THE NORTH-WEST REBELLION.
LOUIS RIEL, who has got up a second rebellion in the North-West, is
subject to fits of mental aberration. Either under the influence of remorse
or from fear of the consequences of his crime, he lost his mental balance
and was, for some time after the Red River Rebellion of which he was the
leader, confined in the Beauport Asylum, near Quebec. When banished
from Canada he took refuge in the United States, of which he had become
a citizen, and is said to have been for some years in the employ of the
Northern Pacific Railway Company. While on the south of the line, he
would have an opportunity of forming the acquaintance of restless spirits
among the border population of the States whom no law can control.
O'Donovan Rossa boasts that the dynamite branch of the Fenians is in
league with Riel. Last summer the half-breeds of the Saskatchewan Valley
invited Riel, whose term of banishment had expired, to return to the
Canadian North-West and champion their cause. The invitation was
accepted, and after his return his ingenuity was put to work to magnify the
grievances of the half-breeds. A long list of demands was drawn up and
forwarded to the Government, some items of which, including the
endowment of a convent, were made in the interests of the church. Ever
since then preparations have probably been going on for the outbreak,
which has been commenced at a season when troops are difficult to move
over the melting snow and the wet ground. That more was not known by
the Government about these preparations is certainly matter for surprise,
and it proves that official vigilance has not been sufficiently on the alert. If
Riel is obtaining aid from the Fenians in the United States, he has begun
his operations perilously distant from the base of his supplies. Fort Carlton
and Prince Albert are nearly two hundred and fifty miles from the
international frontier, escape across which in case of defeat would probably
have been part of the insurgent programme. Individuals might get away,
but no large body of men after suffering defeat could make good their
escape. North of the Saskatchewan the shelter of woods would afford a
ready refuge; but no large body of refugees could long sustain themselves
in this retreat. Riel himself with a dozen followers, by the aid of horses,
some of which they could kill for food, might escape across the Rocky
Mountains by the defiles of the Saskatchewan, where one of the best
passes for such a purpose is to be found.
Any fighting that may take place at present is likely to be in the
prairie country. At the crossings of the rivers, the secondary banks of
which are covered with woods, the troops will need to be on the alert; for
here, where they can conceal themselves, the rebels will be likely to be on
the watch. In such an attack the troops would be at a great disadvantage;
for they would have to deal with a concealed foe, by whom a severe blow,
which it would be impossible to return, might be struck. In such a position
even cannon would be of no avail to the troops. But apart from the danger
from a concealed foe, fighting behind trees after the manner of the Indians,
these passes are not difficult. In such a position, no large body of
half-breeds could long sustain themselves, for the scantiness of their
commissariat must require them to keep constantly on the move; and in
any case it is difficult to see how they can subsist themselves otherwise
than by plunder. The ranches are distant and settlers to be plundered are
scarce. The lot of the settlers from whom cattle and other supplies may be
taken will be hard.
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