Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-11-26

| LOUIS RIEL.-The hanging of Louis Rie
was mistake, and the British authorities
in Canada will soon discover it to be such.
Riel was not an innocent man, and his re-
bellion, however justified by intolerable
wrong and injustice, had no hope of success
Besides, he had committed similar crime
before and received pardon, or at least been
paid to abscond. There was nothing heroic
about him, except his death. Although
very much of crank, and something of a
hallucinated dreamer, he at least died with
dignity, and left the world in sublime con-
| trast to Guiteau.
Because the Metis people have suffered
wrong and injustice at the hands of the Can
adian authorities, and because Riel, their
chosen leader, was something of mono
maniac, and because his trial was irregular
or illegal, and because the appeal for mercy
came from so many respectable sources, the
prisoner should either have been sent to
lunatic asylum or condemned to lifelong in
generation. This execution has made him
something of martyr, and his memory
may be as potent in freeing Canada from
British domination as John Browns was in
precipitating civil war in the United States
and changing the whole industrial fabric of
the Union.
The English rulers of Canada may have
been impressed with the idea that the exc
cution of this strange man would strike ter
ror to the hostile elements of that Province,
but they reckoned foolishly. The smoke
that rose from the burning effigy of Sir
Queen Victoria, as if to tipify that the blood
of Riel should rise from the ground and
take the shape Of vengeance that may mean
the eventual end of British rule in the Do
meteorological Chronicle.
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Our POSTAL SERvICE.-The report of
First Assistant Postmaster General Steven
son shows that during the last fiscal year
there was established 2,12l new postoffices,
a decrease of / ,293 from the previous year.
There are 81 ,252 postoffices in the country,
2,233 of which are filled by the President
and 49,019 by the Postmaster-General. Du-,
ring the year l1,2O3 appointments were
made, decrease of 1888 from the previous
year The number of Presidential offices
increased 80. The total number of money
order Offices is 6,992, an increase of 749.
During the year 4l2 postmasters died. The
number of free delivery offices is 49, an
increase of 10. The entire cost of that SER
vice was So, ,9S5,952. The total postage on
local matters amounted to IS, $50, 723, an in
crease Of S503, 1885, and over the entire cost
of the service of 81 ,294, no. The number of
mail letters delivered was AGA, 1896, $40, an in
crease of 1880 per cent; of postal cards,
104,742, ,599, an increase of 7.5l per cent. of
local letters, 40, 4O2, ,57S, an increase of 17.68
per cent. of registered letters 3,lS7,96 an
increase of 3.03 per cent; of newspapers
256, ,O54, ,6O2, an increase of 10 per cent. The
number Of letters collected was 1863, ,S5S, ,S75,
an increase Of 1914 per cent. postal cards
140,630, ,730, an increase of S.l3 per cent,
and newspapers 83,432,673; an increase of
1888 per cent. The aggregate compensa
ton paid to postmasters is S49,2l5,S36.60
per annum, and 1878, S53 is paid for clerk
hire. An appropriation of $50, 600 for furnii-
ed. The estimates for the next fiscal year
aggregate s., ,57S,OOO. Provision for the pay
ment of the rent Of third class postotfices
should be made, and also for clerk hire in
money order offices.