He also dispatched an official to govern what might be called the Middle West on behalf of the Hudson's Bay Company.

This person, acting under instructions, claimed the whole region beyond the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada as the private property of the Hudson's Bay Company, on the strength of their antiquated charter issued by Charles II.

The agents of the North-west Company were warned (as also the two or three thousand French Canadians and half-breeds in their pay) that henceforth they must not cut wood, fish or hunt, build or cultivate, save by the permission and as the tenants of the Hudson's Bay Company.
[Footnote 3: Prince Edward's Island is off the north coast of New Brunswick.

It was named after Queen Victoria's father, the Duke of Kent.] It is not surprising that such an outrageous demand, when it was followed up by the use of armed force, soon provoked bloodshed and a state of civil war throughout the North-west Territories.

Lord Selkirk himself took command on the Red River, with a small army of disciplined soldiers.