MEN WHO PLAYED A PART.
The crisis reached--Consequences of Seven Oaks--The
noble Earl--His generous spirit--His mistakes--Determined
courage--Deserves the laurel crown--The first Governor--Macdonell's
difficulties--His unwise step--A Captain in red--Cameron's
adroitness--A wearisome imprisonment--Last governor of Fort
Gibraltar--The Metis chief--Half-breed son of old Cuthbert--A
daring hunter--Warden of the plains--Lord Selkirk's agent--A Red
River patriarch--A faithful witness--The French bard--Western war
songs--Pierriche Falcon.
The skirmish of Seven Oaks was the most notable event that ever occurred
on the prairies of Rupert's Land or in the limits of the fur country.
It was the crisis which indicated the determination of the Company,
whose years were numbered by a century and a half, to hold its own in
a great contest, and of the pluck of a British nobleman to show the
"_perfervidum ingenium Scotorum_," and unflinchingly to meet either in
arms or legal conflict the fur-trading oligarchy of that time in Canada.
It represented, too, the fierce courage and desperate resource of the
traders of the great Canadian Company, who, we have seen, were called by
Washington Irving "the lords of the lakes and forests."
It was also the _dénouement_ which led the Old and the New Worlds' fur
companies, despite the heat of passion and their warmth of sentiment, to
make a peace which saved both from impending destruction.
It led, moreover, to the sealing up for half a century of Rupert's Land
to all energetic projects and influx of population, and allowed Sir
George Simpson to build up for the time being the empire of the buffalo,
the beaver, and the fox, instead of developing a home of industry.
Crises such as this develop character and draw out the powers of men
who would otherwise waste their sweetness on the desert air. The
shock of meeting of two such great bodies as the Hudson's Bay Company
and the North-West Company enabled men to show courage, loyalty, honest
indignation, decision of character, shrewdness, diplomatic skill, and
great endurance. These are the elements of human character. It is ever
worth while to examine the motives, features of action, and ends aimed
at by men under the trying circumstances of such a conflict. At the
risk of some repetition we give sketches of the lives of several of the
leading persons concerned.
THE EARL OF SELKIRK.
[Illustration: LORD SELKIRK.]
Chief, certainly, of the actors who appeared on this stage was Lord
Selkirk. Born to the best traditions of the Scottish nobility, Thomas
Douglas belonged to the Angus-Selkirk family, which represented the
Douglases of Border story, one of whom boasted that no ancestor of his
had for ten generations died within chambers. Lord Daer, as his title
then was, had studied at Edinburgh University, was an intimate friend of
Sir Walter Scott, and though a Lowlander, had formed a great attachment
for the Highlanders and had learned their language. He was, moreover, of
most active mind, broad sympathies, and generous impulses. At the age of
thirty years, having become Earl of Selkirk, he sought to take part in
assisting the social condition of Britain, which was suffering greatly
from the Napoleonic wars. He took a large colony of Highlanders to
Prince Edward Island, acquired land in Upper Canada and also in New York
State, and then, solely for the purpose of helping on his emigration
project, entered on the gigantic undertaking of gaining control of the
Hudson's Bay Company. In all these things he succeeded. We have seen the
conflicts into which he was led and the manly way in which he conducted
himself.
We do not say he made no mistakes. We frankly admit that he went beyond
the ordinary powers of a magistrate's commission at Fort William. But we
believe his aim was good. He was convinced that the Nor'-Westers had no
legal right to the Hudson's Bay Company lands over which they traded.
He believed them to be unscrupulous and dangerous, and his course was
taken to meet the exigency of the case. It must be remembered his
responsibility was a great one. His Highland and Irish colonists at
Red River were helpless; he was their only defence; no British law was
present at Red River to help them. They were regarded as intruders, as
enemies of the fur trade, and he felt that loyalty and right compelled
him to act as he did.
No doubt it seemed to the Canadian traders--who considered themselves as
the successors of the French who, more than three-quarters of a century
before, had established forts at what was called the post of the Western
Sea--a high-handed and even foolhardy thing to bring his colony by way
of Hudson Bay, and to plant them down at the forks on Red River, in a
remote and probably unsuccessful colony. However, in the main the legal
right was with his Lordship. The popular feeling in Canada toward Lord
Selkirk was far from being a pure one, and a fair-minded person can
hardly refrain from saying it was an interested and selfish one.
