THE PIPE OF PEACE
'The parish shall be Kildonan.'
As Lord Selkirk spoke, he was standing in what is to-day the northern
part of the city of Winnipeg. A large gathering of settlers listened
to his words. The refugees of the year before, who were encamped on
the Jack river, had returned to their homes, and now, in instituting a
parish for them and creating the first local division in Assiniboia,
Lord Selkirk was giving it a name reminiscent of the vales of
Sutherlandshire. 'Here you shall build your church,' continued his
lordship. The Earl of Selkirk's religion was deep-seated, and he was
resolved to make adequate provision for public worship. 'And that
lot,' he said, indicating a piece of ground across a rivulet known as
Parsonage Creek, 'is for a school.' For his time he held what was
advanced radical doctrine in regard to education, for he believed that
there should be a common school in every parish.
{130}
Selkirk's genial presence and his magnanimity of character quickly
banished any prejudices which the colonists had formed against him. In
view of the hardships they had endured, he divided among them, free of
all dues, some additional land. To the discharged soldiers he gave
land on both sides of the river. They were to live not far removed
from Fort Douglas, in order that they might give speedy aid in case of
trouble. The settlers were enjoined to open roads, construct bridges,
and build flour-mills at convenient places.
Meanwhile, the disturbances in the fur country were being considered in
the motherland. When news of the Seven Oaks affair and of other acts
of violence reached Great Britain, Lord Bathurst thought that the home
government should take action. He sent an official note to Sir John
Sherbrooke, the governor of Canada, instructing him to deal with the
situation. Sherbrooke was to see that the forts, buildings, and
property involved in the unhappy conflict should be restored to their
rightful owners, and that illegal restrictions on trade should be
removed. When Sherbrooke received this dispatch, in February 1817, he
selected two military {131} officers, Lieutenant-Colonel Coltman and
Major Fletcher, to go to the Indian Territories in order to arbitrate
upon the questions causing dissension. The two commissioners left
Montreal in May, escorted by forty men of the 37th regiment. From
Sault Ste Marie, Coltman journeyed on ahead, and arrived at 'the Forks'
on July 5. In Montreal he had formed the opinion that Lord Selkirk was
a domineering autocrat. Now, however, he concluded after inquiry that
Selkirk was neither irrational nor self-seeking, and advised that the
accusations against him should not be brought into the courts. At the
same time he bound Selkirk under bail of L10,000 to appear in Canada
for trial. When Coltman returned to Lower Canada in the autumn of
1817, Sherbrooke was able to write the Colonial Office that 'a degree
of tranquility' had been restored to the Indian Territories.
While in the west Lord Selkirk had gained the respect of the Indians,
and in token of their admiration they gave him the unusual name of the
'Silver Chief,' Selkirk was anxious to extinguish the ancient title
which the Indians had to the lands of Assiniboia, in order to prevent
future disputes. To effect this he brought together at Fort {132}
Douglas a body of chiefs who represented the Cree and Saulteaux
nations. The Indian chiefs made eloquent speeches. They said that
they were willing to surrender their claim to a strip on either side of
the Red River up-stream from its mouth as far as the Red Lake river
(now Grand Forks, North Dakota), and on either side of the Assiniboine
as far as its junction with the Muskrat. Selkirk's desire was to
obtain as much on each bank of these streams for the length agreed upon
as could be seen under a horse's belly towards the horizon, or
approximately two miles, and the Indians agreed. At three places--at
Fort Douglas, Fort Daer, and the confluence of the Red and Red Lake
rivers--Selkirk wished to secure about six miles on each side of the
Red River, and to this the chiefs agreed. In the end, on July 18,
1817, Selkirk concluded a treaty, after distributing presents. It was
the first treaty made by a subject of Great Britain with the tribes of
Rupert's Land. In signing it the several chiefs drew odd pictures of
animals on a rough map of the territory in question. These animals
were their respective totems and were placed opposite the regions over
which they claimed authority. It was stipulated {133} that one hundred
pounds of good tobacco should be given annually to each nation.
Having finished his work, Lord Selkirk bade the colony adieu and
journeyed southward. He made his way through the unorganized
territories which had belonged to the United States since the Louisiana
Purchase of 1803, and at length reached the town of St Louis on the
Mississippi. Thence he proceeded to the New England States, and by way
of Albany reached the province of Upper Canada. Here he found that the
agents of the North-West Company had been busy with plans to attack him
in the courts. There were four charges against him, and he was ordered
to appear at Sandwich, a judicial centre on the Detroit. The
accusations related to his procedure at Fort William. Selkirk
travelled to Sandwich. One of the charges was quickly dismissed. The
other three were held over, pending the arrival of witnesses, and he
was released on bail to the amount of L350.
