Full text of "The Canadian North-west: its history and its troubles, from the early days of the fur-trade to the era of the railway and the settler;"

-lijtory a^d lt5 Troubles

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THE LIBRARY

THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA
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MAJOR-GENERAL F D. MIDDLETOH, C.B.,
Ck>mmaDder of the Canadian MUitiai

FROM SAVAGERY TO CIVILIZATION)
THE

Canadian North-West:

HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES,

FROM THE EAELY PAYS OF THE FUR-TRADE TO THE ERA
OF THE RAILWAY AND THE SETTLER;

INCIDENTS OF TKAVEL IN THE REGION,

Uhe ^arralibi^ of %hxtt IxtBuxxtdiom

Ex-Capt. Queen's Own liift.es.
Late Kditor 0/ " The Canadian Monthly," etc., etc

ROSE PUBLISHING COMPANY.

Whitby :
J. S. IIOBERTSON & BROS.

1885.

Entered according to the Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one-thou-
Band ei},'ht hundred and eighty-five, by Hdmkb, Kosk & Co., in the office of
the Minister of Agriculture.

THEIIt CANADIAN MOTHEll,

IX WUOM I FOCXD

^hc Jloblcst ^imlitics of ii ^ruc cEomaii,

" No true lijc is long. "

I DEDICATE THIS VOLUME,

Wrni ORB AT AFFECTION, TO

MY SONS AND DAUGHTERS.

liXKlOI^

*' No fabled land of joy and song is tki»
That lieth in the glow of eventide ;
Not sung by bards of old in minstrel strain,
Yet he who reads its history shall learn
Of doughty deeds well worth all knightly fame.
It is a land of rivers flowing free,
Lake-mirrored mountains, rising proud and stem, —
A land of spreading prairies ocean wide,
Where harsh sounds slumber in the hush of gloom.

And peace hath brooded with outstretched wings.
« * ♦ * # ♦

And here a mighty people shall arise,
A peopled nurtured in full liberty ;

Yet, not forgetful of the mother land.

Who scans with kindly eye her child's career.

Wafting a blessing o'er the mighty sea.

* * * * *

Such be thy future ; 0, thou land of hope,

Where, in the fear of God and love of home,

Thy people shall increase — 0, may thy soil

Bear many a thinker, many a man of might,

Many a statesman fitted to control,

Many a hero, fitted to command.

Such may thy future be — not great alone,

In never-sated commerce, — rather great

In all that welds a people heart to heart ;

Among thy sons may many a leader spring,

By whom the ship of State well piloted,

Thy haven of wide Empire thou may'st reach,

An empire stretching from the western wave

To where the rosy dawn enflames the seas,"

— J. H. Bowes, in The ^Varsity,

PREFACE.

•^•■^■■^.\^.^.■v.■v■<.'\.•^.•^.^.^.^.•w^.

N adding to the already numerous works on the
Canadian North- West, I have sought to make a
contribution of more than passing interest. With
this end in view, I have not confined the narrative
to recent events ; but have told the story from
the beginning. It may fairly be clafimed that
there is some advantage in this. It will enable
the reader to follow the successive steps in the
development of the country, and to trace in the
past history some of the remote causes of the present rebellion.
These revolts, in some degree at least, are the legacy of
the days of monopoly and privilege. Neither the Hudson
Bay Company nor the North- West Fur Company, of Montreal
was a colonising institution. Both were opposed to the settler,
and both desired to keep the territory wild and uncultivated.
Only thus could it be useful to a great fur-trading corpora-
tion. Though the rule of these trading corporations has
passed away, jealousy of the intruding settler remains, and
the aggressive spirit of monopoly which marked the dominion
of the companies still manifests itself. The Indian shares the
one ; the half-breed inherits the other. Both, it may be saidj
must be exorcised ere the North- West can become a desirable
possession of the Dominion, and a safe home for the settler.

In dealing with the later revolt, I have in the main confined
myself to the narrative of the spirited and successful efibrt oi
he volunteers a,U'l other Canadian troops to suppress it.

VI PREFACE.

However inadequately treated, the story has been told, I
would fain believe, without partiality or exaggeration. Of the
insurgents I have striven to write without prejudice. The
immediate causes of the outbreak, and the question of respon-
sibility for its occurrence, I have but lightly touched on, as the
time has not yet come to speak or to write with full knowledge
of the subject. The facts upon which dispassionateness could
rely were, in truth, not before me. In whatever criticism of
the Administration I have ventured upon, I hope I have not
forgotten what is due by a subject to the Government of the
country of which I am a citizen and have been a soldier. In
what afterwards has to be said, when the nation's inquest on
the insurrection has developed the facts, I would ask that' the
voice of patriotism be heard, rather than that of party objur-
gation.

In preparing the volume, I have been under repeated obliga-
tions, which I desire here to acknowledge, to Messrs. Hunter,
Rose & Co., Publishers, and to my friend, Mr. Wm. William-
son, Bookseller, Toronto. I am also indebted to Mr. Wm. Hous-
ton, M.A., and to Mr. John Watson, his assistant ; to Mr. W. H.
Van der Smissen, M.A. ; and to Mr. James Bain, jr. ; the Libra-
rians, respectively, of the Library of the Legislative Assembly
of Ontario, the Library of Toronto University, and the Toron-
to Public Library. To Mr. Bain I am chiefly beholden for
facilities in getting access to works on the early history of
Canada and the North- West, with which the Toronto Public
Library has been enriched by the generosity of Mr. John
Hallam. Mr. Bain's intimate acquaintance with Canadian
literature enhances the benefit to be derived from consultation
in this valuable department of the City Library.

To Mr. R. Lovell Gibson, of Montreal, to Mr. Fulford Arnold i,
and to my son, Mr. Gra3me Gibson Adam, of Toronto, my
thanks are also due for ready aid in placing material at my
hand in the preparation of the book.

THE AUTHOR.

Tov.ONTo, July 15tli, 1885.

CONTENTS.

Dedication
Preface
Chaptek I.-
II.
III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.—

XI.

XII,
XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.
XVII,

The Hudson Bay Company

The North-West Fur Co., of Montreal

-Early Diacoverers of the North- West :

(a) The English Trader, Alexander Henry

(b) Joseph La France, and Samutl Heaino

(c) Sir Alexander Mackenzie - • -
The Selkirk Settlement and its Fate
-The Massacie at Red River, and after
-The Nor*- Westers on the Pacific Coast, and the

Amalgamation of the Rival Fur Companies -

Indian Tribes of the Older Provinces and the

North- West . . - - -

—Fifty Years' Interval— 1820 to 1870

— Transfer of the Hudson Bay Territories to the
Dominion . - . . .

— The Riel Red River Rebellion - . .

— The Province of Manitoba and the Era of Settle-
ment ......

— Riel's Second Insurrection :

Causes of the Outbreak . - .

-The First Overt Act :

Duck Lake, and the Mounted Police -

— Calling out the Volunteers . . .

-Over " The Ga^s " to Qu'AppeUe -

PAQB

iii
v
9

38
59
79
96
119

131

150
165

188
197

209

223

236
249
364

Vlll COXTi^NTS.

PAGB

XVTII.— Middleton's March to Clarke's Crossing - • 273

XIX.— Otter's Flying Column— The Dash to Battleford - 287

XX.— The Frog Lake Massacre - - - - 301
XXI. — Otter Attacks Poundmaker :

The Fight at Cut Knife Hill - - - 317
XXII. — The Campaign on the South Saskatchewan :

With Middleton at Fish Creek - - 328

XXIII.— The Crisis at Hand 336

XXIV.— The Lines before Batoche - - - - 343

XXV.— Charging the Rifle Pits— Rout of the Rebels - 353

XXVI.— After Batoche— The " Big BeaT " Hunt - - 364

XXVII.— The Nation's Heroes— Counting the Cost - - 372

XXVJII. — Remedial Measures — The Country's Future - 381

APPENDIX.

Supplemental List of StaflF and Company OflScers of corps serving

in the North- West - - - - - - 389

THE NORTH-WEST:

ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

CHAPTER I.

THE HUDSON BAY COMPANY.

^E should be glad if we could say that the
world had outgrown monopolies. One
monopoly on this Continent it has however
outgrown. A great Fur-trading Corpora-
tion that had seen ten British Sovereigns
come and go while it held sway over the
territories once ceded to His Serene High-
ness, Rupert, Prince Palatine of the Rhine,
yielded up its proprietaiy interests to the
government of a young and lusty nation. In 18G9, the rule
over the " Great Lone Land " of the Honourable Company of
Merchant Adventurers trading to Hudson Bay ceased, and
the Dominion of Canada took over almost its entire interests.
With the relinquishment of iis rights and privileges, though it
stipulated for the retention of some of its trading posts and a

10 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

certain portion of land, the Company parted with not a few of
the factors, trappers, voyageurs, and labourers, that had grown
grey in its service. It parted with its millions of acres of
territory, some of its isolated posts, and their treasuries of fox-
skin, marten, mink, musk-rat, and otter. It parted with the
traditions and associations of centuries of traffic, and all the
pretensions that adhere to absolute power in the hands of an
old and wealthy corporation and a long-established monopoly.
So scattered and distant were the possessions of the Company
that many moons rose and waned ere the news reached the
secluded inmates of its lonely stockaded posts that the great
trading Company had transferred its interests to the British
Government, and from it to the Canadian people. The price
of the transfer was a million and a half of dollars.

The cession of the interests of the Hudson Bay Company,
in the vast tract of country known as Rupert's Land, set at rest
the long vexed question of the right of that corporation to the
lordship of the region known as the Hudson Bay Territories.
It set at rest, also, not only the validity of the Company's title
to the territory, but the equally delicate question of the area
over which the Company was supposed to rule. Both questions
often disturbed the councils of the Company, and at successive
periods were the subjects of contemplated parliamentary
enquiry. Not only was it held that the Company, in the course
of time, had extended its territorial claims much further than
the charter, or any sound construction of it, would warrant,
but the charter itself was repeatedly called in question; In
the year 1670, when the Company was founded, it seems
clear that the English Sovereign, Charles II, had no legal right
to the country, for it was then and for long after the posses-
sion of France. By the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye (1632)
the English had resigned to the French Crown all interest in
Nouvellc France. The Treaty of Ryswick, (1697) moreover,
confirmed French right to the country. Hence Charles's gift to
his cousin^ Prince Rupcrt^aiid to those associated with hira in fchq

THE HUDSON BAY COMPANr.. 11

organisation of the Hudson Bay Company, was gratuitous if not
illegal. The subsequent re-transfer of the country to Britain,
by the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), may be said, however, to have
given the Company a right to its possessions, a right which was
practically confirmed by the Conquest, and by the Treaty of
Paris, in 1763. But conceding this, there arose the other ques-
tion, namely, to what extent of territory, by the terms of the
original charter, was the Company entitled. The text of the
charter conveys only those lands whose waters draiu into
Hudson Bay, or, more specifically, " all the lands and territories
upon the countries, coasts, and confines of the seas, etc., that lie
within Hudson Straits." This very materially limited the area
of the Company's sway in the North- West, and nullified its
claim over the country which drains into the St. Lawrence,
into the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Arctic Oceans. The
Company, of course, never acknowledged this view of the
matter ; but had its title been tested in a court of law, its
territorial assumptions would have been greatly abridged.

But, as we have said, all these disturbing questions, as to
the title and the area of the possessions of the Hudson Bay
Company, were settled by the sale and transfer of the teTri-
tory to the Canadian Dominion. That territory, which in-
cluded at first only the land bordering on Hudson Bay and
Strait, by process, partly of territorial aggrandisement and
partly of later trading-license, came to include : (1.) Labrador ;
(2.) Prince Rupert Land ; (3.) The districts of the Red River,
Swan River, and the Saskatchewan; (4.) The North- West
Territories ; and (5.) Mackenzie river, British Columbia and
Vancouver. By the expiry of a special charter, the two latter
districts, in 1858, reverted to the Crown, and, in 1863, were
erected into a British colony. All the other districts, with tho
reservation of the trading-posts, and one-twentieth of the land,
passed in 1869, as we have stated, to the Imperial Government,
and, for the compensation named, from it i) the Dominion of
Canada,.

12 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

To what national and commercial purposes this great acqui-
sition has been put by the Dominion Government will be seen
from later chapters in the present work. Meantime let us
review briefly the more prominent incidents in the history ol
this great trading corporation, which so long held sway over
the country. In 1610, the Bay that bears his name, or, as the
French called it, " the great North Sea," was discovered by
the ill-fated Henry Hudson, who found himself within its
waters in quest of that will-o'-the-wisp of the period, a north-
west passage to India. The winter of 1610 Hudson spent at
the foot of the inland sea now known as James' Bay. The
rigours of the season, and want of .food, led his men to mutiny,
and to leave him with his son and a small following to the
tender mercies of the region, when they betook themselves
with a lie in their mouth to England. In 1612 an expedition
was fitted out for the relief of Hudson, under the command of
Captain, afterwards Sir Thomas, Button ; but no trace of the
navigator or of his party was ever found.

The next venture westward was that of Champlain, who,
in 1615, made his untoward voyage from the St. Lawrence, by
way of the Ottawa and Lake Nipissing, to la Mer Bovxe,
the inland sea of the Hurons, and the seat of the Jesuit mis-
sions on the Matchedash peninsula. Following upon Cham-
plain's expedition came the organisation of the One Hundred
Associates, which had been given its charter, in 1627, by Car-
dinal Richelieu, prime minister to Louis XIII. The operations
of this Company were interrupted by the first English con-
quest of Canada ; hence little was done in prosecuting trade
in the West, if we except M. De Caen's enterprises, until the
period of M. Montmagny's governorship. Under this Gover-
nor, another trading company was established, known as La
Compagnie de MontrM, and M. Maisonneuve, a gallant and
much-tried Frenchman, was appointed to the charge of its
afiairs. The calamitous condition of the Colony, owing to wars
with the Iroquois, seriously hampered this Company's work j

THE filJDSON BAY COMPANY. 19

knd we have consequently little record of its operations during
the period of its existence, viz., from 1640 to 1663. Three
years afterwards, however, two French Huguenots made their
way round Lake Superior, ascended the Kaministiquia river,
and following the water-way, subsequently known as the Daw-
son route, reached Winnipeg river and lake, and probed a route
for themselves down the Nelson to the sea discovered by
Henry Hudson. In process of time they returned to Quebec,
and proceeded to France, where they endeavoured to interest
capitalists in opening up the fur-bearing regions of Hudson
Bay to commerce. But French enterprise was then looking to
the East rather than to the West, to the extension of trade in
the rich archipelago of the East Indies, rather than to that
in the frozen seas of the North. Silks and spices, and the
diamonds of the Orient, were more attractive just then to the
Gallic sense than the skins of wild beasts. The two French
explorers we have referred to were thus foiled in the at-
tempt to enlist French capital in their enterprise. One of
the two, M. de Grosseliez, was, however, not to be baulked.
He proceeded to England, and there met with the retired
student-soldier, Prince Rupert, whose head was filled with
many curious schemes of enterprise; and his imagination
was readily fired with the story M. de Grosseliez had to tell
him.

The result after a time was the formation of the English
Hudson Bay Company, and the grant of Charles II. over the
region in which the Company intended to operate. In the in-
terval, Hudson Bay had been explored by mariners, who, in
1631, had set out from London and from Bristol, with the still
delusive hope of reaching the Pacific and the far-distant
Cathay. The London venture was commanded by Captain
Fox, and the Bristol expedition by Captain James, the latter
giving his name to the Southern inlet of Hudson Bay. Both
expeditions were barren of result, save to impress upon the

14 TflE NORtH-WEST: ITS HISTORt AifD ITS TROUBLES.

minds 'of their commanders the inhospitable character of the
region and the terrors of a winter on its coasts.*

A New England captain connected with the Newfoundland
trade was the first to sail to Hudson Bay to further the in-
terests of the new-formed Company. Presently, a governor
was dispatched to establish and take charge of a fort on the
Rupert river, and one on the Nelson. By the year 1686 the
Hudson Bay Company had organised five trading-posts round
the shores of James and Hudson Bay. These were known
as the Albany, the Moose, the Rupert, the Nelson, and the
Severn factories. The right to establish these posts was
actively combated by the French, who sent contingents from
Quebec, by the Ottawa and by Lake Superior, to harass the
English in their possession of them. For a number of years
a keen conflict was maintained between the two races, and the
forts successively changed hands as fortune happened to favour
the one or the other. Possession was further varied by the
Treaties of Ryswick and Utrecht, previously referred to.

Meanwhile the French were active in the lower waters of
the continent ; for in 1 672 La Salle had discovered the Miss-
issippi, Joliet and Marquette had traced the outline of the
Georgian Bay and Lake Superior, and Father Hennepin had
seen and made a chart of the Falls of Niagara. Later on M.
du Luth and M. de la Verandrye had penetrated into all the
bays of Lake Superior, and the latter, in 1732, had constructed
a fort on the Lake of the Woods. At the period of the Con-
quest the French had done far more to discover and open
up what is now our North-West than the English. Up to
1763, they had gone even as far west ^ the Assiniboine and
the Saskatchewan. They had established Fort Maurepas on
the Winnipeg, Fort Dauphin on Lake Manitoba, Fort Bourbon

* For an account of the earlier voyages to Hudson Bay — those of Wm. Baffin,
Sir Martin Frobisher, and Master John Davis, with the voyages of Sebastian Cabot
to Newfoundland — see Eundall'a Narrative of Vouagta towards the North-West^
ipG-lG^l—aan of th« Ualduyt Society Publications : London, 1849.

I'HE HUDSON BAY COMPANY. 15

On Cedar Lake, and Fort si la Corne below the forks of the
Saskatchewan, The Hudson Bay Company, on the contrary,
had done little, as yet, to invade the continent. The trade of
the Company hardly extended beyond the shores of Hudson
Bay, or, at most, a short distance down the Albany river and
the Churchill, Inactive in their work, for a time they found
their charter ineffectual to keep out interlopers from sharing
the profits of the growing fur trade. Petitioning Parliament
they, now and again, got a confirmation of their title, and in-
creased powers of trade ; though one of the objects for which
the Company had originally secured its charter, the prosecution
of discovery in the Arctic regions, had been little promoted.
Hence, enemies in Parliament repeatedly tried to limit the Com-
pany's privileges and to annul its charter. Instigated by these
enemies, rival traders fitted out expeditions to Hudson Bay to
embarrass the Company and seize some portion of its trade.
The fate of these expeditions was, however, adverse to rivalry ;
for no better sport was found for the employes of the privileged
Company than to board the vessels, capture their crews, and
wreck the crafts on the shores of the Bay.

But not thus could the Hudson Bay Company choke off
competition from the interior. The French in the South were
materially interfering with its trade, and the Company found
that to retain it its employes had to organise corps of traders
and voyageurs, who would ascend the rivers and establish
posts in the valleys of the Red River and Saskatchewan and
the region of the great lakes. This was a matter that entailed
no little difficulty and risk. To the "Hudson Bays" the
interior was an unknown wilderness ; and as yet they had not
learned the craft of the Indian woodsman or the skill of the
French coureur de hois. But they had more to contend with
than the tyranny of Nature and the perils of the way. The
colony of New France by this time had grown to considerable
proportions, and the French trader was to be met with all over
the country. M. de Vaudi'euil gives the population of Nouvelle

16 THE NOHTH-WEST: ITS BlSTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

France, in 1760, as 70,000, exclusive of voyageurs and those
engaged in trade with the Indians. The French, moreover,
held the two great water-ways to the West, the St. Lawrence
and the Mississippi. From these inlets their countrymen had
spread far to the North- West ; and in their traffic with the
Indians of the Red River and Saskatchewan districts they had
cut off much trade that previously had found its way to the
Hudson Bay posts on the Albany, the Nelson, the Churchill,
and the Severn. Presently war with the English again broke
out, and from across the Atlantic came the invading forces of
Britain and contingents from her colonies on the coast. To
some extent this withdrew the French traders to their posts on
the meadows of the Mississippi, and to those on the Ohio and
the Alleghany. The time was therefore favourable £o the
Hudson Bay Company employes in again diverting the fur
trade to the old posts by the Northern sea. More effectually
to secure this trade, the Company sent its servants to establish
posts in the South, and by the year 1774 Cumberland House
was founded on the Saskatchewan, and at a somewhat later
day an extensive circle of forts, tributary to that at York
Factory, was established and equipped.

Of the character and trade of these forts we get an intelli-
gent idea from a graphic sketch of the Hudson Bay Company,
in a volume of an English periodical, published in the year
1870.* The writer is an old employ^ of the Company.

" A typical fort," he says, " of the Hudson Bay Company
at best was not a very lively sort of affair. Though sometimes
built on a commanding situation at the head of some beautiful
river, and backed by wave after wave of dark pine forest, it
was not unpicturesque in appearance. Fancy a parallelogram
of greater or less extent, enclosed by a picket twenty-five or
thirty feet in height, composed of upright trunks of trees,
placed in a trench, and fastened along the top by a rail, and
you have the enclosure. At each corner was a strong bastion,

♦ " The Story of a Dead Monoroly." Comkill Magazine, Auguist, 1870.

THE HUDSON BAT COMPANY. 17

built of squared logs, and pierced for guns which could sweep
every side of the fort. Inside this picket was a gallery run-
ning right round the enclosure, just high enough for a man's
head to be level with the top of the fence. At intervals, all
along the side of the picket, were loop-holes for musketry, and
over the gateway was another bastion, from which shot could
be poured on any party attempting to carry the gate. Al-
together, though incapable of withstanding a ten-pounder for
a couple of hours, it was strong enough to resist ahnost any
attack the Indians could bring against it. Inside this enclosure
were the store-houses, the residences of the employes, wells, and
sometimes a good garden. All night long, a voyageur would,
watch by watch, pace round this gallery, crying out at inter-
vals, with a quid of tobacco in his cheek, the hours and the
state of the weather. This was a precaution in case of fire,
and the hour-calling was to prevent him falling asleep for any
length of time. Some of the less important and more distant
outposts were only rough little log-cabins among the snow,
without picket or other enclosure, where a ' postmaster ' resided
to superintend the affiairs of the Company.

" The mode of trading was peculiar. It was an entire system
of barter, a ' made ' or ' typical ' beaver-skin being the stand-
ard of trade. It was, in fact, the currency of the country.
Thus an Indian arriving at one of the Company's establish-
ments with a bundle of furs which he intends to sell, proceeds,
in the first instance, to the trading-room : there the trader sep-
arates the furs into lots, and, after adding up the amount
delivers to the Indian a number of little pieces of wood, iu'
dicating the number of ' made beavers ' to which his ' hunt '
amounts. He is next taken to the store-room, where he finds
himself surrounded by bales of blankets, slop-coats, guns,
scalping-knives, tomahawks (all made in Birmingham), pow-
der-horns, flints, axes, etc. Each article has a recognised value
in ' made-beavers ; ' a slop-coat, for example, may be worth five
' made-beavers,' for which the Indian delivers up twelve of his
pieces of wood ; for a gun he gives twenty ; for a knife two ;
and so on, until his stock of wooden cash is expended. * * *
After finishing he is presented with some trifle in addition to
the payment of his furs, and makes room for someone else."

Of these trading establishments of the Hudson Bay Company,
the writer adds : " There were in 18G0 over 150, in charge of

18 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

twenty-five chief factors and twenty-eight chief traders, with
150 clerks and 1200 other servants." " The trading districts of
the Company," he states, " were thirty-eight in number, divided
into five departments, and extending over a country nearly as
l)ig as Europe, though thinly peopled by some 1GO,000 natives,
Esquimaux, Indians, and half-breeds."

We make no excuse for taking up space with this extended
quotation, fur we duem a description of a Hudson Bay Com-
pany post, and an account of the mode of barter with the
Indian, to be as novel and interesting to the untravelled Can-
adian as they must be to the average Englishman. The pic-
turesque features of life in the North- West in the palmy days
of the Hudson Bay Company, or of the North-West Fur Com-
pany, of Montreal, are many and full of interest,— not only to
the historian, but to the narrator of adventure and the de-
scriptive writer. How fascinating and prolific a theme the
subject has been to such story-tellers as Cooper, Bailantyne*
Mayne-Reid, and others, the voracious youthful reader of their
books must well know. Life in the North-West in the olden
time, of course, had its drawbacks, in isolation from one's kith
and kin ; in the utter desolation and dreariness of its long and
severe winters ; in the fatigues and hardships of the voyages
from ])ost to post, or those entailed in getting in and out of the
territory ; and in the risks run, from both white men and
Indians, at a time of war between the two races that long and
bitterly strove for possession of the country. On the other
hand, there were many countervailing pleasures and advan-
tages, known only to those who have realised the charm of
living in Nature's solitudes, away from the worries and con-
ventionalities of civilisation, amidst surroundings that con-
tributed to the building up of a healthy physical frame, and,
in the case of a successful factor or trader, that enabled him in
time to retire with a more than average share of this world's
goods. The writer from whom we have already quoted may
be trusted to say what present pleasure and store of future

THE HUDSON BAY COMPANY. 19

memories were to be extracted from life in the North- West,
and from employment in the Hudson Bay Company's service
when that corporation was in its prime. Here is an extract
from the article we have already referred to :

"We, who knew the Company in its palmy days, who drank
its good wine and ate of its salt; who hobnobbed in its pick-
eted forts with the sturdy factors, at great oaken tables laden
with beaver-tails, buffalo-tongues, and huge roasts of moose, of
elk, and of caribou; dishes of juicy antelope and luscious sal-
mon from the rivers of its empire of territory ; ptarmigan from
Hudson Bay ; oulachan, most delicious of fish, from Vancouver
Island ; and snowy hares from the Eskimo along the shores of
the Arctic sea : We, who shared its stirring enterprises, and
floated down far western rivers in its birch bark canoes, who
have been honoured by seeing our names carved on tamarack
' lob-sticks ' on the Albany river, and on cedar ones on the
Columbia, in return for regales of tea, tobacco, and rum lar-
gessed unto its voyageurs : We, who were in a word, of it,
have precious memories in relation to the great corporation,
and may be excused for lingering fondly over its history, even
at a time when the world is most disposed to hold its achieve-
ments cheaply, and to dwell severely upon its misdoings and
shortcomings."

We have no wish to become one of those to whom the
writer alludes in this passage, who refuse the meed of admira-
tion for the Company's achievments, or who desire to arraign
its administration in respect of its many " misdoings and short-
comings." While the Company pursued its operations, its
government was paternal, and its sway, in the main, just But
it was only and wholly a trading corporation : its motive was
to make money and to pay large dividends. It had no other
raison d'etre. Unlike the East India Company, its adminis-
tration was not utterly unscrupulous or wholly devoid of con-
science. If it was arrogant in its claims to territory, it did
not disturb the natives in their rights, or dispossess them of
their inheritance. Against rival trading companies it waged a
long and bitter war ; but its rival was in the territory with

20 THE north-west: its history and its troubles.

no higher motives than those that actuated the Company they
desire to oust. It was the interest of neither Company to
promote colonisation, though the Montreal institution, to make
a point against the English traders, made a show of encour-
aging settlement. The influence of both upon the Indian
must be conceded to be bad; though their common half-breed
descendants may be said to be more useful in the country
than the aboriginal inhabitant, and more likely to cultivate
and civilise it. But the latter has his rights in the country, as
its first possessor ; and so long as the tribes exist these rights
should be respected and their interests conserved. Not only
should they be respected, they should be freely recognised and
generously dealt with. The same may be said for their descen-
dants, the Mdtis.

The exclusive privileges of the Hudson Bay Company, being
opposed to the best interests of Canada, and antagonistic to
the progress as well as to the spirit of the age, could not, of
course, be suffered to run on in perpetua. Its shareholders
saw this in 1838, when the last renewal of its charter was
granted. They saw this more clearly in 1859, when its charter
had run out. At both of these j^eriods there was much agita-
tion over what was termed the usurpation of the Company.
While its operations were confined to the shores of Hudson
Bay, there were few to call in question its charter, or quarrel
with its license to trade. But when its employes ascended the
rivers to the plains of the South, they came into collision with
the French joint-stock Company, whose traders had long
roamed over the valleys of the Assiniboine and the Saskatch-
ewan, and excited prejudice by the claim of privilege and the
assumption of power. For many years hostility to the Hud-
son Bay Company was actively fostered in Canada. Not only
was it natural that the Colony should favour its own Com-
pany ; it was peculiarly its interest to do so. The trade of the
North- West Company specially enriched it. It did more : it
kept open a home route to the West, and made Montreal the

THE HUDSON BAY COMPANY. 21

Centre of a large and lucrative trade. After the embroilment
of this Company with the Selkirk colony on the Red River, it
coalesced with the older English Company, and much of the
trade returned to its former outlet on Hudson Bay. This
amalgamation did not a little to revive Canadian antipathy to
the parent institution. The aggressions in Oregon, and the
later extension of its trade to the Pacific, increased public dis-
trust of the Company and fanned the flame of hostility. The
Company, moreover, in asserting its power to enact tariffs, to
levy taxes, and collect customs dues, made itself more obnox-
ious, and intensified public feeling against it, when it ap-
proached the Imperial authorities for a renewal of its charter.

Its policy towards settlers added to the counts of the in-
dictment which confronted its paid advocates in parliament.
Complaints were frequently made that immigrants, after fulfil-
ling the hard conditions imposed upon the settler, failed to get
from the Company's officers the title-deeds to their lands. In
this respect, it is to be feared, history has repeated itself. Set-
tlers also complained that an embargo was placed upon any
little trade with the Indians, which they, on occasion, might
effect. Their houses were entered in search of furs, which,
when discovered, were confiscated ; and the settlers' possessions
not infrequently were destroyed and themselves taken captive.
The Company's rule in the West was often arbitrary and op-
pressive. Little was done to ameliorate the condition of the
settler's life, but much often to annoy and impoverish him.
Water communication was nowhere facilitated, nor were roads
opened up. The character and resources of the region were
belied, and everything was done to dissuade or retard immi-
gration. It may be doubted whether the country has ever
fully recovered from the effects of the circulation of these
falsehoods.

Such a policy as we have referred to was sure to react upon
the Company. In 1857, the Imperial Parliament empowered a
Committee to take evidence in regard to the administration

22 TflE NORTfl-WEST: rtS fltSTOHf AJJD ITS TROUBLES.

of the Hudson Bay'Company, and to consider the state of tlio
British Possessions in North America under its rule. The re-
port of this Committee exhausts the arguments for and against
the Company : the report itself is a model of statesmanlike ex-
cellence. It is one of the most valuable State papers in connec-
tion with Canadian affairs it has been our privilege to in-
spect. The eminence and high character of the Committee, its
adequate powers, the fulness of the evidence it elicited, and
the dispassionateness and impartiality with which it discharged
its functions, give a value to the Eeport unusual among politi-
cal documents. The finding of the Committee was adverse to
the continuance of Hudson Bay Company rule in such portions
of the country as were fit for settlement, with which Canada
was willing to open and maintain communication, and for
which she would provide the means of local administration.
In this finding, the Committee not only paid regard to the rea-
sonable desires of the settlers themselves, but had in view the
extension of the territory of an important and growing col-
ony, and the interest and policy of the British Crown. The
opinion was also expressed, that it would be proper to termin-
ate the Company's connection with Vancouver's Island, as the
best means of favouring the development of the great natural
resources of that and other portions of the adjacent coun-
try which might afterwards become part of a British col-
ony on the Pacific coast. In respect of the remainder of the
Hudson Bay Territory, " in which, for the present at least, there
can be no prospect of settlement for the purposes of colonisa-
tion," the Committee thought it desirable that the Company
should continue to enjtiy the privilege of exclusive trade, and
to throw over it and the Indians inhabiting it whatever pro-
tection it could afibrd.*

•It is due here to say that during the sittings of this important Committee of the
British Parliament the interests of Canada were most zealously watched by t',3
late Hon. Chief Justice Draper, to whose ability and hi^h sense of honour, tlie
Committee male suitable ackuowledgmunt, as well as ex^iressed its indebtedness

TtlK itUbSOK BAY COMPANY. 23

The action taken by Parliament on this weighty Report, and
the subsequent negotiations by the Crown for the cession of the
Hudson Bay Territories, are matters of history. The immedi-
ate result of the transfer was the unhappy outbreak in 18G9 ;
though the following year saw the retreat of disloj'alty and
the advance of law and order. A vast continent came into the
possession of the Canadian people ; — boundless stretches of rich
prairie, verdant slopes and navigable rivers, with, it must not
be concealed, not a little of rock and reeking swamp, and, in
the inhospitable north, leagues of snow and desolation. What
the country has become in the fifteen years that have elaps-
ed since it passed from the sway of the Hudson Bay Com-
pany is no slight tribute to the sagacity and foresight of those
who were instrumental in ne^jotiating its transfer to the Can-
adian people. As a preserve for game it has lost its value ; and
in this respect the native inhabitant is a keen sufferer, while
the fur trader has been despoiled of his trade. But in cattle-
raising and agriculture, the hunter, as well as the settler, has a
more assured means of livelihood than any to be found in the
fruits of the chase.

There are problems yet to be worked out in the settlement
of the country, in turning the plains from a breeding- ground
of buffalo to the purposes of the agriculturist and the civilised
settler. But, for their solution, sagacity and prudence should
be all that is necessary, coupled with patriotism and the reso-
lution to do riorht, and to see that riofht alone is done. What-
ever difficulties beset the immediate future, it is hoped that
these will neither be prolonged nor insurmountable. The in-
surgents of the North-West must be cured of their disposition
to resort to insurgency. No men, race, or class of men, what-
ever be their grievance, must be suffered to throw over consti-
tutional means of seeking redress; nor should the ear of justice

for valuable information placed by Mr. Draper at its disposal while acting at the
enquiry as the representative of the Canadian Government.

24 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY ANt) ITS TROUiiLES.

be inaccessible, or the hand of administration slow, in the appli-
cation of a remedy. The resort to arms must be treated with
no sentimental, still less with partisan or racial, leniency. In-
surrection should meet with speedy suppression, and seditious
speech sharply dealt with. There must be unfailing protection
to life and property, abiding peace, and absolute security. Only
on these conditions can the country be favourably settled, and
a material and a moral advance made on the rule of the Hud-
son Bay Company.

i/r^.

CHAPTER 11.

THE NORTH-WEST FUR COMPANY.

HE North- West Fur Company, of Montreal, was
for the space of nearly forty years an active and
formidable rival of the Hudson Bay Company.
It was entirely a Canadian venture, a private
joint-stock company, composed of French, Scot-
tish, and, to some extent, half-breed traders,
without charter, or, so far as we can make out,
license from the Government. Its object was to
pursue the peltry trade, and to traffic and barter with the
Indians. Next to the Hudson Bay Company, it was the most
powerful trading organisation that ever entered the field of
commerce in the North- West. Its history is marked by
chronic feuds with the employes of its great English rival, and
by a sanguinary conflict with Lord Selkirk's settlement on the
Red River. In its encounter with the latter, twenty-two lives
were lost, including the Hudson Bay Governor. Towards the
colony of the Scottish nobleman it pursued a relentless and
cruel policy. In its hostility it was actuated by the same
spirit of opposition as that which actuated the English Com-
pany in resisting the entrance of a rival in its own field.
Neither Company loved the other ; and when the colony was
founded it was with glee the Hudson Bay Company ofiicials
saw the jealousy with which it was regarded by the rival insti-
B 25

26 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

tution. This jealousy it became the purpose of the Hudson
Bay Company to inflame. By every art it embittered the
feeling between the Nor'- Westers and the colony; and, later
on, it readily lent its aid as an ally in the strife. Hard indeed
was the lot of the Selkirk settlement under conditions so
adverse. But it is not our purpose here to narrate the history
of its career or to record its fate. This will be told in another
chapter.

The feud with the Scotch immigrants of the Selkirk colony
was only an incident, though a prominent one, in the history
of the conflict between the two trading organisations locally
known as the "Nor'-Westers" and the "Hudson Bays." The
intrusion of the former into what was deemed the exclusive
possessions of the latter, was the occasion of a long and bitter
strife. Organised in 1783, the North- West Company was not
long in building up a successful trade, for its operations were
conducted with skill, vigour, and enterprise. From the period
of the Conquest to that of the establishment of the Canadian
Company, many private traders had penetrated into the North-
West. The head of Lake Superior was their common rendez-
vous. From there the usual route to the west was by Rainy
River, the Lake of the Woods, and the Winnipeg. Reaching
the Red River they gradually extended their operations as far
west as the Saskatchewan, and, ere long, to the forks of the
Athabasca. There they intercepted the trade which was wont
to seek the Hudson Bay posts on the Churchill. This rivalry
at last woke the English Company from its lethargy, and it
determined to send traders inland to recover its monopoly.
By this time, however, the Montreal Company was not only in
the field; it was strongly entrenched. Already it had posses-
sion of the trade of the Red River, and had established a fort
at the mouth of the Souris.

But the Canadian Company was not only active; it was
shrewd. The principle on which it was organised was a sort
of co-operative one, which gave to its servants a share in tho

THE NORTH-WEST FUR COMPANY. 2?

profits of the business. Proportionately, all were partners in
the concern ; hence, all had a personal interest in its suc-
cess. The effect of this was to strengthen the Company, and
to make it a formidable rival in the field. Every year saw its
enterprising traders extend their operations further to the
west. This could not go on undisturbed. The Hudson Bay
Company, now fully alarmed at the encroachments of its rival,
bestirred itself to oppose it. Wherever the Nor'- Westers con-
structed a fort there the Hudson Bays established a rival one.
Brought thus into close proximity, each bidding against the
other for trade, it was impossible that they could live in peace.
Each, moreover, claimed a right to th^ territory, the one by
virtue of its charter, the other by right of discovery and first
occupancy. It will be seen there was no lack of matter to
wrangle over.

Now began a many -years' conflict. The Hudson Bay Com-
pany was a newcomer in the territory; the French had been
actively in possession for over a century. As early as 1G27.
forty years before the Hudson Bays had obtained their
charter, a body of French traders, known as the "One Hun-
dred Associates," was trafficing on the plains of the North-
West. King Charles's deed to the Hudson Bay Company
seems, indeed, to have been issued with a knowledge of this
circumstance, for it cedes only those lands "not possessed by
the subjects of any other Christian King or State." The
French histoiian, Charlevoix, who visited Canada in 1720, and
was well informed on the subject of the trade of the rival
nations in Hudson Bay and the North-West, speaks scornfully
of the pretensions of the English in these regions. A French
Company operating in the territorj?^, and long in possession of
it, was SUT9 to be aware of these facts, and naturally influenced
by them. But the Nor'- Westers had another and a demon-
strative ally in their employes, the Mdtis, or Bois-hrMes, who,
of course, took the French view of the case. These "Half-
breeds," who to-day form a considerable and an unsettled por-

^8 THE IfORTH-WEST : ITS HISTOIIY ANt> iTS TROUBLES.

tion of the population of tlie North- West, were the progeny of
the early French voyageur who had mated with the Indian.
Later on, the Scotch trader and Company's employ^ was not
loath to follow the example set him by his French fellow-
countryman. He was of one mind with him, who, in the
Laureate's poem, sighs for a barbarian's retreat, and escape
from the links of habit and the ties of a conventional world:

" There the passions cramped no longer shall have scope and breathing-
place,
I will take some savage woman, she shall rear my dusky race."

The writer from wl^iom we have already quoted, * on the
characteristic features of Hudson Bay rule in the North- West,
speaks thus with reference to the Company's officers mating
with the Indian races:

"When the young clerk," he writes, "went out to the coun-
try, a wife as a compagnon de voyage was out of the question ;
and most frequently, when he was able to marry, he was far
distant from the women of his own race, or from civilisation of
any sort. The same was true of the early pioneers all over the
American continent, few of them caring to take wives with
them, but preferring, for a time at least, to push their fortunes
alone. Absence from home, and a familiarity with the race
around them, soon broke the links which once bound them to
their fatherland and the women of their country, and many
took wives from among the daughters of the soil. This was
particularly common among the servants of the great fur com-
panies, not only because few white women cared to take up
their lot with the rovers of the wide fur-countries, but that it
was also a matter of policy to ingratiate themselves with the
powerful Indian tribes among whom they were thrown. The
Hudson Bay Company, ever the most shrewd of merchants —
most cautious of Scotchmen- — encouraged this mating with the
Indian races among their officers and voyageurs, mainly in
order that their employes might have ties which would retain
them in the country and consolidate the foundations of the
Company by bonds of relationship and friendship between all

• " Story of a Dead Monopoly." Vide ComhiU, August, 1870.

THE NORTH-WEST FUR COMPANY. 29

their factors, traders, and servants generally. So sons and
daughters were born to the Macs and Pierres ; and the blood of
Indian warriors, mingling with that of " Hieland lairds " and
French bourgeois, the traders, the' trappers, and the voyageurs
of the gi*eat Fur Company, began to flow in a steady stream all
through ' His Majesty's Plantations in North America,' deep-
ening and expanding until it reached from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, from York Factory to Fort Victoria. * * * It used
to be noted in the Company, in latter days, that if an officer
married a " white girl " on any of his visits to Montreal or
Victoria, he could give no surer guarantee of his fitness for
non-advancement in the Company. ' Oor ain fish -guts to oor
ain sea-maws/ used to be the motto of the Board of Manage-
ment, composed of old factors who had daughters to marry.
Young officers, knowing this, proceeded accordingly."

But we have digressed somewhat from the matter before us.
We were speaking of the " Half-breed " as an interested party
in the feud between the rival trading Companies. He was, in
truth, an influential factor in the struggle. At the time of
which we write the " Metis" were almost entirely of French
extraction, and were exclusively in the employ of the North-
West Company. At a later date, on the Hudson Bay Com-
pany beginning to trade in the south, its officers formed liasons
with the young women of the various tribes, and an English, in
contradistinction to a French half-breed race, in process of time
sprung up. As yet, as we have said however, the Half-breed
was of French descent and owned his allegiance to the Cana-
dian Company. To that Company he naturally looked for
employment; and he took to its service not only with alac-
rit}' but with ancestral pride. For his duties he was admirably
fitted ; for the Half-breed possesses, in addition to the French-
man's versatility and ready resource, the Indian's skill as a
canoeist and his intuitive knowledge of the woods. The pride
and stately dignity of the old French noblesse, and the magnifi-
cence of the Highland laird, who had now become an opulent
fur-trader and possessor of large interests in the vast domain
of the West, attracted the eye and won the heart of the simple

30 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

child of the woods. This was true, indeed, not only of the
Half-breed, but of the full-blooded Indian. To the French, both
were drawn by characteristics of race, which found no counter-
part in the English. The French race was quick to merge into
the Indian, and to pick up the habits, and not infrequently the
vices, of the dusky children of the woods. Parkman, the his-
torian, remarks that the French colonists of Canada held, from
the beginning, a peculiar intimacy of relation with the Indian
tribes. Here are some passages from this gniphic writer,*
which shew how French influence diffused itself throughout
Canada, and infected both the Indian and the Half-breed. He
is speaking specially of the period of French military domina-
tion in the colony :

" France laboured," he says, "with eager diligence to conciliate
the Indians and win them to espouse her cause. Her agents
were busy in every village, studying the language of the in-
mates, complying with their usages, flattering their prejudices,
caressing them, cajoling them, and whispering friendly warnings
in their ears aorainst the wicked designs of the English. When
a party of Indian chiefs visited a French fort, they were greet-
ed with the firing of cannon and rolling of drums ; they were
regaled at the tables of the ofticers, and bribed with medals
and decorations, scarlet uniforms, and French flags. Far wiser
than their rivals, the French never ruffled the self-complacent
dignity of their guests, never insulted their religious notions,
nor ridiculed their ancient customs. They met the savage
half way, and showed an abundant readiness to mould their
own features after his likeness. Count Frontenac himself,
plumed and painted like an Indian chief, danced the war-dance
and yelled the war-song at the camp-fires of his delighted allies.
In its efforts to win the friendship and alliance of the Indian
tribes, the French Government found every advantage in the
peculiar character of its subjects — that pliant and plastic temper
which forms so marked a contrast to the stubborn spirit of the
Englishman. At first, great hopes were entertained that, by
the mingling of French and Indians, the latter would be won

***The Conspiracy of Pontiac." Vol. L

THE NORTH-WEST FUK COMPANY. 31

over to civilisation and the Church ; but the effect was precisely
the reverse ; for, as Charlevoix observes, the savages did not
become French, but the French became savages. Hundreds
betook themselves to the forest never to return. These over-
flowings of French civilisation were merged in the waste of
barbarism, as a river is lost in the sands of the desert. The
wandering Frenchman chose a wife or a concubine among his
Indian friends ; and, in a few generations, scarcely a tribe of
the west was free from an infusion of Celtic blood. The
French Empire in America could exhibit among its subjects
every shade of colour from white to red, every gradation of
culture, from the highest civilisation of Paris to the rudest bar-
barism of the wigwam."

" The fur-trade engendered a peculiar class of men, known
by the appropriate name of bush-rangers, or coureurs de hois,
half-civilised vagrants, whose chief vocation was conducting
the canoes of the traders along the lakes and rivers of the in-
terior ; many of them, however, shaking loose every tie of
blood and kindred, identified themselves with the Indians, and
sank into utter barbarism. In many a squalid camp among
the plains and forests of the west, the traveller would have
encountered men owning the blood and speaking the language
of France, yet, in their swarthy visages and barbarous cos-
tume, seeming more akin to those with whom they had cast
their lot. The renegade of civilisation caught the habits and
imbibed the prejudices of his chosen associates. He loved to
decorate his long hair with eagle feathei-s, to make his face
hideous with vermilion, ochre, and soot, and to adorn his greasy
hunting frock with horse-hair fringes. His dwelling, if he
had one, was a wigwam. He lounged on a bear-skin while his
squaw boiled his venison and lighted his pipe. In hunting, in
dancing, in singing, in taking a scalp, he rivalled the genuine
Indian. His mind was tinctured with the superstitions, of the
forest. He had faith in the magic drum of the conjuror ; he
was not sure that a thunder-cloud could not be frightened
away by whistling at it through the wing-bone of an eagle ;
he carried the tail of a rattle-snake in his bullet pouch by way
of amulet ; and he placed implicit trust in his dreams. This
class of men is not yet extinct. In the cheerless wilds beyond
the northern lakes, or among the mountain solitudes of the
distant west, they may still be found, unchanged in life and

32 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

character since the day when Louis the Great claimed sovereign-
ty over this desert empire."

In a fine passage, in the work from which we have made this
extract, Mr. Parkman draws a characteristic picture of the
Canadian woodsman, in contrast with the sturdy English col-
onist, whose political and religious life developed a type quite
diffeient from the easy-going French-Canadian, the product of
feudalism and Mother-Church. Says this interesting writer :

" In every quality of efficiency and strength, the Canadian
fell miserably below his rival ; but in all that pleases the eye
and interests the imagination, he far surpassed him. Buoyant
and gay, like his ancestry of France, he made the frozen
wilderness ring with merriment, answered the surly howling
of the pine forest with peals of laughter, and warmed with
revelry the groaning ice of the St. Lawrence. Carefess and
thoughtless, he lived happy in the midst of poverty, content if
he could but gain the means to fill his tobacco-pouch, and dec-
orate the cap of his mistress with a ribbon. The example of a
beggared nobility, who, proud and penniless, could only assert
their rank by idleness and ostentation, was not lost upon him.
A rightful heir to French bravery and French restlessness, he
had an eager love of wandering and adventure ; and this pro-
pensity found ample scope in the service of the fur-trade, the
engrossing occupation and chief source of income to the colony.
When the priest of St. Anne's had shrived him of his sins ;
when, after the parting carousal, he embarked with his com-
rades in the deep-laden canoe ; when their oars kept time to the
measured cadence of their song, and the blue, sunny bosom of
the Ottawa opened before them; when their frail bark quiver-
ed among the milky foam and black recks of the rapid ; and
when, around their camp-fire, they wasted half the night with
jests and laughter, — then the Canadian was in his element.
His footsteps explored the farthest hiding-places of the wilder-
ness. In the evening dance, his red cap mingled with the
scalp-locks and feathers of the Indian braves ; or, stretched on
a bear-skin by the side of his dusky mistress, he watched the
gambols of his hybrid ofispring, in happy oblivion of the part-
ner whom he left unnumbered leagues behind. The fur-trade
engendered a peculiar class of restless bush-rangers, more akin

THE NORTH-WEST FUR COMPANY. 33

to Indians than to white men. Those who had once felt the
fascinations of the forest were unfitted ever after for a life of
quiet labour ; and with this spirit the whole colony of Canada
was infected."

Such were the characteristics of the French Canadian and
the half-breed who eagerly entered the employment of the
North- West Fur Company, and worked long and unweariedly
in its interests. For a time no other race or class of men could
have been more serviceable to the Company. They were
inured to hardships ; they were at home in the woods ; their
relations with the Indians were of the happiest ; and they
were never home-sick, or out of humour with their surround-
ings. Furthermore, they were always loyal to the Company.
With zest did they enter into the feuds between it and its
rival, and with equal zest did they take up their masters'
unfortunate quarrel with Lord Selkirk and his colony. This
nobleman's settlement on the Red River was, naturally enough,
considered an usurpation, for he had acquired his rights by
purchase from the Hudson Bay Company, who had neither
discovered the region nor had been in occupancy. On the
other hand, the North- West traders were the discoverers, and for
many years had been in possession. In a dispassionate review
of the facts, it is important that this should be borne in mind.
The Conquest may be said to have given the English a right
to the territory ; but in the absence of any confirmation of its
charter, subsequent to that occurrence, it can hardly be said to
have transfen-ed that right to the Hudson Bay Company.

It is important also to note that the discoverers were not
unauthorised adventurers. French trading operations were
always coupled with the motive of discovery. It was the
invariable policy of the French Government, through its repre-
sentatives at Quebec, to encourage geographical research and
advance the possessions of the Crown. As early as the year
1717, M. de la NoUe, a young French lieutenant, was com-
missioned by M. de Vaudieuil, the Governor, to proceed to the

34 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

west on a mission of trade and discovery. By this and the enter-
prises which immediately followed it, the whole vast interior,
as far west as the Rocky Mountains, became known to the
French ; and in the region they speedily established their forts.
In 1731, they erected Fort St. Pierre, at the discharge of the
Lac la Pluie (Rainy Lake), and in the follo^fing year founded
Fort St. Charles on the Lake of the Woods, and Fort Maurepas
on the "Winnipeg. In 1738, all the district of the Assiniboine
was within the area of their operations, and Fort La Reine, on
the St. Charles, and Fort Bourbon, on the Rivifere des Biches,
were established. Five years later, the Verandryes took posses-
sion of the Upper Mississippi and ascended the Saskatchewan
in the interest of French trade. In 1766, the famous post
of Michillimackinac, at the entrance of the Lac des Illinois
(Michigan), was established. Other parts of the continent
were also covered by the operations of the French traders and
discoverers. Hudson Bay had early been reached by way of
the Saguena}' and Lake St. John, by the Ottawa, and by Lakes
Nipigon and Winnipeg. The Kaministiquia, at the head of
Lake Superior, as we have seen, was the base of supplies for
operations in the west, and the great rallying-place of the
French trader and voyageur. In short, the whole country was
probed and made known to the outer world by the enterprise
of the French and the French Canadians. As a consequence,
any maps of the interior that were at all trustworthy were
those of the French : the charts of the English, until long after
the Conquest, were ludicrously inaccurate. Hence the opposi-
tion to the assumptions of the Hudson Bay Company, and the
hostile rivalry which it engendered. After the Conquest, it is
true, the French for a time abandoned their western posses-
sions; but the old trading habit returned, stimulated, as we
have seen, by the sturdy Scotch and the organization of the
Canadian " Nor'- Westers." The success of this Company wa-^
remarkable. It had, however, its periods of trade depression
and its years of disaster. A scourge of small-pox would break

THE NORTH-WEST FUR COM PAN r. 35

out among the Indians and for the season destroy its trade.
Another year, there would be great floods in the west, and
trade would be impeded if not wholly lost. Then there came
the era of strife with the Red River colony and collision with
the "Hudson Bays." In these engagements forts were fired
and fur-depots destroyed. For a time hostilities were keen
and continuous, and on both sides ruinous. Finally, the Hud-
son Bays and the Nor'-Westers coalesced ; and from 1821 the
amalgamated corporations traded under the old English title
and charter of the Hudson Bay Company. This coalition of
the Nor'-Westers with its English rival gave great strength
to the united Company. It brought it an accession of capable
traders and intelligent voyageurs and discoverers. In the
service of the North-West Company were men — Alexander
Mackenzie and David Thompson among the number — whose
names will be forever identified with discovery in the North-
West. The writer from whom we have more than once
quoted, an old employ^ of the Hudson Bay Company, thus
writes of the character and social status of the men it took over
with the North-West Company :

" The sleepy old Hudson Bay Company were astounded at
the magnificence of the newcomers, and old traders yet talk
of the lordly Nor'- Wester. It was in those days that young
Washington Irving was their guest, when he made his memor-
able journey to Montreal. The agents who presided over the
affairs of the Company at headquarters were very important
personages indeed, as might be expected. They were veterans
that had grown grey in the wilds, and were full of all the
traditions of the fur trade ; and around them circled the laur-
els gained in the North. They were, in fact, a sort of com-
mercial aristocracy in Quebec and Montreal, in days when
nearly everybody was more or less directly interested in the
fur trade."

In Washington Irving's " Astoria," the record of John Jacob
Astor's Fur-trading Expedition on the waters of the Columbia
River, occurs a graphic description of the North-West Com-

86 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

pany in the days of its prime. As the passage admirably
describes a gathering at the annual conference of the Company
at Fort William, we make no excuse for its insertion here, and
with it shall conclude the present chapter.

" To behold the North-West Company in all its state and
grandeur it was necessary to witness the annual gathering
at Fort William, near what is now called the Grand Por-
tage, on Lake Superior. Here two or three of the leading
partners from Montreal proceeded once a year to meet the
partners from the various trading- places in the wilderness, to
discuss the affairs of the Company during the preceding year,
and to arrange plans for the future. On these occasions might
be seen the change since the unceremonious times of the old
French traders, with their roystering coureurs de bois. Now
the aristocratic character of the Briton, or rather the feudal
spirit of the Highlander, shone out magnificently ; every part-
ner who had charge of an interior post, and had a score of
retainers at his command, felt like the chieftain of a Highland
clan, and was almost as important in the eyes of his depen-
dants as of himself. To him a visit to the grand conference
at Fort William was a most important event, and he repaired
thither as to a meeting of Parliament. The partners from Mon-
treal, however, were the lords of the ascendant. Coming from
the midst of a luxurious and ostentatious life, they quite eclipsed
their compeers from the woods, whose forms and faces had
been battered by hard living and rough service, and whose gar-
ments and equipments were all the worse for wear. Indeed
the partners from below considered the whole dignity of the
Company as represented in their own persons, and conducted
themselves in suitable style. They ascended the rivers in great
state, like sovereigns making a progress, or rather like High-
land chieftains navigating their subject lakes. They were
wrapped in rich furs, their huge canoes freighted with every
convenience and luxury, and manned by Canadian voyageurs
as obedient as clansmen. They carried with them cooks and
bakers, together with delicacies of every kind, and abundance
of choice wines for the banquets which attended this great con-
vocation. Happy were they, too, if thej'^ could meet with any
distinguished stranger — above all, with some titled member of
the British nobility — to accompany them on this stately occa-

I^HE NORTH-WEST FUR COMPANY. 37

sion, and grace their high solemnities. Fort William, the
scene of this important meeting, was a considerable village on
the banks of Lake Superior. Here, in an immense wooden
building, was the great council-chamber, and also the banquet-
ing-hall, decorated with Indian arms and accoutrements, and
the trophies of the fur trade. The house swarmed at this time
with traders and voyageurs from Montreal bound to the in-
terior posts, and some from the interior posts bound to Mon-
treal. The councils were held in great state, for every member
felt as if sitting in Parliament, and every retainer and depen-
dant looked up to the assemblage with awe, as to the House
of Lords. There was a vast deal of solemn deliberation and
hard Scottish reasoning, with an occasional swell of pompous
declamation. These grave and weighty councils were alter-
nated with huge feasts and revels. The tables in the great
banqueting-room groaned under the weight of game of all
kinds,; — of venison from the woods, and fish from the lakes ;
with hunters' delicacies, such as buffaloes' tongues and beavers'
tails ; and various luxuries from Montreal. There was no stint
of generous wine, for it was a hard-drinking period, a time of
loyal toasts and Bacchanalian songs and brimming bumpers.
While the chiefs thus revelled in the hall, and made the raf-
ters resound with bursts of loyalty and old Scottish song,
chanted in voices cracked and sharpened by the Northern
blast, their merriment was echoed and prolonged by a mongrel
legion of retainers, Canadian voyageurs, half-breeds, Indian
hunters, and vagabond hangers-on, who feasted sumptuously
without, on the crumbs from their table, and made the welkin
ring with old French ditties, mingled with Indian yelps and
yellings."

CHAPTER III.

EARLY DISCOVERERS OF THE NORTH-WEST.

The English Trader, Alexander, Henry.

NE of the conditions on which the Hudson Bay
Company received its original charter was that
it should interest itself in geographical research.
To a trading corporation this was a foolish pro-
viso. We have seen that the Company took no
thought to colonise its possessions : on the con-
trary, it did all it could to prevent settlement.
The aid it gave to discovery, if we except some
little assistance to the expeditions to the Arctic
Seas in search of Franklin, was very slight. It sought solely
its own interests. If it opened up regions in the North- West,
it was to establish a trading-post, not to set up a meteorological
station or erect an observatory. We doubt if its administra-
tive officers could give, even approximately, the latitude and
longitude of any one of its stations. Many of its traders and
voyageurs doubtless, in time, became very familiar with the
North- West, but only a few of them caught the adventurous
spirit of the old navigators and travellers, and forgot their
trading operations in their eagerness to explore the country.
From the earliest period of colonial settlement at Quebec, the
French led the van in all exploratory effort. The great water-

EAELY DISCOVERERS OF THE NORTH-WEST. 39

ways of the country gave facilities in probing the continent.
Quebec was but the gateway to the Far West. From its portal
the Jesuit was the first to lead ofi" in the adventurous mission
of carrying the Cross into the Canadian wilderness. Closely
following the Black Robes, Champlain pursued his toilsome
journey, by the Ottawa and Lake Nipissing, to the inland sea
of the Hurons.* From the home of the Wyandot, detachments
of the French missionaries threaded their way through the
maze of islands in the Georgian Bay to the St. Mary's river
and Lake Superior. Later on, Marquette tracked the mighty
waters of Superior, and penetrated to the Mississippi. Down
this great artery La Salle carried the fleur de lis to the
Gulf of Mexico, and finally found an unknown grave in Texas.
From the beginning of the seventeenth century the adventur-
ous spirits of old France were to be found on all the great
waters of the continent ; and the footsteps of French traders,
guided, it may be, by an Algonquin Indian, might be traced on
the crisp snow of even the western prairie. Over the latter,
in 1738, the Verandryes, father and son, braved their course to
the far Rockies, through untold dangers and over almost insur-
mountable obstacles.

War was not long in following on the trail of the explorer.
Over the route taken by Joliet and Marquette to the west
might be seen the armed column of Rogers' Rangers, on its way
to the fort at Detroit. English garrisons were also to be found
at Sault Ste. Marie, and at Green Bay, on Lake Michigan.
Ere long the woods at Mackinaw resounded with the shrieks
of Pontiac's victims in the treacherously captured garrison of
Michillimackinac ; while a storm of blood and fire was passing
over the region between Lake Erie and the Alleghanies.
English and French blood also flowed freely on the shores of
Lakes St. George and Champlain, and the woods of the neigh-

* For an account of this iU-atarred expedition, and the subsequent Iroquoia mag-
sacre of the Hurons and Jesuit Missionaries, see the Author's article on "The
Georgian Bay and Muskoka Lakes," in Picturesque Canada,

46 TnE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AKD ITS TROUBLES.

bourhood rang nightly with the hideous shouts of the war-
dance. For a time exploration held its breath while the con-
tinent was thrilled with the shock of battle at Quebec.

We have mentioned the tragedy enacted at l^lichillimackinac,
the result of the "conspiracy of Pontiac," whom Parkman
terms the " Satan of the forest paradise." As it happened, the
pioneer of the English fur trade in the west, Alexander Henry,
had come to the Fort shortly after the Conquest to pursue his
trade, and was one of its inmates at the time of the massacre-
Some extracts from this trader's narrative of the occurrence,
Mr. Parkman weaves into his own history of the Indian war
after the Conquest. Henry's narrative is replete with interest,
not only for the thrilling personal account he gives of the Ojib-
way surprise and massacre of the English garrison, but for its
record of trading operations in Western Canada, and in the
Indian territories beyond the Red River. His work, * which
is dated from Montreal, in 1809, is well written, and covers a
period of trade and adventure from the years 1760 to 1776.
In August, 1761, while as yet there had been no treaty of
peace between the English and the Indians who had taken
part with the French against the conquerors of the country,
Henry decided to set out on a trading expedition from
Montreal to Mackinaw, at the entrance to Lake Michigan.
Receiving permission from General Gage, who was then Com-
mander-in-Chief in Canada, and providing himself with a
passport from the town major, he left Montreal on the 2nd of
August, and Lachine on the following day. His party followed
the usual route to the west, by the Ottawa and Lake Nipissing,
By the end of the month, Henry had entered the Georgian Bay,
and early in September, he reached the island of Michillimack-
inac, sometimes called the " Great Turtle." Here our traveller
was cautioned not to remain, as the Indians of the region were

* " Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories." By Alezan-
der.Henry,iEsq. New York, 1809.

EAELY DISCOVERERS Of THE NORTH-WEST. 41

hostile to his countrymen, and the few French-Canadians at
the Fort were far from friendly. But Henry disregarded this
advice, for the place was important to him in preparing his
outfit for trade in the North-West ; though he took the precau-
tion to cross the straits of Mackinaw and enter the Fort. The
Fort at this time was garrisoned by a small number of militia
who, having families, as Henry tells us, became less soldiers
than settlers. Not a few of them had served in the French
army ; at the Conquest they entered the service and accepted
the pay of Britain.

At the Fort, Henry was inform<3d that the whole band of
Chippeways from the neighbouring island of Michillimackinac
intended to pay him a visit, a piece of information which was
far from agreeable to the adventurous trader. The report was
true. Here is Henry's account of the unwelcome visit :

" At two o'clock in the afternoon, the Chippeways came to
my house, about sixty in number, headed by Minavavana, their
chief. They walked in single file, each with his tomahawk in
one hand and scalping-knife in the other. Their bodies were
naked from the waist upward, except in a few instances, where
blankets were thrown loosely over the shoulders. Their faces
were painted with charcoal, worked up with grease ; their
bodies with white clay, in patterns of curious fancies. Some
had feathers thrust through their noses, and their heads decor-
ated with the same. It is unnecessary to dwell on the sensations
with which I beheld the approach of this uncouth, if not jfright-
ful, assemblage."

In the colloquy that ensued, Henry was far from being
assured ; for, after an interval of pipe-smoking, during which
the English trader endured the tortures of suspense, the chief
addressed him in these words :

" Englishman, it is to you that I speak, and I demand your
attention ! Englishman, it is your people that have made war
with our father, the French king. You are his enemy ; and
how, then, could you have the boldness to venture among us
his children ? You know that his enemies are ours. English-
man, although you have conquered the French, you have not
Q

42 THB NORTfl-WESf : its HISTORY AND 11*8 f ROlTBLES.

yet conquered us ! We are not your slaves. These lakes
these woods and mountains, were left to us by our ancestors.
They are our inheritance ; and we will part with them to none.
" Englishman, our fathei', the King of France, employed oui
young men to make war upon your nation. In this warfare
many of them have been killed ; and it is our custom to retali-
ate, until such time as the spirits of the slain are satisfied.
But the spirits of the slain are to be satisfied in either of two
ways : the first, by the spilling of the blood of the nation by
which they fell ; the other, by covering the bodies of the dead,
and thus allaying the resentment of their relations. This is
done by making presents."

Here Hemy, we can imagine, breathed freely. It was his
trading outfit, not his life, that was most in danger.

" Englishman, your king has never sent us any presents, nor
entered into any treaty with us, wherefore he and we are still
at war; and, until he does these things, we must consider that
we have no other father or friend among the white men than
the King of France ; but, for you, we have taken into consid-
eration that you have ventured your life among us, in the
expectation that we should not molest you. You do not come
armed, with an intention to make war; you come in peace, to
trade with us, and supply us with necessaries, of which we are
much in want. We shall regard you, therefore, as a brother ;
and you may sleep tranquilly without fear of the Chippeways.
As a token of our friendship, we present you with this pipe
to smoke."

The natural apprehension with which Henry regarded the
visit of the Chippeways, as will be seen, was relieved by the
turn things had taken. It was not his life, but his goods, they
wanted. There is a delightful naivete about the chief's speech,
in his remarks about the giving of presents, a hint which
Henry was slow to take, though he reluctantly acceded to a
later request that the delegation should be allowed to taste his
English " milk," i. e. rum. There is an amusing delicacy about
the request for the rum, as Henry states it, which the Indians
wanted to drink, so as to know " whether or not there was any
difierence between the English and the French milk," adding,

EARLY DISCOVERERS OF THE NORTH-WEST. 4o

" that it was long since they had tasted any." Deeming it
prudent that the rum should not be " drunk on the premises,"
he hastened to get some few presents, which he gave them, as
he observes, with the utmost good will, and was glad to see
them take their departure.

Henry's relief from this visitation was but the prelude, how-
ever, to another. No sooner were the Chippeways gone than
two hundred of the neighbouring tribe of the Ottawas, from
L'Arbre Croche, came out of Lake Michigan and drew their
canoes up on the beach. They had heard of the arrival of the
Englishman, Henry, and his trading expedition. The Ottawas,
unlike the Ojibways, manifested no nice sense of delicacy in
their overtures to the trader ; nor in their demands did they
beat about the bush. They summoned Henry to appear before
them, and without any preliminary palaver informed him of
their object in coming to the Fort. Their demand was that
Henry and the other traders who had come to Michillimack-
inac should distribute, on credit, to each of the tribes merchan-
dise and ammunition to the amount of fifty beaver-skins, the
value of the goods to be repaid the traders on the return next
summer of the Indians from their winter hunts. The demand
was refused, as the Ottawas were known to be "bad pay;"
but it was threateningly renewed, and the traders were given
twenty-four hours for reflection. The next day there was a
Council ; but Henry and his party thought it safest not to be
present, though a message was sent asking that the amount of
the credit demanded might be reduced. This was not enter-
tained ; and threats of death were returned by the messenger
should their demands not be complied with. That night news
fortunately reached the small garrison of the near approach of
some 300 men of the 60th Regiment, who had been sent from
Detroit on detachment dutj'' at Michillimackinac and the other
posts in the west. Henry and the traders spent a night of
terror in their barricaded cabins, but on the morrow were re-
lieved beyond measure to find that the Ottawas had fled with

ii THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

the dawn as the detachment of English troops reached the
landing-place.

Free now to pursue his mission of trade, Henry got his party
under way and despatched it to Sault Ste. Marie. For the
next two years he seems to have spent the time alternately at
the " Soo " and at Mackinaw. At the close of the year 1762,
the post at the " Soo " was accidentally burned, and Henry in-
forms us, that to obtain suitable shelter, and save themselves
from famine, the garrison and the traders withdrew to Macki-
naw. During the winter, rumours were rife of hostile designs
against the English soldiery at Michillimackinac. The garri-
son at this time, according to Henry, consisted of ninety pri-
vates, two subalterns, and the Commandant. There seems to be
doubt, however, of the accuracy of this statement. Parkman,
who quotes from the letters of Captain Etherington, the Com-
mandant of the Fort, gives the number of rank and file as
thirty-five, exclusive of officers, traders, and non-combatants.
The trader, Henry, was again an inmate of the Fort. Spring
passed without incident, save an increasing restlessness among
the Chippeways (Ojibways) of the district. To this little heed
was paid by the deluded garrison. The Indians, indeed, were
allowed to come to the Fort to buy from the traders knives
and tomahawks. Henry, alone, seems to have been apprehen-
sive. An Indian, named Wawatam, had taken a great liking
to him, and imparted to him his fears for the safety of Henry
and the garrison. This Henry communicated to Etherington,
the Commandant, but the latter only laughed at the trader's
uneasiness. The Indians, he affirmed, were friendly, and to em-
pha-sise this, he added, that the Chippeways were on the morrow
to play a game of baggattaway (lacrosse) with a band of the
Sac Indians from Wisconsin. Unfortunate delusion ! The mor-
row was the 4th of June, the birthday of King George. Here
is Parkman's account of what happened on that anniversary :

" The discipline of the garrison (on account of its being the
King's birthday) was relaxed, and some license allowed to the

EARLY DISCOVERERS OP THE NORTH-WEST. 45

soldiers .... Women and children were moving about the doors ;
knots of Canadian voyageurs reclined on the ground, smoking
and conversing ; soldiers were lounging listlessly at the doors
and windows of the barracks, or strolling in careless undress
about the area.

" Without the fort the scene was of a very different charac-
ter. The gates were wide open, and soldiers were collected in
groups under the shadow of the palisades, watching the Indian
ball-play. Most of them were without arms, and mingled
among them were a great number of Canadians, while a mul-
titude of Indian squaws, wrapped in blankets, were conspicuous
in the crowd.

" Captain Etherington and Lieutenant Leslie stood near the
gate, the former indulging his inveterate English propensity ;
for, as Henry informs us, he had promised the Ojibways that'
he would bet on their side against the Sacs. Indian chiefs and
warriors were also among the spectators, intent, apparently, on
watching the game, but with thoughts, in fact, far otherwise
employed.

" The plain in front was covered by the ball-players. The
game in which they were engaged, called haggattaivay by the
Ojibways, is still, as it always has been, a favourite with many
Indian tribes. At either extremity of the gi'ound, a tall post
was planted, marking the stations of the rival parties. The
object of each was to defend its own post, and drive the ball to
that of its adversary. Hundreds of lithe and agile figures
were leaping and bounding upon the plain. Each was nearly
naked, his loose black hair flying in the wind, and each bore in
his hand a bat of a form peculiar to this game. At one moment
the whole were crowded together, a dense throng of combat-
ants, all struggling for the ball ; at the next, they were scatter-
ed again, and running over the ground like hounds in full cry.
Each, in his excitement, yelled and shouted at the top of his
voice. Rushing and striking, tripping their adversaries, or
hurling them to the ground, they pursued the animating con-
test amid the laughter and applause of the spectators. Sud-
denly, from the midst of the multitude, the ball soared into the
air, and, descending in a wide curve, fell near the pickets of the
fort. This was no chance stroke. It was part of a preconcert-
ed stratagem to ensure the surprise and destruction of the
garrison. As if in pursuit of the ball, the players turned and

4-6 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTOEY AND ITS TROUBLES.

came rushing, a maddened and tumultuous throng, towards the
gate. In a moment they had reached it. The amazed English
had no time to think or act. The shrill cries of the ball-play-
ers were changed to the ferocious war-whoop. The warriors
snatched from the squaws the hatchets, which the latter, with
this design, had concealed beneath their blankets. Some of
the Indians assailed the spectators without, while others rushed
into the fort, and all was carnage and confusion, At the out-
set, several strong hands had fastened their gripe upon Ether-
ington and Leslie, and led them away from the scene of the
massacre towards the woods. Within the area of the fort, the
men were slaughtered without mercy ! "

While this butchery was going on, the traveller, Henry, tells
us that he was in the Fort, employed in writing letters to be
forwarded to his friends in Montreal. Presently the Indian
war-cry reached his ears, and going to the window, he says :

" I saw a crowd of Indians within the fort furiously cutting
down every Englishman they found. I had in the room in
which I was a fowling-piece, loaded with swan-shot. This I
immediately seized, and held it for a few minutes, waiting to
hear the drum beat to arms. In this dreadful interval, I saw
several of my countrymen fall, and more than one struggling
between the knees of an Indian, who, holding him in this man-
ner, scalped him while yet living, At length, disappointed in
the hope of seeing resistance made to the enemy, and sensible,
of course, that no effort of my own unassisted arm could avail
against four hundred Indians, I thought only of seeking
shelter."

This shelter, Henry sought at the house of his neighbour, a
French-Canadian, who, with his countrymen, allies of the
Indians, was exempt from attack. But its owner, a M. Lang-
lade, refused to succour Henry, being unfriendly to the English,
and disliking Henry as a rival in trade. Fortunately, a Paw-
nee slave of the Frenchman showed our trader the humanity
which her master had withheld, and conducted him to a place
of hiding. Here he was subsequently discovered, but though
his life was spared, he was subjected to every horror, and taken
from one place of confinement to another. The thrilling dan-

EARLY DISCOVERERS OP THE NORTH-WEST. 47

gers through which he passed, during the next few weeks, fill
many ptiges in his narrative. For some time, he tells us, his
only covering was an old shirt ; his bed was the bare ground ;
and for days he was left without food. In one passage he
says : " I confess that in the canoe with the Chippeways I was
offered bread — but bread, with what accompaniment ! They
had a loaf which they cut with the same knives they had used
in the massacre — knives still covered with blood. The blood
they moistened with spittle, and, rubbing it on the bread,
offered this for food to their prisoners, telling them to eat the
blood of their countrymen."

We need not further follow the fortunes of Alexander
Henry, except to see what became of him and his fellow-pris-
oners taken at Michillimackinac, and to glance briefly at his
subsequent travels in the North- Wost. To the friendship of
the Indian, Wawatam, who interceded with the chief of the
Ojibways for his life and personal safety, Henry owed his
release from his savage captors. Painted and attired as an
Indian, he spent the following winter with his rescuer on the
north shore of Lake Huron. The remainder of the English
prisoners were rescued by the Ottawas, of Lake Michigan, a
neighbouring tribe who being incensed at the Chippeways' at-
tack on Michillimackinac without having been asked to partici-
pate in it, wished to deprive them of some of the glory of the
victory, and induced their captors to give up the soldiers and
traders still in their possession. These the Ottawas took to
L Montreal, and received a ransom for them on their arrival, in
■^ August, 1763. Henry, in the summer of the following year,
had the opportunity, of which he gladly availed himself, to
accompany a party of the Chippeways, of Sault Ste. Marie, who
were setting out for Niagara, to which place they had been
summoned by Sir William Johnson, for the purpose of entering
into a treaty of peace with Great Britain. On the 18th of
June, we learn from his narrative, that Henry was at Lac aux
Claies (Lake Siracoe), from which he proceeded with the

48 a:HE KORTH-WeST: ll'S HlSTORt AUD Its tROUBLfiS.

Indian delegation by " the carrying-place " to Toronto,*
thence across Lake Ontario to Niagara.

At Niagara, Henry joined an army, consisting of some three
thousand men, under General Bradstreet, who were about to pro-
ceed to Detroit, to raise Pontiac's siege of that fort, which, for
over a year, had been gallantly defended by Major Gladwyn^ its
commandant. In the spring of 1769, we find him again at Sault
Ste. Marie, pursuing his trading operations as far west as
Michipicoten, on Lake Superior. Here, for a number of years,
he was engaged in mining and prospecting, while at intervals
he continued his fur-trade with the Indians. His success in
the latter seems to have been great, for he writes, that in
June, 1775, he left the Sault on his first trading expedition to the
head of Lake Superior " with goods and provisions to the value
of three thousand pounds sterling, on board twelve small canoes
and four large ones." From here he proceeds, by the Grand
Portage, to the Lake of the Woods, and ere long to the village
of the Christineaux, or Crees, on Lake Winnipeg. Like most
travellers of the period, Henry never fails to omit some descrip-
tion of the tribes among whom for a time he sojourned, and of
the social customs that prevail amongst them. Here are a few
extracts from his narrative, chiefly concerning the female
Cree:

" The dress and other exterior appearances of the Christin-
eaux are very distinguishable from those of the Chippeways and
the Wood Indians. The men were almost entirely naked, and
their bodies painted with a red ochre, procured in the moun-
tains. Their ears were pierced, and filled with the bones of
fish and of land animals. The women wore their hair of a great
length, both behind and before, dividing it on the forehead and
at the back of the head, and collecting the hair of each side

*The following is Henry's reference at this period (1769) to the capital of Ontario :
'* Toranto, or Toronto, is the name of a French trading-house, on Lake Ontario,
built near the site of the present tjwn of York, the capital of the Province of
Upper Canada." At the time our author's book was published (1809) York had
been founded some sixteen years.

teARLY DTSCOVERERS Of THE NORTH-WEST. 49

into a roil, whicli is fastened above the ear ; and this roll, like
the tuft on the heads of the men, is covered with a piece of
skin. The skin is painted, or else ornamented, with beads
of various colours. The rolls, with their coverings, resemble a
pair of large horns.

" The ears of the women are pierced and decorated like those
of the men. Their clothing is of leather, or dressed skins of
the wild ox and the elk. The dress, falling from the shoulders
to below the knee, is of one entire piece. Girls of an early age
wear their dresses shorter than those more advanced. The
same garment covers the shoulders and the bosom ; and is fast-
ened by a strap, which passes over the shoulders ; it is confined
about the waist by a girdle. The stockings are of leather,
made in the fashion of leggings. The arms, to the shoulders,
are left naked, or are provided with sleeves, which are some-
times put on, and sometimes suffered to hang vacant from the
shoulders. The wrists are adorned with bracelets of copper
or brass, manufactured from old kettles. In general, one per-
son is worth but one dress ; and this is worn as long as it will
last, or till a new one is made, and then thrown away. The
women, like the men, paint their faces with red ochre ; and in
addition, usually tatoo two lines, reaching from the lip to the
chin, or from the corners of the mouth to the ears. They omit
nothing to make themselves lovely.

" Such are the exterior beauties of the female Christineaux ;
and not content with the power belonging to these attractions,
they condescend to beguile, with tender looks, the hearts of
passing strangers. The men, too, unlike the Chippeways (who
are of a jealous temper), eagerly encourage them in this design.
One of the chiefs assured me that the children borne by the
women to Europeans were bolder warriors and better hunters
than themselves. The Christineaux have usually two wives
each, and often three ; and make no difficulty in lending one of
them, for a length of time, to a friend. Some of my men
entered into agreements with the respective husbands, in virtue
of which they embarked the women in the canoes, promising to
return them next year. The women so selected consider them-
selves as honoured ; and the husband who should refuse to lend
his wife would fall under the condemnation of the sex in
general."

Such was the far from uncommon morality of this Indian

50 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY ANt> ITS TROUBLES.

tribe, and such the morality which Henry seems to have been
obliged to countenance on the part of those who had entered
his service. From the village of the Christineaux Henry and
his party continued their voyage westward to Lac de Bourbon
(Cedar Lake), where the elder Verandrye had established a
fort about the year 1736. On the way he met the two broth-
ers, Frobisher, who had been actively intercepting the trade of
the Indians with the Hudson Bay Company, and had met with
much success. He also fell in with Peter Pond, a Boston trader,
of unenviable repute, who, in later years, was tried in the Que-
bec Courts for the murder, in the North- West, of a Mr. Wadin,
a fur trader. Pond had the luck to be released, on the ground
that the jurisdiction of the Court did not extend to the distant
territories of the North- West. Mr. Charles Lindsey, whose
knowledge of early Canadian history is both extensive and
accurate, states that this Peter Pond was at the elbow of the
American Commissioners in settling boundary matters after
the peace of 1793. "Pond," he observes, "is said to have
designated to the American Commissioners a boundary line
through the middle of the upper St. Lawrence and the Lakes,
and through the interior countries to the north-west corner of
the Lake of the Woods, thence west to the Mississippi ; a line
tbat was accepted by the British Commissioners." *

Joining their forces, for greater safety, the traders hurried
forward, as there were signs of an early winter overtaking
them, for which they were as yet unprepared. Moreover, the
combined party was short of provisions : one hundred and
thirty men, it was found, made large demands on the commis-
sariat. The exigencies of the situation are thus described by
our traveller :

" On the twenty-first of September, it blew hard and snow
began to fall. The storm continued till the twenty-fifth, by

* "An Investigation of the Unsettled Boundaries of Ontario." By Charles
Liudsey. Toronto : Hunter, Rose & Co., 1873.

EARLY DISCOVERERS OF THE NORTH-WEST. 51

which time the small lakes were frozen over, and two feet o<
snow lay on level ground in the woods. This early severity of
the season filled us with serious alarm, for the country was
uninhabited for two hundred miles on every side of us, and, if
detained by winter, our destruction was certain. In this state
of peril we continued our voyage day and night. The fears of
our men were a sufficient motive for their exertions."

But the party was beset by other perils besides those of the
advancing season. At the mouth of the Saskatchewan, which
was reached early in October, the traders were enabled to eke
out their provisions with a supply of sturgeon from the river
and of wild fowl from the reeds on its banks. Ascendingf the
stream some leagues, they arrived at the village of a chief>
locally known as the " Pelican," who with a large armed follow-
ing barred all progress until black-mail was levied on the party.
To this exaction, which was a heavy one, they had to submit
rather than lose their lives, and with them, of course, all their
effects. Finally, on the 2Gth of the month, they reached
Cumberland House, a factory on Sturgeon Lake, which had
been erected the previous year by Samuel Hearne, an explorer
in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company. Of this notable
traveller we shall have something to say in our next chapter.
The past on Sturgeon Lake, which Henry informs us was then
garrisoned by Orkney Highlanders, was established by the
Hudson Bay Company to restore the trade which for sometime
had been intercepted by Canadian merchants in its passage to
the Churchill. Though the rival traders were unwelcome
guests at Cumberland House, they were treated, nevertheless,
with forbearance and civility. Here the expedition broke up ;
some portion of it going in one direction, some in another.

Henry and the brothers Frobisher resolved on joining their
stock-in-trade, and on wintering together, in some favourable
location, in the direction of the Churchill river. Crossing
Sturgeon Lake, they ascended the Malign river, so called by
the Canadians, we are told, from the vexatious delays occasioned

52 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

by its numerous and strong rapids. The traders and their
party of forty men at length reached Beaver Lake, where they
determined to encamp for the winter. The camp-larder was
kept well filled by the Indians. The supplies consisted of
moose and beaver ; of pike, pickerel and sturgeon ; but chiefly
of trout " from ten to fifty pounds weight," caught through
holes in the ice, as our historian narrates, in twenty and thirty ^
fathoms of water. |

Fortunately, there was no lack of food, for the winter was |
long and severe ; the thermometer frequently registering 32°
below zero. Notwithstanding the inclemency of the season
Henry, early in the year 1776, determined to see something of
the western prairies, and, if possible, to reach the country of
the Assiniboines. In the expedition, he was to be accompanied
by Joseph Frobisher as far as Cumberland House, 120 miles
distant from Beaver Lake. Attended by three men, and pro-
vided with supplies of pemmican (dried meat), frozen fish, and
roasted maize, the ptirty set out on snow-shoes, well wrapped
in bufialo robes, and made Cumberland House after a four
days' tramp. The snow, says the narrator, was on an average
four feet deep. From Cumberland House, our trader and his
party pursued a westerly course on the ice, by way of
Sturgeon Lake, to the Saskatchewan. The depth of the
snow greatly impeded their progress; and by the time they
reached Fort des Prairies, almost a month's journey from
their last stopping-place, our travellers had exhausted their
provisions, and, for the time being, their strength. But for
chance putting in their way a deer that had broken through
the ice, and, unable to extricate itself, had been frozen to death,
the expedition would have been in great straits for food.

Resting for a few days at Fort des Prairies, Henry and his
attendants set out now for the plains, which they followed for
many days' tramp towards the south-west. On the plains thej'
suffered much from cold and exposure, for, in the absence of
wood, they were unable to make a fire when they encamped.

EARLY DISCOVERERS OF THE NORTH-WEST. 53

They also suffered greatly from blinding snow storms and
piercing cold winds. Much to their relief, they at last reaohed
the village of the Osinipoilles, or Assiniboines, where they were
received with marked hospitality and ostentatious kindness.
On their arrival, there was the usual " pow-wow," with the
declamation of the chief, and the "ughs" of approving warriors;
a lengthened period of pipe-smoking and mental stock-taking;
ending with a great feast, and its scenes of gormandising and
post-prandial Indian characteristics.

The stay of our leader and his party among the Assiniboines
was both pleasant and profitable. The tribal village was a con-
siderable one, for Henry informs us that there were at least two
hundred wigwams, each containing from two to four families.
Here, for the first time, he saw a herd of hardy Indian ponies
feeding on the skirts of the plain, and getting at the succulent
grass by scraping the deep snow with their feet. Here, also,
he had his first experience of a buffalo hunt, or, more properly,
a hattvbe. Accepting the chief's invitation, Henry tells us, that
he set out with a party of forty Indians and a number of
women, for an island on the plain, some five miles from the
village, where the buffalo were to be entrapped. Here is his
account of the incidents of the hunt.

" Arrived at the island, the women pitched a few tents, while
the chief led his hunters to the southern end, where there was
a pound or enclosure. The fence was about four feet high,
formed of strong stakes of birch wood, wattled with smaller
branches of the same. The day was spent in making repairs ;
and by the evening, all was ready for the hunt.

" At daylight, several of the more expert hunters were sent
to decoy the animals into the pound. They were dressed in
ox-skins, with the hair and horns. Their faces were covered,
and their walk and gestures so closely resembled those of the
animals themselves, that had I not been in the secret, I should
have been as much deceived as the oxen.

