THE MAKING OP CANADA. IS 



what is virtually a uatiou,' with all the heroism of saint and martyr and patriot, with all 

 the enterprise of the great explorers, with all the virtues that distinguished the private 

 life of the people, one evil quality ever exerted an injurious influence on the com- 

 munity and retarded its progress. A critic whom I greatly respect ^ has found fault with 

 Parkman for pointing out, in one of his works, the jealousies of a past age. But I think 

 that any attentive reader of our history must be sadly convinced that, amid so much 

 that compels our admiration, amid displays of energy and courage, zeal and heroism, such 

 as would adorn the annals of any people, the sjîirit of clique has made itself banefully felt, 

 bringing the weakness of the divided house which, the Scripture says, cannot stand. We 

 see it making mischief between creed and creed, between Church and State, between 

 clergy and laity, between order and order, between city and city, between native-born and 

 foreign-born, between mothei-country and colony. That spirit is not dead yet. It shows 

 its activity in many ways — more ways than I need mention. It is emphatically a bad 

 spirit, and one which it is a j)atriotic duty to oppose by all honest means. For that spirit 

 we should substitute the spirit of unity, of helpfulness, of co-operation and goodwill ; 

 the spirit that does away with prejudice and fruitless rivalry and detraction and division 

 in politics, in science, in art, in literature, and to cherish and encourage that spirit, by 

 example as well as by precept, should be the constant aim of the Royal Society of Canada. 



' In using the terms " nation " and " national " with regard to Canada, it will be understood that I have 

 recourse to the only mode of expression applicable to a community of such dimensions and prospects as ours. The 

 bond that unites us to the mother-country is not forgotten, 



^ The author of Colbert et le Canada. 



