Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1885-11-04


They took back only promi.'es tha, the
matter would be attended to- -promlscs
which proved futile.
me Metis, uneasy and tronbled, fear.
lag, al me moro because OF the delay
which seemed SO unacconntahle, that
they would lose their properties. atya,ioJ
anxiousiy the fulillment Of the promises
They were not fulfilled
Years rolled on. Surveyors were sent
into the district to prepare Ire wav for
settlement Of whites, and these survey
ors, In utter disregard of the rights aud
wishes OF the Nets, ran their lines so as
TO cut up thebfarms, and in some cases
Put mans dwelling on one lot and his
Darn ON another. II Is conteuded now
mat Sir John Macdonald should not be
held responsible for what his surveyors
SAID or did He should have remembered
now much his surveyors did TO cause the
heu river rebellion. lie might have rem
uered harmless what Is now said 10 have
oeen tue mere yaporing OF those survey
ofs II he had kept his promise and giyen
the Metis proper legal titles 10 their
lands.
What the surveyors said and did seemed
to the Netls to be an explanation of Sir
John Mcdonald's conduct In treating
their petitions and circumstances as ne
did. lie did not give them legal titles,
they thought, because he wished to give
their lands to others.
And he did give their lands TO others,
so confirming their worst fears. SO CON
yincing them that all his promises made
III reply TO their petitions and applications
We're false.
They were threatened with eviction In
many quarters. The legal title to the
lands held by the settlers OF st. Louis
4 de Langevin was unquestionably given to
the Prince Albert Colonization company.
Among the few hundred who actually
rebelled, We're those settlers.
What fair-minded man will say that Sir
John Macdonald is not responsible for
the mad acts of these people, ignorant as
children OF the ways OF the world, whom
J he drove TO despair?
1 As their last resort they sent delegates
/ to Riel in Montana, asking him to come to
their help He had succeeded in obtain.
ing for the Metis on the Red river the
recognition of their rights to the land
they held, aud they imagined he could do
1 as much for them.
Riel came. Meetings were held at
which the wrongs of the Metls were
stated. Appeals for redress were re-
newed. Ill protested a desire TO employ
1 only peaceable means These appeals
We're treated as all previous appeals had
been. Then came rumors of disaffeotion,
aud rebellion began to be talked OF us
possible, if not among the Metis, at all
events among the whites All this would
have satisfied prudent men, responsible
for the peace and good government of the
country, that ii had become absolutely
necessary to do something TO prevent
serious trouble.
Sir John Macdonald did nothing to pre-
vent trouble. He rather sought and
courted 1t. The grant Of the lands Of St.
Louis de Langevin to his friends, Mr..
John White and Mr.. Jameson and their
associates, the Metis naturally regarded
as his answer to all their applications,
and his defiance. But while dcfying the
Metis and provoking them by wrongs so
great, he did nothing to show them
that he was as powerful as he
was unjust. He allowed Ricl
to remain among these wronged
End excited people and do rs he pleased
without the slightest check, His idea OF
the extent OF the danger and trouble his
| injustice, his ins0lence, and his disregard
, OF the wishes, the feelings aud the
IiSHtH ul Iue peOpie lldV Cuuseu wa
, shown by ordering the small force uudel
, Crozicr to that Hudson Bay company,
) post, To send so small force was Blu
, to provoke the injured to rebellion. Mai
Crozer unfortunately shared Sir JOIN
Macdonald's contempt for the half-brceds
1t is now asserted that the order in
| council appointing commission for th,
, settlement of the half-breed claims wal
, passed in January, 1885, and that tn,
( acknowledgements was informed thereof
Why was that order held back until til,
Mets had actually taken up arms? VIII.
were not proper means taken to let tn
Mets know even then that the commits
; sion was appointed or was TO be ap
pOinted?