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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Romantic Settlement of Lord Selkirk's
+Colonists, by George Bryce
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Romantic Settlement of Lord Selkirk's Colonists
+       The Pioneers of Manitoba
+
+
+Author: George Bryce
+
+
+
+Release Date: December 19, 2005  [eBook #17358]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROMANTIC SETTLEMENT OF LORD
+SELKIRK'S COLONISTS***
+
+
+E-text prepared by K. D. Thornton and the Project Gutenberg Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) from page images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries
+(http://www.archive.org/details/toronto)
+
+
+
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+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/3/5/17358/17358-h.zip)
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
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+
+
+
+
+
+THE ROMANTIC SETTLEMENT OF LORD SELKIRK'S COLONISTS
+
+(The Pioneers of Manitoba)
+
+by
+
+DR. GEORGE BRYCE
+
+Of Winnipeg
+
+President of the Royal Society of Canada, etc., etc.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THOMAS, 5TH EARL OF SELKIRK, The Founder of Red River
+Colony, 1812. From copy of painting by Raeburn, obtained by author from
+St Mary's Isle, Lord Selkirk's seat.]
+
+
+
+Toronto
+The Musson Book Company Limited
+"Copyrighted Canada, 1909, by The Musson Book Company, Limited,
+Toronto."
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                 Page.
+    Chapter  1. Patriarch's Story                   9
+                 An Extinct Race.
+                 The Gay Frenchman.
+                 The Earlier Peoples.
+                 The Montreal Merchants and Men.
+                 The Dusky Riders of the Plain.
+                 The Stately Hudson's Bay Company.
+
+    Chapter  2. A Scottish Duel                    33
+
+    Chapter  3. Across the Stormy Sea              44
+
+    Chapter  4. A Winter of Discontent             58
+
+    Chapter  5. First Foot on Red River Banks      69
+
+    Chapter  6. Three Desperate Years              80
+
+    Chapter  7. Fight and Flight                   95
+
+    Chapter  8. No Surrender                      107
+
+    Chapter  9. Seven Oaks Massacre               117
+
+    Chapter 10. Afterclaps                        133
+
+    Chapter 11. The Silver Chief Arrives          142
+
+    Chapter 12. Soldiers and Swiss                152
+
+    Chapter 13. English Lion and Canadian
+                   Bear Lie Down Together         161
+
+    Chapter 14. Satrap Rule                       170
+
+    Chapter 15. And the Flood Came                178
+
+    Chapter 16. The Jolly Governor                185
+
+    Chapter 17. The Oligarchy                     194
+
+    Chapter 18. An Ogre of Justice                202
+
+    Chapter 19. A Half-Breed Patriot              210
+
+    Chapter 20. Sayer and Liberty                 216
+
+    Chapter 21. Off to the Buffalo                224
+
+    Chapter 22. What the Stargazers Saw           232
+
+    Chapter 23. Apples of Gold                    239
+
+    Chapter 24. Pictures of Silver                256
+
+    Chapter 25. Eden Invaded                      276
+
+    Chapter 26. Riel's Rising                     284
+
+    Chapter 27. Lord Strathcona's Hand            291
+
+    Chapter 28. Wolseley's Welcome                300
+
+    Chapter 29. Manitoba in the Making            307
+
+    Chapter 30. The Selkirk Centennial            315
+
+    Appendix                                      320
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+The present work tells the romantic story of the Settlement of Lord
+Selkirk's Colonists in Manitoba, and is appropriate and timely in view
+of the Centennial celebration of this event which will be held in
+Winnipeg in 1912.
+
+The author was the first, in his earlier books, to take a stand for
+justice to be done to Lord Selkirk as a Colonizer, and he has had the
+pleasure of seeing the current of all reliable history turned in Lord
+Selkirk's favor.
+
+Dr. Doughty, the popular Archivist at Ottawa, has put at the author's
+disposal a large amount of Lord Selkirk's correspondence lately received
+by him, so that many new, interesting facts about the Settlers' coming
+are now published for the first time.
+
+If we are to celebrate the Selkirk Centennial intelligently, it is
+essential to know the facts of the trials, oppressions and heartless
+persecutions through which the Settlers' passed, to learn what shameful
+treatment Lord Selkirk received from his enemies, and to trace the rise
+from misery to comfort of the people of the Colony.
+
+The story is chiefly confined to Red River Settlement as it existed--a
+unique community, which in 1870 became the present Province of Manitoba.
+It is a sympathetic study of what one writer has called--"Britain's One
+Utopia."
+
+
+
+The Romantic Settlement
+
+OF
+
+Lord Selkirk's Colonists
+
+*       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+Lord Selkirk's Colonists
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE EARLIER PEOPLE.
+
+A PATRIARCH'S STORY.
+
+
+This is the City of Winnipeg. Its growth has been wonderful. It is the
+highwater mark of Canadian enterprise. Its chief thoroughfare, with
+asphalt pavement, as it runs southward and approaches the Assiniboine
+River, has a broad street diverging at right angles from it to the West.
+This is Broadway, a most commodious avenue with four boulevards neatly
+kept, and four lines of fine young Elm trees. It represents to us "Unter
+den Linden" of Berlin, the German Capital.
+
+The wide business thoroughfare Main Street, where it reaches the
+Assiniboine River, looks out upon a stream, so called from the wild
+Assiniboine tribe whose northern limit it was, and whose name implies
+the "Sioux" of the Stony Lake. The Assiniboine River is as large as the
+Tiber at Rome, and the color of the water justifies its being compared
+with the "Yellow Tiber."
+
+The Assiniboine falls into the Red River, a larger stream, also with
+tawny-colored water. The point of union of these two rivers was long ago
+called by the French voyageurs "Les Fourches," which we have translated
+into "The Forks."
+
+One morning nearly forty years ago, the writer wandered eastward toward
+Red River, from Main Street, down what is now called Lombard Street.
+Here not far from the bank of the Red River, stood a wooden house, then
+of the better class, but now left far behind by the brick and stone and
+steel structures of modern Winnipeg.
+
+The house still stands a stained and battered memorial of a past
+generation. But on this October morning, of an Indian summer day, the
+air was so soft, that it seemed to smell wooingly here, and through the
+gentle haze, was to be seen sitting on his verandah, the patriarch of
+the village, who was as well the genius of the place.
+
+The old man had a fine gray head with the locks very thin, and with his
+form, not tall but broad and comfortable to look upon, he occupied an
+easy chair.
+
+The writer was then quite a young man fresh from College, and with a
+simple introduction, after the easy manner of Western Canada, proceeded
+to hear the story of old Andrew McDermott, the patriarch of Winnipeg.
+
+"Yes," said Mr. McDermott, "I was among those of the first year of Lord
+Selkirk's immigrants. We landed from the Old Country, at York Factory,
+on Hudson Bay. The first immigrants reached the banks of the Red River
+in the year 1812.
+
+"I am a native of Ireland and embarked with Owen Keveny--a bright
+Hibernian--a clever writer, and speaker, who, poor fellow, was killed by
+the rival Fur Company, and whose murderer, De Reinhard, was tried at
+Quebec. Of course the greater number of Lord Selkirk's settlers were
+Scotchmen, but I have always lived with them, known them, and find that
+they trust me rather more than they at times trust each other. I have
+been their merchant, contractor, treaty-maker, business manager,
+counsellor, adviser, and confidential friend."
+
+"But," said the writer, "as having come to cast in my lot with the
+people of the Red River, I should be glad to hear from you about the
+early times, and especially of the earlier people of this region, who
+lived their lives, and came and went, before the arrival of Lord
+Selkirk's settlers in 1812." Thus the story-telling began, and patriarch
+and questioner made out from one source and another the whole story of
+the predecessors of the Selkirk Colonists.
+
+[Illustration: MOUND BUILDERS' ORNAMENTS, ETC.
+A. Ornamental gorget of turtle's plastron.
+B. Gorget of sea-shell (1879).
+C. Gorget of buffalo bone.
+D. Breast or arm ornament of very hard bone.
+E. String of beads of birds' leg bones. Note cross X.
+F. One of three polished stones used for gaming.
+G. Columella of large sea couch (tropical, used as sinker for fishing).]
+
+
+AN EXTINCT RACE.
+
+"Long before the coming of the settler, there lived a race who have now
+entirely disappeared. Not very far from the Assiniboine River, where
+Main Street crosses it, is now to be seen," said the narrator, "Fort
+Garry--a fine castellated structure with stone walls and substantial
+bastions. A little north of this you may have noticed a round mound,
+forty feet across. We opened this mound on one occasion, and found it to
+contain a number of human skeletons and articles of various kinds. The
+remains are those of a people whom we call 'The Mound Builders,' who
+ages ago lived here. Their mounds stood on high places on the river bank
+and were used for observation. The enemy approaching could from these
+mounds easily be seen. They are also found in good agricultural
+districts, showing that the race were agriculturists, and where the
+fishing is good on the river or lake these mounds occur. The Mound
+Builders are the first people of whom we have traces here about. The
+Indians say that these Mound Builders are not their ancestors, but are
+the 'Very Ancient Men.' It is thought that the last of them passed away
+some four hundred years ago, just before the coming of the white man. At
+that time a fierce whirlwind of conquest passed over North America,
+which was seen in the destruction of the Hurons, who lived in Ontario
+and Quebec. Some of their implements found were copper, probably brought
+from Lake Superior, but stone axes, hammers, and chisels, were commonly
+used by them. A horn spear, with barbs, and a fine shell sinker, shows
+that they lived on fish. Strings of beads and fine pearl ornaments are
+readily found. But the most notable thing about these people is that
+they were far ahead of the Indians, in that they made pottery, with
+brightly designed patterns, which showed some taste. Very likely these
+Mound Builders were peaceful people, who, driven out of Mexico many
+centuries ago, came up the Mississippi, and from its branches passing
+into Red River, settled all along its banks. We know but little of this
+vanished race. They have left only a few features of their work behind
+them. Their name and fame are lost forever.
+
+    "And is this all? an earthen pot,
+     A broken spear, a copper pin
+     Earth's grandest prizes counted in--
+     A burial mound?--the common lot."
+
+
+THE GAY FRENCHMAN.
+
+Then the conversation turned upon the early Frenchmen, who came to the
+West during the days of French Canada, before Wolfe took Quebec. "Oh! I
+have no doubt they would make a great ado," said the old patriarch,
+"when they came here. The French, you know, are so fond of pageants. But
+beyond a few rumors among the old Indians far up the Assiniboine River
+of their remembrance of the crosses and of the priests, or black robes,
+as they call them, I have never heard anything; these early explorers
+themselves left few traces. When they retired from the country, after
+Canada was taken by Wolfe, the Indians burnt their forts and tried to
+destroy every vestige of them. You know the Indian is a cunning
+diplomatist. He very soon sees which is the stronger side and takes it.
+When the King is dead he is ready to shout, Long live the new King. I
+have heard that down on the point, on the south side of the Forks of the
+two rivers, the Frenchmen built a fort, but there wasn't a stick or a
+stone of it left when the Selkirk Colonists came in 1812. But perhaps
+you know that part of the story better than I do," ventured the old
+patriarch. That is the Story of the French Explorers.
+
+"Oh! Yes," replied the writer, "you know the world of men and things
+about you; I know the world of books and journals and letters."
+
+"Let us hear of that," said the patriarch eagerly.
+
+[Illustration: MOUND BUILDERS' REMAINS
+A. Native Copper Drill.
+B. Soapstone Conjurer's tube.
+C. Flint Skinning Implement.
+D. Horn Fish Spear.
+E. Native Copper Cutting Knife.
+F. Cup found in Rainy River Mound by the Author, 1884.]
+
+Well, you know the French Explorers were very venturesome. They went,
+sometimes to their sorrow, among the wildest tribes of Indians.
+
+A French Captain, named Verandrye, who was born in Lower Canada, came up
+the great lakes to trade for furs of the beaver, mink, and musk-rat.
+When he reached the shore of Lake Superior, west of where Fort William
+now stands, an old Indian guide, gave him a birch bark map, which showed
+all the streams and water courses from Lake Superior to Lake of the
+Woods, and on to Lake Winnipeg. This was when the "well-beloved" Louis
+XV. was King of France, and George II. King of England. It was heroic of
+Verandrye to face the danger, but he was a soldier who had been twice
+wounded in battle in Europe, and had the French love of glory. By
+carrying his canoes over the portages, and running the rapids when
+possible, he came to the head of Rainy River, went back again with his
+furs, and after several such journeys, came down the Winnipeg River from
+Lake of the Woods, to Lake Winnipeg, and after a while made a dash
+across the stormy Lake Winnipeg and came to the Red River. The places
+were all unknown, the Indians had never seen a white man in their
+country, and the French Captain, with his officers, his men and a
+priest, found their way to the Forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers.
+This was nearly three-quarters of a century before the first Selkirk
+Colonists reached Red River. The French Captain saw only a few Indian
+teepees at the Forks, and ascended the Assiniboine. It was a very dry
+year, and the water in the Assiniboine was so low that it was with
+difficulty he managed to pull over the St. James rapids, and reached
+where Portage la Prairie now stands, and sixty miles from the site of
+Winnipeg claimed the country for his Royal Master. Here he collected the
+Indians, made them his friends, and proceeded to build a great fort, and
+named it after Mary of Poland, the unfortunate Queen of France--"Fort de
+la Reine," or Queen's Fort. But he could not forget "The Forks"--the
+Winnipeg of to-day--and so gave instructions to one of his lieutenants
+to stop with a number of his men at the Forks, cut down trees, and erect
+a fort for safety in coming and going up the Assiniboine. The Frenchmen
+worked hard, and on the south side of the junction of the Red River with
+the Assiniboine, erected Fort Rouge--the Red Fort. This fort, built in
+1738, was the first occupation of the site of the City of Winnipeg. The
+French Captain Verandrye, his sons and his men, made further journeys to
+the far West, even once coming in sight of the Rocky Mountains. But
+French Canada was doomed. In twenty years more Wolfe was to wrench
+Canada from France and make it British. The whole French force of
+soldiers, free traders, and voyageurs were needed at Montreal and
+Quebec. Not a Frenchman seems to have remained behind, and for a number
+of years the way to the West was blocked up. The canoes went to decay,
+the portages grew up with weeds and underwood, and the Western search
+for furs from Montreal was suspended.
+
+
+THE INDIANS OF THE RED RIVER.
+
+No man knew the Indian better than Andrew McDermott. No one knew better
+how to trade and dicker with the red man of the prairie. He could tell
+of all the feuds of tribe with tribe, and of the wonderful skill of the
+Fur Companies in keeping order among the Indian bands. The Red River had
+not, after the departure of the French, been visited by travellers for
+well nigh forty years. No doubt bands of Indians had threaded the
+waterways, and carried their furs in one year to Pigeon River, on Lake
+Superior, or to Fort Churchill, or York Factory on Hudson Bay. It was
+only some ten or fifteen years before the coming of the Selkirk
+Colonists that the fur traders, though they for forty years had been
+ascending the Saskatchewan, had visited Red River at all. No missionary
+had up to the coming of the Colonists ever appeared on the banks of the
+Red River. Some ten years before the settler's advent, the fur traders
+on the upper Red River had most bitter rivalries and for two or three
+years the fire water--the Indian's curse--flowed like a flood. The
+danger appealed to the traders, and from a policy of mere
+self-protection they had decided to give out no strong drink, unless it
+might be a slight allowance at Christmas and New Year's time. Red River
+was now the central meeting place of four of the great Indian Nations.
+The Red Pipestone Quarry down in the land of the Dakotas, and the Roches
+Percées, on the upper Souris River, in the land of the wild Assiniboines
+were sacred shrines. At intervals all the Indian natives met at these
+spots, buried for the time being their weapons, and lived in peace. But
+Red River, and the country--eastward to the Lake of the Woods--was
+really the "marches" where battles and conflicts continually prevailed.
+Red River, the Miskouesipi, or Blood Red River of the Chippewas and
+Crees, was said to have thus received its name. Andrew McDermott knew
+all the Indians as they drew near with curiosity, to see the settlers
+and to speculate upon the object of their coming. The Indian despises
+the man who uses the hoe, and when the Colonists sought thus to gain a
+sustenance from the fertile soil of the field, they were laughed at by
+the Indians who caught the French word "Jardiniers," or gardeners, and
+applied it to them.
+
+The Colonists were certainly a puzzle to the Red man. To the banks of
+the Red River and to the east of Lake Winnipeg had come many of the
+Chippewas. They were known on the Red River as Sauteurs, or Saulteaux,
+or Bungays, because they had come to the West from Sault Ste. Marie,
+thinking nothing of the hundreds of miles of travel along the streams.
+They were sometimes considered to be the gypsies of the Red men. It was
+they coming from the lucid streams emptying into Lake Superior and
+thence to Lake Winnipeg, who had called the latter by its name "Win,"
+cloudy or muddy, and "nipiy" water. When the Colonists arrived, the
+leading chief of the Chippewas, or Saulteaux, was Peguis. He became at
+once the friend of the white man, for he was always a peaceful, kindly,
+old Ogemah, or Chieftain.
+
+All the Indians were, at first, kindness itself to the new comers, and
+they showed great willingness to supply food to the hungry settlers, and
+to assist them in transfer and in taking possession of their own homes.
+
+The Saulteaux Indians while active and helpful were really intruders
+among the Crees, a great Indian nation, who in language and blood were
+their relations. As proof of this the Crees at this time used horses on
+the plains. The horse was an importation brought up the valleys from the
+Spaniards of Mexico. Seeing his value as a beast of burden, more fit
+than the dog which had been formerly used, they coined the word
+"Mis-ta-tim," or big dog as the name for the horse. Their Chiefs were,
+with their names translated into pronounceable English, "the Premier,"
+"the Black Robe," "the Black Man," while seemingly Mache Wheskab--"the
+Noisy Man"--represented the Assiniboines. The Crees, so well represented
+by their doughty Chiefs, are a sturdy race. They adapt themselves
+readily enough to new conditions. While the northern Indian tribes met
+the Colonists, yet in after days, as had frequently taken place in days
+preceding, bands of Sioux or Dakotas, came on pilgrimages to the Red
+River. Long ago when the French Captain Verandrye voyaged to Lake of the
+Woods, his son and others of his men, were attacked by Sioux warriors,
+and the whole party of whites was massacred in an Island on the Lake.
+The writer in a later day, near Winnipeg, met on the highway, a band of
+Sioux warriors, on horse-back, with their bodies naked to the waist, and
+painted with high color, in token of the fact that they were on the
+warpath. On occasion it was the habit of bands of Sioux to find their
+way to the Red River Valley, and the people did not feel at all safe, at
+their hostile attitude, as they bore the name of the "Tigers of the
+Plains."
+
+With Saulteaux, Crees, Assiniboines, and Sioux coming freely among them,
+the settlers had at first a feeling of decided insecurity.
+
+[Illustration: Osoup, Agent, Atalacoup, Kakawistaha, Mistawasis
+FOUR CREE CHIEFS OF RUPERT'S LAND]
+
+
+THE MONTREAL MERCHANTS AND MEN.
+
+But the fur trade paid too well to be left alone by the Montrealers who
+knew of Verandrye's exploits on the Ottawa and the Upper Lakes. When
+Canada became British, many daring spirits hastened to it from New York
+and New Jersey States. Montreal became the home of many young men of
+Scottish families. Some of their fathers had fled to the Colonies after
+the Stuart Prince was defeated at Culloden, and after the power of the
+Jacobites was broken. Some of the young men of enterprising spirit were
+the sons of officers and men who had fought in the Seven Years' War
+against France and now came to claim their share of the conqueror's
+spoils. Some men were of Yankee origin, who with their proverbial
+ability to see a good chance, came to what has always been Canada's
+greatest city, on the Island of Montreal. It was only half a dozen years
+after Wolfe's great victory, that a great Montreal trader, Alexander
+Henry, penetrated the western lakes to Mackinaw--the Island of the
+Turtle, lying between Lakes Huron and Michigan. At Sault Ste. Marie, he
+fell in with a most noted French Canadian, Trader Cadot, who had married
+a Saulteur wife. He became a power among the Indians. With Scottish
+shrewdness Henry acquired from the Commandant at Mackinaw the exclusive
+right to trade on Lake Superior. He became a partner of Cadot, and they
+made a voyage as Canadian Argonauts, to bring back very rich cargoes of
+fur. They even went up to the Saskatchewan on Lake Winnipeg. After
+Henry, came another Scotchman, Thomas Curry, and made so successful a
+voyage that he reached the Saskatchewan River, and came back laden with
+furs, so that he was now satisfied never to have to go again to the
+Indian country. Shortly afterwards James Findlay, another son of the
+heather, followed up the fur-traders' route, and reached Saskatchewan.
+Thus the Northwest Fur Trade became the almost exclusive possession of
+the Scottish Merchants of Montreal. With the master must go the man. And
+no man on the rivers of North America ever equalled, in speed, in good
+temper, and in skill, the French Canadian voyageur. Almost all the
+Montreal merchants, the Forsythes, the Richardsons, the McTavishes, the
+Mackenzies, and the McGillivrays, spoke the French as fluently as they
+did their own language. Thus they became magnetic leaders of the French
+canoemen of the rivers. The voyageurs clung to them with all the
+tenacity of a pointer on the scent. There were Nolins, Falcons,
+Delormes, Faribaults, Lalondes, Leroux, Trottiers, and hundreds of
+others, that followed the route until they became almost a part of the
+West and retired in old age, to take up a spot on some beautiful bay, or
+promontory, and never to return to "Bas Canada." Those from Montreal to
+the north of Lake Superior were the pork eaters, because they lived on
+dried pork, those west of Lake Superior, "Couriers of the Woods," and
+they fed on pemmican, the dried flesh of the buffalo. They were mighty
+in strength, daring in spirit, tractable in disposition, eagles in
+swiftness, but withal had the simplicity of little children. They made
+short the weary miles on the rivers by their smoking "tabac"--the time
+to smoke a pipe counting a mile--and by their merry songs, the "Fairy
+Ducks" and "La Claire Fontaine," "Malbrouck has gone to the war," or
+"This is the beautiful French Girl"--ballads that they still retained
+from the French of Louis XIV. They were a jolly crew, full of
+superstitions of the woods, and leaving behind them records of daring,
+their names remain upon the rivers, towns and cities of the Canadian and
+American Northwest.
+
+Some thirty years before the arrival of the Colonists, the Montreal
+traders found it useful to form a Company. This was called the
+North-West Fur Company of Montreal. Having taken large amounts out of
+the fur trade, they became the leaders among the merchants of Montreal.
+The Company had an energy and ability that made them about the beginning
+of the nineteenth century the most influential force in Canadian life.
+At Fort William and Lachine their convivial meetings did something to
+make them forget the perils of the rapids and whirlpools of the rivers,
+and the bitterness of the piercing winds of the northwestern stretches.
+Familiarly they were known as the "Nor'-Westers." Shortly before the
+beginning of the century mentioned, a split took place among the
+"Nor'-Westers," and as the bales of merchandise of the old Company had
+upon them the initials "N.W.," the new Company, as it was called, marked
+their packages "XY," these being the following letters of the alphabet.
+
+Besides these mentioned there were a number of independent merchants, or
+free traders. At one time there were at the junction of the Souris and
+Assiniboine Rivers, five establishments, two of them being those of free
+traders or independents. Among all these Companies the commander of a
+Fort was called, "The Bourgeois" to suit the French tongue of the men.
+He was naturally a man of no small importance.
+
+
+"THE DUSKY RIDERS OF THE PLAINS."
+
+But the conditions, in which both the traders and the voyageurs lived,
+brought a disturbing shadow over the wide plains of the North-West. Now
+under British rule, the Fur trade from Montreal became a settled
+industry. From Curry's time (1766) they began to erect posts or depots
+at important points to carry on their trade. Around these posts the
+voyageurs built a few cabins and this new centre of trade afforded a
+spot for the encampment near by of the Indian teepees made of tanned
+skins. The meeting of the savage and the civilized is ever a contact of
+peril. Among the traders or officers of the Fur trade a custom grew
+up--not sanctioned by the decalogue--but somewhat like the German
+Morganatic marriage. It was called "Marriage of the Country." By this in
+many cases the trader married the Indian wife; she bore children to him,
+and afterwards when he retired from the country, she was given in real
+marriage to some other voyageur, or other employee, or pensioned off. It
+is worthy of note that many of these Indian women became most true and
+affectionate spouses. With the voyageurs and laborers the conditions
+were different. They could not leave the country, they had become a part
+of it, and their marriages with the Indian women were bona fide. Thus it
+was that during the space from the time of Curry until the arrival of
+the Selkirk Colonists upwards of forty years had elapsed, and around the
+wide spread posts of the Fur Trading Companies, especially around those
+of the prairie, there had grown up families, which were half French and
+half Indian, or half English and half Indian. When it could be afforded
+these children were sent for a time to Montreal, to be educated, and
+came back to their native wilds. On the plain between the Assiniboine
+and the Saskatchewan, a half-breed community had sprung up. From their
+dusky faces they took the name "Bois-Brulés," or "Charcoal Faces," or
+referring to their mixed blood, of "Metis," or as exhibiting their
+importance, they sought to be called "The New Nation." The blend of
+French and Indian was in many respects a natural one. Both are stalwart,
+active, muscular; both are excitable, imaginative, ambitious; both are
+easily amused and devout. The "Bois-Brulés" growing up among the Indians
+on the plains naturally possessed many of the features of the Indian
+life. The pursuit of their fur-bearing animals was the only industry of
+the country. The Bois-Brulés from childhood were familiar with the
+Indian pony, knew all his tricks and habits, began to ride with all the
+skill of a desert ranger, were familiar with fire-arms, took part in the
+chase of the buffalo on the plains, and were already trained to make the
+attack as cavalry on buffalo herds, after the Indian fashion, in the
+famous half-circle, where they were to be so successful in their later
+troubles, of which we shall speak. Such men as the Grants, Findlays,
+Lapointes, Bellegardes, and Falcons were equally skilled in managing the
+swift canoe, or scouring the plains on the Indian ponies. We shall see
+the part which this new element were to play in the social life and even
+in the public concerns of the prairies.
+
+
+THE STATELY HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.
+
+The last of the elements to come into the valley of the Red River and to
+precede the Colonists, was the Hudson's Bay Company--even then, dating
+back its history almost a century and a half. They were a dignified and
+wealthy Company, reaching back to the times of easy-going Charles II.,
+who gave them their charter. For a hundred years they lived in
+self-confidence and prudence in their forts of Churchill and York, on
+the shore of Hudson Bay. They were even at times so inhospitable as to
+deal with the Indians through an open window of the fort. This was in
+striking contrast to the "Nor'-Wester" who trusted the Indians and lived
+among them with the freest intercourse. For the one hundred years spoken
+of, the Indians from the Red River Country, the Saskatchewan, the Red
+River and Lake Winnipeg, found their way by the water courses to the
+shores of the Hudson Bay. But the enterprise of the Montreal merchants
+in leaving their forts and trading in the open with the Indians,
+prevented the great fleets of canoes, from going down with their furs,
+as they had once done to Churchill and York. The English Company felt
+the necessity of starting into the interior, and so within six years of
+the time of the expedition of Thomas Curry, appeared five hundred miles
+inland from the Bay, and erected a fort--Fort Cumberland--a few hundred
+yards from the "Nor'-Westers'" Trading House, on the Saskatchewan River.
+By degrees before the end of the century almost every place of any
+importance, in the fur-producing country, saw the two rival forts built
+within a mile or two of each other. Shortly before the end of the 18th
+Century, the "Nor'-Westers" came into the Red River Valley and built one
+or two forts near the 49th parallel, N. lat.--the U.S. boundary of
+to-day. But four years after the new Century began, the "Nor'-Westers"
+decided to occupy the "Forks" of the Red and Assiniboine River, near
+where Verandrye's Fort Rouge had been built some sixty years before.
+Evidently both companies felt the conflict to be on, in their efforts to
+cover all important parts, for they called this Trading House Fort
+Gibraltar, whose name has a decided ring of the war-like about it. It is
+not clear exactly where the Hudson's Bay post was built, but it is said
+to have rather faced the Assiniboine than the Red River, perhaps near
+where Notre Dame Avenue East, or the Hudson's Bay stores is to-day. It
+was probably built a few years after Fort Gibraltar, and was called
+"Fidler's Fort." By this time, however, the Hudson's Bay Company,
+working from their first post of Cumberland House, pushed on to the
+Rocky Mountains to engage in the Titanic struggle which they saw lay
+ahead of them. One of their most active agents, in occupying the Red
+River Valley, was the Englishman Peter Fidler, who was the surveyor of
+this district, the master of several forts, and a man who ended his
+eventful career by a will made--providing that all of his funds should
+be kept at interest until 1962, when they should be divided, as his last
+chimerical plan should direct. It thus came about that when the
+Colonists arrived there were two Traders' Houses, on the site of the
+City of Winnipeg of to-day, within a mile of one another, one
+representing a New World, and the other an Old World type of mercantile
+life. It was plain that on the Plains of Rupert's Land there would come
+a struggle for the possession of power, if not for very existence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+"A SCOTTISH DUEL."
+
+
+Inasmuch as this tale is chiefly one of Scottish and of Colonial life,
+the story of the movement from Old Kildonan, on the German Ocean, to New
+Kildonan, on the Western Prairies--we may be very sure, that it did not
+take place without irritation and opposition and conflict. The Scottish
+race, while possessing intense earnestness and energy, often gains its
+ends by the most thoroughgoing animosity. In this great emigration
+movement, there were great new world interests involved, and champions
+of the rival parties concerned were two stalwart chieftains, of
+Scotland's best blood, both with great powers of leadership and both
+backed up with abundant means and strongest influence. It was a
+duel--indeed a fight, as old Sir Walter Scott would say, "a
+l'outrance"--to the bitter end. That the struggle was between two
+chieftains--one a Lowlander, the other a Highlander, did not count for
+much, for the Lowlander spoke the Gaelic tongue--and he was championing
+the interest of Highland men.
+
+The two men of mark were the Earl of Selkirk and Sir Alexander
+Mackenzie. Before showing the origin of the quarrel, it may be well to
+take a glance at each of the men.
+
+Thomas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, was the youngest of seven sons, and was
+born in 1771. Though he belonged to one of the oldest noble families, of
+Scotland, yet when he went to Edinburgh, as a fellow student of Sir
+Walter Scott, Clerk of Eldon, and David Douglas, afterward Lord Reston,
+it was with a view of making his own way in the world, for there were
+older brothers between him and the Earldom. He was a young man of
+intense earnestness, capable of living in an atmosphere of
+enthusiasm--always rather given indeed to take up and advocate new
+schemes. There was in him the spirit of service of his Douglas
+ancestors, of being unwilling to "rust unburnished," and he was strong
+in will, "to strive, to seek, to find." This gave the young Douglas a
+seeming restlessness, and so he visited the Highlands and learned the
+Gaelic tongue. He went to France in the days of the French Revolution,
+and took great interest in the Jacobin dreams of progress. The minor
+title of the House of Selkirk was Daer, and so the young collegian saw
+one Daer depart, then another, until at last he held the title, becoming
+in 1799 Earl of Selkirk and was confirmed as the master of the beautiful
+St. Mary's Isle, near the mouth of the Dee, on Solway Frith. On his
+visits to the Highlands, it was not alone the Highland straths and
+mountains, nor the Highland Chieftain's absolute mastership of his clan,
+nor was it the picturesque dress--the "Garb of old Gaul"--which
+attracted him. The Earl of Selkirk has been charged by those who knew
+little of him with being a man of feudal instincts. His temper was the
+exact opposite of this. When he saw his Scottish fellow-countrymen being
+driven out of their homes in Sutherlandshire, and sent elsewhere to give
+way for sheep farmers, and forest runs, and deer stalking, it touched
+his heart, and his three Emigration Movements, the last culminating in
+the Kildonan Colonists, showed not only what title and means could do,
+but showed a kindly and compassionate heart beating under the starry
+badge of Earldom.
+
+Rather it was the case that the fur trading oligarchy ensconced in the
+plains of the West, could not understand the heart of a
+philanthropist--of a man who could work for mere humanity. Up till a few
+years ago it was the fashion for even historians, being unable to
+understand his motive and disposition, to speak of him as a "kind
+hearted, but eccentric Scottish nobleman."
+
+Lord Selkirk's active mind led him into various different spheres of
+human life. He visited France and studied the problem of the French
+Revolution, and while sympathizing with the struggle for liberty, was
+alienated as were Wordsworth and hundreds of other British writers and
+philanthropists, by the excesses of Robespierre and his French
+compatriots. When the Napoleonic wars were at their height, like a true
+patriot, Lord Selkirk wrote a small work on the "System of National
+Defence," anticipating the Volunteer System of the present day. But his
+keen mind sought lines of activity as well as of theory. Seeing his
+fellow-countrymen, as well as their Irish neighbors, in distress and
+also desiring to keep them under the British flag, he planned at his own
+expense to carry out the Colonists to America. Even before this effort,
+reading Alexander Mackenzie's great book of voyages detailing the
+discoveries of the Mackenzie River in its course to the Arctic Sea, and
+also the first crossing in northern latitudes of the mountains to the
+Pacific Ocean--he had applied (1802), to the Imperial Government, for
+permission to take a colony to the western extremity of Canada upon the
+waters which fall into Lake Winnipeg. This spot, "fertile and having a
+salubrious climate," he could reach by way of the Nelson River, running
+into Hudson Bay. The British Government refused him the permission
+necessary. Lord Selkirk's first visit to Canada was in the year 1803, in
+which his colony was placed in Prince Edward Island. Canada was a
+country very sparsely settled, but it was then turning its eyes toward
+Britain, with the hope of receiving more settlers, for it had just seen
+settled in Upper Canada a band of Glengarry Highlanders. Lord Selkirk
+visited Canada by way of New York. To a man of his imaginative
+disposition, the fur trade appealed irresistibly. The picturesque
+brigades of the voyageurs hieing away for the summer up the Ottawa
+toward the land of which Mackenzie had written, "the Nor'-Wester" garb
+of capote and moccassin and snowshoe, and the influence plainly given by
+this the only remunerative industry of Montreal, caught his fancy. Then
+as a British peer and a Scottish Nobleman, the fun-loving but
+hard-headed Scottish traders of Montreal took him to their hearts. He
+met them at their convivial gatherings, he heard the chanson sung by
+voyageurs, and the "habitant" caught his fancy. He was only a little
+past thirty, and that Canadian picture could never be effaced from his
+mind. In after days, these "Lords of the North" abused Lord Selkirk for
+spying out their trade, for catching the secrets of their business which
+were in the wind, and for making an undue use of what they had disclosed
+to him. In this there was nothing. His schemes were afire in his own
+mind long before, his Montreal experiences but fanned the flame, and led
+him to send a few Colonists to Upper Canada to the Settlement to
+Baldoon. This settlement was, however, of small account.
+
+In 1808 though inactive he showed his bent by buying up Hudson's Bay
+Company stock. During this time projects in agriculture, the condition
+of the poor, the safety of the country, and the spread of civilization
+constantly occupied his active mind. The Napoleonic war cut off the vast
+cornfields of America from England, and as a great historian shows was
+followed by a terrible pauperization of the laboring classes.
+
+There is no trace of a desire for aggrandizement, for engaging in the
+fur trade, or for going a-field on plans of speculation in the mind of
+Lord Selkirk. The feuds of the two branches of the Montreal Fur
+traders--the Old Northwest and the New Northwest--which were apparently
+healed in the year after the Colonization of Prince Edward Island, were
+not ended between the two factions of the united company led by
+McTavish--called the Premier--on the one hand and Sir Alexander
+Mackenzie on the other.
+
+During these ten years of the century, the Hudson's Bay Company had also
+established rival posts all over the country. The competition at times
+reached bloodshed, and financial ruin was staring all branches of the
+fur trade in the face.
+
+It was the depressed condition of the fur trade and the consequent drop
+in Hudson's Bay Company shares that appealed to Lord Selkirk, the man of
+many dreams and imaginations and he saw the opportunity of finding a
+home under the prairie skies for his hapless countrymen. It requires no
+detail here of how Lord Selkirk bought a controlling interest in the
+Hudson's Bay Company's stock, made out his plans of Emigration, and took
+steps to send out his hoped-for thousands or tens of thousands of
+Highland crofters, or Irish peasants, whoever they might be, if they
+sought freedom though bound up with hardship, hope instead of a pauper's
+grave, the prospect of independence of life and station in the new world
+instead of penury and misery under impossible conditions of life at
+home. Nor is it a matter of moment to us, how the struggle began until
+we have brought before our minds the stalwart figure of Sir Alexander
+Mackenzie--Lord Selkirk's great protagonist. Like many a distinguished
+man who has made his mark in the new world, and notably our great Lord
+Strathcona, who came as a mere lad to Canada, Alexander Mackenzie, a
+stripling of sixteen, arrived in Montreal to make his fortune. He was
+born as the Scottish people say of "kenn't" of "well-to-do" folk in
+Stornoway, in the Hebrides. He received a fair education and as a boy
+had a liking for the sea. Two partners, Gregory and McLeod, were
+fighting at Montreal in opposition to the dominant firm of McTavish and
+Frobisher. Young Alexander Mackenzie joined this opposition. So great
+was his aptitude, that boy as he was, he was despatched West to lead an
+expedition to Detroit. Soon he was pushed on to be a bourgeois, and was
+appointed at the age of twenty-two to go to the far West fur country of
+Athabasca, the vast Northern country which was to be the area of his
+discoveries and his fame. His energy and skill were amazing, although
+like many of his class, he had to battle against the envy of rivals.
+After completely planning his expedition, he made a dash for the Arctic
+Sea, by way of Mackenzie River, which he--first of white men--descended,
+and which bears his name. Finding his astronomical knowledge defective,
+he took a year off, and in his native land learned the use of the
+instruments needed in exploration. After his return he ascended the
+Peace River, crossed the Rocky Mountains, and on a rock on the shore of
+the Pacific Ocean in British Columbia, inscribed with vermillion and
+grease, in large letters, "Alexander Mackenzie, from Canada, by land,
+the Twenty-second of July, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety-three."
+That was his record as the first white man to cross North America,
+north of Mexico. A few years afterwards he received the honor of
+knighthood for his discoveries. He gained much distinction as a leader,
+though the great McTavish in his Company was never very friendly to him.
+At length he retired, became a representative in the legislature of
+Lower Canada, and was for a time a travelling companion of the Duke of
+Kent. With a desire for loftier station, he settled in his native land,
+married the beautiful and gifted daughter of the House of Seaforth, and
+from her enjoyed the property of Avoch, near Inverness.
+
+Three years before the starting of Lord Selkirk's Colonists and before
+his marriage with Geddes Mackenzie, Sir Alexander took up his abode in
+Scotland. He was the guardian of the rights of the North-West Company
+and manfully he stood for them.
+
+Mackenzie was startled when he heard in 1810 of Lord Selkirk's scheme to
+send his Colonists to Red River. This he thought to be a plan of the
+Hudson's Bay Company, to regain their failing prestige and to strike a
+blow at the Nor'-Wester trade. To the fur trader or the rancher, the
+incoming of the farmer is ever obnoxious. The beaver and the mink desert
+the streams whenever the plowshare disturbs the soil. The deer flee to
+their coverts, the wolf and the fox are exterminated, and even the
+muskrat has a troubled existence when the dog and cat, the domestic
+animals, make their appearance. The proposed settlement is to be
+opposed, and Lord Selkirk's plans thwarted at any cost. Lord Selkirk had
+in the eyes of the Nor'-Westers much presumption, indeed nothing less
+than to buy out the great Hudson's Bay Company, which for a century and
+a half had controlled nearly one-half of North America. The
+Nor'-Westers--Alexander Mackenzie, Inglis and Ellice--made sport of the
+thing as a dream. But the "eccentric Lord" was buying up stock and
+majorities rule in Companies as in the nation. Contempt and abuse gave
+place to settled anxiety and in desperation at last the trio of
+opponents, two days before the meeting, purchased £2,500 of stock, not
+enough to appreciably affect the vote, but enough to give them a footing
+in the Hudson's Bay Company, and to secure information of value to them.
+
+The mill of destiny goes slowly round, and Lord Selkirk and his friends
+are triumphant. He purchases an enormous tract of land, 116,000 square
+miles, one-half in what is now the Province of Manitoba, the other at
+present included in the States of Minnesota and North Dakota, on the
+south side of the boundary line between Canada and the United States.
+The Nor'-Westers are frantic; but the fates are against them. The duel
+has begun! Who will win? Cunning and misrepresentation are to be
+employed to check the success of the Colony, and also local opposition
+on the other side of the Atlantic, should the scheme ever come to
+anything. At present their hope is that it may fall to pieces of its own
+weight.
+
+Lord Selkirk's scheme is dazzling almost beyond belief. A territory is
+his, purchased out and out, from the Hudson's Bay Company, about four
+times the area of Scotland, his native land, and the greater part of it
+fertile, with the finest natural soil in the world, waiting for the
+farmer to give a return in a single year after his arrival. A territory,
+not possessed by a foreign people, but under the British flag! A country
+yet to be the home of millions! It is worth living to be able to plant
+such a tree, which will shelter and bless future generations of mankind.
+Financial loss he might have; but he would have fame as his reward.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+"ACROSS THE STORMY SEA."
+
+
+Oh dreadful war! It is not only in the deadly horror of battle, and in
+the pain and anguish of men strong and hearty, done to death by human
+hands. It is not only in the rotting heap of horses and men, torn to
+pieces by bullets and shell, and thrust together within huge pits in one
+red burial blent. It is not only in the helpless widow and her brood of
+dazed and desolate children weeping over the news that comes from the
+battlefield, that war become so hideous. It is always, as it was in the
+time of the Europe-shadowing Napoleon when for twenty years the wheels
+of industry in Britain were stopped. It is always the derangement of
+business, the increased price of food for the poor, the decay of trade,
+the cutting off of supplies, and the stopping of works of improvement
+that brings conditions which make poverty so terrible. Rags! A bed of
+straw; a crust of bread; the shattered roof; the naked floor; a deal
+table; a broken chair! A writer whose boyhood saw the terror, and want,
+and despair of the last decade of the Napoleonic War, puts into the
+mouth of the victim of poverty this terrible wail:
+
+"But why do I talk of death?
+  That phantom of grizzly bone;
+ I hardly fear his terrible shape
+  It seems so like my own;
+ It seems so like my own,
+  Because of the fasts I keep;
+ Oh God, that bread should be so dear
+  And flesh and blood so cheap!"
+
+To the philanthropist or the benevolent sympathiser like Lord Selkirk,
+who aims at benefiting suffering humanity, it is not the trouble, the
+self-sacrifice, or the spending of money in relief that is the worry,
+but it is the bitterness, the suspicion, the unworkableness, and the
+selfishness of the poverty-stricken themselves that disturbs and
+distresses the benefactor's heart. It is often too the heartlessness and
+prejudice of those who oppose the benefactor's plans that causes the
+generous man anxiety and even at times despair. Poverty in its worst
+form is a gaunt and ravenous beast, that bites the hand of friend or foe
+that is stretched out toward it. So Lord Selkirk found it, when he
+undertook to help the poverty-stricken Celts of the Scottish Highlands
+and of the West of Ireland. He had the sympathising heart; he had the
+true vision; and he had as few others of his time had, the power to
+plan, the invention to suggest, and the skill and pluck to overcome
+difficulties, but the carrying out of his intent brought him infinite
+trouble and sorrow. His prospectus, offering the means to the
+poverty-stricken people of reaching what he believed to be a home of
+ultimate plenty on the banks of the Red River, was an entirely worthy
+document. His first point is, that his Colonists will be freemen. No
+religious tenet will be considered in their selection. This was even
+freer that was that of Lord Baltimore's much-vaunted Colony, on the
+Atlantic Coast, for Baltimore required that every Colonist should
+believe in the doctrine of the Trinity. Then, the offer was to the
+landless and the penniless men. Employment was to be supplied; work in
+the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company, or free grants of land to actual
+settlers, or even a sale in fee simple of land for a mere nominal sum;
+free passages for the poor, reduced passages for those who had small
+means, food provided on the voyage, and the prospect of new world
+advantages to all.
+
+But the poor are timid, and they love even their straw-thatched
+cottages, and it needs active and decided men to press upon them the
+advantages which are offered them. The Emigration Agent is a necessity.
+
+The fur traders' country was at this time well known to many of the
+partners. It was by employing or consulting with some of these fur
+traders that Lord Selkirk obtained a knowledge of the Western land which
+he was to acquire. Years before the Colony began Lord Selkirk had been
+in correspondence with an officer who belonged to a well known Catholic
+family of Highlanders, the Macdonells, who had gone to the Mohawk
+district in the United States before the American Revolution, and had
+afterwards come to Canada as U.E. Loyalists. One of these, a man of
+standing and of executive ability was Miles Macdonell. He had been an
+officer of the King's Royal Regiment of New York, and held the rank of
+Captain of the Canadian Militia. This officer had a brother in the
+North-West Fur Company, John Macdonell, who, more than ten years before,
+had been in the service of his Company on Red River and whose Journal
+had no doubt fallen into the hands of his brother Miles. He had written:
+"From the Forks of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers the plains are quite
+near the banks, and so extensive that a man may travel to the Rocky
+Mountains without passing a wood, a mile long. The soil on the Red River
+and the Assiniboine is generally a good soil, susceptible of culture,
+and capable of bearing rich crops."
+
+He goes on to state, "that the buffalo comes to the fords of the
+Assinboil, besides in these rivers are plenty of sturgeon, catfish,
+goldeyes, pike and whitefish--the latter so common that men have been
+seen to catch thirty or forty a piece while they smoked their pipes." To
+reach this land of plenty, which his brother knew so well, Miles
+Macdonell became the leader of Lord Selkirk's Colonists. He arrived in
+Great Britain in the year for the starting of the Colony, and
+immediately as being a Roman Catholic in religion went to the West of
+Ireland to recommend the Emigration scheme, obtain subscriptions of
+stock, and to engage workmen as Colonists. Glasgow was then, as now, the
+centre of Scottish industry, and it is to Glasgow that the penniless
+Highlanders flock in large numbers for work and residence. Here was a
+suitable field for the Emigration Agent, and accordingly one of their
+countrymen, Captain Roderick McDonald, was sent thither. The way to
+Canada was long, the country unknown, and it required all his persuasion
+and the power of the Gaelic tongue--an open Sesame to an Highlander's
+heart--to persuade many to join the Colonists' bank. It required more.
+The Highlander is a bargainer, as the Tourist in the Scottish Highlands
+knows to this day. Captain Roderick McDonald was compelled to promise
+larger wages to clerks and laborers to induce them to join. He secured
+less than half an hundred men at Stornoway--the trysting place--and the
+promises he had made of higher wages were a bone of contention through
+the whole voyage.
+
+Perhaps the most effective agent obtained by Lord Selkirk was a returned
+trader of the Montreal merchants named Colin Robertson. He had seen the
+whole western fur country, and the fact that he had a grievance made him
+very willing to join Lord Selkirk in his enterprise.
+
+One of the Nor'-Westers in Saskatchewan a few years before the beginning
+of Lord Selkirk's Colony, was "Bras Croche," or crooked-arm McDonald. He
+was of gentle Scottish birth, but his own acquaintances declared that he
+was of a "quarrelsome and pugnacious disposition." In his district Colin
+Robertson was a "Bourgeois" in charge of a station. A quarrel between
+the two men resulted in Colin Robertson losing his position, and as we
+shall see he became one of the most active and serviceable men in the
+history of the Colony. Colin Robertson went among his countrymen in the
+Island of Lewis and elsewhere.
+
+And now as the time draws nigh for gathering together at a common port,
+the Stromness (Orkney), the Glasgow, the Sligo and the Lewis contingents
+to face the stormy sea and seek a new untried home, a fierce storm
+breaks out upon the land. Evidence accumulates that the heat and
+opposition of the "Nor'-West" partners--Sir Alexander Mackenzie, Inglis
+and Ellice--shown at the general meeting of the Company, were to break
+out in numberless hidden and irritating efforts to stop and perhaps
+render impossible the whole Colonizing project.
+
+Just as the active agents, Miles Macdonell, Capt. McDonald and Colin
+Robertson, had set the heather on fire on behalf of Lord Selkirk's
+project, so the aid of the press was used to throw doubt upon the
+enterprise. Inverness is the Capital of the Highlanders, and so the
+"Inverness Journal," containing an effusion signed by "Highlander," was
+spread broadcast through the Highlands, the Islands, and the Orkneys,
+picturing the dangers of their journey, the hardships of the country,
+the deceitfulness of the agents, and the mercenary aims of the noble
+promoter.
+
+Before Miles Macdonell had cleared the coast of England, he wrote to
+Lord Selkirk: "Sir A. (Mackenzie) has pledged himself as so decidedly
+opposed to this project that he will try every means in his power to
+thwart it. Besides, I am convinced he was no friend to your Lordship
+before this came upon the carpet."
+
+No doubt Miles Macdonell was correct, and the two Scottish antagonists
+were face to face in the conflict. We shall see the means supplied by
+which the expedition will be harassed. And now the enterprise is to be
+set on foot.
+
+For nearly a century and a half the Hudson's Bay Company ships have
+sailed yearly from the Thames, and taken the goods of the London
+merchants to the posts and forts of Hudson Bay, carrying back rich
+returns of furs. Sometimes more than one a year has gone. In 1811 there
+was the Commodore's ship the "Prince of Wales," with cabin accommodation
+and such comforts as ships of that period supplied. A second ship, the
+"Eddystone," chartered for special service, accompanied her. These two
+were intended to carry out employees and men for the fur trade, as well
+as the goods.
+
+It must not be forgotten that there was some want of confidence between
+the trading side of the Hudson's Bay Company and that which Lord Selkirk
+represented, in the Colonizing enterprise. Also at this time the laws in
+regard to the safety of vessels, the comfort of passengers, or
+precautions for health were very lax. While the records of emigration
+experiences of British settlers to Canada and the United States are
+being recited by men and women yet living in Canada, the want of
+resource and the neglect of life and property by Governments and
+officials up until half a century ago are heart-sickening. So the third
+ship of the fleet that was to carry the first human freight of Manitoba
+pioneers was the "Edward and Ann." She was a sorry craft, with old
+sails, ropes, etc., and very badly manned. She had as a crew only
+sixteen, including the captain, mates and three small boys. It was a
+surprise to Miles Macdonell that the Company would charter and send her
+out in such a state. The officers came down to Gravesend from London and
+joined their ships, and somewhere about the 25th of June, 1811, they set
+sail from Sheerness on their mission, which was to become historic--not
+so historic, perhaps, as the Mayflower--but still sufficiently important
+to deserve a centennial celebration.
+
+The fleet was, however, to take up its passengers after it had passed
+Duncansby Head, on the north of Scotland. But the elements on the North
+Sea were unpropitious. Sheerness left behind, the trio of vessels had
+not passed the coast of Norfolk before they were driven into Yarmouth
+Harbor, and there for days they lay held in by adverse winds. On July
+2nd they again started northward, when they were compelled to return to
+Yarmouth.
+
+In company they succeeded in reaching Stromness, in the Orkney Isles, in
+about ten days. Here the "Prince of Wales" remained and her two
+companions sailed down to Stornoway on the 17th.
+
+And now, with the storms of the German Ocean left behind, began the
+opposition of the "Nor'-Westers." The "Prince of Wales" brought her
+contingent from the Orkneys, and on July 25th Miles Macdonell writes
+that after all the efforts put forth at all the points he had 125
+Colonists and employees, and these were in a most unsettled state of
+mind.
+
+Some dispute the wages offered them. One party from Galway had not
+arrived. Some are irritated at not being in the quarter of the ship
+which they desired, and some anxiety is evident on the part of Miles
+Macdonell because large advances of money have been given to a number
+and he fears that they may desert. The expenses of assembling the
+settlers have been very heavy, and now opposition appears. Sir
+Alexander's party are doing their work. Mr. Reed, Collector of Customs
+at Stornoway, was married to a niece of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, and as
+collector he throws every obstacle in the way of Macdonell. He has also
+taken pains to stir up discontent in the minds of the Colonists and to
+advise them not to embark.
+
+Further trouble was caused by a Captain Mackenzie--called "a mean
+fellow"--who proved to be a son-in-law of the Collector of Customs Reed,
+and who went on board the "Edward and Ann," recruited as soldiers some
+of the settlers, himself handing them the enlisting money and then
+seeking to compel them to leave the ship with him. Afterwards, Captain
+Mackenzie came on board the "Edward and Ann" and claimed the new
+recruits, as deserters from the army. The Customs officials also boarded
+the emigrant ship and most officiously proclaimed that if any emigrants
+were not satisfied, or were not going of their own free will then they
+might go ashore, and the scene as described by Miles Macdonell may be
+imagined. "Several said they were not willing, and many went over the
+ship's side into Captain Mackenzie's boat. One party ran away with the
+ship's boat, but were brought back. One man jumped into the sea, and
+swam for it until he was picked up by the recruiting boat." The Revenue
+Cutter's boat was likewise very active in taking men away, and the
+collector took some ashore in his boat with himself. A prominent
+employee of the promoters of the expedition, Mr. Moncrieff Blair, who
+posed as a gentleman, deserted on July 25th, the day before the sailing
+of the vessel.
+
+No wonder that Miles Macdonell should write: "My Lord, this is a most
+unfortunate business * * * I condole with your Lordship on all these
+cross accidents."
+
+Thus amid annoyance, opposition, and discouragement did the little fleet
+set sail, on July 26th, 1811.
+
+But this time of Napoleonism in Europe affected even the high seas.
+French cruisers might seize the valuable cargoes being sent out to York
+Factory. Accordingly a man-of-war had been detailed to lead the way.
+This had caused a part of the delay on the East Coast of England, and
+when fairly away from the British Isles and some four hundred miles
+northwest of Ireland, the protecting ship turned back, but the sea was
+so wild that not even a letter could be handed to the Captain to carry
+in a message to the promoter.
+
+The journey continued to be boisterous, but once within Hudson straits
+the weather turned mild, and the great walls of rock reminded the
+Highlanders of their Sutherlandshire West Coast.
+
+They saw no living being as they went through the Strait. Their studies
+of human nature were among themselves. Miles Macdonell reports that
+exclusive of the officers and crews who embarked at Gravesend, there
+were of laborers and writers one hundred and five persons.
+
+Of these there were fifty-three on the "Edward and Ann." Two men of
+especial note, representing the clerical and medical professions were on
+board the Emigrant Ship. Father Burke, a Roman Catholic priest, who had
+come away without the permission of his Bishop was one.
+
+Miles Macdonell did not like him, but he seems to have been a hearty
+supporter of the Emigration Scheme and promised to do great things in
+Ireland on his return.
+
+When he reached York Factory, Burke did not leave the shore to follow
+the Colonists to their homes on the banks of Red River. He married two
+Scotch Presbyterians, and while somewhat merry at times had amused the
+passengers on their dreary ocean journey. More useful, however, to the
+passengers was Mr. Edwards, the ship's doctor.
+
+He had much opportunity for practising his art, both among the Colonists
+and the employees.
+
+At times Miles Macdonell endeavored on shipboard to drill his future
+servants and settlers, but he found them a very awkward squad--not one
+had ever handled a gun or musket. The sea seemed generally too
+tempestuous in mood for their evolutions. As the ships approached York
+Factory the interest increased. The "Eddystone" was detailed to sail to
+"Fort Churchill," but was unable to reach it and found her way in the
+wake of the other vessels to York Factory. It seemed as if the
+sea-divinities all combined to fight against the Colonists, for they did
+not reach York Factory, the winter destination, until the 24th of
+September, having taken sixty-one days on the voyage from Stornoway,
+which was declared by the Hudson's Bay Company officers to be the
+longest and latest passage ever known on Hudson Bay. Then settlers and
+employees were all landed on the point, near York Factory, and were
+sheltered meantime in tents, and as they stood on the shore they saw on
+October 5th, the ships that had brought them safely across the stormy
+sea pass through a considerable amount of floating ice on their homeward
+journey to London.
+
+For one season at least the settlers will face the rigor of this
+Northern Clime.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+A WINTER OF DISCONTENT.
+
+
+The Emigrant ship has landed its living freight at Fort Factory, upon
+the Coast of Hudson Bay--a shore unoccupied for hundreds of miles except
+by a few Hudson's Bay Company forts such as those at the mouth of the
+Nelson River, and of Fort Churchill, a hundred miles or more farther
+north. It was now the end of the season, and it will not do to trifle
+with the nip of cold "Boreas" on the shore of Hudson Bay. The icy winter
+is at hand, and all know that they will face such temperatures as they
+never had seen even among the stormy Hebrides, or in the Northward
+Orkneys. Lord Selkirk's dreams are now to be tested. Is the story of the
+Colony to be an epic or a drama?
+
+It was by no means the first experiment of facing in an unprepared way
+the rigors of a North American winter.
+
+In the fourth year of the Seventeenth Century De Monts, a French
+Colonizer, had a band of his countrymen on Douchet's Island, in the Ste.
+Croix River, on the borders of New Brunswick. Though fairly well
+provided in some ways yet the winter proved so trying that out of the
+number of less than eighty, nearly one-half died. The winter was so
+long, weary and deadly, that in the spring the survivors of the Colony
+were moved to Port Royal in Acadia and the Ste. Croix was given up. This
+was surely dramatic; this was tragic indeed. But in the fourth year of
+this Century, the Tercentenary of this event was celebrated in Annapolis
+and St. John, as the writer himself beheld, and the shouts and applause
+of gathered thousands made a great and patriotic epic.
+
+Again four years after De Monts, when knowledge of climate and
+conditions had become known to the French pioneers, Samuel de Champlain
+wintered with his crew and a few settlers on the site of Old Quebec, on
+the St. Lawrence. Discontent and dissension led to rebellion, and blood
+was shed in the execution of the plotters. Hunger, suffering and the
+dreadful scurvy attacked the founder's party of less than thirty, of
+whom only ten survived, and yet in July of 1908, the writer witnessed
+the grand Tercentenary celebration of Champlain's settlement of Quebec,
+and with the presence of the Prince of Wales, General Roberts, the idol
+of the British Army, a joint fleet, of eleven English, French and
+American first-class Men-of War, with pageantry and music, the Epic of
+Champlain was sung at the foot of the great statue erected to his
+memory.
+
+In the Twentieth year of the Seventeenth Century, a company of very
+sober folk, came to the shore of the Atlantic Ocean in a trifling little
+vessel the "Mayflower," and brought about one hundred Immigrants from
+the British Isles to Plymouth Rock to build up a refuge and a home. What
+a mighty song of patriotism will burst out when in a few years the
+United States hold their Tercentenary of the landing of the Pilgrim
+Fathers.
+
+And so we see the first Selkirk Colonists landed on the Hudson Bay
+numbering at the outside seventy, a number not greatly different from
+the French and Pilgrim Fathers and called on to pass through similar
+trials in the severe winter of Hudson Bay. Their experience has been
+less tragic than that of the other parties spoken of, but in it the same
+elements of discomfort, dissension and disease certainly present
+themselves. However distressing their winter was, the dramatic
+conditions passed away, in a short time we shall be engaged in
+commemorating the patience and the heroism of these settlers, and in
+1912 we shall sing a new song--the epic of the Lord Selkirk Colonists.
+
+But to be true we must look more closely at the trials, and sufferings
+of the untried, and somewhat turbulent band, on their way to the Red
+River.
+
+York Factory as being the port of entry for the southern prairie country
+was a place of some importance. As in the largest number of cases, other
+than a few huts for workmen, and a few Indian families, the Fort was the
+only centre of life in the whole region. Two rivers, the Nelson and the
+Hayes, enter the Hudson Bay at this point--the Nelson being the more
+northerly of the two. Between the two rivers is really a delta or low
+swampy tongue of land. On the Nelson's north bank, the land near the Bay
+is low, while inland there is a rising height. Five or six different
+sites of forts are pointed out at this point. These have been built on
+during the history of the Company, which dates back to 1670. In Lord
+Selkirk's time the factory was more than half a mile from the Bay and
+lay between the two rivers. Miles Macdonell states that it was on "low,
+miry ground without a ditch." The stagnant water by which the post was
+surrounded would be productive of much ill-health, were there a longer
+summer. The buildings of the Factory were also badly planned, and badly
+constructed, so that the Fort was unsuitable for quartering the
+Colonists. Besides this, Messrs. Cook and Auld, the former Governor of
+York Factory, and the latter chief officer of Fort Churchill, having the
+old Hudson's Bay Company's spirit of dislike of Colonists, decided that
+the new settlers, being an innovation and an evil, should have separate
+quarters built for them at a distance from the Fort.
+
+Poor Colonists! Miles Macdonell is wearied with them in their
+complaining spirit, berates them for indolence, and finds fault with
+their awkwardness as workmen. To Macdonell, who was a Canadian,
+accustomed as a soldier and frontiersman to dealing with canoes, boats,
+and every means of land transport, the sturdy, steady going Orkneyman
+was slow and clumsy.
+
+The inexperienced new settler thus gets rather brusque treatment from
+the Colonial, more a good deal than he deserves.
+
+Accordingly it was decided to erect log dwellings for the workmen and
+the settlers on the higher ground north of the Nelson River. Several
+miles distant from the Factory itself, Spruce trees of considerable size
+grew along the river, and so all hands were put to work to have huts or
+shanties erected to protect the Colonists from the severe cold of
+winter, which would soon be upon them, although on October 5th Miles
+Macdonell wrote home to Lord Selkirk: "The weather has been mild and
+pleasant for some days past."
+
+The erection of suitable houses, that is homely on the exterior, but
+warm in the coldest weather, was superintended by Miles
+Macdonell--himself a Colonial and one aware of the precautions needing
+to be taken.
+
+Amid all the troubles and complaints of the winter there were none
+against the suitableness of the log dwellings which were erected on the
+chosen site to which was given the name, "Nelson Encampment." Winter,
+however, came in fiercely enough in November, although again on the 29th
+of November, Macdonell writes to Cook, Governor of the Factory: "A mild
+day enables us to send a boat across the Nelson with the Express." It
+was open water on the river.
+
+Macdonell knew well that with the recent arrivals from the Old Land, one
+of the greatest dangers would be the weakening and dangerous disease of
+scurvy. He had sought for supplies of "Essence of Malt" and "Crystallized
+Salts of Lemon," and at the beginning of December as the people were
+living chiefly on salt provisions and a short allowance of oatmeal the
+scurvy made its appearance. Medical care was given by Mr. Edwards and
+the disease was at once met. However within a month one-third of the
+Immigrants were thus afflicted and the fear was that the malady would go
+through the whole Encampment. But the remedy that Champlain found so
+effective at Quebec--the juice of the Spruce tree, which grew in
+abundance around the Encampment--checked the disease, wherever the
+obstinacy of the settlers did not prevent its use, for says Macdonell,
+"It is not an easy matter to get the Orkneymen to drink it, particularly
+the old hands." A smouldering fire of discontent that had been detected
+on board the ship on crossing the ocean now broke out into a flame. The
+Irish and the Orkneymen could not agree. In February the vigilant leader
+Macdonell writes: "The Irish displayed their native propensity and
+prowess on the first night of the year, by unmercifully beating some
+Orkneymen. Too much strong drink was the chief incitement." This
+antipathy continued to be a difficulty even until the party arrived at
+Red River.
+
+There are signs in his letters, of the constant strain on Miles
+Macdonell arising from the difficulties of his position and the
+waywardness of the Immigrants. At times he consults with the Hudson's
+Bay Company's officer, Mr. Hillier, and at others thus unbosoms himself
+to Messrs. Cook and Auld. "In this wild, desolate and (I may add) barren
+region, excluded at present from all communication with the civilized
+world, intelligence of a local kind can alone be expected. Could we join
+in the sentinel's cry of 'All is well,' although not affording great
+changes, it might yet be satisfactory in our isolated condition. We have
+as great variety as generally happens in this sublunary world, of which
+we here form a true epitome, being composed of men of all countries,
+religions and tongues."
+
+Plainly Governor Macdonell feels his burdens! However, the culmination
+of this officer's troubles did not reach him until a serious rebellion
+occurred among his subjects--so mixed and various.
+
+A workman--William Finlay--presumably an Orkneyman, who had been
+regularly employed by Miles Macdonell when the scurvy was bad in Mr.
+Hillier's camp, refused to obey the health regulations, his one
+objection being to drink this spruce decoction. He was immediately
+dropped from work. A few days afterward supposing the matter had blown
+over, Macdonell ordered him to work again. Finlay declined, whereupon,
+though under engagement he refused to further obey Macdonell. The
+Governor then brought him before Mr. Hillier, who like himself, had been
+made a magistrate. His breach of law in this, as in other matters being
+brought against Finlay he was sentenced to confinement. There being no
+prison at York Factory it seemed difficult to carry out the sentence by
+his being simply confined with his other companions in the men's
+quarters. Accordingly the Governor ordered a single log hut to be
+constructed, and this being done, in it the prisoner was confined. Not a
+day had entirely passed when a rebellion arose among some of his
+compatriots--the Scottish contingent from Orkney and Glasgow--and a band
+of thirteen of them surrounded the newly built hut, set it on fire and
+as it went up in smoke rescued the prisoner.
+
+The men were arrested and were brought before Macdonell and Hillier,
+sitting as magistrates. This was about the end of February. The rebels,
+however, defied the authorities, departed carrying Finlay with them and
+getting possession of a house took it defiantly for their own use.
+During their remaining sojourn at York Factory they subsisted on
+provisions obtained at the Factory itself and carried by themselves from
+the post to the encampment. Governor Macdonell, meantime, decided to
+send these rebellious spirits home to Britain for punishment, and not
+allow them to go on to Red River.
+
+The possession by the rioters of some five or six stand of firearms, was
+felt to be a menace to the peace of the encampment. An effort was made
+to obtain them by Macdonell, but "the insurgents," as they were called,
+secreted the arms and thus kept possession of them. In June on the
+rebels being very bold and being unable to get back across the Nelson
+River from the Factory for a number of days, they were forced by Mr.
+Auld, then at York Factory, to give up their arms and submit or else
+have their supplies from the Factory stopped. They were thus compelled
+to submit and on the receipt of a note from Mr. Auld to Macdonell, the
+latter wrote a joyful letter to Lord Selkirk to the effect that the
+insurgents had at length come to terms, acknowledged their guilt and
+thrown themselves upon the mercy of the Hudson's Bay Committee.
+
+This surrender made it unnecessary to send the body of rioters back to
+England for trial.
+
+During the months of later winter Governor Miles Macdonell was specially
+employed in building boats for the journey up to Red River. He
+introduced a style of boat used on the rivers of New York, his native
+State. These, however, he complains, were very badly constructed through
+the clumsiness and lack of skill of the Colonists and Company employees,
+whom he had ordered to build them.
+
+Now on July fourth, 1812, Governor Macdonell, his Colonists, and the
+Hudson's Bay officials--Cook and Auld--are all gazing wistfully up the
+Nelson and Hayes Rivers, and we have the postscript to the last letter
+as found in Miles Macdonell letter book, sent to Lord Selkirk, reading,
+"Four Irishmen are to be sent home; Higgins and Hart, for the felonious
+attack on the Orkneymen; William Gray, non-effective, and Hugh Redden,
+who lost his arm by the bursting of a gun given him to fire off by Mr.
+Brown, one of the Glasgow clerks."
+
+(Signed) H. MacD.
+
+The expedition left York Factory for the interior on the 6th of July,
+1812.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+FIRST FOOT ON RED RIVER BANKS.
+
+
+The weary winter passing at Nelson Encampment had its bright spots.
+Miles Macdonell in the building erected for himself, on the south side
+of the Nelson River, kept up his mess, having with him Mr. Hillier,
+Priest Bourke, Doctor Edwards, and Messrs. John McLeod, Whitford and
+Michael Macdonell, officers and clerks. Those Immigrants who took no
+part in the rebellion fared well. True, the scurvy seized several of
+them, but proved harmless to those who obeyed the orders and took
+plentiful potations of spruce beer. With the opening year a fair supply
+of fresh and dried venison was supplied by the Indians. In April upwards
+of thirty deer were snared or shot by the settlers. Some three thousand
+deer of several different kinds crossed the Nelson River within a month.
+"Fresh venison," writes Macdonell, "was so plenty that our men would not
+taste salt meat. We have all got better since we came to Hudson Bay."
+
+But as in all far northern climates the heat was great in the months of
+May and June, and Governor and Colonists became alike restless to start
+on the inland journey.
+
+The passing out of the ice in north-flowing rivers is always wearisome
+for those who are waiting to ascend. Beginning to melt farther south,
+the ice at the mouth is always last to move. Besides, the arrival was
+anxiously awaited of Bird, Sinclair and House. By continuous urging of
+the dull and inefficient workmen to greater effort, Miles Macdonell had
+succeeded in securing four boats--none too well built--but commodious
+enough to carry his boat-crews, workmen, and Colonists.
+
+Though Macdonell sought for the selection of the workmen who were to
+accompany him to Red River, he was not able to move the Hudson's Bay
+Company officials. Two days, however, after arrival of the Company
+magnates from the interior his men were secured to him, and he was fully
+occupied in transporting his stores up the river as far as the
+"Rock"--the rapids of the Hill River which here falls into Hayes River.
+For a long distance up the river there is a broad stream, one-quarter of
+a mile wide, running at the rate of two miles an hour through low banks.
+The boatmen have a good steady pull up the river for some sixty miles,
+and here where the Steel River enters the Hayes is seen a wide, deep,
+rapid stream running about three miles an hour. The banks of this river
+are of clay and rising from fifty to one hundred feet, the clay of the
+banks is so smooth and white that a traveller has compared them in color
+to the white, chalk cliffs of Dover. Thus far though it has required
+exertion on the part of the boatmen, a good stretch of a hundred miles
+from the Factory has been passed without any obstruction or delay. Now
+the serious work of the journey begins. The Hill River, as this part of
+the river is called, is a series of rapids and portages--where the cargo
+and boat have both to be carried around a rapid; of decharges where the
+cargo has thus to be carried, and of semi-decharges--where a portion of
+the cargo only needs to be removed.
+
+At times waterfalls require to be circuited with great effort. A high
+mountain or elevated table-land seen from this river shows the rough
+country of which these cascades and rapids are the proof. Here are the
+White-Mud Falls and other smaller cataracts. To the expert voyageur such
+a river has no terrors, but to the raw-hand the management of such boats
+is a most toilsome work. The birch-bark canoe is a mere trifle on the
+portage, but the heavy York boat capable of carrying three or four tons
+is a clumsy lugger. The cargo must be moved, the non-effectives such as
+the women and children and the old men must trudge the weary path,
+varying from a few hundred yards to several miles along a rocky, steep
+and rugged way. When the portage is made the whole force of boatmen and
+able-bodied passengers are required to stand by each boat, pull it out
+of the water, and then skid or drag or cajole it along till it is thrust
+into its native element again. To the willing crofter or Orkney boatmen
+this was not a great task, but to the Glasgow immigrant, or the
+waiter-on-fortune this was hard work. Many were the oaths of the
+officers and the complaints and objections of the men when they were
+required to grapple with the foaming cascades, the fearful rapids and
+the difficult portages of Hill River. Mossy Portage being now past the
+landing on a rocky island at the head of the river showed that the first
+"Hill Difficulty" had been overcome.
+
+Swampy lake for ten miles gives a comparative rest to the toiling crews,
+but at the end of it a short portage passed takes the beleagured party
+into the mouth of the Jack Tent River. Day after day with sound sleep
+when the mosquitoes would permit, the unwilling voyageurs continued
+their journey. Ten portages have to be faced and overcome as the brigade
+ascends the rapid Jack Tent River, covering a stretch of seventy miles.
+The party now find themselves on the surface of Knee Lake, a
+considerable sheet of water, but a comparative rest after the trials of
+Jack Tent River. The lake is fifty-six miles long and at times widens to
+ten miles across.
+
+But there is trouble just ahead.
+
+The travellers have now come to the celebrated Fall Portage. It is short
+but deterrent. The height and ruggedness of the rocks over which cargo
+and boats have to be dragged are unusually forbidding. The only
+consolation to the contemplative soul, who does not have to portage, is
+that "The stream is turbulent and unfriendly in the extreme, but in
+romantic variety, and in natural beauty nothing can exceed this
+picture." High rocks are seen, beetling over the rapids like towers, and
+are rent into the most diversified forms, gay with various colored
+masses, or shaded by overhanging hills--now there is a tranquil pool
+lying like a sheet of silver--now the dash and foam of a cataract--these
+are but parts of this picturesque and striking scene.
+
+But Fall Portage was only a culmination, in this fiercely rushing Trout
+River, for above it a dozen rapids are to be passed with toilsome
+energy. After this the party is rewarded with beautiful islets, and the
+lake for a length of thirty-five miles lies in a fertile tract of
+country. It was formerly appropriately called Holy Lake, and as a summit
+lake suggests to the traveller abiding restfulness. To the traders on
+their route whether passing up or down the water courses, it was always
+so. After the long and tedious voyaging it was their Elysium. Not only
+are the sweet surroundings of the lake most charming, but the Indians of
+the neighborhood have always been noted for their good character, their
+docility and their industry.
+
+[Illustration: ANDREW McDERMOTT, ESQ., Greatest Merchant of the Red
+River Settlement. Came to Red River Settlement in 1813. Died in
+Winnipeg in 1881.]
+
+A short delay at Oxford House led to the continuation of the journey
+over what was now the roughest, most desolate, and most trying part of
+the voyage. On this rough passage, perhaps the most distressing spot was
+"Windy Lake," a small but tempestuous sheet. The voyageurs declare that
+they never cross "Lac de Vent" without encountering high winds and very
+often dangerous storms. Again "the Real Hill Difficulty" is encountered
+above the lake at the "Big Hill" portage and rapids--one of the sudden
+descents of this alarming stream. Those coming toward Oxford Lake run it
+at the very risk of their lives, but the painful portages impress
+themselves on all going up the "Height of Land," which is reached after
+passing through a narrow gorge between hills and mountains of rocks, the
+stream dashing headlong down from the mile-long Robinson Portage.
+
+This region is an elevated, rugged waste, with no signs of animal life
+about it. It is the terror of the voyageurs. This eerie tract culminates
+in the ascending "Haute de Terre," as the French call it--the dividing
+ridge between the waters running eastward to Hudson Bay and those
+running westward and descending to meet the Nelson River, on its
+headlong way to Hudson Bay as well. The obstacle known as the "Painted
+Stone" being passed the Colonists' brigade was now on its way to the
+inland plain of the Continent.
+
+The portage led from this string of five small lakes to the head waters
+of a trifling, but very interesting stream called the "Echimamish
+River." A doubtful but curious explanation has been given of the name.
+On the stream are ten beaver dams; which ever of these filled first gave
+the voyageur the opportunity to launch in his canoe or boat and go down
+the little runway to Black Water Creek. It was said that in consequence
+it was called "Each-a-Man's" brook, according as each voyageur took the
+water with his craft first. The way was now clear, down stream until
+shortly was seen the dashing Nelson River, or as it is here called, "The
+Sea River." When this was accomplished the Immigrants had only to pull
+stoutly up stream for forty miles or more until Norway House, the great
+Hudson's Bay Fort at the north end of Lake Winnipeg was reached.
+
+The weary journey--430 miles from York Factory--was thus over and the
+worn out, weather beaten, ragged, and foot-sore travellers had come to
+the lake, whose name, other than that of Red River, was the only inland
+word they had ever heard of before starting on their journey.
+
+It was the first standing place in the country, which was now to have
+them as its pioneers.
+
+There is no turning back now. The Rubicon is crossed. Thirty-seven
+portages lie between them and the dissociable sea. For better or for
+worse they will now complete their journey, going on to found the
+Settlement which has become so famous.
+
+The appearance of Norway House with its fine site and evidences of trade
+cheered the Colonists, and the sight of a body of water like Lake
+Winnipeg, which can be as boisterous as the ocean, brought back the loud
+resounding sea by whose swishing waves most of the settlers, for all
+their lives, had been lulled to sleep. It is a great stormy and
+dangerous lake--Lake Winnipeg. But for boats to creep along its shore
+with the liberty of landing on its sloping banks in case of need it is
+safe enough. The season was well past, and haste was needed, but in due
+time the mouth of the river--the delta of Red River--was reached. Now
+they were within forty or forty-five miles of their destination. At this
+time the banks of the Red River were well wooded, though there was open
+grassy plains lying behind these belts of forest. There was only one
+obstruction on their way up the river. This was the "Deer," now St.
+Andrew's Rapids, but after their experiences this was nothing, for these
+rapids were easily overcome by tracking, that is, by dragging the boats
+by a line up the bank.
+
+Up the river they came and rounded what we now call Point Douglas, in
+the City of Winnipeg, a name afterwards given to mark Lord Selkirk's
+family name. They had completed a journey of seven hundred and
+twenty-eight miles, from York Factory to the site of Winnipeg--and they
+had done this in fifty-five days. Now they landed.
+
+
+THE RED LETTER DAY OF THEIR LANDING WAS AUGUST 30TH, 1812.
+
+At York Factory the Colonists had met a Hudson's Bay Company
+officer--Peter Fidler--on his way to England. He was the surveyor of the
+Company and a map of the Colony of which a copy is given by us marks the
+Colony Gardens, where Governor Miles Macdonell lived. This spot they
+chose, and the locality at the foot of Rupert Street is marked in the
+City of Winnipeg. A stone's throw further north along the bank of Red
+River, Fort Douglas was afterwards built, around which circles much of
+this Romantic Settlement Story.
+
+This spot was the centre of the First Settlement of Rupert's Land and to
+this first party peculiar interest attaches.
+
+There can only be one Columbus among all the navigators who crossed from
+Europe to America; there can only be one Watt among all the inventors
+and improvers of the steam engine; only one Newton among those who
+discuss the great discovery of the basal law of gravitation.
+
+There can be only one first party of those who laid the foundation of
+collective family life in what is now the Province of Manitoba--and what
+is wider--in the great Western Canada of to-day. There may have been not
+many wise men, not many mighty, not many noble among them, but the long
+and stormy voyage which they made, the dangers they endured on the sea,
+the marvellous land journey they accomplished, and their taking "seisin
+of the land," to use William the Conqueror's phrase, entitles them to
+recognition and to respectful memory.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+"THREE DESPERATE YEARS."
+
+
+Pioneering to-day is not so serious a matter as it once was. To the
+frontiers' man now it involves little risk, and little thought, to
+dispose of his holding, and make a dash further West for two or three
+hundreds of miles across the plains. When he wishes more land for his
+growing sons, he "sells out," fits up his commodious covered wagon,
+called "the prairie schooner," and with implements, supplies, cattle and
+horses, starts on the Western "trail." His wife and children are in high
+spirits. When a running stream or spring is reached on the way he stops
+and camps. His journey taken when the weather is fine and when the
+mosquitoes are gone is a diversion. The writer has seen a family which
+went through this gypsy-like "moving" no less than four times. At length
+the settler finds his location, has it registered in the nearest Land
+Office and calls it his. With ready axes, the farmer and his sons cut
+down the logs which are to make their dwelling. The children explore the
+new farm lying covered with its velvet sod, as it has done for
+centuries; they gather its flowers, pluck its wild fruits, chase its
+wild ducks or grouse or gophers. Health and homely fare make life
+enjoyable. Subject to the incidents and interruptions of every day,
+which follow humanity, it seems to them a continual picnic.
+
+But how different was the fate of the worn-out Selkirk Colonists. The
+memory of a wretched sea voyage, of a long and dreary winter at Nelson
+Encampment, and of a fifty-five days' journey of constant hardship along
+the fur traders' route were impressed upon their minds. The thought of
+fierce rivers and the dangers of portage and cascade still haunted them,
+and now everything on the banks of Red River was strange. On their
+arrival the flowers were blooming, but they were prairie flowers, and
+unknown to them. The small Colony houses which they were to occupy would
+be uncomfortable. The very sun in the sky seemed alien to them, for the
+Highland drizzle was seen no more. The days were bright, the weather
+warm, the nights cool, and there was an occasional August thunderstorm,
+or hailstorm which alarmed them. The traders, the Indians, the
+half-breed trappers, and runners were all new to them. Their Gaelic
+language, which they claimed as that of Eden, was of little value to
+them except where an occasional company-servant chanced to be a
+countryman of their own. They were without money, they were dependent
+upon Lord Selkirk's agents for shelter and rations. The land which they
+hoped to possess was there awaiting them, but they had no means for
+purchasing implements, nor were the farming requisites to be found in
+the country. Horses there were, but there were only two or three
+individual cattle within five hundred miles of them.
+
+If they had sung on their sorrowful leaving, "Lochaber no more," the
+words were now turned by their depressed Highland natures into a wail,
+and they sang in the words of their old Psalms of "Rouse's" version:
+
+    "By Babel's streams we sat and wept,
+     When Zion we thought on."
+
+They thought of their crofts and clachans, where if the land was stingy,
+the gift of the sea was at hand to supply abundant food.
+
+But this was no time for sighs or regrets.
+
+The Hudson's Bay traders from Brandon House were waiting for expected
+goods, and Messrs. Hillier and Heney, who were the Hudson's Bay Company
+officers for the East Winnipeg District, had arduous duties ahead of
+them. But though the orders to prepare for the Colonists had been sent
+on in good time, there was not a single bag of pemmican or any other
+article of provision awaiting the hapless settlers. The few French
+people who were freemen, lived in what is now the St. Boniface side of
+the river, were only living from hand to mouth, and the Company's people
+were little better provided. The river was the only resource, and from
+the scarceness of hooks the supply of fish obtainable was rather scanty.
+
+As the Colonists and their leader were strangers they desired leisure to
+select a suitable location for their buildings. For the time being their
+camp was at the Forks, on the east side of the river, a little north of
+the mouth of the Assiniboine.
+
+The Governor, Miles Macdonell, on the 4th of September, summoned three
+of the North-West Company gentlemen, the free Canadians beside whom they
+were encamped, and a number of the Indians to a spectacle similar to
+that enacted by St. Lawson, at Sault Ste. Marie, nearly a hundred and
+fifty years before. The Nor'-Westers had not permitted their employees
+to cross the river. Facing, as he did, Fort Gibraltar, across the river,
+the Governor directed the patent of Lord Selkirk to his vast concession
+to be read, "delivering and seizin were formally taken," and Mr. Heney
+translated some part of the Patent into French for the information of
+the French Canadians. There was an officers' guard under arms; colors
+were flying and after the reading of the Patent all the artillery
+belonging to Lord Selkirk, as well as that of the Hudson's Bay Company,
+under Mr. Hillier, consisting of six swivel guns, were discharged in a
+grand salute.
+
+At the close of the ceremony the gentlemen were invited to the
+Governor's tent, and a keg of spirits was turned out for the people.
+
+Having made such disposition as we shall see of the people, Governor
+Macdonell went with a boat's crew down the river to make a choice of a
+place of settlement for the Colonists. A bull and cow and winter wheat
+had been brought with the party, and these were taken to a spot selected
+after a three days' thorough investigation of both banks of the river
+for some miles below the Forks. The place found most eligible was "an
+extensive point of land through which fire had run and destroyed the
+wood, there being only burnt wood and weeds left." This was afterwards
+called Point Douglas.
+
+He had, as we shall see, dispatched the settlers to their wintering
+place up the Red River on the 6th of September, and set some half-dozen
+men, who were to stay at the Forks, to work clearing the ground for
+sowing winter wheat. An officer was left with the men to trade with
+Indians for fish and meat for the support of the workers.
+
+The winter, which is sharp, crisp and decided in all of Rupert's Land,
+was approaching, so that their situation began to be desperate.
+
+Governor Macdonell's chief care was for the safety and comfort during
+the winter of his helpless Colonists.
+
+Sixty miles up the Red River from the Forks was a settlement of native
+people--chiefly French half-breeds--and to this place called Pembina
+came in the buffaloes, or if not they were easily reached from this
+settlement. But the poor Scottish settlers had no means of transport,
+and the way seemed long and desolate to them to venture upon,
+unaccompanied and unhelped. Governor Macdonell did his best for them,
+and succeeded in inducing the Saulteaux Indians, who seemed friendly, to
+guide and protect them as they sought Pembina for winter quarters.
+
+The Indians had a few ponies and mounted on these they undertook to
+conduct the settlers to their destination. The caravan was grotesquely
+comical as it departed southward. The Indians upon their "Shaganappi
+ponies," as they are called, like mounted guards protecting the men,
+women and children of the Colony who trudged wearily on foot. The
+Indians were kind to their charge, but the Redman loves a joke, and
+often indulges in "horse-play." The demure Highlander looked unmoved
+upon the Indian pranks. The Indians also hold everything they possess on
+a loose tenure. The Highlander who was forced to surrender the gun,
+which his father had carried at the battle of Culloden, failed to see
+the humour of the affair, and the Highland woman who was compelled to
+give up her gold marriage ring, because some prairie brave wanted it,
+was unable to see the ethics of the Saulteaux guide who robbed her. The
+women became very weary of their journey, but their mounted guardians
+only laughed, because they were in the habit on their long marches of
+treating their own squaws in the same manner.
+
+To Pembina at length they came--worn out, dusty and despondent. Here
+they erected tents or built huts. The settlers reached Pembina on the
+11th of September, and Macdonell and an escort of three men, all on
+horseback, arrived on the 12th. Arrived at Pembina Macdonell examined
+the ground carefully, and selected the point on the south side of the
+Pembina River at its juncture with the Red River as a site for a fort.
+His men immediately camped here. Great quantities of buffalo meat were
+brought in by the French Canadians and Indians. Some of this was sent
+down to the Forks to the party which had remained to built a hut at that
+point for stores. At Pembina a storehouse was built immediately, and
+having given directions to erect several other buildings, the Governor
+returned by boat to the Forks. On the 27th of October Owen Keveny, in
+charge of the second detachment of Colonists, arrived with his party,
+largely of Irishmen. These men were taken on to Pembina. After great
+activity the buildings were ready by the 21st of November to house the
+whole of the two parties now united in one band of Colonists. The
+Governor and officers' quarters were finished on December 27th.
+Macdonell reports to Lord Selkirk that "as soon as the place at Pembina
+took some form and a decent flagstaff was erected on it, it was called
+Fort Daer." It is said that in most years the buffaloes were very
+numerous and so tame that they came to the Trader's Fort and rubbed
+their backs upon its stockaded enclosure. There was this year plenty of
+buffalo meat and the Scotch women soon learned to cook it into
+"Rubaboo," or "Rowschow," after the manner of the French half-breeds.
+Toward spring food was scarcer.
+
+[Illustration: HON. DONALD GUNN Schoolmaster, Naturalist and Legislator.
+York Factory, 1813; Red River, 1823; Died at Little Britain. 1878.]
+
+In May the winterers of Pembina returned to their settlement at the
+Colony. They sought to begin the cultivation of their farms, but they
+were helpless. The tough prairie sod had to be broken up and worked
+over, but the only implement which the Colonist had to use was a simple
+hoe, the one harrow being incomplete. The crofters were poor farmers,
+for they were rather fishermen. But the fish in Red River were scarce in
+this year, so that even the fisher's art which they knew was of little
+avail to them. The summer of 1813 was thus what the old settlers would
+call an "Off-Year," for even the small fruits on the plains were far
+from abundant. These being scarce, the chief food of the settlers for
+all that summer through was the "Prairie turnip." This is a variety of
+the pea family, known as the Astragalus esculenta, which with its large
+taproot grows quite abundantly on the dry plains. An old-time trader,
+who was lost for forty days and only able to get the Prairie turnip,
+practically subsisted in this way. Along with this the settlers gathered
+quantities of a very succulent weed known as "fat-hen," and so were kept
+alive. The Colonists knowing now what the soil could produce obtained
+small quantities of grain and even with their defective means of
+cultivation, in the next year demonstrated the fertility of the soil of
+the country.
+
+It was somewhat distressing to the Colonists again in 1813 to make the
+journey of sixty miles to Pembina, trudging along the prairie trail, but
+there was no other resource. The treatment of the Colonists by the
+"Nor'-Westers" had not thus far been unfriendly and the Canadian traders
+had even imported a few cattle, pigs, and poultry for the use of the
+settlers, and for these favors Governor Macdonell expressed his hearty
+thanks to the Montreal Company. The fatigues and mishaps of the journey
+to Pembina were, however, only the beginning of trouble for the winter.
+The reception by the French half-breed residents of Pembina was not now
+so friendly as that of the previous winter. At first the Nor'-Wester
+feeling had been one of contempt for the Colonists and pity for them in
+their hunger and miseries. The building of Fort Daer was an evidence of
+occupation that caused the jealous Canadian pioneers to pause. The
+reception of the second season was thus decidedly cool. The struggling
+settlers found before the winter was over that troubles come in troops.
+Very heavy snows fell in the winter of 1813-14. This brought two
+difficulties. It prevented the buffaloes coming freely from the open
+plains into the rivers and sheltered spots. The buffalo being a heavy
+animal is helpless in the snow. The other difficulty was that the
+settlers could not go on the chase with freedom. Unfortunately the
+Colonists were not able to use the snowshoe as could the lively Metis.
+The settlers well nigh perished in seeking the camp whither the native
+hunters had gone to follow the buffalo. Indeed the Colonists had the
+conviction that a plot to murder two of their most active leaders was
+laid by the French half-breeds whose sympathies were all with the
+"Nor'-Westers."
+
+The climax of feeling was reached when Governor Macdonell, who was with
+the Colonists at Pembina, issued a most unwise proclamation, which to
+the Nor'-Westers seemed an illegality if not an impertinence. Dependent
+as the settlers were on the older Company for supplies and assistance
+this was nothing less than an act of madness.
+
+By proclamation, on the 8th of January, 1814, Macdonell forbade any
+traders of "The Honorable Hudson's Bay Company, the North-West Company,
+or any individual or unconnected trader whatever to take out any
+provisions, either of flesh, grain or vegetables, from the country."
+The embargo was complete.
+
+In Governor Macdonell's defence it should be said that he offered to pay
+by British bills for all the provisions taken, at customary rates.
+
+This assertion of sovereignty set on fire the Nor'-Westers and their
+sympathizers.
+
+Not only was this extreme step taken, but John Spencer, a subordinate of
+Macdonell was sent west to Brandon House, found an entrance into the
+North-West Fort at the mouth of the Souris River and seizing some
+twenty-five tons of dry buffalo meat took it into his own fort.
+
+It is quite true that Governor Macdonell expected new bands of Colonists
+and thus justified himself in his seizure. It is to the credit of the
+Nor'-Westers that they restrained themselves and avoided a general
+conflict, but evidently they only bided their time.
+
+No breach of the peace occurred however, before the return of the
+Colonists from Pembina to the Colony Houses. The settlers occupied their
+homes in the best of spirits, and began to sow their wheat, but they
+were still greatly checked by the absence of the commonest implements of
+farm culture. Had Lord Selkirk known the true state of things on Red
+River, he would never have continued to send new bands of Colonists so
+imperfectly fitted for dealing with the cultivation of the soil.
+
+The founder's mind had been fired, both by the opposition of Sir
+Alexander Mackenzie and by the successful arrival of his two bands of
+Colonists at the Red River, to make greater efforts than ever.
+
+This he did by sending out a third party in all nearly a hundred strong,
+under the leadership of a very capable man--Archibald Macdonald. This
+band of settlers in 1813 were bound on the ship Prince of Wales for York
+Factory. A very serious attack of ship fever filled the whole ship's
+crew with alarm. Several well-known Colonists died. The Captain,
+alarmed, refused to go on to his destination, but ran the ship into Fort
+Churchill and there disembarked them. Further deaths took place at this
+point. In the spring there was no resource but to trudge over the rocky
+ledges and forbidding desolation of more than a hundred miles between
+the Fort Churchill and York Factory. Only the stronger men and women
+were selected for the journey. On the 6th of April, 1814, a party of
+twenty-one males and twenty females started on this now celebrated
+tramp. At first the party began to march in single file, but finding
+this inconvenient changed to six abreast. Unaccustomed to snowshoes and
+sleds the Colonists found the snowy walk very distressing. Three fell by
+the way and were carried on by the stronger men. The weather was very
+cold. A supply of partridges was given them on starting, and the party
+was met by hunters sent from York Factory to meet them, who brought two
+hundred partridges, killed by the way. York Factory was reached on the
+13th of April. This band of Colonists were superior to any who had come
+in the former parties. Many of them, as we shall see, did not remain in
+the Colony. A list of this party may be found in the Appendix. After
+remaining a month at York Factory, on the 27th of May, this heroic band
+went on their way to Red River, and reached their destination in time to
+plant potatoes for themselves and others. Comrades left behind at
+Churchill found their way to Red River. Lots along Red River were now
+being taken up by the settlers, and here they sought to found homes
+under a northern sky. Old and new settlers were now hopeful, but their
+hopes of peace and happiness were soon to be dashed to pieces.
+
+The arrival of the third year's Colonists provoked still greater
+opposition. Feeling had been gradually rising against the new settlers
+at every new arrival. The excellence of the later immigrants but led
+their opponents to be irritated.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+FIGHT AND FLIGHT.
+
+
+The year 1815 was a year of world-wide disaster. Napoleon's
+Europe-shadowing wings had for years been over that continent and he
+like a ravenous bird had left marks of his ravages among the most
+prominent European nations. The world had a breathing spell for a short
+time with Napoleon a virtual prisoner in Elba, but now in March of this
+year he broke from the perch where he had been tethered and all Europe
+was again in terror. The nations were thunderstruck; the alarm was
+deepened by the appearance of Olber's great comet, and in their
+superstition the ignorant were panic-stricken, while the more religious
+and informed saw in these terrible events the scenes pictured in the
+Apocalypse and maintained that the battle of Armageddon was at hand. The
+epoch-marking battle of Waterloo in June of this year was sufficiently
+near the picture of blood painted in the Revelation to satisfy the
+credulous.
+
+But in a remote corner of Rupert's Land, where the number of the
+combatants was small and the conditions exceedingly primitive the comet
+was alarming enough. The action of Governor Miles Macdonell in the
+beginning of 1814, in forbidding the export of food from Rupert's Land
+and in interfering with the liberty of the traders, Indians and
+half-breeds, who had regarded themselves as outside of law, and as free
+as the wind of their wild prairies, produced an open and out-spoken
+dissent from every class.
+
+The Nor'-Westers took time to consider the grave step of interrupting
+trade which Governor Miles Macdonell had taken. Immediate action was
+impossible. It was four hundred miles and more from the Colony to the
+great emporium of the fur trade on Lake Superior. The annual gathering
+of the Nor'-Westers was held at Grand Portage, the terminus of a road
+nine miles long, built to avoid the rapids of the Pigeon River which
+flows into Lake Superior some thirty or forty miles southwest of where
+Fort William now stands. This concourse was a notable affair. From
+distant Athabasca, from the Saskatchewan, from the Red River and from
+Lake Winnipeg, the traders gathered in their gaily decked canoes, to
+meet the gentlemen from Montreal, who came to count the gains of the
+year, and lay out plans for the future. Indians gathered outside of
+Grand Portage Fort. The Highland Chieftains were now transformed into
+factors and traders, and for days they met in counsel together. Their
+evenings were spent in the great dining room of the Fort in revelry.
+Songs of the voyage were sung and as the excitement grew more intense
+the partners would take seats on the floor of the room and each armed
+with a sword or poker or pair of tongs unite in the paddle song of "A la
+Claire Fontaine," and make merry till far on in the morning. The days
+were laboriously given to business and accounts. When the great
+MacTavish--the head of the Nor'-Westers--was there he was often opposed
+by the younger men, yet he ended the strife with his tyrannical will and
+silenced all opposition.
+
+The Nor'-Westers at their meeting, July, 1814, under Honorable William
+McGillivray, after whom Fort William was named, decided to oppose the
+Colony and sent two of their most aggressive men to meet force with
+force, and to give Miles Macdonell, the new Dictator, either by arms or
+by craft, the reward for his tyranny, as they regarded it.
+
+The whole body of the traders were incensed against Lord Selkirk, for
+had not one of the chief Nor'-Wester partners written two years before
+from London saying, "Lord Selkirk must be driven to abandon his project,
+for his success would strike at the very existence of our trade."
+
+The two men chosen at the gathering in Grand Portage were well fitted
+for their work. Most forward was Alexander Macdonell. On his journey
+writing to a friend he said: "Much is expected of us.... So here is at
+them with all my heart and energy." But the master-mind was his
+companion Duncan Cameron who, as a leader, stands out in the conflicts
+of the times as a determined man, of great executive ability, but of
+fierce and over-bearing disposition. The Nor'-Westers, having planned
+bloodshed, all agreed that Duncan Cameron was well chosen. He had been a
+leading explorer and trader in the Lake Superior district and knew the
+fur traders' route as few others did. His well-nigh thirty years of
+service made him a man of outstanding influence in the Company.
+Moreover, he could be bland and jovial. He had the Celtic adroitness. He
+knew how to ingratiate himself with every class and possessed all the
+devices of an envoy. His appearance and dress at Red River were notable.
+Having had some rank as a U.E. Loyalist leader in the war of 1812, he
+came to the Forks dressed in a scarlet military coat with all the
+accoutrements of a Captain in the Army. He even made display of his
+Captain's Commission by posting it at the gate of Fort Gibraltar. Of the
+Fort itself he took possession as Bourgeois or master and laid his plans
+in August, 1814, for the destruction of the Selkirk Colony. Cameron then
+began a systematic course of ingratiating himself with the Colonists.
+Speaking, as he did the Gaelic language, he appealed with much success
+to his countrymen. He represented himself as their friend and stirred up
+the people of Red River against Selkirk tyranny. He pictured to them
+their wrongs, the broken promises of the founder, and the undesirability
+of remaining in the Colony. He brought the settlers freely to his table,
+treating them openly to the beverage of their native country, and
+completely captured the hearts of a number of them. Those, friends of
+his, he made use of to carry out his deep plans. On the very day of the
+issue of the rations, he induced some of the Colonists to demand the
+nine small cannon in the Colony store houses. The request was refused by
+Archibald Macdonald, the acting Governor. The settlers then went
+forward, broke open the store houses and removed the cannon. Macdonald
+now arrested the leading settler, who had taken the field pieces,
+whereupon Cameron, like a small Napoleon, incited his clerks and men, to
+invade the Governor's house and release the prisoner. This was done, and
+now it may be said that war between the rival Companies was declared. On
+the return of Miles Macdonald, Cameron ordered his arrest. Macdonell
+refused to acknowledge the lawfulness of this action. The oily
+Nor'-Wester Highlander then threatened the people that if the Governor
+would not submit to the law, the whole body of settlers would be
+dispossessed of their farms and driven away from the banks of Red River.
+As if to make this threat seem more real, several loyal settlers were
+fired at by unseen marksmen.
+
+Once having begun, Cameron was not the man to hesitate. Another
+Nor'-Wester plan was put into effect.
+
+Cameron's comrade, Alexander Macdonell, now arrived from the Western
+plains leading it was said, a band of Cree Indians. The Crees are
+stubborn and determined warriors, but they are also crafty. The proposal
+by Alexander Macdonell ("Yellow Head as he was called" to distinguish
+him), was gravely considered by the Indians. The Indians respect
+authority and in this case they were not very sure who had the
+authority. The Indians declined the offer, and the report proved untrue.
+
+The Nor'-Westers were, however, strong in their influence over the
+Chippewas of Red Lake in Minnesota. Similar propositions were made to
+the Sand Lake band of this tribe. Though offered a large reward to go on
+this expedition against the Selkirk settlers, the chief refused the
+bribe, and the tribe declined to undertake the enterprise.
+
+Cameron however, knew the importance of keeping up the war-like spirit
+of his following, and early in June himself took part in an attack upon
+the Colony houses. The affray took place on the edge of the wood near
+the Governor's residence. Surgeon White and Burke the store-keeper,
+narrowly escaped being killed by the shots fired and four of the
+servants were actually wounded. Cameron like a real operator effusively
+thanked his followers for their grand attack. This state of constant
+hostility, ostensibly on account of the refusal of Governor Macdonell to
+respect the legal summons served upon him, was ended by the surrender of
+Miles Macdonell, who was taken as a prisoner to Montreal, though he was
+never brought up for trial.
+
+Thus far Cameron had succeeded in his plans. He was an artful plotter.
+His capture of Miles Macdonell gave him great prestige. Besides, he had
+roused feelings of serious discontent in the minds of nearly all of the
+Selkirk Colonists. His apparent sincerity and kindness to them had also
+won their hearts. He was now to make the greatest move in the game. This
+was nothing less than a tempting offer to transfer the whole of them to
+the fertile townships of Upper Canada. He provided all the means of
+transport, he promised them free lands in the neighborhood of market
+towns--two hundred acres to each family. Any wages due to them by Lord
+Selkirk he would pay and should three-quarters of the Colony accept his
+offer they would have provisions provided for a year free of cost. When
+the poor Colonists thought of the bleak, uncultivated country in which
+they were, of the inevitable hardships which lay before them, and saw
+the dangerous, unsettled state of the Selkirk settlement, they could not
+well resist the offer. Furthermore, the schemer did not stop here. As
+was afterward found out, George Campbell, the arch-agitator and leader
+among the disaffected settlers received a promise of £100, and others of
+£20 and the like. Further to allay their fears it was urged that they
+were going where the British flag was flying and where the truest
+loyalty prevailed. It was pointed out that it had been to prevent any
+obstacles being raised against their going, that the nine guns had been
+seized and were in the custody of the Nor'-Westers. Accordingly full
+arrangements were made. A supply of canoes was obtained and on the 15th
+of June, 1815, no less than one hundred and forty of the two hundred
+Colonists on Red River embarked and drifted down the river on their long
+canoe voyage of more than a thousand miles. By the end of July they had
+gone over the dangerous Fur traders' route and passing over four or five
+hundred miles reached Fort William, near Lake Superior. But their
+journey was not one-half over. Along the base of the rugged shores of
+Lake Superior, through the St. Mary's River, down the foaming Sault and
+then along the shores of Georgian Bay, they paddled their way to
+Penetanguishene. From this point they crossed southward to Holland
+Landing, which is forty miles north of Toronto, and arrived at their
+destination on the 5th of September.
+
+It is hard to find a parallel for such a journey. They were a large
+body, made up of men, women, and children, continuously journeying for
+eighty-two days, through an unsettled and barren country, running
+dangerous rapids, and exposed to storms with a poorly organized
+commissariat, and under fear of pursuit by the agents of Lord Selkirk,
+to whom many of them were personally bound. In the township of West
+Gwillinbury, north of Toronto, near London, and in the Talbot
+settlement, near St. Thomas--all in Upper Canada--they received their
+lands. Half a century later, in one of the townships north of Toronto,
+the writer had pointed out to him a man named MacBeth weighing two
+hundred and fifty pounds, of whom it was humourously told that he had
+been carried all the way from Red River. The explanation of course was,
+that he had been brought as an infant on this famous Hegira of the
+Selkirk Colonists.
+
+The finishing of Cameron's work on the Red River, was handed over to
+Alexander Macdonell. The plan was nothing less than that the settlers
+remaining should be driven by force from the banks of Red River. The
+party led by Macdonell was made up of Bois-Brulés, under dashing young
+Cuthbert Grant. On their agile ponies they appeared like scourging Huns,
+to drive out the discouraged remnant of Colonists.
+
+Each remaining settler was on the 25th of June served with a notice
+signed by four Nor'-Westers, thus:
+
+"All settlers to retire immediately from Red River, and no trace of a
+settlement to remain." (Signed) Cuthbert Grant, etc.
+
+Two days after the notice was served the beleaguered settlers, made up
+of some thirteen families--in all from forty to sixty persons, who had
+remained true to Lord Selkirk and the Colony--went forth from their
+homes as sadly as the Acadian refugees from Grand Pré. They were allowed
+to take with them such belongings as they had, and in boats and other
+craft went pensively down Red River with Lake Winnipeg and Jack River in
+view as their destination. The house of the Governor, the mill, and the
+buildings which the settlers had begun to build upon their lots were all
+set on fire and destroyed.
+
+The U.E. Loyalists of Upper Canada and Nova Scotia draw upon our
+sympathies in their sufferings of hunger and hardship, but they afford
+no parallel to the discouragement, dangers, and dismay of the Selkirk
+Colonists.
+
+Alexander Macdonell's party of seventy or eighty mounted men easily
+carried out this work of destruction. There was one fly in the ointment
+for them. The small Hudson's Bay House built by Fidler still remained.
+Here a daring Celt, John McLeod, was in charge. Seeing the temper of
+Macdonell's levy McLeod determined to fortify his rude castle. Beside
+the trading house of the Hudson's Bay Company stood the blacksmith's
+shop. Hurriedly McLeod, with a cart, carried thither the three-pounder
+cannon in his possession, then cut up lengths of chain to be his shot
+and shell, used with care his small supply of powder and with three or
+four men, his only garrison, stood to his gun and awaited the attack of
+the Bois-Brulés. Being on horseback his assailants could not long face
+his one piece of artillery. It is not known to what extent the
+assailants suffered in the skirmish, but John Warren, a gentleman of the
+Hudson's Bay Company, was killed in the encounter. The siege of McLeod's
+improvised fort continued for several days, but the defence was
+successful, and McLeod saved for the Company £1,000 worth of goods.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+NO SURRENDER.
+
+
+The crisis has come. The Colony seems to be blotted out. The affair may
+appear small, being nothing more than the defence of the smithy, with
+one gun and the most primitive contrivances, yet as Mercutio says of his
+wound: "'Tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door; but it
+is enough."
+
+The plucky McLeod, with three men held his fort and though the dusky
+Bois-brulés on their prairie ponies for a time hovered about yet they
+did not dare to approach the spiteful little field piece. The Metis soon
+betook themselves westward to their own district of Qu'Appelle.
+
+The danger being over for the present, John McLeod began to restore the
+Colony buildings and even to aim at greater things than had been before.
+
+One of the most discouraging things in connection with the Selkirk
+Colony was the long sea voyage and the difficult land-journey necessary,
+not only to gain assistance, but even to receive information from the
+founder in Britain for the guidance of the officers in Red River
+settlement. This being the case McLeod could not wait for orders and so
+as being temporarily in charge of the Hudson's Bay Company district at
+Red River, he planned a fort and proceeded at once to build a portion of
+it. Fortunately across the Red River in what is now the town of St.
+Boniface, he found the freemen who were willing to help him. He
+immediately hired a number of these and began work on the new fort.
+
+Somewhat lower down the Red River than the Colony gardens he selected a
+site on the river banks, now partially fallen in, where George Street at
+the present days ends. Here McLeod began to erect a Governor's House,
+having confidence that the founder would not desert his Colony. Along
+with this important project, expecting that the Colonists would return,
+he turned his men upon the fields of grain--small, but to them very
+precious. The yield in this year was good. He also erected new fences
+and cured for the settlers quantities of hay from the swamp lands.
+
+McLeod states in his diary--of which a copy of the original is in the
+Provincial Library in Winnipeg--that Fort Douglas was on the south side
+of Point Douglas, so called from Lord Selkirk's family name, and which
+McLeod has some claim to have so christened.
+
+Meanwhile the Colonists had taken their lonely way by boat or canoe, to
+the foot of Lake Winnipeg--not expecting a speedy delivery. They reached
+their rendezvous in July. Lord Selkirk knew in a general way that his
+Colony was in danger and so had given orders to his faithful
+officer--Colin Robertson, who had done yeoman service in collecting his
+first party in Scotland, but who was now in Canada--to engage a number
+of men and with them proceed to Red River settlement to help his
+Colonists. That the real state of things was not known to Robertson, or
+the founder, appears in the fact that Robertson coming from the East
+with twenty Canadians, passed up the Red River to the Forks to get the
+first news of the dispersing of the Colonists. With his usual dash their
+rescuer immediately followed the settlers to Jack River, found them very
+much discouraged but persuaded them to return again to the banks of the
+Red River. The work of rebuilding other houses which McLeod had not been
+able to overtake now went on, and there was the greatest anxiety to hear
+of Lord Selkirk's plans.
+
+The Earl of Selkirk had not become in the slightest degree discouraged.
+Opposition and failure seemed but to inspire him the more. On the return
+of Miles Macdonell as a prisoner to Montreal in the hands of the
+Nor'-Wester emmissaries, the founder immediately sought for a competent
+successor to Macdonell, and determined to send out the best and
+strongest party of settlers that had yet been gathered.
+
+He appointed, backed by all the influence of the Hudson's Bay Company, a
+retired officer, Captain Robert Semple. The new Governor was of American
+origin, born in Philadelphia, but had been in the British army. He was a
+distinctly high-class man, though Masson's estimate is probably true--"A
+man not very conciliatory, it is true, but intelligent, honorable and a
+man of integrity." He was an author of some note, but as it proved, too
+good or too inexperienced a man for the lawless region to which he was
+sent.
+
+It would have been almost useless to despatch a new Governor to the Red
+River settlement unless there had also been obtained a number of
+settlers to fill the place of those so skillfully led away by Duncan
+Cameron. Lord Selkirk now secured the best band of Emigrants attainable.
+These were from a rural parish on the East Coast of Sutherlandshire in
+Scotland. They were from Helmsdale and from the parish of Kildonan and
+the noble founder afterwards conferred this name on their new parish on
+the banks of the Red River. The names of Matheson, Bannerman,
+Sutherland, Polson, Gunn and the like show the sturdy character of this
+band whose descendents are taking their full part in the affairs of the
+Province of Manitoba of to-day. Governor Semple accompanied this party
+of about one hundred settlers, and by way of the Hudson Bay route
+reached the Red River Settlement in the same year in which they started.
+They joined the restored settlers, whom Colin Robertson had placed upon
+their lands again. With Governor Semple's contingent came James
+Sutherland, an elder of the Church of Scotland, who was authorized to
+baptize and marry. He was the first ordained man who reached the Selkirk
+Colony. The influx of new and old settlers to the Colony, and the
+imperfect preparations made for their shelter and sustenance led to the
+whole Company betaking itself for the winter to Pembina, where at Fort
+Daer they might be within reach of the buffalo herds. Governor Semple
+accompanied the settlers to Pembina, though Alexander Macdonell had
+charge for the winter. In October of 1815, as the settlers were
+preparing for their winter quarters, the authorities of the Colony
+thought it right to seize Fort Gibraltar, and to retake the field pieces
+and other property of the Colony, which the "Nor'-Westers" had captured.
+This was done and Duncan Cameron who had returned was also taken
+prisoner. Cameron, on his promising to keep the peace was almost
+immediately restored to his liberty and to the command of his fort. The
+feeling, however, all over the country where there were rival Forts was
+not a happy one and gave anxiety to both parties as to the future. After
+New Year, 1816, Governor Semple returned from Pembina and counselled
+with Colin Robertson, as to the disturbed state of things. They came to
+the conclusion that the only safe course was to again capture Fort
+Gibraltar. This they did about April, 1816, and again held Cameron as a
+prisoner. Duncan Cameron was however a dangerous prisoner. His
+ingenuity, courage, and force of character were so great that at any
+time he might be the centre of a movement among the Metis. It was in
+consequence decided that Duncan Cameron should be taken as a captive to
+England by way of York Factory and be tried across seas. Colin Robertson
+was instructed to conduct him to York Factory. No doubt this was a
+reprisal for the arrest and banishment meted out to Miles Macdonell.
+Cameron was delayed at York Factory on his way to England for more than
+a year and after a short stay in Britain returned to Canada. He
+afterwards obtained damages of £3,000 for his illegal detention.
+
+[Illustration: FORT DOUGLAS From copy of a Pencil sketch made by Lord
+Selkirk and obtained by the author]
+
+But there was future trouble brewing all through the West.
+
+The new Governor, however, unaware of the real state of matters in
+Rupert's Land and probably ignorant of the claim of Canada to the West,
+and of the force of a customary occupation of the land, procured with
+high-handed zeal a further reprisal. Before Colin Robertson had gone to
+conduct Cameron to York Factory the Governor and Robertson had discussed
+the advisability of dismantling Fort Gibraltar. To this course
+Robertson, knowing the irritation which this would cause to the
+Nor'-Westers strongly objected. For the time the proposal was dropped,
+but when Robertson had gone, then the Governor proceeded with a force of
+thirty men to pull down Gibraltar, which was done in a week. The
+stockade was taken down, carried to the Red River and made into a raft.
+Upon this was piled the material of the buildings, and the whole was
+floated to the site of Fort Douglas and used in erecting a new structure
+and fully completing the Fort which John McLeod had begun. The same
+aggressive course was pursued under orders from the Governor in regard
+to Pembina House which was captured, its occupants sent as prisoners to
+Fort Douglas, and its stores confiscated for the use of the Colony. The
+spirit shown by Governor Semple, it is suggested, had something of the
+same treatment as that given to the Colonists by the official classes in
+England against which Edmund Burke burst out with such vehemence in his
+great orations.
+
+Governor Semple's course would not satisfy Colin Robertson nor would it
+have been approved by Lord Selkirk. The course was his own and fully did
+he afterwards pay the price for his aggressions.
+
+The last acts of Governor Semple as the report of them was carried
+westward and repeated over the camp fires of the Nor'-Westers and their
+Bois-brulés horsemen and voyageurs caused the most violent excitement.
+The Metis claimed a right in the soil from their Indian mothers. The
+Indian title had never been extinguished and afterwards Lord Selkirk
+found it necessary to make a treaty and satisfy the Indian claim. The
+Nor'-Westers were also by a good number of years the first occupants of
+the Red River district. The Canadian discovery of the West by French
+traders, the daring occupation by Findlay, the Frobishers, Thompson, and
+Sir Alexander Mackenzie all from Montreal even to the Arctic and Pacific
+Oceans, seemed strong to Canadians as against the undefined and shadowy
+claim to the soil of Lord Selkirk and his officers.
+
+Certain signs of coming trouble might have pressed themselves upon
+Governor Semple. He had eyes but he saw not.
+
+The Indians, it is true, with their reverence for King George III., and
+showing their silver medals with the old King's face upon them, were
+disposed to take sides with the British Company. This may have confirmed
+Semple in the tyrannical course he had followed, but had he studied the
+action of the free traders it might have opened his eyes. Just as
+certain animals of the prairie exposed to enemies have an instinctive
+feeling of coming danger, so these denizens of the plains felt the
+approach of trouble, and with their wives and half-breed children betook
+themselves--bag and baggage--to the far Western plains where the buffalo
+runs, and remained there to let the storm blow past, to return to the
+"Forks" in more peaceful times.
+
+Lord Selkirk, Lady Selkirk, with his Lordship's son and two daughters,
+were on the other hand drawing nearer to the scene of conflict, as they
+came to Montreal in the summer of 1815. In the spring Lord Selkirk
+started westward to see the vast estate which he possessed, but alas!
+only to see it in the throes of division, of excited passion and of
+bloody conflict, and to face one of the greatest catastrophes of new
+world Colonization.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+SEVEN OAKS MASSACRE.
+
+
+Semple's course is on trial. Self-assertion and dictation bring their
+own penalty with them. That so experienced a leader as Colin Robertson,
+who had been in both Companies, who knew the native element, and was
+acquainted with the daring and recklessness of the Nor'-Wester leaders,
+hesitated about demolishing Fort Gibraltar should have given Governor
+Semple pause. Ignorance and inexperience sometimes give men rare
+courage. But while Semple was self-confident he could not be exonerated
+from paying the price of his rashness.
+
+Undoubtedly the Governor knew that the "Nor'-Westers" after their
+aggressiveness during the year 1815 were planning an attack upon Fort
+Douglas and upon the Colonists. Letters intercepted by the Governor
+acquainted him with the fact that an expedition was coming from Fort
+William in the East to fall upon the devoted Colony; also a letter from
+Qu'Appelle written by Cuthbert Grant, the young Bois-brulés leader, to
+John Dugald Cameron, stated that the native horsemen were coming in the
+spring from the Saskatchewan forts to join those of Qu'Appelle, and says
+the writer, "It is hoped we shall come off with flying colors, and never
+to see any of them again in the Colonizing way in Red River."
+
+The evidence in hand was clear enough to the Governor. He expected the
+attack, and as a soldier he took action from the military standpoint in
+destroying the enemy's base in levelling their Fort Gibraltar. But on
+the other hand there was no open war. The forms of law were being
+followed by the Nor'-Westers, whose officers were magistrates, and who
+held that by the authorization of the British Parliament the
+administration of justice in the Western Territories was given over to
+Canada. The decision afterwards given in the De Reinhard case in Quebec
+seems against this theory, but this was the popular opinion.
+
+Thus it came about that among the Hudson's Bay Company fur traders, who
+were somewhat doubtful about Lord Selkirk's movement, and certainly
+among all the "Nor'-Westers," who included the French Canadian voyageur
+population, Governor Semple's action was looked upon as illegal and
+unjust in destroying Fort Gibraltar and appropriating its materials for
+building up the Colony Headquarters--Fort Douglas.
+
+As the spring opened the wildest rumours of approaching conflict spread
+through the whole fifteen hundred miles of country from Fort William on
+Lake Superior, to the Prairie Fort, where Edmonton now stands on the
+North Saskatchewan. The excitement was especially high in the Qu'Appelle
+district, some three hundred miles west of Red River.
+
+As the spring of 1815 opened, all eyes were looking to the action of the
+"New Nation" on the Qu'Appelle River as the Bois-brulés under Cuthbert
+Grant called themselves. As the whole of these events were afterwards
+investigated by the law courts of Upper Canada, there is substantial
+agreement about the facts. The first violence of the season is described
+by Lieutenant Pambrun, a most accurate writer. He had served in the war
+of 1812 and gained distinction. On entering the Hudson's Bay Company
+service he was sent to Qu'Appelle district. In order to supply food at
+Fort Douglas Pambrun started down the river to reach the Fort by
+descending the Assiniboine with five boat loads of pemmican and furs. At
+a landing place in the river Pambrun's convoy was surrounded and his
+goods seized by Cuthbert Grant, Pambrun himself being kept for five days
+as a prisoner. While in custody Pambrun saw every evidence of war-like
+intentions on the part of the half-breeds. Cuthbert Grant frequently
+announced their determination to destroy the Selkirk Settlement; in
+boastful language it was declared that the Bois-brulés would bow to no
+authority in Rupert's Land; in their gatherings they sang French
+war-songs to keep up the spirit of their corps. There was a ring of
+growing nationality in all their utterances.
+
+A start was made late in May for the scene of action. Their prisoner
+Lieutenant Pambrun was taken with them and the captured pemmican was
+carried along as supplies for the journey.
+
+On the way an episode of some moment occurred. On the river bank a band
+of Cree Indians was encamped.
+
+Commander Macdonell addressed the redmen through an interpreter to
+incite them to action. A portion of his address was:
+
+My Friends and Relations,--"I address you bashfully, for I have not a
+pipe of tobacco to give you.... The English have been spoiling the fair
+lands which belonged to you and the Bois-brulés and to which they have
+no right. They have been driving away the buffalo. You will soon be poor
+and miserable if the English stay. But we will drive them away, if the
+Indian does not, for the 'Nor'-West' Company and the Bois-brulés are
+one. If you (turning to the chief) and some of your young men will join
+I shall be glad."
+
+But the taciturn Indian Chief coldly declined the polite proposal. As
+the party passed Brandon House Pambrun saw in the North-West Fort near
+by, tobacco, tools and furs, which had been captured by the Nor'-Westers
+from the Hudson's Bay Company fort. When Portage la Prairie was
+reached--about sixty miles from "The Forks"--the Bois-brulés cavalcade
+was organized.
+
+The half-breeds were mounted on their prairie steeds and formed a
+company of sixty men under command of Cuthbert Grant. Dressed in their
+blue capotes and encircled by red sashes the men of this irregular
+cavalry had an imposing effect, especially as they were provided with
+every variety of arms from muskets and pistols down to bows and arrows.
+They were all expert riders and could equal in their feats on horseback
+the fabled Centaurs.
+
+Down the Portage road which is a prolongation of the great business
+street of Winnipeg running to the West, they came. On the 19th of
+June, 1816, they had arrived within four miles of the Colony
+headquarters--Fort Douglas. Here at Boggy Creek, called also Cat-Fish
+Creek, a Council of War was held. Some importance has been attached to
+their action at this point, as showing their motive. That they did not
+intend to attack Fort Douglas has been maintained, else they would not
+have turned off the Portage Road and have crossed the prairie to the
+Northeast. There is nothing in this contention. The plan of campaign was
+that the Fort William expedition and they were to meet at some point on
+the banks of Red River, before they took further action. Showing how
+well both parties had timed their movements, at this very moment those
+coming from the East under Trader Alexander McLeod, had reached a small
+tributary of Red River some forty miles from Fort Douglas. That they at
+present wished to avoid Fort Douglas is certainly true. Governor Semple
+and his garrison were on the look-out, and the alarm being given, the
+party from the Fort sallied forth. Was it to parley? or to fight?
+
+The events which followed are well told in the evidence given by Mr.
+John Pritchard, who afterwards acted as Lord Selkirk's secretary. Mr.
+Pritchard was the grandfather of the present Archbishop Matheson of
+Rupert's Land. His evidence has been in almost every respect
+corroborated by other eye-witnesses of this bloody event:
+
+"On the evening of the 19th of June, 1816, I had been upstairs in my own
+room, in Fort Douglas, and about six o'clock I heard the boy at the
+watch house give the alarm that the Bois-brulés were coming. A few of
+us, among whom was Governor Semple--there were perhaps six
+altogether--looked through a spyglass, from a place that had been used
+as a stable, and we distinctly saw armed persons going along the plains.
+Shortly after, I heard the same boy call out, that the party on
+horseback were making to the settlers."
+
+"About twenty of us, in obedience to the Governor," who said, 'We must
+go and see what these people are,' took our arms. He could only let
+about twenty go, at least he told about twenty to follow him, to come
+with him; there was, however, some confusion at the time, and I believe
+a few more than twenty accompanied us. Having proceeded about half a
+mile towards the settlement, we saw, behind a point of wood which goes
+down to the river, that the party increased very much. Mr. Semple,
+therefore, sent one of the people (Mr. Burke) to the Fort for a piece of
+cannon and as many men as Mr. Miles Macdonell could spare. Mr. Burke,
+however, not returning soon, Governor Semple said, 'Gentlemen, we had
+better go on, and we accordingly proceeded. We had not gone far before
+we saw the Bois-brulés returning towards us, and they divided into two
+parties, and surrounded us in the shape of a half-moon or half-circle.
+On our way, we met a number of the settlers crying, and speaking in the
+Gaelic language, which I do not understand, and they went on to the
+Fort.
+
+[Illustration: RED RIVER SETTLEMENT Fac-simile of section of Map (1818).
+A--Seven Oaks, where Semple fell. B--Creek where Metis left Assiniboine.
+C--Frog Plain (since Kildonan church). E to F--De Meuron Settlers on
+Seine. G--Half-breeds (St. Boniface of to-day). H--Fort Douglas (1815).
+I--Colony Gardens. J--Fort Gibraltar (N.W. Co.). K--Road followed by
+Metis. L--Dry Cart trail west of Settlers' lots.]
+
+"The party on horseback had got pretty near to us, so that we could
+discover that they were painted and disguised in the most hideous
+manner; upon this, as they were retreating, a Frenchman named Boucher
+advanced, waving his hand, riding up to us, and calling out in broken
+English, 'What do you want? What do you want?' Governor Semple said.
+'What do _you_ want?' Mr. Burke not coming on with the cannon as soon as
+he was expected, the Governor directed the party to proceed onwards; we
+had not gone far before we saw the Bois-brulés returning upon us.
+
+"Upon observing that they were so numerous, we had extended our line,
+and got more into the open plain; as they advanced, we retreated; but
+they divided themselves into two parties, and surrounded us again in the
+shape of a half-moon."
+
+"Boucher then came out of the ranks of his party, and advanced towards
+us (he was on horseback), calling out in broken English, 'What do you
+want? What do you want?' Governor Semple answered, 'What do _you_ want?'
+To which Boucher answered, 'We want our Fort.' The Governor said, 'Well,
+go to your Fort.' After that I did not hear anything that passed, as
+they were close together. I saw the Governor putting his hand on
+Boucher's gun. Expecting an attack to be made instantly, I had not been
+looking at Governor Semple and Boucher for some time; but just then I
+happened to turn my head that way, and immediately I heard a shot, and
+directly afterwards a general firing. I turned round upon hearing the
+shot, and saw Mr. Holte, one of our officers, struggling as if he were
+shot. He was on the ground. On their approach, as I have said, we had
+extended our line on the plain, by each taking a place at a greater
+distance from the other. This had been done by the Governor's orders,
+and we each took such places as best suited our individual safety.
+
+"From not seeing the firing begin, I cannot say from whom it first came;
+but immediately upon hearing the first shot, I turned and saw Lieut.
+Holte struggling." (Several persons present at the affair, such as a
+blacksmith named Heden, and McKay, a settler, distinctly state that the
+first shot fired was from the Bois-brulés and that by it Lieut. Holte
+fell).
+
+"As to our attacking our assailants, one of our people, Bruin, I
+believe, did propose that we should keep them off; and the Governor
+turned round and asked who could be such a rascal as to make such a
+proposition? and that he should hear no word of that kind again. The
+Governor was very much displeased indeed at the suggestion made. A fire
+was kept up for several minutes after the first shot, and I saw a number
+wounded; indeed, in a few minutes almost all our people were either
+killed or wounded. I saw Sinclair and Bruin fall, either wounded or
+killed; and a Mr. McLean, a little in front defending himself, but by a
+second shot I saw him fall.
+
+"At this time I saw Captain Rodgers getting up again, but not observing
+any of our people standing, I called out to him, 'Rodgers, for God's
+sake give yourself up! Give yourself up!' Captain Rodgers ran toward
+them, calling out in English and in broken French, that he surrendered,
+and that he gave himself up, and praying them to save his life. Thomas
+McKay, a Bois-brulés, shot him through the head, and another Bois-brulés
+dashed upon him with a knife, using the most horrid imprecations to him.
+I did not see the Governor fall. I saw his corpse the next day at the
+Fort. When I saw Captain Rodgers fall, I expected to share his fate. As
+there was a French-Canadian among those who surrounded me, who had just
+made an end of my friend, I said, 'Lavigne, you are a Frenchman, you are
+a man, you are a Christian. For God's sake save my life! For God's sake
+try and save it! I give myself up; I am your prisoner.' McKay, who was
+among this party, and who knew me, said, 'You little toad, what do you
+do here?' He spoke in French, and called me 'un petit crapaud,' and
+asked what I did here! I fully expected then to lose my life. I again
+appealed to Lavigne, and he joined in entreating them to spare me. I
+told them over and over again that I was their prisoner, and I had
+something to tell them. They, however, seemed determined to take my
+life. They struck at me with their guns, and Lavigne caught some of the
+blows, and joined me in entreating for my safety. He told them of my
+kindness on different occasions. I remonstrated that I had thrown down
+my arms and was at their mercy. One Primeau wished to shoot me; he said
+I had formerly killed his brother. I begged him to recollect my former
+kindness to him at Qu'Appelle. At length they spared me, telling me I
+was a little dog, and had not long to live, and that he (Primeau) would
+find me when he came back.
+
+"Then I went to Frog Plain (Kildonan), in charge of Boucher. In going to
+the plain I was again threatened by one of the party, and saved by
+Boucher, who conducted me safely to Frog Plain. I there saw Cuthbert
+Grant, who told me that they did not expect to have met us on the plain,
+but that their intention was to have surprised the Colony, and that they
+would have hunted the Colonists like buffaloes. He also told me they
+expected to have got round unperceived, and at night would have
+surrounded the Fort and have shot everyone who left it; but being seen,
+their scheme had been destroyed or frustrated. They were all painted and
+disfigured so that I did not know many. I should not have known that
+Cuthbert Grant was there, though I knew him well, had he not spoken to
+me."
+
+"Grant told me that Governor Semple was not mortally wounded by the shot
+he received, but that his thigh was broken. He said that he spoke to the
+Governor after he was wounded, and had been asked by him to have him
+taken to the Fort, and as he was not mortally wounded he thought he
+might perhaps live. Grant said he could not take him himself as he had
+something else to do, but that he would send some person to convey him
+on whom he might depend, and that he left him in charge of a
+French-Canadian and went away; but that almost directly after he had
+left him, an Indian, who, he said, was the only rascal they had, came up
+and shot him in the breast, and killed him on the spot.
+
+"The Bois-brulés, who very seldom paint or disguise themselves, were on
+this occasion painted as I have been accustomed to see the Indians at
+their war-dance; they were very much painted, and disguised in a hideous
+manner. They gave the war-whoop when they met Governor Semple and his
+party; they made a hideous noise and shouting. I know from Grant, as
+well as from other Bois-brulés, and other settlers, that some of the
+Colonists had been taken prisoners. Grant told me that they were taken
+to weaken the Colony, and prevent its being known that they were
+there--they having supposed that they had passed the Fort unobserved.
+
+"Their intention clearly was to pass the Fort. I saw no carts, though I
+heard they had carts with them. I saw about five of the settlers
+prisoners in the camp at Frog Plain. Grant said to me further: 'You see
+we have had but one of our people killed, and how little quarter we have
+given you. Now, if Fort Douglas is not given up with all the public
+property instantly and without resistance, man, women and child will be
+put to death.' He said the attack would be made upon it that night, and
+if a single shot were fired, that would be a signal for the
+indiscriminate destruction of every soul. I was completely satisfied
+myself that the whole would be destroyed, and I besought Grant, whom I
+knew, to suggest or let them try and devise some means to save the women
+and children. I represented to him that they could have done no harm to
+anybody, whatever he or his party might think the men had. I entreated
+him to take compassion on them. I reminded him that they were his
+father's country-women and in his deceased father's name, I begged him
+to take pity and compassion on them and spare them.
+
+"At last he said, if all the arms and public property were given up, we
+should be allowed to go away. After inducing the Bois-brulés to allow me
+to go to Fort Douglas, I met our people; they were long unwilling to
+give up, but at last our Mr. Macdonell, who was now in charge consented.
+We went together to the Frog Plain, and an inventory of the property was
+taken when we had returned to the Fort. The Fort was delivered over to
+Cuthbert Grant, who gave receipts on each sheet of the inventory signed
+'Cuthbert Grant, acting for the North-West Company.' I remained at Fort
+Douglas till the evening of the 22nd, when all proceeded down the
+river--the settlers, a second time on their journey into exile.
+
+"The Colonists, it is true, had little now to leave. They were generally
+employed in agricultural pursuits, in attending to their farms, and the
+servants of the Hudson's Bay Company in their ordinary avocations. They
+lived in tents or in huts. In 1816 at Red River there was but one
+residence, the Governor's which was in Fort Douglas. The settlers had
+lived in houses previous to 1815, but in that year these had been burnt
+in the attack that had been made upon them. The settlers were employed
+during the day time on their land, and used to come up to the Fort to
+sleep in some of the buildings in the enclosure. All was now left
+behind. The Bois-brulés victory being now complete, the messenger was
+despatched Westward to tell the news far and near."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+AFTERCLAPS.
+
+
+The Seven Oaks affair was the most shocking episode that ever occurred
+in North-Western history. The standing of the victims, including a
+Governor appointed by the Hudson's Bay Company, his staff men of
+position, the unexpectedness of the collison, the suddenness of the
+attack, the destruction of life, the cruelty and injustice of the
+killing, and the barbarous treatment of the bodies of the dead, by the
+Bois-brulés war party, fill one with horror, and remind one of scenes of
+butchery in dark Africa or the isles of the South Sea.
