After arriving in Hamilton
on September 6, 1886 and spending the night at the Turner residence, in
Hamilton, the Prime Minister of Canada was transported in a special car on a
morning train from the city for Brantford:
“All along the route, people
crowded around the car when the train stopped to get a glimpse of the Premier
and cheer him as the train passed on.”1
1 “Sir
John A. Macdonald : Makes a Speech at the Brantford Reservation”
Hamilton Spectator. September 07, 1886.
At Brantford, Sir John was
entertained at a special luncheon held at the Kerby House, followed by a short
reception afterwards:
“Hundreds of leading
citizens crowded in to press the veteran statesman’s hand and compliment him on
his health after his long tri[ to the Pacific coast.”
A large group accompanied
Sir John in carriages along the beautiful drive beside the Grand River from
Brantford to the reserve, arriving at the Council House of Six Nation about 2
p.m.;
“All along the road, arches
were built over the carriageway on which were displayed loyal and patriotic
mottoes and greetings to the ‘Great Chieftain.’
“About a quarter of a mile
out, an immense crowd of Indians, accompanied by a brass band, met the party
and escorted them to the council house, where a vast crowd had already gathered
and which, later on, was augmented in number by fresh arrivals from the
surrounding country, until fully 7,000 people thronged the ground.
“Sir John addressed the
meeting for over an hour. His address was delivered with his usual fire and
vigor, and, accompanied by flashes of humor that carried his audience with him,
while his lucid and forcible remarks on the subjects of the day were listened
to with the greatest attention and applauded to the echo.”1
It was not until the
following day that newspaper readers in Hamilton were able to read was actually
said. The proceedings had been commenced by Chief George Buck, keeper of the
great council. He welcomed Sir. John on behalf of the Six Nations, and stated
that all gathered were prepared to hear what the “great chieftain” had to say:
“Sir John Macdonald, on
rising to reply, was greeted by the dignified councilors with loud applause.
“He said : ‘Chiefs and
warriors of the Six Nations : I must thank you most cordially for the kind
reception of me today. I had long wished for an opportunity of visiting your
band to see for myself the state in which Providence has placed you. I had
always heard of the prosperity of the Six Nations, of their obedience to law
and order of the progress of education among them, and that, as farmers, as
good citizens, as good members of society and loyal subjects of her Majesty the
Queen, whom we all reverence, they were not excelled by any portion of Her
Majesty’s subjects in the Dominion of Canada (Applause.)
“ ‘I have been travelling,
as you know, in the great west for some time. I have been through from the
Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, and I have met your red brethren from one side
of the country to the other, and now I have the pleasure of finding myself
among the loyal and true-hearted band of the Six Nations Indians. (Applause.)
“ ‘I think it was two years
ago that a deputation from the Six Nations was in Ottawa, and I then promised
that deputation that I would do myself the honor and pleasure of visiting you
here. Circumstances prevented me from fulfilling that promise until now, but
here I am in fulfilment of that engagement. (Loud applause.)
“ ‘My first object in making
that promise was that I might make the acquaintance of my friends the chiefs
and principal warriors on the reserve. It was my duty to do so from the office
her Majesty has been pleased to confer upon me as Superintendent-General of
Indian affairs, and in pursuance of the solemn oath of office which I then
took, I have been trying to perform these duties to the best of my ability.
While here I will be glad to hear from the Council of the Nation if there is
anything I can do
TO FORWARD THEIR INTERESTS
if anything has been neglected or omitted which ought to
be attended to in order to forward these interests, it is my desire to remedy
it and do all in my power to increase the development of civilization and
prosperity. (Applause.)
