Excerpt from The Life of Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, G. C. M. G., G. C. V. O, Vol. 1 That this book, written amidst the distractions of war, in the shadow of the armoury, to the sound of marching men, as my country drills and sends forth her sons to the greatest condict in history, should relate the long life of one whose concern was wholly and markedly with peace, may seem an irony of circumstance. But in truth its appearance is far from inopportune. Had his particular genius and his efforts tended otherwise, Canada had not been opulent and strong and heartened for the fray which is to decide the fate of the British Empire. To him, more than to any single other, is due her material prosperity and much of her political tem per. The way was prepared and he died on the very eve of the ordeal. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.