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Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul cliche, il est filmd d partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. errata I to t 3 pelure, on d n 32X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 y" 'N '' THE COLONY OF RUPERT'S LAND: wheue is it, and by what title held? ON ENGLAND: HEB INTEEESTS IN NORTH AMEBICA AND IN FEEE INTEECOUESE, AGAINST CEBTAIN CONTEAEY PEETENSIONS ON THE PART OF THE HUDSON BAY COMPATirY. BT CAPT. MILLINGTON HENRY SYNGE, R.E., F.R.G.S. AUTHOR OP "Caxada IN 1843;" "GuEAT BiuTAiN oKc EMnur," _ _ (Papers read bcfove the Koyal Gcogv.pUi.al Sccicy -^;^"^^;i;"r^ ' ^ "LEXTEK TO IHE GCV.U.OU O. TUB HtBSON BaV COMPA.Y ; "The Country v. Tue Company ;" &c. &c. &c. LONDON : EDWARD STANFORD, 6, CHARING CROSS. 1863. I } THE COLONY OF RUPERT'S LAND: WHEUE IS IT, AND BY WHAT TITLE HELD ? % gialoDue ON ENGLAND: HER INTERESTS IN NORTH AMERICA AND IN EREE INTERCOURSE, AGAINST CERTAIN CONTRARY PRETENSIONS ON THE PART OF THE HUDSON BAY COMPANY. BY CAPT. MILLINGTON HENRY SYNGE, R.E., F.R.G.S. author of "Canada in 1848;" " Gueat Britain one Empire," (Papers read before the Royal Geographical hwciety and British Association) ; "Letter to the Governor of the Hudson Bay Company;" "The Country v. The Company;" &c. &c. &c. LONDON : EDWARD STANFORD, 6, CHARINC^ CROSS. } *'^ 1863 »«•■ :n i '/. '/. KUM ATA. ■i p, y, lino 12. lifter isolated, insert u coniiini. p. J 3, 1. 6, instead of" this vot," read " not this" • p. 15, 1. 7 (from bottom), instead of^'hoth hem" read -'hern hofhr p. 16, 1. 9, for ''hwesfed," read « /*• vested:' p. 17, 1. 8, dele " ^.^/;" p. tiu, 1. 13, dele semicolon after ''hlnnthf," place it after ''mil. ' p. 2;^. 1. 13, dele"?y?Y7<." iVo^«?.— In the cljarter the words Rupert'*- Land and HudsoiiV Bay are used. It is the custom of modern geographers more correctly to omit the 's. In the following pages the readings arc used indifferently, as it was necessary to refer at times to documents in which the 's is inserted. t 1 I ONCli: AGAIN A WORT) OF lNT1101)U(rriON Writing the iollowiiio- pag-es has broug-ht to my recollection somewhat forcibly a story I once either lieard or read. Whether it be a true story or not I really do not know. For oug-ht that I can tell, it may be one of the '^ common thing's that everybod}' ong'ht to know/' or it may be a fiction merely, and buried in comparatiye obscurity. However this may be, the story is that of a lad whose lot a\ as cast completely apart from the civilization that sur- rounded him, and who thus circumstimced and isolated invented by his own unassisted eilbrts something' Hke a clock. The thing' kept and marked time. His invention so far perfected, his work so far advanced, the next step before him \\ as to take his workmanship to a neig'hbouring' town. Circum- stances combined to interpose most serious difficulties in his way. These too, liowever, he overcame suc- cessfully ; but, alas ! the end of all his eilbrts only was to find that there were better clocks than the object of his long- and anxious care. Clocks, or machines, as he most probably regarded them, that kept and marked time better than his own rude invention. I believe, too, he was treated rather as A 2 a kiijivo or fool and nn impostor tlinn n o-oiiius. I wonder wliat wrro tliat l)ov\s l»H'liiii;"s ? Did delio-lit or interest in finding; the better instrnnients absorl) the pain and mortification of the personal disappointment, and snstahi him under undes(;rved ill usaii'e and reiu'oacli ? What a conilict it must have been ! Yet vvhat a wakening- for his intellect to a new and as it were a l)etter world than he had conceived could j)ossibly exist! What became of him, I wonder ? How dear to him nnist have been the rouo'li mechanism over which he had thouo'ht and worked so hard and long* ! What deep reflec- tions, what |)onderino*s in after years ! In after years, if he did not die of a broken heart ! The resemblance, which has brouo-ht this story to my mind, consists in the g'reat labour that I have bestowed to arrive at the conviction, and to be able to adduce the proofs, of thinp^s which in the end^ I find, do not admit of reasonable doubt or honest question. Thing's that are so plain. They may be wilfully denied ; doubted and honestly disputed they can scarcely be. Proofs they do not need. In all that reg'ards the g-eography of British North America, and the results necessarily consequent thereon, this w^as years ago the case. It is so now as to the Charter under which the Hudson's Bay Company maintains its swa}^, and puts forth all the extrava- gant pretensions which have been raised thereon. The text of that Charter has been my guide exclusively in tracing in the following pages the 'I >■ r> .1 J! ■i boundary of RiiporfAs Lund. I liave lor nuniy yonrs lii})oiir('(l in the interests of tliat interior territory of Great liritain in America, ^^liiell, from liaving* lon«>* been indnstrionslv desit>"nated ^' The Hudson's liay Company's territories," lias Ijeen in imminent dan^'er of seeing' a usurpation passing- into a rig'ht. In 1847 the Irish famine awakened my interest on this subject. I saw tliat new hinds could not only be very advantag-eousl}' opened, but that the continent could easily be crossed. The South Sea passag'e after all was not a dream. The rapidity of modern intercourse and the opportunity of forming' such a road led by natural deg'rees to the rising* of a di'eam — a dream which still requires only the will and patient perseverance of a true and a g'reat statesman to chaug'e into a fact 5 for the vision is that of unity, more or less perfected throug'hout the emj)ire. The means unto the end is to foster rapidity and ease of intercourse. The tirst step towards it is to open the country from the Atlantic onwards to the Pacific to liberty, to civilization and commerce. To accomplish this ^^ as quite bey(.nd my power; not so, to show that it coidd be done, and how it could be done. 1 collected for the j)ur|)ose no inconsiderable amount of wares. 1 went very diligently and laboriously through all the informal ion to be g-athered, read every description of the country 1 could hear of, compared and sifted the results, mapj)ed the obstacles and interruptions to be cleared along* the line, setting' down their heig'hts and distances, :is \Aell as the leiio'ths of uninterrupted luitun)! uavig'atioii. My authorities were j>'iven ; tlie accuracy tlu'oug'hout was cnjiable of test. Pin inly the physical difficulties were relr.tively insignificant. My object was practi- cal results. I formed a plan suited to the urg-ent condition of that day, a fn mine-stricken crowd. I would have been content to see the merest embryo of resultj the simple acknowledgment of the facts, and the recog'nition of the principle of g'radual development. In time its application must have followed. I failed, Iiowever; and the ])articidar enierg'ency has passed. Famine, ])estilence, and war removed the population that a henlthy field of labour might have saved. Interior British America remains in the same untenanted condition. Its phvsical conformtition remains however also, bearhio- ever the same testimony- ; and the necessity for rapid connnunication wherever it can be carried out increases day by day. 1 fuiled. I cannot say it was that there were Ix'tter clocks than mine in toAMi before me. There was Mr. Asa AVhitney's clock. Thoua'h foreio-n made, and that it found nnich favour, I do not think it \\'as by fnr so g'ood a clock as mine. I may say this without arrog'ance, for he has subsequently him- self a^ owed his could not g'o. It found favour^ I fear, only with those who wished ill to native manu- factures^ and in order to discourag'e tiiese. There are some \^ ho do not care to have interior British America looked into, its story told, or its aflliirs i I discussed. There was another clock with some smart dash about it ; but it was too fast altog'ether. The whole year round hi a minute as it were. A railroad nil at once from shore to shore. I still prefer my clock that was to tell the tims by sixty repetitions in the hour. Conhdent that time would demonstrate its value^ confident that the scheme of g'radual development in accordance with g'eog'raphical feature link by link was true in principle^ conclusive as to practicability and the best in apphcation that could be devised as well for opening' up the country as for the construc- tion of the road, I registered my clock. That is, I broug'ht before the appropriate society, and caused to be entered in its journals, that g'eog'raphical aspect of the question which is the basis on Avhich the whole must rest. The result was not a little curious. My motive was, as I have said, registration, and in due time, a verdict. I wished to dei)osit proofs of my inven- tion, an accurate description of its nature, a record of its characteristics. I perfectly succeeded, for the reg'ister remains ; but, for the time, the verdict seemed carried for the foreig-n clock. Mine was deemed ing'enious but inapplicable, clever but impracticable, quite superfluous besides, l):^cause the foreig'n clock had been first in the field, was altogether better, and that it was monstrous to think upon two clocks in the g'reat American house, althoug'h the partnership in the orio-inal firm had been lonof af>'0 dissolved. i !'