“ ‘Another great object, and
perhaps the particular object of my coming here today, is for the purpose of
explaining to you, in my position as Superintendent-General of Indian affairs,
the effect of what is well-known among you as the franchise bill, to be passed
in 1885, will have upon the Indians. When the government of which I am the
First Minister made up their minds to introduce a bill to extend the franchise
and give more people the right to vote, I introduced that bill in parliament as
the head of the administration, and while that bill was being prepared, I had
to think of my duty to the whole population of Canada, who were fit to exercise
the franchise and vote and who were unfit, and who had a moral and political
right to have conferred upon them the privilege of voting. It was also my
special duty to see that those who were particularly my wards, those who came
under my charge in my capacity as Superintendent-General, should not be
neglected; that they should be put upon an equality with all other loyal
subjects of her Majesty. You all know that every white man having the necessary
property qualification has a vote; every African or negro who comes to this
country and becomes a British subject, if he has the necessary property
qualification, has the right to have a vote; and I was satisfied that the Indians of the older provinces were
equal in intellect and education to the white and colored population that we
were going to give the franchise to.(Applause.)
“ ‘Her Majesty, in her wide
dominions, which extend to every portion of the world, has subjects of various
nations; take India, for instance; there she has two hundred millions of
subjects, and not one of these two hundred millions is a white man, but every
one of those people are British subjects and if they came here to Canada would
have a right to claim a vote if they had the necessary qualification. Her
Majesty has colonies in Southern Africa, she has built a great dominion there,
but if any one of them came to Canada, they are all black people there, but if
any one of them came to Canada and had the necessary property qualification, he
would be allowed to vote. In other portions of the world, she has brown
subjects and yellow subjects and, except that by special legislation, the
Chinese race are prevented, they have all the right to vote if they came to
Canada and had the necessary property. And I asked myself and I asked my
colleagues and I asked parliament. Isit right for every one of her Majesty’s
subjects, no matter what their color, race or antecedents may be, if they come
here and have the necessary property
TO
HAVE A VOTE
the right to stand in a position of political equality
with every other British subject, yet the red men of Canada, the original
owners of the soil, who were found by the white men when they came here as
usurpers, that they who have the same education and capacity, have taken the
same stand amongst the civilized races of the world with all the other races of
men that call her Majesty their most gracious sovereign, that they in their own
country should be considered inferior and placed as inferior by the law of the
land to all these other races whether black or brown, and should be placed in
such a position by the laws of their own country ? I considered this foul wrong
to your great race, a wrong that might be remedied and remedied at once. (Loud
applause.)
“ ‘It is
admitted by everyone that you, for instance, in your reserve, stand in
intellect, civilization and education, in a position in equality with your
white brethren who surround you, and why should you be stamped with
inferiority, who should you not occupy the same position as free men sharing in
the government of their own country and help to send to parliament the men who
you think can best serve the interests of your great race. (Loud and continued
applause.)
“ ‘The measure, when
introduced, met with great opposition. I do not here propose to impugn or
attack the motives of those who opposed the measure; they did that upon their
own responsibility, just as I proposed the matter to be law on my own
responsibility. The objections raised were various. First, that the bill as
framed would apply to the wild Indians in the Northwest. I declared that, in my
opinion, it would not do so, but to prevent the possibility of a doubt arising,
they were excluded and the bill was framed so as only to affect the civilized
and educated Indian. Another objection was taken that the Indians of the older
provinces were not sufficiently free men to have a right to exercise the
franchise, that they would not vote as freemen, but that under the present
Indian act, they would be under the tyrannical government of the Indian agent
and the Indian agent would be under the tyrannical government of the
Superintendent-General; the Superintendent-General would put on his screw and
would give his orders to your agent, and your agent would put on his screw and
give his orders to you and that you would vote exactly as I pulled the string
at Ottawa, and that you be mere serfs and slaves under the present system.
(Laughter.)
“Some were opposed to
Indians of any kind having votes; others did not go so far, but said that an
Indian who wished to do so could become enfranchised and forsake his tribal
relationship; that is, should separate himself from his band, should become, in
fact, a white man; should live away from the reserves on a certain portion of
land set apart for his own use; that he then, and only then, became a free man,
and that until he did, he should not exercise the franchise or get a vote. I
considered that the day before a man was enfranchised, he had the same ability
and education as the day after he was enfranchised, and that if he did not
chose to be enfranchised, and separate himself from his tribe, he had still
THE RIGHTS OF A BRITISH
SUBJECT
“the same as if he took his share of the tribal property,
bid them good-bye and moved off. (Applause.)
