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IT
was fitting that the young barrister of Montreal,
who in 1855 was the winner of the second prize
awarded, upon a reference from the Paris Exhibition
Committee of Canada, by Sir Edmund Head, then
Governor-General of British North America, for an
Essay on ‘ Canada and her Resources,’ who in 1858
delivered before the Mercantile Library Association
of Montreal a lecture on 1 Nova Britannia, or the
British North American Provinces,’ which was
considered so able that it was published under the
auspices of that body, and who, in 1859, delivered
another one before the Bame institution on 'The
Hudson’s Bay and Pacific Territories,’ should in
1872 occupy the high position of Chief Justice of
Manitoba, a portion of the country in which he had
exhibited so deep and intelligent an interest; that
he should, subsequently, have been raised to the
higher position of Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba,
the North-West Territories and Keewatin; and that in
1880 he should publish the valuable work with which
we are about to deal.
Much, nay most, of the romance of Canadian history
centres in its Indian life, and we are apt, in
reading the highly-coloured pictures of savage
character, found in Campbell's ‘Gertrude of
Wyoming,’ in Longfellow's 'Hiawatha,’ in Cooper’s
Indian stories, and in Richardson’s brilliant tale ‘Wacousta,’
to be led away from the deep social and high
political interest surrounding the Indian population
of British North America. Until Mr. Parkman had
pulled aside the veil which poets and novelists had
woven, and with which they had hidden the real
character of the Indian, he posed before us as a
noble creature,, an Apollo in beauty of form, a
Hercules in strength, a Mercury in swiftness, We
were taught to admire his-bravery in battle, his
gentleness in peace, and his tenderness to the
captive. His eloquence in debate was a favourite
theme, and the pathos of Logan’s appeal was supposed
to be exhibited by all Indians whenever occasion
rendered it fitting to be shewn. Cleanliness in
person, truth in speech, and honesty in dealing,
were, of course, universal virtues, and until
Parkman appeared, the Indians of the North-Western
portions of North America were popularly supposed to
be the-happy possessors of all these qualities. But
many years passed in their midst,, and a close study
of the Indian in his native forests, where he
roamed, uncontaminated by what is sometimes1
improperly termed ‘civilization,’ enabled Mr.
Parkman to paint us a true picture of poor ‘Lo,’ and
the account of the dealings of Mr. Morris with the
chief tribes of our North-West savages, incidentally
supports some of the views of the brilliant American
wri ter. From Mr. Parkman’s books we gat her that
the North American Indian is cowardly, treacherous,
cruel and vindictive, a liar and a cheat, filthy—
physically and morally—weaker than the Englishman,
slower than the Irishman, and less persevering than
the Scotchman—an idler, and vain glorious—too proud
to work, but not too proud to beg, or, if need be,
to steal. When, therefore, the British emigrant
found himself face to face with this owner of the
rich soil which the one desired to preserve forever
as a hunting ground, and the other wished to convert
into a garden, he found that the Indian of the
Actual was a creature very different indeed from the
Indian of the Imaginary. The question to be solved
was momentuous. As a rule, the French, who were the
precursors of the British in these regions, had
treated the Indians with kindness, and the chief
complaint laid to their charge was that the Jesuit
missionaries were too fond of burning their converts
immediately after baptism, to prevent them from
falling from grace. The French power, how-ever, was
destroyed by the British before it had become
necessary to take possession of any considerable
portion of the Indian territory for the purpose of
civilization, and, therefore, it had not been
compelled to consider the policy by which it should
obtain control of the immense landed possessions of
the Aborigines without incurring their ill-will, or
invoking their armed resistance. When the fall of
Quebec destroyed the French dominion on this
continent, and gave to Great Britain possession of
almost a continent, the kindliest relations were
kept up with the Indians, and when England needed
Aid in the straggle with her Colonies, her Indian
allies were never found wanting. After the
independence of her rebellious subjects had been
acknowledged by Britain, many Indians were
transferred from their hunting grounds, now the
property of the Americans, to the British
possessions north of the St. Lawrence and the great
Lak os; and the lineal descendants of many who had
roamed through the wilds of what now constitutes the
States of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio may at
this moment be found quiet and happy on the rich
reserves of the Bay of Quint6, the Grand River, or
the Thames.
