hat they
regarded as secure. The rebellion was quickly crushed and Riel was
taken prisoner. This opened up a fresh chapter of embarrassments for
the Ministry. From the first there could be no doubt as to the course
which should be pursued with regard to the unfortunate man. His
offences of fifteen years before had been suffered to pass into
oblivion. Even his great {127} crime--the atrocious murder of Thomas
Scott--had gone unwhipped of justice. His subsequent effrontery in
offering himself for election and attempting to take his seat in
parliament had been visited with no greater punishment than expulsion
from the House of Commons. Now he had suddenly emerged from his
obscurity in the United States to lead the half-breeds along the
Saskatchewan river in an armed revolt against the Government. At the
same time--and this was incomparably his worst offence--he had
deliberately incited the Indians to murder and pillage. He had caused
much bloodshed, the expenditure of large sums of money, and the
disturbance of an extensive region of the North-West.

Riel had been caught red-handed. Whatever excuses might be put
forward, on behalf of his unfortunate dupes, that the Government had
refused to heed their just demands, it is certain that Riel himself
could plead no such excuses, for he was not at the time even a resident
of the country. But, unfortunately, his case gave the opportunity of
making political capital against the Government. Since he was of
French origin the way was open for an appeal to racial passions. The
French-Canadian habitant, {128} recalling the rebellion of 1837-38, saw
in Riel another Papineau. A wretched malefactor, thus elevated to the
rank of a patriot, became a martyr in the eyes of many of his
compatriots. Sir John Macdonald fully realized the danger of the
situation, but from the first he was resolved, whatever the political
outcome, that if proved a culprit Riel should not a second time escape.
There should be a fair trial and no more clemency, but rigorous
justice, for the man who had added new crimes to the murder of Scott
fifteen years earlier. Four able lawyers, including Sir Charles
Fitzpatrick, the present chief justice of Canada, were assigned to
Riel's defence. The trial opened at Regina on July 20, 1885, and on
August 1 Riel was found guilty of high treason and sentenced to be
hanged on September 18. In deference to those who professed to doubt
Riel's sanity, a stay of e