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 1 
 
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 6 
 

 I ■>< 
 
 w- 
 
"THE RED RIVER REBELLION:" 
 
 THE CAUSE OF IT. 
 
 IN A SBBIKS OF 
 
 LETTEBS TO THE BBtTISH GOTEBNMENT ON THE IBfPOKTANCE OF 
 OFBNINa THE OVSBLAND BOUTB THBOtJOH BUPEBrS AMEBIGA, 
 FBOM CANADA TO BBTTISH COLUMBIA, FOB THE INTBODUCTION 
 OF MEANS FOB THE ADMINISTBATION OF JtTSTICE THEBEIN; 
 THE FBOMOTION OF EMIGBATIONj AND BAENBST APPEALS TO 
 STAT BLOODSHED IN THE BED BIVEB SETTLEMENT, BY EX- 
 TENDING BI0HTE0I7S EULE TO THAT COtJNTET. 
 
 .«<••«. 
 
 BT THE 
 
 REV. G. 0. COEBETT, M.D., 
 
 Authc- of "Notes on Ruptrt^s America" 1868, showing the History, Law, and 
 
 Resources of those Regions ; and Author of " A Diary Recording the 
 
 Bright Dying Testimony of the Rev^H. A. Simeoe" 1870, drv. 
 
 !^( 
 
 ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL. » 
 
 LONDON: 
 PRINTED FOB THE AUTHOR BY CASSELL. PETTEB, A GALPIN. 
 
 1870. 
 
 CofUt may h* had of the Author. Price On« Shilling. 
 .[ALL BIGHTS EESFRVBD.] 
 
Mt; 
 
 1^ 
 
 a 
 
 "THE RED mm REBELLION:' 
 
 rv 
 
 T HE C A U S E C) F J ^I\ 
 
 IN A Sl,l(li;s ol 
 
 MOTTEliS TO THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT ON THE IMI'Ol.'TANL'i': (IK 
 OPENING THE OVERLAND liOlTE THROUGH KUl'Eiri S AMKKICA. 
 FR03I CANADA TO BRITISH COLUMBIA, FOR THE INTr.ODlCTIOX 
 OF MEANS FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF JFSTICE THEREIN: 
 ■IHE PROMOTION OF EMIGRATION: AND EAi.NEST APIMOAL'^ T() 
 STAY BLOODSHED IN THE RED RIVER SETTLEMENT V,Y EX- 
 TENDING RIGH'rEOUS RTl.E TO THAT COINTRV 
 
 14 Y THK 
 
 REV. G. 0. COEBETT, M.I)., 
 
 Uif/ior of '■'■ N'otcs on Rupert's America,'' l868, s/ioivi'ng the Uiflory, Laze, iuni 
 
 !\\:H>ii7res of those Kei^/oiis : and Aittlior of ".7 Diary lu'rcirdini; the 
 
 lh-i:^lit Dvin;^ Testimony of the Ra-. If. A. Simeoe," iSjc. e^r. 
 
 ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL. 
 
 LONDON: 
 FEINTED FOK THE .\UTHOE BY CASSEI-L, TETTEK. .^ CALPTX. 
 
 IS70. 
 
 Coynes may he hud of tlie Avihoe. I'rU'c (Jin.- HhiUinri. 
 [ALL RTUHTS RESERVED.) 
 
METROPOLfTAN 
 
 iO 
 
 c I , I 
 
 
 
 CEffi'RAL 
 LICRARY 
 
 History 
 
 2JL 
 
 JUL 1 WO 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The following Letters are published to throw light 
 on the discussion in the public papers of what is 
 designated as "The Red Eiver Rebellion." In the 
 Daily Telegraph of January 11th, and the Moriiinfj 
 Standard of January 19th and 20th, we read excellent 
 articles on the subject. In the Standard oi the 19th 
 appears a very able letter from A. K. Isbister, Esq., 
 barrister, &c., who is quite competent to write on this 
 question. The comments in the Standard and Ti'le- 
 graph agree in advising the formation of the Red 
 River country into a Crown Colony, the Standard 
 showing that the Red River Settlers aver that, 
 although the Canadian Government has given (pro- 
 mised) £300,000 to the Hudson's Bay Company for 
 certain territories, the people are not included in this 
 bargain, seeing that they never were an appanage 
 of the Hudson's Bay Company ; that Canada could 
 not buy what it was not the Company's to sell ; that, 
 in any case, they ought not .to be transferred to a 
 
4 
 
 third power without their leave and consent ; that 
 tiiey decline to be sold as a chattel of the Hudson's 
 I)ay territory, as the peo]3le of Alaska were to the 
 I'nited States ; and protest that, if British subjects at 
 all, they are the sul)jects not of Canada, but of 
 England ; that they are a colony of England, and not 
 "a colony of a colony;" that it is a case, in fact, pre- 
 cisely parallel with that of Xew Zealand, with this 
 dlflerence only — that there is even a clearer responsi- 
 bility attaching to the mother country, and a stronger 
 riglit on the part of the loyal subjects of the Crown to 
 claim the interference of the (jrovernment ; that either 
 they are British subjects, or they are not — if they 
 are, then their allegiance is to England and not to 
 C^anada ; if they are not, still less right have the 
 Canadians to annex them by violence — to make war, 
 in fact, in the Queen's name, against a people not the 
 (Queen's enemies; that the lied Eiver people have 
 " ;'. very reasonable grievance ;" that " the matter is 
 a very serious one," and on it hangs not only the 
 peace of our North American territory, but the 
 i'uture of the colonies, &c. ; in short, oj)inions 
 identical with those contained in the subjoined cor- 
 respondence. 
 
 Since posting my last letter to Earl Granville, I 
 

 :ille, I 
 
 have seen a letter from Red Eiver to a geutlem.'Mi in 
 London, giving the information that Captain AVilliani 
 Hallette and his son were made prisoners by the 
 French ; that Dr. Schultz had fled from his premises, 
 and the persons who had guarded his store taken 
 prisoners, and that others were meditating to flee 
 from their homes to some place of safety. TL? 
 French, knowing well the opinions and dissatisfaction 
 of the English portion of the inhabitants, no doubt, 
 calculated upon their joining them in this move- 
 ment ; and now that some of the English half-breeds 
 are made prisoners this will but exasperate them and 
 kindle a feeling of intenser dissatisfaction with the 
 British Government, for, in fact, having brought 
 about their imprisonment, and all the anxiety, and 
 peril, and possibly bloodshed yet, by its tardy and 
 inadequate line of policy pursued. The fault is a 
 most serious one, and delay will aggravate it, besides 
 its having already held up the rule of the white man 
 to rebuke in the estimation of the aborigines of the 
 soil over all the territory, and lessened the influence 
 of Christianity among them, when it is the manifest 
 design of Divine Providence in raising up Great 
 Britain among the nations to make it the great 
 instrument for spreading the Christian religion over 
 
 B 
 
6 
 
 the globe, for protecting the weak, removing op- 
 pression, and fostering civilisation, and especially in 
 such a fine field for immigration as Rupert's America, 
 which has been one of the British dependencies for 
 the last 200 years. 
 
