A notable tribute was recently paid to Cartier and the other great Fathers of Confederation by that distinguished British statesman, diplomat, and author, Right Hon. James Bryce, when in addressing this Club a few weeks ago he said: "Not less remarkable than your material progress has been the growth of your constitutional government, although in its early days there were not wanting people to show that Canada could never be a great nation. Your federal system has worked on the whole with wonderful success and with little friction. It has worked perhaps better than anywhere else in the world; I think the only example of equal success is that of Switzerland. You have had the great problem of two races living side by side, of peoples different in race and language, whom the federal system was designed to unite, while the federation of districts so dissimilar as the province of British Columbia, the prairies, and the Maritime Provinces shows that as far as adaptation to local conditions is concerned the federal system has been an unqualified success. And this success is a tribute to the capacity of the men who have governed as well as to those who framed the constitution." The successful working of the federal system in Canada to which Mr. Bryce bore testimony, is another striking proof of the wise and far-sighted statesmanship of Cartier and the other public men who framed our constitution. Other Great Measures Confederation having been accomplished, Cartier's energies were directed to measures for the strengthening and defence of the national fabric. He was largely instrumental in determining the route of the Intercolonial Railway, and in having that road, which it is admitted has been a most important factor in consolidating the Dominion, completed. One of the most important measures of Cartier's public career, was undoubtedly the one which, as Minister of Militia and Defence, he presented to Parliament on March 31st, 1868, and which provided for the organization of the Canadian Militia, a measure that is the basis of our whole militia system.