Council of Hudson's Bay CompanyCOUNCIL OF HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY COMMISSIONED OFFICERS HELD IN WINNIPEG, 1887.(SeeAppendix Gfor names.)
COUNCIL OF HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY COMMISSIONED OFFICERS HELD IN WINNIPEG, 1887.(SeeAppendix Gfor names.)
CANADA COVETS THE HUDSON'S BAY TERRITORY.
Renewal of licence—Labouchere's letter—Canada claims to Pacific Ocean—Commissioner Chief-Justice Draper—Rests on Quebec Act, 1774—Quebec overlaps Indian territories—Company loses Vancouver Island—Cauchon's memorandum—Committee of 1857—Company on trial—A brilliant committee—Four hundred folios of evidence—To transfer Red River and Saskatchewan—Death of Sir George—Governor Dallas—A cunning scheme—Secret negotiations—The Watkin Company floated—Angry winterers—Dallas's soothing circular—The old order still—Ermatinger's letters—McDougall's resolutions—Cartier and McDougall as delegates—Company accepts the terms.
Asis well known to those who have followed the history of the Hudson's Bay Company, while the possession of Rupert's Land was secured by charter, the territory outside Rupert's Land was secured to the Company by licence. This licence ended every twenty-one years. The licence in force at the time of the troubles which have been described was to terminate in 1859. Accordingly, three or four years before this date, as their Athabasca, New Caledonia, and British Columbia possessions had become of great value to them, the Company with due foresight approached the British Government with a request for the renewal of their tenure. Men of understanding on both sides of the Atlantic saw the possible danger of a refusal to their request, on account of the popular ferment which had taken place both in Red River and British Columbia. Others thought the time had come for ending the power of the Company.
Sir Henry Labouchere, Secretary of State for the Colonies, entered into correspondence with Sir Edmund Head, Governor-General of Canada, on the subject. Anxious about the state of things in every part of the Empire as the Colonial Office always is, the turbulence and defiance of law in Red River settlement called for special attention. Accordingly the Governor-General was informed that it was the intention of the Home Government to have, not only the question of the licence discussed, but also the "general position and prospects" of the Company considered, by a Committee of the House of Commons. The Canadian Government was therefore cordially invited to have its views, as well as those of the Canadian community, represented before the Committee.
This invitation was the thing for which Canada had been waiting. A despatch was sent by the Canadian Government, in less than seven weeks from the time when the invitation left Downing Street, accepting the proposal of the Mother Country. The Canadian Ministry was pleased that British-American affairs were receiving such prominent notice in England. It suggested the importance of determining the limits of Canada on the side towards Rupert's Land, and went on to state that the general opinion strongly held in the New World was "that the western boundary of Canada extends to the Pacific Ocean." Reference is made to the danger of complications arising with the United States, and the statement advanced that the "question of the jurisdiction and title claimed by the Hudson's Bay Company is to Canada of paramount importance."
In 1857 Chief Justice Draper crossed to Great Britain as Canadian representative, with a very wide commission to advance Canadian interests. He was called before the Committee appointed by the House of Commons, and answered nearly two hundred questions relating to Canada and to the Hudson's Bay Company interests in Rupert's Land and beyond. The capable and active-minded Chief Justice kept before the Committee these points:—
(1) What he conceived to be the true western boundary of Canada, and in so doing gave his opinion, based on the Quebec Act of 1774, that Canada should be allowed to extend to the Rocky Mountains and should have the privilege of exploring and building roads in that region.
(2) The earnest desire of the Canadian people that Rupert's Land and the Indian territories should be maintained as British territory.
(3) That Canada should be allowed to extend her settlements into these territories.
Chief Justice Draper argued his case with great clearness and cogency, and made an excellent impression upon the Committee.
The matter of the Company's hold on Vancouver Island seems to have been settled without any great difficulty. Mr. Richard Blanshard, the former Governor, who received so cool a reception in Vancouver Island, gave a plain and unvarnished tale. The Company had evidently made up its mind to surrender all its claims to Vancouver Island. And the island, as we have seen, became independent.
Canada entered with great spirit into the case presented before the Committee. The question of the licence was quite overshadowed by the wider discussion covering the validity of the Hudson's Bay Company charter, the original boundary line of the province of Canada, and the manner in which the Company had carried out its responsibilities. An industrious minister of the Canadian Government, Hon. Joseph Cauchon, with true Gallic fire and a French Canadian spirit, prepared a memorandum of a most elaborate kind on the Hudson's Bay Company's claim and status. In this, Mr. Cauchon goes back to the earliest times, shows the limits of occupation by the French explorers, follows down the line of connection established by the North-West traders, deals with the troubles of Lord Selkirk, and concludes that the Red River and the Saskatchewan are not within the limits of the Company's charter. This vigorous writer then deals with the Treaty of Paris, the Quebec Act, and the discoveries of Canadian subjects as giving Canada a Jurisdiction even to the Rocky Mountains.
As might have been expected, the Committee of 1857 became a famous one. The whole economy of the Company was discussed. The ground gone over by Isbister and others during the preceding decade supplied the members with material, and the proceedings of the Committee became notable for their interest. The Committee held eighteen meetings, examined twenty-nine witnesses, and thoroughly sifted the evidence.
Thepersonnelof the Committee was brilliant. The Secretary of State was Chairman. Mr. Roebuck and Mr. Gladstone represented the inquiring and aggressive element. Lord Stanley and Lord John Russell added their experience, Edward Ellice—"the Old Bear"—watched the case for the Company, and Mr. Lowe and Sir John Pakington took a lively interest in the proceedings and often interposed. Altogether the Committee was constituted for active service, and every nook and cranny of Rupert's Land and the adjoining territories was thoroughly investigated.
