IN PREFACE. N attempting to give an account of the Builders of Canada it has been found impossible to include the names of all the prominent men who have figured on the stage of history in New France and in British North America. In the case of such a prominent soldier as Montcalm, so much of his life is woven into the story of Wolfe that it was deemed unnecessary to devote a separate sketch to him. Again, in dealing with the men of a more recent age, it was thought best to consider only those men who have played their part in the history of the Dominion as a whole and, therefore, such prominent Canadians as Principal Grant, Sir Daniel Wilson, Sir William Dawson and others have been omitted. It was deemed wise to include all the Premiers of the Dominion, for, although several of them were men of comparatively slight importance, their position and the questions that were associated with their names make them, as it were, national figures. The studies of the early part will be found to fully present the Romance of Canadian History, and the writers in dealing with the French period of our history, have, as far as possible, kept to the fore the picturesque in the lives under consideration. In treating more recent history, as some of the men studied are still living and many of them are personally remembered by living Canadians, it was thought wise, whenever possible, to give extracts, at some length, from their letters or diaries or speeches that would let them reveal themselves. The authors of this volume are all experienced writers, and in every case in sympathy with the subjects that they treat. Agnes Maule Machar, the author of several of the sketches, has for many years been an ardent student of the early history of Canada, and has made an exhaustive study of the lives of such men as Champlain and La Salle. The writers of the lives. of the more recent Builders of Canada will be found to be men who have been intimately associated, either personally or in a public way, with the careers of the subjects of their sketches. In the case of the study of the Rt.-Ion. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the greatest of living Canadian statesmen, the publishers have been fortunate enough to secure a sympathetic and unbiased study from the pen of Louis Honoré Fréchette, a great Liberal compatriot and the ablest writer French Canada has yet produced. The publishers have to thank the Copp Clark Company, of Toronto, for kindly permitting them to reproduce several of the sketches which have previously appeared in the editor's Stories from Canadian History. In every case where the author of the article is not named the sketch has been written by the editor. THE PUBLISHERS. |