MEMORIES OF CANADA AND SCOTLAND

SPEECHES AND VERSES

BY THE RIGHT HON. THE MARQUIS OF LORNE K.T., G.C.M.G., &C.

DEDICATED WITH RESPECT AND AFFECTION TO THE MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA

CONTENTS

VERSES ON CANADIAN SUBJECTS.

CANADA, 1882

QUEBEC

PROLOGUE—GOVERNMENT HOUSE, MARCH 1879

CANADIAN NATIONAL HYMN

CANADIAN RIVER RHYMES

THE CANADIAN ROBIN

MILICETE LEGEND OF THE RIVER ST. JOHN

THE GUIDE OF THE MOHAWKS

THE STRONG HUNTER

THE ORIGIN OF THE INDIAN CORN

THE ISLES OF HURON

THE MYSTIC ISLE OF THE "LAND OF THE NORTH WIND"

WESTWARD HO!

THE SONG OF THE SIX SISTERS

THE PRAIRIE ROSES

CREE FAIRIES

THE "QU'APPELLE" VALLEY

THE BLACKFEET

SAN GABRIEL, ON THE PACIFIC COAST

NIAGARA

ON CHIEF MOUNTAIN

CUBA

ON THE NEW PROVINCE "ALBERTA"

VERSES CHIEFLY FROM HIGHLAND STORIES.

GAELIC LEGENDS

COLHORN

LOCH BÚY

THE HARD STRAIT OF THE FEINNE

TOBERMORY BAY, 1588

LOCH UISK, ISLE OF MULL

THE LADY'S ROCK

THE POOL OF THE IRON SHIRT

INVERAWE

AN ISLESMAN'S FAREWELL

PREFACE TO DIARMID'S STORY

GRINIE'S FLIGHT WITH DIARMID

THE DEATH OF THE BOAR

KING ARTHUR AND THE CAPTIVE MAIDEN

SEANN ORAN GAILIC

DUNOLLY'S DAUGHTER

THE ARMADA GUN

CAVALRY CHARGE—KÖNIGGRÄTZ

THE IRISH EMIGRANT, 1880

THE IRISH EMIGRANT, 1883

SONG

SONNET ON THE DEATH OF LORD F. DOUGLAS

SADOWA

ON A FOREIGN WAR-SHIP'S SALUTE TO THE QUEEN'S STANDARD

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES.

FAREWELL ADDRESS AT INVERARAY

EMBARKING AT LIVERPOOL

REPLY TO THE LIVERPOOL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

TO THE MUNICIPALITY OF LONDONDERRY

AT MONTREAL—TO THE ST. ANDREWS SOCIETY

AT MONTREAL—REPLY TO THE CITIZENS' ADDRESS

AT OTTAWA—REPLY TO THE CITIZENS' ADDRESS

AT OTTAWA—DISTRIBUTION OF SCHOOL PRIZES

AT KINGSTON—ON RECEIVING THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF LAWS OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE

AT KINGSTON—TO THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE

AT KINGSTON—TO THE CADETS OF THE ROYAL MILITARY COLLEGE

AT MONTREAL—REVIEW ON THE QUEEN'S BIRTHDAY, 1879

AT MONTREAL—OPENING OF AN ART INSTITUTE

AT QUEBEC—REPLY TO ADDRESS OF THE CITY CORPORATION

AT QUEBEC—LAVAL UNIVERSITY

AT TORONTO—TORONTO CLUB DINNER

AT ST. JOHN, N.B.