Among the witnesses was the distinguished Governor Simpson. He was at his best. Mr. Roebuck and he had many a skirmish, and although Sir George was often driven into a corner, yet with surprising agility he recovered himself. Old explorers such as John Ross, Dr. Rae, Col. Lefroy, Sir John Richardson, Col. Crofton, Bishop Anderson, Col. Caldwell, and Dr. King, gave information as to having visited Rupert's Land at different periods. Their evidence was fair, with, as could be expected in most cases, a "good word" for the Company. Rev. Mr. Corbett gave testimony against the Company, Governor Blanshard in the same strain, A. K. Isbister, considerably moderated in his opposition, gave evidence as a native who had travelled in the country, while John McLoughlin, a rash and heady agitator, told of the excitement in Red River settlement. Edward Ellice became a witness as well as a member of the Committee, and with adroitness covered the retreat of any of his witnesses when necessity arose.
From time to time, from February to the end of July, the Committee met, and gathered a vast amount of evidence, making four hundred pages of printed matter. It is a thesaurus of Hudson's Bay Company material. It revealed not only the localities of this unknown land to England and the world, but made everyone familiar with the secret methods, devices, and working of the fur trade over a space of well-nigh half a continent. The Committee decided to recommend to Parliament that it is "important to meet the just and reasonable wishes of Canada to assume such territory as may be useful for settlement; that the districts of the Red River and the Saskatchewan seem the most available; and that for the order and good government of the country," arrangements should be made for their cession to Canada. It was also agreed that those regions where settlement is impossible be left to the exclusive control of the Hudson's Bay Company for the fur trade. The Committee not only recommended that Vancouver Island should be made independent, but that the territory of the mainland in British Columbia should be united with it.
Four years after the sitting of this Committee, which gave such anxiety to the Hudson's Bay Company, Sir George Simpson, after a very short illness, passed away, having served as Governor for forty years. In an earlier chapter his place and influence have been estimated and his merits and defects shown.
Sir George, in his high office as Governor of Rupert's Land, was succeeded by A. J. Dallas, a Scottish merchant, who had been in business in China, had retired, and afterwards acted as Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Victoria, in Vancouver Island, and had then married the daughter of Governor James Douglas. Dallas had shown great nerve and judgment in British Columbia, in a serious brush with the United States authorities in 1859. Three years after this event he was called to succeed the great Governor of Rupert's Land. On his appointment to this high position, he took up his residence at Fort Garry, and had, in conjunction with the local Governor, William McTavish, to face the rising tide of dissatisfaction which showed itself in the Corbett and Stewart rescues. Writers of the period state that Dallas lacked the dignity and tact of old Sir George. In his letters, however, Governor Dallas shows that he thoroughly appreciated the serious state of matters. He says: "I have had great difficulty in persuading the magistrates to continue to act. Mr. William McTavish, Governor of Assiniboia, has resigned his post." Governor Dallas says he "finds himself with all the responsibility and semblance of authority over a vast territory, but unsupported, if not ignored, by the Crown." He states that people do not object to thepersonnelof the Hudson's Bay Company government, but to the "system of government." He fears the formation of a provisional government, and a movement for annexation to the United States, which had been threatened. He is of opinion that the "territorial right should revert to the Crown." These are strong, honest words for an official of the Company whose rule had prevailed for some two centuries.
And now Governor Dallas appears co-operating in an ingenious and adroit financial scheme with Mr. E. W. Watkin, a member of the British House of Commons, by which the Hudson's Bay Company property changed hands. Edward Watkin was a financial agent, who had much to do with the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, and had an intimate knowledge of Canadian affairs. He had succeeded in interesting the Colonial Secretary of State, the Duke of Newcastle, in a railway, road, and telegraphic scheme for connecting the British possessions in North America.
Difficulties having arisen in inducing staid old Governor Berens, the London head of the Company, to accept modern ideas, a plan was broached of buying out the whole Hudson's Bay Company possessions and rights. Difficulty after difficulty was met and surmounted, and though many a time the scheme seemed hopeless, yet in the end it succeeded, though not without much friction and heart-burning. Watkin describes graphically the first interview between three members of the Hudson's Bay Company, Berens, Eden Colville, and Lyall, of the first part, and Glynn, Newmarch, himself, and three other capitalists of the second part. The meeting took place in the Hudson's Bay Company House, Fenchurch Street, February 1st, 1862. "The room was the 'Court' room, dark and dirty, faded green cloth, old chairs almost black, and a fine picture of Prince Rupert. Governor Berens, an old man and obstinate, was somewhat insulting in his manner. We took it patiently." It was a day of fate for the old Company.
Many interviews afterwards took place between Watkin and the accountant and solicitors of the Company. The Company would hear of no dealings, except on the basis of a cash payment. The men of capital accordingly succeeded in interesting the "International Financial Association," a new corporation looking for some great scheme to lay before the public.
At length the whole shares, property, and rights of the Hudson's Bay Company were taken over, the final arrangements being made by Mr. Richard Potter on June 1st, 1863. Thus the Company begun in so small a way by Prince Rupert and his associates nearly two centuries before, sold out, and the purchase money of one and a half millions of pounds was paid over the counter to the old Company by the new Association.
A new company was now to be organized whose stock would be open for purchase, and the International Association would, on such organization being formed, hand over the Company's assets to the new stockholders. In a short time the Company was reconstituted, Sir Edmund Head being the new Governor, with, as prominent members of the Board of Directors, Richard Potter, Eden Colville, E. B. Watkin, and an American fur trader of experience, Sir Curtis Lampson.
