Читать книгу First Furrows - Rev. Alfred Campbell Garrioch - Страница 7

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There are very few episodes in the history of this country more interesting than Lord Selkirk’s colonizing scheme, and the result of its endorsation by the Hudson’s Bay Company; and it being so much easier at this distance of time to correctly appraise the rancour and prejudice to which his undertakings were exposed in his own day and for a considerable time afterwards, a brief account of his exploits in Rupert’s Land should be worth my while to write and yours to read.

Lord Selkirk was born in 1771, one hundred and one years after the formation of the Hudson’s Bay Company. He was the youngest of seven brothers, and it is remarkable that by the year 1799, when he was only twenty-eight years of age, not only had all his brothers died but his father as well, leaving him heir to a large fortune, and the title of Earl of Selkirk.

After passing successfully through the University of Edinburgh, he undertook to assist his fellow countrymen. Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott were contemporaries of his, and they were also his friends. Of Lord Selkirk it can truly be said that he showed his nobility before as well as after he received the title. Anyone thoughtfully and impartially studying his history cannot fail to arrive at the conclusion that the whole trend of his life, is that of a man whose mastering ambition—to do good to many, made thoughts of personal aggrandizement but of secondary importance. In other words, he was unselfish. He was a philanthropist. Some of his contemporaries said that he was one hundred years ahead of his time, not knowing that they were one hundred years behind theirs.

In his time there was some British legislation passed of which the evident aim was not “the greatest good to the greatest number,” but the greatest good to a number of the greatest. The result was a disruption of the clan system in Scotland. Before this legislation the land occupied by a clan was vested in all its members, but after the new enactment, in the head of the clan only. According to the old arrangement they could occupy the land as long as they pleased, and it had pleased them to do so from generation to generation; but now they were placed in the position of ordinary tenants, and the head of the clan could change his tenants as any ordinary landlord might do. Some of these chieftains sent their sons South to be educated, and when they succeeded to the control of the estate, they did so with changed if not improved social and business ideas. Some of them found it to their advantage to lease to capitalists the land that was occupied by the crofters, and these small holdings being joined together made an extensive sheep-run for the rich man, while the poor crofter was turned adrift as if he were not “better than a sheep.”

The condition of these evicted clansmen so strongly appealed to the kindly heart of the Earl of Selkirk, that he travelled through the Highlands so as to learn from actual observation the true condition of the evicted. He also made a journey to France to find out if there were any effective remedial measures being adopted there to bring about a recovery from the evils of the recent revolution. If any further proof be needed to convince the fair-minded reader that Lord Selkirk loved his unfortunate fellow-countrymen, it is only necessary to state that for their sakes he learned the Gaelic language, so that when they poured out the story of their woes, he might be able to show them that he understood.

It seems strange that the British Government, and indeed the British people should have been so indifferent about emigration in the time of Lord Selkirk. Perhaps the recent evolution or devolution of the British colonies into the United States of America was so keenly felt that a further lapse of time was needed before colonizing schemes would be in favour. But it was very likely indeed that had the British Government acceded to Lord Selkirk’s wish, and made the colonizing of Rupert’s Land a national undertaking, he never would have made it a personal one, or have owned any Hudson’s Bay stock, or had anything to do with the fur trade.

In 1803 he had eight hundred colonists from the Isle of Skye who were prepared to emigrate to Rupert’s Land via Hudson’s Bay. His scheme as to destination being turned down by the Government, he bought land for them in Prince Edward’s Island, and personally saw to their being comfortably settled there.

In the year 1804 he took out another party of one hundred and eleven, who were landed at Montreal, whence they were sent by bateaux to Kingston, and finally located in Kent County, Ontario. Before returning to England on this occasion, he rested a while at Montreal, and was feted by many of the leading merchants. On one occasion he was the honoured guest of the club of the North-West Company, when the honours were done in style by Simon McTavish who was called the Lion of Montreal.

Little did his entertainers suppose that he would one day be the largest shareholder in the great company competing with them in the North-west; and it is hardly likely that Lord Selkirk himself had any notion of such a thing at this date, as it was not until seven years later, and then in connection with his colonizing work, that he became connected with the Hudson’s Bay Company.

Upon his return in 1805, he resumed his investigation of the situation among the evicted Highlanders, and for the enlightenment of the public, gave his findings in a book which was published the same year, and which was praised by Sir Walter Scott for its precision and accuracy.

In 1806 he was chosen one of the sixteen Scottish Peers to represent Scotland in the House of Lords. In this position he continued ably to set forth his views, maintaining that it was in the interest of the nation to encourage emigration to its overseas dominions, particularly North-West America; and that it was no more than humane, that those who could not be provided with a home in the homeland, should be encouraged to seek one in some other part of the empire. The following phrases are to be found in his speeches: “Now it is our duty to befriend these people.... Let us direct their emigration, and let them be led abroad to new possessions.... Give them homes under our own flag, ... and they will strengthen the nation.”

