When the Laurier Government took office Canada had not yet “found herself.” For years progress had been slow and there appeared to be an almost entire absence of the snap and vigorous aggressiveness which soon after became the characteristic of Canadians. Deficits were annually recorded in the national finances; foreign trade was practically stationary; manufacturers were making little or no headway; the great Northwest was undeveloped; immigrants came in comparatively few numbers, and, what was worse, the country seemed unable to retain her own people. The situation which confronted the new Prime Minister was one calculated to discourage a man whose Canadianism was less confident and sure, whose vision was less clear and whose zeal for service was less imperative. On the evening of the day upon which the Earl of Aberdeen, then Governor-General, summoned Wilfrid Laurier and entrusted him with the task of forming an Administration—even before the personnel of his Government was announced—he was called upon to make his first public utterance as Prime Minister. It was on the evening of July 8, 1896, at Montreal, and the occasion was, by strange significance, the Canadian reception to the officers of the British warships “Intrepid” and “Tartar.” “I appreciate to-day,” was the first word of the new Prime Minister, “in the presence of the representatives of the naval forces of our Empire, and occupying the position I do, having just been called a few minutes previously by his Excellency the Governor-General to assume the duties of First Citizen of the Dominion—I appreciate to-day more than ever the strength and significance of that order by Britain’s greatest Admiral on the day of the battle of Trafalgar: ‘England expects every man to do his duty.’ I am going to do my duty, not only by Canada, but by the Empire. Britain, thank God, does not require help from anybody, but if ever the occasion should arise when Britain is summoned to stand against the whole world in arms, she can depend upon the loyal support of Canada and the Canadian people. The Canadian people are free and loyal, loyal because they are free.” With this pledge Wilfrid Laurier took office as Canada’s Premier. The boy of St. Lin was still preaching his growing conception of Canada and her place in the Empire.