 *#* A telegram in this day's paper {Telegraph, 24th January) says 
 that those imprisoned at Red River had arrived at Pembina ; that 
 the insurgents have started a newspaper, called the New Nation, 
 conducted by an American lawyer, and declares the authority of the 
 Hudson's Bay Company to be absolute. This gives confirmation to 
 recent articles in the Morning Advertiser. But will a section of the 
 Hudson's Bay Company's agents assume such a basis after getting 
 the promise of payment for relinquishing their assumed status? I 
 trow not. Yet some of them are influential Americans. Another 
 telegram announces that the Hudson's Bay Company at present 
 recognise this new gavemment of the people. Wherefore ? Carried 
 before the current ? Or how has such an association come about ? 
 A telegram just arrived confirms the avowed political purpose of the 
 Red River insurgents, which is — the establishment of independence, 
 with a view of ultimate annexation to the United States ; and that 
 copies of their new organ, the New Nation, have arrived in London. 
 — Daily Telegraph, Jan. 28th. A special <^elegram also appears in the 
 Pall Mall Gazette, Jan. 29th, and an important article in the Weekly 
 Times of the same day, on the " Red River Rebellion." 
 
"THE EED EIVER EEBELLION:" 
 
 THE CAUSE OF IT, 
 
 The Eectory, Sandy, Bedfordshire, 
 
 August 25th, 1868. 
 May it please your Grace, — I beg leave most 
 respectfully to enclose and forward, per this day's 
 post, my Letter and "Notes on Eupert's America," 
 addressed to your Grace, in print, in the hope that 
 in this form they may receive your approval, and 
 advance the cause at heart. 
 
 I have the honour to be, 
 Your Grace's most obedient and humble servant, 
 
 G. 0. CORBETT. 
 
 To his Grace the Duke of Buckingham, 
 
 Her Majesty's Secretary for the Colonies, 
 Colonial Office, Downing Street, London. 
 
 Colonial Office, 
 
 August 27th, 1868. 
 Eeverend Sir, — I am desired by the Duke of 
 Buckingham and Chandos to acknowledge, with his 
 thanks, the receipt of your letter of the 25th instant, 
 and of a copy of your " Notes on Eupert's America." 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 H. S. Bryant. 
 The Eev. G. 0. Corbett. 
 
 B 2 
 
8 
 
 Avhwwle(1(jment from the Secretary of State of Canada. 
 
 Canada, Ottawa, 
 
 Oct. 17tb, 1868. 
 Reverend Sir, — I am directed by the Honourable 
 the Secretary of State of Canada to acknowledge, with 
 his most sincere thanks, the receipt of your "Notes 
 on Eupert's America, its History and Eer-ources, &c.," 
 and to assure you that the subject of this valuable 
 publication will draw his particular attention. 
 I have the honour to be, Eeverend Sir, 
 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 E. Pareur, 
 Under Secretary of State. 
 The Eev. G. 0. Corbett, M.D., &c. 
 
 Penheale Manor, Launceston, Cornwall, 
 
 October 2Gth, 18C8. 
 My Lord Duke, — Since receiving your Grace's 
 ackno^^^edgment of the 27th August, of the receipt 
 of my i^T» tes on Eupert's America," the intelligence 
 ha? b';eu received — of which, perhaps, your Grace is 
 ,iw.»T( - • ji' !li3 reappearance of the grasshoppers at the 
 Ke'L xiiver Settlement, causing almost a famine out 
 there, as is shown by the enclosed paper, No. I. 
 And very likely your Grace is also aware of the 
 Memorial of the 1st idtimo, signed by several noble- 
 men and members of Parliament, and presented to 
 the Prime Minister, on the importance of setting 
 ai)art Ecserves for the Indians to advance their 
 Christian Settlement, and secure the jieace of the 
 fnmtier. At the time I last had the honour of 
 addressing your Grace, 1 had little expectation of the 
 
9 
 
 afore-mentioned calamity abroad, and knew notliiiij^ 
 of this movement at home ; and your Grace will 
 scarcely fai- to trace in these and other independent 
 circumstances the call of Divine Providence to those 
 in authority, to ameliorate the condition of the 
 inhabitants of those regions, as already earnestly 
 appealed for by my " Notes on Euport's America," 
 and supported by fresh evidence embodied in the 
 enclosed papers, Nos. II. and III. Ten years ago 
 the Select Committee of the House of Commons 
 recommended that settlements sliould be planted 
 along the line of route pointed out in my " Notes 
 on Rupert's America," and indicated in that work 
 at page 4, Had this been done, there would pro- 
 bably have existed at this moment flourishing settle- 
 ments, with supplies at hand to meet the urgent 
 necessities of the lied River people, without entail- 
 ing upon them now about 1,000 miles of over- 
 land travel to a foreign market. And although 
 very properly subscriptions are solicited from bene- 
 volent individuals, through the public press, to miti- 
 gate the evil — and as I have myself travelled in that 
 vicinity and in Minnesota day by day, over a distance 
 of 800 miles, which was swarming with grasshoppers, 
 and on other accounts, I can realise the sadness of 
 the present case, and with deep emotion plead for a 
 colony which has been just plunged into great desti- 
 tution — yet I believe that the really practical su])scrip- 
 tion called for is the opening of those parts by the 
 formation of new colonies therein. It is, I think, 
 evident to your Gryce, tliat any settlement whicli is 
 isolated some 500 miles from the civilised world may. 
 at any monunt, from muny causes, have its balance of 
 supplies destroyed without tlie chance of replenishing 
 
10 
 
 its stock from colonies contiguous thereto, and I 
 assume it must also be evident, that to keep a 
 settlement so situated is to retain it feeble for 
 every useful purpose — feeble to maintain the fron- 
 tier, feeble to aid in developing the resources of the 
 country, feeble in affording supplies to outlying 
 missionary stations or young colonies, and, what is 
 paramount to every other consideration, thereby per- 
 ])etuating its dependence on the mother country for 
 tlie sustentation of the ministrations of religion, and 
 paralysing its energies in spreading Christianity in 
 the laud. 
 
 Surely, your Grace, it would add new lustre to 
 the Crown and honour to her Majesty's Ministers, 
 to respond with prompt and benevolent measures to 
 this call, and discharge the debt so long due to that 
 territory; and if greater arguments are required to 
 show either the urgency of this summons, or to 
 demonstrate the immense commercial advantages 
 that would accrue to our own country, by instantly 
 putting forth the energies of our native isle — like 
 that which was so nobly displayed in carrying for- 
 ward the recent Abyssinian Expedition — by imme- 
 diately opening this overland route from Lake 
 Superior to the Ked Eiver, and thence to the 
 Rocky Mountains and British Columbia, I beg 
 most respectfully also to append the enclosed papers, 
 Nos. IV., v., and VI., for your Grace's information. 
 I have the honour to be, my Lord Duke, 
 Your Grace's most obedient and huml)lr servant, 
 
 G. 0. CoKHKTT, Clerk, M.lJ. 
 To his Grace the Duke of Buckingham and 
 
 Chandos, K.G., &c., Her IVhijesty's 
 
 Secretary of State for the Colonies. 
 
11 
 
 Paper No. I. 
 
