His visit to the Queen’s Jubilee in 1897, was greeted with a reception that was almost regal. He was made a member of the Privy Council, appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, and received in audience by the Queen. The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge conferred honorary degrees upon him, and the Cobden Club admitted him to honorary membership, and awarded him its gold medal, in recognition of his exceptional and distinguished services to the cause of international and free exchange. The new departure in Imperial policy, which Sir Wilfrid was able to arrange during this visit, caused the London Times to say: Laurier’s name must live in the annals of the British Empire. The Tribune:—Among Canadian statesmen of our day Sir Wilfrid Laurier ranked first. The Canada of the present is in a large measure his work. His horizon was spacious. His loyalty to his own race, religion and section did not prevent him from pursuing a broad national policy. The Sun:—Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s public life of nearly half a century, covers the development of Canada from a colony into something very like an independent nation. The 15 years in which he served as Premier saw the greatest growth of the Dominion in railroads, trade and agriculture for any period in its marvelous history. It has often been the subject of comment that Sir Wilfrid being French by race and Catholic by religion, should have been able to remain so long the dominant figure in Canadian politics, but his qualities enabled him at all times to rise superior to matters of personal preference. The World:—His name is one of the greatest in the history of the sister republic. The New York Times:—Sir Wilfrid’s culminant hour abroad was at the Diamond Jubilee of 1897, or at the coronations of Edward VII., and George V. No other colonial statesman so impressed the English. This French-Canadian, this first French-Canadian Premier, this bilingual orator, this personage of authority, suavity, dignity, and distinction, has not left his like behind. Resourceful, subtle, a master of debate, the unmatchable leader of the Liberals, he seemed to belong to the generation of Disraeli and Palmerston and Gladstone. If on conscription he was opposed to prevailing public sentiment, so he had been on reciprocity; and he should have the credit of honesty of opinion on the one as on the other policy. In 1896 he fought the Quebec bishops on the question of Separate Public Schools in Manitoba. He had almost too much talent. He always had courage enough. And he earnestly supported the Entente in the war.