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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


CANADA  BANK  NOTE  ENGRAVINGS. PRINTING  COMPANY 
(LIMHE  o  ) 


THE    SCOT 


IN 


BRITISH    NORTH   AMERICA. 


BY 


W.   J.  EATTEAT,  B.A. 


VOL.  IV. 


MACLEAR    AND    COMPANY. 


AM  Rights  Reserved. 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  the  Parliament  of  Canada,  iu  the  year  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty,  by  MACLEAR  &  Co.,  Toronto,  in 
the  office  of  the  Minister  of  Agriculture. 


PKEFACE. 


£  HE  lamented  death  of  the  author,  whose  clear,  incisive 
r^),  style,  vigorous  thought,  and  painstaking  research, 
have  imparted  so  much  interest  to  the  preceding  pages, 
leaving  the  manuscript  of  the  concluding  pages  of  this  vol- 
ume incomplete,  renders  apology  superfluous  for  all  delay  in 
presenting  it  to  the  public.  Another  hand  has  completed 
the  unfinished  task  with  the  honest  endeavour  to  follow,  as 
far  as  possible,  the  lines  laid  down  by  the  author.  A  gen- 
erous, and  fair-minded  public,  will  make  due  allowance  for 
the  difficulty  of  undertaking,  at  short  notice,  to  deal  with 
a  subject  demanding  accurate  historical  and  geographical 
knowledge  and  exactness  of  statement  to  do  even  a  measure 

o 

of  justice  to  the  work. 

It  is  eminently  fit  that  a  book  of  the  nature  of  the  "  Scot 
in  British  North  America  "  should  include  some  notice,  how- 
ever fragmentary  and  imperfect,  of  the  writer,  whose  early 
decease  has  left  such  a  void  in  the  ranks  of  Canadian  liter- 
ature. The  personal  details  that,  had  he  lived,  the  modesty 
which  was  so  conspicuous  a  feature  in  his  character,  would 
ha,ve  prevented  his  giving,  may  now  appropriately  be  sup- 
plied. William  J.  Rattray  was  born  in  London,  England, 
about  the  year  1835,  his  father  being  a  Scot  and  his  mother 
English.  The  family  came  to  Canada  about  the  year  1848, 
settling  in  Toronto,  where  Mr.  Rattray,  Senr.,  was,  for  many 
years  engaged  in  trade,  being  highly  respected  as  a  man  and 
a  citizen.  William  J.  Rattray  entered  Toronto  University 
about  the  year  1854,  and  devoted  himself  earnestly  to  study 


iv  PREFACE. 

especially  in  the  department  of  metaphysics  and  philosophy. 
He  soon  developed  rare  intellectual  gifts  as  a  profound  and 
acute  reasoner.  He  became  Prize  Speaker  and  President  of 
the  Literary  Society,  and  his  clear  and  thoughtful  utter- 
ances soon  won  him  a  brilliant  reputation  among  the  young 
men  of  his  time.  On  graduating  he  won  the  gold  medal  in 
Mental  Science.  Mr.  Rattray  was  for  many  years  before 
his  death  connected  with  the  press  of  Toronto,  his  most 
noteworthy  work  being  done  on  the  staff  of  the  Toronto 
Mail.  A  series  of  articles  which  appeared  weekly  during  a 
period  extending  over  several  years,  dealing  with  the  con- 
flict between  agnosticism  in  its  various  forms  and  revealed 
religion,  excited  much  attention  and  were  greatly  admired 
by  a  wide  circle  of  readers.  They  presented  the  orthodox 
side  of  the  question  with  much  force  and  ability.  Mr.  Rat- 
tray's  intellect  was  an  unusually  active  one.  His  brilliant 
natural  faculties  were  cultivated  by  assiduous  study  and 
constant  reflection.  Essentially  a  many-sided  man  intel- 
lectually, he  displayed  equal  power  and  grasp  of  his  subject 
in  dealing  with  current  political  and  social  topics,  as  in 
grappling  with  the  deeper  problems  of  life  and  eternity, 
which,  of  late  years,  engrossed  so  much  of  his  thoughts. 
His  style  was  notable  for  its  lucidity,  smoothness,  and 
finish,  which  made  everything  he  wrote  readable,  and  fas- 
cinated even  where  it  did  not  convince.  Personally,  Mr. 
Rattray  was  one  of  the  most  loveable  of  men  and  though, 
owing  to  a  somewhat  retiring  disposition,  his  circle  of  intim- 
ate friends  was  not  wide,  there  were  many  who,  having  but 
a  slight  and  passing  acquaintance  with  him,  felt  a  pang  of 
sincere  sorrow  at  his  untimely  death.  He  died  at  Toronto 
on  the  26th  of  September,  1883,  after  an  illness,  the  long 
and  insiduous  approaches  of  which  had  considerably  im- 
paired his  customary  mental  force.  The  readers  of  the 
"  Scot  in  British  North  America  "  can  best  realize  how 
great  a  loss  Canadian  literature  has  sustained. 

December  13th  1883. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


Vol.  IV.  PAGE. 

Preface  iii 

PART  v.-    THE  SCOT  IN  THE  NORTH-WEST. 

CHAP.  I.          The  Country  and  its  early  History     931 

CHAP.  II.        British    Fur-hunting,   and    Settle- 
ment   ...     950 

CHAP.  III.      The    Rival    Companies    and    Lord 

Selkirk 965 

CHAP.  IV.      The  Company  and  Colonization 1014 

CHAP.  V.        The  Canadian  Pacific  Railway 1060 

CHAP.  VI.      The  Influx  of  Settlement 1081 

CHAP.  VII     British  Columbia 1101 

CHAP.  VIII.  Journalism  and  Literature 1122 

CHAP.  IX.      Addenda...  .1157 


The  following  are  some  of  the  works  consulted  in  the 
preperation  of  this  volume  :  Parkman's  The  Old  Regime  in 
Canada  ;  Parkman's  Frontenac  ;  Garneau's  History  of  Can- 
ada ;  Sir  Alexander  Mackenzie's  General  History  of  the  Fur 
Trade  ;  Le  Moine's  Maple  Leaves  ;  Ballantyne's  Hudson 
Bay  ;  Alex.  Ross's  The  Red  River  Settlement  ;  Hargrave's 
Red  River  ;  Hamilton's  The  Prairie  Province  ;  Morgan's 
Celebrated  Canadians  ;  Macdonell's  Narrative  of  Transac- 
tions in  the  Red  River  Country  ;  Statement  respecting  the 
Earl  of  Selkirk's  Settlement  ;  Murray's  British  America ; 
Alex.  Rattray's  Vancouver  Island  and  British  Columbia; 
Sir  George  Simpson's  Overland  Journey  round  the  World; 
Withrow's  Popular  History  of  Canada  ;  Begg's  History 
of  the  Red  River  Rebellion  ;  Begg's  Creation  of  Manitoba ; 
The  Clerical  Guide  and  Churchman's  Directory  ;  Ma- 
coun's  Manitoba  and  the  Great  North- West ;  Bryce's 
Manitoba.  Its  Infancy,  Growth,  and  Present  Condition; 
Grant's  Ocean  to  Ocean  ;  Macfie's  Vancouver  Island  and 
British  Columbia  ;  Dent's  Canadian  Portrait  Gallery  ;  Mac- 
donald's  British  Columbia  ;  A  Guide  to  British  Columbia ; 
John  Gait's  Autobiography;  The  Canadian  Parliamentary 
Companion  from  1872  to  1883  ;  Chambers'  Encyclopedia ; 
Reports  of  the  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Rail- 
way ;  &c.  Owing  to  Mr.  Rattray's  death  it  is  impossible  to 
supply  a  complete  list  of  the  books  consulted,  or  to  give 
more  than  a  general  acknowledgement  of  the  many  favours 
received  from  the  friends  who  have  rendered  valuable 
assistance  in  obtaining  information. 


PART  T. 

THE  SCOT  IN  THE  NORTH-WEST. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE   COUNTRY  AND  ITS   EARLY   HISTORY. 

TRETOHING  from  ocean  to  ocean,  with  "  cold  and  piti- 
less" Labrador  at  the  eastern  extremity,  and  Vancouver 
Island  for  its  western  outpost,  lies  a  broad  belt  of  land, 
bounded  on  the  south  by  Quebec,  Ontario  and  the  United 
States,  but  unlimited  northward,  save  by  the  icy  ramparts 
which  encompass  the  Polar  Sea.  All  this  vast  expanse  is 
British  territory  and  forms  part  and  parcel  of  the  Dominion 
of  Canada.  Of  the  eastern  portion  little  will  require  to  be 
said,  except  in  so  far  as  the  Hudson  Bay  Company's 
trading  operations  may  invite  notice.  It  is  almost  uni- 
formly bleak  and  barren,  whatever  may  be  its  mineral 
value,  and  is  historically  interesting  only  because  it  has 
afforded  scope  for  the  adventurous  trapper  and  huntsman. 
It  is  with  the  North- West  that  we  have  now  chiefly  to 
do,  including  in  that  term  all  that  region  lying  from  James 
Bay  to  the  Pacific.  It  will  be  found  that,  as  a  field  for  ex- 
ploration, trade  and  settlement,  this  broad -domain  has  claims 
upon  the  consideration  of  Britons  of  which  the  vast  majority 


932          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

of  them  have  only  the  feeblest  conception.  The  literature 
accumulated  upon  the  subject  is  voluminous  enough  cer- 
tainly ;  and  yet  it  is  not  too  much  to  affirm  that  the  surpass- 
ing value  and  importance  of  this  noble  possession  of  the 
Crown  are  far  from  being  appreciated  not  only  in  Europe, 
but  even  in  the  older  Provinces  of  the  Dominion.  To  under- 
value what  is  but  partially  and  imperfectly  known,  especially 
if  it  be  distant  or  demand  energy  and  self-denial  to  secure, 
has  been  a  characteristic  of  many  nations  otherwise  suffi- 
ciently diverse  in  their  tempers  and  tendencies.  It  is,  so  to 
speak,  the  wisdom  of  ignorance,  quickened  into  contempt 
by  the  languid  energy  of  indolence  and  satiety.  The  cynical 
Frenchman  who  consoled  Louis  XV.  for  the  loss  of  New  France 
by  the  sneer  at  those  "  few  arpents  of  snow,"  represented  a 
large  class  not  yet  extinct.  There  are  not  a  few  men  now 
who  are  not  much  better  than  he,  the  only  difference  being 
that  they  laugh  at  his  ignorance,  and  at  the  same  time  re- 
peat it  along  with  the  sneer,  when  they  speak  of  the  Sas- 
katchewan Valley.  The  "  arpents  "  are  not  few,  farther  west 
than  the  courtier  dreamed  of,  but  they  are  only  "  arpents  of 
snow  "  after  all. 

It  was  Lord  Salisbury,  if  we  mistake  not,  who  uttered 
some  pungent  remarks  concerning  the  right  and  wrong  use 
of  maps  a  few  years  ago.  There  is  need  of  a  similar  cau- 
tion otherwhere  than  in  Eastern  concerns.  To  some  men 
it  would  appear  to  be  not  merely  inexplicable,  but  prepos- 
terous, that  the  climate  and  fruitfulness  of  a  continent, 
throughout  its  entire  breadth  should  depend  upon  anything 
except  the  parallels  of  latitude.  They  are  astonished,  if  not 
incredulous,  when  told  that  the  isothermal  line  which  passes 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.  033 

below  the  city  of  Quebec  reaches  the  Pacific  Ocean  at  almost 
the  sixtieth  degree  of  north  latitude,  and  therefore,  that  all 
their  preconceptions  regarding  the  North-West  are  far  astray. 
In  European  countries,  especially  in  the  British  Isles,  there 
is  no  room  for  tracing  these  broad  climatic  laws.  It  seems 
startling,  therefore,  to  be  told  that  in  and  about  the  Pro- 
vince of  Manitoba,  seven  hundred  miles  north  of  Toronto,  as 
fine,  if  not  finer,  wheat  is  grown  than  in  any  part  of  the  rich 
peninsula  of  Ontario ;  and  further,  that  this  fertile  breadth 
of  one  hundred  miles,  hemmed  in  between  the  northern 
lakes  and  the  boundary  line,  expands,  like  the  cornucopia, 
as  it  stretches  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  until  it  measures 
three  or  four  hundred  miles.  Even  north  of  that  fertile  belt, 
about  far-distant  Hudson  Bay,  "  houses  "  and  "  factories," 
cereals  are  cultivated  regularly  and  with  assured  success. 
Another  point  deserves  notice.  It  is  .constantly  urged  by 
the  pessimists  that,  whatever  the  natural  advantages  of  the 
North- West  may  be,  it  can  never  compete  with  the  Ameri- 
can line  of  overland  travel,  either  for  traffic  or  permanent 
settlement.  Now,  in  the  first  place,  there  is  the  superiority 
of  the  country  itself  to  be  taken  into  account.  The  Ameri- 
can Desert  is  almost  entirely  south  of  the  boundary  line ; 
in  fact  it  only  impinges  slightly  upon  British  territory  and 
need  not  be  taken  into  account.  There  is  no  salt  solitude 
on  the  banks  of  the  Assiniboine,  the  Saskatchewan,  or  any 
of  the  other  generous  streams  which  water  our  central  Ame- 
rica. Broad  prairie,  navigable  waters — lake  and  river — and 
what  our  neighbours  lack,  coal  almost  the  entire  way  from 
Manitoba  to  Victoria.  The  mineral  wealth  of  the  North- 
West  has  only  been  vaguely  guessed  at ;  but  it  is  known 


934          THE  SCOT  1*1  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

that  not  only  in  the  "  fertile  belt,"  but  far  north,  upon  the 
Mackenzie  River,  even  beyond  the  Arctic  Circle,  gold,  iron, 
copper,  lead,  and  coal  have  been  found  in  exhaustless  abun- 
dance. There  is  another  advantage  in  the  climate,  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  the  extremes  of  heat  and  cold  exceed 
those  of  the  older  Provinces,  though  not  those  of  Minnesota. 
The  atmosphere  is  dry,  and  the  temperature  in  any  given 
season  more  equable  than  in  other  parts  of  the  Dominion. 
The  snow-fall  is  less  heavy,  and  there  is  not  usually  that 
distressing  interchange  of  frost  and  thaw,  ice  and  slush, 
which  are  so  trying  elsewhere.  Those  who  have  passed  the 
winter  in  the  west  as  well  as  the  east,  express  their  decided 
preference  for  the  climate  of  the  former.  So  lightly  does 
the  icy  finger  of  the  north  press  upon  the  fertile  country 
that  horses  and  cattle  are  often  pastured  all  the  winter  upon 
the  long  grass  on  the  prairie,  without  shelter  and  yet  with- 
out risk.  The  facilities  for  the  construction  of  a  transcon- 
tinental railway  are  as  much  in  our  favour  as  the  fertility 
and  well- watered  character  of  the  land.  Most  of  the  country 
is  comparatively  level,  or,  at  worst,  rolling  prairie,  and  the 
engineering  difficulties  are  few,  until  the  Rock}"  Mountains 
are  reached.  Even  there,  the  passes  are  at  a  lower  elevation, 
the  snows  less  threatening,  and  the  work  •  necessarily  less 
expensive.  Add  to  this,  that%  through  this  rich  and  fertile 
region,  lies  the  shortest  route  from  Europe  to  China  and 
Japan,  and  the  reader  may  form  some  conception  of  the 
glorious  future  in  store  for  the  Canadian  North- West. 

The  pioneers  in  discovery  here  were,  of  course,  the  French 
of  Old  Canada ;  but  it  is  to  Scotsmen  especially,  that  the 
world  owes  the  complete  exploration  of  the  territory,  and 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.          9?  5 

the  first  efforts  put  forth  for  its  settlement  and  civilization 
under  the  British  regime.  The  successors  of  Champlain, 
La  Salle,  Marquette,  Joliet,  and  De  La  Ve'rendrye — the  first 
white  man  to  lift  his  eyes  upon  the  snow-tipped  summits 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains — were  almost  all  of  them  Scots. 
Some  indications  of  Scottish  energy  are  embalmed  in  the 
maps  and  charts  of  the  country ;  yet  they  inadequately 
represent  the  courage  and  enterprise  displayed  in  the  early 
days  by  those  avant-couriers  of  trade  and  exploration.  The 
river  nomenclature  is  usually  supposed  to  afford  the  best 
indication  of  the  race  earliest  at  work  in  any  country; 
and,  if  that  be  taken  as  a  mark  of  Scotch  priority,  the  evi- 
dence is  conclusive.  The  Mackenzie  River — longer  than 
the  St.  Lawrence,  including  its  great  chain  of  lakes — traced 
by  him  whose  name  it  bears  to  the  delta  through  which  it 
struggles,  by  various  mouths,  into  the  frozen  sea,  the  Fraser 
River  of  British  Columbia,  the  Simpson  and  the  Finlay — 
all  afford  silent  testimony  to  the  indomitable  courage  and 
enterprise  of  the  North  Briton.  Whatever  future — and  it 
must  needs  be  a  glorious  one — awaits  this  noble  British 
domain,  in  the  past  certainly,  all  the  rough,  and  much  that 
proved  thankless,  work  was  accomplished  by  the  stout  arm, 
the  strong  will,  and  the  hard  head  of  the  Scot.  Multitudes 
of  diverse  nationalities  will  pour  upon  those  fertile  plains, 
and  enjoy  the  fruits  of  the  Scotsman's  labours,  without 
thinking  of  their  benefactor ;  still,  to  the  eye  of  the  histo- 
rian, or  even  the  grateful  patriot,  in  centuries  to  come,  the 
trials  and  struggles  of  the  past  will  assume  their  fair  pro- 
portions in  any  panorama  of  this  greater  Scotland  in  the 
North  American  continent. 


036          TUB  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

During  the  French  period  which  the  graphic  pen  of  Mr 
Parkman,  for  the  first  time,  introduced  to  the  notice  of  the 
English  reader — the  fur  trade  was  the  be-all  and  the  end-all 
of  colonization.  It  was  the  pursuit  of  skins  and  peltries  of 
all  sorts  that  more  tha"n  anything  else,  fomented  the  natural 
antagonism  between  French  and  English  colonies,  aggra- 
vated the  horrors  of  Indian  tribal  warfare,  and  eventually 
brought  about — first,  the  death-struggle  between  the  powers 
in  the  North,  and,  secondly,  by  necessary  sequence,  though 
indirectly,  the  American  Revolution.*  The  great  aim  of  the 
Colonial  Governors,  both  English  and  French,  was  to  detach 
the  Indian  tribes  from  alliance  with  their  national  rivals. 
When  the  French  were  not  fighting  the  Iroquois  of  the  Brit- 
ish colonies,  they  were  intriguing  with  them,  though  for  the 
most  part  unsuccessfully.  The  English,  on  the  other  hand, 
strove  to  destroy  the  French  trade  by  seducing  or  crushing 
the  Hurons  and  Ottawas,  who  not  only  served  the  masters  of 
New  France,  but  commanded  their  communications  with 
the  North- West,  both  by  the  Ottawa  and  the  Upper  Lakes, 
and  at  Michillimackinac  (now  Mackinaw),  the  junction  of 
Lakes  Huron  and  Michigan,  by  the  frontier  route.  It  was 
the  settled  policy  of  the  French  rulers  to  hem  in  the  British 
colonies  by  Gallic  settlements  on  all  sides,  and  if  they  could 
not  drive  them  off  the  continent,  at  least  to  concede  only  a 
strip  of  territory,  upon  the  Atlantic.  It  was  with  this 

•  "We  come  now  to  a  trade  far  more  important  than  all  the  rest  together,  one  which 
absorbed  thp  enterprise  of  the  colony,  drained  the  life  sap  from  other  branches  of  com- 
merce, at  d,  even  more  than  a  vicious  system  of  government,  kept  them  in  a  state  of  chronic 
debility— the  hardy,  adventurous,  lawless,  fascinating  fur- trade.  In  the  eighteenth  century 
Canada  exported  a  moderate  quantity  of  timber,  wheat,  the  herb  called  ginseng,  and  a  few 
other  commodities ;  but  from  first  to  last  she  lived  chiefly  on  beaver-skins.  The  government 
tried  without  ceasing  to  control  and  regulate  this  traffic;  but  it  never  succeeded.  Park- 
man :  The  Old  Regime  in  Canada,  p.  303. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.          937 

object  that  the  heroic  La  Salle,  Father  Marquette  and  other 
daring  explorers,  wandered  far  west  and  north  and  south. 
Fort  du  Quesne  on  the  Ohio,  memorable  as  the  scene  of 
Braddock's  defeat,  was  only  one  of  the  cordon  of  strongholds 
designed  to  strangle  British  North  American  colonization  in 
its  infancy.  The  claim  set  up  by  Frontenac,  Denonville  and 
other  French  viceroys  to  both  shores  of  the  great  lakes,  and 
all  the  territory  watered  by  streams  flowing  into  them,  was 
prompted  by  no  mere  lust  of  national  aggrandizement  in  the 
way  of  land,  but  by  a  settled  determination  to  secure  and 
maintain  possession  of  the  great  water  highways  of  the 
continent. 

All  those  historical  episodes,  which  give  so  romantic  a 
tinge  and  shed  so  sombre  an  interest  over  the  chronicles  of 
of  New  France — the  surprises,  the  heroisms,  the  patience, 
the  endurance  and  the  sufferings  of  soldier,  priest,  religieuse 
and  habitan — were  occasioned  by  the  Indian  intrigues  and 
counter-intrigues  in  the  great  struggle  for  the  mastery  in 
trade  competition.  The  mother  countries  might  be  at  peace, 
and  yet  covert,  and  often  open,  war  was  waged  between  the 
colonies.  Even  during  the  later  Stuart  epoch,  when  the 
honour  and  fortunes  of  England  were  at  the  lowest  ebb,  the 
royal  pensioners  of  France  who  sat  on  the  throne  could  not 
restrain  the  impetuosity  of  the  Virginia,  New  York,  and 
New  England  colonists.  The  struggle  between  Denonville 
and  Gov.  Dongan  of  New  York  may  serve  to  illustrate  the 
internecine  conflict  which  never  ceased  until  the  red  crass 
of  St.  George  floated  over  the  castle  of  St.  Louis.  The  Mar- 
quis de  Denonville,  with  his  predecessor  the  irascible  De  la 
Barre,  filled  up  the  space  between  the  two  vice-royalties  of 


988          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Frontenac.  His  term  almost  exactly  coincided  with  the 
reign  of  James  II.  in  England.  He  appears  to  have  been  a 
pious,  well-meaning  ruler,  not  without  considerable  abilities 
and  certainly  with  strong  patriotic  feelings.  Colonel  Thomas 
Dongan,  an  Irishman  and  nephew  of  the  redoutable  Earl  of 
Tyrconnel,  was  a  Catholic,  and  yet  no  friend  either  to  the 
Jesuits  or  the  French.  He  had  been  strictly  enjoined,  both 
by  Charles  and  James,  to  concede  every  French  demand,  to 
give  no  countenance  to  the  Iroquois  or  any  Indian  tribe 
hostile  to  the  French ;  and  yet,  either  from  choice  or  neces- 
sity, he  violated  his  instructions  in  every  particular.  The 
Dutch  and  English  settlers  were  determined  to  assert  their 
claims  to  a  share  in  the  lucrative  fur-trade  in  the  North- 
West.  As  this  traffic  could  not  be  carried  on  without  con- 
tracting Indian  alliances,  of  which  the  French  were  naturally 
jealous,  conflict  was  inevitable  under  any  circumstances. 
The  Iroquois  were  not  merely  friends  of  both  races,  but  even 
aspired  to  hold  the  balance  of  power  between  them.  Don- 
gan was,  perhaps  unjustly,  accused  of  having  incited  the 
Five  (or  Six)  Nation  Indians  to  war ;  unhappily,  as  the 
whole  history  shows,  they  stood  in  no  need  of  prompting. 
The  scalping-knife  was  always  ready  whetted ;  it  was  only 
to  sing  the  war-dance,  brandish  the  tomahawk,  and  away  to 
the  harvest  of  death.  The  French  had  an  astute  agent  in 
the  Jesuit  Lamberville,  but  they  made  little  progress  south  of 
the  Lakes.  The  chief,  "  Big  Mouth,"  as  represented  in  Park- 
man's  graphic  narrative,*  was  wily  enough  to  palter  with 
the  bluff  La  Barre,  and,  in  spite  of  his  plausible  and  almost 
eloquent  harangues,  little  satisfaction  was  obtained  by  the 

*  t'arkman  :  Frontenac,  p.  109. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.          \)W 

French.  The  old  soldier  failed  and  was  succeeded  by  Den- 
onville,  who,  according  to  Saint  Vallicr,  always  had  the 
Psalms  of  David  in  his  hands.  The  Church,  no  less  than 
the  State,  hoped  much  from  his  piety  and  administrative 
skill.  He  was  a  soldier  of  long  service,  but  he  had  to  face  a 
difficult  and  trying  crisis  with  an  empty  exchequer  and  a 
mere  handful  of  troops.  The  people  of  New  France  were 
numerically  inferior  to  those  of  New  England  and  New 
York ;  the  flower  of  their  youth  were  scouring  the  woods, 
huckstering  with  the  Indians  and  worse ;  and  above  all 
there  was  a  government  which  was  despotic  without  effec- 
tive power,  strong  where  it  might  have  been  mild,  and  weak 
where  it  ought  to  have  been  strong.  And  yet  the  task  was 
laid  upon  Denonville  to  decide  in  France's  favour  the  deadly 
struggle  between  the  French  and  English  colonies.* 

Denonville  was  not  disposed  to  resort  to  any  means  which 
his  religious  spirit  did  not  sanction.  He  was  a  firm  ally 
of  the  clergy  in  their  inflexible  hostility  to  the  traffic  in 
brandy  with  the  Indians;  but  he  could  also  use  religion  as  a 
political  engine,  when  French  emissaries  were  needed  on 
British  territory.  He  appeals  rather  too  fervently  to  Don- 
gan,  as  a  man  "penetrated  with  the  glory  of  that  name 
which  makes  Hell  tremble,  and  at  the  mention  of  which  all 
the  powers  of  Heaven  fall  prostrate,"  to  "  come  to  under- 
standing to  sustain  our  missionaries  by  keeping  those  fierce 

*  "  The  Senecas,  insolent  and  defiant,  were  still  attacking  the  Illinois  ;  the  tribes  of  the 
North-West  were  angry,  contemptuous  and  disaffected  ;  the  English  of  New  York  were 
urging  claims  to  the  whole  country  south  of  the  great  lakes,  ami  to  a  controlling  share  in 
all  the  western  fur  trade  ;  while  the  English  of  Hudson  Bay  were  competing  for  the  traffic 
of  the  northern  tribes,  and  the  English  of  New  England  were  seizing  upon  the  fisheries  of 
Acadia,  and  now  and  then  making  practical  descents  upon  its  coast.  The  great  question 
lay  between  New  York  and  Canada.  Which  of  these  two  should  gain  mastery  in  the  west.— 
Frontenac,  p.  117. 


<940          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

tribes  in  respect  and  fear."  But  although  Col.  Dongan  was 
a  Catholic,  he  was  too  crafty  a  bird  to  be  caught  in  the  net 
spread  in  his  sight.  He  knew  full  well  what  the  Jesuits, 
Lamberville,  Engelran,  and  their  associates  were  about 
amongst  the  Iroquois,  the  Hurons  and  Ottawas;  and  he 
knew  his  duty  as  an  English  governor.  He  boldly  entered 
the  lists  against  the  French  schemes.  "  If  his  policy  should 
prevail,"  writes  Parkman,  "  New  France  would  dwindle  to  a 
feeble  Province  on  the  St.  Lawrence  ;  if  the  French  policy 
should  prevail,  the  English  colonies  would  remain  a  narrow 
strip  along  the  sea."*  The  "  diplomatic  duel "  which  ensued 
between  the  two  rulers,  is  diverting  at  all  events,  if  not 
edifying.  The  earnest  appeals  of  Denonville,  the  rough-and- 
ready  coarseness  of  retort  used  by  the  Irishman,  together, 
give  spice  to  an  altogether  futile  correspondence.  Denon- 
ville complains  that  Dongan  had  promised  to  leave  every- 
thing in  dispute  to  decision  by  the  kings  at  home,  and  yet 
had  disregarded  the  orders  of  his  master.  So,  he  had  no 
doubt,  but,  with  the  mental  reservation,  that  he  should  only 
obey  instructions  of  which  he  approved.  The  Frenchman 
scolds  his  neighbour  for  permitting  the  sale  of  New  England 
rum  to  the  Aborigines.  "  Think  you,"  he  writes,  "  that 
religion  will  make  any  progress,  while  your  traders  supply 
the  savages  in  abundance  with  the  liquor  which,  as  you 
ought  to  know,  converts  them  into  demons,  and  their  lodges 
into  counterparts  of  Hell  ?  "  "  Certainly,"  replies  Dongan, 
"  our  rum  doth  as  little  hurt  as  your  brandy,  and,  in  the  opi- 
nion of  Christians  is  much  more  wholesome."-f-  The  New 
York  Governor  scouted  the  idea  that  "  a  few  loose  fellows 

Ibid,,  p.  119.        t  Ibid.,  pp.  127, 128. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.          ffl 

rambling  amongst  Indians  to  keep  themselves  from  starv- 
ing gave  the  French  a  right  to  the  North-West."  As  for 
the  plea  drawn  from  the  French  Jesuit  missionary,  he  sneer- 
ingly  remarks  "  The  King  of  China  never  goes  anywhere 
without  two  Jesuits  with  him.  I  wonder  you  make  not  the 
like  pretence  to  that  kingdome."*  In  short,  Dongan  utterly 
repudiated  the  French  claims  either  to  territorial  ownership 
or  the  exclusive  right  to  trade. 

This  brief  glimpse  of  the  relations  between  the  colonies 
touching  the  fur  trade  and  the  Indian  tribes,  may  serve  to 
illustrate  the  deadly  conflict  which  was  almost  unintermit- 
tently  waged  between  the  two  nationalities.  It  remains  to 
give  a  slight  glance  at  French  progress  in  the  North- West. 
In  the  peltry  traffic,  as  elsewhere,  the  Royal  authorities, 
the  King,  his  Minister,  the  Governor  and  the  Intendant, 
attempted  to  inspect  everything  with  their  administrative 
microscope  and  manage  everything  with  their  official 
tweezers.  The  Bourbon  system  was,  above  all  things, 
paternal — the  exact  antipodes  of  any  government  a  Scot  or 
an  Englishman  could  either  frame  or  endure.  Colbert,  the 
great  minister  of  Louis  XIV.,  wrote  to  the  ablest  and  best 
of  the  Quebec  Intendants,  in  1666,  after  assuring  him  that 
the  King  regards  all  his  Canadian  subjects  as  his  own  chil- 
dren, desires  the  Sieur  Talon  "  to  solace  them  in  all  things, 
and  encourage  them  to  trade  and  industry."  To  this  end  he 
was  instructed  to  "  visit  all  their  settlements,  one  after  the 
other,  in  order  to  learn  their  true  condition,  provide  as  much 
as  possible  for  their  wants,  and,  performing  the  duty  of  a 
good  head  of  a  ffimily,  put  them  in  the  way  of  making  some 

Ibid.,  p.  101. 


942          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

profit."*  How  this  unwieldy  system  was  manipulated  from 
Paris  may  be  seen  in  the  three  volumes  of  the  Royal  Edicts 
and  Ordinances  reprinted  in  Canada^  by  the  Provincial  Gov- 
ernment in  1854.  A  glance  at  the  indexes  at  the  end  of 
the  third  volume  will,  of  itself,  give  some  idea  of  the  minute 
care  exercised  over  the  mint,  anise  and  cummin  of  Canada, 
while  the  weightier  matters  of  the  law  were  being  dealt 
with  as  avarice  or  love  of  adventure  might  suggest  on  the 
"  few  arpents  of  snow  "  lining  the  St.  Lawrence.  It  will  be 
be  found  that  whilst  all  sorts  of  petty  arrangements  were 
solemnly  made  in  Paris  to  bind  Canadians,  not  merely  such 
as  we  are  accustomed  to  consider  within  the  purview  of 
government,  but  matters  commercial  and  purely  personal  of 
the  most  trivial  character,  the  inherent  weakness  of  this 
scheme  of  centralized  despotism  would  early  have  manifested 
itself  in  any  case,  but  it  became  clearly  apparent  the  moment 
free  Anglo-Saxon  energy  became  a  competitor  in  the  race. 
The  fur-trade  was,  of  course,  taken,  so  far  as  possible,  under 
the  fatherly  care  of  the  rulers  at  Paris,  Quebec,  and  Mon- 
treal, but  to  begin  with,  their  hands  were  not  clean.  Syste- 
matic jobbery  pervaded  the  entire  governmental  system.  The 
taxes  were  farmed  to  the  highest  bidders,  and  of  the  small 
portion  which  passed  nominally  into  the  coffers  of  the  State, 
far  too  much  stuck  to  the  fingers  of  the  Governors,  Inten- 
dants,  and  those  creatures  to  whom  New  France  was  simply 
a  place  of  exile,  where  rapid  fortunes  were  to  be  made  by 
the  greedy  and  unscrupulous.  The  mother  country  was 
early  depleted  of  men  and  treasure  by  its  vast  and  expensive 

*  Park  man  :  Old  Regime,  p.  209. 

t  Edits,  Ordonnanceg  Royaux,  Declarations  et  Arrittdu.  Conseil  d-Etatdu  Roi,  cancer- 
iiant  le  Canada.    Quebec,  1854. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.          943 

wars,  and  as  the  Canadian  officials  were  poorly  paid  and 
supported,  they  were  compelled  to  make  a  competence,  and 
often  a  bare  livelihood  by  engaging  in  trade,  and  not  seldom 
by  barefaced  extortion,  peculation  and  fraud.  Whilst  the 
minister  at  Paris  and  his  master  were  framing  edicts  against 
profane  swearing,  deciding  where  the  officials  should  sit  at 
church,  how  many  horses  a  farmer  should  keep,  and  how 
large  a  house  he  might  build,  &c.,  the  men  high  in  place 
were  plundering  all  alike  with  admirable  impartiality.  Bigot, 
the  last  and  far  the  most  infamous  of  the  Intendants,  al- 
though he  robbed  right  and  left,  was  so  solicitous  about  the 
morals  of  the  people  that  he  forbade  those  residing  in  the 
country  to  remove  into  Quebec,  lest  they  should  be  cor- 
rupted by  city  life.*  The  paralyzing  hand  of  absolutism 
was  everywhere,  meddling  even  with  the  bread  a  man  ate 
and  the  texture  of  his  coat ;  and,  as  for  freedom  of  speech, 
Intendant  Meules  accurately  expressed  the  prevailing  view 
when  he  said  :  "  It  is  of  great  consequence  that  the  people 
should  not  be  left  at  liberty  to  speak  their  minds."-f* 

So  far  as  trade  was  concerned,  the  French  policy  may  be 
summed  up  in  one  word — monopoly.  Early  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  Cardinal  Richelieu  chartered  "  The  Company  of  the 
Hundred  Associates,"  ceding  to  them  all  French  North  Ame- 
rica on  the  usual  terms  of  feudality.  After  being  about 
thirty  years  in  active  operation,  the  Associates,  who  had 
dwindled  down  to  forty-five,  surrendered  their  charter  in 
1663.  This  Company  possessed  governmental  and  even 
royal  powers,  but,  when  it  disappeared,  a  regular  system  of 

*  Old  Rfgime,  p  279. 

t  For  a  general  view  of  the  Civil  and  Ecclesiastical   Government  of  Canada  see  Bell's 
Garncau  :  Hittory  of  Canada,  B.  III.  Chaps  III.  and  IV. 


944          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

administration  was  established.  In  1664  the  monopoly  of 
trade  was  given  to  the  West  India  Company  for  a  period  of 
fifty  years,  and  at  about  the  same  time  the  feudal  system 
was  regularly  and  definitely  introduced.  M.  Talon,  the  first 
and  best  of  the  Intendants,  under  the  new  colonial  system, 
amongst  other  wise  and  beneficent  measures,  urged  and 
obtained  a  relaxation  of  trade  from  Colbert,  by  which  the 
people  were  allowed  to  import  their  own  goods,  and  buy 
furs  and  peltries  from  the  Indians,  subject  to  a  royalty  pay- 
able to  the  all-devouring  Company.  The  traffic  in  furs 
was,  however,  from  the  first,  almost  beyond  the  control 
both  of  the  government  and  the  monopolists.  It  was,  in 
lact,  the  only  safety-valve  for  the  pent-up  energy,  enter- 
prise and  spirit  of  adventure,  which  lay  within  the  breasts- 
of  the  Canadian  Youth.  Companies  and  farmers  of  taxes 
might  mulct  the  owners  of  beaver-skins,  at  Montreal,  Three 
Rivers  or  Quebec,  but  they  had  little  or  no  control  over  the 
Indians  who  trapped  the  fur-bearing  animals,  or  the  middle- 
men who  traded  both  with  the  aborigines  and  with  the 
merchants  of  New  France. 

The  Coureurs  des  Bois  or  Wood-coursers,  as  the  middle- 
men came  to  be  called,  soon  formed  a  distinct  class  of  the 
Canadian  population.  As  the  discoverer  of  the  Mackenzie 
River  says,  they  were  "a  kind  of  pedlars,  and  were  ex- 
tremely useful  to  the  merchants  engaged  in  the  fur- trade, 
who  gave  them  the  necessary  credit  to  proceed  in  their  com- 
mercial undertakings.  Three  or  four  of  these  people  would 
join  their  stock,  put  their  property  into  a  birch-bark  canoe, 
which  they  worked  themselves,  and  either  accompanied  the 
natives  in  their  excursions,  or  went  at  once  to  the  country 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.          945 

where  they  knew  they  were  to  hunt.  At  length  these 
voyages  extended  to  twelve  or  fifteen  months,  when  they 
returned  with  rich  cargoes  of  furs,  and  followed  by  great 
numbers  of  the  natives.  During  the  short  time  requisite  to 
settle  their  accounts  with  the  merchants,  and  procure  fresh 
credit,  they  generally  contrived  to  squander  away  all  their 
gains,  when  they  returned  to  renew  their  favourite  mode 
of  life,  their  views  being  answered,  and  their  labour  suffi- 
ciently rewarded,  by  indulging  themselves  in  extravagance 
and  dissipation  during  the  short  space  of  one  month  in 
twelve  or  fifteen."*  There  was  much  to  attract  the  roman- 
tic spirits  of  New  France  in  this  novel  and  adventurous  life 
and  if  they  had  been  amenable  to  the  control  of  the  Gov- 
ernment and  the  Church,  their  hardiness  and  power  of 
endurance  might  have  made  the  Coureurs  of  use  to  their 
country  in  its  conflicts  with  any  enemy,  red  or  white.  Un- 
happily, instead  of  proving  a  source  of  strength  to  the 
colony,  this  class  became  a  running  ulcer  through  which 
all  the  vigour  and  vitality  of  Canada  ebbed  gradually  away. 
The  monopolists  were  the  first  to  take  the  alarm,  though 
not  at  all  on  moral  or  political  grounds.  The  interlopers 
were  lessening  the  profits  of  the  West  India  Company,  and 
although  under  Colbert's  regulations,  the  whole  population 
became  more  or  less  interested  in  the  fur-trade,  they  had 
organized  power  at  their  command.  The  consequence  was 
an  unsuccessful  effort  "  to  bring  the  trade  to  the  colonists,  to 
prevent  them  going  to  the  Indians,  and  induce  the  Indians 
to  come  to  them.  To  this  end  a  great  annual  fair  was 

*  Sir  Alex.  Mackenzie's  General  history  of  the  Fur  Trade  from  Canada  to  the  North- 
West  prefixed  to  his  Voyages  to  the  Frozen  and  Pacific  Oceans  in  the  Years  1789  and  1793. 
London,  1801. 


946          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

established,  by  order  of  the  king,  at  Montreal."*  Another 
fair  was  afterwards  established  near  Three  Rivers ;  but 
neither  of  them  served  the  purpose.  The  people  were  too 
wary  to  submit  to  the  paternal  scheme,  and  they  soon 
learned  to  form  settlements  further  west  and  north,  to 
intercept  the  Indians,  and  negotiate  with  them  as  they 
pleased.  It  was  now,  through  the  coureurs  and  squatters, 
that  brandy  was  introduced  to  facilitate  trade  with  the  red 
men,  and  the  fearful  train  of  evils  which  followed,  against 
which  the  Church  uniformly  protested  in  no  uncertain  terms 
At  last,  although  the  curse  of  the  traffic  was  sufficiently 
apparent,  the  New  England  rum  was  made  the  excuse  for 
the  sale  of  French  brandy  and  vice  versa. 

Gradually  the  attractive  life  of  the  Coureurs  den  Bois 
absorbed  all  the  best  youth  of  the  country,  and,  in  the  end, 
instead  of  civilizing  the  Indians,  it  seemed  not  improbable 
that  the  French  would  themselves  be  barbarized  by  contact 
and  admixture  with  the  Indians.  Against  the  lawless  ad- 
venturers, the  king  and  his  officers  strained  every  nerve. 
Duchesneau,  Denonville,  and  other  viceroys  complained 
bitterly  of  the  fearful  demoralization  of  the  young  men. 
Instead  of  cultivating  the  soil,  they  permitted  it  to  go  to 
waste  ;  they  would  not  marry  the  fair  Frenchwomen  and  do 
their  part  in  the  building  up  of  the  colony ;  but  preferred 
the  lawless,  sensual  and  degraded  life  of  the  woods  and  the 
wigwam.-f  The  colony  was,  as  nearly  as  possible,  in  the 

*  Old  Rt'yiint,  p.  303.  Mr.  Parkman  gives  a  graphic  account  of  one  of  these  Indian 
gatherings  in  the  passage  directly  following  these  words. 

t  "  Out  of  the  beaver  trade,"  observes  Parkman,  "  rose  a  huge  evil,  baneful  to  the  growth 
and  morals  of  Canada.  All  that  was  most  active  and  vigorous  in  the  colony  took  to  the  woods, 
and  escaped  from  the  control  of  intendants,  councils,  and  priests,  to  the  savage  freedom 
of  the  wilderness.  Not  only  were  the  possible  profits  great ;  but,  in  pursuit  of  them  there 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.          947 

condition  it  would  have  been,  if  all  its  adult  males  had  been 
drafted  away  upon  foreign  service.  Farms,  wives  and  chil- 
dren were  deserted  by  these  adventurers  who  moved  off 
occasionally  in  organized  bands.*  The  government  was  at 
its  wit's  end.  At  times  it  ordered  whipping,  branding,  and 
the  galleys,  to  be  inflicted  upon  all  who  went  to  the  woods 
without  license ;  at  others,  it  tried  coaxing  and  promises, 
and  promised  amnesties.-f-  It  was  all  to  no  purpose,  and 
the  work  of  demoralization  continued  up  to  the  conquest 
by  Great  Britain. 

Meanwhile,  by  the  various  agencies  at  work,  the  area  of 
the  hunting-grounds  was  being  gradually  extended  until  it 
reached  nearly  two  thousand  five  hundred  miles  from  the 
citadel  at  Quebec.  It  may  be  well  to  note"  here  the  names 
of  the  chief  explorers  with  the  dates  of  their  voyages.  To 
the  great  Samuel  Champlain  belongs  the  credit  of  first 
tracing  out  the  Ottawa  and  Lake  Huron  route  to  the  North- 
West.  In  1615,  with  only  four  voyageurs,  and  an  inter- 
preter named  Etienne  Brule*,  he  ascended  the  Ottawa  River, 
visited  Lake  Nipissing,  descended  the  French  River,  em- 
barked upon  the  broad  waters  of  the  Georgian,  and  returned 
by  Matchedash  Bay,  the  Huron  country  and  Lake  Simcoe, 
not  homewards,  but  to  fight  the  Iroquois  with  the  Hurons 

w»8  a  fascinating  element  of  adventure  and  danger.  The  bush  rangers  or  eoureurt  des  bois 
were  to  the  king  an  ohject  of  horror.  They  defeated  his  plans  for  the  increase  of  the  popu- 
lation, and  shocked  his  native  instinct  of  discipline  and  order.  Edict  after  edict  was  di- 
rected against  them  ;  and  more  than  once  the  colony  presented  the  extraordinary  spectacle 
of  the  greater  part  of  its  young  men  turned  into  forest  outlaws.  Old  Rijime,  pp.  309,  310. 

*  "  The  famous  Du  Shut  is  said  to  have  made  a  general  combination  of  the  young  men  of 
Canada  to  follow  him  into  the  woods.  Their  plan  was  to  be  absent  four  yean,  in  order  that 
the  edict*  against  them  might  have  time  to  relent."  Ibid.  p.  310. 

f  One  of  these  "Acts  of  Grace"  will  be  found  in  the  Quebec  edition  of  Editn.Ordennan- 
ces,  &c.(  vol.  ii.  p.  551. 


948          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

and  Algonquins  on  the  Genesee  River.  In  1GG5  Father 
Allonez  explored  the  shores  of  Lake  Superior  and  established 
a  mission  there.  At  Sault  Ste  Marie  the  renowned  Mar- 
quette  formed  a  settlement  in  1668,  and  in  1670  the  Fathers 
Allonez,  Dablon  and  Marquette  had  heard  of  the  Mississippi 
and  were  on  the  high  road  to  the  great  North- West.  In  1671, 
Marquette  established  a  Huron  settlement  at  Michillimack- 
inac  at  the  junction  of  Lakes  Huron  and  Michigan,  and  the 
first  steps  on  the  threshold  of  the  unknown  land  were  tra- 
versed. Dreams  of  a  short  route  to  China  and  India  were 
floating  through  the  minds  of  laymen  like  Joliette  and  La 
Salle  when  they  turned  their  eyes  to  the  west.  The  story 
of  the  intrepid  La  Salle  does  not  fall  within  the  purview  cf 
this  work ;  yet  his  exploration  of  Lake  Erie,  the  building 
of  the  first  vessel  above  Niagara — the  wonderful  description 
of  the  Falls  by  Father  Hennepin,  and  the  fortification  of  the 
line  which  still  constitutes  a  frontier  between  nations,  is 
always  fresh  to  the  reader,  and  may  be  thus  incidentally 
referred  to.  Towards  the  close  of  the  French  regime — in 
Canada,  the  last  of  the  great  French  explorers,  the  Sieur  De 
La  VeVendrye  attempted — now  that  early  fancies  had  been 
dissipated — to  reach  the  Pacific  by  the  overland  route. 
Twelve  years  did  that  patient  and  courageous  adventurer 
spend,  in  company  with  a  brother  and  two  sons,  in  exploring 
the  country  west  of  Lake  Superior.  The  entire  country  to 
the  west,  including  the  vast  extent  of  territory  from  the  Sas- 
katchewan down  to  the  upper  Missouri,  and  the  Yellowstone 
Rivers  were  faithfully  examined,  and  in  1743,  sixty  years 
before  any  British  traveller  came  that  way,  the  Rocky 
Mountains  were  sighted  by  De  la  VeVendrye's  son  and  bro- 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 


949 


ther.  This  was  the  last  expiring  effort  of  French  exploring 
energy,  and  the  scene  opens  upon  British  effort  in  a  region 
which  was  destined  to  be  for  all  time  to  come  an  English- 
speaking  land. 


CHAPTER  II. 

BRITISH  FUR-HUNTING  AND  SETTLEMENT. 

the  second  of  May,  1670,  King  Charles  II.  granted 
a  charter  to  his  "trusty  and  well-beloved  cousin," 
the  renowned  Prince  Rupert,  son  of  the  King's  aunt,  Eliza- 
beth and  Frederick  of  Bohemia,  the  Duke  of  Albermarle, 
Arlington,  Ashley  and  others,  under'  the  name  of  "The 
Governor  and  Company  of  Adventurers  of  England  trad- 
ing in  Hudson  Bay."  This  famous  and  long-lived  corpor- 
ation was  ostensibly  established,  in  the  words  of  the  Char- 
ter, "  for  the  discovery  of  a  new  passage  into  the  South  Sea, 
for  the  finding  some  trade  for  furs,  minerals  and  other  con- 
siderable commodities,"  and  also  for  the  Christianization  of 
the  Indians.  Concerning  the  last  of  these  objects,  perhaps, 
the  less  said  the  better ;  it  was,  however,  a  habit  in  those 
days  to  cover  the  selfishness  of  trading  schemes  with  a  thin 
veneering  of  religion,  and  perhaps  no  one  was  either  de- 
ceived or  sought  to  be  deceived  thereby.  A  large  portion 
of  the  continent  was  certainly  explored  by  the  agents  of  thia 
and  other  companies,  "  but  this  new  passage  to  the  South 
Sea  "  was  not  discovered  by  them.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
fur-trade  proved  lucrative  beyond  the  most  sanguine  expec- 
tations of  these  "  adventurers."  The  charter  had  granted 
them  a  monopoly  of  trade,  with  plenary  powers,  executive 
and  judicial,  in  and  over  all  seas,  straits,  lands,  &c.,  lying 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.  951 

within  the  entrance  of  Hudson's  Straits,  and  the  rivers  en- 
tering them,  "not  already  occupied  by  any  other  English 
subject  or  other  Christian  Power  or  State.  In  return  they 
were  to  yield  and  pay  therefor  two  elks  and  two  black  beav- 
ers, whenever  his  Majesty  or  his  heirs  should  set  foot  in  the 
territory. 

It  is  more  than  probable  that  neither  the  King  nor  the 
Company  had  any  idea  of  the  extent  of  territory  thus  handed 
over  to  the  latter.  The  two  branches  of  the  Saskatchewan 
cover  all  the  fertile  belt  from  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and 
their  waters  reach  Hudson  Bay  by  Lake  Winnipeg  and  the 
Nelson  River.  Towards  the  United  States  the  Assiniboine, 
with  its  tributaries,  the  Qu'Appelle  and  the  Souris  unite  at 
Winnipeg  or  Fort  Garry  with  the  Red  River  which  rises 
far  south  of  the  boundary  line,  and  all  these  waters  flow  also 
into  Lake  Winnipeg.  The  early  operations  of  this  great 
monopoly  were  confined  to  the  vicinity  of  Hudson  Bay  and 
the  pear-shaped  inlet  known  as  James  Bay  which  forms  its 
apex.  The  profits  of  the  fur- trade  were  enormous.  "  Dur- 
ing the  first  twenty  years  of  its  existence,  the  profits  of  the 
Company  were  so  great  that,  notwithstanding  considerable 
losses  sustained  by  the  capture  of  their  establishments  by 
the  French,  amounting  in  value  to  £118,014,  they  were 
enabled  to  make  a  payment  to  the  proprietors,  in  1684,  of 
fifty  per  cent.,  and  a  further  payment  in  1 G89  of  twenty-five 
per  cent.  In  1690,  the  stock  was  trebled  without  any  call 
being  made,  besides  affording  a  payment  to  the  proprietors 
of  twenty-five  per  cent,  on  the  increased  or  newly  created 
stock.  From  1692  to  1697  the  Company  incurred  loss  and 
damage  to  the  amount  of  £97,500  from  the  French.  In  1720 


952          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

their  circumstances  were  so  far  improved  that  they  again 
trebled  their  capital  stock,  with  only  a  call  of  ten  per  cent, 
from  the  proprietors,  on  which  they  paid  dividends  averag- 
ing nine  per  cent,  for  many  years,  showing  profits  on  the 
originally  subscribed  capital  stock  actually  paid  up,  of 
between  sixty  and  seventy  per  cent,  per  annum,  from  the 
year  1G90  to  1800."  * 

Meanwhile  the  authorities  of  New  France  could  hardly 
be  expected  to  look  with  patience  upon  this  invasion  of  their 
domain  from  the  back  door.  Towards  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century  they  were  threatened  by  Britain  and 
her  colonies  on  every  side.  The  New  England  fishermen 
menaced  Acadia  and  the  Gulf ;  the  Dutch  and  English  of 
New  York  disputed  French  supremacy  on  the  great  lakes 
and  the  Ohio  River ;  and  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  was 
gradually,  but  surely  infringing  upon  French  territory  from 
the  north  and  north-west.  It  was  not  unnatural  that  the 
pioneers  and  missionaries  of  New  France  who  had  made  the 
North- West  their  own  by  exploration  should  resent  the 
intrusion  of  the  British  by  sea.  Both  by  the  Ottawa  and 
the  great  lakes  they  had  established  routes  for  trade  and 

travel  into  "  the  great  lone  land."     Moreover,  the  French 

i 
laid  claim  to  all  the  territory  to  the  Arctic  Ocean  as  their 

own,  and  contended  that  it  had  been  granted,  as  a  portion 
of  New  France  to  the  company  of  merchants  in  1603,  to  the 
Company  of  One  Hundred  Associates  or  Partners,  under 
Richelieu,  in  1G27,  and  finally  to  the  West  India  Company 
in  1664.  Their  rulers  argued  that  as  the  King  of  France  had 

*  Eighty  Yean  Progress  in  British  North  America.    By  various  authors :— "  Commerce 
and  Trade,"  by  H.  Y.  Hind,  F.  R.  O.  S.,  p.  279. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.          953 

claimed  this  vast  domain  in  these  several  charters,  there  was 
no  room  for  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  in  1G70,  sseing  that 
Charles  II.  had  estopped  them  from  occupying  "  any  terri- 
tory already  occupied  by  any  other  Christian  Prince  or 
State."  In  addition  to  all  this,  Charles  I.  had  by  the  treaty 
of  St.  Germain-en-Laye,  distinctly  confirmed  the  French 
claim  to  the  Hudson  Bay  Territory  in  1G32 ;  and  many 
years  after,  two  Canadians,  De  Groselliers  and  Radisson, 
made  their  way  thither  to  establish  trade.  Failing  to  enlist 
the  French  court  in  their  enterprise,  these  adventurers 
assisted  the  young  English  company,  which,  towards  the 
close  of  the  century,  possessed  four  forts,  one  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Nelson,  and  three  others,  Forts  Albany,  Hayes  and 
Rupert,  at  the  southern  end  of  the  Bay. 

Denonville,  the  Governor  of  New  France,  whose  piety  and 
patriotism  were  in  wondrous  accord,  resolved,  in  1680,  to 
try  conclusions  with  these  intruders.  The  two  countries 
were  at  peace,  it  is  true,  but  that  was  not  a  consideration  of 
much  weight  in  the  wilds  of  North  America ;  and  besides, 
the  French  rule  was  sorely  tried  by  the  masked  warfare  of 
Dongan  and  his  Iroquois  allies.  Early  in  the  spring  he 
accordingly  despatched  the  Chevalier  de  Troyes  with  four 
or  five  score  of  Canadians,  from  Montreal,  to  strike  a  blow 
at  the  English  trading-posts.  Working  their  way  up  the 
Ottawa,  by  river  and  lake,  they  at  last  arrived  at  Fort  Hayes, 
the  nearest  of  the  English  depots.  "  It  was  a  stockade,  with 
four  bastions,  mounted  with  cannon.  There  was  a  strong 
block  house  within,  in  which  the  sixteen  occupants  of  the 
place  were  lodged,  unsuspicious  of  danger."*  The  surprise 


*  See  Parkinan  :  Frontenac,  pp.  132-135. 


954          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

was  complete,  and  the  inmates  of  the  fort  were  captured  in 
their  shirts.  Fort  Rupert,  forty  leagues  along  the  shore, 
was  also  taken  after  a  slight  resistance,  and  Troyes  then 
turned  his  attention  to  Fort  Albany  on  the  other  side  of 
Fort  Hayes,  at  the  south-west  angle  of  James'  Bay.  Here 
there  was  no  surprise,  for  the  French  doings  at  Fort  Hayes 
were  known  at  th&  mouth  of  the  Albany  River.  Henry 
Sargent  and  his  thirty  men  made  an  attempt  to  defend 
the  place,  but  they  were  attacked  both  from  the  land  and 
water  sides.  The  French  had  ten  captured  pieces  of  ord- 
nance with  them,  and  soon  succeeded  in  making  the  place 
untenable.  Satisfied  with  these  triumphs,  Troyes,  after 
razing  the  forts  to  the  ground,  sent  his  prisoners  home  in  an 
English  vessel,  and  returned  to  Montreal  with  his  booty. 
Of  course  Louis  XIV.  and  Jantes  II.  engaged  in  some  con- 
troversy, and  finally  agreed  to  enjoin  strict  neutrality  upon 
their  colonial  representatives. 

Amongst  those  who  were  engaged  in  the  raid  upon  the 
Hudson  Bay  forts  were  the  two  brothers  Iberville  and  St. 
He*lene,  and  they  were  destined  to  reap  still  further  glory  in 
the  struggle  of  France  for  supremacy.*  Iberville  had  been 
engaged  in  the  conquest  of  Newfoundland  in  16^)7,  when  he 
received  peremptory  orders  from  France,  through  his  brother 
Serigny,  to  attack  the  English  in  Hudson  Bay.  The  two 

*  "No  Canadian,  under  the  French  rule,  stands  in  a  more  conspicuous  or  more  deserved 
eminence  than  Pierre  Le  Moyne  d'lberville.  In  the  seventeenth  century,  most  of  those 
who  acted  a  prominent  part  in  the  colon}'  were  born  in  Old  France  ;  but  Iberville  was  a  true 
-MI  of  tliis  soil.  He  and  his  brother  a,  Longueuil,  Serigny,  Assigny,  Maricourt,  Sainte-Helene, 
the  two  Chilteaugays,  and  the  two  liionvillcs,  were,  one  and  all,  children  worthy  of  their 
father,  Charles  Le  Moyne,  of  Montreal,  and  favourable  types  of  that  nobltsgi,  to  whose  ad- 
venturous hardihood  half  the  continent  bears  witness."  Fronlenac,  p.  388.  See  also  an 
interesting  ace  mnt  of  the  several  members  of  this  illustrious  family  in  Le  Moine:  Maple 
Leaves,  1st  s-crie*,  chap.  viii. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.          955 

brothers  had  captured  Fort  Nelson,  or  Fort  Bourbon  as  they 
called  it,  three  years  before,  but  it  had  been  retaken  during 
the  summer  of  1698.  In  July,  1697,  Iberville  and  his  bro- 
ther left  Placentia  with  four  vessels  of  war  and  one  store- 
ship,  bound  for  the  Arctic  Seas.  When  the  little  fleet 
entered  the  Bay  it  was  at  once  entangled  in  the  ice.  The 
store-ship  was  crushed  and  lost,  and  Iberville,  who  was  on 
the  Pelican,  lost  sight  of  his  three  consorts.  He  had  nearly 
reached  Fort  Nelson,  when  three  sail  appeared,  and  the 
gallant  Frenchman  prepared  to  welcome  his  missing  com- 
rades. They  turned  out  to  be  armed  English  merchantmen 
mounting  altogether  one  hundred  and  twenty  guns.  A 
furious  battle  ensued,  from  which  Iberville  finally  emerged 
victorious,  through  his  superior  seamanship.  The  Pelican, 
however,  was  badly  damaged,  and  she  finally  stranded, 
parted  amidships,  and  was  a  total  loss.  Notwithstanding 
all  his  misfortunes,  however,  the  brave  Iberville  captured 
Fort  Nelson,  and  returned  homeward  in  triumph.* 

The  interval  between  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century 
and  the  treaty  of  cession  in  1763,  may  be  passed  over  with- 
out remark.  The  French  continued  their  explorations  in 
the  North-West  to  the  Saskatchewan  and  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains ;  but  they  never  again  attempted  to  dispossess  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company  by  force  of  arms.  New  France  had 
fallen  upon  evil  days,  and  was  compelled  to  contract  her 
lines  and  concentrate  her  strength  for  the  deadly  struggle 
in  which  she  was  foredoomed  to  be  the  loser.  A  few  years 

'  *  "  Iberville  had  triumphed  over  the  storms,  the  icebergs,  and  the  EiiglUh.  The  North 
had  seen  his  prowess,  and  another  fame  awaited  him  in  the  regions  of  the  sun  ;  fur  he  be- 
came the  father  of  Louisiana,  and  his  brother  Bienville  founded  New  Orleans."  FronUnac, 
i>.  393. 


956          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

after  Canada  passed  into  British  hands  a  number  of  Mon- 
treal merchants,  chiefly  Scots,  conceived  the  idea  of  re-open- 
ing the  North- Western  fur-trade  on  the  old  French  routes. 
It  was  in  1766,  according  to  Sir  Alex.  Mackenzie,*  that  the 
trade  was  recommenced  from  Michillimackinac  (Mackinac) 
at  the  junction  of  Lakes  Huron  and  Michigan.  At  first,  the 
adventurers  only  travelled  to  the  mouth  of  the  Kaministi- 
quia  on  Lake  Superior,  and  to  the  Grand  Portage  thirty 
miles  further  down.  The  pioneer  who  first  resolved  to 
penetrate  to  the  furthest  limits  of  the  French  discoveries 
was  Thomas  Curry,  a  Scottish  merchant.  With  guides  and 
interpreters,  and  four  canoes,  he  made  his  way  to  Fort 
Bourbon,  an  old  French  post  at  Cedar  Lake,  on  the  Saskat- 
chewan. Mackenzie  observes  that  "  his  risk  and  toil  were 
well  recompensed,  for  he  came  back  the  following  spring 
with  his  canoes  filled  with  fine  furs,  with  which  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Canada,  and  was  satisfied  never  again  to  return 
to  the  Indian  country."-|-  The  first  who  followed  Curry's 
example  was  James  Finlay,  another  Scot,  who  made  his 
way  to  Nipawee,  the  last  French  settlement  on  the  Saskat- 
chewan (lat.  53  i°,  long.  103  \V.).  His  success  was  equal  to 
that  of  Curry,  and  from  that  time  the  fur-traders  gradually 
spread  themselves  over  that  vast  and  almost  unknown  region. 
Meanwhile  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  had  not  advanced 
far  from  the  waters  to  which  they  owed  their  name.  It 
was  in  the  year  1774,  "  and  not  till  then,"  writes  Mackenzie, 
that  the  Company  thought  proper  to  move  from  home  to 
the  east  bank  of  Sturgeon  Lake,  in  latitude  53°  56"  North, 

*  Voyages  :— general  History  of  the  Far  Trade,  p.  viii. 
t  Ibid. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.          957 

and  longitude  102°  15'  West,  and  became  more  jealous  of 
their  fellow- subjects,  and  perhaps  with  more  cause,  than 
they  had  been  of  those  of  France."*  Our  author  has  a 
strong  feeling  against  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  and  com- 
plains bitterly  that  they  followed  the  Canadians  from  settle- 
ment to  settlement,  annoying  and  obstructing  them.  It  may 
be  well  to  note  here  a  fact  which  will  appear  more  clearly 
hereafter,  that  not  only  the  Canadian  traders,  but  most  of 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company's  servants,  were  from  an  early 
period  Scots,  and  have  always  remained  so  up  to  the  present 
time.'f- 

The  half-breeds  are  scattered  over  most  of  the  North- 
West,  from  Hudson  Bay  and  Algoma  to  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains. Principal  Grant  in  his  entertaining  volume,  "  Ocean 
to  Ocean  "  (p.  157),  remarks  of  this  class  :  "  They  are  farm- 
ers, hunters,  fishermen,  voyageurs,  all  in  one ;  the  soil  is. 
scratched,  three  inches  deep,  early  in  May,  some  seed  is 
thrown  in,  and  then  the  whole  household  go  off  to  hunt  the 
buffalo.  They  get  back  about  the  first  of  August,  spend  the 
month  in  haying  and  harvesting,  and  are  off  to  the  fall  hunt 
early  in  September.  Some  are  now  so  devoted  to  farming 
that  they  only  go  to  one  hunt  in  the  year.  It  is  astonishing 
that,  though  knowing  so  well  '  how  not  to  do  it/  they  raise 
some  wheat,  a  good  deal  of  barley,  oats  and  potatoes."  It  is 
neccessary  here  to  notice  the  marked  distinction  between 
the  Scottish  and  French  half-breeds  or  Metis,  as  they  are 

*  Ibid.  p.  ix.— misprinted  xi. 

t  "  It  is  a  strange  fact  that  three-fourths  of  the  Company's  servants  arc  Scotch  Hiirhland- 
ers  and  Orkney  men.  There  are  very  few  Irishmen  and  still  fewer  Englishmen.  A  great 
number,  however,  are  half-breeds  and  French  Canadians,  especially  among  the  labourer» 
and  nifidii,  um."  Slid/ton's  Bay.  By  R.  M.  Ballantyne:  London,  1867,  p.  42.  Sir.  Bullait. 
t  viic  is  a  Scotsman,  who  spent  six  years  in  the  H.  B.  Co.'s  service. 


D58          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

•called.  The  contrast,  which  has  been  often  noticed  by  tra- 
vellers, is  so  marked  as  to  merit  particular  attention,  since 
it  serves  to  illustrate  what  has  been  said  of  the  sterling 
worth  and  persistency  of  the  Scottish  character,  even  under 
the  most  trying  of  all  tests — contact  and  admixture  with  an 
inferior  race.  The  Frenchman,  like  the  Spaniard,  of  more 
southern  latitudes,  always  sinks  in  the  scale  of  civilization 
by  intermarriage  with  the  Indians.  "His  children,"  says 
Dr.  Grant,  "  have  all  the  Indian  characteristics,  and  habits, 
weaknesses,  and  ill-regulated  passions  of  nomads."  When 
.a  Frenchman  weds  a  squaw,  "  her  people  become  his  people 
but  his  God  her  God,"  and  he  gradually  sinks  to  her  level. 
When  a  Scotchman  married  a  squaw,  her  position,  on  the 
•contrary,  was  frequently  not  much  higher  than  a  servant's. 
He  was  '  the  superior  person '  of  the  house.  He  continued 
Christian  after  his  fashion,  she  continued  a  pagan.  The 
granite  of  his  nature  resisted  fusion,  in  spite  of  family  and 
tribal  influences,  the  attrition  of  all  surrounding  circum- 
stances, and  the  total  absence  of  civilization ;  and  the  wife 
was  too  completely  separated  from  him  to  raise  herself  to 
his  level.  The  children  of  such  a  couple  take  more  after 
the  father  than  the  mother.  As  a  rule,  they  are  shrewd, 
steady  and  industrious.  A  Scotch  half-breed  has  generally 
&  field  of  wheat  before  or  behind  his  house,  stacks,  barn,  and 
provisions  for  a  year  ahead  in  his  granary.  The  Me*tis  has 
a  patch  of  potatoes  or  a  little  barley,  and  in  a  year  of  scarc- 
ity draws  his  belt  tighter  or  starves.  It  is  interesting,  as 
one  travels  in  the  great  North- West,  to  note  how  the  two 
old  allies  of  the  middle  ages  have  left  their  marks  on  the 
whole  of  this  great  country.  The  name  of  almost  every 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.          950 

river,  creek,  mountain  or  district  is  either  French  or  Scotch."* 
It  is  the  intelligence,  industry,  and  perseverance  born  with 
the  Scot,  often  the  only,  and  yet  the  noblest,  heritage  be- 
queathed him  by  his  forbears,  that  makes  him  the  most 
valuable  settler  in  any  land  where  his  lot  is  cast.  That 
even  when  far  removed  from  the  refining  influences  which 
encompass  him  in  his  native  land,  and  thrown  into  intimate- 
relations  with  inferior  and  uncivilized  tribes,  both  he  and 
his  children  of  a  mixed  race  should  still  exhibit  the  provi- 
dence, dignity  and  self-respect  which  seem  innate  in  the 
Scottish  people,  is  surely  a  crucial  instance  of  "  the  survival 
of  the  fittest." 

During  the  later  years  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the 
prospect  of  serious  rivalry  from  Canada  stimulated  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company,  as  already  observed,  to  renewed 
exertions.  The  irregular  way  in  which  the  fur-trade  was 
carried  on  by  the  Canadians  led  to  many  abuses,  and  after  a 
few  years,  it  became  unprofitable  and  almost  ruinous  to  the 
adventurers.  They  had  the  great  Company  well-organized, 
and  possessing  ample  governmental  powers  to  contend  with  ; 
the  Indians  were,  for  the  most  part,  hostile  and  always 
untrustworthy,  and  the  time  had  obviously  arrived  for  a 
co-operative  efforts  by  the  Montreal  traders.  Accordingly, 
in  the  winter  of  1783-4,  the  Canadian  merchants  united  to- 
gether in  a  body  corporate,  known  as  the  North-West  Com- 
pany, and  the  battle  between  it  and  the  Hudson  Bay  people 
began,  which  continued  for  thirty-eight  years.  At  its 
head  as  managers  were  placed  Messrs.  Benjamin  and  Joseph 
Frobisher,  partners  in  one  house,  and  Mr.  Simon  McTavish, 

*  Ocean  to  Ocean,  pp.  175,  176. 


960          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

a,  name  which  occupies  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  subse- 
quent history  of  the  North-West.  Unfortunately,  there  was 
considerable  disagreement  over  the  shares  allotted  to  some 
of  the  partners  in  the  new  company,  and  one  of  them,  for  a 
time,  succeeded  in  detaching  Messrs.  Gregory  and  Macleod 
from  their  fellow  adventurers.  In  the  counting-house  of 
the  former,  a  clerk  had  served  for  five  years,  and  was  in 
1784  seeking  his  own  fortune  at  Detroit.  This  young  settler 
was  Alexander  (afterwards  Sir  Alexander)  Mackenzie,  the 
explorer  of  the  Nortn  and  West  of  British  North  America. 
Mackenzie  was  a  native  of  Inverness,  born  about  1760,  who 
early  emigrated  to  America,  and  found  employment  at  Mon- 
treal with  Mr.  Gregory.  He  was  now  asked  to  become  a 
partner  in  the  trading  venture,  and,  having  made  his  arrange- 
ments, set  out  for  the  Grand  Portage  in  the  spring  of  1785. 
The  dissensions  amongst  the  partners,  the  superior  organiz- 
ation of  the  new  company,  and  its  determined  hostility  to 
the  recalcitrants,  proved  serious  obstacles  in  Mackenzie's 
way;  but  in  1787,  the  differences  were  healed,  and  a  union 
effected,  much  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  parties. 

The  North- West  chiefly  followed  upon  the  tracks  of  the 
old  French  traders.  These,  as  the  reader  will  remember, 
traversed  two  routes,  the  one  by  the  lakes,  by  Fort  Fron- 
tenac  (Kingston),  Niagara,  Detroit,  Mackinac  and  the  Grand 
Portage ;  and  the  other  by  the  Ottawa,  the  French  River, 
St.  Mary's  (the  Sault  Ste  Marie),  and  so  westward  to  the 
same  point  on  Lake  Superior.  Sir  Alex.  Mackenzie  boasts 
that,  after  the  union  in  1787,  the  "  commercial  establishment 
was  founded  on  a  more  solid  basis  than  any  hitherto  known 
in  the  country  ;  and  it  not  only  continued  in  full  force, 


TBE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.          961 

vigour  and  prosperity,  in  spite  of  all  interference  from  Can- 
ada, but  maintained  at  least  an  equal  share  of  advantage 
with  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  notwithstanding  the  supe- 
riority of  their  local  situation  "  (p.  xx).  "  In  1788,  the  gross 
amount  of  the  adventure  for  the  year  did  not  exceed  forty 
thousand  pounds ;  but,  by  the  exertion,  enterprise,  and  indus- 
try of  the  proprietors,  it  was  brought  in  eleven  years  to  triple 
that  amount  and  upwards;  yielding  proportionate  profits 
and  surpassing,  in  short,  anything  known  in  America " 
(p.  xxii).  It  has  been  estimated  that  in  1815  this  company 
had  four  thousand  servants  in  its  employment,  and  occupied 
sixty  trading  posts.  A  new  route  was  opened  on  an  old 
Indian  trail  from  Penetanguishene  and  Lake  Simcoe  to  Lake 
Ontario  at  first  to  the  Humber  Bay,  and  subsequently  down 
Yonge  Street,  the  military  road  constructed  by  Col.  Simcoe 
to  York  (now  Toronto)  the  Capital  of  Upper  Canada.  West- 
ward the  Company's  operations  extended  to  and  beyond 
the  old  French  establishments  on  the  Saskatchewan.  Sir 
Alexander  Mackenzie  names  five  chief  factories  on  that 
river — Nepawi  House,  South-branch  House,  Fort  George 
House,  Fort  Augustus  House,  and  Upper  Establishment 
(p.  Ixix). 

But  trading  was  not  the  only  occupation  of  these  adven- 
turous Scots.  They  were  the  great  explorers  of  Western 
North  America  to  the  Pacific  and  Arctic  Oceans.  Mackenzie 
himself  was  engaged  in  two  great  expeditions,  during  the 
years  1789  and  1793.  In  the  former  year  he  started  from 
Fort  Chipewyan  at  the  western  extremity  of  Lake  Atha- 
basca or  the  Lake  of  the  Hills,  as  he  terms  it  in  his  "  Voy- 
ages "  with  a  little  band  of  retainers,  Canadian  and  Indian. 


962  THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Travelling  in  a  generally  north-western  direction  by  the 
Slave  River,  the  party  entered  the  Great  Slave  Lake.  Thence 
with  some  vicissitudes  of  fortune,  Mackenzie  traversed  the 
chain  of  lakelets  and  streams  to  the  Great  Bear  Lake,  and 
so  to  the  great  river  which  bears  his  name  to  the  Arctic 
Sea.  In  October,  1792,  from  the  same  starting-point,  the 
explorer  ascended  the  Unjigah  or  Peace  River  which  he 
explored  to  its  source,  crossed  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and 
made  his  way  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  The  journey  was  full 
of  perils  and  perplexities,  and  at  times  even  the  brave  High- 
land heart  of'  Mackenzie  seems  to  have  sunk  within  him. 
The  story,  as  told  by  himself,  in  the  simple  and  unaffected 
language  of  his  "  journal "  is  full  of  information  regarding 
the  country,  as  it  was  when  visited  by  him  and  his  friend 
Mackay.  At  the  end  of  his  weary  journey  of  nine  months, 
he  erected  a  simple  memorial  of  his  achievement.  "  I  now 
mixed  up  some  vermillion  in  melted  grease,"  he  says,  "  and 
inscribed,  in  large  characters,  on  the  south-east  of  the  rock 
on  which  we  had  slept  last  night,  this  brief  memorial : 
'  Alexander  Mackenzie,  from  Canada,  by  land,  the  twenty- 
second  of  July,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety- 
three.'  "  He  reached  Fort  Chipewayan,  and  safely  relieved 
% 

Roderick   Mackenzie,  whom  he  had   left   in   charge,   and 

"  resumed,"  as  he  modestly  observes,  "  the  character  of  a 
i 

trader,"  "  after  an  absence  of  eleven  months." 

The  character  of  the  class  which  achieved  so  much  for 
British  progress  in  the  North-West  could  hardly  be  better 
given  than  in  the  words  of  Mr.  S.  J.  Dawson,  then  M.P.P. 
for  Algoma,  uttered  in  the  Ontario  Legislature  in  1876. 
"  At  the  formation  of  this  (the  North- West)  Company,  there 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.  963 

were  in  Canada  a  number  of  men  remarkable  for  their 
energy  and  enterprise.  Many  of  those  whose  fortunes  had 
been  lost  at  Culloden,  and  even  some  of  the  Scottish  chiefs 
who  had  been  present  at  that  memorable  conflict,  were  then 
in  the  country.  They  were  men  accustomed  to  adventure, 
and  had  been  trained  in  the  stern  school  of  adversity.  They 
joined  the  North-West  Company,  and  soon  gave  a  different 
complexion  to  the  affairs  of  the  North-West.  Under  their 
management,  order  succeeded  to  the  anarchy  which  pre- 
vailed under  the  French  regime.  Warring  tribes  and  rival 
traders  were  reconciled.  Trading  posts  sprang  up  on  the 
Saskatchewan  and  Unjiga;  every  post  became  a  centre  of 
civilization,  and  explorations  were  extended  to  the  shores 
of  the  Arctic  Sea,  and  the  coasts  of  the  Pacific  Ocean.  It 
has  been  the  custom  to  ascribe  to  the  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany the  admirable  system  of  management  which  brought 
peace  and  good  government  to  the  then  distracted  regions  of 
the  North-West ;  but  it  was  due  to  these  adventurous 
Scotchmen.  Sir  Alexander  Mackenzie  traced  out  the  great 
river  which  now  bears  his  name,  and  was  the  first  to  cross 
the  Rocky  Mountains  and  reach  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Fraser 
followed  the  river  now  called  after  him,  and  a  little  later, 
Thompson  crossed  further  to  the  south,  and  reached  Oregon 
by  the  Columbia."  It  may  be  added  that  Vancouver  explored 
the  British  Columbian  archipeligo,  and  gave  his  name  to  its 
largest  island  in  1797,  four  years  after  Mackenzie's  overland 
journey.  Simon  Fraser — a  name  illustrious  in  war  as  well 
as  discovery  —  sailed  down  his  river  in  the  year  1808. 
Thompson,  who  discovered  the  Columbia,  which  rises  in 


964          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

British  territory,  gave  his  name  to  the  Thompson  River  in 
British  Columbia. 

