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subjects to keep the peace, and, on no account and under no pretence of supposed rights, to blockade or interrupt the communication by which the fur trade was carried on, the Governor spoke with the utmost contempt of the proclamation, of his sovereign and those by whom it was framed, saying, "as for Lord Bathurst (Damn him) he is bribed by the North West gold; and Sir John Sherbrooke, the judges, juries, and crown-officers of Canada, are a set of damned rascals, and for our parts we shall act independently of the rascally Canada Government. Lord Bathurst will be turned out of office by Lord Selkirk as soon as he gets to England, which is doubtless the case ere this, and I shall make use of the colonists and every other means in my power to drive out of this country every damned North Wester it contains, or perish in the attempt"; and it was not once, but frequently, that such language was used, displaying the insolence of an upstart authority public office; the ignorance of a vulgar hireling; and the ferocity of a lawless plunderer.

The trunks of these North West gentlemen were then overhauled, pillaged of sundry articles, and all the papers taken out, private and public. The trunk containing the books, accounts, inventories, letters, and other papers, relative to the Athabasca department,

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