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IMaps, platas, ctiarts. ate, may ba fiimad at diffarant raduction ratios. Thosa too larga to bo antiraly included in ona axpoaura ara fiimad baginning in tha uppar iaft hand comar, iaft to right and top to bottom, as many framas as raquirad. Tha following diagrama illustrata tha mathod: Loa cartaa, plancl«aa, tablaaux, ate. pauvant Atra fllmAa A daa taux da rAduction diff Arants. Lorsqua la document ast trap grand pour Atra raproduit an un saul cllchA, il aat fiimA A partir da I'angla supAriaur gaucha. da gaucha A droita, at da hiaut an baa, an pranant la nombra d'Imagaa nAcaaaalra. Laa diagrammas suivants llluatrant la mAtlioda. 12 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ctbrarg ^/5 KINGSTON, ONTARIO SPEECHES — ON- INDIAN DIFFICULTIES IN THE NORTH-WEST; DELIVERED BY ROBERT CUNNINGHAM, H.F. & HON. DONALD A. SMITH, M.P. -IN- THE HOUSE OF COMMONS APRIL 1st, 1873. OTTAWA: FREE PRESS, STEAM PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT, ELGIN STREET. ^m:^^w\:.\\^f r'f\ 'r^vTA;- 'l? ^,.'(''U"j -<• 1 1 1 fi: Jo '•^:^ .; .*'• i"i f;.v!»-. ? SPEECHES . On the Indian Difficultiea in the North-West; delivered hy Mr. Robert Ctmningham, M.P., cmd Hon. Donald A. Smith, M.P., in the ■•r,t}, ;■ House of Comm s, April Ist, 1873. Mr. OuNNiNGHAH Said he desired to make a few remarks on this subject, but could not do so without calling attention to a strange ailment of the member for Lisgar. He never spoke on any subject at any time, or anywhere, without first making a violent attack on the Hudson Bay Company. That Company stood very much in the same relation to the hon. gentleman as King Charles's head stood to Mr. Dick, in " David Copperfield." (Laughter.) I shall not enter into the cause of this. It might not be interesting to the House, but the people in l^anitoba know all about it. *But he challenged the'honorable gentleman to point out how in any respect whatever — how in one particular — the Company were liable for the present uneasiness amongst the Indians in the North- West, It was men, like the hon. gentleman himself, who went about amongst the Indians, making all sorts of promises to them, never meant to be fulfilled, who created uneasiness amongst the Indians ; and it is a fact, capable of proof, that the member for Lisgar, in order to secure the Indian vote, promised that he would take all the chiefs down to Ottawa, have them feted and feasted, and get whatever amendments to the treaty they desired, (Cheers.) The Hudson Bay Company, on the contrary, never promised the Indians anything but what was fulfilled ; and the whole history of the Red man, since the days of Columb'is, shews nothing so successful as the rule of the Company. Whilst our American neighbours have been keeping up continual war with them the British Indian in Rupert's Lahd has lived peacefully, and quietly, and undisturbed ; and whilst the most atrocious deeds had been committed on the south side of the line, the plains of the North-west lie all but unstained by the blood of the white man, (cheers,) and he hurled back to the honorable gentleman 53!.4.5 INDIAN DIFFICULTIES IN NORTH-WEST. the covert insinuations he had brought against the Indian policy of the FEudson's Bay Company. Coming to the present troubles ho thought the cause of this restlessness amongst the Indians was attributable to various causes. First of all there was the transition from British to Canadian rule. This they did not com- prehend. Colonial relations as we understood them were utterly strange to them. Hitherto they had lived on Bj'itish Territory, and as they considered under British protection, but they were left alone with their hunting grounds free to them to roam over when and where they chose. They followed the buffalo and lived on it, and when starvation stai-ed them in the face, as often it has done, they had always a dernier resort in the Hudson's Bay Company to fall back upon, but now things were altered. They heard of the white man coming in from Canada to take possession of their lands, to drive away the buffalo and exterminate them, and reasoning quite naturally they come to the conclusion that Canada was a different power from England; and here he might state that one great blunder was committed last summer which had not only had great effect in bringing about this state of things, but had in a great measure caused the Indians to lose any confidence they might have in Canadian faithfulness. Early in the season the Governor of the North West sent to the Chiefs on the Saskatchewan an autograph letter, informing them that the Indian Com- missioner from Canada would meet them in the neighborhood of Fort Edmonston, in the month of August. The Governor did this in all good faith, relying on the Commissioner to fulfil the promise he had made, but what was the result? The tribes congregated from all parf > in the month of August, they waited, but no Commissioner either came nor was anything heard of such a functionary making his approach. In the end, forced by sheer starvation, they left for their hunting grounds thoroughly convinced that no faith was to be placed on Canadian pledges or promises, and with the full determination to have nothing to do in the way of treaty with a nation on whom no reliance could be placed. It was altogether an un- fortunate occurrence, for if there was one thing more than another that should be attended to in dealing with that people, it was carefulness in making promises when made. — (hear hear). But there were other causes for this state of things in the North-v.