IlO A Baccalaureate Discourse
America thought of annexing Texas, they thought of annex-
ing Canada too. And now, “si parva licet componere mag-
nis,” my presence here, in answer to your kind invitation, is
to me like a new link between my beloved Province and your
Powerful State.
Is it not characteristic of our times that this event should
take place under the patronage of university training, and is
it not a new proof that the world of intelligence and learning
is truly international? I foster a great hope that, in the fu-
ture, the universities shall work steadily together in a sense
of mutual understanding between nations, and do their share
in the maintenance of peace.
* * *
Now, to deal with the subject of this paper, let me first
tell you how I have been induced to choose it. We have, in
Montreal, a sister university, well-known to you, I believe :
I name “Old McGill.” The Principal of McGill is an Ari-
zona boy of Canadian descent, Mr. Lewis-William Douglas.
Being a friend of mine, I asked him what interesting subject
he thought a French-Canadian ecclesiastical university Rec-
tor might appropriately develop before a Texan audience.
We both agreed that I would explain to you “What is our
idea of a University?”
Of course, you have all heard of Cardinal Newman’s fa-
mous book on the same question. Here is one of his very
subtle quotations: “A University is not a birthplace of poets
or authors, of founders of schools, leaders of colonies, or
conquerors of nations. It does not promise a generation of
Aristotles or Newtons, of Napoleons or Washingtons, of
Raphaels or Shakespeares, though such miracles of nature
it has before now contained within its precincts. Nor is it
content on the other hand with forming the critic or the ex-