Canada

by Beckles Willson

Deep were the potations, turbulent was the revelry when the flushed Nor'-Westers returned from Red River and took their places at the board. They had gained a victory over the miserable colonists despatched by Lord Selkirk to begin the peopling of the West. The war between Britain and America was ended, and so further relieved their dread of punishment. But decisive as their triumph seemed, it was short-lived. Even as they rejoiced and made merry, the despised settlers had returned, and affairs at Red River were shaping for a tragedy. A new brigade of immigrants from Scotland also arrived at Red River only to gaze upon the embers of the burnt settlement. With them came a new Governor for the colony, Robert Semple by name. Governor Semple had been appointed to the chief control of all the Hudson's Bay Company's factories at Rupert's Land.

Lord Selkirk himself arrived in Canada and began engaging a number of disbanded troops to help him quell the outrages of the Nor'-Westers and inflict vengeance upon them for their murders and misdeeds. The Nor'-Westers had not thought of this.

The war with America being over, the hired European regiments of De Meuron, Watteville, and the Glengarry Fencibles in Canada were out of employment. The privates, as well as their officers, were entitled on their discharge to grants of lands in Canada, and in the event of their accepting them, the members of the two first-mentioned regiments were not to be sent back to Europe. Selkirk perceived in them an instrument ready to his hand, and, mustering them together, he travelled towards the stronghold of the Nor'-Westers, Fort William.

Meanwhile Cuthbert Grant and his Bois-Brulés began final hostilities against the Red River settlement. One large post of the Hudson's Bay Company was seized and pillaged, not only of all the English goods, furs, and provisions, but also of the private property of the servants. The Bois-Brulés then set out to wipe the colony of Red River from the face of the earth.

On a bright June day Governor Semple, on the way from York factory, learnt that he was to be attacked in two days by the Bois-Brulés, who were determined to take the fort. If any resistance were made, neither men, women, nor children should be spared. Two days later, while he was still gathering the friendly Indians about him, a man in the watch-house called out that the half-breeds were coming. Semple and his officers surveyed the neighbouring plains through their telescopes, and made out the approach of some men on horseback.

Semple, ever a man of peace, said, "We must go out and meet these people; let twenty men follow me." So they proceeded by the frequented path leading to the settlement. As they went along they met many of the colonists, who were running towards them, crying: "The half-breeds! The half-breeds!" An advance was made of about one mile, when some persons on horseback were discerned close at hand, and the Governor, somewhat uneasy at the signs of their numbers, had just decided to send for a cannon, when a fearful clamour pierced the air, and he saw it was too late. The half-breeds galloped forward, their faces painted in the most hideous manner. All were dressed in the Indian fashion, and surrounded the Hudson's Bay people in the form of a half-moon. As they advanced, the latter party retreated, and a North-West hunter named Boucher rode up close to Governor Semple and asked what he wanted there? Semple replied by demanding of Boucher what he and his party wanted? Boucher said, "We want our fort," and the Governor's answer was, "Well, go to your fort." "You rascal," shrieked Boucher, "you have destroyed our fort." Semple, a man of extremely mild manners and cultivated mind, flushed with indignation at such an address. Incautiously he laid hand upon the bridle of Boucher's horse. A few high words passed. Two shots rang out in quick succession, by the first of which an aide fell, and by the second Semple was wounded. In a few minutes the field was covered with bleeding forms; almost all Semple's men were either killed or wounded. Save in a single instance, no quarter was given; the injured were summarily despatched, and on the bodies of the dead were practised all the revolting horrors which characterise the inhuman heart of the savage.

To Lord Selkirk, on his way westward with a party of about eighty soldiers, the first intelligence of the massacre and destruction of the colony was received when Sault Ste. Marie was reached. They told him that the settlers and a large part of the property of Red River had been transported to Fort William.

Filled with indignation, and determined to demand an explanation of this further bloody deed, the Earl pressed on with all haste to the rendezvous of the North-West Company. There, all unconscious of his approach, no plan had been made either to defend themselves or to arrest Selkirk's progress.

Let us peep in at Fort William. On the night preceding the Earl's arrival the Nor'-West partners and their servants are seated at a rude banquet, at which rum and brandy flow like water. Haunches of beef and venison repose on the board, flanked by many kinds of forest game. Laughter and toasting deafen the ear.