The Life of King Henry the Eight • Paragraph 697
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After a voyage in which every kind of ocean weather was experienced, or suffered, the mighty St. Lawrence was reached, and finally the City of Quebec, on the 15th of September. The arrival was the commencement of a continental tour which proved a fitting crown to the whole splendid Empire progress and a more than appropriate continuation of the King's visit of forty years before--in which he had touched only the smaller central Provinces of the great railway-girdled Dominion which now welcomed his son and his son's Consort. On Monday, September 17th, the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York, accompanied by the Earl of Minto, Governor-General, and Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the Prime Minister--who had gone down the river to meet them--set their feet upon Canadian soil. The Dominion Ministers were present to join in the welcome, and the procession then passed through the city, many thousands of people lining the streets, and three thousand French children at the St. Louis Gate singing "O Canada, Land of Our Ancestors." At the Parliament Buildings, the Hon. S. N. Parent, Mayor of Quebec and Premier of the Province, read a lengthy address which referred to this visit as a proud privilege, expressed the renewed devotion of the citizens to the Crown and person of their Sovereign, and spoke of French-Canadians as "a free, united and happy people, faithful and loyal, attached to their King and country, and rejoicing in their connection with the British Empire and those noble self-governing institutions which are the palladium of their liberties." In his reply the Duke referred to the success of the Canadian troops at Paardeberg, and spoke with sorrow of the death of President McKinley. "It is my proud mission to come amongst you as a token of that feeling of admiration and pride which the King and the Empire feel in the exploits of the Canadians who rushed to the defence of the Empire."