“It was a
gross oppression of the Indian that in order put himself on the same political
platform and have some standing as the white man he should first have to
declare himself an outcast from his people, obliged to declare himself as no
longer belonging to his band, to give up the traditions and customs of his
race, and, as it were, to draw himself away as if he were ashamed of them, and
for a mere selfish personal interest, say, ‘Go away, all the rest of you, my
uncivilized brethren; I am going to become a white man and have a vote and have
a word in the government of the country, and, then, so far as my vote will go,
I can tramble upon you.’ (Applause.)
“It was
said that the Indian on his reserve did not undertake the same duties as the
white man, was not liable to be drawn upon the militia, was not liable to serve
on a jury and did not contribute taxes to the same degree or in the same way as
the white man. Well, to the first point mentioned, it is quite true, and that
is one of the differences in system, I can look back, and am old enough to
remember 1837 and 1838, the years of the rebellion. I carried my musket as a
British subject in those to put down rebellion – (applause) – and then I saw
fighting side by side with me the Mohawks of Deseronto and Tyendigaga. (Loud
applause.)
“You know
your own traditions, you know what you have done in fighting for the British
empire, and all that you did was done voluntarily. You did your full duty and
more than your duty to the white man in defending the crown of the sovereign and
preserving from her enemies the possessions of Britain on this continent.
(Applause.)
“Aye, and
besides, suppose you did not form yourselves into a warlike body at all in case
of war in this country, suppose you did not do what you have done before, and
will do in the future – go forward at the call to arms, form yourselves into
military bodies, and
FIGHT
FOR THE QUEEN
“of England – suppose you should say, however, that you
won’t serve, is that a ground alone for depriving you of the right to vote?
Then you should take the right to vote from every man of the respectable
communities of Quakers, Mennonites and Moravians, all great sects and
numerously represented in this country, but who, for conscience sake, will not
raise their hands against their fellow men to save their own lives. There are
bodies of these respectable denominations in Canada that will not, and did not,
when the country was called to arms, assist their fellow subjects to defend the
country. They said that their principles would not allow them though they were
as loyal to the crown as any subjects of her Majesty – their consciences and
religious principles prevented them from raising their hands in war or in
conflict. But every one of these men have votes now and no one throws that in
their faces, and no one says : You Must not vote because you will not enter the
militia; but we know that is an idle argument; we know the pride you have in
your traditions and in the gallant deeds of your ancestors, and as long as
these remain recorded in your hearts, you will never be backward in case of
war, of taking your weapons of war in your hands and fighting for the crown,
the soil and the country which is your own. (Loud applause.)
“Then
again, the Indian does not serve on juries. If that was a good ground, it would
disenfranchise some thousands of clergymen of the different denomination. I
think that every clergyman in the Dominion may be considered to have a vote,
and yet not one of them ever served upon a jury or could be called to serve
upon a jury, and why the Indian should be excluded on that ground while the
clergy are not I cannot see. The day may come when the Indian will demand as a
right to sit upon a jury, and when they do, I have no doubt whatever that the
legislatures and parliament will grant their request, but until they do demand
it, we are sure the present system will and must remain. Then, again, it was
said that the Indians did not
CONTRIBUTE
TO THE TAXATION
“So far as the Dominion government is concerned, and we
are speaking of the Dominion franchise, and the right to vote for members in
the Dominion parliament, I contend that the Indian pays his full share of the
revenue of the Dominion. (Applause.)
“The
revenue of the Dominion is raised principally either by customs duties or
excise – a duty paid on articles imported into Canada or on articles
manufactured in Canada – and on every yard of cloth bought by you from the
United States or England, you have to pay the same duty as the white man has,
and though I hope you don’t deal much in the article, every bottle of whiskey
you buy, you pay the same excise duty as the white man. If you want to put a
letter into the post office, you have to pay the same for a stamp to put on
that letter as the white man has. I don’t know in what respect you fall
inferior to the white man in your contributions to the public revenue and
sustaining the expense of the administration of the Dominion. (Applause.)
