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The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre film6s d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, ii est IWvni A partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en pranant le nombre d'images n^cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithoda. y erreta Id to nt ne pelure. i9on i T\ 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 PARTING ADDRESS Co iiif: PEOPLE OF CANADA. BY SIR FRED MIDDLETUN, K.C.M.G., C.B., I M'ut. -Genera!, and /ate Commander of the Canadian YfUitia. PRINTtD FOR THE AUTHOR BY huntp:r, rose & company. i«9o. 1 J 8C hi 111 fc di of of m th S( M th at) wi tic Oc tre th( of of COl fur dm PARTING ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF CANADA To be silent under inimerite*! censiuo i.s often the part of a soldier, and had I merely been charged with indiscretion, oi with having' overstepped my powers as a commander in the field, 1 might have chosen to retire without saying anything in my de- fence, and to leave it to the justice and generosity of the Cana- dian people to balance my general services against a single error of judgment. But the bitterest of ruy assailants, and the organs of their party in the Press, have not stopped here. I owe it to ray companii)ns-in-arrns, and to all Canadians, at parting, to show that the Canadian Militia has not been commanded l»y dish()n(»ur. An indictment comprising four charges (vide page 1, Report, of Select Committee), was brou jjht against me by Mr. G. W. Lister, M,P., before a Committee of the House of Commons. Besides the instruction to Mr. Hayter Reed to confiscate Bremner's furs and to appropriate a few of tliem at Battleford, I was charged (a) with the appropriation of fu»'s at Batoche, (6) with the appropria- tion of horses, (c) with having licensetl the appropriation by J^t.- Col. Bedson of a pool table and horses taken from the .settlers at Batoche. The case of Bremner's furs, Mr. Lister said, " was not an isolated transaction, l»ut one of a series." The inference to be drawn from the series taken collectively, plainly was, that 1 had been guilty of systematic plundering or licen.sing plunder. Not a particle of evidence has been given in support of any of the last three counts, •which are aljsolutelj' false, I i.ever toucJied or saw any furs at Batoche, and the only horse I took was one to carry mo daring the campaign, and which was afterwards handed over to 4 the Government auctioneer at Winnipej^, Ah refjarda tlie billiard taUle, from copies of telejjframs wliich I have lately come across I am enabled to state that tho Minister of Militia had sent a telegram to me (wliicli I have not kept;, about the troops looting, and ill answer thereto, 1 teleijfraphed as follows: — "Camp I'ort Tivt, "June 24th, 1885, " The truops w«>re not at yaini Liiurent or D\iok bake. I lind that a bil- liard tftble was takon out of « Jal>riel Diiniont'H house lifforn it wns hiirned, iki\(l one was taken at Batoche rheyaro both at, I'rinoe Albert, and cortaiuly no woniiiUB clothi'B were taken. The little property at Batuche was tlio pro- perty of undeniable rel)fcl«, who had just V)een shootinj,' down our men, an- coiKjueror. To Lear the priost priiao your niodoration in victory, praise the oflicers in general, speak of your kindnosn in reliovin;:^ tht.> starving roni[Uor- od, did nut sarprise, but I have Inward the people in general. '' 1 tender you special thanka, (Jenoral, because, at the on creaty of go^d Father Moulin, j-ou spaicd the Churcli of St. Antoino and tho ^lissionanes house, although those buildings were an obstacle to jou in battle. V'ou have, Gener.il, by yielding to the entreaty of that good little miBsionary, ren- dered a true service to the colony, &c.'' This will show the general .spirit in which 1 acted, and how far I was from any disposition to licer.se plunder. T did not know what amount of furs Brcmnci- had, nor did J ever see theni. I fidly believed then that Eremnor was a rebel. He had been in the camp of loundmaker, who \^as in arms against us, and he only came in after I had made Poundniakera pi'i.soner- He was recognized as having been present at (Jut Knife, and he was also found in j^ossessiun of the litle oi a slain Mounted Policeman. 