Canadians. And why should there not be union? What matters it whether we speak different languages or worship at different altars, if we always remember that we are all Canadians, mutually interested in the welfare and aggrandizement of our common country. That was the spirit which actuated both Cartier and Macdonald during their long association, and it will be well if such a spirit always prevails in the Dominion. It is only, in fact, upon such a basis that the permanence of Confederation, of which Macdonald and Cartier were the principal architects, can be assured.
For Canadian Nationality
The aim of Macdonald, Cartier, and the other great Fathers of Confederation, was to establish broad and deep the foundations of a Canadian nationality, based on the broadest principles of justice, tolerance, and equal rights. All their public utterances during the Confederation negotiations, testify to this fact. Macdonald's conception was that as the Dominion progressed it would become, to use his own words, year by year less a case of dependence on our part, and of overwhelming protection on the part of the Mother Country, and more a case of healthy and cordial alliance, that instead of looking upon us as a merely dependent colony, England would have in us a friendly nation—a subordinate but still a powerful people—to stand by her in North America in peace or war.
It is given to some men to have a vision that foresees the future and enables them to provide for momentous developments. Both Cartier and Macdonald were such men. It is in fact the supreme merit of Cartier that whilst always standing firmly for the rights of his French-Canadian compatriots, his vision was not confined to the Province of Quebec. If any one does, Cartier deserves the distinction of being known as a great Canadian. There was nothing narrow or provincial in his views. His idea was a united Canada, stretching from ocean to ocean, in which men of all races, languages and creeds should work together as brethren for the welfare and advancement of their common country. Cartier's desire was that his French-Canadian compatriots should not confine their attention to the Province of Quebec, but should take their full share in the life of the Dominion, that they should above all rejoice in the name "Canadian," be proud of the great Dominion and work for its welfare in co-operation with their English-speaking fellow countrymen.
"Objection is made to our project," says Cartier, in his great speech during the Confederation debates, "because of the words 'a new nationality'. But if we unite we will form a political nationality independent of the national origin and religion of individuals. Some have regretted that we have a distinction of races and have expressed the hope that in time this diversity will disappear. The idea of a fusion of all races is utopian, it is an impossibility. Distinctions of this character will always exist, diversity is the order of the physical, moral and political worlds. As to the objection that we cannot form a great nation because Lower Canada is principally French and Catholic, Upper Canada English and Protestant, and the Maritime Provinces mixed, it is futile in the extreme.
"Take for example the United Kingdom, inhabited as it is by three great races. Has the diversity of races been an obstacle to the progress and the welfare of Great Britain? Have not the three races united by their combined qualities, their energy and their courage, contributed to the glory of the Empire, to its laws of wise, to its success on land, on sea, and in commerce?
"In our Confederation there will be Catholics and Protestants, English, French, Irish and Scotch, and each by its efforts and success will add to the prosperity of the Dominion, to the glory of a new Confederation. We are of different races, not to quarrel, but to work together for our common welfare. We cannot by law make the differences of race disappear, but I am convinced that the Anglo-Canadian and the French-Canadian will appreciate the advantages of their position. Set side by side like a great family, their contact will produce a happy spirit of emulation. The diversity of race will in fact, believe me, contribute to the common prosperity."