 See appeals for aid to lessen this calamity in the Tintes^ 
 September 10th and 16th, and in the Star^ September 18th, 
 19th, and 2oth, and in the Canadian Ncics, September 17th 
 and 24tli. The extent of it is set forth in the apjxjal in the 
 Nor'^- Wester of August 7th in these words : — " We have had 
 the customary fruits of the earth entirely cut off by a plague 
 of grasshoppers, and, instead of our usual abundance, we shall 
 reap nothing, absolutely nothing, in the shape of wheat, 
 barley, rye, or oats." And this statement is <;onfirmed by 
 letters which appeared in that journal of August 11th, from 
 the French R. C. Bishop, thus: — " I have to certify that in 
 your issue of the 4th instant the following statement is not 
 exaggerated, ' That within the whole colony not one bushel of 
 any kind of grain will be harvested, and that the potato crop will 
 be very meagre also.' Yes, everything is destroyed by the grass- 
 hoppers; neither grain nor vegetables of any kind are to be found 
 in our gardens or fields. Moreover, the buffalo hunters, instead 
 of furnishing their large share of provisions and leather, arrived 
 starving from their usual hunting-grounds. Many, during 
 their long excursions through the plains, were reduced to eat 
 their yoke of oxen, or even their horses, and they are now in 
 our midst without a morsel of food." From Archdeacon 
 Mac Lean : — " Having visited from La Prairie to the Indian 
 Settlement, I have seen the sad evidence of the tOv ' ruin of 
 the crops," &c. From the Rev. J. Black, Presbyterian 
 Minister : — " There can be no question as to the destruction of 
 the crops of the settlement by the grasshoppers. I understand 
 that the buffalo hunt has proved an entire failure, and thus 
 both the great sources of our food supply are cut off at tiie 
 
 same tune. 
 
 From tile Kev. (jieor<je 
 
 Young, 
 
 Wesleyan 
 
 Minister: — " I have recently visited La Prairie, and, with the 
 exception of two or three small patches of peas and a few 
 late-phuited potatoes, there is nothing growing between that 
 place and this (sixty miles) on all the beautiful farms, save 
 grass and reeds." 
 
 In tiie Times, October 16th, a letter also appears from 
 the present Bishop of Rupert's Land, dated from Quebec, 
 
u 
 
 September 30th, wiiicli was written for the express purpose 
 of confirming the statements respecting the calamity from the 
 reappearance of the grasshoppers, and of strengthening the 
 appeal to England for assistance. In the said letter, the 
 Bishop adds, that tlie settlement is 500 miles from any railway 
 station, that the Canadian Government will expend some 
 £3,000 towards opening out a road in that direction, yet it 
 will be of little service; that a tornado has also passed over the 
 settlement, unroofing houses and farms, and removing the spire 
 of St. Andrew's ; and that a hard, long winter is at hand for 
 that isolated and distressed community. 
 
 No. II. 
 
 " The policy of the monopolists has been to discourage 
 settlement, to leave their concession as much as possible to a 
 state of Mature, to promote hunting and the arts of savage life, 
 and to frown down any approach to civilised pursuits and all 
 introduction of enterprise. A mine of wealth lies at their feet 
 ready to be got, if they had some of the zeal of the earlier 
 discoverers, and the desire to benefit the human race, as well 
 as to draw dividends for themselves." — Star, September 
 9th, 18G8. 
 
 No. III. 
 
 " The country is like a nobleman's estate in England, 
 Scotland, or Ireland ; there arc the woods, the groves, the 
 lakes, and the rivers. When spring comes you can put your 
 plough to work and plant potatoes under the soil ; then plough 
 and harrow, and the first rain sow broadcast your turnip seed, 
 and your beans you can plant by making a hole with your axe, 
 covering it with your foot. Thus you have it crop the first 
 autumn you come, with your groiuid ready for wheat, barley, 
 or oats the next spring, with wood all round you growing for 
 fencing or for making your houses and stables. What an 
 advantage over Canada and the Northern States ! There you 
 have to clear a farm of heavy timber, which takes neirly a liCo- 
 time, and often j)as.ses through M\;\\\y hands before it is finished. 
 Our subsoil is clay, with a rich black mould on the surface, 
 mucli like the land along the banks of the Minnesota River 
 
13 
 
 to Fort Redgway, which produces thh*ty-five to forty busliels 
 to the acre." 
 
 Dated Red River, August 5th, 18G8, and appeared in the 
 Times, 10th September, 1868. 
 
 No. IV. 
 
 " The U. S. Pacific Railway. — Whilst the genius of the 
 great North- West is sitting, like Patience on a monument, 
 waiting to develop the resources and to rouse her from the 
 posture of masterly inactivity, our enterprising neighbours at 
 the South are carrying to a rapid completion, not only the 
 greatest work of the age, but the greatest of any age. The 
 pyramids of Egypt are regarded as the most stupendous works 
 of antiquity, but they dwindle into nothingness, when com- 
 pared to the American Pacific Railway. During one of the 
 most terrible civil wars that the world has seen, the American 
 nation chartered and granted aid towards this great highway, 
 and it has already been completed through the Rocky 
 Mountains, and is rapidly pushing on towards the City of the 
 Saints, Salt Lake. From the Pacific coast the road has been 
 pushed on with equal vigour, and the Californians have 
 already passed the Sierra Nevada Mountains, on the way 
 towards the East, and it is confidently expected that a junc- 
 tion will be effected during the year 1869. And then the 
 Americans will bid for a great portion of the commerce of the 
 world — a route which will become the source of untold riches 
 and prosperity to Uncle Sam. 
 
 " British statesmanship is said to be slow, but sure. Alas ! we 
 find it so in our case. Slow, slow, and tardy, like the progress of 
 the Car of Juggernaut. And shall we carry the simile further 
 by saying that by the dead weight of its inactivity, and, as far as 
 this country is concerned, its obtuseness of legislation, it is 
 crushing to the earth a young, and, what might be, a rising 
 country? We trust the day is far distant when any other than 
 the meteor flag of England shall remind us of our allegiance ; 
 but if tliey are determined at home to consider Great Britain 
 and Ireland the suiiunum bonuni of the whole empire ; if 
 they are determined to ignore their great colonial responsi- 
 bility ; they must not be surprised if, within the next decade, 
 
14 
 
 I:' 
 
 they shall find their commerce crippled, their colonies en- 
 feebled, and their prestige decaying. To build a railroad to 
 the Pacific, the Americans have had to encounter difficulties 
 that would be unknown in carrying a road through this terri- 
 tory — a fact admitted bv the most competent engineers of both 
 nations. We suppose that the British Parliament will take the 
 matter into consideration some time within the century, but by 
 that time they will have learned the great danger, there- 
 fore " &c. 
 
 Published at Red River, the Nor'- Wester, July 31st, 18G8. 
 
 No. V. 
 
