the law-abiding and the industrious. Thus
did the Police fulfil the vision of Butler and make the settlement of
the great areas not only possible but speedy.

Another impressive way in which the Mounted Police made history was
their extraordinary handling of the Indian tribes who were the original
possessors of the soil. History, both ancient and modern, is full of the
bitter tragedies created by the way in which incoming people have
treated original inhabitants of the lands they were coming to possess.
In our own day just across the border, owing to mishandling by some
unfaithful Government agents and other causes, there was war for decades
between the Government and the Indians, who looked upon the cavalry and
other military bodies in that country as their enemies. This was never
the case with our Western Country. The first business our Mounted Police
did was to stand between the Indians and the vile creatures who would
give them drink and rob them of all they possessed. So that some two
years after the scarlet tunic had made its appearance in the foothill
country, Crowfoot, the famous Chief of the warlike Blackfeet, referring
to the Police, said in his beautiful imagery, "They have protected us as
the feathers protect the bird from the frosts of winter." The Indians
knew that they could not commit crime and go unpunished any more than
the white man, but the Indians also knew that the Police would see that
every man, whether red or white, got fair play. Hence the Indians
recognized the Police as their friends and not as their enemies. With
thousands of Indians, accustomed to almost constant war, thrown upon
their hands, the Police never had any real revolt on the part of the
Indians to deal with save only when the mad Riel inveigled a few of them
on the war-path by cunning guile. And with some personal knowledge of
that whole affair we venture to say that had the warning given by
Superintendent Crozier and other Policemen months before the outbreak
been taken, and had the Police Force been doubled and given a free hand,
there would have been no rebellion and no bloodshed. But when the
outbreak did come we are also ready to affirm, as amongst those who took
part in its suppression, that but for the missionaries and the Police
the rebellion would have been far more widely spread. And equally are we
ready to declare that the Police were the backbone of every brigade in
which they served, and this we say without any desire