When Lord Selkirk found that the colonization of Rupert’s Land was not to be proceeded with, either as a national or personal undertaking, he approached the Government from another angle. Noticing the close connection between the British Government and the Hudson’s Bay Company, he conceived the good idea of approaching the Government by means of that corporation, and in order that he might do so the more effectively he joined it, not however, until with a cautiousness that did him credit, and was worthy of his nationality, he had had the validity of the Hudson’s Bay charter thoroughly investigated, for which purpose he consulted five leading English lawyers. Their decision was that it was flawless; and further, that it invested them with the right to give legal title to others to tracts of land lying within their territories. It was only after this that Lord Selkirk and his friends, as before stated, acquired £35,000 of Hudson’s Bay stock.

In order to offset the great influence that this would give him with the Hudson’s Bay Company, some of the Nor’-Westers actually went to the lengths of purchasing a few Hudson’s Bay shares, so that when Lord Selkirk’s colonizing scheme was brought before a meeting of its stockholders they might succeed in having it voted down; but they did not succeed, and considering the influences inimical to his plan, he must have presented his case in a masterly fashion, for he carried his point by a two-thirds majority.

Lord Selkirk’s next move was to secure from the Hudson’s Bay Company 116,000 square miles of land situated on the banks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, and to make sure that his proteges would this time be in possession of land from which they could not be evicted, he was careful to have the deed of transfer properly executed. It was dated June 13th, 1811, and had the seal of the company, and was signed by their secretary, Alexander Lane. The land thus secured to Lord Selkirk may not have cost him much at first, but it cost him quite enough by the time he got through, and probably this fact was taken into consideration by the company, when in 1835 the land reverted to them upon the generous payment to Lord Selkirk’s heirs of $85,000.

It is regrettable that the Canadian Government did not name the first province of the West, Assiniboia instead of Manitoba, more particularly as the pronunciation of the latter name now regarded as correct, is so seriously at variance with all known usages prevalent in the country up to the time of the Transfer—that of the Salteaux, Mán-i-too-wa—bá, of the Cree Mán-i-too-wa-páo; while others, when not speaking in these Indian languages might vary considerably in the pronunciation of the word, and generally deleted the antipenultimate, and sometimes the second syllable as well, thus: Mánitobá or Mún-too-bá; but be it remarked, there never was any variation with respect to the accents, which were always placed on the first and final syllables—the secondary accent on the first and the primary accent on the last. Then came along some linguistic genius (in the dead languages) and inflicted that awful jolt to our auricular sensibilities by pronouncing the word Mani-tóba. But apart from all this, since the province embraces the district secured by Lord Selkirk—one might almost say at the cost of his life—in order that he might provide homes for his poor fellow-countrymen within the confines of the British Empire, and remembering too his great predecessor, the celebrated Frenchman, Verandrye, who made his headquarters on the banks of the Assiniboine, it would have been a fitting act of courtesy to have given the name of Assiniboia to the first province carved out of the great West, in memory of these celebrated pioneers.

Lord Selkirk having procured land for his colonists, next proceeded to procure colonists for his land. For this purpose he issued a prospectus and employed three recruiting agents, viz.: Miles Macdonell, who recruited in Ireland, and Colin Robertson and Roderick McDonald who recruited in Scotland. As a result of their efforts one hundred and twenty-five emigrants accepted Lord Selkirk’s offer, and when the three ships, Prince of Wales, Eddystone and Edward and Ann left Stornoway July 26, 1811, bound for York Factory, one hundred and five of these were on board, the other twenty having been induced to go back on their word by agents of the North-West Company and others. Lord Selkirk gave Mr. Miles Macdonell charge of these colonists, and appointed him first Governor of Assiniboia. They reached York Factory September 24, 1811, and wintered there. In the following summer they proceeded on their journey in four flat boats and reached their destination on the Red River August 30th, 1812, and located on the western part of Point Douglas. Later they were sent on to winter at Pembina, as buffalo were usually easy of access from that point. After their departure from the Red River another party arrived, consisting of eighteen Irishmen, who were in charge of Owen Kaveny. These also were sent on to winter at Pembina. A fort was built there for the accommodation of the colonists, which was named Fort Daer.

