date of
1836-7. In that winter, a party of men, led by two clerks, was sent
to look for some horses that were grazing at a considerable distance
from the post. As they approached the spot they perceived a band of
Assineboine Indians, eight in number (if I remember aright), on an
adjacent hill, who immediately joined them, and, delivering up their
arms, encamped with them for the night. Next morning a _court martial_
was held by the two clerks and some of the men, to determine the
punishment due to the Indians for having been found near the company's
horses, with the _supposed_ intention of carrying them off. What was
the decision of this mock court martial? I shudder to relate, that the
whole band, after having given up their arms, and partaken of their
hospitality, were condemned to death, and the sentence carried into
execution on the spot,--all were butchered in cold blood!

With the exception of the massacre of the Indians in McKenzie's River
district in 1835, no such deed of blood had been heard of in the
country. Yet our author's _impartial_ informant, perfectly acquainted
as he was with all the circumstances of the case, and ready enough
as he is to trumpet to the world the alleged crimes of the North-West
Company, takes no notice of it! It may be said that the Company are
not answerable for crimes committed by their servants without their
knowledge. True; but when they are made fully acquainted with those
misdeeds, and allow the perpetrators to escape with impunity, the
guilt is transferred to their own head; "invitat culpam qui peccatum
praeterit." The proceedings of this court-martial were reported at
head-quarters, and the punishment awarded to these murderers was--a
reprimand! After this, what protection, or generosity, or justice, can
the Indians he said to receive from the Hudson's Bay Company?

The Indians to this day talk of their Northwest "fathers" with regret.
"Our old traders, our fathers, did not serve us so," is a remark
I have frequently heard in every part of the country where the
North-West Company had established posts. Had their rule been
distinguished by oppression or injustice, the natives would rather
have expressed their satisfaction at its suppression; had it been
tyrannical or oppressive, it would not have been long tolerated. The
natives in those times were numerous and warlike; the trading-posts
were isolated and far apart; and in the summer season, when the
managers proceeded to the