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"Friday, the sixth day of the celebrations [24 July] bore a military air. It was the grand day for the soldiers and sailors who gathered at Quebec. The militia of Canada, numbering about twelve thousand men, and the naval defenders of three nations numbering about five thousand, passed in review before His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales."

"From early morning troops had been marching through the streets until at ten o'clock the vast concourse of men, steeds and guns had assembled on the Plains of Abraham ... . A special stand had been erected on the grounds where sat three thousand spectators among whom were the official guests ... . On the ground below were thousands of people watching the event."

The Quebec Tercentenary Commemorative History (Quebec: Daily Telegraph, 1908), 77.

Dedication of Battlefields

As part of the military review on Friday 24 July, the Plains of Abraham were dedicated as a national battle field. "The review was a memorable one, for not military grandeur alone was displayed. The very interesting and simple ceremony of handing over the deeds of the battle-fields to the Canadian people was also enacted."

After inspecting the assembled troops, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales said: "It affords me the greatest pleasure to hand over to Your Excellency, the representative of the Crown in Canada, the sum of $450,000, which through the patriotism of British citizens in all parts of Canada and of the Empire and the generosity of French and American sympathizers, has been entrusted to me in order that the historic battlefields of Quebec, on which the two contending races won equal and imperishable glory, may be acquired for the Dominion and preserved under the special supervision of our Sovereign, as a permanent shrine of union and peace. I place in your hands, as representative of the Sovereign, the charge of the sacred ground, which it is my pleasure to present to you on the 300th birthday of Quebec as a gift to the people of Canada and the Crown."

The Quebec Tercentenary Commemorative History (Quebec: Daily Telegraph, 1908), 77-78.

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