+
+This is the more remarkable when it is considered that so far as known
+in the whole two hundred years and more of the career of the Hudson's
+Bay and Nor'-Wester Companies not so many officers and clerks of these
+two Companies have altogether perished by violence as in this
+unfortunate Seven Oaks disaster. No sooner was the massacre over than
+the Bois-brulés took possession of Fort Douglas and were under the
+command meantime of Cuthbert Grant. There was the greatest hilarity
+among the Metis. This New Nation had been vindicated. About forty-five
+men under arms held possession of the Fort. The dead left upon the field
+were still exposed there days after the fight and were torn to pieces by
+the wild birds and beasts. The body of Governor Semple was carried to
+the Fort.
+
+Word was meanwhile sent to Alexander Macdonell the partner who had
+brought with him the Qu'Appelle contingent and had waited at Portage la
+Prairie while Cuthbert Grant with his followers, chiefly disguised as
+Indians, had gone on their bloody work. Macdonell on receiving the news
+showed great satisfaction. He announced to those about him that Governor
+Semple and five of his officers had been killed; and becoming more
+enthusiastic shouted with an oath in French that twenty-two of the
+English were slain. His company shouted with joy at his announcement.
+Macdonell then went to Fort Douglas and took command of it. But what had
+become of the Eastern Company from Fort William? Of this a discharged
+non-commissioned officer, Huerter, of one of the mercenary regiments
+which had fought for Britain against the Americans in the War of 1812
+was with them, and gives a good account of the journey. We need only
+deal with the ending of the expedition. Coming from Lake Winnipeg they
+reached Nettly Creek two days after the fight at Seven Oaks, expecting
+there to get news from the Western levy and Alexander Macdonell. But no
+news of that Company having reached them they started in boats up the
+Red River to reach the rendezvous agreed on at "Frog Plain," the spot
+where Kildonan church stands to-day. From this point they expected to
+meet with their Western reinforcement, and to move upon Fort Douglas and
+capture it, as Governor Semple had done with Fort Gibraltar. Their
+commander Archibald Norman McLeod was the senior officer and would later
+take command.
+
+They had on the 23rd of June gone but a little way when they were
+surprised to meet seven or eight boats laden with men, women and
+children. These were the fragment of the Colony which had refused to go
+with Duncan Cameron down to Upper Canada. They had been sheltered in the
+Fort during the time of the fight and now were rudely driven away from
+the settlement, according to the announcement of Cuthbert Grant.
+
+McLeod ordered the convoy of boats to stop and the Colonists to
+disembark. Their boxes and packages were opened, including the late
+Governor Semple's trunks, and examined for papers or letters which might
+give important information to the captors. The Western levy now joined
+them, and gave them full news of what had happened.
+
+The Colonists were then ordered to re-embark and to proceed upon their
+journey to their lonely place of banishment whither they had gone the
+previous year--Jack River, near Norway House. One of the Bois-brulés
+followed after them to make sure that they went upon their long voyage.
+McLeod's party then pushed on with great glee to Fort Douglas and were
+received with discharges of artillery and firearms. McLeod now took
+command of the captured Fort.
+
+Huerter, the discharged soldier, formerly mentioned, went to the field
+of Seven Oaks about a week after the fight and confirmed Pambrun's
+account.
+
+A.N. McLeod now became the superior officer in the Fort and made
+preparation for defending it. He himself occupied the late Governor
+Semple's quarters and passed out compliments to white and native alike,
+praising them for their daring, their adroitness and their success. A
+great meeting was then gathered in the Governor's apartments and a levee
+was held at which all of the servants and employees of the Company were
+present, and in a speech McLeod told the audience that the English had
+no right to build upon their lands without their permission--a new
+doctrine surely.
+
+Leaving Fort Douglas McLeod with his officers and the Bois-brulés all
+mounted, made an imposing procession up to the site of old Fort
+Gibraltar. Here Peguis, now the chief of the Saulteaux who had shown
+such kindness to the settlers was camped, and to him and his followers
+McLeod showed his great displeasure. The Indian always loved the
+British-man, whom on the west coast he called, "King Shautshman," or
+King George's man.
+
+The Indian is taciturn, unemotional, and cautious. He knew that the
+Bois-brulés had assumed their garb and committed the outrage of Seven
+Oaks, and therefore the tribe were unwilling to be under the stigma
+being thrown upon them. When McLeod had failed in his appeal, he laid
+many sins to their charge. They had allowed the English to carry away
+Duncan Cameron to Hudson Bay, they were a band of dogs, and he would
+count them always as his enemies if they should hold to their English
+friends. Peguis, who was a master diplomat, looked on with attention and
+held his peace.
+
+It was now about a week from the time of the massacre. Huerter, the
+discharged soldier spoken of, rode down with a party from the Fort to
+the field of Seven Oaks. He saw a number of human bodies scattered on
+the plain, and in most cases the flesh had been torn off to the bone,
+evidently by dogs and wolves.
+
+Far from discouraging the talkative half-breeds, whose blood was up with
+the sights of carnage, McLeod and his fellow-officers expressed their
+approbation of the deeds done, and the Bois-brulés became boisterous in
+detailing their victories. The worst of the whole, old Deschamps, a
+French-Canadian, who murdered the disabled even when they cried for
+quarter, drew forth as he detailed his valorous actions to Alexander
+Macdonell, the exclamation, "What a fine, vigorous old man he is!" On
+the evening of this Red-letter day of the visit to the Indian encampment
+and to Seven Oaks, a wild and heathenish orgy took place. The
+Bois-brulés bedecked their naked bodies with Indian trinkets and
+executed the dance of victory, as had done their savage ancestors. The
+effect of these dances is marvellous. By a contagious shout they excite
+each other. They reach a frenzy which communicates itself with hypnotic
+effect to the whole dancing circle. At times men tear their hair, cut
+their flesh or even mutilate their limbs for life. The "tom-tom," or
+Indian drum, adds to the power of monotonous rhythm and to the spirit of
+excitement and frenzy.
+
+To the partners McLeod and the others, however much in earnest the
+actors might be, it afforded much amusement, and gave hope of a strength
+and enthusiasm that would bind them fast to the "Nor'-Wester" side.
+
+The struggle over and the battle won, while leaving the garrison
+sufficient to hold the fort, ten days after the fight the partners and
+those forming the Northern brigade, who were to penetrate to the wilds
+to Athabasca, departed. They were following down the Red River and Lake
+Winnipeg, in the very path which the fleeing Colonists had gone, but
+they would turn toward the "Grand Rapids" at the spot where the great
+river of the West pours into Lake Winnipeg, and by this way speed
+themselves to the great hunting fields of the North. The departure of
+what was called the Grand Brigade was signalized by an artillery salute
+from Fort Douglas, which resounded through the wretched ruins of the
+houses burnt the previous year, and over the fields deserted by the
+Colonists and left to the chattering blackbird and the howling wolf.
+Almost every race of people--however small--has its bard. Among the
+Bois-brulés was the son of old Pierre Falcon, a French-Canadian, of some
+influence among the natives. This young poet was a character. He had the
+French vivacity, the prejudice of race, the devotion to the Scotch Fur
+Company and a considerable rhyming talent. Many years after Pierre
+Falcon won the admiration of the buffalo hunter and was the friend of
+all the dusky maidens who followed his song of love or war alike. He it
+was who sang the song of his race and helped to keep up the love of fun
+among the French people of the Red River. It was reminiscent of victory
+and also a forecast of future influence and power. Various versions of
+Pierre Falcon's song have come down to us celebrating the victory of
+Seven Oaks. We give a simple translation of the bard's effusion:
+
+    PIERRE FALCON'S SONG.
+
+    Come listen to this song of truth!
+    A song of the brave Bois-brulés,
+    Who at Frog Plain took three captives,
+    Strangers come to rob our country.
+
+    When dismounting there to rest us,
+    A cry is raised--the English!
+    They are coming to attack us,
+    So we hasten forth to meet them.
+
+    I looked upon their army,
+    They are motionless and downcast;
+    So, as honor would incline us
+    We desire with them to parley.
+
+    But their leader, moved with anger,
+    Gives the word to fire upon us;
+    And imperiously repeats it,
+    Rushing on to this destruction.
+
+    Having seen us pass his stronghold,
+    He had thought to strike with terror
+    The Bois-brulés; ah! mistaken,
+    Many of his soldiers perish.
+
+    But a few escaped the slaughter,
+    Rushing from the field of battle;
+    Oh, to see the English fleeing!
+    Oh, the shouts of their pursuers!
+
+    Who has sung this song of triumph?
+    The good Pierre Falcon had composed it,
+    That the praise of these Bois-brulés
+    Might be evermore recorded.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE SILVER CHIEF ARRIVES.
+
+
+The scene changes to the home of the founder of the Colony. The Earl of
+Selkirk is living at his interesting seat--St. Mary's Isle, and letter
+after letter arrives which has taken many weeks on the road, coming down
+through trackless prairie, across the middle and Eastern States of
+America and reaching him via New York. These letters continue to
+increase in being more and more terrible until his island home seems to
+be in a state of siege.
+
+St. Mary's Isle lies at the mouth of the Dee on Solway Frith, opposite
+the town of Kirkcudbright. Here in 1778 Paul Jones, the so-called pirate
+in the employ of the Revolutionary Government in America, had landed,
+invested the dwelling with his men, and carried away all the plate and
+jewels of the House of Selkirk. The Old Manor House of St. Mary's Isle,
+with its very thick stone wall on one side, evidently had been a keep or
+castle. It was at one time given to the church and became a monastery,
+then it was enlarged and improved to become the dwelling of the family
+of the Douglasses, which it is to this day.
+
+But now the far cry from Red River reverberated across the Atlantic. The
+startling succession of events of 1815 reached the Earl one after
+another. It was late in the year when he made up his mind, but taking
+his Countess, his two daughters and his only son, Dunbar, a mere boy,
+and crossing the ocean he heard, on his arrival in New York, of the
+complete destruction by flight and expulsion of the people of his
+Colony. About the end of October he reached Montreal, but winter was too
+near to allow him to travel up the lakes and through the wilds to Red
+River.
+
+The winter in Montreal was long, but the atmosphere of opposition to
+Lord Selkirk in that city, the home of the Nor'-Westers, was more trying
+to him than the frost and snow. His every movement was watched. Even the
+avenues of Government power seemed by influential Nor'-Westers to be
+closed against him. An appeal to Sir Gordon Drummond, the
+Governor-General, could obtain no more than a promise of a Sergeant and
+six men to protect him personally should he go to the far West, and the
+appointment of himself as a Justice of the Peace in Upper Canada and the
+Indian Territory was grudgingly given.
+
+The active mind of his Lordship occupied the time of winter well. He
+planned nothing less than introducing to the banks of Red River a body
+of men as settlers, who could, like the returned exiles to Jerusalem,
+work with sword in one hand and a tool of industry in the other. The man
+of resource finds his material ready made. Two mercenary regiments from
+Switzerland which had been fighting England's battles in America had
+just been disbanded, and Lord Selkirk at once engaged them to go as
+settlers, under his pay, to Red River. From the commanding officer of
+the larger regiment these have always been called the "De Meurons." From
+these two regiments--one at Montreal and the other at Kingston--he
+engaged an hundred men, each provided with a musket, and with rather
+more than that number of expert voyageurs started in June 16th, 1816,
+for the North-West. The route followed by him was up Lake Ontario to
+Toronto, then across country to Georgian Bay and through it to Ste.
+Sault Marie. At Drummond Island, being the last British garrison toward
+the West, he got from the Indians news of the efforts of the
+Nor'-Westers to involve them in the wars of the whites. The Indians had,
+however, resisted all their temptations. Lord Selkirk again overtook his
+party and passed through the St. Mary's River into Lake Superior.
+
+Here a new grief awaited him.
+
+Two canoes coming from Fort William brought him the sad news about
+Governor Semple and his party being killed at Seven Oaks, as it did also
+of the second expulsion of the Colonists. Lord Selkirk had been
+intending to go west to where Duluth now stands and then overland to the
+Red River.
+
+He now changed his plans and with true Scottish pluck headed directly to
+Fort William. Here assaults, arrests and imprisonments took place. It is
+needless for us to give the details of this unfortunate affair, except
+to say that the seizure of the Fort brought much trouble afterwards to
+the founder.
+
+Moving some miles up the Kaministiquia River Lord Selkirk made his
+military encampment, which bore the name of "Pointe De Meuron."
+
+Plans were soon made for the spring attack on Fort Douglas.
+
+In March, stealthily crossing the silent pathways for upwards of four
+hundred miles and striking the Red River some where near the
+international boundary line, the De Meurons came northward and made a
+circuit towards Silver Heights. There, having constructed ladders,
+they next made a night attack on Fort Douglas, and being trained
+soldiers easily captured it, and restored it to its rightful owner,
+Lord Selkirk.
+
+On May day, 1817, Lord Selkirk, with his body guard, left Fort William
+and following the water-courses arrived at his own Fort in the last week
+of June. Fort Douglas was the centre of his Colony, and there he was at
+once the chief figure of the picture.
+
+None of the Selkirk Settlers' descendants who are living to-day saw him
+in Fort Douglas, but a number who have passed away have told the writer
+that they remembered him well. He was tall in stature, thin and refined
+in appearance. He had a benignant face, his manner was easy and polite.
+To the Indians he was especially interesting. They caught the idea that
+being a man of title he was in some way closely connected with their
+Great Father the King. Because of his generosity to them in making a
+treaty, they called him "The Silver Chief." He was the source of their
+treaty money.
+
+It is said that some of the last party to reach his Colony had seen him
+at Kildonan in Scotland, where he had visited them, and encouraged them
+in their departure for the Colony.
+
+His first duties were to the unfortunate settlers, who had been brought
+back from Jack River.
+
+Lord Selkirk gathered the Colonists on the spot where the church and
+burial ground of St. John's are still found. "The Parish," said he,
+"shall be Kildonan. Here you shall build your church, and that lot," he
+said, pointing to the lot across the little stream called Parsonage
+Creek, "is for a school." He was thus planning to carry out the devout
+imagination of the greatest religious leader of his nation, John Knox:
+"A church and a school for every parish."
+
+Perhaps the most interesting episode in Lord Selkirk's visit was his
+treaty-making with the Indians. The plan of securing a strip of land on
+each side of the river was said to have been decided to be as much as
+could be seen by looking under the belly of a horse out upon the
+prairie. This was about two miles. Hence the river lots were generally
+about two miles long.
+
+His meeting with the Indians was after the manner of a great "Pow-wow."
+The Indians are fluent and eloquent speakers, though they indulge in
+endless repetitions.
+
+Peguis, the Saulteaux chief, befriended the white man from the
+beginning. He denounced the Bois-brulés. He said, "We do not acknowledge
+these men as an independent tribe."
+
+"L'Homme Noir," the Assiniboine chief, among other things, said: "We
+have often been told you were our enemy, but we hear from your own mouth
+the words of a true friend."
+
+"Robe Noire," the Chippewa, tried in lofty style to declare: "Clouds
+have over-whelmed me. I was a long time in doubt and difficulty, but now
+I begin to see clearly."
+
+While Lord Selkirk was still in his Colony, the very serious state of
+things on the banks of Red River and the pressure of the British
+Government led to the appointment, by the Governor-General of Canada, of
+a most clear-minded and peace-loving man as Commissioner. This
+appointment was all the more pleasing on account of Mr. W.B. Coltman
+being a resident Canadian of Quebec. Coltman was one man among a
+thousand. He was patient and kind and just. Though he had come to the
+Colony prejudiced against Lord Selkirk, he found his Lordship so fair
+and reasonable that he became much attached to the man represented in
+Montreal and the far East as a destructive ogre.
+
+The Commissioner's report covered one hundred pages, and it was in all
+respects a model. He thoroughly understood the motives of both parties,
+and his decisions led to a perfect era of peace, and moreover in the end
+to the union of the Hudson's Bay and Nor'-West Companies.
+
+Lord Selkirk's coming was like a ray of sunshine to the Colonists of Red
+River. Being of an intensely religious disposition, the people reminded
+him that the elder who came out in 1815, who was able to baptize and
+marry, had been carried away by main force by the Nor'-Westers to Canada
+in 1818, so that they were without religious services. They always
+continued to have prayer meetings and to keep up the pious customs of
+their fathers. This practise long survived among them. In repeating his
+promise of a clergyman, Lord Selkirk asserted to them: "Selkirk never
+forfeited his word."
+
+His work done among his Colonists, he left them never to see them again.
+He went south from Fort Douglas to the United States, visited, it is
+said, St. Louis, came to the Eastern States, and rejoined in Montreal
+his Countess and children who had in his absence lived in great anxiety.
+One of his daughters, afterwards Lady Isabella Hope, told the writer
+nearly thirty years ago that she as a girl remembered seeing Lord
+Selkirk as he returned from this long journey, coming around the Island
+into Montreal Harbor paddled by French voyageurs in swift canoes to his
+destination. His attention was immediately given to law suits and
+actions brought against him in the courts of Upper Canada. These legal
+conflicts originated from the troubles about the two centres--Fort
+Douglas and Fort William--where the collisions had taken place. The
+influence of the Nor'-Westers in Montreal was so great that the U.E.
+Loyalists of Upper Canada sympathised with them against the noble
+philanthropist. Justice was undoubtedly perverted in Upper Canada in the
+most shameless way. Weak in body at the best, Lord Selkirk by his
+misfortunes, losses and legal persecution began to fail in health. With
+the sense of having been unjustly defeated, and anxious about his
+Colonists in Red River, he returned with his family to Britain to his
+beloved St. Mary's Isle. He sought for justice from the British
+Parliament, but could there get no movement in his favor. A copy of a
+letter to him from Sir Walter Scott, his old friend, is in the hands of
+the writer, but Sir Walter was himself too ill at the time to lend him
+aid in presenting his case before the British public. Heart-broken, he
+gave up the struggle. With the Countess and his family he went to the
+South of France and died on April 8th, 1820, at Pau, and his bones lie
+in the Protestant Cemetery of Orthes.
+
+He had not fought in vain. He had broken down single-handed a system of
+organized terrorism in the heart of North America, for the Nor'-Westers
+never rose to strength again. They united in a few years with the
+Hudson's Bay Company. He established a Colony that has thriven; he
+cherished a lofty vision; he made mistakes in action, in judgment, and
+in a too great optimism, but if we understand him aright he bore an
+untainted and resolute soul.
+
+   "Only those are crown'd and sainted
+    Who with grief have been acquainted
+    Making Nations nobler, freer."
+
+   "In their feverish exultations,
+    In their triumph and their yearning,
+    In their passionate pulsations,
+    In their words among the nations
+    The Promethean fire is burning."
+
+   "But the glories so transcendent
+    That around their memories cluster,
+    And on all their steps attendant,
+    Make their darken'd lives resplendent
+    With such gleams of inward lustre."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+SOLDIERS AND SWISS.
+
+
+Many Canadian Settlements have had a military origin. It was considered
+a wise, strategic move in the game of national defence when Colonel
+Butler and his Rangers, after the Treaty of Paris, were settled along
+the Niagara frontier, and when Captain Grass and other United Empire
+Loyalists took up their holdings at Kingston and other points on the
+boundary line along the St. Lawrence. The town of Perth was the
+headquarters of a military settlement in Central Canada. Traces of
+military occupation can still be found in such Highland districts of
+Canada as Pictou, Glengarry and Zorra, in which last named township the
+enthusiastic Celt in 1866 declared that perhaps the Fenians would take
+Canada, but they could never take Zorra. Numerous examples can be found
+all through Canada where there is an aroma of valor and patriotism
+surrounding the old army officer or the families of the veterans of the
+Napoleonic or Crimean wars.
+
+The settlement of the De Meuron soldiers opposite Fort Douglas gave some
+promise of a military flavor to Selkirk Settlement. But as we shall see
+it was an ill-advised attempt at colonization. It was a mistake to
+settle some hundred or more single men as these soldiers were without a
+woman among them, as Lord Selkirk was compelled to do. To these
+soldier-colonists he gave lands along the small winding river now called
+the Seine, which empties into Red River opposite Point Douglas. Many of
+the De Meurons spoke German, and hence for several years the little
+stream on which they lived was called German Creek. The writings of the
+time are full of rather severe criticism of these bello-agricultural
+settlers. Of course no one expects an old soldier to be of much use to a
+new country. He is usually a lazy settler. His habits of life are formed
+in another mould from that of the farm. He is apt to despise the hoe and
+the harrow and many even of the half-pay officers who came to hew out a
+home in the Canadian forest, never learned to cut down a tree or to hold
+a plough, though it may be admitted that they lived a useful life in
+their sons and daughters, while the culture and decision of character of
+the old officer or sturdy veteran were an asset of great value to the
+locality in which he settled.
+
+But the De Meurons were not only bachelors, but they came from the
+peasantry of Austria and Italy, they had not fought for home and
+country, and their life of mercenary soldiering had made them selfish
+and deceitful. A writer of the time speaks, and evidently with much
+prejudice, against the De Meurons. "They were," he says, "a medley of
+almost all nations--Germans, French, Italians, Swiss and others. They
+were bad farmers and withal very bad subjects; quarrelsome, slothful,
+famous bottle companions and ready for any enterprise however lawless
+and tyrannical." A few years later we find it stated that they made free
+with the cattle of their neighbors, and the chronicler does not hesitate
+to say that the herds of the De Meurons grew in number in exactly the
+same ratio as those of the Scottish settlers decreased.
+
+Some four years after the settlement of the De Meurons a sunburst came
+upon them quite unexpectedly.
+
+Lord Selkirk in the very last years of his life planned to bring a band
+of Protestant settlers from Switzerland. A Colonel May, late of another
+of the mercenary regiments, accepted the duty of going to Switzerland,
+issuing a very attractive invitation to settlers, and succeeded in
+shipping a considerable number of Swiss families to his so-called Red
+River paradise.
+
+This band of Colonists, consisting as they did of "watch and
+clock-makers, pastry cooks and musicians," were quite unfit for the
+rough work of the Selkirk Colony. In 1821 they were brought by way of
+Hudson Bay, over the same rocky way as the earlier Colonists came. They
+were utterly poverty stricken, though honest, and well-behaved. Their
+only possession of value was a plenty of handsome daughters. The Swiss
+families on arrival were placed under tents nearby Fort Douglas. As soon
+as possible many of the Swiss settlers were placed alongside the De
+Meurons on German Creek. Good Mr. West, who had just been sent out as
+chaplain by the Hudson's Bay Company, in place of the minister of their
+own faith promised to the Scottish settlers, did a great stroke of work
+in marrying the young Swiss girls to the De Meuron bachelors of German
+Creek. The description of the way in which the De Meurons invited
+families having young women in them to the wifeless cabins is ludicrous.
+A modern "Sabine raid" was made upon the young damsels, who were
+actually carried away to the De Meuron homesteads. The Swiss families
+which had the misfortune to have no daughters in them were left to
+languish in their comfortless tents. The afflictions of the earlier
+Selkirk settlers were increased by the arrival of these settlers. With
+the Selkirk settlers in their first decade the first consideration was
+always food. Till that question is settled no Colony can advance.
+Probably the most alarming and hopeless feature of their new colonial
+life was the appearance of vast flights of locusts or grasshoppers,
+which devoured every blade of wheat and grass in the country. To those
+who have never seen this plague it is inconceivable. Some thirty-five
+years ago in Manitoba the writer witnessed the utter devastation of the
+country by these pests. Some thirteen years before the coming of the
+first Colonists this plague prevailed. About the end of July, 1818,
+these riders of the air made their attack. In this year the Selkirk
+Colonists were greatly discouraged by the capture and removal to Canada,
+by the Nor'-Westers, of Mr. James Sutherland, their spiritual guide. But
+their labors now seem likely to be rewarded by a good harvest. The oats
+and barley were in ear, when suddenly the invasion came. The vast clouds
+of grasshoppers sailing northward from the great Utah desert in the
+United States, alighted late in the afternoon of one day and in the
+morning fields of grain, gardens with their promise, and every herb in
+the Settlement were gone, and a waste like a blasted hearth remained
+behind. The event was more than a loss of their crops, it seemed a
+heaven-struck blow upon their community, and it is said they lifted up
+their eyes to heaven, weeping and despairing. The sole return of their
+labors for the season was a few ears of half-ripened barley which the
+women saved and carried home in their aprons. There was no help for it
+but to retire to Pembina, although there was less fear than formerly for
+as a writer of the day says: "The settlers had now become good hunters;
+they could kill the buffalo; walk on snowshoes; had trains of dogs
+trimmed with ribbons, bells and feathers, in true Indian style; and in
+other respects were making rapid steps in the arts of a savage life."
+
+The complete loss of their crops left the settlers even without the
+seed-wheat necessary to sow their fields. The nearest point of supply of
+this necessity was an agricultural settlement in the State of Minnesota,
+upwards of five hundred miles away. Here was a mighty task--to undertake
+to cross the plains in winter and to bring back in time for the seeding
+time in spring the wheat which was necessary. But the Highlander is not
+to be deterred by rocky crag or dashing river, or heavy snow in his own
+land and he was ready to face this and more in the new world. And so a
+daring party went off on snowshoes, and taking three months for their
+trip, reached the land of plenty and secured some hundred bushels at the
+price of ten shillings a bushel.
+
+The question now was how to transport the wheat through a trackless
+wilderness. Up the Mississippi River for hundreds of miles the flat
+boats constructed for the purpose were painfully propelled, and passing
+through the branch known as the Minnesota River the Stony Lake was
+reached. This lake is the source of the Minnesota and Red rivers, and
+being at high water in the spring it was possible to go through the
+narrow lake from one river to the other with the rough boats
+constructed. The Red River was reached by the fearless adventurers who
+brought the "corn out of Egypt." They did not, however, reach the Red
+River with their treasure till about the end of June, 1820, and while
+the wheat grew well it was sown too late to ripen well, although it gave
+the settlers grain enough to sow the fields of the coming year. This
+expedition cost Lord Selkirk upwards of a thousand pounds sterling. In
+the following year the grasshoppers again visited the Red River fields,
+but by a sudden movement which, by some of the good Colonists was
+interpreted to be a direct interference of Providence on their behalf,
+the swarms of intruders passed away never to appear again in the Red
+River for half a century.
+
+The presence of the grasshoppers upon the Canadian prairies is one of
+interest. It is known that they appeared throughout the territory of Red
+River a dozen years or so before the coming of the Selkirk Colonists,
+also during the period we have been describing, and then not till the
+period from 1868 to 1875. During the latter half of this period the
+writer saw their devastations in Manitoba. The occurrence of the
+grasshopper at times in all agricultural districts in America is very
+different from the grasshopper or locust plague which we are describing.
+The red-legged Caloptenus or the Rocky Mountain locust are provided for
+lofty flight and pass in myriads over the prairies, lighting whenever a
+cloud obscures the sun. At one time the writer saw them in such hordes
+that they were found from Winnipeg to Edmonton, over a region about one
+thousand miles in breadth. In that year they devoured not only crops and
+garden products but almost completely ate up the grass on the prairie to
+such an extent as to make it useless for hay. In the year 1875 they
+appeared, in the main, for the last time in Manitoba, and in that year
+their disappearance was as sudden as in the former case of 1821. Under
+the wing upon the body of each grasshopper was to be found one or more
+scarlet red parasites which drew all the juices from the body of the
+insect and produced death. For a third of a century they have been
+almost unknown, and the area of cultivated ground in the States of North
+and South Dakota, where they may supply their hunger renders it likely
+that Manitoba will know them no more. It cannot be wondered at that such
+continuous disasters made the settler whether Scottish, De Meuron, or
+Swiss, extremely discontented. During the period of the scourge, the
+only resource was to winter at Pembina in reasonable distance from the
+buffalo-herds. In one of these years a number of the Selkirk Colonists
+did not return to their farms but emigrated to the United States. As we
+shall see in a few years after the grasshopper scourge the flood of the
+Red River took place, when the De Meurons and Swiss, with one or two
+exceptions, disappeared from the Colony and became citizens of the
+United States.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+ENGLISH LION AND CANADIAN BEAR LIE DOWN TOGETHER.
+
+
+That such violence and bloodshed as that about Fort Douglas, should be
+seen by British subjects under the flag which stands for justice and
+equal rights made sober-minded Britons blush. While Lord Selkirk's
+agents on the banks of the Red River may have been aggressive in pushing
+their rights, yet to the Canadians was chargeable the greater part of
+the bloodshed. This was but natural. To the hunter, the trapper, and the
+frontiersman the use of firearms is familiar. The fur trader protects
+himself thus from the bear and the panther. The hot blood of the Metis
+as he careered over the prairie on his steed boiled up at the least
+provocation.
+
+But the disheartening law suits through which Lord Selkirk passed in
+Sandwich, Toronto, and Montreal, reflected more dishonor on the
+Canadians than did even the bloody violence of the Bois-Brulés. The
+chicanery employed by the Canadian courts, the procuring of special
+legislation to adapt the law to Lord Selkirk's case, and the invocation
+of the highest social and even clerical influence in Upper Canada for
+the purpose of injuring his Lordship will ever remain a blot on earlier
+Canadian jurisprudence. Fortunately the rights of man, whether native or
+foreigner, are now better understood and more fully protected in Canada
+than they were in the second decade of the nineteenth century. Col.
+Coltman's report, as already stated, was a model of truthfulness, fair
+play and freedom from prejudice, and Coltman was a Canadian appointee.
+
+So grave, however, were the rumours of these events happening on the
+plains of Rupert's Land, as they reached Britain that the House of
+Commons named a committee to enquire into the troubles. This committee
+sat in 1819, and the result is a blue-book of considerable size which
+exposes the injustice most fully. The violence and bloodshed which the
+fur traders now heard of far and near paralyzed the fur trade carried on
+by both fur companies, and brought the financial affairs of both
+companies to the verge of destruction. Two startling events of the next
+year produced a great shock. These were sudden and untimely deaths of
+the two great opponents--Lord Selkirk at an early age in France, and Sir
+Alexander Mackenzie, at his estate in Scotland, he having been seized
+with sudden illness on his way from London. The two men died within a
+month of one another in the spring of 1820. Their passing away was
+surely impressive. It seemed like an offering to the god of peace in
+order that the vast region with its scattered and thunderstruck
+inhabitants from Lake Superior to the Pacific Ocean might be saved from
+the horrors of a cruel war of brother against brother, and a war which
+might involve even the cautious but hot-blooded Indian tribes.
+
+Though the two parties were made up of daring and head-strong men, yet
+adversity is a hard but effective teacher.
+
+The Hudson's Bay Company was represented by Andrew Colville, a warm
+friend of the house of Selkirk, the opponents by Edward Ellice, a
+Nor'-Wester. It seemed, indeed, the very irony of fate that Ellice
+should be a negotiator for peace. He and his sons the writer heard
+spoken of by the late Earl of Selkirk--the son of the founder--as the
+bear and cubs. On the other hand the burly directors of the Hudson's Bay
+Company possessed with all the confidence of the British Lion, and with
+their motto of "Skin for skin" were only brought to a state of peace by
+the loss of dividends. Much correspondence passed between the offices of
+Leadenhall Street and Suffolk Lane in London, which the two companies
+occupied, but articles of agreement were not sufficient to make a union.
+
+All such coalitions to be successful must circle around a single man.
+
+This man was a young Scottish clerk, who had spent a year only in the
+far Athabasca district. He had not depended on birth or influence for
+his advancement, was not yet wholly immersed in the traditions or
+prejudices of either company, and had consequently nothing to unlearn.
+Montreal became the Canadian headquarters of the company, but now the
+annual meeting of the traders where he as Governor presided, was held at
+Norway House. The offices in London were united, and thus the affairs of
+the fur trade were provided for and outward peace at least was
+guaranteed. We are, however, chiefly dealing with the affairs of
+Assiniboia as Lord Selkirk called it, or with what was more commonly
+called Red River Settlement. This belonged to Lord Selkirk's heirs. The
+executors were, of course, Hudson's Bay Company grandees. They were Sir
+James Montgomery, Mr. Halkett, Andrew Colville, and his brother the
+Solicitor-general of Scotland. When the news came of the death of Lord
+Selkirk, the mishaps and disturbances of the Colony had been so many,
+that Hudson's Bay Company, Nor'-Westers, Settlers, and Freemen all said,
+"That will end the Colony now!" To the surprise of everyone the first
+message from the executors was one of courage, and the announcement was
+made that their first aim would be to send six hundred new settlers to
+the banks of Red River.
+
+[Illustration: SEVEN OAKS MONUMENT On Kildonan Road near Winnipeg.]
+
+The angry passions which had been roused led the English directors to
+take the very wise step of sending out two representatives--one from
+each of the old companies to rearrange all matters and settle all
+disputes. The two delegates were Nicholas Garry, the Vice-Governor of
+the Hudson's Bay Company, and Simon McGillivray, who bore one of the
+most influential names of the Nor'-Wester traders. They were not,
+however, equally well liked. Garry was a courteous, fair, and kindly
+gentleman. He won golden opinions among officers and settlers alike.
+McGillivray was suspicious and selfish, so the records of the time
+state. They came to the Red River in 1821, and Garry entered
+particularly into the arrangement of the Forts at the Forks. The old
+Fort Douglas was retained as Colony Fort, and the small Hudson's Bay
+Company trading house as well as Fort Gibraltar were absorbed into the
+new fort which was erected on the banks of the Assiniboine between Main
+Street and the bank of the Red River. All the letters and documents of
+the time speak of Governor Garry's visits as carrying a gleam of
+sunshine wherever he went and it was appropriate that the new fort built
+in the following year should bear the name Fort Garry. This was the
+wooden fort, which still remained in existence though superseded as a
+fort in 1850.
+
+At the time of Governor Garry's visit the population of the settlement
+may be considered to have been about five hundred. These were made up of
+somewhat less than two hundred Selkirk Colonists, about one hundred De
+Meurons, a considerable number of French Voyageurs and Freemen, Swiss
+Colonists perhaps eighty, and the remainder Orkney, employees of the
+Hudson's Bay Company. The Colony was, however, beginning to organize
+itself. The accounts of the French settlers are very vague, an
+occasional name flitting across the page of history. One family still
+found on Red River banks, gains celebrity as possessing the first white
+woman who came to Rupert's Land. With her husband she had gone to
+Edmonton in ----, and had wandered over the prairies. In 1811, with her
+husband, she first saw the Forks of Red River and wintered in 1811-12 at
+Pembina, the winter which the first band of Colonists spent at York
+Factory. Lajimoniere became a fast adherent of Lord Selkirk, and made a
+famous and most dangerous winter journey through the wilds alone,
+carrying letters from Red River to Montreal, delivered them personally
+to Lord Selkirk in 1815.
+
+The Lajimonieres received with great delight in 1818 the first Roman
+Catholic missionaries who reached Red River. These were sent through
+Lord Selkirk's influence, and the large gift of land known as the
+Seigniory lying east of St. Boniface was the reward given to the early
+pioneer missionaries--Provencher and Dumoulin, men of great stature and
+manly bearing. In the year of their arrival James Sutherland, the
+Presbyterian chaplain of the Selkirk Colonists, was taken by the
+Nor'-Westers to Upper Canada, whither his son, Haman Sutherland, had
+gone in 1815 with Duncan Cameron. The Earl of Selkirk had promised to
+send to his Scottish Colonists a minister of their own faith. On his
+death in France his agent in London was Mr. John Pritchard. Seventeen
+days after the death of Lord Selkirk, Rev. John West was appointed to
+come as chaplain to the Colonists and the other Protestants of Red
+River. Pritchard arrived by Hudson's Bay ship at York Factory 15 Aug.,
+1820, having Mr. West in company with him.
+
+And now Colville wrote to Alexander Macdonell, the Governor of the
+Settlement: "Mr. West goes out and takes with him persons acquainted
+with making bricks and pottery." Macdonell was a Roman Catholic, but
+Colville wrote: "I trust also that by your example and advice you will
+encourage all the Protestants, Presbyterians as well as others to attend
+divine service as performed by Mr. West. He will also open schools." As
+to Mr. West's support a curiosity occurs in one of Mr. West's letters
+written in the following year from York Factory. He speaks of an
+agreement between Lord Selkirk and the Selkirk Settlers.
+
+"That the Settlers will use their endeavours for the benefit and support
+of the clergyman and shall be chargeable therewith as follows (that is
+to say): each settler shall employ himself, his servants, his horses,
+cattle, carts, carriages and other things necessary to the purpose on
+every day and at every place to be appointed by the clergyman to whom,
+or whose flock he shall belong, not exceeding at and after the rate of
+three days in the spring and three days in the autumn of each year."
+
+This is a gem of ecclesiasticism.
+
+Mr. West says: "I find that it is impracticable to carry the same into
+effect. This is attributable to the distance of most of the settlers and
+the reluctance of the Scotch Settlers."
+
+Mr. West had made mention of this to Governor Garry.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+SATRAP RULE.
+
+
+"Woe to the Nation," says a high authority, "whose King is a child," but
+far worse than even having a child-ruler is the fate of a Kingdom or
+Principality whose ruler is a hireling. The Roman Empire was ruled in
+the different provinces by selfish and dishonest adventurers, who
+tyrannized over the people, farmed out the revenues, bribed their
+favorites and defrauded their masters. Turkish Government or Persian
+Rule is to-day an organized system of extortion and oppression by
+unscrupulous Satraps. Lord Selkirk's two governors, Miles Macdonell and
+Robert Semple, had been removed, the former by capture, the latter by
+death. Alexander Macdonell in 1816 became acting governor and was
+confirmed in office for five or six years afterward. In his regime the
+Grasshoppers came and did their destructive work, but the French people
+nicknamed him "Governor Sauterelle," Grasshopper Governor, for, says the
+historian of this decade he was so called, "because he proved as great a
+destroyer within doors as the grasshoppers in the fields."
+
+Lord Selkirk had been a most generous and sympathetic founder to his
+Scottish Colony. He was not only proprietor of the whole Red River
+Valley, but he felt himself responsible for the support and comfort of
+his Colonists. He had to begin with supplying food, clothing,
+implements, arms and ammunition to his settlers. He had erected
+buildings for shelter and a store house and fort for the protection of
+them and their goods. He had supplied, in a Colony shop, provisions and
+all requisites to be purchased by his settlers and on account of their
+poverty to be charged to their individual accounts.
+
+George Simpson, who was the new Governor of the United Hudson's Bay
+Company, was for two years Macdonell's contemporary, and he in one of
+his letters says: "Macdonell is, I am concerned to say, extremely
+unpopular, despised and held in contempt by every person connected with
+the place, he is accused of partiality, dishonesty, untruth and
+drunkenness,--in short, by a disrespect of every moral and elevated
+feeling."
+
+Alexander Ross says of him, "The officials he kept about him resembled
+the court of an Eastern Nabob, with its warriors, serfs, and varlets,
+and the names they bore were hardly less pompous, for here were
+secretaries, assistant secretaries, accountants, orderlies, grooms,
+cooks and butlers."
+
+Satrap Macdonell held high revels in his time. "From the time the
+puncheons of rum reached the colony in the fall, till they were all
+drunk dry, nothing was to be seen or heard about Fort Douglas but
+balling, dancing, rioting and drunkenness in the barbarous sport of
+those disorderly times." Macdonell's method of reckoning accounts was
+unique. "In place of having recourse to the tedious process of pen and
+ink the heel of a bottle was filled with wheat and set on the cask. This
+contrivance was called the 'hour glass,' and for every flagon drawn off,
+a grain of wheat was taken out of the hour glass, and put aside till the
+bouse was over."
+
+As was to be expected this disgraceful state of things led to grave
+frauds in the dealings with the Colonists, and when Halkett, one of Lord
+Selkirk's executors, arrived on Red River to investigate the complaints,
+a thorough system of "false entries, erroneous statements and
+over-charges" was found, and the discontent of the settlers was removed,
+though they were all heavily in debt to the Estate.
+
+It had been the object of Lord Selkirk from the beginning of his
+enterprise to give employment to his needy Colonists. Various
+enterprises were begun with this end in view, but they were all mere
+bubbles which soon burst. John Pritchard, whom Lord Selkirk had taken as
+his secretary to London, was largely instrumental in floating the
+ill-starred scheme known as the "Buffalo Wool Company." Just as on the
+shores of the Mediterranean, shawls were made from the long wool of the
+goats, so it was thought that shawls could be made of the hair or wool
+of the buffalo. A voluminous correspondence given in many letters of
+Pritchard's to Lady Selkirk and other ladies of high station and to an
+English firm of manufacturers exploiting this project is before us.
+Sample squares of the cloth made of buffalo wool were distributed and in
+certain circles the novelty from the Red River was the "talk of the
+town," in London.
+
+On the banks of Red River the scheme took like wild-fire. All Red River
+people were to make fortunes. There were to be high wages and work for
+everybody. Wages were increased, and men were receiving nearly four
+dollars a day. Money became plentiful and provisions became dear and
+also scarce. The employees, higher and lower, became intoxicated with
+their success, as they now also became really intoxicated and fell into
+reckless habits. The work was neglected, and the enterprize collapsed.
+This was the earliest boom on Red River banks. Failure was sure to
+follow so mad a scheme. The buffalo wool cloth which it cost some twelve
+dollars and a half to manufacture, partly in Red River Settlement and
+partly in England, was sold for little more than one dollar a yard. The
+£2,000 of capital was all swallowed up, £4,500 of debt to the Hudson's
+Bay Company was never paid, the scheme became a laughing stock in
+England, and failure and misery followed its collapse in the Colony.
+
+At this time the French-Canadian settlement at Pembina was induced to
+remove to St. Boniface on the Red River, where they gathered around
+their new priest, Provencher, to whom they became much attached.
+
+The Selkirk Trustees, in every way, continued ungrudgingly to advance
+the interests of the Colony, but their plans, though often mere theories
+failed more from extravagance and want of good men to execute them than
+from any other cause.
+
+Believing that farming was the thing needing cultivation in a country
+with so rich a soil, the Colonizers began the Hayfield farm on the north
+bank of the Assiniboine River, near what is now the outskirts of the
+City of Winnipeg, a little above the present Agricultural College
+buildings. Beginning with an expensive salary for Manager Laidlaw, the
+promoters erected ample farm buildings, barns, yards and stables.
+Importations were made of well-bred cattle and horses. Several years of
+mismanagement and helplessness resulted from this trial of a model farm,
+and it was given up at a total loss to the proprietors of £3,500. The
+Assiniboine Wool Company was next started, but failed before the first
+payment of stock took place, without damage to anyone, so that, as was
+remarked, there was "much cry and little wool." The Flax and Hemp
+Company was the next unfortunate enterprise. This failed on account of
+there being no market, so that farmers never reaped the successful crops
+which they had grown. An expedition was made to Missouri, under Messrs.
+Burke and Campbell, to introduce sheep into the settlement. As the
+fifteen hundred sheep purchased had to be driven 1,500 miles to their
+destination on Red River, only two hundred and fifty of the whole flock
+survived. Failure after failure taking place did not prevent the
+formation of a Tallow Company, which resulted in the loss of £600 to
+£1,000, and a considerable sum was spent also in an abortive attempt to
+open up a road to Hudson's Bay, a scheme which Lord Selkirk's letters
+show, he had in view from the very beginning of the life of the Colony.
+The courage and generosity of the executors of Lord Selkirk shown to all
+these enterprises reflects the greatest credit upon them. True, the
+concession of so wide an area of fertile land was worth it, and the
+pledges made to the Selkirk settlers demanded it, but as in hundreds of
+other enterprises undertaken by British capitalists on the American
+continent, the choice of men foreign to the country and its conditions,
+the lack of conscience and economy on the part of the agents sent out,
+the dissension and jealousy aroused by every such attempt, as well as
+the absence of the means of transport by land and sea through the
+methods supplied by science to-day, resulted in a series of dismal
+failures, which placed an undeserved stigma upon the character of the
+soil, climate, and resources of Assiniboia. It took more than fifty
+years of subsequent effort to remove this impression.
+
+These experiences took place under those governors who succeeded
+Alexander Macdonell--the Grasshopper Governor. The first of them was
+Captain Bulger, an unfortunate martinet, though a man of good conscience
+and high ideals. He had a most uncompromising manner. He quarreled with
+the Hudson's Bay Company officer at Fort Garry on the one hand, and with
+old Indian Chief Peguis on the other. A whole crop of suggestions made
+by the Captain on the improvement of the Colony remain in his "Red River
+Papers." Bulger's successor was Governor Pelly, a relative of the
+celebrated Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company. The new Governor lacked
+nerve and decision, and was quite unfitted for his position. His method
+of dealing with an Indian murderer was long repeated on Red River as a
+subject for humor, when he instructed the interpreter to announce to the
+criminal: "that he had manifested a disposition subversive of all order,
+and if he should not be punished in this world, he would be sure to be
+punished in the next." The hopelessness of carrying on the affairs of
+the Colony apart from those of the general affairs of the Hudson's Bay
+Company, was now seen, and on the suggestion of Governor Simpson, the
+management was placed in the hands of governors immediately responsible
+to the company. This change led to the appointment as Governor of Donald
+McKenzie. This old trader had taken part in the formation of the Astor
+Fur Company, and was in charge of one of the famous parties, which in
+1811 crossed the continent, as described by Washington Irving. Ross Cox
+says of this beleaguered party: "Their concave cheeks, protuberant
+bones, and tattered garments indicated the dreadful extent of their
+privations." The old trader thus case-hardened faced bravely for eight
+years the worries of the Colony.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+AND THE FLOOD CAME.
+
+
+With fire and flood some of the greatest catastrophies of the world have
+been closely connected. The tradition of the Noachian deluge has been
+found among almost all peoples. Horace speaks of the mild little Tiber
+becoming so unruly that the fishes swam among the tops of the trees upon
+its banks. Tidal waves devastated the shores of England and France on
+several occasions. It is most natural that prairie rivers should exceed
+their banks and spread over wide areas of the land. Old Trader Nolin,
+one of the first on the prairies, states that a worse flood than that
+seen by the Selkirk Settlers took place fifty years before, and there
+were two other floods between these two. Each year, according to the
+tale of the old settlers, the rivers of the prairies have been becoming
+wider by denudation, so that each flood tends to be less. Several
+conditions seem to be necessary for a flood upon these prairie rivers.
+These are a very heavy snowfall during the prairie winter, a late spring
+in which the river ice retains its hold, and a sudden period in the
+springtime of very hot weather, these being modified as the years go on
+by the ever-widening river channel.
+
+The winter of 1825-6 was one of the most terrific ever known in the
+history of the Selkirk Settlement. Just before Christmas the first woe
+occurred. The snow drove the herds of buffaloes far out upon the
+prairies from the river encampments and the wooded shelter. The horses
+in bands were scattered and lost, dying as they floundered in the deep
+snows. Even the hunters were cut off from one another, the hunters'
+families were driven hither and thither, and in many cases separated on
+the wide snowy plains. Sheriff Ross, who was a visitor from the
+Settlement to Pembina in the dreary winter there, describes the scene of
+horror. "Families here and families there despairing of life, huddled
+themselves together for warmth, and in too many cases, their shelter
+proved their grave. At first, the heat of their bodies melted the snow;
+they became wet, and being without food or fuel, the cold soon
+penetrated, and in several instances froze the whole into a body of
+solid ice. Some again, were found in a state of wild delirium, frantic,
+mad; while others were picked up, one here, and one there, overcome in
+their fruitless attempts to reach Pembina--some half-way, some more,
+some less; one woman was found with an infant on her back, within a
+quarter of a mile of Pembina. This poor creature must have travelled, at
+least, one hundred and twenty-five miles, in three days and nights, till
+she sunk at last in the too unequal struggle for life." Such scenes
+might be expected in the valleys of the Highlands of Scotland, or amid
+the heavy snows of New Brunswick or Quebec, but they were a surprise
+upon the open prairie. Some of the settlers had devoured their dogs, raw
+hides, leather and their very shoes. The loss of thirty-three lives cast
+a gloom over the whole settlement.
+
+Anxiety had been aroused throughout the whole Colony. The St. Lawrence
+often overflows its banks at Montreal, the Grand River at Brantford and
+the Fraser at its delta, but the rarity of the Red River overflows led
+the people, after their winter disaster, to hope that they would escape
+a flood.
+
+This was not to be.
+
+As the Red River flows northward, the first thaw of spring is usually
+south of the American International Boundary line at the head waters of
+the river which divides Minnesota and Dakota. In these States the floods
+are always, in consequence, greater than they are in Manitoba. In this
+year the ice held very firm up to the end of April. On the second of
+May, the waters from above rose and lifted the ice which still held in a
+mass together some nine feet above the level of the day before. Indians
+and whites alike were alarmed. The water overflowed its banks, and still
+continued to rise at Fort Garry. The Governor and his family were driven
+to the upper story of their residence in the fort, with the water ten
+feet deep below that.
+
+The whole river bank for miles was a scene of confusion and terror.
+Every home was an alarming scene as the flood reached it. The first
+thought was to save life. Amid the crying of children, the lowing of
+cattle and the howling of dogs, parents sought out all their children to
+see them safely removed. Parents and grown men and women fled in fright
+from their houses, and in many cases without any other garments than
+their working clothes. The only hope was to seek out somewhat higher
+spots more and more removed from the river. And with them went their
+cattle and horses.
+
+To those in boats--the stronger and more venturesome men--the task now
+came of removing the wheat and oats, what little furniture they
+possessed and the necessary cooking utensils.
+
+Blessed, on such occasions, are those who possess little for they shall
+have no loss.
+
+As the waters rose, the lake became wider, and the wind blew the waves
+to a dangerous height. The ice broke up and the current increasing
+dashed this against the buildings, which at length gave way and all went
+floating down across the points--ice, log houses with dogs and cats
+frantic on their roofs. One eye-witness says: "The most singular
+spectacle was a house in flames, drifting along in the night, its one
+half immersed in water and the remainder furiously burning."
+
+As the flood of waters widened into a great expanse it became plain that
+it would be some time,--if indeed less than several months,--before the
+waters would begin to abate, and in the absence of an Ararat on which to
+rest, the settlers occupied the rock-bared elevations, the highest Stony
+Mount, only eighty feet above the level, with the middle bluff, little
+Stony Mountain and Bird's Hill, east of the river. It is interesting to
+know that Silver Heights and the banks of the Sturgeon Creek near its
+mouth, were not submerged and at their various points the Colonists
+pitched their tents and sojourned.
+
+In seventeen days from the first rise, the water reached its height, and
+hope began immediately to return. On the 22nd of May the waters
+commenced to assuage, and twenty days afterward the Settlers were able
+with difficulty to reach their homes again.
+
+But every disaster has its side of advantage. During the escape of the
+Settlers to the heights, the De Meurons, losing all sense of restraint,
+stole the cattle of the Settlers and actually sold them meat from their
+own slaughtered cattle. So intense was the feeling of the Scottish
+Settlers against the De Meurons that the Selkirk Colonists chose another
+situation and moved to it.
+
+Now that the flood was over, the De Meurons and Swiss became more
+restless than ever. They decided to move to the United States. The
+Selkirk Colonists were glad to see them go, and furnished them, free of
+cost, sufficient supplies for their journey. They departed on the 24th
+of June, their band numbering 243, and the sturdy pioneers who held to
+their land shed no tears of sorrow at their going.
+
+With remarkable courage and hope the Settlers returned after what was to
+some of them, their fourth Hegira, and immediately planted potatoes and
+small quantities of wheat and barley. This grew well and supplied food
+for them, and in the next two or three years no less than two hundred
+and four houses were built. The Settlement, now freed from dissension,
+had not gone through its fiery ordeal in vain. The news of a home for
+themselves and their dusky wives and half-breed children, had spread
+over the whole of Rupert's Land, and now began, what Lieutenant-Governor
+Archibald, the first Governor of Manitoba, afterward spoke of as the
+floating down the rivers with their wives and children of the Hudson's
+Bay Company officers and men to the paradise of Red River. The great
+majority of the employees of the Company were Orkneymen. They gradually
+took up the most of the Red River lots surveyed, lying below Kildonan,
+and forming the Parishes of St. Paul's and St. Andrew's on Red River,
+down to St. Peter's Indian Reserve and St. James' and Headingly up the
+Assiniboine. The French half-breeds who removed from Pembina and
+different parts of Rupert's Land, made the great French parishes of St.
+Boniface, St. Norbert, St. Vital on the Red River, with St. Charles, St.
+Francois Xavier and Baie St. Paul on the Assiniboine. And now of
+Scottish Settlers with French and English half-breeds, the population of
+Red River Settlement had reached the number of 1,500 souls.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE JOLLY GOVERNOR.
+
+
+Great crises in the world's history generally produce the men who solve
+them. Cromwell, Washington, Garibaldi--each of them was the movement
+itself. A wider philosophy may see that the age or the Community evolves
+the man, but as Carlyle shows, it is the man who reacts upon the
+community, becomes the embodiment of its ideal, and is the mouthpiece
+and the right hand of the age which produces him.
+
+That Andrew Colville, a brother-in-law of Lord Selkirk, should select a
+young clerk in London and send him out to Athabasca to see the great
+fur-region of the Mackenzie River District, is not a wonderful thing,
+but that after one year of active service this young man should be
+chosen to guide the destinies of the great united fur company, made up
+of the Hudson's Bay and Nor'-Wester Companies is a wonder.
+
+This was the case with George Simpson, a Scottish youth, who was the
+illegitimate son of the maternal uncle of Thomas Simpson, the famous
+Arctic explorer, who is known as having followed out a portion of the
+coast line of the Arctic Sea.
+
+Anyone can see that from the proverbial energy that is developed in
+those of inferior birth, there was here one of Nature's commanding
+spirits, who would bring order out of chaos.
+
+Moreover, the fact of his short service in a distant part of the fur
+country, left him free from prejudice, gave him an open mind, and
+permitted him to serve as a young man when he was yet plastic and
+adaptable--all this was in his favor.
+
+Governor Simpson was short of stature, but possessed of great energy and
+endurance. He was keen in mind and observing in his faculties. Active
+and determined, he might at times seem a martinet and a tyrant, but he
+had at the same time an easy and pleasant manner that enabled him to
+attract to himself his servants and subordinates, but especially the
+savages with whom he had constantly to have dealings. His ardent
+Highland nature led him to rejoice in the picturesque and the showy, and
+he was fond of music and of society. Given to change, Simpson became a
+great traveller and made a voyage around the world before the days of
+steam or railway.
+
+One of the first gatherings of the fur traders, in which the young
+Governor gained golden opinions, was held at Norway House, the old
+resting place of the Selkirk Settlers. This meeting took place in June,
+1823; the minutes of this meeting have been preserved and are
+interesting. Such items as, that Bow River Fort at the foot of the Rocky
+Mountains was abandoned; that because of prairie fires the buffaloes
+were far beyond Pembina; that the Assiniboine Indians had moved to the
+Saskatchewan for food; that trouble with the French traders had arisen
+on account of their determination to trade in furs; that the French
+half-breeds had largely moved from Pembina to St. Boniface; that the
+trade should be withdrawn from beyond the American Boundary line; that
+the Sioux Indians should be discouraged from coming to the Forts to
+trade; and that the company intended to take over the Colony from Lord
+Selkirk's trustees, all came up for consideration.
+
+These were all important and difficult problems, but the young Governor
+acted with such shrewdness and skill, that he completely carried the
+Council with him, and was given power to act for the Council during the
+intervals between its meetings--a thing most unusual.
+
+The Governor was ubiquitous.
+
+[Illustration: SIR GEORGE SIMPSON Governor of Rupert's Land, 1821-60.]
+
+Now at Moose Factory, then at York; now at Norway House, but every year
+at Red River, the Governor saw for himself the needs of the country, and
+the opportunities for advancing the interests of the Hudson's Bay
+Company. Forty times, that is, nearly every year of his Governorship, it
+is said he travelled the route between Montreal and Fort Garry, and this
+by canoe. He drove his men, who were chiefly French-Canadians, with
+irritating haste, and it is a story prevalent among the old Selkirk
+Settlers, that a stalwart French voyageur, who was a favorite of the
+Governor, was once, in crossing the Lake of the Woods, so infuriated
+with his master's urging that he seized the tormentor who was small in
+stature, by the shoulders, and with a plentiful use of "sacrés," dipped
+him into the lake, and then replaced him in the bottom of the canoe.
+
+It does not fall within the scope of our story to tell of Simpson's
+journeys through Rupert's Land, nor of his famous voyage around the
+world, but there is extant an account of his methods of appealing to the
+interest of the Indians and servants of the company in his notable
+progresses through the wilds. Some seven years after his appointment
+Governor Simpson made a voyage from Hudson Bay, across country to the
+Pacific Ocean, namely, from York Factory to Fort Vancouver on the
+Columbia River. Fourteen chief officers, factors and traders, and as
+many more clerks had gathered to see the chieftain depart. Taking with
+him a lieutenant--Macdonald, a doctor and two canoe crews, of nine men
+each, the jolly Governor with dashing speed ascended the Hayes River, up
+which the Selkirk Colonists had laboriously come, receiving as he left
+the Factory, loud cheers from all the people gathered, and a salute of
+seven guns from the garrison. The French-Canadian voyageurs struck up
+their boating songs with glee, and with dashing paddles left the bay
+behind.
+
+The expedition was well provided with supplies, including wine for the
+gentlemen and spirits for the men.
+
+The arrival at Norway House was a féte.
+
+Before reaching the Fort the party landed on the shore, and paying much
+attention to their toilets, put themselves in proper trim. In full
+career the canoes dashed through the deep rocky gorge leading to the
+Fort, the Governor's canoe, had on its high prow, conspicuous the French
+guide, who for the time gave commands. The Governor always took his
+Highland piper with him, and now there pealed forth from the canoe the
+strident strains of the bagpipes, while from the second canoe sounded
+the shrill call of the chief factor's bugle. As the party approached the
+Fort they saw the Union Jack with its magic letters H.B.C. floating from
+the tall flag-staff of Norway pine erected on Signal Hill. Bands of
+Indians from all directions were assembled to meet the great chief or
+"Kitche Okema," as they called him. Ceasing the pipes and bugle, the
+voyageurs sang with lively spirit one of their boat songs, to the great
+delight of their old friends, the Indians.
+
+The Governor was in 1839, at a time when Canada was much disturbed in
+both Provinces by the Mackenzie-Papineau rebellion, rewarded for the
+loyalty of his Company by having knighthood conferred upon him.
+
+Sir George Simpson's annual visits to Red River Settlement were the
+bright spots in the life of the Colony. Never did a Governor get so near
+the people as did Sir George. Old settlers tell how when Sir George
+arrived every grievance, disaster, suspicion, or bit of gossip was
+faithfully carried to him, and his patience and ingenuity were freely
+exercised in "jollying" the people and giving them condescending
+attention.
+
+Sir George married in time, and on occasion brought Lady Simpson, who
+was a native of the country, to visit the Red River Settlement. Her
+presence was taken as a compliment by the people. Sir George Simpson,
+like many of the Hudson's Bay Company, had among all his business
+engagements the taste for literature. He encouraged the formation of
+libraries at the several trading posts, and in his letters throws in a
+remark about Sir Walter Scott, or Blackwood's last magazine, or other
+living topic, although the means of communication made literature often
+months late even on the banks of the Red River. His own effort in
+producing a book gave rise to a considerable amount of amusement. After
+his great journey around the world, he published an account of his
+travels in two considerable volumes. It is now no secret that these were
+prepared for him by a well-known judge of Red River Settlement, of whom
+we speak more fully in a later chapter. This double authorship became
+decidedly inconvenient to Sir George on the celebrated occasion when he
+was cited in 1857 to give evidence before the Committee of the House of
+Commons as to Rupert's Land. Sir George's experience in introducing
+farming into Red River Settlement had been so troublesome, and expensive
+as well, that he really believed agriculture would be a failure in the
+West, and so he gave his evidence. Unfortunately for him his editor had
+indulged in his book, in a pictorial and fulsome description of the
+Rainy River, as an agricultural region. Mr. Roebuck quoted this passage
+and Sir George was in a serious dilemma. If he admitted it his evidence
+would seem untrue, if he denied it then he must deny his authorship. He
+admitted that the book was somewhat too flattering in its description.
+
+But, take him all in all, Sir George really stood for his duty and his
+people. He lifted the fur trade out of a slough of despond, he was kind
+and charitable to the people of the Red River Settlement, he was a good
+administrator and a patriot Briton, and though as his book tells and
+local tradition confirms it, he could not escape from what is called
+"the witchery of a pretty face," yet he rose to the position on the
+whole as a man who sought for the higher interests of the vast territory
+under his sway, as well as for the financial advancement of his company.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+THE OLIGARCHY.
+
+
+The struggle has always been between the masses and the classes.
+Privilege always strives to confine itself to a few. It could not be but
+that the echoes of the great British Reform Bill of 1832 should reach
+even the remote banks of Red River. The struggle for constitutional
+freedom was also going on in Upper Canada, as well as in Lower Canada
+where the French-Canadians were fighting bitterly for their rights.
+Besides all this in the Red River Settlement the existence of a Company
+store--a monopoly--could never prove satisfactory to a community of
+British blood. Had the Colony shop been ever so justly and honestly
+conducted it could not be popular, how much less so must it have been in
+the hands of Alexander Macdonell, the peculator and deceiver.
+
+It is true the Company store, of which we speak, was not that of the
+Hudson's Bay Company proper, but rather the possession of Lord Selkirk's
+heirs.
+
+Gradually the rulership was coming under the direction of Governor
+Simpson, though there was the local Governor who was nominally
+independent.
+
+Even when Governor Simpson was invoked, it is to be remembered that he
+and his company were the embodiment of privilege. But the Governor was a
+surprisingly shrewd man. He saw the aspiration after freedom, of both
+Scottish and French Settlers. True, gaunt poverty did not stalk along
+the banks of Red River as it had done in the first ten years of the
+Colony, but just because the people were becoming better housed, better
+clad, and better fed, were they becoming more independent. The
+unwillingness to be controlled was showing itself very distinctly among
+the French half-breeds as they grew in numbers and dashed over the
+prairies on their fiery steeds. They were hunters, accustomed to the use
+of firearms and were, therefore, difficult to restrain.
+
+The Governor's policy clearly defined in his own mind became, for the
+next ten years, the policy of the Company. We have seen that the
+Governor built Lower Fort Garry, and he regarded this as his residence,
+nearly twenty miles down the river from the Forks, which was the centre
+of French influence. Even before doing this in 1831 he had, in the year
+preceding this, as Ross tells us, built a small powder magazine at Upper
+Fort Garry, and it goes without saying that rulers do not build powder
+magazines for the purpose of ornament.
+
+In 1834, as we learn from Hon. Donald Gunn, who was then a resident of
+Red River Settlement, and who has left us his views in the manuscript
+afterward published coming up to 1835, a most serious revolt took place
+among the Metis. Gunn's account is vivid and interesting.
+
+[Illustration: The Sisters, The Ferry, The Forks, Fort Garry, Site of
+Fort Gibraltar, Pontoon Bridge, French Half-breeds with Ox-carts, Red and
+Assiniboine Rivers. FORT GARRY (From Oil painting of Mr. W. Frank
+Lynn made in 1872, now in possession of the Author.)]
+
+The French half-breeds were entirely dependent upon hunting, trapping or
+voyaging. One hundred or one hundred and fifty men were required to
+transfer goods, furs, etc., from the boats during the time of open
+water. Generally they received advances from the Fur Company at the
+beginning of summer, for they were always in debt to the company. On the
+close of the open season they were paid the balance due them. After a
+few days of idleness and gossip the money would be spent and want would
+begin to press them. A new engagement with an advance would follow. The
+agreement was signed, and so like an endless chain, the natives were
+always held to the Company's interest. At Christmas, these workmen
+received a portion of their advance, and as is well known, the company
+relaxed somewhat its rules as to liquor selling at this season. At this
+Christmas time of 1834 payments were being made and indulgence was
+supreme, when a French half-breed named Larocque entered the office of
+the accountant, Thomas Simpson, a relative of Sir George, and demanded
+his pay in a disrespectful way. Simpson replied somewhat roughly, which
+led Larocque to insult the officer of the company. Simpson seized the
+fire poker and striking Larocque's head made an ugly wound on his scalp.
+
+Larocque's companions retired without violence, but on returning home,
+gathered the violent spirits together, came back to Fort Garry and
+demanded that Thomas Simpson should be given up to them for punishment,
+with the threat that if this were not granted, they would destroy the
+Fort, and take Simpson by violence. This being refused them, the Metis
+returned to their homes to prepare themselves for action, and began the
+war songs and war dances of their savage ancestors in true Indian style.
+Governor Christie, the local authority, took with him Chief Factor
+Cameron, Robert Logan and Alexander Ross, chief men of the Settlement,
+and visited the gathering of the Metis. One of the deputation writes
+that "they resembled a troop of furies more than human beings." For some
+time the mob refused the approaches of the officers of the Company. At
+length the quarrel was settled by the Company agreeing to pay the
+voyageur's wages in full, and that he should be allowed to remain at
+home. Probably, however, the most acceptable part of the concession, was
+the gift by the Company of a "ten-gallon keg of rum and tobacco."
+
+Next spring another demonstration was made by the Metis for other
+demands, but these were refused.
+
+[Illustration: EXTERIOR VIEW OF FORT GARRY]
+
+Then, from every direction came the imperious suggestion that some more
+effective form of government should be adopted. This was granted. True,
+Governor Simpson did not succeed in satisfying all the Settlers, though
+in this respect he found it easier to supply the volatile
+French-Canadian hunters, than the hard-headed people of British origin.
+The method of Governor Simpson, along with the London Board of the
+Hudson's Bay Company choosing the Council of Assiniboia, certainly did
+smack of the age of Henry VIII. or Charles I. in English history.
+
+The Council consisted of fifteen members, viz.: the Governor-in-Chief
+Simpson, the Local Governor Christie, the Roman Catholic Bishop, two
+Church of England clergymen, three retired Hudson's Bay Company
+officers, the leading doctor of the Colony, Sheriff Ross, Coroner
+McCallum, and three leading business men, viz.: Pritchard, Logan and
+McDermott. It is noticeable that though the French element numbered
+about one-half of the people, that only one Councillor besides the
+Bishop was given them, and this was Cuthbert Grant, now settled down
+from the period of his Bois-brulés impulsiveness to be the Warden of the
+Plains, with an influence over the Metis, that can only be described as
+magical.
+
+Judged by the methods of representative government the Council was
+rather a burlesque.
+
+Sheriff Alexander Ross, though a member of the Council, says: "To guard
+against foolish and oppressive acts, the sooner the people have a share
+in their own affairs the better. It is only fair that those that have to
+obey the laws should have a voice in making them."
+
+Hon. Donald Gunn, who was not on the Council, says: "The majority of the
+Council thus appointed were, no doubt, the wealthiest men in the Colony
+and generally well-informed, and yet their appointment was far from
+being acceptable to the people who knew that they were either
+sinecurists or salaried servants of the Hudson's Bay Company, and
+consequently were not the fittest men to legislate for people who
+retained some faint recollection of the manner in which the popular
+branch of the legislature in their native land was appointed, and who
+never ceased to inveigh against the arbitrary manner in which the
+Governor-in-chief chose the legislators."
+
+Notwithstanding the writer's perfect sympathy with both of these
+opinions, it is but fair to state that the Council of Assiniboia did in
+ordinary times do many things which were most beneficial and helpful to
+the Red River Community.
+
+Its most distressing failures were in those things which are very
+essential. (1) Being a compromise body it had no power of progressive
+development, and in the whole generation of its existence it did
+practically nothing to advance the public, intellectual, or moral
+interests of the people. (2) Perhaps its most serious breakdown took
+place, as we shall see, in the failure of its judicial system. Executive
+power it had none, as seen in the cases where jail-delivery took place
+again and again by the friends of the prisoners boldly extricating whom
+they would. (3) But most alarming and miserable was its failure to act
+in its moribund days, when it allowed, as we shall see, a mob to seize
+Fort Garry and bring in an era of disorder which made every
+self-respecting British subject blush with shame.
+
+[Illustration: FORT GARRY WINTER SCENES
+ SOUTH AND EAST FACES, 1840
+  From sketch by wife of Governor Finlayson.
+
+ EAST FACE IN 1882, WHEN FORT WAS DISMANTLED (From
+  painting in author's possession.) x Spot where Scott was Executed.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE OGRE OF JUSTICE.
+
+
+The wild life of the prairie or mountain cultivates a spirit of freedom.
+When individuals must become a law unto themselves, when the absence of
+steamers, railways, electric power, work-shops, and mills, throws men on
+their own resources, they find it irksome to obey the law. They regard
+its restrictions as tyrannical. The prairie horse becomes free. He must
+be caught with the lasso, he needs to be hobbled near the camp, it is
+necessary to curb him in his temper, but in his wild state he can
+provide for himself. He knows the best pasture and seeks it, he is
+acquainted with the water courses and finds them, he returns or not to
+his stable or covert at his own sweet will, he fights the wolf or the
+bear and protects the colts from the wild beasts.
+
+As is the prairie steed, so to a large extent is his master. He is apt
+to despise civilization, prefers his buckskin coat and fringed leggings,
+and loves the moccasin rather than the stiff leather shoe.
+
+With him the idea of sub-division of property is not developed. There
+are no local game laws. He shoots large or small game, moose or prairie
+chicken, whenever he can find them. He traps on whatever stream he
+chooses. His idea of personal property is very liberal. He is
+large-hearted and bountiful, divides his find of game with his
+neighbors, and his shanty has, as he says, "a latch hanging outside the
+door," for any wanderer or passing stranger.
+
+This many-sided notion of freedom belongs to all primitive peoples and
+societies. Of the Red River Community the French half-breed was of the
+most unsubdued and restive type, for he followed the ways of the
+Indians, while the Selkirk Colonists and their descendants always
+professed to be farmers, and hunting was only their diversion. Moreover,
+being of Scottish blood, they had been taught to fear God and honor the
+King.
+
+We have seen that Governor Simpson had a plan in his mind for gaining
+control and preserving order in his own kingdom. His idea of building
+fortified stone forts is chiefly seen in the cases of Upper and Lower
+Forts Garry. Fort Garry was, as we have seen, well on the way to
+completion by the time of the French outbreak in connection with
+Larocque. And Governor Christie was authorized to go on and construct a
+still more elaborate fort at the Forks to replace the wooden Fort Garry
+built shortly after the union of the Companies. Thus, a large Fort with
+numerous buildings, suitable for trade and residence, was begun in 1835,
+and around it a substantial stone wall was built. The dimensions from
+east to west were 280 feet, and from north to south 240 feet. The fort
+faced the Assiniboine River, and each of its corners showed a large and
+well-built bastion. The bastions were provided with port holes, and all
+about the structure suggested the possibility of an armed struggle. This
+was begun in the same year as the formation of the Council of
+Assiniboia, and was fairly advanced to completion by 1839. Laws for the
+government of the people, and the administration of justice were passed
+by the Council, in accordance with the opening address of Governor
+Simpson, when he said: "The time is at length arrived, when it becomes
+necessary to put the administration of justice on a more firm and
+regular footing than heretofore."
+
+And now, in 1839, in this Arcadia of Red River there became evident the
+dreadful presence of the law in the person of Adam Thom, first Recorder
+of Rupert's Land, who, as compared with the humble incomes of the people
+of Red River, had the enormous salary of £700 a year bestowed upon him
+by the Hudson's Bay Company. The plan was a very real one in Governor
+Simpson's mind when he took a step so decided.
+
+[Illustration: ADAM THOM, LL.D. Recorder and Author. Lived in Red River
+Settlement 1839-1854.]
+
+And the man who had been chosen for this post was no man of putty. He
+was a Scotchman of commanding presence, decided opinions and strong
+will. He was a man of rather aggressive and combative disposition. The
+writer met him in London long after he had retired--and this was some
+thirty years ago, and though the judge was then upwards of three score
+and ten, he was yet a man of force and decision. A graduate of Aberdeen
+University, Adam Thom had come to Montreal as a lawyer, and was for a
+time on Lord Durham's staff. He had taken high ground against Papineau's
+rebellion, and was known as one of the strongest newspaper
+controversialists of the time. He was a determined opponent of the
+French-Canadian rebellion, as he was of rebellion in any form whatever.
+Evidently, Governor Simpson chose a man "after his own heart" for the
+difficult task, of introducing law and order among the turbulent
+Nor'-Westers.
+
+The arrival of the new Judge in the Red River Settlement gave rise to
+much comment. The spirit of discontent had strengthened, as we have seen
+among the Colonists and English-speaking half-breeds. The Hudson's Bay
+Company had now re-bought the land of Assiniboia from Lord Selkirk's
+heirs. Hitherto it was difficult to find out precisely who their
+oppressor was. Now, though Governor Simpson sought by diplomacy to evade
+the responsibility, yet the explanation given by the Colonists of the
+arrival of Recorder Thom, was that he had come to uphold the Company's
+pretensions and to restrict their liberties. According to Ross, the
+Colonists reasoned that "a man placed in Recorder Thom's position,
+liable to be turned out of office at the Company's pleasure, naturally
+provokes the doubt whether he could at all times be proof against the
+sin of partiality. Is it likely," they said, "that he could always take
+the impartial view of a case that might involve in its results his own
+interests or deprive him of his daily bread?"
+
+Likewise, on the part of the French half-breeds, there was the same
+distrust in regard to the limiting of the privileges which they enjoyed,
+while along with this it had been noised about that during the Papineau
+trouble in Canada, the Judge was no favorite of the French. The French
+half-breeds, accordingly, became strongly prejudiced against the new
+Recorder.
+
+In the year after the arrival of Recorder Thom, a most startling and
+mysterious event--which indeed has never been solved to the present day,
+happened in the case of Thomas Simpson, who it will be remembered had
+roused by his crushing blow on the head of Larocque, the rage of the
+whole French half-breed community. The case was that Thomas Simpson,
+with a party of natives, had been going southward through Minnesota,
+ahead of the main body of sojourners. In a state of frenzy he had shot
+two of his four companions. The other two returned to the main body, and
+got assistance. He was seen to be alive as they approached him, a shot
+was heard, and then shots were fired in his direction by those observing
+him. Whether he committed suicide or was killed by those approaching,
+some of whom were French, will never be known. The fact that he had
+quarreled with the French half-breeds, five years before this event, was
+used to throw suspicion. The body of Simpson was carried back to St.
+John's Cemetery in Winnipeg, and it is said was buried along the wall in
+token of the belief that he had committed suicide.
+
+What the body of the people had feared in the tightening of the legal
+restrictions by the new laws and new officials, did actually take place.
+The French half-breeds were, as we have seen, chiefly given to hunting.
+In theory, the Hudson's Bay Company possessed _all hunting rights under
+their charter_. A French-Canadian, Larant, and another half-breed also,
+had the furs, which they had hunted for, forcibly taken from them by
+legal authority, while in a third case an offender against the game laws
+had been actually deported to York Factory. Alarm was now general among
+the French half-breeds. Hitherto the English half-breeds had been loyal
+to the Company. Alexander Ross gives an incident worth repeating as to
+how even the English half-breeds became rebellious. He says: "One of the
+Company's officers, residing at a distance, had placed two of his
+daughters at the boarding-school in the Settlement. An English
+half-breed, a comely well-behaved young man, of respectable connections,
+was paying his addresses to one of these young ladies, and had asked her
+in marriage. The young lady had another suitor in the person of a Scotch
+lad, but her affections were in favor of the former, while her guardian,
+the chief officer in Red River, preferred the latter. In his zeal to
+succeed in the choice he had made for the young lady, this gentleman
+sent for the half-breed and reprimanded him for aspiring to the hand of
+a lady, accustomed, as he expressed it, to the first society. The young
+man, without saying a word, put on his hat and walked out of the room;
+but being the leading man among his countrymen, the whole community took
+fire at the insult. 'This is the way,' said they, 'that we half-breeds
+are despised and treated.' From that time they clubbed together in high
+dudgeon and joined the French Malcontents against their rulers. The
+French half-breeds made a flag for use on the plains called 'The
+Papineau Standard.' It is plain that rightly or wrongly, Recorder Thom
+has a thorny path to tread."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+A HALF-BREED PATRIOT.
+
+
+Canada looks with patriotic delight not only on her sons who remain at
+home to work out the problems of her developing life, but follows with
+keenest interest those Canadians who have gone abroad and made a name
+for themselves, and their country in other parts of the Empire or the
+world. Some of these are Judge Haliburton, Satirist; Roberts and Bliss
+Carman, Poets; Gilbert Parker, Grant Allen and Barr, Novelists; Romanes
+and Newcombe, Scientists; Girouard, Kennedy and Scott in the Army, and
+many others who have won laurels in the several walks of life. But
+Manitoba, or rather Red River Settlement has also its sons who have gone
+abroad to do distinguished service and bring honor to their place of
+birth. One of them was Alexander K. Isbister, most commonly known as the
+donor of upwards of $80,000, given as a Scholarship Fund to the
+University of Manitoba, but really more celebrated still, for the
+service he rendered his native land. A little less than thirty years ago
+the writer met Mr. Isbister in London and enjoyed his hospitality.
+Isbister was a tall and handsome man, showing distinctly by his color
+and high cheekbones that he had Indian blood in his veins. Receiving his
+early education in St. John's School, he had gone home to England, taken
+his degrees, become a lawyer, and afterward had gone into educational
+work. He was, at the time of the visit spoken of, Dean of the College of
+Preceptors in London, and had much reputation as an educationalist. But
+the service he rendered to his native land out-topped all his other
+achievements. We have already shown the tendency toward restriction
+being developed under Recorder Thom's leadership, in Red River
+Settlement. James Sinclair, a member of a most respectable Scotch
+half-breed family, had obtained the privilege from the Company to export
+tallow, the product of the buffalo, by way of York Factory to England.
+The venture succeeded, but a second shipment was held at York Factory
+for nearly two years, and thus Sinclair was virtually compelled to sell
+it to the Company.
+
+Twenty leading half-breeds then appealed to the Hudson's Bay Company to
+be allowed to export tallow at a reasonable rate. In 1844 two
+proclamations were issued, that before the Company would carry goods for
+any settler, a declaration from such settler, and the examination of his
+correspondence in regard to his dealing in furs would first be
+necessary. The native people determined to oppose them. They claimed as
+having Indian blood, that they were entitled to aboriginal rights.
+Twenty leading English-speaking half-breeds, among them such respectable
+names as Sinclair, Dease, Vincent, Bird and Garrioch, demanded from
+Governor Christie a definite answer as to their position and rights. The
+Governor answered with sweet words, but the policy of "thorough" was
+steadily pushed forward, and a new land deed was devised by which the
+land would be forfeited should the settlers interfere in the fur trade.
+Next, heavy freights were put on goods going to England by way of Hudson
+Bay, and Sinclair, as an agitator, was refused the privilege of having
+his freight carried at any price. The spirits of the English-speaking
+half-breeds were raised to a pitch of discontent, quite equal to that of
+the French half-breeds, although the latter were more noisy and
+demonstrative. James Sinclair became the "village Hampden" who stood for
+his rights and those of his compeers.
+
+It was at this juncture that the valuable aid of Isbister came to his
+countrymen. In 1847 Isbister, with his educated mind, social standing,
+and valiant spirit led the way for his people, and with five other
+half-breeds of Red River forwarded a long and able memorial to Earl
+Grey, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, bringing the serious
+charges against the Company, of neglecting the native people, oppressing
+all the settlers, and taking from them their natural rights. A perusal
+of this document leads us to the opinion that the charges were
+exaggerated, but nevertheless they showed how impossible it was, for a
+Trading Company, to be at the same time the Government of a country and
+to be equitable and high-minded. The Hudson's Bay Company answered this
+document sent them by the Imperial Government, and so far relieved
+themselves of some of the charges. But the storm raised could not be
+quieted. Isbister obtained new evidence and attacked the validity of the
+Company's Charter. Lord Elgin, the fair-minded Governor of Canada,
+claimed that he, in Canada, was too far away from the scene of dispute
+to give an authoritative answer, but on the whole he favored the
+Company. Lord Elgin, however, based his reply too much upon the
+statement of Colonel Crofton, a military officer, who had been sent to
+Red River. Alexander Ross said of Crofton, on the other hand, that he
+was a man "who never studied the art of governing a people."
+
+But the agitation still gained head.
+
+The mercurial French half-breeds now joined in the struggle. They
+forwarded a petition to Her Majesty the Queen, couched in excellent
+terms, in the French language, in the main asking that their right to
+enjoy the liberty of commerce be given them. This petition was signed by
+nine hundred and seventy-seven persons, and virtually represented the
+whole French half-breed adult population.
+
+An important episode soon took place among the French, usually known as
+the "Sayer Affair." Of this we shall speak in another chapter. The
+movement, headed by Isbister, still continued, and led to the serious
+consideration by the British Government of the whole situation in Red
+River Settlement. The impatience of the people of all classes in Red
+River led to a new plan of attack. Not being able to influence
+sufficiently the British authorities, they forwarded a petition, signed
+by five hundred and seventy English-speaking people of Red River
+Settlement, to the Legislative Assembly of Canada. The grievances of the
+people were given in detail. The reason suggested for the deaf ear which
+had been given them by the British Parliament were stated to be "the
+chicanery of the Hudson's Bay Company, and its false representations."
+
+Isbister, in all his efforts, gained the unfailing respect and
+gratitude, not only of his own race, but very generally of the people of
+the Red River Settlement. Ten years after the petition of Isbister and
+his friends had been presented to Earl Grey, a committee of the House of
+Commons was sitting to investigate the affairs of the Hudson's Bay
+Company. It was a sifting inquiry, in which Gladstone, Roebuck and other
+friends of liberty, took part. It, however, took a quarter of a century
+to bring about the union of Rupert's Land with Canada, although, as we
+shall see, in less than five years, a measure of amelioration came to
+the oppressed and indignant settlers of Red River. For this the people
+of Red River Settlement were largely indebted to the self-denying and
+persistent efforts of Alexander Isbister. The old settlers of Kildonan,
+the French and English half-breeds of the several parishes, and their
+descendants as well as the University of Manitoba and all friends of
+education ought to keep his memory green for what he did for them, for
+as a writer of his own time says, "He gained for himself a name that
+will live in days yet to come."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+SAYER AND LIBERTY.
+
+
+Stone forts and ermined judges were not, to the mind of the unbridled
+and ungovernable Metis. True, the French mind has a love for show and
+circumstance and dignity of demeanor, but the conviction had taken hold
+of the people of Red River, and especially of the French half-breeds,
+that these meant curtailment of their freedom. They felt the dice were
+loaded against them.
+
+But, now, in the year after Sinclair and his friends had shown such a
+firm front to Governor Christie, and when something like a feudal system
+was being introduced into the Red River Settlement, a new surprise came
+upon French and English alike. This was immediately after the terrible
+visitation of a plague, which had cut down one-sixteenth of the whole
+population. It was the arrival of a party of the Sixth Royal Regiment of
+Foot, along with artillery and engineers, amounting in all to five
+hundred souls. The breath of the people was taken away by this
+demonstration of force, and a chronicler of the time says: "From the
+moment they arrived the high tone of lawless defiance and internal
+disaffection raised by our people against the laws and the authorities
+of the place were reduced to silence." Colonel Crofton, in command of
+the troops, was appointed Governor of the Settlement, and he proved a
+wise and honorable administrator. The regiment gained golden opinions
+from the people, and as they spent during their short stay of two years,
+a sum of £15,000 in supplies, it was, indeed, a golden age for the
+hard-working Colonists. The leaving of the regiment was regretted by the
+Colony.
+
+Having now entered on a career of government by force, it would not do
+to let it drop. Hence the authorities enlisted in Britain a number of
+old pensioners, and under command of Major Caldwell, who was also to act
+as Governor of the Settlement, sent out, in each of two successive
+years, some seventy of these discharged soldiers to act as guardians of
+the peace. It was pretty well agreed that these men, to whom were given
+holdings of small pieces of land to the west of Fort Garry, now in the
+St. James District of Winnipeg, were simply imitators in conduct and
+disposition of the De Meurons, who had so vexed the Colonists. Major
+Caldwell, too, by his lack of business habits and his selfishness,
+alienated all the leading men of the Colony, so that they refused to sit
+with him in Council. It was the common opinion that the turbulence and
+violence of the pensioners was so great that, as one of the Company
+said, "We have more trouble with the pensioners than with all the rest
+of the Settlement put together." The pensioners were certainly
+absolutely useless for the purpose for which they had been sent, that is
+to preserve order in the country. The Metis, at any rate, spoke of them
+with derision.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF FORT GARRY]
+
+In the year following the removal of the troops the policy of preventing
+the French half-breeds from buying and selling furs with the Indians was
+being carried out by Judge Thom, the relentless ogre of the law. Four
+men of the Metis had been arrested; of these the leader was William
+Sayer. He was the half-breed son of an old French bourgeois of the
+Northwest Company. He had been liberated on bail, and was to come up for
+trial in May. The charge against him was of buying goods with which to
+go on a trading expedition to Lake Manitoba.
+
+Possibly the case would be easily disposed of, and most likely dismissed
+with a trifling fine, although it was true that Sayer had made a stiff
+resistance on his being arrested. This violent resistance was but an
+example of the bitter and dangerous spirit that was developing among the
+Metis.
+
+A brave and restless man was now growing to have a dominating influence
+over the French half-breeds. This was Louis Riel, a fierce and noisy
+revolutionist, ready for any extremity. He was a French half-breed, was
+owner of a small flour mill on the Seine River, and he was the father of
+the rebel chief of later years. The day fixed for the Sayer trial by the
+legal authorities was a most unfortunate one. It was on May 17th, which
+on that year was Ascension Day, a day of obligation among the Catholic
+people of the Settlement. It was noticeable that there was much ferment
+in the French parishes. Louis Riel, who was a violent, but effective
+speaker, of French, Irish and Indian descent, busied himself in stirring
+up resistance. The fact that it was a Church day for the Metis made it
+easy for them to gather together. This they did by hundreds in front of
+the St. Boniface Cathedral, where, piling up their guns, with which all
+the men were armed, at the Church door, they then entered and performed
+their sacred duties. At the close of the service, Riel, "the miller of
+the Seine," made a fiery oration, advocating the rescue of their
+compatriot Sayer, who was to be held for trial at the Court House. A
+French sympathizer said of this public meeting: "Louis Riel obtained a
+veritable triumph on that occasion, and long and loud the hurrahs were
+repeated by the echoes of the Red River."
+
+And now, under Riel's direction, by a concerted action, movement of the
+whole body was made to cross the Red River and march to the Court House,
+which stood beside the wall of Fort Garry. To allow the five hundred men
+to cross easily, Point Douglas was selected, and here by ferry boats,
+said to have been provided by James Sinclair, the English half-breed
+leader of whom we have spoken, the party crossed, and worked up to the
+highest pitch of excitement, stalked up the mile or two to the Court
+House.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF FORT GARRY South portion with stone wall
+and bastions built in 1835. North portion with wooden wall and
+stone north gate still standing, built in 1850.]
+
+Though somewhat anxious, the Governor and Court officials passed through
+the excited crowd which surrounded the Court House. It was expected that
+the Governor would order out a guard of pensioners to protect the Court,
+but he had dispensed with this, and so he, Recorder Thom, and the
+Magistrate, took their seats upon the elevated platform of Justice
+precisely at eleven o'clock. Sayer's case was called first, but he was
+held by the Metis outside of the Court room. Other unimportant business
+was then taken up until one o'clock. An Irish relative of old Andrew
+McDermott, named McLaughlin, attempted to interfere, but was instantly
+suppressed. The Court then sent a suggestion to the Metis that they
+should appoint a leader with a deputation to enter the Court room with
+Sayer and state their case. This proposal was accepted, and James
+Sinclair, the English half-breed leader, undertook the duty. Sayer was
+then brought in, guarded by twenty of his compatriots, fully armed,
+while fifty Metis guards stood at the gates of the Court House
+enclosure. An attempt was then made to select a jury, but it was
+fruitless. Sayer next confessed that he had traded for furs with an
+Indian. The Court then gave a verdict of guilty, whereupon Sayer proved
+that a Hudson's Bay officer named Harriott, had given him authority to
+trade. The other three cases against the Metis were not proceeded with,
+and Governor, Recorder, officials and spectators all left the Court
+room, the mob being of the impression that the prisoners had been
+acquitted, and that trading for furs was no longer illegal. Though this
+was not the decision yet the crowd so took it up, and made the welkin
+ring with shouts (Le Commerce est libre, vive la liberté) "Commerce is
+free, long live liberty."
+
+The Metis then crossed the river to St. Boniface, and after much
+cheering, fired several salutes with their guns. It was their victory,
+but it was one in which the vast mass of the English-speaking rejoiced
+for the bands of tyranny were broken. Judge Thom, under instructions
+from Governor Simpson, never acted as Recorder again, but was simply
+Secretary of the Court, and another reigned in his stead. After this the
+Court was largely without authority, and as has been said the rescue of
+prisoners was not an infrequent occurrence in the future life of the
+Settlement.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+OFF TO THE BUFFALO.
+
+
+Alexander Ross was a Scottish Highlander, who came to Glengarry in
+Canada, quite a century ago, joined Astor's expedition, went around Cape
+Horn and in British Columbia rose to be an officer in the Northwest
+Company. He married the daughter of an Indian Chief at Okanagan, came
+over the Rocky Mountains, and was given by Sir George Simpson a free
+gift of a farm, where Ross and James Streets are now found in Winnipeg.
+This land is to-day worth many millions of dollars. Ross was also fond
+of hunting the buffalo, and we are fortunate in having his spirited
+story of 1840.
+
+
+BUFFALO HUNTING.
+
+In the leafy month of June carts were seen to emerge from every nook and
+corner of the Settlement bound for the plains. As they passed us, many
+things were discovered to be still wanting, to supply which a halt had
+to be made at Fort Garry shop; one wanted this thing, another that, but
+all on credit. The day of payment was yet to come; but payment was
+promised. Many on the present occasion were supplied, many were not;
+they got and grumbled, and grumbled and got, till they could get no
+more; and at last went off, still grumbling and discontented.
+
+From Fort Garry the cavalcade and camp-followers were crowding on the
+public road, and thence, stretching from point to point, till the third
+day in the evening, when they reached Pembina, the great rendezvous of
+such occasions. When the hunters leave the Settlement it enjoys that
+relief which a person feels on recovering from a long and painful
+sickness. Here, on a level plain, the whole patriarchal camp squatted
+down like pilgrims on a journey to the Holy Land, in ancient days: only
+not so devout, for neither scrip nor staff were consecrated for the
+occasion. Here the roll was called, and general muster taken, when they
+numbered on the occasion 1,630 souls: and here the rules and regulations
+for the journey were finally settled. The officials for the trip were
+named and installed into their office, and all without the aid of
+writing materials.
+
+The camp occupied as much ground as a modern city, and was formed in a
+circle: all the carts were placed side by side, the trams outward.
+Within this line, the tents were placed in double, treble rows, at one
+end; the animals at the other in front of the tents. This is the order
+in all dangerous places: but when no danger is feared, the animals are
+kept on the outside. Thus, the carts formed a strong barrier, not only
+for securing the people and the beasts of burden within, but as a place
+of shelter and defence against an attack of the enemy without.
+
+There is, however, another appendage belonging to the expedition, and to
+every expedition of the kind; and you may be assured they are not the
+least noisy. We allude to the dogs or camp followers. On the present
+occasion they numbered no fewer than 542; sufficient of themselves to
+consume no small number of animals a day, for, like their masters, they
+dearly relish a bit of buffalo meat.
+
+These animals are kept in summer as they are, about the establishments
+of the fur traders, for their services in the winter. In deep snows,
+when horses cannot conveniently be used, dogs are very serviceable to
+the hunters in these parts. The half-breed, dressed in his wolf costume,
+tackles two or three sturdy curs into a flat sled, throws himself on it
+at full length, and gets among the buffalo unperceived. Here the bow and
+arrow play their part to prevent noise; and here the skillful hunter
+kills as many as he pleases, and returns to camp without disturbing the
+band.
+
+But now to our camp again--the largest of its kind perhaps in the world.
+A council was held for the nomination of chiefs or officers for
+conducting the expedition. Two captains were named, the senior on this
+occasion being Jean Baptiste Wilkie, an English half-breed brought up
+among the French, a man of good sound sense and long experience, and
+withal a bold-looking and discreet fellow, a second Nimrod in his way.
+Besides being captain, in common with others, he was styled the great
+war chief or head of the camp, and on all public occasions he occupied
+the place of president.
+
+The hoisting of the flag every morning is the signal for raising camp.
+Half an hour is the full time allowed to prepare for the march, but if
+anyone is sick, or their animals have strayed, notice is sent to the
+guide, who halts until all is made right. From the time the flag is
+hoisted however, till the hour of camping arrives, it is never taken
+down. The flag taken down is a signal for encamping, while it is up the
+guide is chief of the expedition, captains are subject to him, and the
+soldiers of the day are his messengers, he commands all. The moment the
+flag is lowered his functions cease and the captains and soldiers'
+duties commence. They point out the order of the camp, and every cart as
+it arrives moves to its appointed place. This business usually occupies
+about the same time as raising camp in the morning, for everything moves
+with the regularity of clockwork.
+
+The captains and other chiefs have agreed on rules to govern the
+expedition, such as, that no buffaloes are to be run on Sunday, no party
+is to lag behind or to go before, no one may run a buffalo without a
+general order, etc. The punishment for breaking the laws are for a first
+offence: the offender had his saddle and bridle cut up: for the second,
+to have the coat taken off his back and cut up: for the third, the
+offender was flogged. Any theft was punished by the offender being three
+times proclaimed "THIEF," in the middle of the camp.
+
+On the 21st of June, after the priest had performed mass, for many were
+Roman Catholics, the flag was unfurled at about six or seven o'clock and
+the picturesque line was formed over the prairie, extending some five or
+six miles towards the southwest. It was the ninth was gained. This was a
+journey of about 150 day from Pembina before the Cheyenne River miles,
+and on the nineteenth day, at a distance of 250 miles, the destined
+hunting grounds were reached. On the 4th of July, since the encampment
+was in the United States, the compliment was paid of having the first
+buffalo race.
+
+No less than 400 huntsmen, all mounted and anxiously waiting for the
+word "Start," took up their position in a line at one end of the camp,
+while Captain Wilkie issued his orders.
+
+[Illustration: HERD OF BUFFALOES FEEDING ON THE HIGH PLAINS]
+
+At eight o'clock the whole cavalcade broke ground, and made for the
+buffaloes. When the horsemen started the buffaloes were about a mile and
+a half distant, but when they approached to about four or five hundred
+yards, the bulls curled their tails or pawed the ground. In a moment
+more the herd took flight, and horse and rider are presently seen
+bursting upon them, shots are heard, and all is smoke, dust and hurry,
+and in less time than we have occupied with a description a thousand
+carcasses strew the plain.
+
+When the rush was made, the earth seemed to tremble as the horses
+started, but when the animals fled, it was like the shock of an
+earthquake. The air was darkened, the rapid firing, at first, soon
+became more and more faint, and at last died away in the distance.
+
+In such a run, a good horse and experienced rider will select and kill
+from ten to twelve buffaloes at one heat, but in the case before us, the
+surface was rocky and full of badger holes. Twenty-three horses and
+riders were at one moment all sprawling on the ground, one horse gored
+by a bull, was killed on the spot, two more were disabled by the fall.
+One rider broke his shoulder blade, another burst his gun, and lost
+three fingers by the accident, another was struck on the knee by an
+exhausted bull. In the evening no less than 1,375 tongues were brought
+into camp. When the run is over the hunter's work is now retrograde. The
+last animal killed is the first skinned, and night not unfrequently,
+surprises the runner at his work. What then remains is lost and falls to
+the wolves. Hundreds of dead buffaloes are often abandoned, for even a
+thunderstorm, in one hour, will render the meat useless.
+
+The day of a race is as fatiguing on the hunter as on the horse, but the
+meat well in the camp, he enjoys the very luxury of idleness.
+
+Then the task of the women begins, who do all the rest, and what with
+skins, and meat and fat, their duty is a most laborious one.
+
+It is to be regretted that much of the meat is wasted. Our expedition
+killed not less than 2,500 buffaloes, and out of all these made 375 bags
+of pemmican, and 240 bales of dried meat; 750 animals should have made
+that amount, so that a great quantity was wasted. Of course, the buffalo
+skins were saved and had their value.
+
+Our party were now on the Missouri and encamped there. A few traders
+went to the nearest American fort, and bartered furs for articles they
+needed.
+
+After passing a week on the banks of the Missouri we turned to the West,
+when we had a few races with various success. We were afterwards led
+backwards and forwards at the pleasure of the buffalo herds. They
+crossed and recrossed our path until we had travelled to almost every
+point of the compass.
+
+Having had various altercations with the Indians, the party reached Red
+River, bringing about 900 lbs. of buffalo meat in each cart, making more
+than one million pounds in all. The Hudson's Bay Company took a
+considerable amount of this, and the remainder went to supply the wants
+of the Red River Settlement for another year.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+WHAT THE STARGAZERS SAW.
+
+
+The writer remembers meeting in Boston, a good many years ago, a
+scientific explorer, who along with two companies, one of whom is the
+greatest astronomer in the United States, as an astronomical party in
+1860, made a visit through Red River Settlement, on their way to the
+North Saskatchewan to observe an eclipse. The disappointment of the
+party was very great, for, after travelling three thousand miles, their
+fate was "to sit in a marsh and view the eclipse through the clouds, so
+heavy was the rain."
+
+The three astronomers have given their account under assumed names in a
+little book, of which there are few copies in Canada. Their view of Red
+River Settlement in 1860 is a vivid picture.
+
+What an extraordinary Settlement! Here is a Colony of about ten
+thousand souls scattered among plantations for thirty miles along the
+Red and half as many along the Assiniboine River, almost wholly
+dependent for intelligence from the outer world on one stern-wheeled
+steamer. That breaks down; and before word can be sent of their complete
+isolation, weeks must pass before the old and painful canoe-route by way
+of Lake of the Woods can be opened, or the wagon make its tedious
+journey to the headwaters of the Red and back, improvising on the way
+its own ferries over the swift and deep streams which feed it.
+
+Finding haste of no avail, and despatching our luggage on carts to the
+Upper Fort and centre of the Settlement, twenty miles away, we start
+there on foot the next day to view the land and its inhabitants. The
+road, "the King's road," is a mere cart-track in the deep loam, taking
+its independent course on either side of the houses, all of which front
+the river in a single wavering line; for the country is given up
+absolutely to farming, for which the rich mould, said to be three or
+four feet deep, eminently fits it; and the lots each with a narrow
+frontage at the bank of the river, extends back two miles into the
+prairie. All is at a dead level. John Omand had asked us to dine at his
+house; but accidentally passing it without recognizing it from his
+description, we select a fair representative of the common class of
+houses, and ask for dinner. It is a log-cabin, like all of this class
+(some far better ones have walls of stone) with a thatched roof and a
+rough stone and mortar chimney planted against one wall. Inside is but a
+single room, well whitewashed, as is indeed the outside and
+exceptionally tidy; a bed occupies one corner, a sort of couch another,
+a rung ladder leads up to loose boards overhead which form an attic, a
+trap door in the middle of the room opens to a small hole in the ground
+where milk and butter are kept cool; from the beam is suspended a
+hammock, used as a cradle for the baby; shelves singularly hung held a
+scanty stock of plates, knives and forks; two windows on either side,
+covered with mosquito netting, admit the light, and a modicum of air;
+chests and boxes supply the place of seats, with here and there a keg by
+way of easy-chair. An open fireplace of whitewashed clay gives sign of
+cheer and warmth in the long winter, and a half-dozen books for library
+complete the scene.
+
+Our hosts feel so "highly honored to have such gentlemen enter the
+house"--these are their very words--that it is with the greatest
+difficulty they are forced to take any compensation for the excellent
+meal of bread, butter, and rich cream which they set before us, and to
+which we do ample justice.
+
+This was not the only interior we saw; we had before called on the
+single scientific man of the Settlement, Donald Gunn, and later in the
+day are forced by a thunderstorm to seek shelter in the nearest house;
+where we are also warmly welcomed, and the rain continuing, are glad to
+accept the cordial invitations of its inhabitants to pass the night.
+This is a larger house, but only the father of the family and his buxom
+daughter, Susie, a lively girl of eighteen or nineteen, are at home, the
+others being off at the other end of their small farm, where they have
+temporary shelter during the harvest.
+
+We have each a chamber to ourselves in the garret, reached in the same
+primitive method as before mentioned--and are shown with a dip of
+buffalo-tallow to our rooms. The furniture of these consists of a sort
+of couch, with buffalo skins for mattress and wolf skins for sheets and
+coverlet, a chest for a seat, a punch-bowl of water on a broken chair
+for a washstand, and a torn bit of rag for towel; while a barrel covered
+with a white cloth serves as a centre-table, and is besprinkled with
+antique books. Among those in his chamber our naturalist discovers one
+which appears to be a catechism of human knowledge containing, among
+other entertaining and instructive information as an answer to the
+question, "What is a shark?" the highly satisfactory reply that it is
+"An animal having eighty-eight teeth."
+
+The wants of the Colony were few, the peasantry simple and industrious,
+and their lot in life did not seem to them hard. The earth yielded
+bountifully, and in time of temporary disaster fishing and hunting stood
+them in good stead. When they hunt, they go accompanied by Indians, who
+live on the outskirts of the Colony. Further and further they have been
+compelled to go, until at our visit no buffalo could be found within a
+hundred miles at nearest.
+
+The hunt is just over as we reach the Settlement, and every day carts
+come in laden with the buffalo meat, hides, and pemmican. The prairie,
+back from the river, by Fort Garry, is dotted with carts, lodges and
+tents. Many are living in rude shelters formed of the carts themselves,
+placed back to back, and the sides secured by hides.
+
+These carts illustrate well the primitive nature and the isolation of
+the Colony. They are the vehicles in universal use, and are built on the
+general pattern of our one-horse tip-carts, though they do not tip, and
+not a scrap of iron enters into them. They are without springs, of
+course, and rawhide and wooden pins serve to keep together the pieces
+out of which they are constructed. As they have no tires, and the
+section of the wheel part or crowd together, according to the moisture,
+a train of these carts bringing in the products of the hunt is a strange
+sight. Each cart has its own peculiar creak, hoarse and grating, and
+waggles its own individual waggle, graceless and shaky, on the uneven
+ground. To add to its oddity, the shafts are heavy, straight beams,
+between which is harnessed an ox, the harness of rawhide (shaga-nappi)
+without buckles.
+
+Everybody makes for himself what he wishes in this undifferentiated
+Settlement. We return in tatters. Not a tailor, nor anything approaching
+the description of one, exists here, and a week's search is needed to
+discover such a being as a shoemaker. A single store in the Hudson's Bay
+post at each of the two forts, twenty miles apart, supplies the goods of
+the outside world, and the purchaser must furnish the receptacle for
+carriage. For small goods this invariably consists, as far as we can
+see, of a red bandanna handkerchief, so that purchases have to be small
+and frequent; not all of one sort, however, for the native can readily
+tie up his tea in one corner, his sugar and buttons in two others, and
+still have one left for normal uses. How many handkerchiefs a day are
+put to use may be judged from the fact that the average sale of tea at
+Upper Fort Garry is four large boxes daily--all, be it remembered,
+brought by ship to Hudson Bay, and thence by batteaux and portage to the
+Red River.
+
+The caravan by which we and a number of others were carried back to
+civilization was a stylish enough turnout for Red River. It was supplied
+by McKinney, the host of the Royal Hotel of the village of Winnipeg.
+Three large emigrant wagons, with canvas coverings of the most approved
+pattern, but of very different hues, drawn each by a yoke of oxen,
+convey the patrons of the party, with the exception of a miner, who
+rides his horse. The astronomers take the lead under a brown canvas; a
+theological student for Toronto University, a gentleman for St. Paul,
+and others follow under a black canvas full of holes; and the third
+wagon with a cover of spotless purity, conveys the ladies of the party
+and a clergyman. Behind them follow not only half a dozen Red River
+carts, with a most promiscuous assortment of baggage, peltry, and
+squeak, but also a stray ox and a pony or two; a number of armed
+horsemen, and for the first day a cavalcade of friends giving a Scotch
+convoy to those who were departing. The astronomers at length reached
+St. Paul, when they declare their connection with the world again
+complete, after an absence of about three months, during which they had
+travelled thirty-five hundred miles.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+APPLES OF GOLD.
+
+
+Shakespeare's play of "As You Like It" is an eulogy of the flight from
+the highly formal life of city life to the simplicity of the forest and
+the retirement of the plains. Even in the banished Duke, there is a
+strain of oddity and quaintness. Not many years after the middle of last
+century, a Detroit lawyer fled from the troubles of society and city
+life to the peaceful plains of secluded Assiniboia. Marrying, after his
+arrival, a daughter of one of our best native families, and on her
+death, a pure Indian woman, he reared a large family. The poetic spirit
+of Frank Larned was never repressed, and we give, with some changes, to
+suit our purpose, and at times some divergence from the views expressed,
+scenes of the Red River Settlement, in which he, for more than a
+generation, dwelt.
+
+
+BRITAIN'S ONE UTOPIA--SELKIRKIA.
+
+That brave old Englishman, Thomas More--afterwards, unhappily for his
+head--Lord High Chancellor of England--wrote out, in fair Latin,--in his
+chambers in the City of London, over three centuries ago--his idea of an
+Utopia. This, modest as are its requirements, has yet found no practical
+illustration, even among the many seats of the great colonizing race of
+mankind.
+
+The primitive history of all the colonies that faced the Atlantic--when
+the new-found continent first felt the abiding foot of the stranger--from
+Oglethorpe to Acadia, reveals, alas! no Utopia. It remained for a
+later time,--the earlier half of the present century, amid some severity
+of climate, and under conditions without precedent, and incapable of
+repetition,--to evolve a community in the heart of the continent, shut
+away from intercourse with civilized mankind--that slowly crystalized
+into a form beyond the ideal of the dreamers--a community, in the past,
+known but slightly to the outer world as the Red River Settlement, which
+is but the bygone name for the one Utopia of Britain--the clear-cut
+impress of an exceptional people living under conditions of excellence
+unthought of by themselves until they had passed away.
+
+
+THE UTOPIAN COLONY.
+
+A people, whose name in the vast domain, was in days by gone, sought out
+and coveted by all. Unknown races had rested here and gone away, leaving
+only their careful graves behind them. The "Mandans"--the brave, the
+fair, the beautiful, and the "Cheyennes," pressed by the "Nay-he-owuk,"
+and the "Assin-a-pau-tuk," had quitted their earthen forts on the banks
+of the streams and urged their way to the broader tide of the Missouri.
+More fatal to the conquerors came afterward, the white man, "Nemesis" of
+all Indian life, spying with the instinct of his race, a spot of
+abounding fertility, where the great water-reaches stretched from the
+mountains to the sea, and southward touched almost the beginning of the
+great River of the Gulf.
+
+Quick changing his errant camp for barter into a stronghold for the
+trade, making the "Niste-y-ak" of the "Crees" his settled home, the
+white man's grasp of the fair domain but grew with years. From the seas
+of the far north came with the men, fair-haired, blue-eyed women and
+children. The glamour of the spot, the teeming soil, the great and
+lesser game, that swam past,--or wandered by their doors--soon drew to
+this Mecca of the Plains and Waters--the roving, scattered children of
+the trade--Bourgeois and voyageur alike heading their lithe and dusky
+broods. Here touched and fused all habitudes of life, the blended races,
+knit by ties conserving every divergence of pursuit, all forms of faith
+and thought, free from assail or taint begotten of contact with aught
+other than themselves. A people whose unchecked primal freedom was
+afterward strengthened by the light hand of laws that conserved what
+they most desired; whose personal relations with their rulers were of
+such primitive character as to make the Government in every sense
+paternal; the petty tax on imports attending its administration one
+practically unfelt!
+
+A people whose land was dotted with schools and churches, to whose
+maintenance their contributions were so slight as to be unworthy of
+mention. The three separate religious denominations, holding widely
+different tenets--elsewhere the cause of bitter sectarian feeling,--was
+with them so unthought of as to give where all topics were eagerly
+sought--no room for even fireside discussion. Side by side, "upon the
+voyage,"--as they termed their lake or inland trips--the Catholic and
+the Protestant knelt and offered up their devotions--following the ways
+of their fathers,--no more to be made a subject of dispute than a
+difference in color or height.
+
+The cursings and obscenities that taint the air and brutalize life
+elsewhere, were in this quaint old settlement unknown. Sweet thought,
+pure speech, went hand in hand, clad in nervous, pithy old English, or a
+"patois" of the French, mellowed and enlarged by their constant use of
+the liquid Indian tongues, flowing like soft-sounding waters about them,
+their daily talk came ever welcome to the ear.
+
+
+AN ARCADIA.
+
+Where locks for doors were unknown, or, known, unused, where a man's
+word, even in the transfer of land, was held as his bond--honesty became
+a necessity. Lawyers were none. Law was held to be a danger. Still the
+importance attached by simple minds to an appearance in public, the
+amusing belief cherished by some, that, if permitted to plead his own
+case, exert his unsuspected powers, there could be but one result,
+brought some honest souls to the Red River forum, with matter of much
+moment, "the like never heard before." None can read the quaint,
+minutely-detailed record of these "causes celébres" that shook the
+little households as with a great wind, without a smile, or resist the
+conviction that no scheme of an English Utopia can safely be pronounced
+perfect without some such modest tribunal to afford vent for that
+ever-germinating desire for battle inherent in the race.
+
+[Illustration: ALEXANDER ROSS Sheriff and Author. Came to Red River
+Settlement in 1825 from British Columbia. Died in 1856.]
+
+Their manners were natural, cordial, and full of a lightsome heartness
+that robed accost with sunshine,--a quietude withal--that rare quality
+--that irked them not at all--one gathered from their Indian kin-folk.
+Their knowledge of each other was simply universal--their kin ties
+almost as general. These ties were brightened and friendships reknit in
+the holiday season of the year, the leisure of the long winters, when
+the far-scattered hewn log houses--small to the eye--were ever found
+large enough to hold the welcome arrivals,--greeted with a kiss that
+said, "I am of your blood." These widespread affiliations broke down
+aught like "caste." Wealth or official position were practically
+unheeded by a people in no fear of want and unaccustomed to luxuries,
+who sought their kinswoman and her brood for themselves, not for what
+they had in store. The children and grandchildren of men, however
+assured in fortune or position, wove anew equalizing ties, seeking out
+their mates as they came to hand; hence a genial, not a downward level,
+putting to shame fine-spun theories of democracy in other lands--spun,
+not worn.
+
+This satisfaction of station--as said--grew out of the slight exertion
+necessary for all the wants of life, with unlimited choice of the finest
+land on the continent; the waters alive with fish and aquatic fowl;
+rabbits and prairie fowl at times by actual cart-load; elk not far, and
+countless buffalo behind,--furnishing meat, bedding, clothing and shoes
+to any who could muster a cart or go in search; the woods and plains in
+season, ripe with delicious wild fruit, for present use or dried for
+winter,--the whole backed by abundant breadstuffs. The quota of the
+farmers along the rivers, whose fertile banks were dotted by windmills,
+whose great arms stayed the inconstant winds, and yoked the fickle
+couriers to the great car of general plenty.
+
+
+A LAND OF PEACE.
+
+Poverty in one sense certainly existed; age and improvidence are always
+with us, but it was not obtrusive, made apparent only towards the close
+of the long winter, when some old veteran of the canoe or saddle would
+make a "grand promenade" through the Settlement, with his ox and sled,
+making known his wants, incidentally, at his different camps among his
+old friends, finding always before he left his sled made the heavier by
+the women's hands. This was simply done; few in the wild country but had
+met with sudden exigencies in supply, knew well the need at times of one
+man to another, and, when asked for aid, gave willingly. Or it may be
+that some large-hearted, jovial son of the chase had overrated his
+winter store, or underrated the assiduity of his friends. His recourse
+in such case being the more carefully estimated stock of some neighbor,
+who could in no wise suffer the reproach to lie at his door, that he had
+turned his back, in such emergence, upon his good-natured, if
+injudicious countryman.
+
+This practical communism--borrowed from the Indians, among whom it was
+inviolable--was, in the matter of hospitality, the rule of all,--a
+reciprocation of good offices, in the absence of all houses of public
+entertainment, becoming a social necessity. The manner of its exercise
+hearty, a knitting of the people together,--no one was at a loss for a
+winter camp when travelling. Every house he saw was his own, the
+bustling wife, with welcome in her eyes, eager to assure your comfort.
+The supper being laid and dealt sturdily with, the good man's pipe and
+your own alight and breathing satisfaction,--a neighbor soul drops in to
+swell the gale of talk, that rocks you at last into a restful sleep. How
+now, my masters! Smacks not this of Arcady?
+
+Early and universal marriage was the rule. Here you received the
+blessings of home in the married life, and the care of offspring. There
+were thus no defrauded women--called, by a cruel irony, "old maids"; no
+isolated, mistaken men, cheated out of themselves, and robbed of the
+best training possible for man. This vital fact was fraught with every
+good.
+
+On the young birds leaving the parent nest, they only exchanged it for
+one near at hand--land for the taking; a house to be built, a wife to be
+got--a share of the stock, some tools and simple furniture, and the
+outfit was complete. The youngest son remained at home to care for the
+old father and mother, and to him came the homestead when they were laid
+away. The conditions were all faithful, home life dear indeed.
+
+To the Hunters accepting their fall in the chase no wilder thought could
+scarce be broached than that of solicitude as to the future of their
+young. Boys who sat a horse almost as soon as they could walk, whose
+earliest plaything was a bow and arrows; girls as apt in other ways,
+happy; sustained in their environment with a faith truly simple and
+reverent.
+
+With so large an infusion of Norse blood and certain traditions anent
+"usquebae" and "barley bree" it would--with so large a liberty--be
+naturally expected, a liberal proportion of drouthy souls, but with an
+abundance of what cheers and distinctly inebriates in their midst they
+were a temperate people in its best sense, with no tippling houses to
+daily tempt them astray their supplies of spirits were nearly always for
+festive occasions. "Regales" after a voyage or weddings that lasted for
+days, and these at times under such guard as may be imagined from the
+presence of a custodian of the bottle, who exercised with what skill he
+might his certainly arduous task of determining instantly when hilarity
+grew into excess.
+
+This novel feature applies, however, almost entirely to the
+English-speaking part of the people. The Gallic and Indian blood of the
+Hunters disdained such poor toying with a single cherry and drank and
+danced and drank and danced again with an abandon, an ardor and full
+surrender to the hour characteristic alike of the strength of the heads,
+the lightness of their heels and the contempt of any restraint whatever.
+
+These were, however, but the occasional and generous symposiums of
+health and vigor that rejects of itself continued indulgence. Our Utopia
+would be cold and pallid indeed lacking such expression of redundant
+strength, and joyful vigor.
+
+Certainly the greatest negative blessing that this exceptional people
+enjoyed, was that they had no politics, no vote. The imagination of the
+average "party man" sinks to conceive a thing like to this; yet, if an
+astounding fact to others, no more gracious one can be conceived for
+them selves. In the unbroken peace in which they lived politics would be
+but throwing the apple of discord in their midst, an innoculation of
+disease that they might in the delirium that marked its progress
+vehemently discuss remedies to allay it.
+
+Another great negative advantage was the peculiar and admirable
+intelligence of the great body of the population. The small circulating
+collection of books in their midst attracting little or no attention,
+their own limited to a Bible or prayer book,--many not these. With
+their minds in this normal healthy state, unharassed by the sordid
+assail of care, undepressed by any sense whatever of inferiority,
+unfrayed by the trituration of the average book, their powers of
+apprehension--singularly clear--had full scope to appropriate and
+resolve the world about them, which they did to such purpose as to
+master every exigence of their lives. Seizing upon the minutest detail
+affecting them they mastered as if by intuition all difficult handiwork,
+making with but few tools every thing they required from a windmill to a
+horseshoe.
+
+Their real education was in scenes of travel or adventure in the great
+unbroken regions sought out by the fur trade, their retentive memories
+reproducing by the winter fireside or summer camp pictures so graphic as
+to commend themselves to every ear.
+
+The tender heart and true of the brave old knight, Sir Thomas More, put
+a ban upon hunting in his Utopia. Alas and alack for the wayward
+proclivities of our Utopians, predaceous creatures all, hunting was to
+them as the breath of their nostrils, for to them, unlike the sons of
+Adam, it was given--with their brothers resting upon the tranquil
+river--to lay upon the altar of their homes alike the fruits of the
+earth and the spoils of the chase.
+
+
+THE BUFFALO HUNT.
+
+What pen can paint the life of the "Chasseurs of the Great Plains," tell
+of the gathering of the mighty Halfbreed clan going forth--each spring
+and fall--in a tumult of carts and horsemen to their boundless
+preserves, the home of the buffaloes, whose outrangers were the grizzly
+bear, the branching elk, the flying antelope that skirted the great
+columns, the last relieving the heavy rolling gait of the herds by a
+speed and airy flight that mocked the eye to follow them, scouting the
+dull trot of the prowling wolves--attent upon the motions of their best
+purveyor--man.
+
+What a going forth was theirs! this array of Hunters, with their wives
+and little ones; this new tribe clad in semi-savage garniture, streaming
+across the plains with cries of glee and joyance; the riders in their
+"travoie" of arms and horse equipment--the vast "brigade" of carts and
+bands of following horses, kept to the cavalcade by those reckless
+jubilants--the boys--seeming a part of the creatures they bestrode. The
+sunshine and the flying fleecy clouds, emulous in motion with the troop
+below: what life was in it all; what freedom and what breadth!
+
+And as the sun sank apace and the guides and Headmen rode apart on some
+o'er-looking height and reined their cattle in, the closing up of the
+flying squadron for the evening camp, the great circular camp of these
+our Scythians proof against sudden raid crowning the landscape far and
+wide, seen, yet seeing every foe, whose subtle coming through the
+short-lived night was watched by eyes as keen as were their own.
+
+When reached, their bellowing, countless quarry: the plain alive and
+trembling with their tumult, what tournament of mail-clad knights but
+was as a stilted play to this rude shock of man and beast--carrying in a
+cloud of dust that hid alike the chaser and the chased, till done their
+work the frightened herds swept onward and away, leaving the sward
+flecked with the huge forms that made the hunters' wealth! And now! on:
+fall prosaic from the wild charge, the danger of the fierce
+_melee_!--drifting from the camp the carts appear piled red in a trice
+with bosses, tongues, back fat and juicy haunch, a feast unknown to
+hapless kings.
+
+We but glance at this great feature, that fed so fat our Utopia, leaving
+to imagination the return, the trade, the feasting and the fiddle when
+lusty legs embossed by "quills" or beads kept up the dance.
+
+The outcome of the "Plain Hunt" was not only a wide spread plenty among
+the Hunters on reaching the quiet farmer folk upon the rivers, but also
+the diffusion of a sunshine, a tone of generous serenity that sat well
+on the chivalry of the chase--the bold riders of the Plain.
+
+
+THE SUMMER PRAIRIES
+
+Beneficent nature nowhere makes her compensations more gratefully felt
+than in the summer season of our Utopia of the north, where the purest
+and most vivifying of atmospheres hues with a wealth of sunshine the
+great reaching spaces of verdure covered with flowers in a profusion
+rivaling their exquisite beauty. Green waving copses dot the level
+sward, and rob the sky line of its sea-like sweep. The winding rivers,
+signalled by their wooded banks, upon which rest the comfortable homes
+of the dwellers in the "hidden land" guarding their little fields close
+by where the ranked grain standing awaits the sickle, turning from green
+to gold and so unhurried resting. The shining cattle couched outside in
+ruminant content or cropping lazily the succulent feast spread wide
+before them; the horses wary of approach, just seen in compact bands
+upon the verge; the patriarchal windmills--at wide spaces--signalling to
+each other their peaceful task; the little groups of horsemen coming
+adown the winding road, or stopping to greet some good wife and her
+gossip--going abroad in a high-railed cart in quest of trade, or
+friendly call. And as the day wanes, the sleek cows, with considered
+careful walk and placid mien, wend their way homeward, bearing their
+heavy udders to the house-mother, who, pail in hand awaiting their
+approach, pauses for a moment to mark the feathered boaster at her feet,
+as he makes his parting vaunt of a day well spent and summons "Partlet"
+to her vesper perch hard by.
+
+O'er all the scene there rests a brooding peace, bespeaking tranquil
+lives, repose trimmed with the hush of night, and effort healthful and
+cool as the freshening airs of morn.
+
+
+L'ENVOI.
+
+Longfellow--moving all hearts to pity--has painted in "Evangeline" the
+enforced dispersion of the French in "Acadia." Who shall tell the
+homesick pain, the vain regrets, the looking back of those who peopled
+our "Acadia"? No voice bids them away; they melt before the fervor of
+the time; hasten lest they be 'whelmed by the great wave of life now
+rolling towards them. Vain retreat, the waters are out and may not be
+stayed. It is fate! it is right, but the travail is sore, the face of
+the mother is wet with tears.
+
+This outline sketch proposed is at an end; we have striven to be
+faithful to the true lines. There is no obligation to perpetuate
+unworthy "minutæ." Joy is immortal! sorrow dies! the petty features are
+absorbed in the broad ones; those capable only of conveying truth.
+
+The Red River Settlement in the days adverted to is an idyl simple and
+pure: a nomadic pastoral, inwrought with Indian traits and color; our
+one acted poem in the great national prosaic life. When the vast country
+in the far future is teeming with wealth and luxury, this light rescued
+and defined will shine adown the fullness of the time with hues all its
+own. The story that it tells will be as a sweet refreshment: a dream
+made possible, called by those who shared in its great calm, "Britain's
+One Utopia--Selkirkia."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+PICTURES OF SILVER.
+
+
+Lord Selkirk's Colonists never had, as have seen, a bed of roses.
+Adversity had dodged their steps from the time that they put the first
+foot forward toward the new world--and Stornoway, Fort Churchill, York
+Factory, Norway House, Pembina and Fort Douglas start, as we speak of
+them, a train of bitter memories. Flood and famine, attack and
+bloodshed, toil and anxiety were the constant atmosphere, in which for a
+generation they existed. Higher civilization is impossible when the
+struggle for shelter and bread is too strenuous. Though the
+ministrations of religion were supplied within a few years of the
+beginning of the Colony, yet the Colonists were not satisfied in this
+respect till forty years had passed. It was a generation before the
+Roman Catholic Church had a Bishop, who held the See of St. Boniface
+instead of the title "in the parts of the heathen." It was not before
+the year 1849 that a Church of England Bishop arrived, and it was two
+years after that date when the first Presbyterian minister came to be
+the spiritual head of the Selkirk Colonists. Before this the education
+and elevation of the people was represented by a few schools chiefly
+maintained by private or church effort. The writer intends to bring out,
+from selected quotations from different sources, the few bright spots in
+the gloom--the pictures of silver--on a rather dark background.
+
+
+ABBE DUGAS' STORY.
+
+The good Father's story circles around the first Canadian woman known to
+have reached Red River. This was Marie Gaboury, wife of J. Baptiste
+Lajimoniere, who reached the Forks in 1811 in the very year when the
+Colonists were lying at York Factory. The Lajimonieres spent the winter
+in Pembina. It was the brave husband of Marie Gaboury who made the long
+and lonely journey from Red River to Montreal. The Abbe says: "J.B.
+Lajimoniere was engaged by the Governor of Fort Douglas to carry letters
+to Lord Selkirk, who was then in Montreal. Lajimoniere said he could go
+alone to Montreal, and that he would make every effort to put the
+letters confided to his care into Lord Selkirk's hands. Being alone,
+Madame Lajimoniere left the hut on the banks of the Assiniboine to
+become an inmate of Fort Douglas. Lajimoniere is reported to have urged
+upon Lord Selkirk in Montreal to send as part of his recompense for his
+long journey, a priest to be the guide of himself and family. Father
+Dugas says: (See printed page 2.)
+
+"Lord Selkirk before his departure had made the Catholic colony on the
+Red River sign a petition asking the Bishop of Quebec to send
+missionaries to evangelize the country. He presented this petition
+himself and employed all his influence to have it granted.
+
+"Though a Protestant Lord Selkirk knew that to found a permanent colony
+on the Red River he required the encouragement of religion. Should his
+application succeed the missionaries would come with the voyageurs in
+the following spring and would arrive in Red River towards the month of
+July. This thought alone made Madame Lajimoniere forget her eleven years
+of loneliness and sorrow.
+
+"Before July the news had spread that the missionaries were coming that
+very summer, but as yet the exact date of their arrival was not known.
+Telegraphs had not reached this region and moreover the voyageurs were
+often exposed to delays.
+
+"After waiting patiently, one beautiful morning on the 16th of July, the
+day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a man came from the foot of the river
+to warn Fort Douglas and the neighborhood that two canoes bringing the
+missionaries were coming up the river, and that all the people ought to
+be at the Fort to receive them on their arrival.
+
+"Scarcely was the news made known when men, women and children hurried
+to the Fort. Those who had never seen the priests were anxious to
+contemplate these men of God of whom they had heard so much. Madame
+Lajimoniere was not the last to hasten to the place where the
+missionaries would land. She took all her little ones with her, the
+eldest of whom was Reine, then eleven years old.
+
+"Towards the hour of noon on a beautiful clear day more than one hundred
+and fifty persons were gathered on the river bank in front of Fort
+Douglas. Every eye was on the turn of the river at the point. It was who
+should first see the voyageurs. Suddenly two canoes bearing the
+Company's flag came in sight. There was a general shout of joy. The
+trader of the Fort, Mr. A. McDonald, was a Catholic, and he had
+everything prepared to give them a solemn reception. Many shed tears of
+joy. The memory of their native land was recalled to the old Canadians
+who had left their homes many years before. These old voyageurs who had
+been constantly called upon to face death had been deprived of all
+religious succour during the long years, but they had not been held by a
+spirit of impiety. The missionaries were to them the messengers of God.
+
+"The canoes landed in front of Fort Douglas, M. Provencher and his
+companion both invested in their cassocks stepped on shore and were
+welcomed with outstretched hands by this family, which was henceforth to
+be theirs.
+
+"They were admired for their manly figures as much as for the novelty of
+their costumes. M. Provencher and his companion, M. Severe Dumoulin,
+were both men of great stature and both had a majestic carriage. They
+stood at the top of the bank and after making the women and children sit
+down around them M. Provencher addressed some words to this multitude
+gathered about him. He spoke very simply and in a fatherly manner.
+Madame Lajimoniere who had not listened to the voice of a priest for
+twelve years could hardly contain herself for joy. She cried with
+happiness and forgetting all her hardships, fancied herself for a moment
+in the dear parish of Maskinongé where she had spent such happy peaceful
+years.
+
+"The missionaries arrived on Thursday, July 16th. M. Provencher having
+made known to his new family the aim of his mission wished immediately
+to begin teaching them the lessons of Christianity and to bring into the
+fold the sheep which were outside.
+
+"While waiting till a house could be built for the missionaries, M.
+Provencher and his companion were hospitably entertained at the Fort of
+the Colony. A large room in one of the buildings of the Fort had been
+set apart for them, and it was there that they held divine service. M.
+Provencher invited all the mothers of families to bring their children
+who were under six years of age to the Fort on the following Saturday
+when they would receive the happiness of being baptised. All persons
+above that age who were not Christians could not receive that sacrament
+until after being instructed in the truths of Christianity.
+
+"When M. Provencher had finished speaking the Governor conducted him
+with M. Dumoulin into the Fort. Canadians, Metis and Indians feeling
+very happy retired to return three days afterwards.
+
+"There were four children in the Lajimoniere family, but only two of
+them could be baptised, the others being nine and eleven years of age.
+On the following Saturday Madame Lajimoniere with all the other women
+came to the Fort. The number of children, including Indians and Metis,
+amounted to a hundred and Madame Lajimoniere being the only Christian
+woman stood Godmother to them all. For a long time all the children in
+the colony called her 'Marraine.'
+
+"M. Provencher announced that from the next day the missionaries would
+begin their work and that the settlers ought to begin at the same time
+to work at the erection of a home for them.
+
+"M. Lajimoniere was one of the first to meet at the place selected and to
+commence preparing the materials for the building. The work progressed
+so rapidly that the house was ready for occupation by the end of
+October.
+
+"Madame Lajimoniere rendered every assistance in her power
+to the missionaries."
+
+
+HARGRAVE'S TALE.
+
+With a few changes we shall allow an old friend of the writer, J.J.
+Hargrave, long an official of the Hudson's Bay Company, to give the tale
+of the Church of England in Red River Settlement. "As we have seen, the
+Rev. John West came from England to Red River as chaplain of the
+Hudson's Bay Company. One of his first works was the erection of a rude
+school-house, and the systematic education of a few children. Chief
+among the names of the clergymen, who came out from England in the early
+days of the Settlement, after Mr. West's return, were Rev. Messrs.
+Jones, Cochran, Cowley, McCallum, Smedhurst, James and Hunter. William
+Cochran is universally regarded in the Colony as the founder of the
+English Church in Rupert's Land, and from the date of his arrival till
+1849 all the principal ecclesiastical business done may be said to have
+received its impetus from his personal energy. The church in which he
+began his ministrations was replaced by the present Cathedral of St.
+John's. Mr. Cochran then built the first church in St. Andrew's, at the
+Rapids, and besides gathered the Indians together and erected their
+church at St. Peter's."
+
+In 1849 arrived Bishop David Anderson, an Oxford man. He settled at St.
+John's, now in the City of Winnipeg, and occupied "Bishop's Court."
+After occupying the See for fifteen years, he retired, and was succeeded
+by Bishop Machray, whose commanding figure was known to all early
+settlers in Winnipeg. He revived St. John's College and gained fame as
+an educationalist.
+
+The peculiarly situated nature of the Settlement, extending in a long
+line of isolated houses along the banks of the river, and in no place
+stretching back any distance on the prairies, render a succession of
+churches necessary to bring the opportunity of attending within the
+reach of the people. Ten Church of England places of worship exist
+(1870) on the bank of the river. Of these, eight are within the legally
+defined limits of the Colony.
+
+About the middle of December, 1866, Archdeacon John McLean commenced the
+celebration of the Church of England service in the village of Winnipeg.
+The services were for a time held in the Court House at Fort Garry, and
+in the autumn of 1868 Holy Trinity Church was opened in Winnipeg.
+
+
+A SELF-DENYING APOSTLE.
+
+After many disappointments the cry of the Selkirk Colonists for a
+minister of their own faith reached Scotland, and their case was
+referred to Dr. Robert Burns, of Toronto, who was further urged to
+action by Governor Ballenden, of Fort Garry. In August, 1857, the Rev.
+John Black, then newly ordained, was sent on by Dr. Burns to Red River.
+He was fortunate in becoming attached to a military expedition led by
+Governor Ramsey, of Minnesota, going northwest for nearly four hundred
+miles, from St. Paul to Pembina.
+
+Leaving the military escort behind, in company with Mr. Bond, who wrote
+an account of the trip, Mr. Black floated down Red River in a birch
+canoe, and in a three-days' journey they reached the Marion's House in
+St. Boniface. It is said that it was from Bond's description of this
+voyage that the Poet Whittier obtained the information for the
+well-known poem.
+
+    THE RED RIVER VOYAGEUR.
+
+Out and in the river is winding
+  The banks of its long red chain,
+Through belts of dusky pine land
+  And gusty leagues of plain.
+
+Only at times a smoky wreath
+  With the drifting cloud-rack joins--
+The smoke of the hunting lodges
+  Of the wild Assiniboines.
+
+Drearily blows the north wind,
+  From the land of ice and snow;
+The eyes that look are uneasy,
+  And heavy the hands that row.
