Cartier's public career covered a period of some twenty-five years, that is to say from 1848 to 1873. What fruitful efforts, what herculanean labors, what great achievements, what struggles, defeats and triumphs were crowded within the compass of that career! The period which it covered was one of the most remarkable, if not the most remarkable, in the whole range of Canadian history. It was a period which witnessed many great constitutional changes, many transformations of parties, many fierce political struggles. It saw the beginning and the end of the Union, it marked the triumph of the long struggle for responsible government, it witnessed the birth of Confederation. It was a period fecund of great events and momentous developments, it was also a period rendered notable by the long succession of great statesmen whose names must forever be illustrious in Canadian history. During all of that period Cartier played an active part and at times occupied a pre-eminent position. At the beginning of his career, Cartier was a zealous reformer. In his youth like so many other ardent spirits of the time he came under the influence of Louis Joseph Papineau, when that great French Canadian tribune, with his incomparable eloquence, was thundering against those administrative abuses which were directly responsible for the troubles of the period. Nor was Papineau alone in his opposition to what Cartier described as the action of a minority which sought to dominate the majority and exploit the government in its own interests. Papineau, it should be remembered had the support of leading English-speaking Canadians, such as the distinguished Wolfred Nelson, afterwards Mayor of Montreal; in fact it is a noteworthy historical feature that some of the leading figures in the struggle for responsible government in Lower Canada were English-speaking. Cartier's participation in the rising of 1837 was due to the ardor and impetuosity of youth and the sincere convictions he held that the prevailing evils called for drastic measures. His experience convinced him of the folly of an appeal to arms; he realized that the remedy for existing evils must be sought, not through armed resistance to the constituted authorities, but through constitutional agitation and legislative action. He became a staunch supporter of LaFontaine's policy, and one of his earliest campaign speeches was made in advocacy of the principle of ministerial responsibility during the crisis resulting from the resignation of the LaFontaine-Baldwin Government in 1844. In 1848, when Cartier first entered Parliament, the struggle for responsible government, thanks to the efforts of those two great statesmen, Louis Hypolite LaFontaine and Robert Baldwin, whose names will forever be held in the highest honor by all Canadians, had been fought and won. When justice had been secured and existing abuses remedied by the granting of responsible government, Cartier became, and ever afterwards continued