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"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, the ignorance of a vulgar hireling, and the ferocity of a lawless plunderer.

The trunks of the North West gentlemen were then overhauled, pillaged of sundry articles, and all the papers, private and public, taken out. The trunk containing the books, accounts, inventories, letters and other papers relating to the Athabasca department was a particularly welcome prize. The seals of a great many private letters were broken and the contents perused, and Williams selected and kept all the books, inventories, letters, etc. which he thought of importance either for rivaling the North West Company's trade, or for pursuing the system of malicious persecution that had been for so long a time in activity against their proprietors and servants. To see one's private papers rifled, to behold the concerns of one's trade examined into and ransacked with avidity, cannot be done with[-]

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