Federal Relations of the North-West. 447 



only residents who could be depended upon to support Mr. 

 McDougall with energy and zeal were the little handful of Canadian 

 settlers, who were too few in number to effectively oppose the force 

 at Kiel's command." 



These circumstances placed Mr. McDougall in an awkward 

 position. He could not resist his opponents as he was without any 

 force and he decided to remain at Pembina, from which place he 

 sent dispatches to Ottawa revealing the condition of affairs, and 

 also a messenger to the authorities at Old Fort Garry. The latter 

 did not proceed far, however, when he met with armed resistence, 

 and was sent back under an escort. A few days later fourteen 

 armed horsemen rode into Mr. McDougall's camp, and ordered him 

 to leave the territory before nine o'clock on the following morning. 

 He did not immediately obey, but demonstrations on the following 

 morning compelled him to do so, and he took refuge in the United 

 States. 



Meanwhile, within the North-West affairs had taken the shape 

 of active rebellion. A Provincial Government was formed with Mr. 

 John Bruce as its nominal head, but with Louis Riel, its secretary, 

 as its actual director. On the 24th of November, 1869, the rebels 

 took possession of Fort Garry, displacing the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany's Governor, Hon. William McTavish, and assuming the full 

 authority of government. The few English Canadians in the Prov- 

 ince, who were holding out in favour of Canadian control were 

 greatly pressed by the insurgents. About fifty of them, gathered 

 at Dr. Schultz house, in an attitude of hostility towards the French, 

 were beseiged by the latter and compelled to surrender, and were 

 confined prisoners in Fort Garry. Governor McTavish, who was 

 fatally sick at the time, was exposed to great hardships, and the 

 stores of the Hudson's Bay Company, as also several of the citizens, 

 were entered, and their contents appropriated for the uses of the 

 Provincial Government. 



Now, all became confusion. The territory was to have been 

 transferred on the first of December, 1869, but the Dominion Govern- 

 ment refused to receive it in a state of insurrection, so that there 

 was another delay of transfer. Mr. McDougall, however, acting 