+
+And with one foot on the water,
+  And one upon the shore,
+The Angel's shadow gives warning--
+  That day shall be no more.
+
+Is it the clang of wild geese?
+  Is it the Indians' yell,
+That lends to the voice of the North wind
+  The tones of a far-off bell?
+
+The Voyageur smiles as he listens
+  To the sound that grows apace;
+Well he knows the vesper ringing
+  Of the bells of St. Boniface.
+
+The bells of the Roman Mission
+  That call from their turrets twain;
+To the boatmen on the river,
+  To the hunter on the plain.
+
+Even so on our mortal journey
+  The bitter north winds blow;
+And thus upon Life's Red River
+  Our hearts, as oarsmen, row.
+
+Happy is he who heareth
+  The signal of his release
+In the bells of the Holy City--
+  The chimes of Eternal peace.
+
+In the afternoon of the day of their arrival the party crossed from St.
+Boniface to Fort Garry, and the missionary well known as Rev. Dr.
+Black, went to the hospitable shelter of Alexander Ross, whose daughter
+he afterward married. Three hundred of the Selkirk Colonists and their
+children immediately gathered around Mr. Black, and though interrupted
+for a year by the great flood which we have described, erected in the
+following year, the stone Church of Kildonan, on the highway some five
+miles from Winnipeg. With the help of a small grant from the Hudson's
+Bay Company, the Selkirk Colonists erected, free from debt, their church
+which still remains. Two other churches were erected by the
+Presbyterians, and beside each a school. For several years before the
+old Colony ceased Mr. Black conducted service in the Court House near
+Fort Garry, and in 1868, with the assistance of Canadian friends,
+erected the small Knox Church on Portage Avenue, in Winnipeg. This
+building, though used, was not completed till after the arrival of the
+Canadian troops in 1870.
+
+
+EARLY RED RIVER CULTURE.
+
+Strange as it may seem, the isolated Red River Colony was far from being
+an illiterate community. The presence of the officers of the Hudson's
+Bay Company, the coming of the clergy of the different churches, who
+established schools, and the leisure for reading books supplied by the
+Red River Library produced a people whose speech was generally correct,
+and whose diction was largely modeled on standard books of literature.
+Mrs. Marion Bryce has made a sympathetic study of this subject, and we
+quote a number of her passages:
+
+
+SCIENTIFIC WORK.
+
+The duty laid upon the Hudson's Bay Company officers and clerks of
+keeping for the benefit of their employers a diary recording everything
+at their posts that might make one day differ from another, or indeed
+that often made every day alike, cultivated among the officers of the
+fur trade the powers of observation that were frequently turned to
+scientific account, and we find some of them acting as corresponding
+members of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. Valuable
+collections in natural history have been forwarded to the institution by
+such observers as the late Hon. Donald Gunn, the late Mr. Joseph
+Fortescue, and Mr. Roderick Ross Macfarlane.
+
+Mr. William Barnston, a son of the Mr. Barnston, already mentioned, and
+a chief factor at Norway House, about 1854, was very fond of the
+cultivation of flowers and the study of botany, and some very valuable
+specimens of natural history in the British museum are said to have been
+of his procuring.
+
+
+LIBRARIES.
+
+Collections of books were a great means of providing knowledge and
+contributing to amusement in the isolated northern trading posts.
+
+The Red River library had its headquarters in St. Andrew's parish, and
+was for circulation in the Red River Settlement. It seems to have been
+chiefly maintained by donations of books by retired Hudson's Bay Company
+officers and other settlers. The Council of Assiniboia once gave a
+donation of £50 sterling for the purchase of books to be added to the
+library. There was one characteristic of this library that it contained
+in its catalogue very few works of fiction.
+
+
+LITERARY CLUBS.
+
+In addition to libraries we find that at a later date in the history of
+the Settlement, literary clubs were formed. Bishop Anderson and his
+sister, who arrived in Red River in 1849, were instrumental in forming a
+reading club for mutual improvement, for which the leading magazines
+were ordered.
+
+
+EDUCATION.
+
+But we must now speak of more decided organization for the promotion of
+culture in Red River. The Selkirk settlers had now (1821) gained a
+footing in the land and the banks of the Red River had become the
+paradise of retired officers of the fur-trading companies. Happy
+families were growing up in the homes of the Settlement and education
+was necessary. A settled community made it possible for the churches and
+church societies in the homeland to do Christian work, both among the
+Indians and the white people, and to these institutions the Settlement
+was indebted for the first educational efforts made.
+
+
+COMMON SCHOOLS.
+
+The Rev. John West, the first Episcopal missionary who arrived, in 1820,
+and his successors, the Rev. David Jones and Archdeacon Cochrane, as far
+as they could, organized common schools on the parochial system. A
+visitor to the Settlement in 1854, John Ryerson, says that there were
+then eight common schools in the country--five of them wholly, or in
+part, supported by the Church Missionary Society, two of them depending
+on the bishop's individual bounty, and one only, that attached to the
+Presbyterian congregation, depending on the fees of the pupils for
+support. The Governor and Council of Assiniboia had, a few years before
+made an appropriation of £130 sterling in aid of public schools. The
+Hudson's Bay Company may be said to have given aid to these schools
+indirectly by making an annual grant to each missionary of an amount
+varying according to circumstances from £150 to £50 sterling. The
+Catholics had similar schools for the French population along the banks
+of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, and the writer already quoted says
+that there were seminaries at St. Boniface, one for boys and one for
+girls, under the Grey Nuns from Montreal.
+
+Bishop Anderson, the first bishop of Rupert's Land, was not specially an
+educationalist. He turned his attention more to the evangelical work of
+the church. Bishop Machray, who came to the country in 1865, has, on the
+contrary, whilst not neglecting the duties of a bishop of the church of
+Christ, always given great attention to education, and the country is
+greatly indebted to him for the foundations laid. It was his endeavor
+after entering on his bishopric to have a parish school wherever there
+was a missionary of the Church of England, and in the year 1869 there
+were 16 schools of this kind in the different parishes of Rupert's Land.
+This is bringing us very near the time of the transfer when our public
+school system was inaugurated.
+
+Mrs. Jones, the wife of Rev. David Jones, the missionary of Red River,
+joined her husband in 1829. She very soon saw the need there was for a
+boarding and day school for the sons and daughters of Hudson's Bay
+Company factors and other settlers in the Northwest. A school of this
+kind was opened and in addition to the mission work in which she
+assisted her husband, Mrs. Jones devoted herself to the training of the
+young people committed to her charge until her death, which occurred
+somewhat suddenly in 1836. Mr. and Mrs. Jones were assisted by a
+governess and tutor from England and the Church Missionary Society gave
+financial assistance.
+
+Mr. John Macallum, who was afterwards ordained at Red River, arrived
+from England in 1836, as assistant to Mr. Jones. He took charge of the
+school for young ladies and also the classical school for the sons of
+Hudson's Bay factors and traders. He was assisted by Mrs. Macallum and
+also had teachers brought out from England. He had two daughters who
+were pupils in the school, one of whom still survives in British
+Columbia.
+
+One of the Red River ladies who attended that school when a very little
+girl says that the building occupied by it stood near the site of Dean
+O'Meara's present residence. The enclosure took in the pretty ravine
+formed by a creek in the neighborhood--the ravine that is now bridged by
+one of our public streets. It consisted of two large wings, one for the
+boys and one for the girls, joined together by a dining hall used by the
+boys. There were also two pretty gardens in which the boys and girls
+could disport themselves separately. The large trees that surrounded the
+building have long since disappeared. The young girl spoken of as a
+pupil seems to have had her youthful mind captivated by the beauty of
+the site, and indeed nowhere could the love of nature be better
+cultivated than along the bends of the Red River near St. John's, where
+groves of majestic trees succeed each other, where the wild flowers
+flourish in the sheltered nooks and the fire-flies glance among the
+greenery at the close of day and where for sound we have the
+whip-poor-will lashing the woods as if impatient of the silence.
+
+Among other schools was one commenced in the early thirties by Mr. John
+Pritchard, at one time agent of Lord Selkirk, at a place called "The
+Elms," on the east side of Red River, opposite Kildonan Church. Mr.
+Pritchard was entrusted with the education of the sons of gentlemen sent
+all the way from British Columbia and from Washington and Oregon
+territories, besides a number belonging to prominent families of Red
+River and the Northwest. The Governor and Council of the Hudson's Bay
+Company granted to Mr. Pritchard a life annuity of £20 on account of his
+services in the interests of religion and education.
+
+On coming to the diocese in 1865 Bishop Machray reorganized the boys'
+classical school, and it was opened as a high school in 1866. The bishop
+gave instruction in a number of branches himself, paying special
+attention to mathematics. Archdeacon McLean had charge of classics and
+the Rev. Samuel Pritchard conducted the English branches in what was now
+called St. John's College.
+
+In connection with the parish school of Kildonan the Rev. John Black,
+who was, as we all know, a scholarly man, gave instructions in classics
+to a number of young men, who were thus enabled to take their places in
+Toronto University and in Knox College, Toronto.
+
+In addition to these schools, Mr. Gunn, of St. Andrew's, afterwards Hon.
+Donald Gunn, had for a time a commercial school at his home for the sons
+of Hudson's Bay Company factors and traders, so that they might be
+fitted for the company's business in which they were to succeed their
+fathers.
+
+
+GIRLS' SCHOOLS.
+
+From the death of Mr. Macallum, 1849, there was a vacancy in the school
+for girls until 1851, when Mrs. Mills and her two daughters came from
+England to assume its charge. A new building was erected for this school
+a little further down the river to which was given the name of St.
+Cross. This was the same building enlarged with which we were familiar a
+few years ago as St. John's Boys' College, and which has lately been
+taken down. Mrs. Mills is said to have been very thorough in her
+instruction and management. The young ladies were trained in all the
+social etiquette of the day in addition to the more solid education
+imparted. Miss Mills assisted her mother with the music and modern
+languages. Miss Harriet Mills, being younger, was more of a companion to
+the girls, and accompanied them on walks, in winter on the frozen river,
+in summer towards the plain, and unless her maturer years belie the
+record of her girlhood we may imagine she was a very lively and
+agreeable companion. In addition to her regular school duties Mrs. Mills
+had a class for girls who were beyond school age. She also gave
+assistance in Sunday school work.
+
+The pianos used in these schools had to be brought by sea, river and
+portage by way of Hudson Bay; one of them is still in possession of Miss
+Lewis, St. James. The teachers from England had to traverse the same
+somewhat discouraging route in coming into the Settlement. Miss Mills,
+who came alone a little later than her mother and sister, traveled from
+York Factory under the care of Mr. Thomas Sinclair. She always
+manifested the highest appreciation of his kindness to her during the
+way, making his men cut down and pile up branches around her to protect
+her from the cold when his party had to camp out for the night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+EDEN INVADED.
+
+
+The conception of Red River Settlement being an Idyllic Paradise was not
+confined to the writer, whose picture we have described as "Apples of
+Gold." It was a self-contained spot, distant from St. Anthony Falls (now
+Minneapolis) some four or five hundred miles, and this was its nearest
+neighbor of importance. Our astronomers thus describe it as an orb in
+space, and the celebrated Milton and Cheadle Expedition of 1862 looked
+upon it as an "oasis." It was often represented as being enclosed behind
+the Chinese wall of Hudson's Bay Company exclusiveness, and thus as
+hopelessly retired. The writer remembers well, when entering Manitoba,
+in the year after it ceased to be Red River Settlement, as he called
+upon the pioneer of his faith, who, for twenty years, had held his post,
+the old man said, when youthful plans of progress were being advanced to
+him, oh, rest! rest! there are creatures that prefer lying quietly at
+the bottom of the pool rather than to be always plunging through the
+troublous waters. Certainly, to the old people, there was a feeling of
+freedom from care, as of its being a lotus-eater's land--an Utopia; an
+Eden, before sin entered, and before "man's disobedience brought death
+into the world and all our woe."
+
+We are not disposed to press Milton's metaphor any further in regard to
+the disturbers who came in upon Frank Larned's peaceful scene.
+
+The time for opening up Rupert's Land was approaching. The agitation of
+the people themselves, the constant petitions to Great Britain and
+Canada called for it. The set time had come; 1857 was a red letter year
+in this advance. In that year the British Parliament appointed a large
+and powerful committee to investigate all phases of Rupert's Land, its
+history; government; geological, climatic, physical, agricultural,
+social, and religious conditions. The blue book of that year is a marvel
+of intelligent work. In this same year the British Government sent out
+the Palliser-Hector Expedition to Rupert's Land to obtain expert
+evidence in regard to all these points being considered by the
+Parliamentary Committee. Also in this year the Canadian Government
+dispatched the Dawson-Hind Expedition to obtain detailed information as
+to the physical and soil conditions of the prairie region, and it is
+said that the report of this party of explorers is one of the most
+accurate, sane, and useful accounts ever given of this prairie country.
+
+With all this attention being paid to the country and with the press of
+Canada awakened to see the possibility of extending Canada in this
+direction, it is not to be wondered at, that adventurous spirits found
+out this Eden and sought in it for the tree of life, perchance often
+finding in it the tree of evil as well as that of good.
+
+Of course, to the modern philosopher the disturbances of these peaceful
+seats is simply the symptom of progress and the struggle that is bound
+to take place in all development.
+
+But to the Hudson's Bay Company pessimist, or to the grey-headed sage,
+the greatest disturbers of this Eden were two Englishmen, Messrs.
+Buckingham and Coldwell, who, in 1859, entered Red River Colony, and
+established that organ for good or evil, the newspaper. This first paper
+was called "The Nor'-Wester." It is amusing to read the comments upon
+its entrance made by Hudson's Bay Company writers, both English and
+French. The constitution and conduct of the Council of Assiniboia was
+certainly the weak point in the Hudson's Bay regime, and the Nor'-Wester
+kept this point so constantly before the people that it was really a
+thorn in the side of the Company. The Nor'-Wester, itself, was surely
+not free from troubles. The Red River Community was very small, so that
+it could not very well supply a constituency. Comparatively few of the
+people could read, many felt no need of newspapers, and the Company
+certainly did not encourage its distribution. It would have been a
+subject of constant amusement had the Nor'-Wester been in operation in
+the days of Judge Thom and his policy of repression. Mr. Buckingham did
+not remain long in Red River Settlement. Mr. Coldwell became the dean of
+newspaperdom in the Canadian West. The great antagonist of the Hudson's
+Bay Company, Dr. John Schultz, a Western Canadian, came to the
+Settlement in the same year as The Nor'-Wester--a medical man, he became
+also a merchant, a land-owner, a politician, and in this last sphere
+held many offices. At times he succeeded in controlling The Nor'-Wester,
+at other times the Hudson's Bay Company were able to direct The
+Nor'-Wester policy; sometimes Mr. James Ross, son of Sheriff Alexander
+Ross, was in control, but it may be said that in general its policy was
+hostile to that of the Company. About this time of beginnings came along
+a number of Americans, or Canadians, who had been in the United States,
+and these congregated in the little village, which began to form at what
+is now the junction of Main Street and Portage Avenue, in Winnipeg.
+Certain Canadians in St. Paul, such as Messrs. N.W. Kittson, and J.J.
+Hill, began at this time to take an interest in the trade of Red River
+Settlement, and to speak of communication between the Settlement and the
+outside world. The demand for transport led a company to bring in a
+steamer, the Anson Northrup, afterwards called "The Pioneer," to break
+the Red River solitude with her scream. The steamer International was
+built to run on the river in 1862, and thus the Hudson's Bay Company was
+unwittingly joining with The Nor'-Wester in opening up the country to
+the world, and sounding the death-knell of the Company's hopes of
+maintaining supremacy in Rupert's land.
+
+[Illustration: THE ANSON NORTHRUP The machinery was brought from the
+Mississippi to the Red River. The name was changed to Pioneer in 1860.
+"International", larger boat of similar pattern was built by the
+Hudson's Bay Company in 1861. These steamers were run on the Red River.]
+
+Until this time of arrivals there had been no village of Winnipeg. The
+first building back from the McDermott, Ross and Logan buildings on the
+bank of Red River, was on the corner of Main and Portage Avenue. Here
+gathered those, who may be spoken of as free traders, being rivals of
+the Hudson's Bay Company Store at Fort Garry. Another village began a
+few years after at Point Douglas on Main Street, near the Canadian
+Pacific Railway Station of to-day, while at St. John's, on Main Street,
+was another nucleus. These were in existence when the old order passed
+away in 1870, but they are all absorbed into the City of Winnipeg of
+to-day. The Hudson's Bay Company, while long attached to its ancient
+customs, brought over from the seventeenth century, has fully and
+heartily adopted the new order of things. Glorying in the old, it has
+embraced the new, and has become thoroughly modern in all its
+enterprises. It has been a safe and solvent institution in its whole
+history. That it has been able to do this is no doubt, largely due to
+the enterprise and modern spirit of its great London Governor, who for
+years watched over its time of transition in Winnipeg--Donald A.
+Smith--Lord Strathcona of to-day.
+
+When the regime of the Hudson's Bay Company is recalled old timers
+delight to think of a figure of that time who was an embodiment of the
+life of the Red River Settlement from its beginning nearly to its end.
+This was William Robert Smith, a blue-coat boy from London, who came out
+in the Company's service in 1813, served for a number of years as a
+clerk, and settled down in Lower Fort Garry District in 1824. Farming,
+teaching, catechising for the church, acting precentor, a local
+encyclopædia and collector of customs, he passed his versatile life,
+till in the year before the Sayer affair, 1848, he became clerk of
+Court, which place, with slight interruption, he held for twenty years.
+One who knew him says: "From his long residence in the Settlement, he
+has seen Governors, Judges, Bishops, and Clergymen, not to mention such
+birds of passage as the Company's local officers, come and go, himself
+remaining to record their doings to their successors."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+RIEL'S RISING.
+
+
+The agitation for freedom which we have described in Red River
+Settlement, and the efforts of Canada to introduce Rupert's Land into
+the newly-formed Dominion of Canada had, after much effort, and the
+overcoming of many hindrances, resulted in the British Government
+agreeing to transfer this Western territory to Canada, and in the
+Hudson's Bay Company accepting a subsidy in full payment of their claim
+to the country. This payment was to be paid by Canada. Somewhat careless
+of the feelings of the Hudson's Bay Company officers, and also of the
+views of the old settlers of the Colony--especially of the
+French-speaking section--the Dominion Government sent a reckless body of
+men to survey the lands near the French settlements and to rouse
+animosity in the minds of the Metis.
+
+Now came the Riel Rising.
+
+Five causes may be stated as leading up to it.
+
+1. The weakness of the Government of Assiniboia and the sickness and
+helplessness of Governor McTavish, whose duty it was to act.
+
+2. The rebellious character of the Metis, now irritated anew by the
+actions of the surveyors.
+
+3. The inexplicable blundering and neglect of the Dominion Government at
+Ottawa.
+
+4. A dangerous element in the United States, and especially on the
+borders of Minnesota inciting and supporting a disloyal band of
+Americans in Pembina and Winnipeg.
+
+5. A cunning plot to keep Governor McTavish from acting as he should
+have done, and to incite the Metis under Riel to open revolt.
+
+The drama opened with the appointment of Hon. William McDougall as
+Lieutenant-Governor of the Northwest Territories in September, 1869, and
+his arrival at Pembina in October. Mr. McDougall was to be appointed
+Governor by the Dominion Government as soon as the transfer to Canada of
+Rupert's Land could be made. McDougall, on his arrival at the boundary
+of Minnesota, was served with a notice by the French half-breeds, not to
+enter the Territories.
+
+Meanwhile, Louis Riel, son of the old miller of the Seine, and a true
+son of his father--but vain and assertive, having the ambition to be a
+Cæsar or Napoleon, took the lead. He succeeded in October in getting a
+few of the Metis to seize the highway at St. Norbert, some nine miles
+south of Fort Garry, and in the true style of a Paris revolt, erected a
+barricade or barrier to stop all passers-by. It was here that Governor
+McTavish failed. He was immediately informed of this illegal act, but
+did nothing. Hearing of the obstacle on the highway, two of McDougall's
+officers came on towards Fort Garry, and finding the obstruction, one of
+them gave command, "Remove that blawsted fence," but the half-breeds
+refused to obey. The half-breeds seized the mails and all freight coming
+along the road coming into the country.
+
+
+THE SCENE SHIFTS TO FORT GARRY.
+
+It is rumored that Riel was thinking of seizing Fort Garry; an affidavit
+of the Chief of Police under the Dominion shows that he urged the master
+of Fort Garry to meet the danger, and asked leave to call out special
+police to protect the Fort, but no Governor spoke; no one even closed
+the gate of the Fort as a precaution; its gates stood wide open to its
+enemies who seemed to be the friends of its officers.
+
+On November 2nd Riel and a hundred of his Metis followers took
+possession of Fort Garry, and without opposition.
+
+Riel now issued a proclamation with the air of Dictator or Deliverer,
+calling on the English parishes to elect twelve representatives to meet
+the President and representatives of the French-speaking population. He
+likewise summoned them to assemble in twelve days.
+
+McDougall, prospective Governor, on hearing of these things, wrote to
+Governor McTavish, calling on him to make proclamation that the rebels
+should disperse, and a number of the loyal inhabitants made the same
+request. The sick and helpless Governor fourteen days after the seizure
+of the Fort, and twenty-three days after the date of the affidavit of
+the rising, issued a tardy proclamation, condemning the rebels and
+calling upon them to disperse.
+
+The convention summoned by Riel, met on November 16th, the English
+parishes having been induced to choose delegates. The convention at this
+meeting could reach no result and agreed to adjourn to December 1st. The
+English members saw plainly that Riel wished the formation of a
+provisional government, of which he should be head.
+
+At the adjourned meeting, Riel and his fellows insisted on ruling the
+meeting and passed a bill of rights of fifteen clauses. The English
+representatives refused to accept the bill of rights, and after vainly
+trying to make arrangements for the entrance to the country of Governor
+McDougall, returned home, ashamed and discouraged.
+
+Turn now to the condition of things in Pembina, from which prospective
+Governor McDougall is all this while viewing the promised land. He and
+his family are badly housed in Pembina, and he is of a haughty and
+imperious disposition.
+
+December 1st was the day on which the transfer being made of the country
+to Canada, his proclamation as Governor would come into force. But it so
+happened on account of the breaking out of Riel's revolt, the transfer
+had not been made.
+
+Now came about a thing utterly inexplicable, that Mr. McDougall, a
+lawyer, a privy councillor, and an experienced parliamentarian, should,
+on a mere supposition, issue his proclamation as Governor. Riel was
+aware of all the steps being taken by the Government, and so he and the
+Metis laughed at the proclamation. McDougall was an object of pity to
+his Loyalist friends, and he became a laughing stock for the whole
+world.
+
+His proclamation, authorizing Col. Dennis to raise a force in the
+settlement to oppose Riel, was of no value, and prevented Col. Dennis
+from obtaining a loyal force of any strength, which under ordinary
+circumstances he would have done.
+
+As all Canada looked at it, the whole thing was a miserable fiasco.
+
+The illegality of McDougall's proclamation left the loyal Canadians in
+Winnipeg in a most awkward situation. One hundred of them had arms in
+their hands, and they were naturally looked upon by Riel as dangerous,
+and as his enemies.
+
+Riel now acted most deceitfully to them. He promised them their freedom,
+and that he would negotiate with McDougall and try to settle the whole
+matter.
+
+On the 7th of December the Canadians surrendered, but with some of them
+in the Fort and others in the prison outside the wall, where the Sayer
+episode had taken place, Riel coolly broke his truce, while the Metis
+celebrated their early victory by numerous potations of rum, from the
+Hudson's Bay Company Stores, and, of course at the Company's expense.
+
+Encouraged by his victory and the possession of his prisoners, Riel, now
+in Napoleonic fashion, issued a proclamation which it is said was
+written for him by a petty American lawyer at Pembina, who was hostile
+to Britain and Canada.
+
+An evidence of Riel's disloyalty and want of sense was shown by his
+superseding the Union Jack and hoisting in its place a new flag--not
+even the French tri-color, but one with a fleur-de-lis and shamrocks
+upon it, no doubt the flag of the old French regime with additions. He
+also took possession of Hudson's Bay Company funds with the coolness of
+a buccaneer, and his manner in refusing personal liberty to people whom
+he dared not arrest was overbearing and impertinent.
+
+The inaccessibility of Red River Settlement in winter added much to the
+anxiety. No telegraphic connection nearer than St. Paul, some four or
+five hundred miles, was possible, even the regular conveyance of the
+mails could not be relied on. Meanwhile the Canadian people were in a
+state of the greatest excitement, and the Government at Ottawa,
+well-knowing its mismanagement of the whole affair, was in desperate
+straits. To make the situation more serious the only man who could deal
+with Riel and could remedy the situation, Bishop Tache, of St. Boniface,
+was absent at the great conclave of that year in Rome. The more
+intelligent French people had no confidence in the sanity and
+reasonableness of Riel. He was to them as great a puzzle as he was to
+the English. It was a gloomy Christmas time in Red River, and the gloom
+was increased by the suspense of not knowing what the Government at
+Ottawa would do in the circumstances.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+LORD STRATHCONA'S HAND.
+
+
+On Christmas Day, 1870, John Bruce, who was but a figurehead, resigned
+his office of President of the so-called Provisional Government of Red
+River Settlement, and the ambitious Louis Riel was chosen in his stead.
+The Dominion Government had at length, been awakened to the danger.
+Divided counsels still prevailed. Two Commissioners, Grand Vicar
+Thibault and Col. De Salaberry, arrived at Fort Garry, but they were
+safely quartered at the Bishop's palace at St. Boniface, and as they
+professed to have no authority, Riel cavalierly set them aside. At this
+time the American element in the hamlet of Winnipeg became very
+offensive. Riel's official organ, "The New Nation," was edited by an
+American, Major Robinson. This journal was filled with articles having
+such head-lines as "Confederation," "The British-American Provinces,"
+"Proposed Annexation to the United States," etc., etc. Or, again,
+"Annexation," "British Columbia Defying the Dominion," "Annexation our
+Manifest Destiny." All this was very disagreeable to the
+English-speaking people, and highly compromising to Riel.
+
+But the real negociator was at hand, and he not only had the authority
+to speak for Canada, but had Scottish prudence and diplomacy, as well as
+real influence in the country, from holding the highest position in
+Canada of any of the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company. This chief
+factor was Donald A. Smith, whom we have since learned to know so well
+as Lord Strathcona. He, with his secretary, Hardisty, arrived on
+December 27th, and went immediately to Fort Garry. Riel demanded of Mr.
+Smith, the object of his visit, but received no satisfaction. On being
+asked for his credentials, Mr. Smith replied that he had left them at
+Pembina. Being a high Hudson's Bay Company officer, he was quartered in
+Government House, Fort Garry. The larger portion of the building was
+occupied by Governor McTavish, the smaller or official portion became
+the Commissioner's apartments. Here he was able to observe events, meet
+a number of the old settlers, and obtain his information at first hand.
+On the 15th of January Riel again demanded the Commissioner's papers;
+he, indeed, offered to send to Pembina for them, but Mr. Smith declined
+the offer. In the meantime the Commissioner had learned that the
+Dauphinais Settlement, lying between Pembina and Fort Garry was loyal.
+Accordingly, with a guard, Hardisty started to bring the papers. Riel
+learned of this, and taking a body guard with him, went to the
+Dauphinais house, intending to seize the credentials. Hardisty arrived
+with his precious documents. Meanwhile, the Loyalists had made Riel's
+men prisoners, and when Riel attempted to interfere, Pierre Laveiller, a
+loyal French half-breed, put his loaded pistol to the Dictator's head,
+and threatened his life. Sixty or seventy of the Loyalists escorted
+Hardisty and his papers to Mr. Smith in Fort Garry.
+
+[Illustration: Train of Huskie Dogs, Fort Garry, north gate
+(Governor's entrance still standing), Toboggan with Hudson Bay trader
+IN FORT GARRY PARK, WINNIPEG Permission Steele & Co., Winnipeg]
+
+Now in possession of his documents, the Commissioner called a general
+meeting of the people for January 19th, and one thousand men appeared on
+that day in the Court Yard of the Fort. As there was no building in
+which they could assemble, the meeting was held in the open air, with
+the temperature 20° below zero. The people stood for hours and
+listened to the proceedings. Commissioner Smith then read the letter of
+his appointment, and also a letter from the Governor-General, which
+announced to the people that the Imperial Government would see that
+"perfect good faith would be kept with the inhabitants of the Red River
+and the Northwest." The Commissioner then demanded that Vicar Thibault's
+commission, which Riel had seized should be read. Riel refused it, but
+Mr. Smith stood firm. At length the Queen's message to the people was
+proclaimed. One John Burke then demanded that the prisoners be released
+and a promise was given. On the second day the people again assembled,
+and Mr. Smith then read authoritative letters, one from the
+Governor-General to Governor McTavish, and another to Mr. McDougall. It
+was then moved by Riel, seconded by Mr. Bannatyre, and carried
+unanimously, that twenty representatives should be elected by the
+English Parishes and twenty by the French, and that these should meet on
+January 25th to consider the subjects of Commissioner Smith's
+communications, and decide what was best for the welfare of the country.
+Speeches were made by the Bishop of Rupert's Land, and Father Richot and
+Riel closed the meeting by saying: "I came here with fear ... we are not
+enemies--but we came very near being so.... we all have rights. We claim
+no half rights, mind you, but all the rights we are entitled to."
+
+Begg, an eye-witness, says: "Immediately after the meeting the utmost
+good feeling prevailed. French and English shook hands, and for the
+first time in many months a spirit of unity between the two classes of
+settlers appeared. The elections took place in due time, but in Winnipeg
+Mr. Bannatyne, the best citizen of the place, was beaten by Mr. A.H.
+Scott, and the greatest annoyance was felt at this by the better
+citizens on account of his being an American, and because of the 'New
+Nation' continuing to advocate annexation."
+
+On the 25th of January the forty delegates assembled. Much excitement
+had been caused at this time among the French by the escape of Dr.
+Schultz, their great opponent. Commissioner Smith addressed the
+Convention. Riel wished him to accept the original Bill of Rights, but
+Mr. Smith refused to do this. A proposal was then brought up by the
+French Deputies that the proposal made by the Imperial Government to the
+Hudson's Bay Company to take over their lands be null and void. This was
+voted down by 22 to 17. Riel rose in rage and said: "The devil take it;
+we must win. The vote may go as it likes, but the motion must be
+carried." Riel raged like a madman. That night, in his fury, he went to
+the bedside of Governor McTavish, sick as he was, and it is said,
+threatened to have him shot at once. Dr. Cowan, the master of the fort,
+was arrested, and so was Mr. Bannatyne, the chief merchant, as well as
+Charles Nolan, a loyal French delegate.
+
+On the 7th of February the delegates again met, and at this meeting
+Commissioner Smith, having the power given him by the Dominion
+Government, invited the Convention to send delegates to Canada to meet
+the Government at Ottawa. Two English delegates, Messrs. Sutherland and
+Fraser, not quite sure on this point, visited Governor McTavish for his
+advise. "Form a Government, for God's sake," said the Governor, "and
+restore peace and order in the Settlement." Being asked, if in such
+case, he would delegate his authority to anyone, he hastily replied, "I
+am dying, I will not delegate my authority to anyone."
+
+The Convention then proceeded to elect a provisional government. Most of
+the officers were English, they being better educated and more prominent
+than the French members. But when it came to the election of a
+President, to their disgust Riel was chosen. Immediately after this,
+Governor McTavish, Dr. Cowan, and Mr. Bannatyne were released as
+prisoners, but Commissioner Smith was a virtual prisoner in his quarters
+in the fort, though his influence was still felt at every turn.
+
+[Illustration: LORD STRATHCONA AND MOUNT ROYAL. Governor of the Hudson's
+Bay Company]
+
+Among the earliest acts of the new provisional government was on
+February 11th, the confiscation of Dr. Schultz's property, and of the
+office of The Norwester newspaper. The type of The Norwester was said to
+have been melted into bar lead and bullets. Judge Black, Father Richot,
+and A.H. Scott were chosen as delegates to Ottawa, though the
+appointment of the last of these, the "American delegate," was very
+distasteful to the English-speaking people. The success of Riel led him
+to dismiss about a quarter of the prisoners in Fort Garry. The fact that
+he seemed to hold the remainder as hostages stirred up the English
+people living along the Assiniboine.
+
+What is usually called the "Portage la Prairie" Expedition was now
+organized, to secure the release of the remaining prisoners. A body,
+varying from sixty to one hundred, marched down to Headingly, and were
+there joined by a number of English-speaking Canadians and others. They
+then pushed on to Kildonan Church, where they were increased by a number
+of English half-breeds from St. Andrew's and adjoining parishes. The
+proposal was to attack the fort and set free the prisoners. Alarmed at
+the movement, Riel released all the prisoners in the fort. Their object
+being gained, the men of the Kildonan Church camp, who had grown to be
+six hundred strong, dissolved, and were proceeding to their homes, when
+Riel, by an unheard of act of treachery, arrested some fifty of the
+Assiniboine party. Among them was Major Boulton, a former officer of the
+100th Regiment. Riel again sought out a victim for revenge, and intended
+to execute this prominent man. It was only on the persistent request of
+Commissioner Smith and the urgency of Mrs. John Sutherland, whose son
+had been killed by an escaping French prisoner at the Kildonan Church
+camp, that Boulton's life was spared.
+
+Riel, however, seemed to feel that power was slipping from his hands. He
+was criticised on all hands for his treachery and for his arrogance. It
+is said his followers were dropping off from him, notwithstanding the
+luxurious lives they had been living on the Company's supplies in Fort
+Garry.
+
+He determined, though with a divided Council, to make an example, and
+despite the solicitations of Commissioner Smith, the Rev. George Young,
+and others, publicly executed, on the 4th of March, outside of Fort
+Garry, a young Irish-Canadian named Thomas Scott. It was a cold-blooded,
+cruelly-executed and revolting scene--it was the act of a mad man.
+
+"Whom the Gods destroy they first make mad." The execution of Scott was
+the death-knell of Riel's hopes as a ruler. Canada was roused to its
+centre. Determined to have no further communication with Riel, and
+feeling that he had done all that he could do, Commissioner Smith, on
+the 18th of March, returned to Canada. On the 8th of March, Bishop Tache
+returned from Rome. A few days after Chief Factor Smith's departure, he
+was followed to Canada by Father Richot and Mr. Scott, and they shortly
+after by Judge Black, accompanied by Major Button. The conflict of
+opinion was transferred to Ottawa, and the act constituting the Province
+of Manitoba was passed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+WOLSELEY'S WELCOME.
+
+
+Canada's military experience, ever since the excitement of the "Trent
+Affair," had been in dealing with a persistent band of Irishmen, posing
+as Fenians, and egged on by sympathizers in the United States. Now there
+was trouble, as we have seen, in her own borders, and though here again,
+American influence of a hostile nature played its part, yet it was those
+connected with one of the two races in Canada who were now giving
+trouble in the Northwestern prairies. Such an outbreak was more
+dangerous than Fenianism, for to the credit of the Irish in Canada, it
+should be said that they gave no countenance to the Fenian intruders.
+The French people in Quebec, however, had strong sympathies for their
+race in the Red River Settlement. No one in Canada believed that any
+injustice could be done to either the English or French elements on the
+banks of Red River, but Sir George Cartier fought strongly for his own,
+and was very unwilling to allow an expedition to go out to Manitoba with
+hostile intent. Of the two battalions of volunteers that went out to Red
+River, one was from Quebec, but one military authority states that there
+were not fifty French-Canadians all told in the Quebec battalion. It had
+been proposed that Col. Wolseley, who was to command the Red River
+Expedition, should be appointed Governor of the new province of
+Manitoba, but this was sturdily opposed by the French-Canadian section
+of the Cabinet, and Hon. Adams G. Archibald, a Nova Scotian, was
+appointed to the post of Governor. Hampered thus, in so far as exercising
+any civil functions wereconcerned, Col. Garnet Wolseley was chosen by the
+British officer in command in Canada--General Lindsay--to organize this
+expedition. Wolseley was very popular, having served in Burmah, India,
+the Crimea and China. The Ontario battalion soon had to refuse
+applications, and from Ontario the complement of the Quebec battalion was
+filled up. It was decided also that a battalion of regulars, with small
+bodies of artillery and engineers should take the lead in the expedition.
+Thus, a force of 1,200 men was speedily gathered together and put at the
+disposal of Colonel Wolseley. Two hundred boats, each some 25 to 30 feet
+long, carrying four tons as well as fourteen men as a crew, were built;
+the voyageurs numbered some four hundred men. No sooner did the Fenians
+in the United States hear of this expedition than they threatened Lower
+Canada, and spoke of interrupting the troops as they passed Sault Ste.
+Marie. The United States also refused to allow soldiers or munitions of
+war to pass up their Sault Canal. The rallying began in May, and though
+the troops were compelled to debark themselves and their stores at Sault
+Ste. Marie, portage them around the Sault and replace them in the
+steamers again, yet all the troops were landed at Port Arthur on Lake
+Superior by the 21st of June, their officers declaring "our mission is
+one of peace, and the sole object of it is to secure Her Majesty's
+Sovereign authority." Some time was lost in endeavoring to use land
+carriage up from Port Arthur as far as Lake Shebandowan. The
+difficulties were so great that the scouts were led to find another
+route for the boats up the Kaministiquia River. In this they were
+successful; in all this worry from mosquitoes, black flies and deer
+flies in millions, the troops preserved their good temper, and Col.
+Wolseley said, "I have never been with any body of men in the field so
+well fed as this has been." (July 10th.) The real start of the
+expedition was from Lake Shebandowan. The three brigades of boats--A. B.
+and C.--seventeen in all, got off from Shebandowan shore on the evening
+of July 16th; by the 4th of August Rainy River was reached, and at Fort
+Frances Colonel Wolseley met Captain Butler, who had acted as
+intelligence officer, having adroitly passed under Riel's shadow, and
+being able now to give the news required. It was still the statement and
+belief of Riel that "Wolseley would never reach Fort Garry." Crossing
+Lake of the Woods the regular troops were pushed ahead, and on
+descending Winnipeg River they reached Fort Alexander and Lake Winnipeg
+on August 20th. Here Commissioner Donald A. Smith, having come through
+in a light canoe, met Colonel Wolseley. After a short delay Colonel
+Wolseley's command hastened to the Red River, ascended it, and
+cautiously approached Fort Garry. It was still uncertain whether Riel
+was to oppose the expedition or not. The troops formed for what
+emergency might arise, and two small guns were in readiness should they
+be required. When Fort Garry was sighted, its guns were mounted, and
+everything seemed ready for defence. The officers of the expedition, as
+they approached it were quite ready for a shot to be fired from the
+battlements, but there was no movement, Riel, Lepine, and O'Donoghue
+alone, were left of the Metis levy, and as the 60th Rifles drew near the
+Fort the three were seen to escape from the river gate and to flee
+across the bridge of boats on the Assiniboine River. Capt. Huyshe states
+that the troops took possession of the fort with a bloodless victory,
+the Union Jack was hoisted, three cheers were given for the Queen and
+the Riel regime was at an end. The militia regiments arrived on the 27th
+of August, and two days afterwards the Imperial troops started back to
+their headquarters in Ontario. Captain Buller, who afterward became so
+celebrated in South Africa, took his company down the Dawson road to the
+northwest angle of the Lake of the Woods, and thus returned eastward,
+while Colonel McNeil left the country by way of Red River, through the
+United States. Shortly afterward, on September 2nd, Lieutenant-Governor
+Archibald arrived by the Winnipeg River route, and began his work.
+
+[Illustration: WINNIPEG IN 1871]
+
+[Illustration: WINNIPEG IN 1870]
+
+The joy of all classes of the people was unbounded. The English
+halfbreeds had been loyal through the whole of the disturbances.
+Kildonan Church had been the headquarters of the Loyalists in their
+attempted rally, and after the execution of Scott, the French
+half-breeds had gradually dropped off from Riel, until he and his two
+companions formed a helpless trio shorn of all power.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+MANITOBA IN THE MAKING.
+
+
+Close in the wake of Wolseley's Expedition, there arrived on the 2nd of
+September, Adams G. Archibald, the newly-appointed Governor of the new
+Province of Manitoba. His arrival was greeted with joy, for he was a man
+of high character, and of much experience in his native Province of Nova
+Scotia. The two volunteer regiments, the Quebec and Ontario battalions,
+were quartered for the winter, the former in Lower Fort Garry, the
+latter in Fort Garry. The new Governor took up his abode in Fort Garry,
+in the residence with which our story is so familiar. The organization
+of his government began at once. The first Government Building stood
+back from the street in Winnipeg on the corner of Main Street and
+McDermott Avenue East, of the present-day. The Legislative Council--a
+miniature House of Lords--of seven members, was appointed, and electoral
+divisions for the election of members to the Legislative Assembly were
+made to the number of twenty-four--twelve French and twelve English. The
+time for the opening of Parliament was the spring of 1871. It was a
+notable day, for the citizens were much interested in scrutinizing those
+who were to be their future rulers. The opening passed off with eclat.
+During the first session certain elementary legislation was passed
+including a short school act. There was yet no division of parties, and
+a sufficient cabinet was chosen by the Governor. Thus, institutions
+after the model of the mother of Parliaments at Westminster were evolved
+and Manitoba--the successor of our Red River Settlement--had conceded to
+it the right of local self-government.
+
+In the year of the first parliament of Manitoba it was the fortune of
+the writer to take up his abode here. Winnipeg, a village of less than
+three hundred inhabitants was in that year, still four hundred miles
+distant from a railway. From the railway terminus in Minnesota, the
+stage coach drawn by four horses with relays every twenty miles, sped
+rapidly over prairies, smooth as a lawn to the site of the future city
+of the plains.
+
+Since that time well-nigh forty years has passed away. The stage coach,
+the Red River cart, and the shaganappi pony are things of the past, and
+several railways with richly furnished trains connect St. Paul and
+Minneapolis with the City of Winnipeg. More important, the skill of the
+engineer has surpassed what we then even dreamt of in his blasting of
+rock cuttings and tunnels through the Archæan rocks to Fort William, and
+this has been done by three main trunk lines of railway. The old
+amphibious route of the fur traders and of Wolseley's Expedition has
+been superseded, the tremendous cliffs of the north shore of Lake
+Superior have been levelled and the chasm bridged. To the west the whole
+wide prairie land has been gridironed by railways all tributary to
+Winnipeg, the enormous ascent of the four Rocky Mountain ranges, rising
+a mile above the sea, have been crossed by the Canadian Pacific Railway.
+The giddy heights of the Fraser River Canyon are traversed, and this is
+but the beginning, for three other great corporations are bending their
+strength to pierce the passes of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific
+Ocean. We see to-day scenes more after the manner of the Arabian Nights
+Entertainments than of the humble dream that Lord Selkirk dreamt one
+hundred years ago.
+
+[Illustration: HON. JOHN NORQUAY A native of Red River Settlement.
+Became Cabinet Minister in 1871, afterward Premier of Manitoba.]
+
+The towns and cities of Manitoba have sprung up on every hand where the
+railway has gone and these are but the centres of business of twenty
+thousand farms whose owners have come to this land, many of them
+empty-handed, and are now blessed with competence and in many cases
+wealth. What a vindication of Lord Selkirk's prospectus of a hundred
+years ago when he said: "The soil on the Red River and the Assiniboine
+is generally a good soil, susceptible of culture and capable of bearing
+rich crops." Lord Selkirk's dream is fulfilled, for his land is fast
+becoming the grainary of the world. As the traveller of to-day passes
+along the railways in the last days of August or early in September, he
+beholds the sight of a life-time, in the rattling reapers, each drawn by
+four great horses, turning off the golden sheaves of wheat and other
+cereals. A little later the giant threshers, driven by steam power, pour
+forth the precious grain, which is hurried off to the high elevators for
+storage, till the railways can carry it to the markets of the world to
+feed earth's hungry millions. When the historian recalls the statement
+that the few cattle of the early settlers had degenerated in size on
+account of the climatic conditions, that the shaganappi pony could never
+do the work of the stalwart Clydesdale, and that nothing could result
+from the straggling flock of foot-sore and dying sheep, driven by Burke
+and Campbell from far-distant Missouri, we look with astonishment at the
+horses now taken away by hundreds to supply with chargers the crack
+cavalry regiments of the Empire, at the vast consignments of cattle
+passing through Winnipeg every day to feed the hungry, and flocks of
+sheep supplying wool for Eastern manufacturers to clothe the naked.
+
+One of the greatest trials of the early Selkirk Settlers was to get
+schools sufficient to give the children scattered along the river belt,
+even the three R's of education. Kildonan parish manfully raised by
+subscription the means, unaided by Government help, to give some
+opportunity to their children. It is a notable fact which emerged in the
+great School Contention of twenty years ago in Manitoba, that not a
+dollar had been given to schools as aid by the old Government of
+Assiniboia. To-day the glory of Manitoba is its school system. For
+school buildings, school organization, attainments of the teachers, and
+efficient school management, the schools of Winnipeg are probably
+unsurpassed in any country, and the same is true of many other places in
+the Province. Two Winnipeg schools bear the names of Selkirk and
+Isbister. The University of Manitoba, with its seven affiliated colleges
+and twelve hundred and forty candidates in 1909 for its several
+examinations has its seat at the forks of the Red and Assiniboine
+Rivers, and one of the colleges is on the very lot where Lord Selkirk
+stood and divided up their lands to the Colonists.
+
+[Illustration: ALEXANDER ISBISTER, LL.B. Red River
+Patriot and Benefactor of University of Manitoba.]
+
+One of the most continued and aggressive struggles which Lord Selkirk's
+Colonists maintained was seen in the efforts put forth to worship God
+according to the dictates of their own consciences, and after the manner
+of their fathers. Their perseverance which showed itself in the erection
+of old Kildonan Church in the year immediately after the destructive
+flood of 1852, bore fruit in succeeding years. They were always a
+religious people. No one can even estimate what their religious
+disposition did in a miscellaneous gathering of people who had, being
+scattered over the posts of the fur traders, been in most cases, without
+any religious opportunities whatever, before their coming to settle on
+Red River. The sturdy stand for principle which the Selkirk Colonists
+made created an atmosphere which has remained until this day. The
+well-nigh forty years of religious life of Manitoba has been marked by a
+good understanding among the several churches, by an energetic zeal in
+carrying church services in the very first year of their settlement to
+hundreds of new communities. The generosity of the people in erecting
+churches for themselves in maintaining among themselves their cherished
+beliefs, is in striking contrast to the new settlements of the United
+States. In the new Western States the religious movements fell behind
+the Western march of the immigrant. In the Canadian West from the very
+day that old Verandrye took his priest with him, from the time when the
+first Colonists brought a devout layman as their religious teacher with
+them, from the hour when the stalwart Provencher came, from the era when
+the self-denying West visited the Indian camps and Settlers' camp alike,
+from the time when the saintly Black came as the natural leader of the
+Selkirk Colonists, and during the forty years of the development of
+Manitoba, the foundations have been laid in that righteousness which
+exalteth a nation.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+
+How strange and wonderful is the web of destiny, which is being woven in
+our national, provincial and family life, which we poor mortals are
+simply the individual strands.
+
+How marvellous it is to look into the seeds of time--yes, and these may
+be small as mustard seeds--which are the smallest of all seeds--and see
+the bursting of the husks, the peering out of the plumule, the feeding
+of the sprout, the struggle through the clods, the fight with frost and
+hail and broiling sun, and canker worm and blight, the growth of the
+strengthening stem, and then the leaf and blossoms and fruit! We say it
+has survived, it becomes a great tree under whose leaves and under whose
+branches the fowls of Heaven find shelter. How passing strange it was to
+see the seed-thought rise in the mind of Lord Selkirk, that suffering
+humanity transplanted to another environment might grow out of poverty,
+into happiness and content. See his sorrow as he meets with undeserved
+opposition from rival traders, from slanderous agents, from bitter
+articles in the press, from Government officials and even police
+officers who strive to break up his immigrant parties. Recall the
+troubles of the Nelson Encampment as they reach him in letters and
+reports. Think of the misery of knowing thousands of miles away that his
+Colonists were starving, were being imprisoned, banished, seduced from
+their allegiance, and in one notable case that men of honor, education
+and standing to the number of twenty, were massacred, while he, in St.
+Mary's Isle, in Montreal, or in Fort William, fretted his soul because
+he could not reach them with deliverance.
+
+[Illustration: MARBLE BUST OF EARL OF SELKIRK, THE FOUNDER
+By Chantrey, obtained by author from St. Mary's Isle, Lord Selkirk's
+seat.]
+
+The world looked coldly on and said, "A visionary Scottish nobleman! a
+dreamer a hundred years before his time! Is it worth while?" while he
+himself saw a dream of sunshine when he visited his Colonists on Red
+River, when he made allocations for their separate homes for them, when
+he pledged his honor and estate that the settlers might in time be
+independent, and when he made religious provision for both his
+Protestant and Catholic settlers, yet think of the unexampled ferocity
+with which he was attacked upon his return to Upper Canada, in law
+suits, and illegal processes, so that his estates became heavily
+encumbered, so that he went to France to pine away and die. The world
+failed to see any glamour in him, and carelessly said, what does it
+profit? Folly has its reward.
+
+Yet the answer. Here is Manitoba to-day, it is the fruitage of all that
+bitter sowing time. Next year Manitoba will be in the fortieth year of
+its history. Its people have seen pain, strife and defeat, they have
+gone through excitement and anxiety and patient waiting, and at times
+have almost given up the strife. But the province and its great city,
+Winnipeg, are the meeting place of the East and West, the pivotal point
+of the Dominion. The national life of Canada throbs here with a steadier
+beat and a more normal pulse than it does in any other part of Canada,
+its dominating Canadian spirit is so hearty and so sprightly, that, it
+is taking possession of the scores of different nations coming to us and
+they feel that we are their friends and brothers. This, while it may not
+be the noisy and blatant type of loyalty is a practical patriotism which
+is making a united, sane and abiding type of national character.
+
+Again we answer: Three years from now will be the hundredth year since
+the landing on the banks of Red River of the first band of Selkirk
+Colonists. It was as we have seen a struggle of an extraordinarily
+bitter type. To us it seems that no other American Colony ever had such
+a continuous distressing and terrific struggle for existence as had
+these Scottish Settlers, but we say it was worth while, judging by the
+loss to Canada of the northern portions of the tier of states of
+Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana and Washington, which a line from Fond
+du Lac (Duluth) to the mouth of the Columbia would have given to us, and
+which should have been ours. We say that had it not been for the Selkirk
+Colonists we would have stood to lose our Canadian West. It was a
+settlement nearly a hundred years ago of families of men and women, and
+children that gave us the firm claim to what is now the three great
+provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Was it not worth while?
+Was it not worth ten, yes, worth a hundred times more suffering and
+discouragement than even the first settlers of Red River endured to
+preserve our British connection which the Hudson's Bay Company, loyal as
+it was, with its Union Jack floating on every fort, could not have
+preserved to us any more than it did in Oregon and Washington. It was
+the Red River Settlement that held it for us.
+
+We are beginning to see to-day that Canada could not have become a great
+and powerful sister nation in the Empire had the West not been saved to
+her. The line of possible settlement has been moving steadily northward
+in Canada since the days when the French King showed his contempt for it
+by calling it "a few arpents of snow." The St. Lawrence route was
+regarded as a doubtful line for steamships, Rupert's Land was called a
+Siberia, but all this is changing with our Transcontinental and Hudson's
+Bay railways in prospect. In territory, resources, and influence the
+opening up of the West is making Canada complete. And, if so, we owe it
+to Lord Selkirk and to Selkirk Settlers, who stood true to their flag
+and nationality. Very willingly will we observe the Selkirk Centennial
+in 1912. "Many a time and oft" it looked in their case to be one long,
+continued and alarming drama, but on the 30th day of August, the day of
+their landing on the banks of the Red River, shall we recite the epic of
+Lord Selkirk's Colonists, and it will be of the temper of Browning's
+couplet:
+
+     God's in His Heaven,
+     All's right with the world.
+
+
+*       *       *       *       *
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+The author notes the fact that the agents sent out by Lord
+Selkirk engaged (1) Labourers for the Company, (2) Settlers for the Red
+River Settlement. On this account in the lists given in the archives and
+other official documents, the labourers were often sent to the Posts of
+the Company, and after serving several years often became settlers.
+(List given in Manitoba Historical Society Transactions, 33.)
+
+
+A.
+
+List of men who arrived at Hudson Bay in 1811 and left York Factory for
+the interior in July, 1812:
+
+     Names.                 Age.  Whence.
+
+     1 Colin Campbell         21  Argyle
+
+     2 John McKay             22  Rossshire
+
+     3 John McLennan          23  Rossshire
+
+     4 Beth Bethune           19  Rossshire
+
+     5 Donald McKay           17  Rossshire
+
+     6 William Wallace        21  Ayr
+
+     7 John Cooper            26  Orkney, came to Upper Canada.
+
+     8 Nichol Harper          34  Orkney
+
+     9 Magnus Isbister        21  Orkney, probably father of A.K. Isbister
+
+    10 George Gibbon          50  Orkney
+
+    11 Thos. McKim            38  Sligo
+
+    12 Pat Corcoran           24  Crosmalina
+
+    13 John Green             21  Sligo
+
+    14 Pat Quinn              21  Killala
+
+    15 Martin Jordan          16  Killala
+
+    16 John O'Rourke          20  Killala
+
+    17 Anthony McDonnell      23  Killala
+
+    18 James Toomey           20  Killala
+
+
+The Author is not aware of the existence of any list of the first
+settlers other than these.
+
+
+B.
+
+Owen Keveny's party (list found in Archives, Ottawa). The total list of
+seventy-one was engaged by Keveny in Mull, Broan, Sligo, etc. The
+following are known to have come. They reached York Factory 1812, and
+arrived at Red River October 27th, 1812:
+
+    1 Andrew McDermott, became the famous Red River merchant.
+
+    2 John Bourke, a useful man.
+
+    3 James Warren, died of wounds in 1815.
+
+    4 Chas. Sweeny.
+
+    5 James Heron.
+
+    6 Hugh Swords.
+
+    7 John Cunningham.
+
+    8 Michael Hayden Smith, evidently Michael Heden, blacksmith.
+
+    9 George Holmes.
+
+   10 Robert McVicar.
+
+   11 Ed. Castelo.
+
+   12 Francis Heron.
+
+   13 James Bruin.
+
+   14 John McIntyre.
+
+   15 James Pinkham.
+
+   16 Donald McDonald.
+
+   17 Hugh McLean.
+
+
+C.
+
+The Churchill party, which landed from "Prince of Wales" ship convoyed
+by H.M.S. "Brazen," at Churchill in August, 1813, and some, marked C-Y.,
+who walked overland on snowshoes to York Factory in April 14th, 1814,
+and reached Red River Settlement in 1814. This whole list is from
+Manitoba Historical Society Transactions, 33. Those marked C-Y. are from
+Archives, Ottawa.
+
+ Names.                               Age.  Whence.
+
+ 1 George Campbell                      25  Archurgle Parish,
+                                            Creech, Scotland
+
+ 2 Helen, his wife                      20  Archurgle
+
+ 3 Bell, his daughter                    1  Archurgle
+
+ 4 John Sutherland                      50  Kildonan, died 2nd Sept.,
+                                            at Churchill (a very
+                                            respectable man)
+
+ 5 Catherine, his wife, C-Y.            46  Kildonan
+
+ 6 George, his son, C-Y.                18  Kildonan
+
+ 7 Donald, his son                      16  Kildonan
+
+ 8 Alexander, his son                    9  Kildonan
+
+ 9 Jannet, his daughter, C-Y.           14  Kildonan
+
+10 Angus McKay, C-Y.                    24  Kildonan
+
+11 Jean, his wife, C-Y.                 ..  Kildonan
+
+12 Alexander Gunn, C-Y.                 50  Kildonan
+
+13 Christine, his wife                  50  Kildonan, died 20th Sept.,
+                                            Churchill
+
+14 William, his son, C-Y.               18
+
+15 Donald Bannerman                     50  Died 24th Sept., Churchill
+
+16 Christine, his wife                  44
+
+17 William, his son, C-Y.               18
+
+18 Donald, his son                       8
+
+19 Christine, his daughter, C-Y.        16
+
+20 George McDonald                      48  Died 1st Sept., 1813, Churchill
+
+21 Jannet, his wife                     50
+
+22 Betty Grey                           17
+
+23 Catherine Grey                       23
+
+24 Barbara McBeath, widow               45  Borobal
+
+25 Charles, her son                     16
+
+26 Jenny, her daughter                  23
+
+27 Andrew McBeath, C-Y.                 10
+
+28 Jannet, his wife, C-Y.               ..
+
+29 William Sutherland                   23  Borobal
+
+30 Margaret, his wife                   15
+
+31 Christian, his sister                24
+
+32 Donald Gunn                          65  Borobal
+
+33 Jannet, his wife                     50
+
+34 Transferred to Eddystone, H.B. Co.
+
+35 George Gunn, son of Donald, C-Y.     16  Borobal, Parish Kildonan
+
+36 Esther, his sister, C-Y.             24
+
+37 Catherine, his sister                20  Died 29th August
+
+38 Christian, his sister                10
+
+39 Angus Gunn                           21
+
+40 Jannet, his wife                     ..
+
+41 Robert Sutherland,
+    brother of William, C-Y.            17  Borobal
+
+42 Elizabeth Frazer, C-Y.               30
+
+43 Angus Sutherland                     20  Auchraich
+
+44 Elizabeth, his mother                60
+
+45 Betsy, his sister                    18  Died of consumption, Oct. 26th
+
+46 Donald Stewart                       ..  Parish of Appin, died 20th
+                                            August, 1813, Churchill
+
+47 Catherine, his wife                  30
+
+48 Margaret, his daughter                8
+
+49 Mary, his daughter                    5
+
+50 Ann, his daughter                     2
+
+51 John Smith                           ..  Kildonan
+
+52 Mary, his wife                       ..
+
+53 John, his son                        ..
+
+54 Jean, his daughter, C-Y.             ..
+
+55 Mary, his daughter                   ..
+
+56 Alexander Gunn                       58  Kildonan, Sutherlandshire
+
+57 Elizabeth McKay, his niece, C-Y.     ..
+
+58 Betsy McKay, his niece               ..
+
+59 George Bannerman, C-Y.               22
+
+60 John Bruce                           60  Parish of Clyve
+
+61 Alex. Sutherland, C-Y.               24  Parish of Kildonan
+
+62 William, his brother                 19  Died
+
+63 Kate Sutherland, his sister          20
+
+64 Haman Sutherland, C-Y.               18  Kenacoil. Settled in Upper
+                                            Canada in West Gwillimbury.
+                                            He and his sister were children
+                                            of James Sutherland, catechist
+
+65 Barbara, his sister, C-Y.            20
+
+66 James McKay, C-Y.                    19  Cain
+
+67 Ann, his sister, C-Y.                21
+
+68 John Matheson                        22  Authbreakachy
+
+69 Robert Gunn (piper), C-Y.            ..  Kildonan
+
+70 Mary, his sister, C-Y.               ..
+
+71 Hugh Bannerman, C-Y.                 18  Dackabury, Kildonan
+
+72 Elizabeth, his sister, C-Y.          20
+
+73 Mary Bannerman, C-Y.                 ..
+
+74 Alex. Bannerman, C-Y.                19  Dackabury, Kildonan
+
+75 Christian, his sister, C-Y.          ..  Died January, 1814,
+                                            from consumption
+
+76 John Bannerman                       19  Died January, of consumption
+
+77 Isabella, his sister, C-Y.           16
+
+78 John McPherson, C-Y.                 18  Gailable
+
+79 Catherine, his sister, C-Y.          26
+
+80 Hector McLeod, C-Y.                  19
+
+81 George Sutherland, C-Y.              18  Borobal
+
+82 Adam, his brother, C-Y.              16
+
+83 John Murray, C-Y.                    21  Sirsgill
+
+84 Alex., his brother, C-Y.             19
+
+85 Helen Kennedy                        ..  Sligo
+
+86 Malcolm McEachern                    ..  Skibbo, Isla (deserted)
+
+87 Mary, his wife                       ..  Skibbo, Isla (deserted)
+
+88 James McDonald, C-Y.                 ..  Inverness, to Fort Augustus
+
+89 Hugh McDonald.                       ..  To Fort William, died
+                                            3rd of August, at sea
+
+90 Samuel Lamont, C-Y.                  ..  Boromore, Isla
+
+91 Alex. Matheson, C-Y.                 ..  Kildonan
+
+92 John Matheson, C-Y.                  ..  Overseer
+
+93 John McIntyre, C-Y.                      To Fort William (entered
+                                            service of H.B. Co.,
+                                        ..  July, 1814)
+
+94 And. Smith                           ..  Son of No. 31, Isla
+
+95 Edward Shell                         ..  Balyshannon
+
+96 Joseph Kerrigan                      ..  Balyshannon
+
+   Mr. P. La Serre                          Surgeon, died at sea
+
+
+D.
+
+List of settlers who came with Duncan Cameron from Red River to Canada,
+1815. List prepared by Wm. McGillivray, of Kingston, August 15th, 1815.
+About one hundred and forty, probably forty or fifty families, and some
+single men, arrived at Holland River, September 6th, 1815.
+
+Made at York (Toronto), September 22nd, 1815.
+
+
+I. OLD MEN.
+
+    Donald Gunn, wife and daughter.
+
+    Alexander Gunn and wife.
+
+    Angus McDonell, wife and two children.
+
+    Neil McKinnon, wife and two boys.
+
+
+II. SETTLERS.
+
+    Miles Livingston, wife and two children.
+
+    Angus McKay, wife and one child.
+
+    John Matheson, wife and one child.
+
+    John Matheson, Jr., and wife.
+
+    George Bannerman and wife.
+
+    Andrew McBeath, wife and one child.
+
+    William Sutherland, wife and one child.
+
+    Angus Gunn, wife and one child.
+
+    Alexander Bannerman and wife.
+
+    Robert Sutherland and wife.
+
+    William Bannerman and wife.
+
+    James McKay and wife.
+
+
+III. WIDOWS.
+
+    Mrs. Barbara McBeath.
+
+    Mrs. Jeannet Sutherland and two boys.
+
+    Mrs. Elizabeth Sutherland.
+
+    Mrs. Christy Bannerman.
+
+    Mrs. Jeannet McDonell.
+
+
+IV. YOUNG WOMEN, UNMARRIED.
+
+    Jane Gray.
+
+    Elizabeth Gray.
+
+    Esther Bannerman.
+
+    Elspeth Gunn.
+
+    Jannet Sutherland.
+
+    Isabella McKinnon.
+
+    ---- McKinnon.
+
+    Catta McDonell.
+
+    Elizabeth McKay.
+
+
+V. YOUNG MEN, NOT MARRIED.
+
+    John Murray.
+
+    Alexander Murray.
+
+    William Gunn.
+
+    Hugh Bannerman.
+
+    Hector McLeod.
+
+    George Gunn.
+
+    Charles McBeath.
+
+    Angus Sutherland.
+
+    Thomas Sutherland.
+
+    Alex. Matheson.
+
+    John McPherson.
+
+    Robert Gunn.
+
+    George Sutherland.
+
+
+VI. MENTIONED IN ARCHIVES, OTTAWA.
+
+    Miles Livingston.
+
+    James McKay.
+
+    Angus Sutherland.
+
+    John Cooper.
+
+    Mary Bannerman (wife of John McLean).
+
+    Haman Sutherland.
+
+    John Maburry.
+
+    Alex. McLellan.
+
+Young people capable of labour generally employed between York and
+Newmarket. The old people are stationed at Newmarket for the present.
+Some of the settlers who have gone to Montreal not included.
+
+
+E.
+
+List of passengers, chiefly from Old Kildonan, landed at York Factory,
+August 26th, 1815. Reached Red River Settlement in same year.
+
+Names.                     Age. Remarks.
+
+ 1 James Sutherland          47  An elder who was authorized by the
+                                Church of Scotland to baptize and marry
+
+ 2 Mary Polson               48
+
+ 3 James Sutherland          12
+
+ 4 Janet Sutherland          16
+
+ 5 Catherine Sutherland      14
+
+ 6 Isabella Sutherland       13
+
+ 1 Wm. Sutherland            54
+
+ 2 Isabell Sutherland        50
+
+ 3 Jeremiah Sutherland       15
+
+ 4 Ebenezer Sutherland       11  At school
+
+ 5 Donald Sutherland          7  At school
+
+ 6 Helen Sutherland          12  At school
+
+ 1 Widow Matheson            60
+
+ 2 John Matheson             18  School master
+
+ 3 Helen Matheson            21
+
+ 1 Angus Matheson            30
+
+ 2 Christian Matheson        18
+
+ 1 Alex. Murray              52
+
+ 2 Ebz. Murray               54
+
+ 3 James Murray              16
+
+ 4 Donald Murray             13
+
+ 5 Catherine Murray          27
+
+ 6 Christian Murray          25
+
+ 7 Isabella Murray           18
+
+ 1 George McKay              50
+
+ 2 Isabella Matheson         50
+
+ 3 Roderick McKay            19
+
+ 4 Robert McKay              11  At school
+
+ 5 Roberty McKay             16
+
+ 1 Donald McKay              31
+
+ 2 John McKay                 1
+
+ 3 Catherine Bruce           33
+
+ 1 Barbara Gunn              50
+
+ 2 Wm. Bannerman             55
+
+ 3 Wm. Bannerman             16
+
+ 4 Alexander Bannerman       14
+
+ 5 Donald Bannerman           8  At school
+
+ 6 George Bannerman           7  At school
+
+ 7 Ann Bannerman             19
+
+ 1 Widow Gunn                40
+
+ 2 Alex. McKay               16
+
+ 3 Adam McKay                13
+
+ 4 Robert McKay              12
+
+ 5 Christian McKay           19
+
+ 1 John Bannerman            55
+
+ 2 Catherine McKay           28
+
+ 3 Alexander Bannerman        1
+
+ 1 Alex. McBeth              35
+
+ 2 Christian Gunn            50
+
+ 3 George McBeth             16
+
+ 4 Roderick McBeth           12
+
+ 5 Robert McBeth             10
+
+ 6 Adam McBeth                6
+
+ 7 Morrison McBeth            4
+
+ 8 Margaret McBeth           18
+
+ 9 Molly McBeth              18
+
+10 Christian McBeth          14
+
+ 1 Alexander Mathewson       34  Sergeant of the passengers
+
+ 2 Ann Mathewson             34
+
+ 3 Hugh Mathewson            10  At school
+
+ 4 Angus Mathewson            6
+
+ 5 John Mathewson             1
+
+ 6 Cathern Mathewson          2
+
+ 1 Alexander Polson          30
+
+ 6 Catherine Mathewson        2
+
+ 3 Hugh Polson               10  At school
+
+ 4 John Polson                5  At school
+
+ 5 Donald Polson              1
+
+ 6 Anne Polson                7
+
+ 1 William McKay             44  Brought out millstones, embarked at
+                                 Stromness
+ 2 Barbara Sutherland        35
+
+ 3 Betty McKay               10  At school
+
+ 4 Dorothy McKay              4
+
+ 5 Janet McKay                2
+
+ 1 Joseph Adams              25  Embarked at Gravesend
+
+ 2 Mary Adams                23
+
+ 1 Reginald Green            31  Sergeant of passengers
+
+ 2 George Adams              19
+
+ 3 Henry Hilliard            19
+
+ 4 Edward Simmons            20
+
+ 5 Christian Bannerman       22
+
+ 6 John Matheson             22
+
+ 7 Alexander Sutherland      25  Sergeant of passengers
+
+ 8 John McDonald             22
+
+Total--84
+
+
+F.
+
+THE HONOUR ROLL.
+
+In Martin's "H.B. Co. Land Tenures" is found a petition to the Prince
+Regent, after the troubles of 1816, asking for troops and steps to be
+taken for their preservation. As these are those, from all the different
+parties, who held fast to Red River Settlement, they are worthy of
+highest honour. These were the real Kildonan settlers whom Lord Selkirk
+saw on his visit in 1817.
+
+    Donald Livingston
+
+    George McBeath
+
+    Angus Matheson
+
+    Alex. Sutherland
+
+    George Ross
+
+    Alexander Murray, lot 23
+
+    James Murray
+
+    John Farquharson
+
+    John McLean
+
+    John Bannerman
+
+    George McKay
+
+    Alexander Polson
+
+    Hugh Polson
+
+    Robert McBeath
+
+    Alexander McLean
+
+    George Adams
+
+    Martin Jordon
+
+    Robert McKay
+
+    Wm. McKay
+
+    Alex. Matheson
+
+    John McBeath
+
+    John Sutherland
+
+    Alex. McBeath, an old soldier, 73rd Rgt., lot No. 3
+
+    Christian Gunn (widow)
+
+    Alex. McKay
+
+    William Sutherland
+
+    Alex. Sutherland, Sr.
+
+    James Sutherland
+
+    James Sutherland
+
+    William Bannerman, father of lot 21
+
+    Donald McKay
+
+    John Flett
+
+    John Bruce
+
+    Robert MacKay
+
+    William Bannerman, Jr.
+
+    Roderick McKay
+
+    Ebenezer Sutherland
+
+    Donald Bannerman
+
+    Hugh McLean
+
+    George Bannerman
+
+    Donald Sutherland
+
+    Beth Beathen
+
+    John Matheson
+
+    George Sutherland
+
+    Margaret McLean (widow)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+ADDENDA AND ERRATA
+
+Page 74.--Andrew McDermott arrived at Red River Settlement in
+1812.
+
+Page 148.--Fourth line from the bottom, after the word "him" insert
+"afterwards."
+
+Page 218.--Add to the title of the cut "and of the other forts of
+Winnipeg." 1, Fort Rouge; 2, Fort Douglas; 3, Fort Gibraltar; 4,
+Fidler's Fort; 5, First Fort Garry; 6, Fort Garry.
+
+Page 264.--Line 10; 1857 should be 1851.
+
+Page 297 and following pages.--"Major Bulton" should be "Major Boulton."
+
+Appendix.--Words "Author's Note" should be, "The author notes the fact,
+etc."
+
+
+      *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Addenda and Errata above, incorporated,  as well as:
+ Page  13. added ) after fishing
+ Page  33. importants [removed s]
+ Page  36. removed " after Lake Winnipeg.
+ Page  41. comma changed to period: obnoxious. The
+ Page  41. the the [changed to the]
+ Page  44. Alexander Mackenize [changed to Mackenzie]
+ Page  44. Porvince [changed to Province]
+ Page  61. removed " after summer." The
+ Page  64. crystalized [changed to crystallized]
+ Page  69. thaat [changed to that]
+ Page 118. daughers [changed to daughters]
+ Page 122. calvalcade [changed to cavalcade]
+ Page 123. Cat-Fsh [changed to Cat-Fish]
+ Page 130. lfe [changed to life]
+ Page 134. collison [changed to collision]
+ Page 139. solider [changed to soldier]
+ Page 147. steathily [changed to stealthily]
+ Page 151. pasionate  [changed to passionate]
+ Page 184. setters [changed to settlers]
+ Page 196. couuld [changed to could]
+ Page 204. delivry [changed to delivery]
+ Page 267. as as [changed to as]
+ Page 275. schools -- added s to "school"
+ Page 286. Noebert changed to Norbert
+ Page 319. The English half-breeds [added hyphen]
+ Page 337. H.M.S.[added period] Brazen
+ Page 309. Begg, an eye-witnss [changed to eye-witness]
+ Page 309. C.-Y. [changed to C-Y.]
+ Appendix, Page 329. changed Settle-Settlement to Settlement
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROMANTIC SETTLEMENT OF LORD
+SELKIRK'S COLONISTS***
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Romantic Settlement of Lord Selkirk's
+Colonists, by George Bryce</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: The Romantic Settlement of Lord Selkirk's Colonists</p>
+<p>       The Pioneers of Manitoba</p>
+<p>Author: George Bryce</p>
+<p>Release Date: December 19, 2005  [eBook #17358]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROMANTIC SETTLEMENT OF LORD SELKIRK'S COLONISTS***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>E-text prepared by K. D. Thornton<br />
+    and the <a href="https://www.pgdp.net/">Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</a><br />
+    from page images generously made available by<br />
+    <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/toronto">The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries</a></h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="10" style="background-color: #ccccff;">
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">
+      Note:
+    </td>
+    <td>
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+	  Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries. See
+      <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/romantic00brycuoftBi">
+      http://www.archive.org/details/romantic00brycuoftBi</a>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+  <p>&nbsp;</p>
+  <hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_006.jpg" ><img class="figcenterh"
+      src="images/illus_006.jpg" alt="THOMAS, 5TH EARL OF SELKIRK" title="" />
+      </a><br />
+       <span class="caption">THOMAS, 5TH EARL OF SELKIRK<br />
+       The Founder of Red River Colony, 1812.<br />
+       From copy of painting by Raeburn, obtained by author from St Mary's Isle, Lord
+      Selkirk's seat.</span>
+    </div>
+<span class ="pagenum">1</span>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+    <h2>The Romantic Settlement</h2>
+    <h4>OF</h4>
+    <h1>Lord Selkirk's Colonists</h1>
+    <br />
+    <h3> [The Pioneers of Manitoba]</h3>
+    <hr style='width: 45%;' />
+    <h4>BY</h4>
+    <h3>DR. GEORGE BRYCE</h3>
+    <h4>Of Winnipeg</h4>
+    <h5>President of the Royal Society of Canada, etc., etc.</h5>
+    <hr style='width: 45%;' />
+<h4>Toronto</h4>
+<h3>THE MUSSON BOOK COMPANY</h3>
+<h4>Limited</h4><span class ="pagenum">2</span>
+<h5>"Copyrighted Canada, 1909, by The Musson Book Company, Limited, Toronto."</h5>
+<br /><hr style='width:65%;' />
+<span class ="pagenum">3</span>
+<div class="subchap">
+           CONTENTS
+    </div>
+    <table border="0" width="85%" summary="table of contents"><tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;1.</a>  Patriarch's Story
+  <div class="poem"><span class="i14">An Extinct Race.<br /></span></div>
+  <div class="poem"><span class="i14">The Gay Frenchman.<br /></span></div>
+  <div class="poem"><span class="i14">The Earlier Peoples.<br /></span></div>
+  <div class="poem"><span class="i14">The Montreal Merchants and Men.<br /></span></div>
+  <div class="poem"><span class="i14">The Dusky Riders of the Plain.<br /></span></div>
+  <div class="poem"><span class="i14">The Stately Hudson's Bay Company.<br /></span></div>
+  </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;9</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span>&nbsp;&nbsp; 2.</a> A Scottish Duel </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">&nbsp;&nbsp;33</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span>&nbsp;&nbsp; 3.</a> Across the Stormy Sea </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">&nbsp;&nbsp;44</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span>&nbsp;&nbsp; 4.</a> A Winter of Discontent </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">&nbsp;&nbsp;58</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span>&nbsp;&nbsp; 5.</a> First Foot on Red River Banks </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">&nbsp;&nbsp;69</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span>&nbsp;&nbsp; 6.</a> Three Desperate Years </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">&nbsp;&nbsp;80</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span>&nbsp;&nbsp; 7.</a> Fight and Flight </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">&nbsp;&nbsp;95</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span>&nbsp;&nbsp; 8.</a> No Surrender </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">107</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span>&nbsp;&nbsp; 9.</a> Seven Oaks Massacre </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">117</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_X"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span> 10.</a> Afterclaps </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">133</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span> 11.</a> The Silver Chief Arrives </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">142</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span> 12.</a> Soldiers and Swiss </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">152</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span> 13.</a> English Lion and Canadian Bear Lie Down Together</td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">161</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span> 14.</a> Satrap Rule </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">170</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XV"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span> 15.</a> And the Flood Came </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">178</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI"> <span class="smcap">Chapter</span> 16.</a> The Jolly Governor </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">185</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII"> <span class="smcap">Chapter</span> 17.</a> The Oligarchy </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">194</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span> 18.</a> An Ogre of Justice </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">202</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span> 19.</a> A Half-Breed Patriot </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">210</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XX"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span> 20.</a> Sayer and Liberty </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">216</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span> 21.</a> Off to the Buffalo </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">224</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span> 22.</a> What the Stargazers Saw </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">232</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span> 23.</a> Apples of Gold </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">239</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span> 24.</a> Pictures of Silver </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">256</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span> 25.</a> Eden Invaded </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">276</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span> 26.</a> Riel's Rising </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">284</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span> 27.</a> Lord Strathcona's Hand </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">291</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span> 28.</a> Wolseley's Welcome </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">300</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span> 29.</a> Manitoba in the Making </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">307</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span> 30.</a> The Selkirk Centennial </td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">315</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a></span></td><td><span class="tocnum"><a href="#APPENDIX">320</a></span></td></tr>
+</table><span class="pagenum">4</span><br />
+    <span class="pagenum">5</span>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <div class="subchap">PREFACE
+    </div>
+    <p>The present work tells the romantic story of the Settlement of Lord Selkirk's
+    Colonists in Manitoba, and is appropriate and timely in view of the Centennial
+    celebration of this event which will be held in Winnipeg in 1912.</p>
+    <p>The author was the first, in his earlier books, to take a stand for justice to be
+    done to Lord Selkirk as a Colonizer, and he has had the pleasure of seeing the
+    current of all reliable history turned in Lord Selkirk's favor.</p>
+    <p>Dr. Doughty, the popular Archivist at Ottawa, has put at the author's disposal a
+    large amount of Lord Selkirk's correspondence lately received by him, so that many
+    new, interesting facts about the Settlers' coming are now published for the first
+    time.</p>
+    <p>If we are to celebrate the Selkirk Centennial intelligently, it is essential to
+    know the facts of the trials, oppressions and heartless persecutions through which
+    the Settlers' passed, to learn what shameful treatment Lord Selkirk received from his
+    enemies, and to trace the rise<span class ="pagenum">6</span>from misery to comfort of the people of
+    the Colony.</p>
+    <p>The story is chiefly confined to Red River Settlement as it existed&mdash;a unique
+    community, which in 1870 became the present Province of Manitoba. It is a sympathetic
+    study of what one writer has called&mdash;"Britain's One Utopia."<span class ="pagenum">7</span></p>
+    <br />
+
+     <br /><span class ="pagenum">8</span>
+     <h2>The Romantic Settlement</h2>
+<h4>OF</h4>
+    <h1>Lord Selkirk's Colonists</h1>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2><span class ="pagenum">9</span>
+    <div class="subchap">THE EARLIER PEOPLE.
+    </div>
+    <br />
+
+    <div class="subchap">A PATRIARCH'S STORY.
+    </div>
+    <p>This is the City of Winnipeg. Its growth has been wonderful. It is the highwater
+    mark of Canadian enterprise. Its chief thoroughfare, with asphalt pavement, as it
+    runs southward and approaches the Assiniboine River, has a broad street diverging at
+    right angles from it to the West. This is Broadway, a most commodious avenue with
+    four boulevards neatly kept, and four lines of fine young Elm trees. It represents to
+    us "Unter den Linden" of Berlin, the German Capital.</p>
+    <p>The wide business thoroughfare Main Street, where it reaches the Assiniboine
+    River, looks out upon a stream, so called from the wild Assiniboine tribe whose
+    northern limit it was, and whose name implies the "Sioux" of the Stony Lake. The
+    Assiniboine River is as large as the<span class ="pagenum">10</span><a name="Page_10"
+    id="Page_10"></a> Tiber at Rome, and the color of the water justifies its being
+    compared with the "Yellow Tiber."</p>
+    <p>The Assiniboine falls into the Red River, a larger stream, also with tawny-colored
+    water. The point of union of these two rivers was long ago called by the French
+    voyageurs "Les Fourches," which we have translated into "The Forks."</p>
+    <p>One morning nearly forty years ago, the writer wandered eastward toward Red River,
+    from Main Street, down what is now called Lombard Street. Here not far from the bank
+    of the Red River, stood a wooden house, then of the better class, but now left far
+    behind by the brick and stone and steel structures of modern Winnipeg.</p>
+    <p>The house still stands a stained and battered memorial of a past generation. But
+    on this October morning, of an Indian summer day, the air was so soft, that it seemed
+    to smell wooingly here, and through the gentle haze, was to be seen sitting on his
+    verandah, the patriarch of the village, who was as well the genius of the place.</p>
+    <p>The old man had a fine gray head with the locks very thin, and with his form, not
+    tall but broad and comfortable to look upon, he occupied an easy chair.</p>
+    <p>The writer was then quite a young man fresh<span class ="pagenum">11</span><a name="Page_11"
+    id="Page_11"></a>from College, and with a simple introduction, after the easy manner
+    of Western Canada, proceeded to hear the story of old Andrew McDermott, the patriarch
+    of Winnipeg.</p>
+    <p>"Yes," said Mr. McDermott, "I was among those of the first year of Lord Selkirk's
+    immigrants. We landed from the Old Country, at York Factory, on Hudson Bay. The first
+    immigrants reached the banks of the Red River in the year 1812.</p>
+    <p>"I am a native of Ireland and embarked with Owen Keveny&mdash;a bright
+    Hibernian&mdash;a clever writer, and speaker, who, poor fellow, was killed by the
+    rival Fur Company, and whose murderer, De Reinhard, was tried at Quebec. Of course
+    the greater number of Lord Selkirk's settlers were Scotchmen, but I have always lived
+    with them, known them, and find that they trust me rather more than they at times
+    trust each other. I have been their merchant, contractor, treaty-maker, business
+    manager, counsellor, adviser, and confidential friend."</p>
+    <p>"But," said the writer, "as having come to cast in my lot with the people of the
+    Red River, I should be glad to hear from you about the early times, and especially of
+    the earlier people of this region, who lived their lives, and came and went, before
+    the arrival of Lord Selkirk's settlers in 1812." Thus the story-telling began, and
+    patriarch and questioner made out<span class ="pagenum">12</span><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>
+<span class ="pagenum">13</span><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a> from one source and another the
+    whole story of the predecessors of the Selkirk Colonists.</p>
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <br />
+       <a href="images/illus_big_018.jpg" ><img class="figcenterh"
+      src="images/illus_018.jpg" alt="Mound Builders' Ornaments" title="" /></a><br />
+    </div>
+    <div class="imglist">
+      <p class="caption"><span class="smcap">MOUND BUILDERS' ORNAMENTS, ETC.</span><br />
+       A. Ornamental gorget of turtle's plastron.<br />
+       B. Gorget of sea-shell (1879).<br />
+       C. Gorget of buffalo bone.<br />
+       D. Breast or arm ornament of very hard bone.<br />
+       E. String of beads of birds' leg bones.<br />
+       Note cross X.<br />
+       F. One of three polished stones used for gaming.<br />
+       G. Columella of large sea couch (tropical, used as sinker for
+      fishing).</p><br />
+    </div>
+    <br />
+
+    <div class="subchap">AN EXTINCT RACE.
+    </div>
+    <p>"Long before the coming of the settler, there lived a race who have now entirely
+    disappeared. Not very far from the Assiniboine River, where Main Street crosses it,
+    is now to be seen," said the narrator, "Fort Garry&mdash;a fine castellated structure
+    with stone walls and substantial bastions. A little north of this you may have
+    noticed a round mound, forty feet across. We opened this mound on one occasion, and
+    found it to contain a number of human skeletons and articles of various kinds. The
+    remains are those of a people whom we call 'The Mound Builders,' who ages ago lived
+    here. Their mounds stood on high places on the river bank and were used for
+    observation. The enemy approaching could from these mounds easily be seen. They are
+    also found in good agricultural districts, showing that the race were agriculturists,
+    and where the fishing is good on the river or lake these mounds occur. The Mound
+    Builders are the first people of whom we have traces here about. The Indians say that
+    these Mound Builders are not their ancestors, but are the 'Very Ancient Men.' It is
+    thought that the last of them passed away some four hundred years ago, just before
+    the coming of the<span class ="pagenum">14</span><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a>white man. At
+    that time a fierce whirlwind of conquest passed over North America, which was seen in
+    the destruction of the Hurons, who lived in Ontario and Quebec. Some of their
+    implements found were copper, probably brought from Lake Superior, but stone axes,
+    hammers, and chisels, were commonly used by them. A horn spear, with barbs, and a
+    fine shell sinker, shows that they lived on fish. Strings of beads and fine pearl
+    ornaments are readily found. But the most notable thing about these people is that
+    they were far ahead of the Indians, in that they made pottery, with brightly designed
+    patterns, which showed some taste. Very likely these Mound Builders were peaceful
+    people, who, driven out of Mexico many centuries ago, came up the Mississippi, and
+    from its branches passing into Red River, settled all along its banks. We know but
+    little of this vanished race. They have left only a few features of their work behind
+    them. Their name and fame are lost forever.</p>
+    <div class="poem">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <span class="i0">"And is this all? an earthen pot,<br />
+        </span> <span class="ip">A broken spear, a copper pin<br />
+        </span> <span class="ip">Earth's grandest prizes counted in&mdash;<br />
+        </span> <span class="ip">A burial mound?&mdash;the common lot."<br />
+        </span>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+    <div class="subchap">THE GAY FRENCHMAN.
+    </div>
+    <p>Then the conversation turned upon the early Frenchmen, who came to the West during
+    the<span class ="pagenum">15</span><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a> days of French Canada, before
+    Wolfe took Quebec. "Oh! I have no doubt they would make a great ado," said the old
+    patriarch, "when they came here. The French, you know, are so fond of pageants. But
+    beyond a few rumors among the old Indians far up the Assiniboine River of their
+    remembrance of the crosses and of the priests, or black robes, as they call them, I
+    have never heard anything; these early explorers themselves left few traces. When
+    they retired from the country, after Canada was taken by Wolfe, the Indians burnt
+    their forts and tried to destroy every vestige of them. You know the Indian is a
+    cunning diplomatist. He very soon sees which is the stronger side and takes it. When
+    the King is dead he is ready to shout, Long live the new King. I have heard that down
+    on the point, on the south side of the Forks of the two rivers, the Frenchmen built a
+    fort, but there wasn't a stick or a stone of it left when the Selkirk Colonists came
+    in 1812. But perhaps you know that part of the story better than I do," ventured the
+    old patriarch. That is the Story of the French Explorers.</p>
+    <p>"Oh! Yes," replied the writer, "you know the world of men and things about you; I
+    know the world of books and journals and letters."</p>
+    <p>"Let us hear of that," said the patriarch eagerly.<span class ="pagenum">16</span><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a></p>
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <br />
+       <a href="images/illus_big_022.jpg" ><img class="figcenterh"
+      src="images/illus_022.jpg" alt="Mound Builders Remains" title="" /></a><br />
+    </div>
+    <div class="imglist">
+      <span class="caption">A. Native Copper Drill.<br />
+       B. Soapstone Conjurer's tube.<br />
+       C. Flint Skinning Implement.<br />
+       D. Horn Fish Spear.<br />
+       E. Native Copper Cutting Knife.<br />
+       F. Cup found in Rainy River Mound by the Author, 1884.<br /></span>
+       <p class="smcap">MOUND BUILDERS' REMAINS</p><br />
+    </div>
+    <p><br />
+<span class ="pagenum">17</span><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>
+    </p>
+    <p>Well, you know the French Explorers were very venturesome. They went, sometimes to
+    their sorrow, among the wildest tribes of Indians.</p>
+    <p>A French Captain, named Verandrye, who was born in Lower Canada, came up the great
+    lakes to trade for furs of the beaver, mink, and musk-rat. When he reached the shore
+    of Lake Superior, west of where Fort William now stands, an old Indian guide, gave
+    him a birch bark map, which showed all the streams and water courses from Lake
+    Superior to Lake of the Woods, and on to Lake Winnipeg. This was when the
+    "well-beloved" Louis XV. was King of France, and George II. King of England. It was
+    heroic of Verandrye to face the danger, but he was a soldier who had been twice
+    wounded in battle in Europe, and had the French love of glory. By carrying his canoes
+    over the portages, and running the rapids when possible, he came to the head of Rainy
+    River, went back again with his furs, and after several such journeys, came down the
+    Winnipeg River from Lake of the Woods, to Lake Winnipeg, and after a while made a
+    dash across the stormy Lake Winnipeg and came to the Red River. The places were all
+    unknown, the Indians had never seen a white man in their country, and the French
+    Captain, with his officers, his men and a priest, found their way <span class ="pagenum">18</span><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a>to the Forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. This
+    was nearly three-quarters of a century before the first Selkirk Colonists reached Red
+    River. The French Captain saw only a few Indian teepees at the Forks, and ascended
+    the Assiniboine. It was a very dry year, and the water in the Assiniboine was so low
+    that it was with difficulty he managed to pull over the St. James rapids, and reached
+    where Portage la Prairie now stands, and sixty miles from the site of Winnipeg
+    claimed the country for his Royal Master. Here he collected the Indians, made them
+    his friends, and proceeded to build a great fort, and named it after Mary of Poland,
+    the unfortunate Queen of France&mdash;"Fort de la Reine," or Queen's Fort. But he
+    could not forget "The Forks"&mdash;the Winnipeg of to-day&mdash;and so gave
+    instructions to one of his lieutenants to stop with a number of his men at the Forks,
+    cut down trees, and erect a fort for safety in coming and going up the Assiniboine.
+    The Frenchmen worked hard, and on the south side of the junction of the Red River
+    with the Assiniboine, erected Fort Rouge&mdash;the Red Fort. This fort, built in
+    1738, was the first occupation of the site of the City of Winnipeg. The French
+    Captain Verandrye, his sons and his men, made further journeys to the far West, even
+    once coming in sight of the Rocky Mountains. But French Canada was doomed.
+<span class ="pagenum">19</span><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a> In twenty years more Wolfe was to
+    wrench Canada from France and make it British. The whole French force of soldiers,
+    free traders, and voyageurs were needed at Montreal and Quebec. Not a Frenchman seems
+    to have remained behind, and for a number of years the way to the West was blocked
+    up. The canoes went to decay, the portages grew up with weeds and underwood, and the
+    Western search for furs from Montreal was suspended.</p>
+    <div class="subchap">THE INDIANS OF THE RED RIVER.
+    </div>
+    <p>No man knew the Indian better than Andrew McDermott. No one knew better how to
+    trade and dicker with the red man of the prairie. He could tell of all the feuds of
+    tribe with tribe, and of the wonderful skill of the Fur Companies in keeping order
+    among the Indian bands. The Red River had not, after the departure of the French,
+    been visited by travellers for well nigh forty years. No doubt bands of Indians had
+    threaded the waterways, and carried their furs in one year to Pigeon River, on Lake
+    Superior, or to Fort Churchill, or York Factory on Hudson Bay. It was only some ten
+    or fifteen years before the coming of the Selkirk Colonists that the fur traders,
+    though they for forty years had been ascending the Saskatchewan, had visited Red
+    River at all. No missionary had up to the coming of the<span class ="pagenum">20</span><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a> Colonists ever appeared on the banks of the Red
+    River. Some ten years before the settler's advent, the fur traders on the upper Red
+    River had most bitter rivalries and for two or three years the fire water&mdash;the
+    Indian's curse&mdash;flowed like a flood. The danger appealed to the traders, and
+    from a policy of mere self-protection they had decided to give out no strong drink,
+    unless it might be a slight allowance at Christmas and New Year's time. Red River was
+    now the central meeting place of four of the great Indian Nations. The Red Pipestone
+    Quarry down in the land of the Dakotas, and the Roches Perc&eacute;es, on the upper
+    Souris River, in the land of the wild Assiniboines were sacred shrines. At intervals
+    all the Indian natives met at these spots, buried for the time being their weapons,
+    and lived in peace. But Red River, and the country&mdash;eastward to the Lake of the
+    Woods&mdash;was really the "marches" where battles and conflicts continually
+    prevailed. Red River, the Miskouesipi, or Blood Red River of the Chippewas and Crees,
+    was said to have thus received its name. Andrew McDermott knew all the Indians as
+    they drew near with curiosity, to see the settlers and to speculate upon the object
+    of their coming. The Indian despises the man who uses the hoe, and when the Colonists
+    sought thus to gain a sustenance from the fertile soil of the <span class ="pagenum">21</span><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a>field, they were laughed at by the Indians who caught
+    the French word "Jardiniers," or gardeners, and applied it to them.</p>
+    <p>The Colonists were certainly a puzzle to the Red man. To the banks of the Red
+    River and to the east of Lake Winnipeg had come many of the Chippewas. They were
+    known on the Red River as Sauteurs, or Saulteaux, or Bungays, because they had come
+    to the West from Sault Ste. Marie, thinking nothing of the hundreds of miles of
+    travel along the streams. They were sometimes considered to be the gypsies of the Red
+    men. It was they coming from the lucid streams emptying into Lake Superior and thence
+    to Lake Winnipeg, who had called the latter by its name "Win," cloudy or muddy, and
+    "nipiy" water. When the Colonists arrived, the leading chief of the Chippewas, or
+    Saulteaux, was Peguis. He became at once the friend of the white man, for he was
+    always a peaceful, kindly, old Ogemah, or Chieftain.</p>
+    <p>All the Indians were, at first, kindness itself to the new comers, and they showed
+    great willingness to supply food to the hungry settlers, and to assist them in
+    transfer and in taking possession of their own homes.</p>
+    <p>The Saulteaux Indians while active and helpful were really intruders among the
+    Crees, a great Indian nation, who in language and blood were their relations. As
+    proof of this the Crees <span class ="pagenum">22</span><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a>at this
+    time used horses on the plains. The horse was an importation brought up the valleys
+    from the Spaniards of Mexico. Seeing his value as a beast of burden, more fit than
+    the dog which had been formerly used, they coined the word "Mis-ta-tim," or big dog
+    as the name for the horse. Their Chiefs were, with their names translated into
+    pronounceable English, "the Premier," "the Black Robe," "the Black Man," while
+    seemingly Mache Wheskab&mdash;"the Noisy Man"&mdash;represented the Assiniboines. The
+    Crees, so well represented by their doughty Chiefs, are a sturdy race. They adapt
+    themselves readily enough to new conditions. While the northern Indian tribes met the
+    Colonists, yet in after days, as had frequently taken place in days preceding, bands
+    of Sioux or Dakotas, came on pilgrimages to the Red River. Long ago when the French
+    Captain Verandrye voyaged to Lake of the Woods, his son and others of his men, were
+    attacked by Sioux warriors, and the whole party of whites was massacred in an Island
+    on the Lake. The writer in a later day, near Winnipeg, met on the highway, a band of
+    Sioux warriors, on horse-back, with their bodies naked to the waist, and painted with
+    high color, in token of the fact that they were on the warpath. On occasion it was
+    the habit of bands of Sioux to find their way to the Red River Valley, and
+<span class ="pagenum">23</span><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>the people did not feel at all
+    safe, at their hostile attitude, as they bore the name of the "Tigers of the
+    Plains."</p>
+    <p>With Saulteaux, Crees, Assiniboines, and Sioux coming freely among them, the
+    settlers had at first a feeling of decided insecurity.</p>
+<span class ="pagenum">--</span><a name="Page--" id="Page--"></a><div class="figcenter">
+      <br />
+       <a href="images/illus_big_031.jpg" ><img class="figcenterh"
+      src="images/illus_031.jpg" alt="FOUR CREE CHIEFS OF RUPERTS LAND" title="" />
+      </a><br />
+       <span class="caption">Osoup&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Agent<br />
+       Atalacoup&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Kakawistaha&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Mistawasis<br />
+       FOUR CREE CHIEFS OF RUPERT'S LAND</span><br />
+    </div>
+    <div class="subchap">THE MONTREAL MERCHANTS AND MEN.
+    </div>
+    <p>But the fur trade paid too well to be left alone by the Montrealers who knew of
+    Verandrye's exploits on the Ottawa and the Upper Lakes. When Canada became British,
+    many daring spirits hastened to it from New York and New Jersey States. Montreal
+    became the home of many young men of Scottish families. Some of their fathers had
+    fled to the Colonies after the Stuart Prince was defeated at Culloden, and after the
+    power of the Jacobites was broken. Some of the young men of enterprising spirit were
+    the sons of officers and men who had fought in the Seven Years' War against France
+    and now came to claim their share of the conqueror's spoils. Some men were of Yankee
+    origin, who with their proverbial ability to see a good chance, came to what has
+    always been Canada's greatest city, on the Island of Montreal. It was only half a
+    dozen years after Wolfe's great victory, that a great Montreal trader, Alexander
+    Henry, penetrated the western lakes to Mackinaw&mdash;the Island of the Turtle, lying
+    between Lakes Huron and<span class ="pagenum">24</span><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a> Michigan.
+    At Sault Ste. Marie, "he fell in with a most noted French Canadian, Trader Cadot, who
+    had married a Saulteur wife. He became a power among the Indians. With Scottish
+    shrewdness Henry acquired from the Commandant at Mackinaw the exclusive right to
+    trade on Lake Superior. He became a partner of Cadot, and they made a voyage as
+    Canadian Argonauts, to bring back very rich cargoes of fur. They even went up to the
+    Saskatchewan on Lake Winnipeg. After Henry, came another Scotchman, Thomas Curry, and
+    made so successful a voyage that he reached the Saskatchewan River, and came back
+    laden with furs, so that he was now satisfied never to have to go again to the Indian
+    country. Shortly afterwards James Findlay, another son of the heather, followed up
+    the fur-traders' route, and reached Saskatchewan. Thus the Northwest Fur Trade became
+    the almost exclusive possession of the Scottish Merchants of Montreal. With the
+    master must go the man. And no man on the rivers of North America ever equalled, in
+    speed, in good temper, and in skill, the French Canadian voyageur. Almost all the
+    Montreal merchants, the Forsythes, the Richardsons, the McTavishes, the Mackenzies,
+    and the McGillivrays, spoke the French as fluently as they did their own language.
+    Thus they became magnetic leaders of the French canoe<span class ="pagenum">25</span><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>men of the rivers. The voyageurs
+    clung to them with all the tenacity of a pointer on the scent. There were Nolins,
+    Falcons, Delormes, Faribaults, Lalondes, Leroux, Trottiers, and hundreds of others,
+    that followed the route until they became almost a part of the West and retired in
+    old age, to take up a spot on some beautiful bay, or promontory, and never to return
+    to "Bas Canada." Those from Montreal to the north of Lake Superior were the pork
+    eaters, because they lived on dried pork, those west of Lake Superior, "Couriers of
+    the Woods," and they fed on pemmican, the dried flesh of the buffalo. They were
+    mighty in strength, daring in spirit, tractable in disposition, eagles in swiftness,
+    but withal had the simplicity of little children. They made short the weary miles on
+    the rivers by their smoking "tabac"&mdash;the time to smoke a pipe counting a
+    mile&mdash;and by their merry songs, the "Fairy Ducks" and "La Claire Fontaine,"
+    "Malbrouck has gone to the war," or "This is the beautiful French Girl"&mdash;ballads
+    that they still retained from the French of Louis XIV. They were a jolly crew, full
+    of superstitions of the woods, and leaving behind them records of daring, their names
+    remain upon the rivers, towns and cities of the Canadian and American Northwest.</p>
+    <p>Some thirty years before the arrival of the<span class ="pagenum">26</span><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a> Colonists, the Montreal traders found it useful to form a Company.
+    This was called the North-West Fur Company of Montreal. Having taken large amounts
+    out of the fur trade, they became the leaders among the merchants of Montreal. The
+    Company had an energy and ability that made them about the beginning of the
+    nineteenth century the most influential force in Canadian life. At Fort William and
+    Lachine their convivial meetings did something to make them forget the perils of the
+    rapids and whirlpools of the rivers, and the bitterness of the piercing winds of the
+    northwestern stretches. Familiarly they were known as the "Nor'-Westers." Shortly
+    before the beginning of the century mentioned, a split took place among the
+    "Nor'-Westers," and as the bales of merchandise of the old Company had upon them the
+    initials "N.W.," the new Company, as it was called, marked their packages "XY," these
+    being the following letters of the alphabet.</p>
+    <p>Besides these mentioned there were a number of independent merchants, or free
+    traders. At one time there were at the junction of the Souris and Assiniboine Rivers,
+    five establishments, two of them being those of free traders or independents. Among
+    all these Companies the commander of a Fort was called, "The Bourgeois" to suit the
+    French tongue of the<span class ="pagenum">27</span><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a> men. He was
+    naturally a man of no small importance.</p>
+    <div class="subchap">"THE DUSKY RIDERS OF THE PLAINS."
+    </div>
+    <p>But the conditions, in which both the traders and the voyageurs lived, brought a
+    disturbing shadow over the wide plains of the North-West. Now under British rule, the
+    Fur trade from Montreal became a settled industry. From Curry's time (1766) they
+    began to erect posts or depots at important points to carry on their trade. Around
+    these posts the voyageurs built a few cabins and this new centre of trade afforded a
+    spot for the encampment near by of the Indian teepees made of tanned skins. The
+    meeting of the savage and the civilized is ever a contact of peril. Among the traders
+    or officers of the Fur trade a custom grew up&mdash;not sanctioned by the
+    decalogue&mdash;but somewhat like the German Morganatic marriage. It was called
+    "Marriage of the Country." By this in many cases the trader married the Indian wife;
+    she bore children to him, and afterwards when he retired from the country, she was
+    given in real marriage to some other voyageur, or other employee, or pensioned off.
+    It is worthy of note that many of these Indian women became most true and
+    affectionate spouses. With the voyageurs and laborers the conditions were different.
+    They could not leave the country, they<span class ="pagenum">28</span><a name="Page_28"
+    id="Page_28"></a> had become a part of it, and their marriages with the Indian women
+    were bona fide. Thus it was that during the space from the time of Curry until the
+    arrival of the Selkirk Colonists upwards of forty years had elapsed, and around the
+    wide spread posts of the Fur Trading Companies, especially around those of the
+    prairie, there had grown up families, which were half French and half Indian, or half
+    English and half Indian. When it could be afforded these children were sent for a
+    time to Montreal, to be educated, and came back to their native wilds. On the plain
+    between the Assiniboine and the Saskatchewan, a half-breed community had sprung up.
+    From their dusky faces they took the name "Bois-Brul&eacute;s," or "Charcoal Faces,"
+    or referring to their mixed blood, of "Metis," or as exhibiting their importance,
+    they sought to be called "The New Nation." The blend of French and Indian was in many
+    respects a natural one. Both are stalwart, active, muscular; both are excitable,
+    imaginative, ambitious; both are easily amused and devout. The "Bois-Brul&eacute;s"
+    growing up among the Indians on the plains naturally possessed many of the features
+    of the Indian life. The pursuit of their fur-bearing animals was the only industry of
+    the country. The Bois-Brul&eacute;s from childhood were familiar with the Indian
+    pony, knew all his tricks and habits, began to ride with all<span class ="pagenum">29</span><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a> the skill of a desert ranger, were familiar with
+    fire-arms, took part in the chase of the buffalo on the plains, and were already
+    trained to make the attack as cavalry on buffalo herds, after the Indian fashion, in
+    the famous half-circle, where they were to be so successful in their later troubles,
+    of which we shall speak. Such men as the Grants, Findlays, Lapointes, Bellegardes,
+    and Falcons were equally skilled in managing the swift canoe, or scouring the plains
+    on the Indian ponies. We shall see the part which this new element were to play in
+    the social life and even in the public concerns of the prairies.</p>
+    <div class="subchap">THE STATELY HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.
+    </div>
+    <p>The last of the elements to come into the valley of the Red River and to precede
+    the Colonists, was the Hudson's Bay Company&mdash;even then, dating back its history
+    almost a century and a half. They were a dignified and wealthy Company, reaching back
+    to the times of easy-going Charles II., who gave them their charter. For a hundred
+    years they lived in self-confidence and prudence in their forts of Churchill and
+    York, on the shore of Hudson Bay. They were even at times so inhospitable as to deal
+    with the Indians through an open window of the fort. This was in striking contrast to
+    the<span class ="pagenum">30</span><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a> "Nor'-Wester" who trusted the
+    Indians and lived among them with the freest intercourse. For the one hundred years
+    spoken of, the Indians from the Red River Country, the Saskatchewan, the Red River
+    and Lake Winnipeg, found their way by the water courses to the shores of the Hudson
+    Bay. But the enterprise of the Montreal merchants in leaving their forts and trading
+    in the open with the Indians, prevented the great fleets of canoes, from going down
+    with their furs, as they had once done to Churchill and York. The English Company
+    felt the necessity of starting into the interior, and so within six years of the time
+    of the expedition of Thomas Curry, appeared five hundred miles inland from the Bay,
+    and erected a fort&mdash;Fort Cumberland&mdash;a few hundred yards from the
+    "Nor'-Westers'" Trading House, on the Saskatchewan River. By degrees before the end
+    of the century almost every place of any importance, in the fur-producing country,
+    saw the two rival forts built within a mile or two of each other. Shortly before the
+    end of the 18th Century, the "Nor'-Westers" came into the Red River Valley and built
+    one or two forts near the 49th parallel, N. lat.&mdash;the U.S. boundary of to-day.
+    But four years after the new Century began, the "Nor'-Westers" decided to occupy the
+    "Forks" of the Red and Assiniboine River, near where Verandrye's Fort Rouge had
+<span class ="pagenum">31</span><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a> been built some sixty years
+    before. Evidently both companies felt the conflict to be on, in their efforts to
+    cover all important parts, for they called this Trading House Fort Gibraltar, whose
+    name has a decided ring of the war-like about it. It is not clear exactly where the
+    Hudson's Bay post was built, but it is said to have rather faced the Assiniboine than
+    the Red River, perhaps near where Notre Dame Avenue East, or the Hudson's Bay stores
+    is to-day. It was probably built a few years after Fort Gibraltar, and was called
+    "Fidler's Fort." By this time, however, the Hudson's Bay Company, working from their
+    first post of Cumberland House, pushed on to the Rocky Mountains to engage in the
+    Titanic struggle which they saw lay ahead of them. One of their most active agents,
+    in occupying the Red River Valley, was the Englishman Peter Fidler, who was the
+    surveyor of this district, the master of several forts, and a man who ended his
+    eventful career by a will made&mdash;providing that all of his funds should be kept
+    at interest until 1962, when they should be divided, as his last chimerical plan
+    should direct. It thus came about that when the Colonists arrived there were two
+    Traders' Houses, on the site of the City of Winnipeg of to-day, within a mile of one
+    another, one representing a New World, and the other an Old World type of mercantile
+    life. It was plain<span class ="pagenum">32</span><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a> that on the
+    Plains of Rupert's Land there would come a struggle for the possession of power, if
+    not for very existence.<span class ="pagenum">33</span><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a></p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">"A SCOTTISH DUEL."
+    </div>
+    <p>Inasmuch as this tale is chiefly one of Scottish and of Colonial life, the story
+    of the movement from Old Kildonan, on the German Ocean, to New Kildonan, on the
+    Western Prairies&mdash;we may be very sure, that it did not take place without
+    irritation and opposition and conflict. The Scottish race, while possessing intense
+    earnestness and energy, often gains its ends by the most thoroughgoing animosity. In
+    this great emigration movement, there were great new world interests involved, and
+    champions of the rival parties concerned were two stalwart chieftains, of Scotland's
+    best blood, both with great powers of leadership and both backed up with abundant
+    means and strongest influence. It was a duel&mdash;indeed a fight, as old Sir Walter
+    Scott would say, "a l'outrance"&mdash;to the bitter end. That the struggle was
+    between two chieftains&mdash;one a Lowlander, the other a Highlander, did not count
+    for much, for the Lowlander spoke the Gaelic tongue&mdash;and he was championing the
+    interest of Highland men.<span class ="pagenum">34</span><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a></p>
+    <p>The two men of mark were the Earl of Selkirk and Sir Alexander Mackenzie. Before
+    showing the origin of the quarrel, it may be well to take a glance at each of the
+    men.</p>
+    <p>Thomas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, was the youngest of seven sons, and was born in 1771.
+    Though he belonged to one of the oldest noble families, of Scotland, yet when he went
+    to Edinburgh, as a fellow student of Sir Walter Scott, Clerk of Eldon, and David
+    Douglas, afterward Lord Reston, it was with a view of making his own way in the
+    world, for there were older brothers between him and the Earldom. He was a young man
+    of intense earnestness, capable of living in an atmosphere of enthusiasm&mdash;always
+    rather given indeed to take up and advocate new schemes. There was in him the spirit
+    of service of his Douglas ancestors, of being unwilling to "rust unburnished," and he
+    was strong in will, "to strive, to seek, to find." This gave the young Douglas a
+    seeming restlessness, and so he visited the Highlands and learned the Gaelic tongue.
+    He went to France in the days of the French Revolution, and took great interest in
+    the Jacobin dreams of progress. The minor title of the House of Selkirk was Daer, and
+    so the young collegian saw one Daer depart, then another, until at last he held the
+    title, becoming in 1799 Earl of Selkirk and was confirmed as the master of the
+<span class ="pagenum">35</span><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a> beautiful St. Mary's Isle, near
+    the mouth of the Dee, on Solway Frith. On his visits to the Highlands, it was not
+    alone the Highland straths and mountains, nor the Highland Chieftain's absolute
+    mastership of his clan, nor was it the picturesque dress&mdash;the "Garb of old
+    Gaul"&mdash;which attracted him. The Earl of Selkirk has been charged by those who
+    knew little of him with being a man of feudal instincts. His temper was the exact
+    opposite of this. When he saw his Scottish fellow-countrymen being driven out of
+    their homes in Sutherlandshire, and sent elsewhere to give way for sheep farmers, and
+    forest runs, and deer stalking, it touched his heart, and his three Emigration
+    Movements, the last culminating in the Kildonan Colonists, showed not only what title
+    and means could do, but showed a kindly and compassionate heart beating under the
+    starry badge of Earldom.</p>
+    <p>Rather it was the case that the fur trading oligarchy ensconced in the plains of
+    the West, could not understand the heart of a philanthropist&mdash;of a man who could
+    work for mere humanity. Up till a few years ago it was the fashion for even
+    historians, being unable to understand his motive and disposition, to speak of him as
+    a "kind hearted, but eccentric Scottish nobleman."</p>
+    <p>Lord Selkirk's active mind led him into va<span class ="pagenum">36</span><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>rious different spheres of human life. He visited France and studied
+    the problem of the French Revolution, and while sympathizing with the struggle for
+    liberty, was alienated as were Wordsworth and hundreds of other British writers and
+    philanthropists, by the excesses of Robespierre and his French compatriots. When the
+    Napoleonic wars were at their height, like a true patriot, Lord Selkirk wrote a small
+    work on the "System of National Defence," anticipating the Volunteer System of the
+    present day. But his keen mind sought lines of activity as well as of theory. Seeing
+    his fellow-countrymen, as well as their Irish neighbors, in distress and also
+    desiring to keep them under the British flag, he planned at his own expense to carry
+    out the Colonists to America. Even before this effort, reading Alexander Mackenzie's
+    great book of voyages detailing the discoveries of the Mackenzie River in its course
+    to the Arctic Sea, and also the first crossing in northern latitudes of the mountains
+    to the Pacific Ocean&mdash;he had applied (1802), to the Imperial Government, for
+    permission to take a colony to the western extremity of Canada upon the waters which
+    fall into Lake Winnipeg. This spot, "fertile and having a salubrious climate," he
+    could reach by way of the Nelson River, running into Hudson Bay. The British
+    Government refused him the permis<span class ="pagenum">37</span><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>sion necessary. Lord Selkirk's first visit to Canada was in the year
+    1803, in which his colony was placed in Prince Edward Island. Canada was a country
+    very sparsely settled, but it was then turning its eyes toward Britain, with the hope
+    of receiving more settlers, for it had just seen settled in Upper Canada a band of
+    Glengarry Highlanders. Lord Selkirk visited Canada by way of New York. To a man of
+    his imaginative disposition, the fur trade appealed irresistibly. The picturesque
+    brigades of the voyageurs hieing away for the summer up the Ottawa toward the land of
+    which Mackenzie had written, "the Nor'-Wester" garb of capote and moccassin and
+    snowshoe, and the influence plainly given by this the only remunerative industry of
+    Montreal, caught his fancy. Then as a British peer and a Scottish Nobleman, the
+    fun-loving but hard-headed Scottish traders of Montreal took him to their hearts. He
+    met them at their convivial gatherings, he heard the chanson sung by voyageurs, and
+    the "habitant" caught his fancy. He was only a little past thirty, and that Canadian
+    picture could never be effaced from his mind. In after days, these "Lords of the
+    North" abused Lord Selkirk for spying out their trade, for catching the secrets of
+    their business which were in the wind, and for making an undue use of what they had
+    disclosed to him. In this there<span class ="pagenum">38</span><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a> was nothing. His schemes were afire in his own mind long before, his
+    Montreal experiences but fanned the flame, and led him to send a few Colonists to
+    Upper Canada to the Settlement to Baldoon. This settlement was, however, of small
+    account.</p>
+    <p>In 1808 though inactive he showed his bent by buying up Hudson's Bay Company
+    stock. During this time projects in agriculture, the condition of the poor, the
+    safety of the country, and the spread of civilization constantly occupied his active
+    mind. The Napoleonic war cut off the vast cornfields of America from England, and as
+    a great historian shows was followed by a terrible pauperization of the laboring
+    classes.</p>
+    <p>There is no trace of a desire for aggrandizement, for engaging in the fur trade,
+    or for going a-field on plans of speculation in the mind of Lord Selkirk. The feuds
+    of the two branches of the Montreal Fur traders&mdash;the Old Northwest and the New
+    Northwest&mdash;which were apparently healed in the year after the Colonization of
+    Prince Edward Island, were not ended between the two factions of the united company
+    led by McTavish&mdash;called the Premier&mdash;on the one hand and Sir Alexander
+    Mackenzie on the other.</p>
+    <p>During these ten years of the century, the Hudson's Bay Company had also
+    established rival posts all over the country. The competi<span class ="pagenum">39</span><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>tion at times reached bloodshed, and financial ruin
+    was staring all branches of the fur trade in the face.</p>
+    <p>It was the depressed condition of the fur trade and the consequent drop in
+    Hudson's Bay Company shares that appealed to Lord Selkirk, the man of many dreams and
+    imaginations and he saw the opportunity of finding a home under the prairie skies for
+    his hapless countrymen. It requires no detail here of how Lord Selkirk bought a
+    controlling interest in the Hudson's Bay Company's stock, made out his plans of
+    Emigration, and took steps to send out his hoped-for thousands or tens of thousands
+    of Highland crofters, or Irish peasants, whoever they might be, if they sought
+    freedom though bound up with hardship, hope instead of a pauper's grave, the prospect
+    of independence of life and station in the new world instead of penury and misery
+    under impossible conditions of life at home. Nor is it a matter of moment to us, how
+    the struggle began until we have brought before our minds the stalwart figure of Sir
+    Alexander Mackenzie&mdash;Lord Selkirk's great protagonist. Like many a distinguished
+    man who has made his mark in the new world, and notably our great Lord Strathcona,
+    who came as a mere lad to Canada, Alexander Mackenzie, a stripling of sixteen,
+    arrived in Montreal to make his fortune. He<span class ="pagenum">40</span><a name="Page_40"
+    id="Page_40"></a> was born as the Scottish people say of "kenn't" of "well-to-do" folk
+    in Stornoway, in the Hebrides. He received a fair education and as a boy had a liking
+    for the sea. Two partners, Gregory and McLeod, were fighting at Montreal in
+    opposition to the dominant firm of McTavish and Frobisher. Young Alexander Mackenzie
+    joined this opposition. So great was his aptitude, that boy as he was, he was
+    despatched West to lead an expedition to Detroit. Soon he was pushed on to be a
+    bourgeois, and was appointed at the age of twenty-two to go to the far West fur
+    country of Athabasca, the vast Northern country which was to be the area of his
+    discoveries and his fame. His energy and skill were amazing, although like many of
+    his class, he had to battle against the envy of rivals. After completely planning his
+    expedition, he made a dash for the Arctic Sea, by way of Mackenzie River, which
+    he&mdash;first of white men&mdash;descended, and which bears his name. Finding his
+    astronomical knowledge defective, he took a year off, and in his native land learned
+    the use of the instruments needed in exploration. After his return he ascended the
+    Peace River, crossed the Rocky Mountains, and on a rock on the shore of the Pacific
+    Ocean in British Columbia, inscribed with vermillion and grease, in large letters,
+    "Alexander Mackenzie, from Canada, by land, the Twenty-<span class ="pagenum">41</span><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>second of July, One Thousand Seven Hundred and
+    Ninety-three." That was his record as the first white man to cross North America,
+    north of Mexico. A few years afterwards he received the honor of knighthood for his
+    discoveries. He gained much distinction as a leader, though the great McTavish in his
+    Company was never very friendly to him. At length he retired, became a representative
+    in the legislature of Lower Canada, and was for a time a travelling companion of the
+    Duke of Kent. With a desire for loftier station, he settled in his native land,
+    married the beautiful and gifted daughter of the House of Seaforth, and from her
+    enjoyed the property of Avoch, near Inverness.</p>
+    <p>Three years before the starting of Lord Selkirk's Colonists and before his
+    marriage with Geddes Mackenzie, Sir Alexander took up his abode in Scotland. He was
+    the guardian of the rights of the North-West Company and manfully he stood for
+    them.</p>
+    <p>Mackenzie was startled when he heard in 1810 of Lord Selkirk's scheme to send his
+    Colonists to Red River. This he thought to be a plan of the Hudson's Bay Company, to
+    regain their failing prestige and to strike a blow at the Nor'-Wester trade. To the
+    fur trader or the rancher, the incoming of the farmer is ever obnoxious. The beaver
+    and the mink de<span class ="pagenum">42</span><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>sert the streams
+    whenever the plowshare disturbs the soil. The deer flee to their coverts, the wolf
+    and the fox are exterminated, and even the muskrat has a troubled existence when the
+    dog and cat, the domestic animals, make their appearance. The proposed settlement is
+    to be opposed, and Lord Selkirk's plans thwarted at any cost. Lord Selkirk had in the
+    eyes of the Nor'-Westers much presumption, indeed nothing less than to buy out the
+    great Hudson's Bay Company, which for a century and a half had controlled nearly
+    one-half of North America. The Nor'-Westers&mdash;Alexander Mackenzie, Inglis and
+    Ellice&mdash;made sport of the thing as a dream. But the "eccentric Lord" was buying
+    up stock and majorities rule in Companies as in the nation. Contempt and abuse gave
+    place to settled anxiety and in desperation at last the trio of opponents, two days
+    before the meeting, purchased &pound;2,500 of stock, not enough to appreciably affect
+    the vote, but enough to give them a footing in the Hudson's Bay Company, and to
+    secure information of value to them.</p>
+    <p>The mill of destiny goes slowly round, and Lord Selkirk and his friends are
+    triumphant. He purchases an enormous tract of land, 116,000 square miles, one-half in
+    what is now the Province of Manitoba, the other at present included in the States of
+    Minnesota and North Dakota,<span class ="pagenum">43</span><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a> on the
+    south side of the boundary line between Canada and the United States. The
+    Nor'-Westers are frantic; but the fates are against them. The duel has begun! Who
+    will win? Cunning and misrepresentation are to be employed to check the success of
+    the Colony, and also local opposition on the other side of the Atlantic, should the
+    scheme ever come to anything. At present their hope is that it may fall to pieces of
+    its own weight.</p>
+    <p>Lord Selkirk's scheme is dazzling almost beyond belief. A territory is his,
+    purchased out and out, from the Hudson's Bay Company, about four times the area of
+    Scotland, his native land, and the greater part of it fertile, with the finest
+    natural soil in the world, waiting for the farmer to give a return in a single year
+    after his arrival. A territory, not possessed by a foreign people, but under the
+    British flag! A country yet to be the home of millions! It is worth living to be able
+    to plant such a tree, which will shelter and bless future generations of mankind.
+    Financial loss he might have; but he would have fame as his reward.<span class ="pagenum">44</span><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a></p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">"ACROSS THE STORMY SEA."
+    </div>
+    <p>Oh dreadful war! It is not only in the deadly horror of battle, and in the pain
+    and anguish of men strong and hearty, done to death by human hands. It is not only in
+    the rotting heap of horses and men, torn to pieces by bullets and shell, and thrust
+    together within huge pits in one red burial blent. It is not only in the helpless
+    widow and her brood of dazed and desolate children weeping over the news that comes
+    from the battlefield, that war become so hideous. It is always, as it was in the time
+    of the Europe-shadowing Napoleon when for twenty years the wheels of industry in
+    Britain were stopped. It is always the derangement of business, the increased price
+    of food for the poor, the decay of trade, the cutting off of supplies, and the
+    stopping of works of improvement that brings conditions which make poverty so
+    terrible. Rags! A bed of straw; a crust of bread; the shattered roof; the naked
+    floor; a deal table; a broken chair! A writer whose boyhood saw the terror, and want,
+<span class ="pagenum">45</span><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a> and despair of the last decade of
+    the Napoleonic War, puts into the mouth of the victim of poverty this terrible
+    wail:</p>
+    <div class="poem">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <span class="i0">"But why do I talk of death?<br />
+        </span> <span class="i2">That phantom of grizzly bone;<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">I hardly fear his terrible shape<br />
+        </span> <span class="i2">It seems so like my own;<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">It seems so like my own,<br />
+        </span> <span class="i2">Because of the fasts I keep;<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">Oh God, that bread should be so dear<br />
+        </span> <span class="i2">And flesh and blood so cheap!"<br />
+        </span>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+    <p>To the philanthropist or the benevolent sympathiser like Lord Selkirk, who aims at
+    benefiting suffering humanity, it is not the trouble, the self-sacrifice, or the
+    spending of money in relief that is the worry, but it is the bitterness, the
+    suspicion, the unworkableness, and the selfishness of the poverty-stricken themselves
+    that disturbs and distresses the benefactor's heart. It is often too the
+    heartlessness and prejudice of those who oppose the benefactor's plans that causes
+    the generous man anxiety and even at times despair. Poverty in its worst form is a
+    gaunt and ravenous beast, that bites the hand of friend or foe that is stretched out
+    toward it. So Lord Selkirk found it, when he undertook to help the poverty-stricken
+    Celts of the Scottish Highlands and of the West of Ireland. He had the sympathising
+    heart; he<span class ="pagenum">46</span><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a> had the true vision; and
+    he had as few others of his time had, the power to plan, the invention to suggest,
+    and the skill and pluck to overcome difficulties, but the carrying out of his intent
+    brought him infinite trouble and sorrow. His prospectus, offering the means to the
+    poverty-stricken people of reaching what he believed to be a home of ultimate plenty
+    on the banks of the Red River, was an entirely worthy document. His first point is,
+    that his Colonists will be freemen. No religious tenet will be considered in their
+    selection. This was even freer that was that of Lord Baltimore's much-vaunted Colony,
+    on the Atlantic Coast, for Baltimore required that every Colonist should believe in
+    the doctrine of the Trinity. Then, the offer was to the landless and the penniless
+    men. Employment was to be supplied; work in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company,
+    or free grants of land to actual settlers, or even a sale in fee simple of land for a
+    mere nominal sum; free passages for the poor, reduced passages for those who had
+    small means, food provided on the voyage, and the prospect of new world advantages to
+    all.</p>
+    <p>But the poor are timid, and they love even their straw-thatched cottages, and it
+    needs active and decided men to press upon them the advantages which are offered
+    them. The Emigration Agent is a necessity.<span class ="pagenum">47</span><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">
+  </a></p>
+    <p>The fur traders' country was at this time well known to many of the partners. It
+    was by employing or consulting with some of these fur traders that Lord Selkirk
+    obtained a knowledge of the Western land which he was to acquire. Years before the
+    Colony began Lord Selkirk had been in correspondence with an officer who belonged to
+    a well known Catholic family of Highlanders, the Macdonells, who had gone to the
+    Mohawk district in the United States before the American Revolution, and had
+    afterwards come to Canada as U.E. Loyalists. One of these, a man of standing and of
+    executive ability was Miles Macdonell. He had been an officer of the King's Royal
+    Regiment of New York, and held the rank of Captain of the Canadian Militia. This
+    officer had a brother in the North-West Fur Company, John Macdonell, who, more than
+    ten years before, had been in the service of his Company on Red River and whose
+    Journal had no doubt fallen into the hands of his brother Miles. He had written:
+    "From the Forks of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers the plains are quite near the
+    banks, and so extensive that a man may travel to the Rocky Mountains without passing
+    a wood, a mile long. The soil on the Red River and the Assiniboine is generally a
+    good soil, susceptible of culture, and capable of bearing rich crops."</p>
+    <p>He goes on to state, "that the buffalo comes<span class ="pagenum">48</span><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">
+  </a> to the fords of the Assinboil, besides in these rivers are plenty of
+    sturgeon, catfish, goldeyes, pike and whitefish&mdash;the latter so common that men
+    have been seen to catch thirty or forty a piece while they smoked their pipes." To
+    reach this land of plenty, which his brother knew so well, Miles Macdonell became the
+    leader of Lord Selkirk's Colonists. He arrived in Great Britain in the year for the
+    starting of the Colony, and immediately as being a Roman Catholic in religion went to
+    the West of Ireland to recommend the Emigration scheme, obtain subscriptions of
+    stock, and to engage workmen as Colonists. Glasgow was then, as now, the centre of
+    Scottish industry, and it is to Glasgow that the penniless Highlanders flock in large
+    numbers for work and residence. Here was a suitable field for the Emigration Agent,
+    and accordingly one of their countrymen, Captain Roderick McDonald, was sent thither.
+    The way to Canada was long, the country unknown, and it required all his persuasion
+    and the power of the Gaelic tongue&mdash;an open Sesame to an Highlander's
+    heart&mdash;to persuade many to join the Colonists' bank. It required more. The
+    Highlander is a bargainer, as the Tourist in the Scottish Highlands knows to this
+    day. Captain Roderick McDonald was compelled to promise larger wages to clerks and
+    laborers to induce them to join. He secured less than half<span class ="pagenum">49</span><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a> an hundred men at Stornoway&mdash;the trysting
+    place&mdash;and the promises he had made of higher wages were a bone of contention
+    through the whole voyage.</p>
+    <p>Perhaps the most effective agent obtained by Lord Selkirk was a returned trader of
+    the Montreal merchants named Colin Robertson. He had seen the whole western fur
+    country, and the fact that he had a grievance made him very willing to join Lord
+    Selkirk in his enterprise.</p>
+    <p>One of the Nor'-Westers in Saskatchewan a few years before the beginning of Lord
+    Selkirk's Colony, was "Bras Croche," or crooked-arm McDonald. He was of gentle
+    Scottish birth, but his own acquaintances declared that he was of a "quarrelsome and
+    pugnacious disposition." In his district Colin Robertson was a "Bourgeois" in charge
+    of a station. A quarrel between the two men resulted in Colin Robertson losing his
+    position, and as we shall see he became one of the most active and serviceable men in
+    the history of the Colony. Colin Robertson went among his countrymen in the Island of
+    Lewis and elsewhere.</p>
+    <p>And now as the time draws nigh for gathering together at a common port, the
+    Stromness (Orkney), the Glasgow, the Sligo and the Lewis contingents to face the
+    stormy sea and seek a new untried home, a fierce storm breaks out upon the land.
+    Evidence accumulates that the<span class ="pagenum">50</span><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a> heat
+    and opposition of the "Nor'-West" partners&mdash;Sir Alexander Mackenzie, Inglis and
+    Ellice&mdash;shown at the general meeting of the Company, were to break out in
+    numberless hidden and irritating efforts to stop and perhaps render impossible the
+    whole Colonizing project.</p>
+    <p>Just as the active agents, Miles Macdonell, Capt. McDonald and Colin Robertson,
+    had set the heather on fire on behalf of Lord Selkirk's project, so the aid of the
+    press was used to throw doubt upon the enterprise. Inverness is the Capital of the
+    Highlanders, and so the "Inverness Journal," containing an effusion signed by
+    "Highlander," was spread broadcast through the Highlands, the Islands, and the
+    Orkneys, picturing the dangers of their journey, the hardships of the country, the
+    deceitfulness of the agents, and the mercenary aims of the noble promoter.</p>
+    <p>Before Miles Macdonell had cleared the coast of England, he wrote to Lord Selkirk:
+    "Sir A. (Mackenzie) has pledged himself as so decidedly opposed to this project that
+    he will try every means in his power to thwart it. Besides, I am convinced he was no
+    friend to your Lordship before this came upon the carpet."</p>
+    <p>No doubt Miles Macdonell was correct, and the two Scottish antagonists were face
+    to face in the conflict. We shall see the means supplied by which the expedition will
+    be harassed.<span class ="pagenum">51</span><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a> And now the
+    enterprise is to be set on foot.</p>
+    <p>For nearly a century and a half the Hudson's Bay Company ships have sailed yearly
+    from the Thames, and taken the goods of the London merchants to the posts and forts
+    of Hudson Bay, carrying back rich returns of furs. Sometimes more than one a year has
+    gone. In 1811 there was the Commodore's ship the "Prince of Wales," with cabin
+    accommodation and such comforts as ships of that period supplied. A second ship, the
+    "Eddystone," chartered for special service, accompanied her. These two were intended
+    to carry out employees and men for the fur trade, as well as the goods.</p>
+    <p>It must not be forgotten that there was some want of confidence between the
+    trading side of the Hudson's Bay Company and that which Lord Selkirk represented, in
+    the Colonizing enterprise. Also at this time the laws in regard to the safety of
+    vessels, the comfort of passengers, or precautions for health were very lax. While
+    the records of emigration experiences of British settlers to Canada and the United
+    States are being recited by men and women yet living in Canada, the want of resource
+    and the neglect of life and property by Governments and officials up until half a
+    century ago are heart-sickening. So the third ship of the fleet that was to carry the
+    first human freight of Manitoba pioneers was the "Edward and Ann." She
+<span class ="pagenum">52</span><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a> was a sorry craft, with old sails,
+    ropes, etc., and very badly manned. She had as a crew only sixteen, including the
+    captain, mates and three small boys. It was a surprise to Miles Macdonell that the
+    Company would charter and send her out in such a state. The officers came down to
+    Gravesend from London and joined their ships, and somewhere about the 25th of June,
+    1811, they set sail from Sheerness on their mission, which was to become
+    historic&mdash;not so historic, perhaps, as the Mayflower&mdash;but still
+    sufficiently important to deserve a centennial celebration.</p>
+    <p>The fleet was, however, to take up its passengers after it had passed Duncansby
+    Head, on the north of Scotland. But the elements on the North Sea were unpropitious.
