We left the murderer upon the plains making speeches like
Marius on the ruins of Carthage. The self-imposed
banishment did not endure for long; and the swarthy face
of Louis Riel was once more seen in Riviere Rouge. When
tidings of the murder got abroad, English-speaking Canada
cried out that the felon should be handed over to justice.
I say English-speaking Canada, for the French people
almost to a man gave their sympathy to the man whose
hands were red with the blood of his fellow creature.
They could not be induced to look upon the slaying as an
act of inhuman, bloody, ferocity, with which the question
of race or religion had not the remotest connection.
"It is because Riel, a Frenchman and a Roman Catholic,
shot Thomas Scott, an Englishman and a Protestant, that
all this crying for vengeance is heard over the land.
Now, had the cases been reversed, we would hear no English
lamentings over a murdered Riel." This was in effect what
they said, impossible, almost, as it might seem for one
to be able to credit it. For illiterate persons, who
could see no treason in the uprising, to condone the
tumult and havoc, and regard even the murder justifiable,
was what might have been expected. But what shall be said
for M. George E. Cartier, the "enlightened statesman,"
for Pere Richot, the "crocmitaine," for Pere Lastanc,
the Vicar-General, and finally, for Monseigneur himself?
Nothing can be said! We can only as Canadians all hang
down our heads in shame, that any section of our common
country should make such an exhibition of itself in the
sight of humanity.
The protege of the Hierarchy was not long to mope about
the plains like another dumb and fallen Saturn. No less
proportions than that of un Dieu hors de combat, a very
God overthrown, would the deluded followers accord to
the overwhelmed chief. The clergy never suffered any
aspersion to be thrown upon "le grand homme" for by no
less appellation was he known.
"He has been your benefactor," the coarse "crocmitaine"
Richot would say. "Had he not risen and compelled Government
to grant you your rights, you would forever have been
down-trodden by Canadian tyrants. When the rage of the
heretics in Ontario shall have cooled down we must send
Le Bienfaiteur to Parliament. And the time did actually
come when the murderer appeared upon the hustings in the
West soliciting the votes of the people. Nor did he appeal
in vain. _He was elected._ Nay, more than this, he set
out for Ottawa, entered that city, and in the open light
of day walked up to the Parliament Buildings, and in the
eyes of officials and of the public subscribed his name
to the Members' roll. Thousands have been in the habit
of denouncing Sir John for permitting an unhung felon to
go about as a free man, but when he came red-handed and
presuming to Ottawa and enrolled his name, the Reformers
were in power."
Before this date, however, the criminal had secured some
official eulogy in the West. And it happened in this
wise. Some time after the appointment of Mr. Archibald
to the Lieutenant-Governorship of Manitoba, several bands
of Fenians threatened to invade the territory, and set
up above the plains a green flag with a harp and a shamrock
upon it. Mr. Archibald had at hand no force to resist
the threatened attack, and he became almost delirious
with alarm. So he sent a messenger to M. Riel, the untried
felon, whose crime was at the time the subject of voluminous
correspondence between Canada and the Colonial Office,
accepting a proposal made by the ex-Rebel to call out
the half-breeds in defence of the new Province. The
Fenians did not carry out their threat, but it was much
the same for the murderer of poor Scott as if they had.
When the danger was blown over the Lieutenant-Governor
walked in front of the ex-Rebel lines, expressed his
gratitude to the men, and warmly shook hands with Riel
and Lepine.
The presence of Riel was yet a standing menace to peace
among the half-breeds beyond the limits of the new
province. The Canadian Government began to devise means
of getting him out of the country. They tried persuasion,
but this was not an effective mode. It was at this juncture
that a sum was put into the hands of Archbishop Tache to
pay the felon in consideration of his withdrawal. All
this time Ontario was crying out for the capture of the
man; and it was while the amount was being placed to the
murderer's credit with the Archbishop, that Sir John
raised his eyes toward heaven and said:
"I wish to God I could catch him!"
