reading committee, whose duty it shall be to report on the publications
of the year, that our thanks may be given to the authors who advance
the cause of literature among us. To assist in that most necessary
enterprise, the formation of a national museum, circulars have been
addressed by the society to men likely to have opportunities for the
collection of objects of interest, and the Hudson Bay Company's
officers have been foremost in promoting our wishes. The Government is
now prepared to house all objects sent to the secretary of the Royal
Society at Ottawa, and contributions for collections of archives, of
antiquities, of zoology, and of all things of interest are requested. I
rejoice, gentlemen, that I have been able to be with you now; that a
year has elapsed since our incorporation, as this period allows us in
some measure to judge of our future prospects. These are most
encouraging, and the only possible difficulty that I can see ahead of
you is this: that men may be apt to take exception to your membership
because it is not geographically representative. I would earnestly
counsel you to hold to your course in this matter. A scientific and
literary society must remain one representing individual eminence, and
that individual eminence must be recognised if, as it may happen
accidentally, personal distinction in authorship may at any particular
moment be the happy possession of only one part of the country. A
complete work, and one recognised for its merit, should remain the
essential qualification for election to the literary sections, and the
same test should be applied as far as possible to the scientific
branches. If men be elected simply because they came from such and such
a college, or if they be elected simply because they came from the east,
from the west, from the north, or from the south, you will get a
heterogeneous body together quite unworthy to be compared with the
foreign societies on whose intellectual level Canada, as represented by
her scientific men and authors, must in the future endeavour to stand.
One word more on the kindly recognition already given to you. In
America, in France, and in Britain, the birth of the new institution
has been hailed with joy, and our distinguished president is at this
moment also a nominated delegate of Britain. An illness we deplore has
alone prevented the presence of an illustrious member of the Academy of
France, and the French Government, with an enlightened generosity which
does it honour, had expressed its wish to defray the expenses of the
most welcome of ambassadors. We have the satisfaction of cordially
greeting an eminent representative of the United States, and I express
the desire which is shared by all in this hall, that our meeting may
never want the presence of delegates of the great people who are dear
as they are near to us.
It is, gentlemen, greatly owing to your organisation that the British
Association for the advancement of science will next year meet at
Montreal, following in this a precedent happily established by the
visit last year of the American Association. These meetings at Montreal
are not without their significance. They show that it is not only among
statesmen and politicians abroad that Canada is valued and respected;
but that throughout all classes, and wherever intellect, culture, and
scientific attainment are revered, her position is acknowledged, and
her aspiration to take her place among the nations is seen and welcomed.
I am sure that your British brethren have chosen wisely in selecting
Montreal, for I know the hearty greeting which awaits them from its
hospitable citizens. The facilities placed at the disposal of our
British guests will enable them to visit a large portion of our immense
territory, where in every part new and interesting matters will arrest
their attention, and give delight to men who, in many cases, have but
lately realised our resources. Their words, biassed by no interests
other than the desire for knowledge, and founded on personal
observation, will find no contradiction when they assert that in the
lifetime of the babes now born, the vast fertile regions of Canada will
be the home of a people more numerous than that which at the present
time inhabits the United Kingdom.
I must not now further occupy your time, but would once more ask you to
accept my heartfelt thanks for the determination shown by all to make
the Royal Society a worthy embodiment of the literary activity and the
scientific labour of our widely-scattered countrymen throughout this
great land.
