[p. 350] [1] PRISONER: Can I speak now?
MR. JUSTICE RICHARDSON: Oh, yes.
[2] PRISONER: Your Honors, gentlemen of the jury —
MR. JUSTICE RICHARDSON: There is no jury now, they are discharged.
[3] PRISONER: Well, they have passed away before me.
MR. JUSTICE RICHARDSON: Yes, they have passed away.
[4] PRISONER: But at the same time I consider them yet still there, still in their seat. The court has done the work for me, and although at first appearance it seems to be against me, I am so confident in the ideas which I have had the honour to express yesterday, that I think it is for good, and not for my loss. Up to this moment I have been considered by a certain party as insane, by another party as a criminal, by another party as a man with whom it was doubtful whether to have any intercourse. So there was hostility, and there was contempt, and there was avoidance. To-day, by the verdict of the court, one of those three situations has disappeared.
[5] I suppose that after having been condemned, I will cease to be called a fool, and for me, it is a great advantage. I consider it as a [p. 351] great advantage. If I have a mission – I say “if,” for the sake of those who doubt, but for my part it means “since,” since I have a mission, I cannot fulfil my mission as long as I am looked upon as an insane being – human being, as the moment I begin to ascend1 that scale I begin to succeed.
[6] You have asked me, your Honors, if I have anything to say why my sentence should not be passed. Yes, it is on that point particularly my attention is directed.
[7] Before saying anything about it, I wish to take notice that if there has ever been any contradiction in my life, it is at this moment, and do I appear excited? Am I very irritable? Can I control myself? And it is just on religion and on politics, and I am contradicted at this moment on politics, and the smile that comes to my face is not an act of my will so much as it comes naturally from the satisfaction that I proved that I experienced seeing one of my difficulties disappearing. Should I be executed – at least if I were going to be executed – I would not be executed as an insane man. It would be a great consolation for my mother, for my wife, for my children, for my brothers, for my relatives, even for my protectors, for my countrymen. I thank the gentlemen who were composing the jury for having recommended me to the clemency of the court.
[8] When I expressed the great hopes that I have just expressed to you, I don’t express it without grounds. My hopes are reasonable, and since they are recommended, since the recommendation of the jury to the Crown is for clemency, it would be easy for me, your Honor, to make an incendiary protest and take the three reasons which have been reasonably put forward by my good lawyers and learned lawyers about the jury, about their selection, about the one who selected them, and about the competency of the court; but why should I do it since the court has undertaken to prove that I am a reasonable man? Must not I take advantage of the situation to show that they are right, and that I am reasonable? And yesterday, when I said, by repeating the evidence which had been given against me, when I said in conclusion that you had a decent prophet, I have just to-day the great opportunity of proving it is so.
[9] Besides clearing me of the stain of2 insanity, clearing my career of the stain of insanity, I think the verdict that has been given against me is a proof that I am more than ordinary myself, but that the circumstances and the help which is given to me is more than ordinary, are more than ordinary, [p. 352] and although I consider myself only as others, yet by the will of God, by His Providence, by the circumstances which have surrounded me for fifteen years, I think that I have been called on to do something which, at least in the North-West, nobody has done yet. And in some way I think, that, to a certain number of people, the verdict against me to-day is a proof that maybe I am a prophet, maybe Riel is a prophet, he suffered enough for it. Now, I have been hunted as an elk for fifteen years. David was3 seventeen, I think I will have to be about two years still. If the misfortunes that I have had to go through were to be as long as those of old David, I would have two years still, but I hope it will come sooner.
[10] I have two reasons why I would ask that my sentence should not be passed upon me, against me.4 You will excuse me, you know my difficulty in speaking English, and have had no time to prepare, your Honor, and even had I prepared anything, it would have been imperfect enough, and I have not prepared, and I wish you would excuse what I have to say, the way which I will be able to perhaps express it.
[11] The troubles of the Saskatchewan are not to be taken as an isolated fact. They are the result of fifteen years’ war. The head of that difficulty lies in the difficulty of Red River. The troubles of Red River were called the troubles of the North-West, and I would like to know if the troubles of Saskatchewan have not the name of being the troubles of the North-West. So the troubles of 1869 being the troubles of the North-West, and the troubles of 1885 being still the troubles of the North-West, the suggestion comes naturally to the mind of the observer if it is a continuation. The troubles of the North-West in 1885 are the continuation of the troubles in 1869, or if they are two troubles entirely different – I say they are not. Canada – no, I ought not to say Canada, because it was a certain number of individuals, perhaps 700 or 800, that can have passed for Canada, but they came to the Red River, and they wanted to take possession of the country without consulting the people. True, it was the half-breed people. There were a certain number of white pioneers among the population, but the great majority were half-breeds. We took up arms against the invaders of the east without knowing them. They were so far apart of us, on the other side of the lakes,5 that it cannot be said that we had any hatred against them. We did not know them. They came without notification, they came boldly. We said, who are they?6 They said, we are the possessors of the [p. 353] country. Well, knowing that it was not true, we done against those parties coming from the east, what we used to do against the Indians from the south and west, when they would invade us.