+    Sheerness left behind, the trio of vessels had not passed the coast of Norfolk before
+    they were driven into Yarmouth Harbor, and there for days they lay held in by adverse
+    winds. On July 2nd they again started northward, when they were compelled to return
+    to Yarmouth.</p>
+    <p>In company they succeeded in reaching Stromness, in the Orkney Isles, in about ten
+    days. Here the "Prince of Wales" remained and her two companions sailed down to
+    Stornoway on the 17th.</p>
+    <p>And now, with the storms of the German Ocean left behind, began the opposition of
+    the<span class ="pagenum">53</span><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a> "Nor'-Westers." The "Prince of
+    Wales" brought her contingent from the Orkneys, and on July 25th Miles Macdonell
+    writes that after all the efforts put forth at all the points he had 125 Colonists
+    and employees, and these were in a most unsettled state of mind.</p>
+    <p>Some dispute the wages offered them. One party from Galway had not arrived. Some
+    are irritated at not being in the quarter of the ship which they desired, and some
+    anxiety is evident on the part of Miles Macdonell because large advances of money
+    have been given to a number and he fears that they may desert. The expenses of
+    assembling the settlers have been very heavy, and now opposition appears. Sir
+    Alexander's party are doing their work. Mr. Reed, Collector of Customs at Stornoway,
+    was married to a niece of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, and as collector he throws every
+    obstacle in the way of Macdonell. He has also taken pains to stir up discontent in
+    the minds of the Colonists and to advise them not to embark.</p>
+    <p>Further trouble was caused by a Captain Mackenzie&mdash;called "a mean
+    fellow"&mdash;who proved to be a son-in-law of the Collector of Customs Reed, and who
+    went on board the "Edward and Ann," recruited as soldiers some of the settlers,
+    himself handing them the enlisting money and then seeking to compel them to leave the
+    ship with him. Afterwards, Cap<span class ="pagenum">54</span><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a>tain
+    Mackenzie came on board the "Edward and Ann" and claimed the new recruits, as
+    deserters from the army. The Customs officials also boarded the emigrant ship and
+    most officiously proclaimed that if any emigrants were not satisfied, or were not
+    going of their own free will then they might go ashore, and the scene as described by
+    Miles Macdonell may be imagined. "Several said they were not willing, and many went
+    over the ship's side into Captain Mackenzie's boat. One party ran away with the
+    ship's boat, but were brought back. One man jumped into the sea, and swam for it
+    until he was picked up by the recruiting boat." The Revenue Cutter's boat was
+    likewise very active in taking men away, and the collector took some ashore in his
+    boat with himself. A prominent employee of the promoters of the expedition, Mr.
+    Moncrieff Blair, who posed as a gentleman, deserted on July 25th, the day before the
+    sailing of the vessel.</p>
+    <p>No wonder that Miles Macdonell should write: "My Lord, this is a most unfortunate
+    business * * * I condole with your Lordship on all these cross accidents."</p>
+    <p>Thus amid annoyance, opposition, and discouragement did the little fleet set sail,
+    on July 26th, 1811.</p>
+    <p>But this time of Napoleonism in Europe affected even the high seas. French
+    cruisers<span class ="pagenum">55</span><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a> might seize the valuable
+    cargoes being sent out to York Factory. Accordingly a man-of-war had been detailed to
+    lead the way. This had caused a part of the delay on the East Coast of England, and
+    when fairly away from the British Isles and some four hundred miles northwest of
+    Ireland, the protecting ship turned back, but the sea was so wild that not even a
+    letter could be handed to the Captain to carry in a message to the promoter.</p>
+    <p>The journey continued to be boisterous, but once within Hudson straits the weather
+    turned mild, and the great walls of rock reminded the Highlanders of their
+    Sutherlandshire West Coast.</p>
+    <p>They saw no living being as they went through the Strait. Their studies of human
+    nature were among themselves. Miles Macdonell reports that exclusive of the officers
+    and crews who embarked at Gravesend, there were of laborers and writers one hundred
+    and five persons.</p>
+    <p>Of these there were fifty-three on the "Edward and Ann." Two men of especial note,
+    representing the clerical and medical professions were on board the Emigrant Ship.
+    Father Burke, a Roman Catholic priest, who had come away without the permission of
+    his Bishop was one.</p>
+    <p>Miles Macdonell did not like him, but he<span class ="pagenum">56</span><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">
+  </a> seems to have been a hearty supporter of the Emigration Scheme and
+    promised to do great things in Ireland on his return.</p>
+    <p>When he reached York Factory, Burke did not leave the shore to follow the
+    Colonists to their homes on the banks of Red River. He married two Scotch
+    Presbyterians, and while somewhat merry at times had amused the passengers on their
+    dreary ocean journey. More useful, however, to the passengers was Mr. Edwards, the
+    ship's doctor.</p>
+    <p>He had much opportunity for practising his art, both among the Colonists and the
+    employees.</p>
+    <p>At times Miles Macdonell endeavored on shipboard to drill his future servants and
+    settlers, but he found them a very awkward squad&mdash;not one had ever handled a gun
+    or musket. The sea seemed generally too tempestuous in mood for their evolutions. As
+    the ships approached York Factory the interest increased. The "Eddystone" was
+    detailed to sail to "Fort Churchill," but was unable to reach it and found her way in
+    the wake of the other vessels to York Factory. It seemed as if the sea-divinities all
+    combined to fight against the Colonists, for they did not reach York Factory, the
+    winter destination, until the 24th of September, having taken sixty-one days on the
+    voyage from Stornoway, which was declared by the Hud<span class ="pagenum">57</span><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>son's Bay Company officers to be the longest and latest passage ever
+    known on Hudson Bay. Then settlers and employees were all landed on the point, near
+    York Factory, and were sheltered meantime in tents, and as they stood on the shore
+    they saw on October 5th, the ships that had brought them safely across the stormy sea
+    pass through a considerable amount of floating ice on their homeward journey to
+    London.</p>
+    <p>For one season at least the settlers will face the rigor of this Northern Clime.
+<span class ="pagenum">58</span><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a></p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">A WINTER OF DISCONTENT.
+    </div>
+    <p>The Emigrant ship has landed its living freight at Fort Factory, upon the Coast of
+    Hudson Bay&mdash;a shore unoccupied for hundreds of miles except by a few Hudson's
+    Bay Company forts such as those at the mouth of the Nelson River, and of Fort
+    Churchill, a hundred miles or more farther north. It was now the end of the season,
+    and it will not do to trifle with the nip of cold "Boreas" on the shore of Hudson
+    Bay. The icy winter is at hand, and all know that they will face such temperatures as
+    they never had seen even among the stormy Hebrides, or in the Northward Orkneys. Lord
+    Selkirk's dreams are now to be tested. Is the story of the Colony to be an epic or a
+    drama?</p>
+    <p>It was by no means the first experiment of facing in an unprepared way the rigors
+    of a North American winter.</p>
+    <p>In the fourth year of the Seventeenth Century De Monts, a French Colonizer, had a
+    band of his countrymen on Douchet's Island, in the<span class ="pagenum">59</span><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">
+  </a> Ste. Croix River, on the borders of New Brunswick. Though fairly
+    well provided in some ways yet the winter proved so trying that out of the number of
+    less than eighty, nearly one-half died. The winter was so long, weary and deadly,
+    that in the spring the survivors of the Colony were moved to Port Royal in Acadia and
+    the Ste. Croix was given up. This was surely dramatic; this was tragic indeed. But in
+    the fourth year of this Century, the Tercentenary of this event was celebrated in
+    Annapolis and St. John, as the writer himself beheld, and the shouts and applause of
+    gathered thousands made a great and patriotic epic.</p>
+    <p>Again four years after De Monts, when knowledge of climate and conditions had
+    become known to the French pioneers, Samuel de Champlain wintered with his crew and a
+    few settlers on the site of Old Quebec, on the St. Lawrence. Discontent and
+    dissension led to rebellion, and blood was shed in the execution of the plotters.
+    Hunger, suffering and the dreadful scurvy attacked the founder's party of less than
+    thirty, of whom only ten survived, and yet in July of 1908, the writer witnessed the
+    grand Tercentenary celebration of Champlain's settlement of Quebec, and with the
+    presence of the Prince of Wales, General Roberts, the idol of the British Army, a
+    joint fleet, of eleven English, French and American first-<span class ="pagenum">60</span><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>class Men-of War, with pageantry and music, the Epic
+    of Champlain was sung at the foot of the great statue erected to his memory.</p>
+    <p>In the Twentieth year of the Seventeenth Century, a company of very sober folk,
+    came to the shore of the Atlantic Ocean in a trifling little vessel the "Mayflower,"
+    and brought about one hundred Immigrants from the British Isles to Plymouth Rock to
+    build up a refuge and a home. What a mighty song of patriotism will burst out when in
+    a few years the United States hold their Tercentenary of the landing of the Pilgrim
+    Fathers.</p>
+    <p>And so we see the first Selkirk Colonists landed on the Hudson Bay numbering at
+    the outside seventy, a number not greatly different from the French and Pilgrim
+    Fathers and called on to pass through similar trials in the severe winter of Hudson
+    Bay. Their experience has been less tragic than that of the other parties spoken of,
+    but in it the same elements of discomfort, dissension and disease certainly present
+    themselves. However distressing their winter was, the dramatic conditions passed
+    away, in a short time we shall be engaged in commemorating the patience and the
+    heroism of these settlers, and in 1912 we shall sing a new song&mdash;the epic of the
+    Lord Selkirk Colonists.</p>
+    <p>But to be true we must look more closely at<span class ="pagenum">61</span><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">
+  </a> the trials, and sufferings of the untried, and somewhat turbulent
+    band, on their way to the Red River.</p>
+    <p>York Factory as being the port of entry for the southern prairie country was a
+    place of some importance. As in the largest number of cases, other than a few huts
+    for workmen, and a few Indian families, the Fort was the only centre of life in the
+    whole region. Two rivers, the Nelson and the Hayes, enter the Hudson Bay at this
+    point&mdash;the Nelson being the more northerly of the two. Between the two rivers is
+    really a delta or low swampy tongue of land. On the Nelson's north bank, the land
+    near the Bay is low, while inland there is a rising height. Five or six different
+    sites of forts are pointed out at this point. These have been built on during the
+    history of the Company, which dates back to 1670. In Lord Selkirk's time the factory
+    was more than half a mile from the Bay and lay between the two rivers. Miles
+    Macdonell states that it was on "low, miry ground without a ditch." The stagnant
+    water by which the post was surrounded would be productive of much ill-health, were
+    there a longer summer. The buildings of the Factory were also badly planned, and
+    badly constructed, so that the Fort was unsuitable for quartering the Colonists.
+    Besides this, Messrs. Cook and Auld, the former Governor of York Factory, and the
+<span class ="pagenum">62</span><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a> latter chief officer of Fort
+    Churchill, having the old Hudson's Bay Company's spirit of dislike of Colonists,
+    decided that the new settlers, being an innovation and an evil, should have separate
+    quarters built for them at a distance from the Fort.</p>
+    <p>Poor Colonists! Miles Macdonell is wearied with them in their complaining spirit,
+    berates them for indolence, and finds fault with their awkwardness as workmen. To
+    Macdonell, who was a Canadian, accustomed as a soldier and frontiersman to dealing
+    with canoes, boats, and every means of land transport, the sturdy, steady going
+    Orkneyman was slow and clumsy.</p>
+    <p>The inexperienced new settler thus gets rather brusque treatment from the
+    Colonial, more a good deal than he deserves.</p>
+    <p>Accordingly it was decided to erect log dwellings for the workmen and the settlers
+    on the higher ground north of the Nelson River. Several miles distant from the
+    Factory itself, Spruce trees of considerable size grew along the river, and so all
+    hands were put to work to have huts or shanties erected to protect the Colonists from
+    the severe cold of winter, which would soon be upon them, although on October 5th
+    Miles Macdonell wrote home to Lord Selkirk: "The weather has been mild and pleasant
+    for some days past."</p>
+    <p>The erection of suitable houses, that is home<span class ="pagenum">63</span><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a>ly on the exterior, but warm in the coldest weather, was
+    superintended by Miles Macdonell&mdash;himself a Colonial and one aware of the
+    precautions needing to be taken.</p>
+    <p>Amid all the troubles and complaints of the winter there were none against the
+    suitableness of the log dwellings which were erected on the chosen site to which was
+    given the name, "Nelson Encampment." Winter, however, came in fiercely enough in
+    November, although again on the 29th of November, Macdonell writes to Cook, Governor
+    of the Factory: "A mild day enables us to send a boat across the Nelson with the
+    Express." It was open water on the river.</p>
+    <p>Macdonell knew well that with the recent arrivals from the Old Land, one of the
+    greatest dangers would be the weakening and dangerous disease of scurvy. He had
+    sought for supplies of "Essence of Malt" and "Crystallized Salts of Lemon," and at the
+    beginning of December as the people were living chiefly on salt provisions and a
+    short allowance of oatmeal the scurvy made its appearance. Medical care was given by
+    Mr. Edwards and the disease was at once met. However within a month one-third of the
+    Immigrants were thus afflicted and the fear was that the malady would go through the
+    whole Encampment. But the remedy that Champlain found so effective at
+    Quebec&mdash;the juice of the Spruce tree, which grew in abun<span class ="pagenum">64</span><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a>dance around the Encampment&mdash;checked the
+    disease, wherever the obstinacy of the settlers did not prevent its use, for says
+    Macdonell, "It is not an easy matter to get the Orkneymen to drink it, particularly
+    the old hands." A smouldering fire of discontent that had been detected on board the
+    ship on crossing the ocean now broke out into a flame. The Irish and the Orkneymen
+    could not agree. In February the vigilant leader Macdonell writes: "The Irish
+    displayed their native propensity and prowess on the first night of the year, by
+    unmercifully beating some Orkneymen. Too much strong drink was the chief incitement."
+    This antipathy continued to be a difficulty even until the party arrived at Red
+    River.</p>
+    <p>There are signs in his letters, of the constant strain on Miles Macdonell arising
+    from the difficulties of his position and the waywardness of the Immigrants. At times
+    he consults with the Hudson's Bay Company's officer, Mr. Hillier, and at others thus
+    unbosoms himself to Messrs. Cook and Auld. "In this wild, desolate and (I may add)
+    barren region, excluded at present from all communication with the civilized world,
+    intelligence of a local kind can alone be expected. Could we join in the sentinel's
+    cry of 'All is well,' although not affording great changes, it might yet be
+    satisfactory in our isolated condition. We have as great variety<span class ="pagenum">65</span><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a> as generally happens in this sublunary world, of
+    which we here form a true epitome, being composed of men of all countries, religions
+    and tongues."</p>
+    <p>Plainly Governor Macdonell feels his burdens! However, the culmination of this
+    officer's troubles did not reach him until a serious rebellion occurred among his
+    subjects&mdash;so mixed and various.</p>
+    <p>A workman&mdash;William Finlay&mdash;presumably an Orkneyman, who had been
+    regularly employed by Miles Macdonell when the scurvy was bad in Mr. Hillier's camp,
+    refused to obey the health regulations, his one objection being to drink this spruce
+    decoction. He was immediately dropped from work. A few days afterward supposing the
+    matter had blown over, Macdonell ordered him to work again. Finlay declined,
+    whereupon, though under engagement he refused to further obey Macdonell. The Governor
+    then brought him before Mr. Hillier, who like himself, had been made a magistrate.
+    His breach of law in this, as in other matters being brought against Finlay he was
+    sentenced to confinement. There being no prison at York Factory it seemed difficult
+    to carry out the sentence by his being simply confined with his other companions in
+    the men's quarters. Accordingly the Governor ordered a single log hut to be
+    constructed, and this being done, in<span class ="pagenum">66</span><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">
+  </a> it the prisoner was confined. Not a day had entirely passed when a
+    rebellion arose among some of his compatriots&mdash;the Scottish contingent from
+    Orkney and Glasgow&mdash;and a band of thirteen of them surrounded the newly built
+    hut, set it on fire and as it went up in smoke rescued the prisoner.</p>
+    <p>The men were arrested and were brought before Macdonell and Hillier, sitting as
+    magistrates. This was about the end of February. The rebels, however, defied the
+    authorities, departed carrying Finlay with them and getting possession of a house
+    took it defiantly for their own use. During their remaining sojourn at York Factory
+    they subsisted on provisions obtained at the Factory itself and carried by themselves
+    from the post to the encampment. Governor Macdonell, meantime, decided to send these
+    rebellious spirits home to Britain for punishment, and not allow them to go on to Red
+    River.</p>
+    <p>The possession by the rioters of some five or six stand of firearms, was felt to
+    be a menace to the peace of the encampment. An effort was made to obtain them by
+    Macdonell, but "the insurgents," as they were called, secreted the arms and thus kept
+    possession of them. In June on the rebels being very bold and being unable to get
+    back across the Nelson River from the Factory for a number of days, they
+<span class ="pagenum">67</span><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a> were forced by Mr. Auld, then at
+    York Factory, to give up their arms and submit or else have their supplies from the
+    Factory stopped. They were thus compelled to submit and on the receipt of a note from
+    Mr. Auld to Macdonell, the latter wrote a joyful letter to Lord Selkirk to the effect
+    that the insurgents had at length come to terms, acknowledged their guilt and thrown
+    themselves upon the mercy of the Hudson's Bay Committee.</p>
+    <p>This surrender made it unnecessary to send the body of rioters back to England for
+    trial.</p>
+    <p>During the months of later winter Governor Miles Macdonell was specially employed
+    in building boats for the journey up to Red River. He introduced a style of boat used
+    on the rivers of New York, his native State. These, however, he complains, were very
+    badly constructed through the clumsiness and lack of skill of the Colonists and
+    Company employees, whom he had ordered to build them.</p>
+    <p>Now on July fourth, 1812, Governor Macdonell, his Colonists, and the Hudson's Bay
+    officials&mdash;Cook and Auld&mdash;are all gazing wistfully up the Nelson and Hayes
+    Rivers, and we have the postscript to the last letter as found in Miles Macdonell
+    letter book, sent to Lord Selkirk, reading, "Four Irishmen are to be sent home;
+    Higgins and Hart, for the felonious attack on the Orkneymen; William Gray, non-<span class ="pagenum">68</span><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>effective, and Hugh Redden, who
+    lost his arm by the bursting of a gun given him to fire off by Mr. Brown, one of the
+    Glasgow clerks."<br />(Signed) H. MacD.<br />
+    </p>
+    <p>The expedition left York Factory for the interior on the 6th of July, 1812.
+<span class ="pagenum">69</span><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a></p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">FIRST FOOT ON RED RIVER BANKS.
+    </div>
+    <p>The weary winter passing at Nelson Encampment had its bright spots. Miles
+    Macdonell in the building erected for himself, on the south side of the Nelson River,
+    kept up his mess, having with him Mr. Hillier, Priest Bourke, Doctor Edwards, and
+    Messrs. John McLeod, Whitford and Michael Macdonell, officers and clerks. Those
+    Immigrants who took no part in the rebellion fared well. True, the scurvy seized
+    several of them, but proved harmless to those who obeyed the orders and took
+    plentiful potations of spruce beer. With the opening year a fair supply of fresh and
+    dried venison was supplied by the Indians. In April upwards of thirty deer were
+    snared or shot by the settlers. Some three thousand deer of several different kinds
+    crossed the Nelson River within a month. "Fresh venison," writes Macdonell, "was so
+    plenty that our men would not taste salt meat. We have all got better since we came
+    to Hudson Bay."</p>
+    <p>But as in all far northern climates the heat<span class ="pagenum">70</span><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">
+  </a> was great in the months of May and June, and Governor and Colonists
+    became alike restless to start on the inland journey.</p>
+    <p>The passing out of the ice in north-flowing rivers is always wearisome for those
+    who are waiting to ascend. Beginning to melt farther south, the ice at the mouth is
+    always last to move. Besides, the arrival was anxiously awaited of Bird, Sinclair and
+    House. By continuous urging of the dull and inefficient workmen to greater effort,
+    Miles Macdonell had succeeded in securing four boats&mdash;none too well
+    built&mdash;but commodious enough to carry his boat-crews, workmen, and
+    Colonists.</p>
+    <p>Though Macdonell sought for the selection of the workmen who were to accompany him
+    to Red River, he was not able to move the Hudson's Bay Company officials. Two days,
+    however, after arrival of the Company magnates from the interior his men were secured
+    to him, and he was fully occupied in transporting his stores up the river as far as
+    the "Rock"&mdash;the rapids of the Hill River which here falls into Hayes River. For
+    a long distance up the river there is a broad stream, one-quarter of a mile wide,
+    running at the rate of two miles an hour through low banks. The boatmen have a good
+    steady pull up the river for some sixty miles, and here where the Steel River enters
+    the Hayes is seen a wide, deep, rapid stream run<span class ="pagenum">71</span><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a>ning about three miles an hour. The banks of this river are of clay
+    and rising from fifty to one hundred feet, the clay of the banks is so smooth and
+    white that a traveller has compared them in color to the white, chalk cliffs of
+    Dover. Thus far though it has required exertion on the part of the boatmen, a good
+    stretch of a hundred miles from the Factory has been passed without any obstruction
+    or delay. Now the serious work of the journey begins. The Hill River, as this part of
+    the river is called, is a series of rapids and portages&mdash;where the cargo and
+    boat have both to be carried around a rapid; of decharges where the cargo has thus to
+    be carried, and of semi-decharges&mdash;where a portion of the cargo only needs to be
+    removed.</p>
+    <p>At times waterfalls require to be circuited with great effort. A high mountain or
+    elevated table-land seen from this river shows the rough country of which these
+    cascades and rapids are the proof. Here are the White-Mud Falls and other smaller
+    cataracts. To the expert voyageur such a river has no terrors, but to the raw-hand
+    the management of such boats is a most toilsome work. The birch-bark canoe is a mere
+    trifle on the portage, but the heavy York boat capable of carrying three or four tons
+    is a clumsy lugger. The cargo must be moved, the non-effectives such as the women and
+    children and the old men must trudge the weary<span class ="pagenum">72</span><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">
+  </a> path, varying from a few hundred yards to several miles along a
+    rocky, steep and rugged way. When the portage is made the whole force of boatmen and
+    able-bodied passengers are required to stand by each boat, pull it out of the water,
+    and then skid or drag or cajole it along till it is thrust into its native element
+    again. To the willing crofter or Orkney boatmen this was not a great task, but to the
+    Glasgow immigrant, or the lazy waiter-on-fortune this was hard work. Many
+    were the oaths of the officers and the complaints and objections of the men when they
+    were required to grapple with the foaming cascades, the fearful rapids and the
+    difficult portages of Hill River. Mossy Portage being now past the landing on a rocky
+    island at the head of the river showed that the first "Hill Difficulty" had been
+    overcome.</p>
+    <p>Swampy lake for ten miles gives a comparative rest to the toiling crews, but at
+    the end of it a short portage passed takes the beleagured party into the mouth of the
+    Jack Tent River. Day after day with sound sleep when the mosquitoes would permit, the
+    unwilling voyageurs continued their journey. Ten portages have to be faced and
+    overcome as the brigade ascends the rapid Jack Tent River, covering a stretch of
+    seventy miles. The party now find themselves on the surface of Knee Lake, a
+    considerable sheet of water, but a comparative rest after<span class ="pagenum">73</span><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a> the trials of Jack Tent River. The lake is fifty-six
+    miles long and at times widens to ten miles across.</p>
+    <p>But there is trouble just ahead.</p>
+    <p>The travellers have now come to the celebrated Fall Portage. It is short but
+    deterrent. The height and ruggedness of the rocks over which cargo and boats have to
+    be dragged are unusually forbidding. The only consolation to the contemplative soul,
+    who does not have to portage, is that "The stream is turbulent and unfriendly in the
+    extreme, but in romantic variety, and in natural beauty nothing can exceed this
+    picture." High rocks are seen, beetling over the rapids like towers, and are rent
+    into the most diversified forms, gay with various colored masses, or shaded by
+    overhanging hills&mdash;now there is a tranquil pool lying like a sheet of
+    silver&mdash;now the dash and foam of a cataract&mdash;these are but parts of this
+    picturesque and striking scene.</p>
+    <p>But Fall Portage was only a culmination, in this fiercely rushing Trout River, for
+    above it a dozen rapids are to be passed with toilsome energy. After this the party
+    is rewarded with beautiful islets, and the lake for a length of thirty-five miles
+    lies in a fertile tract of country. It was formerly appropriately called Holy Lake,
+    and as a summit lake suggests to the traveller abiding restfulness. To the traders on
+    their<span class ="pagenum">74</span><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a> route whether passing up or
+    down the water courses, it was always so. After the long and tedious voyaging it was
+    their Elysium. Not only are the sweet surroundings of the lake most charming, but the
+    Indians of the neighborhood have always been noted for their good character, their
+    docility and their industry.</p>
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_082.jpg" ><img class="figcenterh"
+      src="images/illus_082.jpg" alt="ANDREW McDERMOTT, ESQ." title="" /></a><br />
+       <span class="caption">ANDREW McDERMOTT, ESQ.<br />
+       Greatest Merchant of the Red River Settlement.<br />
+       Came to Red River Settlement in 1812.<br />
+       Died in Winnipeg in 1881.</span>
+    </div>
+    <br />
+
+    <p>A short delay at Oxford House led to the con<span class ="pagenum">75</span><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a>tinuation of the journey over what was now the roughest, most
+    desolate, and most trying part of the voyage. On this rough passage, perhaps the most
+    distressing spot was "Windy Lake," a small but tempestuous sheet. The voyageurs
+    declare that they never cross "Lac de Vent" without encountering high winds and very
+    often dangerous storms. Again "the Real Hill Difficulty" is encountered above the
+    lake at the "Big Hill" portage and rapids&mdash;one of the sudden descents of this
+    alarming stream. Those coming toward Oxford Lake run it at the very risk of their
+    lives, but the painful portages impress themselves on all going up the "Height of
+    Land," which is reached after passing through a narrow gorge between hills and
+    mountains of rocks, the stream dashing headlong down from the mile-long Robinson
+    Portage.</p>
+    <p>This region is an elevated, rugged waste, with no signs of animal life about it.
+    It is the terror of the voyageurs. This eerie tract culminates in the ascending
+    "Haute de Terre," as the French call it&mdash;the dividing ridge between the waters
+    running eastward to Hudson Bay and those running westward and descending to meet the
+    Nelson River, on its headlong way to Hudson Bay as well. The obstacle known as the
+    "Painted Stone" being passed the Colonists' brigade was now on its way to the inland
+    plain of the Continent.<span class ="pagenum">76</span><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a></p>
+    <p>The portage led from this string of five small lakes to the head waters of a
+    trifling, but very interesting stream called the "Echimamish River." A doubtful but
+    curious explanation has been given of the name. On the stream are ten beaver dams;
+    which ever of these filled first gave the voyageur the opportunity to launch in his
+    canoe or boat and go down the little runway to Black Water Creek. It was said that in
+    consequence it was called "Each-a-Man's" brook, according as each voyageur took the
+    water with his craft first. The way was now clear, down stream until shortly was seen
+    the dashing Nelson River, or as it is here called, "The Sea River." When this was
+    accomplished the Immigrants had only to pull stoutly up stream for forty miles or
+    more until Norway House, the great Hudson's Bay Fort at the north end of Lake
+    Winnipeg was reached.</p>
+    <p>The weary journey&mdash;430 miles from York Factory&mdash;was thus over and the
+    worn out, weather beaten, ragged, and foot-sore travellers had come to the lake,
+    whose name, other than that of Red River, was the only inland word they had ever
+    heard of before starting on their journey.</p>
+    <p>It was the first standing place in the country, which was now to have them as its
+    pioneers.</p>
+    <p>There is no turning back now. The Rubicon is crossed. Thirty-seven portages lie
+    between<span class ="pagenum">77</span><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a> them and the dissociable
+    sea. For better or for worse they will now complete their journey, going on to found
+    the Settlement which has become so famous.</p>
+    <p>The appearance of Norway House with its fine site and evidences of trade cheered
+    the Colonists, and the sight of a body of water like Lake Winnipeg, which can be as
+    boisterous as the ocean, brought back the loud resounding sea by whose swishing waves
+    most of the settlers, for all their lives, had been lulled to sleep. It is a great
+    stormy and dangerous lake&mdash;Lake Winnipeg. But for boats to creep along its shore
+    with the liberty of landing on its sloping banks in case of need it is safe enough.
+    The season was well past, and haste was needed, but in due time the mouth of the
+    river&mdash;the delta of Red River&mdash;was reached. Now they were within forty or
+    forty-five miles of their destination. At this time the banks of the Red River were
+    well wooded, though there was open grassy plains lying behind these belts of forest.
+    There was only one obstruction on their way up the river. This was the "Deer," now
+    St. Andrew's Rapids, but after their experiences this was nothing, for these rapids
+    were easily overcome by tracking, that is, by dragging the boats by a line up the
+    bank.</p>
+    <p>Up the river they came and rounded what<span class ="pagenum">78</span><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a> we now call Point Douglas, in the City of Winnipeg, a name
+    afterwards given to mark Lord Selkirk's family name. They had completed a journey of
+    seven hundred and twenty-eight miles, from York Factory to the site of
+    Winnipeg&mdash;and they had done this in fifty-five days. Now they landed.</p>
+    <p class="center"><span class="subchap">THE RED LETTER DAY OF THEIR LANDING WAS AUGUST 30TH, 1812.</span></p>
+    <p>At York Factory the Colonists had met a Hudson's Bay Company officer&mdash;Peter
+    Fidler&mdash;on his way to England. He was the surveyor of the Company and a map of
+    the Colony of which a copy is given by us marks the Colony Gardens, where Governor
+    Miles Macdonell lived. This spot they chose, and the locality at the foot of Rupert
+    Street is marked in the City of Winnipeg. A stone's throw further north along the
+    bank of Red River, Fort Douglas was afterwards built, around which circles much of
+    this Romantic Settlement Story.</p>
+    <p>This spot was the centre of the First Settlement of Rupert's Land and to this
+    first party peculiar interest attaches.</p>
+    <p>There can only be one Columbus among all the navigators who crossed from Europe to
+    America; there can only be one Watt among all the inventors and improvers of the
+    steam engine; only one Newton among those who dis<span class ="pagenum">79</span><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>cuss the great discovery of the basal law of gravitation.</p>
+    <p>There can be only one first party of those who laid the foundation of collective
+    family life in what is now the Province of Manitoba&mdash;and what is wider&mdash;in
+    the great Western Canada of to-day. There may have been not many wise men, not many
+    mighty, not many noble among them, but the long and stormy voyage which they made,
+    the dangers they endured on the sea, the marvellous land journey they accomplished,
+    and their taking "seisin of the land," to use William the Conqueror's phrase,
+    entitles them to recognition and to respectful memory.<span class ="pagenum">80</span><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a></p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">"THREE DESPERATE YEARS."
+    </div>
+    <p>Pioneering to-day is not so serious a matter as it once was. To the frontiers' man
+    now it involves little risk, and little thought, to dispose of his holding, and make
+    a dash further West for two or three hundreds of miles across the plains. When he
+    wishes more land for his growing sons, he "sells out," fits up his commodious covered
+    wagon, called "the prairie schooner," and with implements, supplies, cattle and
+    horses, starts on the Western "trail." His wife and children are in high spirits.
+    When a running stream or spring is reached on the way he stops and camps. His journey
+    taken when the weather is fine and when the mosquitoes are gone is a diversion. The
+    writer has seen a family which went through this gypsy-like "moving" no less than
+    four times. At length the settler finds his location, has it registered in the
+    nearest Land Office and calls it his. With ready axes, the farmer and his sons cut
+    down the logs which are to make their dwelling. The children explore the new farm
+    lying<span class ="pagenum">81</span><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a> covered with its velvet sod,
+    as it has done for centuries; they gather its flowers, pluck its wild fruits, chase
+    its wild ducks or grouse or gophers. Health and homely fare make life enjoyable.
+    Subject to the incidents and interruptions of every day, which follow humanity, it
+    seems to them a continual picnic.</p>
+    <p>But how different was the fate of the worn-out Selkirk Colonists. The memory of a
+    wretched sea voyage, of a long and dreary winter at Nelson Encampment, and of a
+    fifty-five days' journey of constant hardship along the fur traders' route were
+    impressed upon their minds. The thought of fierce rivers and the dangers of portage
+    and cascade still haunted them, and now everything on the banks of Red River was
+    strange. On their arrival the flowers were blooming, but they were prairie flowers,
+    and unknown to them. The small Colony houses which they were to occupy would be
+    uncomfortable. The very sun in the sky seemed alien to them, for the Highland drizzle
+    was seen no more. The days were bright, the weather warm, the nights cool, and there
+    was an occasional August thunderstorm, or hailstorm which alarmed them. The traders,
+    the Indians, the half-breed trappers, and runners were all new to them. Their Gaelic
+    language, which they claimed as that of Eden, was of little value to them except
+    where an occasional company-ser<span class ="pagenum">82</span><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a>vant chanced to be a countryman of their own. They were without
+    money, they were dependent upon Lord Selkirk's agents for shelter and rations. The
+    land which they hoped to possess was there awaiting them, but they had no means for
+    purchasing implements, nor were the farming requisites to be found in the country.
+    Horses there were, but there were only two or three individual cattle within five
+    hundred miles of them.</p>
+    <p>If they had sung on their sorrowful leaving, "Lochaber no more," the words were
+    now turned by their depressed Highland natures into a wail, and they sang in the
+    words of their old Psalms of "Rouse's" version:</p>
+    <div class="poem">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <span class="i0">By Babel's streams we sat and wept,<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">When Zion we thought on.<br />
+        </span>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+    <p>They thought of their crofts and clachans, where if the land was stingy, the gift
+    of the sea was at hand to supply abundant food.</p>
+    <p>But this was no time for sighs or regrets.</p>
+    <p>The Hudson's Bay traders from Brandon House were waiting for expected goods, and
+    Messrs. Hillier and Heney, who were the Hudson's Bay Company officers for the East
+    Winnipeg District, had arduous duties ahead of them. But though the orders to prepare
+    for the Colonists had been sent on in good time,<span class ="pagenum">83</span><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">
+  </a> there was not a single bag of pemmican or any other article of
+    provision awaiting the hapless settlers. The few French people who were freemen,
+    lived in what is now the St. Boniface side of the river, were only living from hand
+    to mouth, and the Company's people were little better provided. The river was the
+    only resource, and from the scarceness of hooks the supply of fish obtainable was
+    rather scanty.</p>
+    <p>As the Colonists and their leader were strangers they desired leisure to select a
+    suitable location for their buildings. For the time being their camp was at the
+    Forks, on the east side of the river, a little north of the mouth of the
+    Assiniboine.</p>
+    <p>The Governor, Miles Macdonell, on the 4th of September, summoned three of the
+    North-West Company gentlemen, the free Canadians beside whom they were encamped, and
+    a number of the Indians to a spectacle similar to that enacted by St. Lawson, at
+    Sault Ste. Marie, nearly a hundred and fifty years before. The Nor'-Westers had not
+    permitted their employees to cross the river. Facing, as he did, Fort Gibraltar,
+    across the river, the Governor directed the patent of Lord Selkirk to his vast
+    concession to be read, "delivering and seizin were formally taken," and Mr. Heney
+    translated some part of the Patent into French for<span class ="pagenum">84</span><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">
+  </a> the information of the French Canadians. There was an officers'
+    guard under arms; colors were flying and after the reading of the Patent all the
+    artillery belonging to Lord Selkirk, as well as that of the Hudson's Bay Company,
+    under Mr. Hillier, consisting of six swivel guns, were discharged in a grand
+    salute.</p>
+    <p>At the close of the ceremony the gentlemen were invited to the Governor's tent,
+    and a keg of spirits was turned out for the people.</p>
+    <p>Having made such disposition as we shall see of the people, Governor Macdonell
+    went with a boat's crew down the river to make a choice of a place of settlement for
+    the Colonists. A bull and cow and winter wheat had been brought with the party, and
+    these were taken to a spot selected after a three days' thorough investigation of
+    both banks of the river for some miles below the Forks. The place found most eligible
+    was "an extensive point of land through which fire had run and destroyed the wood,
+    there being only burnt wood and weeds left." This was afterwards called Point
+    Douglas.</p>
+    <p>He had, as we shall see, dispatched the settlers to their wintering place up the
+    Red River on the 6th of September, and set some half-dozen men, who were to stay at
+    the Forks, to work clearing the ground for sowing winter<span class ="pagenum">85</span><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a> wheat. An officer was left with the men to trade with
+    Indians for fish and meat for the support of the workers.</p>
+    <p>The winter, which is sharp, crisp and decided in all of Rupert's Land, was
+    approaching, so that their situation began to be desperate.</p>
+    <p>Governor Macdonell's chief care was for the safety and comfort during the winter
+    of his helpless Colonists.</p>
+    <p>Sixty miles up the Red River from the Forks was a settlement of native
+    people&mdash;chiefly French half-breeds&mdash;and to this place called Pembina came
+    in the buffaloes, or if not they were easily reached from this settlement. But the
+    poor Scottish settlers had no means of transport, and the way seemed long and
+    desolate to them to venture upon, unaccompanied and unhelped. Governor Macdonell did
+    his best for them, and succeeded in inducing the Saulteaux Indians, who seemed
+    friendly, to guide and protect them as they sought Pembina for winter quarters.</p>
+    <p>The Indians had a few ponies and mounted on these they undertook to conduct the
+    settlers to their destination. The caravan was grotesquely comical as it departed
+    southward. The Indians upon their "Shaganappi ponies," as they are called, like
+    mounted guards protecting the men, women and children of the Colony who trudged
+    wearily on foot. The Indians were kind<span class ="pagenum">86</span><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">
+  </a> to their charge, but the Redman loves a joke, and often indulges in
+    "horse-play." The demure Highlander looked unmoved upon the Indian pranks. The
+    Indians also hold everything they possess on a loose tenure. The Highlander who was
+    forced to surrender the gun, which his father had carried at the battle of Culloden,
+    failed to see the humour of the affair, and the Highland woman who was compelled to
+    give up her gold marriage ring, because some prairie brave wanted it, was unable to
+    see the ethics of the Saulteaux guide who robbed her. The women became very weary of
+    their journey, but their mounted guardians only laughed, because they were in the
+    habit on their long marches of treating their own squaws in the same manner.</p>
+    <p>To Pembina at length they came&mdash;worn out, dusty and despondent. Here they
+    erected tents or built huts. The settlers reached Pembina on the 11th of September,
+    and Macdonell and an escort of three men, all on horseback, arrived on the 12th.
+    Arrived at Pembina Macdonell examined the ground carefully, and selected the point on
+    the south side of the Pembina River at its juncture with the Red River as a site for
+    a fort. His men immediately camped here. Great quantities of buffalo meat were
+    brought in by the French Canadians and Indians. Some of this was sent down to the
+    Forks to the party which had remained to built a hut at that point<span class ="pagenum">87</span><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a> for stores. At Pembina a storehouse was built
+    immediately, and having given directions to erect several other buildings, the
+    Governor returned by boat to the Forks. On the 27th of October Owen Keveny, in charge
+    of the second detachment of Colonists, arrived with his party, largely of Irishmen.
+    These men were taken on to Pembina. After great activity the buildings were ready by
+    the 21st of November to house the whole of the two parties now united in one band of
+    Colonists. The Governor and officers' quarters were finished on December 27th.
+    Macdonell reports to Lord Selkirk that "as soon as the place at Pembina took some
+    form and a decent flagstaff was erected on it, it was called Fort Daer." It is said
+    that in most years the buffaloes were very numerous and so tame that they came to the
+    Trader's Fort and rubbed their backs upon its stockaded enclosure. There was this
+    year plenty of buffalo meat and the Scotch women soon learned to cook it into
+    "Rubaboo," or "Rowschow," after the manner of the French half-breeds. Toward spring
+    food was scarcer.</p>
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_096.jpg" ><img class="figcenterh"
+      src="images/illus_096.jpg" alt="HON. DONALD GUNN" title="" /></a><br />
+       <span class="caption">HON. DONALD GUNN<br />
+       Schoolmaster, Naturalist and Legislator.<br />
+       York Factory, 1813; Red River, 1823; Died at Little Britain, 1878.</span>
+    </div>
+    <p>In May the winterers of Pembina returned to their settlement at the Colony. They
+    sought to begin the cultivation of their farms, but they were helpless. The tough
+    prairie sod had to be broken up and worked over, but the only implement which the
+    Colonist had to use was a<span class ="pagenum">88</span><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a> simple
+    hoe, the one harrow being incomplete. The crofters were poor farmers, for they were
+    rather fishermen. But the fish in Red River were scarce in this year, so that even
+    the fisher's art which they knew was of little avail to them. The summer of 1813 was
+    thus what the old settlers would call an "Off-Year," for even the small fruits on the
+    plains<span class ="pagenum">89</span><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a> were far from abundant.
+    These being scarce, the chief food of the settlers for all that summer through was
+    the "Prairie turnip." This is a variety of the pea family, known as the Astragalus
+    esculenta, which with its large taproot grows quite abundantly on the dry plains. An
+    old-time trader, who was lost for forty days and only able to get the Prairie turnip,
+    practically subsisted in this way. Along with this the settlers gathered quantities
+    of a very succulent weed known as "fat-hen," and so were kept alive. The Colonists
+    knowing now what the soil could produce obtained small quantities of grain and even
+    with their defective means of cultivation, in the next year demonstrated the
+    fertility of the soil of the country.</p>
+    <p>It was somewhat distressing to the Colonists again in 1813 to make the journey of
+    sixty miles to Pembina, trudging along the prairie trail, but there was no other
+    resource. The treatment of the Colonists by the "Nor'-Westers" had not thus far been
+    unfriendly and the Canadian traders had even imported a few cattle, pigs, and poultry
+    for the use of the settlers, and for these favors Governor Macdonell expressed his
+    hearty thanks to the Montreal Company. The fatigues and mishaps of the journey to
+    Pembina were, however, only the beginning of trouble for the winter. The reception by
+    the French half-breed residents of Pembina was<span class ="pagenum">90</span><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">
+  </a> not now so friendly as that of the previous winter. At first the
+    Nor'-Wester feeling had been one of contempt for the Colonists and pity for them in
+    their hunger and miseries. The building of Fort Daer was an evidence of occupation
+    that caused the jealous Canadian pioneers to pause. The reception of the second
+    season was thus decidedly cool. The struggling settlers found before the winter was
+    over that troubles come in troops. Very heavy snows fell in the winter of 1813-14.
+    This brought two difficulties. It prevented the buffaloes coming freely from the open
+    plains into the rivers and sheltered spots. The buffalo being a heavy animal is
+    helpless in the snow. The other difficulty was that the settlers could not go on the
+    chase with freedom. Unfortunately the Colonists were not able to use the snowshoe as
+    could the lively Metis. The settlers well nigh perished in seeking the camp whither
+    the native hunters had gone to follow the buffalo. Indeed the Colonists had the
+    conviction that a plot to murder two of their most active leaders was laid by the
+    French half-breeds whose sympathies were all with the "Nor'-Westers."</p>
+    <p>The climax of feeling was reached when Governor Macdonell, who was with the
+    Colonists at Pembina, issued a most unwise proclamation, which to the Nor'-Westers
+    seemed an illegality if not an impertinence. Dependent as the set<span class ="pagenum">91</span><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a>tlers were on the older Company for supplies and
+    assistance this was nothing less than an act of madness.</p>
+    <p>By proclamation, on the 8th of January, 1814, Macdonell forbade any traders of
+    "The Honorable Hudson's Bay Company, the North-West Company, or any individual or
+    unconnected trader whatever to take out any provisions, either of flesh, grain or
+    vegetables, from the country.</p>
+    <p>The embargo was complete.</p>
+    <p>In Governor Macdonell's defence it should be said that he offered to pay by
+    British bills for all the provisions taken, at customary rates.</p>
+    <p>This assertion of sovereignty set on fire the Nor'-Westers and their
+    sympathizers.</p>
+    <p>Not only was this extreme step taken, but John Spencer, a subordinate of Macdonell
+    was sent west to Brandon House, found an entrance into the North-West Fort at the
+    mouth of the Souris River and seizing some twenty-five tons of dry buffalo meat took
+    it into his own fort.</p>
+    <p>It is quite true that Governor Macdonell expected new bands of Colonists and thus
+    justified himself in his seizure. It is to the credit of the Nor'-Westers that they
+    restrained themselves and avoided a general conflict, but evidently they only bided
+    their time.</p>
+    <p>No breach of the peace occurred however,<span class ="pagenum">92</span><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">
+  </a> before the return of the Colonists from Pembina to the Colony
+    Houses. The settlers occupied their homes in the best of spirits, and began to sow
+    their wheat, but they were still greatly checked by the absence of the commonest
+    implements of farm culture. Had Lord Selkirk known the true state of things on Red
+    River, he would never have continued to send new bands of Colonists so imperfectly
+    fitted for dealing with the cultivation of the soil.</p>
+    <p>The founder's mind had been fired, both by the opposition of Sir Alexander
+    Mackenzie and by the successful arrival of his two bands of Colonists at the Red
+    River, to make greater efforts than ever.</p>
+    <p>This he did by sending out a third party in all nearly a hundred strong, under the
+    leadership of a very capable man&mdash;Archibald Macdonald. This band of settlers in
+    1813 were bound on the ship Prince of Wales for York Factory. A very serious attack
+    of ship fever filled the whole ship's crew with alarm. Several well-known Colonists
+    died. The Captain, alarmed, refused to go on to his destination, but ran the ship
+    into Fort Churchill and there disembarked them. Further deaths took place at this
+    point. In the spring there was no resource but to trudge over the rocky ledges and
+    forbidding desolation of more than a hundred miles between the Fort Churchill and
+<span class ="pagenum">93</span><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a> York Factory. Only the stronger
+    men and women were selected for the journey. On the 6th of April, 1814, a party of
+    twenty-one males and twenty females started on this now celebrated tramp. At first
+    the party began to march in single file, but finding this inconvenient changed to six
+    abreast. Unaccustomed to snowshoes and sleds the Colonists found the snowy walk very
+    distressing. Three fell by the way and were carried on by the stronger men. The
+    weather was very cold. A supply of partridges was given them on starting, and the
+    party was met by hunters sent from York Factory to meet them, who brought two hundred
+    partridges, killed by the way. York Factory was reached on the 13th of April. This
+    band of Colonists were superior to any who had come in the former parties. Many of
+    them, as we shall see, did not remain in the Colony. A list of this party may be
+    found in the Appendix. After remaining a month at York Factory, on the 27th of May,
+    this heroic band went on their way to Red River, and reached their destination in
+    time to plant potatoes for themselves and others. Comrades left behind at Churchill
+    found their way to Red River. Lots along Red River were now being taken up by the
+    settlers, and here they sought to found homes under a northern sky. Old and new
+    settlers were now hopeful, but their hopes of peace<span class ="pagenum">94</span><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">
+  </a> and happiness were soon to be dashed to pieces.</p>
+    <p>The arrival of the third year's Colonists provoked still greater opposition.
+    Feeling had been gradually rising against the new settlers at every new arrival. The
+    excellence of the later immigrants but led their opponents to be irritated.
+<span class ="pagenum">95</span><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a></p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">FIGHT AND FLIGHT.
+    </div>
+    <p>The year 1815 was a year of world-wide disaster. Napoleon's Europe-shadowing wings
+    had for years been over that continent and he like a ravenous bird had left marks of
+    his ravages among the most prominent European nations. The world had a breathing
+    spell for a short time with Napoleon a virtual prisoner in Elba, but now in March of
+    this year he broke from the perch where he had been tethered and all Europe was again
+    in terror. The nations were thunderstruck; the alarm was deepened by the appearance
+    of Olber's great comet, and in their superstition the ignorant were panic-stricken,
+    while the more religious and informed saw in these terrible events the scenes
+    pictured in the Apocalypse and maintained that the battle of Armageddon was at hand.
+    The epoch-marking battle of Waterloo in June of this year was sufficiently near the
+    picture of blood painted in the Revelation to satisfy the credulous.</p>
+    <p>But in a remote corner of Rupert's Land,<span class ="pagenum">96</span><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">
+  </a> where the number of the combatants was small and the conditions
+    exceedingly primitive the comet was alarming enough. The action of Governor Miles
+    Macdonell in the beginning of 1814, in forbidding the export of food from Rupert's
+    Land and in interfering with the liberty of the traders, Indians and half-breeds, who
+    had regarded themselves as outside of law, and as free as the wind of their wild
+    prairies, produced an open and out-spoken dissent from every class.</p>
+    <p>The Nor'-Westers took time to consider the grave step of interrupting trade which
+    Governor Miles Macdonell had taken. Immediate action was impossible. It was four
+    hundred miles and more from the Colony to the great emporium of the fur trade on Lake
+    Superior. The annual gathering of the Nor'-Westers was held at Grand Portage, the
+    terminus of a road nine miles long, built to avoid the rapids of the Pigeon River
+    which flows into Lake Superior some thirty or forty miles southwest of where Fort
+    William now stands. This concourse was a notable affair. From distant Athabasca, from
+    the Saskatchewan, from the Red River and from Lake Winnipeg, the traders gathered in
+    their gaily decked canoes, to meet the gentlemen from Montreal, who came to count the
+    gains of the year, and lay out plans for the future. Indians gathered outside
+<span class ="pagenum">97</span><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a> of Grand Portage Fort. The
+    Highland Chieftains were now transformed into factors and traders, and for days they
+    met in counsel together. Their evenings were spent in the great dining room of the
+    Fort in revelry. Songs of the voyage were sung and as the excitement grew more
+    intense the partners would take seats on the floor of the room and each armed with a
+    sword or poker or pair of tongs unite in the paddle song of "A la Claire Fontaine,"
+    and make merry till far on in the morning. The days were laboriously given to
+    business and accounts. When the great MacTavish&mdash;the head of the
+    Nor'-Westers&mdash;was there he was often opposed by the younger men, yet he ended
+    the strife with his tyrannical will and silenced all opposition.</p>
+    <p>The Nor'-Westers at their meeting, July, 1814, under Honorable William
+    McGillivray, after whom Fort William was named, decided to oppose the Colony and sent
+    two of their most aggressive men to meet force with force, and to give Miles
+    Macdonell, the new Dictator, either by arms or by craft, the reward for his tyranny,
+    as they regarded it.</p>
+    <p>The whole body of the traders were incensed against Lord Selkirk, for had not one
+    of the chief Nor'-Wester partners written two years before from London saying, "Lord
+    Selkirk must be driven to abandon his project,<span class ="pagenum">98</span><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">
+  </a> for his success would strike at the very existence of our
+    trade."</p>
+    <p>The two men chosen at the gathering in Grand Portage were well fitted for their
+    work. Most forward was Alexander Macdonell. On his journey writing to a friend he
+    said: "Much is expected of us.... So here is at them with all my heart and energy."
+    But the master-mind was his companion Duncan Cameron who, as a leader, stands out in
+    the conflicts of the times as a determined man, of great executive ability, but of
+    fierce and over-bearing disposition. The Nor'-Westers, having planned bloodshed, all
+    agreed that Duncan Cameron was well chosen. He had been a leading explorer and trader
+    in the Lake Superior district and knew the fur traders' route as few others did. His
+    well-nigh thirty years of service made him a man of outstanding influence in the
+    Company. Moreover, he could be bland and jovial. He had the Celtic adroitness. He
+    knew how to ingratiate himself with every class and possessed all the devices of an
+    envoy. His appearance and dress at Red River were notable. Having had some rank as a
+    U.E. Loyalist leader in the war of 1812, he came to the Forks dressed in a scarlet
+    military coat with all the accoutrements of a Captain in the Army. He even made
+    display of his Captain's Commission by posting it at the gate of Fort Gib<span class ="pagenum">99</span><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>raltar. Of the Fort itself he
+    took possession as Bourgeois or master and laid his plans in August, 1814, for the
+    destruction of the Selkirk Colony. Cameron then began a systematic course of
+    ingratiating himself with the Colonists. Speaking, as he did the Gaelic language, he
+    appealed with much success to his countrymen. He represented himself as their friend
+    and stirred up the people of Red River against Selkirk tyranny. He pictured to them
+    their wrongs, the broken promises of the founder, and the undesirability of remaining
+    in the Colony. He brought the settlers freely to his table, treating them openly to
+    the beverage of their native country, and completely captured the hearts of a number
+    of them. Those, friends of his, he made use of to carry out his deep plans. On the
+    very day of the issue of the rations, he induced some of the Colonists to demand the
+    nine small cannon in the Colony store houses. The request was refused by Archibald
+    Macdonald, the acting Governor. The settlers then went forward, broke open the store
+    houses and removed the cannon. Macdonald now arrested the leading settler, who had
+    taken the field pieces, whereupon Cameron, like a small Napoleon, incited his clerks
+    and men, to invade the Governor's house and release the prisoner. This was done, and
+    now it may be said that war between the rival Com<span class ="pagenum">100</span><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a>panies
+     was declared. On the return of Miles Macdonald, Cameron
+    ordered his arrest. Macdonell refused to acknowledge the lawfulness of this action.
+    The oily Nor'-Wester Highlander then threatened the people that if the Governor would
+    not submit to the law, the whole body of settlers would be dispossessed of their
+    farms and driven away from the banks of Red River. As if to make this threat seem
+    more real, several loyal settlers were fired at by unseen marksmen.</p>
+    <p>Once having begun, Cameron was not the man to hesitate. Another Nor'-Wester plan
+    was put into effect.</p>
+    <p>Cameron's comrade, Alexander Macdonell, now arrived from the Western plains
+    leading it was said, a band of Cree Indians. The Crees are stubborn and determined
+    warriors, but they are also crafty. The proposal by Alexander Macdonell ("Yellow Head
+    as he was called" to distinguish him), was gravely considered by the Indians. The
+    Indians respect authority and in this case they were not very sure who had the
+    authority. The Indians declined the offer, and the report proved untrue.</p>
+    <p>The Nor'-Westers were, however, strong in their influence over the Chippewas of
+    Red Lake in Minnesota. Similar propositions were made to the Sand Lake band of this
+    tribe. Though offered a large reward to go on this expedition<span class ="pagenum">101</span><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a> against the Selkirk settlers, the chief refused the
+    bribe, and the tribe declined to undertake the enterprise.</p>
+    <p>Cameron however, knew the importance of keeping up the war-like spirit of his
+    following, and early in June himself took part in an attack upon the Colony houses.
+    The affray took place on the edge of the wood near the Governor's residence. Surgeon
+    White and Burke the store-keeper, narrowly escaped being killed by the shots fired
+    and four of the servants were actually wounded. Cameron like a real operator
+    effusively thanked his followers for their grand attack. This state of constant
+    hostility, ostensibly on account of the refusal of Governor Macdonell to respect the
+    legal summons served upon him, was ended by the surrender of Miles Macdonell, who was
+    taken as a prisoner to Montreal, though he was never brought up for trial.</p>
+    <p>Thus far Cameron had succeeded in his plans. He was an artful plotter. His capture
+    of Miles Macdonell gave him great prestige. Besides, he had roused feelings of
+    serious discontent in the minds of nearly all of the Selkirk Colonists. His apparent
+    sincerity and kindness to them had also won their hearts. He was now to make the
+    greatest move in the game. This was nothing less than a tempting offer to transfer
+    the whole of them to the fertile townships<span class ="pagenum">102</span><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">
+  </a> of Upper Canada. He provided all the means of transport, he
+    promised them free lands in the neighborhood of market towns&mdash;two hundred acres
+    to each family. Any wages due to them by Lord Selkirk he would pay and should
+    three-quarters of the Colony accept his offer they would have provisions provided for
+    a year free of cost. When the poor Colonists thought of the bleak, uncultivated
+    country in which they were, of the inevitable hardships which lay before them, and
+    saw the dangerous, unsettled state of the Selkirk settlement, they could not well
+    resist the offer. Furthermore, the schemer did not stop here. As was afterward found
+    out, George Campbell, the arch-agitator and leader among the disaffected settlers
+    received a promise of &pound;100, and others of &pound;20 and the like. Further to
+    allay their fears it was urged that they were going where the British flag was flying
+    and where the truest loyalty prevailed. It was pointed out that it had been to
+    prevent any obstacles being raised against their going, that the nine guns had been
+    seized and were in the custody of the Nor'-Westers. Accordingly full arrangements
+    were made. A supply of canoes was obtained and on the 15th of June, 1815, no less
+    than one hundred and forty of the two hundred Colonists on Red River embarked and
+    drifted down the river on their long canoe voyage<span class ="pagenum">103</span><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">
+  </a> of more than a thousand miles. By the end of July they had gone
+    over the dangerous Fur traders' route and passing over four or five hundred miles
+    reached Fort William, near Lake Superior. But their journey was not one-half over.
+    Along the base of the rugged shores of Lake Superior, through the St. Mary's River,
+    down the foaming Sault and then along the shores of Georgian Bay, they paddled their
+    way to Penetanguishene. From this point they crossed southward to Holland Landing,
+    which is forty miles north of Toronto, and arrived at their destination on the 5th of
+    September.</p>
+    <p>It is hard to find a parallel for such a journey. They were a large body, made up
+    of men, women, and children, continuously journeying for eighty-two days, through an
+    unsettled and barren country, running dangerous rapids, and exposed to storms with a
+    poorly organized commissariat, and under fear of pursuit by the agents of Lord
+    Selkirk, to whom many of them were personally bound. In the township of West
+    Gwillinbury, north of Toronto, near London, and in the Talbot settlement, near St.
+    Thomas&mdash;all in Upper Canada&mdash;they received their lands. Half a century
+    later, in one of the townships north of Toronto, the writer had pointed out to him a
+    man named MacBeth weighing two hundred and fifty pounds, of whom it was humourously
+    told that he had<span class ="pagenum">104</span><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a> been carried
+    all the way from Red River. The explanation of course was, that he had been brought
+    as an infant on this famous Hegira of the Selkirk Colonists.</p>
+    <p>The finishing of Cameron's work on the Red River, was handed over to Alexander
+    Macdonell. The plan was nothing less than that the settlers remaining should be
+    driven by force from the banks of Red River. The party led by Macdonell was made up
+    of Bois-Brul&eacute;s, under dashing young Cuthbert Grant. On their agile ponies they
+    appeared like scourging Huns, to drive out the discouraged remnant of Colonists.</p>
+    <p>Each remaining settler was on the 25th of June served with a notice signed by four
+    Nor'-Westers, thus:</p>
+    <p>"All settlers to retire immediately from Red River, and no trace of a settlement
+    to remain." (Signed) Cuthbert Grant, etc.</p>
+    <p>Two days after the notice was served the beleaguered settlers, made up of some
+    thirteen families&mdash;in all from forty to sixty persons, who had remained true to
+    Lord Selkirk and the Colony&mdash;went forth from their homes as sadly as the Acadian
+    refugees from Grand Pr&eacute;. They were allowed to take with them such belongings
+    as they had, and in boats and other craft went pensively down Red River with Lake
+    Winnipeg and Jack River<span class ="pagenum">105</span><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a> in view
+    as their destination. The house of the Governor, the mill, and the buildings which
+    the settlers had begun to build upon their lots were all set on fire and
+    destroyed.</p>
+    <p>The U.E. Loyalists of Upper Canada and Nova Scotia draw upon our sympathies in
+    their sufferings of hunger and hardship, but they afford no parallel to the
+    discouragement, dangers, and dismay of the Selkirk Colonists.</p>
+    <p>Alexander Macdonell's party of seventy or eighty mounted men easily carried out
+    this work of destruction. There was one fly in the ointment for them. The small
+    Hudson's Bay House built by Fidler still remained. Here a daring Celt, John McLeod,
+    was in charge. Seeing the temper of Macdonell's levy McLeod determined to fortify his
+    rude castle. Beside the trading house of the Hudson's Bay Company stood the
+    blacksmith's shop. Hurriedly McLeod, with a cart, carried thither the three-pounder
+    cannon in his possession, then cut up lengths of chain to be his shot and shell, used
+    with care his small supply of powder and with three or four men, his only garrison,
+    stood to his gun and awaited the attack of the Bois-Brul&eacute;s. Being on horseback
+    his assailants could not long face his one piece of artillery. It is not known to
+    what extent the assailants suffered in the skirmish, but John Warren, a gentleman of
+    the Hudson's Bay Company, was<span class ="pagenum">106</span><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">
+  </a> killed in the encounter. The siege of McLeod's improvised fort
+    continued for several days, but the defence was successful, and McLeod saved for the
+    Company &pound;1,000 worth of goods.<span class ="pagenum">107</span><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">
+  </a></p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">NO SURRENDER.
+    </div>
+    <p>The crisis has come. The Colony seems to be blotted out. The affair may appear
+    small, being nothing more than the defence of the smithy, with one gun and the most
+    primitive contrivances, yet as Mercutio says of his wound: "'Tis not so deep as a
+    well, nor so wide as a church door; but it is enough."</p>
+    <p>The plucky McLeod, with three men held his fort and though the dusky
+    Bois-brul&eacute;s on their prairie ponies for a time hovered about yet they did not
+    dare to approach the spiteful little field piece. The Metis soon betook themselves
+    westward to their own district of Qu'Appelle.</p>
+    <p>The danger being over for the present, John McLeod began to restore the Colony
+    buildings and even to aim at greater things than had been before.</p>
+    <p>One of the most discouraging things in connection with the Selkirk Colony was the
+    long sea voyage and the difficult land-journey necessary, not only to gain
+    assistance, but even to receive information from the founder in<span class ="pagenum">108</span><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a> Britain for the guidance of the officers in Red
+    River settlement. This being the case McLeod could not wait for orders and so as
+    being temporarily in charge of the Hudson's Bay Company district at Red River, he
+    planned a fort and proceeded at once to build a portion of it. Fortunately across the
+    Red River in what is now the town of St. Boniface, he found the freemen who were
+    willing to help him. He immediately hired a number of these and began work on the new
+    fort.</p>
+    <p>Somewhat lower down the Red River than the Colony gardens he selected a site on
+    the river banks, now partially fallen in, where George Street at the present days
+    ends. Here McLeod began to erect a Governor's House, having confidence that the
+    founder would not desert his Colony. Along with this important project, expecting
+    that the Colonists would return, he turned his men upon the fields of
+    grain&mdash;small, but to them very precious. The yield in this year was good. He
+    also erected new fences and cured for the settlers quantities of hay from the swamp
+    lands.</p>
+    <p>McLeod states in his diary&mdash;of which a copy of the original is in the
+    Provincial Library in Winnipeg&mdash;that Fort Douglas was on the south side of Point
+    Douglas, so called from Lord Selkirk's family name, and which McLeod has some claim
+    to have so christened.<span class ="pagenum">109</span><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a> </p>
+    <p>Meanwhile the Colonists had taken their lonely way by boat or canoe, to the foot
+    of Lake Winnipeg&mdash;not expecting a speedy delivery. They reached their rendezvous
+    in July. Lord Selkirk knew in a general way that his Colony was in danger and so had
+    given orders to his faithful officer&mdash;Colin Robertson, who had done yeoman
+    service in collecting his first party in Scotland, but who was now in Canada&mdash;to
+    engage a number of men and with them proceed to Red River settlement to help his
+    Colonists. That the real state of things was not known to Robertson, or the founder,
+    appears in the fact that Robertson coming from the East with twenty Canadians, passed
+    up the Red River to the Forks to get the first news of the dispersing of the
+    Colonists. With his usual dash their rescuer immediately followed the settlers to
+    Jack River, found them very much discouraged but persuaded them to return again to
+    the banks of the Red River. The work of rebuilding other houses which McLeod had not
+    been able to overtake now went on, and there was the greatest anxiety to hear of Lord
+    Selkirk's plans.</p>
+    <p>The Earl of Selkirk had not become in the slightest degree discouraged. Opposition
+    and failure seemed but to inspire him the more. On the return of Miles Macdonell as a
+    prisoner to Montreal in the hands of the Nor'-<span class ="pagenum">110</span><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">
+  </a> Wester emmissaries, the founder immediately sought for a competent
+    successor to Macdonell, and determined to send out the best and strongest party of
+    settlers that had yet been gathered.</p>
+    <p>He appointed, backed by all the influence of the Hudson's Bay Company, a retired
+    officer, Captain Robert Semple. The new Governor was of American origin, born in
+    Philadelphia, but had been in the British army. He was a distinctly high-class man,
+    though Masson's estimate is probably true&mdash;"A man not very conciliatory, it is
+    true, but intelligent, honorable and a man of integrity." He was an author of some
+    note, but as it proved, too good or too inexperienced a man for the lawless region to
+    which he was sent.</p>
+    <p>It would have been almost useless to despatch a new Governor to the Red River
+    settlement unless there had also been obtained a number of settlers to fill the place
+    of those so skillfully led away by Duncan Cameron. Lord Selkirk now secured the best
+    band of Emigrants attainable. These were from a rural parish on the East Coast of
+    Sutherlandshire in Scotland. They were from Helmsdale and from the parish of Kildonan
+    and the noble founder afterwards conferred this name on their new parish on the banks
+    of the Red River. The names of Matheson, Bannerman,<span class ="pagenum">111</span><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a> Sutherland, Polson, Gunn and the like show the
+    sturdy character of this band whose descendents are taking their full part in the
+    affairs of the Province of Manitoba of to-day. Governor Semple accompanied this party
+    of about one hundred settlers, and by way of the Hudson Bay route reached the Red
+    River Settlement in the same year in which they started. They joined the restored
+    settlers, whom Colin Robertson had placed upon their lands again. With Governor
+    Semple's contingent came James Sutherland, an elder of the Church of Scotland, who
+    was authorized to baptize and marry. He was the first ordained man who reached the
+    Selkirk Colony. The influx of new and old settlers to the Colony, and the imperfect
+    preparations made for their shelter and sustenance led to the whole Company betaking
+    itself for the winter to Pembina, where at Fort Daer they might be within reach of
+    the buffalo herds. Governor Semple accompanied the settlers to Pembina, though
+    Alexander Macdonell had charge for the winter. In October of 1815, as the settlers
+    were preparing for their winter quarters, the authorities of the Colony thought it
+    right to seize Fort Gibraltar, and to retake the field pieces and other property of
+    the Colony, which the "Nor'-Westers" had captured. This was done and Duncan Cameron
+    who had returned was also taken prisoner.
+
+<span class ="pagenum">112</span><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a>
+<span class ="pagenum">113</span><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a> Cameron, on his promising to
+    keep the peace was almost immediately restored to his liberty and to the command of
+    his fort. The feeling, however, all over the country where there were rival Forts was
+    not a happy one and gave anxiety to both parties as to the future. After New Year,
+    1816, Governor Semple returned from Pembina and counselled with Colin Robertson, as
+    to the disturbed state of things. They came to the conclusion that the only safe
+    course was to again capture Fort Gibraltar. This they did about April, 1816, and
+    again held Cameron as a prisoner. Duncan Cameron was however a dangerous prisoner.
+    His ingenuity, courage, and force of character were so great that at any time he
+    might be the centre of a movement among the Metis. It was in consequence decided that
+    Duncan Cameron should be taken as a captive to England by way of York Factory and be
+    tried across seas. Colin Robertson was instructed to conduct him to York Factory. No
+    doubt this was a reprisal for the arrest and banishment meted out to Miles Macdonell.
+    Cameron was delayed at York Factory on his way to England for more than a year and
+    after a short stay in Britain returned to Canada. He afterwards obtained damages of
+    &pound;3,000 for his illegal detention.</p>
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_122.jpg" ><img class="figcenterw"
+      src="images/illus_122.jpg" alt="Fort Douglas" title="" /></a> <br />
+       <span class="caption">FORT DOUGLAS<br />
+       From copy of a Pencil sketch made by Lord Selkirk and obtained by the
+      author</span>
+    </div>
+    <p>But there was future trouble brewing all through the West.<span class ="pagenum">114</span><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a> </p>
+    <p>The new Governor, however, unaware of the real state of matters in Rupert's Land
+    and probably ignorant of the claim of Canada to the West, and of the force of a
+    customary occupation of the land, procured with high-handed zeal a further reprisal.
+    Before Colin Robertson had gone to conduct Cameron to York Factory the Governor and
+    Robertson had discussed the advisability of dismantling Fort Gibraltar. To this
+    course Robertson, knowing the irritation which this would cause to the Nor'-Westers
+    strongly objected. For the time the proposal was dropped, but when Robertson had
+    gone, then the Governor proceeded with a force of thirty men to pull down Gibraltar,
+    which was done in a week. The stockade was taken down, carried to the Red River and
+    made into a raft. Upon this was piled the material of the buildings, and the whole
+    was floated to the site of Fort Douglas and used in erecting a new structure and
+    fully completing the Fort which John McLeod had begun. The same aggressive course was
+    pursued under orders from the Governor in regard to Pembina House which was captured,
+    its occupants sent as prisoners to Fort Douglas, and its stores confiscated for the
+    use of the Colony. The spirit shown by Governor Semple, it is suggested, had
+    something of the same treatment as that given to the Colonists by the official
+    classes in England against<span class ="pagenum">115</span><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">
+  </a> which Edmund Burke burst out with such vehemence in his great
+    orations.</p>
+    <p>Governor Semple's course would not satisfy Colin Robertson nor would it have been
+    approved by Lord Selkirk. The course was his own and fully did he afterwards pay the
+    price for his aggressions.</p>
+    <p>The last acts of Governor Semple as the report of them was carried westward and
+    repeated over the camp fires of the Nor'-Westers and their Bois-brul&eacute;s
+    horsemen and voyageurs caused the most violent excitement. The Metis claimed a right
+    in the soil from their Indian mothers. The Indian title had never been extinguished
+    and afterwards Lord Selkirk found it necessary to make a treaty and satisfy the
+    Indian claim. The Nor'-Westers were also by a good number of years the first
+    occupants of the Red River district. The Canadian discovery of the West by French
+    traders, the daring occupation by Findlay, the Frobishers, Thompson, and Sir
+    Alexander Mackenzie all from Montreal even to the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, seemed
+    strong to Canadians as against the undefined and shadowy claim to the soil of Lord
+    Selkirk and his officers.</p>
+    <p>Certain signs of coming trouble might have pressed themselves upon Governor
+    Semple. He had eyes but he saw not.</p>
+    <p>The Indians, it is true, with their reverence<span class ="pagenum">116</span><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">
+  </a> for King George III., and showing their silver medals with the old
+    King's face upon them, were disposed to take sides with the British Company. This may
+    have confirmed Semple in the tyrannical course he had followed, but had he studied
+    the action of the free traders it might have opened his eyes. Just as certain animals
+    of the prairie exposed to enemies have an instinctive feeling of coming danger, so
+    these denizens of the plains felt the approach of trouble, and with their wives and
+    half-breed children betook themselves&mdash;bag and baggage&mdash;to the far Western
+    plains where the buffalo runs, and remained there to let the storm blow past, to
+    return to the "Forks" in more peaceful times.</p>
+    <p>Lord Selkirk, Lady Selkirk, with his Lordship's son and two daughters, were on the
+    other hand drawing nearer to the scene of conflict, as they came to Montreal in the
+    summer of 1815. In the spring Lord Selkirk started westward to see the vast estate
+    which he possessed, but alas! only to see it in the throes of division, of excited
+    passion and of bloody conflict, and to face one of the greatest catastrophes of new
+    world Colonization.<span class ="pagenum">117</span><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a> </p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">SEVEN OAKS MASSACRE.
+    </div>
+    <p>Semple's course is on trial. Self-assertion and dictation bring their own penalty
+    with them. That so experienced a leader as Colin Robertson, who had been in both
+    Companies, who knew the native element, and was acquainted with the daring and
+    recklessness of the Nor'-Wester leaders, hesitated about demolishing Fort Gibraltar
+    should have given Governor Semple pause. Ignorance and inexperience sometimes give
+    men rare courage. But while Semple was self-confident he could not be exonerated from
+    paying the price of his rashness.</p>
+    <p>Undoubtedly the Governor knew that the "Nor'-Westers" after their aggressiveness
+    during the year 1815 were planning an attack upon Fort Douglas and upon the
+    Colonists. Letters intercepted by the Governor acquainted him with the fact that an
+    expedition was coming from Fort William in the East to fall upon the devoted Colony;
+    also a letter from Qu'Appelle written by Cuthbert Grant, the young Bois-<span class ="pagenum">118</span><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a>brul&eacute;s leader, to John
+    Dugald Cameron, stated that the native horsemen were coming in the spring from the
+    Saskatchewan forts to join those of Qu'Appelle, and says the writer, "It is hoped we
+    shall come off with flying colors, and never to see any of them again in the
+    Colonizing way in Red River."</p>
+    <p>The evidence in hand was clear enough to the Governor. He expected the attack, and
+    as a soldier he took action from the military standpoint in destroying the enemy's
+    base in levelling their Fort Gibraltar. But on the other hand there was no open war.
+    The forms of law were being followed by the Nor'-Westers, whose officers were
+    magistrates, and who held that by the authorization of the British Parliament the
+    administration of justice in the Western Territories was given over to Canada. The
+    decision afterwards given in the De Reinhard case in Quebec seems against this
+    theory, but this was the popular opinion.</p>
+    <p>Thus it came about that among the Hudson's Bay Company fur traders, who were
+    somewhat doubtful about Lord Selkirk's movement, and certainly among all the
+    "Nor'-Westers," who included the French Canadian voyageur population, Governor
+    Semple's action was looked upon as illegal and unjust in destroying Fort Gibraltar
+    and appropriating its materials for building up the Colony Headquarters&mdash;Fort
+    Douglas.<span class ="pagenum">119</span><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a> </p>
+    <p>As the spring opened the wildest rumours of approaching conflict spread through
+    the whole fifteen hundred miles of country from Fort William on Lake Superior, to the
+    Prairie Fort, where Edmonton now stands on the North Saskatchewan. The excitement was
+    especially high in the Qu'Appelle district, some three hundred miles west of Red
+    River.</p>
+    <p>As the spring of 1815 opened, all eyes were looking to the action of the "New
+    Nation" on the Qu'Appelle River as the Bois-brul&eacute;s under Cuthbert Grant called
+    themselves. As the whole of these events were afterwards investigated by the law
+    courts of Upper Canada, there is substantial agreement about the facts. The first
+    violence of the season is described by Lieutenant Pambrun, a most accurate writer. He
+    had served in the war of 1812 and gained distinction. On entering the Hudson's Bay
+    Company service he was sent to Qu'Appelle district. In order to supply food at Fort
+    Douglas Pambrun started down the river to reach the Fort by descending the
+    Assiniboine with five boat loads of pemmican and furs. At a landing place in the
+    river Pambrun's convoy was surrounded and his goods seized by Cuthbert Grant, Pambrun
+    himself being kept for five days as a prisoner. While in custody Pambrun saw every
+    evidence of war-like intentions on the part of the half-breeds. Cuthbert Grant fre<span class ="pagenum">120</span><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a>quently announced their
+    determination to destroy the Selkirk Settlement; in boastful language it was declared
+    that the Bois-brul&eacute;s would bow to no authority in Rupert's Land; in their
+    gatherings they sang French war-songs to keep up the spirit of their corps. There was
+    a ring of growing nationality in all their utterances.</p>
+    <p>A start was made late in May for the scene of action. Their prisoner Lieutenant
+    Pambrun was taken with them and the captured pemmican was carried along as supplies
+    for the journey.</p>
+    <p>On the way an episode of some moment occurred. On the river bank a band of Cree
+    Indians was encamped.</p>
+    <p>Commander Macdonell addressed the redmen through an interpreter to incite them to
+    action. A portion of his address was:</p>
+    <p>My Friends and Relations,&mdash;"I address you bashfully, for I have not a pipe of
+    tobacco to give you.... The English have been spoiling the fair lands which belonged
+    to you and the Bois-brul&eacute;s and to which they have no right. They have been
+    driving away the buffalo. You will soon be poor and miserable if the English stay.
+    But we will drive them away, if the Indian does not, for the 'Nor'-West' Company and
+    the Bois-brul&eacute;s are one. If you (turning<span class ="pagenum">121</span><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">
+  </a> to the chief) and some of your young men will join I shall be
+    glad."</p>
+    <p>But the taciturn Indian Chief coldly declined the polite proposal. As the party
+    passed Brandon House Pambrun saw in the North-West Fort near by, tobacco, tools and
+    furs, which had been captured by the Nor'-Westers from the Hudson's Bay Company fort.
+    When Portage la Prairie was reached&mdash;about sixty miles from "The
+    Forks"&mdash;the Bois-brul&eacute;s cavalcade was organized.</p>
+    <p>The half-breeds were mounted on their prairie steeds and formed a company of sixty
+    men under command of Cuthbert Grant. Dressed in their blue capotes and encircled by
+    red sashes the men of this irregular cavalry had an imposing effect, especially as
+    they were provided with every variety of arms from muskets and pistols down to bows
+    and arrows. They were all expert riders and could equal in their feats on horseback
+    the fabled Centaurs.</p>
+    <p>Down the Portage road which is a prolongation of the great business street of
+    Winnipeg running to the West, they came. On the 19th of June, 1816, they had arrived
+    within four miles of the Colony headquarters&mdash;Fort Douglas. Here at Boggy Creek,
+    called also Cat-Fish Creek, a Council of War was held. Some importance has been
+    attached to their action at this point, as showing their motive. That they
+<span class ="pagenum">122</span><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a> did not intend to attack Fort
+    Douglas has been maintained, else they would not have turned off the Portage Road and
+    have crossed the prairie to the Northeast. There is nothing in this contention. The
+    plan of campaign was that the Fort William expedition and they were to meet at some
+    point on the banks of Red River, before they took further action. Showing how well
+    both parties had timed their movements, at this very moment those coming from the
+    East under Trader Alexander McLeod, had reached a small tributary of Red River some
+    forty miles from Fort Douglas. That they at present wished to avoid Fort Douglas is
+    certainly true. Governor Semple and his garrison were on the look-out, and the alarm
+    being given, the party from the Fort sallied forth. Was it to parley? or to
+    fight?</p>
+    <p>The events which followed are well told in the evidence given by Mr. John
+    Pritchard, who afterwards acted as Lord Selkirk's secretary. Mr. Pritchard was the
+    grandfather of the present Archbishop Matheson of Rupert's Land. His evidence has
+    been in almost every respect corroborated by other eye-witnesses of this bloody
+    event:</p>
+    <p>"On the evening of the 19th of June, 1816, I had been upstairs in my own room, in
+    Fort Douglas, and about six o'clock I heard the boy at the watch house give the alarm
+    that the<span class ="pagenum">123</span><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a> Bois-brul&eacute;s
+    were coming. A few of us, among whom was Governor Semple&mdash;there were perhaps six
+    altogether&mdash;looked through a spyglass, from a place that had been used as a
+    stable, and we distinctly saw armed persons going along the plains. Shortly after, I
+    heard the same boy call out, that the party on horseback were making to the
+    settlers."</p>
+    <p>"About twenty of us, in obedience to the Governor," who said, 'We must go and see
+    what these people are,' took our arms. He could only let about twenty go, at least he
+    told about twenty to follow him, to come with him; there was, however, some confusion
+    at the time, and I believe a few more than twenty accompanied us. Having proceeded
+    about half a mile towards the settlement, we saw, behind a point of wood which goes
+    down to the river, that the party increased very much. Mr. Semple, therefore, sent
+    one of the people (Mr. Burke) to the Fort for a piece of cannon and as many men as
+    Mr. Miles Macdonell could spare. Mr. Burke, however, not returning soon, Governor
+    Semple said, 'Gentlemen, we had better go on, and we accordingly proceeded. We had
+    not gone far before we saw the Bois-brul&eacute;s returning towards us, and they
+    divided into two parties, and surrounded us in the shape of a half-moon or
+    half-circle. On our way, we met a number of the settlers crying, and speaking in the
+    Gaelic language, which I do not understand, and they went on to the Fort. went on to
+    the Fort.<br />
+<span class ="pagenum">124</span>
+    </p>
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_134.jpg" ><img class="figcenterh"
+      src="images/illus_134.jpg" alt="RED RIVER SETTLEMENT" title="" /></a><br />
+    </div>
+    <div class="imglist">
+      <span class="caption">RED RIVER SETTLEMENT Fac-simile of section of Map
+      (1818).<br />
+       A&mdash;Seven Oaks, where Semple fell.<br />
+       B&mdash;Creek where Metis left Assiniboine.<br />
+       C&mdash;Frog Plain (since Kildonan church).<br />
+       E to F&mdash;De Meuron Settlers on Seine.<br />
+       G&mdash;Half-breeds (St. Boniface of to-day).<br />
+       H&mdash;Fort Douglas (1815).<br />
+       I&mdash;Colony Gardens.<br />
+       J&mdash;Fort Gibraltar (N.W. Co.)<br />
+       K&mdash;Road followed by Metis.<br />
+       L&mdash;Dry Cart trail west of Settlers' lots.</span>
+    </div>
+    <p><br />
+<span class ="pagenum">125</span><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a></p>
+    <p>"The party on horseback had got pretty near to us, so that we could discover that
+    they were painted and disguised in the most hideous manner; upon this, as they were
+    retreating, a Frenchman named Boucher advanced, waving his hand, riding up to us, and
+    calling out in broken English, 'What do you want? What do you want?' Governor Semple
+    said. 'What do <i>you</i> want?' Mr. Burke not coming on with the cannon as soon as
+    he was expected, the Governor directed the party to proceed onwards; we had not gone
+    far before we saw the Bois-brul&eacute;s returning upon us.</p>
+    <p>"Upon observing that they were so numerous, we had extended our line, and got more
+    into the open plain; as they advanced, we retreated; but they divided themselves into
+    two parties, and surrounded us again in the shape of a half-moon."</p>
+    <p>"Boucher then came out of the ranks of his party, and advanced towards us (he was
+    on horseback), calling out in broken English, 'What do you want? What do you want?'
+    Governor Semple answered, 'What do <i>you</i> want?' To which Boucher answered, 'We
+    want our Fort.' The Governor said, 'Well, go to your Fort.' After that I did not hear
+    anything that passed, as they were close together. I saw the<span class ="pagenum">126</span><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a> Governor putting his hand on Boucher's gun.
+    Expecting an attack to be made instantly, I had not been looking at Governor Semple
+    and Boucher for some time; but just then I happened to turn my head that way, and
+    immediately I heard a shot, and directly afterwards a general firing. I turned round
+    upon hearing the shot, and saw Mr. Holte, one of our officers, struggling as if he
+    were shot. He was on the ground. On their approach, as I have said, we had extended
+    our line on the plain, by each taking a place at a greater distance from the other.
+    This had been done by the Governor's orders, and we each took such places as best
+    suited our individual safety.</p>
+    <p>"From not seeing the firing begin, I cannot say from whom it first came; but
+    immediately upon hearing the first shot, I turned and saw Lieut. Holte struggling."
+    (Several persons present at the affair, such as a blacksmith named Heden, and McKay,
+    a settler, distinctly state that the first shot fired was from the Bois-brul&eacute;s
+    and that by it Lieut. Holte fell).</p>
+    <p>"As to our attacking our assailants, one of our people, Bruin, I believe, did
+    propose that we should keep them off; and the Governor turned round and asked who
+    could be such a rascal as to make such a proposition? and that he should hear no word
+    of that kind again. The Governor was very much displeased indeed at
+<span class ="pagenum">127</span><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a> the suggestion made. A fire was
+    kept up for several minutes after the first shot, and I saw a number wounded; indeed,
+    in a few minutes almost all our people were either killed or wounded. I saw Sinclair
+    and Bruin fall, either wounded or killed; and a Mr. McLean, a little in front
+    defending himself, but by a second shot I saw him fall.</p>
+    <p>"At this time I saw Captain Rodgers getting up again, but not observing any of our
+    people standing, I called out to him, 'Rodgers, for God's sake give yourself up! Give
+    yourself up!' Captain Rodgers ran toward them, calling out in English and in broken
+    French, that he surrendered, and that he gave himself up, and praying them to save
+    his life. Thomas McKay, a Bois-brul&eacute;s, shot him through the head, and another
+    Bois-brul&eacute;s dashed upon him with a knife, using the most horrid imprecations
+    to him. I did not see the Governor fall. I saw his corpse the next day at the Fort.
+    When I saw Captain Rodgers fall, I expected to share his fate. As there was a
+    French-Canadian among those who surrounded me, who had just made an end of my friend,
+    I said, 'Lavigne, you are a Frenchman, you are a man, you are a Christian. For God's
+    sake save my life! For God's sake try and save it! I give myself up; I am your
+    prisoner.' McKay, who was among this party, and who knew me, said, 'You little toad,
+    what do you do here?'<span class ="pagenum">128</span><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a> He spoke
+    in French, and called me 'un petit crapaud,' and asked what I did here! I fully
+    expected then to lose my life. I again appealed to Lavigne, and he joined in
+    entreating them to spare me. I told them over and over again that I was their
+    prisoner, and I had something to tell them. They, however, seemed determined to take
+    my life. They struck at me with their guns, and Lavigne caught some of the blows, and
+    joined me in entreating for my safety. He told them of my kindness on different
+    occasions. I remonstrated that I had thrown down my arms and was at their mercy. One
+    Primeau wished to shoot me; he said I had formerly killed his brother. I begged him
+    to recollect my former kindness to him at Qu'Appelle. At length they spared me,
+    telling me I was a little dog, and had not long to live, and that he (Primeau) would
+    find me when he came back.</p>
+    <p>"Then I went to Frog Plain (Kildonan), in charge of Boucher. In going to the plain
+    I was again threatened by one of the party, and saved by Boucher, who conducted me
+    safely to Frog Plain. I there saw Cuthbert Grant, who told me that they did not
+    expect to have met us on the plain, but that their intention was to have surprised
+    the Colony, and that they would have hunted the Colonists like buffaloes. He also
+    told me they expected to have got round unperceived, and at night would have sur<span class ="pagenum">129</span><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a>rounded the Fort and have shot
+    everyone who left it; but being seen, their scheme had been destroyed or frustrated.
+    They were all painted and disfigured so that I did not know many. I should not have
+    known that Cuthbert Grant was there, though I knew him well, had he not spoken to
+    me."</p>
+    <p>"Grant told me that Governor Semple was not mortally wounded by the shot he
+    received, but that his thigh was broken. He said that he spoke to the Governor after
+    he was wounded, and had been asked by him to have him taken to the Fort, and as he
+    was not mortally wounded he thought he might perhaps live. Grant said he could not
+    take him himself as he had something else to do, but that he would send some person
+    to convey him on whom he might depend, and that he left him in charge of a
+    French-Canadian and went away; but that almost directly after he had left him, an
+    Indian, who, he said, was the only rascal they had, came up and shot him in the
+    breast, and killed him on the spot.</p>
+    <p>"The Bois-brul&eacute;s, who very seldom paint or disguise themselves, were on
+    this occasion painted as I have been accustomed to see the Indians at their
+    war-dance; they were very much painted, and disguised in a hideous manner. They gave
+    the war-whoop when they met Governor Semple and his party; they made a hideous noise
+    and shouting. I know from Grant,<span class ="pagenum">130</span><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">
+  </a> as well as from other Bois-brul&eacute;s, and other settlers, that
+    some of the Colonists had been taken prisoners. Grant told me that they were taken to
+    weaken the Colony, and prevent its being known that they were there&mdash;they having
+    supposed that they had passed the Fort unobserved.</p>
+    <p>"Their intention clearly was to pass the Fort. I saw no carts, though I heard they
+    had carts with them. I saw about five of the settlers prisoners in the camp at Frog
+    Plain. Grant said to me further: 'You see we have had but one of our people killed,
+    and how little quarter we have given you. Now, if Fort Douglas is not given up with
+    all the public property instantly and without resistance, man, women and child will
+    be put to death.' He said the attack would be made upon it that night, and if a
+    single shot were fired, that would be a signal for the indiscriminate destruction of
+    every soul. I was completely satisfied myself that the whole would be destroyed, and
+    I besought Grant, whom I knew, to suggest or let them try and devise some means to
+    save the women and children. I represented to him that they could have done no harm
+    to anybody, whatever he or his party might think the men had. I entreated him to take
+    compassion on them. I reminded him that they were his father's country-women and in
+    his deceased father's name, I begged him to take pity and compassion on them and
+    spare them.<span class ="pagenum">131</span><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a> </p>
+    <p>At last he said, if all the arms and public property were given up, we should be
+    allowed to go away. After inducing the Bois-brul&eacute;s to allow me to go to Fort
+    Douglas, I met our people; they were long unwilling to give up, but at last our Mr.
+    Macdonell, who was now in charge consented. We went together to the Frog Plain, and
+    an inventory of the property was taken when we had returned to the Fort. The Fort was
+    delivered over to Cuthbert Grant, who gave receipts on each sheet of the inventory
+    signed 'Cuthbert Grant, acting for the North-West Company.' I remained at Fort
+    Douglas till the evening of the 22nd, when all proceeded down the river&mdash;the
+    settlers, a second time on their journey into exile.</p>
+    <p>"The Colonists, it is true, had little now to leave. They were generally employed
+    in agricultural pursuits, in attending to their farms, and the servants of the
+    Hudson's Bay Company in their ordinary avocations. They lived in tents or in huts. In
+    1816 at Red River there was but one residence, the Governor's which was in Fort
+    Douglas. The settlers had lived in houses previous to 1815, but in that year these
+    had been burnt in the attack that had been made upon them. The settlers were employed
+    during the day time on their land, and used to come up to the Fort to sleep in some
+    of the buildings in the enclosure. All was now left behind. The<span class ="pagenum">132</span><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a> Bois-brul&eacute;s victory being now complete, the
+    messenger was despatched Westward to tell the news far and near."<span class ="pagenum">133</span><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a></p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">AFTERCLAPS.
+    </div>
+    <p>The Seven Oaks affair was the most shocking episode that ever occurred in
+    North-Western history. The standing of the victims, including a Governor appointed by
+    the Hudson's Bay Company, his staff men of position, the unexpectedness of the
+    collision, the suddenness of the attack, the destruction of life, the cruelty and
+    injustice of the killing, and the barbarous treatment of the bodies of the dead, by
+    the Bois-brul&eacute;s war party, fill one with horror, and remind one of scenes of
+    butchery in dark Africa or the isles of the South Sea.</p>
+    <p>This is the more remarkable when it is considered that so far as known in the
+    whole two hundred years and more of the career of the Hudson's Bay and Nor'-Wester
+    Companies not so many officers and clerks of these two Companies have altogether
+    perished by violence as in this unfortunate Seven Oaks disaster. No sooner was the
+    massacre over than the Bois-brul&eacute;s took possession of Fort Douglas and were
+    under the command meantime of Cuth<span class ="pagenum">134</span><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a>bert Grant. There was the greatest hilarity among the Metis. This
+    New Nation had been vindicated. About forty-five men under arms held possession of
+    the Fort. The dead left upon the field were still exposed there days after the fight
+    and were torn to pieces by the wild birds and beasts. The body of Governor Semple was
+    carried to the Fort.</p>
+    <p>Word was meanwhile sent to Alexander Macdonell the partner who had brought with
+    him the Qu'Appelle contingent and had waited at Portage la Prairie while Cuthbert
+    Grant with his followers, chiefly disguised as Indians, had gone on their bloody
+    work. Macdonell on receiving the news showed great satisfaction. He announced to
+    those about him that Governor Semple and five of his officers had been killed; and
+    becoming more enthusiastic shouted with an oath in French that twenty-two of the
+    English were slain. His company shouted with joy at his announcement. Macdonell then
+    went to Fort Douglas and took command of it. But what had become of the Eastern
+    Company from Fort William? Of this a discharged non-commissioned officer, Huerter, of
+    one of the mercenary regiments which had fought for Britain against the Americans in
+    the War of 1812 was with them, and gives a good account of the journey. We need only
+    deal with the ending of the expedition. Coming from Lake<span class ="pagenum">135</span><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></a> Winnipeg they reached Nettly Creek two days after
+    the fight at Seven Oaks, expecting there to get news from the Western levy and
+    Alexander Macdonell. But no news of that Company having reached them they started in
+    boats up the Red River to reach the rendezvous agreed on at "Frog Plain," the spot
+    where Kildonan church stands to-day. From this point they expected to meet with their
+    Western reinforcement, and to move upon Fort Douglas and capture it, as Governor
+    Semple had done with Fort Gibraltar. Their commander Archibald Norman McLeod was the
+    senior officer and would later take command.</p>
+    <p>They had on the 23rd of June gone but a little way when they were surprised to
+    meet seven or eight boats laden with men, women and children. These were the fragment
+    of the Colony which had refused to go with Duncan Cameron down to Upper Canada. They
+    had been sheltered in the Fort during the time of the fight and now were rudely
+    driven away from the settlement, according to the announcement of Cuthbert Grant.</p>
+    <p>McLeod ordered the convoy of boats to stop and the Colonists to disembark. Their
+    boxes and packages were opened, including the late Governor Semple's trunks, and
+    examined for papers or letters which might give important information to the captors.
+    The Western levy<span class ="pagenum">136</span><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></a> now joined
+    them, and gave them full news of what had happened.</p>
+    <p>The Colonists were then ordered to re-embark and to proceed upon their journey to
+    their lonely place of banishment whither they had gone the previous year&mdash;Jack
+    River, near Norway House. One of the Bois-brul&eacute;s followed after them to make
+    sure that they went upon their long voyage. McLeod's party then pushed on with great
+    glee to Fort Douglas and were received with discharges of artillery and firearms.
+    McLeod now took command of the captured Fort.</p>
+    <p>Huerter, the discharged soldier, formerly mentioned, went to the field of Seven
+    Oaks about a week after the fight and confirmed Pambrun's account.</p>
+    <p>A.N. McLeod now became the superior officer in the Fort and made preparation for
+    defending it. He himself occupied the late Governor Semple's quarters and passed out
+    compliments to white and native alike, praising them for their daring, their
+    adroitness and their success. A great meeting was then gathered in the Governor's
+    apartments and a levee was held at which all of the servants and employees of the
+    Company were present, and in a speech McLeod told the audience that the English had
+    no right to build upon their lands without their permission&mdash;a new doctrine
+    surely.<span class ="pagenum">137</span><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a> </p>
+    <p>Leaving Fort Douglas McLeod with his officers and the Bois-brul&eacute;s all
+    mounted, made an imposing procession up to the site of old Fort Gibraltar. Here
+    Peguis, now the chief of the Saulteaux who had shown such kindness to the settlers
+    was camped, and to him and his followers McLeod showed his great displeasure. The
+    Indian always loved the British-man, whom on the west coast he called, "King
+    Shautshman," or King George's man.</p>
+    <p>The Indian is taciturn, unemotional, and cautious. He knew that the
+    Bois-brul&eacute;s had assumed their garb and committed the outrage of Seven Oaks,
+    and therefore the tribe were unwilling to be under the stigma being thrown upon them.
+    When McLeod had failed in his appeal, he laid many sins to their charge. They had
+    allowed the English to carry away Duncan Cameron to Hudson Bay, they were a band of
+    dogs, and he would count them always as his enemies if they should hold to their
+    English friends. Peguis, who was a master diplomat, looked on with attention and held
+    his peace.</p>
+    <p>It was now about a week from the time of the massacre. Huerter, the discharged
+    soldier spoken of, rode down with a party from the Fort to the field of Seven Oaks.
+    He saw a number of human bodies scattered on the plain, and in most cases the flesh
+    had been torn off to the bone, evidently by dogs and wolves.<span class ="pagenum">138</span><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></a> </p>
+    <p>Far from discouraging the talkative half-breeds, whose blood was up with the
+    sights of carnage, McLeod and his fellow-officers expressed their approbation of the
+    deeds done, and the Bois-brul&eacute;s became boisterous in detailing their
+    victories. The worst of the whole, old Deschamps, a French-Canadian, who murdered the
+    disabled even when they cried for quarter, drew forth as he detailed his valorous
+    actions to Alexander Macdonell, the exclamation, "What a fine, vigorous old man he
+    is!" On the evening of this Red-letter day of the visit to the Indian encampment and
+    to Seven Oaks, a wild and heathenish orgy took place. The Bois-brul&eacute;s bedecked
+    their naked bodies with Indian trinkets and executed the dance of victory, as had
+    done their savage ancestors. The effect of these dances is marvellous. By a
+    contagious shout they excite each other. They reach a frenzy which communicates
+    itself with hypnotic effect to the whole dancing circle. At times men tear their
+    hair, cut their flesh or even mutilate their limbs for life. The "tom-tom," or Indian
+    drum, adds to the power of monotonous rhythm and to the spirit of excitement and
+    frenzy.</p>
+    <p>To the partners McLeod and the others, however much in earnest the actors might
+    be, it afforded much amusement, and gave hope of a strength and enthusiasm that would
+    bind them fast to the "Nor'-Wester" side.<span class ="pagenum">139</span><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">
+  </a> </p>
+    <p>The struggle over and the battle won, while leaving the garrison sufficient to
+    hold the fort, ten days after the fight the partners and those forming the Northern
+    brigade, who were to penetrate to the wilds to Athabasca, departed. They were
+    following down the Red River and Lake Winnipeg, in the very path which the fleeing
+    Colonists had gone, but they would turn toward the "Grand Rapids" at the spot where
+    the great river of the West pours into Lake Winnipeg, and by this way speed
+    themselves to the great hunting fields of the North. The departure of what was called
+    the Grand Brigade was signalized by an artillery salute from Fort Douglas, which
+    resounded through the wretched ruins of the houses burnt the previous year, and over
+    the fields deserted by the Colonists and left to the chattering blackbird and the
+    howling wolf. Almost every race of people&mdash;however small&mdash;has its bard.
+    Among the Bois-brul&eacute;s was the son of old Pierre Falcon, a French-Canadian, of
+    some influence among the natives. This young poet was a character. He had the French
+    vivacity, the prejudice of race, the devotion to the Scotch Fur Company and a
+    considerable rhyming talent. Many years after Pierre Falcon won the admiration of the
+    buffalo hunter and was the friend of all the dusky maidens who followed his song of
+    love or war alike. He it was who sang<span class ="pagenum">140</span><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">
+  </a> the song of his race and helped to keep up the love of fun among
+    the French people of the Red River. It was reminiscent of victory and also a forecast
+    of future influence and power. Various versions of Pierre Falcon's song have come
+    down to us celebrating the victory of Seven Oaks. We give a simple translation of the
+    bard's effusion:</p>
+    <div class="poem">
+      <p><span class="smcap">Pierre Falcon's Song.</span></p>
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <span class="i0">Come listen to this song of truth!<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">A song of the brave Bois-brul&eacute;s,<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">Who at Frog Plain took three captives,<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">Strangers come to rob our country.<br />
+        </span>
+      </div>
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <span class="i0">When dismounting there to rest us,<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">A cry is raised&mdash;the English!<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">They are coming to attack us,<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">So we hasten forth to meet them.<br />
+        </span>
+      </div>
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <span class="i0">I looked upon their army,<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">They are motionless and downcast;<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">So, as honor would incline us<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">We desire with them to parley.<br />
+        </span>
+      </div>
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <span class="i0">But their leader, moved with anger,<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">Gives the word to fire upon us;<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">And imperiously repeats it,<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">Rushing on to this destruction.<br />
+        </span>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+<span class ="pagenum">141</span>
+    <div class="poem">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <span class="i0">Having seen us pass his stronghold,<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">He had thought to strike with terror<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">The Bois-brul&eacute;s; ah! mistaken,<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">Many of his soldiers perish.<br />
+        </span>
+      </div>
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <span class="i0">But a few escaped the slaughter,<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">Rushing from the field of battle;<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">Oh, to see the English fleeing!<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">Oh, the shouts of their pursuers!<br />
+        </span>
+      </div>
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <span class="i0">Who has sung this song of triumph?<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">The good Pierre Falcon had composed it,<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">That the praise of these Bois-brul&eacute;s<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">Might be evermore recorded.<br />
+        </span>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+<span class ="pagenum">142</span>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">THE SILVER CHIEF ARRIVES.
+    </div>
+    <p>The scene changes to the home of the founder of the Colony. The Earl of Selkirk is
+    living at his interesting seat&mdash;St. Mary's Isle, and letter after letter arrives
+    which has taken many weeks on the road, coming down through trackless prairie, across
+    the middle and Eastern States of America and reaching him via New York. These letters
+    continue to increase in being more and more terrible until his island home seems to
+    be in a state of siege.</p>
+    <p>St. Mary's Isle lies at the mouth of the Dee on Solway Frith, opposite the town of
+    Kirkcudbright. Here in 1778 Paul Jones, the so-called pirate in the employ of the
+    Revolutionary Government in America, had landed, invested the dwelling with his men,
+    and carried away all the plate and jewels of the House of Selkirk. The Old Manor
+    House of St. Mary's Isle, with its very thick stone wall on one side, evidently had
+    been a keep or castle. It was at one time given to the church and became a monastery,
+    then it was enlarged and im<span class ="pagenum">143</span><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"></a>proved to become the dwelling of the family of the Douglasses,
+    which it is to this day.</p>
+    <p>But now the far cry from Red River reverberated across the Atlantic. The startling
+    succession of events of 1815 reached the Earl one after another. It was late in the
+    year when he made up his mind, but taking his Countess, his two daughters and his
+    only son, Dunbar, a mere boy, and crossing the ocean he heard, on his arrival in New
+    York, of the complete destruction by flight and expulsion of the people of his
+    Colony. About the end of October he reached Montreal, but winter was too near to
+    allow him to travel up the lakes and through the wilds to Red River.</p>
+    <p>The winter in Montreal was long, but the atmosphere of opposition to Lord Selkirk
+    in that city, the home of the Nor'-Westers, was more trying to him than the frost and
+    snow. His every movement was watched. Even the avenues of Government power seemed by
+    influential Nor'-Westers to be closed against him. An appeal to Sir Gordon Drummond,
+    the Governor-General, could obtain no more than a promise of a Sergeant and six men
+    to protect him personally should he go to the far West, and the appointment of
+    himself as a Justice of the Peace in Upper Canada and the Indian Territory was
+    grudgingly given.</p>
+    <p>The active mind of his Lordship occupied the<span class ="pagenum">144</span><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">
+  </a> time of winter well. He planned nothing less than introducing to
+    the banks of Red River a body of men as settlers, who could, like the returned exiles
+    to Jerusalem, work with sword in one hand and a tool of industry in the other. The
+    man of resource finds his material ready made. Two mercenary regiments from
+    Switzerland which had been fighting England's battles in America had just been
+    disbanded, and Lord Selkirk at once engaged them to go as settlers, under his pay, to
+    Red River. From the commanding officer of the larger regiment these have always been
+    called the "De Meurons." From these two regiments&mdash;one at Montreal and the other
+    at Kingston&mdash;he engaged an hundred men, each provided with a musket, and with
+    rather more than that number of expert voyageurs started in June 16th, 1816, for the
+    North-West. The route followed by him was up Lake Ontario to Toronto, then across
+    country to Georgian Bay and through it to Ste. Sault Marie. At Drummond Island, being
+    the last British garrison toward the West, he got from the Indians news of the
+    efforts of the Nor'-Westers to involve them in the wars of the whites. The Indians
+    had, however, resisted all their temptations. Lord Selkirk again overtook his party
+    and passed through the St. Mary's River into Lake Superior.</p>
+    <p>Here a new grief awaited him.<span class ="pagenum">145</span><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">
+  </a> </p>
+    <p>Two canoes coming from Fort William brought him the sad news about Governor Semple
+    and his party being killed at Seven Oaks, as it did also of the second expulsion of
+    the Colonists. Lord Selkirk had been intending to go west to where Duluth now stands
+    and then overland to the Red River.</p>
+    <p>He now changed his plans and with true Scottish pluck headed directly to Fort
+    William. Here assaults, arrests and imprisonments took place. It is needless for us
+    to give the details of this unfortunate affair, except to say that the seizure of the
+    Fort brought much trouble afterwards to the founder.</p>
+    <p>Moving some miles up the Kaministiquia River Lord Selkirk made his military
+    encampment, which bore the name of "Pointe De Meuron."</p>
+    <p>Plans were soon made for the spring attack on Fort Douglas.</p>
+    <p>In March, stealthily crossing the silent pathways for upwards of four hundred
+    miles and striking the Red River some where near the international boundary line, the
+    De Meurons came northward and made a circuit towards Silver Heights. There, having
+    constructed ladders, they next made a night attack on Fort Douglas, and being trained
+    soldiers easily captured it, and restored it to its rightful owner, Lord Selkirk.
+<span class ="pagenum">146</span><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a> </p>
+    <p>On May day, 1817, Lord Selkirk, with his body guard, left Fort William and
+    following the water-courses arrived at his own Fort in the last week of June. Fort
+    Douglas was the centre of his Colony, and there he was at once the chief figure of
+    the picture.</p>
+    <p>None of the Selkirk Settlers' descendants who are living to-day saw him in Fort
+    Douglas, but a number who have passed away have told the writer that they remembered
+    him well. He was tall in stature, thin and refined in appearance. He had a benignant
+    face, his manner was easy and polite. To the Indians he was especially interesting.
+    They caught the idea that being a man of title he was in some way closely connected
+    with their Great Father the King. Because of his generosity to them in making a
+    treaty, they called him "The Silver Chief." He was the source of their treaty
+    money.</p>
+    <p>It is said that some of the last party to reach his Colony had seen him at
+    Kildonan in Scotland, where he had visited them, and encouraged them in their
+    departure for the Colony.</p>
+    <p>His first duties were to the unfortunate settlers, who had been brought back from
+    Jack River.</p>
+    <p>Lord Selkirk gathered the Colonists on the spot where the church and burial ground
+    of St. John's are still found. "The Parish," said he, "shall be Kildonan. Here you
+    shall build your<span class ="pagenum">147</span><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a> church, and
+    that lot," he said, pointing to the lot across the little stream called Parsonage
+    Creek, "is for a school." He was thus planning to carry out the devout imagination of
+    the greatest religious leader of his nation, John Knox: "A church and a school for
+    every parish."</p>
+    <p>Perhaps the most interesting episode in Lord Selkirk's visit was his treaty-making
+    with the Indians. The plan of securing a strip of land on each side of the river was
+    said to have been decided to be as much as could be seen by looking under the belly
+    of a horse out upon the prairie. This was about two miles. Hence the river lots were
+    generally about two miles long.</p>
+    <p>His meeting with the Indians was after the manner of a great "Pow-wow." The
+    Indians are fluent and eloquent speakers, though they indulge in endless
+    repetitions.</p>
+    <p>Peguis, the Saulteaux chief, befriended the white man from the beginning. He
+    denounced the Bois-brul&eacute;s. He said, "We do not acknowledge these men as an
+    independent tribe."</p>
+    <p>"L'Homme Noir," the Assiniboine chief, among other things, said: "We have often
+    been told you were our enemy, but we hear from your own mouth the words of a true
+    friend."</p>
+    <p>"Robe Noire," the Chippewa, tried in lofty style to declare: "Clouds have over-<span class ="pagenum">148</span><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></a>whelmed me. I was a long time
+    in doubt and difficulty, but now I begin to see clearly."</p>
+    <p>While Lord Selkirk was still in his Colony, the very serious state of things on
+    the banks of Red River and the pressure of the British Government led to the
+    appointment, by the Governor-General of Canada, of a most clear-minded and
+    peace-loving man as Commissioner. This appointment was all the more pleasing on
+    account of Mr. W.B. Coltman being a resident Canadian of Quebec. Coltman was one man
+    among a thousand. He was patient and kind and just. Though he had come to the Colony
+    prejudiced against Lord Selkirk, he found his Lordship so fair and reasonable that he
+    became much attached to the man represented in Montreal and the far East as a
+    destructive ogre.</p>
+    <p>The Commissioner's report covered one hundred pages, and it was in all respects a
+    model. He thoroughly understood the motives of both parties, and his decisions led to
+    a perfect era of peace, and moreover in the end to the union of the Hudson's Bay and
+    Nor'-West Companies.</p>
+    <p>Lord Selkirk's coming was like a ray of sunshine to the Colonists of Red River.
+    Being of an intensely religious disposition, the people reminded him afterwards that
+    the elder who came out in 1815, who was able to baptize and marry, had been carried
+    away by main force by the Nor'-Westers to Canada in 1818, so that they were
+<span class ="pagenum">149</span><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a> without religious services.
+    They always continued to have prayer meetings and to keep up the pious customs of
+    their fathers. This practise long survived among them. In repeating his promise of a
+    clergyman, Lord Selkirk asserted to them: "Selkirk never forfeited his word."</p>
+    <p>His work done among his Colonists, he left them never to see them again. He went
+    south from Fort Douglas to the United States, visited, it is said, St. Louis, came to
+    the Eastern States, and rejoined in Montreal his Countess and children who had in his
+    absence lived in great anxiety. One of his daughters, afterwards Lady Isabella Hope,
+    told the writer nearly thirty years ago that she as a girl remembered seeing Lord
+    Selkirk as he returned from this long journey, coming around the Island into Montreal
+    Harbor paddled by French voyageurs in swift canoes to his destination. His attention
+    was immediately given to law suits and actions brought against him in the courts of
+    Upper Canada. These legal conflicts originated from the troubles about the two
+    centres&mdash;Fort Douglas and Fort William&mdash;where the collisions had taken
+    place. The influence of the Nor'-Westers in Montreal was so great that the U.E.
+    Loyalists of Upper Canada sympathised with them against the noble philanthropist.
+    Justice was undoubtedly perverted in Upper Canada in the<span class ="pagenum">150</span><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150"></a> most shameless way. Weak in body at the best, Lord
+    Selkirk by his misfortunes, losses and legal persecution began to fail in health.
+    With the sense of having been unjustly defeated, and anxious about his Colonists in
+    Red River, he returned with his family to Britain to his beloved St. Mary's Isle. He
+    sought for justice from the British Parliament, but could there get no movement in
+    his favor. A copy of a letter to him from Sir Walter Scott, his old friend, is in the
+    hands of the writer, but Sir Walter was himself too ill at the time to lend him aid
+    in presenting his case before the British public. Heart-broken, he gave up the
+    struggle. With the Countess and his family he went to the South of France and died on
+    April 8th, 1820, at Pau, and his bones lie in the Protestant Cemetery of Orthes.</p>
+    <p>He had not fought in vain. He had broken down single-handed a system of organized
+    terrorism in the heart of North America, for the Nor'-Westers never rose to strength
+    again. They united in a few years with the Hudson's Bay Company. He established a
+    Colony that has thriven; he cherished a lofty vision; he made mistakes in action, in
+    judgment, and in a too great optimism, but if we understand him aright he bore an
+    untainted and resolute soul.</p>
+    <div class="poem">
+      <div class="stanza">
+<span class ="pagenum">151</span>
+        <span class="i0">"Only those are crown'd and sainted<br />
+        </span> <span class="ip">Who with grief have been acquainted<br />
+        </span> <span class="ip">Making Nations nobler, freer."<br />
+        </span>
+      </div>
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <span class="i0">"In their feverish exultations,<br />
+        </span> <span class="ip">In their triumph and their yearning,<br />
+        </span> <span class="ip">In their passionate pulsations,<br />
+        </span> <span class="ip">In their words among the nations<br />
+        </span> <span class="ip">The Promethean fire is burning."<br />
+        </span>
+      </div>
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <span class="i0">"But the glories so transcendent<br />
+        </span> <span class="ip">That around their memories cluster,<br />
+        </span> <span class="ip">And on all their steps attendant,<br />
+        </span> <span class="ip">Make their darken'd lives resplendent<br />
+        </span> <span class="ip">With such gleams of inward lustre."<br />
+        </span>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+<span class ="pagenum">152</span><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></a>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">SOLDIERS AND SWISS.
+    </div>
+    <p>Many Canadian Settlements have had a military origin. It was considered a wise,
+    strategic move in the game of national defence when Colonel Butler and his Rangers,
+    after the Treaty of Paris, were settled along the Niagara frontier, and when Captain
+    Grass and other United Empire Loyalists took up their holdings at Kingston and other
+    points on the boundary line along the St. Lawrence. The town of Perth was the
+    headquarters of a military settlement in Central Canada. Traces of military
+    occupation can still be found in such Highland districts of Canada as Pictou,
+    Glengarry and Zorra, in which last named township the enthusiastic Celt in 1866
+    declared that perhaps the Fenians would take Canada, but they could never take Zorra.
+    Numerous examples can be found all through Canada where there is an aroma of valor
+    and patriotism surrounding the old army officer or the families of the veterans of
+    the Napoleonic or Crimean wars.</p>
+    <p>The settlement of the De Meuron soldiers<span class ="pagenum">153</span><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">
+  </a> opposite Fort Douglas gave some promise of a military flavor to
+    Selkirk Settlement. But as we shall see it was an ill-advised attempt at
+    colonization. It was a mistake to settle some hundred or more single men as these
+    soldiers were without a woman among them, as Lord Selkirk was compelled to do. To
+    these soldier-colonists he gave lands along the small winding river now called the
+    Seine, which empties into Red River opposite Point Douglas. Many of the De Meurons
+    spoke German, and hence for several years the little stream on which they lived was
+    called German Creek. The writings of the time are full of rather severe criticism of
+    these bello-agricultural settlers. Of course no one expects an old soldier to be of
+    much use to a new country. He is usually a lazy settler. His habits of life are
+    formed in another mould from that of the farm. He is apt to despise the hoe and the
+    harrow and many even of the half-pay officers who came to hew out a home in the
+    Canadian forest, never learned to cut down a tree or to hold a plough, though it may
+    be admitted that they lived a useful life in their sons and daughters, while the
+    culture and decision of character of the old officer or sturdy veteran were an asset
+    of great value to the locality in which he settled.</p>
+    <p>But the De Meurons were not only bachelors, but they came from the peasantry of
+    Austria<span class ="pagenum">154</span><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></a> and Italy, they had not
+    fought for home and country, and their life of mercenary soldiering had made them
+    selfish and deceitful. A writer of the time speaks, and evidently with much
+    prejudice, against the De Meurons. "They were," he says, "a medley of almost all
+    nations&mdash;Germans, French, Italians, Swiss and others. They were bad farmers and
+    withal very bad subjects; quarrelsome, slothful, famous bottle companions and ready
+    for any enterprise however lawless and tyrannical." A few years later we find it
+    stated that they made free with the cattle of their neighbors, and the chronicler
+    does not hesitate to say that the herds of the De Meurons grew in number in exactly
+    the same ratio as those of the Scottish settlers decreased.</p>
+    <p>Some four years after the settlement of the De Meurons a sunburst came upon them
+    quite unexpectedly.</p>
+    <p>Lord Selkirk in the very last years of his life planned to bring a band of
+    Protestant settlers from Switzerland. A Colonel May, late of another of the mercenary
+    regiments, accepted the duty of going to Switzerland, issuing a very attractive
+    invitation to settlers, and succeeded in shipping a considerable number of Swiss
+    families to his so-called Red River paradise.</p>
+    <p>This band of Colonists, consisting as they did of "watch and clock-makers, pastry
+    cooks and<span class ="pagenum">155</span><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155"></a> musicians," were
+    quite unfit for the rough work of the Selkirk Colony. In 1821 they were brought by
+    way of Hudson Bay, over the same rocky way as the earlier Colonists came. They were
+    utterly poverty stricken, though honest, and well-behaved. Their only possession of
+    value was a plenty of handsome daughters. The Swiss families on arrival were placed
+    under tents nearby Fort Douglas. As soon as possible many of the Swiss settlers were
+    placed alongside the De Meurons on German Creek. Good Mr. West, who had just been
+    sent out as chaplain by the Hudson's Bay Company, in place of the minister of their
+    own faith promised to the Scottish settlers, did a great stroke of work in marrying
+    the young Swiss girls to the De Meuron bachelors of German Creek. The description of
+    the way in which the De Meurons invited families having young women in them to the
+    wifeless cabins is ludicrous. A modern "Sabine raid" was made upon the young damsels,
+    who were actually carried away to the De Meuron homesteads. The Swiss families which
+    had the misfortune to have no daughters in them were left to languish in their
+    comfortless tents. The afflictions of the earlier Selkirk settlers were increased by
+    the arrival of these settlers. With the Selkirk settlers in their first decade the
+    first consideration was always food. Till that question is settled no Colony
+<span class ="pagenum">156</span><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></a> can advance. Probably the most
+    alarming and hopeless feature of their new colonial life was the appearance of vast
+    flights of locusts or grasshoppers, which devoured every blade of wheat and grass in
+    the country. To those who have never seen this plague it is inconceivable. Some
+    thirty-five years ago in Manitoba the writer witnessed the utter devastation of the
+    country by these pests. Some thirteen years before the coming of the first Colonists
+    this plague prevailed. About the end of July, 1818, these riders of the air made
+    their attack. In this year the Selkirk Colonists were greatly discouraged by the
+    capture and removal to Canada, by the Nor'-Westers, of Mr. James Sutherland, their
+    spiritual guide. But their labors now seem likely to be rewarded by a good harvest.
+    The oats and barley were in ear, when suddenly the invasion came. The vast clouds of
+    grasshoppers sailing northward from the great Utah desert in the United States,
+    alighted late in the afternoon of one day and in the morning fields of grain, gardens
+    with their promise, and every herb in the Settlement were gone, and a waste like a
+    blasted hearth remained behind. The event was more than a loss of their crops, it
+    seemed a heaven-struck blow upon their community, and it is said they lifted up their
+    eyes to heaven, weeping and despairing. The sole return of<span class ="pagenum">157</span><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157"></a> their labors for the season was a few ears of
+    half-ripened barley which the women saved and carried home in their aprons. There was
+    no help for it but to retire to Pembina, although there was less fear than formerly
+    for as a writer of the day says: "The settlers had now become good hunters; they
+    could kill the buffalo; walk on snowshoes; had trains of dogs trimmed with ribbons,
+    bells and feathers, in true Indian style; and in other respects were making rapid
+    steps in the arts of a savage life."</p>
+    <p>The complete loss of their crops left the settlers even without the seed-wheat
+    necessary to sow their fields. The nearest point of supply of this necessity was an
+    agricultural settlement in the State of Minnesota, upwards of five hundred miles
+    away. Here was a mighty task&mdash;to undertake to cross the plains in winter and to
+    bring back in time for the seeding time in spring the wheat which was necessary. But
+    the Highlander is not to be deterred by rocky crag or dashing river, or heavy snow in
+    his own land and he was ready to face this and more in the new world. And so a daring
+    party went off on snowshoes, and taking three months for their trip, reached the land
+    of plenty and secured some hundred bushels at the price of ten shillings a
+    bushel.</p>
+    <p>The question now was how to transport the wheat through a trackless wilderness. Up
+    the<span class ="pagenum">158</span><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158"></a> Mississippi River for
+    hundreds of miles the flat boats constructed for the purpose were painfully
+    propelled, and passing through the branch known as the Minnesota River the Stony Lake
+    was reached. This lake is the source of the Minnesota and Red rivers, and being at
+    high water in the spring it was possible to go through the narrow lake from one river
+    to the other with the rough boats constructed. The Red River was reached by the
+    fearless adventurers who brought the "corn out of Egypt." They did not, however,
+    reach the Red River with their treasure till about the end of June, 1820, and while
+    the wheat grew well it was sown too late to ripen well, although it gave the settlers
+    grain enough to sow the fields of the coming year. This expedition cost Lord Selkirk
+    upwards of a thousand pounds sterling. In the following year the grasshoppers again
+    visited the Red River fields, but by a sudden movement which, by some of the good
+    Colonists was interpreted to be a direct interference of Providence on their behalf,
+    the swarms of intruders passed away never to appear again in the Red River for half a
+    century.</p>
+    <p>The presence of the grasshoppers upon the Canadian prairies is one of interest. It
+    is known that they appeared throughout the territory of Red River a dozen years or so
+    before the coming of the Selkirk Colonists, also during<span class ="pagenum">159</span><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159"></a> the period we have been describing, and then not
+    till the period from 1868 to 1875. During the latter half of this period the writer
+    saw their devastations in Manitoba. The occurrence of the grasshopper at times in all
+    agricultural districts in America is very different from the grasshopper or locust
+    plague which we are describing. The red-legged Caloptenus or the Rocky Mountain
+    locust are provided for lofty flight and pass in myriads over the prairies, lighting
+    whenever a cloud obscures the sun. At one time the writer saw them in such hordes
+    that they were found from Winnipeg to Edmonton, over a region about one thousand
+    miles in breadth. In that year they devoured not only crops and garden products but
+    almost completely ate up the grass on the prairie to such an extent as to make it
+    useless for hay. In the year 1875 they appeared, in the main, for the last time in
+    Manitoba, and in that year their disappearance was as sudden as in the former case of
+    1821. Under the wing upon the body of each grasshopper was to be found one or more
+    scarlet red parasites which drew all the juices from the body of the insect and
+    produced death. For a third of a century they have been almost unknown, and the area
+    of cultivated ground in the States of North and South Dakota, where they may supply
+    their hunger renders it likely that Manitoba will know them no more. It
+<span class ="pagenum">160</span><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></a> cannot be wondered at that such
+    continuous disasters made the settler whether Scottish, De Meuron, or Swiss,
+    extremely discontented. During the period of the scourge, the only resource was to
+    winter at Pembina in reasonable distance from the buffalo-herds. In one of these
+    years a number of the Selkirk Colonists did not return to their farms but emigrated
+    to the United States. As we shall see in a few years after the grasshopper scourge
+    the flood of the Red River took place, when the De Meurons and Swiss, with one or two
+    exceptions, disappeared from the Colony and became citizens of the United States.
+<span class ="pagenum">161</span><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161"></a> </p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">ENGLISH LION AND CANADIAN BEAR LIE DOWN TOGETHER.
+    </div>
+    <p>That such violence and bloodshed as that about Fort Douglas, should be seen by
+    British subjects under the flag which stands for justice and equal rights made
+    sober-minded Britons blush. While Lord Selkirk's agents on the banks of the Red River
+    may have been aggressive in pushing their rights, yet to the Canadians was chargeable
+    the greater part of the bloodshed. This was but natural. To the hunter, the trapper,
+    and the frontiersman the use of firearms is familiar. The fur trader protects himself
+    thus from the bear and the panther. The hot blood of the Metis as he careered over
+    the prairie on his steed boiled up at the least provocation.</p>
+    <p>But the disheartening law suits through which Lord Selkirk passed in Sandwich,
+    Toronto, and Montreal, reflected more dishonor on the Canadians than did even the
+    bloody violence of the Bois-Brul&eacute;s. The chicanery employed by the Canadian
+    courts, the procuring<span class ="pagenum">162</span><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162"></a> of
+    special legislation to adapt the law to Lord Selkirk's case, and the invocation of
+    the highest social and even clerical influence in Upper Canada for the purpose of
+    injuring his Lordship will ever remain a blot on earlier Canadian jurisprudence.
+    Fortunately the rights of man, whether native or foreigner, are now better understood
+    and more fully protected in Canada than they were in the second decade of the
+    nineteenth century. Col. Coltman's report, as already stated, was a model of
+    truthfulness, fair play and freedom from prejudice, and Coltman was a Canadian
+    appointee.</p>
+    <p>So grave, however, were the rumours of these events happening on the plains of
+    Rupert's Land, as they reached Britain that the House of Commons named a committee to
+    enquire into the troubles. This committee sat in 1819, and the result is a blue-book
+    of considerable size which exposes the injustice most fully. The violence and
+    bloodshed which the fur traders now heard of far and near paralyzed the fur trade
+    carried on by both fur companies, and brought the financial affairs of both companies
+    to the verge of destruction. Two startling events of the next year produced a great
+    shock. These were sudden and untimely deaths of the two great opponents&mdash;Lord
+    Selkirk at an early age in France, and Sir Alexander Mackenzie, at his estate in
+    Scotland, he having been seized<span class ="pagenum">163</span><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">
+  </a> with sudden illness on his way from London. The two men died within
+    a month of one another in the spring of 1820. Their passing away was surely
+    impressive. It seemed like an offering to the god of peace in order that the vast
+    region with its scattered and thunderstruck inhabitants from Lake Superior to the
+    Pacific Ocean might be saved from the horrors of a cruel war of brother against
+    brother, and a war which might involve even the cautious but hot-blooded Indian
+    tribes.</p>
+    <p>Though the two parties were made up of daring and head-strong men, yet adversity
+    is a hard but effective teacher.</p>
+    <p>The Hudson's Bay Company was represented by Andrew Colville, a warm friend of the
+    house of Selkirk, the opponents by Edward Ellice, a Nor'-Wester. It seemed, indeed,
+    the very irony of fate that Ellice should be a negotiator for peace. He and his sons
+    the writer heard spoken of by the late Earl of Selkirk&mdash;the son of the
+    founder&mdash;as the bear and cubs. On the other hand the burly directors of the
+    Hudson's Bay Company possessed with all the confidence of the British Lion, and with
+    their motto of "Skin for skin" were only brought to a state of peace by the loss of
+    dividends. Much correspondence passed between the offices of Leadenhall Street and
+    Suffolk Lane in London, which the two companies occupied, but articles
+<span class ="pagenum">164</span><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></a> of agreement were not
+    sufficient to make a union.</p>
+    <p>All such coalitions to be successful must circle around a single man.</p>
+    <p>This man was a young Scottish clerk, who had spent a year only in the far
+    Athabasca district. He had not depended on birth or influence for his advancement,
+    was not yet wholly immersed in the traditions or prejudices of either company, and
+    had consequently nothing to unlearn. Montreal became the Canadian headquarters of the
+    company, but now the annual meeting of the traders where he as Governor presided, was
+    held at Norway House. The offices in London were united, and thus the affairs of the
+    fur trade were provided for and outward peace at least was guaranteed. We are,
+    however, chiefly dealing with the affairs of Assiniboia as Lord Selkirk called it, or
+    with what was more commonly called Red River Settlement. This belonged to Lord
+    Selkirk's heirs. The executors were, of course, Hudson's Bay Company grandees. They
+    were Sir James Montgomery, Mr. Halkett, Andrew Colville, and his brother the
+    Solicitor-general of Scotland. When the news came of the death of Lord Selkirk, the
+    mishaps and disturbances of the Colony had been so many, that Hudson's Bay Company,
+    Nor'-Westers, Settlers, and Freemen all said, "That will end the Colony
+<span class ="pagenum">165</span><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165"></a> now!" To the surprise of
+    everyone the first message from the executors was one of courage, and the
+    announcement was made that their first aim would be to send six hundred new settlers
+    to the banks of Red River.</p>
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_175.jpg" ><img class="figcenterh"
+      src="images/illus_175.jpg" alt="SEVEN OAKS MONUMENT" title="" /></a><br />
+       <span class="caption">SEVEN OAKS MONUMENT<br />
+       On Kildonan Road near Winnipeg.</span>
+    </div>
+    <p>The angry passions which had been roused<span class ="pagenum">166</span><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">
+  </a> led the English directors to take the very wise step of sending out
+    two representatives&mdash;one from each of the old companies to rearrange all matters
+    and settle all disputes. The two delegates were Nicholas Garry, the Vice-Governor of
+    the Hudson's Bay Company, and Simon McGillivray, who bore one of the most influential
+    names of the Nor'-Wester traders. They were not, however, equally well liked. Garry
+    was a courteous, fair, and kindly gentleman. He won golden opinions among officers
+    and settlers alike. McGillivray was suspicious and selfish, so the records of the
+    time state. They came to the Red River in 1821, and Garry entered particularly into
+    the arrangement of the Forts at the Forks. The old Fort Douglas was retained as
+    Colony Fort, and the small Hudson's Bay Company trading house as well as Fort
+    Gibraltar were absorbed into the new fort which was erected on the banks of the
+    Assiniboine between Main Street and the bank of the Red River. All the letters and
+    documents of the time speak of Governor Garry's visits as carrying a gleam of
+    sunshine wherever he went and it was appropriate that the new fort built in the
+    following year should bear the name Fort Garry. This was the wooden fort, which still
+    remained in existence though superseded as a fort in 1850.</p>
+    <p>At the time of Governor Garry's visit the<span class ="pagenum">167</span><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">
+  </a> population of the settlement may be considered to have been about
+    five hundred. These were made up of somewhat less than two hundred Selkirk Colonists,
+    about one hundred De Meurons, a considerable number of French Voyageurs and Freemen,
+    Swiss Colonists perhaps eighty, and the remainder Orkney, employees of the Hudson's
+    Bay Company. The Colony was, however, beginning to organize itself. The accounts of
+    the French settlers are very vague, an occasional name flitting across the page of
+    history. One family still found on Red River banks, gains celebrity as possessing the
+    first white woman who came to Rupert's Land. With her husband she had gone to
+    Edmonton in &mdash;&mdash;, and had wandered over the prairies. In 1811, with her
+    husband, she first saw the Forks of Red River and wintered in 1811-12 at Pembina, the
+    winter which the first band of Colonists spent at York Factory. Lajimoniere became a
+    fast adherent of Lord Selkirk, and made a famous and most dangerous winter journey
+    through the wilds alone, carrying letters from Red River to Montreal, delivered them
+    personally to Lord Selkirk in 1815.</p>
+    <p>The Lajimonieres received with great delight in 1818 the first Roman Catholic
+    missionaries who reached Red River. These were sent through Lord Selkirk's influence,
+    and the large gift of land known as the Seigniory lying east<span class ="pagenum">168</span><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></a> of St. Boniface was the reward given to the early
+    pioneer missionaries&mdash;Provencher and Dumoulin, men of great stature and manly
+    bearing. In the year of their arrival James Sutherland, the Presbyterian chaplain of
+    the Selkirk Colonists, was taken by the Nor'-Westers to Upper Canada, whither his
+    son, Haman Sutherland, had gone in 1815 with Duncan Cameron. The Earl of Selkirk had
+    promised to send to his Scottish Colonists a minister of their own faith. On his
+    death in France his agent in London was Mr. John Pritchard. Seventeen days after the
+    death of Lord Selkirk, Rev. John West was appointed to come as chaplain to the
+    Colonists and the other Protestants of Red River. Pritchard arrived by Hudson's Bay
+    ship at York Factory 15 Aug., 1820, having Mr. West in company with him.</p>
+    <p>And now Colville wrote to Alexander Macdonell, the Governor of the Settlement:
+    "Mr. West goes out and takes with him persons acquainted with making bricks and
+    pottery." Macdonell was a Roman Catholic, but Colville wrote: "I trust also that by
+    your example and advice you will encourage all the Protestants, Presbyterians as well
+    as others to attend divine service as performed by Mr. West. He will also open
+    schools." As to Mr. West's support a curiosity occurs in one of Mr. West's letters
+    written in the following year from York<span class ="pagenum">169</span><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">
+  </a> Factory. He speaks of an agreement between Lord Selkirk and the
+    Selkirk Settlers.</p>
+    <p>"That the Settlers will use their endeavours for the benefit and support of the
+    clergyman and shall be chargeable therewith as follows (that is to say): each settler
+    shall employ himself, his servants, his horses, cattle, carts, carriages and other
+    things necessary to the purpose on every day and at every place to be appointed by
+    the clergyman to whom, or whose flock he shall belong, not exceeding at and after the
+    rate of three days in the spring and three days in the autumn of each year."</p>
+    <p>This is a gem of ecclesiasticism.</p>
+    <p>Mr. West says: "I find that it is impracticable to carry the same into effect.
+    This is attributable to the distance of most of the settlers and the reluctance of
+    the Scotch Settlers."</p>
+    <p>Mr. West had made mention of this to Governor Garry.<span class ="pagenum">170</span><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170"></a> </p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">SATRAP RULE.
+    </div>
+    <p>"Woe to the Nation," says a high authority, "whose King is a child," but far worse
+    than even having a child-ruler is the fate of a Kingdom or Principality whose ruler
+    is a hireling. The Roman Empire was ruled in the different provinces by selfish and
+    dishonest adventurers, who tyrannized over the people, farmed out the revenues,
+    bribed their favorites and defrauded their masters. Turkish Government or Persian
+    Rule is to-day an organized system of extortion and oppression by unscrupulous
+    Satraps. Lord Selkirk's two governors, Miles Macdonell and Robert Semple, had been
+    removed, the former by capture, the latter by death. Alexander Macdonell in 1816
+    became acting governor and was confirmed in office for five or six years afterward.
