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IVIaps. plates, charts, etc.. may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent fitre filmto A des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque Ie document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichA, 11 est fiim6 d partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant Ie nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants iliustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 ¥' TORONTO PUBLIO LIBBAfir V b tention of going out as a Cobnist to Vancouver's I^sland, under the Hudson's Bay Gmnpany. The othnr, a letter from a shareholder in the Company, wherem, it appears, that no sooner have this Company obtained the island thieui tney begin to quarrel amongst themselves about it. With respect to the first of these letters, we have only to say, Aat we rejoice to learn that it is the intention of any gentleman, in the position of the officer who wrote that letter in the " Times," to go out as a Colonut to Vancouver's Island. It proves one thing, at an^ rats, which we have always asserted, viz., that if a lair ebance be given of oolonising that country^ it will not want for Colonists. But we do warn that gentleman ag^unst i>utting himsdf into the power of the Hudson's Bay Company. He is, no doubt, a man of intelligence xaA common sense, as well as of decision and mergy ; bat his letter shows that he is utterly unacqiuinted with tbe proceMines of ttie Hudsoii'ii Bay Company, as well as with their history; ana we Mik him. If it j 1 ■-fi'. 2 vai;(couvbr's island. would not be wise that he should take' the opinion of some of those who have been on the north-west coast, and are acquainted with the character and proceedings of the Hudson's Bay Company, and can in- form him what he may expect to meet with, should he put himself into their power. There are many officers in Her Majesty's navy who have no interest in the question one wav or the other, and whose evidence is, at any rate, impartial, with whom he would do well to converse before he sails on his expedition. With respect to the second letter which we have mentioned, there is one remark of great importance to be made. From the " Adventurer's " letter, it appears that, when the proposed charter, granting Vancouver's Island to the Company, was laid before the last meeting of the Adven- turers, there were some doubts expressed as to the advantage which the Company was to gain by the bargain ; that the Governor flew into a passion, and threatened to resign if any hesitation to sanction his nego- tiation were shown ; and that a promise was given by the Governor and Directors, that the utmost economy should be practised in all the arrangements for promoting the Colony. Now, we have here one re- markable fact ; that there is not a disposition on the part of the Hud- son's Bay Company to invest any considerable amount of capital in the proposea undertaking. What, then, becomes of Earl Grey's and of Mr. Hawes' assertion, that the Hudson's Bay Company were the only parties who possessed anything like the means for carrying their proposal into effect ? It does not appear that the Colonial-ofiice were at all acquainted with the capital belonging to the Company, and still less with the por- tion of it which was forthcoming for the special object of Colonisation. Thanks to the prudent motion of Mr. Hume, we shall, early in next session, have some information as to the capital and resources and profits of the Company ; but, in the meantime, we have this interesting paradox on which to speculate. The Secretary of State tells us, that the Hudson's Bay Company must have the Island, because they are the only persons rich enough to colonise it ; and the Adventurers tell them- selves (who don't seem to know so much of their own affairs as his Lordship does), that they are very doubtful whether they have funds enough ; and they extort a promise from their excitable Governor, that as little shall be spent as possible. If Earl Gre^ supposes that there are no other parties in this country who have an interest in colonuing the North-west coast, or who are capable of doine it, he has made a blunder unusually great, even for his Lordship. Let it be known that the Privy Council refuses to con- firm this grant; and a day will probably not elapse, without a sound scheme being set on foot. But, as long as there is known to be such a mysterious predilection on the part of the Colonial-office for the fur- traders ; as lonff as it is left a matter of doubt, whether ail the trouble would not be thrown away; so long, of course, no independent scheme will be organised. The dela^ and uncertainty which have distinguished the management of this affiiir, have already done harm enough. For example, will the public believe, that, at this moment, Messrs. How- land and Aspinwalf, who four or five months ago would have made ■•f;rwm^%y^jf^ FOHONTO PUBLIC LIBRAfir vancovvbr'b island. 9 terms for obtaining, from Vancouver's Island, a supply of coal for their steamers, are absolutely at this moment procuring it from England? There is coal in rich abundance lying close at hand, and yet they are compelled to transport supplies fifteen thousand miles across the ocean, because the affair has been so managed that the coal in the English territory belongs to no one. Not thus do the Government ot the United States appreciate the value of that magnificent country. We are engaged in these contemptible squabbles ; the enterprise of young men who would have gone out and planted the English name and power on those shores is trammelled and shackled by the mystery and obscurity of the Government in Downing-street. You may see them walking eagerly and hopefully up that dismal alley towards the recesses of the temple. You may see them coming back with fallen crest and puzzled look, scratching their heads, as if they had heard a response from the Delphine oracle. But