Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1885-05-01
WHAT THE RlEL REBELLION is.
A Brief Statement of the circumstances
Whlch preclpltntod II.

A bricf statement of the Circumstances
which Precipitatod 1t.
The Toronto Mail was not disposed to
believe the first reports of the Carleton
uprising, putting the blame on st. Paul
newspapers, anxious 10 score point
against the Northwest in the race for
the seasons ipmigration. BY this time
it will know that the troubles have as
sumcd really serious aspect, and that
there is little hope now that they will
be suppressed without loss of life. Our
Toronto contemporary proceeds to state
the grievances of the Saskatchewan set
tiers, putting them in the light not un-
favorable to the men who are now in
open rebellion. 1t says:
Under the Manitoba act of 1870 each
half-brecd born in that province before
July of that year was granted two
hundred and forty acres of land free, in
satisfaction of what may be termed the
half-brcGd title. But beyond the con-
fines of Manitoba lay few half-breed
settlements, for the inhabitants of which
no provision was then made, nor, in
deed, was any demand at the time.
st. Laurent, one of these, was cstab-
lishcd as long ago as 1862, and is
fairly prosperous place. The first de-
mand for consideration was preferred
by the colonists ten years ago, when
they asked to be placed on the same
footing MS regards free hopesteads as
the Nletis of Manitoba. Later on,
when the Dominion surveyors appeared
in the country a fresh grievance sprang
up. The half-breeds, as was the
French custom, had settled along the
rivers, each farm having narrow
water frontage, and extending far back
in the form of a long parallelogram.
The surveyors were, of course, COM
PEELED to destroy this arrangement of
the holdings, and the people earnestly
protested against it. They also
renewed their claim for grants OF
two hundred and forty acres per
capita, and from that day to
this the agitation has been maintained,
Riel s arrival from Montana last spring
giving it the semblance of general and
united movement. The Bill Of Rights
adopted blythe half-breeds at public
meeting mt st. Laurents in September
demands Q) the sub division into PROV
inces of the Northwestern Territories;
(2) the half breeds to receive the same
grants and other advantages as the
Manitoba half breeds; (O patents 10
be issued at once to the colonists in
possession; (4) the sale of five hundred
thousand acres of Dominion lands, the
proceeds to be aoplied to the establish
ment in the half-breeds settlement of
schools, hospitals and such like nstitu-
tions, and to the equipment OF the poor
er half-breeds with ed grain and i'm
plements; (5) the preservation of one
hundred townships of swamp land for
d'strbution among the children;of half
breeds during the next one hundred and,
twenty years; CO. grant of sat least
one thousand dollars for the maintain
ance OF an institution to be conducted
by the nuns in each half-breed settle-
ment; and GD better provision for the
support of the Indian. This last item
was inserted by Riel in~orGer to please
Poundmaker, a turbulent Indian ,chie.,
whose band has since made common
cause with the half breeds. 1t will be
observed that the original claims have
assumed fanciful proportions, Riel's
NV DeihR w "oh iHoLc luali ne Is en-
titled. to, in order to better his chances
of getting his due. The half-breeds will
be satisfied, however, If they obtain tie
patents for the farms which they have
been cultivating all these years. with
grants of two hundred and forty acres
for those among them who have not
taken up land. Monsiguor Grand II,
the Roman Catholic B shop of that re-
gion, supports the Bill of Rights to that
extent, and SO do the vast majority OF
the English-speaking settlers. : lViani-
1e0 Times.