HISTORY OF THE NORTH-WEST. CHAPTER I. THE EXPEDITION OF 1870 AND THE AMNESTY QUESTION. THE murder of Thomas Scott created intense excitement throughout Canada, especially in Ontario, and at several meetings held in Toronto and other cities, speeches were made by men who had been imprisoned by Riel. This helped to fan the flame of popular feeling on the subject, and made it all the more difficult for the Canadian Government to pass the Manitoba Act, in accordance with the Bill of Rights presented by the delegates from the North-West. Rev. Mr. Richot and Alfred H. Scott, the delegates who were regarded as representing the French Half-Breeds, were arrested at Ottawa shortly after their arrival in that city, but as the warrant had been issued by a Toronto Police Magistrate, it was decided by Judge Galt that he had no jurisdiction, and the prisoners were released. They were, however, immediately re-arrested on a warrant issued by Police Magistrate O'Gara, of Ottawa, on an affidavit sworn to by Mr. Hugh Scott, a brother of the murdered man, and, after a good deal of evidence was taken, the charge against the prisoners was withdrawn, there being no case against them, and they were finally set at liberty. This occurred about the middle of April, and from that time the delegates were in constant communication with the Government until the 2nd May, 1870, when Sir John A. Macdonald introduced the Manitoba Act in the Dominion House of Commons. The Bill, as originally introduced, provided for a small Province, to be called Manitoba, and if the boundaries then proposed had been adopted, a large English settlement in the neighborhood of Portage la Prairie would have been left out. This was done, no doubt, to satisfy the French element in Parliament, but the temper of the majority in the House was such that this and several other features in the original bill had to be amended. In the debate which took place on the Bill, Hon. Wm. MeDougall was very bitter in his denunciation of the action of the Government in not paying over the money to the Hudson's Bay Company at the time agreed upon. Hon. Alexander Mackenzie also attacked the policy of the Government, and criticised their acts, which he declared had necessitated the sending of troops into the country at a heavy expense to the ratepayers of Canada. Hon. Joseph Howe, however, ably defended the Government, and during his speech scored the Hon. Wm. McDougall unmercifully for overstepping his authority while at Pembina, and committing acts of a most unwarrantable nature in the name of, but without the sanction of, the Queen. The debate altogether was probably one of the warmest that ever took place in the Canadian House of Commons, and the popular excitement at the time in nearly every part of the Dominion made the passing of the Act a difficult and delicate undertaking. On the 4th May, Sir John Macdonald announced a change in the boundaries of the proposed province, and an increase |