what is America doing all the time ? No sooner is the treaty signed by which their portion of the territory is settled to them, than they establish a Government; start a line of steam packets to Panama, in order to open a speedy communication with their new Colony ; make a treaty for securing a passage across the Isthmus; negotiate for* buying up all the property of the Hudson's Bay Company in their territory, which the treaty entitles them to do. They pursue an energetic career of improvement of their territory, and the first check which is given to their striding enterprise is the impos- sibility they find in gettmg us to sell them a little coal from our part of the territory, in oraer to save them half the world's transit. Lord Grey will, perhaps, reply that he has more than thirty Colonies to think of: the United States only one. Indeed it is too true ; but it is a strange apology to make, for th» blundering administration of the Colonial Minister of a great Empire, that his Lordship is like " The little old woman that lived in a shoe. And had bo many children she didn't know what to do." It is reported that it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government to proceed with this grant in spite of all opposition. It is said that the Hudson's Bay Company are proceedingwith their arrangements as though the affair were privately settled. What changes the Committee of the Privy Council may think proper to make in the charter, it is im- possible to conjecture; but we sincerely hope they will suspend it altogether until the next session of Parliament. Should it be otherwise— should the Hudson's Bay Company get their proposed, or any other, charter, it is not our part to dissuade any persons from taking advantage of whatever prospects may be offered, or whatever promises may be held out, to induce them to become Colonists under the authority of the Hudson's Bay Company. Our own opinion is unchanged; and, abiding by that opinion, we con- fidently predict, that, before five years are elapsed, either the Crown will be under the necessitv of resuming the grant so rashly bestowed, because no use will have been made of it, or the more serious trouble will arise of an appeal on the part of the settlers against the arbitrary goveniment of the Company. 4 TANOomrHtt's hlamo* But, before we take leave of the iubject, we have another task to perform, and that is, to call the attention of the people of this country to the part they may be compelled to take in the matter. Vancouver's Island is, as yet, a new subject. Six months ago it attracted so little public attention that we much doubt whether, when the debate came on in the House of Commons, a very great many per- sons knew where it Was situated. When the papers were laid on the table of the House, it was found that they offered abundant evidence that the island ought not to be disposed of in the manner contemplated by the Colonial-office ; but the debate came on so soon after their appearance, that there were of necessity many points omitted in the discussion which were, notwithstanding, of the highest interest. Of such a nature is the point to which we are now about to call the attention of our readers. The proposed charter concludes in these words:— "And we hereby declare, that this present grant is, and shall be, deemed <«nd taken to be made upon this further condition, that we, our heirs and successors, shall have, and we accordingly reserve unto us and them, full power, at the expiration of the said Governor and Com- pany's grant or licence of or for the exclusive privilege of trading with the Indians, to repurchase and take of and from the said Governor and Company the said Vancouver's Island, and premises hereby granted, in consideration of payment bein^ made by ««, our heirs and succes- sors, to the said Governor and Company, of the sum or sums of money theretofore laid out and txpended by them^ in and upon the said island and premises^ and ^ the talue of their establishmentSf property y and ^eets then being thereon.** Now, let us speculate on the result of this clause. If the Hudson's Bay Company pursue a wise and generous policy; if the promise Sir J. H. Felly has made, in order to obtain this grant, " That all moneys received for land or minerals should be applied to purposes connected with the improvement of the country." be kept; if the Colonists are thriving and prosperous ; if the Hudson's Bay Company are making money fast, ana spending it liberally ; if, in short, every- ihine turns out in their favour, then, when the time arrives at which the Hoence of exclusive taxes expires, there will be no desire on the part of any one to change the position of afiairs* and this clause will, in that case, probably become null and void. But, suppose the other possibility— suppose that the Ethiopian does not change his skin ; that the policy of the Company continue, bold, S'^pi'V* giinding, as heretofore; suppose that they are noaking enormous profits by the coals, &c., and pocketing Uie whole, instead of expending, at least a part, on the Colony; suppose that they bring large tracts of land into cultivation by their system of *' slave labour,^ consistinff. not only of persons of the lowest class from this country, but of Chinese, and Sandwich Islanders ; that they compel all these " tenants" to buy imported articles from them alone ; that they thus keep a monopoly of all the trade in their own hands, and charge, as now, a' hundred per cent profit on all manufactured goods ; that they wdopt ^ J VAMOOUVBA • ItLAND. to try it en er- he ice ted eir the the ese every possible mode of annoying the free Colonists, as they do in their present settlement at the Red River ; suppose that petitions come over, packet after packet, to encumber the table of the House of Commons, and the foot of the throne, complaining of all these hardships : suppose, above all, that a whispered rumour finds its way