" At ten o'clock, one of the hunters returned, bringing infor-
mation of the herd. Immediately, all the dogs were muzzled ;
9,nd this done, the whole crowd of men and women auiroanded

54 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

the outside of the pound. The herd, of which the extent was
so great that I cannot pretend to estimate the number, was
distant half a mile, advancing slowly, and frequently stopping
to feed. The part played by the decoyers was that of approach-
ing them within hearing, and then bellowing like themselves.
On hearing the noise, the oxen did not fail to give it attention;
and, whether from curiosity or sympathy, advanced to meet
those from whom it proceeded. These, in the meantime, fell
back deliberately towards the pound, always repeating the call
whenever the oxen stopped. This was reiterated until the
leaders of the herd had followed the decoyers into the jaws of
the pound, which, though wide asunder toward the plain,
terminated like a funnel in a small aperture or gateway; and
within this was the pound itself. The Indians remark, that in
all herds of animals there are chiefs or leaders, by whom the
motions of the rest are determined.

"The decoyers now retired within the pound, and were
followed by the oxen. But the former retired still further,
withdrawing themselves at certain movable parts of the fence,
while the latter were fallen upon by all the hunters, and
presently wounded and killed by showers of aftows. Amid
the uproar which ensued, the oxen made several attempts to
force the fence ; but the Indians stopped them, and drove them
back by shaking skins before their eyes. Skins were also
made use of to stop the entrance, being let down by strings as
soon as the buffalo were inside. The slaughter was prolonged
till the evening, when the hunters returned to their tents.
Next morning all the tongues of the butchered oxen were
presented to the chief, to the number of seventy-two. The
women brought the meat to the village on sledges drawn by
dogs. The lumps on the shoulders, and the hearts, as well as
the tongues, were set apart for feasts; while the rest was
consumed as ordinary food, or dried, for sale at the fort."

It was the wish of our adventurous traveller to proceed further
to the west, until he should reach the mountains, of which he
had often heard, and the ocean that lay beyond. Like other
travellers in the region, he imagined that the Rocky Mountains
and the Pacific were less distant than was the fact. Even the
cartographers of the period had hazy notions of the vast
solitudes of the west, for they placed the coast-line of the

EARLY DISCOVERERS OF THE NORTH-WEST. OD

Pacific only a little beyond Lake Athabasca. Few as yek
knew the wide extent of the prairies. In some degree, the
chief of the Assiniboines undeceived our traveller, and
informed him that the mountains he desired to reach were far
distant. Moreover, he told him, that between the village and
the snow-capped "Rockies," there lay the country of the
Snake-Indians and the Blackfeet, over which it was perilous
to travel. Henry reluctantly concluded to w^end his way
homewards.

From the interestinfj narrative of this trader, we shall make
one more extract, describing the people among whom he had
pleasantly sojourned :

" The men among the Assiniboines are well made, but
their colour is much deeper than that of the more northern
Indians. Some of the women are tolerably handsome, consider-
ing how they live, exposed to the extremes of heat and cold,
and enveloped by an atmosphere of smoke for at least one
half of the year. Their dress is of the same material, and of
the same form, as that of the female Christineaux. The
married women suffer their hair to grow at random, and even
hang over their eyes. [The fashion we should nowadays
describe as " banged."] All the sex is fond of garnishing the
lower edge of the dress with small bells, deer-hoofs, pieces of
metal, or anything capable of making a noise. When they
move, the sounds keep time and make a fantastic harmony.

" The Assiniboines treat their slaves with great cruelty. As
an example, one of the principal chiefs, whose tent was near
that which we occupied, had a female slave, of about twenty
years of age. I saw her always on the outside of the door of
the tent, exposed to the severest cold ; and having asked the
reason, I was told that she was a slave. The information
induced me to speak to her master, in the hope of procuring
some mitigation of the hardships she underwent ; but he gave
me for answer, that he had taken her on the other side of the
western mountains ; that at the same time he had lost a
brother and a son in battle ; and that the enterprise had taken
place in order to release one of his own nation, who had been
a slave in hers, and who had been used with much greater
severity than that which she experienced. The reality of the

53 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

last of these facts appeared to me to be impossible. The
wretched woman fed and slept with the dogs, scrambled with
them for the bones which were thrown out of the tent. When
her master was within, she was never permitted to enter ; at
all seasons the children amused themselves with impunity in
tormenting her, thrusting lighted sticks into her face ; and if
she succeeded in warding off these outrages, she was violently
beaten. I was not successful in procuring any diminution
of her sufferings ; but I drew some relief from the idea that
their duration could not be long. They were too heavy to be
sustained."

Contact with Europeans has had some influence, since the
period of Henry's narrative, in rendering the Indian heart
less inhuman. That it has not wholly civilised the tribes of
the region, or taken from them their lust of blood, present day
events, which have turned the strained eyes and anxious
hearts of the people of the Dominion to the still desolate plains
of the North- West, only too sadly indicate. But cruel as the
Osinipoilles were to their enemies, our travellers found them
friendly to the white man, and to those who treated them
fairly, they were kind and hospitable. As yet, they had had
little acquaintance with Europeans, at least not sufficient, as
Henry observes, to affect their simple, pristine habits. Unlike
their neighbours, the Christineaux, of whom they lived in fear,
they were a harmless people, " with a large share of simplicity
of manners and plain dealing."

The Assiniboines, on being apprised of Henry's decision to
proceed eastward, concluded to accompany him as far as Fort
des Prairies, where the chief wished to barter peltry for neces-
saries and the inevitable trinket. So nomadic are the Indians
in their habits, that it was with little surprise Henrj'^ learned
that on the morrow the whole camp would be in motion. At
daybreak the lodges were struck; the poles and their bark
covering were transferred to dog sleighs ; and at sunrise, amid
the yelps and bowlings of the dogs, the village denizens filed
Qut over the plain. The line of march, we are told, exceeded.

EARLY DISCOVERERS OF THE NORTH-WEST. 57

three miles in length. On the way they fell in with another
tribe (numbering a hundred tents), who were also proceeding
to the Fort for the purposes of trade. Nearing their destina-
tion, both tribes encamped in a wood ; their principal men
only coming on to the trading-post with the products of the
chase.

At the Fort, after a brief rest, Henry parted with his Indian
friends, and continued his way from the Saskatchewan to
Cumberland House, thence to his old camp on Beaver Lake.
Here he found his men all in good health, but anxious for a
change of scene. As spring was returning, and the water-
fowl beginning to reappear, Henry and his friend, Frobisher,
thought it would be safe to undertake a journey northward
to Athabasca, which they had previously agreed upon. Ere
long, our indefatigable travellers were again on the way, and
Henry had additional matter furnished him for his narrative.
On the fifth day they reached the Churchill, from which they
turned westward, towards the high latitudes of Lake Athabasca.
Having gone about three hundred miles, they found the lakes
and streams still frozen, and their progress consequently im-
peded. Reaching the Rapide du Serpent, they met a large
party of Athabasca Indians journeying southward, and after a
brief parley, they concluded to return with the Indians to their
point of departure. From the Athabascas, Henry acquired a
good deal of information about their country, and of the streams
that flow northward to the Arctic Ocean. Possessed of this
information, he seems to have been more content to give up
his expedition. By the first of July they were back again at
Beaver Lake.

Here, having completed his commercial adventure, and made
over the remainder of his merchandise to a brother of FrobLsh-
er's, Henry, with his friend and following, set out on their
return journey to the Grand Portage, near Lake SujDcrior, and
from there to Montreal. We need not follow our trader
further, save to relate his safe deliverance from the accidents

58 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

and perils of the way, and his grateful arrival at the commer-
cial metropolis of Eastern Canada. On an island in the Lake
of the Woods, Henry observes, that he hailed a party of
Indians, whom he saw encamped near by, in the hope of pur-
chasing provisions, of which he and his men were much in
need. He tells us, that " he found them full of a story that
some strange nation had entered Montreal, taken Quebec,
killed all the English, and would certainly be at the Grai.d
Portage before we arrived there." From this disquieting, but
distorted rumour, our trader was to get his first inkling of what
had been going on in the outer world while he was figur-
atively entombed in the wilds of the Far West. Continuing
his journey, he was not long in learning of the outbreak of the
American Revolution, and of Montgomery's abortive expedition
to Quebec. Arriving, finally, at Montreal, the last words
of Henry's narrative inform us, that " he found the province
delivered from the irruption of the colonists, and protected by
the forces of General Burgoyne."

CHAPTER IV.

EARLY DISCOVERERS OF THE NORTH-WEST

Joseph La France, and Samuel Hearne.

'HE interest that centres in these old narratives
of traders and discoverers in the Canadian
North-West, few are aware of. Their un-
wieldy quartos, it is to be feared, are seldom
looked into; the notion prevails that their
■writ^'s are either egotistical or garrulous, per-
haps both. In some instances, the charge is
true ; but allowance may well be made for
this, when one considers to what danger they committed
themselves, and what unrewarded toil was theirs, in venturing
upon the journeys they undertook, through countries that
were wholly unknown, and among tribes that were hostile
and barbarous. Courageous as they were, there was need for
courage ; for seldom a day would pass without their being
confronted by "peril in some shape or other, to which the most
daring would have to pay the tribute of fear. Known as the
country now is, and the terrors of the way, consequently, in
large measure, discounted, there are few who would care to

trust themselves to even a holiday excursion in the sombre

51)

60 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HIStOflY Aift> itS TllOUBLtS.

woods of the region, or on the awesome solitudes of the plains.
Only a comfortable Pullman on the Canadian Pacific, well filled
with friends, would give assurance to the nervous traveller in
passing over a thousand miles of solitude, allay the spectre of
his disturbing thoughts, and dispel the traditional memory of
the stealthy Indian, his scalping-knife and tomahawk.

Of the narratives of early English discoverers in the
North- West, that of Alexander Henry, of which we made free
use in our last chapter, is perhaps the most attractive. With
the exception of his work, we know of none, save the records
of afew French travellers, that treats of the region and period
with so much intelligence, and personal and literary interest.
Many years afterwards, we come to later travellers, and to des-
criptions of the country and its people under altered circumstan-
ces. The chief English narratives of the time deal with more
northern regions. We have thus little account of early travels
in the districts that have since been brought within civilisa-
tion, and in some measure opened for settlement. Most writers
treat of the territory round Hudson Bay, and of the waters
that drain into the Arctic seas. This, of course, we naturally
expect ; first, because the English approach to the region was
via Hudson Straits, and, secondly, because the main object of
discovery at the period was not to explore the interior of the
continent, but to find a water highway to the Pacific. Of those
who did explore the interior of the Continent, as it happens,
they have not, to any extent, written about it. This is notably
the case with both Hearne and Mackenzie, the former of whom
discovered and wrote of the Copper Mine River, and the latter
of the river that bears his name — both waters falling into the
Arctic Ocean. The saiiie is true of other and less known wri-
ters. The literature that deals with the Arctic seas, in con-
nection with a waterway to the west, far exceeds that which

EARLY DTSCOVeRERS OP TltE l^ORtfl-WESt. 61

deals with the inland possessions of the Hudson Bay Company
or the overland route to the Pacific.

From an early period the great Trading Company was im-
portuned to extend its operations into the interior, and to do
something to open up the country southward. Too long, it
may be said, it refrained from adventuring in what was known
to be a rough and wild country. But it was more than this ;
it was a dangerous one. It was a country that was in posses-
sion of a people with whom the English were almost incess-
antly at war, and who were not only hostile themselves, but
who had infected the native with the same bitter hostility. As
far as trade was concerned, the Fur Company, unless forced to
do so, had no cause to take up national quarrels. So long as
the Indians brought peltry to the forts, the Company's em-
ployes had neither the motive nor the desire to undergo the
toil and the risk of long journeys in search of it. Were we
the most partisan of the Company's apologists, this is all that
can be said for its failure to open up the country.

That the Hudson Bay Company wished to conceal all
knowledge of the country, and that it resorted to untruth, as
well as concealment, may be taken for granted. Both are now
well ascertained facts. But when a great corporation has the
monopoly of a valuable trade, it need occasion little surprise
if it be jealous of interference with its right and privilege.
Both its right and its privilege, we know, were long called in
question ; and its jealousy of rivals in the field, at successive
intervals, became a matter of grave public interest. One of
the earliest writers to arraign the Company on its shortcom-
ings is Arthur Dobbs, whose "Account of the Countries
adjoining Hudson Bay " was published in the year 1744.
Considering the early period in which he wrote, and the fact
that his account of the country is written out from the oral

G2 THE NORTH- WEST : US HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

report of a half-breed French trader, his work is of fair interest
and accuracy. It has the serious drawback, however, of being
without index, contents, or division into chapters. The chief
source of his information was a native, named Joseph La
France, whom he describes as a " French Canadese Indian."
This half-breed, we learn, was born at Michillimackinac early
in the eighteenth century, and on the death of his mother,
when he was but five years old, he was taken by his father to
Quebec to learn French. When he had grown up, he took to
the fur- trade ; and for over twenty years travelled through the
whole of the French Colony, and into many portions of the
North-Wcet. He seems to have been an intelligent observer
of the country, and to be more than usually familiar with
what was going on in it.

From Mr Dobbs's narrative of La France's story, we learn
that he was a French outlaw, or, at least, an unlicensed, run-
away trader ; and that he came to the English, at Hudson Bay,
owing to a falling out with the French Governor. Here is an
extract from the narrator's account of this incident : " About
six years ago he (La France) went to Montreal with two
Indians and a considerable cargo of furs, where he found the
Governor of Canada, who wintered there. He made him a
present of marten-skins, and also 1000 crowns for a conge, or
license to trade in the following year. But in spring he would
neither give him his conge nor his money, under pretence that
he had sold brandy to the Indians, which is prohibited, and
threatened him with imprisonment for demanding his money^
So he was obliged to steal away with his two Indians, three
canoes, and what goods he had got in exchange for his furs."

La France, the narrator states later on, was met on
Lake Nipissing by a brother-in-law of the Governor, who was
crossing the lake with thirty soldiers and a number of Indian

EARLY DISCOVERERS OP THE NORTH-WEST. 63

guides and carriers, conveyed in a fleet of nine canoes. Here
our trader was seized, as a runaway without a passport, and
his goods were confiscated. During the night he managed,
however, to make his escape, " with only his gun and five
charges of powder and ball." After many hardships, he
reached Sault Ste Marie, and here determined to go to the
English post on Hudson Bay. He left the Sault in the
beginning of the winter of 1739, and, as we are told, lived and
hunted for a while on the north shore of Lake Superior, with
the Saulteaux, among whom he had previously traded.
Through the country of this tribe, and through the territories
inhabited by the Sturgeon Indians, the Sioux, the Crees, and
Ai5siniboines, he successively passed, feeding himself on the
way by the aid of his rod and gun, and sheltering himself at
night under brushwood, or whatever cover was available.
The spring of 1742 had arrived by the time he reached the
Nelson River. Here he met with a party of Indians, 100
canoes in number, on their way to York Factory, with their
product of the winter's hunt. Setting out with these Indians,
La France spent the next few weeks on the river, and arrived
at the Factory on the 24th of June. Mr. Dobbs, quoting from
our trader, gives some facts, which are here worth recording,
of the trade of the period at York Factory, and the small sums
allowed the Indians in exchange for the peltry.

"The natives," he says, "are so discouraged in their trade
with the Hudson Bay Company that no peltry is worth the
carriage, and the finest furs are sold for very little. When La
France's party arrived at the Factory, in June, 1742, the prices
asked for European goods were much higher than the settled
prices fixed by the Company, which the Governors fix so, to
shew the Company how zealous they are to improve their
trade, and sell their goods to advantage. They give but a
pound of gunpowder for four beavers ; a fathom (sic) of tobacco
for 7 beavers ; a pound of shot for 1 ; an ell of coarse cloth for

G4 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

15 ; a blanket for 12 ; 2 fish-hooks or three flints for 1 ; a gun
for 25 ; a pistol for 10; a common hat, with white lace f!) 7 ;
an axe, 4 ; a bill-hook, 1 ; a gallon of brandy, 4 ; a checked shirt,
7 ; — all of which are sold at a monstrous profit, even to 2000
per cent. Notwithstanding this discouragement, the two fleets
which accompanied La France carried down 200 packs of 100
each — 20,000 beavers ; and the other Indians who arrived that
year, he computed, carried down 300 packs of 200 each — ,
30,000— in all 50,000 beavers, and above 9000 martens *

As we have previously recorded, the half-breed, Joseph La
France, an extract from whose narrative is here given by us,
found his way to England in one of the trading-ships of
the season. Here he seems to have met with the writer who
becomes the historian of his travels. This writer appears to
have been a person of influence, for he is styled, in a letter oc-
curring in the text, the Honourable Arthur Dobbs. Mr. Dobbs
has a mission, in which he takes evident delight, namely, to
censure the Hudson Bay Company, and, in true John Bull
fashion, to excite the feelings of his countrymen against the
French, and their monopoly of the inland fur-trade in the Can-
adian colony. This is the burden of his work ; though in his
pages there is much information that, at the period, must have
been new and important with regard to the colony, its charac-
teristic features, its trade and people. From La France's know-
ledge of the country, supplemented by considerable reading.
Ids historian is enabled to describe, with tolerable accuracy, the
situation, extent, and physical aspects of the rivers, lakes, and
plains of the interior. He is also able to give a familiar ac-
count of the Indian tribes, their habits and pursuits, and some
detail of the animal life of the regions traversed.

In some parts, Mr. Dobbs's narrative reads as if he were de-
scribing a terrestrial paradise. So far as his lumbering sen-

* " An Account of the Countries adjoining Hudson Bay." By Arthur Dobbs*
London, 1744.

EARLY DISCOVERERS OF THE NORTH-WEST. 65

te^es permit, he grows eloquent over the great lakes and
wide stretches of fair territory in various portions of the coun-
try. At the same time, he bemoans the melancholy fact that
this great possession is cursed by the laissez-faire administra
tion of a gigantic monopoly. He has a great deal to say of a
Captain Middleton, a navigator in the employ of the Hudson
Bay Company, whom he accuses of studied concealment of his
discoveries, and wicked aspersion of the country and its North-
em approaches. With Middleton he enters into a long corres-
pondence over a presumed waterway from Hudson Bay to Japan,
a waterway which Middleton, for sinister purposes, he thinks,
conceals. In this delusion he his encouraged by the receipt of
letters from some of the crew and subordinate officers who made
voyages with Middleton. Of the practicability of the Hudson
Bay route to the North- West, and its advantage in giving speedy
access to the heart of the continent, Mr. Dobbs held strong opin-
ions, and, in the main, his views were correct. We are to-day
only finding this out. The Canadian Hudson Bay Expedition
of 1884, for which the Dominion Parliament voted $100,000,
but reiterates what Mr. Dobbs had to say of the route one hun-
dred and fifty j^ears ago. The commercial importance of the
Expedition, and the results obtained through the labours of
Lieut. Gordon and his staff, are nevertheless great. The in-
formation gleaned respecting the route establishes not only its
feasibility, but its gi-eat advantage in materially shortening
the passage between Europe and Asia. To those in search of
facts on this subject, we commend a perusal of the Report of the
Expedition, also a valuable compilation from the pen of Mr.
Tuttle.*

In connection with this region, the period of which we write
supplies us with one other work of more than average note in

* " Our North Land : a Narrative of the Hudson Bay Expedition of 1884." By
Charles R. Tuttle. Toronto, 1885.

66 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTOKY AND ITS TROUBLES.

the records of discovery in the North- West, We refer to the
account of the expedition, during the years 1770-72, to the
Copper Mine River, undertaken at the request of the Hudson
Bay authorities by Samuel Hearne, an old employ^ of the Com-
pany. A further object of that expedition was to discover, if
possible, a practicable passage-way to the Northern Ocean.
Mr. Hearne's name, it will be remembered, we have already men-
tioned in connection with the founding of the Company's post at
Cumberland House. He was a trusted servant of the Company.
Though his name appears in the literature of Arctic travel, in
connection with his famous journey to the country of the Copper
Mine Indians, he is well known as an early traveller and vet-
eran explorer in the Canadian North- West. So intelligent an
observer, and so capable a writer, as he is, it is a matter of re-
gret that he left no work recording his travels in the latter
region. His only published work is his " Journey to the Copper
Mine River," which was issued in London, in 1795.

In the introduction to that work, Mr. Hearne pays some at-
tention to the writers who preceded him in describing the
country, and refers by name to Arthur Dobbs, whose book we
have just epitomised. His object in noticing these early writers
is to relieve his employers, the Hudson Bay Company, from
what he terms *' the aspersions of interested parties," who ac-
cuse the Company of being adverse to discovery. In the advo-
cacy of his patrons, he points with evident pride to their en-
couragement of his own expedition, though he is frank enough
to admit that the Company's past actions in Hudson Bay, and
the secrecy which characterised investigation in the region,
may have justly prejudiced public opinion against the Company.
In regard to his expedition to the Copper Mine River, there is
no doubt that the Company was both liberal in the treatment of
its employ^, and generous in providing him with repeated out-

EARLY DISCOVERERS OP THE NOETfl-WEST*. 67

fits for the journey. We say repeated, for Hearne had to re-
turn twice before making a successful start, owing to the break
down of expeditions after they had been some weeks on the
way. The failure of the first expedition was due to his having
attached to his party two white men — favourites of the Gov-
ernor of Prince of Wales's Fort, from which Hearne started, —
men whom he could make nothing of, and whose idleness en-
couraged mutiny and desertion in the ranks. The second ex-
pedition was unsuccessful from a rather amusing cause. This
cause is explained by an Indian chief, named Matonabbee,
whom Hearne meets in his distress, and who, on the return of
the expedition, agrees to go with it on its third venture. Here
is Hearne's account of Matonabbee's explanation of the failure
of the second expedition : " He attributed all our misfortunes,"
writes Hearne, " to the misconduct of my guides, and to the
plan we pursued, by the desire of the Governor, of not talcing
any women with us on this journey. ' This,' he said, * was the
principal thing that occasioned all our wants, for,' said he,
' when all the men are heavy laden they can neither hunt nor
travel to any considerable distance ; and in case they meet with
success in hunting, who is to carry the produce of their labour ?
Women,' added he, * were made for labour ; one of them can
carry, or haul, as much as two men can. They also pitch our
tents, make and mend our clothing, keep us warm at night ;
and, in fact, there is no such thing as travelling any consider-
able distance, or any length of time, in this country, without
their assistance. Women,' said he, again, ' though they do every-
thing, are maintained at a trifling expense ; for as they always
act as cooks, the very licking of their fingers, in scarce times,
is sufficient for their subsistence.' This, however odd it may
appear," remarks Hearne, " is but too true a description of the
situation of women in this country ; it is at least so in appear-

68 THE NORTS-WESt: ITS fllSTORTf ANt> iTS TROUBLES.

ance ; for the women always carry the provisions, and it is more
than probable they help themselves when the men are not
present."

Could argument go further in support of the theory of the
indispensableness of women in such expeditions as that to
which Hearne had committed himself ! " Revolt of women,"
do we hear ? Why, the cry is monstrous, when they possess
the priceless privilege of " licking their fingers," while their
lords' share was but the crumbs of the feast, not to speak of
" sly snacks " which the women might have by the way, or
hoarded store, to be partaken of without fear " when the men
are not present ! " But the injustice to the sisterhood, among
these Noi-thern Indians, has not yet been fully told. Reading
on in Hearne's narrative, we make a discovery, which we will
ask our readers if it does not throw light on the Governor's
despatch of the second expedition womenless. We find that
our author, in a footnote, gives a sketch of the person and
habits of the Governor of the Fort, which, though no doubt
true, is too indelicate to transfer to our pages ; and we wonder
at Hearne's indiscretion in giving it publicity when he had
just been making a case for his employers and their adminis-
tration in the district. But for our discovery. The Governor,
it seems, was an Indian, a native of the Fort, who had been
educated in England. On his appointment to the Hudson
Bay post, we learn that though an able and competent official,
he lapsed into the practices of his ancestry. He had many
wives. Of these he was jealous ; and of other men's he was
covetous. Need we make the deduction? Hearne's second
expedition was sent off without women. After Metonabbee's
explanation of its failure, not so was the third.

On the 7th of December, 1770, Hearne left Prince of Wales's
Fort, at the mouth of the Churchill, on his third essay to reach

EARLY DISCOVERERS OF THE NORTH-WEST. 69

the Copper Mines. The direction his party took was north-
west by west, through thick scrubby woods, consisting chiefly
of stunted pine, with dwarf juniper intermixed here and there,
particularly round the margins of ponds and swamps, and
dark willow bushes. Among the rocks and sides of the hills
there were also clumps of poplar. So barren of animal life
was the region that the party was frequently in great straits
for food. Passing through this desolation, they found the
country improve, and that deer was to be met with. By the
end of the year they reached Island Lake, 102° west longitude
from Greenwich, a march of 7° westward, and 2° to the north
from the Fort.

At Island Lake, which is a rendezvous of the Northern
Indians who trade with the Hudson Bay post on the Churchill,
the party rested for a while, and took the opportunity to
repair their snowshoes and sledges, in preparation for their
long journey. The game of the region enabled them also to
provide a bountiful stock of provisions. By the 21st of
February, they reached Snowbird Lake, where they found
plenty of deer, among which the Indians, with their usual
improvidence, made great havoc and indulged in inordinate
feasts. Feasting, however, was excusable, as the cold was
intense. Several of the Indians, our author relates, were much
frozen ; but none of them more so than one of Matonabbee's
wives, " whose thighs and buttocks were in a manner incrust-
ed with frost ; and when thawed, several blisters arose, nearly
as large as a sheep's bladder." Hearne adds, that " the pain
the poor woman suffered on this occasion was greatly
aggravated by the laughter and jeering of her companions,
who said that she was rightly served for belting her clothes so
high. I must acknowledge that I was not of the number of
those who pitied her, as I thought she took too much paiu.s to

70 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLE^.

show her garters, which, though by no means considered here
as bordering on indecency, is by far too airy to withstand the
rigorous cold of a severe winter in a high Northern latitude."

The attractions of the sex in the cold regions of the North
are not many. The women, as a rule, are very masculine, and
even when young are perfect ' antidotes to love and gallantry.'
Their much out-door life, exposure to long and severe winters,
hard labour in hauling heavy loads, and their nomadic habits,
make early havoc of their beauty. In what their beauty
consists, Hearne tells us ; namely, " A broad, flat face ; small
eyes ; high cheek-bones ; three or four black lines across each
cheek ; a low forehead ; a large, broad chin ; a clumsy hook
nose ; and a tawny hide." Those beauties, he adds, are greatly
heightened, or at least rendered more valuable, when tie pos-
sessor " is a good cook, is capable of dressing all kinds of skins,
converting them into the different parts of their clothing, and
able to carry eight or ten stone in summer, or haul a much
greater weight in winter." Their wants are few, as are those
of the tribe in general. Their whole aim is to secure a com-
fortable subsistence. Even in obtaining this they show little
ambition. Were they to do so, they would only be unhappy ;
for those who exert themselves in gaining a more comfortable
living, the more readily fall a prey to the strongest among the
men, who afterwards make slaves of them. Among the men
of this tribe it is the custom to wrestle for the women to whom
they are attached, and, as a matter of course, the best athlete
carries off the prize. Hearne tells us that :

" A weak man, unless he be a good hunter and well-beloved,
is seldom permitted to keep a wife that a stronger man thinks
worth his notice. ... It was often unpleasant to me," he adds,
" to see the object of the contest sitting in pensive silence watch-
ing her fate, while her husband and his rival were contending
for the prize. I have indeed, not only felt pity for those poor

teARLY DISCOVERERS OF TfiE NORTH-WEST. 71

wretched victims, but tlie utmost indignation when I have
seen them won perhaps by a man whom they mortally hated,
On those occasions their grief and reluctance to follow their new
lord has been so great that the business has ended in the
greatest brutality ; for in this struggle, I have seen the poor
girl stripped quite naked, and carried by main force to her
new lodgings. At other times it was pleasant enough to see a
fine girl led off the field from a husband she disliked, with a
tear in one eye and a finger on the other : for custom, or deli-
cacy if you please, has taught them to think it necessary to
whimper a little, let the change be ever so much to their incli-
nation."

In May, 1771, the expedition reached Lake Clowey, five de-
grees east of Lake Athabasca. From here, the route lay due
North. While at Clowey, the party was joined by a number of
neighbouring Indians, who accompanied Hearne on his expe-
dition. Their reason for doing so transpired only on the way.
It seems they had an old quarrel with the Esquimaux at the
mouth of the Copper Mine River, and, without Hearne's know-
ledge, they had secured promise of assistance from the Indians
belonging to the expedition, in avenging themselves on their
enemies. Hearne's protests against this proceeding were un-
availing ; his entreaties were received with derision ; and he
was personally accused of cowardice. As his personal safety
depended on the favourable opinion his followers entertained
of him, he was reluctantly obliged to conceal his humanity, if
not to manifest a bellicose tone and manner. As he tells us,
he made no further attempt to turn the current of national
prejudice.

On the first of June, the party rid itself of the women, chil-
dren, dogs, heavy baggage, and other encumbrances, and with
speed pursued the journey northward. By the end of the
month, the lakes and rivers were free of ice, and they now
made use of their canoes. Before the month was out, they
reached the country of the Copper Indians ; and here, by means

72 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

of an interpreter, Hearne informed the natives of the objects
of the expedition. The calumet was smoked with their chiefs,
who declared themselves pleased with the visit and the pros-
pect of trade with the white man. The pow-wow ended with
the usual exchange of presents. Hearne remarks that though
the Copper Indians " have some European commodities among
them, which they purchase from the Northern Indians, the
same articles from the hands of an Englishman were more
prized. As I was the first whom they had ever seen, and in
all probability might be the last, it was curious to see how
they flocked about me, and expressed as much desire to ex-
amine me from top to toe as a European naturalist would a
nondescript animal. They, however, found and pronounced
me to be a perfect human being, except in the coJour of my
hair and eyes ; the former, they said, was like the stained hair
of a buffalo's tail, and the latter, being light, was like those of
a gull. The whiteness of my skin also was, in their opinion,
no ornament, as they said it resembled meat which had been
sodden in water till all the blood was extracted. On the whole
I was viewed as a great curiosity in this part of the world."

The month of July brought Hearne and his party to the up-
per portion of the Copper Mine River. Here, on its banks,
they found the musk-ox, or moose, feeding ; they also met with
the ground squirrel, and got on the track of bears. Hearne pro-
ceeded with his survey. He had not gone far down the river
before he was startled by the intelligence that the scouts of his
party had come across a camp of Esquimaux. Instantly, the
whole of his followers put on the war-paint. But we must
leave Hearne to tell the story of what followed : —

" By the time the Indians had made themselves thus com-
pletely frightful," he writes, " it was near one o'clock in the
morning of the seventeenth ; when finding aU the Esquimaux,
whom they had now reached, quiet in their huts, they rushed

ILOUIS KIEL,

From a Portrait of five years ago

EARLY DISCOVERERS OF THE NORTH-WEST. 73

from their ambuscade and fell on the poor unsuspecting crea-
tures, unperceived, till close to the very eaves of their huts,
when they soon began the bloody massacre, while I stood
neuter in the rear.

" In a few seconds the horrible scene commenced ; it was
shocking beyond description ; the poor, unhappy victims were
surprised in the midst of their sleep, and had neither time nor
power to make any resistance. Men, women, and children — in
all upwards of twenty — ran out of their huts naked, and en-
deavoured to make their escape; but the Indians having
possession of all the land side, to no place could they fly for
shelter. One alternative only remained, that of jumping into
the river ; but, as none of them attempted it, they all fell a
sacrifice to Indian barbarity.

" The shrieks and groans of the poor expiring wretches were
dreadful ; and my horror was much increased at seeing a young
girl, seemingly about eighteen years of age, killed so near me,
that when the first spear was stuck into her side she fell down
at my feet and twisted round my legs, so that it was with
difficulty I could disengage myself from her dying grasp. As
two Indians pursued this unfortunate victim, I begged very
hard for her life. The murderers made no reply till they had
stuck both their spears through her body, and transfixed her
to the ground. They then looked at me sternly in the face,
and began to ridicule me, by asking if I wanted an Esquimaux
wife; and paid not the smallest regard to the shrieks and
agony of the poor wretch who was twisting round their spears
like an eel. . . . My situation and the terror of my mind
at beholding this butchery cannot easily be conceived, much
less described. Even to this hour I never reflect on the tran-
sactions of that horrid day without shedding teai'S."

After this scene of wanton atrocity, Hearne's task in com-
pleting the survey of the river, and making an examination of
the region, as may readily be imagined, was not a pleasant one.
A neighbouring camp of Esquimaux, whose inmates had escaped,
though they had heard of the massacre, kept Hearne's party on
the qui vlve for reprisals. None, however, was offered ; and
our traveller was enabled to reach the Arctic Sea and the
mouth of the Copper Mine River in safety. Here, he tells us.

74 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

he erected a mark, and took possession of the coast on behalf
of the Hudson Bay Company. The appearance of the coast was
desolate in the extreme. Landward, nothing was seen, save a
few cranberry bushes, and a range of barren hills and marshes.
Seaward, broken ice was still visible. In a ravine were a few
miserable hovels, mostly underground, which had been deserted
by some wandering family of Esquimaux. Strewn about was
the debris of bones and scraps of skins ; in some of the huts
were stone kettles, horn dishes and spoons, and severalhatchets,
rudely headed with copper.

The animal life of the region consisted of mice, Alpine hares,
wolverines, and ground-squirrels. Musk-oxen, bears, and deer,
and a beautiful breed of dogs, with sharp, erect ears, pointed
noses, and bushy tails, were also met with. About the shores
were flocks of sea-fowl, comprising loons, geese, and Arctic
gulls. On drifting hummocks of ice, seals were visible. Of
the richness of the copper mines, Hearne, evidently, was not
convinced. One piece of the ore, weighing over four pounds,
he found tolerably pure and of good quality ; but his search for
the metal was on the whole indifferently rewarded. He ap-
pears to have contented himself, however, with a surface
survey ; and, probably from want of tools, made no excava-
tions. Seemingly to justify his unsuccess in finding copper,
Hearne, with no little simplicity, tells the following story,
which he gathered from the Indians of the region :

"There is a strange tradition among those people, that the
first person who discovered those mines was a woman, and that
she conducted parties to the place for several years. On one
occasion some of the men were rude to her, and she made a vow
to be revenged on them. She is said to have been a great con-
juror. Accordingly, when the men had loaded themselves with
copper and were going to return, she refused to accompany
them, saying that she would sit on the mine till she sunk into
the ground, and that the copper would sink with her. The

EARLY DISCOVERERS OF THE NORTH-WEST. 75

next year, when the men went for more copper, they found her
sunk up to the waist, though still alive, and the quantity of
copper much decreased. On their repeating their visit the fol-
lowing year, she had quite disappeared, and all the principal
part of the mine with her; so that after a period nothing
remained on the surface but a few small pieces, and these were
scattered at a considerable distance from each other. Before
that period, they say the copper lay on the surface in such large
heaps that the Indians had nothing to do but turn it over and
pick such pieces as would best suit the different uses for which
they intended it."

Hearne, by this time, made all haste out of the country
inhabited by the Copper and the Dog-rib Indians. With
his followers, the Northern Indians, he set out for the south,
hoping to be able to make a detour westward, to Lake Atha-
basca, before returning to the shores of Hudson Bay. He had
no motive for lingering in the scenes of his discovery. The
country he found disappointing : it was poorly settled ; and
any trade to be done with the native tribes he was willing
should be done through the medium of the Northern Indians.
This tribe, after Hearne's visit, he tells us, fell a prey to small-
pox, contracted through contact with the Athabascas of the
south ; while the once powerful race of the Dog-rib Indians
sank back into barbarism.

By the end of July, Hearne's party rejoined the women of
the tribe, whom they had left behind when on their way down
the Copper Mine River. It was January of the following
year before they arrived at Lake Athabasca, and the end of
J une (1772), ereHearne reached Prince of Wales's Fort. The
incidents of the return journey are few, and need not detain
us. It was a long and toilsome undertaking ; how long and
toilsome one fails to realize by the mere reading of Hearne's
narrative. To gain any adequate conception of the extent of
this journey, one should have at hand a large English chart or

76 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

Survey map, when the distance will begin to dawn upon one as
the numerous meridional lines, in tracking the route of our ad-
venturous explorer, are crossed. The time consumed in the-
expeditions was two years, seven months, and twenty-four days.
On his march southward, Hearne seems not to have heard
anything of Great Slave Lake, the eastern flank of which ho
must have passed close by on his way to the Athaba^sca. Of
the latter lake and surrounding country, not very much is yet
known, for the district is beyond hope of any likely settle-
ment from the North- West. On Hearne's visit to the Lake,
now over a hundred years ago, he found it stocked with quan-
tities of fish, and numerous herds of deer were grazing on its
banks. The lake was full of islands, most of which our author
found clothed with fine tall poplars, birch, and pines. The
pictorial representation of the lake, which appears in his book,
except for the absence of life, would indicate the presence of
tke landscape gardener. Nature's sohtudes are not so tidy and
prim as his engraving represents them.

Only one other incident in this remarkable journey must
we take up space to recount. About the middle of January,
the author relates, as some of his companions were hunting,
they saw the track of a strange snow-shoe, which they followed ;
and at a considerable distance came to a little hut, where they
discovered a young woman sitting alone. As they found that
she understood their language, they brought her with them to
the tents. On examination, she proved to be one of the West-
em Dog-rib Indians, who had been taken prisoner by the
Athabasca Indians two summers before. In the following
summer, when the Indians who took her prisoner were near
this region, she had eloped from them, with the intent of re-
turning to her own country. The distance, however, was
great j and, having come there by a tortuous canoe voyage, she

EARLY DISCOVERERS OF THE NORTH-WEST. 77

could not discover the track, and despaired of ever finding hei
way out. So she built the hut in which she was found, and
here she had resided since the first setting in of the Fall.

" From her account of the moons past since her elopement,"
Hearne states, " it appeared that she had been nearly seven
months without seeing a human face ; during all which time,
she had supported hereelf by snaring partridges, rabbits, and
squirrels. She had also killed two or three beaver and some
porcupine. That she did not seem to be in want, is evident,
as she had a small stock of provisions by her when she was
discovered ; she was in good health and condition, and I think
one of the finest women, of a real Indian, that I have seen in
any part of North America.

" The methods practised by this poor creature to procure a
livelihood were truly astonishing, and are great proofs that
necessity is the real mother of invention. When the few deer-
sinews that she had an opportunity of taking with her were
expended in making snares, and in making her clothing, she
had nothing to supply their place but the sinews of the rab-
bits' legs and feet ; these she twisted together for that purpose
with great dexterity and success. What she caught in these
snares not only furnished her with a comfortable subsistence,
but, with their skins, she was enabled to make herself suits of
neat and warm clothing for the winter. It is scarcely possible
lo conceive that a person in her forlorn situation could be so
composed as to be capable of contriving, or executing, anything
that was not absolutely necessary to her existence. But there
was sufticient proof that she had extended her care much
further, as all her clothing, besides being calculated for real
service, showed great taste, and exhibited no little variety of
ornament. The materials, though rude, were ver}' curiously
wrought, and so judiciously placed as to make the whole of her
garb have a very pleasing, though rather romantic, appearance.

"Her leisure hours from hunting had been employed in
twisting the inner rind, or bark of wiUows, into small lines,
like net-wire, of which she had some hundred fathoms by her ;
with this she intended to make a fishing-net, as soon as the
spring advanced. Five or six inches of an iron hoop, made
into a knife, and the shank of an arrow-head of iron, which
served her as an awl, were all the metals this poor woman had

78 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

with her when she eloped ; and, with these implements, she
had made herself complete snowshoes, and several other useful
articles. Her method of making a fire was equally singular
and curious : having no other materials for that purpose than
two hard sulphurous stones, these, by long friction and hard
knocking, produced a few sparks, which at length communi-
cated to some touchwood ; but as this method was attended with
great trouble, and not always with success, she did not suffer
the fire to go out all winter. The singularity of the circum-
stance, and the comeliness of her person, and her approved
accomplishment, occasioned a strong contest between several
of the Indians of my party, who should have her for wife ;
and the poor girl was actually won and lost at wrestling by
near half a score of different men the same evening."

Let us hope that the wilderness joust furnished this exem-
plary maiden with a chivalrous knight for husband. On the
16th of January, Heame's party crossed the Athabasca River,
which flowed into the southern side of the lake ; and from this
point they headed for the east, taking advantage, as much as
possible, of the ice in the lakes to facilitate travel. Soon they
left the level country of the Athabasca region, and approached
the Stoney Mountains, which bound the northern Indian coun-
try. With May, the annual thaw set in, and travelling became
bad. But with Spring came the water-fowl and a change of
diet ; and the party made continuous and sometimes merry
progress. The remainder of Hearne's narrative is taken up
with extended discussions on natural history, and with
accounts of the Indian tribes. Into these we shall not follow
him, but dismiss his interesting work with the announcement
of his safe arrival at the Hudson Bay Factory, at the end of
June, 1772.

CHAPTER V.

EARLY DISCOVERERS OF THE NORTH-WEST.

Sir AlexaTuLer Mackenzie.

E now come to the other important publica-
tion of the period, Alexander Mackenzie's
Journal of his Voyage through the North-
West Continent of America. This interest-
ing work, which appeared in London, in
1801, contains the record of two journeys
undertaken by this able and enterprising
representative of the North-West Fur Com-
pany, in the years 1789 and 1793. The first of these journeys
■deals with the river which bears his name, and which was
traced from its source, in Great Slave Lake, to the Arctic Sea.
The second consists of his diary while exploring the Peace
River, from the Lake of the Hills, through the Rocky Moun-
4/ains to the waters of the Pacific. Prefixed to these narra-
tives is a description of the route and the characteristics of
the Canadian Fur Trade, from Montreal, via the Ottawa and
the upper shores of Lake Superior, across the Continent, to
the Canading trading-post, Fort Chipewyan, on the Lake of
the Hills. The situation of the latter, which for some years
•was Mackenzie's headquarters, may be roughly located, as in

so TfiE KOHTfi-WES'f : ITS lllSTOtlY AND ItS tHotJBtfiS.

latitude 58'' North, and longitude llO^' West (of Greenwich).
It lies immediately south of Great Slave Lake, with which it
is connected by the Slave River. The Elk, or Athabasca,
River flows into it on the south ; and, at its eastern end, the
Peace River joins its waters.

Almost the whole of the route, from Montreal to this distant
post on the Lake of the Hills, can be followed by water
though it is broken by innumerable and toilsome portages.
Mackenzie's introductory chapter will still be found a lucid and
accurate guide over this great stretch of country, a valuable
record of the Indian tribes met with en route, and an instruc-
tive history of the growth and development of the Canadian
fur-trade. At its outset, Mackenzie has something to say of
the native forester, the coureur des hois, and the habits which
the European acquired from him, of a free, but far from correct
manner of living in the woods. The influence of the early
French missionaries, if it was ever practically operative on the
Indian tribes, in Mackenzie's day had long lost its savour.
Any restraint upon lawlessness, in his time, was exercised, not
through the missions, which had languished or by stake and
torch had been hastened to a close, but through the military
and trading-posts that had taken their place. The initial
work of the missionaries, however, was done : they were the
avant-couriers of civilisation in Canada ; and however few the
converts they made to their faith, they glorified it through
weariful years of toil and bloodshed, and to-day the Canadian
people reap the priceless benefit. Nor must it be forgotten in
speaking, as Mackenzie does^ of the merely transient influence
of the Church in the Wilderness, that this is due less to the
failure of the work of the missionaries than to the pernicious
example set before the Indians by the lay European. It may
be true, what Mackenzie says, that greater results would have

EARLY DISCOVEHERS OF TDE NORTH-WEST. 81

followed evangelisation, had the missionaries tirst taught the
Indians how to surround themselves with the comforts of
civilisation ; but perhaps a more important truth lies back
of that, in the step which should have preceded it, namely, to
have kept their countrymen out of the wilderness until they
themselves were Christianised. Having made these strictures
upon this portion of Mackenzie's narrative, it is only justice to
let our author himself be heard. Here is the passage which
arrested us :

' As for the missionaries, if sufferings and hardships in the
prosecution of the great work which they had undertaken de-
serve applause and admiration, they had an undoubted claim
to be admired and applauded ; they spared no labour, and
avoided no danger, in the execution of their important office ;
and it is to be seriously lamented that their pious endeavours
did not meet with the success which they deserved ; for there is
hardly a trace to be found, beyond the cultivated parts, of their
meritorious functions.

" The cause of this failure must be attributed to a want of
due consideration in the mode employed by the missionaries to
propagate the religion of which they were the zealous minis-
ters. They habituated themselves to the savage life, and
naturalised themselves to the savage manners, and, by thus be-
coming dependent, as it were, on the natives, they acquired their
contempt rather than their veneration. If they had been as
well acquainted with human nature as they were with the
articles of faith, they would have known that the uncultivated
mind of an Indian must be disposed by much preparatory
method and instruction to receive the revealed truths of Chris-
tianity, to act under its sanctions, and le impelled to good by
the hope of its reward, or turned from evil by the fear of its
punishment. They should have begun their work by teaching
some of those useful arts which are the inlets of knowledge and
lead the mind by degrees to objects of higher comprehension.
Agriculture, so formed to fix and combine society, and so pre-
paratory to objects of superior consideration, should have been
the first thing introduced among a savage people ; it attaches
the wandering tribe to that spot where it adda so much to

82 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

their comforts ; while it gives them a sense of property and of
lasting possession, instead of the uncertain hopes of the chase
and the fugitive produce of uncultivated wilds."

Our author, before delivering himself of this judgment, had
better have enlarged his reading on the subject of French i
missionary enterprise in the wilds of Canada. Had he con-'
sidered what had been the experience of the Church previous
to his own day, or could he have known what has been the,
experience of Government farm instructors since, he would!
have been slow to hazard an opinion on so knotty a problem
as the civilisation of the Indian. He forgets, moreover, that a
common necessity, and often a common peril, herded mission-
aries and Indians together, in constant fear from the hereditary
foes of each, with few opportunities to sow fields, and fewer
still to reap them. Querulousness is free to say, of course, that
" the missionary habituated himself to the savage life ; " but
querulousness does not say how else he could have subsisted.
It may have been a mistake to have sent the missionary first,
and the squatter and politician land-agent afterwards ; but had
the process been reversed, we fear, there would have been
little, if any, need to send the missionary.

On his own field, Mackenzie is strong. He knows the fur-
trade ; and he had exceptional opportunities of becoming
acquainted with the country. We have previously observed
that, after the Conquest, many Canadians withdrew their
trading operations from the West. The war unsettled the
whole land. It brought together, in mortal combat, the two
great European nations that had long striven for dominion on
the continent of the New World. To the north of the lakes,
war threw the Indians into the French camp, and infected
them, far and wide, with a bitter hostility to the English.
The loss of Canada to France did little to soften the feeling of

EARLY DISCOVERERS OP THE NORTH-WEST. 8C

antipathy. Despite this feeling, the great English Fur Com-
pany on the shores of Hudson Bay thought the time favourable
to extend its trade to the south. It did so ; but for a time it
was at great disadvantage. In coming inland, it had a difficult
road to get over, and a long and toilsome transport. The
risks were many; for the country was unknown and trade
unsettled. Moreover, its agents knew little of the people, and
less of their language. With Canada, the case was different.
In resuming her commerce in the woods, she walked in her old
paths. After the war the people took heart, and the pulse of
trade again began to beat. Once more Lachine was gay with
the throng of departing voyageurs. The little chapel at Ste
Anne's heard again the Pater Fosters of the kneeling boatmen,
or the heart-flutterings of his deserted sweetheart. The
rugged coureur des hois toiled once more across the portages
of the dark Ottawa, lightly skimmed his canoe over the
gleaming water- sketches of Lake Nipissing, and stoutly
stemmed the rapids of the Sault and the Kaministiquia.
Camp fires were lit, as of yore, on the banks of the Lake of the
Woods; and sturgeon were speared through the ice of the
distant Saskatchewan. Canadian trade was again in full
blast.

Just before Mackenzie's advent, a number of traders had
gone to the Far West. Among the number was the English-
man, Henry, and the brothers, Frobisher. Pond, from Boston,
and his victim, the Swiss Wadin, were also in the territories.
About this time the North- West Fur Company was founded,
with the Frobishers' and Simon M'Tavish at its head.
Mackenzie tell us, that at this period he had spent five years
in the counting-house of a Mr. Gregory, a Montreal merchant.
In 1784, he left that employment, with a small adventure of
^is own. in trade, and, set out for Detroit^ Here he was follow-

84 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

ed by one of his late principals, who proposed to him a journey
to the Indian country, to be undertaken next summer. This
he agreed to ; and proceeding to the fair meadows of the Grand
Portage, he formally entered the service of the North- West
Fur Company. From its post on the Rainy Kiver, Mackenzie
set out for Fort Chipewyan, on the " Lake of the Hills," or as
it is now known, Lake Athabasca. Two months afterwards
he arrived at the post. Here, for eight years, was his head-
quarters; and from here he started on his two celebrated
voyages. The post received its name from the Chipewyans, a
tribe of Indians, whose principal lodges lay in the district, and
who, in Mackenzie's day, were a numerous people. Their
territories extended from the Churchill, in the east, to the
Columbia River, in the west. The origin of the tribe, like
that of the aborigines of the whole country, can only be con-
jectured. Like other members of the Algonquin family, they
are very superstitious. Mackenzie tells us that they have a
tradition amongst them, that :

" They originally came from another country, inhabited by a
wicked people, and had traversed a great lake, which was
narrow, shallow, and full of islands, where they suffered great
misery, it being always winter, with ice and deep snow. They
believe, also, that in ancient times their ancestors lived till
their feet were worn out with walking, and their throats with
eating. They describe a deluge, when the waters spread over
the whole earth, except the highest mountains, on the tops of
which they preserved themselves.
^ " They believe that immediately after death they pass into
another world, where they arrive at a large river, on which
they embark on a stone canoe, and that a gentle current bears
them on to an extensive lake, in the centre of which is a
beautiful island ; and that, in the view of this delightful abode,
they receive that judgment for their conduct during life which
determinates their final state and unalterable allotment. If
ihcir good actions are declared to predominate, they are landed

EARLY DISCOVEIIERS OF THE NORTH-WEST. 85

upon the island, where there is to be no end to their happiness ;
which, however, according to their notions, consists in an
eternal enjoyment of sensual pleasure and gratification. But
if their bad actions weigh down the balance, the stone canoe
sinks at once, and leaves them up to their chins in the water,
to behold and regret the reward enjoyed by the good, and
eternally struggling, but with unavailing endeavours, to reach
the blissful island, from which they are excluded for ever."

While an inmate of Fort Chipewyan, Mackenzie was ever
haunted by projects of discovery. He was a born traveller,
capable in command, full of resource, able to withstand the
toil of arduous undertakings, and anxious, as we learn from
his work, to extend the boundaries of geographical science, and
add new countries to the realms of commerce. Such a task as
he proposed to himself, to trace the water-ways from Lake
Athabasca to the Frozen Ocean, was both laborious and
hazardous. Never before had the waters of the region borne
any other craft than the canoe of the savage; nor had the
report of a firelock ever disturbed its solitudes or rang through
its wastes. It was known that from Great Slave Lake a great
water flowed out towards the mountains that hem in the vast
plains ; but whither, and through what devious paths it led, no
man knew. Mackenzie set himself to solve the problem. In
solving it he gave his name to the river.

On the 3rd of June, 1789, Mackenzie set out on his voyage
of discovery. His party consisted of four Canadians, two of
whom were attended by their wives, and a German. For
guide and interpreter, he took with him an Indian, who had
accompanied Hearne in his journey to the Copper Mine River.
Two wives of the guide, and two young Indians, were also of
the party. A convoy from the Fort accompanied the expedi-
tion until it was well under way. At the outset there
occurred the usual defection from the ranks, owing to some of

86 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

the party losing heart in presence of the difficulties of the
undertaking. This defection was soon, however, though only
in part, made good. After our travellers had been out some
ten days, they came to rapids and other obstructions to naviga-
tion on the river, which entailed considerable and toilsome
portaging. At the end of the portage, the expedition made a
lengthened halt to recruit strength, overhaul the supplies for
the voyage, and repair their canoes. While in camp, a section
of the party added to the stores the product of a good day's
hunt. This consisted of moose, buffalo, and beaver, with a
basketful of carp, trout, and poisson inconnu.

Proceeding on the journey, the party passed by the lodges
of some of the Red-Knife Indians, one of whom they took for
a guide, but who was not long in losing his course on the lake
portions of the river. It turned out that he had travelled no
great distance down its waters. As they were now in sight of
the Rocky Mountains, they speedily recovered their course ;
and, being favoured with a good wind, to catch which they
rigged a light sail, they got well again on the way. About the
middle of July they reached the encampment of some families
of the Slave and the Dog-rib Indians, So novel a sight to
them were Europeans that they fled at their appearing. Re-
covering from their alarm, and being attracted by trinkets held
out for their acceptance, they suffered themselves to be
approached. On seeking information from them respecting
the river, Mackenzie could only extract from them the fabulous.
They earnestly dissuaded him from pursuing his voyage, say-
ing, that it would require several winters to get to the sea,
that the party would encounter monsters of horrid shape and
destructive power on their way, and that old age would
certainly come upon ere they could possibly return. The
effect of these, fahlea. was to discompose, for a time the mipd^ ot\

EARLY DISCOVERERS OF THE NORTH-WEST. 87

Mackenzie's Indian employes, who had already tired of the
voyage. They had themselves gathered more exaggerated
stories than had come to their leader's ears ; and it was with
difficulty he could persuade them of their absurdity, and
reasure them that no mishap would befall them. Their
greatest dread was that they would find few animals in the
country beyond them, and that, as they proceeded, the scarcity
would increase, and all would perish from want. By dint of
bribery, and the exercise of some little tact, Mackenzie was
fortunate, however, to induce one of the Indians of the region
to join the party, and this allayed the fears of his nervous
following. The Indiana of this encampment were fancifully
dressed, " Their ornaments," our traveller relates, " consists
of gorgets ; bracelets for the arms and wrists, made of wood,
horn, or bone ; garters ; and a kind of band to go round the
head, composed of strips of leather, embroidered with porcu-
pine quills, stuck round with the claws of bears or wild-
fowl inverted, to which are suspended a few short thongs of
the skin of an animal that resembles the ermine, in the form
of a tassel. Their cinctures and garters are formed of porcu-
pine quills woven with sinews, in a style of peculiar skill and
neatness."

As the expedition proceeded down the river its current
quickened, and, though it was only the middle of July, the
temperature rapidly fell Camping on its banks one night,
Mackenzie noticed the water rise and flow visibly towards his
tent. In the morning it had receded. This was a clear indica-
tion of approach to the sea. There were also solar indications
of a high latitude. Some pages later oa. in the narrative we:
find the following :

" I sat up all night to observe the sun. At half-past twelve-
I called up one o£ the men to view a spectacle which he ha- 1

88 THE north-we;st: its history and its troubles.

never before seen. On seeing the sun so high, he thought it
was a signal to embark, and began to call the rest of his com-
panions, who would scarcely be persuaded by me that the sun
had not descended nearer to the horizon, and that it was now
but a short time past midnight."

A few voyages further on, the river perceptibly widened, now
expanding into an estuary, with numerous islands within its
embrace, and anon, contracting its banks. The cold became
more intense; and the animal life changed. Presently, a wan-
dering family of Esquimaux was sighted ; and with difficulty
the interpreter made out that our voyageurs had reached the
sea, and that a few more camps would close it against them.
Continuing their passage a day or two further, they found the
river full of broken ice, with whales disporting in the clear
water, and traces visible of the Polar bear and the Arctic fox.
Seaward, a heavy fog rested on the waters and concealed the
view. Setting sail in the larger canoe, Mackenzie visited
many of the islands of the region, in the hope of meeting other
parties of Esquimaux, from whom he might learn something of
the unknown beyond. His search was unrewarded, and the
party prepared to return.

Retracing their course, a few camps back, the expedition
came upon a lodge of Northern Indians. From them they
learned that a strong party of Esquimaux occasionally ascended
the river in large canoes in search of flint stones, which they
make use of to point their spears and arrows. They told Mac-
kenzie that the Esquimaux were now at a lake due east from
the spot where he was now encamped, and that they were there
killing reindeer, and would soon begin " to catch big fish for
the winter stock." They also informed our traveller that the
Esquimaux had reported their seeing, some winters ago, a num-
ber of large canoes full of white men far to the westward, in a
lake which they called " White Man's I^ake." It was difiicult,

tARLY DISCOVERERS OF THE NORTH-WEST. 8D

they said however, to reach the lake, for when the ice breaks
up, it soon freezes again. This was the extent of the informa-
tion Mackenzie could glean with reference to an open sea and
a North- West passage to the Pacific. He pursued his return
journey. Nothing of note happened on the homeward voyage,
save a repetition of the incidents that marked the passage of
the expedition outwards — the consternation of Indian tribes
that had never seen a white man. With one consent they fled
at his approach. In August, our travellers had returned to a
region where it was sufficiently dark at night to render the
stars visible. By the middle of September they had completed
their journey.

Three years after Mackenzie returned from his thousand-
mile voyage on the great river that was henceforth to bear his
name, he undertook a second voyage, with a view to trace the
course of the Peace River and its affluents, and to endeavour,
if possible, to find a passage by its waters to the Pacific Ocean.
This new voyage was a much more serious undertaking than
the former one. In the Mackenzie River he had a noble
stream that drained a vast territory, a stream that presented
few obstacles to the voya'jeur, its early course being facilitated
by a succession of almost unbroken lacustrian pathways. In
his new journey, though the region presented a like terraqeous
aspect, the difficulties of navigation were tenfold what he had
experienced on his first voyage. The Peace River, which
drains into Lake Athabasca, has its source in the Rocky Moun-
tains, the brooding cliffs and gigantic firs of which frown all
along its course, and frequently throw themselves into its
waters to fret and obstruct their passage.

In October, 1792, Mackenzie journeyed to a western post of
the Company, some distance from Fort Chipewyan, there to
spend the winter and make preparations for the outfit of his

90 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

expedition in the following spring. In May, 1793, he and his
party left the post arid launched their canoes on the river.
Passing the confluehce of the Bear River, the course of the
Peace River for A lime took our travellers south-west; but
they had not goll^ far until a succession of rapids and cascades
compelled them to leave its course and portage for a consider-
able distance. Returning to the river, Mackenzie relates that i

" We now continued our toilsome and perilous progress west
by north ; and as we proceeded the rapidity of the current in-
creased, BO that in the distance of two miles we were obliged
to unload four times, and carry everything but the canoe ; in-
deed, in many places, it was with the utmost difficulty that we
could prevent her being dashed to pieces against the rocks by
the violence of the eddies. At five o'clock we had proceeded to
where the river was one continuous rapid. Here we again
took everything out of the canoe, in order to tow her up with
the line, though the rocks were so shelving as greatly to in-
crease the toil and hazard of that operation. At length, how-
ever, the agitation of the water was so great, that a wave
striking the bow of the canoe broke the line, and filled us with
incredible dismay, as it appeared impossible that the vessel
could escape from being dashed to pieces, and those who were
in her from perishing. Another wave, however, more propi-
tious than the former, drove her out of the tumbling water, so
that the men were able to bring her ashore, and though she
had been carried over rocks by the swells which left them a
moment naked after, the canoe had received no material injury.
The men were, however, in such a state from their late alarm
that it would not only have been unavailing but imprudent to
have proposed any further progi'ess at present, particularly as
the river above us, as far as we could see, was one white sheet
of foaming water."

Proceeding on foot some distance through the wo.ods, Mac-
kenzie could see no end to the rapids, and he returned from
his reconnoitring excursion tired out in body and in spirit.
Next day he despatched several of the Indians to the summit
of the hills in the neighbourhood, with instructions to force a

EARLY DISCOVERERS OF THE NORTH-WESf. 9l

•way northward, keeping the river in sight, and to advise him
when they saw smooth water. After a time they returned
with a favourable report. Another party of Indians was now
instructed to cut a path through the woods, for the transfer of
the canoes and the baggage. This toilsome work accomplished^
they proceeded on the voyage, at every new turn of the river
great hills and defiles revealing their menacing fronts as they
passed by. Each day's journey added new terrors to the way.
Huge precipices rose sheer up from the water, and lofty snow-
caj^ped peaks gleamed down the ravine upon them as they
poled their fatiguing course up the torrent. Suddenly the river
would utterly change its appearance, the waters breaking away
from the beetling crags that frowned upon it, and for a time,
quietly meandering over brief stretches of placid meadow. As
suddenly would it dash in again on the flanks of the mountain,
and burrow hiding-places in gloomy caverns, or impetuously
cleave a channel for itself under clammy over-hanging cliflfa.
On the banks of the river Nature presented itself in like vary-
ing moods. Towards the bottom of the heights, which were
clear of snow, the trees might be seen putting forth their
leaves, while those in the middle and upper parts still retained
all the characteristics of winter. Another day's advance was
made, but only to meet with new discouragements and more
formidable difiiculties.

Presently, the expedition was forced to face a new problem
From the melting of the snow, the river became too swollen to
enable the canoes to live in the current. It also overflowed its
banks ; and it was found impossible to keep in the channel.
For some weeks the party made what advance they could,
proceeding alternately along its banks and in the stream. The
prospect finally became too discouraging. Now, however, they
fell in with some natives of the district, who for a time con*

02 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

ducted them on another branch of the river ; until it, too,, be-
came unnavigable. The Indians here suggested an ascent of
the mountains, and a tramp through its defiles to the sea. This
bold project Mackenzie was ready to carry out. " In the
present state of my information," he narrates, " to proceed fur-
ther up the river was considered a fruitless waste of toilsome
exertion; and to return unsuccessful, after all our labour,
sufferings, and hunger, was an idea too painful to indulge."
After mature consideration, he determined to be the first white
man to cross the Rockies to the Pacific.

Coming to this conclusion, the party proceeded to " cache "
j"he larger canoe, and the stores they were not likely to want
until their return. Making their burdens as light as possible,
they began the ascent of the mountains, and by relays of guides,
they were able to make satisfactory though wearisome progress.

" We carried on our backs," writes Mackenzie, " four bags
and a half of pemmican, weighing about eighty-five pounds
each ; a case with my instruments, a parcel of goods for
presents, weighing ninety pounds, and a parcel containing am-
munition of the same weight. Each of the Canadians had a
burden of ninety pounds, with a gun and some ammunition.
The Indians had aV)out forty-five i)ound weight of pemmican
to carry, beside their guns, &c., with which they were very much
dissatisfied, and if they had dared would have instantly left us.
. . . In this state of equipment we began our journey, the
commencement of which was a steep ascent of about a mile ;
it Iciy along a well-baaten path, but the country through which
it led was rugged and ridgy and full of wood. When we were
in a state of extreme heat, from the toil of our journey, the
rain came on and continued till the evening, and even when it
ceased the underwood continued its drippings upon us."

It would weary the reader to record even a tithe of the details
of this painful journey. Day followed day, with the same tale of
weariful plodding, through deep canyons, over mammoth fallen
timber, and across shoulders of the mountains — one hope sustain-

EARLY DISCOVERERS OF THE NORTH-WEST. 93

ing the party, that the furthest ridge would be reached and the
curtains roll up and disclose the sea. At length this cheer was
theirs. '' They came to a hill," writes Mackenzie, " the descent
of which was more steep than its ascent, and was succeeded by
another, whose top, though not so elevated as the last, afforded
a view of the range of mountains, covered with snow, which
according to the intelligence of our guide, terminates in the
ocean." As they neared this range, the mountains seemed to
recede, as if in mockery of their anxious longings. Finally the
goal is reached. By a rapid descent, they get down to a lower
elevation, and reach a stream on which they were able to launch
their canoes and transfer their burdens to the river. Through
further vicissitude and many days' toil, the expedition is at
last rewarded by a sight of the coast. It is reached at a meri-
dian which Mackenzie registers as 52*^ 21' 33", a little to the
north of Queen Charlotte Sound.* Here, as our traveller relates
he mixes some vermilion in melted grease, and with it inscribes
on a rock on the coast this legend: "Alexander Mackenzie,
from Canada, by land, the tiventy-second of July, one tJwusand
seven hundred and ninety-three ! "

This feat of Mackenzie and his party, in crossing the Rocky
Mountains at that early period, deserves high praise. It may
be that the route which he took from the Peace River, across
the " Mountains of the Sea," and what is now known as Bri-
tish Columbia, does not present the obstacles to be met witli
in the passes in the higher elevations to the south. But that
it was a toilsome and daring venture, no one can prudently
deny. The route he followed, we judge, must been either the

* Later research has enabled the writer to state more definitely the region where
Mackenzie reached the waters of the Pacific. It appears he approached the coast
by the Bella Coola River and North lientinck arm, thence down Burke Channel
to the Sea. Turning North- Westward, he subsequently entered Dean Channe',
and ascended Cascade Inlet, to the rock on which he painted his inscrijition and
where he took his observations.

94 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

Pine River or the Peace River Pass ; and the great river he
speaks of sailing down after crossing the mountains, no doubt,
was the Fraser. Leaving that stream about the region of Lake
Quesnel, and following westward the course of the Salmon
River, he would reach the sea in the neighbourhood of Dean
Channel, in an alignment with the southern point of Queen
Charlotte Islands, or about the latitude indicated in the text.
At the coast, Mackenzie met with Indians who had previously-
seen and traded with the white man. The previous year. Cap-
tain Vancouver, a Dutch navigator of the Royal Navy, had
cruised round the Island, surveyed its deeply fissured coasts,
and claimed it for the British Crown. Fourteen years earlier,
Captain Cook had coasted all along the Northern Pacific;
while in the interval a British colony had planted itself on the
shores of Nootka Sound, which was the occasion of historic
trouble with the Court of Spain.

Mackenzie's return voyage was exceedingly tedious. The
party was short of provisions ; the guide decamped, taking the
canoe with him ; and many of the natives were hostile. As
the season was now the end of July, the weather was warm
and genial ; and this in some degree ameliorated the condi-
tion of the party. In the sad plight they were in, Mackenzie
had time to note the beauty of the natural surroundings.
Here is a description of a scene on his return journey :

" It was now one in the afternoon, and we had to ascend the
summit of the first mountain before night came on, in order to
louk for water. The fatigue of ascending these precipices I
shall not attempt to describe. It was past five when we ar-
rived at a spot where we could get water, and in such an ex-
tremity of weariness, that it was with great pain any of us
could crawl about to gather wood for the necessary purpose of
making a fire. But it was not possible to be in this situation
without contemplating the wonders of it. Such was the depth
of the precipices below, and the height of the mountains above,
with the rude and wild magnificence of the scenery around,
that I shall not attempt to describe such an astonishing and
awlul combination of objects, of w^liich, indeed, no description

EAELY DISCOVEREBS OF THE NORTH-WEST. 95

can convey an adequate idea. Even at this place, which is
only, as it were, the first step towards gaining the summit of
the mountains, the climate was very sensibly changed. The
air that fanned the village, which we left at noon, was mild
and cheering ; the grass was verdant ; and the wild fruits ripe
around it. But here the snow was not yet dissolved, the
ground was still bound by the frost, the herbage had scarce
begun to spring, and the berry bushes were just beginning to
blossom."

Mackenzie followed the path by which he had come to the
sea. In time the expedition got over the mountains, and, re-
covering the canoe and the provisions they had concealed on
the Peace River, they made rapid progress homeward. The
water of the river was much lower than on the upward voyage,
though the portaging was still frequent and wearisome. Salmon
were plentiful and the whortleberries ripe. But for heavy
rains the condition of the returning voyageurs would have been
pleasant and happy. On leaving the mountains, the rains how-
ever ceased ; and for the rest of the voyage they had the rich
valleys of the Peace River, which lie within the Fertile Belt to
journey through, and to invigorate both mind and body. " Each
day," says our traveller, " we were on the water before day-
light ; and when the sun rose a beautiful country appeared
around us, enriched and animated by large herds of wild cattle.
. . . . As we approached Fort Chipewj'^an, the country in-
creased in beauty, though the cattle appeared proportionately
to diminish. At length, as we rounded the point and came in
view of the Fort, we threw out our flag, and accompanied it
with a general discharge of our firearms ; while the men were
in such spirits and made such an active use of their paddles,
that we arrived before the two men whom we left here in the
spring, could recover their senses to answer us. Here, on the
24th of August, 1793, my voyages of discovery terminate.
Their toils and their dangers, their solicitudes and sufferings,
have not been exaggerated in my description. On the contrary,
in many instances, language has failed me in the attempt to de-
scribe them. I received, however, the reward of my labours,
for they were crowned with success."

CHAPTER VI.

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND ITS FATE.

''^^ EW records of colonial settlement are more sad
than those of the community that strove to
root itself, early in the century, in the soil of the
Red River. Sorely tried as the Scot has ever
been, seldom has it been his lot to suffer so
keenly. In the year 1811, a small band of Scot-
tish Highlanders, with a sprinkling of Celts from
the west of Ireland, landed at York Factory, and
after a winter spent on the Nelson River, proceeded to settle
on the virgin prairies of the Canadian North- West. Cheer-
less as was their surroundings on the bleak moorlands of
the Old World they had left, more cheerless still was their
introduction to the wild wastes of the New. When they
came inland from the forbidding shores of Hudson Bay, to
the banks of the Red River, they found that the heart of the
continent did not warm to them. It gave them no welcome.
Tear-dimmed eyes had watched their departing forms, as the
vessel bore them from the home of their fathers; but knit
brows scowled upon them as they set down their household
gods to domicile themselves in a land which they now looked

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND ITS FATE. 97

upon as the heritage of their children. What a step-mother the
country was to be to them and theirs, it was not long ere they
unhappily found out.

We have already seen that the North-West Fur Company
was in occupancy of the region to which the colony had emi-
grated, and that the title to possession of its rival, the Hudson
Bay Company, was held in light esteem by it and its employes.
But the Nor'- Westers themselves had acquired no proprietary
interests in the soil : they were merely traders, doing business
in the territory, and had no pretext to dispossess even the
wandering Indian of his hereditary claim to the land. The
Selkirk settlers were there not only by right of purchase from
the Hudson Bay Company, whose title to possession, however
imperfect it was, was certainly better than that of the Nor'-
Westers ; but they were there after the Indian title had been
quieted for a consideration paid them by the founder of the
colony. The claim of the colony to possession was thus
doubly valid. But however valid it might be, it did not suit
the Nor'-Westers to have their hunting-grounds encroached
upon by a people whose pursuits would prove disastrous to
the interests which, as a trading corporation, they wished to
conserve. It still less suited this Canadian Company to have
a settlement grow up in the midst of its trade, by right of pur-
chase from an organisation whose claims to possession it
ignored, and which had been founded under the direct auspices
of a powerful, and now likely to be actively aggressive, rival.
In this latter circumstance is the gravamen of the matter. It
was unfortunate that the colony came upon the scene at the
time and in the manner it did. It was unfortunate even in the
route by which it came to the country. All the circumstances
attending its arrival at Red River were construed as a menace
to the rival traders. First of all, the colony was unwelcome

98 THE NORTH-WEST : ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

because it was an undesirable intrusion upon lands which both
Companies were interested in preserving for the purposes of the
fur-trade. Secondly, it was unwelcome, because it had come to
the country directly from the headquarters, the trading-posts,
of its rivals. And, thirdly, it was unwelcome, because it had
acquired the right to its location from a Company whose terri-
torial claims were strenuously opposed by an organisation that
had long been in occupancy. For these several reasons, the
North- West Fur Company and its people, from the first, mani-
fested hostility to the intruders, and looked sullenly upon the
arrival of each instalment of the colonists. How this aversion
afterwards found expression in overt acts of hostile intent, and
finally, ended in foul murder and ruthless expatriation, we
shall soon discover. Meantime, let us see who were these peo_
pie that had taken up their abode in the solitudes of the Far
West, and who was the promoter of the scheme under which
the colony came to settle.

After the Rebellion of 1745, a change came over the national
and social condition of the Scottish Highlands. The heavy
hand of power that then fell upon romantic Caledonia broke
up the clans and severed many of the links that bound the
Gael to his chieftain. With the snapping of these links were
also severed the patriarchal relations the head of the clan held
with his following. England's foreign wars, no less than the
suppression of Jacobinism, broke up the feudal system, and
drew the Highlander from his glens and straths to dye Conti-
nental battle-grounds with his life-blood. This break-up of
the old order of things entailed great suffering upon the faithful
clansmen of stem Caledonia. They were now as sheep without
a shepherd. From being sturdy, well-fed retainers, and liege-
men of the chiefs of their ancestral houses, they became cottars
and crofters, holders of small farms, from which they strove to

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND ITS FATE. 90

wrest a poor and often precarious subsistence. Later on, the
well-to-do, and moneyed, lowland farmer came in among theni
and outbid them for their holdings, while the southern mag-
nate began to buy up their ancestral acres, to turn them into
game-preserves and mammoth sheep pastures. For long it
went hard with the poor Highlander. There was a time when

" — the Bsh of the lake, and the deer of the vale,
Were less free to Lord Dacre than Allan-a-dale ; "

but that time was not now. In this period of transition the
noble endurance and many sterling qualities of the Scottish Celt
were manifested in full and heroic force. The drain of
absenteeism went on, and the poor Highlander, in his struggle
with the hard conditions of his lot, daily became poorer. But,
unlike the Irish Celt, upon whom governments ever lavished
their consideration and bounty, the Scottish Celt never shewed
the world that he had a grievance. Nor did he manifest his
distress in petulance and crime.

It has been remarked, that the Scot rarely complains that
the world he has been brought into is too stern for his temper.
The little world of Celtic Scotland, at the beginning of the
century, was, however, a hard foster-father to the poor cottar,
who was struggling for existence by the firths and estuaries of
Northern Britain. Self-reliant as he was by nature, if he
could not extract a living in the scenes of his birth, he was
determined that he would not stay there to disgrace himself
and his country by becoming a pauper. In other climes he
would find that subsistence which his own had denied him*
Deeply attached to the land of his fathers, the spirit of his
fathers was in his breast, and in other lands he would achieve
success and make a fairer home for his children. Emigration
was the stern but accepted remedy.

iOO THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

Just at this time, there comes upon the scene a philanthropic
Scottish nobleman, some thirty years of age, " full six feet
high," with a kindly heart and pleasant countenance. His name
is Thomas Douglas, and his title, fifth Earl of Selkirk, Baron
Daer and Shortcleugh. He it was who was to become the
Moses of the Scottish Exodus. On the family escutcheon were
the arms of the Douglasses of Marr, and in the traditions of the
house the record of their noble deeds. But knightly service
was to take a new form: this scion of the twin-houses of
Douglas and Angus was now to lead, not a cavalcade to battle,
but the quieter pageant of a ship-load of simple, trusting hearts
bound to a new Land of Promise. Early had the attention of
this compassionate nobleman been drawn to the condition of
the expatriated cottars in the north of Scotland. He had
appealed to Government for their relief, and had frequently
addressed the public, through pamphlets and articles in the
press, on the subject of emigration to the British Colonies. In
this he saw a remedy for the poverty and distress that were
prevalent in the less fruitful regions of his country. In
emigration, moreover, he saw the bettering of the lot of those
who would take advantage of it. In 1803, at his own expense,
and under his personal supervision, he transferred a band of
800 Highlanders from their native moors to comfortable homes
on Prince Edward Island, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The
descendants of those Highland colonists, now grown a numerous
people, form the substantial yeomanry of one of the most
prosperous provinces of our Young Dominion.

From the New Canaan of these cottars of Skye and Inver-
ness, Lord Selkirk came to Canada, to cast about him for other
desirable sites for colonial settlement. We find him interested
in the western portion of what is now the Province of Ontario;
and, in 1804, we learn that he was in correspondence with the

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT ANt) ITS 5*Affi. lOl

Provincial Executive, with a view to giving aid to schemes of
colonisation in Upper Canada. For some reason, however, his
proposals were not taken advantage of, and, for a time, he re-
turned to Scotland. There, his earnest desire to benefit the
peasantry of his native country, led him to urge emigration in
the most hearty manner, and, ere long, to formulate a scheme
for planting a colony somewhere in the interior of the Hudson
Bay Territory. To extend to the incipient colony every advan-
tage it could have, in material as well as in moral support, the
Earl and other members of his family acquired a large mone-
tary interest in the Hudson Bay Company. The amount of
this interest is said to have been £35,000, or about a fourth of
its entire capital. A meeting of the general Court of Proprie-
tors of the Company was then called, and the Selkirk proposal
submitted to it. A grant of land was asked on which to settle
a colony, to be located in the Assiniboine district, — the expense
of transport, the purchase of necessaries for the voyage, and
the support of the colon}'' for a time after settlement, the
cost of agricultural and house-building implements, and the
outlay for quieting the Indian title, — were all to be borne by
the noble applicant. The proposal, owing to alarm being taken
at the scheme by some members of the Court, who were stock-
holders in the rival Canadian Company, met with active oppo-
sition. The grant was, however, carried by a large majority
vote. The prospectus of the scheme was now launched, and
emigrants were invited to join the colony. In the summer of
1811, a party of some seventy Highland cottars from Suther-
landshire, with a small contingent from the west of Ireland, set
sail for Hudson Bay. Mr. Miles Macdonell, formerly a Captain
in the Queen's Rangers, a corps that had done duty in Canada
during Simcoe's administration, was appointed Governor by the
Hudson Bay Company, and by Lord Selkirk, was given chaige

102 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

of the colony. The emigrants spent the winter at the Com-
pany's post on the Nelson, and the next season arrived at Red
River.

We have referred to the opposition to the colony, manifested
at the meeting of shareholders in London, which was convened
to consider Lord Selkirk's application for a grant of land for
the purposes of settlement. It is worth while particularly to
notice from whom this opposition came, and what were the
apparent motives that prompted it. We have already said
that objection was taken to the founding of the colony liy men
who held stock, not only in the Hudson Bay Company, but in
the rival Canadian institution. From the literature of the
period we learn that these objectors had acquired shares in the
Hudson Bay Company only a short time before the call for a
general meeting. The disingenuousness of their protest against
the grant of land to the colony may therefore be judged from
this fact. But not only were they largely interested in the
North-West Fur Company, they were known to be its active
London agents, and notoriously hostile to all settlement in the
fur-trading territory. After this statement, little argument
we think is needed to support the opinion, that the enmity of
these gentlemen was incited by questionable motives, and that
they had acquired their interest in one commercial company to
work out purposes of their own in the administration of
another. Such a proceeding, unhappily, is not unknown in
the world of commerce : its effects in this instance, as we shall
see, were to bring on the ill-fated colony a pall of disaster.

So far as Lord Selkirk is concerned, he is to be relieved of any
reflection in regard to the arrangements he made for the weal
of the colony. His care and forethought were in a thousand
ways manifested ; and everything he could reasonably do he
did to make smooth the path of settlement. The situation

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND ITS FATE. 103

chosen for the Colony was the banks of the Red River, near
the confluence of the Assiniboine, — now the site of the Prairie
capital, the city of Winnipeg. The title given to it was the
Kildonan Settlement, from the name of the parish in Suther-
landshire from which the bulk of the settlers had emigrated.
Here, in the autumn of 1812, when other sections of Canada
were in the turmoil of invasion, a peaceful colony sought to
found homes for themselves in the wilderness. "The spot
which had been selected," — so writes a chronicler of the period,
— " had been ascertained to be of the highest fertility and the
most easy of cultivation. Houses were built; a mill was
erected ; sheep and cattle were sent up to the settlement ; and
all practicable means were taken to forward the agricultural
purposes of the colony." Two years afterwards, it received
some additions to its number, and in September, 1814, we
learn, that the whole colony comprised two hundred settlers.
The first two winters were spent at the wooded region of
Pembina, close to the international boundary line, where Fort
Daer had been erected by Governor Macdonell's orders, so as
to afford better shelter and protection through the severe
winter months. In the spring the settlers returned to their
summer operations in the neighbourhood of the Colony's loca-
tion, close by the Forks of the Assiniboine. Here Fort
Douglas was erected as a refuge in emergency, and as a
storehouse of supplies. As yet the colony had not become
self-supporting ; some root-crops had been raised, but, so far,
little had been done in growing grain. There was want of
horses and oxen. Abundant supplies of fish were to be had ;
but bufialo and even smaller game were scarce. For the latter
they had to depend upon the Indians, who though at first
friendly, were now being alienated by the malice of the hostile
Nor'-Westers. While there was likelihood of the colony

104 THfi NOHTfl-WEST: ITS HtSTORT AND ITS TROUBLES.

suffering from the malevolence of these traders, it was in
no apprehension as to its future. For contingencies, in the
event of trouble, the settlers were in some measure prepared.
Fort Douglas was capable of defence, for, thanks to the pre-
vision of Lord Selkirk, some light brass field-pieces had been
sent into the country, to be mounted on its ramparts ; and the
settlers had been furnished with arms and ammunition. But,
as we have said, the settlement felt quite secure in its peaceful
mission to the country, and had no dread of serious molesta-
tion. An authority of the period * emphasises this fact :

" In short, the settlers appeared confident of their security,
contented with their situation, and happy in their prospects ;
nor did there exist any reasonable ground to doubt that, if
left undisturbed, the colony in a few years would have been
completely and firmly established. This, indeed, must have
been the decided opinion at the time, even of those who proved
to be its most inveterate opponents, otherwise they never
would have thought it necessary to take violent means to
destroy it. Had the settlement been likely to fail from causes
inherent in its nature, or arising from the remoteness of its
situation, or other local circumstances, its enemies (and none
were better judges than they) would doubtless have left it to
its fate ; and, remaining passive spectators of its destruction,
would gladly have permitted the colony to die a natural death,
instead of incurring anxiety, expense, and the risk of the ven-
geance of the law, by adopting those active measures to which
they resorted for the purpose of strangling it in its infancy."

But had the situation of the colony been more serious than
it was, Scottish resoluteness and tenacity of purpose in the
face of danger, would have acquiesced in the dispensation and
contentedly accepted it. The Highland heart, though it had
its tender spots, and was keenly sensitive to kindness, partic-

• " Statement respecting the Earl of Selkirk's Settlement of Kildonan, on the
Red River, its destruction in the years 1815 and 1816, and the massacre of GU)v
eruor Semple and his Party." Loudon, 1817.

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND ITS FATE. 105

ularly in amelioration of an exile's lot, was "dour" when
opposition thwarted, and hard as flint when it had to fight.
Unkindly as was his lot in the land of his fathers, there is no
doubt, for a time at least, that the Scottish settler pined for its
shores again. Years hence, did all go well, there was prospect
of he and his being better off in the wilderness to which he
had come. But as yet he had not got over his home-sickness,
and the memory of the old land was heavy on his heart. We
can imagine him wistfully recalling the loved scenes of his
former life ; and, as he looks on the rough surroundings of his
inland home, longing for a sight of his native hills, and sighing
for the sound of the sea.

" ! gie me a sough o' the auld saut sea,

A scent o' his brine again,
To stiffen the wilt that this wilderness

Has brought on this breast and brain.

Let me hear his roar on the rocky shore.

His thud on the shelly sand ;
For my spirit's bowed, and my heart is dowed,

Wi' the gloom o' this forest land."

In the year 1814, the smouldering fires of the Nor'-Wester's
enmity emitted puffs of flame. In January, Miles Macdonell,
the Governor of the colony, had found it necessary to issue a
proclamation forbidding the export from the territory of the
food-supplies that were required for the support of those who
had come to the colony and of those who were about to arrive
in it. The proclamation was construed by the North- West
Fur Company as a menace to its traders, and likely to deprive
them of a source, hitherto relied upon, of their support. There
would appear little ground of justification for this view of
the matter. The truth is, the Company was not so much
apprehensive for the safety and comfort of its employes, as it
was anxious for a pretext to quarrel with the colony. How-
G

106 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

ever this may be, the proclamation was considered a casus belli.
Before proceeding further, it may be well to give an extract
from the offending document. Here is the essential part of it.
Says the Governor :

" And whereas the welfare of the families at present forming
settlements on the Red River, with those on the way to it,
passing the winter at York or Churchill Forts in Hudson Bay,
as also those who are expected to arrive next autumn, renders
it a necessary and indispensable part of my duty to provide
for their support. In the yet uncultivated state of the country,
the ordinary resources derived from the buffalo and other wild
animals hunted within the territory are not deemed more than
adequate for the requisite supply ; wherefore, it is hereby
ordered, that no persons trading in furs or provisions within
the territory, for the Honourable the Hudson Bay Company,
the North- West Company, or any individual or unconnected
traders or persons whatever, shall take out any provisions,
either of flesh, grain, or vegetables, procured or raised within
the said territory, by water or land-carriage, for one twelve-
month from the date hereof; save and except what may be
judged necessary for the trading-parties at this present time
within the territory, to carry them to their respective destina-
tions, and who may, on due application to me, obtain license
for the same. The provisions procured and raised as above
shall be taken for the use of the colony ; and that no losses
may accrue to the parties concerned, they will be paid for by
British bills at the customary rates.

"And be it hereby further made known, that whosoever
shall be detected in attempting to convey out any provisions
prohibit^ed as above, either by land or water, shall be taken
into custody and prosecuted as the laws in such cases direct ;
and the provisions so taken, as well as any goods or chattels
of what nature soever which may be taken along with them,
and also the craft, cattle, and carriages, instrumental in convey-
ing away the same, to any part but the settlement on Red
Eiver, shall be forfeited. Given under my hand, at Fort
Daer, Pembina, the 8th of January, 1814. By order of the
Governor."

