"The tidings of sorrow which have just been flashed across the ocean come to the people of Canada with startling suddenness. Words of foreboding had hardly reached us before the last message came; 'God's finger touched him and he slept.' To the people of the overseas Dominions the Crown personifies the dignity and majesty of the whole Empire; and through the Throne each great Dominion is linked to the others and to the Motherland. Thus the Sovereign's death must always thrill the Empire. But to-day's untimely tidings bring to the people of Canada the sense of a still deeper and more personal bereavement. They gloried in their King's title of Peacemaker, and they believed him to be the greatest living force for right within the Empire. In him died the greatest statesman and diplomat of Europe." The Hon. R. Lemieux, Postmaster-General and a Liberal leader in Quebec, added this succinct description: "As a peacemaker and as a constitutional king he had no equal in the history of modern times." He expressed the hope that "in the common sorrow of his subjects at the death of an exemplary Sovereign the ties making for unity and common interest throughout the Empire may be strengthened and his influence for good find continued fruition." The Hon. G. P. Graham, Minister of Railways, also touched on the Empire thought: "His part in the growth and increasing solidarity of the Empire in matters of defense, of trade, of common effort for the common interest, must bulk large in history. Since his assumption of the throne there has been a steady growth in Canada's loyalty to the Sovereign based on esteem for his personal character, confidence in his judgment and statesmanship, and pride in his commanding position among the world's sovereigns." From Mr. Richard McBride, Premier of far-away British Columbia, came the declaration that King Edward was infinitely tactful and always patient, the first gentleman and best beloved monarch of his time; that he was "an unusually gifted ruler who performed unostentatiously and with inspired ability his part in the making of British history." To Archbishop Bruchési of Montreal he was "a great and good King;" to the Rev. Dr. Carman, Canada's Methodist leader, he was "royally born and ruled royally over a free, loyal and loving people;" to Archbishop McEvay (Roman Catholic) of Toronto he was a ruler "trusted and loved by all his subjects;" to President R. A. Falconer, of Toronto University, there was a special appeal in his "experience, sympathy and broad humanity."