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.