■ 8 I had been not a little proud of several move- ments and peculiarities of my clock. First, I could lay bare its mechanism and explain its make with- out fear of imitation or rivalry. All I desired was to see the several parts of my model constructed of full size. The parts to which I g-ave the name of " links" were all capable of separate manufacture, and required to be done only to the same scale to put tog'ether with infallible completeness and success. It was half a dozen little bits making* one g-ig-antie whole. I carefully recorded these distinctive features of my clock and certain other specialities besides, which sing'ularly facilitated and g-reatly enhanced the advantag'es of its complete construction. I cannot say the patent has been passed to me ; but I may affirm the correctness of my clock has been carried amidst triumphs and by acclamation. The foreign clock has been withdrawn, as I have said, by its inventor, with a g'enerous and handsome testimony to the greater merit of the British clock. The links, which are special and most important, are proved correct. The many hundred miles of unim- peded navigation above and below the single difficult rapid of the Saskatchewan, the al^breviation by the Qui Appelle lliver to the south elbow of the Sas- katchewan, the abbreviation and easier road that are g'ained by avoiding the Winnepeg* river, the non- impracticability of the only road that until between thirty and forty years ag'o was in use between Canada and the interior, and the possibility of tra- i ^i 9 i M ?5 versing' the Rocky Mountains by the ])ass at the head of the Bow River (the Vermilion Pass) have been all placed beyond dispute. There remained therefore nothing' farther to be done than to investig-ate the pretensions of that body which claims the right and power to impede the prosecution of the great work for which I labour ; and I appeal through the public to that great empire whose g'eneral property this territory really is^ setting* before it the g-rounds on which the attempted usur- pation of the Hudson's Bay Company is untenable, leaving" the validity and force of the evidence I have submitted to be decided upon, hoping* that it may effectually conduce to the immediate liberation of interior British North America, and to the simul- taneous initiation of the first of those great steps of successive development, which, if rightly used, re- move every difficulty to the construction of a g'ood communication between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. I say great steps of successive development, for they are g-reat in kind and quality and character, because relatively small and practicable efforts must lead to great, and lasting", and increasing" effects. if I IkBmam 10 " Authority in matters of opinion is like usage in the case of an ancient Charter — of much value in a doubtful case, but of none at all in a clear one.'' — The Times. The Charter of the Hudson's Bay Company con- fers a monopoly^ and, excepting- from the year 1690 to 1097, it has not received the sanction of Parlia- ment. It is therefore, and has been at all other times, illeg-al, according* to the common law of Eng-land. It claims to confer a monopoly of the utmost possible comprehensiveness of rig-hts. It attempts therefore to set forth a monopoly of the worst kind, and is consequently most essentially illeg'al. Q. The rig'hts and privileg'es attempted to be con- ferred, are granted for a purpose of trust. That trust has not been redeemed. The object of that trust was a communication v/ith the South Sea or Pacific. The Company have opposed every possible hin- drance to the attainment of the object of such an enterprise. 3. The Charter deals with the country, and assio'ns to it the limits, she^^n in the map accompanying* this pamphlet. The Charter constitutes the country ivitldn those limits the ^' Colony of l\upert's Land." The country which the Company now pretends to is indefinite as to limits, extending- even into the territories of the late United States, and at variance with the stipulations of proximity to Hudson's Straits, and with the excepting* clause in the Charter ; u 11 of a- I :i Jior lias acco^ss to it in the way of discovery been attained vid, the Straits. 4. " llupert's Land" has not been constituted a colony o'overned "as near as may be in accordance with tliehiws and customs of tlie reahn" of Eng-Lindj but ^^ as near as may be" the reverse. 0. The Company had httle or no access to the gTeat plains of the interior until after the year 1821, and then attained it not by virtue of discovery, nor through the Charter, but throug'h the union of independent traders from Canada, and by their own coalition with the companies fonned by the latter. (>. The monopoly therefore in those regions, has been the result of these circumstances only. It has no connection with, and has not been derived from the Charter, and had no existence prior to the union and coalition spoken of above. It is perfectly free to any parties who please to renew independent trading* Ihroug'hout any of the localities not strictly comprehended within the limits of " Eupert's Land," be the leg*ality of the Charter what it may, inasmuch as the Hudson's Bay Com- j)any did not set up the trade in those regions in the manner determined by the Charter, but by coalition with those who represented the a ntag'onistic interests and rig'hts obtahied by the cession of Canada, which rig'hts and privileg-es whilst held by French subjects it was one object of the Charter to stimulate the Hudson's Bay Compnny io forestall, not to inherit. They failed to forestall them. 7. The Charter is in e\ eiy respect untenable. A DIALOGUE. British America extends from one ocenn to another. The Atlantic on the one hand and the Pacific on the other lave the shores of Eng'lish ports. Harhours, the excellency of which needs not now to he set forth, await at either end, the commerce of the continents hejond, and also that of that continent which lies between. At the one extremity are Newfoundland, Prince Edward's Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the amalg-amated province of Canada, countries with an Eng-lish history, with life in ftdl activity and with wealth in free circulation. At the opposite extremity, upon the borders of the farthest west, Columbia and Vancouver Island have ansen, rescued by force of irresistible circumstances, from the thral- dom of a monopoly which still is seeking* to mar the future, as it has done the past, of all the intermediate reg'ion. Through the provinces enumerated and across that intervening' space, lies the track of an extraor- dinary road. Over that neglected country is the true direction of the g'reat short road between the East and West ever soug-ht yet never used. Arctic voyag'ers searched in vain. AVhat they PIT I Id soug-ht amidst frozen waters lies in a fertile belt across a continent^ and this discovery, or certainly its use, has been reserved for an ?era in which the utmost advantag'e cnn be taken of what until now had been an obstacle. The track^ (and is this not so that it mig'ht not be missed,) is marked upon the earth. The rivers furrow it so plainly that they will bear the burden of the work that must be done. These thing's are now admitted. It were a work of supererog'ation to prove ag-ain that distances on the earth's surface are necessarily less in proportion as they