Certainly, as we see him, Lord Selkirk was a high-minded, generous,
far-seeing, adventurous, courageous, and honourable man. We may admit
that his opinion of the North-West Company opponents was a prejudiced
and often unjust one. But we linger on the picture of his Lordship
returning from Montreal with his Countess, their two young daughters,
the one afterward Lady Isabella Hope, and the other Lady Katherine
Wigram, with the young boy who grew up to be the last Earl of Selkirk;
we think of him worried by the lawsuits and penalties of which we have
spoken, going home to meet the British Government somewhat prejudiced
against him as having been a personage in what they considered a
dangerous _émeute_: we follow him passing over to France, attended
by his family, and dying in a foreign land--and we are compelled to
say, how often does the world persecute its benefactors and leave its
greatest uncrowned. The Protestant cemetery at Orthes contains the bones
of one who, under other circumstances, might have been crowned with
laurel.
GOVERNOR MILES MACDONELL.
Engaged by Lord Selkirk to lead his first company and superintend the
planting of his colony, Capt. Miles Macdonell found himself thrust
into a position of danger and responsibility as local governor at
Red River. He was a man with a considerable experience. Of Highland
origin, he had with his father, John Macdonell, called "Scotas," from
his residence in Scotland, settled in the valley of the Mohawk River,
on the estates of Sir William Johnson, in New York State. The estates
of Sir William were a hotbed of loyalism, and here was enlisted by his
son, Sir John Johnson, under the authority of the British Government,
at the time of the American Revolution, the well-known King's Royal
Regiment of New York, familiarly known as the "Royal Greens." The
older Macdonell was a captain in this regiment, and Miles, as a boy
of fifteen, was commissioned as ensign. Afterward the young Macdonell
returned to Scotland, where he married, and again came to Canada.
Following a military career, he was engaged by Lord Selkirk shortly
before the war of 1812 to lead his colony to the Red River. We have
seen how faithfully, both at York Factory and the Red River, he served
his Lordship. The chief point in dispute in connection with Governor
Macdonell is whether the embargo against the export of supplies from
Red River in 1814 was legal or not. If it was not, then on him rests
much of the responsibility for the troubles which ensued. The seizure
of pemmican, belonging to the North-West Company, at the mouth of
the Souris River, seems to have been high-handed. Undoubtedly Miles
Macdonell believed it to be necessary for the support of the settlers
in the country. His life was one of constant worry after this event.
Reprisals began between the parties. These at length ended in Miles
Macdonell being seized by the North-West Company agents on June 22nd,
1815, and taken as a prisoner to Fort William, and thence to Montreal.
Macdonell lived upon the Ottawa till the time of his death in 1828.
He was a man of good mind and seemingly honest intentions. His military
education and experience probably gave him the habits of regularity and
decision which led to the statement made of him by the Hon. William
McGillivray, "that he conducted himself like a Turkish bashaw." The
justification of Governor Macdonell seems to be that the Nor'-Westers
had determined early in the history of the colony to destroy it, so
that the charges made against the Governor were merely an advantage
taken of disputed points. Capt. Macdonell's management at York Factory
was certainly judicious, and there seems but the one debatable point
in his administration of Red River, and that was the proclamation of
January 8th, 1814.
DUNCAN CAMERON.
One of the most notable leaders on the Nor'-Wester side was Duncan
Cameron, who has the distinction of being the last commanding officer
of Fort Gibraltar. Like Miles Macdonell, Duncan Cameron was the son of
a Highland U. E. Loyalist, who had been settled on the Hudson in New
York State. He entered the North-West Company in 1785 and fourteen years
after was in charge of Nepigon district, as we have seen. He gained
much distinction for his company by his daring and skilful management
of the plan to induce the Selkirk settlers to leave Red River and
settle in Upper Canada. Coming from the meeting of the Nor'-Westers in
Grand Portage, in 1814 Cameron took up his abode in Fort Gibraltar,
and according to the story of his opponents did so with much pomp and
circumstance. Miles Macdonell says:--"Mr. Duncan Cameron arrived at
Red River, sporting a suit of military uniform, gave himself out as
captain in his Majesty's service, and acting by the King's authority for
Sir George Prevost." Every well-informed person looked upon this as a
self-created appointment, at most a North-West trick; but it had a very
considerable effect upon the lower class of people.
In regard to this the writer in his work on "Manitoba," London, 1882,
took up strong ground against Cameron. The calming influence of years,
and the contention which has been advanced that there was some ground
for Cameron claiming the commission in the "Voyageur Corps" which he
formerly held, has led the writer to modify his opinion somewhat as to
Cameron.
Cameron succeeded in leading away about three-quarters of the colony.
