feud of centuries between the British and the Irish peoples. I say, of all political parties at home, for I believe the saner, more moderate section of the Unionist Party have come now to see that the autonomy of Ireland is the first, the inevitable and the most necessary point of departure for Imperial unity, Imperial honour and Imperial security. Even in Canada I have had the satisfaction of finding some members of that section among Unionists, who have expressed forcibly their agreement with my view. I believe I may add without breach of confidence or good taste, that among men of high positions in Canada the same feeling exists, that a reconciled and self-governed Ireland is the starting point for that closer Imperial union which is their aim and mine. Surely I am entitled to point to my experiences in Canada as a pronouncement in favour of Home Rule which is startling by its authority and its unanimity. I have rarely addressed a meeting in the great Provincial centres at which either a Premier or an acting-Premier, or Cabinet officer, has not given his adhesion to the principles of Home Rule I have advocated.

Meanwhile, as if to accentuate, support, and strengthen these Federalist, Imperialistic speeches of the Home Rule advocate, there came to Canada a series of cabled despatches indicating some apparently powerful but vague movement in Britain along the same lines. A Federation scheme of the Rhodes character, and now attributed to Earl Grey with an Imperial setting, was declared to be the real platform and policy of the Irish party, a central theme of the Conference then going on between British political leaders, a certain outcome of the existing complicated situation. Upon his return to England Mr. O'Connor plunged into the Elections with the claim that all Canada was behind him in the matter of Home Rule and in London on Nov. 24th challenged the Tories to produce a single Prime Minister or Cabinet Minister of the Canadian Provinces who did not believe that "the honour and the safety of the British Empire demand some concession to Home Rule." There was some discussion in Canada of Sir Wilfrid Laurier's contribution-whatever it was to the Home Rule Fund and the London Free Press (Cons.) observed that the Canadian Premier "would probably be mightily displeased should Mr. Balfour subscribe to an election fund of Sir Wilfrid's opponents." In England considerable capital was made of it by the Liberals during the Elections.

Lord Strathcona's Imperial and Canadian Work

During 1910 the Canadian High Commissioner in London continued his amazing career of public activities. In an interesting study of his life by E. B. Osborn (Morning Post, London) it was said: "What is the secret of the indefatigable vitality of this adviser of the Imperial peoples? Must we not believe that the power of thinking Imperially, of keeping the mind in contact with the great vital issues of the Empire's growing time, and so avoiding the corroding pettiness of the selfish person's existence, is itself a guarantee of a long and fruitful life. It must be so. It is because he has never squandered himself in small self-seeking aims, but has shown us how the true Imperialist should order his works and days, that Lord Strathcona is to-day ninety years

young and still able to do a big day's work as High Commissioner and then, when the office hours are over and the crowd of inquirers have departed, to think over the counsel of a master of worldbusiness, to spend the evening helping on to fruition some of the countless projects of practical Imperialism which he has at heart." It was said during this year that Lord Strathcona's public donations totalled altogether $7,500,000, of which King Edward's Hospital Fund, the raising and equipment of the Strathcona Horse, the Royal Victoria College, Montreal, the Victoria Hospital, Montreal, had each received a million while McGill University had been given $4,650,000.

During 1910 his gifts included $5,000 toward the expenses of the Eucharistic Congress at Montreal; $5,000 to the Mansion House Fund for relieving the sufferers from floods in France; $7,000 to provide equipment for the Toronto Public School Cadets; $1,000 toward the funds of the South African War Memorial at Toronto; $50,000 for the endowment of a Chair of Agriculture in Aberdeen University; $5,000 for the Campbellton (N.B.) Fire Relief Fund; $25,000 to the Vancouver Y.M.C.A. Building Fund; $200,000 additional to the Strathcona Trust for the Encouragement of Physical and Military Training in Canadian schools-making a total of $500,000 and a yearly revenue of $20,000; $10,000 from Lady Strathcona and the Hon. Mrs. Robert Howard to the Winnipeg Y.W.C.A. Building Fund. Large sums were also given to several Y.M.C.A. Funds. A cable offer of $25,000 to help the Montreal Emergency Hospital project during the Typhoid epidemic there was "turned down" by an extraordinary act of the City Council on the ground that it was not required. Yet to this Fund Sir Hugh Graham, Sir G. A. Drummond and the Bank of Montreal, had contributed $2,000 each while Sir W. C. Macdonald, Sir E. S. Clouston, F. W. Thompson, H. S. Holt, James Ross, D. Morrice, Sir T. Shaughnessy and C. R. Hosmer had each given $1,000.

