COTE, or MEE-MAY (Saulteaux Chief)--"I cannot say anything to you. It is that man (pointing to Loud Voice) will speak."
LOUD VOICE (Cree Chief)--"If I could speak, if I could manage to utter my feelings there is reason why I should answer you back; but there is something in my way, and that is all I can tell you. This man (the Gambler) will tell you."
O-TA-KA-O-NAN, OR THE GAMBLER.--"This morning I saw the chief of the soldiers, who asked me what is in your way that you cannot come and meet the Queen's messengers; then I told him what was in the way. And now that I am come in, what do I see? You were rather slow in giving your hand. You said that the Queen spoke through you and spoke very plainly, but I cannot speak about what you said at present; the thing that is in the way that is what I am working at."
LIEUT.-GOV. MORRIS--"We have come here for the purpose of knowing what is in your mind. I held out my hand but you did not do as your nation did at the Angle. When I arrived there the Chief and his men came and gave me the pipe of peace and paid me every honor. Why? Because I was the servant of the queen. I was not slow in offering my hand, I gave it freely and from my heart, and whenever we found I could please you by coming here, we sent the chief of
the soldiers to select a suitable place to meet you. You tell me there is something in your mind. If there is anything standing between us, how can we take it away or answer you unless we know what it is?"
THE GAMBLER--"I told the soldier master you did not set your camp in order, you came and staid beyond over there, that is the reason I did not run in over there. Now when you have come here, you see sitting out there a mixture of Half-breeds, Crees, Saulteaux and Stonies, all are one, and you were slow in taking the hand of a Half-breed. All these things are many things that are in my way. I cannot speak about them."
LIEUT.-GOV. MORRIS--"Why are you here to-day? because we asked you to come, because it was a good place to speak with them the reason we wished to see them. I am now quite willing to tell you all about Fort Pelly. The Queen heard that Americans had come into the country and were treating her Indian children badly. I myself sent her word that twenty-five of her Indian children, men, women and children, had been shot down by the American traders, then she resolved to protect her red children, for that reason she has determined to have a body of men on horses as policemen to keep all bad people, white or red, in order. She will not allow her red children to be made drunk and shot down again as some of them were a few months ago. Now you ought to be glad that you have a Queen who takes such an interest in you. What are they doing now up at Fort Pelly? The men must have some place to live in this winter, they cannot live out of doors, and some men have gone to Fort Pelly to build houses for them, and the Queen expects that you will do all you can to help them because they are your friends. There was a treaty before and Indians are paid under it, but we were told as we passed Fort Ellice that there were a few Indians there who were not included in that treaty, and had never been paid, and they agreed to meet us when we go back, I do not quite understand another point. We have here Crees, Saulteaux,
Assiniboines and other Indians, they are all one, and we have another people, the Half-breeds, they are of your blood and my blood. The Queen cares for them, one of them is here an officer with a Queen's coat on his back. At the Lake of the Woods last winter every Half-Breed who was there with me was helping me, and I was proud of it, and glad to take the word back to the Queen, and her servants, and you may rest easy, you may leave the Half-breeds in the hands of the Queen who will deal generously and justly with them. There was a Half-breed came forward to the table. He was only one of many here. I simply wanted to know whether he was authorized by you to take any part in the Council, as it is the Indians alone we are here to meet. He told me you wanted him here as a witness. We have plenty of witnesses here, but when I heard that, I welcomed him as I had done you, and shook hands with him, and he ought to have told you that. I have given our answer and I have always found this that it is good for men to try to understand each other, and to speak openly, if they do that and both are earnest, if their hearts are pure, they will and can understand each other."
THE GAMBLER--"I have understood plainly before what he (the Hudson Bay Company) told me about the Queen. This country that he (H. B. Co.) bought from the Indians let him complete that. It is that which is in the way. I cannot manage to speak upon anything else, when the land was staked off it was all the Company's work. That is the reason I cannot speak of other things."
LIEUT.-GOV. MORRIS--"We don't understand what you mean. Will you explain?"