By this time additions had been made to the little committee, which now included the late Richard Grahame; the late George R. Kingsmill, editor of the Telegraph; James D. Edgar, now speaker of the House of Commons; Joseph Macdougall, now County Judge; Dr. Canniff, Hugh Scott, Thomas Walmsley, and George M. Rae. A meeting was called in Foster's office, and a number of people invited to take part in arranging for some demonstration. A requisition was prepared, calling upon the Mayor to hold a public meeting, and a deputation waited on him and arranged that the loyal refugees should be the guests of the city at the Queen's Hotel, while in Toronto.

In the meantime, Foster had been writing vehement editorials for the Telegraph, and these had attracted great attention throughout the Province and were generally copied in the country press. They were written in a high key, and filled with Canadian patriotism. The death of Scott was referred to in burning words, the paper was put into mourning for him and the whole country was ablaze with indignation. The meeting to receive Schultz and his comrades was so large that no room could hold more than a fraction of the people present, and it had to be adjourned to the open air in front of the City Hall. It was one of the largest meetings ever held in the City of Toronto. Speeches were made by Schultz, Mair and Lynch, and the people of Ontario heard of the wrongs of the loyal men in the Red River Settlement. Dr. Schultz made an eloquent and most powerful appeal to the men of his native Province.

The following is a short extract from his speech as report d in the next day's paper:

"This assembly wished to hear something of the situation of affairs at Red River Well he would give it in a few words, referring more particularly to the condition of affairs at Fort Garry. The situation at that Fort was simply this, that the Fenian flag floats from its flag

A resolution was carried urging the Government to take prompt action, and the following resolution, with reference to the proposed reception of the rebel emissaries who were on their way down to Ottawa, was passed with great enthusiasm:

"That this meeting expresses the strongest indignation at the cold-blooded murder of poor Scott, sympathizes deeply with his relatives and friends, and considers that it would be a gross injustice to the loyal inhabitants of Red River, humiliating to our national honor, and contrary to all British traditions, for our Government to receive, negotiate, or treat with the and murdered loyal Canadians, whose only fault emissaries of those who have robbed, imprisoned was zeal for British institutions, whose only crime was devotion to the Old Flag."

This meeting was followed by others in various places, and from that time no Government dared to have refused to send an expedition to put things right.

Our committee requested me to accompany Schultz and his friends to Ottawa to aid them in laying their case before the Government. At Cobourg, Belleville, and other places on our way to Ottawa, large crowds gathered at the stations, the municipal authorities taking the lead in welcoming back to their native Province these loyal men.

On arriving in Ottawa, the "Free Press" of that city gave an account of the refugees, and the following pen picture of Sir John Schultz, when he was a comparatively unknown man, is interesting:

"Dr. Schultz is a tall, athletic man over six feet high, with reddish hair and beard, both close cut, broad shoulders, deep chested, and straight as a dart. His clear eyes look you straight in the face with a quiet power that commands involuntary respect, and the repose and firm purpose developed by the features are the very picture of determination and unflinching courage.

At Ottawa a large public meeting, addressed by Dr. Schultz and others,

was held to welcome the fugitives. I discovered in an interview with Sir John Macdonald, that the FrenchCanadian influence in the Cabinet was all powerful, and that the Government intended to confer with the rebel delegates. These delegates consisted of Father Richot, one Scott and Judge Black, and had been sent down by Riel, at the request of the Government, as commissioners to arrange terms of settlement with the Government. Thomas Scott had been murdered by Riel's orders after the Government had made this request, and it was held by inost Ontario men that af ter Scott's murder no parley should be held with them. Foster arranged for a warrant to be issued for the arrest of Richot and Scott as accessories to the murder of Thomas Scott. This warrant was proved and backed, Richot and Scott placed under arrest, and afterwards put under bail to appear. Finding that the Government fully intended to confer with them, Schultz, Lynch,

scant courtesy. Their cause, however, was taken up by the people of Ontario, with such warmth that finally an expedition was organized to restore order in the Red River Settlement.

Our committee at once set to work energetically to arouse popular feeling in favor of Colonel, now Lord, Wolseley for the command, and fortunately, favored by his great ability and the extraordinary hold he had gained upon the minds of the Canadian volunteers, the popular feeling responded vigorously to the call, and Lord Wolse

ley got the command.

The expedition

set out in the end of May, and it was thought the difficulty would be over. The committee, however, were not altogether satisfied, and felt that some intrigue might yet interfere with our troops reaching Fort Garry. Sir John Macdonald fell ill and was laid up for weeks, leaving Sir George Cartier in charge of affairs. The progress of the expedition at first was very slow, the result, it thought, of want of energetic assistance on the part of the Canadian officials.

Mair and I had a conference, and as the result a formal protest against their reception was prepared and signed by Lynch on behalf of the loyal population, and sent to the GovernorGeneral. This it was understood was cabled to the Imperial Government, and the consideration of it, as well as the arrest of Richot and Scott, delayed the matter for some days; but finally, Richot and Scott were received, while those representing the loyal element were not received but treated with

was

In the middle of July, I received a message from Schultz who was then at London, Ont., saying that he had received a private intimation that a plot was on foot to nullify the expedition, that the Governor-General and Lt.-Governor Archibald were to go to Red River, that an amnesty was to be given to the rebels, that Riel was to hand over the government to the Gov

ernor-General, who was to install Lt.Governor Archibald, and that there then being no necessity for it, the expedition would be withdrawn. I immediately laid the information before the committee. They felt that nothing could be done until some sign of the proposed plan appeared publicly, but arrangements were made to counteract it if possible. Colonel Wolseley was written to, warning him of the danger and urging speed. Letters were written to the volunteer officers, warning them and urging steps to prevent the withdrawal.

