Farming,
teaching, catechising for the church, acting precentor, a local
encyclopaedia and collector of customs, he passed his versatile life,
till in the year before the Sayer affair, 1848, he became clerk of
Court, which place, with slight interruption, he held for twenty years.
One who knew him says: "From his long residence in the Settlement, he
has seen Governors, Judges, Bishops, and Clergymen, not to mention such
birds of passage as the Company's local officers, come and go, himself
remaining to record their doings to their successors."
CHAPTER XXVI.
RIEL'S RISING.
The agitation for freedom which we have described in Red River
Settlement, and the efforts of Canada to introduce Rupert's Land into
the newly-formed Dominion of Canada had, after much effort, and the
overcoming of many hindrances, resulted in the British Government
agreeing to transfer this Western territory to Canada, and in the
Hudson's Bay Company accepting a subsidy in full payment of their claim
to the country. This payment was to be paid by Canada. Somewhat careless
of the feelings of the Hudson's Bay Company officers, and also of the
views of the old settlers of the Colony--especially of the
French-speaking section--the Dominion Government sent a reckless body of
men to survey the lands near the French settlements and to rouse
animosity in the minds of the Metis.
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