This proclamation, however essential its issue to the pre-
servation and comfort of the colony, was a brusque assertion

THE SELK:iRK: SEttLEMENT AND ITS FATE. 107

of rights in the territory ill for the Nor'- Wester to brook. In
its effect on his own comfort, in placing an embargo on
supplies, he was naturally eager to resent its publication and
defy its authority. But the proclamation was the result of
causes which the Nor'-Westers themselves had set in motion.
From the time of the colony's first appearing, they had
maliciously taken care to keep the territory clear of game
Nor was this all : to prevent the settlers from obtaining pro-
visions they systematically bought up any surplus food to be
had ; and, through the active agency of the unfriendly half-
breeds, they had dissuaded the Indians from selling them the
produce of the chase. For the Governor's edict there may not
have been immediate and pressing necessity ; but as a precau-
tionary measure, in view of additions to the colony, its issue
was justifiable. That its promulgation gave offence to the
Nor'-Westers, we can readily believe ; but we are far from
sympathising with them in the use they made of it as a brand
of strife.

The issue of this document, if it was not the beginning, was
the active fomenter, of lengthened hostility to the Selkirk
Settlement. The partiftrs of the North- West Fur Company
who met at Fort William, in 1814, for their summer parlia-
ment, were loud in their protest against the Governor's
proclamation, and fixed in their determination to suppress the
colony. They spoke excitedly of their rights in the interior
and bitterly of their dislike of the Hudson Bay Governor.
Scotch, as was the Kildonan Settlement, its active suppressors
were of the same nationality. It was the old story, their foes
were of their own household. The partners who were entrusted
with the grim work of breaking up the colony were' the twin-
worthies, Duncan Cameron, and Alexander McDonell. They
were iustructed to proceed to Fort Gibraltar, a trading-post of

108 THE itORTH-WEST : ItS filSTORt ANb ITS TROUBLES.

the Company, at the Forks of the Assiniboine, within half a
mile of the Red River Settlement. From this station, which
had not heretofore been honoured by the presence of a resident-
partner of the Company, they were to do what they could to
harass the settlers. At first the Company was wary in show-
ing its animus to the colonists. The initial step was to coax
the settlers to leave the territory, and, failing in that, to
intimidate them by threats of Indian massacre. In the art oi
coaxing, Cameron displayed much talent : he was moreover
assisted in his overtures by a knowledge of Gaelic, by a
cunning tongue, and a plausible address. With these gifts he
was enabled, first, to disarm suspicion of the intentions of the
Company ; secondly, to ingratiate himself with the heads of
influential families in the Settlement ; and, finally, to make
them discontented with their surroundings, dissatisfied with
their superiors, and doubtful of their prospects in the territory.
This was the first assault on the integrity of the colony.

The next undermining act was to excite the fears of the settlers
by disseminating reports of Indian treachery and threatened
massacre. These reports, so far as the Indians were concerned,
were wholly and cruelly untrue. Their dusky brethren had
always shown themselves friendly ; and in supplying the colony
with game from the plains, they had found it to their advan-
tage to continue in amity. They were, however, insidiously
approached by the Nor'-Westers, with the view of exciting
them to rise against the colony. Both the Salteaux and the
Crees were repeatedly urged to destroy it. It is on record,
that a Chippewa chief was offered rum and tobacco for his
tribe, if he would even intercept the bearer of despatches to
and from the Gove "nor. From these malignant acts the in-
triguers of Fort Gibraltar resorted to more violent measures.
But the measures were not only violent, they were base and

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND ITS FATE. 109

pitiful. They comprised acts of daily harassment, and weari-
ful attacks upon a peaceable and dependent colony. The
horses and cattle of the settlers were shot by stealth in their
enclosures ; and, as was threatened, the downfall of the colony
was decided upon by fair means or foul. The next step was
to starve the settlers out of the country. A Hudson Bay
party, with 600 bags of pemmican, was captured on the Qu'
Appelle river, on the way to Fort Douglas. To reduce the
Settletiient to a more tractable and dependent mood, a raid
was also made upon the arms and ammunition. From Fort
Douglas a howitzer and other field-pieces were boldly abstract-
ed ; and drunken Indians were sent in among the women and
children to frighten them out of their wits. Cameron, the
Company's agent, now gave out that he had been armtd with
official authority to protect the peace of the territory, and that
he was in receipt of His Majesty's commission to enforce
obedience to his orders. To give colour to this imposture, he
issued sundry intimidating proclamations, and ostentatiously
paraded himself in the uniform of what turned out to be a dis-
banded Canadian regiment. Under this pretended authority,
he employed his half-breeds to enter the houses of the settlers,
to serve them with injunctions, to abstract their weapons of
defence, and, in some instances, to take their inmates prisoners.
By bribery, and such harassing acts as we have mentioned, a
few of the colonists were induced to abandon their homes, and
received money and supplies to quit the country. But most of
the colony were true to one another, and loyal to their common
interest. No arts could allure or threats intimidate them to
give up possession of their territory. Opposition only the
more firmly rooted them to the soil.

It would be tedious to dwell longer upon the means adopted
by Cameron and his colleagues to seduce the settlers from their

110 THE NOHTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

allegiance and to weaken their hold upon the Settlement. The
Nor'-Westers quickly saw that half measures would have little
effect in putting a stop to colonisation, and that recourse must
needs be had to harsher procedure. We have already said
that Cameron had made the settlers liberal offers to leave the
country. These overtures were renewed ; and large bribes of
money and land in Canada were held out as an inducement to
desertion. This lure of the Company, and the discouragement
of the situation, at last had effect upon a few of the indentured
servants of the colony. These were prevailed upon to deseit
before the expiration of their contracts, and to carry away
with them their working tools and many of the implements of
husbandry. Their defection had its influence upon others ;
for during the winter of 1815 more of them deserted their
employments, and others secretly engaged to abandon the
settlement in the spring. After the raid upon the Fort, and
the loss of their means of defence, many of the settlers began
to despair ; and this feeling was intensified by still further acts
of hostility and aggression.

About this time Miles Macdonell, the Governor of the dis-
trict, had been served with a warrant of arrest, issued by a
magistrate of the Indian territory, on a charge of having
feloniously taken a quantity of provisions belonging to the
North-West Company. This warrant, Macdonell, at first, paid
no heed to ; but the colony being threatened with dire mishap
unless he surrendered himself, he thought it prudent to do so,
and proceeded to Canada for trial. The Governor was taken to
Montreal, where he was long and vexatiously detained.
Meanwhile the poor colony was subjected to further and more
wanton outrage. The settlers were frequently fired upon by the
half-breeds ; their houses were broken up and pillaged ; many
of the labourers, quietly employed 'in tillage, were forcibly

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND ITS FATE. Ill

seized and detained as prisoners ; horses were stolen and cattle
driven away ; and, finally, the whole colony was ordered tn
leave the Red River. Things had now come to such a pass
that nothing but abandonment could save the lives of the colon-
ists. In June, 1815, about sixty of the settlers fled for safety
to a Hudson Bay post on Jack Fish River, at the northern
end of Lake Winnipeg. To mark the triumph of this seriou?}
defection, a number of clerks and servants of the North-
West Company proceeded to the Settlement, and " setting firo
to the houses, the mill, and other buildings, burnt them to tho
ground." On this happening, the remainder of the settlers — •
134) in number — abandoned the place, and accompanied the
North- West traders to the annual rendezvous at Fort William.
From this post on Lake Superior they proceeded to Upper
Canada.

Before we come to a new era of disaster, in connection with
the history of this ill-fated colony, let us see what report was
given to the outer world of these inhuman proceedings of tho
agents of the North-West Fur Company. In a volume issued
at the period, from which we have already quoted, we have
the means of ascertaining what colour was given to the foul
acts of the Canadian Fur-traders. The Honourable Wm.
M'Gillivray, the founder and chief partner of the North-West
Company, and a member of the Lower Canada Legislature and
Executive Council, had been written to for information respect-
ing the Red River colonists by Sir Frederick Robinson, at the
time in command of His Majesty's forces in Upper Canada.
From the report of this chief of the Canadian traders we learn
of the infamy of the Company's gloss upon their years of
hostility to the colony. His language is that of humane con-
cern for the settlers, and of artfully simulated compassion for
their fate. We are unwilling even to seem to do a wrong to

112 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

this gentleman's memory, or unfairly to hold his Company

responsible for acts which they no doubt disowned. But the

evidence is both clear and strong against this corporation ; and

it is impossible to think that McGillivray was ignorant of the

true facts of the case. Here are a few extracts from his report.

In accounting for the failure of the colony he first arraigns the

Governor, Miles Macdonell, for his indiscretions, and goes on to

say that " the disorder excited in the country by those (Mac-
donell's) acts of violence, the disgust given to the settlers by
the extensive disadvantages of the country, as well as the
violence and tyranny of their leader, and the dread of the
native Indians and mixed breed, all contributed to break up
the colony. Some few of the settlers," he adds, " have
returned to Hudson Bay, and the remainder threw themselves
upon the compassion of the North- West Company to obtain
means of conveyance to Canada. . . . Under these cir-
cumstances," the writer continues, " partly from compassion
towards these poor people, and pai'tly from a dread of the
consequences of their remaining in the interior (because, in the
event of the Indians attacking them, it was feared that the
Hatchet, once raised, would not discriminate between a trader
and a settler, but that all the white men in the country might
become its victims), the North- West Company has offered these
settlers a conveyance to this province, and the means of sub-
sistence since they left the Bed Biver." McGillivray concludes
by begging Sir Frederick Bobinson's " protection and favour
for the poor settlers."

Of course, no reasonable man will nowadays grow very
indignant over the cant, not to speak of the deceit, of this
letter. History is likely to docket it at its true worth. From
the testimony taken in the Courts at the period, and particular-
ly from the sworn evidence of credible agents of Lord Selkirk,
and of honest people connected with his Settlement, there can
be no question of the criminality of the traders of the North-
West Company in the outrages committed upon the Bed Biver
colony, or of the responsibility of the administration of that

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND ITS FATE. 113

trading corporation for the acts of its servants. The writer of
the above letter knew but too well, not only what was the
attitude of his company towards the colony, but he also knew
the declared and avowed policy of the Trading Partners, of
whom he was one, towards Lord Selkirk and the rival English
Company with which he was associated. Occupying the posi-
tion he did, as the ear and mouthpiece of all the doings of his
Company, it was impossible that he could be ignorant of the
instructions that had been issued from his Board to harass the
colony, to make life a burden to the settlers, and if need be, to
resort to violent measures to ruin the Settlement and root it,
stem and branch, from the country. The abundant evidence,
existing in contemporary affidavits, to criminate this trading
corporation in its policy of extermination, renders it unneces-
sary to dwell upon the matter further. We shall quote but
a sentence or two from a letter of one of the partners, written
to a friend in Montreal, just after the general conference of the
traders at Fort William, in the summer of 1814. The writer
is Alexander McDonell, the colleague of Duncan Cameron,
who was in command of Fort Gibraltar. A contemporary
critic says, " the letter speaks a language that cannot be
misunderstood : "

" You see myself and our mutual friend, Mr. Cameron, so
far on our way to commence open hostilities against the enemy
in Red River. Much is expected from us, if we believe some
— ^perhaps too much. One thing is certain, we will do our
best to defend what we consider our rights in the interior.
Something serious will undoubtedly take place. Nothing but
the complete downfall of the colony will satisfy some, by fair
or foul means — a most desirable object if it can be accomplish-
ed. So here is at them with all my heart and energy ! "

The writer of this letter is Alexander McDonell, one of the
most zealous instigators of strife in the North- West Fur

114 THE NOETH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

Company's employ, a frequent leader of raids upon the colony,
and an inciter to acts of wanton aggression. It is told of him
that on one occasion he brought from the plains into the
Settlement a number of Cree Indians, whom he thought that
by filling with liquor he could inflame to attack the colony
and murder the settlers. As it mercifully happened, however,
an Indian drunk was more humane than a white man sober.
In the history of European intercourse with Indians, this is not
the first time the world has known them to possess, not only a
high ideal of morality, but a realisation of it that would put
to shame many of those who conceive themselves to rank higher
in the scale of humanity. They returned to their wigwams on
the Qu'Appelle without doing the behests of McDonell, but'
instead, sent the pipe of peace to the colony as an assurance of
friendship. Nor were the acts of this man, and of his fellow-
conspirator, Cameron, unauthorised, or at least unapproved of,
by the North-West Company. The contrary is on record:
they were not only rewarded but honoured by the Company ;
while there is also evidence that considerable sums were paid,
on their report of partisan service being rendered by the
deserters of the colony, to these and other disafiected settlers
who had been incited to revolt by Cameron's treachery. Here
are some extracts from this worthy's report to headquarters of
the men who rendered, and the value put upon, these services.
Of one man McDonell speaks thus :

" A smart fellow. Left the H. B. Company in April last — a
true partisan, steady and brave. Took a most active part in
the campaign of this spring, and deserves from fifteen to
twenty pounds. He has lost about X20 by leaving the Hud-
son Bay Co. a month before the expiration of his contract."
Of another the same writer affirms that : " This man left the
H. B. Co. in the month of April, owing to which he lost three
years' wages. His b3haviour towards us has been that of a

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND ITS FATE. 116

true partisan, steady, brave, and resolute; was something
of a leading character among his countrymen, and deserves at
least about £20." But these were minor Judases: here we
have a traitor whom thirty pieces of silver would not satisfy.
Cameron thus writes of George Campbell : " This (Geo. Camp-
bell) is a very decent man, and a great partisan, who often
exposed his life for the N. W. Co. He has been of very
essential service in the transactions of the Red River, and
deserves at least £100, Halifax, and every other service that
can be rendered to him by the North-West Company. Rather
than his merits and services should go unrewarded, I would
give him a £100 myself, although I have already been a good
deal out of pocket by my campaign to Red River."

But we must get back to the larger theatre of events.
During these trying times for the Selkirk settlers the founder
of the colony had not been idle. We may be sure he was not
callous to the ruin of his colony, or indifferent when he heard
of its dispersion. For more than a year he had been in corres-
pondence with the Canadian authorities, with a view to
obtaining military protection for the Settlement. In this,
however, he had failed. The North-West Company was a
powerful institution in the provinces, and its coils of interest
and partisan favour were even wound about the Executive.
Lord Selkirk came to Canada to see what could be done.
Here he heard with dismay of the fate of his colony. There
was but one ray of hope. The detachment of settlers that had
cone noi'th to Lake Winnipeg might not have left the country.
This was the case: they had even now returned to the smok-
ing ruins of their homesteads, and, figuratively, had sat down
by the waters of Babylon and wept. To clear the debris from
the ground, re-erect devastated homes, and plant something
for the wants of the coming winter, was the determined resolu-
tion, as it was soon the accomplished work, of the returned
settlers. The resurrected colony had had by this time an

116 THE NOETH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

important addition of new settlers, who had come to Hudson
Bay in the summer of 1815. In spite of the past, and the far
from pacific present outlook, there were those who fondly
thought the colony might yet live.

Lord Selkirk was still detained in Canada endeavouring to
induce the Govei'nment to extend its authority, with the
symbol of its power, to the North-West. In this task he
found himself seriously handicapped by the overshadowing
influence of the Canadian traders. They had possession of all
the avenues to Government favour, and had effectually pre-
judiced public opinion against him and his colony. It was hard
to do battle against such odds. His representative, Governor
Miles Macdonell, was still under arrest in Montreal, and others
of his agents were in trouble. To add to the difficulties of his
position, detachments of refugees from his colony came dribb-
ling into Canada, and they naturally turned to him for support.
This was not denied them. But his chief effort was at
present directed towards obtaining evidence, to enable him to
fasten responsibility for the troubles upon those who had
occasioned them. This was important, not only to put another
face upon things in Canada, and meet the lies of the North-
West Company, but to enable him to set himself right in
Britain. The undertaking was no light one ; but Lord Selkirk
shirked no difficulties, and was too much in earnest to spare
himself labour. His correspondence at the period indicates a
man of great ability, of untiring energy, and of self-sacrificing
enthusiasm. His most striking characteristics are his manifest
fairness, control of temper under great provocation, and con-
scientious desire to get at the truth. No one dipping into the
history of the time can fail to gain this impression of the man,
or remain insensible to the honourableness of his actions and
the high impelling motive of his work^

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND ITS FATE. 117

Leaving Lord Selkirk for a while at Montreal, let us see how
it fared with the partially restored colony. With the return
of the contingent that had gone to Jack Fish River, there had
come from Scotland an infusion of new blood. With the
recruits to the colony and the returned emigrants was a Mr.
Colin Robertson, a Hudson Bay Company officer, who was
able to render great service in re-establishing the Settlement.
Encouraged by this official, it fast regained its old spirit and
strength. Once again, however, in this western paradise, was
seen the trail of the serpent. Our quondam friends, Duncan
Cameron and Alexander McDonell, were back in the region.
The former re-occupied Fort Gibraltar; while the latter pro-
ceeded to his late post on the Qu'Appelle River, Neither of
these worthies expected to see aught again in Kildonan of
Lord Selkirk's settlers ; but Lord Selkirk's settlers were not
only there, they were there in force. If a bold front augured
anything, they were there also to stay.

Cameron was not long in resuminof his old tactics. But this
time he counted without his host. Robertson, who had
assumed charge of the colony, determined to act not alone on
the defensive. On the first occasion of trouble emanating
from Fort Gibraltar, out he and his force sallied from Fort
Douglas. Quickly traversing the distance between the two
Forts, the Selkirk banners gained speedy access to the rival
post. Robertson's following took the garrison by surprise,
captured Cameron, and recovered the field-pieces and stands of
arms that had been previously carried from the Settlement.
This was a new turn for things to take. Fortunately, no
blood was shed. Cameron was released on promise of good
behaviour and reinstated in his command of the Fort. The
winter passed without incident, save rumours of some ominous
movement in the west. There McDonell,^ who had beea in-

118 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

dignant at the capture of the Fort and the humiliation of his
partner, was actively preparing a campaign for the Spring.
When that season arrived, Cameron was again caught plotting
against the colony, and was once more laid by the heels and
taken to Hudson Bay. This precipitated events, and brings
us to a crisis in the history of the Settlement. It also brings on
the scene an ill-fated Hudson Bay Governor.

This officer was Governor Robert Semple, who had been
appointed to the chief control of all the factories in the terri-
tory. On his tour of inspection of the posts he came to
Red River in the Spring of 1816. At the moment the pros-
pects of the colony seemed brighter. The new Governor
brought fresh courage, and the prestige and authority that
belonged to his position. Colin Robertson, who was a host in
himself, had also stayed the heart of the colony ; while its old
head. Miles Macdonell, had by this time returned. It really
seemed possible for the Settlement to survive : the Scotch
thistles were hard to eradicate.

CHAPTER VII.

THE MASSACllE AT RED RIVER, AND AFTER.

< HERE is a story told of a child whose eyes had
been operated upon for cataract. One stormy
night while the thunder roared and the light -
ning flashed, the child is reported to have be-
come frightened, and to have torn the band-
ages from her eyes. As she did so a flash of
lightning illuminated the darkened room. The
bright light she saw for an instant; but the
glare was too much for her weak eyes, and she relapsed into
the gloom of the sightless and became permanently blind.
The story recalls the situation of the Red River colony and
its momentary streak of hope. For an instant there was a
flash of bright anticipation and a gleam of promise. The next
moment it was gone, and darkness once more enveloped the
Settlement.

Just after Governor Semple's arrival, the storm clouds gath-
ered fast over the doomed colony. The news of its reconstruc-
tion had reached distant Canada, and there was a pressing for-
ward of partners to strangle the new birth. As the weeks
passed, a cordon of fate converged upon this cradle of westerr
civilisation. In the east, an expedition was fitting out at Fort

119

120 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS ttlSTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

William : in the west, Alexander McDonell was marshalling
the half-breeds. Northward, on the Qu'Appelle, a French
Canadian banditti were engaging in all sorts of lawlessness:
and all around there was ferment and trouble. On the 12th of
May, as a Hudson Bay party was coming down the Qu'Appelle
river, it was set upon by a number of Canadians and Half-
breeds, in the employ of the North- West Company. In com-
mand of the attacking party was a man named Cuthbert Grant,
who was now to earn his title to infamy for his share in the
coming events. The Hudson Bay employes were taken pris-
oners; their furs and food-supplies were confiscated; and
another post of the Company was captured and wrecked. A
junction of Cuthbert Grant's rabble was now formed with the
Nor'-Westers under Alexander McDonell, and all proceeded to
Portage des Prairies. From here, on the 18th of June, Mc-
Donell despatched Grant, with seventy Ishmaels of the plains,
to attack the colony on the Red River. On the 20th a mes-
senger brought report of an affray which had occurred at Seven
Oaks, or as it is otherwise known, Frog Plain, in front of Fort
Douglas. Here is the lanfjuao;e in which McDonell announces
the result of the enoragement to his ruffian crew : " Sacre nom
de Dieu ! Bonnes nouvelles ! Vingt-deux Anglais de taes ! "

An account of this atrocity will have more interest if we
quote the deposition of an eye-witness, taken down immedia-
tely after the massacre. The narrator is John Pritchard, an
Englishman, who had been in the employ of the North- West
Company, but who had left its service to become a settler at
Red River. Pritchard's account of the affray substantially
agrees with that of other credible witnesses. They all testify
to the fact that the Indians had no hand in the massacre ; on
the contrary, they were the first to apprise the colonists of dan-
ger, and were anxious, if not to avert their fate, to share it

THE MASSACRE AT RED RIVER, AlJD AFTER. 121

with them. The attacking party, composed of Bois-BvAlSs, in

the service of the North- West Company, was commandec

by the unscrupulous Cuthbert Grant. Here is Pritchard's

narrative :

" On the afternoon of the 19th of June (181 G) a man in the
watch-house called out, that the half-breeds were coming. The
Governor (Mr. Semple), some other gentleman, and myself,
looked through spy -glasses, and distinctly saw some armed
people on horseback passing along the plains. A man then
called out, they, (meaning the half-breeds) are making for the
settlers; on which the Governor said, 'we must go out and
meet these people ; let twenty men follow me. We proceeded
by the old road leading down the settlement. As we were
going along we met many of the settlers running to the fort,
crying, " the half-breeds ! the half-breeds ! " When we were
advanced about three-quarters of a mile along the settlement,
we saw some people on horseback behind a point of woods.
On our nearer approach the party seemed more numerous ; on
which the Governor made a halt and sent for a field-piece,
which, delaying to arrive, he ordered us to advance. We had
not proceeded far before the half-breeds on horseback, their
faces painted in the most hideous manner, and in the dresses of
Indian warriors, came forward and surrounded us in the form
of a half moon. We then extended our line, and moved more
into the open plain ; as they advanced we retreated a few
steps backwards, and then saw a Canadian, named Boucher,
ride up to us waving his hand and calling out ' What do you
want ? '

" The Governor replied, ' What do you want ? ' To which
Boucher answered, ' We want our fort.' The Governor said,
' Go to your fort.' They were, by this time, near each other,
and consequently spoke too low for me to hear. Being at
some little distance to the right of the Governor, J saw him
take hold of Boucher's gun, and almost immediately a general
discharge of fire-arms took place ; but whether it began on our
side, or that of the enemy it was impossible to distinguish :
my attention was then directed towards my personal defence.
In a few minutes almost all our people were either killed or
wounded. Captain Rogers having fallen, rose again and came
towards me, when, not seeing one of (Jur party who was not
H

122 THE KORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

either killed or disabled, I called out to him, 'for God's sake
give yourself up.' He ran towards the enemy for that purpose,
myself following him ; he raised up his hands, and in English
and broken French called out for mercy. A half-breed shot
bim through the head, and another cut open his belly with a
knife, with the nwst horrid imprecations. Fortunately for
me, a Canadian, joining his entreaties to mine, saved me,
though with the greatest difficulty, from sharing the fate of
my friend at that moment. After this, I was rescued from
death, in the most providential manner, no less than six dif-
ferent times on my road to and at the Frog Plain, the head-
quarters of the murderers. I there saw i?;lexander Murray
and his wife, two of Wm. JBannerman's children, and Alex-
ander Sutherland, settlers likewise, Anthony McDonell, a ser-
vant, all pi'isoners, having been taken before the action oc-
curred. With the exception of myself, no quarter was given
to any of us. The knife, axe, or ball put a period to the ex-
istence of the wounded; and on the bodies of the dead were
practised all those horrible barbarities which characterise the
inhuman heart of the savage.

" The mild and amiable Mr. Semple, lying upon his side (his
thigh having been broken), and supporting his head upon his
hand, addressed the chief commander of our enemies, by
inquiring if he was Mr. Grant, and, being answered in the
affirmative, said, ' I am not mortally wounded, and if you
could get me conveyed to the fort, I think I should live.'
Grant promised he would do so, and immediately left him in
the care of a Canadian, who afterwards related that an Indian
of their party came up and shot Mr. Semple in the breast.
I entreated Grant to procure me the watch, or even the
seals of Mr. Semple, for the purpose of transmitting them
to his friends, but I did not succeed. Our force amounted to
twenty-eight persons, of whom twenty-one were. killed, and
one wounded. The Governor; Captain Rogers ; Mr. J. White,
surgeon ; Mr. A. McLean, settler ; Mr. W^ilkinson, private sec-
retary to the Governor ; and Lieutenant Holt of the Swedish
navy ; and fifteen servants were killed. Mr. J. P. Bourke,
store-keeper, was wounded, but saved himself by flight. The
enemy, I am told, numbered sixty-two persons, the greater
pait of them were the contracted servants and clerks of the

THE MASSACRE AT RED RIVER, AND AFTER. 123

North-West Company. They had one man killed and one
wounded."*

Such are the incidents of this calamitous story. The colony
had no chance of making a fight for itself, for before it could
sally out to support its chiefs, the scuffle had ended in whole-
sale murder. Inflamed with passion, and intoxicated with
success, the half-breeds demanded the instant surrender of
Fort Douglas, prefacing their demand by threats of indiscrim-
inate slaughter if it was not complied with. Each male
inmate of the Fort now nerved himself for the crisis. The
desire was to defend the stockade, and to trust to relief arriv-
ing from some heaven-directed quarter. But relief there could
be none. On the contrary, other besiegers were pressing
forward, under McDonell from Portage des Prairie, and under
McLeod from Fort William. Meanwhile a message arrived
from Grant, stating that " an attack would that night be made
upon the Fort, and that if a single shot was fired in defence of
the place, a general massacre would ensue." Pritchard, who
had been taken prisoner, endeavoured to make terms with
Grant for the safety of the colony ; but no terms would satisfy
him, save unconditional surrender. " You see," observed Grant,
" the little quarter we have shown you, and now, if any further
resistance is made, no man, woman, or child shall be spared."
" Being fully convinced," remarks Pritchard, " of the inevitable
destruction of these poor souls, I asked Grant if there was any
means by which the lives of the women and children could be

* Those who find a grim satisfaction in tracing judgments in this world for wrongs
committed against our fellow-creatures, will be interested in a record, which ap-
pears in Ross's " Red River Settlement," of the fate that befell half of the ruffians
who were concerned in the murder of Governor Semple and the settlers. Ross traces
to a violent or sudden death no less than twenty-six out of the sixty-five who com-
posed the attacking party. The list, if to be relied upon, is significant of th©
Nemesis that pursues ill-deeda.

124 THE NOETH-WEST: ITS HISTOBY AND ITS TROUBLES.

saved. I entreated him, in the name of his deceased father,
whose countrywomen they were, to take^pity and spare them."
His answer, at last, was, " that if all public property were
given up, the settlers should be allowed to depart in peace,
and that he would give a safe escort until they had passed the
North-West Company's track near Lake Winnipeg." Extort-
ing these terms from Grant, Pritchard begged to be allowed to
go on parole to the Fort to state them to his countrymen.
This was agreed to, and he had thus an opportunity of dissuad-
ing those in the Fort from resorting to a fruitless defence, and
of bringing death, and worse than death, upon those who
would otherwise become the half-breeds' victims.

On his arrival at the Fort, Pritchard observes, "what a
scene of distress presented itself ! The widows, children, and
relations of the slain, in the horrors of despair, were lamenting
the dead, and trembling for the safety of the survivors."
After a long and anxious parley, a surrender was decided
upon ; and the settlers once more accepted the inevitable —
banishment from the homes they had endeavoured to rear in
the wilderness. On his way back to Frog Plain, " the shades
of night," relates the intermediary, " hid from my view what
the dawn of the following day too clearly exposed — the mang-
led and disfigured bodies of the dead. From what I saw, and
what I have been told, I do not suppose that more than one-
fourth of our party were mortally wounded when they fell,
but were most inhumanly butchered afterwards." Two days
later saw the embarkment of the Ked River colony for Hudson
Bay, and the razing, from the desolate wastes of Rupert's Land,
of the foundations of its first civilised community. On the
way to Lake Winnipeg, the colony met the incoming bands of
the North- West traders, under Norman McLeod, the Fort
William partner, accompanied by other influential agents and

THE MASSACRE AT RED RIVER, AND AFTER. 125

shareholders of that powerful company. To this partner, high
in authority, the poor persecuted colonists might naturally
have looked for succour and sympathy in this the hour of
their dire distress. It would not have been too much to hope
that, being a magistrate, he would have taken their deposi-
tions with the view of visiting upon lawlessness the righteous
punishment of outraged law. As a fellow-creature, he might
at least have spared them indignity, while their kindred lay
yet unburied on the lands from which they had just been
driven

This was not their fate. The first accost of McLeod was
"whether that rascal and scoundrel, Robertson, was in the
boats ? " and if Governor Semple was with them, if not, what
was his fate ? The whole party was disembarked, and for
days was subjected to the closest and most insulting exam-
ination. Every trunk, box, and chest was pryed into, and
the books and diaries of the late Governor were abstracted.
The private papers and family records of a number of the
settlers were also overhauled, and many of them retained,
particularly those that preserved the history of the misdoings
of the North-West traders. Not a few of the colonists were
deprived of their liberty, and prevented from going off with
their departing kinsmen. Not only were they deprived of
their liberty, however, but, as a contemporary historian grimly
relates, " they were all imprisoned together, in order that they
might become better accquainted, " with a guard set over them,
composed of those very ruffians by whom their friends had
been butchered, and from whom they themselves had almost
miraculously escaped at the time of the massacre. " In the
whole of these proceedings," the same authority writes, " there
appears such a horrible mixture of mock judicial solemnity
and real cruelty, — such a medley of folly and atrocity ; of the

126 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

semblance of law and the substance of injustice, as migbt,
indeed, stagger the belief of any one who has not had an
opportunity of perusing the documents which have been
collected."

While the remainder of the again exiled settlers were being
permitted to make good their escape to the bleak shores ol
Hudson Bay, let us see what Lord Selkirk was about in
Canada. Enmity between the North-West Company and his
people, he might well think, could not last forever : surely
there would come a time when the colony would be suffered
to exist. The territory was vast; only a fringe of it was
really known. For generations, a settlement on the Red River,
compared with the extent of the whole territory, could be no
more than a barnacle on the side of a vessel, or a handful of
seaweed flung upon the shore. To resent the intrusion of
settlers seemed to Lord Selkirk the most fatuous policy, as it
was the most cruel attitude for a body of wealthy Scotchmen
to assume towards their poor, but deserving, countrymen.
Moreover, in the coming time, as Lord Selkirk no doubt saw,
to encourage the half-breeds in their opposition to the colony
was sure, as it has'done, to bring a harvest of trouble. To-
day Canada is paying for that time of devilment.

But back of the half-breeds was ever the implacable enmity
of the Nor'- Westers. Against this enmity Lord Selkirk could
make no headway, either with the chiefs of the Company or
with the leaders of the Government. The administration of a
country was never more thoroughly identified with the con.
ceras of a private enterprise, and never more careful not to
interfere with its interests or ofiend its officers, than was the
Canadian Executive of the period in its relations with the
North- West Fur-traders. To discover this must have been an
occasion of grief to the high-minded nobleman, through whose

THE MASSACRE AT RED RIVER, AND AETER. 127

instrumentality the poor cottars of the Orkneys had been
relieved from dormant poverty only to meet wandering
wretchedness. But Canada was just then in its most unlovely
and immature political condition. It was ruled by an oligarchy
whose motto, as has been remarked, was expressed by the
French proverb : Noiis avons I'avantage, profitoTis nous. Ad
official class had grown up, composed of social aristocrats, who
were not over scrupulous, at times, of the means by which
they attained power, or conscientious in the use they made of
it. Liberalism, at a later day, changed all that ; but though
the necessity for reform was even then urgent, the means by
which it could be brought about were not yet available.

FaiKng in all attempts to procure from the Government an
armed force for the protection of the colony, or even to get an
official representative, with the requisite authority and essential
impartiality, to go to the Settlement as its resident guardian
Lord Selkirk looked in other quarters for the aid he was in
need of. Though at heavy cost to himself, he was fortunate
in being able to obtain this. 1 j close of the struggle with
France, and the termination of the War of 1812-14, had released
from active service two Swiss regiments, then in Canada, that
had borne a good reputation for efficiency and discipline. A
number of the men of these disbanded corps Lord Selkirk was
able to engage for the defence of his colony and to take a share
in its settlement. They were just the material he was in need
of, capable from their military training to withstand attack
upon the colony, and being men of respectable character likely
to make good settlers. He made a bargain with about a
hundred of them, or more precisely, with eighty of the De
Mueron, and twenty of the Watteville, regiments. These he
clothed and armed at his own expense, and with thirty canoe-
men started off to Red River. All that the Government

128 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

furnished him was a personal body-guard of one sergeant and
six soldiers.

Before leaving Canada Lord Selkirk had taken care to get
himself officially appointed and sworn in as a magistrate. On
his way westward, looking to the contingency of having to
take civil proceedings against those who had been, or were
likely yet to be, troublesome to the colony, he endeavoured at
Sault Ste Marie to induce two magistrates of the place to
accompany him. In this, however, he was not successful, a
circumstance which he thus regrets : " I am therefore reduced
to the alternative," writes his Lordship," " of acting alone, or of
allowing audacious crimes to pass unpunished. In these cir-
cumstances I cannot doubt that it is my duty to act, though I
am not without apprehension that the law may be openly
resisted by a set of people who have been accustomed to con-
sider force as the only true criterion of right." Crossing
Lake Superior, his party fell in with Miles Macdonell, who hav-
ing again been driven from Eed River, was on his way to
Canada with the news of the further destruction of the colony.
From the Governor Lord Selkirk heard with dismay of the
butchery on Frog Plain, and the murder of Semple and his
party. With aid so near, how bitter was the news of this
second overthrow of his colony, and the wrecking of the
hopes he had cherished for its future, the reader may imagine.

On the 12th of August Selkirk and his armed contingent
arrived at Fort William. Here, as the reader will be aware*
was the western headquarters of the North-West traders, and
here were imprisoned some of the prominent men of the Sel-
kirk Settlement. Their release was instantly called for, an
order which the partners, in presence of such a force as accom-
panied Lord Selkirk, were not slow to obey. Selkirk now took
the depositions of the released prisoners, and found out the

THE MASSACKE AT RED RIVER, AND AFTER. I2d

enoraiity of the crimes either perpetrated or instigated by the
servants of the North-West Company. So clearly was their
guilt established, and so incensed was his Lordship at the out-
rages that had been committed, that, by authority invested in
him as a magistrate, he arrested a number of the leading part-
ners of the Company, and sent them under escort to York for
trial. The military expedition spent the winter at Fort
William, and in the Spring proceeded to Red River.

It was the end of June before Lord Selkirk himself reached
the colony, and for the first time set eyes upon the scene of its
troubles. The settlers who had sought refuge at Norway
House, on Lake Winnipeg, were again recalled, and the de-
spoiled homesteads once more put in habitable condition. A
general muster of the resurrected colony being now made, the
Settlement was formally inaugurated and received its designa-
tion, of Kildonan. The land, the title of which had been fur-
ther secured by treaty with the Indians, was now ordered to
be fully surveyed^ and roads and bridges were commissioned to
be built. Under these favourab.. conditions, the colony took
now a new start, and though, in later chapters we shall hear
of its chequered career, the future was more auspicious to
it than had been the past. Passing southward to the Missis-
sippi, thence eastward to Washington, its founder made a wide
detour on his return to Canada. There he was wanted to con-
found the machinations of his inveterate enemies, the fur-
traders, and there he desired to bring them to justice.

From chronicling the incidents of this portion of the Selkirk
career, the historian may well wish to escape. It is a part of
the drama upon which he and any lover of Canada may be
excused for dropping the curtain. Justice, at the period, had
either departed from the country, or had become afflicted with
A serious moral and physical squint. Not in Lower, not in Upper

130 THE NOETH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

Canada, could Selkirk receive fair hearing or decent treatment.
With subservient juries, a besmirched judiciary, and a partisan
government, honour and good faith hid their heads. Men of
good standing and large stake in the country, men otherwise
humane and reputable, vied with each other to defeat justice
and to shield crime. Nor did the clerical office hasten to ex-
tend its comfort, or even refrain from persecution. A certain
redoubtable Rector of York, whom we otherwise love to recall
as one of the sturdy founders of the Province, and whose soul,
in later days, we believe was right before God, was among the
most noisy of Selkirk's defamers, and the most influential
withholder from him of justice. Never was man more perse-
cuted than was Lord Selkirk, during the year of the state trials
in Canada, and never in the history of the older provinces has
there been so flagrant and prolonged a violation of law. In
sadness of spirit the would-be founder of the Selkirk Settle-
ment betook himself from the country, and in broken health
returned to the Old World to die.

5e*

CHAPTER VIII.

THE NO:i'-WESTERS ON THE PACIFIC COAST, AND THE
AMALGAMATION OF THE RIVAL FUR COMPANIES.

^ 1^1 EFORE dealing, in historic order, with the amal-
FiCif^^ gamation of the rival Fur Companies, let us look a
^C ^b^^ little more closely at the events that preceded it, in
"^^1 connection with the chief commerce of the country,
the Fur trade of the continent, and at the explorations
that followed upon its enterprising pursuit. To this
pursuit we chiefly owe the opening up of the vast region
embraced in the Dominion of Canada, from the slender thread
of settlement on the banks of the St Lawrence westward to
the Pacific, and from the shores of Hudson Bay to the 49th
parallel, which in 1846 became the international boundary.
South of this line, the principal voyages of exploration across
the continent, at the beginning of the century, were the
American expeditions in 1804-6 of Lewis and Clarke, up the
Missouri and down the Columbia rivers, and the later trading
operations of John Jacob Astor, who established Astoria, the
great western emporium of the Fur-trade. In this trade
Astor laid the foundations of his colossal fortune. Closely
following on these enterprises, and growing out of them, came

131

132 THE north-west; its history and its troubles,

the prolonged international controversy on the Oregon ques-
tion, which from the year 1818 down to the year 1846 formed
a bone of contention between Great Britain and the United
States. The treaty of 1846 between the two countries estab-
lished the Canadian boundary line and settled the vexed
question of the national ownership of the northern California
coast.

Lewis and Clarke accomplished for the United States what
Sir Alexander Mackenzie had accomplished for Canada.
They opened up an overland route to the Pacific, and di-
vested the region of much of its terror to the heart of incom-
ing civilisation. Over much of the territory opened up by
these explorers, French enterprise had already traversed.
Indeed, to the French and the Scotch belong the honors of
discovery over most of the continent. The whole country
west of the Great Lakes was early made known by Frenchmen.
In 1679 La Salle erected Fort Michillimackinac, at the
entrance of Lake Michigan, and penetrated by the waters of
the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. In the same year
Du Luth reached the western extremity of Lake Superior, and
took possession of the sources of the Mississippi. About the
same period Perrot and Le Sueur journeyed over the region
and established forts at suitable points by order of the French
Governor. In 1742, Verandrye reached the country of the
Mandans, in what is now the territory of Dakota, and tracked
the upper waters of the Missouri. Later on we find him
roaming over the vast plains of the Saskatchewan, and probing
the continent as far west as the Rocky Mountains. In the
track of the French traders, a series of posts was established,
extending from Sault Ste Marie and the Kaministiquia to the
distant Saskatchewan and the hyperborean Athabasca. Later
still we have the chain of trading establishments of the North-

THE NOR'-WESTERS ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 13S

West Company, that linled the country from New Brunswick
Post, at the source of the Moose River, to the distant Fraser,
the Thompson, the Peace, and the Mackenzie rivers. Then
came the cluster of Hudson Bay posts that figure so
prominently in connection with the fur-trade in the North-
West — Cumberland House, Norway House, Hudson House,
Carlton House, Manchester House, and the inumerable trading
stations of that great Corporation.

But in this enumeration we by no means exhaust the enter-
prise, or tell the whole story, of Franco-Canadian and Scottish-
Canadian trade. Even American historians give the palm to
Canada for her labours in opening the continent to commerce.
We know how enthusiastically Parkman speaks of French
achievement in conducting enterprises of territorial conquest,
and in heroically bringing the recesses of the wilderness to the
knowledge of the outer world. Now comes a later historian,
Mr Hubert Bancroft, who, in one of his many rich historical
volumes, gives us this further testimony to the zeal and enter-
prise of Canadians in prosecuting discovery on the continent.
Says Mr. Bancroft, speaking of Lewis and Clarke's expedition
up the Missouri :

"In the course of our narrative we shall see that army
captains and soldiers were no match for Scotch fur-traders and
Canadian voyageurs in forest travel. When Lewis and Clarke
set out on their expedition the great Unknown Region, as it
was called, equivalent to one thousand miles square and more,
between the headwaters of the Missouri and the Pacific Ocean,
was, if we except the interior of Alaska and the Stikeen
country, further removed from civilisation than any other part
of North America. The Hudson Bay Company had explored
its borders north. English ships had sailed through many
channels in search of Anian Strait and a northern passage, and
Heame had pursued his grumbling way from Fort Churchill
to the mouth of the Copper Mine. The Canadian merchants
had taken possession of the Canadian North- West, and had

1S4 THB NORTH-WESt: ITS fltSl'ORt A^t> ITS TROUBLES.

planted their forts from Lake Superior to Athabasca, while
the determined Mackenzie had followed the river which bears
his name to the Arctic Ocean, and had crossed from Peace
River to the Pacific."*

In addition to Mackenzie's work on the west of the Rocky
Mountains, we must not omit to note the labours of James
Finlay, another Scotchman, who ascended the Peace River
some four years after Mackenzie, and explored the branch of
that river to which he gave his name. In this region the
name of another Scot is associated with the waters of the
Fraser; while the other great river of British Columbia bears the
name of yet another Scotchman, David Thompson. All three
were employes of the North- West Company, of Montreal ;
Fraser indeed was one of Cuthbert Grant's followers in the
Company's raids on the Selkirk settlement, and was present
at the massacre of Governor Semple and his party. Of David
Thompson we get a portrait in Mr. Bancroft's volume, which
we take the liberty to quote :

" David Thompson was an entirely different order of man
from the orthodox fur-trader. Tall and fine looking, of sandy
complexion, with large features, deep-set studious eyes, high
forehead and broad shoulders, the intellectual was set upon
the physical. His deeds have never been trumpeted as have
those of some of the others ; but in the westward explorations
of the North-West Company no man performed more valuable
service or estimated his achievements more modestly. Un-
happily his last days were not as pleasant as fell to the lot of
some of the worn-out members of the Company. He retired
almost blind to Lachine House, once the headquarters of the
Company, where he was met with in 1831 in a very decrepid
condition,"-!*

•"History of the North-West Coast." VoL ii. 1800-46. By Hubert Howe
Bancroft. (Vol. 28 of Works.) San Francisco, 1884.

t.A manuscript volume of Voyages in the North- West, undertaken by David
Thompson, is in the possession of Mr. Charles Lindsey, City Begistrar, Toronto,
which we should be glad to see published.

THE NOR'-WESTEES ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 135

With Simon Fraser was intimately associated a brother
Scot, named John Stuart, whose memory is perpetuated io
Stuart's Lake and River, in British Columbia. In their way,
these Scotchmen were odd characters, though of great service to
the North-West Company, in establishing trading posts on the
hither side of the Rockies. Fraser, .we learn, was " an illiterate,
ill-bred, fault-finding man, of jealous disposition, but ambitious
and energetic, with considerable conscience, and in the main hold-
ing to honest convictions." Of Stuart, who accompanied Frasei
in his journeyings in British Columbia, in the years 1806-8, and
who was with him in his tracking the Fraser River, Bancroft
quotes a description from an M.S. journal of a navigator, named
Anderson, who had made a voyage along the Pacific Coast. The
sketch is as follows :

" In comparing these two persons I should call Stuart the
nobler, the more dignified man, but one whose broad, calm
intellect had received no more culture than Fraser's. Stuart's
courage and powers of endurance were equal in every respect
to those of his colleague, and while in temper, tongue, ideas,
and bodily motion he was less hasty, within a given time he
would accomplish as much or more than Fraser, and do it
better. Both were exceedingly eccentric, one quietly so, the
other in a more demonstrative way ; but it happened that the
angularities of one so dovetailed into those of the other that
co-operation, harmony, and good-fellowship characterised all
their intercourse. Stuart was one of the senior partners in the
North- West Company, and for a time was in charge of the
Athabasca department. As his territory in the west was
boundless, he deemed it his duty to extend the limits of his
operations. Twice he traversed the continent, besides under-
taking many minor excursions. In fact, he was always on the
move. On retiring from the service he settled at Torres,
Scotland, where he died in 1846."

On the Walla- Walla and the Columbia rivers, the North-
West Company had in its service a whole colony of Scotch-
men, of whom some mention should be made, in connection

136 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

with the Canadian Fur-trade in the region the fervid Scot
loved to call New Caledonia. The area of the Company's
trading operations was by no means confined to the district of
the Red River, the doings in which engrossed our attention
in the last chapter. The Nor'-Westers did a thriving trade on
the Columbia River, in Oregon, where they had an important
and lucrative post. Their business on the coast was also
extensive, reaching from California in the south to New Arch-
angel in the north. On the Pacific slope, in the year 1817,
the Company had over three hundred Canadians in its employ.
From its ports three or four ships were annually despatched to
London, by way of Cape Horn, freighted with furs. The ships
on the return passage brought supplies for the various estab-
lishments on the coast. The North- West Qompany had here
no Hudson Bay rival ; its chief competitor was John Jacob
Astor, the wealthy fur-monopolist of the United States. In
1810, this young German trader founded Fort Astoria, the
great Fur mart on the Columbia River, familiar to readers of
Washington Irving's narrative of the western fur-trade. Astor,
it seems, was very anxious to attach to his service some of the
more prominent Scotchmen among the Nor'-Westers. He
even made overtures to the Company to join him in partner-
ship. The advantage of an alliance, he pointed out, was his
ability to ship furs in American vessels to India and China,
which the North-West Company was unable to do, in conse-
quence of the East India Company's monopoly of trade.

The resident agents took the matter into consideration, but
after an exchange of views with the wintering partners in the
interior the proposition was declined. But not only was the
proposition declined ; it was decided to give Mr. Astor and his
Pacific Fur Company a lively opposition in Oregon territory^
This, of course, occurred long before international boundaries

THE LATE LIEUT. -COL. A. T. H. WILLIAMS,

Commanding the Midland Battalion

THE NOR'-WESTERS uN THE PACIFIC COAST. 137

were determined ; indeed, it happened within two years of
the breakinor out of the War of 1812. But if Astor could

not form an alliance with the Canadian Company, he could
seduce from its employment the men he sought to aid him in
his enterprise. By dint of offers of partnership and rapid pro-
motion, he enticed some twenty Canadians to enter his service.
Placing these men at the head of two expeditions, Astor des-
patched one overland, and the other he sent round Cape Horn
to the mouth of the Columbia. The breaking out of the wan
and the active competition of the North- West Company, male
havoc, however, of Aster's plans, and ere long broke up the
arrangement between him and his Montreal Scotchmen. On
the Pacific, Britannia's " wooden walls " were cruising about,
and made trading operations too hazardous to be profitably
engaged in. Fort Astoria, in the fortunes of war, and through
the ceaseless rivalry of the Nor'- Westers, changed hands and
became Fort George, though, by the Treaty of Ghent, in Decem-
ber, 1814, the post was restored.

With the collapse of Astor's project, his Scotch partners
returned to their former allegiance, and again entered the
service of the North- West Company. Of these Scotchmen, and
their countrymen who had remained in the service of the
Canadian Company, now gathered in the Oregon district, we
find representatives of almost all the clans whose patronymic
have the prefix of Mac. There were McTavishes, McGillivrays,
Mackenzies, McGillises, McKays, McLellans, McDougalls,
MacMillans, and McDonalds. Besides these, there were
Rosses, Frasers, Keiths, Stuarts, and Bethunes, Highland and
Lowland — a terrible array of Scots. Is there a Scotchman
who will forgive us if, in conjunction with the names of these
sturdy sons of Caledonia, we place an extract from a local

138 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

history* of the doings of a once national day of revehy, at
that distant period of time, and amid savage surroundings,
uneheered by the restraining and refining influences of Scottish
gentlewomen ? We quote from a writer who has not failed to
give a picture of the nobler side of the Scottish character.

" As these were days of intoxication, before absolute mon-
opoly regulated the morals of the region, New Year's day was
the signal among the Canadians for a grand debauch, which
the sober savage begged leave to witness. Drinking set in,
and quarrelling soon followed, whereat the natives hid them-
selves, saying the white men had run mad. When they saw
those who had raved the loudest in the morning becoming
quiet in the afternoon, they said the white man's senses had
returned to him. Then they went their way, wondering how
such superior beings should voluntarily lay aside their reason
for a time and become beasts."

But these bacchanalian indulgences were necessarily of rare
occurrence ; and fortunately they were so, for the employes of
the North- West Company were naturally mettlesome, and if
too much " fool's-water " flowed, they would have made a nice
bear-garden of the country. On the Pacjific coast, and particu-
larly in the disputed Oregon territory, at the time we speak of,
alcohol, however, flowed freely. Bancroft relates that, at a
somewhat later period, the entire property of a village would
sometimes be swept into the pockets of a trader during one
debauch. Through drink, the outrages committed by settlers
and desperadoes of the border on the poor Indian, equal any in
the annals of crime. But drink, alas ! was not always the ex-
cuse for inhumanity to the Indian. It is said that five hundred
millions of dollars have been spent by the Government of the
United States on Indian wars. The bloodshed is incalculable.
" All our Indian wars," writes Bancroft, " may be traced imme-

•Hubert Bancroft's " History of the North-West Coast" Vol. 2, p. 281.

The nor'- westers on the pacific coast. 139

diately to one of three causes, namely, outrages by border men,
failure of Government in fulfilling its promises, and frauds per-
petrated by agents."

" Nowhere," writes the same authority, ** does the Hudson
Bay system claim our admiration to greater extent than in its
treatment of offenders. The object was in all cases even and
exact justice, not indiscriminate retaliation. Unlike the peo-
ple of the United States, the British North Americans did not
seek to revenge themselves upon savage wrong-doers after the
fashion of savages. When an offence was committed they did
not go out and shoot down the first Indian they met ; they did
not butcher innocent women and children ; they did not scalp
or offer a reward for scalps. Professing Christianity and civil-
isation, the argument that as brutes or savages treat us, so we
must treat brutes and savages, had no force. A stolen article
must be restored, and the tribe harbouring a thief was cut off
from commercial intercourse. The fort gates were closed to
them; they could neither sell nor buy until the thief was
brought to punishment.

" If an Indian murdered a white man, or any person in the
employ of the Company, the tribe to which he belonged were
assured that they had nothing to fear, that King George men
were single-hearted and just; that unlike the Indians them-
selves, they did not deem it fair to punish the innocent for the
deeds of the guilty ; but the murderer must be delivered to
them. This demand was enforced with inexorable persistency;
and herein was the secret of their strength. In all that vast
realm which they ruled there was not mountain distant enough,
nor forest deep enough, nor icy cave dark enough, to hide the
felon from their justice, though none but he did have aught to
fear. This certainty of punishment acted upon the savage
mind with all the power of a superstition. Felons trembled
before the white man's justice as in the presence of the Al-
mighty,"

It is a common failing to call every nation but one's own a
hard name, and to some it is extremely agreeable to find that
other nation's escutcheons are stained by crimes from which
their own is free. We have no sympathy with this national

146 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

self-righteousness. Being conscious of our own national short-
comings, we think it better befits us to bemoan these than to
point the finger at another's misfortunes or another's mistakes.
Were we inclined to indulge the boasting propensity, we should
content ourselves with setting against this tribute to the hu-
manity and justice of the Hudson Bay Company but one ex-
tract from the unhappy history of the dealings of our neigh-
bours to the south of us with the aborigines. It occurs in the
legislative journals of the State of Idaho :

" Resolved : That three men be appointed to select twenty-
five men to go Indian-hunting, and all those who can fit them-
selves out shall receive a nominal sum for all scalps they may
bring in ; and all who cannot fit themselves out shall be fitted
out by the committee, and when they bring in scalps it shall
be deducted out. That for every buck scalp be paid $100; for
every squaw, $50 ; and $25 for everything in the shape of an
Indian under ten years of age. That each scalp shall have the
curl of the head, and each man shall make oath that the said
scalp was taken by the company."

To the care of such men was committed the wards of the
American nation !

But we have allowed our finding ourselves on American ter-
ritory, where the North-West Company had established trade
relations, to take us into subjects somewhat foreign to the im-
mediate purj^ose of this chapter. We were referring to the
Scotch in the Columbia district, and to the palmy days of the
Nor' -Wester supremacy in Oregon, under James Keith, Angus
Bethune, and Donald Mackenzie. The story of these times,
just after the close of the War of 1812-14, reads like a romance-
Innumerable books have been written on the fur trade of the
Columbia, perhaps the best of which are Washington Irving's
" Astoria ; " Ross Cox's " Adventures on the Columbia River ; "
Alexander Ross's " The Fur Hunters of the Far West," and hia

THE NOR'-WESTERS ON THE PACIFIC COAST. lil

" Adventures of the First Settlers on the Oregon." Ross wj;s
among the first to join the Astor enterprise, which he fully and
graphically describes in the latter mentiftned work. After
spending some fifteen years in the Columbia district, he
went to settle at Red River, and there wrote one of the
best accounts we have of the Selkirk * Settlement and ils
subsequent history, a work which appeared in London, in 185o.
Irving's " Astoria " contains some severe strictures upon the
Scotchmen who had joined Astor in his enterprises in Oregon.
Its author rates them soundly for being the cause of the
failure, as he thinks, of the wealthy trader's schemes. But
Bancroft, in his " History of the North- West Coast," comes
chivalrously to their rescue, and shows that it was the war
and the shrewd competition of the rival Canadian Company
that occasioned his discomfiture.* Another interesting work,
dealing with the region we are referring to, is Harmon's
" Journal of Voyages and Travels in the Interior of North
America," which was published in Andover in 1820. Daniel
Harmon was also a partner in the North- West Company,
though, by nationality, neither a Scot nor a Canadian, but, we
believe, a Vermonter. It is said of this " Green Mountain
Boy " that he was one of the few among the fur traders who
carried his religion into the wilderness ; but while stationed at
Fort McLeod near the Fraser River, a daughter by an Indian
mother was born to him, whom he called Polly Harmon ; so
that this good man's piety did not prevent his propagating his
kind in the wilderness. It is added, however, that Harmon

•" That these Scotchmen were bad men, disloyal to Astor by reason of their
nationality and former associations, as certain writers would have us believe, is in
view of the circumstances absurd. In their agreement with Astor they reserved
the right to close the business should their interests Feem so to dictate. Whatevt r
loss might arise from the failure of the enterprise fell on them in proportion to thei;>
Bhare."— UuLert, Howe Bancroft

142 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

was most affectionately attached to his dusky offspring, and
that he always endeavoured to do his duty by them. In his
journal occurs an earnest passage anent Sabbath desecration
among the servants of the Company in their lonely stockaded
posts. " Our men," he writes, " play at cards on the Sabbath
the same as on any other day. For such improper conduct I
once reproved them ; but their reply was, there is no Sabbath
in this country, and, they added, no God or devil ; and their
behaviour but too plainly shows that they spoke as they
think." But however much was unrobust in Harmon's
Christianity, and is didactically nauseous in his narrative, he
did one noble act on his emerging from the wilderness, which,
as Bancroft remarks, " partners with more gentlemanly pre-
tensions might well have followed. His uncouth progeny
by their Indian mother he did not desert, but took them all
with him to his old home, made the woman his lawful wife,
and educated his children in all his own high and holy prin-
ciples." For the credit of the Scottish and the Canadian
name, it is to be said, that this act of justice and humanity
found many a parallel in the careers of servants of both the
Hudson Bay and the North-West companies.

But events recall us to the Canadian side of the boundary
line. In 1818, when Fort Astoria again changed its flag, after
its restitution to the Americans, under the Treaty of Ghent,
most of the Canadian traders returned to Fort William, to
Red River, and to Montreal. Donald Mackenzie was the only
one of the influential partners to remain. For a number of
years he continued to trade on the Williamette and Snake rivers
and in the country of the Nez Percys, having Fort Walla- Walla
as his headquarters. In 1822 he, however, crossed the moun-
tains to York Factory, and three years later succeeded Robert
Felly in the Governorship of the Red River colony. The

THE NOB*- WESTERS ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 143

departure of the Canadians from Oregon is tlius graphically
sketched by Bancroft :

"It was a grand affair, this journey of the North-West
brigade from the mouth of the Columbia to Fort William and
Montreal ; it was at once a triumph and a dead-march. Ten
canoes, five of bark and five of cedar, each carrying a crew of
seven and two passengers, ninety in all, and all well armed,
embarked at Fort George (Astoria.) Of the party were
McTavish, McDonald, John Stuart, David Stuart, Clarke,
Mackenzie, Pillot, Wallace, McGillis, Franchere, and others,
some of whom were destined for the upper stations. Short
was the leave-taking for so large a company, for now thei-e
were not many left at the fort to say farewell. The voyageurs
donned their broadest bonnets; arms were glittering, flags
flying, the guns sounded their adieu, and midst ringing cheers,
in gayest mood the party rounded Tongue Point, and placed
their breast under the current.

" On the 17th of April they arrived at Rocky Mountain
House on their way to the Athabasca river. This post was
more a provision depot for the supplying of the North-West
Company's people in their passage of the mountains, than a
fur-hunting establishment. The glittering crystal eminences
on which was perched the curved-horn mountain-goat, beyond
the reach even of hungry wolves ; the deep dense forests,
snow-whited and sepulchral ; the resting streams, laughing or
raging according as their progress was impeded ; the roystering
torrent which no cold, dead, calm breath of nature could hush ;
these and like superlative beauties met the eye of the foot-
sore travellers at every turn."

From the Company's supply-house in the mountain pass, the
Scotch traders pushed forward to the Athabasca river, down
whose waters the gay flotilla proceeded at a rapid pace.
From the Athabasca they portaged across to Beaver River,
descending which they entered Moore River, and traveled
Moore Lake. From here the route lay across the plains to
Fort Vermilion, on the Saskatchewan, thence to Cumberland
House and on to English Lake. Crossing this they proceeded

144 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

to lakes Bourbon and Winnipeg, thence by the Winnipeg
River to the Lake of the Woods, and over the portage to Fort
William, where they anived about the middle of July.

At Fort William the Nor'- Westers were greatly exercised
over the discussion in the English Parliament of the affairs of
the rival trading companies. Both companies had considerable
influence in English politics. Each was eager to have its own
version of the Selkirk affair laid before the House and the
country. Neither hesitated to resort to sharp dealing to
accomplish its purpose. Associated as was Lord Selkirk with
the Hudson Bay Company, it does not seem that the latter
very warmly espoused his interests. Its concern was more
about its charter and its rights in the territory, which the
Noith-West Company was continually assailing. There is
truth, we fear, in what the Canadian traders affirmed, that
their rivals cared little for Selkirk's philanthropy, and only
used it as a lever against the Nor'-Westers to drive them
from the field and secure a monopoly of trade. With Selkirk,
the case was different. He was no trader, but a lover of his
kind. Stock in the Hudson Bays he purchased only to give
influence to his name in the territory, to secure facilities in
the transport of his people to Red River, and, as he hoped,
protection when they got there. We have seen how his
expectations failed him. On his return to England, in 1818,
it was to hear still ringing in his ears the notes of conflict on
the distant continent he had left. The whole matter of his
colony's troubles was brought up in the House of Commons,
and a Blue Book was the result of the call for papers and
correspondence. Little else, however, was done. From Lon-
don the broken-spirited nobleman retired for rest to the
continent ; but the most untroubled rest he could find he found
in the grave. Surrounded by his wife and daughters, this

THE NOR'-WESTERS ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 145

true patriot and baffled philanthropist died at Pau, in the
south of France, on the 8ih of April, 1820.* So ended a
sorely-troubled, but not wholly wasted, life.

With the death of Lord Selkirk the occasion for further
dissension between the rival Fur Companies in some measure
ceased. The English Government, though it did not see its
way to effect anything by legislative enactments, endeavoured
to do something by mediation. With its aid, and the inter-
position of the Hon. Edward Ellice, one of the most influential
of the resident English partners of the North- West Company,
a basis of agreement between the companies was arrived at.
This basis of agreement developed into a joint-stock partner-
ship, which was entered into on the 26th of March, 1821.
Each company was to furnish a like amount of capital, and
the profits were to be equally divided. The name pf the older
chartered institution was to be retained. The stock of the
united company was to be divided into one hundred shares,
forty of which were to go to the chief factors and traders in
the territory, and the remaining sixty were to be appropriated
by the resident partners of both companies in England.-j* The
terms of the partnership required the appointment of the chief
factors and chief traders to be made equally from the old
servants of the companies. Thus in every respect the two
companies came together upon an equal footing. An Act of

* It is both a duty and a pleasure here to call attention to an interesting
memorial of this unselfish nobleman and his life-work — the substance of a book
isdutd in London, in 1882, en " Manitoba : its Infancy, Growth, and Present
Condition," by the llev. Prof. Bryce, M.A., of Manitoba College.

f " Each contributed either in money or in stock £200,000. The capital stock of
the Hudson Bay Company at this time was but £100,000 ; and it was obliged to
call in a like amount to make its contribution equivalent to that of the North-
Wost Company. After the union, profits were added to the principal after pay-
ing ten per cent, dividends annually, until th; capital stock wa" £')O0j0OQ. — Vidi
Huuse of Oomiu jUS Report, (quoted by Bj^iciolti."

146 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

Parliament was passed uniting the two corporations, and
renewing the license to trade in the Hudson Bay territories,
The license was for a period of twenty-one years. Provision
was made in the Act for commissioning the Company's servants
as justices of the peace ; while the jurisdiction of the Upper
Canada Courts was extended to the Pacific. Thus was the union
consummated between these long hostile Fur Companies.

With the union of the companies, fur stock again rose to a
premium. Dividends that for years had fallen to 4 per cent.,
and even to nothing, now mounted to 10 and to even 20 per cent.,
with a handsome rest and an occasional large bonus. Posts
that had fallen into decay were re-established, and trade was
extended in all directions. Nor was amalgamation without its
benefit on both human and brute life in the territories. The
demoralisation of the Indians, occasioned by the introduction
of intoxicating liquors during the period of strife, ceased ; while
hunting "out of season," which was now strictly forbidden, had
its effect upon the peltries and tended to conserve trade. But
the country, in the years of even the poorest yield, was drained
to an enormous extent of game. There are records extant of
the "take" of one year, that of 1800, by the traders of the
North-West Company. We give the figures in a footnote, that
the reader may realise the extent and value of the trade.*
The gross returns of this one company for the year 1700,
amounted to £40,000 sterling. Some fifteen years later, when
the Nor'-Westers had absorbed the X.Y. Company, a rival
Canadian institution, the gross value of its trade was £120,000.
To affiliate with so enterprising a company of traders might
well wake the Hudson Bay Company from its frozen sleep.

♦ The fur yield for 1800, of the N.-W. Co. was as follows: 106,000 beaver, 2,100
l>ear, 5,500 fox, 4,600 otter, 17,000 musqnash, 320 marten, ;i,800 mink, 600 lynx,
600 wolverine, 1,650 fisher, 100 raccoon, 3,800 wolf, 700 elk, 1,950 deer, and 500
Vuffj^lo 1 Briti^b, Americai, ijt might well be said, was the f ui-bnater's para^^se.

THE NOR'-WESTERS ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 147

The competition, though deadly between the heads of the
rival companies, was not always carried on by the employes at
swoids-point. Tricks were sometimes in order to get the ad-
vantage of a rival. In close proximity as were many of the
forts of the companies, there was sometimes a good deal of
manoeuvring to get hold of Indians known to be approaching
the posts after a hunting expedition. The question often pre-
sented itself to the inmates of one or other of the forts, how to
inveigle the returned hunters to their special trading-post and
secure the furs without the interference of their rivals. Ban-
croft tells the story how this question was on one occasion
answered.

" There were too many," he writes, " to coerce, therefore
courtesy should do it (i.e., defeat the vigilance of the rival
traders). Childish rivalry for the moment should give place
to friendship's hallowed communion, A grand ball should be
given to the honourable North- West Company, and on the spot.
When drink was not wanting, a ball in fur-hunting circles was
a matter quickly arranged. Invitations were answered by
the dancers presenting themselves in the evening at the hour
named in grandest apparel, with clean capotes, bright hat-
cords, and new embroidered moccasins. The native fiddler
struck up a Scotch reel, and while from the huge fire came
fitful gusts from savoury roasts, the guests were invited to
manifest their appreciation of the entertainment by the mea-
sure of their potations. Would they not drink ? Would they
not dance ? Would they not take another drink ? and another,
and another ?

" This within the palisades ; while down in the hollow be-
hind the fort muffled men with packs and snow-shoes were
hurrying to and fro, hitching dogs to sledges, patting the crea-
tures to keep them quiet, and directing their eager movements
only by signs and whispers. Finally, the sledges being well
loaded with goods and the bells all removed from the dogs'
necks, the party started at a round pace for the Indian camp.
Long after the noiseless train had departed, the sound of rev-
elry was borne upon the frosty aix» until finally stillnesa

148 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

reigned. Next day the North- West look-out reported the re-
turned hunters. With bells ringing merrily a party set out in
pursuit, only after a long day's journey to find the hunters all
dead-drunk, with not so much as a musquash left to sell.

" Yes, it was a brilliant ball, but the Nov'- Westers swore
there should be dancing to another tune ere long. Soon
opportunity offered. Rival trains in search of the same
hunters meeting one cold day, it was proposed to build a
rousing fire, and eat and drink together. Soon a huge pile of
logs was crackling furiously, and spirits were flowing freely.
This time the Nor'- Westers by spilling their liquor upon the
snow were at length enabled to put their competitors into a
state of intoxication ; then, tying them to their sledges, they
sent the dogs homeward, while they went forward to the
Indian camp and secured the furs."

But all occasion for these rivalries, with the enmities they
gave rise to, had now happily passed. Even hostility to
colonisation, by the conditions of the new license, was
specifically forbidden, and was now also a thing of the past.
Under the regime of toleration, the much trampled on colony
of the Red River shewed germs of new life. Since the troubles
of 1816, it had, however, a new and peculiar visitation, froifi
which it was now happily recovering. But we must leave
one of its settlers, the historian, Alexander Ross, to tell the
story of this new misfortune :

" Every step," writes Ross, " was now a progressive one :
agricultural labour advanced, the crops looked healthy and
vigorous, and promised a rich harvest. In short, hope once
more revived, and everything put on a thriving and pros-
perous appearance : when, lo ! in the midst of all these pleasing
anticipations, just as the corn was in ear, and the barley
almost ripe, a cloud of grasshoppers from the west darkened
the air, and fell like a heavy shower of snow on the devoted
colony. This stern visitation happened in the last week of
July, and late one afternoon. Next morning, when the people
arose, it was not to gladness, but to sorrow; all their hopes
were in a moment blighted ! Crops, gardens, and every green

•THE NOR*- WESTERS ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 149

herb in the settlement had perished, with the exception of a
few ears of the barley, half ripe, gleaned in the women's
aprons. This sudden and unexpected disaster was more than
they could bear. The unfortunate immigrants looked up
towards heaven and wept." *

Not figuratively, but in sad truth, there was left to the
colony neither " seed to the sower nor bread to the eater ! "
Is it a wonder that many a Scottish immigrant turned heart-
broken from the settlement ? And turning from the settle-
iiient he might be excused for saying that it was " no abode
for civilised men ! "

* While this chapter was passing through the press, the author had the i^leasure
to receive a courteous invitation to visit the library of Wna. J, Macdonell, Esq., a
worthy Scottish gentleman, well known in Toronto for his literary tastes, for his
unostentatious charity, and for his many years zealous representation of France
as local Consul. In the course of a pleasant chat, among his books, the writer
discovered that his venerable entertainer was a nephew of Miles Macdonell, first
Governor of the Selkirk Colony, and was shown, appended to the Selkirk " Me*
morial " to the Duke of Richmond, the Canadian Governor-General, in 1819, a
manuscript letter of Lord Selkirk to Mr. Macdonell's father, brother of Gover-
nor Miles Macdonell, with a number of letters from the latter, referring to the
affairs of the colony.

The purport of the Selkirk letter, which is dated Montreal, Dec. 1, 1815, is to
interest his correspondent, then in Boston, to secure for him a few chosen men of
good character, to go with him to Red River, and to whom he would give a free
passage and good wages for a time while in his service. To those accepting the
proposal, and accompanying his Lordship, a grant of land would be given at the
close of the engagement, should the person settle in the colony, or if not, a free
passage back to Canada. A free passage is also offered to any young woman who
may agree, at the invitation of the person entering his employ, to come to the
colony as his wife. The interesting letter thus concludes : " I propose, early next
spring," says Lord Selkirk, "to go up with these people myself, which may serve
as an answer to anyone who apprehends danger from the Indians. I think these
men will be satisfied when they know that they wiU be exposed to no danger but
Buch as I must share with them. I have the most unquestionable evidence that
the people who committed such unjustifiable outrages against your brother Miles,
were not Indians, but British subjects, whom I am determined to bring to justice,
and I trust that the example of their punishment will prevent any similar attempt
from being made in future."

The existence of these letters, and their value in throwing light on the early
history of the country, call urgently for the founding, in our midst, of an Historical
Society, in the archives of which they may be preserved, and where they may be
accessible to students of our local annals.

CHAPTER IX.

THE INDIAN TRIBES OF THE OLDER PROVINCES AND THE
^ NORTH-WEST.

AVAGERY, it has been said, is civilisation's child-
hood. We should like to think so. Despite past
experience of the Indian in his savage state, we
should like to think, that in his brutalised condition
there were the makings of something better. We
should like to think, that as it has been the fate of
some portions of the race to lapse into barbarism, that out of
barbarism they will yet emerge. We should like to think,
that, in the philanthropies of a coming day, forces will yet be
moved to restore the Indian to civilisation, and to eradicate
from his nature those dispositions and tendencies that drag
him backward in the path of progress, or, while imitating bad
examples set before him, that civilise him out of existence.
We are told that a race that cannot itself contribute its re-
deemers will never be redeemed. But this is too pessimistic a
view to be willingly entertained. We admit it would be en-
couraging to find, that, when some advance has been made by
the savage towards civilisation, reversionary tendencies did not
persistently crop out; and undo the work that had been done.

But have the conditions been favourable to the experiment I

150

INDIAN TRIBES OF THE OLDER PROVINCES, ETC. 151

Has the reclamation of the Indian been tried under conditions
so auspicious that one might look for anything but failure ;
and has it been tried with earnestness and persistence ? People
who speak hopelessly of the civilisation of the aborigines have
spoken with like hopelessness of the " lapsed masses " of their
own kind. There is one feature, at least, of encouragement in
the Indian's case, namely, that we have never enslaved him,
though, unfortunately, he has enslaved himseK. But for the
latter we are more responsible', perhaps, than he. Too often
we have made of the" noble savage an ignoble brute.

The problem of Indian civilisation is a profoundly interest-
ing one.. To the people of this continent, it is more however
than this. On three specific grounds it is of momentous im-
port: first, as a duty incumbent upon governments, in the
management of those wards of a nation whose hunting-grounds
the country has appropriated ; secondly, as a Christian people,
responsible for the care and wellbeing of their less favoured
brethren ; and thirdly, in the relation of all towards subject
tribes whose good-will it is desirable to propitiate, for the sake
of the poor settler who makes his habitation among them. The
Indian Question, long ago, became one peculiarly appropriate
for the white race to discuss. As has been said of it, it is a
question entirely of the white man's making. We came to the
Indian, not the Indian to us. We were the aggressors. We
invaded his territory, and we made of it an aceldama of blood.
With one hand we held before him the Cross ; with the other
we cut him down with the sword. While we taught him that
Christ's kingdom was peace, we showed him that man's mis-
sion was war. So far from bringing him the olive branch, we
have brought him fire-arms and fire-water, and what was worse*
the diseases of lust, and an example in morals he has not been
slow to copy. We speak of the failure of efibrts to civilise,

152 THE KOllTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

but we do not boast of the failure to exterminate. In the face
of our relations with him, it ill becomes our humanity to say,
that " the only good Indian is a dead one ! "

Before passing any hasty judgment upon what civilisation
is pleased to call " the savage tribes " of this continent, it is
worth while for a moment to look at the relations civilisation
has had with the savages. Tribal wars, we know, are of im-
memorial antiquity ; but had the incoming of Europeans no in-
fluence in either extending them, or in adding to their ferocity ?
It would be easy to prove that the contrary is the fact. What,
for instance, gave increased violence to Iroquois enmity to
the Hurons, but the intermeddling, in 1615, of Champlain and
his French following. In the early colonial days, settlement
on the Atlantic seaboard was effected only after devastating
wars had been waged upon the natives. What story is more
harrowing in all history than that of Spanish settlement in
Florida, or more revolting than the narrative of King Philips'
War in New England ? Nor do we find the records of Dutch
colonisation in New York State, or the contemporary history of
Virginia, less full of horrors. Westward, the same tale of car-
nage is written over the face of the country. Let the reader
recall the strife between the red man and the white in the re-
gion between the Alleghanies and the Ohio, and say on which
side was displayed the greatest ferocit3\ But we need not go
so far back in history for instances of inhumanity towards the
Indian. To read the relations with the red man of recent bor-
der men in Kentucky, of Indianized white men in Texas,
and of the traditional trader and cow-boy of the western
plains, would curdle the blood of the most abandoned repre-
sentative of modern civilisation. In all the range and license
of human passion, history has no greater atrocities to chronicle.

INDIAN TRIBES OF THE OLDER PROVINCES, ETC. 153

The blood of white men, it is true, has been freely outpoured
by the hand of the Indian. But this blood has, in the main,
flowed at the instigation of white men, to revenge themselves
on their European rivals. In shedding it the Indian ally has
not scantily shed his own. A recent American writer,* on
colonial relations with the Indians, bears testimony to this fact.
Here are his remarks :

" During our whole colonial and provincial period it was the
hard fate of the Indians to bear the brunt of every quarrel be-
tween the rival European colonists in their jealousies and strug-
gles for dominion and the profits of the fur-trade. No sooner
had one of the rivals conciliated or established friendly rela-
tions with one or more of the tribes, than the representatives
of the other rival would seek to thwart any advantage of their
opponents by openly or covertly forming alliances with other
tribes. Tribes which might otherwise have lived in a state of
suspended animosity towards each other were thus driven to
take the war-path. So, too, it has happened that the whole or
a portion of a tribe, or of allied tribes, in the course of a cen-
tury was found in the pay and service of the French against
the English ; of the English against the French ; of the
Spaniards against the French ; and of the French against the
Spaniards ; and then of the armies of Great Britain and our
own provincial forces against the French, followed in a few
years by their enlistment by Great Britain to aid her in crush-
ing the rebellion of her own colonies."

The heat of these periods of conflict among Europeans on
this continent has long passed, and we ought now to be just
and humane enough to lay at our own doors responsibility for
inciting the Indians to acts of savagery. There is the more
reason for this, as these acts were mainly the result of our
own follies and our own intrigues. It may be that, as Horace
Greeley on one occasion wrote, "it needs but little familia-

* " The Red Man and the White Man in North America." By George E. Ellis,
Boston, 1882. (Page 346).

154 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

rity with the actual, palpable aborigines to convince any one
that the poetic Indian, the Indian of Cooper and Longfellow,
is only visible to the poet's eye." But while we divest the child
Df the woods of those fictional fascinations that have made him
an interesting and picturesque figure in the world of western
humanity, we are not called upon to paint him in the pigments
■of the pit, or to endow him with the attributes of fiends. No
doubt, the Indian, in mental characteristics, is alien to the Euro-
pean race, that his thoughts run in a different channel from our
thoughts, and that he is a creature of instinct rather than of
reason ; but though of another mental type, it does not follow
that we should visit upon him giant injustice, or that he should
even forfeit his claim to considerate treatment at our hands.

The late General Custer, of the American army, has told us
that while he found much to interest him in the study of the
Indian character, particularly in the wonderful power and sub-
tlety of his senses, he was compelled to admit, from his intimate
association with the red man, that he was essentially a savage ;
and that while civilisation may and should do much for him, it
can never civilise him. But this unfortunate, foolhardy officer
lived among Indians who were the hunted of the earth, and
whose every instinct was trained to its acutest sense, that their
possessors might cunningly hold their own against men who
were known to glory in the professional title of " Indian
fighters." How difierent is the judgment of Catlin, the great
delineator of Indian character. Of the North American Indian,
this great painter sympathetically, though frankly writes, that
in his native state, " he is an hospitable, honest, faithful, brave,
warlike, cruel, revengeful, relentless, yet honourable, contem-
plative and religious being." He adds, "I have lived with
thousands and teus of thousands of these knights of the forest,
whose whole lives are lives of chivalry, and whose daily feats

INDIAN TRIBES OF THE OLDER PROVINCES, ETC. 155

with their naked limbs, might vie with those of the Grecian
youth in the beautiful rivalry of the Olympian games." In
another passage he affirms, that " they have learned their worst
vices from contamination with Europeans," but withal that
they are nature's noblemen, and deserve ever to be spoken of
with sympathy, " as a people who are dying of broken hearts,
and who never can speak in the civilised world in their own
defence."

The truth is, that on this continent, as elsewhere among
tribes living in a state of nature, opinions are formed about the
aboriginal inhabitants pretty much as individual experience
has enabled the writer personally to judge. This experience
has been more or less determined by the attitude assumed
towards them of the observer of their manners and customs.
The mild Livingstone, travelling unarmed in the heart of
Africa, has given us a picture of the native tribes of the Dark
Continent altogether diflFerent from that of the bumptious,
self-asserting Stanley, with his self-cocking revolver and
explosive bullets. Similarly, in the western world, we have
diversities of portraiture of our native tribes, limned according
to the dispositions and bearing of the writers who have made
their acquaintance. As with the white man so with the red,
there are two sides to the Indian shield ; each represents the
Indian character in the mood in which you force the savage tc
look at himself. Take this one other, and a dispassionate,
view of the Indian character from Jonathan Carver :

" That the Indians," writes he, " are of a cruel, revengeful,
inexorable disposition, that they will watch whole days un-
mindful of the calls of nature, and make their way through
pathless, and almost unbounded woods, subsisting only on the
scanty produce of them, to pursue and revenge themselves on
an enemy ; that they hear unmoved the piercing cries of such
as unhappily fall into their hands, and receive a diabolical

156 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

pleasure from the tortures they inflict on their prisoners, I
readily grant ; but let us look on the reverse of this terrifying
picture, and we shall find them temperate both in their diet
and potations (I speak of those tribes who have little com-
munication with Europeans) that they withstand, with
unexampled patience, the attacks of hunger, or the inclemency
of the seasons, and esteem the gratification of their appetites
but a secondary consideration. We shall likewise see them
sociable and humane to those whom they consider their friends,
and even to their adopted enemies ; and ready to partake with
them of the last morsel or to risk their lives in their defence.
The honour of their tribe and the welfare of their nation is
the first and predominant emotion of their hearts ; and hence
proceed in a great measure all their virtues and their vices.
Actuated by this, they brave every danger, endure the most
exquisite torments, and expire triumphing in their fortitude,
not as a personal qualification, but as a national characteristic."*

Ethnically, the Indians of Canada, if not one people, have de-
scended from a well-defined parent stock, the Huron-Iroquois
tribe. Professor Huxley hypothetically represents the old
Mexican and South-America races as the true American stock,
and speaks of the Red Indians of North America as the pro-
duct of an intermixture of the autochthonous, or indigenous,
native race with the Eskimo. The affinity of the latter with
the Asiatic Mongol is now pretty well established ; and we
may look upon our native races as remote descendants of the
Asiatic continent. We shall leave to Dr. Daniel W^ilson, the
learned President of Toronto University, the ethnological ques-
tions that arise out of this aspect of the Indian problem, pre-
mising that the bulk of our readers are not absorbingly inter-
ested in skull formations, as indications of racial unity, or in
the subtler philological questions that bear on the problem of
Indian origin. Whether the dolichocephalic head-form, charac-

* Carver's "Travels through the Interior Parts of North America, in the years
1766-68," (page 409-12), London, 1779.

INDIAN TRIBES OF THE OLDER PROVINCES, ETC. 157

teristic of the Huron-Iroquois stock, had precedence, when it
crowned the body of the savage nomad, over the brachycopha-
lic cranial features of the southern Indian tribes, in this part
of the continent, we take it, is to most readers not a theme of
delirious popular excitement, though in saying this we are far
from wishing to slight the valuable labours of our native anti-
quaries. It will suffice for the unlearned (among the hosts oi
which the writer sadly finds himself) to know that our precur-
sors in the occupancy of the soil of Canada were of the great
Huron-Iroquois family, and that their earliest home, as Dr.
Wilson tells us,* was " within the area latterly embraced in
Upper and Low^^r Canada."

There are some facts connected with the early movements of
the primitive Indian tribes of Canada which are worthy to be
noted, as they enter into the history of the country ; and these,
with the assistance of the authority we have quoted, we may for
a brief moment glance at. Though research has enabled our
ethnologists to trace to one parent stock the Iroquois and the
Huron, or Wyandot, history knows them for centuries only as
cruel, bitter, and relentless foes. Let us see how this came
about. When Cartier discovered the St. Lawrence, and won-
deringly threaded his way up to the palisaded Indian towns of
Stadacona and Hochelaga, he found these strongholds and the
whole valley of the St. Lawrence populous with Indians of the
Huron-Iroquois tribe. Seventy years later, when Champlain
came to the country, the Huron-Iroquois warriors had vanished,
and only a few Algonquins, in their birch-bark wigwams, were
found in their place. Tradition furnishes but a hazy clue to
this Hegira. A woman, so the story goes, was the cause of
the migration.

♦ See an interesting and erudite article on " A Typical Race of American Abor-
igines," contributed by President Daniel Wilson, LL.D., to the Transactions of tha
iRoyal Society of Canada^ for the year 1884.

158 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

When both tribes sojourned together in neighbouring vil-
lages at Hochelaga, it seems, that a Seneca maiden was wronged
]n her affections by a Seneca chief. To avenge herself, she
plighted her troth to a young Huron warrior, on his undertak-
ing to slay the ungallant betrayer. This accomplished, the
Iroquois, taking up the dead man's quarrel, fell upon their
Huron kinsmen, and, to save themselves, they fled up the Ot-
tawa to the homes they are subsequently known to have
founded. The story further goes, that the Iroqniois, under a
similar incentive to revenge, themselves deserted the region to
visit their wrath upon the Eries, to the west of Niagara,
after which they settled where we subsequently find them, in
the valley of the Mohawk. Another tradition accounts for the
Seneca exodus from Hochelaga, by the assertion that they were
driven from the region by the Algonquins. This is not impro-
bable, for in the subsequent many years struggle between the
Hurons and the Iroquois, we find the Algonquins active allies
of the Hurons. They were themselves also to suffer from the
fierce onslaughts of the common foe. I'he story of the Huron-
Iroquois conflict, during the years 1640-48, will always be
sadly, though' proudly, associated with the unquenchable zeal
of the Jesuit missionaries and their heroic martyrdom. There
is no grander page in the world's religious history than that
which records the doings of their Church in the wilderness,
and enshrines the names of Brebeuf, Bressani, Lallemant,
Jogues, and Daniel.

The different families of the great Huron nation that once
peopled New France have almost wholly disappeared. Nearly
all that is left of them are the ossuaries, the bone-pits, of a
race that were once the sole possessors of the land. Their few
modern representatives are gathered in meagre bands on re-
serves in various sections of the two older Provinces. These

INDIAN TRIBES OF THE OLDER 1>R0VINCES, ETC. 159

comprise some 29,000 in all, of which about 17,000 are in the
Upper, and 12,000 are in the Lower Province. In Quebec
Province, of these 12,000, the bulk are Algonquins and Iroquois.
The habitat of the latter is chiefly Caughnawaga and St. Regis:
the Algonquins are scattered throughout the Province, though
the largest portion are in Pontiac county and the Ottawa and
Temiscamingue districts. Other branches of the Algonquin
family, the Montagnais, the Naskapees, and the Micmacs, are
mainly to be found on the Lower St. Lawrence. Only a rem-
nant, under 800, of the Huron tribe finds a home at Lordtte.
About the same number of Abenakis are domiciled in St.
Francis. The Indians of the Maritime Provinces, numbering
some 4,000, are chiefly Micmacs and Amalicites.