The policy of the British and Canadian Governments
in the treatment of the Indians has always been kind
and paternal. Its object has been to civilize, and
Christianize. They have always been treated justly
and generously—in striking contrast with the conduct
of the Americans, whose policy has always been, and
still is, one of extermination. Of course, no
American will admit the fact, but there can be no
doubt that the policy of their Government, supported
by the quiet, though unexpressed concurrence of
popular opinion, is that the sooner the Indian
population disappears, the better, and whether it
disappears through the ravages of war, or small-pox,
firewater, or starvation, is to the American a
matter of little consequence.
The Indians of the country now forming the Provinces
of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and
Prince Edward Island have never been very numerous
since the conquest, and the British and colonial
authorities have had but little difficulty, and have
been put to but little expense, in dealing with, or
caring for, them. The plan of setting off for them
certain portions of good farming land, called
‘reserves,’ and inducing them to settle on and
cultivate these allotments, was adopted, and has
proved eminently successful. Aa the Government holds
the title to these lands, the Indian can neither
sell nor mortgage them; and as each band receives an
annual sum of money, and yearly gifts of clothing,
farming implements, and materials for hunting and
fishing, the Indian of these Provinces never suffers
from cold or hunger, and if he be prudent and
industrious, he may become relatively rich. By the
kindness of Col. Dennis, the indefatigable and most
able Deputy-Minister of the Interior, I have before
me the reports of his department for the years 1875,
’6, ’7, ’8 and '9, from which I find that the
Indians of Ontario now number 16,000. Of these the
Oneidas, are on the Thames Reserve—the Chippewas,
Moravians, andMunsees are also there —the Wyandotts
are at Anderdon, the Chippewas, the Ottawas, and
Potta-wattamies at Walpole Island, Snake Island,
Rama, Saugeen, Nawash, the Christian Islands, and on
Lakes Superior and Huron, on the north-east shore of
Georgian Bay, Garden River, and on Manitoulin
Island; the Mississua-gas are at Scugog River and
Mud Lakes, the Credit and Alnwick; Mohawks in the
Bay of Quints; the Six Nations on Grand River ; the
Algon-quins at Golden Lake, Carlton, Renfrew and
Nipissing. In the Proyince of Quebec there are
12,000, consisting of Iroquois at Caughnawaga and
St. Regis; Algonquins at the Lake of Two Mountains
and in the country north of Ottawa; Abenakis at St.
Francis and Becancour; Montaignais at Lake St. John
and Betsiamits; Amalicites at Viger; Micmacs at
Maria, Restigouche, and Gasp6 Basin; and Naskapees
on the Lower St. Laurence.
The Province of Nova Scotia has 2,000, all being
Micmacs. New Brunswick has 1,400, being Micmacs and
Amalicites; and Prince Edward Island has 266 Micmacs.
It may here be added that Manitoba and the
North-West Territories contain 30,000 Chippewas,
Crees, Saulteaux, Blackfeet and Sioux. The Athabasca
District has 2,000 Crees, Assiniboines, Chipwagans,
and Beavers. British Columbia has 35,000, and
Rupert’s Land 4,000, making a total of the Indians
of the Dominion to be about 104,000, of whom about
72,000 are found west of the boundaries of Ontario.
Mr. Morris, after a successful career as a barrister
in Montreal, obtained a seat in Parliament in 1861,
where he represented his native county of Lanark
until Confederation, and thence to 1872, when he
accepted the position of Chief-Justice of Manitoba.
He took an active and leading; part in tho
negotiations which ended in the Confederacy of 1867.
In 1869 he took office under Sir John A. Macdonald
as Minister of Inland Revenue until 2nd July, 1872,
when, his health failing, he was induced to try the
climate of the North-West, and, taking the office of
Chief-Justice of Manitoba, he discharged its duties
with credit to himself and to the entire
satisfaction of the people, until the 2nd December,
when, on the retirement of Mr. Archibald from the
rule of the Province, he accepted the
Lieutenant-Governorship of that Province, and having
been appointed commissioner for Indian affairs for
Manitoba and the North-West Territories, he took the
leading part in negotiating the treaties with the
Indians, the history of which he now gives us in the
interesting book just published.