In May 1818 Colin Robertson and several others were charged at Montreal
with the wilful destruction of Fort Gibraltar, but the jury would not
convict the accused upon the evidence presented. In September, at the
{134} judicial sessions at Sandwich, Lord Selkirk was again faced with
charges. A legal celebrity of the day, Chief Justice Dummer Powell,
presided. The grand jury complained that John Beverley Robinson, the
attorney-general of the province, was interfering with their
deliberations, and they refused to make a presentment. Chief Justice
Powell waited two days for their answer, and as it was not forthcoming
he adjourned the case. The actions were afterwards taken to York and
were tried there. For some reason the leaders of the political faction
known in the annals of Upper Canada as the Family Compact were not
friendly to Lord Selkirk; the Rev. John Strachan, the father-confessor
of this group of politicians, was an open opponent. As a result of the
trials Selkirk was mulcted in damages to the extent of L2000.
The courts of Lower Canada alone were empowered to deal with offences
in the Indian Territories. The governor-general of Canada could,
however, transfer the trial of such cases to Upper Canada, if he saw
fit. This had been done in the case of the charges against Selkirk,
and Sir John Sherbrooke, after consulting with the home authorities,
decided to refer Selkirk's charges against the Nor'westers, in {135}
connection with the events of 1815 and 1816 on the Red River, to the
court of the King's Bench at its autumn sitting in York. Beginning in
October 1818, there were successive trials of persons accused by Lord
Selkirk of various crimes. The cases were heard by Chief Justice
Powell, assisted by Judges Boulton and Campbell. The evidence in
regard to the massacre at Seven Oaks was full of interest. A passage
from the speech of one of the counsel for the defence shows the ideas
then current in Canada as to the value of the prairie country.
Sherwood, one of the counsel, emphatically declared that Robert Semple
was not a governor; he was an emperor. 'Yes, gentlemen,' reiterated
Sherwood, his voice rising, 'I repeat, an emperor--a bashaw in that
land of milk and honey, where nothing, not even a blade of corn, will
ripen.' The result of the trials was disheartening to Selkirk. Of the
various prisoners who were accused not one was found guilty.
Lord Selkirk did not attend the trials of the Nor'westers at York, and
seems to have returned to Britain with his wife and children before the
end of the year 1818. He was ill and in a most melancholy state of
mind. {136} Unquestionably, he had not secured a full measure of
justice in the courts of Canada. A man strong in health might have
borne his misfortunes more lightly. As it was, Selkirk let his wrongs
prey upon his spirit. On March 19, 1819, he addressed a letter to Lord
Liverpool, asking that the Privy Council should intervene in order to
correct the erroneous findings of the Canadian courts. Sir James
Montgomery, Selkirk's brother-in-law, moved in the House of Commons, on
June 24, that all official correspondence touching Selkirk's affairs
should be produced. The result was the publication of a large
blue-book. An effort was made to induce Sir Walter Scott to use his
literary talents on his friend's behalf. But at the time Scott was
prostrate with illness and unable to help the friend of his youth.
Meanwhile, Lord Selkirk's attachment for his colony on the Red River
had not undergone any change. One of the last acts of his life was to
seek settlers in Switzerland, and a considerable number of Swiss
families were persuaded to migrate to Assiniboia. But the heads of
these families were not fitted for pioneer life on the prairie. For
the most part they were poor musicians, pastry-cooks, {137}
clock-makers, and the like, who knew nothing of husbandry. Their chief
contribution to the colony was a number of buxom, red-cheeked
daughters, whose arrival in 1821 created a joyful commotion among the
military bachelors at the settlement. The fair newcomers were quickly
wooed and won by the men who had served in Napoleon's wars, and
numerous marriages followed.