So Riel took himself out of Canada, and traversed American
territory till he found a district it Montana, thickly
inhabited by half-breeds. Here he established himself in
a sort of a fashion, sometimes tilling the soil, frequently
hunting, but all the while talking about Red River. He
soon began to forget Marie, and to cast languishing eyes
upon some of the half-breed girls living upon the airy
uplands. [Footnote: It is stated upon certain authority,
how good I don't know, that the brave M. Riel rejoices
in the possession of three wives. One is said to be a
French Metis, the other a Scotch half-breed, and the
third a beautiful Cree squaw with large dusky eyes.] He
was regarded as a great hero by these maidens, for long
before his coming the daring, brilliancy, and great
achievements of Monsieur Riel had been told with enthusiasm
at the fireside of every half-breed in Montana. We shall
leave M. Riel in Montana, sometimes working, sometimes
hunting, always wooing, and take a very brief glance at
the causes which led up to the present outbreak.
Under the new legislation for the territories, only those
half-breeds within the bounds of the new province were
guaranteed secure possession of their land. Under the
principle that all territory not granted in specific form
to individuals by the Ministers of the Crown, is the
property of the Crown, each half-breed who occupied a
lot of land under the Hudson Bay Company's rule, was
regarded as a squatter under the new regime. To make such
holding valid, therefore, the Government issued patents
to _bona fide_ squatters, who then found themselves on
the same footing as the white immigrants. But beyond
Manitoba, and chiefly in Prince Albert, there were large
numbers of half-breeds settled over the prairie. So long
as no immigrant came prying about for choice land the
half-breeds had naught to complain about, but the rapid
influx of population soon altered the whole face of the
matter. Several squatters who had toiled for many a long
year upon holdings, were obliged to make way for strangers
who had "friends at court"--for even in the North West
wilderness there is, in this sense, a court--and who took
a fancy to the particular piece of land upon which "these
lazy half-breeds" were squatting. Newspapers, whose
business it is to keep the skirts of government clean in
the matter, deny this altogether. But, unfortunately,
there is no use in denying it. It is but too true, and
it is with a feeling of very great regret that I myself,
a Conservative, and a warm well-wisher of the
administration, affirm it. It is true that in many and
many a case, in a greater number of instances than even
opponents of the administration suppose, a half-breed
who has toiled for a number of years upon a lot, effecting
improvements and taking pride in his property, has been
dispossessed by an incomer because he could not show a
patent from the Interior Department.
But almost as fruitful a source of dissatisfaction as
these heartless and dishonest displacements has been the
difficulty which the unfortunate squatter has experienced
in obtaining his patent. The mills of the gods in the
Interior Department grind very slowly. The obtaining of
a patent by a deserving squatter as a general rule is
about as difficult, and as worthy of applause when
achieved, as is the task which lies before a farmer's
boy who has decided to become a member of parliament, by
first earning money enough to go to school to prepare
for a third class teachership, by then teaching school
till he has a sufficient competency to study medicine,
and by then practising his profession till he finds
himself able to capture the riding. Of course there is
some excuse, and we must not forget to produce it, for
the Department of the Interior. It would be undignified
if it were to move with any degree of rapidity. According
to etiquette, and the rule is very proper, when the
application of the half-breed comes to the office, it
must remain for at least four weeks in the drawer set
apart for "correspondence to be read." After it has been
read it receives one or two marks with a red-lead pencil,
after which it is deposited in pigeon-hole No. 1. Now
no document ever lodges for a shorter time than a month
in pigeon-hole No. 1; and if at the end of that period
it should happen to be removed, the clerk lays by his
novel or tooth-pick, as the case may be, and puts one or
two blue marks upon the back of it. When we consider that
there are all the way from six to twenty pigeon-holes,
by a simple process of arithmetic we can get approximately
near the period which it takes the poor half-breed's
prayer to get from pigeon-hole Alpha to pigeon-hole Omega.
But during the process the back of the squatter's
application has become a work of art. It is simply
delightful to look upon. It not alone contains memoranda
and hieroglyphics made in red and blue pen-pencil but it
is also beautified by marks made upon it in carmine ink,
in ink "la brillanza," an azure blue ink, in myrtle green
ink, in violette noire; but never, it must be said to
the credit of the department, in common black. But all
these colours are worthless indeed, viewed from any point
of view, compared with its other acquisitions. Solomon
himself in all his glory was never decked out more
gorgeously than this poor half-breed's greasy sheet of
foolscap is at the end of its journey through the
pigeon-holes. The prime minister of the Crown in all his
pomp of imperial orders has not so many ribbons as this
poor vagabond's claim. Sometimes it is swathed in crimson
tyings, sometimes in scarlet, now and again in magenta;
and I am very happy to be able to say that pink and two
very exquisite shades of blue known as birds-egg and
cobalt have lately been introduced.