1 fully l)elieved then that Ids property, as that of a rebel in arms, was forfeit, and that 1 was warranted in afterwards oiving effect to the foi'feiture. That the property of rebels was forfeit was certainly the rule v.d»ich practically ])re vailed in Jn'.'ia in 18o7, when 1 servey the Commission of Kebelliou Lo.sses, who held that he (Bremner) " was a party to, and reapon- 6 aihle for his ovn losses, or in other words that he vas n, rebel!' ami this docision was imivecl at l>y h Royal Coiiimission, which took evidence at tho tinio and on th»' spot. It sceuis that my impression as to the extent of my powors was wronu, and of course 1 regret now that I oxercisod it as I ilid, but iho inipres^ion niust liuvc hoen strengthened, not only l>y tlie telegram aheaeared, and yet it has been nlleced, in part of the press of thi.s c')untry, that / had pemonaUy afifiroprlated S5,0l)0 vjortk of /lira belonging to Bremner ! it has also been alleged that some furs, which Mr. Devlin, of Ottawa, took from me as pait payment for dressing other furs, etc., wei-e part of Bremner's lot. Of course they were not, and coul.l not have been. They were not even of the same kind as those of Bremner, said to have been packed up at Battleford, Tliey were part of .some skins that had been given to me in the North-West, and some that T bought myself. An attempt was made to connect me personally with these furs by the statement that I went to look at them at Battleford on my way home, that f complained that tlie best had not been put up for me, and gave a further order for a large .saddle-box to be 8 filled with thoni for im\ Tliis is >ill tjil.se, hikJ its fulselioud is at- te.Htedbv Lieut.-ColcnplH Dawson. Sinitli 'D. Scliool) niitl (uasett two of wliom wore witli nie .iiiriti^' tiie whole day nu which this in sflid to havp occ'iirretl. Mr. Konald Mncdinald, who made the fltntoineiit, had U> admit, imdiT crosK-examiiiation, that id.s stato- Dient was not hj^ed >a his own knowledge. This Maf donald was the only witness hn)iight forward in sup- ijort of tlie charge heforo th* Oommiite*'. He was not a trust- worthy witJiess, for he declared ("ide \^a.^o of the Fej>ort), that he Had no interest in tlio nintter, wherea.s it came out {r'ule page 44 of the Keport), that he had leen appointed Agent for the proseeution of claims for losses incurred by Jiremnci- in the rcbol- lior, and that he was to receive tive per cent, on the amotint recovered ; moreover, according to his own account, he was im- plicated in the disposal of the furs It will be found that tlioro are other prevarications and inconsistencies in his evidence cal- culated to cast doubt on its creilibility. The order for the contiscation of tht; furs had been lost, and its contents had to be su})})lied from memory, i did not see it at all, and I positively deny that any injunction of seci-edy was inserted by my directions N»!ither did 1 know to whom the order wa.s addressed, but I naturally juu>.t have thought it was addressed to the ofHccv ot the Mounted Police at Battleforuarter- Master Sergt,, who was oidy a suborain tliut 1 have lately leaint'd that 1 have lain undiM- tlu* imputation of having failed to do Justit-e to iuy companions-in-arms in not having recom- juended any of then) for promotion and honours, such as 1 myself received. Now tin > is very far from being the case, and 1 am sure that the Mini.ster of Militia vvill himself help to clear me from such nit unmeiited i;liarge. In reality I almost exceeded militaiy otlicial etii|Uotte in my anxiety to obtain rewards for those who had so ably and gallantly helped nie to obtai'' my own, as I shall proceed to show. In my despatches conje' ling the action at Fish Creek and the taking of Batoehe, 1 bi ought to the notice of the Government the names of those otlicers who, by their lank, appointment, command, aud conduct in my opinion best de.served it. In my final report of the whole campaign T again )>rought these otticers to notice in the following terras; 10 •* Nothing could have been better than the conduct of all the troops, both officers and men, engaged in this short campaign, but as it is impossible to name every one m a despatch, I must, .in accordance with militiiry usage, confine myself to bringing to your notice the names of those who from their rank, appointm»)nt, or special service are in my opinion deserving of such mention, and it will not be out of place if, in this despaich, I again record those already brought to your notice, ind to whom my thanks are due for the zeal thc>y displayed and for the services they so cheerfully rendered, to- gether with others not before mentioned." The despatchen wero all printed and given to the public in the Canada Gazdie and public ])res.s. In the luiperial service a Gazette awarding honours and promotions to rhose named in des- patches would have followed as a matter of course without fur- ther at";tion by the General