Selkirk's continued ill-health caused him to seek the temperate climate
of the south of France, and there he died on April 8, 1820, at Pau, in
the foothills of the Pyrenees. His body was taken to Orthez, a small
town some twenty-five miles away, and buried there in the Protestant
cemetery. The length of two countries separates Lord Selkirk's place
of burial from his place of birth. He has a monument in Scotland and a
monument in France, but his most enduring monument is the great
Canadian West of which he was the true founder. His only son, Dunbar
James Douglas, inherited the title, and when he died in 1885 the line
of Selkirk became extinct. Long before this the Selkirk family had
broken the tie with the Canadian West. In 1836 their rights in the
country of Assiniboia, in so far as it lay in British territory, {138}
were purchased by the Hudson's Bay Company for the sum of L84,000.
The character of the fifth Earl of Selkirk has been alike lauded and
vilified. Shortly after his death the _Gentleman's Magazine_ commended
his benefactions to the poor and his kindness as a landlord. 'To the
counsels of an enlightened philosophy and an immovable firmness of
purpose,' declared the writer, 'he added the most complete habits of
business and a perfect knowledge of affairs.' Sir Walter Scott wrote
of Selkirk with abundant fervour. 'I never knew in my life,' said the
Wizard of the North, 'a man of a more generous and disinterested
disposition, or one whose talents and perseverance were better
qualified to bring great and national schemes to conclusion.' History
has proved that Lord Selkirk was a man of dreams; it is false to say,
however, that his were fruitless visions. Time has fully justified his
colonizing activity in relation to settlement on the Red River. He was
firmly convinced of what few in his day believed--that the soil of the
prairie was fruitful and would give bread to the sower. His worst
fault was his partisanship. In his eyes the Hudson's Bay Company was
endowed with all the virtues; and he never properly {139} analysed the
motives or recognized the achievements of its great rival. Had he but
ordered his representatives in Assiniboia to meet the Nor'westers
half-way, distress and hardship might have been lessened, and violence
might very probably have been entirely avoided.
The presence of Lord Selkirk on the Red River had led to renewed energy
on the part of the colonists. They began to till the land, and in 1818
the grain and vegetable crops promised an abundant yield. In July,
however, when the time of harvest was approaching, the settlers
experienced a calamity that brought poverty for the present and despair
for the future. The sky was suddenly darkened by a great cloud of
locusts, which had come from their breeding-places in the far
south-west. During a single night, 'crops, gardens, and every green
herb in the settlement had perished, with the exception of a few ears
of barley gleaned in the women's aprons.' In the following year the
plague reappeared; the insects came again, covering the ground so
thickly that they 'might be shovelled with a spade.' The stock of
seed-grain was now almost exhausted, and the colonists resolved to send
an expedition to the Mississippi for a fresh supply. Two hundred {140}
and fifty bushels of grain were secured at Lord Selkirk's expense, and
brought back on flatboats to the colony. Never since that time has
there been a serious lack of seed on the Red River.
The year 1821 brings us to a milestone in the history of the Canadian
West, and at this point our story terminates. After Lord Selkirk's
death the two great fur-trading companies realized the folly of
continuing their disastrous rivalry, and made preparations to bury
their differences. Neither company had been making satisfactory
profits. In Great Britain especially, where only the echoes of the
struggle had been heard, was there an increasing desire that the two
companies should unite. One of the foremost partners of the North-West
Company was Edward Ellice, a native of Aberdeenshire, and member of the
House of Commons for Coventry. Ellice championed the party among the
Nor'westers who were in favour of union, and the two M'Gillivrays,
Simon and William, earnestly seconded his efforts. Terms acceptable to
both companies were at length agreed upon. On March 26, 1821, a formal
document, called a 'deed-poll,' outlining the basis of union, was
signed by the two parties {141} in London. In 1822 Edward Ellice
introduced a bill in parliament making the union of the companies
legal. The name of the North-West Company was dropped; the new
corporation was to be known as the Hudson's Bay Company. Thus passed
away for ever the singular partnership of the North-West Company which
had made Montreal a market for furs and had built up Fort William in
the depths of the forest. No longer did two rival trading-posts stand
by lake or stream. No longer did two rival camp-fires light up blazed
tree-trunk or grass-strewn prairie by the long and sinuous trail. From
Labrador to Vancouver, and from the Arctic to the southern confines of
the Canadian West and farther, the British flag, with H.B.C. on its
folds, was to wave over every trading-post. Midway between the
Atlantic and the Pacific a little hamlet was to struggle into life, to
struggle feebly for many years--a mere adjunct of a fur-trading post;
but at length it was to come into its own, and Winnipeg, the proudest
city of the plains, was in time to rear its palaces on the spot where
for long years the Red River Colony battled for existence against human
enemies and the obstacles of nature.
