Volume 1

NEWS OF THE N. W. AND X. Y. COALITION. 255
struck one of the door-posts. He then loaded and fired a
second shot, and made off with himself. It would have
been folly to go after him, as the fellow was fully bent on
mischief.
Dec. 2d. Long before day I was on my journey and at
10 p. m. reached Panbian river alone, having left my man
at the Bois Perce, his horse being knocked up. Men continually
en derouine.
Jan. 1st, 180^. An express arrived with a packet from
Montreal, containing sundry circular letters informing us of
the coalition which had taken place.^
It certainly was high
' Between the N. W. and X. Y. companies, as per Montreal agreement of
Nov. 5th, 1804, putting an end to the existence of the X. Y. as a separate
organization. The death of Simon McTavish in July, 1804, rendered this consummation
possible, as the principal object of Sir Alexander McKenzie's
jealousy and rivalry was thus removed from the scene of action. McTavish
was the head of the firm of McTavish, Frobisher & Co., agents of the N. W.;
he was nicknamed Le Premier and Le Marquis for his haughtiness ;
amassed a
fortune, bought the Seigneury of Terrebonne, built a residence in Montreal at
the foot of the mountain, known for 50 years after his death as the haunted
chateau, demolished in 1S60, when the residence of Sir Hugh Allan was erected
on its site. The signers of the convention on the part of the N. W. Co. were :
John Gregory; William Macgillivray; Duncan Macgillivray; William Hallowell;
and Roderic McKenzie—these being bourgeois and also agents of McTavish,
Frobisher & Co., Montreal; and the following wintering bourgeois: Angus
Shaw ; Daniel McKenzie ; William McKay
;
John McDonald [of Garth] ;
Donald McTavish
;
John McDonnell ; Archibald Norman McLeod ; Alexander
McDougall ; Charles [Jean Baptiste] Chaboillez ;
John Sayer ; Peter
Grant; Alexander Eraser; ^neas Cameron ;
John Finlay ; Duncan Cameron;
James Hughes ; Alexander McKay ; Hugh McGillis ; Alexander Henry,
Junior ;
John Macgillivray ;
James McKenzie ; Simon Eraser ;
John Duncan
Campbell ;
David Thompson ; and John Thomson. On the part of the X.
Y. the signers were : (Sir) Alexander McKenzie ; Thomas Forsyth
;
John
Richardson
; John Forsyth
;
John Ogilvie ; James Forsyth ;
John Inglis ; John
Mure
;
Alexander Ellice—bourgeois agents of certain firms ; and, as bourgeois
winterers : Pierre de Rocheblave ; Alexander McKenzie ;
John McDonald
;
James Leith ; John Willis ; and John Haldane. The convention being made
in November, when the winterers (hivernants) were away, nearly all their signatures
were by their attorneys. This important convention continued in force
until 1821, when the famous N. W. Co. finished its career as a separate organization
by absorption into the still more celebrated H. B. Co.—one of the longest-lived
and most powerful commercial monopolies in the world's history. The