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 have 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 absolutely just. The exercise of both sympathy and intelligence seems to be a special necessity in treating of the present outbreak and the Government'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 of 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 responsibility 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.

W

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 writer would gain by experience, one learns the wisdom of keeping silence 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 remarked, 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,

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 knowledge 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 introducing the subject.

What then are the facts of the case, and where lies responsibility 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 Department of the Interior responsible, and to arraign the Government 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 political 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 Government, 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 political history, still less a partisan one; nor are we even sitting on a Commission of Inquiry. What facts are before us we

shall deal with impartially, knowing neither party in our conference 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 in 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 disturbed; 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 hereafter to inhabit any part of the said ceded tracts; and that they will not molest the person or property of any inhabitant