[12] Public opinion in the States helped us a great deal. I don’t mean to say that it is need to obtain justice on this side of the line that the States should interfere, but, at that time, as there was no telegraph communication between the eastern Provinces and the North-West, no railroad, and as the natural way of going to Canada was through the United States, naturally all the rumours, all the news, had to pass by the States, and on their passage they had to meet the remarks and observations of the American people. The American people were favourable to us. Besides, the Opposition in Canada done the same thing, and said to the Government: “Well, why did you go into the North-West without consulting the people?”7
[13] We took up arms, as I stated, and we made hundreds of prisoners, and we negotiated. A treaty was made. That treaty was made by a delegation of both parties. Whether you consider that organization of the Red River people at that time a provisional government, or not, the fact is that they were recognized as a body tribal, if you like to call it, as a social body with whom the Canadian Government treated. Did they treat with them as they treated with Indians? It will be for them to say, but they didn’t. Since Sir John A. Macdonald and the late Sir George Cartier8 were delegated by the Dominion Government to meet our delegates, delegates who had been appointed by me, the president – that is the name that was given to me by the council, the president of that council – that our delegates had been invited three times, first by Donald A. Smith,9 a member of the Privy Council at that time, second by the Rev. Mr. Thibault10 (the late Rev. Mr. Thibault), third by Archbishop Taché,11 who had been called from Rome for the purpose of pacifying the North-West, when those three delegates had invited us to send delegates, we thought that it was safe to send delegates, and I appointed the Rev. Father Ritchot,12 now curate of St. Norbert, in Manitoba, I appointed the late Judge Black,13 who died in Scotland, I appointed Alfred H. Scott,14 he is dead also, and those three delegates started, with our bill of rights of twenty conditions,15 to go and put it before the Canadian Government, and when our delegates came to Ottawa, the Government wanted to treat them as Indians I suppose. Father Ritchot said: “If you don’t give me, in writing, my acknowledgment as a delegate, I will go back, and you [p. 354] will go with your bayonets to the North-West. Acknowledge my status! I am invited, and I come.”16 And what was the answer? Our delegates had been invited three times, how were they received in Canada? They were arrested – to show exactly what is the right of nations. They were arrested, they had a formal trial, but the fact remains that they were arrested, and the protest of the Rev. Father Ritchot is still in the document.
[14] However, there was a treaty. Sir John A. Macdonald was delegated, the late Sir George Cartier was delegated to treat with the people, with those three delegates. Now, how were they acknowledged? Were they acknowledged as the delegates of Riel? Oh, no, they were acknowledged as the delegates of the North-West. The late Mr. Howe,17 in his acknowledgment of the delegates, and in notifying those who had been delegated by the Canadian Government to treat with them, told them that they were acknowledged as the delegates of the North-West. Then it was the cause of the North-West that they represented. It is acknowledged by the Canadian Government by that very same fact that fifteen years ago the treaty of which I am speaking was a treaty of the North-West, of the delegates of the North-West, and if, by trying to say that it was the delegates of the North-West, they wanted to avoid the fact that I was no being at all, the whole world knows that it is not so; they cannot avoid me. And Sir John A. Macdonald himself, in the report of the committee of enquiry about those very same troubles – the committee sat in 1874 – Sir John A. Macdonald said, I think,18 we acknowledge Riel in his status of a governor.
[15] What was the treaty? Was it an Indian affair? If it had been an Indian affair Manitoba would not have been as it is, would not be as it is. We have the Manitoba Act.19 There was an agreement between the two delegations20 how the whole North-West interest would be considered and how the Canadian Government would treat with the North-West. And then, having settled on the matters of principle, those very principles, the agreement was made that those very principles would be inaugurated in Manitoba first. There was a province erected with responsible government; the lands, they were kept by the Dominion. As the half-breed people were the majority of Manitoba, as at their stage of civilization they were not supposed to be able to administer their lands, we thought that at that time it was a reasonable concession to let them go, not [p. 355] because we were willing to let them go, but because it seemed impracticable to have the administration of the lands.21
[16] Still, one of the conditions of the treaty was that the people of the North-West wanted the administration of their lands.22 The half-breeds had a million, and the land grant of 1,400,000 acres owned about 9,500,000, if I mistake not, which [is] about one-seventh of the lands of Manitoba. You will see the origin of my insanity and of my foreign policy. One-seventh of the land was granted to the people, to the half-breeds of Manitoba – English and French, Protestant and Catholic; there was no distinction whatever. But in the sub-division, in the allotment of those lands between the half-breeds of Manitoba, it came that they had 240 acres of land. Now, the Canadian Government say that we will give to the half-breeds of the North-West 240 acres. If I was insane I would say yes, but as I have had, thank God, all the time the consciousness that I had a certain degree of reason, I have made up my mind to make use of it, and to say that one-seventh of the lands in Manitoba, as to the inauguration of a principle in the North-West, had to bring to the half-breeds of the North-West at least as soon as possible the guarantee for the future that a seventh of the lands will also be given to them; and seeing and yourself understanding how it is difficult for a small population, as the half-breed population, to have their voices heard, I said what belongs to us ought to be ours. Our right to the North-West is acknowledged, our co-proprietorship with the Indians is acknowledged, since one-seventh of the land is given to us, but we have not the means to be heard.
[17] What will we do? I said to some of my friends if there is no other way we will make the people who have no country understand that we have a country here which we have ceded on condition. We want a seventh of the lands, and if the bargain is not kept, it is null and void, and we have no right to retreat again. And if we cannot have our seventh of the lands from Canada, we will ask the people of the States, the Italians, to come and help us as emigrants.23 The Irish, I will count them. Now, it is my turn; I thank you.24 I count them, and I will show you if I made an insane enumeration of the parties. I said we will invite the Italians of the States, the Irish of the States, the Bavarians of the States, the Poles of the States, the Belgians of the States, and if they come and help us here to have the seventh, we will give them each a seventh;25 and to show that we are not fanatics, that we are not partisans, that we do not wish only for [p. 356] the Catholic[s] but that we have a consideration for those who are not Catholics,26 I said we will invite the Danes, we will invite the Swedes who are numerous in the States, and the Norwegians, to come around, and as there are Indians and half-breeds in British Columbia, and as British Columbia is a part of the immense North-West, we said not only for ourselves, but speaking of our children, we will make the proposition that if they help us to have our seventh on the two sides of the Rocky Mountains, they will each have a seventh, and if the Jews will help us, on condition that they acknowledge Jesus Christ as the son of God and the only Saviour of human kind, and if they will help us with their money,27 we will give them a seventh; and I said also, if the principle of giving a seventh of the lands in the North-West – if the principle of giving a seventh of the lands in the North-West to the half-breeds is good, it ought to be good in the east also, and I said if it is not possible that our views should be heard, we will meet as American citizens. I will invite the Germans of the States, and I will say if you ever have an opportunity of crossing the line east, do it, and help the Indians and the half-breeds of the east to have a revenue equivalent to about one-seventh. And what would be the reward of the Germans? The reward of the Germans would be, if they were successful, to take part of the country and make a new German-Indian world somewhere in British North America; but that is the last resort, and if I had not had a verdict of guilty against me, I would have never said it. Yesterday it is just those things that I have just avoided to say; when I said I have a reason to not mention them, and when I said, as one of the witnesses said, that my proclamation was in Pembina,28 I think I am right, because of this trial you see that my pretension is, that I can speak a little of future events.
