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John Tod: “Career of a Scotch Boy.” Edited, with an Introduction and Notes, by Madge Wolfenden 133

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John Tod: “Career of a Scotch Boy.” Edited, with an Introduction and Notes, by Madge Wolfenden 133 THE BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY ccL JULY-OCTOBER, 1954 “çmj BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Published by the Archives of British Columbia in co-operation with the British Columbia Historical Association. EDITOR Wju..iw E. IRELAND, Provincial Archives, Victoria. ASSOCIATE EDITOR M.non W0LFENDEN, Provincial Archives, Vktoria. ADVISORY BOARD 3. C. Goouuow, Princeton. W. N. SAGE, Vancouver. Editorial communications should be addressed to the Editor. Subscriptions should be sent to the Provincial Archives, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, B.C. Price, 5O the copy, or $2 the year. Members of the British Columbia Historical Association in good standing receive the Quarterly without further charge. Neither the Provincial Archives nor the British Columbia Historical Association assumes any responsibility for statements made by contributors to the magazine. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY “Any country worthy of a future should be interested in its past.” VOL. XVIII VIcToRIA, B.C., JULY-OCTOBER, 1954 Nos. 3 and 4 CONThNTS PAGE John Tod: “Career of a Scotch Boy.” Edited, with an introduction and notes, by Madge Wolfenden 133 Rumours of Confederate Privateers Operating in Victoria, Vancouver Island. By Benjamin F. Gilbert 239 NOTES AND CoMMENTs: British Columbia Historical Association 257 Okanagan Historical Society 261 Rossland Historical Museum 263 Plaque Commemorating Fort Langley Pioneer Cemetery 264 Midway Historical Marker 265 John S. Ewart Memorial Fund 265 Contributors to This Issue 266 THE NORTHWEST BOOKSHELF: Cumberland House Journals and inland Journals, 1775—82. Second Series, 1779—82. By Willard E. Ireland — 267 Canada’s Tomorrow: Papers and Discussions, Canada’s Tomorrow Conference. ByJohnTupperSaywell 268 The North Peace River Parish, Diocese of Caledonia: A Brief History. Sovereign: A Tree Grows in Vernon. Cousins: Through the Years, 1904—1954. Davies: Our Goodly Heritage, 1904—1954. Jessett: Pioneering God’s Country. By Willard E. Ireland 271 Tna NoRTHwEsT BOOKSHELF—Continued PAGE History of Kaslo. Fraser: The Story of Osoyoos. By A. F. Flucke 272 Shorter Notices: Brown: Admirals, Adventurers and Able Seamen. Ramsey: Historic Yale, British Columbia. Timberlake: The Bishop of Broadway: David Belasco, His Life and Work. Knaplund: James Stephen and the British Colonial System, 1813—1 847. By Willard E. Ireland — 274 .1 4 ‘I 4 John Tod as a young man. (From an original water-colour in the Archives of B.C.) JOHN TOD: “CAREER OF A SCOTCH BOY” In view of the fact that the following account of life in the fur trade during the nineteenth century is a particularly interesting one, and that John Tod’s part in it is relatively unknown, it has been deemed appro priate that the Career of a Scotch Boy should be reprinted. The original version appeared in the Victoria Daily Times in 1905, covering issues from September 30 to December 23,’ under the editorship of Gilbert Malcolm Sproat, well known to older British Columbians. According to Sproat’s account, the subject-matter was gathered from John Tod by G. H. Wilson-Brown and himself during numerous visits to the Tod house at Oak Bay. As John Tod died in 18 82,2 it seems strange that the material was not published until 1905. Wilson-Brown was a journalist and reporter and probably wrote shorthand. He died in Victoria in June, 1904.’ It must be remembered that Sproat was possessed of a distinctive literary style and, therefore, although the stories are Tod’s, the expression thereof is Sproat’s. Knowing the Tod house with its large open fireplaces and its romantic setting on the shores of Oak Bay (at that time virtually uninhabited), it is not difficult to visualize the scenes during the preparation of the story. The three would, no doubt, be gathered round the fireplace, pipes would be lighted, possibly glasses of grog placed beside them, Wilson-Brown with his note-book, and the stage would be set. Tod loved to tell of his experiences, and Sproat would be one who could draw out from him by questions the more interesting of his achievements. An effort has been made to identify the various persons and places mentioned by Tod throughout the narrative, and for help in this con nection sincere thanks are due to the Governor and Committee of the Hudson’s Bay Company for their researches into their Archives in London.4 During the preparation of the Career of a Scotch Boy for republication, various biographical details have come to light, about which a certain amount of doubt and uncertainty has hitherto prevailed. In order not to overload the narrative, it has been decided to compile these family details into an appendix. MMxE WoLFEEN. VIuroRIA B.C. (1) Victoria Daily Times. September 30; October 7, 14, 21, 28; November 8, 11, 18, 25; December 2, 9, 16, 23, 1905. (2) Victoria Colonist, September 1 and 5, 1882. (3) Ibid., June 15, 1904. (4) Material from this source is published by the kind permission of the Governor and Committee of the Hudson’s Bay Company. British Columbia Historical Quarterly, Vol. XVIII, Nos. 3 and 4. 