All  would  have  gone  well  with  British  trade  and  ex- 
ploration, if  the  jealousies  of  the  two  rival  companies  and 
of  a  third,  the  X.  Y.  which  split  off  from  the  North-West 
Company  had  not  caused  incessant  turmoil  and  some  blood- 
shed throughout  the  territory.  The  Hudson  Bay  Company 
had  the  prior  claim  in  point  of  time,  and  were  not  prepared 
to  tolerate  competititors  in  the  fur-trade,  even  in  regions 
where  their  employees  had  never  set  foot.  Still  less  could 
they  brook  the  presence  of  intruders  on  the  Assiniboine  and 
Red  Rivers  or  Lake  Winnipeg.  The  results  of  the  jealousies 
and  animosities  of  these  competing  corporations  were  emi- 
nently disastrous  in  every  aspect.  The  fur- trade  was  almost 
ruined,  the  Indians  bought  over  and  coaxed  into  alliance 
•by  both  parties  and  thoroughly  demoralized.  Mr.  Hind,  in 
the  work  already  cited  (p.  280)  observes  that  "  the  interests 
of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  suffered  to  such  an  extent 
that  between  1800  and  1821,  a  period  of  twenty-two  years, 
their  dividends  were,  for  the  first  eight  years,  reduced  to 
four  per  cent.  During  the  next  six  years  they  could  pay 
no  dividend  at  all,  and  for  the  remaining  eight  they  could 
only  pay  four  per  cent."  It  will  now  be  necessary  to  give 
some  account  of  these  unhappy  feuds,  and  also  of  the  esta- 
blishment of  the  Red  River  settlement  by  Lord  Selkirk  and 
the  troubles  which  arose  in  consequence. 


CHAPTER  III. 

• 

THE  RIVAL  COMPANIES  AND  LORD  SELKIRK. 

fN  the  year  1811,  the  bitter  struggle  between  the  Hud- 
son Bay  Company  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  North- 
West  and  X.  Y.  Companies  on  the  other,  was  brought  to  a 
climax  by  an  attempt  to  form  the  Red  River  settlement. 
Thomas  Douglas,  Earl  of  Selkirk,  obtained,  in  that  year 
from  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  a  grant  of  land  extending 
from  Lake  Winnipeg  to  the  height  of  land  supposed  to  sepa- 
rate the  waters  running  into  the  Hudson  Bay  from  those 
of  the  Missouri  and  Mississippi.*  Of  the  troubles  which 
ensued  it  is  somewhat  difficult  to  give  an  impartial  account, 
the  story  of  the  skirmishing  and  bloodshed  which  ensued 
having  been  fully  and  rather  acrimoniously  narrated  by  those 
interested  on  both  sides.  As  the  belligerents  were  almost 
all  of  Scottish  birth,  it  will  be  necessary  to  enter  into  the 
controversy  at  some  length,  but,  so  far  as  possible  without 
bias,  or  prepossession.  Certainly  the  perfervidum  ingenium 
Scotorum,  of  which  George  Buchanan  spoke,  never  glowed 
at  a  whiter  heat  than  in  these  untoward  events. 

The  central  figure  in  this  historical  tableau  is,  of  course, 
Lord  Selkirk,  and  concerning  his  motives  and  course  of 

*  See  Ballantyne:  Hudson's  Bay  p.  99;  Alexander  Ross:  The  Red  River  Settlement, 
pp.  8,  9 ;  and  Jos.  J.  Hargrave,  F.  R.  O.  S. :  Red  River,  p.  70.  J.  C.  Hamilton  :  The  Prai- 
rie Province,  p.  194. 


696          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  bORTH  AMERICA. 

action,  an  angry  war  of  words  has  been  waged  even  down 
to  our  own  day.  To  his  friends  and  partizans  he  appears  as 
a  disinterested,  self-sacrificing  patriot,  having  but  one  pur- 
pose in  view — the  elevation  and  advancement  of  his  High- 
land fellow-countrymen ;  whilst  his  enemies  are  in  the  habit 
of  pourtraying  him  as  a  crafty,  self-seeking  and  unscrupu- 
lous adventurer.  The  North-Western  episode  in  his  career 
was  the  only  stirring  period  in  an  otherwise  uneventful  life, 
too  early  brought  to  a  close.  The  few  facts  recorded  about 
him  may  be  briefly  given  here.*  Thomas  Douglas,  fiftty 
Earl  of  Selkirk,  Lieutenant  of  the  Stewartry  of  Kircud- 
bright,  was  the  youngest  of  five  sons — all  of  whom  attained 
adult  age — of  Dunbar,  the  fourth  Earl,  who  died  in  1799. 
Thomas  was  born  in  1774,  and  in  1807  married  a  Miss  Col- 
ville — a  lady  who  became  the  mother  of  one  son  and  two 
daughters,  and  was  with  him  during  all  his  wanderings. 
That  he  was  a  man  of  great  vigour  of  mind,  and  indomitable 
energy  and  perseverance,  is  clear  both  from  his  life  and 
writings.  He  is  stated  to  have  been  exceedingly  gentle  and 
affable  in  his  manners,  and  whatever  other  virtues  may  be 
denied  him,  he  certainly  was  not  wanting  in  goodness  of 
heart.  In  1805,  his  Lordship's  attention  had  been  called  to 
the  wretched  condition  of  the  Highlanders,  and  the  result 
was  a  work  which  reached  a  second  edition  in  the  following 

o 

year,  entitled  "  Observations  on  the  Present  State  of  the 
Highlands."  His  active  mind  was  at  once  set  to  work  upon 
a  scheme  by  which  the  pitiful,  and  almost  degraded  lot  of 
the  Gaelic  race  might  be  ameliorated  ;  and  he  was  soon  con- 

*  See  Morgan :  Sketches  of  Celebrated  Canadians  aud  persons  connected  with  Canada, 
P.  272 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.          907 

vinced  that  the  remedy  he  sought  was  to  be  found  in  emi- 
gration. He  was  a  large  shareholder  in  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company,  and  as  many  Highlanders  had  already  been  in- 
duced to  enter  its  service,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  forming 
a  Highland  colony  in  some  fertile  district  of  the  North- 
West.  With  him  to  form  a  plan  was  to  take  imme- 
diate steps  towards  its  realization,  and  he  therefore,  after 
inquiry  and  deliberation,  entered  into  negotiations  with  the 
Company  for  the  purchase  of  the  district  he  secured  in  1811. 
"  About  this  time,"  writes  Mr.  Hargrave,*  a  compulsory 
exodus  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  mountainous  regions  in  the 
County  of  Sutherland  was  in  progress.  The  history  of  the 
expulsion  of  a  vast  number  of  the  poorer  tenantry  from  the 
estates  of  the  Duchess  of  Sutherland,  in  which  they  and 
their  ancestors  had  vegetated  in  much  idleness,  semi-barbar- 
is-m  and  contentment,  from  a  traditionary  era,  to  make  way 
for  the  working  of  the  sterner  realities  of  the  system  of 
land  management  which  prevails  on  great  estates  in  this 
prosaic  nineteenth  century,  is  to  this  day  fresh  in  the  recol- 
lection of  the  remaining  population  of  the  extreme  north  of 
Scotland.  The  pain  with  which  the  homeless  exiles  saw 
the  roofs  which  had  sheltered  them  through  life,  removed 
from  the  bare  walls  of  their  deserted  habitations  by  the 
merciless  edict  of  irresistible  power,  has  been  retained  in  the 
memory  of  the  peasants  of  the  north,  and  doubtless,  the 
adventures  of  many  of  the  expatriated  ones,  after  their 
entrance  on  the  untried  vicissitudes  of  life  in  other  lands 
are  known,  and  held  in  interest  by  the  children  of  their 
kindred  in  the  country  whence  they  came. 

*  Red  River,  pp.  72,  73. 


968          THE  SCOT  IN  BR1TISU  NORTH  AMERICA. 

It  was  from  these  evicted  peasants,  whose  abodes  in 
Sutherlandshire  Lord  Selkirk  had  visited,  that  he  chiefly  re- 
cruited what  has  been  called  "  the  first  brigade"  of  his  Red 
River  colonists.  In  the  autumn  of  1811  they  reached  the 
shores  of  Hudson  Bay,  and  wintered,  in  a  season  of  excep- 
tional severity,  at  Churchill,  one  of  the  Company's  posts  on 
the  western  coast,  in  latitude  58°55"  N.  When  the  spring  of 
1812  opened,  the  emigrants  proceeded  inland  to  their  destin- 
ation on  the  Red  River,  where  they  arrived,  after  much  suf- 
fering, only  to  be  called  on  to  face  danger  in  another  form. 
Lord  Selkirk  had  taken  the  precaution  to  submit  the  validity 
of  his  title  to  the  highest  legal  opinion  in  England,  and  it 
was  pronounced  unimpeachable  by  Sir  Samuel  Romilly, 
Scarlett,  Holroyd,  and  other  eminent  counsel.*  In  accord- 
ance with  his  stipulations,  his  Lordship  ultimately  concluded 
a  treaty  with  the  Chief  and  warriors  of  the  Chippeway  or 
Saulteaux  and  Cree  nations,  by  which  the  Indian  claims  upon 
the  settlement  were  extinguished/I*  Mr.  Ross  states  that 
the  Saulteaux  had  no  claim  there  at  all,  being  aliens  and  in- 
truders, since  the  Crees  and  Assiniboines  "are,  and  have  been 
since  the  memory  of  man,  the  rightful  owners  and  inhabit- 
ants of  this  part  of  the  country."  Lord  Selkirk  probably 
desired  only  to  provide  for  the  security  of  his  colony,  and 
was  prepared  to  make  terms  with  all  Indian  claimants ;  still 
the  jealousy  of  the  Crees  led  to  some  disagreeable  squabbles. 

*  This  opinion  is  given  in  full  as  Appendix  A  in  the  "  Statement  respecting  the  Earl  of 
Selkirk's  Settlement  upon  the  Red  River,  in  Ntrth  America,"  Ac.  London:  John  Mur- 
ray, 1817.  For  the  loan  of  this  work  and  others,  as  well  as  some  interesting  MS.  letters  of 
Lord  Selkirk  and  the  Hudson  Bay  Macclonells,  the  writer  has  to  express  his  thanks  to  Win. 
J.  Macdonell,  Esq.,  French  Consul  at  Toronto. 

t  The  full  text  will  be  found  in  Ross's  Red  River  Settlement,  p.  10,  and  is  noteworthy  be- 
cause it  probably  formed  the  model  for  the  compacts  entered  into,  of  late  years,  with  the 
Indian*. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.          9C9 

The  Highland  settlers,  with  some  few  Norwegians  and 
French,  who  drop  out  of  the  story  thereafter,  arrived  at  head- 
quarters, the  nucleus  of  the  new  settlement  on  the  Red 
River  near  its  junction  with  the  Assiniboine,  in  the  summer 
of  1812.  This  spot,  which  Lord  Selkirk  named  Kildonan, 
in  compliment  to  the  Sutherlandshire  colonists,  stands  on 
the  fiftieth  parallel  of  north  latitude,  and  as  will  be  seen  im- 
mediately it  at  once  became  the  centre  of  a  deadly  struggle 
between  the  rival  companies. 

That  the  North-West  Company  had  valid  grounds  for  sus- 
pecting mischief  from  the  colonization  of  the  Red  River  dis- 
trict seems  clear.  Their  factors  and  servants  met  there  face 
to  face  with  those  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  and  the 
interests  of  Lord  Selkirk  and  the  latter  were  undeniably 
identical.  It  was  therefore  not  unnatural  that  the  Canadians 
should  view  with  apprehension  the  establishment  of  a  set- 
tlement, supplied  with  means  of  defence  and  claiming  full 
control  over  a  region  stretching  from  Lakes  Winnipegoos, 
Winnipeg,  and  the  smaller  chain  to  the  eastward,  far  beyond 
what  was  afterwards  settled  to  be  the  United  States  bound- 
ary line  by  the  Convention  of  1818.  They  were  thus  shut 
out  from  the  great  prairies  of  the  west,  and  their  hunters 
could  only  repair  thither  by  sufferance.  Instead  of  isolated 
posts,  forts,  or  factories,  they  were  threatened  with  an  or- 
ganized government,  established,  as  they  believed,  for  the 
sole  purpose  of  ruining  their  trade  in  furs.  The  statement 
of  Lord  Selkirk  that  he  had  no  end  in  view  but  the  welfare 
of  his  countrymen  and  of  the  Indians,  and  the  permanent 
foundation  of  a  British  Province  over  against  the  growing 
and  aggressive  Republic  to  the  south,  the  North-West  Com- 


970          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

pany  regarded  as  a  blind  to  conceal  the  insidious  purpose 
which  really  lay  beneath.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  Earl  pro- 
tested the  purity  of  his  motives,  pointed  out  the  fact  that 
the  buffalo  and  most  of  the  fur- bearing  animals  had  disap- 
peared from  the  district,  and  displayed  the  preparations  he 
had  made  for  bona  fide  settlement.*  The  North- West  Com- 
pany at  once  repudiated  the  authority  of  Lord  Selkirk  and 
his  Governor,  Miles  Macdonell,  formerly  a  Captain  in  the 
Queen's  Rangers,  who  came  out  in  charge  of  "  the  first  bri- 
gade "  of  Highlanders.  They  denied  that  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company  had  any  jurisdiction  in  the  Red  River  country,  or 
that  if  they  had,  their  jurisdiction  could  be  delegated  to  any 
individual  or  corporation.  As  already  mentioned,  Lord  Sel- 
kirk had  taken  care  to  fortify  himself  with  legal  advice ;  to 
use  his  own  words  in  the  "  Memorial,"  he  "  had  previously 
consulted  several  of  the  most  eminent  counsel  in  London, 
who  concurred  in  opinion  that  the  title  was  unquestionably 
valid  ;  and  he  has  good  reason  to  believe  that  a  similar  opin- 
ion has  been  expressed  to  his  Majesty's  Government  by  the 
Attorney  and  Solicitor-General  of  England."^  Acting  on  the 

*  Lord  Selkirk,  in  his  "  Memorial  to  the  Duke  of  Richmond,  K.G.,  Governor  General  of 
Canada,"  &c.,  bearing  date  October  1818,  says,— "By  the  terms  of  the  conveyance,  your 
memorialist  was  bound  to  settle  a  specified  number  of  families  on  the  tract  of  land  con- 
veyed to  him  :  and  your  memorialist  as  well  as  all  persons  holding  land'  under  him  were 
debarred  from  interfering  in  the  trade.  Notwithstanding  this  restriction,  your  memo- 
rialist was  early  apprized  that  any  plan  for  settling  the  country  would  be  opposed  with  the 
most  determined  hostility  by  the  North-West  Company  of  Montreal  ;  and  threats  were 
held  out  by  the  principal  partners  of  that  association  in  London,  that  they  would  excite 
the  native  Indians  to  destroy  the  settlement,"  p.  3.  For  this  "memorial,"  printed  In 
Montreal  (1810),  (he  writer  is  also  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  Mr.  \V.  J.  Macdonell. 

t  It  la  proper  to  observe,  however,  that  the  opinion  of  counsel  did  not  extend  to  the  dis- 
puted questions  of  civil  and  criminal  jurisdiction  delegated  to  Lord  Selkirk  ;  still  they  are 
virtually  covered  by  the  right  of  the  Company  to  appoint  officers  for  the  purpose,  and  Mr. 
Miles  Macdonell  received  his  appointment  from  the  Hudson  Bay  authorities  directly,  and 
was  therefore  legally  the  Governor  of  Assiniboia.  See  the  "  statement "  before  quoted  p. 
2,  Rosa's  Red  River  Settlement,  p,  26.  Hargraves  Red  River,  p.  74. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA,          971 

assurances  thus  given  of  his  authority,  Lord  Selkirk,  ii> 
order  to  be  on  the  safe  side,  named  Mr.  Miles  Macdonell 
the  Company's  Governor  in  the  district  as  superintendent 
of  the  settlement.  Obviously,  therefore,  whatever  consti- 
tuted governmental  authority  there  was  in  Assinoboia  was 
vested  in  him,  and  commanded  obedience  until  the  Charter 
of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  was  pronounced  invalid  by 
due  process  of  law.  Certainly  the  North -West  Company 
had  no  claims  to  any  jurisdiction,  civil  or  criminal,  either 
by  charter  or  statute.  It  was  simply  a  voluntary  association- 
of  merchants — a  co-partnership  with  nothing  to  back  it  but 
the  capital,  energy  and  enterprise  of  its  members.*  It  would 
therefore  seem  to  have  been  the  duty  of  its  proprietors  and 
servants  to  bow  at  once  to  any  regularly  constituted  execu- 
tive which  had  a  prima  facia  claim  to  authority  under  the 
crown. 

But  it  was  exactly  here  that  the  North-West  Company 
was  met  with  an  embarrassing  selection  between  two  alter- 
natives. If  the  civil  and  military  authority  of  the  Hudson- 
Bay  Company  and  its  agents,  and  grantees  were  admitted 
even  for  a  season,  all  the  mischief  they  had  to  fear  might  be- 
wrought.  The  great  objection  entertained  by  the  Canadian 
fur-traders  was  not  so  much  to  the  legal  status  of  the  colony 
as  to  its  formation  in  any  shape,  particularly  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company.  According  to  the 
"  Statement,"  published  on  Lord  Selkirk's  side  (pp.  7-10),  the- 

*  Sir  Alexander  Mackenzie,  himself  a  North-Wester,  frankly  writes  in  his  Oeneral  Hit- 
tory  of  the  Fur  Trade  (p.  xx.):— "It  assumed  the  title  of  the  North- West  Company,  anil 
was  no  more  than  an  association  of  commercial  men,  agreeing;  among  themselves  to  carry 
on  the  fur  trade,  unconnected  with  any  ether  business,  though  many  of  the  partners  en- 
gaged, had  extensive  concerns  altogether  foreign  to  it." 


972          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

proprietary  of  the  North- West  Company  protested  against 
any  attempt  at  colonization,  first  on  the  sentimental  ground 
that  the  settlers  would  be  placed  "  out  of  the  reach  of  all 
those  aids  and  comforts  which  are  derived  from  civil  society, 
and  secondly,  because  colonization  is  at  all  times  unfavour- 
able to  the  fur-trade."  The  pamphlets  published  by  the 
North- West  Company  appear  to  admit  that  this  second 
objection  was,  after  all,  the  one  which  influenced  them.  In 
the  "  Narrative  of  Transactions  in  the  Red  River  Country" 
written  by  Mr.  Alexander  Macdonell,  and  published  in  1819, 
although  reference  is  made  to  Lord  Selkirk's  "  real,  though 
concealed  purpose  to  transfer  to  himself,  on  the  premedita- 
ted ruin  of  the  North-West  Company,  the  monopoly  of  their 
trade,"  stress  is  laid  upon  the  incompatibility  of  agricultural 
settlement  with  fur-trading.  Mr.  Miles  Macdonell's  de- 
scriptions of  the  sufferings  of  the  party  that  landed  at 
Churchill  in  1811,  are  enlarged  upon,  and  the  hope  expressed 
that  people  will,  in  future,  be  deterred  "  from  completing 
the  measure  of  human  misery,  by  embarking  in  this  wretch- 
ed and  hopeless  (!)  speculation  of  Lord  Selkirk's."  But  the 
only  serious  objection  to  the  settlement  is  very  plainly  set 
forth  in  these  words — where  the  writer  is  speaking  of  a 
Royal  Proclamation  of  fifty  years  before — "  a  Proclamation 
issued  under  the  full  conviction  of  the  evils  which  must  al- 
ways attend  any  attempt  to  reconcile  the  interests  of  the 
agriculturist  with  the  feelings  and  jealousies  of  the  Indian 
Hunters.  These  must  retire  from  the  country,  which  it  is 
necessary  should  be  occupied  by  the  farmer ;  and  it  will  be 
sufficient  time  (i.e.  when  Lord  Selkirk's  title  should  be  ad- 
judicated upon)  to  entertain  the  question  of  policy.  How 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.          973 

far  it  may  be  desirable  to  force  agricultural  establishments 
in  the  Indian  country,  west  of  Lake  Superior,  when  the  wild, 
unproductive  lands  of  Upper  Canada,  are  cultivated  and 
settled  ?  "*  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  point  out  more  directly 
the  ansivers  of  the  North- West  proprietary ;  at  worst  they 
only  did  what  the  earlier  monopoly  strove  earnestly  to 
effect  during  the  major  part  of  the  century — keep  out  the 
settler,  retard  the  march  of  British  civilization,  and  maintain, 
in  all  its  primaeval  wildness,  their  vast  game-preserve  in  the 
North-West. 

It  must  be  remembered  in  justice  to  the  North- West  Com- 
pany, that  its  trade  had  been  built  up  in  the  face  of  deter- 
mined opposition  from  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  and  that, 
at  every  step  of  their  progress,  the  Montreal  traders  had  been 
dogged  and  obstructed  by  the  jealousy  of  their  rivals.  Al- 
though it  was  no  doubt  true,  as  Mr.  Alexander  Macdonell 
avers,  that  in  1809,  all  was  peace  at  the  points  where  the 
outposts  of  the  companies  met,  there  was  far  from  being  any 
cordial  friendship,  and  there  had  previously  been  some  sea- 
sons of  bitter  contention.  Lord  Selkirk's  advent  did  not  al- 
together come  like  a  peal  of  thunder  from  an  azure  sky.  But 
it  unquestionably  gave  definite  point  to  the  conflict,  and 
brought  the  trade  struggle  to  a  rugged  crisis.  A  glance  at 
the  map  prefixed  to  the  "  Narrative  "  already  quoted,  will 
give  some  idea  of  the  awkward  and  threatening  predicament 
in  which  the  proprietors  of  the  North-West  Company  found 
themselves  suddenly  placed  by  the  arrival  of  the  settlers. 

*  Prefotcf,  pp.  xviii.  xix.  This  volume  with  oiher  documeits  relating  to  these  troubles 
AS  well  as  some  \aluable  additional  information  in  MSS.,  have  been  kindly  lent  to  the  wriUr 
by  Messrs.  Allan  and  Alexander  Macdonell,  L'sqra.,  near  relatives  uf  the  North-West  pro- 
prietor who  wrote  the  "Narrative.'' 


974          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Throughout  the  entire  region  conveyed  to  Lord  Selkirk  in  the 
Hudson  Bay  territory,  the  Montreal  association  had  establish- 
ed posts  already  upon  every  river  and  lake.  Commencing  at 
its  N.  W.  angle  in  Lat.  52"  N.,  and  above  it  from  Swan  Lake 
to  Red  River,  on  the  Swan,  Qu'Appelle,  Souris,  and  Assini- 
boine  Rivers,  they  had  a  chain  of  not  less  than  a  dozen  posts ; 
there  was  Fort  Dauphin,  the  old  French  station  on  the  lake  of 
that  name ;  at  the  N.E.  angle  of  the  Selkirk  tract,  the  Com- 
pany had  two  forts  on  each  side  of  Lake  Winnipeg  ;  the  en- 
tire country  from  Fort  William  by  the  Rainy  Lake  and  the 
Lake  of  the  Woods  was  in  its  hands,  and  so  was  the  whole 
course  of  the  Red  River  from  the  frontier  to  its  mouth.  The 
Hudson  Bay  Company  held  only  one  fort  of  any  import- 
ance, Fort  Douglas,  situated  within  a  short  distance  of  the 
North-West  Company's  post  of  Fort  Gibraltar,  at  the  Forks, 
i.e.  at  the  confluence  of  the  Red  and  Assiniboine  Rivers, 
where  the  city  of  Winnipeg  now  stands.  In  short,  the 
whole  region  thus  made  over  to  an  individual  by  a  parch- 
ment deed  had  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  been  the 
field  in  which  the  enterprise  of  the  Scots  of  Montreal  had 
been  displayed  and  from  which  its  reward  had  been  garnered 
in ;  and,  therefore,  it  was  not  at  all  astonishing  that  they 
should  resent  the  intrusion  of  the  strangers,  and  resolve  to 
expel  them,  if  possible,  from  a  territory  they  had  come  to 
consider  as  their  own,  by  possession  and  prescription.  It  was 
not  in  the  nature  of  man,  especially  of  that  sturdy,  energetic 
and  high-spirited  type  of  humanity  which  had  scoured  the 
western  wilds,  with  true  Scottish  enterprise  to  the  Arctic 
and  the  Pacific,  to  submit  to  what  they  regarded,  justly  or 
unjustly,  as  a  conspiracy  against  their  rights  and  privileges. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.          975 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  not  the  slightest  ground  for 
crediting  the  allegations  made  in  hot-blood  against  the  hon- 
our and  veracity  of  Lord  Selkirk.     Upon  a  calm  review  of 
the  story  as  told  on  each  side,  it  seems  impossible  to  hold 
the  Earl  guilty  of  any  worse  offence  than  that  of  too  great 
eagerness  in  prematurely  pressing  forward  an   enterprise 
purely  honest  and  philanthropic,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned.* 
His  sympathy  with  the  woes  of  the  Highlanders  was,  be- 
yond all  question,  deep,  hearty  and  sincere,  and  it  must  have 
been  no  ordinary  love  of  his  fellows  which  induced  him,  to 
take  his  faithful  and  affectionate  wife  from  the  comforts  of 
home  civilization,  and  travel  along  with  her  to  the  far-dis- 
tant prairies  of  the  west,  solely  to  be  with  his  poorer  coun- 
trymen to  advise  them,  to  stimulate,  to  admonish,  and  to  en- 
courage.    All  his  writings,  public  and  private,  breathe  the 
same  spirit  of  broad  humanity  and  brotherly  kindness ;  and 
so  far  as  appears,  although  he  was  too  high-spirited  to  sub- 
mit to  insult,  he  was  not   implacable  in   his   resentments. 
When  his  task  was  at  length  accomplished,  he  only  retired, 
whilst  yet  in  his  prime,  to  yield  up  his  life  under  a  milder 
sky.     He  died  at  Pau,  in  the  south  of  France,  aged  forty -six, 
in  the  year  1320.f     To  this  slight  view  of  the  Earl's  char- 
acter, may  be  added  the  fact  that  so  early  as  1803,  his  Lord- 
ship figured  as  a  promoter  of  Highland  colonization.      In 

*  See  an  admirable  summing  up  of  the  case  for  and  against  his  Lordship  in  ROM'S  Bed 
River  Settlement,  pp.  16-20. 

t  In  a  letter,  dated  from  Montreal,  Dec.  1st,  1815,  lent  to  the  writer  by  Mr.  W.  J.  Macdonell, 
his  Lordship  gives  ample  proof  both  of  his  shrewd  intelligence  in  choosing  his  settlers,  and 
his  willingness  to  share  all  their  hardships  and  dangers.  A  sentence  or  two  must  suffice  :— 
"  I  propose  early  next  spring  to  go  up  with  these  people  myself,  which  may  serve  as  an 
answer  to  any  one  who  apprehends  danger  from  tho  Indians  ;  I  think  these  men  will  te 
i-atisfled  when  they  know  that  they  will  be  exposed  to  no  danger,  but  such  as  I  must  share 

with  ihein."    MS.  Letter  addrewd  to  31  r.  Wm.  Jotinnon  Macdor.elL 


976  THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

that  year,  "he  carried  over  to  Prince  Edward  Island  an  im- 
portant colony  of  800  Highlanders.  He  made  the  necessary 
arrangements  with  so  much  judgment  that  the  settlers  soon 
became  very  prosperous,  an<J  with  the  friends  who  have  since 
joined  them,  now  (1840)  amount  to  upwards  of  4,033."  * 

It  is  somewhat  difficult  to  disentangle  the  truth  from  the 
contradictory  accounts  given  by  the  rival  interests  of  the 
struggle  which  ensued  after  the  landing  of  Lord  Selkirk's 
settlers.  It  may  be  remarked  here  that  most  of  the  modern 
writers  on  Red  River  history  take  part  with  his  Lordship, 
and  therefore,  it  may  be  as  well  to  give  their  version  of  the 
story  first.  Mr.  Miles  Macdonell,  Governor  of  Assiniboia, 
arrived,  as  already  stated,  at  the  Forks,  in  1812,  with  his 
"  first  brigade,"  and  they  were  at  once  met  by  unmistakable 
signs  of  hostility.  How  far  these  menaces  were  carried,  or 
who  the  parties  were  that  threatened  the  settlers,  is  not  very 
clear.  Ballantyne  states  that  the  Indians  were  friendly ; 
Hargrave  alleges  that  they  were  hostile ;  and  Ross  seems  to 
be  of  opinion  that  many  of  them  were  disguised  servants  of 
the  North- West  Company,  f  Well-nigh  overcome  with  fa-- 
ticnie  and  starvation,  they  consented  to  accept  their  enemies 
as  a  convoy,  and  to  remove  to  Pembina.  Some  childish 

*  An  Historical  and  Descriptive  account  of  British  Americ%,  by  Hugh  Murray,  F.R.S.E. 
(American  Edition,  1856),  vol.  ii.  p.  95. 

t  Ballantyne  :  Hudson's  Bay,  p.  99.  Hargrave  :  Red  River,  p.  74.  Ross  :  Red  River 
Settlement,  p.  21.  From  the  last-mentioned  author  the  following  may  be  quotsd  :  "  But  a 
few  hours  had  passed  over  their  heads  in  the  land  of  their  adoption  when  an  array  of  armed 
men,  of  grotesque  mould,  painted,  disfigured,  and  dressed  in  the  savage  costume  of  the 
country,  warned  them  that  they  were  unwelcome  visitors.  These  crested  warriors,  for  the 
most  part,  were  emplojes  of  the  North- West  Company,  and  as  their  peremptory  mandate 
to  depart  was  soon  aggravated  by  the  fear  of  perishing,  through  want  of  food,  it  was  re- 
solved to  seek  refuge  at  Pembina,  seventy  miles  distant,  whither  a  straggling  party,  whom 
they  first  took  to  be  Indians,  promised  to  conduct  them.  Lord  Selkirk,  in  his  "Memorial" 
to  the  Duke  of  Richmond  (p.  4)  does  not  hesiiate  to  affirm  that  these  troubles  were  caused 
by  the  North-West  Company,  who  succeeded  in  an  attempt  "  to  excite  the  Jealousy  o'  the 
Indians." 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.  97f 

practical  jokes  were  played  upon  them  en  route,  but  no  real 
harm  done,  and  they  reached  Pembina  in  safety.  Here  the 
new  settlers  lived  in  huts  or  tents  during  the  winter,  their 
food  being  the  product  of  the  chase.  The  Indians  proved 
friendly,  and  when,  in  May  1813,  the  settlers  again  set  out 
for  the  colony,  they  left  their  red  friends  with  regret,  con- 
vinced that  they  would  not  be  hostile  to  white  strangers,  if 
left  to  themselves.  In  1813,  the  Kildonan  settlement  con- 
tained one  hundred  persons.  In  June,  1814,  fifty  more 
arrived,  and  in  the  following  September,  they  amounted  to 
two  hundred.  From  the  commencement  of  the  winter  of 
1814-15  the  colony  was  unmolested;  the  Indians  became 
friendly,  but  the  Metis,  Bois  Brute's,  or  French  half-breeds, 
were  sullen  and  disobliging.  According  to  the  "  Statement" 
already  quoted,  attempts  had  been  made  during  all  this  time 
"  to  instigate  the  natives  against  the  settlers,"  but  as  that 
plan  did  not  succeed,  more  incisive  measures  were  adopted. 
The  growth  of  the  settlement,  and  the  anticipated  arrival  of 
eighty  or  ninety  additional  emigrants  from  the  Highlands 
precipitated  matters.  In  the  summer  of  1814,  an  annual 
meeting  was  held  of  the  North -West  Company's  partners  at 
Fort  William,  at  which  it  was  resolved  to  destroy  the  Sel- 
kirk settlement,  Messrs.  Duncan  Cameron  and  Alexander 
Macdonell  being  specially  detailed  to  put  the  scheme  in 
execution.*  They  arrived  in  due  time  at  the  Forks,  and  es- 

*  The  following  letter,  written  by  Mr.  Alex.  Macdonell  to  a  gentleman  in  Montreal,  is 
quoted  in  the  "Statement"  p.  11:-"  You  see  myself  and  our  mutual  friend,  Mr.  Cameron, 
so  far  on  our  way  to  commence  open  hostilities  against  the  enemy  in  Red  River.  Much  is 
exjxsctcd  from  us,  if  we  believe  some— perhaps  too  much.  One  thing  is  certain,  that  we  will 
do  our  best  to  defend  what  we  consider  to  be  our  rights  in  the  interior.  Something  serious 
will  undoubtedly  take  place.  Nothing  but  the  complete  downfall  of  the  colony  will  satisfy 
some,  by  fair  or  foul  means— a  most  desirable  end  if  it  can  be  accomplished.  So  here  Ls  at 
them  with  all  my  heart  and  energy."  Mr.  Alex.  Vacdonell's  version  of  the  whole  affair 
will  be  given  presently. 


<)78          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

tablished  themselves  at  Fort  Gibraltar,  which  was  the  North- 
West  Company's  post  there.  Mr.  Cameron  is  represented  as 
the  active  spirit  in  the  movement — as  ingratiating  himself 
with  the  Highlanders,  talking  Gaelic  with  them,  and  excit- 
ing their  apprehensions  by  false  stories  of  Indian  hostility. 
He  is  also  charged  with  calling  himself  a  captain  in  the 
Voyageur  Corps  which  had  been  disbanded  two  years  before. 
The  proposition  was  made  on  behalf  of  the  North- West 
Company,  to  give  the  settlers  a  free  passage  to  Canada  (gen- 
erally to  Montreal),  a  twelvemonths'  provisions  gratis  for 
themselves  and  their  families,  an  allotment  of  two  hundred 
acres  of  land,  and  every  other  encouragement  they  could 
hope  for.*  This  strategy  proved,  to  a  considerable  extent, 
successful,  but  the  colony  still  remained,  although  depleted 
in  population.  Lord  Selkirk  had  provided  some  small  pieces 
of  artillery  and  other  arms,  in  case  of  attack,  and  the  first 
step  was  to  obtain  possession  of  these.  Accordingly  Mr. 
Cameron  sent  a  peremptory  missive  ordering  them  as  "Cap- 
tain, Yoyageur  Corps,"  to  be  surrendered.^  Failing  this,  an 
armed  party,  which  had  been  lying  in  ambush,  rushed  into 
the  Governor's  House,  whilst  the  fortnightly  allowance  of 
provisions  was  being  served  out,  seized  the  guns,  and  car- 
ried them  off  in  triumph  to  the  North- West  depot.  This 
was  the  signal  for  open  rupture  between  the  settlers  who 

*  Statement,  p.  16.    Lord  Selkirk's  Memorial,  p.  5. 

t  1  his  missive,  addresser!  to  Mr.  Archibald  Macdonald,  acting  in  the  absence  of  Mr.  Miles 
Macdonell,  ran  thus:  "As  your  field-pieces  have  already  been  employed  to  disturb  the 
peace  of  His  Majesty's  loyal  subjects  in  this  quarter,  and  even  to  stop  up  the  King's  high- 
way, I  have  authorized  the  settlers  to  take  possession  of  them,  and  to  bring  them  over 
here,  not  with  a  view  to  make  any  hostile  use  of  them,  but  merely  to  put  them  out  of 
harm's  way.  Therefore,  I  expect  that  you  will  not  be  so  wanting  to  yourself  as  to  attempt 
any  useless  resistance,  as  no  one  wishes  to  do  you  or  any  of  your  people  any  harm."  State- 
tM«nl,  p.  19. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         979 

had  resolved  to  remain,  and  those  who  had  closed  with  the 
offers  of  the  North-West  Company,  and  the  latter  went  off 
with  the  Government  muskets,  the  arms  Lord  Selkirk  had 
provided,  and  his  implements  of  husbandry     At  this  time 
Mr.  Miles  Macdonell  returned,  and  was  met  by  a  warrant 
issued  on  the  information  of  one  of  the  partners  of  the 
Company,  Mr.  Norman  McLeod,  charging  him  with  feloni- 
ously taking  a  quantity  of  provisions,  the  Company's  pro- 
perty.    The  Governor  refused  to  acknowledge  its  validity, 
and  events  began  to  assume  a  serious  turn.     Mr.  Alexander 
Macdonell  brought  down  a  number  of  Cree  Indians,  and 
these,  with  the  half-breeds  and  North- West  servants,  pre- 
pared an  attack.    Most  of  the  settlers  abandoned  the  colony 
and  formed  a  camp  down  the  river.    On  Sunday,  June  llth 
(Statement,  p.  25),  muskets  were  served  out  of  the  stores  to 
the  Company's  servants,  and  soon  after  the  force  fired  from 
a  neighbouring  wood,  upon  passers-by.     The  surrender  of 
Mr.  Miles  Macdonell  was  demanded,  and  he,  to  save  the 
effusion  of  blood,  voluntarily  surrendered,  and  was  carried 
off  to  Montreal  to  be  tried,  although  no  trial  ever  took  place. 
Finally,  towards  the  end  of  June,  1815,  the  colony  was  com- 
pletely brken  up,  and  the  remaining  settlers  escorted  by 
friendly  Indians  to  a  trading-post  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany at  the  other  end  of  Lake  Winnipeg.   On  the  following 
day  the  North- West  Company's  servants  "  fired  the  houses, 
the  mill   and   other   buildings,   and  burned   them  to   the 
ground."     A  large  portion  of  the  "  Statement "  is  taken  up 
with  evidence  that,  although  the  Company  attempted  to 
throw  the  blame  of  this  raid  exclusively  upon  the  Indians, 

it  was  planned,  executed,  and  afterwards  applauded,  and  its 

4 


080          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

chief  agents  rewarded  by  them.  To  this  statement  of  the- 
Red  River  case  may  be  added  a  few  additional  points  urged 
by  Mr.  Ross.*  He  alleges  that  the  ire  of  the  North-West 
Company  was  excited  by  a  proclamation,  issued  by  Gover- 
nor Miles  Macdonell  in  1814,  which  forbade  the  appropria- 
tion of  provisions  of  all  sorts  for  any  use  but  that  of  the 
colonists.  This,  it  is  urged,  was  necessary  as  a  precaution 
against  famine,  and  was  provoked  by  the  treatment  the 
emigrants  had  received  at  Churchill.  •  From  that  moment, 
pillage  and  violence  were  the  order  of  the  day  on  both  sides ; 
"  provisions  were  taken  and  retaken,"  and  affairs  went  from 
bad  to  worse,  until  the  struggle  culminated  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  infant  colony  after  a  series  of  encounters  in 
which  several  persons  were  wounded,  Mr.  "Warren  killed, 
and  Governor  Macdonell  made  prisoner. 

It  is  now  time  to  turn  to  the  other  side  of  the  story,  as  it 
is  detailed  by  Mr.  Alexander  Macdonell  in  his  "  Narrative." 
He  asserts  that  Lord  Selkirk  and  and  his  coadjutors  were 
from  the  first  hostile  to  the  North- West  Company,  and  fel- 
low conspirators,  with  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  against  it. 
So  far  from  its  being  true  that  he  and  his  fellow-partners 
were  unkind  to  the  settlers,  Mr.  Macdonell  says  that  he 
pitied  the  poor  people  who  had  passed  such  a  severe  season 
of  cold  and  want,  and  supplied  them  with  provisions  from 
the  stores.  He  declares  that  Mr.  Miles  Macdonell  was  not 
satisfied  with  what  he  saw  at  the  Forks,  and  that  he  volun- 
tarily made  choice  of  Pembina  as  his  head-quarters ;  that  he 
assisted  his  namesake  with  advice  as  to  the  erection  of 
buildings  ;  and  frequently  supplied  his  people  with  provis- 

*  Red  Hirer  Settlement,  pp.  24-29. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.          981 

ions  frem  the  stores.  He  affirms  further,  that,  so  far  from 
inciting  the  Indians,  who  were  enraged  at  what  they  consid- 
ered the  intrusion  of  the  settlers,  he  endeavoured  to  appease 
them.  The  movement  to  Pembina  Mr  Macdonell  represents 
as  a  necessity,  however  the  colonists  found  it  impossible  to 
snbsist  at  the  Forks.  He  charges  Mr.  Miles  Macdonell  with 
trading,  though  one  Frangois  Delorme,  in  peltries  with  the 
natives,  "  contrary  to  his  own  repeated  and  voluntary  pro- 
fessions of  not  interfering  with  the  Far  Trade.* 

Mr.  Miles  Macdonell  is  there  accused  ot  base  ingratitude. 
So  soon  as  the  winter  was  at  an  end,  the  Governor  is  repre- 
sented as  trying  to  pick  a  quarrel  with  the  company,  be- 
cause he  knew  they  were  embroiled  with ,  the  Americans, 
and  also  because  he  thought  he  could  now  be  independent 
of  their  assistance.  After  the  removal  from  the  Forks  in 
May,  both  Mr.  Alexander  Macdonell  and  the  Hon.  William 
McGillivray  continued  to  aid  the  colonists  in  every  way.  In 
1814,  news  having  arrived  of  the  capture  of  the  British  fleet 
on  Lake  Erie  in  September  of  the  previous  year,  Mr.  Miles 
Macdonell,  according  to  the  "  Narrative,"  aimed  a  deadly 
blow  at  the  Company  by  the  proclamation  already  mention- 
ed. The  traders  were  alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  being  cut 
off  from  Canada  by  the  Americans,  and  this  step  on  the  part 
of  the  Governor  increased  their  embarrassment.  At  the 

*  To  this  the  author  adds  :  "  I  mention  this  circumstance,  not  because  we  had  any  right 
to  object  to  Lord  Selkirk's  agents  carrying  on  the  fur  trade  although  they  mi  (lit  have  ab- 
stained from  opposing  us  at  the  particular  place  and  moment  when  we  were  straining  every 
nerve  to  feed,  protect  and  support  the  wretched  emigrants  who  had  been  deluded  by  the 
falsehoods  published  in  Great  Britain,  to  leave  their  homes  on  this  desperate  undertaking, 
but  because  I  have  heard  it  stated  that  his  Lordship  views  were  completely  and  entirely 
unconnected  with  objects  of  trade  ;  whereas  they  have  always  appeared  to  us  in  the  coun- 
try, from  the  measures  adopted  since  his  Lordship's  connection  with  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company,  as  the  principal  inducement  that  led  to  that  connectkn.— Narrative,,  <£«.  pp. 
11,  12. 


!>82          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

same  time  he  is  charged  with  seducing  some  of  the  North- 
West  clicks,  notably  one  Aulay  McAulay,  who  told  the  men 
under  him  the  Governor  was  appointed  by  a  great  lord,  and 
that  if  he  ordered  it,  the  settlers  had  a  right  to  demand  the 
Company's  provisions.  There  were  spies  in  every  fort,  and 
the  Govemer  is  charged  with  the  design  of  seizing  all  the 
Company's  stores  and  provisions.  He  is  charged  further 
with  planting  his  cannon  on  the  river,  with  a  view  of  inter- 
cepting and  plundering  two  bateaux  laden  with  provisions. 
Not  content  with  that  he  obstructed  the  highroad,  took  as 
prisoners  Canadian  hunters  and  half-breeds  quietly  pursuing 
their  ordinary  avocations.  And  so  on  runs  the  "  Narrative" 
of  Mr.  Alexander  Macdonell  over  a  long  list  of  grievances 
and  outrages  it  is  not  necessary  to  give  in  detail. 

The  dispersion  of  the  Colony  in  1815,  the  author  of  this 
brochure  lays  entirely  at  the  door  of  th'e  Governor.  He 
affirms  that  on  the  10th  of  June — and  this  was  only  the  last 
of  many  similar  unprovoked  attacks — a  party  of  Half-breeds 
returning  to  their  camp  were  assailed  wantonly  by  the  colo- 
nists and  Hudson  Bay  Company's  servants.  They  replied 
by  firing  a  volley,  and  were  only  kept  from  perpetrating  a 
general  massacre,  by  Mr.  Alexander  Macdonell's  expostula- 
tions. He  solemnly  denies  that  either  he  or  Mr.  Donald 
Cameron  had  anything  to  do  with  the  attack.  He  admits 
that  some  of  Mr.  Cameron's  men  dug  a  closer  ditch  round 
the  settlement ;  but  that  was  only  to  protect  those  detailed 
to  serve  the  warrant  on  Mr.  Miles  Macdonell,  from  the  fire 
of  the  colonists.  His  conclusion,  so  far  as  the  affair  of  1815 
is  concerned,  seems  to  be  briefly  condensed  in  one  paragraph 
(p.  39) : — "  The  burning  of  some  buildings  afterwards,  and 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.  983 

the  dispersion  of  the  few  settlers  who  remained,  were  entirely 
the  acts  of  the  injured  and  irritated  Half-breeds,  who  now 
considered  the  colony  as  hostile  to  their  tranquillity." 

To  return  now  to  the  statement  issued  by  the  Selkirk 
party.  So  soon  as  quiet  was  restored,  the  settlers  who  had 
removed  to  Lake  Winnipeg,  with  a  dogged  persistence  char- 
acteristic of  their  race,  made  their  way  back  to  their  lands 
and  made  preparations  for  re-establishing  the  colony.  Dur- 
ing the  previous  year  vague  rumours  had  reached  Lord  Sel- 
kirk of  impending  danger  to  the  settlement  from  the  Indians. 
He  immediately  set  out  to  support  the  settlers  by  his  pre- 
sence, and  had  reached  New  York,  when  he  received  intel- 
ligence of  "  the  dispersion  of  the  colonists  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  settlement."  On  his  Lordship's  arrival  at  Mont- 
real, he  "ascertained  that  the  Indians  had  not  been  at  the 
bottom  of  the  troubles ;  he  found  that  those  settlers  who  had 
confided  in  the  promises  of  the  North-West  Company  had 
been  deceived  ;  and  learning  that  the  other  settlers  had  re- 
turned to  Kildonan,  he  despatched  a  letter  promising  his 
presence  and  assistance.  His  messenger,  however,  was  way- 
laid and  robbed  of  his  papers.  The  Earl's  next  step  was  to 
endeavour  to  procure  from  Sir  Gordon  Drummond,  the  Ad- 
ministrator of  the  Government  of  Canada  from  1811  to  1810, 
a  small  military  force  for  the  protection  of  the  colony,  but 
without  success.  In  the  spring  of  1816,  affairs  having  again 
assumed  a  threatening  aspect,  a  second  application  was  made 
with  no  better  result.*  The  Administrator  appears  to  have 
thought,  probably  with  justice,  that  there  had  been  faults 

*  A  lengthy  correspondence  took  place  between  the  Earl  and  his  Excellency  which  will 
be  found  in  the  Statement  pp.  53-57  . 


084          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

on  both  sides,  and  he  was  backed  by  Lord  Bathurst,  the 
Colonial  Secretary,  in  refusing  to  interpose.  Lord  Selkirk 
protested  that  the  outrages  had  not  been  "  mutual,"  as  had 
been  alleged,  "  but  all  on  one  side,"  and  urged  upon  the  au- 
thorities the  imminent  danger  there  was  of  bloodshed ;  but 
in  vain.  Sir  Gordon  Drummond  disbelieved  the  Earl's  ver- 
sion of  the  story,  made  light  of  his  apprehensions,  and  plainly 
took  the  Company's  part.* 

The  indefatigable  founder  of  Red  River  settlement  being 
thus  thrown  upon  his  own  resources,  at  once  began  to  collect 
an  efficient  band  of  settlers,  with  a  view,  at  the  same  time 
"  of  materially  adding  to  its  strength  and  security,"  he  en- 
listed in  its  service,  and  supplied  with  arms,  about  a  hundred 
disbanded  officers  and  soldiers  who  had  served  in  the  Amer- 
ican war.  He  had  only  reached  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  with 
his  men,  when  his  advance  party  fell  back  with  the  intelli- 
gence that  a  massacre  had  taken  place,  and  that  the  settle- 
ment was,  for  the  second  time,  broken  up.  Under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  the  settlers  had  been 
brought  back  a  distance  of  three  hundred  miles  from  the 
north  end  of  Lake  Winnipeg  to  Kildonan.  At  this  juncture 
a  fresh  body  of  Highlanders  arrived  by  way  of  Hudson  Bay, 
and,  as  Mr.  Ross  remarks,-f  "  gloomy  and  portentous  was 
the  prospect  before  them.  The  smoky  ruins,  the  ashes 
scarcely  yet  cold,  were  all  that  remained  to  mark  the  progress 

*  In  a  letter  to  the  Montreal  partners,  his  Secretary,  Col.  Harvey  was  instructed  to  say 
that  his  queries  had  been  "  answered  in  such  a  way  by  Mr.  McQilli vray  in  such  a  manner 
as  would  have  removed  from  his  Excellency's  mind  all  traces  of  any  impression  unfavour- 
able to  the  honourable  character,  and  liberal  principles  of  the  North-West  Company,  had 
any  such  impression  existed,"  pp.  55,  56.  The  Hon.  Mr.  McOillivray  was  at  this  time  a 
member  cf  the  Lower  Canada  Executive  Council— a  sworn  adviser  of  Sir  Gordon,  and  in  his 
confidence. 

\Red  River  Settlement,  p.  32. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERLOA.          985 

of  their  unfortunate  predecessors,  and  from  the  gensral  ap- 
pearance of  things  around  them,  they  had  but  little  reason 
to  expect  a  better  fate."  The  arrival  of  this  new  batch  of 
immigrants,  as  well  as  the  return  of  the  old  settlers,  natu- 
rally re-kindled  the  strife  of  the  former  year.  The  colonists 
were  allowed  no  rest ;  in  place  of  quietly  settling  upon  the 
lands  allotted,  they  were  harassed  and  driven  to  Pembina, 
to  prairie  lands  on  the  Missouri,  or  to  the  shores  of  the  great 
lakes.  Still  a  remnant  clung,  with  desperate  pertinacity  to 
the  Red  River,  and  it  seemed  necessary  to*  take  strong  mea- 
sures to  dislodge  them.  If  the  "  statement "  is  to  be  believed, 
the  complicity  of  the  North-West  proprietors  and  servants 
in  these  untoward  events  is  clear.*  In  spite  of  all  their  pro- 
testations to  the  contrary,  it  is  quite  evident  that  all  the 
dependents  of  this  Company  rejoiced  at  the  assembling  of 
the  Bois  BruUs,  and  that  some  of  them  instigated  it.  One 
clerk,  Cuthbert  Grant,  himself  a  Half-breed,  wrote,  "  The 
Half-breeds  of  Fort  des  Prairies  and  English  River  are  all  to 
be  here  in  the  spring,  it  is  to  be  hoped  we  shall  come  off 
with  flying  colours,  and  never  see  any  of  them  again  in  the 
colonizing  way  at  Red  River "  (p.  73).  The  affidavits  of 
Painbrun  and  Blondeau  (Append,  p.  xxxiii.  and  xliv.),  if  they 
are  not  rank  perjury,  distinctly  fasten  the  charge  of  collect- 
ing the  Half-breeds  upon  Alexander  Macdonell,  Norman 

*  The  following  passage  in  a  letter  written  by  Mr.  Alex.  Macdouell  from  river  Qu'Appello 
4o  Mr.  Duncan  Cameron  at  the  Forks  is  quoted  ;  it  bears  date  13th  of  March,  1816  :  "  I  re 
mark  with  pleasure  the  hostile  proceedings  of  our  neighbours,  I  say  pleasure,  because  the 
more  they  do,  the  more  justice  we  will  have  on  our  side.  A  storm  is  gathering  in  the 
North  ready  to  burst  on  the  rascals  who  deserve  it ;  little  do  they  know  their  situation. 
La,->t  year  was  but  a  joke.  The  nation  under  their  leaders  are  coming  forward  to  clear  their 
native  soil  of  intruders  and  assassins.  Glorious  news  from  Athabasca,"  p.  71.  The  "  glo- 
rious news  "  was  an  unfounded  rumour  that  a  band  of  H  idson  K  u  Company's  traders  iu 
Athabasca,  had  almost  perished  from  jtarvation,  and  had  bjeu  compelled  to  resort  to  can- 
nibaliam,  p.  72. 


086          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

McLeod,  Alexander  Mackenzie,  John  Duncan  Campbell,  and 
John  Macdonald  of  the  North- West  Company.  The  first- 
named  on  the  other  hand,  pronounces  these  affidavits  abso- 
lutely false  and  accuses  Lord  Selkirk  of  being  guilty  of 
subornation  of  perjury. 

Governor  Semple,  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  arrived 
at  Red  River  in  the  spring  of  1816.  In  April,  he  sent  Mr. 
Pambruri  to  the  Hudson  Bay  post  on  the  Qu'Appelle ;  when 
he  arrived,  he  found  the  "  Bruits  "  collected  in  force  at  the 
adjacent  fort  of  the  North- West  Company.  On  the  12th  of 
May,  whilst  proceeding  down  the  river  with  a  large  quan- 
tity of  furs  and  pemican,  the  property  was  seized  and  the 
crews  made  prisoners,  as  Pambrun  affirms,  by  the  order  of 
Mr.  Alex.  Macdonell — an  order  which  he  did  not  hesitate  to 
avow.  The  same  party,  reinforced  by  others,  in  all  about 
seventy,  set  out  to  attack  Red  River ;  and  on  the  20th  of 
June  a  messenger  came  in  from  its  leader,  Cuthbert  Grant, 
"  who  reported  that  his  party  had  killed  Governor  Semple 
with  five  of  his  officers,  and  sixteen  of  his  people;  upon 
which  Macdonell,  Seraphim  Lamar,  and  all  the  other  officers, 
shouted  with  joy."*  The  unfortunate  Governor  was  on  the 
point  of  returning  from  Red  River  to  York  Factory  when  he 
met  his  death.  He  had  received  information  of  the  intended 
assault  from  two  Cree  Indians  who  had  escaped  from  the 
attacking  party,  and  took  some  precautions  against  a  sur- 
prise. On  the  19th  of  June,  according  to  Mr.  Pritchard,  who 
escaped,  tidings  were  brought  of  the  approach  of  the  half- 

'  The  writer  of  the  "  Statement "  (p.  79)  goes  on  to  say  :  "  Macdonell  then  went  to  the 
rest  of  the  men  who  had  remained  with  him,  and  announced  to  them  the  news  in  language 
(as  sworn  to  by  Mr.  Pambrun)  which  we  will  not  attempt  to  translate  :  "  Sacre  nom  de  Dieu  ! 

Bonnes  nouvelles  !    Vingt-deux  Anglois  de  tu6s  !  "    "Good  news,  twenty-two  English 

killed." 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.          98T 

breeds.  The  Governor  presuming,  naturally,  that  they  were- 
about  to  attack  the  settlement,  said,  "  We  must  go  out  and 
meet  these  people ;  let  twenty  men  follow  me."  Finding 
the  half-breeds  more  numerous  than  he  had  supposed  them 
to  be,  he  ordered  out  a  field-piece.  The  enemy,  on  horseback, 
had  their  "  faces  painted  in  the  most  hideous  manner,  and 
in  the  dresses  of  Indian  warriors,  they  came  forward  and 
surrounded  us  in  the  form  of  a  half-moon."^  Both  parties 
were  now  on  what  was  known  as  Frog  Plain,  between  Fort 
Douglas  and  Kildonan.  Governor  Semple  called  out,  "What 
do  you  want  ?  "  The  answer  was,  "  We  want  our  fort !  " 
to  which  the  Governor  rejoined,  "  Go  to  your  fort."  Both 
Boucher,  the  half-breed  spokesman,  and  Mr.  Semple  were 
close  together  by  this  time,  and  Pritchard  failed  to  catch, 
what  followed.  The  Governor,  however,  laid  his  hand  on. 
Boucher's  arm,  and  immediately  shots  were  fired  on  both 
sides,  though  which  began  the  murderous  work  seems  inde- 
terminable. "  With  the  exception  of  myself,"  says  Pritch- 
ard, "  no  quarter  was  given  to  any  of  us.  The  knife,  axe  or 
ball,  put  a  period  to  the  existence  of  the  wounded ;  and  on 
the  bodies  of  the  dead  were  practised  all  those  horrible  bar- 
barities which  characterize  the  inhuman  heart  of  the  savage. 
The  amiable  and  mild  Mr.  Semple,  lying  on  his  side  (his 
thigh  was  broken),  and  supporting  his  head  upon  his  hand  " 
(p.  84),  asked  Mr.  Cuthbert  Grant  to  try  and  get  him  to  the 
fort,  as  he  was  not  mortally  wounded.  The  unfortunate 
gentleman  was  left  in  charge  of  a  Canadian,  who  afterwards 
told  how  an  Indian  came  up  and  shot  the  Governor  through 
the  breast.  Out  of  a  band  of  twenty-eight,  twenty-one 


Pritchard  s  testimony  in  the  "  Statement,"  p.  82,  83. 


088          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

were  killed  and  one  wounded.  It  is  unnecessary  to  attempt 
an  analysis  of  the  trials  which  subsequently  took  place  at 
York,  now  Toronto,  in  October  and  November,  1818.  Paul 
Brown  and  F.  F.  Boucher  were  indicted  for  murder,  John 
Siveright,  Alexander  Mackenzie,  Hugh  McGillis,  John  Mac- 
donald,  John  McLaughlin,  and  Simon  Fraser  as  accessories, 
and  John  Cooper  and  Hugh  Bannerman  for  stealing  field- 
pieces,  the  property  of  the  Earl  of  Selkirk.  All  the  prison- 
ers were  acquitted  by  the  juries  which  tried  their  respective 
cases.  Finally,  at  a  Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer  held  at 
Quebec,  by  Chief  Justice  Sewell,  on  the  2Gth  October,  1819, 
"  appointed  for  the  investigation  of  cases  from  the  Indian 
Territories,"  Arch.  McLeod,  Simon  Fraser,  James  Leith,  Alex. 
Macdonell,  Hugh  McGillis,  Arch.  McLellan,  and  John  Sive- 
right, of  the  North-West  Company,  "  who  were  under  accu- 
sation by  the  Earl  of  Selkirk,  as  private  prosecutor,  for 
great  crimes  and  offences  "  appeared  and  demanded  a  trial, 
"  which  they  could  not  obtain  because  the  private  prosecu- 
tor was  not  ready."* 

Mr.  Alexander  Macdonell,  in  his  Narrative,  points  tri- 
umphantly to  the  result  of  the  York  trials,  and  urges  the 
prompt  acquittal  of  all  the  prisoners  as  strong  proof  that 
the  Company  and  its  servants  were  not  to  bl&me.  These 
proceedings  were  certainly  conducted  with  great  patience 
and  the  strictest  regard  to  justice,  and  the  juries  could 
hardly  have  come  to  any  other  verdicts  considering  the 
mass  of  conflicting  evidence  laid  before  them.  Only  one 
thing  seems  certain,  amidst  a  maze  of  bewildering  uncer- 
tainty, and  that  is  that  the  French  half-breeds,  at  all  events , 

Report  oj  the  Proceedings,  &c.,  from  minutes  taken  in  Court.    Montreal,  1819. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.          989 

had  very  little  regard  for  the  sanctity  of  an  oath.  There 
was  a  great  deal  of  false  swearing,  doubtless,  on  both 
sides;  and  an  impartial  reader  can  hardly  fail  to  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  both  sides  were  grievously  in  the  wrong 
from  the  first.  A  large  number  of  exceedingly  arbitrary 
acts  are  charged  against  Mr.  Miles  Macdonell  and  his  party 
in  the  Narrative,  and  their  mode  of  administering  such  gov- 
ernmental and  judicial  powers  as  they  claimed  to  possess 
was,  beyond  question,  harsh  and  arbitrary  at  times.  Still 
the  apology  offered  in  the  Preface  of  the  Narrative  is,  to 
some  extent,  serviceable  for  the  one  party  as  well  as  the 
other.  With  regard  to  the  closing  scene,  Mr.  Alexander 
Macdonell  stoutly  denies  the  party  encountered  so  unhap- 
pily by  Governor  Semple  had  any  hostile  design.  He  states 
that  Cuthbert  Grant's  party  of  half-breeds  were  detailed  by 
him  to  convey  provisions  to  a  point  twelve  miles  or  more 
below  the  Colony  (p.  75).  His  instructions  were  to  proceed 
down  Red  River  to  Passage,  a  place  nine  or  ten  miles  above 
the  settlement,  to  secrete  the  canoes,  load  the  carts  with  the 
provisions,  and  proceed  by  land  to  their  destination.  They 
were  to  behave  "  in  an  orderly  and  peaceful  manner,  avoid- 
ing if  possible,  being  discovered  or  seen  by  the  Hudson  Bay 
people  and  settlers ;  to  keep  at  as  great  a  distance  as  possi- 
ble from  Forts  Gibraltar  and  Douglas ;  to  avoid  the  settle- 
ment in  like  manner,  and  upon  no  account  to  molest  any  of 
the  settlers  "  (p.  76).  Mr.  Macdonell  affirms,  and  points  to 
the  evidence  on  the  trials  in  proof,  that  his  injunctions  were 
strictly  obeyed  by  Grant  and  the  party,  and  the  detour  they 
actually  made  is  indicated  on  a  map  of  the  district.  He 
maintains  that  the  unhappy  events  of  the  19th  of  June  were 


990          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

occasioned  by  an  unprovoked  and  unlocked  for  attack  upon 
Cuthbert  Grant  and  his  people  by  Mr.  Semple  and  his  fol- 
lowers. He  adds  that  "  His  Majesty's  Commissioner,  who 
lately  visited  Red  River,  has  ascertained  by  his  enquiries 
and  examinations,  who  were  the  aggressors  and  assailants  on 
that  deplorable  occasion."  *  It  would  be  useless  as  well  as 
unprofitable,  to  attempt  to  reconcile  these  conflicting 
accounts  or  strike  a  balance  between  them.  Mr.  Ross 
states  thait,  "  in  the  country  where  the  murders  took  place, 
there  has  never  been  a  shadow  of  doubt,  but  rather  a  full 
and  clear  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  the  North-West  party 
did  unquestionably  fire  the  first  shot,  and  almost  all  the 
shots  that  were  fired,"  -f-  but  that  is,  after  all,  a  question  of 
comparatively  little  importance.  Both  parties  were  no  doubt 
excited  beyond  control,  and  the  fatal  issue  was  not  foreseen, 
or  even  desired  by  either  of  them.  Governor  Semple's  ad- 
vance, with  so  small  a  force,  was  certainly  imprudent,  al- 
though it  serves  to  show  that  he  never  conceived  the  san- 
guinary design  attributed  to  him.  The  North-West  Com- 
pany were  unquestionably  hostile  to  the  colony,  and  that  for 
reasons  solid  and  substantial  enough,  apart  from  the  notion 
that  settlement  was  merely  a  mask,  to  cover  rivalry  in  the 
fur-trade.  Colonization  and  the  fur- trade,  as  the  partners 
saw  plainly,  could  not  co-exist  in  the  same  region,  and  the 
North- Westers  only  inaugurated  the  policy  afterwards 

*  Mr.  Alex.  Macdonell,  without  directly  noticing  the  charge  advanced  by  Mr.  Pambrun 
against  himself  personally  (Statement,  p.  79),  quoted  in  a  previous  note,  admits  that  an  ex- 
clamation of  burprise  something  like  that  alleged  may  have  been  uttered,  but  it  must  have 
been  one  of  surprise,  not  of  exultation  (Naivative,  p.  78).  The  "  bonnes  nouvelles,"  good 
news  however,  drop  out ;  and  singularly  enough  Mr.  Macdonell  says  nothing  about  the 
letters  alleged  to  have  been  written  before  the  conflict. 

t  Red  River  Settlement,  pp.  36,  37. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.          991 

adopted  by  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  all  over  the  North- 
West.     Moreover,  some  natural  jealousy  was  excited  at  see- 
ing an  organized  government,  the  title  of  which  was  dis- 
puted, set  up  under  the  auspices  of  the  rival  monopoly  in 
territory  which  the  North-West  Company  had  hitherto  re- 
garded as  peculiarly  their  own.     It  would  appear  that  the 
rule  of  the  first  Governor  was  not  of  a  mild  and  conciliating 
type,  and  that,  on  both  sides,  there  was  an  amount  of  irrita- 
bility and  an  uncomprising  temper  which  boded  ill  for  the 
peace  and  prosperity  of  the  country.     Causes  of  quarrel  na- 
turally arose  day  after  day ;    charges   and  recriminations 
were  exchanged ;  then  followed  arbitrary  arrests,  the  seizure 
of  property,  and  the  obstruction  of  business  and  travel,  until 
the  climax  was  reached  in  the  lamentable  catastrophe  of 
June,  1816.      It  would  not  be  just  to   scan  too  closely,  or 
gauge  by  too  rigid  a  standard  the  moral  character  of  the 
agents  in  these  turbulent  scsnes.      Removed  far  from  the 
comforts,  as  well    as  the  discipline  of  civilized   life,  both 
the  trader  and  the  colonist  are  entitled  to  indulgent  con- 
sideration.    The   toil,  suffering  and   hardship  which  made 
their  daily  lot,  were  stern  tutors  in  whose  curriculum  the 
milder  arts  of  civilization  found  no  place.     In  daily  contact 
with  savages,  and  the  hardly  less  untrustworthy  half-breeds, 
it  was  inevitable  that  they  should  be  affected  by  the  rough 
and  unruly  freedom  of  their  environment.      Between  the 
parties,  there  was  probably  not  much  to  choose  ;  the  burden 
of  responsibility  for  the  unhappy  struggle  of  these  early 
years  can  not  be  adjusted  by  the  men  of  to-day,  and  they 
may  be  well  content  to  forget  the  errors  of  those  early  pio- 
neers in  admiration  for  the  invincible  energy  and  persever- 


902          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

ancc  which  distinguished  those  hardy  Scots  on  both  sides, 
and  secured  for  the  Empire  that  broad  and  priceless  Domi- 
nion which  stretches  from  sea  to  sea. 

It  only  remains  to  gather  the  threads  of  the  narrative, 
up  to  the  final  pacification.  The  commissioner  whose  report 
is  appealed  to  so  triumphantly  by  Mr.  Alex.  Macdonell,  was 
the  Hon.  Wm.  B.  Coltman,  who  like  Mr.  McGillivray,  the 
North-West  partner,  was  a  member  of  the  Executive  Council 
of  Lower  Canada.*  A  report  from  that  source  could  hardly 
be  regarded  as  satisfactory  by  the  colonists,  and  it  is  not 
surprising  to  find  in  the  '  Memorial'  by  Lord  Selkirk,  somo 
severe  strictures  upon  "  His  Majesty's  Commissioner."  He- 
is  charged  with  starting  the  theory  that  the  acts  of  the 
half-breeds  were  only  "  venial  irregularities,"  and  not  "  rob- 
beries, felonies  and  murders,  in  the  usual  acceptation  of 
these  words."^  It  was  not  antecedently  probable  that  a  col- 
league of  Mr.  McGillivray  who  was  himself  concerned  on/ 
one  side  should  find  sufficient  evidence  to  lay  blame  upon: 
the  other  side  ;  but  his  report  is  necessarily  less  satisfactory 
on  that  account,  and  by  no  means  entitled  to  the  weight  Mr. 
Alex.  Macdonell  accords  it. 

Lord  Selkirk  had  lost  his  "  mercenaries"  at  the  Sault  Ste. 
Marie  ;  but  after  sending  a  strong  report  of  the  massacre  to 
Sir  J.  C.  Sherbrooke,  the  Governor  of  Lower  Canada,  he  at 
once  made  his  way  to  Red  River.  A  calm,  comparatively 
speaking,  had  succeeded  the  storm  ;  but  the  affairs  of  the 

*  Major  Fletcher,  Police  Magistrate  and  Chairman  of  Quarter  Sessions  at  Quebec,  was 
also  of  the  Commission  ;  but  he  either  did  not  go  up  to  the  North-West,  or  was  a  cipher. 
All  the  references  in  Lord  Selkirk's  Memorial  are  to  Coltman,  and,  as  already  seen,  Mr. 
Alex.  Macdonell  speaks  of  "  one  Commissioner  only." 

t  Memorial :  pp.  62-68. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.          993 

colony  were  in  a  deplorable  condition.  The  immigrants  had 
been  almost  constantly  in  a  state  of  migration  from  the 
settlement  to  Pembina,  to  the  Missouri,  or  to  Norway'House, 

and  other  forts  or  factories   of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company 

> 

and  back  again.  His  lordship,  it  seems,  set  himself  to  the 
task  of  restoring  order.  He  called  a  meeting  of  the  people, 
"  on  the  west  bank  of  Red  River,  some  two  miles  below  Fort 
Garry,  and  in  consideration  of  the  losses,  hardships,  and  mis- 
fortunes they  had  from  time  to  time  suffered,  he  made  them 
several  concessions."  Those  who  had  lost  all  received  fresh 
grants  of  land  and  immediate  relief.  Buildings  were  erected, 
including  a  mill,  and  an  edifice  which  served  the  double  pur- 
pose of  church  and  school-house.  Roads,  bridges,  &c.,  were 
settled,  and  seed-grain  distributed  to  the  necessitous.  Hav- 
ing thus  started  the  colony,  which  had  cost  him  so  much  in 
means,  as  well  as  anxiety,  once  more  on  the  path  of  progress, 
Lork  Selkirk  took  his  final  leave  of  it,  and  retired  as  we' 
have  seen  to  die  in  a  foreign  land. 

The  settlers  who  had  crops  upon  their  land  met  with  the 
bounteous  return  which  nature  yields  in  that  fertile  region ; 
but,  unfortunately,  too  little  seed  had  been  sown,  and,  as  win- 
ter approached,  rather  than  consume  all,  and  ruin  their  pros- 
pects for  the  next  year,  many  of  the  colonists  again  left  for 
Pembina  to  live  by  the  chase.  There  they  suffered  hardship 
in  another  shape,  but  they  returned  again  to  their  old  homes 
in  the  spring.  The  year  1818  was  an  unfortunate  one,  in 
all  respects.  "  Food  was  scarce,  their  hitherto  precarious  de- 
pendence on  fish,  herbs  and  roots,  became  hopeless,  for  all 

• 

those  failed  ;  and  their  misfortunes  were  crowned  by  an  act 
of  lawless  violence  on  the  part  of  the  North -West  people,  who 


•994          TI1E  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

forcibly  carried  off  Mr.  Sutherland  to  Canada."*  Still  agricul- 
ture began  to  progress  henceforward.  In  July,  1818,  how- 
over,  just  when  the  crops  were  ripening  to  the  harvest,  a 
•cloud  of  grasshoppers  appeared  from  the  west,  darkening  the 
air ;  in  one  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.  This  sudden 
And  unexpected  disaster  was  more  than  they  could  bear. 
The  unfortunate  emigrants,  looking  up  towards  heaven, 
wept."t  There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  return  with  heavy 
hearts  to  Pembina  and  pass  the  winter  there  as  best  they 
could.  Early  in  the  spring  of  1819,  the  hardy  and  perse- 
vering Scots  left  their  families  behind  and  returned  to  sow 
their  land.  They  had  no  seed  save  the  scanty  supply  saved 
by  the  women.  Again  their  hopes  were  blasted,  this  time  by 
the  swarms  produced  from  the  larvae  deposited  in  the  prev- 
ious year.  By  the  latter  end  of  June  the  country  was  cov- 
ered with  them,  for,  "  they  were  produced  in  masses  two, 
three,  and,  in  some  places  near  water,  four  inches  deep.  The 
water  was  poisoned  with  them  Along  the  river  they  were 
to  be  found  in  heaps,  like  sea- weeds,  and  might  be  shovelled 
with  a  spade.  + 

Again  the  land  was  desolated,  and  the  settlers  were  forced 
to  return  to  the  precarious  life  of  Pembina.  There  they  re- 
solved to  provide  seed.  Wheat  in  abundance  at  all  events 
and  men  were  dispatched  to  Prairie  du  Chien  on  the  Missis- 

•  Ross,  p.  47,  Mr.  Sutherland  had  been  ordained  an  Elder  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Scotland,  and,  in  the  absence  of  a  settled  pastor  had  been  specially  licensed  to  celebrate 
marriages,  administer  the  sacraments  and  officiate  at  burials.  Hia  abduction,  therefore, 
was  not  only  an  outrage,  but  a  very  seritms  deprivation  to  the  colony. 

.  48.  }  Ibid.  p.  49. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.          995 

sippi  to  obtain  it.  They  returned  with  250  bushels,  and, 
then,  making  their  way  back  in  flat-boats  to  the  colony ;  the 
settlers  finally  found  rest  there  in  June,  1820.  "  From  that 
day  to  this,"  writes  Mr.  Ross,  in  spite  of  the  grasshoppers 
and  other  evils,  Red  River  has  not  been  without  seed  for 
grain.  The  troubles  of  the  colonists  were  not  yet  over,  but 
a  sufficiently  ample  sketch  of  their  trials  and  struggles  has 
been  given  to  enable  us  to  judge  what  the  Scot  can  do, 
and  endure,  and  has  effected  in  the  heart  of  the  American 
continent.  Should  any  one  be  disposed  to  make  light  of 
the  dogged  perseverance,  the  exhaustless  energy,  the  long- 
suffering  patience  and  thrift  of  the  Scot,  one  has  only  to 
refer  him  to  the  history  of  Red  River  settlement. 

Meanwhile  the  fur  companies  went  on  in  their  ruinous 
career  of  competition  and  rivalry  until  they  had  between 
them  almost  ruined  the  trade,  and  brought  the  treasuries  to 
bankruptcy.  What  with  plots  and  counter-plots  with  the 
Indians,  the  stirring  up  of  the  half-breeds  to  rapine  and  in- 
solence, and  the  constant  overlapping  of  their  operations, 
these  corporations  had  made  the  fur  trade  so  precarious, 
that  it  had  ceased  to  be  profitable.  The  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany pointed  to  its  charter,  and  stigmatized  the  North- 
Westers  as  poachers,  or  at  least  interlopers  upon  their  dor 
main.  The  Montreal  Company  on  the  other  hand  denied 
the  validity  of  the  Charter,  and  pleaded  that  so  far  it  had 
been  virtually  voided  by  non-user.  It  may  be  observed 
that  it  had  periodically  been  a  matter  of  dispute  whether 
the  granting  of  such  a  charter  came  within  the  Royal  Prero- 
gative. The  Company,  at  its  inception,  had  evidently  sup- 
posed that  it  required  parliamentary  sanction,  since  an 
5 


996          THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Act,  which  was  never  renewed,  had  been  passed,  confirming- 
Charles's  grant  for  seven  years  and  no  longer.  In  1749,  a 
bold  attempt  was  made  in  the  House  of  Commons  to  destroy 
the  monopoly  on  the  ground  that  the  Company  had  failed  to 
attempt  the  discovery  of  a  North- West  passage,  but  the  mo- 
tion did  not  prevail.*  Still  the  North- West  Company  had 
certainly  a  right  to  dispute  the  validity  of  so  sweeping  a 
grant,  and  the  contest  then  begun  was  continued  down  to 
the  purchase  of  the  Company's  exclusive  rights  in  1870. 
Meanwhile,  everything  was  in  a  state  of  confusion  and  un- 
certainty, and  both  Companies  were  almost  on  the  verge  of 
bankruptcy,  when,  by  a  lucky  inspiration,  the  plan  of  amal- 
gamation was  devised  and  put  into  execution  in  1821. 

*  Hugh  Murray  :  British.  America,  Vol.  II,,  p.  186. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    UNION   OF   THE    COMPANIES. 

fHE  more  serious  difficulties  of  the  Red  River  settle- 
ment had  now  disappeared  The  importation  of 
seed-wheat,  which  had  cost  Lord  Selkirk  no  less  than 
£1,040  sterling,  and  the  cessation  for  the  time  of  the  grass- 
hopper plague,  had  left  the  colonists  in  greater  ease  and 
contentment  than  they  had  known  in  their  native  land. 
The  prolonged  period  of  suffering  from  that  first  terrible 
winter  at  the  mouth  of  the  Churchill,  the  conflicts,  the 
want  a^nd  the  constant  Sittings  to  and  from  Pembina, 
were  over,  and  the  sturdy  Highlanders  at  last  enjoyed  peace 
and  plenty  in  the  land  of  their  adoption.  But  the  jealous 
rivalry  of  the  Companies  still  raged  with  unabated  viru- 
lence, and  it  speedily  became  evident  that  unless  some 
scheme  of  conciliation  were  devised,  each  of  them  would 
ruin  the  other.  The  Hon.  Mr.  Coltman,  the  commissioner 
referred  to  in  the  last  chapter,  urgently  advocated  a  con- 
solidation of  the  concerns  and  their  interests,  as  the  only 
method  of  improving  the  deplorable  state  of  things  then 
prevailing.  The  strife  so  long  carried  on  was,  says  Mr. 
Murray,  perhaps  the  most  furious  ever  waged  "between 
two  mercantile  bodies,  destructive  alike  to  the  interests  of* 
both,  and  most  demoralizing  to  the  savage  aborigines."* 

'  Hugh  Murray  :  Rrltinh  America,  Vol.  II.  p,  235. 