Secretly as the negotiations for the formation of a new company had been conducted, the news of the affair reached Canada and Rupert's Land, and led to anxious inquiries being made and to a memorial from the Company's officers being presented to the Board of Directors asking for information. So thoroughly secret had the interviews between the London parties been carried on that the officials of the London office knew nothing of them, and stated in their reply to the memorialists that the rumours were incorrect. In July, when the transfer had been consummated and the news of it appeared in the public press, it created surprise and indignation among the chief factors and chief traders, who, under the deed poll or Company arrangement which had been adopted in 1821, though somewhat modified thirteen years later, had been regarded as having certain partnership rights in the Company.
Mr. Edward Watkin informs us, in his interesting "Reminiscences," that he had intended that the "wintering partners," as the officers in Rupert's Land were called, should have been individually communicated with, but that on account of his hasty departure to Canada the matter had been overlooked. It certainly was irritating to the officers of the fur trade to learn for the first time from the public press of an arrangement being perfected involving their whole private interests.
Watkin expresses his great apprehension lest the news in a distorted form should reach the distant regions of the fur country, where the Company had one hundred and forty-four posts, covering the continent from Labrador to Sitka, Vancouver Island and San Francisco. He feared also that there would be a new company formed to occupy the ground with the old.
On reaching Canada, Mr. Watkin was agreeably surprised at the arrival of Governor Dallas from Red River in Montreal. After consultation it was decided on that the Governor should send a conciliatory circular to the commissioned officers of the Company, explaining the objects of the new Company, and stating that all the interests of the wintering partners would be conserved. It is evident that the attitude of the officers had alarmed even such stout-hearted men as Watkin and Dallas. There lies before the writer also a personal letter, dated London, July 23rd, 1863, signed by Edmund Head, Governor, to a chief trader of the Company, stating that it was the intention of the Committee "to carry on the fur trade as it has been hitherto carried on, under the provisions of the deed poll." None of the collateral objects of the Company "should interfere with the fur trade." He begs the officers to "have with him free and unreserved communication through the usual channel." Evidently the echo of the angry voices in Athabasca had been heard in London.
The old deed poll, which they had intended to suspend, as shown by Watkin, was thus preserved. This document secured them as follows: According to both deed polls of 1821 and 1834, forty per cent. of the net profits of the trade, divided into eighty-five shares of equal amount, were distributed annually among the wintering partners of the Company. A chief trader received an eighty-fifth share of the profits, and a chief factor two eighty-fifth shares. Both had certain rights after retiring.
The proposed abolition of these terms of the deed poll and the substitution therefor of certain salaries with the avowed purpose of reducing the expenses, of course meant loss to every wintering partner. The interests thus involved justified the most strenuous opposition on the part of the partners, and, unless the proposal were modified, would almost certainly have led to a disruption of the Company.
In harmony with Governor Head's circular letter no action in the direction contemplated was taken until 1871, when, on the receipt of the three hundred thousand pounds voted by Canada to the Company, the sum of one hundred and seven thousand and fifty-five pounds was applied to buying out the vested rights of the wintering partners, and the agitation was quieted.
The effect of the arrangement made for the payment of officers of the Company since 1871, as compared with their previous remuneration, has been a subject of discussion.
There lies before the writer an elaborate calculation by an old Hudson's Bay Company officer to the effect that under the old deed poll a chief factor would receive two eighty-fifth shares, his total average being seven hundred and twenty pounds per annum; and under the new (taking the average of twenty-five years) two and one half-hundredths shares, amounting to five hundred and thirty-two pounds annually, or a loss nearly of one hundred and eighty-eight pounds; similarly that a chief trader would receive three hundred and nineteen pounds, as against three hundred and sixty formerly, or a loss per annum of forty-one pounds.
Besides this, the number of higher commissioned officers was reduced when the old deed poll was cancelled, so that the stockholders received the advantage from there being fewer officials, also the chances of promotion to higher offices were diminished.
During the progress of these internal dissensions of the Hudson's Bay Company public opinion had been gradually maturing in Canada in favour of acquiring at least a portion of Rupert's Land. At the time of the Special Committee of 1857, it will be remembered the Hind-Gladman expedition had gone to spy out the land. A company, called the North-West Transportation Company, was about the same time organized in Toronto to carry goods and open communication from Fort William by way of the old fur traders' route to Fort Garry.
The merits and demerits of the north-western prairies were discussed in the public press of Canada. Edward Ermatinger, whose name has been already mentioned, was a steady supporter of the claim of the Hudson's Bay Company in a series of well-written letters in theHamilton Spectator, a journal of Upper Canada. Taking the usual line of argument followed by the Company, he showed the small value of the country, its inhospitable climate, its inaccessibility, and magnified the legal claim of the Hudson's Bay Company against the Canadian contention. It is amusing to read in after years, when his opinion of Sir George Simpson was changed, his declaration of regret at having been led to so strenuously present his views in theSpectator.
Ten years had passed after the setting of the great Committee of 1857, and nothing practical as to the transfer of the country to Canada had been accomplished. The confederation movement had now widened the horizon of Canadian public men. In the very year of the confederation of the Canadian provinces (1867), Hon. William McDougall, who had been a persistent advocate of the Canadian claim to the North-West, moved in the Dominion Parliament a series of resolutions, which were carried. These resolutions showed the advantage, both to Canada and the Empire, of the Dominion being extended to the Pacific Ocean; that settlement, commerce, and development of the resources of the country are dependent on a stable Government being established; that the welfare of the Red River settlers would be enhanced by this means; that provision was contained in the British North-American Act for the admission of Rupert's Land and the North-West territory to the Dominion; that this wide country should be united to Canada; that in case of union the legal rights of any corporation, as the Hudson's Bay Company, association, or individual should be respected; that this should be settled judicially or by agreement; that the Indian title should be legally extinguished; and that an address be made to Her Majesty to this effect. The resolutions were carried by a large majority of the House. This was a bold and well-conceived step, and the era of discussion and hesitancy seemed to have passed away in favour of a policy of action.
