Page:Brock centenary 2nd ed. 1913.djvu/91

 THE SPEECHES

was the final victory, and every year the people commemorate the great event. In solemn proces- sion the people revisit the battlefield and the Lan- damman tells the fine old story of their deliver- ance from foreign rule. The five hundredth anni- versary was celebrated in 1888, and people from all parts of Switzerland flocked to participate in the patriotic and religious services. This national spirit has kept Switzerland free although sur- rounded by great powers. Her children are all trained as soldiers in their public schools, and com- pulsory training of all their youth is rigidly enforced. We could learn a lesson from them in this.

Canada has shown the same virile spirit as other great nations, and we may take pride in the way in which our people have recognized what they owe to General Brock and the men who fought with him on this field one hundred years ago. This spot has seen several inspiring demonstrations.

Brock and Macdonell had been buried in Fort George in 1812. In 1824 their remains were removed and buried again under the first monu- ment here. In 1824 there were no railways, practi- cally no steamers, and the population of the Pro- vince was very small, and yet in the funeral cortege there were 560 men on horseback, 285 carriages and wagons, and thousands of persons on foot, in all estimated at about ten thousand people, who followed the remains the seven miles from Niagara to this place. That was a remarkable tribute to the memory of the great general.

In 1840 the monument was blown up on Good Friday by an Irish rebel or Fenian named Ben- jamin Lett. This aroused intense indignation throughout the Province, and a great demonstra- tion was organized to arrange for building a new monument on a grander scale. The meeting was held in July, 1840, and a great number of the fore- most men in public life attended. Ten steamers,

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