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diff --git a/17358-8.txt b/17358-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..adc8b70 --- /dev/null +++ b/17358-8.txt @@ -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-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) + + + +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 +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*** + + +******* This file should be named 17358-8.txt or 17358-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/3/5/17358 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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