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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 S 6 ON THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THB NORTH-WEST COMPANY or CANABA, WITH A HISTORY OF THE FUR TRADE, AS CONNECTED WITH THAT CONCERN j AND OBSERVATIONS ON THE POLITICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE COMPANY'S INTERCOURSE WITH, AND INFLUENCE OVER THE INDIANS OR SAVAGE NATIONS OF THE >\TERIOR, AND ON THE NECESSITY OF MAINTAINING AND SUPPORTING THE SYSTEM FROM WHICH THAT INFLUENCE ARISES, AND BY WHICH ONLY IT CAN BE PRESERVED. LONDON: Printed by Cox, Son, and Baylis, G'ca< Queca titreet, Lincoln's • Inn -Fields. 1811. t II ' kr ON THR ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OP THE NORTH'WEST COMPANY t II OF CANADA, Sic. 8fc. Sfc. 1 . J. HE Indian or Fur Trade, which com- menced with the discovery of Canada, and was at first an insignificant barter, is now very considerable, and one of the most im- portant branches of the commerce carried on between British America and the Mother Country. It is this trade which attaches to the British empire a race of men (the Indians) which no system merely political could maintain, either in subordination or fidelity ; but whose fidelity and subordination are essential to the safety of the greater part of His Majesty^s dominions in North B 2 America. America. The influence of tlie traders ovei those who depend on them for the conve- niences derived from civiHzation, and for facilities in obtaining food and clothing in greater abundance than before — is great in proportion to the amount of the benefit con- ferred. 2. Before the conquest of Canada, the Fur Trade of that part of the country known to the French, was carried on under the superintendance of the Government : the country was divided into trading districts ; and, to prevent abuses, licences were granted, which enabled the holders to carry on the trade. The care of the Government, in this respect, was not ill repaid ; which is manifest from the assistance it derived from the Indians in all its wars with the neigh- bouring Colonies. 3. Although it cannot be ascertained with accuracy what was the real amount of the furs collected from the several districts which were established by the French, yet the low price at which beaver-skins were sold, and the small extent of territory which was then explored, authorize the conclusion that it was small. Montreal was taken in the year 1760 ; and, in the spring: oi' the following year, a few English and French traders sent goods to the borders of Luke Superior, and a few went as far North as the Rainy Lake, where they continued till the year 1763, when the Post at Miehilimackinac was taken by the Indians. This event, and the Indian war by which it was oce:isionc(l, produced a temporary suspension of ur. An equally obvious, consideration is, that the Company, by the perpetuity of interest, inherent in the con- stitution of an associated body, cannot find that advantage in partial acts of fraud and spoliation which but too often tempt soli- tary traders to commit them. A solitary trader, acting only for himself, and having no interest in the country, nor in the In- dians, beyond the moment, may, by a for- tunate act of villainy, acquire an instant be- nefit. u nefit, and, having done so, by returning into the country no more, avoid all disastrous consequences ; but the interests of the Com- pany require a continuance of the trade ft-om year to year, and will not suffer them to aban- don, for any temporary advantage, the foun- dations of their future hopes. 6. The extent of the Company's concerns, in which consists its commercial importance to the empire at large, has in part been stated. The British manufactures which they annually import into Canada amount to a considerable sum,* and their contribution to the * The principal articles exported from Great Britain, for the Indian trade by the North West Company, are : — Blankets, manufactured at Witney, Oxfordshire, Woollens, ditto in Yorkshire, namely : Strouds, Coatings, Mol- tons, Serges, and Flannels, common Blue and Scarlet Cloths. Cotton Manufactures, from Manchester : Striped Cottons, Di- mities, Janes, Fustians, Printed British Cottons, Shawls and Handkerchiefs, Gartering and Ferretting, Hardware, in large quantities. Irish Linens, Scotch Sheetings, Osnaburgs and Linens. Nets, Twine, Birdlime, Threads, Worsted Yarn, large quantities. Brass, Copper, and Tin Kettles. Indian Fusils, Pistols, Powder, Ball, Shot, and Flints. Painters' colors, Vermillion, &c. Stationary, Beads, Drugs, and Large parcels of all kinds of Birmingham manufacture, with other articles of British manufacture. 