Sir Wilfrid was a kindly, gentle soul, but he had also both moral and physical courage. His moral courage was demonstrated in the early days of his political life when he defied the Québec hierarchy. After the burning of the parliamentary building in February 1916, the session was resumed the next day in the Victoria Museum. It was at the height of the First Great War and naturally it was generally believed at the time that the buildings were set on fire by Germans. As a result there was a lot of senseless excitement. A proposal was advanced that the public should be excluded from the galleries of the temporary House of Commons. Sir Wilfrid was approached as to his views. He was adamant against such an idea. He said that the sessions of parliament were the Grand Assizes of the Nation and the people had an immemorial right to attend these sessions and that right must not be interfered with. "But," pleaded the Speaker of the House, "Sir Wilfrid, some criminal or crazy person may get in the gallery and throw a bomb down on our heads."
Laurier drew himself up and replied: "My dear sir, when you entered politics you took the risk of being hit by a bomb some day and that risk you will have to continue to run." The galleries were not closed.
Arthur R. Ford, As the World Wags On (1950) in Jack McCleod, The Oxford Book of Canadian Anecdotes, (Oxford University Press: 1988).
