The Great Company Part 38

As to proposed grants of land to settlers, two hundred acres were to be given to labourers or artificers; one thousand acres to a master of a trading-house. The Company were, of course, to have full rights of access to all the surrendered districts.

[Sidenote: Earl Selkirk's proposal accepted.]

The customs duties, exports and imports, payable by settlers were not to exceed five per cent, at Port Nelson, unless it happened that a higher duty was levied at Quebec. The duties so to be levied were to be applied to the expense of Government police, communication between Lake Winnipeg and Port Nelson, etc., and not to be taken as profits for the Company. The show of hands was in favour of the proposal; but a protest was handed in to the Governor by Thwaytes and others. In spite of this, on the 13th of June, the deed was signed, sealed and delivered by the secretary on behalf of the Company.

The lands were defined by deed as situate between 52 30' north lat.i.tude and 102 30' west longitude, a map being affixed to the deed.

In reading this protest, one who was ignorant of the true state of affairs would have been led to believe that the partners concerned had no object so dear to them as the welfare and prosperity of the Hudson's Bay Company. These gentlemen appeared to be animated by the most thorough devotion and zeal, as they stood together declaiming in loud, earnest tones against the errors into which their beloved Company was falling, and pouring out their sympathy to the emigrant settlers who might be lured to their destruction by establishing themselves on the lands so granted "out of reach," to employ their own phrase, "of all those aids and comforts which are derived from civil society;" and so it did truly appear to many then as it has done since. But let us examine those signatures, and lo, the wolf obtrudes himself basking in the skin of a lamb!

The grant was thus confirmed. The opposition had found itself powerless, and Selkirk was put into possession of a territory only 5,115 square miles less than the entire area of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.[93]

The grant secured, Selkirk at once despatched agents to Ireland and throughout the highlands of Scotland, to engage servants, some for the Company's service, others for general labourers in the colony. These last were known as "his lordship's servants," and were engaged for a term of years, at the expiration of which they became ent.i.tled to one hundred acres of land, free of cost. They were placed under the charge of Miles McDonnell, who received a joint appointment from Selkirk and the Company, as first Governor of the new colony.

[Sidenote: Selkirk's immigrants arrive.]

The first section of the immigrant party arrived at York Factory late in the autumn of 1811.[94] This post was then in charge of William Auld, who, as we have seen, occupied the position of Superintendent of the Northern Department of Rupert's Land. After a short residence at the fort, where they were treated in a somewhat tyrannical and high-handed fashion by the Governor, who had scant sympathy for the new _regime_, the party were sent forward to Seal Creek, fifty miles up Nelson River. Governor McDonnell and one Hillier, in the character of justice of the peace, accompanied them thither, and preparations were at once made for the erection of a suitable shelter.

[Ill.u.s.tration: STORNAWAY.

(_The Hebrides._)]

McDonnell experienced a great deal of trouble during the winter with the men under his charge, for a mutinous spirit broke out, and he was put to his wits' end to enforce discipline. He put it all down to the Glasgow servants. "These Glasgow rascals," he declared to Auld, the Governor of York Factory, "have caused us both much trouble and uneasiness. A more stubborn, litigious and cross-grained lot were never put under any person's care. I cannot think that any liberality of rum or rations could have availed to stop their dissatisfaction.

Army and navy discipline is the only thing fit to manage such fierce spirits."

But the Irish of the party were hardly more tractable. On New Year's night, 1812, a violent and unprovoked attack was made by some of the Irish on a party of Orkneymen, who were celebrating the occasion.

Three of the latter were so severely beaten that for a month the surgeon could not report their lives entirely out of danger. Four of the Irishmen concerned in this a.s.sault were sent back home. "Worthless blackguards," records the Governor; "the lash may make them serviceable to the Government in the army or navy, but they will never do for us."

On the subject of the Orkney servants of the Company all critics were not agreed. Governor McDonnell's opinion, for instance, was not flattering:--

"There cannot," he reported, "be much improvement made in the country while the Orkneymen form the majority of labourers; they are lazy, spiritless, and ill-disposed--wedded to old habits, strongly prejudiced against any change, however beneficial. It was with the utmost reluctance they could be prevailed on to drink the spruce juice to save themselves from the scurvy; they think nothing of the scurvy, as they are then idle, and their wages run on.... It is not uncommon for an Orkneyman to consume six pounds or eight pounds of meat in a day, and some have ate as much in a single meal. This gluttonous appet.i.te, they say, is occasioned by the cold. I entirely discredit the a.s.sertion, as I think it rather to be natural to themselves. All the labour I have seen these men do would scarcely pay for the victuals they consume. With twenty-five men belonging to it, the factory was last winter distressed for firewood, and the people sent to tent in the woods."[95]

[Sidenote: Opposition by the Nor'-Westers.]

Meanwhile, leaving the shivering immigrants, distrustful of their officers and doubtful of what the future had in store for them, to encamp at Seal Creek, let us turn to the state of affairs amongst the parties concerned elsewhere, particularly amongst the Nor'-Westers.