15 the general mass of commerce and manufac- tures will be furthei- deduced, from the con- sideration, that of the furs imported by them into this country, very few are re-exported in a raw state, a large proportion consisting of beaver-skins, furnishing the raw material for the extensive and profitable manufacture of fine hats. To this statement of the in- direct or mixed operation of the Company's traffic upon the welfare of the Empire, is to be addeJ its effect upon the prosperity of Canada, in the encouragement it affords to both the manufactures and agriculture of that Province, by the annual expenditure of about ^50,000 sterHng, in the payment of salaries and wages to the persons employed in its service, and in the purchase of various articles of the produce of the colony, which are employed in the trade, in addition to the imports from England above stated. 7. The commercial influence of the Com- pany, in promoting the extension of the Fur Trade, and in preserving peace and good order among the Indians, has been already noticed ; but their influence in a political point of view, is also worthy of regard. The present system of the Company, by the ab- sence I 16 sence of rivalry from within , enables them to carry on the trade at a comparatively small expense ; and their interests require them to endeavour to undersell all rivals from with- out. These rivals are the citizens of the United States, to whom those parts of the British Territory which border on their boun- dary line are naturally, and were lately by treaty,* accessible. But the Indians will of necessity be attached to those with whom they constantly maintain a trade. It is therefore the system of the Company which maintains and secures to Great Britain the attachment of the Indians. If the Company were without all other motive, if they were without nation- al feelings, still their interests would require them to foster that attachment. By identifying themselves with His Majesty's government, they acquire increased importance among the Indians ; a consequence of which they are so sensible, that they invariably, and they hope innocently, and even beneficially to the mother country, represent their visits and re- sidence * The Treaty of ] 793 being understood to have expired, it is considered that the Americans are not now entitled to access to these territories, for the purposes of trade. 17 sidcnce in the Indian territory as boons to tlic Indians from His Majesty, bestowed on account of tbeir good bebaviour, and to be withdrawn should they exhibit the re- verse. It is to be understood, though it may be difficult to convey the idea, that the relations of buyer and seller, of trader and consumer, hardly enter into the view of the Indian, — of the Indian, at least, who lives remote from European settlements ; of which description only are those with whom the dealings of the North West Company are carried on. The Indian of the Interior Country is placed beyond the reach of the direct influence of the British Government. His remote situation precludes him from any intercourse with, or knowledge of the mili- tary posts established on the frontiers of Canada, and of the Indian Department. He is a chief, or a warrior ; he hunts, and, through friendship and in the spirit of gene- rosity, he brings his furs to the trader : the trader he regards as a representative of His Majesty, through whose friendship and good- will manufactures are permitted to be brought, and to be presented to him in return. Here, therefore, are less of the cold relations of D trade, 18 trade, than of the warm ones of national and individual attachment ; and, hence, it will be seen, that any interruption of the English Trade, by a foreign power, would appear to the Indian, not so much a commercial injury to Great Britain as a direct and personal in- jury to himself; for, in his eyes, it would be no other than an attempt to cut him off from the benefits resulting from his friendship with the English. Such are the springs of this trade, and the sources of the political influence possessed by the North West Company. As to the description of men to whom this influence reaches, their number is large, and their fitness for military purposes the greatest of that of any Indians which could now be brought by the English into the field. In a population of nearly sixti/ thousand souls, between the Straits of Belleisle, in lat. 48° North, long. 55° West, and the Great Bear Lake, in lat. 67° North, long. 125° West, there are at least twelve thousand of them capable of the most active warfare ; and these, not the vitiated and enfeebled neighbours of the settlements, but men in the full vigour of savage life. It is not necessary, here, to decide, what is the real military value of an Indian force, or the expe- diency 1 k ■ 19 diency of employing it ; it being sufficient to observe that in possessing it, we have that, of which, more than any other of our means of annoyance, the whole mass of the population of the United States is afraid. In the year 1794, when the treaty then recently iiegociated with Great Britain was under the considera- tion of Congress, in which its ratifica- tion was much opposed, one of the argu- ments most strenuously urged for acquiescing in it (an argument well adapted to the interests of many, and to the feelings of all,) was, the means which it afforded, of " arresting the ** tomahawk of the Savage, raised over the ** head of the innocent settlers on the fron- " tier.