The Hudson's Bay Company, however, insisted on an understanding being come to as to terms before giving consent to the proposed action, and a despatch to the Dominion Government from Her Majesty's Government called attention to this fact. As soon as convenient, a delegation, consisting of Hon. George E. Cartier and Hon. William McDougall, proceeded to England to negotiate with the Company as to terms. The path of the delegates on reaching England proved a thorny one. The attitude of the Imperial Government was plainly in favour of recognizing some legal value in the chartered rights of the Company, a thing denied by some, specially Mr. McDougall. No progress was being made. At this juncture D'Israeli's Government was defeated, and a delay resulted in waiting for a new Government. Earl Granville was the new Secretary of State for the Colonies. While negotiations were going on, the Hudson's Bay Company sent in to the Secretary of State a rather hot complaint that Canadian surveyors and road builders had entered upon their territory to the west of the Lake of the Woods. This was quite true, but the action had been taken by the Canadian Government under the impression that all parties would willingly agree to it. Not being at this juncture able to settle anything, the commissioners returned to Canada.
The Imperial Government was, however, in earnest in the matter, and pressed the Hudson's Bay Company to consent to reasonable terms, the more that the government by the Company in Red River was not satisfactory—an indisputable fact. At length the Company felt bound to accept the proposed terms. The main provisions of bargain were that the Company should surrender all rights in Rupert's Land; that Canada pay the Company the sum of three hundred thousand pounds; that the Company be allowed certain blocks of land around their posts; that they be given one-twentieth of the arable land of the country; and that the Company should be allowed every privilege in carrying on trade as a regular trading company. Thus was the concession of generous Charles the Second surrendered after two centuries of honourable occupation.
TROUBLES OF THE TRANSFER OF RUPERT'S LAND.
Transfer Act passed—A moribund government—The Canadian surveying party—Causes of the rebellion—Turbulent Metis—American interference—Disloyal ecclesiastics—Governor McDougall—Riel and his rebel band—A blameworthy Governor—The "blawsted fence"—Seizure of Fort Garry—Riel's ambitions—Loyal rising—Three wise men from the East—The New Nation—A winter meeting—Bill of Rights—Canadian shot—The Wolseley expedition—Three renegades slink away—The end of Company rule—The new Province of Manitoba.
Theold Company had agreed to the bargain, and the Imperial Act was passed authorizing the transfer of the vast territory east of the Rocky Mountains to Canada. Canada, with the strengthening national spirit rising from the young confederation, with pleasure saw the Dominion Government place in the estimates the three hundred thousand pounds for the payment of the Hudson's Bay Company, and an Act was passed by the Dominion Parliament providing for a government of the north-west territories, which would secure the administration of justice, and the peace, order, and good government of Her Majesty's subjects and others. It was enacted, however, that all laws of the territory at the time of the passing of the Act should remain in force until amended or repealed, and all officers except the chief to continue in office until others were appointed.
And now began the most miserable and disreputable exhibition of decrepitude, imbecility, jesuitry, foreign interference, blundering, and rash patriotism ever witnessed in the fur traders' country. This was known as the Red River rebellion. The writer arrived in Fort Garry the year following this wretched affair, made the acquaintance of many of the actors in the rebellion, and heard their stories. The real, deep significance of this rebellion has never been fully made known. Whether the writer will succeed in telling the whole tale remains to be seen.
The Hudson's Bay Company officials at Red River were still the government. This fact must be distinctly borne in mind. It has been stated, however, that this government had become hopelessly weak and inefficient. Governor Dallas, in the words quoted, admitted this and lamented over it. Were there any doubt in regard to this statement, it was shown by the utter defiance of the law in the breaking of jail in the three cases of Corbett, Stewart, and Dr. Schultz. No government could retain respect when the solemn behests of its courts were laughed at and despised. This is the real reason lying at the root of the apathy of the English-speaking people of the Red River in dealing with the rebellion. They were not cowards; they sprang from ancestors who had fought Britain's battles; they were intelligent and moral; they loved their homes and were prepared to defend them; but they had no guarantee of leadership; they had no assurance that their efforts would be given even the colour of legality; the broken-down jail outside Fort Garry, its uprooted stockades and helpless old jailor, were the symbol of governmental decrepitude and were the sport of any determined law-breaker.
It has been the habit of their opponents to refer to the annoyance of the Hudson's Bay Company Committee in London with Canada for in 1869 sending surveyors to examine the country before the transfer was made. Reference has also been made to the dissatisfaction of the local officers at the action taken by the Company in dealing with the deed poll in 1863; some have said that the Hudson's Bay Company officials at Fort Garry did not admire the Canadian leaders as they saw them; and others have maintained that these officers cared nothing for the country, provided they received large enough dividends as wintering partners.
South and East Faces 1840SOUTH AND EAST FACES, 1840.From sketch by wife of Governor Finlayson.
SOUTH AND EAST FACES, 1840.From sketch by wife of Governor Finlayson.
East Face in 1862EAST FACE, IN YEAR 1882, WHEN FORT WAS DISMANTLED.X Spot where Scott was executed.