“Then you
are told that you have no municipal system or self-government. In some tribes
you have hereditary chiefs who form the council, and whether they be hereditary
or elective, they form your municipal body and govern you, and manage and
administer your affairs. And whether your system be hereditary or elective,
that system will be, and must be, maintained by the solemn obligations entered
into between the crown and the Indians until you yourselves ask that it may be
done away with. Suppose you had no municipality : are the whole of the people
of Nova Scotia to be disenfranchised, for they have no municipalities, except a
few of them. Are you going to disenfranchise the people of New Brunswick
because there are only one or two towns there, or the people of British
Columbia, because they have no municipalities; and so on to the Northwest? The
contention is absurd; and I take this opportunity of saying so to you, the
chiefs and warriors of the Six Nations, that your system, so long as you choose
to maintain it, will be maintained. The parliament of Canada has got
THE
HONOR OF CANADA
“in its keeping. It is a sacred trust, and they will not
countenance a single breach of any treaty or understanding between the Indians
and the government; they will never see them impugned, defrauded or prejudiced.
(Applause.)
“And I
will tell you that I know enough of the white people of whom I am one, and can
assure you that their sense of justice would not allow them to tolerate
anything of the kind, but that throughout the whole country they would make
their indignation felt if any attempt was made to tramble on the treaty rights
of the Indians. But it does not even rest with the moral sense of the white men
or of the parliament of Canada. The Indian, in case he is wronged, has the same
appeal as the white man; he can go to the foot of the throne, he can say to her
Majesty the Queen : Here are the pledges that your ancestors made to our chiefs,
here are the pledges that wee were assured you would honor, that we should be
undisturbed in our rights and should be free to exercise all the rights and
customs that tradition has handed down to us and which a thousand years of
practice have made positive and absolute law, here we appeal to you to protect
us if there be any attempt to defraud us of one of those privileges. What would
her majesty say? No, my honor is involved in the pledges given by my
grandfather, George III, for he was a great and a true king and a truthful,
Christian man, and we feel that his pledge is my pledge and is the pledge of
the whole nation and empire of Great Britain, and we will see that it is
honorably and justly carried out. (Tremendous applause.)
“Notwithstanding
all these objections that I have mentioned to you and have shortly attempted to
answer, the franchise bill became law in July, 1885, and now the question is
asked, what good will the exercise of the franchise do the Indian? It will do
him the same good as the white man, and if you want to know how much he esteems
the benefit, just go sometime where the voters’ list is being settled and see
how anxious the white man is to see that his name is put on, because he knows
that unless he is an elector, he has no say whatever in the government of his
country. Every interest is represented in parliament, every industry strives to
have
ITS
REPRESENTATIVE IN PARLIAMENT
“and insists upon doing so as far as votes can go. If the
Indians are not strong enough in any constituency to elect one of your own
race, you can go to the candidates and say : We think we will vote for you
because we believe you will vote to protect us in case our rights are attacked
and we insist upon your doing so. If you
fail in the confidence we give you, we will withdraw our votes and you will
never get our votes again. So if that candidate wants to get elected again, he
will keep his promise and attend to your interests. There is not a
representative in the parliament of Canada pledged to protect the interests of
the Indians, except myself, speaking in my official capacity a Superintendent-
General f Indian affairs. You should have representative in parliament, men
pledged by their own interests and desire to remain in parliament to look after
and defend your interests, and until that is done and someone is interested in
speaking for you, you cannot well complain if you neglect to exercise the
privilege that the act gives you in case your interests are overlooked. If,
however, by use and exercise of this great privilege, you elect a member to
look after your interests, they will be looked after, for the vote of the man
who lives upon your votes and who will expire as a political man if he does not
truly carry out his pledges to you, will be cast in whatever way will best
promote your interests. One of my duties in going to British Columbia was to
look after the interests of the Indians there. They are not in as good a
position as you are. By some unfortunate arrangement about British Columbia,
they have no treaty rights and they have to depend upon the generosity of the
local government. I went to get the Provincial government to give the Indians
certain reserves, for some tribes had lands of their own and other tribes had
no lands, not a rest of the soles of their feet in the country of their
ancestors, and I asked the local government to assign them sufficient
reservations. And yet, while I am bound to say that such is the position of the
Indians there, the local government has shown a sincere desire to carry out the
moral obligation towards
THE
INDIANS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
“and I got them to sanction the apportionment of certain
large reserves for the Indians; but, though the premier there is well-inclined
towards the Indians, yet when I proposed a measure for the good of the Indians
involving some extra outlay, he said : I am afraid I cannot carry that in this
legislature. I said : If the Indians there had votes, would you not be able to
get it through? Oh yes, say he, I would get it through very quick (Laughter and
applause.)