Generically, the bulk of the Indians of the Province of Ontario
are of the Algonquin family. They are known by their tribal
names, Chipeways, Ojibways, Mississaguas, and the various
branches of the Iroquois stock — the Mohawks, Oneidas, and
those included in the colony of the Six Nations, on the Grand
River. This latter colony furnishes, perhaps, the best example
in the Province of the civilised Indian, who hg,s left his no-
madic ways and settled down to agricultural and industrial
pursuits. It is composed of remnants of the Six Nation con-
federacy, descendants of the Mohawk chief. Brant, and his
followers, who, during the revolutionary war, remained attached
to Imperial interests. The Ojibways and Ottawas are princi-
pally met with on the islands and shores of the Georgian Bay,
and on Lakes Huron and Superior. The demand for labour,
occasioned by the extensive lumbering operations of the dis-
trict, affords these Indians a good field for lucrative work.
Some are successful traders, while many make a fair support
by fishing. The Algonquins of the Province are almost en-
tirely confined to the County of Renfrew : to the north of these

160 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

ire the Nipissings, who belong to the Chipeway tribe, and at
present find remunerative employment in the construction of
a local section of the Canadian Pacific railway. The Mississa-
guas find their home on the lakes in the County of Northum-
berland, and about the neighbourhood of Peterboro': the
Mohawks have a fine reserve on the Bay of Quints, and are
making encouraging progress in agriculture. Portions of the
lands of the latter are leased to white tenants. On the Thames,
ind in the Sarnia district, are the reserves of the Chipeways,
the Munceys, and the Oneidas, These tribes farm consider-
ably, and have a number of flourishing schools in their allotted
districts. In the township of Gibson, in the Muskoka district,
a, small colony of Iroquois and Algonquins came recently from
the Lake of the Two Mountains to settle; during the year
1883 they added fifty acres to the cleared land within their
reserve and are prosperous and contented. Less than a hun-
dred of enfranchised Wyandots, or Hurons, have an asylum in
the township of Anderdon, in the county of Essex. These, with
the three hundred of this tribe at Lorette, are the only repre-
sentatives of the Hurons now in Canada.* In 1648, prior to
the Iroquois extermination of their kinsmen, they numbered
some thirty thousand souls, lodged in villages on the Matche-
dash peninsula, between Lake Simcoe and the Georgian Bay.

• From late official documents we find the total number of Indians in Canada t«
be about 132,000. They are dispersed as follows .

In Ontario and Quebec 29,000

— Maritime Provinces 4,000

— Labrador and Arctic Coast 9,000

— Manitoba and the North- West Territories 34,000

— Athabasca District, and on the Peace and I y, qqq

the Mackenzie Rivers J " *

— British Columbia 89,000

132,000

iNDIAIf TRIBES OF THE OLDER PROVINCES, ETC. IGl

The Indians of the North-West may be said to represent
five distinct families, viz., the Algonquins; the Assiniboines,
or Stoneys, who are allied to the Sioux ; the Blackfeet, includ-
ing the Sarcees, Bloods, Piegans, and the Indians of the eastern
slope of the Rocky Mountains ; the Chippewj'ans, or Tinnds, a
branch of the Montagnais ; and the Eskimos, or Innoits, who
belong to the Algonquin family, and are allied to the Kam-
Bchatkans or northern Mongols. The total number of Indians
in the Province of Manitoba and the North-West Territories is
in the neighbourhood of 34,000. Besides these some 17,000
inhabit the region of the Peace River, the Mackenzie River,
and the watershed of the Athabasca. To the north and east
of these, some 9000 are supposed to frequent the sterile shores
of Labrador and the Arctic Coast. In British Columbia, the
number of Indians is estimated at 39,000, Unhappily, a large
proportion of the latter are degraded and dissolute ; they are
given to polygamy, to indulgence in a pernicious feast, known
as the " Potlach," and to heathenish dances, the most disgusting
of which is the " Tamanawa." The depravity of many of the
women of the British Columbia tribes is great ; large numbers
of them frequent white centres and live a life of prostitution.
There is much need of a moral regeneration on the Pacific, and
particularly of legislation that will suppress the degrading
spectacle of the tribal orgies.

The Manitoba Indians are mainly Algonquin. The tribe to
the east of tho Province is the Salteaux, or Chipeway, who
roam westward from Sault Ste. Marie, round the north shore
of Lake Superior, and along the margin of those "liquid
battalions " that mark with a " silver streak " the country be-
tween the Kaministiquia and the Red River. " The Salteaux,"
remarks Archbishop Tachd,* " are a high-spirited, proud, and

* " Sketch of the North-West of America." By Mgr. Tach^, Bishop of St Boni.
face. Translated by Captain D. R. Cameron, Montreal, 1870.

162 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

excessively superstitious people, and, in consequence, difficult
to tame. Of all our Indians, these have had the greatest facili-
ties for learning the truths of religion, and they, too, have least
profited by their opportunities, and count fewest Christians
amongst their number. , . . Nearly all have a great liking
for intoxicating drink, which is one of the causes of their
callousness." To the north and west of the Province are the
Christineaux, or Crees : this tribe consists of two classes, the
Crees of the Plains, and the Wood Crees. The former live in
" loges," or leathern wigwams, while the latter, like the Salt-
eaux, house themselves in birch-bark huts. In 1874, Govern-
ment made a Treaty (No. 4) with the Cree Salteaux, in which
the latter surrendered their right to a territory estimated at a
hundred thousand square miles. Allied to the Crees are the
Muskegons, or Swampies, so called from the swampy character
of the district which they inhabit, — " the neighbourhood of the
group of lakes which collect the water of the great rivers flow-
ing into Hudson Bay." Many of the Cree tribe are leaders
of the present revolt in the North -West, that notorious rascal.
Big Bear, and the participants in the atrocities at Fort Pitt,
being of the number. Westward, outside of the Province, are
the Assiniboines of the plain and of the forest. With the
Salteaux, this tribe formerly kept up lively hostilities against
the Sioux, to the south ; and, with the Crees, they have long
been at enmity with the Blackfeet. The latter are the Iroquois
of the west, and with the Bloods, Piegans, and Sarcees, to
whom they are related, are a warlike people. Treaty No. 7,
effected in September, 1877, includes this tribe. The Indians
of the remaining family to be enumerated in the North- West
are the Chippewyans, or Montagnais ("Tinn<^s" they are
familiarly called). The region occupied by this peaceful tribe
covers the district of the English, or Churchill, the Athabasca,

INDIAN TRIBES OF THE OLDER PROVINCES, ETC. 163

and the Mackenzie rivers. This tribe includes the Cariboo
Eaters, the Yellow Knives, the Castors, the Slaves (which em-
brace the Dog-rib and the Hare-skin Indians), and the Mon-
tagnais proper.

The condition of the Treaty Indians in Manitoba and Kee-
watin is on the whole gratifying. Some bands lead a shift-
less and vagabond life ; but the majority are prosperous, and
not a few are well-to-do. On some reserves, it occasionally
happens, that a tribe will want Government assistance more
largely in one season than in another. This may arise from a
period of drought, or from a visitation from the grasshopper,
or from the year's fishing being poor and the product of the
chase light. The Indians of Manitoba, however, may be said
to be comfortably off, and to be rapidly acquiring facility in
the management of the farm. The scarcity of large game now
on the plains must drive them to agriculture, as a means of
subsistence, unless they betake themselves to the northern
lakes for fish and fowl. Those with large families have a
goodly income from the Government annuities; and the in-
creasing number of settlers^^gives them opportunity, in various
employments, to add to their means of livelihood. As herds-
men, they are finding increasing demand for their services,
though in this, as in other light vocations, they are brought
into competition with their partial kinsmen, the Half-breed.

Of the tribes in the Territories, an encouraging number have
of late years taken to agriculture, and to living in substantial
huts on their reserves, in place of the conventional wigwams.
Many of these Indians follow agriculture with a fair measure of
success, in which the Government lends its aid, by money
grants for seed, oxen, and implements, and by farm instruction,
and the agency of good schools. In addition to the practical
encouragement given the tribes through the Government's

1G4 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

Indian Agencies, sustained by liberal annual grants from Par-
liament, the Indians have the benefit of instruction in indus-
trial and educational institutions, which are maintained by the
various religious denominations, Protestant and Roman Catho-
lic These missions, however, are in sad need of augmentation
and extension. So vast is the territory, and so numerous are
the reserves, that only a large and efficiently maintained staff
can overtake the work.

The Parliamentary appropriation for 1884, we learn from
a recent Government Blue Book, was, for Manitoba and the
North- West Territories, over a million of dollars. Of this
large sum, almost a half was disbursed for provisions for desti-
tute Indians. This fact, while it speaks well for the liberality
of Parliament, and attests the humanity of our treatment of
the red man, is not creditable to the Indian's industry, or to
his disposition to improve his environment. Evidently, in the
North- West, savage life, if it has begun has not advanced far
in the effort to raise itself in the scale of being. Looking at
the events of the past few months, it would seem that what-
ever has been done for the Indian, that and more we must con-
tinue to do. Among some of the tribes there is a culpable
amount of sloth and vagrancy. The idle Indian must be
taught that if he is to be fed he must work. And while he is
fed, if he is not effusively grateful, he must, at least, be pas-
sively loyal.

CHAPTER X.

FIFTY years' interval — 1820 TO 1870.

PON the amalgamation of the rival Fur Companies,
the Red River colony began a new era in its
chequered career. Its troubles, however, were not
over : its cup of bitterness was not yet full. The
Iliad of its woe, besides narratinoj the doinofs of the
turbulent Fur traders, and chronicling the visitation of
its plague of gi'asshoppers, has yet to recount disaster from
floods, and the continued grindings of a hard-visaged monopoly.
For long there was little progress and few additions to the
population, for the Hudson Bay Company had locked the door
on the colony and put the key in its pocket.

Though a good deal of space has been taken up in the pre-
ceding chapters with Scottish lawlessness in the region, it is
not to be supposed that this was a new and sinister develop-
ment of the national character. On the contrary, these dis-
turbances were as exceptional as, in point of time and place,
they were local. They arose out of peculiar circumstances ;
and when the occasion passed that gave them birth, Scottish
humanity and respect for law and order quickly asserted their
presence and influence. Speaking of a later time, a thoughtful

165

166 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

writer,* who has recently passed away, has left on record this
testimony to the wholesome conservatism of the Scottish
character, in its influence on the social fabric of the North-
West. Says the writer: " The Scottish respect for constituted
authority, for the ordinances of religion, and the Christian
code of morality, which is instinctive with many of the old
settlers as well as the more recent arrivals, has fortunately
proved a strong barrier against the disintegrating and unsettling
influences of a sudden influx of settlement," But the day of
rapid colonisation was yet distant. There was a long period of
q[uiescence between the restoration of peace in the settlement
and the manifestation of anything like national life. The
period of development to manhood, with the activities of a
well-organised and progressive community, was long in com-
ing. But this was occasioned by the circumstances of the
colony ; and is explained by its isolation, its remoteness from
the seaboard, its small and half-savage population, and by the
repressive influences of the monopoly that still hung over it.
More than all, perhaps, its non-progress was due to the false
reports the monopolists circulated of the poor soil of the colony
and its rigorous climate. It received a character in those
days that long stuck to it.

How the countiy was slandered by the agents of the great
Fur Company was not only outrageous, it Was farcical. To use
an early phrase of Horace Walpole, " history never can describe
it and keep its countenance." When the true facts came out,
the shifts and contradictions to which its servants had to
resort, were most amusing. The evidence of officers of the Hud-
son Bay Company, taken at the examination before a Com-
mittee of the English Parliament, was tinged with that

* "The Scot in British North America," Vol. 4. By Wm. J. Rattray, B.A.
roronto : 1883.

FIFTY YEARS* INTERVAL — 1820 TO 1870. 167

delightful bias which a writer of the period describes, as being
"congenial to find old gentlemen deeply interested in fur.''
This, in short, is the explanation of the matter : the Company
was interested in fur, and not in settlement. Meanwhile, the
giant stripling was kept in small clothes.

Through the generosity of Lord Selkirk, the efiects of the
grasshopper blight were got over by the bringing in of seed,
and of provisions for the time being, from Illinois and other
regions to the south. This occasioned a draft of over a
thousand pounds sterling upon the Selkirk estate. But this
aid, however timely, was merely temporary. The colony was
ere long thrown upon its own resources, and these unhappily
were not well managed. Abortive enterprises, such as the
Bufialo-Wool Company, and the experimental Hay Field
Farm, long kept the colony back, and still further discouraged
the settlers. The latter, however, had some relief in getting
rid of the governorship of Alexander McDonell, whose steward-
ship was notoriously bad, and whose imposts on goods coming
into the country were vexatious and fraudulent. Despite the
difficulties, the colony made progress, and time brought cheer.
Cattle were imported, and with better agricultural implements
came improved farming. Industries, too, soon began to stir in
the womb of the colony, and ere long had their auspicious
birth. As they awoke to life, the stoical Indian paused for a
moment in his basket-making, and Jean Baptiste thought his
trapping days had come to an end.

About this time the colony was consolidated, by gathering
round a common centre, known as " The Forks," formed
by the junction of the Eed River and the Assiniboine. The
French Canadians, who had come from the border settlement,
at Pembina, removed to St. Boniface, alongside the Scotch
colony; while the half-breeds stationed themselves at White

168 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

Horse Plains, some little distance up the Assiniboine. In the
coming together of these incongruous elements of race and
religion, we see the first beginnings in the community of creed
warfare and political strife. Ross, the early historian of the
colony, thus writes of the event :

" We have now seen all the different classes of which this
infant colony was composed brought together. The better to
advance each other's interest, as well as for mutual support,
all sects and creeds associated together indiscriminately, and
were united like members of the same family, in peace, charity,
and good-fellowship. This state of things lasted till the
Churchmen began to feel uneasy, and the Catholics grew
jealous ; so that projects were set on foot to separate the tares
from the wheat. Whatever reason might be urged for this
division, in a religious point of view, it was, politically con-
sidered, an ill-judged step ; yet the measure was carried, and
the separation took place, inflicting a wound which has never
been healed to this day. _From these original causes party spirit
has been gaining ground ever since. The Canadians became
jealous of the Scotch, the half-breeds of both ; and their sep-
arate interests, as agriculturists, voyageurs, or hunters, had
little tendency to unite them. At length, indeed, the Canadians
and the half-breeds came to a good understanding with each
other ; leaving them but two parties, the Scotch and the
French. Betweeji these, although there is, and always has
been, a fair show of mutual good feeling, anything like
cordiality in a common sentiment seemed impossible ; and they
remain to this day politically divided."

But for a time party strife was to give way before the grief
of a common sorrow. The winter of 182G-7 brought to the
colony such a disaster as it had never known. Already it had
suflfered from almost every plague that malignancy could dream
of : it was now to complete its experience of the cycle of woe.
Hardly had the autumn closed when the settlement was
invaded by legions of mice, which, like the grasshoppei's,
devoured every bit of grain, standing or" stalked, together with
the straw in the barns and even the stubble on the field.

LIEUT.-COLONEL W. D. OTTEB.

fiFTY years' interval — 1820 TO 1870. 169

Before this army of rodents all game disappeared, and the
plains were soon barren of life. Winter set in with unusual
severity, and with it came the most continuous storms that
had ever been known, which drove the buffalo beyond the
hunter's reach, and buried the colony under mountains of
snow. For a time there could be no communication between
the colonists, and no assistance rendered to those most sorely
in need. A famine, moreover, was in every home.

" Families here and there " — writes Ross — " despairing of
life, huddled themselves together for warmth, and in too many
cases their shelter proved their grave. At first, the heat of
their bodies melted the snow ; they became wet, and being
without food or fuel, the cold soon penetrated, and in several
instances, froze the whole into a body of solid ice. Some,
again, was found in a state of wild delirium, frantic, mad ;
while others were picked up, one here and one there, frozen to
death in their fruitless attempts to reach Pembina — some half
way, some more, some less ; one woman was found with an
infant on her back, within a quarter of a mile of Pembina.
The poor creature must have travelled at least 125 miles in
three days and nights, till she sunk at last in the too unequal
struggle for life."

Those who were found alive had devoured their horses,
their dogs, raw hides, and even their shoes. Ross states that
thirty-three lives were lost : one man, with his wife and three
children, were dug out of the snow, where they had been
buried for five days and nights, without food, fire, or the light
of the sun. Such are the incidents of this heart-rending tale.
But hardly had those of the colonists as were in a position to
see the winter through escaped from its terrors ere new
disaster came upon them. The cold had been intense, the
thermometer often registering 45° below zero, while the snow
lay on the ground to the depth of four or five feet. The ice
measured five feet seven inches in thickness 1 With the spring

170 THE NORtH-WfiSf : ItS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

all this came to be melted, and the colony, with its varied
experience, had added to it that of a deluge. We again resort
to the narrative of an eye-witness :

" On the fourth of May, the water overflowed the banks of
the Red River, and now spread so fast, that almost before the
people were aware of the danger it had reached their dwell-
ings. Terror was depicted on every countenance. So level
was the country, and so rapid the rise of the waters, that on
the fifth the settlers had to fly from their homes for dear life,
some of them saving only the clothes they had on their backs.
The shrieks of children, the lowing of cattle, and the howling
of dogs, added terror to the scene. The country presented the
appearance of a vast lake. The ice now drifted in a straight
course from point to point, carrying destruction before it ; and
the trees were bent like willows by the force of the current.
While the frightened inhabitants were collected in groups on
any dry spot that remained visible above the waste of waters,
their houses, barns, carriages, furniture, fencing, and every
description of property, might be seen floating along over the
wide extended plain, to be engulfed in Lake Winnipeg.
Hardly a house or building of any kind was left standing in
the colony. Many of the buildings drifted along whole and
entii'c ; and in some were seen dogs, howling dismally, and cats
that jumped frantically from side to side of their precarious
abodes. The most singular spectacle was a house in flames,
drifting along in the night, its one half immersed in water,
and the remainder furiously burning. This accident was
caused by the hasty retreat of the occupiers. At one spot the
writer fell in with a man who had two of his oxen tied to-
gether, with his wife and four cliildren fixed on their backs,
as on a floating stage. The water continued rising till the
21st, and extended far over the plains ; where cattle used to
graze boats were now plying under full sail."

From the perils of inundation the ill-fated settlers at last
escaped. It was the middle of June ere they saw the waters
abate, and the sodden site of their colony, which had been
covered by a flood fifteen feet deep, show itself. The distress
that foUowed this period of horrors was piteous. The little

FIFTY years' interval — 1820 TO 1870. 171

market of the place, as a matter of course, was sensibly
affected by the famine. We are told that " wheat, which had
fallen to 2s. per bushel at the commencement of the disaster,
now rose to 15s. ; and beef from |d to 8d per pound." What
wonder that, speaking of another misfortune which befell the
settlement, its Governor, in the bitterness of his heart, should
exclaim : " Red River is like a Lybian tiger ; the more I try to
tamo it, the more savage it becomes ; . . .for every step I try
to bring it forward, disappointments drag it two backward ! "
Both man and nature seem to have conspired to crush the
colony.

Courage was not lacking, however, to grapple with disaster,
and to renew the effort to put the colony yet on its feet. At
this time Red River received a great impetus from the exer-
tions of a new Governor-in-chief of the Hudson Bay Company,
Mr. (afterwards Sir) George Simpson, a worthy Scottish gentle-
man, who, for forty years, was to conduct its affairs in this
country. The great public services of this distinguished officer
of the Company, no less than his admirably performed official
duties, well deserve to be recorded in a%^ history of the North-
West. He was the one servant of the Company who, while
mindful of its trading mission, did not forget the claims of
science, or the obligations that lay upon it to advance the
interests of geographical discovery. As has been well said of
him : " To his skilful direction and the eagerness with which
he assisted Franklin, Richardson, Ross, Back, and other ex-
plorers, the most valuable results were due. It was he who
Bent out Dease, Thomas Simpson, Rae, Anderson, and Stewart
upon the path of research ; and at every fort or factory, con-
trolled by the Governor, any explorer was sure of shelter,
suppliesj, information, and advice." He has left behind him a

172 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

most interesting record of a journey round the world,* in the
early portion of which we have a graphic narrative of his
trans-continental tour from Lachine, near Montreal, where he
long resided, to the Pacific. Our fast contracting space pre-
vents us from giving any notice of this journey ; but tlio
volume itself is well worthy of perusal, and we heartily coni-
mend it our readers. We content ourselves with making Lu'o
one extract, a tribute to the arduous labour and high moli\\3
of Lord Selkirk in founding the colony of Red River. Says
Sir George :

"To mould this secluded spot into the nucleus of a vast
civilisation was the arduous and honourable task which Lord
Selkirk imposed on himself. . . His was a pure spirit of
colonisation. He courted not for himself the virgin secrets of
some golden sierra ; he needed no outlet for a starving tenantry ;
he sought no asylum for a persecuted faith : the object for
which he longed was to make the wilderness glad and to see
the desert blossom as the rose."

During Governor Simpson's long tenure of office not only
were the material affairs of the colony advanced, but old
wounds were healed, old jealousies removed, clashing interests
reconciled, and the various elements of strife pacified and
allayed. However afterwards he belied the country, in his
advocacy of the trading monopoly of his employers, he was a
sincere friend of the colony, and in his book wrote truthfully,
though perhaps with a too exuberant colour, of the attractions
of the Canadian North- West. Unfortunately, there came a
time when the ever out-cropping monopoly of the Hudson Bay
Company again jarred upon the colony, and as the wedge,
cleaving its way inward, severed the interests of traders and

* "An Overland Joiorney round the World, during the years 1841-2. By Sir
George Simpson, Governai-in-chief of the Hudson Bay Territory." London, 1843.

FIFTY tears' interval — 1820 TO 1870. 173

settlers, Sir George took up a position, if not inimical to the
colony, at least hostile to its expansion.

In 1835, the Hudson Bay Company acquired from the
representatives of Lord Selkirk all the family's interest in the
lands and buildings embraced in the colony of the Red River.
The interest was acquired by purchase, the price being the
amount — £85,000— which it had cost his Lordship and his
executors to found, and so far maintain, this settlement in the
wilderness. The Selkirk family, it seems, had found it diffi-
cult and unsatisfactory to maintain relations with the colony
while its affairs were managed by the Hudson Bay Company.
Whatever the motive to sell, we can well understand the
family desiring to get rid of its burden of responsibility.
With this change of masters came the era of quasi -constitu-
tional rule, and the organisation of local courts of justice, with
a code of laws for the colony. That the first council was
largely composed of old fur-traders, sinecurists, and other ser-
vants of the Company, need occasion little surprise ; though in
justice, it is to be said, that these were the men who had the
most influence in the country and had the largest stake in it.
This change in the management of the Settlement at first was
not quietly acquiesced in by the colonists. Indeed, for some
time they were kept in the dark about the transfer. The
Scotch portion had always chafed under the paternal system of
the Company's agency ; they now feared being subject to its
exclusive control. But while the ruling power was in the hands
of Sir George, they had little cause to complain ; and the
colony made an unchecked advance in the march of progress.

Meanwhile, the Scotch, as perhaps it was well for them,
though not for the colony, were not having it all their own
way. The half-breeds, who were the hunters, and coiise-
c^uently the main feeders of the colony, were, by reason ol

174 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

their usefulness, pampered and spoiled. As they were mnch
made of, crowds of them clustered round the Settlement, and
they soon became a formidable party. " Time and numbers,"
we are told, " increased their boldness, until it became their
habit to bully the Company into their views." In 1834 we
meet with the first instance of their in tractable ness, and of
the igniting of the inflammable materials of which the race
is composed. The exciting cause of the trouble was the trivial
circumstance of one of the Hudson Bay people chastising a
half-breed, named Larocque, " who had provoked him by his
insolent and over-bearing conduct." The race instantly took
up the aggrieved man's quarrel, and demanded the surrender
from the Governor of the person who had made the assault.
The whole half-breed race of French extraction, we learn, took
up the war-song, and, after the fashion of the Indians, resorted
to the war-dance, while a buzz of anxiety pervaded the colony.
Overtures were made to pacifiy the breeds, and a deputation
was sent by the Governor to effect, if possible, a friendly
settlement. Mr. Ross, the colony's historian, who was one of
the deputation, thus narrates the result :

" On arriving at the place where the hostile party were
assembled, we were struck with their savage appearance.
They resembled more a troop of furies than human beings, all
occupied in the Indian dance. As the arguments upon which
we entered would only tire the reader, we shall pass them by,
simply remarking, that reason is but a feeble weapon against
brute force. Nevertheless, after a two hours' parley, reason
triumphed, and we got the knotty point settled by making a
few trifling concessions, taking no small credit to ourselves for
our diplomatic success. We must confess, however, that the
bearing of the half-breeds became haughtier than ever, for the
spring was no sooner ushered in, than another physical demon-
stration took place at the gates of Fort Garry. This was the

introduction of a new series of demands Demand

after demand now followed in close suQQesaion. These wqtq

FIFTY years' interval — 1820 TO 1870. 175

all feelers set forth covertly by designing and disaffected
demagogues, who made dupes of the silly half-breeds to answer
their own vile purposes, by always pushing them forward in
the front rank to screen themselves ; yet, during all these
hostile attempts and foolish demands, no act of outrage was
committed. " Left to themselves," adds the historian, " the
half-breeds are credulous and noisy, but are by no means a
bad people."

How far this character is still true of the half-breed, many
to-day have their doubts. The present writer inclines to the
belief that it is true : that the half-breed, and even the whole
breed, is not the human monster some would depict. In many
of their characteristics they are mere children; and, like children,
they are readily influenced by example, and are plastic in the
hands of designing people. Those of French parentage have in
an exaggerated degree the faults of their sires — they are vola-
tile and unsedate. " They farm to-day, hunt to-morrow, and
fish the next : " the world's cares sit lightly upon them ; but
in the main they are contented and happy, and if they are let
alone, they are a peaceable and friendly people. They suit the
country in which they find a home, and, if properly treated,
can be well-behaved and useful in the community. At the
time of which we write, and for some years afterwards, the
great drawback to the colony was the want of a market and
the precariousness of the trapper's trade. This is well brought
out in Mr. Ross's volume, a further and final extract from which
we here take the liberty to quote.

" Our population is made up of two classes nearly equal in
number: the European or agricultural party, and the native or
aboriginal party, called hunters or half-breeds, differing as
much in their habits of life and daily pursuits as in the colour
of their skin. In the present state of things, their interests are
exactly opposed to each other, inasmuch as a market for one
party shuts up all prospect against the other. The plain
business is as uncertain as the wind that blows. One year

176 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

may prove abundant, and the next a complete failure. When
the plains fail, the farmer's produce is in demand ; and when
the crops fail, the hunter finds a ready market ; but when both
are successful, there is not a tithe of a market for either within
the colony. Such a state of things as now exists cramps in-
dustry, and renders labour — the great source of wealth in other
countries — utterly fruitless. Hence an idle, vagrant, and
grumbling population — a population with barns full, stores
teaming with plenty, and yet their wives and children half
naked, insomuch that the more industrious and wealthy can
scarcely command a shilling to pay the doctor's bill, or their
children's education. Singular assemblage of wealth and want,
of abundance and wretchedness ! "

Such, up to a comparatively recent period, was the condition
of thinos in what used to be the remote and isolated Red River
Colony. But its day of small things finally came to an end.
An era dawned when the new wine burst the old bottles : the
sealed book was at last opened. Parental rule, contracted hori-
zons, jealously-guarded enclosures — were all sloughed off, and
the fledgeling prepared itself for a far, circuitous flight.

From the parent nest went forth other timid flutterers to
colonise new sections of the country, and to form centres of
life where life had hardly ever been. The question of colonisa-
tion now took a wider range than the development of a local
colony. The outer world began to hear facts about the country
so long defamed : whisperings of its fertile soil and wonderful
crops were eagerly caught up and circulated ; and many came
to augment the population. These saw for themselves that the
ill-conditioned fellows who had been protesting against the
absolute power of a trading monopoly, so long exercised to
keep the country unknown, were right, and that the region
was not, as it had been represented, a sterile waste. It was
found that even the name of the territory, associated in the
mind with the Arctic surroundings of Hudson Bay, was itself
a prejudice. Had they thought at all, they would have sur-

FIFTY YEAES* INTERVAL — 1820 TO 1870. 177

mised that a region extending through twenty degrees of lati-
tude and fifty of longitude, must vary much in climate, in soil,
and in physical characteristics. But there were other facts
they could not well know. They did not know, for instance,
that " nature marching from east to west, showered her boun-
ties on the land of the United States until she reached the
Mississippi, but there she turned aside and went northward to
favour British territory." They did not know of those fertile
zones, " which curve towards the north, as they proceed west-
ward, so that the western extremity of the belt is several de-
grees of latitude higher than the eastern, the curves apparently
corresponding pretty closely with certain isothermal lines."*
When these facts became known, there was, for a time, a rage
for the literature of travel in the North- West, a rage which the
present writer hopes, with a pardonable degree of interest, may
not have died out ere his book appears.

Among the first of these modern books of travel in the region
is one we have already referred to, which contained glowing
descriptions of the country, descriptions which came to be in
curious contrast to later, though far from impartial, public tes-
timony from the same writer. Sir George Simpson was bound
up body and soul, if we may so speak without irreverence or
disparagement, in the Hudson Bay corporation ; but before he
allowed himself to look upon the country in the light of a fur-
trader, he spoke eulogistical ly of its attractions and hopefully
of its future, as the happy abode of thousands of his country-
men. There may be poetry, but there is also fact, in this early,
unwitting testimony of the worthy Governor to the fertility of
portions of the valley of the Kaministiquia and the sylvan
beauties of the Lake of the Woods :

• Fiom an article, entited, " The Last Great Monopoly," in the Westminster Es-
vieWy for July, 1867.

178 THE NOETH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS THOUBIES.

" The river during the day's march," writes Sir George,
" passed through forests of elm, oak, fir, and birch, being studded
with hills not less fertile and lovely than its banks ; and many
a spot reminded us of the rich and quiet scenery of England.
The paths of the different portages were spangled with violets,
roses, and many other wild flowers, while the currant, the goose-
berry, the raspberry, the plum, the cherry, and even the vine,
were abundant. All this bounty of nature was inspired as it
were with life by the cheerful notes of a variety of birds, and by
the restless flutter of butterflies of the brightest hues. Compared
with the adamantine deserts of Lake Superior, the Kaministiquia
presented a perfect Paradise. One cannot pass through this
fine valley without feeling that it is destined, sooner or later,
to become the happy home of civilised men, with their bleating
flocks and lowing herds and their full garners."

Equally impassioned, though perhaps more justified by facts,
is his description of the luxuriant banks of the Saskatchewan,
where were

" Lofty hills, and long valleys full of sylvan lakes, while the
bright green of the surface, as far as the eye could reach, assum-
ed a foreign tinge under an uninterrupted profusion of roses
and blue bells. On the summit of one of these hills we com-
manded one of the few extensive prospects that we had of late
enjoyed. One range of heights rose behind another, each be-
coming fainter as it receded from the eye, till the furthest was
blended in almost undistinguishable confusion with the clouds,
while the softest vales spread a panorama of hanging copses
and glittering lakes at our feet."

From this imaginable " Land of the Lotus " came the testi-
mony of other writers who, in quick succession, were to traverse
the country. About this time the Imperial and the CanadiaA
Governments commissioned experts to report upon the terri-
tory. Captain Palliser, in command of the British Expedition,
wrote of the Fertile Belt in terms that at the time seemed ex-
travagant. He speaks of a partially wooded country, abound-
ing in lakes and rich natural pasturage, " in some parts rivalling
the finest park scenery of England." Comment is also made cm

flPTY years' interval — 1820 TO 1870. 179

tlie fact that, in the region, spring commences about a month
earlier than on the shores of the great lakes to the eastward:
which are four or five degrees of latitude further south, and
that even in the winter horses and cattle may be left for the
season out of doors to obtain their own food. Professor Hind's
testimony was an equal surprise to the outer world. He states
that in one district only — that of the Eed River and the Assi-
niboine — millions of acres of land which cannot be surpassed
for fertility, being composed of rich praiiie mould nearly two
feet deep, lie free and unoccupied, awaiting settlement. West-
ward of this region, he brought before a wondering world the
extraordinary luxuriance of the alluvial plains of the North
Saskatchewan, rich in water, wood, and pasturage. Of these
plains he thus writes :

" It is a physical reality of the highest importance to the
interests of British North America that this continuous belt
can be settled and cultivated from a few miles west of the Lake
of the Woods to the passes of the Rocky Mountains ; and any
line of communication, whether by waggon-road or railway,
passing through it, will eventually enjoy the great advantage of
being fed by an agricultural population from one extremity to
the other. No other part of the American continent possesses
an approach even to this singularly favourable disposition of
soil and climate ; which last feature, notwithstanding its rigour
during the winter season, confers, on account of its humidity,
inestimable value on British America south of the fifty-fourth
parallel."*

Following the reports of these Government expeditions came
graphic records of the journeys of distinguished English and
Canadian travellers, who fell under the fascination of a holiday
tour through the woods and waters of the Canadian Far- West.

♦ " Narrative of the Canadian Red River Exploring Expedition of 1857, and of
the Assiniboine and Saskatchewan Exploring Expedition of 1858." Undeitaken
l)y Authority of the Canadian Government. By Prof. Henry Youle Hind, M.A.
2 vols. London, 1860.

180 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

The more notable of these records are the volumes of the Earl
of Southesk (1859) ; Lord Milton and Dr. Cheadle (1863) ;
Captain Butler (1870), and our own Dr. Grant, the genial Prin-
cipal of Queen's University (1872). Later days have brought
us a whole library of books on the North- West, each with its
own feature of interest, yet each freighted with the burden of
commendation of the country and its wonderful resources. Be-
fore leaving this literature, let us sample the records of two of
these Enoflish travellers. The first shall be from the narrative
of Milton and Cheadle, with regard to the Red River and the
Saskatchewan regions.

" In 1862, we found them (the Red River colonists) a very
heterogeneous community of about 8,000 souls — Englishmen,
Irishmen, Scotchmen, English Canadians, French Canadians,
Americans, English half-breeds, Canadian half-breeds, and In-
dians. Nearly the whole population, with the exception of a
few store-keepers and free-traders, live by the Hudson Bay
Company, and the Company is King. The Company makes
the laws, buys the produce of the chase and the farm, supplying
in return the other necessaries and luxuries of life. The farmers
of Red River are wealthy in flocks, and herds, and grain, more
than sufficient for their own wants, and live in comparative
comfort. Thesoilisso fertile that wheat is raised, year after
year, fifty and sixty bushels to the acre, without any manure
being required. The pasturage is of the finest quality, and un-
limited in extent : the countless herds of bufialo which the land
has supported is sufficient evidence of this. * * »

" We now entered a most glorious country — not indeed
grandly picturesque, but rich and beautiful : a country of rolling
hills and fertile valleys, of lakes and streams, groves of birch
and aspen, and miniature prairies ; a land of a kindly soil, and
full of promise to the settlers to come in future years, when an
enlightened policy shall open out the wealth now uncared for
or unknown. * * The flowers in the open glade were
very gay ; tiger lilies, roses, the Gallardia pida, the blue
borage, the white and purple vetch, red orchis, and the marsh
violet were the most conspicuous. ♦ * ♦

FIFTY YEA-IIS' INTERVAL — 1820 TO 1870. 181

" Rich prairies, with from three to five feet of alluvial soil
are ready for the plough, or offer the luxuriant grasses, which
in the old time fattened countless bands of buffalo, to domesti-
cated herds. Woods, lakes, and streams diversified the scene,
and offer timber, fish, and myriads of wild fowl ; yet this
glorious country, estimated at G5,000 square miles, and 40
millions of acres of the richest soil, capable of supporting 20
millions of people, is from its isolated position, and the difficul-
ties put in the way of settlement by the governing power,
hitherto loft utterly neglected and useless, except for the sup-
port of a few Indians and the employes of the Hudson Bay
Company. " *

Our extract from Captain Butler, for the sake of variety,
shall be of another character. Let us select a passage in which
that graphic writer describes the exhilarating experience of
" running a rapid " on the Winnipeg River. The experience was
gained while the writer was making his way to Fort Garry,
with the Wolseley Red River Expedition, as an intelligence
officer attached to the 69th Regiment of Foot.

" It is difficult to find in life any event which so effectually
condenses nervous sensation into the shortest possible space of
time, as does the work of shooting or running a rapid. There
is no toil, no heart-breaking labour about it, but as much cool-
ness, dexterity and skill, as man can throw into the work of
hand, eye, and head ; knowledge of when to strike and how to
do it ; knowledge of water and of rock, and of tiie one hun-
dred combinations which rock and water can assume — for these
two things, rock and water, taken in the abstract, fail as com-
pletely to convey any idea of their fierce embracings in the
throes of a rapid, as the fire burning quietly in a drawing-room
fire-place fails to convey the idea of a house wrapped and
sheeted in flames. Above the rapid all is still and quiet, and
one cannot see what is going on below the first rim of the
rush, but stray shoots of spray and the deafening roar of de-

* " The North-West Passage by Land ; a narrative of an expedition from the
Atlantic to the Pacific," By Viscount Milton, M.P., and W. J3. Cheadle, MA.,
M-D. London, 1864.

182 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AUD ITS TROUBLES.

scending water tell well enough what is about to happen. The
Indian has got some rock or mark to steer by, and knows well
the door by which he is to enter the slope of water. As the
canoe — never appearing so frail a thing as when it is about to
commence its series of wild leaps and rushes — nears the rim
where the waters disappear from view, the bowsman stands
up and, stretching forward his head, peers down the eddying
I'ush ; in a second he is on his knees again ; without turning
his head he speaks a word or two to those who are behind him ;
then the canoe is in the rim ; she dips to it, shooting her bows
clear out of the water and striking hard against the lower level.
After that there is no time for thought ; the eye is not quick
enou'^h to take in the rushing scene. There is a rock here and
a big green cave of water there ; there is a tumultuous rising
and sinking of snow-tipped waves ; there are places that are
smooth-running for a moment, and then yawn and open up into
great gurgling chasms the next ; there are strange whirls and
backward eddies and rocks, rough and smooth and polished —
and through all this the canoe glances like an arrow, dips like
a wild bird down the wing of the storm, now slanting from
a rock, now edging a green cavern, now breaking through a
backward rolling billow, without a word spoken, but with every
now and again a quick convulsive twist and turn of the bow-
paddle to edge far off some rock, to put her full through some
boiling billow, to hold her steady down the slope of some thun-
dering chute which has the power of a thousand horses : for
remember, this river of rapids, this -Winnipeg, is no moun-
tain torrent, no brawling brook, but over every rocky
ledge and wave-worn precipice there rushes twice a vaster
volume than Rhine itself pours forth. The rocks which strew
the torrent are frequently the most trifling of the dangers of
the descent, formidable though they appear to the stranger.
Sometimes a huge boulder will stand full in the midst of the
channel, apparently presenting an obstacle from which escape
seems impossible. The canoe is rushing full towards it, and no
power can save it. There is just one power that can do it, and
the rock itself provides it. Not the skill of man could run
the boat hows on to that rock. There is a wilder sweep of
water rushing off the polished sides than on to them, and the
instant that we touch that sweep, we shoot away with re-

FIFTY years' interval— 1820 TO 1870. 183

doubled speed. No, the rock is not as treacherous as the
whirlpool and twisting billow. "*

Never, it will be said, has pen better described the peril and
excitement of this characteristically Canadian sport. But we
must more rapidly bridge over our half century of Red River
history, and speed on to events of immediate interest and later
date. Let us return to the colony where, in Whittier's words,

" Out and in the river is winding
The links of its long, red chain,
Through belts of dusky pine-laad
And gusty leagues of plain."

Here, in this oasis of civilisation, the primeval solitudes
which once had been given up to the musquash and buffalo, were
now beginning to be populous with immigrants and the des-
cendants of the early Orkney settlers. The flowery meadow,
which used to be the haunt of the prairie-bird and the blue-
winged teal, was now being covered with the comfortable habi-
tations of well-to-do traders and thriving farmers. The little
settlement of Kildonan blossomed out into the town of Win-
nipeg. The successive incidents of note in the progress of the
colony can be briefly enumerated. On the establishment, in
1835, of a Council of Assiniboia, the colony assumed a civic
status and dignity which boded well for its future development.
Its judicial system began, in 1839, with a Recordership ; but its
ecclesiastical and educational systems had an earlier start.

The Anglican Church in the Province may be said to have
been founded, in 1820, by the Rev. Archdeacon Cochran ;
though some few years earlier, the Rev. John West, M.A., a
Hudson Bay Chaplain, ministered to the Protestant commu-

* " The Great Lone Land : a Narrative of Travel and Adventure in the North-
West of America." By Captain W. F. Butlef, F.R.G.S. (pages 184-5). Loudon,
1872.

184 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

aity. In 1849, the Church had so flourished as to have a
Bishopric in the district, the Rev. David Anderson becoming
first Bishop of Rupert's Land. It was not until 1852, that
the Presbyterian body had a resident minister. In that year
the Rev. Dr. John Black arrived in the colony, and was gladly
hailed by the Scotch settlers, who had long hungered for a
shepherd of their own communion. On his arrival, it is re-
corded, that 300 of the settlers, who had previously worshipped
m the Anglican fold, rallied round Mr. Black, and formed a
Church after the faith of their fathers. The Methodic deno-
mination, at an early day, had labourers in the field, and flour-
ishing missions, not only in Red River, but on the Saskatchewan
and other distrJbts in the West. Its permanent foothold in Win-
nipeg dates, however, from the arrival, in 18C8, of the Rev. Mr.
Young, a zealous representative of his Church. It is sad to note
the fate of the predecessor of this gentleman, the Rev. George
McDougall, who, as Methodist Missionary among the Indians,
like St. Paul of old, was often in perils by the way, and who, as
it has been said of him, " crowned a life of heroic struggle and
self-sacrifice, by a martyr's death at his perilous post of duty."
The incidents of the death of this fearless soldier of the Cross
are thus feelingly narrated in The Scot in British North
America :

" On the 24th of January, 1876, while hunting bufialo about
thirty miles from Morley ville, to procure a supply of meat for
the mission, he started to return to camp in advance of his
party. It was a wild, stormy night, and a fierce wind swept
the prairie laden with drifting snow. Mr. McDougall missed
his way, and as a protracted search by his friends proved fruit-
less, the painful conclusion that he had perished from cold and
exhaustion forced itself upon them. Twelve days afterwards,
his body was found by a half-breed, stretched in death on the
snow-covered prairie, the folded hands and placid expression of

FIFTY TEARS* INTERVAL — 1820 TO 1870. 185

the features showing that the intrepid soul of the missionary
had met death in the spirit of calm and trustful resignation —

' Like one who draws the drapery of his couch
Around him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.'"

But the earliest missions in the country were those of the
Roman Catholic Church, whose first representative was the
Rev. Father Provencher. This worthy priest came to Red
River in 1818, and was made Bishop of Juliopolis four years
afterwards. On his death, in 1853, the present distinguished
Archbishop Tach^ succeeded him in the See, the title of which
was changed to St. Boniface. Convents and other educational
agencies of the Romish Church were established in 1844. But
much as we may wish to dwell on the Christian work of the
Roman Catholic priesthood and sisterhood in the North-West,
our space here does not justify our doing so. As the work
was too good and self-sacrificing to be merely passingly ac-
knowledged, we hope elsewhere to do it justice.

Recurring to the material progress of the incipient city, we
may note the fact that for some time it rejoiced in the honors
of a garrison town. From 1846 to 1848 a wing of the Gth
Regiment of Foot was quartered at Red River ; and for a num-
ber of years following the colony was protected by a corps of
enrolled pensioners. Lord Selkirk's detachment of disbanded
Swiss did not remain in the colony, but emigrated to more
rapidly rising settlements on the Upper Mississippi. From
1857 to 1861 a company of the Royal Canadian Rifles occupied
Fort Garry, during the excitement caused by the restless
movements on the borders of the Sioux Indians. Their mass-
acre of white settlers in Minnesota occurred in ]862 ; happily,
in their visits to Red River, they were got rid of without
bloodshed. In 1853 a public mail service was established,

186 THE NORTH-WEST ' ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

which, to the delight of the settlers, took the place of the bi-
annual packet-post via Hudson Bay. In 1859, that distin-
guishing mark of civilisation, a local newspaper, was founded,
— ^the " Nor'-Wester " becoming the pioneer of the very able
and enterprising modern press of Winnipeg. Three years
afterwards, in the placing of a light draft steamboat on the
river, facilities were afforded for communicating with the outer
world; and the same season the village of Winnipeg was
officially ushered into being. Could these means of communica-
tion be improved, many of its far-seeing inhabitants prophesied
that the day would not be distant when it would become a
great city.*

In the history of the Red River colony we now near modem
times. The era of absolutism was to go, and that of freedom
and progress was to usurp its place. The "Company of
Adventurers" that for two centuries had been the absolute
lords and proprietors of this great domain of the west, and
that had adventured little in the territory save the money
which had earned it royal dividends, was to abrogate its
privileges and waive its long claim to monopoly. The Hudson
Bay traders had not even been called upon to pay the consider-
tion which King Char]<^ had stipulated should bind the bar-
gain — viz., " two elks and two biack beavers, whensoever and
as often as we, our heirs and successors, shall happen to enter
the said countries, territories, and regions." Verily, Prince
Rupert had had a cousinly gift, and the descendants of the
Prince and his associates have been royally dealt with. But

* Ross gives the total population, in 1849, of the Red River Settlement, as 5391,
housed in 745 dwellings. The area of cultivated land at the period, he states, was
6392 acres. He adds, in 1855, when his narrative went to press, that " there is no
later census than the above ; but the population of the colony this year is supposed
to be about 6500 souls,"

FIFTY YfiABS* INtERVAL— 1820 TO 1870. 18?

tli6 age was averse to monopolies ; and when the interests of
its equally favoured eastern rival had been assumed by the
Crown, the great North- Western trading Company, however
many and influential its advocates, could not long expect
immunity from a like fate. The colony was now to yield to
civilisation something more than beaver-skins and other pro-
ducts of the chase.

CHAPTER XII.

TRANSFER OF THE HUDSON BAY TERRITORIES TO THE
DOMINION.

HE conflict between the past and the future, after
these years of repression and strife, was now to be
settled in favour of the coming time. The old was
at last to give way to the new. In the unequal
struggle with the advancing tide of civilisation, the
Hudson Bay Company saw that it was finally to be
worsted ; and before the fate that impended was forced upon
it, it discreetly endeavoured to secure terms upon which it
might gracefully capitulate. While negotiations were pending,
we can imagine with what feelings gouty old directors of the
Company would meet at the London Board Room, in Fen-
church Street, and rail at the times being out of joint. How
irately they would storm at the colonising spirit, and, in testy
mood, splutter out expletives against the restless ambition of a
young and progressive people ! Yet, they were wise in their
day and generation. They did not stand broom in hand, like
Mrs. Partington, and hope successfully to sweep back the in-
coming tide of settlement, but allowed themselves to be borne
shoreward to pick up on the beach the rich wreckage the ocean
had spared them of their doomed argosy.

188

TRANSFER OF HUDSON BAY TERRITORIES TO DOMINION. 189

That the day was coming — had indeed now come — when
the Company's rule was to cease, and the teeming life of the
East was to be poured in upon the favoured plains of the
West, the Company saw but too clearly ; and seeing this, it
made haste to set its house in order and make the best bargain
possible. Already the voice of the colonists, petitioning the
Canadian Parliament for relief from the tyranny of their
situation, had been heard, and favourably heard, in England.
As freemen they asked to be free. They asked for immunity
from arbitrary arrest ; from exorbitant imposts upon goods
brought into the country ; from the outrage of having their
houses entered and effects confiscated at the caprice of a self-
constituted authority ; and relief, generally, from a rule that
had become obnoxious, and a tyranny that was now galling.
Here is the concluding portion of the colonists' petition, after
reciting the grievances of which they complained :

" The Council (called into existence by the Hudson Bay
Company) imposes taxes, creates offences, and punishes the
same by fines and imprisonment, — i.e., the Governor and
Council make the laws, judge the laws, and execute their own
sentence. We have no voice in their selection, neither have
we any constitutional means of controlling their action. Under
this system our energies are paralysed, and discontent is in-
creasing to such a degree that events fatal to British interests,
and particularly to the interests of Canada, and even to
civilisation and humanity, may soon take place. When we
contemplate the mighty tide of immigration which has flowed
toward the north these six years past, and has already filled
the valley of the Upper Mississippi with settlers, and which
will this year flow over the height of land, and fill up the
valley of Red River, is there no danger of being carried away
by that flood, and that we may thereby lose our nationality ?
We love the British name ! We are proud of that glorious
fabric, the British Constitution. We have represented our
grievances to the Imperial Government, but through the
chicanery of the Company and its false representations, we

190 THE NORTH-WEST : IT^ flisfORY AND tTS T?ROttiL^.

have not been heard, much less have our grievances been
redressed. We, therefore, as dutiful and loyal subjects of the
British Crown, humbly pray that your Honourable House will
take into immediate consideration the subject of this our peti-
tion, and that such measures may be devised and adopted as
will extend to us the protection of the Canadian Government,
laws, and institutions, and make us equal participators in
those rights and liberties enjoyed by British subjects in what-
ever part of the world they reside."

This petition foreshadowed the close of the Company's anoma-
lous rule in Rupert's Land. But the document was not alone
instrumental in bringing about a change. The time had come
for a new order of things. The time had come for extensive
settlement in territories now known, not only to be of vast ex-
tent, but capable of great and successful colonisation — a colo-
nisation which the Company had long resisted, and, could it
have had a renewal of its Charter, it would still have exercised
its power and influence to resist. From 1857, when its affairs
were discussed in the British and the Canadian Parliaments,
the Company showed commendable zeal in endeavouring to
adapt the machinery of its organisation to the purposes of colo-
nisation ; but in this it signally failed, with all the aid it had
from a syndicate of financiers, to whom it turned in a fright
to save its doomed monopoly. But though its administration
was doomed, there was no serious desire, on the part of either
governments to do it injustice, far less a wrong. Nor, finally,
was injustice or wrong done it, save, it may be, in the extrava-
gant rhetoric of such of the colonists as had petitioned against
the continuance of its rule.

We have no motive in pressing the case unduly against the
Hudson Bay Company ; and in proof of this, we shall not bur-
den our pages with any of the indictments which at this period
found ready, and perhaps not over temperate, voice against its
administration. On the other hand, we shall not quarrel with

^iUnsfer of Hudson bay territories to boMiNiou. 191

its advocates. There were partisans on both sides ; and, as
usually happens, on both sides there was something for par-
tisans to say. Objection has been taken to the statement that
the settlers of Red River were in a condition of thraldom, and
that the Hudson Bay Company was a monster of tyranny and
oppression. We have not made either statement, though as a
matter of history we record the fact that both statements were
repeatedly and publicly made. It may be true, as was urged
by the objectors, that unprincipled men in the colony put them-
selves in an attitude of culpable and unreasoning defiance to-
wards the Company ; that they filled the minds of the settlers
with exaggerated notions of their being an abused people ; and
that the local press was made reprehensible use of to keep the
colony in a ferment, and to incite a peaceable and uncomplain-
ing community to revolt. These counter-statements may, or
may not, be true ; in any case, the common sense of impartial
readers of the colony's annals will guide them to a conclusion
that will not far outrage facts.

What these facts are the reader who has followed us so far
will not require to be told. The Company had had a long
term of right and unrestricted power in the territory. The
right was always questioned ; the power was now going to be
disputed. It had exercised both to the detriment of the set-
tlers who had long been in the country ; and to those who were
now coming into it the Company was not disposed to abate one
jot or tittle of any right or prerogative it had hitherto possess-
ed, and was able to maintain the possession of. A policy so
obstructive, as well as anomalous, could not hope in these
modem days to withstand the assaults of freemen, or be other
than a bone of contention among those who saw that the coun-
try was being held, not for the good of the settler, not for the
development of the territory, not for the advancement of civil-

192 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

isation, but for the sole enrichment of a few privileged mono-
polists. This view of the case may not be altogether just to
the Company, the paternal rule of which was in many respects
good, and suitable to the time and the people. But in the
evolution of time, and in the development of the people, it was
impossible that that rule could continue to be suitable ; sooner
or later, antagonism to it was sure to come.

Meanwhile, as the hopes of the settlers rose, in anticipation
of early political connection with Canada, distrust began to be
felt by the servants of the Company, of the permanency of their
relations with Fenchurch Street. Should this link snap, and
the traders be thrown over by the great monopoly, it was fore-
seen that the official class would at once lose influence, and be
at the disadvantage of the settlers. This feeling served to unite
in a closer bond the French and the half-breeds, whose interests
were specially bound up in the fur trade, and to range them in
sharper hostility to the other section of the colony composed
of the farmers and the free-traders. In this attitude of class-
antagonism, it cannot be disguised, that the French received
encouragement from the Church ; and hence arose new elements
of disaffection, and new grounds for dislike of the coming
change.

The change, nevertheless, was to come. The French people,
jealous of their language, their religion, and their institutions,
naturally found support from the Roman Catholics in their de-
sire to uphold their racial possessions ; and the Church had its
own reasons for assuming this position. As the Hudson Bay
Company had hitherto objected to the settler, that the Pro-
vince might be kept as a preserve for game, so the Bomish
Priesthood wished now to exclude the English Protestant, that
the country might be kept as a preserve of the Church. But
the dread of interference, with their religion at least, was an

TRANSFER OF HUDSON BAY TERRITORIES TO DOMINION. 193

unfounded one, as French Catholics, who had had experience
of English toleration in the Province of Quebec, might have
been assured. The only ground of apprehension, which could
cause a moment's uneasiness to Frenchman or Catholic, lay in
the subordination of the language of France to that of the in-
vading Anglo-Saxon, who, in the opening up of the country,
was sure to be in the ascendant. But to object to the encroach-
ment of the English tongue was to object to the encroachment
of the sea. And the sea was now fast approaching. The wave
of Canadian sympathy was soon to break over the plains of
Red River, and to draw into its embrace the return attach-
ment of kin to kin. In this meeting of the waters there was
to be no receding. For a time the intruding wave was to be
dyked out by the antipathies of a half-alien people, but the
waters were to have their way and begin to submerge the land.
The language in which these antipathies was expressed may
be judged, in some respects at least, from the guarded comments
of A.rchbishop Tachd, in a work which appeared in 1868, en-
titled, " A Sketch of the North- West of America." Says this
distinguished Prelate :

" In the Colony there is nervousness and uneasiness about
the future. Some who hope to gain by any change are clam-
orous for one : others dwelling more upon the system of govern-
ment than upon its application, would like to try a change,
certain that they would never return to the primitive state
from which they desired to escape ; a greater number — the
majority — dread that change. Many are very reasonable ; the
country might gain by the change, and it would obtain many
advantages which it now lacks; but the existing population
would certainly be losers. As we love the people more than
the land in which they live, as we prefer the well-being of the
former to the splendour of the latter, we now repeat that for
our population we very much dread some of the promised
changes."

194 tQE NOHTH-WEST : WS HISTORY AND ITS TtlOUBLfiS.

The language of the Archbishop, under the circumstances, ia
very natural. There is uneasiness expressed at not knowing
in what the change is to consist ; and, reading between the
lines, we see a strong preference for the continuance of the
status quo. The attitude of the French half-breeds is equally
plain, and to some extent reasonable. They looked coldly on
any movement which was to ally them with the East without
their consent, and without some assurance that what they
termed their " superior rights " in the country, were to be
respected. Nor was the feeling of uncertainty as to the future,
and the desire first to be consulted ere any change was made,
less marked in the case of many of the English. As a local
writer has put it : " they wanted to escape from the incubus of
the Hudson Bay Company ; but they (especially those who had
emigrated from Ontario), wanted to have a voice in the man-
agement of their own affairs, and they were greatly disap-
pointed when they found that the Canadian authorities pro-
posed sending up a government 'all ready made,' to take the
place of the Company's rule. They felt as if they were getting
from under one dead weight to place themselves under ano-
ther."*

The Hon. William Macdougall, C.B., was to take the first
step in the Canadian Parliament towards admitting into the
Confederation the territorial possessions of the Hudson Bay
Company. This gentleman, who was at the time Minister of
Public Works, moved a series of Resolutions with the design of
incorporating Rupert's Land and the North- West Territory into
the new-formed Dominion. On these Resolutions^ was based

* " History of Manitoba," By the late Hon. Donald Gunn, and C. R. Tuttle,
Ottawa, 1880.

+ These Resolutions were moved on the 4th, and passed on the 11th, of December,
1867, during the First Session of the First Parliament of the Dominion of Canada,
—provision having been made in the British North America Act in anticipation of
the admission of tho territory into Confederation.

TRANSFER OF HUDSON BAY TERRITORIES TO DOMINION. 195

an Address to Her Majesty, praying for Imperial sanction to
the union, and for authority to legislate for the future welfare
and good government of the country. The answer to this
overture was, that when the value set upon the territory had
been determined and agreed upon between the Hudson Bay
Company and the Canadian Government, Her Majesty's consent
would be obtained and an Imperial Act would be passed rati-
fying the transfer. In the following year, to expedite matters,
Mr. Macdougall, the mover of the Resolutions, and Sir Geo. E.
Cartier, visited England to arrange the terms of purchase.
After some delay, and not a little haggling, these were agreed
to ; and late in the year 1869, a formal Deed of Surrender of
the Territories was executed. The terms and conditions of
that surrender were, in brief, that the Canadian Government
was to pay to the Hudson Bay Company the sum of £300,000 ;
that the Company was to be permitted to retain all the trading
posts or stations then actually in possession or in occupation,
with the blocks of land adjoining ; and that one-twentieth of
all the lands in the Fertile Belt, when the same were surveyed
and set out for settlement, was to be allotted to the Company.
It was moreover stipulated, that all titles to land conferred
by the Company, up to the 8th day of March, 1869, were to be
confirmed, and that the Indian claims to portions of the terri- '
tory were to be settled by the purchasing party.

Such were the terms on which the Canadian Government
acquired this vast tenitory, a territory estimated at over
2,300,000 square miles. In the Fertile Belt alone, which
covers an area exceeding three hundred million acres, it is cal-
culated that there is agricultural lands suflScient to support a
population of twenty-five millions. In acquiring this great
possession, the next step was to provide it with some terri-

196 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

torial form of government. In taking this step our Canadian
authorities, unhappily, met with difficulty.

This difficulty was no inconsiderable one ; but the Canadian
Government, if it was premature in its action, was not half-
hearted in its purpose to acquire and enter into possession of
the territory. Our public men, it may at least be said, apprec-
iated the value of the domain the country had just acquired.
With spirit they determined that it should at once be opened
ap. During the Session of 1869, an Act was passed at Ottawa
providing a provisional form of government in the territory ;
and in October of the same year, the Hon. Wm. Macdougall
was appointed Lieutenant-Governor. Surveying parties had
already been sent to the Red River Settlement to lay out
townships, and to institute an extended series of surveys.
Governor Macdougall was now himself to set out to assume
the duties of his office, and, in conjunction with the local Hud-
son Bay Governor, to organise the territory, and " to be in the
place of his government when, by the Queen's Proclamation,
it should become a portion of the Dominion of Canada." The
embarassing incidents connected with this step are so well
known that we need not take up much space to chronicle
them. They will be more fitly told, however, in a succeeding
• chapter.

CHAPTER XII.

THE KIEL RED RIVER REBELLION.

MONSIEUR W. MACDOUGALL.

Monsieur, — Le Comitd national dcs M^tis de la
Riviere Rouge intirae si Monsieur W. Macdougall
I'ordre de ne pas entrer sur le territoire du nord-
ouest, sans une permission sp^ciale de ce Comitd.
Par ordre du President, John Bruce,
Louis Riel,
Dat^ k St. Norbert, Riviere Rouge, Secretaire.*

ce 21e jour d'octobre, 18G9.
With such courtesy did the " The New Nation " greet the
duly constituted Governor of the North- West Territories, on
his arrival at the frontier of his kingdom, in the month of
November, 1869. To give ^clat to the occasion. Nature had
laid a carpet of snow on the threshold of the territory, and the
Half-breed had erected an arch of welcome, which closer

♦ Translation : To Mr W. Macdougall.

Sir, — The National Committee of the Mdtis (Half-breeds) of the Red River order
Mr. W. Macdougall not to enter the territory of the North-Weat without the
special permission of this Committee. By order of the President, John Bruce,

Louis Kiel. Secretary.
T)ated at St. Norbert, Red River,
the 21st Oct., 1869.

197

198 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

observation discovered to be a combined bulletin-board and
barricade. It was an ill-mannered act of the enemy to keep
at the bleak outskirts of the country the whole machinery of an
Imported government, and to guard its portals with a structure
upon which the thunder of proclamations was powerless to
make an impression.

But what was the motive of this obstruction ? All told,
there were not over five hundred white people in the Settle-
ment, including the Half-breeds, who, as we have seen, were
of French -Canadian and English and Scotch extraction. The
Half-breeds were pretty equally divided in the community,
one portion being of the house of Esau, and the other of the
tribe of Jacob, The former were hunters, the latter farmers.
Both were full of the past, a past of isolation from the world,
and of inherited possession of the territory, the latter being
strongly impressed upon their minds. Under the circum-
stances, it was natural that the tribal instinct should rebel at
intrusion. Like people who were not quite sure of their social
position, or of the strength of their moral claim to generous
treatment at the hands of the Government, they were ready to
take any false step which jealousy or intrigue whispered into
their ears.

At the period the little colony was a seething cauldron of
intrigue. There were clashing interests of race and religion,
each striving for dominancy, and the favoured expansion of its
objects and views. There were the interests of the old Com-
pany traders, who were sullen at the recent trend of afiairs,
and were mentally and, in their representative, McTavish,
physically sick of the situation. Then there were the Fenian
filibusters, who would fain find lodgment in the territory,
and whose recently awakened hopes led them to instil disaffec-
tion, and busily to distribute the apples of discord. Finally,

THE RIEL RED RIVER REBELLION. 199

there was Nova Scotia, in the person of the Hon. Joseph
Howe, who, in his recent vigit to the country, had spread
abroad the significance of " better terms." The combustible
material was simply waiting the application of a match. The
match somehow was found, and M. Louis Riel was the man
who lit it. Riel, though not a Half-breed, had many Half-
breed connections ; and by his powers of oratory he had gained
great influence over them. He eagerly espoused their cause,
and thoroughly identified himself with their assumptions and
interests. Without physical courage, he had considerable
moral determination, and a force of character, which however
had its fits of weakness. On the threatened transfer of the
territory he assumed the role of a mimic revolutionist, and, as
we shall see, for a time posed as a successful dictator.

" To appreciate the inner history of the Red River revolt,"
says a modern writer, with a delightful sense of humour, " it is
necessary to observe the exceptional variety and intricacy of
the interests that were involved. Never was there such a mix-
ture of elements in such a little pot before ! No wonder it
came to spasmodic ebullition, and boiled over in wide-spread
confusion. When the history of Red River shall some day be
written gravely, it will be read as an extravagant burlesque.

" First must be named the difierence of race, dividing the-
little community with natural rivalries. Next the difference
of religion, separating the people into two antagonistic parties.
Then must be considered the separate interests of the powerful
Hudson Bay Trading Company, with its own policy to pursue,
and its great profits to make, an association surrounded, of
course, with enemies, as every monopoly is sure to be. With
all this, however, it must be remembered that the isolated con-
dition which the people here all shared tended strongly to unite
all interests against the outside world of foreigners. But to
assist the complication we must take into account the diver-
gent interest of a number of energetic American residents, and
their sympathisers within and without the settlement, who
covertly or openly avowed a policy of annexation to the United
S^Ates. Add still tb s influence of a restless but imbecile Fenian

200 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

party, whose aim was to establish an Independent Republic,
from which they might make wars upon Canada and Great
Britain. The imbroglio is not yet complete. It is no secret
that the Government at Ottawa were themselves divided as to
the policy to be adopted in Manitoba. The Quebec party were
naturally for increasing their own influence, perpetuating the
Catholic religion, and strengthening the French interests in the
new country. The Ontario party were equally determined to
prevent the growth of a second Quebec in the Dominion, and
set themselves in unreasoning haste to secure Protestant and
English ascendancy.

" Here are the ingredients of our olla podrida : Rivalries of
race and of creed; Orangeism, Ultramontanism, Red Repub-
licanism, Monopolies, Fenianism, Spread-Eagleism, and Annexa-
tion ; and, not least active, Ishmaelism, the natural sentiment of
the country." *

It is of course possible unwisely to belittle the incidents con-
nected with the Red River revolt, which we are free to admit,
were, with one exception, ludicrously disproportionate to the
serious aspect aflfairs at one time assumed and the belligerent
attitude of the disaffected elements in the community. That
the insurrection aimed at being something more than " a tem-
pest in a teapot " is clear from the array of so many warring
forces enumerated in the above extract. That it fell far short
of its aims is due more to the good fortune of the friends of
the Settlement than to the ambitious designs of its enemies.
But in saying this, we are not to be understood as paying the
friends of the colony a compliment. They are as little entitled
to credit for what they accomplished as their foes are entitled
to credit for what they did not accomplish. Luck, for once,
was on the side of the blunderers. The whole history, in-
deed, is one huge blunder, a blunder that, had the designs
of the malcontents not miscarried, would have entailed the
most calamitous consequences to Canada and to the Empire.

* "The Canadian Domiuion." By Charles Marshall. Loudon, 187L

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-COL. MILLEK,

Ciommanding Q. R.

THE KIEL RED RIVER REBELLION. 201

The loss of the Red Kiver, as has been remarked, would have
prevented the Confederation of the North American Cclonies
and the consolidation of British power in the New World.

It is proverbially easy to criticise after the event, and to
indicate what ought vince into existence,
provision was made to meet the cost of Government, by an
annual subsidy, and a grant of so much money per head of
the population, as determined by the decennial census. To do
justice to the half-breeds, and to remove their grievances, in
Canada's assuming the Government of the territory, nearly a
million and a-half of acres of land were reserved by the
Dominion Government for allotment among those who at the
time of the transfer were resident within the limits defined
as the boundaries of Manitoba. By a subsequent Act, scrip,
representing in land the equivalent of $160, was given to each
head of a half-breed family ; and, similarly, scrip was issued to
the Selkirk colonists who had been in the country between the
years 1813 and 1835. The claims of actual settlers to considera-
tion were also duly acknowledged, and provision made that they
should receive patents from the Crown for all lands of which
they were in bona fide possession at the date of the transfer.*

* Morgan's " Dominion Annual Register," for 1879.

Province of Manitoba, aKd teHA of settlement. 211

A system of survey was also proceeded with ; townships,
thirty-six miles square, were blocked out ; roads and bridges
were built; and public buildings erected. As the surveys
advanced, the allotment of lands was made to the Hudson Bay
Company, to the half-breeds, and to the early white settlers ;
while land was appropriated for school purposes. Arrange-
ments were now made by Treaty for extinguishing the Indian
title throughout the territory. From 1871 to 1876 seven
treaties were concluded with various Indian tribes inhabiting
the region, extending from Lake Superior to the eastern base
of the Rocky Mountains. The area embraced in the surren-
dered territory is estimated at 450,000 square miles, and
covers the whole Fertile Belt as described in the Hudson Bay
Company's Deed of Surrender. Of this area, reserves, of the
tribes own choosing, were set apart for the support of the
Indians, each family receiving a tract equal to about 160 acres.
The conditions of the relinquishment were the payment of an
annuity of $5 to each member of the tribe, $25 to each chief,
with a suit of clothes every third year, together with an
appropriation for schools, and supplies of cattle and implements
when the Indians settled down on their respective reserves to
agricultural pursuits. It was furthermore stipulated, that the
sale of all intoxicating liquors should be absolutely prohibited,
either on or out of the reserves.

Such, in brief, were the steps taken by the Canadian authori'
ties to organise the once Hudson Bay Territory, and to carve a
section out of it that would worthily rank among the older
Provinces of the Dominion. In time the boundaries of the
new Province were enlarged, and a more extended area was
embraced in its limits. At a later date, the North West Terri-
tory was further parcelled out and given a separate govern-
ment. Manitoba now extends from the western boundary of

212 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

Ontario, long in dispute, to 101° 80' west longitude, and from
tlie international boundary to nearly 53° north latitude. The
desolate territory of Keewatin, lies to the north of this Pro-
vince, sweeping past the western shores of Hudson Bay, to th«
Frozen Ocean. On the west, lie the rich districts of Alberta,
Saskatchewan, Athabasca, and Assiniboia, bounded by the
towering Rockies and British Columbia, the Dominion Pro-
vince on the Pacific. Through these districts run twenty meri-
dian lines of longitude, and, at least, ten of latitude, that are
adapted for settlement. This vast basin is channelled by great
fertilising streams, and gemmed by the most beautiful prairie
flowers, fringed on the north by a sheltering line of forest.
For farming and grazing purposes, no land on this planet is
more suitable ; the soil is a black alluvium of gi'cat depth and
almost inexliaustible fertility, broken by occasional groups of
low hills, composed chiefly of sand and gravel. The soil of
Manitoba, having originally been the bed of a lake, is mainly
formed of a rich silt deposited during the eons of the past. No
account of its amazing productiveness can possibly be exagger-
ated ; and being comparatively free of timber, it is at once ready
for the settler's plough. Of the beauty of the Red River prai-
rie, under different aspects and lights, we get a charming de-
scription from the pen of an eminent native geologist, the son
of an equally eminent Canadian savant.*

" But the country must be seen in its extraordinary aspects
before it can be rightly valued and understood, in reference to
its future occupation by an energetic and civilised race, able to
improve its vast capabilities and appreciate its boundless beau-
ties. It must be seen at sunrise, when the vast plain suddenl}'
flashes with rose-coloured light, as the rays of the sun sparkle

• From the Report of Dr. George M. Dawson, Geologist and Naturalist to the
British North America Boundary Commission, quoted by Prof. Macoun, in his in-
teresting work on " Manitoba and the North West."— Guelpb, 1882.

PROVINCE OF MANITOBA, AND ERA OF SETTLEMENT. 213

in the dew on the long rich grass, gently stirred by the unfail-
ing morning breeze. It must be seen at noonday, when refrac-
tion swells into the forms of distant hill-ranges the ancient
beaches and ridges of Lake Winnipeg, which mark its former
extension ; when each willow bush is magnified into a grove,
each far- distant clump of aspens, not seen before, into wide
forests, and the outline of wooded river banks, far beyond un-
assisted vision, rise into view. It must be seen at sunset,
when just as the ball of fire is dipping below the horizon, he
throws a flood of red light, indescribably magnificent, upon the
illimitable waving green, the colours blending and separating
with the gentle roll of the long grass, seemingly magnified to-
ward the horizon into the distant heaving swell of a parti-
coloured sea. It must be seen too by moonlight, when the
summits of the low green grass waves are tipped with silver,
and the stars in the west suddenly disappear as they touch the
earth. Finally, it must be seen at night, when the distant
prairies are in a blaze, thirty, fifty, or seventy miles away ;
when the fire reaches clumps of aspen, and the forked tips of
the flames magnified by refraction, flash and quiver in the
horizon, and the reflected light from rolling clouds of smoke
above tell of the havoc which is raging below. These are some
of the scenes which must be witnessed and felt before the mind
forms a true conception of those prairie wastes, in the unre-
lieved immensity which belongs to them, in common with the
ocean, but which, unlike the everchanging and unstable sea,
seems to offer a bountiful recompense, in a secure, though dis-
tant home, to millions of our fellow men,"

The next, and an important undertaking, in connection with
the acquirement of the North-West, was to provide facilities
for getting access to it. In 1871, British Columbia expressed
a desire to enter Confederation, but stipulated before doing so,
that it be connected with the East by a railway across the
continent. The Canadian reader will not need to be remind-
ed of the difiiculties, of a party character, that beset this
enterprise, or of the political crisis that came upon the country
fct its inception. Into these difficulties it is of course unneces-
sary here to enter : we simply refer to them as part of the

214 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

history of the undertaking, and as forming serious obstacles
in the way of carrying out the contemplated project. Aftei
many misadventures, the construction of a road fell into com-
petent hands, and the beneficent project of a Canadian Pacific
Railway was got under way. Already this mammoth enterprise
Hears completion ; but years must elapse ere its influence can be
fully felt, in ministering to the wants of a Greater Britain in
the Canadian North- West, and even in determining the destiny
of the country.

Not only, however, does the iron road span the continent,
but that other agent and bond of civilisation, the telegraph, is
fast spinning its web throughout the North-West. It seems
but yesterday that we read the congratulatory messages which
passed between the Governor-General at Ottawa, and the Lieu-
tenant-Governor of Manitoba, at Winnipeg, on the completion
of the telegraphic communication with the Prairie Province.
Yet, since 1871, what marvellous progress has been made ! In
that year Winnipeg had only a weekly mail from the East,
ma tlie United States ; though, in the following year, on the
opening of the Pembina Branch Railway, postal facilities were
greatly increased. Now, on the completion of the connecting
links of the Canadian Pacific, in the region north of Lake
Superior, a daily mail and through transport connect East and
West in closest embrace ; and the Canadian can travel on the
road and its connections for three thousand continuous miles,
without quitting British Territory.

Within the Province of Manitoba, the same tale of advance-
ment may be told. Winnipeg, " the Bull's Eye of the Dominion,"
as Lord Dufierin termed it, has assumed quite a metropolitan
character, and has a large and rapidly increasing population.
The value of the real and personal property within its limits
would astound the old Selkirk colonist; while its social and

PROVINCE OF MANITOBA, AND ERA OF SETTLEMENT. 215

intellectual progress are no less a marvel. In some respects,
one may regret the absence of the simplicity and restful aspect
of the old-time colony, and its homely, primitive life ; but there
is room on the plains for innumerable Arcadias of thrift and
comfort, and no lack of opportunity, in Nature's solitudes, for
getting near to Nature's God. In recounting these prosaic
facts of North-West progress, let us pause a moment to hear
the poet's description of the prairies, and his vision of the
coming life which is to people them :

" These are the gardens of the desert, these
The unshorn fields, boundless and beautiful,
For which the speech of England has no name —
The prairies. I behold them for the first,
And my heart swells, while the dilated sight
Takes in the encircling vastness. Lo ! they stretch,
In airy undulations, far away,
As if the Ocean, in his gentlest swell.
Stood still, with all his rounded billows fixed,
And motionless forever. * *
Man hath no power in all this glorious work ;
The hand that built the firmament hath heaved
And smoothed these verdant swells, and sown their slopes
With herbage, planted them with island groves,
And hedged them round with forests. Fitting floor
For this magnificent temple of the sky —
With flowers whose glory and whose multitude
Rival the constellations. The great heavens
Seem to stoop down upon the scene in love —
A nearer vault, and of a tenderer blue.
Than that which bonds above our eastern hills.
As o'er the verdant waste I guide my steed.
Among the high rank grass that sweeps his sides.
The hollow beating of his footsteps seems
A sacrilegious sound. I think of those
Upon whose rest he tramples. Are they here — •
The dead of other days ? And did the dust
Of these fair solitudes onca stir with life
And bum with passion * * a race

216 THE NORTH-WEST: TTS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

That long has passed away 1 * * The red man

Has left the blooming wilds he ranged so long,

And nearer to the Rocky Mountains sought

A wilder hunting-ground. The beaver builds

No longer by these streams, but far away

On waters whose blue surface ne'er gave back

The white man's face. * * In these plains

The bison feeds no more. Twice twenty leagues

Beyond remotest smoke of hunter's camp

Roams the majestic brute in herds that shake

The earth with thundering steps — yet here I meet

His ancient footprints stamped beside the pool.

Still this great solitude is quick with life.

Myriads of insects, gaudy as the flowers

They flutter over, gentle quadrupeds,

And birds, that scarce have learned the fear of man,

Are here, and sliding reptiles of the ground,

Startlingly beautiful. The graceful deer

Bounds to the wood at my approach. The bee,

A more adventurous colonist than man.

With whom he came across the eastern deep,

Fills the savannas with his murmurings.

And hides his sweets, as in the golden age,

Within the hollow oak. I listen long

To his domestic hum, and think I hear

The sound of that advancing multitude

Which soon shall fill these deserts. From the ground

Comes up the laugh of children, the soft voice

Of maidens, and the sweet and solemn hymn

Of Sabbath worshippers. The low of herds

Blends with the rustling of the heavy grain

Over the dark brown furrow. All at once

A fresher wind sweeps by, and breaks my dream,

And I am in the wilderness alone. "

But the solitudes were now being broken in upon by a stream
of immigrants, whose condition in life was here to be bettered,
and whose future, with ordinary prudence and industry, would
at least be relieved from apprehension. By the possession of

^ROVIJ^Cil OF MANITOBA, AND ERA OF SETtLEMENT. 2l7

thii* vast domain, which now dignifies Canada and adds im-
measurably to her resources, the Dominion was at length to
place herself in line with her powerful neighbour to the South.
She was also to take her rightful position as the great North-
ern nation of the Western Continent, the inheritor of those
mental and physical endowments that distinguish the Anglo-
Saxon race, and the perpetuator of the honours and traditions
that shed a glory on the country from which she sprung. Im-
portant, also, in its central situation, is the possession of the
Prairie Province to the Dominion, in its tendency to gather
within its rich and attractive limits the best brain and muscle
of other sections of Canada, and thus rivet the links that bind
the whole Confederation. In this view, the Province may
truly be termed the national l\eart of the country, or, as Lord
DufFerin, with a statesman's v^ion, phrased it, " the future
umbilicus of the Dominion." The Winnipeg speech, in 1877,
of that clever and versatile nobleman, will doubtless be fresh
in the memory of our readers. In praise of Manitoba, the
Governor-General spoke in impassioned and felicitous terms.
Let us quote but a brief paragraph :

" From its geographical position, and its peculiar characteris-
tics, Manitoba may be regarded as the keystone of that mighty
arch of sister Provinces which spans the continent. It was
here that Canada, emerging from her woods and forests, first
gazed upon her rolling prairies and unexplored North- West,
and learnt, as by an unexpected revelation, that her historical
territories of the Canadas, her Eastern seaboards of New
Brunswick, Labrador, and Nova Scotia, her Laurentian lakes
and valleys, corn lands and pastures, though themselves more
extensive than half a dozen European kingdoms, were but the
vestibules and antechambers to that, till then, undreamt-of
Dominion, whose illimitable dimensions alike confound the
arithmetic of the surveyor and the verification of the explorer.
It was hence that counting her past achievements as but the
preface and prelude to her future exertions and expanding

218 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS tilSTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

destinies, she took a fresh departure, received the afflatus of a
more Imperial inspiration, and felt herself no longer a mere
settler along the banks of a single river, but the owner of half
a continent, and in the amplitude of her possession, in the
wealth of her resources, in the sinews of her material might,
the peer of any power on earth."

With like heartiness did a later Governor-General, the Mar-
quis of Lome, speak of the new Province and its exceptionally
advantageous position ; though, in some respects, his words are
an echo of his eloquent predecessor. Says Lord Lome :

" To be ignorant of the North-West is to be ignorant of the
greater portion of our country. Unknown a few years ago,
except for some differences which had arisen amongst its peo-
ple, we see Winnipeg now with a population unanimously
joining in happy concord, and rapidly lifting it to the front
rank amongst the commercial centres of the continent. We
may look in vain elsewhere for a situation so favourable and so
commanding, many as are the fair regions of which we can
boast. There may be some among you before whose eyes the
whole wonderful panorama of our Provinces has passed — the
ocean garden Island of Prince Edward, the magnificent valleys
of the St. John and Sussex, the marvellous country, the home
of 'Evangeline,' where Blomidon looks down on the tides of
Fundy, and over tracts of red soil picher than the weald of
Kent. You may have seen the fortified Paradise of Quebec,
and Montreal, whose prosperity and beauty are worthy of her
great St. Lawrence, and you may have admired the well-
wrought and splendid Province of Ontario, and rejoiced at the
growth of her capital, Toronto, and yet nowhere can you find a
situation whose natural advantages promise so great a future
as that which seems ensured to Manitoba, and to Winnipeg,
the Heart City of the Dominion."

W^innipeg's progress was naturally that of other towns with-
in and without the Province. As if by enchantment, have
sprung up villages and hamlets in favourable locations over the
face of the country. The present troubles have made the names
of many of these settlements familiar to Canadian ears. Maps
of the line of railway, telegrams chronicling local items, and

tilOVlNCE OF MANITOBA, AND ERA OF SETTLEMENT, 210

postmarks on correspondence from the region, have so promi-
nently brought the localities of the North- West to the every-
day knowledge of our people, that we can scarcely realise the
fact that but a few years ago the towns were non-existent and
their sites the virgin prairie. To contrast ths City of Winni-
peg of to-day with the Fort Garry of fifteen years ago, is rela-
tively to contrast the modern British metropolis with the Lon-
dini um of the Romans, and to reach it from civilisation was
as difficult as to reach York from London at the time of the
Heptarchy. Hear an old resident of Winnipeg, as he recites
his experience in reaching the colony from the Mississippi, in
the year 1867.

" I remember well the difficulties experienced during my first
trip to Fort Garry, the site of the present City of Winnipeg.
An Indian pony attached to a rude ox-cart was the only con-
veyance to be had, and with that I set out to travel some GOO

miles over the houseless prairie to my destination

^To-day you may make the journey in less than twenty-four
hours (which originally took me three weeksj, seated in a com-
fortable Pullman car, instead of the Red River cart of former
years. When I first travelled over the route, no houses were
to be met with, no settlers to ofl*er you hospitality ; the cart-
trail of the prairie was the only mark to guide you on your
way. Now the country is studded with farms and farm-houses ;
cities, towns, and villages have sprung into existence, and rail-
ways are to be found running in every direction. . . Never
shall I forget the scene that presented itself when I first saw
Fort Garry. Hundreds of Indian lodges and tepees covered
the plain, many of the aborigines and plain hunters having
congregated at the spot to obtain supplies for the winter hunt.
Half a mile from the Fort stood about a dozen houses, the homes
and shops of the free-traders. There were not, I suppose, one
hundred men, all told, living in the place where to-day is a city
of over 30,000 inhabitants."*

• From a paper entitled " Seventeen Years in the North-West," read by Mr
Alexander Begg, before tho Boyal Colonial Institute. Vol. 15 of Proceedings,
1883-4. London, 1884,

220 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

In the organisation and development of this great territory
it was hardly to be expected that the Dominion authoritie.q
would meet with no difficulty, or wholly succeed in satisfying
the wants, reasonable and unreasonable, of the North- West.
The Government, naturally enough, had to feel its way in
adapting the machinery of the State to the circumstances oi
the country and the people. While feeling its way, it was at
an early day committed to a vast project which complicated its
dealings with Manitoba, as well as added to its Parliamentary
trials. In the Land Question it had one source of trouble ; in
the Railway Question it had another. Both matters have some-
what strained Federal relations with the Province, and made it
difficult for the Ottawa authorities to moderate the Provincial
demands upon the public chest. In the example which had
been set it by Provinces to the east of Ontario, in clamouring
for "better terms," this difficulty has not been lessened. The
railway project was so great an undertaking that no capitalists
could well be got to take hold of it without imposing conditions
which the Government had to accept. None of these condi-
tions, happily, were very onerous ; and few can be said to be
disadvantageous, if we except the not unreasonable grant-
ing of a monopoly. In the contract certain prohibitions were
imposed upon the country by the Canadian Pacific Railway
Company, which had to be respected by the young Province.
Manitoba, proving restive under these conditions, passed several
Acts in her Local Legislature adverse to the interests of the
Pacific Railway Company, and in violation of the agreement
with the Federal Government. These Acts had to be dis-
allowed, and disallowance created ill-feeling. Looking back
on the bargain, it is now to be regretted that the Government
was compelled to yield a monopoly to the Syndicate ; but no
Company was likely to be got to construct the road without

PROVINCE OF MANITOBA, AND ERA OF SETtLEMENt. ^2l

being assured that, for a time at least, it would not have to
meet competition. Competing lines there must one day be ;
but before these become urgently necessary the Pacific Railway
Syndicate is likely to find it to be its interest to meet any
reasonable demand of commerce, though the monopoly clause,
we believe, operates for twenty years.

Besides the Railway policy, and growing out of it, there is
another cause of irritation, expressed by the "Farmer's Union,"
at what is spoken of as the excessive charges of the Railway
Company in transporting the surplus wheat to a market. Other
grievances, in the fiscal policy of the Dominion, which it is
claimed is unsuited to a purely agricultural people, perpetuate
soreness of feeling, and, with chronic complaints against the
Land Regulations, more or less agitate and unsettle the com-
munity. These irritations the Government, however, must, in
some measure, smooth over by concessions which, while not do-
ing injustice to the other members of the Confederation, will
meet the special circumstances of the Province.

Fortunately, none of these grievances have led the people of
Manitoba to do more than agitate, in a legitimate and consti-
tutional way, for their redress. There is throughout the Pro-
vince a profound respect for law and order ; and though, as in
all communities, there are senseless brawlers, the strong com-
mon sense of the people has kept them, and is likely to keep
them, loyal to the nation, and true to the men, whatever the
party badge may be, who guide its destinies. It is a gratify-
ing fact, and it speaks well for the political and social progress
of the Province, that in the present trouble on the Saskat-
chewan, no element of disafiection finds lodgment within its
borders. The scene of strife lies without the limits of the Pro-
vince ; and no body of men engaged in the conflict has done
more than have the Winnipeg regiments to quell disaffectioa

222 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

and restore the blessings of peace. In the chapters to follow,
in dealing with the trouble in the North-West, we trust that
we shall pen no word that will even seem to be unjust, still
less vindictive. Whatever has given rise to the rebellion, and
actuated its chiefs in their criminal course, we shall not forget
that a certain sympathy is due to men who, while they havQ
unwisely resented intrusion, are the country's pioneers, and
have at least a sentimental claim to possession, and to generous
treatment by the nation.