AT ST. JOHN, N.B.—REPLY TO ADDRESS OF THE CITY CORPORATION

AT FREDERICTON—REPLY TO ADDRESS OF THE CITY CORPORATION

IN KINGS' COUNTY, N.B.—REPLY TO ADDRESS OF THE MUNICIPALITY

AT TORONTO—REPLY TO ADDRESS OF THE CITY CORPORATION

AT BERLIN, ONTARIO—REPLY TO ADDRESS OF THE GERMAN RESIDENTS

AT OTTAWA—EXHIBITION OF 1880

AT OTTAWA—EXHIBITION OF THE ROYAL CANADIAN ACADEMY OF ART

AT QUEBEC—FESTIVAL OF ST. JEAN BAPTISTE

AT HAMILTON—OPENING OF PROVINCIAL FAIR

AT MONTREAL—OPENING OF PROVINCIAL FAIR

AT MONTREAL—LAYING THE FOUNDATION STONE OF THE REDPATH MUSEUM OF THE MCGILL COLLEGE

AT CHAMBLY—UNVEILING THE STATUE OF COLONEL DE SALABERRY

AT ST. THOMAS—GATHERING OF HIGHLANDERS

AT WINNIPEG—IMPRESSIONS OF A TOUR IN THE NORTHWEST

AT WINNIPEG—SOCIETY OF ST. JEAN BAPTISTE OF MANITOBA

AT WINNIPEG—REPLY TO ADDRESS OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF ST. BONIFACE—MANITOBA

AT WINNIPEG—REPLY TO ADDRESS OF THE BOARD OF MANAGEMENT OF MANITOBA COLLEGE

AT FORT SHAW, MONTANA—FAREWELL TO THE NORTHWEST MOUNTED POLICE

AT OTTAWA—INCEPTION OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA

AT SAN FRANCISCO, CAL—REPLY TO ADDRESS OF THE BRITISH RESIDENTS

AT VICTORIA, B.C.—SPEECH AT A PUBLIC DINNER

AT OTTAWA—MEETING OF THE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION

AT OTTAWA—SECOND MEETING OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA

AT TORONTO—REPLY TO ADDRESSES OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY AND OF THE ONTARIO SOCIETY OF ARTISTS

AT OTTAWA—FAREWELL ADDRESS OF THE PARLIAMENT OF CANADA

REPLY

EXTRACT FROM THE SPEECH FROM THE THRONE

APPENDIX.

AT TORONTO—EXHIBITION OF ARTS AND MANUFACTURES

AT TORONTO—REPLY TO ADDRESS AT THE QUEEN'S PARK

AT OTTAWA—REPLY TO ADDRESS OF THE CITY CORPORATION

AT MONTREAL—REPLY TO ADDRESS OF THE CITY CORPORATION

AT QUEBEC—REPLY, OCT. 20TH 1883, TO ADDRESS OF THE CITY CORPORATION

VERSES ON CANADIAN SUBJECTS.

CANADA, 1882.

"Are hearts here strong enough to found A glorious people's sway?" Ask of our rivers as they bound From hill to plain, or ocean-sound, If they are strong to-day? If weakness in their floods be found, Then may ye answer "Nay!"

"Is union yours? may foeman's might Your love ne'er break or chain?" Go see if o'er our land the flight Of Spring be stayed by blast or blight; If Fall bring never grain; If Summer suns deny their light, Then may our hope be vain!

"Yet far too cramped the narrow space Your country's rule can own?" Ah! travel all its bounds and trace Each Alp unto its fertile base, Our realm of forests lone, Our world of prairie, like the face Of ocean, hardly known!

"Yet for the arts to find a shrine, Too rough, I ween, and rude?" Yea, if you find no flower divine With prairie grass or hardy pine. No lilies with the wood, Or on the water-meadows' line No purple Iris' flood!

"You deem a nation here shall stand, United, great, and free?" Yes, see how Liberty's own hand With ours the continent hath spanned, Strong-arched, from sea to sea: Our Canada's her chosen land, Her roof and crown to be!

QUEBEC.

O fortress city, bathed by streams Majestic as thy memories great, Where mountains, floods, and forests mate The grandeur of the glorious dreams, Born of the hero hearts who died In founding here an Empire's pride; Prosperity attend thy fate, And happiness in thee abide, Pair Canada's strong tower and gate!

May Envy, that against thy might Dashed hostile hosts to surge and break, Bring Commerce, emulous to make Thy people share her fruitful fight, In filling argosies with store Of grain and timber, and each ore, And all a continent can shake Into thy lap, till more and more Thy praise in distant worlds awake.

Who hath not known delight whose feet Have paced thy streets or terrace way; From rampart sod or bastion grey Hath marked thy sea-like river greet.

The bright and peopled banks which shine In front of the far mountain's line; Thy glittering roofs below, the play Of currents where the ships entwine Their spars, or laden pass away?