In the summer of 1813 the colonists suffered greatly for lack of food, and had to help eke out an existence by eating berries and roots. Of the latter the wild turnip (cree, miskoostusimin), received particular attention. Of this root it may be said, that being of a dry and fibrous nature, with no marked flavour of its own, it is more susceptible to flavouring than the potato, of which it may be remembered, Sir Walter Raleigh wrote when introducing this celebrated tuber to the British public: “To give them the greater relish in eating, they should be boiled with the juice of prunes.” Probably, however, the poor ex-crofter hadn’t the juice of a thing in which to boil his miskoostusimin.

In 1813 a second party numbering ninety-seven were sent out. They landed at Churchill and wintered there together, but in the month of April forty-one of them, of whom half were women, went forward to the settlement, arriving there in time to plant forty bushels of potatoes, which were doing fine by the time the rest of the contingent from Churchill arrived. There were now two hundred and twenty Colonists in the country. They had come out contrary to the wishes and advice of the North-West Company it is true, but considering their helpless plight in the old land, which so far was little changed in the new, one would think there might have been chivalry enough in the leaders of the North-West Company, to at least have left them in peace, if they could not rise to the level of giving them a welcome and treating them with kindness. They did nothing of the kind, but continued their policy of obstruction, and in their treatment of the strangers showed an unmanly spirit. So while one company was doing its best to feed them the other was doing its best to starve them.

Governor Macdonell was probably acting within his rights as Governor of Assiniboia, in issuing an order that no provisions were to be taken out of the country, except what was needed for the business of carrying on the fur trade. Had he stopped there it might have been better, but that was not his style; and shortly after he sent his secretary, John Spencer, up the Assiniboine to the Souris Fort, and there by way of neutralizing the starving out policy of the Nor’-Westers, he seized six hundred bags of pemmican, besides a lot of dried meat and grease, removing the same to the Hudson’s Bay Fort, Brandon House.

Journeyers across the plains halted for the night.

As might be expected after this proceeding, the opposition of the Nor’-Westers became more bitter, and the winter of 1814-15 was passed in secret or undisguised acts of hostility by both parties. In an attack on Fort Douglas a Mr. Warren was killed, through the bursting of a blunderbus or gun of some kind.

Duncan Cameron who was in charge of Fort Gibraltar was an astute Scotsman, and by professing great sympathy for the Colonists, and by offering them more comfortable homes in Ontario, he succeeded in very much weakening the influence of Governor Macdonell, who seeing that to attempt any longer to maintain his authority as Governor would be to involve the Colonists in still greater sufferings, and knowing that Cameron had shown the disaffected Colonists a magistrate’s warrant for his arrest, telling them that they would be left in peace if he succeeded in his capture, he mercifully decided that for their sakes it was better to let Cameron have his way, and so he quietly submitted to arrest. Having done so he was at once sent to Montreal for trial. He was never tried, however, because it was contended that the good faith and authority under which he had acted was his justification.

With Miles Macdonell out of the way, Duncan Cameron appeared in his true colours. Before he had sometimes come out in a scarlet uniform or some other showy costume—sometimes in kilts—a treat no doubt to them or the mosquitoes. Now he wore proper clothes and talked business. The offer with which he had tempted them during winter, and which two-thirds of them had accepted, was as follows: Payment of wages that might be due either by Lord Selkirk or the Hudson’s Bay Company, and assistance to obtain land. Duncan Cameron lived up to his promises, and the one hundred and thirty-four Colonists who had accepted his offer had to live up to theirs. Under his leadership they embarked June, 1815, and journeying via Lake Superior and Georgian Bay, arrived at Holland Landing in September. There they obtained land in the vicinity of New Market, and many of their descendants are to be found there still.

By this exodus of Colonists the number remaining on the banks of the Red River was reduced to forty; and the pick of souls they must have been, to thus place honour before every other consideration and to further brave the terrors of Nor’-Wester enmity.

Duncan Cameron’s place during his absence was filled by his colleague, Alexander McDonell, who knowing that neither flattery nor bribery would succeed with the remaining Colonists, lost no time in giving them their marching orders, informing them both verbally and by written notice that they were to rid the country of their presence, going when and how they pleased, only going quickly.

Instead of their forlorn condition and honest purpose appealing to the Nor’-Westers and their ignorant tools the Bois Brules, they were treated as so many escaped convicts, whose only choice was between death and surrender. Horses and cattle were stolen; and in general, the hand of these neighbours was never extended in their direction, except in perpetration of deeds of this dastardly character.

Finding that even by such tactics as these they could not quickly enough accomplish their purpose, they decided to openly raid the settlement. Fortunately the Colonists got word of this, and while the necessary force of Bois Brules was being recruited, they placed themselves under the leadership of John McLeod, a veteran Hudson’s Bay official. Then although they had not pledged their word to fight in furtherance of Lord Selkirk’s schemes, each man acted as if pledged to his God and himself to fight unto the death, especially in defence of the women and children. So when the time came, they stood up like true men and fought; they fought coolly and bravely as Highlanders have always done, and taught their foes what other foes before and since have learned—that “Britishers fight best with their backs against the wall.”

