I should do injustice to my own loving memory of the man, if I did not
publish some letters from the late Governor Dallas, which are, to my
mind, especially interesting. Though some of his views, in 1863, as to
the value of the Hudson's Bay lands, and their settlement, did not
accord with my own, yet his experience should plead against mine. No
one was more pleased than he to find that the country was in process -
after many delays, over which he and I used to groan in concert - of
successful colonization.
"MONTREAL,
"17th August, 1863.
"DEAR SIR,
"With reference to our late conversations upon various matters
connected with the past and future of the Hudson's Bay Company, I take
the liberty of calling your attention to several points of the business
requiring immediate attention, in a more explicit manner than I may
have done in desultory conversation.
"The government of the territory is come almost to a dead-lock in the
Red River Settlement, and nothing short of direct administration under
the authority of the Crown will, in my opinion, remedy the evil. Two
prisoners have been, in separate instances, forcibly rescued from jail,
and they, with about thirty to fifty others implicated in the riots,
are still at large, fostering discontent, and creating great disquiet.
Their secret instigator controls the only paper published in the
settlement, and its continued attacks upon the Company find a greedy
ear with the public at large, both in the settlement and in Canada. The
position of those in authority is so disagreeable that I have had great
difficulty in persuading the magistrates to continue to act. Mr.
William Mactavish, Governor of Assiniboin, has resigned his post, and I
have only been restrained from following his example, for a short time,
in the hope that a remedy would speedily be applied, and that I should
be relieved from the unfair position in which I find myself placed,
with all the responsibility, and the semblance of authority over a vast
territory, but unsupported, if not ignored, by the Crown. In the
absence of a just grievance, the cry of 'the Company' is quite a
sufficient watchword amongst the ignorant and discontented.
"The open malcontents are few in number, and I had ample volunteer
force at my back to protect the jail and support my authority, but, as
I have already explained to you, I could exercise but little control
over my friends, who were keen for what would have ended in a free
fight, with the certain death of the sheriff and ringleaders on both
sides, and led to endless animosities. It required more resolution on
my part to follow the course I did, than to have resisted the rioters.
For details of the transactions I refer you to my official letters to
the Board, which you will find in the Hudson's Bay House.
"Of the settlers, the greater number, including the French Canadians,
are our staunch personal friends, while the openly disaffected are but
few.
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