had been so long
masters. Although these men stood aloof from the insurrection, yet
their influence was not exercised at the commencement of the troubles,
in favour of peace and order, or in exposing the plans of the
insurgents, of which some of them must have had an idea. The
appearance of Mr. McDougall on the frontier of the settlement, was the
signal for an outbreak which has been dignified by the name of
rebellion. The insurgents seized Fort Garry, and established a
provisional government with Mr. John Bruce, a Scotch settler, as
nominal president, and Mr. Louis Riel, the actual leader, as secretary
of state. The latter was a French half-breed, who had been
superficially educated in French Canada. His temperament was that of a
race not inclined to steady occupation, loving the life of the river
and plain, ready to put law at defiance when their rights and
privileges were in danger. This restless man and his half-breed {390}
associates soon found themselves at the head and front of the whole
rebellious movement, as the British settlers, while disapproving of the
action of the Canadian Government, were not prepared to support the
seditious designs of the French Canadian _Metis_. Riel became
president, and made prisoners of Dr. Schultz, in later times a
lieutenant-governor of the new province, and of a number of other
British settlers who were now anxious to restore order and come to
terms with the Canadian Government, who were showing every disposition
to arrange the difficulty. In the meantime Mr. McDougall issued a
proclamation which was a mere _brutum fulmen_, and then went back to
Ottawa, where he detailed his grievances and soon afterwards
disappeared from public life. The Canadian authorities by this time
recognised their mistake and entered into negotiations with Red River
delegates, representing both the loyal and rebellious elements, and the
result was most favourable for the immediate settlement of the
difficulties. At this critical juncture the Canadian Government had
the advantage of the sage counsels of Sir Donald Smith, then a
prominent official of the Hudson's Bay Company, who at a later time
became a prominent figure in Canadian public life. Chiefly through the
instrumentality of Archbishop Tache, whose services to the land and
race he loved can never be forgotten by its people, an amnesty was
promised to those who had taken part in the insurrection, and the
troubles would have come to an e