^est; one of these was the American element. Were there no more involved in this than simply traffic in furs with the Indians, it would not necessarily involve much cause for concern or interference; but what was the essential element in this traffic) It was INDIAN DIFFICULTIES IN NORTH-WEST. rum. These Americans were, for the most part, men of the most lawless character — murderers, outlaws and escaped convicts. These were the kind of men that were playing against us in the North-West. At first, when compai'atively few in number, they were more cautious, and plied their trade in secret; but now, increased in numbers, and having ingratiated themselves with the Indians, they set all law at defiance, and carry on their illicit traffic openly and defiantly. As an instance, last summer waggon loads of high wines were carried into the territory 'v a band of these ruffians. They settled down in the immediate neighborhood of Fort Edmonston, the Indians came around, the liquor was traded for furs, and murders and outrages of the most appaling character were of almost daily occurrence. The whole territory was demoralized to a frightful extent. When August approached, fearing least the Commission might appear accompanied by troops, they made oflf across the line; but when they dis- covered that there was little to be feared on this score, they returned with new supplies and were again at work as vigorously as ever. Nor was this a solitary instance, bands of these men were to be found all over the North West. Now it would be observable at a glance that these ruffians had everything to lose and nothing to look forward to but ruin, by the estab- lishment of vigorous Canadian rule in the territory, and in order to the prevention of this being accomplished, they were leaving no stone unturned. Indians were plied with rum, Canadian rule was pictured out to them in the most repulsive colours. The most outrageous lies as to the calamities that would befall them should Canada ever come into possession of their hunting grounds were propagated, in fact they had wrought many of them up to such a pitch that they spit at the very name of Canada. Looking forward to disturbance they were arming them as fast as their gains would allow with rifles, and in fact we had virtually to-day in the North-west hostile people to deal with. But there was still a third element in this North-west difficulty well worthy of careful watching. It was calculated that at present on the little Saakatchewan and other rivers there were at work upwards of a thousand miners gathering gold dust from the sands of those streams. At any moment the cry might be raised of immense gold dis- coveries in the tenitory, and what would be the result, why tens of thousands of the border i-uffians would instantaneously rush in, and where would Canadian rule be theni where would the Dominion Lands Act liet They might raise the Republican flag at their will, and there was no man there who would dare to attempt to make them afraid. That the 6 INDIAN DIFFICULTIES IN NORTH-WEST. Americans have had their eye on tliis North-Weat Territory, was a well known fact, and when Tx)ui8 Riel was in charge of the Government offers, almost incredible, were held out to him, and certain documents even placed on the table of this House and quite probably there would be men who would wonder how so young and so poor a man as Louis Riel, unless actuated by the strongest patriotism, could ever have resisted the tempting offers, (hear hear). Now, with these facts before us the question arose, what was to be done? It was quite clear that something must be done — something uharp, short and decisive. The time for writing despatches was gone by and the difficulties must be grappled with, and that successfully, or our hold on the North- West might be endangered and an enormous expense of life and money lost; and in dealing with these men it must be remembered we are not about to deal with uncivilized Indiana, not with the untutored, and, in many respects, the noble children of the forest as they were in the days of William Penn. In one sense of the term they were just as civilized as we were. They could not read nor write, nor did they pay any attention to religious matters, but in a business sense they were civilized to a greater extent than people imagined. The day had been when a valuable fur could have been purchased from an Indian for a needle, but these dayB were done, for in the matter of trade they were just as keen and wide awake as the white trader who had to deal with them. In approaching them in the way of treaty we must do 80 in a business fashion. The old style of treating was a farce, and was so regarded by the Indian himself. - About a year and a half ago he saw something of our Indian treaty, and this was the way of it : On the plain around lower Fort Garry were the camps, Ijie squaws formed around the wigwams, and