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Canadian enterprise, associated under the name of the 

 Company of the North West, to secure a monopoly, if 

 possible, of the fabulous wealth, the fur trade of the 

 North West territory offered to a great company, able 

 to control it 'through its thousands of trappeurs and 

 voyageurs, located in its innumerable forts and posts, 

 spread through the western wilds and trackless plains 

 and lakes of the North. 'Tis true : another powerful 

 monopoly existed there under an imperial charter, obtained 

 in London, a century previous : the Hudson Bay Co. 



The hunting grounds, though they covered nearly 

 half a continent, it seems, were too narrow for two mono- 

 polies : there was not enough elbow room, apparently. 

 Soon a deadly fued sprang up between the two power- 

 ful associations whose resources and followers were 

 marshalled by two chiefs, men of more than ordinary 

 ability and energy : Sir Alexander McKenzie and 

 Thomas Douglas, Earl of Selkirk. 



The violent rivalry between the two companies, 

 culminated in a battle royal under the guns of Fort 

 Douglas, at Assiniboia, on the 16th June, 1816, in which 

 the Governor of the Hudson Bay Co., Mr. Semple, who 

 had succeeded to Mr. MacDonnell met his death, with 

 many of his soldiers, at the hands of the Metis, led on, 

 it was averred, by the agents of the North West Co. 

 This brought on a memorable trial where the jury 

 returned a verdict of " not proven." 



Let us revert to the exquisite, fortnightly entertain- 

 ments, from December to April, of the famed Beaver 

 Club, our oldest Canadian Club (1). 



(1) Three celebrated clubs flourished at Quebec, long before 

 the Stadacona and St. James' Club were thought of. The 

 first was formed, in Quebec, about the beginning of this cen- 

 tury. It was originally called, says Lambert, the Beef Steak 

 Club, which name it soon changed for that of the Barons' 

 Club. It consisted of twenty-one members, "who are chiefly 

 the principal merchants in the colony, and are styled barons. 

 As the members drop off, their places are supplied by knights 

 elect, who are not installed as barons until there is a suffi- 



