NOTES. 481

necessaries to them, not exceeding, altogether, the value of their

improvements. “ Edinbmy/z, 14th Feb. 1829.”

NOTE F. page 466.

IN 1811, the late Earl of Selkirk obtained a grant of an exten- sive tract from the Hudson Bay Company, on the banks of the Red River, which is considered to be within the territory bestowed on that company by their charter from Charles the Second.

Long previous to, and at, the conquest of Canada, the French had posts established in this tract of country, and as far west as the River Saskatchiwine; and the North-West Company, who suc- ceeded the French, not only occupied these posts, but established others far beyond them.

The Hudson Bay Company at last claimed the territory through which the Red River flows, as its waters fell into the Hudson. The North-West Company rested theirlclaim on their long possession of the country, as successors to the French, and on their disco- veries, as well as on the good-Will of the Indian tribes. Which had the best right, let lawyers determine ; but in 1812, Lord Selkirk, with, I believe, the most upright intentions, sent Mr Miles Mac- Donald, formerly a captain in the Queen’s Rangers, to the forks of the Red River, in 57° north latitude, and 97° west longitude, and about fifty miles from Lake VVinipic, for the purpose of erecting houses, &c., before the arrival of emigrants.

In the following year, about one hundred settlers arrived; and the settlement'was named Kildonan, being the name of the parish in Sutherland from whence they came. Eighty to ninety followed them next year. His lordship sent light fieldpieces, guns, am- munition, and various stores, up with the first settlers.

The breaking up of this settlement, the brutality of the Bois brulés, (half-breeds,) the massacre of Governor Semple, and of a great number of those with him, have already been fully before the 'public. ,

Lord Selkirk went himself afterwards to Red River, with part of De Mcuron’s and De Watteville’s German regiments. He there

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