VISION THAT CAME TRUE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1030, 23 November 1912, Page 4

VISION THAT CAME TRUE.

The venerable Canadian statesman, Sir Charles Tupper, Bart.' who eutereii :upbn ? his ninetysecond year a few days ago,, is .the sole survivor of that' band of farsighted Empire "patriots . who brought aFout the confederation of Canada. Sir Charles has lived to Iseey.the jwonderful fruition of thiF toaster idea, not only in Canada,-but also in Australia and South Africa ; an idea,which'has been the indispensable and fundatoebtal preliminary to Empire union;. It is' interesting to ; recall that aS far back as’ x 866 Sit Charles anticipated conditions’such as 'we have to : day Canada stretching icrpssbtfae (^nfi^fit' r 'pfesl(l6ff. , FVer by Ja sob / t in a lecture at ’Halifax in tliat Alibse wortls f *‘\yho could' T °ff6ii6t- that • tiiider' these circumstances'such a federal, lion of. jtbe ; FvbipbQVincesF- tb i Riyer and the Saskatchewan country might be. added—would give us the position due to our Extent, Resources, aud intelligent population, untrammelled either by slavery or the ascendancy of any dominant church ; almost the last country where civil aud religious liberty exists. British America, stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, would, in a few years present to the world a great and powerful organisation, with British institutions, bound indissolubly to the throne of England by a community of interests and united to it by the Viceroyalty of one of the promising sous of our beloved Queen, whose virtues have entbroued her iu the hearts of her subjects iu every section of an Empire upou which the suu never sets.”

Full of years aud houours, Sir Charles retains his old alertness aud mental activity. An exPrime Minister of Canada, aud leader of the party now presided over by Mr K. L,. Borden, betakes the keenest interest iu the great defence problem that has now come up for solution. On the subject, as recently as last year, he contributed an article to the Nineteenth Century ” advocating Canada’s duty to contribute towards the protection of the Empire trade routes.