An illustration of Lord Strathcona's thoughtfulness occurred when Mr. H. B. Ames, M.P., fell ill while travelling in the East and the Canadian High Commissioner's cablegrams to Port Said and elsewhere insured comfort and the greatest care for the patient. In September he cabled a request that a wreath be placed for him on the casket of an old-time Nova Scotian friend, Lieut.-Governor D. C. Fraser. The first wireless message inaugurating the Marconi Company's transatlantic system was sent in April by Lord Strathcona to Sir Wilfrid Laurier. On August 6th he celebrated his 90th birthday—a stream of messages pouring in to his office and house address in London. The King, Queen Mary, the QueenMother, the Duke of Connaught, Earl Grey, Sir Wilfrid Laurier and Sir Hugh Graham were amongst those who thus complimented the veteran High Commissioner. The Rev. E. W. Matthews, Secretary of the British and Foreign Bible Society, took advan

tage of the occasion to issue a volume entitled Canada's Cœur de Lion in which he published a number of "greetings" from men of eminence in all parts of the world-as a basis for further appeals to British people everywhere to work for Imperial unity.

Meanwhile the High Commissioner had, in May, absolutely denied the statement in Canadian despatches that, in connection with the late King's Funeral, he had taken the Colonial Office to task for neglect in the matter of Canada's representation. As a matter of fact the Dominion and the other Dominions were represented in an entirely unique and unprecedented way upon that occasion. On May 31 Lord and Lady Strathcona entertained Mr. Roosevelt at a reception in Grosvenor Square, London; on June 20 he shared with Earl Grey in a generous tribute to Mr. Lascelles for his Quebec Tercentenary work; on July 1st he presided at the usual Dominion Day Dinner in London; on the 5th he was in the chair, as Governor, at a dramatic meeting of the Hudson's Bay Company where changes were made in the Board and when he was able to congratulate the shareholders on possessing five and one-half millions of acres in the Canadian West still unsoldaveraging £2 11s. 1d. per acre in 1908 and £3 1s. 5d. in 1909; on the 12th he entertained Lord Grey, Governor-General of Canada, at a Luncheon; on the 14th he took the place of the Duke of Connaught in laying the foundation-stone of the new Royal Academy of Music; on the 21st Lord and Lady Strathcona welcomed the touring Sons of England delegation from Canada-500 strong at a Reception.

His annual Report as High Commissioner was issued in October and dealt at some length with English misapprehensions of Canada's immigration regulations, with the value of the official weekly summaries of Canadian development, with the complaints as to wrongful deportations of emigrants from Canada, with the increasing assistance given to and needed by Canadians who became destitute in Europe, with the general condition of trade and the growth of high prices in Britain. Early in October Lord Strathcona was in Berlin, Germany, as spokesman of the Universities of the British Empire at a great Educational meeting there and was cordially welcomed by the German Emperor. Speaking, on Oct. 18, to the Canadian Associated Press upon the Steamship Line issue he said: "Canada's need of twenty-two knot steamers was never more insistent than now. The advantage to Canada of a fast Atlantic Line would be incalculable; moreover the time is most auspicious. I know that a leading ship-building concern is immediately prepared to build for the Canadian service steamers equal to the Mauretania in speed and efficiency at two-thirds of the initial cost of the Mauretania. They would guarantee them and also guarantee that their cost of maintenance would be only two-thirds of that of the Mauretania. Canada should not neglect so excellent an opportu

nity." The usual rumours as to his retirement were current in November and Sir Hugh Graham was mentioned as the appointee; the usual complete denials were given-the Montreal Star of Nov. 15 declaring that nothing would reconcile the Canadian people to a change as long as it could be avoided. Lord Strathcona presided on Dec. 14th at the monthly Dinner of the Canada Club. During the year he purchased a new residence-the tenth according to official lists. It was "The Priory" on the Island of Oronsay in the Hebrides. On June 21st the Durham University conferred the Hon. degree of LL.D. on him and about the same time the Victoria Colonist made the interesting suggestion that the Garter vacant by the death of Earl Spencer should be conferred by the King upon Canada's veteran statesman.