Until the Dominion obtained control of the enormous
region known as-the North-West Territories, the
Indians of the country had been under the mild and
satisfactory rule of the Hudson’s Bay Company. But
when, this rule terminated, and the Riel troubles of
1869-70 arose, the Indian mind was much disturbed,
and when in 1871 and subsequent years, efforts-were
made by the Dominion Government, through Mr. Morris
and his associate commissioners, to obtain the
Indian title for the purpose of enabling the
emigrant to secure peaceable possession of the rich
lands of the country, he found the Indians difficult
to deal with. Time pressed. The erection of a new
Province in the newly acquired tract; and the rush
of emigrants anxious to settle in the North-West
compelled the Government to use the utmost
expedition in securing the title to the lands which
the incomers would require—for it would have been to
the last degree dangerous to give the Indians
occasion to say that their lands had been seized
upon, and their rights invaded. The Indian has
always had a nervous dread of white immigration and
a sharp intellect in bargaining for the sale of his
title—for he claimed the whole continent as his by
preoccupation and the decree of the Great Spirit
—jealous, grasping, and apprehensive he required the
most delicate handling, for the appearance even of a
surveyor with his theodolite and his chain was
sufficient to set on fire a whole tribe. The whites
of Manitoba were involved in the wretched troubles
connected with the Riel affair; party spirit ran
high between those who looked upon Riel as a rebel
and a murderer, and those who considered him, though
rash, still the exponent of sound political views,
since he was resisting what we may as well now
confess was the ill advised policy of the Government
in sending up Mr. Macdougall as Lieut.-Governor,
with a fully equipped staff of officers, without
consultation with the people he was sent to govern.
The Indians saw that their invaders were at war with
each Other, and the arrival of the armed force under
Colonel, now Sir Garnet Wolseley, intensified their
alarm; they were preparing to take sides in the
approaching conflict for they knew that soon their
hunting grounds would be occupied by the resistless
European. No step had been taken by the Government
to purchase their title, and the result of all these
circumstances was that they were in an agitated
state, and it soon became obvious that the
Commissioners at last sent by the Dominion
authorities to make the necessary treaties, would
And their task extremely difficult and fatiguing.
Before proceeding to describe the work so skillfully
performed by Mr. Morris and his associate
commissioners, it will be interesting to notice the
sketch given by him of the treaties by which the
rights of the Indians had been secured in the
western portions of Upper Canada.
It will be remembered that, in 1811, the Earl of
Selkirk purchased from the Hudson’s Bay Company a
large tract of the territory, then known as Rupert’s
Land. This tract was very much larger than the
territory forming the present Province of Manitoba,
which it included, but the settlers brought from
Scotland by the Earl planted themselves chiefly on
the banks of Red River, the centre of their
operations being the present city of Winnipeg. In
1817 Lord Selkirk visited his immense domain and
bought the Indian title to a strip on either side of
Red River of two miles in width and extending from
the mouth of the river to Great Forks. The Indians
were made to comprehend the depth of the land they
were surrendering by being told that it was the
greatest distance, at which a horse on the level
prairie could be seen, or daylight seen under his
belly between his legs.’ For this tract, now worth
many millions of dollars, the Earl agreed to pay to
the owners, the Chippawas and Crees, each one
hundred pounds of tobacco annually. In 1836 the
company bought back the whole tract from the heirs
of Lord Selkirk for £84,000, and were then able to
give the Canadian, or rather the Imperial
Government, a clear title in 1870.
Valuable minerals having been discovered on the
northern shorn of Lakes Superior and Huron, the
Government of the Province of Canada commissioned
the late Hon. W. B. Robinson to negotiate with the
Indians holding these lands, and that gentleman, in
1850, made two treaties, which formed the models on
which all the subsequent treaties with the Indians
of the North-West were framed; their main features
being annuities, reserves, and liberty to hunt and
fish on the lands until sold by the Crown.
In 1862, the Government of the old Province of
Canada obtained the surrender of the Indian title to
the Great Manitoulin Island. In 1871, the Dominion
Government, being pressed in the manner already
mentioned, set seriously to work to quiet the
Indians by arranging with them solemn treaties. It
was considered desirable to begin with the Ojibbewas
or Chippewas found between Thunder Bay and the
north-west angle of Lake of the Woods. Mr. Wemyss
McKenzie Simpson was appointed Indian Commissioner
for the purpose. Having issued a proclamation
inviting the Indians to meet him at Lower Fort
Garry, or the Stone Fort, on 25th July, 1871, and at
Manitoba Post, a Hudson’s Bay Fort at the north end
of Lake Manitoba, on the 17th August following, Mr.
