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Indiana University 
In the meantime within the imperial heritage of the North- 
west to which the Dominion fell heir, after the Hudson Bay 
Company, under pressure from the English crown, released its 
ancient proprietorship and gave up its ancient monopoly of 
the trade,"" there was considerable opposition to the prospec- 
tive change of government. The Selkirk Red River country, 
with a population of twelve thousand (the largest part of 
which were half-breeds) vigorously protested against the 
general demeanor and activities of the Canadian subordinates 
who were sent to build roads and survey the lands for settle- 
ment. The people feared they would be asked to pay heavy 
taxes to meet the expenses of the surveying and the road build- 
ing. Some who dreamed of a Red River republic and others 
who were determined to secure annexation to the United 
States were strenuously opposed to the policy by which they 
were to become a colony of a colony. Under the leadership 
of Louis Riel, a youthful half-breed, the people rose in re- 
bellion and refused to receive the new governor, William 
McDougall, who had journeyed from Canada thru the United 
States on his way to assume the government. In November 
they seized Fort Garry and the treasure of the Hudson Bay 
Company and proclaimed the independence of the settlement. 
After some time for deliberation, however, they sent to 
Ottawa to ascertain the terms of union and decided to submit 
without resistance. When the military expedition arrived 
at Red River in August, 1870, after a long march along the 
northern border of Lake Superior, Riel had fled to the 
United States. The new government was inaugurated, and 
the district received the name of Manitoba. When the re- 
bellion proved a fiasco, many of the half-breeds, unwilling 
to submit to the new authority, sullenly withdrew to the 
farther west, seeking fuller freedom along the shores of the 
Liable to be dispossessed by force if it refused to come to terms, the Hudson 
Bay Company agreed in 1869 to transfer its territorial rights for 300,000 pounds and one- 
twentieth of the lands surveyed for settlement by the government for the next twenty 
years. It retained its posts and its special facilities for the fur trade. The northwest 
territories were ceded to Canada by an order in council of June 24, 1870. England 
had just prepared the way for the self-reliance of Canada, by withdrawal of all except 
two thousand British regulars, and by giving to Canada all the fortifications except 
Halifax. 
In May, 1870, Secretary Fish requested Governor Baldwin of Michigan to refuse 
the use of the Sault Ste. Marie Canal to any English or Canadian steamer carrying 
munitions of war or troops, but he subsequently permitted the passage of the Chicora 
towards the west after he was assured that it formed no part of a military expedition. 
(Senate Executive Documents, No. 88, 41-2, May 21, 1870.) 