{142}
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
PRIMARY SOURCES
The Selkirk Papers in the Dominion Archives consist of seventy-nine
portfolios containing transcripts of correspondence, legal evidence,
and other proceedings relating to the Earl of Selkirk's colonizing
enterprises.
Lord Selkirk's principal works are: _Observations on the Present State
of the Highlands in Scotland_ (published in 1805 and describing the
journey to Prince Edward Island, etc., in 1803); _On the Necessity of a
more Efficient System of National Defence_ (1808); _A Sketch of the
British Fur Trade in North America_ (1816).
The Letter Book of Miles Macdonell--July 27, 1811, to February 25, 1812
(Dominion Archives Report, 1886)--contains ten letters addressed by
Macdonell to Selkirk from Yarmouth, Stornoway, York Factory, and Nelson
Encampment; besides others to various individuals.
In consequence of the disasters which befell the Red River Colony in
1815 and 1816, there appeared in Great Britain _A Statement respecting
the Earl of Selkirk's Settlement upon the Red River in North America,
etc._ (republished by John Murray, {143} London, 1817). In answer to
this the North-West Company put forth _A Narrative of Occurrences in
the Indian Countries, etc._ (1817), to which were appended twenty-nine
documents to substantiate claims made. These works, although written
in a partisan spirit, contain information which cannot be had from any
other source.
The following are also useful: John M'Leod's Diary, 1815; Letter of
Cuthbert Grant to J. D. Cameron, March 13, 1816; North-West Company's
Account Book for Fort Gibraltar, 1815; Governor Macdonell's
Proclamation, January 1814; Charter of the Hudson's Bay Company;
Colonel W. B. Coltman's Report, 1817; A. Amos, _Report of the Trials in
the Courts of Canada relative to the Destruction of the Earl of
Selkirk's Settlement on the Red River, with Observations_ (1820);
_Trials of the Earl of Selkirk against the North-West Company in 1818_
(Montreal, 1819); Notices of the Claims of the Hudson's Bay Company,
and the Conduct of its Adversaries (Montreal, 1817); Chief Justice
Powell's Report _re_ North-West Disputes (Dominion Archives Report,
1897); a pamphlet against Lord Selkirk by John Strachan, D. D. (1816),
and the reply thereto by Archibald Macdonald (1816); the communications
of 'Mercator' appearing in the Montreal _Herald_ (1816); Blue-book on
Red River Settlement (Imperial House of Commons, 1819); Original
Letters regarding the Selkirk Settlement (Manitoba Historical and
Scientific Society, 1889); Lord Selkirk's Treaty {144} with the Western
Indians (_vide_ Appendix to _The Treaties of Canada_ by Alexander
Morris, 1880).
SECONDARY MATERIAL
Since the present story closes with 1821, it is necessary to classify
as secondary material a work that is to be regarded as a primary source
on the later history of the colony--_The Red River Settlement_ (1856)
by Alexander Ross. Ross was a pioneer emigrant to the colony of
Astoria on the Pacific Coast. In 1817 he entered the service of the
North-West Company; after the union of the fur companies in 1821 he
remained in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1825 he went as
a settler to the Red River Colony, where he soon became an influential
officer. His narrative is vigorous in style as well as fair-minded in
its criticisms, and is an indispensable authority on the beginnings of
Manitoba.
The most prolific writer upon the career of Lord Selkirk and the
history of the Red River Colony is Professor George Bryce, of Winnipeg,
who has been a resident at 'the Forks' of the Red and Assiniboine
rivers since 1871. He has thus been in a position to gather and
preserve the traditions handed down by redskin, trapper, and colonist.
Consult his _Romantic Settlement of Lord Selkirk's Colonists_ (1909);
also_ Manitoba: Infancy, Progress and Present Condition_ (1872); _The
Remarkable History of the Hudson's Bay Company_ (1900); _Mackenzie,
Selkirk and Simpson_ (1906).
{145}
An account of Lord Selkirk will be found in Kingsford, _History of
Canada_, vol. ix. The reader should also consult, in _Canada and its
Provinces_ (vol. xix), the excellent monograph by Professor Chester
Martin. This is the most recent and probably the most thoroughly
grounded study of the Red River Colony. The same work contains a good
account of the Selkirk Settlement in Prince Edward Island (vol. xiii,
p. 354) by Dr Andrew Macphail. The Baldoon Settlement is treated of by
Dr George W. Mitchell in the _Proceedings of the Ontario Historical
Society_ for 1913. See also the monograph, 'Pioneer Settlements' [of
Upper Canada], by A. C. Casselman in _Canada and its Provinces_, vol.
xvii.