*" — At this day, the rumours which make the most serious impression upon the pubHc mind in the United States, and which are consequently copied from newspaper to newspaper with the greatest eagerness, are those of preparations on the part of the In* dians, under the influence of Great Britain, to commence hostilities. As supposed pro- moters of such preparations, the North West D 2 Company * See a celebrated Speech by Mr. Atnei, and the Note in page 23 post. i ^iO Company and its servants arc, at the same time, constantly held up to the odium of the people of the United States ; — a further il- lustration of the influence which in that country is imputed to the English Traders generally, and to the North West Company in particular. But, were additional testi- mony upon these points necessary, it might be found in the* embarrassments, which the government of the United States has unceasingly laboured to throv/ in the way of the British Indian Trade, and particularly ia their total disregard of the provisions of the third article of the late treaty of 1794, by which access to the territories of both na- tions on either side of the boundary line, was allowed to their respective subjects ; but after the acquisition of Louisiana by the United States, all intercourse to the west of the Mississippi was prohibited to all persons, ivho would not abjure their allegiance, and become citizens of the United States, which was a gross I * See Mr. Atcheson's Observations on the Importance of the Britif S North American Colonies, p, ix, edition ] 808, for yarious instances of vexatious conduct and exactions of the 'American Revenue Officeri on the Canadian Fur Traders. 21 gross infraction of tliat treaty, as well as of the explanatory article of 1796. To conclude : the present attachments of the Indians to the suhjects of Great Britain, in preference to tlie ])eoplc of the United States, is matter of notoriety ; and the Fur Trade of Canada, and the system of the North West Company, are the hasos of those attachments. 8. Of the truth of these positions, the certainty hccomes still more apparent, if we reflect on the inevitable consequences of the event of a dissolution of the North West Company. The Company, by the aid of their capital and exertions prevent the interference of other jarring interests. The result is a state of peace, of order, of industry, and of British influence. From the epoch of the concpiest of Canada (1759,) to that of the establishment of the Company (1784,) the Indian terri- tory was frequently distracted with the ani- mosities of the traders, who were all British subjects. There were no competitors for the trade but them, and there were no settle- ments, those of Canada excepted, in any degree contiguous to the seat of ^he trade. But what is the condition of things now, and what multiplied evils are not to be consi- dered 22 dcrcd as certain, if the British Indian Terri- tory should again be abandoned to a trading competition ! The Colonists of Great Britain on the Athmtic, who separated themselves from the motlicr country, have now become a foreign people ; their settlements have been pushed so far into the interior as to place them at the doors of the Indian Terri- tory ; and the provisions of the late Treaty of Great Britain with the United States, opened those doors to all foreigners who were disposed to come in. Dissolve, there- fore, the North West Company, and the Indian Territory becomes the theatre of contention, not only between British subjects, but between them and foreigners ; a conten- tion in which national rivalry, not to say national hatred, will mingle itself with com- mercial ; in which spirits will be introduced among the Indians in profusion, and in which blood, on all sides, will assuredly be shed. The enterprize, the facilities, and the advantages, which the people of the United States derive from the aid and pa- tronage of their government, will, it is to be feared, ultimately prevail, unless prevented by the timely interlerence of the British government, -. I 23 government; for, without it, the Trade will be lost, not to the North West Company only, but to Great Britain ; and, with the trade, tlie British influence over the Indians. 