Simpson, accompanied by His Excellency the Hon. A.
G. Archibald, then Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba
and the North-West Territories; the Hon. James
McKay, and Mr. Molyneux St John, attended at these
points, and, after much negotiation, succeeded in
completing two treaties—known as Nos. One and Two.
The principal features of these treaties, for they
were identical, were the absolute relinquishment to
Her Majesty of the Indian title to the tracts
described ; the reservation of tracts sufficient to
furnish 160 acres to each Indian family of five ;
provisions for the maintenance of schools; the
prohibition of the sale of intoxicating liquors on
the reserves; a present of three dollars to each
Indian, and the payment of three dollars per head
yearly for ever. Roughly, these treaties secured the
title to a tract of country extending from the
present easterly boundary of Manitoba, westerly
along the boundary line between Canada and the
United States—the 49th parallel—about 300 miles, and
running north about 250 miles, including the present
Province of Manitoba and forming an area of
about60,000square miles of admirable land.
In the same year (1871), it was found necessary to
obtain the title to the area from the watershed of
Lake Superior to the north-west angle of the Lake of
the Woods, and from the American boundary to the
height of land from which the streams flow towards
Hudson’s Bay. This step had become necessary in
order to render the route known as the “Dawson
route” secure for the passage of emigrants, and to
enable the Government to throw the land open for
settlement. Messrs. W. M. Simpson, S. J. Dawson and
W. J. Pether were appointed Commissioners, and, in
July, 1871, they met the Indians at Fort Francis.
Difficulties arose, and no treaty was effected. The
matter was adjourned, and the Indians were asked to
consider the proposals and meet again during the
following summer. But they were not ready then, and
the negotiations were indefinitely postponed. In
1873, it was determined to make another effort, and
a commission was issued to Mr. Morris, then
Lieutenant-Governor; Lieutenant Colonel Provencher,
who had in the meantime been appointed Commissioner
of Indian affairs in the place of Mr. Simpson, who
had resigned; and Mr. Lindsay Russell, but the
latter gentleman being unable to act, Mr. Dawson,
now M.P. for Algoma, was appointed in his stead. The
Commission, as now organized, met the Indians at the
North-West angle late in September, 1873, and after
protracted and difficult negotiations succeeded in
completing the treaty No. Three.
The treaty was of great importance. It released that
portion of the North-West between the westerly
boundary of Ontario and the Province of Manitoba,
and extending north about 250 miles. Its width is
about the same, and a territory of about 55,000
square miles was released from the Indian title. It
was of the utmost consequence that those lands
should be speedily secured because the Dawson Road
runs over them; the Canada Pacific Railway in its
progress from Fort William to Selkirk on the Red
River passes through them, and they are believed to
be rich in minerals. The cupidity of the Indian, and
his acuteness in bargaining, were conspicuously
exhibited. Mr. Morris conducted the palaver. The
demands of the Indians were so unreasonable, and
their obstinacy so dogged that the negotiations were
several times on the point of being broken off, and
nothing but the fortunate combination of skill,
patience, firmness and good temper on the part of
the Lieutenant-Governor enabled him . to achieve the
diplomatic triumph which was of the greater value
since it struck the key-note of all the subsequent
treaties, and taught the savage that though the
Government would be generous, it would firmly resist
imposition. Several days were consumed in fruitless
talk; the Indians demanded a payment down of $15 for
every head then present; $15 for each child
thereafter to be bom forever; $50 each year for
every chief, and other payments amounting to an
additional $125,000 yearly, and that in addition to
their reserves of land, and the right to hunt and
fish. They had a very high estimate of the value of
the territory. They evidently supposed it contained
the precious metals, as during the council a speaker
in the poetic style, peculiar to the Indian,
exclaimed: ‘sound of the rustling of the gold is
under my foot where T stand; we have a rich country;
it is the Great Spirit who gave us this; where we
stand upon is the Indians’ property, and belongs to
them'.