+    In his regime the Grasshoppers came and did their destructive work, but the French
+    people nicknamed him "Governor Sauterelle," Grasshopper Governor, for, says the
+    historian of this decade he was so called, "because he proved as<span class ="pagenum">171</span><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171"></a> great a destroyer within doors as the grasshoppers
+    in the fields."</p>
+    <p>Lord Selkirk had been a most generous and sympathetic founder to his Scottish
+    Colony. He was not only proprietor of the whole Red River Valley, but he felt himself
+    responsible for the support and comfort of his Colonists. He had to begin with
+    supplying food, clothing, implements, arms and ammunition to his settlers. He had
+    erected buildings for shelter and a store house and fort for the protection of them
+    and their goods. He had supplied, in a Colony shop, provisions and all requisites to
+    be purchased by his settlers and on account of their poverty to be charged to their
+    individual accounts.</p>
+    <p>George Simpson, who was the new Governor of the United Hudson's Bay Company, was
+    for two years Macdonell's contemporary, and he in one of his letters says: "Macdonell
+    is, I am concerned to say, extremely unpopular, despised and held in contempt by
+    every person connected with the place, he is accused of partiality, dishonesty,
+    untruth and drunkenness,&mdash;in short, by a disrespect of every moral and elevated
+    feeling."</p>
+    <p>Alexander Ross says of him, "The officials he kept about him resembled the court
+    of an Eastern Nabob, with its warriors, serfs, and varlets, and the names they bore
+    were hardly less pompous, for here were secretaries, assistant secre<span class ="pagenum">172</span><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172"></a>taries, accountants, orderlies,
+    grooms, cooks and butlers."</p>
+    <p>Satrap Macdonell held high revels in his time. "From the time the puncheons of rum
+    reached the colony in the fall, till they were all drunk dry, nothing was to be seen
+    or heard about Fort Douglas but balling, dancing, rioting and drunkenness in the
+    barbarous sport of those disorderly times." Macdonell's method of reckoning accounts
+    was unique. "In place of having recourse to the tedious process of pen and ink the
+    heel of a bottle was filled with wheat and set on the cask. This contrivance was
+    called the 'hour glass,' and for every flagon drawn off, a grain of wheat was taken
+    out of the hour glass, and put aside till the bouse was over."</p>
+    <p>As was to be expected this disgraceful state of things led to grave frauds in the
+    dealings with the Colonists, and when Halkett, one of Lord Selkirk's executors,
+    arrived on Red River to investigate the complaints, a thorough system of "false
+    entries, erroneous statements and over-charges" was found, and the discontent of the
+    settlers was removed, though they were all heavily in debt to the Estate.</p>
+    <p>It had been the object of Lord Selkirk from the beginning of his enterprise to
+    give employment to his needy Colonists. Various enterprises were begun with this end
+    in view, but they were all mere bubbles which soon burst.<span class ="pagenum">173</span><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173"></a> John Pritchard, whom Lord Selkirk had taken as his
+    secretary to London, was largely instrumental in floating the ill-starred scheme
+    known as the "Buffalo Wool Company." Just as on the shores of the Mediterranean,
+    shawls were made from the long wool of the goats, so it was thought that shawls could
+    be made of the hair or wool of the buffalo. A voluminous correspondence given in many
+    letters of Pritchard's to Lady Selkirk and other ladies of high station and to an
+    English firm of manufacturers exploiting this project is before us. Sample squares of
+    the cloth made of buffalo wool were distributed and in certain circles the novelty
+    from the Red River was the "talk of the town," in London.</p>
+    <p>On the banks of Red River the scheme took like wild-fire. All Red River people
+    were to make fortunes. There were to be high wages and work for everybody. Wages were
+    increased, and men were receiving nearly four dollars a day. Money became plentiful
+    and provisions became dear and also scarce. The employees, higher and lower, became
+    intoxicated with their success, as they now also became really intoxicated and fell
+    into reckless habits. The work was neglected, and the enterprize collapsed. This was
+    the earliest boom on Red River banks. Failure was sure to follow so mad a scheme. The
+    buffalo wool cloth which<span class ="pagenum">174</span><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174"></a> it
+    cost some twelve dollars and a half to manufacture, partly in Red River Settlement
+    and partly in England, was sold for little more than one dollar a yard. The
+    &pound;2,000 of capital was all swallowed up, &pound;4,500 of debt to the Hudson's
+    Bay Company was never paid, the scheme became a laughing stock in England, and
+    failure and misery followed its collapse in the Colony.</p>
+    <p>At this time the French-Canadian settlement at Pembina was induced to remove to
+    St. Boniface on the Red River, where they gathered around their new priest,
+    Provencher, to whom they became much attached.</p>
+    <p>The Selkirk Trustees, in every way, continued ungrudgingly to advance the
+    interests of the Colony, but their plans, though often mere theories failed more from
+    extravagance and want of good men to execute them than from any other cause.</p>
+    <p>Believing that farming was the thing needing cultivation in a country with so rich
+    a soil, the Colonizers began the Hayfield farm on the north bank of the Assiniboine
+    River, near what is now the outskirts of the City of Winnipeg, a little above the
+    present Agricultural College buildings. Beginning with an expensive salary for
+    Manager Laidlaw, the promoters erected ample farm buildings, barns, yards and
+    stables. Importations were made of well-bred cattle and horses. Several years of mis<span class ="pagenum">175</span><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175"></a>management and helplessness
+    resulted from this trial of a model farm, and it was given up at a total loss to the
+    proprietors of &pound;3,500. The Assiniboine Wool Company was next started, but
+    failed before the first payment of stock took place, without damage to anyone, so
+    that, as was remarked, there was "much cry and little wool." The Flax and Hemp
+    Company was the next unfortunate enterprise. This failed on account of there being no
+    market, so that farmers never reaped the successful crops which they had grown. An
+    expedition was made to Missouri, under Messrs. Burke and Campbell, to introduce sheep
+    into the settlement. As the fifteen hundred sheep purchased had to be driven 1,500
+    miles to their destination on Red River, only two hundred and fifty of the whole
+    flock survived. Failure after failure taking place did not prevent the formation of a
+    Tallow Company, which resulted in the loss of &pound;600 to &pound;1,000, and a
+    considerable sum was spent also in an abortive attempt to open up a road to Hudson's
+    Bay, a scheme which Lord Selkirk's letters show, he had in view from the very
+    beginning of the life of the Colony. The courage and generosity of the executors of
+    Lord Selkirk shown to all these enterprises reflects the greatest credit upon them.
+    True, the concession of so wide an area of fertile land was worth it, and the pledges
+    made to<span class ="pagenum">176</span><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176"></a> the Selkirk settlers
+    demanded it, but as in hundreds of other enterprises undertaken by British
+    capitalists on the American continent, the choice of men foreign to the country and
+    its conditions, the lack of conscience and economy on the part of the agents sent
+    out, the dissension and jealousy aroused by every such attempt, as well as the
+    absence of the means of transport by land and sea through the methods supplied by
+    science to-day, resulted in a series of dismal failures, which placed an undeserved
+    stigma upon the character of the soil, climate, and resources of Assiniboia. It took
+    more than fifty years of subsequent effort to remove this impression.</p>
+    <p>These experiences took place under those governors who succeeded Alexander
+    Macdonell&mdash;the Grasshopper Governor. The first of them was Captain Bulger, an
+    unfortunate martinet, though a man of good conscience and high ideals. He had a most
+    uncompromising manner. He quarreled with the Hudson's Bay Company officer at Fort
+    Garry on the one hand, and with old Indian Chief Peguis on the other. A whole crop of
+    suggestions made by the Captain on the improvement of the Colony remain in his "Red
+    River Papers." Bulger's successor was Governor Pelly, a relative of the celebrated
+    Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company. The new Governor lacked nerve and de<span class ="pagenum">177</span><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177"></a>cision, and was quite unfitted
+    for his position. His method of dealing with an Indian murderer was long repeated on
+    Red River as a subject for humor, when he instructed the interpreter to announce to
+    the criminal: "that he had manifested a disposition subversive of all order, and if
+    he should not be punished in this world, he would be sure to be punished in the
+    next." The hopelessness of carrying on the affairs of the Colony apart from those of
+    the general affairs of the Hudson's Bay Company, was now seen, and on the suggestion
+    of Governor Simpson, the management was placed in the hands of governors immediately
+    responsible to the company. This change led to the appointment as Governor of Donald
+    McKenzie. This old trader had taken part in the formation of the Astor Fur Company,
+    and was in charge of one of the famous parties, which in 1811 crossed the continent,
+    as described by Washington Irving. Ross Cox says of this beleaguered party: "Their
+    concave cheeks, protuberant bones, and tattered garments indicated the dreadful
+    extent of their privations. The old trader thus case-hardened faced bravely for eight
+    years the worries of the Colony.<span class ="pagenum">178</span><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">
+  </a> </p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">AND THE FLOOD CAME.
+    </div>
+    <p>With fire and flood some of the greatest catastrophies of the world have been
+    closely connected. The tradition of the Noachian deluge has been found among almost
+    all peoples. Horace speaks of the mild little Tiber becoming so unruly that the
+    fishes swam among the tops of the trees upon its banks. Tidal waves devastated the
+    shores of England and France on several occasions. It is most natural that prairie
+    rivers should exceed their banks and spread over wide areas of the land. Old Trader
+    Nolin, one of the first on the prairies, states that a worse flood than that seen by
+    the Selkirk Settlers took place fifty years before, and there were two other floods
+    between these two. Each year, according to the tale of the old settlers, the rivers
+    of the prairies have been becoming wider by denudation, so that each flood tends to
+    be less. Several conditions seem to be necessary for a flood upon these prairie
+    rivers. These are a very heavy snowfall during the prairie winter, a late spring in
+    which the river ice retains its<span class ="pagenum">179</span><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">
+  </a> hold, and a sudden period in the springtime of very hot weather,
+    these being modified as the years go on by the ever-widening river channel.</p>
+    <p>The winter of 1825-6 was one of the most terrific ever known in the history of the
+    Selkirk Settlement. Just before Christmas the first woe occurred. The snow drove the
+    herds of buffaloes far out upon the prairies from the river encampments and the
+    wooded shelter. The horses in bands were scattered and lost, dying as they floundered
+    in the deep snows. Even the hunters were cut off from one another, the hunters'
+    families were driven hither and thither, and in many cases separated on the wide
+    snowy plains. Sheriff Ross, who was a visitor from the Settlement to Pembina in the
+    dreary winter there, describes the scene of horror. "Families here and families there
+    despairing of life, huddled themselves together for warmth, and in too many cases,
+    their shelter proved their grave. At first, the heat of their bodies melted the snow;
+    they became wet, and being without food or fuel, the cold soon penetrated, and in
+    several instances froze the whole into a body of solid ice. Some again, were found in
+    a state of wild delirium, frantic, mad; while others were picked up, one here, and
+    one there, overcome in their fruitless attempts to reach Pembina&mdash;some half-way,
+    some more,<span class ="pagenum">180</span><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180"></a> some less; one woman
+    was found with an infant on her back, within a quarter of a mile of Pembina. This
+    poor creature must have travelled, at least, one hundred and twenty-five miles, in
+    three days and nights, till she sunk at last in the too unequal struggle for life."
+    Such scenes might be expected in the valleys of the Highlands of Scotland, or amid
+    the heavy snows of New Brunswick or Quebec, but they were a surprise upon the open
+    prairie. Some of the settlers had devoured their dogs, raw hides, leather and their
+    very shoes. The loss of thirty-three lives cast a gloom over the whole
+    settlement.</p>
+    <p>Anxiety had been aroused throughout the whole Colony. The St. Lawrence often
+    overflows its banks at Montreal, the Grand River at Brantford and the Fraser at its
+    delta, but the rarity of the Red River overflows led the people, after their winter
+    disaster, to hope that they would escape a flood.</p>
+    <p>This was not to be.</p>
+    <p>As the Red River flows northward, the first thaw of spring is usually south of the
+    American International Boundary line at the head waters of the river which divides
+    Minnesota and Dakota. In these States the floods are always, in consequence, greater
+    than they are in Manitoba. In this year the ice held very firm up to the end of
+    April. On the second of May,<span class ="pagenum">181</span><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">
+  </a> the waters from above rose and lifted the ice which still held in a
+    mass together some nine feet above the level of the day before. Indians and whites
+    alike were alarmed. The water overflowed its banks, and still continued to rise at
+    Fort Garry. The Governor and his family were driven to the upper story of their
+    residence in the fort, with the water ten feet deep below that.</p>
+    <p>The whole river bank for miles was a scene of confusion and terror. Every home was
+    an alarming scene as the flood reached it. The first thought was to save life. Amid
+    the crying of children, the lowing of cattle and the howling of dogs, parents sought
+    out all their children to see them safely removed. Parents and grown men and women
+    fled in fright from their houses, and in many cases without any other garments than
+    their working clothes. The only hope was to seek out somewhat higher spots more and
+    more removed from the river. And with them went their cattle and horses.</p>
+    <p>To those in boats&mdash;the stronger and more venturesome men&mdash;the task now
+    came of removing the wheat and oats, what little furniture they possessed and the
+    necessary cooking utensils.</p>
+    <p>Blessed, on such occasions, are those who possess little for they shall have no
+    loss.</p>
+    <p>As the waters rose, the lake became wider,<span class ="pagenum">182</span><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">
+  </a> and the wind blew the waves to a dangerous height. The ice broke up
+    and the current increasing dashed this against the buildings, which at length gave
+    way and all went floating down across the points&mdash;ice, log houses with dogs and
+    cats frantic on their roofs. One eyewitness says: "The most singular spectacle was a
+    house in flames, drifting along in the night, its one half immersed in water and the
+    remainder furiously burning."</p>
+    <p>As the flood of waters widened into a great expanse it became plain that it would
+    be some time,&mdash;if indeed less than several months,&mdash;before the waters would
+    begin to abate, and in the absence of an Ararat on which to rest, the settlers
+    occupied the rock-bared elevations, the highest Stony Mount, only eighty feet above
+    the level, with the middle bluff, little Stony Mountain and Bird's Hill, east of the
+    river. It is interesting to know that Silver Heights and the banks of the Sturgeon
+    Creek near its mouth, were not submerged and at their various points the Colonists
+    pitched their tents and sojourned.</p>
+    <p>In seventeen days from the first rise, the water reached its height, and hope
+    began immediately to return. On the 22nd of May the waters commenced to assuage, and
+    twenty days afterward the Settlers were able with difficulty to reach their homes
+    again.<span class ="pagenum">183</span><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183"></a> </p>
+    <p>But every disaster has its side of advantage. During the escape of the Settlers to
+    the heights, the De Meurons, losing all sense of restraint, stole the cattle of the
+    Settlers and actually sold them meat from their own slaughtered cattle. So intense
+    was the feeling of the Scottish Settlers against the De Meurons that the Selkirk
+    Colonists chose another situation and moved to it</p>
+    <p>Now that the flood was over, the De Meurons and Swiss became more restless than
+    ever. They decided to move to the United States. The Selkirk Colonists were glad to
+    see them go, and furnished them, free of cost, sufficient supplies for their journey.
+    They departed on the 24th of June, their band numbering 243, and the sturdy pioneers
+    who held to their land shed no tears of sorrow at their going.</p>
+    <p>With remarkable courage and hope the Settlers returned after what was to some of
+    them, their fourth Hegira, and immediately planted potatoes and small quantities of
+    wheat and barley. This grew well and supplied food for them, and in the next two or
+    three years no less than two hundred and four houses were built. The Settlement, now
+    freed from dissension, had not gone through its fiery ordeal in vain. The news of a
+    home for themselves and their dusky wives and half-breed children, had spread over
+    the whole of Rupert's Land, and<span class ="pagenum">184</span><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">
+  </a> now began, what Lieutenant-Governor Archibald, the first Governor
+    of Manitoba, afterward spoke of as the floating down the rivers with their wives and
+    children of the Hudson's Bay Company officers and men to the paradise of Red River.
+    The great majority of the employees of the Company were Orkneymen. They gradually
+    took up the most of the Red River lots surveyed, lying below Kildonan, and forming
+    the Parishes of St. Paul's and St. Andrew's on Red River, down to St. Peter's Indian
+    Reserve and St. James' and Headingly up the Assiniboine. The French half-breeds who
+    removed from Pembina and different parts of Rupert's Land, made the great French
+    parishes of St. Boniface, St. Norbert, St. Vital on the Red River, with St. Charles,
+    St. Francois Xavier and Baie St. Paul on the Assiniboine. And now of Scottish
+    Settlers with French and English half-breeds, the population of Red River Settlement
+    had reached the number of 1,500 souls.<span class ="pagenum">185</span><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">
+  </a> </p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">THE JOLLY GOVERNOR.
+    </div>
+    <p>Great crises in the world's history generally produce the men who solve them.
+    Cromwell, Washington, Garibaldi&mdash;each of them was the movement itself. A wider
+    philosophy may see that the age or the Community evolves the man, but as Carlyle
+    shows, it is the man who reacts upon the community, becomes the embodiment of its
+    ideal, and is the mouthpiece and the right hand of the age which produces him.</p>
+    <p>That Andrew Colville, a brother-in-law of Lord Selkirk, should select a young
+    clerk in London and send him out to Athabasca to see the great fur-region of the
+    Mackenzie River District, is not a wonderful thing, but that after one year of active
+    service this young man should be chosen to guide the destinies of the great united
+    fur company, made up of the Hudson's Bay and Nor'-Wester Companies is a wonder.</p>
+    <p>This was the case with George Simpson, a Scottish youth, who was the illegitimate
+    son of the maternal uncle of Thomas Simpson, the<span class ="pagenum">186</span><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">
+  </a> famous Arctic explorer, who is known as having followed out a
+    portion of the coast line of the Arctic Sea.</p>
+    <p>Anyone can see that from the proverbial energy that is developed in those of
+    inferior birth, there was here one of Nature's commanding spirits, who would bring
+    order out of chaos.</p>
+    <p>Moreover, the fact of his short service in a distant part of the fur country, left
+    him free from prejudice, gave him an open mind, and permitted him to serve as a young
+    man when he was yet plastic and adaptable&mdash;all this was in his favor.</p>
+    <p>Governor Simpson was short of stature, but possessed of great energy and
+    endurance. He was keen in mind and observing in his faculties. Active and determined,
+    he might at times seem a martinet and a tyrant, but he had at the same time an easy
+    and pleasant manner that enabled him to attract to himself his servants and
+    subordinates, but especially the savages with whom he had constantly to have
+    dealings. His ardent Highland nature led him to rejoice in the picturesque and the
+    showy, and he was fond of music and of society. Given to change, Simpson became a
+    great traveller and made a voyage around the world before the days of steam or
+    railway.</p>
+    <p>One of the first gatherings of the fur traders, in which the young Governor gained
+    golden<span class ="pagenum">187</span><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187"></a> opinions, was held at
+    Norway House, the old resting place of the Selkirk Settlers. This meeting took place
+    in June, 1823; the minutes of this meeting have been preserved and are interesting.
+    Such items as, that Bow River Fort at the foot of the Rocky Mountains was abandoned;
+    that because of prairie fires the buffaloes were far beyond Pembina; that the
+    Assiniboine Indians had moved to the Saskatchewan for food; that trouble with the
+    French traders had arisen on account of their determination to trade in furs; that
+    the French half-breeds had largely moved from Pembina to St. Boniface; that the trade
+    should be withdrawn from beyond the American Boundary line; that the Sioux Indians
+    should be discouraged from coming to the Forts to trade; and that the company
+    intended to take over the Colony from Lord Selkirk's trustees, all came up for
+    consideration.</p>
+    <p>These were all important and difficult problems, but the young Governor acted with
+    such shrewdness and skill, that he completely carried the Council with him, and was
+    given power to act for the Council during the intervals between its meetings&mdash;a
+    thing most unusual.</p>
+    <p>The Governor was ubiquitous.</p>
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_198.jpg" ><img class="figcenterh"
+      src="images/illus_198.jpg" alt="SIR GEORGE SIMPSON" title="" /></a><br />
+       <span class="caption">SIR GEORGE SIMPSON<br />
+       Governor of Rupert's Land, 1821-60.</span>
+    </div>
+    <p>Now at Moose Factory, then at York; now at Norway House, but every year at Red
+    River, the Governor saw for himself the needs of the<span class ="pagenum">188</span><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188"></a> country, and the opportunities for advancing the
+    interests of the Hudson's Bay Company.
+    Forty times, that is, nearly every year of his Governorship, it is said he
+    travelled the route between Montreal and Fort Garry, and this by canoe. He drove his
+    men, who were chiefly French-Canadians, with irritating haste, and it is a story
+    prevalent among the old Selkirk Settlers, that a stalwart French voyageur, who was a
+    favorite of the Governor, was once, in<span class ="pagenum">189</span><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">
+  </a> crossing the Lake of the Woods, so infuriated with his master's
+    urging that he seized the tormentor who was small in stature, by the shoulders, and
+    with a plentiful use of "sacr&eacute;s," dipped him into the lake, and then replaced
+    him in the bottom of the canoe.</p>
+    <p>It does not fall within the scope of our story to tell of Simpson's journeys
+    through Rupert's Land, nor of his famous voyage around the world, but there is extant
+    an account of his methods of appealing to the interest of the Indians and servants of
+    the company in his notable progresses through the wilds. Some seven years after his
+    appointment Governor Simpson made a voyage from Hudson Bay, across country to the
+    Pacific Ocean, namely, from York Factory to Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River.
+    Fourteen chief officers, factors and traders, and as many more clerks had gathered to
+    see the chieftain depart. Taking with him a lieutenant&mdash;Macdonald, a doctor and
+    two canoe crews, of nine men each, the jolly Governor with dashing speed ascended the
+    Hayes River, up which the Selkirk Colonists had laboriously come, receiving as he
+    left the Factory, loud cheers from all the people gathered, and a salute of seven
+    guns from the garrison. The French-Canadian voyageurs struck up their boating songs
+    with glee, and with dashing paddles left the bay behind.<span class ="pagenum">190</span><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190"></a> </p>
+    <p>The expedition was well provided with supplies, including wine for the gentlemen
+    and spirits for the men.</p>
+    <p>The arrival at Norway House was a f&eacute;te.</p>
+    <p>Before reaching the Fort the party landed on the shore, and paying much attention
+    to their toilets, put themselves in proper trim. In full career the canoes dashed
+    through the deep rocky gorge leading to the Fort, the Governor's canoe, had on its
+    high prow, conspicuous the French guide, who for the time gave commands. The Governor
+    always took his Highland piper with him, and now there pealed forth from the canoe
+    the strident strains of the bagpipes, while from the second canoe sounded the shrill
+    call of the chief factor's bugle. As the party approached the Fort they saw the Union
+    Jack with its magic letters H.B.C. floating from the tall flag-staff of Norway pine
+    erected on Signal Hill. Bands of Indians from all directions were assembled to meet
+    the great chief or "Kitche Okema," as they called him. Ceasing the pipes and bugle,
+    the voyageurs sang with lively spirit one of their boat songs, to the great delight
+    of their old friends, the Indians.</p>
+    <p>The Governor was in 1839, at a time when Canada was much disturbed in both
+    Provinces by the Mackenzie-Papineau rebellion, rewarded for the loyalty of his
+    Company by having knighthood conferred upon him.<span class ="pagenum">191</span><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">
+  </a> </p>
+    <p>Sir George Simpson's annual visits to Red River Settlement were the bright spots
+    in the life of the Colony. Never did a Governor get so near the people as did Sir
+    George. Old settlers tell how when Sir George arrived every grievance, disaster,
+    suspicion, or bit of gossip was faithfully carried to him, and his patience and
+    ingenuity were freely exercised in "jollying" the people and giving them
+    condescending attention.</p>
+    <p>Sir George married in time, and on occasion brought Lady Simpson, who was a native
+    of the country, to visit the Red River Settlement. Her presence was taken as a
+    compliment by the people. Sir George Simpson, like many of the Hudson's Bay Company,
+    had among all his business engagements the taste for literature. He encouraged the
+    formation of libraries at the several trading posts, and in his letters throws in a
+    remark about Sir Walter Scott, or Blackwood's last magazine, or other living topic,
+    although the means of communication made literature often months late even on the
+    banks of the Red River. His own effort in producing a book gave rise to a
+    considerable amount of amusement. After his great journey around the world, he
+    published an account of his travels in two considerable volumes. It is now no secret
+    that these were prepared for him by a well-known judge of Red<span class ="pagenum">192</span><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192"></a> River Settlement, of whom we speak more fully in a
+    later chapter. This double authorship became decidedly inconvenient to Sir George on
+    the celebrated occasion when he was cited in 1857 to give evidence before the
+    Committee of the House of Commons as to Rupert's Land. Sir George's experience in
+    introducing farming into Red River Settlement had been so troublesome, and expensive
+    as well, that he really believed agriculture would be a failure in the West, and so
+    he gave his evidence. Unfortunately for him his editor had indulged in his book, in a
+    pictorial and fulsome description of the Rainy River, as an agricultural region. Mr.
+    Roebuck quoted this passage and Sir George was in a serious dilemma. If he admitted
+    it his evidence would seem untrue, if he denied it then he must deny his authorship.
+    He admitted that the book was somewhat too flattering in its description.</p>
+    <p>But, take him all in all, Sir George really stood for his duty and his people. He
+    lifted the fur trade out of a slough of despond, he was kind and charitable to the
+    people of the Red River Settlement, he was a good administrator and a patriot Briton,
+    and though as his book tells and local tradition confirms it, he could not escape
+    from what is called "the witchery of a pretty face," yet he rose to the position on
+    the whole as a man who sought for the higher<span class ="pagenum">193</span><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">
+  </a> interests of the vast territory under his sway, as well as for the
+    financial advancement of his company.<br /><span class ="pagenum">194</span><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">
+  </a> </p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">THE OLIGARCHY.
+    </div>
+    <p>The struggle has always been between the masses and the classes. Privilege always
+    strives to confine itself to a few. It could not be but that the echoes of the great
+    British Reform Bill of 1832 should reach even the remote banks of Red River. The
+    struggle for constitutional freedom was also going on in Upper Canada, as well as in
+    Lower Canada where the French-Canadians were fighting bitterly for their rights.
+    Besides all this in the Red River Settlement the existence of a Company store&mdash;a
+    monopoly&mdash;could never prove satisfactory to a community of British blood. Had
+    the Colony shop been ever so justly and honestly conducted it could not be popular,
+    how much less so must it have been in the hands of Alexander Macdonell, the peculator
+    and deceiver.</p>
+    <p>It is true the Company store, of which we speak, was not that of the Hudson's Bay
+    Company proper, but rather the possession of Lord Selkirk's heirs.<span class ="pagenum">195</span><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195"></a> </p>
+    <p>Gradually the rulership was coming under the direction of Governor Simpson, though
+    there was the local Governor who was nominally independent.</p>
+    <p>Even when Governor Simpson was invoked, it is to be remembered that he and his
+    company were the embodiment of privilege. But the Governor was a surprisingly shrewd
+    man. He saw the aspiration after freedom, of both Scottish and French Settlers. True,
+    gaunt poverty did not stalk along the banks of Red River as it had done in the first
+    ten years of the Colony, but just because the people were becoming better housed,
+    better clad, and better fed, were they becoming more independent. The unwillingness
+    to be controlled was showing itself very distinctly among the French half-breeds as
+    they grew in numbers and dashed over the prairies on their fiery steeds. They were
+    hunters, accustomed to the use of firearms and were, therefore, difficult to
+    restrain.</p>
+    <p>The Governor's policy clearly defined in his own mind became, for the next ten
+    years, the policy of the Company. We have seen that the Governor built Lower Fort
+    Garry, and he regarded this as his residence, nearly twenty miles down the river from
+    the Forks, which was the centre of French influence. Even before doing this in 1831
+    he had, in the year preceding this, as Ross tells us, built a small powder
+<span class ="pagenum">196</span><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196"></a> magazine at Upper Fort Garry,
+    and it goes without saying that rulers do not build powder magazines for the purpose
+    of ornament.</p>
+    <p>In 1834, as we learn from Hon. Donald Gunn, who was then a resident of Red River
+    Settlement, and who has left us his views in the manuscript afterward published
+    coming up to 1835, a most serious revolt took place among the Metis. Gunn's account
+    is vivid and interesting.</p>
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_207.jpg" ><img class="figcenterw"
+      src="images/illus_207.jpg" alt="FORT GARRY" title="" /></a><br />
+       <span class="caption">The Sisters&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The
+      Ferry&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Forks &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Fort
+      Garry&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Site of Fort Gibraltar<br />
+       &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Pontoon Bridge&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;French
+      Half-breeds with Ox-carts&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
+       RED AND ASSINIBOINE RIVERS<br />
+       FORT GARRY<br />
+       (From Oil painting of Mr. W. Frank Lynn made in 1872, now in possession of the
+      Author.)</span>
+    </div>
+    <p>The French half-breeds were entirely dependent upon hunting, trapping or voyaging.
+    One hundred or one hundred and fifty men were required to transfer goods, furs, etc.,
+    from the boats during the time of open water. Generally they received advances from
+    the Fur Company at the beginning of summer, for they were always in debt to the
+    company. On the close of the open season they were paid the balance due them. After a
+    few days of idleness and gossip the money would be spent and want would begin to
+    press them. A new engagement with an advance would follow. The agreement was signed,
+    and so like an endless chain, the natives were always held to the Company's interest.
+    At Christmas, these workmen received a portion of their advance, and as is well
+    known, the company relaxed somewhat its rules as to liquor selling at this season. At
+    this Christmas time of 1834 payments were being made and indul<span class ="pagenum">197</span><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197"></a>gence was
+    supreme, when a French half-breed named Larocque entered the office of the
+    accountant, Thomas Simpson, a relative of Sir George, and demanded his pay in a
+    disrespectful way. Simpson replied somewhat roughly, which led Larocque to insult the
+    officer of the company. Simpson seized the fire poker and striking Larocque's head
+    made an ugly wound on his scalp.</p>
+    <p>Larocque's companions retired without violence, but on returning home, gathered
+    the violent spirits together, came back to Fort Garry and demanded that Thomas
+    Simpson should be given up to them for punishment, with the threat that if this were
+    not granted, they would destroy the Fort, and take Simpson by violence. This being
+    refused them, the Metis returned to their homes to prepare themselves for action, and
+    began the war songs and war dances of their savage ancestors in true Indian style.
+    Governor Christie, the local authority, took with him Chief Factor Cameron, Robert
+    Logan and Alexander Ross, chief men of the Settlement, and visited the gathering of
+    the Metis. One of the deputation writes that "they resembled a troop of furies more
+    than human beings." For some time the mob refused the approaches of the officers of
+    the Company. At length the quarrel was settled by the Company agreeing to pay the
+    voyageur's wages in full, and that<span class ="pagenum">198</span><a name="Page_198"
+    id="Page_198"></a> he should be allowed to remain at home. Probably, however, the most
+    acceptable part of the concession, was the gift by the Company of a "ten-gallon keg
+    of rum and tobacco."</p>
+    <p>Next spring another demonstration was made by the Metis for other demands, but
+    these were refused.</p>
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_210.jpg" ><img class="figcenterw"
+      src="images/illus_210.jpg" alt="Exterior View of Fort Garry" title="" />
+      </a><br />
+       <span class="caption">Exterior View of Fort Garry</span>
+    </div>
+    <p>Then, from every direction came the imperious suggestion that some more effective
+    form of government should be adopted. This was granted. True, Governor Simpson did
+    not succeed in satisfying all the Settlers, though in this respect he found it easier
+    to supply the volatile French-Canadian hunters, than the hard-headed people of
+    British origin. The method of Governor Simpson, along with the London
+<span class ="pagenum">199</span><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199"></a> Board of the Hudson's Bay
+    Company choosing the Council of Assiniboia, certainly did smack of the age of Henry
+    VIII. or Charles I. in English history.</p>
+    <p>The Council consisted of fifteen members, viz.: the Governor-in-Chief Simpson, the
+    Local Governor Christie, the Roman Catholic Bishop, two Church of England clergymen,
+    three retired Hudson's Bay Company officers, the leading doctor of the Colony,
+    Sheriff Ross, Coroner McCallum, and three leading business men, viz.: Pritchard,
+    Logan and McDermott. It is noticeable that though the French element numbered about
+    one-half of the people, that only one Councillor besides the Bishop was given them,
+    and this was Cuthbert Grant, now settled down from the period of his
+    Bois-brul&eacute;s impulsiveness to be the Warden of the Plains, with an influence
+    over the Metis, that can only be described as magical.</p>
+    <p>Judged by the methods of representative government the Council was rather a
+    burlesque.</p>
+    <p>Sheriff Alexander Ross, though a member of the Council, says: "To guard against
+    foolish and oppressive acts, the sooner the people have a share in their own affairs
+    the better. It is only fair that those that have to obey the laws should have a voice
+    in making them."</p>
+    <p>Hon. Donald Gunn, who was not on the Council, says: "The majority of the Council
+    thus<span class ="pagenum">200</span><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200"></a> appointed were, no doubt,
+    the wealthiest men in the Colony and generally well-informed, and yet their
+    appointment was far from being acceptable to the people who knew that they were
+    either sinecurists or salaried servants of the Hudson's Bay Company, and consequently
+    were not the fittest men to legislate for people who retained some faint recollection
+    of the manner in which the popular branch of the legislature in their native land was
+    appointed, and who never ceased to inveigh against the arbitrary manner in which the
+    Governor-in-chief chose the legislators."</p>
+    <p>Notwithstanding the writer's perfect sympathy with both of these opinions, it is
+    but fair to state that the Council of Assiniboia did in ordinary times do many things
+    which were most beneficial and helpful to the Red River Community.</p>
+    <p>Its most distressing failures were in those things which are very essential. (1)
+    Being a compromise body it had no power of progressive development, and in the whole
+    generation of its existence it did practically nothing to advance the public,
+    intellectual, or moral interests of the people. (2) Perhaps its most serious
+    breakdown took place, as we shall see, in the failure of its judicial system.
+    Executive power it had none, as seen in the cases where jail-delivery took place
+    again and again by the friends of<span class ="pagenum">201</span><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"></a> the prisoners boldly
+    extricating whom they would. (3) But most alarming and miserable was its failure to
+    act in its moribund days, when it allowed, as we shall see, a mob to seize Fort Garry
+    and bring in an era of disorder which made every self-respecting British subject
+    blush with shame.</p>
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_213.jpg" ><img class="figcenterw"
+      src="images/illus_213.jpg" alt="South and East Faces" title="" /></a><br />
+       <span class="caption">South and East Faces, 1840
+       From sketch by wife of Governor Finlayson.</span>
+    </div>
+    <p><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_213a.jpg" ><img class="figcenterw"
+      src="images/illus_213a.jpg" alt="East Face In 1882, When Fort Was Dismantled"
+      title="" /></a><br />
+       <span class="caption">East Face In 1882, When Fort Was Dismantled<br />
+       (From painting in author's possession.)<br />
+       x Spot where Scott was Executed.<br />
+       FORT GARRY WINTER SCENES</span>
+    </div>
+    <br />
+
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2><span class ="pagenum">202</span><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202"></a>
+    <div class="subchap">THE OGRE OF JUSTICE.
+    </div>
+    <p>The wild life of the prairie or mountain cultivates a spirit of freedom. When
+    individuals must become a law unto themselves, when the absence of steamers,
+    railways, electric power, work-shops, and mills, throws men on their own resources,
+    they find it irksome to obey the law. They regard its restrictions as tyrannical. The
+    prairie horse becomes free. He must be caught with the lasso, he needs to be hobbled
+    near the camp, it is necessary to curb him in his temper, but in his wild state he
+    can provide for himself. He knows the best pasture and seeks it, he is acquainted
+    with the water courses and finds them, he returns or not to his stable or covert at
+    his own sweet will, he fights the wolf or the bear and protects the colts from the
+    wild beasts.</p>
+    <p>As is the prairie steed, so to a large extent is his master. He is apt to despise
+    civilization, prefers his buckskin coat and fringed leggings, and loves the moccasin
+    rather than the stiff leather shoe.<span class ="pagenum">203</span><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">
+  </a> </p>
+    <p>With him the idea of sub-division of property is not developed. There are no local
+    game laws. He shoots large or small game, moose or prairie chicken, whenever he can
+    find them. He traps on whatever stream he chooses. His idea of personal property is
+    very liberal. He is large-hearted and bountiful, divides his find of game with his
+    neighbors, and his shanty has, as he says, "a latch hanging outside the door," for
+    any wanderer or passing stranger.</p>
+    <p>This many-sided notion of freedom belongs to all primitive peoples and societies.
+    Of the Red River Community the French half-breed was of the most unsubdued and
+    restive type, for he followed the ways of the Indians, while the Selkirk Colonists
+    and their descendants always professed to be farmers, and hunting was only their
+    diversion. Moreover, being of Scottish blood, they had been taught to fear God and
+    honor the King.</p>
+    <p>We have seen that Governor Simpson had a plan in his mind for gaining control and
+    preserving order in his own kingdom. His idea of building fortified stone forts is
+    chiefly seen in the cases of Upper and Lower Forts Garry. Fort Garry was, as we have
+    seen, well on the way to completion by the time of the French outbreak in connection
+    with Larocque. And Governor Christie was authorized to go on and construct a still
+    more elaborate fort at the<span class ="pagenum">204</span><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204"></a>
+    Forks to replace the wooden Fort Garry built shortly after the union of the
+    Companies. Thus, a large Fort with numerous buildings, suitable for trade and
+    residence, was begun in 1835, and around it a substantial stone wall was built. The
+    dimensions from east to west were 280 feet, and from north to south 240 feet. The
+    fort faced the Assiniboine River, and each of its corners showed a large and
+    well-built bastion. The bastions were provided with port holes, and all about the
+    structure suggested the possibility of an armed struggle. This was begun in the same
+    year as the formation of the Council of Assiniboia, and was fairly advanced to
+    completion by 1839. Laws for the government of the people, and the administration of
+    justice were passed by the Council, in accordance with the opening address of
+    Governor Simpson, when he said: "The time is at length arrived, when it becomes
+    necessary to put the administration of justice on a more firm and regular footing
+    than heretofore."</p>
+    <p>And now, in 1839, in this Arcadia of Red River there became evident the dreadful
+    presence of the law in the person of Adam Thom, first Recorder of Rupert's Land, who,
+    as compared with the humble incomes of the people of Red River, had the enormous
+    salary of &pound;700 a year bestowed upon him by the Hudson's Bay Company. The plan
+    was a very real one in<span class ="pagenum">205</span><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205"></a>
+Governor Simpson's mind when he took a step so
+    decided.</p>
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_219.jpg" ><img class="figcenterh"
+      src="images/illus_219.jpg" alt="ADAM THOM, LL.D." title="" /></a><br />
+       <span class="caption">ADAM THOM, LL.D.<br />
+       Recorder and Author.<br />
+       Lived in Red River Settlement 1839-1854.</span>
+    </div>
+    <p>And the man who had been chosen for this post was no man of putty. He was a
+    Scotchman of commanding presence, decided opinions and strong will. He was a man of
+    rather aggressive and combative disposition. The writer met him in London long after
+    he had retired&mdash;and this was some thirty years ago, and though the judge was
+    then upwards of three score and ten, he was yet a man of force and decision. A
+    graduate of Aberdeen University, Adam Thom had come to Montreal as a lawyer, and was
+    for a time on Lord Durham's staff. He had taken high ground against Papineau's
+    rebellion, and was known as one of the strongest newspaper controversialists of the
+    time. He was a determined opponent of the French-Canadian rebellion, as he was of
+    rebellion in any form whatever. Evidently, Governor Simpson chose a man "after his
+    own heart" for the difficult task, of introducing law and order among the turbulent
+    Nor'-Westers.</p>
+    <p>The arrival of the new Judge in the Red River Settlement gave rise to much
+    comment. The spirit of discontent had strengthened, as we have seen among the
+    Colonists and English-speaking half-breeds. The Hudson's Bay Company had now
+    re-bought the land of Assiniboia from Lord Selkirk's heirs. Hitherto
+<span class ="pagenum">206</span><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206"></a> it was difficult to find out
+    precisely who their oppressor was. Now, though Governor Simpson sought by diplomacy
+    to evade the responsibility, yet the explanation given by the Colonists of the
+    arrival of Recorder Thom, was that he had come to uphold the Company's pretensions
+    and to restrict their liberties. According to Ross,the Colonists reasoned that "a man
+    placed in Recorder Thom's position, liable to be turned out of office at the
+    Company's pleasure, naturally provokes the doubt whether he could at all times be
+    proof against the sin of partiality. Is it likely," they said, "that he could always
+    take the impartial view of a case that might involve in its results his own interests
+    or deprive him of his daily bread?"</p>
+    <p>Likewise, on the part of the French half-breeds, there was the same distrust in
+    regard to the limiting of the privileges which they enjoyed, while along with this it
+    had been noised about that during the Papineau trouble in Canada, the Judge was no
+    favorite of the French. The French half-breeds, accordingly, became strongly
+    prejudiced against the new Recorder.</p>
+    <p>In the year after the arrival of Recorder Thom, a most startling and mysterious
+    event&mdash;which indeed has never been solved to the present day, happened in the
+    case of Thomas Simpson, who it will be remembered had roused by his crushing blow on
+    the head of Larocque, the<span class ="pagenum">207</span><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207"></a> rage
+    of the whole French half-breed community. The case was that Thomas Simpson, with a
+    party of natives, had been going southward through Minnesota, ahead of the main body
+    of sojourners. In a state of frenzy he had shot two of his four companions. The other
+    two returned to the main body, and got assistance. He was seen to be alive as they
+    approached him, a shot was heard, and then shots were fired in his direction by those
+    observing him. Whether he committed suicide or was killed by those approaching, some
+    of whom were French, will never be known. The fact that he had quarreled with the
+    French half-breeds, five years before this event, was used to throw suspicion. The
+    body of Simpson was carried back to St. John's Cemetery in Winnipeg, and it is said
+    was buried along the wall in token of the belief that he had committed suicide.</p>
+    <p>What the body of the people had feared in the tightening of the legal restrictions
+    by the new laws and new officials, did actually take place. The French half-breeds
+    were, as we have seen, chiefly given to hunting. In theory, the Hudson's Bay Company
+    possessed <i>all hunting rights under their charter</i>. A French-Canadian, Larant,
+    and another half-breed also, had the furs, which they had hunted for, forcibly taken
+    from them by legal authority, while in a third case an offender against the game laws
+    had been actually<span class ="pagenum">208</span><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208"></a> deported to
+    York Factory. Alarm was now general among the French half-breeds. Hitherto the
+    English half-breeds had been loyal to the Company. Alexander Ross gives an incident
+    worth repeating as to how even the English half-breeds became rebellious. He says:
+    "One of the Company's officers, residing at a distance, had placed two of his
+    daughters at the boarding-school in the Settlement. An English half-breed, a comely
+    well-behaved young man, of respectable connections, was paying his addresses to one
+    of these young ladies, and had asked her in marriage. The young lady had another
+    suitor in the person of a Scotch lad, but her affections were in favor of the former,
+    while her guardian, the chief officer in Red River, preferred the latter. In his zeal
+    to succeed in the choice he had made for the young lady, this gentleman sent for the
+    half-breed and reprimanded him for aspiring to the hand of a lady, accustomed, as he
+    expressed it, to the first society. The young man, without saying a word, put on his
+    hat and walked out of the room; but being the leading man among his countrymen, the
+    whole community took fire at the insult. 'This is the way,' said they, 'that we
+    half-breeds are despised and treated.' From that time they clubbed together in high
+    dudgeon and joined the French Malcontents against their rulers. The French
+    half-breeds made a flag for use on<span class ="pagenum">209</span><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">
+  </a> the plains called 'The Papineau Standard.' It is plain that rightly
+    or wrongly, Recorder Thom has a thorny path to tread."<span class ="pagenum">210</span><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210"></a> </p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">A HALF-BREED PATRIOT.
+    </div>
+    <p>Canada looks with patriotic delight not only on her sons who remain at home to
+    work out the problems of her developing life, but follows with keenest interest those
+    Canadians who have gone abroad and made a name for themselves, and their country in
+    other parts of the Empire or the world. Some of these are Judge Haliburton, Satirist;
+    Roberts and Bliss Carman, Poets; Gilbert Parker, Grant Allen and Barr, Novelists;
+    Romanes and Newcombe, Scientists; Girouard, Kennedy and Scott in the Army, and many
+    others who have won laurels in the several walks of life. But Manitoba, or rather Red
+    River Settlement has also its sons who have gone abroad to do distinguished service
+    and bring honor to their place of birth. One of them was Alexander K. Isbister, most
+    commonly known as the donor of upwards of $80,000, given as a Scholarship Fund to the
+    University of Manitoba, but really more celebrated still, for the service he rendered
+    his native land. A little less than thirty years ago the writer met Mr.
+<span class ="pagenum">211</span><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211"></a> Isbister in London and enjoyed
+    his hospitality. Isbister was a tall and handsome man, showing distinctly by his
+    color and high cheekbones that he had Indian blood in his veins. Receiving his early
+    education in St. John's School, he had gone home to England, taken his degrees,
+    become a lawyer, and afterward had gone into educational work. He was, at the time of
+    the visit spoken of, Dean of the College of Preceptors in London, and had much
+    reputation as an educationalist. But the service he rendered to his native land
+    out-topped all his other achievements. We have already shown the tendency toward
+    restriction being developed under Recorder Thom's leadership, in Red River
+    Settlement. James Sinclair, a member of a most respectable Scotch half-breed family,
+    had obtained the privilege from the Company to export tallow, the product of the
+    buffalo, by way of York Factory to England. The venture succeeded, but a second
+    shipment was held at York Factory for nearly two years, and thus Sinclair was
+    virtually compelled to sell it to the Company.</p>
+    <p>Twenty leading half-breeds then appealed to the Hudson's Bay Company to be allowed
+    to export tallow at a reasonable rate. In 1844 two proclamations were issued, that
+    before the Company would carry goods for any settler, a declaration from such
+    settler, and the examination<span class ="pagenum">212</span><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212"></a> of
+    his correspondence in regard to his dealing in furs would first be necessary. The
+    native people determined to oppose them. They claimed as having Indian blood, that
+    they were entitled to aboriginal rights. Twenty leading English-speaking half-breeds,
+    among them such respectable names as Sinclair, Dease, Vincent, Bird and Garrioch,
+    demanded from Governor Christie a definite answer as to their position and rights.
+    The Governor answered with sweet words, but the policy of "thorough" was steadily
+    pushed forward, and a new land deed was devised by which the land would be forfeited
+    should the settlers interfere in the fur trade. Next, heavy freights were put on
+    goods going to England by way of Hudson Bay, and Sinclair, as an agitator, was
+    refused the privilege of having his freight carried at any price. The spirits of the
+    English-speaking half-breeds were raised to a pitch of discontent, quite equal to
+    that of the French half-breeds, although the latter were more noisy and
+    demonstrative. James Sinclair became the "village Hampden" who stood for his rights
+    and those of his compeers.</p>
+    <p>It was at this juncture that the valuable aid of Isbister came to his countrymen.
+    In 1847 Isbister, with his educated mind, social standing, and valiant spirit led the
+    way for his people, and with five other half-breeds of Red<span class ="pagenum">213</span><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213"></a> River forwarded a long and able memorial to Earl
+    Grey, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, bringing the serious charges against
+    the Company, of neglecting the native people, oppressing all the settlers, and taking
+    from them their natural rights. A perusal of this document leads us to the opinion
+    that the charges were exaggerated, but nevertheless they showed how impossible it
+    was, for a Trading Company, to be at the same time the Government of a country and to
+    be equitable and high-minded. The Hudson's Bay Company answered this document sent
+    them by the Imperial Government, and so far relieved themselves of some of the
+    charges. But the storm raised could not be quieted. Isbister obtained new evidence
+    and attacked the validity of the Company's Charter. Lord Elgin, the fair-minded
+    Governor of Canada, claimed that he, in Canada, was too far away from the scene of
+    dispute to give an authoritative answer, but on the whole he favored the Company.
+    Lord Elgin, however, based his reply too much upon the statement of Colonel Crofton,
+    a military officer, who had been sent to Red River. Alexander Ross said of Crofton,
+    on the other hand, that he was a man "who never studied the art of governing a
+    people."</p>
+    <p>But the agitation still gained head.</p>
+    <p>The mercurial French half-breeds now joined<span class ="pagenum">214</span><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">
+  </a> in the struggle. They forwarded a petition to Her Majesty the
+    Queen, couched in excellent terms, in the French language, in the main asking that
+    their right to enjoy the liberty of commerce be given them. This petition was signed
+    by nine hundred and seventy-seven persons, and virtually represented the whole French
+    half-breed adult population.</p>
+    <p>An important episode soon took place among the French, usually known as the "Sayer
+    Affair." Of this we shall speak in another chapter. The movement, headed by Isbister,
+    still continued, and led to the serious consideration by the British Government of
+    the whole situation in Red River Settlement. The impatience of the people of all
+    classes in Red River led to a new plan of attack. Not being able to influence
+    sufficiently the British authorities, they forwarded a petition, signed by five
+    hundred and seventy English-speaking people of Red River Settlement, to the
+    Legislative Assembly of Canada. The grievances of the people were given in detail.
+    The reason suggested for the deaf ear which had been given them by the British
+    Parliament were stated to be "the chicanery of the Hudson's Bay Company, and its
+    false representations."</p>
+    <p>Isbister, in all his efforts, gained the unfailing respect and gratitude, not only
+    of his own race, but very generally of the people of the<span class ="pagenum">215</span><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215"></a> Red River Settlement. Ten years after the petition
+    of Isbister and his friends had been presented to Earl Grey, a committee of the House
+    of Commons was sitting to investigate the affairs of the Hudson's Bay Company. It was
+    a sifting inquiry, in which Gladstone, Roebuck and other friends of liberty, took
+    part. It, however, took a quarter of a century to bring about the union of Rupert's
+    Land with Canada, although, as we shall see, in less than five years, a measure of
+    amelioration came to the oppressed and indignant settlers of Red River. For this the
+    people of Red River Settlement were largely indebted to the self-denying and
+    persistent efforts of Alexander Isbister. The old settlers of Kildonan, the French
+    and English half-breeds of the several parishes, and their descendants as well as the
+    University of Manitoba and all friends of education ought to keep his memory green
+    for what he did for them, for as a writer of his own time says, "He gained for
+    himself a name that will live in days yet to come."<span class ="pagenum">216</span><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216"></a> </p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">SAYER AND LIBERTY.
+    </div>
+    <p>Stone forts and ermined judges were not, to the mind of the unbridled and
+    ungovernable Metis. True, the French mind has a love for show and circumstance and
+    dignity of demeanor, but the conviction had taken hold of the people of Red River,
+    and especially of the French half-breeds, that these meant curtailment of their
+    freedom. They felt the dice were loaded against them.</p>
+    <p>But, now, in the year after Sinclair and his friends had shown such a firm front
+    to Governor Christie, and when something like a feudal system was being introduced
+    into the Red River Settlement, a new surprise came upon French and English alike.
+    This was immediately after the terrible visitation of a plague, which had cut down
+    one-sixteenth of the whole population. It was the arrival of a party of the Sixth
+    Royal Regiment of Foot, along with artillery and engineers, amounting in all to five
+    hundred souls. The breath of the people was taken away by this demonstration of
+    force, and a chronicler<span class ="pagenum">217</span><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217"></a> of the
+    time says: "From the moment they arrived the high tone of lawless defiance and
+    internal disaffection raised by our people against the laws and the authorities of
+    the place were reduced to silence." Colonel Crofton, in command of the troops, was
+    appointed Governor of the Settlement, and he proved a wise and honorable
+    administrator. The regiment gained golden opinions from the people, and as they spent
+    during their short stay of two years, a sum of &pound;15,000 in supplies, it was,
+    indeed, a golden age for the hard-working Colonists. The leaving of the regiment was
+    regretted by the Colony.</p>
+    <p>Having now entered on a career of government by force, it would not do to let it
+    drop. Hence the authorities enlisted in Britain a number of old pensioners, and under
+    command of Major Caldwell, who was also to act as Governor of the Settlement, sent
+    out, in each of two successive years, some seventy of these discharged soldiers to
+    act as guardians of the peace. It was pretty well agreed that these men, to whom were
+    given holdings of small pieces of land to the west of Fort Garry, now in the St.
+    James District of Winnipeg, were simply imitators in conduct and disposition of the
+    De Meurons, who had so vexed the Colonists. Major Caldwell, too, by his lack of
+    business habits and his selfishness, alienated all the<span class ="pagenum">218</span><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218"></a> leading men of the Colony, so that they refused to
+    sit with him in Council. It was the common opinion that the turbulence and violence
+    of the pensioners was so great that, as one of the Company said, "We have more
+    trouble with the pensioners than with all the rest of the Settlement put together."
+    The pensioners were certainly absolutely useless for the purpose for which they had
+    been sent, that is to preserve order in the country. The Metis, at any rate, spoke of
+    them with derision.</p>
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_234.jpg" ><img class="figcenterh"
+      src="images/illus_234.jpg" alt="PLAN OF FORT GARRY" title="" /></a><br />
+       <span class="caption">PLAN OF FORT GARRY and of the other forts of Winnipeg.<br />
+       1, Fort Rouge; 2, Fort Douglas; 3, Fort Gibraltar; 4, Fidler's Fort; 5, First Fort
+      Garry; 6, Fort Garry.</span>
+    </div>
+    <p>In the year following the removal of the troops the policy of preventing the
+    French<span class ="pagenum">219</span><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219"></a> half-breeds from buying
+    and selling furs with the Indians was being carried out by Judge Thom, the relentless
+    ogre of the law. Four men of the Metis had been arrested; of these the leader was
+    William Sayer. He was the half-breed son of an old French bourgeois of the Northwest
+    Company. He had been liberated on bail, and was to come up for trial in May. The
+    charge against him was of buying goods with which to go on a trading expedition to
+    Lake Manitoba.</p>
+    <p>Possibly the case would be easily disposed of, and most likely dismissed with a
+    trifling fine, although it was true that Sayer had made a stiff resistance on his
+    being arrested. This violent resistance was but an example of the bitter and
+    dangerous spirit that was developing among the Metis.</p>
+    <p>A brave and restless man was now growing to have a dominating influence over the
+    French half-breeds. This was Louis Riel, a fierce and noisy revolutionist, ready for
+    any extremity. He was a French half-breed, was owner of a small flour mill on the
+    Seine River, and he was the father of the rebel chief of later years. The day fixed
+    for the Sayer trial by the legal authorities was a most unfortunate one. It was on
+    May 17th, which on that year was Ascension Day, a day of obligation among the
+    Catholic people of the Settlement. It was noticeable<span class ="pagenum">220</span><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220"></a> that there was much ferment in the French parishes.
+    Louis Riel, who was a violent, but effective speaker, of French, Irish and Indian
+    descent, busied himself in stirring up resistance. The fact that it was a Church day
+    for the Metis made it easy for them to gather together. This they did by hundreds in
+    front of the St. Boniface Cathedral, where, piling up their guns, with which all the
+    men were armed, at the Church door, they then entered and performed their sacred
+    duties. At the close of the service, Riel, "the miller of the Seine," made a fiery
+    oration, advocating the rescue of their compatriot Sayer, who was to be held for
+    trial at the Court House. A French sympathizer said of this public meeting: "Louis
+    Riel obtained a veritable triumph on that occasion, and long and loud the hurrahs
+    were repeated by the echoes of the Red River."</p>
+    <p>And now, under Riel's direction, by a concerted action, movement of the whole body
+    was made to cross the Red River and march to the Court House, which stood beside the
+    wall of Fort Garry. To allow the five hundred men to cross easily, Point Douglas was
+    selected, and here by ferry boats, said to have been provided by James Sinclair, the
+    English half-breed leader of whom we have spoken, the party crossed, and worked up to
+    the highest pitch of excitement, stalked up the mile or two to the Court House.
+<span class ="pagenum">221</span><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221"></a></p><br />
+    <br />
+
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_237.jpg" ><img class="figcenterh"
+      src="images/illus_237.jpg" alt="PLAN OF FORT GARRY" title="" /></a><br />
+       <span class="caption">PLAN OF FORT GARRY<br />
+       South portion with stone wall and bastions built in 1835.<br />
+       North portion with wooden wall and stone north gate still standing, built in
+      1850.</span>
+    </div>
+    <br />
+
+    <p>Though somewhat anxious, the Governor and Court officials passed through the
+    excited crowd which surrounded the Court House. It was expected that the Governor
+    would order out a guard of pensioners to protect the Court, but he had dispensed with
+    this, and so he, Recorder<span class ="pagenum">222</span><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222"></a> Thom,
+    and the Magistrate, took their seats upon the elevated platform of Justice precisely
+    at eleven o'clock. Sayer's case was called first, but he was held by the Metis
+    outside of the Court room. Other unimportant business was then taken up until one
+    o'clock. An Irish relative of old Andrew McDermott, named McLaughlin, attempted to
+    interfere, but was instantly suppressed. The Court then sent a suggestion to the
+    Metis that they should appoint a leader with a deputation to enter the Court room
+    with Sayer and state their case. This proposal was accepted, and James Sinclair, the
+    English half-breed leader, undertook the duty. Sayer was then brought in, guarded by
+    twenty of his compatriots, fully armed, while fifty Metis guards stood at the gates
+    of the Court House enclosure. An attempt was then made to select a jury, but it was
+    fruitless. Sayer next confessed that he had traded for furs with an Indian. The Court
+    then gave a verdict of guilty, whereupon Sayer proved that a Hudson's Bay officer
+    named Harriott, had given him authority to trade. The other three cases against the
+    Metis were not proceeded with, and Governor, Recorder, officials and spectators all
+    left the Court room, the mob being of the impression that the prisoners had been
+    acquitted, and that trading for furs was no longer illegal. Though this was not the
+    decision yet the crowd so took it up, and made<span class ="pagenum">223</span><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">
+  </a> the welkin ring with shouts (Le Commerce est libre, vive la
+    libert&eacute;) "Commerce is free, long live liberty."</p>
+    <p>The Metis then crossed the river to St. Boniface, and after much cheering, fired
+    several salutes with their guns. It was their victory, but it was one in which the
+    vast mass of the English-speaking rejoiced for the bands of tyranny were broken.
+    Judge Thom, under instructions from Governor Simpson, never acted as Recorder again,
+    but was simply Secretary of the Court, and another reigned in his stead. After this
+    the Court was largely without authority, and as has been said the rescue of prisoners
+    was not an infrequent occurrence in the future life of the Settlement.
+<span class ="pagenum">224</span><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224"></a></p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">OFF TO THE BUFFALO.
+    </div>
+    <p>Alexander Ross was a Scottish Highlander, who came to Glengarry in Canada, quite a
+    century ago, joined Astor's expedition, went around Cape Horn and in British Columbia
+    rose to be an officer in the Northwest Company. He married the daughter of an Indian
+    Chief at Okanagan, came over the Rocky Mountains, and was given by Sir George Simpson
+    a free gift of a farm, where Ross and James Streets are now found in Winnipeg. This
+    land is to-day worth many millions of dollars. Ross was also fond of hunting the
+    buffalo, and we are fortunate in having his spirited story of 1840.</p>
+    <div class="subchap">BUFFALO HUNTING.
+    </div>
+    <p>In the leafy month of June carts were seen to emerge from every nook and corner of
+    the Settlement bound for the plains. As they passed us, many things were discovered
+    to be still wanting, to supply which a halt had to be made at Fort Garry shop; one
+    wanted this thing, another that, but all on credit. The day of payment was yet to
+    come; but payment was promised. Many on the present occasion were sup<span class ="pagenum">225</span><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225"></a>plied, many were not; they got
+    and grumbled, and grumbled and got, till they could get no more; and at last went
+    off, still grumbling and discontented.</p>
+    <p>From Fort Garry the cavalcade and camp-followers were crowding on the public road,
+    and thence, stretching from point to point, till the third day in the evening, when
+    they reached Pembina, the great rendezvous of such occasions. When the hunters leave
+    the Settlement it enjoys that relief which a person feels on recovering from a long
+    and painful sickness. Here, on a level plain, the whole patriarchal camp squatted
+    down like pilgrims on a journey to the Holy Land, in ancient days: only not so
+    devout, for neither scrip nor staff were consecrated for the occasion. Here the roll
+    was called, and general muster taken, when they numbered on the occasion 1,630 souls:
+    and here the rules and regulations for the journey were finally settled. The
+    officials for the trip were named and installed into their office, and all without
+    the aid of writing materials.</p>
+    <p>The camp occupied as much ground as a modern city, and was formed in a circle: all
+    the carts were placed side by side, the trams outward. Within this line, the tents
+    were placed in double, treble rows, at one end; the animals at the other in front of
+    the tents. This is the order in all dangerous places: but when<span class ="pagenum">226</span><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226"></a> no danger is feared, the animals are kept on the
+    outside. Thus, the carts formed a strong barrier, not only for securing the people
+    and the beasts of burden within, but as a place of shelter and defence against an
+    attack of the enemy without.</p>
+    <p>There is, however, another appendage belonging to the expedition, and to every
+    expedition of the kind; and you may be assured they are not the least noisy. We
+    allude to the dogs or camp followers. On the present occasion they numbered no fewer
+    than 542; sufficient of themselves to consume no small number of animals a day, for,
+    like their masters, they dearly relish a bit of buffalo meat.</p>
+    <p>These animals are kept in summer as they are, about the establishments of the fur
+    traders, for their services in the winter. In deep snows, when horses cannot
+    conveniently be used, dogs are very serviceable to the hunters in these parts. The
+    half-breed, dressed in his wolf costume, tackles two or three sturdy curs into a flat
+    sled, throws himself on it at full length, and gets among the buffalo unperceived.
+    Here the bow and arrow play their part to prevent noise; and here the skillful hunter
+    kills as many as he pleases, and returns to camp without disturbing the band.</p>
+    <p>But now to our camp again&mdash;the largest of its kind perhaps in the world. A
+    council was held <span class ="pagenum">227</span><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227"></a> for the
+    nomination of chiefs or officers for conducting the expedition. Two captains were
+    named, the senior on this occasion being Jean Baptiste Wilkie, an English half-breed
+    brought up among the French, a man of good sound sense and long experience, and
+    withal a bold-looking and discreet fellow, a second Nimrod in his way. Besides being
+    captain, in common with others, he was styled the great war chief or head of the
+    camp, and on all public occasions he occupied the place of president.</p>
+    <p>The hoisting of the flag every morning is the signal for raising camp. Half an
+    hour is the full time allowed to prepare for the march, but if anyone is sick, or
+    their animals have strayed, notice is sent to the guide, who halts until all is made
+    right. From the time the flag is hoisted however, till the hour of camping arrives,
+    it is never taken down. The flag taken down is a signal for encamping, while it is up
+    the guide is chief of the expedition, captains are subject to him, and the soldiers
+    of the day are his messengers, he commands all. The moment the flag is lowered his
+    functions cease and the captains and soldiers' duties commence. They point out the
+    order of the camp, and every cart as it arrives moves to its appointed place. This
+    business usually occupies about the same time as raising camp in the morning, for
+    everything moves with the regularity of clockwork.<span class ="pagenum">228</span><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228"></a> </p>
+    <p>The captains and other chiefs have agreed on rules to govern the expedition, such
+    as, that no buffaloes are to be run on Sunday, no party is to lag behind or to go
+    before, no one may run a buffalo without a general order, etc. The punishment for
+    breaking the laws are for a first offence: the offender had his saddle and bridle cut
+    up: for the second, to have the coat taken off his back and cut up: for the third,
+    the offender was flogged. Any theft was punished by the offender being three times
+    proclaimed "THIEF," in the middle of the camp.</p>
+    <p>On the 21st of June, after the priest had performed mass, for many were Roman
+    Catholics, the flag was unfurled at about six or seven o'clock and the picturesque
+    line was formed over the prairie, extending some five or six miles towards the
+    southwest. It was the ninth was gained. This was a journey of about 150 day from
+    Pembina before the Cheyenne River miles, and on the nineteenth day, at a distance of
+    250 miles, the destined hunting grounds were reached. On the 4th of July, since the
+    encampment was in the United States, the compliment was paid of having the first
+    buffalo race.</p>
+    <p>No less than 400 huntsmen, all mounted and anxiously waiting for the word "Start,"
+    took up their position in a line at one end of the camp, while Captain Wilkie issued
+    his orders.</p>
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_245.jpg" ><img class="figcenterw"
+      src="images/illus_245.jpg" alt="HERD OF BUFFALOES FEEDING ON THE HIGH PLAINS"
+      title="" /></a><br />
+       <span class="caption">HERD OF BUFFALOES FEEDING ON THE HIGH PLAINS</span>
+    </div>
+    <br />
+ <span class ="pagenum">229</span><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229"></a>
+   <p>At eight o'clock the whole cavalcade broke ground, and made for the buffaloes.
+    When the horsemen started the buffaloes were about a mile and a half distant, but
+    when they approached to about four or five hundred yards, the bulls curled their
+    tails or pawed the ground. In a moment more the herd took flight, and horse and rider
+    are presently seen bursting upon them, shots are heard, and all is smoke, dust and
+    hurry, and in less time than we have occupied with a description a thousand carcasses
+    strew the plain.</p>
+    <p>When the rush was made, the earth seemed to tremble as the horses started, but
+    when the animals fled, it was like the shock of an earthquake. The air was darkened,
+    the rapid firing, at first, soon became more and more faint, and at last died away in
+    the distance.</p>
+    <p>In such a run, a good horse and experienced rider will select and kill from ten to
+    twelve buffaloes at one heat, but in the case before us, the surface was rocky and
+    full of badger holes. Twenty-three horses and riders were at one moment all sprawling
+    on the ground, one horse gored by a bull, was killed on the spot, two more were
+    disabled by the fall. One rider broke his shoulder blade, another burst his gun, and
+    lost three fingers by the accident, another was struck on the knee by an exhausted
+    bull. In the evening no less than 1,375 tongues were brought into<span class ="pagenum">230</span><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230"></a> camp. When the run is over the hunter's work is now
+    retrograde. The last animal killed is the first skinned, and night not unfrequently,
+    surprises the runner at his work. What then remains is lost and falls to the wolves.
+    Hundreds of dead buffaloes are often abandoned, for even a thunderstorm, in one hour,
+    will render the meat useless.</p>
+    <p>The day of a race is as fatiguing on the hunter as on the horse, but the meat well
+    in the camp, he enjoys the very luxury of idleness.</p>
+    <p>Then the task of the women begins, who do all the rest, and what with skins, and
+    meat and fat, their duty is a most laborious one.</p>
+    <p>It is to be regretted that much of the meat is wasted. Our expedition killed not
+    less than 2,500 buffaloes, and out of all these made 375 bags of pemmican, and 240
+    bales of dried meat; 750 animals should have made that amount, so that a great
+    quantity was wasted. Of course, the buffalo skins were saved and had their value.</p>
+    <p>Our party were now on the Missouri and encamped there. A few traders went to the
+    nearest American fort, and bartered furs for articles they needed.</p>
+    <p>After passing a week on the banks of the Missouri we turned to the West, when we
+    had a few races with various success. We were afterwards led backwards and forwards
+    at the pleasure of the buffalo herds. They crossed and recrossed<span class ="pagenum">231</span><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231"></a> our path until we had travelled to almost every
+    point of the compass.</p>
+    <p>Having had various altercations with the Indians, the party reached Red River,
+    bringing about 900 lbs. of buffalo meat in each cart, making more than one million
+    pounds in all. The Hudson's Bay Company took a considerable amount of this, and the
+    remainder went to supply the wants of the Red River Settlement for another year.
+<span class ="pagenum">232</span><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232"></a></p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">WHAT THE STARGAZERS SAW.
+    </div>
+    <p>The writer remembers meeting in Boston, a good many years ago, a scientific
+    explorer, who along with two companies, one of whom is the greatest astronomer in the
+    United States, as an astronomical party in 1860, made a visit through Red River
+    Settlement, on their way to the North Saskatchewan to observe an eclipse. The
+    disappointment of the party was very great, for, after travelling three thousand
+    miles, their fate was "to sit in a marsh and view the eclipse through the clouds, so
+    heavy was the rain."</p>
+    <p>The three astronomers have given their account under assumed names in a little
+    book, of which there are few copies in Canada. Their view of Red River Settlement in
+    1860 is a vivid picture.</p>
+    <p>What an extraordinary Settlement! Here is a Colony of about ten thousand souls
+    scattered among plantations for thirty miles along the Red and half as many along the
+    Assiniboine River, almost wholly dependent for intelligence<span class ="pagenum">233</span><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233"></a> from the outer world on one stern-wheeled steamer.
+    That breaks down; and before word can be sent of their complete isolation, weeks must
+    pass before the old and painful canoe-route by way of Lake of the Woods can be
+    opened, or the wagon make its tedious journey to the headwaters of the Red and back,
+    improvising on the way its own ferries over the swift and deep streams which feed
+    it.</p>
+    <p>Finding haste of no avail, and despatching our luggage on carts to the Upper Fort
+    and centre of the Settlement, twenty miles away, we start there on foot the next day
+    to view the land and its inhabitants. The road, "the King's road," is a mere
+    cart-track in the deep loam, taking its independent course on either side of the
+    houses, all of which front the river in a single wavering line; for the country is
+    given up absolutely to farming, for which the rich mould, said to be three or four
+    feet deep, eminently fits it; and the lots each with a narrow frontage at the bank of
+    the river, extends back two miles into the prairie. All is at a dead level. John
+    Omand had asked us to dine at his house; but accidentally passing it without
+    recognizing it from his description, we select a fair representative of the common
+    class of houses, and ask for dinner. It is a log-cabin, like all of this class (some
+    far better ones have walls of stone) with a thatched roof and a rough stone and
+    mortar<span class ="pagenum">234</span><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234"></a> chimney planted against
+    one wall. Inside is but a single room, well whitewashed, as is indeed the outside and
+    exceptionally tidy; a bed occupies one corner, a sort of couch another, a rung ladder
+    leads up to loose boards overhead which form an attic, a trap door in the middle of
+    the room opens to a small hole in the ground where milk and butter are kept cool;
+    from the beam is suspended a hammock, used as a cradle for the baby; shelves
+    singularly hung held a scanty stock of plates, knives and forks; two windows on
+    either side, covered with mosquito netting, admit the light, and a modicum of air;
+    chests and boxes supply the place of seats, with here and there a keg by way of
+    easy-chair. An open fireplace of whitewashed clay gives sign of cheer and warmth in
+    the long winter, and a half-dozen books for library complete the scene.</p>
+    <p>Our hosts feel so "highly honored to have such gentlemen enter the
+    house"&mdash;these are their very words&mdash;that it is with the greatest difficulty
+    they are forced to take any compensation for the excellent meal of bread, butter, and
+    rich cream which they set before us, and to which we do ample justice.</p>
+    <p>This was not the only interior we saw; we had before called on the single
+    scientific man of the Settlement, Donald Gunn, and later in the day are forced by a
+    thunderstorm to seek shelter in the nearest house; where we are also warmly
+<span class ="pagenum">235</span><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235"></a> welcomed, and the rain
+    continuing, are glad to accept the cordial invitations of its inhabitants to pass the
+    night. This is a larger house, but only the father of the family and his buxom
+    daughter, Susie, a lively girl of eighteen or nineteen, are at home, the others being
+    off at the other end of their small farm, where they have temporary shelter during
+    the harvest.</p>
+    <p>We have each a chamber to ourselves in the garret, reached in the same primitive
+    method as before mentioned&mdash;and are shown with a dip of buffalo-tallow to our
+    rooms. The furniture of these consists of a sort of couch, with buffalo skins for
+    mattress and wolf skins for sheets and coverlet, a chest for a seat, a punch-bowl of
+    water on a broken chair for a washstand, and a torn bit of rag for towel; while a
+    barrel covered with a white cloth serves as a centre-table, and is besprinkled with
+    antique books. Among those in his chamber our naturalist discovers one which appears
+    to be a catechism of human knowledge containing, among other entertaining and
+    instructive information as an answer to the question, "What is a shark?" the highly
+    satisfactory reply that it is "An animal having eighty-eight teeth."</p>
+    <p>The wants of the Colony were few, the peasantry simple and industrious, and their
+    lot in life did not seem to them hard. The earth yielded bountifully, and in time of
+    temporary<span class ="pagenum">236</span><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236"></a> disaster fishing and
+    hunting stood them in good stead. When they hunt, they go accompanied by Indians, who
+    live on the outskirts of the Colony. Further and further they have been compelled to
+    go, until at our visit no buffalo could be found within a hundred miles at
+    nearest.</p>
+    <p>The hunt is just over as we reach the Settlement, and every day carts come in
+    laden with the buffalo meat, hides, and pemmican. The prairie, back from the river,
+    by Fort Garry, is dotted with carts, lodges and tents. Many are living in rude
+    shelters formed of the carts themselves, placed back to back, and the sides secured
+    by hides.</p>
+    <p>These carts illustrate well the primitive nature and the isolation of the Colony.
+    They are the vehicles in universal use, and are built on the general pattern of our
+    one-horse tip-carts, though they do not tip, and not a scrap of iron enters into
+    them. They are without springs, of course, and rawhide and wooden pins serve to keep
+    together the pieces out of which they are constructed. As they have no tires, and the
+    section of the wheel part or crowd together, according to the moisture, a train of
+    these carts bringing in the products of the hunt is a strange sight. Each cart has
+    its own peculiar creak, hoarse and grating, and waggles its own individual waggle,
+    graceless and shaky, on the uneven ground. To add to its oddity, the shafts
+<span class ="pagenum">237</span><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237"></a> are heavy, straight beams,
+    between which is harnessed an ox, the harness of rawhide (shaga-nappi) without
+    buckles.</p>
+    <p>Everybody makes for himself what he wishes in this undifferentiated Settlement. We
+    return in tatters. Not a tailor, nor anything approaching the description of one,
+    exists here, and a week's search is needed to discover such a being as a shoemaker. A
+    single store in the Hudson's Bay post at each of the two forts, twenty miles apart,
+    supplies the goods of the outside world, and the purchaser must furnish the
+    receptacle for carriage. For small goods this invariably consists, as far as we can
+    see, of a red bandanna handkerchief, so that purchases have to be small and frequent;
+    not all of one sort, however, for the native can readily tie up his tea in one
+    corner, his sugar and buttons in two others, and still have one left for normal uses.
+    How many handkerchiefs a day are put to use may be judged from the fact that the
+    average sale of tea at Upper Fort Garry is four large boxes daily&mdash;all, be it
+    remembered, brought by ship to Hudson Bay, and thence by batteaux and portage to the
+    Red River.</p>
+    <p>The caravan by which we and a number of others were carried back to civilization
+    was a stylish enough turnout for Red River. It was supplied by McKinney, the host of
+    the Royal Hotel of the village of Winnipeg. Three large<span class ="pagenum">238</span><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238"></a> emigrant wagons, with canvas coverings of the most
+    approved pattern, but of very different hues, drawn each by a yoke of oxen, convey
+    the patrons of the party, with the exception of a miner, who rides his horse. The
+    astronomers take the lead under a brown canvas; a theological student for Toronto
+    University, a gentleman for St. Paul, and others follow under a black canvas full of
+    holes; and the third wagon with a cover of spotless purity, conveys the ladies of the
+    party and a clergyman. Behind them follow not only half a dozen Red River carts, with
+    a most promiscuous assortment of baggage, peltry, and squeak, but also a stray ox and
+    a pony or two; a number of armed horsemen, and for the first day a cavalcade of
+    friends giving a Scotch convoy to those who were departing. The astronomers at length
+    reached St. Paul, when they declare their connection with the world again complete,
+    after an absence of about three months, during which they had travelled thirty-five
+    hundred miles.<span class ="pagenum">239</span><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239"></a></p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">APPLES OF GOLD.
+    </div>
+    <p>Shakespeare's play of "As You Like It" is an eulogy of the flight from the highly
+    formal life of city life to the simplicity of the forest and the retirement of the
+    plains. Even in the banished Duke, there is a strain of oddity and quaintness. Not
+    many years after the middle of last century, a Detroit lawyer fled from the troubles
+    of society and city life to the peaceful plains of secluded Assiniboia. Marrying,
+    after his arrival, a daughter of one of our best native families, and on her death, a
+    pure Indian woman, he reared a large family. The poetic spirit of Frank Larned was
+    never repressed, and we give, with some changes, to suit our purpose, and at times
+    some divergence from the views expressed, scenes of the Red River Settlement, in
+    which he, for more than a generation, dwelt.</p>
+    <div class="subchap">BRITAIN'S ONE UTOPIA&mdash;SELKIRKIA.
+    </div>
+    <p>That brave old Englishman, Thomas More&mdash;afterwards, unhappily for his
+    head&mdash;Lord High Chancellor of England&mdash;wrote out, in fair La<span class ="pagenum">240</span><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240"></a>tin,&mdash;in his chambers in
+    the City of London, over three centuries ago&mdash;his idea of an Utopia. This,
+    modest as are its requirements, has yet found no practical illustration, even among
+    the many seats of the great colonizing race of mankind.</p>
+    <p>The primitive history of all the colonies that faced the Atlantic&mdash;when the
+    new-found continent first felt the abiding foot of the stranger&mdash;from Oglethorpe
+    to Acadia, reveals, alas! no Utopia. It remained for a later time,&mdash;the earlier
+    half of the present century, amid some severity of climate, and under conditions
+    without precedent, and incapable of repetition,&mdash;to evolve a community in the
+    heart of the continent, shut away from intercourse with civilized mankind&mdash;that
+    slowly crystalized into a form beyond the ideal of the dreamers&mdash;a community, in
+    the past, known but slightly to the outer world as the Red River Settlement, which is
+    but the bygone name for the one Utopia of Britain&mdash;the clear-cut impress of an
+    exceptional people living under conditions of excellence unthought of by themselves
+    until they had passed away.</p>
+    <div class="subchap">THE UTOPIAN COLONY.
+    </div>
+    <p>A people, whose name in the vast domain, was in days by gone, sought out and
+    coveted by all. Unknown races had rested here and gone away,<span class ="pagenum">241</span><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241"></a> leaving only their careful graves behind them. The
+    "Mandans"&mdash;the brave, the fair, the beautiful, and the "Cheyennes," pressed by
+    the "Nay-he-owuk," and the "Assin-a-pau-tuk," had quitted their earthen forts on the
+    banks of the streams and urged their way to the broader tide of the Missouri. More
+    fatal to the conquerors came afterward, the white man, "Nemesis" of all Indian life,
+    spying with the instinct of his race, a spot of abounding fertility, where the great
+    water-reaches stretched from the mountains to the sea, and southward touched almost
+    the beginning of the great River of the Gulf.</p>
+    <p>Quick changing his errant camp for barter into a stronghold for the trade, making
+    the "Niste-y-ak" of the "Crees" his settled home, the white man's grasp of the fair
+    domain but grew with years. From the seas of the far north came with the men,
+    fair-haired, blue-eyed women and children. The glamour of the spot, the teeming soil,
+    the great and lesser game, that swam past,&mdash;or wandered by their
+    doors&mdash;soon drew to this Mecca of the Plains and Waters&mdash;the roving,
+    scattered children of the trade&mdash;Bourgeois and voyageur alike heading their
+    lithe and dusky broods. Here touched and fused all habitudes of life, the blended
+    races, knit by ties conserving every divergence of pursuit, all forms of faith and
+    thought, free from assail or taint begotten of contact with aught<span class ="pagenum">242</span><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242"></a> other than themselves. A people whose unchecked
+    primal freedom was afterward strengthened by the light hand of laws that conserved
+    what they most desired; whose personal relations with their rulers were of such
+    primitive character as to make the Government in every sense paternal; the petty tax
+    on imports attending its administration one practically unfelt!</p>
+    <p>A people whose land was dotted with schools and churches, to whose maintenance
+    their contributions were so slight as to be unworthy of mention. The three separate
+    religious denominations, holding widely different tenets&mdash;elsewhere the cause of
+    bitter sectarian feeling,&mdash;was with them so unthought of as to give where all
+    topics were eagerly sought&mdash;no room for even fireside discussion. Side by side,
+    "upon the voyage,"&mdash;as they termed their lake or inland trips&mdash;the Catholic
+    and the Protestant knelt and offered up their devotions&mdash;following the ways of
+    their fathers,&mdash;no more to be made a subject of dispute than a difference in
+    color or height.</p>
+    <p>The cursings and obscenities that taint the air and brutalize life elsewhere, were
+    in this quaint old settlement unknown. Sweet thought, pure speech, went hand in hand,
+    clad in nervous, pithy old English, or a "patois" of the French, mellowed and
+    enlarged by their constant use of<span class ="pagenum">243</span><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">
+  </a> the liquid Indian tongues, flowing like soft-sounding waters about
+    them, their daily talk came ever welcome to the ear.</p>
+    <div class="subchap">AN ARCADIA.
+    </div>
+    <p>Where locks for doors were unknown, or, known, unused, where a man's word, even in
+    the transfer of land, was held as his bond&mdash;honesty became a necessity. Lawyers
+    were none. Law was held to be a danger. Still the importance attached by simple minds
+    to an appearance in public, the amusing belief cherished by some, that, if permitted
+    to plead his own case, exert his unsuspected powers, there could be but one result,
+    brought some honest souls to the Red River forum, with matter of much moment, "the
+    like never heard before." None can read the quaint, minutely-detailed record of these
+    "causes cel&eacute;bres" that shook the little households as with a great wind,
+    without a smile, or resist the conviction that no scheme of an English Utopia can
+    safely be pronounced perfect without some such modest tribunal to afford vent for
+    that ever-germinating desire for battle inherent in the race.</p>
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_262.jpg" ><img class="figcenterh"
+      src="images/illus_262.jpg" alt="ALEXANDER ROSS" title="" /></a><br />
+       <span class="caption">ALEXANDER ROSS<br />
+       Sheriff and Author.<br />
+       Came to Red River Settlement in 1825 from British Columbia. Died in 1856.</span>
+    </div>
+    <p>Their manners were natural, cordial, and full of a lightsome heartness that robed
+    accost with sunshine,&mdash;a quietude withal&mdash;that rare quality &mdash;that
+    irked them not at all&mdash;one gathered from their Indian kin-folk. Their knowledge
+    of each<span class ="pagenum">244</span><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244"></a> other was simply
+    universal&mdash;their kin ties almost as general. These ties were brightened and
+    friendships reknit in the holiday season of the year, the leisure of the long
+    winters, when the far-scattered hewn log houses&mdash;small to the eye&mdash;were
+    ever found large enough to hold the welcome arrivals,&mdash;greeted with a kiss that
+    said,<span class ="pagenum">245</span><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245"></a> "I am of your blood."
+    These widespread affiliations broke down aught like "caste." Wealth or official
+    position were practically unheeded by a people in no fear of want and unaccustomed to
+    luxuries, who sought their kinswoman and her brood for themselves, not for what they
+    had in store. The children and grandchildren of men, however assured in fortune or
+    position, wove anew equalizing ties, seeking out their mates as they came to hand;
+    hence a genial, not a downward level, putting to shame fine-spun theories of
+    democracy in other lands&mdash;spun, not worn.</p>
+    <p>This satisfaction of station&mdash;as said&mdash;grew out of the slight exertion
+    necessary for all the wants of life, with unlimited choice of the finest land on the
+    continent; the waters alive with fish and aquatic fowl; rabbits and prairie fowl at
+    times by actual cart-load; elk not far, and countless buffalo
+    behind,&mdash;furnishing meat, bedding, clothing and shoes to any who could muster a
+    cart or go in search; the woods and plains in season, ripe with delicious wild fruit,
+    for present use or dried for winter,&mdash;the whole backed by abundant breadstuffs.
+    The quota of the farmers along the rivers, whose fertile banks were dotted by
+    windmills, whose great arms stayed the inconstant winds, and yoked the fickle
+    couriers to the great car of general plenty.<span class ="pagenum">246</span><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">
+  </a> </p><div class="subchap">A LAND OF PEACE.
+    </div>
+    <p>Poverty in one sense certainly existed; age and improvidence are always with us,
+    but it was not obtrusive, made apparent only towards the close of the long winter,
+    when some old veteran of the canoe or saddle would make a "grand promenade" through
+    the Settlement, with his ox and sled, making known his wants, incidentally, at his
+    different camps among his old friends, finding always before he left his sled made
+    the heavier by the women's hands. This was simply done; few in the wild country but
+    had met with sudden exigencies in supply, knew well the need at times of one man to
+    another, and, when asked for aid, gave willingly. Or it may be that some
+    large-hearted, jovial son of the chase had overrated his winter store, or underrated
+    the assiduity of his friends. His recourse in such case being the more carefully
+    estimated stock of some neighbor, who could in no wise suffer the reproach to lie at
+    his door, that he had turned his back, in such emergence, upon his good-natured, if
+    injudicious countryman.</p>
+    <p>This practical communism&mdash;borrowed from the Indians, among whom it was
+    inviolable&mdash;was, in the matter of hospitality, the rule of all, &mdash;a
+    reciprocation of good offices, in the absence of all houses of public entertainment,
+    becoming<span class ="pagenum">247</span><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247"></a> a social necessity.
+    The manner of its exercise hearty, a knitting of the people together,&mdash;no one
+    was at a loss for a winter camp when travelling. Every house he saw was his own, the
+    bustling wife, with welcome in her eyes, eager to assure your comfort. The supper
+    being laid and dealt sturdily with, the good man's pipe and your own alight and
+    breathing satisfaction, &mdash;a neighbor soul drops in to swell the gale of talk,
+    that rocks you at last into a restful sleep. How now, my masters! Smacks not this of
+    Arcady?</p>
+    <p>Early and universal marriage was the rule. Here you received the blessings of home
+    in the married life, and the care of offspring. There were thus no defrauded
+    women&mdash;called, by a cruel irony, "old maids"; no isolated, mistaken men, cheated
+    out of themselves, and robbed of the best training possible for man. This vital fact
+    was fraught with every good.</p>
+    <p>On the young birds leaving the parent nest, they only exchanged it for one near at
+    hand&mdash;land for the taking; a house to be built, a wife to be got&mdash;a share
+    of the stock, some tools and simple furniture, and the outfit was complete. The
+    youngest son remained at home to care for the old father and mother, and to him came
+    the homestead when they were laid away. The conditions were all faithful, home life
+    dear indeed.<span class ="pagenum">248</span><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248"></a> </p>
+    <p>To the Hunters accepting their fall in the chase no wilder thought could scarce be
+    broached than that of solicitude as to the future of their young. Boys who sat a
+    horse almost as soon as they could walk, whose earliest plaything was a bow and
+    arrows; girls as apt in other ways, happy; sustained in their environment with a
+    faith truly simple and reverent.</p>
+    <p>With so large an infusion of Norse blood and certain traditions anent "usquebae"
+    and "barley bree" it would&mdash;with so large a liberty&mdash;be naturally expected,
+    a liberal proportion of drouthy souls, but with an abundance of what cheers and
+    distinctly inebriates in their midst they were a temperate people in its best sense,
+    with no tippling houses to daily tempt them astray their supplies of spirits were
+    nearly always for festive occasions. "Regales" after a voyage or weddings that lasted
+    for days, and these at times under such guard as may be imagined from the presence of
+    a custodian of the bottle, who exercised with what skill he might his certainly
+    arduous task of determining instantly when hilarity grew into excess.</p>
+    <p>This novel feature applies, however, almost entirely to the English-speaking part
+    of the people. The Gallic and Indian blood of the Hunters disdained such poor toying
+    with a single cherry and drank and danced and drank and danced again with an abandon,
+    an ardor and<span class ="pagenum">249</span><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249"></a> full surrender to
+    the hour characteristic alike of the strength of the heads, the lightness of their
+    heels and the contempt of any restraint whatever.</p>
+    <p>These were, however, but the occasional and generous symposiums of health and
+    vigor that rejects of itself continued indulgence. Our Utopia would be cold and
+    pallid indeed lacking such expression of redundant strength, and joyful vigor.</p>
+    <p>Certainly the greatest negative blessing that this exceptional people enjoyed, was
+    that they had no politics, no vote. The imagination of the average "party man" sinks
+    to conceive a thing like to this; yet, if an astounding fact to others, no more
+    gracious one can be conceived for them selves. In the unbroken peace in which they
+    lived politics would be but throwing the apple of discord in their midst, an
+    innoculation of disease that they might in the delirium that marked its progress
+    vehemently discuss remedies to allay it.</p>
+    <p>Another great negative advantage was the peculiar and admirable intelligence of
+    the great body of the population. The small circulating collection of books in their
+    midst attracting little or no attention, their own limited to a Bible or prayer
+    book,&mdash;many not these. With their minds in this normal healthy state, unharassed
+    by the sordid assail of care, undepressed by any<span class ="pagenum">250</span><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">
+  </a> sense whatever of inferiority, unfrayed by the trituration of the
+    average book, their powers of apprehension&mdash;singularly clear&mdash;had full
+    scope to appropriate and resolve the world about them, which they did to such purpose
+    as to master every exigence of their lives. Seizing upon the minutest detail
+    affecting them they mastered as if by intuition all difficult handiwork, making with
+    but few tools every thing they required from a windmill to a horseshoe.</p>
+    <p>Their real education was in scenes of travel or adventure in the great unbroken
+    regions sought out by the fur trade, their retentive memories reproducing by the
+    winter fireside or summer camp pictures so graphic as to commend themselves to every
+    ear.</p>
+    <p>The tender heart and true of the brave old knight, Sir Thomas More, put a ban upon
+    hunting in his Utopia. Alas and alack for the wayward proclivities of our Utopians,
+    predaceous creatures all, hunting was to them as the breath of their nostrils, for to
+    them, unlike the sons of Adam, it was given&mdash;with their brothers resting upon
+    the tranquil river&mdash;to lay upon the altar of their homes alike the fruits of the
+    earth and the spoils of the chase.</p>
+    <div class="subchap">THE BUFFALO HUNT.</div>
+    <p>What pen can paint the life of the "Chasseurs of the Great Plains," tell of the
+    gathering<span class ="pagenum">251</span><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251"></a> of the mighty
+    Halfbreed clan going forth&mdash;each spring and fall&mdash;in a tumult of carts and
+    horsemen to their boundless preserves, the home of the buffaloes, whose outrangers
+    were the grizzly bear, the branching elk, the flying antelope that skirted the great
+    columns, the last relieving the heavy rolling gait of the herds by a speed and airy
+    flight that mocked the eye to follow them, scouting the dull trot of the prowling
+    wolves&mdash;attent upon the motions of their best purveyor&mdash;man.</p>
+    <p>What a going forth was theirs! this array of Hunters, with their wives and little
+    ones; this new tribe clad in semi-savage garniture, streaming across the plains with
+    cries of glee and joyance; the riders in their "travoie" of arms and horse
+    equipment&mdash;the vast "brigade" of carts and bands of following horses, kept to
+    the cavalcade by those reckless jubilants&mdash;the boys&mdash;seeming a part of the
+    creatures they bestrode. The sunshine and the flying fleecy clouds, emulous in motion
+    with the troop below: what life was in it all; what freedom and what breadth!</p>
+    <p>And as the sun sank apace and the guides and Headmen rode apart on some
+    o'er-looking height and reined their cattle in, the closing up of the flying squadron
+    for the evening camp, the great circular camp of these our Scythians proof against
+    sudden raid crowning the land<span class ="pagenum">252</span><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252"></a>scape far and wide, seen, yet seeing every foe, whose subtle coming
+    through the short-lived night was watched by eyes as keen as were their own.</p>
+    <p>When reached, their bellowing, countless quarry: the plain alive and trembling
+    with their tumult, what tournament of mail-clad knights but was as a stilted play to
+    this rude shock of man and beast&mdash;carrying in a cloud of dust that hid alike the
+    chaser and the chased, till done their work the frightened herds swept onward and
+    away, leaving the sward flecked with the huge forms that made the hunters' wealth!
+    And now! on: fall prosaic from the wild charge, the danger of the fierce
+    <i>melee</i>!&mdash;drifting from the camp the carts appear piled red in a trice with
+    bosses, tongues, back fat and juicy haunch, a feast unknown to hapless kings.</p>
+    <p>We but glance at this great feature, that fed so fat our Utopia, leaving to
+    imagination the return, the trade, the feasting and the fiddle when lusty legs
+    embossed by "quills" or beads kept up the dance.</p>
+    <p>The outcome of the "Plain Hunt" was not only a wide spread plenty among the
+    Hunters on reaching the quiet farmer folk upon the rivers, but also the diffusion of
+    a sunshine, a tone of generous serenity that sat well on the chivalry of the
+    chase&mdash;the bold riders of the Plain.<span class ="pagenum">253</span><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">
+  </a> </p>
+    <div class="subchap">THE SUMMER PRAIRIES.
+    </div>
+    <p>Beneficent nature nowhere makes her compensations more gratefully felt than in the
+    summer season of our Utopia of the north, where the purest and most vivifying of
+    atmospheres hues with a wealth of sunshine the great reaching spaces of verdure
+    covered with flowers in a profusion rivaling their exquisite beauty. Green waving
+    copses dot the level sward, and rob the sky line of its sea-like sweep. The winding
+    rivers, signalled by their wooded banks, upon which rest the comfortable homes of the
+    dwellers in the "hidden land" guarding their little fields close by where the ranked
+    grain standing awaits the sickle, turning from green to gold and so unhurried
+    resting. The shining cattle couched outside in ruminant content or cropping lazily
+    the succulent feast spread wide before them; the horses wary of approach, just seen
+    in compact bands upon the verge; the patriarchal windmills&mdash;at wide
+    spaces&mdash;signalling to each other their peaceful task; the little groups of
+    horsemen coming adown the winding road, or stopping to greet some good wife and her
+    gossip&mdash;going abroad in a high-railed cart in quest of trade, or friendly call.
+    And as the day wanes, the sleek cows, with considered careful walk and placid mien,
+    wend their way homeward, bearing their heavy udders to the house-<span class ="pagenum">254</span><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254"></a>mother, who, pail in hand awaiting their approach,
+    pauses for a moment to mark the feathered boaster at her feet, as he makes his
+    parting vaunt of a day well spent and summons "Partlet" to her vesper perch hard
+    by.</p>
+    <p>O'er all the scene there rests a brooding peace, bespeaking tranquil lives, repose
+    trimmed with the hush of night, and effort healthful and cool as the freshening airs
+    of morn.</p>
+    <div class="subchap">L'ENVOI.
+    </div>
+    <p>Longfellow&mdash;moving all hearts to pity&mdash;has painted in "Evangeline" the
+    enforced dispersion of the French in "Acadia." Who shall tell the homesick pain, the
+    vain regrets, the looking back of those who peopled our "Acadia"? No voice bids them
+    away; they melt before the fervor of the time; hasten lest they be 'whelmed by the
+    great wave of life now rolling towards them. Vain retreat, the waters are out and may
+    not be stayed. It is fate! it is right, but the travail is sore, the face of the
+    mother is wet with tears.</p>
+    <p>This outline sketch proposed is at an end; we have striven to be faithful to the
+    true lines. There is no obligation to perpetuate unworthy "minut&aelig;." Joy is
+    immortal! sorrow dies! the petty features are absorbed in the broad ones; those
+    capable only of conveying truth.</p>
+    <p>The Red River Settlement in the days ad<span class ="pagenum">255</span><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255"></a>verted to is an idyl simple and pure: a nomadic pastoral, inwrought
+    with Indian traits and color; our one acted poem in the great national prosaic life.
+    When the vast country in the far future is teeming with wealth and luxury, this light
+    rescued and defined will shine adown the fullness of the time with hues all its own.
+    The story that it tells will be as a sweet refreshment: a dream made possible, called
+    by those who shared in its great calm, "Britain's One Utopia&mdash;Selkirkia."
+<span class ="pagenum">256</span><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256"></a> </p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">PICTURES OF SILVER.
+    </div>
+    <p>Lord Selkirk's Colonists never had, as have seen, a bed of roses. Adversity had
+    dodged their steps from the time that they put the first foot forward toward the new
+    world&mdash;and Stornoway, Fort Churchill, York Factory, Norway House, Pembina and
+    Fort Douglas start, as we speak of them, a train of bitter memories. Flood and
+    famine, attack and bloodshed, toil and anxiety were the constant atmosphere, in which
+    for a generation they existed. Higher civilization is impossible when the struggle
+    for shelter and bread is too strenuous. Though the ministrations of religion were
+    supplied within a few years of the beginning of the Colony, yet the Colonists were
+    not satisfied in this respect till forty years had passed. It was a generation before
+    the Roman Catholic Church had a Bishop, who held the See of St. Boniface instead of
+    the title "in the parts of the heathen." It was not before the year 1849 that a
+    Church of England Bishop arrived, and it was two years after that date when the first
+    Presbyter<span class ="pagenum">257</span><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257"></a>ian minister came to
+    be the spiritual head of the Selkirk Colonists. Before this the education and
+    elevation of the people was represented by a few schools chiefly maintained by
+    private or church effort. The writer intends to bring out, from selected quotations
+    from different sources, the few bright spots in the gloom&mdash;the pictures of
+    silver&mdash;on a rather dark background.</p>
+    <div class="subchap">ABBE DUGAS' STORY.
+    </div>
+    <p>The good Father's story circles around the first Canadian woman known to have
+    reached Red River. This was Marie Gaboury, wife of J. Baptiste Lajimoniere, who
+    reached the Forks in 1811 in the very year when the Colonists were lying at York
+    Factory. The Lajimonieres spent the winter in Pembina. It was the brave husband of
+    Marie Gaboury who made the long and lonely journey from Red River to Montreal. The
+    Abbe says: "J.B. Lajimoniere was engaged by the Governor of Fort Douglas to carry
+    letters to Lord Selkirk, who was then in Montreal. Lajimoniere said he could go alone
+    to Montreal, and that he would make every effort to put the letters confided to his
+    care into Lord Selkirk's hands. Being alone, Madame Lajimoniere left the hut on the
+    banks of the Assiniboine to become an inmate of Fort Douglas. Lajimoniere is reported
+    to have urged upon Lord Selkirk in Montreal to send as<span class ="pagenum">258</span><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258"></a> part of his recompense for his long journey, a
+    priest to be the guide of himself and family. Father Dugas says: (See printed page
+    2.)</p>
+    <p>"Lord Selkirk before his departure had made the Catholic colony on the Red River
+    sign a petition asking the Bishop of Quebec to send missionaries to evangelize the
+    country. He presented this petition himself and employed all his influence to have it
+    granted.</p>
+    <p>"Though a Protestant Lord Selkirk knew that to found a permanent colony on the Red
+    River he required the encouragement of religion. Should his application succeed the
+    missionaries would come with the voyageurs in the following spring and would arrive
+    in Red River towards the month of July. This thought alone made Madame Lajimoniere
+    forget her eleven years of loneliness and sorrow.</p>
+    <p>"Before July the news had spread that the missionaries were coming that very
+    summer, but as yet the exact date of their arrival was not known. Telegraphs had not
+    reached this region and moreover the voyageurs were often exposed to delays.</p>
+    <p>"After waiting patiently, one beautiful morning on the 16th of July, the day of
+    Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a man came from the foot of the river to warn Fort Douglas
+    and the neighborhood that two canoes bringing the missionaries were coming up the
+    river, and that all the<span class ="pagenum">259</span><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259"></a> people
+    ought to be at the Fort to receive them on their arrival.</p>
+    <p>"Scarcely was the news made known when men, women and children hurried to the
+    Fort. Those who had never seen the priests were anxious to contemplate these men of
+    God of whom they had heard so much. Madame Lajimoniere was not the last to hasten to
+    the place where the missionaries would land. She took all her little ones with her,
+    the eldest of whom was Reine, then eleven years old.</p>
+    <p>"Towards the hour of noon on a beautiful clear day more than one hundred and fifty
+    persons were gathered on the river bank in front of Fort Douglas. Every eye was on
+    the turn of the river at the point. It was who should first see the voyageurs.
+    Suddenly two canoes bearing the Company's flag came in sight. There was a general
+    shout of joy. The trader of the Fort, Mr. A. McDonald, was a Catholic, and he had
+    everything prepared to give them a solemn reception. Many shed tears of joy. The
+    memory of their native land was recalled to the old Canadians who had left their
+    homes many years before. These old voyageurs who had been constantly called upon to
+    face death had been deprived of all religious succour during the long years, but they
+    had not been held by a spirit of impiety. The missionaries were to them the
+    messengers of God.<span class ="pagenum">260</span><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260"></a> </p>
+    <p>"The canoes landed in front of Fort Douglas, M. Provencher and his companion both
+    invested in their cassocks stepped on shore and were welcomed with outstretched hands
+    by this family, which was henceforth to be theirs.</p>
+    <p>"They were admired for their manly figures as much as for the novelty of their
+    costumes. M. Provencher and his companion, M. Severe Dumoulin, were both men of great
+    stature and both had a majestic carriage. They stood at the top of the bank and after
+    making the women and children sit down around them M. Provencher addressed some words
+    to this multitude gathered about him. He spoke very simply and in a fatherly manner.
+    Madame Lajimoniere who had not listened to the voice of a priest for twelve years
+    could hardly contain herself for joy. She cried with happiness and forgetting all her
+    hardships, fancied herself for a moment in the dear parish of Maskinong&eacute; where
+    she had spent such happy peaceful years.</p>
+    <p>"The missionaries arrived on Thursday, July 16th. M. Provencher having made known
+    to his new family the aim of his mission wished immediately to begin teaching them
+    the lessons of Christianity and to bring into the fold the sheep which were
+    outside.</p>
+    <p>"While waiting till a house could be built for the missionaries, M. Provencher and
+    his companion were hospitably entertained at the Fort<span class ="pagenum">261</span><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261"></a> of the Colony. A large room in one of the buildings
+    of the Fort had been set apart for them, and it was there that they held divine
+    service. M. Provencher invited all the mothers of families to bring their children
+    who were under six years of age to the Fort on the following Saturday when they would
+    receive the happiness of being baptised. All persons above that age who were not
+    Christians could not receive that sacrament until after being instructed in the
+    truths of Christianity.</p>
+    <p>"When M. Provencher had finished speaking the Governor conducted him with M.
+    Dumoulin into the Fort. Canadians, Metis and Indians feeling very happy retired to
+    return three days afterwards.</p>
+    <p>"There were four children in the Lajimoniere family, but only two of them could be
+    baptised, the others being nine and eleven years of age. On the following Saturday
+    Madame Lajimoniere with all the other women came to the Fort. The number of children,
+    including Indians and Metis, amounted to a hundred and Madame Lajimoniere being the
+    only Christian woman stood Godmother to them all. For a long time all the children in
+    the colony called her 'Marraine.'</p>
+    <p>"M. Provencher announced that from the next day the missionaries would begin their
+    work and that the settlers ought to begin at the<span class ="pagenum">262</span><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">
+  </a> same time to work at the erection of a home for them.</p>
+    <p>"M. Lajimoniere was one of the first to meet at the place selected and to commence
+    preparing the materials for the building. The work progressed so rapidly that the
+    house was ready for occupation by the end of October.</p>
+    <p>"Madame Lajimoniere rendered every assistance in her power to the
+    missionaries."</p>
+    <div class="subchap">HARGRAVE'S TALE.
+    </div>
+    <p>With a few changes we shall allow an old friend of the writer, J.J. Hargrave, long
+    an official of the Hudson's Bay Company, to give the tale of the Church of England in
+    Red River Settlement. "As we have seen, the Rev. John West came from England to Red
+    River as chaplain of the Hudson's Bay Company. One of his first works was the
+    erection of a rude school-house, and the systematic education of a few children.
+    Chief among the names of the clergymen, who came out from England in the early days
+    of the Settlement, after Mr. West's return, were Rev. Messrs. Jones, Cochran, Cowley,
+    McCallum, Smedhurst, James and Hunter. William Cochran is universally regarded in the
+    Colony as the founder of the English Church in Rupert's Land, and from the date of
+    his arrival till 1849 all the principal ecclesiastical business done may be said to
+<span class ="pagenum">263</span><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263"></a> have received its impetus from
+    his personal energy. The church in which he began his ministrations was replaced by
+    the present Cathedral of St. John's. Mr. Cochran then built the first church in St.
+    Andrew's, at the Rapids, and besides gathered the Indians together and erected their
+    church at St. Peter's."</p>
+    <p>In 1849 arrived Bishop David Anderson, an Oxford man. He settled at St. John's,
+    now in the City of Winnipeg, and occupied "Bishop's Court." After occupying the See
+    for fifteen years, he retired, and was succeeded by Bishop Machray, whose commanding
+    figure was known to all early settlers in Winnipeg. He revived St. John's College and
+    gained fame as an educationalist.</p>
+    <p>The peculiarly situated nature of the Settlement, extending in a long line of
+    isolated houses along the banks of the river, and in no place stretching back any
+    distance on the prairies, render a succession of churches necessary to bring the
+    opportunity of attending within the reach of the people. Ten Church of England places
+    of worship exist (1870) on the bank of the river. Of these, eight are within the
+    legally defined limits of the Colony.</p>
+    <p>About the middle of December, 1866, Archdeacon John McLean commenced the
+    celebration of the Church of England service in the village of Winnipeg. The services
+    were for a<span class ="pagenum">264</span><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264"></a> time held in the
+    Court House at Fort Garry, and in the autumn of 1868 Holy Trinity Church was opened
+    in Winnipeg.</p>
+    <div class="subchap">A SELF-DENYING APOSTLE.
+    </div>
+    <p>After many disappointments the cry of the Selkirk Colonists for a minister of
+    their own faith reached Scotland, and their case was referred to Dr. Robert Burns, of
+    Toronto, who was further urged to action by Governor Ballenden, of Fort Garry. In
+    August, 1851, the Rev. John Black, then newly ordained, was sent on by Dr. Burns to
+    Red River. He was fortunate in becoming attached to a military expedition led by
+    Governor Ramsey, of Minnesota, going northwest for nearly four hundred miles, from
+    St. Paul to Pembina.</p>
+    <p>Leaving the military escort behind, in company with Mr. Bond, who wrote an account
+    of the trip, Mr. Black floated down Red River in a birch canoe, and in a three-days'
+    journey they reached the Marion's House in St. Boniface. It is said that it was from
+    Bond's description of this voyage that the Poet Whittier obtained the information for
+    the well-known poem.</p>
+<span class ="pagenum">265</span><div class="poem">
+     <p class="smcap">The Red River Voyageur.</p>
+        <div class="stanza"><span class="i0">Out and in the river is winding<br />
+        </span> <span class="i2">The banks of its long red chain,<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">Through belts of dusky pine land<br />
+        </span> <span class="i2">And gusty leagues of plain.<br />
+        </span>
+      </div>
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <span class="i0">Only at times a smoky wreath<br />
+        </span> <span class="i2">With the drifting cloud-rack joins&mdash;<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">The smoke of the hunting lodges<br />
+        </span> <span class="i2">Of the wild Assiniboines.<br />
+        </span>
+      </div>
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <span class="i0">Drearily blows the north wind,<br />
+        </span> <span class="i2">From the land of ice and snow;<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">The eyes that look are uneasy,<br />
+        </span> <span class="i2">And heavy the hands that row.<br />
+        </span>
+      </div>
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <span class="i0">And with one foot on the water,<br />
+        </span> <span class="i2">And one upon the shore,<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">The Angel's shadow gives warning&mdash;<br />
+        </span> <span class="i2">That day shall be no more.<br />
+        </span>
+      </div>
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <span class="i0">Is it the clang of wild geese?<br />
+        </span> <span class="i2">Is it the Indians' yell,<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">That lends to the voice of the North wind<br />
+        </span> <span class="i2">The tones of a far-off bell?<br />
+        </span>
+      </div>
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <span class="i0">The Voyageur smiles as he listens<br />
+        </span> <span class="i2">To the sound that grows apace;<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">Well he knows the vesper ringing<br />
+        </span> <span class="i2">Of the bells of St. Boniface.<br />
+        </span>
+      </div>
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <span class="i0">The bells of the Roman Mission<br />
+        </span> <span class="i2">That call from their turrets twain;<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">To the boatmen on the river,<br />
+        </span> <span class="i2">To the hunter on the plain.<br />
+        </span>
+      </div>
+      <div class="stanza">
+<span class ="pagenum">266</span>
+        <span class="i0">Even so on our mortal journey<br />
+        </span> <span class="i2">The bitter north winds blow;<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">And thus upon Life's Red River<br />
+        </span> <span class="i2">Our hearts, as oarsmen, row.<br />
+        </span>
+      </div>
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <span class="i0">Happy is he who heareth<br />
+        </span> <span class="i2">The signal of his release<br />
+        </span> <span class="i0">In the bells of the Holy City&mdash;<br />
+        </span> <span class="i2">The chimes of Eternal peace.<br />
+        </span>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+    <p>In the afternoon of the day of their arrival the party crossed from St. Boniface
+    to Fort Garry, and the missionary well known as Rev. Dr. Black, went to the
+    hospitable shelter of Alexander Ross, whose daughter he afterward married. Three
+    hundred of the Selkirk Colonists and their children immediately gathered around Mr.
+    Black, and though interrupted for a year by the great flood which we have described,
+    erected in the following year, the stone Church of Kildonan, on the highway some five
+    miles from Winnipeg. With the help of a small grant from the Hudson's Bay Company,
+    the Selkirk Colonists erected, free from debt, their church which still remains. Two
+    other churches were erected by the Presbyterians, and beside each a school. For
+    several years before the old Colony ceased Mr. Black conducted service in the Court
+    House near Fort Garry, and in 1868, with the assistance of Cana<span class ="pagenum">267</span><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267"></a>dian friends, erected the small Knox Church on
+    Portage Avenue, in Winnipeg. This building, though used, was not completed till after
+    the arrival of the Canadian troops in 1870.</p>
+    <div class="subchap">EARLY RED RIVER CULTURE.
+    </div>
+    <p>Strange as it may seem, the isolated Red River Colony was far from being an
+    illiterate community. The presence of the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, the
+    coming of the clergy of the different churches, who established schools, and the
+    leisure for reading books supplied by the Red River Library produced a people whose
+    speech was generally correct, and whose diction was largely modeled on standard books
+    of literature. Mrs. Marion Bryce has made a sympathetic study of this subject, and we
+    quote a number of her passages:</p>
+    <div class="subchap">SCIENTIFIC WORK.
+    </div>
+    <p>The duty laid upon the Hudson's Bay Company officers and clerks of keeping for the
+    benefit of their employers a diary recording everything at their posts that might
+    make one day differ from another, or indeed that often made every day alike,
+    cultivated among the officers of the fur trade the powers of observation that were
+    frequently turned to scientific account, and we find some of them acting as
+    corresponding members of the Smithsonian Institution in<span class ="pagenum">268</span><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268"></a> Washington. Valuable collections in natural
+    history have been forwarded to the institution by such observers as the late Hon.
+    Donald Gunn, the late Mr. Joseph Fortescue, and Mr. Roderick Ross Macfarlane.</p>
+    <p>Mr. William Barnston, a son of the Mr. Barnston, already mentioned, and a chief
+    factor at Norway House, about 1854, was very fond of the cultivation of flowers and
+    the study of botany, and some very valuable specimens of natural history in the
+    British museum are said to have been of his procuring.</p>
+    <div class="subchap">LIBRARIES.
+    </div>
+    <p>Collections of books were a great means of providing knowledge and contributing to
+    amusement in the isolated northern trading posts.</p>
+    <p>The Red River library had its headquarters in St. Andrew's parish, and was for
+    circulation in the Red River Settlement. It seems to have been chiefly maintained by
+    donations of books by retired Hudson's Bay Company officers and other settlers. The
+    Council of Assiniboia once gave a donation of &pound;50 sterling for the purchase of
+    books to be added to the library. There was one characteristic of this library that
+    it contained in its catalogue very few works of fiction.<span class ="pagenum">269</span><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269"></a> </p>
+    <div class="subchap">LITERARY CLUBS.
+    </div>
+    <p>In addition to libraries we find that at a later date in the history of the
+    Settlement, literary clubs were formed. Bishop Anderson and his sister, who arrived
+    in Red River in 1849, were instrumental in forming a reading club for mutual
+    improvement, for which the leading magazines were ordered.</p>
+    <div class="subchap">EDUCATION.
+    </div>
+    <p>But we must now speak of more decided organization for the promotion of culture in
+    Red River. The Selkirk settlers had now (1821) gained a footing in the land and the
+    banks of the Red River had become the paradise of retired officers of the fur-trading
+    companies. Happy families were growing up in the homes of the Settlement and
+    education was necessary. A settled community made it possible for the churches and
+    church societies in the homeland to do Christian work, both among the Indians and the
+    white people, and to these institutions the Settlement was indebted for the first
+    educational efforts made.</p>
+    <div class="subchap">COMMON SCHOOLS.
+    </div>
+    <p>The Rev. John West, the first Episcopal missionary who arrived, in 1820, and his
+    successors, the Rev. David Jones and Archdeacon Cochrane, as far as they could,
+    organized common<span class ="pagenum">270</span><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270"></a> schools on the
+    parochial system. A visitor to the Settlement in 1854, John Ryerson, says that there
+    were then eight common schools in the country&mdash;five of them wholly, or in part,
+    supported by the Church Missionary Society, two of them depending on the bishop's
+    individual bounty, and one only, that attached to the Presbyterian congregation,
+    depending on the fees of the pupils for support. The Governor and Council of
+    Assiniboia had, a few years before made an appropriation of &pound;130 sterling in
+    aid of public schools. The Hudson's Bay Company may be said to have given aid to
+    these schools indirectly by making an annual grant to each missionary of an amount
+    varying according to circumstances from &pound;150 to &pound;50 sterling. The
+    Catholics had similar schools for the French population along the banks of the Red
+    and Assiniboine rivers, and the writer already quoted says that there were seminaries
+    at St. Boniface, one for boys and one for girls, under the Grey Nuns from
+    Montreal.</p>
+    <p>Bishop Anderson, the first bishop of Rupert's Land, was not specially an
+    educationalist. He turned his attention more to the evangelical work of the church.
+    Bishop Machray, who came to the country in 1865, has, on the contrary, whilst not
+    neglecting the duties of a bishop of the church of Christ, always given great
+    attention to education, and the country is greatly in<span class ="pagenum">271</span><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271"></a>debted to him for the foundations laid. It was his
+    endeavor after entering on his bishopric to have a parish school wherever there was a
+    missionary of the Church of England, and in the year 1869 there were 16 schools of
+    this kind in the different parishes of Rupert's Land. This is bringing us very near
+    the time of the transfer when our public school system was inaugurated.</p>
+    <p>Mrs. Jones, the wife of Rev. David Jones, the missionary of Red River, joined her
+    husband in 1829. She very soon saw the need there was for a boarding and day school
+    for the sons and daughters of Hudson's Bay Company factors and other settlers in the
+    Northwest. A school of this kind was opened and in addition to the mission work in
+    which she assisted her husband, Mrs. Jones devoted herself to the training of the
+    young people committed to her charge until her death, which occurred somewhat
+    suddenly in 1836. Mr. and Mrs. Jones were assisted by a governess and tutor from
+    England and the Church Missionary Society gave financial assistance.</p>
+    <p>Mr. John Macallum, who was afterwards ordained at Red River, arrived from England
+    in 1836, as assistant to Mr. Jones. He took charge of the school for young ladies and
+    also the classical school for the sons of Hudson's Bay factors and traders. He was
+    assisted by Mrs. Macallum and also had teachers brought out from<span class ="pagenum">272</span><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272"></a> England. He had two daughters who were pupils in
+    the school, one of whom still survives in British Columbia.</p>
+    <p>One of the Red River ladies who attended that school when a very little girl says
+    that the building occupied by it stood near the site of Dean O'Meara's present
+    residence. The enclosure took in the pretty ravine formed by a creek in the
+    neighborhood&mdash;the ravine that is now bridged by one of our public streets. It
+    consisted of two large wings, one for the boys and one for the girls, joined together
+    by a dining hall used by the boys. There were also two pretty gardens in which the
+    boys and girls could disport themselves separately. The large trees that surrounded
+    the building have long since disappeared. The young girl spoken of as a pupil seems
+    to have had her youthful mind captivated by the beauty of the site, and indeed
+    nowhere could the love of nature be better cultivated than along the bends of the Red
+    River near St. John's, where groves of majestic trees succeed each other, where the
+    wild flowers flourish in the sheltered nooks and the fire-flies glance among the
+    greenery at the close of day and where for sound we have the whip-poor-will lashing
+    the woods as if impatient of the silence.</p>
+    <p>Among other schools was one commenced in the early thirties by Mr. John Pritchard,
+    at one<span class ="pagenum">273</span><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273"></a> time agent of Lord
+    Selkirk, at a place called "The Elms," on the east side of Red River, opposite
+    Kildonan Church. Mr. Pritchard was entrusted with the education of the sons of
+    gentlemen sent all the way from British Columbia and from Washington and Oregon
+    territories, besides a number belonging to prominent families of Red River and the
+    Northwest. The Governor and Council of the Hudson's Bay Company granted to Mr.
+    Pritchard a life annuity of &pound;20 on account of his services in the interests of
+    religion and education.</p>
+    <p>On coming to the diocese in 1865 Bishop Machray reorganized the boys' classical
+    school, and it was opened as a high school in 1866. The bishop gave instruction in a
+    number of branches himself, paying special attention to mathematics. Archdeacon
+    McLean had charge of classics and the Rev. Samuel Pritchard conducted the English
+    branches in what was now called St. John's College.</p>
+    <p>In connection with the parish school of Kildonan the Rev. John Black, who was, as
+    we all know, a scholarly man, gave instructions in classics to a number of young men,
+    who were thus enabled to take their places in Toronto University and in Knox College,
+    Toronto.</p>
+    <p>In addition to these schools, Mr. Gunn, of St. Andrew's, afterwards Hon. Donald
+    Gunn, had for a time a commercial school at his<span class ="pagenum">274</span><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">
+  </a> home for the sons of Hudson's Bay Company factors and traders, so
+    that they might be fitted for the company's business in which they were to succeed
+    their fathers.</p>
+    <div class="subchap">GIRLS' SCHOOLS.
+    </div>
+    <p>From the death of Mr. Macallum, 1849, there was a vacancy in the school for girls
+    until 1851, when Mrs. Mills and her two daughters came from England to assume its
+    charge. A new building was erected for this school a little further down the river to
+    which was given the name of St. Cross. This was the same building enlarged with which
+    we were familiar a few years ago as St. John's Boys' College, and which has lately
+    been taken down. Mrs. Mills is said to have been very thorough in her instruction and
+    management. The young ladies were trained in all the social etiquette of the day in
+    addition to the more solid education imparted. Miss Mills assisted her mother with
+    the music and modern languages. Miss Harriet Mills, being younger, was more of a
+    companion to the girls, and accompanied them on walks, in winter on the frozen river,
+    in summer towards the plain, and unless her maturer years belie the record of her
+    girlhood we may imagine she was a very lively and agreeable companion. In addition to
+    her regular school duties Mrs. Mills had a class for girls who were beyond school
+<span class ="pagenum">275</span><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275"></a> age. She also gave assistance
+    in Sunday school work.</p>
+    <p>The pianos used in these school had to be brought by sea, river and portage by way
+    of Hudson Bay; one of them is still in possession of Miss Lewis, St. James. The
+    teachers from England had to traverse the same somewhat discouraging route in coming
+    into the Settlement. Miss Mills, who came alone a little later than her mother and
+    sister, traveled from York Factory under the care of Mr. Thomas Sinclair. She always
+    manifested the highest appreciation of his kindness to her during the way, making his
+    men cut down and pile up branches around her to protect her from the cold when his
+    party had to camp out for the night.<span class ="pagenum">276</span><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">
+  </a> </p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">EDEN INVADED.
+    </div>
+    <p>The conception of Red River Settlement being an Idyllic Paradise was not confined
+    to the writer, whose picture we have described as "Apples of Gold." It was a
+    self-contained spot, distant from St. Anthony Falls (now Minneapolis) some four or
+    five hundred miles, and this was its nearest neighbor of importance. Our astronomers
+    thus describe it as an orb in space, and the celebrated Milton and Cheadle Expedition
+    of 1862 looked upon it as an "oasis." It was often represented as being enclosed
+    behind the Chinese wall of Hudson's Bay Company exclusiveness, and thus as hopelessly
+    retired. The writer remembers well, when entering Manitoba, in the year after it
+    ceased to be Red River Settlement, as he called upon the pioneer of his faith, who,
+    for twenty years, had held his post, the old man said, when youthful plans of
+    progress were being advanced to him, oh, rest! rest! there are creatures that prefer
+    lying quietly at the bottom of the pool rather than to be always plunging through the
+<span class ="pagenum">277</span><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277"></a> troublous waters. Certainly, to
+    the old people, there was a feeling of freedom from care, as of its being a
+    lotus-eater's land&mdash;an Utopia; an Eden, before sin entered, and before "man's
+    disobedience brought death into the world and all our woe."</p>
+    <p>We are not disposed to press Milton's metaphor any further in regard to the
+    disturbers who came in upon Frank Larned's peaceful scene.</p>
+    <p>The time for opening up Rupert's Land was approaching. The agitation of the people
+    themselves, the constant petitions to Great Britain and Canada called for it. The set
+    time had come; 1857 was a red letter year in this advance. In that year the British
+    Parliament appointed a large and powerful committee to investigate all phases of
+    Rupert's Land, its history; government; geological, climatic, physical, agricultural,
+    social, and religious conditions. The blue book of that year is a marvel of
+    intelligent work. In this same year the British Government sent out the
+    Palliser-Hector Expedition to Rupert's Land to obtain expert evidence in regard to
+    all these points being considered by the Parliamentary Committee. Also in this year
+    the Canadian Government dispatched the Dawson-Hind Expedition to obtain detailed
+    information as to the physical and soil conditions of the prairie region,
+<span class ="pagenum">278</span><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278"></a> and it is said that the report
+    of this party of explorers is one of the most accurate, sane, and useful accounts
+    ever given of this prairie country.</p>
+    <p>With all this attention being paid to the country and with the press of Canada
+    awakened to see the possibility of extending Canada in this direction, it is not to
+    be wondered at, that adventurous spirits found out this Eden and sought in it for the
+    tree of life, perchance often finding in it the tree of evil as well as that of
+    good.</p>
+    <p>Of course, to the modern philosopher the disturbances of these peaceful seats is
+    simply the symptom of progress and the struggle that is bound to take place in all
+    development.</p>
+    <p>But to the Hudson's Bay Company pessimist, or to the grey-headed sage, the
+    greatest disturbers of this Eden were two Englishmen, Messrs. Buckingham and
+    Coldwell, who, in 1859, entered Red River Colony, and established that organ for good
+    or evil, the newspaper. This first paper was called "The Nor'-Wester." It is amusing
+    to read the comments upon its entrance made by Hudson's Bay Company writers, both
+    English and French. The constitution and conduct of the Council of Assiniboia was
+    certainly the weak point in the Hudson's Bay regime, and the Nor'-Wester kept this
+    point so constantly before the people<span class ="pagenum">279</span><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">
+  </a> that it was really a thorn in the side of the Company. The
+    Nor'-Wester, itself, was surely not free from troubles. The Red River Community was
+    very small, so that it could not very well supply a constituency. Comparatively few
+    of the people could read, many felt no need of newspapers, and the Company certainly
+    did not encourage its distribution. It would have been a subject of constant
+    amusement had the Nor'-Wester been in operation in the days of Judge Thom and his
+    policy of repression. Mr. Buckingham did not remain long in Red River Settlement. Mr.
+    Coldwell became the dean of newspaperdom in the Canadian West. The great antagonist
+    of the Hudson's Bay Company, Dr. John Schultz, a Western Canadian, came to the
+    Settlement in the same year as The Nor'-Wester&mdash;a medical man, he became also a
+    merchant, a land-owner, a politician, and in this last sphere held many offices. At
+    times he succeeded in controlling The Nor'-Wester, at other times the Hudson's Bay
+    Company were able to direct The Nor'-Wester policy; sometimes Mr. James Ross, son of
+    Sheriff Alexander Ross, was in control, but it may be said that in general its policy
+    was hostile to that of the Company. About this time of beginnings came along a number
+    of Americans, or Canadians, who had been in the United States, and these congregated
+    in the little village, which began to<span class ="pagenum">280</span><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">
+  </a> form at what is now the junction of Main Street and Portage Avenue,
+    in Winnipeg. Certain Canadians in St. Paul, such as Messrs. N.W. Kittson, and J.J.
+    Hill, began at this time to take an interest in the trade of Red River Settlement,
+    and to speak of communication between the Settlement and the outside world. The
+    demand for transport led a company to bring in a steamer, the Anson Northrup,
+    afterwards called "The Pioneer," to break the Red River solitude with her scream. The
+    steamer International was built to run on the river in 1862, and thus the Hudson's
+    Bay Company was unwittingly joining with The Nor'-Wester in opening up the country to
+    the world, and sounding the death-knell of the Company's hopes of maintaining
+    supremacy in Rupert's land.</p>
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_299.jpg" ><img class="figcenterw"
+      src="images/illus_299.jpg" alt="The Anson Northrup" title="" /></a><br />
+       <span class="caption">THE ANSON NORTHRUP<br />
+       The machinery was brought from the Mississippi to the Red River. The name was
+      changed to Pioneer in 1860. "International," larger boat of similar pattern was
+      built by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1861. These steamers were run on the Red
+      River.</span>
+    </div>
+    <p>Until this time of arrivals there had been no village of Winnipeg. The first
+    building back from the McDermott, Ross and Logan buildings on the bank of Red River,
+    was on the corner of Main and Portage Avenue. Here gathered those, who may be spoken
+    of as free traders, being rivals of the Hudson's Bay Company Store at Fort Garry.
+    Another village began a few years after at Point Douglas on Main Street, near the
+    Canadian Pacific Railway Station of to-day, while at St. John's, on Main Street, was
+    another nucleus. These were in existence when the old order passed away
+<span class ="pagenum">282</span><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282"></a> in 1870, but they are all absorbed into the City of
+    Winnipeg of to-day. The Hudson's Bay Company, while long attached to its ancient
+    customs, brought over from the seventeenth century, has fully and heartily adopted
+    the new order of things. Glorying in the old, it has embraced the new, and has become
+    thoroughly modern in all its enterprises. It has been a safe and solvent institution
+    in its whole history. That it has been able to do this is no doubt, largely due to
+    the enterprise and modern spirit of its great London Governor, who for years watched
+    over its time of transition in Winnipeg&mdash;Donald A. Smith&mdash;Lord Strathcona
+    of to-day.</p>
+    <p>When the regime of the Hudson's Bay Company is recalled old timers delight to
+    think of a figure of that time who was an embodiment of the life of the Red River
+    Settlement from its beginning nearly to its end. This was William Robert Smith, a
+    blue-coat boy from London, who came out in the Company's service in 1813, served for
+    a number of years as a clerk, and settled down in Lower Fort Garry District in 1824.
+    Farming, teaching, catechising for the church, acting precentor, a local
+    encyclop&aelig;dia and collector of customs, he passed his versatile life, till in
+    the year before the Sayer affair, 1848, he became clerk of Court, which place, with
+    slight interruption, he held for twenty<span class ="pagenum">283</span><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">
+  </a> years. One who knew him says: "From his long residence in the
+    Settlement, he has seen Governors, Judges, Bishops, and Clergymen, not to mention
+    such birds of passage as the Company's local officers, come and go, himself remaining
+    to record their doings to their successors."<span class ="pagenum">284</span><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">
+  </a></p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">RIEL'S RISING.
+    </div>
+    <p>The agitation for freedom which we have described in Red River Settlement, and the
+    efforts of Canada to introduce Rupert's Land into the newly-formed Dominion of Canada
+    had, after much effort, and the overcoming of many hindrances, resulted in the
+    British Government agreeing to transfer this Western territory to Canada, and in the
+    Hudson's Bay Company accepting a subsidy in full payment of their claim to the
+    country. This payment was to be paid by Canada. Somewhat careless of the feelings of
+    the Hudson's Bay Company officers, and also of the views of the old settlers of the
+    Colony&mdash;especially of the French-speaking section&mdash;the Dominion Government
+    sent a reckless body of men to survey the lands near the French settlements and to
+    rouse animosity in the minds of the Metis.</p>
+    <p>Now came the Riel Rising.</p>
+    <div class="poem"><p>Five causes may be stated as leading up to it.</p>
+    <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1. The weakness of the Government of Assiniboia and the sickness and helplessness
+    of Governor McTavish, whose duty it was to act.<span class ="pagenum">285</span><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">
+  </a> </p>
+    <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2. The rebellious character of the Metis, now irritated anew by the actions of the
+    surveyors.</p>
+    <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3. The inexplicable blundering and neglect of the Dominion Government at
+    Ottawa.</p>
+    <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4. A dangerous element in the United States, and especially on the borders of
+    Minnesota inciting and supporting a disloyal band of Americans in Pembina and
+    Winnipeg.</p>
+    <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5. A cunning plot to keep Governor McTavish from acting as he should have done,
+    and to incite the Metis under Riel to open revolt.</p></div>
+    <p>The drama opened with the appointment of Hon. William McDougall as
+    Lieutenant-Governor of the Northwest Territories in September, 1869, and his arrival
+    at Pembina in October. Mr. McDougall was to be appointed Governor by the Dominion
+    Government as soon as the transfer to Canada of Rupert's Land could be made.
+    McDougall, on his arrival at the boundary of Minnesota, was served with a notice by
+    the French half-breeds, not to enter the Territories.</p>
+    <p>Meanwhile, Louis Riel, son of the old miller of the Seine, and a true son of his
+    father&mdash;but vain and assertive, having the ambition to be a C&aelig;sar or
+    Napoleon, took the lead. He succeeded in October in getting a few of the Metis
+<span class ="pagenum">286</span><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286"></a> to seize the highway at St.
+    Norbert, some nine miles south of Fort Garry, and in the true style of a Paris
+    revolt, erected a barricade or barrier to stop all passers-by. It was here that
+    Governor McTavish failed. He was immediately informed of this illegal act, but did
+    nothing. Hearing of the obstacle on the highway, two of McDougall's officers came on
+    towards Fort Garry, and finding the obstruction, one of them gave command, "Remove
+    that blawsted fence," but the half-breeds refused to obey. The half-breeds seized the
+    mails and all freight coming along the road coming into the country.</p>
+    <div class="subchap">THE SCENE SHIFTS TO FORT GARRY.
