ing of scrip to the half-breeds of the North-West on the same terms
as it had been given to those in Manitoba. So far so good. Then came
year upon year of neglect, of clerkly procrastination, and of
half-concessions. The French half-breeds passed resolution after
resolution, sent to Ottawa petition after petition and delegation after
delegation, but in vain. The Government {76} forgot the act which it
had itself passed in 1879. Nor were the half-breeds themselves the
only petitioners. Time and again Father Andre and other missionaries
urged their claims. Some of the Government's own land agents on the
spot urged them. Charles Mair of Prince Albert, one of the first of
Ontario's settlers in the West, appeared at Ottawa four times before
the outbreak, to try to waken the Government to the seriousness of the
situation.[3] The North-West Council sent strong memorials backing the
requests of the Metis. And still, though some of the grievances were
redressed, in piecemeal fashion, no attempt was made to grapple
adequately with the difficult questions presented by the meeting {77}
of two stages of civilization, to understand the disputes, the real
wrongs, the baseless fears. When in 1883 Blake in the House of Commons
called for papers, none were brought down for two years; when in 1884
Cameron called for a committee of investigation, the reply was that
there was nothing to investigate.

What was the cause of this neglect? At bottom, the Government's
ignorance of the West. There was not in the Cabinet a man who knew its
conditions and needs. The Metis were two thousand miles away, and they
had no votes, for the North-West Territories were not then represented
at Ottawa. For five years Sir John Macdonald himself had acted as
minister of the Interior. In taking over the cares of a busy
department, added to the office of prime minister, he made the mistake
that Mackenzie had made. But while Mackenzie put in ten to fourteen
hours a day at departmental routine, at the expense of his duties as
leader, Macdonald did his work as leader at the expense of his
department. 'Old To-Morrow' solved many a problem wisely by leaving it
to time to solve, but some problems proved the more serious for every
year's delay. Late in 1883 Sir John gave up {78} the portfolio, but
his successor, Sir David Macpherson, effected little change. Late in
1885 Thomas White, an energetic and sympathetic administrator, became
minister, but the