sense of justice. Happily, in
the course of no long time, the racial antagonisms raised by this
unhappy episode in the early history of confederation disappeared under
the influence of wiser counsels, and the peace of this immense region
has never since been threatened by Indians or half-breeds, who have now
few, if any, grievances on which to brood. The patriotism shown by the
Canadian people in this memorable contest of 1885 illustrated the
desire of all classes to consolidate the union, and make it secure from
external and internal dangers, and had also an admirable influence in
foreign countries {400} which could now appreciate the growing national
strength of the Dominion. In the cities of Ottawa, Toronto, and
Winnipeg, monuments have been raised to recall the services of the
volunteers who fought and died at Fish Creek and Batoche. On the banks
of the Saskatchewan a high cairn and cross point to the burial place of
the men who fell before the deadly shot of the half-breed sharpshooters
at Fish Creek:

"Not in the quiet churchyard, near those who loved them best;
But by the wild Saskatchewan, they laid them to their rest.
A simple soldier's funeral in that lonely spot was theirs,
Made consecrate and holy by a nation's tears and prayers.
Their requiem--the music of the river's surging tide;
Their funeral wreaths, the wild flowers that grow on every side;
Their monument--undying praise from each Canadian heart,
That hears how, for their country's sake, they nobly bore
their part."

[Illustration: Indian carved posts in British Columbia.]

One of the finest bodies of troops in the world, the Mounted Police of
Canada, nearly one thousand strong, now maintains law and order
throughout a district upwards of three hundred thousand square miles in
area, and annually cover a million and a half miles in the discharge of
their onerous duties. The half-breeds now form but a very small
minority of the population, and are likely to disappear as a distinct
class under the influence of civilisation. The Indians, who number
about thirty thousand in Manitoba and the Northwest, find their
interests carefully guarded by treaties and statutes of Canada, which
recognise their rights as wards of the Canadian Government. They are
placed on large reserves, {402} where they can carry on farming and
other industrial occupations for which the Canadian Government, with
commendable liberality, provide means of i