the Chief, over half nude, squatted on the ground playing cards. For the most part the atmosphere was saturated with the steam of pork cooking, the lawn was gravelled over with tea leaves, and the very dogs, ordinarily the very embodiments of starvation, looked sleek and fat. In front of the Fort were squatted the Chiefs solemnly smoking their pipes, and at about ten o'clock the door of the Fort residence opened, and out walked Commissioner Simpson with cocked hat, with a white plume waving gracefully over it ; a brilliant scarlet coat, and dazzling gold stripes on his trousers. Behind walked the Governor, also adorned with a cocked hat and plumes, his drummer jacket or Windsor uniform, or whatever you choose to call it. Then followed the Court train, composed of ladies and kid-gloved gentlemen, while in the rear occasionally marched the lofty INDIAN DIFFICULTIES IN NORTH-WEST. member for Lisgur, patronizing the whole crowd. (Ii<>\id laughter.) Tlie InclitinH and all Hmoked the \n\iG and piiHsed it around, but Governor Archibald abhorred the very uiention of the pijw, for he hated tobacco in any form, and that big pipe, probably a hundred years old, in the iK)tence of its age, often times madt; him sorely sick. (Loud laughter.) Every morning the Commissioner would inquire whether they had come to any determination as to the Ti-eaty. To thJK tlio invariable rei)ly was, ** Well, not yet, but very near it ; wo wore very near it last night." The Com- missioner would then tell them how anxious their great mother over the sea was about this matter, that she was waiting voiy eagerly to hear if her children had made the Treaty ; and when one looked at the tear that twinkled in the eyes of these Indians when the great mother question was brought up, he could not help coming to the conclusion that it was all a farce. This went on at that spot for about five weeks. Incredible quan- tities of pork, tea, tobacco and sundries were consumed, and the whole resulted in an annuity of three dollara a head, with a reserve of 30 acres of land to each being gi^anted to the mother with a little expense bill of some $50,000. (Hear, hear.) To his mind the whole thing, both in the manner it was done and its results, was a solemn farce, for to-day these very Bwampies were as discontented as ever and but repudiated the treaty en- tirely, and what more could be expected, for if he had been rightly inform- ed the terms of the treaty, meagre as they were, had not been complied with. It appeared to him that in dealing with this matter the Dominion must make up its mind to two things, first she must treat with these people in no niggardly spirit, and secondly she must have an armed force in the valley of the Saskatchewan. It was all very well to send an emblem of power in the shape of a cocked hat and a scarlet coat, but then we must have the force itself. Look at what the Americans have done on the northern frontier of Dakotah and Montana, At this moment they had along the line or near it fifteen forts occupied by 3,000 men, involving an annual expenditure of $5,000,000, and were we to expect that, with the same material to deal with, we were to manage the whole for a few thousand dollars 1 But it might be asked why do the Americans expend so much in this way ? For two reasons. First, to give security to the few people who had settled there already, and as a sense of security to the settlers who were coming. They had read the history of northern Minnesota, A stream of immigration was pouring into those fertile plains which, if it continued uninterrupted, would have made it one of the richest stretches of 8 INDIAN DIFFICULTIES IN NORTH-WEST. country in the Union. VillagoH wc^re Hprin^ing up on ull bandH ; tho VwinlcH of the rivora and HtreuniH wne entering into any other negotiations with the Indiana without further instructions from the Government, and so the Summer and Autumn passed without anything having been done. Mr. Simpson doubtless meant well, and both did and would Jiave done all he was capable of performing. It is tnie, as repre- sented by the hon. Provincial Secretary, that Mr. Simpson had been an officer of the Hudson's Bay Company, and I have every desire to speak with respect of that gentleman, whom I have the privilege of regarding as ft personal fiiend ; but, unfortunately, he had had no experience whatsoever of the Blackfeet and other tribes of Indians on the Plains, and although, as already mentioned, he had been formeriy in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company, he would not have been selected by them as best fitted for that delicate and important mission. '" ' '^ - '• ' . *' • ■■ At pi'esent the condition of that countiy is far from being satisfactory. (Hear.) You have some thousands of Indians dissatisfied with the treat- ment they have received at the hands of the Government, whose promises have so far been unfulfilled. You have besides, as refugees from across the line, some of the most desperate and reckless characters to be found on the Continent, bringing in with them, and spreading broadcast among the Indiana, strong drinks, and supplying them with arms. These men, one 12 INDIAN DIFFICULTIES IN NORTH-WEST. u ( of whom — a notorious criminal, named, I