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Louis Riel à [Joseph Dubuc], Montréal
- Fonds / Collection
- Louis Riel
- Description Level
- Document
- Document Type
- documents textuels
- Date
- 10 septembre 1874
- Date
- 10 septembre 1874
- Document Type
- documents textuels
- Fonds / Collection
- Louis Riel
- Description Level
- Document
- Fonds No.
- 0003
- Reference No.
- 0003/1091/279
- Creator
- Riel, Louis
- Signatory
- Riel, Louis
- Recipient
- [Dubuc, Joseph]
- Physical Description
- 5 f. de documents textuels
- Notes
- Copie numérisée sur le CD082.
- Scope and Content (English)
- Re-election will aid our province and the Metis in particular; the district of Provencher gives itself a strong representation because my re-election is an embarassment to the Government and Parliament; I thank the district, the Metis population, and you; when people would not listen to me and wanted me to disappear I was obliged to rouse public opinion in Quebec; it was a relief to see Clarke disappear and you take his place; yet Ottawa has not changed and while I think Girard will be a good Senator I cannot accept him as First Minister and fear he will compromise; is Cornish an impartial substitute; there is a tendency to think everything is rose coloured; I saw the people exposed to danger of turning from the true purpose; Monseigneur fought four years for me; the struggle continues; Ritchot and the clergy gave the movement moral strength, worked as a moderating force between the Orangemen and the Provisional Government; because we were inflexible our policy was contrary to Monseigneur and you were drawn between us; since my departure and the arrest of several leaders, the agitation has ceased and Monseigneur finds himself clear of my counter weights and able to carry you along; Monseigneur is ready to compromise on the Manitoba Act; I must do all in my power to prevent his politics from prevailing; have begun to speak to American papers with discretion; in Montreal I asked friends to decide between Monseigneur and me; one of my friends received a letter from Royal saying he did not want to see me re-elected and had no confidence in the amnesty; am surprised you are suddenly mortified by my conduct; I have never represented you as anything but devoted to the cause; you have explained the loss of electoral divisions; I regret the House did not profit from my struggle with Clarke; we obtained his fall at the sacrifice of two parishes; you establish a great difference between the Metis and the French Canadians of Quebec and show it was more difficult to maintain our representation; I concede it was probably impossible; I maintain we had what was necessary to uphold our representation; the mistake was made in the first provincial election; if Monseigneur had listened to his clergy and his people he would have understood it was impossible to make a complete compact with heterogeneous elements; he acted always outside the party of the Provisional Government and now we see the result in the representation and loss of influence; French Canadians arriving generally adopt Monseigneur's ways; we must profit from our experience; in the matter of responsible government you say the re-election of ministers is secondary; the English demand the re-election in order to obtain approval or disapproval by the people; this guarantee is very important; the law of 1872 you mention I must fight because it is contrary to the Manitoba Act and our agreement with Ottawa; the representatives of the Metis in the cabinet - Clarke, Royal, Girard - who owed their place in the Cabinet to the men of the Provisional Government did not even have the courtesy to send a copy of the projected law to these men who were and still are the only political party disciplined and organized; you now have a powerful hand in affairs; you should be on good terms with Ottawa; we are in a struggle with those who disposed against us because we are French and Catholic and who would diminish our influence; I will try to help you in the Provincial elections; do not think that I wish to break with the Archbishop he is the elect of God and my benefactor; while I fight some of his ideas I remember he is the one who secured my education; Lachapelle's letter indicates you are my friend; I will not expose myself to our enemies; do not judge the Metis who are a people still in their humble beginning; people seem satisfied with you.
- ...the agitation being more in the interests of the former colonists and the Metis was a counter-balance to the politics of Monseigneur and the Federal Government; since my departure and the arrest of several Metis' leaders Monseigneur is stronger Ritchot was forced to deal with this state of affairs; knowing how Monseigneur is always ready to make compromises in regard to the Manitoba Act I had to do all in my power to prevent his policy from prevailing; I began to speak through the American papers; all I tried to do was to explain the situation without compromising anyone; in Montreal I asked friends to choose between Monseigneur and myself; I wanted to know their decision before the Provencher election and the provincial elections; one of my friends received a letter from Royal in which he said Monseigneur and he were thinking of not re-electing me; am surprised you are mortified at my conduct; in all my exposes I never failed to note your devotion to the cause; in the matter of cutting up the electoral divisions I regret the Chamber did not profit from the struggle I had with Clarke in '72 but made coalitions to embarrass Clarke; you make a difference between the Metis and the French Canadians and appear to show it was more difficult to conserve our representation intact; in the long I concede it is scarcely possible but I maintain we should have in the first or second Legislature; the mistake which led to a reduction of our representatives from 12 to 10 lies in the first provincial election; if Monseigneur had listened to his clergy and his people he would have understood it was impossible to make a pact with the heterogeneous elements he chose; it is important now that we have a united representation; you say responsible government consists in the responsibility of the ministers to the people, i.e. the Assembly and in their mutual responsibility and unanimity and that the re-election of ministers is an accessory quite secondary; under an English statute representatives who become Ministers lose their place as representatives of the people and must be re-elected; in this way the people pronounce on the choice of the Crown; I am obliged to fight this law (i.e. Manitoba statute of 1872 re Ministers and the Legislative Assembly); it is contrary to the Manitoba Act and was passed in a way offensive to the party of the Provisional Government precisely at the time Ontario offered $5000 reward and unleashed fanaticism directed at the members of the Provisional Government; the ministers representing the Metis in the Cabinet have never sent to the persecuted leaders a copy of a projected law; Clarke, Royal, Girard since they entered the Assembly have been men of the Provisional Government party which is still the only disciplined, organized political party in the province; now that you have a hand in the direction of provincial affairs we will march together; study the Manitoba Act; we are in a battle with the partisans of Ottawa; they will stop at nothing to diminish our influence as Catholics and as French; thank you for your assistance in my re-election will try to help you in the provincial elections; if you see me fighting openly with our Archbishop do not think I would break with him; I see him as the elect of God and my benefactor; I struggle for the cause; I want to see the people have guarantees more solid than what he would be satisfied with.
- Name Access
- Riel, Louis
- Dubuc, Joseph
- Storage Location
- PAM MG 3 D 1, 279
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