The course was his own and fully did he afterwards pay the price for his aggressions.
The last acts of Governor Semple as the report of them was carried westward and repeated over the camp fires of the Nor'-Westers and their Bois-brules horsemen and voyageurs caused the most violent excitement.
The Metis claimed a right in the soil from their Indian mothers.

The Indian title had never been extinguished and afterwards Lord Selkirk found it necessary to make a treaty and satisfy the Indian claim.

The Nor'-Westers were also by a good number of years the first occupants of the Red River district.

The Canadian discovery of the West by French traders, the daring occupation by Findlay, the Frobishers, Thompson, and Sir Alexander Mackenzie all from Montreal even to the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, seemed strong to Canadians as against the undefined and shadowy claim to the soil of Lord Selkirk and his officers.
Certain signs of coming trouble might have pressed themselves upon Governor Semple.

He had eyes but he saw not.
The Indians, it is true, with their reverence for King George III., and showing their silver medals with the old King's face upon them, were disposed to take sides with the British Company.