these qualities was eminently conspicuous. 28. THE ATTACK ON THE RED RIVER SETTLEMENT (1816). =Source.=--A Narrative by Mr. Pritchard, one of the principal settlers, quoted in a _Statement respecting the Earl of Selkirk's Settlement upon the Red River_, published by the personal friends of the Earl in London in 1817. In the course of the winter we were much alarmed by reports that the Half-breeds were assembling in all parts of the North for the purpose of driving us away, and that they were expected to arrive at the settlement early in the spring. The nearer the spring approached, the more prevalent these reports grew, and letters received from different posts confirmed the same. Our hunters and those free Canadians who had supplied us with provisions were much terrified with the dread of the punishment they might receive for the support they had given us. My neighbours, the Half-breeds, began to show a disposition to violence, and threatened to shoot our hunter Bollenaud's horse and himself too, if he did not desist from running the buffalo; at the same time they told me that, if I did not prevent him from so doing, they would go in a body on horseback, drive the cattle away, and cause my people to starve. In the month of March, Messrs. Fraser and Hesse arrived at my neighbour's house, which gave us great uneasiness, as Fraser was represented as the leader of the Half-breeds, and that he was a daring and violent man. On his arrival he sent a threatening message to one of my hunters; and, whenever an opportunity offered, he was very assiduous in his endeavours to seduce from us our servants and settlers; likewise a report was very current that a party of Half-breeds and Cree Indians were expected to arrive from Fort des Prairies on the Saskatchewan River, as soon as the melting of the snow would admit of their travelling; and the language of every free Canadian we saw was "_Méfiez vous bien pour l'amour de Dieu; méfiez vous bien_." At the same time we were informed that the Half-breed servants of the North-West Company who were then in the plains, were ordered home to their house. The assemblage of those men gave us the most serious apprehensions for the safety of the settlers and those servants who were employed to bring provisions from the plains to the fort....