gation consisting of Sir G.E. Cartier and the Hon. W.
McDougall was in 1868 sent to England to negotiate with the Hudson's Bay
Company (q.v.) for the extinction of its claims, and to arrange with the
imperial government for the transfer of the territory. After prolonged
discussions the company agreed to surrender to the crown, in
consideration of a payment of L300,000, the rights and interests in the
north-west guaranteed by its charter, with the exception of a
reservation of one-twentieth part of the fertile belt, and 45,000 acres
of land adjacent to the trading posts of the company. For the purposes
of this agreement the "fertile belt" was to be bounded as follows:--"On
the south by the U.S. boundary, on the west by the Rocky Mountains, on
the north by the northern branch of the Saskatchewan river, on the east
by Lake Winnipeg, the Lake of the Woods, and the waters connecting
them." An act authorizing the change of control was passed by the
imperial parliament in July 1868; the arrangement made with the Hudson's
Bay Company was accepted by the Canadian parliament in June 1869; and
the deed of surrender from the Hudson's Bay Company to Her Majesty is
dated November 19th, 1869. In anticipation of the formal transfer to the
Dominion an act was passed by the Canadian parliament in the same month
providing for the temporary government of Rupert's Land and the
North-West Territories. On the 28th of September the Hon. W. McDougall
was appointed the first governor, and left at once to assume control on
the 1st of December, when it had been understood that the formal change
of possession would take place.

Red river rebellion.

Meanwhile a serious condition of affairs was developing in the Red river
settlement, the most considerable centre of population in the newly
acquired territory. The half-breeds regarded with suspicion a transfer
of control concerning which they had not been consulted. They resented
the presence of the Canadian surveyors sent to lay out roads and
townships, and the tactless way in which some of these did their work
increased the suspicion that long-established rights to the soil would
not be respected. A population largely Roman Catholic in creed, and
partly French in origin and language, feared that an influx of new
settlers would overthrow cherished traditions. Some were afraid of
increased taxation. A group of immigrants from the United States
fomented disturbance in the hope that it would lead t