998          TEE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

The  North- West  Company,  whatever  be  thought  of  its 
somewhat  unscrupulous  eagerness  to  advance  and  extend 
the  trade  it  directed,  was  unquestionably  the  more  enter- 
prising and  adventurous  of  the  two.  Until  the  Montreal 
traders  began  to  appear  in  the  field,  the  Hudson  Bay  peo- 
ple never  made  much  progress  beyond  those  great  inland 
waters  which  were  peculiarly  their  own.  The  North- 
Westers  on  the  other  hand,  struck  at  once  boldly  across 
the  fertile  belt,  and  descended  by  the  Fraser,  the  Thomp- 
son and  tht  Columbia  to  the  Pacific.  They  were  the 
great  explorers  of  British  Columbia,  and  whatever  zeal 
in  the  path  of  discovery  its  rivals  afterwards  displa}^ed, 
was  due  mainly  to  the  new  energy  infused  into  the  body 
corporate  by  their  old  antagonists.  But  the  North-West 
Company  had  attempted  too  much  with  its  limited  capital, 
and  was  no  match  for  the  old  establishment.  The  conse- 
quence was  that  both  parties  were  disposed  to  concur  in 
any  plan  of  coalition,  framed  upon  an  equitable  basis.* 

The  arrangement  by  which  the  Companies  were  united  in 
March,  1821,  was  exceedingly  fair  and  acceptable  to  both 
parties.  The  North- West  made  over  its  property  to  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company,  and  in  return,  the  members  of  the 
former  became  partners,  and  its  servants  taken  into  the  em- 
ployment of  the  consolidated  Company.  The  X.  Y.  Com- 

•*  Mr  Murray  writes :  '  ;At  length  the  North- West  Company,  in  consequence  of  their  over- 
strained exertions,  became  involved  beyond  their  capital;  and  being  obliged  to  yield  to 
their  rivals,  they  obtained  in  1821  an  honourable  capitulation.'1  This  seems  hardly  fair  to 
the  North- West  Company,  for  both  parties  in  fact  capitulated  to  the  invincible  force  of 
*  necessity.  The  same  author  quotes  from  Mr.  Harmon,  a  North-Wes-t  clerk,  some  account 
of  the  extent  of  this  Company's  trade.  Harmon,  who  was  an  American,  crossid  to  the 
Peace  River  and  Athabasca  districts  in  1308.  There  at  Fort  Dunvegan,  he  was  visited  by 
three  of  the  Scottish  pioneers,  Messrs  McLeod,  Fraser  and  Stuart,  "on  tht  ir  way  to  and 
from  the  establishments  lately  formed  by  the  Company  in  Now  Caledonia" — as  it  might 
still  be  cilled — "  on  the  western  side  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.'1  Ibid.  ii.  pp.  199-206. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.          999 

pany  had  combined  with  the  North-West  years  before,  so 
that  now  at  last  there  was  an  end  both  to  rivalry  in  trade 
and  to  deeds  of  rapine  and  violence.  An  Imperial  Act 
was  passed  by  the  Parliament,  at  the  instance  of  Mr.  Ellice 
— a  name  familiar  in  Hudson  Bay  annals — in  which  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  the  new  Company  were  defined  and 
the  territory  east  and  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  not  in- 
cluded in  their  charter  was  granted  for  a  period  of  twenty- 
one  years.*  The  first  Governor  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany after  the  union  was  Mr.  (afterwards  Sir)  George  Simp- 
son, who  filled  that  responsible  office  for  nearly  forty  yeara 
from  1820  until  his  death  in  1860. 

There  were  two  persons,  near  relatives  named  Simpson — 
both  Scotsmen — who  played  a  conspicuous  part  in  the 
North- West.  Thomas  Simpson  was  a  scientific  man  and  an 
explorer  of  no  mean  order,  whose  career  seems  to  deserve 
special  notice  here.  After  the  termination  of  Captain  Back's 
extended  voyage  of  discovery,  Mr.  Dease,  the  chief  factor, 
and  Mr.  Thomas  Simpson,  were  commissioned  by  Governor 
Simpson  to  explore  the  northern  coast  in  1836.  Thomas 
Simpson  had  been  previously  engaged  on  missions  of  a  simi- 
lar description,  and  he  was  now  instructed  to  "  spend  the 
ensuing  winter  at  Fort  Chipewyan  on  Great  Slave  Lake ; 
and  in  the  beginning  of  summer,  five  of  the  party  were  to 
proceed  to  the  north-west  end  of  Great  Bear  Lake  and  there 
prepare  accommodation  and  provisions  for  their  next  winter 
quarters.  The  remainder  were  to  employ  the  favourable 
season  in  descending  the  mouth  of  the  Mackenzie  River, 
and  thence  along  the  coast  until  they  reached  the  point 

*  Hargrove  :  Rtd  River,  p.  79. 


1000        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

where  Captain  Beechey  had  been  arrested."*  Provision 
was  made  for  the  possible  contingency  of  travel  after  aban- 
doning their  boats,  and  at  the  approach  of  winter,  they 
were  to  repair  to  their  winter  quarters  already  in  readiness 
for  them.  In  1838,  the  Coppermine  River  was  to  be  crossed, 
and  the  party  were  to  make  their  way  to  Points  Turnagain 
and  Richardson.  On  the  9th  of  July,  1837,  the  first  part  of 
the  plan  was  accomplished,  when  the  party  reached  the 
Mackenzie  River,  and  on  the  20th  they  arrived  at  Foggy 
Island  Bay,  the  furthest  point  attained  by  Franklin.  Thence- 
forward all  their  progress  was  in  the  path  of  new  discover}'. 
After  finding  a  new  branch  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  their 
path  lay  along  the  shore  which  was  low  and  composed  for 
the  most  part  of  frozen  mud,  on  which  were  seen  the  mouths 
of  several  large  rivers.  At  length,  when  they  could  only 
advance  at  the  rate  of  four  miles  a  day,  the  plan  of  the  party 
was  changed.  Thomas  Simpson,  with  a  party  of  five  men, 
resolved  to  perform  the  rest  of  the  journey  on  foot.  Carry- 
ing with  them  a  portable  canoe  for  crossing  rivers,  they 
made  their  way,  with  the  occasional  assistance  of  an  Esqui- 
maux "  comiak  "  when  they  came  to  a  broad  inlet.  Early 
in  August  they  came  in  sight  of  Point  Barrow.  "  The  ocean, 
extending  to  the  southward,  presented  so  inviting  a  pros- 
pect that,  had  such  been  their  object,  they  would  not  have 
hesitated,  in  their  skin  canoe,  to  have  made  for  Cook's 
Inlet.""f  The  remainder  of  this  Arctic  expedition  was 
equally  fruitful  in  results.  But,  unhappily,  poor  Simpson 
met  his  fate,  not  long  after,  whilst  returning  with  the  valu- 

*  Murray:  British  America,  vol.  ii.  p.  233. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  234. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1001 

able  results  of  his  arduous  labours.  In  the  latter  end  of 
1839  or  early  in  1840,  several  of  a  party  of  Red  River  half- 
breeds,  with  whom  he  had  set  out  with  a  view  of  crossing 

7  O 

the  plains  to  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  returned  to  the  Settlement  and 
stated  that  Mr.  Simpson  had,  in  a  fit  of  insanity,  killed  two 
of  his  men  and  then  shot  himself,  and  that  they  had  buried 
him  on  the  spot  where  he  fell.  The  theory  of  suicide  for 
some  time  prevailed,  but  those  who  knew  the  unhappy  tra- 
veller best  entirely  rejected  the  idea.  His  former  friends 
.and  companions  did  not  hesitate  to  express  their  conviction 
"  that  he  did  not  kill  himself,  and  that  this  was  only  a  false 
report  of  his  murderers."*  He  appears  to  have  been  of  a 
reserved  and  somewhat  haughty  disposition,  and,  on  that 
account,  was  not  liked  by  the  half-breeds,  at  whose  hands, 
in  all  human  probability,  he  met  his  tragic  end. 

George  Simpson  was  born  in  Ross-shire,  in  Scotland ;  but, 
•while  still  a  youth,  he  removed  to  London  where  he  was 
engaged  in  commercial  pursuits  for  nearly  eleven  years. 
The  ability,  shrewdness  and  energy  of  young  Simpson  had 
marked  him  out  for  a  wide  sphere  of  labour,  and  under  a 
far-distant  sky.  In  1819,  when  the  Companies  were  still 
battling  furiously,  Mr.  Simpson  was  invited  to  cast  in  his 
lot  with  the  Hudson  Bay  Company.  Early  in  1820,  there- 
fore, he  sailed  from  England  for  Montreal,  by  way  of  New 
York,  and  in  May  he  was  on  the  road  from  the  Canadian 
city  to  the  North-West.  During  the  winter  of  that  year  he 
was  stationed  at  Lake  Athabasca,  where  he  endured  many 

x  Hudson's  Bay,  pp.  112,  113.  Mr.  lUllantyne  adds:  "  Besides,  it  is  not  probable  th»t  a 
man  who  had  just  succeeded  in  making  important  additions  to  our  geographical  knowledtrc 
»nd  who  might  reasonably  expect  honour  and  remuneration  upon  returning  to  his  native 
land  "  (and  he  was  on  his  way  thither)  would,  without  any  known  or  apparent  cause,  first 
commit  murder  and  then  suicide.  By  his  melancholy  death  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  lost 
a  faithful  servant,  and  the  world  an  intelligent  and  enterprising  man. 


1002        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

hardships  and  privations,  although  he  managed  to  carry  on 
the  rivalry  in  the  fur-trade  with  conspicuous  tact  and 
energy.  The  Ross-shire  lad  of  twelve  years  before  had 
already  made  his  mark,  and  assured  for  himself  future  fame 
and  fortune  ;  and,  when  peace  was  at  last  concluded  by  the 
amalgamation,  Simpson's  talent  had  indicated  him  as  the 
best  man  to  preside  over  the  vast  operatioas  of  the  united 
company.  After  serving  a  short  time  as  Governor  of  the 
Northern  department,  he  received  his  appointment,  and  be- 
came Governor-in-Chief  of  Rupert's  Land,  and  general 
superintendent  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company's  affairs  in 
North  America. 

Mr.  Simpson's  qualifications  for  the  responsible  post  he  so 
long  occupied  were  two-fold.     He  was  a  man  of  consummate 
tact  and  address,  and,  at  once,  S3t  about  healing  up  old 
wounds,  reconciling  discordant  interests,  and  removing  old 
prejudices  and  jealousies  from  amongst  the  people  of  the 
Territory.     Besides  that  he  was  the  first  Hudson  Bay  Gov- 
ernor who  fulfilled,  on  behalf  of  the  Company,  that  duty 
imposed,  as  a  condition,  by  the  charter — the  task  of  explo- 
ration and  geographical  discovery.     Governor  Simpson,  al- 
though as  keenly  alive  to  the  material  interests  of  his  em- 
ployers as  the  most  unreasonable  shareholder  could  expect, 
never  lost   sight  of  the  higher  claims  of  science  upon  his 
time,  as  well  as  energies.     To  his  skilful  direction  and  the 
eagerness   with   which  he  assisted   Franklin,   Richardson , 
Ross,  Back  and  other  explorers,   the  most  valuable  results 
were  due.     It  was  he  who  sent  out  Dease,  Thomas  Simpson, 
Rae,  Anderson,  and  Stewart  upon  the  path  of  research,  and 
at  every  fort  or  factory,  controlled  by  the  Governor,  any  ex- 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         100» 

plorer  was  sure  of  shelter,  supplies,  information  and  advice. 
There  is  scarcely  a  book  on  Arctic  travel  which  does  not 
express  gratitude  for  assistance  from  Hudson  Bay  factors, 
and  almost  every  one  of  the  names  mentioned  is  Scottish.* 

During  Sir  George  Simpson's  long  tenure  of  office,  not 
only  were  the  interests  of  geographical  discovery  well  looked 
after,  but  the  profits  of  the  Company  steadily  increased  year 
after  year.  The  amalgamation  with  the  North-West  con- 
cern had  placed  the  entire  country  north  of  the  boundary- 
line  in  the  hands  of  the  Hudson  Bay  people,  and  the  num- 
ber of  their  posts,  sensibly  augmented  in  1821,  continued  to 
increase.  In  1840,  according  to  Mr.  Ballantyne,f  there  were 
about  one  hundred  and  ten  forts  or  factories — thirty-four  in. 
the  northern,  or  old  Hudson  Bay  Department,  twenty-eight 
in  the  southern,  thirty-one  in  the  so-called  Montreal  district 
and  seventeen  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  including  a 
depot  in  the  Sandwich  Islands.^:  All  the  published  itinera- 

*  As  bearing  upon  the  general  character  of  the  Scots,  as  well  as  upon  Mr.  Simpson's  ac- 
tive career,  the  following  from  Murray's  British  America  (ii.  p.  238),  may  find  a  place 
here  :— "  Four-fifths  at  least  of  the  Company's  servants  are  Scotsmen,  and  chiefly  from  the 
northern  districts.  They  are  reckoned  the  hardiest,  the  most  active  and  enterprising,  anil 
the  least  liable  to  bad  habits.  .  .  The  journeys  performed  by  these  officers,  and  the  ad- 
ventures they  have  met  with,  would  exhibit  scenes  and  incidents  as  striking  an  most  of 
those  fictitious  ones  which  so  much  interest  the  public.  Mr.  Simpson,  the  present  (1840) 
resident  Governor,  has  performed,  during  his  stay  in  that  country,  upwards  of  100,000  miles 
of  canoe  navigation.  The  chief  officers,  including  the  Governor  himself,  often  endure  hard- 
ships which,  to  those  accustomed  to  the  comforts  of  civilized  life,  must  appear  almost  in- 
credible. They  frequently  spend  months  without  seeing  the  inside  of  a  house,  going  to  sleep 
at  night  in  the  most  sheltered  spot  they  can  find,  wrapped  in  their  cloaks,  and  a  blanket 
which  has  served  during  the  day  as  a  saddle-cloth.  Unless  fortunate  in  the  chase,  they  have 
no  means  of  obtaining  food,  and  are  sometimes  obliged  to  kill  their  dogs  and  horses  to  re- 
ieve  hunger.  Yet  these  hardy  Scotsmen  will  find  a  livelihood  in  districts  so  desolate  that 
even  the  natives  sometimes  perish  for  want.  .  .  Yet,  amid  all  these  hardships,  such  is 
their  zeal  in  the  occupation  that  a  complaint  scarcely  ever  escapes  their  lips." 

t  Hudson  Say,  p.  40. 

'.  The  Hudson  Bay  Company  made  no  attempt  at  colonization  in  British  Columbia  until 
1843,  when  Victoria  was  founded  on  Vancouver  Island.  In  1849,  the  Island  was  granted  t<v 
the  Company  "  under  the  stipulation  that  thry  should  colonize  it."  Alexander  Rattrty,. 
M.D.,  F.R.S.E,:"Vrancoi<i;fj'  Inland  and  British  Columbia,  London,  1862,  p.  8. 


ries,  whether  of  travellers  or  Hudson  Bay  employe's,  supply 
abundant  evidence  of  the  presence  of  the  ubiquitous  Scot  all 
•over  this  vast  region.  The  early  part  of  Sir  George  Simp- 
son's Overland  Journey  is  so  full  of  references  to  Scottish 
agents,  that  a  brief  sketch  of  it  may  be  of  service  in  this  re- 
Jation.*  The  Governor,  it  may  be  remarked,  takes  credit 
for  himself  as  the  first  traveller  who  ever  accomplished  an 
overland  journey  round  the  world.  His  route  lay  from 
London  to  Montreal,  thence  to  Vancouver  and  Sitka,  and 
"thence  by  New  Archangel,  and  the  Aleutian  Islands  to 
'Ochotsk  ;  across  Russian  Asia,  through  Yakutsk,  Irkutsk 
Tobolsk,  Moscow,  and  St.  Petersburgh,  and  so  home  by  the 
Baltic.  On  the  journey  from  Irkutsk  to  St.  Petersburgh, 
forty-one  days  were  spent,  the  nights  being  passed  thus : 
thirty-six  in  the  carriage,  one  at  Tomsk  on  a  sofa,  two  at 
Ekaterineburg  on  the  floor,  one  at  Kazan  on  a  sofa,  and  only 
one — at  Moscow — in  a  bed.*f* 

The  Governor,  on  his  arrival  at  Lachine,  made  prepara- 
tions for  his  trans-continental  journey.  Along  with  him 
were  to  travel,  as  far  as  Red  River,  the  Earls  of  Caledon  and 
Mulgrave,  who  were  bound  upon  a  buffalo-hunting  expedi- 
tion. Sir  George  took  the  old  French  route  up  the  Ottawa 
and  the  Matawa,  by  Lake  Nipissing  and  French  River  to 
the  Sault  Ste.  Marie.  Here  the  first  western  post  of  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company,  under  the  charge  of  Mr.  J.  D.  Cam- 
eron, was  reached.  At  Michipicoten,  the  Governor  held  a 
temporary  council  for  the  Southern  Department,  Mr.  Cam- 


*  An  Overland  Journey  round  the  \corld,  during  thr.  years  1841  and  1842.  By  Sir  George 
Simpson,  Governor  in-Chief  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Territories  (Amer.  Edit. 

*  /&     p.  22 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1005 

eron,  Mr.  George  Keith  and  Mr.  Cowie  being  the  councillors.* 
There  was  no  Dawson  route  in  those  days,  and  when  the 
party  arrived  at  Fort  William,  preparations  were  made  for 
canoe-work  and  portage.  Pointe  de  Meuren,  the  first  halt- 
ing-place, was  a  memorial  of  the  old  time  of  feuds,  since 
there  had  been  a  Hudson  Bay  fort  established  there  to  keep 
the  North-Westers  of  Fort  William  in  check.  At  Red  River, 
Sir  George  established  himself  with  the  inevitable  Scottish 
factor,  a  Mr.  Finlayson,  and  sent  his  noble  companions  off  to 
hunt  the  buffalo  under  the  direction  of  no  less  a  person  than 
the  half-breed,  Cuthbert  Grant — the  hero  of  the  battle  of 
Frog  Plains.  A  vivid  picture  is  given  in  this  interesting 
volume,  not  merely  of  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  tra- 
veller in  getting  to  Red  River,  but  its  isolation  from  the 
civilized  world,  The  accounts  given  by  Sir  George  only 
serve  to  heighten  our  admiration  of  the  daring  courage  and 
perseverance  of  Lord  Selkirk  and  the  tough  fibre  of  the  set- 
tlers, who  suffered  so  much  from  their  landing  on  the  bleak 
shore  at  Churchill,  until  peace  and  plenty  at  length  removed 
the  protracted  period  of  toil,  privation  and  disaster  in  every 
shape.-f-  The  testimony  Avhich  a  Hudson  Bay  Governor 
could  give  to  the  motives  of  the  founder  of  that  settle- 
ment twenty  years  after  the  noble  Earl  had  found  repose 

*  A  curious  case  of  the  Paulteanx  Indians'  belief  in  a  Special  Providence  is  recorded 
here  :  At  a  moment  of  perplexity,  when  the  provisions  of  a  party  were  exhausted,  and 
nothing  could  be  got  without  risking  life  upon  a  sea,  that  was  neither  open  water,  nor 
trustworthy  ice— the  probable  alternatives  being  starving  or  drowning— an  old  man  thus 
sjK>ke  :  "  You  know,  my  friends,  that  the  Great  Spirit  gave  one  of  our  pquaws  a  child  yes- 
terday. Now  He  cannot  have  sent  it  into  the  world  to  take  it  away  again  directly  ;  and  I 
would,  therefore,  recommend  our  carrying  the  child  with  us,  and  keeping  close  to  it  as  an 
assurance  of  our  safety."  This  counsel  was  adopted,  but  sad  to  say,  the  whole  party  to  the 
number  of  twenty-eight  perished  (p.  83). 

i  The  relative  position  of  Red  River  Settlement  is  a  far  more  interesting  feature  in  the 
case,  than  its  absolute  place  on  tin-  map.  The  nearest  homes  of  dvilization  are  the  village 
of  Sault  Sic.  Marie,  which  itself  has  a  reasonable  share  of  elbow-room,  St.  Peter's  at  the 


1006        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

in  the  grave  ought  to  be  quoted  here.  "  To  mould  this  seclu- 
ded spot  into  the  nucleus  of  a  vast  civilization  was  the  ar- 
duous and  honourable  task  which  Lord  Selkirk  imposed  on 
himself.  That  nobleman  was  born  a  century  and  a  half  be- 
hind his  time.  Had  he  lived  in  the  days  of  the  first  three 
Stuarts,  when  Britain,  as  the  destined  mother  of  western 
nations,  began  to  pour  forth  in  her  peaceful  fleets  a  north- 
ern hive  that  loved  not  the  sword  less,  but  the  ploughshare 
more,  he  would  most  probably  have  rendered  the  name  of 
Douglas  as  illustrious  for  enterprising  benevolence  on  some 
fair  coast  of  the  new  world  as  it  had  already  become  for 
chivalrous  valour  in  the  annals  of  his  own  rugged  land.  His 
was  a  pure  spirit  of  colonization.  He  courted  not  for  him- 
self the  virgin  secrets  of  some  golden  sierra  ;  he  needed  no 
outlet  for  a  starving  tenantry ;  he  sought  no  asylum  for  a 
persecuted  faith :  the  object  for  which  he  longed  was  to  make 
the  wilderness  glad  and  to  see  the  desert  blossom  as  the 
rose  "  (pp.  42,  43). 

One  of  Sir  George  Simpson's  attache's,  named  Mclntyre, 
an  active  and  intelligent  Highlander,  picked  up  on  board  the 
ocean-steamer,  who  possessed  moreover,  "  the  peculiar  re- 
commendation of  being  able  to  communicate  with  me  in  one 
of  the  unknown  tongues,  the  Gaelic  of  the  north  of  Scot- 
land," came  within  a  little  of  ending  his  own  journeyings 
and  his  life,  by  being  pitched  violently  on  his  head  from  the 
back  of  a  horse,  endowed  with  too  exuberant  spirits.  The 
guide  was  also  a  Scot,  George  Sinclair.  After  a  weary  jour- 

Falls  of  the  Mississippi,  which  is  merely  the  single  island  in  a  vast  ocean  of  wilderness,  and 
lastly  York  Factory  on  Hudson  Bay,  where  our  annual  ship  anchors  after  a  voyage  of  nearly 
two  months,  even  from  the  Ultima  Thule  of  Stromnes<  (p.  42).  He  adds  that  this  solitary 
home  is  farther  removed  in  point  of  time  "  from  any  kindred  dwelling  than  Liverpool  is 
from  Montreal,  and  nearly  as  far  as  London  is  from  Bombay." 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1007 

ney,  the  party  at  length  reached  Norway  House  on  Lake 
Winnipeg,  having  suffered  severely  from  fatigue,  want  of 
wholesome  provisions,  and  a  number  of  distressing  casual- 
ties. Taylor,  Sir  George's  faithful  servant,  with  a  companion 
had  gone  in  pursuit  of  a  red  deer  on  the  way,  and  had  wan- 
dered astray.  In  a  short  time,  their  ammunition  ran  out, 
and  they  were  without  resource  out  on  the  boundless  prairie. 
With  feet  torn  by  thorns  and  prickly  grass  they  strayed  on, 
greedily  devouring  roots,  bark,  bird's  eggs,  or  anything  that 
seemed  likely  to  assuage  their  hunger.  After  the  lapse  of 
fourteen  days,  they  were  strongly  tempted  to  lie  down  and 
die.  Fortunately  at  length,  famished  and  lacerated,  they 
reached,  or  rather  crawled  to  the  Company's  establishment 
on  Swan  River,  where  they  were  received  kindly,  and  then 
forwarded  to  Norway  House  by  Mr.  McDonell,  the  factor. 
The  Governor's  journey  next  lay  along  the  Saskatchewan, 
the  nearest  station  being  Carlton  House.  Sir  George  here 
gives  some  particulars  of  an  expedition  under  Messrs.  Mac- 
kenzie and  Rowand,  in  1822,  to  ascertain  whether  the  re- 
ports of  gold  on  the  Bow  or  South  Saskatchewan  River 
were  well-founded.  That  expedition  returned  to  report  that 
that  the  gold  was  all  moonshine,  and,  of  course,  the  Governor 
was  not  much  wiser  in  1841. 

Sir  George's  accounts  of  the  Indian  tribes  and  of  the 
scenery  and  productions  of  the  countrjT  show  that  he  was  a 
keen  observer.  After  describing  the  appearance,  nature  and 
habits  of  the  buffalo,  he  relates  that  in  1829,  he  saw  as  many 
.as  ten  thousand  putrid  carcases  of  buffaloes,  "  lying  mired  in 
&  single  ford  of  the  Saskatchewan,  and  contaminating  the 
air  for  many  miles  around."  Travel  in  those  days  was  not 


1008        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

without  its  rude  alarms.  It  was  not  altogether  agreeable  to 
be  awakened  from  sleep  by  the  cry  of  "  Indians  are  coining," 
and  only  consolatory  to  learn  after  the  cocking  of  muskets 
that  the  visitants  were  only  a  lot  of  Crees,  "  who,  as  their 
tribe  had  no  reputation  that  way,  were  allowed  to  remain 
with  us  all  night "  (p.  65).  The  extreme  heat  in  July  was 
no  surprise,  but  hailstones  like  those  Sir  George  encounter- 
ed in  1837,  near  Lac  la  Pierre,  and  measured  in  presence  of 
Messrs.  Finlayson  and  Hargrave,  of  York  Factory,  were  an 
unmerciful  visitation.  A  hailstone  five  inches  and  a  half 
round  is  something  more  than  a  surprise.  "  Throughout  this 
country,"  states  the  Governor,  "everything  is  in  extremes — 
unparalleled  cold  and  excessive  heat,  long  droughts,  balanced 
by  drenching  rain,  and  destructive  hail"  (p.  67).  That, 
however,  is  not  the  experience  of  settlers  or  even  passing 
tourists  now-a-days,  and  although  no  one  would  doubt  Sir 
George's  general  impressions,  it  would  certainly  seem  clear, 
either  that  the  discomforts  of  locomotion  in  those  days  super- 
induced a  resolution  to  record  only  the  foul  weather,  because 
it  was  noteworthy,  or  else  the  climate  has  been  modified 
considerably  during  the  past  thirty  years. 

Of  course  there  was  no  Battleford  in  those  days,  with  it- 
enterprising  newspaper  editor  or  printer  ;  so  the  next  sta- 
tion was  Edmonton,  the  last  fort  this  side  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  Here  the  party  were  entertained  not  only  by 
the  factor,  Mr.  Rowand,  but  by  the.  Rev.  Mr.  Rundle,  who- 
was  unostentatiously  doing  his  Master's  work  in  the  wilds, 
of  the  far  North- West  as  a  Wesleyan  missionary.  He  ap- 
pears also  to  have  been  an  acute  observer  of  nature,  skilled 
in  more  than  one  of  the  natural  sciences,  and  full  of  valuable 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

information.  Sir  George  Simpson  continued  to  ascend  the 
river  until  he  reached  the  watershed  at  the  height  of  some 
"  seven  or  eight  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea, 
while  the  surrounding  peaks  appeared  to  rise  nearly  half 
that  altitude  over-head."  At  Athabasca  Portage  the  scenery 
was  wild  and  grand  ;  the  road,  "  only  a  succession  of  glaciers, 
runs  through  a  region  of  perpetual  snow,  where  nothing  that 
can  be  called  a  tree  presents  itself  to  enliven  and  cheer  the 
eye  "  (p.  78).  It  is  here  in  a  gelid  pool  or  lake,  that  both  the 
Columbia  and  the  Mackenzie — one  bound  for  the  Pacific,  the 
other  for  the  Arctic  Sea — take  their  rise.*  Here  for  the  first 
time  in  a  twenty  years'  wandering  in  America,  the  Governor 
thought  that  he  had  discovered  the  very  heather  of  his  native 
Scotland ;  but  on  afterwards  comparing  the  specimens  he  pre- 
served with  the  genuine  article,  he  found  that  they  were  not 
identical.  A  purely  indigenous  sample  of  the  western  fauna, 
however,  gave  him  much  trouble;  it  was  a  troublesome 
and  venomous  species  of  winged  insect,  "  which,  in  size  and 
appearance,  might  have  been  taken  for  a  cross  between  the- 
bull-dog  and  the  house-fly." 

During  his  progress  from  Edmonton,  Sir  George  Simpson- 
struck  a  south-westerly  course  to  the  Kootonais  or  Kootanie 
River  and  Flat-bow-Lake,  thus  approaching  close  to  the 
boundary  line.  From  Mr.  Macdonald,  at  Fort  Colville,  fresh 
guides  were  sent  in  advance  to  him.  That  post  was  reached 
by  the  Macdonald  River,  and  a  chain  of  lakes  connected  with 
the  Kootanie.  Here  the  change  of  temperature  was  at  once 


*  Here,  says  Sir  George,  "  the  relative  positions  of  the  opposite  waters  is  such  as  to  have 
hardly  a  parallel  on  the  earth's  surface,  for  a  small  lake,  appropriately  enough  known  as 
the  Commit  tee's  Punch-bowl,  sends  its  tribute  from  one  end  to  the  Columbia,  and  frctn  the 
other  to  the  Mackenzie." 


1010         THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

remarked,  the  climate  being  many  degrees  milder  than  to 
the  east  of  the  mountains.  Fort  Colville,  a  rather  pretenti- 
ous work  of  defence  for  the  locality,  was  found  to  be  con- 
structed of  cedar,  enclosed  with  pickets  and  bastions.  About 
a  mile  away  the  Columbia,  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile 
wide,  flowed  between  flat  and  monotonous  banks  of  sand, 
the  scanty  vegetation  upon  which  had  been  withered  by  a 
protracted  drought.  At  this  time  the  Indians  of  the  interior 
were  in  a  state  of  dangerous  excitement.  During  the  previ- 
ous winter  Mr.  Black,  who  was  in  charge  of  Thompson's 
River,  had  some  trifling  dispute  with  a  chief  at  the  Kam- 
loops  post.  When  the  latter  returned  to  his  lodge  or  camp, 
he  took  sick  and  died ;  and  his  tribe  at  once  attributed  his 
•death  to  Mr.  Black's  magic.  The  avenger  of  blood  was  at 
once  put  on  the  unfortunate  factor's  track,  and  he  was  shot 
in  the  back  and  killed  while  quietly  crossing  his  apartment. 
The  savage  escaped,  but  was  at  last  hunted  down  and  de- 
spatched, on  the  banks  of  the  Fraser  River,  by  his  own  peo- 
ple. The  existing  disquiet  was  caused  by  the  relations  of 
the  chief,  who  now  demanded  vengeance  for  the  two  deaths 
in  the  tribe,  caused,  as  they  contended,  by  the  whites.  At 
the  Wallawalla,  a  tributary  of  the  Columbia,  Mr.  McKinlay 
had  charge  of  the  Company's  post,  and  there  Sir  George  en- 
countered an  American  missionary,  named  Munger,  whose 
complaints  concerning  the  country  were  loud  and  bitter.  He 
also  had  a  professional  grievance  to  annoy  him :  the  Indians 
were  not  tractable,  and  instead  of  embracing  the  Gospel 
eagerly,  as  he  had  been  led  to  expect,  he  found  them  a  bigot- 
ed, superstitious,  and  jealous  people  (p.  99).  Some  distance 
below  the  party  passed  two  conspicuous  basaltic  rocks,  some- 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1011 

thing  like  chimneys  supported  by  a  truncated  pyramid ; 
these  "  needles,"  or  whatever  they  might  be  called,  had  been 
named  after  two  adventurous  Scots — Mackenzie's  and  Ross's 
Heads.  .  ' 

The  Governor  was   now   passing  through   a   country  in 
which  he  had  been  threatened  with  trouble,  when  exploring 
with  Mr.  McMillan  and  Dr.  Todd  in  1829.    On  this  occasion, 
although  there  was  some  anxiety  about  the  probable  atti- 
tude of  the  tribe,  no  untoward  event  occurred.     Sir  George 
Simpson    was    on    what    was    afterward    declared    to  be 
American  territory,   and  crossing  the  Straits  he  made  his 
way  to  Vancouver,  where  he  was   hospitably  received  by 
the  afterwards  well-known  Mr.  Douglas,  then  temporarily  in 
charge  during  the  absence  of  his  chief  Mr.  McLaughlin 
The  next  stage  was  to  Sitka  in  Russian  America,  whither  he 
sailed   in  the   Beaver  from  Fort   Nisqually,    the   captain, 
McNeill  being,  like  most  white  men  in  these  parts,  a  North 
Briton.     So  far  north   as  Dease's  Lake,  sixty  miles   from 
Fort  Stickeen  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  from  the  sea,  there 
was  then  a  Hudson  Bay  fur  trading-post  with  Mr.  Camp- 
bell as  the  Company's  factor,  and  further  south,  with  a  land- 
locked bay  on  the  coast  stood  Fort  Taco,  superintended  by 
Dr.  Kennedy.     With  Sir  George's  further  progress  we  are 
not  now  concerned,  and  this  sketch  of  his  journey  across 
the  continent  is  simply  introduced  to  give  some  conception 
of  the  rough  country  over  which  the   Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany's operations  extended,  its  vast  extent,  and  the  over- 
whelming preponderance  of  Scots  among  the  white  men  en- 
gaged either  in  trade  or  exploration. 


1012         THE  MOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Although  Governor  Simpson's  name  will  recur  in  the  fol- 
lowing chapter,  it  may  be  well  to  round  off  his  biography 
here.  He  was  not  only  an  indefatigable  explorer,  but  a 
thorough  man  of  business,  and  his  services  were  naturally 
and  properly  given,  along  with  his  sympathies,  to  the  Com- 
pany he  so  long  served  or  controlled.  In  the  disputes  re- 
garding the  validity  of  its  charter,  and  in  all  that  concerned 
its  interests,  he  was  the  staunch  advocate  of  the  trading 
monopoly  in  British  North  America.  During  his  later  years 
he  resided  chiefly  at  Lachine,  although  so  long  as  he  was 
able,  he  periodically  visited  the  territory.  In  1860,  he 
diverted  the  Prince  of  Wales,  with  a  picturesque  canoe 
expedition  which  started  from  Isle  Duval  near  Lachine,  and 
his  last  public  act  was  the  reception  of  His  Royal  High- 
ness as  a  guest  at  his  home  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  During 
that  year  he  was  seized  with  apoplexy  and  paralysis 
but  had  so  far  recovered  as  to  prepare  for  a  visit  to  Red 
River.  This  he  was  not  fated  to  accomplish  ;  for,  while 
driving  home  from  Montreal  he  was  again  stricken  with 
apoplexy  and  expired  on  the  7th  of  September,  I860.* 

In  a  subsequent  chapter,  when  the  great  west  is  viewed 
at  a  later  stage  in  its  history,  reference  will  be  made  to 
travels  in  recent  years,  having  for  the  object  either  pleasure 
or  the  survey  of  the  country  for  railway  or  telegraphic  pur- 
poses. Meanwhile,  a  glimpse  has  been  given  of  the  vigorous 
activity  of  the  Scottish  race  in  that  vast,  untamed  wilder- 
ness during  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth,  and  the  first 
half  of  the  present  century.  To  enumerate  all  the  promin- 
ent Caledonians  engaged  over  that  broad  expanse  of  British 

*  Morgan  :  Celebrated  Canadians,  p.  490-1. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1013 

territory  would  be  out  of  the  question  within  the  limits  of 
this  chapter.  It  is  impossible  to  take  up  any  of  the  books 
cited  here,  or  others,  such  as  a  work  by  Mr.  John  McLean 
entitled  "  Twenty-five  Years  in  the  Hudson  Bay  Territory," 
quoted  by  some  of  our  authorities,  without  being  satisfied 
that  the  great  West  of  British  North  America  was  taken 
possession  of  by  the  Scot  at  an  early  date,  explored  by  his 
indomitable  perseverance,  and  first  drawn  towards  and 
within  the  pale  of  civilization  by  his  wondrous  energy  and 
intelligence. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   COMPANY  AND   COLONIZATION. 

this  chapter  it  is  intended  to  bring  the  history  of 
British  settlement  in  the  North-West  down  to  the 
present  time,  including  the  disputes  regarding  the  Charter 
of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  the  purchase  of  its  vested 
rights,  the  formation  of  the  Province  of  Manitoba,  the  Red 
River  rebellion,  and  other  matters  of  more  recent  date. 
After  the  union  of  the  Companies,  as  already  stated,  the 
settlers  met  with  a  new  enemy,  against  which  forts  and 
ammunition  were  futile,  the  grasshopper.  But  there  was 
still  another  fruitful  source  of  trouble  and  loss  which  at 
intervals  marred  and  retarded  the  progress  of  the  colony. 
In  1826,  and  much  more  recently,  in  1852  and  1861,  the 
sudden  thawing  of  the  snows  upon  the  banks  of  the  great 
rivers  which  form  the  arteries  of  the  North-West,  caused 
wide-spread  desolation  by  floods,  on  some  occasions  covering 
hundreds  of  square  miles.  The  year  1826  was  one  of  the 
most  disastrous  in  the  history  of  the  Settlement.  It  was 
ushered  in  with  a  terrible  season  of  want  and  suffering 
amongst  the  hunters,  the  story  of  whose  appalling  destitu- 
tion on  the  plains  seemed  to  indicate  a  sum  of  misery 
beyond  the  power  either  of  the  Company  or  the  colony  to 
do  more  than  slightly  alleviate  with  their  slender  resources. 
The  prospect  was  not  less  desperate  than  the  cry  of  India 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA,         1015 

for  help  a  short  time  ago.  Mr.  Donald  Mackenzie  was 
Governor  of  the  colony  at  that  time,  as  well  as  the  Com- 
pany's representative  at  Fort  Garry,  and  what  could  be 
accomplished  was  cheerfully  set  about,  but  the  success  of 
any  relieving  movement  was  not  so  much  problematical  as 
hopeless.  The  starving  people  were  scattered  over  great 
distances  ;  the  snow  was  unusually  deep,  and  there  was  no 
mode  of  conveyance  but  by  dog- sleighs,  and  this  was  tedious 
and  difficult.  Sympathy  and  assistance  were  freely  extended 
to  the  poor  creatures,  and  all  that  thought  or  pity  could 
suggest  was  promptly  put  in  execution.  The  scenes  on  the 
road  from  Pembina  to  the  colony  were  harrowing  in  the 
extreme,  and  the  feeling  of  utter  despondency  which  pre- 
vailed was  only  dispelled  by  a  great  calamity  at  the  colony 
itself. 

The  severe  frost,,  and  the  fearful  snow-storms  which  had 
wrecked  the  hopes  of  the  hunters,  killed  their  horses,  and 
starved  or  chilled  to  death  many  of  themselves,  their  wives 
and  children,  soon  wrought  mischief  in  another  shape  when 
the  iron  rule  of  winter  was  broken  by  the  summer  sun. 
There  had  been  drifting  snows  of  unusual  depth ;  the  ther- 
mometer had  fallen  to  45°  below  zero ;  the  ice  measured  five 
feet  seven  inches  in  thickness,  and,  when  on  the  2nd  of  May 
the  great  thaw  came,  there  was  an  alarming  inundation 
On  that  day,  just  before  the  ice  started,  Red  River  rose  nine 
feet  in  the  twenty-four  hours — an  unprecedented  occurrence 
even  in  the  traditions  of  the  Indians.  Soon  the  whole  coun- 
try appeared  like  a  vast  lake.  Human  lives  were  destroyed, 
cattle,  horses  and  every  living  thing  that  encountered  the 
flood  was  swept  out  of  existence ;  the  houses  were  demol- 


1016        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

ished,  the  movable  property,  with  the  debris  of  buildings, 
carriages,  furniture,  and  all  "  were  seen  floating  along  over 
the  widely  extended  plain,  to  be  engulfed  in  Lake  Winni- 
peg." The  height  to  which  the  water  had  risen  above  its 
ordinary  level  was  fifteen  feet.  When  it  subsided,  the  tale 
may  best  be  told  in  the  language  of  the  prices  current. 
"  Wheat,  which  had  fallen  to  2s.  per  bushel  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  disaster,  now  rose  to  15s. ;  beef  from  £d. 
per  pound  to  3d."  It  was  not  until  June  13th  that  the 
colonists  were  again  able  to  draw  near  to  the  site  of  their 
old  habitations.* 

During  these  early  years  of  peace,  several  events  occurred 
of  considerable  importance  to  the  struggling  colony.  The 
distresses  of  the  settlers  had  placed  them  more  or  less  at  the 
mercy  of  the  Hudson  Bay  officers,  and  the  result  was  an 
immense  amount  of  extortion,  either  in-  the  shape  of  over- 
charges or  of  usurious  interest.  Mr.  Halkett,  one  of  Lord 
Selkirk's  executors,  put  a  stop  to  this  nefarious  system. 
Armed  with  a  decision  pronounced  by  Lord  Ellenborough, 
he  compelled  the  local  Governor  to  strike  off  five  per  cent, 
from  all  accounts,  and  to  withdraw  the  claim  of  five  per 
cent,  for  interest  altogether  "  as  a  fraudulent  and  illegal 
transaction."-f-  In  future,  English  goods  imported  at  York 
Factory  were  to  bear  33£  per  cent,  on  their  prime  cost,  and 
25  per  cent,  on  their  arrival  at  the  colony,  and  nothing 
additional.  Mr.  Halkett  also  discovered  that,  in  order  to 
enhance  the  price  of  provisions,  the  Company's  servants  had 

*  Hargrove  :  Bed  River,  p.  81.    Also  in  Ross  :  Red  River  Settlement,  pp.  101-106,  where 
a  graphic  account  of  the  inundation  is  given  by  an  eve-witness. 

t  See  Ross,  p.  68,  where  the  Lord  Chief  Justice's  judgment  on  this  point  is  given. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1017 

secreted  large  quantities  in  their  depositories.  Two  experi- 
ments were  tried  at  this  period  which  resulted  in  financial 
collapse.  The  first  was  the  formation  of  the  "  Buffalo  Wool 
Company, "  a  joint-stock  concern  by  which  everybody  at 
Red  River  was  to  be  suddenly  enriched.  The  idea  was  that, 
as  owing  to  the  prevalence  of  wolves  at  the  time,  sheep- 
raising  was  precarious,  a  substitute  must  be  found  for  wool, 
-and  the  speculators  proposed  the  shaggy  hair  of  the  buffalo. 
Counting  the  raw  material  as  nothing,  they  soon  reared 
many  financial  castles  in  the  air.  Expensive  machinery  was 
imported,  and  an  extravagant  establishment  set  up.  Hides 
rose  in  price,  and  agriculture  was  set  aside  in  favour  of 
buffalo-hunting.  Had  the  visionary  scheme  succeeded,  a 
step  backward  into  barbarism  would  have  been  taken ;  but 
the  result  proved  to  be  an  ignominious  collapse. 

The  other  scheme  was  of  a  different  stamp,  but  was  also 
foredoomed  to  failure.  Lord  Selkirk,  who  well  knew  the  rude 
sort  of  husbandry  his  Highlanders  had  been  accustomed  to, 
had  projected  an  experimental  farm  and  dairy.  The  "  Hay 
Field  Farm  "  was  placed  in  charge  of  a  Scotsman  of  great 
agricultural  experience  named  Laidlaw,  specially  brought 
out  for  the  purpose  ;  "  but,"  says  Mr.  Ross  (p.  77),  "  in  this, 
as  in  every  other  attempt  to  benefit  the  colony  in  those 
early  days,  mismanagement,  disappointment  and  ruin,  were 
the  only  result.  Expensive  buildings  were  erected,  good 
labourers  and  servants  employed ;  "  and  yet  all  the  time 
there  was  not  an  ox  to  plough  or  a  cow  to  milk."  Finally, 
the  manor-house  or  mansion,  which  had  cost  £600  was  acci- 
dentally burned,  just  at  its  completion,  in  a  drunken  orgy. 
M  After  several  years'  labour,  waste  and  extravagance,  every 


1018         TEE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

vestige  of  property  on  the  farm  had  disappeared " — the 
experiment  having  sunk  £2,000  of  Lord  Selkirk's  money. 
In  view  of  all  that  had  thus  befallen  the  settlers,  it  may 
surely  be  said  that  the  most  patient  and  unyielding  perse- 
verance was  never  so  sorely  tried  before ;  and  it  speaks 
volumes  for  the  singular  energy  and  persistence  of  the  Scot, 
that,  after  so  many  years  of  loss,  suffering,  hardship  and 
disappointment  in  every  conceivable  form,  they  continued 
to  hold  on  with  dogged  pertinacity  until  they  at  last 
achieved  a  complete  victory  for  themselves  and  for  civiliz- 
ation. 

The  union  of  the  Pembina  settlers  with  the  colonists  of 
Red  River,  was  another  event  worthy  of  note,  inasmuch  a& 
it  placed  in  juxtaposition  the  Scottish,  the  French-Canadi- 
ans, and  the  half-breeds,  in  much  the  same  relation  to  each 
other  as  they  still  remain.  When  all  the  immigrants  were 
united  they  numbered  about  1,500  ;  and  the  French,  finding 
their  old  occupation  gone,  and  being  also  in  dread  of  the 
Sioux  raid,  betook  themselves  to  the  colony.  These  alien 
elements  did  not  mingle  well  together ;  the  French  half- 
breeds  "  squatted"  on  the  land,  but  they  never  attempted 
cultivation — the  Indian  penchant  for  hunting,  fishing  and  a 
roving  life  generally,  being  too  strong  to  be  eliminated.  The 
Scottish  settlers,  who  retained  the  strong  religious  feelings 
they  had  brought  from  home,  felt  disquieted  about  the  fu- 
ture of  their  children,  liable,  as  they  were,  to  contamination 
from  the  semi-savage  influences  about  them.  A  separation 
was  resolved  upon,  the  Scots  remaining  on  their  lands  at  the 
centre  of  the  colony  ;  the  French  were  settled  in  one  parish-, 
St.  Boniface,  now  the  seat  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Arch- 


TEE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1019 

bishopric;  whilst  the  half-breeds,  under  Cuthbert  Grant, 
were  removed  to  "  White  Horse  Plains,"  twenty  miles  up  the 
Assiniboine ;  the  Forks  being  the  common  centre.  Mr, 
Ross  (p.  81)  is  probably  right  in  his  opinion  that  this  sepa- 
ration was,  on  the  whole,  a  mistake.  The  Canadians  and 
half-breeds  gradually  grew  together,  and  although  they  and 
the  Scots  have  generally  lived  on  passable  terms,  there  has- 
never  been  a  cordial  understanding,  and  party  spirit  has 
cont'inued  to  grow  more  intense  from  that  day  to  this. 

Meanwhile  agricultural  progress,  though  slow,  was  con- 
tinuous. Successive  importations  of  cattle  had  raised  the 
quality  and  amount  of  the  stock,  and  Governor  Simpson 
gave  a  powerful  impetus  to  the  settlement  by  promising  to 
take  all  the  Company's  supplies  from  the  colony.  This- 
stimulated  the  people  to  extraordinary  exertions,  with  the 
unfortunate  result  that,  after  the  Company's  wants  were 
supplied,  there  was  no  market  for  the  surplus.  Prices  rap- 
idly fell,  and  Red  River  suffered  from  all  the  consequences- 
of  an  evil  heard  of  in  later  times  and  more  settled  communi- 
ties— that  of  over-production.  But  the  want  of  markets 
was  not  the  only  difficulty  in  the  path  of  the  farmers.  There 
were  not  the  necessary  appliances  for  ordinary  agricultural 
operations.  At  that  time  there  was  not  to  be  found  in  the 
whole  colony,  it  is  said,  either  a  smut-mill,  or  fanning  ma- 
chine, to  clean  the  grain,  and  but  few  barns  to  thrash  it  in, 
and  still  fewer  kilns  to  dry  it ;  much,  therefore,  of  the  grain 
had,  of  necessity,  to  be  thrashed  on  an  ice-floor,  in  the  open 
air,  during  all  weathers,  and  then  ground,  in  a  frozen  state, 
and  immediately  packed  off  in  casks  of  green  wood,  furnish- 
ed by  the  Company  itself.  It  was  the  same  with  butter  and 


1020        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

all  other  products  of  the  dairy  and  farm.  It  was  no  wonder 
that  the  difficulties  of  their  situation,  with  lack  of  experience 
and  judgment,  should  have  caused  many  failures.  The 
Orkney  men,  a  frugal  and  industrious  people,  from  whom 
sprang  such  hardy  explorers  as  Dr.  John  Rae,  who  first  as- 
certained positively  the  fate  of  Sir  John  Franklin — were 
wanting  still  more  than  their  mainland  brethren  in  agricul- 
tural skill  and  resource  ;  they  were  poor  and  could  not  pro- 
cure the  necessary  conveniences,  and  yet  they  toiled  on  and 
prospered  in  the  land. 

A  bare  reference  to  Governor  Simpson's  attempt  to  estab- 
lish a  second  experimental  farm,  under  Chief  Factor  Mc- 
Millan, will  suffice.  It  was  a  failure,  and  cost  the  Company 
X3,500  sterling ;  worst  of  all  the  Governor,  whose  hobby 
it  had  been,  lost  his  self-control,  and  exclaimed  in  the  bitter- 
ness of  his  heart : — "  Red  River  is  like  a  Lybian  tiger,  the 
the  more  I  try  to  tame  it,  the  more  savage  it  becomes  ;  for 
every  step  I  try  to  bring  it  forward,  disappointments 
drag  it  two  backward."  Then  followed  the  "  Assiniboine 
Wool  Company,"  in  which  the  sheep  was  to  take  the  place 
of  the  buffalo;  but  the  views  of  its  projectors  were  too 
extravagant,  and  the  new  project  followed  its  predecessor 
into  the  limbo  of  abortive  speculations.  This  was  also  a 
device  of  Governor  Simpson's ,  and  that  it  failed,  was  not 
his  fault.  He  desired  to  divert  the  people  from  over-pro- 
duction in  grain,  and  if  his  agents  had  only  earned  out  the 
scheme  reasonably,  it  might  have  succeeded ;  but,  as  a  resi- 
dent there  remarks,  "  The  people  of  the  Red  River  grasp  at 
anything  new,  as  hawk  pounces  upon  a  bird,  and  then 
abandon  it  without  waiting  with  patience  for  the  antici- 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1021 

pated  result."  The  catastrophe,  in  this  case,  resulted  from 
over-eagerness  at  the  outset,  and  want  of  constancy  in  the 
sequel. 

In  1835  and  1836,  a  change  took  place  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Red  River  Settlement.  After  Lord  Selkirk's 
death  his  executors  attempted  to  direct  its  affairs ;  but  find- 
ing the  task  impracticable  they  transferred  the  government 
to  the  Company.  The  time  arrived  when  this  anomalous 
state  of  things  was  to  be  succeeded  by  the  Company's  rule 
as  proprietors  of  the  colony.  In  1834,  it  may  be  as  well  to 
note,  the  first  outbreak  of  the  half-breeds,  thoughtless, 
thriftless,  and  dependent  as  usual,  startled  both  the  Company 
and  the  colony  ;  but  no  great  harm  befell  the  latter  except 
the  necessity  of  submitting  to  extortionate  charges  and  de- 
mands. The  Hudson  Bay  officers  had  thus  two  totally 
different  sorts  of  people  to  deal  with.  The  half-breeds  re- 
quired support,  control  and  advice  at  every  turn,  whilst  the 
colonists,  true  to  their  national  genius,  were  proud,  self- 
reliant,  impatient  of  restraint,  and  passionately  fond  of 
freedom  and  independence.  The  former  were  always  in  a 
state  of  tutelage,  expected  everything  from  the  Company 
and  complained  vigorously  if  they  were  denied  what  they 
sought.  The  Scots,  on  the  other  hand,  could  not  work  the 
paternal  system,  and  rebelled  against  the  leading-strings  of 
the  Company.  Notwithstanding  the  honest  desire  of  Gov- 
ernor Simpson,  and  many  of  his  subordinates,  to  assist  the 
colony,  Hudson  Bay  rule  was  always  galling  to  the  true- 
born  Briton,  and  in  addition  to  that  irregular,  arbitrary, 
and  capricious. 


1022        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

As  the  representatives  of  Lord  Selkirk  took  little  or  no 
active  interest  in  the  progress  of  the  settlement,  the  Hud- 
son Bay  Company  offered  to  purchase  their  proprietary 
rights  in  the  colony.  Altogether,  the  Earl  had  expended  no 
less  than  £85,000  upon  his  scheme — three  times  as  much, 
says  Mr.  Ross,  as  the  whole  colony  would  have  brought  if 
put  up  at  auction  at  any  time  in  the  first  twenty  years  of 
its  existence.  In  1836,  an  agreement  was  come  to  under 
which  the  Company  paid  the  heirs  of  his  lordship  £84,000 
in  full  satisfaction  of  their  claims,  proprietary  or  otherwise, 
saving  only  the  rights  of  those  who  had  purchased  lands  be- 
tween the  years  1811  and  1836.  Strange  to  say  this  trans- 
fer was  effected  without  consultation  with  the  people  of  the 
colony,  who  were  made  over  as  unceremonously  as  French 
Alsace  or  Turkish  Bosnia  to  a  power  they  were  not  by  any 
means  attached  to.*  This  step,  and  more  especially  the  se- 
cret manner  of  it,  only  tended  to  widen  the  breach  already 
open  between  the  Company  and  the  colonists.  Under  the 
new  regime,  a  Council  was  constituted,  and  a  brief  code  of 
laws,  fiscal,  judicial  and  administrative  was  drawn  out. 
These  changes  might,  of  themselves,  have  aroused  the  sus- 
picions of  the  colonists,  had  not  the  country  been  under 
the  Company  as  representing  Lord  Selkirk's  represen- 
tatives for  some  years  past.  That  the  Company  desired  to 
conceal  the  transfer  of  the  Selkirk  rights  is  clear  from  the 

»"  During  all  these  political  changes,  the  colonists  were  kept  in  the  dark  never  having 
been  put  in  possession  of  their  intellectual  right",  by  knowing  what  was  going  on,  or  to 
whom  the  coKny  belonged.  Nor  was  it  till  many  years  after  the  sett  lenient  became  virtually 
the  Company's  own  property,  that  the  fact  was  made  known  to  the  people,  and  then  by 
mere  chance.  Till  this  eventuality  the  people  we- e  under  the  persuasion  that  the  colony 
still  belonged  to  the  executor*  of  Lord  Selkirk,  and  were  often  given  to  understand  so.  By 
this  political  finesse,  or  shall  we  rather  call  it,  political  absurdity,  the  Company  preserved 
themselves  clear  of  all  respr nsibility,  whatever  transpired."  Ross:  Red  River,  pp.  !"?.-». 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1023 

fact  that  when  the  Church  of  England  chaplain — the  only 
Protestant  minister  at  hand — refused  any  concession  to 
Presbyterian  feelings  touching  the  Liturgy,  the  answer  to 
their  remonstrances  was  an  evasive  reference  to  Lord  Sel- 
kirk's executors,  who  had  no  longer  any  more  to  do  with 
the  matter  than  the  President  of  the  United  States. 

The  history  of  the  colony  during  succeeding  years,  was 
one  of  considerable  fluctuation  ;  still  no  temporary  check  to 
its  prosperity  stayed  the  march  of  progress.  The  few  inci- 
dents, it  may  be  well  to  mention,  may  be  compressed  into  a 
paragraph.  The  first  petit  jury  under  the  new  code  was 
empannelled  on  the  28th  of  April,  1836,  to  try  a  prisoner 
for  theft.  The  unfortunate,  who  attained  a  bad  eminence 
on  this  occasion,  was  Louis  St.  Denis,  and  one  part  of  his 
sentence  consisted  of  a  public  flogging.  A  German  wielded 
the  "  cat"  on  this  occasion,  and  he  was  permitted  to  perform 
his  novel  task  without  molestation.  But  he  had  no  sooner 
stepped  out  of  the  ring  than  the  mob  began  to  raise  cries  of 
"  stone  him,"  and  he  was  marked  out  for  public  execration 
under  the  name  of  "  Bourreau,"  the  hangman.  So  unaccus- 
tomed were  the  people  to  the  execution  of  a  legal  sentence, 
and  so  venial  an  offence  were  theft  and  violence  in  their 
eyes,  that  the  punishment  of  St.  Denis  seemed  to  the  French 
a  gross  violation  of  the  liberty  of  the  subject.  At  an  early 
period  (1839),  a  Scot  named  Thorn — Judge  Thorn,  as  he  was 
popularly  called — became  Recorder  of  Rupert's  Land.  He 
was  a  lawyer  of  ability;  but  there  were  two  objections  to 
him.  He  had  been  no  favourite  with  the  French  party  of 
Lower  Canada  during  Papineau's  rebellion,  and  therefore 
the  French  portion  of  the  population  at  Red  River  were  pre- 


1024        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

judiced  against  him  from  the  start.  Besides  that,  he  was 
interested  in  the  prosperity  of  the  Company,  was  its  officer 
during  pleasure  and  therefore,  in  any  case  between  the  Com- 
pany and  the  colony,  he  was  looked  upon  as  an  interested 
party.  Although  Mr.  Ross,  from  whose  work  these  facts 
are  taken,  was  no  admirer  of  the  Company's  procedure  in 
many  respects,  he  was  clearly  of  opinion  that  the  monopoly 
of  trade  was  decidedly  a  benefit  to  the  population,  and  more 
especially  to  the  Indians.  He  regards  the  cry  of  the  French 
and  half-breeds  "  Le  commerce  est  libre" — "  Trade  is  free" — 
as  merely  a  pretence  used  by  lawless  and  ungovernable  men 
to  cover  rapine  and  violence.  Into  these  disputes,  as  well  as 
the  controversies  concerning  Judge  Thorn's  decisions  and 
Major  Caldwell's  method  of  administration,  it  would  be  be- 
side the  present  purpose  to  enter.  It  may  not  be  amiss, 
however,  to  notice  here  once  more  the  striking  contrast,  ap- 
parent to  eveiy  visitor,  between  the  frugal,  provident  and 
intelligent  Scots  and  the  other  colonists  or  quasi  colonists 
around  them.  One  illustration  in  the  shape  of  a  scrap  of 
conversation  between  Mr.  Ross  and  a  friend  with  whom  he 
was  riding  about  on  a  tour  of  inspection  may  suffice.  At 
"a  place  called  the  middle- church,  my  friend  made  a  halt, 
and  turning  to  me  observed,  '  This  part  of  the  colony  we 
have  just  passed,  is  the  thickest  settled  I  have  yet  seen  ; 
and,  if  we  may  judge  from  outward  appearances — horses, 
barn-yards,  parks  and  inclosures — the  hand  of  industry  has 
been  indeed  busy.'  'Yes,'  said  I,  'these  are  the  Scotch  set- 
tlers, the  emigrants  sent  hither  by  Lord  Selkirk  ;  the  people 
who  have  suffered  so  much,  and  to  whose  fortitude  and 
perseverance  the  colony  owes  that  it  is  what  you  see  it  this 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1025 

day.'  '  This  spot,'  he  rejoined,  '  is  really  full  of  interest.'  " 
(p.  201). 

The  predominance  of  the  Scot  during  the  early  years  of 
the  settlement  did  not,  of  course  continue,  as  new  elements 
were  introduced  by  immigration  from  other  branches  of  the 
English-speaking  people.*  They  broke  up  the  soil  and  planted 
it;  others  reap  the  fruit  of  their  honest  toil  and  patient  en- 
durance. The  glory  of  having  first  raised  the  standard  of 
religion  and  civilization,  in  these  western  solitudes,  is  theirs. 
The  Scots  were  the  advance  guard  of  that  peaceful  British 
army  of  colonization,  which  has  followed  them  to  see  the 
fertile  land,  and  to  possess  it.  The  assumption  of  the  North- 
West  by  the  Crown  and  its  incorporation  into  the  Domi- 
nion, have  made  new  work  for  Scotsmen,  not  quite  so  heavy 
and  disheartening,  but  still  hard  enough  to  try  the  sterling 
Caledonian  mettle.  Up  the  valleys  of  the  Assiniboine,  along 
the  branches  of  the  Saskatchewan,  on  the  Peace  and  the 
Qu'Appelle,  the  avant  couriers  of  North  Britain,  are  making 
their  way,  making  the  crooked  straight  and  the  rough  places 
smooth  for  the  settlers  of  years  and  centuries  yet  to  come. 
If  the  Scot  has  lost  ground  at  Red  River,  there  is  still  a 
greater  Scotland  ready  to  his  hand  in  the  boundless  prairies 
far  beyond. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  enter  into  the  events  which  led  to 
the  purchase  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company's  proprietary 

*  The  writer,  already  quoted  so  often,  remarks  this)  fact  with  a  touch  of  patriotic  regret: 
The  first  ten  years  of  their  sojourn  in  the  colony,  the  Scots  were  almost  the  only  settlers  ; 
the  next  ten  years  they  were  the  majority"  (of  course  the  French  and  half-breeds  are 
taken  into  account  here)  ;  but  the  last  ten,  they  have  been  the  minority ;  and,  by  a  combi- 
nation of  untoward  circumstances,  they  can  hardly  now  be  eaid  to  retain  their  nationality, 
being  a  mere  fraction  in  the  mass  of  the  community  It  is  as  if  they  had  come  to  Qed 
River  merely  to  endure  i>s  hardships,  and  as  trusty  pioneers  to  bear  the  burden  and  heat 
of  the  day,  where  a  people  of  less  hardihood  and  perseverance  must  necessarily  have  suc- 
cumbed. "—Red  River  Settlement,  r-.143. 


1026        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

rights.     The  causes  of  discontent  amongst  the  settlers  were 
manifold.  They  were  hampered  by  the  paternal  restraints  of 
the  monopoly,  which  without  being  absolutely  unfriendly, 
was  deeply  impressed  with  the  truth  of  the   North- Wester's 
maxim  that "  colonization  is  at  all  times  unfavourable  to  the 
fur  trade."     The  Hudson  Bay  people  did  not,  like  the  Mon- 
treal traders  plot  "  the  downfall  of  the  colony,  by  fair  means 
or  foul,"  but,  however  kindly  disposed  such  Governors  as 
Sir  George  Simpson  might  be,  their  interests  were  distinctly 
opposed  to  any  expansion  of  the  area  of  settlement..     In 
-addition  to  the  natural  discontent,  of  the  Colonists  at  being 
governed  by  a  trading  Company,  through  an  irresponsible 
Oouncil,  the  regions  to  the  west  were  becoming  better  known 
in  Canada,  in  the  United  States  and  in  Europe.     Moreover, 
the  period  during  which  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  were 
licensed   to   hold   the  territory  was  to  terminate  in  1859, 
and  a  vigorous   agitation   was   commenced   to   oppose   its 
renewal.     This  license  had  been  granted  by  Act  of  Par- 
liament in  1821  ;  it  expired  and  was  renewed  in  1838  for 
twenty-one  years  ;  and  strong  efforts  were  early  put  forward 
to  prevent  any  extension  of  the  term.     The  people  of  the 
colony,   and  above  all  the  Canadian  Parliament   set   about 
collecting  information,  [procuring  legal  opinions,  and  urging 
the  assumption  of  the  whole  territory  by  the  Crown,  and  its 
annexation    to    Canada.       A    voluminous    literature    was 
accumulated  upon  the  subject,  but  so  far  as  its  object  was 
to  impeach  the  validity  of  the  old  charter,  the  result  was  a 
failure.     It    is  true  that  the  Act  confirming  the   grant  by 
Charles  II.  had  long  since  expired  by  effluxion  of  time ;  but 
as  the  law-officers  of  the  Crown  showed  conclusively,  it  had 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1027 

been  cited  in  a  number  of  statutes  passed  at  different  times 
and  thus  confirmed  by  the  Imperial  Parliament  over  and 
over  again.  Canada  despatched  Chief  Justice  Draper  to 
England  to  present  her  case  against  the  Company,  and.  in 
1857-58,  an  exploring  expedition  was  sent  out  under  Messrs. 
Dawson  and  Hind,  to  make  a  careful  survey  of  the  territory. 
Meanwhile  a  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  had  in- 
vestigated the  subject  minutely  in  all  its  bearings.  Its  re- 
port was,  on  the  whole,  favourable  to  the  Company,  but 
although  it  did  not  recommend  a  renewal  of  the  exclusive 
license  to  trade,  no  conclusion  was  come  to  as  to  the  future 
government  of  the  North-West,  and  matters  remained  as 
they  were.*  In  1868,  however,  the  subject  was  finally  set  at 
rest.  In  that  year,  the  Hon.  (afterwards  Sir)  George  E.  Car- 
tier  and  the  Hon.  William  Macdougall,  were  despatched  to 
England  by  the  Canadian  Cabinet  in  order  to  negotiate  with 
the  Home  Government  for  the  transfer  of  the  territory  to 
the  Dominion.  The  validity  of  the  charter  had  perforce  to 
be  admitted,  and  all  that  remained  was  to  come  to  terms 
with  the  Hudson  Bay  Company.  By  the  terms  of  the 
agreement  thus  concluded  the  sum  of  £300,000  sterling  was 
to  be  paid  to  the  Company,  as  well  as  grants  of  land  around 
its  trading-posts,  amounting  in  all  to  fifty  thousand  acres. 
In  addition  to  this,  it  is  to  have,  so _soon  as  the  territory  is 
surveyed  and  laid  out  in  townships,  one-twentieth  of  all 


*  The  whole  spirit  of  the  report  returned  to  the  House  of  Commons  was  such  a*  to  justify 
the  Company  and  its  friends  in  believing  that  no  serious  fault  had  been  found  with  its  man- 
agement. The  inquiry,  however,  produced  no  immediate  effect.  The  Committee  recom- 
mended that  a  bill  should  be  introduced  by  the  Government  embodying  their  views  with 
reference  to  a  change  in  the  management  of  the  country,  and  expressed  a  hope  that 
such  grave  interests  being  at  >  take,  all  parties  would  approach  the  subject  in  a  spirit  of  con- 
ciliation and  justice,  but  the  recommendation  has  never  been  acted  on,"— Hargrave'u  Red 
Rivtr,  p.  141. 

7 


1028         THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

the  land  in  the  great  fertile  belt  south  of  the  north  branch 
of  the  Saskatchewan.  The  privilege  of  trade  is,  of  course' 
retained,  but  the  monopoly  exists  no  longer.* 

These  terms  were  absurdly  liberal  to  the  Company ;  it 
was  certainly  not  entitled  to  anything  approaching  so  extra- 
gant  a  land-grant  as  was  thus  conceded  to  it.  Already  the 
grant  at  Red  River  is  an  obstruction  quite  as  injurious  to 
the  progress  of  the  district  as  if  the  lands  were  locked  up  in 
mortmain.  The  impropriety  of  the  grant  will  appear  more 
evidently  year  by  year,  as  the  Saskatchewan  valley  is  filled 
up,  but  expostulation  with  the  Imperial  Government,  or  the 
Company,  was  vain.  Canada  was  determined  to  have  the 
region  as  part  of  the  new  Dominion  at  all  hazards,  and  was 
compelled  to  pay  for  it  at  an  exorbitant  rate.  In  April, 
1869,  the  Dominion  Parliament  fulfilled  that  part  of  the 
compact  which  related  to  the  indemnity,  and  constituted  a 
provisional  government  for  the  entire  country,  under  the 
name  of  the  North-West  Territory.  On  the  first  of  the 
following  December,  a  formal  surrender  of  the  region  was 
to  take  place,  and  affairs  were  put  in  train  for  taking  pos- 
session. Suddenly  an  unforeseen  trouble  supervened,  which, 
for  the  time,  caused  great  excitement  and  alarm,  and  also 
temporarily  kept  the  Dominion  out  of  its  newly  acquired 
possessions.  The  history  of  these  events  will  be  found  fully 
detailed  in  works  specially  devoted  to  Canadian  history  in 
general  or  of  this  region  in  particular.  Still  a  brief  account 
of  the  so-called  Rebellion  seems  necessary  in  order  to  com- 
plete the  sketch  attempted  here  of  the  colony .f 

*  See  A  Popular  History  of  Canada  :    By  the  Rev.  W.  H.  Wi throw,  M,A.,  p.  637. 

t  See  Begg's  History  of  the  Red  River  Rebellion,  and  also  Wilhrow's  History,  chap,  xlvii. 
where  an  admirable  concise  account  of  the  episode  is  given. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1029 

In  the  month  of  September,  the  Hon.  William  Macdougall 
who  had  been  appointed  first  Governor,  approached  the 
territory  by  way  of  the  United  States  in  order  to  enter  upon 
the  duties  of  his  office. 

The  events  which  followed  have  been  variously  inter- 
preted by  those  who  have  undertaken  to  relate  them,  and 
perhaps  it  is  even  now  impossible  to  apportion  the  blame 
justly  to  the  different  parties  concerned.  Much  of  the 
.excitement  at  Fort  Garry  was  unquestionably  due  to  a  mis- 
understanding largely  the  fruit  of  ignorant  fears  on  the  part 
of  the  Metis  or  French  half-breeds.  Some  time  before  the 
arrival  of  Mr.  Macdougall  the  storm  had  been  brewing,  and 
it,  at  first,  took  the  form  of  sullen  apprehensions  and  visible 
uneasiness.  A  party  of  surveyors,  under  Col.  Dennis,  had 
been  sent  from  Canada  to  run  lines  for  roads,  and  lay  out 
townships.  Mr.  Begg  states  that  the  half-breeds  at  once 
took  the  alarm,  and,  although  they  made  no  overt  attack 
upon  the  surveyors,  had  very  grave  suspicions  of  Canada's 
purpose.  Their  alarm  was  caused  by  a  suggestion  that  it 
was  the  intention  of  the  new  Governor  and  Council  to 
dispossess  them  of  their  lands,  and  a  causeless  panic  ensued, 
such  as  has  been  witnessed  in  more  civilized  countries  in 
connection  with  railway  enterprise.  The  Company's  friends 
deny  that  its  officers  had  anything  to  do  with  the  feverish 
state  of  public  feeling.  It  is  their  contention  that  all  the 
trouble  which  ensued  was  the  fruit  of  mischievous  agitation 
got  up  by  the  Nor- Wester,  a  rather  lively  little  paper  pub- 
lished in  the  settlement,  and  by  a  few  turbulent  spirits 
recently  imported  into  the  colony.  These  men,  it  is  alleged, 
went  about  exciting  discontent  with  the  Company,  and,  by 


1030        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

their  overbearing  conduct,  causing  profound  distrust  amongst 
the  half-breeds.  Hitherto  the  settlement  had  been  at  peace, 
happy  in  its  ignorance  of  politics  and  party  spirit,  and  con- 
tented under  the  benign  rule  of  its  Hudson  Bay  guardians. 
Moreover,  the  surveyors  and  others  are  charged  with  "  squat- 
ting upon  "  or  rather  claiming  without  any  attempt  at  occu- 
pation, all  the  vacant  lands  they  can  get  at.* 

On  the  20th  of  October,  Mr.  Macdougall  was  met  near  the 
boundary  line  by  an  armed  "force,  and  compelled  to  with- 
draw again  to  Pembina  in  the  State  of  Minnesota.  The 
discontent  of  the  half-breeds  had  culminated  in  open  revolt; 
a  provisional  government  was  appointed  under  the  guidance 
of  Louis  Kiel,  who  acted  as  Secretary  with  John  Bruce  as 
President.  The  Hudson  Bay  Governor,  at  this  time,  was 
Mr.  William  Mactavish,  a  well-known  name  in  the  annals 
of  the  North- West.  Donald  Mactavish,  a  native  of  Strath- 
erick,  Scotland,  was  as  already  noted,  one  of  the  partners  of 
the  North- West  Company.  For  about  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury he  was  employed  in  trade  and  exploration,  visiting  and 
conciliating  the  Indians,  with  whom  he  was  in  great  favour, 
and  in  promoting  generally  the  interests  of  his  co-partnery. 
He  had  projected  an  expedition  with  the  object  of  striking 
a  route  across  the  continent  for  trade  with  China,  and  after 
much  hardship  and  danger,  had  reached  the  mouth  of  the 
Columbia  River  when  he  and  six  companions  were  lost  near 
Cape  Disappointment  in  the  North  Pacific,  on  the  22nd  of 
May,  1815/f-  Governor  William  Mactavish  had  been  resi- 

*  l-e;o? :  The  Creation  of  Manitoba,  or  A  History  of  the  Red  River  Troubles,  chap.  i. 
It  may  be  remaiked  that  this  work  exhibits  a  strong  bias  in  favour  of  the  Company,  and 
lays  the  entire  responsibility  upon  the  malcontents  at  the  Settlement,  Mr.  Macdougall  and 
the  Canadian  Government.  The  statements  in  it,  therefore,  must  be  taken  with  consider- 
able reserve. 

I  Morgan  :  Celebrated  Canadians,  t  c.,  p.  153. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1031 

dent  ruler  of  Assiniboia  for  some  years  when  the  Kiel  usur- 
pation at  once  relieved  him  of  further  trouble  for  a  season. 
Fort  Garry  was  seized,  with  all  the  stores,  rifles,  cannon  and 
ammunition ;  and,  that  having  been  done,  the  party  met 
Mr.  Macdougall,  as  already  stated,  near  the  border,  and 
forced  him  to  withdraw. 

The  Hon.  William  Macdougall,  though  a  Canadian,  bear 
a  name  which  clearly  proclaims  his  Scottish  origin.  Accord- 
ing to  Morgan's  Parliamentary  Companion  his  grandfather, 
John  Macdougall,  was  a  Scot  by  birth,  and  a  U.  E.  Loyalist 
attached  to  the  British  Commissariat  service  during  the 
American  Revolution.  After  the  termination  of  hostilities, 
he  settled  in  Nova  Scotia,  but  subsequently  removed  to 
Upper  Canada.  William  Macdougall  was  born  in  Toronto, 
and  has  taken  an  active  part  in  public  affairs  for  many  years 
past.  He  was  early  connected  with  the  press,  both  agricul- 
tural and  political,  having  conducted  the  Canada  Farmer 
and  the  Canadian  Agriculturist  in  the  interest  of  the  till- 
ers of  the  soil,  and  a  Reform  journal,  the  North  American, 
for  a  period  of  seven  years,  until  its  absorption  by  the  Globe 
with  which  he  was  connected  also  for  some  years.  In  1847 
he  had  already  been  admitted  as  an  attorney;  but  only 
applied  for  and  obtained  a  call  to  the  Bar  in  1862.  He  has 
been  a  prominent  member  of  several  Canadian  administra- 
tions, a  member  of  the  Ontario  Legislature  for  South  Simcoe, 
and,  once  more,  of  the  Dominion  Parliament,  as  M.P.  for 
Halton.  The  check  which  the  new  Governor  and  his  party 
met  on  the  frontier,  although  it  had  been  threatened,  was 
hardly  expected  ;  but  it  completely  overturned  Mr.  Macdou- 
gall's  plans  for  the  development  of  the  country.  It  is  much 


1032        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

to  be  regretted  that  this  should  have  been  the  case.  The 
hon.  gentleman  possessed  the  requisite  abilities  for  the  oner- 
ous task  he  had  undertaken  ;  he  was  active,  intelligent,  and 
well-fitted  by  his  tact  and  acquaintance  with  public  affairs ; 
and  it  must  have  been  deeply  mortifying  to  him  to  have 
fallen  a  victim  to  the  ignorant  passions  of  an  unruly  mob, 
before  the  opportunity  had  been  given  him  to  delare  his 
intentions  and  to  unfold  his  policy  at  Fort  Garry. 

Col.  Dennis  was  a  Canadian  officer  of  volunteers,  and  so 
soon  as  Mr.  Macdougall  had  met  the  armed  force  of  rebels  and 
retreated,  the  gallant  Colonel  was  commissioned  to  organize 
a  loyal  force  to  suppress  the  revolt.  Forty-five  of  the  men, 
however,  were  taken  prisoners  by  the  malcontents  at  Fort 
Garry  and  committed  to  prison;  and  thenceforward  Kiel 
and  his  associates  were  masters  of  the  position.  At  a  con- 
vention on  Feb.  7th  a  new  government  was  formed  with  the 
noted  French  half-breed  as  President ;  a  bill  of  rights  was 
drawn  up,  in  which  local  self-government  was  demanded, 
together  with  a  general  amnesty.  An  attempt  to  quell  the 
disturbances  was  made  by  Major  Boulton,  with  some  hun- 
dreds of  men.  Fort  Garry  was  to  be  attacked  ;  but  as  Rie 
released  the  prisoners,  the  movement  was  abandoned  ;  but 
the  Major,  who  was  arrested  with  his  followers  on  their 
way  home,  was,  after  a  mock  trial,  sentenced  to  death. 
He  was  with  difficulty  saved  from  his  fate ;  but  afterwards, 
a  less  fortunate  prisoner,  named  Thomas  Scott,  was  brutally 
murdered,  in  spite  of  the  exertions  of  the  Rev.  George 
Young,  the  Wesleyan  minister,  and  Mr.  Donald  A.  Smith,  of 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company.  The  wide-spread  horror  which 
prevailed  throughout  Ontario  precipitated  matters.  In  May 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1033 

an  Act  was  passed  by  the  Dominion  Parliament  creating 
the  Province  of  Manitoba  out  of  the  Red  River  Settlement, 
and  it  was  admitted  as  a  member  of  the  Confederation  on 
the  16th  of  July,  1870.  The  remaining,  and,  of  course,  far 
the  larger  portion  of  the  territory,  was  to  be  governed  by 
the  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Manitoba,  assisted  by  a  Council 
of  eleven  members. 

