eyes sparkled, his body swayed to and fro as if strongly
agitated, and his hands accomplished a series of wonderful
gestures as he warmed up and spoke with impassioned
eloquence. His hearers were spell-bound, and well they
might, as each concluding assertion with terrible
earnestness was uttered with the effect and force of a
trumpet blast. That every soul in Court was impressed is
not untrue, and many ladies were moved to tears. The
following is an epitome of what he said:--

"Your Honour, and gentlemen of the jury--It would be an
easy matter for me to-day, to play the _role_ of a lunatic,
because the circumstances are such as to excite any
ordinary man subject to natural excitement after what
has transpired to-day. The natural excitement, or may
I add anxiety, which my trial causes me is enough to
justify me in acting in the manner of a demented man;
but I hope, with the help of God, that I will maintain
a calm exterior and act with the decorum that suits this
honourable Court. You have, no doubt, seen by the papers
produced by the Crown, that I was not a man disposed to
think of God at the beginning. Gentlemen, I don't want
to play the part of a lunatic.

"Oh, my God, help me through the grace and divine influence
of Jesus. Oh, my God bless me, bless this Court, bless
this jury, and bless my good lawyers, who at great
sacrifice have came nearly 700 leagues to defend me.
Bless the lawyers for the Crown, for they have done what
they considered their duty. God grant that fairness be
shown. Oh, Jesus, change the curiosity of the ladies and
others here to sanctity. The day of my birth I was
helpless, and my mother was helpless. Somebody helped
her. I lived, and although a man I am as helpless to-day
as I was a babe on my mother's breast. But the North-West
is also my mother: although the North-West is sick and
confined, there is some one to take care of her. I am
sure that my mother will not kill me after forty-years
life. My mother cannot take my life. She will be indulgent
and will forget.

"When I came here from Montana, in July, 1884, I found
the Indians starving. The state of affairs was terrible.
The half-breeds were subsisting on the rotten pork of
the Hudson Bay Company. This was the condition, this was
the pride, of responsible Government! What did Louis Riel
do? I did not equally forget the whites. I directed my
attention to assist all classes, irrespective of creed,
colour or nationality. We have m