Interspersing In
His Own Well Digested Statement Of Events, He Chose The Best
Authenticated Accounts From Contemporaneous Participants, British,
French Canadian And American, Proving That The Record As Presented By
Col.
Strange and himself last night, was a "plain unvarnished truthful
tale," a reliable mirror in which was faithfully reflected all that
was historically interesting as affecting Quebec in the Campaign of
1775-6.
When Mr. LeMoine had terminated his address, which was of
considerable length, Mr. Stevenson concluded this portion of the
proceedings with a most eulogistic and deserved recognition of the
devotion which the two gentlemen who had read during the evening had
shewn in preparing their respective papers, and a vote of thanks to
them was heartily and unanimously accorded. He also made reference to
the topic of the day, the restoration and embellishment of our oft-
besieged, city, gracefully attributing honour where it was due, first
and foremost to His Excellency the Governor-General, Earl of Dufferin,
at whose instigation the plans had been prepared; secondly, to His
Worship the Mayor, Owen Murphy, Esq., (who was present), for his
untiring exertions and valuable assistance in developing, maturing and
preparing the way for an early completion of said designs, which are
to make Quebec a splendid architectural example of the deformed,
transformed; thirdly, to the hearty co-operation of the public, aided
in their views by the enterprise of the proprietor of the Morning
Chronicle, who had prepared the splendid illustrations of these
improvements, thereby reflecting infinite credit upon himself. After a
few other remarks the ladies and gentlemen were invited to inspect the
library, which for the rest of the evening was the centre of
attraction. The coup d'oeil, when once one had fairly entered
into this beautifully designed, permanent focus of intellectual
wealth, around whose walls were ranged the imperishable memorials of
nearly all of man's genius that has been thought worthy of
preservation, was striking and memorable. As in the lecture room,
those emblems, which are our symbolical as well as actual rallying
points in all times of trouble or war, draped and covered the book
shelves which contain the essence of almost all that human
intelligence, human thought, human wit, man's invention and ingenuity
has as yet brought to light. Here, historian and poet, geographer and
engineer, humorist and preacher, dramatist and theologian, are
congregated, serving in the one great cause of public instruction and
the expansion of the limitless ramifications which exist in the ever
growing tree of knowledge. The student and literateur, the bibliophile
and dilletante novel reader, the most frequent visitors here last
night were replaced by groups of fair women and patriotic men
assembled to commemorate an event which had a marked effect upon the
history of this continent in this nineteenth century, which will
expire a few hours after these lines meet the reader's eyes. In lieu
of study and thought, the attention of the throng was attracted to the
splendid stand of arms reaching from floor to ceiling, and which was
as it were defended by the Dominion standard that fell in long
festoons behind.
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