across, on the wings of some AUantic gale, that the atmosphere of Western America, as of its Eastern shores of old, makes loyalty somewhat brittle, and that it may be stretched to cracking in those climates; that the "star- spangled" banner waves at no great distance from the grumbling Colonies, and that a southern breeze may some fine morning float its folds over Vancouver's Island ; that the bold men who have conquered the savageness of the new land— who have asked only to be let alone- only " that a ffenerous nature may be allowed to find its own way to perfection"-~that these brave men, I say, are talking of finding a short method " to quit at once the debt immense of boundless gratitude," which they owe to their Mother-country for shining upon them through the benignant influences of Fenchurch-street. Suppose, in one wora, that your new Coloinr should talk of revolting ; and suppose that there be but one way left by which your honour can be saved, and yoiur Colonists appeased, and that is, by the annihilation of the authority of the Hudson's Bay Company ; suppose all this. Now comes the ques- tion. Who is to pay for it all ? Why, no one but you, friend reader ! You, in common wim all who are working for their bread in this country, and are perhaps, now casting your eyes over this journal, that you may learn some lessons of the r indom of our Colonial policy, which may tempt you to better vour cw.t'^i*^itm-^r from the home of your fathers. Let this be clearly and u<.. onitely understood by all— merchants of London, manufacturers of Manchester — working men of this country comprehend this, and digest it well, and let it never be forgotten — this : if the Hudson's Bay Company behave well, they are to receive the re- ward which always attends merit; if they behave ill, no harm is to happen to them, for you are to pay for it. Now, we shall rcnlly be obliged to you to read carefully the above clause in the charter, and follow us in this supposed case — and it is not an impossible or extravagant hypothesis : it is simply supposing that the Hudson's Bay Company shall pursue that system of Colonisation which, imder the name of the Puget's Sound Agricultural Association^ they have hitherto adopted. Suppose, then, that the Company lease out a very large tract of territory, importing into the country sufficient labour from amongst the lower orders of the Scotch, from the Sandwich Islands, and from the coast of China, where very cheap labour can be easily obtained, to cultivate the land, supplying all the capital them- selves. Suppose that there arises a very considerable demand for agricultural produce, from the whale ships which frequent those seas and from the Russian Settlements further north. Suppose that, on this system, the Hudson's Bay Comimny lay out some two or three hundred thousand pounds in a^icultural improvement, formins a Colony of ser* vants, the landlords living, that is being personified, in Fenchurch-street. Now, suppose it be thought wise to buy back the rights of the Company 6 VANCOUVBR S ISLAND. eleven years hence : under the above clause, we ask, will not all this have to be paid for by the people of England? m- ,. p In the Parliamentary proceedings, as reported in the *' Times of August 30, 1859, we may anticipate some such report as the following : "VANCOUVia's ISLAKD. " The Right Hon. B. Hawcs, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, rose and said— Sir, In pursuance of the notice which I gave, when I laid upon the table the papers which I hold in my hand, I rise to move for leave to bring in a bill for resuming the grant of Vancouver's Island, which was made to the Hudson's Bay Company in the year 1 848, and for paying to that Company the sum of money which they have ex- pnded since that year in the Island, and which, it was stipulated in the last clause of that charter, this country should pay, in the event of the froperty then granted to the Companv being taken back by the Crown, t is unnecessary for me to remind the House, that the time has now arrived when we must decide whether we shall make this purchase or not. The exclusive licence of trade made to the Hudson's Bay Company, in the year 1848, being about to expire in a few months. " Sir, a perusal of the papers on the table are quite sufficient to vindi- cate the course which I propose to adopt. Honourable gentlemen who have taken the trouble to peruse the documents are aware that they contain extracts from all the correspondence which has taken place, in the course of the last ten years, between the Colonial Office, the Hudson's Bay Company, and the Governor of Vancouver's Island ; and that the^ disclose a melancholj^detail of disaster, discontent, and above all, mismanagemenc. I will not, at this late period of the session, and on a subject of so little importance, invite the House to wade through the sad and revolting narrative; still less. Sir, do I deem it wise or necessary to institute any inquiry into the origin of these events. All we need now inquire is, how they may be put an end to; and having satisfied ourselves that there is only one method, and that is by buying off the Company, and resuming possession of the Island, we had better pay the money with as sood a grace as possible. Matters, in fiict, have arrived at this pass, t»at if we do not take this step the Colonists will throw themselves into the arms of the Americans. The sum, according to the estimate sent in by the Company, is £250,000. (Loud cries ofoh ! oh !) The only event of past times to which it is at all necessary that I should allude, is one which is a complete pre- cedent for the present proceedings. You will find, Sir, upon the Journals of this House, that, in the year 1 847,a bill was passed for paying to the New Zealand Company the sum of, I believe, £ 138,000 (laughter), on the plea that the Government had incurred a debt of that amount to the Company, owing to the mismanagement