can be carried towards its extremities ; or to recapitulate the favourable effects for British interests of winds and currents in the latitude of Engiand's American possessions. Neither, most happily, is it necessary to prove by elaborate disquisition that Canada can be inhabited and commerce carried on in it ; but Canada, (like all America,) affords the proof that a country can be peopled in the first instance throug-li the natural advantag'es it offers, and that its prosperity will be increased and its position bettered per se throug'h mere attraction of population. Yet such a fact alone should put an end to the legislative interdict of any soil or reg-ion. The mag-ic windings of an arg*ument that revolved in ceaseless yet unmeaning* circles have been broken through. To dog-matise that you cannot g-o three thousand miles throug-h an uninhabited country, nor u travel by ruilwny upon riven^ that wjitcr li-oezes below tlie freezing' point and that rivers do the same during" the frosts of a North American winter^ and to assert that therefore you may seal up the country under a g'alling* and unjust legislative yoke is now held to be but futile reasoning*. Once freed, and inhabitation will take })lace by means of those g'reat water paths })lacedthere^ — is it presumptuous to say so — placed tliere for the purpose ? Surely it is not presumptuous. The earth was formed to be inhabited. The means are ohvious to the end in view. Sixteen hund'-ed miles of inland navigation are already opened. Comparatively little need be done to add about a thousand more. It is obvious this facilitates inhabitation ; and it is as obvious that inhabitation leads to the perfecting* of communication by other and by quicker means. Between the instrumentality thus briefly stated and the result which must necessarily follow^ if this statement be correct^ an assumed power^ claiming* a combination of monopoly entirely without parallel, seeks to interpose, and has hitherto effectually in- terposed, stopping* ever}' attempt to open communi- cation across the country and every effort to throw it open to the chances of inhabitation. The plan was formerly to call this project of reaching* the Pacific from the east by British North America, foolish, impracticable, mad, dishonest, and its supporters knaves or fools. The country — was impassable. It was too cold. It was utterly , 15 uninhabitable. The natives were terrific, or they were so strang'ely g-ood as to thrive only under the extremely paternal care of the immaculate compan3\ The Rocky Mountains, — why the ver}" name alone shewed it was not possible to cross them. Cultivate the land. — why nothing* grew. Travel across, — perfectly absurd. Gold, — sink it in the Thames. California, — if the Mexicans cannot keep it, the United States must have it. Oreg-on, — g-et rid of it. Anything* ; everything", onhj no English inter- ference, no im-pertinence in the assumed territories of the Hudson Bay Company. Of late, the same pretensions have been rested upon gTounds a little more restricted. California and Oreg-on are g^one ; but g-old has been, and is beinof found in districts extendinof farther and farther still. British Columbia and Yancouver Island have arisen. Official explorations, like all preceding travellers, have crossed the impassable places. Strang'e to relate and a\ onderful as it may seem, the old oft-travelled and only road of the North- West Company of Canada from Canada to Lake Winnipeg', and the bullock wag'g-on track of emig*rants across the llocky Mountains have been both proved prac- ticable, not impassable, even in their present state ! The productions of the country in which nothing- grew are now known well enough to be enumerated. They could be catalogued. The isothermal lines, previously determinable from these very data now are mapped in atlases. 10 Still "you can't/' lias only cliang-ed into "you shan't."— " We own/' so state to all intents and purposes the ^company of adventurers trading* to Hudson Bay/ entering' possibly upon their very most peri- lous venture, " we own everything'. The soil, the " animals uj)on it, the minerals, the gold and jewels " underneath it ; we own the seas and waters, and " the fishes within them are ours. The whole, sole " and exclusive rights of walking* on the earth, or "ofo'oino* on the waters are with us. You can "neither enter, nor pass through or over our "demesne, except by our permission. Farther; " within our dominions, aquatic or territorial, should " we give 3^ou leave to enter, 3'ou can neither buy " nor sell without our direct interference and assent ; " and we claim not only every possible territorial "rig'ht and ever}- possible commercial privileg'e; " but we maintain a like supremacy in all matters " of law, rule, g*overnment, or administration. Every "public and every private rig-ht, privilege and " possession and power invested wholly, solely and "exclusively in ourselves. Such is our Trader's " Chace." Englishman. — May I then humbly ask your traderships (I know no ordinary title of earthly dignity that conveys a majesty like this), what may be the extent of your dominions, and to what end do you purpose applying* the ample powers you have capitulated ? I 17 vou lliidsoii Bay Coinpany. — Certainly. Our doiui- iiions extpiul to every place that can possibly be reached l)y us, juvnided always no one else has so tio'ht a hold upon it that we cannot dislodg-e them. Our power we use to the preservation of our interests, which is best done, and, to be curt at once, which only can be done by allowing* no other eye to wit- ness of our g-oing's on. Once ag*ain, therefore, and once ag-ain for all, " This road sliall not be opened ; this land shall not be peopled." Eng-lishman. — And I ask once ag'ain, is tliere no way out of this dilemma ? Will you bate no jot of your pretensions ? H. B. C. — Certainly there is. Purchase our vested interests. Buy our hunting* profits and our proprietory rig'hts, buy off our prohibitive powers. Secure our barg'ain safely to us for all })erpetuity so that we shall have only to draw the proceeds, and have them regularly paid to us, so that we run no risk and have nothing* whatever farther to do ; and then we will assent. E. — In other words, as I should put it, you demand that we should pay you a sum commensu- rate with our views of the proper uses of the conti- nent 3^ou hold hi this determhiate desolation, a sum utterly inconsistent with any profits you acknowledg-e to derive. You require us to buy up at our valu- ation what you depreciate for our uses and all that you claim to possess. You state that such u neg-o- B 18 tiation would convey to us, whereby I mean the j)urchasers, whosoever they mig'lit be, the rig'hts which you now claim to hold. H. i3. C.-Decidedlv. E. — Before debating* with you the proffered terms of sale, — on which however I reserve my rig-ht to say a word should the proceedhigs reach that stag*e, — I would wish carefully to examine * What Title' we should hold, the purchase being* made. In other words, the title you can g-ive. H. B. C.-The Charter E. — Stay one moment. Suffer me to take this matter my own way. Let me recapitulate briefly the rig'hts and powers you claim, the use to which you ackno^^'ledg'e your determination to put these powers, and the basis on which they are said to rest. If it be necessary, pray correct me as I proceed. You claim all the soil in fee simple or absolute proprietorship, all minerals of whatsoever kind. All fish and fisheries. Every step of man upon your territories or within your waters you deem a trespass if unauthorised by you. You claim, as absolutely, a monopoly of every commercial transac- tion within your limits ; and you are not only abso- lute proprietors and exclusive traders, but you hold also all rights of g'overnment, limited only by the faith and allegiance due to the Sovereig*n in all her dominions and possessions supreme ? H. B. C. — Your summary is perfectly correct. I 19 •ig'Iits E. — You express farther that so long* as you retain these powers and can exercise tliese alleg-ed rig'hts^ you will do so to prevent the inluibitation of the country, to siop the coninumication between the colonies at eitlier end,— nay, between the continents on either oide. H. 13. C. — Nothinof of the kind. We base our determmation not on our rig-hts, but on inevitable necessity. From our rig'hts, we