The _Beaver_ had sailed for Canton with furs, and the party of the interior was organized with three proprietors, Ramsay Crooks, Robert McLellan, and Robert Stuart, who, with eight men, were to cross the mountains to St. Louis. At the fort there remained Mr. Hunt, Duncan McDougall, B. Clapp, J. C. Halsey, and Gabriel Franchère, the last of whom wrote an excellent account in French of the Astor Company affairs. CHAPTER XXIII. LORD SELKIRK'S COLONY. Alexander Mackenzie's book--Lord Selkirk interested--Emigration a boon--Writes to Imperial Government--In 1802 looks to Lake Winnipeg--Benevolent project of trade--Compelled to choose Prince Edward Island--Opinions as to Hudson's Bay Company's charter--Nor'-Westers alarmed--Hudson's Bay Company's Stock--Purchases _Assiniboia_--Advertises the new colony--Religion no disqualification--Sends first colony--Troubles of the project--Arrive at York Factory--The winter--The mutiny--"Essence of Malt"--Journey inland--A second party--Third party under Archibald Macdonald--From Helmsdale--The number of colonists. The publication of his work by Alexander Mackenzie, entitled, "Voyages from Montreal through the Continent of North America, &c.," awakened great interest in the British Isles. Among those who were much influenced by it was Thomas, Earl of Selkirk, a young Scottish nobleman of distinguished descent and disposition. The young Earl at once thought of the wide country described as a fitting home for the poor and unsuccessful British peasantry, who, as we learn from Wordsworth, were at this time in a most distressful state. During his college days the Earl of Selkirk had often visited the Highland glens and crofts, and though himself a Southron, he was so interested in his picturesque countrymen that he learned the Gaelic language. Not only the sad condition of Scotland, but likewise the unsettled state of Ireland, appealed to his heart and his patriotic sympathies. He came to the conclusion that emigration was the remedy for the ills of Scotland and Ireland alike.