158 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



(The poet Falcon calls upon all to drink! drink! at the defeat of 

 Governor Semple and victory of Grant). 



"Amis, buvons, trinquons, 

 Saluons la chanson 

 De Pierriche Falcon, 

 Ce faiseur de chansons." 



III. 



A Champion of Native Rights. 



As the natives born on the soil became more numerous and more 

 educated by the School and Church they sought to enjoy greater 

 freedom and the possession of natural rights. When communities 

 were formed the Company saw a spirit of independence growing up. 

 The Hudson's Bay Company had for more than a century and a half 

 enjoyed a monopoly. Instead of meeting popular demand half way 

 they introduced Judge Thom, a Scottish lawyer from Montreal, and 

 constituted with a monopolist spirit an appointed Council of Assiniboia. 

 The agent to guard their monopoly was made Recorder or Judge with 

 almost absolute power. Twenty leading natives of fair means ap- 

 approached the Governor to gain information as to whether they 

 with a trace of Indian blood could "hunt, buy, sell or traffic in furs, 

 etc." The Governor was pacific but the I?.ecorder was inexorable. 

 James Sinclair of the same stock as the Earl of Orkney of the same 

 name, who is well known by Scott's beautiful ballad of "Rosabelle," 

 became leader. The whole native population of Orkney and French 

 descent was aroused. The crisis came in the case of a native trader 

 Sayer being thrown into prison for selling furs. At his trial being 

 held on Ascension Day, French and English comrades seized him 

 and liberated him from the court room — the Metis shouting, "Vive la 

 liberté! Le Commerce est libre! Le Commerce est libre!" The Recorder 

 never sat as judge again, and the writer knew him in London some 

 forty years afterward — a retired beneficiary of the Hudson's Bay 

 Company. 



IV. 



IsBisTER — A Brilliant Son of Red River. 



One of the most distinguished sons of old Red River Settlement 

 was Alexander Kennedy Isbister who was born in 1822, son of an 

 Orkney father in Fort Cumberland and at The Pas on the Saskatchewan 

 River. He was educated at the McCallum School, now absorbed 

 into St. John's College, Winnipeg. Having served as a clerk with the 

 Hudson's Bay Company, Isbister went to England. He became a 

 lawyer, took part in the passing of "The Reform Bill" and devoted 



