Statement respecting the Earl of Selkirk's Settlement of Kildonan ...

much light upon the subject. These I shallendeayour to submit as clearly^ and concisely,as possible,—but it will be requisite to tracethem shortljr from their commencement.In doing so, I conceive, itwill not be necessaryfor me to enter upon the general subject of theemigrations from thiscountry to North America;or the views of the Earl of Selkirk in formingthat settlement which has been the object of suchenmity and misrepresentation. — His Lordship'ssentiments on the general question of emigrationhave been long before the public ;and, since hefirst drew its attention, in 1805, to this importantsubject^ a marked change has taken place, not onlyin the opinions of many of those who then disagreedwith himj but also in the conduct of Govern ment^which has, of late years, humanely afforded everyreasonable facility for the conveyance, to our owncolonies, of those emigrants (chiefly from Irelandand Scotland^) who were but too much disposedto settle in the United States.The Earl of Selkirk having, in the year 1811,obtained from the Hudson's Bay Company, a grantof land within the territory bestowed upon them bytheir Charter, proceeded, in conformity with one ofthe principal objects of the conveyance, to establishagricultural settlers upon the lands he had so