Excerpt from Speech of Hon. N. A. Belcourt, Senator, on the Military Service Bill, in the Senate of Canada, Ottawa, Friday, August 3, 1917 May I mention my own case in connection with two matters with regard to the war? I was one of the very first who took upon himself to write to His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught, the very' day after the establishment of the Patriotic Fund, sending my subscription, which I believe was the first to go in. It was not large, as my means are limited, but it was as generous as I could possibly make it. No recognition was made of it in any way, and no position on the committee was assigned to me; I heard no more about it, except, of course, the letter of acknowledgment from His Royal Highness. I thought nothing of it, but later on a local committee of the Fund was formed, and a large number of my good Tory friends were put on that com mittee, all the offices being assigned to Con servatives of Ottawa: and in this city, where one-third of the population are French Canadians, not a single French, Canadian was put on that committee. Would you believe that I had to apply three times, first personally, and finally in writing, requesting that my name be added to the committee, because I was anxious to serve; and when I was put on I was the first and only French Canadian. True, after that a few other French Canadians were puton. We are told: Why, you French Canadians don't do anything you don't subscribe to the Patriotic Fund, you don't take part in Red Cross work, you won't serve, you won't do your bit. As regards recruiting, what occurred in 'my own case was this: In Sep tember, shortly after my return from Europe with our colleagues whom I have mentioned. 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.