 " In the Times of the 6th instant we are told of the com- 
 merce of China amounting, in 1866, to 101 millions sterling. 
 England's share reached 88 millions, whilst that of the 
 United States was under 2 millions. I am sorry to say that 
 a very different account will be rendered for 1867. In 
 January of that year a magnificent line of American steamers 
 was put on between San Francisco, Japan, and China, by 
 means of which the merchants of New York are now success- 
 fully competing with those of London for the whole trade, and 
 with the great disadvantage of transfers, at San Francisco, 
 Panama, and Aspinwall. If such is the case now, what will 
 be the effect when the new Pacific Railroad, two years hence, 
 connects San Francisco and New York, as the lighter produce, 
 such as tea, &c., must take this route, which will bring New 
 York within thirty days of Hong Kong, and London about 
 forty days ? Then, not only will the Shares of the Peninsula 
 and Oriental Company be a drug in the market, but our 
 Chinese business must fall into the hands of the Americans, 
 and New York become the entrepot of that trade which has 
 cost so much blood and treasure to attach to our shores. The 
 only means of averting such a loss is to open up a route 
 of our own through British America, connecting Vancouver's 
 Island with Montreal and Halifax. This line of country^ 
 through which the British railroad would pass, is far superior 
 to that over which the American rails are laid; and then^ 
 instead of an emigration of 200,000 souls per annum — a 
 
15 
 
 vast proportion of whom swell the ranks of the evil disposed 
 to us in the U. S. — might at the same time supply the 
 necessary labour, settle the country, open an independent 
 route, add to our resources, and their desires for land 
 would be gratified to the utmost. In this, that writer adds, 
 the real solution of the alleged Irish grievance exists," &c. 
 
 No. VI. 
 The rapid progress of the American Pacific Railway. — 
 " ^Ve wind away down the western slope to Rock Creek, 
 2,180 miles from Boston and 1,220 miles from San Francisco. 
 Here our journey ends, but not our wonder. We leave the 
 car and walk rapidly forward to where they are laying the 
 track, and a few of us go still further to see the process of 
 laying the ties. The materials are brought on flat cars by 
 locomotives to very near the end of the track, and are then 
 unloaded on the ground. The train is then backed out 
 of the way. The ties are loaded upon wagons, and carried 
 to the place vvhere they are to be used, which i^ generally 
 from half a mile to a mile from the point where they 
 were first unloaded. The rails, spikes, bolts, &c., are loaded 
 upon horse cars, which are then driven with the horses upon a 
 run to the end of the track. As soon as the car stops, a foot 
 say from the end of the track, six men on each side im- 
 mediately seize a rail, slide it forward, and drop it in very 
 near the place where it is to lie, and, without stopping to 
 drive a single spike, the car is immediately run forward upon 
 the rails just laid; the same process is repeated. Two more 
 rails deposited, the car is quickly drawn forward upon them, 
 two more are laid, and so on until the car is unloaded. It is 
 then tipped from the track, and a loaded car is drawn forward 
 to be unloaded in the same way, when the first is put back 
 upon the track and returns for another load. It must not be 
 supposed, however, that these rails lie long without being 
 spiked ; on the contrary, the car has hardly passed over them 
 before spikers, bolters, &c., are at work upon them, and such 
 is the force employed that the rails are spiked as fast as they 
 are laid, so that you have only to see how ftist the men drop 
 the rails from the car to know the rate at which the track is 
 
k. 
 
 t 
 
 p 
 
 16 
 
 being completed. I stood with my watch in my hand, and 
 saw them lay four rails in a minute, again and again. Some- 
 times they did a little more than that in a single minute. In 
 one instance an average of three rails per minute were laid for 
 five consecutive minutes. This is in excess, however, of their 
 average work, the progress being from two and a half to four 
 miles per day. About 450 men are employed in laying ties 
 and rails. These men are boarded in cars fitted up for the 
 purpose, and which move forward as the work progresses, so 
 that they have their home with them constantly. We dined 
 in one of these cars, and while some of us were still eating, 
 the long train was run down upon a track that had been laid 
 since our arrival an hour before. 
 
 "The dinner was furnished by the chief of the Messrs. 
 Casement. General Casement assured us that by the 15th 
 December next the track will be laid to Salt Lake, about 410 
 miles from Rock Creek ; and one who has seen the wonderful 
 process of laying this track over the Rocky Mountains can 
 believe it." — New York Christian Advocate, quoted in iVbr'- 
 Wester, July 31st, 1868. 
 
 Penlieale Manor, Laimceston, Cornwall. 
 
 Nov. 7tb, 1868. 
 My Lord Duke, — In addition to my letter and 
 enclosures to your Grace on the 26tli ultimo, I very 
 respectfully beg leave to transmit the annexed extract, 
 marked No, VII., and humbly ask that it may receive 
 the attention it merits, and give weight to the argu- 
 ments already adduced for the opening and emanci- 
 pation of llupert's America. 
 
 I have the honour to be, 
 Your Grace's most obedient and humble servant, 
 
 G. 0. CouBETT, Clerk, ^I.D. 
 To his Grace the l)uke of Buckingham and Chandos, 
 Her Majesty's Secretary of State 
 for the Colonies, &c. 
 
17 
 
 No. VII. 
 The circumstances of the case are extremely plain. A 
 party of nine Indians, headed by one Wolverine, attempted 
 to break into a store in charge of William A. Salmon, an 
 American, in the morning of the 28th May, 1868. Young 
 Salmon undertook to put them out after they had effected an 
 entrance, and Wolverine deliberately shot him in the breast. 
 The wounded man was brought down to this town that he 
 might have medical assistance. He lingered until the 7th ot 
 June following, when death came to his relief. Remember, 
 he died in our very midst, in a house then occupied by Mr. 
 Devlin. But did our Authorities* bestir themselves in the 
 matter ? Did they hold an inquest as to the probable cause of 
 his death ? No, no, no. Positively no notice was taken of the 
 affair by them. About one year afterwards, Mr. Hugh Olone 
 attempted to bring the matter before the Government,! 
 and he was asked if he could swear that Wolverine did it. 
 Mr. 0. could not positively swear, as he was not an eye 
 witness, but there were plenty of witnesses to be found, and 
 they can be found now. Look to it, gentlemen, and do not 
 let it be said that an American can be coolly murdered within 
 your jurisdiction, and no steps be taken to punish his slayer. 
 Justice cries among us that the blood of William A. Salmon 
 is yet unavenged by our criminal laws.t 
 
 Downing Street, 
 
 Nov. Oth, 1SG8. 
 Sir, — I am directed by the Duke of Buckingliam 
 and Chandos to acknowledge the receipt of your letter 
 of the 2Gth of last mouth, on subjects connected with 
 the Eed Elver Settlement. 
 
 I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, 
 
 Frederic ogers. 
 G. 0. Corbett, Clerk, Esq., M.D. 
 
 * The Hudson's Bay Company's Agents. f Idem. 
 
 X From the Nof -Wester at Rod River, Sept. 8, 1868. 
 
tr 
 
 IS 
 
 Downing Street, 
 
 Nov. .eO, 18G8. 
 
 Sir, — I am directed by the Duke of Buckingham 
 and Chandos to acknowledge the receipt of your 
 further letter, of the 7th of this mouth, on the sub- 
 ject of the murder of an American citizen in the Eed 
 River Settlement. 
 
 I am. Sir, your most obedient servant, 
 
 Frederic Eogers. 
 G. 0. Corbett, Clerk, Esq., M.D. 
 
 Penheale Manor, Launceston, Cornwall. 
 
