CANADIAN BATTLEFIELDS

Otago Witness, Issue 2815, 26 February 1908, Page 19

CANADIAN BATTLEFIELDS

OTTAWA, February 21.

Earl Grey's scheme for the nationalisation of the battlefields of the Dominion is progressing. Canada contributes £60,000, the city of Quebec £20.000, and the public subscriptions are expected to reach £120,000.

' The suggestion that, as the best meant of celebrating the tercentenary of the firsi settlement of Canada, a gigantic statue ol the Angel of Peace should be erected on the Point of Quebec, will (says the Daily Mail) commend itself to the people oi England and Canada. Such a monument would typify the reconciliation iong since reached between the British and French races in Canada. The King has been graciously pleased to subscribe to the fun<t for erecting the statue, and has thua assured its speedy success. Speaking to the Women's Canadian Club at Montreal on December 12, Earl Grey, the Governor-General, appealed for steps to. rescue the famous battlefields of Quebea from their present deplorable neglect. I* has been suggested that the 300 th birthday, of Canada «hould be celebrated by the con« secration of the Quebec battlefields.

This suggestion, said Earl Grey, had received the warm approval of the Premier of Quebec and of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the Dominion Premier. The immigrant ar riving at New York was greeted by th« Statue of Libevtv. The immigrant wh< looked up from his steamer to the Plainr of Abraham, where the fate of Americ. was decided (in the defeat of the French ii 1759), saw no inspiring monument, but * gaol, which stood on the sacred spot whert v Wolfe gave up his life. The battlefield of Sainte Foye, uhere thp French in 1760 after a desperate battle, defeated the British, and whence they would have recaptured Quebec if a British fleed had not suddenly appeared, adjoined the Plains of Abraham.

It was proposed to include the more iin-< portant parts of the two battlefields in a. national park, 1o be called "' King Edward's Park. ' A large additional sum would* be required to put the battlefields in a worthy condition, to remove the gaol, rifle factory, and other building:., to erect & museum to contain the historical relics, and to make an avenue round the battlefields seven miles in length, for historical interest and natural beauty, probably the first in the world.

Lord Grey hoped it might be possibU to erect on the Point of Quebec first visibl« to a steamer coming up the St. Lawrenc« a colossal statue of the An^el of Peace, with arms outstretched, offering: to clasp to her heart every new arrival from Europe. Irt conclusion, Lord Gvcy road fhe foT« lowing cablegram from Sir Dighton Probvn : —

'•The King- commands me to telegraph' his approval of the scheme for the cole,* tration of the Champlain tercentenary, and to «ay that his Majesty will gladly subscribe 100 guineas towards the fund you are raising for this good object." Samuel de Champlain, Governor of tho first French settlers, disco\ered Lake Champlain in 1608.

His Excellency's proposal wa6 receive* with much enthusiasm.