Schultz had received this information from our comrade, Haliburton, who by accident had happened to call on Lord Lisgar at Niagara Falls, where the latter was having a holiday. They had a long conversation, and whether by accident, or carelessness, Lord Lisgar let slip enough to enable Haliburton to divine what was on foot. A few days later the design was intimated in a despatch to the Toronto Leader, the Government organ, which followed this up the following day with an editorial advocating the plan.

Our committee had already prepared a requisition for a public meeting signed by a large number of prominent citizens, and at once put it in use; a number of inflammatory placards were prepared and printed, and soon covered the walls. In the meantime, Dr. Lynch had been telegraphed for, and a protest against the amnesty being granted was prepared and presented to Lord Lisgar.

The public meeting in Toronto was most enthusiastic and unanimous. The following resolution was moved and carried, amid great applause and

excitement:

"Resolved, in view of the proposed amnesty to Riel, and withdrawal of the expedition, this meeting declares: That the Dominion must and shall have the North-West Territory in fact, as well as in name, and if our Government, through weakness or treachery, can not or will not protect our citizens in it and recall our volunteers, it will then become the duty of the people of Ontario, to organize a scheme of armed emigra

tion, in order that those Canadians who have and that with the many who desire to settle in been driven from their homes may be reinstated, new fields, they may have a sure guarantee against the repetition of such outrages as have disgraced our country in the past; that the majesty of the law may be vindicated against all criminals, no matter by whom instigated or by whom protected; and that we may never again dust, or a foreign emblem flaunting itself in any see the flag of our ancestors trampled in the part of our broad Dominion."

This prompt action and the strong public feeling everywhere shown, caused Sir George Cartier to pause, and encouraged Lord Lisgar to object to the proposed plan. The threat of organizing a scheme of armed emigration must have opened the eyes of them both, for a similar scheme had been successfully worked both in Texas and Kansas, and had been proven to be practicable. Sir George Cartier must have seen that an expedition under Government control would be better than an armed mob.

But

The early news we had received from Haliburton and Schultz had a most important influence upon the result. It was kept a profound secret, yet it enabled "the twelve apostles," as our committee were jocularly named among themselves, to carefully consider, and prepare to counteract, the intrigue. The result was that the very first mention of the design, aroused such a rapid and extraordinary outburst of public indignation, as must have surprised Sir George Cartier, who could not have known that any information had leaked out. for the warning received, nothing could have been done until too late to have influenced the course of affairs. In all these events Schultz took a most active part, and it is easy to see that but for his action in the whole affair, the opening up of that most important portion of Canada might have been indefinitely postponed. We who now see the immense advantage to Canada of the early incorporation of all the western country, with its transcontinental railway, its great trade and future possibilities, must

feel that Canada owes a great deal to the loyal patriotic devotion to his native land, of the late Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba.

Had he not early prepared the minds of the English-speaking portion of the community to the great advantages to ensue to themselves as well as to the o' her portions of the Dominion, they might have been misled, as Riel sought to mislead them, into either joining his rebellious movement what would have been equally disastrous-to an apathetic indifference.

or

Schultz followed the expedition closely into Fort Garry, and at once took a foremost part in the inauguration of the new system of government. He was one of the first members of the House of Commons from Manitoba, and during all his subsequent career was the foremost figure in that Province. He served for a long time as a Senator and for many of his later years as Her Majesty's representative in the same town where in his youth he had passed months in prison for manfully upholding her cause.

During all his life he never forgot his connection with the old "Canada First" party, and always held true to its principles. He never lost an opportunity of encouraging a national spirit in the people. We constantly corres. ponded up to his death, and his letters all show how deeply the love of his native land was ingrained in his nature. Nothing could prevent him from taking a most active interest in everything that would tend to develop and advance the interests of Canada. For many years he was an invalid, his ill-health having been brought about by the injuries he received in making his escape from Fort Garry, by the privations he endured while incarcerated there, having no fire in his room with the thermometer at 40° and 50° below zero, and by his long snowshoe tramp while his injuries were still recent. He suffered intense

ly, fighting and struggling against weakness and pain with a pluck and determination beyond description.

In the House of Commons, or in the Senate, he never lost an opportunity of furthering the progress of the new provinces, or of spreading information, of which he had a boundless store, as to their resources and capabilities. In all his speeches as LieutenantGovernor, whether before Boards of Trade, or in addressing Public School demonstrations, his strong Canadian patriotism was the striking feature and has planted seed that will blossom and bear fruit in the sentiments of the people. Only the other day, when the Public Schools re-opened in Winnipeg, every flag that waved over them, save one, was the gift of Sir John Schultz and spoke eloquently, though silently, of his fostering care for the patriotism and welfare of the young. The numerous resolutions of sympathy and condolence sent by nearly all the public bodies of Manitoba to his bereaved widow, and the universal testimony of respect shown by all classes at the time of his death, show how highly he was respected, and how strongly his fellow countrymen appreciated his sturdy loyalty.

As one of the original members of the little "Canada First" Committee, I wish to bear testimony to the thorough, hearty, and loyal manner in which our comrade did his share of the work. To the day of his death, love for his native land was the predominant feeling. Canada owes a great deal to the memory of so true a son. As I have on another occasion suggested, the nation should erect a statue of him and place it on the main street in Winnipeg on the spot where, in 1869, he hoisted the Union Jack with the word "Canada" upon it; and it should depict him, in the full vigour of his early manhood, raising the flag which he always loved, guarded and honoured.

George T. Denison.