"In our Confederation there will be Catholics and Protestants, English, French, Irish and Scotch, and each by its efforts and success will add to the prosperity of the Dominion, to the glory of a new Confederation. We are of different races, not to quarrel, but to work together for our common welfare. We cannot by law make the differences of race disappear, but I am convinced that the Anglo-Canadian and the French-Canadian will appreciate the advantages of their position. Set side by side like a great family, their contact will produce a happy spirit of emulation. The diversity of race will in fact, believe me, contribute to the common prosperity." What words of wisdom! What a spirit of true patriotism, of justice and of toleration they breathe! If Cartier in fact had never made any other utterance than this, it would be sufficient to stamp him as a true patriot and wise statesman. It will be well for Canada if such are always the guiding principles of its national life. While the idea of Macdonald and Cartier and the other great Fathers of Confederation was, as has been said, to establish a Canadian nationality, none the less was it their intention to perpetuate British institutions on the North American continent, to establish, to use Macdonald's expression, a friendly nation, enjoying, it is true, the most complete autonomy, but at the same time in alliance with Great Britain and the other portions of the Empire. No stronger believer in British institutions as the repository of freedom; no more ardent admirer of the British flag as the symbol of justice and liberty could be found than Cartier. In all his utterances during the Confederation, debates, he took special pains to emphasize that Confederation was intended not to weaken, but to strengthen, the ties between the Dominion, Great Britain and the other portions of the Empire. "Confederation," he said, in one of his speeches on the measure, "has for its first reason our common affection for British institutions, its object is to assure by all possible guarantees, their maintenance in the future." For the British flag Cartier on all occasions expressed a passionate devotion. "The Canadian people," he said at a great banquet given in his honor in London in 1869, "desires to remain faithful to the old flag of Great Britain, that flag which waves over all seas, which tyranny has never been able to overcome, that flag which symbolizes true liberty".