Simon McGillivray, who was agent in London for that Company, watched all Selkirk's acts with the utmost distrust, and kept the partners continually informed of the turn affairs were taking. He a.s.sured them that Selkirk's philanthropy was all a cloak, designed to cover up a scheme for the total extinction of the Hudson's Bay Company's rivals.

The colony was to be planted to ruin their trade. It was an endeavour to check the physical superiority of the Nor'-Westers and by means of this settlement secure to the Hudson's Bay Company and to himself, not only the extensive and sole trade of the country within their own territories, but a "safe and convenient stepping-stone for monopolizing all the fur-trade of the Far West."

The partners in Montreal were stirred to action. Regarding Lord Selkirk's motives in this light, they warmly disputed the validity of the Hudson's Bay Company's Charter and of the grants of land made to him. It was decided to bring all the forces of opposition they possessed to bear on this "invasion of their hunting grounds."

FOOTNOTES:

[88] Canadian Archives.

[89] It has been noted that several partners of the North-West concern were upon the grand jury which found the bill of indictment, and out of four judges who sat upon the bench, two were nearly related to individuals of that a.s.sociation.

[90] Already, in April, 1802, Lord Selkirk had addressed a letter and memorial to Lord Pelham, the Home Secretary, detailing the practicability of promoting emigration to Rupert's Land. "To a colony in these territories," he concluded, "the channel of trade must be the river of Port Nelson."

[91] In the course of a letter reporting on the disputes between the Hudson's Bay Company and the North-Westers, Commissioner Coltman attributed the disasters in the territories to the Company having held in abeyance its right to jurisdiction and that this neglect was the reason for pa.s.sing the act of 1803. This letter is in the Canadian Archives, _v._ Report 1892.

[92] "I have," writes Sir Alexander Mackenzie from London, 13th April, 1812, "finally settled with that Lord (Selkirk). After having prepared a bill to carry him before the Lord Chancellor, it was proposed to my solicitor by the solicitor of his Lordship that one-third of the stock that was purchased on joint account before I went to America, amounting to 47,000, and the balance of cash in his Lordship's hands, belonging to me, should be given up to me; of this I accepted, though I might have obliged his Lordship to make over to me one-third of the whole purchase made by him in this stock, which at one time I was determined to do, having been encouraged thereto by the house of Suffolk Lane and countenanced by that of Mark Lane. But these houses thought it prudent to desist from any further purchases."

Mackenzie says that by a verbal understanding with Mr. McGillivray, his purchase of the Hudson's Bay stock belonged to the North-West Company, and that, if Mr. McGillivray himself had been there, a sum of 30,000 might have been invested in that stock, "all of which Lord Selkirk purchased, and if he persists in his present scheme, it will be the dearest he yet made.

"He will put the North-West Company to a greater expense than you seem to apprehend, and had the Company sacrificed 20,000 which might have secured a preponderance in the stock of Hudson's Bay Co., it would have been money well spent."

[93] The district thus granted was called a.s.siniboia, a name undoubtedly derived from the a.s.siniboine tribe and river, yet alleged by some at the time to be taken from two Gaelic words "osni" and "boia"--the house of Ossian.

[94] "None of the young men," says McDonnell, "made any progress in learning the Gaelic or Irish language on the voyage. I had some drills of the people with arms, but the weather was generally boisterous, and there were few days when a person could stand steady on deck. There never was a more awkward squad--not a man, or even officer, of the party knew how to put a gun to his eye or had ever fired a shot."

[95] Governor McDonnell's observations are not always to be relied upon. For instance, he says in one report, "I am surprised the Company never directed a survey to be made of the coast on each side of Hudson's Straits. From the appearance of the country there must be many harbours and inlets for vessels to go in case of an accident from ice, want of water, etc. We were often, ourselves, much in doubt for the accomplishment of our voyage, and had we been under the necessity of putting back, must have suffered for want of water. Two of the ships, without any additional expense, might execute this survey on the voyage out, with only the detention of a few days, one taking the north and the other the south sh.o.r.e." Such a survey had been made as early as 1728. Mention has already been made of Captain Coats, who, in 1739, prepared a chart of the Straits and Bay. To some of the older captains in the service, the Straits were as well-known as the harbour of Stromness.

CHAPTER x.x.x.

1812-1815.

The Bois-Brules -- Simon McGillivray's Letter -- Frightening the Settlers -- A second Brigade -- Governor McDonnell's Manifesto -- Defection of Northmen to the Company -- Robertson's Expedition to Athabasca -- Affairs at Red River -- Cameron and McDonell in uniform -- Cuthbert Grant -- Miles McDonnell arrested -- Fort William -- News brought to the Northmen -- Their confiscated account-books -- War of 1812 concluded.

[Sidenote: The Bois-Brules.]

There had lately been witnessed the rapid growth of a new cla.s.s--sprung from the loins of Red man and European. Alert, rugged, turbulent, they evinced at the same time a pa.s.sionate love of the life and manners of the wilderness, and a fierce intractability which could hardly fail to cause occasional uneasiness in the minds of their masters. To this cla.s.s had been given the name of Metis, or Bois-Brules. They were princ.i.p.ally the descendants of the French voyageurs of the North-West concern, who had allied themselves with Indian women and settled down on the sh.o.r.e of some lake or stream in the interior. Amongst these half-breeds hunters and trappers came, and at a later period a number of Englishmen and Scotchmen, hardly less strongly linked to a wild, hardy life than themselves. These also took Indian wives, and they and their children spoke of themselves as neither English, Scotch, or Indian, but as belonging to the "New Nation."

