The Witness of David Thompson

THE WITNESS OF DAVID THOMPSON O.R some timepast Samuel Hearne has engaged myspecial •nterest. Facts about his life are hard to comeby. The one connectedaccount of him is the belated obituary notice that appeared in the European Magazine &• London Review • five years after his death. Despite an almost studied vagueness,it is in parts conspicuously at fault and as a whole readsas if written by someone who had known Hearne only at second-hand through his family. This scarcity of information makes valuable almost any mention of Hearne, however brief, and seemed to lend some importance to David Thompson as a witness to his career and character. Thompson served a year under Hearne at Churchill from 178•1-5,and knew him at first-hand. To Thompson, then, one turned with considerablehope. So far as concerned Hearne, one's hope was dashed. On Hearne, Thompson has hardly a valuable remark to make. Yet Thompson's sketch of Hearne is not on that account to be dismissedas of no interest. On the contrary it is most interesting asa revelation of David Thompson. It is quite astonishingto find how much falsehoodand prejudice Thompson was able to pack into the pageand a half or lessthat he devotesto Hearne. Mere vague inaccuracy one might perhaps expect. Thompson is supposed to have written his Narrative when "he was about seventy years old,"2 and he was only fifteen when he saw Hearne for the last time. Fifty-five years might well blot out memory; but, as will be seen,they did not blot out memory, nor, one fears, malice either. Thompson can be remarkably accurate, and in truth and falsehoodhe is equally explicit, but age brought no mellowing, no calm balance of judgment, to his attitude toward •It is reprinted in full in Samuel Hearne, A Journeyfrom Prince of Wales's Fort on Hudson'sBay to theNorthernOcean,ed. J. B. Tyrrell (Toronto, 1911), 1-8. 2j. B. Tyrrell, Thompson' s NarrativeofhisExplorationsin NorthAmerica(Toronto, 1916), xv. This, however, is rather a loosegeneralization. Referenceson pages109 and 298 to R. M. Ballantyne'sHudson'sBay (Edinburgh, 1848) showthat Thompson, who was born in 1770, was at least seventy-eightbefore he did the final work on his manuscript; but a mention of events taking place "three years ago (1797)" (sic) on page204 suggests that his first draft of at least some sectionswas made whenhewasonly thirty and still remainsmuchashe thenwrote it. Likewisepage186 also seemsto have been written beforeThompson had heard of railways. These last two referencesmay date oneof the two versionsof the manuscript Tyrrell receivedfrom Mr. CharlesLindsey; if, therefore,the versionof the chapter on Hearne, which Tyrrell used,can be regardedas written in 1800 suchprecisionof detail as it showsis not so surprising,and in any casethe later version would be basedon the earlier. For what Tyrrell has to say on the two versions,videp. xvii. 26 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW hisformerchief. Yet Thompsonhasbeenhighly rated asa source on the early history of the West. What his word is really worth on other subjectsthan latitude and longitude is a questionthat seemsinfrequently asked. The followingcritical examinationof his remarks on Samuel Hearne may therefore be relevant to Western history. Thompsoncame under Hearne's commandon his arrival at Churchill from England in the late summerof 1784. In 1782,the last year of the successful war which the Bourbon monarchiesof Franceand Spain foughtagainstBritain on behalfof the Americans ,Prince of Wales's Fortaon the left-hand promontoryat the mouth of the Churchill River, had been sacked by a French force under Admiral de la P•rouse. The new trading post, where Thompsonlived, had beenbuilt in 1783. Thompsonbeginsby describing Hearne'sreactionto the Frenchattack two yearsbefore. The first act of the Frenchcommanderwasto senda party in a small boat to take soundings toward the fort. After stating that "the Fort was under the command of the well known traveller, Mr. SamuelHearne, whohadbeenin the naval service,"Thompson continues: he allowed the french Boat to sound the River to their satisfaction; without firinga singleshotat them; from this conductAdmiral De la Peyrouse judged what kind of a Commander of the Fort he had to contend with; accordinglynext day, on the narrowisthmusof sandand rockof full a mile in lengthwhichleads to the Fort he landed...