Although the North West Company had now transferred to an American company, organised by Mr. Astor, all their posts south and west of the lines of demarcation, they maintained, however, an active trade along the lines, and waged one of the most spirited and hard contested oppositions against the Hudson’s Bay Company, which has ever characterised a commercial rivalry. Lord Selkirk had now placed himself at the head of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and staked his character and resources on the maintenance of its territorial and commercial rights. It is no part of our object to go into details. Let it suffice, that he took Fort William on the 13th of August, 1816, carried his power over the region of Red river, where he planted a colony, and, after losing the lives of several of his most zealous agents and officers, (including the governor of his colony,) finally triumphed in asserting the rights of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and quieted, by an amalgamation of stocks, the claims of his intrepid rivals. One of the most painful atrocities which arose, in the course of this rivalry, was the murder of Owen Keveny. As the facts were subsequently detailed in a court of justice, they may be succinctly narrated. Mr. Keveny, a gentleman in the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company, was taken prisoner by the North West Company, in the summer of 1816; and ordered to be sent out from Red river to Montreal. On ascending the river Winnipec, (northwest of the Lake of the Woods,) he was finally put in charge of a couple of _engagés_, named Faye and La Point, in a canoe, with an Indian guide, called Joseph, Son-of-the-White-Pratridge, with directions to take him to Rainy Lake. By these he was landed on an island below the Dalles, where they slept. Next morning Keveny complained of being ill, and asked Faye to bring him some warm water. The latter, on coming to the beach, found that La Pointe, and the Indian, had put out into the stream. On being called, they came ashore and took in Faye, and all then went down the river together, abandoning Keveny on the island. A few days afterwards one of the _engagés_ in the canoe, quarrelled with the Indian, and the latter left them. They then turned about and began to ascend the river, but, having lost their guide, could not find their way, and soon encamped on a small island, resolved to wait till some canoe should pass. Four or five days had elapsed, when their expectations were answered, by the arrival of a light canoe, with two partners of the North West Company, and Charles de Reinhard, a clerk, and a _Boisbrulè_, named Mainville, besides the Indian, Joseph, Son-of-the-White-Partridge, who had fled from Faye and La Pointe, below. After a short halt, during which Mr. M‘Lellan, (a partner of the North West Company,) beat the two men with a canoe-pole, all embarked for Rainy Lake. The same day they met other canoes, from which they learned, that Keveny, whose life had been threatened by de