Justice, it has been wisely said, issues from two factors —
sympathy and intelligence. Lacking these no one can be abso-
lutely just. The exercise of both sympathy and intelligenca
seems to be a special necessity in treating of the present out*
break and the Governmeut's dealings with the North-West.
Intelligence with regard to facts must precede safe criticism :
it is a necessary postulate of all discussion. Sympathy, in
some degree at least, is essential to the formation of correct
opinions, and a safeguard against hasty or harsh judgments-
We need sympathy and intelligence in considering the acts oi
those who have been in revolt, and particularly in weighing
the motives which prompted them in their course. A measure
of both is also needed in discussing the acts of the Government
of the country, no matter of what party, that assumes the re-
sponsibility of efficiently and in good faith administering its
affairs. In approaching the subject of the present insurrection^
and particularly in tracing its origin and the motive of its
actors, both sympathy and intelligence are needed. We hope
to be guided by these essential qualities.

CHAPTER XIV

KIEL S SECOND INSURRECTION.

Causes of the Outbreak.

[HETHER it is possible, and if possible, whether it
is wise for the writer of contemporary history to
endeavour to divine the causes of events just hap-
pening, are questions that may well be asked by
those interested. They are questions, moreover, the
writer may well ask himself. As one grows older, if age
would gain by experience, one learns the wisdom of keeping
Bilence on many things. Where causes are not on the surface,
and where there is a conflict of opinion as to the agencies that
have provoked disturbance, silence is fitting, until a full light
can be shed upon the matter at issue. If one reflects at all,
there is another thought worth considering. Some one has re-
marked, that a deliberate inquiry into the causes of trouble is
apt to raise a doubt whether the matter is worth inquiring
into. And there is wisdom in the observation ; for, after the
event has happened, what matters it to know its producing
cause, and what profit is there in getting into a wrangle as to
who is responsible, or upon whose shoulders the blame should
rest, where responsibility and blame can never justly, perhaps,

223

224 THE NOilTH-WEST: Its HISTORY Aift) ITS TROUBLE^.

be fixed. There is, of course, necessity in getting, if possible,
at facts, for facts are the bases of experience ; and it is proper
for the nation, if it has gone wrong, to get that information
which will set it right and afterwards guide it in the right.
In the interests of justice, no less than for the purposes of
punishment, it is also necessary to be informed of facts, and to
get at the accurate results of inquiry. The sooner this is done,
the sooner sound objects of inquiry are satisfied and a know-
ledge of facts made serviceable. Premature discussion of a
matter has only one justification : it clears the way for more
intelligent inquiry. In discussing the matter at the head of
our chapter, this is the only excuse we can offer for introduc-
ing the subject.

What then are the facts of the case, and where lies responsi-
bility for the present outbreak ? The facts lie deep ; deeper, in
our judgment, than party hostility is inclined to look for them.
With some, the disposition, at present, is to hold the Depart-
ment of the Interior responsible, and to arraign the Govern-
ment before the country for its defective Land Regulations and
for the chicanery of its officials in the North- West. Well,
nothing is easier to some people than to jump at conclusions ;
and, in these days, nothing is more common than for one polit-
ical party to cast reproaches at the other. To make political
capital out of the saddest calamity that could befall a nation,
we would fain hope there is no party in the State to attempt.
In this serious matter, we are not careful to defend the Govern-
ment, if the Government is in default. Neither shall we raise
a voice to exonerate negligent or corrupt officials, if officials
have been negligent and corrupt. We are not writing a polit-
ical history, still less a partisan one ; nor are we even sitting
on a Commission of Inquiry. What facts are before us we

RIEI/S SECOND INSURRECTION. 225

shall deal with impartially, knowing neither party in our con-
ference with truth.

Reference in our last chapter has been made to grievances
complained of by the people of Manitoba, which, though real
and oppressive, and which some day are likely to find voice ia
tones that will startle the politicians at Ottawa, had little or
nothing to do with the insurrection on the Saskatchewan. The
rising on the Saskatchewan was not a rising of settlers, but of
French half-breeds, and through the influence of the latter, to
some extent of Indians, In the history of the affair, the
majority of the Indian tribes have, so far, maintained their
traditional loyalty to the Great Mother beyond the sea. Their
historic attitude, as allies of the nation, has been little disturb-
ed ; and they have, happily, been true to the fealty pledged in
the several treaties which at various times have been entered
into with them. The nature of the obligations which they
came under in the latter will be better understood if we quote
a clause from one of the treaties. We shall select the one
known as the Lake Winnipeg Treaty (or Treaty No. 5) which was
negotiated in 1875 by the Hon. Alex, Morris, P.C, at the time
Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba. It is to the following
effect :

'' And the undersigned chiefs, on their own behalf, and on
behalf of all other Indians inhabiting the tract within ceded,
do hereby solemnly promise and engage to strictly observe this
treaty, and also to conduct and behave themselves as good and
loyal subjects of Her Majesty the Queen. They promise and
engage that they will, in all respects, obey and abide by the
law, and they will maintain peace and good order between
each other, and also between themselves and other tribes of
Indians, and between themselves and others of Her Majesty's
subjects, whether Indians or whites, now inhabiting or here-
after to inhabit any part of the said ceded tracts ; and that
they will not molest the person or property of any inhabitant

226 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

of such ceded tracts, or the property of Her Majesty the Queen,
or interfere with or trouble any person passing or travelling
through the said tracts or any part thereof: and that they wiU
aid and assist the officers of Her Majesty in bringing to justice
and punishment any Indian offending against the stipulations
of this treaty, or infringing the laws in force in the country so
ceded."*

These obligations, comprehensive as they are, most of the
Indians of the North- West, as we have said, have respected,
and to the letter been faithful. Even the non-treaty Indians,
and those who have come into the country from the United
States, have been orderly and well behaved. Though some
bands of them, such as Sitting Bull and his Sioux, have been a
source of anxiety to the Government, they have occasioned
little trouble, and on the whole been grateful for obtaining the
means of subsistence on Canadian soil. Such of them as have
not been faithful to their treaties we shall deal with in another
chapter. That they have broken faith with their Queen has
hardly been their own fault, for they were cajoled into rebellion
by the half-breeds. During a period of lawlessness among the
latter, it is not to be wondered at that the Indians should be-
come unsettled, and take a license which, in the absence of
incitement, they would never dream of taking. It would be a
surprise, indeed, had their attitude been other than friendly,
for the Indians have never been oppressed, and they had there-
fore no grievances to redress. They have always been well, if
not generously, treated by the Government ; its agents have in
the main been faithful, and not a few of them have been com-
passionate ; while the attitude towards them of the settler has
been uniformly kind and conciliatory. The influence of the

* " The Treaties of Canada with the Indians of Manitoba and the North-West
Territories; including the negotiations on which they are based, &c." By th«
Hon. Alex. Morris, P. C, late Lieut. -Governor of Manitoba, &c. Torooto, 1880.

Kiel's second insurrection. 227

missions has also been an ameliorating factor, and has removed
any root of bitterness between the white man and the red. So
much of a victory, and a bloodless one, has been gained over
barbarism.

Where then has been the trouble ? The trouble, as we have
said, has arisen with the half-breeds ; and it is a trouble we
have brought upon ourselves. It is a trouble that has seen its
counterpart in civilisation, in families where illegitimate off-
spring have had to be dealt with, and the penalty paid for
youthful indiscretion. This lies at the root of the matter : the
higher civilisation in its contact with the Indians during the
fur-trading period imposed little restraint upon passion ; and,
in cohabiting with the dusky womanhood of the plains, the
trader has left us a legacy of mischief. From the early days ol
the Selkirk Settlement we have inherited another legacy, which
to-day calls for its meed of punishment. We then taught the
half-breed how to act towards the intruding settler in the
North- West, and gave him lessons in lawlessness and disregard
of justice, which the traditions of the hois-hrMSs of 1816 have
kept fresh in his memory.

We do not say that this explains the whole matter, for, how-
ever harmonious the relations may be between the white
man and the half-breed, there is in the composition of the
latter a restlessness and craving for excitement which must
find vent in some direction. Hitherto this restlessness has
been drawn off in the exciting life of a voyageur, a coureur de
bois, or a hunter on the plains ; but so soon as there is nothing
for Nimrod to do, save to take up agriculture and pursue the
quiet tenor of settlement duties, the temperamental character-
istics are bound to show themselves, though not, as we should
expect, in wholly unregenerate acts. As a class, we have no
disposition to say an unkind word of the half-breed : in our

228 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

pages we have already seen much of him, and generally to hia
advantage. Lord Dufferin was just as well as happy in the
compliment he paid to them, in his notable Winnipeg speech,
which is here worth recording.

" There is no doubt," said his Excellency, " that a great deal
of the good feeling subsisting between the red men and our-
selves is due to the influence and interposition of that invalu-
able class of men the half-breed settlers and pioneers of
Manitoba, who, combining as they do the hardihood, the
endurance, and love of enterprise generated by the strain of
Indian blood within their veins, with the civilisation, the
instruction, and the intellectual power derived from their
fathers, have preached the gospel of peace and good will and
mutual respect, with equally beneficent results, to the Indian
chieftain in his lodge, and the British settler in his shanty.
They have been the ambassadors between the east and the
west, the interpreters of civilisation and its exigencies to the
dwellers on the prairie, as well as the exponents to the
white man of the consideration justly due to the susceptibilities,
the sensitive self-respect, the prejudices, the innate craving for
justice of the Indian race. In fact, they have done for the
colony, what otherwise would have been left unaccomplished,
and have introduced between the white population and the red
man a traditional feeling of amity and friendship, which, but
for them, it might have been impossible to establish." *

But whatever have been the relations between the Indian
and the half-breed, and undoubtedly they have been happy,
those between the latter and the English Protestant settler
have not always been amicable. We have seen what they
were in 1869, in 1849, in 1834, as well as at the Selkirk period.
Throughout the course of their history, the half-breeds have
shown much jealousy of English-speaking immigrants, and a
disinclination to settle down peaceably to the routine occupation
of an advanced civilisation. In their relations with Govern-

* Leggo'a " History of the Administration of the Earl of Duflferin, late Governor-
General of Canada." (Page 605-6.) Montreal, 1878.

riel's second insurrection. 229

ment they have thoroughly understood the art of being trouble-
some, arid had a keen knowledge of wha,t gains are likely to be
got by a troublesome people. With a section of the half-breeds
it has beeri especially difficult to deal. We refer to those who
dd not identify themselves with the Indians, live with them,
and speak their language. Or who have not taken to farming
and a settled life, but who retain their nomadic habits, and
live by and trade in the products of the chase. In the extinc-
tion of large game in the country, their existence is an in •
creasingly precarious one, and their means of livelihood
uncertain. It is with this class, though not altogether, that
trouble has arisen, and continued trouble is to be feared.
They do not settle on the lands Government has given them,
but look upon the whole country as their own and the Indians
exclusive possession. They have been known repeatedly to
play the game of the " bounty jumper," receiving scrip for
lands in one part of the country, which they sell to speculators,
and turn up elsewhere to make further claims upon the
Government.

How far the domiciled half-breeds have legitimate grievances
to complain of, it would be premature to say. Of late, we
know, there has been considerable friction in the relations be-
tween them and the Indian agencies of the North-West, for
which there may be good reason, and the full extent of which
the unofficial public may not know. It is possible that these
grievances have gone long without redress, not because the
authorities were ill-disposed, but because they were afar off,
and, it is to be feared, were too much occupied with the i)arty
game. If this be the case, there is ground for sympathy,
thoucrh not for armed rebellion.

In connection with the Saskatchewan outbreak, and as an
excuse for it, we hear a good deal of " pigeon-holing " of com-

2.^0 THE NORf^-WESf : ITS HISTORY ANt) iTtJ tllOUfeLfeS.

plaints in the Department of the Interior, which, if true, is not
only a gross dereliction of duty, but an inexcusable cruelty and
wrong. In this matter, not only the Opposition, but Ministeri-
alists and the whole country have a right and a duty to pei'form
in getting at the facts. The facts, we trust, will belie current
rumour, and relieve from an uncomfortable suspicion both the
Department and its head. The nation's honour and good faith
are concerned in this matter, and he would be no friend of the
country who, in the absence of proof, would meanwhile believe
the charge to be true. How far the Lieutenant-Governor of
the North- West Territories and the local machinery of his
administration can be relieved from blame, we shall not under-
take to say. Being on the spot, and the immediate source of
appeal, it is unaccountable that any pretext for insurrection
uhould exist without the officials of the Territory being aware
of it. If aware of it, how comes it that the Government wa»s
not advised, and preparations made to redress the grievances
and forestall treason ?

There can be little question that the Departmental System
of Government, and the remoteness of the controlling hand
from the scene of operations in the North-West, have created
dissatisfaction among the settlers generally. This was almost
sure to be the result of a distant Government's administration,
and of the withholding, from political reasons, or perhaps
because it could not trust its officials, of plenary power in
dealing with the settler on the spot. We do not know, of
course, all the difficulties of the position ; and Government in
this, as we trust in other matters, may be justified in pursuing
a policy which came to be obligatory. Hence, caution here
becomes us. It must also be said, in regard to other causes of
complaint, that the Government could not be responsible for
discontent occasioned by the misdirected ambition of land spec-

eiel's second insurrection. 231

"ulators, still less for discontent incident to the failure of the
•crops. In the years 1883-i, we know that severe frosts visited
the region of the North Saskatchewan, and did incalculable
"damage. In this region, also, the change in the route of the
Pacific Railway confounded the designs of speculators, and
provoked much discontent, which, as was sure to happen, was
vented on the Government. However wise and prudent Go-
vernment may be, and however immaculate the character oi
its officials, neither can hope always to escape attack from
grumbling farmers or from ruined speculators. En this imper-
fect world, Governments, and Government officials and ma-
chinery, are sure to be railed at. With Providence, and the
weather, they must take their share of abuse.

Referring to the character and actions of Government offi-
cials in the North- West, and particularly to charges against a
person high in authority in the region, we here may be per-
mitted to quote a paragraph bearing on the subject, from the
correspondence of a Ministerial organ, which is manifestly
unprejudiced and wisely admonitory. The matter is a delicate
one, because personal ; and though we do not shirk responsi-
bility for any strictures of our own, we have no desire to do'
injustice to any one by uninformed comment or indiscriminate
criticism, where what seems good authority can be cited for
statements, the publicity of which may do good, or throw light
on the causes of the insurrection- In lieu of any remarks of
our own we therefore, with more confidence, quote the follow-
.ing from the Toronto Mail, of April 20th :

" Complaint," says the journal's North- West correspondent^,
"is also made of the character of some of the officials sent up
here. One thing is certain, that Half-breeds ought to be em-
ployed, wherever practicable, to deal with the Indians. An-
-other thing is measurably true — that it will not do to put-^
-Bcaly ward politicians from Eastern Canada into positions of

232 tME iJoHTft-wfist : its history and its trouble^.

trust, where they come in daily contact with the settler, stand-
ing, as it were, between him and the Government. Both poli-
tical parties have been guilty of this sort of thing; and the
sooner an end is made of it the better for the peace of the
country. As for the attacks on Lieutenant-Governor Dewdney,
lie seems to me to have acted imprudently in some things ;
but nobody, except the more violent partisans and those spec-
ulators whose efforts to grab land or contracts he has foiled,
deems him corrupt or incompetent. He was badly advised,
however, when he became interested in town sites and bonanza
farms. His connection with them at once brought him into
antagonism with the proprietors of rival booms, and the dig-
nity of the office has suffered in consequence."

What other producing causes of insurrection exist, inquiiy, we
ti'ust, will elicit and time prove. An individual may from
varied motives, such as ill-directed ambition, morbid vanity, or
religious fanaticism, be incited to take up arms against con-
stituted authority ; but these are not the motives that prompt
a whole community to rebellion, though religious and racial
jealousies, we know, are frequent incentives to strife. That
there is a close bond of sympathy between the Mdtis and the
French Canadians there is plenty of evidence. How far this
. sympathy has acted, if not as a stimulant to insurrection, then
as a more than likely condoner of it, we may judge from the
emeute of 18G9-7(). The intrig-ues of the Church in the North-
West, it is abundantly plain, have found active abettors in the
Quebec Province ; and both politics and religion have not
lacked a channel of communication between Ottawa and
Winnipeg. French dominion, losing its hold in the east,
naturally enough, sought to make good its losses in the west.
But if it failed also in the west, this should be the end of it j
there should be no plotting of rebellion.

It is but just to say, however, that Kiel seems to have had
little or no countenance from the Roman Catholic priesthood

LIEUT. -COL. GRASETT.

Commandinsr Royal Qreoadiers.

Kiel's second insurrection. 233

in his present insurrection. There would seem to be an entire
breaking away from the Church, so far as its local representa^
tives are concerned. Whether this is the result of a general
loosening of religious bonds, in a time of relaxed faith, or of
the influence of Montana godlessness upon the chief insurgents,
it would be hard to say. Kiel, himself, seems to be still under
religious influences ; though, in the motives that have inspired
him, whether affected or not, he appears to be under the
hallucination of some Mormon Joe Smith, rather than under
the sober dictates and restraints of Mother Church. The im-
prisonment and murder of priests, and the disregard of their
sacred calling, is undoubted proof that the clergy were opposed
to the rebellion, and withstood lawlessness to the shedding of
blood. Riel, moreover, is reported to have told his people not
to ask for the support of the clergy in their defiance of author-
ity, as they would not receive it. He adds, significantly, that,
** this is a matter affecting our civil and political rights, and
has nothing to do with the Church."

But time will bring all this out. It will also bring out how
far the haK-breeds have received encouragement from reckless
white settlers in the Saskatchewan region. Already it is
talked of that the insurgent leaders were abetted in their
course by other communities than the half-breed village of
Batoche. Agitators in Prince Albert are said to have invited
Riel to the settlement, and to have given him hope of aid in
his rising against authority. This is a matter that should be
closely inquired into : if the oflicials of the administration in
the district were worth anything, it ought long ago to be with-
in the privity of the Government.

But the curious fact with regard to the outbreak, is Govern-
inent's alleged ignorance of the circumstance that serious
trouble impended. Of this we are. assured by the repeated

234< THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

statements of the Premier, by the asseverations of various
members of the Ministry, and by emphatic protests from the
Department of the Interior, Accepting these statements, aa
we are bound to do, in reliance on the honajldes of honourable
gentlemen, we can scarcely doubt the fact, however, that the
Government was aware of discontent among the half-breeds
and informed of their many unsettled claims. With the large
BtafF of officials and representatives in the North-West, and the
Government's many friends, ecclesiastical and political, it is
incredible that the authorities were not made acquainted with
the designs of Riel and his lieutenants. If the land-claims of
the half-breeds were solely the cause of trouble, this surely
was also known to Government; and, if known, why was
justice withheld, and why did humanity disregard them ? The
promptness with which they are now being settled by Com-
missioners would indicate that the claims were just ; and this
makes the case look ugly for Government.

Our own opinion, however, is that the land-claims, though
doubtless a source of irritation, were not the sole cause of
trouble. Riel, at least, has no such pretext to advance in
justification of his conduct. Some time ago he became an
American citizen, and had therefore no rights in the country
to champion. We have already referred to the historical
causes which, though in the background, seem to have been
operative in producing disaffection, and in widening the breach
between the half-breed and the settler. The movement has an
historical and scientific side. This is a side which the popular,
and even the political, mind does npt very closely Ipok a^.
But it is a point of view which has its advantages and its in-
struction. The social position of the half-breed has never been
much coDsidered ; and his civil status in the community, in
Bommon Justice, has yet to be determined- The half-breec^

Kiel's second insurrection. 233

have been treated neither as white men nor as Indians. The
failure to recognise, and to do justice to their civil rights, has
therefore had much to do with the present uprising. Again
we say, tliat grievances do not justify rebellion, far less the
atrocities of Indian warfare. But that the half-breeds had
unredressed grievances goes far to mitigate their crime, and.
to call for clemency in settling accounts.

Like the Indians, the half-breeds have suffered heavy loss-
by the intrusion of the settlers. They have seen the game,,
which hitherto was their sole means of livelihood, driven from'
the plains. They have also, in great measure, lost employment-
by the Fur Company. With their half kin, they have looked'
upon the land as their exclusive and inalienable possession;,
but, unlike their half kin, they were not disj"»osed to submit
quietly to be dispossessed of it. Receiving no Government
annuity, and scorning the charity of the Indian Department,
their case has called for exceptional treatment. Exceptional
treatment have they had ? This is a question the nation has
to put to itself ; and in it lies the kernel of the matter. If they
have not received this treatment, there is little difficulty in
tracing the causes of the rebellion.

CHAPTEE XV.

THE FIRST OVERT ACT.

Duck Lake and the Mounted Police.

ROM the cause we now come to the effect, — from
the consideration of thg motive of the actors to
the act itself. After more than a year of agita-
tion on the North Saskatchewan, Riel and his
half-breeds had worked themselves up to action,
and were now about to slip in the path of wrong.
Already the leader of the movement had steeled
his heart against every humane feeling that en-
nobles mankind, and was calling on the Spirit of Evil to

" make thick (his) blood,

Stop i;p the access and passage to remorse

That no compunctious visitings of nature should ^

Shake (his) fell purpose, or keep peace between

The efifectand it."

But to picture the rebel chief possessed of such nerve and
resolution as Shakespeare represents Lady Macbeth as being
endowed with, is to make a hero of a very unheroic figure.
Whatever influence Riel exercised over the half-breed mind, it
was not the influence derived from coure^e. To his powers of
atump oratory, and. his gifts as an agitator at M^tis gatherings^

THE FIRST OVERT ACT. 237

he owed his sway. But when it came to acts, Kiel's star paled
before that of his able lieutenant, Gabriel Dumont, who is a
bom leader of men, the embodiment of physical courage, and a
military tactician of no mean order. It was at Dumont's in-
vitation that Riel returned from Montana to his mother's
homestead at St. Vital, and from that slumbering French vill-
age on the Red River it was Dumont who carried him off to
the half-breed settlement on the Saskatchewan. With Dumont
he stumped the St. Laurent region, and re-kindled the embers
of half-breed discontent and jealousy. In Dumont's company
he appeared among the white settlers of Prince Albert, and
there, with cunning purpose, loosened the rough tongue of mis-
directed speculation and noisy grumbling. At the St. Laurent
meetings, in the early part of March, Riel had Dumont's active
assistance in drawing up the Revolutionary Bill of Rights ; *
and it was Dumont who, reckless of danger, was to take the
field to assert them.

♦ This Bill of Eights, or what may be termed, the Rebel Platform, makes the
following among other demands :

(a) " That the half-breeds of the North-West Territories be given grants similar
to those accorded to the half-breeds of Manitoba by the Act of 1870.

(6) That patents be issued to all half-breed and white settlers who have fairly
earned the right of possession to their farms ; that the timber regulations be made
more liberal ; and the settler be treated as having rights in the country.

(c) That the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan be forthwith organised with
legislatures of their own, bo that the people may be no longer subject to the despot-
ism of Mr. Dewdney ; and, in the new provincial legislatures, that the M^tis shall
have a fair and reasonable share of representation.

(d) That the offices of trust throughout these provinces be given to residents of
the country, as far as practicable, and that we denounce the appointment of dis-
reputable outsiders and repudiate their authority.

(e) That this region be administered for the benefit of the actual settler, and not
for the advantage of the alien speculator ; and that all lawful customs and usages
which obtain among the M^tis be respected.

(/) That better provision be made for the Indians, the Parliamentary grant to be
increased, and lands set apart as an endowment for the establishment of hospitals
and schools for the use of whites, half-breefls, and Indians, at aiich places aa tha
l^rovincial le^latives may determine^

238 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

In seeking to enforce the demands embodied in the " Bill of
Rights," which we herewith append, the delegates to the St.
Laurent meeting, after unanimously adopting the Resolutions,
sanctioned the instant forming of a Provisional Government.
In this action, history, with ludicrous exactitude, repeats itself.
Just fifteen years before, in the Red River Rebellion, Riel
guardedly prefaced his usurpation of authority by a similar,
quasi legal act. How anxious he was to shield himself under
the forms which are supposed to give sanctity to rebellion, it
might be well to indicate before proceeding with the narrative
of events that were now to happen. We cannot better do this
than by quoting from the Mail's despatch the report of its
intelligent correspondent. Says the writer :

" At the meeting speeches were made on behalf of the half-
breeds by Riel, Maxime Lepine, and Charles Nolan ; and on
behalf of the white settlers by Archibald Davidson, George
Fisher, and Alexander Waller (or Walter). It was determined
to embody this Bill of Rights in a memorial and send it to the
newspapers, to leading members of Parliament, and to the
Dominion authorities. Nolan and Riel then moved that, as the
Government had for fifteen years neglected to settle the half-
breed claims, though it had repeatedly (and more especially by
providing for their adjustment in the Dominion Land Act of
1883) confessed their justice, the meeting should assume that
the Government had abdicated its functions through such neg-
lect, and should proceed to establish a Provisional Government
based upon the principles involved in the Bill of Rights. This

(g) That the Land Department of the Dominion Government be administered as
far as practicable from Winnipeg, so that settlers may not be compelled, as hereto-
fore, to go to Ottawa for the settlement of questions in dispute between them and
the laud commissioner."

[For the above the author is indebted to the Toronto Mail of the 13th of April
last, in which issue the " Bill of Rights " appears as a special despatch to that,
journal. Its correspondent states, in sending it, that he does not pretend to givei
the actual language, but merely the substance, of the Resolutions. We have some-
what abridged the report, and altered the order, though not the wording, of the:
text.]

THE FIRST OVERT ACT. 23§

"was agreed to, and a Government was there ahd then formed
with Kiel as president. The latter announced that no hostile
movement would be made unless word were received from
Ottawa refusing to grant the demands in the Bill of Rights.
If, however, the Government should appoint a Commission
to deal with the half-breed claims and pledge itself to deal
with the questions affecting white settlers, then the Provisional
Government, on obtaining reasonable guarantees that this
would be done, would disband. Bloodshed was to be avoided
unless the provocation amounted to life or death for the revolt-
ed settlers. In the meantime the authority of the Dominion
would be repudiated, and supplies collected to provide against
the emergency of war. Immediately after the meeting, Alex-
ander Fisher, La valine, and Lepine, who had charge of supplies,,
began to levy on the freighters and settlers. Kiel, Dumont,.
and others turned their attention to the Indians, with whom'
they had had talks during the winter ; and tobacco men were-
sent out in all directions informing the chiefs and head-men.
re^ardinff what had been done."

With these acts the insurrection had its beginning. In time
we shall discover how far the half-breeds had justification foi
thus resisting authority, and for committing the country to the
horrors, not to speak of the expense, of civil war. The dis-
passionate reader of the proceedings we have quoted will not
fail to see much of an exculpatory character in the actions, ao
far, of Kiel and his following. If constitutional means were
tried and failed them, and patience gave out in seeking the
redress of their grievances, there is a strong argument for
leniency, at least, in passing judgment upon the acts of rebellion.
So early as 1882, the half-breeds had protested against the
action of the Dominion surveyors, in disregarding the peculiar
conformation of their little farms on the banks of the Saskat-
chewan, and in cutting up their holdings under what is known
as the block system of survey. This action of the surveyors.
If not purely wanton, was supremely silly and impolitic.
Equally impolitic was the alleged disregard by the authorities

240 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROtjfetES.

of the protests of the M^tis ; though, it is said, the protests were
not disregarded, but, on the contrary, that the surveyors were
withdrawn. But the mischief had already been done ; and the
half-breeds seem to have had no assurance that the obnoxious
system of surveys would not afterwards be pursued. Neither
does assurance seem to have been given them that their com-
plaint with regard to the cutting of timber on their lands,
which was the cause of further discontent, would receive atten-
tion, and a more liberal policy be adopted.

There is more excuse for the Government's refusal to assign
new lands in the North- West Territories to half-breeds who
had already received land-grants in Manitoba. At the same
time, there is reason in what they urged, that if the white settler
was not debarred from ta,king up two free homesteads, why
should the native of the soil be refused a similar privilege. To'
discriminate in this matter, and against the half-breed, waat
surely a perilous policy.

But the period of discussion was past ; the time had now
come for action. Kiel, as we have seen, cast about him for
Indian support, and the storekeepers and freighters were fallea
upon for supplies to arm and feed the insurgents. Crossing
the river at Batoche, the stores were pillaged, and a look-out
kept for the Mounted Police, who might be expected to make a
descent from Carlton. Fort Carlton is an old trading-post
(dating from 1797) of the Hudson's Bay Company, on the north
branch of the Saskatchewan. Here at Carlton, up the river
at Edmonton, and down the river at Prince Albert, portions of
the Mounted Police were stationed; and, with the main body
at Forts McLeod and Calgary, in the neighbourhood of the:
Rockies, it performed its functions as a constabulary force.
The Mounted Police were organised in 1874, and have been of
great service in maintaining a wholesome check upon Indiaa

THE FIRST OVERT ACT. §41

lawlessness, in the vast and comparatively unorganised regions
of the Far West. The force now consists of about 500 men,
commanded by Commissioner Irvine, assisted by Adjutant
Cotton. Under these officers there are six superintendents
and twelve inspectors, who take charge of detachments of the
force at various posts throughout the territory. Among the
former, the names of superintendents N. F, Crozier, and W. M.
Herchmer, and among the latter, the names of Inspector Francis
Jeffrey Dickens, a son of the celebrated novelist, aad S. B.
Steele, will be most familiar to Canadian ears. Though the
force can hardly be said to inspire the Indian and half-breed
with that awe which should strike terror to the heart of con-
scious guilt, as a conservator of peace it has, time and again,
rendered signal service to the country, and had its courage and
temper often sorely tried, under circumstances that have called
into exercise the highest qualities of the patriot soldier.

It was upon a portion of this force, on its way from Carlton
to Duck Lake, to convey Government stores to a place of safety
at Prince Albert, that Kiel's first blow was to descend. To
seize these stores, and probably to display their fighting
qualities before the admiring eyes of Beardy's band of Indians,
whose reserve was close to Duck Lake, the half-breeds mus-
tered early in the day of the 26th of March, 1885. The rebel
force was about 200 strong, under the command of Gabriel
Dumont, Garnieu, and other notable plain hunters of the in-
surgent M^tis. Many were well mounted on their hardy
Indian ponies, and were armed with Winchester rifles and
shot-guns.

Duck Lake lies about half-way between Batoche, on the
south branch, and Carlton, on the north branch, of the Sas'
katchewan, — the whole distance between the rivers being not
more than fourteen miles from village to Fort. About fifty

242 THE Noiifii-WEST: its iiiyxoRY a.nd its troubles.

miles to the north east the two branches of the river meet at

■ a point, called " The Forks," below Prince Albert, and near td

the site of the old French trading-post, erected in 1753, by M.

' de la Come. The country between the rivei*s here partakes ol

the usual undulating character of the North- West, occasional

bluffs and high land alternating with open rolling prairie, over

" which is a well-defined trail, flanked by coulees with a pro-

. fusion of scrub, and here and there a sheet of water. Winter's

unsullied mantle was still on the ground.

Posting the bulk of his force in a wood near by Duck Lake,
^Dumont moved forward his mounted half-breeds and Indiana
to reconnoitre the gi'ound and await the approach of Crozier'a
unsuspecting cavalcade. The strength of the Mounted Police
was under eighty, with whom were about forty volunteers
and civilians, in sleighs, from Prince Albert, the whole being
commanded by Superintendent Crozier. With Crozier waa
Captain Moore, of the Prince Albert volunteers, and a loyal •
half-breed interpreter, named Joseph McKay. On the forces
sighting each other, there was a forward movement on both
sides for a conference. Taken by surprise, the Police were
especially at a disadvantage ; while the half-breeds were ready
for action, and with instinctive shrewdnes's had well chosen
their ground. The engagement which followed has many
points of resemblance to the Frog Plain affray, at the Selkirk
Settlement, in 1816, Both actions were between white men
and half-breeds, and both began in a scuffle during a parley,
and ended in a few moments in a massacre.

In the absence of accurate official reports, it is almost im-
possible to describe the order and details of the encounter.
Nor do the accounts of eye-witnesses of the engagement at all
help one, for these are confused and contradictory. The whole
af&ir was a matter of but a few minutes' duration. The

THE FIKST OVERT ACT. 243

Mounted Police on their approach, were, it seems, summoned
by the half-breeds to surrender, a summons which, of course,
they did not obey. Confronted by this menacing group of
half-breeds, Crozier's column halted, and McKay, the interpre-
ter, came forward to confer with the advanced party of the
insurgents. The Cree chief, Beardy, was with the latter.
During the brief parley, Beardy took hold of McKay's rifle ;
and Dumont, seeing the action, and anticipating the result of
the scuffle, signalled his half-breeds to withdraw to the couMes
for protection. Crozier, some paces off, at the head of his
column, interpreting this movement as a hint to surround
his force, with more haste than discretion, gave the order to
fire. The half-breeds instantly replied ; and their superior aim
wrought fell havoc in the loyal ranks. Death's fleet message
came to twelve of Crozier's following, and their lifeless bodies
Btrewed the snow-white plain. Exposed as was his whole
party, Crozier gave the command to retire, and until out of gun-
Bhot another dozen became the target for rebel bullets. For-
tunately the retreating column was not pursued, and the one-
Bided slaughter ceased. The rebel casualties, according to first
report, was but one wounded, though later accounts acknow-
ledge a loss of four killed.

The losses of Crozier's escort were heavy, falling chiefly on
the brave Prince Albert Volunteers and civilians who had
accompanied the Mounted Police on their mission to Duck
Lake. The Police, on the action opening, drew the sleighs
across the trail for a breastwork, and so in great measure,
protected themselves. The Prince Albert men, unfortunately,
had but a slight three-rail fence for cover ; and even this failed
them, for their leader (Lieutenant Morton) had advanced un-
guardedly to within a short distance of Chief Beardy's house^
from which came a galling flank fire from the Indians and half-

244 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

breeds who were concealed within it. It was here they sus-
tained their heaviest loss. Among those to fall were Lieut,
Morton, a farmer from County Bruce, Ontario ; A. W. R.
Markley, an old resident of the Red River Colony, and formerly
of Ottawa; S. C. Elliott, son of Judge Elliott, of London,
Ont., and nephew of the Hon. Edward Blake ; Wm. Napier,
late of Edinburgh, Scotland, nephew of Sir Charles Napier,
and law student in the office of McLean & Elliott, of Prince
Albert ; Robert Middleton and Daniel MacKenzie, natives of
Prince Edward Island ; Charles Hewitt, formerly of Portage
La Prairie ; Daniel McPhail, of McPhail Bros., Prince Albert ;
Alex. Fisher, a young Englishman ; Wm. Baikie, of Orkney
an old Hudson Bay employ^ ; and Joseph Anderson, a native
half-breed.

The wounded Prince Albert volunteers were Captain
Moore, whose leg was broken ; Sergeant A. McNabb ; and
Alex. S. Stewart. Two of the Mounted Police were killed,
viz.. Constables T. G, Gibson, and George P. Arnold. The
wounded Policemen were Inspector Howe, of the Gu^i Detach-
ment, son of the late Hon. Joseph Howe ; Corporal Gilchrist ;
and Constables M. K. Garrett, J. J. Wood, Sidney F. Gordon,
A. M. Smith, and A. Miller. From correspondence which
appears in the Battleford Herald, and the Winnipeg Sun, we
learn that the bodies of the civilians who fell during the en-
gagement bad to be left on the field, as they lay so close to the
house garrisoned by the rebels that it would have been fool-
hardy to have brought them in before the retreat. The last
words of a few of the stricken brave, we transcribe from the
same correspondence. The faltering messages to friends and
dear ones may well be preserved in this narrative. As Arnold
fell, he cheerily said, " Tell the boys I died game ! " Gilchrist's
request was that his comrades &hould not " let the black devils

THE FIRST OVERT ACT. 245

get his scalp." Napier's last gasp was broken by the utterance,
" Write to my father, and tell him I died manfully." Tho
gallant Elliott cried, " Fight on, boys ; don't let them beat us ! "
Baikie's prayer was, " I am shot, God have mercy on my soul ! "
while Morton whispered to a volunteer who had come to hia
succour: "You can't do anything for me. I am mortally
wounded. Take care of my wife and family, and tell them
I died like a man on the battlefield ! ' "

*' Glorious it is to emulate the brave ;

And for a country, and a country's right.
To strive, to fall, and gain a bloody grave

Ajnid the foremost heroes in the fight."

In such sorrow and anger as may be imagined but not de-
scribed, Crozier and his detachment reached Carlton, where
he was presently joined by Commissioner Irvine with a strong
contingent of the Police. Irvine's column had itself been in
danger on the way to Carlton, but escaped attack by making
a wide detour through the Birch Hills on the east. As it waa
determined not to hold the post at Carlton, it was evacuated
and burnt, and the combined party proceeded to Prince Albert.
Here the greatest excitement prevailed ; for, learning of the up-
rising, the settlers and their families throughout the district,
flocked to the town for safety, and for weeks were in alarm oi
an attack upon the place.

The arrival of the Carlton garrison at Prince Albert gave 4
measure of security to its inhabitants, though the dread of
attack, the remoteness from succour, and the interruption of
telegraphic communication, kept the settlement for a long
while in the agonies of suspense. Apprehension was increased
by uncertainty with regard to the attitude of the large bands oi
Indians whose reserves extend along the North Saskatc'iew-an.
A descent of Indians might come from any quaiter. White

246 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

Cap and his Sioux were close by, at Moosewood. The pagan,
Beardy, was known to have been with the half-breeds at Duck
Lake ; while Okemasis and One Arrow were in the immediate
proximity. North of Carlton were the bands of Atakakoop,
Mistowasis, and Pete-qua-quay, who, it was feared, might take
the war-path at any moment. Nor was the outlook more
assuring in the region between Battle River and the N. Sas-
katchewan. There Poundmaker and Strike-him-on-the-back
were known to be ugly. Westward, matters were worse ; for
Big Bear had left his reserve and was threatening mischief ;
while at Frog Lake, near Fort Pitt, immediate trouble seemed
brewing. Throughout the region the aspect appalled the
stoutest hearts, and gave occasion for the gi-eatest alarm and
uneasiness.

On the South Saskatchewan disquieting rumours were also
rife ; while apprehension was increased by the interruption of
the mails and the cutting of the telegraph wires. Already tha
Government had taken active steps to assert its authority and
save life. News of the uprising had electrified the whole
country ; and the volunteers of Winnipeg and the chief centres
in the east were eager to offer their services to the Government.
The Minister of Militia and the officials of his Department, at
Ottawa, nobly rose to the occasion, and gratifyingly met the
demands made upon them. In these demands assurance was
given to Canada and the Empire that the heroic qualities of
the race had not degenerated in the New World, and that the
Colonial status had not wholly dwarfed patriotism.

The Dominion authorities were fortunate at this juncture in
having in command of the militia a distinguished officer of the
British army, who had seen varied service, and was known to
possess, in happy combination, the essential soldierly qualities
of courage and (Jiscretion. This officer, Major-General Middle--

^HE FIRST OVERT ACT. ^47

ton, C.B.,* after a hasty conference with the Militia authorities,
in concert with the Governor-General, the Premier and the
Cabinet, proceeded instantly to Winnipeg, thence to Qu'Ap-
.pelle, to place and take charge of a small army in the field.
On the General's statF was Lord Melgund, military secretary to
the Marquis of Lansdowne."!* Meanwhile, Kiel and his half-
breeds were not idle. Runners speedily carried, far and wide,
the " news of battle " to Indian and half-breed settlements ;

* Major-General Frederick D. Middleton, who came to Canada ia November,
1884, as successor to General Luard in the command of the Militia of the Dominion,
Is the third son of the late Major-General Charles Middleton of the British army.
In 1842, he graduated at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and obtained an
ensigncy in the same year. He saw his first active service in New Zealand, but
won his chief laurels in India during the Sepoy Rebellion, of 1857-8. He was
present at the relief of Lucknow, acting first as Orderly Officer to General Franks,
and later as Aide-de-Camp to General Lugard. For gallant conduct during skir-
mishes with the mutineers, and in command of storming parties, he repeatedly
won promotion ; while for cool daring on the field he was recommended to Lord
Clyde as having deserved the honour of the Victoria Cross. Unfortunately, being
at the time on the personal staff of the General, the honour, though richly deserved,
was withheld. Throughout the Mutiny, General Middleton was on many occasions
specially mentioned in home despatches. In 1861, he came to Canada as Major of
the 29th Regiment, and remained here on the staff of General Windham, from the
period of the Trent affair to the withdrawal of the British troops from the country.
The gallant General is married to a Montreal lady, and so far, at least, may be
claimed as a Canadian.

+ Viscount Melgund, eldest son of the Earl of Minto, came to Canada as Mili-
tary Secretary to His Excellency, the Governor-General At the outbreak of the
Insurrection in the North-West, he received permission \o attach himself to Gen-
eral Middleton's staff at the front. Lord Melgund has seen milit.'wy service in many
quarters of the Empire, and taken part in various campaigns, at one time as a Volun-
teer, at another as a Regular. In 1867, he entered the Scots Fusilier Guards, but re-
tired three years later. He was in Paris during the Commune ; served with the
Oarlist Army in Spain ; and was an attacM with the Turkish Army in 1877. In
1879,he was on the staff of Sir Frederick Roberts in Afghanistan, and accompanied
the General to South Africa in 1881. In the following year he served in the
Egyptian Campaign, as Captain in the Mounted Infantry, was severely wounded
at Magyr, and was present at Tel-el-Kebir. Under the pseudonym of " Mr,
Bolly," Lord Melgund is widely known in England aa one of ihe most daring
gentleman riders in Britain.

S48 THE NORTH-WEST: tTS HtsTORT AND tTS TROUBLES.

and an army of scouts radiated from Batoche to keep rebel"
dom advised of every movement outside.

While these events were happening, the pallid dead who had
fallen at Duck Lake, and were yet alas ! unburied, slept tho
sleep of the brave, and with eager and touching enthusiasm
Canada's sons in the east rose to avenofe them.*

* Since this chapter was written, the successes of the North- West Field Force
have enabled the friends of one of the fallen at Duck Lake to recover the body of
a hero from the battle-field. A despatch from London, Ontario (June 19th), con-
veys the intelligence that the body of Lieut. Skeffington C. Elliott, the esteemed
Don of Hon, Justice Elliott, was exhumed and brought to London for interment in
the family burying vault. As befited the occasion, the brave Prince Albert vol-
unteer was given the honors of a military funeral in his native city, representatives
being present of the various metropolitan and county corps, together with the
municipal officers, members of the Middlesex T^aw Association, the London Board
»)f Education, and other local societies. The funeral obsequies were most im-
pressive, the populace turning out en masse to do honor to the fallen ofiicer. The
Rector of the Cronyn Memorial Church officiated, and tho firing party was fur-
bished by the 7th Fusileeia.

CHAPTER XVI.

CALLING OUT THE VOLUNTEERS.

F there is one circumstance more than anothei
that gives hope for the future of Canadian
Nationality it is to be found in the alacrity and
enthusiasm with which the youth of the country
rally on occasion for its defence, or for the sup-
pression of armed disturbance within its borders.
The military spirit has always been strongly
marked in the training and temper of the Cana-
dian people ; though, oddly enough, in the Mother-land, credit
has rarely been given them for the fact. It has been the
fashion in England to speak slightingly of this spirit, and to
represent Canadians as unwilling to bear their share in the
defence of the Empire. For long, it was considered doubtful
whether Canada, in the event of embroilment with her great
neighbour to the South, would unite heartily in making an
effective resistance to invasion. It was affirmed that, when
danger menaced, some organic weakness would show itself,
fatal to vigorous and united action. But not only were the
people misrepresented ; the country itself was given up. I\
P 249

250 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

was alleged that its peculiar conformation, and long line of
frontier, made it impossible of defence; and the belief v/as
entertained that, if invaded, the colony would become an easy
conquest. To retain it was therefore long held to be an ele-
ment of national weakness. Such were the calumnies which
insular ignorance was wont to heap upon Canada and Canadians.

After the withdrawal of the English troops from the country,
It was seen that Canada did not seriously miss them. It was
then seen that, colony as she was, she aspired to be a nation,
and in the aspiration, she sought to rely upon herself. If the
events of the War of 1812 were not remembered to her honour,
the attitude of Canada duriag the Trent affair, and the prompt
rallying of her hardy sons to repel Fenian invasion, in 1866,
must have opened the eyes of old countrymen to the loyalty
and valour of her citizen soldiery. More recently, the offer of
Canadian contingents, for Britain's service in Egypt, shows the
spirit that animates her people, and is the most effective reply
to the popular misapprehension. The number of Canadian
military school cadets that annually find their way into English
regiments is another proof, were proof wanted, of their apti-
tude for military service, and their readiness to aid the Mother-
land in her hour of need. The annual presence at Wimbledon
of her crack rifle shots should also count for something in
removing misapprehension, and in assuring old Albion that
her military prestige is not likely to suffer eclipse beyond the
Atlantic.

But the assurance was of most value to her own people.
When the insurrection broke out in the North-West, it was
with pride the country saw the eager rall^'^ing of her sons to
repress it, and to restore the blessings of peace. The response
to the call for troops was immediate and enthusiastic. It wag
a response which gave assurance that, young as the nation was.

CALLIKG out *kE VOLUNTEERS. 25l

it had passed from the adolescent stage into full manhood. I\
was a response which showed that Canada had resourced
within her borders equal to any emergency, and that if she
spread herself over a Continent, over a Continent she was able
to throw the shield of her protection. Nor was this all, for it
also showed that

" Old England still hath heroes,

To wear her sword and shield J
We knew them not while near ua.

We know them in the field."

In Toronto, the military as well as civil heart of the Province,
the last days of March saw an unusual sight. News of the
rising on the Saskatchewan had been telegraphed over the
country, and the Ontario Capital was one of the first to be
communicated with, in the call for troops for active service in
the North- West. To the prompt call of the Hon. A. P. Caron,
Minister of Militia, the citizen-soldiery of Toronto made prompt
response. The two city battalions mustered in the drill shed in
full force ; while the Department at Ottawa, and the Brigade
Office at Toronto, were inundated with applications from
officers commanding country regiments, to be allowed to go to
the front. The " Queen's Own," whose military recordf deser-
vedly stood high at Ottawa, was called upon for a quota of 250
men. The summons to arms of its commanding officer brought
550 rank and file at a few houi-s' notice. The same quota was
asked for, and with like alacrity furnished, in the case of the
" Royal Grenadiers."

The scenes in the Toronto drill shed, from the 28th to the
30th of March, were long to be remembered. No such excite'
ment had been witnessed since the closing days of May, 1866,
when, for the most part, a former generatioa, the sires of the
eager youths, who were [now fitting themselves out at the call

252 TflE KORTH-WESt: ItS fllSTOtlT AND ITS TROUBLES.

of duty, took hurried leave of those dear to them in the sum-
mons to the Niagara peninsula, to repel the Fenian invader.
Again were the scenes enacted of that stirring time: the
hurrying to and fro from armoury to parade ground ; the
bugle summons to " fall in " ; the hasty roll call ; the " proving "
the companies ; the inspection of clothing, arms and accoutre-
ments ; and the momentary " stand at ease ! " Then came the
sharp calling of the brigade to " attention " ; the few words
of orders ; the march oiF to the station ; and the final leave-
taking, with the ardent hand-clasp and tender look of fare-
well, which spoke the words the tongue could not articulate.

"Let them go with the cheers of the country to speed them,

The gallant, devoted, and flower of the land ;
We well may be proud that young Britain could breed them,

And match her past heroes at Freedom's command.
They have joined honest hands for the future of nations.

The grandeur of law and humanity's due :
Belief that God's blessing through aU their relations

Is with them, inspires our success to the True !"

From early dawn on the 27th March the headquarters (To-
ronto) of Military District No. 2, were astir with the exciting
duties of the hour. On that day the Deputy- Adjutant General,
Lt. Col. R. B. Denison, received orders from Ottawa to call out
«C" Company, School of Infantry, at Toronto, Lt.-Col. W. D.
Otter, Commandant. Col. Otter, with the military prompti-
tude which characterises all his movements, was ready with
his command at an hour's notice. The same day this able
officer was given charge of the Toronto Expeditionary Force,
and had instructions to hold himself in readiness, with " C "
Company, and the contingents of the Queen's Own and the
10th Royals, for route orders, via the Canadian Pacific Rail-
way, to the North-West. All Saturday and Sunday, the 28th
and 29th insts., the requu'ed quota of the city Rifle and Infan-

CALLIK© OUT THE VOLUNTEERS. 253

try regiments paraded at the Drill Shed, and received the
necessary outfit for proceeding to the front. In view of the
still inclement weather, and the exposed route by which the
force was to reach the North-west, this outfit was largely
added to by the thoughtful provision of the Mayor and various
members of Toronto municipality.

By Monday, the 30th, thanks to the efforts of the City Cor-
poration, and the unwearied labours of the District Staff" —
Deputy Adj.-General Denison, Brigade-Major, Lt.-Col. Milsom,
and the Sup't. of Stores, Lt.-Col. Alger — the volunteers were
in readiness to leave Toronto.* Marching orders had been im-
patiently awaited. For forty-eight hours dark coat and red
had massed together on the rallying ground, inspired with but
one purpose and animated by a common feeling. With beau-
tiful enthusiasm all were eager for the fray. During the period

* The composition and strength of the Toronto Expeditionary Force (Lt.-Col. W.
D. Otter in command), were as follows :

(a) Infantry School Corps, " " Company, 85 men and 4 officers (MajorJHenry
Smith ; Lieutenants J. W. Sears, and R. L. Wadmore ; Soigeon, Dr. F. W.
Btrange).

(6) 2nd Battalion " Queen's Own Rifles" (Lt.-Col. A.A. Miller in command), 257
men and 18 officers (Major D. H. Allan ; Adjutant, Capt. J. M. Delamere ; Quar-
termaster, James Heakes ; Surgeons, Drs. Jos. W, Lesslie, and W, Nattresa ;
Capts. T. Brown, H. E. Kersteman, J. C. McGee, W. 0. Macdonald ; Lieuten-
ants P. D. Hughes, W. G. Mutton, H. Brock, R. S. Cassels, E. V. Gunther ;
2nd Lieuts., A. Y. Scott, A. B. Lee, J. George.)

(c) 10th Battalion " Royal Grenadiers" (Lt.-Col. H. J. Grasett [late Lieut. 100th
Foot] in command) 250 men and 17 officers (Major G. D. Dawson [late Lieut 47th
Foot]; Adjt., Capt. F. F. Mauley ; Paymaster and Acting Quartermaster, Lieut.
W. S. Lowe ; Surgeon, Dr. G. S. Ryerson ; Capts. F. A. Caaton, James Mason,
0. L. Leigh-Spencer, C. Greville Harston ; Lieuts. D. M. Howard, And. Irving ;
G. P. Eliot, Forbes Michie, W. C. Fitch ; 2nd Lieuts. Jno. Morrow, J. D. Hay,

A. C. Gibson).

The Expeditionary Force had attached to its staff as Supply Officer, Lt.-CoL

B. Lamontagne, Deputy Adj.-General of the Ottawa Military District (No. 4.)
[For the revision of the above lists the author is indebted to Lt.-Col. 0. T. Gill*

Inor, formerly Commanding Officer " Queen's Own Rifles," and to Major A. B.
Harrison, in temporary command of the 10th " Royal Grenadiers."]

So 4 THE NORTH-WEST?: iTS fliSTORY AND ITS TROOBLE^.

the Drill Shed had been almost continuously filled with an im-
mense concourse of townspeople, anxious to spend the parting
moments with those dear to them, and with tender solicitude
bent on seeing them ofi" with a fervent " God speed ! " As the
morning passed, the crowd grew more dense, and by noon, not
only the approaches to the Drill Shed, but the streets on the
line of march to the station, were choked with a surging mass,
which, heedless of the threatening rain, had gathered to
give the brave lads a farewell cheer. What had been the
home parting from each familiar figure in dark green and
red there is no need to lift domestic veils to divine. That
assuredly was tender; and now, while excitement glistened in
the eye of love, the heart was filled with misgivings in taking,
it might be, the last farewell. Nor was the solicitude confined
to those who were to be left behind : in the effort to suppress
emotion in many a manly breast we saw the eye averted, the
muscles of the mouth quiver, and the lip bitten, that the mind
might be kept from its sorrow and the rising tear be suppressed.
But now came the enlivening music, with the roll of drums,
and the heart recovered its composure as the eye caught sight
of the compact column and the martial bearing of Toronto's
chivalry.

*' Now all with life and motion swarms,
Glistens the street with burnished arms."

It was a proud moment ! a moment which Canadian verse,
we doubt not, will yet enshrine in its treasures, and long keep
green the memory of. As we looked on the stirring scene, we
mentally obsers^ed, what an impetus to patriotism was here, and
how deep must be the impress of such a sight on the national
heart ! Than this, what influence, we thought, could be more
eli'ective to weld Confederation, or more potent to charge the

CALLING OUT THE VOLUNTEERS. 251$

nation's veins with the tingling thrill of patriot enthusiam and
the nation's brain with the fire of a common sentiment !

But while Toronto's volunteers were leaving the Union
Station, and the hearts of ten thousand onlookers went out in
sympathy with their ready response to the call of duty, tha
summons to arms was elsewhere being answered with like
patriotic ardour. Manitoba's gallant sons were already in the
field. The 90th " Winnipeg Rifles," under Lt.-Col. A. Mackeand ;
a Cavalry Troop, under Capt. Knight ; and a Field Battery,
under Major Jar vis, all of Winnipeg, were the first to be with
General Middleton at Qu'Appelle. Besides these local corps
the 91st Winnipeg Infantry, 400 strong, under Lt.-Col.
Thos. Scott, M.P., was instantly organised, together with three
companies of Scouts and one of Rangers, under Major Boulton,
and Capts. Dennis, White, and Stewart. Capt. Dennis's Scouts
were composed of Dominion Land Surveyors. The other
Scouts and Rangers were drawn from the loyal yeomen of the
territories.

"A" Battery, from Quebec, and " B" Battery, from Kings-
ton, under the command of Lt.-Col. Montizambert, had gone
forward from the East. The Governor-General's Foot Guards,
and a company of sharpshooters, from Ottawa, under Capt.
Todd, were also under way. To follow these, in rapid succes-
sion, there went forward a Battalion from York and Simcoe,
commanded by Lt.-Col. Wm. E. O'Brien, M.P. ; the "Mid-
landers," under Lt.-Col. A. T. Williams, M.P., of Port Hope ;
the " 65th," Lt. Col. Ouimet, M.P, of Montreal ; the " 9th," Lt.-
Col. Amyot, M. P., of Quebec ; the Governor-General's Body
Guard (73 men and horses), Lt.-Col. G. T. Denison, of Toronto,*

• The Governor-General's Body Guard for Ontario was called out on the Ist of
April and left Toronto for the front five days afterwards. The following are tha
officers who accompanied the corps on active service : Major Commanding, (Lt.<

256 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

and the 7th Fusiliers, Lt.-Col. W. M. Williams, of London. Later
in the month of April, there were also to go to the front, "A"
Troop, Cavalry School Corps (45 men and horses), Lt.-Col.
Turnbull, of Quebec ; and a Provisional Battalion from Halifax
(350 strong) under Lt.-Col. Bremner.

But this hasty mobilising of volunteers was creditable not
only in the numbers that turned out at a daj^'s call for the
nation's service ; its strength and effectiveness lay in the spirit
that animated the men. To see the force on parade, those
who usually fail to dissociate the volunteer from the trades-
man and the clerk, must have found it difficult to realise the
fact that it had never seen active service ; that its ranks knew
war only by tradition ; and, for the most part, had received
military training, not on the open field, but in a contracted
drill shed. In the ranks were mingled the brawn and muscle
of machine shops, athletes from cricket and lacrosse grounds,
clerks from "store and office, undergraduates from the univer-
sities, together with the delicately nurtured sons of wealth,
and the blest blood and intellect of local families of influence.
But, shoulder to shoulder, there was no distinction of birth,
nor in the spirit of emulation that infected all ranks. All were
actuated by a genuine desire to serve the country, and uncon-
scious of the destiny that lay before them on the lonely prairies
of the west, were eager to win the badge of a nation's honour
and the laurel of military renown.

As an indication of the martial spirit by which young and
old were actuated in the eager press to the front, the following
" Incident," told in verse by J. A. Eraser, jr., a talented young
Torontonian, is worthy of preservation in these pages :

Col.) G. T. Denison ; Captain Orlando Dunn ; Lieut Wm. H. Merritt ; 2nd.
Lieuts., F. A. Fleming and T. B. Browning; Adjutant, Capt. C. A. K, Demson j
Burgeon, Dr. J. B. Baldwin.

CALLING OUT THE VOLUNTEERS. 257

*• The call ' To arms ! ' resounded through the city broadjand fair.
And volunteers in masses came, prepared to do and dare ;
Young lads, whose cheeks scarce showed the down, men bearded, stout and

strong.
Assembled at the first alarm, in bold, undaunted throng.
' 111 volunteer ! ' an old man cried, ' I've served the Queen befox-e ;
I fought the Russ at Inkerman, the Sepoy at Cawnpore ; '
And as he stood erect and tall, with proud and flashing eye,
What though his hair were white as snow ? He could but do or die.
'You are too old,' the answer was ; * too old to serve her now.'
Then o'er his face a wonder flashed, a scowl came on his brow,
And then a tear stole down his cheek, a sob his strong voice shook, —
• Sir, put me in a uniform, and see how old I'll look ! '"

Nor was the military ardour confined to those who were
further to share it. It was but a day's work to change tho
usual aspect of tranquil industry over the country, and to
fire the populace with " war's fitful fever." As the trains sped
on their way from Toronto with the several contingents, tho
people, catching the excitement of the time, turned out in
whole towns'-strength to see the expeditionary force pass by,
and with cheers and God-speeds ! to relieve surcharged feel-
ing. A people, whose military enthusiasm could be so pro-
foundly stirred, must have had an ancestry not unfamiliar with
martial deeds. Here was a young nation that had heard little
of the cannon's roar save in the feu-de-joie on some gala day,
when the troops mustered for inspection by the reviewing
General, suddenly infected with the death-thirst of the battle-
field, and its young life eager to launch itself on the tide of
war, and win the fame which is the hero's meed. Surely, it
will be said, there is a bright future for a nation whose pulses
can be so quickened at the summons of patriotism, and whose
young men respond so eagerly at the call of duty.

But these gallant youths are the sons of no pampered sol-
dier ancestry ; for the most part, their sires were the rough
toilers of the land, the sturdy pioneers of the once wilderness

258 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

their offspring are now passing through. The names of the
stations on the Canadian Pacific, just east of Toronto, recall
the wrestlings of their fathers in founding a nation in the
backwoods once entirely peopled by the red Indian. Through
the region opened up by the iron highway to the Ottawa, the
stealthy Iroquois was wont to find his way to the sheepfold of
the Huron ; and down its waterways the descending birchbarks
of the latter would occasionally steal to wreak Wyandot
vengeance on the tribal enemy. Of these days we have left
us but the tradition, and, in the region, the beautiful Indian no-
menclature. Happily both are being treasured. Canadian liter-
ature, in the researches of its later writers, is recounting, often
with infinite charm, the story of that early time. In the dis-
trict through which the Toronto contingent was now speed-
ing, a Canadian Parkman* has preserved for us, with inimitable
literary grace, the chief incidents of the local history. Let
us interrupt our narrative for a little with an extract:

" Of the Trent Yalley, as it was two hundred and seventy
years ago, Champlain gave such glimpses as must have stirred
the sportsmen at the Court of Mary de Medici and Louis XIII.
No part of Canada owes more to its pioneers than this charm-
ing and now most healthful lake-land. Some of the finest
towns were, two generations ago, jungles reeking with malaria,
and infested by wolves, black-flies, black snakes, and black
bears. All honour to the men whose hands or brain wrought
the transformation ! . . Of the Iroquois domination, but
few traces remain — a few sonorous names. The race of athletes
who lorded it over half the Continent, whose alliance was
eagerly courted by France and England, were, after all, unable
to maintain their foothold against the despised Ojibways. Of
these the Mississagas became specially numerous and aggressive,
80 that their totem, the crane, was a familiar hieroglyph on
our forest trees from the beginning of last century. The

• J. Howard Hunter, M.A., in the article on " Central Ontario," in Picturesque
Canada.

CALLING OitT THE VOLUNTEER^. SoO

Mississagas so multiplied in their northern nests, that presently,
by mere numbers, they overwhelmed the Iroquois.

" The Mississagas, though not endowed with the Mohawk
verve or intellect, were no more destitute of {)oetry than valour.
Take the names of some of their chiefs. One chief's name
signified ' He who makes footsteps in the sky ; ' another was
Waivanosh, ' He who ambles the water.' A local Indian mis-
sionary was, through his mother, descended from a famous
line of poetic warriors ; his grandfather was Waubuno, ' The
Morning Light.' On occasion, the Mississaga could come down
to prose. Scugog describes the clay bottom and submerged
banks of that lake, which, taking a steamer at Port Perry, we
traverse on our summer excursion to Lindsay and Sturgeon
Lake. Chemong aptly names the lake whose tide of silt some-
times even retards our canoe when we are fishing or fowling.
Omemee, ' the wild pigeon,' has given its name, not only to
Pigeon Lake and its chief affluent, but to the town where
Pigeon Creek lingers on its cour.se to the lake. Sturgeon Lake
is linked to Pigeon Lake by a double gateway. This ' rocky
portal ' the Mississagas described by Bobcaygeon. In our tune
the name has been transferred to the romantic village on the
upper outlet, and the latter is now the ' North River.' By a
I'eprehensible levity, the lower outlet is now called ' The Little
Bob.' The steamer Beauhocage, which plies between Lindsay
and Bobcaygeon, would evidently take us back for the latter
name to the old French explorers, and to their outspoken
admiration of the lovely woodlands on these waters. At the
south-west corner of Stony Lake the overflow of the whole
lake-chain is gathered into a crystal funnel, well named ' Clear
Lake,' and thence" poured into Rice Lake through the Otonabee.
" On Rice Lake, the chief Indian settlement is Hiawatha, —
named after the Hercules of Ojibway mythology, which the
American poet has immortalised in his melodious trochaics.
At Hiawatha and on Scugog Island, you may still find, in the
ordinary language of the Ojibway, fragments of fine imagery
and picture-talk, often in the very words which Longfellow
has so happily woven into his poem. And the scenery of this
Trent Valley reproduces that of the Vale of Tawasentha.
Here are ' the wild rice of the river,' and ' the Indian village,'
and ' the groves of singing pine-trees, ever sighing, ever sing-
ing.' At Fenelon Falls we have the ' Laughing Water,' and

2G0 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS ^ROUBLES.

not far below is Sturgeon Lake, the realm of the ' king of
fishes.' Sturgeon of portentous size are yet met with, though
falling somewhat short of the comprehensive fish sung by
Longfellow, which swallowed Hiawatha, canoe and all ! "

Leaving the lacustrine beauty of the region of these rich
Indian appellatives, the face of Nature puts on a visible frowni
and closing day brought the expedition to what the imagina-
tion might fitly conceive as the confines of an Inferno. Still
eastward, the railway train, with its martial freight, rushes
like some weird spectre through belts of hardy pine, to which
the granite soil gives but a sparse sustenance, and over the
borderland, which it now crosses, " between the oldest sedi-
mentary rocks and the still more ancient Laurentian series."
By midnight Carleton Place and an appetising supper were
reached. Here an incident occurred which we may well stop
to chronicle. In expectation of the arrival of the Toronto
detachment, a number of patriotic Members of Parliament,
hailing from the west, had for the afternoon left their arduous
legislative duties at Ottawa to speed on the way the young
martial life of the Provincial capital. In meeting the troops
at Carleton Place, they had also this object, to present a
flag to the Toronto Contingent, which was to be donated by
the graceful hands of a lady, — Mrs. Edward Blake, wife of the
honourable, the leader of the Opposition. After supper, the
men were drawn up on the platform, under Colonel Otter, and
the Commandant and officers of the Queen's Own and Grena-
diers, were introduced to Mrs. Blake, by Mr. W. Mulock, M.P.
Mr. Mulock, addressing Colonel Otter, spoke as follows :

" I have been desired by a number of the Membere of the
House of Coramonr, to assist in the presentation of this flag for
your command. In discharging this pleasing duty, let me say
that this act has no significance, except as evidencing the fact
that whatever difierences Members of the House may have in

Calling out the volunteers. 261

oih^lt maiters, they are a unit in support of law and order, and
will, I am sure, co-operate in every possible way for the restora-
tion of peace and quiet in our land. May this flag ever float
over a law-abiding people ; and may the brave citizen soldiers
under your command return in safety to their homes after £v
speedy accomplishment of the object of the expedition."

Mrs. Blake then presented a handsome Union Jack to the
Commanding Ofiicer, with the few following heartfelt words :

" A number of my friends in the House of Commons, desirous
of expressing their sympathy and good wishes for the men
under your command, and on tlie expedition on which they
have now stai-tetl, have desired me to present you with this
flag. I do so with great pleasure, and at the same time would
like to add my own heartfelt prayer for your speedy success
and safe keeping."

In acknowledgment of the gift, Colonel Otter made the
following observations :

" M rs. Blake and Gentlemen; I accept this flag from your
hands as indicating, as you have said, that the House of Com-
mons is a unit in tlie maintenance, not only of the integrity of
Canada, but of the Empire of which she forms so considerable a
part. I hope the men under my command will successfully
accomplish the object of the expedition, and shortly return to
their lond ones at home in safety, and will serve their country
as Britons always do. On an occasion such as this, nothing
more fitting could be presented than the British flag — the em-
blem of law, justice, and freedom. It will be ours to preserve
it, and guard it carefully, as a reminder that the people of
Canada are with us in our undertaking. I acknowledge the
kindness which has prompted the representatives of the people
to make this presentation to us, and I thank you as the bearer
of the gift."

This graceful and patriotic act, we can well believe, had, as
was observed, no political significance. As Colonel Otter hap-
pily remarked, on such an occasion, and, we might add, to such
a body of men, nothing more fitting than the nation's flag could
be presented. We should like to believe that the assurance

l62 THE NORTfi-W^f : iis HlStORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

which accompanied the flag was genuine, viz., that Parliaraeni
was a unit in desiring to maintain the integiity of Canada and
the Empire. We do not churlishly call the assurance in ques-
tion ; but " acts speak louder than words," and the intensity ol
party and sectional feeling that finds frequent and acrid ex-
pression in and out of the national Parliament, is not favourable
to the maintenance of Confederation or to the increasing ad-
hesion of the people. To seek to limit the license of party
objurgation, we know, is like seeking to control the four cardinal
winds. Nevertheless, it is to be said, that the violence of party
Tin Canada, is a disruptive force which, if not in danger of
i breaking up the Dominion into fragmentary Provinces, is in
danger at least, of sapping the foundations of order and destroy-
tlng confidence in the future of the country. This is a danger
which politicians, we know, deride ; but it is a danger, never-
iheless, and one which partyism, for its own sinister end, con-
ceals, and has an interest in concealing.

Our remarks may seem inopportune as a pendant to a loyal
*!,nd kindly act ; but we have only to look a little way ahead
iin the records of Parliamentary proceedings at Ottawa, from
the period when the flag was presented, to discover how far
the country's banner symbolised unity of patriotic feeling, and
aegard for the nation's weal over the pettiness of party
conflict and the incendiary declamation of faction. We de-
sire to draw no line between the existing parties that would
separate them into loyalists and non-loj'alists, into patriots and
non-patriots, into nationalists and anti-nationalists. There is
aio such distinction to be made ; for true patriotism exists
•among both parties; and, so far, the flag might fitly wave
•over both camps, as from both camps it came. The exception
We take is to the disloyalty of party in the concrete, not to
the disloyalty of either party in the abstract; for both are

CALUNG OUT THE VOLUNTEERS. 2G3

tainted with the virus of faction. It is disloyalty, not to the
Crown, but to the individual, and to the public conscience of
the nation which the individual represents. It is disloyalty to
the high ideals of public life which party dethrones, and to
that high sense of duty and keen sense of honour which party-
ism and the arts of partyism set at nought. The moral injury
to the nation which this atmosphere of party scuffling inflicts,
and the deterioration of public character for which party is
responsible, few adequately estimate. Nor does the evil stop
with Parliament ; the press of the whole country is more or
less infected with the poison; and the clear streams of politi-
cal life that should flow from it are too often foul with tho
vapours of vituperation and unclean with the sewerage oi
Invective.

CHAPTER XVII.

OVER "the gaps to qu appelle.

ESPITE the noisome influences referred to in
our last chapter the national heart is ever warm,
and, on great occasions at least, the national
brain is clear. The attitude of the nation
towards disaffection in the North- West, it is
safe to say, was manly, healthy, and vigorous.
In the fullest and freest sense, ife was patriotic.
Parliament, too, shared the national feelings of
the country. If there was guilt to be charged against the Ad-
ministration, if there had been a flagitious use of patronage, if
there was criminal neglect of protests and complaints, in the
presence of revolt neither Parliament nor the country stopped
to be querulous or censorious. There was no sympathy with the
feeling that cropped out in some quarters to hold up our public
men to public reprobation. Faction might choose an inopportune
moment for its firework, but the nation was in no mood just
then to encourage it. At another time it might hector and vitu-
perate, and rise to the screaming level of captious criticism.
But at present it was too indignant at armed revolt to listen
to grumbling Cassandras; and only a persistent optimism
would mollify it. A great emergency called for the exercise of

higher powers than the Parliamentary picking up of pins ;, and

264

LIEUT. -COL. QZO. T. DENISON

Commanding: Governor-General's Body Guard.

OVER "THE gaps" TO QU'APPELLE. 265

the country addressed itself to the duty of the hour with the
coolness and self-possession of one who had not lost his head.

Other cries were now heard of an aspersive and mischievous
character. Disloyalty and faction had not yet done their work.
Permission, it was urged, should have been sou(]jht at Washing-
ton for the transport of the troops to the North- West through
United States territory, rather than expose them to the hard-
ships of transit over the incompleted portions of the line of the
Canadian Pacific. Relying on the enterprise and activity of
the Railway Company, the Government, fortunately, otherwise
determined ; and the country was saved the humiliation of
reaching its western domains over other avenues than its own
means of access. The Militia Department then came in for its
Bhare of criticism. The Volunteers, it was said, were ineffi-
ciently armed and indifferently equipped. The labour that at
this time fell upon the Department was of a kind to stagger an
indolent imagination. Yet, admirably as the strain upon its
resources and strength was met, there were not a few to with-
hold from it its well-earned meed of praise, and to harass it
with the jibes of untimely comment. Well has it been said
that "what most recommends party government is that it
enables its opponents to slander the country's rulers without
sedition and, at times, to overthrow them without treason."

In other quarters fell the floutings of detraction and ill-
timed criticism. Even the militia of the country did not
escape. It had been said, that it was not a good instrument to
employ in keeping the peace, " as it lacks that perfect self con-
trol which belongs to discipline, and shares the political passions
of the combatants." Well, twelve years' experience of militia
service, in the closest relation that officer and men could come
to, in trouble and in peace, enables the writer to say that, so
far as Ontario is concerned, the statement labels the force.

266 THE NORTH-WEST : ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

Nor would it be difficult in other Provinces to show, that when
the Canadian volunteer is on active service he loyally does his
duty. The same may be said of the much maligned Irishman,
who, in the ranks of the British army, as well as in the Cana-
dian militia, has been no whit less loyal and true than his com-
rade of Albion and Scotia.

But the charge, on one occasion, was more explicit. It
was said that "a, summons to the militia of the Dominion to
take the field would meet with a strange response from the
French Province : there, national enthusiasm would grow pale
at the prospect of fighting its own race." How far the writer
was mistaken in this prognostication, recent events overwhelm-
ingly prove. The service which " A " Battery, from Quebec,
has rendered in the North- West, and the loss it has nobly
suffered, amply refutes the charge. Had signal opportunity in
the field offered, we are sure the gallant 65th, the 9th Quebecers,
and " A" troop, Cavalry School Corps, would have given equally
good account of themselves. In the sister Province, we know
that national traditions are closely and laudably cherished, but
honour is no less cherished. It was perhaps a vain boast, that
" the last shot fired in the New World for the maintenance of
British connection would be fired by a French Canadian;" but
in the case of many of our French compatriots there is more
than a sentimental basis for the historic remark. Invidious
comment of the kind we have referred to is to be deprecated,
as it tends to incite bad blood, and to introduce into the service
class and sectional feeling which should be wholly blended in
the national militia. Equally to be deprecated is the foolish
talk that exalts the deeds of one regiment at the expense of
another, and leads the men to beat the tom tom of a section
of the community or a part of the country rather than the
CaJiadian people as a body and Canada as a whole..

avER THE "gaps" TO qu'appelle. 267

In interrupting the narrative with these observations, we
trust that we shall not be thought wanting in sympathy with
Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, in their often thankless task
of keeping a watchful eye on the Administration. Doubtless,
when the causes of the trouble in the North-West come to
be finally determined, it will be found that our rulers have not
acquitted themselves fully of their duty. But until the facts
are all before us, or until there was an actual break-down in
our Militia organisation, the Opposition obviously but wasted
their powder in making premature and unsupported attacks.
The feeling, we confess, however, was a natural one, that un-
accustomed as was our Militia Department to meet the emer-
gency of civil war, it was therefore supposed that everything
was going wrong, and that men were being sent to the front
ill-prepared for the services required of them. Happily, such
was not the case ; and Mr. Blake must have been reading the
history of Whitehall maladministration in England, at the
outbreak of the Crimean War, to have supposed there was
occasion in Canada for his daily f usilade of interrogation, and
the expenditure of his virile energy in criticism of the Depart-
ment and the Government. In England, in 1854, there was
need of Mr. Layard to badger Lord Palmerston and his Min-
ister of War ; but just then in Canada there was no need of a
Mr. Layard. Mr. Blake's good sense enabled him speedily to
see this, and led him to reserve his strength for a fitting time
of reckoning.

Meanwhile the North- West expeditionary force had begun
to feel the real stress of the situation. The trains had ploughed
their way to the frontier of that realm of solitude, the upper
shores of Lake Superior ; and the batteries had already tackled
the "gaps." Over the desolate region was still spread the
white garmeni of the north, and its folds, hung heavily upon.

268 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

the outstretched arms of hemlock and pine. The troops had
now an opportunity, not of " conquering nature for political
purposes," as a certain well known and brilliant writer had
termed the work of constnicting the railway to the north of
the lakes, but of conquering nature for the purposes of war.
On their dread mission, nature seems to have confronted them
with every obstacle that would inure them to hardship, and
steel their hearts for the coming conflict. Stem was her look
on these early days in April when, amid the disarray of con-
struction trains and all the impedimenta of the incompleted
road, the tenderly reared city volunteer had to pick his path
over a region that would have appalled a Cyclops to face.
And what relief was there to ride, for the conveyances were
open platform cars and uncovered sleighs ; while the thermo-
meter registered 20° and 30° below zero ? Yet there was but
choice of these and the alternative of a bleak tramp on the
shore-ice of Lake Superior, where, when the sun came out, the
glare on face and eyes blinded and blistered hundreds of the
marching column. What wonder that a few, becoming delirious
on the march, dropped by the way from pain and utter weari-
ness I But of murmuring there was little or none : the spirit
of the men was heroic.

But let us get some idea of time and distance — of the length
and difficulties of the route, and the short period in which
it was traversed. To any reader of our work outside the
Dominion, this information will be helpful. We have said
that the decision of the Government was to transport the
troops by the all-rail route, so far as completed, of the Canadian
Pacific Railway. On the north shore of Lake Superior, parts
of the road — 72 miles in length — were at the period incomplete.
Had navigation been open, advantage would have been taken
of the Company's fleet of stealers on the Upper Lakes, an<i

OVER Tflk "gaps" to qu'appelle. ^6^

ihe troops forwarded by the Georgian Bay and Lake Superior
to Port Arthur, thence to Manitoba and the Far West. But
the lakes were still in the grip of the Frost-King, and the only
alternative was to make the circuit from Toronto to the
Ottawa, thence directly eastward, in the line of the trapper's
route to the old regions of the fur-trade, the new territories
acquired by the Dominion. We append a table of distances in
the route ' to the front.'*

Of the 184-2 miles from Toronto to Qu'Appelle, only 72 miles
of track were unfinished, and had to be traversed on sleighs or
on f oot.-f This break consisted of three gaps, the bridging over
of which was the chief difficulty in the path of the troops.
The first gap began at Dog Lake, north of Michipicoten River,
and extended 42 miles west, to near Jack Fish Bay. Then
came a completed stretch of 15 miles ; then a gap of 15 miles ;
after which were 150 miles of track, and, finally, another gap
15 miles in length. Leaving Toronto at noon on Monday, the
30th of March, the expedition took supper, as we have seen,

Miles.

♦Toronto to Carleton Place Junction 234

Carleton Place Junction to Sudbury , 265

Sudbury to Dog Ijake (first gap in the rail) 261

Dog Lake to Nepigon (due south of Lake Nepigon) 255

Nepigon to Port Arthur (formerly Prince Arthur's Landing) 68

Port Arthur to Winnipeg (capital of Manitoba) 435

Winnipeg to Qu'Appelle Station 324

Total distance, Toronto to Qu'Appelle 1842

Qu'Appelle, via Prairie trail to Clarke's Crossing, on the N. Sas-
katchewan 208

2050

+ Since April of the present year, this portion of the track has been laid, and the
line completed 500 miles west of Qu'Appelle to Calgary, and about 150 miles further,
to Stephen, the station on the summit of the Rocky Mountains. The line on the
Pacific side of the Kockies is also well under way, and the links in the chain front
tea to sea aU but meet.

2T0 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROtJRLEg.

at Carleton Place towards midnight of the same day. Within
twenty-four hours, the transport train was speeding past
Sudbury in a snow storm, some 250 miles north-west of Tor-
onto, and 500 miles round by rail. On the 5th inst. (Easter
Sunday !) the head of the brigade marched twenty miles over
the frozen surface of Lake Superior, from Port Munro west-
ward. By dawn of Monday, the 6th, the column passed
through Port Arthur ; and on the following morning arrived at
Winnipeg. This portion of the Brigade, composed of the
Queen's Own and " C " Company of the Toronto Infantry
School, rested at Winnipeg on Tuesday, and proceeded the
same evening to Qu'Appelle.

The balance of the brigade, consisting of the Grenadiers and
Capt. Todd's company of Ottawa Foot Guards, reached Winni-
peg at 1 A.M. on Wednesday, the 8th inst., and on the morrow
joined their Toronto comrades at Qu'Appelle Station. The men
were all in good health, though much weather-beaten and
fatigued. Some portions of the march severely tested the
strength and endurance of the column ; while the whole passage
of " the gaps " was monotonous and trying. Old campaigners-
wore loud in their praise of the men : one man who had been
in the Soudan affirmed that the march across the sands of the
desert was not more trying than had been the tramp over the
ice and snow of Superior. Sleet pelted them, and driving snow
blinded their steps ; while faces were blistered and eyes in-
flamed from the glare of the sun on the frozen surface of the-
lake. Not a few were badly frost-bitten, and all were foot-
sore and weary. The casualties were nevertheless slight ; only
two men were unable to keep up with the column. One-
officer, Lieut. Morrow, was disabled by an accidental pistol
shot, and a private of the Grenadiers fell and broke his arm.
The latter pluckily insisted, however, on going forward witht

OVER THE "gaps" TO QU'APPELLfi. 271

liis comrades, though Lieut. Morrow, and one other invalid,
Capt. Spencer, of the Grenadiers, were compelled to return.
Here are some passages culled from newspaper correspondence,
and from letters of the men en rovfe :

" Crossing the gaps in the railway, we had a taste of what we
might expect later on in our journey to the front; but the
courage of the men never failed, and the tramp, tramp of the
column, as it wended its way, amid the silent woods or trackless
wastes of Lake Superior, was a weariness to muscle and brain.
But the most severe trial occurred in the night march from
Red Rock to Nepigon, a distance of only seven miles across the
lake. Yet it took nearly five hours to accomplish the task.
After leaving the cars, the battalion paraded in line, a couple
of camp-fires serving to make the darkness visible. All the
men were anxious to start, and when the word was given to
march, it was greeted with cheers. It was impossible to main-
tain the formation of fours, therefore an order was given,
" left turn, quick march ! " We turned obedient to the order,
but the march was anything but quick. Then into the solemn
darkness of the pines and hemlock the column slowly moved.
On each side the snow lay four feet deep. It was impossible
to keep the track, and a mis-step buried the unfortunate vol-
unteer up to his neck. It now began to rain, and for three
mortal hours there was a continuous downpour.

" The lake was reached at last, to the extreme pleasure of
all in the corps. The wildness of the afternoon, and the rain
turned the snow into slush, and at every step the men sank
half a foot. All attempts to preserve distance were soon aban-
doned by the men, who clasped hands to prevent each other
from falling. The officers struggled on, arms linked, for the
same purpose. Now and then men would drop in the ranks,
the fact being discovered only by those in the rear stumbling
over them. Some actually fell asleep as they marched.

" One brave fellow had plodded on without a murmur fov
three days. He had been ailing, but through fear of bein*^
left behind in the hospital, he refrained from making his ill-
ness known. He tramped half-way across last night's march
reeling like a drunken man ; but nature gave out at last, and
with a groan he fell on the snow. There he lay, the pitiless
rain beating on a boyish, upturned face, until a passing sleigh

272 THE KORTH-WEst : ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

stopped behind him. The driver, flashing his lantern on the
u|)turned face, said he was dead. ' Not yet, old man,' was the
reply of the youth, as he opened his eyes. ' I'm not yet even
a candidate for the hospital ! ' He was placed on a sleigh and
carried tlie rest of the journey; and next morning, after a good
sleep and warm breakfast, he was as lively as a cricket, and
ready for the fray."

Such are a few of the incidents of this eventful and trying
march. It is but just to say that the officials of the Railway
Company did everything that was possible to mitigate the
discomforts of the passage. The supply officers on the line of
march also did their duty in providing the men with the
creature comforts. The strain on the resources of the rail-
way, involved in the movement of the eastern volunteers to
the front, was great, but great as it was the staff was equal to
the demands upon the road. In the first twenty days of April,
the Railway Company conveyed over its nearly two thousand
(niles of track 3,000 officers and men, 150 horses, and four guns,
in addition to the Winnipeg regiments and other local organ-
isations moved to various points in the west.

CHAPTER XVIII.

middleton's march to Clarke's crossing.

' mass two or three thousand troops, on war's
horrid mission, in the peaceful valley of the
Qu'Appelle seemed little short of an outrage.
Had the season been summer, when the prairie
flowers were in bloom, it would have been
desecration. To have cut up that rich carpet of red
lilies, white anemones, and purple pentstemons,
with the great wheels of the cannon, and tramp-
led its beauty under the heedless heel of armed
men, would have been a great wrong to Nature, and wakened
keener sorrow than that which stirred the heart of the Scottish
poet when his ploughshare upturned the Mountain Daisy and
crushed it " beneath the furrow's weight." But Nature's pro-
tecting covering was still over the region, and the rich soil had
not yet thrown up its scented life to be mangled under foot.
No matter were winter's robe soiled by the tramplings of the
troops, and its beauty marred by the movement of three or four
hundred transport carts, for the storm-king was abroad as the
troops mustered at Qu'Appelle, and the day's soilings would be
heavily coated by the night's white shroud.

273

274 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

" The night sets in on a world of snow,

While the air grows sharp and chill,
And the warning roar of a fearful blow

Is heard on the distant hill ;
And the norther, see ! on the mountain peak
In his breath how the old trees writhe and shriek I
He shouts on the plain, ho-ho ! ho-ho !
He drives from his nostrils the blinding snow,

And growls with a savage will."

But the valley of the Qu'Appelle had seen strife ere now
Long ago its plains had often witnessed the shock of inter-
tribal encounter. Between the Crees and the Blackfeet there
had been years of feud, though the presence of the Mounted
Police and the influence of a better day had now taught them
peace. Savagery was in truth giving place to civilisation.
The beautiful district was fast becoming the favoured resort
of the settler, from the issue of the river at " The Elbow," on
the South Saskatchewan, to its junction with the Assiniboine,
at Fort Ellice. The region, geographically, belongs to the
Second Prairie Steppe, succeeding that of the Lake Winnipeg
basin, which forms the First. It extends from the Souris River
on the south, and circling round the Pheasant, File, and Touch-
wood Hills, bears away northward to the Birch Hills, this side of
Prince Albert. On the east it is bounded by the western
limits of the Province of Manitoba, in long. 101° 30', and ex-
tends to the Lignite Tertiary Plateau, in about long. 107° W.
North-westward of this great tract lay the scene of the insurrec-
tion. In that quarter, also, stretched the line of loyal settle-
ment along the North Saskatchewan that was in jeopardy
from the outbreak. Hither had General Middleton and his
staff* come, with the Winnipeg volunteers, to organise the

* The following officers composed the General's Field staff : Lord Melgund ; Hon.
Maurice GifFord, brother of Lord Gifford, of Ashantee fame ; Hon. C. Freer,
1,'randson of Lord Saye and Sale ; Capt. Wise, and Lieut. Doucet, A.D.O. Capt.
Buchan, of the 90th Winnipeg Rifles, and formerly of the " Queen's Own,"
Iforonto, acted as Field Adjutant,

middleton's march to Clarke's crossing, 275

North-West Field Force and determine the plan of the cam-
paign. The date of the encounter with the rebels at Duck
Lake, it will be remembered, was the 26th of March. On tha
23rd, anticipating trouble in the North- West, the Major-Gen-
eral in command of the Militia, left Ottawa for Winnipeg. On
the 26 th he reached the Prairie Capital, and the following day
left, with the Manitoba troops, for Qu'Appelle. Here was the
military rendezvous and the base of operations.

