SASKATCHEWAN AND ITS PEOPLE
1924

         
PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE EARLY EUROPEAN IMMIGRANT.  
    
HOW THE MENNONITES CAME TO CANADA.
	The task of inducing the Mennonites to come to Canada was not diffi-
cult. The offer of religious liberty, exemption from military service, and
the occupation of rich lands in a prairie country whose physical features
were not dissimilar to theirs, carried its own appeal. Nevertheless there
were difficulties, and one of them was that at that period (the early
seventies) Canada was to all intents and purposes unknown to the masses
of Central and Eastern Europe. North America to them meant the United
States, and it only. The inauguration of Manitoba and British Columbia
as provinces naturally led to more or less energetic efforts to people their
vast and vacant lands; and agents were despatched to Great Britain and
Europe. The special European agent was Mr. William Hespeler who was
furnished with credentials from the British Foreign Office.

	Mr. Hespeler arrived at Berdiansk, Southern Russia, on the 25th of
July, 1878, and proceeded to visit a Mr. Lorak, the British Consul. The
laws in certain European countries were very strict against the entice-
ment of citizens from their allegiance and Mr. Lorak seems to have been
a very cautious person, for in the absence of direct and specific instruc-
tions from Earl Granville, the Foreign Minister, he refused to do any-

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