The Romantic Settlement of Lord Selkirk's Colonists: The Pioneers of ManitobaBryce, George
History
The Romantic Settlement of Lord Selkirk's Colonists: The Pioneers of Manitoba
Bryce, George
Red River Settlement
Canada's military experience, ever since the excitement of the "Trent
Affair," had been in dealing with a persistent band of Irishmen, posing
as Fenians, and egged on by sympathizers in the United States. Now there
was trouble, as we have seen, in her own borders, and though here again,
American influence of a hostile nature played its part, yet it was those
connected with one of the two races in Canada who were now giving
trouble in the Northwestern prairies. Such an outbreak was more
dangerous than Fenianism, for to the credit of the Irish in Canada, it
should be said that they gave no countenance to the Fenian intruders.
The French people in Quebec, however, had strong sympathies for their
race in the Red River Settlement. No one in Canada believed that any
injustice could be done to either the English or French elements on the
banks of Red River, but Sir George Cartier fought strongly for his own,
and was very unwilling to allow an expedition to go out to Manitoba with
hostile intent. Of the two battalions of volunteers that went out to Red
River, one was from Quebec, but one military authority states that there
were not fifty French-Canadians all told in the Quebec battalion. It had
been proposed that Col. Wolseley, who was to command the Red River
Expedition, should be appointed Governor of the new province of
Manitoba, but this was sturdily opposed by the French-Canadian section
of the Cabinet, and Hon. Adams G. Archibald, a Nova Scotian, was
appointed to the post of Governor. Hampered thus, in so far as exercising
any civil functions wereconcerned, Col. Garnet Wolseley was chosen by the
British officer in command in Canada--General Lindsay--to organize this
expedition. Wolseley was very popular, having served in Burmah, India,
the Crimea and China. The Ontario battalion soon had to refuse
applications, and from Ontario the complement of the Quebec battalion was
filled up. It was decided also that a battalion of regulars, with small
bodies of artillery and engineers should take the lead in the expedition.
Thus, a force of 1,200 men was speedily gathered together and put at the
disposal of Colonel Wolseley. Two hundred boats, each some 25 to 30 feet
long, carrying four tons as well as fourteen men as a crew, were built;
the voyageurs numbered some four hundred men. No sooner did the Fenians
in the United States hear of this expedition than they threatened Lower
Canada, and spoke of interrupting the troops as they passed Sault Ste.
Marie. The United States also refused to allow soldiers or munitions of
war to pass up their Sault Canal. The rallying began in May, and though
the troops were compelled to debark themselves and their stores at Sault
Ste. Marie, portage them around the Sault and replace them in the
steamers again, yet all the troops were landed at Port Arthur on Lake
Superior by the 21st of June, their officers declaring "our mission is
one of peace, and the sole object of it is to secure Her Majesty's
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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