derive the power to g-ive effect to this necessary determination. We state that we have tried to colonise the country ; and it cannot be done. And as to crossing- it. It has been done, and therefore can be done ; but as for making" sucn a road over it, whether by water or by land, as to cross it by horse, by wa^g-on, or by ploug^h, by steamer, by railway, by teleg'ram, or by express,— we say it can^t be done so as to pay ; and we abide by our statement. E. — As my object is to see my way and tr}^, I will not g*et within the circle of your assertions, but / will investigate what title you can give. You certainly do not cry up the value of your g'oods. H. B. C. — Again excuse me; but we do. We state that only knaves and dupes, (the former could not live without the latter,)— forgive me, I speak plainl3", it is honest traders custom to be blunt — set up these pretences of colonising a barren, frozen, wretched country ; of g'oing-, by way of shortness and economy forsooth, over such a coun- try to reach two colonies in their abortive infancy, B 2 20 to which moreover the natural and proper access is by that element from which Great Britain draws the sources of her wealth and grandeur^ aye, of her very being*. The country is g-ood ; but onl}^ to hunt over. Our rights and titles are valuable beyond dispute. They bring us dividends. E. — Then as to the hmits or boundaries of this mag-nificent but sterile property ? H. B. C. — Well ; they are ill or undefined, except as I have said, all we can get , all we can hold. E. — Strange : Is such the phraseology ? H. B. C. — Legally expressed, it pretty nearly is. E. — You have spoken plainly, bluntly j if you will, let me too be plain without offence. Seeking as I do to put this land to such a ver}^ different use, if I should buy it, / must look well to my title. All my desire to effect this purchase, is based as you well know, upon my conviction of its value for the uses that I want to put it to. Now suppose,— for argu- ment's sake you must for the moment view it so, — suppose, I say, that my convictions prove well founded, and that suddenly I find myself possessed of all 3'ou can convey, but that meanwhile I have proved to all the world its real value ; why, I might find it a very difficult task to put in force, and to enjoy, the rights for which I'd paid you dearly. I can picture to ni} self a much sharper inquisition into my bought title to a hoMtable continent in the high- way of the world, than was held upon 3 our claims to alleged barren hunting grounds. Why, I can fancy % 21 ccess IS draws of her )nly to jeyond of this except d. irly is. )u will, IS I do e,if I ill my u well e uses arg'ii- so, — J well sessed . have might nd to r- I 1 into high- ms to xiney I I j)ersons rising* up and saying that your present mysterious neg-lect of resources so abundant, — your free abandonment of provinces, so only they were not inhabited by English subjects, — your strange dis- parag-ement of wealth untold under your g*rasp, were all explained by the necessity for mastery as the only chance of preserving- the advantag'es of a title altog'ether without value. H. B. C. — "That is jumping to conclusions, surely. With such propensities I really do not wonder at your little skips, in imagination, across continents and over mountains. E.— Fair enough ; yet helaug'hs best, who laug-hs the last. I entertain another strong' thoug'h general objection to the validity of the claim we are consider- ing". I beg' you overrule it if you can. It seems to me a paramount necessity that before a g-rant can have validity there must be a gi'antor of sufficient rig-ht, power, and authority, to make the g'rant. H. B. C. — Indisputably. E. — That one admission — which, pardon me, is but the admission of an incontrovertible fact, admit or dispute it who may, — is however I cannot but think wholly fatal to the pretensions of your Com- pany, even were there no other adverse consideration at all to be entertained. You base your claims upon a E03 al Charter. H. B. C. — A Charter allowed by several Acts of Parliament. E. — The confirmation bv l\uiiament is either ne- oo \ cessary^ or it is not. If not^ the mention of parlia- mentary recogTiition is superfluous; if it be, the extent and intention of the confirmation become of extreme importance. H. B. C — It is confirmatory. E — Quoad valeat. If the Charter of 1 070 be valid, the parliamentary recog-nitions were made of neces- sity and were unavoidable, testatory to fact, not confir- matory of claim. If by itself invalid, the exact purport and intentions of the parliamentary acts, and the cir- cumstances under which they were passed, are of the first importance. First, however, broadly, my preli- minary and general objection is this. I know of no authority recognised either by the laws or customs of England, that could convey, or that would pretend to either the wish or tothepower to convey, such rights as 3'ou allege for such purposes as, whether in words you deny them or not, you are stated in practice to adopt. Solitude and the Avilderness are indeed their essential, for they declare war against the whole social fabric, and if elsewhere attempted they would force mankind into inevitable rebellion. A combina- tion of monopoly vesting in the same hands all rights of proprietorship, all privileges and powers of trade, and all legislative and executive powers of govern- ment is, I believe, unparalleled, and I equally believe it not only contrary to, but actuall}^ abhorrent to every principle of English life and liberty. Will you deny it yourself? Would you allow it elsewhere? I am confident you would not. I am sure you dare I I parlia- e, the ome of iieces- coiifir- urport le cir- ofthe preli- of no stoms •etend rights words ice to their w^hole vould bina- ig'hts rade^ i^erii- lieve It to you ? I dare 23 not. The burden therefore of finding" some prima facie evidence of wholly exceptional features in this case falls upon you, and thus at once explains the origin of the innumerable assertions you have ad- vanced ag-ainst this enterprise^ and the tenacity with which you adhere to them. You deny the possibility of colonizing" the country • you ridicule the connec- tion of its opposite oceans. I reply your interests and your fears dictate the bitterness of your hostility, and set your line of action in motion. You are organized as a very profitable fur-trading" company that knows it has abused a trust because it knew that with the advance of civilisation would end the days of its gigantic profits. Your claims all rest upon one stay, and they must stand or fall together as to legal right. Unfortunately that stay, read as you claim to read it, is an outrag'e on humanit}^ H. B. C. —You take skilful advantage of the ten- dencies of the age. I must myself acknowledge a show of reason in the line you take. The line, I mean of argument, not of crossing country. It is quite true that if you appeal to me as a subject of the realm, a citizen of world-wide England, no such monopoly as we claim to possess should have my advocacy or support. But what has this to do with vested rights and interests ? Does England retrace her steps from an error by a crime ? Will she remedy an injudicious grant by an unjust and spolia- tive act ? Besides, I justify the exception by the peculiarities of the case. Mcnuaaa/^smm^tt' 24 E.