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 114 MANITOBA the oath of allegiance, is entitled to vote, npon having his name entered by the sheriff on the voters' list. Voting is viva voce. Quali- fied voters are eligible to office. The judicial power is vested in a court of queen's bench, county courts, and justices of the peace. The >l bench consists of a chief justice and t -.. puisne judges, appointed by the governor trriuTJil in council, and has general jurisdic- .V county court, having inferior jurisdic- tion, is held for each county by a Judge of the queen's bench without a jury. The records and journals of the legislature are kept and the laws are published in both English and French. Either language may be used in le- gal proceedings and in debates in the legisla- ture. The common law does not prevail, but the general principles in force are the same as those recognized in Quebec, and are derived from French and Roman sources. Manitoba is represented in the Dominion parliament by two senators and four members of the house of commons (one from each county). The amount appropriated for the support of the government for 1872 was $81,425, including $7,000 for common schools. The salaries of the lieutenant governor and judges are paid from the Dominion treasury, besides which the province receives grants from the Dominion amounting in the aggregate to $67,204 50 per annum. The public schools are under the charge of a board of education of 14- mem- bers, of whom half are Catholics and half Protestants, one of the members acting as su- perintendent of the Catholic and another of the Protestant schools. There are 40 com- mon schools (20 Protestant and 20 Catholic), three Protestant female schools, several con- ventual academies and schools controlled by the Catholics, and three colleges, viz. : St. John's (Episcopal), St. Boniface (Catholic), and Kildonan (Presbyterian). Three weekly news- papers are published in the province (one each in Kn^lish, French, and English and French), and there are 32 post offices. A majority of the population are Roman Catholics; the oth- er principal denominations are Episcopalians, vrian-. :md Wesleyan Methodists. The i Catholics have an archbishop (arch- bU'mp of St. Boniface), and the Episcopalians . a bishop (bishop of Rupert's Land). There are 3-2 c Lurches, viz.: 15 Episcopal, 2 Methodist, 4 terian, and 11 Roman Catholic. Mani- toba forms part of the territory granted in 1670 by Charles II. to the Hudson Bay corn- pun v. which in 1811 sold a tract, including wh it is now the province, to Thomas Douglas, earl of Selkirk. Under his auspices a colony was established, which was sometimes called the Selkirk settlement, but more commonly the Red River settlement. The first body of colo- nists arrival from the highlands of Scotland in lsi-2. an-l a si-roml pnrt.v in 1815, and set- tled on the Red river near its confluence with the As-inihoin. Subsequently other settlers arrived, including a number of French Canadi- an families in 1818; and as the colony gained permanence many who had been in the em- ployment of the Hudson Bay company (most- ly natives of the Orkney islands) and others connected with the fur trade, generally accom- panied by Indian families, came in and took up their residence in the settlement. Until 1821, when the Northwest company was merged in the Hudson Bay company, the colonists suf- fered much from attacks by the employees of the former. In 1835 the Hudson Bay com- pany bought back from the heirs of Lord Sel- kirk the territory granted to him in 1811, and established a more regular government than had previously existed, under the style of the governor and council of Assiniboia, giving it jurisdiction over the district embraced within a radius of 50 m. from Fort Garry. The offi- cers were appointed by the company, the coun- cillors being chosen from among the most in- fluential citizens of the district. Settlements having been made W. of these limits, a pro- visional government was formed at Prairie Portage in 1867, with Mr. Spence as president and a council of eight members styled the council of Manitoba, but it dissolved before the annexation of the country to Canada. The act of parliament of 1867 creating the Domin- ion of Canada contemplated the acquisition by. that government of the Hudson Bay territory, and Dec. 1, 1869, was subsequently fixed as the date of transfer. In the mean time an act of the Dominion parliament was passed providing for the temporary government of the entire region under the name of the Northwest ter- ritories, a measure respecting which the inhab- itants of Assiniboia were not consulted. This fact, with other grounds of apprehension, caused much dissatisfaction. Upon the ap- proach of William McDougall, who was to act as lieutenant governor of the Northwest ter- ritories, the French half-breeds, under the lead of Louis Kiel, resolved to prevent his en- trance into the settlement until some guar- antee was received that the rights of the in- habitants would be respected ; and from about Oct. 20, 1869, to Aug. 24, 1870, they held pos- session of the country. A provisional govern- ment was formed, with Kiel as president and a council of 24 members (12 English and 12 French), and a bill of rights was adopted, the most prominent feature of which was a de- mand for representation in the Dominion par- liament and for a local legislature elected by the people. These were conceded by the Manitoba act, which passed the Dominion par- liament on May 20, 1870, and was accepted by the legislative assembly of Assiniboia on June 24, providing for the admission of the prov- ince from and after the day of the queers proclamation annexing the Hudson Bay terri- tory. The actual transfer of this region, de layed by the disturbances, took place July 15 in virtue of a royal proclamation of June 23. On Aug. 24 the 60th rifles, under Col. (now Gen.) Wolseley, entered Fort Garry, Pdel having