The following are the chief articles of agreement:
In consideration that the Indians surrendered to the
Dominion, for Her Majesty, all their rights, titles
and privileges to the lands described; Her Majesty
agreed:
1. To set aside reserves for farming and other
purposes not exceeding one square mile for each
family of five; 2. To make a present of $12 for each
man, woman and child in cash on the spot; 3. To
maintain schools on the reserves whenever desired;
4. To interdict the introduction of all intoxicating
liquors into the reserves; 5. To permit the Indians
to hunt and fish over such parts of the surrendered
tract as may not be sold by the Government; 6. To
take a census of the Indian population, and pay
yearly, a points to be selected and notified to the
bands, the sum of $5 for each man, woman and child;
7. To expend $1,500 annually in the purchase of
ammunition and net twine for distribution among
them; 8. To supply to each band then actually
cultivating the soil, or who should thereafter
commence to cultivate it once for all, for the
encouragement of the practice of agriculture among
the Indians,’ the following articles, viz., ‘two
hoes for for every family actually cultivating; also
one spade per family as aforesaid; one plough for
every ten families as aforesaid; five harrows for
every twenty families as aforesaid; one scythe for
every family as aforesaid and also one axe, and one
crosscut saw, one hand-saw, one pit saw; the
necessary files, one grindstone, one auger for each
band, and also for each chief for the use of his
band, one chest of ordinary carpenter’s tools; also
for each band enough of wheat, barley, potatoes and
oats to plant the land actually broken up for
cultivation by such band; also for each band one
yoke oxen, one bull and four cows; 9. To pay each
chief $25 per year, and each subordinate officer,
not exceeding three for each band, $15 per annum,
and to give to these, once in every three years, a
suitable suit of clothing; and to each chief, ‘ in
recognition of the closing of the treaty; a suitable
flag and medal’ The treaty was executed by Mr.
Morris, Lieutenant-Governor, J. A. N. Provencher,
and S. J. Dawson, Indian Commissioners, and by
twenty-four chiefs representing the Salteaux tribe
of the Ojibbeway Indians inhabiting the tract
transferred, and it is attested by seventeen
witnesses of whom one-is a young lady, a daughter of
Mr. Morris, who after proving her ability,
gracefully and effectively, to discharge the
elegant, social duties of Government Houbo until the
arrival, in Winnipeg, of her mother, was courageous
enough to accompany her father on his rough journey
to the North-West angle,, and challenge, in their
own camps, the admiration of the handsome young
‘warriors’ of the Ojibbeways.
The next treaty is known as the Ju’Appelle (Who
calls!) treaty, or No. Four, and is named from the
Qu’Ap-pelle Lakes where it was made. The Indians
treated with were the Cree and Saulteaux tribes, and
by it 75,000 squaft miles of most valuable territory
were secured. It includes a portion of the far-famed
‘fertile belt' and was the first step taken to bring
the Indians of that splendid territory into close
relations with the Government It extends from the
westerly limits of No. Two, westerly along the
American boundary about 350 miles, and runs in a
north-east direction to the head of Lake
Winnipegosis, about 300 miles north of the
international boundary. In his report for 1875, the
Hon. Mr. Laird, then Minister of the Interior, pays
a high compliment to Mr. Morris, for he states, *
that it is due to the council to record the fact,
that the legislation and valuable suggestions
submitted to your Excellency from time to time,
through their official head, Governor Morris, aided
the Government not a little in the good work of
laying the foundations of law and order in the
North-West, in securing the good will of the Indian
tribes, and in establishing the prestige of the
Dominion Government throughout that vast country. A
commission was issued to Mr. Morris, Mr. Laird and
Mr. Christie, a retired factor of the Hudson’s Bay
Company, and a gentleman of large experience among
the Indian tribes. These gentlemen met the Indians
in September, 1874, at Lake Qu’Appelle, three
hundred and fifty miles nearly due west from
Winnipeg, accompanied by an escort of militia under
Col. Osborne Smith, C. M. G. The Commissioners were
met again by the excessive greed of the savage, and
their difficulties were intensified by the
jealousies existing between the Crees and the
Chippewas but by firmness, gentleness and tact they
eventually succeeded in securing a treaty similar in
terms to Na Three. The conference opened on the 8th
September, and the first three days were entirely
fruitless; the Indians seemed unwilling to begin
serious work, for they were undecided among
themselves and could not make up their minds to put
forward their speakers. On the fourth day, Mr.