{147}
INDEX
Assiniboia, the seat of Selkirk's colony on the Red River, 35-36. See
Red River Colony.
Assiniboines, and Red River Colony, 36; their friendliness, 56, 57.
Baldoon Farm, Selkirk's settlement at, 18-20.
Bathurst, Lord, colonial secretary, 91, 130.
Beaver Club, entertain Lord Selkirk, 20-1.
Bois Brules, their hostility to the Red River colonists, 54, 60; attack
Colony Gardens, 77-9, 86; at Seven Oaks, 95-101; their savage orgy at
Fort Douglas, 106.
Boucher, Francois, his parley with Governor Semple at Seven Oaks, 97-8.
Bourke, John, store-keeper of Colony Gardens, 76; severely wounded at
Seven Oaks, 95 n., 96, 99, 100, 103; charged with felony, 105, 120;
overhears plot to assassinate Lord Selkirk, 118-19.
Brandon House, a Hudson's Bay Company post, 65, 66; captured by
Cuthbert Grant, 89.
Burke, Father, accompanies first contingent of Red River colonists, 44,
50.
Burns, Robert, at St Mary's Isle, 5-6.
Cameron, Duncan, a partner of the North-West Company, 68; his imposture
and work of destruction at Colony Gardens, 69-73, 75, 76; taken
prisoner at Fort Gibraltar, 84; sent to England for trial, 87.
Campbell, George, a traitor in the camp at Colony Gardens, 71, 73.
Churchill river, Selkirk's colonists winter on, 62.
Colony Gardens, 59. See Red River Colony.
Coltman, Lieut.-Col., arbitrates between Lord Selkirk and the
North-West Company, 131.
Corcoran, Patrick, at Seven Oaks, 105, 119.
Coureurs de bois, the, 25.
Crees, and Red River Colony, 95, 102 n., 132; and the North-West
Company, 106.
Currie, Archibald, in the defence of Colony Gardens, 79.
Daer, Lord Basil, and Robert Burns, 5.
De Meuron regiment, provides recruits for Red River Colony, 109-10,
122, 130.
D'Orsonnens, Captain, enlists with Lord Selkirk, 110; at Fort William,
120, 122, 123.
Drummond, Sir Gordon, refuses Lord Selkirk armed assistance, 91-2, 93.
Ellice, Edward, his bill to legalize the union of the North-West and
the Hudson Bay Companies, 140-1.
Family Compact, the, and Lord Selkirk, 134.
Fauche, Lieut., enlists with Lord Selkirk, 110; at Fort William, 122;
takes North-West Company partners to Montreal for trial, 125-7.
Findlay, William, an obdurate Orkneyman, 49.
Fletcher, Major, arbitrates between Lord Selkirk and the North-West
Company, 131.
Fort Daer, the Red River colonists' winter quarters on the Pembina, 58,
85.
Fort Douglas, in Colony Gardens, 85; evacuated, 102, 105; occupied by
Nor'westers, 128; retaken, 128.
Fort Gibraltar, the North-West Company post on the Red River, 55-6, 74,
75, 84; demolished, 87.
Fort Qu'Appelle, a North-West Company post, 88.
Fort William, 66-7, 113, 115; the Mecca of the North-West Company,
116-18; taken and occupied by Lord Selkirk, 123-4.
Fraser, Simon, explorer, his arrest at Fort William, 123, 124-5.
Glengarry Fencibles, provide recruits for Red River Colony, 110, 130.
Graffenreid, Lieut., enlists with Lord Selkirk, 110.
Grant, Charles, bribes Indians to waylay Laguimoniere, 112 and note.
Grant, Cuthbert, attacks Colony Gardens, 77, 86; captures Brandon
House, 88, 89; leads in Seven Oaks massacre, 95, 99, 101-2, 105.
Heden, Michael, escapes at Seven Oaks, 95 n., 100, 102, 103, 104, 105;
and Lord Selkirk's safety, 119, 120.
Highlanders of Scotland, their loyalty, 9-10, 11; their conditions of
life, 9, 10-11; dispossessed of their heritage, 12-13; their
expatriation, 13-14, 16-17, 18-20, 27-8, 38-43, 61-3, 83.
