St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-04-16
WE STICK TO OUR TEXT.

We publish elsewhere in our columns a
letter from Mr.. MARTIN, the editor of LIE
Canadien, in reply to the GLOBES article
yesterday relating to RIEL and his rebellion.
With the characteristic impetuosity of his
nationality our correspondent rushes to the
defense of the Ere nch half-breeds who are
following RIEL in his wild effort at REBEL
ion, and in his impetuous haste betrays the
very fact tn at the GLOBE was seeking to
establish in connection with the rebellion,
namely, that the rebellion is the outgrowth
of race struggle between the French and
English Canadians. 1t will be remembered
that the French half-breeds are not the only
half-breed Indians in the Northwest.
There is also colony of Scotch half-breeds
in the same locality, and yet they are TAX
ing no part in the present trouble, nor had
they any share in the former rebellion.
There is difference in the habits of the
two classes, which may account for the diff
ference in their conditions and their tenn
peraments toward the government. The
French half-breeds have all the Indians
dislike to settling down to hard work and
their shiftless habits keep them poor. The
Scotch half-breeds are good farmers and
many of them are becoming wealthy, con-
sequently the latter are contented and make
no complaint about being defrauded of
their rights nor are they asking the govern
ment for annuities. They are willing to
work for living, and if the French half
breeds would develop the same disposition
to support themselves by their own labor
instead of seeking by continued turbulence
and violence to compel the Canadian gov
eminent to support them they would find
that in reality their only grievance is
against themselves.
The suggestion of our correspondent that
Riel endeavored ''to gain by constitutional
means reparatiOn for all the injustice per-
petrated against his poor brethren" before
raising the arm of rebellion against the
Canadian authorities is calculated to excite
a smile. The fact is that nothing short of
the whole earth is regarded by the half
breed chieftain as sufficient reparation
for the injustice he imagineS his
people to be suffering For il
lustration last September at a public meet
ing held at st. Laurent, under his auspices
a bill of rights was passed which is pre-
sumed to embody the constitutional
means" to which our correspondent refers.
This modest bill of rights demanded sub
division of the Northwest territory into
provinces. As the territories are already
divided into four provisional districts, not
one of which has as many as $4,000 inhab-
itants it must be conceded that this first
section of the bill was an unnecessary and
unreasonable demand. In the next place
they demanded a sale of ahalf-milliOn acres
of public land, the proceeds of which were
to be applied to the establishment, in the
half-breed settlements, of schools, hospitals
and similar institutions, and to the equip
ment of the poorer half-breedS with seed,
grain and implements. They demanded
the reservation of 100 townships for distri
button among the children of half-breeds
for the next 120 years. and they asked for
the grant of at least 81, 600 for the MAIN
tenance of an institution to be conducted by
the nuns in each half-breed settlement. In
short RIEL's bill of rights asked the Cana
dian government to tie up the Northwest
and close it against settlement and to hold
it in reservation for the benefit of few
French half-breeds who were to be MAIN
tanned, as stated by us on yesterday, at the
expense of the hard-working people of the
rest of Canada. Because the Canadian gov
eminent declined to accede to this request
the alf-breeds under RIEL's leadership
went to killing the white settlers and plum
dering the settlements. That is the full
text of the half-breed grievance, and
whether they be poor and starved, or
whether they be rich and full, they are
nothing more or less than marauders and
mur1ererS