some of the high stakes
for which they were playing, had they not spoiled their own chances by
a cruel, vindictive murder.

After the departure of the Canadian delegates and the announcement of
Bishop Tache's return, Riel felt his power ebbing away. His
provisional government became a thing of shreds and patches, in spite
of its large assumptions and its temporary control during the winter
when the country was inaccessible. Among the imprisoned whites was
Thomas Scott, a young man from Ontario who had been employed in
surveying work and who was prominent in resistance to the usurpers.
Riel is credited with a threat to shed some {166} blood to prove the
reality of his power and to quell opposition. He rearrested a number
of whites who had been released under promise of safety. One of them
was Scott, charged with insubordination and breaking his parole. He
was brought before a revolutionary tribunal resembling a court-martial,
and was sentenced to be shot. Even if Riel's lawless tribunal had
possessed judicial authority, Scott's conduct in no respect justified a
death sentence. He had not been under arms when captured, and he was
given no fair opportunity of defending himself. Efforts were made to
save him, but Riel refused to show mercy. On March 4, a few days
before Bishop Tache arrived at the settlement, Scott was shot by six
men, several of them intoxicated, one refusing to prime his rifle, and
one discharging a pistol at the victim as he lay moaning on the ground.

[Illustration: Alexandre Antonin Tache. From a photograph lent by Rev.
L. Messier, St. Boniface.]

When the news of this barbarous murder reached the East, a political
crisis was imminent. Scott was an Orangeman; and Catholic priests, it
was said, had been closely identified with the rising. This was enough
to start an agitation and to give it the character of a race and creed
struggle. There existed also a suspicion that a miniature Quebec was
to {167} be set up on the Red River, thus creating a sort of buffer
French state between Ontario and the plains. Another cause of
discontent was the belief that the government proposed to connive at
the assassination of Scott and to allow his murderers to escape
punishment. McDougall returned home, mortified by his want of success,
and soon resigned his position. He blamed the government for what had
occurred, and associated himself with the agitation in Ontario. The
organization known as the Can