[18] My trial has brought out the question of the seventh, and although no one has explained the things as I do now, still there is enough said about the seventh of the land and that the division of the lands into seven, seven nationalities, while it ought to have been said between ten nationalities, that by telegraph to-day my proclamation is in Pembina, truly, and the States have my idea; they have my idea. The Fenian element, without any tangible object, have crossed the lines several times for only the sake of what they called revenge, but now that Riel, whose name is somewhat prominent for fifteen years, is known to be in his trouble for life and death, for himself and his nationality, now that my trial gives me a [p. 357] certain increase of the celebrity, now that those questions are appearing now before the public, that there is a land league in the States, that that very same element which possesses Fenianism is still there, and quiet, because they have no plan, because they have no idea around which [to] gather their numbers, and when they catch at it do they think that they will smile? And Gabriel Dumont on the other side of the line, is that Gabriel Dumont inactive? I believe not. He is trying to save me from this box. This is no threat. I have written it. I have written a document of that kind and put it in the hands of Captain Deane three weeks ago. This is not an inspiration of the moment.
[19] I have the right to thank God for the prevision29 of what happens to-day, but there is another means. I don’t wish that means, these means. I don’t wish them to call people from the States on this side of the line. No, I wish it only if there is no other possibility, if there is no other resort, of course that is my wish. The last remedy, although it may be extreme, is always a remedy, and it is worth something to try it. But if there is justice, as I still hope, oh, dear, it seems to me I have become insane to hope still. I have seen so many men in my position and where are they? But Lepine30 has had his scaffold also in Manitoba, and he was not executed. Why? Because he was recommended to the clemency of the court. The idea of the seventh, I have two hands, and I have two sides to my head, and I have two countries. I am an American citizen and I have two countries, and I am taken here as a British subject. I don’t abandon my idea of the seventh. I say because the other is an extreme and extremity, I don’t wish for it until extremities have come, and I have, coming to extremities just now, but there are some hopes yet for me, my heart is full of hope; but my friends, I suppose that many of them think that I am gone.
[20] If Canada is just with me, if Canada respects my life, my life, my liberty and my reputation, they will give me all that they have taken away from me, and as I said yesterday, that immense influence which my acts are gathering for the last fifteen years, and which, as the power of steam contained in an engine31 will have its sway, then what will it do? It will do that Riel will go perhaps to the Dominion ministry, and there instead of calling the parties in the States, he will by means, constitutional means of the country, invite the same parties from Europe as emigration, but let it be well understood that as my right has been acknowledged as a co-proprietor of the soil with the Indians, I want [p. 358] to assert that right. It is constitutionally acknowledged in the Manitoba Act by the 31st clause of that Act, and it does not say to extinguish the Indian title. It says two words, “extinguishing,” and “1,400,000 acres of land,”32 two words and as each child of the half-breeds got one-seventh, naturally I am at least entitled to the same. It is why I spoke of the seventh for Indians, not of the lands but of the revenue as it increases.
[21] But somebody will say, on what grounds do you ask one-seventh of the lands? Do you own the lands? In England, in France, the French and the English have lands, the first was in England, they were the owners of the soil and they transmitted [it] to generations. Now, by the soil they have had their start as a nation. Who starts nations? The very one who creates them, God. God is the master of the universe, our planet is His land, and the nation and the tribes are members of His family, and as a good father, He gives a portion of His lands to that nation, to that tribe, to everyone, that is His heritage, that is His share of the inheritance, of the people, or nation or tribe. Now, here is a nation strong as it may be, it has its inheritance from God. When they have crowded their country because they had no room to stay any more at home, it does not give them the right to come and take the share of all tribes besides them. When they come they ought to say, well, my little sister, the Cree tribe, you have a great territory, but that territory has been given to you as our own land, it has been given to our fathers in England or in France and of course you cannot exist without having that spot of land. This is the principle:33 God cannot create a tribe without locating it. We are not birds. We have to walk on the ground, and that ground is encircled of many things, which besides its own value, increases its value in another manner, and when we cultivate it we still increase that value.
[22] Well, on what principle can it be that the Canadian Government has given one-seventh to the half-breeds of Manitoba? I say it must be on this ground, civilization has the means of improving life that Indians or half-breeds have not. So when they come in our savage country, in our uncultivated land, they come and help us with their civilization, but we helped them with our lands, so the question comes: Your land, you Cree or you half-breed, your land is worth to-day one-seventh of what it will be when civilization will have opened it? Your country unopened is worth to you only one-seventh of what it will be when opened. I think it is a fair share to acknowledge the genius of [p. 359] civilization to such an extent as to give, when I have seven pair of socks, six, to keep one. They made the treaty with us. As they made the treaty, I say they have to observe it, and did they observe the treaty? No.
[23] There was a question of amnesty then, and when the treaty was made one of the questions was that before the Canadian Government would send a governor into Manitoba an Imperial amnesty should be proclaimed so as to blot out all the difficulties of the past. Instead of proclaiming a general amnesty before the arrival of the governor which took place on the 2nd of September 1870, the amnesty was proclaimed the 25th April, 1875, so I suffered for five years unprotected, besides I was expelled from the House twice.34 I was they say outlawed, but, as I was busy as a member of the east, and had a trial in the west, I could not be in two places, and they say that I was outlawed, but no notification was sent to my house of any proceedings of the court. They say that I was outlawed and when the amnesty came five years after the time that it should have come, I was banished for five years and Lepine deprived of his political rights forever. Why? Because he had given political rights to Manitoba? Is that all? No. Did the amnesty come from the Imperial Government? Not at all. It came from our sister colony in the east, and mind you, to make a miracle of it I said the one being great, and Riel being small, I will go on the other side and I am banished. It is a wonder I did not take and go to Mexico. Naturally I went to the States, amnesty was given by the Secretary of State at Ottawa, the party who treated with us. That is no amnesty. It is an insult to me. It has always been an insult to me. I said in Manitoba two years ago that it was an insult and I considered it as such, but are there proofs that amnesty had been promised? Yes, many.