The morning of the 30th of March saw the first, though a
precautionary, movement of the Field Force. On that day the
General sent forward from the Fort three companies of the
Winnipeg Rifles and the Armstrong gun, to protect the north-
em approaches to the rallying-place, to gather news of the
rebels and of the threatened rising of the Indians in the neigh-
bourhood, and to extend succour to such of the northern
settlers as were fleeing from their homes to a place of safety.
With the rebels, it was thought, there would be a speedy reck-
oning, though the character of the country was favourable to
guerilla warfare, and the half-breeds knew every nook and
covert of the region. The chief alarm was as to the attitude
of the Indians. All eyes were turned upon their reserves, and
the restless movements of the young braves of the several
tribes gave occasion for much uneasiness. Where the Indians
were likely to be approached by the disloyal half-breeds, it
was feared they would go on the war-path. In the isolated
districts in the north, where hunger was not satisfied, it was
considered certain they would make descent upon settlements
and raid Hudson Bay posts for food and provender. Battleford
and Prince Albert were known to be in especial danger. Hence
the campaign had in view, not only to suppress the half-breed
insurrection, but to relieve the settlements on the North
Saskatchewan from apprehended attack. The more speedy

276 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

the attainment of this dual object, the less danger there would
be of a general Indian uprising.

With wise and prompt decision, General Middleton's design
was to make an instant movement on the heart of the insurrec-
tion. Not an hour had been lost in reaching the base of
operations ; and with cool impatience tha General awaited the
arrival of the troops from the East. Nor had the latter tarried
on the way ; in ten days, thanks to the railway facilities, two
thousand miles had been covered, jplus the weariful march over
" the gaps " on the road. This, it will be remembered, was a
greater distance than that traversed in 1870 by General
Wolseley's expedition, which consumed the whole summer of
that year in its transportation from Toronto to the Red Eiver.
But toilsome as had been the journey of the troops to Qu'Ap-
pelle, a forlorn two hundred mile march lay before them ere
they could look upon the foe.

The period of the year, as it happened, was the worst the
Fates could have chosen for moving a body of men over the
Prairie trail to the front. Earlier, or later, in the season travel
over the region would have been shorn of its discomfort and
difficulty. From the arsenals of the north, the hoar monarch-
was discharging the last of his wintry weapons. Snow still
lay heavy on the plains, and the warm spring sun melted
down earth's white covering to be frozen over night and again
thawed the next day. The line of march was either spongy
with sodden earth or covered with water a foot deep. Such
was the condition of the country the Field Force had to trav-
erse, in this " land of magnificent distances."

Pending the arrival of the Eastern troops there was much to
be done. The organisation and equipment of an army in the
field was no light task, with every contingency to be pro-
vided for, and provision made for a distant march from the

MiDDiiETON's MARCH TO CLARKE'vS CROSSING. 2^f

base of supplies. Each arm of tlie service had to be instructed
in its duties, if not actually called into existence. There was,
first, the Intelligence Department, which had to be organised
ab initio. Fortunately, as the corps of Scouts and Rangers
were raised in the territories, they wanted little drill in their
duties. Then came the Commissariat and Transport service,
which needed the expenditure of no little energy and foresight
to make efficient. Following these, came the Hospital and
Ambulance brigade, provision for whose important duties much
care and forethought were demanded. Finally, there was the
fighting arm of the force, which, to be effective, called for the
careful inspection of the Major-General in command, and his
constant oversight in drill and discipline. In addition to all
this work, disposition had to be made of the various brigades
to take the field, and corps stationed to keep open the lines of
communication and supply. That everything went well dur-
ing this period of hasty labour, and its attendant excitement,
is its own tribute to the thorough work of the Commanding
Ofiicer and his staff", as well as to the energy and spirit of all
ranks.

The immediate task was to get the troops, ammunition and
forage, over two hundred miles to a rallying point on the South
Saskatchewan. The route of the main column was the line of
telegraphic communication from Qu'Appelle, via the Touch-
wood hills and Humboldt, to Clarke's Crossing. At the Crossing
a junction was to be effected with another column, to be for-
warded by boat on the South Saskatchewan, from the neigh-
bourhood of Swift Current, thirty-two miles westward by rail.
At the present time of writing we are without reasons for this
division of the Field Force, and can only infer the following
as necessitating the movement. First, the difficulty of trans-
port over a single trail for so large a number of troops. Sec-

278 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLE^.

ondly, the obvious advantage of approaching the enemy from
two different points. And, thirdly, the urgency of early relief
reachingr the settlements on the North Saskatchewan, and the
fear that this might not be practicable if the half-breeds and
Indians successfully withstood the advance of the main column.
But whatever were the General's reasons, we may be sure he
fully weighed them.

By the oth of April "A" and " B " Batteries reached Winni-
peg, and proceeded at once to Qu'Appelle. Within three days
the Ottawa and Toronto volunteers were expected forward.
The General now prepared for an advance. The transport
service had been organised under Capt. S. L. Bedson, late
Warden of the Manitoba Penitentiary, with the assistance of
Messrs J. H. E. Secretan and Thos. Lusted. Some six hundred
teams were pressed into service, and supplies drawn from the
resources of the Hudson Bay Company and other contractors
in Winnipeg. Already some two hundred teams had been
despatched with rations and forage for the use of the column
until it reached Humboldt, nearly two-thirds of the way to
the river-crossing. The remainder of the teams were grouped
into two grand divisions. These were again broken into sub-
divisions of ten teams each, over which were placed responsible
headmen. Each head teamster was supplied with cooking kit
for so many men, and given directions for camping and mess-
ing. Nightly camping sites, some twenty miles apart, were
determined on ; and, so far as the roads would permit, these
were to be adhered to. Regulations were also issued to guide
the order of march, and instructions given in the formation of
corrals at the various encampments.

At last came " route orders," which were received by all
ranks with glee, a glee that neither the condition of the roads
nor the storm that was blowing could check. After a hasty

MlDDLEtON*S MAUCfl fO CLARKe's CROSSIltG. 2?^

breakfast, on the morning of Monday, the 6th, the troops par •
aded at 5.45 a.m., and were inspected by the General, who
addressed them in a few stirring words of admonition and en-
couragement. An hour later, the column filed away to the
northward, and the blinding snow soon hid Fort Qu'Appelle
from view. The scouts led the way on each side of the trail ;
then came half a company of the 90th, as advance guard, with
one field piece ; then the main body of the North-West Field
Force; after which came the baggage with the other field
piece, its accompanying guard bringing up the rear. The trail
was found to be in a frightful condition ; and the march was
impeded, not only by pools of water and heavy roads, but by
a stiff gale from the north, blindingly freighted with sleet and
hail.

The route lay due north, a little east of long. 104° W., and
across the 51st meridian. On the right rose the File Hills,
and to the north of these the Beaver Hills. Opposite the
latter, lay the Little and Big Touchwood Hills, the line of
march trending ofi" westward between these two elevated pla-
teaux, where it enters a great saline depression, full of white
mud swamps and brackish marsl^ This Salt Plain extends
from the Touchwood Hills to near Humboldt, some sixty miles
from the Saskatchewan. To the west of the plain are the
Quill Lakes, and to the east is the head of Long or Last Moun-
tain Lake, the haunt of innumerable pelican, water-hen, grebe,
snipe, and plover. Long Lake lies due north of Regina, the capital
of the North-West Territories, and is the favourite resort of the
Indian for fish as well as of the white sportsman. The lake is
forty miles in length, and about one and a half in breadth^
The projected Prince Albert railway, a northern branch of the
Canadian Pacific, will skirt its western shores, and connect the
settlements on the North Saskatchewan with the capital of tho

280 THE NORTH-WBST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

Territories. Of the country lying between Fort Ellice (at the
confluence of the Qu'Appelle and the Assiniboine) and " The
Elbow " of the South Saskatchewan, we get a pleasing descrip-
tion from the facile pen of Principal Grant, of Queen's Univer-
sity.* It is thus described by Doctor Grant :

" Between the mouth of the Qu'Appelle and any point on
the Saskatchewan every day's ride reveals new scenes of a
country, bleak enough in winter, but in summer fair and
promising as the heart of man can desire; rolling and level
prairie ; gently swelling uplands ; wooded knolls ; broken hills,
with gleaming lakes interspersed. One trail leads to the Elbow
of the South Saskatchewan, and thence to Battleford ; another
to Fort Carlton ; another to Fort Pelly. The most beautiful
section of this region is the Touchwood Hills — a succession of
elevated prairie uplands extensive enough to constitute a
province. At a distance they appear as a line of hills stretch-
ing away in a north-westerly direction, but the rise from the
level prairie is so gentle and undulating that the traveller
never finds out where the hills actually commence. There are
no sharply defined summits from which other hills and the
distant plain on either side can be seen. Grassy or wooded
knolls enclose fields that look as if they had been cultivated to
produce hay crops ; or sparkling lakelets, the homes of snipe,
plover, and duck. Long reaches of fertile lowlands alternate
with hillsides as fertile. Avenues of whispering trees promise
lodge or gate, but lead only to Chateaux en Espagne. Beyond
the Touchwood Hills we come to the watershed of the South
Saskatchewan ; another region that may easily be converted
into a garden ; now boldly irregular and again a stretch of
level prairie ; at intervals swelling into softly-rounded knolls,
or opening out into fair expanses ; well-wooded, and abounding
in pools and lakelets, most of them alkaline."

But we return to the North- West Field Force, which we saw
setting out to cross the country we have been describing, under
a terrific snow storm. Hay ward Creek, some twelve miles from
Fort Qu'Appelle, was as far as the wearied column had been

*See Ficturesgiue Canada, article on " Winnipeg to the Rocky Mountains."

MiDDL Eton's mauch to clarke's ctiossiNd. ^81

able to gain on the first day's march. The country was cover-
ed with water, the meltings of the winter's snow which before
the thaw set in had been three feet deep on the level. What
the force suffered on this first day's tramp may in part be
gathered from the following jottings of a journalist who had
been permitted to accompany the column :

" All day Monday it blew a hurricane from the North, and
the men had to get out of the waggons and foot it to keep
from freezing. They sufiered terribly from snow and cold."
A.t noon it was G0° above zero, but the cold then set in, and
before 4 p.m. it was 10° below zero. The wind in the afternoon
blew 40 miles an hour, and when it abated at sundown the
glass fell to 20° below zero. The men spent a miserable night,
but stood it pretty well. The waggons were formed into a
corral, and the troops slept in their blankets, the tents being
generally discarded, as the wind blew them down or ripped
them. The trail is exceedingly heavy. We have been going
through an undulating country with scrub up to the present,
but our next camp will be in the Touchwood Hills. The
weather to-day is bright but extremely cold, and the men will
have another bad night of it. At parade to-day many of the
men were limping with cold and rheumatism, from the wet
march yesterday and the exposure over night. But there was
no grumbling, and cold is better than rain."*

As the column passed through the File Hill country, the
Indians were found to be pacific, and were doubtless whole-

*In these narratives from the front we shall find ourselves under repeated obli-
gations to the representatives of the Toronto Globe and Mail, as well as to the cor-
respondence appearing in the Toronto World, Tdegram, and News. We shall also
be indebted to writers in the Toronto Week, Truth, and Monetary Times, to corres-
pondents in the field of the Illustrated War News, and to representatives of the
Montreal Star, Witness, Gazette, and Herald, and the Winnipeg Times. But our
indebtedness will chiefly be to Mr. Ham, the able and intelligent correspondent
of the Toronto Mail, whose initials, "G. H. H." will be very familiar to readers
of that enterprising journal. The author will also owe his acknowledgments to
Mr. W. P. McKenzie, to " W. W. F.,'' and particularly to " J. B. A.," of St.
B mi face, whose impartial and instructive letters on the situation in the Ncrth-
We^it also appeared in the Mail. Tu all, the author prufEers his grateful thanks.

282 THE NORTH-WESt: ItS HIStORY AKD TtS TROtiDtES.

somely impressed by the martial appearance of the Field Force.
At the outbreak of the insurrection fears were entertained ol
a rising among the Crees in the neighbourhood, there having
been threatening movements on the reserves at Crooked Lake,
on the Qu'Appelle river ; and Chief Pie-a-pot had been restless
on the Indian Head hills. Fortunately the Indian agent of
Treaty No. 4 (Lt.-Col. Allan Macdonald) was able to " soothe
the savage breast," and, by timely doles of tea and tobacco, to
lull to quietness Pasquah, Loud Voice, O'Soup, Little Child,
Star Blanket, Little Black Bear, and other local chieftains of
the dusky clan.s.

But if tea and tobacco — the proverbial weaknesses of the
Indian tribes — had lost their soothing charm for the native
denizens of the Qu'Appelle district, and if Middleton's column
had failed to awe them with the passing pageant, there now
came the stirring spectacle of " the guns." Three hours after
the column had marched out of Qu'Appelle, a train steamed
alongside the station, south of the river, with " A " and " B "
Batteries, under Col. Montizambert, and a battalion that had
been recruited to accompany the two field-pieces that were to
follow the General. By the latter's instructions the artillery
brigade was here divided. " A " Battery, from Quebec, had
orders to follow the main column, and " B " Battery was direct-
ed to await Col. Otter's arrival and be attached to his command.
The brigade consisted of the two batteries, with a foot bat-i
talion to protect them, in all 230 officers and men, thirty-five
horses, and four field guns. The men were armed with short
Enfields. Closely in the wake of the battteries, there arrived
at Qu'Appelle the Toronto Expeditionary Force, consisting of
the " Queen's Own," the "Grenadiers," "C" Company Infantry
School, with Capt. Todd's sharpshooters of the Ottawa Foot
Guards. With the arrival of this additional force, the Second

middleton's march to Clarke's crossing. 283

Field Column, under Colonel Otter, was now made up and
despatched to Swift Current.

The additions to the main Field Force were the first to move
off the ground. These consisted (1) of 60 Mounted Infantry, a
body of Scouts under Major Boulton, a loj'^al officer who figured
in the Red River Rebellion of 1869-70, and at one time under
sentence of death by Riel; (2) "A" Battery,* 115 men and
two guns ; (?) Colonel Grasett's battalion of the 10th Royal
Grenadiera, 15 officers and 248 men ; and (4) half of " C "
Company (35 men) Toronto School of Infantry, under Major
Smith and Lieut. Scott. Accompanying the latter, and in tem-
porary command, was Major-General Laurie, of Nova Scotia.
Lt.-Col. Forrest, who had been acting as Supply Officer to the
Batteiy, was appointed Paymaster to the force in the field, with
his headquarters at Qu'Appelle. A mail service was now or-
ganised by Mr Nursey, and a telegraph field stafi", by Mr Geo.
Wood. Two hospital field corps were also organised, one to
accompany General Middleton, and the other to be attached to
Colonel Otter's column.-f- There was also to go forward, and

*The following are the officers of "A" Battery, Quebec, ordered to overtaka
General Middleton, with four companies and two guns. Lt.-Col. C. E. Montizam-
bert in chief command. Major C. J. Short and Capt. C. W. Drury in charge of
the Battery ; Capt. Jas. Peters in command of the battalion. Company officers ;
No. 1, Lt. J. A. G. Hudon ; No. 2, Lt. V. B. Rivers, with Lt. O. C. Pelletier, ol
the 9th Batt attached ; No. 3, Capt. A. A. Farley, with Lt. Prower attached ;
No. 4, Lt. Imlah, with Lt. Ciraon attached. Lt. W, H. Disbrowe, of the Winni-
peg Cavalry, accompanied the battery as a supernumerary. The acting Surgeon
was Dr. J. A. Grant, of the 1st Batt. Gov. General's Foot Guards.

tThe following is the Field Staff of Hospital Corps, No. 1 : Surgeon- General D.
Beigin, M.D., M.P., Cornwall ; Deputy Surgeon-General T. G. Roddick, M.D.,
Montreal ; Surgeon Major C. M. Douglas, V.C., Montreal ; Surgeons, Dr. Jas.
Bell, Montreal, and Dr. E. A Gravely, Cornwall ; Assist. Surgeons, Dr. Pelletier,
Montreal, Dr. Allyne, Quebec, Dr. Powell, Ottawa ; in charge of hospital and
medical stores. Dr. Roddick, of Montreal ; Purveyor, with headquarters at Winni-
peg, Dr. Sullivan, of Kingston. The following compose Field Hospital Corps, No.
2 : Surgeon- Major, Dr. H. R. Casgrain, Windsor ; Surgeons, J. F. Williams,
Barrie, A. Schmidt, Montreal, M. McKay, River St. John, N.S., F. J. White,
Newfoundland, W.McQuaig, Vankleek Hill, and R. Tumboll, RusseU.

^84 TtiE iJORTH-WESt: FfS filSToM ANt) itS T&OUULEg.

take a prominent part in the operations at the front, two Gat-
ling guns, from Colt's Firearm Manufactory, Hartford, Conn.
One of these was assigned to Colonel Otter's Field force,
and the other was attached to General Middleton's column,
with Lieut. Howard, of the Connecticut National Guards, New
Haven, in command of the gun platoon.

This exhausts the catalogue of the provision so far made to
take the field. Alas ! that it was a provision necessitated by
civil war. This fact humbles the nation's pride in the success
of its efforts to place a competent force in the field. It will be
seen that the arrangements were not left to chance ; all mani-
festly had been well planned. For this the country's thanka
are unquestionably due to the Minister of the Militia, to the
officials of his Department, and, above all, to the Major-General
in command. The latter, as we shall see later on, is a strong
figure in the picture. General Middleton is an old campaign-
er, and has reached that age when maturity usually brings dis-
cretion, good judgment, ready resource, and strong common
sense. The harness of his duties sits easily upon him ; and he
works well himself and all works well with him. What
was specially to commend him to the nation, was his care of
the lads under him, his sympathy with them in their heroism
as well as in their fatigues, and his admirable conservatism (we
use the term in its highest non-political sense) in handling his
men. He remembered that he was sent to suppress an armed in-
surrection, not aggressively to take the field, or to repel inva-
sion. He also remembered that he was leading, not paid regulars
to battle, but civilians for the time being enrolled as militia
volunteers. Nor is there anything about him of the marti-
net, and less of that official rigeur of manner that so often
offensively marks the relations of the "regular" officer with
the rank and file of the volunteers. With this brief intro*

Middleton's march to Clarke's crossing. 285

duction to the leader of tlie North-West army in the field, let
us rejoin the column: we shall see more of this able officer by-
and-by.

Thirty miles north of Qu'Appelle, the column halted for
a day or two to recruit strength, and to allow the battery to
overtake the main body. The men needed the rest. They
were well nigh exhausted from cold, discomfort, and fatigue.
They had marched nearly all the way, for the terrible condition
of the trail, and the intense cold and fierce head wind, made it
almost impossible to make use of the waggons. The stress of
the march told severely on not a few of the men. They suffer-
ed chiefly from swollen feet, and from rheumatic pains in body
and limbs, occasioned by sleeping, or trying to sleep, on wet
ground, which by morning was frozen hard. As they proceed-
ed northward their plight grew worse; for each day the sun's
rays gained in strength, and the increasing warmth softened
the trail and made the marching heavier.

The tramp over the Great Salt Plain added to the prevailing
discomfort ; but the endurance of the men was beyond praise,
and Humboldt at last was reached. The date was April the 12th.
Here the column was once more considerately permitted to
rest. The few days' halt enabled the Grenadiers and Boulton's
Scouts to overtake, and be merged in, the main body. The
parade-state now showed a strength of about 950 men, made
up as follows : artillerymen 183 ; infantry G17 ; cavalry and
mounted scouts, close upon loO.* With the now combine I

*The combined column, up to this date, was, in addition to the armed teamsters,
composed of the following : General's staff, 5 ; Capt. French's Scents, 30; Major
Boulton's Scouts, 60 ; Major Jarvis's Winnipeg Battery, 68 ; Capt. Knight's Cav-
alry, 38; Col. McKeand's 90th Battalion, 325; CoL Giasett's 10th Grenadiers,
265 ; Col. Montizambert's "A" Battery, IIS ; and Maj )r Smith's "C" Co.
School of Infantry, 35,— a total of 950 officers and men. la addition there was a
small hospital corps, which had been organised in t le prairie capital, under the
command of Drs. Whiteford and Codd, of Winnipeg.

286 THE north-west: its history and its troubles.

force a dash was to be made for the river crossing. On reach-
ing the Saskatchewan the General hoped to have more definite
news of the rebel movements, and thus see his way clear tc
give effect to his own plans. So far as he could rely upon hia
Intelligence Department, it was ascertained that Riel was forti-
fying himself at Batoche, and had with him about 250 Mdtis
and a like number of Teten Sioux. Batoche is a half-breed
village in the centre of the St. Laurent district, on the South
Saskatchewan. It is situate about sixty miles from Humboldt
and forty from Prince Albert. The village is surrounded by
heavy woods, which would be favourable to the insurgents;
and it was known that they were actively entrenching them-
selves.

The troops being now rested, the order came to move on to
the telegraph crossing at Clarke's. On this march both wind and
weather were more favourable. The trail, in some respects, also
improved. The alkaline swamps were passed, and any ponds to
be met with were of sweet water. The blustering cold winds
also moderated, and the prairie became more free of snow. It
was now possible to get a dry place for the night's encampment
and wood for a cheery camp fire. The region, otherwise, was
still bleak and desolate, for the rebels had effectively scoured
the country, and swept it clean of cattle and emptied the barns
of fodder and grain. But in a little over two days the fifty-
five miles were covered, and the General and the head of the
column reached the objective point on the Saskatchewan. Here,
for a while, we shall leave the main Field Force, and accom-
pany the Second Division in its march to the north.

CHAPTER XIX.

OTTER S FLYING COLUMN — THE DASH TO
BATTLEFORD.

*HE measures devised to meet the interruption of
the general tranquillity of the North-West could
hardly be said to be lacking in any particular.
But the completeness of the military arrange-
ments was not their sole merit. Both the Militia
Department and the Commander of the Forces
showed a genius for anticipating wants and for
taking a comprehensive survey of the situation.
Everything that human foresight could well devise seems to
have been thought of and put in the way of immediate execu-
tion. Not only was the main column, which was to march
upon the rebels, placed efficiently in the field, but, on their
arrival, other brigades were despatched to relieve settlements
in jeopardy in other parts of the country. Disposition was
also made of the troops at central points, to prevent the
possibility of a general Indian uprising.

The region of actual armed insurrection was as yet com-
paratively a small one; how large it might become no one
knew and few dared to think. Grave fears had for some time

287

288 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

been entertained for the safety of many an isolated post, while
hope was almost abandoned in the case of not a few beleaguered
settlements. From along the North Saskatchewan news had
come of the restlessness of the Indians ; and already it was
known that there had been a massacre of white settlers at
Frog Lake, to the north-west of Fort Pitt. From the latter
post the small garrison of Mounted Police had escaped down
the river in a leaky scow, while the settlers and their families
were flying for succour to any place of safety. The frozen
blasts from the north were freighted with the cry of women
and children in distress, while every scout brought news of
some cold-blooded murder, of raiding of farms, burning of
homesteads, and general devastation. It was a time of license
for barbarism. In the region no white man was now sure of
his life. However friendly had been his relations with the In-
dian, and no matter what kindness he had shewn him, there
were Indians bad enough to forget the claims of gratitude, and
cowardly enough to shoot a man in the back. In this dread
time even the agents of civilisation fell unoffending victims at
their post. Payne, a Government Farm instructor, on a reserve
of the Stoneys near Battleford, was brutally murdered, and his
mutilated body strewed the barnyard of the farm.

In such a time of anxiety and trouble did the Second Field
Force concentrate at Swift Current, whither it had come from
the general rallying-point at Qu'Appelle. It was General Mid-
dleton's design that this column under Colonel Otter should
disembark at Swift Current station, march to the South Sas-
katchewan, and there take the river route to Clarke's Crossinor,
thence by prairie trail to Battleford, This plan however was
interfered with, in consequence of the water being low in the
river. To go by boat, it was feared, would be risky and tedious,
while relief would be delayed in reaching Battleford. It

bTTER's FLYING COLUA^N. 6^9

was therefore determined to make a dash across the prairia
and carry instant relief to the beleaguered town. The situation
of the once capital of the North- West Territories was at thia
time a very critical one. We shall best get an idea of this by
quoting from a Battleford journal, whose editor thus comnients
on the condition of things in the embryo city just before the
arrival of the Flying Column. We quote from Mr. P. G. Laurie,
of the Saskatchewan Herald :

"Most outsiders," writes Mr Laurie, "do not properly appre-
ciate the dangers of the situation in which for so long a time
we were placed. In the Fort were well nigh six hundred souls.
Of these only about two hundred were capable of action in case
of attack. The palisade environing the fort is about ninety by
one hundred yards in length. But one gun, the Mounted
Police seven-pounder, was in the fort, and this could only be
relied on to protect two sides of the bastion. Fifty men for
each side was certainly a weak garrison ; and if stormed simul-
taneously from all quarters, by determined men in sufficient
numbers, it is questionable if the attack could have been suc-
cessfully resisted. It was impossible to tell at what hour such
an attack would be made, and equally impossible to estimate
coiTcctly the force that might be collected from the disloyal
reserves all along the Saskatchewan Valley. It might be two
hundred ; it could well be many times that number. Suppose,
too, tlie enemy had been sufficiently strong to prevent our
access to the river, not a drop of water could be got in the fort,
and without access to the river our capitulation would have
been a matter of a few days at the furthest. It was indeed
a trying situation !"

The situation was fully apprehended by Colonel Otter and
his staff. The position was critical, and there was urgent need
of an expeditious movement. Colonel Otter was the very man
to respond to the need, and the troops that composed his
column were but too eager to distinguish themselves. The
opportunity of making a memorable march, we need hardly
say, was readily embraced, and the force prepared at once to

^90 THE NORTH-WEST : ITS HlSTOilY AND ITS TROUBLE^.

Bet out. The signal success achieved by the column, in cover-
ing a distance of one hundred and eighty miles in five and a
half days, is almost without a parallel in military annals. But
where the martial enthusiasm and stirring impulse of a Queen's
Own movement are manifested, as they were manifested on
this march, we were sure of witnessing some feat of distinc-
tion. This was certain to be the case with a corps that had
been trained under the inspiriting influences of commanding
officers such as Colonels Gillmor and Otter.

Nor were the other component parts of the Division less eager
to distinguish themselves. Capt. Todd's Ottawa Foot Guards,
a splendid body of men, were anxious to acquit themselves
with honour ; and " B " Battery, the School of Infantry, and the
Mounted Police, were all anxious to do their duty. The force
reached Swift Current from Qu'Appelle on Saturday, the 11th
of April, and encamped over the Sunday on the line of the
railway. The place derives its name from a stream, Swift
Current Creek, which rises in the Cypress Hills, to the south-
west, and flows into the South Saskatchewan. On Sunday
there was a Church parade for service on the plain, which was
conducted by Pte. Acheson of " G " Co. Q.O.R., and who, as a
student of Wycliffe College, Toronto, naturally chose the
Anglican form of worship. A correspondent of the Toronto
Globe supplies us with the following account of the impressive
service :

" That portion of the service specially prepared for military
campaigns was read, and its beautiful and touching language
seemed to bring home to the men with double force the reality
that they were on active service, and that the dangers of their
position wore not insignificant. The eye of the King of Kings
aiid Lord of Lords was upon them, and to Him they had turned
to supplicate blessings, protection and guidance in the conflict
to which they were hastening. The grand old hymn, ' Nearer

otter's flying column. 291

toy God to TLee,' was sung with spirit, and its touching melody
seemed doubly impressive as it was caught up by the wind.i
and its solemn cadence carried out over that boundless prairie.
The sun was shining brightly, and the day would have been
hot had it not been for a tempering wind that blew in from
the south-west."

And well might the force reverently supplicate protection
from Him who is a " strong tower of defence," for already tho
" flapping of the wings of the Angel of Death " might be heard
over the plain, and to their comrades of the First Division
only a few more shadows brought the sharp summons of the
last enemy. Before three Sundays had passed, the dread sum-
mons was also to come to eight of those now in the encamp-
ment, who were to meet death on the battle-field, while twelve
others of the force were to be counted among the casualties of
the engagement.

Nearly the whole of the following week was consumed in
the march from the railway to the South Saskatchewan, and
in ferrying the troops across the river, with some two hundred
teams, heavily loaded with stores, forage and ammunition. On
arriving at the river it was found that the transport service
could not be relied on for an expeditious moving of the force
northward by boat. The water was low, and as yet only The
Northcote, of the Hudson Bay Company's service, had been
able to get down the river from Medicine Hat. It was there-
fore determined to take the prairie trail to Battleford, and to
Bend the supplies for General Middleton's division by boat. In
this latter undertaking Messrs G. H. R. Wainwright, and H,
Gait, of the North-West Navigation Co., were to render im-
portant service ; while the Midland Battalion, under Col. A. T,
Williams, was to accompany the steamer as an escort. This
expedition on the Saskatchewan had a trying ordeal to go
through, from the difficulties of navigation and the assaults of

S02 THE) NORta-WESf : ITS HISfOftY AND ITS TROUBLES.

disloyal half-breed scouts on the banks. The boat, though
banked with bales of hay and flour sacks, was in repeated
danger from the covert firing of the breeds in the woods ; while
its living freight was in constant peril from the attacks in the
run down the river. The transport brigade for Battleford was
organised and superintended by Messrs E. N, Armit, and George
-Murphy, of Winnipeg, who by the morning of the 18th inst., had
the waggon train ready for the inarch to the north. On
tbe route the transport was in charge of Mr. M. W. "White*
member for Regina of the North-West Council, and formerly of
Hamilton, Ont.

At two o'clock on Saturday, the 18th of April, the bugles of
the Queen's Own struck up an enlivening march, and the Second
Division of the North-West Field Force filed away over the
prairie.* The route of march lay almost due north on the line
10H° W. of Greenwich, and across the 51st and 52nd north
meridians. The country through which the column passed
was an untenanted plain, and the incidents of the march were
thus few and uninteresting. One day was like another, as
happens often at sea, save that each day the pace quickened,
iind the night's rest was more and more keenly sought to re-
cruit the exhausted strength of the rapid flight over the prairie.
Happy the volunteer who had not to go on picket or guard
<iuty when the curtain of night fell on the plain ; and happier
lie who could get "a lift" on the waggons when the day

*Thi8 Division, under the command of Lt. -Col. Otter, consisted of 50 Mounted
Police, under Col. Herchmer, who also acted as chief of the Field Staff ; .50 Ottawa
Foot Guards, under Capt. Todd ; 30 of " C " Co. School of Infantry, under Lts.
Wadmore and Sears ; 268 officers and men of the 2nd Batt. Queen's Own Rifles,
tinder Lt.-Col. Miller; and 112 oflRcers and men of "B" Battery, under Major
•Short. The Re 1 Cross Ambulance corps, patriotically organised by Mr. E. W.
Wragge, of Toronto, and in charge of Dr. Nattress, of the Queen's Own, ac-
ccmpanied the brigade, A Gatling gun also formed part of the equipment of the*
■column^

' otter's flying column. 293

dawned and the column was once more on its way. Of tho
march we gather the following incidents from the Globes cor-
respondence — dated " In Camp on the Prairie, April 2 2d :"

* We have been marching about thirty miles a day since \vt»
left the Saskatchewan, and expect to reach Battleford on Fii-
day, the day after to-morrow. We left our Camp at the Sas-
katchewan on Saturday and marched all Sunday. There is a
waggon for every ten men ; but when all our baggage and tents
are put on only two or three can ride at a time : as some of
the boys are used up and not able to walk at all, most of us
have to tramp all the while. We reckon to have come 140
miles, and I have not been in the waggons more than twenty
miles altogether, so have walked fully twenty miles a day, and
been on outpost and guard duty all night for two nights. This
is my second night. I go on guard as soon as we get into
camp, two hours on and four hours off, so have four hours
walking during the night. The guard is not as hard as picket
duty, for we can stay in the tent four hours out of every six,
while the pickets are out all night about a quarter of a mile
from camp.

" I will give you my work for twenty-four hours, so you will
have some idea of what we have to do. On Monday night I
was told off for duty after marching all day. We had to go
out on picket without any supper as it was late when wo
halted, so taking a few 'hard tack' in my pocket I went on
with the others. We formed a line of men round the camp
with four main posts, twenty-one on each post. Fourteen stayed
at the post, and seven went out scouting for two hours. I
went on at eight o'clock, stayed till ten, went back to the post
till two A..M, then on again till four, so had four hours walking
daring the night. The night was cold, and it was impossible
to sleep on the post, as we had no tent, and of course could
not light any fires. We went back to camp at 5 A.M., and a
worse broken up lot of fellows it would be hard to find. The
tents were all struck when we got back ready to start ; and all
the breakfast we got was some tea, almost cold, and hard tack.
Fully half of the picket were so used up they coul I not walk.
Some of them had to be helped on the waggons. I was able to
walk, so had to do it, all the wnggons bein«r m..io than full.
We marched six,teeA miles and halted two Uoois iur di..ner^

294 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

and I had a good sleep during that time. I got a chance to
ride for an hour, and then walked again till we halted for the
night, doing twelve miles in the afternoon. After supper and
getting baggage off and tents up, I turned in at nine o'clock
and never moved till four this morning."

By Tuesday night the wearied column had reached the
neighbourhood of Eagle Creek, about midway between the
South and North Saskatchewan. Over the creek a bridge was
extemporised, and the force, crossing the stream, proceeded on
its way. Thursday morning brought the column to within
Bight of the Indian Reserve of Mosquito's band, where Payne,
the white Farm Instructor, met his foul death at the hands oi
those whom he was instructing in the peaceful art of the
farmer ! The afternoon march took the column through the
deserted reserve and past the desolate home of the unfortunate
Farm Instructor. The mutilated body of the poor Indian
Agent was found in an outhouse with his head smashed in,
and the lifeless body of another white man, a Belgian rancher,
was discovered near by. Nightfall saw the Division approach
the low range of mountains, known as the Wolf and the Slid-
ing Hills, which hem in Battleford on the south. As these
hills are more or less covered with timber, in which the Indian
marauders of the region could find cover from which to fire on
the troops, a halt was called for the night on the borders of
the prairie. The men slept under arms, while the sky was
illumined by the Indian vandals setting fire to the houses
in Battleford, a piece of parting pleasantry on the approach of
the troops.

The excitement which this grim devastation created in the
ranks of the relieving column was intense. The men, tired out
as they were, clamoured to make a dash through the three
miles of poplar and underbrush that intervened between the
camp and the high banks of the Battle River, and, desceading

otter's flying column. 295

to the plain, to rush upon the Indian miscreants. But gallant
as was the intent, Colonel Otter saw that the risk was too great
to permit him to give the men their way. There was not only
the risk of conflict with the Indians on the plain ; there was
danger in being ambushed in a locality unknown to himself
and the troops. Had he yielded, and the charge been made, it
might have been said of it, as General Bosquet is reported to
have said of the headlong rush of the English Light Brigade
at Balaklava, " It was magnificent, but it was not war ! "* And
Colonel Otter was right ; the lives of his men were more to
him than the safety of a few houses and stores, or even a de-
camped Judge's residence. Of the arrival at, and entry into,
Battleford on the sixth day of the unparalleled march across
the plains, we have the following record from a volunteer cor-
respondent :

" On Thursday evening we arrived within three miles of
Battleford, where we camped for the night. The Indians were
between us and the town, and all ranks were anxious to get
on ; but the Colonel decided to wait till daylight before mak-
ing an attack. That night the Indians burned the Hudson
Bay store and the Government House, and sacked the town.
The Mounted Police were out scouting, and a young fellow
who was with them was killed. I was on outpost duty that
night and could plainly see the blaze from the burning houses.
About one o'clock in the morning the Indians tried to surprise
our camp, but retired when they found us on the watch. We
gave them a few bullets, but could not tell whether we killed
any of them or not. Next morning we marched into Old
Battleford ; but not an Indian was to be seen. The stores we
found plundered, and many of them burnt. All the people are
in the Fort on the other side of the Battle River and between
the latter and the Saskatchewan. The Indians have stolen or
destroyed, I should say, over $50,000 worth of goods, and got
off clear, and we only a few miles away. We were all wild to

•Q'est.magiiifique, maia ce u'est ]^ ^uene I,

29G THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

get after them, but had to go into camp. On Friday night
some twenty police joined us here from Fort Pitt, with the
news that it had been taken by tlie Indians. The police es-
caped by the help of a friendly Indian ; but two of them were
killed during the retreat. The Stoney Indians who sacked
this place have joined Poundraaker, and are at his. reserve,
some thirty-five miles from here. To make a descent upon
them, we expect, will be our next move."

The march of Colonel Otter's column to the relief of Battle-
ford may not inaptly compare with incidents in the military
annals of the Old World. It would be foolish to liken it to
the relief of Poona or Cawnpore, for it lacks the tragic incid-
ents which marked the relief by the British troops of these
Indian cities. But it was lacking only in this particular.
The rapidity of the forced march, the toil undergone by our
volunteers en route, and the eager anxiety of all ranks to reach
Battleford before savage lust of blood would be slaked in the
massacre of the white refugees in the Fort, were features in
common with the famed relieving expeditions of the barbaric
East. " The looting of the town," writes a journalist after the
arrival of Otter's column, " was about as complete as the
Indian could make it. Nothing escaped his rapacity. The
devil in his nature had full vent. The contents of the houses
were smashed and strewed about with a fury as fiendish as it
was vain. Household goda^ — treasures infinitely more of the
heart than of the pocket, — ^were tumbled about in indescribable
confusion ; and cosy comfort, which years had fashioned and
time had rendered doubly dear, was converted into desolation.
Vast stores of provisions wei-e carted away, and what the
marauders could not carry ofi' they destroyed." Nor was this
riot of pillage and purposeless wrecking of stores and houses
confined to the town. Similar rapine had been going on over
the district, alike in the rosideAce of the well-to-do, and in the

LIEUT. A. L. HOWARD

Cknumanding Machine Gun Platoon Seco-d Conr.coticut National Guird

OTTEJt'S FLYING COLUMN. 297

modest home of the poor settler. " Humanitarian critics in
the east," writes an indignant resident of Battleford, "may
counsel clemency in dealing with the Indian ; but these peace
exhorters should be here to witness the wreck of all our
possessions, and undergo the mental strain of many weeks'
dread of nightly massacre, before they are competent to say
what shall be the fate of those whose hands are red with th«
blood of the settler, and whose lawlessness was restrained only
by innate cowardice and the approach of the troops."

Fortunately this carnival of license ended with the appear-
ance of the relieving column on the heights over-looking the
Battle River and the low, rich plain on which stood New
Battleford. To the townspeople and settlers of the neighbour-
hood, who had for weeks been immured in the Police Barracks
at Battleford, the dawn of Friday, the 24th of April, was
freighted with joy. At sight of the troops all turned out to
greet them with cheers ; and the citizens and relieved garrison
hastened to make provision for their rest and refreshment.
Colonel Morris, of the Mounted Police, who had been in charge
of the Fort, was hearty in his welcome of Colonel Otter and
his command, and no less hearty in extending the courtesies
of the post to his old comrade, Colonel Herchmer, and his
mounted detachment. For a time all was bustle and excite-
ment ; but a day or two saw the Second Field Division settle
down to routine camp duty, varied by the occasional excite-
ment of camp sports, or of news of Indians on the war-path,
brought in by the ubiquitous scout. Camp was pitched on
the plain between the Battle River and the North Saskat-
chewan, and the men for a time worked off their superabund-
ant vitality in erecting earthworks to protect it, and in build-
ing a bridge over the Battle River. A daily garrison was also
told off for duty at tlia Industrial School on, the. heights,, at.

298 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

occupy that commanding post of observation, and on occasion
to give note of warning.

The inaction that followed soon chafed the eager spirits oi
the camp. All were anxious for a brush with the Indian, the
more so as news had reached the garrison of fighting on the
South Saskatchewan, and of the heroism of comrades at the
Barttle of Fish Creek. But orders came not. The men grew
tired of nursing their abraded heels and of mollifying with
ointment each other's sun-scorched faces. Soon, too, the mend-
ing of rents in their uniform palled, though the exhilaration
of this necessary task was not without its relief. Its comical
aspect is thus portrayed in a letter from a young divinity
Btudent in the ranks to his father, a well-known and worthy
clergyman, whose parish is in the north-west suburb of Toronto.
As the letter appeared in the Toronto Mail, we have no scruple
on the score of delicacy in transferring it to our pages. Nor,
in doing so, shall we be charged, we hope, with making an
oblique partisan attack upon the Government. The innocent,
clever fun in the extract should relieve the writer and our-
selves from a charge so false.

" Our clothes," writes this militant Churchman, "are begin-
ning to show signs of wear, especially the rear of our unmen-
tionables ; mine gave out entirely. One sleeve came out of
my overcoat, and I made use of the latter to make up the for-
mer deficiency, or, as I told an officer last night who asked
me what had become of my sleeve, ' I took a detachment from
the right subdivision of my overcoat to reinforce the rearguard
of my trowsers.' However, the strength of the reinforcement
only serves to show the weakness and utter demoralisation
and rottenness of the said rearguard ; and, consequently, I have
applied to the Colonel for their superannuation, and for the
attachment to my command of one of a hundred new pairs
daily expected from headquarters. One night on picket I felt
a little cool for want of this rearguard, and to supply its place
I took off my rifle sling, fastened it to my waist belt before and

6tteb's flying column. ^OO

behind, passed it through my legs, an J thus pressed the tail of
my overcoat into service as a substitute, and a very good one
it proved ! Otherwise, I have in no way suffered from the
col'l since leaving Qu'Appelle, and very little then, the north-
shore trip having done much in hardening us. Life as a sol-
dier is by no means bad, in fact, it imj^roves as we go on, and
would be first rate if we could only drop into Toronto occasion-
ally, or even get the mails regularly." *

Such was the spirit and good humour, not only of the
"Queen's Own," but of all the Battleford troops, as well ol
their comrades in other portions of the North- West. From
all quarters came the same note of cheerfulness, the same manly
undergoing of hardship, and, from the battle-field, a courageous
f.icing of death ! In closing this chapter, let us signalise the
great march we have attempted to describe by quoting the
compliments it elicited in Parliament, and the well-merited
praise awarded to the whole force in the field. On the 27th
of April, after the march to Battleford, and the gallant con-
duct of the troops at Fish Creek, Mr. J. D. Edgar, M.P. for
AVest Ontario, rose in the House and made the following
remarks, with the accompanying enquiry of the Minister oi
Militia :

•* While the whole country has been excited about the troops
under Gen. Middleton, all Canadians, I am sure, are filled with
«,d miration at the extraordinary and brilliant march made by
Cul. Otter's column from the Saskatchewan to Battleford, and
everybody is interested in knowing how the troops have stood
that extraordinary strain. I have no doubt the Government
have informed themselves of the general health of that column,
;aud I would like to know from the Minister what the report is..

Hon. Mr. Caron — It gives me very great pleasure, indeed, in
answer to the question, to state that the hon. gentleman has
•qualified the march of Col. Otter's column as it should be
•qualified. That march is considered by those who are author-
ities in such matters — I mean military men — to have been a
unarch deserving of all the encomiums that can be given to a

Sod the NORta-WESt: Its filSTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

feat of that kind. We always knew Col. Otter to be one of
the very best men we had in the Canadian sei'vice, and in the
opportunity which has been given of showing his great value
he has not been found wanting. I am happy to state that
from the telegram I have received from Battleford, I have
reason to believe the troops are in the very best possible health
and spirits, and that they have stood that wonderful march
(for it was a wonderful march) in a manner that could not
have been expected from them. 1 received yesterday a cipher
telegram from the Major-General, in which he speaks in the
highest possible terms of the behaviour of the troops in their
Hrst engagement. He confirms the news which appeared in
the press of this morning of the encounter, and mentions the
names of our brave volunteers who have fallen on the field. I
am sure I am merely expressing the views and the opinion of the
whole country in saying that we all deeply regret the loss we
have suffered. They died the death of soldiers, and I am sure
the country must be proud of the manner in which they have
done their duty." (Cheers.)

CHAPTER XX.

THE FROG LAKE MASSACRE.

HILE the tender blades of the prairie grass in
the North- West were springing rapidly from
the womb of earth, and

*' The mother of months in meadow and plain
Filled the shadows and windy places
With lisp of leaves and ripple of rain,"

a deed of horror was being enacted in an
isolated region beyond the frost-liberated
waters of the North Saskatchewan. The
scene was Frog Lake, in the neighbourhood of Fort Pitt. For
a time the facts of the tragedy did not transpire, and in the
absence of reliable information, as often happens, idle rumour
exaggerated the report. The first startling intelligence was of
the wholesale massacre of the Government Indian Agents of
the district, the Farm Instructors and Hudson Bay officials,
with their wives and families, the Priests of the Roman Catho-
lie mission, and the garrison of mounted constabulary at Fort
Pitt. A later report still further exaggerated the facts, with
the tidings that all of one sex had been butchered, and the
other reserved to suffer the nameless horrors of Indian indig-
nity and savage lust. Calamitous as was the occurrence, tha

301

o62 TtlE kORfH-WESt: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES;

facts were not quite so incredible. The truth was finally got
at, and the enormity of Big Bear's crimes reached the outer
world. In brief these crimes consisted in the murder, in cold
blood, of two Oblat Fathers of the Catholic Mission ; one Lay
Brother ; one chief Indian Agent ; two Farm Instructors ; two
Mounted Police ; two Hudson Bay Company employes, and the
capture and detention of some thirty others, men, women, and
children. The indictment further included the wrecking of
the settlements ; the raiding of the posts ; the burning of the
Mission Church, the bodies of the Priests being flung upon the
pyre ; and the seizure of cattle and stores, wherever marauding
hands cuuld reach them. The captives, for the space of two
months, were in hourly fear for their lives. Dragged to and
fro over a wild and desolate region, they for a time lived a
living death.

The region of the Indian rising, in the Fort Pitt Agency ex-
tends from Fort Pitt on the Upper Saskatchewan, north-west-
ward to Frog Lake on the western flank of the Moose Hills,
and south of the Beaver River. Roughly speaking, the meri-
dians 110*^ W. and 54° N. may be said to intersect each other
at the north-east angle of Frog Lake. The Indian reserves at
the Lake were occupied by the small bands of Chiefs Wee-
mis-ti-co-wa-sis, Ne-paw-hay-haw, and Puska-ah-go-win, in all
less than two hundred souls. But the region, of late, had be-
come the stalking ground of the large and restless tribes of
Big Bear, Lucky Man, Little Poplar, and Wandering Spirit,
Eome six or seven hundred in number. At Fort Pitt the band,
nearly two hundred strong, of See-kas-kootch had a reserve
and at Long Lake, a considerable distance to the northward, a
hundred troublesome Chippewyans were located. Over all
these bands Big Bear dominated, and his malign influence and
the fear of his name, disaffected the whole district, and finally
led most of them to go forth with him on tbe war-path.

THE FROG LAKE MASSACRE. §0S

The action of Big Bear, and the insurrection of Riel and his
half-breeds, incited other bands, if not to murder, to acta of
thievery and lawless intimidation. Not less than five thousand
Indians, on the North Saskatchewan, were known to be more
or less disaffected. Besides the bands we have mentioned, and
Beardy's Duck Lake following, all the Indians round Battleford
were actively hostile. These included the Eagle Hill Indiana
under Chiefs Mosquito, Bear's Head, Lean Man, and Red
Pheasant; with the bands under Poundmnker, Little Pine, and
Sweet Grass, or Strike-him-on-the-back, all situate in the
neighbourhood of the Battle River. On the reserves at Jack
Fish Creek, the bands of Moosomin, and Napahase, were also
feared to be unfriendly, together with the following of Mista-
wasis and One Arrow.

The sedition of Riel was the signal for the rising of this
mass of disaffection. His runners carried news of the half-
breed revolt throughout the district, and the Indian nature
could not resist the contagion. We have seen whut j)art the
Willow Crees of Duck Lake played in the first uprising, and
we have been witness to the devilment of the marauding
bands round Battleford. Let us now move westward to the
troubled region of Fort Pitt and the lair of the Pontiac of the
North-West, the notorious rascal Big Bear. His stalking
ground was the whole district between Edmonton and Battle-
ford, but lay chiefly round Long, Frog, and Stoney Lakes,
north of the Saskatchewan. In this district Big Bear had long
been a source of anxiety to the Government Agents at Fort
Pitt, as he had formerly been troublesome at Fort Walsh, in
the Cypress Hills. At the latter Fort he refused to take
treaty in the summer of 1879, when Little Pine and Lucky
Man, chiefs of his own tribe, became adherents to Treaty No.
6, made at Forts Carlton and Pitt in the Fall of 1876. The

364 THE KORTH-WESt: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

reason assigned for refusing treaty was some scruple he had to
the indignity of hanging for murder, a punishment he was
richly to merit by his subsequent acts. Towards the close of
1882 he signed adhesion to treaty and agreed to go on a re-
serve in the neighbourhood of Fort Pitt. Here, as a corres-
pondent remarks, it was thought that amidst hitherto quiet
and peaceful bands of his own nation in the district, and
hemmed in on the south by the Upper Saskatchewan, he would
settle down and give no further trouble. But trouble from the
first he has given and continued to give, and has repeatedly
been guilty of acts of violence and intimidation. Time and
again he has attempted to overawe the Police at the Pitt
Agency, and summoned the various bands in the district to
take up the hatchet and tomahawk. At repeated pow-wows
he has incited his followers to acts of sedition, and endeavoured
to persuade his braves to exterminate the settlers. He also
revived the " Thirst Dance " with all its revolting features.

Fort Pitt is a fort only in name. It lies unprotected on a
low, rich flat somewhat back from the north shore of the Upper
Saskatchewan, and is situate about a hundred miles from
Battleford on the East, and two hundred miles from Edmonton
on the West. Here, on Good Friday, the 3rd of April, Henry
Quinn, nephew of the local Government Indian Agent, who
had escaped from Frog Lake with his life, brought the news to
the Foi-t of the massacre of the whites at the Lake, and of the
capture by Big Bear of those he wished to hold as prisoners.
The horror occurred on the previous day. Big Bear, Wandering
Spirit, and Little Bear and their bands, being its chief actors.
The victims of the massacre, it was reported, were Thomas
Quinn, resident Indian Agent; John Delaney, Farm Instructor ;
John A. Gowanlock, millwright; Fathers Farfard and Marchand,

IBE FROG LAKE MASSACRE. 305

of tho TjT^Ian Mission; J. DilJ, a storekeeper; W. Gilchrist; J.
Wiliscroft; and C. Gouin.

The ill-fated missionaries were Oblat Fathers engaged in the
Belf-saerificing duties of the Indian Missions in this outlying
portion of the diocese of Bishop Grandin, of Prince Albert.
Father Farfard was a Lower Canadian, and for the past nine
years had been occupied in missionary work in the North-
West. Father Marchand was a native of Fiance. He came to
Canada two years ago, and, accepting duty in the Battleford
Missions, had recently settled at Frog Lake.

Thos. Quinn, the trusted Indian Agent of the Government,
was a native of Red River. His father was an Irish trader in
that region, and his mother a Cree half-breed. Physically,
Quinn was a fine specimen of humanity : he was a thorough
frontiersman, an accomplished horseman, and an expert canoe-
ist. He is said to have laboured long and zealously for the
conversion of his Pagan brethren, and to have earnestly sought
the amelioration of their condition. His fate at the hands of
those to whom he had been kind is a grim commentary on the
results anticipated from Indian evangelisation. But, in a re-
flection of this sort, the agitated condition of the country, and
the example of the seditious half-breeds, have to be borne in
mind, and allowance made for their effects on imperfect civilis-
ation.

John Delaney, the Farm Instructor, had in 1882 come with
his wife from the neighbourhood of Ottawa, and had the super-
vision of four bands of Indians in proximity to Frog Lake.
His official duties were also to attend to the issue of Govern-
ment rations to the followers of Big Bear. We are told that
he was engaged in the performance of this humane duty when
the outbreak took place. A like beneficent work had brought
Mr. J. A. Gowanlock to Frog Lake : he was engaged in erecting

-1

tHte i^OMH-WEST: ITS HISTORY A.Kt) ITS fROUfetES.

a mill for the benefit of the Indians of the district. Mr. and
Mrs. Gowanlock belonged to Parkdale, the western suburb of
Toronto. Theirs is a sad tale. The young couple had been
but a few months married, and had come to Frog Lake in the
previous December. The story we have to tell of the massacre
is taken from the lips of the surviving -wives of Delaney and
Gowanlock.* After the shooting of their husbands, these un-
fortunate gentlewomen were dragged from the lifeless bodies
of their loved protectors, and for two months were the terror-
stricken captives of the Indian murderers. For this long
period they were in ignorance of what had happened elsewhere
in the Territories, and were unaware that their fate had be-
come known to their kin and the people of Canada. Not
knowing this, how sad was their plight in their forced march-
ings and counter-marchings with their hunted Indian captors,
for hope of freedom or rescue never came to relieve or buoy
their minds !

The dread incidents of the massacre are briefly as follows :
On one of the closing days of March a message reached the
home of the Gowanlocks, informing its inmates that Mr. Quinn,
the Indian agent, had fears of a rising among Big Bear's band,
and advising Mr. and Mrs. Gowanlock to come to Quinn's
house, and from there the small colony of white settlers would
proceed to Fort Pitt for safety. The Gowanlocks, thus warned,
set out for the rendezvous. On their way they called at the
homestead of Delaney, the Farm Instructor, where their fear
of pending trouble was allayed, and they abode with the
Delaneys two nights. At dawn on Thursday, the 2nd of
April, the household was startled at seeing the place surround-

♦Fof the basis of this narrative we are indebted to " A. S. O. E.," the Olohe
fipecial correspondent, who transmits the combined story of Mrs. Delaney and Mrs.
Gowanlock to the Toronto Olohe, under date. Battleford the 12th of June.

THE FROG LAKE MASSACRE. S07

ed by some thirty armed Indians, most of them mounted on
their prairie ponies. Tlie leaders forced their way into tho
house, and took possession of all ^ the arms and ammunition
they could find, informing the Delaneys and their guests, tiu
Gowanlocks, that they had need of the weapons, Tluy then
required the inmates of the homestead to go with them, fui'
they wished to save them — such was the pretext, — from half-
breeds who were coming to attack them. In their fear, though
not suspecting molestation, they complied with the Indians'
wishes, and set out for Quinn's home, and from Quinn's to tho
Mission House. At Quinn's a like demand was made for all
the arms at the Agency, and the story was repeated of threat-
ened attack by the breeds. At the mission morning mass was
being celebrated, which the Indians interrupted, and all were
ordered back to Delaney's, together with the half-breeds who
had been taken prisoners by the Indians, and had sought tho
shelter of the Church.

At the Delaney's all were left for a time in quiet. The In-
dians soon returned, however, after looting a couple of stores in
the neighbourhood ; and some, it is supposed, gaining access to
the sacramental wine at the Priests'. Big Bear now appeare I
on the scene. To the Delaneys the Chief, with affected guile-
lessness, imparted his fears of the hostile intent of his young
braves. He assured the Instructor, however, that he and his
wife would be safe. The whole were now ordered to thj
Indian camp, though as yet none apprehended serious trouble.
The tragic events that followed we shall leave Mrs. Gowanlock
to relate :

" We all left Mrs. Delaney's house together. When we left
no one knew what was going to happen, and I do not tliink it
was really snppo^oil any of us wcr.- in datigcr. As wo left, Vu>
house my husband took uic with LUu and we walked, qa

308 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

together. We had gone only a few paces when the Indiana
began firing. Mr. Dill, Mr. Quinn, and Mr. Gilchrist were shot
first, though I did not see them shot ; but as soon as I saw Mr.
Willscroft, an old grey-headed man, fall in front of us, I then
knew all were being killed. I became greatly alarmed. I saw
an Indian aiming at my husband by my side. In a moment
he fell, reaching out his arms towards me as he sank. I
caught him, and we fell together. I lay upon him, resMng my
iace upon his, and his breath was scarcely gone when I was
forced away by an Indian. It was not the Indian who fired
that dragged me from my husband. I was almost crazy with
grief ; but I remember seeing the two priests shot and also Mr.
Delaney. They were in front of me. One of the priests, when
shot, was leaning over Mr. Delaney. I saw them fall, but
it appeared to me like some terrible dream. I did not seem
to know what it all meant, and I went through it dazed and
stunned, with only the power of my limbs left me to follow
afttjr the Indian, as he dragged me after him. I was pulled
tlirough the sloughs and coarse brush, which wet me through
and tore my clothes and flesh, and I must have suffered in-
tensely from rough treatment, though my grief and terror
rendered me unconscious of much of my suffering. . . After
this I was not subjected to any very severe hardship, but my
mental anxiety, verging on derangement, was my worst trouble.
I never knew what next was cominof ; 1 did not fear actual
death at the hands of the Indians, but I dreaded ill-treatment
and abuse a thousand times worse than death itself."

Mrs. Delaney's personal experience is as unspeakably sad.
After reciting the facts connected with the early morning's
proceedings, in which she took part, she enumerates those who
fell, among whom were Mr. Dill, Mr. Quinn, Mr. Willscroft,
Ml-. Gouin, Mr. Gilchrist, and Mr, Gowanlock. The latter she
saw fall. Here is a portion of her piteous narrative :

" Mrs. Gowanlock was beside her husband when he fell, and
as he dropped she leaned down over him, putting her face to
his. As two shots had been fired at her husband some sup-
posed that she had fallen at the second shot. When I saw Mrs.
Qowanlock fall I saw some hideous object, an Indian got up

THE FROG LAKE MASSACRE. 309

in frightful costume, take aim at my husband. Before I could
speak my husband staggered away, but came back and said to
me, 'I am shot.' He then fell, and I called the priest and told
him what had happened. While he was praying with my
husband the same hideous Indian fired again, and I thought
his shot was meant for me, and I laid my head down upon my
husband and waited — it seemed an age — but it was for ray poor
husband, and he never spoke afterwards. Almost immediately
another Indian ran up and ordered me away. I wanted to
stay, but he dragged me off, pulling me along by the arms
through the brush and brier and through the creek, where the
water reached to my waist. I was put into an Indian tent and
left there until nightfall, without anything offered me to eat,
though I could not have eaten anything. I was not allowed
outside of the tent, and so had no opportunity of returning to
my dead husband, and have never seen him since."

Escape from the heart-rending situation which had so
suddenly environed these poor women was not to come for two
months after these events occurred. Thanks to the humanity
of their fellow-prisoner half-breeds, relief, however, was in
some measure to be theirs. To their protection and incessant
interposition, they owed their lives and all that a woman holds
dear. In their trying situation Heaven's mercy seemed mir-
aculously extended to them ; for at nightfull on the day of the
massacre, while Mrs. Delaney and Mrs. Gowanlock were con-
fined in separate tepees among the Indians, some half-breeds
in the camp purchased their release by giving up their
horses and a little money they had concealed upon their per-
sons. The names of their half-breed liberators are John
Pritchard and Adolphus Nolan, with two others, named Blondiu
and Goulois. To Pritchard, especially, do the women acknow-
ledge their eternal gratitude. By the purchase, the women
came together, and in their common captivity were tenderly
cared for. At Pritchard's interpo.sition they were also per
mitted. to travel, with the haJf -breed jgriaoaers.

310 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUliLtiS.

" Every other day," observes Mrs. Delaney, " we were moved
with the entire camp from one place to another. Big Bear's
treatment of us would have been cruel in the extreme, but
Pritchard saved us from the agony and torture of forced marches
through sloughs, brush, and rough land. Frequent attempts
were made to reach us by the Indians, but the half-breeds
watched night after night, armed and ready to keep ofi' any
attempt to ill-treat us. Four different nights Indians approach-
ed our tent, but the determination of our protectors saved us.
There is no telling what abuse we might have been subject to
but for their presence."

Mrs. Gowanlock's testimony to Pritchard's fidelity and con-
stant thoughtfulness is equally hearUelt and siucere. She
remarks :

" I dread to imagine what would have been done to us had
it not been for John Pritchard and those who were with him.
We were not compelled to march on foot, although once or
twice Mrs. Delaney and I walked off together when the cart
was not ready, John Pritchard often made his children walk
that we might ride. I had no idea where we were being taken
to, or what was going to be done with us, but I kept up as
best I could. We had heard nothing of troops coming, nor had
we heard anything of Kiel's rebellion, further than early in
March that there was likely to be one. We had nothing at all
to look forward to, and hope was not entertained for a moment.
Sometimes John Pritchard encouraged me and would tell us
that he would do what he could to get us to our friends, but
this, our only hope, was only of momentary comfort, and the
terrible present would drive away all expectations of ever again
seeing home and friends. For two months we travelled on,
going long and short distances by daylight, according to the
inclination of Big Bear. I frequently saw him. He would
come into our tent and talk to us. Mr. Pritchard would inter-
pret, and Big Bear professed sorrow, telling us it was all the
fault of his braves whom he could not control. I did not be-
lieve this altogether, although he had very little control over
his band. Wandering Spirit seemed to have more influence
with the tribe than anyone else. He was one of Big Bear's
councillors, and th§ man \srho fired tl^e ^rsi; shot, the shot that

THE FROG LAKE MASSACRK 3H

killed Mr. Quinn. The Indians would contend with one another
for the honour of having killed the whites, and would even
quarrel over the disputes that would arise between themselves
on this account. The squaws would come to our tent — not a
tepee such as the Indians used — and jeer and laugh at us and
ask us how we liked it ; and shortly before we escaped they
kept saying they wanted to kill us."

We shall anticipate events if we here give the sequel to this
lamentable story. But it will be better to complete the sad
narrative in the present chapter ; and we do so more willingly,
as what we have now to tell has a measurably happy ending
in escape and succour. About the time General Middleton's
Field Division reached Humboldt, on the way to the seat of
insurrection, Big Bear's band, in their wanderings to and fro
with the Frog Lake captives, threatened a descent upon Fort
Pitt. This post at the time contained a small garrison of
Mounted Police, a few Hudson Bay Company ofBcials and
their familie3, together with the Missionary and the Farm In-
structor of Onion Lake, who, in the disturbed state of the
district, had sought the protection of the Fort for themselves
fcnd their households. In anticipation of attack by Big Bear's
young braves, willing hands within Fort Pitt were busily em-
ployed pulling down all outside buildings, blocking up windows,
making loop holes for musketry, erecting bastions, and generally
fortifying the defences of the post. Before two weeks in April
had passed over, word was brought to the Fort of the approach
of Big Bear, Little Poplar, and Wandering Spirit, with some
ten or twelve lodges of Indians. On the 14th inst., they were
descried on an eminence, some eight hundred yards from the
post, where they made night hideous with the war-dance, and
frightened the garrison by firing stray shots into the Fort, and
by scouting round its defence^

312 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES,

Double sentries were now mounted all day, and during the
niglit the whole garrison was under arms. Even young girls,
inmates of the Fort, pluckily stationed themselves at loopholes,
rifle in hand, ready to withstand attack. Next morning a
message was received from Big Bear requiring the garrison to
evacuate the Fort and give up arms. A council was now
called, and it was decided that Mr. Maclean, the Hudson Bay
Factor at the post, should seek an interview with the Indian
Chief, and learn from him whether he would protect life on
the post being surrendered to pillage. At the parley that en-
sued, Maclean was told that the Indians wanted to raid the
fort, and not to kill the inmates. Protection was guaranteed
to the Hudson Bay officials and their families, if they at once
surrendered themselves ; and a personal message was sent by
Big Bear, urging the Mounted Police to make good their escape
from the Fort. They were also informed that he would not be
answerable for the actions of his followers if they continued
to defend the place. Maclean, meanwhile, was held a prisoner.
In view of the situation, and anxious for the safety of his
wife and family, of ten children, as well as for the other in-
mates of the Fort, Maclean took Big Bear at his word, and
sent a letter directing his family to join him, and urging all
the Hudson Bay Company employes to do the same. As the
latter numbered only twenty- eight souls, men, women, and
children, and the Mounted Police, all told, were but fifteen men,
with Inspector Dickens in command, the impossibility of hold-
ing the Fort against two hundred and fifty Indians, was patent
to everyone. The Hudson Bay people therefore marched out
of the Fort, and proceeded to Big Bear's camp on the hill,
where they gave themselves up. The garrison being thua
depleted, the Police saw discretion ' lay in making speedy
escape from the beleagured Fort. They were hastened in this.

THE FROa LAKE MASSACRE. 313

act by the killing of one of their number (Constable Cowan*),
and the wounding of another (Constable Loasby), who were
shot while scouting on the plain. That evening, the night ol
the 15th inst., the intrepid Police stole from the Fort, carrying
with them the colours and their wounded comrade. With
difficulty the fugitives crossed the ice-choked river, and camp-
ed till dawn on the southern bank of the Saskatchewan,

At four o'clock the next morning, in a heavy snow storm,
and with ice running very strong in the river, the gallant
troopers boarded a scow and set off for Battleford. For days
they kept to the river, not daring to land on the banks, for
fear of capture by hostile Indians. Only when they reached
some island on the way, were they able to get under canvass
over night and to start a fire to thaw their half-frozen limbs.
In the passage down the stream they were in constant peril
from ice-jams, and occasionally got caught on sandbars at
bends in the river. On the eighth day out, their troubles
happily ended, on arriving at Battleford, where they were en-
thusiastically greeted by their comrades in the garrison, the
Police band playing them into fort.

The whites, who surrendered themselves prisoners to Big
Bear at Fort Pitt, besides Maclean, the Hudson Bay Factor,
and his family, were the Rev. Charlas Quinney, of the Church
of England Mission, at Onion Lake ; his wifp ; Mr. Mann, the
local Farm Instructor, and family of five children, Mr. Stanley
Simpson, Hudson Bay Clerk, with a number of the Company's

• A correspondent of the Montreal Witness states that Cowan's mutilated body
was found some weeks afterwards in a little clearing in the bush close to Fort Pitt.
He relates some horrible details in regard to the fate of this and other victims of
Indian malignity in the district. " Cowan's he;xrt," he describes, " had been cut
from the body, the limbs had been gashed by knives, and the red-skinned fiends had
finished by carrying off the scalp of the dead constable. A pair of handcufEs,"
he adds, " had been put on his wrists by way of special indignitY."

314 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

servants, some few French Canadians, and friendly Indians.
These prisoners, with those who had fallen into his hands at
Frog Lake, Big Bear took away northward with him, and were
unwilling witnesses of the plundering operations of his band
over the region as far west as Victoria and north to the Beaver
River. For weeks they had to tramp through swamps and
muskegs, and over a wild unbroken country ; for the Indians
avoided the ordinary trails, lest they should meet with Major
Steele's loyal scouts who were on their track, and the forces of
General Strange, who had set out from Edmonton to operate
against them. Towards the end of May the troops got repeat-
edly on the track of the fugitives, and had several engagements
with the Indians. Advantage, by the white prisoners, was
iilways sought to be taken of these fights to make good their
escape ; and the half-breeds and not a few of the Indians, who
had been forced by Big Bear to rise against the whites, were
xlso eager to part company with their captors. But for a time
they were too closely watched. The Plain Crees made them-
selves particularly officious in preventing escape, and but for
the Wood Crees they would ere this have massacred all the
prisoners.

But to some of the prisoners escape, providentially, was soon
to come. While the Indians were holding a " thirst dance,"
about the 28th of May, scouts brought news to the camp of
the approach of an armed force,* which for some hours had a
hot engagement with the young fighting braves of the band.
In the fight the Indians pursued their usual tactics of drawing
the troops on to an ambuscade ; but fortunately the ruse was

•This force was a portion of General Strange's Division from Edmonton, that
had been detailed to seek to rescue the white captives. It consisted of three com-
panies of CoL Osborne Smith's Battalion of Winnipeg Light Infantry ; two Com-
panies of Col. Ouimet's 65th Regiment, of Montreal ; Major Mutton's local Mounted
^iHes ; and some fifty men of Uie Mo^uted Police and Scouts, under Mftjor Steele^

I'HE FROG LAKE MASSACllfi; S15

detected, and the troops were withdrawn to the fear, before
being surrounded and cut oif. This enabled the Indians again
to get away with their captives, when they took to still more
unfrequented paths, and to a region of muskeg and swamp
where it was impossible safely to follow them. Mr. Quinney,
the missionary, states that camp was formed that night about
sixteen miles from the scene of the engagement, and not far
from Red Deer Creek. A few days after this, some of the
Indians who were restive under Big Bear's leadership, and
notably a friendly Indian, named Long Fellow, facilitated the
escape of Rev. Mr. Quinney, his wife, Mr. Cameron, a Hudson
Bay Clerk, and Francis Dufresne, an employ^ of the Company,
with a few half-breed women. After a fatiguing march, of
about twenty miles, they came to the North Saskatchewan, and
were gratified to hear two prolonged whistles from a steamboat
on the river. By this time it was dark. The party took to
s-houting, and finally their cries met the response of a friendly
cheer, and the whole were soon in safety.

About the same time, the Indians becoming excited at the
daring of loyal scouts who were constantly on their track,
hastened their movement northward, and the half-breed pro-
tectors of Mrs. Delaney and Mrs. Gowanlock, watching their
opportunity, and taking advantage of the morning fog over the
lakes of the region, turned into the woods and made off with
all speed for the south. For a time they moved backwards
and forwards, so as to avoid their trail being discovered ; but
finally were able to strike a scout, named Wm. McKay, of
Battleford, who with eight others conducted the whole party
in safety to Fort Pitt. Here the sufferings of the two poor
gentlewomen, and the toils and anxiety of their humane half-
breed deliverers, were happily forgotten in the welcome they

81 G THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

received from the garrison, and the thoughtful provision made
for them by Colonels B. Van Straubenzie, and A. T. Williams.
Another fortnight was to elapse ere the remainder of the
white prisoners effected their escape. Big Bear was now being
hard pressed by General Strange's troops, and these had had
engagements with his band at Frenchman's Butte and at Loon
Lake. After these fights there were repeated quarrels between
the Wood Crees and the followers of Big Bear. The former
determined to separate from the band, and to take the white
prisoners with them. The plight of the latter was now pitiful.
Utterly weary of the incessant marching, it is said that the
young girls repeatedly fell down exhausted at the feet of the
mounted Indians, and begged to be allowed to die where they
fell. But their captors kicked them up and forced them on.
Provisions were now also getting scarce, and the daily allow-
ance was not sufficient to enable them to continue the march.
Their friends, the Wood Crees, here again interfered, and when
the part}'' was near Lac des lies, they gave them their freedom,
with one or two horses to enable them to make good their
escape. For a time, it seemed, they had secured release only
to perish from hunger by the way. One morning all they had
for breakfast was one rabbit for twenty-eight people. But
their trials were soon over, for on the 18th of June one of their
number reached an outpost of the troops not far from Beaver
Kiver, and a relieving party set out instantly to bring them
in. Canon Mackay, who was with the outpost of scouts,
secured their transportation to Loon Lake ; and Captain Bed-
son, on Mackenzie, the Mail correspondent's riding in to Fort
Pitt with news of the release of the prisoners, was sent off by
the authorities to take provisions to them and to convey them
to the Fort. The party arrived at the Pitt Agency on tho
22nd of June.

CHAPTER XXI.

OTTER ATTACKS POUNDMAKER — THE FIGHT AT CUT
KNIFE HILL.

EFORE leaving the North Saskatchewan, and
returning to General Middleton's column, in tho
hot contests with the Half-breeds on the South
branch of the river, let us chronicle a movement
of Colonel Otter's force against Poundmaker's
band, which occupied a strong position some
thirty-five miles distant from Battleford. The
engagement took place on Saturday, the 2nd of
May, between a Hying column of 300 men, under Colonel Otter,
and about GOO Indians, posted near Poundmaker's reserve, close
by Battle River. Brief telegraphic despatches reached the
East on Tuesday, the 5th inst., stating that the fight began at
five o'clock in the morning and lasted till noon. Our loss was
seven killed and twelve wounded. The casualties of the In-
dians were supposed to be not far short of eighty. The des-
patches closed with the following words: "Colonel Otter
covered, including the engagement, seventy miles, fought the
battle and returned inside of thirty hours."

317

S18 TfiE NOHTH-WESt : ITS ntSTORY AND ITS TkOUBLES.

On reading the despatch our first emotions were of pity. In
our heart there was no response to the strain of heroics that
announced the achievement. Whatever military necessity
existed for the movement, we regretted that the forces of
civilisation had to be used for such a purpose. To enforce
respect for law and order upon savage life at the mouth of
Gatling guns and seven-pounders, we could not holp reflecting,
was a grave step in the history of the insurrection, and a dire
calamity. From a military point of view it was doubtless
necessary to overawe Poundmaker by a display of our strength
on the field, and if possible, happily, to hem in the insurrection.
Moreover, there were scores to be settled with his band for
their plundering and intimidation in the region, for the murder
of Payne and Applegarth, the local farm instructors, and for
the shooting of at least two of the settlers. There was also
the need of keeping Poundmaker from joining Kiel and his
half-breeds, and of giving aid to Big Bear and his bands in the
west. But whatever justification there was for sallying out
with an armed force against the Indians, we could have wished
that Colonel Otter had met Poundmaker anywhere but on his
own reserves and surrounded by the tepees of his women and
children.

It is little palliation to say that the Indians fired the first
shot : this they naturally would do on the advance upon their
encampment of an armed force. There is a sounder plea, in
what seems to be the case, that the band was about to take
part in extending the flame of insurrection, and in joining the
forces of Big Bear or Riel. In preventing this, the presence of
the flying column may be said to find its true justification.
But it is to be borne in mind, that the insurrection in the
North-West was not a rising of Indians, though the Indians,
unhappily, were led to take part in it. Their part in it, how-

OTTER ATTACKS POUNDMAKER. 819

ever, has been singularly slight ; and considering the example
that had been set them by the half-breeds, it is a marvel that
the flames of the contest did not envelop the whole territory.
But in these remarks we have no desire to criticise Colonel
Otter's action, or to question the expediency of his military
operations. No doubt, he considered the step a necessary one ;
though the embittered condition of the local mind at Battle-
ford, if he listened to that, was at the time, we fear, perilous
to the retention of a calm and pacific judgment. In the absence
of official reports of the engagement, or of the reasons that led
to it, we are content to rely upon the Commanding Officer's
caution and good feeling, as well as on the motives of human-
ity.

Poundmaker, against whose band the movement was directed,
has the reputation of being one of the most sagacious Indiana
in the North- West. The Cree Chief, moreover, is a particularly
handsome and refined-looking specimen of his race. Through
his veins courses the blood of the Cree, the Blackfoot, and the
Assiniboine or Stoney ; though at one time each of these tribes
was the hereditary enemy of the other. It was mainly at his
interposition that they all buried the hatchet. In 1881, when
Lord Lome went across the plains, Poundmaker, it is known,
joined the party for the purpose of interpreting the language
of the Blackfoot into Cree, as the Governor-General's Cree in-
terpreter did not understand Blackfoot. He was also of ser-
vice as a guide to the party, for Poundmaker knows the North-
West as the sailor knows the sea. Cut Knife Hill, the scene
of the conflict, is an elevated ridge on his reserve, flanked by
scrub-covered ravines and almost impregnable coulees. lo
derives its name from a raiding Chief, Cut Knife, whose follow-
ers were here once set upon, and paid the penalty of their
career of plunder and scalping by the death of their leader and

820 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

the extermination of the band. The hill was now to receive a
further baptism of blood.

On a bright May day afternoon (Friday, the 2nd inst.),
Colonel Otter's column crossed the Battle River, and gaining
its southern heights turned westward towards Poundmaker's
reserve, through an undulating country, interspersed with high
bluffs, thickly covered with sedge, elm, and small poplar. The
fighting force, in addition to the armed teamsters, who had
charge of the provisions, ammunition, and forage, numbered
about 320 men. The order of the column was as follows : a
small force of scouts on horseback, under Mr. Charles Ross ;
75 Mounted Police, under Colonel Herchmer and Inspector
Neale ; 80 men of " B " Battery, with two seven-pounders and
the Gatling gun, under Major Short, with a garrison division
under Capt. Farley ; 45 men of " C " Co. Infantry School, com-
manded by Lieuts. Wadmore and Sears ; 20 Ottawa Foot-
Guards, under Lt. Gray ; 50 men of the Queen's Own, Capt.
Thomas Brown, and Lieuts. Hughes and Brock in command ;
the line of teams, with tents, provisions, and forage ; and,
finally, 50 of the Battleford Rifles, under Capt. Nash, late of
the Queen's Own. Accompanying the column were the Signal
Corps, of the Queen's Own Rifles, and the Ambulance Brigade,
the latter under Surgeons Strange and Lesslie. The force
marched some sixteen miles before sundown, when a halt was
called for supper and a rest until moonrise.

At eleven o'clock the column resumed the march, the scouts
carefully feeling the way. Most of the men on foot were
taken up on the waggons and refreshed themselves with what
bleep they could obtain in the lullaby of creaking wheels and
under the soporific influence of the moonbeams. At daybreak
all were astir momentarily expecting to come across the enemy.
Passing through a deserted Indian encampment, the trail

OTTER ATTACKS POUNDMAKEa 321

seemed to end in a series of scrub-covered elevations, towering
above which rose Cut Knife Hill, flanked by a succession of
gorges. A herd of cattle was peacefully grazing on the near
hillsides, while, across the trail, brawled a winding creek, in a
deep depression of the land. As yet there was no sign of the
Indians. Fording the brook, and toiling up the heights on the
further side, the column suddenly pulled up at sight of the
mounted scouts falling back on the gallop with news of the
enemy. A moment later a flight of bullets whistled through
the air, and told its own story, that the fight had begun.

The videttes of the Mounted Police, who had nearly reached
the summit of Cut Knife, instantly dismounted, and were joined
by their comrades from the head of the column. They extend-
ed on the double, and rushed to the crest of the hill ; while
" B " Battery dashed after them with two seven-pounders aud
the Gatling. Gaining the ridge, the Police poured a withering
fire upon the advancing Indians, while the guns unlimbered
and prepared for action. Undaunted by the fire of the skir-
mishers, a posse of yelling braves made a rush to capture the
field-pieces, but were checkmated by a volley from Farley's
foot division of the battery, which had been ordered up in
support. To the right of the guns " C " Co. extended to the
edge of the hill ; and No. 1 Co. Queen's Own, in skirmishing
order, deployed to the left of the Police. In a minute or two
the seven-pounders belched shrapnel shell at the enemy ; and,
with appalling effect, the Gatling raked the coulees with a
thousand shot. Above the din of the guns was now heard the
war-whoop of hundreds of advancing Indians, and from the
ravine, served by the Gatling, came the death-wail of a score
of prostrate braves. Despite the noise, the Indian fire was hot
and incessant ; and it seemed to come from ever^ quarter.

822 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

For a time the safety of the column was in doubt. But
under the steady fire of the skirmishing line the confusion,
Incident to the sudden opening of the fight, passed away, and
confidence was restored by a good disposition of the force.
The Indians now made an effort to surround the troops. This
action was observed, however, by their wary commander, and
the Ottawa Guards and the Battleford Rifles were ordered into
positions to foil the movement. The latter were subsequently
recalled to act as reserves, to guard the kraal of Police and
Battery horses, and to protect the laager of waggons, the
ammunition, and the Field Hospital. In these important
duties the Rifles did good and efficient service. Once more,
however, the rear was threatened, as far back as the creek,
and once more the Battleford Company was called on to show
its mettle. Dashing into the scrub at the ambushed enemy,
they gallantly cleared it of the half-breeds who had taken
possession of it and kept the trail open to the crossing.

The enemy's fire continued to play hot on the ridge. The
heights in front of Cut Knife were reinforced by the Indians,
and showers of bullets sped across the ravine and fell thick in
the skirmishing line. On both flanks of the hill the coulees
were packed with redskins, and from the brushwood cover
white pufls of smoke would disclose the hiding-place of Indian
marksmen. Already their fell work had made many demands
on the ambulance, and not a few had passed need of a surgeon.
A Mounted Policeman, Corporal Sleigh, who had escaped from
Fort Pitt, was the first to fall, mortally wounded. A bullet
entered his mouth, and passed out at the back of his head.
The brave fellow is said to have raised himself on one knee,
while the blood streamed forth from the wound, and, taking
aim at an Indian, fired and fell dead. Private Arthur Dobbs,
of the Battleford Rifles, had also fallen, and rendexed his last

OtrtR AttACkS POUNDMAKER. 823

account. So had Pte. John Rogers, of the Ottawa Foot Guards,
and Brigade Bugler Herbert Foulkes, of the School of Infantr}'.
Among the wounded were Lieut. Pelletier, Sergt. Gaffney,
Corp. Morton, and Gunner Reynolds, all of "B" Battery ; Sergt.
Winters, and Pte. McQuilkin, of the Foot Guards ; and Sergt.
Ward, of the Mounted Police. Four men of the Queen's Own
were also carried from the field, viz., Col.-Sergt. Cooper, Ptes.
Lloyd, C. Varey, and Geo. Watts. Bugler E. Gilbert, of the
Battleford Rifles, was also borne to the rear ; and Brigade
Sergt.-Major Spackman, of " C " Co., received a flesh wound in
the arm. Meanwhile the morning hours passed, and heaven's
unruffled blue vault looked down on the carnage on hill and
plain.*

Whatever were our compunctions in regard to the attack
upon the Indians, there was no doubt now of their own mur-
derous intent, either in moving to assault Battleford, or to join
Reil in his defence of Batoche. That they were well prepared
to receive Colonel Otter's troops, and had designedly endea-
voured to entrap them to ruin, the morning's fight, and the
tactics pursued, sufiiciently attest. Even the grazing cattle on
the hillsides was seen to be a ruse, for the ravines were alive
with redmen, and every covey had its marksman. Even In-
dians of tender years were armed, and with bows and arrows
offered a menacing resistance. But for the cannon it would
have gone hard with Otter's Flying Column. For the musketry
fire the enemy cared little : only the shrieking shrapnel held
them in check, and the Gatling fast reduced them to carrion.

* For the details of this engagement we are indebted to '* W. W. F." correspond*
ent of the Toronto Mail; but we are specially beholden to *' W. A. H.," whos«
long and graphic account of the fight appeared in the columns of the Montreal Star.
We have also had the advantage of listening to the recital of the main facts by a
gallant non-commissioned officer who was present. We refer to Sergt. F. Kennedy,
of the " Queen's Own."

324 THte liORTH-WEST: iTS HISTORt AlsD ttS tROUBLES.

In clearing the coulees and protecting the guns, more than
once there was a hand to hand conflict, in which Indian disre-
gard of life had at times the advantage. Then only the stub-
bornness of true heroism saved the column from disaster. Every
man stood nobly to his post. The scout, Ross, seemed omni-
present ; and his experience of Indian fighting, as well as his
personal bravery, contributed in no little degree to the success
of the day. Colonels Otter and Herchmer, and Adjutant Sears
and Capt. Mutton, of the staff, constantly exposed themselves
in their trying position. Colonel Otter, himself, was ever in
the thick of the fighting, and his cool watchfulness of the weak
points of the field, and ready resource in meeting them, gained
him the admiration, as well as the increasing confidence, of his
men. While the Mounted Police and the Battery were gallant-
ly holding the often threatened crest of the hill, the flanks
were repeatedly the object of attack. Again and again it was
necessary to clear the coulees of the crouching Indians who in-
fested them ; and when a warrior was struck he could be seen
making a death-leap into the air from behind his retreat. On
the right, " C " Co., the Police, and the foot battery, performed •
the hazardous duty of clearing the coulees ; and on the left,
the posts of danger were held by the Guards and the Queen's
Own. From a hill on the left the enemy were gallantly dis-
lodged by the Ottawa and Toronto Companies, Lt. Gray of the
former and Capts. Brown and Hughes, and Lieut. Brock of
the latter being in repeated danger.

The position of the sun now indicated the approach of noon,
but the fortunes of the day were not yet decided. Both sides
stubbornly held their ground, though the troops had gained-
strong positions on the adjacent heights. Two hills on the-
right, beyond a pond in the ravine, were taken by the Guards,
" C " Company, and " B " Battery. The enemy's camp in the

OTTER ATTACKS POUNt)"NrAKEn. §2o

distance, and an elevation on the left, from which the Indian
movements were directed, were now shelled and cleared by
the seven-pounders, at a range of 2,000 yards. Other advan-
tageous positions were also being fought for and occupied.
Just then, unhappily, the gun carriages broke from the strain
of the recoil, and could not be moved forward with safety to
follow up the attack. There was much risk also in further
pressing the fighting, for the Indians had two to one of a fight-
ing force. The losses of the troops were moreover heavy, and
they were beyond timely reach of fresh support. The force
was also exhausted, and no one had eaten breakfast. A with-
drawal from the field was therefore wisely determined. True,
much of the moral effect of the morning's engagement would
be lost by a retreat. But wisdom seemed to counsel it, and
though there was danger in withdrawal, it was admirably
managed. A further reason for retreat was the difficulty of
successfully holding the positions occupied after nightfall, and
the probability that the enemy would receive large reinforce-
ments before morning. Already Indian signal fires had been
lighted on the heights, with the apparent intention of attract-
ing aid.

It was close upon one o'clock when the order to withdraw
was given. The difficulty of calling in the gallant force, and
getting it back over the gully through w^hich ran the creek,
was obviously great. It was a crucial test of Otter's general-
ship ; but luck, as well as strategy, attended the movement.
The first to be convoyed from the field were the waggons con-
taining the dead and wounded. Then followed a field-piece,
in charge of Captain Rutherford, who after repairing the break
in the carriage, got the gun in position to cover the retiring
column. The other field-piece and the Gatling Major Short
adroitly withdrew, and posted them on a sandhill to the rear

326 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

of the creek, commanding both ravines. The advanced line of
skirmishers, which now became the rear-guard, slowly left Cut
Knife Hill, skirmishing in alternate lines down to the creek.
The Indians, realising the movement instantly began to pour
over the crest of the hill. Here they were exposed to the fire
of the guns from the sandhills in rear, and to volley-firing
from the retiring troops. The Gatling at this time, served by
Major Short, did terrible execution, and caused many a brave
to sing the death-song and the squaws to howl their lament.