133 134 MAIGE W0LFENDEN July-Oct. CAREER OF A SCOTCH BOY WHO BECAME HON. JOHN TOD AN UNFASHIONABLE TRUE STORY B GILBERT MALCOLM SPR0AT John Tod, the subject of Mr. Sproat’s brochure, was, as the title implies, a Scotch lad who rose through successive steps to the highest positions in the gift of the Hudson’s Bay Company. He was the contemporary, and peer in many respects, of Douglas and McLoughlin. He was one of the most remark able characters in the employ of even the great company. In his declining days Mr. Tod lived at Oak Bay, Victoria, and his house was a house of call for many horsemen who revelled in their favorite sport before the days of fences and enclosures. It was after long conversations on such occasions that Mr. Sproat made the notes which form the basis of this series of articles, which take the form of a self-memoir of Mr. Tod. The writer, Gilbert Malcolm Sproat, is known in literature as the author of several works: Select Odes of Horace in English Lyrics; Scenes and Studies of Savage Life; On the Poetry of Sir Walter Scott; Physical Politics; The True Mac beth; The Education of the Rural Poor in England; The British Opium Policy in India and China, etc., etc. The last mentioned was the first prize essay in a competition open to the world, and the award of $1,000 was given by the Indian Viceroy and the Governors of Bombay and Madras. Mr. Sproat came to Victoria in 1860, and was a friend of the “Scotch Boy “—the Honorable John Tod—whose career he depicts.—En. PREFACE One of the notables in North-west American history is the late Honorable John Tod, who, after retiring from the Hudson’s Bay Company, with the rank of chief trader, became a member of the council of government, of the Vancouver Island colony, in 1851. Mr. Tod, perhaps, was more remarkable for what he was, personally, than for what he did, in the service of the company or government, though his services were meritorious, and specially so in Indian diplomacy and management, as the following pages may illustrate. To me, as a youth, knowing him particularly well, Mr. Tod always seemed to be somewhat separated from his environment, at any rate not half attached to it. Standing thus, stoutly in its place, his personality suggested, and, indeed, more or less exhibited, that reserved force of character which acts directly by presence and without means. He was a refreshing unconven tionalist, who did not deal with facts at second hand, but through his own insight, [was] guided by natural probity. A reference to standards of truth and justice, as he conceived them, was the habit of his mind. This, naturally, 1954 JoHN T0D 135 drew some criticism on the part of those who can only appreciate a principle when it is lodged in a person. To the last, not far short of 90 years of age, notwithstanding his hard, narrow fortune until middle life, Mr. Tod’s intellect was as fresh and inquisitive as that of a promising college lad, ever seeking to realize and illuminate the untried and unknown. Books, music, conversa tion, in these he delighted, and, strangely enough in one of his speculative genius, he excelled all men I have listened to, in unaffected, graphic narration, without scene-painting or counterfeit. You saw, vividly and exactly, what he recalled and himself saw—” figure, proportion, color,” back in its focus, and the whole placed at a focal distance within the actual horizon of human life. The following pages, in the guise of a self-memoir of this remarkable person age, comprise actual experiences related by him purposely, in conversations with me, or with the late Mr. G. H. Wilson-Brown, and recorded by us respectively, at the time, or, immediately afterwards. For the particular form of the memoir, and the adaptation of spoken to written language, I must accept the responsibility, as well as for the application of Lowell’s aphorism, that “knowing what to leave in the inkpot is the wisdom of writing.” A few personal names are omitted or veiled, in deference to an expressed sentiment on the part of relatives or friends. I do not know if it would be presumptuous, on my part, to express the hope that this publication may interest some readers as a personal record, and, perhaps, as a little contribution to the history of the places and times referred to. The mere diary of a traveller, in distant lands, rather repels the reader, and on the other hand the book “written for boys” of an age when imagination lends its color to everything, is apt to mislead.
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