[24] Archbishop Taché the delegate who has been called, the prelate who has been called from Rome to come and pacify the North-West received a commission to make, to accomplish that pacification, and in general terms was written his commission, and when he came into the North-West before I sent delegates, he said, “I will give you my word of honour as a delegate, that there will be an Imperial amnesty, not because I can promise it on my own responsibility, but because it has been guaranteed to me by the representative of the Crown and the Ministers themselves, the Ministers of the Crown,”35 and instead of the Imperial amnesty came the amnesty of which I spoke and besides, an amnesty came five years too late, and which took the trouble of banishing me five years more. [p. 360]
MR. JUSTICE RICHARDSON: Is that all?
PRISONER: No, excuse me, I feel weak and if I stop at times, I wish you would be kind enough to —
[25] But the last clause of the Manitoba Act speaks also a little of the North-West, speaks that temporary government will be put into the North-West until a certain time, not more than five years, and, gentlemen, the temporary government, how long has it lasted now? How long has it existed now? For fifteen years, and it will be temporary yet. It is against the Manitoba [Act], it is against the treaty of the North-West that this North-West Council should continue to be in existence, and against the spirit of the understanding. Have I anything to say against the gentlemen who compose the North-West Council? Not at all, not more than I had yesterday to say against the jury and to say against the officials of this court, whom I respect all, but I speak of the institutions. No; I speak of the institutions in the North-West. The Manitoba treaty has not been fulfilled, neither in regard to me, neither in regard to Lepine. Besides the population of the half-breeds who have [been] found in the troubles of the North-West in Manitoba in 1870, and who have been found in the troubles of the North-West, what right have they to be there? Have they not received their 240 acres? I suppose that the half-breeds in Manitoba in 1870 did not fight for 240 acres of land, but it is to be understood that there were two societies who treated together; one was small, but in its smallness it had its rights. The other was great, but by its greatness it had no greater rights than the rights of the small, because the rights is the same for everyone, and when they began by treating the leaders of the small community as bandits, as outlaws, leaving them without protection, they disorganized that community. The right of nations wanted that the treaty of Manitoba should be fulfilled towards the little community of Red River in the same condition that they were when they treated. That is the right of nations, and when the treaty would have been fulfilled towards that small community in the same state as when it was when she treated, then the obligations would have been fulfilled and the half-breeds might have gone to the North-West, the Saskatchewan, and have no right to call for any other things for themselves, although they had a right to help their neighbours if they thought that they were in a bad fix, because charity is always charity.
[26] Now I say that the people of Manitoba have not been satisfied, nor the leaders, not the people, [p. 361] because during those five years, which elapsed between 1870 and 1875, there were laws made and those laws they embraced the people, the half-breed people, and because they hadn’t their rights, because the leaders were always threatened in their existence, the people themselves did not feel any security and they sold their lands, because they thought they would never get first that seventh of the lands. They sold their lands because they saw they had no protection and they went west.36 What have they received in receiving the 240 acres? They have received 240 acres of land, and as a matter of fact I can prove that by circumstances many – one-half of them – sold for half of the price, $50 or $40, $60 or $25, and to show the state in which they had been kept those who came from the Red River and the half-breeds of Red River who were in the Red River trouble of 1870, appeared to be a wonder of egotism and of unreasonableness because they appeared to be in the troubles of 1885, which are the continuation of the troubles of the Red River.
[27] The amnesty has not been given by the right parties. Amnesty has not been given to Lepine, one of the leaders, who was then, as Dumont is to-day and myself. I was allowed to come back into the country after ten years; after I would be completely deprived of the chances which I had in 1870 to do something for my people and myself,37 for emigration, so as to cut down my influence forever. It is why I did not come at that time, and thought I would never come to the country. Did I take my American paper, put my papers of American naturalization during my five years’ banishment? No, I did not want to give to the States a citizen of banishment, but when my banishment had expired, when an officer at Battleford – somewhere on this side of the line, in Benton – invited me to come to the North-West I said: “No, I will go to an American court, I will declare my intention, now that I am free to go back, and choose another land.”38 It sored my heart. It sored my heart to say that kind of adieu to my mother, to my brothers, to my sisters, to my friends, to my countrymen, my native land, but I felt that in coming back to this country I could not re-enter it without protesting against all the injustice which I had been suffering, and in doing it I was renewing a struggle which I had not been able to continue as a sound man, as I thought I was, I thought it better to begin a career on the other side of the line.
[28] In Manitoba is that all about the amnesty? No.39 My share of the 1,400,000 acres of land, have I received it? No, I have not received it. My friends, my [p. 362] mother have applied to have it. No, I could not. Everyone else could apply for theirs. Father, Mother, would apply for their sons and that was all right, but for my mother40 to apply for me it was not, I did not get it. Last year there was a proof. Here, in the box, not long ago when I asked [for] an indemnity, I was refused. Was that indemnity based on a fancy? I wanted my lands in Manitoba to be paid. Besides, when they treatied, the treaty was completed on the 31st May 1870, it was agreed to the 24th June, and Sir George Cartier had said, “Let Riel govern the country until the troops get there,” and from the 24th June till the 23rd August I governed the country in fact, and what was the reward for it?