Hillier, a magistrate at York Factory, 49.
Holt, Lieut., killed at Seven Oaks, 98.
Hudson Bay, Red River colonists winter on, 45-51, 62.
Hudson's Bay Company, 25-6, 80; and Lord Selkirk's emigration scheme,
17; their flawless charter, 22-3, 30; some early troubles, 28-9; their
grant of land to Lord Selkirk, 31-4; appoint a governor over
Assiniboia, 83; and purchase Lord Selkirk's rights, 137-8; their union
with the North-West Company, 140-1.
Indians, their relations with Red River Colony, 36, 54, 56, 57, 78, 89,
95, 102 n., 112-13.
Isle aux Erables, canoe disaster at, 126.
Johnson, Lionel, with Selkirk's settlers at Baldoon Farm, 19.
Jones, Captain John Paul, his raid on the British coasts, 1-3.
Katawabetay, a Chippewa chief, 74; meets Lord Selkirk, 112-13.
Keveny, Owen, arrives with party of Irish colonists at Colony Gardens,
58.
Kildonan parish, in Scotland, 61, 83; in Winnipeg, 129.
Kilkenny, Michael, escapes at Seven Oaks, 100.
Laguimoniere, brings news of restoration of Colony Gardens to Lord
Selkirk, 93; waylaid and robbed on his return, 94, 112.
Lavigne, Augustin, with the Nor'westers at Seven Oaks, 99, 106.
Liverpool, Lord, and Selkirk's charges against the North-West Company,
136.
Macdonald, Archibald, deputy-governor of Assiniboia, 73.
M'Donald, John, his arrest at Fort William, 122-3, 124-5.
M'Donald, Capt. Roderick, Selkirk's agent in Glasgow, 37-8.
Macdonell, Alexander, a partner of the North-West Company, 68, 86, 87,
88; destroys Colony Gardens, 69, 73-4, 77-79; organizes a raid on Fort
Douglas, 89, 94-5; and the massacre at Seven Oaks, 102-103, 105, 107;
his plot to assassinate Lord Selkirk, 118-19.
Macdonell, Anthony, taken prisoner at Seven Oaks, 100.
Macdonell, Capt. Miles, first governor of Assiniboia, 36-7, 74; his
herculean task, 40-2, 44; establishes winter quarters on the Nelson,
45-6, 47; his opinion of the emigrants, 47-51; officially inaugurates
Red River Colony, 55-6; erects Fort Daer, 57-8; his disastrous
proclamation, 63-64, 65, 67; surrenders himself to Cameron, 76-7, 93;
sent to Red River in advance of Lord Selkirk, 111, 113.
M'Gillivray, William, a partner of the North-West Company, 66 n.; his
arrest at Fort William, 120-1, 124-5; an expert canoeman, 125-6;
favours union with the Hudson's Bay Company, 140.
M'Intosh, James, in the defence of Colony Gardens, 79.
M'Kay, Daniel, escapes at Seven Oaks, 100, 105.
Mackenzie, Sir Alexander, explorer, and Lord Selkirk, 15, 31.
Mackenzie, Captain, and the nine-pound shot, 41.
M'Kenzie, Kenneth, his arrest at Fort William, 121, 124-5; drowned, 126.
M'Lean, Alexander, 72; killed at Seven Oaks, 100.
M'Lean, Hugh, his defence of Colony Gardens, 78, 79.
M'Leod, Archibald Norman, a partner of the North-West Company, 94; as
magistrate of Indian Territories examines evicted Red River colonists,
103-5; at Fort Douglas, 105-7.
M'Leod, John, his gallant defence of Colony Gardens, 77-78, 79; his
guardianship, 82-83, 85.
M'Loughlin, Dr John, his arrest at Fort William, 121, 124-5.
M'Nab, John, buys Baldoon Farm from Lord Selkirk, 20.
M'Tavish, Simon, founder of the North-West Company, 20, 117.
Matthey, Captain, enlists with Lord Selkirk, 110; at Fort William, 122.
Metis, 54. See Bois Brules.
Montgomery, Sir James, brother-in-law of Lord Selkirk, 136.
Napoleon I, 16; his Berlin Decree, 29.
Nelson river, New Year celebrations on the, 48-9.
New Nation, the, 85, 86. See Bois Brules.