 Feb. 2nd, 1869. 
 Sir, — I lately sent you a copy of my " Notes on 
 Eupert's America" (a pamphlet which I had trans- 
 mitted to the Colonial Office), and other papers 
 bearing on the same subject, a short time prior to 
 your accession to the office as the Prime Minister 
 of Her Majesty's Government. I was all the more 
 prompted in sending this work to you because of 
 your having paid some attention to the subject; for 
 I remember your sitting: in the Select Committee of 
 the House of Commons on the affairs of the Hudson's 
 Bay Territory, in 1857, when I was examined thereon 
 b}-- the said Committee as a witness. And I do now 
 herein most respectfully and earnestly appeal to you 
 to investigate and redress the wrongs, and carry out 
 the measures which are imperatively called for in 
 behalf of those vast regions ; and I can only add 
 
19 
 
 that I shall be happy if I caa in any way facilitate 
 these projects. 
 
 I remain, Sir, 
 Your most obedient and humble servant, 
 G. 0. CoRBETT, Clerk, M.D. 
 To the Eight Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P., 
 
 Her Majesty's Prime Minister of State, &c. &c. 
 
 10, Downing Street, Whitehall, 
 
 Feb. 9th, 1869. 
 Sir, — I am directed by Mr. Gladstone to thank you 
 for the copy of jouy " Notes on Rupert's America." 
 I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 Algernon West. 
 Rev. G. 0. Corbett. 
 
 Penheale Manor, Launceston, Cornwall. 
 
 April 6th, 1869. 
 
 My Lord, — It is reported in the newspapers that 
 Her Majesty's Government is on the eve of offering 
 to pay over to the Hudson's Bay Company a large 
 sum of money for their alleged rights, and at the 
 same time to guarantee certain important reservations ; 
 in reference to which I most respectfully beg leave to 
 inquire whether your Lordship is aware of the fact 
 that the late Governor from abroad of this Company 
 is defendant in an action now pending in the Courts 
 of Westminster, which brings up for judicial inquiry 
 the assumed status of that body ? 
 
 I scarcely believe that the British Government 
 or Parliament would take any step which would 
 interfere with the freedom of the courts of the realm, 
 or in the least sway or suspend the decisions of the 
 
20 
 
 judges until the cause shall be legally settled ; or 
 that it would for a moment, in any degree, in effect, 
 pay a large sum of money over to the defendant or 
 his colleagues, or those he represents, without at the 
 same time providing satisfaction for the plaintiif also. 
 I have the honour to be, my Lord, 
 Your Lordship's obedient and humble servant, 
 
 G. 0. CoRBETT, Clerk. 
 To the Eight Hon. Earl Granville, M.P., &c.. 
 
 Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, 
 Colonial Office, 14, Downing Street, Lo don. 
 
 Downing Street, 
 
 April 20th, 1869. 
 Sir, — I am directed by Earl Granville to acknow- 
 ledge the receipt of your letter of the Gth instant, 
 and to inform you in reply that his Lordship does not 
 find in it any reason for altering the course adopted 
 by Gove nment in relation to the Hudson's Bay 
 Company. 
 
 I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 D. MONSELL. 
 
 G. O. Corbett, Clerk, Esq., M.D. 
 
 Penheale House, Launceston, Cornwall. 
 
 May 7th, 1868. 
 My Lord, — In reference to your Lordship's letter 
 of the 26th ultimo, I most respectfully beg leave to 
 state that I have no wish "for altering the course 
 adopted by Government in relation to the Hudson's 
 Bay Company," but rather herein express my deep 
 thankfulness for the energy and decision with w^hich 
 Her Majesty's Government appears to be taking up 
 
e^ 1. 
 
 tlie question, as I understand it, to place all matters 
 relating to that great territory on a proper foundation. 
 And, with, the view of assisting your Lordship in 
 executing and perfecting all the arrangements respect- 
 ing that country upon an equitable footing in regard 
 to all parties interested, I would herein respectfully 
 recapitulate, and submit further information. In my 
 " Notes on Rupert's America," forwarded to the 
 Colonial Office August 25th, 1868, and acknowledged 
 by his Grace the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos 
 on August 27th, 1868, I believe that, among other 
 things of moment, it is very clearly . shown in that 
 pamphlet that the Hudson's Bay Company have no 
 territorial rights in the North- West or Hudson's Bay 
 regions, and that the Government and Parliament can 
 at any time enter into that territory, and erect its 
 own buildings, and appoint its own Government, 
 judges, and other officers, and establish colonies, and 
 open roads for communication irrespective of the 
 aforesaid trading firm ; and that said Company's 
 posts, and the houses of the settlers, and the posts 
 of the various trading firms out there, and, in short, 
 all the inhabitants, would be at once subject to such 
 Government. And, if one or more posts or forts of 
 the Hudson's Bay Company, or one or more posts 
 of the other traders, Canadian or American therein, 
 or one or more buildings of any of the settlers, were 
 required for Government purposes, the same might 
 be purchased at its worth from the respective owners 
 thereof. But it is hardly probable that any such 
 purchase would have to be made, because the space 
 of unoccupied country is so great that the Govern- 
 ment might at any moment occupy the choicest sites 
 without any hindrance, and erect its own indepi3-ident 
 
 c 
 

 
 works ; for the case is much tlie same as if there w ere 
 only three tradiii<^ posts in the whole of the United 
 Kingdom, with a mere sprinkling of an aboriginal 
 population — itay one post in England, another in 
 Sf'otland, and a third in Ireland, with here and there 
 in addition a i)ost or two of other traders, or a settler's 
 farm — one and all of them on a like footing, inas- 
 much as the last and only status of the Hudson's 
 Bay Company merely existed on a limited and con- 
 ditional licence, which the Crown refused to renew 
 at its expiry in 1850. And, my Lord, such resump- 
 tion of rights and entrance therein by the Government 
 or Parliament has already been done, to wit, in Van- 
 couver's Island and the regions west of the Eocky 
 Mountains; where, in like manner, the Hudson's Bay 
 Compary's status was simply on the basis of a 
 licensed trading firm, and where, just as in Bupert's 
 Anierica, their shares might be held and their trade 
 carried on with full prosperity, and without let or 
 hindrance or any real detriment to the shareholders, 
 just as well after such assertion and entrance therein 
 by the Crown as before. Were the Government, 
 indeed, to purchase the stock and trading posts of 
 tlie Hudson's Bay Com])any, that would be quite 
 another thing, and a ground of payment to that body. 
 But I am not aware that there is at present any such 
 proposition before your Lordship, nor any intention 
 otherwise to interfere witli their trade than, as T 
 should hope, to regulate fairly all such trade, and to 
 brii.g all traders under a just licence, imposing suit- 
 able conditions, and a moderate payment, on a scale 
 proportionate to the ca])ital employed, wlu^ther by 
 firms or by individuals of whatever name, for the 
 good and security uf the poor Indians, and for a 
 
