The Roman Empire was ruled in
the different provinces by selfish and dishonest adventurers, who
tyrannized over the people, farmed out the revenues, bribed their
favorites and defrauded their masters. Turkish Government or Persian
Rule is to-day an organized system of extortion and oppression by
unscrupulous Satraps. Lord Selkirk's two governors, Miles Macdonell and
Robert Semple, had been removed, the former by capture, the latter by
death. Alexander Macdonell in 1816 became acting governor and was
confirmed in office for five or six years afterward. In his regime the
Grasshoppers came and did their destructive work, but the French people
nicknamed him "Governor Sauterelle," Grasshopper Governor, for, says the
historian of this decade he was so called, "because he proved as great a
destroyer within doors as the grasshoppers in the fields."
Lord Selkirk had been a most generous and sympathetic founder to his
Scottish Colony. He was not only proprietor of the whole Red River
Valley, but he felt himself responsible for the support and comfort of
his Colonists. He had to begin with supplying food, clothing,
implements, arms and ammunition to his settlers. He had erected
buildings for shelter and a store house and fort for the protection of
them and their goods.
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