PROCEEDINGS FOR 1909 XXXI 



of the continent with its wealth of prairie hind. In that judgment we have the fore- 

 sight of the nation builder, a foresight which marks every aspect of his great work 

 from this time onward. 



This same accurate judgment founded on careful observation which led him to 

 choose the great St. Lawrence basin rather than the minor rivers of the South is seen 

 also in his clear apprehension of the chief resources of his chosen countiy. Agricul- 

 tural products, furs and timber he recognized at once as the wealth-producing re- 

 sources of this land. At every step you find him clearing a piece of land and testing 

 the fertiUty of the soil, by a garden spot here at Stadacona, a field of grain at Hoche- 

 laga. In his estimation Quebec itself, and with it New France, w^as not rightly 

 founded until Hébert and his family had been planted on a little farm in the valley 

 of the St. Charles. In the same common sense practical spirit, the dusky natives 

 of these forests were at once recognized as partners and fellow workers in this task 

 of nation-building by the production and accumulation of wealth. Their furs were 

 the one immediately available source of wealth, and hence they were to be 

 treated as friends deserving of justice and kindliness. 



The sagacity of the man in recognizing the possibilities of the country was 

 almost surpassed by the fine moral qualities which made him at once the friend and 

 trusted ally of the red man. Other men robbed them, enslaved them, or exter- 

 minated them. He thought only of making them Christians and treating them 

 with justice and humanity. Three hundred years have now passed since Champlain 

 made those humble yet wise and righteous beginnings. The fur trade has extended 

 to the Arctic Seas and the Pacific Ocean, and has produced its almost countless 

 milhons of wealth, and the same kindly and just policy toward the Indian tribes 

 has become the law of our land and the proud boast of our Canadian civiHzation. 

 Hébert 's little farm on the banks of the St. Charles has stretched itself up the St. 

 Lawrence and the Ottawa over all the broad acres of Ontario, has leaped over the rock 

 bound shores of the Superior sea, and only found full room for expansion in the 

 boundless prairies of the North West; and to day its first Uttle harvest is represented 

 by 125 millions of bushels of wheat. In like manner first hewn logs of Champlain's habi- 

 tation have been multipHed by countless millions of timber shipped from this very 

 port, bringing wealth and comfort to both sides of the Atlantic. 



No less successful was Champlain in the choice of sites for the first beginnings of 

 his new settlements. At a time when the waterways were the highways of the great 

 movements of humanity, it was almost a commonplace policy to found cities at the 

 mouth of great rivers or at the point of confluence of their great tributaries. Hence 

 Tadousac at the confluence of the Saguenay with the St. Lawrence. But Champlain's 

 active mind sought for other things besides the waterways. He wanted soil for 

 agriculture. He was a sailor and wanted a sheltered harbour for his ships. He 

 was a soldier and wanted a strong position for his fortified defences, and he was a 

 poet and always had an eye for natural beauty and fora situation which, like Jer- 

 usalem, should be the joy of the whole earth. Hence he chose Quebec and the 

 judgment of ten generations has but confirmed his choice. But again he judged that 

 trade must be the basis of success in the founding of a colony, and he next looked 

 for a point from which he could command the great Hues of trade, and Montreal 

 was his choice, and he selected and cleared the very ground on which stands the great 

 custom house of our commercial Metropolis, and three hundred thousand people 

 to-day confirm his choice. 



But the greatest of all the achievements of this great man is, we think, the stamp 

 of character which he impressed upon the people of this new land. We have seen 

 already the many simple common things in which he excelled and which made him 

 so successful in laying his foundations. These simple common things, a keen obser- 



