APPENDIX A LXI 



decided the intervention of France. The American Kevolution brought 

 on the French Eevolution, and these two events changed the face of 

 the world. The fate of Canada, in 1775, hung upon Carleton, and 

 trembled in the balance on the night of November 7th, when the little 

 party in Bouchette's barge took him safely to Quebec, paddling with 

 the palms of their hands as they passed through the narrow channel 

 at the entrance of Lake St. Peter. Again, in 1812, the fate of Canada 

 hung upon Brock when he boldly assumed the offensive, and the sur- 

 render of Detroit and Michilimackinac heartened the Canadians for the 

 struggle. 



Conduct is the fruit, or final result, of character, and the lives 

 of great men are finger posts of guidance, or beacons of warning, as we 

 pass through life. There lies the immense value of biography, and 

 especially of such works as Plutarch's Lives. But we need not go as 

 far as Plutarch. In a few weeks we shall be celebrating the memory 

 of Champlain, the founder of our country — not a great man, as the 

 word is commonly used, but a model of perfect conduct in every relation 

 of life. Among the men who shine in the annals of the Western Hemi- 

 sphere, he stands among the very first. Loyal to his King, constant 

 to his country, faithful, brave, unselfish, and with full confidjence in the 

 future of Canada, his record is a source of pride to every Canadian, 

 and to all time they will do honour to themselves in honouring his 

 memory. Everyone trusted him from the wild savages of the lakes 

 to the King on the throne of France, and he was true to all. His 

 influence still exists, and his noble character is still a power for good. 

 No noMer theme can inspire our studies. Let us continue to com- 

 memorate his life and deeds in the future, as the volumes of our 

 Transactions show we have- done in the past. 



History, as a department of literature, must not, however, be 

 confused with mere annals — dry records of occurrences like the com- 

 pilations in almanacs and annuals. These are materials for history — 

 the dry bones which must be clothed with flesh and blood and endowed 

 with the breath of life by the co-ordinating and vivifying power of 

 the intellect. The facts have not only to be ascertained, but fused and 

 brought into relation with the sum of human experience, in which 

 the universal principles which sway mankind are embodied. The high 

 creative imagination of the poet is not called for; but the lower repre- 

 sentative imagination is necessary — the faculty by which the historian 

 transports himself into strange or remote circumstances, and throws his 

 mind into sympathy with the actors of bygone ages. Only in that 

 way can he discern the universal and so impart unity to his work. 



