In 1868 Cartier and William McDougall went to England on behalf of the Canadian government to negotiate the transfer of the Western territories from the Hudson’s Bay Company to the Dominion. The Hudson’s Bay Company asked the sum of $5,000,000 for the cession of its rights but had to be satisfied with $1,500,000 and a reservation of one-twentieth of the fertile belt. But a new difficulty had arisen in the transfer--in the territory itself--for in 1870 the half-breed settlers, who had the distinctive title of the “Metis,” feeling that they and their holdings had not been affected--stopped the new lieutenant-governor, the Hon. William McDougall at the border, and under Louis Riel the first North West rebellion was started, soon, however, to be broken. It was in this rebellion that the late Lord Strathcona, as chief officer of the Hudson’s Bay Company, was first brought into the public limelight. Mr. Donald Smith, as he was then known, and whose headquarters were at Montreal, was asked to go to Fort Garry (now Winnipeg) with Col. de Salaberry and Abbé Thibault with the object of pacifying the settlers, but the mission failed. On the breakdown of the rebellion Donald Smith administered the affairs of the territory until the arrival of Lieutenant-Governor Archibald. Around this time (1870) the home government withdrew the Imperial troops from Canada--with the exception of a garrison left at Halifax--which was a blow to the social life of the commercial metropolis. The officers of the local garrison with their bright uniforms and gentlemanly manners and their cultivated entourage had been an acquisition to Montreal society, literary, social and artistic. The material building up of Canada, and particularly Montreal, has been made possible by the splendid transportation facilities, both by stream, canal and rail, engineered by the big men of the time. During the ’70s and ’80s Montreal was well represented by names like Cartier, Dorion, and Sir John Rose, who though in separate political camps fought hard together for the Grand Trunk in parliament, and won. Cartier in introducing the Victoria Bridge Bill met much opposition; the principal objection being that it would take the trade out of the country. His reply, which proved correct, was that the bridge would bring trade into the country. In the agitation for the Intercolonial Railway with its terminus at Montreal, Cartier was the leader. He was also the introducer into the parliament of 1872 of the first Canadian Pacific Bill. Both of these undertakings were urged as the best and most practical means of consolidating the new Dominion.