we come thus to her aid in token of our deter-
    mination to protect and ensure the safety and
    integrity of this Empire, and of our resolve to
    defend on sea as well as on land our flag, our
    honour, and our heritage."
   This gift of wise and spacious speech has been
used more than once with extreme impressiveness
notably at the Guildhall-during the Prime Minis-
ter'secent visit. "All that," he said, "for which
our fathers fought and bled, all our liberties and
institutions, all the influences for good which pene-
trate humanity, are in the balance to-day. There-
fore we cannot, because we must not, fail in this
war."
   It was my duty to accompany Sir Robert Borden
on the visit which he paid to the front, and I gladly
embrace this opportunity of substituting for the
stories of bloodshed and glory, which have engaged
my pen so much, the record of a mission which,
though peaceful, was of profound and often of most
moving interest.
   Sir Robert Borden arrived in England in the
middle of July. On Friday, the 16th, he motored
to Shorncliffe, accompanied by Sir George Perley
Mr. R. B. Bennett, M.P. There he met General
Hughes.  At nine o'clock on the morning of the
17th the Canadian troops of the 2nd Division
marched past the Prime Minister. It was impossible
to watch without emotion, if one came from Canada,
this superb body of men gathered from every part of
the Dominion, and animated in all ranks by the
desire to take their place side by side with the
1st Division, and, if possible, to wrest from the war
laurels as glorious as theirs. Certainly, on the view,
         
 

the Corps Staff.  He has returned again to the
front and is now in charge of our "Administration."
General Wood spent some years at the Royal Mili-
tary College at Kingston, Ontario, and there acquired
a great knowledge of, and sympathy with, the Can-
adian point of view. He is devoted to the Canadian
troops, of whom he is intensely proud, and they
on their part understand and trust him.
   General Alderson accompanied Sir Robert on his
visit to the units of the Division not on duty in the
trenches. The Brigade of General Turner was
commanded for the last time by that officer, for his
soldierly merits have won for him the command of
the 2nd Canadian Division. The command of his
Brigade has been given to Brigadier-General Leckie,
of whom I have frequently written.
   Sir Robert addressed the men in a few ringing
sentences which excited the greatest enthusiasm in
all ranks. The men ran after the moving motor,
and the last to desist was Captain Ralph Markham,
a gallant officer, who was unhappily killed a few
days after by a chance shell as he was returning to
billets along a communication trench.
   The 2nd Brigade, under the command of General
Currie who has since been given the command of
the 1st Division, and the 1st Brigade (General
Mercer) were also visited. Here it was that Colonel
Watson, of Quebec, marched past at the head of the
2nd Battalion, leading his men to the trenches. A
capable, brave, and very modest officer, he now
commands a Brigade in the 2nd Canadian Division.
   Sir Robert then visited the trenches accompanied
by General Alderson and Brigadier-General Bur-
stall, and after a visit to the Army Service Corps,

under Colonel Simpson, he parted from General
Alderson and his fine command.1
   His next visit was neither less important nor less
interesting, for it was to the Princess Patricia's
Canadian Light Infantry. The Regiment, which
assembled 500 strong in a field five miles fro~
Canadian Headquarters, received with cheers,
which broke out again and again, the Prime Minister
and the brother of the Princess, under whose name
and favour the Battalion has so bravely fought
Major Pelly was in command, the second-in-com-
mand being Lieutenant (now Captain) Niven, of
whose deeds I attempted to give some account in
the preceding chapter.
   The Regiment was formed in three sides of a
square and as the Prime Minister and the Prince
advanced, the colours, presented by the Princess in
Lansdowne Park on that great day which seems so
long ago, were ceremoniously unfurled  And, as the
tattered folds spread before a light breeze, the clouds
broke, and there was a moment or two of bright sun-
shine. Overhead two enemy aeroplanes flew, and
there followed them persistently through the sky
bursting shells of shrapnel.