EAST FACE, IN YEAR 1882, WHEN FORT WAS DISMANTLED.X Spot where Scott was executed.
FORT GARRY—WINTER SCENES.
Now, there may be something in these contentions, but they do not touch the core of the matter. The Hudson's Bay Company, both in London and Fort Garry, were thoroughly loyal to British institutions; the officers were educated, responsible, and high-minded men; they had acted up to their light in a thoroughly honourable manner, and no mere prejudice, or fancied grievance, or personal dislike would have made them untrue to their trusts. But the government had become decrepit; vacillation and uncertainty characterized every act; had the people been behind them, had they not felt that the people distrusted them, they would have taken action, as it was their duty to do.
The chronic condition of helplessness and governmental decay was emphasized and increased by a sad circumstance. Governor William McTavish, an honourable and well-meaning man, was sick. In the midst of the troubles of 1863 he would willingly have resigned, as Governor Dallas assures us; now he was physically incapable of the energy and decision requisite under the circumstances. Moreover, as we shall see, there was a most insidious and dangerous influence dogging his every step. His subordinates would not act without him, he could not act without them, and thus an absolute deadlock ensued. Moreover, the Council of Assiniboia, an appointed body, had felt itself for years out of touch with the sentiment of the colony, and its efforts at legislation resulted in no improvement of the condition of things. Woe to a country ruled by an oligarchy, however well-meaning or reputable such a body may be!
Turn now from this picture of pitiful weakness to the unaccountable and culpable blundering of the Canadian Government. Cartier and McDougall found out in England that sending in a party of surveyors before the country was transferred was offensive to the Hudson's Bay Company. More offensive still was the method of conducting the expedition. It was a mark of sublime stupidity to profess, as the Canadian Government did, to look upon the money spent on this survey as a benevolent device for relieving the people suffering from the grasshopper visitation. The genius who originated the plan of combining charity with gain should have been canonized. Moreover, the plan of contractor Snow of paying poor wages, delaying payment, and giving harsh treatment to such a people as the half-breeds are known to be was most ill advised. The evidently selfish and grasping spirit shown in this expedition sent to survey and build the Dawson Road, yet turning aside to claim unoccupied lands, to sow the seeds of doubt and suspicion in the minds of a people hitherto secluded from the world, was most unpatriotic and dangerous. It cannot be denied, in addition, that while many of the small band of Canadians were reputable and hard-working men, the course of a few prominent leaders, who had made an illegitimate use of the Nor'-Wester newspaper, had tended to keep the community in a state of alienation and turmoil.
What, then, were the conditions? A helpless, moribund government, without decision, without actual authority on the one hand, and on the other an irritating, selfish, and aggressive expedition, taking possession of the land before it was transferred to Canada, and assuming the air of conquerors.
Look now at the combustible elements awaiting this combination. The French half-breeds, descendants of the turbulent Bois Brûlés of Lord Selkirk's times; the old men, companions of Sayer and the elder Riel, who defied the authority of the court, and left it shouting, "Vive la liberté!" now irritated by the Dawson Road being built in the way just described; the road running through the seigniory given by Lord Selkirk to the Roman Catholic bishop, the road in rear of their largest settlements, and passing through another French settlement at Pointe des Chênes! Further, the lands adjacent to these settlements, and naturally connected with them, being seized by the intruders! Furthermore, the natives, antagonized by the action of certain Canadians who had for years maintained the country in a state of turmoil! Were there not all the elements of an explosion of a serious and dangerous kind?
Two other most important forces in this complicated state of things cannot be left out. The first of these is a matter which requires careful statement, but yet it is a most potential factor in the rebellion. This is the attitude of certain persons in the United States. For twenty years and more the trade of the Red River settlement had been largely carried on by way of St. Paul, in the State of Minnesota. The Hudson Bay route and York boat brigade were unable to compete with the facilities offered by the approach of the railway to the Mississippi River. Accordingly long lines of Red River carts took loads of furs to St. Paul and brought back freight for the Company. The Red River trade was a recognized source of profit in St. Paul. Familiarity in trade led to an interest on the part of the Americans in the public affairs of Red River. Hot-headed and sordid people in Red River settlement had actually spoken of the settlement being connected with the United States.
Now that irritation was manifested at Red River, steps were taken by private parties from the United States to fan the flame. At Pembina, on the border between Rupert's Land and the United States, lived a nest of desperadoes willing to take any steps to accomplish their purposes. They had access to all the mails which came from England to Canada marked "Vià Pembina." Pembina was an outpost refuge for law-breakers and outcasts from the United States. Its people used all their power to disturb the peace of Red River settlement. In addition, a considerable number of Americans had come to the little village of Winnipeg, now being begun near the walls of Fort Garry. These men held their private meetings, all looking to the creation of trouble and the provocation of feeling that might lead to change of allegiance. Furthermore, the writer is able to state, on the information of a man high in the service of Canada, and a man not unknown in Manitoba, that there was a large sum of money, of which an amount was named as high as one million dollars, which was available in St. Paul for the purpose of securing a hold by the Americans on the fertile plains of Rupert's Land.
Here, then, was an agency of most dangerous proportions, an element in the village of Winnipeg able to control the election of the first delegate to the convention, a desperate body of men on the border, who with Machiavelian persistence fanned the flame of discontent, and a reserve of power in St. Paul ready to take advantage of any emergency.
