Page:Brock centenary 2nd ed. 1913.djvu/95

 THE SPEECHES

manner our gratitude and appreciation for the priceless boon which we owe to those who then won it for us !

MR. J. A. MACDONELL, K.C.

Glengarry, Ontario

Permit me to express on behalf of the members of this generation of the family to which the former Attorney-General Macdonell belonged, my warm appreciation of the honour which was done to that gentleman's memory, by the invitation which in terms so generous and complimentary and so appreciative of his services, was extended to me as the representative of his family, to be present on this most interesting occasion as the special guest of your Committee.

We are assembled here to-day to commemorate the Centennial Anniversary of the death of Sir Isaac Brock, to give evidence that we Canadians hold in grateful remembrance the inestimable ser- vices which he rendered to our country, and to record it as our firm and solemn conviction that it is to that illustrious man of glorious memory we owe the preservation of this country, our con- nection with the Motherland and those British institutions which it is our happiness now to enjoy.

It was indeed a privilege for any man to have served under Sir Isaac Brock, to have been in any way associated with him, and more especially to have been placed in a position whereby he was enabled to second his indomitable efforts. It was the good fortune of Attorney-General Macdonell to have been associated with him in a threefold capacity. First he was connected with him by the most intimate ties of private friendship, for there existed between them the most perfect confidence and a mutual regard, amounting, as is frequently

�� �