The more the Government
civilizes them and developes the country, the less plentiful the game
becomes, and the less profit the Company can make. Therefore it is
that I say, the interests of the Company and those of the Government
are contradictory. The former wants no civilization, plenty of game,
and Indians that will hunt all the year around. The latter require
agriculture, the soil to be taken from the wild state, the rays of
faith and instruction to penetrate the furthest recess of the land,
and to have a race that can become worthy of the dignity of citizens
in a civilized country. So much the worse for the Government if the
Indians rebel and so much the worse for the Indians themselves; but so
much the better for the Company's interests.
I have my own private opinions upon the causes of the rebellion but do
not deem it well or proper to express them. There are others besides
the half-breeds and Big Bear and his men connected with the affair.
There are many objects to be gamed by such means and there is a "wheel
within a wheel" in the North-West troubles.
As far as I can judge of the Indian character, they are not, at all,
an agricultural people--nor for a few generations are they likely to
become such. Their habits are formed, their lives are directed in a
certain line--like a sapling you can bend at will and when grown into
a tree you can no longer change its shape-so with them.
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