[29] When the glorious General Wolseley41 came he rewarded me in saying Riel’s banditti has taken flight, and he wanted to come during the night, at midnight, so as to have a chance to raise a row in Fort Garry and to have a glory to call for in the morning, but heaven was against him then. It rained so much that he could not get there during the night, and he had to come at 10 o’clock next morning. He entered one door of Fort Garry while I left [by] the other.42 I kept in sight of him. I was small. I did not want to be in his road. But, as I know he had good eyes I say I will keep at a distance, where I can be seen, and if he wants to have me, he will come. A general knows where his enemy is, ought to know, and I kept about 300 yards ahead of him. While he was saying that Riel’s banditti had taken flight, Riel was very near. That has been my reward. When I speak of an indemnity of $35,000, to call for something to complete the $100,000, I don’t believe that I am exaggerating, your Honor.43
[30] In 1871 the Fenians44 came in Pembina. Major Irvine,45 one of the witnesses, I was introduced to him, and when I brought to the governor 250 men, Governor Archibald46 was then anxious to have my help because he knew that we were the door of Manitoba, and he said as the question of amnesty came he said, “If Riel comes forward we will protect him. ‘Pour la circonstance actuelle,’47 we will protect him.”48 As long as we need him, we will protect him, but as soon as we don’t want him, as soon as we don’t need him, we want him to fall back in the same position he is to-day, and that answer had been brought because it had been represented that while I would be helping the Government the parties would be trying to shoot me in the back. “Pour la circonstance actuelle,” they said, “I will protect him.”49 What reward have I had by that? The first reward that I had was that that took place in the first days of October 1871, before the year was ended. [p. 363]
[31] Of course they gave the chance to Riel to come out. A rebel had a chance to be loyal then. My friends, my glorious friend in Upper Canada, now the leader of the Opposition, Mr. Blake,50 said, “We must prevent Mr. Riel from arriving.”51 When he was Minister in Upper Canada he issued a proclamation of $5,000 for those who would arrest Riel. That was my reward, my dowry, but the Canadian Government, what reward would they give me? In the next year there was going to be an election – 1872. If Riel remains in the country for the elections, it will be trouble, and he has a right to speak. We have made a treaty with him, we do not fulfil it; we promise him amnesty; he is outlawed; we take his country and he has no room even to sleep. He comes to our help. He governs the country during two months and the reward is that he is a bandit. He comes to the help of the Government with 250 men and the reward is $5,000 for his head.
[32] It was at that time that I took the name of David and did52 I take [it] myself? The honourable Judge of the court at Manitoba, Mr. Dubuc,53 to-day is the one who gave me the name of David. When I had to hide myself in the woods and when he wanted to write me that he should write under the name which would not be known, so that my letter could come to me, and I may say that in that way it is a legal name. From that point of view even, and I put in a parenthesis, why I have a right, I think as a souvenir of my friend in Upper Canada who caused the circumstance, who bought me that name, to make nothing special about it, and besides, when the King of Judea was speaking of the public services of David didn’t he refer us to refer to him in that way? Yes, he did, and as something similar I thought it was only proper that I should take the name of David, but it was suggested to me in a mighty manner, and I could not avoid it.
[33] The Canadian Government said, “Well, Riel will be in the elections here, and he will have the right with all those grievances to speak, and he will embarrass the Government,”54 so they call[ed] on my greater protector, Archbishop Taché, I don’t know what; but in the month of Feburary 1872, Archbishop Taché came to me and said, “The authorities in Lower Canada want you to go on the other side of the line until the crisis is passed.”55 “Well,” I said, “if the crisis is concerning me only, it would be my interest to go there, but I am in a crisis which is the crisis of people of the country, and as it concerns the public besides me I will speak to the public as the public are speaking to me.”56 But the Archbishop gave me so good reason[s] that although I could not yield to those reasons, I came to a conclusion [p. 364] with him, and I said, “My Lord, you have titles to my57 acknowledgment which shall never be blotted out of my heart, and although my judgment in this matter altogether differs from yours, I don’t consider my judgment above yours and what seems to me reasonable might be more reasonable, although I think my course of action reasonable, perhaps yours is more reasonable.”58 I said, “If you command me, as my Archbishop, to go, and take on your shoulders the responsibility of leaving my people in the crisis I will go, but let it be known that it is not my word, that I do it to please you, and yet after you command me to do it – to show that in politics when I am contradicted I can give way,”59 and they offered me £10 a month to stay on the other side of the line. I said, “To be in gaol I have a chance here in Manitoba, and I want something.”60 They asked me how much I wanted, and I said, “How long do you want to me to stay away?”61 “Well,” he said, “perhaps a year.”62 I tell you beforehand that I want to be here during the elections; that is what I asserted. I want to be here during the elections and it was agreed that they would give £800; £400 to Lepine, £400 to me, £300 to me personally, £300 for Lepine, £100 for my family, £100 for Lepine’s family. That makes £800.
[34] How was it agreed that I should receive that money? I said to his lordship that the Canadian Government owe[s] me money, they libel me, and even on the question of libel, they do it so clearly that it does not need any trial to come to judgment. They have a judgment and will they make use of it? They owe me something for my reputation that they abuse every day. Besides I have done work and they never paid me for it. I will take that money as an account of what they will have to pay me one day. It was agreed in that manner and the money was given me in the chapel of St. Vital in the presence of Mr. Dubuc, judge now, and when I did not know at that time where the money came, surely came from, and when the little sack of £300 of gold was handed to me there on the table, I said to his lordship, my Lord, if the one who wants me to go away was here, and if I had to treat him as he is trying to treat me, the little sack of gold ought to go through his head. That was my last protest.
[35] At that time, but before the election, public opinion was so excited against the one who had taken the responsibility of advising my leaving, that he called me back, and during the elections I was present, it was thirteen63 years ago to-day. I am rewarded for what I have done through those thirteen64 years. Sir George Cartier in 1872, just in that summer was beaten in [p. 365] Montreal. I speak of him not as a man of party, I speak of him as a Canadian, as [a] public man he was beaten by Mr. Jetté, of Montreal, by 1,200 majority, and they came to me. My election was sure in Provencher. I had fifteen or twenty men against me, and they came to me. Riel, do you want to resign your seat? I have not it yet. Oh, well you are to get it. Allow George Cartier to be elected here, and I said yes, to show that if I had at the time any inclination to become insane when I was contradicted in politics. But Lower Canada has more than paid me for the little consideration, great as my consideration, but that little mark I considered it a little mark of consideration, a little mark of great consideration for them.
[36] The people of Manitoba hadn’t their government inaugurated at that time, they had a sham government. It was to be elected.65 It was to be inaugurated after 1871. After the 1st January 1871, but we went on in 1874 and it was not inaugurated. As long as Riel was there, with his popularity, if the proper institutions had been inaugurated, Riel would have come in the House, the Provincial House, and of course it was considered to be a damage so as to keep me back. They did not give the people their rights, when it was constitutionally agreed they should have done. I struggled not only for myself but I struggled for the rights, for the inauguration of the principles of responsible and constitutional government in Manitoba. That was conceded about the time I was banished.