The Queen's

in Great

Britain

One of the conspicuous Imperial incidents of the year in a Canadian connection was the visit of Own Regiment Toronto's well-known Regiment-the Queen's Own Rifles of Canada-to England at the personal expense of its Colonel Commanding and with a view to (1) improving the drill and military efficiency of the Regiment by enabling it to share in the work and manoeuvres of the British Army; and (2) affording an evidence, which was almost spectacular in its effect, of the practical unity, the actual co-operation, of the British troops and the Canadian militia. To lead such a movement, to inspire such action, Sir Henry Pellatt was pre-eminently fitted by public spirit, wellknown patriotic feelings, financial capacity and military enthusiasm. The Regiment itself had celebrated in June the semiCentennial of its organization in 1860. It had during fifty years of service been conspicuous in Canadian military affairs; it had been enlarged and ready for action at the time of the Trent Affair; it had seen active service in the St. Alban's Raid, the Fenian Raid of 1866, the Red River troubles of 1869, the North-West Rebellion of 1886; it had seen much service of a domestic or civil character and had sent many volunteers to South Africa.

On Jan. 21st, 1910, it was announced at Ottawa that the British Army Council had accepted "the patriotic and generous offer" of Colonel Sir Henry Pellatt to take his Regiment to England in the Autumn and participate in the Aldershot manoeuvres. A little later Mr. Haldane, Secretary for War, expressed in the House of Commons the Imperial Government's appreciation of this offer and the hope that the precedent thus set would be followed by others. By August all the multiform arrangements and details necessary to such a new experiment in Canadian militia work had been completed after 6 months of continuous work by Sir Henry Pellatt-and on the 10th over 600 members of the Queen's Own Rifles paraded at the Toronto Armouries and were bidden "God speed " by thousands of people and, officially, by the Lieut.-Governor and Premier of Ontario, the Mayor and

Council of Toronto. Sir James Whitney read an Order-inCouncil just passed by his Government saying that " this incident, for which the history of the British Dominions beyond the Seas affords no parallel and which, but for the enterprise and openhanded generosity of Sir Henry Pellatt, could not have occurred, will be appreciated not only by the people of Ontario and of Canada but by British peoples everywhere, and will be hailed as another evidence of the proud devotion of the officers and men of the Canadian militia; and of the desire and determination of the people of the Overseas Dominions of the Crown to stand by and uphold at all hazards British institutions and a united Empire." The Premier, in his following speech, described the determination of Canadians to stand by the ideals of a United Empire. The officers who shared in this important trip were as follows: Colonel Sir H. M. Pellatt (in command), Lieut.-Colonel P. L. Mason, Majors R. Rennie, J. O. Thorn and A. G. Peuchen, Rev. J. P. D. Llwyd (Chaplain), and the following:

On August 13th many thousands of people turned out to see the troops depart while, at the Armouries, an illuminated Address was presented to Sir Henry Pellatt and a gold medal surrounded by diamonds, emblematic of the 50th anniversary, to Lady Pellatt by former members of the Regiment. On the 14th the Regiment and men were warmly entertained in Montreal by men and officers of the local Militia and by cheering citizens along the lines of march. After a week's training at Lévis near Quebec the Regiment sailed on the 20th for England on the White Star Liner Megantic and arrived at Liverpool on the 27th, where they were received by General Sir Charles Burnett of the Western Command, other military representatives, and the Civic authorities. They then passed through streets crowded with people and entrained for Aldershot where a stirring welcome was given by 30,000 people, with eight bands in the line of march and decorated streets in every direction. The formal reception was accorded by General Sir H. L. Smith-Dorrien, General-in-Command, and his Divisional officers.

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