fixed and motionless as statues on its surface, and
the whole landscape bathed in that bright Canadian
sun which so seldom pierces our murky atmosphere on
the other side of the Atlantic. I began to think
that persons were to be envied who were not forced
by the necessities of their position to quit these
engrossing interests and lovely scenes, for the purpose
of proceeding to distant lands, but who are able to
remain among them until they pass to that quiet corner
of the garden of Mount Hermon, which juts into the
river and commands a view of the city, the shipping,
Point Levi, the Island of Orleans, and the range of
the Laurentine; so that through the dim watches of
that tranquil night which precedes the dawning of
the eternal day, the majestic citadel of Quebec, with
its noble tram of satellite hills, may seem to rest
forever on the sight, and the low murmur of the waters
of St. Lawrence, with the hum of busy life on their
surface, to fall ceaselessly on the ear. I cannot
bring myself to believe that the future has in store
for me any interests which will fill the place of
those I am now abandoning. But although I must
henceforward be to you as a stranger, although my
official connection with you and your interests will
have become hi a few days matter of history, yet I
trust that through some one channel or other, the tidings
of your prosperity and progress may occasionally reach
me; that I may hear from time to time of the steady
growth and development of those principles of liberty
and order, of manly independence in combination with
respect for authority and law, of national life in
harmony with British connection, which it has been
my earnest endeavour, to the extent of my humble means
of influence, to implant and to establish. I
trust, too, that I shall hear that this House continues
to be what I have ever sought to render it, a neutral
territory, on which persons of opposite opinions,
political and religious, may meet together in harmony
and forget their differences for a season. And
I have good hope that this will be the case for several
reasons, and, among others, for one which I can barely
allude to, for it might be an impertinence in me to
dwell upon it But I think that without any breach
of delicacy or decorum I may venture to say that many
years ago, when I was much younger than I am now,
and when we stood towards each other in a relation
somewhat different from that which has recently subsisted
between us, I learned to look up to Sir Edmund Head
with respect, as a gentleman of the highest character,
the greatest ability, and the most varied accomplishments
and attainments. And now, ladies and gentlemen,
I have only to add the sad word—Farewell.
I drink this bumper to the health of you all, collectively
and individually. I trust that I may hope to
leave behind me some who will look back with feelings
of kindly recollection to the period of our intercourse;
some with whom I have been on terms of immediate official
connection, whose worth and talents I have had the