23 
 
 a 
 
 source of I'evenue towards opening unci fmproviu*^ 
 the country. And here, my Lord, need I remark 
 on the necessity of means for properly openini^ that 
 territory ? And now grant me permission to inquire 
 why the money now proposed to be paid to the 
 Hudson's Bay Company should not be reserved for 
 the benefit and development of those regions, not 
 only on account of the urgent call for an outlay 
 therein (and, for the reasons above named, that said 
 Company have really no territorial rights there), but 
 also because their alleged status is this moment 
 challenged before the courts of the realm? And, in 
 further illustration, and for the careful scrutiny of 
 your Lordship into the gravity of the subject, I would 
 respectfully cite the fact of the incompetence of the 
 Hudson's Bay Company to give legal title-deeds for 
 the conveyance of land to any person in that country 
 and to ^he settlers at the Ited lUver Settlement. 
 There are hundreds and hundreds of settlers out there 
 who this moment have no title to their land save 
 that they occupy and farm their respective lots. 
 I'^liey have not, and cannot get, legal land deeds. 
 Tliere is one class of settlers who have ])aid down 
 more or less money to the Hudson's Bay Comj)any's 
 agents there, and hold a ri'ceipt for the amount ; and 
 there is another class of settlers who have paid 
 nothing at all, and who refuse to pay anything until 
 the rightful party sliall come forward and legally 
 assign the hinds to them. The former chiss some 
 time tigo declined the acceptance oi" the sort of title- 
 deed which the Hudson's Jiay Com])any's agents 
 proposed ; but the said class gave ])re Terence even 
 to an unstamped ri'ceipt from the said agents as 
 evidence of the amount })aid, and prayed meanwhile 
 
 c 2 
 
24 
 
 for the Government's interference; whilst the latter 
 class deemed it best to wait absolutely until the 
 imperial Parliament should set the whole matter 
 right. And j^erhaps it will not be out of place for 
 me to add at this stage that I myself might be 
 ranked with the former class of the community, 
 because I have land under cultivation out there, 
 and have paid a certain sum of money thereon to 
 the agents of the Hudson's Bay Company, for 
 wliich I hold the receipt, but for which I hold 
 no title-deed, and I have been advised that the 
 Hudson's Bay Company cannot give me a legal deed, 
 and that it is useless to accept any instrument short 
 of thiit. And my own case does but represent the 
 situation of several thousand inhabitants at Bed 
 Biver, and in respect to which your Lordship will 
 allow me to ask — Will Her Majesty's Government 
 make such arrangements with the Hudson's Bay 
 Company as shall ignore the rights of the settlers 
 at Bed Biver, and persons in other parts of the 
 territory — rights acquired in most cases by occupa- 
 tion and improvement, and in many instances by 
 l)a\Tnent also ? Will the Government guarantee 
 payment to the Hudson's Bay Company for their 
 alleged territorial claims, and allow them to keep 
 the money which they have also already received 
 from the settlers? or thus sanction a double pay- 
 ment — that is to say, from the Government and the 
 settlers, and for that also for which they have no 
 legal right? And will the Government so tie up 
 the present arrangements as practically to throw the 
 burthen on the struggling settler, to recover his 
 rights as he may best be able through the courts 
 of law — an undertaking next to impossible against 
 
such a body, and removed, as lie is at Red Eiver, 
 several hundred miles from the Courts of Canada, 
 which, in truth, are the nearest legal courts ^o him 
 for redress ? Moreover, my Lord, I very respectfully 
 beg leave also to state frankly that, by virtue of a 
 suit at present pending in the Courts of West- 
 minster, the Hudson's Bay Company's jurisdiction 
 is necessarily involved for judicial inquiry, and that 
 the cause assumes large proportions, and unavoidably 
 comprises the standing and interests of many indi- 
 viduals. The writ commencing this suit was served 
 on the defendant, a chief agent of the Hudson's Bay 
 Company, early in December, 1804, by Messrs. Ashley 
 and Tee, 1a, Frederick's Place, Old Jewr}'-, Cheapside, 
 London, and said firm hrne continued to instruct 
 counsel in the unremitting pursuance of the cause 
 to the present day; and such counsel as Mr. John 
 MacNabb, of Upper Canada, Mr. W. M. James, 
 Q.C.,* Mr. Philbrick, Mr. Atkinson, and Mr. Francis 
 Tunier, of London, have been engaged in points con- 
 nected with the case ; and Mr. Francis Turner still 
 has the conduct of it, under the instructions of the 
 aforesaid firm of solicitors ; and the belief is enter- 
 tained that every ellbrt has been made by defendant's 
 side to delay the proceedings, and, if possible, prevent 
 the cause from being heard, and that the final judg- 
 ment of the Coui't is sought to be warded oil' until 
 alter the Imperial Government shall have arranged 
 to pay over to the aforesaid Conipany the present 
 large sum of money asked for ; but, as the cause is 
 now so far advanced as to be set down for trial, it is 
 evident that the judgment of the Court on an im- 
 portant constitutional (juestion, which unavoidably 
 * Since raised to the rank of a Judge in tho Superior Courts. 
 
20 
 
 comes up through this action, must soon be given, 
 and therefore I most respectfully submit, whether Her 
 Majesty's Government ought not, at the very least, 
 to suspend payment of any money to the Hudson's 
 Bay Company, or making arrangements therefor, 
 until after the aforesaid judgment shall have been 
 delivered in the usual place, or the matter satis- 
 factorily settled, 
 
 I have the honour to be, my Lord, 
 Your Lordship's most obedient and humble servant, 
 Gr. 0. CoRBETT, Clerk in Holy Orders. 
 To Earl Granville, M.P., &c., 
 
 Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, 
 Colonial Office, Downing Street, London. 
 
 rr 
 
 Downing Street, 
 
 May 21st, 1809. 
 Sir, — I am directed by Earl Granville to acknow- 
 ledge the receipt of your letter of the 7th instant, on 
 matters connected with the transfer to the Crown of 
 the territories of the Hudson's Bay Company, in 
 British North America. 
 
 I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 F. R. Sandford. 
 The Rev. G. 0. Corbett. 
 
 Wolford Lodge, 
 
 Honiton, Devon, 
 
 July 14tli, 1809. 
 
 My Lord, — I respectfully beg leave to subjoin a 
 
 c()})y of a summons served on a respectable British 
 
 subject at Red River by the agent of the Hudson's 
 
 Bay Compan}', and to state that said subject was 
 
2/ 
 
 Plei- 
 
 east, 
 5011 's 
 ■efoi', 
 been 
 atis- 
 
 imprisoned by the said Company's officers, notwitli- 
 standing his protest against its illegahty. 
 
 May I inquire whether tlie Colonial Department 
 will accord to things being done abroad in the name 
 of "the Public" instead of that of our most gracious 
 Queen, and whether a British subject is to be dragged 
 from his family to prison in such an illegal manner, 
 where he is situated, as I pointed out in my last 
 communication, so far from every legal officer or 
 legal court as to be practically without redress, and 
 whether your Lordship can pass by silently, whilst 
 upholding and acting in the name of the Queen, such 
 proceedings any longer ? 
 
 I remain, my Lord, 
 Your Lordship's obedient servant, 
 
 G. 0. CORBETT. 
 
 To Earl Granville, M.P., &c., 
 
 Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies. 
 
 COPY OF SUMMONS. 
 
 Middle District Court. 
 To James Stewart. 
 I hereby order you to appear in the Court of this 
 district the lOtli day of April, to answer the Public 
 for selling spirits without a licence. 
 