— Circling" ng-ain. M}' inference is that the powers you exercise^ and the rig-hts you claim^ ne\er have been conferred. But I have not yet done. You must hold these claims^ whatever their amount^ either absolutely or for some purpose. That is, they are held, if held at all, either so that you can do with them what you will, or they are held for some pur- pose definite and in trust. If 3'ou accept this alter- native, and I cannot see that 3'ou can escape it, either the condition of the territories you occupy can- not affect your powers, or that condition is more or less in accordance or at variance with the purposes of trust, and thus becomes a matter of responsibility and a proper subject for enquiry. If 3'ou adopt the former statement, you do indeed declare war to the death ag-ainst civilization, and take for maxims as a company, what, as men, must be repugnant to you ; but if you accede to the latter, your proceedings are manifestly open to enquiry, and the Hig-h Court of Parliament is the proper tribunal to judg-e. H. B. C. — Our justification lies where our policy originated, in the necessities of the case. E. — That had been my own conclusion had you said defence not justification. II, B. C— I do not mean as you would have it from the illusory nature of our tenure which civiliza- tion is to shatter; but, from the njiture of a country civilization never can reach. E, — It is useless for me to repeat my disagree- 25 ment. I would you could be warned in time and partook of my conviction that the wave that will sweep away these assertions, tog'ether with the last but worst remnant of monopolies, always declared illegal and intolerable always, is alread}^ on its way. But to continue. Farther difficulties to the recep- tion of the Charter of 1070, under the view you take of it, strike me in two particulars. I hold the vag'ueness of the boundaries, coupled with the ful- ness of enumeration of g'eogTaphical feature, and the specific mention of excluding* clauses, all fatal to the pretensions you advance. I say, moreover, that all such powers are as conveyed and within whatsoever limits properly restricted, are held for a specific purpose as a national trust. H. B. C. — That were news indeed. Excuse me, you come to me professing* a desire to purchase my rig-hts to the territories I hold ; and ^^ou have done little but impug'u m}' conduct and disjiarag-e my pretensions. E. — Is it not necessary that I should inquire both into the nature of the rio'hts I am seekino- to acquire, and also into the limits of territory over Avhich they reallv extend ? I find, on the very threshold of this question that there is a trust assigned, a stated motive given for the gTanting" of the Charter j the prosecution, namely, of the discovery of a new passage into the South Sea. Certain means, it is supposed, can be made instrumental to the furtherance of the chief 26 desig'ii ', find for that end^ as it seems clear to me, solely or principally, certain powers enumerated thereinafter are conferred. The premises are these. Persons named and particularised have undertaken an expedition to a particular locality for the discovery of a new passag'e into the South Sea. To carry this adventure out successfully, certain means are necessary. These means for defraying* the expenses of this under- taking- and for rendering* it remunerative are believed, on both sides, to be attainable, as it were, on the way. These are accordingly set forth as ^^some trade for furs, minerals, and other considerable com- modities." They are to be " found" on the way, and as means to the discovery of the passage. Indeed the lang-uag^e is beyond doubt or question. It is expressly stated that the Charter is given for '^ the further encouragement" of the grantees in " the said design," " the discovery of a new passage into the ^^ South Sea," upon these distinctly assigned grounds, " by means whereof there may probably arise very '^ great advantage to us and our kingdom/' the grantor acknowledging himself moved by that final object, the redemption of his own trust as binding him to be " desirous to promote all endeavours tending to " the public good of our pcople.^^ Before passing on, I beg very particularly your attention to these clearly expressed prt ihises, and most distinctly stated motives, to the trust assigned, and to the objects that are set forth. 1 27 me. 'A I? The public good of the whole people is distinctly assig-ned as the motive of the grant ; and that good not indirectly, as resulting* from repeated or ac- cumulated similar acts, ultimately affecting* the whole people through an ag'greg'ate of action in individuiil instances, but the public ^ood of the whole people as directly and beneficially affected by the result of a specific course of action directed to a particular and stated object. That public good is to be advantag'ed by the dis* CO very of the passag'e ; the discovery is to be brought about pecuniarily through the means already de- scribed, which become clearly an intermediate object or trust. The recital is followed by the statement of a corresponding petition on the one hand and by a like grant on the other ; first, of the trade and commerce ; next, of the land, necessarity, as con- taining " the minerals and other considerable com- modities" thus comprehensively set forth. H. B. C. — It strikes me you omit that the grant is of the sole trade and commerce; and that the language of physical geography is ransacked to give extension to that and to the territorial grant, as is moreover determined by the express addition of the words " in whatsoever latitude they be." E.-— I had not exhausted the privileges evidently intended to be conferred. The intention of monopoly appears to me be3^ond doubt or question, as much so even by reason of the spirit and opinion of the age in which the Charter was conferred as by its 28 distinct expression in words. I purposely omitted reference to it, not only as beyond doubt, but because for the present I was dealing* only with the distinctive nature of the several pri\'ileg'es or rig-hts intended to be conferred, not with their extent. With regard, however, to the enumeration of g-eographical feature, ample as it is, full and re- dundant even as you seem to deem it, it is not exhaustive. On the contrary, I perceive two strik- ing" — and, if it be no contradiction, I was about to say— two sing"ular exceptions, to which I purpose calling- your attention present^. Nor shall we have to omit that strongiy localishig* and qualifying* con- dition and phrase '^ that lie witJdn the entrance of '^ the Straits commonly called Hudson^ s StraitsJ^ H. B. C. — I am surprised to hear you refer to ex- cei)tions. The terms have always seemed to me to exhaust geog'raphical enumeration. E. — I, on the contrary, find, as I have said, ex- ceptions ; but, for the present to proceed. One other g-eneral preliminary remark appears to me necessary since it prescribes certain conditions of g'overnment and bears upon the fulfilment of the trust. There follows innnediately upon the recital I have already dealt with, the Incorporation of the Governor and Company, and the description of the constitution, and the rules for their guidance and government. The mere employment of the ordinary technical legal phraseology conferring ^^the liberties, privileges, juris- '^ dictions and immunities only hereinafter in these * ^ " presents gTnilted and expressed and no other ^^^ seems to me to sweep away at once the nntenable because unparalleled superstructure of extraordinary and unlimited power and of indefinite extension which it has been soug'ht to build upon the Charter j nor do I see that any doubt can remain^ or any question be raised upon the subject, which is not fully determined adversely to the pretensions of the Com- pany^ by the clause in the appointment of the Governor and Company as absolute lords and pro- prietors for purposes of rule and government. " The laws, constitutions, orders, and ordinances" by them enacted are to be kept, '' so always they be not only " reasonable^ and not contrary or repugnant to, but " as near as may be agreeable to the /a w^, statutes or '^ customs of this our realms The precise capitulation of the grant or grants actually made, which follows upon the clauses of in- corporation, again sets forth the great object at that day, as I believe, of the Compan}" seeking to be in- corporated, as well as of the King who gave the char- ter. This is again stated to be " And to THE END '' the said Governor and Company of adventurers of *^ England trading into Hudson's Bay, may be en- " couraged to undertake and EFFECTUALLY to "PROSECUTE the said design, &c.'' What "said " design V* ^' The discovery of the passage to the ^^ public advantage of the whole people ?" There has been no other named from the beginning. That the grant is for purposes of trust is therefore too clear to be disputed. What then is tlie precise nature of the grant, and what is its extent ? It runs as follows : — " We have given, g-ranted and confirmed " and do give, irrant and confirm unto the said " Governor and Company and their successors, ^/ic sole ^' trade and commerce of all those seas, straits, bays, " rivers, creeks and sounds, in whatsoever latitude they "shall be, that lie within the entrance of the Straits " commonly called Hudson's Straits, . . . tog-ether " with all the lands and territories upon the countries, " coasts, and confines of the seas, bays, lakes, rivers, "creeks and sounds aforesaid." Exception " That are not already actually pos- " sessed by or granted to any of our subjects, or pos- " sessed by the subjects of any other Christian Prince " or State." Grant continued, " With the fishing" of all sorts of "fish, whales, sturg-eon, and all other royal fishes in " the seas, bays, inlets'and rivers within the premises, " and the fish therein taken, tog-ether with the royalty " of the sea upon the coastswitkm the limits aforesaid.'