+    </div>
+    <p>It is rumored that Riel was thinking of seizing Fort Garry; an affidavit of the
+    Chief of Police under the Dominion shows that he urged the master of Fort Garry to
+    meet the danger, and asked leave to call out special police to protect the Fort, but
+    no Governor spoke; no one even closed the gate of the Fort as a precaution; its gates
+    stood wide open to its enemies who seemed to be the friends of its officers.</p>
+    <p>On November 2nd Riel and a hundred of his Metis followers took possession of Fort
+    Garry, and without opposition.</p>
+    <p>Riel now issued a proclamation with the air of Dictator or Deliverer, calling on
+    the English parishes to elect twelve representatives to meet<span class ="pagenum">287</span><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287"></a> the President and representatives of the
+    French-speaking population. He likewise summoned them to assemble in twelve days.</p>
+    <p>McDougall, prospective Governor, on hearing of these things, wrote to Governor
+    McTavish, calling on him to make proclamation that the rebels should disperse, and a
+    number of the loyal inhabitants made the same request. The sick and helpless Governor
+    fourteen days after the seizure of the Fort, and twenty-three days after the date of
+    the affidavit of the rising, issued a tardy proclamation, condemning the rebels and
+    calling upon them to disperse.</p>
+    <p>The convention summoned by Riel, met on November 16th, the English parishes having
+    been induced to choose delegates. The convention at this meeting could reach no
+    result and agreed to adjourn to December 1st. The English members saw plainly that
+    Riel wished the formation of a provisional government, of which he should be
+    head.</p>
+    <p>At the adjourned meeting, Riel and his fellows insisted on ruling the meeting and
+    passed a bill of rights of fifteen clauses. The English representatives refused to
+    accept the bill of rights, and after vainly trying to make arrangements for the
+    entrance to the country of Governor McDougall, returned home, ashamed and
+    discouraged.</p>
+    <p>Turn now to the condition of things in Pem<span class ="pagenum">288</span><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288"></a>bina, from which prospective Governor McDougall is all this while
+    viewing the promised land. He and his family are badly housed in Pembina, and he is
+    of a haughty and imperious disposition.</p>
+    <p>December 1st was the day on which the transfer being made of the country to
+    Canada, his proclamation as Governor would come into force. But it so happened on
+    account of the breaking out of Riel's revolt, the transfer had not been made.</p>
+    <p>Now came about a thing utterly inexplicable, that Mr. McDougall, a lawyer, a privy
+    councillor, and an experienced parliamentarian, should, on a mere supposition, issue
+    his proclamation as Governor. Riel was aware of all the steps being taken by the
+    Government, and so he and the Metis laughed at the proclamation. McDougall was an
+    object of pity to his Loyalist friends, and he became a laughing stock for the whole
+    world.</p>
+    <p>His proclamation, authorizing Col. Dennis to raise a force in the settlement to
+    oppose Riel, was of no value, and prevented Col. Dennis from obtaining a loyal force
+    of any strength, which under ordinary circumstances he would have done.</p>
+    <p>As all Canada looked at it, the whole thing was a miserable fiasco.</p>
+    <p>The illegality of McDougall's proclamation<span class ="pagenum">289</span><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">
+  </a> left the loyal Canadians in Winnipeg in a most awkward situation.
+    One hundred of them had arms in their hands, and they were naturally looked upon by
+    Riel as dangerous, and as his enemies.</p>
+    <p>Riel now acted most deceitfully to them. He promised them their freedom, and that
+    he would negotiate with McDougall and try to settle the whole matter.</p>
+    <p>On the 7th of December the Canadians surrendered, but with some of them in the
+    Fort and others in the prison outside the wall, where the Sayer episode had taken
+    place, Riel coolly broke his truce, while the Metis celebrated their early victory by
+    numerous potations of rum, from the Hudson's Bay Company Stores, and, of course at
+    the Company's expense.</p>
+    <p>Encouraged by his victory and the possession of his prisoners, Riel, now in
+    Napoleonic fashion, issued a proclamation which it is said was written for him by a
+    petty American lawyer at Pembina, who was hostile to Britain and Canada.</p>
+    <p>An evidence of Riel's disloyalty and want of sense was shown by his superseding
+    the Union Jack and hoisting in its place a new flag&mdash;not even the French
+    tri-color, but one with a fleur-de-lis and shamrocks upon it, no doubt the flag of
+    the old French regime with additions. He also took possession of Hud<span class ="pagenum">290</span><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290"></a>son's Bay Company funds with
+    the coolness of a buccaneer, and his manner in refusing personal liberty to people
+    whom he dared not arrest was overbearing and impertinent.</p>
+    <p>The inaccessibility of Red River Settlement in winter added much to the anxiety.
+    No telegraphic connection nearer than St. Paul, some four or five hundred miles, was
+    possible, even the regular conveyance of the mails could not be relied on. Meanwhile
+    the Canadian people were in a state of the greatest excitement, and the Government at
+    Ottawa, well-knowing its mismanagement of the whole affair, was in desperate straits.
+    To make the situation more serious the only man who could deal with Riel and could
+    remedy the situation, Bishop Tache, of St. Boniface, was absent at the great conclave
+    of that year in Rome. The more intelligent French people had no confidence in the
+    sanity and reasonableness of Riel. He was to them as great a puzzle as he was to the
+    English. It was a gloomy Christmas time in Red River, and the gloom was increased by
+    the suspense of not knowing what the Government at Ottawa would do in the
+    circumstances.<span class ="pagenum">291</span><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291"></a></p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">LORD STRATHCONA'S HAND.
+    </div>
+    <p>On Christmas Day, 1870, John Bruce, who was but a figurehead, resigned his office
+    of President of the so-called Provisional Government of Red River Settlement, and the
+    ambitious Louis Riel was chosen in his stead. The Dominion Government had at length,
+    been awakened to the danger. Divided counsels still prevailed. Two Commissioners,
+    Grand Vicar Thibault and Col. De Salaberry, arrived at Fort Garry, but they were
+    safely quartered at the Bishop's palace at St. Boniface, and as they professed to
+    have no authority, Riel cavalierly set them aside. At this time the American element
+    in the hamlet of Winnipeg became very offensive. Riel's official organ, "The New
+    Nation," was edited by an American, Major Robinson. This journal was filled with
+    articles having such head-lines as "Confederation," "The British-American Provinces,"
+    "Proposed Annexation to the United States," etc., etc. Or, again, "Annexation,"
+    "British Columbia Defying the Dominion," "Annexation our Mani<span class ="pagenum">292</span><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292"></a>fest Destiny." All this was very disagreeable to
+    the English-speaking people, and highly compromising to Riel.</p>
+    <p>But the real negociator was at hand, and he not only had the authority to speak
+    for Canada, but had Scottish prudence and diplomacy, as well as real influence in the
+    country, from holding the highest position in Canada of any of the officers of the
+    Hudson's Bay Company. This chief factor was Donald A. Smith, whom we have since
+    learned to know so well as Lord Strathcona. He, with his secretary, Hardisty, arrived
+    on December 27th, and went immediately to Fort Garry. Riel demanded of Mr. Smith, the
+    object of his visit, but received no satisfaction. On being asked for his
+    credentials, Mr. Smith replied that he had left them at Pembina. Being a high
+    Hudson's Bay Company officer, he was quartered in Government House, Fort Garry. The
+    larger portion of the building was occupied by Governor McTavish, the smaller or
+    official portion became the Commissioner's apartments. Here he was able to observe
+    events, meet a number of the old settlers, and obtain his information at first hand.
+    On the 15th of January Riel again demanded the Commissioner's papers; he, indeed,
+    offered to send to Pembina for them, but Mr. Smith declined the offer. In the
+    meantime the Commissioner had learned that the Dauphinais Settlement, ly<span class ="pagenum">293</span><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293"></a>ing between Pembina and Fort Garry was loyal. Accordingly, with a
+    guard, Hardisty started to bring the papers. Riel learned of this, and taking a body
+    guard with him, went to the Dauphinais house, intending to seize the credentials.
+    Hardisty arrived with his precious documents. Meanwhile, the Loyalists had made
+    Riel's men prisoners, and when Riel attempted to interfere, Pierre Laveiller, a loyal
+    French half-breed, put his loaded pistol to the Dictator's head, and threatened his
+    life. Sixty or seventy of the Loyalists escorted Hardisty and his papers to Mr. Smith
+    in Fort Garry.</p>
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_311.jpg" ><img class="figcenterw"
+      src="images/illus_311.jpg" alt="FORT GARRY PARK, WINNIPEG" title="" /></a>
+       <div class="caption"><table class="figcenterw" summary="husky image desc."><tr><td>Train of Huskie
+      Dogs</td><td align="center">Fort Garry,&nbsp;north
+      gate&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td></tr>
+       <tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right">(Governor's entrance still standing)<br />
+       Toboggan with Hudson Bay trader</td></tr>
+       <tr><td colspan="2" align="center">IN FORT GARRY PARK, WINNIPEG</td></tr>
+       <tr><td align="left">Permission Steele &amp; Co., Winnipeg</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr></table></div>
+    </div>
+    <p>Now in possession of his documents, the Commissioner called a general meeting of
+    the people for January 19th, and one thousand men appeared on that day in the Court
+    Yard of the Fort. As there was no building in which they could assemble, the meeting
+    was held in the open air, with the temperature 20&deg; below zero. The people stood
+    for hours and listened to the proceedings. Commissioner Smith then read the letter of
+    his appointment, and also a letter from the Governor-General, which announced to the
+    people that the Imperial Government would see that "perfect good faith would be kept
+    with the inhabitants of the Red River and the Northwest." The Commissioner then
+    demanded that Vicar Thibault's commission, which Riel had seized should be read. Riel
+    re<span class ="pagenum">294</span><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294"></a>fused it, but Mr. Smith stood
+    firm. At length the Queen's message to the people was proclaimed. One John Burke then
+    demanded that the prisoners be released and a promise was given. On the second day
+    the people again assembled, and Mr. Smith then read authoritative letters, one from
+    the Governor-General to Governor McTavish, and another to Mr. McDougall. It was then
+    moved by Riel, seconded by Mr. Bannatyre, and carried unanimously, that twenty
+    representatives should be elected by the English Parishes and twenty by the French,
+    and that these should meet on January 25th to consider the subjects of Commissioner
+    Smith's communications, and decide what was best for the welfare of the country.
+    Speeches were made by the Bishop of Rupert's Land, and Father Richot and Riel closed
+    the meeting by saying: "I came here with fear ... we are not enemies&mdash;but we
+    came very near being so.... we all have rights. We claim no half rights, mind you,
+    but all the rights we are entitled to."</p>
+    <p>Begg, an eye-witness, says: "Immediately after the meeting the utmost good feeling
+    prevailed. French and English shook hands, and for the first time in many months a
+    spirit of unity between the two classes of settlers appeared. The elections took
+    place in due time, but in Winnipeg Mr. Bannatyne, the best citizen of the place, was
+    beaten by Mr. A.H. Scott,<span class ="pagenum">295</span><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295"></a> and
+    the greatest annoyance was felt at this by the better citizens on account of his
+    being an American, and because of the 'New Nation' continuing to advocate
+    annexation."</p>
+    <p>On the 25th of January the forty delegates assembled. Much excitement had been
+    caused at this time among the French by the escape of Dr. Schultz, their great
+    opponent. Commissioner Smith addressed the Convention. Riel wished him to accept the
+    original Bill of Rights, but Mr. Smith refused to do this. A proposal was then
+    brought up by the French Deputies that the proposal made by the Imperial Government
+    to the Hudson's Bay Company to take over their lands be null and void. This was voted
+    down by 22 to 17. Riel rose in rage and said: "The devil take it; we must win. The
+    vote may go as it likes, but the motion must be carried." Riel raged like a madman.
+    That night, in his fury, he went to the bedside of Governor McTavish, sick as he was,
+    and it is said, threatened to have him shot at once. Dr. Cowan, the master of the
+    fort, was arrested, and so was Mr. Bannatyne, the chief merchant, as well as Charles
+    Nolan, a loyal French delegate.</p>
+    <p>On the 7th of February the delegates again met, and at this meeting Commissioner
+    Smith, having the power given him by the Dominion Government, invited the Convention
+    to send<span class ="pagenum">296</span><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296"></a> delegates to Canada to
+    meet the Government at Ottawa. Two English delegates, Messrs. Sutherland and Fraser,
+    not quite sure on this point, visited Governor McTavish for his advise. "Form a
+    Government, for God's sake," said the Governor, "and restore peace and order in the
+    Settlement." Being asked, if in such case, he would delegate his authority to anyone,
+    he hastily replied, "I am dying, I will not delegate my authority to anyone."</p>
+    <p>The Convention then proceeded to elect a provisional government. Most of the
+    officers were English, they being better educated and more prominent than the French
+    members. But when it came to the election of a President, to their disgust Riel was
+    chosen. Immediately after this, Governor McTavish, Dr. Cowan, and Mr. Bannatyne were
+    released as prisoners, but Commissioner Smith was a virtual prisoner in his quarters
+    in the fort, though his influence was still felt at every turn.</p>
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_317.jpg" ><img class="figcenterh"
+      src="images/illus_317.jpg" alt="Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal." title="" />
+      </a><br />
+       <span class="caption">LORD STRATHCONA AND MOUNT ROYAL.<br />
+       Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company</span>
+    </div>
+    <p>Among the earliest acts of the new provisional government was on February 11th,
+    the confiscation of Dr. Schultz's property, and of the office of The Norwester
+    newspaper. The type of The Norwester was said to have been melted into bar lead and
+    bullets. Judge Black, Father Richot, and A.H. Scott were chosen as delegates to
+    Ottawa, though the appointment of the last of these, the "American delegate,"
+<span class ="pagenum">297</span><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297"></a> was very distasteful to the English-speaking people. The success of
+    Riel led him to dismiss about a quarter of the prisoners in Fort Garry. The fact that
+    he seemed to hold the remainder as hostages stirred up the English people living
+    along the Assiniboine.</p>
+    <p>What is usually called the "Portage la Prairie" Expedition was now organized, to
+    secure the release of the remaining prisoners. A body, varying from sixty to one
+    hundred, marched down to Headingly, and were there joined by a number of
+    English-speaking Canadians and others. They then pushed on to Kildonan Church, where
+    they were increased by a number of English half-breeds from St. Andrew's and
+    adjoining parishes. The proposal was to attack the fort and set free the prisoners.
+    Alarmed at the movement, Riel released all the prisoners in the fort. Their object
+    being gained, the men of the Kildonan Church camp, who had grown to be six hundred
+    strong, dissolved, and were proceeding to their homes, when Riel, by an unheard of
+    act of treachery, arrested some fifty of the Assiniboine party. Among them was Major
+    Boulton, a former officer of the 100th Regiment. Riel again sought out a victim for
+    revenge, and intended to execute this prominent man. It was only on the persistent
+    request of Commissioner Smith and the urgency of Mrs. John Sutherland, whose
+<span class ="pagenum">298</span><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298"></a> son had been killed by an
+    escaping French prisoner at the Kildonan Church camp, that Boulton's life was
+    spared.</p>
+    <p>Riel, however, seemed to feel that power was slipping from his hands. He was
+    criticised on all hands for his treachery and for his arrogance. It is said his
+    followers were dropping off from him, notwithstanding the luxurious lives they had
+    been living on the Company's supplies in Fort Garry.</p>
+    <p>He determined, though with a divided Council, to make an example, and despite the
+    solicitations of Commissioner Smith, the Rev. George Young, and others, publicly
+    executed, on the 4th of March, outside of Fort Garry, a young Irish-Canadian named
+    Thomas Scott. It was a cold-blooded, cruelly-executed and revolting scene&mdash;it
+    was the act of a mad man.</p>
+    <p>"Whom the Gods destroy they first make mad." The execution of Scott was the
+    death-knell of Riel's hopes as a ruler. Canada was roused to its centre. Determined
+    to have no further communication with Riel, and feeling that he had done all that he
+    could do, Commissioner Smith, on the 18th of March, returned to Canada. On the 8th of
+    March, Bishop Tache returned from Rome. A few days after Chief Factor Smith's
+    departure, he was followed to Canada by Father Richot and Mr. Scott, and they shortly
+    after by Judge Black, accompan<span class ="pagenum">299</span><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299"></a>ied by Major Button. The conflict of opinion was transferred to
+    Ottawa, and the act constituting the Province of Manitoba was passed.
+<span class ="pagenum">300</span><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300"></a></p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">WOLSELEY'S WELCOME.
+    </div>
+    <p>Canada's military experience, ever since the excitement of the "Trent Affair," had
+    been in dealing with a persistent band of Irishmen, posing as Fenians, and egged on
+    by sympathizers in the United States. Now there was trouble, as we have seen, in her
+    own borders, and though here again, American influence of a hostile nature played its
+    part, yet it was those connected with one of the two races in Canada who were now
+    giving trouble in the Northwestern prairies. Such an outbreak was more dangerous than
+    Fenianism, for to the credit of the Irish in Canada, it should be said that they gave
+    no countenance to the Fenian intruders. The French people in Quebec, however, had
+    strong sympathies for their race in the Red River Settlement. No one in Canada
+    believed that any injustice could be done to either the English or French elements on
+    the banks of Red River, but Sir George Cartier fought strongly for his own, and was
+    very unwilling to allow an expedition to go out to Manitoba with hostile intent. Of
+<span class ="pagenum">301</span><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301"></a> the two battalions of
+    volunteers that went out to Red River, one was from Quebec, but one military
+    authority states that there were not fifty French-Canadians all told in the Quebec
+    battalion. It had been proposed that Col. Wolseley, who was to command the Red River
+    Expedition, should be appointed Governor of the new province of Manitoba, but this
+    was sturdily opposed by the French-Canadian section of the Cabinet, and Hon. Adams G.
+    Archibald, a Nova Scotian, was appointed to the post of Governor.
+    Hampered thus, in so far as exercising any civil functions were concerned, Col.
+    Garnet Wolseley was chosen by the British officer in command in Canada&mdash;General
+    Lindsay&mdash;to organize this expedition. Wolseley was very popular, having served
+    in Burmah, India, the Crimea and China.<span class ="pagenum">302</span><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">
+  </a> The Ontario battalion soon had to refuse applications, and from
+    Ontario the complement of the Quebec battalion was filled up. It was decided also
+    that a battalion of regulars, with small bodies of artillery and engineers should
+    take the lead in the expedition. Thus, a force of 1,200 men was speedily gathered
+    together and put at the disposal of Colonel Wolseley. Two hundred boats, each some 25
+    to 30 feet long, carrying four tons as well as fourteen men as a crew, were built;
+    the voyageurs numbered some four hundred men. No sooner did the Fenians in the United
+    States hear of this expedition than they threatened Lower Canada, and spoke of
+    interrupting the troops as they passed Sault Ste. Marie. The United States also
+    refused to allow soldiers or munitions of war to pass up their Sault Canal. The
+    rallying began in May, and though the troops were compelled to debark themselves and
+    their stores at Sault Ste. Marie, portage them around the Sault and replace them in
+    the steamers again, yet all the troops were landed at Port Arthur on Lake Superior by
+    the 21st of June, their officers declaring "our mission is one of peace, and the sole
+    object of it is to secure Her Majesty's Sovereign authority." Some time was lost in
+    endeavoring to use land carriage up from Port Arthur as far as Lake Shebandowan. The
+    difficulties were so great that the scouts were led<span class ="pagenum">303</span><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303"></a> to find another route for the boats up the
+    Kaministiquia River. In this they were successful; in all this worry from mosquitoes,
+    black flies and deer flies in millions, the troops preserved their good temper, and
+    Col. Wolseley said, "I have never been with any body of men in the field so well fed
+    as this has been." (July 10th.) The real start of the expedition was from Lake
+    Shebandowan. The three brigades of boats&mdash;A. B. and C.&mdash;seventeen in all,
+    got off from Shebandowan shore on the evening of July 16th; by the 4th of August
+    Rainy River was reached, and at Fort Frances Colonel Wolseley met Captain Butler, who
+    had acted as intelligence officer, having adroitly passed under Riel's shadow, and
+    being able now to give the news required. It was still the statement and belief of
+    Riel that "Wolseley would never reach Fort Garry." Crossing Lake of the Woods the
+    regular troops were pushed ahead, and on descending Winnipeg River they reached Fort
+    Alexander and Lake Winnipeg on August 20th. Here Commissioner Donald A. Smith, having
+    come through in a light canoe, met Colonel Wolseley. After a short delay Colonel
+    Wolseley's command hastened to the Red River, ascended it, and cautiously approached
+    Fort Garry. It was still uncertain whether Riel was to oppose the expedition or not.
+    The troops formed for what emergency might arise, and two small guns were
+<span class ="pagenum">304</span><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304"></a> in readiness should they be required. When Fort
+    Garry was sighted, its guns were mounted, and everything seemed ready for defence.
+    The officers of the expedition, as they approached it were quite ready for a shot to
+    be fired from the battlements, but there was no movement, Riel, Lepine, and
+    O'Donoghue alone, were left of the Metis levy, and as the 60th Rifles drew near the
+    Fort the three were seen to escape from the river gate and to flee across the bridge
+    of boats on the Assiniboine River. Capt. Huyshe states that the troops took
+    possession of the fort with a bloodless victory, the Union Jack was hoisted, three
+    cheers were given for the Queen and the Riel regime was at an end. The militia
+    regiments arrived on the 27th of August, and two days afterwards the Imperial troops
+    started back to their headquarters in Ontario. Captain Buller, who afterward became
+    so celebrated in South Africa, took his company down the Dawson road to the northwest
+    angle of the Lake of the Woods, and thus returned eastward, while Colonel McNeil left
+    the country by way of Red River, through the United States. Shortly afterward, on
+    September 2nd, Lieutenant-Governor Archibald arrived by the Winnipeg River route, and
+    began his work.</p>
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_326.jpg" ><img class="figcenterw"
+      src="images/illus_326.jpg" alt="Winnipeg in 1871" title="" /></a><br />
+       <span class="caption">WINNIPEG IN 1871</span>
+    </div><br />
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_323.jpg" ><img class="figcenterw"
+      src="images/illus_323.jpg" alt="WINNIPEG IN 1870" title="" /></a><br />
+       <span class="caption">WINNIPEG IN 1870</span>
+    </div>
+    <p>The joy of all classes of the people was unbounded. The English half-breeds had
+    been loyal through the whole of the disturbances. Kildonan<span class ="pagenum">306</span><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306"></a> Church had been the headquarters of the Loyalists
+    in their attempted rally, and after the execution of Scott, the French half-breeds
+    had gradually dropped off from Riel, until he and his two companions formed a
+    helpless trio shorn of all power.<span class ="pagenum">307</span><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">
+  </a></p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2>
+    <div class="subchap">MANITOBA IN THE MAKING.
+    </div>
+    <p>Close in the wake of Wolseley's Expedition, there arrived on the 2nd of September,
+    Adams G. Archibald, the newly-appointed Governor of the new Province of Manitoba. His
+    arrival was greeted with joy, for he was a man of high character, and of much
+    experience in his native Province of Nova Scotia. The two volunteer regiments, the
+    Quebec and Ontario battalions, were quartered for the winter, the former in Lower
+    Fort Garry, the latter in Fort Garry. The new Governor took up his abode in Fort
+    Garry, in the residence with which our story is so familiar. The organization of his
+    government began at once. The first Government Building stood back from the street in
+    Winnipeg on the corner of Main Street and McDermott Avenue East, of the present-day.
+    The Legislative Council&mdash;a miniature House of Lords&mdash;of seven members, was
+    appointed, and electoral divisions for the election of members to the Legislative
+    Assembly were made to the number of twenty-four&mdash;twelve French and
+<span class ="pagenum">308</span><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308"></a> twelve English. The time for
+    the opening of Parliament was the spring of 1871. It was a notable day, for the
+    citizens were much interested in scrutinizing those who were to be their future
+    rulers. The opening passed off with eclat. During the first session certain
+    elementary legislation was passed including a short school act. There was yet no
+    division of parties, and a sufficient cabinet was chosen by the Governor. Thus,
+    institutions after the model of the mother of Parliaments at Westminster were evolved
+    and Manitoba&mdash;the successor of our Red River Settlement&mdash;had conceded to it
+    the right of local self-government.</p>
+    <p>In the year of the first parliament of Manitoba it was the fortune of the writer
+    to take up his abode here. Winnipeg, a village of less than three hundred inhabitants
+    was in that year, still four hundred miles distant from a railway. From the railway
+    terminus in Minnesota, the stage coach drawn by four horses with relays every twenty
+    miles, sped rapidly over prairies, smooth as a lawn to the site of the future city of
+    the plains.</p>
+    <p>Since that time well-nigh forty years has passed away. The stage coach, the Red
+    River cart, and the shaganappi pony are things of the past, and several railways with
+    richly furnished trains connect St. Paul and Minneapolis with the City of Winnipeg.
+    More import<span class ="pagenum">309</span><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309"></a>ant, the skill of
+    the engineer has surpassed what we then even dreamt of in his blasting of rock
+    cuttings and tunnels through the Arch&aelig;an rocks to Fort William, and this has
+    been done by three main trunk lines of railway. The old amphibious route of the fur
+    traders and of Wolseley's Expedition has been superseded, the tremendous cliffs of
+    the north shore of Lake Superior have been levelled and the chasm bridged. To the
+    west the whole wide prairie land has been gridironed by railways all tributary to
+    Winnipeg, the enormous ascent of the four Rocky Mountain ranges, rising a mile above
+    the sea, have been crossed by the Canadian Pacific Railway. The giddy heights of the
+    Fraser River Canyon are traversed, and this is but the beginning, for three other
+    great corporations are bending their strength to pierce the passes of the Rocky
+    Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. We see to-day scenes more after the manner of the
+    Arabian Nights Entertainments than of the humble dream that Lord Selkirk dreamt one
+    hundred years ago.</p>
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_332.jpg" ><img class="figcenterh"
+      src="images/illus_332.jpg" alt="Hon. John Norquay" title="" /></a><br />
+       <span class="caption">HON. JOHN NORQUAY<br />
+       A native of Red River Settlement.<br />
+       Became Cabinet Minister in 1871 afterward Premier of Manitoba.</span>
+    </div>
+    <p>The towns and cities of Manitoba have sprung up on every hand where the railway
+    has gone and these are but the centres of business of twenty thousand farms whose
+    owners have come to this land, many of them empty-handed, and are now blessed with
+    competence and in many cases wealth. What a vindication of<span class ="pagenum">311</span><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311"></a>
+    Lord Selkirk's prospectus of a hundred years ago when he said: "The
+    soil on the Red River and the Assiniboine is generally a good soil, susceptible of
+    culture and capable of bearing rich crops." Lord Selkirk's dream is fulfilled, for
+    his land is fast becoming the grainary of the world. As the traveller of to-day
+    passes along the railways in the last days of August or early in September, he
+    beholds the sight of a life-time, in the rattling reapers, each drawn by four great
+    horses, turning off the golden sheaves of wheat and other cereals. A little later the
+    giant threshers, driven by steam power, pour forth the precious grain, which is
+    hurried off to the high elevators for storage, till the railways can carry it to the
+    markets of the world to feed earth's hungry millions. When the historian recalls the
+    statement that the few cattle of the early settlers had degenerated in size on
+    account of the climatic conditions, that the shaganappi pony could never do the work
+    of the stalwart Clydesdale, and that nothing could result from the straggling flock
+    of foot-sore and dying sheep, driven by Burke and Campbell from far-distant Missouri,
+    we look with astonishment at the horses now taken away by hundreds to supply with
+    chargers the crack cavalry regiments of the Empire, at the vast consignments of
+    cattle passing through Winnipeg every day to feed the hungry, and flocks of sheep
+    supplying wool for Eastern manufacturers to clothe the naked.<span class ="pagenum">312</span><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312"></a> </p>
+    <p>One of the greatest trials of the early Selkirk Settlers was to get schools
+    sufficient to give the children scattered along the river belt, even the three R's of
+    education. Kildonan parish manfully raised by subscription the means, unaided by
+    Government help, to give some opportunity to their children. It is a notable fact
+    which emerged in the great School Contention of twenty years ago in Manitoba, that
+    not a dollar had been given to schools as aid by the old Government of Assiniboia.
+    To-day the glory of Manitoba is its school system. For school buildings, school
+    organization, attainments of the teachers, and efficient school management, the
+    schools of Winnipeg are probably unsurpassed in any country, and the same is true of
+    many other places in the Province. Two Winnipeg schools bear the names of Selkirk and
+    Isbister. The University of Manitoba, with its seven affiliated colleges and twelve
+    hundred and forty candidates in 1909 for its several examinations has its seat at the
+    forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, and one of the colleges is on the very lot
+    where Lord Selkirk stood and divided up their lands to the Colonists.</p>
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_335.jpg" ><img class="figcenterh"
+      src="images/illus_335.jpg" alt="Alexander Isbister, LL.B." title="" /></a><br />
+       <span class="caption">ALEXANDER ISBISTER, LL.B.<br />
+       Red River Patriot and Benefactor of University of Manitoba.</span>
+    </div>
+    <p>One of the most continued and aggressive struggles which Lord Selkirk's Colonists
+    maintained was seen in the efforts put forth to worship God according to the dictates
+    of their own consciences, and after the manner of their<span class ="pagenum">313</span><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313"></a> fathers. Their perseverance which showed itself in
+    the erection of old Kildonan Church in the year immediately after the destructive
+    flood of 1852, bore fruit in succeeding years. They were always a religious people.
+    No one can even estimate what their religious disposition did in a
+<span class ="pagenum">314</span><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314"></a> miscellaneous gathering of
+    people who had, being scattered over the posts of the fur traders, been in most
+    cases, without any religious opportunities whatever, before their coming to settle on
+    Red River. The sturdy stand for principle which the Selkirk Colonists made created an
+    atmosphere which has remained until this day. The well-nigh forty years of religious
+    life of Manitoba has been marked by a good understanding among the several churches,
+    by an energetic zeal in carrying church services in the very first year of their
+    settlement to hundreds of new communities. The generosity of the people in erecting
+    churches for themselves in maintaining among themselves their cherished beliefs, is
+    in striking contrast to the new settlements of the United States. In the new Western
+    States the religious movements fell behind the Western march of the immigrant. In the
+    Canadian West from the very day that old Verandrye took his priest with him, from the
+    time when the first Colonists brought a devout layman as their religious teacher with
+    them, from the hour when the stalwart Provencher came, from the era when the
+    self-denying West visited the Indian camps and Settlers' camp alike, from the time
+    when the saintly Black came as the natural leader of the Selkirk Colonists, and
+    during the forty years of the development of Manitoba, the foundations have been laid
+    in that righteousness which exalteth a nation.<span class ="pagenum">315</span><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">
+  </a> </p>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_337.jpg" ><img class=""
+      src="images/illus_337.jpg" height="25%" alt="symbol" title="symbol" /></a>
+    </div>
+    <h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX.</h2>
+    <p>How strange and wonderful is the web of destiny, which is being woven in our
+    national, provincial and family life, which we poor mortals are simply the individual
+    strands.</p>
+    <p>How marvellous it is to look into the seeds of time&mdash;yes, and these may be
+    small as mustard seeds&mdash;which are the smallest of all seeds&mdash;and see the
+    bursting of the husks, the peering out of the plumule, the feeding of the sprout, the
+    struggle through the clods, the fight with frost and hail and broiling sun, and
+    canker worm and blight, the growth of the strengthening stem, and then the leaf and
+    blossoms and fruit! We say it has survived, it becomes a great tree under whose
+    leaves and under whose branches the fowls of Heaven find shelter. How passing strange
+    it was to see the seed-thought rise in<span class ="pagenum">316</span><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316"></a> the mind of Lord Selkirk, that suffering humanity transplanted to
+    another environment might grow out of poverty, into happiness and content. See his
+    sorrow as he meets with undeserved opposition from rival traders, from slanderous
+    agents, from bitter articles in the press, from Government officials and even police
+    officers who strive to break up his immigrant parties. Recall the troubles of the
+    Nelson Encampment as they reach him in letters and reports. Think of the misery of
+    knowing thousands of miles away that his Colonists were starving, were being
+    imprisoned, banished, seduced from their allegiance, and in one notable case that men
+    of honor, education and standing to the number of twenty, were massacred, while he,
+    in St. Mary's Isle, in Montreal, or in Fort William, fretted his soul because he
+    could not reach them with deliverance.</p>
+    <div class="figcenter">
+      <a href="images/illus_big_339.jpg" ><img class="figcenterh"
+      src="images/illus_339.jpg" alt="Marble Bust of Earl of Selkirk" title="" />
+      </a><br />
+       <span class="caption">MARBLE BUST OF EARL OF SELKIRK, THE FOUNDER<br />
+       By Chantrey, obtained by author from St. Mary's Isle, Lord Selkirk's seat.</span>
+    </div>
+    <p>The world looked coldly on and said, "A visionary Scottish nobleman! a dreamer a
+    hundred years before his time! Is it worth while?" while he himself saw a dream of
+    sunshine when he visited his Colonists on Red River, when he made allocations for
+    their separate homes for them, when he pledged his honor and estate that the settlers
+    might in time be independent, and when he made religious provision for both his
+    Protestant and Catholic settlers, yet think of the unexampled ferocity with which he
+    was<span class ="pagenum">317</span><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317"></a> attacked upon his return to Upper Canada, in law suits, and illegal
+    processes, so that his estates became heavily encumbered, so that he went to France
+    to pine away and die. The world failed to see any glamour in him, and carelessly
+    said, what does it profit? Folly has its reward.</p>
+    <p>Yet the answer. Here is Manitoba to-day, it is the fruitage of all that bitter
+    sowing time. Next year Manitoba will be in the fortieth year of its history. Its
+    people have seen pain, strife and defeat, they have gone through excitement and
+    anxiety and patient waiting, and at times have almost given up the strife. But the
+    province and its great city, Winnipeg, are the meeting place of the East and West,
+    the pivotal point of the Dominion. The national life of Canada throbs here with a
+    steadier beat and a more normal pulse than it does in any other part of Canada, its
+    dominating Canadian spirit is so hearty and so sprightly, that, it is taking
+    possession of the scores of different nations coming to us and they feel that we are
+    their friends and brothers. This, while it may not be the noisy and blatant type of
+    loyalty is a practical patriotism which is making a united, sane and abiding type of
+    national character.</p>
+    <p>Again we answer: Three years from now will be the hundredth year since the landing
+    on the banks of Red River of the first band of<span class ="pagenum">318</span><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">
+  </a> Selkirk Colonists. It was as we have seen a struggle of an
+    extraordinarily bitter type. To us it seems that no other American Colony ever had
+    such a continuous distressing and terrific struggle for existence as had these
+    Scottish Settlers, but we say it was worth while, judging by the loss to Canada of
+    the northern portions of the tier of states of Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana and
+    Washington, which a line from Fond du Lac (Duluth) to the mouth of the Columbia would
+    have given to us, and which should have been ours. We say that had it not been for
+    the Selkirk Colonists we would have stood to lose our Canadian West. It was a
+    settlement nearly a hundred years ago of families of men and women, and children that
+    gave us the firm claim to what is now the three great provinces of Manitoba,
+    Saskatchewan and Alberta. Was it not worth while? Was it not worth ten, yes, worth a
+    hundred times more suffering and discouragement than even the first settlers of Red
+    River endured to preserve our British connection which the Hudson's Bay Company,
+    loyal as it was, with its Union Jack floating on every fort, could not have preserved
+    to us any more than it did in Oregon and Washington. It was the Red River Settlement
+    that held it for us.</p>
+    <p>We are beginning to see to-day that Canada could not have become a great and
+    powerful<span class ="pagenum">319</span><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319"></a> sister nation in the
+    Empire had the West not been saved to her. The line of possible settlement has been
+    moving steadily northward in Canada since the days when the French King showed his
+    contempt for it by calling it "a few arpents of snow." The St. Lawrence route was
+    regarded as a doubtful line for steamships, Rupert's Land was called a Siberia, but
+    all this is changing with our Transcontinental and Hudson's Bay railways in prospect.
+    In territory, resources, and influence the opening up of the West is making Canada
+    complete. And, if so, we owe it to Lord Selkirk and to Selkirk Settlers, who stood
+    true to their flag and nationality. Very willingly will we observe the Selkirk
+    Centennial in 1912. "Many a time and oft" it looked in their case to be one long,
+    continued and alarming drama, but on the 30th day of August, the day of their landing
+    on the banks of the Red River, shall we recite the epic of Lord Selkirk's Colonists,
+    and it will be of the temper of Browning's couplet:</p>
+    <div class="poem">
+      <span class="i0">God's in His Heaven,<br />
+      </span> <span class="i0">All's right with the world.<br />
+      </span>
+    </div>
+<span class ="pagenum">320</span><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320"></a>
+    <hr style="width: 65%;" />
+    <h2><a name="APPENDIX" id="APPENDIX"></a>APPENDIX</h2>
+    <p>The author notes the fact that the agents sent out by Lord Selkirk engaged (1)
+    Labourers for the Company, (2) Settlers for the Red River Settlement. On this account
+    in the lists given in the archives and other official documents, the labourers were
+    often sent to the Posts of the Company, and after serving several years often became
+    settlers. (List given in Manitoba Historical Society Transactions, 33.)</p>
+    <div class="subchap">A.
+    </div>
+    <p>List of men who arrived at Hudson Bay in 1811 and left York Factory for the
+    interior in July, 1812:</p>
+    <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
+    summary="List of men who arrived at Hudson Bay in 1811">
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Names.</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Age.</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Whence.</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Colin Campbell</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;21</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Argyle</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;John McKay</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;22</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Rossshire</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;John McLennan</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;23</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Rossshire</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Beth Bethune</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;19</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Rossshire</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Donald McKay</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;17</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Rossshire</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;William Wallace</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;21</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Ayr</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;7</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;John Cooper</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;26</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Orkney, came to Upper Canada.</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Nichol Harper</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;34</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Orkney</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;9</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Magnus Isbister</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;21</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Orkney, probably father of A.K.&nbsp;Isbister</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;10&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;George Gibbon</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;50</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Orkney</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;11&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Thos. McKim</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;38</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Sligo</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;12&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Pat Corcoran</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;24</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Crosmalina</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;13&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;John Green</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;21</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Sligo</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;14&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Pat Quinn</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;21</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Killala</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;15&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Martin Jordan</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;16</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Killala</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;16&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;John O'Rourke</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;20</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Killala</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;17&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Anthony McDonnell</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;23</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Killala</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;18&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;James Toomey</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;20</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;Killala</td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>The Author is not aware of the existence of any list of the first settlers other
+    than these.</p>
+    <div class="subchap">B.
+    </div>
+    <p>Owen Keveny's party (list found in Archives, Ottawa). The total list of
+    seventy-one was engaged by Keveny in Mull, Broan, Sligo, etc. The following are known
+    to have come. They reached York Factory 1812, and arrived at Red River October 27th,
+    1812:</p>
+    <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;1&nbsp; Andrew McDermott, became the famous Red River merchant.<br />
+     &nbsp;&nbsp;2&nbsp; John Bourke, a useful man.<br />
+     &nbsp;&nbsp;3&nbsp; James Warren, died of wounds in 1815.<br />
+<span class ="pagenum">321</span>
+     &nbsp;&nbsp;4&nbsp; Chas. Sweeny.<br />
+     &nbsp;&nbsp;5&nbsp; James Heron.<br />
+     &nbsp;&nbsp;6&nbsp; Hugh Swords.<br />
+     &nbsp;&nbsp;7&nbsp; John Cunningham.<br />
+     &nbsp;&nbsp;8&nbsp; Michael Hayden Smith, evidently Michael Heden, blacksmith.<br />
+     &nbsp;&nbsp;9&nbsp; George Holmes.<br />
+     10 &nbsp;Robert McVicar.<br />
+     11&nbsp; Ed. Castelo.<br />
+     12&nbsp; Francis Heron.<br />
+     13&nbsp; James Bruin.<br />
+     14&nbsp; John McIntyre.<br />
+     15&nbsp; James Pinkham.<br />
+     16&nbsp; Donald McDonald.<br />
+     17&nbsp; Hugh McLean.<br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="subchap">C.
+    </div>
+    <p>The Churchill party, which landed from "Prince of Wales" ship convoyed by H.M.S.
+    "Brazen," at Churchill in August, 1813, and some, marked C-Y., who walked overland on
+    snowshoes to York Factory in April 14th, 1814, and reached Red River Settlement in
+    1814. This whole list is from Manitoba Historical Society Transactions, 33. Those
+    marked C-Y. are from Archives, Ottawa.</p>
+    <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" summary="The Churchill party">
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>Names.&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>Age.&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>Whence.&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;1</td>
+        <td>George Campbell</td>
+        <td>25</td>
+        <td>Archurgle Parish, Creech, Scotland</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;2</td>
+        <td>Helen, his wife</td>
+        <td>20</td>
+        <td>Archurgle</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;3</td>
+        <td>Bell, his daughter</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;1</td>
+        <td>Archurgle</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;4</td>
+        <td>John Sutherland</td>
+        <td>50</td>
+        <td>Kildonan, died 2nd Sept., at Churchill (a very respectable man)</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;5</td>
+        <td>Catherine, his wife, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>46</td>
+        <td>Kildonan</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;6</td>
+        <td>George, his son, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>18</td>
+        <td>Kildonan</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;7</td>
+        <td>Donald, his son</td>
+        <td>16</td>
+        <td>Kildonan</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;8</td>
+        <td>Alexander, his son</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;9</td>
+        <td>Kildonan</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;9</td>
+        <td>Jannet, his daughter, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>14</td>
+        <td>Kildonan</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>10&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>Angus McKay, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>24</td>
+        <td>Kildonan</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>11</td>
+        <td>Jean, his wife, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>Kildonan</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>12</td>
+        <td>Alexander Gunn, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>50</td>
+        <td>Kildonan</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>13</td>
+        <td>Christine, his wife</td>
+        <td>50</td>
+        <td>Kildonan, died 20th Sept., Churchill</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>14</td>
+        <td>William, his son, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>18</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>15</td>
+        <td>Donald Bannerman</td>
+        <td>50</td>
+        <td>Died 24th Sept., Churchill</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>16</td>
+        <td>Christine, his wife</td>
+        <td>44</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>17</td>
+        <td>William, his son, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>18</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>18</td>
+        <td>Donald, his son</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;8</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>19</td>
+        <td>Christine, his daughter, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>16</td>
+        <td><span class ="pagenum">322</span><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322"></a></td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>20</td>
+        <td>George McDonald</td>
+        <td>48</td>
+        <td>Died 1st Sept., 1813, Churchill</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>21</td>
+        <td>Jannet, his wife</td>
+        <td>50</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>22</td>
+        <td>Betty Grey</td>
+        <td>17</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>23</td>
+        <td>Catherine Grey</td>
+        <td>23</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>24</td>
+        <td>Barbara McBeath, widow</td>
+        <td>45</td>
+        <td>Borobal</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>25</td>
+        <td>Charles, her son</td>
+        <td>16</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>26</td>
+        <td>Jenny, her daughter</td>
+        <td>23</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>27</td>
+        <td>Andrew McBeath, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>10</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>28</td>
+        <td>Jannet, his wife, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>29</td>
+        <td>William Sutherland</td>
+        <td>23</td>
+        <td>Borobal</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>30</td>
+        <td>Margaret, his wife</td>
+        <td>15</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>31</td>
+        <td>Christian, his sister</td>
+        <td>24</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>32</td>
+        <td>Donald Gunn</td>
+        <td>65</td>
+        <td>Borobal</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>33</td>
+        <td>Jannet, his wife</td>
+        <td>50</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>34</td>
+        <td>Transferred to Eddystone, H.B.&nbsp;Co.</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>35</td>
+        <td>George Gunn,</td>
+        <td>16</td>
+        <td>Borobal, Parish Kildonan</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+        </td>
+        <td>son of Donald, C-Y</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>36</td>
+        <td>Esther, his sister, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>24</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>37</td>
+        <td>Catherine, his sister</td>
+        <td>20</td>
+        <td>Died 29th August</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>38</td>
+        <td>Christian, his sister</td>
+        <td>10</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>39</td>
+        <td>Angus Gunn</td>
+        <td>21</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>40</td>
+        <td>Jannet, his wife</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>41</td>
+        <td>Robert Sutherland,</td>
+        <td>17</td>
+        <td>Borobal</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+        </td>
+        <td>brother of William, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>42</td>
+        <td>Elizabeth Frazer, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>30</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>43</td>
+        <td>Angus Sutherland</td>
+        <td>20</td>
+        <td>Auchraich</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>44</td>
+        <td>Elizabeth, his mother</td>
+        <td>60</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>45</td>
+        <td>Betsy, his sister</td>
+        <td>18</td>
+        <td>Died of consumption, Oct. 26th</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>46</td>
+        <td>Donald Stewart</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>Parish of Appin, died 20th August, 1813, Churchill</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>47</td>
+        <td>Catherine, his wife</td>
+        <td>30</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>48</td>
+        <td>Margaret, his daughter</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;8</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>49</td>
+        <td>Mary, his daughter</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;5</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>50</td>
+        <td>Ann, his daughter</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;2</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>51</td>
+        <td>John Smith</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>Kildonan</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>52</td>
+        <td>Mary, his wife</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>53</td>
+        <td>John, his son</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>54</td>
+        <td>Jean, his daughter, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>55</td>
+        <td>Mary, his daughter</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>56</td>
+        <td>Alexander Gunn</td>
+        <td>58</td>
+        <td>Kildonan, Sutherlandshire</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>57</td>
+        <td>Elizabeth McKay,</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+        </td>
+        <td>his niece, C-Y</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>58</td>
+        <td>Betsy McKay, his niece</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>59</td>
+        <td>George Bannerman, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>22</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;<span class ="pagenum">323</span><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323"></a></td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>60</td>
+        <td>John Bruce</td>
+        <td>60</td>
+        <td>Parish of Clyve</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>61</td>
+        <td>Alex. Sutherland, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>24</td>
+        <td>Parish of Kildonan</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>62</td>
+        <td>William, his brother</td>
+        <td>19</td>
+        <td>Died</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>63</td>
+        <td>Kate Sutherland, his sister</td>
+        <td>20</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>64</td>
+        <td>Haman Sutherland, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>18</td>
+        <td>Kenacoil. Settled in Upper Canada in West Gwillimbury.</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>He and his sister were children of James Sutherland, catechist</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>65</td>
+        <td>Barbara, his sister, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>20</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>66</td>
+        <td>James McKay, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>19</td>
+        <td>Cain</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>67</td>
+        <td>Ann, his sister, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>21</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>68</td>
+        <td>John Matheson</td>
+        <td>22</td>
+        <td>Authbreakachy</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>69</td>
+        <td>Robert Gunn (piper), C-Y.</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>Kildonan</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>70</td>
+        <td>Mary, his sister, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>71</td>
+        <td>Hugh Bannerman, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>18</td>
+        <td>Dackabury, Kildonan</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>72</td>
+        <td>Elizabeth, his sister, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>20</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>73</td>
+        <td>Mary Bannerman, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>74</td>
+        <td>Alex. Bannerman, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>19</td>
+        <td>Dackabury, Kildonan</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>75</td>
+        <td>Christian, his sister, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>Died January, 1814, from consumption</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>76</td>
+        <td>John Bannerman</td>
+        <td>19</td>
+        <td>Died January, of consumption</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>77</td>
+        <td>Isabella, his sister, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>16</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>78</td>
+        <td>John McPherson, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>18</td>
+        <td>Gailable</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>79</td>
+        <td>Catherine, his sister, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>26</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>80</td>
+        <td>Hector McLeod, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>19</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>81</td>
+        <td>George Sutherland, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>18</td>
+        <td>Borobal</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>82</td>
+        <td>Adam, his brother, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>16</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>83</td>
+        <td>John Murray, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>21</td>
+        <td>Sirsgill</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>84</td>
+        <td>Alex., his brother, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>19</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>85</td>
+        <td>Helen Kennedy</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>Sligo</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>86</td>
+        <td>Malcolm McEachern</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>Skibbo, Isla (deserted)</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>87</td>
+        <td>Mary, his wife</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>Skibbo, Isla (deserted)</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>88</td>
+        <td>James McDonald, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>Inverness, to Fort Augustus</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>89</td>
+        <td>Hugh McDonald.</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>To Fort William, died 3rd of August, at sea</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>90</td>
+        <td>Samuel Lamont, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>Boromore, Isla</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>91</td>
+        <td>Alex. Matheson, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>Kildonan</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>92</td>
+        <td>John Matheson, C-Y.</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>Overseer</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>93</td>
+        <td>John McIntyre,C-Y.</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>To Fort William</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+        </td>
+        <td>(entered service of</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+        </td>
+        <td>H.B. Co., July, 1814)</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>94</td>
+        <td>And. Smith</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>Son of No. 31, Isla</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>95</td>
+        <td>Edward Shell</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>Balyshannon</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>96&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>Joseph Kerrigan</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;..</td>
+        <td>Balyshannon</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>Mr. P. La Serre</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>Surgeon, died at sea</td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+<span class ="pagenum">324</span><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324"></a>
+    <div class="subchap">D.
+    </div>
+    <p>List of settlers who came with Duncan Cameron from Red River to Canada, 1815. List
+    prepared by Wm. McGillivray, of Kingston, August 15th, 1815. About one hundred and
+    forty, probably forty or fifty families, and some single men, arrived at Holland
+    River, September 6th, 1815.</p>
+    <p>Made at York (Toronto), September 22nd, 1815.</p>
+    <div class="subchap">I. OLD MEN.
+    </div>
+    <p>Donald Gunn, wife and daughter.<br />
+     Alexander Gunn and wife.<br />
+     Angus McDonell, wife and two children.<br />
+     Neil McKinnon, wife and two boys.<br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="subchap">II. SETTLERS.
+    </div>
+    <p>Miles Livingston, wife and two children.<br />
+     Angus McKay, wife and one child.<br />
+     John Matheson, wife and one child.<br />
+     John Matheson, Jr., and wife.<br />
+     George Bannerman and wife.<br />
+     Andrew McBeath, wife and one child.<br />
+     William Sutherland, wife and one child.<br />
+     Angus Gunn, wife and one child.<br />
+     Alexander Bannerman and wife.<br />
+     Robert Sutherland and wife.<br />
+     William Bannerman and wife.<br />
+     James McKay and wife.<br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="subchap">III. WIDOWS.
+    </div>
+    <p>Mrs. Barbara McBeath.<br />
+     Mrs. Jeannet Sutherland and two boys.<br />
+     Mrs. Elizabeth Sutherland.<br />
+     Mrs. Christy Bannerman.<br />
+     Mrs. Jeannet McDonell.<br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="subchap">IV. YOUNG WOMEN, UNMARRIED.
+    </div>
+    <p>Jane Gray.<br />
+     Elizabeth Gray.<br />
+     Esther Bannerman.<br />
+     Elspeth Gunn.<br />
+     Jannet Sutherland.<br />
+     Isabella McKinnon.<br />
+     ---- McKinnon.<br />
+     Catta McDonell.<br />
+     Elizabeth McKay.<br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="subchap">V. YOUNG MEN, NOT MARRIED.
+    </div>
+    <p>John Murray.<br />
+     Alexander Murray.<br />
+     William Gunn.<br />
+<span class ="pagenum">325</span><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325"></a>
+     Hugh Bannerman.<br />
+     Hector McLeod.<br />
+     George Gunn.<br />
+     Charles McBeath.<br />
+     Angus Sutherland.<br />
+     Thomas Sutherland.<br />
+     Alex. Matheson.<br />
+     John McPherson.<br />
+     Robert Gunn.<br />
+     George Sutherland.<br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="subchap">VI. MENTIONED IN ARCHIVES, OTTAWA.
+    </div>
+    <p>Miles Livingston.<br />
+     James McKay.<br />
+     Angus Sutherland.<br />
+     John Cooper.<br />
+     Mary Bannerman (wife of John McLean).<br />
+     Haman Sutherland.<br />
+     John Maburry.<br />
+     Alex. McLellan.<br />
+    </p>
+    <p>Young people capable of labour generally employed between York and Newmarket. The
+    old people are stationed at Newmarket for the present. Some of the settlers who have
+    gone to Montreal not included.</p>
+    <div class="subchap">E.
+    </div>
+    <br />
+     <br />
+
+    <p>List of passengers, chiefly from Old Kildonan, landed at York Factory, August
+    26th, 1815. Reached Red River Settlement in same year.</p>
+    <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
+    summary="List of passengers, chiefly from Old Kildonan">
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Names.</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Age.</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Remarks.</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;1</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;James Sutherland</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;47</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;An elder who was authorized by the Church of Scotland to baptize
+        and marry<br />
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;2</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Mary Polson</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;48<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;3</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;James Sutherland</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;12<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;4</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Janet Sutherland</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;16<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;5</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Catherine Sutherland</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;14<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;6</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Isabella Sutherland</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;13<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;1</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Wm. Sutherland</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;54<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;2</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Isabell Sutherland</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;50<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;3</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Jeremiah Sutherland</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;15<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;4</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Ebenezer Sutherland</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;11</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;At school<br />
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;5</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Donald Sutherland</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;7</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;At school<br />
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;6</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Helen Sutherland</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;12</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;At school<br />
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;1</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Widow Matheson</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;60<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;2</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;John Matheson</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;18</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;School master<br />
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;3</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Helen Matheson</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;21<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;1</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Angus Matheson</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;30<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class ="pagenum">326</span><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326"></a> </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;2</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Christian Matheson</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;18<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;1</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Alex. Murray</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;52<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;2</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Ebz. Murray</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;54<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;3</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;James Murray</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;16<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;4</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Donald Murray</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;13<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;5</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Catherine Murray</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;27<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;6</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Christian Murray</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;25<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;7</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Isabella Murray</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;18<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;1</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;George McKay</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;50<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;2</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Isabella Matheson</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;50<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;3</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Roderick McKay</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;19<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;4</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Robert McKay</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;11</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;At school<br />
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;5</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Roberty McKay</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;16<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;1</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Donald McKay</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;31<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;2</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;John McKay</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;3</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Catherine Bruce</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;33<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;1</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Barbara Gunn</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;50<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;2</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Wm. Bannerman</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;55<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;3</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Wm. Bannerman</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;16<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;4</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Alexander&nbsp;Bannerman&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;14<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;5</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Donald Bannerman</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;At school<br />
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;6</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;George Bannerman</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;7</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;At school<br />
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;7</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Ann Bannerman</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;19<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;1</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Widow Gunn</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;40<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;2</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Alex. McKay</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;16<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;3</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Adam McKay</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;13<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;4</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Robert McKay</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;12<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;5</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Christian McKay</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;19<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;1</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;John Bannerman</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;55<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;2</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Catherine McKay</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;28<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;3</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Alexander Bannerman</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;1</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Alex. McBeth</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;35<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;2</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Christian Gunn</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;50<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;3</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;George McBeth</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;16<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;4</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Roderick McBeth</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;12<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;5</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Robert McBeth</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;10<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;6</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Adam McBeth</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;7</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Morrison McBeth</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;8</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Margaret McBeth</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;18<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;9</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Molly McBeth</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;18<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>10&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Christian McBeth</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;14<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;1</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Alexander Mathewson</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;34</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Sergeant of the passengers<br />
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;2</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Ann Mathewson</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;34<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;3</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Hugh Mathewson</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;10</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;At school<br />
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;4</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Angus Mathewson</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;5</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;John Mathewson</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;6</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Cathern Mathewson</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;1</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Alexander Polson</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;30<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a name="Page_327" id="Page_327"></a> </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;6</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Catherine Mathewson</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;3</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Hugh Polson</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;10</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;At school<br />
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;4</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;John Polson</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;At school<br />
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;5</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Donald Polson</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;6</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Anne Polson</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;7<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;1</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;William McKay</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;44</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Brought out millstones, embarked at Stromness<br />
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;2</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Barbara Sutherland</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;35<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;3</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Betty McKay</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;10</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;At school<br />
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;4</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Dorothy McKay</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;5</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Janet McKay</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;1</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Joseph Adams</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;25</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Embarked at Gravesend<br />
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;2</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Mary Adams</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;23<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;1</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Reginald Green</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;31</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Sergeant of passengers<br />
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;2</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;George Adams</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;19<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;3</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Henry Hilliard</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;19<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;4</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Edward Simmons</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;20<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;5</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Christian Bannerman</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;22<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;6</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;John Matheson</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;22<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;7</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Alexander Sutherland</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;25</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;Sergeant of passengers<br />
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;8</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;John McDonald</td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;22<br />
+        </td>
+        <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Total&mdash;84</span><br />
+
+    <div class="subchap">F.
+    </div>
+    <div class="subchap">THE HONOUR ROLL.
+    </div>
+    <p>In Martin's "H.B. Co. Land Tenures" is found a petition to the Prince Regent,
+    after the troubles of 1816, asking for troops and steps to be taken for their
+    preservation. As these are those, from all the different parties, who held fast to
+    Red River Settlement, they are worthy of highest honour. These were the real Kildonan
+    settlers whom Lord Selkirk saw on his visit in 1817.</p>
+    <p>Donald Livingston<br />
+     George McBeath<br />
+     Angus Matheson<br />
+     Alex. Sutherland<br />
+     George Ross<br />
+     Alexander Murray, lot 23<br />
+     James Murray<br />
+     John Farquharson<br />
+     John McLean<br />
+     John Bannerman<br />
+     George McKay<br />
+     Alexander Polson<br />
+     Hugh Polson<br />
+     Robert McBeath<br />
+     Alexander McLean<br />
+     George Adams<br />
+     Martin Jordon<br />
+     Robert McKay<br />
+     Wm. McKay<br />
+     Alex. Matheson<br />
+     John McBeath<br />
+     John Sutherland<br />
+     Alex. McBeath, an old soldier, 73rd Rgt., lot No. 3<br />
+     Christian Gunn (widow)<br />
+     Alex. McKay<br />
+     William Sutherland<br />
+     Alex. Sutherland, Sr.<br />
+<span class ="pagenum">328</span><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328"></a>
+     James Sutherland<br />
+     James Sutherland<br />
+     William Bannerman, father of lot 21<br />
+     Donald McKay<br />
+     John Flett<br />
+     John Bruce<br />
+     Robert MacKay<br />
+     William Bannerman, Jr.<br />
+     Roderick McKay<br />
+     Ebenezer Sutherland<br />
+     Donald Bannerman<br />
+     Hugh McLean<br />
+     George Bannerman<br />
+     Donald Sutherland<br />
+     Beth Beathen<br />
+     John Matheson<br />
+     George Sutherland<br />
+     Margaret McLean (widow)<br />
+    </p>
+    <hr style='width: 45%;' />
+    <p>ADDENDA AND ERRATA</p><br />
+    <p>Page 74.--Andrew McDermott arrived at Red River Settlement in
+1812.</p>
+     <p>Page 148.&mdash;Fourth line from the bottom, after the word "him"<br />
+     insert "afterwards."<br /></p>
+      <p>Page 218.&mdash;Add to the title of the cut "and of the other forts<br />
+    of Winnipeg." 1, Fort Rouge; 2, Fort Douglas;<br />
+     3, Fort Gibraltar; 4, Fidler's Fort; 5, First<br />
+     Fort Garry; 6, Fort Garry.<br /></p>
+     <p>Page 264.&mdash;Line 10; 1857 should be 1851.<br /></p>
+     <p>Page 297 and following pages.&mdash;"Major Bulton" should be<br />
+     "Major Boulton."<br /></p>
+     <p>Appendix.&mdash;Words "Author's Note" should be, "The author<br />
+     notes the fact, etc."<br /></p>
+
+     <div class="subchap">Transcriber's notes:</div>
+     Addenda and errata, as above, incorporated into the text of the work.<br />
+Page 13.&mdash; added ) after fishing<br />
+Page 33.&mdash; importants [removed s]<br />
+Page 36.&mdash; removed " after Lake Winnipeg.<br />
+Page 41.&mdash; comma changed to period: obnoxious. The<br />
+Page 44.&mdash; Alexander Mackenize [changed to Mackenzie]<br />
+Page 44.&mdash; Porvince [changed to Province]<br />
+Page 61.&mdash; removed " after summer." The<br />
+Page 69.&mdash; thaat [changed to that]<br />
+Page 118.&mdash; daughers [changed to daughters]<br />
+Page 123.&mdash; Cat-Fsh [changed to Cat-Fish]<br />
+Page 130.&mdash; lfe [changed to life]<br />
+Page 139.&mdash; solider [changed to soldier]<br />
+Page 147.&mdash; steathily [changed to stealthily]<br />
+Page 151.&mdash; pasionate  [changed to passionate]<br />
+Page 184.&mdash; setters [changed to settlers]<br />
+Page 196.&mdash; couuld [changed to could] <br />
+Page 204.&mdash; delivry [changed to delivery]<br />
+Page 275.&mdash; schools -- added s to "school"<br />
+Page 286.&mdash; Noebert changed to Norbert<br />
+Page 319.&mdash; The English half-breeds [added hyphen]<br />
+Page 337.&mdash; H.M.S.[added period] Brazen<br />
+Page 309.&mdash; Begg, an eye-witnss --corrected<br />
+Page 309.&mdash; C.-Y. [changed to C-Y.]<br />
+Appendix, Page 329.&mdash; changed Settle-Settlement to Settlement<br />
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROMANTIC SETTLEMENT OF LORD SELKIRK'S COLONISTS***</p>
+<p>******* This file should be named 17358-h.txt or 17358-h.zip *******</p>
+<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br />
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@@ -0,0 +1,7668 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Romantic Settlement of Lord Selkirk's
+Colonists, by George Bryce
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Romantic Settlement of Lord Selkirk's Colonists
+       The Pioneers of Manitoba
+
+
+Author: George Bryce
+
+
+
+Release Date: December 19, 2005  [eBook #17358]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROMANTIC SETTLEMENT OF LORD
+SELKIRK'S COLONISTS***
+
+
+E-text prepared by K. D. Thornton and the Project Gutenberg Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) from page images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries
+(http://www.archive.org/details/toronto)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 17358-h.htm or 17358-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/3/5/17358/17358-h/17358-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/3/5/17358/17358-h.zip)
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries. See
+      http://www.archive.org/details/romantic00brycuoftBi
+
+
+
+
+
+THE ROMANTIC SETTLEMENT OF LORD SELKIRK'S COLONISTS
+
+(The Pioneers of Manitoba)
+
+by
+
+DR. GEORGE BRYCE
+
+Of Winnipeg
+
+President of the Royal Society of Canada, etc., etc.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THOMAS, 5TH EARL OF SELKIRK, The Founder of Red River
+Colony, 1812. From copy of painting by Raeburn, obtained by author from
+St Mary's Isle, Lord Selkirk's seat.]
+
+
+
+Toronto
+The Musson Book Company Limited
+"Copyrighted Canada, 1909, by The Musson Book Company, Limited,
+Toronto."
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                 Page.
+    Chapter  1. Patriarch's Story                   9
+                 An Extinct Race.
+                 The Gay Frenchman.
+                 The Earlier Peoples.
+                 The Montreal Merchants and Men.
+                 The Dusky Riders of the Plain.
+                 The Stately Hudson's Bay Company.
+
+    Chapter  2. A Scottish Duel                    33
+
+    Chapter  3. Across the Stormy Sea              44
+
+    Chapter  4. A Winter of Discontent             58
+
+    Chapter  5. First Foot on Red River Banks      69
+
+    Chapter  6. Three Desperate Years              80
+
+    Chapter  7. Fight and Flight                   95
+
+    Chapter  8. No Surrender                      107
+
+    Chapter  9. Seven Oaks Massacre               117
+
+    Chapter 10. Afterclaps                        133
+
+    Chapter 11. The Silver Chief Arrives          142
+
+    Chapter 12. Soldiers and Swiss                152
+
+    Chapter 13. English Lion and Canadian
+                   Bear Lie Down Together         161
+
+    Chapter 14. Satrap Rule                       170
+
+    Chapter 15. And the Flood Came                178
+
+    Chapter 16. The Jolly Governor                185
+
+    Chapter 17. The Oligarchy                     194
+
+    Chapter 18. An Ogre of Justice                202
+
+    Chapter 19. A Half-Breed Patriot              210
+
+    Chapter 20. Sayer and Liberty                 216
+
+    Chapter 21. Off to the Buffalo                224
+
+    Chapter 22. What the Stargazers Saw           232
+
+    Chapter 23. Apples of Gold                    239
+
+    Chapter 24. Pictures of Silver                256
+
+    Chapter 25. Eden Invaded                      276
+
+    Chapter 26. Riel's Rising                     284
+
+    Chapter 27. Lord Strathcona's Hand            291
+
+    Chapter 28. Wolseley's Welcome                300
+
+    Chapter 29. Manitoba in the Making            307
+
+    Chapter 30. The Selkirk Centennial            315
+
+    Appendix                                      320
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+The present work tells the romantic story of the Settlement of Lord
+Selkirk's Colonists in Manitoba, and is appropriate and timely in view
+of the Centennial celebration of this event which will be held in
+Winnipeg in 1912.
+
+The author was the first, in his earlier books, to take a stand for
+justice to be done to Lord Selkirk as a Colonizer, and he has had the
+pleasure of seeing the current of all reliable history turned in Lord
+Selkirk's favor.
+
+Dr. Doughty, the popular Archivist at Ottawa, has put at the author's
+disposal a large amount of Lord Selkirk's correspondence lately received
+by him, so that many new, interesting facts about the Settlers' coming
+are now published for the first time.
+
+If we are to celebrate the Selkirk Centennial intelligently, it is
+essential to know the facts of the trials, oppressions and heartless
+persecutions through which the Settlers' passed, to learn what shameful
+treatment Lord Selkirk received from his enemies, and to trace the rise
+from misery to comfort of the people of the Colony.
+
+The story is chiefly confined to Red River Settlement as it existed--a
+unique community, which in 1870 became the present Province of Manitoba.
+It is a sympathetic study of what one writer has called--"Britain's One
+Utopia."
+
+
+
+The Romantic Settlement
+
+OF
+
+Lord Selkirk's Colonists
+
+*       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+Lord Selkirk's Colonists
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE EARLIER PEOPLE.
+
+A PATRIARCH'S STORY.
+
+
+This is the City of Winnipeg. Its growth has been wonderful. It is the
+highwater mark of Canadian enterprise. Its chief thoroughfare, with
+asphalt pavement, as it runs southward and approaches the Assiniboine
+River, has a broad street diverging at right angles from it to the West.
+This is Broadway, a most commodious avenue with four boulevards neatly
+kept, and four lines of fine young Elm trees. It represents to us "Unter
+den Linden" of Berlin, the German Capital.
+
+The wide business thoroughfare Main Street, where it reaches the
+Assiniboine River, looks out upon a stream, so called from the wild
+Assiniboine tribe whose northern limit it was, and whose name implies
+the "Sioux" of the Stony Lake. The Assiniboine River is as large as the
+Tiber at Rome, and the color of the water justifies its being compared
+with the "Yellow Tiber."
+
+The Assiniboine falls into the Red River, a larger stream, also with
+tawny-colored water. The point of union of these two rivers was long ago
+called by the French voyageurs "Les Fourches," which we have translated
+into "The Forks."
+
+One morning nearly forty years ago, the writer wandered eastward toward
+Red River, from Main Street, down what is now called Lombard Street.
+Here not far from the bank of the Red River, stood a wooden house, then
+of the better class, but now left far behind by the brick and stone and
+steel structures of modern Winnipeg.
+
+The house still stands a stained and battered memorial of a past
+generation. But on this October morning, of an Indian summer day, the
+air was so soft, that it seemed to smell wooingly here, and through the
+gentle haze, was to be seen sitting on his verandah, the patriarch of
+the village, who was as well the genius of the place.
+
+The old man had a fine gray head with the locks very thin, and with his
+form, not tall but broad and comfortable to look upon, he occupied an
+easy chair.
+
+The writer was then quite a young man fresh from College, and with a
+simple introduction, after the easy manner of Western Canada, proceeded
+to hear the story of old Andrew McDermott, the patriarch of Winnipeg.
+
+"Yes," said Mr. McDermott, "I was among those of the first year of Lord
+Selkirk's immigrants. We landed from the Old Country, at York Factory,
+on Hudson Bay. The first immigrants reached the banks of the Red River
+in the year 1812.
+
+"I am a native of Ireland and embarked with Owen Keveny--a bright
+Hibernian--a clever writer, and speaker, who, poor fellow, was killed by
+the rival Fur Company, and whose murderer, De Reinhard, was tried at
+Quebec. Of course the greater number of Lord Selkirk's settlers were
+Scotchmen, but I have always lived with them, known them, and find that
+they trust me rather more than they at times trust each other. I have
+been their merchant, contractor, treaty-maker, business manager,
+counsellor, adviser, and confidential friend."
+
+"But," said the writer, "as having come to cast in my lot with the
+people of the Red River, I should be glad to hear from you about the
+early times, and especially of the earlier people of this region, who
+lived their lives, and came and went, before the arrival of Lord
+Selkirk's settlers in 1812." Thus the story-telling began, and patriarch
+and questioner made out from one source and another the whole story of
+the predecessors of the Selkirk Colonists.
+
+[Illustration: MOUND BUILDERS' ORNAMENTS, ETC.
+A. Ornamental gorget of turtle's plastron.
+B. Gorget of sea-shell (1879).
+C. Gorget of buffalo bone.
+D. Breast or arm ornament of very hard bone.
+E. String of beads of birds' leg bones. Note cross X.
+F. One of three polished stones used for gaming.
+G. Columella of large sea couch (tropical, used as sinker for fishing).]
+
+
+AN EXTINCT RACE.
+
+"Long before the coming of the settler, there lived a race who have now
+entirely disappeared. Not very far from the Assiniboine River, where
+Main Street crosses it, is now to be seen," said the narrator, "Fort
+Garry--a fine castellated structure with stone walls and substantial
+bastions. A little north of this you may have noticed a round mound,
+forty feet across. We opened this mound on one occasion, and found it to
+contain a number of human skeletons and articles of various kinds. The
+remains are those of a people whom we call 'The Mound Builders,' who
+ages ago lived here. Their mounds stood on high places on the river bank
+and were used for observation. The enemy approaching could from these
+mounds easily be seen. They are also found in good agricultural
+districts, showing that the race were agriculturists, and where the
+fishing is good on the river or lake these mounds occur. The Mound
+Builders are the first people of whom we have traces here about. The
+Indians say that these Mound Builders are not their ancestors, but are
+the 'Very Ancient Men.' It is thought that the last of them passed away
+some four hundred years ago, just before the coming of the white man. At
+that time a fierce whirlwind of conquest passed over North America,
+which was seen in the destruction of the Hurons, who lived in Ontario
+and Quebec. Some of their implements found were copper, probably brought
+from Lake Superior, but stone axes, hammers, and chisels, were commonly
+used by them. A horn spear, with barbs, and a fine shell sinker, shows
+that they lived on fish. Strings of beads and fine pearl ornaments are
+readily found. But the most notable thing about these people is that
+they were far ahead of the Indians, in that they made pottery, with
+brightly designed patterns, which showed some taste. Very likely these
+Mound Builders were peaceful people, who, driven out of Mexico many
+centuries ago, came up the Mississippi, and from its branches passing
+into Red River, settled all along its banks. We know but little of this
+vanished race. They have left only a few features of their work behind
+them. Their name and fame are lost forever.
+
+    "And is this all? an earthen pot,
+     A broken spear, a copper pin
+     Earth's grandest prizes counted in--
+     A burial mound?--the common lot."
+
+
+THE GAY FRENCHMAN.
+
+Then the conversation turned upon the early Frenchmen, who came to the
+West during the days of French Canada, before Wolfe took Quebec. "Oh! I
+have no doubt they would make a great ado," said the old patriarch,
+"when they came here. The French, you know, are so fond of pageants. But
+beyond a few rumors among the old Indians far up the Assiniboine River
+of their remembrance of the crosses and of the priests, or black robes,
+as they call them, I have never heard anything; these early explorers
+themselves left few traces. When they retired from the country, after
+Canada was taken by Wolfe, the Indians burnt their forts and tried to
+destroy every vestige of them. You know the Indian is a cunning
+diplomatist. He very soon sees which is the stronger side and takes it.
+When the King is dead he is ready to shout, Long live the new King. I
+have heard that down on the point, on the south side of the Forks of the
+two rivers, the Frenchmen built a fort, but there wasn't a stick or a
+stone of it left when the Selkirk Colonists came in 1812. But perhaps
+you know that part of the story better than I do," ventured the old
+patriarch. That is the Story of the French Explorers.
+
+"Oh! Yes," replied the writer, "you know the world of men and things
+about you; I know the world of books and journals and letters."
+
+"Let us hear of that," said the patriarch eagerly.
+
+[Illustration: MOUND BUILDERS' REMAINS
+A. Native Copper Drill.
+B. Soapstone Conjurer's tube.
+C. Flint Skinning Implement.
+D. Horn Fish Spear.
+E. Native Copper Cutting Knife.
+F. Cup found in Rainy River Mound by the Author, 1884.]
+
+Well, you know the French Explorers were very venturesome. They went,
+sometimes to their sorrow, among the wildest tribes of Indians.
+
+A French Captain, named Verandrye, who was born in Lower Canada, came up
+the great lakes to trade for furs of the beaver, mink, and musk-rat.
+When he reached the shore of Lake Superior, west of where Fort William
+now stands, an old Indian guide, gave him a birch bark map, which showed
+all the streams and water courses from Lake Superior to Lake of the
+Woods, and on to Lake Winnipeg. This was when the "well-beloved" Louis
+XV. was King of France, and George II. King of England. It was heroic of
+Verandrye to face the danger, but he was a soldier who had been twice
+wounded in battle in Europe, and had the French love of glory. By
+carrying his canoes over the portages, and running the rapids when
+possible, he came to the head of Rainy River, went back again with his
+furs, and after several such journeys, came down the Winnipeg River from
+Lake of the Woods, to Lake Winnipeg, and after a while made a dash
+across the stormy Lake Winnipeg and came to the Red River. The places
+were all unknown, the Indians had never seen a white man in their
+country, and the French Captain, with his officers, his men and a
+priest, found their way to the Forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers.
+This was nearly three-quarters of a century before the first Selkirk
+Colonists reached Red River. The French Captain saw only a few Indian
+teepees at the Forks, and ascended the Assiniboine. It was a very dry
+year, and the water in the Assiniboine was so low that it was with
+difficulty he managed to pull over the St. James rapids, and reached
+where Portage la Prairie now stands, and sixty miles from the site of
+Winnipeg claimed the country for his Royal Master. Here he collected the
+Indians, made them his friends, and proceeded to build a great fort, and
+named it after Mary of Poland, the unfortunate Queen of France--"Fort de
+la Reine," or Queen's Fort. But he could not forget "The Forks"--the
+Winnipeg of to-day--and so gave instructions to one of his lieutenants
+to stop with a number of his men at the Forks, cut down trees, and erect
+a fort for safety in coming and going up the Assiniboine. The Frenchmen
+worked hard, and on the south side of the junction of the Red River with
+the Assiniboine, erected Fort Rouge--the Red Fort. This fort, built in
+1738, was the first occupation of the site of the City of Winnipeg. The
+French Captain Verandrye, his sons and his men, made further journeys to
+the far West, even once coming in sight of the Rocky Mountains. But
+French Canada was doomed. In twenty years more Wolfe was to wrench
+Canada from France and make it British. The whole French force of
+soldiers, free traders, and voyageurs were needed at Montreal and
+Quebec. Not a Frenchman seems to have remained behind, and for a number
+of years the way to the West was blocked up. The canoes went to decay,
+the portages grew up with weeds and underwood, and the Western search
+for furs from Montreal was suspended.
+
+
+THE INDIANS OF THE RED RIVER.
+
+No man knew the Indian better than Andrew McDermott. No one knew better
+how to trade and dicker with the red man of the prairie. He could tell
+of all the feuds of tribe with tribe, and of the wonderful skill of the
+Fur Companies in keeping order among the Indian bands. The Red River had
+not, after the departure of the French, been visited by travellers for
+well nigh forty years. No doubt bands of Indians had threaded the
+waterways, and carried their furs in one year to Pigeon River, on Lake
+Superior, or to Fort Churchill, or York Factory on Hudson Bay. It was
+only some ten or fifteen years before the coming of the Selkirk
+Colonists that the fur traders, though they for forty years had been
+ascending the Saskatchewan, had visited Red River at all. No missionary
+had up to the coming of the Colonists ever appeared on the banks of the
+Red River. Some ten years before the settler's advent, the fur traders
+on the upper Red River had most bitter rivalries and for two or three
+years the fire water--the Indian's curse--flowed like a flood. The
+danger appealed to the traders, and from a policy of mere
+self-protection they had decided to give out no strong drink, unless it
+might be a slight allowance at Christmas and New Year's time. Red River
+was now the central meeting place of four of the great Indian Nations.
+The Red Pipestone Quarry down in the land of the Dakotas, and the Roches
+Percees, on the upper Souris River, in the land of the wild Assiniboines
+were sacred shrines. At intervals all the Indian natives met at these
+spots, buried for the time being their weapons, and lived in peace. But
+Red River, and the country--eastward to the Lake of the Woods--was
+really the "marches" where battles and conflicts continually prevailed.
+Red River, the Miskouesipi, or Blood Red River of the Chippewas and
+Crees, was said to have thus received its name. Andrew McDermott knew
+all the Indians as they drew near with curiosity, to see the settlers
+and to speculate upon the object of their coming. The Indian despises
+the man who uses the hoe, and when the Colonists sought thus to gain a
+sustenance from the fertile soil of the field, they were laughed at by
+the Indians who caught the French word "Jardiniers," or gardeners, and
+applied it to them.
+
+The Colonists were certainly a puzzle to the Red man. To the banks of
+the Red River and to the east of Lake Winnipeg had come many of the
+Chippewas. They were known on the Red River as Sauteurs, or Saulteaux,
+or Bungays, because they had come to the West from Sault Ste. Marie,
+thinking nothing of the hundreds of miles of travel along the streams.
+They were sometimes considered to be the gypsies of the Red men. It was
+they coming from the lucid streams emptying into Lake Superior and
+thence to Lake Winnipeg, who had called the latter by its name "Win,"
+cloudy or muddy, and "nipiy" water. When the Colonists arrived, the
+leading chief of the Chippewas, or Saulteaux, was Peguis. He became at
+once the friend of the white man, for he was always a peaceful, kindly,
+old Ogemah, or Chieftain.
+
+All the Indians were, at first, kindness itself to the new comers, and
+they showed great willingness to supply food to the hungry settlers, and
+to assist them in transfer and in taking possession of their own homes.
+
+The Saulteaux Indians while active and helpful were really intruders
+among the Crees, a great Indian nation, who in language and blood were
+their relations. As proof of this the Crees at this time used horses on
+the plains. The horse was an importation brought up the valleys from the
+Spaniards of Mexico. Seeing his value as a beast of burden, more fit
+than the dog which had been formerly used, they coined the word
+"Mis-ta-tim," or big dog as the name for the horse. Their Chiefs were,
+with their names translated into pronounceable English, "the Premier,"
+"the Black Robe," "the Black Man," while seemingly Mache Wheskab--"the
+Noisy Man"--represented the Assiniboines. The Crees, so well represented
+by their doughty Chiefs, are a sturdy race. They adapt themselves
+readily enough to new conditions. While the northern Indian tribes met
+the Colonists, yet in after days, as had frequently taken place in days
+preceding, bands of Sioux or Dakotas, came on pilgrimages to the Red
+River. Long ago when the French Captain Verandrye voyaged to Lake of the
+Woods, his son and others of his men, were attacked by Sioux warriors,
+and the whole party of whites was massacred in an Island on the Lake.
+The writer in a later day, near Winnipeg, met on the highway, a band of
+Sioux warriors, on horse-back, with their bodies naked to the waist, and
+painted with high color, in token of the fact that they were on the
+warpath. On occasion it was the habit of bands of Sioux to find their
+way to the Red River Valley, and the people did not feel at all safe, at
+their hostile attitude, as they bore the name of the "Tigers of the
+Plains."
+
+With Saulteaux, Crees, Assiniboines, and Sioux coming freely among them,
+the settlers had at first a feeling of decided insecurity.
+
+[Illustration: Osoup, Agent, Atalacoup, Kakawistaha, Mistawasis
+FOUR CREE CHIEFS OF RUPERT'S LAND]
+
+
+THE MONTREAL MERCHANTS AND MEN.
+
+But the fur trade paid too well to be left alone by the Montrealers who
+knew of Verandrye's exploits on the Ottawa and the Upper Lakes. When
+Canada became British, many daring spirits hastened to it from New York
+and New Jersey States. Montreal became the home of many young men of
+Scottish families. Some of their fathers had fled to the Colonies after
+the Stuart Prince was defeated at Culloden, and after the power of the
+Jacobites was broken. Some of the young men of enterprising spirit were
+the sons of officers and men who had fought in the Seven Years' War
+against France and now came to claim their share of the conqueror's
+spoils. Some men were of Yankee origin, who with their proverbial
+ability to see a good chance, came to what has always been Canada's
+greatest city, on the Island of Montreal. It was only half a dozen years
+after Wolfe's great victory, that a great Montreal trader, Alexander
+Henry, penetrated the western lakes to Mackinaw--the Island of the
+Turtle, lying between Lakes Huron and Michigan. At Sault Ste. Marie, he
+fell in with a most noted French Canadian, Trader Cadot, who had married
+a Saulteur wife. He became a power among the Indians. With Scottish
+shrewdness Henry acquired from the Commandant at Mackinaw the exclusive
+right to trade on Lake Superior. He became a partner of Cadot, and they
+made a voyage as Canadian Argonauts, to bring back very rich cargoes of
+fur. They even went up to the Saskatchewan on Lake Winnipeg. After
+Henry, came another Scotchman, Thomas Curry, and made so successful a
+voyage that he reached the Saskatchewan River, and came back laden with
+furs, so that he was now satisfied never to have to go again to the
+Indian country. Shortly afterwards James Findlay, another son of the
+heather, followed up the fur-traders' route, and reached Saskatchewan.
+Thus the Northwest Fur Trade became the almost exclusive possession of
+the Scottish Merchants of Montreal. With the master must go the man. And
+no man on the rivers of North America ever equalled, in speed, in good
+temper, and in skill, the French Canadian voyageur. Almost all the
+Montreal merchants, the Forsythes, the Richardsons, the McTavishes, the
+Mackenzies, and the McGillivrays, spoke the French as fluently as they
+did their own language. Thus they became magnetic leaders of the French
+canoemen of the rivers. The voyageurs clung to them with all the
+tenacity of a pointer on the scent. There were Nolins, Falcons,
+Delormes, Faribaults, Lalondes, Leroux, Trottiers, and hundreds of
+others, that followed the route until they became almost a part of the
+West and retired in old age, to take up a spot on some beautiful bay, or
+promontory, and never to return to "Bas Canada." Those from Montreal to
+the north of Lake Superior were the pork eaters, because they lived on
+dried pork, those west of Lake Superior, "Couriers of the Woods," and
+they fed on pemmican, the dried flesh of the buffalo. They were mighty
+in strength, daring in spirit, tractable in disposition, eagles in
+swiftness, but withal had the simplicity of little children. They made
+short the weary miles on the rivers by their smoking "tabac"--the time
+to smoke a pipe counting a mile--and by their merry songs, the "Fairy
+Ducks" and "La Claire Fontaine," "Malbrouck has gone to the war," or
+"This is the beautiful French Girl"--ballads that they still retained
+from the French of Louis XIV. They were a jolly crew, full of
+superstitions of the woods, and leaving behind them records of daring,
+their names remain upon the rivers, towns and cities of the Canadian and
+American Northwest.
+
+Some thirty years before the arrival of the Colonists, the Montreal
+traders found it useful to form a Company. This was called the
+North-West Fur Company of Montreal. Having taken large amounts out of
+the fur trade, they became the leaders among the merchants of Montreal.
+The Company had an energy and ability that made them about the beginning
+of the nineteenth century the most influential force in Canadian life.
+At Fort William and Lachine their convivial meetings did something to
+make them forget the perils of the rapids and whirlpools of the rivers,
+and the bitterness of the piercing winds of the northwestern stretches.
+Familiarly they were known as the "Nor'-Westers." Shortly before the
+beginning of the century mentioned, a split took place among the
+"Nor'-Westers," and as the bales of merchandise of the old Company had
+upon them the initials "N.W.," the new Company, as it was called, marked
+their packages "XY," these being the following letters of the alphabet.
+
+Besides these mentioned there were a number of independent merchants, or
+free traders. At one time there were at the junction of the Souris and
+Assiniboine Rivers, five establishments, two of them being those of free
+traders or independents. Among all these Companies the commander of a
+Fort was called, "The Bourgeois" to suit the French tongue of the men.
+He was naturally a man of no small importance.
+
+
+"THE DUSKY RIDERS OF THE PLAINS."
+
+But the conditions, in which both the traders and the voyageurs lived,
+brought a disturbing shadow over the wide plains of the North-West. Now
+under British rule, the Fur trade from Montreal became a settled
+industry. From Curry's time (1766) they began to erect posts or depots
+at important points to carry on their trade. Around these posts the
+voyageurs built a few cabins and this new centre of trade afforded a
+spot for the encampment near by of the Indian teepees made of tanned
+skins. The meeting of the savage and the civilized is ever a contact of
+peril. Among the traders or officers of the Fur trade a custom grew
+up--not sanctioned by the decalogue--but somewhat like the German
+Morganatic marriage. It was called "Marriage of the Country." By this in
+many cases the trader married the Indian wife; she bore children to him,
+and afterwards when he retired from the country, she was given in real
+marriage to some other voyageur, or other employee, or pensioned off. It
+is worthy of note that many of these Indian women became most true and
+affectionate spouses. With the voyageurs and laborers the conditions
+were different. They could not leave the country, they had become a part
+of it, and their marriages with the Indian women were bona fide. Thus it
+was that during the space from the time of Curry until the arrival of
+the Selkirk Colonists upwards of forty years had elapsed, and around the
+wide spread posts of the Fur Trading Companies, especially around those
+of the prairie, there had grown up families, which were half French and
+half Indian, or half English and half Indian. When it could be afforded
+these children were sent for a time to Montreal, to be educated, and
+came back to their native wilds. On the plain between the Assiniboine
+and the Saskatchewan, a half-breed community had sprung up. From their
+dusky faces they took the name "Bois-Brules," or "Charcoal Faces," or
+referring to their mixed blood, of "Metis," or as exhibiting their
+importance, they sought to be called "The New Nation." The blend of
+French and Indian was in many respects a natural one. Both are stalwart,
+active, muscular; both are excitable, imaginative, ambitious; both are
+easily amused and devout. The "Bois-Brules" growing up among the Indians
+on the plains naturally possessed many of the features of the Indian
+life. The pursuit of their fur-bearing animals was the only industry of
+the country. The Bois-Brules from childhood were familiar with the
+Indian pony, knew all his tricks and habits, began to ride with all the
+skill of a desert ranger, were familiar with fire-arms, took part in the
+chase of the buffalo on the plains, and were already trained to make the
+attack as cavalry on buffalo herds, after the Indian fashion, in the
+famous half-circle, where they were to be so successful in their later
+troubles, of which we shall speak. Such men as the Grants, Findlays,
+Lapointes, Bellegardes, and Falcons were equally skilled in managing the
+swift canoe, or scouring the plains on the Indian ponies. We shall see
+the part which this new element were to play in the social life and even
+in the public concerns of the prairies.
+
+
+THE STATELY HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.
+
+The last of the elements to come into the valley of the Red River and to
+precede the Colonists, was the Hudson's Bay Company--even then, dating
+back its history almost a century and a half. They were a dignified and
+wealthy Company, reaching back to the times of easy-going Charles II.,
+who gave them their charter. For a hundred years they lived in
+self-confidence and prudence in their forts of Churchill and York, on
+the shore of Hudson Bay. They were even at times so inhospitable as to
+deal with the Indians through an open window of the fort. This was in
+striking contrast to the "Nor'-Wester" who trusted the Indians and lived
+among them with the freest intercourse. For the one hundred years spoken
+of, the Indians from the Red River Country, the Saskatchewan, the Red
+River and Lake Winnipeg, found their way by the water courses to the
+shores of the Hudson Bay. But the enterprise of the Montreal merchants
+in leaving their forts and trading in the open with the Indians,
+prevented the great fleets of canoes, from going down with their furs,
+as they had once done to Churchill and York. The English Company felt
+the necessity of starting into the interior, and so within six years of
+the time of the expedition of Thomas Curry, appeared five hundred miles
+inland from the Bay, and erected a fort--Fort Cumberland--a few hundred
+yards from the "Nor'-Westers'" Trading House, on the Saskatchewan River.
+By degrees before the end of the century almost every place of any
+importance, in the fur-producing country, saw the two rival forts built
+within a mile or two of each other. Shortly before the end of the 18th
+Century, the "Nor'-Westers" came into the Red River Valley and built one
+or two forts near the 49th parallel, N. lat.--the U.S. boundary of
+to-day. But four years after the new Century began, the "Nor'-Westers"
+decided to occupy the "Forks" of the Red and Assiniboine River, near
+where Verandrye's Fort Rouge had been built some sixty years before.
+Evidently both companies felt the conflict to be on, in their efforts to
+cover all important parts, for they called this Trading House Fort
+Gibraltar, whose name has a decided ring of the war-like about it. It is
+not clear exactly where the Hudson's Bay post was built, but it is said
+to have rather faced the Assiniboine than the Red River, perhaps near
+where Notre Dame Avenue East, or the Hudson's Bay stores is to-day. It
+was probably built a few years after Fort Gibraltar, and was called
+"Fidler's Fort." By this time, however, the Hudson's Bay Company,
+working from their first post of Cumberland House, pushed on to the
+Rocky Mountains to engage in the Titanic struggle which they saw lay
+ahead of them. One of their most active agents, in occupying the Red
+River Valley, was the Englishman Peter Fidler, who was the surveyor of
+this district, the master of several forts, and a man who ended his
+eventful career by a will made--providing that all of his funds should
+be kept at interest until 1962, when they should be divided, as his last
+chimerical plan should direct. It thus came about that when the
+Colonists arrived there were two Traders' Houses, on the site of the
+City of Winnipeg of to-day, within a mile of one another, one
+representing a New World, and the other an Old World type of mercantile
+life. It was plain that on the Plains of Rupert's Land there would come
+a struggle for the possession of power, if not for very existence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+"A SCOTTISH DUEL."
+
+
+Inasmuch as this tale is chiefly one of Scottish and of Colonial life,
+the story of the movement from Old Kildonan, on the German Ocean, to New
+Kildonan, on the Western Prairies--we may be very sure, that it did not
+take place without irritation and opposition and conflict. The Scottish
+race, while possessing intense earnestness and energy, often gains its
+ends by the most thoroughgoing animosity. In this great emigration
+movement, there were great new world interests involved, and champions
+of the rival parties concerned were two stalwart chieftains, of
+Scotland's best blood, both with great powers of leadership and both
+backed up with abundant means and strongest influence. It was a
+duel--indeed a fight, as old Sir Walter Scott would say, "a
+l'outrance"--to the bitter end. That the struggle was between two
+chieftains--one a Lowlander, the other a Highlander, did not count for
+much, for the Lowlander spoke the Gaelic tongue--and he was championing
+the interest of Highland men.
+
+The two men of mark were the Earl of Selkirk and Sir Alexander
+Mackenzie. Before showing the origin of the quarrel, it may be well to
+take a glance at each of the men.
+
+Thomas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, was the youngest of seven sons, and was
+born in 1771. Though he belonged to one of the oldest noble families, of
+Scotland, yet when he went to Edinburgh, as a fellow student of Sir
+Walter Scott, Clerk of Eldon, and David Douglas, afterward Lord Reston,
+it was with a view of making his own way in the world, for there were
+older brothers between him and the Earldom. He was a young man of
+intense earnestness, capable of living in an atmosphere of
+enthusiasm--always rather given indeed to take up and advocate new
+schemes. There was in him the spirit of service of his Douglas
+ancestors, of being unwilling to "rust unburnished," and he was strong
+in will, "to strive, to seek, to find." This gave the young Douglas a
+seeming restlessness, and so he visited the Highlands and learned the
+Gaelic tongue. He went to France in the days of the French Revolution,
+and took great interest in the Jacobin dreams of progress. The minor
+title of the House of Selkirk was Daer, and so the young collegian saw
+one Daer depart, then another, until at last he held the title, becoming
+in 1799 Earl of Selkirk and was confirmed as the master of the beautiful
+St. Mary's Isle, near the mouth of the Dee, on Solway Frith. On his
+visits to the Highlands, it was not alone the Highland straths and
+mountains, nor the Highland Chieftain's absolute mastership of his clan,
+nor was it the picturesque dress--the "Garb of old Gaul"--which
+attracted him. The Earl of Selkirk has been charged by those who knew
+little of him with being a man of feudal instincts. His temper was the
+exact opposite of this. When he saw his Scottish fellow-countrymen being
+driven out of their homes in Sutherlandshire, and sent elsewhere to give
+way for sheep farmers, and forest runs, and deer stalking, it touched
+his heart, and his three Emigration Movements, the last culminating in
+the Kildonan Colonists, showed not only what title and means could do,
+but showed a kindly and compassionate heart beating under the starry
+badge of Earldom.
+
+Rather it was the case that the fur trading oligarchy ensconced in the
+plains of the West, could not understand the heart of a
+philanthropist--of a man who could work for mere humanity. Up till a few
+years ago it was the fashion for even historians, being unable to
+understand his motive and disposition, to speak of him as a "kind
+hearted, but eccentric Scottish nobleman."
+
+Lord Selkirk's active mind led him into various different spheres of
+human life. He visited France and studied the problem of the French
+Revolution, and while sympathizing with the struggle for liberty, was
+alienated as were Wordsworth and hundreds of other British writers and
+philanthropists, by the excesses of Robespierre and his French
+compatriots. When the Napoleonic wars were at their height, like a true
+patriot, Lord Selkirk wrote a small work on the "System of National
+Defence," anticipating the Volunteer System of the present day. But his
+keen mind sought lines of activity as well as of theory. Seeing his
+fellow-countrymen, as well as their Irish neighbors, in distress and
+also desiring to keep them under the British flag, he planned at his own
+expense to carry out the Colonists to America. Even before this effort,
+reading Alexander Mackenzie's great book of voyages detailing the
+discoveries of the Mackenzie River in its course to the Arctic Sea, and
+also the first crossing in northern latitudes of the mountains to the
+Pacific Ocean--he had applied (1802), to the Imperial Government, for
+permission to take a colony to the western extremity of Canada upon the
+waters which fall into Lake Winnipeg. This spot, "fertile and having a
+salubrious climate," he could reach by way of the Nelson River, running
+into Hudson Bay. The British Government refused him the permission
+necessary. Lord Selkirk's first visit to Canada was in the year 1803, in
+which his colony was placed in Prince Edward Island. Canada was a
+country very sparsely settled, but it was then turning its eyes toward
+Britain, with the hope of receiving more settlers, for it had just seen
+settled in Upper Canada a band of Glengarry Highlanders. Lord Selkirk
+visited Canada by way of New York. To a man of his imaginative
+disposition, the fur trade appealed irresistibly. The picturesque
+brigades of the voyageurs hieing away for the summer up the Ottawa
+toward the land of which Mackenzie had written, "the Nor'-Wester" garb
+of capote and moccassin and snowshoe, and the influence plainly given by
+this the only remunerative industry of Montreal, caught his fancy. Then
+as a British peer and a Scottish Nobleman, the fun-loving but
+hard-headed Scottish traders of Montreal took him to their hearts. He
+met them at their convivial gatherings, he heard the chanson sung by
+voyageurs, and the "habitant" caught his fancy. He was only a little
+past thirty, and that Canadian picture could never be effaced from his
+mind. In after days, these "Lords of the North" abused Lord Selkirk for
+spying out their trade, for catching the secrets of their business which
+were in the wind, and for making an undue use of what they had disclosed
+to him. In this there was nothing. His schemes were afire in his own
+mind long before, his Montreal experiences but fanned the flame, and led
+him to send a few Colonists to Upper Canada to the Settlement to
+Baldoon. This settlement was, however, of small account.
+
+In 1808 though inactive he showed his bent by buying up Hudson's Bay
+Company stock. During this time projects in agriculture, the condition
+of the poor, the safety of the country, and the spread of civilization
+constantly occupied his active mind. The Napoleonic war cut off the vast
+cornfields of America from England, and as a great historian shows was
+followed by a terrible pauperization of the laboring classes.
+
+There is no trace of a desire for aggrandizement, for engaging in the
+fur trade, or for going a-field on plans of speculation in the mind of
+Lord Selkirk. The feuds of the two branches of the Montreal Fur
+traders--the Old Northwest and the New Northwest--which were apparently
+healed in the year after the Colonization of Prince Edward Island, were
+not ended between the two factions of the united company led by
+McTavish--called the Premier--on the one hand and Sir Alexander
+Mackenzie on the other.
+
+During these ten years of the century, the Hudson's Bay Company had also
+established rival posts all over the country. The competition at times
+reached bloodshed, and financial ruin was staring all branches of the
+fur trade in the face.
+
+It was the depressed condition of the fur trade and the consequent drop
+in Hudson's Bay Company shares that appealed to Lord Selkirk, the man of
+many dreams and imaginations and he saw the opportunity of finding a
+home under the prairie skies for his hapless countrymen. It requires no
+detail here of how Lord Selkirk bought a controlling interest in the
+Hudson's Bay Company's stock, made out his plans of Emigration, and took
+steps to send out his hoped-for thousands or tens of thousands of
+Highland crofters, or Irish peasants, whoever they might be, if they
+sought freedom though bound up with hardship, hope instead of a pauper's
+grave, the prospect of independence of life and station in the new world
+instead of penury and misery under impossible conditions of life at
+home. Nor is it a matter of moment to us, how the struggle began until
+we have brought before our minds the stalwart figure of Sir Alexander
+Mackenzie--Lord Selkirk's great protagonist. Like many a distinguished
+man who has made his mark in the new world, and notably our great Lord
+Strathcona, who came as a mere lad to Canada, Alexander Mackenzie, a
+stripling of sixteen, arrived in Montreal to make his fortune. He was
+born as the Scottish people say of "kenn't" of "well-to-do" folk in
+Stornoway, in the Hebrides. He received a fair education and as a boy
+had a liking for the sea. Two partners, Gregory and McLeod, were
+fighting at Montreal in opposition to the dominant firm of McTavish and
+Frobisher. Young Alexander Mackenzie joined this opposition. So great
+was his aptitude, that boy as he was, he was despatched West to lead an
+expedition to Detroit. Soon he was pushed on to be a bourgeois, and was
+appointed at the age of twenty-two to go to the far West fur country of
+Athabasca, the vast Northern country which was to be the area of his
+discoveries and his fame. His energy and skill were amazing, although
+like many of his class, he had to battle against the envy of rivals.
+After completely planning his expedition, he made a dash for the Arctic
+Sea, by way of Mackenzie River, which he--first of white men--descended,
+and which bears his name. Finding his astronomical knowledge defective,
+he took a year off, and in his native land learned the use of the
+instruments needed in exploration. After his return he ascended the
+Peace River, crossed the Rocky Mountains, and on a rock on the shore of
+the Pacific Ocean in British Columbia, inscribed with vermillion and
+grease, in large letters, "Alexander Mackenzie, from Canada, by land,
+the Twenty-second of July, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety-three."
+That was his record as the first white man to cross North America,
+north of Mexico. A few years afterwards he received the honor of
+knighthood for his discoveries. He gained much distinction as a leader,
+though the great McTavish in his Company was never very friendly to him.
+At length he retired, became a representative in the legislature of
+Lower Canada, and was for a time a travelling companion of the Duke of
+Kent. With a desire for loftier station, he settled in his native land,
+married the beautiful and gifted daughter of the House of Seaforth, and
+from her enjoyed the property of Avoch, near Inverness.
+
+Three years before the starting of Lord Selkirk's Colonists and before
+his marriage with Geddes Mackenzie, Sir Alexander took up his abode in
+Scotland. He was the guardian of the rights of the North-West Company
+and manfully he stood for them.
+
+Mackenzie was startled when he heard in 1810 of Lord Selkirk's scheme to
+send his Colonists to Red River. This he thought to be a plan of the
+Hudson's Bay Company, to regain their failing prestige and to strike a
+blow at the Nor'-Wester trade. To the fur trader or the rancher, the
+incoming of the farmer is ever obnoxious. The beaver and the mink desert
+the streams whenever the plowshare disturbs the soil. The deer flee to
+their coverts, the wolf and the fox are exterminated, and even the
+muskrat has a troubled existence when the dog and cat, the domestic
+animals, make their appearance. The proposed settlement is to be
+opposed, and Lord Selkirk's plans thwarted at any cost. Lord Selkirk had
+in the eyes of the Nor'-Westers much presumption, indeed nothing less
+than to buy out the great Hudson's Bay Company, which for a century and
+a half had controlled nearly one-half of North America. The
+Nor'-Westers--Alexander Mackenzie, Inglis and Ellice--made sport of the
+thing as a dream. But the "eccentric Lord" was buying up stock and
+majorities rule in Companies as in the nation. Contempt and abuse gave
+place to settled anxiety and in desperation at last the trio of
+opponents, two days before the meeting, purchased L2,500 of stock, not
+enough to appreciably affect the vote, but enough to give them a footing
+in the Hudson's Bay Company, and to secure information of value to them.
+
+The mill of destiny goes slowly round, and Lord Selkirk and his friends
+are triumphant. He purchases an enormous tract of land, 116,000 square
+miles, one-half in what is now the Province of Manitoba, the other at
+present included in the States of Minnesota and North Dakota, on the
+south side of the boundary line between Canada and the United States.
+The Nor'-Westers are frantic; but the fates are against them. The duel
+has begun! Who will win? Cunning and misrepresentation are to be
+employed to check the success of the Colony, and also local opposition
+on the other side of the Atlantic, should the scheme ever come to
+anything. At present their hope is that it may fall to pieces of its own
+weight.
+
+Lord Selkirk's scheme is dazzling almost beyond belief. A territory is
+his, purchased out and out, from the Hudson's Bay Company, about four
+times the area of Scotland, his native land, and the greater part of it
+fertile, with the finest natural soil in the world, waiting for the
+farmer to give a return in a single year after his arrival. A territory,
+not possessed by a foreign people, but under the British flag! A country
+yet to be the home of millions! It is worth living to be able to plant
+such a tree, which will shelter and bless future generations of mankind.
+Financial loss he might have; but he would have fame as his reward.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+"ACROSS THE STORMY SEA."
+
+
+Oh dreadful war! It is not only in the deadly horror of battle, and in
+the pain and anguish of men strong and hearty, done to death by human
+hands. It is not only in the rotting heap of horses and men, torn to
+pieces by bullets and shell, and thrust together within huge pits in one
+red burial blent. It is not only in the helpless widow and her brood of
+dazed and desolate children weeping over the news that comes from the
+battlefield, that war become so hideous. It is always, as it was in the
+time of the Europe-shadowing Napoleon when for twenty years the wheels
+of industry in Britain were stopped. It is always the derangement of
+business, the increased price of food for the poor, the decay of trade,
+the cutting off of supplies, and the stopping of works of improvement
+that brings conditions which make poverty so terrible. Rags! A bed of
+straw; a crust of bread; the shattered roof; the naked floor; a deal
+table; a broken chair! A writer whose boyhood saw the terror, and want,
+and despair of the last decade of the Napoleonic War, puts into the
+mouth of the victim of poverty this terrible wail:
+
+"But why do I talk of death?
+  That phantom of grizzly bone;
+ I hardly fear his terrible shape
+  It seems so like my own;
+ It seems so like my own,
+  Because of the fasts I keep;
+ Oh God, that bread should be so dear
+  And flesh and blood so cheap!"
+
+To the philanthropist or the benevolent sympathiser like Lord Selkirk,
+who aims at benefiting suffering humanity, it is not the trouble, the
+self-sacrifice, or the spending of money in relief that is the worry,
+but it is the bitterness, the suspicion, the unworkableness, and the
+selfishness of the poverty-stricken themselves that disturbs and
+distresses the benefactor's heart. It is often too the heartlessness and
+prejudice of those who oppose the benefactor's plans that causes the
+generous man anxiety and even at times despair. Poverty in its worst
+form is a gaunt and ravenous beast, that bites the hand of friend or foe
+that is stretched out toward it. So Lord Selkirk found it, when he
+undertook to help the poverty-stricken Celts of the Scottish Highlands
+and of the West of Ireland. He had the sympathising heart; he had the
+true vision; and he had as few others of his time had, the power to
+plan, the invention to suggest, and the skill and pluck to overcome
+difficulties, but the carrying out of his intent brought him infinite
+trouble and sorrow. His prospectus, offering the means to the
+poverty-stricken people of reaching what he believed to be a home of
+ultimate plenty on the banks of the Red River, was an entirely worthy
+document. His first point is, that his Colonists will be freemen. No
+religious tenet will be considered in their selection. This was even
+freer that was that of Lord Baltimore's much-vaunted Colony, on the
+Atlantic Coast, for Baltimore required that every Colonist should
+believe in the doctrine of the Trinity. Then, the offer was to the
+landless and the penniless men. Employment was to be supplied; work in
+the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company, or free grants of land to actual
+settlers, or even a sale in fee simple of land for a mere nominal sum;
+free passages for the poor, reduced passages for those who had small
+means, food provided on the voyage, and the prospect of new world
+advantages to all.
+
+But the poor are timid, and they love even their straw-thatched
+cottages, and it needs active and decided men to press upon them the
+advantages which are offered them. The Emigration Agent is a necessity.
+
+The fur traders' country was at this time well known to many of the
+partners. It was by employing or consulting with some of these fur
+traders that Lord Selkirk obtained a knowledge of the Western land which
+he was to acquire. Years before the Colony began Lord Selkirk had been
+in correspondence with an officer who belonged to a well known Catholic
+family of Highlanders, the Macdonells, who had gone to the Mohawk
+district in the United States before the American Revolution, and had
+afterwards come to Canada as U.E. Loyalists. One of these, a man of
+standing and of executive ability was Miles Macdonell. He had been an
+officer of the King's Royal Regiment of New York, and held the rank of
+Captain of the Canadian Militia. This officer had a brother in the
+North-West Fur Company, John Macdonell, who, more than ten years before,
+had been in the service of his Company on Red River and whose Journal
+had no doubt fallen into the hands of his brother Miles. He had written:
+"From the Forks of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers the plains are quite
+near the banks, and so extensive that a man may travel to the Rocky
+Mountains without passing a wood, a mile long. The soil on the Red River
+and the Assiniboine is generally a good soil, susceptible of culture,
+and capable of bearing rich crops."
+
+He goes on to state, "that the buffalo comes to the fords of the
+Assinboil, besides in these rivers are plenty of sturgeon, catfish,
+goldeyes, pike and whitefish--the latter so common that men have been
+seen to catch thirty or forty a piece while they smoked their pipes." To
+reach this land of plenty, which his brother knew so well, Miles
+Macdonell became the leader of Lord Selkirk's Colonists. He arrived in
+Great Britain in the year for the starting of the Colony, and
+immediately as being a Roman Catholic in religion went to the West of
+Ireland to recommend the Emigration scheme, obtain subscriptions of
+stock, and to engage workmen as Colonists. Glasgow was then, as now, the
+centre of Scottish industry, and it is to Glasgow that the penniless
+Highlanders flock in large numbers for work and residence. Here was a
+suitable field for the Emigration Agent, and accordingly one of their
+countrymen, Captain Roderick McDonald, was sent thither. The way to
+Canada was long, the country unknown, and it required all his persuasion
+and the power of the Gaelic tongue--an open Sesame to an Highlander's
+heart--to persuade many to join the Colonists' bank. It required more.
+The Highlander is a bargainer, as the Tourist in the Scottish Highlands
+knows to this day. Captain Roderick McDonald was compelled to promise
+larger wages to clerks and laborers to induce them to join. He secured
+less than half an hundred men at Stornoway--the trysting place--and the
+promises he had made of higher wages were a bone of contention through
+the whole voyage.
+
+Perhaps the most effective agent obtained by Lord Selkirk was a returned
+trader of the Montreal merchants named Colin Robertson. He had seen the
+whole western fur country, and the fact that he had a grievance made him
+very willing to join Lord Selkirk in his enterprise.
+
+One of the Nor'-Westers in Saskatchewan a few years before the beginning
+of Lord Selkirk's Colony, was "Bras Croche," or crooked-arm McDonald. He
+was of gentle Scottish birth, but his own acquaintances declared that he
+was of a "quarrelsome and pugnacious disposition." In his district Colin
+Robertson was a "Bourgeois" in charge of a station. A quarrel between
+the two men resulted in Colin Robertson losing his position, and as we
+shall see he became one of the most active and serviceable men in the
+history of the Colony. Colin Robertson went among his countrymen in the
+Island of Lewis and elsewhere.
+
+And now as the time draws nigh for gathering together at a common port,
+the Stromness (Orkney), the Glasgow, the Sligo and the Lewis contingents
+to face the stormy sea and seek a new untried home, a fierce storm
+breaks out upon the land. Evidence accumulates that the heat and
+opposition of the "Nor'-West" partners--Sir Alexander Mackenzie, Inglis
+and Ellice--shown at the general meeting of the Company, were to break
+out in numberless hidden and irritating efforts to stop and perhaps
+render impossible the whole Colonizing project.
+
+Just as the active agents, Miles Macdonell, Capt. McDonald and Colin
+Robertson, had set the heather on fire on behalf of Lord Selkirk's
+project, so the aid of the press was used to throw doubt upon the
+enterprise. Inverness is the Capital of the Highlanders, and so the
+"Inverness Journal," containing an effusion signed by "Highlander," was
+spread broadcast through the Highlands, the Islands, and the Orkneys,
+picturing the dangers of their journey, the hardships of the country,
+the deceitfulness of the agents, and the mercenary aims of the noble
+promoter.
+
+Before Miles Macdonell had cleared the coast of England, he wrote to
+Lord Selkirk: "Sir A. (Mackenzie) has pledged himself as so decidedly
+opposed to this project that he will try every means in his power to
+thwart it. Besides, I am convinced he was no friend to your Lordship
+before this came upon the carpet."
+
+No doubt Miles Macdonell was correct, and the two Scottish antagonists
+were face to face in the conflict. We shall see the means supplied by
+which the expedition will be harassed. And now the enterprise is to be
+set on foot.
+
+For nearly a century and a half the Hudson's Bay Company ships have
+sailed yearly from the Thames, and taken the goods of the London
+merchants to the posts and forts of Hudson Bay, carrying back rich
+returns of furs. Sometimes more than one a year has gone. In 1811 there
+was the Commodore's ship the "Prince of Wales," with cabin accommodation
+and such comforts as ships of that period supplied. A second ship, the
+"Eddystone," chartered for special service, accompanied her. These two
+were intended to carry out employees and men for the fur trade, as well
+as the goods.
+
+It must not be forgotten that there was some want of confidence between
+the trading side of the Hudson's Bay Company and that which Lord Selkirk
+represented, in the Colonizing enterprise. Also at this time the laws in
+regard to the safety of vessels, the comfort of passengers, or
+precautions for health were very lax. While the records of emigration
+experiences of British settlers to Canada and the United States are
+being recited by men and women yet living in Canada, the want of
+resource and the neglect of life and property by Governments and
+officials up until half a century ago are heart-sickening. So the third
+ship of the fleet that was to carry the first human freight of Manitoba
+pioneers was the "Edward and Ann." She was a sorry craft, with old
+sails, ropes, etc., and very badly manned. She had as a crew only
+sixteen, including the captain, mates and three small boys. It was a
+surprise to Miles Macdonell that the Company would charter and send her
+out in such a state. The officers came down to Gravesend from London and
+joined their ships, and somewhere about the 25th of June, 1811, they set
+sail from Sheerness on their mission, which was to become historic--not
+so historic, perhaps, as the Mayflower--but still sufficiently important
+to deserve a centennial celebration.
+
+The fleet was, however, to take up its passengers after it had passed
+Duncansby Head, on the north of Scotland. But the elements on the North
+Sea were unpropitious. Sheerness left behind, the trio of vessels had
+not passed the coast of Norfolk before they were driven into Yarmouth
+Harbor, and there for days they lay held in by adverse winds. On July
+2nd they again started northward, when they were compelled to return to
+Yarmouth.
+
+In company they succeeded in reaching Stromness, in the Orkney Isles, in
+about ten days. Here the "Prince of Wales" remained and her two
+companions sailed down to Stornoway on the 17th.
+
+And now, with the storms of the German Ocean left behind, began the
+opposition of the "Nor'-Westers." The "Prince of Wales" brought her
+contingent from the Orkneys, and on July 25th Miles Macdonell writes
+that after all the efforts put forth at all the points he had 125
+Colonists and employees, and these were in a most unsettled state of
+mind.
+
+Some dispute the wages offered them. One party from Galway had not
+arrived. Some are irritated at not being in the quarter of the ship
+which they desired, and some anxiety is evident on the part of Miles
+Macdonell because large advances of money have been given to a number
+and he fears that they may desert. The expenses of assembling the
+settlers have been very heavy, and now opposition appears. Sir
+Alexander's party are doing their work. Mr. Reed, Collector of Customs
+at Stornoway, was married to a niece of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, and as
+collector he throws every obstacle in the way of Macdonell. He has also
+taken pains to stir up discontent in the minds of the Colonists and to
+advise them not to embark.
+
+Further trouble was caused by a Captain Mackenzie--called "a mean
+fellow"--who proved to be a son-in-law of the Collector of Customs Reed,
+and who went on board the "Edward and Ann," recruited as soldiers some
+of the settlers, himself handing them the enlisting money and then
+seeking to compel them to leave the ship with him. Afterwards, Captain
+Mackenzie came on board the "Edward and Ann" and claimed the new
+recruits, as deserters from the army. The Customs officials also boarded
+the emigrant ship and most officiously proclaimed that if any emigrants
+were not satisfied, or were not going of their own free will then they
+might go ashore, and the scene as described by Miles Macdonell may be
+imagined. "Several said they were not willing, and many went over the
+ship's side into Captain Mackenzie's boat. One party ran away with the
+ship's boat, but were brought back. One man jumped into the sea, and
+swam for it until he was picked up by the recruiting boat." The Revenue
+Cutter's boat was likewise very active in taking men away, and the
+collector took some ashore in his boat with himself. A prominent
+employee of the promoters of the expedition, Mr. Moncrieff Blair, who
+posed as a gentleman, deserted on July 25th, the day before the sailing
+of the vessel.
+
+No wonder that Miles Macdonell should write: "My Lord, this is a most
+unfortunate business * * * I condole with your Lordship on all these
+cross accidents."
+
+Thus amid annoyance, opposition, and discouragement did the little fleet
+set sail, on July 26th, 1811.
+
+But this time of Napoleonism in Europe affected even the high seas.
+French cruisers might seize the valuable cargoes being sent out to York
+Factory. Accordingly a man-of-war had been detailed to lead the way.
+This had caused a part of the delay on the East Coast of England, and
+when fairly away from the British Isles and some four hundred miles
+northwest of Ireland, the protecting ship turned back, but the sea was
+so wild that not even a letter could be handed to the Captain to carry
+in a message to the promoter.
+
+The journey continued to be boisterous, but once within Hudson straits
+the weather turned mild, and the great walls of rock reminded the
+Highlanders of their Sutherlandshire West Coast.
+
+They saw no living being as they went through the Strait. Their studies
+of human nature were among themselves. Miles Macdonell reports that
+exclusive of the officers and crews who embarked at Gravesend, there
+were of laborers and writers one hundred and five persons.
+
+Of these there were fifty-three on the "Edward and Ann." Two men of
+especial note, representing the clerical and medical professions were on
+board the Emigrant Ship. Father Burke, a Roman Catholic priest, who had
+come away without the permission of his Bishop was one.
+
+Miles Macdonell did not like him, but he seems to have been a hearty
+supporter of the Emigration Scheme and promised to do great things in
+Ireland on his return.
+
+When he reached York Factory, Burke did not leave the shore to follow
+the Colonists to their homes on the banks of Red River. He married two
+Scotch Presbyterians, and while somewhat merry at times had amused the
+passengers on their dreary ocean journey. More useful, however, to the
+passengers was Mr. Edwards, the ship's doctor.
+
+He had much opportunity for practising his art, both among the Colonists
+and the employees.
+
+At times Miles Macdonell endeavored on shipboard to drill his future
+servants and settlers, but he found them a very awkward squad--not one
+had ever handled a gun or musket. The sea seemed generally too
+tempestuous in mood for their evolutions. As the ships approached York
+Factory the interest increased. The "Eddystone" was detailed to sail to
+"Fort Churchill," but was unable to reach it and found her way in the
+wake of the other vessels to York Factory. It seemed as if the
+sea-divinities all combined to fight against the Colonists, for they did
+not reach York Factory, the winter destination, until the 24th of
+September, having taken sixty-one days on the voyage from Stornoway,
+which was declared by the Hudson's Bay Company officers to be the
+longest and latest passage ever known on Hudson Bay. Then settlers and
+employees were all landed on the point, near York Factory, and were
+sheltered meantime in tents, and as they stood on the shore they saw on
+October 5th, the ships that had brought them safely across the stormy
+sea pass through a considerable amount of floating ice on their homeward
+journey to London.
+
+For one season at least the settlers will face the rigor of this
+Northern Clime.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+A WINTER OF DISCONTENT.
+
+
+The Emigrant ship has landed its living freight at Fort Factory, upon
+the Coast of Hudson Bay--a shore unoccupied for hundreds of miles except
+by a few Hudson's Bay Company forts such as those at the mouth of the
+Nelson River, and of Fort Churchill, a hundred miles or more farther
+north. It was now the end of the season, and it will not do to trifle
+with the nip of cold "Boreas" on the shore of Hudson Bay. The icy winter
+is at hand, and all know that they will face such temperatures as they
+never had seen even among the stormy Hebrides, or in the Northward
+Orkneys. Lord Selkirk's dreams are now to be tested. Is the story of the
+Colony to be an epic or a drama?
+
+It was by no means the first experiment of facing in an unprepared way
+the rigors of a North American winter.
+
+In the fourth year of the Seventeenth Century De Monts, a French
+Colonizer, had a band of his countrymen on Douchet's Island, in the Ste.
+Croix River, on the borders of New Brunswick. Though fairly well
+provided in some ways yet the winter proved so trying that out of the
+number of less than eighty, nearly one-half died. The winter was so
+long, weary and deadly, that in the spring the survivors of the Colony
+were moved to Port Royal in Acadia and the Ste. Croix was given up. This
+was surely dramatic; this was tragic indeed. But in the fourth year of
+this Century, the Tercentenary of this event was celebrated in Annapolis
+and St. John, as the writer himself beheld, and the shouts and applause
+of gathered thousands made a great and patriotic epic.
+
+Again four years after De Monts, when knowledge of climate and
+conditions had become known to the French pioneers, Samuel de Champlain
+wintered with his crew and a few settlers on the site of Old Quebec, on
+the St. Lawrence. Discontent and dissension led to rebellion, and blood
+was shed in the execution of the plotters. Hunger, suffering and the
+dreadful scurvy attacked the founder's party of less than thirty, of
+whom only ten survived, and yet in July of 1908, the writer witnessed
+the grand Tercentenary celebration of Champlain's settlement of Quebec,
+and with the presence of the Prince of Wales, General Roberts, the idol
+of the British Army, a joint fleet, of eleven English, French and
+American first-class Men-of War, with pageantry and music, the Epic of
+Champlain was sung at the foot of the great statue erected to his
+memory.
+
+In the Twentieth year of the Seventeenth Century, a company of very
+sober folk, came to the shore of the Atlantic Ocean in a trifling little
+vessel the "Mayflower," and brought about one hundred Immigrants from
+the British Isles to Plymouth Rock to build up a refuge and a home. What
+a mighty song of patriotism will burst out when in a few years the
+United States hold their Tercentenary of the landing of the Pilgrim
+Fathers.
+
+And so we see the first Selkirk Colonists landed on the Hudson Bay
+numbering at the outside seventy, a number not greatly different from
+the French and Pilgrim Fathers and called on to pass through similar
+trials in the severe winter of Hudson Bay. Their experience has been
+less tragic than that of the other parties spoken of, but in it the same
+elements of discomfort, dissension and disease certainly present
+themselves. However distressing their winter was, the dramatic
+conditions passed away, in a short time we shall be engaged in
+commemorating the patience and the heroism of these settlers, and in
+1912 we shall sing a new song--the epic of the Lord Selkirk Colonists.
+
+But to be true we must look more closely at the trials, and sufferings
+of the untried, and somewhat turbulent band, on their way to the Red
+River.
+
+York Factory as being the port of entry for the southern prairie country
+was a place of some importance. As in the largest number of cases, other
+than a few huts for workmen, and a few Indian families, the Fort was the
+only centre of life in the whole region. Two rivers, the Nelson and the
+Hayes, enter the Hudson Bay at this point--the Nelson being the more
+northerly of the two. Between the two rivers is really a delta or low
+swampy tongue of land. On the Nelson's north bank, the land near the Bay
+is low, while inland there is a rising height. Five or six different
+sites of forts are pointed out at this point. These have been built on
+during the history of the Company, which dates back to 1670. In Lord
+Selkirk's time the factory was more than half a mile from the Bay and
+lay between the two rivers. Miles Macdonell states that it was on "low,
+miry ground without a ditch." The stagnant water by which the post was
+surrounded would be productive of much ill-health, were there a longer
+summer. The buildings of the Factory were also badly planned, and badly
+constructed, so that the Fort was unsuitable for quartering the
+Colonists. Besides this, Messrs. Cook and Auld, the former Governor of
+York Factory, and the latter chief officer of Fort Churchill, having the
+old Hudson's Bay Company's spirit of dislike of Colonists, decided that
+the new settlers, being an innovation and an evil, should have separate
+quarters built for them at a distance from the Fort.
+
+Poor Colonists! Miles Macdonell is wearied with them in their
+complaining spirit, berates them for indolence, and finds fault with
+their awkwardness as workmen. To Macdonell, who was a Canadian,
+accustomed as a soldier and frontiersman to dealing with canoes, boats,
+and every means of land transport, the sturdy, steady going Orkneyman
+was slow and clumsy.
+
+The inexperienced new settler thus gets rather brusque treatment from
+the Colonial, more a good deal than he deserves.
+
+Accordingly it was decided to erect log dwellings for the workmen and
+the settlers on the higher ground north of the Nelson River. Several
+miles distant from the Factory itself, Spruce trees of considerable size
+grew along the river, and so all hands were put to work to have huts or
+shanties erected to protect the Colonists from the severe cold of
+winter, which would soon be upon them, although on October 5th Miles
+Macdonell wrote home to Lord Selkirk: "The weather has been mild and
+pleasant for some days past."
+
+The erection of suitable houses, that is homely on the exterior, but
+warm in the coldest weather, was superintended by Miles
+Macdonell--himself a Colonial and one aware of the precautions needing
+to be taken.
+
+Amid all the troubles and complaints of the winter there were none
+against the suitableness of the log dwellings which were erected on the
+chosen site to which was given the name, "Nelson Encampment." Winter,
+however, came in fiercely enough in November, although again on the 29th
+of November, Macdonell writes to Cook, Governor of the Factory: "A mild
+day enables us to send a boat across the Nelson with the Express." It
+was open water on the river.
+
+Macdonell knew well that with the recent arrivals from the Old Land, one
+of the greatest dangers would be the weakening and dangerous disease of
+scurvy. He had sought for supplies of "Essence of Malt" and "Crystallized
+Salts of Lemon," and at the beginning of December as the people were
+living chiefly on salt provisions and a short allowance of oatmeal the
+scurvy made its appearance. Medical care was given by Mr. Edwards and
+the disease was at once met. However within a month one-third of the
+Immigrants were thus afflicted and the fear was that the malady would go
+through the whole Encampment. But the remedy that Champlain found so
+effective at Quebec--the juice of the Spruce tree, which grew in
+abundance around the Encampment--checked the disease, wherever the
+obstinacy of the settlers did not prevent its use, for says Macdonell,
+"It is not an easy matter to get the Orkneymen to drink it, particularly
+the old hands." A smouldering fire of discontent that had been detected
+on board the ship on crossing the ocean now broke out into a flame. The
+Irish and the Orkneymen could not agree. In February the vigilant leader
+Macdonell writes: "The Irish displayed their native propensity and
+prowess on the first night of the year, by unmercifully beating some
+Orkneymen. Too much strong drink was the chief incitement." This
+antipathy continued to be a difficulty even until the party arrived at
+Red River.
+
+There are signs in his letters, of the constant strain on Miles
+Macdonell arising from the difficulties of his position and the
+waywardness of the Immigrants. At times he consults with the Hudson's
+Bay Company's officer, Mr. Hillier, and at others thus unbosoms himself
+to Messrs. Cook and Auld. "In this wild, desolate and (I may add) barren
+region, excluded at present from all communication with the civilized
+world, intelligence of a local kind can alone be expected. Could we join
+in the sentinel's cry of 'All is well,' although not affording great
+changes, it might yet be satisfactory in our isolated condition. We have
+as great variety as generally happens in this sublunary world, of which
+we here form a true epitome, being composed of men of all countries,
+religions and tongues."
+
+Plainly Governor Macdonell feels his burdens! However, the culmination
+of this officer's troubles did not reach him until a serious rebellion
+occurred among his subjects--so mixed and various.
+
+A workman--William Finlay--presumably an Orkneyman, who had been
+regularly employed by Miles Macdonell when the scurvy was bad in Mr.
+Hillier's camp, refused to obey the health regulations, his one
+objection being to drink this spruce decoction. He was immediately
+dropped from work. A few days afterward supposing the matter had blown
+over, Macdonell ordered him to work again. Finlay declined, whereupon,
+though under engagement he refused to further obey Macdonell. The
+Governor then brought him before Mr. Hillier, who like himself, had been
+made a magistrate. His breach of law in this, as in other matters being
+brought against Finlay he was sentenced to confinement. There being no
+prison at York Factory it seemed difficult to carry out the sentence by
+his being simply confined with his other companions in the men's
+quarters. Accordingly the Governor ordered a single log hut to be
+constructed, and this being done, in it the prisoner was confined. Not a
+day had entirely passed when a rebellion arose among some of his
+compatriots--the Scottish contingent from Orkney and Glasgow--and a band
+of thirteen of them surrounded the newly built hut, set it on fire and
+as it went up in smoke rescued the prisoner.
+
+The men were arrested and were brought before Macdonell and Hillier,
+sitting as magistrates. This was about the end of February. The rebels,
+however, defied the authorities, departed carrying Finlay with them and
+getting possession of a house took it defiantly for their own use.
+During their remaining sojourn at York Factory they subsisted on
+provisions obtained at the Factory itself and carried by themselves from
+the post to the encampment. Governor Macdonell, meantime, decided to
+send these rebellious spirits home to Britain for punishment, and not
+allow them to go on to Red River.
+
+The possession by the rioters of some five or six stand of firearms, was
+felt to be a menace to the peace of the encampment. An effort was made
+to obtain them by Macdonell, but "the insurgents," as they were called,
+secreted the arms and thus kept possession of them. In June on the
+rebels being very bold and being unable to get back across the Nelson
+River from the Factory for a number of days, they were forced by Mr.
+Auld, then at York Factory, to give up their arms and submit or else
+have their supplies from the Factory stopped. They were thus compelled
+to submit and on the receipt of a note from Mr. Auld to Macdonell, the
+latter wrote a joyful letter to Lord Selkirk to the effect that the
+insurgents had at length come to terms, acknowledged their guilt and
+thrown themselves upon the mercy of the Hudson's Bay Committee.
+
+This surrender made it unnecessary to send the body of rioters back to
+England for trial.
+
+During the months of later winter Governor Miles Macdonell was specially
+employed in building boats for the journey up to Red River. He
+introduced a style of boat used on the rivers of New York, his native
+State. These, however, he complains, were very badly constructed through
+the clumsiness and lack of skill of the Colonists and Company employees,
+whom he had ordered to build them.
+
+Now on July fourth, 1812, Governor Macdonell, his Colonists, and the
+Hudson's Bay officials--Cook and Auld--are all gazing wistfully up the
+Nelson and Hayes Rivers, and we have the postscript to the last letter
+as found in Miles Macdonell letter book, sent to Lord Selkirk, reading,
+"Four Irishmen are to be sent home; Higgins and Hart, for the felonious
+attack on the Orkneymen; William Gray, non-effective, and Hugh Redden,
+who lost his arm by the bursting of a gun given him to fire off by Mr.
+Brown, one of the Glasgow clerks."
+
+(Signed) H. MacD.
+
+The expedition left York Factory for the interior on the 6th of July,
+1812.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+FIRST FOOT ON RED RIVER BANKS.
+
+
+The weary winter passing at Nelson Encampment had its bright spots.
+Miles Macdonell in the building erected for himself, on the south side
+of the Nelson River, kept up his mess, having with him Mr. Hillier,
+Priest Bourke, Doctor Edwards, and Messrs. John McLeod, Whitford and
+Michael Macdonell, officers and clerks. Those Immigrants who took no
+part in the rebellion fared well. True, the scurvy seized several of
+them, but proved harmless to those who obeyed the orders and took
+plentiful potations of spruce beer. With the opening year a fair supply
+of fresh and dried venison was supplied by the Indians. In April upwards
+of thirty deer were snared or shot by the settlers. Some three thousand
+deer of several different kinds crossed the Nelson River within a month.
+"Fresh venison," writes Macdonell, "was so plenty that our men would not
+taste salt meat. We have all got better since we came to Hudson Bay."
+
+But as in all far northern climates the heat was great in the months of
+May and June, and Governor and Colonists became alike restless to start
+on the inland journey.
+
+The passing out of the ice in north-flowing rivers is always wearisome
+for those who are waiting to ascend. Beginning to melt farther south,
+the ice at the mouth is always last to move. Besides, the arrival was
+anxiously awaited of Bird, Sinclair and House. By continuous urging of
+the dull and inefficient workmen to greater effort, Miles Macdonell had
+succeeded in securing four boats--none too well built--but commodious
+enough to carry his boat-crews, workmen, and Colonists.
+
+Though Macdonell sought for the selection of the workmen who were to
+accompany him to Red River, he was not able to move the Hudson's Bay
+Company officials. Two days, however, after arrival of the Company
+magnates from the interior his men were secured to him, and he was fully
+occupied in transporting his stores up the river as far as the
+"Rock"--the rapids of the Hill River which here falls into Hayes River.
+For a long distance up the river there is a broad stream, one-quarter of
+a mile wide, running at the rate of two miles an hour through low banks.
+The boatmen have a good steady pull up the river for some sixty miles,
+and here where the Steel River enters the Hayes is seen a wide, deep,
+rapid stream running about three miles an hour. The banks of this river
+are of clay and rising from fifty to one hundred feet, the clay of the
+banks is so smooth and white that a traveller has compared them in color
+to the white, chalk cliffs of Dover. Thus far though it has required
+exertion on the part of the boatmen, a good stretch of a hundred miles
+from the Factory has been passed without any obstruction or delay. Now
+the serious work of the journey begins. The Hill River, as this part of
+the river is called, is a series of rapids and portages--where the cargo
+and boat have both to be carried around a rapid; of decharges where the
+cargo has thus to be carried, and of semi-decharges--where a portion of
+the cargo only needs to be removed.
+
+At times waterfalls require to be circuited with great effort. A high
+mountain or elevated table-land seen from this river shows the rough
+country of which these cascades and rapids are the proof. Here are the
+White-Mud Falls and other smaller cataracts. To the expert voyageur such
+a river has no terrors, but to the raw-hand the management of such boats
+is a most toilsome work. The birch-bark canoe is a mere trifle on the
+portage, but the heavy York boat capable of carrying three or four tons
+is a clumsy lugger. The cargo must be moved, the non-effectives such as
+the women and children and the old men must trudge the weary path,
+varying from a few hundred yards to several miles along a rocky, steep
+and rugged way. When the portage is made the whole force of boatmen and
+able-bodied passengers are required to stand by each boat, pull it out
+of the water, and then skid or drag or cajole it along till it is thrust
+into its native element again. To the willing crofter or Orkney boatmen
+this was not a great task, but to the Glasgow immigrant, or the
+waiter-on-fortune this was hard work. Many were the oaths of the
+officers and the complaints and objections of the men when they were
+required to grapple with the foaming cascades, the fearful rapids and
+the difficult portages of Hill River. Mossy Portage being now past the
+landing on a rocky island at the head of the river showed that the first
+"Hill Difficulty" had been overcome.
+
+Swampy lake for ten miles gives a comparative rest to the toiling crews,
+but at the end of it a short portage passed takes the beleagured party
+into the mouth of the Jack Tent River. Day after day with sound sleep
+when the mosquitoes would permit, the unwilling voyageurs continued
+their journey. Ten portages have to be faced and overcome as the brigade
+ascends the rapid Jack Tent River, covering a stretch of seventy miles.