From 1812 to 1821 the North-West concern absorbed all the labours and exacted the loyalty of the increasing cla.s.s of Bois-Brules. The Hudson's Bay Company was exclusively an English company, and their Scotch and English servants had left few traces of an alliance with the aborigines. As the posts in the interior began to multiply, and the men were thus cut off from the larger society which obtained at York, c.u.mberland and Moose factories, and were thrown more upon their own resources, a laxer discipline prevailed, and the example of their neighbours was followed. A time was to come when the "Orkney half-breeds" equalled in point of numbers those of the French Bois-Brules.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A BOIS-BRULe.]

There were yet few half-breeds of English extraction. The Bois-Brules were pa.s.sionately attached to the North-West company, who were quick to recognize their value as agents amongst the Indians. The idea of nationality, so far from being frowned upon, was encouraged amongst them. So much for the instruments which the Company proposed to employ in Montreal.

It was only natural that amongst this rude race there should arise a leader, a half-breed to whose superior ability and natural advantages was added an education in Montreal, the seat of the co-partnery.

Cuthbert Grant, which was the name this individual bore, was known far and wide amongst the hunters and trappers of Rupert's Land, and everywhere commanded homage and respect. He had risen to be one of the most enterprising and valued agents of the Nor'-Westers, and was constantly admitted to their councils.

On the 22nd of May, 1811, at which period the matter was in embryo in London, Simon McGillivray had frankly declared to Miles McDonnell, agent to Lord Selkirk, that he was "determined to give all the opposition in his power, whatever might be the consequences," because, in his opinion, "such a settlement struck at the root of the North-West company, which it was intended to ruin."[96]

By way of argument, this gentleman took it upon himself to inform the Hudson's Bay Company that the proposed settlement was foredoomed to destruction, inasmuch as it "must at all times lie at the mercy of the Indians," who would not be bound by treaties, and that "one North-West Company's interpreter would be able at any time to set the Indians against the settlers and destroy them."

[Sidenote: Defections from the North-West Company.]

Selkirk was now informed that there were several clerks who had been many years in the service of the Northmen, and who were disaffected in that service. They grumbled at not having been sooner promoted to the proprietary--that the claims of the old and faithful were too often pa.s.sed over for those of younger men of little experience, because they were related to the partners. The Earl was not slow to avail himself of this advantage. It became a matter of importance to persuade as many as possible of these dissatisfied spirits to join his scheme, by the offer of large salaries, and several accepted his offer with alacrity. Amongst the most enterprising was one Colin Robertson, a trader who had often ventured his life amongst the tribes and half-breeds, to forward the interests of his establishment. He possessed a perfect knowledge of the interior and of the fur-trade, and to him Lord Selkirk entrusted the chief management of the latter for the Company. Robertson was well convinced of the superiority of the Canadian voyageurs over the Orkneymen, in the management of canoes, for example, and he proceeded to engage a number of them in Montreal at a much higher wage than they had received hitherto.

To Robertson's counsels must be ascribed much of the invigoration which now began to mark the policy of the Company. His letters to the Company were full of a common-sense and a fighting spirit. "Let us carry the trade to Athabasca," he said; and he proceeded to demonstrate how all rivalry could be annihilated. The strength and weakness of his rivals were familiar to him, and he was well aware how much depended on the Indians themselves. They could and would deal with whom they chose; Robertson determined they should deal henceforth, not with the North-West, but with the Hudson's Bay Company.

The Northmen had been for years continually pressing to the West. They were doing a thriving trade on the Columbia River, in Oregon, where they had a lucrative post; they had a post to the south of that in California, and to the north as far as New Archangel. In the second decade of the century the North-West a.s.sociation had over three hundred Canadians in its employ on the Pacific slope, sending three or four ships annually to London by way of Cape Horn. In 1810 they had a compet.i.tor in the post of Astoria, founded by John Jacob Astor, a fur-monopolist of New York. Astor had made overtures to the North-West partners, which had been declined; whereupon he induced about twenty Canadians to leave them and enter his service. He despatched two expeditions, one overland and the other by sea, around Cape Horn. But the founder of Astoria had not foreseen that the breaking out of war between Great Britain and America would upset all his plans. Fort Astoria, in the fortunes of war, changed hands and became Fort George; and although the post was, by the Treaty of Ghent, restored, the Canadians and Scotchmen had returned to their old employers and interests. In a few years the Hudson's Bay Company was to control the chief part of the fur-trade of the Pacific Coast.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FORT GEORGE.

(_Astoria--as it was in 1813._)]

None of the Company's servants had yet penetrated as far west as Athabasca. Yet it was the great northern department of Rupert's Land--a country which, if not flowing with milk and honey, swarmed with moose and beaver. To Athabasca, therefore, Robertson went.