Morris addressed them for the fourth time, and his
speech, given in full in the volume, shows the style
of thought and language which was found so effectual
with these children of the forest.
The account of the conference is exceedingly
interesting. The pow-wow extended over Jsix days,
and the subtlety of the Indian mind is strikingly
exhibited in the speeches of the orators who strove
in every possible way to dip their hands deeper and
deeper into the Dominion treasury. No epitome can do
justice to the minute accounts of them and the other
conferences in which Mr. Morris was engaged while
securing these valuable treaties, and the reader
must be referred to the highly entertaining and
instructive book itself.
Mr. Morris subsequently made a similar treaty at
Fort Ellice with a few Indians who could not attend
at Qu’Appelle, and he also in July, 1876, settled
troublesome difficulties which had arisen out of
Treaties One and Two.
In September, 1875, the Winnipeg or No. Five treaty
was concluded* This covers an area of about 100,000
square miles. The territory lies north of that
covered by Nos. Two and Three. Its extreme northerly
point is at Split Lake, about 450 miles north of
Winnipeg, and its width is about 350 miles. The
region is inhabited by Chippewas and Swampy Crees. A
treaty had become urgently necessary. It includes a
great part of Lake Winnipeg, a sheet of water three
hundred miles in length, having a width of seventy
miles. Red River empties into it, and Nelson River
flows from it to Hudson’s Bay. Steam navigation had
been established on it before the treaty. A tramway
of five miles was in course of construction to avoid
the Grand Rapids, and connect that navigation with
steamers on the River Saskatchewan. The Icelandic
settlement, visited by Lord Dufferin, where he made
one of his best speeches, was on the west side of
the lake; and until the Pacific Railway supplies the
want, this lake must, with the Saskatchewan, become
the thoroughfare between Manitoba and the fertile
prairies of the West. For these and other reasons
the Minister of the Interior reported that 1 it was
essential that the Indian title to all the territory
in the vicinity of the lake should be extinguished
so that settlers and traders might have undisturbed
access to its waters, shores, islands, inlets, and
tributary streams,’ Mr. Morris and the Hon. James
McLay were thereupon appointed commissioners to
treat with the Indiana They performed the work
partly in 1875, and it was concluded in 1876 by the
Hon. Thoa Howard, and Mr. J. L. Reid under
instructions from Mr. Morris. The treaty was made at
Norway House at the foot of the lake, and its terms
are identical with those of Noa Three and Four,
except that the quantity of land given to the
families is smaller, and the gratuity was reduced
from twelve to five dollars per head.
The treaties Nos. One, Two, Three, Four and Five
comprised an area of about 290,000 miles; but there
was still an immense unsurrendered tract lying east
of the Rocky Mountains, between the American
boundary and the 55th parallel, containing about
170,000 square miles, which, it was essential,
should be immediately freed from the Indian title.
This was effected by treaties Nos. Six and Seven.
No. Six was made at Forts Carlton and Pitt The great
region covered by it—or rather by the two, forming
together what is officially' known as Na
Six—embraces an area of about 120,000 square miles,
and contains a vast extent of the most fertile lands
of the North-West The Crees were the owners of this
magnificent territory. They had ever since 1871 been
uneasy about their lands, and had frequently
expressed their desire to treat with the Government
The Hon. Mr. Mills, Minister of the Interior, in his
report for 1876, thus alludes to the matter:
‘Official reports received last year from His Honour
Governor Morris and Col. French, the officer then in
command of the Mounted Police Force, and from other
parties, showed that a feeling of discontent and
uneasiness prevailed very generally amongst the
Assiniboines and Crees lying in the unceded
territory between Saskatchewan and the Rocky
Mountains. This state of feeling, which had
prevailed amongst these Indians for some time past,
had been increased by the presence, last summer, in
their territories, of the parties engaged in the
construction of the telegraph line, and also of a
party belonging to the Geological Survey. To allay
this state of feeling, and to prevent the threatened
hostility of the Indian tribes to the parties then
employed by the Government, His Honour Governor
Morris requested and obtained authority to despatch
a messenger to convey to these Indians the assurance
that Commissioners would be sent this summer to
negotiate a treaty with them, as had already been
done with their brethren further east.
