"
The evidence in hand was clear enough to the Governor. He expected the
attack, and as a soldier he took action from the military standpoint in
destroying the enemy's base in levelling their Fort Gibraltar. But on
the other hand there was no open war. The forms of law were being
followed by the Nor'-Westers, whose officers were magistrates, and who
held that by the authorization of the British Parliament the
administration of justice in the Western Territories was given over to
Canada. The decision afterwards given in the De Reinhard case in Quebec
seems against this theory, but this was the popular opinion.
Thus it came about that among the Hudson's Bay Company fur traders, who
were somewhat doubtful about Lord Selkirk's movement, and certainly
among all the "Nor'-Westers," who included the French Canadian voyageur
population, Governor Semple's action was looked upon as illegal and
unjust in destroying Fort Gibraltar and appropriating its materials for
building up the Colony Headquarters--Fort Douglas.
As the spring opened the wildest rumours of approaching conflict spread
through the whole fifteen hundred miles of country from Fort William on
Lake Superior, to the Prairie Fort, where Edmonton now stands on the
North Saskatchewan.
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