A still more insidious and threatening influence was at work. Here again the writer is aware of the gravity of the statement he is making, but he has evidence of the clearest kind for his position. A dangerous religious element in the country—ecclesiastics from old France—who had no love for Britain, no love for Canada, no love for any country, no love for society, no love for peace! These plotters were in close association with the half-breeds, dictated their policy, and freely mingled with the rebels. One of them was an intimate friend of the leader of the rebellion, consulted with him in his plans, and exercised a marked influence on his movements. This same foreign priest, with Jesuitical cunning, gave close attendance on the sick Governor, and through his family exercised a constant and detrimental power upon the only source of authority then in the land. Furthermore, an Irish student and teacher, with a Fenian hatred of all things British, was a "familiar" of the leader of the rebellion, and with true Milesian zeal advanced the cause of the revolt.
Can a more terrible combination be imagined than this? A decrepit government with the executive officer sick; a rebellious and chronically dissatisfied Metis element; a government at Ottawa far removed by distance, committing with unvarying regularity blunder after blunder; a greedy and foreign cabal planning to seize the country, and a secret Jesuitical plot to keep the Governor from action and to incite the fiery Metis to revolt!
The drama opens with the appointment, in September, 1869, by the Dominion Government, of the Hon. William McDougall as Lieutenant-Governor of the north-west territories, his departure from Toronto, and his arrival at Pembina, in the Dakota territory, in the end of October. He was accompanied by his family, a small staff, and three hundred stand of arms with ammunition. He had been preceded by the Hon. Joseph Howe, of the Dominion Government, who visited the Red River settlement ostensibly to feel the pulse of public opinion, but as Commissioner gaining little information. Mr. McDougall's commission as Governor was to take effect after the formal transfer of the territory. He reached Pembina, where he was served with a notice not to enter the territory, yet he crossed the boundary line at Pembina, and took possession of the Hudson's Bay Fort of West Lynn, two miles north of the boundary.
Meanwhile a storm was brewing along Red River. A young French half-breed, Louis Riel, son of the excitable miller of the Seine of whom mention was made—a young man, educated by the Roman Catholic Bishop Taché, of St. Boniface, for a time, and afterwards in Montreal, was regarded as the hope of the Metis. He was a young man of fair ability, but proud, vain, and assertive, and had the ambition to be a Cæsar or Napoleon. He with his followers had stopped the surveyors in their work, and threatened to throw off the approaching tyranny. Professing to be loyal to Britain but hostile to Canada, he succeeded, in October, in getting a small body of French half-breeds to seize the main highway at St. Norbert, some nine miles south of Fort Garry.
The message to Mr. McDougall not to enter the territory was forwarded by this body, that already considered itself thede factogovernment. A Canadian settler at once swore an affidavit before the officer in charge of Fort Garry that an armed party of French half-breeds had assembled to oppose the entrance of the Governor.
Here, then, was the hour of destiny. An outbreak had taken place, it was illegal to oppose any man entering the country, not to say a Governor, the fact of revolt was immediately brought to Fort Garry, and no amount of casuistry or apology can ever justify Governor McTavish, sick though he was, from immediately not taking action, and compelling his council to take action by summoning the law-abiding people to surround him and repress the revolt. But the government that would allow the defiance of the law by permitting men to live at liberty who had broken jail could not be expected to take action. To have done so would have been to work a miracle.
The rebellion went on apace; two of the so-called Governor's staff pushed on to the barricade erected at St. Norbert. Captain Cameron, one of them, with eyeglass in poise, and with affected authority, gave command, "Remove that blawsted fence," but the half-breeds were unyielding. The two messengers returned to Pembina, where they found Mr. McDougall likewise driven back and across the boundary. Did ever British prestige suffer a more humiliating blow?
The act of rebellion, usually dangerous, proved in this case a trivial one, and Riel's little band of forty or fifty badly-armed Metis began to grow. The mails were seized, freight coming into the country became booty, and the experiment of a rising was successful. In the meantime the authorities of Fort Garry were inactive. The rumour came that Riel thought of seizing the fort. An affidavit of the chief of police under the Government shows that he urged the master of Fort Garry to meet the danger, and asked authority to call upon a portion of the special police force sworn in, shortly before, to preserve the peace. No Governor spoke; no one even closed the fort as a precaution; its gates stood wide open to friend or foe.
This exhibition of helplessness encouraged the conspirators, and Riel and one hundred of his followers (November 2nd) unopposed took possession of the fort and quartered themselves upon the Company. In the front part of the fort lived the Governor; he was now flanked by a body-guard of rebels; the master of the fort, a burly son of Britain, though very gruff and out of sorts, could do nothing, and the young Napoleon of the Metis fattened on the best of the land.
Riel now issued a proclamation, calling on the English-speaking parishes of the settlement to elect twelve representatives to meet the President and representatives of the French-speaking population, appointing a meeting for twelve days afterwards.
Mr. McDougall, on hearing of the seizure of the fort, wrote to Governor McTavish stating that as the Hudson Bay Company was still the government, action should be taken to disperse the rebels. A number of loyal inhabitants also petitioned Governor McTavish to issue his proclamation calling on the rebels to disperse. The sick and helpless Governor, fourteen days after the seizure of the fort and twenty-three days after the affidavit of the rising, issued a tardy proclamation condemning the rebels and calling upon them to disperse. The Convention met November 16th, the English parishes having been cajoled into electing delegates, thinking thus to soothe the troubled land. After meeting and discussing in hot and useless words the state of affairs, the Convention adjourned till December 1st, it being evident, however, that Riel desired to form a provisional government of which he should be the joy and pride.
The day for the reassembling of the Convention arrived. Riel and his party insisted on ruling the meeting, and passed a "Bill of Rights" consisting of fifteen provisions. The English people refused to accept these propositions, and, after vainly endeavouring to take steps to meet Mr. McDougall, withdrew to their homes, ashamed and confounded.