Riel's  early  success  had  evidently  turned  his  head,  and  his 
conduct  throughout  was  arbitrary,  unjust  and  vindictive. 
Even  after  Mr.  Macdougal's  departure  from  Pembina  east- 
ward (18th  December),  the  half-breed  President  was  never  at 
ease.  He  managed  to  raise  supplies  by  forced  levies  upon 
the  Company  and  the  settlers ;  arrested  Governor  Mactavish, 
and  abused  him  in  violent  language,  whilst  confined  to  bed 
by  illness ;  put  Mr.  Halkett  in  irons ;  imprisoned  Dr.  Cow- 
an ;  and  threatened  Mr.  Bannatyne  who  endeavoured  to  act 
as  peacemaker ;  strove  to  deprive  Mr.  Donald  A.  Smith  of 
his  credentials  as  Commissioner;  and  was  guilty  of  other 
acts  suggested  by  a  violent  and  impulsive  nature.  One  of 
his  officers,  in  fact,  his  judiciary,  was  James  Ross,  a  Scottish 
half-breed,  the  son  of  Alexander  Ross  from  whose  works 
extracts  have  been  made  in  former  pages.  He  was  a  young 
man  of  considerable  ability,  arid  his  early  promise  attracted 
the  special  attention  of  the  Bishop  of  Rupert's  Land  when 
studying  at  St.  John's  College,  Red  River.  In  1853  he 
entered  the  University  of  Toronto,  and  graduated  with 
honours  in  1857.  In  1860,  on  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Buck- 
ingham (late  Deputy-Minister  of  the  Interior)  from  the 
proprietary  of  the  Nor- Wester,  Mr.  Ross  entered  into  part- 
nership with  Mr.  William  Coldwell,  the  remaining  member 


1034        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  KORTH  AMERICA. 

of  the"  firm.  In  1864  Dr.  Schultz,  M.  P.,  purchased  Mr. 
Ross's  share,  and  the  latter  left  for  Canada,  where  he  was 
engaged  at  Tpronto  for  a  considerable  time  upon  the  staff 
of  the  Globe.  Mr.  Ross  had  always  taken  strong  ground 
against  the  Company,  and  he  was  not  more  favourable  to 
the  scheme  of  government  proposed  to  be  set  up  by  Canada. 
His  sympathies  were,  therefore,  to  a  constitutional  extent 
with  Riel  and  his  followers ;  but  he  had  no  share  in  the 
violent  and  arbitrary  acts  of  the  so-called  President.  The 
provisional  government  appointed  him  Chief  Justice,  and  he 
is  said  to  have  drawn  up  the  petition  of  right.  When  at 
the  Universit}",  he  appeared  to  his  fellow-students  to  com- 
bine the  steady,  plodding  and  cautious  character  of  the  Scot, 
with  the  fertility  of  resource  and  the  quiet  reserve  of  the 
Indian,  and  the  pride  of  both  races.  He  was  cut  off  in  his 
prime,  and  perhaps  it  may  not  seem  unkind,  especially  for  a 
fellow-graduate  of  their  common  Alma  Mater,  to  say  that  a 
life  which  might  have  been  of  essential  service  in  his  native 
settlement  was  marred  by  being  involved  in  its  turbulent, 
yet  altogether  insignificant  party  strifes. 

In  the  month  of  June  Col.  Garnet  Wolseley,  who  after- 
wards succeeded  in  a  tougher  task  under  the  Equator,  start- 
ed with  a  force  of  twelve  hundred  men  to  oust  Louis  Riel 
from  the  government  of  the  country.  With  the  exception  of  a 
company  or  two  of  the  (iOth  Rifles,  this  body  was  composed 
of  Canadian  volunteers.  On  the  24th  of  August,  after  con- 
siderable difficulties  had  been  surmounted,  the  expedition 
arrived  at  Fort  Garry,  only  to  find  that  Riel  had  abdicated 
and  left  his  staff  of  office  to  anyone  who  might  choose  to 
assume  it.  Early  in  September,  the  Hon.  Adams  George 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1035 

Archibald  arrived,  and  assumed  the  duties  of  the  Lieutenant 
Governorship.*  Mr.  Archibald,  however,  speedily  resigned, 
preferring  the  Lieutenant-Governorship  of  Nova  Scotia,  his 
native  Province,  to  the  vice-royalty  at  Red  River.  He  was 
succeeded  by  the  Hon.  Alexander  Morris,  the  son  of  a  Scot, 
who  fills  a  considerable  figure  in  the  history  of  Ontario, 
and  especially  of  the  eastern  portion  of  it.  He  was  born 
at  Perth,  a  little  jnore  than  half  a  century  since,  and  wa& 
educated  partly  at  the  Scottish  University  of  Glasgow,  and 
partly  at  our  Canadian  University  of  Montreal,  which  wa& 
founded  by  a  Scot,  the  Hon.  Peter  McGill.  He  has  served 
as  President  of  the  St.  Andrew's  Society  at  Montreal,  and 
as  Trustee  of  the  Presbyterian  University  of  Queen's  Col- 
lege. Mr.  Morris  attracted  notice,  as  a  young  man  by  his 
pen,  and  amongst  the  subjects  which  attracted  his  attention, 
nearly  twenty  years  before,  was  the  future  of  the  Great 
North- West,  over  which  he  was  now  called  upon  to  rule. 
Mr.  Morris  did  not  leave  Canada  and  arrive  a  perfect  stran- 
ger at  Winnipeg  as  Lieutenant-Governor,  since  he  had 
already  been  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Queen's  Bench 
of  Manitoba, — its  first  Chief  Justice  in  fact, — for  some 
months  previously. 

No  survey  of  Scottish  work  in  the  North-West,  however 
cursory,  can  be  complete,  which  fails  to  give  special  promi- 
nence to  the  interests  of  religion,  and  its  foster-sister,  edu- 
cation. In  the  introduction  an  attempt  was  made  to  limn 
in  outline  those  broad  and  salient  features  of  the  national 
character  as  it  has  been  moulded  by  nature  and  by  man. 
That  sketch  will  have  been  drawn  in  vain,  if  it  has  not 

•  See  Withrow's  "  Popular  History,'  pp.  541,  642. 


1036        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

proved  conclusively  that  the  Scot  is  by  virtue  of  his  descent, 
and  must  always  of  necessity  be,  a  religious  man  in  bent  and 
bias,  if  not  in  practice.  An  old  legal  maxim,  the  cause  of 
much  international  strife,  affirms  that  no  man  can  put  off 
his  country,  as  if  it  were  a  discarded  suit  of  clothes.  In 
the  jurists'  sense  this  dictum  has  been  happily  abandoned  5 
but  it  remains  irrefragably  true,  as  applied  to  individual 
characteristics,  be  they  physical  or  intellectual,  moral  or 
spiritual.  If,  as  we  know,  both  from  science  and  Scripture, 
the  transgressions  of  an  ancestor  are  visited  upon  posterity, 
with  the  unfailing  sequence  of  cause  and  effect,  so  also  are 
his  endowments,  whatever  they  may  be,  and  his  qualities 
and  tendencies  for  good  or  evil,  transmitted  to  the  latest 
generation.  The  newest  born  infant  is  no  isolated  atom  of 
humanity,  but  the  last  link  formed  in  a  living  chain  whose 
other  extremity  is  lost  in  the  impenetrable  mists  and  dark- 
ness of  the  past.  What  he  is,  historical  and  congenital 
tendencies  have  made  man ;  it  is  in  what  he  shall  become 
that  his  responsibility  lies. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  recapitulate  the  combination  of  cir- 
cumstances which  formed  the  religious  nature  of  the  Scot. 
That  they  have  succeeded  in  moulding  a  very  strong  and 
earnest  type  of  spirituality,  is  beyond  question ;  its  foes 
have  termed  it  rugged  and  stern,  mainly  because  they  failed 
to  comprehend  it,  but  that  it  is  a  main  feature  of  the  national 
character,  no  one  affects  to  deny.  The  head  or  the  heart 
may  have  too  often  rebelled  in  many  a  Scotsman,  and  there 
are  always  traces  of  the  inherited  bias.  Mr.  W.  R.  Greg, 
who  evidently  regards  intellect  as  the  antagonist  of  faith, 
says  that  "  Mr.  J.  S.  Mill  would  have  been  a  great  Christian 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1037 

if  he  had  not  been  a  great  thinker,"  an  involuntary  compli- 
ment to  the  strength  of  Scotland's  spiritual  grasp  upon  the 
natures  of  all  her  sons.  Even  the  unbelief  of  such  men  as 
David  Hume,  or  George  Combe  is  not  like  that  of  Boling- 
broke,  Voltaire,  or  Strauss.  And  in  the  moral  world,  though 
many  a  Scot  has  fallen  away  from  the  straight  path,  there  is 
the  crucial  instance  of  Burns  to  prove  that  underlying  wo- 
ful  errors  there  may  slumber  ever  and  anon  to  av-'aken  re- 
provingly— a  strong  religious  nature. 

The  Scottish  character  was  strongly  marked  in  those  Su- 
therlandshire  Highlanders  who  wintered  at  Fort  Churchill 
in  the  cruel  winter  of  1811.  In  the  new  and  untamed 
wilderness  to  which  they  had  removed,  everything  around 
them  tended  to  deepen  their  feelings  of  dependence  on  the 
Father  of  all,  and  their  religious  trust  in  Him.  Nature  and 
man  were  against  them  there  as  they  had  been  to  them  and 
to  their  fathers  during  many  centuries  in  their  native  land  ; 
and  they  craved  for  those  religious  ordinances  which  had 
been  the  strength  and  the  solace  of  those  who  had  gone  be- 
fore. Unhappily,  the  first  generation  at  Red  River  had  pas- 
sed away  before  the  settlement  saw  their  fervent  desire 
fulfilled.  Many  circumstances  combined  to  defer  their  just 
expectations.  Lord  S-  "irk  had  stipulated,  at  any  imte  with 
the  settlers  of  IS"  ,  that  a  Presbyterian  minister  should 
accompany  them.  One  was  actually  chosen  in  the  person 
of  the  Rev.  Donald  Sage,  for  whom  the  settlers  had  a 
natural  preference,  since  he  was  a  son  of  the  Rev.  Alexander 
Sage,  parish  minister  of  Kildonan  in  Sutherlandshire.  At 
his  father's  request,  a  delay  of  twelve  months  was  granted  to 
enable  the  young  missionary  to  perfect  himself  in  the  Gaelic 


1033         THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

language.  Whether  the  difficulties  of  the  Celtic  tongue,  or 
the  disturbed  and  uncertain  state  of  the  colony  deterred 
him,  it  is  not  easy  to  learn  ;  but,  for  some  cause  or  other 
Mr.  Sage  never  crossed  the  ocean,  but  settled  down  finally 
as  parish  minister  of  Rosolis,  in  Oomarty. 

Lord  Selkirk,  nevertheless,  in  his  anxiety  to  satisfy  the 
spiritual  wants  of  his  people,  at  their  request,  authorized  Mr. 
James  Sutherland,  who  had  been  appointed  an  elder  in  Scot- 
land, and  was  one  of  the  settlers,  to  marry  and  baptize ;  and 
he  was  gratefully  received  by  the  Scots  as  a  substitute, 
meanwhile,  for  the  pastor  they  were  not  destined  to  see  for 
thirty-five  years  thereafter.  Mr.  Sutherland  was,  without 
doubt,  the  first  preacher  of  the  Gospel  in  the  Great  North- 
West.*  He  appears  to  have  been  a  man  of  great  natural 
endowments,  though  he  could  not  be  called  a  learned  man, 
and  his  services  were  welcomed,  not  merely  by  his  own  peo- 
ple, but  also  by  the  Company's  officers  and  servants  of  all 
creeds.  "  Of  all  men,"  says  Mr.  Ross,  "  clergymen  or  others, 
that  ever  entered  this  country,  none  stood  higher  in  the  es- 
timation of  the  settlers,  both  for  sterling  piety  and  Christian 
conduct,  than  Mr.  Sutherland."  (p.  31.)  Unfortunately,  as 
if  to  crown  their  many  other  misfortunes,  the  settlers  lost 
the  serwces  of  this  excellent  man  in  1818,  when  he  was  car- 
ried off  forcibly  to  Canada  by  the  agents  of  the  North-West 
Company.  Wearied  out  with  the  heart-sickness  of  hope 

'  Mr.  Ross  is  highly,  but  not  unnaturally,  iadignant  that  the  author  of  Hochelaga,  and 
Bishop  Mountain  should  seek  to  deprive  the  Presbyterian  Church  ot  this  honour.  He 
points  out  that  ei^ht  years  before  the  Rev.  Mr.  West,  missionary  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, and  Hudson  Bay  Company's  Chaplain.  "  crossed  the  Atlantic,  baptism  was  admin- 
istered, marriages  solemnized,  prayer-meetings  established,  and  the  pure  gospel  proclaim- 
ed both  by  Presbyterians  and  Catholics."  Red  River  Settlement,  pp.  277-8.  Probably  the 
reply  would  be  that  neither  of  these  denominations  preached  the  ".pure  Gospel,"  and  that 
Mr.  Sutherland's  ministrations  were  irregular  and  imcanonica'. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1039 

deferred,*  and  no  communication  having  been  received 
from  Lord  Selkirk's  agent,  the  settlers,  appealed  to  Mr. 
Alexander  Macdonell,  recently  appointed  Governor,  for  as- 
sistance, but  in  vain.  He  was  a  Catholic,  and  therefore, 
says  a  writer,  "  did  not  take  much  interest  in  Presbyterian 
politics ;  but  told  the  Scotch,  by  way  of  consolation,  that 
they  might  live  as  he  himself  did,  without  a  church  at  all. ' 
The  next  step  was  an  earnest  petition  to  the  Rev.  John  Mac- 
donald,  of  Urquhart  Ross-shire,  a  minister  well  known  to 
them,  asking  him  to  ascertain  Mr.  Sage's  intentions,  and,  in 
the  event  of  his  deciding  to  remain  in  Scotland,  urging  his 
good  offices.  It  would  appear  that  this  appeal  was  never 
received,  as  no  answer  ever  reached  the  distressed  colony. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  Lord  Selkirk,  who  was  now  no 
more,  was  in  any  way  responsible  for  the  spiritual  destitu- 
tion of  which  the  settlers  complained.  Not  to  speak  of  the 
perpetual  struggle  in  which  he  was  engaged,  the  web  of 
violence  and  litigation  in  which  his  opponents  involved  him, 
or  were  involved  along  with  him  unwittingly  on  both  sides,  his 
Lordship's  good  faith  was  conspicuous  in  the  matter  of  re- 
ligious worship.  It  was  not  his  fault  that  the  people  were 
shepherdless ;  he  had  obtained  them  the  services  of  Mr. 
Sutherland,  and  it  was  not  he  who  abducted  him.  And  he 
had  marked  out  land,  chosen  by  the  settlers  as  the  site  of  a 
church  and  school-house,  giving  those  who  had  already  ob- 
tained the  lots  an  equivalent  elsewhere. 

In  October,  1821,  the  Rev.  John  West,  A.M.,  an  ordained 


*  It  is  almost  difficult  for  readers  in  more  favourid  times  and  localities  to  appreciate 
fully  the  yearning  for  religious  ordinances,  evident  in  the  letters  and  document*  of  this 
period,  and  much  later.  Much  more,  indeed,  than  the  war  of  the  Companies,  religion  con- 
stituted the  politics  and  the  daily  life  of  these  poor  Highland  settlers.  See  Ko?a,  Chap.  v. 


1040        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

minister  of  the  Church  of  England  arrived  in  the  colony. 
It  is  hardly  surprising  that  his  advent  was  the  signal  for  dis- 
content rather  than  rejoicing.  There  may,  perhaps,  have 
been  a  score  of  English  churchmen  in  the  colony,  but  nearly 
all  the  Protestants  were  steadfast  Presbyterians.  Nor  did 
the  natural  Scottish  aversion  to  prelacy  cause  all  the  trouble. 
They  hated  Episcopalian  ordination.  There  it  stood  before 
them  surpliced  as  of  old  ;  they  could  not  away  with  "  the 
mass-book,"  and  Mr.  West  refused  to  yield  an  inch  in  the 
matter  of  the  liturgy ;  there  was  besides  the  trouble  that 
he  spoke  in  English,  and  they  longed  to  worship  and  to 
hear  their  own  native  Gaelic  from  the  pulpit.  It  was  for 
this  they  had  waited,  yearned  and  hoped  during  eight  long 
and  troublous  years,  and  here  was  the  upshot  of  it  all. 
As  will  be  seen  immediately,  the  settlers,  Highlanders  as 
they  were,  proved  not  to  be  the  bigoted  creatures,  Scots 
Presbyterians  are  sometimes  represented,  and  it  is  not  un- 
likely that,  if  Mr.  West  had  been  a  Highlander,  and  could 
have  read  the  liturgy  and  preached  to  his  flock  in  the  old 
Celtic  tongue,  they  might  have  submitted,  with  some  grim- 
ace perhaps,  but  still  submitted  with  Christian  resignation 
to  kneeling  at  communion,  and  the  cross  in  the  baptism. 
No  compromise  was  attempted,  and  the  complaints  of  the 
Scots  who  regarded  Mr.  West's  intrusion  as  a  flagrant  breach 
of  the  Selkirk  stipulation  were  met,  for  the  time,  by  the  as- 
surance that  Mr.  West  would  soon  be  replaced  by  a  clergy- 
man of  their  own  Church.  It  must  be  remembered,  by  the 
way,  that  the  building  employed  for  public  worship  had 
been  erected  by  the  efforts  of  the  settlers,  and  mainly  with 


TEE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1041 

their  money  arid  labour.*  Mr.  West,  finding  that  he  could 
not  bend  the  stubborn  will  of  the  Scots,  confined  himself  to 
missionary  labours  at  the  Company's  outposts  and  returned 
to  England  in  1823.f 

Notwithstanding  their  want  of  success,  the  Church  Mis- 
sionary Society  sent  out  another  clergyman,  the  Rev.  David 
J.  Jones,  and  in  1825,  another,  the  Rev.  William  Cochran  : 
who  was  destined  to  exercise  much  greater  influence  dur- 
ing his  prolonged  career  of  forty  years.:}:  The  two  Anglican 
clergymen  laboured  together  for  some  years,  Mr.  Jones  hav- 
ing established  another  station  some  miles  further  down 
the  river.  During  a  short  visit  to  England  this  gentleman 
added  fuel  to  the  fire  by  some  remarks  which  appeared  in 
the  "  Missionary  Register"  of  December  1827  :  "  I  lament  to 
say  that  there  is  an  unchristian-like  selfishness  and  nar- 
rowness of  mind  in  our  Scottish  population ;  while  they  are 
the  most  comfortable  in  their  circumstances  of  any  class  in 
our  little  community."  Whether  these  "  comfortable  cir- 
cumstances," considered  from  an  offertory  point  of  view, 
deepened  Mr.  Jones'  lamentations  over  the  "unchristian 
selfishness"  of  the  Scots,  is  not  clear ;  he  certainly  seems  to 

*  The  Rev.  gentleman  appears  to  have  reciprocated  the  feelings  of  the  coli.nkts,  for  he 
remarks  in  his  journal  :  "I  cheerfully  giye  my  hand,  and  my  heirt  to  perfect  the  work.  I 
expected  a  willing  co-operation  from  the  Scotch  settlers  ;  but  was  disappointed  in  my 
sanguine  hopes  of  their  cheerful  and  persevering  assistance,  through  their  prejudices 
against  the  English  Liturgy,  and  the  simple  rites  of  our  communion."  Mr.  West,  appar- 
ently, knew  nothing  of  Scottish  ecclesiastical  history,  or,  if  he  did,  it  was  to  little  pur- 
pose. 

t  Hargrave  :  Red  River,  p.  101  ;  Ross :  p.  74. 

{  Mr.  Ross,  who  writes  with  too  obvious  a  Presbyterian  bias,  referring  to  the  period  when 
Mr.  Jones  was  alone,  says,  "  the  Rev.  Mr.  Jones  was  the  only  officiating  clergyman  among 
the  (Protestant)  Europeans,  although  be  belonged  to  the  English,  and  they  to  the  Scotch 
Church.  It  was  rather  anomalous,  in  this  section  cf  the  colony,  an  English  clergyman 
without  a  congregation  of  his  own  creed,  and  a  Scotch  congregation  without  a  minister. " 
p.  81.  One  is  tempted  to  ask,  what  was  the  old  mother  Kirk  of  Scotland  about  all  this 
time. 


1042         THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA 

have  been   quite  unconscious   that  the  charge  of  narrow- 

• 
mindedness  might  be  retorted  by  the  recalcitants  with  at 

least  equal  reason. 

At  any  rate,  the  settlers  addressed  the  Governor  more 
than  once,  demanding  the  fulfilment  of  Lord  Selkirk's  pro- 
mise ;  but  all  proved  vain.  Unhappily,  some  indiscreet 
member  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society  still  further  ex- 
asperated the  Scots,  by  writing  to  a  friend,  "  Red  River  is  an 
English  colony  ;  and  there  are  two  English  missionaries 
there  already  ;  and  if  the  petitioners  were  not  a  set  of  cant- 
ing hypocrites,  they  might  very  well  be  satisfied  with  the 
pious  clergymen  they  have  got." 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Jones,  however  attached  to  his  communion, 
was  essentially  an  amiable  and  charitable  man  ;  at  this  time, 
therefore,  he  "  became  extremely  kind  and  indulgent  to  the 
Scots,  and  among  other  things  laid  aside  such  parts  of  the 
Liturgy  and  formula  of  the  Episcopalian  Church  as  he  knew 
were  offensive  to  his  Presbyterian  hearers.  He  also  held 
prayer-meetings  among  them  after  the  manner  of  their  own 
Church,  without  using  the  prayer-book  at  all,  which  raised 
him  higher  than  ever  in  their  estimation,  especially  as  they 
understood  that  he  could  only  do  so  at  the  hazard  of  forfeit- 
ing his  gown.  His  own  words  were,  "  I  know  I  am  doing 
good  ;  and  so  long  as  I  can  do  good  to  souls,  the  technical 
forms  of  this  or  that  Church  shall  not  prevent  me."  *  The 
Rev.  William  (afterwards  Archdeacon)  Cochran  was  not  so 
conciliating  at  this  period.  According  to  Mr.  Ross,  he  said, 

*  His  fellow-labourer,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Cochran,  was  not  inclined,  at  first,  to  follow  Mr. 
Jones  in  his  laudable  efforts  at  conciliation.  The  latter's  apology,  which  is  too  long  for 
insertion  (see  Ross,  p.  131, 132),  proves  him  to  have  been  not  merely  a  man  of  tact  and 
judgment,  but  a  clergyman  of  an  earnest,  devout,  arid  truly  missionary  spirit. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH:  NORTH  AMERICA.      1043 

with  some  warmth,  "  I  will  preach  to  them  the  truths  of 
the  Gospel,  and  they  must  listen  to  me ;  they  have  nothing 
to  do  with  our  forms,  I  will  not  allow  them  an  inch  of  their 
will."  The  settlers,  however,  admired  the  rev.  gentleman,  in 
spite,  perhaps  unconsciously  because,  of  his  stubbornness, 
coupled  as  it  was  with  transparent  candour  and  fervent  zeal 
as  a  minister  ;  and  from  that  time  until  the  close  of  his  long 
work  (1865)  he  remained  a  great  favourite  with  the  Scots. 
Nevertheless,  another  application  was  made  to  Governor 
Christie,  and  the  answer  was  the  cool  suggestion  to  make 
an  application  to  Lord  Selkirk's  executors,  who,  as  the 
Company  well  knew,  had  ceased  to  have  anything  to  do 
with  the  Colony.* 

Meanwhile,  so  deeply  rooted  was  the  love  of  the  Scots  for 
their  Church,  that  continued  disappointment  seriously 
affected  their  industrial  energies — about  114  left,  in  one 
year,  for  the  United  States.  Mr.  Cochran,  who  was  a  pious 
and  earnest  man,  followed  Mr.  Jones's  example  and  all  went 
on  well,  until  two  fresh  labourers  appeared  in  the  field  to 
undo  the  work  and  set  the  clergy  and  their  Presby- 
terian flocks  by  the  ears.  Fresh  from  head-quarters, 
and  knowing  nothing  about  the  Colony,  they  imme- 
diately upbraided  Mr.  Cochran  with  faithlessness  to 
the  Church,  and  he,  giving  way  in  a  moment  of  weakness, 
kindled  the  old  discontents  once  more.  Matters  were  in  a 
more  or  less  unsatisfactory  state,  until  the  arrival  of  Mr. 
Finlayson,  as  Governor,  at  Red  River.  The  new  ruler  was 
a  man  of  great  intelligence  and  active  business  habits, 

*  Mr.  Christie,  it  is  proper  to  note,  was  himself  a  Presbyterian,  and  an  exceedingly  kind 
and  affable  man. 

8 


1044        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

shrewd,  honest,  and  impartial.     The  Presbyterians  at  once 
resolved  to  lay  their  case  before  him  and  ask  his  counsel 
and  assistance.     Having  listened  to  their  complaints,  he  ex- 
pressed his  conviction  that  they  had  been  badly  treated  ;  at 
the  same  time,  as  the  matter  rested  with  the  Directors  of  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company,  he  advised  them  to  draft  a  petition 
which  he  undertook  to  forward  to  Sir  George  Simpson,  the 
Govemor-in-chief   of  Rupert's   Land.      This  petition  was 
signed  by  forty-three  heads  of  families,  at  the  head   of  the 
list  being  the  name  of  Alexander  Ross,  the  author  of  the 
work  so  frequently  cited.     It  contained  a  temperate  state- 
ment of  their  grievance,  with  a  reference  to  Lord  Selkirk's 
stipulation.*      This   document  which  was  transmitted  in 
June,   1844,  was   violently  assailed  by  the  opponents  of 
Presbytery,  but  those  who  had  signed  it  waited  patiently 
till  June  1845,  when  an  answer  came  from  London.      The 
Secretary  of  the  Company  was  instructed  to  state  that  the 
Company  knew  nothing  of  any  such  stipulation,  and  that, 
had  any  such  engagement  of  the  Scots  been,  in  fact,  entered 
into  by  Lord  Selkirk,  it  was  singular  that  he  had  taken  no 
steps  to  carry  it  out.     It  was  declared  to  be  without  pre- 
cedent that  the  Company  should  maintain  a  Presbyterian 
minister  at  Red  River,  and  the  only  concession  that  could 

*  This  petition,  together  with  all  the  correspondence  and  affidavits,  will  be  found  in  Ross* 
work,  pp.  342-361.  One  clause  of  the  first  seems  worth  inserting,  because  it  expresses,  in 
mild  terms,  the  deep-seated  anxiety  of  the  settlers  upon  the  subject  "  That  the  attention 
of  your  petitioners  has  long  been  turned  with  painful  solicitude  to  their  spiritual  wants  iu 
this  settlement,  that  widely  as  they  are  scattered  among  other  sections  of  the  Christian 
family,  and  among  many  who  cannot  be  considered  as  belonging  to  it  at  all,  they  are  in 
danger  of  forgetting  that  they  have  brought  with  them  into  this  land,  where  they  have 
sought  a  home,  nothing  so  valuable  as  the  faith  of  Christ,  and  the  primitive  simplicity  of 
their  own  form  of  worship  ;  and  that  their  children  are  in  danger  of  losing  sight  of  those 
Christian  bonds  of  union  and  fellowship  which  characterize  the  sincere  followers  of  Christ.'* 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1045 

be  made  was  a  free  passage  for  any  clergyman  the  settlers 
might  choose  to  engage  and  undertake  to  pay.  In  reply, 
the  petitioners  entered  into  the  facts  of  the*  case  from  the 
outset  and  forwarded  two  explicit  affidavits.  The  first 
having  reference  to  the  agreement  with  Lord  Selkirk,  the 
attempt  to  engage  the  services  of  Mr.  Sage,  the  temporary 
ministrations  of  Mr.  Sutherland,  and  the  repeated  applica- 
tions to  every  successive  Governor,  was  signed  by  Angus 
and  Alexander  Mathieson,  two  of  the  settlers  of  1815.  The 
second  proved  the  assignment  of  two  new  lots  to  Alexander 
McBeath  and  his  son,  John,  one  of  the  deponents,  by  Mr. 
Alexander  Macdonnell,  th.e  Governor,  at  the  instance  of 
Lord  Selkirk,  these  lots  being  set  apart  for  a  Presbyterian 
Church  and  a  school.  The  only  reply  vouchsafed  to  these 
representations  from  the  Hudson  Bay  House  was  the  in- 
formation the  Company  "  can  neither  recognize  the  claim 
therein  advanced,  nor  .do  anything  more  towards  the  object 
you  have  in  view,  than  they  have  already  expressed  their 
willingness  to  do."  This  curt  note  was  dated  6th  June, 
1846,  fully  two  years  after  the  original  petition  had  been 
drafted  and  nearly  a  twelve-month  later  than  the  communi- 
cation to  which  it  replied. 

The  settlers  expecting  this  result  from  the  tone  of  the 
Company's  first  answer  turned  for  assistance  to  another 
quarter.  Stirring  events  had  occurred  in  the  old  land  within 
a  year  or  two.  The  Disruption  of  1843  had  infused  new 
life  into  the  decaying  spirituality  of  Scotland,  and  the  mar- 
vellous zeal  and  energy  which  piled  together  the  Sustentation 
Fund  seemed  to  betoken  the  dawn  of  a  new  era  in  the 
history  of  Presbyterianism.  The  Red  River  Settlers  were 


1046        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

perhaps  scarcely  so  strongly  impressed  with  the  non-intrusion 
controversy  as  their  brethren  over  the  sea ;  indeed  they  felt 
too  forlorn  and  desolate  to  care  much  about  patronage. 
They  at  once,  however,  appealed  with  hope  to  the  Free 
Church  in  a  letter,  accompanied  by  all  the  correspondence 
with  the  Company  and  other  documents,  addressed  to  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Brown,  of  Aberdeen,  Moderator  of  the  General 
Assembly.  '  Owing  to  delays  and  miscarriages  of  letters,  no 
reply  was  received  until  the  Summer  of  1849,  when  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Bcnar,  Convener  of  the  Colonial  Committees  wrote 
expressing  his  regret  that  all  efforts  to  secure  a  suitable 
minister  had  hitherto  failed.  A  dispute  followed  regard- 
ing the  Church  and  school  lots,  which  had  long  been 
occupied  -by  the  English  Missionaries ;  the  result  was  a 
sort  of  informal  offer  of  arbitration  by  Governor  Colville, 
one  of  the  terms  of  which  was  that  the  dissidents  should  be 
paid  off,  and  suffered  to  have  their  own  Church  and  burial 
ground. 

At  length,  by  the  efforts  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Burns,  Rev.  Mr. 
Rintoul  and  others,  the  long-promised  Missionary  arrived  on 
the  19th  of  September,  1851,  in  the  person  of  the  Rev.  John 
Black,  late  minister  of  Kildonan,  in  the  Province  of  Mani- 
toba. The  joy  with  which  the  first  clergyman  of  their  Church 
— the  pastor  for  whom  they  had  been  looking  and  longing 
in  vain  during  thirty -three  years — was  welcomed  it  is  easy 
to  imagine.  So  soon  as  he  set  foot  in  the  settlement  three 
hundred  Presbyterians  left  the  English  Church  in  one  day, 
and  were  at  last  restored  to  the  Communion  of  their  fathers. 
The  final  decision  of  the  Committee  on  the  Church  property 
question  was  so  far  in  favour  of  the  settlers,  that  neither 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         104T 

Church  nor  churchyard  were  to  be  consecrated,  but  left 
open  to  all.  In  1853,  however,  the  Presbyterians  erected  a 
handsome  stone  edifice  at  Frog  Plains  or  Kildonan,  and 
were  at  home  at  last. 

The  Rev.  John  Black,  or  Dr.  Black,  as  he  is  entitled  to 
be  called,  deserves  a  more  extended  notice  inasmuch  as  he 
was  not  only  the  first  Presbyterian  Minister  at  Red  River, 
but  has  approved  himself  by  twenty  years'  faithful  service, 
the  model  of  all  that  a  Christian  Missionary  in  a  new  and 
unsettled  country  should  aspire  to  be.  By  the  kindness  of 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Reid,  who  has  furnished  the  facts,  the  following 
account  of  Dr.  Black's  life  and  services  are  laid  before  the 
reader.*  He  was  born  in  1818,  in  the  parish  of  Eskdale 
Muir,  Dumfrieshire,  Scotland,  whence  his  family  removed 
to  Kirkpatrick.  When  John  Black  was  about  twenty- 
three  years  of  age,  the  family  emigrated  to  the  United 
States.  With  them  he  resided  for  some  years,  in  the  State 
of  Delaware,  employing  himself,  as  most  young  Scots  do  in 
the  "  auld  land,"  both  in  teaching  and  study.  Amongst  his 
pupils,  who  rose  to  eminence,  were  the  Hon.  W.  Murray, 
Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and 
Dr.  David  Murra/,  Superintendent  of  Education  in  Japan. 
Even  before  leaving  Scotland,  Mr.  Black  had  conceived  a 
desire  of  entering  the  the  ministry,  and  a  residence  in  the 
United  States  had  not  only  deepened  that  aspiration,  but 
given  it  definite  form.  He  loved  his  native  land  and  its 
Church,  and  with  that  truly  Scottish  form  of  patriotism  he 

*  The  writer  desires  to  make  a  general  acknowledgment  here  to  this  indefatigable  Agent 
of  the  Preshyterian  Church  in  Canada,  for  much  assistance  in  preparing  the  portion  of  this 
work  devoted  to  religious  progress  in  the  Dominion. 


1048        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

had  inherited,  his  religion  and  his  love  of  country  seemed  to 
have  been  inextricably  mingled  together.  The  train  of 
thought  in  such  a  mind — not  difficult  to  follow — led  M  r. 
Black  to  look  towards  Canada,  where  his  connection  with 
Scotland,  and  some  members  of  the  Presbyterian  family  of 
churches  would  be  more  intimate  than  was  possible  'in  the 
United  States.  It  was  after  the  disruption  had  done  its 
work  in  Canada  (1844)  that,  in  correspondence  with  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Stark,  of  Dundas,  first  Moderator  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  Canada — the  Free  Church  branch  of  Can- 
adian Presbyterianism — he  learned  of  a  provision  in  the 
making,  to  train  young  men  for  the  ministry  in  Knox  Col- 
lege, then  on  the  eve  of  organization.  At  the  opening  of 
the  first  session  of  Knox  College,  in  the  Autumn  of  1844, 
Mr.  Black  presented  himself  as  a  student,  and,  after  having 
prosecuted  the  course  of  study  prescribed  in  the  curriculum 
of  the  College,  and  passed  the  required  examinations,  was 
licensed,  in  due  form,  as  a  preacher  of  the  gospel.  For  a 
considerable  period,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Black  was  engaged  in  the 
work  of  French  evangelization ;  and  it  was  in  the  midst  of 
these  labours  that  he  was  summoned  to  step  higher,  and 
become  the  first  Presbyterian  minister  of  the  Red  River 
Settlement.  This  sudden  call  to  a  sphere  of  labour  almost 
boundless  in  extent,  and  rich  in  opportunities  for  mission- 
ary usefulness,  must  have  impressed  Mr.  Black  with  a  full 
sense  of  its  value,  as  well  as  its  difficulties.  The  first  Pres- 
byterian minister  in  the  great  North- West  had  a  wide  door 
opened  to  him,  but  to  enter  in  meant  the  sacrifice  of  much 
which  an  ambitious  man  holds  dear.  The  fame  and  the 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        3049 

emoluments  of  the  city  clergyman  are  not  for  him ;  nearly 
all  the  comforts  and  pleasant  companionship  of  society  life 
in  settled  communities  must  be  left  behind  ;  and,  taking  his 
cross  upon  his  back,  he  must  encounter  all  possibilities  in 
missionary  life,  to  do  the  work  of  his  Master — no  human 
mentor  by  his  side ;  alone,  yet  not  alone.     It  can  hardly  be 
ambition  which  tempts  a  man  to  undergo  danger  and  dif- 
ficulty in  the  missionary  field ;  it  i.3  certainly  not  hope  of 
earthly  reward,  nor  even  love  of  adventure  which  stimulates 
the    explorer,    which   prompts  the   pioneer  missionary   to 
undertake  the  work.     Whatever    Mr.  Black's  feelings  may 
have   been,  or  whencesoever  his  inspiration  and  strength 
were  drawn,  he  set  about  his  mission  with  the  determina- 
tion of  an  ambassador  who  was  not  without  credentials.  The 
Scots  settlers  grouped  about  him  enthusiastically  ;  but  be- 
yond their  little  oasis,  lay  a  vast  Sahara  of  spiritual  desert. 
Mr.  Black's  first  step  was  to  make  sure  of  his  own  ground. 
From  the  first,  he  resolved  to  keep  aloof  from  politics,  and 
adhered   to   that  resolution  throughout.     During  the  pro- 
longed struggle  with  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  he  held 
aloof,  firmly  persuaded  that   the  mission  of  the  clergyman 
ran  upon  a  higher  plane,  and  in  a  purer  atmosphere,  than 
that  of  the  agitator,  or  the  conservative,  however  sincere. 
Even  at  the  unhappy  period  when  the  Anglican  clergymen 
whom  the  Company  had  championed,opposed  it,  to  the  moral 
destruction  of  one  of  them,  Mr.  Black,  whose  church   the 
reigning  authorities  had  persistently  opposed,  stood  aloof 
from  the  agitation  of  the  malcontents. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Black,  throughout  a  distinguished  career, 
endeavoured  to  promote  solely   the   religious   and   educa- 


1050        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

tional  progress  of  the  people.  When  they  found  themselves 
excluded  from  the  schools,  it  was  he  who  founded  and  set  in 
operation  the  germ  of  Manitoba's  educational  system.  In 
early  years,  he  had,  "  in  addition  to  his  usual  clerical  duties 
at  both  stations,  to  teach  a  French  and  Latin  class  ever  since 
Bishop  Anderson  prohibited  Presbyterian  pupils  from  at- 
tending his  schools."*  At  this  time  Mr.  Black's  stipend,  we 
are  informed,  amounted  to  only  £150  per  annum,  £50  of 
which  were  subscribed  by  the  Hudson  Bay  Company.  The 
rev.  gentleman,  however,  did  not  stop  there.  The  Kildonan 
station  on  Frog  Plains,  had  been  supplemented  by  another, 
fourteen  miles  further  down,  now  apparently  termed  "  Lit- 
tle Britain."  It  was  to  his  untiring  energy  that  the  first 
systematic  attempt  to  christianize  the  Indians,  owed  its 
origin.  To  the  Rev.  Mr.  Cochran,  afterwards  Archdeacon, 
much  praise  is  due  for  fruitful  efforts  in  that  direction.  Per- 
haps as  the  pastor  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  he  felt 
that  they  had  hitherto  made  no  effort  to  fulfil  one  of  the 
primary  conditions  of  their  charter ;  most  certainly  as  a 
Christian  pastor,  he  did  what  he  could,  not  as  a  hireling  of 
the  monopoly,  but  as  the  faithful  servant  of  a  Diviner 
Master.  Dr.  Black  died  in  18S2.f 

In  1862,  much  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Black's  labour  and  anxiety 
was  removed  by  the  advent  upon  the  field  of  the  Rev.  James 
Nisbet,  the  second  Presbyterian  minister  at  Red  River,  and 
the  first  missionary  especially  set  apart  for  labour  amongst 
the  Indians.  A  native  of  Glasgow,  Scotland,  he  came  with 

*  Ross,  p.  860.  Of  course,  our  author  is  alone  responsible  for  a  view  of  Bishop  Ander- 
son's course,  of  which  the  writer  of  these  words  would  be  sorry  to  judge  ex  parte. 

t  It  should  be  mentioned  that  the  Rev.  Dr.  Black's  degree  of  Doctor  was  bestowed  upon 
him,  as  was  fitting,  by  the  University  of  Queen's  College,  Kingston,  in  1876. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1051 

his  father  and  family  to  Canada  in  early  life.  "  Like  Dr. 
Black,"  the  Rev.  Dr.  Reid  informs  us,  "he  was  one  of  the 
first  fruits  of  Knox  College."  After  his  ordination,  he  was 
appointed  minister  of  the  church  at  Oakville,  where  he 
laboured  diligently  in  the  sacred  calling  for  twelve  years, 
from  1850  to  1862,  and  in  addition  to  his  ordinary  pastoral 
duties  was  constantly  engaged  in  the  Home  Missionary 
work  of  his  Church.  In  18G2,  he  was  invited  to  assist  Dr, 
Black  in  the  work  at  Red  River,  and  cheerfully  undertook 
the  duty.  During  the  two  years  of  his  co-operation  with 
Dr.  Black,  he  was  in  preparation  for  his  special  work,  and, 
in  1864,  he  was  formally  designated  as  a  Presbyterian  mis- 
sionary to  the  valley  of  the  Saskatchewan,  and  at  once  en- 
tered upon  the  arduous  duty  assigned  him.  He  was  accom- 
panied by  Mr.  George  Flett,  and  Mr.  John  McKay,  both 
natives  of  the  North-West,  and  well  versed  in  the  Cree  lan- 
guage. The  mission  received  the  name  of  Prince  Albert, 
and  there  for  ten  years,  Mr.  Nisbet  pursued  his  work,  with 
zeal  and  devotedness,  although  in  the  midst  of  grave  diffi- 
culties and  much  discouragement.  He  died  at  Kildonan, 
worn  out  prematurely  by  his  evangelical  labours  on  the 
30th  of  September,  1874,  only  a  few  weeks  before  the  death 
of  his  wife,  who  together  with  him  had  been  spent  in  the 
arduous  work  given  them  to  do,  leaving  four  orphan  chil- 
dren. The  testimony  Mr.  Nisbet  left  behind  him  might  be 
coveted  by  many  an  ardent  seeker  after  posthumous  fame, 
"  he  was  a  singularly  unselfish  and  devoted  missionary,  and 
all  felt  that  his  heart  was  in  his  work." 

Of  the  other  Presbyterian  ministers  engaged  in  the  North- 


1052        TUB  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

West,  only  brief  notice  can  be  taken.  The  Rev.  Alex.  Mathe- 
son,  a  Scot,  by  parentage,  is  a  native  of  Red  River.  He 
also  was  educated  at  Knox  College,  and  for  somo  time  la- 
boured at  Lunenburg  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  Returning  to 
his  native  Manitoba,  he  became,  and  is  now,  the  Minister  of 
"Little  Britain,"  at  the  Lower  Fort  Garry.  The  Rev.  G. 
Bryce,  M.A.,  is  also  a  Scots- Canadian ;  he  graduated*  in  the 
University  of  Toronto,  and  pursued  his  theological  studies 
at  Knox  College.  In  1871,  he  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the 
College  of  Manitoba.  The  Rev.  Thomas  Hart,  M.  A.,  pro- 
fessor in  the  same  institution  is  from  Perth,  Ontario,  and  also 
of  Scottish  extraction.  His  degree  was  obtained  from 
Queen's  University.  One  of  the  latest  additions  to  the  cler- 
ical strength  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Manitoba,  is 
the  Rev.  James  Robertson,  of  Knox  Church,  Winnipeg.  He 
studied  at  University  College,  Toronto,  and  took  a  theolo- 
gical course  at  Princeton,  N.  J. 

The  best  general  view  of  the  work  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land in  the  North- West  will  be  found  in  Hargrave's  Red 
River,  chap  ix.  The  position  in  which  Episcopalian  minis- 
ters were  placed,  was  anomalous.  The  Rev.  Archdeacon 
Cochran  is  justly  regarded  as  the  founder  of  that  branch  of 
the  Church  of  England  which  now  boasts  of  no  less  than 
five  bishoprics  in  the  North- West.  It  was  he  who,  in  1836, 
made  the  first  attempt  at  Indian  evangelization,  amongst 
the  semi-civilized  aborigines  by  founding  the  Indian  Set- 
tlement, or  Parish  of  St.  Peter.  Mr.  Cochran  was  apos- 
tolic to  the  letter,  for  he  "laboured  with  his  hands"  at 
the  little  edifice  designed  for  instruction  and  worship. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1053 

He  was  pastor,  teacher,  architect,  builder,  and  mechanic 
combined ;  what  is  pleasing  to  learn  is  he  did  not  toil 
in  vain,  since  what  there  is  of  civilization  and  settled  life 
amongst  the  Indians  of  the  Province  of  Manitoba  may 
be  justly  traced  to  his  early  labours.  It  was  no  wonder 
that  he  was  beloved  by  the  natives  and  warmly  esteemed 
by  the  Presbyterians,  against  whom,  in  the  days  of  ignor- 
ance, he  had  sternly  set  his  face.  He  was  too  near  akin  to 
them  in  the  national  characteristics  of  fervour,  persistence 
and  devotion  to  the  highest  interests  of  his  fellow-men,  to 
be  permanently  estranged  from  their  hearts  by  differences 
in  form  or  discipline.  In  their  former  foe  they  learned  long 
before  the  termination  of  his  forty  years'  ministry  to  re- 
cognise one  of  their  closest  friends.  Of  the  other  Anglican 
clergymen  who  took  an  active  part  in  the  work  of  early 
days,  may  be  mentioned  the  Rev.  John  McCallum  and  the 
Rev.  James  (afterwards  Archdeacon)  Hunter. 

The  present  Bishop  of  Rupert's  Land — a  diocese  consti- 
tuted in  1849 — was,  and  is,  the  Most  Reverend  Robert 
Machray,  D.D.,  the  son  of  a  Scottish  advocate.  He  was 
born  at  Aberdeen,  Scotland,  in  1832.  Educated  in  the  first 
place  at  King's  College  in  his  native  city,  he  graduated  with 
honours  in  mathematics  at  Cambridge.  He  was  elected 
Foundation  Fellow  of  his  college  (Sidney)  in  1855,  and,  in  the 
year  following  ordained  as  Deacon  and  Priest  successively 
by  the  Bishop  of  Ely.  Having  been  honoured  by  other  Uni- 
versity appointments,  he  was  for  a  short  time  Vicar  of  a  par- 
ish near  the  University  town.  In  1865  he  was  consecrated 
Bishop  of  Rupert's  Land  at  Lambeth,  by  the  Archbishop  of 


10.H         THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Canterbury,  the  Bishops  of  London,  Ely  and  Abardeen,  as 
well  as  his  predecessor  the  Rt.  Reverend  David  Anderson.* 
The  diocese,  as  originally  established,  included  the  entire 
area  now  embraced  in  the  Province  of  Manitoba  and  the 
North-West  Territories.     Bishop  Machray  entered  upon  the 
arduous  duties  of  his  extensive  charge  in  the  true  missionary 
spirit.     He  fearlessly  encountered  the  perils  and  privations 
of  the  wilderness,  in  the  visitation  of  the  distant  and  widely- 
scattered  mission  stations  of  his  diocese,  and  for   several 
years  pursued  a  career  of  almost  continued  hardship  and 
endurance,  travelling  thousands  of  miles  by  canoe  and  dog- 
sleigh,  to  the  remotest  confines  of   the  then  little-known 
region  under  his  spiritual  charge,  in  order  to  familiarize 
himself  with  its  needs.  When  owing  to  the  influx  of  settlers, 
it  became  necessary  largely  to  extend  the  work  of  the  Church, 
his  practical  knowledge  of  the  country  and    its  religious 
requirements  enabled  him  to  present  the  case  earnestly  and 
successfully  to  the  Church  in  Canada  and  in  England.     In 
order  to  meet  the  continually  increasing  necessities  arising 
from  the  progress  of  settlement,  the  diocese  was  subdivided 
by  the  constitution  of  other  bishoprics,  the  See  of  Rupert's 
Land  since  1874,  comprising  the  Province  of  Manitoba,  with 
a  portion  of  the  district  of  Cumberland,  and  the  districts  of 
Swan  River,  Norway  House,  and  Lac  La  Pluie.     On  the 
sub-division  of  the  diocese,  Bishop  Machray  was  appointed 
Metropolitan.     His  zeal  and  energy  in  the  pioneer  work  of 
religious  and  educational  organization  are  recognised,  not 

*  Some  of  these  biographical  facts,  as  well  as  others  which  follow,  are  taken  from  The 
Clerical  Guide  and  Churchman's  Directory,  edited  by  Mr.  C.  V.  Forater  Bliss,  and  pub- 
lished at  Ottawa. 


TEE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1055 

only  by  his  fellow-churchmen,  but  by  all  interested  in  the 
moral  and  intellectual  advancement  of  the  North-West. 
Bishop  Machray's  sterling  qualities  of  head  and  heart,  have 
won  the  respect  of  all  classes.  His  pulpit  style  is  direct  and 
practical  rather  than  ornate,  and  is  oft  times  characterized 
by  the  eloquence  which  glows  with  the  warmth  of  earnest 
conviction,  though  it  may  not  glitter  with  the  tinsel  of 
rhetorical  embellishment.  He  holds  the  position  of  Chan- 
cellor and  Warden  of  St.  John's  College,  Manitoba,  and  Pro- 
fessor of  Ecclesiastical  History  in  the  Theological  College. 

Another  of  the  pioneer  prelates  of  the  North- West,  claims 
Scotland  as  his  native  land.  The  Right  Reverend  John  Mc- 
Lean, D.D.,  D.C.L.,  was  born  at  Portsay,  Banffshire,  in  1828. 
He  graduated  at  Aberdeen  University  in  1851.  He  came 
to  Canada  shortly  afterwards,  and  in  1858  was  ordained 
by  the  Bishop  of  Huron.  His  first  charge  was  the  curacy 
of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  London.  He  removed  to  the  North- 
West  in  1866,  where  he  was  appointed  rector  of  St.  John's 
Cathedral,  and  Divinity  Professor  of  St.  John's  College, 
Winnipeg.  A  few  years  later  he  became  archdeacon  of  Assi- 
niboia.  In  1871,  he  received  the  degree  of  D.  C.  L.,  from 
the  Universities  of  Trinity  College,  Toronto,  and  Bishop's 
College,  Lennoxville,  and  that  of  D.D.,  from  Kenyon  College, 
Ohio.  When  the  Diocese  of  Saskatchewan  was  constituted  in 
1874,  the  ripe  scholarship  and  marked  executive  abilities  of 
Dr.  McLean,  were  recognised  by  his  nomination  to  the  new 
See.  He  was  consecrated  at  Lambeth  the  same  year  by  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury — and  has  since  laboured  with 
assiduity  and  success  to  meet  as  far  as  possible  the  rapidly 


1056        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

increasing  spiritual  needs  of  the  extensive  and  fertile  region 
under  his  charge,  to  which  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  influx 
of  settlement  has  been  directed. 

When  the  record  of  North-Western  evangelization  is  com- 
plete, and  Christianity  has  gone  hand  in  hand  with  civili- 
zation, in  reclaiming  the  land  from  desolation  and  pagan 
barbarism,  no  name  in  the  list  of  those  who  laboured  and 
suffered  for  this  glorious  consummation  will  be  held  in 
greater  honour  or  more  affectionate  remembrance,  than  that 
of  the  Rev.  George  McDougall,  Methodist  missionary  to  the 
Indians,  who  crowned  a  life  of  heroic  struggle  and  self-sa- 
crifice by  a  martyr's  death,  at  his  perilous  post  of  duty.  But 
little  information  can  be  obtained  as  to  his  early  antecedents. 
Born  of  a  hardy  sea-faring  ancestry  belonging  to  the  north 
of  Scotland,  he  combined  a  hereditary  courage  and  love  of 
adventure,  which  enabled  him  cheerfully  to  brave  the 
dangers  and  hardships  of  life  on  the  prairies,  with  a  singular 
gentleness  and  refinement,  and  an  overflowing  kindliness  of 
disposition  which  drew  all  hearts  towards  him.  Early  in 
life  he  became  convinced  that  duty  called  him  to  a  career  of 
missionary  effort  among  the  Indians  of  the  North- West.  He 
began  his  labours  about  the  year  1850,  travelling  westward 
through  the  wildest  and  most  desolate  regions  of  what  was 
then  an  almost  unknown  land,  establishing  mission  stations, 
familiarizing  himself  with  the  languages  of  the  Indian  tribes, 
and  carrying  the  light  of  the  Gospel  into  the  haunts  of 
heathen  darkness.  In  the  winter  of  1875-6,  he  was  stationed  . 
at  Morleyville,  Bow  River,  in  the  Rocky  Mountain  region, 
where  he  proposed  to  establish  an  orphanage  for  the  support 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1057 

and  education  of  destitute  Indian  children.  Letters  which 
he  wrote  a  few  weeks  before  his  death  to  the  Hon.  James  Fer- 
rier,  superintendent  of  the  St.  James'-street  Sabbath-school, 
Montreal,  which  had  largely  aided  his  schemes  by  contribu- 
tions, give  a  vivid  and  interesting  picture  of  his  work  and  its 
glorious  results.  Speaking  of  his  journey  westward  from 
Victoria  to  Fort  McLeod,  he  says  :  "  We  were  guided  by  the 
Stony  interpreter,  James  Dixon,  a  very  remarkable  man, 
who  for  years  has  been  the  patriarch  of  his  people.  James, 
in  a  five  days'  journey  could  point  out  every  spot  of  interest ; 
now  showing  us  the  place  where  more  than  twenty-five  years 
ago,  the  venerable  Rundle  visited  them  and  baptized  many 
of  their  people — a  little  further  on,  and  the  location  was 
pointed  out  to  us,  where  his  father  was  killed  by  the  Black- 
feet,  then  again  from  a  hill  our  friend  pointed  out  the  spot 
where  a  company  of  German  emigrants,  while  crossing  from 
Montana  to  the  Saskatchewan  were  murdered — not  one  left 
to  tell  the  painful  story.  This  occurred  seven  years  ago. 
How  wonderful  the  change  !  We  can  now  preach  the  Gospel 
to  these  very  people,  who,  but  a  few  years  ago  sought  the 
life  of  every  traveller  coming  from  the  American  side."  The 
destitution  of  many  of  the  Indians,  owing  to  the  disappear- 
ance of  the  buffalo,  on  which  they  were  almost  entirely 
dependent,  excited  his  deepest  commiseration  and  redoubled 
his  determination  to  make  some  provision  for  the  physical 
necessities  of  the  young  and  helpless,  while  imparting  toge- 
ther with  a  Christian  education,  such  an  industrial  training 
as  would  fit  them  to  become  self-supporting  under  the  new 
order  of  things.  "  November  6th,"  he  writes,  "  we  reached 


1058        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

the  encampment  of  our  friend  Dixon.  There  were  380  Stonies 
present.  Next  morning  we  held  a  service,  and  though  the 
frozen  grass  was  the  best  accommodation  we  could  offer  our 
hearers,  yet  no  sooner  was  the  announcement  made,  than 
men,  women  and  children  gathered  round  us,  and  sang  with 
great  energy,  '  Salvation,  Oh,  the  joyful  sound.'  Here  I 
counted  over  100  boys  and  girls  who  ought  to  be  attending 
school,  and  who  I  hope  will  be  as  soon  as  we  can  get  a  place 
erected  sufficiently  large  to  accommodate  them."  To  effect 
his  plans  he  laboured  steadily  with  his  own  hands  at  the 
work  of  building.  "  At  -present,"  he  sensibly  says,  "  if  your 
missionaries  would  succeed,  they  must  not  be  afraid  of  a  little 
manual  labour." 

Unfortunately  this  valiant  and  stout-heaited  soldier  of  the 
Cross  was  never  destined  to  put  his  benevolent  project  into 
operation.  On  the  24th  of  January,  1876,  while  hunting* 
buffalo  about  thirty  miles  from  Morley  ville,  to  procure  a  sup- 
ply of  meat  for  the  mission,  he  started  to  return  to  camp  in 
advance  of  his  party.  It  was  a  wild,  stormy  night,  and  a 
fierce  wind  swept  the  prairie  laden  with  drifting  snow.  Mr. 
McDougall  missed  his  way,  and  as  a  protracted  search  by  his 
friends  proved  fruitless,  the  painful  conclusion  that  he  had 
perished  from  cold  and  exhaustion  forced  itself  upon  them. 
Twelve  days  afterwards  his  body  was  found  by  a  half-breed, 
stretched  in  death  on  the  snow-covered  prairie,  the  folded 
hands  and  placid  expression  of  the  features,  showing  that  the 
intrepid  soul  of  the  missionary  had  met  death  in  the  spirit 
of  calm  and  trustful  resignation — 

"  Like  one  who  draws  the  drapery  of  his  couch 
Around  him,  and  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams." 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE   CANADIAN   PACIFIC   RAILWAY. 

APPY  is  the  nation  that  has  no  history,"  is  an 
aphorism  that  has  lost  much  of  its  force  by  the 
adoption  of  more  rational  and  instructive  historical  methods. 
It  was  strictly  true  in  the  days  when  popular  history  was  a 
mere  record  of  battles  and  sieges,  treaties  made  and  violated, 
the  pomp  and  parade  of  courts  and  the  intrigues  of  diplo- 
matists. But  in  an  age  when  historical  research  and  con- 
temporary observation  are  brought  to  bear  upon  the  life  of 
the  people,  upon  institutions  and  manners  and  industries, 
upon  progress  in  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  intellectual  and 
religious  advancement,  the  eras  of  peaceful  development  offer 
the  widest  scope  and  entail  the  most  arduous  labours  upon 
the  historian.  The  interest  of  the  narrative  is  no  longer 
centred  upon  a  comparatively  small  group  of  leading  figures — 
upon  a  few  salient  actions  of  overshadowing  importance.  It 
is  diffused  over  a  wider  theatre  where  many  diverse  move- 
ments are  in  progress.  There  is  no  great  crisis — no  pivotal 
point  of  national  destiny  towards  which  all  energies  are 
bent  and  all  eyes  directed.  But  the  minor  events  and  influ- 
ences which  make  up  the  sum  of  national  life  are  so  scat- 
tered as  to  area  and  so  involved  in  their  relations  to  each 
other,  that  the  field-glass  of  the  chronicler  of  the  times  of 

storm  and  pressure  needs  to  be  exchanged  for  an  instrument 
9 


3060        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

at  once  telescopic  in  range  and  microscopic  in  closeness  of 
vision.  The  recent  annals  of  North- Western  progress  are  a 
record  of  peaceful  and  rapid  advancement,  in  which,  among 
the  active  and  energetic  spirits  who  have  been  the  directing 
forces  of  settlement,  there  are  many  whose  names  are  wor- 
thy of  honourable  .mention — few  who  loom  up  so  largely  as 
to  throw  the  rest  into  shadow.  The  preservation  of  the  due 
historical  perspective  is  therefore  a  matter  of  difficulty. 

Canadians  have  been  backward  in  realizing  the  grandeur 
and  value  of  their  national  heritage.  Accustomed  for  genera- 
tions to  the  contrast  between  the  narrow  limits  of  Old  Can- 
ada, and  the  vast  expanse  of  half  a  continent  to  the  South, 
the  possession  of  which  has  done  so  much  to  form  the  Ame- 
rican character,  both  as  regards  its  faults  and  its  virtues,  it 
is  not  surprising  that,  for  some  time  after  the  annexation  of 
the  North-West  territory,  public  opinion  failed  to  appreciate 
the  new  acquisition  at  anything  like  its  true  value.  This  was, 
no  doubt,  owing  fully  as  much  to  the  lack  of  anything  like 
jeliable  information  concerning  the  real  character  of  the  coun- 
try and  its  fitness  for  settlement,  as  to  the  Canadian  habit  of 
self-depreciation — which,  by  the  way,  is  a  habit  of  thought 
rather .  than  of  speech.  The  empire,  upon  the  possession  of 
which  Canada  had  entered,  was  literally  a  terra  incognita. 

Great  spaces  yet  untravelled,  great  lakes  whose  mystic  shores 

The  Saxon  rifle  never  heard,  nor  dip  of  Saxon  oars  ; 

Great  herds  that  wander  all  unwatched,  wild  steeds  that  none  have  tamed, 

Strange  fish  in  unknown  streams,  and  hircU  the  Saxon  never  named, 

Deep  mines,  dark  mountain  crucibles  where  Nature's  chemic  powers 

Work  out  the  great  Designer's  will — all  these  ye  say  are  ours  ! 

It  was  not  until  the  observations  of  travellers  and  the 
researches  of  men  of  science,  corroborated  by  the  actual 
experience  of  the  pioneers  of  settlement,  established  beyond 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1061 

a  doubt  the  existence  of  large  areas  of  fertile  arable  land, 
that  public  sentiment  rose  in  some  measure  to  a  due  esti- 
mation of  the  resources  and  possibilities  of  the  North- West. 
Prominent  among  those  whose  keen  perception  and  graphic 
descriptive  powers  have   contributed  to   bring  about  this 
result  is  the  Rev.  George  M.  Grant,  to  whose  book,  "  Ocean 
to  Ocean,"  reference  has  already  been  made.     In  1872,  Mr. 
Sandford  Fleming,  chief  engineer  of  the  Canadian  Pacific 
Railway,  determined  to  undertake  a  journey  across  the  con- 
tinent in  order  to  familiarize  himself  with  the  general  fea- 
tures of  the  route  laid  down  by  the  preliminary  surveys  of  the 
previous  year.     He  was  accompanied  by  Rev.  Mr.  Grant  in 
the  capacity  of  secretary ;  and  Dr.  Arthur  Moren,  of  Halifax, 
Prof.  John  Macoun,  of  Belleville,  and  Mr.  Charles  Horetzky, 
an  ex-Hudson  Bay  Company  official,  were  also  of  the  party. 
"  Ocean  to  Ocean  "  was  the  outcome  of  this  expedition.    The 
party  left  Toronto  on  the  16th  of  July,  reached  Prince  Ar- 
thur's Landing  by  steamer  from  Collingwood,  and  travelled  to 
Winnipeg  over  the  Dawson  road.   The  writer  bears  frequent 
testimony  to  the  prevalence  of  the  Scottish  element  in  the 
few  and  far  between  stopping-places  and  settlements  along 
this  route.     The  first  halt  after  leaving  Thunder  Bay  was 
made  at  "  fifteen  mile  shanty,"  in  charge  of  Robert  Bowie, 
an  Alloa  man,  of  whom  it  is  gratefully  recorded  that  he  gave 
the  party  the  best  dinner  they  had  enjoyed  since  leaving 
Toronto.     The  station  at  the  Matawan  was  in  care  of  Mr. 
Aitken  from  Glengarry,  who  in  two  months  had  converted  a 
fire-swept  desert  into  a  comfortable  and  prosperous  home. 
A  Scot  who  accompanied  the  party  on  one  stage  of  their 
journey  as  teamster  from  the  North-West  Angle,  was  earning 


1062        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA 

$30  per  month  and  board,  and  saving  four-fifths  of  his  wages 
with  the  intention  in  a  few  months  of  buying  a  farm  on  the 
Red  River.  At  White  Birch  River  they  found  the  keeper  of 
the  station,  a  Scotsman  "  like  the  rest,"  and  a  very  intelli- 
gent man,  able  to  furnish  much  information  about  the  coun- 
try. After  the  usual  vicissitudes  of  canoe  and  waggon  travel, 
over  this  picturesque  but  rough  and  desolate  region,  Winni- 
peg was  reached.  The  writer  notes  the  prosperity  of  the 
Selkirk  settlement,  owing  to  the  thrifty  habits  of  the  High- 
landers and  their  descendants.  At "  Silver  Heights,"  six  miles 
up  the  Assiniboine,  the  residence  of  Mr.  Donald  A.  Smith, 
the  travellers  received  a  veritable  Highland  welcome,  and 
met,  among  others,  Mr.  Christie,  a  short  time  before  chief 
factor  at  Edmonton,  Mr.  Hamilton,  of  Norway  House,  and 
Mr.  McTavish. 

The  party  commenced  the  journey  across  the  prairies  with 
a  full  equipment  of  Red  River  carts,  saddle  horses  and  buck- 
boards.  Shortly  after  leaving  Winnipeg  they  fell  in  with 
Rev.  George  McDougall,  the  intrepid  Methodist  missionary, 
whose  lamented  death  a  few  years  later  left  such  a  gap  in 
the  ranks  of  .missionary  enterprise.  Mr.  McDougall  accom- 
panied the  party  to  Edmonton,  where  he  was  at  that  time 
stationed.  They  found  a  little  village  on  the  site  of  what  is 
now  the  thriving  town  of  Portage  la  Prairie,  and  at  Rat 
Creek,  ten  miles  further  west,  the  houses  of  several  settlers. 
The  names  of  Grant  and  Mackenzie  sufficiently  indicate  the 
origin  of  the  two  prosperous  farmers,  recently  from  Ontario, 
at  whose  houses  the  travellers  dined.  From  this  point  on- 
wards Mr.  Grant  was  impressed  with  the  wonderful  richness 
and  fertility  of  the  prairie  land,  and  puts  on  record  his- 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1063 

amazement  that  so  little  should  have  been  done  to  open  up 
these  vast  and  productive  areas  for  settlement.  Crossing 
the  Assiniboine  at  Fort  Ellice,  the  party  turned  their  course 
towards  the  North  Saskatchewan,  by  way  of  the  Touchwood 
Hills,  passing  through  a  region  of  rolling  prairie,  the  beauty 
and  luxuriance  of  which  delighted  them.  From  Carlton  they 
proceeded  along  the  valley  of  the  Saskatchewan,  by  the  trail 
on  the  north  bank  of  the  river.  At  Victoria  they  visited  the 
mission  established  by  Mr.  McDougall  among  the  Crees  and 
half-breeds.  He  had  been  assigned  to  another  post  at  Ed- 
monton, and  his  successor  was  Mr.  Campbell.  The  teacher 
of  the  Sunday-school  was  Mr.  McKenzie,  and  the  interpreter 
Mr.  Tait.  The  observations  made  during  this  portion  of  the 
journey  as  to  the  general  character  of  the  country,  and  its 
fitness  for  settlement,  are  the  most  valuable  part  of  the 
work — as  a  vindication  of  the  soil  and  climate  of  the  North- 
West  from  the  prejudices  of  unreasoning  ignorance  and  the 
malignant  aspersions  of  American  railroad  and  land  agents. 
Summing  up  his  experiences  of  the  route  traversed  as  far  as 
Edmonton,  the  writer  says  : — 

"  Speaking  generally  of  Manitoba  and  our  North- West, 
along  the  line  we  travelled,  it  is  impossible  to  doubt  that  it 
is  one  of  the  finest  pasture  countries  in  the  world,  and  that 
a  great  part  of  it  is  well  adapted  for  cereals.  The  climato- 
logical  conditions  are  favourable  for  both  stock-raising  and 
grain-producing.  The  spring  is  nearly  as  early  as  in  Onta- 
rio, the  summer  is  more  humid  and  therefore  the  grains, 
grasses,  and  root  crops  grow  better ;  the  autumn  bright  and 
cloudless,  the  very  weather  for  harvesting  ;  and  the  winter 
has  less  snow  and  fewer  snow-storms,  and  though  in  many 


1064        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

parts  colder,  it  is  healthy  and  pleasant  because  of  the  still 
dry  air,  the  cloudless  sky  and  the  bright  sun.  The  soil  is 
almost  everywhere  a  peaty  or  sandy  loam  resting  on  cla}r. 
Its  only  fault  is  that  it  is  too  rich — crop  after  crop  is  raised 
without  fallow  or  manure."  After  considering  fairly  the 
objections  raised  as  to  the  scarcity  of  fuel  and  water  in  some 
parts,  otherwise  adapted  to  settlement,  and  the  summer 
frosts  which  occasionally  nip  the  grain  in  the  higher  lati- 
tudes— though,  as  he  takes  care  to  explain,  the  thermometer 
is  by  no  means  a  guide  as  to  the  effects  of  cold  in  this  region 
— "  it  is  impossible  "  he  continues  "  to  avoid  the  conclusion 
that  we  have  a  great  and  fertile  North-West,  a  thousand 
miles  long  and  from  one  to  four  hundred  miles  broad,  capa- 
ble of  containing  a  population  of  millions." 

The  revelations  of  yesterday  are  the  commonplaces  of  to- 
day. These  passages  seem  now  but  the  merest  truisms — the 
presentation  of  a  story  which  has  grown  stale,  and  hackney- 
ed by  the  reiterations  of  the  tourist  and  the  newspaper 
correspondent,  the  lecturer  and  the  politician.  But  they 
were  far  from  being  truisms  when  first  published,  or  for  some 
time  later.  The  researches  of  Prof.  Macoun,  who  with  Mr. 
Horetzky,  separated  from  Mr.  Fleming's  party  at  Edmonton, 
and  proceeded  to  the  Peace  River,  did  much  to  dispel  popular 
prejudice  as  to  the  climate.  But  misconceptions  of  this  sort 
die  slowly.  His  report  published  in  1874,  showing  from  the 
flora  of  that  region,  that  the  summer  climate  of  Peace  River 
in  56°  north  latitude  is  equal  to,  if  not  better  than,  that  of 
Belleville  in  latitude  44°,  was  much  criticized  and  his  state- 
ments ridiculed  as  extravagant.  Even  in  1877,  when  sur- 
veys had  been  pushed  in  all  directions,  the  Minister  of  Public 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA,        1065 

Works,  in  asking  the  Professor  to  present  a  report  on  the 
country,  thought  it  necessary  to  caution  him  not  to  draw  on 
his  imagination,  and  the  latter  knowing  the  incredulity 
which  existed  as  to  the  productive  capacity  of  the  North- 
West,  dared  not  present  the  conclusion  he  arrived  at,  from 
careful  estimates  that  the  country  comprised  fully  200,000,- 
000  acres  of  agricultural  land  —  fearing  that  the  figures 
would  appear  altogether  incredible — "  As  a  salve  to  my  con- 
science," he  writes,  "  I  kept  to  the  large  number  of  200,000,- 
000  acres,  but  said  that  there  were  79,920,000  of  arable  land, 
and  120,400,000  acres  of  pasture,  swamps  and  lakes."  * 

The  Fleming  party  continued  their  expedition  to  British 
Columbia,  by  way  of  the  Yellow  Head  Pass,  reaching  Vic- 
toria on  the  9th  of  October,  after  a  journey  of  nearly  three 
months.  Mr.  Grant  on  his  return  home  by  way  of  the  Union 
Pacific,  was  struck  with  the  contrast  between  the  arid  alka- 
line plateaus  of  Utah,  Nevada,  Wyoming  and  Eastern  Ne- 
braska, the  parched  earth  for  hundreds  of  miles  barely  yield- 
ing support  to  a  scanty  growth  of  sage-brush,  and  the  rich, 
warm  soil  of  the  Canadian  prairies  clothed  everywhere  with 
a  luxuriant  vegetation.  Yet  while  population  had  been  at- 
tracted to  the  great  American  desert  and  enterprise  had  car- 
ried thither  the  railroad  and  the  telegraph,  the  fertile  belt 
remained  unpeopled  and  unproductive.  The  great  essential 
precursor  of  civilization  in  its  westward  march,  the  railway, 
was  yet  in  the  future. 

The  tendency  of  public  opinion  during  the  early  phases  of 
the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  enterprise,  was  to  regard  this 
undertaking  rather  in  the  light  of  a  political  necessity  than 

*  Macoun'a  Manitoba  and  the  great  North- West,  p.  609. 


1066        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

a  factor  of  prime  exigency  in  the  work  of  populating  the 
North-West.  The  scheme  was  urged  as  essential  to  the 
maintenance  of  British  institutions  in  regions  to  which  a 
large  influx  of  population  from  the  southward,  was  likely  to 
be  attracted ;  it  was  accepted  as  a  corollary  of  Confederation  ; 
but  not  generally  recognised  as  an  undertaking  likely  to  be 
materially  remunerative.  To  the  spirit  of  patriotic  emula- 
tion excited  by  the  giant  strides  of  railway  development  in 
the  United  States,  and  to  the  tenacity  with  which  the  Bri- 
tish Columbians  in  framing  the  terms  of  union  insisted  upon 
this  material  link  as  a  sine  qua  non,  more  than  to  any  gene- 
ral conviction  of  the  practical  commercial  utility  of  the  en- 
terprise was  its  inception  due.  The  engineering  difficulties 
in  the  way  were  regarded  by  many  as  insuperable.  Capt. 
Palliser  who  in  1857  had  explored  the  country,  as  the  head 
of  an  expedition  sent  out  by  the  imperial  government  had 
decisively  declared  communication  between  Canada  and  the 
Pacific  slope  through  British  territory  impracticable.  "  The 
time  "  he  said  "  has  forever  gone  by  for  effecting  such  an  ob- 
ject, and  the  unfortunate  device  of  an  astronomical  boun- 
dary line  has  completely  isolated  the  central  American  pos- 
sessions of  Great  Britain  from  Canada,  in  the  East,  and  also 
almost  debarred  them  from  any  eligible  access  from  the  Pa- 
cific coast  on  the  west."  With  this  official  condemnation  of 
the  scheme  on  record  it  is  not  surprising  that  when  the  con- 
ditions of  the  bargain  with  British  Columbia  were  an- 
nounced the  opinion  widely  prevailed  that  the  stipulation 
for  the  construction  of  the  road  within  ten  years,  was  likely 
to  remain  a  dead  letter.  It  was  reserved  for  the  consum- 
mate scientific  ability,  the  tireless  energy,  the  thorough-go- 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH   NORTH  AMERICA.         10G7 

ing  assiduity  and  indomitable  resolution  of  a  Scot  to  demon- 
strate the  falsity  of  Capt.  Palliser's  conclusions,  as  it  lias 
since  been  for  the  enterprise,  commercial  sagacity  and  ex- 
ecutive capacity  of  a  company  of  Scotsmen  to  crown  the 
work. 

When  the  preliminary  work  of  survey  was  undertaken 
in  1871  the  position  of  chief  engineer  was  assigned  to  Mr. 
Sandford  Fleming,  a  name  that  will  always  be  closely  asso- 
ciated with  the  greatest  public  undertakings  of  the  Dominion. 
Mr.  Fleming  was  born  at  Kirkcaldy  in  Fifeshire,  Scotland, 
on  the  7th  of  Januarj7,  1827,  his  father  being  a  mechanic 
named  Andrew  Greig  Fleming.  The  maiden  name  of  his 
mother  was  Elizabeth  Arnot.  During  his  school  days  his 
mind  exhibited  a  decided  bent  in  the  direction  of  mathe- 
matics and  at  an  early  age  he  was  placed  under  articles  with 
an  engineer  and  surveyor.  Having  acquired  a  practical 
knowledge  of  the  profession  he  emigrated  to  Canada  at  the 
age  of  eighteen.  His  progress  in  his  adopted  country  was 
slow  at  first  as  he  was  for  some  years  unable  to  obtain  any 
position  which  would  afford  him  the  opportunity  of  gaining 
recognition  for  his  abilities.  During  a  portion  of  this  period 
of  weary  waiting  for  professional  advancement  he  resided 
in  Toronto,  where  he  was  one  of  the  first  to  take  an  interest 
in  the  Canadian  Institute.  In  1852  he  was  appointed  one 
of  the  engineering  staff  on  the  Northern  Railway,  at  that 
time  known  as  the  Ontario,  Simcoe  and  Huron  Railway. 
His  attainments  quickly  won  him  promotion  and  in  a  few 
years  he  became  chief  engineer  of  the  line.  During  his  con- 
nection with  this  company  his  services  were  also  sought  in 
the  promotion  of  other  public  works.  He  subsequently 


1063         THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

visited  the  Red  River  Settlement  to  ascertain  whether  it 
would  be  practicable  to  build  a  railroad  connecting  it  with 
old  Canada.     In  1863  the  inhabitants  of  the  settlement  ad- 
dressed a  memorial  to  the  Imperial  government  praying  for 
railway  communication  with  Canada  through  British  terri- 
tory, and  Mr.  Fleming  was  entrusted  with  the  mission  of 
urging  the  construction  of  the  line.     He  had  several  inter- 
views on  the  subject  with  the  Duke  of   Newcastle,  then 
Colonial  Secretary,  but  the  project  did  not  at   that  time 
assume  any  definite  shape.     On  Mr.  Fleming's  return  from 
England  he  was  entrusted  with  the  task  of  making  a  pre- 
liminary survey  of  a  line  of  raihyay  to  connect  the  maritime 
provinces  with  Canada.     The  scheme  was  not  pushed  until 
the  accomplishment  of  Confederation  in  1867  rendered  the 
construction  of  the  Intercolonial  Railway  imperative  upon 
the  Canadian  Government — when  the  work  was  carried  to 
a  successful  issue  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Fleming  as 
Chief  Engineer — and  formally  opened  on  the  1st  of  July, 
1876.     The  triumph  thus  achieved  over  physical  obstacles 
of  no  ordinary  character  placed  him  in  the  front  of  his  pro- 
fession and  singled  him  out  as  pre-eminently  fitted  for  the 
yet  more  important  and  responsible  charge  of  opening  up  a 
highway  for  commerce  between  the  East  and  West  over 
swamp  and  prairie,  river  and  muskeg,  across  the  towering 
barrier  of  the  Rockies,  winding  among  British  Columbia's 
"  sea   of   mountains,"   through  passes   deemed    impassable, 
bridging  chasms  that  yawn  destruction  and  tunnelling  cliffs 
that  frown  defiance,  onward,  slowly,  toilsomely  but  resist- 
lessly  onward  to  where  the  Pacific  portal  invites  the  com- 
merce of  the  East  and  the  perpetual  westwar^  surge  of 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1069 

humanity  culminates  in  paradox  as  the  pioneer  confronts 
the  Mongolian. 

