The Red Cloud chief., 1885-05-08

brought produce at all in large quasA.
ties to the settlements. Their fathers
had come % the Norihwcs, many wears
before as senaa, of the Hudson Bay
Company. Thes hal married Indian
women. and raany Of the h~aii-bFvci..
a, the time 81 Ge transfer. had bern
living in und sturS-d possession Of their
little farms COR thlrtg % fc-tv ycars and
sonn- for half 4 crn.Ky. Hitherto they
had known no one bsr the grea; corpo-
ration whose employ.s th-y were.
Rome was their Church I'D rac Hudson
Bay Company their S.aie.N
suddenly word came up M rycr tina:
the land upon which they had Lived
for 30 MANY wears had been ;nnst.rr-s.
10 the Dominion of Canada Tier In
dian blood took fright, and ,ncy pct
urcd their lands in the hand, Of %san- /
gers. themselves turned GU, OF dnprs
and their homes gone. The arbitrary
course Of Mr.. McDougall bore it, lcgio.
innate fruit in R-l's rebellion The re-
bcllion did not keep the strangers out.
but il had Its effect in the half breed
Land act. which was soon after passed
by the Dominion Parliament In the
first place there were l.ipp.u0 acres OF
land set apar; for the half breed infants;
subsequent grant. were made OF land
and scrip 10 the half-breed heads OF
families. Afterward came an order in
council dividing the l,sO).VOD acres of
land among the infants per capita. and
granting 2i) acres 10 each child. toin-
missioners were sent about to take a
" -- an. .l.llIA.
were al u premium; each child WAS
worth 240 acres Of good land To its
parents. and tradition says that children
were lent from one family IN ano'h-
er. those already counted by he COM
mtSsioncrs being sent abroad 10 be
counted over again in the interest OF
another family further on.
Children ten. eleven and twelve years
Of age were examined with the utmost
gravity. and the farce was again and
again enacted by obtaining their on
sent to the sale OF their lands. Strange
il WA, that tii,,e youngsters never wita-
held their consent. Lands were taken
out of chanccrv and sold with such
rapidly that TO keep up witt the times
printed affidavit, hal 10 he struck OF IN
great numbers uniformly dcposing that
tse dcponent waS the father Of such anI
such an infant; that he was ~hopeless!y
i'll or disabled. that he was destitute anu
uuabl. 10 keep his children; for some
time after all effects Of the Bale 81 Paul
floods had cntirrly passed away. injury
from the Hoods remained an invarIable
clause in cry affidavit THAI was IN
tended to fetch" the Judge.
The custom stu prevail Is very wide'y
among half-breels in Manitoba Of
swearing interest out Of court Tnc
money tina. remained in ~chanccry on
the sale Of infants lands is no: and has
not beer allowed To lie and accumulate
interest. The half-breed, know { II
int est is accommodating. Some OF them
are not remarkable for industry. While
there Is the certainty OF "a few dollars
being paid out Of court 10 them in 4 few
weeks or months they will live in utter
idlcness and exist on almost nothing
Father than work. When the interest
i due they show great activity. They
may be seen. hale. strong men. looking
for their lawyers TO make them draft
ai'idavits for them, telling ia Jugc' ~
the ''palaiS d. Justice that they are all
sick un.o diving. that they can't support
their families. that they are destitute.
From this state Of affair, it is evident
that the granting Of lands TO the French
hali-hrccds of Manitoba has no, secured
for them the great benefit that Riel eN-
pccted. On the contrary, the little
money that it has placed in their hands
has made many of them idle. shi!tiess
and inactive Detroit Post.