Are you surprised, gentlemen, that the French-Canadians of Ontario have strenuously protested and intend to continue to do so, and have asked the support of the Province of Quebec under conditions of that kind? We have sought the support of our French-Canadian friends in the Province, and we have got it; but I for one am very much more anxious to have the sympathy and the help of the English-speaking people of the Province of Quebec. If I accepted the invitation to come here within half an hour after getting the telegram from my good friend Mr. Paradis, it was because I thought that I might contribute in some small way to assist my English-speaking friends in the Province of Quebec to a proper understanding of the real meaning and object of this very troublesome question. Perhaps you may think it impertinence on my part, but will you not allow me to say that you owe it to yourselves first of all to look carefully into this matter. To-day it is a question in Ontario, but to-morrow it may be a question in Quebec. Don't you owe it to yourselves to consider this most carefully? But, to put it on a higher ground--because I have unbounded confidence in the feelings of justice and fair play of the Protestants in the Province of Quebec--don't you owe it to us French-Canadians, in both Provinces, to come to our assistance in the Province of Ontario, where we are seeking the preservation of our most elementary rights? I think you owe it also to Canada, to Confederation, to take a part in this matter. I am not trying to convince you of something which is not right or just or fair, but convince yourselves, gentlemen, look into these questions, and if you are not satisfied with the explanations that I have given, come to me, or go to some one else in whom you may have more confidence, and find out--learn about it all. Permit me also to say to you, with all the solemnity and earnestness of which I am capable, that it is your duty, because the present is as grave and as dangerous a situation as ever arose in Canada. I say Quebec is as much a partner in Confederation as the other provinces. Confederation is a partnership in which we are all jointly and severally responsible for the performance of duties and obligations assumed by every one of the provinces, and for that reason I am sure--I hope at all events--that you will agree with me, that it is incumbent upon you to look into this very serious matter and do what you can to bring about a just settlement of it.