9, The claims of the North West Com- pany, as the medium through which Bri- tish commerce derives the greatest possible addition in the article of the Fur Trade, and through which the political interests of the Empire are maintained, in a quarter of the world * which is daily becoming more im- portant, * It must not excite surprise should the French government resume the possession of Louisiana ; for there is reason to believe it was 7iot sold to the United States but only hypothecated ; per- haps the discussions on Mr. Pickering's recent motion when made known to the public will tend to elucidate and explain this myste- rious transaction. For much important information respecting that province, and the countries on the biuiks of the Mississippi, see a tract, entitled : " An Address to the Government of the " United States on the Cession of Louisiana to the French, " including a memorial on that subject by a French Counsellor " of State." Printed at Philadelphia in ifcOJ; amongst many observations in this curious publication are the following: < In page 45 it is observed, " There is still another rein, " however, by which the fury of The States may be held at " pleasure — by an enemy placed on the'r Western frontiers, " The only aliens and enemies within their borders, are not the " blacks. They indeed are the most inveterate in their enmity ; *' but the Indians are, in many respects, more dangerous in- "' mates. Their savage ignorance, their undisciplined passions, " th*ir 24 portant, (for the possession of Florida and Louisiana by the United States, and the ulti- mate (( (C (C << tl ft (t tl II << <( <( (( their restless and warlike habits^ their notions of ancient right, make them the fittest tools imaginable for disturbing The States. In the territory adjacent to the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri, there are more than //iir/^ thousand men, whose trade is hunting, and whose delight is war. These men lie at the mercy of any civilized nation who live near them. Such a neighbour can gain their friendship or provoke their enmity with equal ease. He can make them inactive, or he can rouse them to fury ; he can direct their movement in any way he pleases, and make it mischievous or harmless by supplying their fury with arras and with leaders, or by withholding that supply." " The pliant and addressful spirit of the French has always given them an absolute controul over these savages. The office which the laziness or the insolence of the British found im- practicable, was easily performed by us ;— and will be still easier hereafter, since we shall enter on the scene with more advantages than formerly." " We shall detach thither a sufficient force to maintain pos- session against all the efforts of The States, should they, contrary to all their interests, proceed to war with or without provocation. We shall find, in th<^ Indian tribes, an army permanently cantoned in the most convenient stations ; en- dowed with skill and temper best adapted to the nature and the scene of war, and armed and impelled with far less trouble and expence than an equal number of our own troops. We shall find a terrible militia, infinitely more destructive, while scattered through the hostile settlements, and along an open frontier, than an equal force of our own. We shall find, in the bowels of The StatbS; a mischief that only wants the «♦ toucb i \ ' 25 mate fortunes of Mexico and New Spain have a strong bearing on this question) ; these though the most prominent, are not the only chiims they have on the favourable con- sideration of Government. The Company have already done much, and are daily doing more, for the complete discovery of the Interior of North America, in the higher latitudes. In the peaceable pro- gress of commercial enterprize, they have pushed their researches to the Frozen Ocean in one direction, and to the Pacific in E another. " touch of a well-directed spark to involve in its explosion, the " utter ruin of half their nation. Such will he the poiver we " shall derive from a military station and a growing colony on " the Missimppi. These will be certain and immediate effects, " whatever distance or doubt there may be in the remoter bene- " fits to France, on which 1 have so warmly expnliated. As a " curb on a nation whose future conduct, in peace and war, will " be of great importance to us, this province will be cheaply " purchased at ten times the cost to which it will subject us." In page 50 it is stated, and the words in a note are said to have been repeated by Talleyrand, as those of Buonaparte :— " My designs on the Mississippi will never be officially an- " nounced, till they are executed. Meanwhile the world if it " pleases, may fear and suspect, but nobody will be wise enough " to go to war to prevent them. I shall trust to the fully of " England and America, to let me go my own way in my own " time." I 2(3 another. They have not merely yisncd those regions, in the capacity of traders, hut, through the skill and perseverance of the gentleman who performed the difficult and dangerous voyages alluded to, their com- merce has heen the means of procuring de- scriptions of them, and thus enlarging the bounds of geography and of general know- ledge. Many other voyages and journies of discovery, though of smaller extent, have been performed by the members and agents of the Company, and useful journals of them are carefully preserved ; and one member, a gentleman of great scientific attainments, has passed many years in the Interior, solely occupied in perfecting its Geography, pro- posing, as early as an undertaking of so much magnitude can be accomplished, to communicate, on the part of the Company, the whole of its accumulated information to the world. These are undertakings, to which less powerful, and less wealthy ad- venturers would be unequal, and to which the Company could have no sufficient stimu- lus, if it did not promise itself, to reap where and what it sows. It is to be added, that the Company, in exploring New Countries, and 4 4 \ i 1 i i^ 27 and opening an intercourse with the natives of them, proceeds in no spirit of violence, the sure consequence of which would be its own permanent injury ; but presents itself with the goods for barter, and is received and hailed as a benefactor. 