“I have no hesitation in saying that if the day should come when the supremacy of Britain on the high seas should be challenged it will be the duty of all the daughter nations to close around the old Motherland, and to make a rampart about her to ward off any attack. I hope that day will never come, but should it come, I would deem it my duty to devote what might be left of my life and energy to stump the country and endeavor to impress upon my fellow-countrymen, especially my compatriots in the Province of Quebec, the conviction that the salvation of England is the salvation of our own country, and therein lies the guaranty of our civil and religious freedom and everything we value in life. These are the sentiments which animate the Government on this occasion.”
“This session has been called for the purpose of giving the authority of Parliament and the sanction of law to such measures as have already been taken by the Government, and any further measures that may be needed, to insure the defence of Canada and to give what aid may be in our power to the Mother Country in the stupendous struggle which now confronts us. Speaking for those who sit around me, speaking for the wide constituency which we represent in this House, I hasten to say that to all these measures we are prepared to give immediate assent. If in what has been done or in what remains to be done there may be anything which in our judgment should not be done or should be differently done, we raise no question, we take no exception, we offer no criticism, and we shall offer no criticism so long as there is danger at the front. It is our duty, more pressing upon us than all other duties, at once, on this first day of this extraordinary session of the Canadian Parliament, to let Great Britain know, and to let the friends and foes of Great Britain know, that there is in Canada but one mind and one heart, and that all Canadians stand behind the Mother Country, conscious and proud that she has engaged in this war, not from any selfish motive, for any purpose of aggrandizement, but to maintain untarnished the honour of her name, to fulfil her obligation to her Allies, to maintain her treaty obligations and to save civilization from the unbridled lust of conquest and power.
“We are British subjects, and to-day we are face to face with the consequences which are involved in that proud fact. Long have we enjoyed the benefit of our British citizenship; to-day it is our duty to accept its responsibilities and its sacrifices.
“If my word can be heard beyond the walls of this House in the Province from which I come; among the men whose blood flows in my own veins, I should like them to remember that in taking their place to-day in the ranks of the Canadian army to fight for the cause of the Allied nations, a double honour rests upon them. The very cause for which they are called upon to fight is to them doubly sacred.”
Sir Wilfrid Laurier was one of the chief speakers at the great musical festival given by the American residents of Toronto under the auspices of the American Aid Society, on Thursday, September 10th., 1914. The concert was held in the Arena, and the entire receipts were donated to the Canadian Patriotic Fund. The Liberal leader said:
“Some few weeks ago Canada deliberated upon the situation, the stupendous struggle in which Britain is engaged, and the part which Canada bears. All vestiges of political differences were eliminated. We found in comparing our views that we stood exactly upon the same platform. Without a dissenting voice it was the unanimous opinion of the Canadian Parliament that the war in which England is engaged to-day is a sacred war, and that Canada must help to its last man and its last dollar.
“We must face the situation as it is, and as Lord Kitchener told us some few days ago, we must have more men. There is a difference between the British nation and the nations of the continent. The nations of the continent get their soldiers by law; by conscription, and the enforcement of authority; the British nation get their soldiers not by law, but by appealing to the patriotism of men. Lord Kitchener tells us he wants more soldiers. If he wants more soldiers from Canada let him say the word and we will respond to meet him. We are behind the Mother Country, and let us send them a message that this war must be fought to a finish, and that arms must not be laid down until the principle which it has been fought for is vindicated, and until the day has come when right takes the place of might.”