North-West Company, 23-5, 117; entertain Lord Selkirk in Montreal,
20-1; their opposition to his colonizing schemes, 31-2, 38, 40-1, 55,
67, 133; their antagonism towards Red River Colony, 55-6, 60, 63-4,
65-6, 67; their efforts to destroy the colony, 74-5, 89-90; the Seven
Oaks massacre, 95-101; trial of partners at York, 134-5; union with the
Hudson's Bay Company, 140-1.
Norway House, a Hudson's Bay Company post, 52, 78.
Ottawas, waylay Lord Selkirk's messenger, 112.
Pambrun, Pierre, held prisoner by the Nor'westers, 88-9, 102.
Pangman, Peter, and Cuthbert Grant, 88.
Pelham, Lord, and Selkirk's scheme of emigration, 15, 16, 17.
Powell, Chief Justice, and the trial of Lord Selkirk, 134; and the
Nor'westers, 135.
Prince Edward Island, Selkirk's colony on, 17-18.
Pritchard, John, taken prisoner at Seven Oaks, 95 n., 97, 98; acts as
mediator, 101-2, 104, 105.
Red River Colony, 32, 141; its extent and position, 33-4, 132;
conditions of settlement, 35, 110; types of settlers, 37-8, 39, 40, 42,
47, 48, 51, 63, 83, 108-10, 136-7; the departure of first contingent of
colonists from Stornoway, 38-43; reach Hudson Bay, 44-5; and winter on
the Nelson, 45-51; journey to Red River, 51-4; the official
inauguration of the colony, 55-6; relations with the Indians, 54, 56,
57, 74, 78, 89, 95, 102 n., 112-13, 132; dire straits of colonists in
winter, 57-8, 59-60, 85; the arrival of Irish colonists, 58; Colony
Gardens built, 59; the arrival of Sutherland men, 61-63; exodus of the
settlers, 76, 78; Colony Gardens destroyed, 77-9; restored, 81-82; a
fourth contingent of colonists, 83; the Seven Oaks massacre, 95-102;
the second expulsion, 102-4; Lord Selkirk arrives, 128-30; the locust
plagues, 139-40; comes into its own, 141. See Highlanders.
Reed, Collector, a tool of the Nor'westers, 40.
Robertson, Colin, his grievance against the North-West Company, 37,
80-1; restores Colony Gardens, 81-2; his revenge at Fort Gibraltar,
84-5, 86-7, 101, 104, 133.
Robinson, J. B., attorney-general of Upper Canada, 127, 134.
Rogers, Captain, killed at Seven Oaks, 98, 100.
Rupert's Land, Lord Selkirk's Colony in, 32, 132.
Saint Anne's chapel, a halting-place of the coureurs de bois, 25.
St Mary's Isle, the Selkirk mansion on, 2-3, 4.
Saulteaux, and Red River Colony, 78, 89, 102 n., 132; and the
North-West Company, 106.
Scott, Sir Walter, his friendship with Lord Selkirk, 7, 27, 136, 138.
Selkirk, fourth Earl of, 2; a patron of letters, 5.
Selkirk, fifth Earl of, his boyhood, 3, 4, 5, 6; at Edinburgh
University, 6-7; studies the conditions of life in the Highlands, 8,
14; succeeds to the title, 14; his scheme of emigration, 15-16, 27-8,
32, 35-6; his colony on Prince Edward Island, 16-18; at Baldoon Farm,
18-20; feted by fur merchants of Montreal, 20-1; his speech on national
defence in the House of Lords, 27; his marriage, 28; his efforts in
securing a grant of land in Assiniboia, 28-35; his colony at Red River,
55-63, 76-83; endeavours to persuade the government to send armed
assistance to his colony, 91-4; his message of encouragement, 94; his
relief expedition, 108, 110-11, 113, 115, 127-8; at Indian council on
Drummond Island, 112-13; hears of the Seven Oaks disaster and makes for
Fort William, 113-15, 118; takes possession of the fort and arrests the
partners of the North-West Company, 120-7; arrives at Colony Gardens,
128-9, 130; receives the name of 'Silver Chief' and concludes a treaty
with the Indians, 131-3; his trial, 131, 133, 134; his charges against
the North-West Company, 70, 87, 134-6; his death, 137; his character,
5, 7, 14, 120, 131, 138-9.
Selkirk, sixth Earl of, 92, 137.
