Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-05-15
THE REL REBELLION.
Graphic Sketch OF. the Leader of
.-- the Revolt.
Especial Correspondence Of Oakland r,m,.

u
Louis Riel the leader of the presen
revolt, which, is giving the Canada
authorities so much trouble. is nativ,
Oh Manitoba, having been born there a
years ago, under the old Hudson Ba,
regime. lie is of French ancestry. ,bui
mas some Indian blood in his veins. III
Is well educated, bold and insinuating ir
MS manners, and Just the man to leac
me hal-breeds. When the Hudson Ba1
company sold the greater part of theil
lands to the Canadian government In
1869 Riel commanded the, half-breed
instruction against the new authorities.
and held Fort Garry, near Winnipeg. fo,
Il months. He established provisional
government, seized all the property al
the tort, and he and his associates in the
movement became possessed of hun.
oreds OF thousands of dollars worth OF
property. A number of loyal civilians
attempted to resist Riel, but they were
put down, and one Thomas Scott was
shot: When Col. Wolseley, now Gen
Lord Wolseley, and the Canadian militia.
10 the number of about 1000, appeared
IN front OF Fort Garry, Riel fed. and the
provisional government was dissolved
AT that time some concessions were made
to the half breeds of Manitoba, each of
them getting 240 acres of land. This
satisfied the half-breeds of that province.
Inc present outbreak is owing to the fact
that the haf-breeds of the remaining por-
lions OF the northwest were not similarly
treated. What Riel now wants is to get
Tor the other half-breeds what the insur-
rectlon OF 1869 got for the people of Fort
Garry.
RlePs father before him was a rebel.
he led an outbreak against the Hudson
Bay Company before that association sold
It's lands to the Canadian government.
Inns little private instruction enriched
the elder Riel and made him one of the
small great men of his locality The
spirit Of revolt is, therefore, in the blood
OF Louis Riel. His father was ambitious
10 make his son a gentleman and to
scnool him IN all the ways of the white
mans culture. The youth was a strong,
bold, black-eyed boy, with the mixed
barbarlc and French natures stirring in
his lawless, restless soul. He was sent to
Canadian college. He learned easily
the lessons set him, but the discipline of
the good fathers who were his teachers
made no impression on him. His I'M
tanned nature burst all restraints. He
repealed the advances of his schoolmates
and shrank from human companionship
like wild creature of the woods. At
length by some chance fellow student
of refined, studious disposition, was
thrown with Louis Riel somewhat. He
at once gained marvellous influence over
the half-breed youth. Louis formed
strange and strong attachment to, the
gentle comrade of white blood He began
to change, to heed his tasks and the adj
monitions of his teachers. His manners
grew milder, he began to be courteous
and less reserved to those around him.
The wild half-breed son of Riel the rebel
gave promise Of becoming gentleman.
In a weeks time all was changed. The
gentle white schoomate fell i'll one day.
The ailment developed into smallpox,
and he was removed to the hospital.
Young Riel passionately refused to re-
main at his lessons. He ran away from
college and followed the schoolmate to
his hospital cot-bed He watched his
friend with dog-like devotion, devotion,
alas that was all in vain. The young
man died of the plague.
From the day of his death Louis Riel
was little seen in towns and cities. He
fed to his woods, up in the great Mani
toba country. All the wildness in him
broke out again. From that time on he
dwelt among half-breeds and Indians, the
boldest, strongest crueleSt barbarian of
them ALL When civilization next heard
his name it was as the leader of the j.
OUTBREAK OF 1869.
A word on that will serve to explain
the present one. The Hudson Bay Com
pany had had fur-trading posts In the
region in question for century prior to
1869. They had acquired large posses
sions. When they transferred their
lands and property to the Canadian gov
eminent, the region was already settled
by a numerous population of French and
| Scotch half-breeds. Without consulting
them, the Dominion sent surveyors
and parcelled off their lands in blocks.
! The lands were wanted to be opened up
! for settlement by the white man, and the
Indian must go. The settlers resolved
not to submit Louis Riel put himself at
their head at Fort Garry. A barrier was
erected, behind which an array OF grim
and cleaning bayonets stood guard. The
Dominion sent troops to quell the lnsur-
rection. Their commander demanded
! the surrender of the fort. A 'swelllsh"
Young Englishman of the governors staff
strobe deliberately up to the barrier, put
his glass to his eye, and gazed insolently
at the determined faces behind, and
| drawled out:
"Remove that blawsted fence" A
volley of musketry or roar OF laughter,
either one, might have answered the
summons, according to the temper OF the
rebels.
The revolutionists gained their point,
however. The Eominion settled land
uton them, and there was peace. The
scene of the present trouble is the Sas-
katchewan country-the cause the same.
The district runs almost l 900 miles along
the river of the same name. The hall
breeds lands are divided into long, mar
row strips, extending an immense dis
lance back from the Saskatchewan. Ihis
is to give each settler a river frontage, a
privilege which they are ready to hight
for. There are about "a, 900 Indians scat
tered through the northwest, whom Rlel
hoped to win over to his cause. --~---7
UIT1e ENVY OE THE FORCE.