[37] While I was in the States was I happy? Yes, I was very happy to find a refuge, but I have met men who have come to me several times and say, “here, look out, here is a man on the other side of the line, and he is trying to take a revenge at you, when you water your horses,”66 because they have left stains as much as possible on my name. I could not even water my horses on the Missouri without being guarded against those who wanted my life. And it is an irony for me that I should be called David.
[38] Last year when I was invited, instead of coming to this country, I could with the plan that has appeared to me, I could have communicated with the Fenian organizations, I could have sent my books; I did not do it; and as a proof of it, while I had no means at all to communicate with my brother, you will see in Manitoba, letter to my brother Joseph where I speak of my books, that I could get any amount of money for that book if I wished it to be published, but that I thought that there was a better chance on this side of the line. And what chance is it? What I said, constitutionally speaking, if Riel [p. 366] succeeded that he should one day, as a public man, invite emigration from the different parts of the different countries of the world, and because this North-West is acknowledged to be partly his own, as a half-breed of this population, to make bargains for this North-West here with the Canadian Government, in such a way so that when the English population has had a full and reasonable share of this land, other nationalities, with whom we are in sympathy, should have also their share of it. When we gave the lands in Manitoba for one-seventh, we did not explain, we gave it to the Canadian Government, but in giving it to the Canadian Government it does not mean that we gave it with all the respect that I have for the English population, the Anglo-Saxon race, we did not give it only for the Anglo-Saxon race. There is the Irish in the east and the French in the west, and their proportion in the Canadian Government ought to receive a reasonable proportion of this land which is bought here; and it is hardly the same to give to some French-Canadians in the North-West and none at all to the Irish.
[39] I don’t speak here to call the sympathies, because I am sentenced; I speak sound sense. I follow the line of natural and reasonable sympathies, but behind my thought, perhaps, you would be inclined to believe that it is a way formed to try to work against the English – no, I don’t. I believe that the English constitution is an institution which has been perfected for the nations of the world, and while I speak of having in future, if not during my lifetime, after it, of having different nationalities in the North-West here, my hope that they will succeed is, that they will have it amongst them, the great Anglo-Saxon race. As among the nations of Europe 2,000 years ago, the Roman people were the leading race, and were teaching the other nations good government; that is my opinion of the Anglo-Saxon race. I am not insane enough to regret67 the great glory of the Anglo-Saxon race God has given to that race, and when God gives something to somebody it is for a good purpose, and because God gave glory to England, it is because He wanted the Anglo-Saxon race to work for His own glory, and I suppose it is not finished yet; they will continue – the Roman empire at the time of the decay68 existed 400 years – still the king. The Anglo-Saxon, the British empire, if it has come to its highest point of glory, it may be called the king; but it is so great that it will take many hundred years, and fully as many as 400 years to lose69 its prestige, and during that time I hope that this great North-West, with [p. 367] British influence will, by the emigration of which I speak, [provide] good government.
[40] But will I show insanity in hoping that that plan will be fulfilled? I will speak of the wish of my heart, I have been in what is called, asserted to be wrong to-day; I have been proved to be the leader. I hope that before long that very same thing which is said wrong will be known as good, and then I will remain the leader of it; and as the leader of what I am doing. I say my heart will never abandon the idea of having a new Ireland in the North-West by constitutional means, inviting the Irish of the other side of the sea to come and have a share here; a new Poland in the North-West by the same way, a new Bavaria in the same way, a new Italy in the same way, and on the other side in Manitoba, and since Manitoba has been erected it has been increased since 1870 at least by 9,500,000 acres of land; now it is 96,000,000, say there is 86,000,000 about, acres of land to which the half-breeds’ title has not been extinguished, a seventh gives 12,000,000 of those lands and I want the French-Canadians to come and help us there to-day, to-morrow – I don’t know when. I am called here to answer for my life, to have time that I should make my testimony, and on the other side of the mountains, there are Indians and as I have said half-breeds, and there is a beautiful island, Vancouver, and I think the Belgians will be happy there, and the Jews who are looking for a country for 1,800 years, the knowledge of which the nations have not been able to attain yet. While they are rich and the lords of finance, perhaps, will they hear my voice one day, and on the other side of the mountains, while the waves of the Pacific will chant sweet music for them to console their hearts for the mourning of 1,800 years; perhaps will they say is the one thought of us in the whole Cree world, and if they help us there on the other side between the great Pacific and the great Rockies to have a share? The Jews from the States? No; what I wish is the natural course of emigration, that is what I want; my thoughts are for peace. During the sixty days that I have been in Batoche, I told you yesterday that there were three delegations appointed by the exovede to send on the other side for help, but there I did not see the safety that I was looking for, not that I distrust my countrymen, but such a great revolution will bring immense disasters, and I don’t want during my life to bring disasters except those which I am bound to bring to defend my own life, and to avoid to take away from my country, disasters which threaten me [p. 368] and my friends and those who have confidence in me, and I don’t abandon my ancestors either,70 the acknowledgment that I have from my ancestors.
[41] My ancestors were among those that came from Scandinavia and the British Isles, 1,000 years ago. Some of them went to Limerick and were called Reilson,71 and then they crossed into Canada and they were called Riel; so in me there is Scandinavian, and well rooted; there is the Irish, and there is the French, and there is some Indian blood. The Scandinavians, if possible, they will have a share, it is my plan, it is one of the illusions of my insanity, if I am insane, that they should have on the other side of these mountains, a new Norway, a new Denmark, and a new Sweden, so that those who spoke of the lands of the great North-West to be divided into seven, forgot that it was in ten. The French in Manitoba, the Bavarians, the Italians and the Polands – the Poles and the Irish in the North-West, and then five on the other side too. I have written those things since I am in gaol, those things have passed through the hands of Captain Deane, they are in the hands of the Lieutenant Governor, and something of it has reached Sir John, I think, I don’t know.72 I did not hide my thoughts, I went through the channel of natural emigration, of peaceful emigration, through the channel of constitutional means, to start the idea, and if possible to inaugurate it, but if I can’t do it during my life I leave the ideas to be fulfilled in the future, and if it is not possible, you are reasonable men and you know that the interests that I propose are of an immense interest, and if it is not, if the peaceful channel of emigration is not open to those races into the North-West, they are in such numbers in the States that when you expect it least, they will perhaps try to come on your borders and to look at the land, whether it is worth paying it a visit or not. That is the seventh of lands, that is about the seventh of lands. So you see that by the very nature of evidence that had been given here when the witnesses speak of a seventh of the land, that very same question originates from 1870, from the troubles of Red River which brought a treaty where the seventh of the lands took its existence, and I say if this court tries me for what has taken place in the North-West they are trying me for something which was in existence before then. This court was not in existence when the difficulties of which we speak now in Saskatchewan, began; it is the difficulties of 1869, and what I say is, I wish that I have a trial.