From scores of lurking-places the Indians now intrepidly
came forth ; but they evidently had had enough of the fighting,
for they did not follow the column. Withdrawing the flank-
ing parties, the force was compactly concentrated in the line of
the trail, with a strong rear-guard told ofi" to cover the retreat,
and to fire the prairie to prevent pursuit. Passing through a
ravine to overtake the column, the scouts, it is said, counted
twenty dead Indians in one spot, where a shrapnel had burst.
The loss of the enemy, the scouts estimated, at from a hundred
to a hundred and fifty lives. Our own loss was eight killed
and thirteen wounded. One poor fellow, Pte. Osgoode, of the
Ottawa Foot Guards, was reported missing, and though he was
seen to fall, he was inadvertently left on the field. Teamster
Winder was killed just before the retire. Corporal Lowry, of
the Mounted Police, died in the waggon which conveyed him
from the field; and Trumpeter Patrick Burke, of the same
corps, died at Battleford next day.

At ten o'clock on Saturday night, through the inky dark-
ness, the lights of Battleford could be descried, and half an
hour later the last of the waggons filed in to Fort Otter. There
had been but one halt, for dinner, from the battlefield to the
camp, the thirty-five miles having been covered during the
afternoon and evening. Reaching camp, the wearied column

OTTER ATTACKS POUNDMAKER. S27

sought needed rest, though the eagerness of comrades to learn
news of the battle, and the no less eagerness of those who had
come from the field to recount modestly their share in it, de-
layed retirement. The wounded were taken to the Industrial
School, which had been extemporised as an hospital, and the
surgeons were busy with their sad task all night. Thanks to
careful tending, all of the wounded lived, save Burke, who died
on the Sabbath morning. A sad incident is related in connec-
tion with the death of this gallant trooper. It seems he had a
wife and seven children then in Battleford. On the Sunday
morning, learning that her husband had been wounded, she
crossed the river to the hospital, and on the way passed a
waggon with her husband's remains. The sad story is thus
told by the Montreal Stars correspondent :

" Before nine o'clock, Burke of the Mounted Police expired.
His wife crossed from the fort at an early hour to the Indus-
trial School. Buoyed up with the false hope that her wounded
husband would recover, she drove towards the temporary hos-
pital when she was passed by a waggon actually conveying
his lifeless body to an unoccupied house. Her companions un-
able to keep up the ruse longer, immediately communicated
the painful intelligence. With an agonised wail, which moved
the uniformed spectators to tears, the bereft widow alighted
and following the waggon she threw herself upon the prostrate
form as soon as it was laid beside the other dead. Two child-
ren of tender years, unable to comprehend the outburst of
grief, clung crying to their mother. Such was the sad scene
witnessed by a score or more of sympathetic spectators on that
bright May morning. All day long an endless throng wended
their way towards the little house near the ferry to have a last
look at the victims of Cut Knife Hill. The countenance of
each unfortunate man lay composed in death. A peculiar feel-
ing of gloom pervaded the camp until the final interment took
place. Volunteers moved about in groups of threes or fours
conversing in low tones of the fate of their companions, or dis-
cussing the possibility of prompt and eflfective vengeance.'*

CTTArXER XXII.

THE CAMPAIGN ON THE SOUTH SASKATCHEWAN.

With Middleton at Fish Greek.

ET us now return to General Middleton, in his
operations against the insurgent half-breeds on
the South Saskatchewan. It will be remembered
that we left the main division of the North- West
Expeditionary Field Force at Clarke's Crossing,
where the General in command awaited supplies
at the Ferry, the Gatling gun, and the Midland
Battalion, that was to convoy the Northcote down
the river from Swift Current. But the river stern-wheeler
was expected for another and a military purpose. The General
wished to make use of it in co-operating with his land force in
the attack upon the enemy. In this desire he was for a
time baulked. The craft, at this period of the year, when the
water was low, was not given to rapid transit. Moreover she
was heavily loaded with military stores and supplies far the
troops, in addition to her armament of strong two-inch plank,
doubled round her lower deck and bulwarks to protect her
boilers and to shield the troops from anticipated attack. She
had on board four companies of the First Provisional Battalion

328

TflE CAMPAIGN 01? THE SOUTH SASKAtCHEWAN. S29

under Lt.-Col. A. T. H. Williams, M.P., of Port Hope. This
battalion, composed of town and country yeomen, drawn from
the region lying between Bowmanville and Kingston, including
the counties to the rear, was, under its able and soldierly com-
mander, to give a good account of itself.* Besides the com-
panies of the " Midlanders," the NortJicote had on board Lt.
Howard, in charge of the Gatling gun ; a veteran of the Crimea,
Lt.-Col. B. Van Straubenzie (late Major 100th Foot), Deputy
Adj.-Genl. of Military District No. 5 (Montreal) ; Surgeon-Genl.
Roddick, with additions to the hospital staff at Saskatoon,
where, after the fight at Fish Creek, the large number of
wounded at that and subsequent engagements were taken.

So great were the difiiculties of navigation that the North-
cote, though she left Swift Current on the 22nd of April, did
not reach Clarke's Crossing until the 5th of May. In the
meantime General Middleton determined to advance. The
fighting force now at his disposal was, as we have seen, not far
short of a thousand men. As many more had assembled at
Winnipeg, waiting orders to proceed to the front, in addition
to the troops that had gone west to Calgary, and those that
were now at Battleford. At Prince Albert there was also a

*The following are the staff and company officers of the First Provisional (Mid-
land) Batt., under the command of Lt.-Col. Arthur T. H. Williams, of the 46th
East Durham Infantry. Majors H. K. Smith, 47th Batt. Kingston, and Lt.-Col
James Deacon, 45th Batt. Lindsay. Adjt. E. G. Ponton, Belleville ; Paymaster,
Capt. J. Leystock Reid ; Quartermaster, Lt. J. P. Clemes, Port Hope ; Surgeons,
Dr. Horsey, Ottawa, and Dr. Jas. Might, Port Hope. 15th (Belleville) Capt. and
Adj. T. C. Lazier, Lts. J. E. Helliwell and C. G. E. Kenny. 40th (Northumber-
land) Capt. R, H. Bonnycastle and Lt. J. E. Givan. 45th (West Durham) Capts.
John Hughes, and J. C. Grace. 46th (East Durham) Capts. R. Dingwall, Port
Hope, and C. H. Winslow, Millbrook ; Lts. R. W. Smart, Port Hope, and J. V.
Preston, Lifford. 47th (Frontenac) Capt. T. Kelly; Lts. Sharp and Hubbell.
49th (Hastings) Capt. E. Harrison; Lts. H. A. Yeomans, and R. J. Bell. 57th
(Peterboro') Capts. J. A. Howard, and Thos. Burke ; Lts. F. H. Brennan and J.
L. Weller (R.M.C.) The following were also attached as 2nd Lieuts.; R. J. Cart-
wright, 0. E. Cartwright, G. E. Laidlaw, H. C. Ponton, A. T. Tomlinson, and
D. C. F. Blisa.
U

330 TSfi NOMH-WESt: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

large detachment of the Mounted Police, under Colonel Irvine,
a portion of which the Major-General hoped might be free to
strike the rebels in the rear. Dividing his force into two
columns, on the 22nd April, General Middleton placed the left
one under Col. Montizambert and despatched it across the river
to move on the enemy along the opposite bank. This force,
besides 80 armed teamsters, consisted of 250 of the Grenadiers ;
50 men of the Winnipeg Battery ; and 25 of French's Scouts.
Lord Melgund accompanied it as chief of staff. The right
column, under General Middleton, with Lt.-Col. Houghton as
chief of staff, was composed of the following troops : 300 of the
90th Batt.; 40 of "C" Company; 120 men of "A" Battery;
40 of Boulton's Mounted Scouts, and about 60 teamsters. On
the General's staff were his two A.D.C.'s, Lts. Wise and Doucet.
With each battery were two nine-pounders, muzzle-loading
rifled guns, with fuse shrapnel, percussion shells and case shot.
On the afternoon of Thursday, the 23rd of April, the com-
mand was given for both columns to advance. Communication
across the river, which is here over 200 yards wide, was kept
up by means of flags. Instructions had been issued to proceed
with caution. The two divisions marched to within twenty
miles of Batoche, where they halted for the night, strong
scouting parties being thrown out to feel the ground for the
morrow's advance, and to ensure the safety of the camps. The
Friday morning opened with rain ; but spite of its discomfort
the order was again given to advance. Beaching a point about
fifteen miles south of Batoche, the Mounted Scouts under
Major Boulton encountered the rebels, who instantly opened
fire. The time was nine o'clock A.M. The shots came from a
body of half-breeds on horseback, who, after delivering their
fire, wheeled about and galloped under cover within the ravine.
The ravine is an abrupt, wood-clad depression, skirting the

THE CAMPAIGN ON THE SOUTH SASKATCHEWAN, 831

northern slope of the prairie, within a mile and a half of the
Saskatchewan. A stream winds through it, which must be-
come historic in our native annals, as Fish Creek. On the
northern rise of the ravine are a few rebel farm-houses, while
its eastern end is heavily wooded. Its width is about two
hundred yards. On a series of ledges sloping down to the
creek, the half-breeds had dug in parallel lines well-covered
rifle-pits. These were constructed at such points as would
best shelter their inmates, and effectively mask the fire. Only
the bayonet could adequately cope with the enemy so en-
trenched.

When the loyal scouts fell back on the column, the latter
was divided into two wings, half of the 90th, " A " Battery, and
" C " Co. School of Infantry, forming the right wing ; the re-
mainder of the Winnipeg Battalion, with Boulton's Mounted
Corps, forming the left. The whole advanced, in extended
order, and circled round the entrance to the ravine, in a sort of
half-moon formation. " A " Battery, under Capt. Peters moved
to the front at the gallop ; but had difficulty at first in bring-
ing the guns into position. The garrison division of the
Battery, under Lieut. Rivers, closely followed the guns in sup-
port. The left wing was the first to come under fire, and was
for a time alarmingly exposed while unable efiectively to re-
turn a shot. The brush was densely thick, and as the rain
was falling, the smoke hung in clouds a few feet above the
muzzles of the rifles.

The evident intention of the enemy was to draw the troops
into the ravine, and there pour upon them a murderous fire.
Had the men's eagerness to get at the breeds not been checked,
the ravine would have become a veritable valley of death. As
it was, the men recklessly exposed themselves, and for a time
to little purpose, as the natural advantages of the enemy's

332 THE NORTH-WEST; ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

position, in the hell-pits they had dug for themselves, effectu-
ally shielded them from danger. The brunt of the fighting
fell disastrously upon the gallant Ninetieth. From the outset
they were incessantly exposed to the concealed fire of the
dusky foe. But they stubbornly held their ground; and, tak-
ing advantage of whatever cover was available, they spiritedly
gave back the fierce fire of lead. Round the mouth of the
ravine, where the enemy had their stronghold, a terrific fusilade
was kept up throughout the morning ; while a desperate con-
flict was raging in the bluffs on either side. Here the black
coat of many a prostrate Winnipeg rifleman showed how fierce
had been the strife.

The morning's death-roll and other casualties of this gallant
regiment, which was to bear so noble a part in the now opened
campaign, attest the heroism which actuated its ranks. Two
of its officers, viz.,Capt. Wm. Clark, and Lieut. Charles Swinford,
were to fall, the latter subsequently dyins: of hVs wo mds. Among

the first of the rank and file of the 90th to give up their life
on the battle-field, were Privates Ferguson and Hutchinson, of
" A " Co., who fell in the opening charge, and were both shot
in the heart. The death missive was also to come to Privates
Wheeler, of " B " Co., and Ennis of " D " Co. The 90th, during
the day, had fourteen wounded, viz., Corps. Thacker, Leth-
bridge, and Code ; Ptes. Kemp, Matthews, Lowell, Swan, Jarvis,
Johnson, Chambers, Canniif, Bowden, Hislop, and Blackwood
— a glorious list of casualties !

The death-roll of " A " Battery comprised three gunners —
Demanolly, Harrison, and Cook ; with the following wounded :
Sergt.-Major McWhinney ; Gunners Moiseau, Ainsworth, Asse-
lin, Imrie, Woodman, Langarell, Ouillette, and McGrath ; Bom-
bardier Taylor ; and Drivers Turner and Wilson — a proud total
of three dead and twelve wounded ! " C " Company, Infantry

THE CAMPAIGN ON THE SOUTH SASKATCHEWAN. 333

School, lost one killed — Pte. A. G. Watson — and six wounded.
The names of the latter are as follows : Col.-Sergt. R. Cum-
mings ; Ptes. H. Jones, R Jones, E. Harris, R. H. Dunn, and
E. Macdonald. Capt. Gardner, of Boulton's Mounted Seout5;,
was also wounded ; and the troop suffered the following losses :
Sergt. Stewart, and Troopers Langford, Perrine, King, Bruce,
Thompson, and D'Arcy Baker — all wounded.

But the engagement was not yet over. Though hemmed in
on three sides, the half-breeds stubbornly kept to their rifle-
pits, from which the hurtling shell and enfilading musketry
fire failed to dislodge them. So closely were they now beset
that the encouraging voice of Dumont, their half-breed leader,
could be distinctly heard. It was now past noon, and the state
of affaii-s, if not critical for the M^tis marksmen, was decidedly
unpleasant. More than one rifle-pit had become the grave of
a half-breed ; while, in the bush, many of his dusky kin had
gone to the happy hunting-grounds of the race. But the rebel
commander kept his head, and had well gauged the strength of
the force opposed to him. His only fear was of the crossing
of Montizambert's force from the west side of the Saskatche-
wan, and cutting off his retreat. But this force, though it had
been signalled early in the day, had not yet joined Middleton.

Meanwhile death was reaping his harvest ; and, outside the
crowded hospital tents, the pitiless rain beat on the fevered
faces of the wounded.

" The fight rolls on, Deatn stalks around,
And blood-red gashes drench the ground."

Middleton's force continued to close in upon the enemy. The
guns took up new positions ; and the battery supports, and the
thin red line of "C" Company, under Major Smith, pressed on
to secure possession of a knoll some distance up the ravine.
On the left, a company of the 90th, under Capt. Forrest, an '

834 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

Lt. Hugh J. Macdonald, the gallant son of the Dominion Pre-
mier, made a dash across an open stretch of prairie, and gained
the top of the gully. In other parts of the battle-field, Capt.
Peters of the Battery, Major Boulton, of the Mounted Scouts,
and Majors Buchan and Boswell, of the Rifles, were pluckily
contesting points of advantage with the enemy. The latter,
now hard pressed, sullenly withdrew, but still showing too bold
a front for defeat. The gunners, getting the position of the
rebel farm-houses, now hotly played upon them, and drove the
half-breeds further up the ravine. The houses were then set
on fire, and the guns brought to bear on the Indian ponies,
that were coralled in the woods. In ten minutes the equine
Bartholomew was complete.

At last our Canadian Blucher came up. Montizambert's
Column, with difficulty had got punted across the river, and
Capt. Mason's Co. of the Grenadiers was the first to appear on
the scene. It was quickly followed by the remainder of the
battalion, by the Winnipeg Artillery, and by Lord Melgund
and the Scouts. The fresh troops were sent to relieve the
fatigued advanced skirmishers, but the guns were ordered to
the rear. From now till dusk the firing was weak and desul-
tory, the half-breeds having melted away from the ground.
Presently the bugles sounded the recall, and the rain damped
the waning ardour of the troops. The fight was over, though
the day can hardly be said to be won. It brought no signal
victory.

What were the decisive results of the day's engagement
could at least be counted under the white sheets, and their
country's flag, by the hospital door. Of the 350 men actively en-
gaged in the heatof the strife, close upo» 50 were hors-de-combat
How many more hearts were to be pierced, when news of the
day's conflict reached the friends of the fallen, one shuddered to

THE CAMPAIGN ON THE SOUTH SASKATCHEWAN. 335

think. To one man in the field the cessation of the fight must
have brought infinite relief. Old campaigner as he was, the
strain of the day's anxieties on General Middleton must have
been intense. Through the varying fortunes of the day he
bore himself valorously, and personally directed each move-
ment, no matter into what danger it led him. Frequently,
while riding along the front lines, giving orders and encourag-
ing the men, he exposed himself recklessly. Early in the fight
a bullet pierced his cap. Equally heroic was the bearing of
his two aides-de-camp, Capts. Wise and Doucet, who were both
wounded. The former had his horse shot under him, as had
Major Buchan, Field Adjutant, and Major Boulton, in command
of the Mounted Scouts. Cool and soldier-like was also the
conduct, during the day, of Col. Houghton, chief of the Gene-
ral's field stafi", and of Capt. Haig, R. E., acting Q.M.G.

To be " mentioned in the despatches " is an honor that fell
to the lot of a young hero in the fight, which, before closing
this chapter, we must not omit to chronicle. Says General
Middleton :

" I cannot conclude this report without mentioning a little
bugler of the 90th regiment, named Wm, Buchanan, who made
himself particularly useful in carrying ammunition to the
right front when the fire was very hot. This he did with
peculiar nonchalence, walking calmly about crying, ' Now, boys,
who's for cartridge ? ' "

The number of rebels known to be present at Fish Creek,
under Gabriel Dumont, was 280 men. They had eleven killed
or died of wounds, and eighteen wounded.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE CEISIS AT HAND.

HE battle of Fish Creek was the prologue to a
three days' hot fighting before Batoche, which
was happily to end the insurrection and dash
the hopes of the madman, Riel, and his law-
less half-breeds. For a fortnight after the
alFair of the 24th of April, there hung over
the region a heavy electrical atmosphere of
pent-up war feeling and military preparation,
soon to discharge itself on the wooded ravines that encom-
pass Batoche. With even greater activity and excitement
did the breeds prepare to make a determined stand round the
homesteads their sedition had emperilled ; and Nature helped
them in their work. Her hand, in seeming kindness, had
raised a rampart of woods around her wild and wayward
children, and locked them in the fastnesses of Mother Earth.
From Dumont's Crossing to Batoche, the whole country is
a mass of wooded ravines, often fifty feet deep, and the val-
leys are covered with underbrush. In these ravines tribal
instinct and tactical skill planned a defence well calculated
to keep the loyal troops at bay. " The half-breeds," it has

336

THE CRISIS AT HAND. S37

been remarked, " adopt the Indian mode of fighting, but they
graft upon it something they have learned from the white
man. A guerilla warfare, carried on in ambush, is distinctly
Indian ; but the addition of artificial rifle-pits is the utilisation
of a lesson which the half-breeds have learned from thewhites."
Nor was courage wanting when the time came to defend
these rifie-pits. Still less was courage wanting to attack
them. " If these brave lads of mine were only regulars !"
General Middleton is reported to have said, he would not
have restrained the eager desire of the volunteers to charge
the pits and drive out the enemy. But as this would have in-
volved too great a sacrifice of life, he acted discreetly in check-
ing the valour of his men.

What valour had been permitted to display itself on the
battlefield, the high Cairn and rustic Cross erected on the
banks of the Saskatchewan, where the heroes of Fish Creek
lie buried, will ever remain a witness. On the day following
the battle, the last sad rites were paid to the fallen volunteers,
in the presence of the whole camp. When their sorrowing
comrades consigned the dead to their last resting-pJace, General
Middleton read the burial service, and the firing-party paid
their remains the honours of a parting salute.

" Not in the quiet churchyard, near those who loved them best ;

But by the wild Saskatchewan they laid them to their rest.
A simple soldier's funeral in that lonely spot was theirs,

Made consecrate and holy by a nation's tears and prayers.
A few short prayers were uttered, straight from their comrades' hearts —

A volley fired in honor, and the company departs-
Their requiem — the music of the river's surging tide ;

Their funeral wreaths — the wild flowers that grow on every side ;
Their monument — undying praise from each Canadian heart,

That hears how, for their country's sake, they nobly bore their part.
So, resting in their peaceful graves, beneath the i rairie sod,

Enshrined in golden memories, we yield them up to God."*

• E. C. P. in the Toronto Mail of May 6th.

338 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

Before dismissing the troops from the solemn scenes of which
they had been witness, the General addressed them in a few
brief words characteristic of the soldier : " Well, men," said he,
" your comrades have found a soldier's grave ; let us hope we
shall have an opportunity to avenge their deaths !" In the de-
termination to seek that opportunity all ranks prepared for the
coming march to Batoche.

For some days the many wounded received the tender con-
sideration of the General-in-Command, and the skilful tendance
of the surgeons and volunteer nurses on the field. Nor were
they forgotten at home. The results of the engagement touched
the nation's heart with a thrill of pity. Throughout Ontario,
relief committees, organised chiefly by the gentler sex, went to
work with a will, and poured creature comforts and the thought-
ful needs of the hospital wards, in rich abundance, into the
North- West. One of the first and most substantial of these
services was rendered by the "Toronto Volunteers' Supply
Fund," in kind charge of Mrs. Edward Blake, by whose instru-
mentality, and that of other willing workers, some car loads of
most acceptable necessaries were forwarded in the care of
Lieut. Hume Blake. In other towns of importance, in and out
of the Province, similar relief associations were organised for
the benefit of those who had stepped into the breach in the
hour of the country's peril. Military chaplains were also sent
forward. Toronto liberality was further to show itself in
the organisation and despatch to the front of the Red Cross
Ambulance Corps, the energetic mover in which was Mr.
Edmund Wragge,* local manager of the Grand Trunk R.R.,
assisted by Dr. Ellis and Mr. A. H. Smith.

*Thi3 Red Cross Ambulance Corps, which left Toronto for the North-West on
the loth of April, consisted of seven Surgical dresseia, under the direction of Dr.
Nattress. The following are the names of those selected for the duty : D, 0. R.

•rfiE CRISIS AT HAl^D. §39

Pity for Canada's wounded sons also stirred the tender heart
of a lady near the throne of her for whom they had bled.
With characteristic though tfulness the Princess Louise initiated
a movement in London for sending to the North- West ambul-
ance appliances and the cordial of other comforts for the
wounded. This graceful act, we can well imagine, brought the
poet's couplet to the mind and tongue of many a tossed sufferer,
as he partook of the cheer which royal hands had forwarded —

" When pain and anguish wring the brow
A ministering angel thou ! "

Nor were Winnipeg's gallant sons forgotten. At such a time
when pride in the heroic deeds of the dark-coated 90th well
nigh extinguished sorrow for those whom death had called out
from the ranks, the suffering wounded were forwarded many
tokens of kindness and remembrance. From other sections of
the Prairie Province also came the healing balm of kind offer-
ings, and a common pride in the achievements of the regiment.
One of the latest battalions to be enrolled in the Canadian
Militia, the Winnipeg Rifles had won a name for themselves
for well-approved valour. When the regiment took the field,
its first Colonel, Wm. Nassau Kennedy, lay dying in a London
hospital on his way home from the Soudan, whither he had
gone at General Wolseley's request in charge of the Canadian
Voyageurs on the Nile. The death of this estimable officer, in
Britain's service in the Far East, appeared specially to conse-
crate his late regiment to a high and honourable mission in the
campaign just opened ; and his gallant spirit seemed to per-
vade all ranks.*

Jones, M.D., Hospital Surgeon; O. Weed, B.A., W. Mustard, B.A., and R. J
Wood, of Toronto, J. F. Brown, B. A., Guelph, D. Patullo, M.B., Brampton, and
J. R. Robertson, of London, Eng.

*The following are the staff and company officers of the 90th Batt., "Winnipeg
Hifles," Lt.-CoL Alfred Mackeand iu command. Majors Chas. AL Boswell,

340 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

By this time May had come, though the Northcote hadn't
She was still aground in the river, though now daily expected
Humboldt had been garrisoned by the Governor-General's
Body Guard ; and the York and Simcoe Battalion, commanded
by Lt.-Col. W. E. O'Brien, had reached Qu'Appelle. This fine
regiment was composed of part of the York Rangers and the
Simcoe Foresters. The York Companies were drawn from
Parkdale, Seaton Village, Yorkville, Riverside, Newmarket,
and Aurora : the Simcoe Companies from Barrie, Bond Head,
Collingwood, Penetanguishene, Orillia, Alliston, Tay, Vespra,
and Cookstown.* Though expecting to be ordered to join the
column under Middleton, this battalion w.as meanwhile guard-
ing the base of supplies on the line of railway. The Body
Guard occupied an important point, overlooking the main
approach to the rebel positions, and in the line of communica-
tion north, south, and west. Under Lieut.-Col. G. T. Denison,
its able and experienced commanding officer, the Body Guard
did important scouting and outpost duty ; and, by an elaborate
series of entrenchments, had converted the simple telegraph

and Lawrence Buchan ; Paymaster A. H. Witcher ; Quartermaster H. Swinford ;
Surgeon Dr. Geo. T. Orton; Assist. -Surgeon Dr . J, W. Whiteford. Capts. C. F.
Forrest, H. N. Euttan, W. A. Wilkes, C. A. Worsnop, R. G. Whitla, Wm.
Clark; Lts. Hugh J. Macdonald, G. W. Stewart, H. Bolster, Zach. "Woods, E.
G. Piche, F. L. Campbell ; 2nd Lts. R. L. Sewell, J. G. Healy, C. Swinford, H.
M. Arnold, A. E. McPhillips, and R. C. Laurie.

*The following are the staff and company officers of the York and Simcoe Batt.,
under the command of Lt.-Col. W. E. OBrien, M.P., (35th Batt.), of Barrie.
Majors, Lt.-Col. R. Tyrwhitt, 35th Batt , and Lt.-Col. A. Wyndham, 12th Batt ;
Adjt. Major Jas. Ward, 35th ; Paymaster, Capt. Wm. Hunter, late 35th ; Quarter
master, Lt. Lionel F. Smith ; Supply Officer, Lt. G. H. Bate, G.G.F.G. ; Surgeon,
Dr. John L. G. McCarthy, 35th Batt. Captains (35th), Majors W. J. Graham, and
Peter Burnet, Allison Tieadly, R. G. Campbell ; (12th), Jno. T. Thompson, Geo.
H. C. Brooke, and Joseph F. Smith. Lieuts. (35th), Capt. John Landrigan, Thos.
H. Drinkwater, Chas. S. F. Spry ; (12th), Lts. Geo. Vennell, John T. Symons,
Thos. Booth, and John K. Leslie G.G.F.G., Lt. S. L. Shannon. 2nd Lieuts.
(35th) Thos. H. Banting, K, L. Burnet, 1. T. Lennon, and R. D. Ramsay ; (12th)
2nd Lts. Wm. J. Fleury, aud John A. W. Allan.

tHE CRISIS At HAlti). ^41

station of Humboldt into a fortified military encampraen*^.
The labour and tedium of this work was occasionally relieved
by a scamper over the prairie, to gather news of the rebel
half-breeds, and watch the movements of the Indians. In
this roving, free-lance work Lord Melgund had already dis-
tinguished himself, by capturing, and, with the assistance of
Capt. French's scouts, bringing into camp some of Kiel's
" runnel's " with messages for one or two of the unfriendly
neighbouring tribes. In this risky service, Lieut. Wm. Hamil-
ton Merritt, with a detachment of the Body Guard, was also
successful, after an exciting chase, in capturing on the plains a
strong party of disaffected Sioux, of White Cap's band. These
Indians had sought an asylum in Canada, after participating
in the Minnesota massacre in the year 18G2, and had been
given a reserve on the South Saskatchewan. Ungratefully
violating the country's hospitality, by various acts of lawless-
ness and sedition, a roving band of them fell in with the pic-
turesque Nemesis of a gallantly led troop of the Body Guard,
and were taken prisoners.

At last the Northcote arrived, having crutched rather than
steamed her way down the river. With her came the needed
supplies, the Midlanders, and the Gatling. In her wake also
came some ten barges, built at Swift Current, that had been
despatched to the front, to facilitate, if need be, the crossing
of the river, and to be of assistance in operating against the
enemy. The water was now rising in the Saskatchewan, and
the supply difficulty was solved. It remained now but for
General Middleton to relieve himself of the wounded, and to
move his lines closer to Batoche. A number of ambulances
were extemporised, by stretching buffalo skins tightly across
the waggons, on which the wounded were carefully placed,
and thus conveyed to Saskatoon. Here the hospital corps, under
Surgeon-Genl. Roddick, and Dr. Douglas, V.C, an old army

S42 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HlStOItlr ANl) ITS TROUBLES.

surgeon, decorated for personal bravery in the field, were
ready to extend to them the skill of their professional services.
Finally, on the 7th of May, the lagging camp was struck at
Fish Creek, and a forward movement made to Gabriel Dumont's
Crossing, about eight miles south of Batoche. The advance
was unopposed. There now joined the General's personal staff
Lieut. Frere, a son of Sir Bartle Frere, who assumed the duties
of one of the wounded aides-de-tiamp. A strong reconnaiss-
ance was now made as far north as the Crossing, through the
beautiful hilly country of the French half-breeds. " What
fools these mortals be ! " is the borrowed phrase made use of
by a press correspondent with the column, as the troops march-
ed by the deserted homes and neglected farms of this fertile
valley. For the sham glory of cutting a figure in a wicked
rebellion, which was sure to bring ruin to the individual M^tis,
and desolation to as fair a region as ever man owned for a
home, these misguided half-breeds sacrificed every comfort
and recklessly imperilled their lives. The whole district was
deserted. " It is now a Great Lone Land with a vengeance,"
writes the correspondent we have just referred to,* "and yet
in the bright May sunshine the grass grows green, the wild
crocus and anemone dot the prairie, the trees begin to bud,
and bluff and wood and lakelet combine to make as pretty a
picture as painter or poet ever saw. But it is beauty without
life, except that of the prairie chicken, the wild gopher, and
the song birds that are greeting the sunshine." Before night
the column made a detour to the eastward, away from the
river and the wooded bluffs at the Crossing, so as to reach a
clear site on the prairie for the evening's camp, and from which
to advance on the morrow the contracting lines around
Batoche.

* Mr. G. H. Ham, Special Correspondent of the Toronto Mail,

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE LINES BEFORE BATOCHE.

'^ AJOE. Boulton's Mounted Scouts led the way.
Then came the Grenadiers, with Capt. Gas-
ton's company as advance guard ; following
which was the Gatling, in charge of Lt. Ho-
ward; then the 90th Battalion; and "A"
Battery, with two guns. In the centre of
the advancing column was the Ammunition
train, followed by the Ambulance Corps.
Next came the Winnipeg Battery, with two guns ; two com-
panies of the Midland Provisional Battalion, under Gol. Williams,
bringing up the rear. The flanks were protected by Capt.
French's Mounted Scouts. Such was the order of the unob-
structed advance upon Batoche, on the morning of Saturday,
the 9th of May.

The column, which had rested over night about eight miles
east of the village of Batoche, paraded after a hasty breakfast
at 5 A.M. on Saturday, and half an hour later was under way.
The total strength of the column was a trifle over 900 men.
Since it first took the field it had to some extent been de-
pleted by the casualties at Fish Creek ; but these had been
made good by the arrival of two companies of the Midland

Battalion. To support the column, and divert the attention of

343

344 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

the rebels, it was arranged that the Nortlicote, flanked by two
barges, and having on Board " C " Company, School of Infantry,
in command of Major Smith, should go down the stream to
Batoche, and on a preconcerted signal engage the enemy from
the river. The difficulties of this undertaking, and the mis-
carriage of the arrangements, we shall subsequently relate.

Meanwhile Middleton's force reached the deserted reserva-
tion of the band of Teten Sioux, under One Arrow, and pre-
sently came in view of the Parish Church of St. Laurent, and
a neighbouring school, on the heights. The cross-crowned bel-
fry tower of St. Antoine de Padone looks down, on one side,
over the prairie trail to Humboldt, and on the other, on the
curving line of the Saskatchewan and the sleeping plain of the
village of Batoche. Nearing the outskirts of the settlement,
the Scouts fell back and " A " Battery moved to the front. A
well-directed shell was now fired at a house by the side of a
ravine on the right, and a number of rebels were seen to
scamper off to the bush. Some days previous to the approach
to Batoche, the General-in-Command had issued a proclamation
in French to the inhabitants of the region, requiring them to
surrender to the troops or take the consequences. The pro-
clamation the General caused to be distributed by the agency
of a few Sioux prisoners, whom he released for the purpose.*

The Gatling was now ordered to the front, under an escort
of Boulton's Horse. When within a hundred yards of the
church and schoolhouse, and just as the gun was sighted
for the latter, the door of the church opened and a priest came

•Translation of General Middleton's Proclamation : " Those half-breeds and
Indians who have been forced to join the rebels, and also those mistaken Indians
who have joined voluntarily, are informed by this that if they give up at once and
return to their houses and reserves they will be protected and pardoned. The
troops sent by the Government do not desire to make war against these men, but
only against Kiel, his council, and his principal accomplices. (Signed) Middleton. "

THE LINES BEFORE BATOCHE. 345

forward and waived a white handkerchief. The General and
his staff at once rode up, when four priests, five nuns, and
some few loyal inhabitants of the district, who had taken re-
fuge in the church, advanced and claimed the protection of the
troops. The forlorn refugees were instantly taken care of, and
appeared extremely thankful for their rescue. From the priests
some information was gleaned of the strength and disposition
of the rebel forces. The sad story was also gathered of what
both priests and nuns had suffered by discountenancing re-
bellion, and in exerting themselves to keep the M^tis quiet.
Their lives, it was learned, had been repeatedly threatened by
the half-breeds. But for the interposition of one of the rebel
leaders, who insisted that the church should not be desecrated
by murder, they would have fallen victims to the enmity of
Riel and his reckless following.*

During the conversation with the priests, a reconnaissance had
been going on, in the endeavour to find advantageous positions
for shelling the rebel stronghold. The church and schoolhouse,
as we have said, occupy a prominent position commanding the
village and the approach to it from the south. They stand on
a ridge some two hundred yards back from the river. This

•Here are the names, so fai* as can be ascertained, of the men who composed
Kiel's Provisional Government, with the chief rebel leaders. A few are irreconcil-
ables from the period of Kiel's first insurrection, at Red River. Gabriel Dumont, who
may be styled the rebel Commander-in-chief; Andrew Nolin, Commissariat Officer ;
his brother Charles, said to be one of the chief instigators of the insmrection ;
Albert Monkman, accused of inciting the Indians to revolt, a member of the
Council, and present at the fight at Duck Lake ; Alex. Fisher, Receiver-General
of the rebel government ; W. H. J. Jackson, Kiel's private secretary ; Maxima
Lepine, and M. Jobin, members of the Council, and A. Lomborbark, Sioux
Interpreter. The following are known to have taken a prominent part in the in-
surrection, to be captains of companies, or guards over prisoners : Delorme, Dumaia,
Tourand, Gervais, Poitras, Fider, Pilon, Parentot, Dubois, Pochelot, and Vendue,
In some instances, two or more of the same family, brothers, or father and son,
were in revolt ; and, in not a few cases, were recognised in fights, or were seen by
loyal scouts, with arms in their hands.
V

o4G the NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

ridge which, to the south of Batoche, towers in high bluffa
over the river, curves away to the east at the church and the
cemetery, and forms what may be termed the secondary banks
of the Saskatchewan. Between this lofty ridge and the lower
wooded bluffs that border the river, there is an oblong open
plain, the site of the village. Through the middle of this
plain winds the trail, from the south and east, to the river
crossing. On the plain are a few stores, Riel's Council Cham-
ber, Batoche's house, and several half-breed dwellings. Close
by the river, at the upper end of the plain, and concealed by a
skirting of woods, was the half-breed and Indian camp. On
the west side, at the foot of its sloping wooded banks, were
also a few houses and the gaudily coloured tepees of Indians.
Grazing on the slopes were some cattle and Indian ponies.

In the bluffs surrounding Batoche, which nestles prettily in
an elliptical basin, the rebels had entrenched themselves in
rifle-pits. Wooded ravines break the continuity of the sur-
rounding ridge, and from the east afford glimpses of the slum-
bering village. But the Catling disturbs its quiet, though as
yet the half-breeds are nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, while
the staff on the ridge was watching the effect of a shell from
the battery, a volley of musketry and the whoop of Indians and
half-breeds came from the bush immediately in front of the
group. Fortunately, the bullets went high, and no one was
hit, though the suddenness of the fire almost caused a panic.
The Battery guns were speedily withdrawn, though not before
there was danger of their capture. But Captain Peters here
galloped up with the Catling, and Lt. Howard, at great personal
risk, rushed it to the front, and, turning the cylinder, dis-
charged a torrent of lead.

Simultaneously with the advance of the Catling two com-
panies of the Grenadiers were ordered to take up a position in

THE LINES BEFORE BATOCHE. 847

rear of the schoolhouse, and to the right of the spot where the
action began. Detecting this movement, the rebels made an
effort to turn the left flank of the 10th, by concentrating a
heavy fire from the bush, overlooking the high banks of the
river, on the advanced line. But as the enemy seemed here to
be armed only with shot-guns, their fire fell short. The skir-
mishing line was now strengthened by the dismounted men of
" A " Battery, and by the sharpshooters, armed with Martini-
- Henry rifles, of the 90th. Both of these corps took up a posi-
tion on the crest of the rising ground near the church, and for
a time kept up a smart fire on the ravine in front and on the
bush on the hill. The main body of the DOth was deployed in
rear, and held in readiness to move in any direction. Present-
ly part of it received orders to support the right centre, upon
which a hot fire now poared from a hitherto concealed row of
rifle-pits on broken ground to the right. The remainder advanced
to support the left centre and left. The Winnipeg Battery
took up a position on the right ; and, on the extreme right,
Boulton's Horse looked after that flank.

** A " Battery men, supported by French's Scouts, now made
a movement towards the river, rounding the edge of the rido-e
on which they had previously been stationed, and into a coulee
that winds down to the plain. Here they encountered the
enemy in strong force, and were compelled to fall back, with
the loss of one killed and two or three wounded. The rebel
fire now became general, and the troops began to realise tliQ
extent and ramifications of the rifle-pits. A more formidabla
lurking-place of danger could hardly be conceived ; but Fish
Creek had taught the troops to be wary of these death-traps,
and the General was careful to caution the men against unduly
exposing themselves. But there was more danger than from
the enemy's fire ; for, at this time, the underbrush along the

348 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

skirmishing line was ignited by the flame of fire which was
maintained on the rebels, and dense clouds of smoke rolled
along the ground. The next hour was an uncomfortable one
for the troops ; but they never flinched from their positions,
until ordered to fall back a little, when the fighting was re-
newed with vigour.

The steady play of the guns, which had continued with little
interruption since the morning, and in which the Winnipeg
Battery had taken an active share, had by 2 p.m., in great
measure, subdued the enemy's fire. Taking advantage of a
lull in the fighting, a company of the Midland Battalion was
sent up the ravine, with a stretcher in charge of Dr. Codd, of
Winnipeg, to recover the body of Gunner Phillips, of "A"
Battery, who had fallen early in the day. The Midlanders met
with a hot fire in the coulee, but were successful in bringing
out the body, without loss to themselves. The poor Gun-
ner's remains were carried to the rear, and in the evening were
buried by his comrades of the Battery, Chaplain Gordon, of
Winnipeg, officiating. It is related that while the reverend
gentleman was reading a portion of Scripture at the grave, his
words were punctuated by a volley from the enemy's sharp-
shooters, while " the staccato crashes of the Gatling broke in
on his voice, but did not drown it."

' Hark ! the muffled drum sounds the last march of the brave,
The soldier retreats to his quarters — the grave.
Under Death, whom he owns his commander-in-chief.
No more he'll turn out with the ready relief ;
STet spite of Death's terrors or hostile alarms
When he hears the last bugle he'll stand to his arms."

From now on till evening the firing languished, and, as little
was to be gained by exposing the men to the fire of con-
cealed marksmen in well-sheltered rifle-pits, the bulk of the
fighting line was withdrawn. Arrangements were now made

THE LINES BEFORE BATOCHE. 349

for the night's camp, and for protection from attack. Early in
the afternoon some tents and waggons had been ordered up from
the site of Friday night's camp, and: the latter were formed into
a zareba, outside of which the troops were busy throwing up
entrenchments. A field hospital and the headquarters of the
Commissariat were established ; and the wounded were tended
and the men had supper. While the men were at their
meal, the brave Howard came into camp with the Gatling, and
received the cheers of the men for his heroic act in saving the
guns from capture in the morning.* This brave officer, to
whom Canada owes much for his services on the field, in charge
of the Gatling gun, was for five years in the United States
Cavalry, and latterly was in command of the machine gun
platoon of the Connecticut National Guard. At the time Dr.
Gatling acquired his services, Lt. Howard was engaged in the
Winchester arms factory, and he received leave of absence to
accompany the guns to the North-West. He is well acquainted
with projectiles and arms of precision, and, by his bearing
under fire, was even reckless in practically exemplifying their
use. Had the rebels had a Gatling or two, with a hero like
Howard in command, it would have gone ill with the North-
West Expeditionary Force.

*" The Gatling gun weighs about 1,500 lbs., and is precisely of the same design
as the ordinary cannon. There are ten chambers that revolve in the barrel proper,
and each chamber has an independent lock. The main barrel is eight inches in
diameter. The size of cartridge used is that of the ordinary 45 government rifle
calibre. Each feed drum contains 240 rounds. The firing is done by operating a
crank ; the cartridge is exploded by a hammer which works with such great rapi-
dity that 120 cartridges are fired in a minute. The movement of the gun can be so
adjusted as to make it either stationary or oscillating, so that the gun practice can
become either scattered or centrifugal in its execution. At 700 yards the Gatlii-g
gun has been known to hit a 12 x 15 ft. target 396 times out of 400 shots. At 1,200
yards 4l3 out of 600 shots have struck a 9 + 25 ft. target. To show the rapidity
with which the gun can be worked, it might be explained that the time occupied
in coming into action front from trot and firing is 10 seconds ; rear limber, mount .
and off, 13 seconds."

S50 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLEa

On the Sunday morning the camp was in motion at sunrise,
the troops having bivouacked on the ground with their arms
beside them. The column of attack was formed under the eye
of the General. The Grenadiers marched out to occupy the
centre and the left, while the Midlanders took up a position
on the right. Beyond occupying the shelter trenches, and
keeping up a desultory fire on the enemy, which was replied
to without vim, little was done all day. In the afternoon a
feint was made to draw the rebels from their rifle-pits, but
only a few of the Mdtis marksmen left their hiding-places,
and the skirmishing line of the 90th drove them quickly back.
The only other incident of note was the shelling of the cemetery,
by the Winnipeg Battery, where a number of half-breeds for a
time had massed. The Mounted Scouts, under Capt. French,
manoeuvred for a while to the north-east of Batoche, and
succeeded in capturing a number of Indian ponies. On their
return to camp, the Scouts were joined by Dennis's Horse, a
company of Mounted Surveyors that had galloped in from the
south. Presently, the advanced lines were withdrawn, and
night again fell upon the camp.

Monday was, in part, a repetition of the previous day, save
that the 90th moved to the fi'ont, while the Grenadiers stayed
in camp. The enemy was again found safely ensconced in his
rifle-pits. In the seclusion of their position, the half-breeds
were able to bid defiance to both musketry and gun fire;
while the shells but further protected them by covering the
pits with the debris of shattered timber. A strong reconnais-
sance was undertaken by the General north-eastward, accom-
panied by Boulton's and Dennis's Horse, and the Gatling.
Here they found Batoche defended by a Sebastopol of rifle-
pits. These were strategically located so as to ofier opposition
from whatever quarter the village v/as approached. We quote

THE LINES BEFORE BATOCHE). 351

from G. II. II., the Mail correspondent, the following descrip-
tion of these rebel trenches :

" As a prominent military man remarked, an engineer could
profitably take lessons from these untaught M^tis of the west,
The rebel position (it could not be called lines, for the pits
run in all places and in all directions), demonstrated that the
plans of defence were admirably conceived and excellently
executed. It seemed as if they expected the troops to como
along the river bank, and had prepared a ravine, a short dis-
tance up stream, to give us a warm reception. Weeks must
have been spent in fortifying the place, since every conceiv-
able point of vantage for a radius of a couple of miles was
utilised. All their pits were deep, with narrow entrances,
which widened at the bottom, thus giving perfect protection.
Notched logs, the notches turned downwards, formed a parapet,
earth being piled on top, and the notches cleared for loop holes.
Lines of sight for the rebel marksmen were cleared in the
brush. There were trenches of communication between the
pits, arranged en echelon on the main road from Humboldt,
but fortunately we did not come that way. Not alone in the
field had the enemy prepared for a determined stand, but the
houses in the village were also ready for an emergency. Even
the tents in which some of the rebel warriors lived were not
without protection. Almost every one had a rifle-pit, and
under the cart or waggon — for some of these people have dis-
carded the old-fashioned Red River cart — a parapeted hole was
dug for defence. If they had prepared for us at Fish Creek,
they had a thousand times more so at Batoche's. It was their
last ditch. No trail, no pathway, however insignificant,
was left unguarded ; no ravine, no gully that was not made a
point of attack or defence."

Nothing came of the reconnaissance save to bring home to
the General's mind the fact that the defences of the revolted
half-breeds could be carried only at the point of the bayonet.
This was what the troops wanted. The harassing desultory
fire, one day after another, all chafed under ; and the return to
camp each evening, with nothing accomplished, made the men
sullen. Middleton's economy of the lives of the troops, how-

§52 THE NORTH-WEST: 1*8 HrSTOtlY AND ITS TROtJBLfifi.

ever kindly intentioned, only fretted his gallant force. As the
day's wounded were brought into camp, the limit of the men's
Eorbearance seemed to be reached. To-morrow, despite orders,
they would do something.

The three days' casualties were three killed and some sixteen
or more wounded. Besides Phillips, the Batteryman, who was
killed on Saturday, another and a young hero was to fall the
same day. This was Pte. Thomas Moor, of C. Co. Grenadiers,
who won the goal of a soldier's ambition — an honoured death
on the battlefield. Of the same regiment Capt. Mason received
a severe wound in the thigh, while StafF-sergt. Mitchell was
struck by a bullet in the forehead. Of the gallant 10th, Corp.
Foley, and Ptes. Cantwell, Martin, Brisbane, Stead and Scovell
were also wounded. The 90th had one killed, Pte. R. R. Har-
disty, a comrade whom the regiment sincerely mourned. The
90th wounded included Corp. Kemp, and Ptes. Baron and
Erickson. " A " Battery had four wounded : Driver Stout
and Gunners Fairbanks, Charpentier, and Cowley. Of French's
Scouts, Troopers Allen and Cook were wounded. The latter
was gallantly snatched from the hands of death by his intrepid
commander.

CHAPTER XXV.

CHARGING THE RIFLE-PITS — ROUT OF THE REBELS.

' By heavens ! 'tis day indeed begun !
Yefc once more gaze upon the sun.
For many here, now armed for fight,
Shall never see that sun at night.
Iq many a heart the blood beats high,
Flushed vi^ith the hope of victory ;
And ere the bell the hour repeat,
Shall many a heart have ceased to beat."

'UESDAY, the 12th inst., was the fourth day of
the investiture of Batoche. In the three days
desultory fighting the temper of the troops had
been sorely tried. There had been no appreci-
''<fi//^ able blow struck at the enemy; and at long
'^ ^ range he was not even assailable. The force,
in truth, was too weak for aggressive measures,
unless boldly conceived and recklessly acted on.
Moreover, both Colonel Irvine and the steamer had failed to
co-operate ; and General Middleton, no doubt wisely enough,
thought it wouldn't do to be precipitate. With the systematia
deliberation which characterised all his movements, he was
ready to give effect to his own plans ; but he was not willing
to risk the troops in an unequal encounter. He acted, an 1

353

854 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLED

acted rightly, on the good old military maxim : " Conquest is
twice achieved when the achiever brings home full numbers."

But, if we may say it without offence, there was another
factor on the field besides the General ; and the kindly old
warrior knew it. There was the ardour of youth, and, when
the fight began, the unrestrainable impulse, with each gallant
soul, to do a deed of daiing. There was, moreover, in every-
man's breast, a conscious realisation that he had right on his
side, than which there is no higher impelling motive to fidelity
and heroism. We may not be justified in saying that, on the
rebel side, there was not a similar consciousness of right ; for
treason, like party rancour, sometimes puts on the cloak of
patriotism and complacently felicitates itself on its well-doing.
But if there was right on their side, by the close of the day
there were many to deny it. Defeat, we know, brings weak-
ness ; but defeat in an honourable cause does not usually mani-
fest itself in whining excuses for fighting, or exculpate itseK
on the plea that its actors, against their wishes, were forced to
take up arms. But we are anticipating events.

Moving out with the mounted troops, the Gatling, and a
detachment of " A " Battery, with one gun. General Middleton
took up a position with his staff on the plateau, on the extreme
right front, overlooking Batoche. Here Capt. Drury opened
the memorable day's fight with a shower of shrapnel directed
at the village and at the rifle-pits in the brush immediately in
front. The fire was instantly returned ; and Lieut. Kippin, of
Dennis's Surveyor Scouts, was the first to fall, mortally wound-
ed. The infantry, led by Colonel Van Straubenzie, meanwhile
took up their daily position in the shelter trenches in the
advanced lines along the front. The Grenadiers held the
centre, the 90th the right, and the Midlanders the left. For a
time the morning salute from the trenches occupied by the

CHARGING THE RIFLE-PITS — ROUT OF THE REBELS. 355

troops, was hot and vigorous — a premonitory symptom of the
men's impatience. While coolly superintending these move-
ments, and planning how best to strike the enemy a decided
blow that day, the General observed a white flag flying at a
point in the rebel lines. Presently, two prisoners on parole
advanced with the flag, and a note for the Major-General. The
note read as follows :

" Sib : If -you massacre our families we will begin by killing Indian Agent Lash

and other prisoners.

Louis David Rikl."

To this first confession of weakness, on the part of the rebel
chief, the General made the following response :

"Mr. Riel : I am most anxious to avoid killing women and children, and have
always been so. Put women and children in some place and I won't harm them.
I trust to your honour not to put men with them.

Fred, Middleton,
Major-General Commanding."

Before the prisoner, Astley, had well got back to the rebel
lines, the half-breeds in the pits took up the firing, which was
hotly returned from our trenches. The morning passed in such
manoeuvring, and the General and his stafi" returned to camp.
After the men had partaken of a hasty dinner in the trenches,
Colonel Straubenzie informed the regimental commanders that
the General wished to press the fighting, and to relax no dis-
creet effort in pressing forward.

The beginning of the end now drew near. By this tima
Colonel Williams had extended the Midlanders to the extreme
left of the lines and advanced to a position overlooking the
river. Grasett and the Grenadiers now cleared the enemy
from the high ground near the Church ; while McKeand an 1
the 90th, running a gauntlet of fire, pressed forward th ir
right. The beleaii;uered line, on the extreme riirht, was cou»

356 THE NOETH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

tracting under the fire of Boulton's and Dennis's troopers, who
had dismounted and were pressing the enemy hard on his
flank. The General, who had meantime ridden forward to the
church, now gave the order for a reconnaissance in force. In-
stantly, the whole line made a forward movement, and it was
soon seen that the men were about to pass from the control of
command. Already the Midland Battalion had taken the bit
in their mouth. Pressing along, the river bank, with unbend-
ing courage, and with a contagious cheer, they drove the half-
breeds from the rifle-pits back to the cemetery. From the
cemetery the Midlanders entered a small ravine, that wound
round its base, and poured in on the rifle-pits a hot enfilading
fire, Grasett, meanwhile, had swung round his right, and
gained cover for his Grenadiers on new ground over the ridge.
The Grenadier left, led by Straubenzie, also crossed the ridge
and joined the Midlanders, bayoneting the flying breeds as
they advanced.

The attack on the whole line being now fully developed, the
rebels, who seemed to be much demoralised, and some say un-
der the influence of a superstition, abandoned their fastnesses
and fled. At this juncture, another note from Riel found its
way to the General. This was its purport :

" General : Your prompt answer to my note shows that I was right in mention-
ing to you the cause of humanity. We will gather our families in one place, and
as soon as this is done we will let you know.

" (Signed), Louis David Riel."

On the envelope was written the following :

"I do not like war, and if you do not retreat, and refuse an interview, the ques-
tion remains the same concerning the prisoners."

The practical reply Riel got to his note was the ringing cheer
of the victorious volunteers, and their hot dash into the key of
the position. The formal reply was» that " the troops would

CHARGING THE RIFLE- PITS— ROUT OF THE REBELS. 357

cease firing when the enemy did, and not before." But there
was work yet to be done. The half-breeds and Indians who
held the inner defences, seeing the day lost, for a time fought
with the courage of despair. But they could not withstand the
bayonet; while the Catling and the nine-pounder, catching the
enemy now in the ravines, mowed them down with the iron hail.
Still more closely did our long line of skirmishers converge
upon the now doomed rebels. But there were ridges yet to get
over, and gullies to cross ; and many a young life fell out by
the way — the stretcher and ambulance being in frequent re-
quisition. This was the crisis of the day.

The din now became furious ; for both the Quebec and the
Winnipeg Batteries were plying their thunder, and there was
the crash of the Gatling and the incessant fusilade of Snider,
Martini, and Winchester. On the right, the 90th were having
it hot ; though they were gallantly supported by the battery-
men and by Boul ton's troopers. At the head of the latter, im-
petuously leading in the assault, fell Capt. E. T. Brown

•• And round him gathers still the strife,
And death in every form is rife."

Again was the moment critical. The right skirmishing line
had here to charge a series of rifle-pits, skilfully placed en
echelon, to guard the trail from the East. But half an hour
sufficed to clear them, and to drive their dark-skinned occu-
pants back on the village. Had the enemy not been dazed at
the unexpected turn of events, at one or other of the many
formidable lines of defence they might have successfully stem-
med the advance. But bafiled in one quarter, the troops, now
fairly furious, would have overcome in another ; for nothing
could withstand the headlong rush of the men»

•^

358 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

At the southern end of the line, on went the Midlanders, un-
flinchingly led by their gallant Colonel and Major Hughes, and
closely followed by Capt. French and his Scouts. On, too, went
Grasett and his Grenadiers ; but, alas ! not all of them, for
Death met the brave Lieut. Fitch in the moment of victory ;
while Major Dawson and Adjutant Manley fell wounded.
Hardisty and Fraser, of the Winnipeg Rifles, were also sum-
moned from the field. Stubbornly charging the centre, on, too,
came McKeand, with Buchan, Boswell, and Ruttan, of the
90th, until the plain was reached, when house after house was
carried —

" Then grim Death grew sated, and the field was won ! "

Among the first to reach the village were two gallant oflficers
who, now, alas ! are both beyond earthly honour. One of these
was Capt. French, who was the first to dash into Batoche's
house, in quest of Riel's prisoners. Reckless of life, he rushed
up a flight of stairs in the building, and, passing by an open
window, received a bullet in his breast. Pressing on after him
were some volunteers, into the arms of one of whom he fell,
exclaiming : " Don't forget, boys, that I led you here ! " Close
behind him was Colonel Williams, with Capts. Young and Den-
nis. The former, entering a neighbouring house, wrenched the
fastenings from a trap door, and there found and released the
white captives. Thenceforward all was over.

The scene which ensued in the village baffles description-
Over the ploughed field and the nearer plain came the rush of
red coat and rifleman, and before them the flying Mdtis and
Indians. Up, too, dashed the Gatiing, and the Winnipeg nine-
pounder ; while, in a heterogeneous mass, mixed Batteryman,
Scout, Infantryman, and Trooper. To add to the medley, from
every hole and corner trooped half-breed women and children

CUAUGING THE RIFLE-PITS — ROUT OF THE REBELS. 359

while, limping along, came wounded rebel and painted savage.
To complete the picture, up rode Col. Montizambert, gal-
lantly leading the Quebec Battery ; then the General and his
Btafi*; followed by black robe, nun, and surgeon.

At this stage of the exciting day's events, the whistle of the
Northcote, with her consort the Marquis, was heard in the
river. The latter had on board some twenty-five men of the
Mounted Police. The main body of the constabulary was still
shut up with Colonel Irvine at Prince Albert. The Northcote,
with " C" Company, School of Infantry, about whose safety, and
that of the sick and wounded on board, there had been much
anxiety felt during the investment of Batoche, had had a peril-
ous journey down the river. On leaving Gabriel's Crossing, on
the morning of the 9th inst., rebel spies tracked the movements
of the boat down to Batoche, and raked it with a continuous
fire from the brush and timber that border the river. As the
steamer was strongly bulwarked, few casualties occurred ; and
the troops, from behind their shelter, maintained a vigorous
fusilade on the banks. Nearing Batoche, the craft got into
the rapids, and was forced to run the gauntlet of the fire the
Mdtis had prepared for her. At the village a storm of shot
was directed against the steamer, and the ferry cable was low-
ered in expectation of coralling the stern-wheeler, and mas-
sacring its human freight. Fortunately, the cable did no
more damage than bring down the smoke-stack, and strew the
hurricane deck with the masts and spars. For nearly five
miles the steamer was followed by half-breed and Indian
marksmen, until spent with their fatiguing and profitless pur-
suit, they gave up hope of capture and returned to Batoche.
The craft, in her hot chase down the river, was piloted by
Captains Seager and Street, thv former having a narrow escape
from the enemy's fire. On board the steamer was Chief Trana-

360 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

port officer Bedson, with Major Smith, and Lt. Scott, of the " C "
Company. Lieuts. Elliott and Gibson, of the Grenadiers, were
also on board ; and Capt. Wise, A.D.C., and Lt. Hugh J. Mac-
donald, were in the saloon on the sick list. Proceeding some
distance down the river for wood, the Marquis was met at the
Hudson Bay ferry. After repairs to the Norilicote, both
steamers returned up stream with their marine guard in time
to witness the capitulation of Batoche.

It is a well-worn saying, but a true one, that " next to defeat
the saddest thing is victory." After the day's engagement
came the drear duty of counting the cost. The casualties of
the four days' fighting were eight killed and forty-five
wounded.* The losses of the 10th and 90th, it will be seen,
are specially heavy. In the gallant charge over the open
ground both regiments sufiered severely. Of the victory
General Middleton wrote in the following terms to the Hon.
M. Caron, Minister of Militia : —

"Have just made a general attack and carried the whole
Settlement. The men behaved splendidly. The rebels are in
full tlight, and we are now masters of the place. Most of
my force will bivouac here. * * Since my last evening's

* The official list of the entire number of killed and wounded before Batoche is
as follows : —

Killed : — French's Scouts, Capt. John French ; Boulton's Horse, Capt. E. T.
Brown ; Dennis's Surveyors' Corps, Lt. A. W. Kippen ; 10th Grenadiers, Lt.
Wm. Fitch and Pte. Thos. Moor; "A" Battery, Wm. Phillips j 90th Rifles,
Ptes. Jas. Fraser, and Richd. Hardisty.

Wounded : — 10th Grenadiers, Major Dawson, Capts. Mason, and Manley, Staff-
Sergt. Mitchell, Corp. Foley, Ptes. Stead, Scovell, Cantwell, Martin, Quigley,
Cook, Barbour, Marshall, Wilson, Brisbane, Eager, McLow, Bugler Gaughan ;
90th Rifles, Sergt-Major Watson, Sergt. Jackes, Corpls. Kemp and Gillies, Ptes.
Baron, Young, Watson and Erickson ; Midland Batt., Lieuts. Helliwell and Laid-
law, Sergts. Wright, and Christie, Corp. Helliwell, Ptes. Barton, and Daley ;
"A" Battery, Driver Stout, Gunners Cowlej', Charpentier, and Fairbanks ; French's
Scouts, Troopers Allan, Cook, and Gillen ; Boulton's Horse, Trooper Hay ; Dennis's
Surveyors' Corps, Troopers Garden and Wheeled.

THE LATE LIEUT. FITCH,

lOtb Royal Grenadieia.

CHARGING THE RIFLE-PITS — ROUT OF THE REBELS. 361

despatch I have ascertained some particulars of our victory,
which was most complete. I have myself counted twelve half-
breeds on the field, and we have four wounded besides in the
hospital, and two Sioux. As far as I can learn, Riel and Du-
mont left as soon as they saw us getting well in. The extra-
ordinary skill displayed in making rifle-pits at the proper
points, and the number of them, are very remarkable ; and had
we advanced rashly, I believe we might have been destroyed.
After reconnoitring, I forced on my left, which was the key of
the position, and then advanced the whole line with a cheer
and a dash worthy of the soldiers of any army.

" The efiect was remarkable. The enemy in front of our
left was forced back from pit to pit, and those in the strongest
pit, facing east, found themselves turned and our men behind
them. Then commenced a sauve qui petit. * * The conduct
of the troops was beyond praise, the Midland and Royal Gren-
adiers vieing with each other in gallantry They were well
supported bj' the Ninetieth, and flanked by the mounted
portion of the troops. The Artillery and Gatling also assisted
in the attack with good eflect. * * My staff gave me every
assistance. The medical arrangements, under Brigade-Surgeon
Orton, were, as usual, most excellent and efficiently carried out."

Thus terminated in complete success, — for a day or two
afterwards Riel sun-endered, — the military movement against
the rebel stronghold, and with it the suppression of the half-
breed insurrection. A melancholy interruption to the rejoicing
of the force ensued, on learning of the death and wounding of
so many brave comrades. But they had gained the summit of
a soldier's ambition — to meet death, or the scars of battle, on

the field of honour.

« « » »

" The great heart of the nation heaves

With pride in work her sons have done so well,

And with a smile and sigh she weaves
A wreath of bays and one of immortelle I

Baptized with fire, they stood the test ;
And earth, in turn, baptized with blood they shed ;

Canada triumphs, but her best
Are not all here — she mourns her gallant dead.
W

oG^ THE NORTfi-WEST: iTS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLBS.

A glorious death was theiis, a bright
UnstUlied ending to a cloudless day ;

They sank, as sinks the sun in sea of light ;
And in their country's memory live for aye !

But flush of victory pales in pain ;
Tears fall for darkened homes where glad tones cease,

Whose loved, that left, come not again —
Heaven give the mourners and the nation — Peace 1 " •

Where the gallant bearing of all the troops engaged was so
conspicuous, it would seem invidious to single out any for special
mention. We may, however, be permitted to place on record
in these pages an act of individual heroism which has come
under our notice, and like that of Capt. French's, which
occurred on the previous day, may be taken as an example of
the general gallantry of the force. The incident we find re-
corded in the columns of the Toronto Mail. Here is the brief
but noble story :

"There was one case of heroism which deserves mention.
One of the Grenadiers was seriously wounded at Batoche, and
would have bled to death had he been left any length of time.
Col.- Sergt. Curzon, under a shower of rebel bullets, at once
knelt down and stopped the hemoixhage and carried his
wounded comrade to a place of safety, marching coolly away to
tlie music provided by the guns of the enemy."

This act of chivalry and humanity, we trust, will not go un-
rewarded of the Government. Its action merits some signal
token of the nation's honour. Referring to the incident, we
are glad to observe that Dr. Ryerson, one of the regimental
surgeons of the 10th, thus speaks of it : " Sergeant Curzon, of
the 10th. Batt. Toronto, attended my Ambulance Class last
winter, and learned how to stop bleeding. His knowledge en-
abled him to save the life of a man who was shot through the

* From a poem, entitled " Victory at Batoche," by Charlotte (Mrs. Edgar)
Jarvis.

CHARGING THE RIFLE-PlfS — ROUT OF tHE REBELS. 365

main artery of the arm and was fast bleeding to death. He
did it under fire."

Very noticeable was the gallantry displayed during the day
by Cols. Montizambert and Houghton, and by the General's
Aide-de-camp, Lieut. Frere (38th Regt.). Capt. Young, of the
Winnipeg Field Battery, and Capt. Peters and Lieut. Rivers,
of "A" Battery, also bore themselves with conspicuous daring.
The Chaplains, Revds. D. M. Gordon and C. C. Whitcombe,
were also assiduous in their attentions in the field.

The rebel loss, in the four days' fighting at Batoche, is esti-
mated at 51 killed and 173 wounded. Their total strength in
the engagement, including Half-breeds and Indians, was nearly
GOO. Against this number, with every disadvantage of posi-
tion. General Middleton had at his command a fighting strength
of only 500.

CHAPTEK XXVI

AFTER BATOCHE — THE " BIG BEAR HUNT."

HE issue of the insurrection in the North-West
had now greatly narrowed itself. The struggle
was for a time doubtful, with a small, inex-
perienced, and necessarily scattered force to cope
with the insurrection, and with an enemy strongly
entrenched in rifle-pits, whose number and con-
struction elicited the wonder and admiration of
military critics. But at close quarters, the rebels,
however courageously they fought, and with whatever skill
they were generaled, were no match for the loyal troops.
When the charge was made, and the bayonet came into play,
neither half-breed nor Indian could withstand the assault. The
valour and endurance of the troops, throughout the campaign,
had been put to a severe test ; but the Canadian Militia did
not swerve from its duty, nor discredit its old-time honours.

The immediate task of General Middleton was now to relieve,
as far as possible, the distress at Batoche, and to ensure the
general pacification of the region. Measures were at once
taken to reassure the well-disposed, and to remove for trial the
ringleaders, and those who were still disaffected. In the for-

364.

AFTER BATOCHE — THE "BIG BEAR " HUNT. 365

mer beneficent work, the troops did good and humane sei'vice.
A correspondent of the Toronto Globe bears testimony to this
fact. Says the writer :

" One of the most pleasant incidents in connection with the
Batoche fight was the respect, courtesy, and kindness with
which the men, flush with victory, treated the women who
were found in the corral after the fight. Had they been their
own mothers, sisters, or wives, they could not have shown them
greater consideration."

All seemed thankful that the trouble was over, and with com-
mon consent, disavowed responsibility for the insurrection.
The fighting, they affirmed, was forced upon them by the
designing leaders, who, seeing the cause lost, had now left
them to their fate. For Kiel, no one seemed to have a good
word, the women being particularly severe on his religious
imposition, and on his effeminate bearing throughout the
struggle. The old Latin maxim, Mulier imperator et mulier
miles* in the present instance, did not hold good ; for the
fighting force of rebeldom was neither womanish nor soft-
hearted.

But in the wicked, and, in the main, causeless outbreak, it
was Dumont, and not Riel, who was the General. In the
whole period of the rebellion, it is doubtful whether Riel ever
fired a shot. Even now, the religious monomaniac, instead of
making good his escape, in company with Dumont, his plucky
Adjutant-General, was moodily haunting the neighbouring
woods. Here, four days after the taking of Batoche, he was
seen by some scouts and surrendered. The Jove of insurrec-
tion was found weak in the knees, and afraid of his miserable
life. The taking of Riel happened in this wise. While the
country was being scoured to see that no number of armed

* " A womaa for a general and the suldiers will be wouaeo.'

366 THE NORTH-WESt: ITS fllSfORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

insurgents were still lurking in the woods, a rumour reached
headquarters that the rebel chief was not far off. Three
couriers, named Howrie, Armstrong, and Deale, who had
diverged from the trail in an advance party of Boul ton's Scouts,
came upon four men at the edge of a wood. One of the four,
Howrie recognised as Kiel, though he was " coatless, hatless,
and unarmed. His companions were young men, and they
carried shotguns. The couriers rode up, and they called Kiel
by name, and he answered the salutation. They expressed
surprise at his being there, and in reply Kiel handed Armstrong
a slip of paper — the note which General Middleton had sent
him — informing him that if he would give himself up he would
be protected, and given a fair trial. At the same time he
said : ' I want to give myself up ; but I fear the troops may
hurt me.' "

The couriers relieved Kiel's mind on this point, and under-
took to smuggle him into camp without molestation. This
was ultimately done, and the rebel chieftain soon stood, a
prisoner, in the tent of the General. The " Exovide " was now
a broken man, and his rebel flock was subjugated or scattered.
The rest is soon told. Placed under a guard, the arch-traitor
w !s sent off, with the other leading conspirators, for trial to
ll(>giiia ; and the General and the troops prepared to proceed to
Prince Albert, thence westward, to join in the pursuit of Big
Bear.

This part of our story need not long detain us ; for, in the
chapter on " The Frog Lake Massacre," we have already dealt
with the chief events on the North Saskatchewan. The dis-
affected St. Laurent region once more assumed its normal quiet.
Bach day brought its quota of surrendering Mdtis, whose hearts
must have smote them at sight of the want and wretchedness
which their criminal folly had occasioned. Seeing their folly,

AFTER BATOCHE — THE "BIG BEAR" HUNT. 367

most of them, it is to be said to their credit, set heartily to
work to repair the evil they had done.

" And men, taught wisdom from the past,
In friendship joined their hands ;
Hung the gun in the hall, the spear on the wall.
And ploughed the willing lands."

Meanwhile the distress had to be met by the humanity of
the Government and the kindness of its agents and the troops.
This was done with no niggard hand, and the latter set off for
Prince Albert. To protect the region there was now within
hail an increased force at Humboldt, for, in addition to the
Body Guard, the united 12th and 35th Battalions had been
called up from Qu'Appelle ; while the Seventh Fusiliers* had
been moved from Swift Current to Clarke's Crossing.

The 91st Winnipeg Battalion,-f- commanded by Lt.-Col. Thomas
Scott, M. P., was guarding Qu'Appelle, while Capt. White's
Auxiliary Scouts were to the south of it. The 92nd Winnipeg
Light Infantry, I under Lt.-Col. W. Osborne Smith, C.M.G.,

•The following are the staff and Company officers of 7th Battalion, " Fusiliers,"
London, Ont. Lt.-Col. W. De Ray Williams ; Majors, A. M. Smith and W. M.
Gartshore ; Adjut., Cap*^^. Geo. M. Reid ; Quartermaster, Capt. Jno. B. Smyth ;
Paymaster, Major D. MacMillan ; Surgeons, Dr. J. M. Fraser, and Dr. J. S.
Niven. Capts., Thos. Beattie, E. Mackenzie, F, H. Butler, T. H. Tracey, R.
Dillon, and S. F. Peters ; Lieuts. H. Bapty,C. B. Bazan, A. G. Chisholm, W.
Greig, C. F. Cox, H. Payne, Jas. Hesketh, C. S. Jones, J. H. Pope.

+ The following are the staff and Company officers of the 91st Batt. Winnipeg,
Lt.-Col. Thomas Scott, M.P., in command. Majors, D. H. McMillan and Stuart
Mulvey ; Adjnt. , Capt. W. 0. Copeland ; Quartermaster, Capt. W. H. Bruce 5
Surgeon, Dr. Maurice M. Seymour, Assist. -Surgeon, Dr. Frank Keele; Inspector
of Musketry, Capt. A. W. Lawe ; Capts., J. A. Mc D, Rowe, Thos. Wastie, Wm.
Sheppard, S. J. Jackson, J. H. Kennedy, J. C. Waugh, R. W. A. Rolph, John
Crawford; Lieuts., F. I. Bamford, E. C. Smith, R. C. Brown, J. B. Rutherford,
Major A. Gates, Geo. A. Glinn, A. Monkman, A. P. Cameron; 2nd Lieuts., W.
H. Saunders, R. Hunter, G. R. Reid, T. Lusted, H. W. Chambre, H. McKay,
F. R. Glover. T. B. Brondgeest., Ed. Ellis, and F. V. Young.

X The following are the staff and Company officers of the 92nd Batt., the Winni-
peg Light Infantry, Lt.-Col. W. Osborne Smith, C.M.G., iu command. Majors,

368 THE NORTH-WESt: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

had gone to Calgary, to join the 3rd Division of the North-
West Field Force, under Major-General Strange. The latter,
a veteran of the British service, had organised some local corps
in the neighbourhood of the Rocky Mountains, with the design
of keeping the Blackfeet Indians of the region from the dis-
turbing influences of trouble on both branches of the Saskat-
chewan. When Big Bear took to the war-path. General
Strange was instructed to place himself at the head of a Field
Column, which would instantly be despatched to Calgary and
Edmonton. This column was mainly composed of the Winni-
peg Light Infantry, 300 strong, under Lt.-Col. Smith, C.M.G,,
and the 65th " Mount Royal Rifles," 317 strong, under Lt.-
Cols. Ouimet and Hughes. It was subsequently strengthened
by Major Stewart's Rocky Mountain Rangers ; by 75 Mounted
Police, under Major Steele and Inspector Gagnon, with the
Police nine-pounder, under Major Perry, R.E. ; and by 100 men
of the Edmonton Volunteers, and 50 of the Alberta Rifles,
under Major Hutton. The Calgary force was further supple-
mented by the 9th " Voltigeurs," of Quebec, under Lt.-Col.
Amyot ; and by the Quebec Cavalry School Corps, Lt.-Col.
J. F. Turnbull, Commandant. The Montreal Garrison Artillery,
under Lt.-Col. W. R. Oswald, was stationed at Regina, the
capital of the North- West Territories ; and the Halifax Pro-
visional Battalion, commanded by Lt.-Col. Bremner, garrisoned
Swift Current, Moose Jaw, and Medicine Hat.*

John Lewis, and W. B. Thibadeau ; Adjut., Cap. Chas. Constantino ; Paymaster,
E. P. Leacock ; Quartermaster, R. La Touche Tupper ; Surgeon, Dr. J. P. Penne-
father. Assist. -Surgeon, Dr. S. T. Macadam. Capts., W. R. Pilsworth, W. B.
Canavan, F. J. Clarke, Dudley Smith, T. A. Wade, T. P. Valiancy, D. F^
Mcintosh ; Lieuts. , D. C Sutherland, G. B. Brooks, T. G. Alexander, J. W. N.
Carruthers, Augustus Mills, — Canwell, T. Gray; 2ad Lieuts., R. G. Macbeth, J
A. Thirkell, W. R. Currie, F. T. Currie, Thos. Norquay, Thos. D. Deegan.

* In addition to calling out this force, and putting it in the field, the Militia
Department placed the following corps under arms, in their several localities, as a

AFTER BATOCHE — THE "BIG BEAR" HUNT. 369

General Strange's Field Division consisted of 1,200 men of
all arms. With this force he had to garrison Calgary, Edmon-
ton, and Victoria, and to operate along the upper waters of
the North Saskatchewan. On learning of the horror at Frog
Lake, General Strange made his way, with a flying column,
to Edmonton and Victoria, thence, to Fort Pitt. At the latter
post he arrived on the 25th of May, and three days afterwards
part of his force had a brush with Big Bear's band as narrated
in our chapter on " The Frog Lake Massacre." During the
whole of June the " hunt " for Big Bear was prosecuted with
great energy, in the hope of releasing the white captives in his
possession, and of bringing the Bear himself and his band to
justice. The story of the hunt is too tedious, as well as barren
of incident, to detain the reader with in the closing chapters
of this narrative. We shall simply outline the operations of
the combined military force directed against the barbarian
fugitives in their native fastnesses. The escape of the white
prisoners we have already dealt with.

General Middleton's force left Guardepuy's Crossing, on the
South Saskatchewan, a few days after the taking of Batoche
Riel, we have seen, had been sent with his chief accomplices
for trial to Regina. Dumont and Dumais had escaped into
United States territory, and there gained their liberty. The
half-breed trouble was at an end : now came the settling of
scores with the Indians. At Prince Albert, whither the General
had gone, Chief Beardy was the first to surrender. White
Cap, the Sioux Chief, who had given material aid to Riel in
the rebellion, was captured, with twenty of his band, at Dead

reserve, to be held in readiness in case of need : Toronto Battery of Garrison
Artillery, under Capt. W. B. McMurrich ; Toronto Field Battery of Artillery,
under M ijor John Gray ; and tlie 32nd Bruce Infantry (formerly CoL Sproai i
Battalion), now commanded by Lt-GoL J. G. Cooper, of Walkerton,

370 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

Moose Lake, by Lieuts. Merritt and Fleming and a few troopers
of the Body Guard. At Battleford, after the raiding of some
thirty supply waggons by the Battle River Indians, Pound-
maker thought it discreet to feign penitence and give himself
up a prisoner. Now came the disposition of the forces in the
endeavour to capture Big Bear.

On the last day of May three steamers were loaded at
Battleford for Fort Pitt.* There General Middleton wished
to effect a junction with the 3rd Division, North-West Field
Force, and together to move upon the marauding Indians who,
under Big Bear, Wandering Spirit, and other types of the noble
savage, had betaken themselves to their native wilds and de-
fied the majesty of the law. The undertaking was full of
difficulty, for the country was of the roughest, and almost im-
penetrable to an armed force. The hot season added to the
difficulty of pursuit, in a realm of dense scrub and muskeg,
made further repellent by myriads of mosquitoes and black
flies. The pursuit occupied most of the month of June, the
Bear leading the troops a fine dance through his all but im-
passable country. The whole district north of Fort Pitt, be-
yond the Moose Hills, beyond the Beaver River, and stretching
as far as Cold Lake and Lac des lies, south of the Athabasca
River, was covered in the operations. But the chase was fruit-
less, save to intimidate the Indians, and lead them to release
their prisoners, and finally to surrender themselves. As a
fighting force, it was of course possible to beat them, even
without the convincing rhetoric of the Gatling ; but as a host
of cunning fugitives, it was all but impossible to secure their

*The following are the corps that took part in this Expedition : The Midland
Batt, (250 men) ; the 90th (275), the Grenadiers (250), with part of "A" and " B"
Batteries, and two Gatling?. The following went by the south trail from Battle-
ford to Fort Pitt : Dennis's Scouts (60), Boulton's Scouts (60), Mounted Police (50)^
Brittiebauk's (late French's) Scouts (50).

AFTER BATOCHE — THE "BIG BEAR" HUNT. 371

defeat. The only hope was to hunt them down or to starve
them out. For weeks the pursuit was kept up with hot ardour
by forces under Generals Strange and Middleton. The aid of
Colonels Irvine from Prince Albert, and Otter from Battleford,
was also called into requisition. The former, with the Mounted
Police, moved to the neighbourhood of Green Lake ; while the
latter, with the Queen's Own, the Ottawa Sharpshooters, and
C. Company School of Infantry, pushed on to Jack Fish Lake,
thence to Turtle Lake and the region about. Twice General
Strange's command came upon the fugitives, and at French-
man's Butte and at Loon Lake made it hot for the enemy.
General Middleton, with his column of horse and the Gatlings,
pressed the enemy hard along the Beaver River, and as far
north as Cold Lake. But the Bear eluded all efforts to entrap
him ; so, spent with the toil of march, the bulk of the troops
returned to Fort Pitt.

But hunger did what the troops were unable to do. At
last it brought submission and a reasonable degree of penitence.
First the Chippewyans surrendered, then some lodges of Little
Poplar's band, and, finally, Wandering Spirit became a pris-
oner, followed, a few days afterwards, by Big Bear. The lat-
ter was taken near Carlton, whither, it is said, the outlawed
Chief was proceeding to surrender himself. His following
vanished into thin air; or, more prosaically, broke up into
fragments, and took advantage of wild nature's concealment.
The scouting parties were now all called in, and the campaign
came to a close. After the trying marches were over, and
the dangers and difficulties of the Indian pursuit were passed,
the troops congregated at Fort Pitt, and were only too glad to
have done with the campaign and get back to their homes.
Well might the country now release them from their arduou-s
and honourable service I

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE nation's heroes — COUNTING THE COST.

" There is sobbing of the strong.
And a pall upon the land."

'tick Lake, Cut Knife Hill, Fish Creek, and
Batoche, — these are the engagements memorable
in the history of the military operations against
the now defeated insurgents in the North- West.
But for the fact that these battles were fought
in the course of a civil war, the names of at
least three of them might fitly be blazoned on
the country's banners. This is the one drop of
bitterness in the cup we would quaff over the success of our
arms. Only for the circumstance we mention, the engagements
might take their place in the nation's history alongside
Chateauguay, Chrysler's Farm, and Lundy's Lane. In no
other particular are they less worthy of being held in per-
petual honour, for the achievements of those who took part in
them were characterised by an old-time valour.

But do we say there is only one drop of bitterness in the
cup of joy ? Ah, that that might be ! Alas ! there are those
whose hearts have been torn by the conflict, and who, in the

372

THE nation's heroes— counting THE COST. 373

now joyous tumult of the returning troops, look with strained
eyes and yearning souls for those who come not back.

" O mothers, sisters, daughters, spare the tears ye fain would shed ;
Who seem to die in such a cause, ye cannot call them dead."

The total casualties in the four engagements amounted to 40
killed and 110 wounded. Besides these, over twenty lives fell
a sacrifice to Indian bloodthirstiness, and almost as many more
received injuries at various periods of the campaign. This
calamitous loss of life and limb is the price the people have
paid to suppress sedition and to secure returning peace to the
country. The immediate and entailed cost, in treasure, though
far from inconsiderable, is as nothing to this loss of life, for
which Riel and his unprincipled confederates are primarily re-
sponsible. The pecuniary burdens of the campaign, however,
are no light ones ; and the sum of them will long remain an
oppressive memory — to the country's rulers we hope an ad-
monitory memory — of the conflict. Could those be coerced
into settling the bill who use loose language in regard to
the freedom of sections of the community, at will, to resort
to rebellion, or who have in any way incited the wicked move-
ment, it would be some satisfaction in contemplating the finan-
cial legacy of the strife.

But the cost in blood there is nothing to repay. No treasure
can replace a single life ; though the individual and the national
loss may bring its compensations and be fraught with good.
The insurrection has its lesson for the nation ; and what it ha^
cost the country may do more than any remonstrance, rational
or irrational, could possibly efiect. Not only will the ear of
Government, henceforth, be more acute, and the ofiicial mind,
we trust, be more alert, but, for a time at least, the public con-
science will be quickened and the national heart become less

374 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

apathetic. In the cause of humanity everyone must desire to
see greater regard paid to the claims and the interests of the
settlers in the North- West. In another direction we may also
look for national gains as the result of the conflict. All sections
of the country have participated in the common duty of sup-
pressing the rebellion, or in limiting the area over which it has
spread. In this national service the volunteers have been
thrown together with beneficent results,for they have nobly emu-
lated each other in acts of stirring heroism and self-sacrificing
devotion to duty. Together they have shared the common
danger, and, together, it is theirs to reap the common glory
and the common reward. In a journal in one of the Maritime
Provinces, the Halifax Herald, we find the following patriotic
observations on the progress of Canada since the era of Con-
federation, and the welding influences which have come of
closer intercourse in the nation's commercial and military life.

" Eighteen years," says the writer, *' is but a brief period in
the life of any nation ; but looking over the history of Canada
since the first day of July, 1867, we seem to have achieved more
in that time than many nations with whose history we are
familiar. From being four disconnected Provinces, bounded
westwardly by Lake Superior, we have assumed continental
proportions, and now stretch one-fourth of the way around the
globe, having three oceans for our boundaries. And we have
not only grown big, but we have grown together. Eighteen
years ago, few Nova Scotians had ever seen the St. Lawrence,
and fewer yet had ever heard the name of the Red River of the
North, of the Assiniboine, or of the Saskatchewan. To attend
Parliament it was necessary for Nova Scotia and New Bruns-
wick members to travel through a foreign country, and to take
about a week in the journey. While for any Haligonian on
the 1st of July, 18G7, to have proposed to have crossed the
continent of North America on Canadian (or rather British)
soil, would have seemed about equal to a journey across Africa.
But on the 1st July, 1885, what do we find ? Continuous rail-
way connection on Canadian soil from Halifax to the Selkirk

THE nation's heroes — COUNTING THE COST. S75

Mountains in British Columbia, and —with the exception of a
comparatively short and rapidly disappearing gap — to the Pacific
Ocean. Thousands of Nova Scotians now visit the Upper Prov-
inces every year, and thousands of Upper Province men visit
Nova Scotia. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of Nova
Scotian capital are invested in the North- West ; thousands of
Nova Scotians have gone there to live ; and within the last few
months, we have seen a Halifax battalion of militia holding the
passes of the South Saskatchewan — 500 miles west of Winni-
peg — in a triumphant struggle to maintain peace and security
in that country. These things are but some of the results of
eighteen years of our united life."

Despite the political pessimists, there is hope for Confedera-
tion in the ring of such words. There is hope, too, when the
youth of the land give their lives so ready a sacrifice on the
altar of their country. Ill indeed we could spare them ; but
they have fallen in no unworthy cause ; and the brain and
heart of the nation will be enriched by their blood. At no
epoch of its history has the country played so noble a part;
and never has material so rapidly accumulated on which to
found in honour the edifice of Canadian nationality. Referring
to this period of strife in the North- West, and its irreparable
losses, the following kind and considerate words of His Excel-
lency, the Governor-General, may well find a place in this
voluine. The passage occurs in a speech made by Lord Lans-
downe to the students of the College of Ottawa :

" You express your hope that during my term of office this
country may enjoy the blessings of prosperity and of peace.
That solemn prayer is one which I believe was never ofiered with
greater sincerity than it is at this moment by every man and
woman in the Dominion. The struggle in which we have been
engaged in the North- West is an insignificant one compared
to those great conquests with which your studies of the history
of the old and the new world have made you familiar ; but it
has cost us already many vahiable lives, and has brought sorrow
and suffering to many a happy family, and desolation to many

376 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

b quiet homestead. Public order and confidence will soon be
restored — perhaps on a sounder foundation than before ; but
there are many to whom victory will bring no consolation in
the bitterness of their soitow. We cannot forget them in the
hour of success. By all of us the spring of 1885 will be re-
membered with mingled feelings — feelings of pain and regret
that the peaceful career of this country should have been thus
interrupted — feelings, too, I am glad to say, of pride at the
thought that from every part of Canada, from Nova Scotia to
the foot of the Rocky Mountains, without distinction of locality
or of race, our soldiers have shown themselves ready to endure
danger and hardship in a spirit of the truest patriotism when
the service of their country required their presence in the field."

