SAYER AND LIBERTY.
Stone forts and ermined judges were not, to the mind of the unbridled
and ungovernable Metis. True, the French mind has a love for show and
circumstance and dignity of demeanor, but the conviction had taken hold
of the people of Red River, and especially of the French half-breeds,
that these meant curtailment of their freedom. They felt the dice were
loaded against them.
But, now, in the year after Sinclair and his friends had shown such a
firm front to Governor Christie, and when something like a feudal system
was being introduced into the Red River Settlement, a new surprise came
upon French and English alike. This was immediately after the terrible
visitation of a plague, which had cut down one-sixteenth of the whole
population. It was the arrival of a party of the Sixth Royal Regiment of
Foot, along with artillery and engineers, amounting in all to five
hundred souls. The breath of the people was taken away by this
demonstration of force, and a chronicler of the time says: "From the
moment they arrived the high tone of lawless defiance and internal
disaffection raised by our people against the laws and the authorities
of the place were reduced to silence." Colonel Crofton, in command of
the troops, was appointed Governor of the Settlement, and he proved a
wise and honorable administrator. The regiment gained golden opinions
from the people, and as they spent during their short stay of two years,
a sum of £15,000 in supplies, it was, indeed, a golden age for the
hard-working Colonists. The leaving of the regiment was regretted by the
Colony.
Having now entered on a career of government by force, it would not do
to let it drop. Hence the authorities enlisted in Britain a number of
old pensioners, and under command of Major Caldwell, who was also to act
as Governor of the Settlement, sent out, in each of two successive
years, some seventy of these discharged soldiers to act as guardians of
the peace. It was pretty well agreed that these men, to whom were given
holdings of small pieces of land to the west of Fort Garry, now in the
St. James District of Winnipeg, were simply imitators in conduct and
disposition of the De Meurons, who had so vexed the Colonists. Major
Caldwell, too, by his lack of business habits and his selfishness,
alienated all the leading men of the Colony, so that they refused to sit
with him in Council. It was the common opinion that the turbulence and
violence of the pensioners was so great that, as one of the Company
said, "We have more trouble with the pensioners than with all the rest
of the Settlement put together." The pensioners were certainly
absolutely useless for the purpose for which they had been sent, that is
to preserve order in the country. The Metis, at any rate, spoke of them
with derision.
[Illustration: PLAN OF FORT GARRY]
In the year following the removal of the troops the policy of preventing
the French half-breeds from buying and selling furs with the Indians was
being carried out by Judge Thom, the relentless ogre of the law. Four
men of the Metis had been arrested; of these the leader was William
Sayer. He was the half-breed son of an old French bourgeois of the
Northwest Company. He had been liberated on bail, and was to come up for
trial in May. The charge against him was of buying goods with which to
go on a trading expedition to Lake Manitoba.
Possibly the case would be easily disposed of, and most likely dismissed
with a trifling fine, although it was true that Sayer had made a stiff
resistance on his being arrested. This violent resistance was but an
example of the bitter and dangerous spirit that was developing among the
Metis.
A brave and restless man was now growing to have a dominating influence
over the French half-breeds. This was Louis Riel, a fierce and noisy
revolutionist, ready for any extremity. He was a French half-breed, was
owner of a small flour mill on the Seine River, and he was the father of
the rebel chief of later years. The day fixed for the Sayer trial by the
legal authorities was a most unfortunate one. It was on May 17th, which
on that year was Ascension Day, a day of obligation among the Catholic
people of the Settlement. It was noticeable that there was much ferment
in the French parishes. Louis Riel, who was a violent, but effective
speaker, of French, Irish and Indian descent, busied himself in stirring
up resistance. The fact that it was a Church day for the Metis made it
easy for them to gather together. This they did by hundreds in front of
the St. Boniface Cathedral, where, piling up their guns, with which all
the men were armed, at the Church door, they then entered and performed
their sacred duties. At the close of the service, Riel, "the miller of
the Seine," made a fiery oration, advocating the rescue of their
compatriot Sayer, who was to be held for trial at the Court House. A
French sympathizer said of this public meeting: "Louis Riel obtained a
veritable triumph on that occasion, and long and loud the hurrahs were
repeated by the echoes of the Red River."
And now, under Riel's direction, by a concerted action, movement of the
whole body was made to cross the Red River and march to the Court House,
which stood beside the wall of Fort Garry. To allow the five hundred men
to cross easily, Point Douglas was selected, and here by ferry boats,
said to have been provided by James Sinclair, the English half-breed
leader of whom we have spoken, the party crossed, and worked up to the
highest pitch of excitement, stalked up the mile or two to the Court
House.
[Illustration: PLAN OF FORT GARRY South portion with stone wall
and bastions built in 1835. North portion with wooden wall and
stone north gate still standing, built in 1850.]
Though somewhat anxious, the Governor and Court officials passed through
the excited crowd which surrounded the Court House. It was expected that
the Governor would order out a guard of pensioners to protect the Court,
but he had dispensed with this, and so he, Recorder Thom, and the
Magistrate, took their seats upon the elevated platform of Justice
precisely at eleven o'clock. Sayer's case was called first, but he was
held by the Metis outside of the Court room. Other unimportant business
was then taken up until one o'clock. An Irish relative of old Andrew
McDermott, named McLaughlin, attempted to interfere, but was instantly
suppressed. The Court then sent a suggestion to the Metis that they
should appoint a leader with a deputation to enter the Court room with
Sayer and state their case. This proposal was accepted, and James
Sinclair, the English half-breed leader, undertook the duty. Sayer was
then brought in, guarded by twenty of his compatriots, fully armed,
while fifty Metis guards stood at the gates of the Court House
enclosure. An attempt was then made to select a jury, but it was
fruitless. Sayer next confessed that he had traded for furs with an
Indian. The Court then gave a verdict of guilty, whereupon Sayer proved
that a Hudson's Bay officer named Harriott, had given him authority to
trade. The other three cases against the Metis were not proceeded with,
and Governor, Recorder, officials and spectators all left the Court
room, the mob being of the impression that the prisoners had been
acquitted, and that trading for furs was no longer illegal. Though this
was not the decision yet the crowd so took it up, and made the welkin
ring with shouts (Le Commerce est libre, vive la liberté) "Commerce is
free, long live liberty."
The Metis then crossed the river to St. Boniface, and after much
cheering, fired several salutes with their guns. It was their victory,
but it was one in which the vast mass of the English-speaking rejoiced
for the bands of tyranny were broken. Judge Thom, under instructions
from Governor Simpson, never acted as Recorder again, but was simply
Secretary of the Court, and another reigned in his stead. After this the
Court was largely without authority, and as has been said the rescue of
prisoners was not an infrequent occurrence in the future life of the
Settlement.