nd had not Riel, in a moment of
recklessness, characteristic of his real nature, tried {391} one Thomas
Scott by the veriest mockery of a court-martial on account of some
severe words he had uttered against the rebels' government, and had him
mercilessly shot outside the fort. As Scott was a native of Ontario,
and an Orangeman, his murder aroused a widespread feeling of
indignation throughout his native province. The amnesty which was
promised to Archbishop Tache, it is now quite clear, never contemplated
the pardon of a crime like this, which was committed subsequently. The
Canadian Government were then fully alive to the sense of their
responsibilities, and at once decided to act with resolution. In the
spring of 1870 an expedition was organised, and sent to the North-west
under the command of Colonel Garnet Wolseley, later a peer, and
commander-in-chief of the British army. This expedition consisted of
five hundred regulars and seven hundred Canadian volunteers, who
reached Winnipeg after a most wearisome journey of nearly three months,
by the old fur-traders' route from Thunder Bay, through an entirely
unsettled and rough country, where the portages were very numerous and
laborious. Towards the end of August the expedition reached their
destination, but found that Riel had fled to the United States, and
that they had won a bloodless victory. Law and order henceforth
prevailed in the new territory, whose formal transfer to the Canadian
Government had been completed some months before, and it was now formed
into a new province, called Manitoba, with a complete system of local
government, and including guaranties with {392} respect to education,
as in the case of the old provinces. The first lieutenant-governor was
Mr. Adams Archibald, a Nova Scotian lawyer, who was one of the members
of the Quebec conference, and a statesman of much discretion.
Representation was also given immediately in the two houses of the
Dominion parliament. Subsequently the vast territory outside of the
new prairie province was divided into six districts for purposes of
government: Alberta, Assiniboia, Athabasca, Keewatin, and Saskatchewan.
Out of these districts in 1905 were erected the provinces of Alberta
and Saskatchewan, which were then given responsible government. In
1908, when the boundaries of the provinces were again defined, Keewatin
was incorporated in the Province of Manitoba. In 1896 four new
provisional districts were,