10. But the prolonged existence of the Company will depend upon its prosperity under the encouragement and protection of the British Government; and if its merits are such as have been described, its ck- istence must be an object of national soli- citude, and it luust be worth while, not only, to prevent its decay, but to give it a basis the most solid. Now, an extension of the field of adventure is always necessary to the prosecution of the Fur Trade, as it is to other trades in natural productions ; such as the fisheries, ai^d the timber trade of uncultl- vated countries. The animals of a particular reffion either become exhausted, or retire from pressing dangers. This consideration alone would prove the necessity of progres- sively extending the field of adventure of the North- West Company, for the Fur Trade is known to have gradually receded into the Interior, leaving in the country, where it has been long established, only very diminished E 2 resources 28 resources for rewarding the chase. The; Company, however, has suffered from other causes. The Treaty with the United States placed the Fur Trade of Ca^iada, south of MichiHmackinac, under the controul of the American Government, hy whom, as already intimated, no practicahle step has been omitted to render nugatory the privileges of the English engaj^ed in it. By the same treaty, the old and natural carrying-place, for goods passing into the North- West, was ceded to the United States ; and the Company was compelled, at a large expense, to dig a canal, construct locks, and make other works, necessary to complete an artificial remedy. In short, the prosperity of the Company, by natural causes, by the effect of political arrange- ments, and by an increased expenditure, pro- portionate to an increased distance of trans- port, is annually diminished, and, without the opening of new channels of traffic, and securing them, by Charter, to the North- West Company exclusively, for a certain num^ her of years, there is reason to fear the trade must ultimately be abandoned : to granting them this privilege it is presumed no rational objection can be made, as it will not interfere \ \ 29 ! I \ \ interfere with the rights of any of His Ma- jesty's subjects, more esp(*cially as the East- India Company have agreed to grant a licence to the North-West Company to trade to China. 11. The pursuit of new resources, so natural to the spirit of commerce and so es- sential to the existence of the British Fur Trade, has led to n constant extension of the geographical limits of the Company's con- cerns, gradually spreading them over a large portion of the North-Wcstern British Terri- tory in North America, explored, as already shown, at their own cost, and by their own labour. It is in this manner, that since the establishment of the Company in 1784, the consumption of British Manufactures has been progressively introduced throughout nearly the whole of the country lying between Cana- da and the Rocky Mountains, within which space the Company possess upwards of eighty posts, or trading stations* Not stopping here, * Besides their trading stations in the Interior, the North West Company hold a lease from Government of the Tadousac, or King's Domains, on the North Coast of the River Saint Law- rence, below Quebec, extending eighty leagues from the Rivef Saquinay, 30 here, the Company have passed the Rocky Mountains, and have alreadv established three or four posts on the streams which empty themselves into the Pacific Ocean. Their further design has been (and in proceeding toward its accomphshment, every thing prac- ticable, within the time, has been done) to explore the whole country west of the Rocky Mountains, and to form, upon the great river Columbia, which falls into the Pacific Ocean, in lat. 46^ north, a general establish- ment for the trade of the adacent country.