 A. G. Bannatyne, 
 II. R. S., April 13th, 1801). 
 
 
 Downing Street, 
 
 August lird, 18(19. 
 Sir, — I am directed by Earl Granville to acknow- 
 ledge the receipt of your letter of the 14th ultimo, 
 
28 
 
 respecting a summons alleged to have been served 
 on a Britisli subject in territory belonging to the 
 Hudson's Bay Company, for selling spirits without 
 a licence. 
 
 I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 F. E. Sandford. 
 
 8, Harewood Street, Harewood Square, 
 Marylebone, N.W., Nov. 27th, 1869. 
 
 My Lord, — I beg leave to submit to your Lord- 
 ship's notice the subjoined extracts from the Daily 
 Telegraph of the 18th and 24th instant : — " The 
 French residents in the Eed Kiver country have 
 armed and banded themselves together to resist the 
 cession of their territory to Canada. They forcibly 
 compelled the Governor, Mr. M'Dougall, to cross 
 into the Dakotah territory, where he now awaits 
 armed assistance or instructions from the Canadian 
 Government." " The Red River insurgents of Win- 
 nipeg territory, 600 strong, have seized Fort 
 Garry," &c. 
 
 Both in my "Notes on Rupert's America," in 
 1868, and in my letters since addressed to the 
 Colonial Office, I have been pointing out that such 
 uprisings would likely take place, unless Her 
 Majesty's Government made such arrangements as 
 would establish that colony on a satisfactory basis. 
 
 From several years' acquaintance with the people 
 out there, I know tliat they have constantly felt 
 utterly disgusted with the way in which justice 
 lias been administered ; that the} consider they 
 ought to have a share in electoral privileges, like 
 other colonies; that they have landed claims which 
 
29 
 
 have been ignored ; and that the transaction which 
 the British Grovernment has recently made with the 
 Hudson's Bay Company in regard to that country 
 practically involves the admission of perpetuating 
 the old one-sided policy, and of compensating not 
 merely one party, hut also the party who has no 
 right to such compensation, and hence the revolu- 
 tion now transpiring in those regions. 
 
 May I remind your Lordship that the Eed Eiver 
 people hold the key to the heart of that continent 
 along the frontier, midway from ocean to ocean ; 
 that they are composed in part of the American 
 people flowing over the border, and largely com- 
 posed of those who are related by blood and united 
 by one common interest to the Indian chiefs and 
 tribes over the whole territory ; and that, therefore, 
 complexity on the question of the International 
 Boundary Line on the one hand, and a great 
 Indian war on the other, may now follow ? 
 
 Had justice been granted to that people in accord- 
 ance with the pleadings of every true friend of that 
 country, the present risk of life and property, and the 
 ijrave errors in the administration of our colonial 
 department, would ha\ e been prevented. 
 
 As it is, if Her Majesty's Government decide on 
 sending out troops to Bed Eiver, by which route will 
 they be transported ? There are but two now gene- 
 rally used : one by Hudson's Bay, which will not 
 be open for navigation till next summer; and the 
 other is through the United States of America, for 
 which much time might be consumed in obtaining 
 permission, which, in a time of war with that country, 
 could not be secured. This, again, points to the 
 imjoortance of opening the overland route, embracing 
 
30 
 
 what one writer* designates " The Great Wheat 
 Belt;" a fact, laid such stress upon by the Con- 
 vention of Delegates for British Columbia in their 
 meeting at Y'ale, that they made it a sine qua non 
 that, ere their country should be united to the 
 dominion of Canada, this overland route should be 
 completed as soon as possible, f 
 
 My Lord, I again most respectfully urge, on 
 behalf of the honour of our own countrj^, and on 
 behalf of the people of those parts, that Her Majesty's 
 Government will sta}- bloodshed, and root out deep- 
 seated dissatisfaction, by extending justice to them, 
 and acting on the principle of the Koyal Law of 
 Heaven, that we should do unto others as we would 
 be done by ourselves. 
 
 I remain, my Lord, 
 Your Lordship's humble and obedient servant, 
 G. 0. CoRBETT, Clerk, M.D. 
 To the Eight Hon. Earl Granville, M.P., &c., 
 
 Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, 
 
 Downing Street, W. 
 
 8, Titchfield Terrace, Eegent's Park Road, 
 
 Dec. :2Sth, 1809. 
 
 My Lord, — Since my letter to your Lordship on 
 the 27th ultimo, I find the newspapers repeat that 
 the Bed Biver people are still in arms ; that Governor 
 M'Dougall was organising a force of Indians on the 
 UniLed States' territory against this attitude ; and 
 that the Bed Biver people are determined to resist, 
 and have issued a declaration of independence, and 
 
 * Mr. Greeley. 
 
 t '^or-WtsttiV, Sept. 7th, 1809. 
 
31 
 
 heat 
 
 heir 
 
 Tion 
 
 the 
 
 be 
 
 assert that their own Provincial Government is the 
 only lawful authority in the country.* 
 
 It is not unlikely that, as the lied Eiver people 
 believe that the present Prime Minister has mani- 
 fested heretofore an intimate acquaintance witli and 
 interest in the condition of that territory, and that 
 the present Government engages to side liberally with 
 the voice of the people — that these have tended to 
 aggravate the evil and intensify their indignation, 
 seeing that their own voice and petitions have been 
 so completely set aside. 
 
 In concluding this stage of my communications 
 to your Lordship's department (during the last twelve 
 years I have been pressing the British Government 
 to accord righteous rule to that country), I respect- 
 fully ask your Lordship whether there is any objec- 
 tion to m}'' publishing the correspondence which has 
 passed between me and the Colonial Office on the 
 subject ? 
 
 I remain, my Lord, 
 Your Lordship's obedient and humble servant, 
 
 G. 0. CORCETT, M.D. 
 
 To the Right Hon. Earl Granville, K.G., &c. &c., 
 Her Majesty's Chief Secretary of State 
 for the Colonies, &c. 
 
 Downing Street, 
 
 Jan. 15th, 1S70. 
 Sir, — 1 am directed by Earl Granville to acknow- 
 ledge the receipt of your letter of the 2Sth ultimo, 
 and to inform you that his Lordship has not the 
 
 * Daihj Tekymplt, Dec. i27Lh, 1869. 
 
32 
 
 slightest objection to your publishing your corre- 
 spondence with this department. 
 
 I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 Frederic Rogers. 
 The Rev. G. 0. Corbett. 
 
 8, Titchfield Terrace, Regent's Park, N.W. 
 
 Jan. 18th, 1870. 
 
 My Lord, — I had not intended to write your 
 Lordship so soon again, but the gravity of the con- 
 tents of a letter which I have just received from Red 
 River presses on me to do so, which informs me that 
 a body of 600 of the French, in arms, guarded the 
 road between Red River and Pembina, who sent word 
 to Governor M'Dougall that if he attempted to come 
 in he would be shot ; that the mail was stopped and 
 opened, private property taken possession of, and all 
 parties and goods coming in were seiz d and opened; 
 and after this they marched down and took possession 
 of Fort Garry, with the ammunition and guns, and 
 are still there in large numbers ; that the Rapids 
 people took possession of the Stone Fort ; that a large 
 force of Sioux Indians were at the Portage ; and that 
 every preparation was going forward for fighting ; 
 and, after expressing fears of detailing more in case 
 this letter should be opened, the wncer concludes : 
 " If war comiiiences here, God only knows how it 
 will end ; for most of the French are half- Indians, 
 and, Indian fashion, may revenge on the women and 
 children. We may be all killed before any troops 
 can reach us from Canada. The French have no 
 design to injure the English, but they demand certain 
 privileges." 
 