This he was appointed to do and he seems to have done it faithfully. The
means by which he appealed to the Highland colonists may have been less
dignified than might have been desired, yet his warm Highland nature
attracted his own countrymen in the settlement, and they probably needed
little persuasion to escape from their hardships to what was to them the
promised land of Upper Canada.
In the following year (1816), as already stated, Cameron was in command
of Fort Gibraltar, and it was determined by Governor Semple to destroy
the North-West fort and bring its material down the river to supplement
the colony establishment, Fort Douglas. Before this was done the same
treatment that was given to Governor Macdonell by the Nor'-Westers in
arresting him was meted out to Cameron. He was seized by Colin Robertson
and carried away to York Factory, to be taken as a prisoner to England.
This high-handed proceeding was objectionable on several grounds. The
Imperial Parliament had transferred the right of dealing with offences
committed in Rupert's Land to the Courts of Canada, so that Robertson's
action was clearly _ultra vires_. Moreover, if the Hudson's Bay Company
under its charter exercised authority, it is questionable whether that
gave the right to send a prisoner to Britain for trial, the more that no
definite charge was laid against Cameron. Certainly Cameron had reason
to complain of great injustice in this arrest. Taking him all in all, he
was a hot, impulsive Highland leader of men, persuasive and adroit, and
did not hesitate to adopt the means lying nearest to attain his purpose.
The fact that from 1823 to 1828, after he had left the Company's
service, he represented the County of Glengarry in the Upper Canadian
Legislature, shows that those who knew him best had a favourable opinion
about this last commander of Fort Gibraltar. Fort Gibraltar was never
rebuilt, its place and almost its very site under the United Company
being taken by the original Fort Garry. Sir Roderick Cameron, of New
York, who has been connected with the Australian trade, was a son of
Duncan Cameron.
CUTHBERT GRANT.
The skirmish of Seven Oaks brought into view a fact that had hardly made
itself known before, viz., that a new race, the Metis, or half-breed
children of the fur traders and employés by Indian women, were becoming
a guild or body able to exert its influence and beginning to realize its
power.
Of this rising and somewhat dangerous body a young Scottish half-breed,
Cuthbert Grant, had risen to sudden prominence as the leader. His
father, of the same name, had been a famous North-West trader, and was
looked upon as the special guardian of the Upper Assiniboine and Swan
River district. He had died in 1799, but influential as he had been, the
son became from circumstances much more so. The North-West Company knew
that the Scottish courage and endurance would stand them in good stead,
and his Indian blood would give him a great following in the country.
Educated in Montreal, he was fitted to be the leader of his countrymen.
His dash and enthusiasm were his leading characteristics. When the war
party came down from Qu'Appelle and Portage La Prairie, young Cuthbert
Grant was its natural leader. When the fight took place he was well to
the front in the _mêlée_, and it is generally argued that his influence
was exerted toward saving the wounded and preventing acts of barbarity,
such as savage races are prone to when the passions are aroused. On the
night of June 19th, when the victory had come to his party, Cuthbert
Grant took possession of Fort Douglas, and the night was one for revelry
exceeding what his Highland forbears had ever seen, or equal to any
exultation of the Red man in his hour of triumph.
In after years, when peace had been restored, Cuthbert Grant settled
in the neighbourhood of White Horse Plains, a region twenty miles west
of Red River on the Assiniboine, and here became an influential man.
He was the leader of the hunt against the buffalo, on which every year
the adventurous young men went to bring back their winter supply of
food. In order that this might be properly managed, to protect life in
a dangerous sport and to preserve the buffalo from wanton destruction,
strict rules were agreed on and penalties attached to their breach.
The officer appointed by the Council of Assiniboia to carry out these
laws was called the "Warden of the Plains." This office Cuthbert Grant
filled. Of the fifteen members of the Council of Assiniboia, Grant was
one, and he largely reflected the opinion of the French half-breed
population of the Red River settlement. He was the hero of the plain
hunters, and the native bards never ceased to sing his praises. His case
is a remarkable example of the power that native representatives obtain
among mixed communities.
JOHN PRITCHARD.
The name of John Pritchard carries us back on the Red River to the
beginning of the century--to a time even before the coming of the
Selkirk colony. His descendants to the fourth generation are still found
in Manitoba and are well known. He was born in 1777 in a small village
in Shropshire, England, and received his education in the famous Grammar
School of Shrewsbury. Early in the century he emigrated to Montreal.