* 12. The importance of this enterprize to the interests of the Empire, must be obvi- ous, from the considerations already stated, and to which it will be needless to recur in this place, except in the briefest manner. The Company, in carrying the trade of Great Britain to the west of the Rocky Moun- tains, open new markets for British Manu- factures, continue the supply of a valuable raw \ Saquinay, down to the River Moisee, and comprehending the country bordering upon all the waters which discharge themselves into the River Saint Lawrence, within that space of coast. Thi* lease is for twenty-one years from 1803, and the annual rent paid to Government is about «^1,000 sterling. * See those parts of the Map which are coloured. k 31 raw material, and instil, into the people with whom they traffic, the most powerful motives for attaching themselves to the interests of Great Britain. In addition, (and this, per- haps, is itself the most pressing view of the subject,) by maintaining their own prosperity, the Company maintain their own existence, and, with that, preserve their influence over that part of the Indian Territory which im- mediately borders upon Canada and the United States. If even the whole country, between the Saint Lawrence and the Rocky Mountains were exhausted of its furs, still the trade of the country west of the Rocky Mountains, if properly secured, would enable the Company to maintain its present esta- blishments, and with them, the attachments of the Indians at large. 13. The objects contemplated by the Company, it is completely in their power, if sanctioned and supported by His Majesty's Government, to accomplisb. But the Go- vernment of the United States, — stimulated, in part, by an avarice of territorial acquisition, to which they are moved by the circumstance, that the sale of public lands is one of the principal sources of their revenue ; — and still more 52 more by their anxiety to destroy the British Fur Trade, the political, as well as commer- cial importance, of which they well know ; — have long affected to consider the river Co- lumbia, and the adjacent coasts, as part of their territory, and have lately encouraged an expedition to be fitted out at New York, by a CHARTEKED Commercial company, the object of which is to take possession of and form settlements itjjon that coast. The pre- tensions of the United States are represented to be grounded on a pretended right of disco- very ; for that in the year 1806, the Ameri- can Government sent Captain Lewis on an expedition across the Rocky Mountains ; and, in order to give the undertaking as much as possible the air of a voyage of discovery, and to make it appear that they were taking possession of an unknown country, Captain Lewis, in his progress, bestowed new names on the rivei s, mountains, &c. as Jefferson's River, Madison's River, Sec. disregarding all that the English had done before him.* It is also I . * See the Travels of Captains Lewis and Clarke from St. Louis, by the Missouri and Columbia Riveis to the Pacific Oceaa in 1804, 1805, and ISOG. Reprinted in London, laog. 33 also stated, that the United States claim this river as part of Louisiana ;* but it is not con- sidered necessary to enter into any detailed observations on this point, as it must be obvi- ous to every one acquainted with the circum- y stances .. * In Major Pike's " Exploratory Travels " to the Source of the Mississippi, performed by order of the American Govern- ment, and lately published in London, the following extraordinary passage appears in page 140, viz. speaking of Mr. Thompson's Surveys of the Interior Country, the Major says : " I find, from •' the observations and suggestions of Mr. Thompson, that it was " his opinion, the line of limits between the United States and " Great Britain must run such a course from the head of the " Lake of the Woods, as to touch the source of the Mississippi, " and this I discovered to be the opinion of the North West " Company, who, we may suppose, speak the language held " forth by their Government. The admission of this preteniiou " will throw out of our territory the upper part of Red River, " and nearly two-fifths of the territory of Louisiana, whereas, " if the line is run due west from the Lake of the Woods, it " will cross Red River nearly at the entrance, and, it is conjec- " tured, strike the Western Ocean at Birch Bay, in Queen " Charlotte Sonnd." This is, indeed, a sweeping claim to territory,, and it is thft first time that such extravagant pretensions have been openly ad- vanced. There is, however, reason to believe, that the Amcii- can Government may seriously urge them, if they find Great Britain neglecting to maintain her just rights, and to protect her subjects who come in contact with them. The ambitious and encroaching disposition of that Government is well known, and if not resisted, it is ditficult to say ho'v far their pretensions may be carried. I 34 stances under which that colony was settled by the French, that there is no foundation for it. 14. Tlie claim of the United States, if attempted to be founded upon the purchase of Louisiana, is absurd ; and if the right of discovert/ is what they assume, facts pronounce immediately against them. The coasts were long ago explored by Captain Cook, and after him, by Captain Vancouver ; the latter sur- veyed the River Columbia ; and Sir Alexander Mackenzie, one of the partners of the North - West Company, in the year 1793, (thirteen years before the expedition under Captain