Mr.  Fleming's  connection  with  the  Canadian  Pacific  con- 
tinued until  1880  when  he  resigned  his  position  on  rinding 
himself  unable  to  agree  with  the  Government  as  to  the  loca- 
tion of  the  railway.  His  great  public  services  have  been 
fitly  recognised  by  his  receiving  from  Her  Majesty  the 
honour  of  being  created  a  Companion  of  the  Order  of  St. 
Michael  and  St.  George.  In  1880  he  was  elected  Chancellor 
of  Queen's  University,  Kingston.  He  is  an  able  and  volu- 
minous writer  on  topics  connected  with  his  profession.  In 
addition  to  the  valuable  official  reports  of  the  various 
enterprises  with  which  he  has  been  connected  he  has  pub- 
lished a  history  of  the  Intercolonial  Railway  and  has  fur- 
nished many  instructive  contributions  to  the  Canadian 
Journal  and  other  scientific  publications.  In  1855  he  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Ann  Jean  Hall,  daughter  of 
the  late  Sheriff  Hall,  of  the  County  of  Peterborough. 

When  British  Columbia  entered  the  union  the  practicabil- 
ity of  the  Pacific  Railway  was  still  an  unsolved  problem. 
No  time  was  lost  in  setting  on  foot  the  work  of  survey  in 
the  summer  of  1871.  On  July  20th,  the  day  on  which  the 
union  was  formally  consummated,  a  party  left  Victoria  for 
the  mountains,  operations  having  been  begun  in  the  East 
some  weeks  before.  The  quarter  to  which  attention  was 
specially  directed  was  the  Yellow  Head  Pass  in  the  Rocky 
Mountains  which  it  was  supposed  might  offer  an  available- 
route.  On  examination  it  was  found  that  no  insuperable 
obstacle  existed  to  the  construction  of  a  road  through  this- 
pass  to  Kamloops  in  the  interior  of  the  Province.  The  main 


1070        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  bORTH  AMERICA. 

question  was  settled.  The  Canadian  Pacific  was  a  practic- 
able scheme  and  henceforward  it  was  merely  a  choice  between 
longer  and  shorter, easier  or  more  difficultroutes.  The  immen- 
sity of  the  enterprise,  which  had  hardly  been  fully  considered 
in  the  anxiety  to  make  terms  with  the  British  Columbians, 
began  to  be  more  fully  realized  during  the  toilsome  and 
tedious  years  of  exploratory  survey  that  followed.  The  dif- 
ficulties encountered,  the  fatigues  and  perils  endured  by  those 
engaged  in  this  work  are  deserving  of  more  recognition  than 
they  have  received  or  are  ever  likely  to  receive  at  the  hands  of 
the  country  in  whose  service  these  brave  soldiers  on  the 
skirmish  line  of  the  advancing  forces  of  civilization  toiled 
and  suffered  and  not  unfrequently  died — for  if  "  peace  hath 
her  victories  not  less  renowned  than  war,"  she  has  also  her 
tragedies, — her  killed  whose  names  find  place  in  no  bulletins 
and  to  whose  memories  no  lofty  monuments  are  reared,  and 
her  wounded  who  go  unpensioned  and  undecorated.  The 
total  list  of  lives  lost  in  connection  with  the  survey  up  to 
the  year  1878,  by  various  "  moving  accidents  of  flood  and 
field  "  numbered  thirty-eight.  The  names  of  Sinclair,  Ma- 
theson,  Spence,  Hamilton,  McMillan,  Scott  and  others -which 
appear  on  the  death-roll  indicate  that  Scotland  can  claim  as 
her  sons  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  men  to  whose  faith- 
ful and  arduous  service  in  the  face  of  the  dangers  and  hard- 
ships of  the  wilderness,  Canada  owes  so  heavy  a  debt  of  gra- 
titude. The  vast  amount  of  information  concerning  the 
physical  features  of  a  region  of  which  nothing  was  accur- 
ately known  excepting  along  the  routes  followed  by  the  few 
travellers  who  had  left  their  observations  on  record,  gained 
by  the  exhaustive  and  elaborate  system  of  surveys  carried 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1071 

out  under  Mr.  Fleming's  direction  is  indicated  by  the  state- 
ment made  by  him  in  a  paper  read  before  the  Colonial  In- 
stitute on  the  IGth  of  April,  1878,  that  the  total  length  of 
explorations  made  during  the  preceding  seven  years  ex- 
ceeded 47,000  miles,  no  less  than  12,000  'miles  having  been 
measured  by  chain  and  spirit-level,  yard  by  yard.*  The  ex- 
pense of  these  surveys  amounted  to  about  three  and  a  half 
million  dollars,  and  the  engineering  force  employed  number- 
ed about  a  thousand  men  of  all  grades. 

Meanwhile  the  chances  and  changes  of  political  conflict 
had  resulted  in  material  alterations  in  the  character  of  the 
scheme.     As  we  have  seen,  the  Conservative  policy  was  to 
secure  the  construction  of  the  road  by  private  enterprise, 
stimulated  by  lavish  subsidies  of  money  and  land.      Mr. 
Mackenzie's  administration  undertook  to  build  and  operate 
it  as  a  government  work.     There  is  much  to  be  said  on 
either  side  of  the  argument  as  between  these  two  systems. 
It  must  be  admitted  that  there  is  a  growing  public  opinion 
in  favour  of  the  resumption  by  the  state  of  the  control  of 
the  public  lines  of  traffic  and  communication,  implied  in  the 
old  phrase  the  "  king's  highway."     This  feeling  has  been  in- 
tensified by  the  oppressive  and  arbitrary  conduct  of  the 
American  railway  magnates,  whose  position  has  aptly  been 
compared  to  that  of  the  robber-barons  of  the  Rhine  in  feu- 
dal times.     In  a  country  where  the  great  food-producing 
districts  are  separated  by  long  distances  both  from  the  mass 
of  home  consumers  and  the  nearest  points  of  shipment  to  the 
foreign  market,  the  railway  king  holds  industry  and  com- 
merce by  the  throat.     It  is  not  surprising  that  the  unscrur 

»  Report  of  Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  1878  p,  88. 


€072        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

pulous  use  of  this  power  in  regulating  tolls  according  to  the 
rule  of  "  what  the  traffic  will  bear,"  and  the  frequent  con- 
temptuous disregard  of  the  public  interest,  have  given  rise 
to  a  strong  agitation  in  favour  of  state  interference.  Many 
-consider  that  the  histoiy  of  railroad  construction  and  man- 
agement in  the  United  States  was  well  calculated  to  serve 
as  a  warning  rather  than  an  example  for  imitation,  in  the 
matter  of  entrusting  large  corporations  with  monopoly  privi- 
leges. On  the  other  hand,  the  danger  of  leaving  a  gigantic 
•enterprise  like  the  Canadian  Pacific  to  be  owned  and  worked 
by  a  government  which  would  always  be  under  the  temp- 
tation to  use  it  as  a  political  machine,  was  calculated  to  im- 
press Canadians  more  forcibly  than  an  evil  of  which  their  own 
experiences  had  been  comparatively  slight.  Moreover,  the 
.success  of  the  Mackenzie  administration  in  the  work  of  con- 
struction had  not  been  such  as  to  influence  public  sentiment  in 
favour  of  government  railways.  The  progress  made  had  been 
slow.  True,  the  painstaking  and  elaborate  system  of  prelim- 
inary surveys,  so  indispensable  to  the  success  of  the  under- 
taking, had  been  pushed  forward  with  creditable  thorough- 
ness and  energy ;  but  the  public  are  apt  to  judge  by  tangible 
results,  visible  on  the  surface,  ponderable  by  scales  or  steel- 
yard, measurable  by  tape-line  or  yard-stick,  computable  in 
current  coin  of  the  realm.  The  actual  mileage  of  railway 
completed  during  the  Mackenzie  regime  was  but  227  miles, 
comprising  sections  from  Selkirk  to  Rat  Portage  and  from 
Fort  William  to  English  River.  The  rich  prairie  region,  to 
the  value  of  which  the  country  was  now  thoroughly  aroused, 
had  not  been  opened  up.  Sir  John  Macdonald,  on  his  return 
to  power,  adopted  for  the  time  being  the  policy  of  his  pre- 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1073 

decessor,  with  the  object  of  securing  the  settlement  of  the 
country  as  speedily  as  possible.  The  work  of  construction 
was  hastened.  Additional  contracts  were  let,  including  that 
for  the  connecting  link  between  English  River  and  Rat  Port- 
age, so  as  to  complete  the  summer  route  to  Winnipeg  by  way 
of  Lake  Superior,  and  the  Pembina  branch  was  finished, 
effecting  a  connection  with  the  American  railway  system. 
The  route  west  of  Winnipeg,  which,  as  originally  laid  down, 
took  a  north-westerly  direction,  crossing  the  narrows  of  Lake 
Manitoba,  and  traversing  the  low-lying  lands  at  the  base  of 
Duck  Mountain,  was  deflected  considerably  to  the  southward, 
in  order  to  open  up  a  country  better  fitted  for  settlement.  On 
the  Pacific  slope  the  road  was  put  under  contract  from  Yale 
to  Kamloops,  a  distance  of  127  miles,  the  Burrard  Inlet  route, 
via  the  Yellow  Head  pass  and  Tete  Jaune  Cache,  of  which 
Mr.  Fleming  was  a  strong  upholder,  being  adopted.  In  1880, 
the  number  of  miles  under  construction  was  722. 

Such  was  the  position  of  matters  when  the  Syndicate  con- 
tract was  entered  into  in  pursuance  of  the  original  policy  which 
the  Conservative  administration  had  all  along  kept  steadily  in 
view.  That  at  length,  after  repeated  attempts  to  interest 
capitalists  in  this  great  work  a  successful  issue  was  reached, 
the  completion  of  the  line  assured,  the  government  re- 
lieved from  its  vast  responsibilities,  and  the  country  from 
the  risk  of  continuous  and  indefinite  losses  in  the  subsequent 
working  of  the  road,  is  due  to  the  foresight,  shrewdness  and 
enterprise  of  the  association  of  Scotsmen,  who,  when  others 
hesitated  or  shtwnk  back  appalled  at  the  magnitude  of  the 
venture,  realized  the  immense  possibilities  held  out  by  the 
offer  of  the  government,  and  grasped  the  opportunity  let  slip 


1074         THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

by  less  energetic  or  more  timorous  competitors.  And  here 
brief  biographical  notices  of  the  leading  members  of  the 
Syndicate  may  be  given. 

Mr.  George  Stephen,  of  Montreal,  the  leading  spirit  of  the 
enterprise,  is  a  native  of  Ecclefechan,  Dumfries-shire,  noted 
as  being  also  the  birthplace  of  Thomas  Carlyle, — a  locality  of 
which  he  evidently  entertained  the  same  opinion  as  Daniel 
Webster  did  of  his  native  New  Hampshire,  that  it  was  "  a 
good  place  to  emigrate  from,"  as  at  an  early  age  he  left  it 
for  the  British  metropolis.  There  he  entered  the  employ  of 
the  extensive  mercantile  house  of  J.  M.  Pawson  &;  Co.,  St. 
Paul's  Churchyard,  and  in  this  practical  training  school  soon 
acquired  a  thorough  knowledge  of  commercial  life.  Dissat- 
isfied with  the  prospect  of  rising  in  the  world  afforded  by 
the  business  outlook  of  the  Old  Country,  he  emigrated  to 
Canada  about  the  year  1853,  on  the  advice  of  his  relative, 
the  late  William  Stephen,  senior  member  of  the  firm  of  W. 
Stephen  &  Co.,  Montreal.  He  entered  the  warehouse  of  the 
firm,  and  in  a  few  years  obtained  a  junior  partnership,  hav- 
ing by  his  assiduity  and  fidelity  to  their  interests  made  him- 
self indispensable.  Mr.  Wm.-  Stephen  died  in  1862,  and  his 
interest  was  purchased  by  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  who, 
on  obtaining  an  ascendency  in  the  business,  engaged  exten- 
sively in  the  cloth  manufacturing  industry.  This  new  de- 
parture proved  a  highly  profitable  one — so  much  so,  that  he 
soon  withdrew  from  the  wholesale  business  and  devoted  his 
attention  exclusively  to  manufacturing.  He  was  chosen  a 
director  of  the  Bank  of  Montreal,  in  which  'he  was  a  large 
shareholder,  and  when  the  presidency  was  resigned  by  Mr. 
King,  was  elected  to  fill  the  position.  Mr.  Stephen's  first 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  A  MERWA.         1075 

connection  with  railway  enterprise  was  his  joining  a  syndi- 
cate for  the  purchase  of  the  interest  of  the  Dutch  holders  of 
the  bonds  of  the  St.  Paul  and  Pacific  Railway,  which  gave 
them  control  of  the  partially  constructed  line.    Realizing  the 
importance  of  this  road  as  a  link  in  the  chain  of  railway 
communication  with  the  North-West  via  the  Pembina  branch 
of  the  Canadian  Pacific,  they  carried  the  work  of  construc- 
tion rapidly  forward,  and  soon  found  themselves  in  posses- 
sion of  an  exceedingly  profitable  line.     They  were  in  a  posi- 
tion to  control  not  merely  the  entire  traffic  of  the  Canadian 
North-West,  but  to  render  tributary  a  large  area  of  Minne- 
sota and  Dakota.     The  income  of  this  monopoly  they  de- 
voted to  widening  the  sphere  of   their  operations  by  con- 
structing connecting  lines  in  various  directions,  making  St. 
Paul  the  focal  point  for  their  system.    They  re-named  their 
line  the  St.  Paul  and  Manitoba  Railway,  as  until  the  section 
of  the  Pacific  along  the  north  shore  of  Lake  Superior  is- 
completed,  it  will,  for  half  the  year,  remain  the  only  outlet 
for  the  now  vastly  increased  trade  of  the  Canadian  North- 
West.     Mr.  Stephen  is  a  cousin  of  Hon.  Donald  A.  Smith, 
associated   with   him  in  the  St.  Paul  and  Manitoba  and 
Canadian  Pacific  railway  companies.    His  adopted  daughter 
was  united  in  marriage  to  the  son  of  Sir  Stafford  Northcote,. 
during  the  sittings  of  the  Joint  High  Commission  which 
negotiated  the  Washington  Treaty,  young  Northcote  serving 
as  an  attach^  at  the  time.     Mr.  Stephen  exercises  a  lavish 
hospitality,  but  is  pre-eminently  a  man  of  affairs,  and  more 
at  home  in  the  office  or  at  a  directors'  meeting  than  in  so- 
cial festivities. 

Mr.  Duncan  Mclntyre,  as  the  name  indicates,  is  of  Celtic 
10 


1076        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

origin,  and  was  born  in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland  not  far 
north  of  Aberdeen.  He  came  to  Canada  in  the  year  1849, 
settling  in  Montreal,  where  he  obtained  employment  as  a 
•clerk  with  the  well-known  mercantile  firm  of  Stuart  & 
Mclntyre,  in  whose  service  he  remained  for  many  years. 
His  duties  necessitated  his  travelling  a  good  deal  in  the  Ot- 
tawa Valley,  and  his  observations  of  the  locality  impressed 
him  strongly  with  its  great  natural  advantages.  During 
his  intervals  of  leisure,  he  frequently  joined  hunting  parties, 
and  in  this  way  travelled  through  the  wilder  and  less  ac- 
cessible portions  of  the  Ottawa  district.  He  thus  acquired  a 
minute  topographical  knowledge  of  the  country,  which  after- 
wards stood  him  in  good  stead  in  connection  with  railway 
matters.  Mr.  Mclntyre  had  a  prosperous  business  career. 
He  acquired  a  partnership  in  the  firm  of  Stuart  &  Mclntyre, 
and  as  the  other  members  retired,  found  the  concern  in  his 
own  hands.  His  thoughts  were,  however,  turned  in  other 
directions,  by  his  interest  in  the  development  of  the  Ottawa 
Valley.  From  the  first  he  believed  in  the  future  of  the 
Canada  Central  Railroad,  of  which  he  became  one  of  the 
directors.'  He  embarked  with  Mr.  Foster,  President  of  the 
road,  in  the  Canada  Central  Extension  scheme,  taking  a 
share  in  the  contract  for  construction — and  by  a  succession 
of  transactions,  into  the  details  of  which  it  is  not  necessary 
to  enter,  became  president  and  virtual  owner  of  the  Canada 
Central.  Mr.  Mclntyre's  foresight  as  to  the  important  char- 
acter of  this  road,  is  amply  justified  by  its  natural  position 
as  a  link  in  the  great  inter-oceanic  chain. 

Mr.  Robert  B.  Angus,  like  his  colleagues,  is  a  Scot  by  birth 
as  well  as  by  blood — Bathgato,  near  Edinburgh,  being  his 


TEE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1077 

native  place.  He  was  one  of  four  brothers,  all  remarkable 
for  the  early  developed  brilliancy  of  their  talents.  His 
scholastic  education  was  received  at  Edinburgh,  and  his 
business  training  in  a  bank  at  Manchester,  for  he  left  his 
native  country  when  quite  a  youth.  When  he  arrived  in 
Canada  in  1852,  he  looked  for  similar  employment.  From 
the  position  of  junior  clerk  in  the  Bank  of  Montreal,  he 
speedily  rose  to  more  responsible  trusts.  -He  was  for  a  time 
in  charge  of  the  Chicago  branch,  and  after  Mr.  .King  had  at- 
tained the  position  of  general  manager,  Mr.  Angus  became 
assistant  manager.  He  succeeded  his  chief  in  the  manage- 
rial post,  which  after  a  time  he  quitted  to  take  a  share  in 
the  St.  Paul  and  Manitoba  syndicate.  Mr.  Angus  is  regard- 
ed as  a  shrewd  man  of  business  and  strict  in  his  dealings. 
He  is,  however,  none  the  less  popular,  as  he  has  many  ami- 
able qualities,  being  a  typical  instance  of  that  dual  nature 
which  is  not  uncommon  especially  among  Scotsmen,  com- 
bining rigid  adherence  to  the  letter  of  a  bargain  and  close 
calculation  of  expenditure  in  business  matters  with  open- 
handed  generosity  in  social  intercourse. 

Mr.  Donald  Alexander  Smith  was  born  in  Scotland  in  the 
year  1821  and  early  in  life  came  to  the  North-West  in  the 
service  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company.  Few  men  have  been 
as  closely  identified  with  the  progress  of  civilization  in  the 
North-West  as  Mr.  Smith,  who  has  held  many  important 
and  responsible  positions  and  been  connected  with  various 
enterprises  for  the  development  of  the  country.  He  rose 
to  the  post  of  resident  governor  and  chief  commissioner  of 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  and  in  1870  was  appointed  a 
member  of  the  Executive  Council  for  the  North-West  terri- 


1078         THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

tories.  He  was  a  special  commissioner  to  enquire  into  the 
causes,  nature,  and  extent  of  the  Kiel  rebellion.  For  three 
years  he  represented  Winnipeg  and  St.  John  in  the  Manitoba 
Legislative  Assembly,  resigning  his  seat  in  1874.  When 
Manitoba  was  admitted  into  the  Union  in  1871  Mr.  Smith  was 
returned  as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons  for  the 
constituency  of  Selkirk  and  was  re-elected  on  several  occa- 
sions. In  politics  he  is  a  Conservative.  The  estimation  in 
which  he  is  held  by  the  people  of  Manitoba  has  been  testified 
by  his  election  as  president  of  the  Provincial  Agricultural 
Association,  of  the  Selkirk  St.  Andrew's  Society,  and  vice- 
president  of  the  Dominion  Rifle  Association.  He  is  a  direc- 
tor of  several  banks  and  commercial  companies  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Board  of  Management  of  the  Manitoba  College 
(Presbyterian).  He  married  Isabella,  daughter  of  the  late 
Mr.  Richard  Hardisty,  at  one  time  of  the  British  army  but 
subsequently  like  himself  an  official  of  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company. 

It  would  obviously  be  out  of  place  in  a  work  of  this 
character  to  enter  into  any  detailed  account  of  the  progress 
of  the  Canadian  Pacific  since  it  was  handed  over  to  the  Syn- 
dicate. It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  under  their  energetic 
management  the  entire  prairie'  section  of  the  road  has  been 
completed  so  that  to-day  Canada  is  in  possession  of  a  line  of 
communication  reaching  from  Thunder  Bay  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  The  remaining  sections  of  the  road  are  being 
vigorously  pushed  forward.  The  link  to  the  North  shore  of 
Lake  Superior,  connecting  Thunder  Bay  with  Callender,  the 
former  terminus  of  the  line  as  originally  laid  out,  is  under 
construction  and  the  work  is  being  carried  on  as  fast  as  the. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1079 

physical  obstacles  in  the  way  will  permit.  The  Company 
having  acquired  the  Canada  Central  and  amalgamated  it 
with  the  Pacific,  Montreal  will  be  the  Eastern  terminus  of  the 
line  and  the  outlet  for  the  great  volume  of  North- Western 
traffic.  The  route  through  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  Kam- 
loops  is  as  yet  undetermined.  This  is  the  piece  de  resistance 
of  the  undertaking  and  further  surveys  of  the  region  are 
yet  in  progress  to  ascertain  the  most  available  line.  It  can- 
not be  doubted  that  the  same  energy,  decision,  and  adminis- 
trative capacity  which  have  already  accomplished  so  much 
in  grappling  with  the  difficulties  of  this  immense  enterprise, 
will  be  equal  to  the  yet  more  formidable  difficulties  to  be 
encountered,  and  that  in  a  very  few  years  the  debt  which 
Canada  owes  to  Scottish  resolution  and  force  of  character  will 
be  still  further  augmented  by  the  successful  completion  of 
the  great  trans-continental  railway. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  INFLUX   OF  SETTLEMENT. 

(HERE  is  no  feature  of  our  national  life  more  creditable 
to  the  Canadian  people  than  the  contrast  afforded  by 
the  state  of  society  during  the  transition  periods  of  early 
settlement,  to  that  which  prevailed  in  the  United  States  un- 
der similar  circumstances.  Not  only  has  the  treatment  of 
the  Indians  by  the  pioneers  of  colonization  from  the  days  of 
the  Pilgrims  down  to  the  present  time,  been  a  foul  blot  upon 
the  American  name,  but  the  general  lawlessness  and  disre- 
gard of  social  and  religious  restraints  which  as  a  rule  obtain 
in  the  newer  American  settlements  have  become  proverbial. 
In  these  communities  ruffianism  tempered  by  lynch  law  is 
generally  in  the  ascendant,  life  and  property  are  insecure, 
and  a  low  tone  of  morality  prevails.  It  is  years  before  the 
lagging  forces  of  religion,  law,  education  and  social  refine- 
ment overtake  the  crude  rough  elements  of  material  progress, 
and  establish  a  civilization  worthy  of  the  name.  In  the 
opening  up  of  the  Canadian  North-West,  law  and  order  have 
been  maintained  from  the  outset  to  a  degree  perhaps  unpre- 
cedented in  the  history  of  colonization  in  modern  times.  The 
missionary  and  the  teacher  have  preceded  the  settler,  to  be 
followed  by  the  mounted  policeman.  Crime  is  as  rare  as 
in  any  part  of  Canada,  and  lynch  law  unknown,  because  the 
arm  of  justice  is  strong  and  far-reaching.  The  wise  provi- 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1081 

sion  excluding  intoxicating  liquor  from  the  North-West 
Territories  has  conduced  in  no  small  measure  to  the  good 
order  to  which  all  travellers  through  the  country  unite  in 
bearing  testimony.  Even  in  Winnipeg  where  this  restraint 
is  not  in  force,  and"  where  the  feverish  excitement  of  land 
speculation,  attracted  an  extensive  floating  population,  many 
of  whom  suddenly  found  themselves  in  the  possession  of 
large  amounts  of  money,  there  was  never  any  parallel  to  the 
scandalous  license  and  flaunting  depravity  of  the  mushroom 
cities  of  the  American  frontier,  where  the  vices  of  civiliza- 
tion are  intensified  by  the  law-defying  recklessness  of  border 
life.  To  the  wholesome  influence  of  the  Scottish  element 
which  enters  so  largely  into  the  directing  forces  of  society  in 
the  North  West,  this  favourable  condition  of  public  morality 
is  greatly  due.  The  Scottish  respect  for  constituted  autho- 
rity, for  the  ordinances  of  religion,  and  the  Christian  code 
of  morality,  which  is  instinctive  with  many  of  the  old  settlers 
as  well  as  the  more  recent  arrivals,  has  fortunately  proved 
a  strong  barrier  against  the  disintegrating  and  unsettling  in- 
fluences of  a  sudden  influx  of  settlement. 

When  the  Government  resolved  on  the  construction  of  the 
Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  it  was  foreseen  that  unless  steps 
were  taken  to  conciliate  the  Indians,  and  afford  them  reason- 
able compensation  for  their  land,  serious  troubles  were  likely 
to  arise.  By  the  loss  of  their  hunting-grounds,  the  Indians 
would  be  deprived  of  the  means  of  subsistence,  and  would 
seek  to  appease  at  once  their  hunger  and  their  resentment 
by  raids  on  the  more  exposed  settlements.  Retaliation  by 
the  whites  would  be  certain  to  follow,  with  the  inevitable 
result  of  protracted  and  bloody  border  wars.  In  pursuance 


1082         THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

of  the  truly  wise  and  statesmanlike  policy  of  even-handed 
justice,  which  has  made  the  Indians  of  Old  Canada  the  firm 
friends  and  staunch  defenders  of  British  institutions,  the 
Government  undertook  to  extinguish  the  Indian  title  to  the 
land  by  inducing  the  various  tribes  to  voluntarily  surrender 
their  claims  in  return  for  annuities  and  other  benefits.  Be- 
tween the  years  1871  and  1877,  a  series  of  treaties  were  ne- 
gotiated with  the  Ojibbeways,  Crees,  Saulteaux,  Blackfeet 
and  other  tribes,  the  effect  of  which  was  to  secure  from  all 
the  Indians,  inhabiting  the  regions  to  be  thrown  open  for 
settlement  between  Lake  Superior  and  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, a  formal  cession  of  their  rights  in  the  soil,  with  the 
exception  of  the  reservations  set  apart  for  their  occupation. 
Nearly  all  of  those  engaged  in  the  delicate  and  responsible 
task  of  conducting  the  treaty  negotiations  with  the  abori- 
gines were  of  Scottish  birth  or  extraction.  Mr.  Wemyss  Mc- 
Kenzie  Simpson,  as  Indian  Commissioner,  acting  in  conjunc- 
tion with  Lieutenant-Governor  Archibald,  was  instrumental 
in  concluding  treaties  with  the  Indians  of  Manitoba,  by 
which  the. aboriginal  title  to  that  province,  and  a  large  ad- 
jacent region  was  extinguished.  The  subsequent  treaties 
with  the  Indians  occupying  the  country  further  west,  were 
the  work  of  Lieu  tenant-Governors  Morris  and  Laird,  assist- 
ed by  a  number  of  gentlemen  whose  knowledge  of  the  coun- 
try, and  acquaintance  with  Indian  peculiarities  rendered 
their  services  of  great  value.  Prominent  among  these  were 
Hon.  W.  J.  Christie,  a  retired  factor  of  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company,.the  late  Hon.  James  McKay,  himself  partly  of 
Indian  extraction,  and  Mr.  Simon  James  Dawson.  And  here 
a  few  biographical  details  may  be  given  concerning  one 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1083 

whose  name  will  always  be  closely  associated  with  the  sup- 
pression of  the  Kiel  insurrection  in  1870,  and  the  early  in- 
flux of  settlement. 

Mr.  Dawson  is  a  Scot  by  birth,  and  connected  through 
both  parents  with  historic  Scottish  families.  By  profession 
he  is  a  civil  engineer.  He  came  to  Canada  at  an  early  age, 
and  in  1851,  received  an  important  appointment  in  connec- 
tion with  the  construction  of  extensive  works  on  the  St. 
Maurice  River,  for  opening  up  the  lumber  regions  dependent 
on  that  stream  as  an  outlet.  He  carried  out  the  plan  suc- 
cessfully, and  in  1857  was  commissioned  by  the  government 
to  explore  the  country  between  Lake  Superior  and  the  Sas- 
katchewan, to  ascertain  its  fitness  for  settlement,  and  the 
practicability  of  opening  up  communication  with  it.  This 
task  being  finished,  he  engaged  in  the  lumber  trade  on  the 
St.  Maurice  for  some  years.  In  1868  he  was  entrusted  with 
the  work  of  constructing  a  road  to  Red  River,  available  for 
travel,  until  the  completion  of  the  railway  should  offer  a 
speedier  and  more  convenient  means  of  access.  The  engi- 
neering difficulties  in  the  way  were  very  great — the  avail- 
able resources  small.  The  total  distance  is  about  530  miles 
— forty-five  of  which  at  the  eastern,  and  a  hundred  and  ten 
at  the  western  end  can  be  travelled  by  waggons.  The  in- 
tervening three  hundred  and  eighty  miles  comprises  a  line 
of  water  communication  through  a  maze  of  lakes  and  rivers, 
the  navigable  portions  of  the  route  being  frequently  separated 
by  rocky  ridges  or  necks  of  land,  across  which  canoes  or 
other  vessels  have  to  be  portaged.  In  1870,  when  the  ex- 
pedition under  Col.  Garnet  Wolseley  was  sent  against  the 
insurgents,  this  route,  then  far  from  complete,  afforded  the 


1084        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

only  possible  means  of  access  to  Red  River  through  Canadian 
territory,  and  but  for  the  energy,  determination  and  profes- 
sional skill  displayed  by  Mr.  Dawson,  in  combating  the  phy- 
sical obstacles  to  the  march  through  the  wilderness,  the 
bloodless  victory  achieved  by  the  mere  presence  of  the  troops 
must  have  been  very  considerably  delayed.  Mr.  Dawson 
represented  Algoma  in  the  Ontario  legislature,  from  1875 
until  1878,  and  in  the  latter  year  was  returned  for  the  same 
constituency  to  the  Dominion  House  of  Commons — being  re- 
elected  in  1882.  He  is  independent  in  politics,  but  has 
usuall}-  voted  with  the  ministry  on  important  questions. 

Hon.  W.  J.  Christie  was  born  at  Fort  Albany,  East  Hud- 
son Bay,  on  January  the  19th,  1824,  his  father  being  a  Scots- 
man and  a  chief  tactor  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  at  the 
time  of  its  amalgamation  with  the  Nor'- West  Company.  He 
was  sent  to  Scotland  for  his  education,  returning  to  this 
continent  with  Sir  George  Simpson  in  1841,  and  entering 
the  Company's  service  at  Lake  Superior.  In  1843  he  went 
to  the  northern  department,  and  was  one  year  at  Rocky 
Mountain  House  engaged  in  trading  with  the  Blackfeet. 
After  holding  responsible  positions  for  many  years  at  York 
Factory,  Fort  Churchill  and  Fort  Pelly,  he  was  promoted  to 
the  charge  ot  the  Saskatchewan  District,  which  he  retained 
fourteen  years.  In  1872,  upon  the  reorganization  of  the 
Company's  business,  he  was  appointed  chief  factor  and  super- 
visor of  the  country  from  Fort  Garry  to  the  Arctic  circle' 
After  making  a  tour  of  inspection,  he  resigned  the  following 
year,  after  thirty-one  years'  active  service,  and  settled  in 
Brockville,  Ontario— where  he  now  resides.  Mr.  Christie's 
tact  and  good  management  were  specially  conspicuous  dur- 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         108& 

ing  the  Kiel  insurrection,  when  he  was  in  charge  of  the  Sas- 
katchewan District,  and  saved  the  Company  the  enormous 
losses  which  would  have  resulted  had  the  insurgents  as- 
sumed a  hostile  attitude  towards  them.  He  was  appointed 
a  commissioner  for  the  purpose  of  effecting  the  treaty  with 
the  Plain  District  Crees  in  1874.  and  was  nominated  a  mem- 
ber of  the  North-West  Council.  During  his  long  career  he 
did  much  to  promote  the  explorations  and  opening  up  of  the 
North- West,  his  services  being  acknowledged  in  very  com- 
plimentary terms  in  Capt.  Palliser's  report  of  the  expedition 
of  1858-9,  and  in  other  official  documents. 

For  several  years  the  Dawson  route  continued  to  afford 
settlers  the  readiest  means  of  access  to  the  North- West.  It 
was  not  until  1879  that  the  Pembina  Branch  provided  rail- 
way communication  by  way  of  the  United  States.  Never- 
theless, great  progress  was  made  in  the  settlement  of  the 
country  by  the  steady  influx  of  settlers  attracted  by  the  rich 
prairie  lands  or  anxious  to  participate  in  the  prosperity 
evinced  by  the  rapid  growth  of  Winnipeg.  In  1870  that 
city  was  a  village  of  some  215  inhabitants.  It  had  about 
500  in  1871  and  progressed  continuously  during  the  decade 
until  in  1881  it  had  attained  a  population  of  7985.  Then 
came  the  "  boom  "  of  1881-2,  when  under  the  influence  of 
increased  facility  of  communication  and  the  rush  of  emigra- 
tion, business  and  population  went  up  with  a  sudden  bound. 
The  land  speculation  craze  attracted  capital  from  all  quarters 
and  sent  lots  on  the  leading  thoroughfares  up  to  Chicago 
prices.  The  inflation  has  since  subsided  and  business  has 
got  down  to  a  healthier  and  less  speculative  basis.  The 
present  population  is  estimated  at  about  30,000. 


1086        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH   NORTH  AMERICA. 

Emigration  into  Manitoba  and  the  North-West  which  up 
to  1875  had  only  numbered  a  few  thousand  received  a  de- 
cided impetus  during  that  year  when  upwards  of  six  thou- 
sand were  added  to  the  population  from  this  source.  There 
was  a  large  influx  of  settlers  the  year  following  and  the  area 
of  colonization  extended  beyond  the  Pembina  Mountains, 
the  land  adjacent  to  the  international  boundary  line  being 
largely  taken  up.  The  year  1877  witnessed  the  founding  of 
Rapid  City  on  the  Little  Saskatchewan  and  the  following 
year  population  began  to  pour  into  the  surrounding  country. 
In  order  to  supply  the  settlements  on  the  River  Assiniboine 
the  attempt  was  made  to  ascend  the  river  by  steamboat  as 
far  as  Fort  Ellice.  This  had  previously  been  considered 
impracticable  on  account  of  the  rapids  ;  but  in  May,  1879, 
the  trip  was  made  successfully  by  Captain  Webber  of  the 
steamboat  Manitoba.  Communication  to  this  point  being 
secured,  a  considerable  immigration  to  the  region  Eastward 
from  Fort  Ellice  took  place,  and  the  town  of  Birtle  was 
founded  as  a  distributing  centre  for  this  section.  The  Souris 
Plain  also  attracted  many  in  search  of  farming  lands.  The 
total  number  of  immigrants  for  that  vear  reached  eleven 

O  »7 

thousand.  In  1880  it  numbered  about  fifteen  thousand — 
the  region  of  Shell  River  considerably  to  the  North  of  Fort 
Ellice  being  opened  up  for  settlement. 

When  the  Syndicate  bargain  was  consummated  an  im- 
petus was  at  once  given  to  North- West  development.  Im- 
migration was  stimulated,  business  increased  immensely,  the 
prices  of  real  estate  rose,  and  every  one  accepting  the 
ratification  of  the  contract  as  a  guarantee  that  the  future  of 
the  country  was  assured  essayed  to  discount  its  coming 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        108T 

prosperity.  Cities  and  towns  sprung  up  everywhere — at 
stations,  or  points  which  it  was  rumoured  were  likely  to  be 
stations  of  the  line — at  places  where  it  crossed  rivers — at 
the  intersection  of  streams  because  of  the  facilities  for  water 
communication  in  different  directions — beside  rapids  be- 
cause the  obstruction  offered  the  advantage  of  being  at  the 
head  of  navigation — on  rising  ground  because  of  the  benefits 
of  an  elevated  site  and  a  commanding  prospect — and  in  the 
middle  of  the  broad  prairie  for  the  very  obvious  reason  that 
they  would  have  plenty  of  room  to  grow.  Cities  here,  there, 
and  everywhere — 

Thou  canst  not  find  one  spot 
Whereon  no  city  stood. 

says  Shelley's  "  Queen  Mab,"  and  though  there  may  be 
doubts  as  to  its  strict  accuracy  as  a  general  observation,  few 
who  had  any  experience  of  the  Manitoba  boom  will  be  dis- 
posed to  question  its  truth  as  applied  to  that  province 
These  embyro  communities,  it  is  true,  were  for  the  most 
part  destitute  even  of  the  rudimentary  blacksmith  shop  and 
tavern  that  form  the  traditional  nucleus  of  the  Chicagos  of  the 
future.  Nevertheless,  their  lots  were  held  and  not  unfre- 
quently  sold  at  prices  which,  as  compared  with  the  cost  of 
the  land  a  year  or  two  before,  offered  a  sufficiently  favour- 
able augury  of  their  destiny  to  allure  investors.  The  moral 
of  the  "boom"  of  1881-2  is  as  old  as  the  story  of  human 
credulity.  Speculation  ran  high  in  connection  with  Winnipeg 
property,  but  in  that  case  there  was  a  tangible  basis  of  actual 
value — it  was  simply  a  question  of  the  probable  extent  and 
rapidity  of  the  growth  of  a  city  with  an  assured  future.  In 
the  case  of  the  "  paper  cities,"  however,  the  very  names  of 


1088        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

which  have  now  been  forgotten  by  all  except  the  luckless 
investors,  no  man  of  ordinary  foresight  and  intelligence 
ought  to  have  been  deluded  into  supposing  that  such  invest- 
ments possessed  any  real  value  beyond  the  trifle  which  the 
land  would  fetch  for  farm  purposes.  As  a  matter  of  fact  not 
many  even  of  those  who  lost  money  were  so  deceived.  The 
question  of  permanent  value  was  the  last  thing  they  consid- 
ered. They  valued  their  purchases  simply  as  counters  in  a 
gambling  transaction  and  their  only  delusion  was  in  enter- 
taining the  idea  that  the  public  would  keep  up  the  game 
long  enough  to  enable  them  to  win. 

Along  the  line  of  the  Railway,  however,  a  number  of  cities 
and  towns  grew  up,  the  prosperity  of  which  rested  upon  a 
more  enduring  basis.  The  Syndicate  altered  the  course  of 
the  line  to  a  more  Southerly  route  than  that  at  first  pro- 
jected —  tapping  a  rich  agricultural  region.  Portage  la 
Prairie  was  reached  in  the  spring  of  1881,  and  by  the  close 
of  that  year  the  population  had  risen  from  about  800  to 
2,700.  In  September  of  the  same  year  the  railway  reached 
Brandon,  145  miles  West  of  Winnipeg,  and  its  developement 
received  a  sudden  impulse.  The  city  of  Emerson  is  another 
place  which  has  made  substantial  progress  owing  to  its 
natural  advantages  of  location  and  the  enterprise  of  its  lead 
ing  men.  It  had  no  existence  before  1874  and  the  following 
year  the  population  numbered  abount  a  hundred.  It  ob- 
tained railway  communication  with  St.  Paul  in  1879,  set- 
tlers at  once  began  to  flow  in,  and  in  1881  the  population 
had  increased  to  about  2,500. 

According  to  the  census  returns  the  population  of  Mani- 
toba has  increased  from  18,995  in  1871  to  65,954  in   1881 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1089 

Of  the  latter  number  16,500  are  of  Scottish  origin  and  2,868 
were  born  in  Scotland.  The  Scottish  element  is  consider- 
ably larger  than  any  other  as  the  English  by  descent  number 
11,503,  the  Irish  10,173,  the  French  9,949,  the  German  8,652, 
and  the  Indians  6,767.  Of  the  7,985  credited  to  Winnipeg, 
2,470  are  of  Scottish  origin,  2,318  English,  and  1,864  Irish. 
The  population  of  the  North-West  Territories  is  given  by 
the  census  of  1881  at  a  total  of  56,446,  of  which  49,472  are 
Indians.  Of  the  6,974  whites,  1,217  are  of  Scottish  blood. 

What  Manitoba  owes  to  the  influence  of  the  IScot,  cannot  be 
over-estimated.  Her  institutions  are  leavened  by  Scottish 
feelings  ;  her  public  sentiment  moulded  by  Scottish  habits 
of  thought ;  her  business  carried  on  largely  by  Scottish  capi- 
tal and  enterprise ;  her  leading  merchants,  her  foremost  poli- 
ticians, the  larger  proportion  of  her  principal  professional 
men,  bankers,  professors,  clergy — the  men  of  thought  as 
well  as  those  of  action — the  guiding,  governing  brain  forces 
of  the  nucleus  from  whence  radiate  the  lines  of  settlement 
and  traffic,  are  of  that  sturd}7",  indomitable  North  British 
stock,  which,  wherever  the  English  language  is  spoken,  is  to 
be  found  in  the  van  of  the  march  of  civilization — pioneer  and 
path-finder  for  those  that  shall  follow.  Prof.  Bryce,  in  his 
admirable  work  on  "  Manitoba,  Its  Infancy,  Growth  and 
Present  Condition,"  bears  the  following  testimony  to  the 
powerful  Scottish  sentiment  which  prevails  in  the  Province, 
and  the  tenacity  with  which  the  Manitoba  Scots  adhere  to 
the  time-honoured  observances  of  their  forefathers,  and  cher- 
ish their  national  spirit. 

"  While  true  to  their  Canadian  nationality,  the  strong 
attachment  for    British  institutions  among  the  people  of 


1090        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Canada's  youngest  province  is  seen  in  the  vigorous  main- 
tenance of  their  national  societies.  The  most  active  of  these 
is  the  St.  Andrew's  Society.  This  is  maintained  to  assist 
their  indigent  fellow-countrymen,  and  cultivate  Scottish 
literature  and  customs,  not  only  by  Scotchmen,  but  as  the 
constitution  provides  by  the  Sons  of  Scotchmen,  as  well. 
Burns'  Anniversary,  the  Caledonian  Games,  and  St.  Andrew's 
Day  Festival,  are  maintained  with  the  perfervidum  ingenium 
characteristic  of  the  nation."* 

The  Scottish  ascendency  in  politics  of  which  those  of  other 
nationalities  are  sometimes  disposed  to  complain — forgetful 
that  where  political  honours  are  conferred  by  the  people, 
such  a  complaint  is  an  arraignment  of  the  intelligence  and 
discrimination  of  the  electors — is  equally  noticeable  in  Mani- 
toba as  in  the  older  provinces.  Men  of  Scottish  race  mingled 
in  not  a  few  cases  with  a  strain  of  aboriginal  blood,  the  dis- 
cendants  of  Hudson  Bay  officers  and  the  Selkirk  settlers 
together,  with  later  arrivals  of  the  same  stock  from  Canada 
and  the  old  land,  form  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  this  mixed  community.  Since  the  admission  of 
the  Province  to  the  Union,  about  one-half  of  the  Manitoba 
members  have  been  Scots  by  birth  or  descent.  Reference 
has  already  been  made  to  Hon.  John  Sutherland,  Hon.  Donald 
A.  Smith,  and  Mr.  Robert  Cunningham — the  latter  a  new- 
comer, and  the  two  former  old  settlers.  The  leading  features 
in  the  careers  of  some  other  Scotchmen,  who  have  repre- 
sented the  Prairie  Province  in  the  Dominion  Parliament  may 
here  be  briefly  given. 

*  "  Manitoba,  Its  Infancy,  Growth  and  Present  Condition,"  p.  358. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1091 

Hon.  Andrew  Graham  Ballenden  Bannatyne  was  born  in 
1829,  in  South  Ronaldshay,  Orkney  Isles  ;  his  father  being 
James  Bannatyne,  an  officer  of  the  Fishery  Department.  He 
came  to  Canada  at  the  age  of  twenty,  and  engaged  with  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company,  in  the  service  of  which  he  remained 
until  1851.  Mr.  Bannatyne  held  office  in'  the  provisional 
government  of  Louis  Riel,  and  has  also  been  Post-office  In- 
spector for  the  Province,  a  member  of  the  Council  of  Assini- 
boia,  and  at  a  later  period  a  member  of  the  Executive  Coun- 
cil for  the  North-West  Territories.  He  was  elected  to 
the  House  of  Commons  for  Provencher  by  acclamation,  on 
the  31st  March,  1875,  Kiel,  who  was  previously  elected, 
having  been  declared  an  outlaw,  and  a  new  writ  issued.  Mr. 
Bannatyne  retired  from  parliamentary  life  in  1878. 

Among  the  newer  men  in  Manitoba  public  affairs,  is  Mr. 
Arthur  Wellington  Ross,  M.P.,  for  Lisgar.  He  is  a  Scottish- 
Canadian,  being  a  son  of  Donald  Ross,  of  East  Williams, 
Middlesex  County.  His  grandfather,  Arthur  Ross,  of  the 
78th  Highlanders,  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  in  the  Town- 
whip  of  Adelaide.  A.  W.  Ross,  was  born  on  the  25th  March, 
1846,  in  the  Township  of  East  Williams,  and  completed  his 
education  at  Toronto  University.  He  was  Public  School 
Inspector  for  the  County  of  Glengarry,  for  about  three  years, 
ending  November,  1874,  and  during  this  period  married  Miss 
Jessie  Flora  Cattanach,  of  Laggan,  in  that  county.  On  tak- 
ing up  his  residence  in  Winnipeg,  he  applied  himself  to  legal 
study,  and  was  admitted  as  a  barrister-at-law  of  the  Pro- 
vince. During  the  era  of  real  estate  speculation,  he  invested 
largely  in  land,  and  as  his  operations  were  conducted  with 

foresight  and  prudence,  they  proved  extremely  profitable, 
11 


1092        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

and  Mr.  Ross  soon  ranked  as  one  of  the  wealthiest  men  in 
Winnipeg.  He  represented  Springfield  in  the  Manitoba 
Legislature,  from  1878  until  1882,  when  he  resigned  in  order 
to  become  a  candidate  for  the  House  of  Commons.  In  poli- 
tics, Mr.  Ross  is  a  Liberal. 

Two  of  Mr.  Ross's  co-representatives  in  the  Commons  from 
Manitoba  are  also  Scottish-Canadians,  and  like  him  new 
members.  Mr.  Robert  Watson,  member  for  Marquette,  was 
born  in  Elora,  Ontario,  in  1853,  his  father  being  an  Edin- 
burgh man.  He  is  a  millwright  by  trade.  Mr.  WTatson 
went  to  Manitoba  in  1876,  and  engaged  extensively  in  grain 
dealing  and  contracting,  his  ventures  proving  highly  suc- 
cessful. His  political  views  are  Liberal.  Mr.  Hugh  McKay 
Sutherland,  was  born  in  New  London,  P.E.I.,  on  the  22nd  of 
February,  1843,  his  family  having  originally  come  from 
Sutherlandshire.  His  parents  removed  to  Oxford  County, 
Ontario,  when  he  was  quite  young.  He  was  engaged  as 
Superintendent  of  Public  Works  in  the  North-West,  from 
1874  until  1878.  In  the  latter  year  he  settled  in  Winnipeg, 
and  went  into  the  lumber  trade.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Liberal  party. 

The  prevalence  of  the  Scottish  element  has  been  equally 
marked  in  Provincial  as  in  Dominion  politics.  On  the  or- 
ganization of  the  Province  of  Manitoba,  the  class  of  old  re- 
sidents comprising  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  officials — 
active  or  retired — and  their  descendants,  together  with  the 
Scots  of  Kildonan,  furnished  most  of  tl>e  available  legislative 
material.  The  Scottish  predominance  in  the  management 
of  the  affairs  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  has  already 
been  fully  dwelt  upon.  It  was  some  years  before  the  newer 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1093 

• 

arrivals  secured  the  ascendency  in  Manitoba  politics,  and 
largely  displaced  the  Hudson  Bay  connection,  and  the  na- 
tive North-Westerners  as  popular  representatives.  It  is  sig- 
nificant that  this  change,  so  far  as  it  has  been  accomplished, 
still  leaves  men  of  Scottish  blood  in  the  foremost  political 
positions,  as  shown  by  the  salient  circumstance  that  three 
out  of  the  five  Manitoba  representatives  in  the  Dominion 
Parliament  are  Scottish  Canadians  of  recent  immigration. 

Though  the  effect  of  the  influx  of  population  has  been  to 
change  the  complexion  of  the  Manitoba  legislature,  it  is 
noteworthy  that  the  premier  of  the  province  is  one  of  the 
old  regime.  Hon.  John  Norquay,  is  of  mixed  Scottish  and 
Indian  blood,  the  latter  element  being  strongly  manifested 
in  his  aboriginal  cast  of  features,  while  the  qualities  of  his 
paternal  ancestry  have  been  conspicuously  manifested  in  his 
career.  On  his  father's  side  he  is  of  Orcadian  descent,  his 
grandfather  having  come  to  the  North-West  from  the  Island 
of  South  Ronaldsay.  His  father  also  named  John  Norquay,. 
was  a  native  of  Red  River.  The  Hon.  John  Norquay  was 
born  on  the  8th  of  May,  1841,  and  received  as  good  an  edu- 
cation as  the  settlement  afforded,  taking  a  scholarship  at  St. 
John's  academy  in  1854.  He  was  returned  as  a  member  of 
the  first  Manitoba  Parliament,  for  the  constituency  of  High 
Bluff,  and  in  December,  1871,  was  appointed  to  a  cabinet 
position  with  the  portfolio  of  Minister  of  Public  Works  and 
Agriculture.  He  resigned  along  with  his  colleagues  in  July, 
1874,  but  did  not  remain  long  out  of  office.  He  joined  the 
administration  of  Hon.  R.  A.  Davis  the  following  year,  and 
was  assigned  to  the  post  of  Minister  of  Public  Works  in 
May,  187G.  Upon  the  defeat  of  the  Davis  ministry  in  Octo- 


1004        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

ber,  1878,  he  was  called  upon  to  form  a  new  administration 
in  conjunction  with  Hon.  Joseph  Royal.  Mr.  Norquay 
became  Premier  and  Provincial  Treasurer.  A  disagreement 
shortly  afterwards  occurred  between  the  Premier  and  his 
colleagues,  Messrs.  Royal  and  Delorme,  which  led  to  the  re- 
signation of  the  two  latter.  Several  changes  were  subse- 
quently made  in  the  personnel  of  the  ministry.  TheNorquay 
administration  was  sustained  in  the  general  election  of  Octo- 
ber, 1879 — a  re-distribution  of  constituencies  having  previ- 
ously been  made.  It  was  considerably  strengthened  by  the 
accession  of  Senator  Girard  and  Hon.  Maxime  Goulet,  repre- 
senting the  French  element,  and  has  since  remained  in  power. 
Mr. Norquay,  since  1874,  has  represented  the  constituency  of 
St.  Andrew's.  The  most  important  measures  of  his  admi- 
nistration have  been  the  introduction  of  municipal  organiza- 
tions, the  adoption  of  an  extensive  system  of  drainage,  by 
which  large  districts  of  swampy  and  low- lying  lands  have 
been  reclaimed,  and  the  extension  of  the  provincial  boun- 
daries, which  has  given  Manitoba  the  area  of  a  first-class 
province.  Mr.  Torquay's  course  in  connection  with  the  latter 
question,  in  its  more  recent  phases,  has  excited  a  good  deal 
of  feeling  against  him  in  Ontario.  In  commenting  upon  his 
course,  however,  it  must  in  fairness  be  remembered  that  as 
Premier  of  Manitoba,  he  has  acted  strictly  in  the  interests 
of  the  province,  whose  welfare  he  is  pledged  to  advance,  and 
to  whose  people  alone  he  is  responsible.  It  does  not  fall 
within  the  scope  of  the  present  work  to  enter  into  the  ela- 
borate technical  details  of  the  vexed  Boundary  Award  ques- 
tion, and  the  respective  rights  of  the  authorities  which  have 
come  into  collision  on  this  debateable  ground.  But,  whatever, 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1096 

be  the  upshot,  the  representatives  of  Manitoba  cannot  reason- 
ably be  blamed  for  taking  advantage  of  party  dissensions  at 
Ottawa  and  Toronto,  to  increase  the  territory  of  their  pro- 
vince. The  current  political  morality  of  the  most  enlight- 
ened nations  has  never  risen  to  the  lofty  plane  of  volun- 
tarily renouncing  an  advantage,  because  its  acceptance  in- 
volved an  injustice  to  other  communities.  The  Golden  Rule 
finds  no  place  among  the  maxims  of  diplomacy  and,  judged 
by  the  ordinary  standards  of  political  ethics,  Mr.  Nor- 
quay  has  acted  strictly  within  the  line  of  his  duty  to  his 
province  in  pushing  her  claims.  If  the  final  settlement  of 
the  question  results  to  the  detriment  of  the  strong,  but 
divided  Province  of  Ontario,  the  Manitoba  Premier  at  any 
rate  will  stand  guiltless  of  treachery  to  a  cause  to  which  he 
owes  no  allegiance  and  professed  no  devotion. 

The  political  lines  have  not  been  very  strictly  defined  in 
Manitoba  until  the  last  few  years.  The  tendency  at  first 
was  to  subordinate  party  divisions  to  the  interests  of  the 
province,  and  for  some  time  the  designations  of  Conservative 
and  Reformer  sat  loosely  upon  many  of  the  public  men  of 
the  province.  Of  late,  however,  the  identification  of  the 
interests  of  the  Norquay  administration  with  those  of  the 
Conservative  ministry  at  Ottawa,  and  the  strong  party  feel- 
ing of  many  of  the  new  settlers  from  the  older  provinces, 
have  drawn  the  lines  of  party  more  tightly.  The  Norquay 
administration  is  now  strictly  Conservative,  and  the  poli- 
tical lines  of  cleavage  in  local  matters  coincide  with  the  divi- 
sions of  Dominion  politics.  Some  of  the  more  prominent  of 
those  of  Scottish  origin,  who  have  taken  part  in  provincial 
affairs,  may  now  be  sketched  in  outline. 


1096        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Hon.  James  McKay  was  the  eldest  son  of  Mr.  James  Mc- 
Kay, of  Sutherlandshire,  who  was  for  many  years  in  the 
service  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company.  He  was  born  at 
Edmonton  House,  Saskatchewan,  and  received  his  education 
at  the  Red  River  settlement.  He  was  for  some  time  in  the 
employ  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  and  afterwards  went 
into  business  on  his  own  account  as  a  contractor.  He  super- 
intended the  construction  of  a  portion  of  the  Dawson  route. 
On  the  creation  of  the  Province  of  Manitoba  he  was  called 
to  the  Legislative  Council,  occupying  the  Speaker's  chair  for 
several  years.  He  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  first  pro- 
vincial administration,  organized  in  January,  1871,  with  the 
office  of  president  of  the  Executive  Council — which  office  he 
retained  until  the  resignation  of  the  ministry  in  December, 
1874.  Shortly  afterwards  he  became  Minister  of  Agricul- 
ture in  the  Government  formed  by  Hon.  R.  A.  Davis,  from 
which  post  he  retired  in  1878  owing  to  the  lingering  illness 
from  which  he  died  on  the  3rd  of  December,  1879.  Owing 
to  his  known  integrity  and  straightforwardness  of  character 
and  his  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  aboriginal  nature 
he  possessed  great  influence  over  the  Indians  and  half-breeds 
which  enabled  him  to  render  valuable  services  in  connection 
with  the  various  treaties  by  which  the  Indian  title  to  the 
country  was  extinguished.  He  was  married  in  June,  1859 
to  Margaret,  the  third  daughter  of  Chief  Factor  Rowan  of 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company. 

Another  prominent  member  of  the  Manitoba  Legislature 
who  has  passed  away  was  Hon.  Donald  Gunn,  a  Scot  by  birth 
and  descended  from  the  clan  whose  name  he  bore.  Born  in 
the  parish  of  Falkirk,  Caithness-shire,  in  September,  1797,  he 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1097 

came  to  the  North- West  in  1813  to  engage  in  the  service  of 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company  in  which  he  remained  ten  years, 
being  stationed  at  York  Factory,  Severn  and  Oxford  House. 
In  July,  1819,  he  married  Margaret  the  daughter  of  Mr. 
James  Swain,  of  York  Factory.  On  resigning  his  position  in 
1823,he  settled  at  Red  River.  For  upwards  of  twenty  years  he 
was  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Court  of  Petty  Sessions,  a  portion 
of  the  time  being  president  of  the  court.  He  was  an  unsuc- 
cessful candidate  for  the  Manitoba  Legislature  in  the  con- 
stituency of  St.  Andrew's  at  the  general  election  of  1870  and 
was  nominated  to  the  Legislative  Council  when  that  body 
was  instituted.  He  held  his  seat  until  the  abolition  of  the 
Council  in  1876.  Mr.  Gunn  was  an  enthusiastic  naturalist, 
and  by  years  of  close  observation  and  study  had  rendered 
himself  thoroughly  versed  in  the  natural  history  of  the 
North- West.  He  contributed  numerous  papers  on  this  sub- 
ject to  the  "  Miscellaneous  Collections  of  the  Smithsonian  In- 
stitution," and  other  publications.  He  was  a  corresponding 
member  of  the  latter  body  and  of  the  Institute  of  Rupert's 
Land,  and  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Management  of  Mani- 
toba College.  He  died  at  St.  Andrew's  on  the  30th  of  No- 
vember, 1878. 

Hon.  Colin  Inkster,  who  succeeded  Hon.  James  McKay  as 
Speaker  of  the  Legislative  Council  and  President  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive Council,  is  another  representative  of  the  class  which 
supplied  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  public  men  of  Manitoba 
during  the  early  days  of  the  province.  His  father,  John 
Inkster,  was  a  native  of  the  Orkney  Isles  and  a  Hudson  Bay 
official,  who  in  1852  was  appointed  a  Councillor  of  Assiniboia. 
Colin  Inkster  was  born  in  the  Red  River  settlement  in  1843. 


1098        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

He  contested  Lisgar  unsuccessfully  in  the  Conservative  in- 
terest in  1871,  and  on  the  organization  of  the  short-lived 
Legislative  Council,  was  appointed  one  of  its  members.  He 
resigned  office  in  1876  to  accept  a  shrievalty. 

Alexander  Murray,  M.P.P.,  for  Assiniboia,  is  the  only  son 
of  the  late  Mr.  James  Murray,  one  of  the  original  Selkirk 
settlers,  and  was  born  in  Kildonan  on  April  18th,  1839.  He 
received  his  education  at  St.  John's  College,  where,  in  1857, 
he  took  a  scholarship.  Mr.  Murray  who  is  a  Conservative  in 
politics  and  a  strong  supporter  of  the  Pacific  Railway  policy 
of  the  present  administration,  was  first  returned  to  the  leg- 
islature for  St.  Charles  in  1874,  and  has  been  a  member  ever 
since,  excepting  during  a  short  interval  in  1878,  when  he 
occupied  the  position  of  Police  Magistrate  for  the  County  of 
East  Marquette. 

Hon.  Gilbert  McMicken,  who  occupied  the  position  of 
Speaker  of  the  Legislative  Assembly  from  1880  until  the 
general  election  of  1883,  was  born  in  Wigtonshire,  Scotland, 
in  1813.  He  came  to  Canada  in  his  nineteenth  year,  and 
has  occupied  numerous  responsible  public  positions  in  On- 
tario. He  was  for  many  years  a  resident  in  the  Niagara 
District  where  he  held  several  municipal  offices,  and  repre- 
sented Welland  County  in  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  Can- 
ada from  1857  to  1861.  Mr.  McMicken's  scientific  attain- 
ments enabled  him  to  effect  two  important  improvements  in 
telegraphy,  which  were  patented  in  1847.  He  was  also  the 
first  to  span  the  Niagara  River  with  a  wire.  He  was  ap- 
poinied  Stipendiary  Magistrate  for  Canada  West  during  the 
American  Civil  War,  receiving  the  special  thanks  of  Lord 
Monck  for  the  efficient  discharge  of  this  responsible  duty. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1099 

During  the  Fenian  excitement  he  was  Commissioner  of  Po- 
lice for  the  Dominion,  and  his  arrangements  for  discovering 
the  plans  of  the  Fenians  contributed  greatly  to  the  repulse 
of  the  raiders  in  1870.  He  performed  a  similar  service  in 
connection  with  the  contemplated  Fenian  attack  on  Fort 
Garry,  during  Lieut.-Governor  Archibald's  term.  He  had 
charge  of  the  Dominion  Lands  office  in  Manitoba  from  the 
time  it  was  opened,  and  held  the  position  of  Assistant  Re- 
ceiver-General and  other  official  posts  until  superannuated 
in  1877.  Mr.  McMicken  was  returned  for  Cartier  as  a  Con- 
servative in  1880,  and  held  his  seat  until  the  last  general 
election.  , 

Hon.  John  H.  McTavish,  one  of  the  members  of  the  first 
Manitoba  Parliament,  is  Scottish  Canadian,  having  been  born 
at  Graf  ton,  Ontario,  in  1837.*  He  came  to  Red  River  in 
the  service  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  at  the  age  of 
nineteen.  During  Riel's  insurrection,  he  had  charge  of  the 
business  of  the  Company  at  the  settlement.  He  was  return- 
ed for  St.  Anne  by  acclamation  at  the  first  general  election, 
and  retained  his  seat  until  April  3rd,  1874,  when  he  was  ap- 
pointed a  member  of  the  Executive  Council  for  the  North- 
West  Territories.  In  politics,  he  takes  the  Conservative 
side. 

Among  other  ex-members  of  the  Provincial  Legislature  of 
Scottish  origin,  may  be  mentioned,  Mr.  Kenneth  McKenzie, 
a  native  of  Inverness-shire,  who  represented  Portage  La 
Prairie  between  1874  and  1880 ;  John  Gunn,  son  of  the 
Hon.  Donald  Gunn,  who  sat  for  North  St.  Andrews  from 
1874  to  1878 ;  David  Spence,  who  represented  Poplar  Point, 


1100        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

in  the  first  Legislature;  William  Robert  Dick,  'a  Scot- 
Canadian,  bom  in  Ernesttown,  Ont.,  elected  for  Springfield, 
in  1874 ;  Angus  McKay,  a  brother  of  Hon.  James  McKay, 
and  member  for  Lake  Manitoba  for  the  years  70-78  ;  John 
Taylor,  of  Orcadian  descent,  representative  of  Headingly, 
1874-78 ;  and  John  Aldham  Kyte  Drummond,  son  of  the  late 
Lieut.-Col.  Drummond,  of  Kingston,  who  sat  for  High  Bluff 
for  1878-80. 

Hon.  Alexander  Macbeth  Sutherland,  the  present  Attorney- 
General  of  the  Province,  is  the  third  son  of  Senator  Suther- 
land. His  mother  Jeannette  Macbeth,  was  a  daughter  of 
the  late.  John  Macbeth,  one  of  the  early  Selkirk  settlers.  He 
was  born  at  Point  Douglass  in  1849,  and  completed  his  edu- 
cation at  Toronto  University,  where  he  graduated  in  1876. 
He  was  returned  for  Kildonan  in  1878,  and  has  represented 
that  constituency  in  the  legislature  ever  since.  Mr.  Suther- 
land entered  the  Norquay  cabinet  as  Attorney-General,  in 
September,  1882. 

Among  the  accessions  to  the  legislature  at  the  last  elec- 
tion, are  Charles  Hay,  Member  for  Norfolk,  born  in  the  Ork- 
ney Islands,  in  1843,  who  settled  in  Manitoba  in  1862,  a 
member  of  the  mercantile  firm  of  Campbell,  Hay  &  Boddy, 
of  Portage  La  Prairie,  an  Independent,  and  Finlay  McNaugh- 
ton  Young,  who  represents  Turtle  Mountain,  born  in  Cha- 
teauguay  County,  Quebec,  of  'Scottish  parentage,  who  is  op- 
posed to  the  Norquay  administration. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

BRITISH     COLUMBIA. 

tHE  designation  of  "  New  Caledonia,"  formerly  applied 
to  the  British  Columbia  mainland,  and  the  frequent 
recurrence  of  distinctively  Scottish  names  in  the  local  no- 
menclature, might  seem  to  imply  that  the  Pacific  Province 
would  prove  especially  rich  in  material  for  the  purpose  of 
the  present  work.  Such,  however,  is  not  the  case.  There 
is  no  other  Province  of  the  Dominion  where  the  Scottish 
element  of  the  population  is,  both  actually  and  relatively,  so 
small  as  in  British  Columbia,  where,  out  of  a  total  popula- 
tion of  49,459,  according  to  the  last  census  returns,  but 
3,892,  all  told,  were  of  Scottish  origin.  A  due  regard  for 
perspective,  therefore,  requires  the  curtailment  of  this  chap- 
ter to  within  comparatively  narrow  limits.  Moreover,  many 
of  the  achievements  of  the  Scot  in  British  Columbia,  both  as 
regards  early  explorations  and  the  Pacific  Railway  enter- 
prise, have  already  been  largely  treated  of  in  previous 
chapters. 

British  Columbia  is  a  region  of  wide  extent  and  varied 
characteristics.  It  presents  many  remarkable  contrasts  in 
climate  and  productions  in  regions  not  far  apart,  owing  to 
the  modifying  influence  of  the  ocean  and  the  mountain 
ranges  with  which  it  is  seamed.  Between  the  Cascade  range 


1102        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

and  the  sea  the  climate  is  temperate  and  moist ;  the  sum- 
mers beautiful,  the  winters  mild.  Vancouver  Island  is  sub- 
ject to  similar  conditions.  Eastward  of  the  Cascade  moun- 
tains the  extremes  of  climate  are  more  pronounced.  The 
more  southern  portion  is  heavily  timbered,  and  vegetation 
grows  luxuriantly.  The  yield  of  grain  crops  and  other  agri- 
cultural produce  is  very  large,  though  irrigation  is  often 
required.  Farther  to  the  northward  the  country  becomes 
1  drier,  colder,  and  less  thickly  wooded.  On  the  upper  portion 
of  the  Eraser  River  the  winter  is  very  changeable,  and  the 
cold  often  very  severe,  The  agricultural  region  proper  ter- 
minates in  the  neighbourhood  of  Alexandria,  the  country 
showing  large  tracts  of  fine  pasturage  interspersed  with 
some  arable  land.  From  this  point  north-eastward  to  the 
mountains  is  the  mining  region,  the  principal  source  of  the 
wealth  of  British  Columbia.  In  the  south-eastern  corner  of 
the  Province  another  marked  change  occurs.  The  rich,  fer- 
tile soil  of  the  same  latitude  further  west,  is  replaced  by  an 
arid,  sterile  tract,  sometimes  almost  tropical  in  its  character- 
istics and  partaking  largely  of  the  nature  of  the  great 
American  desert  which  stretches  away  to  the  southward. 
The  elevated  plateau  between  the  Cascade  Range  and  the 
Rocky  Mountains  averages  3,000  to  4,000  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  sea.  Near  the  Rocky  Mountains  it  is  broken  by 
the  spurs  and  offshoots  of  this  great  continental  range,  which, 
with  their  alternations  of  ridge  and  chasm,  snow-capped 
summit  and  deep-cut  river-bed,  present  a  succession  of  the 
wildest  and  most  majestic  scenes.  There  are  numerous  lakes, 
occupying  deep  depressions  in  the  uneven  surface ;  the  rivers 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1103 

flow  through  precipitous  gorges,  and  through  the  rough, 
broken  mountainous  districts,  in  many  directions,  sweep 
broad,  undulating  stretches  of  low,  sheltered  land.  The 
Montenegrin  peasantry  have  a  curious  legend  respect- 
ing the  origin  of  the  mountains  which  have  given  a 
name  to  their  country.  They  believe  that  when  the  Creator 
was  distributing  mountains  over  the  surface  of  the  newly- 
formed  earth,  the  bag  in  which  they  were  contained  burst 

i 

just  over  Montenegro,  giving  them  rather  more  than  their 
share.  To  a  mind  in  the  anthropomorphic  stage  it  would  not 
require  any  very  great  stretch  of  imagination  to  lead  to  the  be- 
lief that  some  similar  accident  must  have  occurred  in  British 
Columbia,  so  lavish  has  nature  been  in  the  bestowal  of  her 
wilder  features.  Inequality  of  physical  outline  appears  to 
be  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  country.  The  sea- 
board both  of  Vancouver  Island  and  the  mainland  is  as 
broken  and  indented  by  harbours  and  inlets  as  the  interior 
is  rugged  and  uneven. 

The  history  of  British  Columbia  as  a  land  inhabited  by 
civilized  men  is  a  brief  and,  excepting  for  the  transforma- 
tion scenes  of  the  gold  excitement,  an  uneventful  one.  De- 
spite its  natural  advantages,  the  progress  of  the  colony  has 
been  retarded  by  its  isolated '  position.  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes  tells  a  good  story  about  a  party  of  Bostoniansmeetinga 
settler  in  the  backwoods  of  Maine,  who,  on  learning  that  his 
visitors  hailed  from  "  the  Hub,"  remarked  in  a  tone  of  won- 
derment, "  I  don't  see  how  you  fellers  down  to  Boston  kin 
afford  to  live  so  fur  off."  The  humour  of  the  story  of  course 
lies  in  the  inversion  of  the  point.  Literally  speaking,  there 


1104        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

are  not  many  who  can  "afford  to  live  so  far  off"  as  British 
Columbia.  Hence  her  sparse  and  scattered  population.  It 
is  only  by  the  establishment  of  railroad  communication  with 
the  eastern  portion  of  the  Dominion  that  the  immense  re- 
sources which  await  exploration  will  be  rendered  available, 
and  the  mere  handful  of  population  increased  by  influx  from 
Europe  and  Eastern  Canada. 

The  question  of  which  of  the  early  navigators  who  ex- 
plored the  Pacific  coast  of  North  America  is  entitled  to  the 
credit  of  having  first  entered  the  waters  of  British  Columbia 
is  a  much  disputed  one.  Sir  Francis  Drake,  in  an  expedi- 
tion which  sailed  from  Plymouth  in  1577,  reached  the  48th 
parallel  of  latitude  in  prosecuting  his  search  for  a  north-east 
passage  from  the  Pacific  to  the  Atlantic,  and  laid  claim  to 
the  country  between  that  point  and  the  43rd  parallel,  nam- 
ing it  "  New  Albion/'  In  1625  a  narrative  was  published  in 
England  by  Michael  Lock,  concerning  the  adventures  of 
Juan  de  Fuca,  whose  true  name  was  Apostolos  Valerianos, 
a  Greek  pilot,  said  to  have  been  sent  by  the  Viceroy  of 
Mexico,  in  1592,  with  three  vessels  on  a  voyage  of  explora- 
tion northward  along  the  coast.  He  claimed  to  have  sailed 
through  the  channel  separating  Vancouver  Island  from  the 
mainland  of  British  Columbia:  The  inaccuracies  in  the  nar- 
rative of  his  alleged  discoveries,  exposed  by  Captain  Cook 
and  other  explorers,  led  to  its  being  subsequently  discredit- 
ed, and  doubts  even  thrown  on  the  existence  of  the  old  Greek 
sailor.  Nevertheless,  whether  he  or  another  is  rightfully 
entitled  to  the  honour  of  being 

' '  — the  first  that  ever  burst 
Into  that  silent  sea," 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1105 

the  name  of  Juan  de  Fuca  Strait  preserves  the  memory  of 
that  ancient  mariner.  Other  expeditions  were  subsequently 
fitted  out  by  the  English  and  Spaniards,  in  search  of  the 
North-west  passage  between  the  two  oceans.  It  is  often  the 
case  that  the  search  after  the  unattainable,  the  impossible, 
and  the  non-existent,  results  in  discoveries  of  tangible 
and  permanent  value  to  mankind.  As  alchemy  was  the  pa- 
rent of  chemistry,  and  astrology  gave  birth  to  astronomy,  so 
the  search  for  the  North-west  and  North-east  passages  car- 
ried on  for  years  by  the  maritime  nations  at  great  sacrifices/ 
though  futile  as  to  the  immediate  objects  in  view,  did  much 
to  enlarge  the  sphere  of  geographical  knowledge.  The  dis- 
coveries of  Captain  Cook  and  others  disclosed  the  general 
trend  of  the  coast  line.  Captain  Kendrick,  an  American,  is 
another  for  whom  the  credit  of  being  the  first  to  sail  through 
the  gulf  between  Vancouver  Island  and  the  mainland,  has 
been  claimed.  He  is  said  to  have  made  this  voyage  in  1788. 
It  was  during  this  year  that  Captain  Meares,  who  was  as- 
sociated with  Captain  Douglas  in  a  voyage  of  discovery  un- 
der the  auspices  of  an  association  of  merchants  in  Bengal, 
reached  the  Straits  of  Fuca,  which  had  not  been  found  by 
Cook,  ascended  the  channel  about  thirty  leagues  in  a  boat, 
and  formally  took  possession  of  the  country  in  the  name  of 
the  Crown.  He  was  not,  however,  able  to  land,  as  the  na- 
tives made  an  obstinate  resistance  and  compelled  the  party 
to  return  to  their  vessel.  Difficulties  shortly  af tewards  arose 
between  the  English  and  the  Spaniards  as  to  their  respective 
rights  in  the  Pacific  coast.  To  adjust  this  dispute  Captain 
Vancouver,  formerly  a  lieutenant  serving  under  Captain 


HOG        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Cook,  was  commissioned  in  1790  to  negotiate  with  a  Span- 
ish commission  at  Nootka  Sound,  and  in  addition  was 
-charged  with  the  duty  of  making  an  examination  of  the 
•coast,  in  order  to  throw  further  light  upon  the  problem  of  a 
passage  between  the  two  oceans.  After  some  exploration  in 
other  directions  Vancouver  entered  the  straits  of  Juan  de 
Fuca  in  1792,  and  after  encountering  many  obstacles  suc- 
ceeded in  piloting  his  ships  through  the  archipelago  of  the 
Gulf  of  Georgia  and  reaching  the  Pacific  by  way  of  John- 
stone's  Strait — thus  clearly  establishing  the  mythical  char- 
acter of  the  North-east  passage  supposed  to  exist  in  that  dir- 
ection. During  a  portion  of  this  voyage  the  expedition  had 
remained  in  company  with  a  Spanish  exploring  party  whom 
they  encountered  in  the  straits,  and  out  of  compliment  to 
the  Spanish  commander  the  name  originally  bestowed  upon 
the  island — the  existence  of  which  was  for  the  first  time 
definitely  established — was  the  "  Island  of  Quadra  and  Van- 
couver." The  first  portion  of  this  cumbrous  designation  was 
soon  abandoned  and  the  name  fixed  as  Vancouver  Island,  in 
honour  of  the  real  discoverer. 

"While  Vancouver  Island  and  the  Pacific  coast  was  little 
by  little  becoming  known  by  the  discoveries  of  maritime  ex- 
plorers approaching  it  from  the  West,  the  interior  of  British 
Columbia  was  being  penetrated  from  the  East  by  the  same 
enterprising  and  dauntless  class  of  pioneers,  who  were  the 
avant  couriers  of  civilization  in  theNorth-West  Territories. 
The  part  taken  by  the  adventurous  Scots,  Sir  Alexander  Mac- 
kenzie, Fraser  and  Thompson — whose  names  borne  by  three 
majestic  rivers  will  perpetuate  for  all  time  the  memory  of 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1107 

their  daring  and  endurance — has  already  been  set  forth  in  the 
pages  devoted  to  the  early  history  of  the  Fur  Trading  Com- 
panies. These  discoveries  were  turned  to  practical  account 
in  ]  806,  when  the  first  fur-trading  post,  founded  in  British 
Columbia,  was  erected  a  short  distance  from  the  great  Fraser 
Eiver,  by  Simon  Fraser.  The  Hudson  Bay  Company  shortly 
afterwards  established  a  post  at  Stuart's  Lake,  and  the  coun- 
try was  soon  dotted  with  the  establishments  of  the  rival 
North-West  and  Hudson  Bay  companies.  It  was  not  until 
this  time  that  the  designation  of  "  New  Caledonia,''  which 
had  previously  been  indefinitely  used  in  connection  with  the 
coast  line,  was  generally  applied  to  the  entire  region  of  the 
British  Columbia  mainland. 

