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JOSEPH FROBISHER, A PARTNER IN THE NORTH-WEST COMPANY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 22 From an engraving in the John Ross Robertson Collection, Toronto Public Library.
THE COUNTRY OF LORD SELKIRK'S SETTLERS . . . . . . . " " 48 Map by Bartholomew.
HUNTING THE BUFFALO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 58 From a painting by George Catlin.
PLAN OF THE RED RIVER COLONY . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 64 Drawn by Bartholomew.
FORT WILLIAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 116 From an old print in the John Ross Robertson Collection, Toronto Public Library.
SIMON M'TAVISH, FOUNDER OF THE NORTH-WEST COMPANY . " " 118 From a water-colour drawing in M'Gill University Library.
WILLIAM M'GILLIVRAY, A PARTNER IN THE NORTH-WEST COMPANY . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 122 From a photograph in M'Gill University Library.
ST MARY'S ISLE
When the boat grated upon the shingle the seamen swarmed ashore and found themselves in a great park, interspersed with gardens and walks and green open spaces. The party met with no opposition. Everything, indeed, seemed to favour their undertaking, until it was learned from some workmen in the grounds that the master was not at home.
Thomas Douglas, the future lord of the Red River Colony, was a boy of not quite seven years at the time of this raid on his father's mansion. He had been born on June 20, 1771, and was the youngest of seven brothers in the Selkirk family. What he thought of Paul Jones and his marauders can only be surmised. St Mary's Isle was a remote spot, replete with relics of history, but uneventful in daily life; and a real adventure at his own doors could hardly fail to leave an impression on the boy's mind. The historical associations of St Mary's Isle made it an excellent training-ground for an imaginative youth. Monks of the Middle Ages had noted its favourable situation for a religious community, and the canons-regular of the Order of St Augustine had erected there one of their priories. A portion of an extensive wall which had surrounded the cloister was retained in the Selkirk manor-house. Farther afield were other reminders of past days to stir the imagination of young Thomas Douglas. A few miles eastward from his home was Dundrennan Abbey. Up the Dee was Thrieve Castle, begun by Archibald the Grim, and later used as a stronghold by the famous Black Douglas.
The ancient district of Galloway, in which the Selkirk home was situated, had long been known as the Whig country. It had been the chosen land of the Covenanters, the foes of privilege and the defenders of liberal principles in government. Its leading families, the Kennedys, the Gordons, and the Douglases, formed a broad-minded aristocracy. In such surroundings, as one of the 'lads of the Dee,' Thomas Douglas inevitably developed a type of mind more or less radical. His political opinions, however, were guided by a cultivated intellect. His father, a patron of letters, kept open house for men of genius, and brought his sons into contact with some of the foremost thinkers and writers of the day. One of these was Robert Burns, the most beloved of Scottish poets. In his earlier life, when scarcely known to his countrymen, Burns had dined with Basil, Lord Daer, Thomas Douglas's eldest brother and heir-apparent of the Selkirk line. This was the occasion commemorated by Burns in the poem of which this is the first stanza:
This wot ye all whom it concerns: I, Rhymer Robin, alias Burns, October twenty-third, A ne'er-to-be-forgotten day, Sae far I sprachl'd up the brae I dinner'd wi' a Lord.
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