The Governor-General's reply to addresses from the Royal Academy and
the Ontario Society of Artists, Toronto, June 1883:--
Mr. O'Brien, Mr. Allan, and Ladies and Gentlemen,--I beg to thank you
most cordially for the most kind and courteous addresses which you have
been so good as to present to us. We shall keep them as mementos of the
part we have been able to take in promoting Art in the Dominion. That
part has necessarily been a very small one. I have been able to do very
little more than make suggestions, and those suggestions have been
patriotically and energetically acted upon by the gentlemen who have
taken in hand the interests of Art. But what we have done we have done
with our whole hearts. The Princess has taken the deepest interest from
its inception in the project of establishing a Royal Academy. When,
owing to the unfortunate accident at Ottawa, she was unable to visit
the first exhibition of the Academy held in that city, I remember she
insisted that I should bring up to her room nearly every one of the
pictures exhibited, in order that she might judge of the position of
Canadian Art at that time. (Applause.) It is very fitting that your
first meeting in Toronto should be held in a building devoted to
education, such as this Normal School. I have not yet had the pleasure
of seeing the Exhibition, but I am given to understand that it is an
excellent one, and shows marked progress. That the Exhibition should be
held in this building shows the appreciation of your efforts on the
part of the Government of Ontario. It symbolises the wish of your
association to promote education by extending Art-training, and
training in design. It is therefore most fitting that the Normal School
in Toronto, the great centre from which come the masters of education
for Ontario, should be chosen as the place in which to hold this
Exhibition. Perhaps when the Exhibition is next held in this city, you
will be privileged to meet in a Hall belonging to the local Art
Society--a gallery of paintings. A proper gallery is yet wanting. I
have seen a good many such in other places, notably in Boston, New York,
and Montreal. I am accustomed to think that Toronto is quite in the
front rank, if not ahead of any other city upon this continent. It
should not be behindhand in this respect. I know, at all events, one
eminent Toronto man who lives not far from here, whose features and
form are as well known as those of the Colossus were to the inhabitants
of Rhodes in ancient days, who is not satisfied with himself, nor is
the world quite satisfied, unless he is at least twenty lengths ahead
of everybody else. [1] The position he has earned for himself is
such that the Provincial Government and the Dominion Government,
with my full consent, are prepared to spend $117,000 this year in
securing his habitation, so that it shall not be swept away by the
waves of Lake Ontario. (Applause and laughter.) I am sure--though
I speak in the presence of much better authority--that if the
association here shows itself as much ahead of the world as the
gentleman to whom I have referred, the Provincial and Dominion Government
will, in the same manner, back up your position by money grants
if necessary. (Renewed laughter.) It has been a great satisfaction
to me that when the Royal Academy was founded, I had the great
assistance and support of the gentleman who was then President of
your local association, Mr. O'Brien. As this may be the last time I
shall have an opportunity to speak on Art matters in Canada, I should
like to acknowledge the debt of gratitude which all those who had to do
with founding the Academy owe to him. With untiring zeal, good temper,
and tact, he worked in a manner which deserves, I think, the highest
recognition. As a result of the labour bestowed upon the project, we
see here to-night the Academy and the old Society in one unbroken line.
With regard to the work done by the Academy, you are aware we have held
three or four annual meetings, and marked progress has been seen. The
patriotic determination not only to hold meetings in towns where good
commercial results could be obtained, but in others, is shown by the
holding of a meeting in Halifax and other towns where it was not
expected that a very large number of pictures could at once be sold.
The good results of this course are shown by the fact that as a result
of the meeting in Halifax, a local Art society is to be established
there. A local association has been started at Ottawa, and is making
good progress. In Montreal a great impetus has been given to the local
society, and throughout the Dominion the cause of Art has been promoted
by a central body bearing a high standard and encouraging contributions
from all parts of the country. We have also to pride ourselves upon the
enterprise of our artists in seeking instruction abroad. Several names
might be mentioned of those who have gone and have diligently studied
at Paris and elsewhere. At the Paris Salon this year, two of our lady
members, Miss Jones and Miss Richards, have been very successful in
having every picture they sent admitted to the Exhibition. (Applause.)
A subscription was made in Montreal, some years ago, for an excellent
statue which was erected at Chambly, the subject being Colonel de
Salaberry, and the artist, Mr. Hébert of Montreal, one of your members.