A commission was accordingly issued to Mr. Morris,
the Hon. Mr. McKay, and Mr. Christie. These
gentlemen first met the Indians near Fort Carlton,
on the Saskatchewan, in August, 1876, and succeeded
in effecting a treaty with the Plain and Wood Crees
on the 23rd of that month, and with the Willow Crees
on the 27th. The negotiations were exceedingly
difficult and protracted, and the temper, discretion
and firmness of the Commissioners were put to the
severest test On the conclusion of the treaty at
Fort Carlton, the Commissioners proceeded to Fort
Pitt, where they met with no difficulty, and the
treaty was soon concluded. The Commissioners
discovered among these Indians a strong desire for
instruction in farming, and for missionary and
educational aid. The detailed account of these
transactions is one of the most interesting portions
of Mr. Morris attractive book, but the want of space
prevents full quotations, and meagre ones would
spoil the subject. Treaty No. Six extends from the
westerly boundary of No. Five to the Rocky
Mountains, a distance of about 600 miles, and from
the northern boundaries of Nos. Seven and Four to
the 55th parallel, the greatest width being about
300 miles. The projected route of the Pacific
Railway passes through nearly its entire length.
This was the last treaty in which Mr. Morris took a
part His term of office expiring in 1878, he left
Manitoba and returned to Ontario. A comparatively
small territory, however, lying between the Rocky
Mountains and Nos. Four and Six was still unceded,
and as it was important to obtain the Indian title
as soon as possible, a commission was issued in 1877
for the purpose to the Hon. David Laird, then
Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Territories,
and Lieut-CoL McLeod of the Mounted Police Force.
This region was occupied by the Blackfeet. They met
the Commissioners at the Blackfoot crossing, on the
Bow River, on the 17th September, 1877, and after
five days of tedious pow-wowing, the treaty No.
Seven was concluded. The terms were substantially
the same as those of Nos. Three and Four, except
that, as some of the bands desired to engage in
pastoral instead of agricultural pursuits, they were
given cattle instead of farming implements. The
Minister of the Interior well observes in his report
that 4 the conclusion of this treaty with these
warlike and intractable tribes, at a time when the
Indians, immediately across the border, were engaged
in open hostilities with the United States troops,
is certainly a conclusive proof of the just policy
of the Government of Canada towards the aboriginal
population ’— to which Mr. Morris adds these
significant words: (And of the confidence of the
Indians in the promises and just dealing of the
servants of the British Grown in Canada—a confidence
that can only be kept up by the strictest observance
of the stipulations of the treaties. The area
covered by the treaty is about 35,000 square miles.
This imposing series of treaties secured to the
Dominion the rights of the following Indians:
Chippewas and Crees, of Treaty No. One 3815; do of
No. Two 971;Chippewas and Saulteaux of No. Three
2657; Chippewas, Saulteaux and Crees, of No. Four
5713; of No. Five 2968; Plain and Wood Crees, of No.
Six, 6744, and Blackfeet, of Na Seven, 6519; a total
of 29,027 They covered an area of 460,000square
miles of land whose richness is unsurpassed by any
tract in the world, and were effected without a blow
or a bitter word. They have been faithfully observed
by all parties, though very recent events have
placed a great strain on the prudence and good faith
of several tribes affected by them, and they stand
monuments of British justice and mercy, the sources
of untold blessings as well to the original owners
of the magnificent territories they convey, as to
the teeming thousands of emigrants who may now till
their lands in security, while their brethren across
the border sleep with their rifles at their sides,
prepared at any moment to hear the fearful war-whoop
of the Indian, whose lands he knows have been
stolen, and whose most sacred rights have been
trampled on by a government whose policy to them is
injustice, and whose object is their utter
extermination. Besides the mutual advantages secured
by these treaties a very important one must not be
overlooked. They have caused a complete cessation of
tribal warfare. An intelligent Ojibbeway Indian
trader said to Mr. Morris, that the change in this
respect was wonderful. 'Before' he said, ‘the
Queen’s Government came, we were never safe, but now
I can deep in my tent anywhere and have no fear. I
can go to the Blackfeet and Cree camps and they
treat me as a friend.’
