Talk:Red River Colony

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Does anyone know if the Colony was set up where it was deliberately to cut off the North West company? IE, was the colony a purely business move that Selkirk made to help the Hudson's Bay, or did he buy the Hudson's Bay to start the colony?

Maury 22:03, 13 May 2005 (UTC)

Well, he definately had close ties to the HBC, since he married Andrew Colvile (Wedderburn)'s sister Jean, so he would have known the strong rivallry between the HBC and NWC. Hmm.. can't find anything right now - I'll look tonight. Chances are there's no easy answer. CWood 22:31, 13 May 2005 (UTC)

The end of the article refers to "Swiss mercenaries". This has to be a reference to the Regiment de Meuron. At this time, the unit was formally known as "His Majesty's Regiment De Meuron", and all members were enlisted as British soldiers at the regular British rates of pay. It is true that the de Meuron Regiment had been a Swiss mercenary regiment, but they were absorbed into full service in the British army in 1798, so they could hardly be mercenaries in 1816. Indeed, they had served in Canada for several years by then. --Country Wife 22:13, 15 July 2006 (UTC)