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 ratifying 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 territory were to be settled by the purchasing party.

Such were the terms on which the Canadian Government acquired this vast territory, 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 calculated that there is agricultural lands sufficient to support a population of twenty-five millions. In acquiring this great possession, the next step was to provide it with some terri

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 halfhearted in its purpose to acquire and enter into possession of the territory. Our public men, it may at least be said, appreciated the value of the domain the country had just acquired. With spirit they determined that it should at once be opened up. 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 Hudson 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.

da, on of

MONSIEUR W. MACDOUGALL.

MONSIEUR,-Le Comité national des Métis de la Rivière Rouge intime à Monsieur W. Macdougall l'ordre de ne pas entrer sur le territoire du nordouest, sans une permission spéciale de ce Comité. Par ordre du Président, John Bruce,

Daté à St. Norbert, Rivière Rouge,

LOUIS RIEL,

Secrétaire.*

ce 21e jour d'octobre, 1869.

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 éclat 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 Métis (Half-breeds) of the Red River order Mr. W. Macdougall not to enter the territory of the North-West without the special permission of this Committee. By order of the President, John Bruce, LOUIS RIEL. Secretary.

Dated at St. Norbert, Red River,

the 21st Oct., 1869,

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 Settlement, 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 circumstances, 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 Company traders, who were sullen at the recent trend of affairs, 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 disaffection, and busily to distribute the apples of discord. Finally,

there was Nova Scotia, in the person of the Hon. Joseph Howe, who, in his recent visit 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 Halfbreed 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 mixture 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 difference 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 condition 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 divergent 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 States. Add still the influence of a restless but imbecile Fenian