[42] My wish is this, your Honor, that a commission be [p. 369] appointed by the proper authorities, but amongst the proper authorities of course I count on English authorities, that is the first proper authorities; that a commission be appointed; that that commission examines into this question, or if they are appointed to try me, if a special tribunal is appointed to try me, that I am tried first on this question:
– Has Riel rebelled in 1869?
– Second question. Was Riel a murderer of Thomas Scott,73 when Thomas Scott was executed?
– Third question. When Riel received the money from Archbishop Taché, reported to be the money of Sir John, was it corruption money?
– Fourth. When Riel seized, with the council of Red River, on the property of the Hudson’s74 Bay Company, did he commit pillage?
– Fifth. When Riel was expelled from the House as a fugitive of justice in 1874, was he a fugitive of justice?
As at that time I had through the member for Hochelaga, now in Canada, and through Dr. Fiset75 had communications with the Government, but another time, through the member of Hochelaga, Mr. Alphonse Desjardins,76 I had asked from the Minister of Justice an interview on the 4th of March, and that interview was refused to me. In the month of April [1874] I was expelled from the House. Lepine was arrested in 1873, and I was not; not because they did not want to take me. And while I was in the woods waiting for my election Sir John sent parties to me offering $35,000 if I would leave the country for three years, and if that was not enough to say what I wanted, and that I might take a trip over the water, besides over the world. At the time I refused it. This is not the first time that the $35,000 comes up, and if at that time I refused it was it not reasonable for me that I should think it a sound souvenir to Sir John? Am I insulting? No, I do not insult. You don’t mean to insult me when you declare me guilty; you act according to your convictions, I do also according to mine. I speak true. I say they should try me on the question, whether I rebelled on the Saskatchewan in 1885.
[43] There is another question. I want to have one trial; I wish to have a trial that will cover the space of fifteen years, on which public opinion is not satisfied.77 I have heard, without meaning any offence, when I spoke of one of the articles I mentioned, some gentlemen behind me saying, “Yes, he was a murderer.” You see what remarks. It shows there is something not told. If told by law it would not be said. I wish to have my trial, as I am tried for nothing; and as I am tried for my career, I wish my career should be tried; not the last part of it. [p. 370] On the other side I am declared to be guilty of high treason, and I give myself as a prophet of the new world.
[44] I wish that while a commission sits on one side a commission of doctors should also sit and examine fully whether I am sane, whether I am a prophet or not; not insanity, because it is disposed of, but whether I am a deceiver and impostor. I have said to my good lawyers, I have written things which were said to me last night and which have taken place to-day; I said that before the court opened. Last night the spirit that guides and assists me told me the court will make an effort – your Honor, allow me to speak of your charge, which appeared to me to go on one side – the court made an effort, and I think that word is justified. At the same time there was another thing said to me; a commission will sit; there will be a commission. I did not hear yet that a commission is to take place. I ask for it. You will see if I am an impostor thereby. The doctors will say when I speak of these things whether I am deceiving. If they say I am deceiving, I am not an impostor by will. I may be declared insane because I seek an idea which drives me to something right. I tell you in all what I say in most things I do, I do according to what is told to me. In Batoche many78 things which I said have already happened. It was said to me not far from here and that is why I never wanted to send the half-breeds far, I wanted to keep them, and it was said to me I will not begin to work before 12 o’clock, and when the first battle opened I was taking my dinner at Duck Lake. When the battle began it was a little after 12 o’clock. I will not begin to work before 12 o’clock, and what had happened? And it was said to me if you do not meet the troops on such a road, you will have to meet them at the foot of a hill, and the half-breeds facing it. It is said my papers have been published. If they have been published, examine what took place, and you will see we had to meet General Middleton at the foot of the hill. It was also told me that men would stay in the “belle prairie,” and the spirit spoke of those who would remain on the “belle prairie,” and there were men who remained on the “belle prairie.” And he admits it was looked upon as something very correct in the line of military art, it was not come from me or Dumont, it was the spirit that guides me.
[45] I have two reasons why I wish the sentence of the court should not be passed upon me. The first, I wish my trial should take place as I said, whether that wish is practical or not, I bow respectfully to [p. 371] the court. I ask that a commission of doctors examine me. As I am declared guilty I would like to leave my name, as far as conscience is concerned, all right. If a commission of doctors sits and if they examine me, they can see if I was sincere or not. I will give them the whole history, and I think while I am declared guilty of high treason it is only right I should be granted the advantages of giving my proofs whether I am sincere, that I am sincere. Now, I am judged a sane man, the cause of my guilt is that I am an impostor, that would be the consequence. I wish a commission to sit and examine me. There have been witnesses around me for ten years, about the time they have declared me insane, and they will show if there is in me the character of an impostor. If they declare me insane, if I have been astray, I have been astray not as an impostor, but according to my conscience. Your Honor that is all what I have to say.
1 “ascend” for “ascent.”
2 “of” for “on.”
3 “was” for “has been.”
4 The two reasons are given in the last paragraph of the speech.
5 The Great Lakes.
6 “?” replaces comma.
7 Quotation marks inserted.
8 George Étienne Cartier (b. Lower Canada, 1814; d. London, England, 1873) was a prominent member of the federal government and considered one of the Fathers of Confederation (DCBO).
9 Donald Alexander Smith (b. Scotland, 1820; d. London, England, 1914) was an officer of the Hudson’s Bay Company, a businessman, a member of the House of Commons from 1871 to 1880 and 1887 to 1896, and a philanthropist (DCBO).
10 Jean-Baptiste Thibault (b. Lower Canada, 1810; d. Quebec, 1879) was a delegate from the Canadian government to the Red River settlement (DCBO).