Lewis,) crossed the Rocky Mountains, ex- plored the country to the Columbia, and to the Pacific Ocean. Besides several British subjects, partners and servants of the North- West Company, have been some years in possession of the Columbia, and the coun- try adjacent, in virtue of the Three Posts before stated to have been established there by them. 15. The claim, therefore, on the part of the United States, must be considered without any foundation. But the Company, cannot be expected to contend with the Go- vernment i 35 vernment of that country, unless they are supported by His Majesty's Government. Nor is tlie question simply, whether British subjects shall with impunity be deprived of their just rights, by a foreign power; or whether the British Nation will tamely part with a valuable territory to which its title is indisputable;* but whether the commercial F 2 and * In a tract published in i;63, entitled, "An impartial " enquiry into the right of the French King to the territory " West of the great River Mississipi, in North America, not " ceded by the preliminaries, and comprehending a vindication " of the English claim to that whole continent, from authentic " records, and indisputable historical facts j" — it is stated, that, in the Charter granted by King Charles the first to Sir Robert Heath, his Attorney-General, the province of Carolina is de- scribed " to extend from the River St. Mattheo on the South part, " to the River Passo Magno on the North. St. Mattheo has been '* found to be in thirty degrees Northern latitude, and Passo Magno *' in thirty-six, and from East to West this province was to extend " from the Atlantic Ocean to the great South Sea, and of course " includes all Louisiana j for as to the country to the IVest of " the Mississipi, that lies farther North than thirty-six degrees ; " it is to be included in the dependencies of Canada, and to be " esteemed a part of it, and of course becomes a portion of the " British dominion by the cession which is made of Canada " with all its dependencies, by the twenty-second article of the *' published preliminaries , " which has not be,en given up by any subsequent treaty j as the treaty of 1783 did not cede to the United States any territory West of the Mississippi. Sea the 3d article of that treaty. 4 ;3G and political importance of the Fur Trade, does not deserve, on the part of His Majes- ty's Government, as much anxiety to retain it, as it actually does excite, on the part of the United States, to take it way ? — As to the value of the territory considered without re- ference to the objects hitherto discussed, it may be worth while to remark, 1. That the Columbia River completes a line of inland navigation, intersecting the whole continent of America, and joining the Atlantic to the Pacific, since its sources, which are in the Rocky Montains, are nearly adja- cent to those of the rivers, which taking vari- ous directions from the eastern side of these mountains, fall respectively into the Northern Pacific, or Frozen Ocean, Hudson's Bay, and the Gulph of Mexico. 2. That this great River receives all the streams which fall Westward from the Rocky Mountains, in their outlets to the sea, and is the only river, in the whole extent of country, capable of navigation. And 3. That the banks of this River compose the first level country along all the coast, southward from Cook's Entry, and conse- quently afford the most northern situation, on ' the ? 1 37 the main land, that is suited to the use of a civilized people, or, in other words, to the establishment of a British Colony.* , Such, then, is the country of which, by means of the North-We«^ Company, the pos- session may be secured to Great-Britain ; and upon the possession of which depends the fu- ture prosperity of the Fur Trade, and, with it, a most important source of political in- fluence on the continent of North America ; exclusive of the advantages which may be derived * See Humboldt's Political Essay on the kingdom of New Spain, Vol. 1. p. 20; wherein it is stated, " that the government: " which should open the communication between the two oceans, " by forming regular establishments in the interior of the country, " and at the extremities of the rivers would get possession of the " whole Fur Trade of North America, from the 48° of latitude " to the pole, excepting a part of the coast which has long been " included in Russian America. Canada, from the multitude " and course of its rivers, presents facilities for internal com- " merce similar to those of Oriental Siberia. The mouth of the " river Columbia seems to invite Europeans to found a fine colony " there ; for its banks afford fertile land in abundance covered " with superb wood." London edition, 181 J. \ I I I '«■ 38 derived from rivalling the Fur Trade of the Americans to China; which, by obtaining the possession of the River Columbia, they expect to carry on v^ith increased facility and success. THE END. London : Printed by Cox, Son, and Baylis, No. n/-.^ a»^^'^«