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French speech. X Quebec June 20th

I am greatly honoured to be invited to meet you on this
occasion. I propose to attempt to speak to you in that language,
the preservation of which, in its purity, is your main purpose. And
I know that of your kindness you will be indulgent to my many crudities.
Every wise man, and especially every Scotsman, must believe
that a mingling of races gives strength to a nation. Here in Canada
we are fortunate enough to possess two great European traditions,
the French and the British. You have your language, your law, your
Church, and your historic culture. All these are of importance and
value to Canada, as a whole, and not least the first, for the French
language and its great literature is as much an asset of
British Canada as of French Canada.

English is a great speech, and English literature is a
great literature. The English tongue needs careful protection, for,
being a language spoken over the whole world, it is especially at the
mercy of impure influences. You remember an amusing passage in Beaumarchais
Mariage de Figaro, which is not very respectful-

"C'est une belle langue que l'anglais; il en faut
peu pour aller loin. Avec god dam, en Angleterre, on ne manque
de rien nulle part ... Les Anglais, à la verité, ajoutent par
ci par là quelques autres mots en conversant; mais il est bien
aisé de voir god dam est le fond de la langue."

Well, that is not the whole truth. In recent years France has shown
herself extraordinarily appreciative of English literature,
and some of the best work on English writers has been done by French