Meanwhile Mr. McDougall was chafing at the strange and humiliating situation in which he found himself. With his family and staff poorly housed at Pembina and the severe winter coming on, he could scarcely be blamed for irritation and discontent. December 1st was the day on which he expected his commission as Governor to come into effect, and wonder of wonders, he, a lawyer, a privy councillor, and an experienced statesman, went so far on this mere supposition as to issue a proclamation announcing his appointment as Governor. As a matter of fact, far away from communication with Ottawa, he was mistaken as to the transfer. On account of the rise of the rebellion this had not been made, and Mr. McDougall, in issuing a spurious proclamation, became a thing of contempt to the insurgents, an object of pity to the loyalists, and the laughing-stock of the whole world. His proclamation at the same time authorizing Colonel Dennis, the Canadian surveyor in Red River settlement, to raise a force to put down the rebellion, was simply abrutum fulmen, and was the cause to innocent, well-meaning men of trouble and loss. Colonel Dennis succeeded in raising a force of some four hundred men, and would not probably have failed had it not transpired that the two proclamations were illegal and that the levies were consequently unauthorized. Such a thing to be carried out by William McDougall and Colonel Dennis, men of experience and ability! Surely there could be no greater fiasco!
The Canadian people were now in a state of the greatest excitement, and the Canadian Government, aware of its blundering and stupidity, hastened to rectify its mistakes. Commissioners were sent to negotiate with the various parties in Red River settlement. These were Vicar-General Thibault, who had spent long years in the Roman Catholic Missions of the North-West, Colonel de Salaberry, a French Canadian, and Mr. Donald A. Smith, the chief officer of the Hudson's Bay Company, then at Montreal. On the last of these Commissioners, who had been clothed with very wide powers, lay the chief responsibility, as will be readily seen.
A number of Canadians—nearly fifty—had been assembled in the store of Dr. Schultz, at the village of Winnipeg, and, on the failure of Mr. McDougall's proclamation, were left in a very awkward condition. With arms in their hands, they were looked upon by Riel as dangerous, and with promises of freedom and of the intention of Riel to meet McDougall and settle the whole matter, they (December 7th) surrendered. Safely in the fort and in the prison outside the wall, the prisoners were kept by the truce-breaker, and the Metis contingent celebrated the victory by numerous potations of rum taken from the Hudson's Bay Company stores.
Riel now took a step forward in issuing a proclamation, which has generally been attributed to the crippled postmaster at Pembina, one of the dangerous foreign clique longing to seize the settlement. He also hoisted a new flag, with the fleur-de-lis worked upon it, thus giving evidence of his disloyalty and impudence. Other acts of injustice, such as seizing Company funds and interfering with personal liberty, were committed by him.
On December 27th—a memorable day—Mr. Donald A. Smith arrived. His commission and papers were left at Pembina, and he went directly to Fort Garry, where Riel received him. The interview, given in Mr. Smith's own words, was a remarkable one. Riel vainly sought to induce the Commissioner to recognize his government, and yet was afraid to show disrespect to so high and honoured an officer. For about two months Commissioner Smith lived at Fort Garry, in a part of the same building as Governor McTavish.
Mr. Smith says of this period, "The state of matters at this time was most unsatisfactory and truly humiliating. Upwards of fifty British subjects were held in close confinement as political prisoners; security for persons or property there was none.... The leaders of the French half-breeds had declared their determination to use every effort for the purpose of annexing the territory to the United States."
Mr. Smith acted with great wisdom and decision. His plan evidently was to have no formal breach with Riel but gradually to undermine him, and secure a combination by which he could be overthrown. Many of the influential men of the settlement called upon Mr. Smith, and the affairs of the country were discussed. Riel was restless and at times impertinent, but the Commissioner exercised his Scottish caution, and bided his time.
At this time a newspaper, calledThe New Nation, appeared as the organ of the provisional government. This paper openly advocated annexation to the United States, thus showing the really dangerous nature of the movement embodied in the rebellion.
During all these months of the rebellion, Bishop Taché, the influential head of the Roman Catholic Church, had been absent in Rome at the great Council of that year. One of his most active priests left behind was Father Lestanc, the prince of plotters, who has generally been credited with belonging to the Jesuit Order. Lestanc had sedulously haunted the presence of the Governor; he was a daring and extreme man, and to him and his fellow-Frenchman, the curé of St. Norbert, much of Riel's obstinacy has been attributed. Commissioner Smith now used his opportunity to weaken Riel. He offered to send for his commission to Pembina, if he were allowed to meet the people. Riel consented to this. The commission was sent for, and Riel tried to intercept the messenger, but failed to do so. The meeting took place on January 19th. It was a date of note for Red River settlement. One thousand people assembled, and as there was no building capable of holding the people, the meeting took place in the open air, the temperature being twenty below zero.
The outcome of this meeting was the election and subsequent assembling of forty representatives—one half French, the other half English—to consider the matter of Commissioner Smith's message. Six days after the open-air meeting the Convention met. A second "Bill of Rights" was adopted, and it was agreed to send delegates to Ottawa to meet the Dominion Government. A provisional government was formed, at the request, it is said, of Governor McTavish, and Riel gained the height of his ambition in being made President, while the fledgling Fenian priest, O'Donoghue, became "Secretary of the Treasury."
The retention of the prisoners in captivity aroused a deep feeling in the country, and a movement originated in Portage La Prairie to rescue the unfortunates. This force was joined by recruits at Kildonan, making up six hundred in all. Awed by this gathering, Riel released the prisoners, though he was guilty of an act of deepest treachery in arresting nearly fifty of the Assiniboine levy as they were returning to their homes. Among them was Major Boulton, who afterwards narrowly escaped execution, and who has written an interesting account of the rebellion.
