St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-12-06


| on his sword and repeated Gray's Elegy
before stormng the heights, and listened to
many story Of revenge. But'now crisis
| has come in the history OF these people,
and want, for their own good, to advise
| them what to do.
BLOOD ON THE SNOW.
| This blood that has been shed at Regina
| is going to make the snow red. In 1854
Charlie Rogers was killed in the snow-tilled
streets Of Yreka. Cal. by "Jakey' Will
Jams. who was afterward himself killed i'll
the snow while acting as marshal of Idaho
Rogers was killed with knife by Williams,
ne retreating ali the time and emptying his
revolver into the breast of his assailant,
who persstently followed and persistently
refused to fall till they fell together upon a
great bank of snow, to which Rogers had
| slowly retrea.ed, all the time keeping his
| face to Williams.
But the value Of this or that one, the
death of one and the singular endurance OF
the other, has nothing to do with what set
out to say about the blood on the snow. The
next morning all the town stood staring at
| the great red map Of blood in the deep.
| white snow. AS the sun came out and
looked down on this it seemed to widen and
widen and spread and run in all directions,
as if dozen little living rivers were busy
taking the blood all about the streets.
Men were Mortified, as day after day this
blotch of blood spread and spread and
spread. Some said: when it SHOWS this
will be covered up" Snow fell. and the
blood reached up, crying up from the earth
and took possession of it all. Then some
men were hired to carry the snow away at
night, for it was at the door of a gambling
| anI yort off cIlStn0arc RNt tho
blood had reached the frozen ground be-
meath and refused to go away. The gam
| bling house had to be nailed up! There is
a blotch of blood in the white SHOWS of
| Canada just like that.
A WORD WITH CANADA AND CANADIANS.
I was sent by this paper two summers ago
to spend the season among the French OF
Canada. took up my abode in the remote
little city of st. Hyacinthe, in the great
Richelieu valley. where you never hear a
Saxon word spoken or see a Saxon face save
| that of traveller. from one years end to
another. And l wrote letters from there to
this paper and about these isolated. pious
and industrious people. You may remem-
Der published the fact that in a period of
three years there had been but one single
arrest for crime in that city-a city with
its gray nuns, it's black nuns and its red
nuns the only red nuns in the world | be-
| leve, for here still lives the venerable
founder of the order Of st. Savior. This is
city also with a university, where there
| are hundreds of students. Stick a pin here.
You may remember had the certificate of
the clerk of the court to the fact that but
one crime was upon his calendar for the
three years past in this populous place of
students and very pious little city. l
snent most of the season here. l
had a daughter at the time in the
| Convent ol - Savior; | had a good
chance TO study these people, and improved
it. think this st. Hyacinthe only sample
| of other remote French towns in Canada.
And if this is so. here is people to be de-
| sired in any land; worthy and most desir-
able citizens for the states.
| The French papers of Canada translated
| all my letters to the Times and they were
Published in every part of their land This
| II tde me friends there. was glad OF that
| for had learned to
LOVE THESE PEOPLE.
| Well, when the trouble about Riel came
| on, some of them wrote to me to save his
| life: simple, piteous. true religious letters,
| detailing long stories of misery and oppres-
sion. I showed some of these letters
to some rich men here in Washington.
They offered to go bail for Riel. I'wrote
to the government of Canada and agreed
that Riel should never set foot on that soil
again. No answer. Alarmed at the
silence, l wrote to Mr.. Stewart, the able
and influential editor of the Quebec Chroni-
ce for we had sat at the same
| table together with Lord Lorne and
| Princess Louise, and he lived in the very
| shadow Of the citadel, which is the home OF
| the governor general of Canada. and
knew his influence was great. He answered
that Rlel was in no danger OF death from
| the law. A month passed; the letters from
the simple-hearted half breeds and French
| Canadians kept coming. l wrote again to
| Stewart. He answered emphatlcally that
Riel would not die. / wrote to Charles
D. Roberts. the Canadian poet, for
we had tramped the land over
together and loved it together. and 1 felt
that he could not afford to have this blotch
| of blood on the white snow of the land he
loved. He answered in the same vein.
Now these good men were not deceiving
me. They We're being deceived by the Eng
! lish DULLES at the head Of Canada. The
Editor of the Montreal Star. may add. was
another to whom | appealed Ill the same
way and with similar results
! Well, the man was hanged. and it is too
late to say anything about that now. But
| want to publish these facts. and vindicaJe
myself before those simple French and ig-
norant half breeds who trusted in my
efforts and believed in my influence; be-
sides, too, have something to say to them
now.
AS for the death of Riel, that is no great
matter. What if the man was hanged up
in shed, by the light of the candles in the
holy mems hands, and his breath cut short
by the rope in the midst of his prayers?
That is no great matter. That was only
one man, and he died praying for his
enemies. What, too, if he was called "a
coward all the way through by those thirst
ing for his blood? Did not his calm and
beautiful behavior stand out like star the
morning he died? Where and when has
been such vaor as this man bore to his
death? So let him alone. Say no more
about that. Sane or insane, no matter.
Commit this poor mans record to Time,
| Gods first-born; and | think with Mont
calm, Wolfe and Montgomery, this man
Riel will rank as the truest. best-the very
first-among those who fell for his country
and his people. Aye his people, who had
possessed Canada for thousands OF years,
while these others were only invaders.
And now this is what l have to say to
the French Canadians: Last summer
went with Senators Sherman and Logan up
among the New England mills and factor
les to help celebrate the Fourth of July.
We found there hundreds of French Canad-
ians. In one of these New England towns
1 found 1, 100 Canadians who had come down
to work for the season. l asked the mill
owners and people about the country how
they liked these people. The mill-owners
answered that they employed them because
they were the very best people they could