The tentacles of the movement did not stop at Pembina but curled north into the Red River colony itself, and even into the inner circles of Riel's group. There were several small but active groups of annexationists in Fort Garry and Winnipeg. The most vocal was the clump of American settlers in the region, but they were not alone in their opinion. Some of the employees of the company were reported to be quietly urging that the colony join the United States rather than the Dominion. Their motive was emotional they did not love the republic, but they did hate Canada. '" Another group which took a similar stand was a handful of priests. This is surprising, for the Roman Catholic Church in Canada has always been an impregnable bulwark against annexation. These exceptions were priests born in France whose detesta- tion of Britain overmatched their allegiance to the polity of their superiors."3
Finally, two individuals in the colony merit attention. The first was General Oscar Malmros, American consul in Winnipeg, who guided the metis rebels with one hand and held the other out to Washington to beg aid for them. The other was W. E. B. O'Donoghue, a mysterious adventurer, most of whose career is lost in the mists of obscurity. He was born in Ireland and migrated to the United States where he became a citizen. Like his kind, who seem instinctively to go where impending trouble stirs, he popped up in the Red River district shortly before the uprising. He eagerly joined Riel and rose rapidly to a position of prominence in the ranks of the rebellion. O'Donoghue's Irish origin and his American citizenship frame the motivation of his ardent, but not always wise, efforts to promote annexation.'6
Even this brief description reveals the miscellaneous composition of the annexation movement in geography and motive. It remains to mention the human cement which bound together this conglom- erate - James Wickes Taylor. Taylor, formerly state librarian of Ohio, was the greatest American authority on western British America and peddled his knowledge to advantage. During the period of the revolt the Department of State employed him as a secret agent to keep Fish posted on Red River affairs'7; at the same time he was also serving as informant and publicist for Cooke and for George Becker, general manager of the St. Paul & Pacific. Taylor, however, was more than a hack for special interests. He believed sincerely in the mutual benefits and the ultimate inevita- bility of annexation. He knew all of the groups of expansionists, commuted between the centers of agitation, and became the liaison man for the movement. Its failure was not due to any lack of ability or effort on his part."8
Thus the annexation movement south of the line had many of the ingredients of success: leadership, money, and influence. It also had opportunity north of the line, for Riel had revolted against rule from Canada but seemed at first to know what he did not want rather than what he did want. The annexationists had a positive answer to this question. Moreover, their agitation had been going on quietly for some years, and the foundations of their work were laid.
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Whether or not they prompted the uprising, the annexationists knew an opportunity when they saw one and immediately swung into action. Early events in the West took a favorable turn for them. Having repulsed McDougall, Riel seized Fort Garry, center of the company's power, and thereby destroyed the only govern- ment in the colony.24 A political vacuum was thus created and the annexationists, hoping that the United States could rush in to fill it, sought to exploit the uncertain situation to gain control of the revolt. Three of them began to exert their influence on Riel who, though no pliant tool, was willing to listen to advice. Colonel Stutsman was particularly active at this time, constantly commut- ing between Pembina and Fort Garry.26 Between trips he acted as Riel's unofficial "cconsul" at the border, issuing or denying the passes necessary to cross the line. He also joined the other inhabitants of Pembina in the agreeable winter sport of baiting McDougall and compounding the misery of that frustrated function- ary who had fled to the Dakota post after being turned back by the metis.
Malmros, who had no pent-up sense of responsibility as the repre- sentative of a friendly power, was nearly as active as Stutsman. He had anticipated the uprising and, before it broke out, informed the Department of State that trouble threatened and that he would be glad to organize a force and seize the region for the United States when the time was ripe.28 The meticulous and proper Fish probably approached apoplexy when he read this dispatch. If so, he recovered in time to veto Malmros's proposal sharply and lec- tured him sternly on the necessity of strict neutrality. The consul, obviously regarding his chief as a spoilsport, took these instructions lightheartedly. Within a short time he was reporting to a fellow worker in the annexation vineyard that he had "materially assisted in producing the present situation [of revolt] & prevented many mistakes on the part of the popular leaders." 27
O'Donoghue, who carried more weight than either Malmros or Stutsman among the rebels, also worked constantly during this period to convert the uprising into an annexation movement. There is evidence that he and his associates exerted a strong influence on Riel and were largely responsible for such moves as the seizure of Fort Garry.
The annexationists thus had a dangerous grasp on the helm of the rebellion in its early months and, for a time, it appeared that they might steer the colony into the United States. McDougall unwittingly helped them on their course. Thwarted and embit- tered, he listened to foolish advice and issued a proclamation announcing his appointment as lieutenant governor and the transfer of the region to Canada. This pronouncement played into the hands of the American party. It set the Red River colony legally adrift by officially canceling the company's power but not providing a substitute for it since McDougall could not enter the territory. The confusion was completed when the government in Ottawa re- fused to accept the transfer of the territory from the company while the revolt persisted. Thus, by default, Riel was the de facto government and Riel seemed to be guided by the annexationists.
McDougall was not through playing the fool. He also commissioned one of his lieutenants to cross the border, rally all loyal men, and attack the rebels. His call to arms was a fiasco but nearly provoked a disastrous bloodletting. Such irresponsible action drove many who had mistrusted Riel into support of the metis. For the time Canada stood repudiated in the Red River Valley.
This was the loud knock of opportunity and the annexationists hastened to answer it. Stutsman moved from Pembina to Fort Garry and clung to Riel's side, ready to press any advantage which might emerge from the cloud of uncertainty.28 O'Donoghue, now the treasurer of the provisional government which Riel had estab- lished after McDougall's proclamation, joined Malmros and Stuts- man in placing the young metis leader under a heavy bombardment of advice. But it was not enough to have Riel's ear; the annexa- tionists also attempted to broaden their base of action by winning popular support when a means to do so offered. They bought a moribund local newspaper, the Red River Pioneer, for $550, an expenditure painless to all except the company from whose strong box it was seized,29 rechristened it the New Nation, and placed it in the hands of Major Henry Robinson, an American-born annexationist.'o
The leading article in the first edition starkly revealed its political orientation. Entitled "Annexation our 'Manifest Destiny,'" it argued that the colony should follow its purse strings into the United States rather than be tied by its heartstrings to the Brit- ish Empire. The article stated the obvious fact that the repub- lic was the principal market and means of communication for the Red River area and must remain so for years to come. A commer- cial tie with Canada was impossible across the tumbled sea of rock which intervened for seven hundred miles between Winnipeg and the nearest inhabited portions of Ontario. Editor Robinson also pointed out that union with the republic was the order of the day; movements for that purpose existed from the Maritime Provinces on the east to British Columbia on the west, and it was time that Manitoba joined the rest.8'