There is something to be said even on the side of revolt and murder, and let us see what it is.  Since the foundation of the colony the people had lived under the government according to the laws propounded by the Hudson Bay Company.  The people had established a civilization of their own, and had customs and rules which were always observed with great reverence.  When tidings reached them that they were to be transferred to the Dominion of Canada, they began to have some misgivings as to how they should fare under the new order.  Of late years, too, there had come into prominence among them a man whom early in these pages we saw bid good-bye to his father upon the plains on his way to school in the East.  The fire seen in young Riel at the school, and when he turned his face again for the prairies that he loved, had now reached full flame.  He had never ceased to impress upon the people that the Hudson Bay Company was a heartless, soulless corporation, and that the treatment accorded to the Metis was no better than might have been given to the dogs upon the plains.  There never was public peace after the tongue of this man had begun to make noise in the settlement.

When, therefore, it became known that the Canadian Government had determined upon taking the colony to itself, an ambitious scheme of the highest daring entered into the brain of Louis Riel.  He lost no time in beginning to sow seeds of discontent.

“Canada,” he said, “will absorb your colony, and as a people you will virtually be blotted out of existence.  White officials will come here and lord it over you; the tax-gatherer will plunder the land for funds to build mighty docks, and canals, and bridges, and costly buildings, and numerous railroads in the East.  The poor half-breed will be looked upon with contempt and curiosity:  no custom that he regards as sacred will be respected; no right which is inherently his, will be acknowledged.  They will send their own henchmen, who have no sympathy in common with the half-breeds, to rule over us; no complaint that the people make to the Central Government will be regarded; yea, this new rule will fasten itself upon us as some inexorable tyrant monster, driving deep its fangs into a soil that has been yours so long.  Yes; you will be of some interest to them.  You have some handsome wives and pretty daughters, and those virtuous pale-faces from the East have a strong admiration for lovely women.  In this respect, you shall receive their attention.”

The effect of such arguments among these credulous people, who saw not the wily traitor behind the rich, eloquent voice, quivering with indignation, was similar to that which would follow were you to fling a flaming torch upon the prairie in midsummer after a month of drought.  Then the cunning deceiver went secretly to several of the leading half-breeds in Red River, and whispered certain proposals in their ear.