* " And all mines royal, as well discovered as not " discovered of g'old, silver, g-ems and precious stones " to be found or discovered wi^Aw the territories, Zimi^s " and places aforesaid, " And that the SAID land be from henceforth "reckoned and reputed as one of our plantations or " colonies in America, called ^Muperfs Land,* " Here clearly is a g-rant ; 31 First, Of exclusive trade anA i laerce. Secondly, Of lands and territon -s. Thirdly, Of rig-lits of fishing-^ ni 'i of pohjiiiion of fish. Fourthly, Of rights of mines ro^al whether of gold, silver, g-ems or precious stones. The whole circumscribed and fixed within a locality described as " lying* within the entrance of the Straits " commonly called Hudson's Straits,'' w ith a condi- tional exception in case any part or parts within the said limits, or in other words, fulfilling the above conditions of locality, should at the time already be possessed by or granted to any other English sub- ject, or the subject of any other Christian Prince or State. H. B. C. — You are so far perfectly correct and clear. E. — Then follows what I have before adverted to the provision for rule and government, — H. B. C. — And the tenure in free and common soccage on yearly payment of two elks and two black beavers, whenever the crown should enter the afore- said limits. E. — A. liability that never having had to be re- deemed, may have set a somewhat bad example as to the obligations that should have been discharged. H. B. 0. — Indeed until your valuable highway has become a " royal road," the debt may never be incurred. E. — Not then, according to my reading. I :i'2 II. I{. (J.-llowso? E. — For to my view tlie new passnj^e to tli(^ Pacific does not lie witliin " the limits aforesaid/' and would be excluded^ if it did, l)y the exceptional clause. II. 13. C — Ydu have promised me an explanation of this view to which you have before made some allusion. I must ackno\vled^*e its perfect novelty to me. I can understand an attack on the validity of the Charter as a whole that must stand or fall tog-e- ther ; but I am curious indeed to hear your version of its limits. E. - I do not know that I shall have a more con- venient occasion than at present. I hold it then perfectly clear that some limits there must be ; and also that it must always ab or'igine have been in- tended that there should be such limits or boundaries circumscribing^' or defining* the territory within which the privileges of the Company^ whatever these may be, were to be exercised. I find no valid reason for not g'oing' to the deed or document itself, that is to say to the Charter, in order to ascertain the nature and position of these limits. There however, I conceive, the}^ are laid down and expressed exactly in the manner that was to be expected, and indeed in the only manner possible in a case of the like nature, that is to say where the description is neces- sarily a g'eocrraphical description, and the country referred to undiscovered at the time, or at most but partially discovered. A country concerning" which moreover the amount of knowledg-e and even of possession that mio'lit exist in other (|uarttTs was w nifttter, more or less, of io-norance and mig'ht become one of hiternational dispute. If under such circumstances a tract of country can be pointed out, the limits of which answer all the conditions of the description and all the terms of the gTunt, I do not see that any reasonable doubt CbLii remain of the tract so pointed out, beinjL»* the one answering' to and intended by the description and of the limits thus traced beino- tlie limits assi'ater- shed or heig'ht of land, but to the terms of. the 28 Charter or to the necessities on which those terms may have been based^ namely, to proximity and re- lation to Hudson's Bay and Straits. Even the very slig'ht deviation that would he necessary" for the purpose, in the case of the Hayes and Seal rivers^is not followed, when adherence to the height of land would cause departure from the g'eneral direction of the line marking* proximity to Hudson Bay. H. B. C. — I cannot at all accept your statements. E. —Evidence establishing* so unpalateable a con- clusion can scarcely be to taste. H. B. C. — I do not hold it evidence at all. E. — That it affords matter for enquiry it were better to admit. In cases of difference arbitration is necessary. To the decision of Parliament on a full and honest investig'ation I am perfectly con- tent to leave the matter. The House of Commons has already affirm(>d that the grounds for such an enquiry exist, and has passed a formal address to the Crown praying' that it may be instituted. H. B. C. — Are you so mig-htily pleased with the Report of the Committee of 1857 ? E. — That report strangely enough does not deal with the basis of the whole matter^ it does not enter upon the question of the Charter either as to vahdity or boundary ! It is however accompanied by a mass of e\ idence, some of which is very valuable and some very striking*. Some of 3'our most strenu- ous, and also of your most powerful supporters, them- seh'es openly impugn the testimony that they offered 39 Tms I re- the the and the statements that they made when their mterests lay in opposing-^ and not as now in bolstering- up, the pretensions of the Company. Are the interests less which now bind them to support it, or are we to infer that you have better learned now how to combhie your interests and the accuracy of your statements, or are we to look with the suspicion that they themselves recommend in the matter of their former evidence, on the assertions that they now advance ? I am ready however to pass from the strictly g'eographical aspect of this question to that which is chiefly historical, merely reminding* you, that whilst concedinof the intention of the s'rant to trace generally the limits I have indicated, as those of the new colony of Rupert's Land, we have not yet dealt with the excepting clause. H. B. 0. — In which attempt were you to ven- ture it, you must break down eg-regiously. Were I at all disposed to arg-ue the matter with you, (I content myself a\ ith listening* to your views,) I should upset you with that very clause. The boun- daries you would assig'n to Rupert's Land, would render such a clause, ridiculous surplusag-e. There would be nothing' to except. What foreig-n prince or state had ony rig'lits he could have ever claimed to grant in such a case? What other English subjects could possibly have been possessed of an undiscovered country ? I should say therefore the boundaries intended must be other than you have named, or there would be nothino* to o'ive semblance to the necessity for an excepting* clause. 