The Bois Brules were mounted and armed with muskets, and out-numbered the Colonists and Hudson’s Bay party two to one. They were under the leadership of Alexander McDonell and Cuthbert Grant. McLeod, who wrote a description of the battle royal, states that one man on their side was killed, and all but thirteen wounded. At one time it looked as though they were going to be overwhelmed, and then it was that McLeod with the resourcefulness of the true general bethought him of a rusty old cannon that was laid away in the fort, and it was requisitioned now notwithstanding the popular opinion, that when discharged it would be as great a menace to the safety of the man behind the gun as to those at whom it might be aimed. However, realizing that their desperate situation called for a desperate remedy, the gun was hastily hauled out, and a lot of cart chains were converted into chain-shot, and the ancient piece of ordnance was loaded to full capacity and pointed in the direction of the enemy, who with their savage Indian war-whoop, and an occasional spurt forward, appeared to be waiting the psychological moment, when they were to pounce upon and capture their prey. Once more they are coming; once more the air is filled with their horrid yells, when suddenly, as if the earth had opened her mouth and vomited a thunder bolt, accompanied with a league of chain lightning, there came fiendishly screaming about their ears, the curtailed cart chains, and the leaves and branches behind which they had concealed themselves flew hither and thither. The rusty cannon had spoken, and horses and riders as if by mutual consent lost no time in looking for safer quarters; and an occasional reminder from the brave little cannon kept them there, until convinced of its powers of execution they finally abandoned the siege.

This gave the harassed Colonists a breathing spell, which they turned to good account, by preparing to abandon their homes. Fortunately they had boats enough to hold both the Colonists and the Hudson’s Bay employees, and their most necessary belongings as well. So they hastily embarked with their wounded friends, and floating down the Red River, skirted the south-eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg till they reached Jack River, near Norway House, where they awaited further developments.

No sooner had they left the settlement than the Bois Brules commenced to destroy their houses, and generally to pull to pieces what they had put together with so much thrift, courage and perseverance. But there was one nut that they found too hard to crack, and that was Fort Douglas, for the heroic John McLeod and three sturdy companions, with the aid of the rusty and trusty four-pounder, continued to hold the fort against all odds. The three men were John McIntosh and Archibald Currie of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and Hugh McLean, who was at this time the sole representative of Lord Selkirk’s Colonists, remaining on the banks of the Red River. Day and night this brave little garrison kept watch from their stronghold, and whenever the enemy approached, the little cannon spoke once more, and again the deadly cart chains flew screaming through the air. At length the Nor’-Westers seemed to have some premonition of an impending change. Possibly they had received secret intelligence from Fort William; and, at any rate, the besieged were after a time left in undisturbed possession of their fort, and were able to walk forth and study the scene of desolation, and to bestow some attention on the little gardens and fields whose owners had regretfully abandoned them, expecting never to return.

The first St. Mary’s Church, Portage la Prairie.

Fortunately, Mr. McLeod was more optimistic, and not only attended to the growing crops, but set about restoring the houses wherever it could be done. Meanwhile, Lord Selkirk was not idle; for while the interference of Duncan Cameron was depriving his colony of one hundred and thirty-four settlers, he had succeeded in securing another party of ninety, made up, it is said, of emigrants who were an improvement on the previous importations.

Anticipating further trouble when they arrived in the settlement, he took the precaution of sending Colin Robertson with twenty Canadians via the eastern route, and they arrived shortly after the Nor’-Westers had left John McLeod in peaceable possession of Fort Douglas. When Mr. Robertson arrived at Fort Douglas and found the Colonists gone, he immediately turned about to fetch them back; and arriving at Jack River he not only found the Colonists who had fled, but there he also met the third party who were just arriving. These three parties together numbered one hundred and fifty, and when they arrived at Fort Douglas, Lord Selkirk and the Hudson’s Bay Company were once more for a time in the ascendency there.

Robert Semple, a retired British officer holding the rank of Captain came out in charge of this party of ninety Colonists, and also in the capacity of Governor of the colony, as successor to Miles Macdonell. Colin Robertson, his subordinate officer, was a previous employee of the North-West Company, and had Governor Semple retained him by his side, so as to be aided by his experience and advice, it might have been better for himself and the country, a fact of which the redoubtable Duncan of kilts and Gaelic fame was soon apprised, for soon as he had returned from Canada after his successful deportation of Colonists, and before he could get into diplomatic relations with the latest importation, Colin pounced upon him and made him prisoner. But, past master in diplomacy that he was, he was soon at liberty again, and probably on his own recognizance.