The  rival  fur  trading  companies  were  united  in  1821, 
under  the  title  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  and  in  the 
same  year  obtained  a  charter  guaranteeing  them  the  exclu- 
sive trade  of  the  region — a  monopoly  of  which  they  re- 
mained in  possession  until  the  discovery  of  gold  rendered  it 
necessary  to  establish  a  colonial  government,  and  throw  the 
country  open  for  settlement.  It  was  not  until  1843  that  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company  established  themselves  on  Vancouver 
Island.  At  that  time  Mr.  (after  Sir)  James  Douglas  was 
chief  agent  of  the  company  for  all  their  territory,  west  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains.  His  headquarters  were  for  some  time  in 
Fort  Vancouver,  Oregon  Territory — under  his  direction  a 
party  of  forty  men,  in  charge  of  a  Scottish  official  of  the 
company,  named  Finlayson,  landed  at  Victoria,-  then  called 
by  the  natives  Tsomus,  from  the  name  of  the  tribe.  They 
met  with  no  opposition  from  the  Indians,  from  whom  Mr. 
Douglas  purchased  the  site  for  the  contemplated  fort.  They 


1108        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

at  once  set  about  the  erection  of  the  buildings,  which  were 
completed  during  the  following  year.  In  1846,  when  by  the 
Treaty  of  Oregon,  Fort  Vancouver  was  embraced  in  the  terri- 
tory of  the  United  States — the  Pacific  headquarters  of  the 
company  were  transferred  to  Victoria.  The  fort,  and  the 
little  settlement  which,  gradually  opening  up  around  it,  con- 
tinued to  be  for  many  years  the  only  spot  on  the  Island  re- 
claimed from  the  wilderness. 

Before  proceeding  further  with  the  narrative  of  the  settle- 
ment of  British  Columbia  it  will  be  advisable  to  present  a 
few  biographical  details  in  relation  to  the  strong  and  salient 
character  just  introduced  upon  the  scene,  whose  after  career 
exercised  so  powerful  an  influence  upon  the  fortunes  of  the 
colony.  James  Douglas  was  born  at  Demerara,  in  the  South 
American  colony  of  British  Guiana,  on  the  14th  of  August, 
1803.  His  father,  who  had  emigrated  from  Scotland  to 
British  Guiana  a  short  time  previously,  was  in  poor  circum- 
stances. Young  Douglas  was  left  an  orphan  at  an  early  age, 
and  in  1815,  when  but  twelve  years  of  age,  accompanied  an 
elder  brother  to  push  his  fortune  as  so  many  others  of  his 
nationality  have  done  in  the  great  North-West.  The  rivalry 
between  the  Hudson  Bay  and  North -West  companies  was. 
at  that  time  extremely  keen.  James  Douglas  entered  the 
service  of  the  latter,  bringing  to  his  avocation  remarkable 
physical  strength  and  powers  of  endurance,  an  iron  constitu- 
tion, and  a  bold,  resolute  spirit.  As  he  grew  to  manhood 
these  qualities  were  developed  and  strengthened  by  the 
character  of  the  arduous  service  in  which  he  was  engaged, 
and  he  soon  began  to  display  those  rare  intellectual  qualities 
of  prudence,  determination,  and  executive  capacity  which 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1109 

early  marked  him  a  born-leader  of  men.  His  business  facul- 
ties and  the  tact  he  exhibited  in  his  intercourse  with  the 
Indians  secured  his  rapid  advancement  to  posts  of  increased 
responsibility.  After  the  amalgamation  of  the  companies 
he  became  chief  factor,  in  which  capacity  he  visited  the 
remotest  outposts  of  the  company.  His  wanderings  were 
attended  with  many  formidable  perils.  Once  he  was  made 
captive  by  a  tribe  of  British  Columbia  Indians  and  detained 
for  many  weeks.  He  contrived  at  length  to  effect  his  escape, 
and  after  enduring  severe  hardships  succeeded  in  reaching 
one  of  the  forts  of  the  company  in  an  exhausted  condition. 
His  re-appearance  was  hailed  with  mingled  delight  and 
astonishment  for  he  had  long  been  given  up  as  dead.  In 
1833  he  was  appointed  to  the  Chief  Agency  for  the  region 
west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  as  we  have  seen,  planted 
the  first  settlement  on  the  shores  of  Vancouver  Island  ten 
years  later.  In  1851  he  became  Governor  of  the  infant 
colony  established  under  the  auspices  of  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company,  his  commission  being  renewed  fov  a  further  period 
of  six  years  in  1857.  When  Vancouver  Island  was  consti- 
tuted a  Crown  Colony  in  1859,  with  Victoria  as  its  capital 
Mr.  Douglas  was  appointed  Governor  and  received  the  dignity 
of  a  C.  B.  British  Columbia  having  been  organized  as  a 
colony  in  1858,  the  Governorship  was  also  vested  in  Mr. 
Douglas.  How  admirably  he  exercised  his  arduous  and  re- 
sponsible functions,  in  this  double  capacity,  in  the  face  of 
circumstances  requiring  the  most  delicate  tact,  the  firmest 
resolution,  and  the  clearest  judgment  the  narrative  of  the 
colony's  progress  will  show.  In  18G3  he  received  the 
honour  of  Knighthood  as  a  recognition  by  the  Imperial 


1110        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Government  of  his  inestimable  services.  He  withdrew  from 
public  life  in  1864,  when  his  commission  as  Governor 
expired,  and  after  making  the  tour  of  Europe  returned  to 
spend  the  evening  of  his  days  in  the  land  whose  best  inter- 
ests he  had  spent  his  life  in  advancing.  He  died  at  Vic- 
toria on  the  2nd  of  August,  1877,  in  his  seventy-fourth  year. 
Sir  James  married  in  1827  Miss  Connolly,  a  daughter  of  the 
Chief  Factor  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  at  Red  River, 
by  whom  he  had  a  numerous  family.  Mr.  James  W.  Doug- 
las, his  eldest  and  only  surviving  son,  was  for  some  years 
a  representative  of  Victoria  in  the  Provincial  Legislature. 
Let  us  resume  the  thread  of  the  narrative  of  the  rise  of  the 
colony  of  Vancouver  Island,  which  in  1848  comprised  merely 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company's  fort  on  the  site  of  the  present 
city  of  Victoria.  The  company  applied  to  the  British  gov- 
ernment and  obtained  a  charter  granting  them  the  absolute 
control  of  the  island  for  a  term  of  ten  years  from  January, 
1849.  This  privilege  was  granted  on  the  condition  that 
they  should  establish  a  colony,  and  use  exertions  to  attract 
population.  Mr.  Richard  Blanchard  was  sent  out  from  Eng- 
land as  the  first  governor,  but  after  two  years  returned  to 
England,  being  succeeded  by  Mr.  Douglas  in  November, 
1851.  His  first  official  action  was  one  eminently  character- 
istic of  the  man,  and  in  strict  accordance  with  the  just  and 
politic  conduct  towards  the  aborigines,  which  has  been  the 
secret  of  the  remarkable  success  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany in  maintaining  the  serviceable  friendship  of  the  Indian 
tribes.  He  assembled  all  the  natives  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Victoria  and  paid  them  in  full  for  the  lands  appropriated 
by  the  whites.  The  wisdom,  as  well  as  the  humanity  of 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1111 

this  policy,  is  apparent.  The  Indians  were  then  both  pow- 
erful and  warlike,  and  on  frequent  occasions  it  required  all 
the  prudence  and  decision  of  character  possessed  in  such 
large  measure  by  Governor  Douglas  to  avert  the  horrors  of 
savage  warfare.  It  was  necessary  while  treating  with  the 
Indians  with  fairness  and  honesty,  to  impress  upon  them  the 
lesson  that  attacks  upon  the  lives  and  property  of  the  set- 
tlers would  be  firmly  punished  In  the  winter  of  1851,  a 
shepherd  was  murdered  by  Indians  at  Christmas  Hill,  the 
perpetrators  of  the  crime  taking  refuge  at  Cowichan.  An 
expedition  was  sent  in  pursuit,  consisting  partly  of  sailors 
from  Her  Majesty's  .ship  Thetis,  and  partly  of  volunteers 
from  the  settlement.  On  the  arrival  of  the  avengers,  one  of 
the  murderers  was  given  up.  The  other  fled  and  was  fol- 
lowed to  Nanaimo,  where  he  was  finally  captured,  and  both 
were  shortly  afterwards  executed.  A  similar  expedition 
organized  not  long  afterwards  for  the  capture  of  an  Indian 
who  had  shot  and  severely  wounded  a  white  man  at  Cow- 
ichan, nearly  involved  more  tragical  consequences.  The 
tribe  at  first  refused  to  surrender  the  offender,  who,  embold- 
ened by  their  support,  levelled  a  musket  at  the  governor. 
The  small  force  at  the  command  of  the  latter  prepared  to  fire 
on  the  natives,  and  nothing  aparently  could  avert  a  bloody 
conflict.  The  murderer  drew  the  trigger  but  without  effect, 
and  was  at  once  seized  by  the  tribe,  delivered  to  the  expedi- 
tion, and  hanged  with  all  the  due  formalities  of  the  law. 
Lessons  such  as  these  speedily  impressed  the  red  men  with  a 
wholesome  respect  for  the  authority  of  the  government,  which 
during  the  exciting  times  of  the  gold  fever,  did  much  to  re- 
strain lawlessness  and  disorder.  The  troubles  between  tl,  e 


1112        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

different  tribes  of  Indians,  and  their  collisions  with  the  colo- 
nists frequently  threatened  to  result  in  a  general  outbreak, 
but  the  vigilance  of  the  Governor  always  averted  the  crisis. 
Attempts  were  made  by  the  savages  from  time  to  time  to  pos- 
sess themselves  of  the  fort,  but  the  resource  and  decision 
of  character  displayed  by  Governor  Douglas  baffled  the 
schemes  of  the  Indians,  who  were  conciliated,  while  at  the 
same  time  overawed.  The  proverbial  hand  of  iron  in  the 
glove  of  velvet  was  never  more  forcibly  exemplified  than  in 
his  dealing  with  the  natives  of  Vancouver  Island. 

The  work  of  colonization  proceeded  very  slowly.  In  1853 
the  white  population  of'  the  Island  only  numbered  about 
450,  two-thirds  of  these  being  at  Victoria.  The  total  quan- 
tity of  land  applied  for  up  to  the  end  of  that  year  was  19,- 
807  acres,  of  which  only  1,696  acres  was  then  in  occupation 
by  individual  settlers.  These  figures  are  taken  from  a  de- 
scription of  Vancouver  Island  by  Col.  W.  Colquhoun  Grant, 
whose  nationality  is  sufficiently  indicated  by  his  name,  and 
who  is  described  as  the  "  first  colonist."  This  paper  was 
read  before  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  of  London  on  the 
22nd  of  Juno,  1857 — and  its  references  to  the  various  under- 
takings for  the  development  of  the  Island  seemed  to  indicate 
that  a  large  proportion  of  these  early  settlers  were  Scotch- 
men. Speaking  of  the  mineral  resources,  Col.  Grant  states 
that  coal  was  first  discovered  at  Nanaimo  in  1850  by  Mr. 
Joseph  McKay,  who  was  directed  to  it  by  the  Indians  of  the 
neighbourhood.  He  notes  that  the  efforts  to  find  workable 
coal  at  Beaver  Harbour,  the  most  Northern  settlement, 
proved  unsuccessful,  although  "  a  shaft  was  sunk  to  the 
depth  of  ninety  feet  by  the  Messrs.  Muir,  the  miners  who 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1113 

were  first  sent  out  from  Scotland  by  the  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany." A  Mr.  Gilmour  is  also  mentioned  in  connection 
with  mining  operations.  Nanaimo  is  described  as  "  a  flour- 
ishing little  settlement  with  about  125  inhabitants,  of  whom 
thirty-seven  are  working  men,  the  remainder  women  and 
children ;  there  are  about  twenty-four  children  at  a  school 
presided  over  by  Mr.  Baillie."  In  fact  almost  every  name 
mentioned  has  a  distinctively  Caledonian  ring.  The  first 
white  man  to  accomplish  the  feat  of  crossing  the  Island  dia- 
gonally from  Nimpkish  River  to  Nootka  Sound  was  Mr. 
Hamilton  Moffatt,  who  undertook  an  exploratory  tour  in 
1852,  and  reported  favourably  as  to  the  character  of  that 
region  for  settlement. 

In  the  year  185G  representative  institutions  were  granted 
to  the  colonists,  and  the  first  Parliament,  comprising  seven- 
teen members,  assembled  on  the  12th  of  June.  Governor 
Douglas,  in  his  inaugural  speech,  aptly  comparing  the  growth 
of  the  colony  to  that  of  its  native  pines  as  being  slow  but 
hardy.  The  organization  of  this  embryo  legislature  is  nota- 
ble as  the  first  instance  in  which  representative  institutions 
had  been  established  in  a  British  colony  at  so  early  a  stage 
of  its  development. 

By  the  discovery  of  gold  in  large  quantities  on  the  main- 
land, the  circumstances  of  the  colony  were  completely  al- 
tered, owing  to  the  sudden  influx  of  miners  and  the  large 
class  of  adventurers  of  all  kinds  who  always  throng  to  a 
newly-discovered  El  Dorado.  As  early  as  1850  the  precious 
metal  had  been  found  in  Queen  Charlotte's  Island,  but  only 
in  small  quantities;  and  some  time  before  the  actual  discov- 
eries which  caused  the  excitement  it  was  understood  that 


1114         THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

gold  existed  on  Fraser  River  and  throughout  the  Central 
Cascade  Range  in  this  direction.  The  first  to  bring  to  light 
these  hidden  treasures,  and  communicate  to  the  world  the 
richness  of  the  gold-producing  region,  were  Scotsmen.  In 
1854  Capt.  McClelland  in  charge  of  the  survey  for  the  mili- 
tary road  from  Fort  Walla- Walla  to  Fort  Steilacoom,  on 
Puget  Sound,  through  the  Nachess  Pass,  unearthed  gold  in 
considerable  quantities,  his  men  sometimes  obtaining  two 
dollars'  worth  a  day  with  the  pan.  The  first  official  an- 
nouncement of  the  existence  of  valuable  gold  deposits  was 
made  in  a  letter  addressed  by  Governor  Douglas  to  the 
Colonial  Secretary,  on  April  16th,  1856,  in  which  he  "stated 
that  Mr.  Angus  McDonald,  clerk  in  charge  of  Fort  Colville, 
one  of  the  trading-posts  on  the  Upper  Columbia  district,  had 
reported  to  him  the  finding  of  gold  in  quantities  sufficient 
to  yield  from  £2  to  £8  daily  to  those  engaged  in  the  digging. 
The  news  spread  rapidly.  Prospecting  parties  soon  started 
out  in  all  directions,  and  met  with  encouraging  success  in 
their  explorations.  Then  came  an  immigration  of  gold- 
seekers  from  abroad,  to  which  nearly  every  civilized  nation, 
as  well  as  many  uncivilized,  contributed  its  quota,  the  greater 
proportion,  however,  coming  direct  from  the  gold-fields  of 
California  and  the  adjoining  American  territories.  Explora- 
tions in  Vancouver  Island  were  only  moderately  successful* 
and  the  more  extensive  discoveries  on  the  Fraser  River  made 
this  the  objective  point  of  the  influx.  As  Victoria  was  the 
nearest  considerable  settlement,  and  the  centre  of  supply,  its 
growth  at  once  received  a  tremendous  impetus.  The  excite- 
ment reached  its  climax  in  the  season  of  1858,  when  fully 
twenty  thousand  people  landed  at  Victoria,  on  their  way  to 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        111& 

the  diggings.  Both  house  accommodation  and  the  supplies 
of  provisions  and  other  necessaries  were  quickly  exhausted, 
and  a  period  of  inflation  set  in.  Prices  rose  to  almost  in- 
credible figures.  Flour  was  held  at  thirty  dollars  per  barrel ; 
lumber  brought  one  hundred  dollars  per  thousand  feet.  The 
lack  of  buildings  was  supplied  temporarily  by  the  erection 
of  tents,  which  rose  in  all  directions  around  the  city.  Build- 
ing operations,  went  forward  with  great  rapidity,  and  over 
two  hundred  houses  were  erected  in  the  course  of  a  month. 
Speculation  in  real  estate  rose  to  a  high  pitch.  Extravagant 
prices  were  asked  and  paid  for  town  lots,  and  rents  were 
enormous.  The  value  of  property  went  ,up  fifty-fold  in  a 
few  weeks.  The  speculative  craze  at  Victoria  rivalled,  for  a 
time,  the  gold  excitement  on  the  banks  of  the  Fraser.  The 
fate  of  those  who  went  forward  to  the  gold  fields  was  the 
usual  one  of  treasure-seekers.  The  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
transportation  were  very  great.  The  country  tributary  to 
the  Fraser  resembles  other  mountainous  countries  in  the 
same  latitude,  where  the  streams  begin  to  swell  in  June  and 
reach  their  lowest  ebb  in  the  winter.  The  few  who  reached 
the  scene  early  in  the  spring  succeeded  in  obtaining  large 
amounts  of  gold  from  the  banks  not  yet  covered  by  the 
periodic  rise  of  the  waters.  The  bulk  of  the  miners,  who 
did  not  arrive  until  later  in  the  season,  found  the  rich- 
est mining  lands  submerged.  Many  returned,  crestfallen 
and  disappointed,  to  Victoria,  and  the  story  of  their  re  verses 
broke  the  spell  under  which  Victoria  had  risen  like  a  crea- 
tion of  enchantment.  Miners  and  speculators  alike  returned 
to  California  by  thousands  ;  the  days  of  inflation  were  over 


1116        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

and  a  period  of  commercial  depression  succeeded.  The  popu- 
lation of  the  city  fell  as  low  as  1,500. 

Meanwhile  the  few  hundred  miners  who  persevered  in 
spite  of  all  obstacles  and  pressed  on  undeterred  by  the  ill- 
success  of  the  thousands  who  had  turned  back  discouraged, 
were  subjected  to  the  greatest  hardships  and  perils  in  mak- 
ing their  way  through  a  region  hitherto  untravelled  by 

• 

white  men,  and  destitute  of  roads  and  habitations.  Mr. 
Macfie,  in  his  book  on  British  Columbia,  thus  describes  the 
dangers  an'd  difficulties  of  the  river  trail  to  the  gold  fields  of 
the  Fraser : 

"  Before  the  line  for  the  Lillooet  route  was  generally 
known,  parties  of  intrepid  miners,  anxious  to  be  the  first  to 
reap  its  benefits,  tried  to  force  their  way  through  all  the  dif- 
ficulties opposed  to  them.  The  misery  and  fatigue  endured 
by  them  was  indescribable.  They  crept  through  underwood 
and  thicket  for  many  miles,  sometimes  on  hands  and  knees, 
with  a  bag  of  flour  on  the  back  of  each ;  alternately  under 
and  over  fallen  trees,  scrambling  up  precipices,  or  sliding 
down  over  masses  of  sharp  projecting  rock  or  Wading 
up  to  their  waists  through  bogs  and  swamps.  Every  day 
added  to  their  exhaustion,  and  worn  out  with  privation  and 
sufferings  one  knot  of  adventurers  after  another  became 
smaller  and  smaller,  some  lagging  behind  to  rest  or  turning 
back  in  despair." 

The  few  who  were  able  to  surmount  these  obstacles  fre- 
quently realized  the  hopes  which  had  prompted  them  to  the 
undertaking.  Over  half  a  million  of  gold  was  shipped  from 
Victoria  in  the  three  months  ending  with  October,  1858,  a 

*Macfle's  "Vancouver  Ibland  and  British  Columbia,"  p.  70. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH   NORTH  AMERICA.        1117 

sufficient  indication  of  the  richness  of  the  mines.  The  fol- 
lowing year  the  tide  again  set  in,  though  not  in  such  large 
volume,  and  the  gold  mining  industry  began  to  be  steadily 
pursued.  In  1861,  according  to  the  correspondent  of  the 
London  Times,  5,000  persons  were  engaged  in  mining,  and 
the  yield  amounted  to  $6,700,000.  In  1862  the  discovery 
of  the  Cariboo*  mines  gave  a  renewed  impulse  to  the  rush  of 
immigration,  and  the  scenes  of  1857  were  repeated.  Specu- 
lation again  ran  riot  in  Victoria,  and  the  wave  of  eager  gold 
hunters  again  surged  eagerly  onward  through  a  rugged  and 
almost  impenetrable  wilderness.  Cariboo  was  four  hundred 
miles  inland,  the  only  road  being  an  old  Indian  trail  over 
the  rivers,  among  the  mountains,  and  through  dark,  and 
tangled  forests.  Again  the  result  was  bitter  disappointment 
to  the  great  majority,  who  returned  to  civilization  footsore, 
ragged  and  often  utterly  broken  down  in  constitution,  while 
a  few  reaped  a  rich  reward  for  their  toils. 

In  1858  a  government  was  organized  on  the  British  Co- 
lumbia mainland,  Mr.  Douglas  being  appointed  Governor. 
He  found  himself  placed,  in  a  most  embarrassing  and  difficult 
situation.  A  large  influx  of  the  rough  mining  population  of 
California  rendered  it  necessary  to  use  every  precaution  to 
prevent  the  lawless  spirit  which  long  made  that  State  a  by- 
word for  turbulence  and  disorder  gaining  the  ascendency  on 
British  soil.  Roads  and  bridges  were  urgently  required,  and 
the  revenue  raised  from  customs  duties  proved  totally  in- 
sufficient for  the  purpose.  In  1862  the  only  method  of  trans- 
portation was  by  mule-trains.  Freight  to  Cariboo  was  one 
dollar  per  pound.  The  commonest  necessaries  of  life  were 
hardly  obtainable  at  any  price.  The  Governor,  in  order  to 


1118        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

provide  the  means  of  carrying  on  the  work  of  administra- 
tion, imposed  taxes  which  at  the  time  created  a  great  deal 
of  discontent,  and  for  which  he  has  since  been  severely  cen- 
sured, on  the  ground  that  such  restrictions  tended  to  check 
immigration  and  to  retard  the  development  of  the  colony. 
Two  dollars,  head-money,  was  charged  on  each  immigrant, 
each  miner  was  required  to  pay  a  royalty  of  five  dollars, 
every  trader  was  obliged  to  obtain  a  permit,  for  which  a 
charge  was  also  made,  and  numerous  like  imposts  were  en- 
forced. It  is  easy  to  condemn  this  policy  and  that  pursued 
in  connection  with  sales  of  land  as  restrictive  and  illiberal. 
But,  practically,  Governor  Douglas  had  no  other  alternative. 
A  revenue  must  be  had  somehow,  if  the  laws  were  to  be  en- 
forced and  the  most  ordinary  requirements  of  civilized  gov- 
ernment introduced  into  a  suddenly  populated  wilderness. 
Time  has  amply  vindicated  Governor  Douglas'  beneficent 
policy.  By  his  foresight  and  determination  the  worst  of  the 
evils  usually  attendant  upon  a. rush  of  gold-seekers  to  anew 
country  were  avoided.  There  was  some  violence  and  disorder 
among  the  miners,  as  well  as  occasional  collisions  with  the 
Indians,  but  on  the  whole  life  and  property  were  remarkably 
secure,  and  the  law  was  respected  as  it  never  has  been 
under  similar  circumstances  in  the  United  States. 

Despite  the  unwelcome  taxes  imposed  the  revenue  was 
unequal  to  the  construction  of  roads  to  the  mines  at  Cariboo. 
This  was  accQmplished  at  length  by  raising  a  loan  of  £100,000 
in  England  and  giving  companies  the  right  of  levying  tolls 
for  constructing  some  of  the  more  important  roads  and 
bridges  of  the  system.  The  work  was  completed  in  1863, 
when  it  became  possible  to  send  freight  forward  by  waggon 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1119 

instead  of  on  the  backs  of  mules.  The  effect  was  at  once 
apparent.  Supplies  being  obtainable  at  reasonable  rates, 
population  flowed  in,  and  the  mining  industry  of  British 
Columbia,  divested  of  its  spasmodic  and  uncertain  character, 
settled  down  upon  a  steady  and  permanent  basis.  The  con- 
struction of  these  roads,  which  have  done  so  much  for  the 
prosperity  of  British  Columbia,  is  justly  regarded  as  the 
crowning  achievement  of  Governor  Douglas,  who  shortly 
afterwards  terminated  his  public  career,  not  without  having 
given  to  the  world  such  an  ample  vindication  of  his  course 
that  the  public  opinion  of  the  colony  prorlounced  unmistak- 
ably in  his  favour.  Not  the  least  memorable  feature  of  the 
last  few  years  of  his  term  of  office  was  the  part  he  took  in 
1859  in  the  peaceful  settlement  of  the  San  Juan  difficulty, 
when  war  seemed  almost  unavoidable.  By  his  coolness  and 
discretion  the  matter  was  settled  for  the  time  by  an  agree- 
ment arrived  at  between  himself  and  General  Scott,  as 
American  Commissioner,  for  a  joint  occupation  of  the  island 
until  the  matter  could  be  finally  disposed  of  by  arbitration. 
In  1866,  the  colonies  of  Vancouver  Island  and  British 
Columbia  were  united  under  the  latter  designation,  and  on 
the  20th  July,  1871,  the  union  with  Canada  was  accom- 
plished, concerning  which  full  details  have  already  been 
given.  How  that  measure  has  conduced  to  the  prosperity 
of  British  Columbia  may  be  gathered  from  the  census  re- 
turns which  show  that  the  population  exclusive  of  Indians, 
has  increased  from  ten  to  twenty-three  thousand  within  the 
decade.  But  the  full  realization  of  the  advantages  of  union 
are  yet  to  come,  as  her  future  prosperity  is  bound  up  with 
the  completion  of  the  railway  which  will  bring  her  into  com- 


1120        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

munication  with  Eastern  Canada  and  direct  the  flow  of  im- 
migration to  her  rich  agricultural  and  mining  lands. 

Reference  has  previously  been  made  to  some  of  the 
British  Columbia  representatives  in  the  Dominion  Parlia- 
ment of  Scottish  origin.  Another  name,  which  is  deserv- 
ing of  mention  is  that  of  Robert  Wallace,  one  of  the  first 
members  elected  from  the  Pacific  slope  on  the  accomplishment 
of  the  union.  He  was  born  in  the  City'of  Glasgow  in  1820. 
Mr.  Wallace  is  a  commission  merchant  in  Victoria,  and  took 
a  prominent  part  in  the  movement  in  favour  of  union  with 
Canada.  He  was  president  of  the  convention  of  delegates  of 
the  Confederation  league  held  at  Yale  in  Septembsr,  1868, 
for  the  purpose  of  accelerating  the  admission  of  British  Col- 
umbia into  the  Dominion.  He  was  returned  for  Vancouver 
Island  as  a  Conservative  in  December,  1871,  but  only  occu- 
pied his  seat  during  one  session,  being  succeeded  by  Sir  Fran- 
cis Hincks. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  members  of  the  provincial  legis- 
lature since  the  union  have  been  of  Scottish  origin.  Hon. 
John  Robson,  a  member  of  the  present  administration  is  a 
Scottish  Canadian  ;  he  was  born  at  Perth,  Ontario,  on  the 
14th  of  March,  1824.  Mr.  Robson  was  mayor  of  New  West- 
minster in  1866,  and  held  the  position  of  paymaster  of  the 
Canadian  Pacific  Railway  in  British  Columbia  from  1875 
until  that  office  was  abolished  in  1879.  He  represented  New 
Westminster  and  Nanaimo  in  the  legislative  council  of  Bri- 
tish Columbia  from  1866  until  1875.  He  was  elected  to  the 
legislative  assembly  for  New  Westminster  at  the  last  gen- 
eral election  of  July,  1882,  and  in  January,  1883,  became  a 
member  of  the  administration  of  Hon.  W.  Smithe,  with  the 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1121 

portfolio  of  the  provincial  secretary  and  minister  of  finance 
and  agriculture.     He  is  a  Conservative  in  his  political  views 

Among  the  Scots  who  have  held  seats  in  the  assembly  of 
late  years  but  are  not  at  present  members,  are  Jarnes  W. 
Dougjas,  eldest  son  of  the  late  Governor  Douglas,  born  in 
Victoria  in  184G,  who  represented  the  City  of  Victoria  in  the 
legislature  of  1875-8  ;  Dr.  William  Fraser  Tolmie,  a  Scot  by 
birth,  who  sat  in  the  Vancouver  Island  Assembly  before  the 
union,  and  represented  Victoria  District  between  the  years 
1874-8  ;  William  A.  Robertson,  born  in  Perthshire,  Scotland, 
who  was  elected  in  1 874  for  Victoria  District ;  William  Mor- 
rison, a  Scotsman,  who  came  to  British  Columbia  in  1862, 
and  was  returned  for  Lillooet  in  1875  ;  and  Donald  McGil- 
livray,  a  Scottish  Canadian  from  Glengarry,  born  in  1838,  a 
representative  of  New  Westminster  between  1878  and  1882. 

The  present  House  includes  among  its  members  William 
Monroe  Dingwall  (Comox),  whose  ancestors  were  farmers 
near  Dingwall,  Ross-shire,  where  he  was  born  in  1851,  and 
who  came  to  British  Columbia  in  1876,  and  is  now  in 
business  at  Comox  as  a  general  merchant ;  Robert  Duns- 
muir  (Nanaimo),  born  in  Hurlford,  Ayrshire,  in  1825,  an 
extensive  proprietor  of  coal  mines,  and  George  Archibald 
M'Tavish,  (Victoria  District),  born  at  New  York  in  1856,  of 
a  family  from  the  Island  of  Islay,  a  seed  grower  and  stock 
breeder,  and  formerly  president  of  the  Agricultural  Society 
of  the  Province.  All  these  are  of  Conservative  opinions 
and  supporters  of  the  Smithe  administration.  Judging  by 
the  names  there  are  several  other  legislators  who  might  be 
entitled  to  a  notice  here  were  the  data  as  to  their  birth  or 
parentage  obtainable. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

JOURNALISM   AND  LITERATURE. 

[HERE  is  no  sphere  of  the  intellectual  life  of  Canada 
in  which  Scotsmen  have  from  the  first  been  more  pro- 
minent than  that  of  journalism  and  literature.  It  will  be 
impossible  within  the  limited  space  now  remaining  at  our 
command,  to  give  as  comprehensive  a  survey  of  this  field  as 
would  be  desirable,  but  this  is  to  be  the  less  regretted  as  a 
great  portion  of  it  has  already  been  traversed  in  connection 
with  the  political  history  of  the  country.  Most  of  the  leading 
journalists  of  the  past  have  been  keen  politicians,  and  active 
participants  in  public  life,  as  is  usually  the  case  in  a  new 
country  where  the  process,  known  to  the  political  economist, 
as  subdivision  of  labour,  and  to  the  scientist  as  differentia- 
tion of  functions,  has  not  been  carried  to  the  same  degree  as 
in  older  communities.  Political  writers  and  speakers  hold 
much  the  same  relative  positions  as  attorney  and  counsel. 
The  latter  functions,  separated  in  England,  are  nearly 
always  united  here,  and  so  to  a  large  extent  with  the 
former.  True  the  process  of  social  evolution  is  rapidly 
bringing  about  a  change,  but  in  the  exciting  struggles  of 
the  past  it  was  frequently  the  case  that  those  who  framed 
the  pleadings  and  worked  up  the  case  for  the  respective 
parties,  also  urged  it  viva  voce  before  the  parliamentary 


TEE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1123 

tribunal,  and  the  supreme  court  of  the  hustings.  The 
journalists  who  remain  to  be  dealt  with,  therefore,  are  those 
who  have  either  not  taken  a  conspicuous  part  in  active 
political  life,  or  who  have  entered  it  subsequently  to  the 
issue  of  the  preceding  portion  of  this  work. 

There  is  probably  no  man  on  the  press  in  Canada  to-day 
possessing  a  larger  measure  of  that  indefinable  quality  known 
as  "  newspaper  sense  "  than  Mr.  John  Gordon  Brown,  who 
succeeded  his  brother  the  late  Hon.  George  Brown  as  editor 
of  the  Toronto  Globe.  The  public  have  never  yet  realized  to 
how  great  an  extent  the  success  of  the  Globe  was  due  to  the 
sound  judgment  and  rare  executive  capacities  of  the  younger 
brother.  Hon.  George  Brown  as  ostensible  and  virtual  leader 
of  the  Reform  party  attracted  so  large  a  share  of  the  public 
attention,  and  his  reputation  as  a  public  man  was  so  indisso- 
lubly  linked  with  the  name  of  the  journal  upon  which  he 
held  the  leading  position,  that  the  intrinsically  important 
part  taken  by  his  relative  in  the  less  obtrusive  sphere  of 
journalism  proper  was  necessarily  thrown  into  shadow. 
John  Gordon  Brown  was  born  in  Alloa,  Clackmannanshire, 
on  the  16th  of  November,  1827,  being  the  junior  of  his  bro- 
ther by  some  six  years.  He  received  his  education  partly  in 
Edinburgh  and  partly  in  New  York,  to  which  latter  city  he 
came  with  his  parents  in  his  eleventh  year.  Some  five  years 
later  he  arrived  in  Toronto.  He  was  connected  with  the 
Globe  from  the  time  of  its  foundation,  excepting  during  com- 
paratively short  intervals.  He  edited  the  Quebec  Gazette 
for  about  a  year  during  one  of  these  periods  and  also  travel- 
led a  good  deal  in  Europe  from  time  to  time.  In  1851  he 

visited  the  great  International  Exhibition  in  London,  con- 
13 


H24         THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA 

tributing  a  very  comprehensive  and  interesting  series  of  de- 
scriptive letters  to  his  newspaper.  From  the  time  of  his 
return  the  editorial  department  of  the  Globe  was  mainly 
under  his  control,  subject  of  course  to  the  broad  general  lines 
of  policy  laid  down  in  respect  to  its  political  course.  Hon. 
George  Brown  for  very  many  years  before  his  untimely 
death  concerned  himself  but  little  with  the  every-day  details 
of  editorial  management,  devoting  himself  almost  altogether 
to  the  commercial  department  and  political  matters  not 
directly  connected  with  the  newspaper.  It  was  Mr.  Gordon 
Brown's  close  and  practical  supervision  and  forcible  pen 
which  during  these  years  maintained  and  extended  the  well 
won  prestige  of  the  Globe.  When  his  brother  fell  by  the 
hand  of  a  murderer,  many  people  who  were  in  ignorance  of 
the  real  relation  in  which  Mr.  Gordon  Brown  stood  to  the 
journal,  expected  a  marked  falling  off  in  vigour  and  interest. 
But  as  time  wore  on  it  became  plainly  evident  that  its  old- 
time  reputation  was  destined  to  be  fully  sustained  by  his 
formal  elevation  to  the  position  he  had  long  virtually  occu- 
pied. Mr.  Brown's  leading  idea  was  to  make  the  Globe  be- 
fore all  things  a  newspaper,  and  while  remaining  faithful 
to  the  traditions  of  Liberalism  to  assert  a  wider  liberty  of 
expression  than  the  narrow  trammels  of  party  convention- 
alities had  previously  permitted.  His  attitude  towards  the 
Liberal  leaders  was  not  unlike  that  of  the  public  man  who 
when  accused  of  disloyalty  to  the  Sovereign,  replied  that  he 
could  never  so  far  forget  his  duty  to  His  Majesty  as  even  to 
entertain  a  disloyal  thought, but  that  he  did  not  consider  him- 
self bound  to  be  loyal  to  the  king's  "man  servant  and  his  maid 
servant,  his  ox  and  his  ass."  Mr.  Brown  was  of  too  indepen- 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1125 

dent  a  spirit  to  permit  every  ward  politician,  pettifogger  and 
on-hanger  claiming  to  be  an  adherent  of  the  party,  and  to 
speak  in  its  name  to  sway  his  course  or  use  the  columns  of 
the  Globe  for  their  personal  advantage.  At  the  same  time 
he  spared  no  pains  or  expense  in  improving  the  paper,  and 
developing  that  feature  of  many-sidedness  which  had  not 
previously  been  a  characteristic  of  the  Canadian  press.  It 
would  be  out  of  place  here  to  enter  into  the  cause,  or  rather 
the  combination  of  causes,  which  resulted  in  Mr.  Brown's 
retirement  from  the  control  of  the  journal  to  the  develop- 
ment of  which  he  had  devoted  his  life's  best  energies.  Suf- 
fice it  to  say  that  of  all  concerned  directly  or  indirectly  in 
the  matter,  Mr.  Brown  has  least  reason  to  fear  full  publicity. 
Shortly  after  the  change  he  was  appointed  Registrar  of  the 
Surrogate  Court  in  Toronto.  Mr.  Brown  possesses  a  thor- 
oughly cultivated  mind  and  a  vast  store  of  general  informa- 
tion, the  result  of  a  remarkably  wide  range  of  reading.  He 
has  been  a  keen  student  ever  since  boyhood,  and  in  addition  to 
diligent  perusal  of  the  abundant  standard  works  of  literature 
has  kept  en  rapport  with  the  spirit  of  modern  thought  and 
research.  He  is  an  excellent  judge  of  character,  and  to  this 
intuitive  knowledge  of  the  dispositions  and  capacities  of 
men,  his  success  in  a  position  requiring  large  administrative 
ability  was  in  no  small  measure  due.  There  are  few  men  in 
this  country  who  possess  an  equally  full  and  accurate  know- 
ledge of  the  politics  of  Continental  Europe  as  he  has  acquired 
by  his  personal  observations  as  a  tpurist  followed  up  by  ex- 
tensive reading. 

Mr.  John  Cameron,  Mr.  Brown's  successor  in  the  editorial 
chair  of  the  Globe,  is  a  Scottish  Canadian.     He  was  born  in 


1126        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Markham  Township,  Ontario,  on  the  22nd  of  January, 
1843,  his  father  being  from  Argyllshire  and  his  mother 
a  native  of  the  North  of  Ireland.  Removing  when  a  boy 
to  London,  Ontario,  he  learned  the  printing  trade  in  the 
office  of  the  Free  Press,  Immediately  on  the  expiration  of 
his  apprenticeship  Mr.  Cameron,  then  about  twenty-one, 
conceived  the  bold  idea  of  establishing  an  evening  paper  in 
London.  He  had  no  means,  and  the  paper,  in  order  to  live, 
would  have  to  pay  its  own  way  from  the  start.  Such  an 
undertaking  now-a-days  would  be  utterly  Quixotic,  but  at 
that  time  the  demands  of  the  public  in  the  way  of  news, 
were  much  less  exigent  and  expenses  in  every  department 
much  smaller  than  to-day.  The  Evening  Advertiser  was 
accordingly  launched  on  the  27th  of  October,  1863,  and 
fortune  smiled  propitiously  upon  the  venture  from  the  out- 
set. The  paper  was  at  first  of  very  small  dimensions,  but  it 
really  in  the  language  of  the  prospectuses  "  filled  a  long 
felt  want,"  and  grew  in  circulation,  size  and  prestige  year 
by  year  until  it  ranked  among  the  prominent  dailies  of  the 
province.  Morning  and  weekly  editions  were  published, 
and  a  valuable  newspaper  property  built  up.  Of  course 
this  was  not  accomplished  except  by  long  years  of  persistent, 
unremitting  labour  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Cameron  and  his 
brother  William,  who  was  associated  with  him  in  the  enter- 
prise. A  specialty  of  the  paper  is  the  short,  crisp,  pungent 
paragraphs  in  which  the  politics  of  the  day  are  discussed — 
a  style  of  writing  a  good  deal  less  common  when  first  adop- 
ted by  the  Advertiser  than  it  has  now  become.  During  his 
editorship  of  that  paper,  Mr.  Cameron  visited  Great  Britain 
and  the  European  Continent,  giving  his  impressions  in  a 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1127 

series  of  graphically  written  letters  to  his  journal  which 
were  afterwards  republished  in  book  form. 

Mr.  Cameron  became  editor  and  general  manager  of  the 
Globe  in  December,  1882,  his  position  on  the  Advertiser 
being  taken  by  Hon.  David  Mills  as  editor,  while  Mr.  Wil- 
liam Cameron  assumed  the  business  management.  Under  Mr. 
John  Cameron's  direction,  a  policy  of  rigid  economy  was 
adopted  in  the  Globe  office,  many  expenses  deemed  super- 
fluous being  cut  off.  The  prevailing  idea  in  the  arrange- 
ment of  news  matter  is  that  of  brevity  and  condensation  in 
place  of  the  extended  notice  formerly  bestowed  on  matters 
of  secondary  importance.  Mr.  Cameron  has  always  been  a 
Liberal  of  somewhat  advanced  views,  and  an  advocate 
of  temperance  reform  and  the  enlargement  of  the  sphere 
of  woman.  He  is  essentially  a  man  of  tact,  shrewdness  and 
resource,  and  though  criticism  has  not  been  silent  as  to  the 
effect  of  the  change  upon  the  style  of  the  great  newspaper, 
the  destinies  of  which  have  been  entrusted  to  his  keeping,  it 
must  be  admitted  that  he  has,  on  the  whole,  borne  well  the 
trying  ordeal  of  comparison  with  his  veteran  predecessor. 

Mr.  William  Houston,  the  recently  appointed  Librarian  of 
the  Ontario  Parliamentary  Library,  was  born  in  the  County 
of  Lanark,  Ontario,  on  the  ninth  of  September,  184)4.  He 
is  of  Scottish  ancestry,  his  father  being  an  Orcadian  from 
Mainland,  near  Stromness,  and  his  mother  of  mixed  High- 
land and  Lowland  origin  from  Glasgow.  Both  parents  came 
to  Canada  in  youth  with  the  early  settlers  of  Lanark,  and 
were  subjected  to  the  hardships  and  privations  incidental  to 
that  period.  Mr.  Houston  received  only  a  common  school 
education  in  his  boyhood,  in  Lanark  and  Bruce  counties,  to 


U28        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

which  latter  he  went  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  shortly  after  the 
region  had  been  thrown  open  for  settlement.  Here  he  spent 
some  years  in  school  teaching.  Determined  to  obtain  a  thor- 
ough education  he  went  to  the  University  of  Toronto,  at  an 
age  somewhat  later  than  the  usual  period  of  college  life  and 
graduated  with  honours  in  1872.  He  entered  immediately 
upon  the  profession  of  journalism  obtaining  a  position  on 
the  staff  of  the  Toronto  Globe.  He  continued  in  connection 
with  that  newspaper  for  eleven  years,  with  the  exception  of 
brief  intervals  when  his  services  were  engaged  by  the  St. 
John  Telegraph,  and  the  short-lived  Toronto  Liberal.  In 
the  latter  part  of  1883,  he  was  appointed  to  the  office  he  now 
holds  for  which  he  is  well  fitted  by  his  intimate  knowledge 
of  Canadian  political  history,  no  less  than  by  his  literary  in- 
formation and  the  painstaking  accuracy  which  is  so  marked 
a  feature  of  his  character.  His  journalistic  career  was 
marked  by  great  assiduity  and  a  thorough  grasp  of  the 
questions  with  which  he  undertook  to  deal.  His  style  is 
not  ornate,  but  his  points  are  always  clearly  and  forcibly 
put  from  a  practical  common  sense  standpoint.  In  short  he 
has  the  national  characteristics  of  soundness  and  clear-head- 
edness in  an  eminent  degree. 

Mr.  Christopher  Blackett  Robinson,  the  editor  and 
proprietor  of  the  Canada  Presbyterian  newspaper,  is  a 
Canadian  by  birth,  of  partly  Scottish  and  partly  English 
descent,  the  former  element  predominating.  His  father  was 
born  in  London,  but  was  educated  and  for  many  years 
resided  in  Scotland.  His  mother  was  of  Highland  extract- 
ion, belonging  to  the  Clan  Gunn.  Mr.  Robinson  was  born 
in  Thorah  Township,  in  the  County  of  Ontario,  in  1S37. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1129 

He  engaged  in  journalism  in  his  twentieth  year,  editing  the 
Canadian  Post,  then  published  in  Beaverton,  for  a  couple 
of  years.  In  1861  the  paper  was  removed  by  Mr.  Robinson 
to  the  rising  town  of  Lindsay,  where  he  continued  to  publish 
it  for  about  ten  years.  It  was  greatly  superior  to  any 
newspaper  ever  previously  issued  in  that  section  of  the 
province,  and,  under  Mr.  Robinson's  able  management,  soon 
became  a  valuable  newspaper  property,  taking  high  rank 
among  local  weeklies.  In  1871  Mr.  Robinson  parted  with 
the  Post  and  removed  to  Toronto,  where  he  commenced  the 
publication  of  the  Canada  Presbyterian,  which,  under  his 
energetic  and  prudent  control,  speedily  attained  a  marked 
success.  Without  seeking  to  be  in  any  sense  the  official 
organ  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  the  Presbyterian  has 
won  for  itself  appreciation  as  a  fearless  and  forcible 
exponent  of  the  general  public  opinion  of  that  body,  and  the 
recognised  vehicle  of  intelligence  specially  affecting  its 
interests,  and  indicative  of  its  progress.  Mr.  Robinson  has 
also  built  up  a  large  and  flourishing  book  and  job  printing 
establishment,  and  is  the  publisher  of  The  Week,  the  new 
literary  journal  just  issued  under  the  editorial  charge  of  Mr. 
Charles  Goodrich  Roberts,  whose  poetical  talents  have  been 
widely  recognised. 

Mr.  Thomas  McQueen,  the  founder  and  for  many  years 
the  editor  of  the  Huron  Signal,  published  at  Goderich,  was 
a  shining  instance  of  the  aptitude  frequently  displayed  by 
the  sons  of  the  Scottish  peasantry  for  rising  to  positions  of 
eminent  usefulness  and  honour.  He  was  "self-made"  in  the 
best  sense  of  that  much  abused  phrase  by  the  cultivation  of 
all  his  intellectual  faculties.  Born  in  Ay  rah  ire  about  the 


1130        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

year  1803  of  humble  parentage  his  school  education  was  ex- 
tremely limited,  as  he  was  early  necessitated  by  the  pressure 
of  poverty  to  contribute  by  his  labour  to  the  support  of  the 
family.  The  turning  point  of  his  life  was  an  accident  sus- 
tained in  boyhood,  which  rendered  him  permanently  lame 
and  afforded  him  the  opportunity  for  indulging  his  natural 
bent  for  study  and  reflection.  He  became  a  stone  mason  by 
trade  and  soon  distinguished  himself  as  an  eloquent  and 
brilliant  advocate  of  the  rights  of  labour.  While  continuing 
to  work  at  his  trade  he  threw  himself  with  intense  and  con- 
suming earnestness  into  the  vanguard  of  the  ranks  of  labour 
reform,  as  orator  and  writer.  He  was  a  poet  of  no  mean  or- 
der and  published  several  volumes  of  poems  which  largely 
partook  of  the  tendency  of  his  prose  writing,  being  instinct 
with  the  spirit  of  progress  and  liberalism.  Mr.  McQueen 
arrived  in  Canada  in  1842  settling  in  the  County  of  Ren- 
frew, where,  for  a  short  time  he  pursued  his  original  calling. 
But  his  strong  political  feelings  were  speedily  enlisted  in  the 
struggle  for  responsible  government  and  the  allurements  of 
journalism  were  too  powerful  to  be  long  resisted.  The 
County  of  Huron  appeared  to  offer  a  desirable  field  for  the 
establishment  of  a  liberal  newspaper  and  the  first  number 
of  the  Signal  was  issued  on  the  4th  of  February,  1848.  It 
quickly  obtained  a  leading  position  among  the  journals  of 
that  period,  owing  to  the  vigour,  incisiveness  and  soundness  of 
the  articles  from  Mr.  McQueen's  prolific  but  always  careful 
pen.  He  remained  steadily  devoted  to  this  undertaking 
during  the  remainder  of  his  busy  and  influential  career  with 
the  exception  of  a  period  of  about  two  years  during  which 
he  occupied  a  position  on  a  Hamilton  newspaper.  In  1854, 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1131 

after  he  had  returned  to  Goderich,  he  became  a  Parliamen- 
tary candidate  for  the  County  of  Huron,  in  the  Reform  in- 
terest, but  was  defeated.  His  labours  in  the  liberal  cause 
were  unceasing  and  to  the  last  he  continued  to  cherish  a 
warm  interest  in  the  class  from  which  he  sprang  and  to 
work  for  their  intellectual  and  moral  advancement.  He  was 
no  mere  partizan  valuing  success  and  the  prizes  of  office 
more  than  consistency.  To  him  success  was  worthless  ex- 
cepting as  it  resulted  in  advancing  the  principles  which  he 
had  so  deeply  at  heart.  His  death  which  took  place  on  the 
25th  of  June,  18G1,  left  a  void  not  easily  or  soon  replaced  in 
the  ranks  of  local  journalism. 

One  of  the  best  known  writers  on  the  Ontario  press  is  Mr. 
John  Maclean,  who  was  born  in  Glasgow,  Scotland,  on  the 
10th  of  April,  1825,  his  grandfather,  of  the  same  name,  hav- 
ing corne  from  the  Island  of  Mull.  He  is  descended  by  his 
mother's  side  from  the  Cu  turnings  of  Galloway  shire.  He 
came  to  Canada  in  1838,  but  it  was  not  until  1802  that  he 
turned  his  attention  to  journalism  being  for  many  years  en- 
gaged in  commercial  pursuits.  For  four  or  five  years  he 
was  the  Hamilton  correspondent  of  the  Globe,  and  an  edi- 
torial writer  for  the  Hamilton  Times  and  other  Reform 
journals.  Though  a  thorough  Liberal,  he  was  convinced  of 
the  necessity  of  a  protective  policy,  which  he  advocated  from 
time  to  time  as  opportunity  offered.  In  1867  he  took  the 
mattei  up  in  a  more  comprehensive  manner,  and  wrote  a 
pamphlet  entitled  "  Protection  or  Free  Trade,"  four  thousand 
copies  of  which  were  old  by  subscription.  Two  years  after- 
wards Mr.  Maclean  started  the  People's  Journal  for  the  ad- 
vocacy of  protective  principles.  It  was  published  for  about 


1132        THE  SCOT  IX  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

a  year  in  Hamilton,  but  in  1870  the  office  was  removed  to 
Toronto.  After  full  and  repeated  exchange  of  views  with  the 
leaders  of  both  political  parties  Mr.  Maclean  made  up  his 
mind  that  he  could  no  longer  remain  connected  with  the  Re- 
form party  as  it  appeared  indissolubly  wedded  to  Free  Trade 
principles.  He  accordingly  gave  his  support  to  Sir  John 
Macdonald  solely  on  the  ground  that  the  cause  of  protection 

• 

seemed  likely  to  be  taken  up  by  the  Conservatives.  The 
publication  of  the  Peoples  Journal  was  discontinued  early 
in  1872,  the  editor  being  engaged  on  the  staff  of  the  Toronto 
Mail  with  the  understanding  that  the  paper  was  to  advo- 
cate protectionist  principles.  Here  he  remained  for  upwards 
of  six  years  during  which  he  made  his  influence  powerfully 
felt  in  the  agitation  for  the  adoption  of  the  National  Policy. 
After  the  restoration  of  the  Conservatives  to  power  Mr. 
Maclean  was  engaged  for  two  years  in  Ottawa  in  special 
statistical  work  for  the  Minister  of  Finance,  and  acted  for 
some  months  as  Secretary  to  the  Board  of  Appraisers  of  the 
Customs  Department.  He  returned  to  journalism  in  1881 
when  he  became  editor  of  the  Canadian  Manufacturer  on 
its  removal  to  Toronto — a  position  he  still  holds.  He  is  also 
a  frequent  editorial  contributor  to  the  Toronto  World.  Mr. 
Maclean's  style  is  clear  and  vigorous,  and  his  articles  show 
a  thorough  mastery  of  the  class  of  questions  with  which  he 
principally  deals,  while  surprisingly  free  from  the  limitation 
of  view  which  too  often  accompanies  the  concentration  of 
thought  into  particular  channels.  Although  a  specialist  he 
retains  a  broad  outlook  on  political  and  social  life. 

The  pen-name  of  "  The  Whistler  at  the  Plough  "  has  been 
familiar  to  the  reading  public  of  Britain  for  nearly  half  a 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1135 

century,  and  during  later  years  has  become  widely  known 
throughout  Canada.  Alexander  Somerville,  was  born  on  the 
fifteenth  of  March,  1811,  in  the  parish  of  Oldhamstocks,  Had- 
dington-shire,  being  the  youngest  child  of  James  and  Mary 
Orkney  Somerville.  He  is  of  Norman  descent  by  his  father's 
side  and  draws  through  his  maternal  ancestry  a  strain  of 
Scandinavian  blood.  His  early  training  was  of  the  kind 
which  has  developed  so  many  sterling  qualities  among  the 
Scottish  peasantry,  and  secured  a  foremost  place  in  the 
world  for  such  a  large  proportion  of  those  who  leave  their 
ranks  to  push  their  fortunes  in  other  countries.  His  body 
was  nourished  by  homely  fare  and  strengthened  by  rus- 
tic labour  while  his  intellectual  faculties  were  stimulated 
by  reading  of  a  substantial  character.  From  infancy  he  dis- 
played that  love  for  the  beauties  of  nature  and  enthusiasm 
for  rural  life  and  scenery  which  distinguishes  his  writings. 
The  earlier  years  of  Mr.  Somerville's  manhood  were  passed 
in  military  service,  and  in  1832,  he  became  the  central  tigure 
in  an  episode  which  excited  a  great  deal  of  public  indigna- 
tion. For  a  slight  breach  of  discipline  at  the  military  rid- 
ing school,  in  Birmingham,  he  was  tried  by  court-martial 
and  according  to  the  inhuman  code  then  in  force  was  sen- 
tenced to  receive  two  hundred  lashes.  Half  of  this  punish- 
ment was  actually  inflicted.  The  alleged  violation  of  mili- 
tary rule  was  a  mere  pretext,  the  real  cause  of  the  brutality 
of  the  authorities  being  Mr.  Somerville's  refusal  to  become  a 
political  informer.  The  agitation  which  ensued  upon  the 
carrying  out  of  this  shameful  sentence  had  a  beneficial  ef- 
fect in  mitigating  the  injustice  and  severity  of  military  dis- 
cipline. During  the  years  1835-37,  Mr.  Somerville  served  in 


1134         THE^SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

the  Auxiliary  Legion  in  Spain,  under  Gen.  Sir  De  Lacy 
Evans,  as  colour-sergeant  in  the  8th  Highlanders.  His  su- 
perior officers  have  testified  in  strong  terms  as  to  his  bra- 
very and  efficiency  in  the  performance  of  his  duties.  After 
leaving  the  army  he  turned  his  attention  to  newspaper  wri-> 
ting  and  his  graphic  descriptive  sketches  under  the  signa- 
ture of  the  "  Whistler  at  the  Plough  "  full  of  local  colouring 

o  o 

and  written  in  a  readable  sketchy  vein  soon  attracted  wide- 
spread attention.  During  the  twenty  years  between  1838 
and  1858,  Mr.  Somerville  represented  several  leading  metro- 
politan papers,  travelling  all  over  the  United  Kingdom,  de- 
scribing local  industries  and  institutions,  sketching  the  con- 
dition of  the  people  and  describing,  in  short,  everything  note- 
worthy that  came  within  ths  range  of  his  keen  powers  of 
observation.  These  letters  were  largely  reproduced  by  the 
British  provincial  press,  and  became  a  powerful  factor  in 
moulding  public  opinion  upon  current  political  questions- 
"  I  know  nothing  in  the  English  language,"  wrote  the  late 
Mr.  Cobden,  "  which  for  graphic  narrative  and  picturesque 
description  of  places,  persons  and  things  surpasses  some  of 
the  letters  of  Alexander  Somerville,  the  '  Whistler  at  the 
Plough.'  "  He  rendered  efficient  aid  to  the  agitation  in  fa- 
vour of  Free  Trade,  and  in  the  years  1848-50  wrote  a 
"  History  of  the  Fiscal  System,"  and  various  other  papers 
for  the  Financial  Reform  Association  of  Liverpool.  Mr. 
Somerville  was  not  at  any  time  a  dogmatic  advocate  of  Free 
Trade  in  all  commodities.  In  Canada  he  soon  observed  that 
the  conditions  of  manufactures  and  commerce  were  not  the 
same  as  in  Britain.  During  the  last  twenty-three  years  he 
has  travelled  extensively  in  Canada,  sending  to  many  Eng-< 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1135 

ish  journals  vivid  and  interesting  pen-pictures  of  our  natu- 
ral scenery,  and  Our  industrial  conditions.  His  writings  have- 
undoubtedly  done  much  to  familiarize  the  British  people  with 
the  realities  of  Canadian  life,  and  to  disabuse  their  minds  of 
the  misapprehensions  respecting  this  country  which  so  long 
prevailed.  His  is  an  industrious  and  a  facile  pen  and  few 
journalists  have  had  a  more  active  and  varied  experience  of, 
or  are  more  familiar  with,  life  in  all  its  phases  than  the 
"  Whistler."  He  has  for  some  years  been  a  resident  of  Tor- 
onto, having  adopted  Canada  as  his  home. 

Among  the  new  members  returned  to  the  Dominion  Par- 

O 

liament  in  1882  were  two  leading  representatives  of  the  local 
press  of  Ontario — both  Scotsmen.  James  Innes  was  born 
in  Huntley,  Aberdeenshire,  on  the  1st  of  February,  1833. 
He  began  life  as  a  school-teacher  in  his  native  land,  but  on 
arriving  in  Canada,  in  1853,  adopted  the  vocation  of  journal- 
ism. In  1862  he  became  editor  and  publisher  of  the  Guelph 
Mercury,  which  has  a  high  standing  among  the  Reform  news- 
papers of  Western  Ontario.  Mr.  Innes  has  been  a  High 
School  Trustee  for  a  number  of  years,  is  chairman  of  the 
Guelph  Board  of  Education,  and  has  taken  an  active  interest 
in  many  public  enterprises.  He  was  always  on  the  Reform 
side  of  politics,  and  was  returned  in  that  interest  for  South 
Wellington  at  last  general  election.  James  Somerville  is 
also  a  life-long  Reformer.  His  parents  came  from  Fifeshire, 
Scotland,  about  half  a  century  ago,  settling  in  Dundas, 
where  he  was  born,  on  the  7th  of  June,  1834.  After  receiv- 
ing a  good  education  at  the  public  and  grammar  schools  of 
his  native  town,  he  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  newspaper 
business,  and  in  1854  established  the  Ayr  Observer.  In 


1136        TEE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

1858  he  disposed  of  this  journal,  and  returned  to  Dundas, 
where  he  started  the  True  Banner,  which  he  has  success- 
fully conducted  ever  since.  For  many  years  Mr.  Somerville 
has  been  prominent  in  municipal  matters,  having  occupied 
the  position  of  Warden  of  Wentworth  County  and  Mayor  of 
Dundas,  as  well  as  many  less  important  trusts.  He  repre- 
sents North  Brant  in  the  House  of  Commons. 

Alexander  Whyte  Wright  is  well  known  in  connection 
with  journalism  and  political  agitation  though  not  at  present 
actively  engaged  in  either  direction.  He  was  born  in  Mark- 
ham  Township,  at  what  is  now  the  village  of  Elmira,  about 
the  year  1845,  his  father  being  from  Glasgow  and  his  mother 
from  Fifeshire.  He  was  engaged  for  several  years  in  the 
woollen  and  carpet  manufacturing  industries  in  Preston  and 
St.  Jacobs.  In  1874  he  became  regularly  connected  with 
the  press,  though,  for  several  years  previous  he  had  from 
time  to  time  contributed  fugitive  articles  to  various  journals. 
He  edited,  with  marked  ability  and  power,  the  Guelph 
Herald,  Orangeville  Sun,  and  Stratford  Herald;  and,  in 
1876,  came  to  Toronto  and  took  charge  of  the  editorial 
department  of  the  National.  He  took  a  prominent  part 
in  the  National  Policy  agitation,  supplementing  his  jour- 
nalistic labours  by  the  delivery  of  numerous  speeches 
throughout  the  country  in  favour  of  a  protective  tariff. 
Being  an  apt,  ready  speaker,  well-versed  in  the  details  of 
the  question  and  the  practical  needs  of  Canadian  indus- 
tries, and  having  unusual  powers  of  repartee  and  illustra- 
tion, his  services  on  the  stump  were  greatly  in  demand 
during  the  campaign  of  1877.  After  the  triumph  of  the 
National  Policy,  Mr.  Wright  turned  his  attention  to  other 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1137 

and  less  popular  reforms,  advocating  the  adoption  of  a  na- 
tional paper  currency  with  the  same  zeal  and  enthusiasm 
which  had  animated  him  in  the  struggle  over  the  tariff  ques- 
tion. In  the  fall  of  1880  he  came  forward  as  a  candidate 
for  West  Toronto  for  the  House  of  Commons  on  a  platform 
embracing  national  currency,  and  other  measures.  His 
views,  however,  did  not  meet  with  general  acceptance. 
Shortly  afterwards  Mr.  Wright  withdrew  from  journal- 
ism, and  became  Secretary  of  the  Manufacturers'  Associa- 
tion, and  also  of  the  Niagara  Steel  Works.  As  a  popular 
orator,  Mr.  Wright  holds  a  leading  position.  He  is  a  man 
of  marked  individuality,  not  afraid  to  reason  from  first  prin- 
ciples, and  totally  devoid  of  that  slavish  deference  to  auth- 
ority and  conventional  opinion  which  has  done  so  much  to 
sap  the  intellectual  vitality  of  Canadian  life,  and  render 
much  of  the  journalistic  field  an  arid  waste  of  platitude  in- 
terspersed with  oases  vivid  with  a  tropical  luxuriance  of  in- 
vective. He  has  given  much  thought  to  the  social  question, 
in  its  various  phases,  and  is  an  unswerving  advocate  of  the 
rights  of  labour. 

The  name  of  "  Cousin  Sandy  "  will  be  remembered  by  a 
great  many  of  our  readers  in  connection  with  the  press  of  a 
dozen  years  ago,  many  telling  prose  contributions  and  poeti- 
cal squibs  appearing  in  different  journals  over  that  signa- 
ture. Their  author  was  Mr.  John  Eraser,  a  Scot  either  by 
birth  or  descent,  who,  prior  to  emigrating  to  Canada 
achieved  a  considerable  reputation  in  England  in  connection 
with  the  Chartist  movement.  He  possessed  great  power  of 
sarcasm  and  invective,  which  found  full  scope  for  their  ex- 
ercise in  that  memorable  struggle  for  the  rights  of  the  peo- 


1138        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

pie.  His  original  vocation  was  that  of  a  tailor,  which  he 
followed  for  a  considerable  time  at  Stanstead,  in  the  Prov- 
ince of  Quebec,  indulging  at  the  same  time  those  literary 
pursuits  for  which  he  had  a  natural  gift.  He  afterwards 
accepted  the  position  of  canvasser  for  a  prominent  book- 
publishing  firm  in  Montreal,  and  in  this  capacity  his  travels 

• 

extended  widely  throughout  Canada.  His  versatile  talents 
and  genial  disposition  secured  him  a  wide  circle  of  friends 
and  acquaintances  wherever  he  went.  He  distributed  his 
contributions  among  a  number  of  newspapers,  mostly  of  the 
Liberal  school  of  politics,  many  of  his  clever  satirical  verses 
appearing  in  the  Montreal  Herald.  .  He  met  his  death  by 
accident  at  Ottawa,  in  the  early  part  of  June  1872,  by  fall- 
ing down  the  precipice  in  rear  of  the  Parliament  Buildings. 
He  struck- the  rocks  in  his  descent  and  was  instantly  killed. 
Mr.  George  Maclean  Rose  has  been  so  long  and  promi- 
nently associated  with  the  development  of  Canadian  litera- 
ture that  his  name  may  well  be  introduced  in  this  connection. 
He  was  born  in  Wick,  Caithness-shire,  Scotland,  on  the  14th 
of  March,  1829,  and  learned  the  printing  trade  in  the  office 
of  the  John  0' Groat  Journal.  A  year  after  he  had  attained 
his  majority  the  family  settled  in  Canada.  He  entered  the 
employ  of  Mr.  John  C.  Beckett,  of  Montreal,  who  was  then 
engaged  in  the  publication  of  the  Montreal  Witness  and 
other  journals.  After  the  death  of  his  father,  which  took 
place  in  1853,  the  care  of  the  family  devolved  upon  him. 
The  means  at  his  command  were  but  scanty,  but  in  partner- 
ship with  his  elder  brother,  Henry,  he  started  a  small  job 
printing  office.  By  strict  industry  and  economy  they  ob- 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1139 

tained  a  fair  measure  of  success.  In  1856  they  dissolved 
partnership,  George  having  become  convinced  that  Western 
Canada  offered  more  scope  for  his  energies  than  Montreal. 
In  connection  with  Mr.  John  Muir  he  established  the  Chron- 
icle, in  the  village  of  Merrickville,  but  he  did  not  remain 
there  any  length  of  time.  Among  his  other  engagements 
about  this  period,  was  that  of  city  editor  of  the  London 
Prototype.  In  1858,  he  came  to  Toronto  as  manager  of  the 
printing  office  of  Mr.  Samuel  Thompson,  for  whom  he  pub- 
lished the  Toronto  Atlas,  started  in  opposition  to  the  Colo- 
nist, which  had  taken  ground  adverse  to  the  government  of 
the  day.  Mr.  Thompson  having  obtained  the  contract  for 
government  printing,  Mr.  Rose  was  assigned  to  take  the 
management  of  the  office  in  Quebec,  whither  he  removed  in 
1859.  This  arrangement  did  not  long  continue.  Mr.  Thomp- 
son found  himself  unable  financially  to  carry  out  his  con- 
tract 'alone,  and  a  company  was  organized  for  the  purpose, 
including  Mr.  Rose  and  Mr.  Robert  Hunter,  an  experienced 
accountant.  Mr.  Thompson  retired  from  the  business  alto- 
gether soon  afterwards,  leaving  it  to  the  new  firm  of  Hunter, 

o  '  o  * 

Rose  &  Co.,  who  completed  the  contract  and  secured  its  re- 
newal. On  the  removal  of  the  seat  of  Government  to 
Ottawa  in  18G5,  the  firm  of  course  followed.  A  large  and 
lucrative  business  was  soon  built  up,  and  in  1868,  a  branch 
was  established  at  Toronto,  the  firm  having  secured  a  ten 
years'  contract  for  the  printing  of  the  Provincial  Govern- 
irient.  In  1871  their  relations  with  the  Dominion  Govern- 
ment terminated,  and  the  business  was  consolidated  in 
Toronto.  The  firm  now  entered  extensively  into  the  busi- 
ness of  .publishing  Canadian  reprints  of  English  copyright 
14 


1140        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

books,  principally  the  popular  novels  of  living  writers,  for 
which  a  ready  market  was  found.  The  firm  honestly  com- 
pensated the  authors  whose  works  they  reproduced,  although" 
this  of  course  placed  them  at  a  disadvantage  as  compared 
with  the  piratical  publishers  of  the  United  States.  Another 
and  probably  a  greater  service  to  the  intellectual  progress  of 
the  country  rendered  by  this  enterprising  firm,  was  the 
publication — at  first  for  others,  but  latterly  at  their  own 
risk — of  the  Canadian  Monthly,  the  last  and  by  far  the 
best  literary  magazine  ever  issued  in  this  country.  This 
venture  unfortunately  did  not  prove  pecuniarily  successful, ' 
and  though  sustained  for  many  years  with  a  liberality  and 
public  spirit  highly  creditable  to  the  publishers,  was  at  length 
discontinued.  In  1877  the  death  of  Mr.  Hunter  left  Mr. 
Rose  the  sole  member  of  the  firm,  and  a  year  afterwards  he 
took  his  brother  Daniel  into  the  concern,  the  well-known 
firm  name  being  still  retained.  Widely  as  Mr.  George  M. 
Rose  is  known  to  the  Canadian  people  as  a  successful  and 
enterprising  publisher,  he  has  acquired  a  still  more  extensive 
reputation  by  his  unselfish  exertions  in  the  cause  of  temper- 
ance and  moral  reform.  A  life-long  total  abstainer  and  pro- 
hibitionist, he  has  taken  an  active  part  in  temperance  work 
in  connection  with  various  organizations.  He  has  attained 
the  highest  offices  in  the  gift  of  the  Sons  of  Temperance  in 
the  Dominion,  having  been  several  times  chosen  to  fill  the 
chair  of  Grand  Worthy  Patriarch  of  the  Order  both  in  Que- 
bec and  Ontario,  and  has  also  held  the  second  highest  posi- 
tion conferrable  by  that  Order  for  the  whole  continent,  hav- 
ing been  Most  Worthy  Associate  of  the  National  Division  of 
America.  His  heart  and  purse  are  always  open  to  .the  ap- 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1141 

peals  for  the  advancement  of  the  temperance  cause,  which 
he  regards  as  being  of  vastly  more  importance  than  mere 
party  issues.  Though  a  Liberal  politically  he  regards  all 
public  issues  from  the  standpoint  of  temperance  reform. 
Personally  Mr.  Rose  is  genial,  sociable  and  unassuming.  As 
his  career  shows,  he  has  abundant  business  capacity,  and  the 
enthusiasm  which  forms  so  strong  a  feature  of  his  character 
is  well  regulated  by  a  fund  of  practical  common  sense. 

Mr.  David  Wylie,  of  Brockville,  known  as  the  "  father  of 
the  Ontario  Press,"  was  born  in  Johnstone,  Renfrewshire, 
Scotland,  his  parents  being  William  and  Mary  Orr  Wylie, 
on  the  23rd  of  March,  1811.  He  evinced  a  taste  for  reading 
at  an  early  age.  In  January,  1826,  he  was  apprenticed  to 
the  printing  trade  in  the  office  of  Stephen  Young,  Paisley, 
where  he  remained  for  upwards  of  three  years,  finishing  his 
term  of  apprenticeship  at  the  University  Printing  office, 
Glasgow.  He  .first  commenced  to  write  for  the  Greenock 
Advertiser,  to  which  he  contributed  some  short  stories  and 
sketches  in  addition  to  ordinary  journalistic  work.  He 
afterwards  held  a  situation  on  the  Glasgow  Guardian  for 
about  a  year  and  a  half.  Subsequently  he  went  to  Liver- 
pool where  he  became  reporter  and  proof  reader  on  the  Mail, 
remaining  in  that  employment  for  about  eight  years.  After 
a  period  spent  in  Manchester  on  the  Anti-Corn-Law  Cir- 
vdlar,  the  organ  of  the  Free  Traders,  Mr.  Wylie  returned  to 
his  native  land  taking  the  management  of  the  Fife  Herald, 
published  in  the  town  of  Cupar,  at  that  time  edited  by  the 
celebrated  Mr.  Russell  afterwards  of  the  Edinburgh  Scots- 
man. In  the  year  1845  he  was  offered  a  situation  in  Mon- 
treal by  Mr.  John  C.  Becket,  then  publisher  of  the  Witness 


1142        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

and  several  other  serials.  He  accepted  the  proposition  and 
for  several  years  remained  in  Mr.  Becket's  employ.  In  1849 
he  became  parliamentary  reporter  for  the  Montreal  Hcr<t!<l 
besides  doing  a  great  deal  of  miscellaneous  work  for  the 
press  of  Montreal.  Later  in  the  same  year  he  came  to 
Brockville  and  took  charge  of  the  Recorder  which  under  his 
able  management  soon  became  noted  as  a  powerful  Reform 
journal  and  commanded  a  wide-spread  influence  in  that  sec- 
tion of  the  Province.  He  continued  to  edit  the  Recorder  for 
nearly  thirty  years.  During  the  last  few  years  of  his  pro- 
prietorship he  issued  a  daily  edition  which  met  with  encour- 
aging success.  Mr.  Wylie  is  a  poet  of  marked  ability  and 
taste,  and  in  1867  issued  a  collection  of  his  poems  under  the 
title  of  "  Waifs  from  the  Thousand  Isles  "  which  met  with 
deserved  acceptance  at  the  hands  of  the  public.  He  revisited 
Scotland  in  1870,  being  commissioned  by  the  Ontario  Gov- 
ernment to  present  the  claims  of  Canada  as  a  field  for  settle- 
ment to  the  Scottish  people.  He  delivered  numerous  ad- 
dresses on  that  subject  in  addition  to  writing  a  series  of 
letters  to  the  Glasgow  Herald,  in  which  the  advantages  held 
out  by  Canada  to  intending  emigrants  were  fully  set  forth. 
While  resident  in  Montreal  Mr.  Wylie  became  connected 
with  the  volunteer  force  with  which  he  has  ever  since  been 
associated,  having  risen  to  the  rank  of  Lieut-Colonel  and  Pay- 
master of  Military  District  No.  4.  For  upwards  of  twenty 
years  he  has  been  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  School  Trustees 
and  has  taken  an  active  interest  in  many  public  enterprises. 
Evan  MacColl,  who  has  gained  a  wide  celebrity  both  as  a 
Gaelic  and  an  English  poet,  was  born  at  Kenmore,  Loch 
Fyne-side,  Scotland,  on  the  21st  of  September,  1808,  in 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1143 

which  neighbourhood  he  was  known  as  "  Clarsair-nam- 
beann  "  or  the  Mountain  Minstrel.  He  was  the  child  of  par- 
ents in  a  humble  walk  of  life,  though  boasting  a  long  lineage 
his  paternal  ancestors  being  the  MacColls  of  Glasdruim  Glen- 
creran.  .His  mother  belonged  to  the  Clan  Cameron  and  the 
poetic  faculty  of  MacColl  was  inherited  from  her.  Evan 
received  a  fair  education,  his  father,  though  ill  able  to  afford 
the  expense,  engaging  a  tutor  for  him  in  order  that  he  might 
have  advantages  superior  to  those  which  rthe  village  school 
could  afford.  He  soon  acquired  a  decided  taste  for  literature 
and  read  with  avidity  such  books  as  came  in  his  way.  The 
perusal  of  Burns'  poems  and  some  of  the  standard  English 
classics  g-ive  a  marked  impetus  to  the  literary  bent  of  his 
mind  and  when  hardly  out  of  his  boyhood  he  began  to  com- 
pose poetry.  He  was  during  his  youth  employed  in  farming 
and  fishing,  but  though  the  nature  of  his  avocations  retarded 
they  did  not  suppress  his  intellectual  development.  Evan 
MacColl  was  not  destined  to  be  a  mute  inglorious  Milton, 
and  chill  penury  did  not  "freeze  the  genial  current  of 
his  soul."  In  1837  he  became  a  contributor  to  the  Gaelic 
Magazine  then  published  in  Glasgow.  His  poems  excited 
much  interest  and  speedily  won  a  reputation  for  the  youth- 
ful author.  Before  long  a  collection  of  his  Gaelic  poems  was 
published  under  the  title  of  "Clarsach  nam  Beann,"  or 
"  Poems  and  Songs  in  Gaelic."  This  was  followed  by  another 
collection  under  the  title  of  "  The  Mountain  Minstrel,  or 
Poems  and  Songs  in  English."  This  publication  won  him 
fresh  laurels  and  many  competent  literary  authorities  were 
loud  in  his  praise.  Dr.  Norman  McLeod,  editor  of  Good 
Words,  wrote  as  follows :  "  Evan  MacColl's  poetry  is  the  pro- 


1144        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NOETH  AMERICA. 

duct  of  a  mind  impressed  with  the  beauty  and  the  grandeur 
of  the  lovely  scenes  in  which  his  infancy  has  been  nursed. 
We  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  the  work  is  that  of  a 
man  possessed  of  much  poetic  genius.  Wild  indeed  and 
sometimes  rough  are  his  rhymes  and  epithets,  yet  there  are 
thoughts  so  new  and  striking — images  and  comparisons  so 
beautiful  and  original — feelings  so  warm  and  fresh  that 
stamp  this  Highland  peasant  as  no  ordinary  man."  Mr.  Mac- 
Coil's  family  emigrated  to  Canada  in  1831  but  he  remained 
behind,  and  in  1837  procured  a  clerkship  in  the  customs  at 
Liverpool.  Here  he  remained  until  1850,  when  his  health 
having  became  impaired  he  visited  his  friends  in  Canada. 
Here  he  met  with  Hon.  Malcolm  Cameron,  then  in  office  and 
was  by  him  offered  a  position  in  the  Canadian  Customs  at 
Kingston  which  he  gladly  accepted.  He  remained  in  this 
post  for  thirty  years  being  superannuated  about  the  year 
1880.  He  has  written  numerous  poems,  chiefly  of  a  lyrical 
character,  during  his  residence  in  Canada,  one  of  the  most 
noted  of  which  is  his  Robin,  written  for  the  occasion  of  the 
Burns  Centennial  celebration  in  Kingston,  the  easy  and 
melodious  expression  of  which  is  in  excellent  imitation  of 
Burns'  own  style.  He  has  been  for  many  years  the  bard  of 
the  St.  Andrew's  Society  of  Kingston,  and  his  anniversary 
poems  are  greatly  appreciated  by  all  Scotsmen.  Mr.  MacColl 
is  a  thorough  Scot  in  his  tastes,  sympathies  and  character- 
istics. His  nature  is  simple  and  sincere  and  his  many  ami- 
able qualities  have  won  the  sympathy  and  esteem  of  a  wide 
circle  of  friends.  His  poetic  gifts  have  been  transmitted  to 
his  daughter,  Miss  Mary  J.  MacColl,  who  recently  published 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1145 

a  meritorious  little  volume  of  poems  entitled  "  Bide  a  wee," 
highly  commended  for  their  sweetness  and  delicacy. 

