Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 15.djvu/358

 and the open hostilities of the North-west Company. Matters were brought to a crisis on 8 Jan. 1814, when MacDonell issued a proclamation, claiming the soil as the property of Selkirk, declaring himself the legally appointed governor thereof, and ordering that, on account of the necessities of the settlers, no provisions were to be removed from the colony for any purpose whatever for one year thereafter. The North-west Company regarded this as a declaration of war and refused compliance. The ‘governor’ then issued warrants authorising the seizure of any provisions in course of removal, and sent a ‘sheriff’ to see them carried out. A party, furnished with a warrant and armed with some small cannon, sent out by Selkirk with the first party for the defence of the colony against the Americans, next broke into a fort of the North-west Company and seized a large quantity of provisions. MacDonell undoubtedly believed himself fully and legally authorised to commit these acts. The North-west party actively retaliated. During the summer of 1814, therefore, though some progress was made with agricultural pursuits, the colony was in an exceedingly disturbed condition. Both parties habitually moved fully armed and in bands. On 22 June there arrived about a hundred more settlers, who had been sent out by Selkirk in the previous year. In the winter of 1814–15 provisions again became extremely scarce. Misery alienated some of the colonists, who were induced by threats to desert to the other side. In the following summer the friction between the two parties became still more excessive. MacDonell, on behalf of ‘their landlord, the Earl of Selkirk,’ gave the North-west Company's agents notice to quit their posts on Red River within six months. They retaliated by sending an armed force, which seized the cannon belonging to the colony. On 10 June matters reached a climax. A party of the half-breed allies of the North-west Company concealed themselves in a wood near Fort Douglas and opened fire. A general engagement ensued, which lasted some time. None of the assailants were hurt, but of the defenders four were wounded and one afterwards died. Shortly after MacDonell, hoping to secure the safety of the settlers, voluntarily surrendered himself to the North-west agent. The settlers, however, were thereupon peremptorily ordered to depart. After another attack upon their fort they did so. Seventy went up Lake Winnipeg to Jack River (now Norway) House, a post of the Hudson's Bay Company; the rest, who had joined the North-westers, were sent down to Toronto, where they were relieved at the public expense. Thus the colony was for a time destroyed. At Norway House, however, the retreating settlers met a party under one Colin Robertson, who had been sent by Selkirk to assist the colony. Under his guidance they returned to their lands on 19 Aug., only to find their buildings had been burned and their crops destroyed. In the following October there arrived at the settlement the largest party ever sent thither, numbering about a hundred and fifty persons. They had been despatched from the highlands by Selkirk in the preceding spring, under Robert Semple, a gentleman who had been appointed by the Hudson's Bay Company as supreme governor of their vast territories. Thus was the colony re-established, to the extreme disgust of the North-west party. The winter was again spent amid much misery. On 17 March following (1816) Governor Semple seized the fort of the North-west Company, made its commandant prisoner, and soon after had the building pulled down. Other posts on Red River were similarly treated. The North-westers attempted to retaliate by seizing outlying posts of the Hudson's Bay Company. This brought matters again to a climax. The agents of the North-west Company had for some reason collected a large band, consisting of their own servants, half-breeds, and Indians. The band approached Fort Douglas on 19 June. Governor Semple, fearing an attack, went with twenty-seven attendants to meet them. A fight ensued, and the governor and twenty of his men were killed. There is no question that the North-west party commenced the attack, and must take the blame. The settlers, being again ordered to depart, made their way once more to Jack River House, and the colony was thus a second time broken up.

Early in 1815 Selkirk had applied for military protection to his colony. This being refused, he determined to go personally to its aid. Late in that year, therefore, accompanied by his family, he arrived in New York, where he heard of the first overthrow of his colony. The winter was spent at Montreal, it being impossible to reach the colony before the spring. There the earl was joined by Captain Miles MacDonell, now liberated, and the time was spent in collecting legal evidence against the North-west Company. It was probably at Montreal that Selkirk largely wrote his ‘Sketch of the British Fur Trade in North America,’ which was published in 1816. In it he gives an account of the causes of hostility between the two great fur companies. An application was again made to the then governor-general of the Canadas for an armed force to be sent to the colony, Selkirk agreeing to defray all expenses. This was