I am happy to say that Mr. Hébert was successful in the face of strong
competition from Italy, France, England, and America, in carrying off
the prize for the best model for a statue to be erected in honour of
Sir George Cartier by the Dominion Government Another of our members,
Mr. Harris, has received a commission from the Federal Government to
paint a picture commemorative of the Confederation of the Canadian
Dominion. These are marked proofs that the position attained by our
academicians is now recognised; and it shows also, if I may be allowed
to say so, the influence a society like this may virtuously exercise
upon the Government and the treasury. (Laughter and applause.) There is
only one other subject I would like to mention, though it has no direct
connection with Art. But it is one mooted by Lord Dufferin, I think, in
this very place, at all events in Toronto, some years ago. He asked me
when I came not to lose sight of it, but to push it upon all possible
occasions. I allude to the formation of a national park at Niagara. I
believe I am correct in saying that on the American side the suggestion
originated with a mutual friend of Lord Dufferin's and mine, Mr.
Bierstadt. Lord Dufferin took the most energetic steps in promoting the
project. He wrote to the gentleman who was then governor of New York.
Some difficulties arose at the time, still steps were taken by which
the project might have been successfully carried out before now.
However, a change came, and a less sympathetic _regime_ followed
that of the governor with whom Lord Dufferin had communicated. I
believe that now our neighbours are perfectly ready, and have nearly,
if not quite, carried a measure for the scheme so far as it affects
them. Their part of the work is of course a much more serious
undertaking than ours. I request the influence of the Canadian Academy,
and of the Society of Artists, in asking both the Dominion and
Provincial Governments to take measures to meet the Americans in this
movement, if they have made or are about to make it. We should secure
the land necessary to make this park, so that the vexatious little
exactions made of visitors may cease. I am sure it will be an immense
boon to the public at large, as well as to the inhabitants of this
Province and of the State of New York, if this scheme, so well
initiated, shall ultimately prove successful.
[1] Mr Hanlan, Champion Sculler of the World.
Ottawa, May 1883.--Address to His Excellency.--Mr. Speaker announced
the receipt of an informal intimation from the Senate that they were
awaiting the arrival of the Commons to present the farewell address to
His Excellency the Governor-General, in view of his early departure
from the country.
On the arrival of Mr. Speaker and the members of the Commons in the
Senate Chamber, the following address was read to His Excellency and H.
R. H. the Princess Louise by Sir John Macdonald.
To His Excellency the Governor-General of Canada, etc, etc.,--May it
please your Excellency, We, Her Majesty's dutiful subjects, the Senate
and House of Commons of Canada in Parliament assembled, desire on
behalf of those we represent, as well as on our own, to give expression
to the general feeling of regret with which the country has learned
that your Excellency's official connection with Canada is soon about to
cease. We are happy, however, to believe that in the councils of the
Empire in the future, and whenever opportunity enables you to render
Her Majesty service, Canada will ever find in your Excellency a
steadfast friend, with knowledge of her wants and aspirations, and an
earnest desire to forward her interests.
Your Excellency's zealous endeavours to inform yourself by personal
observation of the character, capabilities, and requirements of every
section of the Dominion have been highly appreciated by its people, and
we feel that the country is under deep obligations to you for your
untiring efforts to make its resources widely and favourably known.
The warm personal interest which your Excellency has taken in
everything calculated to stimulate and encourage intellectual energy
amongst us, and to advance science and art, will long be gratefully
remembered The success of your Excellency's efforts has fortified us in
the belief that a full development of our national life is perfectly
consistent with the closest and most loyal connection with the Empire.
The presence of your illustrious consort in Canada seems to have drawn
us closer to our beloved Sovereign, and in saying farewell to your
Excellency and to her Royal Highness, whose kindly and gracious
sympathies, manifested upon so many occasions, have endeared her to all
hearts, we humbly beg that you will personally convey to Her Majesty
the declaration of our loyal attachment, and of our determination to
maintain firm and abiding our connection with the great Empire over
which she rules.