+The party now find themselves on the surface of Knee Lake, a
+considerable sheet of water, but a comparative rest after the trials of
+Jack Tent River. The lake is fifty-six miles long and at times widens to
+ten miles across.
+
+But there is trouble just ahead.
+
+The travellers have now come to the celebrated Fall Portage. It is short
+but deterrent. The height and ruggedness of the rocks over which cargo
+and boats have to be dragged are unusually forbidding. The only
+consolation to the contemplative soul, who does not have to portage, is
+that "The stream is turbulent and unfriendly in the extreme, but in
+romantic variety, and in natural beauty nothing can exceed this
+picture." High rocks are seen, beetling over the rapids like towers, and
+are rent into the most diversified forms, gay with various colored
+masses, or shaded by overhanging hills--now there is a tranquil pool
+lying like a sheet of silver--now the dash and foam of a cataract--these
+are but parts of this picturesque and striking scene.
+
+But Fall Portage was only a culmination, in this fiercely rushing Trout
+River, for above it a dozen rapids are to be passed with toilsome
+energy. After this the party is rewarded with beautiful islets, and the
+lake for a length of thirty-five miles lies in a fertile tract of
+country. It was formerly appropriately called Holy Lake, and as a summit
+lake suggests to the traveller abiding restfulness. To the traders on
+their route whether passing up or down the water courses, it was always
+so. After the long and tedious voyaging it was their Elysium. Not only
+are the sweet surroundings of the lake most charming, but the Indians of
+the neighborhood have always been noted for their good character, their
+docility and their industry.
+
+[Illustration: ANDREW McDERMOTT, ESQ., Greatest Merchant of the Red
+River Settlement. Came to Red River Settlement in 1813. Died in
+Winnipeg in 1881.]
+
+A short delay at Oxford House led to the continuation of the journey
+over what was now the roughest, most desolate, and most trying part of
+the voyage. On this rough passage, perhaps the most distressing spot was
+"Windy Lake," a small but tempestuous sheet. The voyageurs declare that
+they never cross "Lac de Vent" without encountering high winds and very
+often dangerous storms. Again "the Real Hill Difficulty" is encountered
+above the lake at the "Big Hill" portage and rapids--one of the sudden
+descents of this alarming stream. Those coming toward Oxford Lake run it
+at the very risk of their lives, but the painful portages impress
+themselves on all going up the "Height of Land," which is reached after
+passing through a narrow gorge between hills and mountains of rocks, the
+stream dashing headlong down from the mile-long Robinson Portage.
+
+This region is an elevated, rugged waste, with no signs of animal life
+about it. It is the terror of the voyageurs. This eerie tract culminates
+in the ascending "Haute de Terre," as the French call it--the dividing
+ridge between the waters running eastward to Hudson Bay and those
+running westward and descending to meet the Nelson River, on its
+headlong way to Hudson Bay as well. The obstacle known as the "Painted
+Stone" being passed the Colonists' brigade was now on its way to the
+inland plain of the Continent.
+
+The portage led from this string of five small lakes to the head waters
+of a trifling, but very interesting stream called the "Echimamish
+River." A doubtful but curious explanation has been given of the name.
+On the stream are ten beaver dams; which ever of these filled first gave
+the voyageur the opportunity to launch in his canoe or boat and go down
+the little runway to Black Water Creek. It was said that in consequence
+it was called "Each-a-Man's" brook, according as each voyageur took the
+water with his craft first. The way was now clear, down stream until
+shortly was seen the dashing Nelson River, or as it is here called, "The
+Sea River." When this was accomplished the Immigrants had only to pull
+stoutly up stream for forty miles or more until Norway House, the great
+Hudson's Bay Fort at the north end of Lake Winnipeg was reached.
+
+The weary journey--430 miles from York Factory--was thus over and the
+worn out, weather beaten, ragged, and foot-sore travellers had come to
+the lake, whose name, other than that of Red River, was the only inland
+word they had ever heard of before starting on their journey.
+
+It was the first standing place in the country, which was now to have
+them as its pioneers.
+
+There is no turning back now. The Rubicon is crossed. Thirty-seven
+portages lie between them and the dissociable sea. For better or for
+worse they will now complete their journey, going on to found the
+Settlement which has become so famous.
+
+The appearance of Norway House with its fine site and evidences of trade
+cheered the Colonists, and the sight of a body of water like Lake
+Winnipeg, which can be as boisterous as the ocean, brought back the loud
+resounding sea by whose swishing waves most of the settlers, for all
+their lives, had been lulled to sleep. It is a great stormy and
+dangerous lake--Lake Winnipeg. But for boats to creep along its shore
+with the liberty of landing on its sloping banks in case of need it is
+safe enough. The season was well past, and haste was needed, but in due
+time the mouth of the river--the delta of Red River--was reached. Now
+they were within forty or forty-five miles of their destination. At this
+time the banks of the Red River were well wooded, though there was open
+grassy plains lying behind these belts of forest. There was only one
+obstruction on their way up the river. This was the "Deer," now St.
+Andrew's Rapids, but after their experiences this was nothing, for these
+rapids were easily overcome by tracking, that is, by dragging the boats
+by a line up the bank.
+
+Up the river they came and rounded what we now call Point Douglas, in
+the City of Winnipeg, a name afterwards given to mark Lord Selkirk's
+family name. They had completed a journey of seven hundred and
+twenty-eight miles, from York Factory to the site of Winnipeg--and they
+had done this in fifty-five days. Now they landed.
+
+
+THE RED LETTER DAY OF THEIR LANDING WAS AUGUST 30TH, 1812.
+
+At York Factory the Colonists had met a Hudson's Bay Company
+officer--Peter Fidler--on his way to England. He was the surveyor of the
+Company and a map of the Colony of which a copy is given by us marks the
+Colony Gardens, where Governor Miles Macdonell lived. This spot they
+chose, and the locality at the foot of Rupert Street is marked in the
+City of Winnipeg. A stone's throw further north along the bank of Red
+River, Fort Douglas was afterwards built, around which circles much of
+this Romantic Settlement Story.
+
+This spot was the centre of the First Settlement of Rupert's Land and to
+this first party peculiar interest attaches.
+
+There can only be one Columbus among all the navigators who crossed from
+Europe to America; there can only be one Watt among all the inventors
+and improvers of the steam engine; only one Newton among those who
+discuss the great discovery of the basal law of gravitation.
+
+There can be only one first party of those who laid the foundation of
+collective family life in what is now the Province of Manitoba--and what
+is wider--in the great Western Canada of to-day. There may have been not
+many wise men, not many mighty, not many noble among them, but the long
+and stormy voyage which they made, the dangers they endured on the sea,
+the marvellous land journey they accomplished, and their taking "seisin
+of the land," to use William the Conqueror's phrase, entitles them to
+recognition and to respectful memory.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+"THREE DESPERATE YEARS."
+
+
+Pioneering to-day is not so serious a matter as it once was. To the
+frontiers' man now it involves little risk, and little thought, to
+dispose of his holding, and make a dash further West for two or three
+hundreds of miles across the plains. When he wishes more land for his
+growing sons, he "sells out," fits up his commodious covered wagon,
+called "the prairie schooner," and with implements, supplies, cattle and
+horses, starts on the Western "trail." His wife and children are in high
+spirits. When a running stream or spring is reached on the way he stops
+and camps. His journey taken when the weather is fine and when the
+mosquitoes are gone is a diversion. The writer has seen a family which
+went through this gypsy-like "moving" no less than four times. At length
+the settler finds his location, has it registered in the nearest Land
+Office and calls it his. With ready axes, the farmer and his sons cut
+down the logs which are to make their dwelling. The children explore the
+new farm lying covered with its velvet sod, as it has done for
+centuries; they gather its flowers, pluck its wild fruits, chase its
+wild ducks or grouse or gophers. Health and homely fare make life
+enjoyable. Subject to the incidents and interruptions of every day,
+which follow humanity, it seems to them a continual picnic.
+
+But how different was the fate of the worn-out Selkirk Colonists. The
+memory of a wretched sea voyage, of a long and dreary winter at Nelson
+Encampment, and of a fifty-five days' journey of constant hardship along
+the fur traders' route were impressed upon their minds. The thought of
+fierce rivers and the dangers of portage and cascade still haunted them,
+and now everything on the banks of Red River was strange. On their
+arrival the flowers were blooming, but they were prairie flowers, and
+unknown to them. The small Colony houses which they were to occupy would
+be uncomfortable. The very sun in the sky seemed alien to them, for the
+Highland drizzle was seen no more. The days were bright, the weather
+warm, the nights cool, and there was an occasional August thunderstorm,
+or hailstorm which alarmed them. The traders, the Indians, the
+half-breed trappers, and runners were all new to them. Their Gaelic
+language, which they claimed as that of Eden, was of little value to
+them except where an occasional company-servant chanced to be a
+countryman of their own. They were without money, they were dependent
+upon Lord Selkirk's agents for shelter and rations. The land which they
+hoped to possess was there awaiting them, but they had no means for
+purchasing implements, nor were the farming requisites to be found in
+the country. Horses there were, but there were only two or three
+individual cattle within five hundred miles of them.
+
+If they had sung on their sorrowful leaving, "Lochaber no more," the
+words were now turned by their depressed Highland natures into a wail,
+and they sang in the words of their old Psalms of "Rouse's" version:
+
+    "By Babel's streams we sat and wept,
+     When Zion we thought on."
+
+They thought of their crofts and clachans, where if the land was stingy,
+the gift of the sea was at hand to supply abundant food.
+
+But this was no time for sighs or regrets.
+
+The Hudson's Bay traders from Brandon House were waiting for expected
+goods, and Messrs. Hillier and Heney, who were the Hudson's Bay Company
+officers for the East Winnipeg District, had arduous duties ahead of
+them. But though the orders to prepare for the Colonists had been sent
+on in good time, there was not a single bag of pemmican or any other
+article of provision awaiting the hapless settlers. The few French
+people who were freemen, lived in what is now the St. Boniface side of
+the river, were only living from hand to mouth, and the Company's people
+were little better provided. The river was the only resource, and from
+the scarceness of hooks the supply of fish obtainable was rather scanty.
+
+As the Colonists and their leader were strangers they desired leisure to
+select a suitable location for their buildings. For the time being their
+camp was at the Forks, on the east side of the river, a little north of
+the mouth of the Assiniboine.
+
+The Governor, Miles Macdonell, on the 4th of September, summoned three
+of the North-West Company gentlemen, the free Canadians beside whom they
+were encamped, and a number of the Indians to a spectacle similar to
+that enacted by St. Lawson, at Sault Ste. Marie, nearly a hundred and
+fifty years before. The Nor'-Westers had not permitted their employees
+to cross the river. Facing, as he did, Fort Gibraltar, across the river,
+the Governor directed the patent of Lord Selkirk to his vast concession
+to be read, "delivering and seizin were formally taken," and Mr. Heney
+translated some part of the Patent into French for the information of
+the French Canadians. There was an officers' guard under arms; colors
+were flying and after the reading of the Patent all the artillery
+belonging to Lord Selkirk, as well as that of the Hudson's Bay Company,
+under Mr. Hillier, consisting of six swivel guns, were discharged in a
+grand salute.
+
+At the close of the ceremony the gentlemen were invited to the
+Governor's tent, and a keg of spirits was turned out for the people.
+
+Having made such disposition as we shall see of the people, Governor
+Macdonell went with a boat's crew down the river to make a choice of a
+place of settlement for the Colonists. A bull and cow and winter wheat
+had been brought with the party, and these were taken to a spot selected
+after a three days' thorough investigation of both banks of the river
+for some miles below the Forks. The place found most eligible was "an
+extensive point of land through which fire had run and destroyed the
+wood, there being only burnt wood and weeds left." This was afterwards
+called Point Douglas.
+
+He had, as we shall see, dispatched the settlers to their wintering
+place up the Red River on the 6th of September, and set some half-dozen
+men, who were to stay at the Forks, to work clearing the ground for
+sowing winter wheat. An officer was left with the men to trade with
+Indians for fish and meat for the support of the workers.
+
+The winter, which is sharp, crisp and decided in all of Rupert's Land,
+was approaching, so that their situation began to be desperate.
+
+Governor Macdonell's chief care was for the safety and comfort during
+the winter of his helpless Colonists.
+
+Sixty miles up the Red River from the Forks was a settlement of native
+people--chiefly French half-breeds--and to this place called Pembina
+came in the buffaloes, or if not they were easily reached from this
+settlement. But the poor Scottish settlers had no means of transport,
+and the way seemed long and desolate to them to venture upon,
+unaccompanied and unhelped. Governor Macdonell did his best for them,
+and succeeded in inducing the Saulteaux Indians, who seemed friendly, to
+guide and protect them as they sought Pembina for winter quarters.
+
+The Indians had a few ponies and mounted on these they undertook to
+conduct the settlers to their destination. The caravan was grotesquely
+comical as it departed southward. The Indians upon their "Shaganappi
+ponies," as they are called, like mounted guards protecting the men,
+women and children of the Colony who trudged wearily on foot. The
+Indians were kind to their charge, but the Redman loves a joke, and
+often indulges in "horse-play." The demure Highlander looked unmoved
+upon the Indian pranks. The Indians also hold everything they possess on
+a loose tenure. The Highlander who was forced to surrender the gun,
+which his father had carried at the battle of Culloden, failed to see
+the humour of the affair, and the Highland woman who was compelled to
+give up her gold marriage ring, because some prairie brave wanted it,
+was unable to see the ethics of the Saulteaux guide who robbed her. The
+women became very weary of their journey, but their mounted guardians
+only laughed, because they were in the habit on their long marches of
+treating their own squaws in the same manner.
+
+To Pembina at length they came--worn out, dusty and despondent. Here
+they erected tents or built huts. The settlers reached Pembina on the
+11th of September, and Macdonell and an escort of three men, all on
+horseback, arrived on the 12th. Arrived at Pembina Macdonell examined
+the ground carefully, and selected the point on the south side of the
+Pembina River at its juncture with the Red River as a site for a fort.
+His men immediately camped here. Great quantities of buffalo meat were
+brought in by the French Canadians and Indians. Some of this was sent
+down to the Forks to the party which had remained to built a hut at that
+point for stores. At Pembina a storehouse was built immediately, and
+having given directions to erect several other buildings, the Governor
+returned by boat to the Forks. On the 27th of October Owen Keveny, in
+charge of the second detachment of Colonists, arrived with his party,
+largely of Irishmen. These men were taken on to Pembina. After great
+activity the buildings were ready by the 21st of November to house the
+whole of the two parties now united in one band of Colonists. The
+Governor and officers' quarters were finished on December 27th.
+Macdonell reports to Lord Selkirk that "as soon as the place at Pembina
+took some form and a decent flagstaff was erected on it, it was called
+Fort Daer." It is said that in most years the buffaloes were very
+numerous and so tame that they came to the Trader's Fort and rubbed
+their backs upon its stockaded enclosure. There was this year plenty of
+buffalo meat and the Scotch women soon learned to cook it into
+"Rubaboo," or "Rowschow," after the manner of the French half-breeds.
+Toward spring food was scarcer.
+
+[Illustration: HON. DONALD GUNN Schoolmaster, Naturalist and Legislator.
+York Factory, 1813; Red River, 1823; Died at Little Britain. 1878.]
+
+In May the winterers of Pembina returned to their settlement at the
+Colony. They sought to begin the cultivation of their farms, but they
+were helpless. The tough prairie sod had to be broken up and worked
+over, but the only implement which the Colonist had to use was a simple
+hoe, the one harrow being incomplete. The crofters were poor farmers,
+for they were rather fishermen. But the fish in Red River were scarce in
+this year, so that even the fisher's art which they knew was of little
+avail to them. The summer of 1813 was thus what the old settlers would
+call an "Off-Year," for even the small fruits on the plains were far
+from abundant. These being scarce, the chief food of the settlers for
+all that summer through was the "Prairie turnip." This is a variety of
+the pea family, known as the Astragalus esculenta, which with its large
+taproot grows quite abundantly on the dry plains. An old-time trader,
+who was lost for forty days and only able to get the Prairie turnip,
+practically subsisted in this way. Along with this the settlers gathered
+quantities of a very succulent weed known as "fat-hen," and so were kept
+alive. The Colonists knowing now what the soil could produce obtained
+small quantities of grain and even with their defective means of
+cultivation, in the next year demonstrated the fertility of the soil of
+the country.
+
+It was somewhat distressing to the Colonists again in 1813 to make the
+journey of sixty miles to Pembina, trudging along the prairie trail, but
+there was no other resource. The treatment of the Colonists by the
+"Nor'-Westers" had not thus far been unfriendly and the Canadian traders
+had even imported a few cattle, pigs, and poultry for the use of the
+settlers, and for these favors Governor Macdonell expressed his hearty
+thanks to the Montreal Company. The fatigues and mishaps of the journey
+to Pembina were, however, only the beginning of trouble for the winter.
+The reception by the French half-breed residents of Pembina was not now
+so friendly as that of the previous winter. At first the Nor'-Wester
+feeling had been one of contempt for the Colonists and pity for them in
+their hunger and miseries. The building of Fort Daer was an evidence of
+occupation that caused the jealous Canadian pioneers to pause. The
+reception of the second season was thus decidedly cool. The struggling
+settlers found before the winter was over that troubles come in troops.
+Very heavy snows fell in the winter of 1813-14. This brought two
+difficulties. It prevented the buffaloes coming freely from the open
+plains into the rivers and sheltered spots. The buffalo being a heavy
+animal is helpless in the snow. The other difficulty was that the
+settlers could not go on the chase with freedom. Unfortunately the
+Colonists were not able to use the snowshoe as could the lively Metis.
+The settlers well nigh perished in seeking the camp whither the native
+hunters had gone to follow the buffalo. Indeed the Colonists had the
+conviction that a plot to murder two of their most active leaders was
+laid by the French half-breeds whose sympathies were all with the
+"Nor'-Westers."
+
+The climax of feeling was reached when Governor Macdonell, who was with
+the Colonists at Pembina, issued a most unwise proclamation, which to
+the Nor'-Westers seemed an illegality if not an impertinence. Dependent
+as the settlers were on the older Company for supplies and assistance
+this was nothing less than an act of madness.
+
+By proclamation, on the 8th of January, 1814, Macdonell forbade any
+traders of "The Honorable Hudson's Bay Company, the North-West Company,
+or any individual or unconnected trader whatever to take out any
+provisions, either of flesh, grain or vegetables, from the country."
+The embargo was complete.
+
+In Governor Macdonell's defence it should be said that he offered to pay
+by British bills for all the provisions taken, at customary rates.
+
+This assertion of sovereignty set on fire the Nor'-Westers and their
+sympathizers.
+
+Not only was this extreme step taken, but John Spencer, a subordinate of
+Macdonell was sent west to Brandon House, found an entrance into the
+North-West Fort at the mouth of the Souris River and seizing some
+twenty-five tons of dry buffalo meat took it into his own fort.
+
+It is quite true that Governor Macdonell expected new bands of Colonists
+and thus justified himself in his seizure. It is to the credit of the
+Nor'-Westers that they restrained themselves and avoided a general
+conflict, but evidently they only bided their time.
+
+No breach of the peace occurred however, before the return of the
+Colonists from Pembina to the Colony Houses. The settlers occupied their
+homes in the best of spirits, and began to sow their wheat, but they
+were still greatly checked by the absence of the commonest implements of
+farm culture. Had Lord Selkirk known the true state of things on Red
+River, he would never have continued to send new bands of Colonists so
+imperfectly fitted for dealing with the cultivation of the soil.
+
+The founder's mind had been fired, both by the opposition of Sir
+Alexander Mackenzie and by the successful arrival of his two bands of
+Colonists at the Red River, to make greater efforts than ever.
+
+This he did by sending out a third party in all nearly a hundred strong,
+under the leadership of a very capable man--Archibald Macdonald. This
+band of settlers in 1813 were bound on the ship Prince of Wales for York
+Factory. A very serious attack of ship fever filled the whole ship's
+crew with alarm. Several well-known Colonists died. The Captain,
+alarmed, refused to go on to his destination, but ran the ship into Fort
+Churchill and there disembarked them. Further deaths took place at this
+point. In the spring there was no resource but to trudge over the rocky
+ledges and forbidding desolation of more than a hundred miles between
+the Fort Churchill and York Factory. Only the stronger men and women
+were selected for the journey. On the 6th of April, 1814, a party of
+twenty-one males and twenty females started on this now celebrated
+tramp. At first the party began to march in single file, but finding
+this inconvenient changed to six abreast. Unaccustomed to snowshoes and
+sleds the Colonists found the snowy walk very distressing. Three fell by
+the way and were carried on by the stronger men. The weather was very
+cold. A supply of partridges was given them on starting, and the party
+was met by hunters sent from York Factory to meet them, who brought two
+hundred partridges, killed by the way. York Factory was reached on the
+13th of April. This band of Colonists were superior to any who had come
+in the former parties. Many of them, as we shall see, did not remain in
+the Colony. A list of this party may be found in the Appendix. After
+remaining a month at York Factory, on the 27th of May, this heroic band
+went on their way to Red River, and reached their destination in time to
+plant potatoes for themselves and others. Comrades left behind at
+Churchill found their way to Red River. Lots along Red River were now
+being taken up by the settlers, and here they sought to found homes
+under a northern sky. Old and new settlers were now hopeful, but their
+hopes of peace and happiness were soon to be dashed to pieces.
+
+The arrival of the third year's Colonists provoked still greater
+opposition. Feeling had been gradually rising against the new settlers
+at every new arrival. The excellence of the later immigrants but led
+their opponents to be irritated.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+FIGHT AND FLIGHT.
+
+
+The year 1815 was a year of world-wide disaster. Napoleon's
+Europe-shadowing wings had for years been over that continent and he
+like a ravenous bird had left marks of his ravages among the most
+prominent European nations. The world had a breathing spell for a short
+time with Napoleon a virtual prisoner in Elba, but now in March of this
+year he broke from the perch where he had been tethered and all Europe
+was again in terror. The nations were thunderstruck; the alarm was
+deepened by the appearance of Olber's great comet, and in their
+superstition the ignorant were panic-stricken, while the more religious
+and informed saw in these terrible events the scenes pictured in the
+Apocalypse and maintained that the battle of Armageddon was at hand. The
+epoch-marking battle of Waterloo in June of this year was sufficiently
+near the picture of blood painted in the Revelation to satisfy the
+credulous.
+
+But in a remote corner of Rupert's Land, where the number of the
+combatants was small and the conditions exceedingly primitive the comet
+was alarming enough. The action of Governor Miles Macdonell in the
+beginning of 1814, in forbidding the export of food from Rupert's Land
+and in interfering with the liberty of the traders, Indians and
+half-breeds, who had regarded themselves as outside of law, and as free
+as the wind of their wild prairies, produced an open and out-spoken
+dissent from every class.
+
+The Nor'-Westers took time to consider the grave step of interrupting
+trade which Governor Miles Macdonell had taken. Immediate action was
+impossible. It was four hundred miles and more from the Colony to the
+great emporium of the fur trade on Lake Superior. The annual gathering
+of the Nor'-Westers was held at Grand Portage, the terminus of a road
+nine miles long, built to avoid the rapids of the Pigeon River which
+flows into Lake Superior some thirty or forty miles southwest of where
+Fort William now stands. This concourse was a notable affair. From
+distant Athabasca, from the Saskatchewan, from the Red River and from
+Lake Winnipeg, the traders gathered in their gaily decked canoes, to
+meet the gentlemen from Montreal, who came to count the gains of the
+year, and lay out plans for the future. Indians gathered outside of
+Grand Portage Fort. The Highland Chieftains were now transformed into
+factors and traders, and for days they met in counsel together. Their
+evenings were spent in the great dining room of the Fort in revelry.
+Songs of the voyage were sung and as the excitement grew more intense
+the partners would take seats on the floor of the room and each armed
+with a sword or poker or pair of tongs unite in the paddle song of "A la
+Claire Fontaine," and make merry till far on in the morning. The days
+were laboriously given to business and accounts. When the great
+MacTavish--the head of the Nor'-Westers--was there he was often opposed
+by the younger men, yet he ended the strife with his tyrannical will and
+silenced all opposition.
+
+The Nor'-Westers at their meeting, July, 1814, under Honorable William
+McGillivray, after whom Fort William was named, decided to oppose the
+Colony and sent two of their most aggressive men to meet force with
+force, and to give Miles Macdonell, the new Dictator, either by arms or
+by craft, the reward for his tyranny, as they regarded it.
+
+The whole body of the traders were incensed against Lord Selkirk, for
+had not one of the chief Nor'-Wester partners written two years before
+from London saying, "Lord Selkirk must be driven to abandon his project,
+for his success would strike at the very existence of our trade."
+
+The two men chosen at the gathering in Grand Portage were well fitted
+for their work. Most forward was Alexander Macdonell. On his journey
+writing to a friend he said: "Much is expected of us.... So here is at
+them with all my heart and energy." But the master-mind was his
+companion Duncan Cameron who, as a leader, stands out in the conflicts
+of the times as a determined man, of great executive ability, but of
+fierce and over-bearing disposition. The Nor'-Westers, having planned
+bloodshed, all agreed that Duncan Cameron was well chosen. He had been a
+leading explorer and trader in the Lake Superior district and knew the
+fur traders' route as few others did. His well-nigh thirty years of
+service made him a man of outstanding influence in the Company.
+Moreover, he could be bland and jovial. He had the Celtic adroitness. He
+knew how to ingratiate himself with every class and possessed all the
+devices of an envoy. His appearance and dress at Red River were notable.
+Having had some rank as a U.E. Loyalist leader in the war of 1812, he
+came to the Forks dressed in a scarlet military coat with all the
+accoutrements of a Captain in the Army. He even made display of his
+Captain's Commission by posting it at the gate of Fort Gibraltar. Of the
+Fort itself he took possession as Bourgeois or master and laid his plans
+in August, 1814, for the destruction of the Selkirk Colony. Cameron then
+began a systematic course of ingratiating himself with the Colonists.
+Speaking, as he did the Gaelic language, he appealed with much success
+to his countrymen. He represented himself as their friend and stirred up
+the people of Red River against Selkirk tyranny. He pictured to them
+their wrongs, the broken promises of the founder, and the undesirability
+of remaining in the Colony. He brought the settlers freely to his table,
+treating them openly to the beverage of their native country, and
+completely captured the hearts of a number of them. Those, friends of
+his, he made use of to carry out his deep plans. On the very day of the
+issue of the rations, he induced some of the Colonists to demand the
+nine small cannon in the Colony store houses. The request was refused by
+Archibald Macdonald, the acting Governor. The settlers then went
+forward, broke open the store houses and removed the cannon. Macdonald
+now arrested the leading settler, who had taken the field pieces,
+whereupon Cameron, like a small Napoleon, incited his clerks and men, to
+invade the Governor's house and release the prisoner. This was done, and
+now it may be said that war between the rival Companies was declared. On
+the return of Miles Macdonald, Cameron ordered his arrest. Macdonell
+refused to acknowledge the lawfulness of this action. The oily
+Nor'-Wester Highlander then threatened the people that if the Governor
+would not submit to the law, the whole body of settlers would be
+dispossessed of their farms and driven away from the banks of Red River.
+As if to make this threat seem more real, several loyal settlers were
+fired at by unseen marksmen.
+
+Once having begun, Cameron was not the man to hesitate. Another
+Nor'-Wester plan was put into effect.
+
+Cameron's comrade, Alexander Macdonell, now arrived from the Western
+plains leading it was said, a band of Cree Indians. The Crees are
+stubborn and determined warriors, but they are also crafty. The proposal
+by Alexander Macdonell ("Yellow Head as he was called" to distinguish
+him), was gravely considered by the Indians. The Indians respect
+authority and in this case they were not very sure who had the
+authority. The Indians declined the offer, and the report proved untrue.
+
+The Nor'-Westers were, however, strong in their influence over the
+Chippewas of Red Lake in Minnesota. Similar propositions were made to
+the Sand Lake band of this tribe. Though offered a large reward to go on
+this expedition against the Selkirk settlers, the chief refused the
+bribe, and the tribe declined to undertake the enterprise.
+
+Cameron however, knew the importance of keeping up the war-like spirit
+of his following, and early in June himself took part in an attack upon
+the Colony houses. The affray took place on the edge of the wood near
+the Governor's residence. Surgeon White and Burke the store-keeper,
+narrowly escaped being killed by the shots fired and four of the
+servants were actually wounded. Cameron like a real operator effusively
+thanked his followers for their grand attack. This state of constant
+hostility, ostensibly on account of the refusal of Governor Macdonell to
+respect the legal summons served upon him, was ended by the surrender of
+Miles Macdonell, who was taken as a prisoner to Montreal, though he was
+never brought up for trial.
+
+Thus far Cameron had succeeded in his plans. He was an artful plotter.
+His capture of Miles Macdonell gave him great prestige. Besides, he had
+roused feelings of serious discontent in the minds of nearly all of the
+Selkirk Colonists. His apparent sincerity and kindness to them had also
+won their hearts. He was now to make the greatest move in the game. This
+was nothing less than a tempting offer to transfer the whole of them to
+the fertile townships of Upper Canada. He provided all the means of
+transport, he promised them free lands in the neighborhood of market
+towns--two hundred acres to each family. Any wages due to them by Lord
+Selkirk he would pay and should three-quarters of the Colony accept his
+offer they would have provisions provided for a year free of cost. When
+the poor Colonists thought of the bleak, uncultivated country in which
+they were, of the inevitable hardships which lay before them, and saw
+the dangerous, unsettled state of the Selkirk settlement, they could not
+well resist the offer. Furthermore, the schemer did not stop here. As
+was afterward found out, George Campbell, the arch-agitator and leader
+among the disaffected settlers received a promise of L100, and others of
+L20 and the like. Further to allay their fears it was urged that they
+were going where the British flag was flying and where the truest
+loyalty prevailed. It was pointed out that it had been to prevent any
+obstacles being raised against their going, that the nine guns had been
+seized and were in the custody of the Nor'-Westers. Accordingly full
+arrangements were made. A supply of canoes was obtained and on the 15th
+of June, 1815, no less than one hundred and forty of the two hundred
+Colonists on Red River embarked and drifted down the river on their long
+canoe voyage of more than a thousand miles. By the end of July they had
+gone over the dangerous Fur traders' route and passing over four or five
+hundred miles reached Fort William, near Lake Superior. But their
+journey was not one-half over. Along the base of the rugged shores of
+Lake Superior, through the St. Mary's River, down the foaming Sault and
+then along the shores of Georgian Bay, they paddled their way to
+Penetanguishene. From this point they crossed southward to Holland
+Landing, which is forty miles north of Toronto, and arrived at their
+destination on the 5th of September.
+
+It is hard to find a parallel for such a journey. They were a large
+body, made up of men, women, and children, continuously journeying for
+eighty-two days, through an unsettled and barren country, running
+dangerous rapids, and exposed to storms with a poorly organized
+commissariat, and under fear of pursuit by the agents of Lord Selkirk,
+to whom many of them were personally bound. In the township of West
+Gwillinbury, north of Toronto, near London, and in the Talbot
+settlement, near St. Thomas--all in Upper Canada--they received their
+lands. Half a century later, in one of the townships north of Toronto,
+the writer had pointed out to him a man named MacBeth weighing two
+hundred and fifty pounds, of whom it was humourously told that he had
+been carried all the way from Red River. The explanation of course was,
+that he had been brought as an infant on this famous Hegira of the
+Selkirk Colonists.
+
+The finishing of Cameron's work on the Red River, was handed over to
+Alexander Macdonell. The plan was nothing less than that the settlers
+remaining should be driven by force from the banks of Red River. The
+party led by Macdonell was made up of Bois-Brules, under dashing young
+Cuthbert Grant. On their agile ponies they appeared like scourging Huns,
+to drive out the discouraged remnant of Colonists.
+
+Each remaining settler was on the 25th of June served with a notice
+signed by four Nor'-Westers, thus:
+
+"All settlers to retire immediately from Red River, and no trace of a
+settlement to remain." (Signed) Cuthbert Grant, etc.
+
+Two days after the notice was served the beleaguered settlers, made up
+of some thirteen families--in all from forty to sixty persons, who had
+remained true to Lord Selkirk and the Colony--went forth from their
+homes as sadly as the Acadian refugees from Grand Pre. They were allowed
+to take with them such belongings as they had, and in boats and other
+craft went pensively down Red River with Lake Winnipeg and Jack River in
+view as their destination. The house of the Governor, the mill, and the
+buildings which the settlers had begun to build upon their lots were all
+set on fire and destroyed.
+
+The U.E. Loyalists of Upper Canada and Nova Scotia draw upon our
+sympathies in their sufferings of hunger and hardship, but they afford
+no parallel to the discouragement, dangers, and dismay of the Selkirk
+Colonists.
+
+Alexander Macdonell's party of seventy or eighty mounted men easily
+carried out this work of destruction. There was one fly in the ointment
+for them. The small Hudson's Bay House built by Fidler still remained.
+Here a daring Celt, John McLeod, was in charge. Seeing the temper of
+Macdonell's levy McLeod determined to fortify his rude castle. Beside
+the trading house of the Hudson's Bay Company stood the blacksmith's
+shop. Hurriedly McLeod, with a cart, carried thither the three-pounder
+cannon in his possession, then cut up lengths of chain to be his shot
+and shell, used with care his small supply of powder and with three or
+four men, his only garrison, stood to his gun and awaited the attack of
+the Bois-Brules. Being on horseback his assailants could not long face
+his one piece of artillery. It is not known to what extent the
+assailants suffered in the skirmish, but John Warren, a gentleman of the
+Hudson's Bay Company, was killed in the encounter. The siege of McLeod's
+improvised fort continued for several days, but the defence was
+successful, and McLeod saved for the Company L1,000 worth of goods.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+NO SURRENDER.
+
+
+The crisis has come. The Colony seems to be blotted out. The affair may
+appear small, being nothing more than the defence of the smithy, with
+one gun and the most primitive contrivances, yet as Mercutio says of his
+wound: "'Tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door; but it
+is enough."
+
+The plucky McLeod, with three men held his fort and though the dusky
+Bois-brules on their prairie ponies for a time hovered about yet they
+did not dare to approach the spiteful little field piece. The Metis soon
+betook themselves westward to their own district of Qu'Appelle.
+
+The danger being over for the present, John McLeod began to restore the
+Colony buildings and even to aim at greater things than had been before.
+
+One of the most discouraging things in connection with the Selkirk
+Colony was the long sea voyage and the difficult land-journey necessary,
+not only to gain assistance, but even to receive information from the
+founder in Britain for the guidance of the officers in Red River
+settlement. This being the case McLeod could not wait for orders and so
+as being temporarily in charge of the Hudson's Bay Company district at
+Red River, he planned a fort and proceeded at once to build a portion of
+it. Fortunately across the Red River in what is now the town of St.
+Boniface, he found the freemen who were willing to help him. He
+immediately hired a number of these and began work on the new fort.
+
+Somewhat lower down the Red River than the Colony gardens he selected a
+site on the river banks, now partially fallen in, where George Street at
+the present days ends. Here McLeod began to erect a Governor's House,
+having confidence that the founder would not desert his Colony. Along
+with this important project, expecting that the Colonists would return,
+he turned his men upon the fields of grain--small, but to them very
+precious. The yield in this year was good. He also erected new fences
+and cured for the settlers quantities of hay from the swamp lands.
+
+McLeod states in his diary--of which a copy of the original is in the
+Provincial Library in Winnipeg--that Fort Douglas was on the south side
+of Point Douglas, so called from Lord Selkirk's family name, and which
+McLeod has some claim to have so christened.
+
+Meanwhile the Colonists had taken their lonely way by boat or canoe, to
+the foot of Lake Winnipeg--not expecting a speedy delivery. They reached
+their rendezvous in July. Lord Selkirk knew in a general way that his
+Colony was in danger and so had given orders to his faithful
+officer--Colin Robertson, who had done yeoman service in collecting his
+first party in Scotland, but who was now in Canada--to engage a number
+of men and with them proceed to Red River settlement to help his
+Colonists. That the real state of things was not known to Robertson, or
+the founder, appears in the fact that Robertson coming from the East
+with twenty Canadians, passed up the Red River to the Forks to get the
+first news of the dispersing of the Colonists. With his usual dash their
+rescuer immediately followed the settlers to Jack River, found them very
+much discouraged but persuaded them to return again to the banks of the
+Red River. The work of rebuilding other houses which McLeod had not been
+able to overtake now went on, and there was the greatest anxiety to hear
+of Lord Selkirk's plans.
+
+The Earl of Selkirk had not become in the slightest degree discouraged.
+Opposition and failure seemed but to inspire him the more. On the return
+of Miles Macdonell as a prisoner to Montreal in the hands of the
+Nor'-Wester emmissaries, the founder immediately sought for a competent
+successor to Macdonell, and determined to send out the best and
+strongest party of settlers that had yet been gathered.
+
+He appointed, backed by all the influence of the Hudson's Bay Company, a
+retired officer, Captain Robert Semple. The new Governor was of American
+origin, born in Philadelphia, but had been in the British army. He was a
+distinctly high-class man, though Masson's estimate is probably true--"A
+man not very conciliatory, it is true, but intelligent, honorable and a
+man of integrity." He was an author of some note, but as it proved, too
+good or too inexperienced a man for the lawless region to which he was
+sent.
+
+It would have been almost useless to despatch a new Governor to the Red
+River settlement unless there had also been obtained a number of
+settlers to fill the place of those so skillfully led away by Duncan
+Cameron. Lord Selkirk now secured the best band of Emigrants attainable.
+These were from a rural parish on the East Coast of Sutherlandshire in
+Scotland. They were from Helmsdale and from the parish of Kildonan and
+the noble founder afterwards conferred this name on their new parish on
+the banks of the Red River. The names of Matheson, Bannerman,
+Sutherland, Polson, Gunn and the like show the sturdy character of this
+band whose descendents are taking their full part in the affairs of the
+Province of Manitoba of to-day. Governor Semple accompanied this party
+of about one hundred settlers, and by way of the Hudson Bay route
+reached the Red River Settlement in the same year in which they started.
+They joined the restored settlers, whom Colin Robertson had placed upon
+their lands again. With Governor Semple's contingent came James
+Sutherland, an elder of the Church of Scotland, who was authorized to
+baptize and marry. He was the first ordained man who reached the Selkirk
+Colony. The influx of new and old settlers to the Colony, and the
+imperfect preparations made for their shelter and sustenance led to the
+whole Company betaking itself for the winter to Pembina, where at Fort
+Daer they might be within reach of the buffalo herds. Governor Semple
+accompanied the settlers to Pembina, though Alexander Macdonell had
+charge for the winter. In October of 1815, as the settlers were
+preparing for their winter quarters, the authorities of the Colony
+thought it right to seize Fort Gibraltar, and to retake the field pieces
+and other property of the Colony, which the "Nor'-Westers" had captured.
+This was done and Duncan Cameron who had returned was also taken
+prisoner. Cameron, on his promising to keep the peace was almost
+immediately restored to his liberty and to the command of his fort. The
+feeling, however, all over the country where there were rival Forts was
+not a happy one and gave anxiety to both parties as to the future. After
+New Year, 1816, Governor Semple returned from Pembina and counselled
+with Colin Robertson, as to the disturbed state of things. They came to
+the conclusion that the only safe course was to again capture Fort
+Gibraltar. This they did about April, 1816, and again held Cameron as a
+prisoner. Duncan Cameron was however a dangerous prisoner. His
+ingenuity, courage, and force of character were so great that at any
+time he might be the centre of a movement among the Metis. It was in
+consequence decided that Duncan Cameron should be taken as a captive to
+England by way of York Factory and be tried across seas. Colin Robertson
+was instructed to conduct him to York Factory. No doubt this was a
+reprisal for the arrest and banishment meted out to Miles Macdonell.
+Cameron was delayed at York Factory on his way to England for more than
+a year and after a short stay in Britain returned to Canada. He
+afterwards obtained damages of L3,000 for his illegal detention.
+
+[Illustration: FORT DOUGLAS From copy of a Pencil sketch made by Lord
+Selkirk and obtained by the author]
+
+But there was future trouble brewing all through the West.
+
+The new Governor, however, unaware of the real state of matters in
+Rupert's Land and probably ignorant of the claim of Canada to the West,
+and of the force of a customary occupation of the land, procured with
+high-handed zeal a further reprisal. Before Colin Robertson had gone to
+conduct Cameron to York Factory the Governor and Robertson had discussed
+the advisability of dismantling Fort Gibraltar. To this course
+Robertson, knowing the irritation which this would cause to the
+Nor'-Westers strongly objected. For the time the proposal was dropped,
+but when Robertson had gone, then the Governor proceeded with a force of
+thirty men to pull down Gibraltar, which was done in a week. The
+stockade was taken down, carried to the Red River and made into a raft.
+Upon this was piled the material of the buildings, and the whole was
+floated to the site of Fort Douglas and used in erecting a new structure
+and fully completing the Fort which John McLeod had begun. The same
+aggressive course was pursued under orders from the Governor in regard
+to Pembina House which was captured, its occupants sent as prisoners to
+Fort Douglas, and its stores confiscated for the use of the Colony. The
+spirit shown by Governor Semple, it is suggested, had something of the
+same treatment as that given to the Colonists by the official classes in
+England against which Edmund Burke burst out with such vehemence in his
+great orations.
+
+Governor Semple's course would not satisfy Colin Robertson nor would it
+have been approved by Lord Selkirk. The course was his own and fully did
+he afterwards pay the price for his aggressions.
+
+The last acts of Governor Semple as the report of them was carried
+westward and repeated over the camp fires of the Nor'-Westers and their
+Bois-brules horsemen and voyageurs caused the most violent excitement.
+The Metis claimed a right in the soil from their Indian mothers. The
+Indian title had never been extinguished and afterwards Lord Selkirk
+found it necessary to make a treaty and satisfy the Indian claim. The
+Nor'-Westers were also by a good number of years the first occupants of
+the Red River district. The Canadian discovery of the West by French
+traders, the daring occupation by Findlay, the Frobishers, Thompson, and
+Sir Alexander Mackenzie all from Montreal even to the Arctic and Pacific
+Oceans, seemed strong to Canadians as against the undefined and shadowy
+claim to the soil of Lord Selkirk and his officers.
+
+Certain signs of coming trouble might have pressed themselves upon
+Governor Semple. He had eyes but he saw not.
+
+The Indians, it is true, with their reverence for King George III., and
+showing their silver medals with the old King's face upon them, were
+disposed to take sides with the British Company. This may have confirmed
+Semple in the tyrannical course he had followed, but had he studied the
+action of the free traders it might have opened his eyes. Just as
+certain animals of the prairie exposed to enemies have an instinctive
+feeling of coming danger, so these denizens of the plains felt the
+approach of trouble, and with their wives and half-breed children betook
+themselves--bag and baggage--to the far Western plains where the buffalo
+runs, and remained there to let the storm blow past, to return to the
+"Forks" in more peaceful times.
+
+Lord Selkirk, Lady Selkirk, with his Lordship's son and two daughters,
+were on the other hand drawing nearer to the scene of conflict, as they
+came to Montreal in the summer of 1815. In the spring Lord Selkirk
+started westward to see the vast estate which he possessed, but alas!
+only to see it in the throes of division, of excited passion and of
+bloody conflict, and to face one of the greatest catastrophes of new
+world Colonization.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+SEVEN OAKS MASSACRE.
+
+
+Semple's course is on trial. Self-assertion and dictation bring their
+own penalty with them. That so experienced a leader as Colin Robertson,
+who had been in both Companies, who knew the native element, and was
+acquainted with the daring and recklessness of the Nor'-Wester leaders,
+hesitated about demolishing Fort Gibraltar should have given Governor
+Semple pause. Ignorance and inexperience sometimes give men rare
+courage. But while Semple was self-confident he could not be exonerated
+from paying the price of his rashness.
+
+Undoubtedly the Governor knew that the "Nor'-Westers" after their
+aggressiveness during the year 1815 were planning an attack upon Fort
+Douglas and upon the Colonists. Letters intercepted by the Governor
+acquainted him with the fact that an expedition was coming from Fort
+William in the East to fall upon the devoted Colony; also a letter from
+Qu'Appelle written by Cuthbert Grant, the young Bois-brules leader, to
+John Dugald Cameron, stated that the native horsemen were coming in the
+spring from the Saskatchewan forts to join those of Qu'Appelle, and says
+the writer, "It is hoped we shall come off with flying colors, and never
+to see any of them again in the Colonizing way in Red River."
+
+The evidence in hand was clear enough to the Governor. He expected the
+attack, and as a soldier he took action from the military standpoint in
+destroying the enemy's base in levelling their Fort Gibraltar. But on
+the other hand there was no open war. The forms of law were being
+followed by the Nor'-Westers, whose officers were magistrates, and who
+held that by the authorization of the British Parliament the
+administration of justice in the Western Territories was given over to
+Canada. The decision afterwards given in the De Reinhard case in Quebec
+seems against this theory, but this was the popular opinion.
+
+Thus it came about that among the Hudson's Bay Company fur traders, who
+were somewhat doubtful about Lord Selkirk's movement, and certainly
+among all the "Nor'-Westers," who included the French Canadian voyageur
+population, Governor Semple's action was looked upon as illegal and
+unjust in destroying Fort Gibraltar and appropriating its materials for
+building up the Colony Headquarters--Fort Douglas.
+
+As the spring opened the wildest rumours of approaching conflict spread
+through the whole fifteen hundred miles of country from Fort William on
+Lake Superior, to the Prairie Fort, where Edmonton now stands on the
+North Saskatchewan. The excitement was especially high in the Qu'Appelle
+district, some three hundred miles west of Red River.
+
+As the spring of 1815 opened, all eyes were looking to the action of the
+"New Nation" on the Qu'Appelle River as the Bois-brules under Cuthbert
+Grant called themselves. As the whole of these events were afterwards
+investigated by the law courts of Upper Canada, there is substantial
+agreement about the facts. The first violence of the season is described
+by Lieutenant Pambrun, a most accurate writer. He had served in the war
+of 1812 and gained distinction. On entering the Hudson's Bay Company
+service he was sent to Qu'Appelle district. In order to supply food at
+Fort Douglas Pambrun started down the river to reach the Fort by
+descending the Assiniboine with five boat loads of pemmican and furs. At
+a landing place in the river Pambrun's convoy was surrounded and his
+goods seized by Cuthbert Grant, Pambrun himself being kept for five days
+as a prisoner. While in custody Pambrun saw every evidence of war-like
+intentions on the part of the half-breeds. Cuthbert Grant frequently
+announced their determination to destroy the Selkirk Settlement; in
+boastful language it was declared that the Bois-brules would bow to no
+authority in Rupert's Land; in their gatherings they sang French
+war-songs to keep up the spirit of their corps. There was a ring of
+growing nationality in all their utterances.
+
+A start was made late in May for the scene of action. Their prisoner
+Lieutenant Pambrun was taken with them and the captured pemmican was
+carried along as supplies for the journey.
+
+On the way an episode of some moment occurred. On the river bank a band
+of Cree Indians was encamped.
+
+Commander Macdonell addressed the redmen through an interpreter to
+incite them to action. A portion of his address was:
+
+My Friends and Relations,--"I address you bashfully, for I have not a
+pipe of tobacco to give you.... The English have been spoiling the fair
+lands which belonged to you and the Bois-brules and to which they have
+no right. They have been driving away the buffalo. You will soon be poor
+and miserable if the English stay. But we will drive them away, if the
+Indian does not, for the 'Nor'-West' Company and the Bois-brules are
+one. If you (turning to the chief) and some of your young men will join
+I shall be glad."
+
+But the taciturn Indian Chief coldly declined the polite proposal. As
+the party passed Brandon House Pambrun saw in the North-West Fort near
+by, tobacco, tools and furs, which had been captured by the Nor'-Westers
+from the Hudson's Bay Company fort. When Portage la Prairie was
+reached--about sixty miles from "The Forks"--the Bois-brules cavalcade
+was organized.
+
+The half-breeds were mounted on their prairie steeds and formed a
+company of sixty men under command of Cuthbert Grant. Dressed in their
+blue capotes and encircled by red sashes the men of this irregular
+cavalry had an imposing effect, especially as they were provided with
+every variety of arms from muskets and pistols down to bows and arrows.
+They were all expert riders and could equal in their feats on horseback
+the fabled Centaurs.
+
+Down the Portage road which is a prolongation of the great business
+street of Winnipeg running to the West, they came. On the 19th of
+June, 1816, they had arrived within four miles of the Colony
+headquarters--Fort Douglas. Here at Boggy Creek, called also Cat-Fish
+Creek, a Council of War was held. Some importance has been attached to
+their action at this point, as showing their motive. That they did not
+intend to attack Fort Douglas has been maintained, else they would not
+have turned off the Portage Road and have crossed the prairie to the
+Northeast. There is nothing in this contention. The plan of campaign was
+that the Fort William expedition and they were to meet at some point on
+the banks of Red River, before they took further action. Showing how
+well both parties had timed their movements, at this very moment those
+coming from the East under Trader Alexander McLeod, had reached a small
+tributary of Red River some forty miles from Fort Douglas. That they at
+present wished to avoid Fort Douglas is certainly true. Governor Semple
+and his garrison were on the look-out, and the alarm being given, the
+party from the Fort sallied forth. Was it to parley? or to fight?
+
+The events which followed are well told in the evidence given by Mr.
+John Pritchard, who afterwards acted as Lord Selkirk's secretary. Mr.
+Pritchard was the grandfather of the present Archbishop Matheson of
+Rupert's Land. His evidence has been in almost every respect
+corroborated by other eye-witnesses of this bloody event:
+
+"On the evening of the 19th of June, 1816, I had been upstairs in my own
+room, in Fort Douglas, and about six o'clock I heard the boy at the
+watch house give the alarm that the Bois-brules were coming. A few of
+us, among whom was Governor Semple--there were perhaps six
+altogether--looked through a spyglass, from a place that had been used
+as a stable, and we distinctly saw armed persons going along the plains.
+Shortly after, I heard the same boy call out, that the party on
+horseback were making to the settlers."
+
+"About twenty of us, in obedience to the Governor," who said, 'We must
+go and see what these people are,' took our arms. He could only let
+about twenty go, at least he told about twenty to follow him, to come
+with him; there was, however, some confusion at the time, and I believe
+a few more than twenty accompanied us. Having proceeded about half a
+mile towards the settlement, we saw, behind a point of wood which goes
+down to the river, that the party increased very much. Mr. Semple,
+therefore, sent one of the people (Mr. Burke) to the Fort for a piece of
+cannon and as many men as Mr. Miles Macdonell could spare. Mr. Burke,
+however, not returning soon, Governor Semple said, 'Gentlemen, we had
+better go on, and we accordingly proceeded. We had not gone far before
+we saw the Bois-brules returning towards us, and they divided into two
+parties, and surrounded us in the shape of a half-moon or half-circle.
+On our way, we met a number of the settlers crying, and speaking in the
+Gaelic language, which I do not understand, and they went on to the
+Fort.
+
+[Illustration: RED RIVER SETTLEMENT Fac-simile of section of Map (1818).
+A--Seven Oaks, where Semple fell. B--Creek where Metis left Assiniboine.
+C--Frog Plain (since Kildonan church). E to F--De Meuron Settlers on
+Seine. G--Half-breeds (St. Boniface of to-day). H--Fort Douglas (1815).
+I--Colony Gardens. J--Fort Gibraltar (N.W. Co.). K--Road followed by
+Metis. L--Dry Cart trail west of Settlers' lots.]
+
+"The party on horseback had got pretty near to us, so that we could
+discover that they were painted and disguised in the most hideous
+manner; upon this, as they were retreating, a Frenchman named Boucher
+advanced, waving his hand, riding up to us, and calling out in broken
+English, 'What do you want? What do you want?' Governor Semple said.
+'What do _you_ want?' Mr. Burke not coming on with the cannon as soon as
+he was expected, the Governor directed the party to proceed onwards; we
+had not gone far before we saw the Bois-brules returning upon us.
+
+"Upon observing that they were so numerous, we had extended our line,
+and got more into the open plain; as they advanced, we retreated; but
+they divided themselves into two parties, and surrounded us again in the
+shape of a half-moon."
+
+"Boucher then came out of the ranks of his party, and advanced towards
+us (he was on horseback), calling out in broken English, 'What do you
+want? What do you want?' Governor Semple answered, 'What do _you_ want?'
+To which Boucher answered, 'We want our Fort.' The Governor said, 'Well,
+go to your Fort.' After that I did not hear anything that passed, as
+they were close together. I saw the Governor putting his hand on
+Boucher's gun. Expecting an attack to be made instantly, I had not been
+looking at Governor Semple and Boucher for some time; but just then I
+happened to turn my head that way, and immediately I heard a shot, and
+directly afterwards a general firing. I turned round upon hearing the
+shot, and saw Mr. Holte, one of our officers, struggling as if he were
+shot. He was on the ground. On their approach, as I have said, we had
+extended our line on the plain, by each taking a place at a greater
+distance from the other. This had been done by the Governor's orders,
+and we each took such places as best suited our individual safety.
+
+"From not seeing the firing begin, I cannot say from whom it first came;
+but immediately upon hearing the first shot, I turned and saw Lieut.
+Holte struggling." (Several persons present at the affair, such as a
+blacksmith named Heden, and McKay, a settler, distinctly state that the
+first shot fired was from the Bois-brules and that by it Lieut. Holte
+fell).
+
+"As to our attacking our assailants, one of our people, Bruin, I
+believe, did propose that we should keep them off; and the Governor
+turned round and asked who could be such a rascal as to make such a
+proposition? and that he should hear no word of that kind again. The
+Governor was very much displeased indeed at the suggestion made. A fire
+was kept up for several minutes after the first shot, and I saw a number
+wounded; indeed, in a few minutes almost all our people were either
+killed or wounded. I saw Sinclair and Bruin fall, either wounded or
+killed; and a Mr. McLean, a little in front defending himself, but by a
+second shot I saw him fall.
+
+"At this time I saw Captain Rodgers getting up again, but not observing
+any of our people standing, I called out to him, 'Rodgers, for God's
+sake give yourself up! Give yourself up!' Captain Rodgers ran toward
+them, calling out in English and in broken French, that he surrendered,
+and that he gave himself up, and praying them to save his life. Thomas
+McKay, a Bois-brules, shot him through the head, and another Bois-brules
+dashed upon him with a knife, using the most horrid imprecations to him.
+I did not see the Governor fall. I saw his corpse the next day at the
+Fort. When I saw Captain Rodgers fall, I expected to share his fate. As
+there was a French-Canadian among those who surrounded me, who had just
+made an end of my friend, I said, 'Lavigne, you are a Frenchman, you are
+a man, you are a Christian. For God's sake save my life! For God's sake
+try and save it! I give myself up; I am your prisoner.' McKay, who was
+among this party, and who knew me, said, 'You little toad, what do you
+do here?' He spoke in French, and called me 'un petit crapaud,' and
+asked what I did here! I fully expected then to lose my life. I again
+appealed to Lavigne, and he joined in entreating them to spare me. I
+told them over and over again that I was their prisoner, and I had
+something to tell them. They, however, seemed determined to take my
+life. They struck at me with their guns, and Lavigne caught some of the
+blows, and joined me in entreating for my safety. He told them of my
+kindness on different occasions. I remonstrated that I had thrown down
+my arms and was at their mercy. One Primeau wished to shoot me; he said
+I had formerly killed his brother. I begged him to recollect my former
+kindness to him at Qu'Appelle. At length they spared me, telling me I
+was a little dog, and had not long to live, and that he (Primeau) would
+find me when he came back.
+
+"Then I went to Frog Plain (Kildonan), in charge of Boucher. In going to
+the plain I was again threatened by one of the party, and saved by
+Boucher, who conducted me safely to Frog Plain. I there saw Cuthbert
+Grant, who told me that they did not expect to have met us on the plain,
+but that their intention was to have surprised the Colony, and that they
+would have hunted the Colonists like buffaloes. He also told me they
+expected to have got round unperceived, and at night would have
+surrounded the Fort and have shot everyone who left it; but being seen,
+their scheme had been destroyed or frustrated. They were all painted and
+disfigured so that I did not know many. I should not have known that
+Cuthbert Grant was there, though I knew him well, had he not spoken to
+me."
+
+"Grant told me that Governor Semple was not mortally wounded by the shot
+he received, but that his thigh was broken. He said that he spoke to the
+Governor after he was wounded, and had been asked by him to have him
+taken to the Fort, and as he was not mortally wounded he thought he
+might perhaps live. Grant said he could not take him himself as he had
+something else to do, but that he would send some person to convey him
+on whom he might depend, and that he left him in charge of a
+French-Canadian and went away; but that almost directly after he had
+left him, an Indian, who, he said, was the only rascal they had, came up
+and shot him in the breast, and killed him on the spot.
+
+"The Bois-brules, who very seldom paint or disguise themselves, were on
+this occasion painted as I have been accustomed to see the Indians at
+their war-dance; they were very much painted, and disguised in a hideous
+manner. They gave the war-whoop when they met Governor Semple and his
+party; they made a hideous noise and shouting. I know from Grant, as
+well as from other Bois-brules, and other settlers, that some of the
+Colonists had been taken prisoners. Grant told me that they were taken
+to weaken the Colony, and prevent its being known that they were
+there--they having supposed that they had passed the Fort unobserved.
+
+"Their intention clearly was to pass the Fort. I saw no carts, though I
+heard they had carts with them. I saw about five of the settlers
+prisoners in the camp at Frog Plain. Grant said to me further: 'You see
+we have had but one of our people killed, and how little quarter we have
+given you. Now, if Fort Douglas is not given up with all the public
+property instantly and without resistance, man, women and child will be
+put to death.' He said the attack would be made upon it that night, and
+if a single shot were fired, that would be a signal for the
+indiscriminate destruction of every soul. I was completely satisfied
+myself that the whole would be destroyed, and I besought Grant, whom I
+knew, to suggest or let them try and devise some means to save the women
+and children. I represented to him that they could have done no harm to
+anybody, whatever he or his party might think the men had. I entreated
+him to take compassion on them. I reminded him that they were his
+father's country-women and in his deceased father's name, I begged him
+to take pity and compassion on them and spare them.
+
+"At last he said, if all the arms and public property were given up, we
+should be allowed to go away. After inducing the Bois-brules to allow me
+to go to Fort Douglas, I met our people; they were long unwilling to
+give up, but at last our Mr. Macdonell, who was now in charge consented.
+We went together to the Frog Plain, and an inventory of the property was
+taken when we had returned to the Fort. The Fort was delivered over to
+Cuthbert Grant, who gave receipts on each sheet of the inventory signed
+'Cuthbert Grant, acting for the North-West Company.' I remained at Fort
+Douglas till the evening of the 22nd, when all proceeded down the
+river--the settlers, a second time on their journey into exile.
+
+"The Colonists, it is true, had little now to leave. They were generally
+employed in agricultural pursuits, in attending to their farms, and the
+servants of the Hudson's Bay Company in their ordinary avocations. They
+lived in tents or in huts. In 1816 at Red River there was but one
+residence, the Governor's which was in Fort Douglas. The settlers had
+lived in houses previous to 1815, but in that year these had been burnt
+in the attack that had been made upon them. The settlers were employed
+during the day time on their land, and used to come up to the Fort to
+sleep in some of the buildings in the enclosure. All was now left
+behind. The Bois-brules victory being now complete, the messenger was
+despatched Westward to tell the news far and near."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+AFTERCLAPS.
+
+
+The Seven Oaks affair was the most shocking episode that ever occurred
+in North-Western history. The standing of the victims, including a
+Governor appointed by the Hudson's Bay Company, his staff men of
+position, the unexpectedness of the collison, the suddenness of the
+attack, the destruction of life, the cruelty and injustice of the
+killing, and the barbarous treatment of the bodies of the dead, by the
+Bois-brules war party, fill one with horror, and remind one of scenes of
+butchery in dark Africa or the isles of the South Sea.
+
+This is the more remarkable when it is considered that so far as known
+in the whole two hundred years and more of the career of the Hudson's
+Bay and Nor'-Wester Companies not so many officers and clerks of these
+two Companies have altogether perished by violence as in this
+unfortunate Seven Oaks disaster. No sooner was the massacre over than
+the Bois-brules took possession of Fort Douglas and were under the
+command meantime of Cuthbert Grant. There was the greatest hilarity
+among the Metis. This New Nation had been vindicated. About forty-five
+men under arms held possession of the Fort. The dead left upon the field
+were still exposed there days after the fight and were torn to pieces by
+the wild birds and beasts. The body of Governor Semple was carried to
+the Fort.
+
+Word was meanwhile sent to Alexander Macdonell the partner who had
+brought with him the Qu'Appelle contingent and had waited at Portage la
+Prairie while Cuthbert Grant with his followers, chiefly disguised as
+Indians, had gone on their bloody work. Macdonell on receiving the news
+showed great satisfaction. He announced to those about him that Governor
+Semple and five of his officers had been killed; and becoming more
+enthusiastic shouted with an oath in French that twenty-two of the
+English were slain. His company shouted with joy at his announcement.
+Macdonell then went to Fort Douglas and took command of it. But what had
+become of the Eastern Company from Fort William? Of this a discharged
+non-commissioned officer, Huerter, of one of the mercenary regiments
+which had fought for Britain against the Americans in the War of 1812
+was with them, and gives a good account of the journey. We need only
+deal with the ending of the expedition. Coming from Lake Winnipeg they
+reached Nettly Creek two days after the fight at Seven Oaks, expecting
+there to get news from the Western levy and Alexander Macdonell. But no
+news of that Company having reached them they started in boats up the
+Red River to reach the rendezvous agreed on at "Frog Plain," the spot
+where Kildonan church stands to-day. From this point they expected to
+meet with their Western reinforcement, and to move upon Fort Douglas and
+capture it, as Governor Semple had done with Fort Gibraltar. Their
+commander Archibald Norman McLeod was the senior officer and would later
+take command.
+
+They had on the 23rd of June gone but a little way when they were
+surprised to meet seven or eight boats laden with men, women and
+children. These were the fragment of the Colony which had refused to go
+with Duncan Cameron down to Upper Canada. They had been sheltered in the
+Fort during the time of the fight and now were rudely driven away from
+the settlement, according to the announcement of Cuthbert Grant.
+
+McLeod ordered the convoy of boats to stop and the Colonists to
+disembark. Their boxes and packages were opened, including the late
+Governor Semple's trunks, and examined for papers or letters which might
+give important information to the captors. The Western levy now joined
+them, and gave them full news of what had happened.
+
+The Colonists were then ordered to re-embark and to proceed upon their
+journey to their lonely place of banishment whither they had gone the
+previous year--Jack River, near Norway House. One of the Bois-brules
+followed after them to make sure that they went upon their long voyage.
+McLeod's party then pushed on with great glee to Fort Douglas and were
+received with discharges of artillery and firearms. McLeod now took
+command of the captured Fort.
+
+Huerter, the discharged soldier, formerly mentioned, went to the field
+of Seven Oaks about a week after the fight and confirmed Pambrun's
+account.
+
+A.N. McLeod now became the superior officer in the Fort and made
+preparation for defending it. He himself occupied the late Governor
+Semple's quarters and passed out compliments to white and native alike,
+praising them for their daring, their adroitness and their success. A
+great meeting was then gathered in the Governor's apartments and a levee
+was held at which all of the servants and employees of the Company were
+present, and in a speech McLeod told the audience that the English had
+no right to build upon their lands without their permission--a new
+doctrine surely.
+
+Leaving Fort Douglas McLeod with his officers and the Bois-brules all
+mounted, made an imposing procession up to the site of old Fort
+Gibraltar. Here Peguis, now the chief of the Saulteaux who had shown
+such kindness to the settlers was camped, and to him and his followers
+McLeod showed his great displeasure. The Indian always loved the
+British-man, whom on the west coast he called, "King Shautshman," or
+King George's man.
+
+The Indian is taciturn, unemotional, and cautious. He knew that the
+Bois-brules had assumed their garb and committed the outrage of Seven
+Oaks, and therefore the tribe were unwilling to be under the stigma
+being thrown upon them. When McLeod had failed in his appeal, he laid
+many sins to their charge. They had allowed the English to carry away
+Duncan Cameron to Hudson Bay, they were a band of dogs, and he would
+count them always as his enemies if they should hold to their English
+friends. Peguis, who was a master diplomat, looked on with attention and
+held his peace.
+
+It was now about a week from the time of the massacre. Huerter, the
+discharged soldier spoken of, rode down with a party from the Fort to
+the field of Seven Oaks. He saw a number of human bodies scattered on
+the plain, and in most cases the flesh had been torn off to the bone,
+evidently by dogs and wolves.
+
+Far from discouraging the talkative half-breeds, whose blood was up with
+the sights of carnage, McLeod and his fellow-officers expressed their
+approbation of the deeds done, and the Bois-brules became boisterous in
+detailing their victories. The worst of the whole, old Deschamps, a
+French-Canadian, who murdered the disabled even when they cried for
+quarter, drew forth as he detailed his valorous actions to Alexander
+Macdonell, the exclamation, "What a fine, vigorous old man he is!" On
+the evening of this Red-letter day of the visit to the Indian encampment
+and to Seven Oaks, a wild and heathenish orgy took place. The
+Bois-brules bedecked their naked bodies with Indian trinkets and
+executed the dance of victory, as had done their savage ancestors. The
+effect of these dances is marvellous. By a contagious shout they excite
+each other. They reach a frenzy which communicates itself with hypnotic
+effect to the whole dancing circle. At times men tear their hair, cut
+their flesh or even mutilate their limbs for life. The "tom-tom," or
+Indian drum, adds to the power of monotonous rhythm and to the spirit of
+excitement and frenzy.
+
+To the partners McLeod and the others, however much in earnest the
+actors might be, it afforded much amusement, and gave hope of a strength
+and enthusiasm that would bind them fast to the "Nor'-Wester" side.
+
+The struggle over and the battle won, while leaving the garrison
+sufficient to hold the fort, ten days after the fight the partners and
+those forming the Northern brigade, who were to penetrate to the wilds
+to Athabasca, departed. They were following down the Red River and Lake
+Winnipeg, in the very path which the fleeing Colonists had gone, but
+they would turn toward the "Grand Rapids" at the spot where the great
+river of the West pours into Lake Winnipeg, and by this way speed
+themselves to the great hunting fields of the North. The departure of
+what was called the Grand Brigade was signalized by an artillery salute
+from Fort Douglas, which resounded through the wretched ruins of the
+houses burnt the previous year, and over the fields deserted by the
+Colonists and left to the chattering blackbird and the howling wolf.
+Almost every race of people--however small--has its bard. Among the
+Bois-brules was the son of old Pierre Falcon, a French-Canadian, of some
+influence among the natives. This young poet was a character. He had the
+French vivacity, the prejudice of race, the devotion to the Scotch Fur
+Company and a considerable rhyming talent. Many years after Pierre
+Falcon won the admiration of the buffalo hunter and was the friend of
+all the dusky maidens who followed his song of love or war alike. He it
+was who sang the song of his race and helped to keep up the love of fun
+among the French people of the Red River. It was reminiscent of victory
+and also a forecast of future influence and power. Various versions of
+Pierre Falcon's song have come down to us celebrating the victory of
+Seven Oaks. We give a simple translation of the bard's effusion:
+
+    PIERRE FALCON'S SONG.
+
+    Come listen to this song of truth!
+    A song of the brave Bois-brules,
+    Who at Frog Plain took three captives,
+    Strangers come to rob our country.
+
+    When dismounting there to rest us,
+    A cry is raised--the English!
+    They are coming to attack us,
+    So we hasten forth to meet them.
+
+    I looked upon their army,
+    They are motionless and downcast;
+    So, as honor would incline us
+    We desire with them to parley.
+
+    But their leader, moved with anger,
+    Gives the word to fire upon us;
+    And imperiously repeats it,
+    Rushing on to this destruction.
+
+    Having seen us pass his stronghold,
+    He had thought to strike with terror
+    The Bois-brules; ah! mistaken,
+    Many of his soldiers perish.
+
+    But a few escaped the slaughter,
+    Rushing from the field of battle;
+    Oh, to see the English fleeing!
+    Oh, the shouts of their pursuers!
+
+    Who has sung this song of triumph?
+    The good Pierre Falcon had composed it,
+    That the praise of these Bois-brules
+    Might be evermore recorded.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE SILVER CHIEF ARRIVES.
+
+
+The scene changes to the home of the founder of the Colony. The Earl of
+Selkirk is living at his interesting seat--St. Mary's Isle, and letter
+after letter arrives which has taken many weeks on the road, coming down
+through trackless prairie, across the middle and Eastern States of
+America and reaching him via New York. These letters continue to
+increase in being more and more terrible until his island home seems to
+be in a state of siege.
+
+St. Mary's Isle lies at the mouth of the Dee on Solway Frith, opposite
+the town of Kirkcudbright. Here in 1778 Paul Jones, the so-called pirate
+in the employ of the Revolutionary Government in America, had landed,
+invested the dwelling with his men, and carried away all the plate and
+jewels of the House of Selkirk. The Old Manor House of St. Mary's Isle,
+with its very thick stone wall on one side, evidently had been a keep or
+castle. It was at one time given to the church and became a monastery,
+then it was enlarged and improved to become the dwelling of the family
+of the Douglasses, which it is to this day.
+
+But now the far cry from Red River reverberated across the Atlantic. The
+startling succession of events of 1815 reached the Earl one after
+another. It was late in the year when he made up his mind, but taking
+his Countess, his two daughters and his only son, Dunbar, a mere boy,
+and crossing the ocean he heard, on his arrival in New York, of the
+complete destruction by flight and expulsion of the people of his
+Colony. About the end of October he reached Montreal, but winter was too
+near to allow him to travel up the lakes and through the wilds to Red
+River.
+
+The winter in Montreal was long, but the atmosphere of opposition to
+Lord Selkirk in that city, the home of the Nor'-Westers, was more trying
+to him than the frost and snow. His every movement was watched. Even the
+avenues of Government power seemed by influential Nor'-Westers to be
+closed against him. An appeal to Sir Gordon Drummond, the
+Governor-General, could obtain no more than a promise of a Sergeant and
+six men to protect him personally should he go to the far West, and the
+appointment of himself as a Justice of the Peace in Upper Canada and the
+Indian Territory was grudgingly given.
+
+The active mind of his Lordship occupied the time of winter well. He
+planned nothing less than introducing to the banks of Red River a body
+of men as settlers, who could, like the returned exiles to Jerusalem,
+work with sword in one hand and a tool of industry in the other. The man
+of resource finds his material ready made. Two mercenary regiments from
+Switzerland which had been fighting England's battles in America had
+just been disbanded, and Lord Selkirk at once engaged them to go as
+settlers, under his pay, to Red River. From the commanding officer of
+the larger regiment these have always been called the "De Meurons." From
+these two regiments--one at Montreal and the other at Kingston--he
+engaged an hundred men, each provided with a musket, and with rather
+more than that number of expert voyageurs started in June 16th, 1816,
+for the North-West. The route followed by him was up Lake Ontario to
+Toronto, then across country to Georgian Bay and through it to Ste.
+Sault Marie. At Drummond Island, being the last British garrison toward
+the West, he got from the Indians news of the efforts of the
+Nor'-Westers to involve them in the wars of the whites. The Indians had,
+however, resisted all their temptations. Lord Selkirk again overtook his
+party and passed through the St. Mary's River into Lake Superior.
+
+Here a new grief awaited him.
+
+Two canoes coming from Fort William brought him the sad news about
+Governor Semple and his party being killed at Seven Oaks, as it did also
+of the second expulsion of the Colonists. Lord Selkirk had been
+intending to go west to where Duluth now stands and then overland to the
+Red River.
+
+He now changed his plans and with true Scottish pluck headed directly to
+Fort William. Here assaults, arrests and imprisonments took place. It is
+needless for us to give the details of this unfortunate affair, except
+to say that the seizure of the Fort brought much trouble afterwards to
+the founder.
+
+Moving some miles up the Kaministiquia River Lord Selkirk made his
+military encampment, which bore the name of "Pointe De Meuron."
+
+Plans were soon made for the spring attack on Fort Douglas.
+
+In March, stealthily crossing the silent pathways for upwards of four
+hundred miles and striking the Red River some where near the
+international boundary line, the De Meurons came northward and made a
+circuit towards Silver Heights. There, having constructed ladders,
+they next made a night attack on Fort Douglas, and being trained
+soldiers easily captured it, and restored it to its rightful owner,
+Lord Selkirk.
+
+On May day, 1817, Lord Selkirk, with his body guard, left Fort William
+and following the water-courses arrived at his own Fort in the last week
+of June. Fort Douglas was the centre of his Colony, and there he was at
+once the chief figure of the picture.
+
+None of the Selkirk Settlers' descendants who are living to-day saw him
+in Fort Douglas, but a number who have passed away have told the writer
+that they remembered him well. He was tall in stature, thin and refined
+in appearance. He had a benignant face, his manner was easy and polite.
+To the Indians he was especially interesting. They caught the idea that
+being a man of title he was in some way closely connected with their
+Great Father the King. Because of his generosity to them in making a
+treaty, they called him "The Silver Chief." He was the source of their
+treaty money.
+
+It is said that some of the last party to reach his Colony had seen him
+at Kildonan in Scotland, where he had visited them, and encouraged them
+in their departure for the Colony.
+
+His first duties were to the unfortunate settlers, who had been brought
+back from Jack River.
+
+Lord Selkirk gathered the Colonists on the spot where the church and
+burial ground of St. John's are still found. "The Parish," said he,
+"shall be Kildonan. Here you shall build your church, and that lot," he
+said, pointing to the lot across the little stream called Parsonage
+Creek, "is for a school." He was thus planning to carry out the devout
+imagination of the greatest religious leader of his nation, John Knox:
+"A church and a school for every parish."
+
+Perhaps the most interesting episode in Lord Selkirk's visit was his
+treaty-making with the Indians. The plan of securing a strip of land on
+each side of the river was said to have been decided to be as much as
+could be seen by looking under the belly of a horse out upon the
+prairie. This was about two miles. Hence the river lots were generally
+about two miles long.
+
+His meeting with the Indians was after the manner of a great "Pow-wow."
+The Indians are fluent and eloquent speakers, though they indulge in
+endless repetitions.
+
+Peguis, the Saulteaux chief, befriended the white man from the
+beginning. He denounced the Bois-brules. He said, "We do not acknowledge
+these men as an independent tribe."
+
+"L'Homme Noir," the Assiniboine chief, among other things, said: "We
+have often been told you were our enemy, but we hear from your own mouth
+the words of a true friend."
+
+"Robe Noire," the Chippewa, tried in lofty style to declare: "Clouds
+have over-whelmed me. I was a long time in doubt and difficulty, but now
+I begin to see clearly."
+
+While Lord Selkirk was still in his Colony, the very serious state of
+things on the banks of Red River and the pressure of the British
+Government led to the appointment, by the Governor-General of Canada, of
+a most clear-minded and peace-loving man as Commissioner. This
+appointment was all the more pleasing on account of Mr. W.B. Coltman
+being a resident Canadian of Quebec. Coltman was one man among a
+thousand. He was patient and kind and just. Though he had come to the
+Colony prejudiced against Lord Selkirk, he found his Lordship so fair
+and reasonable that he became much attached to the man represented in
+Montreal and the far East as a destructive ogre.
+
+The Commissioner's report covered one hundred pages, and it was in all
+respects a model. He thoroughly understood the motives of both parties,
+and his decisions led to a perfect era of peace, and moreover in the end
+to the union of the Hudson's Bay and Nor'-West Companies.
+
+Lord Selkirk's coming was like a ray of sunshine to the Colonists of Red
+River. Being of an intensely religious disposition, the people reminded
+him that the elder who came out in 1815, who was able to baptize and
+marry, had been carried away by main force by the Nor'-Westers to Canada
+in 1818, so that they were without religious services. They always
+continued to have prayer meetings and to keep up the pious customs of
+their fathers. This practise long survived among them. In repeating his
+promise of a clergyman, Lord Selkirk asserted to them: "Selkirk never
+forfeited his word."
+
+His work done among his Colonists, he left them never to see them again.
+He went south from Fort Douglas to the United States, visited, it is
+said, St. Louis, came to the Eastern States, and rejoined in Montreal
+his Countess and children who had in his absence lived in great anxiety.
+One of his daughters, afterwards Lady Isabella Hope, told the writer
+nearly thirty years ago that she as a girl remembered seeing Lord
+Selkirk as he returned from this long journey, coming around the Island
+into Montreal Harbor paddled by French voyageurs in swift canoes to his
+destination. His attention was immediately given to law suits and
+actions brought against him in the courts of Upper Canada. These legal
+conflicts originated from the troubles about the two centres--Fort
+Douglas and Fort William--where the collisions had taken place. The
+influence of the Nor'-Westers in Montreal was so great that the U.E.
+Loyalists of Upper Canada sympathised with them against the noble
+philanthropist. Justice was undoubtedly perverted in Upper Canada in the
+most shameless way. Weak in body at the best, Lord Selkirk by his
+misfortunes, losses and legal persecution began to fail in health. With
+the sense of having been unjustly defeated, and anxious about his
+Colonists in Red River, he returned with his family to Britain to his
+beloved St. Mary's Isle. He sought for justice from the British
+Parliament, but could there get no movement in his favor. A copy of a
+letter to him from Sir Walter Scott, his old friend, is in the hands of
+the writer, but Sir Walter was himself too ill at the time to lend him
+aid in presenting his case before the British public. Heart-broken, he
+gave up the struggle. With the Countess and his family he went to the
+South of France and died on April 8th, 1820, at Pau, and his bones lie
+in the Protestant Cemetery of Orthes.
+
+He had not fought in vain. He had broken down single-handed a system of
+organized terrorism in the heart of North America, for the Nor'-Westers
+never rose to strength again. They united in a few years with the
+Hudson's Bay Company. He established a Colony that has thriven; he
+cherished a lofty vision; he made mistakes in action, in judgment, and
+in a too great optimism, but if we understand him aright he bore an
+untainted and resolute soul.
+
+   "Only those are crown'd and sainted
+    Who with grief have been acquainted
+    Making Nations nobler, freer."
+
+   "In their feverish exultations,
+    In their triumph and their yearning,
+    In their passionate pulsations,
+    In their words among the nations
+    The Promethean fire is burning."
+
+   "But the glories so transcendent
+    That around their memories cluster,
+    And on all their steps attendant,
+    Make their darken'd lives resplendent
+    With such gleams of inward lustre."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+SOLDIERS AND SWISS.
+
+
+Many Canadian Settlements have had a military origin. It was considered
+a wise, strategic move in the game of national defence when Colonel
+Butler and his Rangers, after the Treaty of Paris, were settled along
+the Niagara frontier, and when Captain Grass and other United Empire
+Loyalists took up their holdings at Kingston and other points on the
+boundary line along the St. Lawrence. The town of Perth was the
+headquarters of a military settlement in Central Canada. Traces of
+military occupation can still be found in such Highland districts of
+Canada as Pictou, Glengarry and Zorra, in which last named township the
+enthusiastic Celt in 1866 declared that perhaps the Fenians would take
+Canada, but they could never take Zorra. Numerous examples can be found
+all through Canada where there is an aroma of valor and patriotism
+surrounding the old army officer or the families of the veterans of the
+Napoleonic or Crimean wars.
+
+The settlement of the De Meuron soldiers opposite Fort Douglas gave some
+promise of a military flavor to Selkirk Settlement. But as we shall see
+it was an ill-advised attempt at colonization. It was a mistake to
+settle some hundred or more single men as these soldiers were without a
+woman among them, as Lord Selkirk was compelled to do. To these
+soldier-colonists he gave lands along the small winding river now called
+the Seine, which empties into Red River opposite Point Douglas. Many of
+the De Meurons spoke German, and hence for several years the little
+stream on which they lived was called German Creek. The writings of the
+time are full of rather severe criticism of these bello-agricultural
+settlers. Of course no one expects an old soldier to be of much use to a
+new country. He is usually a lazy settler. His habits of life are formed
+in another mould from that of the farm. He is apt to despise the hoe and
+the harrow and many even of the half-pay officers who came to hew out a
+home in the Canadian forest, never learned to cut down a tree or to hold
+a plough, though it may be admitted that they lived a useful life in
+their sons and daughters, while the culture and decision of character of
+the old officer or sturdy veteran were an asset of great value to the
+locality in which he settled.
+
+But the De Meurons were not only bachelors, but they came from the
+peasantry of Austria and Italy, they had not fought for home and
+country, and their life of mercenary soldiering had made them selfish
+and deceitful. A writer of the time speaks, and evidently with much
+prejudice, against the De Meurons. "They were," he says, "a medley of
+almost all nations--Germans, French, Italians, Swiss and others. They
+were bad farmers and withal very bad subjects; quarrelsome, slothful,
+famous bottle companions and ready for any enterprise however lawless
+and tyrannical." A few years later we find it stated that they made free
+with the cattle of their neighbors, and the chronicler does not hesitate
+to say that the herds of the De Meurons grew in number in exactly the
+same ratio as those of the Scottish settlers decreased.
+
+Some four years after the settlement of the De Meurons a sunburst came
+upon them quite unexpectedly.
+
+Lord Selkirk in the very last years of his life planned to bring a band
+of Protestant settlers from Switzerland. A Colonel May, late of another
+of the mercenary regiments, accepted the duty of going to Switzerland,
+issuing a very attractive invitation to settlers, and succeeded in
+shipping a considerable number of Swiss families to his so-called Red
+River paradise.
+
+This band of Colonists, consisting as they did of "watch and
+clock-makers, pastry cooks and musicians," were quite unfit for the
+rough work of the Selkirk Colony. In 1821 they were brought by way of
+Hudson Bay, over the same rocky way as the earlier Colonists came. They
+were utterly poverty stricken, though honest, and well-behaved. Their
+only possession of value was a plenty of handsome daughters. The Swiss
+families on arrival were placed under tents nearby Fort Douglas. As soon
+as possible many of the Swiss settlers were placed alongside the De
+Meurons on German Creek. Good Mr. West, who had just been sent out as
+chaplain by the Hudson's Bay Company, in place of the minister of their
+own faith promised to the Scottish settlers, did a great stroke of work
+in marrying the young Swiss girls to the De Meuron bachelors of German
+Creek. The description of the way in which the De Meurons invited
+families having young women in them to the wifeless cabins is ludicrous.
+A modern "Sabine raid" was made upon the young damsels, who were
+actually carried away to the De Meuron homesteads. The Swiss families
+which had the misfortune to have no daughters in them were left to
+languish in their comfortless tents. The afflictions of the earlier
+Selkirk settlers were increased by the arrival of these settlers. With
+the Selkirk settlers in their first decade the first consideration was
+always food. Till that question is settled no Colony can advance.
+Probably the most alarming and hopeless feature of their new colonial
+life was the appearance of vast flights of locusts or grasshoppers,
+which devoured every blade of wheat and grass in the country. To those
+who have never seen this plague it is inconceivable. Some thirty-five
+years ago in Manitoba the writer witnessed the utter devastation of the
+country by these pests. Some thirteen years before the coming of the
+first Colonists this plague prevailed. About the end of July, 1818,
+these riders of the air made their attack. In this year the Selkirk
+Colonists were greatly discouraged by the capture and removal to Canada,
+by the Nor'-Westers, of Mr. James Sutherland, their spiritual guide. But
+their labors now seem likely to be rewarded by a good harvest. The oats
+and barley were in ear, when suddenly the invasion came. The vast clouds
+of grasshoppers sailing northward from the great Utah desert in the
+United States, alighted late in the afternoon of one day and in the
+morning fields of grain, gardens with their promise, and every herb in
+the Settlement were gone, and a waste like a blasted hearth remained
+behind. The event was more than a loss of their crops, it seemed a
+heaven-struck blow upon their community, and it is said they lifted up
+their eyes to heaven, weeping and despairing. The sole return of their
+labors for the season was a few ears of half-ripened barley which the
+women saved and carried home in their aprons. There was no help for it
+but to retire to Pembina, although there was less fear than formerly for
+as a writer of the day says: "The settlers had now become good hunters;
+they could kill the buffalo; walk on snowshoes; had trains of dogs
+trimmed with ribbons, bells and feathers, in true Indian style; and in
+other respects were making rapid steps in the arts of a savage life."
+
+The complete loss of their crops left the settlers even without the
+seed-wheat necessary to sow their fields. The nearest point of supply of
+this necessity was an agricultural settlement in the State of Minnesota,
+upwards of five hundred miles away. Here was a mighty task--to undertake
+to cross the plains in winter and to bring back in time for the seeding
+time in spring the wheat which was necessary. But the Highlander is not
+to be deterred by rocky crag or dashing river, or heavy snow in his own
+land and he was ready to face this and more in the new world. And so a
+daring party went off on snowshoes, and taking three months for their
+trip, reached the land of plenty and secured some hundred bushels at the
+price of ten shillings a bushel.
+
+The question now was how to transport the wheat through a trackless
+wilderness. Up the Mississippi River for hundreds of miles the flat
+boats constructed for the purpose were painfully propelled, and passing
+through the branch known as the Minnesota River the Stony Lake was
+reached. This lake is the source of the Minnesota and Red rivers, and
+being at high water in the spring it was possible to go through the
+narrow lake from one river to the other with the rough boats
+constructed. The Red River was reached by the fearless adventurers who
+brought the "corn out of Egypt." They did not, however, reach the Red
+River with their treasure till about the end of June, 1820, and while
+the wheat grew well it was sown too late to ripen well, although it gave
+the settlers grain enough to sow the fields of the coming year. This
+expedition cost Lord Selkirk upwards of a thousand pounds sterling. In
+the following year the grasshoppers again visited the Red River fields,
+but by a sudden movement which, by some of the good Colonists was
+interpreted to be a direct interference of Providence on their behalf,
+the swarms of intruders passed away never to appear again in the Red
+River for half a century.
+
+The presence of the grasshoppers upon the Canadian prairies is one of
+interest. It is known that they appeared throughout the territory of Red
+River a dozen years or so before the coming of the Selkirk Colonists,
+also during the period we have been describing, and then not till the
+period from 1868 to 1875. During the latter half of this period the
+writer saw their devastations in Manitoba. The occurrence of the
+grasshopper at times in all agricultural districts in America is very
+different from the grasshopper or locust plague which we are describing.
+The red-legged Caloptenus or the Rocky Mountain locust are provided for
+lofty flight and pass in myriads over the prairies, lighting whenever a
+cloud obscures the sun. At one time the writer saw them in such hordes
+that they were found from Winnipeg to Edmonton, over a region about one
+thousand miles in breadth. In that year they devoured not only crops and
+garden products but almost completely ate up the grass on the prairie to
+such an extent as to make it useless for hay. In the year 1875 they
+appeared, in the main, for the last time in Manitoba, and in that year
+their disappearance was as sudden as in the former case of 1821. Under
+the wing upon the body of each grasshopper was to be found one or more
+scarlet red parasites which drew all the juices from the body of the
+insect and produced death. For a third of a century they have been
+almost unknown, and the area of cultivated ground in the States of North
+and South Dakota, where they may supply their hunger renders it likely
+that Manitoba will know them no more. It cannot be wondered at that such
+continuous disasters made the settler whether Scottish, De Meuron, or
+Swiss, extremely discontented. During the period of the scourge, the
+only resource was to winter at Pembina in reasonable distance from the
+buffalo-herds. In one of these years a number of the Selkirk Colonists
+did not return to their farms but emigrated to the United States. As we
+shall see in a few years after the grasshopper scourge the flood of the
+Red River took place, when the De Meurons and Swiss, with one or two
+exceptions, disappeared from the Colony and became citizens of the
+United States.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+ENGLISH LION AND CANADIAN BEAR LIE DOWN TOGETHER.
+
+
+That such violence and bloodshed as that about Fort Douglas, should be
+seen by British subjects under the flag which stands for justice and
+equal rights made sober-minded Britons blush. While Lord Selkirk's
+agents on the banks of the Red River may have been aggressive in pushing
+their rights, yet to the Canadians was chargeable the greater part of
+the bloodshed. This was but natural. To the hunter, the trapper, and the
+frontiersman the use of firearms is familiar. The fur trader protects
+himself thus from the bear and the panther. The hot blood of the Metis
+as he careered over the prairie on his steed boiled up at the least
+provocation.
+
+But the disheartening law suits through which Lord Selkirk passed in
+Sandwich, Toronto, and Montreal, reflected more dishonor on the
+Canadians than did even the bloody violence of the Bois-Brules. The
+chicanery employed by the Canadian courts, the procuring of special
+legislation to adapt the law to Lord Selkirk's case, and the invocation
+of the highest social and even clerical influence in Upper Canada for
+the purpose of injuring his Lordship will ever remain a blot on earlier
+Canadian jurisprudence. Fortunately the rights of man, whether native or
+foreigner, are now better understood and more fully protected in Canada
+than they were in the second decade of the nineteenth century. Col.
+Coltman's report, as already stated, was a model of truthfulness, fair
+play and freedom from prejudice, and Coltman was a Canadian appointee.
+
+So grave, however, were the rumours of these events happening on the
+plains of Rupert's Land, as they reached Britain that the House of
+Commons named a committee to enquire into the troubles. This committee
+sat in 1819, and the result is a blue-book of considerable size which
+exposes the injustice most fully. The violence and bloodshed which the
+fur traders now heard of far and near paralyzed the fur trade carried on
+by both fur companies, and brought the financial affairs of both
+companies to the verge of destruction. Two startling events of the next
+year produced a great shock. These were sudden and untimely deaths of
+the two great opponents--Lord Selkirk at an early age in France, and Sir
+Alexander Mackenzie, at his estate in Scotland, he having been seized
+with sudden illness on his way from London. The two men died within a
+month of one another in the spring of 1820. Their passing away was
+surely impressive. It seemed like an offering to the god of peace in
+order that the vast region with its scattered and thunderstruck
+inhabitants from Lake Superior to the Pacific Ocean might be saved from
+the horrors of a cruel war of brother against brother, and a war which
+might involve even the cautious but hot-blooded Indian tribes.
+
+Though the two parties were made up of daring and head-strong men, yet
+adversity is a hard but effective teacher.
+
+The Hudson's Bay Company was represented by Andrew Colville, a warm
+friend of the house of Selkirk, the opponents by Edward Ellice, a
+Nor'-Wester. It seemed, indeed, the very irony of fate that Ellice
+should be a negotiator for peace. He and his sons the writer heard
+spoken of by the late Earl of Selkirk--the son of the founder--as the
+bear and cubs. On the other hand the burly directors of the Hudson's Bay
+Company possessed with all the confidence of the British Lion, and with
+their motto of "Skin for skin" were only brought to a state of peace by
+the loss of dividends. Much correspondence passed between the offices of
+Leadenhall Street and Suffolk Lane in London, which the two companies
+occupied, but articles of agreement were not sufficient to make a union.
+
+All such coalitions to be successful must circle around a single man.
+
+This man was a young Scottish clerk, who had spent a year only in the
+far Athabasca district. He had not depended on birth or influence for
+his advancement, was not yet wholly immersed in the traditions or
+prejudices of either company, and had consequently nothing to unlearn.
+Montreal became the Canadian headquarters of the company, but now the
+annual meeting of the traders where he as Governor presided, was held at
+Norway House. The offices in London were united, and thus the affairs of
+the fur trade were provided for and outward peace at least was
+guaranteed. We are, however, chiefly dealing with the affairs of
+Assiniboia as Lord Selkirk called it, or with what was more commonly
+called Red River Settlement. This belonged to Lord Selkirk's heirs. The
+executors were, of course, Hudson's Bay Company grandees. They were Sir
+James Montgomery, Mr. Halkett, Andrew Colville, and his brother the
+Solicitor-general of Scotland. When the news came of the death of Lord
+Selkirk, the mishaps and disturbances of the Colony had been so many,
+that Hudson's Bay Company, Nor'-Westers, Settlers, and Freemen all said,
+"That will end the Colony now!" To the surprise of everyone the first
+message from the executors was one of courage, and the announcement was
+made that their first aim would be to send six hundred new settlers to
+the banks of Red River.
+
+[Illustration: SEVEN OAKS MONUMENT On Kildonan Road near Winnipeg.]
+
+The angry passions which had been roused led the English directors to
+take the very wise step of sending out two representatives--one from
+each of the old companies to rearrange all matters and settle all
+disputes. The two delegates were Nicholas Garry, the Vice-Governor of
+the Hudson's Bay Company, and Simon McGillivray, who bore one of the
+most influential names of the Nor'-Wester traders. They were not,
+however, equally well liked. Garry was a courteous, fair, and kindly
+gentleman. He won golden opinions among officers and settlers alike.
+McGillivray was suspicious and selfish, so the records of the time
+state. They came to the Red River in 1821, and Garry entered
+particularly into the arrangement of the Forts at the Forks. The old
+Fort Douglas was retained as Colony Fort, and the small Hudson's Bay
+Company trading house as well as Fort Gibraltar were absorbed into the
+new fort which was erected on the banks of the Assiniboine between Main
+Street and the bank of the Red River. All the letters and documents of
+the time speak of Governor Garry's visits as carrying a gleam of
+sunshine wherever he went and it was appropriate that the new fort built
+in the following year should bear the name Fort Garry. This was the
+wooden fort, which still remained in existence though superseded as a
+fort in 1850.
+
+At the time of Governor Garry's visit the population of the settlement
+may be considered to have been about five hundred. These were made up of
+somewhat less than two hundred Selkirk Colonists, about one hundred De
+Meurons, a considerable number of French Voyageurs and Freemen, Swiss
+Colonists perhaps eighty, and the remainder Orkney, employees of the
+Hudson's Bay Company. The Colony was, however, beginning to organize
+itself. The accounts of the French settlers are very vague, an
+occasional name flitting across the page of history. One family still
+found on Red River banks, gains celebrity as possessing the first white
+woman who came to Rupert's Land. With her husband she had gone to
+Edmonton in ----, and had wandered over the prairies. In 1811, with her
+husband, she first saw the Forks of Red River and wintered in 1811-12 at
+Pembina, the winter which the first band of Colonists spent at York
+Factory. Lajimoniere became a fast adherent of Lord Selkirk, and made a
+famous and most dangerous winter journey through the wilds alone,
+carrying letters from Red River to Montreal, delivered them personally
+to Lord Selkirk in 1815.
+
+The Lajimonieres received with great delight in 1818 the first Roman
+Catholic missionaries who reached Red River. These were sent through
+Lord Selkirk's influence, and the large gift of land known as the
+Seigniory lying east of St. Boniface was the reward given to the early
+pioneer missionaries--Provencher and Dumoulin, men of great stature and
+manly bearing. In the year of their arrival James Sutherland, the
+Presbyterian chaplain of the Selkirk Colonists, was taken by the
+Nor'-Westers to Upper Canada, whither his son, Haman Sutherland, had
+gone in 1815 with Duncan Cameron. The Earl of Selkirk had promised to
+send to his Scottish Colonists a minister of their own faith. On his
+death in France his agent in London was Mr. John Pritchard. Seventeen
+days after the death of Lord Selkirk, Rev. John West was appointed to
+come as chaplain to the Colonists and the other Protestants of Red
+River. Pritchard arrived by Hudson's Bay ship at York Factory 15 Aug.,
+1820, having Mr. West in company with him.
+
+And now Colville wrote to Alexander Macdonell, the Governor of the
+Settlement: "Mr. West goes out and takes with him persons acquainted
+with making bricks and pottery." Macdonell was a Roman Catholic, but
+Colville wrote: "I trust also that by your example and advice you will
+encourage all the Protestants, Presbyterians as well as others to attend
+divine service as performed by Mr. West. He will also open schools." As
+to Mr. West's support a curiosity occurs in one of Mr. West's letters
+written in the following year from York Factory. He speaks of an
+agreement between Lord Selkirk and the Selkirk Settlers.
+
+"That the Settlers will use their endeavours for the benefit and support
+of the clergyman and shall be chargeable therewith as follows (that is
+to say): each settler shall employ himself, his servants, his horses,
+cattle, carts, carriages and other things necessary to the purpose on
+every day and at every place to be appointed by the clergyman to whom,
+or whose flock he shall belong, not exceeding at and after the rate of
+three days in the spring and three days in the autumn of each year."
+
+This is a gem of ecclesiasticism.
+
+Mr. West says: "I find that it is impracticable to carry the same into
+effect. This is attributable to the distance of most of the settlers and
+the reluctance of the Scotch Settlers."
+
+Mr. West had made mention of this to Governor Garry.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+SATRAP RULE.
+
+
+"Woe to the Nation," says a high authority, "whose King is a child," but
+far worse than even having a child-ruler is the fate of a Kingdom or
+Principality whose ruler is a hireling. The Roman Empire was ruled in
+the different provinces by selfish and dishonest adventurers, who
+tyrannized over the people, farmed out the revenues, bribed their
+favorites and defrauded their masters. Turkish Government or Persian
+Rule is to-day an organized system of extortion and oppression by
+unscrupulous Satraps. Lord Selkirk's two governors, Miles Macdonell and
+Robert Semple, had been removed, the former by capture, the latter by
+death. Alexander Macdonell in 1816 became acting governor and was
+confirmed in office for five or six years afterward. In his regime the
+Grasshoppers came and did their destructive work, but the French people
+nicknamed him "Governor Sauterelle," Grasshopper Governor, for, says the
+historian of this decade he was so called, "because he proved as great a
+destroyer within doors as the grasshoppers in the fields."
+
+Lord Selkirk had been a most generous and sympathetic founder to his
+Scottish Colony. He was not only proprietor of the whole Red River
+Valley, but he felt himself responsible for the support and comfort of
+his Colonists. He had to begin with supplying food, clothing,
+implements, arms and ammunition to his settlers. He had erected
+buildings for shelter and a store house and fort for the protection of
+them and their goods. He had supplied, in a Colony shop, provisions and
+all requisites to be purchased by his settlers and on account of their
+poverty to be charged to their individual accounts.
+
+George Simpson, who was the new Governor of the United Hudson's Bay
+Company, was for two years Macdonell's contemporary, and he in one of
+his letters says: "Macdonell is, I am concerned to say, extremely
+unpopular, despised and held in contempt by every person connected with
+the place, he is accused of partiality, dishonesty, untruth and
+drunkenness,--in short, by a disrespect of every moral and elevated
+feeling."
+
+Alexander Ross says of him, "The officials he kept about him resembled
+the court of an Eastern Nabob, with its warriors, serfs, and varlets,
+and the names they bore were hardly less pompous, for here were
+secretaries, assistant secretaries, accountants, orderlies, grooms,
+cooks and butlers."
+
+Satrap Macdonell held high revels in his time. "From the time the
+puncheons of rum reached the colony in the fall, till they were all
+drunk dry, nothing was to be seen or heard about Fort Douglas but
+balling, dancing, rioting and drunkenness in the barbarous sport of
+those disorderly times." Macdonell's method of reckoning accounts was
+unique. "In place of having recourse to the tedious process of pen and
+ink the heel of a bottle was filled with wheat and set on the cask. This
+contrivance was called the 'hour glass,' and for every flagon drawn off,
+a grain of wheat was taken out of the hour glass, and put aside till the
+bouse was over."
+
+As was to be expected this disgraceful state of things led to grave
+frauds in the dealings with the Colonists, and when Halkett, one of Lord
+Selkirk's executors, arrived on Red River to investigate the complaints,
+a thorough system of "false entries, erroneous statements and
+over-charges" was found, and the discontent of the settlers was removed,
+though they were all heavily in debt to the Estate.
+
+It had been the object of Lord Selkirk from the beginning of his
+enterprise to give employment to his needy Colonists. Various
+enterprises were begun with this end in view, but they were all mere
+bubbles which soon burst. John Pritchard, whom Lord Selkirk had taken as
+his secretary to London, was largely instrumental in floating the
+ill-starred scheme known as the "Buffalo Wool Company." Just as on the
+shores of the Mediterranean, shawls were made from the long wool of the
+goats, so it was thought that shawls could be made of the hair or wool
+of the buffalo. A voluminous correspondence given in many letters of
+Pritchard's to Lady Selkirk and other ladies of high station and to an
+English firm of manufacturers exploiting this project is before us.
+Sample squares of the cloth made of buffalo wool were distributed and in
+certain circles the novelty from the Red River was the "talk of the
+town," in London.
+
+On the banks of Red River the scheme took like wild-fire. All Red River
+people were to make fortunes. There were to be high wages and work for
+everybody. Wages were increased, and men were receiving nearly four
+dollars a day. Money became plentiful and provisions became dear and
+also scarce. The employees, higher and lower, became intoxicated with
+their success, as they now also became really intoxicated and fell into
+reckless habits. The work was neglected, and the enterprize collapsed.
+This was the earliest boom on Red River banks. Failure was sure to
+follow so mad a scheme. The buffalo wool cloth which it cost some twelve
+dollars and a half to manufacture, partly in Red River Settlement and
+partly in England, was sold for little more than one dollar a yard. The
+L2,000 of capital was all swallowed up, L4,500 of debt to the Hudson's
+Bay Company was never paid, the scheme became a laughing stock in
+England, and failure and misery followed its collapse in the Colony.
+
+At this time the French-Canadian settlement at Pembina was induced to
+remove to St. Boniface on the Red River, where they gathered around
+their new priest, Provencher, to whom they became much attached.
+
+The Selkirk Trustees, in every way, continued ungrudgingly to advance
+the interests of the Colony, but their plans, though often mere theories
+failed more from extravagance and want of good men to execute them than
+from any other cause.
+
+Believing that farming was the thing needing cultivation in a country
+with so rich a soil, the Colonizers began the Hayfield farm on the north
+bank of the Assiniboine River, near what is now the outskirts of the
+City of Winnipeg, a little above the present Agricultural College
+buildings. Beginning with an expensive salary for Manager Laidlaw, the
+promoters erected ample farm buildings, barns, yards and stables.
+Importations were made of well-bred cattle and horses. Several years of
+mismanagement and helplessness resulted from this trial of a model farm,
+and it was given up at a total loss to the proprietors of L3,500. The
+Assiniboine Wool Company was next started, but failed before the first
+payment of stock took place, without damage to anyone, so that, as was
+remarked, there was "much cry and little wool." The Flax and Hemp
+Company was the next unfortunate enterprise. This failed on account of
+there being no market, so that farmers never reaped the successful crops
+which they had grown. An expedition was made to Missouri, under Messrs.
+Burke and Campbell, to introduce sheep into the settlement. As the
+fifteen hundred sheep purchased had to be driven 1,500 miles to their
+destination on Red River, only two hundred and fifty of the whole flock
+survived. Failure after failure taking place did not prevent the
+formation of a Tallow Company, which resulted in the loss of L600 to
+L1,000, and a considerable sum was spent also in an abortive attempt to
+open up a road to Hudson's Bay, a scheme which Lord Selkirk's letters
+show, he had in view from the very beginning of the life of the Colony.
+The courage and generosity of the executors of Lord Selkirk shown to all
+these enterprises reflects the greatest credit upon them. True, the
+concession of so wide an area of fertile land was worth it, and the
+pledges made to the Selkirk settlers demanded it, but as in hundreds of
+other enterprises undertaken by British capitalists on the American
+continent, the choice of men foreign to the country and its conditions,
+the lack of conscience and economy on the part of the agents sent out,
+the dissension and jealousy aroused by every such attempt, as well as
+the absence of the means of transport by land and sea through the
+methods supplied by science to-day, resulted in a series of dismal
+failures, which placed an undeserved stigma upon the character of the
+soil, climate, and resources of Assiniboia. It took more than fifty
+years of subsequent effort to remove this impression.
+
+These experiences took place under those governors who succeeded
+Alexander Macdonell--the Grasshopper Governor. The first of them was
+Captain Bulger, an unfortunate martinet, though a man of good conscience
+and high ideals. He had a most uncompromising manner. He quarreled with
+the Hudson's Bay Company officer at Fort Garry on the one hand, and with
+old Indian Chief Peguis on the other. A whole crop of suggestions made
+by the Captain on the improvement of the Colony remain in his "Red River
+Papers." Bulger's successor was Governor Pelly, a relative of the
+celebrated Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company. The new Governor lacked
+nerve and decision, and was quite unfitted for his position. His method
+of dealing with an Indian murderer was long repeated on Red River as a
+subject for humor, when he instructed the interpreter to announce to the
+criminal: "that he had manifested a disposition subversive of all order,
+and if he should not be punished in this world, he would be sure to be
+punished in the next." The hopelessness of carrying on the affairs of
+the Colony apart from those of the general affairs of the Hudson's Bay
+Company, was now seen, and on the suggestion of Governor Simpson, the
+management was placed in the hands of governors immediately responsible
+to the company. This change led to the appointment as Governor of Donald
+McKenzie. This old trader had taken part in the formation of the Astor
+Fur Company, and was in charge of one of the famous parties, which in
+1811 crossed the continent, as described by Washington Irving. Ross Cox
+says of this beleaguered party: "Their concave cheeks, protuberant
+bones, and tattered garments indicated the dreadful extent of their
+privations." The old trader thus case-hardened faced bravely for eight
+years the worries of the Colony.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+AND THE FLOOD CAME.
+
+
+With fire and flood some of the greatest catastrophies of the world have
+been closely connected. The tradition of the Noachian deluge has been
+found among almost all peoples. Horace speaks of the mild little Tiber
+becoming so unruly that the fishes swam among the tops of the trees upon
+its banks. Tidal waves devastated the shores of England and France on
+several occasions. It is most natural that prairie rivers should exceed
+their banks and spread over wide areas of the land. Old Trader Nolin,
+one of the first on the prairies, states that a worse flood than that
+seen by the Selkirk Settlers took place fifty years before, and there
+were two other floods between these two. Each year, according to the
+tale of the old settlers, the rivers of the prairies have been becoming
+wider by denudation, so that each flood tends to be less. Several
+conditions seem to be necessary for a flood upon these prairie rivers.
+These are a very heavy snowfall during the prairie winter, a late spring
+in which the river ice retains its hold, and a sudden period in the
+springtime of very hot weather, these being modified as the years go on
+by the ever-widening river channel.
+
+The winter of 1825-6 was one of the most terrific ever known in the
+history of the Selkirk Settlement. Just before Christmas the first woe
+occurred. The snow drove the herds of buffaloes far out upon the
+prairies from the river encampments and the wooded shelter. The horses
+in bands were scattered and lost, dying as they floundered in the deep
+snows. Even the hunters were cut off from one another, the hunters'
+families were driven hither and thither, and in many cases separated on
+the wide snowy plains. Sheriff Ross, who was a visitor from the
+Settlement to Pembina in the dreary winter there, describes the scene of
+horror. "Families here and families there despairing of life, huddled
+themselves together for warmth, and in too many cases, their shelter
+proved their grave. At first, the heat of their bodies melted the snow;
+they became wet, and being without food or fuel, the cold soon
+penetrated, and in several instances froze the whole into a body of
+solid ice. Some again, were found in a state of wild delirium, frantic,
+mad; while others were picked up, one here, and one there, overcome in
+their fruitless attempts to reach Pembina--some half-way, some more,
+some less; one woman was found with an infant on her back, within a
+quarter of a mile of Pembina. This poor creature must have travelled, at
+least, one hundred and twenty-five miles, in three days and nights, till
+she sunk at last in the too unequal struggle for life." Such scenes
+might be expected in the valleys of the Highlands of Scotland, or amid
+the heavy snows of New Brunswick or Quebec, but they were a surprise
+upon the open prairie. Some of the settlers had devoured their dogs, raw
+hides, leather and their very shoes. The loss of thirty-three lives cast
+a gloom over the whole settlement.
+
+Anxiety had been aroused throughout the whole Colony. The St. Lawrence
+often overflows its banks at Montreal, the Grand River at Brantford and
+the Fraser at its delta, but the rarity of the Red River overflows led
+the people, after their winter disaster, to hope that they would escape
+a flood.
+
+This was not to be.
+
+As the Red River flows northward, the first thaw of spring is usually
+south of the American International Boundary line at the head waters of
+the river which divides Minnesota and Dakota. In these States the floods
+are always, in consequence, greater than they are in Manitoba. In this
+year the ice held very firm up to the end of April. On the second of
+May, the waters from above rose and lifted the ice which still held in a
+mass together some nine feet above the level of the day before. Indians
+and whites alike were alarmed. The water overflowed its banks, and still
+continued to rise at Fort Garry. The Governor and his family were driven
+to the upper story of their residence in the fort, with the water ten
+feet deep below that.
+
+The whole river bank for miles was a scene of confusion and terror.
+Every home was an alarming scene as the flood reached it. The first
+thought was to save life. Amid the crying of children, the lowing of
+cattle and the howling of dogs, parents sought out all their children to
+see them safely removed. Parents and grown men and women fled in fright
+from their houses, and in many cases without any other garments than
+their working clothes. The only hope was to seek out somewhat higher
+spots more and more removed from the river. And with them went their
+cattle and horses.
+
+To those in boats--the stronger and more venturesome men--the task now
+came of removing the wheat and oats, what little furniture they
+possessed and the necessary cooking utensils.
+
+Blessed, on such occasions, are those who possess little for they shall
+have no loss.
+
+As the waters rose, the lake became wider, and the wind blew the waves
+to a dangerous height. The ice broke up and the current increasing
+dashed this against the buildings, which at length gave way and all went
+floating down across the points--ice, log houses with dogs and cats
+frantic on their roofs. One eye-witness says: "The most singular
+spectacle was a house in flames, drifting along in the night, its one
+half immersed in water and the remainder furiously burning."
+
+As the flood of waters widened into a great expanse it became plain that
+it would be some time,--if indeed less than several months,--before the
+waters would begin to abate, and in the absence of an Ararat on which to
+rest, the settlers occupied the rock-bared elevations, the highest Stony
+Mount, only eighty feet above the level, with the middle bluff, little
+Stony Mountain and Bird's Hill, east of the river. It is interesting to
+know that Silver Heights and the banks of the Sturgeon Creek near its
+mouth, were not submerged and at their various points the Colonists
+pitched their tents and sojourned.
+
+In seventeen days from the first rise, the water reached its height, and
+hope began immediately to return. On the 22nd of May the waters
+commenced to assuage, and twenty days afterward the Settlers were able
+with difficulty to reach their homes again.
+
+But every disaster has its side of advantage. During the escape of the
+Settlers to the heights, the De Meurons, losing all sense of restraint,
+stole the cattle of the Settlers and actually sold them meat from their
+own slaughtered cattle. So intense was the feeling of the Scottish
+Settlers against the De Meurons that the Selkirk Colonists chose another
+situation and moved to it.
+
+Now that the flood was over, the De Meurons and Swiss became more
+restless than ever. They decided to move to the United States. The
+Selkirk Colonists were glad to see them go, and furnished them, free of
+cost, sufficient supplies for their journey. They departed on the 24th
+of June, their band numbering 243, and the sturdy pioneers who held to
+their land shed no tears of sorrow at their going.
+
+With remarkable courage and hope the Settlers returned after what was to
+some of them, their fourth Hegira, and immediately planted potatoes and
+small quantities of wheat and barley. This grew well and supplied food
+for them, and in the next two or three years no less than two hundred
+and four houses were built. The Settlement, now freed from dissension,
+had not gone through its fiery ordeal in vain. The news of a home for
+themselves and their dusky wives and half-breed children, had spread
+over the whole of Rupert's Land, and now began, what Lieutenant-Governor
+Archibald, the first Governor of Manitoba, afterward spoke of as the
+floating down the rivers with their wives and children of the Hudson's
+Bay Company officers and men to the paradise of Red River. The great
+majority of the employees of the Company were Orkneymen. They gradually
+took up the most of the Red River lots surveyed, lying below Kildonan,
+and forming the Parishes of St. Paul's and St. Andrew's on Red River,
+down to St. Peter's Indian Reserve and St. James' and Headingly up the
+Assiniboine. The French half-breeds who removed from Pembina and
+different parts of Rupert's Land, made the great French parishes of St.
+Boniface, St. Norbert, St. Vital on the Red River, with St. Charles, St.
+Francois Xavier and Baie St. Paul on the Assiniboine. And now of
+Scottish Settlers with French and English half-breeds, the population of
+Red River Settlement had reached the number of 1,500 souls.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE JOLLY GOVERNOR.
+
+
+Great crises in the world's history generally produce the men who solve
+them. Cromwell, Washington, Garibaldi--each of them was the movement
+itself. A wider philosophy may see that the age or the Community evolves
+the man, but as Carlyle shows, it is the man who reacts upon the
+community, becomes the embodiment of its ideal, and is the mouthpiece
+and the right hand of the age which produces him.
+
+That Andrew Colville, a brother-in-law of Lord Selkirk, should select a
+young clerk in London and send him out to Athabasca to see the great
+fur-region of the Mackenzie River District, is not a wonderful thing,
+but that after one year of active service this young man should be
+chosen to guide the destinies of the great united fur company, made up
+of the Hudson's Bay and Nor'-Wester Companies is a wonder.
+
+This was the case with George Simpson, a Scottish youth, who was the
+illegitimate son of the maternal uncle of Thomas Simpson, the famous
+Arctic explorer, who is known as having followed out a portion of the
+coast line of the Arctic Sea.
+
+Anyone can see that from the proverbial energy that is developed in
+those of inferior birth, there was here one of Nature's commanding
+spirits, who would bring order out of chaos.
+
+Moreover, the fact of his short service in a distant part of the fur
+country, left him free from prejudice, gave him an open mind, and
+permitted him to serve as a young man when he was yet plastic and
+adaptable--all this was in his favor.
+
+Governor Simpson was short of stature, but possessed of great energy and
+endurance. He was keen in mind and observing in his faculties. Active
+and determined, he might at times seem a martinet and a tyrant, but he
+had at the same time an easy and pleasant manner that enabled him to
+attract to himself his servants and subordinates, but especially the
+savages with whom he had constantly to have dealings. His ardent
+Highland nature led him to rejoice in the picturesque and the showy, and
+he was fond of music and of society. Given to change, Simpson became a
+great traveller and made a voyage around the world before the days of
+steam or railway.
+
+One of the first gatherings of the fur traders, in which the young
+Governor gained golden opinions, was held at Norway House, the old
+resting place of the Selkirk Settlers. This meeting took place in June,
+1823; the minutes of this meeting have been preserved and are
+interesting. Such items as, that Bow River Fort at the foot of the Rocky
+Mountains was abandoned; that because of prairie fires the buffaloes
+were far beyond Pembina; that the Assiniboine Indians had moved to the
+Saskatchewan for food; that trouble with the French traders had arisen
+on account of their determination to trade in furs; that the French
+half-breeds had largely moved from Pembina to St. Boniface; that the
+trade should be withdrawn from beyond the American Boundary line; that
+the Sioux Indians should be discouraged from coming to the Forts to
+trade; and that the company intended to take over the Colony from Lord
+Selkirk's trustees, all came up for consideration.
+
+These were all important and difficult problems, but the young Governor
+acted with such shrewdness and skill, that he completely carried the
+Council with him, and was given power to act for the Council during the
+intervals between its meetings--a thing most unusual.
+
+The Governor was ubiquitous.
+
+[Illustration: SIR GEORGE SIMPSON Governor of Rupert's Land, 1821-60.]
+
+Now at Moose Factory, then at York; now at Norway House, but every year
+at Red River, the Governor saw for himself the needs of the country, and
+the opportunities for advancing the interests of the Hudson's Bay
+Company. Forty times, that is, nearly every year of his Governorship, it
+is said he travelled the route between Montreal and Fort Garry, and this
+by canoe. He drove his men, who were chiefly French-Canadians, with
+irritating haste, and it is a story prevalent among the old Selkirk
+Settlers, that a stalwart French voyageur, who was a favorite of the
+Governor, was once, in crossing the Lake of the Woods, so infuriated
+with his master's urging that he seized the tormentor who was small in
+stature, by the shoulders, and with a plentiful use of "sacres," dipped
+him into the lake, and then replaced him in the bottom of the canoe.
+
+It does not fall within the scope of our story to tell of Simpson's
+journeys through Rupert's Land, nor of his famous voyage around the
+world, but there is extant an account of his methods of appealing to the
+interest of the Indians and servants of the company in his notable
+progresses through the wilds. Some seven years after his appointment
+Governor Simpson made a voyage from Hudson Bay, across country to the
+Pacific Ocean, namely, from York Factory to Fort Vancouver on the
+Columbia River. Fourteen chief officers, factors and traders, and as
+many more clerks had gathered to see the chieftain depart. Taking with
+him a lieutenant--Macdonald, a doctor and two canoe crews, of nine men
+each, the jolly Governor with dashing speed ascended the Hayes River, up
+which the Selkirk Colonists had laboriously come, receiving as he left
+the Factory, loud cheers from all the people gathered, and a salute of
+seven guns from the garrison. The French-Canadian voyageurs struck up
+their boating songs with glee, and with dashing paddles left the bay
+behind.
+
+The expedition was well provided with supplies, including wine for the
+gentlemen and spirits for the men.
+
+The arrival at Norway House was a fete.
+
+Before reaching the Fort the party landed on the shore, and paying much
+attention to their toilets, put themselves in proper trim. In full
+career the canoes dashed through the deep rocky gorge leading to the
+Fort, the Governor's canoe, had on its high prow, conspicuous the French
+guide, who for the time gave commands. The Governor always took his
+Highland piper with him, and now there pealed forth from the canoe the
+strident strains of the bagpipes, while from the second canoe sounded
+the shrill call of the chief factor's bugle. As the party approached the
+Fort they saw the Union Jack with its magic letters H.B.C. floating from
+the tall flag-staff of Norway pine erected on Signal Hill. Bands of
+Indians from all directions were assembled to meet the great chief or
+"Kitche Okema," as they called him. Ceasing the pipes and bugle, the
+voyageurs sang with lively spirit one of their boat songs, to the great
+delight of their old friends, the Indians.
+
+The Governor was in 1839, at a time when Canada was much disturbed in
+both Provinces by the Mackenzie-Papineau rebellion, rewarded for the
+loyalty of his Company by having knighthood conferred upon him.
+
+Sir George Simpson's annual visits to Red River Settlement were the
+bright spots in the life of the Colony. Never did a Governor get so near
+the people as did Sir George. Old settlers tell how when Sir George
+arrived every grievance, disaster, suspicion, or bit of gossip was
+faithfully carried to him, and his patience and ingenuity were freely
+exercised in "jollying" the people and giving them condescending
+attention.
+
+Sir George married in time, and on occasion brought Lady Simpson, who
+was a native of the country, to visit the Red River Settlement. Her
+presence was taken as a compliment by the people. Sir George Simpson,
+like many of the Hudson's Bay Company, had among all his business
+engagements the taste for literature. He encouraged the formation of
+libraries at the several trading posts, and in his letters throws in a
+remark about Sir Walter Scott, or Blackwood's last magazine, or other
+living topic, although the means of communication made literature often
+months late even on the banks of the Red River. His own effort in
+producing a book gave rise to a considerable amount of amusement. After
+his great journey around the world, he published an account of his
+travels in two considerable volumes. It is now no secret that these were
+prepared for him by a well-known judge of Red River Settlement, of whom
+we speak more fully in a later chapter. This double authorship became
+decidedly inconvenient to Sir George on the celebrated occasion when he
+was cited in 1857 to give evidence before the Committee of the House of
+Commons as to Rupert's Land. Sir George's experience in introducing
+farming into Red River Settlement had been so troublesome, and expensive
+as well, that he really believed agriculture would be a failure in the
+West, and so he gave his evidence. Unfortunately for him his editor had
+indulged in his book, in a pictorial and fulsome description of the
+Rainy River, as an agricultural region. Mr. Roebuck quoted this passage
+and Sir George was in a serious dilemma. If he admitted it his evidence
+would seem untrue, if he denied it then he must deny his authorship. He
+admitted that the book was somewhat too flattering in its description.
+
+But, take him all in all, Sir George really stood for his duty and his
+people. He lifted the fur trade out of a slough of despond, he was kind
+and charitable to the people of the Red River Settlement, he was a good
+administrator and a patriot Briton, and though as his book tells and
+local tradition confirms it, he could not escape from what is called
+"the witchery of a pretty face," yet he rose to the position on the
+whole as a man who sought for the higher interests of the vast territory
+under his sway, as well as for the financial advancement of his company.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+THE OLIGARCHY.
+
+
+The struggle has always been between the masses and the classes.
+Privilege always strives to confine itself to a few. It could not be but
+that the echoes of the great British Reform Bill of 1832 should reach
+even the remote banks of Red River. The struggle for constitutional
+freedom was also going on in Upper Canada, as well as in Lower Canada
+where the French-Canadians were fighting bitterly for their rights.
+Besides all this in the Red River Settlement the existence of a Company
+store--a monopoly--could never prove satisfactory to a community of
+British blood. Had the Colony shop been ever so justly and honestly
+conducted it could not be popular, how much less so must it have been in
+the hands of Alexander Macdonell, the peculator and deceiver.
+
+It is true the Company store, of which we speak, was not that of the
+Hudson's Bay Company proper, but rather the possession of Lord Selkirk's
+heirs.
+
+Gradually the rulership was coming under the direction of Governor
+Simpson, though there was the local Governor who was nominally
+independent.
+
+Even when Governor Simpson was invoked, it is to be remembered that he
+and his company were the embodiment of privilege. But the Governor was a
+surprisingly shrewd man. He saw the aspiration after freedom, of both
+Scottish and French Settlers. True, gaunt poverty did not stalk along
+the banks of Red River as it had done in the first ten years of the
+Colony, but just because the people were becoming better housed, better
+clad, and better fed, were they becoming more independent. The
+unwillingness to be controlled was showing itself very distinctly among
+the French half-breeds as they grew in numbers and dashed over the
+prairies on their fiery steeds. They were hunters, accustomed to the use
+of firearms and were, therefore, difficult to restrain.
+
+The Governor's policy clearly defined in his own mind became, for the
+next ten years, the policy of the Company. We have seen that the
+Governor built Lower Fort Garry, and he regarded this as his residence,
+nearly twenty miles down the river from the Forks, which was the centre
+of French influence. Even before doing this in 1831 he had, in the year
+preceding this, as Ross tells us, built a small powder magazine at Upper
+Fort Garry, and it goes without saying that rulers do not build powder
+magazines for the purpose of ornament.
+
+In 1834, as we learn from Hon. Donald Gunn, who was then a resident of
+Red River Settlement, and who has left us his views in the manuscript
+afterward published coming up to 1835, a most serious revolt took place
+among the Metis. Gunn's account is vivid and interesting.
+
+[Illustration: The Sisters, The Ferry, The Forks, Fort Garry, Site of
+Fort Gibraltar, Pontoon Bridge, French Half-breeds with Ox-carts, Red and
+Assiniboine Rivers. FORT GARRY (From Oil painting of Mr. W. Frank
+Lynn made in 1872, now in possession of the Author.)]
+
+The French half-breeds were entirely dependent upon hunting, trapping or
+voyaging. One hundred or one hundred and fifty men were required to
+transfer goods, furs, etc., from the boats during the time of open
+water. Generally they received advances from the Fur Company at the
+beginning of summer, for they were always in debt to the company. On the
+close of the open season they were paid the balance due them. After a
+few days of idleness and gossip the money would be spent and want would
+begin to press them. A new engagement with an advance would follow. The
+agreement was signed, and so like an endless chain, the natives were
+always held to the Company's interest. At Christmas, these workmen
+received a portion of their advance, and as is well known, the company
+relaxed somewhat its rules as to liquor selling at this season. At this
+Christmas time of 1834 payments were being made and indulgence was
+supreme, when a French half-breed named Larocque entered the office of
+the accountant, Thomas Simpson, a relative of Sir George, and demanded
+his pay in a disrespectful way. Simpson replied somewhat roughly, which
+led Larocque to insult the officer of the company. Simpson seized the
+fire poker and striking Larocque's head made an ugly wound on his scalp.
+
+Larocque's companions retired without violence, but on returning home,
+gathered the violent spirits together, came back to Fort Garry and
+demanded that Thomas Simpson should be given up to them for punishment,
+with the threat that if this were not granted, they would destroy the
+Fort, and take Simpson by violence. This being refused them, the Metis
+returned to their homes to prepare themselves for action, and began the
+war songs and war dances of their savage ancestors in true Indian style.
+Governor Christie, the local authority, took with him Chief Factor
+Cameron, Robert Logan and Alexander Ross, chief men of the Settlement,
+and visited the gathering of the Metis. One of the deputation writes
+that "they resembled a troop of furies more than human beings." For some
+time the mob refused the approaches of the officers of the Company. At
+length the quarrel was settled by the Company agreeing to pay the
+voyageur's wages in full, and that he should be allowed to remain at
+home. Probably, however, the most acceptable part of the concession, was
+the gift by the Company of a "ten-gallon keg of rum and tobacco."
+
+Next spring another demonstration was made by the Metis for other
+demands, but these were refused.
+
+[Illustration: EXTERIOR VIEW OF FORT GARRY]
+
+Then, from every direction came the imperious suggestion that some more
+effective form of government should be adopted. This was granted. True,
+Governor Simpson did not succeed in satisfying all the Settlers, though
+in this respect he found it easier to supply the volatile
+French-Canadian hunters, than the hard-headed people of British origin.
+The method of Governor Simpson, along with the London Board of the
+Hudson's Bay Company choosing the Council of Assiniboia, certainly did
+smack of the age of Henry VIII. or Charles I. in English history.
+
+The Council consisted of fifteen members, viz.: the Governor-in-Chief
+Simpson, the Local Governor Christie, the Roman Catholic Bishop, two
+Church of England clergymen, three retired Hudson's Bay Company
+officers, the leading doctor of the Colony, Sheriff Ross, Coroner
+McCallum, and three leading business men, viz.: Pritchard, Logan and
+McDermott. It is noticeable that though the French element numbered
+about one-half of the people, that only one Councillor besides the
+Bishop was given them, and this was Cuthbert Grant, now settled down
+from the period of his Bois-brules impulsiveness to be the Warden of the
+Plains, with an influence over the Metis, that can only be described as
+magical.
+
+Judged by the methods of representative government the Council was
+rather a burlesque.
+
+Sheriff Alexander Ross, though a member of the Council, says: "To guard
+against foolish and oppressive acts, the sooner the people have a share
+in their own affairs the better. It is only fair that those that have to
+obey the laws should have a voice in making them."
+
+Hon. Donald Gunn, who was not on the Council, says: "The majority of the
+Council thus appointed were, no doubt, the wealthiest men in the Colony
+and generally well-informed, and yet their appointment was far from
+being acceptable to the people who knew that they were either
+sinecurists or salaried servants of the Hudson's Bay Company, and
+consequently were not the fittest men to legislate for people who
+retained some faint recollection of the manner in which the popular
+branch of the legislature in their native land was appointed, and who
+never ceased to inveigh against the arbitrary manner in which the
+Governor-in-chief chose the legislators."
+
+Notwithstanding the writer's perfect sympathy with both of these
+opinions, it is but fair to state that the Council of Assiniboia did in
+ordinary times do many things which were most beneficial and helpful to
+the Red River Community.
+
+Its most distressing failures were in those things which are very
+essential. (1) Being a compromise body it had no power of progressive
+development, and in the whole generation of its existence it did
+practically nothing to advance the public, intellectual, or moral
+interests of the people. (2) Perhaps its most serious breakdown took
+place, as we shall see, in the failure of its judicial system. Executive
+power it had none, as seen in the cases where jail-delivery took place
+again and again by the friends of the prisoners boldly extricating whom
+they would. (3) But most alarming and miserable was its failure to act
+in its moribund days, when it allowed, as we shall see, a mob to seize
+Fort Garry and bring in an era of disorder which made every
+self-respecting British subject blush with shame.
+
+[Illustration: FORT GARRY WINTER SCENES
+ SOUTH AND EAST FACES, 1840
+  From sketch by wife of Governor Finlayson.
+
+ EAST FACE IN 1882, WHEN FORT WAS DISMANTLED (From
+  painting in author's possession.) x Spot where Scott was Executed.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE OGRE OF JUSTICE.
+
+
+The wild life of the prairie or mountain cultivates a spirit of freedom.
+When individuals must become a law unto themselves, when the absence of
+steamers, railways, electric power, work-shops, and mills, throws men on
+their own resources, they find it irksome to obey the law. They regard
+its restrictions as tyrannical. The prairie horse becomes free. He must
+be caught with the lasso, he needs to be hobbled near the camp, it is
+necessary to curb him in his temper, but in his wild state he can
+provide for himself. He knows the best pasture and seeks it, he is
+acquainted with the water courses and finds them, he returns or not to
+his stable or covert at his own sweet will, he fights the wolf or the
+bear and protects the colts from the wild beasts.
+
+As is the prairie steed, so to a large extent is his master. He is apt
+to despise civilization, prefers his buckskin coat and fringed leggings,
+and loves the moccasin rather than the stiff leather shoe.
+
+With him the idea of sub-division of property is not developed. There
+are no local game laws. He shoots large or small game, moose or prairie
+chicken, whenever he can find them. He traps on whatever stream he
+chooses. His idea of personal property is very liberal. He is
+large-hearted and bountiful, divides his find of game with his
+neighbors, and his shanty has, as he says, "a latch hanging outside the
+door," for any wanderer or passing stranger.
+
+This many-sided notion of freedom belongs to all primitive peoples and
+societies. Of the Red River Community the French half-breed was of the
+most unsubdued and restive type, for he followed the ways of the
+Indians, while the Selkirk Colonists and their descendants always
+professed to be farmers, and hunting was only their diversion. Moreover,
+being of Scottish blood, they had been taught to fear God and honor the
+King.
+
+We have seen that Governor Simpson had a plan in his mind for gaining
+control and preserving order in his own kingdom. His idea of building
+fortified stone forts is chiefly seen in the cases of Upper and Lower
+Forts Garry. Fort Garry was, as we have seen, well on the way to
+completion by the time of the French outbreak in connection with
+Larocque. And Governor Christie was authorized to go on and construct a
+still more elaborate fort at the Forks to replace the wooden Fort Garry
+built shortly after the union of the Companies. Thus, a large Fort with
+numerous buildings, suitable for trade and residence, was begun in 1835,
+and around it a substantial stone wall was built. The dimensions from
+east to west were 280 feet, and from north to south 240 feet. The fort
+faced the Assiniboine River, and each of its corners showed a large and
+well-built bastion. The bastions were provided with port holes, and all
+about the structure suggested the possibility of an armed struggle. This
+was begun in the same year as the formation of the Council of
+Assiniboia, and was fairly advanced to completion by 1839. Laws for the
+government of the people, and the administration of justice were passed
+by the Council, in accordance with the opening address of Governor
+Simpson, when he said: "The time is at length arrived, when it becomes
+necessary to put the administration of justice on a more firm and
+regular footing than heretofore."
+
+And now, in 1839, in this Arcadia of Red River there became evident the
+dreadful presence of the law in the person of Adam Thom, first Recorder
+of Rupert's Land, who, as compared with the humble incomes of the people
+of Red River, had the enormous salary of L700 a year bestowed upon him
+by the Hudson's Bay Company. The plan was a very real one in Governor
+Simpson's mind when he took a step so decided.
+
+[Illustration: ADAM THOM, LL.D. Recorder and Author. Lived in Red River
+Settlement 1839-1854.]
+
+And the man who had been chosen for this post was no man of putty. He
+was a Scotchman of commanding presence, decided opinions and strong
+will. He was a man of rather aggressive and combative disposition. The
+writer met him in London long after he had retired--and this was some
+thirty years ago, and though the judge was then upwards of three score
+and ten, he was yet a man of force and decision. A graduate of Aberdeen
+University, Adam Thom had come to Montreal as a lawyer, and was for a
+time on Lord Durham's staff. He had taken high ground against Papineau's
+rebellion, and was known as one of the strongest newspaper
+controversialists of the time. He was a determined opponent of the
+French-Canadian rebellion, as he was of rebellion in any form whatever.