At that time the ferment among the fur traders was great. The old
North-West Company of Montreal had split into sections, and to the new
Company, or X Y Company, young Pritchard was attached. We first hear
of him at the mouth of the Souris River in 1805, and shortly after in
charge of one of the forts at that point where the Souris River empties
into the Assiniboine.
We have already given the incident of Pritchard being lost on the
prairie for forty days. Pritchard does not seem to have taken kindly to
the United North-West Company, for at the time of the Seven Oaks affair
we find him as one of the garrison occupying Fort Douglas, although he
represents himself as being a settler on the Red River.
After the skirmish of Seven Oaks Pritchard sought to escape with the
other settlers to the north of Lake Winnipeg, but was made prisoner by
the North-West Company's agents and taken to Fort William. Thence he
went east to Montreal and gave evidence in connection with the trials
arising out of the Red River troubles. Pritchard was a capable and ready
man. His evidence is clear and well expressed. He had much facility in
doing business, and had a smooth, diplomatic manner that stood him in
good stead in troublous times.
Pritchard afterwards entered Lord Selkirk's service and as his agent
went over to London. Returning to the Red River settlement, he married
among the people of Kildonan, and lived not far from the Kildonan
Church, on the east side of the river. A number of his letters have
been printed, which show that he took a lively interest in the affairs
of the settlement, especially in its religious concerns. It is not,
then, remarkable that among his descendants there should be no less than
seven clergymen of the Church of England. It is interesting to know that
the Hudson's Bay Company voted him about 1833 a gratuity of 25_l._ in
consideration of valuable services rendered by him to education, and
especially in the establishment of Sunday schools and day schools. This
man, whose life was a chronicle of the history of the settlement, passed
away in 1856 and was buried in St. John's Churchyard.
PIERRE FALCON, THE RHYMESTER.
Among the wild rout of the Nor'-Westers at the skirmish of Seven Oaks
was a young French half-breed, whose father was a French Canadian
engaged in the fur trade, and his mother an Indian woman from the
Missouri country. The young combatant had been born in 1793, at Elbow
Fort, in the Swan River district. Taken as a child to Canada, young
Pierre lived for a time at Laprairie, and at the age of fifteen returned
with his father to the Red River, and with him engaged in the service
of the North-West Company. What part Falcon took in the affair at Seven
Oaks we are not told, except that he behaved bravely, and saw Governor
Semple killed.
Pierre Falcon was, however, the bard or poet of his people. This
characteristic of Falcon is quite remarkable, considered in connection
with the time and circumstances. That a man who was unable to read or
write should have been able to describe the striking events of his
time in verse is certainly a notable thing. He never tires singing in
different times and metres the valour of the Bois Brûlés at Seven Oaks.
"Voulez-vous écouter chanter
Une chanson de vérité?
Le dix-neuf Juin, la bande des Bois Brûlés
Sont arrivés comme des braves guerriers."
Then with French gaiety and verve he gives an account of the attack on
the Orkneymen, as he calls them, and recites the Governor's action and
his death. Falcon finishes up the chanson with a wild hurrah of triumph--
"Les Bois Brûlés jetaient des cris de joie."
The lively spirit of the rhymester broke out in song upon all the
principal events which agitated the people of the settlement. Joseph
Tassé, to whom we are chiefly indebted in this sketch, says of him,
"all his compositions are not of the same interest, but they are sung
by our voyageurs to the measured stroke of the oar, on the most distant
rivers and lakes of the North-West. The echoes of the Assiniboine, the
Mackenzie, and Hudson Bay will long repeat them."
The excitable spirit of the rhymer never left him. At the time of the
Riel rebellion (1869-70) Falcon was still alive, and though between
seventy and eighty years of age, he wished to march off with his gun to
the fray, declaring that "while the enemy would be occupied in killing
him his friends would be able to give hard and well-directed blows to
them."
For about half a century he lived on the White Horse Plains, twenty
miles or more up the Assiniboine from Winnipeg, and became an
influential man in the neighbourhood. His mercurial disposition seems to
have become more settled than in his fiery youth, for though unlettered,
he was made a justice of the peace.
His verse-making was, of course, of a very simple and unfinished kind.
One of his constant fashions was to end it with a declaration that it
was made by Falcon, the singer of his people.
"Qui en a fait la chanson?
Un poète de canton;
Au bout de la chanson
Nous vous le nommerons.
Un jour étant à table,
A boire et à chanter,
A chanter tout au long
La nouvelle chanson.
Amis, buvons, trinquons,
Saluons la chanson
De Pierriche Falcon,
Ce faiseur de chanson."
The last line being often varied to
"Pierre Falcon, le bon garçon."