of the Colonial Office. (Shouts of laughter.) And my own memory will bear me out in saying, that the burthen was most cheerfully submitted to, and the money most readilv paid by the country; a fact which justifies me in the anticipation, that the present debt will be discharged in a similar spirit. (Oh, oh.) On the present occasion we have the satis&ction of thmking that there vanoouvhr'b island. ^ 7 is no mismanagement char^able against tlie Colonial Office; the Company haviiig. under their charter, had the whole management of the business. "Uie Colonial Office, according to the charter, deprived itself of all power to act, and, of course, all responsibility. (Oh, oh !) It is not a question for us now to impugn the policy of m^ noble friend, Earl Grey, then at the head of the Colonial Office, in which the Parlia- ment of that day concurred. All we have to do now is to mend matters as well as we can. (Hear, hear.) I therefore move for leave to brina; in a bill for empowering Her Majesty to resume the charter by which Vancouver's Island was granted to the Hudson's Bay Company, and for paying to that Company the sum of £250,000 sterling, for the value of their property in the said island. (Lauchter, and loud cries of oh, oh.)" We can readily imasine the burst of indignation with which such a speech would be received by the country ; yet, we say, if the country now, with the knowledge of what may be in store for them, with the consciousness that they are about to incur this monstrous and iniqai- tous liability — if this country now passively submit to this charter being 5 ranted — if the merchants, and manufacturers, and anti-monopolists not now lift up their voice against this provision, they will, we say, debar themselves from then complaining when they are called on to pay a debt which they are now about to incur. It may not be too late now. It may not be too late for merchants of respectability to petition the Privy Council to pause before this Charter is signed — to come forward and say we will undertake the Colonisation of this country— the whole trade of ft-new oeeMi will depend on it, it is worth our doing ; there are resources of wealth enough to enrich all capitalists and Colonists, if they be not monopolised, and if private enterprise be not cramped and stifled ; at any rate, to call on the Privy Council to pause, now that the affair is obtaining publicity, to see if no better arrangement can be made than the one proposed. If this be not done, depend upon it we shall have to pay for it ,• and the Hudson's Bay Company will not go cheap'— they will be found as dear as their own furs. When this question of buying up the rights of the Hudson's Bay Company shall arrive, it shall then be known that this arrangement was not made without protest. We protest against this charter being granted to the Hudson's Bay Company ; among many reasons, prin- cipally for the following:— 1. Because the history of that Company proves that it is neither their policy nor their interest to Colonise efficiently; because they possess a monopoly in the trade which, according to the term of the charter, they will be enabled to retain, to the great injury of the Colonists ; since a free Colony in that country, necessarily detrimental to the exclusive trade of the Company, will ever be treated by it with suspicion and hostility. 2. Because the charter does not provide that the rights of the Com- pany shall terminate and cease in the island, notwithstanding the *' licence of trade," granting those rights to them, expressly stipulates that, in the event of a Colony being formed, those rigats shall cease to exist. ■ ; 8 VANCOUVRRt ISLAND. 3. Because this charter doei not provide for the free government of the CoIonUtt ; and because it is not proposed to give any constitutional government whatever to the Colony, except by an authority which may remove it as soon as given ; whereas such government ought to be a part of the original charter, and ought not to be liable to oe recalled, except by Act of Parliament. 4. Because no effectual provision is proposed to be made for the administration of justice ; the Act of Parliament under which it is pro- posed that the law shall be executed espeoiallv providing that felons shall be sent across the whole continent of America to the Canadian courts for trial; all the expense of which will have to be defrayed by die Colonists. 5. Because all the natural sources of wealth in the island, which ought to be devoted to the formation and development of the Colony, are gnnted to a company in London, who mav, as ftir as anything contained in the charter forbids, dispose of all the profits derived for their own exclusive benefit; and because such monopoly is perpetual. 6. Because ihe only mode in which the possessions now granted can be resumed, in case the conduct of the Company should oe such as to render such resumption advisable, is hy imposing upon the people of this country the payment of an indefinite sum (^ money : because the only plea put forward for givine Vancouver's Island to the Hud- son's Bay Company is, that it may thus be Colonised without eapense to this country f whereas there is every reason to expect that, according to the propo8«d charter, a larga payment will be required from this country at no distant period. For all these reasons we protest against the charter now proposed to be made, as likely to entail upon the Colonists disaster, ana upon this country expense. Still we do believe that, sooner or later, there will be a Colony there; and if there be, it will not be a feeble infant. The country, the climate, jthe position, all point it out as the home of a strong and enterprising race ; and however it may be tormented by tlie caprice of a Colonial Office, or by the monopoly and tyranny of a trading compuiy, time will be when it will rise above both the one and the other. London t Printed by Qeorge Peirce, SIV, Stitnd.