As we who joyously once rode Past guarded gates to trumpet sound, Along the devious ways that wound O'er drawbridges, through moats, and showed The vast St. Lawrence flowing, belt The Orleans Isle, and sea-ward melt; Then by old walls with cannon crowned, Down stair-like streets, to where we felt The salt winds blown o'er meadow ground.

Where flows the Charles past wharf and dock. And Learning from Laval looks down, And quiet convents grace the town. There swift to meet the battle shock Montcalm rushed on; and eddying back, Red slaughter marked the bridge's track: See now the shores with lumber brown, And girt with happy lands which lack No loveliness of Summer's crown.

Quaint hamlet-alleys, border-filled With purple lilacs, poplars tall, Where flits the yellow bird, and fall The deep eave shadows. There when tilled The peasant's field or garden bed, He rests content if o'er his head From silver spires the church-bells call To gorgeous shrines, and prayers that gild The simple hopes and lives of all.

Winter is mocked by garbs of green, Worn by the copses flaked with snow,— White spikes and balls of bloom, that blow In hedgerows deep; and cattle seen In meadows spangled thick with gold, And globes where lovers' fates are told Around the red-doored houses low; While rising o'er them, fold on fold, The distant hills in azure glow.

Oft in the woods we long delayed, When hours were minutes all too brief, For Nature knew no sound of grief; But overhead the breezes played, And in the dank grass at our knee, Shone pearls of our green forest sea, The star-white flowers of triple leaf Which love around the brooks to be, Within the birch and maple shade.

At times we passed some fairy mere Embosomed in the leafy screen, And streaked with tints of heaven's sheen, Where'er the water's surface clear Bore not the hues of verdant light From myriad boughs on mountain height, Or near the shadowed banks were seen The sparkles that in circlets bright Told where the fishes' feast had been.

And when afar the forests flushed In falling swathes of fire, there soared Dark clouds where muttering thunder roared, And mounting vapours lurid rushed, While a metallic lustre flew Upon the vivid verdure's hue, Before the blasts and rain forth poured, And slow o'er mighty landscapes drew The grandest pageant of the Lord:

The threatening march of flashing cloud, With tumults of embattled air, Blest conflicts for the good they bear! A century has God allowed None other, since the days He gave Unequal fortune to the brave. Comrades in death! you live to share An equal honour, for your grave Bade Enmity take Love as heir!

We watched, when gone day's quivering haze, The loops of plunging foam that beat The rocks at Montmorenci's feet Stab the deep gloom with moonlit rays; Or from the fortress saw the streams Sweep swiftly o'er the pillared beams; White shone the roofs, and anchored fleet, And grassy slopes where nod in dreams Pale hosts of sleeping Marguerite.

Or when the dazzling Frost King mailed Would clasp the wilful waterfall, Fast leaping to her snowy hall She fled; and where her rainbows hailed Her freedom, painting all her home, We climbed her spray-built palace dome, Shot down the radiant glassy wall Until we reached the snowdrift foam, As shoots to waves some meteor ball.

Then homeward, hearing song or tale, With chime of harness bells we sped Above the frozen river bed. The city, through a misty veil, Gleamed from her cape, where sunset fire Touched louvre and cathedral spire, Bathed ice and snow a rosy red, So beautiful that men's desire For May-time's rival wonders fled:

What glories hath this gracious land, Fit home for many a hardy race; Where liberty has broadest base, And labour honours every hand! Throughout her triply thousand miles The sun upon each season smiles, And every man has scope and space, And kindliness, from strand to strand, Alone is born to right of place!

Such were our memories. May they yet Be shared by others, sent to be Signs of the union of the free And kindred peoples God hath set O'er famous isles, and fertile zones Of continents! Or if new thrones And mighty States arise, may He Whose potent hand yon river owns Smooth their great future's shrouded Sea!

PROLOGUE.

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, March 1879.

A moment's pause before we play our parts, To speak the thought that reigns within your hearts.— Now from the Future's hours, and unknown days, Affection turns, and with the Past delays; For countless voices in our mighty land Speak the fond praises of a vanished hand; And shall, to mightier ages yet, proclaim The happy memories linked with Dufferin's name.

Missed here is he, to whom each class and creed, Among our people lately bade "God speed;" Missed, when each Winter sees the skater wheel In ringing circle on the flashing steel; Missed in the Spring, the Summer and the Fall, In many a hut, as in the Council Hall; Where'er his wanderings on Duty's hest Evoked his glowing speech, his genial jest. We mourn his absence, though we joy that now Old England's honours cluster round his brow, And that he left us but to serve again Our Queen and Empire on the Neva's plain!