An  old  time  journalist  who,  in  his  day,  did  excellent  ser- 
vice in  the  cause  of  political  and  religious  freedom,  is  Mr. 
Jarnes  Lesslie,  whose  family  took  a  prominent  part  in  the 
commercial  and  public  life  of  the  then  town  of  York.  His 
father  was  Edward  Lesslie,  a  native  of  Dundee,  Scotland, 
who  carried  on  an  extensive  book  and  stationery  business 
in  that  town  for  many  years.  Mr.  Edward  Lesslie  had  a 
family  of  twelve  children,  and  rightly  considering  that  their 
prospects  in  life  would  be  improved  by  emigration  to  the 
New  World,  determined  to  settle  in  Canada.  In  1820  John 
Lesslie,  one  of  the  sons,  came  out  in  advance  of  the  rest  of 
the  family,  and  selected  the  town  of  York  as  a  good  field 

for  commercial  enterprise.  It  was  then  little  more  than  a 
% 

village,  the  buildings  being  of  wood,  and  the  streets  chroni- 
cally in  the  condition  which  earned  it  the  soubriquet  of 
"  Muddy  Little  York."  John  Lesslie  began  business  in  a 
two  story  house  opposite  the  English  Church,  at  that  time 
a  wooden  structure  on  the  site  of  the  present  St.  James' 
Cathedral.  In  accordance  with  the  customary  practice  at 
that  time,  he  kept  a  general  stock  of  goods,  but  his  speci- 
alties were  books  and  drugs,  in  which  lines  he  had  for  some 
time  a  monopoly.  William  Lyon  Mackenzie,  who  arrived  at 
York  shortly  afterwards,  found  employment  for  a  time  with 
Mr.  Lesslie,  and  in  1821  was  entrusted  with  the  manage- 
ment of  a  branch  store  opened  in  Dundas.  The  other  mem- 
bers of  the  Lesslie  family  came  out  in  1822,  and  the  follow- 
ing year,  making  their  home  in  Dundas.  The  business  of 
"  Lesslie  &  Sons "  was  extended,  another  branch  being 


1146        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

opened  in  Kingston.  Mr.  Edward  Lesslie  died  in  1828,  and 
some  years  afterwards  the  firm  was  reorganized,  John  re- 
taining the  Dundas  branch,  and  the  interests  of  the  others 
being  concentrated  at  Toronto  under  the  name  of  "  Lesslie 
Brothers."  The  partnership  continued  until  the  death  of  Mr. 
William  Lesslie,  in  1843.  Mr.  James  Lesslie  took  a  leading 
part  in  many  social  and  public  movements  of  a  moral  and 
intellectual  character.  He  was  President  of  the  "  Young 
Men's  Society,"  organized  in  1833  on  a  basis  somewhat 
similar  to  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  of  to-day, 
and  Secretary  of  the  Mechanics'  Institute  established  in  the 
same  year.  "When  the  town  of  York  became  the  city  of 
Toronto  in  1834,  Mr.  Lesslie  was  chosen  alderman  for  St. 
David's  ward.  In  1836  he  took  a  leading  part  in  conjunc- 
tion with  James  Hervey  Price,  James  Beaty  and  others  in 
establishing  the  House  of  Industry,  and  about  this  time 
made  his  influence  strongly  felt  in  combating  the  Church 
of  England  ascendancy  in  public  affairs.  He  was  appointed 
cashier,  and  afterwards  President  of  the  "  Bank  of  the  Peo- 
ple," a  joint  stock  institution,  established  in  1835,  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  chartered  banks  under  Family  Compact  con- 
trol. This  bank  successfully  passed  through  the  trying 
ordeal  of  the  crisis  of  1836,  and  in  1840  was  merged  in  the 
Bank  of  Montreal.  In  February,  1836,  Mr.  Lesslie  was  cho- 
sen in  connection  with  Mr.  Jesse  Ketchum  to  deliver  to  Sir 
Francis  Bond  Head  the  celebrated  "  rejoinder  "  to  the  official 
reply  of  His  Excellency  to  an  address  presented  by  the  citi- 
zens— a  proceeding  which  being  contrary  to  official  etiquette 
required  no  little  tact,  and  was  adroitly  accomplished. 
When  the  insurrection  of  1837  broke  out,  James  and  Wil- 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1147 

liam  Lesslie,  whose  influence  had  been  thrown  on  the  side 
of  law  and  order,  were  subjected  to  imprisonment  simply  be- 
cause they  were  known  as  staunch  advocates  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty.  Their  premises  were  occupied  and  plun- 
dered by  the  disorderly  militia — a  proceeding  said  to  have 
been  ordered  by  Attorney  General  Hagerman.  After  ex- 
amination by  the  Commissioners  of  Treason,  both  brothers 
were  released.  "William  shortly  afterwards  started  on  a 
journey  to  be  married,  and  was  again  arrested  on  the  stage 
when  near  Kingston,  and  without  any  legal  formality  thrown 
into  jail  at  that  town,  and  treated  as  a  convicted  felon.  The 
matter  was  brought  to  the  notice  of  Sir  Francis  Bond  Head, 
but  he  refused  to  interfere.  Such  outrages  were  perpe- 
trated with  great  frequency  at  this  time  by  the  official  party. 
The  extent  of  this  persecution  of  the  friends  of  constitu- 
tional reform,  led  James  Lesslie  to  transmit  a  strong  memo- 
rial to  the  Imperial  Government  through  Sir  Henry  Par- 
nell,  then  the  representative  of  Forfarshire  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  It  formed  the  subject  of  a  dispatch  from  the 
Colonial  office  to  Lieutenant-Governor  Head,  who,  in  his 
published  correspondence,  stigmatized  the  Lesslies,  |and  all 
constitutional  Reformers  as  "  notorious  republicans."  Very 
many  left  the  province,  as  political  progress  and  redress  of 
existing  wrongs  appeared  for  a  time  hopeless,  and  the 
Family  Compact  intrenched  the  more  firmly  in  power  by 
the  abortive  attempt  to  overthrow  them.  A  scheme  for  a 
general  emigration  to  some  of  the  newer  territories  of  the 
United  States  was  ^set  on  foot,  and  a  society  formed  for  this 
purpose,  entitled  "The  Mississippi  Emigration  Society,"  of 
which  Mr.,  now  Sir  Francis  Hincks,  was  secretary.  Three 


1148        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

delegates  were  chosen  to  proceed  to  the  Far  West  and  select 
a  site  for  the  proposed  Canadian  colony,  viz. : — Mr.  Peter 
Perry,  representative  of  Whitby,  in  the  legislature;  Mr. 
Thomas  Parke,  member  for  Middlesex,  and  Mr.  James  Lesslie. 
They  selected  Davenport,  Iowa,  then  a  small  village,  as 
the  most  promising  location.  Mr.  Lesslie  suffered  from 
a  severe  attack  of  bilious  fever,  owing  to  the  hardships  en- 
dured by  the  party  in  their  travels  through  a  wild  and  un- 
civilized region.  The  scheme  eventually  fell  through  owing 
partly  to  the  conciliatory  course  of  Lord  Durham,  and  the 
prospects  held  out  by  him  of  speedy  reform. 

About  1844,  James  Lesslie  purchased  the  Examiner 
newspaper,  published  in  Toronto,  from  Mr.  Hincks,  who  then 
went  to  Montreal  and  became  editor  of  the  Pilot.  His 
brother,  Mr.  Joseph  Lesslie,  assisted  him  in  the  editorial 
conduct  of  the  paper  for  a  year  or  more,  when  he  gave  it  up, 
James  Lesslie  carried  on  the  paper  successfully,  and  his 
able  pen  rendered  it  a  powerful  factor  in  the  conflict  for 
religious  equality.  In  1854,  the  question  was  forever  set- 
tled by  the  abolition  of  the  State  Church,  when  he  sold 
out  the  paper  to  Mr.  Brown,  of  the  Globe.  In  1855,  he 
disposed  of  his  book,  stationery  and  drug  business,  and  two 
years  later  purchased  the  homestead  of  Hon.  James  Hervey 
Price,  near  the  village  of  Eglington,  where  he  now  resides 
having  passed  his  80th  year.  His  brother  John,  also  an 
octogenarian,  lives  in  Dundas  with  his  unmarried  sister, 
Helen.*  Two  other  sisters,  Mrs.  John  Paterson  and  Mrs. 
Robert  Holt,  widows,  also  reside  in  that  town.  Charles 
Lesslie,  who  went  to  Davenport,  Iowa,  in  1839,  is  resident 
there,  but  in  feeble  health. 

*  John  Lesslie  has  since  died. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Mr.  Daniel  Morrison  was  for  a  long  time  connected  with 
the  Toronto  press  and  obtained   a  high  reputation   as   a 
powerful  and  sarcastic  writer.     He  was  the  son  of  Rev.  Mr. 
Morrison,  of  Inverness,  Scotland,  and  came  to  Canada  at  an 
early  age.     For  some  time  he  was   engaged  in  farming   in 
Went  worth  County,  and  subsequently  edited  the  Dun  das- 
Warder,  in  which  capacity  he  speedily  achieved  a  reputa- 
tion as  an  able  journalist.     He  afterwards  obtained  a  posi- 
tion on  the  Toronto  Leader.  In  conjunction  with  Mr.George 
Sheppard  he  purchased  theColonist  from  Mr.  Samuel  Thomp- 
son and   continued  to  edit  that  journal  until  1859,  when 
he  was  appointed  by  the  government  one  of  the  provincial 
arbitrators.     The  year  following  he  resigned  his  office  and 
accepted  the  editorship  of  the  Quebec  Morning  Chronicle, 
In  1861  he  had  charge  of  the  London  Prototype  and  shortly 
afterwards  went  to  New  York,   where  he  was  engaged  on 
the  staff  of  the  Tribune  and  other  journals.     He  returned  to- 
Canada  some  years  afterwards,  having  accepted  the  position 
of  editor  of   the   Toronto  Telegraph.     He  died  about  the 
year    18G9.     In   1858   he  married  the  talented  Canadian 
actress,  Miss  Charlotte  Nickinson,  who  survives  him. 

Reference  has  already  been  made  very  briefly  to  Mr. 
John  Gait,  the  father  of  Sir  Alexander  T.  Gait,  and  known 
as  a  distinguished  Scottish  novellist  and  the  founder  of  the 
city  of  Guelph.  Mr.  Gait  was  born  in  Irvine,  on  the  2nd 
day  of  May,  1779.  The  following  year  his  father,  who  was 
the  captain  of  a  ship  in  the  West  India  trade,  left  Ayr- 
shire and  took  up  his  residence  in  Greenock,  in  which  town 
John  Gait  received  his  education.  He  early  manifested  a 
strong  predilection  for  study  and  literary  composition,  which 


1150        TI1E  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

was  fostered  by  congenial  associations.  During  his  youth 
he  was  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits.  In  1804  he 
quitted  Greenock  for  London,  where  he  started  in  business 
on  his  own  account,  in  partnership  with  a  young  man 
named  McLachlan  from  the  same  part  of  Scotland.  While 
engaged  in  this  venture,  Mr.  Gait  published  an  epic  poem 
on  the  battle  of  Largs,  and  continued  to  pursue  his  literary 
studies  with  indefatigable  industry,  especially  in  the  direct- 
ion of  metaphysics,  political  economy,  and  belles  lettres.  In 
the  course  of  two  or  three  years  his  business  affairs  became 
heavily  involved,  and  insolvency  followed.  Mr.  Gait  then 
went  abroad  for  his  health.  At  Gibraltar  he  made  the 
acquaintance  of  Lord  Byron,  then  in  the  first  flush  of  his 
literary  triumphs,  and  his  friend  Mr.  Hobhouse,  and  for 
some  time  accompanied  them  on  their  tour.  He  afterwards 
visited  Sicily,  Malta,  and  Greece,  where  he  renewed  his 
acquaintance  with  Byron,  and  had  an  interview  with  Ali 
Pacha.  Constantinople  and  the  Black  Sea  were  also  visited. 
The  literary  fruits  of  this  tour  were  a  series  of  Letters  from 
tliz  Levant,  which  attained  considerable  success.  Mr.  Gait 
during  the  period  of  his  absence  from  England,  also  outlined 
several  dramas,  which  were  afterwards  completed  and 
published.  The  Ayrshire  Legatees,  issued  in  1820,  was, 
however,  the  work  which  thoroughly  established  his  re- 
putation, in  the  line  particularly  his  own,  of  a  graphic 
delineator  of  the  provincial  life  of  Scotland.  He  followed 
up  this  vein  by  The  Annals  of  the  Parish,  a  book  of  superior 
power,  which  appeared  in  1820.  Having  made  his  mark  in 
literature  and  secured  a  wide  circle  of  admirers,  his  works 
.succeeded  each  other  rapidly.  Sir  Andrew  Wylie,  The 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1151 

Recital,  The  Steamboat  and  The  Provost,  followed  in  suc- 
cession. .Mr.  Gait  was  not  so  successful  in  the  direction  of 
historical  romance,  to  which  he  next  turned  his  attention. 
liingan  Gilhaize,  a  tale  of  the  Covenanters,  was  the  first 
of  his  essays  in  this  line.  It  was  succeeded  by  several 
others  which,  though  comprising  many  effective  scenes,  and 
some  brilliant  descriptive  writing,  were  nevertheless,  uneven 
and  lacking  in  the  naturalness  and  sustained  interest  of  his 
previous  books.  The  Last  of  the  Lairds  was  published  just 
before  he  left  England  for  the  scene  of  his  labours  in 
Canada,  in  1826.  His  connection  with  Canada  was  brought 
about  by  his  appointment  as  agent  to  urge  upon  the  Im- 
perial Government  the  claims  of  Canadians  who  had 
sustained  losses  by  the  American  invasion  during  the  war 
of  1812.  The  negotiations  and  investigations  that  ensued, 
led  to  the  organization  of  the  Canada  Company  for  the  acqui- 
sition and  settlement  of  a  large  tract  of  land  in  the  Western 
Peninsula  of  Upper  Canada.  The  company  procured  a  grant 
of  1,100,000  acres  in  one  block.  A  scheme  for  emigration 
on  a  large  scale  was  adopted.  Mr.  Gait  was  appointed 
superintendent,  and  began  the  work  of  colonization  by 
selecting  a  site  for  a  town.  The  spot  upon  which  Guelph 
now  stands  was  fixed  upon  as  the  most  eligible,  and  on  the 
23rd  of  April,  1827,  Mr.  Gait  set  out  from  the  town  which 
bears  his  name — bestowed  upon  it  by  Hon.  William  Dixon, 
before  his  arrival  in  the  country — accompanied  by  the 
eccentric  Dr.  Dunlop,  Mr.  Prior,  an  employe*  of  the  company, 
and  a  couple  of  labourers.  A  large  maple  tree  was  selected 
which  was  cut  down,  when  the  party  with  due  formality, 
drank  prosperity  to  the  city  of  Guelph.  The  present  im- 


3152        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

portance  of  that  rapidly  growing  commercial  centre  vindi- 
cates the  foresight  of   Mr.   Gait.     In   view   of   its   recent 
admission   to   the  civic  status  the  following  passage  from 
Mr.  Gait's  autobiography  is  of  interest — "  In  planning  the 
<:ity,"  he  says,  "  for  I  will  still  dignify  it  by  that  title, 
though  applied  at  first  in  derision,  I  had,  like  the  lawyers 
in  establishing  their  fees  an  eye  to  futurity  in  the  magnitude 
of  the  parts."*     He  reserved  sites  for  Catholic,  Episcopal, 
and    Presbyterian   churches   upon   rising    ground,    which 
have  been  long  since  adorned  with  handsome  edifices.     The 
building  of  a  school-house  was  undertaken  by  the  company. 
The  road  work  and  other  improvements  undertaken,  soon 
attracted  an  influx  of  settlers,  and  the  new  community  grew 
rapidly,  and  the  price  of  land  speedily  rose.     Shortly  after- 
wards Mr.  Gait  undertook   an   extended  voyage  on  Lake 
Huron,  and  visited  Detroit,  Buffalo  and  other  localities  in 
the  United  States.     The  Canada  Company's  affairs  did  not 
prosper  despite  the  energy  of  Mr.  Gait.     The  stock  of  the 
company  was  heavily  depreciated,  and  various  troubles  and 
disagreements  occurred.     The  indefatigable  superintendent 
still  pursued  his  plans  for  opening  up  the  land  for  settle- 
ment on  a  large  scale.     He  caused  a  road  nearly  a  hundred 
miles  in  length  to  be  constructed  through  the  dense  forest, 
with  which  the  Huron  tract  was  then  covered,  by  which  an 
overland  communication  was,  for  the  first  time,  established 
between  Lakes  Huron   and  Ontario.     The  labourers  em- 
ployed were  paid  partly  in  money  and  partly  in  land.     Mr. 
Gait's  relations  with  the  directors  of  the  company  becoming 
unsatisfactory,    owing    to    their    considering    the    outlay 

*  Autobiography  of  John  Gait,  Vol.  II.  51.    Am.  Edition. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1153 

incurred  in  these  improvements  extravagant,  his  connection 
with  the  company  terminated  in  1829,  when  he  returned  to 
England,  and  recommenced  his  literary  labours.     He  shortly 
afterwards  produced  a  novel  entitled  Laurie  Todd,  which 
was  followed  by  SoiUliennan,  a  romance  of  the  days  of  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots.   A  Life  of  Lord  Byron  which  excited  a  great 
deal  of  angry  criticism  ran  through   several  editions.     In 
1834  Mr.   Gait  published  Literary  Miscellanies,  in  three 
volumes.     His   health,   shattered   by  a  very  arduous  and 
wearying  life,  shortly   afterwards  broke  down  completely, 
and  he  returned  to  end  his  days  in  his  native  Scotland, 
dying  at  Greenock  on  the  llth  of  April,  1839,  after  several 
attacks  of  paralysis.     The  best  vindication  of  the  wisdom 
of  Mr.  Gait's  course  as  superintendent  of  the  Canada  Com- 
pany is  the  success  which  ultimately  attended  this  enterprise, 
consequent  upon  his  exertions. 

There  are  several  other  journalists  worthy  of  an  extended 
notice  concerning  whose  careers,  we   would  gladly  present 
a  few  details  were   the   requisite   data   accessible.     Among 
them  we  may  mention    Messrs.  John   Dougall  and   James 
Redpath    Dougall,   of    the    Montreal    Witness — a   journal 
which  takes  a  deservedly  high  rank,  no  less  as  an  enterpris- 
ing and  well-edited  newspaper  than  a  staunch  advocate  of 
social  and  moral  reform,  especially  the  cause  of  Temperance. 
Mr.  John  Dougall  has  been  the  principal  proprietor  of   the 
Witness  for  many  years,  his   controlling  idea  being  to   es- 
tablish a  daily  paper  in  which  the  spirit  of   earnest,   practi- 
cal religion  should  pervade  every  department.     In  the  face 
of  many  obstacles  he  succeeded  in  what  a  great  many  people 
considered  a   hopeless  experiment.      A  similar  venture  in 


1154        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

New  York  did  not  prove  equally  satisfactory,  and  after  a 
hard  struggle  the  New  York  Daily  Witness  was  discon- 
tinued. The  weekly  issue,  however,  still  flourishes,  Mr. 
John  Dougall  devoting  his  principal  attention  to  the  New  . 
York  establishment,  while  his  son,  Mr.  J.  R.  Dougall,  has 
charge  of  the  Montreal  publications. 

Alexander  McLachlan,  poet  and  lecturer,  is  the  son  of  a 
Scottish  mechanic,  and  was  born  in  the  village  of  Johnstone, 
Renfrewshire,  in  the  year  1820.  He  is  largely  self-educated, 
his  schooling  having  been  very  limited  ;  but  being  of  a  stu- 
dious and  thoughtful  disposition  he  early  gained  an  extensive 
knowledge  of  English  literature.  He  followed  for  some 
years  the  trade  of  a  tailor,  and  during  his  youth  took  a 
leading  part  in  the  Chartist  movement,  which  at  that  time 
flourished  in  Britain.  His  poems  are  largely  tinged  with 
the  spirit  of  this  agitation,  Mr.  McLachlan  having  through 
life  retained  a  strong  sympathy  for  the  victims  of  social  in- 
justice and  oppression.  In  1840  he  emigrated  to  Canada, 
quitting  the  needle  for  the  axe  and  the  plough.  He  settled 
in  the  backwoods,  and  his  rich  experience  in  the  hardships 
and  struggles,  triumphs  and  pleasures  of  life  in  the  bush, 
furnished  the  material  for  some  of  his  most  characteristic 
poems.  Mr.  McLachlan  published  several  volumes  of  poe- 
try, the  last,  which  embraced  the  cream  of  his  previous 
writings  as  well  as  many  new  poems,  appearing  in  1 874. 
In  the  same  year  he  revisited  Scotland,  where  he  delivered 
many  lectures  and  addresses,  dealing  with  Canadian  life, 
and  literary  and  philosophical  subjects.  Much  of  Mr.  Mc- 
Lachlan's  poetry  is  well  worthy  of  a  place  beside  the  utter- 
ances of  more  celebrated  British  bards,  who,  by  the  acci- 


THE  .SCO 7'  7.V  IHHTISn  NORTH  AMERICA.         1155 

dent  of  residence  near  the  heart  of  the  empire,  have  attained 
a  renown  which  no  Canadian,  no  matter  how  deserving, 
could  hope  to  acquire.  He  is  pre-eminently  one  of  the 
poets  who,  according  to  the  old  proverb,  are  "  born,  not 
made."  His  style  is  simple  and  natural.  There  is  no 
straining  after  effect,  no  attempt  to  simulate  a  poetic  fervour 
that  is  not  genuine  and  heartfelt.  He  is  no  mere  rhymester 
dealing  in  pretty  conceits  and  elegant  trifling,  but  appeals 
to  the  strongest  and  most  deeply-seated  emotions  of  human- 
ity. The  clearness  and  simplicity  of  his  writings  are  in 
marked  contrast  to  the  involved  sentences  and  confused 
meaning  of  the  "  incomprehensible  "  school  of  poetic  thought 
so  much  in  vogue.  He  is  a  poet  of  the  people,  and  has 
much  of  the  freshness  and  spontaneity,  as  well  as  the  force 
and  beauty  of  Burns,  whose  influence,  as  well  as  that  of 
Wordsworth,  appears  traceable  in  McLachlan's  mode  of 
thought  and  expression.  His  poems  breathe  an  intense  love 
for  nature  and  the  freedom  and  freshness  of  rural  life,  and 
he  has  given  some  of  the  finest  descriptions  of  the  glorious 
scenery  of  our  forests,  rivers  and  lakes.  His  most  notice- 
able fault  is  a  tendency  to  repeat  the  same  phrase  somewhat 
too  frequently.  In  dealing  with  the  great  problems  of  life  and 
thought  he  evinces  broad  sympathies  with  humanity  and 
faith  in  its  noblest  aspirations.  In  private  life  Mr.  McLach- 
lan,  who  is  still  engaged  in  farming,  is  one  of  the  most  ge- 
nial and  loveable  of  men.  He  has  rare  conversational  pow- 
ers, and  when  in  congenial  society  his  native  eloquence  and 
humour  impart  a  vivid  interest  to  every  subject  upon  which 
he  touches.  Alexander' McLachlan  has  received  but  scant 

justice  at  the  hands  of  those  who  assume  to  be  the  special 
15 


1156        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

guardians  and  promoters  of  Canadian  literature.  The  devo- 
tees of  that  superficial  "  culture  "  which  regards  form  of 
expression  more  than  the  underlying  thought,  have  extended 
to  his  poetic  genius  such  a  cold  and  grudging  recognition  as 
that  which  drew  from  the  indignant  heart  of  the  poet  Burns 
his  scathing  satire  upon  the  literary  precisians  and  preten- 
ders of  his  day  : 

— "  An'  syne  they  think  to  climb  Parnassus 
By  dint  o'  Greek  ?  " 

Had  the  Ayrshire  bard  himself  appeared  in  the  present 
generation  would  he  have  been  appreciated  by  these  stick- 
lers for  poetic  formalism  ?  It  is  very  doubtful.  Apart  alto- 
gether from  the  verdict  of  this  class  of  critics,  it  is  not 
creditable  to  the  Canadian  people  that  a  singer  of  the  power 
and  pathos  of  Alexander  McLachlan,  should  not  have  met 
with  wider  and  more  general  appreciation  than  has  been 
accorded  him.  True,  his  is  by  no  means  a  singular  experi- 
ence, and  much  of  the  best  literary  work  of  Canada  has 
been  but  poorly  rewarded.  The  people  who  take  no  pride 
in  their  poets  and  who  pass  over  really  able  and  meritorious 
home  writers  in  favour  of  foreigners,  are  yet  very  far  from 
the  attainment  of  a  robust  national  and  patriotic  feeling : 

"  Spoke  well  the  Grecian  when  he  said  that  poems 
Were  the  high  laws  that  swayed  a  nation's  mind — 

Voices  that  live  on  echoes — 

Brief  and  poetic  proems, 
Opening  the  great  heart-book  of  human  kind. 

"  Songs  are  the  nation's  pulses,  which  discover 
]f  the  great  body  be  as  nature  willed. 

Songs  are  the  spasms  of  soul 

Telling  us  what  men  suffer. 
Dead  is  the  nation's  heart  whose  songs  are  stilled  !  " 


CHAPTER   IX. 

ADDENDA. 

{N  a  work  of  the  present  character  and  extent,  it  was  al- 
most impossible,  while  pursuing  the  slight  thread  of 
historical  continuity  which  we  have  tried  to  keep  in  view,  to 
avoid  the  omission  of  names  of  many  who  are  entitled  to  a 
notice  in  these  pages.  In  the  scanty  space  yet  remaining  at 
our  disposal  the  endeavour  will  be  made  to  rectify  this  de- 
fect as  far  as  may  be,  by  brief  sketches  of  those  Canadian 
Scotsmen  of  note  who  have  hitherto  been  passed  over  alto- 
gether or  received  a  merely  casual  mention. 

Probably  the  man  who  above  all  others  has  done  most 
for  the  commercial  development  of  Canada  was  the  late  Sir 
Hugh  Allan — to  whom  but  scanty  reference  has  already 
been  made  in  these  volumes.  Sir  Hugh  came  of  a  seafar- 
ing family,  his  father  being  Captain  Alexander  Allan,  a  ship- 
master engaged  in  the  trade  between  the  Clyde  and  Mon- 
treal, and  two  of  his  brothers  being  also  sailors.  He  was 
born 'at  Saltcoats,  in  Ayrshire,  Scotland,  on  the  29th  of 
September,  1810.  The  nautical  associations  of  his  earlier 
years  made  a  powerful  impression  upon  him.  He  was  con- 
stantly thrown  into  the  company  of  sailors  ;  and  familiarity 


1158        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

with  maritime  life  resulted  in  that  strong  predilection  for 
the  water  described  by  Byron's  well-known  lines — 

And  I  have  loved  thee,  Ocean  !  and  my  joy 
Of  youthful  sports  was  on  thy  breast  to  be 
Borne  like  thy  bubbles  onward,  from  a  boy 
I  wantoned  with  thy  breakers— they  to  me 
Were  a  delight,  and  if  the  freshening  sea 
Made  them  a  terror— 'twas  a  pleasing  fear 
For  I  was  as  it  were  a  child  of  thee, 
And  trusted  to  thy  billows  far  and  near. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  his  future  career  as  the  foun- 
der of  the  line  of  vessels  that  perpetuates  his  name  was 
largely  determined  by  his  early  training  and  surroundings. 
His  scholastic  education  was  but  scanty,  and  at  the  age  of 
thirteen  Hugh  Allan  entered  the  employ  of  Allan,  Kerr  & 
Co.,  a  shipping  firm  of  Greenock.  Here  he  remained  for 
about  a  year  acquiring  some  knowledge  of  the  business  for 
which  he  displayed  a  decided  aptitude.  Acting  on  the  ad- 
vice of  his  father  he  resolved  to  emigrate  to  Canada,  and 
arrived  at  Montreal  in  the  spring  of  182fi.  The  difficulties 
and  delays  experienced  by  his  father's  vessel,  the  Favourite, 
in  making  the  passage  up  the  St.  Lawrence  on  this  trip,  in- 
dicate the  then  primitive  state  of  the  now  extensive  shipping 
interest  of  our  commercial  metropolis.  A  strong  head  wind 
prevailed,  and  the  solitary  steam-tug  which  then  sufficed  for 
the  commerce  of  the  port,  was  unable  to  tow  the  ship  up 
the  St.  Mary's  current.  The  services  of  a  dozen  yoke  of 
oxen  were  called  into  requisition,  but  even  this  additional 
power  was  unavailing,  and  it  was  not  until  a  large  gang  of 
men  from  a  shipyard  at  Hochelaga  had  lent  their  aid  that  the 
vessel  was  enabled  to  drop  anchor  opposi  te  Montreal  There 
•were  no  wharves  at  that  time.  The  bank  shelved  down  in 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1159 

its  natural  condition  and  landing  cargoes  by  means  of  a  long 
gangway  was  a  difficult  and  tedious  process. 

The  future  steamship  king  obtained  a  situation  with  the 
firm  of  William  Kerr  &  Co.,  dry  goods  merchants,  which  he 
retained  for  three  years,  acquiring  an  excellent  knowledge 
of  business  methods.  He  also  mastered  the  French  language 
and  endeavoured  to  remedy  the  defects  of  his  lack  of  educa- 
tion in  boyhood  by  assiduous  study.  He  determined  to 
revisit  for  a  while  his  native  land,  but  previous  to  doing  so 
took  a  trip  through  Upper  Canada  and  New  York  State. 
After  spending  a  few  months  in  the  old  country  Mr.  Allan 
returned  to  Canada  in  the  spring  of  1831,  and  obtained  a 
situation  with  the  firm  of  James  Millar  &  Co,  Montreal, 
shipbuilders  and  commission  merchants.  Here  he  was  en- 
gaged for  some  time  in  buying  and  shipping  wheat,  and  he 
turned  his  knowledge  and  experience  to  such  good  account 
and  devoted  himself  so  thoroughly  to  the  interests  of  the 
firm  that  after  four  years  of  service  in  a  subordinate  position 
lie  was  admitted  to  a  partnership  in  the  year  1837.  When 
the  rebellion  of  1837  broke  out  he  joined  the  Fifth  Batta- 
lion as  a  volunteer  and  was  speedily  promoted  to  a  cap- 
taincy. The  death  of  the  senior  partner  in  1838  resulted 
in  a  change  of  the  style  of  the  firm  to  that  of  Edmonston  & 
Allan.  The  business  continued  steadily  to  develop  in  both 
its  branches.  In  1841  the  firm  were  employed  by  the  Gov- 
ernor-General, Lord  Sydenham,  to  build  a  steam  frigate 
which  bore  his  name.  They  also  constructed  a  small  screw 
steamer  for  the  Government  called  the  Union,  notable  as 
one  of  the  first  vessels  of  that  description  built  in  the  coun- 
try. The  following  year  the  firm  turned  their  attention  to 


1160        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

the  improvement  of  the  navigation  facilities  of  the  port — 
building  a  powerful  tug-boat  and  several  barges  to  lighten 
vessels  up  and  down  the  river.  About  1845  they  temporarily 
discontinued  ship-building,  devoting  themselves  for  some 
years  to  the  management  of  their  vessels  and  other  commer- 
cial interests.  About  this  time  Mr.  Allan's  younger  brother, 
Andrew,  acquired  an  interest  in  the  firm,  which  after  some 
other  changes  of  nomenclature  eventually  adopted  the 
style  of  Hugh  &  Andrew  Allan.  In  1851  the  ship-building 
branch  of  their  business  was  resumed,  owing  to  the  pro- 
posals of  the  Government  with  a  view  to  the  establish- 
ment of  a  line  of  iron  screw  steamships  between  Liver- 
pool and  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  first  contract  was  given 
to  a  Glasgow  firm,  but  after  a  trial  of  a  year  and  a 
half,  the  arrangement  with  them  was  abandoned  as  unsatis- 
factory, and  the  Allans  succeeded  in  making  terms  with  the 
Government.  The  first  vessel  built  for  this  line  was  the 
Canadian,  which  made  her  first  trip  in  1853.  The  mail 
service  was  commenced  the  following  year,  the  trips  being 
fortnightly  between  Liverpool  and  the  St.  Lawrence  during 
the  season  of  open  navigation,  and  monthly  to  Portland  dur- 
ing the  winter.  The  firm  surmounted  great  difficulties  and 
sustained  heavy  losses  at  the  outset  of  this  great  enterprise, 
but  by  perseverance,  energy,  and  judgment,  succeeded  at 
length  in  obtaining  public  confidence  and  placing  the  Allan 
Line  on  a  firm  and  profitable  basis.  The  four  vessels  at  first 
engaged  in  the  service  were  before  long  supplemented  by  ad- 
ditional ones.  In  1857  the  public  demanded  more  frequent 
mail  communication  with  England,  and  the  Government 
determined  that  the  service  should  be  weekly  throughout 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1161 

the  year.  Four  larger  steamships  were  built,  and  the  weekly 
mail  service  set  on  foot  on  the  1st  of  May,  1859.  This  great 
enterprise  gave  an  immense  impetus  to  the  commerce  of 
Montreal,  and  in  connection  with  the  other  undertakings  of 
the  Allans  did  more  than  any  other  cause  to  give  Canada  a 
high  place  on  the  roll  of  maritime  nations.  The  firm  also 
established  a  line  of  steamers  plying  between  the  St.  Law- 
rence and  Glasgow.  The  improvement  of  vessel  architecture 
seriously  engaged  their  attention,  as  they  were  determined 
to  spare  no  pains  or  expense  to  attain  the  style  best  adapted . 
to  secure  the  safety  and  convenience  of  their  passengers. 
They  were  the  first  to  build  steamers  for  the  Atlantic  ser- 
vice with  the  spar  or  flush  deck  now  generally  conceded  to 
be  a  great  improvement  in  construction,  though  strongly  op- 
posed at  the  time  of  its  first  introduction.  The  Allan  fleet 
is  one  of  the  most  numerous  and  important  on  the  globe,  and 
is  managed  upon  a  strict  system  of  organization  and  dis- 
cipline by  which  regular  promotion  is  secured  to  competent 
and  deserving  employe's,  and  nothing  left  undone  to  secure 
thoroughness  and  efficiency  in  every  detail.  In  1881  the 
Allans  owned  twenty-four  ocean  steamships  with  an  aggre- 
gate of  76,130  tons  and  thirteen  Clyde-built  clippers  with  a 
tonnage  of  19,016.  On  more  than  one  occasion  the  Imperial 
Government  have  availed  themselves  of  the  company's 
steamers  for  the  transportation  of  troops  in  war  time. 

The  remarkable  business  enterprise  and  foresight  of  Mr. 
Hugh  Allan  found  scope  in  many  other  directions  than  that 
of  his  maritime  undertakings.  He  has  been  identified  in 
one  way  or  another  with  nearly  all  the  important  commer- 
cial enterprises  of  a  corporate  character  undertaken  in  Mon- 


1162         THE  SCOT  IN  BRIT  IS  U  NORTH  AMERICA. 

treal  during  his  time.  He  was  a  leading  promoter  and  a' 
director  of  the  Montreal  Telegraph  Company,  a  member  of 
the  directorate  of  the  Atlantic  Cable  Company,  and  largely 
interested  in  many  banking  and  other  mercantile  organiza- 
tions. And  wherever  his  good  judgment  was  largely  called 
into  requisition  in  the  conduct  of  such  undertaking,  they 
were  almost  uniformly  crowned  with  success.  His  connec- 
tion with  the  unfortunate  Pacific  Scandal,  which  has  been 
already  fully  explained,  is  an  exceptional  feature  in  a  career 
almost  uniformly  characterized  by  creditable  public  spirit 
and  sound  discretion.  When  Prince  Arthur  visited  Canada 
in  1869  he  was  entertained  by  Mr.  Allan  in  right  royal 
style  at  his  mansion  of  Ravenscraig,  in  Montreal,  and  at 
Belmere  his  summer  residence  on  the  beautiful  shores  of 
lake  Memphremagog.  In  recognition  no  less  of  his  eminent 
services  to  the  commercial  interests  of  Canada  than  cf  his 
hospitality  to  the  Prince  he  received  the  honour  of  knight- 
hood at  the  hands  of  Her  Majesty  in  the  year  1871.  Sir 
Hugh  was  married  on  the  13th  of  September,  1844,  to 
Matilda,  second  daugther  of  Mr.  John  Smith,  of  Montreal, 
by  whom  he  had  a  numerous  family.  He  died  towards  the 
close  of  1882,  leaving  a  fortune  estimated  at  about  six  mil- 
lion dollars. 

A  prominent  figure  in  the  early  annals  of  the  Bay  of  Quinte* 
District  was  Rev.  Robert  McDowall,  the  pioneer  of  Presbyte- 
rianism  in  that  section  of  the  country.  His  parents  emigra- 
ted from  Dumfriesshire,  Scotland,  and  settled  in  the  State  of 
New  York.  Robert  McDowall  was  born  in  Saratoga  County, 
on  the  25th  of  July,  17G8,  received  his  education  at  Wil- 
liam's College,  Schenectady,  N.Y.,  was  ordained  as  a  minister 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA         1163 

of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  at  Albany.  In  response  to  a 
requisition  from  Canada  he  was  sent  over  the  border  by  that 
body  as  a  missionary  in  1798,  making  Fredericksburg  his 
headquarters.  He  had  a  widely  extended  field  of  labour 
among  the  then  scattered  and  isolated  settlements  along  the 
frontier.  His  labours  were  incessant  and  he  was  exposed 
to  all  the  hardships  and  perils  of  travel  through  a  wilder- 
ness destitute  of  roads,  and  infested  with  beasts  of  prey  and 
hostile  Indians.  He  usually  journeyed  on  horseback,  but 
sometimes  afoot,  and  made  many  voyages  in  Indian  canoes, 
braving  with  extraordinary  courage  the  dangers  by  land  and 
water.  These  journeys  extended  as  far  east  as  Quebec,  and 
on  jone  occasion  at  least  he  travelled  as  far  West  as  Middle- 
sex County.  Mr.  McDowall  was  of  a  robust  physique,  lithe 
and  muscular,  qualities  which  often  stood  him  in  good  stead 
in  encountering  perils  to  which  a  man  of  weaker  physical 
frame  must  inevitably  have  succumbed.  He  was  a  welcome 
visitor  in  the  lonely  cabins  of  the  settlers.  He  preached 
to  congregations  hastily  assembled  in  the  open  air  or  in 
some  available  barn  or  schoolhouse,  and  held  his  auditors 
entranced  by  the  power  and  soul-stirring  eloquence  of  his 
discourses.  His  ready  humour,  lively  wit  and  cordiality  of 
manner  in  social  intercourse  rendered  him  almost  univer- 
sally popular.  For  years  he  was  the  only  available  minis- 
ter in  a  large  district  for  solemnizing  the  rites  of  marriage 
and  baptism,  and  his  advent  would  often  be  the  signal  for 
the  assembling  of  numerous  candidates  for  the  matrimon- 
ial estate  or  ad  mission  to  the  visible  church,  the  ceremon- 
ial having  been  perforce  deferred  for  sometime  until  his 
arrival.  As  money  was  then  very  scarce  his  services  in 


1164         THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

celebrating  the  marriage  rite  were  often  gratuitous,  and 
sometimes  the  contracting  parties  testified  their  apprecia- 
tion by  offering  what  would  now  be  considered  out  of  place. 
It  is  stated  that  one  grateful  bridegroom  paid  his  tribute  in 
the  form  of  a  load  of  pumpkins.  It  is  recorded  in  Dr.  Can- 
niffs  history  of  the  "  Settlement  of  Upper  Canada  "  that  on 
one  occasion  Mr.  McDowall  walked  all  the  way  from  the 
Bay  of  Quinte*  to  York  following  the  lake  shore  and  swim- 
ming the  rivers  that  could  not  be  forded.  In  1837  he  was 
appointed  by  the  Synod  a  member  of  a  committee  in- 
structed to  consider  the  propriety  of  sending  a  deputation 
to  Scotland  forthe  object  of  establishing  a  Collegiate  Theo- 
logical Institution  and  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  work  pre- 
liminary to  the  establishment  of  Queen's  College  and  Uni- 
versity at  Kingston.  An  interesting  relic  of  his  ministry  is 
hisrecord  of  marriages  and  baptisms  now  in  the  possession  of 
his  grandson,  Mr.  R.  J.  McDowall,  of  Kingston,  which  con- 
tains about  3,000  entries.  Mr.  McDowall  was  an  earnest 
temperance  reformer  and  probably  the  first  public  advocate 
of  total  abstinence  in  this  country.  This  veteran  pioneer  in 
the  cause  of  religion  closed  his  long  and  useful  life  on  the 
3rd  of  August,  1841.  He  left  a  widow  and  family,  having 
at  an  early  period  of  his  ministry  married  Hannah  Wash- 
burn,  daughter  of  Ebenezer  Washburn,  M.  P.,  and  sister  of 
Hon.  Simeon  Washburn,  Senator. 

Lachlan  McCallura,  of  Stromness,  for  many  years  M.  P. 
for  Monck,  was  born  in  Argyllshire,  Scotland,  on  the  loth 
of  March,  1823,  and  emigrated  to  Canada  in  1842.  He 
settled  in  Haldimand  County  where  he  engaged  extensively 
in  contracting  and  ship-building.  He  received  several  con- 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1165 

tracts  from  the  Government  for  the  construction  of  harlours 
on  Lakes  Ontario  and  Erie. 

During  the  Fenian  raid  of  1866,  Mr.  McCallum  command- 
ed the  Dunnville  Naval  Company  at  Fort  Erie.  He  was  an 
unsuccessful  candidate  for  the  representation  of  Haldimand 
in  the  Canadian  Assembly  at  the  general  election  of  1862, 
but  was  more  fortunate  in  1867,  when  he  was  returned  for 
the  Dominion  House  of  Commons  for  Monck.  He  represent- 
ed the  same  constituency  in  the  Ontario  Legislature  for  a  year, 
resigning  in  1 872,  when  dual  representation  was  abolished. 
He  was  a  candidate  for  the  Commons  in  1872,  but  was  de- 
feated by  Mr.  J.  D.  Edgar,  but  in  1874  he  was  again  elected 
over  the  same  opponent,  though  the  following  year  he  was 
unseated  for  bribery  committed  by  his  agents.  He  was,  how- 
ever, re-elected  the  same  year,  and  defeated  Mr.  Edgar  again 
in  1878.  Mr.  McCallum  is  a  Conservative  in  politics,  and 
his  practical  common  sense  and  technical  knowledge  made 
him  a  useful  member  of  the  House. 

Hector  Cameron,  Q.C,  and  member  of  the  Dominion 
House  of  Commons  for  the  North  Riding  of  the  County  of 
Victoria,  is  the  son  of  Assistant  Commissary-General  Ken- 
neth Cameron,  and  was  born  at  Montreal,  on  the  3rd  of 
June,  1832.  By  his  father's  side,  he  is  descended  from  the 
Glen  Dessary  branch  of  the  Clan  Cameron  of  Inverness-shire. 
His  mother  was  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Robert  Selby,  of  North 
Earl,  Northumberland,  England.  The  family  returned  to 
England  during  Hector  Cameron's  boyhood,  and  he  was  sent 
to  King's  College,  London,  and  afterwards  to  Trinity  College 
Dublin,  where  he  graduated  in  1851.  Returning  to  Canada 
the  same  year,  he  took  the  degree  of  M.  A.  at  Toronto  Univer- 


1166        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

sity.     General  Cameron  was  subsequently  assigned  to  duties 
in  connection  with  the  Commissariat  Department  in  Montreal, 
where  he  died  in  1855.     After  Hector   Cameron   had   com- 
pleted his  University  studies  he  entered  upon  the  study  of 
the  law,  with  his  distinguished  namesake,  Hon.  J.  Hillyard 
Cameron,  and  was  called  to  the  bar  in  1854',   when  he   at 
once  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession.     In  the  year 
1858  he  entered  into  partnership  with  Hon.  Adam  Crooks. 
This  connection  was  dissolved  the  following  year,  when  Mr. 
Cameron  received  into   partnership   the  late  Mr.   Thomas 
Moss,  who  afterwards  rose  to  the  position  of  Chief  Justice. 
In  1864  Mr.  Moss  retired,  Mr.  Cameron  practised  alone  until 
1876,  when  he  became  the  leading  member  of  the  firm  of 
Cameron  &  Appleby.     His  practice  has  for  many  years  been 
large  and  lucrative,  as  he  sustains   an  excellent  reputation 
as  a  skilful  and  profound  lawyer.    He  was  created  a  Queen's 
Counsel  in  1872.     A  large  share  of  Mr.  Cameron's  practice 
is  in  connection  with  railway  and  telegraph  companies,  for 
several  of  which  he  has  a  standing  retainer.     He   has   also 
taken  a  prominent  part  as  director  in  several  railway  under- 
takings.    For  many  years  he  has  taken   an  active  interest 
in  politics.     He  contested  South  Victoria  unsuccessfully  for 
the  House  of  Commons  in  1867,  and  was  again  on  the  losing 
side  in  1874,  when  he  received  the  Conservative  nomination 
for  the  north  riding  of  the   same   county.     Better   success 
attended  him  in  a  subsequent  contest  in  the  latter  constitu- 
ency the  year  following,  his  temporarily   triumphant  oppo- 
nent, Mr.  McLennan,  having  been  unseated.     Although  the 
second  contest  was  at  first  decided  in  favour  of  Mr.   McLen- 
nan, a  scrutiny  of  votes  gave  the  seat  to  Mr.  Cameron,  and 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        116T 

he  has  since  retained  it,  being  returned  at  the  two  last  gen- 
eral elections.  His  course  in  Parliament  has  been  consistently 
Conservative,  and  he  is  a  hard-working  and  useful  member. 
He  has  occupied  the  responsible  position  of  chairman  of  the 
Private  Bills  Committee.  When  he  takes  part  in  the  debates 
of  the  House  it  is  generally  in  relation  to  some  legal  point, 
his  professional  standing  giving  great  weight  to  his  views 
upon  all  such  questions.  Mr.  Cameron  was  married,  in  1860, 
to  Clara,  eldest  daughter  of  Mr.  William  Boswell,  barrister, 
of  Cobourg,  by  whom  he  has  two  children. 

William  Clyde  Caldwell,  member  of  the  Provincial  Legis- 
lature for  North  Lanark,  and  a  prominent  man  in  Ipcal 
affairs,  was  born  in  the  village  of  Lanark,  on  the  14th  of 
May,  1843,  his  parents  being  Alexander  and  Mary  Ann 
Campbell,  both  natives  of  Scotland.  He  was  educated  at 
Queen's  College  ,Kingston,  graduating  in  1864.  He  engaged 
in  the  lumbering  industry,  which  was  also  his  father's  prin- 
cipal business.  His  operations  during  late  years  have  been 
very  extensive,  the  out-put  of  his  saw-mills  amounting  to 
about  6,000,000  feet  annually,  of  which  a  large  proportion 
is  shipped  to  Oswego,  in  New  York  State.  Mr.  Caldwell  is 
also  a  miller,  and  has  devoted  considerable  attention  to  farm- 
ing. He  is  known  in  his  locality  as  an  energetic  and  public- 
spirited  man,  and  has  held  a  number  of  municipal  offices.  A 
vacancy  occurring  in  the  representation  of  North  Lanark  in 
the  Provincial  Legislature,  in  1872,  owing  to  the  resignation 
of  Mr.  Daniel  Galbraith,  Mr.  Caldwell  was  elected  in  the 
Reform  interest.  He  sustained  a  defeat  in  the  general  elec- 
tions of  Ib75,  but  was  again  i-eturned  in  1879  and  in  1883. 
His  name  has  become  familiar  to  the  public  of  late  years,  by 


1168        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

reason  of  the  constitutional  conflict  over  the  passage  of  the 
Rivers  and  Streams  "Bill  by  the  Local  House,  and  its  dis- 
allowance by  the  Dominion  Government,  the  question  as  to 
the  right  of  the  proprietor  of  land,  through  which  a  navigable 
stream  flows,  to  prevent  its  use  by  parties  owning  timber 
limits  on  the  upper  waters,  having  been  first  raised  in  con- 
nection with  his  lumbering  operations.  In  politics,  Mr.  Cald- 
well  is  a  Reformer. 

James  Hall,  of  Peterborough,  a  former  member  of  the  Can- 
adian Parliament,  both  before  and  after  Confederation, 
was  born  in  Clackmannanshire,  Scotland,  in  1806,  his  father 
being  a  merchant  of  the  same  name.  He  received  his  educa- 
tion in  the  grammar  school  of  his  native  town,  and  studied 
the  profession  of  civil  engineer  in  the  office  of  his  brother, 
Francis  Hall.  In  1820,  the  family  came  to  Canada,  settling 
in  the  Township  of  Lanark,  then  a  wilderness.  Their  house 
was,  in  fact,  the  first  built  in  the  township.  After  remaining 
for  some  time  on  the  farm,  James  Hall,  junr.,  started  a 
store  and  distillery  which  he  sold  in  1830,  going  to  Halifax, 
N.  S.,  where  for  about  two  years  he  practiced  his  profession 
as  a  civil-engineer  and  surveyor.  Returning  to  Lanark,  he 
engaged  for  a  short  time  in  the  tanning  business,  first  in 
Lanark  and  afterwards  in  Peterborough,  to  which  town  he 
removed  in  1834.  Here  he  was  also  concerned  in  extensive 
commercial  operations,  buying  wheat  largely,  and  shipping 
flour  to  Montreal  and  lumber  to  New  York  State,  being  the 
first  man  in  the  neighbourhood  to  engage  in  those  enterprises. 
He  was  elected  as  Parliamentary  representative  of  the  united 
Counties  of  Peterborough  and  Victoria  in  1848,  and  retained 
his  seat  until  1852.  He  gave  up  business  in  1856,  and  in 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1169 

the  same  year  was  appointed  Sheriff  of  the  united  Counties. 
The  separation  of  the  counties  took  place  in  1863,  Mr.  Hall 
retaining  the  shrievalty  of  Peterborough  until  1872,  when 
he  resigned,  and  again  went  into  politics,  being  elected  mem- 
ber of  the  Dominion  House  of  Commons  for  East  Peter- 
borough in  1873.     He  remained  in  public  life  until  1878. 
He  was  a  consistent  Reformer  during  his  parliamentary 
career.     Mr.  Hall  has  also  held  several  municipal  offices,  in- 
cluding that   of   Mayor  of  Peterborough,  and  has  always 
maintained  a  lively  interest  in  anything  tending  to  promote 
the  moral  and  intellectual  welfare  of  the  community,  having 
been  President  of  the  Peterborough  Literaiy  Club  and  Mech- 
anics' Institute,  and  an  active  Sunday  school  worker.     He 
married,  in  1830,  Jane  Albro,  daughter  of  Samuel  Albro,  of 
Dartmouth,  N.  S.,  who  died  in  1868,  and  by  whom  he  had  a 
large   family.     James  Albro  Hall,  his  eldest  son,  succeeded 
to  the  shrievalty  of  Peterborough  on  his  father's  resignation, 
and  one  of  his  daughters  is  the  wife  of  Mr.  Sandford  Fleming. 
Mr.  Hall  was  re-married,  his  present  wife  being  the  daughter 
of  Fergus  Ferguson,  of  Edinburgh,  Scotland. 

Donald  Guthrie,  Q.  C.,  of  Guelph,  who  for  several  years 
represented  South  Wellington  in  the  House  of  Commons,  is  a 
native  of  Edinburgh.  The  date  of  his  birth  is  May  8th, 
1840.  His  father,  Hugh  Guthrie,  was  in  business  for  many 
years  in  the  Scottish  capital.  Donald  Guthrie  came  to 
Canada  when  about  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  was  articled 
as  a  law  student  to  Hon.  Oliver  Mowat.  He  completed  his 
legal  education  in  the  offices  of  Mr.  John  Helliwell,  Tor- 
onto, Hon.  A.  J.  Fergusson-Blair  and  Mr.  John  J.  Kingsmill, 
Guelph.  He  was  admitted  to  practice  as  an  attorney  in 


1170         THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

1863,  called  to  thejbar  in  1866,and  created  a  Queen's  Coun- 
sel in  1876.  Mr.  Gutlirie  is  a  senior  partner  in  the  firm  of 
Guthrie,  Watt  &  Cutten,  of  Guelph,  and  has  a  brilliant 
reputation  as  a  forensic  orator.  He  is  Solicitor  for  the 
County  of  Wellington  and  the  City  of  Guelph,  and  holds 
other  important  and  responsible  positions.  In  1876  he  was 
elected  to  Parliament  for  South  Wellington,  on  the  resi<ma- 

O  7  O 

tion  of  the  sitting  member,  Mr.  David  Stirton,  and  in  1878, 
which  proved  a  year  of  disaster  to  many  Reform  representa- 
tives, was  re-elected.  Mr.  Guthrie  is  one  of  the  leading 

O 

citizens  of  Guelph.  His  wife,  to  whom  he  was  .united/ in 
1863,  is  a  sister  of  Rev.  Dr.  D.  H.  MacVicar,  Principal  of  the 
Presbyterian  College  at  Montreal. 

Hon.  Peter  Gow,  .of  Guelph,  Sheriff  of  the  County  of  Wel- 
lington, and  formerly  a  member  of  the  Ontario  Ministry,  is 
a  native  of  Johnstone,  Renfrewshire,  where  he  was  born  on 
the  20th  of  November,  1818,  being  a  son  of  John  Gow,  a 
boot  and  shoe  manufacturer.  His  mother's  maiden  name 
was  Agnes  Ferguson,  and  she  came  from  Argyllshire.  He 
assisted  in  his  father's  business  until  his  departure  for 
Canada  in  1S42.  After  spending  a  couple  of  years  in  Brock- 
ville,  he  came  to  Guelph,  where  he  built  a  tannery  and  kept 
a  leather  store.  He  continued  this  business  until  about  the 
year  1868.  During  this  period  he  also  built  a  woollen  and 
oatmeal  mill,  and  engaged  in  other  enterprises.  Before 
Guelph  attained  the  dignity  of  a  city,  Mr.  Gow  took  an  ac- 
tive part  in  municipal  affairs.  In  1866,  after  a  lengthened 
period  of  service  in' the  town  council,  he  was  elected  Mayor, 
an  office  which  he  filled  with  credit  to  himself  and  advan- 
tage to  the  citizens,  who,  on  his  retirement,  showed  their  ap- 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1171 

preciation  of  his  labours  in  their  behalf  by  presenting  him 
with  a  service  of  plate.  He  was  the  first  representative  of 
South  Wellington  in  the  Ontario  Parliament  when  it  was 
organized  in  1867 — and  was  re-elected  by  acclamation  in 
1871.  When  the  administration  of  Hon.  John  Sandfield 
Macdonald  was  overthrown  in  the  same  year,  Mr.  Gow  en- 
tered the  Cabinet  organized  by  Mr.  Blake,  with  the  port- 
folio of  Provincial  Secretary.  He  did  not  remain  long  in 
office,however,  retiring  with  his  chief  in  1872,  though  he  re- 
tained his  seat  until  1876,  when  he  was  appointed  Sheriff  of 
Wellington  County.  Mr.  Gow  married,  in  1857,  Mary  Max- 
well Smith,  of  Kirkcudbrightshire,  Scotland,  and  has  a 
family  of  nine  sons  and  one  daughter. 

David  Stirton,  Postmaster  of  Guelph,  was  born  in  Forfar- 
shire,  Scotland,  in  1816,  his  parents,  James  and  Janet  Stir- 
ton,  emigrating  to  Canada  when  David  was  about  eleven 
years  of  age.  The  family  settled  in  the  bush  about  five 
miles  from  the  present  city  of  Guelph.  At  that  time  there 
were  no  schools  in  the  neighbourhood,  so  that,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  rudiments  of  instruction,  which  he  had  ob- 
tained before  leaving  Scotland,  David  Stirton's  education 
was  entirely  self-acquired.  He  shared  in  all  the  labours  of 
""  roughing  it "  in  the  bush,  and  for  forty-five  years,  as  man 
and  boy,  toiled  as  a  farmer  in  the  townships  of  Guelph 
and  Puslinch.  He  was  long  connected  with  the  municipal 
affairs  of  the  latter  township.  For  nineteen  consecutive 
years,  ending  with  1867,  he  represented  South  Wellington 
in  the  old  Canadian  Parliament,  and  for  nine  years  after 
Confederation  retained  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Commons  for 
that  constituency.  It  is  very  seldom  that  any  representa- 
16 


3172        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

tive  of  the  people  can  show  such  a  long-continued  and  un- 
broken term  of  service.  Mr.  Stirton  retired  from  Parlia- 
mentary life  in  1876,  upon  his  appointment  to  the  office  of 
Postmaster  of  Guelph.  He  has  been  twice  married — in 
1842  to  Miss  Mary  Beattie  of  Puslinch,  and  in  1847  to  Miss 
Henrietta  M'Gregor — having  children  by  both  marriages. 
His  brother,  Mr.  William  Stirton  was  the  first  male  child 
born  in  Guelph. 

Col.  John  Walker,  of  London,  was  bom  in  Argyleshire, 
Scotland,  in  1832.  He  was  educated  in  Stirling,  and  had 
been  for  several  years  engaged  in  business  in  Leith  and 
Glasgow,  when,  in  1864,  his  abilities  attracted  the  attention 
of  a  number  of  Scottish  capitalists,  who  were  in  want  of  an 
agent  to  look  after  their  interests  at  Both  well,  Canada 
West,  where  they  had  purchased  some  oil  lands  and  other 
property  from  Hon.  George  Brown.  Col.  Walker  soon  found 
that  he  had  no  easy  task,  as  the  petroleum  excitement  had 
attracted  to  Bothwell  a  large  number  of  adventurers,  in- 
cluding a  lawless  element,  which  required  to  be  kept  in 
order.  He  received  a  special  appointment  as  magistrate,  and 
his  firmness  and  decision  of  character  in  that  capacity  were 
of  much  service  in  checking  the  incipient  tendency  to  dis- 
order. In  1867  he  took  up  his  residence  in  London,  and 
entered  upon  extensive  operations  in  the  manufacture  of 
sulphuric  acid  and  oil  refining.  He  speedily  became  one  of 
the  most  prominent  citizens,  and  acquired  a  great  influence 
in  public  affairs.  He  has  been  concerned  in  a  great  many 
important  commercial  enterprises,  and  in  various  ways  has 
contributed  to  the  progress  and  prosperity  of  the  city  with 
which  his  interests  are  identified.  At  the  time  of  the  Fen- 


TEE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1173 

ian  raid  in  1866,  Col.  Walker  raised  a  company  of  volunteers 
in  Bothwell,  and  afterwards  in  1870,  when  danger  was  again 
apprehended  from  this  source,  he  was  assigned  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  militia  forces  at  Windsor,  having  in  the  mean- 

7  O 

time  attained  the  rank  of  major  in  the  7th  Battalion.  In 
1877  he  was  advanced  to  the  rank  of  Colonel,  and  has  since 
commanded  the  battalion.  Col.  Walker  is  a  member  of  the 
Council  of  the  Dominion  Rifle  Association,  and  one  of  the 
vice-presidents  of  the  Ontario  Rifle  Association.  In  1874 
Col.  Walker  received  the  nomination  of  the  Reformers  of 
London  for  the  House  of  Commons,  his  opponent  being  Hon. 
John  Carl  ing.  The  contest,  which  was  a  very  keen  one, 
resulted  in  Col.  Walker's  being  returned,  but  the  election 
was  controverted,  and  after  a  trial  which  created  intense 
interest  throughout  the  country,  he  was  unseated.  He  en- 
tered upon  another  contest  in  1878,  but  Mr.  Carling  was 
again  successful.  Col.  Walker  has  been  president  of  the 
London  Mechanics'  Institute,  and  also  of  the  St.  Andrew's 
Society. 

Lieut.-Col.  Alexander  Allan  Stevenson,  of  Montreal,  was 
born  in  the  parish  of  Riccarton,  Ayrshire,  in  January,  1829. 
The  family  came  to  Canada  in  1846,  and  he  was  apprenticed 
to  the  printing  trade  in  Montreal,  serving  the  latter  part  of 
his  time  in  the  Herald  office.  In  partnership  with  two 
others,  he  started  the  Sun  newspaper  in  1853.  His  venture 
proved  successful,  the  paper  gaining  a  wide-spread  popular- 
ity. Subsequently,  he  embarked  in  a  general  printing  busi- 
ness, which  he  continued  to  conduct  until  the  year  1879. 
Early  in  his  business  career,  Mr.  Stevenson  joined  the  Mon- 
treal Mechanics'  Institute,  of  which  he  was  for  many  years 


1174        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

a  most  active  member,  having  at  one  time  or  other  held 
every  office  in  the  list.  He  was  connected  with  the  Board 
of  Arts  and  Manufactures  for  Lower  Canada,  which,  after 
Confederation,  became  the  Council  of  Arts  and  Manufactures 
for  the  Province  of  Quebec.  He  has  held  the  position  of 
President  of  the  Council,  and  is  at  present  Treasurer  of  the 
Permanent  Exhibition  Committee  for  Quebec,  which  is  com- 
posed of  members  of  the  Council  of  Agriculture  and  Arts. 
Mr.  Stevenson  is,  perhaps,  more  generally  known  to  the 
public  in  connection  with  military  affairs  than  in  any  other 
capacity.  In  1855  he  assisted  in  organizing  the  celebrated 
Montreal  Field  Battery  of  Artillery.  He  was  promoted  to 
a  Lieutenancy  in  1856,  and  in  the  same  year  succeeded  to 
the  command,  which  position  he  has  since  retained.  In  1858 
this  corps  had  the  honour  of  participating  in  the  great  mili- 
tary celebration  held  in  New  York  in  connection  with  the 
laying  of  the  first  Atlantic  Cable.  The  Montreal  Field 
Battery  is  the  only  British  military  organization  that  has 
carried  the  Union  Jack  through  the  streets  of  New 
York  since  the  evacaution  of  the  British,  a  cen- 
tury ago.  Col.  Stevenson  became  a  Free  Mason  in  1856, 
holding  various  subordinate  offices  in  the  fraternity,  until,  in 
1868,  he  attained  the  highest  position  it  was  in  their  power 
to.  confer,  being  chosen  Grand  Master  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of 
Canada.  This  office  he  held  for  three  successive  years.  He 
was  also  appointed  by  the  Prince  of  Wales,  as  head  of  the 
Knights  Templars,  Knight  Commander  of  the  Temple.  He 
was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Caledonian  Society  of  Mont- 
real, established  in  1855,  being  chosen  Secretary,  and  after- 
wards occupied  the  presidential  chair  for  many  years.  In 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1176 

1870,  Col.  Stevenson  formed  one  of  a  delegation  from  that 
society  to  the  convention  in  New  York,  which  resulted  in 
the  organization  of  the  North  American  United  Caledonia 
Association,  which  exercises  a  continental  jurisdiction  over 
affiliated  clubs  and  societies.  He  was  also  an  active  mem- 
ber of  the  St.  Andrew's  Society  of  Montreal,  of  which  he 
was  elected  president  in  1878.  In  this  capacity  he  received 
the  Marquis  of  Lome  and  the  Princess  Louise  at  the  St. 
Andrew's  ball  held  in  their  honour  on  their  arrival  in  Canada. 
He  was  elected  to  the  City  Council  in  1861,  serving  for  six 
years,  during  part  of  which  time  he  officiated  as  Acting 
Mayor.  In  1882  he  was  again  chosen  to  a  seat  in  the  Coun- 
cil, where  he  has  been  of  great  service  to  the  city.  Colonel 
Stevenson  has  taken  an  active  part  in  politics  on  the  Con- 
servative side.  In  1874,  without  his  knowledge  or  consent, 
he  received  the  Conservative  nomination,  as  a  candidate  for 
the  House  of  Commons,  for  the  constituency  of  Montreal 
West.  His  opponent  was  Mr.  Frederick  McKenzie,  who 
headed  the  poll  on  election  day,  though,  on  the  petition  of 
Col.  Stevenson,  he  was  afterwards  unseated  on  the  ground 
of  bribery  by  agents.  Col.  Stevenson  has  been  put  in  nomi- 
nation as  a  representative  on  two  other  occasions,  but  in  both 
cases  declined  the  honour. 

"Rev.  Matthew  Witherspoon  Maclean,  pastor  of  St.  Andrew's 
Church,  Belleville,  was  born  in  Glasgow,  on  the  llth  of  June, 
1812,  and  completed  his  education  at  the  University  of  that 
city.  While  a  divinity  student,  he  visited  Canada  in  1802, 
and  decided  to  make  this  country  the  field  of  his  labours. 
He  entered  the  Divinity  Hall  of  Queen's  College,  Kingston, 
where  he  studied  two  years,  afterwards  attending  a  session 


1176        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

of  Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  New  Jersey,  where  he 
graduated  in  18GG.  Returning  to  Canada  in  that  year,  he 
was  licensed  by  the  Presbytery  of  Niagara  in  connection 
with  the  Church  of  Scotland.  His  first  pastoral  charge  was 
St.  Andrew's  Church,  Paisley,  in  Bruce  County.  Here  he 
found  abundant  scope  for  his  zeal  and  energy.  The  country 
was  newly  settled,  and  the  spiritual  wants  of  the  people  had 
been  but  inefficiently  and  irregularly  supplied.  Mr.  Maclean 
found  himself  the  only  pastor  belonging  to  his  denomination 
within  forty  miles.  His  work  extended  over  the  large  area 
of  five  townships,  and,  in  addition  to  daily  pastoral  visits,  he 
travelled,  every  Sabbath,  from  twenty  to  forty  miles,  preach- 
ing three  times  a  day.  His  church  increased  so  rapidly 
that  it  became  necessary  to  provide  additional  accommoda- 
tion for  what  had  previously  been  a  sparse  and  dwindling 
congregation.  Three  mission-stations  were  organized  at 
different  points  in  the  neighbourhood.  After  five  years  of 
persistent  and  effective  labour  in  this  place,  Mr.  Maclean  ac- 
cepted a  call  to  the  Mill  Street  Presbyterian  Church  at  Port 
Hope,  where  he  remained  for  two  years.  In  1873  he  went 
to  Belleville,  where  he  became  pastor  of  St.  Andrew's  Church, 
which  is  the  oldest  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  city,  and 
comprises  among  its  members  and  adherents  a  very  large 
proportion  of  the  most  substantial  and  cultivated  people 
of  the  city.  Since  his  acceptance  of  the  pastorate  of  St.  An- 
drew's, Mr.  Maclean  filled  the  office  of  Clerk  of  the  Presby- 
tery of  Kingston,  in  connection  with  the  Church  of  Scotland, 
up  to  the  time  of  the  union  of  the  Presbyterian  Churches  of 
the  Dominion.  Mr.  Maclean  is  an  able  and  scholarly  preach  - 
er,  and  most  zealous  in  the  discharge  of  the  various  duties  of 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1177 

his  high  office.  He  is  also  highly  successful  as  a  platform 
speaker,  uniting  elaboration  of  thought  with  fluency  and 
grace  of  expression. 

George  Ralph  Richardson  Cockburn,  for  upwards  of 
twenty  years  Principal  of  Upper  Canada  College,  is  a  native 
of  Edinburgh,  his  natal  day  being  the  15th  of  February, 
1834.  He  was  educated  at  the  Edinburgh  High  School  and 
University,  and  at  his  graduation  in  1857  took  the  Stratton 
Prize.  He  subsequently  prosecuted  his  classical  studies  in 
Germany  and  France.  In  1858  he  commenced  his  Canadian 
career,  having  been  appointed  by  the  Council  of  Public  In- 
struction to  the  Rectorship  of  the  Model  Grammar  School 
for  Upper  Canada.  He  was  shortly  afterwards  commis- 
sioned by  the  Government  to  inspect  the  higher  educational 
institutions  of  the  Province.  The  results  of  this  investiga- 
tion, which  extended  over  a  period  of  two  years,  were  given 
to  the  public  in  two  comprehensive  reports,  in  which  the 
condition  and  needs  of  higher  education  were  elaborately 
set  forth.  Mr.  Cockburn  then  visited  a  number  of  the  prin- 
cipal institutions  of  learning  in  the  United  States  in  order 
to  familiarize  himself  thoroughly  with  their  methods.  In 
18C1  the  Government  appointed  him  Principal  of  Upper 
Canada  College  and  a  member  of  the  Senate  of  Toronto 
University.  He  has  had  a  long  and  successful  career  as  an 
instructor  of  youth,  and  under  his  able  management  Upper 
Canada  College  has  obtained  a  high  reputation  both  for  the 
thoroughness  of  its  teaching  and  the  excellent  moral  influ- 
ences prevailing  within  its  walls.  There  are  few  men  who 
have  done  more  for  the  cause  of  Canadian  education  than 
Principal  Cockbum.  The  celebrated  Dr.  Schmitz  of  Edin- 


1178        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

burgh  said  of  him,  that  he  was  no  ordinary  scholar,  but  a 
thorough  philologist,  possessing  a  good  insight  into  the 
structure,  the  relations  and  affinities  subsisting  between  the 
ancient  and  modern  languages  of  Europe,  and  also  character- 
ized him  as  one  of  the  best  Latin  scholars  that  Scotland  has 
produced. 

Judge  Henry  Macpherson,  of  Owen  Sound,  is  a  son  of 
Lowther  P.  Macpherson,  barrister,  and  grandson  of  Lieut.  - 
Col.  Donald  Macpherson,  who  commanded  the  fort  at  King- 
ston in  the  beginning  of  the  war  of  1812,  being  afterwards 
removed  to  Quebec.  Donald  Macpherson  was  the  son  of 
Evan  Macpherson  of  Cluny,  the  chief  of  the  clan  Macpher- 
son, who  took  part  in  the  rising  in  favour  of  Prince  Charles 
in  1745.  Henry  Macpherson  was  born  at  Picton,  Prince 
Edward  County,  in  1832,  his  mother  being  a  daughter  of 
Lieut.-Col.  Allan  McLean,  of  Kingston,  for  sixteen  years 
Speaker  of  the  old  Canadian  Assembly.  He  was  educated 
at  Kingston  Grammar  School  and  Queen's  College,  graduat- 
ing from  the  latter  institution  in  1851.  He  studied  law 
with  Mr  Thomas  Kirkpatrick,  of  the  same  city,  and  was 
admitted  as  an  attorney  in  1854  and  called  to  the  bar  the 
following  year.  Mr.  Macpherson  practised  his  profession  at 
Owen  Sound  for  about  ten  years,  and  in  1865  was  made 
Judge  of  the  County  Court  of  the  County  of  Grey.  In  1879 
he  received  the  additional  appointment  of  Surrogate  Judge 
of  the  Maritime  Court.  Judge  Macpherson  is  a  leading 
Freemason,  and  has  held  several  important  positions  in  the 
Order.  He  is  Past  Senior  Grand  Warden  of  the  Grand 
Lodge  of  Canada.  He  takes  a  heartfelt  interest  in  local 
enterprises,  and  has  identified  himself  with  many  organiza- 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1179 

tions  of  a  practical  as  well  as  a  social  character.  He  was 
united  in  marriage  in  May  1875  to  Miss  Eliza  M.  McLean, 
daughter  of  Allan  N.  McLean,  of  Toronto. 

Sir  Alexander  Campbell,  though  of  English  birth  is  of 
Scottish  descent.  He  was  born  in  1821  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Kingston-upon-Hull,  Yorkshire,  his  father  being  Dr. 
James  Campbell.  His  parents  came  to  Canada  when  he  was 
very  young,  first  settling  in  Lachine,  and  afterwards  remov- 
ing to  Kingston,  where  young  Campbell  completed  his  educa- 
cation  at  the  Royal  Grammar  School.  He  then  turned  his 
attention  to  the  study  of  the  law  under  Mr.  Henry  Cassidy, 
a  leading  Kingston  practitioner,  and  upon  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  1839,  entered  the  office  of  Mr.  John  A.  Macdonald. 
He  was  admitted  to  practice  in  1842,  when  he  was  taken 
into  partnership  by  Mr.  Macdonald,  which  continued  for  many 
years.  In  1843  he  was  called  to  the  bar.  Mr.  Campbell1 
now  entered  upon  a  very  successful  and  profitable  course, 
the  firm  receiving  a  very  large  practice.  The  beginning  of 
his  distinguished  public  career  was  his  election  as  an  alder- 
man in  1851.  He  served  in  this  capacity  for  two  years.  In 
1856  he  was  created  a  Queen's  Counsel.  Tha  Legislative 
Council  having  been  made  elective,  Mr.  Campbell,  in  1858, 
came  forward  as  the'Conservative  candidate  for  the  Catara- 
(jui  Division  and  obtained  the  seat  by  a  handsome  majority. 
He  speedily  attained  a  leading  position  in  Parliament  by  his 
ability  and  tact,  and  in  1863  was  elected  Speaker  of  the 
Council  for  the  remainder  of  the  Parliamentary  term.  He 
was  now  regarded  as  one  of  the  foremost  men  in  public  life, 
and  during  the  ministerial  crisis  of  March,  1864  was  sent  for 
by  the  Governor-General  and  requested  to  organize  a  cabinet. 


1180        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

He  did  not  feel  sure  enough  of  his  position  to  accept  the  re- 
sponsibilities of  leadership,  but  took  the  Commissioner-ship 
of  Crown  Lands  in  the  Tache'-Macdonald  administration. 
This  cabinet  fell  to  pieces  before  long,  but  Mr.  Campbell  re- 
tained his  port-folio  in  that  which  succeeded  it.  When  the 
Confederation  scheme  came  up  for  consideration  Mr.  Camp- 
bell strenuously  supported  it.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Union  Conference  which  met  in  Quebec,  in  1864,  and  during 
the  parliamentary  discussion  of  the  subject  was  its  foremost 
•advocate  in  the  Upper  Chamber.  One  of  the  happiest  and 
most  forcible  utterances  of  Mr.  Campbell's  career  is  the 
notable  speech  which  he  delivered  on  the  17th  of  February, 
1865,  in  reply  to  the  antagonists  of  Confederation.  Upon  the 
organization  of  the  Senate  in  1867,  Mr.  Campbell  was  nomi- 
nated as  one  of  the  members,  and  has  since  been  the  leader 
of  the  Conservative  party  in  that  body.  He  took  office  as 
Postmaster-General  in  the  first  ministry  organized  after  Con- 
federation and  retained  that  position  for  about  six  years. 
In  1870  he  went  to  England  in  connection  with  the  negoti- 
ations which  resulted  in  the  Treaty  of  Washington.  In  1873 
he  became  Minister  of  the  Interior,  a  post  which  he  did  not 
retain  long,  as  in  November  of  the  same  year  the  govern- 
ment of  which  he  was  a  member  was  driven  from  office  on 

• 

account  of  the  Pacific  Scandal  revelations.  Mr.  Campbell 
was  leader  of  the  Opposition  in  the  Senate  during  Mr.  Mac- 
kenzie's five  years  tenure  of  office,  and  upon  the  return  of 
the  Conservatives  to  power  in  1878  became  Receiver-Gen- 
eral, a  position  which  he  exchanged  for  his  old  port-folio  as 
Postmaster- General  the  year  following.  In  May  1879,  he 
was  created  a  Knight  of  the  order  of  St.  Michael  and  St. 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1181 

George.  He  was  appointed  Minister  of  Militia  in  1880,  but 
a  readjustment  of  offices,  which  took  place  in  November  of 
that  year,  restored  him  to  the  head  of  the  Post  Office  Depart- 
ment. Sir  Alexander  Campbell  is  a  hardworking  and  use- 
ful public  official,  and  an  influential  party  leader.  He  is  not 
brilliant  or  eloquent  but  eminently  clear-headed,  sound  and 
far-seeing.  The  unvarying  moderation  and  courtesy  of  his 
speeches  have  done  much  to  elevate  the  tone  of  public  dis- 
cussion. In  1855  he  married  Miss  Georgina  Frederica  Locke, 
daughter  of  Mr.  Thomas  Sandwith,  of  Beverley*  England. 

Another  Senator  of  English  birth  and  Scottish  blood  is 
Hon.  James  Skead,  who  was  born  on  the  31st  of  January, 
1816,  in  Cumberland — his  father  William  Skead  being  a 
Scot.  James  was  about  ten  years  of  age  when  his  father 
emigrated.  He  remained  on  a  farm  near  Montreal  for  some 
years,  and  aftenvards  removed  to  Ottawa.  James  Skead 
grew  up  with  very  few  educational  advantages,  and  is  almost 
entirely  self-instructed.  He  engaged  in  lumbering  in  1840' 
and  for  thirty  years  had  a  course  of  almost  uninterrupted 
prosperity,  though  more  recently  he  sustained  some  reverses 
In  18G2  Mr.  Skead  was  elected  as  a  representative  of  Rideau 
Division  to  the  Legislative  Council,  and  retained  that  posi- 
tion until  Confederation,  when  he  was  called  to  the  Senate. 
He  contested  Carleton  unsuccessfully  for  the  Local  Legisla- 
ture in  18G7.  He  was  chosen  President  of  the  Conservative 
Convention  which  met  in  Toronto  in  1874.  Among  the 
public  and  commercial  positions  which  he  has  held  are  those 
of  President  of  the  Dominion  Board  of  Trade,  of  the  Ottawa 
Board  of  Trade,  of  the  Ottawa  Liberal  Conservative  Associ- 
ation and  of  the  Agricultural  and  Arts  Association  of  On- 


1182        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA 

tario.  He  is  largely  interested  in  a  number  of  commercial 
and  railway  enterprises  and  has  done  a  great  deal  in  various 
directions  to  promote  the  progress  and  welfare  of  the  locality 
where  his  wealth  has  been  acquired.  He  married  in  1842 
Miss  Rosanna  McKay,  a  native  of  the  North  of  Ireland, 
and  has  a  large  family. 