40 E A bad cause, you'll find, I fear, is difficult to defend. If I accept your arg'ument, I shall appl}^ it to cut off that enormous territory that, reg-ardless of the condition of proximity to Hudson's Ba}', you seek to annex by reason of the outlets of the Churchill and Nelson rivers, bounding* com- placently over 41 degrees of longitude, and 18 de- g'rees of latitude. I should so apply it because the history of the country shews that this g'reat tract of land is excluded under that clause as well as not included Avithin the limits assigned. The Company itself has struggltd for a southern boundary on Hudson Bay that would prevent French rights from extending- farther northward than Rupert's and Albany rivers ) and urg-ed on occasion of a treaty that French rights should be so bounded. That boundary admits the French to James' Bay by the Moose river. In other words diminishes to that extent " the limits aforesaid" or the colony of Rupert's Land. H. B. C— It was not carried out. E. — It was not. Even that limit was in excess of the concession France would consent to ; but the suggestion, emanathig as it did as a petition of the Company, remains as decisive and authoritative as it possibly could be, both as to the views then enter- tained by the Company as to the true nature of their limits, as to the extent of possession they then could claim, and as to the application of the except- ing clause within the limits of Rupert's Land, as. 41 to of otherwise g-eogTaphically described. Indeed^ I will frankly avow that if the g-eog-raphical examination of the Charter is unfavourable to the present pre- tensions of your Company, its historical aspect is yet more adverse. The former assig'ns you limits you seek widely to exceed ; hut the latter ajipears at variance with 3 our having* any rights whatever. The Charter, as we have seen, carefully and speci- fically excludes the possessions of any other Christian Prince or State, and bears date 1G09. The ^' Conn)agnie de la Nouvelle France" was founded in 10^37, or more than forty years previously, under a charter of Louis XIV. of France ; and to it had also been granted the privileg'e of exclusive trade by land or sea from the River St. Lawrence to the Arctic Circle. Virtually, a precisely similar g'rant, both in character and as to object, but directed primarily to local possession and trade, and not as in the case of the Hudson's Bay Company-, for an ultimate purpose or trust. Each was to hold the results of their o>\ n efforts and discoveries. Hudson's Bay was the starting' point in the one case ; in the other it was the River St. Lawrence and New France, which at the time sig'nified not a definite westward boundary', but all that French arms and enterprize could seize from the native Indian. The g-rant to the French Com- pany was unlimited, (unless by the Arctic Circle and the Frozen Ocean.) That to the Hudson's Bay Company was fettered by conditions, and 43 restricted from encroachment on the possessions of other princes or states. The Companies of both nations made their advances from the localities speci- fied in each case. Under such circumstances^ colli- sion could not be avoided, and it came. The clash •was inevitable wherever these antag*onistic forces met. The business of the one was a northward ex- tension of a local, and, in a measure^ of an already org'anized possession ; that of the other, of a south- westward progress, for purposes of discovery, merely g-athering- incidental rig'ht and profits by the way. 'i he proprietory rig'hts of the latter were expressly restricted in the orig*inal g'rant from coming* into rig-htful conflict A\ith the prior rig'hts of others. Upon unoccupied ground they might, perhaps justly, with colourable pretension certainly, have resisted foreign intrusion, for the King-'s g'rant appears to respect only territor}^ actually in prior possession of the subjects of other Christian princes, otherwise, the A\ hole Charter is unmeaning' in the presence of the prior absolute g'rant of the French King*. Wherever, however, these two conflicting* parties mig'ht meet in the course of first establishing- their trade and conducting" their discoveries, there it would clearly seem to have been the intention of the Eno-- lish Kino* that the international boundary of the Company should be established, provided it Avas conformable to his g'rant in other respects. I do not see that this admits of doubt. Where then did they meet ? The first to consider themselves ag- ^^^*^ Hitiil^AiiiiMaii-'A st^ 4:3 gTieved are the French^ who find trespassers upon the intercourse ^\ hich ah-eady tliey liad established upon the very shores of Hudson's Bay. Armed force is resorted to^ in order to expel the Eng-lish adventurers from French territory ! Each battles not for southern rig'hts or southern boundaries but for the possession of the Bay. The French claim the Bay in virtue of orig-inal grant and of prior access and possession by gradual advance from the St. Lawrence. The Hudson's Bay Comj)any can advance no pretension in leg'al support of the force they have resorted to. They hold only a g'rant of land they may find unpossessed on their penetration from Hudson's Straits. JCven as relates to those parts of Hudson's Bay that were in prior occupa- tion of the French^ nothing' can be more untenable than a pretension to possession arg-ued from the basis of the Charter. H. B. C.-— I shall not pretend to follow this antiquarian research^ ^\ Inch may or which may not be perfectly correct. I will admit that I have heard there is a considerable amount of official evidence to the assertion you put forward * but^ after all, you cannot meet the simple fact that we hold all that for present purposes we claiui. E. — I understand you pei'fectly. If the hold, which you unfortunately liave^ be questioned^ you support it by the allegation that it exists by virtue of chartered rig'hts ; but, if the question is that of the investiiration of these asserted ria'hts you fall 44 back upon the hold. No object is so diilicult to g-rasp as one in ceaseless shifrino* motion j however I cannot but consider the evasion as an abandon- ment of the Charter as stable oround. If, however, your possession is not connected with, and not in virtue of the Charter, your alleg-ed rig-ht is surely null. H. B. C. — I make no such admission as j^ou would imply. I only ask how you otherwise ex- plain my occupancy. That at least is a matter which cannot be disputed. E. — The mnnner of that occupanc}- affords, if such were necessary, another and an independent refutation of any pretensions to chartered rights. That occupancy, as it may be traced historically down, consists of two distinct and separate parts, according* as it relates to one or the other of the two c-reat tracts of country under consideration. The history of the occupancy of Eupert's L:ind is distinct from that of the occupancy of the g-reat plains of the Red River and the Saskatchewan, and it is sepa- rated from it also by an interval of upwards of a century and a half. The settlements of Rupeili's Land did not at first extend beyond the shores of James' ^'^^Y) the mouths of the Churchill and that of the Hayes rivers, Henley House^ some 150 miles up the Albany river was founded about 70 years after the granting* of the Charter, and was followed after another considerable interval (about A.D. 1770 or 1780,) by Fort Nelson !^?i»)W?^r^?|^^ 45 and later still by a fort upon Split Lake. None of these settlements extend into the o-peat plains of the interior. They are either within or close upon the g'eooTaphieal d(^scription of Ru[)ert'3 Land. Mean- while the treaty of Ryswick (1097), provided for the appointment of Commisioners to settle the pretensions of the French and En<>'lish to the trade of Hudson's Bay, and that treaty restored to France^ or left in her possession, all that she had held at the beo'inning* of the war. The effects of this clause are thus o-iven by Charlevoix : (Vol. ii. p. 2;30, as quoted by Mr. A. Isbister in a very valuable paper read before the Societ}' of Arts.) " Pour ce qui est de la baye d'Hud- son elle nous reste toute entitire, parceque nous en etions les possesseurs actuels." " France/' says Bancroft (Vol. ii. p. 102, same authority), *' retained all Hudson's Bay." The views of the Company and their pretensions at this time are on record, and decisive as to their opinion of the intended international boundary. From 1087 to 1099 they are thus expressed: "It " shall not be the fault of the Company of Hudson's " Bay, if their ag-ents and those of the Company of " Canada do not keep within their respective bounds, " the one pretending' only to the trade of the bay ^^ and straits above mentioned, whilst the other keeps " to that of Canada.