believe, Johnstone — reported to have murdered a Marshall of the United States, have encamped within the Canadian Territory, at a place to >^hich they have very appropriately given the name of "Stand-off Fort," defying alike the Americans, who dare not, looking to international law, cross over to them, and the Government of this country, which unfortunately has there no means of protecting itself even against such desperadoes. In all that country, extending over so many hundreds — nay thousands of miles, not only is there no military force, but not even a single constable ; and, although some Justices of the Peace have been appointed for it, they are utterly powerless, having no force to back them. That the state of things as just shown is most perilous for this country can not, I think, be doubted by one member of this House ; nor ought it to be forgotten that We have within the North-West country a considerable number of Sioux, being a portion of that same body of men who, in Dakota and Minnesota only a few years back, were the perpetrators of those fearful outrages on the settlers ; the very mention of which struck the civilized world with a thrill of horror, but which were esteemed by those people as deeds of bravery, entitling them to the approval of the tribe. Can it for a moment be supposed that the very nature of these men has been so greatly changed within so short a time that they would be altogether incapable of again following the same course should circumstances so favor their doing so, and more especially, as is apprehended may be the case, if joined by the more numerous bands of Sioux from the American side. In my humble opinion it would be unwise to trust over-much to retaining the continued possession of that most valuable portion of the Dominion, unless steps are speedily taken for the protection of life and property therein. (Hear, hear.) The hon.*member for Marquette having stated that, during the existence of the troubles in the North-west in 1869-1870, an effort was made to tamper with the allegiance of a certain portion of the community by the offer of large sums of money — ^a statement freely made and very generally believed at the time — I would remark that, while far from approving all that was done in the new Province of Maoiitoba at that time, I fully own with that hon. gentleman that since we have been so lavish in attributing blame, we ought also not to be backward in giving what credit can fairly be given to those who resisted, what to many would unquestionably have been a great temptation. (Hea^ ) The hon. Provincial Secretary amongst his other remarks was pleased to say that it might be, and no V' i INDIAN DIFFICULTIES IN NORTH-WEST. 13 doubt was, for the interest of certain persons that troops should be stationed near the several posts, as, in furnishing the sup- plies necessa.ry for their subsistence, veiy considerable profit would be made ; but, in so far as it may have been intended to apply this to the Hudson's Bay Company, I would, Mr. Speaker, beg to say that, at this time, that Company has no contracts for supplying the troops in Manitoba, or if any only one or two to a very trifling amount. And, further, in this statement the Right Honorable/ Premier will bear me out, that the Hud- son's Bay Company have not, up to this time, received the rents or other remuneration to which they are unquestionably entitled, for the numerous buildings belonging to them occupied by these troops and for other Government purposes. (Hea;r, hear.) In the neighboring country we find military forts studded all along its border, which at this moment are being increased, and Canada, having acquired the territory* must also assume the responsibility of governing and giving protection on her side. I confess my own opinion to be that both a military and civil force will be required efficiently to do so. That some force be provided, and tiiat immediately, whether under the name of the Mounted Police or othenvise matters not much, is imperatively demanded, and I trust the Govemmenii will lose not one day unnecessairily in furnishing this protection, and this before any endeavour is made to> make treaties with the Indiana, who will doubtless be far more easily satisfied when, cdming to a conference for the cession of their lands, they find that the Government is prepared to maintain the majesty of the law under all circumstances. It will unquestionably be good policy, and the only true policy, to deal justly and most liberally with the Indians, and looking to the comparatively small number, leaving outside altogether those across the line, who cannot be considered as having any claim on this Government, who will be entitled to participate in any grant, I consider that the Government can afiord to deal liberally with them. How this is to be done, and through whose direct agency, is a matter for very careful consideration, and I agree in c^nnion with the hon. member for Marquette that, for this purpose, not one Commissioner alone, but a commission composed of several gentlemen of high character, and having also a practical knowledge of the business to be dealt with, would be by far the preferable mode. Until this matter of the Indian treaty and of protection has been