Idmself. But I did not let tlic matter rest there. I had an interview with the Minister of Militia and the Prime Minister, at Riviere de Loup, shortly after my return from the North- West, in which I pleaded for rewards for my officers. They decided against ni}' request for two reasons, one being that they knew tliat only two or three (). M. G.'s would be granted, which w ould cause jealousy among those who did not receive them ; the other, that I had not been able to include in the list for honours the names of the two officers commanding the French-Canadian reginnents. This, T was given to understand, would occasion trouble, which it was not thought advisable to incur. The recommendations for brevet promotions were, 1 understood, to be considered. On the IGth December, 1885, 1 personally submitted a letter to the Minister of Militia in which T drew attention to the fact wliich I had since discovered, tliat a good ii.any C. M. G.'s had been given for services in the Red River expedition of 1870, in which no fighting or loss of life had taken place. In this letter I gave a list of officers with a recom- mendation for sucli honours as might be deen^.ed .suitable, together with the names of officers for brevet promotions. On thu 11th March, 188f), I addres.sed another letter to tlie'Minister of Militia referring to my communication of the Kith December, 1885. and urging that some action should be taken thereon. I never re- ceived written official answers to my letters, but I had frequent conversations with the Minister on the subject. After one of 11 these conversations I again, as late as April, 1887, personally sub- mitted a letter to the Ministei in which I once more brought for- ward the subject of these rewards, drawing attention to the fact of its being the jubilee year of our Most Gracious Sovereign, when the Government might deem it an auspicious moment to ask for the decorations I begged to recommend, and to confer the brevet ])roraotions also. The latter would in some cases necessitate certain alterations in the regulations, which I suggested should be made. In this letter I ventured to specify the decorations and promotions as follows . Major-Genoral Strange, Commander Alherta Coliiuin, Major-General Laurie, Commander at Base, Col. Walker Powell, Adjutant-General H.Q., Lt. Col. Otter, Commander Battleford Column, Lt. Col. Van Straubenzee, Dr. Sullivan, Dr. Roddick. To receive the C. M. G. j% Lt. Col. Otter, " Van Straubenzee, " Montizambert, " Houghton, " Grasett, Osborne Smith, C.M.G., G. E. A. H'jghes (t)5th Reg)., '* J. Macpheison (Director of Stores). To be ^ Bt.Colonels. Major Short, B. Battery, C. A , " Dawson, 10th R. G., " Smith, "C"Co.,R.S. I., Hoswell, 90th Battalion, " Hughes, Midland Battalion, Jarvis, Winnipeg " F " Battery, " Boulton, Commander Scouts. To be Lt. Colonels. 12 Captain Peters, Battery, C. A., Driuy, " . Swiuford, 90th Battalion, " 7oung, Winnipeg "V" Battery, " Wise, A. D. C, " Brown, Q. 0. Rifles, Mutton, " " Rutherford, C. A To be Majors. « Lieutenant A. E. Doucot, A. D. 0., H. ('. Freer, "B" Co., R. S. I., J. W. Sears, '* (J " Polletier, C. A., Coryell, Scout, Gray, G. G. F. G, Og-ilvie, C. A. Dr. Sullivan, " Roddick. " Orton, " Graveley, " Bell. " Strange, " Ponnefather, " Ryer.son, " (bdd. Dr. Whiteford, " Grant, G. G. F. 0. To be Captains. To be Brigade Surgeons. To be Surgeons- AEajor with rank of Lt.-Colonel. To be Surizcons. Inmyle^er of tlio lOth December, 1885, above alluded to, among ttiose recommended for suitable honors appeared the names of Lord Melguud, who was chief of my statf, and Lt.-Colonel Mackeand, 90th Regiment (since deceased), and I added that, had Lt.-ColoneI Williams lived, his name would also have appeared in the list. u At the vcquQHt of th" Minister, and to my great rerrret, the re- commendation for tl' decorations was strnck out, but I under- stood that the recommendations for promotions would be favorably considered. 1 also, on the 18th of June, 188G, wrote a letter to the Comp- troller of the N. W. Mounted Police, bringing before him the names of those officers of that force who had come under my personal observation, and whom I considered deserving of special notice, or as having done good service. Their names are as follows :— Lt.-Col. W. Herchmer, | deserving of special Major Steele, j notice. Inspector A. B. Perry, | did very good service and showed Whyte Fraser, j great zeal. From tho foregoing, 1 do not think I can be justly accused of having forgotten or neglected the interests of my old comrades. FRED MIDDLETON, ^ Lt-Qeneral. Ottawa, August 12th, 1890.