The failure of the two parties of loyalists, and their easy capture by Riel, raises the question of the wisdom of these efforts. No doubt the inspiring motive of these levies was in many cases true patriotism, and it reflects credit on them as men of British blood and British pluck, but the management of both was so unfortunate and so lacking in skill, that one is disposed, though lamenting their failures, to put these expeditions down as dictated by the greatest rashness.
The elevation of Riel served to awaken high ambitions. The late Archbishop Taché, in a later rebellion, characterized Riel as a remarkable example of inflated ambition, and called his state of mind that of "megalomania." Riel now became more irritable and domineering. He seemed also bitter against the English for the signs of insubordination appearing in all the parishes. The influence of the violent and dastardly Lestanc was strong upon him. The anxious President now determined to awe the English, and condemned for execution a young Irish Canadian prisoner named Thomas Scott. Commissioner Smith and a number of influential inhabitants did everything possible to dissuade Riel, but he persisted, and Scott was publicly executed near Fort Garry on March 4th, 1870.
"Whom the gods destroy, they first make mad." The execution of Scott was the death-knell of Riel's hopes. Canada was roused to its centre. Determined to have no further communication with Riel, Commissioner Smith as soon as possible left Fort Garry and returned to Canada.
The arrival of Bishop Taché, who had returned at the request of the Canadian Government, took place in due time. Probably the real attitude of Bishop Taché will never be known, though his strong French Canadian associations and love of British connection make it seem hardly possible that he could have been implicated in the rebellion. Bishop Taché endeavoured to overcome the terrible mistake of Riel. Commissioners were despatched to Ottawa, the most important of them Father Ritchot, of St. Norbert, whose hand had been in the plot from the beginning. Carrying down a "Bill of Rights" from the provisional government, which, however, there is clear evidence Ritchot and others took the liberty of altering, they were instrumental in having a Bill passed through the Dominion Parliament, establishing Manitoba as a province.
For the establishment of peace, an expedition was organized by Canada, consisting of British regulars and Canadian volunteers, under Colonel Wolseley. Coming from Canada up the fur-traders' route, through Lake of the Woods, down Winnipeg River, across Lake Winnipeg, and up the Red River, the expedition arrived, to the great joy of the suffering people of the settlement, on August 24th, 1870. After eleven months of the most torturing anxiety had been endured, the sight of the rescuing soldiery sent the blood pulsing again through their veins. As the troops approached Fort Garry, three slinking figures were seen to leave the fort and escape across the Assiniboine. These were the "President Riel," "Adjutant-General" Lepine, and the scoundrel O'Donoghue. "They folded their tents like the Arabs, and as silently stole away." Colonel Wolseley says, "The troops then formed line outside the fort, the Union Jack was hoisted, a royal salute fired, and three cheers were given for the Queen, which were caught up and heartily re-echoed by many of the civilians and settlers who had followed the troops from the village."
The transfer of Rupert's Land had been completed, and the governing power of the famous old Company was a thing of the past.
PRESENT STATUS OF THE COMPANY.
A great land Company—Fort Garry dismantled—The new buildings—Newv.Old—New life in the Company—Palmy days are recalled—Governors of ability—The present distinguished Governor—Vaster operations—Its eye not dimmed.
Relievedof the burden of government, the Hudson's Bay Company threw itself heartily into the work of developing its resources. Mr. Donald A. Smith, who had done so much to undermine the power of Riel, returned to Manitoba as Chief Commissioner of the Company, and proceeded to manage its affairs in the altered conditions of the country. Representing enormous interests in the North-West, Mr. Smith entered the first local legislature at Winnipeg, and soon after became for a time a member of the Canadian House of Commons. One of the most important matters needing attention was the land interests of the Company. The Company claimed five hundred acres around Fort Garry. This great tract of land, covering now one of the most important parts of the City of Winnipeg, was used as a camping-ground, where the traders from the far west posts, even as far as Edmonton, made their "corrals" and camped during their stay at the capital. Some opposition was developed to this claim, but the block of land was at length handed over to the Company, fifty acres being reserved for public purposes.
The allotment of wild land to the Company of one-twentieth went on in each township as it was surveyed, and though all this land is taxable, yet it has become a great source of revenue to the Company. Important sites and parcels of land all over the country have helped to swell its resources.
The great matter of adapting its agencies to meet the changed conditions of trade was a difficult thing. The methods of two centuries could not be changed in a day. The greatest difficulty lay in the officers and men remote from the important centres. It was reported that in many of the posts no thorough method of book-keeping prevailed. The dissatisfaction arising from the sale made by the Company in 1863, and the uncertainty as to the deed poll, no doubt introduced an element of fault-finding and discontent into the Company's business. Some of the most trusted officers retired from the service. The resources of the Company were, however, enormous, its credit being practically unlimited, and this gave it a great advantage in competing with the Canadian merchants coming to the country, the majority of whom had little capital. Ten years after the transfer Fort Garry was sold, and though it came back on the hands of the Company, yetmiserabile dictu, the fort had been dismantled, thrown down, and even the stone removed, with the exception of the front gate, which still remains. This gate, with a portion of ground about it, has been given by the Hudson's Bay Company to the City of Winnipeg as a small historic park. Since the time of sale, large warehouses have been erected, not filled, as were the old shops, with bright coloured cloths, moccasins, and beads, fitted for the Indian and native trade, but aiming at full departments after the model of Maple and Shoolbred, of the mother city of London. These shops are represented in the plate accompanying this description.