fter, which I believe will, if
acted upon, secure peace and order to the Saskatchewan, encourage
settlement, and open up to the influences of civilized man one of the
fairest regions of the earth. For the sake of clearness, I have em
bodied these three suggestions in the shortest possible forms. I will now
review the reasons which recommend their adoption and the benefits likely
to accrue from them.

With reference to the first suggestion, namely, the appointment of a
resident magistrate, or civil commissioner. I would merely observe that
the general report which I have already made on the subject of the state
of the Saskatchewan, as well as the particular statement to be found in
the Appendix marked D, will be sufficient to prove the necessity of that
appointment. With regard, however, to this appointment as connected with
the other suggestion of military force and Government stations or
districts, I have much to advance. The first pressing necessity is the
establishment, as speedily as possible, of some civil authority which
will give a distinct and tangible idea of Government to the native and
half-breed population, now so totally devoid of the knowledge of what law
and civil government may pertain to. The establishment of such an
authority, distinct from, and independent of, the Hudson Bay Company, as
well as from any missionary body situated in the country, would
inaugurate a new series of events, a commencement, as it were, of
civilization in these vast regions, free from all associations connected
with the former history of the country, and separate from the rival
systems of missionary enterprise, while at the same time lending
countenance and support to all. Without some material force to render
obligatory the ordinances of such an authority matters would, I believe,
become even worse than they are at present, where the wrong-doer does not
appear to violate any law, because there is no law to violate. On the
other hand, I am strongly of opinion that any military force which would
merely be sent to the forts of the Hudson Bay Company would prove only a
source of useless expenditure to the Dominion Government, leaving matters
in very much the same state as they exist at present, affording little
protection outside the immediate circle of the forts in question, holding
out no inducements to the establishment of new settlements, and liable to
be mistaken by the ignorant people of the country for the-hired defenders