Amidst the honoured roll of those whose fate It was to crown our fair Canadian State, And bind in one bright diadem alone, Each glorious Province, each resplendent stone, His name shall last, and his example give To all her sons a lesson how to live: How every task, if met with heart as bold, Proves the hard rock is seamed with precious gold, And Labour, when with Mirth and Love allied, Finds friends far stronger than in Force and Pride, And Sympathy and Kindness can be made The potent weapons by which men are swayed. He proved a nation's trust can well be won By loyal work and constant duty done; The wit that winged the wisdom of his word Set forth our glories, till all Europe heard How wide the room our Western World can spare For all who nobly toil and bravely dare.

And while the statesman we revere, we know In him the friend is gone, to whom we owe So much of gaiety, so much which made Life's duller round to seem in joy repaid. These little festivals by him made bright, With grateful thoughts of him renewed to-night, Remind no less of her who deigned to grace This mimic world, and fill therein her place With the sweet dignity and gracious mien The race of Hamilton has often seen; But never shown upon the wider stage Where the great "cast" is writ on History's page, More purely, nobly, than by her, whose voice Here moved to tears, or made the heart rejoice, And who in act and word, at home, or far, Shone with calm beauty like the Northern Star!

Green as the Shamrock of their native Isle Their memory lives, and babes unborn shall smile And share in happiness the pride that blends Our country's name with her beloved friends!

A NATIONAL HYMN.

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, March 1880.

From our Dominion never Take Thy protecting hand, United, Lord, for ever Keep Thou our fathers' land! From where Atlantic terrors Our hardy seamen train, To where the salt sea mirrors The vast Pacific chain. Aye one with her whose thunder Keeps world-watch with the hours, Guard Freedom's home and wonder, "This Canada of ours."

Fair days of fortune send her, Be Thou her Shield and Sun! Our land, our flag's Defender, Unite our hearts as one! One flag, one land, upon her May every blessing rest I For loyal faith and honour Her children's deeds attest Aye one with her, &c.

No stranger's foot, insulting, Shall tread our country's soil; While stand her sons exulting For her to live and toil. She hath the victor's guerdon, Her's are the conquering hours, No foeman's yoke shall burden "This Canada of ours." Aye one with her, &c.

Our sires, when times were sorest, Asked none but aid Divine, And cleared the tangled forest, And wrought the buried mine. They tracked the floods and fountains, And won, with master-hand, Far more than gold in mountains, The glorious Prairie-land. Aye one with her, &c,

O Giver of earth's treasure, Make Thou our nation strong; Pour forth Thine hot displeasure On all who work our wrong! To our remotest border Let plenty still increase, Let Liberty and Order, Bid ancient feuds to cease. Aye one with her, &c.

May Canada's fair daughters Keep house for hearts as bold As theirs who o'er the waters Came hither first of old. The pioneers of nations! They showed the world the way; Tis ours to keep their stations, And lead the van to-day. Aye one with her, &c.

Inheritors of glory, O countrymen! we swear To guard the flag whose story Shall onward victory bear. Where'er through earth's far regions Its triple crosses fly, For God, for home, our legions Shall win, or fighting die! Aye one with her, &c.

RIVER RHYMES

1. We have poled our staunch canoe Many a boiling torrent through; Paddling where the eddies drew, Athwart the roaring flood we flew.

Chorus— Dip your paddles! make them leap, Where the clear cold waters sweep. Dip your paddles! steady keep, Where breaks the rapid down the steep.

2. Where the wind, like censer, flings Smoke-spray wider as it swings, Hark! the aisle of rainbow rings To falls that hymn the King of kings.

3. Lifting there our vessel tight, Climbed we bank and rocky height, Bore her through thick woods, where light Fell dappling those green haunts of Night.

4. O'er the rush of billows hurled, Where they tossed and leaped and curled, Past each wave-worn boulder whirled, How fast we sailed, no sail unfurled!

5. Laughs from parted lips and teeth Hailed the quiet reach beneath, Damascened in ferny sheath, And girt with pine and maple wreath.

