dark thoughts towards you who should have been his mother. It matters
little that he has bettered himself and grown rich in the new land; that
is his affair; so far as you were concerned, it was about even betting
whether he went to the bottom of the Atlantic or to the top of the
social tree-so, I say, to close this subject, that son and cousin owe you
and give you, scant and feeblest love. You will find themn the firm
friend of the Russian, because that Russian is likely to become your
enemy in Herat, in Cabool, in Kashgar, or in Constantinople; you will
find him the ally of the Prussian whenever Kaiser William, after the
fashion of his tribe, orders his legions to obliterate the line between
Holland and Germany, taking hold of that metaphorical pistol which you
spent so many millions-to turn from your throat in the days of the first
Napoleon. Nay, even should any woman-killing Sepoy put you to sore
strait by indiscriminate and ruthless slaughter, he will be your cousin's
friend, for the simple reason that he is your enemy.

But a study of American habits and opinions, however interesting in
itself, was not calculated to facilitate in any way the solving of the
problem which now beset me, namely, the further progress of my journey to
the Northwest. The accounts which I daily received were not encouraging.
Sometimes there came news that M. Riel had grown tired of his
pre-eminence and was anxious to lay down his authority; at other times I
heard of preparation made and making to oppose the Expedition by force,
and of strict watch being maintained along the Pembina frontier to arrest
and turn back all persons except such as were friendly to the Provisional
Government.

Nor was my own position in St. Paul at all a pleasant one. The inquiries
I had to make on subjects connected with the supply of the troops in Red
River had made so many persons acquainted with my identity, that it soon