Allan  Macdonell  was  born  in  Toronto,  about  the  year 
1810,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1832,  having  studied 
law  in  the  office  of  Mr.  H.  J.  Boulton,  then  Attorney  Gen- 
eral. In  the  following  year  he  entered  into  partnership 
with  the  late  Sir  Allan  N.  Macnab.  Shortly  previous  to 
the  rebellion  of  1837,  he  was  appointed  to  the  shrievalty 
of  the  Gore  District.  When  the  outbreak  occurred,  Sheriff 
Macdonell  raised  a  troop  of  cavalry,  arming  and  equipping 
them  at  his  own  expense  an  outlay  for  which  he  was  never  re- 
imbursed. This  corps  originally  enrolled  for  six  months,  re- 
mained in  service  for  a  considerably  longer  period.  Mr.  Mac- 
donell resigned  the  Gore  shrievalty,  after  holding  the  posi- 
tion for  about  five  years.  In  the  winter  of  1846,  he  obtain- 
ed from  the  Government  a  license  for  exploring  the  shore  of 
Lake  Superior  for  mines,  and  with  the  aid  of  friends  fitted 
out  a  prospecting  expedition.  At  that  time,  Lake  Superior 
was  but  little  known.  There  were  naither  steamers  nor 
sailing  vessels  upon  its  waters  and  the  only  available  mode 
of  transit  was  by  canoe  or  open  boat.  The  expedition  con- 
sisting of  eleven  men  with  the  necessary  provisions  and 
equipments,  and  an  open  boat  of  good  size  started  early  in 
the  spring  of  18.47.  They  experienced  a  good  deal  of  diffi- 
culty in  obtaining  guides  and  voyageurs,  as  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company  claimed  the  exclusive  control  of  the  Lake  Superior 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1183 

region.    Mr.  Macdonell  was  told  that  he  must  report  the  ex- 
pedition  at  the  Hudson  Bay  forts  along  the  coast,   but  he 
refused  to  do  this,  and  his  enterprise  was  regarded  with  a 
good  deal  of  jealousy  by  the  Company.     He   was   followed 
by  another   party  of   raining  prospectors  headed    by  Mr. 
Shephard,  who   represented  the  interests   of  a   number  of 
Montreal  investors.     The  latter  body  afterwards   organized 
as  the  Montreal  Company,  were  on  a  friendly   footing  with 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  and  had  the  advantage  of  their 
assistance  in  the   enterprise.     Mr.  Macdonell,  continued  his 
explorations  with  good  success  until   November,   when   he 
proceeded  to  Montreal  and  reported  his  discoveries  to   the 
Government.     The  result  of   his  expedition  was  the   form- 
ation of  the  Quebec  Company,  in  which  he  merged  his  inter- 
est in  the  locations  secured.     Mining  operations  were  carri- 
ed on   successfully  for  several  years.     A  good  deal  of  diffi- 
culty was  experienced,  owing  to  the  disregard  of  the  rights 
of  the  Indians  to  the  soil.     In  selling  the  lands   occupied  by 
the  Quebec  Company,  which  were  then  in  the  occupation  of 
the    Aborigines,  the  Government  altogether  overlooked  the 
claims  of  the  Indians  for  compensation.     The  matter  was 
repeatedly  brought  to  their  attention.     Deputations   of  the 
Chiefs  of  the  band  were  sent  to  the  seat  of  Government  to 
urge  their  claims.     Mr.  Macdonell,  who  was    impressed  with 
the  necessity  of  dealing  justly  with  the  Indians,  accompani- 
ed them  on  two  occasions.  The  Chiefs  had  an  interview  with 
Lord  Elgin,  and  one  of  them  plainly   told   him  that   unless 
their  rights  were  recognised  and  compensation  awarded  them 
they  would  drive  the  miners  from  their  lands.     Lord  Elgin 
promised  that  a  treaty   should  be  made   with   them   under 


1184        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

which  their  interests  would  be  secured.  Mr.  Macdonell, 
subsequently  had  two  or  three  interviews  with  Hon.  Robert 
Baldwin,  the  then  Premier,  who  authorized  him  to  assure 
the  Indians  that  they  should  have  every  justice,  and  that 
commissioners  would  be  sent  without  delay  to  negotiate  a 
treaty.  This  was  done  shortly  afterwards,  but  owing  to  the 
incompetency  of  the  commissioners  appointed,  no  under- 
standing was  arrived  at.  The  result  was  that  the  Indians 
put  their  threat  into  execution  and  resumed  possession  of 
their  property,  closing  the  mines  and  driving  off  the  work- 
men to  the  number  of  about  150,  without,  however,  doing  any 
injury  either  to  persons  or  property.  In  this  course  they  were 
supported  by  Mr.  Macdonell,  who  felt  that  in  no  other  way 
could  they  obtain  their  rights.  A  military  expedition  was 
sent  up  to  the  mines  to  restore  order,  and  Mr.  Macdonell 
and  two  of  the  Indian  chiefs  were  arrested  and  brought  to 
Toronto.  On  being  taken  before  the  Chief  Justice  under  a 
writ  of  Habeas  Corpus,  they  were  at  once  released,  and  the 
sum  of  $400  was  paid  the  Indians  as  compensation.  The 
question  of  the  Indian  title  to  the  lands  was  finally  settled 
in  1850,  when  the  Government  appointed  Hon.  William  B. 
Robinson  to  negotiate  a  treaty  under  which  the  Indians  re- 
ceived $20,000  down  and  a  further  annual  payment  of  $4,000 
to  be  increased  in  proportion  to  the  sales  of  land,  in  return 
for  the  surrender  of  their  title  to  all  the  region  extending 
Northward  from  Lake  Superior  to  the  height  of  land. 

Mr.  Macdonell  continued  for  several  years  longer  con- 
nected with  mining  and  other  interests  in  the  Lake  Superior 
region.  In  1850  he  projected  the  construction  of  a  canal 
around  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  on  the  Canadian  side,  and  had 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1185- 

the  requisite  surveys  and  estimates  prepared,  and  a  com- 
pany formed  to  undertake  the  work.  The  charter  was  re- 
fused by  the  Government,  however,  being  opposed  by  the 
Lower  Canadians.  The  want  was  supplied  a  year  or  two 
later  by  the  construction  of  a  canal  on  the  American  side  of 
the  Sault.  Mr.  Macdonell  afterwards  applied  to  Parliament 
for  a  charter  authorizing  the  construction  of  a  railway 
westward  from  the  head  of  Lake  Superior  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  In  his  explorations  of  the  country  lying  west  of 
the  Lake,  he  had  acquired  from  Indians  and  voyageurs  whom 
he  met  a  good  knowledge  of  the  country  and  its  capabilities, 
and  at  that  early  date  published  a  series  of  letters  in  the 
Toronto  newspapers  advocating  the  scheme  of  a  Pacific 
Jlailwa)''.  The  application  to  Parliament  was  not  successful, 
as  the  Railway  Committee  threw  out  the  bill  on  the  ground 
that  it  was  premature.  Mr.  Macdonell,  however,  continued 
to  devote  himself  to  the  object  of  opening  up  communica- 
tion with  the  North  West,  and  in  1858  procured  from  Par- 
liament the  charter  of  the  North  West  Transit  Company, 
conferring  upon  them  very  extensive  powers  including  rail- 
road and  canal  construction,  and  the  improvement  of  water 
courses  in  any  portion  of  Canada,  west  of  Lake  Superior,  or 
north  of  that  Lake  or  Lake  Huron.  Sir  Allan  Macnab  was 
at  one  time  President,  and  Mr.  John'Beverley  Robinson,  Sec- 
retary of  the  company,  which,  however,  did  not  prove  a  suc- 
cessful institution,  and  after  some  years  ceased  to  exist. 
Mr.  Macdonell  is  now  a  resident  of  Toronto. 

The  name  of  Mrs.  Moodie  is  well-known,  both  to  Cana- 
dian and  to  English  readers  in  connection  with  her  descrip- 
tive writings — Roughing  it  in  the  Bash,  a  book  depicting 


1186        THE  SCOT  I2V  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

the  difficulties  of  a  settler's  life  half  a  century  ago  is  the 
most  popular  of  her  books.  Mrs.  Moodie  is  English  by 
birth  and  parentage,  being  a  member  of  the  celebrated 
Strickland  family.  Her  husband,  Mr.  J.  W.  Dunbar  Moodie, 
was  of  ancient  Orcadian  stock.  The  name  was  originally 
spelled  Mudie,  and  is  of  Scandinavian  origin  ;  being  de- 
rived from  the  old  Norwegian  Earls  of  Orkney.  His  great 
grandfather,  Captain  James  Moodie  of  the  Royal  Navy,  was 
A  distinguished  officer  who  rendered  important  services  to 
his  country  in  Spain  where  he  succeeded  in  relieving  the 
town  of  Denia  when  it  was  closely  besieged  by  the  French. 
He  was  selected  by  the  government  after  the  death  of  Queen 
Anne  to  convey  her  successor,  King  George  I.,  to  England, 
and  was  murdered  in  the  streets  of  Kirkwall,  Orkney,  in 
1725,  at  the  age  of  eighty,  by  Sir  James  Stewart,  an  adhe- 
rent of  the  Pretender. 

The  murderer  was  afterwards  brought  to  justice  through 
the  instrumentality  of  the  son  of  his  victim,  who  was  only 
nine  years  of  age  when  his  father  was  killed ;  but  deter- 
mined to  revenge  his  death,  and  many  years  afterwards 
delivered  the  assassin  who  had  again  taken  up  arms  for  the 
Pretender  over  to  the  authorities.  Sir  James,  however, 
committed  suicide  in  the  Tower.  J.  W.  Dunbar  Moodie  was 
the  fourth  son  of  Major  James  Moodie  of  Melsetter,  in  the 
Orkney  Islands,  where  he  was  born  on  the  7th  October,  1707. 
He  entered  the  army  as  second  Lieutenant  of  the  R.  N.  B. 
Fusiliers  or  21st  Regiment  of  foot  in  1813,  when  about 
sixteen  years  of  age.  He  had  an  early  experience  of  the 
horrors  of  war,  being  engaged  in  the  night  attack  at  Bergen  - 
op-zoom  on  the  8th  of  March,  1814,  when  after  entering 


TEE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.         1187 

the  works  with  a  small  party  of  soldiers  in  the  midst  of 
darkness  and  confusion  he  succeeded  in  forcing  open  one  of 
the  gates  and  lowering  the  drawbridge.  On  this  occasion  he 
sustained  a  severe  wound  in  the  left  wrist  from  a  musket 
ball  which  disabled  his  hand  and  arm.  He  shortly  afte'r- 
wards  retired  from  the  service  on  half-pay.  In  1810 
Mr.  Moodie  joined  his  elder  brother  Benjamin  who  had 
emigrated  to  South  Africa,  and  remained  in  that  coun- 
try about  ten  years.  On  his  return  to  England  in  1829, 
•he  met  at  the  house  of  a  friend  in  London,  Susanna 
Strickland,  whom  he  shortly  afterwards  married.  Mrs. 
Moodie  is  the  daughter  of  Thomas  Strickland,  of  Rey- 
don  Hall,  near  Southwold  in  Suffolk,  several  of  whose 
family  became  widely  known  as  popular  writers.  Miss 
Agnes  Strickland,  an  elder  sister  of  Mrs.  Moodie's,  pub- 
lished a  large  number  of  poetical,  fictitious  and  histori- 
cal works,  the  most  extensive  and  best  known  of  which 
is  her  Lives  of  the  Queens  of  England.  Some  years 
previous  to  her  marriage  with  Mr.  Moodie,  Susanna 
Strickland  had  united  with  her  sister  Agnes  in  the  pub- 
lication of  a  volume  of  Patriotic  Songs  and  had  writ- 
ten several  other  books.  In  1832,  Mr.  Moodie  emigrated  to 
Canada  West  and  took  up  land  as  a  half-pay  officer,  in  the 
Township  of  Douro,  near  'Peterborough.  The  experience  of 
the  family,  like  that  of  very  many  others  whose  previous 
training  has  not  been  such  as  to  fit  them  to  encounter 
the  hardships  or  endure  with  equanimity  the  rough  as- 
sociations and  coarse  surroundings  of  backwoods  life, 
was  extremely  disheartening.  The  stoiy  of  their  strug- 
gles to  gain  a  livelihood  upon  a  bush  fann  for  seven 
17 


1188        THE  SCOT  IN  DRITISU  NORTH  AMERICA. 

years  is  graphically  told  in  Mrs.  Moodie's  work  entitled 
Roughing  it  in  the  Bush,  which  won  for  its  talented 
authoress  a  wide  spread  reputation.  The  book  is  a  narra- 
tive of  plain  facts  sot  forth  in  a  telling,  vivacious  style, 
and  while  it  does  not  in  any  way  belittle  the  real  advan- 
tages presented  by  Canada  as  a  field  for  emigrants  accus- 
tomed to  hard  manual  labour,  emphasizes  a  truth  that 
it  is  well  should  be  known  and  heeded  by  intending  emi- 
grants, namely,  that  persons  delicately  reared,  accustomed  to 
a  life  of  luxury,  and  dependent  upon  the  services  of  others, 
in  the  household,  do  not  as  a  rule  succeed  in  obtaining  either 
pleasure  or  profit  from  a  farmer's  life  in  Canada.  Of  course 
the  circumstances  have  vastly  altered  since  Mrs.  Moodie's 
book  was  written,  and  many  of  the  hardships  to  which  the 
Moodies  were  subjected  are  now  greatly  mitigated  even  on  the 
outskirts  of  civilization,  but  the  experience  of  thousands  of 
later  emigrants  goes  to  confirm  their  experience  that  the  in- 
bred instincts  and  long  established  habits,  such  as  fit  a  man 
for  a  professional  career  in  England,  do  not  impart  the 
qualifications  needed  for  a  practical  farmer  in  Canada.  It 
would  have  been  better  both  for  the  country  and  for  those 
who  have  made  the  mistake  of  attempting  a  mode  of  living 
for  which  they  were  in  no  respect  adapted,  had  this  been 
more  generally  understood  in  Britain. 

On  the  breaking  out  of  the  rebellion  in  1837,  Mr.  Moodie 
immediately  offered  his  services  to  the  Government,  and 
served  for  several  months  during  the  winter  of  that  year  in 
the  Provincial  Militia  at  Toronto,  and  afterwards  on  the 
Niagara  frontier  holding  the  rank  of  Captain  in  the  Queen's 
Own  Regiment.  In  the  fall  cf  1838  he  was  appointed  cap- 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1189 

tain  and  pay-master  to  sixteen  companies  of  militia  distribut- 
ed along  the  shores  of  Lake  Ontario  and  the  Bay  of  Quinte. 
In  November,  1839,  he  was  appointed  by  Sir  George  Arthur 
to  the  shrievalty  of  the  District  of  Victoria,  now  the  county 
of  Hastings.  This  position  he  held  until  1863,  when  he  re- 
signed. Colonel  Moodie  had  decided  literary  tastes,  and  pub- 
lished several  volumes  principally  relating  to  his  travels 
nnQ  adventures.  Ten  Years  in  South  Africa  was  issued 
in  England  in  1835,  favourably  received  by  the  press  and 
public,  and  in  1866  a  book  from  his  pen  entitled  Scenes 
and  Adventures  as  a  Soldier  and  Settler,  including  a  num- 
ber of  miscellaneous  sketches  some  of  which  had  previously 
appeared  in  serial  form  was  published  in  Montreal.  Col. 
Hoodie's  death  occurred  on  the  22nd  October,  1869.  His 
widow  is  still  living,  at  an  advanced  age  and  is  a  resident  of 
Toronto.  A  revised  edition  of  Roughing  it  in  the  Bush 
was  issued  in  Toronto  in  1871.  Among  her  other  works  are, 
Life  in  the  Clearings,  Flora  Lindsay,  Mark  Hurdlcstone, 
The  World  before  Them,  Matrimonial  Speculations,  and 
Geoffrey  Monclon. 

Dr.  Daniel  Clark,  Superintendent  of  the  Provincial  Luna- 
tic Asylum,  Toronto,  was  born  in  Granton,  Inverness-shire, 
Scotland,  on  the  29th  of  August,  1835.  His  father,  Alexan- 
der Clark,  was  a  native  of  Morayshire.  The  family  came 
to  this  country  in  1841,  and  settled  near  Port  Dover,  in  the 
County  of  Norfolk,  where  his  father  engaged  in  farming. 
In  1850  Daniel  went  to  California,  where  he  realized  a  large 
amount  of  money  by  placer  mining.  Returning  to  Canada 
the  following  year,  he  at  once  set  about  obtaining  an  educa- 
tion. After  attending  the  Simcce  Grammar  School  for  some 


1190        THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

time,  he  pursued  classical  and  medical  studies  at  Toronto, 
graduating  from  the  Victoria  University  Medical  Depart- 
ment in  1858.  He  then  went  to  Europe,  and  took  a  course 
of  lectures  at  Edinburgh  University,  and  visited  the  London 
and  Paris  hospitals.  After  an  extended  European  tour,  he 

returned  home  in  the  summer  of  1859,  and  commenced  the 
practice  of  his  profession  at  Princeton,  Oxford  County.     In. 

18G4)  he  joined  the  Federal  armies  of  the  Potomac  and 
the  James,  being  attached  to  the  Surgeon -general's  depart- 
ment as  a  volunteer  surgeon.  He  returned  to  Princeton 
at  the  close  of  the  war.  Dr.  Clark  was,  for  many  years,  a 
frequent  contributor  to  periodical  literature,  especially  to- 
the  Medical  Journal,  Stewart's  Quarterly,  the  Maritime 
Monthly,  and  the  Canadian  Monthly.  He  is  the  author 
of  a  work  entitled  Pen  Photographs,  comprising  descrip- 
tive sketches  of  eminent  persons,  essays,  and  scenes  of 
travel,  published  in  1873 ;  and  also  of  a  novel,  dealing 
with  the  Canadian  Rebellion  of  1837,  called  Josiah  Garth. 
In  addition  to  his  miscellaneous  literary  work,  Dr.  Clark 
has  written  considerably  upon  professional  subjects'  In- 
1872  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Medical  Council  of 
Ontario,  and  was  re-elected  to  the  position  in  1875.  Dur- 
ing the  two  following  years  he  filled  the  Presidential  chair 
of  the  Council1  Among  other  positions  occupied  by  Dr. 
Clark,  which  testify  to,  the  estimation  in  which  he  is 
held  by  the  medical  profession,  have  been  those  of  Exam- 
iner in  Chemistry  for  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons of  Ontario,  and  Examiner  in  Obstetrics  and  Medical 
Jurisprudence  for  Toronto  University.  In  December,  1875, 
ne  was  appointed  to  the  arduous  and  responsible  post,  which 


THE  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA.        1101 

he  now  holds,  of  Superintendent  of  the  Provincial  Lunatic 
Asylum  at  Toronto.  This  step  was  taken  in  accordance 
with  the  general  desire  of  the  medical  profession,  as  unani- 
mously expressed  by  the  Medical  Council  and  other  organi- 
zations representing  that  body.  The  result  has  more  than 
justified  the  opinion  then  formed  of  Dr.  Clark's  exceptional 
qualifications  for  the  charge.  As  a  specialist  in  the  treat- 
ment of  insanity  he  has  no  rival  among  the  profession  in 

Ontario. 

Our  task  is  done.  It  would  be  an  easy  matter  to  prolong 
it  indefinitely,  as  there  are  many  Scotsmen  who  have  taken 
minor,  though  still  important  and  noteworthy  parts  in  the 
public,  professional,  and  commercial  life  of  the  Dominion, 
the  story  of  whose  lives  would  further  illustrate  the  na- 
tional characteristics  of  determination,  prudence,  and  integ- 
rity. But  our  limitations  as  to  space  will  not  permit  us  to 
follow  up  the  practically  limitless  vistas  which  broaden  out 
upon  all  sides.  The  line  of  discrimination  between  those  in- 
cluded and  the  greater  number  whose  personal  stories  remain 
untold  may  be  deemed  an  arbitrary,  perchance  an  erratic 
one ;  nevertheless,  it  was  essential  to  draw  it  somewhere, 
lest  the  narration  should  "  stretch  out  to  the  crack  of  doom." 

The  history  of  the  Scot  in  British  North  America  has 
virtually  been  the  history  of  the  country  since  its  occu. 
pancy  by  the  British.  In  politics,  especially,-  the  Scot  has 
been,  unquestionably,  the  most  prominent  of  the  varied 
elements  which  have  gone  to  the  making  of  our  national 
life.  By  all  the  qualities  of  statesmanship,  of  leadership, 
of  diplomacy,  men  of  Scottish  origin  have  proved  their  claim 
to  the  foremost  place  among  those  who  have  laid  the  founda- 


1192        TUB  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

tions  of  Canadian  nationality.  The  splendid  intellectual 
and  moral  gifts  of  the  race  have  lost  nothing  by  transplant- 
ation to  an  alien  soil,  but  have  rather  become  strengthened 
by  the  strenuous  conflict  and  pressure  of  unaccustomed  so- 
cial conditions,  and  the  action  and  reaction  of  new  forces. 
The  influence  of  Scottish  opinions,  associations,  and  habits 
of  thought  upon  the  future  of  Canada  must  be  one  of  the- 
most  potent  forces  in  forming  and  moulding  the  national 
character  now  in  process  of  evolution.  The  strong  religious- 
instincts,  the  keen  moral  perceptions,  the  resolute  will,  tire- 
less energy,  and  acute  logical  faculty  of  the  Scot,  tempered 
and  modified  by  the  qualities  of  the  peoples  who  share  our 
national  heritage,  will  enter  very  largely  into  the  fibre  of 
the  coming  race. 

Modern  linguistic  and  ethnological  research  has  exhausted 
its  ingenuity  in  the  only  partially  successful  endeavour  to 
trace  back  the  threads  of  race  origin  which  make  up  the 
warp  and  woof  of  the  composite  Anglo-Saxon  people.  A 
document  which  should  show,  with  measurable  precision ,. 
the  respective  proportions  of  the  elements  which,  since  the 
time  of  the  Saxon  invasion,  have  mingled  their  blood  in  the 
now  homogeneous  English  people,  would  be  deemed  of  price- 
less scientific  value.  It  may  well  be  that  at  some  future 
day,  when  the  Canadian  has  become  a  well-defined  national 
type  among  the  races  of  the  earth,  blending  indissolubly, 
the  characteristics  of  the  ancestral  stocks,  something  more 
than  a  mere  historical  or  antiquarian  interest  may  attach  to 
the  record  of  the  SCOT  IN  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA. 

THE   END. 


INDEX. 


PAGE  i 

Adam,  Jean vol.  i.  176  j 

Ainslie,  Hew vol.  i.  227 

Albany  Duke  of vol.  i.  212 

Alexander,  Hon.  George,  vol.  iii.  738 

Alexander,  Sir  William vol.  i.  231 

Allan,  Hon.  G.  W vol.  iii.  730 

Allan,  Sir  H.  vol.  iii.,  765;  vol.  iv.  1157 

Allan,  Hon.  Wm vol.  ii.  410 

Allen,  Ethan vol.  i.  258 

Angus,  Robert  B vol.  iv.  1076 

Annand,  Hon.  W vol.  iii.  667 

Archibald,  Lt  -Gov.  A.  G.  vol.  iv.  1034 
Argyll,  John  Campbell.  Duke  of, 

vol.  i.  162 

Argyll,  Marquis  of  vol.  i.  159 

Armstrong,  Lieut.-Gov vol.  i.  292 

Arnold,  Benedict vol.  i  258 

Arthur,  Sir  George vol.  ii.  480 

Auchmuty,  Robert vol.  i.  293 

Aylmer,  Lord vol.  ii.  498 

B-«llie,  Joanna vol.  i.  18") 

Baillie,  Lady  Grisell vol.  i.  174 

Bain,  Thomas vol.  iii.  740 

Baliol vol.  i.  67 

Ballantyne  Thomas vol.  iii.  801 

Bannatyne,  Hon.  A.  G.  B.  vol.  iv.  1091 

Bannerman  Sir  Alex'r. .  .vol.  iii.  704 

Barbour,  John vol.  i.  89 

Barclay,  Capt.  R.  H voL  ii.  37 1 

Bayn    Rev.  Dr vol.  iii.  907 

Beaton,  Cardinal vol.  i.  100 

Bell,  Rev.  Dr.  George. . .  .vol.  iii.  908 

Bell,  Hon.  Herbert vol.  iii.  718 

Bennett,  James  Gordon  . .  .vol.  i.  227 

Bethune,  James vol.  iii.  757 

Bathune,  Bishop vol.  iii.  874 

Bethune,  Rev.  John vol.  iii.  878 

Bethune,  Rev.  Dr.  J vol.  iii.  876 

Bishop,  Archibald vol.  iii.  802 

Black,  Rev.  Dr.  John.... vol.  iv.  1040 

Blaiu,  David ,.  vol.  iii.  741 

Blanchard,  Gov.  Richard,  vol.  iv.  11 10 

Brock,  Gen.,  vol.  i.,  313  :  vol.  ii.  331 

Brown,  Hon.  Geo vol.  ii.  562 

Brown,  Hon.  Sta'ey vo'.  iii.  668 

Brown  John  Gordon vol.  iv.  1123 

Br*wn,  Lt.-Col.  James,,  .vol.  iii.  742 


PACK 

Brown,  Peter vol.  ii.  563 

Bruce,  John vol.  iv.  1030 

t'ruce,  King  Robert vol.  i.  74 

Bryce,  Prof.  George,  vol.  iii.,  848 

vol.  iv.  1052 

Buchan,  Earl  of vol.  i.  209 

Buchanan,  Hon.  Tsaac vol.  ii.  540 

Burnet,  Rev.  Robert vol.  iii.  873 

Burns,  Rev.  Dr.  R.  F. . .  .vol.  iii.  862 

Burns,  Rev.  Dr.  R.,  . . . . vol.  iii.,  854 

Caldwell,  W.  C voL  iv.  1167 

Cameron,  Bishop  John.. .vol.  iii.  845 

Cameron,  Hector vol.  i v.  165 

Cameron,  John  voL  iv.  1125 

Camer.m,  Hon.  J.  Hilly'd..vol.  ii.  560 

Cameron,  Hon.  Malcolm . .  vol,  ii.  530 

Cameron,  Hon.  M.  C vol.  ii.  604 

Campbell,  Sir  Alexander,  .vol.  iv.  1179 

Campbfll, Sir  Archibald.  ..vol.  ii.  514 

Campbell,  Colin  (.Shelbunie)vol.i.  318 

Campbell,  Sir  Colin vol.  ii.  507 

Campbell,  LieutcCol.  C.  J..voL  iii.  678 

Campbell,  Sir  Donald vol.  iii.  70.3 

Campbell,  George vol.  iii.  927 

Campbell,  Major vol.  i.  163 

Campbell,  Hon.  Stewart. .  vol.  iii.  682 

Campbell,  Sir  William vol.  ii.  .459 

Campbell,  Vice- Admiral.  ..vol.  i.  288 

Carleton,  Gov.  Guy voL  i.  256 

Carnegie,  John vol.  iii.  759 

Cathcart,  Earl vol.  ii.  606 

Caven,  Rev.  Principal.  ...vol.  iiL  82fi 

Chtlmers,  George voL  i.  227 

Champlain,  Samuel vol.  iv.  947 

Chi-tholm,  Daniel  B vol.  iii.  742 

Chi*h'  1  n,  Kenneth vol.  iii.  801 

Christie,  Hon.  David vol.  ii.  602 

Christie,  Hon.  W.  J vol.  iv.  1084 

Claverhouse,  Graham  of — vol.  i.  132 

Clark.  Dr.  Daniel vol.  iv.  1189 

Cochran,  Archdeacon voL  iv.  1052 

Cochrane,  Rev.  Dr vol.  iii.  866 

Cockburn,  Alison vol.  i.  177 

Cockbura,  G.  R.  R vol.  iv.  1177 

Cockburn,  Hon.  James. ..  vol.  iii.  72H 

Co'ebrooke,  Sir  William,  .vol.  iii.  685 

Collins,  Francis '. . .  vol.  ii.  461 


1194 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Coltman,  Hon.  Wm.  B...vol.  iv.  992 

Cook,  Capt vol.  iv.  1105 

Cook.  Rev.  Dr.  John vol.  iii.  905 

Copeland,  Thos  &  Alex. .  ..vol.  i.  279 

Cormack,  Mr vol.  i.  287 

Craig,  Sir  Jas. .  vol.  i.  303.   vol.  ii.  4()i; 

Crooks.  Hon.  James vol.  ii.  349 

Crookshank,  Hon.  Geo vol.  ii.  350 

Cross,  Judge  Alex vol.  iii.  923 

Cunningham,  Robert vol.  iii.  744 

Currie,  Hon.  J.  G vol.  iii.  760 

Curry,  Thomas vol.  i  v.  956 

Dalhousie,  Earl  of vol.  i.  282 

Dalhousie,  Lord vol.  ii.  493 

Davidson,  James vol.  i.  273 

Davidson,  William vol.  i.  265 

Dawson,  Prof.  J. W '. .  vol.  iii.  818 

Dawson,  S.  J vol.  iv.  1082 

DeLevis,  Gen vol.  i.  249 

Dennis,  Col vol.  iv.  1032 

Dennistoun,  Judge voL  iii.  914 

Denonville,  Marquis  De. . .  voL  iv.  937 

De  Ramsay,  Commandant,  vol.  i.  247 

Dick,  Wm.  R vol.  iv.  1100 

Dickson,  Hon.  Walter  H . .  vol.  iii.  730 

Dingwall,  W.  M vol.  iv.  1121 

Dongan,  Go  v vol.  i  v.  937 

Dougall,  John vol.  iv.  1153 

Dougall,  James  Redpath ..  vol.  iv.  1153 

Douglas,  Comte  de vol.  i.  248 

Douglas,  Capt vol.  iv.  1105 

Douglas,  Sir  Howard vol.  i.  269 

Douglas,  James  W vol.  iv.  1121 

Douglas,  Sir  James vol.  iv.  1107 

Douglas,  Rev.  President,  .vol.  iii.  841 

Doull,  Robert vol.  iu.  681 

Drake,  Sir  Francis vol.  iv.  1104 

Drummond,  Sir  Gordon.  ..vol.  ii.  381 

Drummond,  J.  A.  K vol.  iv.  1100 

Duff,  Commodore vol  i.  288 

Duff,  Hon.  Charles vol.  iii.  926 

Duff erin,  Lord vol.  iii.  765 

Dunbar,  William vol.  i.  89 

Dunlop,  Dr.  William vol.  ii.  445 

Dunsmuir,  Robert vol.  iv.  1121 

Durham,  Lord vol.  ii.  484 

Eckford,  Henry vol.  i.  759 

Edgar,  J.  D vol.  iii.  744 

Elgin,  Lord vol.  ii.  608 

Elliott,  Jean ' vol.  i.  91 

Fairbairn,  T.  Me.  C Vol.  iii.  757 

Fergusson,  Hon.  Adam . . .  vol.  ii.  537 

Fergusson-Blair,  Hon.  A.  J.vol.  ii.  538 

Ferrier,  Lieut-Col.  A.  D.  vol.  Hi.  756 

Ferrier,  Hon.  James vol.  ii.  602 

Findlay,  James vol.  iii.  751 

Finlay,  Hugh voL  ii.  406 

Finlay,  James vol.  iv.  956 

Fleming,  Gavin vol.  iii.     752 

Fleming,  Sandford vol.  iv.  1067 

Forbes,  Dr vol.  i.    321 

Fraser,  Hon.  C.  F vol,  iii.  758 

Fraser,  de  Berry,  Hon.  J . .  vol.  i.  263 

vol.  iii.  761 


PAGE 

Fraser,  Hun.  James voL  i.     264 

Fraser,  John vol.  iv,  1137 

Fraser,  Hon.  J.  J vol.  i.     319 

vol.  iii.     <;:ir> 
Fraser,  Simon  (explorer),  .vol.  iv.     963 

Fraser  Simon vol.  i.     236 

Fraser  William vol.  i.     276 

Fuca vol.  iv.  1104 

Fyfe,   Rev.  Principal vol.  iii.    843 

Galbraith,  Daniel vol.  iii.     752 

Gait,  Hon.  Justice vol.  iii.     910 

Gait,  John. vol.  iv.  114!t 

Gait,  Sir  Alex.  T vol.  ii.     f,!K> 

Gibson,  Lieut.-CoL  J.  M.  vol.  iii.     794 

Gibson.  Thomas vol.  Hi.     7% 

Gordon,  Hon.  Daniel.... vol.  iii.     718 

Gordon,  Gen.  Patrick vol.  i.     216 

Gore,  Governor vol.  i.    313 

Gosford,  Lord vol.  ii.     501 

Gourlay, Robt.Fleming  vol. ii  417,    645 

Gow,  Hon.  Peter vol.  iv.  1170 

Grahame,  Thomas vol.  iii.    756 

Graham,  Capt.  Lord  J vol.  i.     288 

Grant,  Cuthbert vol.  iv.     985 

Grant,  Donald vol.  iii.     680 

Grant  Daniel vol.  i.     316 

Grant,  Rev.  Dr.  G.  M.  vol.  iii. ,  829  ; 

vol.  iv.  1061 
Grant,  Dr.,  James  Alex.  .vol.  iii.     746 

Grant,  Gen. ,  U.  S vol.  1.    226 

Grant,  Col.  W.,Colquhoun  vol.  iv.  1112 

Grant,  Sir  William vol.  i.     313 

Grant,  William vol.  ii.     406 

Gray,  Joseph vol.  i.     316 

Grei?,  Samuel vol.  i.     217 

Gunn,  John vol.  iv.  1099 

Gunn,  Hon.  Donald vol.  iv.  10% 

Guthrie,  Donald vol.  iv.  1169 

Haggart,  John  G. vol.  i>i.     753 

Hall,  James vol.  iv.  1168 

Hamilton,  Hon.  John vol.  ii.    539 

Hampton,  Gen. vol.  ii.    375 

Hart,  Rev.  Thomas vol.  iv.  1052 

Hay,  Charles vol.  iv.  1100 

Hay,  David  D vol.  iii.     796 

Hay,  Robert vol.  iii.     810 

Head,  Sir  Edmund  W . . . .  vol.  iii.     688 

Head  Sir  Francis  B vol.  ii.     470 

Holmes,  Hon.  John vol.  i.    321 

vol.  iii.     6N3 

Hope,  Hon.  Adam vol.  iii.    737 

Houston,  William vol.  iv.  1127 

Howard,  Allan  McLean.  ..vol.  i.    319 

Howe,  Hon.  Joseph vol.  iii.    650 

Hull,  Gen vol.  ii.     333 

Hunter,  Archdeacon vol.  iv.  1053 

Hunter,  J.  H   vol.  iii.     802 

Hunter,  Gen.  Peter vol.  i.     311 

Iberville,  Pierre  LeMoyne.vol.  iv.     954 

Innes,  Rev.  Canon vol.  iii.     882 

limes,  James vol.  iv.  1135 

Inkster,  Hon.  Colin vol.  iv.  1097 

Irving,  ^Emilius vol.  i.    31 5 

Irving,  Hon.  Jacob  M vol.  L     314 


INDEX. 


1195 


PAGE 

Irving,  Col.  P.  JE> vol.  i.  314 

Jack,  Wm.  Brydone vol.  in.  839 

Jennings,  Ke\f.  Dr vol.  iii.  858 

Johnston,  Hon.  J.  W vol.  iii.  672 

Jones,  Rev.  David vol.  iv.  1041 

Keith,  Hon.  Alex vol.  iii.  676 

Keith,  Marshal vol.  i.  21!) 

Kempt,  Sir  James vol.  ii.  -4'.O 

Kerkt,  Sir  David vol.  L  233 

Kirk,  Col vol.  i.  322 

Kuox,  John vol.  i.  102 

Lang,  Rev.  Gavin vol.  iii.  871 

Lainjf,  Rev.  John vol.  iii.  870 

Laird,  Hon.  Alex vol.  iii.  714 

Laird,  Hon.  Alex.,  jr vol.  iii.  716 

Laird,  Hon.  David vol.  iii.  714 

Lauderdale,  Lord vol.  i.  127 

Leach,  Archdeacon vol.  iii.  881 

Lees,  William vol.  iii.  799 

Leslie,  Hon.  James vol.  ii.  539 

Lesslie,  Edward vol.  iv.  1145 

Lesslie,  James vol.  iv.  1145 

Lesslit?,  John vol.  iv.  1145 

Lesslie,  William vol.  iv.  1146 

Letellier,  Lieut.-Gov vol.  iii.  779 

Livingston,  James .voL  iii.  802 

Lizars,  Judge  D.  H vol.  iii.  \\'1'1 

Lymburner,  Adam vol.  ii.  398 

Lyndsay,  Sir  David vol.  i.  90 

Me  Adam,  Hon.  John vol.  iii.  697 

McCallum,  Rev.  John.... vol.  iv.  1053 

McCallum,  Lachlan vol.  iv.  11G4 

McCosh,  Re v.  Dr vol.  i.  S27 

McCulloch,  Rev.  Dr vol.  ii.  505 

McDonald,  Hon.  Donald.. vol.  iii.  731 

McDonald,  Hon.  James.. vol.  yi.  670 

McDonald,  Hon.  Hugh. ..voL  iii.  669 

McDonald,  Wm vol.  i.  322 

McDougall,  Rev.  Geo vol.  iv.  1056 

McDouall,  Major-Gen. ..  .vol.  ii.  357 

McDowall,  Rev.  Robt vol.  iv.  111'.'.' 

McEachran,  Bishop vol.  i.  286 

McEwan,  Capt vol.  ii.  33!) 

McEwen,  Hon.  Arthur. ..  .vol.  i.  319 

McGill.  Hon.  James vol.  i.  313 

McGill,  Hon.  James vol.  ii.  355 

McGill,  Hon.  John.    vol.  ii.  350 

McGill,  Hon.  Peter vol.  ii.  355 

McGill,  Hon.  William..  ..vol.  iii.  717 

McGillivray,  Donald voL  iv.  1121 

McGregor,  Rov.  Dr vol.  i.  278 

Mclntyre,  Duncan vol.  iv.  107;. 

Mclnnea,  Hon.  T.  R vol.  iii.  736 

Mclntyre,  Lieut vol.  ii.  339 

Mclntyre,  Bishop  Peter,  .vol.  iii.  Mil 

Mclntyre,  Dr.  Peter  A.,  vol.  iii.  720 

McKay,  Angus vol.  iv.  1100 

McKay,  Donald vol.  i.  228 

McKay,  Col.  Hugh vol.  i.  317 

McKay,  Hon.  James vol  iv.  10% 

McKay,  John vol.  i.  317 

McKay,  Lieut.  Col voL  ii.  383 


McKellar,  Hon.  Arch vol.  iii. 

McKenna,  Duncan vol.  i. 

McKenna,  Hon.  G vol.  L 

McKenzie,  Kenneth  (Manitoba), 

vol.  iv. 

McKim,  Robert vol  iii. 

McKinnon,  Bishop vol.  j. 

McKinnon,  John. .  vol.  i. 

McKinnon,  Hon,  John  .  .vol.  iii. 
McKnight,  Rev.  Princip'l,  vol.  iii. 
McLachlan,  Alexander. .  .vol.  iv. 

McLean,  Gen.  Allan vol.  ii. 

McLeau,  Archibald ..  vol.  i.,  2(55, 

McLean,  Donald vol.  ii. 

McLean,  Chief  Justice vol.  ii. 

McLean, Col.  (13th Hussars)  vol. ii. 
McLean,  Hon.  James  R. .  .voL  i. 

McLean,  Bishop  John vd.  iv. 

McLean,  Gen.  Lachlan...  .vo'.  ii. 

McLean,  Hon.  Neil vol.  ii. 

McLeod,  Capt.  Martin vol.  ii. 

McMicken,  Hon.  Gilbert,  vol.  iv. 
McMurrich,  Hon.  John.. vol.  iii. 

McNab,  Allan vol.  ii. 

Mci^ab,  Sir  Allan  N.,  vol.  ii.,  347, 

McNeal,  Capt vol.  ii. 

McNeill,  Archibald vol.  iii. 

McNeill,  W.  S vol  i. 

McNeill,  William vol.  i. 

McNutt,  Alex vol,  i . 

McQuarters.  Sergt.  Hugh.  .vol.  i. 

McQueen,  Ihomaa voL  iv. 

McTavish,  Geo.  Arch'd,.  .vol.  iv. 

McTavish,  Hon.  John vol.  iv. 

McVicar,  Rev.  Principal,  vol.  iii. 

Macaulay,  Sir  J.  B vol.  ii. 

MacColl,  Evan vol.  iv. 

Macconochie,  Major vol.  ii. 

Macdonald,  Hon.Arch.  J.vol.  iii. 

Macdonald,  Judge  A vol.  iii. 

Macdonald,  Hon.  D.  A . . .  vol.  iii. 

Macdonald,  Flora vol.  i. 

Macdonald,  Judjre,  H  S.  .vol.  iii. 
Macdonald,  Sir  John  A...  vol.  ii. 
Macdonald,  Jno.  (Toronto)  vol. iii. 
Macdonald,  Hon.  J.  S. . .  .vol.  ii. 
Macdonald.  Hon.  Win.  J.  vol.  iii. 

Macdonald,  Judge.  K vol.  iii. 

Macdonald,  Vicar-Gen.. .  .vol.  iii. 

Macdonell,  Allan vol.  iv. 

Macdonell,  A.(Red  River)  vol.  iv. 
Macdonell,  Bishop  Alex.  .vol.  iii. 

Macdonell,  Rev.  D.  J vol  iii. 

Macdonell,  Lieut. -Col.  G.  vol.  ii. 
Macdonell,  Lt.-Col.  John,  vol.  ii. 
Macdonell,  Gov.  Miles. . .  .vol.  iv 
Macdouvall,  John  Lorn.. vol.  iii. 
M:i ilougall,  Hon.  W v.»l.  ii. 

vol.  iv. 

Macdougall,  W vol.  iii. 

MacFarlane.  Hon.  Alex.. vol.  iii. 
MacGeorge,  Rev.  Dean. ...vol.  iii. 
MacGre/or,  Rev.  Alex.. .vol.  iii. 
M:u-(iillivray,  Angus. ..  .vol.  iii. 

Machray,  Bishop vol.  iv. 

Mack,  William vol.  iii. 


PAGE 

788 

317 
317 

1099 
802 
BU 
318 
87fi 
839 

1154 
342 
318 
366 
343 
342 
319 

1055 
343 
343 
358 

1098 
733 
347 
532 
366 
721 
321 
321 
270 
2(iO 

1129 

1121 

1099 
835 
340 

1143 
384 
719 
915 
747 
151 
916 
543 
807 
523 
736 
915 
895 

1182 
980 
888 
867 
3i;-_> 
337 
976 
806 
584 

K  ••_".» 

748 
683 
888 
902 
928 
1053 
800 


1196 


INDEX. 


Mackay,  Alex vol.  iii.    ti7'.> 

Mackay,  Hon.  Judge vol.  iii.    924 

Mackenzie,  Sir  Alex vol.  iv.     9(iO 

Mackenzie,  Hon.  Alex vol.  ii.     577 

Mackenzie  Donald vol.  iv.     1015 

Mackenzie,  Hope  F vol.  ii.     578 

Mackenzie,  Rev.  John. ...vol.  iii.     879 

Mackenzie,  Judge  K vol.  iii    913 

Mackenzie,  Wm.  Lyon  vol.  ii.  451,  646 
Mackerra?,  Prof.  J.  H.  ..vol.  iii.     833 

MacLean.  Gen.  Allan vol.  i.     320 

Maclean  John vol.  iv.  1131 

Maclean,  Gen.  Francis vol.  i.     320 

Maclean,  Sir  Lachlan vol.  ii.     341 

MacmasteV,  Donald vol.  iii.     804 

Macnab,  Rev.  Dr.  Alex... .vol.  iii.    883 

Macoun,  Prof vol.  iv.  1064 

Macphewon,  Hon.  D.  L.  .vol.  iii.     731 

Macpherson,  Judge  H vol.  iii    918 

Miit-queen,  Judge  D.  S...vol.  iii.    917 

Mactavish,  Donald vol.  iv.  1030 

Mactavish,  Gov.  Wm vol.  iv.  1030 

Marshall,  Hon.  Robt vol.  iii.     698 

Martin,  Abraham vol.  i,     235 

Marquette,  Rev.  Father. .  .vol.  iv.  948 

Mary  Queen  of  Scotta vol.  i.    105 

Mathieson,  Rev.  Dr vol.  iii.     851 

Matheson,  Rev.  Alex vol.  iv  1052 

Matheson.Hon.  llodrick . .  vol.  iii.     734 

Mears.  Capt vol,  iv.  1105 

Melville,  Andrew Vol.  i.     112 

Metcalf ,  Lord .    vol.  ii.     565 

Mitchell,  Hon.  Peter vol.  iii.     693 

Monro,  George vol.  ii.    540 

Montcalm,  Gen vol.  i.     240 

Montgomery,  Hon.  Donald,  vol.  i.,     321 

720 
321 


vol.  iii. 
Montgomery,  Daniel vol.  i. 


Montgomery,  Col.  Richard. vol.  i.     '258 
Moodie.Col  J.VV.  Dunbar.vol.  iv.  1186 

Moodie,  Mrs  Susanna vol.  iv.  1185 

476 


Nelson,  Dr.  Wolf  red vol.  ii.     502 

Nisbet,  llev.  Jame-» vol.  iv.   lo.'.o 

Norquay,  Hon.  John vol.  iv.  1093 

Ogilvie,  Lieut. -Col vol.  i.      322 

vol.  iii.  764,     803 
Oliver,  Thomas vol.  iii.     74'.i 

Pagan,  John vol.  i.  273 

Paterson,  William vol.  iii.  750 

Patterson,   Robert vol.  i.  273 

Patton,  Archdeacon  vol:  iii.  880 

Patton.  Hon.  James  vol.  ii.  598 

Proctor,  Gen vol.  ii.  372 

Pringle,  Judge  J.  F vol.  iii.  921 

Proudfuot,  Vice-Chanc — vol.  iii.  112 

Ramsay,  Andrew  M vol.  i.    21£ 

Ramsay,  Judge vol.  iii.     925 

Reid,  Kev.  Dr.  W vol.  iii.     864 

Riel,  Louis vol.  iv.  103'V 

Ritchie.  Chief  Justice vol.  iii.    692 

Ritchie,  Hon.  J.  W vol.  iii.    671 

Robertson,  Alex vol.  iii.     802 

Robertson,  Dr.  David vol.  iii.     800 

Robertson,  Rev.  James. .  .vol,  iv.  1052 

Robertson,  Hon.  J.    G,   vol.  i.,    322 

vol.  iii.     761 

Robertson,  Hoii  Robert . . .  vol.  i.     318 

Robertson,  Wm vol.  i.     318 

Robertson,  Wm.  A vol.  iv.  1121 

Robinson,  C.  Blackett vol.  iv.  1128 

Kobson,  Hon.  John vol.  iv.  1120 

Rollo,  Col.  Lord vol.  i.     285 

Rose,  Geo.  Maclean vol.  iv.  1138 

Rose,  Sir  John vol.  ii.    597 

Ross,  Lt.-Col.  A.  M vol.  iii.    798 

Koss,  A.  W vol.  iv.  1091 

Ross,  George  W vol.  iii.     753 

Ross,  Rjev.  Prof.  J vol.  iii.     837 

Ko38,  Hon.J.  J vol.  iii.     763 

Ross,  Jas.  (Red  River) ....  vol.  i  v.  1033 


Moodie,  Col vol.  ii. 

Morris,  Hon.  A vol.  iii.  738,  i  Ross,  James vol.  iii. 

vol.  iv.  1035    Koss,  Judge  W.  A vol.  iii. 

Morris,  Hon.  James vol.  ii.     536  '  Roy,  Rev.  James vol.  iii. 


Morris,  Hon.  William.  ..vol.  ii.  364-535 

Morrison,  Angus.   vol.  iii.     748 

Morrison,  Daniel vol.  iv.  1149 


Russell,  Hon.  Peter vol.  i. 


754 
920 
901 
311 


Sage,  Rev.  Donald vol.  iv.  1037 


Mori-icon,  Hon.  J.  C vol.  ii.     594  |  S  tlaberry,  Chas.  Michel de,  vol.  ii.     37t> 

Morrison,  Col.  Joseph  W.  .vol.  ii.     380  j  Sanderson,  Robert vol.  ii.     402 


Morrison,  William vol.  iv.  1121 

Mortimer,  E  Iward... vol.  i.  280 

Mowat,  Hon.  Oliver,  .vol,  ii.  58 », 

vol.  iii.  725 

Muir,  Capt vol.  ii.  333 

Muirhead,  Hon.  Wm vol.  iii.  696 


Scott,  Judge  A.  F vol  iii.     919 

t<cott,  Col.  Her jules vol.  ii.     387 

Sco  t,  Thomas vol.  i  v.  1032 


Scott,  W.  H vol.  iii. 

becord.  Mrs vol.  ii. 

Selkirk,  Earl  of vol.  iv. 


Munro,  Rev.  Andrew  H. .  vol.  iii.  903  i  Semple,  Governor vol.  iv. 

Murray,  Alex vol.  iv.  1098 

Murray,  Gen.  James,  .vol.  i.  249,  296 

Murray,  Gen.  John vol.  ii.  371 

Murray.  Regent 109 

Nairne,  Baroness vol.  i.  179 

Nairn.  T.  Mel voL  iii.  797 

Napier  family vol.  i.  198 

Neilson,  Hon  John vol.  ii.    489 


793 

965 
986 

Sharp,  Archbishop vol.  i.     132 

Shaw,  Major-Gen.  /Eneas,  vol.  ii.    332 

Simcoe,  Governor vol.  i.     311 

Simpson,  Sir  George vol.  iv.  1001 

Simpson,  Hon.  John vol.  iii.     735 

Simpson,  Thomas vol.  iv.     999 

Simpson,  Wemyss  M vol.  iv.  1082 

Sinclair,  Donald vol.  iii.     799 

Sinclair,  Judge,  J.  S vol.  iii.     922 


INDEX. 


119r 


PAGE 

Sinclair,  Hon.  Peter vol.  iii.    717 

Skinner,  James  Acheson.  vol.  iii.     812 

Smith,  Donald  A vcl.  iv.  1077 

Smyth,  Gen vol.  ii.     360 

Somerville,  Alex vol.  iv.  1132 

Somerville,  James vol.  iv.  1135 

Spence,  David vol.  iv.  1099 

Starnes,  Hon.  Henry vol.  i.     322 

St.  Clair,  Major-Gen.  A.  ..vol.  i.    225 

Stephen,  George vol.  iv.  1074 

Stevens,  Judge,  J.  G vol.  iii.     929 

Stevenson,  A.  A vol.  iv.   1173 

Stevenson,  Hon.  B.  R vol.  iii.     699 

Stewart,  Hon.  Alex vol.  iii.     177 

286 
285 


Stewart,  John vol.  i. 

Stewart,  Judge vol.  i. 


30!  I 


Stobo,  Major  R vol.  i. 

Strachan.  Bishop vol.  ii.  427,  645 

Strange,  Dr.,  O.  S 

Stuart,  Andrew vol.  ii.    489 

Stuart,  Sir  James vol.  ii.     487 

Sutherland,  Alex.  M vol.  iv.  1100 

Sutherland,  Rev.  Dr.  A. ..vol.  iii.  897 
Sutherland,  Hugh  McK.  .vol.  iv.  1092 
Sutherland,  Elder  James. .vol.  iv.  1038 
Sutherland,  Hon.  John  . .  .vol.  iii.  735 

Sutherland,  Lieut vol.  ii.     333 

Sydenham,  Lord  vol.  ii.  518-522 

Taylor,  Rev.  Dr.  Lachlin  vol.  iii.  899 

Tecumseh vol.  ii.  374 

Thorn,  Judge vol.  iv.  1023 

Tolmie,  Dr.  W.  F vol.  iv.  1121 

Topp,  Rev.  Dr vol.  iii.  860 

Torrance,  Hon.  Judge. . .  .vol.  iii.  926 

Ure,  Rev.  Dr vol.  iii.  865 


Van  Egmond,  Gen vol.  ii.  476 

Vancouver,  Capt vol.  iv.  1105 

Van  Renseelaer,  Gen vol.  ii.  334 

Verendrye,  Sieur  De  La.  .vol.  iv.  948 

Vetch,  Samuel vol.  i.  288 

Wallace,  Admiral  Sir  John.  vol.  i.  288 

Wallace,  Robert vol.  iv.  1120 

Wallace,  Sir  William vol.  i.  69 

Watson,  Robert vol.  iv.  1092 

Waugh,  Well  wood vol.  i.  275 

Wedderburn,  Alex vol.  i.  319 

Wedderburn,  Hon.  Wm.. .  .vol.  i.  319 

vol.  iii.  699 

West,  Rev.  John vol.  iv,  1039 

Wightman,  Hon.  Joseph,  .vol.  iii.  719" 

Wilkie,  Rev.  Dr.  D vol.  iii.  904 

Willis,  Rev.  Dr.  Michael.. vol.  iii.  823 

Wilmot,  L vol.  iii.  684 

Wilson,  Alexander vol.  L  228 

Wilson,  Chief  Justice vol.  ii.  596 

Wilson,  Prof.  Daniel vol.  iii.  814 

Wishart,  George vol.  i.  101 

Wolfe,  Gen vol.  i.  239 

Wolseley,  Col.  Garnet vol.  iv.  1034 

Wright,  Alex.  W vol.  iv,  1136 

Wylie,  David vol.  iv.  1141 

Young,  Hon.  Charles vol.  iii.  712 

Young,  Fiulay  McN vol.  iv.  1100 

Young,  Prof.  G.P  .......  vol.  iii.  821 

Young,  James vol.  iii.  750 

Young,  Hon.   John vol.  ii.  600 

Young,  John vol.  i.  262: 

Youn^,  Sir  William vol.  iii.  6C4 


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This  Book  is  dedicated  by  permission  to  His  EXCELLENCY  THE  EARL  OF  DUF- 
FERIN,  and  has  a  general  and  a  special  interest.  Amongst  IRISHMEN  alone  Mr. 
Davin  cannot  fail  to  have  a  large  audience.  But  as  history  is  above  party,  and 
as  the  book  shows  without  sectarian  or  political  bias  what  a  great  branch  of  the 
Aryan  race  has  done  for  and  in  Canada,  his  audience  must  be  swelled  by  all 
who  take  an  interest  in  historical  pursuits. 

In  the  introductory  portions,  the  writer  having  dwelt  on  the  characteristics 
of  this  GREAT  DOMINION  shows  what  are  the  Irishman's  antecedents,  reviewing 
in  a  graphic  manner  the  HISTORY  OF  IRELAND,  and  bringing  out  features  of 
that  history  hitherto  ignored.  A  reader  of  that  portion  of  the  work  will  have  a 
more  accurate  view  respecting  IRISH  HISTORY  than  he  would  bring  away  from 
half-a-dozen  popular  or  unpopular  histories.  Slanders  are  refuted,  and  pictures 
of  successive  ages  placed  in  a  true  light.  The  two  great  periods— the  purely 
Celtic  and  the  mixed  period — are  distinguished,  and  by  reference  to  political 
and  ethnological  facts,  prejudices  are  shown  to  be  unfounded,  and  events  ex- 
plained. 

WHAT  IRISHMEN  HAVE  DONE  FOR  THE  BRITISH  EMPIRE,  IN  WAR,  IN  ART,  IN 
POLITICS,  IN  LITERATURE — a  large  subject  too  frecmently  slighted — is  dwelt  on, 
and  the  great  facts  noted.  THE  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  IRISHMEN  ON  THE  CONTIXKNT 
OF  EUROPE,  IN  THE  AMERICAN  COLONIES,  AND  SUBSEQUENTLY  IN  THE  UNITED 
STATES,  are  recounted. 

The  chapters  which  immediately  follow  are  entitled,  "  LAYING  THE  FOUNDA- 
TION OF  CANADA."  It  is  not  generally  known  that  that  foundation  was  laid  by 
the  genius  and  statesmanship  of  an  Irishman,  and  the  intelligence  and  energy 
of  Irishmen  of  various  classes  co-operating.  Other  chapters  will,  we  believe, 
prove  to  be  full  of  novelty  and  instruction  to  all,  and  worthy  of  being  studied, 
apart  from  attractions  of  style,  which,  according  to  a  leading  journal,  is  so 
much  MR.  DAVIN'S  OWN,  that  his  anonymous  articles  might  as  well  be  signed. 

The  chapters  dealing  with  the  IRISH  SETTLER  will  surprise  the  reading  pub- 
lic of  Canada.  Canadians  generally,  have  little  idea  how  early,  how  extensive, 
and  how  successful  have  been  the  IRISH  SETTLEMENTS.  In  these  chapters  the 


NATIONAL  SERIES. 

Character  of  the  Irish  settler,  the  admirable  qualities  he  brought  with  him  to 
the  hush,  his  adversities  and  successes,  are  all  described.  The  careers  of  the 
leading  settlers  are  portrayed  ;  and  the  HISTORY  of  every  TOWN  AND  TOWN- 
SHIP from  which  reliable  data  could  be  obtained,  where  the  Irishman  has 
figured,  is  before  the  reader  in  the  most  pleasant  and  suggestive  manner. 

"  The  salient  points  of  the  war  of  1812  are  treated  in  masterly  style  ;  fitting 
prominence  being  given  to  Fitzgibbon  and  other  Irish  heroes.  Irish  immigra- 
tion from  1815  to  1837,  is  exhaustively  treated,  and  the  author  has  evidently 
spared  no  pains  in  bringing  to  light  the  history  of  all  the  families  whose  names 
are  familiar  words  with  us  to-day.  The  Blakes,  very  properly,  occupy  a  fore- 
most place,  and  many,  who  are  not  Irishmen,  will  feel  grateful  for  the  account 
of  the  Hon.  W.  H.  Blake,  and  his  distinguished  son.  With  18H7,  Mr.  Davin, 
enters  on  the  finest  portions  of  his  book  ;  Responsible  Government."  The 
pages  describing  the  character,  and  unfolding  the  career  of  Robert  Baldwin  are 
well  worth  careful  consideration.  Almost  equally  well  written  are  the  portraits 
of  Sullivan,  Hincks  and  Draper. 

"The'great  men  in  our  Canadian  history  who  boast  of  Irish  birth  or  origin, 
from  Sir  Guy  Carleton  to  Lord  Dufferin,  may  be  termed,  as  the  most  brilliant 
•of  them,  Judge  Sullivan,  once  called  himself  and  his  party — '  Legion,  for  we 
are  many.' — In  this  elaborate  volume  they  are  all  examined  and  sketched  singly 
and  as  they  pose  themselves  in  groups,  one  generation  after  another.  The 
churches,  the  professions,  art,  science,  literature,  commerce,  agriculture,  and 
the  press,  each  supplies  its  Irish  notabilities  in  prolific  abundance.  The 
wars  and  the  rebellion  gave  superfluous  additional  evidence  of  the  traditional 
bravery  of  Erin's  sons.  In  our  political  life,  the  names  cf  Carleton,  Baldwin, 
Blake,  Hincks,  Daly,  Sullivan  and  McGee,  are  familiar  to  us  all.  Of  the  strug- 
gle for  Responsible  Government,  Mr.  Davin  writes  with  great  fulness  and  ac- 
curacy, and  the  movement  fir  Confederation  is  full  of  valuable  historical  fact, 
of  anecdote  and  practical  illustration,  and  we  take  pleasure  in  acknowledging 
our  own  obligations  to  Mr.  Davin,  and  also  to  his  publishers,  for  this  handsome 
and  useful  addition  to  our  Canadian  literatuie." 


ead  the  following  extracts  from  opinions  of  the  press.  It  is  noticeable  that 
•not  an  unfavourable  criticism  has  been  made.  We  could  use  as  many  more,  but  as 
.the  following  embrace  leading  newspapers  of  (on  ordinary  occasions)  the  most  di- 
venjent  views,  we  think  they  will  suffice  to  satisfy  the  most  sceptical  that  this  is  really 
"  a  great  work  " 


'  •  •  "  To  give  even  the  faintent  idea  of  its  contents  would  far  exceed  the  space 
we  can  allot  to  the  sufjcct  .  .  .  Mr.  Davin  brings  to  his  work  and  labour  of 
love  unbounded  enthusiasm  and  intense  sympathy  with  the  people  whose  story 
he  relates  .  .  .  Open  where  we  may  the  greatest  affluence  of  reference  and 
amplitude  of  record  are  manifest."  .  .  .  — Toronto  Globe. 

'  '  '  "  There  never  has  been  such  a  formal  assertion  of  the  greatness  of 
•the  Irish  race.  .  .  .  It  is  a  great  work  if  only  the  amount  of  labour  ex- 
pended on  it  is  taken  into  consideration,  not  to  speak  at  all  of  the  literary  skLl 
and  the  erudition  it  displays.  .  .  .  One  of  the  largest  literary  undertakings 
•conceived  and  carried  out  in  Canada.  We  are  convinced  that  it  will  have  an 
assured  place  in  standard  historical  literature."  .  .  .  — Toronto  Mail. 

"  It  is  extremely  difficult,  within  the  brief  space  at  our  command,  to  give  an 
•adequate  idea  of  this  work,  extending  as  it  does  over  seven  hundred  pages,  and 
literally  crammed  as  it  is  with  fact,  description,  anecdote  and  reflection.  If 
we  succeed  in  conveying  to  the  reader  a  general  idea  of  its  character,  and  in 
commending  it  to  his  attentive  perusal,  we  must  be  content.  There  are  two  fea- 
tures in  the  book  which  are  specially  notable— THE  AUTHOR'S  FAIRNESS  TO 

OTHER  NATIONALITIES    AND  TO  THEIR  SHARE   IN  THE  WORK  OF  BUILDING   UP  THE 

DOMINION,  and  his  tact  in  d<aling  with  those  unhappy  contentions  which  have 


RATIONAL  SERIES. 

*<o  long  divided  a  high  Bpirited,  generous  and  gifted  people.  It  may  be  that  Eng- 
lishmen and  Scotchmen  will  take  exception  to  srme  <  f  the  claims  asf  erted  for 
Irishmen  by  Mr.  Davin  ;  but  they  caniot  allege  that  he  has  failed  TO  GIVH  AM- 
PLE CREDIT  TO  MEN  OF  ALL  ORIGINS  WHENEVER  THHR  \VOR|:S  AND  DEEDS  HAVE 
BEEN  CONNECTED  \vl  ill  1IH.SK  WHO  AHE  HIS  1MMI  DIATE  C<  NCERN  .  .  .  The 

amount  of  research  is  as  astonishing  as  the  information  afforded  is  valuable  and 
interesting  .  .  .  The  events  antecedei-t  to  the  rebellion,  the  brief  struggle 
itself  and  the  subsequent  contest  for  Responsible  Government,  could  hardly 
have  been  better  drawn  .  .  .  There  are  yet  unmentioned  the  distinct  de- 
part ments  of  professional  eminence  attained  by  Irishmen,  their  position  in 
the  Churches,  in  the  Educational  interests,  and  in  pur  history  ;  political,  social, 
and  industrial  to  the  present  hour.  We  do  not  think  it  will  be  found  that  one 
Irishman  of  distinction  has  been  lost  bight  of.  Let  us  add  that  Mr.  Davin's  stj  le 
is  exceedingly  lively  and  entertaining,  flowing  smooihly  and  pleasantly  alonp, 
from  title  page  to  that  word  which  comes  at  last  to  men  and  books  alike — 
"  Finis."  The  volume  is  a  i  redit  to  both  author  and  publishers,  and  its  priiit- 
ing,  bindinar-  its  mechanical  execution  generally— are  creditable  to  all  con- 
cerned. '  The  Irishman  in  Canada,"  to  sum  up,  is  a  splendid  vindication  of  its 
subject  and  a  n-ost  complete  account  of  him  and  his  work  in  the  Di  minion. 
To  any  patriotic  Irishman  it.  ought  to  be  a  household  book,  and  by  Canadians 
of  other  races  it  will  be  found  an  accurate  and  valuable  repertory  of  informa- 
tion."— Canadian  Monthly  Mayazine. 

ENTIRELY  PKEE  FROM  ANYTHING  APPR  ACHING  BIGOTRY.  We  cordially  con- 
yratnlate  Mr.  Davin  on  having  done  his  woik— no  easy  OLC—  so  well.  The  in- 
formation contained  iu  the  volume  is  most  valuable. 

THERE  is  NOT  AN  OKFKXSIVK  EXPRESSION  IN  THE  WHOLE  OF  IT,  EITHER  OF  NA- 
TIONALITY OR  RhLiGiON.  Its  plan  is  admirable,  its  btyle  that  of  a  scholar  and 
a  thinker  "...  — Montreal  Gazelle, 

.  .  .  "  Remembering  the  disadvantage  at  which  Ireland  stands  in  many 
particulars,  as  compared  with  Great  Britain,  we  are  really  led  to  wonder  that 
in  the  pulpit,  at  the  bar,  and  in  politics  the  Irish  should  have  taken  so  promi- 
nent a  position.  The  style  of  the  work  is  clear  and  vigorous  and  the  book  will 
be  found  both  entertaining  and  instructive."  .  .  .  — Christian  Guardian, 
Toronto. 

.  .  .  Brilliant  we  were  ready  to  suppose  it  would  be  ;  scholarly  we  v/ere 
ready  to  auppose  it  would  be  ;  eloquent  we  were  ready  to  suppose  it  would  be  ; 
and  we  were  not  unprepared  to  find  that  it  possesses  all  those  qualities  in  even 
a  high  degree.  But  judging  by  the  more  ephemeral  effoit"  incident  to  his  ordi- 
nary labours  as  a  Hterateur,  we  did  not  expect  that  Mr.  Davin's  book  would 
have  shown  such  research  and  industry.  .  .  .  lt<  fina  writing  shows  pains; 
its  arrangement  shows  patierce  ;  its  breadth  of  facts  shows  labour  ;  its  applica- 
tion of  those  facts  elaborate  thought,  whose  touch  of  loving  warmth  but  takes 
off  the  chill  without  disturbing  the  judicial  temper  of  the  historian.  .  .  . 
— Irith  Canadian,  Toronto. 

A  pleasing  mosaic  of  Canadian  life,  histo)  y  and  manners  illustrating  the  toil 
some  experience  and  courageous  energy  of  the  pioneer  of  the  wilderness,  as  well 
as  the  material  processes  and  political  changes  whereby  the  country  has  arrived 
at  its  present  >  talus.  .  .  .  The  book  commences  with  an  historical  survey 
of  Ireland  and  its  people,  » nd  recounts  with  just  pride  their  deeds  of  valour  and 
wi.-e  statecraft  in  other  climes  ;  traces  repiesentatives  of  Irish  familiea,  great 
and  little,  to  Canada,  and  shows  how  they  plunged  into  the  forest  and  battled 
against  the  many  obstacles  and  discouragements  which  beset  backwoods  life. 

.    .    .    --London  Free  Press. 

About  seven  hundred  pages  are  filled  with  sketches  of  prominent  Irish  Cana- 
dians, and  with  a  record  of  their  words  and  deeds  in  the  press,  the  Parliament, 
the  pulpit,  and  in  every  department  of  social  and  public  Life.  Mr.  Davin  is  to 
be  congratulated  on  having  given  ( 'anadians  a  book  both  readable  and  insti  uc- 
tive.  .  .  .  — Ottawa  Free  Presf. 

We  have  little  doubt  that  many  of  the  readers  of  this  volume  will,  by  means 
of  it,  be  led  to  a  deeper  study  of  Canadian  History  than  they  have  ever  pre- 
viously made.—  St.  John,  N.B.,  Tilt  graph. 


NATIONAL  SERIES. 

.  .  .  We  have  to  congratulate  Mr.  Ravin  on  the  work  before  us  as  a  cre- 
ditable evidence  of  his  ability  ami  a  graceful  tribute  to  his  countrymen  in 
Canada.  .  .  .  The  volume  is  a  handsome  one,  as  to  paper  and  typography, 
and  the  binding,  in  every  style,  reflects  much  credit  on  Toronto  workmanship. 
Messrs.  Maclear  &  Co  ,  may  be  congratulated  on  the  creditable  manner  in  which 
they  have  performed  their  share  of  the  work,  and  Mr.  Davin  is  to  be  felicitated 
on  his  choice  of  publishers.—  Tribune,  Toronto. 

.    .     .     "  Equal  in  rank  with  Green's  history  of  the  English  people."    .     . 
.    —  St.  John,  (N.B.),  Watchman. 

.  .  .  In  reading  Mr.  Nicholas  Flood  Davin  on  the  "  Irishman  in  Canada," 
one  learns  their  indebtedness  to  the  many  talented  men  who  have  left  the 
Emerald  Isle  in  past  days  to  make  Canada  their  home.  .  .  .  Mr.  Davin  is 
to  be  congratulated  on  having  given  Canadians  a  book  both  readable  and  in- 
structive." .  .  .  — London  Advertiser. 

.  .  .  "  It  gives  us  sincere  pleasure  to  add  our  meed  of  praise  to  a  work 
which  bids  fair  to  take  a  place  among  the  finest  works  ever  published  in 
Canada.  ...  It  should  oe  in  the  hands  of  all  classes  of  the  population." 

.    .     .     — Hamilton  Spectator. 


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THE 

STORY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

From  Genesis  to  Revelation. 

TOLD     IN     SIMPLE     LANGUAGE     FOR     THE     YOUNG. 


Canadian  Edition.  —  Sixth  Thousand. 

Revised  and  enlarged.      Upwards  of  600  pages,  demy  octavo,  pro- 
fusely illustrated. 


PRICE:  Home  Edition,  bound  in  finest  English  Cloth,  black  and  gold 
stamp  on  side,  $3.00. 


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stamp,  $5.00. 


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stamp,  $6.00. 


This  ivork  can  only  be  had  through  our  regularly  authorized  agents. 
Booksellers  cannot  supply  it. 


We  could  give  pages  of  testimonials,  but  prefer  selecting  several  which  ex- 
press in  the  fewest  possible  words  the  value,  and  indicate  the  scope  of  the  book. 

FROM  THE  REV.  ALEX.  SANSON,  Incumbent  of  Trinity  Church,  Toronto. 

"  This  is  a  commendable  and  successful  attempt,  almost  in  the  very  words 
of  Scripture,  to  make  Bible  history  more  intelligible  and  more  interesting  to  the 
young. 

"It  will  form  an  admirable  text  book  for  parents  and  Sunday  School  teachers 
in  the  all  important  work  of  instructing  their  youthful  charge,  and  should  find 
a  place  in  every  Sunday  School  Library.  It  will  doubtless  be  read  by  the  young 
themselves  with  no  less  pleasure  than  profit.  I  trust  it  will  have  a  wide  and 
extensive  circulation." 


NATIONAL  SERIES. 

FROM  THE  REV.  E.  WOOD,  D.D.,  AND  THE  REV.  A.  SUTHERLAND,  Secretariet 
of  the  Methodist  .Ifissionary  Society,  Canada  Conference. 

"  The  Story  of  the  Bible  "  is  truly  admirable,  both  in  design  and  execution. 
The  author  has  performed  his  task  conscientiously,  presenting  all  the  salient 
features  of  the  historical  and  biographical  books,  while  in  the  case  of  the  Epis- 
tles he  contents  himself  with  a  very  general  statement  of  their  scope,  without 
discussing  their  doctrinal  drift.  The  book  is  one  which  will  be  read  with  in- 
terest by  children  and  with  profit  by  alL" 

FROM  THE  RIGHT  REV.  T.  U.  DUDLEY,  D.D.,  Assistant  Bishop  (Protestant 
Episcopal^)  of  Kentucky,  U.  S.  ' 

'•  I  have  tested  the  Story  of  the  Bible  by  having  it  read  to  a  little  child, 
and  from  this  experiment  have  formed  the  opinion  that  it  is  a  most  valuable 
contribution  to  our  religious  literature.  Perfectly  accurate  in  its  statement  of 
the  '  Bible  story,'  it  is  yet  so  perfectly  simple  in  language  and  arrangement 
that  the  young  intelligence  can  with  its  help  ge"t  a  connected  idea  of  the  great 
events,  which  some  of  us  older  students  find  it  hard  to  keep  always  in  their 
proper  order  and  succession. " 

We  have  received  others  in  the  same  strain  from  the  clergymen  and  laymen 
whose  names  are  given  below,  but  as  those  of  the  Rev.  Messre.  Sanson,  Wood, 
Sutherland  and  Dudley,  give  an  epitome  of  the  whole,  and  wishing  to  be  as  con" 
cise  as  possible,  to  avoid  repetition  we  merely  publish  extracts.  An  apology  is 
therefore  due  to  those  gentlemen,  whose  writings  indicate  such  an  earnest  de- 
sire for  the  success  of  the  book,  but  which  for  the  reason  stated  we  have  not 
given  in  full. 

"  Sound  in  its  teachings."  "  Well  calculated  to  please  and  profit."  "  In  one 
continuous  narrative,  actually  intelligible  to  young  children.'"  "  It  is  not  childish, 
though  childlike."  "  The  rich  store  of  illustrations  would  alone  render  it  of  untold 
value  in  every  household."  "  Daily  the  little  ones  clamour  for  the  reading  of  a 
chapter."  "  We  earnestly  recommend  this  the  first  book  of  the  kind  ever  published." 
"  Jhe  work  has  been  a  labour  of  love  stimulated  by  a  desire  to  foster  the  word  of 
God."  "  /  hope  to  introduce  it  as  a  text  book  into  my  schools."  "  My  little  daughter 
six  years  old  is  delighted  with  its  simple  and  interesting  story.'"  "  It  is  a  good 
book  and  should  be  in  every  family  where  there  are  children,  <Lc.,  <fcc." 

RIGHT  REV.  ARTHUR  SWEATMAN,  Lord  Bishop  of  Toronto. 

VERY  REV.  H.  J.  GRASETT,  B.D.,  late  Dean  of  Toronto. 

REV.  W.  S.  RAINSFORD,  B.A.,  late  of  St.  James'  Cathedral,  Toronto. 

REV.  W.  CAVEN,  D.D.,  Principal  Knox  College,  Toronto. 

REV.  W.  GREGG,  D.D. ,  Professor  of  Church  History,  Knox  College. 

REV.  JOHN  POTTS,  D.D.,  Pastor  Elm  Street  Methodist  Church,  Toronto. 

REV.  J.  H.  CASTLE,  D.D.,  Pastor  Jarvis  Street  Baptist  Church,  Toronto. 

REV.  H.  D.  Powis,  Pastor  Zwn  Congregational  Church,  Toronto. 

REV.  GEO.  D.'BOARDMAN,  D. D., Pastor  of  the  First  Baptist  Church,  Phila 
delphia. 

REV.  JOHN  GADSDEN,  Principal  of  the  holy  Communion  Church  Institute 
(Prot.  Fpis.)  Charleston,  S.C. 

REV.  JOHN  W.  DULLES,  D.  D.,  Editorial  Secretary  of  the  Presbyterian 
Board  of  Publication,  Philadelphia. 


NATIONAL  SERIES. 

REV.  J.   K.   SHYROCK,   Superintendent   of  the  Southern  Publishing  Society, 
Philadelphia. 

RIGHT  RKV.  J.  H.  D.  WINGFIELD,  Missionary  Bishop  (Protestant  Episcopal) 
of  Northern  California. 

These  commendations  could  be  extended  to  an  indefinite  length,  FUK  ALL 

WHO  HAVE  SEEN  THE   BOOK  ARE   PLEASED   WITH   IT.      Anxious  to  bring  the  work 

before  the  public  at  as  early  a  date  as  possible,  in  preparing  our  revised  Cana 
dian  edition,  we  had  only  sufficient  time  to  show  it  to  a  few  clergymen  in  the 
city  of  publication  who,  without  exception,  spoke  and  wrote  encouragingly. 
These  gentlemen,  however,  are  well  known,  and  represent  the  leading  Protestant 
denominations  in  Canada. 

It  has  been  predicted  that  this  book  will  be  found  in  every  Christian  house- 
hold, second  only  to  its  great  original. 

A    MORE    SUITABLE   CHILDREN'S    PRESENTATION    BOOK    CANNOT    BE    PURCHASED. 

Do  not  fail  to  order  when  called  upon.     This  work  cannot  be  had  in  book- 
stores. 


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