I have no
doubt you will be able to impress upon the candidates at any election that may
take place here in the future what you want, and get a pledge from them to see
that your particular interest are properly represented and protected in
parliament. That is my answer to the question : What good will it do the Indian
to have a vote.? (Loud applause)
“The Franchise
act passed, as I have said, in July 1885, and those who opposed the passing of
the bill on the various grounds I have mentioned, and principally on the ground
that the Indian was unfit for exercising the franchise, have taken another
turn. They are great friends of the Indian now (laughter), and say that if the
act is put in force, the Indians will suffer for it, that they will be liable
for taxation and various other oppressions that I have mentioned to you. I have
this answer : The Indians’ rights are the same as they were before the act
passed; there is not a single obligation, either solemnly expressed treaty or
custom which has from long practice all the effect and sanction of a treaty –
not one treaty obligation or other obligation has been lessened, weakened or
taken away by the exercise of the franchise or the passing of that bill.
(Applause and cries of ‘That’s so, Sir John.)
“You can
quite understand that an act of parliament comes in force from the day it is
passed or that the day mentioned in the act when it is said that the act will
come into force; now, that act came in force in July, 1885, and more than a
year has elapsed since it passed, and do you find that you have lost any
privilege, do you find that the chiefs have been deposed, that the warriors
have been drawn as jurors, or that new taxation has been heaped upon you? No,
you stand exactly now as you did the day before the act was passed (applause)
and you can exercise that franchise according to your inconvenience,
EXERCISE
YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE
without any fear or favor and without any apprehension of
losing anything by it. You gain everything by the exercise of the franchise,
you have a voice in the affairs of your country and are put on an equality with
the other races of her Majesty’s subjects – you gain in every way and you lose
nothing by it. Fraud cannot be used in order to take away from you any one of
your rights, which have the sanction of the crown and of the Dominion parliament,
and had the sanction of all the legislatures and parliaments and provinces of
the Dominion ever since you came here. (Loud applause.)
“ You
will, I hope, stand out boldly and say on every opportunity : We will exercise
our fair share in the government of the country, we will vote for the him whom
we think will do the most for us as a race, and we will not vote for the man
whom we believe will be unfriendly to your race. You will do so, I am sure, for
it is a duty to yourselves, to your race, and to your descendants. It is your
duty to tradition and to your ancestors. (Prolonged applause.)
“You will
not admit that you are incapable of performing the highest act that a freeman
in a free country can perform – that is to give his vote and take the responsibility
of it. You will not fall back faintly like cowards from the responsibility of
standing in your country the equal of any man in it. You will not say : We will
allow the whites to do as they please; we will not by our votes elect good men
to represent us or keep out men who will not pledge themselves to protect our
interests. We will leave this voting to the whites and the blacks because we
think they can attend to it better than we can, and that all that has been said
about our unfitness is true. I think you will take my advice about this. I do
not come here to talk to you in favor of one party or another. You must vote as
you please and as your conscience dictates; you may vote to put me out as Superintendent-General
of Indian Affairs, and you may vote to upset the government of which I am a
member – though, candidly, I think myself you would make a little mistake in
doing so – (laughter) but at all events exercise your right as free men and
vote as you think best. Do not think it is necessary to give up the customs and
traditions of your race to become an enfranchised Indian, and separate yourself
from your band, and give up the traditions that have been handed down to it.