His Excellency the Governor-General made the following reply:--
Honourable Gentlemen,--No higher personal honour can be received by a
public man than that which, by this address, you have been pleased to
accord to me. In asking you to accept my gratitude, I thank you also
for your words regarding the Princess, whose affection for Canada fully
equals mine. It will be my pride and duty to aid you in the future to
the utmost of my power. Now that the pre-arranged term of our residence
among you draws to its end, and the happiest five years I have ever
known are nearly spent, it is my fortune to look back on a time during
which all domestic discord has been avoided, our friendship with the
great neighbouring Republic has been sustained, and an uninterrupted
prosperity has marked the advance of the Dominion. In no other land
have the last seventeen years, the space of time which has elapsed
since your Federation, witnessed such progress. Other countries have
seen their territories enlarged and their destinies determined by
trouble and war, but no blood has stained the bonds which have knit
together your free and order-loving populations, and yet in this period,
so brief in the life of a nation, you have attained to a union whose
characteristics from sea to sea are the same. A judicature above
suspicion, self-governing communities entrusting to a strong central
Government all national interests, the toleration of all faiths with
favour to none, a franchise recognising the rights of labour by the
exclusion only of the idler, the maintenance of a Government not
privileged to exist for any fixed term, but ever susceptible to the
change of public opinion and ever open, through a responsible Ministry,
to the scrutiny of the people--these are the features of your rising
power. Finally, you present the spectacle of a nation already
possessing the means to make its position respected by its resources in
men available at sea or on land. May these never be required except to
gather the harvests the bounty of God has so lavishly bestowed upon you.
The spirit, however, which made your fathers resist encroachment on
your soil and liberties is with you now, and it is as certain to-day,
as it was formerly, that you are ready to take on yourselves the
necessary burden to ensure the permanence of your laws and institutions.
You have the power to make treaties on your own responsibility with
foreign nations, and your high commissioner is associated, for purposes
of negotiation, with the Foreign Office. You are not the subjects but
the free allies of the great country which gave you birth, and is ready
with all its energy to be the champion of your interests. Standing side
by side, Canada and Great Britain work together for the commercial
advancement of each other. It is the recognition of this which makes
such an occasion as the present significant. Personal ties, however
dear to individuals, are of no public moment. These may be happy or
unhappy accidents, but the satisfaction experienced from the conditions
of the connection now subsisting between the old and the new lands can
be affected by no personal accident. I therefore rejoice that again it
has been your determination to show that Canada remains as firmly
rooted as ever in love to that free union which ensures to you and to
Great Britain equal advantage. Without it your institutions and
national autonomy would not be allowed to endure for twelve months,
while the loss of the alliance of the communities which were once the
dependencies of England would be a heavy blow to her commerce and
renown. I thank you once more for your words, which shall be dear
treasures to me for ever, and may the end of the term of each public
servant who fills with you the office which constitutes him at once
your chief magistrate and the representative of a united empire, be a
day for pronouncing in favour of a free national Government defended by
such Imperial alliance.
At the conclusion of His Excellency's reply, Mr. Speaker returned to
the Commons Chamber, followed by the members. The last paragraph of the
speech from the Throne was as follows:--
Honourable Gentlemen of the Senate: Gentlemen of the House of Commons,--I
desire to thank you for the great honour conferred on me by the
presentation of a joint address. The Princess and I have both been
profoundly touched by your words, and the message of which you make us
the bearers, comes, as we personally know, from a people determined to
maintain the Empire. The severance of my official connection with
Canada does not loosen the tie of affection which will ever make me
desire to serve this country. I pray that the prosperity I have seen
you enjoy may continue, and that the blessing of God may at all times
be yours, to strengthen you in unity and peace.
APPENDIX.
The Annual Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures of the Province of
Ontario for 1883 was held at Toronto. The formal opening was on Sept.
15th, and His Excellency, who was invited to open it, and who was
received with the greatest enthusiasm, spoke as follows.