A great many of the North-West partners were at this time assembled at Fort William, and amongst them was William McGillivray, their principal agent in Canada. Lord Selkirk immediately despatched a message to that gentleman, desiring to know by what authority and for what reason Pritchard, Pambrun, Nolin and others from Red River were detained as prisoners in their hands. McGillivray's response was to grant permission to most of these prisoners to join Selkirk, to whom he denied that they were detained, except as witnesses. The parties thus freed came over, asserting that they had all suffered for some time a rigorous confinement. The intelligence they conveyed was of such a nature as to induce the Earl to issue warrants for the arrest of most of the North-West partners then at Fort William.
Arrest of the North-West partners.
The first to be arrested was McGillivray, who submitted with the best possible grace to the warrant. Two other partners who came over with him, to offer themselves on bail (which was refused), were also taken in custody. Instructions were now given to constables to again set out in the boats, accompanied by some of the soldiers, to apprehend the other delinquents. On their landing, four or five of the Northmen were standing close to the gate of the fort, surrounded by a considerable body of French-Canadians, Indians and half-breeds in the North-West company's employment. The warrants were in the usual form served upon two of the partners; but when the constable was proceeding to arrest a third, he declared that there should be no further submission to any warrant until McGillivray was liberated. At the same instant an attempt was made to shut the gate and prevent the constables from entering. The fort people had succeeded in shutting one half of the gate, and had almost closed the other by force, when the chief constable called out for help from the soldiers. These to the number of about thirty forthwith rushed to the spot, and forced their way into the stronghold of the Northmen.
The notes of a bugle now rang out across the river. The Earl understood the signal, and a fresh force of about thirty other veterans hurried quickly over the stream to join their comrades. Awed by the apparition of so many arms and uniforms, the North-Westers abandoned further resistance, and thus bloodshed was happily averted. The partner who had refused obedience to the warrant was seized and taken forcibly to the boats, the others submitting peaceably to arrest.
At the time this episode was in progress, there were about two hundred French-Canadians and half-breeds, and sixty or seventy Iroquois Indians in and about the fort.
A warrant having been issued to search for and secure the North-West papers, seals were in due course put upon these and guards placed for their security. The arrested men were transported to the Earl's camp; but upon their pledging their word of honour that no further attempt should be made to obstruct the execution of the law, and that all hostile measures should be renounced, they were permitted that same night to return to their apartments at Fort William.
Notwithstanding this, it was discovered next morning that the seals had been broken in several places, and that many letters and papers had been burnt in the kitchen in the course of the night. More than this, a canoe loaded with arms and ammunition had been launched and several barrels of gunpowder had been secretly conveyed from the fort. These were afterwards traced to a place of concealment amongst some brushwood close at hand. About fifty or sixty stand of Indian guns, to all appearance freshly loaded and primed, were found hidden under some hay in a barn adjoining the fort.
Owing to these discoveries, and suspecting treachery on the part of the Canadians and Indians, the greater part of the latter were ordered to evacuate the premises and pitch their tents on the opposite side of the river. Having seen this carried out, and having secured all the canoes of the enemy, Selkirk and his party came over and pitched their tents in front of the fort and mounted guard. Soon after, the North-West prisoners were sent off under escort to York, and finally reached Montreal in a state of mind not difficult to conceive.
Fort William had been captured by Lord Selkirk. He himself, writing in 1817, observes, that "in the execution of his duty as a Magistrate," he had become possessed of "a fort which had served, the last of any in the British dominions, as an asylum for banditti and murderers, and the receptacle for their plunder. A fort which nothing less than the express and special license of his Majesty could authorize subjects to hold. A fort which had served as the capital and seat of Government to the traitorously assumed sovereignty of the North-West. A fort whose possession could have enabled the North-West company to have kept back all evidence of their crimes."
"Heretofore," exclaims the Earl, "those who in the execution of the laws obtained possession of such strongholds as served for the retreat of banditti or murderers, were considered to have rendered a national service, and were rewarded with public gratitude and thanks."