med men and
taking prisoners, including Mr. Lash, the Indian agent
of the St. Lament region, and others, also looting the
stores at and near Batoche, stopping freighters and
appropriating their freight. A few days later the French
half-breeds were under arms, and were joined by the
Indians of the neighbourhood, who were incited to rise
by the prisoner. On the 21st inst. Major Crozier did all
he could to get the armed men to disperse, but directed
by Riel, they refused to do so, and taking their orders
from him, they continued in rebellion. He held a document
in his hands, in the prisoner's handwriting," added Mr.
Osler, "which contained the terms on which Fort Carlton
would be spared attack by the surrender and march out of
Major Crozier and the mounted police. This document was
never delivered, but was found with other papers in the
rebel council chamber after the taking of Batoche. It
was said in this notification to Crozier that the rebels
would attack the police if they did not vacate Carlton,
and would commence a war of extermination of the white
race. This document was direct evidence of the treasonable
intentions of the prisoner. Ten days previously Riel
declared himself determined to rule or perish, and the
declaration was followed by this demand. It would be said
that, at last, when a clash of arms was imminent, Riel
objected to forcible measures; but this document was a
refutation of that assertion. At Duck Lake the prisoner
had taken upon himself the responsibility of ordering
his men to fire on the police. At Fish Creek, if Riel
was not there, he directed the movement, and was therefore
responsible. On the day of the fight he went back to
Batoche to finish the rifle-pits. In the contest at
Batoche the prisoner was seen bearing arms, and giving
such directions as would show that he was the main mover.
His treatment of the prisoners, his letters to Middleton,
and other documents would show Riel's leadership. A letter
found in Poundmaker's camp would show his deliberate
intention of bringing on this country the calamity of an
Indian war. All this would be proven, and it would be
shown that the prisoner had not come here to aid his
friends in the redress of grievances, but in order to
use the half-breeds for his own selfish ends." Mr. Osler
closed with a reference to the death and suffering which
had been caused by the ambition of one man, and impressed
upon the jury the grave responsibility they were cha