6. Oh, the lovely river there Made all Nature yet more fair; Wooded hills and azure air Kissed, quivering, in the stream they share.

7. Plunged the salmon, waging feud 'Gainst the jewelled insect-brood; From aerial solitude An eagle's shadow crossed the wood.

8. Flapped the heron, and the grey Halcyon talked from cedar's spray, Drummed the partridge far away;— Ah! could we choose to live as they!

LEGEND OF THE CANADIAN ROBIN

Is it Man alone who merits Immortality or death? Each created thing inherits Equal air and common breath.

Souls pass onward: some are ranging Happy hunting-grounds, and some Are as joyous, though in changing Form be altered, language dumb.

Beauteous all, if fur or feather, Strength or gift of song be theirs; He who planted all together Equally their fate prepares.

Like to Time, that dies not, living Through the change the seasons bring, So men, dying, are but giving Life to some fleet foot or wing.

Bird and beast the Savage cherished, But the Robins loved he best; O'er the grave where he has perished They shall thrive and build their nest.

Hunted by the white invader, Vanish ancient races all; Yet no ruthless foe or trader Silences the songster's call.

For the white man too rejoices, Welcoming Spring's herald bird, When the ice breaks, and the voices From the rushing streams are heard.

Where the Indian's head-dress fluttered, Pale the settler would recoil, And his deepest curse was uttered On the Red Son of the soil.

Later knew he not, when often Gladness with the Robin came, How a spirit-change could soften Hate to dear affection's flame:

Knew not, as he heard, delighted, Mellow notes in woodlands die, How his heart had leaped, affrighted At that voice in battle-cry.

For a youthful Savage, keeping Long his cruel fast, had prayed, All his soul in yearning steeping, Not for glory, chase, or maid;

But to sing in joy, and wander, Following the summer hours, Drinking where the streams meander, Feasting with the leaves and flowers.

Once his people saw him painting Red his sides and red his breast, Said: "His soul for fight is fainting, War-paint suits the hero best;"

Went, when passed the night, loud calling, Found him not, but where he lay Saw a Robin, whose enthralling Carol seemed to them to say;

"I have left you! I am going Far from fast and winter pain; When the laughing water's flowing Hither I will come again!"

Thus his ebon locks still wearing, With the war-paint on his breast, Still he comes, our summer sharing, And the lands he once possessed.

Finding in the white man's regions Foemen none, but friends whose heart Loves the Robins' happy legions, Mourns when, silent, they depart.

WERE THESE THE FIRST DISCOVERERS OF AMERICA?

MILICETE LEGEND OF THE OUANGONDÉ, OR RIVER ST. JOHN.

Though the ebbing ocean listens To Ugondé's throbbing roar, Calm the conquering flood-tide glistens Where the river raved before. [1]

[1] The Bay of Fundy tide rises to such a height that it flows up the St. John River channel to some distance, silencing the roar of the Calls, which pour over a great ledge of rock left by the ebbing sea. Taken very literally from a tale in the "Amaranth Magazine," 1841.

So the sea-brought strangers, stronger Than their Indian foes of old, Conquered, till were heard no longer War-songs through the forests rolled.

Yet the land's wild stream, begotten Where its Red Sons fought and died, With traditions unforgotten Strives to stem Oblivion's tide; Tells the mighty, who, like ocean, Whelm the native stream, how they First in far dim days' commotion, Wrestling, fought for empire's sway.

Hear the sad cascade, ere ever Sinks in rising tides its moan, True may be the tale, though never By the victor ocean known.

Now the chant rings softly, finding Freedom as the sea retires; Loudly now, through spray-tears blinding Throb and thunder silver lyres;

Silenced when the strong sea-water To its great' heart, limitless, Rising, takes the valley's daughter, Soothes the song of her distress.

UGONDÉ'S TALE.

For a while the salt brine leaves me O'er my terraced rocks to fall, And my broad swift-gliding waters Olden memories recall.

Ere the tallest pines were seedlings With my life-stream these were blent; As a father's words, like arrows Straight to children's hearts are sent,

So my currents speeding downwards, Ever passing, sing the same Story of the days remembered, When the stranger people came. Men of mighty limbs and voices, Bearing shining shields and knives, Painted gleamed their hair like evening, When the sun in ocean dives.