An extract had been read from a speech by Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the Prime Minister of Canada. Sir Wilfrid seven or eight years ago might have made a remark of that kind, and it so happened that he was in very bad company at the time, because the remarks were made at the Cobden Club. In Canada, prominent men such as Sir Wilfrid Laurier were able to understand and listen to good arguments, to assimilate them and to change their minds. But Sir Wilfrid at the last conference made a plain and distinct offer, which he had repeated in public, and yet he (the speaker) heard political partisans in this country in their newspapers making the statement that Canada had made no offer. It was not true! The offers were in the report of the Imperial Conference of 1902; that he would give the present preference and a further preference on a certain list of selected articles, if the English people would meet him. The long list of articles was not mentioned because it would be improper to do so, as it would have the effect of making the business of Canada unsettled in reference to those things. But that the offer was made was an undoubted fact, and people in this country had no right to make statements to the contrary. He desired to make one final appeal to Englishmen to look at the matter broadly; and when they found that the security and unity of the whole Empire might depend upon closer federation with the colonies, he appealed to English people not to make such flippant remarks as that the colonies should make an agreement among themselves leaving out the Mother Country, because if that were done, and a preferential tariff instituted among the colonies, the Mother Country would very soon find out the difference. He appealed to Englishmen as a Canadian, the whole history of whose country was filled with records of devotion to the Empire, not to think that they were acting in any way for themselves, or for their personal interests, but only in the interests of their great Empire, which their fathers helped to build, and which they, the children, desired to hand down unimpaired and stronger to their children and children's children. The vote was not taken until the next day, and when the show of hands was taken I think we had five or six to one in our favour. A demand was made for a vote by Chambers with the result that 103 voted for the resolution, 41 against it, and 21 neutral. The reason so much larger a number appeared with us on a show of hands was, I believe, because many Chambers had given cast iron instructions to their delegates to vote against it, or to vote neutral, but on a show of hands many of them voted as they personally felt after hearing the arguments. This was a remarkable triumph that we did not expect, and must have been very gratifying to Mr. Chamberlain.