I Could Never
Expect To Win The Applause Of The French Academy, And Thus, As I Am
Enabled To Preside
At this banquet, I may be permitted to offer our
guest a bouquet of friendship's flowers, gathered during twenty-five
Years, and I feel that its perfume will be agreeable to my
distinguished friend. The life of Mr. Frechette is written in the
poetry and literature of this country. He has marched steadily onward
from the day on which he wrote his Loisirs, until the grand
moment when he stood the crowned victor in the Academy of France. We
have known our guest as a lawyer, journalist and member of Parliament,
and have always admired his wonderful faculties, ever ready as he was
to promote the welfare of his friends. His large heart contributed to
pave the way to success, for, undoubted though his talents are, his
winning manners won for him an ever-growing popularity, and we may
affirm that, if he had traducers, he had, on the other hand, a host of
friends. Traducers always follow the wake of a literary man, and they
resemble the creeping things which we suffer in our gardens, because
their existence can lead to no effectual harm. I may have occupied
your time at too great length in treating of Mr. Frechette as a
friend. Allow me now, however, for a few moments, to speak of his
success from a patriotic point of view. As French-Canadians, we are
proud of our Laureate, and happy to see him in our midst this evening.
In crowning our distinguished poet, the French Academy has given a
splendid recognition to Canadian literature in the great Republic of
Letters.
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