He left the Fort on June 3, 1789, in a canoe made of birchbark. The Fort is situated on Lake Athabasca, whence various routes lie along the Athabasca River on the south, the Peace River on the west, and the Slave River on the north. Mackenzie followed the course of the Slave River into the Great Slave Lake, and thence he explored northwards along the river that bears his name and empties into the Polar Sea. About the end of July Mackenzie reached the Polar Sea, and returned to Fort Chippewyan by September 12. The distance traversed was more than 2000 miles. If we consider the scanty means at his disposal and the shortness of the time wherein it is possible to travel in these regions, this is one of the most remarkable voyages ever known. The whole expedition consisted altogether of four canoes.

(14) But Mackenzie was not content with this exploit. On his journey towards the Polar Sea he had experienced a difficulty in finding his whereabouts by scientific calculation. He left Canada and returned to London, determined to acquire the requisite mathematical knowledge. After gaining this, he resolved to explore the country westwards of Fort Chippewyan along the Peace River to its source in the Rockies. Thence he purposed to reach the Pacific Ocean. On the 10th of October, 1792, he again left Chippewyan, and, reaching Peace Point, was the means of adjusting a quarrel between the Crees and Beaver Indians. From this circumstance the river gained the name of Journeying upwards he reached a place Mountain, where he wintered in readiness to start for the Pacific. 'His crew for the present voyage was chosen with care from the best materials at his disposal. They were Alexander Mackay, Joseph Landry, and Charles Ducetti, two voyageurs of the former expedition, Baptist Bisson, François Courtois, Jacques Beauchamp, and

Peace River.

called Deer

François Beaulieu, the last-named of whom died so late as 1872, aged nearly a hundred years, probably the oldest man in the North-West at the time. Two Indians completed the party, one of whom had been so idle a lad that he bore to his dying day the unenviable name of "Cancre," the Crab.' The expedition started on June 12, 1793, and crossing the Rockies descended by a stream which flowed to the South-West. After incredible difficulties the Pacific Ocean was reached about the mouth of what is now known as Simpson's River. "Their destination being now reached, the over-joyed travellers determined to commemorate the event, and having mixed up some vermilion in melted grease, they inscribed in large characters on the face of the rock, "Alexander Mackenzie from Canada by land, the twenty-second of July, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three." After performing this great exploit the travellers returned over the Rocky Mountains to Fort Chippewyan, which they reached on the 24th of August.' Thus Mackenzie, the intrepid Scotchman, had the honour of reaching both the Polar Sea and Pacific Ocean by routes hitherto unknown.

(15) Before the eighteenth century had closed there were several attempts in other quarters to throw light upon the geography of North-West America. Captain Cook, who had distinguished himself at the siege of Quebec, and Captain Clarke, received instructions to explore the coasts of Behring Strait in the Resolution and Discovery, and to search for a North-West Passage from the Pacific Ocean (1776-1780). Captain Cook passed through Behring Strait and reached the ice limit in the Polar Seas. He named Icy Cape and examined the coasts as far as Cape Blanco, latitude 43° N.; in his map the New Albion of Sir Francis Drake is placed about latitude 40 N. In 1790 Captain George Vancouver was sent with the Discovery and Chatham to assail once more the

problem of the North-West Passage. His instructions were 'to ascertain whether there existed any navigable communication between the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans.' Europeans were quickly becoming acquainted with the character of the wonderful Pacific slope which lay between the Rockies and the sea. Sir W. Butler in his 'Wild North Land' writes thus of it: 'North of California and south of British Columbia, there lies a vast region rich in forest, prairie, snow-clad peak, alluvial meadow, hill-pastures and rolling table-land. It has all that nature can give; its peaks are as lofty as Mont Blanc; its meadows as rich as the vales of Somerset. The Spaniard knew it by repute and named it Oregon, after the river which we call the Columbia.' It had long been a mystic land, a realm of fable-a land whose 'shining mountains' were visible far out at sea, and threw, so the sailors said, a glorious lustre upon the waves from their eternal snows. In 1792 a Boston ship entered the mouth of the Oregon River, and the captain named it Columbia. In 1810 Jacob Astor, an American, planted a factory on its banks and induced some servants of the North-West Company to join him, and thus established a claim, áfter the war of 1812, to 'the fairest State of the American Union.'

CHAPTER XV.

The War of 1812.

(1) IT was a strange war which drove the United States into an alliance with France and the Emperor Napoleon. Freedom and liberty were assured in the New World, but they were threatened in the Old; and Europe was being deluged with blood from end to end by a conqueror whose aim was to destroy nationalities and efface constitutional rights. The successes of Bonaparte on land were commensurate with his ambition. Victory after victory crushed Austria, and the Prussians were overthrown at the battle of Jena. England alone stood in his way, and he determined to annihilate her. With this view he attacked her commerce, and by the well-known Berlin and Milan decrees closed all the continental ports against her ships. These islands were declared in a state of blockade, and the seizure was authorised of all vessels bound from British harbours. England retaliated by her Orders in Council, which declared all the ports of France and her allies from which the British flag was excluded, in a state of blockade, and 'that all trade in articles the produce and manufacture of the said countries or colonies should be deemed unlawful, and all such articles declared good prize.' On both sides it was war to the knife, and for Great Britain a most terrible struggle for very national existence. Should she be cast down from her sovereignty of the seas, the prospect was indeed dark for the rest of prostrate Europe. She alone stood between the conqueror and his insatiable lust of conquest.

(2) Naturally, this commercial war pressed heavily upon neutrals, and especially upon the Americans, who, in the turmoil of Europe, had gradually obtained a large amount of the carrying trade of the world. The English also claimed the right of searching for British deserters in American ships, which increased the existing irritation. It must likewise be recollected that the War of Independence had left behind it a large heritage of hatred and prejudice, which had not yet had time to exhaust itself. Washington and his friends, when their great work was effected, strove to repress the anti-British feeling which pervaded the democracy, and by so doing incurred at first a good deal of obloquy. Not even the excesses of the French jacobins and revolutionists could at first impair the sympathy between the two countries. Protests were certainly heard here and there, and certain delegates from the county of New York protested at Albany against the war, saying that it was repugnant for a free people to ally themselves with the Emperor Napoleon, 'every action of whose life demonstrated a thirst for universal empire and the extinction of human freedom.' But the war was a popular one, and the conquest of Canada appeared a simple matter.

(3) At this time the population of Upper Canada was less than 80,000, and that of Lower Canada 220,000; that of the United States was about 8,000,000. The frontier between the two countries was about 1000 miles long, and practically undefended. The regular troops in both provinces of Canada amounted to barely 4000 men. The United States had the advantage of attacking where they pleased, with an unlimited supply of troops and provisions behind them. It was expected also that the Canadian people themselves would welcome 'Brother Jonathan,' and consent to form other provinces of the Republic. But the attachment of the Canadians to