Semple, Robert, governor-in-chief in Assiniboia, 84, 86, 87, 95, 135;
killed at Seven Oaks, 95-9.
Seven Oaks, the massacre of, 95-102 and note, 130; the trial of
Nor'westers, 135.
Sherbrooke, Sir John, governor of Canada, 114, 130-1, 134-135.
Sherwood, counsel for Nor'westers, 135.
Spencer, John, enforces Governor Macdonell's decree on the Nor'westers,
65-6.
Stornoway, the departure of emigrants from, 38-43.
Strachan, Rev. John, his antagonism to Lord Selkirk, 134.
Sutherland, George, 88, 89; escapes at Seven Oaks, 100.
Sutherland, Elder James, authorized to baptize and perform the marriage
ceremony at Colony Gardens, 84.
War of 1812, and Selkirk's settlement at Baldoon Farm, 19, 109.
Watteville regiment, provides recruits for Red River Colony, 109-10,
130.
Wedderburn-Colvile, James, father-in-law of Lord Selkirk, 28, 30.
White, James, surgeon at Colony Gardens, 75; killed at Seven Oaks, 100.
Wilkinson, Dr, killed at Seven Oaks, 100.
Winnipeg, site of Colony Gardens, 53, 129, 141.
Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty
at the Edinburgh University Press
THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA
THIRTY-TWO VOLUMES ILLUSTRATED
Edited by GEORGE M. WRONG and H. H. LANGTON
THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA
PART I
THE FIRST EUROPEAN VISITORS
1. THE DAWN OF CANADIAN HISTORY
By Stephen Leacock.
2. THE MARINER OF ST MALO
By Stephen Leacock.
PART II
THE RISE OF NEW FRANCE
3. THE FOUNDER OF NEW FRANCE
By Charles W. Colby.
4. THE JESUIT MISSIONS
By Thomas Guthrie Marquis.
5. THE SEIGNEURS OF OLD CANADA
By William Bennett Munro.
6. THE GREAT INTENDANT
By Thomas Chapais.
7. THE FIGHTING GOVERNOR
By Charles W. Colby.
PART III
THE ENGLISH INVASION
8. THE GREAT FORTRESS
By William Wood.
9. THE ACADIAN EXILES
By Arthur G. Doughty.
10. THE PASSING OF NEW FRANCE
By William Wood.
11. THE WINNING OF CANADA
By William Wood.
PART IV
THE BEGINNINGS OF BRITISH CANADA
12. THE FATHER OF BRITISH CANADA
By William Wood.
13. THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS
By W. Stewart Wallace.
14. THE WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES
By William Wood.
PART V
THE RED MAN IN CANADA
15. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE OTTAWAS
By Thomas Guthrie Marquis.
16. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE SIX NATIONS
By Louis Aubrey Wood.
17. TECUMSEH: THE LAST GREAT LEADER OF HIS PEOPLE
By Ethel T. Raymond.
PART VI
PIONEERS OF THE NORTH AND WEST
18. THE 'ADVENTURERS OF ENGLAND' ON HUDSON BAY
By Agnes C. Laut.
19. PATHFINDERS OF THE GREAT PLAINS
By Lawrence J. Burpee.
20. ADVENTURERS OF THE FAR NORTH
By Stephen Leacock.
21. THE RED RIVER COLONY
By Louis Aubrey Wood.
22. PIONEERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST
By Agnes C. Laut.
23. THE CARIBOO TRAIL
By Agnes C. Laut.
PART VII
THE STRUGGLE FOR POLITICAL FREEDOM
24. THE FAMILY COMPACT
By W. Stewart Wallace.
25. THE 'PATRIOTES' OF '37
By Alfred D. DeCelles.
26. THE TRIBUNE OF NOVA SCOTIA
By William Lawson Grant.
27. THE WINNING OF POPULAR GOVERNMENT
By Archibald MacMechan.
PART VIII
THE GROWTH OF NATIONALITY
28. THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION
By A. H. U. Colquhoun.
29. THE DAY OF SIR JOHN MACDONALD
By Sir Joseph Pope.
30. THE DAY OF SIR WILFRID LAURIER
By Oscar D. Skelton.
PART IX
NATIONAL HIGHWAYS
31. ALL AFLOAT
By William Wood.
32. THE RAILWAY BUILDERS
By Oscar D. Skelton.
TORONTO: GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY
End of Project Gutenberg's The Red River Colony, by Louis Aubrey Wood