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French Speech. Quebec, June 20th, 1937.

[ST: rubber stamped - Bureau for Translastions, Apr 14 1937, 12568, Office of the Superintendent]

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,