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with steps of fear. Over it have travelled the pioneer priests, 

 minister and bishops of the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Presby- 

 terian and Wesleyan churches. The governors of the Hudson's 

 Bay company have, as well as the lieutenants of the governors 

 of the Dominion of Canada, all passed this way. Truly this is 

 an historic place ; and from the spot where I now stand could 

 once have been seen nearly all of the old historic strongholds 

 of the Hudson's Bay, the North-west, and the X Y Com- 

 panies. From it may still be seen places made memorable by 

 the good works of the Rev. Mr. West, Bishops Anderson and 

 Provencher, the Rev. John Black, and other devoted men ; 

 within view are the residences of Hon. John Inkster, the 

 father of our worthy sheriff, a member of the old Council of 

 Assiniboia, and that of my brave and valued old friend, Hon. 

 Robert McBeth, also a member, and the father of the Presi- 

 dent of our Historical Society, whose instincts of hospitality 

 were not to be thwarted by the knowledge that confiscation 

 and worse might follow his shelter of a hard-hunted friend ; 

 and I see all around me here worthy children of such worthy 

 sires, the descendants of those pioneer Selkirk settlers whose 

 tale of sorrow, suffering and danger always evokes sympathy 

 and wonder. Mr. President, we are, if I mistake not, near the 

 place where the first plow turned the first furrow — presage of 

 peace, plenty and prosperity — on the eastern verge of that 

 vast prairie which extends to the Rocky Mountains ; and 

 having suitably marked the scene of battle, let us bury with 

 the foundation of this monument the feuds, jealousies and 

 strifes of the past which it recalls, and remembering that 

 English and Irish, Scandinavian, German and the descendants 

 of the gallant Gauls and Gaels, as well as those of mixed 

 blood, who have figured so prominently in the annals of this 

 country, are now, by the mandate of our Queen, of one 

 country and one people ; and while still heirs of the unsullied 

 patriotism and the invincible courage of our colonial and pro- 

 vincial ancestry, and proud of the heroic past, wherein English 

 vied with French in the defence of their common country, we 

 are Canadians all, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and we 



