The Portland daily press., 1869-12-29
The Heroic Age Of Winnipeg.

Considering their natural disadvantages
and the remote corner of the universe where
fate has given them home, the halfbreeds
OF Winnipeg succeed wonderfully in making
themselves respectable and even heroic
Their declaration of independence, just issued
and published in the American papers, is as
good a declaration, SO far as the validity of its
arguments is concerned, as Thomas Jefferson
could have drawn up. Louis Relle, the lead
err of the revolt, is very good Washington in
miniature, and no doubt there are Franklins.
Adamses and Hamiltons to correspond. 1t is
universally conceded that the patriots pro-
coed with moderation, that they preserve the
peace and that no scenes of riot and blood
shed attend their dignified but effectual strug-
gle for freedom. They did show some signs
OF evaporation when the pseudo-Governor
McDougall undertook to arm the savages
against them, but quiet is now restored by
the abandonment of that plan and by the re-
ported withdrawal of the Dominion function
aries from the scene of the disturbance.
There Is now not so much as vestige of even
pretended Canadian authority left in the
whole Red River region, and the uprising of
the people is for the time at least a complete
success
1t is difficult to see now the Dominion,
even if it has sufficient physical force, can re-
duce the insurgents to obedience without ig-
noring all modern ideas of public policy and
justice. The Hudson Bay Company has sold
ife IN fha ;r;o 30 r..
three hundred thousand pounds, without con-
sulting the people Of the territory to be trans
ferred. These people, in accordance with the
prevailing conception of popular rights, de-
cline to be transferred without their consent
Fifty years ago such protests would have been
little needed by the "civilized" world, but
now they will receive some attention even in
Great Britain. The time has passed when
the grant by monarch to favorite mistress
or courtier of immense territories with the
people dwelling there is regarded as valid, and
1t is no longer thought matter of cours e
f1at corporations, even so mighty as the
Hudson Bay Company, can sell people and
give as good title to them as they do to the
flrs that they sell.
Long live the Winnipeggers! 1t would lie
hard for British statesmen to give a reason
why their belligerency or even their fnce-
psndence should not be acknowledged by the
United States. They have fulfilled every con-
dition ever imposed upon revclted people by
writers on international law as emitting them
to such recognition. They have a govern
ment de facto, and it is understood that there
is no other government on the spot to dispute
its legitimacy. The revolutionists have not
only possession of a part of the territory
but the whole. There is officer of the Ca
madam or any other government tin the whole
land to try titles with Washington Reille and
his motley but well behaved patriot squad
rons. If the Confederates we're entitled to
recognition, when unable to present half the
claim that the gallant Wlnnipeggers do, then
must John Bull hold his peace if the new Re-
public On our Northern frontier obtains conn.
tenance from the United States, and is after
wards annexed by the consent of the people.