LAURIER, lo'ri-a, Sul Wilfrid, Canadian statesman: b. Saint Lin, Quebec, 20 Nov. 1841; d. Ottawa, 17 Feb. 1919, the only son of Carolus Laurier, whose ancestors came from France in the latter half of the 17th century, and of Marcille Martineau. He received his early education at L'Assomption College, and studied law at McGill .University (Montreal) ; in 1865 and 1866 was a vice-president of the Institut Canadien (Montreal), which formed nu cleus of a movement toward intellectual liberal ism on the part of the younger French and was strongly opposed by the clergy; and in 1866 opened a law office at Arthabaskaville. In 1868 he married Miss Zoe Lafontaine of Montreal. In 1871 he was elected to the Que bec legislature, and in 1874 he was chosen as Liberal member of the Dominion House of Commons for Drummond and Arthahaska. He was soon recognized as one of the most elo quent speakers in the Canadian Parliament. At the outset he was regarded as the leader of the Liberals in Quebec province; a speech of his in defense of Catholic liberalism, delivered in Quebec June 1877, was received with en thusiasm throughout the country; a few months later he was selected for the portfolio of inland revenue in the Mackenzie administration. On 7 June 1887 he succeeded Blake as chief of the Liberal opposition, though he himself a& vised the choice of an English-speaking Prot estant; and in 1896, on the return of the Lib erals to power, he became Prime Minister of Canada. That position he filled with remark able distinction until the return of the Con servatives in 1911. Measures associated with his premiership were the framing of a British preferential tariff and a consequent tariff war with Germany; a compromise settlement of the Manitoba schools question; the organization of two new provinces, Saskatchewan and Alberta; extensive railway developments; and the fram ing of the Taft-Fielding reciprocity agreement, on which his party was defeated at the polls.
Of all the representatives of the colonies in England on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, he was the most remarked for the refinement of his manners and the elegance of his diction, and was recognized in Paris as in London as one of the most eloquent speakers of his time either in French or Eng lish. While a great admirer of England's polit ical institutions, and a Liberal of the English rather than of the Continental school. he was an ardent Canadian and a thorough believer in Canada's destiny. He opposed the imperialistic policy of Chamberlain and contributed more than any other man to prevent him from draw ing the colonies into the "vortex of warlike imperialism;' to use his expression. He had to pass through all kinds of political and religious difficulties, and gave evidence of qualities and talents which would have made him distinguished as a speaker and a states man in any country of the world. Not the least of his services to Canada has been the splendid contribution he made, through out a long life, to the furtherance of good relations and mutual helpfulness between the two great races of which the population is mainly composed.
As leader of the opposition he approved of Canada's participation in the European War, and he addressed a number of meetings in the province of Quebec with the object of stimulating recruiting among French-Canadians for service in the forces being sent overseas. Consult his