THE EED EIVER EXPEDITION. 329 



had no civil authority conferred upon him by the 

 Canadian Government, so it was not in his power to 

 issue warrants for then 1 arrest. The Ottawa Ministry 

 had intended that the civil Lieutenant-Governor 

 whom they had appointed for the province of Mani- 

 toba should have arrived at Fort Garry either with 

 or immediately after us. "We reached that place on 

 the morning of the 24th August, but he did not get 

 there until the evening of the 2d September, no 

 arrangement having been made by the Canadian 

 Ministry for the government of the province during 

 that interregnum. Colonel Wolseley found himself 

 in a difficult position. The most influential people, 

 longing for some form of government that would be 

 strong enough to afford the community protection, 

 begged him to assume the position of provisional 

 Lieutenant-Governor. To have done so would have 

 been illegal ; for the Hudson Bay Company, repre- 

 sented by its officers, were de jure the rulers of the 

 country, until an official communication had been 

 received announcing its transfer to the Dominion of 

 Canada. As the rebels had bolted without firing a 

 shot, to have proclaimed martial law would have 

 been unwarrantable. He therefore insisted upon the 

 senior officer of the Company then present being re- 

 cognised as governor of the province, as if there had 

 never been any rebellion whatever, and as if the rule of 

 the Company had continued without any break, until 

 the newly-appointed Lieutenant-Governor arrived. 