No; your will still
REMAIN
ON YOUR RESERVES
and be governed in your own fashion, you will obey your
chiefs and preserve your customs and hereditary dress. I come of another race
myself, I am a Scotch Highlander, and the Scotch Highlanders still retain their
language as it is spoken throughout the most of Great Britain and Ireland. They
are a small portion of the population in the north of Scotland, but they still
revere and honor the language of their race and their ancestors; they teach
it in their schools as well as the English, and they wear the dress of their
ancestors on high occasions; you will then see the Scotch Highlander dressed
out in full costume and it is a picturesque dress, but not more so than is the
dress I see before me. I hope you will not abandon your customs, language or
dress. At all events, don’t adopt the Highland Scotch costume, because they
have a way of appearing in full dress by taking off their trousers, and it
might not look so graceful on anybody else as it does on a Highlander. (Loud
laughter.)
“When I
was in British Columbia, there came a band of Highlanders to ask me to be an
honorary member of their association. There they were, all blooming in tartan
array, with the bagpipes playing before them, and I was proud to see them away
off there upon the Pacific coast honoring and perpetuating the dress and
customs of their ancestors, and I felt my heart glow at seeing and meeting them
there; I have no doubt that you Indians will feel the same when you see the
members of your tribe appearing in the picturesque dress of your ancestors, you
will feel the same glow of patriotic remembrance and pride as I felt when I saw
my own countrymen so far from the land of their fathers still wearing the
time-honored dress of the Scottish Highlanders. (Applause.)
“Let me
say in conclusion that I came here with the sincere desire of seeing that the
Indian race, with whom I have much to do, are advancing step by step in
equality with their white brethren. We have Scandinavians, French, Danes, and
now Hungarians and Italians, all pouring into this country; we are all of
various races and languages in this large Dominion, but I consider that the
great Indian people scattered over this country from the Atlantic to the
Pacific ocean
STANDS
ON AN EQUALITY
with all these men in everything that makes the civilized
man, and they have this great opportunity over them, that, while they come to
this country which is not their own to seek their fortunes, you are dwelling in
the country of your ancestors. And in the future, as you were at the time the
bill was passed, being in every way the equals of these people, you have a
right that is superior to theirs to have a share in the administration of the
country that was once your own. (Loud applause.)
“Do not be
faint-hearted, stick to your customs, the white man dare not and cannot take
them away, (applause) and if you are guilty of neglecting your duty as
electors, you will be guilty of neglecting your own interests. If you do not
come forward from this time forth, from the time that I address you, and when
the occasion arises defend your race by sending men to parliament to express
your mind and look after your interests, and defeat any government that will
not redress your grievances, then the fault will be yours. But I feel that you
will do your duty as electors and as free men. Do not think that by the
exercise of your franchise, you are prejudicing your position in any way or
forfeiting any privilege you have hitherto enjoyed. No; you are only asserting
your rights as free men, and insisting upon having a share in the government of
your own country. (Loud and renewed applause.)
“Chief
William Smith, replying on behalf of all the chiefs of the Six Nations, thanked
Sir John Macdonald for his commendation of their progress in education and
agriculture, and hoped they would continue to merit his good opinion of them. He assured Sir John that the patriotism and
loyalty which had characterized the Six Nations on former occasions when they
had fought side by side with the British against the invaders of our soil was
still as strong as it was among their ancestors, and they are just as ready
today if occasion required to go out to the front and take up arms with their
brother Canadians and fight in defense of their common country. In conclusion,
he thanked Sir John for his explanation of the Franchise bill and said that the
matter had been discussed by them in council on several occasions, and that now
after hearing the great chieftain’s words, they would consider the question in
the new light thus shed upon it and come to a decision regarding it.’
AT
THE PICNIC GROUNDS
“Sir John
and his party were next escorted to the picnic grounds where a vast crowd of
both Indians and white people were patiently awaiting him. They received him
with thunders of applause, and it was some time before quiet was restored, the
cheers being renewed again and again.”2
2
“A
Talk With Red Men : the Six Nation Indians Addressed by Sir John A. Macdonald.”
Hamilton
Spectator. September 8, 1886.
(To be
continued)
No comments:
Post a Comment