11 Alexandre-Antonin Taché (b. Rivière-du-Loup, Lower Canada, 1823; d. St Boniface, Manitoba, 1894) became bishop of St Boniface, Manitoba, in 1851 and archbishop in 1871 (DCBO).
12 Noël-Joseph Ritchot (b. Lower Canada, 1825; d. Manitoba, 1895) was a delegate from the provisional government in Red River to the Canadian government in 1870 (DCBO).
13 John Black (b. Scotland, 1817; d. Scotland, 1879) was a delegate from the provisional government in Red River to the Canadian government in 1870 (DCBO).
14 Alfred Henry Scott (b. ca. 1840; d. St Boniface, Manitoba, 1872) was a delegate from the provisional government in Red River to the Canadian government in 1870 (DCBO).
15 This bill, which listed twenty rights, was drawn up by the executive of the provisional government in March 1870 and sent with Red River delegates to Ottawa. See George F.G. Stanley, The Birth of Western Canada: A History of the Riel Rebellions (1936; reprint, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1960), 110–13; or Maggie Siggins, Riel: A Life of Revolution (Toronto: HarperCollins, 1994), 449–51.
16 In lieu of “the North-West, acknowledged my status, I am invited, and I come.”
17 Joseph Howe (b. Halifax, 1804; d. Halifax, 1873) was the secretary of state for the provinces responsible for bringing Manitoba into Confederation (DCBO).
18 Comma inserted.
19 The Manitoba Act was passed by Parliament on 12 May 1870 and came into effect on 15 July 1870.
20 “delegations” replaces “delegates.”
21 Riel refers to the fact that Manitoba, unlike the other provinces, was not given control of its natural resources.
22 “One of the conditions of the treaty was that the people of the North-West wanted the administration of their lands” replaces “One of the conditions was that the lands were that the people of the North-West wanted the administration of their lands.”
23 “emigrant” occurs throughout this speech where “immigrant” appears to have been meant.
24 This sentence may be in response to a reaction from the audience.
25 The idea of “the seventh” and division of lands among nationalities was mentioned by several witnesses (Q V LR, 78, 160, 179, 203, 222, 237).
26 Comma replaces period.
27 This statement was met with laughter (CWLR, 545, line 218).
28 Pembina is a small town in North Dakota, just south of the Manitoba border. It was a Métis settlement on the route from Winnipeg to St Paul, Minnesota. See testimony of J.H. Willoughby (Q V LR, 78).
29 “prevision” for “provision.”
30 Ambroise-Dydime Lépine (b. St Boniface, Manitoba, 1840; d. St Boniface, Manitoba, 1923), who participated in the 1869–70 uprising in Manitoba, was tried for the murder of Thomas Scott, found guilty, and sentenced to hang, but the sentence was commuted to a two-year prison term (DCBO).
31 A similar image occurs in the first speech, paragraph 21.
32 Quotation marks inserted.
33 Colon inserted.
34 Riel was twice elected from the federal riding of Provencher in Manitoba to the House of Commons, first in October 1873 and again in February 1874. The House voted to disqualify him from taking his seat in February 1875.
35 Quotation marks inserted.
36 “west” for “east.”
37 Comma inserted.
38 Quotation marks inserted.
39 Period inserted.
40 “mother” replaces “honor.”
41 Garnet Joseph Wolseley (b. Dublin, 1833; d. London, England, 1913) was the commander of the Canadian military expedition to Red River in 1870.
42 This statement was met with laughter (CWLR, 551, line 452).
43 Charles Nolin testified that Riel wanted an indemnity from the Canadian government of $35,000 (Q V LR, 194–5).
44 The Fenians were an Irish revolutionary group opposed to British rule in Ireland. American members attempted to invade Canada a number of times. Riel refers to October 1871.
45 Acheson Gosford Irvine (b. Quebec, 1837; d. Quebec, 1916) was a military man and civil servant. See Canada’s Penitentiary Museum website, http://www.penitentiarymuseum.ca/default/index.cfm/history/cedarhedge1 (accessed 9 October 2013).
46 Adams George Archibald (b. Nova Scotia, 1814; d. Nova Scotia, 1892) was the first lieutenant governor of Manitoba, serving from 1870 to 1872 (DCBO).
47 “for the present circumstances.”
48 Quotation marks inserted.
49 Quotation marks inserted.
50 Edward Blake (b. west of London, Upper Canada, 1833; d. Toronto, 1912) was the leader of the federal Liberal Party (the Opposition) from 1882 to 1887 (DCBO).
51 Quotation marks inserted.
52 “did” for “didn’t.”
53 Joseph Dubuc (b. Lower Canada, 1840; d. Los Angeles, 1914) was a supporter of Métis aspirations (DCBO).
54 Quotation marks inserted.
55 Quotation marks inserted.
56 Quotation marks inserted and sentence ended.
57 “my” for “me.”
58 Quotation marks inserted.
59 Quotation marks inserted.
60 Quotation marks inserted.
61 Quotation marks inserted.
62 Quotation marks inserted and sentence ended.
63 “thirteen” for “three.”
64 “thirteen” for “three.”
65 “elected” for “erected.”
66 Quotation marks inserted.
67 “regret” for “regard” (CWLR, 555, line 616).
68 “decay” for “decade” (CWLR, 556, line 622).
69 “lose” for “loose.”
70 “ancestors either,” replaces “ancestors, either.”
71 Likely Riel intended “Rielson.”
72 This statement was met with laughter (CWLR, 557, line 681).
73 Thomas Scott (b. Northern Ireland, 1842; d. Red River, 1870) was executed by the provisional government in Red River, of which Riel was the leader (DCBO).
74 “Hudson’s” for “Hudson.”
75 Jean-Baptiste Romuald Fiset (b. St Cuthbert, Canada East, 1843; d. Rimouski, Quebec, 1917) was a Liberal member of Parliament sympathetic to Riel (Wikipedia website).
76 Charles-Alphonse Desjardins (b. Terrebonne, Lower Canada, 1841; d. Terrebonne, Quebec, 1912) was a member of Parliament from 1874 to 1896 and a friend and supporter of Riel (DCBO).
77 Omitted: “I have heard, without meaning any offence.”
78 “many” for “any.”