^' They then submit a proposition for adjusting- the boundary in 63° N. kit. on Albany river on the west coast of the bay, and on Eupert's River on the east >;*'ll f^^f 40 roust. To tlicHo terms tlw Freiicli would not accede. The treaty of L'treclit in 1714 reverses this position, llupert's Land, Hudson's Cay and Straits are, by this trenty, ceded to the crown of (Ireat Britnin, The Coni])any now enlnr^'e tlieir pretensions and Leo-in to take their measures uith considerable skill and discretion, 'i^hey do not, bowever, advance the very slij^'htest claim to any country on tbe jdeaofthe waterslied deternnning' its rivers into Hudson's Bay. On tlie contrary, tliey j)ropose a line starting- in 59^° N. lat. on tbe east, and presentl}^ trendino* to tbe south-west, a line wliicli idlowed tbe French claims to part of the country of Rainy Lake and lliver, and Lake of tbe Woods. Their pretensions I liiive said become enlarg'ed, and <>-reatly so ; but even tbis very line is quite tit variance witli the assumptions Jiow attempted to be based upon tbe Charter, and is bis- toricallv fatal to tbe latter. The international endea- vours to neg'otiate a boundary ag'ain failerl, and up to tbe conquest of Canada, after wbicb tbe question of course could not ao*ain arise between France and Ent^land, all efforts on tbe part of tbe Engdisli Commissioners under tbe treaty of Utrecbt to obtain the consent of France to tbe new boundary line were equally unsuccessful. Tbe proposal is conclusive there- fore botb as to tbe limit of tbe extreme pretensions then advanced by tbe Company, and also as to tbe fact that to these pretensions, infinitely short as they come of those that have been lately urged, tbe con- sent of France could not be obtained although per- f-Bjp 47 8(»verIiio-ly nttomptcd inidcr tlio a(lvaiitfif>'eous inflii- oiic<'s of the tei'nis of tlio troaty of Utn>rlit. There are records to shew that up to 1 7 50 th^ Company continued to adhere to the line I hav(; just sketched. Their domestic policy was characterized by g'reat discretion and caution. Up to this time we find them occu[)ying* this vantag-e g-round tliat the sup])ort of their claims was a direct means of national ao'o'randisement, and of the extension of national territory. What they claimed or wrested from the French became, hi their hands, a national acqui- sition and a loss to the enemy, for the Uxo countries were nearly all this time at war. i\o«ainst Eng'lish subjects they held a monopoly ', but a monopoly of trade cannot, according* to the common law of Eng'land, be g-ranted by the Crown, without the sanc- tion of Parliament. A Charter attempting* to confer it is illeg'al and void. This sanction the Company obtained from the year 1000 to 1097, when its con- tinuance was refused. Now the Charter bears date in 1 009 ; the treaty of Hyswick .1 097 ; that of Utrecht 1714. By the former treaty Hudson's Bay is \irtually or completely surrendered to the French. We have seen the very slender proportion of territory even attempted to be claimed up to that time on the part of the Hudson's Bay Compan\', and that slender portion unsuccessfully. The treaty of Utrecht cedes all but " La Nouvelle France," to the King- of Great Bi'itain. What, under these circumstances^ is the course pursued by the Company? Do the}- take 48 steps to have this eiilarg-ed territory ceded to them, and their monopoly confirmed hy legal measures? Nothing- of the kind. They re-oecupy their old posts amidst silence and illeo'ahtN', and extend their en- croachments stealthily and gTadually on every side. By these means they escape from rivalry at home and from any rea\A'akening* of enquiry into the illegal nature of their only tenure. Circumstances prove in their favour heyond the most sang-uine hopes they can have entertained^ and the conquest and cession of Canada in less than fift}- years after the treaty of Utrecht^ put an end to international rivalry upon this subject with the French. Notwithstanding* these advantag'es they appear to have advanced but slowly mto the interior. The French settlers were^ in fact, largely m prior occupation of the ground, and were able to intercept the Indians trafficking to their posts, besides having established a communication through the great lakes and along the lesser chains of lakes and rivers to the Red River and the Sas- katchewan. The same policy which prevented the attempt to obtain any renewal or legal confirmation of their chartered privileges dictated the expediency of avoiding any collisions that would attract atten- tion to the operations they were carrying on, and to the insufficienc}^ of the authority under which they acted Monopoly was of greater consequence even than extension. 'Jlie absence of rivalry was a consideration paramount to the mere question of legality. The attempt to gain a legal sanction and WW^WHJBWBBB'BBIg^BilBIHiy.H^^^i^ 49 ji lawful staii(IiiiL»* niio'lit, and vf^ry probably would result in the limitation or destruction of a monopoly that mig'ht without such sanction be nevertheless practised successfully. By the conquest of Canada, ceded 1763, the French fur-traders of that country became Eno-lish subjects, and the pursuit of the fur-trade was largely extended through increased activity in the newly ac- quired country J caused by a variety of circumstances. A number of these independent traders, for there was at this time no attempt at a rnonopohj in Canada^ associated themselves together and formed the North- West Company of Montreal. Composed as it was of parties who were already singly the ablest and the most wide-spread occupmits of the g-round, the joint operations of its members w^ere conducted with great vigour and energy. They spread over the interior of America, and on the shores of Hud- son's Bay came into colhsion with the Hudson's Bay Company. Another important company of Canada was called the X Y Company, and with this, that great discoverer and man of sound judgment, Sir Alexander Mackenzie, was connected. The disputes and collisions between these several companies, or their representati^•es, increased in animosity. The Hudson's Bay Company, which had been inferior in conduct to the Canadian companies, had acquired greater energy since it had been joined by Lord Selkirk. At length, in 1814-15, a violent conflict took place near the lied River settlement, in which .00 about 10 or 18 persons were killed. A Com- missioner was sent by the Government of Canada to enquire into the particulars and to sugg-est a remed}'. The Iludson^s Bay Company, through Lord Selkirk, had warned off the North-west Com- ]}i\ny, 'Now J does it admit of doubt that if the pre- tensions of the Hudson's Bay Company had been tenable they would have then advanced them ? Or that if they had been legal it would have been the duty of the Imperial Government which sent instruc- tions upon the subject, to have sustained the claims of the Company ? Surely not. Yet what was the result ? The recommendation of the Commissioner as the only means of restoring peace was, that an attempt be made to unite the interests in conflict ! The peremptory instructions of Earl Bathurst were the restitution, in each case, of the property that had been seized by either party ; and the re- moval of any impediment that mig'ht have been raised on either side to impede the free passag'e of any traders, or of other of the Kifig's subjects, or of natives ! What had become of the pretensions to monopoly about this time ? so recently as 1817 ! At leng'th, matters having- become much worse, and the Companies on either side nearly ruined by the bit- terness of their rivalry, in 18S1, or about that year, and after a very difficult neg'otiation, a union of the Conn)anies, and a consent to carry on their operations under the Charter of the Hudson's Bay Company, was effected. This is nothing* more than the g-radual 51 union of independent traders and the absorption of separate companies, who at leng-th ag-ree to combine, and who select for their final form that association amono-st them in possession of the semblance of a document conveying- privileg'es, whilst the others avowedly had none at all. It leaves it, however, perfectly clear, that there can be no leg-al obstruction to any other parties that please occupying- the same ground and pursuing- the same trade. It shows and proves also, historically, that the Hudson's Bay Company did not obtain access to the lands of the Red River and Saskatchewan throug-h Hudson's Bay, but from Canada by a route they now declare impracticable. I must acknowledg-e that I did not foresee to what an utter ebb investig-ation would bring- these vast pretensions, or I never should have entertained the notion of their purchase. H. B. C. — Good mornino-. E.— Good night! THE TRANSIT, AS AT PRESENT, AND ITS PROBABLE FUTURE, The Red River Settlement occupies the Central position of the North American Continent. Whether the })oint of departure be i7i Trnnuiiiiiinf Ilninc/us ty,in,/,,// ,t- .\f„ch,7,y.u JiiwrJfrtde' The (, /.'i/t\,i/r/ rS'//4/ifit/r/ (?ii//i/it/ ^h •■■>■■> . Jtvadslv Hdti.'iim.sJUn ,<■ I. Siifu'tu'i ih'fit /.M/UUpeo JUo