" We cannot forget them in the hour of success." — No, and
since these words were uttered, we have greater reason not to
forget them. Since then the mission of the troops has been
fully accomplished, and the country greets their return with
the trumpet note of honour. But with the peal of acclaim
mingles the sad notes of the funeral dirge. Him of whom we
were so proud, the Bayard of the North- West Expeditionary
Force, has fallen by the way, and there is a " pall upon the
land." In the lamentable death of Lt.-Col. A. T. H. Williams,
the hero- commander of the Midland Battalion, the country
mourns one of the best of her sons. In his person, our modern
age seemed to " restore the ancient majesty of noble and true
bearing."

" Praise of him must walk the land

Forever, and to noble deeds give birth.

This is the happy warrior: this is he

That every man in arms would wish to be.

Complaining of illness at Church parade, at Fort Pitt, on
Sunday, the 28th of June, Colonel Williams retired to his tent
On the Tuesday following he was removed to the steamer on
the river for treatment by the Brigade Surgeons on board the
North West. The next day inflammation of the brain set in,

THE JiATE CAFT. E. BROWN,
Boultoo's Sooata

THE NATION*S fiEROES— COUNTING THE COST. S7V

and typhoid fever showed itself. On Thursday the patient
became unconscious ; and on the morning of Saturday he passed
peacefully to his rest. Colonel Williams was an accomplished
soldier, an earnest Christian gentleman, and a true patriot.
The hardships and anxieties of the campaign, in which he bore
himself with conspicuous gallantry, had told on a frame never
robust. His death was a sad ending to the triumphs of the
North-West Military Expedition. Universal is the regret
which his death has occasioned. We extract the following
tribute from the Toronto Globe, which must be the more ac-
ceptable to Colonel William's friends, as it comes from the
organ of the opponents of the political party to which the de-
ceased officer gave his allegiance :

" The eulogies of Col. Williams, M.P., in the House of Com-
mons last night were by no means overstrained. In him
Canada loses a gallant son. Against a far more formidable
foe than Half-breeds and Indians he would have demonstrated
that the Dominion can give birth to a race of soldiers, in dash,
in courage, in impetuosity, and in staying power, in no whit
inferior to the best specimens of the iron races from which
Canadians have sprung. It was not given him to die a soldier's
death in battle. He fell a victim to a raging fever. Yet was
his life as truly a sacrifice to his country as though he had
fallen, shot through the heart, while in the van of the daring
charge upon the rille-pits of Batoche. Other lives than his
also will wither away as the result of the terrific strain of
these last exciting three months. Many a wife and mother
will be anguished to see dear ones fading away day by day be-
fore their eyes, from illness contracted during exposure and
over-exertion in this campaign now ended. War and tears go
hand in hand. Many a home must yet be thrown into such
heartrending grief as that which hangs like a pall over the
now desolated household at Port Hope."

Our rapidly contracting space, we regret, prevents us from
dwelling upon incidents in connection with the death of other
gaJlant heroes of the campaign. Their names have been already

878 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HlbTORy AND ITS TROUBLES.

noted among the casualties of the engagements with which we
have dealt in the preceding portions of our narrative. Their
fame, however, holds by a surer title than any poor words of
ours. May their memories long live in the heart of the nation,
and the influence of their deeds never abate ! Each section of
the country has had its loss; and throughout the land the
memory of those who have fallen must remain a perpetual and
an inspiring possession. Toronto mourns her Fitch and Moor,
of the gallant 10th, and her Foulkes and Watson, of the School
of Infantry. In Lieut. Fitch the Grenadiers had an ofBcer
endeared to every man in the regiment ; and his name will be
proudly inscribed on its roll of honour, for his chivalrous bear-
ing on the battlefield and for resolute valour.

" The good die first,
Then those whose hearts are dry a3 summer dust
Bum to the socket."

To Port Hope, Kingston, St. Catharines, and St. Thomas, death
brought its victims of the fight. Quebec lost three of her
gunners ; Ottawa, Rogers and Osgoode, of her Foot Guards ;
London misses her Elliott; and Peterboro' her young but
gallant son, Capt. Edward Brown, of Boulton's Horse. Prince
Albert had her holocaust of dead from Duck Lake ; and Winni-
peg has been sorely bereft. Swinford, Hutchinson, Hardisty,
Eraser, Ennis, Fergus, and Wheeler are among her fallen, to
keep green the memory of the deeds of the brave 90th. Nor
do we forget French and Kippin, and Smart, Burke, Sleigh,
and Lowry, of the local Scouts and Mounted Police ; nor the
victims of Frog Lake ; nor the true sons of the Church, the
intrepid missionaries of the Cross, whose lives fell a noble
sacrifice to Christian duty.

But fertile in heroes as the campaign has been who have
died for their country, it has also been fertile in those who

THE nation's heroes— counting THE COST. 879

have bled for her. To the suffering wounded, though their
lives have been spared, the nation's gratitude is no less due.
The sight of Mars on crutches, or of young heroes with their
arms in a sling, will no doubt be a familiar sight for many a
day, to speak with eloquent tongue of the service rendered
with touching enthusiasm by our patriot soldiers. If the
memory of their deeds shall evoke a more active patriotism
and a higher development of public spirit, the country will
have little to regret in the perils her sons have braved or in
the sad losses of the conflict. To the hospital and field corps,
organised by the medical staff of the various divisions of the
army of the North- West, the country's thanks are richly due.
To this important branch of the service the wounded owe
much for skilful treatment and kind tendance. But the poet
here comes to our aid ; and, with the touching lines of a lady
who took the following despatches for a text, in her apostrophe
to Saskatoon, we may fittingly close this chapter. " Saskatoon
requested to be allowed the charge of the wounded." — April
despatch. "The hospital at Saskatoon is now closed." —
June despatch.

" 'Neath thy splendid Northern starlight, by the rushing of thy waves,
In thy warmth of summer gladness, there remain thee but thy graves.
All fulfilled thy tender mission, all bestowed thy generous boon —
And thy foster sons have left thee, lonely Saskatoon.

Weary, bleeding, faint, thou sought'st them ; from the very grasp of death
Thou hast snatched them, soothed and tended, and sustained their falling

breath ;
From thy bosom, healed and strengthened, they are scattered far and wide —
He to mother's fond embraces, he to children, he to bride.
Owes to thee his restoration. Shall they ever, late or soon,
Cease to count thee as their mother, kindly Saskatoon ?

Cease to blend with dreams of mercy recollection of their pain ?

Sigh to know that they may never see thee— breathe thine air— again?'

380 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

Bless the hands that bound the burning wound, and bathed the fevered brow ?
And the voice that whispered comfort when the tide of life was low ?
Ah, to souls for kindred yearning, what the touch of stranger hand I
What the woid of hope and cheering spoken in an alien land ?
What the glories of thy starlight or the sunlight of thy June
To home-haunted hearts within thee, foreign Saskatoon ?

Grateful now for loving tendance, thou hast given them one by one
Eack to life, and love, and labour, aud thy holy work is done.
They shall take thy memory with them as a dear and fond regret ;
Chide them not, if glai to leave thee, though they never may forget.
Fathers on their children smiling, lovers 'neath the summer moon,
Can but joy to think, ' Farewell forever, remember'd Saskatoon !'♦

* (Mrs.) Anna Roth well, of Kingston, in the Toronto Mail,

CHAPTER XXVIII.

KEMEDIAL MEASURES — ^THE COUNTRY S
FUTURE.

*HERE can be little question that the first of
remedial measures is to give Riel and his accom-
plices a fair but speedy trial. The mistake of
1870 must not be repeated. We then sought to
conciliate before we conquered. Had political
exigencies at the time not interfered, we might
not have had the trouble we have to-day. The
sympathies of race and religion, right and pro-
per in their place, are worse than wasted on such a mis-
creant as Riel. The duty of the Government is plain : the
guilty must be punished. The public sentiment, no less than
its righteous indignation, will insist upon this. It is confess-
edly difficult to deal with those who have been inveigled into
rebellion, and whose sense of social duty does not rise above
the level of tribal morality. But the case is different with the
leaders and instigators of the revolt. With them there is no
question as to responsibility for their acts ; and for those acta
they must be punished. Justice means no less than this, and

the demands of justice are imperial.

38X

382 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

We have no wish unduly to heighten the indictment against
Kiel and his seditious half-breeds ; but there is little danger
here of exaggeration. The enormity of their crime, and the
utter recklessness and inhumanity of their conduct, can hardly
be over-stated. To them we owe all the horrors of the period
—the desolate homes, the stricken hearts, the foul murder at
Duck Lake, the cowardly shooting of unarmed and trustful
victims, and the long rows of new-made graves on the banks
of the Battle River and the Saskatchewan. To them we owe,
too, the atrocities of Frog Lake, the heaps of charred and un-
buried dead round the chapel of the mission station, the kill-
ing and mutilating of Farm Instructors and Mounted Police-
men, the long and weary bondage of captive men, women and
children, and all the murder and rapine which their cruelty
has incited. For these things the leaders of the revolt must
be brought to an account, and punishment will be salutary if
it be sharp and decisive.

But the bringing of the culprits to justice is a matter the
country must leave in the hands of justice. In view of the
approaching trials, it would be unseemly in us to hand over to
the law those whom the law has not dealt with. Fortunately,
the Government has appointed a gentleman to conduct the
trials in whose competence and fair dealing the country reposes
every confidence, and whose private character sheds a lustre on
the profession he adorns. Into the hands of Mr. Christopher
Robinson, Q.C., we may leave Riel and his confederates, with
those whom he has cajoled into rebellion, in the full assurance
that they will be righteously dealt with. *

* The gentlemen associated with Mr. Robinson as Crown Counsel in the trial of
the half-breeds and Indians implicated in the rebellion, are : Messrs. B. B. Osier,
Q.C , of Toionto ; Biirbidge, of Ottawa; Casgrain, of (Quebec ; and Scott, of Re-
gina. The gentlemen retained as Counsel for the defence of Riel are : Messrs. C.
Fitzpatrick and F. X. Lemieux, of Quebec. The presiding Judge is Col. Richard-
Bon, Stipendiary Magistrate for the N.W.T.

REMEDIAL MEASURES — THE COUNTRY'S FUTURE. 383

"We have said that it will be difficult to deal with the rebel-
lious Indians. That we have been spared a general Indian
uprising, and that the half-breed insurrection has not entailed
upon us a war of races, we have not to thank Louis Riel. In
this matter there has been a signal deliverance. The greatness
of the danger which Providence has averted from the country
calls for profound thankfulness. Considering the natural rest-
lessness of the tribes, the native propensity to steal and to
murder, and the alluring prospect held out to them of plunder,
it is a marvel that the demon of sedition has not wrought
greater havoc. These and similar reflections will be present to
every mind that gives a thought to the subject. Their pre-
valence, it is not too much to say, must have weight in
extenuation of the crimes the Indians have committed.

But although favouring circumstances have limited and
modified the disturbance, the direct and indirect consequences
of the insurrection have been calamitous. What their effect
will be upon the country will depend much upon the remedial
measures now to be adopted for its pacification. The first,
though a tardy step, was a wise one — the appointment by
Government of a Half-breed Commission.* This act of jus-
tice, long delayed, has already, we believe, produced good
results. Why it was delayed, party and the henchmen of party,
according to the shibboleth of their camp, will find an answer.
The correspondence between the party and the answer — need
we say it ? — is sure to be uniform and intimate.

In this matter of delay lies the question of responsibility for
the half-breed insurrection. To the heedless, to the criminal,
inaction of Government we owe the recent troubles in the
North- West. " The fault of the Administration," writes a well-

* The gentlemen who are acting on the Commission are : Messrs. W. P. R,
Btreet, Forget, and Goulet.

384 THE NORTH-WEST : ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

known publicist, in a late issue of The Week, " lay in pro-
tracted inaction." The thoughtful writer goes on to say :

" The administration of the North-West, it is now certain,
has been feeble, limping, and laggard. An army of officials has
been sent from the East who were not always in sympathy
with the people of the North-West ; but the capital fault has
been in a want of promptitude and vigour at the seat of the
central authority. The North- West was not represented in
Parliament ; and the want of this safety-valve helped to make
it possible for complaint to take the most objectionable of all
forms, armed insurrection."

This is the language of truth, as well as of sobriety and
moderation. But much of what is here said is practically ad-
mitted by the chief organ of the Government. The Toronto
Mail, in a recent article remarkable for its judicial view of af-
fairs, blames " a rusty Departmental system," for withholding
justice from those to whom it ought to have issued. This
frank admission settles the question of responsibility for the
troubles of the North -West, though upon a previous Adminis-
tration, of the Opposition party, the journal lays a portion of
the blame which, speaking for its own side, it accepts. We cull
the following sentences from the article referred to :

" It has never been denied by The Mail that the M^tis had
good grounds for complaint. * * * Iq spite of the mani-
fest and unanswerable logic of the half-breed case, the Depart-
ment for years and years steadily refused to move in the mat-
ter. It was a tangled question ; it would involve the appoint-
ment of a commission and no end of trouble ; St. Albert and
St. Laurent were far distant dependencies without political
influence ; it was a claim that would be none the worse for
blue-moulding in the pigeon-holes. This was the way in which
the officials treated the just demands of the Mdtis, and we
agree with Mr. Blake that their negligence was gross and in-
excusable, and contributed to bring about the insurrection.
But, and this puts him and his case out of court, Mr. Mackenzie
was just as much to blame as Sir John Macdonald. The M^tis

REMEDIAL MEA-SLTRES — THE COUNTRY S FUTURE. 585

say that they began pressing for the fulfilment of the agree-
ment implied, if not expressed, in the Manitoba Act as far back
as 1872; that they renewed their efforts in 1874-5. * * *
But it was all to no purpose. Neither Grit nor Tory officials
would attend to them. The vis inertia of the Department was
immovable. * * * We repeat again that the Departmental
system under which such callous and cruel neglect of the rights
of a portion of the community was possible, was wrong and
should be censured ; but as Reformers were responsible for it
equally with Conservatives, how can one condemn the other ?
The Mdtis were disgusted with both."

Need there be further wrangle over the question of responsi-
bility for the insurrection in the North-West ? We think not.
Both parties are implicated ; and to both parties should come
the lesson of honest and faithful governing. But the disaster
is not a matter for parties now to fight over ; it is a matter for
the country's profit and instruction. We have seen where we
have come short of our duty ; and the enlightenment should be
a guide to the future. There are problems in connection with
the North- West still hard of solution, and difficulties likely to
arise which the most assiduous efforts of Government will not
avail to remedy. But luck may help when tact and good judg-
ment fail.

For a time at least the North- West must be governed by
force ; and here is a source of peril. But it is a peril that can be
overcome by putting the military administration, as well as the
civil, in good and competent hands. Let us look with a care-
ful scrutiny at the local officials we appoint, and with a still
more careful scrutiny atthose we send up from the East. This,
in part, is the lesson of the insurrection. If good is to come
out of evil it is a lesson it will be well to heed.

" Then the gazers of the nations, and the watchers of the skies,
Looking through the coming ages, shall behold, with joyful eyes,
On the fiery track of Freedom fall the mild baptismal rain.
And the ashes of old evil feed the Future's golden grain."

386 THE NOBTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES.

To the evil of " making politics pay," not only in the North-
West but nearer home, do we owe much of our humiliation and
trouble. In one quarter of the country let us have done with
the professional politician. To those who have not lost faith
in our political systems, and who, above all things, desire the
moral elevation of the community, the result will be welcome.
If under our party system we must reward men for political
services, let us agree to pension them rather than place them
in positions for which they are unfitted, or where they are
likely to abuse their trust. The suggestion will doubtless
bring a smile to the faces of some of the liverymen of party,
but it would be well for the nation did it bring a blush.

At the seat of the insurrection the situation for a time must
be one of extreme delicacy. To meet the disorganisation, and
heal the scars of the conflict, we must draw upon patience and
conciliation, as well as upon the country's purse. To the
ministration of kindness we must above all things look. To
the white settler let us be kind, as well as helpful of his inter-
ests, and ready, with discretion, to ameliorate his lot. To the
half-breed we can afford to be generous ; and it becomes us to
be patient with his weaknesses and tender towards his sus-
ceptibilities. To none should we do injustice, and from none
withhold a ready and patient hearing. The Indian should be
our especial care. In his management are wanted a union of
firmness and compassionateness, with the accompaniment of a
high Christian example and unwavering good faith. The
present condition and future of the fast vanishing race de-
mand our warm and active sympathies. Let us not forget
that to the intrusion of the white man their whole destiny has
been changed. Above all let us keep from them the diseases
of our modern civilisation, and undeviatingly maintain our
embargo upon intoxicating liquora Despite their material

REMEDIAL MEASURES — THE COUNTRY'S FUTURE. 387

and moral squalor, the Indians have a tribal life which it is
fitting we should respect. They have also claims to the
sovereignty of the land which, as colonists rather than con-
querors, we cannot with justice wholly set aside. Pursuing our
traditional policy of kind treatment, we may win many of
them to civilisation, and lead all of them, we trust, to renew
their attachment to Queen and Country.

" We must, however, be reasonable in our expectations. We
must remember that the Indian has never been habituated to
steady labour, and it should not be a matter of bewilderment
if he is vacillating and irregular in accepting that condition.
For countless generations his life has been nomadic. He has
been lord of the soil, bred a warrior, and the white man who
has been the cause of the change in his condition should bear
with him and be patient, and extend him help and aid. He
has much of his former life to unlearn; he has to struggle
against the instincts of his blood ; he has to accept the great
truth that labour is honourable. * * No doctrine is more
recognised than that every right is coexistent with a duty.
The Indian has to reach the condition of understanding that
he can only hold his place by the side of the white man by
fulfilling the obligations attendant on the position he claims."*

While not impatient of results, and pursuing the policy
which has long been our proud boast, we may hope that the
animosities of the conflict will soon pass away, and that the
great domain of the Canadian people will take a fresh start in
a bright career of progress. Its prosperity, we believe, will
receive a new impulse from the events of the past few months,
and the nation at large will benefit in an accession of patriot-
ism and national spirit from the efi'usion of blood. But as we
pen these closing lines, we hear the bugles of the returning
heroes — conquering heroes ! — from the fields of their glory, and
we take leave of our task to join in the plaudits, and add a
voice to the chorus of acclaim.

• " Eagland and Oanada," by Sanford Fleming, O.B., O.M.a.

388 THE NORTH-WEST: ITS HISTORY AND ITS TROUBLES,

Conquering heroes ! Yes ; what is it they have not conquered ?
Wearisome miles on miles up to the far North- West ;
Limitless breadths of prairie, like to the limitless ocean ;
Endless stretches of distance, like to eternity.
Farther still, — to their seeming far as the starless spaces
That loom in the measureless void above some desolate heart.
How the unnumbered miles threatened them like an army,—
Then perished in silence beneath the tread of resolute feet.

Not alone did they march, our brave Canadian soldiers,
Grim Privation and Peril followed them hand in hand ;
Sodden Fatigue lay down with them in the evening,
And Weariness rose with them and went with them all the day
Inexpressible Sadness at thought of the homes they were leaving
Hung like a cloud above them, and shadowed the path before.
These, all these, were slain by our brave, our conquering heroes.
Ah ! but the battle was long, — long and bitterly hard.

Crueller enemies still ; — treacherous, scarcely human,

Hard and fierce in look, but harder and fiercer in heart ;

Verced in animal cunning, warily waiting in ambush ;

Merciless in the purely animal power to smite.

Swift in their veins runs the hot, vindictive blood of their fathers ;

Deep in their hearts lies a hatred, strong and cruel as death.

The heart of our country is beating against the knife of the savage ;

Bat the knife has dropped to the ground, the heart is conqueror still.

Ah ! but the brave boys wounded and dead on the field of battle.
Giving their brave young lives for a cause that was dea er than life.
Say ycu they who have yielded their all have conquered nothing, —
Nothing remains to them but the sad deep silence of death ?
No, a thousand times, no ! For them are the tears of a nation —
Tears that would fain wash out the pitiful stain of Mood.
These are their victories ; The love that knows no forgetting,
Measureless gratitude, and the fame that forever endures.*

* Agnes E. Wetherald, in 2%€ Week.

SUPPLEMENTAL LIST OF STAFF AND COMPANY OFFICERS
OF CORPS SERVING IN THE NORTH-WEST.

[Note.- -I wish here to express my thanks to Colonel Walker PoweU.Adjut. •
General of Militia at Headquarters, for courtesy in furnishing the following
information, which I was unable to procure in time for insertion in the body ol
the book. My thanks are further due to the Hon. the Speaker, and to tha
Clerk of the House of Commons, Ottawa, for personal and official courtesies.

I am also under obligations for like courtesies, and other kindnesses, to my
valued friend and old commanding officer, Lt.-Col. C. T. Gillmor, late of the
Queen's Own Rifles. Thou . h unable to take part in the duties and honours ol
the campaign, no one, I venture to think, has followed the doings of the
troops on active service in the North- West with greater pride or with a keener
interest than has this true soldier and veteran in the service, Colonel Gill-
mor. — The Author.]

Halifax Pro visional Battalioii. — Lt.-Col. J. J. Bremner, Major C. J.
Macdonald, l.c., Major T. J. Walsh, Paymaster W. H. Garrison, Adjt. E.
G. Kenny, capt., Qr.-mr. J. G. Corbin, Asst. Surg. D. Harrington.

No. 1 Co. : Capt. J. E. Curren, Lt. J. P. Fairbanks, 2nd Lt. A. Anderson.

No. 2 Co. : Capt. J. McCiow, Lt. W. L. Kane, 2nd Lt. R. H. Skimmings.

'So. 3 Co. : Capt. B. A. Weston, Lt. A. Whitman, 2ndLt. H. A. Hensley.

No. 4 Co. : Capt R. H, Humphrey, Lt. B. Boggs, 2nd Lt. C. E. Cartwright.

No. 5 Co. : Capt. C. H. Mackinlay.Lt. J. A. Bremner, 2nd Lt. J. McCarthy.

No. 6 Co. : Capt. H. Hechler, Lt. H. St. C. Silver, 2nd Lt. T. C. James.

No. 7 Co. : Capt. A. G. Cunningham, Lts. J. T. Twining, C. R. Fletcher.

No. 8 Co. : Capt. J. Fortune, Lt. C. J. McKie, 2nd Lt. C. K. Fiske.

Staff and Co. Officers 65th Batt. — Lt.-Col. J. A. Onimet, Major G. A.
Hughes, I.C., Major C. A. Dugas, Paymaster C. L. Bossd, Ajt. J. C. Robert,
Qr.-mr. A. LaRccque, Surgeon L. A. Pard, Asst. Surg. F. Simard.

No. 1 Co. : Capt. J. B. Ostell, Lt. A. C. Plinquet.

No. 2 Co. : Capt. J. P. A. des Trois-MaiEons, Lt. G. Des Georges.

No. 3 Go. : Capt. E. Bauset, Lieut. C. Starnes.

No. 4 Co. : Capt. A. Roy, Lieut. A. Villencuve.

Na 5 Co. : Capt. G. Villeneuve, Lieut. B. Lafontaine.

389

390 THE north-west: its history and its troubles.

No. 6 Co. : Capt. J. Giroux, Lieut. P. F. Robert.

No. 7 Co. : Capt. H. Prevost, Lieut. C. J. Doherty.

No. 8 Co. : Capt. L. J. Ethier, Lieut. J. E. B. Normandin,

Montreal Brigade of Gabbison Artillery. — Lt. Col. W. E. Oswald,
Major W. H. Laurie, Major E. A. Baynes, Paymaster W. Macrae, Adjt. T.
W. Atkinson, Qr.-mr. J. A. Finlayson, Surgeon C. K Cameron, Asst. SurgeoQ

. M. Elder, Chaplain Rev. J. Barclay.

No. 1 Battery : Capt. W. C. Trotter, Lieut. W. H. Lulham.

No. 2 Batt. : Capt. F. Brush, Lieut. J. D. Roche,

No. 3 Batt. : Lieut. C. Lane, Lieut. G. C. Patton.

No. 4 Batt. : Capt. F. Cole, Lieut. F. W. Chalmers.

No. 5 Batt. : Capt. D. Stevenson, Lieut. H. T. Wilgress.

No. 6 Batt. : Capt. C. H. Levin, Lieut. J. K. Bruce, B. Billings (acting).

Winnipeg Field Artillery.— Major E. W. Jaivis, Capt. L. W. Coutl^e,
Lieut. G. H. Young, 2nd Lieut. G. H. Ogilvie.

Winnipeg Troop Cavalry. — Capt.C. Knight, 2nd Lieut. H. J. Shelton.

Cavalry School Corps, Quebec— Co7?!?nanrfa7i< : Lt.-Col. James F. Turn-
bull. Lieutenants : Lieut. E. H. T. Heward, Lieut. F. L. Lessard.

9th Battalion Rifles, "VoLTioEtrRS de Qttebec."— Lt.-Col. Amyot ;
Majors Roy and Evanturel ; Paymaster, Major Dugal j Quartermaster, A. Tal-
bot ; Adjutant, Casgrain Pelletier ; Supply OflScer, M. Wolsley ; Surgeon
Dr. A. Deblois ; Asst. Surgeon, M. Waters ; Capts. L. E. Frenette, M. Choui-
nard, J. C. G. Drolet, E. Garneau, F. Pennee, A. O. Fages, L. F. Perrault, N.
Lavasseur, — Fiset ; Lieuts. G. F. Hamel, W. D. Baillairg^, — Fiset, G. A.
Labranche, J. V. Dupuis, — Casgrain, F. de St, Maurice, — Dion, ~ Shehy,
P. Pelletier, — J. C. Eouthier, 0. C. Larue, and H. Beique. [It is doubtful
whether the I'st of this regiment is either full or accurate. The Adjut.>
General was unable to furnish it.]

APPENDIX.

THE TRIAL OF LOUIS KIEL,

HE drama of rebellion has been fully played, and we now come to the
fitting epilogue, the trial, verdict, and sentence of its chief insti-
gator and rash participator. With the close of the drama we have
the usual war of words over the merits of the case, with an abundant
crop of nicely-drawn distinctions between patriots fighting for their
rights and rebels guilty of the blackest crimes. We shall anticipate
much of what remains to be told, if we at once relate that, in passing
sentence upon the rank and file of rebeldom, ju.«tice has been tempered
with mercy ; while, upon the leader of the insurrection, the death pen-
alty has been passed, though the law has not, as yet been executed. At
the present time of writing the trials have not all ended ; a number of
Indians who are accused of individual acts of murder, have yet to be arraigned,
and the penalty exacted for wanton and unprovoked bloodshed. With Kiel, the
arch-conspirator, the law was first to deal ; and though the defence took skilful advan-
tage of every point in his favour, justice has doomed him to what must be deemed a
merited fate. He is under sentence to be hanged on the 18th of September, 1885.
As was expected, the verdict and sentence have provoked much newspaper contro-
versy, and called forth heated arguments between the two chief racial sections of
the Dominion. Both sections admit the culprit's guilt, though one side justifies,
and the other condemns, him. One affirms that he has been awarded a righteous fate
and must pay the wages of treason, while the other bemoans his unsuccess, and
excuses the resort to arms. The East applies to him the honoured term of patriot ;
the West affixes on him the stigina of murderer and traitor.

A deliberate inquiry into the degree of Kiel's guilt, would take us anew into the
consideration of matters in the North -West — a consideration we have no intention
here of entering upon. Nor is there need that we should again open up the matter,
for those who are familiar with the foregoing narrative, will have seen what imme-
diate and remote causes existed which produced disaffection and finally rebellion.
These causes, we have previously said, did not warrant the half-breeds in throwing
over constitutional means in seeking redress of their grievances, still less did they
justify an appeal to arms. The grievances, in truth, were more imaginary than
real ; though the acts of the Government Half-Breed Commission, and the largess
they have distributed, seem to be an admission of claims which were not senti-
mental but legal. But sentimental, in great measure, the claims nevertheless were.

392 APPENDIX.

The half-breed assumptions of proprietorship in the land were wild and extrava-
gant ; compared with the juster rights of the Indians, they were foolish and wicked.
But their claims to possession of the soil were not really those of the modest and
reasonable half-breeds. They were those of their ambitious and madcap represen-
tative. In Kiel's ill-balanced mind they first found lodgment in 1869, when his
brain was turned by his elevation to the rebel presidency. That the preposterous
claims have not lost in magnitude or gained in lucidity since that period, is clear
from Kiel's proposed partition of the territories among the various tribes and sects
with which he wished to people his kingdom. Here, if anywhere, is the proof of
the man's insanity, though it is curiously mixed up with religious and patriotic
fervour, and with not a little of this world's cunning.

Apart from the question of insanity, which we think the jury had little oppor-
tunity of fully weighing, there is no doubt that Kiel was given a fair and impartial
trial. Had the constitution of the North-West permitted it, the miscreant merited
the sharp and salutary discipline of a drum-head court-martial. In some respects
it is a pity that the expeditious machinery of military law was not instantly in-
voked. It would have consigned its victim, without circumlocution, to a well-
deserved fate, and relieved the country of a disturbing political and sectional dis-
cussion. But perhaps it is well that the course which has been taken has been
followed. With all the provocation that has been given, and all the loss that has
been entailed, it is seemly that the nation should restrain its righteous passion, and
punish crime with due deliberation, and without the suspicion of being vindictive.

Receiving a fair trial, and being condemned to pay the penalty of his crimes by
forfeiting his life, why should the sentence be interfered with ? Let the law take
its course. In a previous rebellion Riel received the clemency of the country when
that clemency was ill-deserved. For his further crime he should now most assuredly
suffer, unless political offences of the gravest character are to be robbed of their
heinousness and condoned at the promptings of a mistaken sentiment. The leniency
of the nation has once, in his case, been foully abused : to extend leniency again is
to make a travesty of justice, and to court further disaster. As a writer in The
Week puts it : " The word ' treason ' should be blotted out of the Statute Book if
Riel does not pay the penalty of his offence."

The verdict of the jury carried a recommendation to mercy, but upon what
grounds was not stated. It would, we imagine, be difficult to state any grounds,
save those of compassion for a fanatical enthusiast, and of sympathy for a people
whose simple, superstitious minds led them to see a temporal and Divine leader in
a hare-brained man with a misconceived mission. But religious eccentricities are
not such evidence of an unsound mind as to save a criminal from the consequences
of his own acts. In Kiel's case, though there is a diseased vanity, there is no
proof that he is not an accountable being. That the jury found him giiilty of
murder shows that they considered him to be in possession of his faculties, or, as it
has been observed, " of sufficient faculties to know that he was incurring a terrible
responsibility when he led his dupes to take up arms against their country."

The question of the jurisdiction of the Court at Regina, and its competence to try
a man for a capital offence with a jury of six instead of twelve men, are the main
problems which have yet to be determined. But these objections, with the demur-
rer to the trial and sentence to death of the prisoner by a stipendiary magistrate,
and without the preliminary investigation by a grand jury or by a coroner, will no
doubt be satisfactorily met by the Manitoba Court, to which the case has been ap-
pealed, and every jot and tittle of justice will be scrupulously meted out to Riel.
These matters settled , we may look for the final disposal of the Rebel Chief's case,
and see the curtain fall upon the last act in the drama of North-West insurrection.

Let us now give some epitome of the legal proceedings against Riel and his fellow
conspirators, with a brief chronicle of incidents connected with the trial and sen-
tence of the incriminated Indians. The former were arraigned at Regina on a
charge of treason, under the Statute of Edward III. ; the latter on a charge of com-
plicity in rebellion, under what is known to the law as treason-felony. The trial-
were heard before His Honour, Hugh Richardson, one of the Stipendiary Magiss
trates of the North-West Territories, exercising criminal jurisdiction under the pro-

APPENDIX. 393

vifdons of the North-West Territories Act of 1880, Associated with Col. Richard-
son on the Bench was Mr. Henry Lejeune. For the names of the Counsel for the
Crown, and those engaged for the defence, see page 382. Associated with the latter
was Mr. J. N. Greenshields, of Montreal.

The first step in the trial of Riel was taken at Regina on the 6th of July, when
the i>risoner was produced in Court, and the indictment read to and served on him.
The proceedings were taken before Col. Richardson, J. P., in the presence of the
lawyers for the Crown and those for the defence. The counts in the indictment
were three-fold, respectively charging Riel as a British subject, or as a resident
enjoying Her Majesty's protection in the North-West Territories, with having
levied war against Her Majesty, first, at Duck Lake, secondly, at Fish Creek, and
thirdly, at Batoche. After the reading of the indictment, the prisoner was notified
that he would be tried in open court at Regina, on the 20th of July, on the specified
charges, the said Court to be constituted under sub-section 62, section 76 of the
North-West Territories Act.

On the 20th of July the Court met, when Riel was formally arraigned, the clerk
reading the long indictment. In reply to the interrogation whether the prisoner
pled guilty to the charge of treason, his counsel rose and took exception to the juris-
diction of' the Court. The plea entered by the defence was to the effect that the
presiding stipendiary magistrate was incompetent to try a case involving the death
penalty, and urged that Riel should be tried by one of the duly constituted courts
in Ontario or in British Columbia. Mr. Christopher Robinson, Q.C., for the Crown,
asked for an adjournment for eight days, to prepare a reply to the plea, which was
granted. The Court then adjourned to the 28th instant.

On the re-opening of the Court, counsel expressed themselves ready to proceed.
Only a few minutes were taken up in selecting a jury. Twelve persons were called,
five of whom were peremptorily challenged by the defence, and one by the Crown.
The remaining six were sworn in to try the prisoner at the bar. Their names are
as follows : — H. J. Painter, E. Everett, E. J. Brooks, J. W. Merryfield, H. Dean,
and F. Crosgrove. During the selection of the jury, it is observed by a correspon-
dent of The Mail, to whom we shall be indebted for the reports of the trial, in
making the present abstract, " that Riel anxiously watched the face of every man
as he was selected and sworn, as though he could read their inmost thoughts as they
took the oath."

After reading the indictment to the jury, Mr, B. B. Osier, Q.C., opened the case
for the Crown, in which he explained the nature of the charge against the prisoner,
whose career he traced through the successive steps of the rebellion, and indicated
the weight and character of the evidence to be brought against its wicked Instigator
and chief leader. The plea of the defence of the incompetence of the Court to try
the case, was first answered by the learned counsel, who remarked, that the cha-
racter, and composition of the Court, as well as the provision for the trial of capital
offences by a jury of six men instead of twelve, were in harmonj' with the Domi-
nion Law enacted for the Government of the Territories, and that the Dominion
Parliament had the right, under the British North America Act, to make that law,
"The absence of the Grand Jury was explained, on the ground that such juries
were essentially county organizations, and were impossible in large districts with
small and scattered populations." The same reason explained the limiting of the
jury to half the usual number. It was also stated that the Crown deemed it un-
wise, if indeed it were not impossible, to issue a Special Commission for the trial of
the prisoner.

Mr. Osier proceeding said, that Riel not only aided and abetted the illegal acts of
the rebels, but directed these acts.

"The testimony he claimed," says a writer in The Illustrated War News, "was
abundantly sufficient to bring home to the prisoner his guilt in the charges against
him. He (Mr. Osier) read the document in Riel's handwriting to Crozier, in which
Riel threatened a war of extermination against the whites, and traced the prisoner's
conduct afterwards to show that he had tried to carry out that threat. It was no
constructive treason that was sought to be proved, but treason involving the shed-
ding of brave men's blood. The accused had been led on, not by the desire to aid

394 APPENDIX.

his friends in a lawful agitation for redress of a grievance, but by his inordinate
vanity and desire for power and wealth."

" The first overt act of treason was committed," continued Mr. Osier, " when the
French half-breeds were requested by Riel to bring their arms with them to a meet-
ing to be held at Batoche on March 3rd. This indicated that the prisoner intended
to resort to violence. On the 18th instant they find him (Riel) sending out armed
men and taking prisoners, including Mr. Lash, the Indian agent of the St. Laurent
region, and others, also looting the stores at and near Batoche, stopping freighters
and appropriating their freight. A few daj's later the French half-breeds were
under arms, and were joined by the Indians of the neighbourhood, who were in-
cited to rise by the prisoner. On the 21st inst. Major Crozier did all he could to
get the armed men to disperse, but directed by Riel, they refused to do so, and tak-
ing their orders from him, they continued in rebellion." " He held a document in his
hands, in the prisoner's handwriting," added Mr. Osier, "which contained the
terms on which Fort Carlton would be spared attack by the surrender and march out
of Major Crozier and the mounted police. This document was never delivered, but
was found with other papers in the rebel council chamber after the taking of Batoche.
It was said in this notification to Crozier that the rebels would attack the police if
they did not vacate Carlton, and would commence a war of extermination of the
white race. This document was direct evidence of the treasonable intentions of the
prisoner. Ten days previously Riel declared himself determined to rule or perish,
and the declaration was followed by this demand. It would be said that, at last,
when a clash of arms was imminent, Riel objected to forcible measures ; but this
document was a refutation of that assertion. At Duck Lake the prisoner had taken
upon himself the responsibility of ordering his men to fire on the police. At Fish
Creek, if Riel was not there, he directed the movement, and was therefore respon-
sible. On the day of the fight he went back to Batoche to finish the rifle-pits. In
the contest at Batoche the prisoner was seen bearing arms, and giving such direc-
tions as would show that he was the main mover. His treatment of the prisoners,
his letters to Middleton, and other documents would show Kiel's leadership. A let-
ter found in Poundmaker's camp would show his deliberate intention of bringing on
this country the calamity of an Indian war. All this would be proven, and it
would be shown that the prisoner had not come here to aid his friends in the redress
of grievances, but in order to use the half-breeds for his own selfish ends." Mr.
Osier closed with a reference to the death and suffering which had been caused by
the ambition of one man, and impressed upon the jury the grave responsibility they
were charged with in bringing his crime home to the prisoner.

The first witness called by the Crown was Dr. Willoughby, of Saskatoon.
After having been sworn, witness said that the prisoner had stated to him that the
Fort Garry trouble, when Scott had been shot, was nothing to what was going to
take place. He said that the Indians only waited for him to strike the first blow
to join him, and that he had the United States at his back. He seemed greatly ex-
cited, and said :— " It is time, doctor, that the breeds should assert their rights, and
it will be well for those who have lived good lives." A party of armed men then
drove up, and Riel said, pointing to them, " My people intend striking a blow for
their rights. They have petitioned the Government over and over again, the only
reply being an increase of the police force each time." The Indians, he said, had
arranged their plans, and when the first blow was struck they would be joined by
the American Indians. They would issue a proclamation, and assert that the time
had arrived for him to rule the country or perish in the attempt. He promised to
divide the country into seven equal portions, one of which was to be the new Ire-
land of the new North-West. He said the rebellion of fifteen years ago was not a
patch on what this would be.

Thos. McKay, a loyal half-breed, was next called, who testified that he joined
the Volunteer contingent from Prince Albert which formed part of Major Crozier 's
command at Duck Lake. Previous to that engagement he accompanied Mr. Hill-
yard Mitchell in his mission to Batoche, where the rebels had their headquarters.
His object in going to Batoche was to point out to the French half-breeds the dan-

APPENDIX. 395

ger they were getting into in taking up arms. On arriving at the village he was
met by an armed guard who conducted him, with Mr. Mitchell, to the rebel council
room, where he was introduced to Riel " as one of Her Majesty's soldiers."
We here quote part of the examination, by Mr. Christopher Robinson, of this
witness.

Q. — Who introduced you to the prisoner ?

A.— Mr. Mitchell introduced me to Mr. Kiel as one of Her Majesty's soldiers.

Q.— That is Mr. Hillyard Mitchell ?

A.— Yes. I shook hands with Mr. Riel and had a talk with him. I said, " There
appears be great excitement here, Mr. Riel." He said, " No, there is no excite-
ment at all ; it was simply that the people were trying to redress theii- grievances,
as they had asked repeatedly for their rights ; that they had decided to make a de-
monstration." I told him it was a very dangerous thing to resort to arms. He said
he had been waiting fifteen long years and that they had been imposed upon, and
it was time now, after they had waited patiently that their rights should be given,
as the poor half-breeds had been imposed upon . I disputed his wisdom and ad-
vised him to adopt different measures.

Q. — Did he speak of himself at all in the matter ?

A.— He accused me of having neglected my people. He said if it was not for
men like me their grievances would have been redressed long ago, that as no one
took an interest in these people he had decided to take the lead in the matter.

Q.-Well?

A. — He accused me of neglecting them. I told him it was simply a matter of
opinion, that 1 had certainly taken an interest in them, and my interest in the
country was the same as theirs, and that I had advised them time and again, and
that I had not neglected them. I aluo said that he had neglected them a long time
if he took as deep an interest as he professed to. He became very excited, and got
up and said, " You don't know what we are after — it is blood, blood ; we want
blood ; it is a war of extermination. Everybody that is against us is to be driven
out of the country. There were two curses in the country— the Government and
the Hudson Bay Co . He further said the first blood they wanted was mine. There
were some little dishes on the table, and he got hold of a spoon and said, " You
have no blood, you are a traitor to your people, your blood is frozen, and all the
little blood you have will be there in five minutes" — putting the spoon up to my
face, and pointing to it. I said, " If you think you are benefiting your cause by
taking my blood, you are quite welcome to it." He called his people and the com-
mittee, and wanted to put me on trial for my life, and Garnot got up and went to
the table with a sheet of paper, and Gabriel Dumont took a chair on a syrup
keg, and Riel called up the witnesses against me.

At this juncture Kiel was called away to attend a committee meeting of the
rebel government. Subsequently, by the mediation of Hillyard Mitchell, Riels
wrath at McKay was placated, and he was allowed to return to Fort Carlton with
his intercessor. Before leaving, Riel ap>ologized to McKay for what he had said to
him, and asked him to join the insur^'ents, which witness, of course, would not do,
being a loyal half-breed and a volunteer in the ranks of the Prince Albeit contin-
gent with Crozier at Fort Carlton.

McKay then detailed the incidents of the disastrous engagement with the rebels
at Duck Lake, and gave strong testimony to criminate Riel, which the counsel for
the defence utterly failed to shake.

The nest witness was John Asti.ey, surveyor of Prince Albert, who was long a
prisoner of Riel's at Batoche, and the rebel chief's messenger on the day of the
taking of the village by the loyal forces under Mid<lleton. The \vitness gave a vivid
description of his capture and imprisonment by Kiel, and his subsequent release
by the volunteers at Batoche. Riel acknowledged to him that he ordered his men
in the name of the Almighty to fire at Duck Lake. He did not do so, however,
until, as he thought, the police had fired. Riel told him he must have another fight
with the soldiers to secure better terms of surrender from Gen. Middleton.

396 APPENDIX.

SECOND DAY OF THE TRIAL.

The second day of the Riel trial brought out sufficient evidence to incriminate the
prisoner, and to lead the Crown prosecutors to waive the calling of other witnesses.
During the proceedings the prisoner, it is reported, manifested more interest than
he did on the first day of the trial, and his dark penetrating eye restlessly wandered
from witness to counsel, and from bench to jury. " All day long a couple of medi-
cal men sat watching his actions, to discover, if possible, whether his mind was affected
or not." His disagreement with his counsel towards the close of the day, caused an
exciting break in the proceedings.

George Kerb, of Kerr Brothers, Batoche, was the first witness sworn. He tes-
tified that on the 18th of March, Riel, with some fifty armed half-breeds, came to
his store, and demanded, and obtained, all his guns and ammunition. His store was
sacked, and later on he was himself taken prisoner, but was subsequently released.
Riel, he testified, directed the rebel movements in concert with Gabriel Dumont,

Harry Walters, another storekeeper at Batoche, was then examined, and gave
similar testimony as to the sacking of his store, and of Riel's demand for arms and
ammunition. On his refusing to accede to the demand of the prisoner and the breeds
with him, Riel said, " You had better do it quietly. If we succeed, I will pay
you ; if not, the Dominion Government will." I refused, said Walters, and they
forced themselves in and took the arms. I was arrested shortly after. Riel said the
movement was for the freedom of the people. The country, if they succeeded, was
to bo divided, giving a seventh to the half-breeds, a seventh to the Indians, a
seventh to church and schools, the remainder to be Crown Lands. I was kept pri-
soner three days, being liberated by Riel. Reil said, God was with their people,
and that if the whites ever struck a blow, a thunderbolt would destroy them . They
took everything out of my store before morning, the prisoner superintending the
removal of the goods.

HiLLYARD Mitchell sworn, was examined by Mr. Osier. He said — I am an Indian
trader, have a store at Duck Lake ; heard there was an intention by rebels to
take my store. I went to Fort Carlton and saw Major Crozier on the Thursday
prior to the Duck Lake fight ; saw prisoner on that Thursday at Batoche. Saw
some people at the river armed. At the village I .saw some English half-breed
freighters who had been taken prisoners by Riel, and their freight also taken.
Philip Garnot took me to the priest's house. I saw the prisoner there with Charles
Nolin, Guardupuy and others. I think this was on the 19th of March. I told Riel
that I had come to give some advice to the half-breeds. Riel said the Government
had always answered their demands by sending more police. They were willing to
fight -500 police. He said he had been trampled on and kept out of the country, and
he would bring the Government and Sir John Macdonald to their knees.

Thomas E. Jackson was next examined by Mr. Osier, and deposed that he
was a druggist, ct Prince Albert, and a brother of Wm. Henry Jackson, an in-
sane ]>ii8ouer of Riel's. Riel, witness testified, asked him to write to the eastern
papers, placing a favourable construction on his (Riel's) actions. Riel had made an
application to Government for $35,000 as indemnity for loss of property ; he showed
the greatest hatred to the English, and his motives were those of revenge for ill-
treatment at the time of the Red River rebellion. Having questioned Riel's pre-
sent motives and plans, witness was taken prisoner and placed in close confinement.
Riel afterwards accused me of having advised an English half-breed to desert.
When Middleton was attaking Batoche, Riel came to witness and told him if Mid-
dleton killed any of their Women and children he would massacre the prisoners.
He wrote a message to Middleton to that effect, and I carried it to the General.
(The message was produced and identified by witness). I did not return to the
rebel camp. Saw the prisoner armed once after the Fish Creek fight. Riel was in
command at Batoche, Dumont being in immediate command of the men. I know
prisoner's handwriting. (The original summons to Major Crozier to surrender,
the letter to Crozier asking him to come and take away the dead after Duck Lake
fight, a letter to " dear relatives " at Fort Qu'Appelle, a letter to the half-breeds

APPENDIX. 397

and Indians about Battleford, a letter to Poundmaker, and other documents were
put in and identified by witness as beint? in Kiel's handwriting).

Cross-examined by Mr. Fitzpatrick— The agitation was for provincial rights and
their claims under the Manitoba treaty, and I was in sympathy with it. lliel was
brought into the country by the French half-breeds. I attended a meeting at
Prince Albert immediately after Kiel's arrival in June, 1884. Kiel said what they
wanted was a constitutional agitation, and if they could not accomplish their ends
in five years they would take ten to do it. Kiel was their adviser ; was not a mem-
ber of the Executive Committee. Up to March last, from all I heard prisoner say
or discovered otherwise, I believed Kiel meant simply a constitutional agitation, as
was being carried on bj' the other settlers. Kiel had told him the priests were op-
posed to him, and that they were all wrong. Heard Kiel talk of dividing up the
country to be bestowed on the half-breeds, Poles, Hungarians, Bavarians, etc.
When I was Kiel's prisoner I heard him talk of this division, which I thought
meant a division of the proceeds of sale of lands in a scheme of immigration. This
was altogether different from what he had all along proposed at the meetings. All
the documents Kiel signed that I know of were signed " Exovide " (one of the
flock). Kiel explained that his new religion was a liberal form of Koman Catholi-
cism, and that the Pope had no power in Canada, Think Kiel wanted to exercise
the power of the Pope himself. These expressions were made by Kiel after the re-
bellious movement was begun.

General Middleton was now called, and was examined by Mr. C. Robinson,
Q.C. He testified that he was sent by the Minister of Militia to quell the out-
break on the Saskatchewan, and gave the well-known details of his encounter with
the rebels at Fish Creek, and of his subsequent movement on Batoche. He testi-
fied to receiving two letters from Kiel on the day of the capture of l^atoche, in one
of which Kiel threatened to massacre the prisoners in his possession if he (Middle-
ton) fired upon the half-breed women and children. The letter was i^roduced in
Court, and identified by the General.

Capt. Geo. H. Young, of the Winnipeg Field Battery, deposed that he was
present at Batoche as Brigade Major under the last witness, and was in the charge
at the close. Witness was first in the rebel council chamber after the capture of
the village, and found and took possession of the rebel archives. A number of
documents were produced, which witness recognised as those he had secured.
After Kiel's surrender he was given into witness's custody and taken to Kegina.

Major Jarvis, in command of the Winnipeg Field Battery during the cam-
paign, and to whom the charge of the papers found at Batoche was confided, iden-
tified the papers produced in Court.

MAJt)R Crozier, of the N.-W. Mounted Police, was next sworn, and detailed
the fact that he was met by an armed force of rebels at Duck Lake and fired upon,
losing many of his command in killed and wounded. He testified that, subsequent
to this engagement, a man named Sanderson brought him a letter from lliel asking
him to come and remove his dead from the field.

Charles Nolin was next called, and was examined by Mr. Casgrain in French.
The deposition of this witness we take from the Toronto Globe. Nolin deposed
that he lived in St. Laurent and formerly in Manitoba. He knew when Kiel
came to this country in July, 1884. And met him many times. Kiel showed him
a book he had written in which he said he would destroy England, and also Rome
and the Pope. Kiel spoke to him of his plans in December, expressing his wish for
money, a sum between ten and fifteen thousand dollars. Kiel had no plan to get
it, but he wanted to claim an indemnity from the Dominion Government ; that
they owed him §100,000. Kiel told him he had had an interview with Father
Andre, and at that time he was at open war with the clergy, but had made jjeace
with Father Andre in order to gain his ends. Riel went into the church with
Father Andre and other priests, and promised to do nothing against them, and
Father Andre had promised to use his influence with the Government to secure an
indemnity of $.S.%000. This was in the beginning of December, 1884, the agree-
ment being made at St. Laurent. Between December and February 14th, witness
had taken part in seven meetings. Riel said if he could get the money from the

898 APPENDIX.

Government he would go wherever the Government would send him — to the Pro-
vince of Quebec or elsewhere. Otheiwise, he said, before the grass was very long,
they would see foreign armies in Canada. He would begin with subduing Manitoba,
and afterwards turn against the North-West. Prisoner afterwards prepared to go
to the United States, and told the people it would look well if they attempted to
prevent him from going. Kiel never had the intention of leaving the country, but
wanted witness to get the people to tell him not to go. Witness was chairman of
a meeting which was held, and brought the matter up. On the 2nd March a meet-
ing was held at the settlement between Kiel and Father Andre. There were seven
or eight half -breeds there. Prisoner appeared to be very excited, and told Father
Andre he must give him permission to proclaim a Provisional Government before
12 o'clock. On the 3rd March a meeting was held for the English half-breeds.
About forty armed French half-breeds came there. Riel spoke and said the police
wanted to arrest him, but he had the real police. Witness spoke also at the meet-
ing on the 5th of March. Riel afterwards told witness he had decided to take up
arms and induce the people to take up arms for the glory of God, the good of the
Church, and the saving of their souls. About twenty days before the prisoner
took up arms witness broke entirely from him. On the 19th witness was made
T)risoner by four of Kiel's men and taken to the church, where he found some half-
breeds and Indians armed. That night he was taken before the council and was
acquitted. Kiel protested against the decision. Witness was condemned to death,
and he was thus forced to join the rebels to save his life. The conditions of surren-
to Crozier were put in his hands to be delivered to Crozier, but he did not deliver
der the letter. Riel was present at the Duck Lake fight, on the 26th March, and
was one of the first to go out to meet the police, carrying a cross in his hands.

Cross examined by Mr. Lemieux. — I have taken an active part in political affairs
of the country. In 1869 I was in Manitoba. In 1884 Kiel was living in Montana
with his wife and children. I participated in the movement to bring Kiel here ;
believed Kiel would be of advantage in obtaining redress of the grievances. The
clergy had not taken part in the political movement, but had assisted them in ob-
taining their rights. They thought it was necessary to have Kiel as a point to rally
round. Delegates were sent to invite Kiel to come, and he came with his wife and
family. A constitutional political movement was made, in which the half-breeds of
all creeds took part, and the whites, thout^h they were not active promoters, were
sympathizers. Did not believe Kiel ever wanted to return to Montana, al-
though he spoke of it. After the Government refused to grant the indemnity to
Riel witness did not believe he would be useful as a constitutional leader. It was
after the indemnity was refused that Kiel yjoke of going away. Witness denied
that in 1869 he started an agitation with Kiel, and then, as in the present case,
abandoned him. He only went as far as was constitutional. He had heard prisoner
say he considered himself a prophet, and said he had inspiration in his liver and in
every other part of his body. He wrote upon a piece of paper that he was inspired.
He showed witness a book written with buffalo blood, which was a plan that after
Kiel had taken England and Canada, Quebec was to be given to the Priissians, On-
tario to the Irish, and the North-West to be divided among the various nationalities
of Europe, the Jews, Hungarians, and Bavarians included. The rebel council had
first condemned witness to death, and afterwards liberated him, and he accepted a
position in the council in order to save his life. Witness said that whenever the
word police was mentioned Kiel became very excited, having heard that the Govern-
ment nad answered their petitions for redress by sendin.2: 500 extra police.

At this part of the cross-examination of Nolin, the proceedings were interrupted
by an excited clamour of Riel, to be allowed to interrogate the prisoner, and to assist
personally in the conduct of his case. This the Court could only allow with the
consent of prisoner's counsel. His counsel objected, and urged that such a pro-
ceeding would prejudice their client's case ; but Riel persisted, and the rest of the
day was wasted in fruitless altercation, which neither the Court nor the counsel for
the Crown could allay. The chief cause of Riel's excitement seemed to be the
determination of his counsel to press the pleaof insanity, a plea which, throughout
the trial. Riel strongly objected to be urged on his behalf. The Court in the midst
of the altercation, adjourned.

APPENDIX. 399

THIRD DAY OF THE TEIAL ! ♦

The Riel trial was resumed at Regina, on the morning of July 30th, by Mr.
Greknshields' addressing the jury for the defence. The Court-room was again
filled to its utmost capacity. After referring to the difficulty counsel had met, in
the prisoner's endeavour to obstruct their conduct of the case, Mr. Greenshields
dwelt upon the history of the Indians and half-breeds in the North-West Territo-
ries, pointing out their rights to the soil. In this Court they had a different pro-
cedure from that in other parts of the Dominion, and while not desiring to be
understood that the prisoner would not receive as fair a trial as the machinery pro-
vided made possible, he questioned whether a jury of six men, nominated by the
presiding magistrate, was sufficient to satisfy the demands of Magna Charta, — the
great bulwark of the rights and liberties of all British subjects. He believed any of
the older Provinces would rebel against such an encroachment on their rights, and
he did not see why such a condition of things should obtain here. For years the
half-breeds had been making futile efforts to obtain their rights. All these efforts
had been met by rebuffs, or had received no attention whatever from the Federal
Government, and those very rights for which the half-breeds were supplicating and
petitioning were being handed over to railway corporations, colonization companies,
and like concerns. He would not say that the action of the Government justified
armed rebellion — the shedding of blood-but it left in these poor people those
smouldering fires of discontent that were so easily fanned into rebellion by a mad-
man such as Riel. The prisoner had been invited by the half-breeds to come among
them from a foreign country to assist them in making a proper representation of
their grievances to the Government. They were unlettered and required an active
sympathizer, with education sufficient to properly conduct the agitation. Kiel was
the man they chose, and there was no evidence to show that when Riel came to this
country he came with any intention of inciting the people to armed rebellion. His
work was begun and carried on up till January in a perfectly constitutional man-
ner. After that time, as the jury had seen in the cross-examination of the wit-
nesses for the prosecution, no effort was made by the defence to deny that overt
acts of treason had been committed in the presence of the prisoner ; but evidence
would be brought to show that at the time these acts were countenanced by the
prisoner, he was of unsound mind and not responsible for what he did. The pecu-
liar disease of the prisoner was called by men learned in diseases of the mind, "me-
galomania." This species of mental disease developed two delusions— one the desire
for and belief that the patient could obtain great power in political matters to rule
or govern, another his desire to found a great church. That the prisoner was pos-
sessed of these delusions, the evidence abundantly proved. The jury might consider,
with some grounds for the belief, that the evidence of Charles Nolin, who swore
that the prisoner was willing to leave the country if he obtained from the Govern-
ment a gratuity of $3."),000, was inconsistent with the real existence of such a
monomania as the prisoner was afflicted with. But not one isolated portion, but the
whole, of Nolin's evidence should be considered. Other portions of his testimony,
for instance, prisoner's opinions on religious matters, and his intention to divide up
the country between various foreign nationalities, were conclusive proof of the pri-
soner's insanity. This was a great State trial, the speaker said, and he warned the
jury to throw aside the influence of heated public opinion, as it was expressed at
present. There were many people executed for having taken part in the rebellion of
1837, and it was (luestionable if there could be found anyone now who would justify
those executions. The heat of private feeling had died away, and the jury should
be careful that no hasty conclusion in this case should leave posterity a chance to
say that their verdict had been a wrong one- They should, if possible, look at the
case with the calmness of the historian, throwing aside all preconceived notions of
the case that interfered with the evidence given in the Court, and build up their

* In preparins: this abstract of the day's proceedings, the writer acknowledges to have drawn
from the reports published in the Toronto Olobe and Mail, and the Montreal Gazette and Star.

400 APPENDIX.

verdict on the testin ony brought out here. In the course of his remarks, Mr.
Greeiishields said, that he accused no Government in particular for neglecting the
claims of the breeds ; but if the authorities had paid attention to the petitions which
had been addressed to them, the rebellion would never have occurred. He paid a
glowing tribute to the volunteei'S, who left their private occupations and came from
all parts of the Dominion to suppress the outbreak.

At the conclusion of Mr. Greenshield's address.

Father Andre, Superior of the Oblat Fathers in the district of Carlton, was
called for the defence. He said he had been intimately associated with the breeds
for a quarter of a century. Riel had been induced to come to this country by the
settlers to assist them. The witness bad a thorough knowledge of what was going
on amongst the settlers. He had no knowledge of petitions having been sent to
the Government during the agitation ; but he had himself indirectly communicated
with the Government last December, with the object of getting the prisoner out of
the country. The pretensions or claims of the breeds changed f re(]uently. After
Kiel's arrival the Government had been notified three or four times of what was
transpiring. The Government had promised to take the matter into consideration.
The Government had replied to one petition by telegram, conceding the old survey.
This was an important concession. At Batoche three scrips had been issued, and
at Duck Lake forty were given. The witness never liked talking with the i)risoner
on religion or politics. On these subjects Kiel's language frightened the witness,
who considered him undoubtedly crazy on these subjects, while on all other points
he was sane enough. Once, at a meeting of priests, the advisability of allowing
such a man to perform religious duties was discussed, and it was unanimously
agreed that the man was insane. The discussion of religious or jjolitical subjects
with him was like dangling a red flag in front of a bull.

Philip Gahneau, of Batoche, but at present a prisoner in Regina gaol, was now
sworn and deposed as follows ; — I saw Riel at Batoche last fall ; had seen him
several times before January. During the trouble I talked with him at my house
on religious matters. He said the spirit of Elias, the prophet, was in him. He wanted
the people to believe that. He often said the Spirit of God told him to do this or
that. During his stay at my hovise Riel prayed aloud all nitrht ; never heard such
prayers before ; prisoner must have made them up. He could not stand to be con-
tradicted, and was very irritable. Heard him declare he was representing St. Peter.
Heard him talking of the country being divided into seven Provinces, and he was
going to bring in seven different nationalities to occupy them. 1 did not believe he
would succeed in that. He expected the assistance of the Jews, and other national-
itits. to whom he was going to award a Province each for their aid. Riel said he
was sure to succeed, it was a divine mission, and God was the chief of the move-
ment ; only met him once before the trouble. I thought the man was crazy.

Cross-examined by Mr. Robinson— I followed Riel solely because he forced me
with armed men. He had great influence over the half-breeds, who listened to
and followed his advice.

Father Fourmand sworn, examined by Mr. Lemieux in French— I am a priest of
St. Laurent ; went there in 1875. Have had conversations with Riel since the time
of the rebellion. Often conversed with him on political and religious subjects. I
was present at the meeting of priests at which Riel's sanity was questioned. I
knew the facts upon which the question arose. Before the rebellion Riel was a
polite and pleasant man to me. When he was not contradicted about political
affairs he was quiet, but when opposed he was violent. As soon as the rebellion
commenced he lost all control of himself, and threatened to burn all the churches.
He believed there was only one God ; that Christ the Son was not God, neither
was the Holy Ghost, and in consequence the Virgin Mary was not the mother of
God, but of the Son of God. He changed the song beginning " Hail Mary, mother
of God," to " Hail Mary, mother of the Son of God." He denied the real ijresence of
God in the Host, it was a man of six feet. Riel said he was going to Quebec, France
and Italy, and would overthrow the Pope and choose a Pope or appoint himself. We
finally concluded there was no other way of explaining his conduct than that he was
insane. Noticed a great change in prisoner as the agitation progressed. When

APPENDIX. 401

the fathers opposed him he attacked them. Witness was brought before the rebel
council by the prisoner, to give an account of his conduct. He called me a little
tiger, being very excited . Never showed me a book of his prophecies written in
buffalo blood, although I heard of it.

Cross-examined by Mr. Casgrain— Most of the half-breeds followed Riel in his
religious views ; some opposed them. The prisoner was relatively sane before the
rebellion. The prisoner proclaimed the rebellion on March 18th. I promised to
occupy a position of neutrality towards the provisional Government. He could
better explain prisoner's conduct on the ground of insanity than that of great
criminality. Witness naturally had a strong friendship towards the prisoner.

The afternoon was devoted to expert testimony respecting the prisoner's sanity.

MEDICAL TESTIMONY.

Db. Roy, of the Beauport Asylum, Quebec, said the prisoner was an inmate of
that institution for nineteen months. He was discharged in January, 1878. He
suffered from ambitious mania. One of the distinguishing characteristics of that
form of insanity is that, so long as the particular hobby is not touched, the patient
appears perfectly sane. From what he heard the witnesses say, and from the pri-
soner's actions j'esterday, he had no hesitation in jironouncing the man insane, and
he believed him not to be respon.-iible for his acts.

Dr. Clarke, of Toronto, was the next, witness. He said he was the Superinten-
dent of the Toronto Lunatic Asylum. He has had nine or ten years' experience in
treating lunatics. He examined the prisoner twice yesterday and once this morning.
From what evidence he had heard and from his own examination, provided the
witnesses told the truth and the prisoner was not malingering, there was no doubt of
his being insane.

Cross-examined by Mr. Osier— It is impossible for any man to say that a person
like Riel, who is sharp and well-educated, is either insane or sane . He (the wit-
ness) would require to have him under his notice for months to form an opinion.
The man's actions are consistent with fraud. Thinks he knows the difference be-
tween right and wrong, subject to his delusion.

Dk. Wallace was next called. He said he was Superintendent of the Insane
As}-lum at Hamilton. He had listened to the evidence in this case. He saw the
prisoner alone for half an hour. He has formed the opinion that there is no indi-
cation of insanity about him. He thinks the prisoner knows the difference between
right and wrong. The person suffering from maglomania often imagines he is a king,
divinely inspired, has the world at his feet — supreme egotism in fact. It is one of
the complications of paralytic insanity.

Dr. J LKES, of the Mounted Police, would not say the prisoner was not insane.
He had seen him daily since May, and noticed no traces of insanity.

The Court adjourned at five o'clock.

RIEL'S ADDRESS TO THE JURY.

At the outset, writes W. A. H. , correspondent of the Montreal Star, Riel spoke
in a ijuiet and low tone, many of his statements carrying home conviction ti> his
hearers. " At any rate," was the subsequent comment, " Riel speaks with the helief
that he is rij;ht." Gradually as he proceeded and got fairly launcheJ into his subject,
his eyes sparkled, his body swayed to and fro as if strongly agittited, and his hands
accomplished a series of wonderful gestures as he warmed up and spoke with im-
passioned eloquence. His hearers were spell-bound, and well they might, as each
concluding assertion with terrible earnestness was uttered with the effect and force
of a trumpet blast. That every soul in (Jourt was impressed is not untrue, and
many ladies were moved to tears. The following is an epitome of what he said : —

" Your Honour, and gentlemen of the jury — It would be an easy matter for me
to-daj', to play the i-ole of a lunatic, because the circumstances are such as to excite
any ordinary man subject to natural excitement after what h&s transpired to-day.
The natural excitement, or may I add anxiety, which my trial causes me is enough

402 APPENDIX.

to justify me in acting in the manner of a demented man; but I hope, with the help
of God, that I will maintain a calm exterior and act with the decorum that suits
this honourable Court. You have, no doubt, seen by the papers produced by the
Crown, that I was not a man disposed to think of God at the beginning. Gentlemen,
I don't want to play the part of a lunatic.

" Oh, my God, help me through the grace and divine influence of Jesus. Oh, my
God bless me, bless this Court, bless this jury, and bless my good lawyers, who at
great sacrifice have came nearly 700 leagues to defend me. Bless the lawyers for
the Crown, for they have done what they considered their duty. God grant that
fairness be shown. Oh, Jesus, change the curiosity of the ladies and others here
to sanctity. The day of my birth I was helpless, and my mother wus helpless.
Somebody helped her. I lived, and although a man I am as helpless to-day as I
was a babe on my mother's breast. But the North-West is also my mother : although
the North-West is sick and confined, there is some one to take care of her. I am
sure that my mother will not kill me after forty-years life. My mother cannot take
my life. She will be indulgent and will forget.

" When I came here from Montana, in -luly, 1884, I found the Indians starving.
The state of affairs was terrible. The half-breeds were subsisting on the rotten
pork of the Hudson Bay Company. This was the condition, this was the pride, of
responsible Government ! What did Louis Kiel do ? I did not equally forget the
whites. I directed my attention to assist all classes, irrespective of creed, colour or
nationality. We have made petitions to the Canadian Government, asking them
to relieve the state of affairs. We took time. Those who know me, know we took
time with the object of uniting all classes, even if I may speak it, all parties. Those
who know me know I have suffered. I tried to come to an understanding with the
authorities on different points, I believe I have done my duty. It was said that
I was egotistical. A man cannot generalize himself unless he is imputed with the
taint. After the Canadian Government, through the honourable under-secretary of
state, replied to my letter regarding the half-breeds, then, and not till then, did I
look after my private affairs. A good dealcan be said of the distribution of land.
I don't know if my dignity w^ould permit me to mention what you term my foreign
policy, but if I was allowed to explain or question certain witnesses, those things
would have looked different. My lawyers are good, but they don't understand the
circumstances. Be it understood that I appreciate their services. Were I to go into
details, I could safely say what Captain Young has told you regarding my mission,
to bring about practical results. I have writings; my career, is perhaps nearly run,
but after dissolution my spirit will still bring about practical results."

Striking his breast he added :

' ' No one need say that the North-West is not suffering. The Saskatchewan was
especially afflicted, but what have I done to bring about practical results ? For
ten years I have been aware that I had a mission to perform ; now what encourages
me is the fact that I still have a mission to perform. God is with me. He is in this
dock, and (^od is with my lawyers, the same as he was with me in the battles of
the Saskatchewan. I have not assumed my mission. In Manitoba, to-day, I have
a mission to perform. To-day I am forgotten by the Manitobans as dead. Did I
not obtain for that province a constitutional government notwithstanding the oppo-
sition of the Ottawa authorities ? That was the cause of my banishment."

I thank the glorious General Middleton for his testimony that I possess my
mental faculties. I felt that God was blessing me when those words were pro-
nounced. I was in Beauport Asylum ; Dr. Roy over there knows it, but I thank
the Crown for destroying his testimony. I was in the Lunatic Asylum at Longue
Pointe, near Montreal, also ; and would like to see my old friends. Dr. Lachapelle
and Dr. Howard, who treated me so charitably. Even if I am to die, I will have
the satisfaction of knowing that I will not be regarded by all men as an insane
person.

To THE Court. — " Your honour and gentlemen of the jury, my reputation, my
life, my liberty, are in your hands, and are at your discretion. I am so confident
in your high sense of duty that I have no anxiety as to the verdict. My calmness
does not arise from the presumption that you will acquit me. Although you are

APPENDIX. 403

only half a jury, only a shred of that proud old British constitution, I respect you.
I can only trust, Judge and gentlemen, that good and practical results will arise
from your judgment conscientiously rendered. I would call your attention to one
or two points. The first is that the House of Commons, Senate and Ministry, which
make the laws, do not respect the interests of the North-West. My second point
is that the North- West Council has the defect of its parent. There are practically
no elections, and it is a sham legislature."

Then, as if wandering from his subject, Kiel broke forth and said :

" I was ready at Batoche ; I fired and wounded your soldiers. Bear in mind, is
my crime, committed in self-defence, so enormous ? Oh, Jesus Christ ! help me, for
they are trying to tear me into pieces . Jurors, if you support the plea of insanity,
otherwise acquit me all the same. Console yourselves with the reflection that you will
be doing justice to one who has suffered for fifteen years, to my family, and to
the North- West."

Kiel concluded as follows, his language containing a strange admixture of the
words applied to him by the medical experts, which he ingeniously turned against
the Government :

" Your honours and gentlemen of the jury :— I am taking the circumstances of
my trial as they are. The only thing to which I would respectfully call your atten-
tion before you retire to deliberate is the irresponsibility of the Government. It is
a fact that the Government possesses an absolute lack of responsibility, an insanity
complicated with analysis. A monster of irresponsible, insane government, and its
little North- West council, had made up their minds to answer my petitions by sur-
rounding me, and by suddenly attempting to jump at me and ray people in the fer-
tile valley of the Saskatchewan. You are perfectly justified in declaring that hav-
ing my reason and sound mind, I acted reasonably and in self-defence, while the
Government, my aggressor, being irresponsible, and consequently insane, cannot
but have acted madly and wrong ; and if high treason there is, it must be on its
side, not on my part."

At the conclusion of Kiel's lengthy address,

Mr. Christopheb Robinson, Q.C., closed the case for the Crown in a powerful
speech, which went far to counteract the sympathetic effect produced by Kiel's dis-
connected but eloquent oration. Mr. Kobinsou pointed out that no evidence was
produced to show that the prisoner had not committed the acts he was charged
with. From the evidence it was quite clear the prisoner was neither a patriot nor a
lunatic. If prisoner was not responsible for the rebellion, who was ? The speaker
went over the evidence and showed that Kiel's acts were not those of a lunatic, but
well considered in all their bearings, and the deliberate acts of a particularly sound
mind. The evidence as to Kiel's confinement in an asylum nine years ago was not
satisfactory. Why was he sent there under an assumed name ? Why was the re-
cord of his case not produced along with the other papers, and a statement of his
condition when leaving the asylum ? Medical men were not always the best judges
ofinsanity. Taking up the evidence against the prisoner, Mr. Kobinson went over
it in detail, and said no mercy should be shown one who had committed such acts.
He pictured the terrible results if Kiel had succeeded in his effort to rouse the
Indians. The reason the prisoners Poundmaker and Big Bear had not been put in
the witness box, was that they could not be asked to give evidence that would in-
criminate themselves.

Mb. Justice Kichardson then read over the evidence to the jury, after which
the court adjourned.

THIKD DAY'S PROCEEDINGS.*

The court resumed its sittings on the morning of the 1st of August, at the usual
hour, and Col. Richardson continued his charge to the jury He read all the princi-
pal evidence, commenting thereon, and finally charged the jury to do their duty
without fear or favour.

* This abstract of the final day's proceedings we take from the Toronto Mail.

404 APPENDIX.

THE VERDICT.

When the jury returned with the verdict at 3.15 p.m., after exactly one hour's
deliberation, the prisoner, who had been on his knees in the dock praying incess-
antly, rose and stood facing the six men who came in bearing for him the message
of life or death.

The Clerk of the Court, amid a silence so intense that, like the darkness of
Egypt, it could be felt, asked if the gentlemen of the jury had agreed upon their
verdict ?

Mr. Cosgrove, the foreman, answered in a low tone, but heard distinctly in the
general hush, " VVe have ! "

The Clerk then asked : " Is the prisoner guilty or not guilty ? "

Everyone but the prisoner seemed anxious. He alone of all those present, eager
to hear the message of fate, was calm.

The Foreman replied : " Guilty, with a recommendation to mercy ! "

Eiel smiled as if the sentence in no way affected him, and bowed gracefully to
the jury.

THE PRISONER'S SPEECH.

Col. Richardson asked the prisoner if he had anything to say why the sentence
of the Court should not be passed upon him ?

RiEL replied : Yes, your honour. Then he began, in a low, calm voice to detail
the story of the half-breeds in Manitoba, and spoke at length of the rebellion of '69.
He said that if he had to die for what had taken place, it would be a consolation to
his wife and to his friends to know that he had not died in vain. In years to come
people will look at Manitoba and say that Riel helped the dwellers of those fertile
plains to obtain the benefits they now enjoy. He said it would be an easy thing
for him to make an incendiary speech, but he would refrain. He said that (^od had
given him a mission to perform, and if suffering was part of that mission, he bowed
respectfully to the Divine will, and he was ready to accept the task, even if the end
should be death. Like David, he had suffered, but he lacked two years of the time
that David suffered. The prisoner then went into the history of the Red River
rebellion at great leu'^th. He claimed that he had ruled the country for two
months for the Government, and his only reward was a sentence of exile. The
troubles in the Saskatchewan, he said, were but a continuation of the troubles of
the Red River, and the breeds feel that they are being robbed by the Government,
which has failed to carry out the treaty promises that had been made to them.
The breeds sustained their rights in '69 by arms, and the people of Manitoba are
enjoying the results to-day. The people of Saskatchewan only followed the same
precedent, and he trusted that the same results would follow. He then spoke at
great leng1;h of the part played by Sir John Macdonald, Sir George Cartier, and
Bishop Tach^ in the Red River rebellion. The money that had been given to him
and to Ldpine on leaving the country had been accepted, he said, as part of
what was justly their due. The whites were gradually crowding out the Indians
and the Metis, and what was more natural and just than for them to take
up arms in defence of their rights? He justified his claims to $35,000 by
saying that it was offered to him to keep out of the country for three years.
The English constitution, he said, had been perfected for the hapi^iness of the
world, and his wish to have the representatives of the different nations here was
to give people from the countries of the Old World an opportunity of enjoying the
blessings God had given England. God had given England great glory, but she
must work for that glory or it would surely pass away. The Roman Empire was
four hundred years in declining from its proud pre-eminence, and England would
be in the same position ; but before England faded away a grander England would
be built up in this immense country. His heart, while it beat, would not abandon
the idea of having a new Ireland, a new Germany, a new France here ; and the
people of those countries would enjoy liberties under the British constitution which
they did not obtain at home. If he must die for his principles, if the brave men

APPENDIX. 405

who were with him must die, he hoped the French-Canadians would come and
help the people to get back what was being unjustly wrenched from them. Peace
had always been uppermost in his thoughts, and it was to save the country from
being deluged with blood later on that they strove for their rights now. He con-
cluded by objecting to the jury and the decision of the Court, and asked that he be
not tried" for the alleged offences of this season, but that his whole career be put on
trial, antl the jury asked to give a decision as to whether his life and acts have in
any way benefited the country or not.

THE SENTENCE.

Mr. Christopher Robinson moved for the sentence of the Court.

Judge Richardson then said : " Louis Rie), you are charged with treason. You
let loose the flood gates of rapine and bloodshed, and brought ruin and death to
many families, who, if let alone, were in comfort and a fair way of affluence. For
what you did you have been given a fair and impartial trial. Your remarks are no
excuse for your acts. You committed acts that the law demands an account for
at your hands. The jury coupled with their verdict a recommendation to mercy. I
can hold out no prospect for yoa, and I would recommend you to make your peace
with (jrod. For me, only one duty and a painful one to perform remains. It is
to pass sentence upon you. If your life is spared, no one will feel more gratified
than myself, but I can hold out no hope. The sentence of this Court upon you,
Louis Riel, is that you be taken to the guard-room of the Mounted Police of
Regina, whence you came, and kept there until September the eighteenth, and
from thence to the place of execution, there to be hanged by the neck until dead,
and may the Lord have mercy upon your soul !"

Riel never moved a muscle, but, bowing to the Court, said : — " Is that on Friday,
your Honour ? "

He was then taken from the Court-room, and a few minutes after was driven
back, under strong escort, to the guard-room.

AN APPEAL.

After sentence had been passed upon Riel, Mr. Fitzgerald, one of prisoner's
counsel, gave notice of appeal for a new trial to the Court of Queen's Bench,
Manitoba. The ajipeal case was heard at Winnipeg on the 3rd and 4th days of
September before Chief Justice Wallbridge and Mr. Justice T. W. Taylor.

M. Lemieux, chief counsel for Riel, raised the old issue as to informality of the
trial before the Stipendiary Magistrate at Regina, and contended that the magis-
trate was incompetent to try the case.

Mr. FiTZPATRicK followed. He held that the Treason-Felony Act was one of
Imperial jurisdiction, and he questioned if it had delegated any power to the
colonial authorities to legislate away any rights enjoyed by the subjects of the
British Empire. He dwelt strongly upon the insanity question, and said the jury
were convinced of the prisoner's lunacy, hence their recommendation to mercy.

Mr. EwART also strongly questioned the jurisdiction of the Court at Regina and
cited several authorities in support of his argument.

Mr. Robinson, on behalf of the Crown, in an able address, strongly combatted
the idea that the Court at Regina was not legally constituted, and cited cases in
supjjort of his contention. He also dwelt at length on the insanity plea, showing
the absurdity of the contention that Riel was insane.

Mr. Osier and Mr. Aikens followed on the same side, supplementing the argu-
ments of the ijrevious speaker as to the constitutionality of the Court, and cited
a number of authorities adverse to the insanity plea.

406 APPENDIX.

NEW TEIAL REFUSED.

At Winnipeg, on the 9th September, at a sitting of the full Court of the Queen's
Bench of the Province of Manitoba, judgment was delivered in the appeal for a
new trial for the prisoner Eiel.

His Lordship Chief Justice Wallbridge first delivered judgment. He referred
briefly to the facts brought before the Court and the statutes by which the stipen-
diary magistrates are appointed in the North- West and to the powers given them
for the trial of the cases before them alone, and to the cases, including treason,
which have to be tried before a magistrate with a justice of the peace and a jury of
six. His Lordship held that the constitutionality of the Court is established by the
statutes passed, which he cited. If the Act passed by the Dominion Parliament
was, as claimed by the defence, ultra vires, it was clearly confirmed by the Imperial
Act subsequently passed, which made the Dominion Act equal to an Imperial Act.
The objections were to his mind purely technical and therefore not valid. His
opinion therefore was that a new trial should be refused, and the conviction of the
Superior Court was therefore confirmed.

Mr. Justice Taylor followed, dealing fully with the arguments brought forward
by the prisoner's counsel. On the question of the delegation of the power to legis-
late given to the Dominion Parliament, he held that the Dominion Parliament has
plenary powers on all subjects committed to it. He reviewed fully all the facts
relating to the admission of Rupert's Land to the Dominion, and to the statutes
passed for the government of Rupert's Land and Manitoba when formed as a pro-
vince. After a critical examination of the evidence in the case, he was unable to
come to any other conclusion than that to which the jury had come. The evidence
entirely fails to relieve the prisoner from responsibility for his acts. A new trial
must be refused and the conviction must be confirmed.

Mr. Justice Killam next followed at some length, concurring in the views of his
brother judges.

With these proceedings the trial of the rebel chief was concluded, though counsel
for Riel has notified the Executive that they will appeal the case to the Privy
Council in England. Riel will, meantime, be respited.

THE INDIAN AND HALF-BREED TRIALS.

During the month of August the participators in the rebellion among the half-
breeds and Indians were brought up for trial before the Stipendiary Magistrate at
Regina.

ONE ARROW'S TRIAL.

Court was held on the afternoon of the 13th of August for the trial of One Arrow,
Judge Richardson presiding.

Mr. Casgrain opened the case on behalf of the Crown.

Only three witnesses were examined, viz., Ashley, Ross, and the Indian agent,
Lash. Their svidence was similar to that given in the Riel trial. They proved
that the prisoner was present at Batoche, although it could not be proved he actually
was engaged.

Mr. Robertson addressed the jury for the defence, and was followed by Mr. Osier
for the Crown.

Judge Richardson's charge only lasted a few minutes.

The jury was out only ten minutes, and returned with a verdict of " Guilty."

The prisoner was remanded for sentence.

APPENDIX. 407

HA-LF-BREEDS SENTENCED.

On the afternoon of the 14th inst. , Judge Richardson held Court for the purpose
of sentencing the half-breed prisoners who recently pleaded guilty and were
arraigned. Mr. H. J. Clarke, of Winnipeg, addressed the Court on behalf of the
poor deluded wretches who awaited sentence. It spoke volumes, he said, for the
manhood of the men awaiting sentence that not a single woman was molested during
the whole of the outbreak. The breeds believed they had wrongs, and like men
undertook in their way to redress them by force of arms. The Court addressed the
prisoners through an interpreter, expatiating on the enormity of the offence, the
leniency of the Court, etc., and sentenced them as follows : —

Seven Years Each. — Alexander Cayen, Maxime Dubois, Pierre Henry, Maxime
Lepine, Albert Monkman, Pierre Paranteau, Pierre Vandelle, Philip Guardupuy,
Philip Garnot, James Short, Bapti Vandalle, to seven years in the penitentiary.

Three Years.— Alexander Fisher, Pierre Guardupuy, Moise Ouellette, to three
years.

One Year. — Joseph Arcand, Igaace Poitras, junior, Ignace Poitras, senior,
Moise Paranteau, to one year in Regina jail.

DiscH \^rged. —Joseph Delorme, Alexander Labombarde, Joseph Pilon, Bapti
Rocheleau, Potrie Tourani, Francis Tourand, dismissed from custody, to sppear
for sentence when called upon.

Three Years. — The Court then adjourned formally, but re-assembled immedi-
ately to pass sentence on " One Arrow," who was convicted of treason-felony. The
old Indian made an eloquent attempt to prove himself a good Indian, but was
sentenced to three years in the penitentiary.

TRIAL OF POUNDMAKER.

At Regina, on the 15th inst., there was a flutter of excitement round the Court
when it was learned that Pe-to-cah-hau-a-we-win (Poundmaker) would be arraigned
at three o'clock in the afternoon. By half-past two, a correspondent of the Toronto
Mail tells us, a crowd had collected outside the Court-house to catch a glimpse of
the noted warrior and councillor. He is a noble looking Indian, and reminds one
more of Fenimore Cooper's heroes than do the great majority of North- West
Indians. His eyes are black and piercing. One moment they twinkle merrily at
some humorous remark, and the next they flash with fire as something is said that
is not agreeable to him. His nose is long and aquiline, while his lips are thin and
his mouth devoid of that sensual character so peculiar to many Indians. The scalp
lock was decorated with a mink skin, while from each temple there hung one long
lock of hair twisted round and round with brass wire. He wore no coat, but his
vest was richly decorated with brass-headed nails in true barbaric fashion.

Mr. Scott, of Regina, opened the case for the Crown in a short speech, in which
he said they would not only prove that the prisoner was associated with the rebels,
but actually commanded them at Cut Knife Creek.

The proceedings were brief, the Crown relying on the evidence of Robert Jeffer-
son, Poundmaker's son-in-law. Colonel Herchmer, of the Mounted Police, Charles
and H. D. Ross, half-breed scouts, Wm. McKay, Peter Ballantine, and other
residents of pillaged Battleford.

For the defence Joseph McKay, of Prince Albert ; John Craig, farm instructor
on Little Pine's reserve, and Grey Eyes, an Indian, were called. These testified
to Poundmaker's pacific acts and intents, and his efforts to restrain his band from
bloodshed and Indian excesses.

Mr. B. B. Osier, Q.C., acted for the Crown, and Mr. Beverley Robinson, of
Winnipeg, represented the prisoner.

On the 18th inst. the jury returned a verdict of guilty, when Judge Richardson
asked Poundmaker if he had anything to say why sentence should not be passed
upon him.

408 APPENDIX. '

POUNDMAKER TALKS.

Poundmaker drew himself up to his full height, cast a hurried glance round the
room, then placing his left hand on his breast, and extending his right in a declama-
tory attitude, began. He spoke slowly at first, and waited for the interpreter to
put his words into English. By-and-by he seemed to forget that he was not
understood. His words fell without any hesitation from his lips :- " I am not
guilty. Much that has been said against me is not true. I am glad of my work in
the Queen's country this spring. What I have done was for the good of my people
and for peace. When my brothers and the pale faces met in fight at Cut Knife I
saved the Queen's soldiers, who ran away. I took the arms from my brothers and
gave them up at Battleford. Everything I could do was done to stop bloodshed.
Had I wanted war I should not be here now ; I should be on the prairie. You did
not catch me ; I gave myself up. You have got me because I wanted peace."

'I'he chief then sat down and awaited the sentence of the Court. The judge
addressed him in nearly the same terms as those he used when sentencing One
Arrow, and therefore it is unnecessary to repeat his words. He concluded by sen-
tencing the prisoner to three years in Stoney Mountain penitentiary.

When Poundmaker heard the sentence he said : — " Hang me now. I can die. I
would rather you kill me than lock me up for three years. But my people, the
Indians, will not forget me ; remember this."

The End.

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