Of course the half-breed complains when the weeks have
swelled into months, and the months have got out of their
teens, that he has heard no answer to his prayer; but
the rascal should try to consider that his document has
to make its voyage through the pigeon holes.
In this way there has been much heartburning, and many
curses against officialdom and red-tape. While the back
of the application is being turned out a christmas card,
a stray immigrant comes along, and the squatter half-breed
has once more to go back for a new camping-ground.
But there is something to be said--this time I am
serious--for the Department in the matter, though not a
very great deal. A number of the half-breeds, though a
small, a very, very small proportion of the whole, are
restless vagabonds, who squat upon lands with no intention
of remaining permanently, but only with the object of
speculation by selling their scrip, leaving the
neighbourhood, taking up another lot, and receiving in
like manner disposable scrip again. But the officers of
the North-West must know that the half-breed people, _in
general_, are constant-working, and are desirous of
achieving comfort, and of affluence. Yet because of the
acts of a few unprincipled, lazy wanderers, some will
seek to convey the impression that the conduct of the
small few is a type of the methods of all.
There is still, among the many irritating causes, all of
which my limits will not permit me to dwell upon, one
which must not go unnoticed. Mr. Dewdney is not the
gentleman who ought to have the immediate administration
of North-West affairs in his hands. He has neither the
understanding nor the inclination to make him a suitable
administrator. Before all things he is there for himself;
and he has even figured in the respectable role of
land-grabbing. I am sure that if the gentleman is to be
provided for by the public no objection would be raised
if Sir John were to propose that he be recalled, and
receive his salary all the same in consideration of the
position he holds in the regard of the prime-minister,
and of those who are not exactly prime-ministers or
ministers. Mr. Dewdney has not alone got it into his
head that an Indian has no understanding; but he must
also endow himself with the conviction that he has no
nostrils. A friend of Mr. Dewdney got some meat, but the
article stank, and the importer knew not how to dispose
of it.
"O sell it to the Indians," the Governor said; and, "Lo!
to the poor Indian" it was sold; and sold at tenderloin
prices.
"We can't eat em meat. He stinks," the poor savage said.
"Em charge too much. Meat very bad."
"Let Indians eat their meat," the just Mr. Dewdney
retorted; "or starve and be damned." What right has an
Indian to complain of foul meat, and to say that he has
been charged too high a price for it? He is only a savage!
Let Sir John take care.
Well, this was the state of affairs when Louis Riel,
about a year ago, left off his wooing for a little while,
and returned to the old theatre of his crimes. He found
the people chafing under official injustice, and delays
that were almost equivalent to a denial of justice. He
did not care a fig for the condition of "his people!"
but like the long-winged petrel, he is a bad weather
bird, and here was his opportunity. He went abroad among
the people, fomenting the discord, and assuring them that
if all other means failed they would obtain their rights
by rising against the authorities.
But the plain object of this plausible disturber was
cash. The lazy rascal had failed to earn a livelihood
among the half-breeds of Montana; and now was resolved
to get some help from the Dominion Treasury. Presently
intimations began to reach the Canadian Government that
if they made it worth M. Riel's while, he would leave
the disaffected people and return to American territory.
The sum of $5,000, it was learnt, a little later, would
make it "worth his while" to go back. This, if Sir John's
statement in the House of Commons is to be trusted, the
administration refused to pay.
And now some good priests made up their valises, and
travelled out of the North-West, and all the way to
Ottawa, to present the grievances of their people to the
ministry. Archbishop Tache likewise showed himself at
the capital on the same mission.
"For God's sake," these men said, "give earnest, careful,
prompt attention to affairs in the North-West. The people
have sore grievances, and they do not get the redress
which is their due. If you would prevent mischief and
misery, lose no time." And as in duty bound the politicians
said: "The government will give the matter its most
serious consideration."
M. Royal and the priests returned to the North-West
down-spirited enough, and Mr. Macpherson sailed for
England, while the half-breeds were making up their minds
to obtain by force the rights which they had failed to
obtain through peaceable means and persistent prayer.