The Constable

Fort Victoria in 1846, painted by Henry James Warre, Courtesy American Antiquarian Society.

In this post I am going to tell you about one of the first encounters the Constable and the ten members of the Victoria Voltiguers had with their supposed “enemy,” in March, 1852. On this occasion, their enemy was the First Nations men that lived near Fort Victoria: the Songhees. As I was going through James Douglas’s letters to the Secretary of State for the Colonial Department, I noticed that James Douglas talked about the “Constable.” I had no idea at the time I read this letter what it was he was talking about: what Constable would be at Fort Victoria?

It was not until later that I discovered the man must have been the Constable of the Victoria Voltigeurs, the armed militia protecting Fort Victoria. This small body of armed men were all retired members of the HBC who were offered land on the Colquitz River, as a reward for serving as members of the Voltigeurs. As you see, it seems that at this time (early 1852), there were ten men and a Constable serving in the Voltigeurs: I think, however, that some of the men in this group were HBC employees who still worked at the fort, but were assigned the duty of helping to deal with the problem. Were there as many as ten retired employees on the Colquitz River in 1852? I don’t know, and I don’t know if we will ever know for sure. As you can guess, I haven’t had time to get into the archives, and when I do reach that place I will be looking at other collections first.

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As you know from my previous post, here: https://nancymargueriteanderson.com/fort-victorias-frenchtown/ there was both a ‘sergeant,’ and a ‘captain’ — but not a Constable. So this man must be either Basile Bottineau, the Sargent, who worked at Fort Victoria until 1852 — or William J. Macdonald, captain, who after 1856 (he says) had to train and organize a body of 50 armed men to guard the Coast from the depredations of the Northern Indians.” So looking at this, I think the “Constable” must have been Basile Bottineau. But I don’t know for sure: William J. Macdonald was also at Fort Victoria in 1851-52. I will have to dig up his memoirs, which are hopefully in the BC Archives.

WRONG! I am now confident that the Constable was Captain James Sangster. 

So, at this first encounter (if it was the first encounter, as someone else wrote), the Constable and his ten Victoria Voltiguers did not have an easy time of it! Here’s the story, taken from James Douglas’s letter to the Right Honorable Earl, Henry George Grey, Secretary of State for the Colonial Department, dated April 15, 1852.

A difficulty which nearly led to a fatal affray with the Songies [Songhees] tribe occurred last month [March], in consequence of an attempt that was made to apprehend an individual of that nation, who was accused of having slaughtered several head of neat cattle and sheep belonging to a Settler.

Neat cattle are cows that have given birth at least once. 

Two Indians were, in succession, charged with the offence, one of whom was captured without difficulty, and brought in by the Officer intrusted [sic] with the execution of the warrant, but in attempting afterwards to apprehend the other offender, who had taken refuge in the principal Songhees village near Victoria, the Constable and his retinue of ten men were surrounded by a tumultuous throng of armed Indians, who set him at defiance, and were only restrained at the point of the Bayonet from rushing in and disarming his party, who were consequently compelled to retire in disorder, without having executed the warrant, and with the loss of two muskets and a Boat which remained in the hands of the Indians.

As soon as that outrage was reported I sent a second party to demand of the Songies the Boat and Muskets they had so unlawfully seized, on pain of being punished if they objected to restore them; but the mission proved abortive. They refused to give up the property unless the Indian who had been apprehended in the morning, on the charge of Cattle lifting, and who still remained in custody, was set at liberty.

So, as you see Douglas had at hand two parties of men, both of which he sent to the Songhees Village. Almost certainly the second party would have come from the fort employees. His letter to the Secretary of State continues:

Although very unwilling to proceed to extremity with those Indians, who have been uniformly friendly, I could not allow Her Majesty’s authority to be thus treated with contempt and the law set at open defiance, without a neglect of duty, and incurring greater evils than those which it was sought to avert.

I think that Roderick Finlayson offered the solution, because he knew that the First Nations on the harbour understood what the fort’s big guns could do. (Not that James Douglas could not have come up with this solution himself, of course.) That story comes later: this is the continuation of Douglas’s letter:

Before resorting to coercive measures, I however resolved to try the effect of a demonstration, and with that view ordered out a few guns, and directed the Hudson’s Bay Company Steam Vessel, “Beaver,” to be anchored abreast of the village, in a position from which it [the village] could be attacked to advantage, and in course of two hours our preparations were completed.

I suspect that Douglas had one or two of the big guns loaded onto the Beaver: certainly at Fort Vancouver, the HBC men loaded their cannons onto whatever ship was available, and knocked down a house or two in an Indigenous village where the members had given offence. Douglas’s letter continues:

In the meantime, there was much excitement and alarm among the Indians, the women and children were flying in all directions while the men appeared to look unmoved upon the scene of danger. But they had also had time for reflection on the consequences of pushing the matter further, and to my great relief, sent a messenger to beg that proceedings might be stayed, as they had resolved to end the dispute by restoring the Boat and Muskets, which were immediately given up.

I can almost read the Chiefs’ minds. No, its not magic: I just happen to know that back in 1844, Roderick Finlayson gave the Songhees a demonstration that impressed upon the Songhees the power of the guns that were in the HBC fort. They had time to remember that demonstration, and to decide not to face the threat of another house being blown to smithereens. 