Mr. Morris’s chapter on the ‘Sioux in the North-West
Territories’ is especially interesting, and just now
that Sitting Bull’s stay in Canada threatens to
involve us in complications with the American
Government, it is extremely valuable. Thus far they
have given us no cause of complaint, for they have
not made Canada a base of warlike operations against
the Americans, as it was feared they would. This
observance of international law is due to the great
influence obtained over the Indian mind by all
British officers—for the Indian has so profound a
respect, and so warm a love for their Great Mother
over the sea, that he will at any time restrain his
strongest passions to please her.
Mr. Morris closes his work with a chapter on the
‘Administration of the treaties, the Half-breeds,
and the future of the Indian tribes. The advice and
opinions of a gentleman so well acquainted with the
Indian character as the late Lieufenant-Governor of
Manitoba, can not be otherwise than highly valuable.
It appears that the policy of the Government is
meeting with great success. Band after band, and
tribe after tribe, seeing that the buffalo must soon
fail them, are at this moment anxiously and
industriously turning their attention, some to a
pastoral, others to an agricultural life, and there
is every reason to believe that before many years
the large Indian population of the North-West will
have buried the hatchet, and settled down to the
calm of civilized life. This notice of Mr. Morris’
admirable and most opportune book cannot be better
closed than by a reproduction of his own final words
on the
FUTURE OF THE INDIANS.
‘And now I come to a very important question, What
is to be the future of the Indian population of the
North-West? I believe it to be a hopeful one. I have
every confidence in the desire and ability of the
present administration, as of any succeeding one, to
carry out the provisions of the treaties, and to
extend a helping hand to this helpless population.
That conceded, with the machinery at their disposal,
with a judicious selection of agents and farm
instructors, and the additional aid of well-selected
carpenters and efficient school teachers, I look
forward to seeing the Indians faithful allies of the
Crown, while they can gradually be made an
increasing and self-supporting population.
'They are wards of Canada. Let us do our duty by
them, and repeat in the North-West the success which
has attended our dealings with them in old Canada
for the last hundred years.
‘But the Churches, too, have their duties to fulfil.
There is a common ground between the Christian
Churches and the Indians, as they all believe, as we
do. in a Great Spirit. The transition thence to the
Christian’s God is an easy one.
‘Many of them appeal for missionaries, and utter the
Macedonian cry, “Come over and help us.” The
Churches have already done and are doing much. The
Church of Borne has its bishops and clergy, who have
long been labouring assiduously and actively. The
Church of England has its bishops and clergy on the
shores of the Hudson’s Bay, in the cold region of
the Mackenzie and the dioceses of Rupert’s Land and
Saskatchewan. The Methodist Church has its missions
on Lake Winnipeg, in the Saskatchewan Valley, and on
the slopes of the Rocky Mountains. The Presbyterians
have lately commenced a work among the Chippewas and
Sioux. There is room enough and to spare for all,
and the Churches should expand and maintaiu their
work. Already many of the missionaries have made
records which will live in history. Among those of
recent times, Archbishop Tache, Bishop Grandin,
Pfere Lacombe, and many others of the Catholic
Church; Bishops Machray, Bompas, Archdeacons Cochran
and Cowley of tne Church of England; Rev. Messrs.
Macdougall, of the Wesleyan, and Nisbet, of the
Presbyterian Churches, have lived and laboured; and
though some of them have gone to their rest, they
have left and will leave behind them a record of
self-denial, untiring zeal, and many good results.
Let the Churches persevere and prosper.
‘And now I close. Let us have Christianity and
civilization to leaven the mass of heathenism and
paganism among the Indian tribes ; let us have a
wise and paternal Government faithfully carrying out
the provisions of our treaties, and doing its utmost
to help and elevate tne Indian population, who have
been cast upon our care, and we will have peace,
progress, and concord among them in the North-West;
and instead of the Indian melting away, as one of
them in older Canada tersely put it, “as snow before
the sun,” we will see our Indian population loyal
subjects of the Crown—happy, prosperous, and
self-sustaining—and Canada will be enabled to feel
that in a truly patriotic spirit our country has
done its duty by the red men of the North-West, and
thereby to herself. So may It be.’
This
article was taken from the
Canadian Monthly and National Review |
