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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