Roderick Finlayson’s 1844 story also begins with some Songhees men killing some of Fort Victoria’s working oxen and horses feeding on the grounds around the fort. Finlayson questioned the Songhees chief about this, and the chief departed, enraged. Finlayson immediately suspended trade, or any dealing with the First Nations, at the fort until the matter was settled, “whereupon they sent word to some of the neighbouring tribes to come to their assistance, as they intended to attack the Fort. In the meantime, I kept all hands at their arms, set watches night and day to prevent surprise.”

Finlayson had a couple of days of unsuccessful negotiations with the Songhees chief. A large party of First Nations men assembled outside the fort and “threatened death and devastation to all whites.” Then they opened fire on the fort’s palisades, “riddling the stockades and roofs of the houses with their musket balls; it was with the greatest difficulty that I could prevail [on] our men not to return the fire, but wait for my orders.” And they did. 

So, Finlayson looked across the harbour, and he spotted the chief’s lodge, which was the largest building in the Songhees community. Finlayson was also aware that at this time, “these Indians never saw the effect of grape shot fired from a cannon.” And this was the simple demonstration that he gave them. Here is the story, in Roderick Finlayson’s own words: 

After a close firing of about half an hour was carried on, I spoke to the principal Chief, informing him that I was fully prepared to carry on the battle, but did not like to kill any of them without explaining to them that they were wrong, and giving them another chance of making restitution. A parlay ensued among them, during which I sent our Indian Interpreter out to speak to them, telling him to make it appear that he escaped without orders and to point to them the Lodge I was determined to fire on, and for all its inmates to clear out. This they did at the suggestion of the Interpreter, who upon making a sign to me as agreed to, that the Lodge was clear, came towards the stockades and was admitted into the fort by a back gate. Seeing there was no sign of their coming to terms, I pointed one of our nine-pounder cannons loaded with grape shot at the Lodge, which was a large one built of cedar boards, fired, and the effect of which was that it was completely demolished, the splinters of the cedar boards flying in fragments in the air. After this there was an immense howling among them from which I supposed a number were killed. But my plan, I was happy to find, had the desired effect. 

After the excitement caused by the explosion was over, the chiefs called at the fort and said they “wanted to parlay with the white chief.” During this conference, Finlayson explained that he had the power to destroy all their houses, but he did not like to do so: nevertheless, he was determined to punish the offenders, or to have payment made for the animals they had killed. Before the day was done, the full payment in furs demanded by the HBC was delivered at the gate. Finlayson “made a pipe of peace” with the chiefs, receiving a promise that no more HBC animals would be damaged in the future. “We parted good friends,” he said. “Trade was resumed as formerly, after this no more of our animals were killed.”

There was more: “The chiefs next day wanted to see more of the effects of our big guns in an amicable way.

I told them to place an old canoe in the harbour, that I would fire on it, and then they would see clearly the effect. So they did. I then loaded one of the guns with a cannon ball, pointed at the canoe in the harbour, fired, the ball passing through it , bounded over the harbour afterwards into the woods beyond. This news spread far and wide, and had a very salutary effect on them.

So, in 1852, Roderick Finlayson told James Douglas this story, and James Douglas loaded a few of the big guns onto the lovely flat deck of the Beaver, and placing the boat in a good position to fire on the Songhees village, anchored it in place. The chiefs remembered Roderick Finlayson’s demonstration of eight years earlier, and called a halt to the proceedings — offering to return the boat and the muskets and to end the dispute. Douglas’s 1852 letter continues:

It being then late in the evening nothing further could be done; and the following morning the Songies Chief, a well disposed Indian, made proffers of compensation for the cattle that had been slaughtered by his people; which were accepted, and quiet restored.

I have probably dwelt at undue length on a subject which may not appear of much importance, from a wish to put your Lordship fully in possession of the facts of the case, as well as our proceedings consequent thereupon, and as similar difficulties will be of frequent recurrence, I would beg the favour of your Lordship’s instructions in reference to other cases of the same kind….

We have had no other cause of complaint nor difference whatever with the Indians since my last report, and probably no serious difference would ever occur were it not for the running cattle which often stray into the woods at a distance from the settlement, and offer an immediate temptation to the hungry Indian returning unsuccessful from the chase, whose ideas are moreover somewhat indistinct as to the real value of domestic cattle, being considered in the same light as the deer of the forest, in which he believes there is no exclusive property.

Well, its true: to the First Nations men cows are just big deer.

So, here we are: this is the story of the first (I think) call on the Victoria Voltigeurs to protect Fort Victoria, and like I said, there were problems. Nevertheless, in the end, the problem was solved, and the HBC men got their boat and muskets returned to them. 

When I write the next Victoria Voltigeurs story, it will appear here. I know that under Governor Blanshard the Voltigeurs were involved in some frays: we will see what I can dig up. Oh, and its also important to know just how big the Colquitz River waterway is. Huge! I’ll have to map it out, but it seems to me that every single walk a Victoria citizen takes along a creek or small river anywhere in Saanich, is a walk along the Colquitz! After all, the Colquitz begins at Beaver Lake! That’s a pretty big watershed, especially when it also includes the creeks that flow into Swan Lake…

Copyright, Nancy Marguerite Anderson, 2025. All rights reserved.

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