33 
 
 vre- 
 
 
 In the Dail^ Telegraph tins morning I read this 
 tele<i^rarn : " Advices from Pembina to the 3rd inst. 
 received at Chicago state that a large band of Sioux 
 Indians was near Fort Garry, and it was apprehended 
 that they would attack the insurgents or commit 
 depredations on the frontier of the Red River Settle- 
 ment ; and it is reported that the insurgents have 
 seized £200,000 belonging to the Hudson's Bay 
 Company." 
 
 My Lord, I believe that the grievance shared in 
 by the great body of the people is one in common. 
 The French, naturally quick, rise in arms in intense 
 anger at the arrangement made by the British 
 Government, and defy the carrying out of such 
 terms, and take the reins of government into their 
 own hands ; whilst the English side of the com- 
 munity, in truth not less indignant, but naturally 
 slower, resolve on waiting before abandoning the 
 British flag, and for the time repudiate the French 
 way of manifesting their anger; and hence some of 
 the English side are either taken prisoners or threat- 
 ened. But this cool and loyal attitude on the part 
 of the English and Scotch half-breeds should not be 
 construed into indifference ; for the very men who 
 have been taken prisoners or threatened have ever 
 recorded their abhorrence of the old system, and 
 written and petitioned for the recognition of their 
 rights and the introduction of a just form of govern- 
 ment. For example, such men as Mr. James Stewart, 
 a Scotchman, who has been dragged from his family 
 and made a prisoner by the French ; and Captain 
 William Hallette, an English half-breed, whose name 
 is a tower of strength, who has been at the head 
 of a hundred battles, and who is very influential on 
 
34 
 
 both sides and with tlie Indians, threatens (which he 
 woukl certainly carry out) to shoot the first man 
 who woukl interfere with his freedom — botli of whom 
 abide by tlie Hritish flag. But tiiis hjyal feelin*^ 
 and coolness on the one side, and cjuickness on the 
 other (I believe in heart most of the French are loyal, 
 only their natural vivacity and anj^or precipitate them 
 into instant hostilities) is not to be trifled with. In 
 the main, tlie people out there believe that certain 
 Acts of Parliament so defined their status as to 
 remove all power from the Hudson's Bay Company 
 to hold any courts of law; that that body had no 
 proprietary rights in the soil; that it was reduced, 
 or it was made clear by said Acts of Parliament, to 
 the mere footing of a company of traders under a 
 licence ; that in virtue of ihe Act enabling the Crown 
 to issue such licence, it might also issue licences to 
 fifty or a hundred other companies ; that the Hudson's 
 Bay Company received such licence on conditions, one 
 of which was that they came under a penal bond of 
 £5,000 restricting them from trying causes and 
 prisoners, and limiting such proceedings to the courts 
 of Canada or Westminster ; that such condition the 
 Company has violated, and thereby ruined indi- 
 viduals and families ; that the Britisli Government 
 has allowed these things to go on ; that the time 
 came for the expiration of their licence, when they 
 stood as an unlicenced body of traders, like the rest 
 in the country; that the people and their children 
 and the natives solely have rights in the soil, and 
 have constantly repudiated the claims of the Hudson's 
 Bay Company thereto ; that the judgments recorded 
 in Canadian courts of law and the history of that 
 country have ever been declarative against the preten- 
 
35 
 
 slous of the Hudson's Bay Company ; but that in the 
 face of all this the Canadian Government consents 
 to pay the Hudson's Bay Company £300,000 in 
 money and to their having reserves in land, and the 
 Imperial Government gives a guarantee for it — the 
 Canadian Government thus reversing the policy in- 
 corporated with the past history of Canada, and 
 relinquishing the ground occupied by its ancient 
 inhabitants, and ignoring the legal status which both 
 the Acts of the Imperial Parliament and the past 
 judges of the courts of Canada alike maintained. 
 May I ask your Lordship, is it, then, any wonder 
 that the people should rise in arms at Red Kiver, and 
 drive back Governor M'Dougall, who was deputed 
 thither by the Canadian Government, and who had 
 come to England previously as one of the two Cana- 
 dian statesmen, and consented to such an arrange- 
 ment ? 
 
 My Lord, the people out there believe that the 
 Hudson's Bay Company is not entitled to one penny, 
 for thei/ hace parted with nothing ; that if any party 
 is entitled to anything it is themselves ; and that any 
 money payments or privileges concurred in by the 
 Canadian or British Governments, beyond acknow- 
 ledging the rights of the people and the natives, 
 should be laid out in opening up and improving the 
 country. 
 
 Now that the storm has burst, it may gather 
 other elements in its course ; but, from a long 
 acquaintance with that country, I believe I have 
 stated the pith of the case. 
 
 My Lord, I believe that the British Government 
 should at once firmly occupy lied River, and grant 
 the peo2->le title-deeds to the lands they occupy, and 
 
30 
 
 establish a proper form of government ; that it slioul J 
 plant settlements between lied liiver and Canada — 
 for instance, at Kainy lliver ; and that it should form 
 a colony in the Saskatchewan Valley, and thus con- 
 nect British Columbia with this line of settlements 
 (of increased importance, as it is now petitioning for 
 union with the United States), and open the overland 
 route on British soil. I read in Cassell's " Illustrated 
 ''i' ;'vels" for this month that by the Pacific Eailroad 
 '• i\ierchant came across the continent of North Arne- 
 I'oa, from ocean to ocean, in six days, seventeen hours, 
 and twenty-three minutes,* and a report of a meeting 
 of the Royal Colonial Society, registered in this day's 
 paper, adds further confirmation to the facilities which 
 exist for such a road across from Upper Canada to 
 Red Ri\er, and thence to the Valley of the Sas- 
 katchewan and British Columbia. 
 
 I have the honour to be, my Lord, 
 Your Jjordship's most obedient and humble servant, 
 
 G. 0. CORBETT. 
 
 To the Right Hon. Earl Granville, K.G., &c. &c., 
 Her Majesty's Secretary of State 
 for the Colonies, &c. &c. 
 
 * Diblanco — 3,300 mile^>. 
 
 Luudou : CaMicll, I'tittur, aud aulpln, D^lk baiivugo Woi kn, Ludtrikto lilU, E.G. 
 
it slioukl 
 /anada — 
 lid form 
 liiis con- 
 ;tlemeiits 
 mmg for 
 overland 
 lustrated 
 Eailroad 
 'th Ame- 
 eu hours, 
 1, meeting 
 ;liis day's 
 ies which 
 auada to 
 the Sas- 
 
 fe 
 
 •■ • M 
 
 e servant, 
 
 [IBETT. 
 
 . &c., 
 
 
 mil. E.c.