The Rugby gazette and east Tennessee news. (Rugby, Morgan Co., Tenn.) 1884-188?, 1885-05-09
WHAT THE REL. REBFLI-ION IS.
| A Brief Statement of the circumstances
Which Precipitated 1t.

Which Precipitated 1t.
The Toronto Mail was not disposed to
believe the first reports of the Carleton
uprising, putting the blame on st. PaI
newspapers, anxious to score point
against the Northwest in the race for
the seasons immigration. BY this time
1t will know that the troubles have as
,umed a 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 I'M
favorable to the men who are now in
open rebellion. 1t says
Under the Manitoba act of 1870 each
half-breed born in that province before
July l of that year was granted two
hundred and forty acres of land free in
satisfaction of what may be termed the
half-breed 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 estab-
lished 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 as regards free homesteaas as
the Nets of Manitoba. Later on,
when the Dominion surveyors appeared
in the country fresh grievance sprang
up. The half-breeds, as was the
French custom, had settled along the
rivers, each farm having q narrow
water frontage, and extending far back
in the form of 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,
Riels arrival from Montana last spring
giving it the semblance of a general and
united movement. The Bill of Rights
adopted by the half-breeds at a public
meeting at St. Laurent's in September
demands Q) the subdivision into PROV
inces of the Northwestern Territories;
(2) the half-breeds to receive the same
grants and other advantages as the
Manitoba half-breeds; (3) patents to
be issued at once to the colonistS in
possession; (4) the sale of five hundred
thousand acres of Dominion lands, the
proceeds to be applied to the establish
ment in the half-breeds settlement OF
schools, hospitals and such like institrl-
tons, and to the equipment of the poor,
er half-breeds with seed grain and i'm
PIGMENTS; (5) the reservation of one
hundred townships of swamp land for
distribution among the children of half
breeds during the next one hundred and
twenty years; co. grant of at least
one thousand dollars for the maintain
ance OF an institution to be conducted
by the nuns in each half-breed settle
ment; and ca better provision for the
support of the Indian. This last item
was inserted by Riel in order to please
Poundmaker, turbulent Indian chief,
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
rule being to ask more than he is en-.
titled to, in order to better his chances
,, of getting his due. The half-breeds vii
! be satisfied, however, if they obtain the
' 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 mo-
taken up land. Monsignor Grandin
,, the Roman Catholic Bishop of that re-
> gion, supports the Bill of Rights to thai
extent, and SO do the vast majority O
the English-speaking settlers. -Wimni
. peg Times.