   The Prime Miriister conveyed in simple words
a message from the Governor-General. The Prince,
in plain and soldierly language, spoke in deep affec-
tion of the Regiment whose glory, he said, was so
dear to his sister's heart.  The men were deeply
moved.
    On his return to Headquarters the Prime Minister
was invited to take part in a conference with the
Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief and his Staff.
Among those present was his Royal Highness the
Prince of Wales.
   It had been arranged that Sir Robert's visit to
the French armies-a visit most courteously and
even pressingly suggested by the French Govern-
ment - should take place on the conclusion of the
conference at General Headquarters.
   Sir Robert was received at a small town, which
it would be indiscreet to name, by General Joffre.
The famous General, who was full of confidence and
hope, was surrounded by one of the most brilliant
staffs which any army in the world could boast. For
a long time he discussed with the most charming
frankness, and the most lucid explanations, the posi-
tion and the prospects of the Allied forces in the
field. 
   The French Staff was most anxious to enlarge
upon their plans in conversation with the Prime
Minister. It was interesting, indeed, to an observer
of Canadian birth, to listen to the animated con
versation carried on entirely in French.  What
reflections did the interview not suggest"  The
Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of France
in conference with the Prime Minister of Canada
in the throes of a mighty war!  Jacques Cartier,
  

Frontenac, De Levis, De Salaberry, Wolfe, Mont
calm, the Heights of Abraham, the far-flung
antagonism of the great French and British nations
-how many memories crowded the mind as one
silently watched this historic interview ! And, of all
reflections, perhaps the most insistent was that the
bitterest antagonisms of mankind may be composed
in a period relatively very brief.
  After a long day in the French trenches, varied
by visits to advanced observation posts, from which
the Prime Minister could plainly see the German
frontline trenches, the party returned through the
stricken city of Albert. The majestic fabric of its
ancient cathedral has been smitten with a heavy
hand. There remain only a scarred and desolate
ruin, and the figure of the Madonna-a true Mater
Dolorosa-hung suspended in mid-air from the
mutilated spire.
  And so to Paris, with minds saddened indeed by
all the misery and the havoc and the horror, but still
full of confidence that right shall yet conquer wrong,
that a period shall yet be assigned to that bloody
and calculated savagery which has swept over so
many fair provinces in Europe, and has not yet
abandoned the hope of dominating the world.
  The rest of the week was spent with the Govern-
ment in Paris and in discussion with the French
President and the Minister of War. Here again
Sir Robert met with the most distinguished kind-
ness.  Nothing promising or unpromising in the
prospects of the Allies was concealed from him,
and on his departure from Paris the First Citizen
of France conferred upon the First Citizen of
Canada the highest order of the Legion of Honour.
         

   After a visit on the way home to the great Cana-
dian Base Hospital, over which Colonel Bridges,
an officer of the Permanent Force, presides, and in
which Major Keenan, of Montreal and of the
Princess Patricias, gives his services, the party
reached Boulogne on Sunday, and were carried back
to English soil again.
   Monday morning was spent in visiting the great
hospital at Shorncliffe, which is under the direction
of Colonel Scott, of Toronto.  Everywhere one
noticed in the hospitals the same cheerfulness, the
same patience under suffering, and the same un-
affectedpleasure at the visit of the Prime Minister.
   In the late afternoon the Prime Minister arrived
at the Canadian Convalescent Home, where troops
are gathered from all the hospitals in England,
either to return in due course to duty or leave for
ever the military service. This wonderful organisa-
tion is under the direction of Captain McCombe.
example of what such a home can become under
intelligent and humane direction.
   The convalescents here were over a thousand
strong. Those physically fit stood to attention.
Others in the blue and white uniform of the hos-
pital leaned heavily upon their crutches. Others
lay upon their couches unable to move, but watching
and listening intently. All Canada was represented,
from Halifax to Vancouver. Here were the survivors
of the battle for the Wood; there a remnant of the
heroes who charged to save the British left. Here
were those brave men who gloriously assaulted the
Orchard; there the veterans of the 1st Ontario Regi-
ment who attacked on June 15th.
         

   The Prime Minister was profoundly moved.
Flanders had moved him too. Nor had he escaped
deep feeling when he saw the Canadian troops
marching to the trenches. But not until he came
face to face with the shattered survivors of four
glorious battles, did he openly show that deep spring
of emotion and affection which those who saw him
will always cherish as their fondest recollection of
him.
   The warmth and sincerity of his nature found
expression in one of the most wonderful speeches
which he or anyone else has ever made. It has not
been reported; it cannot be reported, for those who
heard him were themselves too much moved to recol-
lect the words.  But it was a speech vital with
humanity; it was the speech of a father who mourned
over stricken sons, and, closing in a sterner note, it
was the speech of one who foresaw and promised a
day of retribution for the conscienceless race which,
with cold calculation, had planned this outrage on
humanity.
   And so ended the memorable journey.  The
narrative attempted here cannot, of course, be too
explicit. But the writer has not altogether failed in
his purpose if he has shown the dignity, the restraint,
the eloquence, and the wisdom with which the Prime
Minister of Canada has represented our great
Dominion among the leading soldiers and states-
men of Europe.