+Evidently, Governor Simpson chose a man "after his own heart" for the
+difficult task, of introducing law and order among the turbulent
+Nor'-Westers.
+
+The arrival of the new Judge in the Red River Settlement gave rise to
+much comment. The spirit of discontent had strengthened, as we have seen
+among the Colonists and English-speaking half-breeds. The Hudson's Bay
+Company had now re-bought the land of Assiniboia from Lord Selkirk's
+heirs. Hitherto it was difficult to find out precisely who their
+oppressor was. Now, though Governor Simpson sought by diplomacy to evade
+the responsibility, yet the explanation given by the Colonists of the
+arrival of Recorder Thom, was that he had come to uphold the Company's
+pretensions and to restrict their liberties. According to Ross, the
+Colonists reasoned that "a man placed in Recorder Thom's position,
+liable to be turned out of office at the Company's pleasure, naturally
+provokes the doubt whether he could at all times be proof against the
+sin of partiality. Is it likely," they said, "that he could always take
+the impartial view of a case that might involve in its results his own
+interests or deprive him of his daily bread?"
+
+Likewise, on the part of the French half-breeds, there was the same
+distrust in regard to the limiting of the privileges which they enjoyed,
+while along with this it had been noised about that during the Papineau
+trouble in Canada, the Judge was no favorite of the French. The French
+half-breeds, accordingly, became strongly prejudiced against the new
+Recorder.
+
+In the year after the arrival of Recorder Thom, a most startling and
+mysterious event--which indeed has never been solved to the present day,
+happened in the case of Thomas Simpson, who it will be remembered had
+roused by his crushing blow on the head of Larocque, the rage of the
+whole French half-breed community. The case was that Thomas Simpson,
+with a party of natives, had been going southward through Minnesota,
+ahead of the main body of sojourners. In a state of frenzy he had shot
+two of his four companions. The other two returned to the main body, and
+got assistance. He was seen to be alive as they approached him, a shot
+was heard, and then shots were fired in his direction by those observing
+him. Whether he committed suicide or was killed by those approaching,
+some of whom were French, will never be known. The fact that he had
+quarreled with the French half-breeds, five years before this event, was
+used to throw suspicion. The body of Simpson was carried back to St.
+John's Cemetery in Winnipeg, and it is said was buried along the wall in
+token of the belief that he had committed suicide.
+
+What the body of the people had feared in the tightening of the legal
+restrictions by the new laws and new officials, did actually take place.
+The French half-breeds were, as we have seen, chiefly given to hunting.
+In theory, the Hudson's Bay Company possessed _all hunting rights under
+their charter_. A French-Canadian, Larant, and another half-breed also,
+had the furs, which they had hunted for, forcibly taken from them by
+legal authority, while in a third case an offender against the game laws
+had been actually deported to York Factory. Alarm was now general among
+the French half-breeds. Hitherto the English half-breeds had been loyal
+to the Company. Alexander Ross gives an incident worth repeating as to
+how even the English half-breeds became rebellious. He says: "One of the
+Company's officers, residing at a distance, had placed two of his
+daughters at the boarding-school in the Settlement. An English
+half-breed, a comely well-behaved young man, of respectable connections,
+was paying his addresses to one of these young ladies, and had asked her
+in marriage. The young lady had another suitor in the person of a Scotch
+lad, but her affections were in favor of the former, while her guardian,
+the chief officer in Red River, preferred the latter. In his zeal to
+succeed in the choice he had made for the young lady, this gentleman
+sent for the half-breed and reprimanded him for aspiring to the hand of
+a lady, accustomed, as he expressed it, to the first society. The young
+man, without saying a word, put on his hat and walked out of the room;
+but being the leading man among his countrymen, the whole community took
+fire at the insult. 'This is the way,' said they, 'that we half-breeds
+are despised and treated.' From that time they clubbed together in high
+dudgeon and joined the French Malcontents against their rulers. The
+French half-breeds made a flag for use on the plains called 'The
+Papineau Standard.' It is plain that rightly or wrongly, Recorder Thom
+has a thorny path to tread."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+A HALF-BREED PATRIOT.
+
+
+Canada looks with patriotic delight not only on her sons who remain at
+home to work out the problems of her developing life, but follows with
+keenest interest those Canadians who have gone abroad and made a name
+for themselves, and their country in other parts of the Empire or the
+world. Some of these are Judge Haliburton, Satirist; Roberts and Bliss
+Carman, Poets; Gilbert Parker, Grant Allen and Barr, Novelists; Romanes
+and Newcombe, Scientists; Girouard, Kennedy and Scott in the Army, and
+many others who have won laurels in the several walks of life. But
+Manitoba, or rather Red River Settlement has also its sons who have gone
+abroad to do distinguished service and bring honor to their place of
+birth. One of them was Alexander K. Isbister, most commonly known as the
+donor of upwards of $80,000, given as a Scholarship Fund to the
+University of Manitoba, but really more celebrated still, for the
+service he rendered his native land. A little less than thirty years ago
+the writer met Mr. Isbister in London and enjoyed his hospitality.
+Isbister was a tall and handsome man, showing distinctly by his color
+and high cheekbones that he had Indian blood in his veins. Receiving his
+early education in St. John's School, he had gone home to England, taken
+his degrees, become a lawyer, and afterward had gone into educational
+work. He was, at the time of the visit spoken of, Dean of the College of
+Preceptors in London, and had much reputation as an educationalist. But
+the service he rendered to his native land out-topped all his other
+achievements. We have already shown the tendency toward restriction
+being developed under Recorder Thom's leadership, in Red River
+Settlement. James Sinclair, a member of a most respectable Scotch
+half-breed family, had obtained the privilege from the Company to export
+tallow, the product of the buffalo, by way of York Factory to England.
+The venture succeeded, but a second shipment was held at York Factory
+for nearly two years, and thus Sinclair was virtually compelled to sell
+it to the Company.
+
+Twenty leading half-breeds then appealed to the Hudson's Bay Company to
+be allowed to export tallow at a reasonable rate. In 1844 two
+proclamations were issued, that before the Company would carry goods for
+any settler, a declaration from such settler, and the examination of his
+correspondence in regard to his dealing in furs would first be
+necessary. The native people determined to oppose them. They claimed as
+having Indian blood, that they were entitled to aboriginal rights.
+Twenty leading English-speaking half-breeds, among them such respectable
+names as Sinclair, Dease, Vincent, Bird and Garrioch, demanded from
+Governor Christie a definite answer as to their position and rights. The
+Governor answered with sweet words, but the policy of "thorough" was
+steadily pushed forward, and a new land deed was devised by which the
+land would be forfeited should the settlers interfere in the fur trade.
+Next, heavy freights were put on goods going to England by way of Hudson
+Bay, and Sinclair, as an agitator, was refused the privilege of having
+his freight carried at any price. The spirits of the English-speaking
+half-breeds were raised to a pitch of discontent, quite equal to that of
+the French half-breeds, although the latter were more noisy and
+demonstrative. James Sinclair became the "village Hampden" who stood for
+his rights and those of his compeers.
+
+It was at this juncture that the valuable aid of Isbister came to his
+countrymen. In 1847 Isbister, with his educated mind, social standing,
+and valiant spirit led the way for his people, and with five other
+half-breeds of Red River forwarded a long and able memorial to Earl
+Grey, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, bringing the serious
+charges against the Company, of neglecting the native people, oppressing
+all the settlers, and taking from them their natural rights. A perusal
+of this document leads us to the opinion that the charges were
+exaggerated, but nevertheless they showed how impossible it was, for a
+Trading Company, to be at the same time the Government of a country and
+to be equitable and high-minded. The Hudson's Bay Company answered this
+document sent them by the Imperial Government, and so far relieved
+themselves of some of the charges. But the storm raised could not be
+quieted. Isbister obtained new evidence and attacked the validity of the
+Company's Charter. Lord Elgin, the fair-minded Governor of Canada,
+claimed that he, in Canada, was too far away from the scene of dispute
+to give an authoritative answer, but on the whole he favored the
+Company. Lord Elgin, however, based his reply too much upon the
+statement of Colonel Crofton, a military officer, who had been sent to
+Red River. Alexander Ross said of Crofton, on the other hand, that he
+was a man "who never studied the art of governing a people."
+
+But the agitation still gained head.
+
+The mercurial French half-breeds now joined in the struggle. They
+forwarded a petition to Her Majesty the Queen, couched in excellent
+terms, in the French language, in the main asking that their right to
+enjoy the liberty of commerce be given them. This petition was signed by
+nine hundred and seventy-seven persons, and virtually represented the
+whole French half-breed adult population.
+
+An important episode soon took place among the French, usually known as
+the "Sayer Affair." Of this we shall speak in another chapter. The
+movement, headed by Isbister, still continued, and led to the serious
+consideration by the British Government of the whole situation in Red
+River Settlement. The impatience of the people of all classes in Red
+River led to a new plan of attack. Not being able to influence
+sufficiently the British authorities, they forwarded a petition, signed
+by five hundred and seventy English-speaking people of Red River
+Settlement, to the Legislative Assembly of Canada. The grievances of the
+people were given in detail. The reason suggested for the deaf ear which
+had been given them by the British Parliament were stated to be "the
+chicanery of the Hudson's Bay Company, and its false representations."
+
+Isbister, in all his efforts, gained the unfailing respect and
+gratitude, not only of his own race, but very generally of the people of
+the Red River Settlement. Ten years after the petition of Isbister and
+his friends had been presented to Earl Grey, a committee of the House of
+Commons was sitting to investigate the affairs of the Hudson's Bay
+Company. It was a sifting inquiry, in which Gladstone, Roebuck and other
+friends of liberty, took part. It, however, took a quarter of a century
+to bring about the union of Rupert's Land with Canada, although, as we
+shall see, in less than five years, a measure of amelioration came to
+the oppressed and indignant settlers of Red River. For this the people
+of Red River Settlement were largely indebted to the self-denying and
+persistent efforts of Alexander Isbister. The old settlers of Kildonan,
+the French and English half-breeds of the several parishes, and their
+descendants as well as the University of Manitoba and all friends of
+education ought to keep his memory green for what he did for them, for
+as a writer of his own time says, "He gained for himself a name that
+will live in days yet to come."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+SAYER AND LIBERTY.
+
+
+Stone forts and ermined judges were not, to the mind of the unbridled
+and ungovernable Metis. True, the French mind has a love for show and
+circumstance and dignity of demeanor, but the conviction had taken hold
+of the people of Red River, and especially of the French half-breeds,
+that these meant curtailment of their freedom. They felt the dice were
+loaded against them.
+
+But, now, in the year after Sinclair and his friends had shown such a
+firm front to Governor Christie, and when something like a feudal system
+was being introduced into the Red River Settlement, a new surprise came
+upon French and English alike. This was immediately after the terrible
+visitation of a plague, which had cut down one-sixteenth of the whole
+population. It was the arrival of a party of the Sixth Royal Regiment of
+Foot, along with artillery and engineers, amounting in all to five
+hundred souls. The breath of the people was taken away by this
+demonstration of force, and a chronicler of the time says: "From the
+moment they arrived the high tone of lawless defiance and internal
+disaffection raised by our people against the laws and the authorities
+of the place were reduced to silence." Colonel Crofton, in command of
+the troops, was appointed Governor of the Settlement, and he proved a
+wise and honorable administrator. The regiment gained golden opinions
+from the people, and as they spent during their short stay of two years,
+a sum of L15,000 in supplies, it was, indeed, a golden age for the
+hard-working Colonists. The leaving of the regiment was regretted by the
+Colony.
+
+Having now entered on a career of government by force, it would not do
+to let it drop. Hence the authorities enlisted in Britain a number of
+old pensioners, and under command of Major Caldwell, who was also to act
+as Governor of the Settlement, sent out, in each of two successive
+years, some seventy of these discharged soldiers to act as guardians of
+the peace. It was pretty well agreed that these men, to whom were given
+holdings of small pieces of land to the west of Fort Garry, now in the
+St. James District of Winnipeg, were simply imitators in conduct and
+disposition of the De Meurons, who had so vexed the Colonists. Major
+Caldwell, too, by his lack of business habits and his selfishness,
+alienated all the leading men of the Colony, so that they refused to sit
+with him in Council. It was the common opinion that the turbulence and
+violence of the pensioners was so great that, as one of the Company
+said, "We have more trouble with the pensioners than with all the rest
+of the Settlement put together." The pensioners were certainly
+absolutely useless for the purpose for which they had been sent, that is
+to preserve order in the country. The Metis, at any rate, spoke of them
+with derision.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF FORT GARRY]
+
+In the year following the removal of the troops the policy of preventing
+the French half-breeds from buying and selling furs with the Indians was
+being carried out by Judge Thom, the relentless ogre of the law. Four
+men of the Metis had been arrested; of these the leader was William
+Sayer. He was the half-breed son of an old French bourgeois of the
+Northwest Company. He had been liberated on bail, and was to come up for
+trial in May. The charge against him was of buying goods with which to
+go on a trading expedition to Lake Manitoba.
+
+Possibly the case would be easily disposed of, and most likely dismissed
+with a trifling fine, although it was true that Sayer had made a stiff
+resistance on his being arrested. This violent resistance was but an
+example of the bitter and dangerous spirit that was developing among the
+Metis.
+
+A brave and restless man was now growing to have a dominating influence
+over the French half-breeds. This was Louis Riel, a fierce and noisy
+revolutionist, ready for any extremity. He was a French half-breed, was
+owner of a small flour mill on the Seine River, and he was the father of
+the rebel chief of later years. The day fixed for the Sayer trial by the
+legal authorities was a most unfortunate one. It was on May 17th, which
+on that year was Ascension Day, a day of obligation among the Catholic
+people of the Settlement. It was noticeable that there was much ferment
+in the French parishes. Louis Riel, who was a violent, but effective
+speaker, of French, Irish and Indian descent, busied himself in stirring
+up resistance. The fact that it was a Church day for the Metis made it
+easy for them to gather together. This they did by hundreds in front of
+the St. Boniface Cathedral, where, piling up their guns, with which all
+the men were armed, at the Church door, they then entered and performed
+their sacred duties. At the close of the service, Riel, "the miller of
+the Seine," made a fiery oration, advocating the rescue of their
+compatriot Sayer, who was to be held for trial at the Court House. A
+French sympathizer said of this public meeting: "Louis Riel obtained a
+veritable triumph on that occasion, and long and loud the hurrahs were
+repeated by the echoes of the Red River."
+
+And now, under Riel's direction, by a concerted action, movement of the
+whole body was made to cross the Red River and march to the Court House,
+which stood beside the wall of Fort Garry. To allow the five hundred men
+to cross easily, Point Douglas was selected, and here by ferry boats,
+said to have been provided by James Sinclair, the English half-breed
+leader of whom we have spoken, the party crossed, and worked up to the
+highest pitch of excitement, stalked up the mile or two to the Court
+House.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF FORT GARRY South portion with stone wall
+and bastions built in 1835. North portion with wooden wall and
+stone north gate still standing, built in 1850.]
+
+Though somewhat anxious, the Governor and Court officials passed through
+the excited crowd which surrounded the Court House. It was expected that
+the Governor would order out a guard of pensioners to protect the Court,
+but he had dispensed with this, and so he, Recorder Thom, and the
+Magistrate, took their seats upon the elevated platform of Justice
+precisely at eleven o'clock. Sayer's case was called first, but he was
+held by the Metis outside of the Court room. Other unimportant business
+was then taken up until one o'clock. An Irish relative of old Andrew
+McDermott, named McLaughlin, attempted to interfere, but was instantly
+suppressed. The Court then sent a suggestion to the Metis that they
+should appoint a leader with a deputation to enter the Court room with
+Sayer and state their case. This proposal was accepted, and James
+Sinclair, the English half-breed leader, undertook the duty. Sayer was
+then brought in, guarded by twenty of his compatriots, fully armed,
+while fifty Metis guards stood at the gates of the Court House
+enclosure. An attempt was then made to select a jury, but it was
+fruitless. Sayer next confessed that he had traded for furs with an
+Indian. The Court then gave a verdict of guilty, whereupon Sayer proved
+that a Hudson's Bay officer named Harriott, had given him authority to
+trade. The other three cases against the Metis were not proceeded with,
+and Governor, Recorder, officials and spectators all left the Court
+room, the mob being of the impression that the prisoners had been
+acquitted, and that trading for furs was no longer illegal. Though this
+was not the decision yet the crowd so took it up, and made the welkin
+ring with shouts (Le Commerce est libre, vive la liberte) "Commerce is
+free, long live liberty."
+
+The Metis then crossed the river to St. Boniface, and after much
+cheering, fired several salutes with their guns. It was their victory,
+but it was one in which the vast mass of the English-speaking rejoiced
+for the bands of tyranny were broken. Judge Thom, under instructions
+from Governor Simpson, never acted as Recorder again, but was simply
+Secretary of the Court, and another reigned in his stead. After this the
+Court was largely without authority, and as has been said the rescue of
+prisoners was not an infrequent occurrence in the future life of the
+Settlement.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+OFF TO THE BUFFALO.
+
+
+Alexander Ross was a Scottish Highlander, who came to Glengarry in
+Canada, quite a century ago, joined Astor's expedition, went around Cape
+Horn and in British Columbia rose to be an officer in the Northwest
+Company. He married the daughter of an Indian Chief at Okanagan, came
+over the Rocky Mountains, and was given by Sir George Simpson a free
+gift of a farm, where Ross and James Streets are now found in Winnipeg.
+This land is to-day worth many millions of dollars. Ross was also fond
+of hunting the buffalo, and we are fortunate in having his spirited
+story of 1840.
+
+
+BUFFALO HUNTING.
+
+In the leafy month of June carts were seen to emerge from every nook and
+corner of the Settlement bound for the plains. As they passed us, many
+things were discovered to be still wanting, to supply which a halt had
+to be made at Fort Garry shop; one wanted this thing, another that, but
+all on credit. The day of payment was yet to come; but payment was
+promised. Many on the present occasion were supplied, many were not;
+they got and grumbled, and grumbled and got, till they could get no
+more; and at last went off, still grumbling and discontented.
+
+From Fort Garry the cavalcade and camp-followers were crowding on the
+public road, and thence, stretching from point to point, till the third
+day in the evening, when they reached Pembina, the great rendezvous of
+such occasions. When the hunters leave the Settlement it enjoys that
+relief which a person feels on recovering from a long and painful
+sickness. Here, on a level plain, the whole patriarchal camp squatted
+down like pilgrims on a journey to the Holy Land, in ancient days: only
+not so devout, for neither scrip nor staff were consecrated for the
+occasion. Here the roll was called, and general muster taken, when they
+numbered on the occasion 1,630 souls: and here the rules and regulations
+for the journey were finally settled. The officials for the trip were
+named and installed into their office, and all without the aid of
+writing materials.
+
+The camp occupied as much ground as a modern city, and was formed in a
+circle: all the carts were placed side by side, the trams outward.
+Within this line, the tents were placed in double, treble rows, at one
+end; the animals at the other in front of the tents. This is the order
+in all dangerous places: but when no danger is feared, the animals are
+kept on the outside. Thus, the carts formed a strong barrier, not only
+for securing the people and the beasts of burden within, but as a place
+of shelter and defence against an attack of the enemy without.
+
+There is, however, another appendage belonging to the expedition, and to
+every expedition of the kind; and you may be assured they are not the
+least noisy. We allude to the dogs or camp followers. On the present
+occasion they numbered no fewer than 542; sufficient of themselves to
+consume no small number of animals a day, for, like their masters, they
+dearly relish a bit of buffalo meat.
+
+These animals are kept in summer as they are, about the establishments
+of the fur traders, for their services in the winter. In deep snows,
+when horses cannot conveniently be used, dogs are very serviceable to
+the hunters in these parts. The half-breed, dressed in his wolf costume,
+tackles two or three sturdy curs into a flat sled, throws himself on it
+at full length, and gets among the buffalo unperceived. Here the bow and
+arrow play their part to prevent noise; and here the skillful hunter
+kills as many as he pleases, and returns to camp without disturbing the
+band.
+
+But now to our camp again--the largest of its kind perhaps in the world.
+A council was held for the nomination of chiefs or officers for
+conducting the expedition. Two captains were named, the senior on this
+occasion being Jean Baptiste Wilkie, an English half-breed brought up
+among the French, a man of good sound sense and long experience, and
+withal a bold-looking and discreet fellow, a second Nimrod in his way.
+Besides being captain, in common with others, he was styled the great
+war chief or head of the camp, and on all public occasions he occupied
+the place of president.
+
+The hoisting of the flag every morning is the signal for raising camp.
+Half an hour is the full time allowed to prepare for the march, but if
+anyone is sick, or their animals have strayed, notice is sent to the
+guide, who halts until all is made right. From the time the flag is
+hoisted however, till the hour of camping arrives, it is never taken
+down. The flag taken down is a signal for encamping, while it is up the
+guide is chief of the expedition, captains are subject to him, and the
+soldiers of the day are his messengers, he commands all. The moment the
+flag is lowered his functions cease and the captains and soldiers'
+duties commence. They point out the order of the camp, and every cart as
+it arrives moves to its appointed place. This business usually occupies
+about the same time as raising camp in the morning, for everything moves
+with the regularity of clockwork.
+
+The captains and other chiefs have agreed on rules to govern the
+expedition, such as, that no buffaloes are to be run on Sunday, no party
+is to lag behind or to go before, no one may run a buffalo without a
+general order, etc. The punishment for breaking the laws are for a first
+offence: the offender had his saddle and bridle cut up: for the second,
+to have the coat taken off his back and cut up: for the third, the
+offender was flogged. Any theft was punished by the offender being three
+times proclaimed "THIEF," in the middle of the camp.
+
+On the 21st of June, after the priest had performed mass, for many were
+Roman Catholics, the flag was unfurled at about six or seven o'clock and
+the picturesque line was formed over the prairie, extending some five or
+six miles towards the southwest. It was the ninth was gained. This was a
+journey of about 150 day from Pembina before the Cheyenne River miles,
+and on the nineteenth day, at a distance of 250 miles, the destined
+hunting grounds were reached. On the 4th of July, since the encampment
+was in the United States, the compliment was paid of having the first
+buffalo race.
+
+No less than 400 huntsmen, all mounted and anxiously waiting for the
+word "Start," took up their position in a line at one end of the camp,
+while Captain Wilkie issued his orders.
+
+[Illustration: HERD OF BUFFALOES FEEDING ON THE HIGH PLAINS]
+
+At eight o'clock the whole cavalcade broke ground, and made for the
+buffaloes. When the horsemen started the buffaloes were about a mile and
+a half distant, but when they approached to about four or five hundred
+yards, the bulls curled their tails or pawed the ground. In a moment
+more the herd took flight, and horse and rider are presently seen
+bursting upon them, shots are heard, and all is smoke, dust and hurry,
+and in less time than we have occupied with a description a thousand
+carcasses strew the plain.
+
+When the rush was made, the earth seemed to tremble as the horses
+started, but when the animals fled, it was like the shock of an
+earthquake. The air was darkened, the rapid firing, at first, soon
+became more and more faint, and at last died away in the distance.
+
+In such a run, a good horse and experienced rider will select and kill
+from ten to twelve buffaloes at one heat, but in the case before us, the
+surface was rocky and full of badger holes. Twenty-three horses and
+riders were at one moment all sprawling on the ground, one horse gored
+by a bull, was killed on the spot, two more were disabled by the fall.
+One rider broke his shoulder blade, another burst his gun, and lost
+three fingers by the accident, another was struck on the knee by an
+exhausted bull. In the evening no less than 1,375 tongues were brought
+into camp. When the run is over the hunter's work is now retrograde. The
+last animal killed is the first skinned, and night not unfrequently,
+surprises the runner at his work. What then remains is lost and falls to
+the wolves. Hundreds of dead buffaloes are often abandoned, for even a
+thunderstorm, in one hour, will render the meat useless.
+
+The day of a race is as fatiguing on the hunter as on the horse, but the
+meat well in the camp, he enjoys the very luxury of idleness.
+
+Then the task of the women begins, who do all the rest, and what with
+skins, and meat and fat, their duty is a most laborious one.
+
+It is to be regretted that much of the meat is wasted. Our expedition
+killed not less than 2,500 buffaloes, and out of all these made 375 bags
+of pemmican, and 240 bales of dried meat; 750 animals should have made
+that amount, so that a great quantity was wasted. Of course, the buffalo
+skins were saved and had their value.
+
+Our party were now on the Missouri and encamped there. A few traders
+went to the nearest American fort, and bartered furs for articles they
+needed.
+
+After passing a week on the banks of the Missouri we turned to the West,
+when we had a few races with various success. We were afterwards led
+backwards and forwards at the pleasure of the buffalo herds. They
+crossed and recrossed our path until we had travelled to almost every
+point of the compass.
+
+Having had various altercations with the Indians, the party reached Red
+River, bringing about 900 lbs. of buffalo meat in each cart, making more
+than one million pounds in all. The Hudson's Bay Company took a
+considerable amount of this, and the remainder went to supply the wants
+of the Red River Settlement for another year.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+WHAT THE STARGAZERS SAW.
+
+
+The writer remembers meeting in Boston, a good many years ago, a
+scientific explorer, who along with two companies, one of whom is the
+greatest astronomer in the United States, as an astronomical party in
+1860, made a visit through Red River Settlement, on their way to the
+North Saskatchewan to observe an eclipse. The disappointment of the
+party was very great, for, after travelling three thousand miles, their
+fate was "to sit in a marsh and view the eclipse through the clouds, so
+heavy was the rain."
+
+The three astronomers have given their account under assumed names in a
+little book, of which there are few copies in Canada. Their view of Red
+River Settlement in 1860 is a vivid picture.
+
+What an extraordinary Settlement! Here is a Colony of about ten
+thousand souls scattered among plantations for thirty miles along the
+Red and half as many along the Assiniboine River, almost wholly
+dependent for intelligence from the outer world on one stern-wheeled
+steamer. That breaks down; and before word can be sent of their complete
+isolation, weeks must pass before the old and painful canoe-route by way
+of Lake of the Woods can be opened, or the wagon make its tedious
+journey to the headwaters of the Red and back, improvising on the way
+its own ferries over the swift and deep streams which feed it.
+
+Finding haste of no avail, and despatching our luggage on carts to the
+Upper Fort and centre of the Settlement, twenty miles away, we start
+there on foot the next day to view the land and its inhabitants. The
+road, "the King's road," is a mere cart-track in the deep loam, taking
+its independent course on either side of the houses, all of which front
+the river in a single wavering line; for the country is given up
+absolutely to farming, for which the rich mould, said to be three or
+four feet deep, eminently fits it; and the lots each with a narrow
+frontage at the bank of the river, extends back two miles into the
+prairie. All is at a dead level. John Omand had asked us to dine at his
+house; but accidentally passing it without recognizing it from his
+description, we select a fair representative of the common class of
+houses, and ask for dinner. It is a log-cabin, like all of this class
+(some far better ones have walls of stone) with a thatched roof and a
+rough stone and mortar chimney planted against one wall. Inside is but a
+single room, well whitewashed, as is indeed the outside and
+exceptionally tidy; a bed occupies one corner, a sort of couch another,
+a rung ladder leads up to loose boards overhead which form an attic, a
+trap door in the middle of the room opens to a small hole in the ground
+where milk and butter are kept cool; from the beam is suspended a
+hammock, used as a cradle for the baby; shelves singularly hung held a
+scanty stock of plates, knives and forks; two windows on either side,
+covered with mosquito netting, admit the light, and a modicum of air;
+chests and boxes supply the place of seats, with here and there a keg by
+way of easy-chair. An open fireplace of whitewashed clay gives sign of
+cheer and warmth in the long winter, and a half-dozen books for library
+complete the scene.
+
+Our hosts feel so "highly honored to have such gentlemen enter the
+house"--these are their very words--that it is with the greatest
+difficulty they are forced to take any compensation for the excellent
+meal of bread, butter, and rich cream which they set before us, and to
+which we do ample justice.
+
+This was not the only interior we saw; we had before called on the
+single scientific man of the Settlement, Donald Gunn, and later in the
+day are forced by a thunderstorm to seek shelter in the nearest house;
+where we are also warmly welcomed, and the rain continuing, are glad to
+accept the cordial invitations of its inhabitants to pass the night.
+This is a larger house, but only the father of the family and his buxom
+daughter, Susie, a lively girl of eighteen or nineteen, are at home, the
+others being off at the other end of their small farm, where they have
+temporary shelter during the harvest.
+
+We have each a chamber to ourselves in the garret, reached in the same
+primitive method as before mentioned--and are shown with a dip of
+buffalo-tallow to our rooms. The furniture of these consists of a sort
+of couch, with buffalo skins for mattress and wolf skins for sheets and
+coverlet, a chest for a seat, a punch-bowl of water on a broken chair
+for a washstand, and a torn bit of rag for towel; while a barrel covered
+with a white cloth serves as a centre-table, and is besprinkled with
+antique books. Among those in his chamber our naturalist discovers one
+which appears to be a catechism of human knowledge containing, among
+other entertaining and instructive information as an answer to the
+question, "What is a shark?" the highly satisfactory reply that it is
+"An animal having eighty-eight teeth."
+
+The wants of the Colony were few, the peasantry simple and industrious,
+and their lot in life did not seem to them hard. The earth yielded
+bountifully, and in time of temporary disaster fishing and hunting stood
+them in good stead. When they hunt, they go accompanied by Indians, who
+live on the outskirts of the Colony. Further and further they have been
+compelled to go, until at our visit no buffalo could be found within a
+hundred miles at nearest.
+
+The hunt is just over as we reach the Settlement, and every day carts
+come in laden with the buffalo meat, hides, and pemmican. The prairie,
+back from the river, by Fort Garry, is dotted with carts, lodges and
+tents. Many are living in rude shelters formed of the carts themselves,
+placed back to back, and the sides secured by hides.
+
+These carts illustrate well the primitive nature and the isolation of
+the Colony. They are the vehicles in universal use, and are built on the
+general pattern of our one-horse tip-carts, though they do not tip, and
+not a scrap of iron enters into them. They are without springs, of
+course, and rawhide and wooden pins serve to keep together the pieces
+out of which they are constructed. As they have no tires, and the
+section of the wheel part or crowd together, according to the moisture,
+a train of these carts bringing in the products of the hunt is a strange
+sight. Each cart has its own peculiar creak, hoarse and grating, and
+waggles its own individual waggle, graceless and shaky, on the uneven
+ground. To add to its oddity, the shafts are heavy, straight beams,
+between which is harnessed an ox, the harness of rawhide (shaga-nappi)
+without buckles.
+
+Everybody makes for himself what he wishes in this undifferentiated
+Settlement. We return in tatters. Not a tailor, nor anything approaching
+the description of one, exists here, and a week's search is needed to
+discover such a being as a shoemaker. A single store in the Hudson's Bay
+post at each of the two forts, twenty miles apart, supplies the goods of
+the outside world, and the purchaser must furnish the receptacle for
+carriage. For small goods this invariably consists, as far as we can
+see, of a red bandanna handkerchief, so that purchases have to be small
+and frequent; not all of one sort, however, for the native can readily
+tie up his tea in one corner, his sugar and buttons in two others, and
+still have one left for normal uses. How many handkerchiefs a day are
+put to use may be judged from the fact that the average sale of tea at
+Upper Fort Garry is four large boxes daily--all, be it remembered,
+brought by ship to Hudson Bay, and thence by batteaux and portage to the
+Red River.
+
+The caravan by which we and a number of others were carried back to
+civilization was a stylish enough turnout for Red River. It was supplied
+by McKinney, the host of the Royal Hotel of the village of Winnipeg.
+Three large emigrant wagons, with canvas coverings of the most approved
+pattern, but of very different hues, drawn each by a yoke of oxen,
+convey the patrons of the party, with the exception of a miner, who
+rides his horse. The astronomers take the lead under a brown canvas; a
+theological student for Toronto University, a gentleman for St. Paul,
+and others follow under a black canvas full of holes; and the third
+wagon with a cover of spotless purity, conveys the ladies of the party
+and a clergyman. Behind them follow not only half a dozen Red River
+carts, with a most promiscuous assortment of baggage, peltry, and
+squeak, but also a stray ox and a pony or two; a number of armed
+horsemen, and for the first day a cavalcade of friends giving a Scotch
+convoy to those who were departing. The astronomers at length reached
+St. Paul, when they declare their connection with the world again
+complete, after an absence of about three months, during which they had
+travelled thirty-five hundred miles.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+APPLES OF GOLD.
+
+
+Shakespeare's play of "As You Like It" is an eulogy of the flight from
+the highly formal life of city life to the simplicity of the forest and
+the retirement of the plains. Even in the banished Duke, there is a
+strain of oddity and quaintness. Not many years after the middle of last
+century, a Detroit lawyer fled from the troubles of society and city
+life to the peaceful plains of secluded Assiniboia. Marrying, after his
+arrival, a daughter of one of our best native families, and on her
+death, a pure Indian woman, he reared a large family. The poetic spirit
+of Frank Larned was never repressed, and we give, with some changes, to
+suit our purpose, and at times some divergence from the views expressed,
+scenes of the Red River Settlement, in which he, for more than a
+generation, dwelt.
+
+
+BRITAIN'S ONE UTOPIA--SELKIRKIA.
+
+That brave old Englishman, Thomas More--afterwards, unhappily for his
+head--Lord High Chancellor of England--wrote out, in fair Latin,--in his
+chambers in the City of London, over three centuries ago--his idea of an
+Utopia. This, modest as are its requirements, has yet found no practical
+illustration, even among the many seats of the great colonizing race of
+mankind.
+
+The primitive history of all the colonies that faced the Atlantic--when
+the new-found continent first felt the abiding foot of the stranger--from
+Oglethorpe to Acadia, reveals, alas! no Utopia. It remained for a
+later time,--the earlier half of the present century, amid some severity
+of climate, and under conditions without precedent, and incapable of
+repetition,--to evolve a community in the heart of the continent, shut
+away from intercourse with civilized mankind--that slowly crystalized
+into a form beyond the ideal of the dreamers--a community, in the past,
+known but slightly to the outer world as the Red River Settlement, which
+is but the bygone name for the one Utopia of Britain--the clear-cut
+impress of an exceptional people living under conditions of excellence
+unthought of by themselves until they had passed away.
+
+
+THE UTOPIAN COLONY.
+
+A people, whose name in the vast domain, was in days by gone, sought out
+and coveted by all. Unknown races had rested here and gone away, leaving
+only their careful graves behind them. The "Mandans"--the brave, the
+fair, the beautiful, and the "Cheyennes," pressed by the "Nay-he-owuk,"
+and the "Assin-a-pau-tuk," had quitted their earthen forts on the banks
+of the streams and urged their way to the broader tide of the Missouri.
+More fatal to the conquerors came afterward, the white man, "Nemesis" of
+all Indian life, spying with the instinct of his race, a spot of
+abounding fertility, where the great water-reaches stretched from the
+mountains to the sea, and southward touched almost the beginning of the
+great River of the Gulf.
+
+Quick changing his errant camp for barter into a stronghold for the
+trade, making the "Niste-y-ak" of the "Crees" his settled home, the
+white man's grasp of the fair domain but grew with years. From the seas
+of the far north came with the men, fair-haired, blue-eyed women and
+children. The glamour of the spot, the teeming soil, the great and
+lesser game, that swam past,--or wandered by their doors--soon drew to
+this Mecca of the Plains and Waters--the roving, scattered children of
+the trade--Bourgeois and voyageur alike heading their lithe and dusky
+broods. Here touched and fused all habitudes of life, the blended races,
+knit by ties conserving every divergence of pursuit, all forms of faith
+and thought, free from assail or taint begotten of contact with aught
+other than themselves. A people whose unchecked primal freedom was
+afterward strengthened by the light hand of laws that conserved what
+they most desired; whose personal relations with their rulers were of
+such primitive character as to make the Government in every sense
+paternal; the petty tax on imports attending its administration one
+practically unfelt!
+
+A people whose land was dotted with schools and churches, to whose
+maintenance their contributions were so slight as to be unworthy of
+mention. The three separate religious denominations, holding widely
+different tenets--elsewhere the cause of bitter sectarian feeling,--was
+with them so unthought of as to give where all topics were eagerly
+sought--no room for even fireside discussion. Side by side, "upon the
+voyage,"--as they termed their lake or inland trips--the Catholic and
+the Protestant knelt and offered up their devotions--following the ways
+of their fathers,--no more to be made a subject of dispute than a
+difference in color or height.
+
+The cursings and obscenities that taint the air and brutalize life
+elsewhere, were in this quaint old settlement unknown. Sweet thought,
+pure speech, went hand in hand, clad in nervous, pithy old English, or a
+"patois" of the French, mellowed and enlarged by their constant use of
+the liquid Indian tongues, flowing like soft-sounding waters about them,
+their daily talk came ever welcome to the ear.
+
+
+AN ARCADIA.
+
+Where locks for doors were unknown, or, known, unused, where a man's
+word, even in the transfer of land, was held as his bond--honesty became
+a necessity. Lawyers were none. Law was held to be a danger. Still the
+importance attached by simple minds to an appearance in public, the
+amusing belief cherished by some, that, if permitted to plead his own
+case, exert his unsuspected powers, there could be but one result,
+brought some honest souls to the Red River forum, with matter of much
+moment, "the like never heard before." None can read the quaint,
+minutely-detailed record of these "causes celebres" that shook the
+little households as with a great wind, without a smile, or resist the
+conviction that no scheme of an English Utopia can safely be pronounced
+perfect without some such modest tribunal to afford vent for that
+ever-germinating desire for battle inherent in the race.
+
+[Illustration: ALEXANDER ROSS Sheriff and Author. Came to Red River
+Settlement in 1825 from British Columbia. Died in 1856.]
+
+Their manners were natural, cordial, and full of a lightsome heartness
+that robed accost with sunshine,--a quietude withal--that rare quality
+--that irked them not at all--one gathered from their Indian kin-folk.
+Their knowledge of each other was simply universal--their kin ties
+almost as general. These ties were brightened and friendships reknit in
+the holiday season of the year, the leisure of the long winters, when
+the far-scattered hewn log houses--small to the eye--were ever found
+large enough to hold the welcome arrivals,--greeted with a kiss that
+said, "I am of your blood." These widespread affiliations broke down
+aught like "caste." Wealth or official position were practically
+unheeded by a people in no fear of want and unaccustomed to luxuries,
+who sought their kinswoman and her brood for themselves, not for what
+they had in store. The children and grandchildren of men, however
+assured in fortune or position, wove anew equalizing ties, seeking out
+their mates as they came to hand; hence a genial, not a downward level,
+putting to shame fine-spun theories of democracy in other lands--spun,
+not worn.
+
+This satisfaction of station--as said--grew out of the slight exertion
+necessary for all the wants of life, with unlimited choice of the finest
+land on the continent; the waters alive with fish and aquatic fowl;
+rabbits and prairie fowl at times by actual cart-load; elk not far, and
+countless buffalo behind,--furnishing meat, bedding, clothing and shoes
+to any who could muster a cart or go in search; the woods and plains in
+season, ripe with delicious wild fruit, for present use or dried for
+winter,--the whole backed by abundant breadstuffs. The quota of the
+farmers along the rivers, whose fertile banks were dotted by windmills,
+whose great arms stayed the inconstant winds, and yoked the fickle
+couriers to the great car of general plenty.
+
+
+A LAND OF PEACE.
+
+Poverty in one sense certainly existed; age and improvidence are always
+with us, but it was not obtrusive, made apparent only towards the close
+of the long winter, when some old veteran of the canoe or saddle would
+make a "grand promenade" through the Settlement, with his ox and sled,
+making known his wants, incidentally, at his different camps among his
+old friends, finding always before he left his sled made the heavier by
+the women's hands. This was simply done; few in the wild country but had
+met with sudden exigencies in supply, knew well the need at times of one
+man to another, and, when asked for aid, gave willingly. Or it may be
+that some large-hearted, jovial son of the chase had overrated his
+winter store, or underrated the assiduity of his friends. His recourse
+in such case being the more carefully estimated stock of some neighbor,
+who could in no wise suffer the reproach to lie at his door, that he had
+turned his back, in such emergence, upon his good-natured, if
+injudicious countryman.
+
+This practical communism--borrowed from the Indians, among whom it was
+inviolable--was, in the matter of hospitality, the rule of all,--a
+reciprocation of good offices, in the absence of all houses of public
+entertainment, becoming a social necessity. The manner of its exercise
+hearty, a knitting of the people together,--no one was at a loss for a
+winter camp when travelling. Every house he saw was his own, the
+bustling wife, with welcome in her eyes, eager to assure your comfort.
+The supper being laid and dealt sturdily with, the good man's pipe and
+your own alight and breathing satisfaction,--a neighbor soul drops in to
+swell the gale of talk, that rocks you at last into a restful sleep. How
+now, my masters! Smacks not this of Arcady?
+
+Early and universal marriage was the rule. Here you received the
+blessings of home in the married life, and the care of offspring. There
+were thus no defrauded women--called, by a cruel irony, "old maids"; no
+isolated, mistaken men, cheated out of themselves, and robbed of the
+best training possible for man. This vital fact was fraught with every
+good.
+
+On the young birds leaving the parent nest, they only exchanged it for
+one near at hand--land for the taking; a house to be built, a wife to be
+got--a share of the stock, some tools and simple furniture, and the
+outfit was complete. The youngest son remained at home to care for the
+old father and mother, and to him came the homestead when they were laid
+away. The conditions were all faithful, home life dear indeed.
+
+To the Hunters accepting their fall in the chase no wilder thought could
+scarce be broached than that of solicitude as to the future of their
+young. Boys who sat a horse almost as soon as they could walk, whose
+earliest plaything was a bow and arrows; girls as apt in other ways,
+happy; sustained in their environment with a faith truly simple and
+reverent.
+
+With so large an infusion of Norse blood and certain traditions anent
+"usquebae" and "barley bree" it would--with so large a liberty--be
+naturally expected, a liberal proportion of drouthy souls, but with an
+abundance of what cheers and distinctly inebriates in their midst they
+were a temperate people in its best sense, with no tippling houses to
+daily tempt them astray their supplies of spirits were nearly always for
+festive occasions. "Regales" after a voyage or weddings that lasted for
+days, and these at times under such guard as may be imagined from the
+presence of a custodian of the bottle, who exercised with what skill he
+might his certainly arduous task of determining instantly when hilarity
+grew into excess.
+
+This novel feature applies, however, almost entirely to the
+English-speaking part of the people. The Gallic and Indian blood of the
+Hunters disdained such poor toying with a single cherry and drank and
+danced and drank and danced again with an abandon, an ardor and full
+surrender to the hour characteristic alike of the strength of the heads,
+the lightness of their heels and the contempt of any restraint whatever.
+
+These were, however, but the occasional and generous symposiums of
+health and vigor that rejects of itself continued indulgence. Our Utopia
+would be cold and pallid indeed lacking such expression of redundant
+strength, and joyful vigor.
+
+Certainly the greatest negative blessing that this exceptional people
+enjoyed, was that they had no politics, no vote. The imagination of the
+average "party man" sinks to conceive a thing like to this; yet, if an
+astounding fact to others, no more gracious one can be conceived for
+them selves. In the unbroken peace in which they lived politics would be
+but throwing the apple of discord in their midst, an innoculation of
+disease that they might in the delirium that marked its progress
+vehemently discuss remedies to allay it.
+
+Another great negative advantage was the peculiar and admirable
+intelligence of the great body of the population. The small circulating
+collection of books in their midst attracting little or no attention,
+their own limited to a Bible or prayer book,--many not these. With
+their minds in this normal healthy state, unharassed by the sordid
+assail of care, undepressed by any sense whatever of inferiority,
+unfrayed by the trituration of the average book, their powers of
+apprehension--singularly clear--had full scope to appropriate and
+resolve the world about them, which they did to such purpose as to
+master every exigence of their lives. Seizing upon the minutest detail
+affecting them they mastered as if by intuition all difficult handiwork,
+making with but few tools every thing they required from a windmill to a
+horseshoe.
+
+Their real education was in scenes of travel or adventure in the great
+unbroken regions sought out by the fur trade, their retentive memories
+reproducing by the winter fireside or summer camp pictures so graphic as
+to commend themselves to every ear.
+
+The tender heart and true of the brave old knight, Sir Thomas More, put
+a ban upon hunting in his Utopia. Alas and alack for the wayward
+proclivities of our Utopians, predaceous creatures all, hunting was to
+them as the breath of their nostrils, for to them, unlike the sons of
+Adam, it was given--with their brothers resting upon the tranquil
+river--to lay upon the altar of their homes alike the fruits of the
+earth and the spoils of the chase.
+
+
+THE BUFFALO HUNT.
+
+What pen can paint the life of the "Chasseurs of the Great Plains," tell
+of the gathering of the mighty Halfbreed clan going forth--each spring
+and fall--in a tumult of carts and horsemen to their boundless
+preserves, the home of the buffaloes, whose outrangers were the grizzly
+bear, the branching elk, the flying antelope that skirted the great
+columns, the last relieving the heavy rolling gait of the herds by a
+speed and airy flight that mocked the eye to follow them, scouting the
+dull trot of the prowling wolves--attent upon the motions of their best
+purveyor--man.
+
+What a going forth was theirs! this array of Hunters, with their wives
+and little ones; this new tribe clad in semi-savage garniture, streaming
+across the plains with cries of glee and joyance; the riders in their
+"travoie" of arms and horse equipment--the vast "brigade" of carts and
+bands of following horses, kept to the cavalcade by those reckless
+jubilants--the boys--seeming a part of the creatures they bestrode. The
+sunshine and the flying fleecy clouds, emulous in motion with the troop
+below: what life was in it all; what freedom and what breadth!
+
+And as the sun sank apace and the guides and Headmen rode apart on some
+o'er-looking height and reined their cattle in, the closing up of the
+flying squadron for the evening camp, the great circular camp of these
+our Scythians proof against sudden raid crowning the landscape far and
+wide, seen, yet seeing every foe, whose subtle coming through the
+short-lived night was watched by eyes as keen as were their own.
+
+When reached, their bellowing, countless quarry: the plain alive and
+trembling with their tumult, what tournament of mail-clad knights but
+was as a stilted play to this rude shock of man and beast--carrying in a
+cloud of dust that hid alike the chaser and the chased, till done their
+work the frightened herds swept onward and away, leaving the sward
+flecked with the huge forms that made the hunters' wealth! And now! on:
+fall prosaic from the wild charge, the danger of the fierce
+_melee_!--drifting from the camp the carts appear piled red in a trice
+with bosses, tongues, back fat and juicy haunch, a feast unknown to
+hapless kings.
+
+We but glance at this great feature, that fed so fat our Utopia, leaving
+to imagination the return, the trade, the feasting and the fiddle when
+lusty legs embossed by "quills" or beads kept up the dance.
+
+The outcome of the "Plain Hunt" was not only a wide spread plenty among
+the Hunters on reaching the quiet farmer folk upon the rivers, but also
+the diffusion of a sunshine, a tone of generous serenity that sat well
+on the chivalry of the chase--the bold riders of the Plain.
+
+
+THE SUMMER PRAIRIES
+
+Beneficent nature nowhere makes her compensations more gratefully felt
+than in the summer season of our Utopia of the north, where the purest
+and most vivifying of atmospheres hues with a wealth of sunshine the
+great reaching spaces of verdure covered with flowers in a profusion
+rivaling their exquisite beauty. Green waving copses dot the level
+sward, and rob the sky line of its sea-like sweep. The winding rivers,
+signalled by their wooded banks, upon which rest the comfortable homes
+of the dwellers in the "hidden land" guarding their little fields close
+by where the ranked grain standing awaits the sickle, turning from green
+to gold and so unhurried resting. The shining cattle couched outside in
+ruminant content or cropping lazily the succulent feast spread wide
+before them; the horses wary of approach, just seen in compact bands
+upon the verge; the patriarchal windmills--at wide spaces--signalling to
+each other their peaceful task; the little groups of horsemen coming
+adown the winding road, or stopping to greet some good wife and her
+gossip--going abroad in a high-railed cart in quest of trade, or
+friendly call. And as the day wanes, the sleek cows, with considered
+careful walk and placid mien, wend their way homeward, bearing their
+heavy udders to the house-mother, who, pail in hand awaiting their
+approach, pauses for a moment to mark the feathered boaster at her feet,
+as he makes his parting vaunt of a day well spent and summons "Partlet"
+to her vesper perch hard by.
+
+O'er all the scene there rests a brooding peace, bespeaking tranquil
+lives, repose trimmed with the hush of night, and effort healthful and
+cool as the freshening airs of morn.
+
+
+L'ENVOI.
+
+Longfellow--moving all hearts to pity--has painted in "Evangeline" the
+enforced dispersion of the French in "Acadia." Who shall tell the
+homesick pain, the vain regrets, the looking back of those who peopled
+our "Acadia"? No voice bids them away; they melt before the fervor of
+the time; hasten lest they be 'whelmed by the great wave of life now
+rolling towards them. Vain retreat, the waters are out and may not be
+stayed. It is fate! it is right, but the travail is sore, the face of
+the mother is wet with tears.
+
+This outline sketch proposed is at an end; we have striven to be
+faithful to the true lines. There is no obligation to perpetuate
+unworthy "minutae." Joy is immortal! sorrow dies! the petty features are
+absorbed in the broad ones; those capable only of conveying truth.
+
+The Red River Settlement in the days adverted to is an idyl simple and
+pure: a nomadic pastoral, inwrought with Indian traits and color; our
+one acted poem in the great national prosaic life. When the vast country
+in the far future is teeming with wealth and luxury, this light rescued
+and defined will shine adown the fullness of the time with hues all its
+own. The story that it tells will be as a sweet refreshment: a dream
+made possible, called by those who shared in its great calm, "Britain's
+One Utopia--Selkirkia."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+PICTURES OF SILVER.
+
+
+Lord Selkirk's Colonists never had, as have seen, a bed of roses.
+Adversity had dodged their steps from the time that they put the first
+foot forward toward the new world--and Stornoway, Fort Churchill, York
+Factory, Norway House, Pembina and Fort Douglas start, as we speak of
+them, a train of bitter memories. Flood and famine, attack and
+bloodshed, toil and anxiety were the constant atmosphere, in which for a
+generation they existed. Higher civilization is impossible when the
+struggle for shelter and bread is too strenuous. Though the
+ministrations of religion were supplied within a few years of the
+beginning of the Colony, yet the Colonists were not satisfied in this
+respect till forty years had passed. It was a generation before the
+Roman Catholic Church had a Bishop, who held the See of St. Boniface
+instead of the title "in the parts of the heathen." It was not before
+the year 1849 that a Church of England Bishop arrived, and it was two
+years after that date when the first Presbyterian minister came to be
+the spiritual head of the Selkirk Colonists. Before this the education
+and elevation of the people was represented by a few schools chiefly
+maintained by private or church effort. The writer intends to bring out,
+from selected quotations from different sources, the few bright spots in
+the gloom--the pictures of silver--on a rather dark background.
+
+
+ABBE DUGAS' STORY.
+
+The good Father's story circles around the first Canadian woman known to
+have reached Red River. This was Marie Gaboury, wife of J. Baptiste
+Lajimoniere, who reached the Forks in 1811 in the very year when the
+Colonists were lying at York Factory. The Lajimonieres spent the winter
+in Pembina. It was the brave husband of Marie Gaboury who made the long
+and lonely journey from Red River to Montreal. The Abbe says: "J.B.
+Lajimoniere was engaged by the Governor of Fort Douglas to carry letters
+to Lord Selkirk, who was then in Montreal. Lajimoniere said he could go
+alone to Montreal, and that he would make every effort to put the
+letters confided to his care into Lord Selkirk's hands. Being alone,
+Madame Lajimoniere left the hut on the banks of the Assiniboine to
+become an inmate of Fort Douglas. Lajimoniere is reported to have urged
+upon Lord Selkirk in Montreal to send as part of his recompense for his
+long journey, a priest to be the guide of himself and family. Father
+Dugas says: (See printed page 2.)
+
+"Lord Selkirk before his departure had made the Catholic colony on the
+Red River sign a petition asking the Bishop of Quebec to send
+missionaries to evangelize the country. He presented this petition
+himself and employed all his influence to have it granted.
+
+"Though a Protestant Lord Selkirk knew that to found a permanent colony
+on the Red River he required the encouragement of religion. Should his
+application succeed the missionaries would come with the voyageurs in
+the following spring and would arrive in Red River towards the month of
+July. This thought alone made Madame Lajimoniere forget her eleven years
+of loneliness and sorrow.
+
+"Before July the news had spread that the missionaries were coming that
+very summer, but as yet the exact date of their arrival was not known.
+Telegraphs had not reached this region and moreover the voyageurs were
+often exposed to delays.
+
+"After waiting patiently, one beautiful morning on the 16th of July, the
+day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a man came from the foot of the river
+to warn Fort Douglas and the neighborhood that two canoes bringing the
+missionaries were coming up the river, and that all the people ought to
+be at the Fort to receive them on their arrival.
+
+"Scarcely was the news made known when men, women and children hurried
+to the Fort. Those who had never seen the priests were anxious to
+contemplate these men of God of whom they had heard so much. Madame
+Lajimoniere was not the last to hasten to the place where the
+missionaries would land. She took all her little ones with her, the
+eldest of whom was Reine, then eleven years old.
+
+"Towards the hour of noon on a beautiful clear day more than one hundred
+and fifty persons were gathered on the river bank in front of Fort
+Douglas. Every eye was on the turn of the river at the point. It was who
+should first see the voyageurs. Suddenly two canoes bearing the
+Company's flag came in sight. There was a general shout of joy. The
+trader of the Fort, Mr. A. McDonald, was a Catholic, and he had
+everything prepared to give them a solemn reception. Many shed tears of
+joy. The memory of their native land was recalled to the old Canadians
+who had left their homes many years before. These old voyageurs who had
+been constantly called upon to face death had been deprived of all
+religious succour during the long years, but they had not been held by a
+spirit of impiety. The missionaries were to them the messengers of God.
+
+"The canoes landed in front of Fort Douglas, M. Provencher and his
+companion both invested in their cassocks stepped on shore and were
+welcomed with outstretched hands by this family, which was henceforth to
+be theirs.
+
+"They were admired for their manly figures as much as for the novelty of
+their costumes. M. Provencher and his companion, M. Severe Dumoulin,
+were both men of great stature and both had a majestic carriage. They
+stood at the top of the bank and after making the women and children sit
+down around them M. Provencher addressed some words to this multitude
+gathered about him. He spoke very simply and in a fatherly manner.
+Madame Lajimoniere who had not listened to the voice of a priest for
+twelve years could hardly contain herself for joy. She cried with
+happiness and forgetting all her hardships, fancied herself for a moment
+in the dear parish of Maskinonge where she had spent such happy peaceful
+years.
+
+"The missionaries arrived on Thursday, July 16th. M. Provencher having
+made known to his new family the aim of his mission wished immediately
+to begin teaching them the lessons of Christianity and to bring into the
+fold the sheep which were outside.
+
+"While waiting till a house could be built for the missionaries, M.
+Provencher and his companion were hospitably entertained at the Fort of
+the Colony. A large room in one of the buildings of the Fort had been
+set apart for them, and it was there that they held divine service. M.
+Provencher invited all the mothers of families to bring their children
+who were under six years of age to the Fort on the following Saturday
+when they would receive the happiness of being baptised. All persons
+above that age who were not Christians could not receive that sacrament
+until after being instructed in the truths of Christianity.
+
+"When M. Provencher had finished speaking the Governor conducted him
+with M. Dumoulin into the Fort. Canadians, Metis and Indians feeling
+very happy retired to return three days afterwards.
+
+"There were four children in the Lajimoniere family, but only two of
+them could be baptised, the others being nine and eleven years of age.
+On the following Saturday Madame Lajimoniere with all the other women
+came to the Fort. The number of children, including Indians and Metis,
+amounted to a hundred and Madame Lajimoniere being the only Christian
+woman stood Godmother to them all. For a long time all the children in
+the colony called her 'Marraine.'
+
+"M. Provencher announced that from the next day the missionaries would
+begin their work and that the settlers ought to begin at the same time
+to work at the erection of a home for them.
+
+"M. Lajimoniere was one of the first to meet at the place selected and to
+commence preparing the materials for the building. The work progressed
+so rapidly that the house was ready for occupation by the end of
+October.
+
+"Madame Lajimoniere rendered every assistance in her power
+to the missionaries."
+
+
+HARGRAVE'S TALE.
+
+With a few changes we shall allow an old friend of the writer, J.J.
+Hargrave, long an official of the Hudson's Bay Company, to give the tale
+of the Church of England in Red River Settlement. "As we have seen, the
+Rev. John West came from England to Red River as chaplain of the
+Hudson's Bay Company. One of his first works was the erection of a rude
+school-house, and the systematic education of a few children. Chief
+among the names of the clergymen, who came out from England in the early
+days of the Settlement, after Mr. West's return, were Rev. Messrs.
+Jones, Cochran, Cowley, McCallum, Smedhurst, James and Hunter. William
+Cochran is universally regarded in the Colony as the founder of the
+English Church in Rupert's Land, and from the date of his arrival till
+1849 all the principal ecclesiastical business done may be said to have
+received its impetus from his personal energy. The church in which he
+began his ministrations was replaced by the present Cathedral of St.
+John's. Mr. Cochran then built the first church in St. Andrew's, at the
+Rapids, and besides gathered the Indians together and erected their
+church at St. Peter's."
+
+In 1849 arrived Bishop David Anderson, an Oxford man. He settled at St.
+John's, now in the City of Winnipeg, and occupied "Bishop's Court."
+After occupying the See for fifteen years, he retired, and was succeeded
+by Bishop Machray, whose commanding figure was known to all early
+settlers in Winnipeg. He revived St. John's College and gained fame as
+an educationalist.
+
+The peculiarly situated nature of the Settlement, extending in a long
+line of isolated houses along the banks of the river, and in no place
+stretching back any distance on the prairies, render a succession of
+churches necessary to bring the opportunity of attending within the
+reach of the people. Ten Church of England places of worship exist
+(1870) on the bank of the river. Of these, eight are within the legally
+defined limits of the Colony.
+
+About the middle of December, 1866, Archdeacon John McLean commenced the
+celebration of the Church of England service in the village of Winnipeg.
+The services were for a time held in the Court House at Fort Garry, and
+in the autumn of 1868 Holy Trinity Church was opened in Winnipeg.
+
+
+A SELF-DENYING APOSTLE.
+
+After many disappointments the cry of the Selkirk Colonists for a
+minister of their own faith reached Scotland, and their case was
+referred to Dr. Robert Burns, of Toronto, who was further urged to
+action by Governor Ballenden, of Fort Garry. In August, 1857, the Rev.
+John Black, then newly ordained, was sent on by Dr. Burns to Red River.
+He was fortunate in becoming attached to a military expedition led by
+Governor Ramsey, of Minnesota, going northwest for nearly four hundred
+miles, from St. Paul to Pembina.
+
+Leaving the military escort behind, in company with Mr. Bond, who wrote
+an account of the trip, Mr. Black floated down Red River in a birch
+canoe, and in a three-days' journey they reached the Marion's House in
+St. Boniface. It is said that it was from Bond's description of this
+voyage that the Poet Whittier obtained the information for the
+well-known poem.
+
+    THE RED RIVER VOYAGEUR.
+
+Out and in the river is winding
+  The banks of its long red chain,
+Through belts of dusky pine land
+  And gusty leagues of plain.
+
+Only at times a smoky wreath
+  With the drifting cloud-rack joins--
+The smoke of the hunting lodges
+  Of the wild Assiniboines.
+
+Drearily blows the north wind,
+  From the land of ice and snow;
+The eyes that look are uneasy,
+  And heavy the hands that row.
+
+And with one foot on the water,
+  And one upon the shore,
+The Angel's shadow gives warning--
+  That day shall be no more.
+
+Is it the clang of wild geese?
+  Is it the Indians' yell,
+That lends to the voice of the North wind
+  The tones of a far-off bell?
+
+The Voyageur smiles as he listens
+  To the sound that grows apace;
+Well he knows the vesper ringing
+  Of the bells of St. Boniface.
+
+The bells of the Roman Mission
+  That call from their turrets twain;
+To the boatmen on the river,
+  To the hunter on the plain.
+
+Even so on our mortal journey
+  The bitter north winds blow;
+And thus upon Life's Red River
+  Our hearts, as oarsmen, row.
+
+Happy is he who heareth
+  The signal of his release
+In the bells of the Holy City--
+  The chimes of Eternal peace.
+
+In the afternoon of the day of their arrival the party crossed from St.
+Boniface to Fort Garry, and the missionary well known as Rev. Dr.
+Black, went to the hospitable shelter of Alexander Ross, whose daughter
+he afterward married. Three hundred of the Selkirk Colonists and their
+children immediately gathered around Mr. Black, and though interrupted
+for a year by the great flood which we have described, erected in the
+following year, the stone Church of Kildonan, on the highway some five
+miles from Winnipeg. With the help of a small grant from the Hudson's
+Bay Company, the Selkirk Colonists erected, free from debt, their church
+which still remains. Two other churches were erected by the
+Presbyterians, and beside each a school. For several years before the
+old Colony ceased Mr. Black conducted service in the Court House near
+Fort Garry, and in 1868, with the assistance of Canadian friends,
+erected the small Knox Church on Portage Avenue, in Winnipeg. This
+building, though used, was not completed till after the arrival of the
+Canadian troops in 1870.
+
+
+EARLY RED RIVER CULTURE.
+
+Strange as it may seem, the isolated Red River Colony was far from being
+an illiterate community. The presence of the officers of the Hudson's
+Bay Company, the coming of the clergy of the different churches, who
+established schools, and the leisure for reading books supplied by the
+Red River Library produced a people whose speech was generally correct,
+and whose diction was largely modeled on standard books of literature.
+Mrs. Marion Bryce has made a sympathetic study of this subject, and we
+quote a number of her passages:
+
+
+SCIENTIFIC WORK.
+
+The duty laid upon the Hudson's Bay Company officers and clerks of
+keeping for the benefit of their employers a diary recording everything
+at their posts that might make one day differ from another, or indeed
+that often made every day alike, cultivated among the officers of the
+fur trade the powers of observation that were frequently turned to
+scientific account, and we find some of them acting as corresponding
+members of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. Valuable
+collections in natural history have been forwarded to the institution by
+such observers as the late Hon. Donald Gunn, the late Mr. Joseph
+Fortescue, and Mr. Roderick Ross Macfarlane.
+
+Mr. William Barnston, a son of the Mr. Barnston, already mentioned, and
+a chief factor at Norway House, about 1854, was very fond of the
+cultivation of flowers and the study of botany, and some very valuable
+specimens of natural history in the British museum are said to have been
+of his procuring.
+
+
+LIBRARIES.
+
+Collections of books were a great means of providing knowledge and
+contributing to amusement in the isolated northern trading posts.
+
+The Red River library had its headquarters in St. Andrew's parish, and
+was for circulation in the Red River Settlement. It seems to have been
+chiefly maintained by donations of books by retired Hudson's Bay Company
+officers and other settlers. The Council of Assiniboia once gave a
+donation of L50 sterling for the purchase of books to be added to the
+library. There was one characteristic of this library that it contained
+in its catalogue very few works of fiction.
+
+
+LITERARY CLUBS.
+
+In addition to libraries we find that at a later date in the history of
+the Settlement, literary clubs were formed. Bishop Anderson and his
+sister, who arrived in Red River in 1849, were instrumental in forming a
+reading club for mutual improvement, for which the leading magazines
+were ordered.
+
+
+EDUCATION.
+
+But we must now speak of more decided organization for the promotion of
+culture in Red River. The Selkirk settlers had now (1821) gained a
+footing in the land and the banks of the Red River had become the
+paradise of retired officers of the fur-trading companies. Happy
+families were growing up in the homes of the Settlement and education
+was necessary. A settled community made it possible for the churches and
+church societies in the homeland to do Christian work, both among the
+Indians and the white people, and to these institutions the Settlement
+was indebted for the first educational efforts made.
+
+
+COMMON SCHOOLS.
+
+The Rev. John West, the first Episcopal missionary who arrived, in 1820,
+and his successors, the Rev. David Jones and Archdeacon Cochrane, as far
+as they could, organized common schools on the parochial system. A
+visitor to the Settlement in 1854, John Ryerson, says that there were
+then eight common schools in the country--five of them wholly, or in
+part, supported by the Church Missionary Society, two of them depending
+on the bishop's individual bounty, and one only, that attached to the
+Presbyterian congregation, depending on the fees of the pupils for
+support. The Governor and Council of Assiniboia had, a few years before
+made an appropriation of L130 sterling in aid of public schools. The
+Hudson's Bay Company may be said to have given aid to these schools
+indirectly by making an annual grant to each missionary of an amount
+varying according to circumstances from L150 to L50 sterling. The
+Catholics had similar schools for the French population along the banks
+of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, and the writer already quoted says
+that there were seminaries at St. Boniface, one for boys and one for
+girls, under the Grey Nuns from Montreal.
+
+Bishop Anderson, the first bishop of Rupert's Land, was not specially an
+educationalist. He turned his attention more to the evangelical work of
+the church. Bishop Machray, who came to the country in 1865, has, on the
+contrary, whilst not neglecting the duties of a bishop of the church of
+Christ, always given great attention to education, and the country is
+greatly indebted to him for the foundations laid. It was his endeavor
+after entering on his bishopric to have a parish school wherever there
+was a missionary of the Church of England, and in the year 1869 there
+were 16 schools of this kind in the different parishes of Rupert's Land.
+This is bringing us very near the time of the transfer when our public
+school system was inaugurated.
+
+Mrs. Jones, the wife of Rev. David Jones, the missionary of Red River,
+joined her husband in 1829. She very soon saw the need there was for a
+boarding and day school for the sons and daughters of Hudson's Bay
+Company factors and other settlers in the Northwest. A school of this
+kind was opened and in addition to the mission work in which she
+assisted her husband, Mrs. Jones devoted herself to the training of the
+young people committed to her charge until her death, which occurred
+somewhat suddenly in 1836. Mr. and Mrs. Jones were assisted by a
+governess and tutor from England and the Church Missionary Society gave
+financial assistance.
+
+Mr. John Macallum, who was afterwards ordained at Red River, arrived
+from England in 1836, as assistant to Mr. Jones. He took charge of the
+school for young ladies and also the classical school for the sons of
+Hudson's Bay factors and traders. He was assisted by Mrs. Macallum and
+also had teachers brought out from England. He had two daughters who
+were pupils in the school, one of whom still survives in British
+Columbia.
+
+One of the Red River ladies who attended that school when a very little
+girl says that the building occupied by it stood near the site of Dean
+O'Meara's present residence. The enclosure took in the pretty ravine
+formed by a creek in the neighborhood--the ravine that is now bridged by
+one of our public streets. It consisted of two large wings, one for the
+boys and one for the girls, joined together by a dining hall used by the
+boys. There were also two pretty gardens in which the boys and girls
+could disport themselves separately. The large trees that surrounded the
+building have long since disappeared. The young girl spoken of as a
+pupil seems to have had her youthful mind captivated by the beauty of
+the site, and indeed nowhere could the love of nature be better
+cultivated than along the bends of the Red River near St. John's, where
+groves of majestic trees succeed each other, where the wild flowers
+flourish in the sheltered nooks and the fire-flies glance among the
+greenery at the close of day and where for sound we have the
+whip-poor-will lashing the woods as if impatient of the silence.
+
+Among other schools was one commenced in the early thirties by Mr. John
+Pritchard, at one time agent of Lord Selkirk, at a place called "The
+Elms," on the east side of Red River, opposite Kildonan Church. Mr.
+Pritchard was entrusted with the education of the sons of gentlemen sent
+all the way from British Columbia and from Washington and Oregon
+territories, besides a number belonging to prominent families of Red
+River and the Northwest. The Governor and Council of the Hudson's Bay
+Company granted to Mr. Pritchard a life annuity of L20 on account of his
+services in the interests of religion and education.
+
+On coming to the diocese in 1865 Bishop Machray reorganized the boys'
+classical school, and it was opened as a high school in 1866. The bishop
+gave instruction in a number of branches himself, paying special
+attention to mathematics. Archdeacon McLean had charge of classics and
+the Rev. Samuel Pritchard conducted the English branches in what was now
+called St. John's College.
+
+In connection with the parish school of Kildonan the Rev. John Black,
+who was, as we all know, a scholarly man, gave instructions in classics
+to a number of young men, who were thus enabled to take their places in
+Toronto University and in Knox College, Toronto.
+
+In addition to these schools, Mr. Gunn, of St. Andrew's, afterwards Hon.
+Donald Gunn, had for a time a commercial school at his home for the sons
+of Hudson's Bay Company factors and traders, so that they might be
+fitted for the company's business in which they were to succeed their
+fathers.
+
+
+GIRLS' SCHOOLS.
+
+From the death of Mr. Macallum, 1849, there was a vacancy in the school
+for girls until 1851, when Mrs. Mills and her two daughters came from
+England to assume its charge. A new building was erected for this school
+a little further down the river to which was given the name of St.
+Cross. This was the same building enlarged with which we were familiar a
+few years ago as St. John's Boys' College, and which has lately been
+taken down. Mrs. Mills is said to have been very thorough in her
+instruction and management. The young ladies were trained in all the
+social etiquette of the day in addition to the more solid education
+imparted. Miss Mills assisted her mother with the music and modern
+languages. Miss Harriet Mills, being younger, was more of a companion to
+the girls, and accompanied them on walks, in winter on the frozen river,
+in summer towards the plain, and unless her maturer years belie the
+record of her girlhood we may imagine she was a very lively and
+agreeable companion. In addition to her regular school duties Mrs. Mills
+had a class for girls who were beyond school age. She also gave
+assistance in Sunday school work.
+
+The pianos used in these schools had to be brought by sea, river and
+portage by way of Hudson Bay; one of them is still in possession of Miss
+Lewis, St. James. The teachers from England had to traverse the same
+somewhat discouraging route in coming into the Settlement. Miss Mills,
+who came alone a little later than her mother and sister, traveled from
+York Factory under the care of Mr. Thomas Sinclair. She always
+manifested the highest appreciation of his kindness to her during the
+way, making his men cut down and pile up branches around her to protect
+her from the cold when his party had to camp out for the night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+EDEN INVADED.
+
+
+The conception of Red River Settlement being an Idyllic Paradise was not
+confined to the writer, whose picture we have described as "Apples of
+Gold." It was a self-contained spot, distant from St. Anthony Falls (now
+Minneapolis) some four or five hundred miles, and this was its nearest
+neighbor of importance. Our astronomers thus describe it as an orb in
+space, and the celebrated Milton and Cheadle Expedition of 1862 looked
+upon it as an "oasis." It was often represented as being enclosed behind
+the Chinese wall of Hudson's Bay Company exclusiveness, and thus as
+hopelessly retired. The writer remembers well, when entering Manitoba,
+in the year after it ceased to be Red River Settlement, as he called
+upon the pioneer of his faith, who, for twenty years, had held his post,
+the old man said, when youthful plans of progress were being advanced to
+him, oh, rest! rest! there are creatures that prefer lying quietly at
+the bottom of the pool rather than to be always plunging through the
+troublous waters. Certainly, to the old people, there was a feeling of
+freedom from care, as of its being a lotus-eater's land--an Utopia; an
+Eden, before sin entered, and before "man's disobedience brought death
+into the world and all our woe."
+
+We are not disposed to press Milton's metaphor any further in regard to
+the disturbers who came in upon Frank Larned's peaceful scene.
+
+The time for opening up Rupert's Land was approaching. The agitation of
+the people themselves, the constant petitions to Great Britain and
+Canada called for it. The set time had come; 1857 was a red letter year
+in this advance. In that year the British Parliament appointed a large
+and powerful committee to investigate all phases of Rupert's Land, its
+history; government; geological, climatic, physical, agricultural,
+social, and religious conditions. The blue book of that year is a marvel
+of intelligent work. In this same year the British Government sent out
+the Palliser-Hector Expedition to Rupert's Land to obtain expert
+evidence in regard to all these points being considered by the
+Parliamentary Committee. Also in this year the Canadian Government
+dispatched the Dawson-Hind Expedition to obtain detailed information as
+to the physical and soil conditions of the prairie region, and it is
+said that the report of this party of explorers is one of the most
+accurate, sane, and useful accounts ever given of this prairie country.
+
+With all this attention being paid to the country and with the press of
+Canada awakened to see the possibility of extending Canada in this
+direction, it is not to be wondered at, that adventurous spirits found
+out this Eden and sought in it for the tree of life, perchance often
+finding in it the tree of evil as well as that of good.
+
+Of course, to the modern philosopher the disturbances of these peaceful
+seats is simply the symptom of progress and the struggle that is bound
+to take place in all development.
+
+But to the Hudson's Bay Company pessimist, or to the grey-headed sage,
+the greatest disturbers of this Eden were two Englishmen, Messrs.
+Buckingham and Coldwell, who, in 1859, entered Red River Colony, and
+established that organ for good or evil, the newspaper. This first paper
+was called "The Nor'-Wester." It is amusing to read the comments upon
+its entrance made by Hudson's Bay Company writers, both English and
+French. The constitution and conduct of the Council of Assiniboia was
+certainly the weak point in the Hudson's Bay regime, and the Nor'-Wester
+kept this point so constantly before the people that it was really a
+thorn in the side of the Company. The Nor'-Wester, itself, was surely
+not free from troubles. The Red River Community was very small, so that
+it could not very well supply a constituency. Comparatively few of the
+people could read, many felt no need of newspapers, and the Company
+certainly did not encourage its distribution. It would have been a
+subject of constant amusement had the Nor'-Wester been in operation in
+the days of Judge Thom and his policy of repression. Mr. Buckingham did
+not remain long in Red River Settlement. Mr. Coldwell became the dean of
+newspaperdom in the Canadian West. The great antagonist of the Hudson's
+Bay Company, Dr. John Schultz, a Western Canadian, came to the
+Settlement in the same year as The Nor'-Wester--a medical man, he became
+also a merchant, a land-owner, a politician, and in this last sphere
+held many offices. At times he succeeded in controlling The Nor'-Wester,
+at other times the Hudson's Bay Company were able to direct The
+Nor'-Wester policy; sometimes Mr. James Ross, son of Sheriff Alexander
+Ross, was in control, but it may be said that in general its policy was
+hostile to that of the Company. About this time of beginnings came along
+a number of Americans, or Canadians, who had been in the United States,
+and these congregated in the little village, which began to form at what
+is now the junction of Main Street and Portage Avenue, in Winnipeg.
+Certain Canadians in St. Paul, such as Messrs. N.W. Kittson, and J.J.
+Hill, began at this time to take an interest in the trade of Red River
+Settlement, and to speak of communication between the Settlement and the
+outside world. The demand for transport led a company to bring in a
+steamer, the Anson Northrup, afterwards called "The Pioneer," to break
+the Red River solitude with her scream. The steamer International was
+built to run on the river in 1862, and thus the Hudson's Bay Company was
+unwittingly joining with The Nor'-Wester in opening up the country to
+the world, and sounding the death-knell of the Company's hopes of
+maintaining supremacy in Rupert's land.
+
+[Illustration: THE ANSON NORTHRUP The machinery was brought from the
+Mississippi to the Red River. The name was changed to Pioneer in 1860.
+"International", larger boat of similar pattern was built by the
+Hudson's Bay Company in 1861. These steamers were run on the Red River.]
+
+Until this time of arrivals there had been no village of Winnipeg. The
+first building back from the McDermott, Ross and Logan buildings on the
+bank of Red River, was on the corner of Main and Portage Avenue. Here
+gathered those, who may be spoken of as free traders, being rivals of
+the Hudson's Bay Company Store at Fort Garry. Another village began a
+few years after at Point Douglas on Main Street, near the Canadian
+Pacific Railway Station of to-day, while at St. John's, on Main Street,
+was another nucleus. These were in existence when the old order passed
+away in 1870, but they are all absorbed into the City of Winnipeg of
+to-day. The Hudson's Bay Company, while long attached to its ancient
+customs, brought over from the seventeenth century, has fully and
+heartily adopted the new order of things. Glorying in the old, it has
+embraced the new, and has become thoroughly modern in all its
+enterprises. It has been a safe and solvent institution in its whole
+history. That it has been able to do this is no doubt, largely due to
+the enterprise and modern spirit of its great London Governor, who for
+years watched over its time of transition in Winnipeg--Donald A.
+Smith--Lord Strathcona of to-day.
+
+When the regime of the Hudson's Bay Company is recalled old timers
+delight to think of a figure of that time who was an embodiment of the
+life of the Red River Settlement from its beginning nearly to its end.
+This was William Robert Smith, a blue-coat boy from London, who came out
+in the Company's service in 1813, served for a number of years as a
+clerk, and settled down in Lower Fort Garry District in 1824. Farming,
+teaching, catechising for the church, acting precentor, a local
+encyclopaedia and collector of customs, he passed his versatile life,
+till in the year before the Sayer affair, 1848, he became clerk of
+Court, which place, with slight interruption, he held for twenty years.
+One who knew him says: "From his long residence in the Settlement, he
+has seen Governors, Judges, Bishops, and Clergymen, not to mention such
+birds of passage as the Company's local officers, come and go, himself
+remaining to record their doings to their successors."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+RIEL'S RISING.
+
+
+The agitation for freedom which we have described in Red River
+Settlement, and the efforts of Canada to introduce Rupert's Land into
+the newly-formed Dominion of Canada had, after much effort, and the
+overcoming of many hindrances, resulted in the British Government
+agreeing to transfer this Western territory to Canada, and in the
+Hudson's Bay Company accepting a subsidy in full payment of their claim
+to the country. This payment was to be paid by Canada. Somewhat careless
+of the feelings of the Hudson's Bay Company officers, and also of the
+views of the old settlers of the Colony--especially of the
+French-speaking section--the Dominion Government sent a reckless body of
+men to survey the lands near the French settlements and to rouse
+animosity in the minds of the Metis.
+
+Now came the Riel Rising.
+
+Five causes may be stated as leading up to it.
+
+1. The weakness of the Government of Assiniboia and the sickness and
+helplessness of Governor McTavish, whose duty it was to act.
+
+2. The rebellious character of the Metis, now irritated anew by the
+actions of the surveyors.
+
+3. The inexplicable blundering and neglect of the Dominion Government at
+Ottawa.
+
+4. A dangerous element in the United States, and especially on the
+borders of Minnesota inciting and supporting a disloyal band of
+Americans in Pembina and Winnipeg.
+
+5. A cunning plot to keep Governor McTavish from acting as he should
+have done, and to incite the Metis under Riel to open revolt.
+
+The drama opened with the appointment of Hon. William McDougall as
+Lieutenant-Governor of the Northwest Territories in September, 1869, and
+his arrival at Pembina in October. Mr. McDougall was to be appointed
+Governor by the Dominion Government as soon as the transfer to Canada of
+Rupert's Land could be made. McDougall, on his arrival at the boundary
+of Minnesota, was served with a notice by the French half-breeds, not to
+enter the Territories.
+
+Meanwhile, Louis Riel, son of the old miller of the Seine, and a true
+son of his father--but vain and assertive, having the ambition to be a
+Caesar or Napoleon, took the lead. He succeeded in October in getting a
+few of the Metis to seize the highway at St. Norbert, some nine miles
+south of Fort Garry, and in the true style of a Paris revolt, erected a
+barricade or barrier to stop all passers-by. It was here that Governor
+McTavish failed. He was immediately informed of this illegal act, but
+did nothing. Hearing of the obstacle on the highway, two of McDougall's
+officers came on towards Fort Garry, and finding the obstruction, one of
+them gave command, "Remove that blawsted fence," but the half-breeds
+refused to obey. The half-breeds seized the mails and all freight coming
+along the road coming into the country.
+
+
+THE SCENE SHIFTS TO FORT GARRY.
+
+It is rumored that Riel was thinking of seizing Fort Garry; an affidavit
+of the Chief of Police under the Dominion shows that he urged the master
+of Fort Garry to meet the danger, and asked leave to call out special
+police to protect the Fort, but no Governor spoke; no one even closed
+the gate of the Fort as a precaution; its gates stood wide open to its
+enemies who seemed to be the friends of its officers.
+
+On November 2nd Riel and a hundred of his Metis followers took
+possession of Fort Garry, and without opposition.
+
+Riel now issued a proclamation with the air of Dictator or Deliverer,
+calling on the English parishes to elect twelve representatives to meet
+the President and representatives of the French-speaking population. He
+likewise summoned them to assemble in twelve days.
+
+McDougall, prospective Governor, on hearing of these things, wrote to
+Governor McTavish, calling on him to make proclamation that the rebels
+should disperse, and a number of the loyal inhabitants made the same
+request. The sick and helpless Governor fourteen days after the seizure
+of the Fort, and twenty-three days after the date of the affidavit of
+the rising, issued a tardy proclamation, condemning the rebels and
+calling upon them to disperse.
+
+The convention summoned by Riel, met on November 16th, the English
+parishes having been induced to choose delegates. The convention at this
+meeting could reach no result and agreed to adjourn to December 1st. The
+English members saw plainly that Riel wished the formation of a
+provisional government, of which he should be head.
+
+At the adjourned meeting, Riel and his fellows insisted on ruling the
+meeting and passed a bill of rights of fifteen clauses. The English
+representatives refused to accept the bill of rights, and after vainly
+trying to make arrangements for the entrance to the country of Governor
+McDougall, returned home, ashamed and discouraged.
+
+Turn now to the condition of things in Pembina, from which prospective
+Governor McDougall is all this while viewing the promised land. He and
+his family are badly housed in Pembina, and he is of a haughty and
+imperious disposition.
+
+December 1st was the day on which the transfer being made of the country
+to Canada, his proclamation as Governor would come into force. But it so
+happened on account of the breaking out of Riel's revolt, the transfer
+had not been made.
+
+Now came about a thing utterly inexplicable, that Mr. McDougall, a
+lawyer, a privy councillor, and an experienced parliamentarian, should,
+on a mere supposition, issue his proclamation as Governor. Riel was
+aware of all the steps being taken by the Government, and so he and the
+Metis laughed at the proclamation. McDougall was an object of pity to
+his Loyalist friends, and he became a laughing stock for the whole
+world.
+
+His proclamation, authorizing Col. Dennis to raise a force in the
+settlement to oppose Riel, was of no value, and prevented Col. Dennis
+from obtaining a loyal force of any strength, which under ordinary
+circumstances he would have done.
+
+As all Canada looked at it, the whole thing was a miserable fiasco.
+
+The illegality of McDougall's proclamation left the loyal Canadians in
+Winnipeg in a most awkward situation. One hundred of them had arms in
+their hands, and they were naturally looked upon by Riel as dangerous,
+and as his enemies.
+
+Riel now acted most deceitfully to them. He promised them their freedom,
+and that he would negotiate with McDougall and try to settle the whole
+matter.
+
+On the 7th of December the Canadians surrendered, but with some of them
+in the Fort and others in the prison outside the wall, where the Sayer
+episode had taken place, Riel coolly broke his truce, while the Metis
+celebrated their early victory by numerous potations of rum, from the
+Hudson's Bay Company Stores, and, of course at the Company's expense.
+
+Encouraged by his victory and the possession of his prisoners, Riel, now
+in Napoleonic fashion, issued a proclamation which it is said was
+written for him by a petty American lawyer at Pembina, who was hostile
+to Britain and Canada.
+
+An evidence of Riel's disloyalty and want of sense was shown by his
+superseding the Union Jack and hoisting in its place a new flag--not
+even the French tri-color, but one with a fleur-de-lis and shamrocks
+upon it, no doubt the flag of the old French regime with additions. He
+also took possession of Hudson's Bay Company funds with the coolness of
+a buccaneer, and his manner in refusing personal liberty to people whom
+he dared not arrest was overbearing and impertinent.
+
+The inaccessibility of Red River Settlement in winter added much to the
+anxiety. No telegraphic connection nearer than St. Paul, some four or
+five hundred miles, was possible, even the regular conveyance of the
+mails could not be relied on. Meanwhile the Canadian people were in a
+state of the greatest excitement, and the Government at Ottawa,
+well-knowing its mismanagement of the whole affair, was in desperate
+straits. To make the situation more serious the only man who could deal
+with Riel and could remedy the situation, Bishop Tache, of St. Boniface,
+was absent at the great conclave of that year in Rome. The more
+intelligent French people had no confidence in the sanity and
+reasonableness of Riel. He was to them as great a puzzle as he was to
+the English. It was a gloomy Christmas time in Red River, and the gloom
+was increased by the suspense of not knowing what the Government at
+Ottawa would do in the circumstances.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+LORD STRATHCONA'S HAND.
+
+
+On Christmas Day, 1870, John Bruce, who was but a figurehead, resigned
+his office of President of the so-called Provisional Government of Red
+River Settlement, and the ambitious Louis Riel was chosen in his stead.
+The Dominion Government had at length, been awakened to the danger.
+Divided counsels still prevailed. Two Commissioners, Grand Vicar
+Thibault and Col. De Salaberry, arrived at Fort Garry, but they were
+safely quartered at the Bishop's palace at St. Boniface, and as they
+professed to have no authority, Riel cavalierly set them aside. At this
+time the American element in the hamlet of Winnipeg became very
+offensive. Riel's official organ, "The New Nation," was edited by an
+American, Major Robinson. This journal was filled with articles having
+such head-lines as "Confederation," "The British-American Provinces,"
+"Proposed Annexation to the United States," etc., etc. Or, again,
+"Annexation," "British Columbia Defying the Dominion," "Annexation our
+Manifest Destiny." All this was very disagreeable to the
+English-speaking people, and highly compromising to Riel.
+
+But the real negociator was at hand, and he not only had the authority
+to speak for Canada, but had Scottish prudence and diplomacy, as well as
+real influence in the country, from holding the highest position in
+Canada of any of the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company. This chief
+factor was Donald A. Smith, whom we have since learned to know so well
+as Lord Strathcona. He, with his secretary, Hardisty, arrived on
+December 27th, and went immediately to Fort Garry. Riel demanded of Mr.
+Smith, the object of his visit, but received no satisfaction. On being
+asked for his credentials, Mr. Smith replied that he had left them at
+Pembina. Being a high Hudson's Bay Company officer, he was quartered in
+Government House, Fort Garry. The larger portion of the building was
+occupied by Governor McTavish, the smaller or official portion became
+the Commissioner's apartments. Here he was able to observe events, meet
+a number of the old settlers, and obtain his information at first hand.
+On the 15th of January Riel again demanded the Commissioner's papers;
+he, indeed, offered to send to Pembina for them, but Mr. Smith declined
+the offer. In the meantime the Commissioner had learned that the
+Dauphinais Settlement, lying between Pembina and Fort Garry was loyal.
+Accordingly, with a guard, Hardisty started to bring the papers. Riel
+learned of this, and taking a body guard with him, went to the
+Dauphinais house, intending to seize the credentials. Hardisty arrived
+with his precious documents. Meanwhile, the Loyalists had made Riel's
+men prisoners, and when Riel attempted to interfere, Pierre Laveiller, a
+loyal French half-breed, put his loaded pistol to the Dictator's head,
+and threatened his life. Sixty or seventy of the Loyalists escorted
+Hardisty and his papers to Mr. Smith in Fort Garry.
+
+[Illustration: Train of Huskie Dogs, Fort Garry, north gate
+(Governor's entrance still standing), Toboggan with Hudson Bay trader
+IN FORT GARRY PARK, WINNIPEG Permission Steele & Co., Winnipeg]
+
+Now in possession of his documents, the Commissioner called a general
+meeting of the people for January 19th, and one thousand men appeared on
+that day in the Court Yard of the Fort. As there was no building in
+which they could assemble, the meeting was held in the open air, with
+the temperature 20 deg. below zero. The people stood for hours and
+listened to the proceedings. Commissioner Smith then read the letter of
+his appointment, and also a letter from the Governor-General, which
+announced to the people that the Imperial Government would see that
+"perfect good faith would be kept with the inhabitants of the Red River
+and the Northwest." The Commissioner then demanded that Vicar Thibault's
+commission, which Riel had seized should be read. Riel refused it, but
+Mr. Smith stood firm. At length the Queen's message to the people was
+proclaimed. One John Burke then demanded that the prisoners be released
+and a promise was given. On the second day the people again assembled,
+and Mr. Smith then read authoritative letters, one from the
+Governor-General to Governor McTavish, and another to Mr. McDougall. It
+was then moved by Riel, seconded by Mr. Bannatyre, and carried
+unanimously, that twenty representatives should be elected by the
+English Parishes and twenty by the French, and that these should meet on
+January 25th to consider the subjects of Commissioner Smith's
+communications, and decide what was best for the welfare of the country.
+Speeches were made by the Bishop of Rupert's Land, and Father Richot and
+Riel closed the meeting by saying: "I came here with fear ... we are not
+enemies--but we came very near being so.... we all have rights. We claim
+no half rights, mind you, but all the rights we are entitled to."
+
+Begg, an eye-witness, says: "Immediately after the meeting the utmost
+good feeling prevailed. French and English shook hands, and for the
+first time in many months a spirit of unity between the two classes of
+settlers appeared. The elections took place in due time, but in Winnipeg
+Mr. Bannatyne, the best citizen of the place, was beaten by Mr. A.H.
+Scott, and the greatest annoyance was felt at this by the better
+citizens on account of his being an American, and because of the 'New
+Nation' continuing to advocate annexation."
+
+On the 25th of January the forty delegates assembled. Much excitement
+had been caused at this time among the French by the escape of Dr.
+Schultz, their great opponent. Commissioner Smith addressed the
+Convention. Riel wished him to accept the original Bill of Rights, but
+Mr. Smith refused to do this. A proposal was then brought up by the
+French Deputies that the proposal made by the Imperial Government to the
+Hudson's Bay Company to take over their lands be null and void. This was
+voted down by 22 to 17. Riel rose in rage and said: "The devil take it;
+we must win. The vote may go as it likes, but the motion must be
+carried." Riel raged like a madman. That night, in his fury, he went to
+the bedside of Governor McTavish, sick as he was, and it is said,
+threatened to have him shot at once. Dr. Cowan, the master of the fort,
+was arrested, and so was Mr. Bannatyne, the chief merchant, as well as
+Charles Nolan, a loyal French delegate.
+
+On the 7th of February the delegates again met, and at this meeting
+Commissioner Smith, having the power given him by the Dominion
+Government, invited the Convention to send delegates to Canada to meet
+the Government at Ottawa. Two English delegates, Messrs. Sutherland and
+Fraser, not quite sure on this point, visited Governor McTavish for his
+advise. "Form a Government, for God's sake," said the Governor, "and
+restore peace and order in the Settlement." Being asked, if in such
+case, he would delegate his authority to anyone, he hastily replied, "I
+am dying, I will not delegate my authority to anyone."
+
+The Convention then proceeded to elect a provisional government. Most of
+the officers were English, they being better educated and more prominent
+than the French members. But when it came to the election of a
+President, to their disgust Riel was chosen. Immediately after this,
+Governor McTavish, Dr. Cowan, and Mr. Bannatyne were released as
+prisoners, but Commissioner Smith was a virtual prisoner in his quarters
+in the fort, though his influence was still felt at every turn.
+
+[Illustration: LORD STRATHCONA AND MOUNT ROYAL. Governor of the Hudson's
+Bay Company]
+
+Among the earliest acts of the new provisional government was on
+February 11th, the confiscation of Dr. Schultz's property, and of the
+office of The Norwester newspaper. The type of The Norwester was said to
+have been melted into bar lead and bullets. Judge Black, Father Richot,
+and A.H. Scott were chosen as delegates to Ottawa, though the
+appointment of the last of these, the "American delegate," was very
+distasteful to the English-speaking people. The success of Riel led him
+to dismiss about a quarter of the prisoners in Fort Garry. The fact that
+he seemed to hold the remainder as hostages stirred up the English
+people living along the Assiniboine.
+
+What is usually called the "Portage la Prairie" Expedition was now
+organized, to secure the release of the remaining prisoners. A body,
+varying from sixty to one hundred, marched down to Headingly, and were
+there joined by a number of English-speaking Canadians and others. They
+then pushed on to Kildonan Church, where they were increased by a number
+of English half-breeds from St. Andrew's and adjoining parishes. The
+proposal was to attack the fort and set free the prisoners. Alarmed at
+the movement, Riel released all the prisoners in the fort. Their object
+being gained, the men of the Kildonan Church camp, who had grown to be
+six hundred strong, dissolved, and were proceeding to their homes, when
+Riel, by an unheard of act of treachery, arrested some fifty of the
+Assiniboine party. Among them was Major Boulton, a former officer of the
+100th Regiment. Riel again sought out a victim for revenge, and intended
+to execute this prominent man. It was only on the persistent request of
+Commissioner Smith and the urgency of Mrs. John Sutherland, whose son
+had been killed by an escaping French prisoner at the Kildonan Church
+camp, that Boulton's life was spared.
+
+Riel, however, seemed to feel that power was slipping from his hands. He
+was criticised on all hands for his treachery and for his arrogance. It
+is said his followers were dropping off from him, notwithstanding the
+luxurious lives they had been living on the Company's supplies in Fort
+Garry.
+
+He determined, though with a divided Council, to make an example, and
+despite the solicitations of Commissioner Smith, the Rev. George Young,
+and others, publicly executed, on the 4th of March, outside of Fort
+Garry, a young Irish-Canadian named Thomas Scott. It was a cold-blooded,
+cruelly-executed and revolting scene--it was the act of a mad man.
+
+"Whom the Gods destroy they first make mad." The execution of Scott was
+the death-knell of Riel's hopes as a ruler. Canada was roused to its
+centre. Determined to have no further communication with Riel, and
+feeling that he had done all that he could do, Commissioner Smith, on
+the 18th of March, returned to Canada. On the 8th of March, Bishop Tache
+returned from Rome. A few days after Chief Factor Smith's departure, he
+was followed to Canada by Father Richot and Mr. Scott, and they shortly
+after by Judge Black, accompanied by Major Button. The conflict of
+opinion was transferred to Ottawa, and the act constituting the Province
+of Manitoba was passed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+WOLSELEY'S WELCOME.
+
+
+Canada's military experience, ever since the excitement of the "Trent
+Affair," had been in dealing with a persistent band of Irishmen, posing
+as Fenians, and egged on by sympathizers in the United States. Now there
+was trouble, as we have seen, in her own borders, and though here again,
+American influence of a hostile nature played its part, yet it was those
+connected with one of the two races in Canada who were now giving
+trouble in the Northwestern prairies. Such an outbreak was more
+dangerous than Fenianism, for to the credit of the Irish in Canada, it
+should be said that they gave no countenance to the Fenian intruders.
+The French people in Quebec, however, had strong sympathies for their
+race in the Red River Settlement. No one in Canada believed that any
+injustice could be done to either the English or French elements on the
+banks of Red River, but Sir George Cartier fought strongly for his own,
+and was very unwilling to allow an expedition to go out to Manitoba with
+hostile intent. Of the two battalions of volunteers that went out to Red
+River, one was from Quebec, but one military authority states that there
+were not fifty French-Canadians all told in the Quebec battalion. It had
+been proposed that Col. Wolseley, who was to command the Red River
+Expedition, should be appointed Governor of the new province of
+Manitoba, but this was sturdily opposed by the French-Canadian section
+of the Cabinet, and Hon. Adams G. Archibald, a Nova Scotian, was
+appointed to the post of Governor. Hampered thus, in so far as exercising
+any civil functions wereconcerned, Col. Garnet Wolseley was chosen by the
+British officer in command in Canada--General Lindsay--to organize this
+expedition. Wolseley was very popular, having served in Burmah, India,
+the Crimea and China. The Ontario battalion soon had to refuse
+applications, and from Ontario the complement of the Quebec battalion was
+filled up. It was decided also that a battalion of regulars, with small
+bodies of artillery and engineers should take the lead in the expedition.
+Thus, a force of 1,200 men was speedily gathered together and put at the
+disposal of Colonel Wolseley. Two hundred boats, each some 25 to 30 feet
+long, carrying four tons as well as fourteen men as a crew, were built;
+the voyageurs numbered some four hundred men. No sooner did the Fenians
+in the United States hear of this expedition than they threatened Lower
+Canada, and spoke of interrupting the troops as they passed Sault Ste.
+Marie. The United States also refused to allow soldiers or munitions of
+war to pass up their Sault Canal. The rallying began in May, and though
+the troops were compelled to debark themselves and their stores at Sault
+Ste. Marie, portage them around the Sault and replace them in the
+steamers again, yet all the troops were landed at Port Arthur on Lake
+Superior by the 21st of June, their officers declaring "our mission is
+one of peace, and the sole object of it is to secure Her Majesty's
+Sovereign authority." Some time was lost in endeavoring to use land
+carriage up from Port Arthur as far as Lake Shebandowan. The
+difficulties were so great that the scouts were led to find another
+route for the boats up the Kaministiquia River. In this they were
+successful; in all this worry from mosquitoes, black flies and deer
+flies in millions, the troops preserved their good temper, and Col.
+Wolseley said, "I have never been with any body of men in the field so
+well fed as this has been." (July 10th.) The real start of the
+expedition was from Lake Shebandowan. The three brigades of boats--A. B.
+and C.--seventeen in all, got off from Shebandowan shore on the evening
+of July 16th; by the 4th of August Rainy River was reached, and at Fort
+Frances Colonel Wolseley met Captain Butler, who had acted as
+intelligence officer, having adroitly passed under Riel's shadow, and
+being able now to give the news required. It was still the statement and
+belief of Riel that "Wolseley would never reach Fort Garry." Crossing
+Lake of the Woods the regular troops were pushed ahead, and on
+descending Winnipeg River they reached Fort Alexander and Lake Winnipeg
+on August 20th. Here Commissioner Donald A. Smith, having come through
+in a light canoe, met Colonel Wolseley. After a short delay Colonel
+Wolseley's command hastened to the Red River, ascended it, and
+cautiously approached Fort Garry. It was still uncertain whether Riel
+was to oppose the expedition or not. The troops formed for what
+emergency might arise, and two small guns were in readiness should they
+be required. When Fort Garry was sighted, its guns were mounted, and
+everything seemed ready for defence. The officers of the expedition, as
+they approached it were quite ready for a shot to be fired from the
+battlements, but there was no movement, Riel, Lepine, and O'Donoghue
+alone, were left of the Metis levy, and as the 60th Rifles drew near the
+Fort the three were seen to escape from the river gate and to flee
+across the bridge of boats on the Assiniboine River. Capt. Huyshe states
+that the troops took possession of the fort with a bloodless victory,
+the Union Jack was hoisted, three cheers were given for the Queen and
+the Riel regime was at an end. The militia regiments arrived on the 27th
+of August, and two days afterwards the Imperial troops started back to
+their headquarters in Ontario. Captain Buller, who afterward became so
+celebrated in South Africa, took his company down the Dawson road to the
+northwest angle of the Lake of the Woods, and thus returned eastward,
+while Colonel McNeil left the country by way of Red River, through the
+United States. Shortly afterward, on September 2nd, Lieutenant-Governor
+Archibald arrived by the Winnipeg River route, and began his work.
+
+[Illustration: WINNIPEG IN 1871]
+
+[Illustration: WINNIPEG IN 1870]
+
+The joy of all classes of the people was unbounded. The English
+halfbreeds had been loyal through the whole of the disturbances.
+Kildonan Church had been the headquarters of the Loyalists in their
+attempted rally, and after the execution of Scott, the French
+half-breeds had gradually dropped off from Riel, until he and his two
+companions formed a helpless trio shorn of all power.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+MANITOBA IN THE MAKING.
+
+
+Close in the wake of Wolseley's Expedition, there arrived on the 2nd of
+September, Adams G. Archibald, the newly-appointed Governor of the new
+Province of Manitoba. His arrival was greeted with joy, for he was a man
+of high character, and of much experience in his native Province of Nova
+Scotia. The two volunteer regiments, the Quebec and Ontario battalions,
+were quartered for the winter, the former in Lower Fort Garry, the
+latter in Fort Garry. The new Governor took up his abode in Fort Garry,
+in the residence with which our story is so familiar. The organization
+of his government began at once. The first Government Building stood
+back from the street in Winnipeg on the corner of Main Street and
+McDermott Avenue East, of the present-day. The Legislative Council--a
+miniature House of Lords--of seven members, was appointed, and electoral
+divisions for the election of members to the Legislative Assembly were
+made to the number of twenty-four--twelve French and twelve English. The
+time for the opening of Parliament was the spring of 1871. It was a
+notable day, for the citizens were much interested in scrutinizing those
+who were to be their future rulers. The opening passed off with eclat.
+During the first session certain elementary legislation was passed
+including a short school act. There was yet no division of parties, and
+a sufficient cabinet was chosen by the Governor. Thus, institutions
+after the model of the mother of Parliaments at Westminster were evolved
+and Manitoba--the successor of our Red River Settlement--had conceded to
+it the right of local self-government.
+
+In the year of the first parliament of Manitoba it was the fortune of
+the writer to take up his abode here. Winnipeg, a village of less than
+three hundred inhabitants was in that year, still four hundred miles
+distant from a railway. From the railway terminus in Minnesota, the
+stage coach drawn by four horses with relays every twenty miles, sped
+rapidly over prairies, smooth as a lawn to the site of the future city
+of the plains.
+
+Since that time well-nigh forty years has passed away. The stage coach,
+the Red River cart, and the shaganappi pony are things of the past, and
+several railways with richly furnished trains connect St. Paul and
+Minneapolis with the City of Winnipeg. More important, the skill of the
+engineer has surpassed what we then even dreamt of in his blasting of
+rock cuttings and tunnels through the Archaean rocks to Fort William, and
+this has been done by three main trunk lines of railway. The old
+amphibious route of the fur traders and of Wolseley's Expedition has
+been superseded, the tremendous cliffs of the north shore of Lake
+Superior have been levelled and the chasm bridged. To the west the whole
+wide prairie land has been gridironed by railways all tributary to
+Winnipeg, the enormous ascent of the four Rocky Mountain ranges, rising
+a mile above the sea, have been crossed by the Canadian Pacific Railway.
+The giddy heights of the Fraser River Canyon are traversed, and this is
+but the beginning, for three other great corporations are bending their
+strength to pierce the passes of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific
+Ocean. We see to-day scenes more after the manner of the Arabian Nights
+Entertainments than of the humble dream that Lord Selkirk dreamt one
+hundred years ago.
+
+[Illustration: HON. JOHN NORQUAY A native of Red River Settlement.
+Became Cabinet Minister in 1871, afterward Premier of Manitoba.]
+
+The towns and cities of Manitoba have sprung up on every hand where the
+railway has gone and these are but the centres of business of twenty
+thousand farms whose owners have come to this land, many of them
+empty-handed, and are now blessed with competence and in many cases
+wealth. What a vindication of Lord Selkirk's prospectus of a hundred
+years ago when he said: "The soil on the Red River and the Assiniboine
+is generally a good soil, susceptible of culture and capable of bearing
+rich crops." Lord Selkirk's dream is fulfilled, for his land is fast
+becoming the grainary of the world. As the traveller of to-day passes
+along the railways in the last days of August or early in September, he
+beholds the sight of a life-time, in the rattling reapers, each drawn by
+four great horses, turning off the golden sheaves of wheat and other
+cereals. A little later the giant threshers, driven by steam power, pour
+forth the precious grain, which is hurried off to the high elevators for
+storage, till the railways can carry it to the markets of the world to
+feed earth's hungry millions. When the historian recalls the statement
+that the few cattle of the early settlers had degenerated in size on
+account of the climatic conditions, that the shaganappi pony could never
+do the work of the stalwart Clydesdale, and that nothing could result
+from the straggling flock of foot-sore and dying sheep, driven by Burke
+and Campbell from far-distant Missouri, we look with astonishment at the
+horses now taken away by hundreds to supply with chargers the crack
+cavalry regiments of the Empire, at the vast consignments of cattle
+passing through Winnipeg every day to feed the hungry, and flocks of
+sheep supplying wool for Eastern manufacturers to clothe the naked.
+
+One of the greatest trials of the early Selkirk Settlers was to get
+schools sufficient to give the children scattered along the river belt,
+even the three R's of education. Kildonan parish manfully raised by
+subscription the means, unaided by Government help, to give some
+opportunity to their children. It is a notable fact which emerged in the
+great School Contention of twenty years ago in Manitoba, that not a
+dollar had been given to schools as aid by the old Government of
+Assiniboia. To-day the glory of Manitoba is its school system. For
+school buildings, school organization, attainments of the teachers, and
+efficient school management, the schools of Winnipeg are probably
+unsurpassed in any country, and the same is true of many other places in
+the Province. Two Winnipeg schools bear the names of Selkirk and
+Isbister. The University of Manitoba, with its seven affiliated colleges
+and twelve hundred and forty candidates in 1909 for its several
+examinations has its seat at the forks of the Red and Assiniboine
+Rivers, and one of the colleges is on the very lot where Lord Selkirk
+stood and divided up their lands to the Colonists.
+
+[Illustration: ALEXANDER ISBISTER, LL.B. Red River
+Patriot and Benefactor of University of Manitoba.]
+
+One of the most continued and aggressive struggles which Lord Selkirk's
+Colonists maintained was seen in the efforts put forth to worship God
+according to the dictates of their own consciences, and after the manner
+of their fathers. Their perseverance which showed itself in the erection
+of old Kildonan Church in the year immediately after the destructive
+flood of 1852, bore fruit in succeeding years. They were always a
+religious people. No one can even estimate what their religious
+disposition did in a miscellaneous gathering of people who had, being
+scattered over the posts of the fur traders, been in most cases, without
+any religious opportunities whatever, before their coming to settle on
+Red River. The sturdy stand for principle which the Selkirk Colonists
+made created an atmosphere which has remained until this day. The
+well-nigh forty years of religious life of Manitoba has been marked by a
+good understanding among the several churches, by an energetic zeal in
+carrying church services in the very first year of their settlement to
+hundreds of new communities. The generosity of the people in erecting
+churches for themselves in maintaining among themselves their cherished
+beliefs, is in striking contrast to the new settlements of the United
+States. In the new Western States the religious movements fell behind
+the Western march of the immigrant. In the Canadian West from the very
+day that old Verandrye took his priest with him, from the time when the
+first Colonists brought a devout layman as their religious teacher with
+them, from the hour when the stalwart Provencher came, from the era when
+the self-denying West visited the Indian camps and Settlers' camp alike,
+from the time when the saintly Black came as the natural leader of the
+Selkirk Colonists, and during the forty years of the development of
+Manitoba, the foundations have been laid in that righteousness which
+exalteth a nation.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+
+How strange and wonderful is the web of destiny, which is being woven in
+our national, provincial and family life, which we poor mortals are
+simply the individual strands.
+
+How marvellous it is to look into the seeds of time--yes, and these may
+be small as mustard seeds--which are the smallest of all seeds--and see
+the bursting of the husks, the peering out of the plumule, the feeding
+of the sprout, the struggle through the clods, the fight with frost and
+hail and broiling sun, and canker worm and blight, the growth of the
+strengthening stem, and then the leaf and blossoms and fruit! We say it
+has survived, it becomes a great tree under whose leaves and under whose
+branches the fowls of Heaven find shelter. How passing strange it was to
+see the seed-thought rise in the mind of Lord Selkirk, that suffering
+humanity transplanted to another environment might grow out of poverty,
+into happiness and content. See his sorrow as he meets with undeserved
+opposition from rival traders, from slanderous agents, from bitter
+articles in the press, from Government officials and even police
+officers who strive to break up his immigrant parties. Recall the
+troubles of the Nelson Encampment as they reach him in letters and
+reports. Think of the misery of knowing thousands of miles away that his
+Colonists were starving, were being imprisoned, banished, seduced from
+their allegiance, and in one notable case that men of honor, education
+and standing to the number of twenty, were massacred, while he, in St.
+Mary's Isle, in Montreal, or in Fort William, fretted his soul because
+he could not reach them with deliverance.
+
+[Illustration: MARBLE BUST OF EARL OF SELKIRK, THE FOUNDER
+By Chantrey, obtained by author from St. Mary's Isle, Lord Selkirk's
+seat.]
+
+The world looked coldly on and said, "A visionary Scottish nobleman! a
+dreamer a hundred years before his time! Is it worth while?" while he
+himself saw a dream of sunshine when he visited his Colonists on Red
+River, when he made allocations for their separate homes for them, when
+he pledged his honor and estate that the settlers might in time be
+independent, and when he made religious provision for both his
+Protestant and Catholic settlers, yet think of the unexampled ferocity
+with which he was attacked upon his return to Upper Canada, in law
+suits, and illegal processes, so that his estates became heavily
+encumbered, so that he went to France to pine away and die. The world
+failed to see any glamour in him, and carelessly said, what does it
+profit? Folly has its reward.
+
+Yet the answer. Here is Manitoba to-day, it is the fruitage of all that
+bitter sowing time. Next year Manitoba will be in the fortieth year of
+its history. Its people have seen pain, strife and defeat, they have
+gone through excitement and anxiety and patient waiting, and at times
+have almost given up the strife. But the province and its great city,
+Winnipeg, are the meeting place of the East and West, the pivotal point
+of the Dominion. The national life of Canada throbs here with a steadier
+beat and a more normal pulse than it does in any other part of Canada,
+its dominating Canadian spirit is so hearty and so sprightly, that, it
+is taking possession of the scores of different nations coming to us and
+they feel that we are their friends and brothers. This, while it may not
+be the noisy and blatant type of loyalty is a practical patriotism which
+is making a united, sane and abiding type of national character.
+
+Again we answer: Three years from now will be the hundredth year since
+the landing on the banks of Red River of the first band of Selkirk
+Colonists. It was as we have seen a struggle of an extraordinarily
+bitter type. To us it seems that no other American Colony ever had such
+a continuous distressing and terrific struggle for existence as had
+these Scottish Settlers, but we say it was worth while, judging by the
+loss to Canada of the northern portions of the tier of states of
+Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana and Washington, which a line from Fond
+du Lac (Duluth) to the mouth of the Columbia would have given to us, and
+which should have been ours. We say that had it not been for the Selkirk
+Colonists we would have stood to lose our Canadian West. It was a
+settlement nearly a hundred years ago of families of men and women, and
+children that gave us the firm claim to what is now the three great
+provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Was it not worth while?
+Was it not worth ten, yes, worth a hundred times more suffering and
+discouragement than even the first settlers of Red River endured to
+preserve our British connection which the Hudson's Bay Company, loyal as
+it was, with its Union Jack floating on every fort, could not have
+preserved to us any more than it did in Oregon and Washington. It was
+the Red River Settlement that held it for us.
+
+We are beginning to see to-day that Canada could not have become a great
+and powerful sister nation in the Empire had the West not been saved to
+her. The line of possible settlement has been moving steadily northward
+in Canada since the days when the French King showed his contempt for it
+by calling it "a few arpents of snow." The St. Lawrence route was
+regarded as a doubtful line for steamships, Rupert's Land was called a
+Siberia, but all this is changing with our Transcontinental and Hudson's
+Bay railways in prospect. In territory, resources, and influence the
+opening up of the West is making Canada complete. And, if so, we owe it
+to Lord Selkirk and to Selkirk Settlers, who stood true to their flag
+and nationality. Very willingly will we observe the Selkirk Centennial
+in 1912. "Many a time and oft" it looked in their case to be one long,
+continued and alarming drama, but on the 30th day of August, the day of
+their landing on the banks of the Red River, shall we recite the epic of
+Lord Selkirk's Colonists, and it will be of the temper of Browning's
+couplet:
+
+     God's in His Heaven,
+     All's right with the world.
+
+
+*       *       *       *       *
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+The author notes the fact that the agents sent out by Lord
+Selkirk engaged (1) Labourers for the Company, (2) Settlers for the Red
+River Settlement. On this account in the lists given in the archives and
+other official documents, the labourers were often sent to the Posts of
+the Company, and after serving several years often became settlers.
+(List given in Manitoba Historical Society Transactions, 33.)
+
+
+A.
+
+List of men who arrived at Hudson Bay in 1811 and left York Factory for
+the interior in July, 1812:
+
+     Names.                 Age.  Whence.
+
+     1 Colin Campbell         21  Argyle
+
+     2 John McKay             22  Rossshire
+
+     3 John McLennan          23  Rossshire
+
+     4 Beth Bethune           19  Rossshire
+
+     5 Donald McKay           17  Rossshire
+
+     6 William Wallace        21  Ayr
+
+     7 John Cooper            26  Orkney, came to Upper Canada.
+
+     8 Nichol Harper          34  Orkney
+
+     9 Magnus Isbister        21  Orkney, probably father of A.K. Isbister
+
+    10 George Gibbon          50  Orkney
+
+    11 Thos. McKim            38  Sligo
+
+    12 Pat Corcoran           24  Crosmalina
+
+    13 John Green             21  Sligo
+
+    14 Pat Quinn              21  Killala
+
+    15 Martin Jordan          16  Killala
+
+    16 John O'Rourke          20  Killala
+
+    17 Anthony McDonnell      23  Killala
+
+    18 James Toomey           20  Killala
+
+
+The Author is not aware of the existence of any list of the first
+settlers other than these.
+
+
+B.
+
+Owen Keveny's party (list found in Archives, Ottawa). The total list of
+seventy-one was engaged by Keveny in Mull, Broan, Sligo, etc. The
+following are known to have come. They reached York Factory 1812, and
+arrived at Red River October 27th, 1812:
+
+    1 Andrew McDermott, became the famous Red River merchant.
+
+    2 John Bourke, a useful man.
+
+    3 James Warren, died of wounds in 1815.
+
+    4 Chas. Sweeny.
+
+    5 James Heron.
+
+    6 Hugh Swords.
+
+    7 John Cunningham.
+
+    8 Michael Hayden Smith, evidently Michael Heden, blacksmith.
+
+    9 George Holmes.
+
+   10 Robert McVicar.
+
+   11 Ed. Castelo.
+
+   12 Francis Heron.
+
+   13 James Bruin.
+
+   14 John McIntyre.
+
+   15 James Pinkham.
+
+   16 Donald McDonald.
+
+   17 Hugh McLean.
+
+
+C.
+
+The Churchill party, which landed from "Prince of Wales" ship convoyed
+by H.M.S. "Brazen," at Churchill in August, 1813, and some, marked C-Y.,
+who walked overland on snowshoes to York Factory in April 14th, 1814,
+and reached Red River Settlement in 1814. This whole list is from
+Manitoba Historical Society Transactions, 33. Those marked C-Y. are from
+Archives, Ottawa.
+
+ Names.                               Age.  Whence.
+
+ 1 George Campbell                      25  Archurgle Parish,
+                                            Creech, Scotland
+
+ 2 Helen, his wife                      20  Archurgle
+
+ 3 Bell, his daughter                    1  Archurgle
+
+ 4 John Sutherland                      50  Kildonan, died 2nd Sept.,
+                                            at Churchill (a very
+                                            respectable man)
+
+ 5 Catherine, his wife, C-Y.            46  Kildonan
+
+ 6 George, his son, C-Y.                18  Kildonan
+
+ 7 Donald, his son                      16  Kildonan
+
+ 8 Alexander, his son                    9  Kildonan
+
+ 9 Jannet, his daughter, C-Y.           14  Kildonan
+
+10 Angus McKay, C-Y.                    24  Kildonan
+
+11 Jean, his wife, C-Y.                 ..  Kildonan
+
+12 Alexander Gunn, C-Y.                 50  Kildonan
+
+13 Christine, his wife                  50  Kildonan, died 20th Sept.,
+                                            Churchill
+
+14 William, his son, C-Y.               18
+
+15 Donald Bannerman                     50  Died 24th Sept., Churchill
+
+16 Christine, his wife                  44
+
+17 William, his son, C-Y.               18
+
+18 Donald, his son                       8
+
+19 Christine, his daughter, C-Y.        16
+
+20 George McDonald                      48  Died 1st Sept., 1813, Churchill
+
+21 Jannet, his wife                     50
+
+22 Betty Grey                           17
+
+23 Catherine Grey                       23
+
+24 Barbara McBeath, widow               45  Borobal
+
+25 Charles, her son                     16
+
+26 Jenny, her daughter                  23
+
+27 Andrew McBeath, C-Y.                 10
+
+28 Jannet, his wife, C-Y.               ..
+
+29 William Sutherland                   23  Borobal
+
+30 Margaret, his wife                   15
+
+31 Christian, his sister                24
+
+32 Donald Gunn                          65  Borobal
+
+33 Jannet, his wife                     50
+
+34 Transferred to Eddystone, H.B. Co.
+
+35 George Gunn, son of Donald, C-Y.     16  Borobal, Parish Kildonan
+
+36 Esther, his sister, C-Y.             24
+
+37 Catherine, his sister                20  Died 29th August
+
+38 Christian, his sister                10
+
+39 Angus Gunn                           21
+
+40 Jannet, his wife                     ..
+
+41 Robert Sutherland,
+    brother of William, C-Y.            17  Borobal
+
+42 Elizabeth Frazer, C-Y.               30
+
+43 Angus Sutherland                     20  Auchraich
+
+44 Elizabeth, his mother                60
+
+45 Betsy, his sister                    18  Died of consumption, Oct. 26th
+
+46 Donald Stewart                       ..  Parish of Appin, died 20th
+                                            August, 1813, Churchill
+
+47 Catherine, his wife                  30
+
+48 Margaret, his daughter                8
+
+49 Mary, his daughter                    5
+
+50 Ann, his daughter                     2
+
+51 John Smith                           ..  Kildonan
+
+52 Mary, his wife                       ..
+
+53 John, his son                        ..
+
+54 Jean, his daughter, C-Y.             ..
+
+55 Mary, his daughter                   ..
+
+56 Alexander Gunn                       58  Kildonan, Sutherlandshire
+
+57 Elizabeth McKay, his niece, C-Y.     ..
+
+58 Betsy McKay, his niece               ..
+
+59 George Bannerman, C-Y.               22
+
+60 John Bruce                           60  Parish of Clyve
+
+61 Alex. Sutherland, C-Y.               24  Parish of Kildonan
+
+62 William, his brother                 19  Died
+
+63 Kate Sutherland, his sister          20
+
+64 Haman Sutherland, C-Y.               18  Kenacoil. Settled in Upper
+                                            Canada in West Gwillimbury.
+                                            He and his sister were children
+                                            of James Sutherland, catechist
+
+65 Barbara, his sister, C-Y.            20
+
+66 James McKay, C-Y.                    19  Cain
+
+67 Ann, his sister, C-Y.                21
+
+68 John Matheson                        22  Authbreakachy
+
+69 Robert Gunn (piper), C-Y.            ..  Kildonan
+
+70 Mary, his sister, C-Y.               ..
+
+71 Hugh Bannerman, C-Y.                 18  Dackabury, Kildonan
+
+72 Elizabeth, his sister, C-Y.          20
+
+73 Mary Bannerman, C-Y.                 ..
+
+74 Alex. Bannerman, C-Y.                19  Dackabury, Kildonan
+
+75 Christian, his sister, C-Y.          ..  Died January, 1814,
+                                            from consumption
+
+76 John Bannerman                       19  Died January, of consumption
+
+77 Isabella, his sister, C-Y.           16
+
+78 John McPherson, C-Y.                 18  Gailable
+
+79 Catherine, his sister, C-Y.          26
+
+80 Hector McLeod, C-Y.                  19
+
+81 George Sutherland, C-Y.              18  Borobal
+
+82 Adam, his brother, C-Y.              16
+
+83 John Murray, C-Y.                    21  Sirsgill
+
+84 Alex., his brother, C-Y.             19
+
+85 Helen Kennedy                        ..  Sligo
+
+86 Malcolm McEachern                    ..  Skibbo, Isla (deserted)
+
+87 Mary, his wife                       ..  Skibbo, Isla (deserted)
+
+88 James McDonald, C-Y.                 ..  Inverness, to Fort Augustus
+
+89 Hugh McDonald.                       ..  To Fort William, died
+                                            3rd of August, at sea
+
+90 Samuel Lamont, C-Y.                  ..  Boromore, Isla
+
+91 Alex. Matheson, C-Y.                 ..  Kildonan
+
+92 John Matheson, C-Y.                  ..  Overseer
+
+93 John McIntyre, C-Y.                      To Fort William (entered
+                                            service of H.B. Co.,
+                                        ..  July, 1814)
+
+94 And. Smith                           ..  Son of No. 31, Isla
+
+95 Edward Shell                         ..  Balyshannon
+
+96 Joseph Kerrigan                      ..  Balyshannon
+
+   Mr. P. La Serre                          Surgeon, died at sea
+
+
+D.
+
+List of settlers who came with Duncan Cameron from Red River to Canada,
+1815. List prepared by Wm. McGillivray, of Kingston, August 15th, 1815.
+About one hundred and forty, probably forty or fifty families, and some
+single men, arrived at Holland River, September 6th, 1815.
+
+Made at York (Toronto), September 22nd, 1815.
+
+
+I. OLD MEN.
+
+    Donald Gunn, wife and daughter.
+
+    Alexander Gunn and wife.
+
+    Angus McDonell, wife and two children.
+
+    Neil McKinnon, wife and two boys.
+
+
+II. SETTLERS.
+
+    Miles Livingston, wife and two children.
+
+    Angus McKay, wife and one child.
+
+    John Matheson, wife and one child.
+
+    John Matheson, Jr., and wife.
+
+    George Bannerman and wife.
+
+    Andrew McBeath, wife and one child.
+
+    William Sutherland, wife and one child.
+
+    Angus Gunn, wife and one child.
+
+    Alexander Bannerman and wife.
+
+    Robert Sutherland and wife.
+
+    William Bannerman and wife.
+
+    James McKay and wife.
+
+
+III. WIDOWS.
+
+    Mrs. Barbara McBeath.
+
+    Mrs. Jeannet Sutherland and two boys.
+
+    Mrs. Elizabeth Sutherland.
+
+    Mrs. Christy Bannerman.
+
+    Mrs. Jeannet McDonell.
+
+
+IV. YOUNG WOMEN, UNMARRIED.
+
+    Jane Gray.
+
+    Elizabeth Gray.
+
+    Esther Bannerman.
+
+    Elspeth Gunn.
+
+    Jannet Sutherland.
+
+    Isabella McKinnon.
+
+    ---- McKinnon.
+
+    Catta McDonell.
+
+    Elizabeth McKay.
+
+
+V. YOUNG MEN, NOT MARRIED.
+
+    John Murray.
+
+    Alexander Murray.
+
+    William Gunn.
+
+    Hugh Bannerman.
+
+    Hector McLeod.
+
+    George Gunn.
+
+    Charles McBeath.
+
+    Angus Sutherland.
+
+    Thomas Sutherland.
+
+    Alex. Matheson.
+
+    John McPherson.
+
+    Robert Gunn.
+
+    George Sutherland.
+
+
+VI. MENTIONED IN ARCHIVES, OTTAWA.
+
+    Miles Livingston.
+
+    James McKay.
+
+    Angus Sutherland.
+
+    John Cooper.
+
+    Mary Bannerman (wife of John McLean).
+
+    Haman Sutherland.
+
+    John Maburry.
+
+    Alex. McLellan.
+
+Young people capable of labour generally employed between York and
+Newmarket. The old people are stationed at Newmarket for the present.
+Some of the settlers who have gone to Montreal not included.
+
+
+E.
+
+List of passengers, chiefly from Old Kildonan, landed at York Factory,
+August 26th, 1815. Reached Red River Settlement in same year.
+
+Names.                     Age. Remarks.
+
+ 1 James Sutherland          47  An elder who was authorized by the
+                                Church of Scotland to baptize and marry
+
+ 2 Mary Polson               48
+
+ 3 James Sutherland          12
+
+ 4 Janet Sutherland          16
+
+ 5 Catherine Sutherland      14
+
+ 6 Isabella Sutherland       13
+
+ 1 Wm. Sutherland            54
+
+ 2 Isabell Sutherland        50
+
+ 3 Jeremiah Sutherland       15
+
+ 4 Ebenezer Sutherland       11  At school
+
+ 5 Donald Sutherland          7  At school
+
+ 6 Helen Sutherland          12  At school
+
+ 1 Widow Matheson            60
+
+ 2 John Matheson             18  School master
+
+ 3 Helen Matheson            21
+
+ 1 Angus Matheson            30
+
+ 2 Christian Matheson        18
+
+ 1 Alex. Murray              52
+
+ 2 Ebz. Murray               54
+
+ 3 James Murray              16
+
+ 4 Donald Murray             13
+
+ 5 Catherine Murray          27
+
+ 6 Christian Murray          25
+
+ 7 Isabella Murray           18
+
+ 1 George McKay              50
+
+ 2 Isabella Matheson         50
+
+ 3 Roderick McKay            19
+
+ 4 Robert McKay              11  At school
+
+ 5 Roberty McKay             16
+
+ 1 Donald McKay              31
+
+ 2 John McKay                 1
+
+ 3 Catherine Bruce           33
+
+ 1 Barbara Gunn              50
+
+ 2 Wm. Bannerman             55
+
+ 3 Wm. Bannerman             16
+
+ 4 Alexander Bannerman       14
+
+ 5 Donald Bannerman           8  At school
+
+ 6 George Bannerman           7  At school
+
+ 7 Ann Bannerman             19
+
+ 1 Widow Gunn                40
+
+ 2 Alex. McKay               16
+
+ 3 Adam McKay                13
+
+ 4 Robert McKay              12
+
+ 5 Christian McKay           19
+
+ 1 John Bannerman            55
+
+ 2 Catherine McKay           28
+
+ 3 Alexander Bannerman        1
+
+ 1 Alex. McBeth              35
+
+ 2 Christian Gunn            50
+
+ 3 George McBeth             16
+
+ 4 Roderick McBeth           12
+
+ 5 Robert McBeth             10
+
+ 6 Adam McBeth                6
+
+ 7 Morrison McBeth            4
+
+ 8 Margaret McBeth           18
+
+ 9 Molly McBeth              18
+
+10 Christian McBeth          14
+
+ 1 Alexander Mathewson       34  Sergeant of the passengers
+
+ 2 Ann Mathewson             34
+
+ 3 Hugh Mathewson            10  At school
+
+ 4 Angus Mathewson            6
+
+ 5 John Mathewson             1
+
+ 6 Cathern Mathewson          2
+
+ 1 Alexander Polson          30
+
+ 6 Catherine Mathewson        2
+
+ 3 Hugh Polson               10  At school
+
+ 4 John Polson                5  At school
+
+ 5 Donald Polson              1
+
+ 6 Anne Polson                7
+
+ 1 William McKay             44  Brought out millstones, embarked at
+                                 Stromness
+ 2 Barbara Sutherland        35
+
+ 3 Betty McKay               10  At school
+
+ 4 Dorothy McKay              4
+
+ 5 Janet McKay                2
+
+ 1 Joseph Adams              25  Embarked at Gravesend
+
+ 2 Mary Adams                23
+
+ 1 Reginald Green            31  Sergeant of passengers
+
+ 2 George Adams              19
+
+ 3 Henry Hilliard            19
+
+ 4 Edward Simmons            20
+
+ 5 Christian Bannerman       22
+
+ 6 John Matheson             22
+
+ 7 Alexander Sutherland      25  Sergeant of passengers
+
+ 8 John McDonald             22
+
+Total--84
+
+
+F.
+
+THE HONOUR ROLL.
+
+In Martin's "H.B. Co. Land Tenures" is found a petition to the Prince
+Regent, after the troubles of 1816, asking for troops and steps to be
+taken for their preservation. As these are those, from all the different
+parties, who held fast to Red River Settlement, they are worthy of
+highest honour. These were the real Kildonan settlers whom Lord Selkirk
+saw on his visit in 1817.
+
+    Donald Livingston
+
+    George McBeath
+
+    Angus Matheson
+
+    Alex. Sutherland
+
+    George Ross
+
+    Alexander Murray, lot 23
+
+    James Murray
+
+    John Farquharson
+
+    John McLean
+
+    John Bannerman
+
+    George McKay
+
+    Alexander Polson
+
+    Hugh Polson
+
+    Robert McBeath
+
+    Alexander McLean
+
+    George Adams
+
+    Martin Jordon
+
+    Robert McKay
+
+    Wm. McKay
+
+    Alex. Matheson
+
+    John McBeath
+
+    John Sutherland
+
+    Alex. McBeath, an old soldier, 73rd Rgt., lot No. 3
+
+    Christian Gunn (widow)
+
+    Alex. McKay
+
+    William Sutherland
+
+    Alex. Sutherland, Sr.
+
+    James Sutherland
+
+    James Sutherland
+
+    William Bannerman, father of lot 21
+
+    Donald McKay
+
+    John Flett
+
+    John Bruce
+
+    Robert MacKay
+
+    William Bannerman, Jr.
+
+    Roderick McKay
+
+    Ebenezer Sutherland
+
+    Donald Bannerman
+
+    Hugh McLean
+
+    George Bannerman
+
+    Donald Sutherland
+
+    Beth Beathen
+
+    John Matheson
+
+    George Sutherland
+
+    Margaret McLean (widow)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+ADDENDA AND ERRATA
+
+Page 74.--Andrew McDermott arrived at Red River Settlement in
+1812.
+
+Page 148.--Fourth line from the bottom, after the word "him" insert
+"afterwards."
+
+Page 218.--Add to the title of the cut "and of the other forts of
+Winnipeg." 1, Fort Rouge; 2, Fort Douglas; 3, Fort Gibraltar; 4,
+Fidler's Fort; 5, First Fort Garry; 6, Fort Garry.
+
+Page 264.--Line 10; 1857 should be 1851.
+
+Page 297 and following pages.--"Major Bulton" should be "Major Boulton."
+
+Appendix.--Words "Author's Note" should be, "The author notes the fact,
+etc."
+
+
+      *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Addenda and Errata above, incorporated,  as well as:
+ Page  13. added ) after fishing
+ Page  33. importants [removed s]
+ Page  36. removed " after Lake Winnipeg.
+ Page  41. comma changed to period: obnoxious. The
+ Page  41. the the [changed to the]
+ Page  44. Alexander Mackenize [changed to Mackenzie]
+ Page  44. Porvince [changed to Province]
+ Page  61. removed " after summer." The
+ Page  64. crystalized [changed to crystallized]
+ Page  69. thaat [changed to that]
+ Page 118. daughers [changed to daughters]
+ Page 122. calvalcade [changed to cavalcade]
+ Page 123. Cat-Fsh [changed to Cat-Fish]
+ Page 130. lfe [changed to life]
+ Page 134. collison [changed to collision]
+ Page 139. solider [changed to soldier]
+ Page 147. steathily [changed to stealthily]
+ Page 151. pasionate  [changed to passionate]
+ Page 184. setters [changed to settlers]
+ Page 196. couuld [changed to could]
+ Page 204. delivry [changed to delivery]
+ Page 267. as as [changed to as]
+ Page 275. schools -- added s to "school"
+ Page 286. Noebert changed to Norbert
+ Page 319. The English half-breeds [added hyphen]
+ Page 337. H.M.S.[added period] Brazen
+ Page 309. Begg, an eye-witnss [changed to eye-witness]
+ Page 309. C.-Y. [changed to C-Y.]
+ Appendix, Page 329. changed Settle-Settlement to Settlement
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROMANTIC SETTLEMENT OF LORD
+SELKIRK'S COLONISTS***
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